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Adam W. DAVIS |
A surveillance camera in a Tampa
convenience store captured Adam Davis showing off
a new tattoo to a
clerk the morning of Monday, June 29, 1998. Jon Whispel watched.
Twenty-four hours later, the teenagers would flee Tampa.
A video camera in a police cruiser captured
the arrest of the three teenagers on a stretch of
Interstate 10 in
Pecos County, Texas, on July 2. With both of its rear tires shot
out, the
Nissan Quest minivan spins off the interstate after a chase
in which speeds reached 130 mph.
After their arrest, the teenagers were
ordered to the ground, handcuffed behind
their backs and then taken
away in separate cruisers.
Adam Davis, Valessa Robinson and Jon Whispel
Adam Davis, left, Valessa Robinson, middle, and Jon Whispel
appear in court together
for a hearing in March 1999. They were
seated apart in court so they could not
speak to each other. For
months, the three maintained their solidarity.
Adam Davis, who is charged with murdering
Vicki Robinson, waits in a sheriff's car outside
the Ybor
City sheriff's bureau. Davis and Whispel were returned to Tampa from
Texas.
When the three teenagers were arrested in
Texas, a roll of undeveloped film was found in Vicki
Robinson’s
minivan. Investigators later processed the film. One frame, showed
Adam and Valessa mugging for the camera with Valessa’s pet
ferret, Slick.
Adam and Valessa at the Village Center
shopping mall in Carrollwood,
a favorite hangout of theirs.
Adam mugs for the camera. On his left
shoulder is the tattoo in memory of his father,
who died in a
motorcycle accident in 1994. Adam had the tattoo redone at an Ybor
City
parlor shortly before the teens left Tampa.
Adam Davis during his trial in November
1999: He did not testify, but his words — captured
on tape by the detectives who interviewed in Texas — dominated the courtroom
Adam Davis, left, sits in the courtroom
November 3, 1999.
The kitchen in the Robinson house, as seen
from near Valessa's room. Vicki Robinson was killed
on the kitchen floor. Several crime scene photos were entered into
evidence.
Vicki Robinson's badly decomposed body was
stuffed into this garbage can, marked
by the number,
which was found in the woods near Jon Whispel's house.
Adam Davis cries just after the
prosecutor's closing arguments.
Adam Davis hears the jury's recommendation
of death sentence.
Adam Davis, 21, was sentenced to death for
the murder of Vicki Robinson.
Adam Davis prison photo
The codefendants
Jon Whispel
pleaded guilty
to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Valessa Robinson (left) is led into the
Hillsborough County Orient Road Jail
by a Hillsborough County Sheriff's Deputy.
Valessa Robinson is led to the van that would
take her back to jail after being given the
maximum
possible sentence for her role in her mother's murder, 20 years in
prison.
The victim
Vicki Robinson with Valessa in a family
portrait taken in the fall of 1997.
For months, mother and daughter
were locked in an escalating, emotional battle
over rules and
boundaries. But Vicki continued to reach out to her daughter.
Vicki Robinson,
the 49-year-old real estate agent and mother of
two daughters,
was murdered in her Carrollwood home in June 1998
Vicki Robinson
Sptimes.com
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