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Skull Discovered In Closet Belonged To Murder Victim

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By JOSH POLTILOVE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 2, 2008

  Steven Blackwell

TAMPA - A skull found in June in the closet of a St. Petersburg area home belonged to a Hillsborough County murder victim, Pinellas County deputies said Friday.

In January 2003, Allen E. Garner's bones were found in a wooded area near 58th Street and Columbus Drive. The remains - skull included - were sent to a medical examiner's office, Hillsborough County sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway said.

"How his skull wound up in Pinellas, we have no clue," Callaway said.

Ronald Rhodes, 44, was convicted of first-degree murder in Garner's death and is in prison, the spokesman said.

Pinellas and Hillsborough deputies will work to determine how the skull ended up in a box in the closet of Steven Blackwell's home, Callaway said.

Blackwell, 40, of 4550 39th St. N. in Pinellas County, told investigators he got the skull four or five years ago from his friend "Chuck," Pinellas sheriff's spokeswoman Cecilia Barreda said.

Blackwell didn't provide a last name for his friend. He said Chuck claimed to have purchased the skull on the Internet.

Blackwell has been behind bars since June 2. He was arrested on several drug charges, including armed possession of cocaine, possession and sale of methamphetamine, and possession and sale of marijuana.

Glenn Parker, 34, of St. Petersburg, went to the home June 14 to get some things for Blackwell, Barreda said.

"As he was looking for items, he came across this skull," she said. "It's my understanding that he left the residence pretty quickly after that."

Parker contacted authorities, and the skull was turned over to medical examiners.

A fire erupted in the vacant, one-story home June 27.

Based on some tips and their prior dealings with Blackwell, authorities thought the house might be booby-trapped or have dangerous chemicals inside.

Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office bomb squad members entered the burned-out residence and found no explosive devices or booby traps, according to a statement at the time. Certain chemicals were found in the residence in varying amounts.

Blackwell's 984-square-foot house is in a modest neighborhood of mostly small frame homes in Lealman, an unincorporated enclave north of St. Petersburg.

Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at (813) 259-7691 or jpoltilove@tampatrib.com.

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