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Man Discussed Killings, 2 Say

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By TODD LESKANIC, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 20, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY - Joshua Engel made a habit of talking about what happened inside the house on Runnel Drive on April 10, 2004.

On Wednesday, jurors hearing Engel's first-degree murder trial listened as two more witnesses testified that he told them he killed his grandmother and his aunt.

Convicted felon Charles Asher, 47, testified that Engel told him about the killings while the two were pod mates in the Land O' Lakes Jail.

'He said at the time he was killing his aunt, his grandmother intervened and he stabbed his grandmother,' Asher said.

Pasco County sheriff's deputies found the bodies of 68-year-old Dorothy Thompson and 46-year-old Debra Thompson inside 6755 Runnel Drive. The women shared the house with Engel and his wife, Kelly.
Dorothy Thompson had been stabbed 23 times; Debra Thompson, four times. Trial testimony has shown that the stabbings were preceded by an argument over money.

Authorities said Engel then stole his grandmother's van, ATM card and shotgun and began driving with his wife toward her mother's house in North Carolina. Authorities in McDonough, Ga., arrested Engel at a motel there on April 11, 2004. Kelly Engel, who is blind, was not involved in the killings, Pasco authorities say.

Engel, charged with two counts of premeditated murder, went on trial Monday. He faces a life prison sentence if found guilty as charged. He has pleaded not guilty.

Defense attorney Charles Lykes has given some indication that he will employ a self-defense argument. In his statements to investigators, Engel said Debra Thompson had a knife when the altercation started and cut him on the hand.
Assistant State Attorney Michael Halkitis completed the state's case Wednesday afternoon. Lykes is expected to present the defense's case this morning but said he was unsure whether Engel would take the stand.
Lykes attempted to discredit Asher during his cross-examination, pointing out Asher's four felony convictions and current status as a prison inmate. He was sentenced to five years in March after pleading no contest to armed robbery.

Asher's testimony about Engel also was not the first time he had given the state information. He testified for prosecutors in the June trial of Frederick John Morgan, who was convicted in the 2005 murder of Lynn Marie Vincent.

Perhaps more damning than Asher's testimony were the words of Engel himself, recorded by sheriff's Detective Peter Weekes during two interviews in the hours after Engel's arrest. Halkitis played tapes of the interviews during Weekes' testimony Wednesday. An emotional Engel can be heard talking about the stabbings and apologizing.

'Oh my God; I'm sorry, man,' he said. 'I don't know how I could have done that.'
Lykes attempted to have Engel's statements thrown out at a hearing Monday but failed to convince Circuit Judge Thane Covert that the statements were coerced.

Reporter Todd Leskanic can be reached at (352) 521-3156 or tleskanic@tampatrib.com.

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