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State Focuses On Onstott Tape

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By THOMAS W. KRAUSE and RAY REYES

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 14, 2008

Updated: 08/14/2008 12:22 am

TAMPA - More than three years after her daughter's body was found submerged in a pond near her Ruskin home, Kelly May was again in the same room with David Lee Onstott, the man accused of killing 13-year-old Sarah Michelle Lunde.

"It's tough. It's very tough," May said after attending the first day of Onstott's trial Wednesday. "Sarah is dead. There is nothing we can do about that." But a conviction, she said, would prevent another child from suffering the same fate.

In opening statements, prosecutors for the first time divulged details of a conversation between Onstott and a jail deputy. The deputy will testify that Onstott acknowledged having an argument with Sarah about May the night she disappeared, Assistant State Attorney Sean Keefe said.

Onstott, who once was May's occasional boyfriend, described to the deputy how he killed Sarah, Keefe said.

The defense said the deputy didn't tell anyone, including detectives and supervisors, about Onstott's supposed confession for 11 months.

The log entry the deputy made that night made no mention of a conversation with Onstott, said Assistant Public Defender John Skye. The deputy said he made notes about the exchange, Skye said, but later lost the notebook.
Keefe told jurors that when Onstott was in custody a week after Sarah's body was found, he was emotional and was allowed to speak to his mother, who had flown down from Michigan.

"You will hear the defendant begging his mother to let him go," Keefe said of the recorded conversations. "He tells her this is not her fault. He says that sometimes there is a volcano inside of him" and that he is never going to see the outside of prison again.

She asks why, and Onstott leans toward her and says something difficult to understand, prosecutors said.
Keefe told jurors they will hear him say, "Because I killed her."
Skye told the jury Onstott said no such thing to his mother. Onstott's words on the tape are so quiet, he said, they can only be described as a "muffle."
Skye began laying the groundwork for casting reasonable doubt of Onstott's guilt and told jurors to pay close attention to the testimony of Sarah's brother, Andrew, and his friend Darryl Daust. The teens' story changed over the years in interviews with detectives and in sworn statements to prosecutors, Skye said.

The teens spoke briefly with Sarah when she returned from a church trip on April 9, 2005, a Saturday.

Andrew and Darryl then went out to get food. When the teens returned, Sarah was gone.

Under cross examination by a public defender, May said that Sarah had a history of running away or sneaking out the house. That is why she was not initially alarmed when Sarah was not home, May said.

When Sarah did not show up at school on Monday, May reported her daughter missing. Sarah's body was found face down and weighted by concrete blocks in a muddy pond.

Andrew lied to his mother and police about how long he and Darryl had been out, Skye said. Darryl also lied and did not immediately tell police that he had sex on two occasions with Sarah, Skye said. Darryl's DNA was later found in her bed.
Prosecutors argue that Onstott went to May's home shortly after the teens left to get food. When Onstott was seen the next day, his jeans were wet from mid-shin to his shoes and he left muddy footprints in the house, Andrew said on the witness stand.

Court records show that investigators had no physical evidence tying Onstott to the crime. Neither Onstott's truck nor his girlfriend's truck showed any connection to Sarah or where she was found, Skye said.

Onstott, 40, is charged with murder in Sarah's slaying and faces life in prison if convicted. However, prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.

The trial resumes at 8:30 a.m. today.

Reporter Thomas W. Krause can be reached at (813) 259-7698 or tkrause@tamaptrib.com. Reporter Ray Reyes can be reached at (813) 259-7920 or rreyes@tampatrib.com.

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