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Medical Examiner Testifies: Citrus Park Boy Strangled
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Published: July 16, 2008
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TAMPA - Before a medical examiner took the witness stand this morning to testify that 13-year-old Stephen Tomlinson was strangled, most likely with someone's hands, Tomlinson's family members stood and left the courtroom.
"I just couldn't take it," Tomlinson's father, Ron Tomlinson said later today while standing in a courthouse hallway, "couldn't bear to see it."
Joshua Rosa, 22, is on trial, charged with murder in Tomlinson's death. Prosecutors say Rosa killed Tomlinson at Logan Gate Park in northwest Hillsborough County on Dec. 8, 2005.
When found, Tomlinson's pants were down and his nose and shirt were bloody.
Tomlinson's blood was found on Rosa's shoes, hands and pants, prosecutors have said. DNA samples on a set of fingernail clippers found on Rosa matched that of Tomlinson.
Rosa, a youth minister at Zion Pentecostal Church for All People, lived near the Tomlinson family. He occasionally took Tomlinson to his church and introduced him to church members.
Rosa's defense attorney Brian Gonzalez has told the jury that Rosa did not kill Tomlinson. His client was jogging through the woods that day and lost his keys, Gonzalez says. When he returned to look for them, he came upon Tomlinson's body and tried to help.
Sheriff's deputies found Rosa's keys under Tomlinson's body.
Assistant Medical Examiner Leszek Chrostowski testified that Tomlinson was strangled and fell to the ground. With pressure on the neck arteries, he could have passed out in eight to 10 seconds. It is not possible to determine how long it took Tomlinson to die, he said.
Gonzalez asked Chrostowski about other marks and scrapes on Tomlinson's body. He asked about abrasions on Tomlinson's hip, chin, shin, wrist and arm.
Chrostowski said he couldn't offer much to explain those marks and could not conclude whether one or more men were involved in Tomlinson's death.
"I can only tell you that this man was strangled and the injuries are most consistent with manual strangulation," he said.
The marks might indicate a struggle, but they did not contribute to the death, he said. He could not, therefore, offer any hypotheses.
Although no one witnessed Tomlinson's death, prosecutors have pointed out statements that show inconsistencies in Rosa's story. Rosa, for example, told a young man who was in the woods that night that he found someone dead or inured and he needed help. The young man asked Rosa whether he knew the person who died. Rosa said he did not.
If convicted, Rosa faces up to life in prison.
The trial is expected to continue throughout the week.
Reporter Thomas W. Krause can be reached at (813) 259-7698 or tkrause@tampatrib.com.
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