TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Authorities Search For Mechanic's Killer

ADVERTISEMENT

TBO Staff Report

Published: September 15, 2007

Video: Man Killed At His Salvage Yard

LAND O' LAKES - Friends and acquaintances gathered outside Lee Johns' business remembered him Saturday afternoon as a quiet man who loved old cars, playing pool and shooting darts.

Jim Short, who knew Johns for about 28 years, said the owner of Park Auto Salvage on State Road 52 never had a cross word with anybody. As he sat in his pickup outside the business Saturday afternoon, Short didn't want to believe that his friend was murdered.

But a medical examiner said the 69-year-old Land O' Lakes man was killed by "homicidal force" Friday afternoon, the Pasco County Sheriff's Office said in a news release.

"I drove by when all the fire engines were out here," Short said. "I assumed he had a little fire, and they put it out. Next thing I know, I'm getting calls that crime-scene tape was up."

Inscribed on a metal fence near the entrance to Johns' business is a message to customers: "Cash only. No Öcheck, credit cards or I.O.U.'s."

Detectives think robbery was the motive.

But killing Johns wouldn't have been necessary, Short said.

"We've all bought motors and parts from him over the years," he said. "Anything you needed, he always had it. If you didn't have money, he'd give it to you. He'd help you if he could.

"He had a long beard, like a mountain man, but he was just like everybody else."

Short said Johns had an adult son in New Jersey, but he didn't know of any other family.

The sheriff's office was called to the business just west of U.S. 41 at 3:23 p.m. Friday, after a customer of Johns stopped by and found him lying on the ground just inside the main gate, the sheriff's office said.

FreddieÖ Stafford of Land O' Lakes said he knew Johns for about 15 years. Like Short, he described Johns as quiet.

"But he was a peculiar guy," Stafford said. "He just wasn't that friendly."

Because an 8-foot wall surrounds the business, investigators think the killer left through the front gate.

Anyone who might have seen someone leaving the business or who remembers seeing a vehicle at the business between 1 and 2:30 p.m. Friday is asked to call sheriff's Detective Jason Hatcher at Ö(727) 844-7711.

Reporter Geoff Fox can be reached at (813) 948-4217 or gfox@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT