TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Slaying Trial Starts With Blood Clue

ADVERTISEMENT

By TODD LESKANIC, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 14, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY - If Daniel Parbel didn't kill John Benjamin, as he contends, he'll need a good answer to one key question:

How did Benjamin's blood get on the jeans Parbel was wearing the night Benjamin was killed?

Prosecutors have a slew of witnesses who will testify Parbel was one of two men who killed the 37-year-old on Sept. 25, 2005. However, they're all felons and drug dealers, and that could bring their credibility into question.

So, prosecutors will emphasize the blood on Parbel's pants.

In his opening statement Tuesday, Assistant State Attorney Michael Halkitis told jurors about the jeans Parbel turned over to investigators in October 2005. They had been washed, but detectives sent them to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's lab for analysis anyway.

"And guess whose blood was on those jeans?" Halkitis asked.

During a 90-minute interview, though, Parbel told detectives he hadn't gotten near Benjamin's body, Halkitis said.

Parbel, 37, is on trial this week in Pasco County Circuit Court, charged with first-degree murder in Benjamin's death. He faces life in prison if convicted as charged. Co-defendant Christopher Wright, 46, also is charged with first-degree murder but will be tried separately.

A construction worker discovered Benjamin's charred remains inside the burned-out shell of an Isuzu sport utility vehicle near a construction site off Hays Road. His body was so badly burned investigators had to identify him through dental records.

Benjamin's family has said he ran into financial trouble about a year before his death and met a woman who introduced him to drugs. Investigators said Benjamin was killed because he owed his supplier, Sherry Harris, $300. The SUV in which Benjamin's body was found belonged to Harris, the stepdaughter of Bill Sager, who was Port Richey police chief at the time.

Robert Benjamin, John's twin, his mother, Margaret Benjamin, and sisters, Teresa NaDell and Michele Benjamin, attended Tuesday's proceedings and plan to be in the courtroom for the entire trial.

Tuesday, they watched as attorneys selected twelve jurors and two alternates to hear the case. The jurors then listened to opening statements and the prosecution's first three witnesses before breaking for the night.

Defense attorney Joe McDermott, in his opening statement, proposed his own theory about the jeans: The ones Parbel gave investigators weren't the ones he wore that night. After Parbel and his cohorts left the crime scene, they went to the house of Michael Lind, a drug dealer, the attorney said.

Lind gave them fresh clothes to wear, and Parbel gave Lind's jeans to investigators, McDermott said. He also told jurors Lind had ordered Benjamin's killing because of the money he owed. Harris sold drugs for Lind, McDermott said.

"The evidence will show that Mike Lind ordered this death and that he ordered Christopher Wright to commit the killing, not Daniel Parbel," McDermott said.

Halkitis gave this account to jurors: Benjamin was kidnapped from a house on Tidalwave Drive in New Port Richey the day before he was found dead. Harris, Parbel, Wright and another man, Yusef Wilson, put Benjamin into Harris' SUV and drove around looking for pay phones.

Along the way, Benjamin was forced to call relatives and ask them for the money. He made two calls to his mother. It was the last time they spoke.

Hours later, Wilson, Wright and Parbel drove Benjamin to the area off Hays Road. That's where Wright and Parbel slashed his neck, Halkitis said. When Benjamin ran from the car, Parbel and Wright chased him, and the men scuffled.

Benjamin managed to escape, get into the SUV and take off, but the vehicle didn't get far before getting stuck in the sand. Parbel and Wright ran to the SUV, broke out the windows and jumped on the roof. They dragged Benjamin out, beat him and left him for dead, Halkitis said.

Lind picked them up in his truck and brought them to his house, where they changed clothes. Later, Parbel, Wright and Wilson returned to the scene, dragged Benjamin's body back to the SUV and set it on fire, Halkitis said.

Reporter Todd Leskanic can be reached at (727) 815-1084 or tleskanic@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT