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TV Show Tipster Ends Woman's Year On The Lam

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 24, 2008

Courtenay Savage

LARGO - Courtenay Savage, a former reserve officer with the Tampa Police Department, eluded authorities for more than a year after being charged with trying to kill eight people by firing into the Largo home of a former business associate.

On Monday, she was arrested in Humble, Texas, by the U.S. Marshals Service, which was following an anonymous tip sent to Fox Television's "America's Most Wanted" that day. A segment on the 33-year-old fugitive aired on the show Saturday.

Someone in New Jersey, Savage's home state, saw Savage on the show and thought she was dating a friend of his and going by the name "Courtenay White," according to the show's Web site. White is Savage's maiden name.

The tipster also said his friend had moved to Houston a year earlier with his girlfriend. Courtenay White was a name authorities knew Savage had used in the past, but that information had not been mentioned during the broadcast. That gave the tip more weight.

Pinellas County sheriff's Detective Jeremy Lewis, who went to Washington, D.C., as part of Saturday's episode, began researching the name of the boyfriend the tipster provided.

Lewis plugged the name into a standard law enforcement research database, and the address of an apartment associated with the boyfriend had the same telephone number the tipster had for the boyfriend, Lewis said.

In about an hour's time, deputy marshals from the agency's Houston office, which is about 20 miles from Humble, had the apartment under surveillance, Lewis said. The apartment's windows were open because there was no power in the area due to Hurricane Ike, said Alfredo Perez, a spokesman for the marshals' Houston office.

Deputy marshals, accompanied by local sheriff's deputies, could see two dogs inside the apartment.

Savage was known to be a dog lover.

They waited for Savage to return. Normally blond, she had dyed her hair.

Deputies arrested her after she stepped out to walk her dogs.

"She was surprised," Perez said. "One of the deputies asked her her name. She kind of looked at him and said, 'You know who I am. You have the right person.'"

She is now awaiting extradition to Pinellas County.

The crucial tip was the 21st on the case received by the show, Lewis said. Seventeen came in Saturday and four more Monday.

Savage had been missing since September 2007, when she failed to show up for a court hearing related to eight counts of attempted murder leveled against her. A year earlier, prosecutors say, she had fired a .357-caliber handgun into the Largo home of Christina Lodrini, with whom Savage used to run an aromatherapy business.

The house was occupied by eight people, investigators say.

Four bullets went through the window of a bedroom, prosecutors say. One shattered a television. Another struck a mirror above a crib, causing broken glass to fall and cut an 11-month-old. That same bullet then pierced the wall of the next bedroom, whizzing over the head of a woman sleeping with her two granddaughters.

Savage sped off and was arrested the next day, prosecutors say. By the time they finished tallying the number of people inside, Savage, now 33, was facing eight counts of attempted second-degree murder, and her bail exceeded $100,000. Her estranged husband, Tampa police officer David Lee Savage Jr., provided the money as part of a buyout associated with their divorce.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com.

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