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Witness Says He Saw Man Being Killed

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By TODD LESKANIC, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 15, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY - John Benjamin spent the last hours of his life high on crack and begging for money to pay off a $300 drug debt.

Yusef Wilson, a 34-year-old felon and drug user, says he watched Benjamin being killed but did nothing. On Wednesday, he took the stand as the prosecution's key witness in the first-degree murder trial of Daniel Parbel, one of two men accused of killing Benjamin two years ago.

Wilson testified he watched as Parbel, 37, and Christopher Wright cut, beat and try to suffocate Benjamin at an isolated spot off Hays Road.

Pummeled to the ground by his attackers, Benjamin gasped as he said, "Don't let them do this to me," but Wilson testified he did nothing. Hours later, Wilson said, he went back with Parbel and Wright and watched them set fire to Benjamin's body and the Isuzu sport utility vehicle the foursome had driven there in.

Asked why he didn't help Benjamin, Wilson replied, "I was scared and confused."

A construction worker found Benjamin's charred remains inside the SUV's burned-out shell on Sept. 25, 2005. The flames had reduced Benjamin's 165-pound frame to 60 pounds. Investigators used dental records to identify him.

Parbel, of Hudson, and Wright were arrested Nov. 30, 2005.

Testimony in Parbel's trial began Tuesday and continued Wednesday, with prosecutors calling 12 witnesses to the stand. The case is expected to be over by the end of the week. Parbel faces a life sentence if convicted.

Wright, 46, of Port Richey, also is charged with first-degree murder and will be tried separately.

The episode that ended in Benjamin's death began Sept. 24, 2005, when his crack dealer, Sherry Harris, decided to collect the $300 he owed her. Harris, a felon and the stepdaughter of former Port Richey police Chief Bill Sager, was not charged in Benjamin's death.

She testified Wednesday she owed her "boss," Michael Lind, the money she was trying to collect from Benjamin. That afternoon, Harris said, she tracked down Benjamin at a house on Tidalwave Drive.

Inside the bedroom, Benjamin was lying on a mattress, looking scared. Parbel and Wilson were in the room, too.

Harris said she went outside to talk on the phone and then heard loud screams from the bedroom, followed by a shotgun blast that blew out a window. When Harris went back inside, Parbel was holding a shotgun, she said.

Harris, Parbel and Wilson put Benjamin into Harris' SUV and drove him around west Pasco County. They stopped at three pay phones so Benjamin could call his family and ask for the money, Harris testified. They were all high, she said.

Benjamin's 77-year-old mother, Margaret Benjamin, was on the receiving end of two of the calls. She testified her son was mumbling and hard to understand the first time he called.

"Then what happened?" Assistant State Attorney Michael Halkitis asked.

"Then someone pulled the phone away from him and says to me, 'Your son owes me a lot of money. I want $500 delivered to Ridge Road,' and another road I don't remember, and that's it. He hung up."

"Did he say what would happen if he didn't get the money?"

"He said, 'If I don't get it, I'm going to kill your son.'"

Thirty minutes later, Margaret Benjamin received a second call. This time, John Benjamin asked her for the money. She said she told him she wouldn't have it until the following week.

"He says, 'Oh, boy. Oh, boy. Oh, boy,' and hung up," she said.

That was the last time she talked to her son.

Harris said she, John Benjamin, Parbel and Wilson went to a hotel on U.S. 19 where they met Wright and Lind. Lind put a gun to Benjamin's head in the bathroom, she testified. Then Parbel, Wright, Wilson and Benjamin got into Harris' SUV and began the drive that ended in Benjamin's death.

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

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