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Trial Begins In Slaying Of Blake High Secretary

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By TOM BRENNAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 17, 2009

TAMPA - David Barnes and his daughter were walking the family's two Chihuahuas through their Orange River Estate subdivision Oct. 11, 2007, when they heard a woman scream.

At first they thought it could be neighborhood kids but changed their minds when the voice echoed again saying, "No, don't."

Barnes looked toward the subdivision's clubhouse and saw a man standing over a woman who was on the ground, her arms crossed in front of her for protection.

The man was crouched over the prone body and waving his fist over his head.

"He came down on her pretty full force," Barnes told jurors today in the kidnapping and murder trial of Stanley "Larry" Telfare. "Her hands went down to her side, her head went down and she didn't move."

Prosecutors say the woman was Telfare's former girlfriend, Elalia Walker. Walker died a week later from injuries she suffered that night.

Barnes said he saw the man chuck the limp body into a brown van.

"He didn't put her down, he threw her in," he said.

The van drove off and Barnes called police from his home.

A security guard told authorities that on the same night he saw a woman either jump or be pushed from a van at the juice plant he was working at off Harney Road.

Assistant State Attorney Jay Pruner told jurors in his opening statement that Walker faced a horrible decision: stay in a speeding van with the man who abducted and beat her or jump.

"She took her chances with the unforgiving asphalt," Pruner said.

But Telfare's attorney, Nick Sinardi, said Walker jumped because she was distraught that Telfare refused to have sex with her.

He also said the words Barnes and his daughter reported hearing – "No, don't" – were Walker pleading with Telfare not to leave her at the clubhouse.

Barnes' daughter, Monica, said it didn't sound like begging.

"Someone was scared," she said of the woman's voice.

Pruner questioned why Telfare didn't seek immediate medical treatment for Walker. The head wounds she suffered left a 38-foot trail of blood.

Sinardi said his client didn't know the injuries were that serious.

"He isn't a doctor or an EMT tech," he said.

Both sides agree Walker and Telfare became involved despite each being married. Prosecutors said Walker ended the affair and sought court protection from Telfare; a judge denied her request for a protective order five months before her death.

On Oct. 11, 2007, Walker was working the ticket table of a junior varsity football game at Blake High, where she was a secretary.

Witnesses testified Telfare, a school custodian, lurked in the school's parking garage waiting for Walker to return to her van.

Sinardi said the pair had agreed to meet so they could go to a mosque parking lot that they used for having sex.

Testimony in the case is expected to continue through the week.

Reporter Tom Brennan can be reached at (813) 259-7698 or tbrennan@tampatrib.com.

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