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'Focus' In Slaying Of Mom, Baby Is The Dad, Police Say

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 24, 2007

ST. PETERSBURG - Three months after a woman was found dead alongside her 15-month-old son, St. Petersburg police announced Tuesday that a former technical sergeant at MacDill Air Force Base is the child's father.

The woman, Paula O'Conner, 37, had long said Ralph Wright Jr., 38, was the father of her son, Alijah, and, a month before her death, she had filed a paternity suit against him.

The issue, however, was not settled until after O'Conner and Alijah were found dead in their home July 6, when homicide investigators compared Wright's DNA with Alijah's, investigators said Tuesday.

Wright has not been charged in the pair's death. He has not hired an attorney.
Homicide detectives say he has emerged as 'the focus' of the investigation into the double homicide.

'Our focus is on Mr. Wright,' Sgt. Mike Kovacsev said of the man, who recently completed a tour as a reservist at MacDill.

Wright may have been away without leave from the Air Force base about the time O'Conner and her son were found dead in their home, Kovacsev said. Detectives were given conflicting stories by Wright's supervisors about his status at the time, the sergeant said.

There also is other potential evidence, largely circumstantial, against Wright, Kovacsev said, but the sergeant would not disclose it. Every other person who might have been involved in the pair's death has been eliminated as a suspect, he said.

'Obviously, we don't have cause for his arrest right now,' Kovacsev said. 'I don't want to crucify him in the media.'

Wright has been uncooperative in the investigation, Kovacsev said. For instance, rather than willingly give a sample of DNA to prove whether he was Alijah's father, he forced investigators to get a search warrant, the sergeant said. A swab of Wright's saliva was obtained at MacDill for a DNA comparison with Alijah's remains.

Wright's family is incensed at the insinuation that he was involved in the double homicide.

'What happened to them is very tragic and my heart goes out to their families, but that's my brother, and he couldn't do anything like that,' said an Orlando woman who identified herself as Wright's sister in a phone conversation. She declined to give her name.

Autopsies determined O'Conner was strangled, and her son, who was found dead in the same room, died of asphyxiation, possibly smothering.

In the paternity suit she filed, O'Conner was seeking child support as well as money to help pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills for Alijah. The baby had had multiple open-heart surgeries.

'She was seeking a financial settlement which would probably have been substantial given the fact the child had been born with health issues and there were some significant medical bills,' said police Maj. Mike Puetz. 'Consequently, he would have benefited from their deaths.'

At the time of his relationship with O'Conner, Wright was married to a woman in the Orlando area but lied to O'Conner about it, Kovacsev said.

Wright's work history includes two failed stints with law enforcement agencies.

One was as a deputy with the Orange County Sheriff's Office; it lasted seven months, from August 1991 to March 1992, and his departure was labeled 'administrative-unfavorable,' according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. No other details were available.

Jim Solomons, a spokesman with the Orange County Sheriff's Office, said records indicated that Wright's performance was 'completely unsatisfactory.' One supervisor wrote that Wright 'has not shown the slightest effort to change his poor behavior even though he has been counseled several times, both verbally and in writing,' according to Solomons.

Wright also worked for the Eatonville Police Department from October 1994 to July 1996, but his employment came to an end because he failed to complete mandatory retraining, FDLE said.

Last month, he completed a yearlong contract as a reserve technical sergeant at MacDill, where he worked as a security force member, said Senior Master Sgt. Miguel Espinoza. Wright was assigned guard duty and could drive law enforcement vehicles; his contract was not renewed.

After O'Conner's death, her other child, Victoria Goodin, 18, continued her mother's battle with Wright and filed a lawsuit of her own against him. Goodin's lawsuit seeks child support and reimbursement for all or part of more than $357,000 in Alijah's medical bills.

Detectives are asking whether anyone saw a 2003 Ford Expedition near O'Conner's home at 482 Dawson Ave. N. at the time of her and her son's deaths. Wright owns such a sport utility vehicle.

Detectives also are asking whether anyone saw her SUV - a 2005 Chevrolet Blazer. It was found several blocks away from her home after her body and the body of her son were discovered.

Wright has no criminal record in Florida.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com.

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