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Journey Of Murder Victim's Skull Puzzles Caretakers

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By JOSH POLTILOVE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 5, 2008

TAMPA - Nearly five years ago, the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner's Office turned over what it thought were the skull and other remains of murder victim Allen E. Garner to a mortuary service, which was supposed to cremate those remains.

Several weeks ago, a skull was found in a box in a house belonging to a suspected drug dealer. The skull recently was determined to have been Garner's.

Monday, both the medical examiner's office and the mortuary, Florida Mortuary Services, said they have no clue how the skull wound up in the Pinellas County man's closet.

After Garner was killed in January 2003, his remains - skull included - were sent to the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner's Office, Hillsborough deputies say. The office determined Garner died of blunt impact head trauma and notified his family, which made arrangements for his remains to be released from the office, office spokesman Dick Bailey said.

The remains were released to Florida Mortuary Services' care at 8:25 a.m. Nov. 28, 2003, Bailey said.

"I went to see if there was any indication that the skull was ever separated from the remains, and there wasn't," Bailey said.

Dan Larson, general counsel for Florida Mortuary Services, said Garner's remains had been stored in a box and were cremated Dec. 3, 2003. Larson said there likely is no way to know with any certainty what happened to the skull - or even whether the skull came in the box placed in the company's custody.

"There would have been no reason on our end to even open it, to be honest with you," he said.

Garner's skull resurfaced weeks ago in a box in the closet of Steven Blackwell's home in Lealman, an unincorporated enclave north of St. Petersburg. How it wound up there remains a mystery, investigators say.

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

Blackwell didn't provide a last name for his friend. He said Chuck claimed to have bought 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 that Blackwell could sell for bail money, Barreda said. He found the skull as he was looking for items, she said. Parker contacted authorities, and the skull was turned over to medical examiners.

Later that month, a fire erupted in the vacant one-story home.

Ronald Rhodes, 44, was convicted of first-degree murder in Garner's death and is in prison, Hillsborough sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway said.

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

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