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Teen Charged With Bus Driver's Slaying

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By VALERIE KALFRIN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 20, 2007

TAMPA - Police charged a 19-year-old man with felony first-degree murder today, saying he fatally stabbed a city bus driver who considered him an acquaintance.

Detectives think Tavaris Michael McKinnie of Tampa killed Claude Lee Kegler, 36, inside Kegler's apartment on River Hills Drive early Sunday to steal Kegler's 2002 Ford Taurus and stereo equipment.

He used the Taurus to rob six people and kidnap a 16-year-old boy in Ybor City within hours of Kegler's death, police said. The 16-year-old quickly was released unharmed.

McKinnie is being held without bail at Orient Road Jail, where Tampa police detectives interviewed him Wednesday. The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office had arrested him Wednesday on unrelated charges of felony robbery by sudden snatching, records show.

McKinnie acknowledged a role in robbing and choking Kegler and stealing his car, police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said. He denied stabbing Kegler, but "the evidence contradicts that," she said.

Detectives found a bloody knife inside the Taurus and bloody clothing inside McKinnie's home at 3417 N. 47th St., McElroy said. The items have been sent to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for forensic tests.

Police also found Kegler's driver's license inside McKinnie's home, along with a receipt showing McKinnie had pawned Kegler's stereo equipment, McElroy said.

Kegler worked on the weekends as a bus driver for Hillsborough Area Regional Transit. He lived with his brother, Shawn, in an apartment at 3826 River Hills Drive.

Claude Kegler became acquainted with McKinnie through the bus route; McKinnie was a frequent passenger, McElroy said.

Attempts to reach either man's relatives were unsuccessful Thursday.

Shawn Kegler told police that he went to bed about 11 p.m. Saturday, about the same time McKinnie dropped by for the second time. When Shawn Kegler awoke Sunday, he discovered his brother fatally stabbed and the Ford Taurus missing, police said.

Officers soon found the car in the 4700 block of East 18th Avenue, near McKinnie's home. They determined the same vehicle had been used to rob six people walking to their car about 1 a.m. Sunday at North 22nd Street and East Eighth Avenue.

Police said McKinnie forced the 16-year-old into the stolen car at that point, robbed him, then dropped off the teenager at North 18th Street and East Seventh Avenue.

In addition to the murder charge, police charged McKinnie with four counts of aggravated assault, armed kidnapping, false imprisonment, armed robbery and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

County court records show McKinnie was convicted in two separate cases this year of two felony charges, dealing in stolen property and giving false information to a pawnbroker.

Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800 or vkalfrin@tampatrib.com.

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