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911 Tape Of New Year's Lakeland Slaying Released

By TOM BRENNAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 8, 2009

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Robert Farley

Walter Farley

LAKELAND - On a recording of a 911 call released today, a seemingly distraught Robert Farley tells an emergency operator about a bloody scene where he has found his father's body.

"He's lying on the floor. There is blood on the floor. There's blood on his back," Farley tells the operator on New Year's Day.

Authorities contend Farley staged the crime scene and the call to throw suspicion away from him. They say he sneaked away from a New Year's Eve celebration to gun down his 93-year-old father, Walter, in the home they shared on Indian Heights Drive. He is charged with first-degree murder.

The 911 call was released today. On Wednesday, the Polk County Sheriff's Office released a videotape showing Robert Farley dancing and singing along to "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" hours after his father was shot.

Farley kept his wife, Mary, outside the house while he spoke with the emergency operator. It was an argument between the two men over Farley's wanting to leave his wife that authorities claim sparked the shooting.

Farley tells the operator someone has broken into the house and that the back door is still open. He also tells her it appears his father has been shot.

"There is blood and holes in the back of his shirt," he said. "The blood is drying."

The operator asks whether his father is alive.

"He's not breathing and no pulse. … He's cold," Farley said.

He tells the operator that he and his wife were attending a holiday celebration at the Red Rose Inn in Plant City. He said it was his father's idea.

"He suggested we have a night out," Farley told the operator.

The operator asks Farley whether he found any weapons. Farley's response is that he owns a .38-caliber pistol.

His father, he said, "usually put it over on his nightstand, and it's gone."

The call ended as deputies arrived at the house.

Authorities say Farley, 63, used the pistol to shoot his father four or five times. The handgun was recovered from Lake Wire.

Farley and his wife left Walter Farley at home at 5 or 5:30 p.m. and headed to the Red Rose Inn. Once there, Mary Farley took prescription medication and fell asleep. Authorities say Robert Farley went home alone at 6:30 or 7 p.m. and shot his father.

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

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