Stepfather: 'I can't understand' how people would stab, burn his son

Richard Colicci Jr. said his stepson was a sociable, gentle soul who didn't deserve a merciless death at the hands of strangers.

"I can't comprehend it," said Colicci, of Sarasota. "What happened to him shouldn't happen to anybody. I can't understand how somebody could do that to another person. "I'll never understand."

Investigators say Robert Mason Brewer, 26, was killed early Tuesday after he met three suspects at the Brandon Westfield Mall on Monday and agreed to go to their Brandon Manor Court apartment.

Brewer passed out in a bedroom at the apartment after taking Xanax, Hillsborough County Sheriff's deputies said. He was then stabbed in the neck, beaten, stabbed again and then stuffed into his own duffle bag shortly before 2 a.m. Tuesday.

He was rolled on a dolly to a trash bin behind Florida Orthopaedic Institute just off State Road 60, about the length of a football field from the apartment. Brewer was alive when he was doused with gasoline and set ablaze, investigators said.

Brendan Lee Terry, 20, is charged with first-degree murder. David James Link II, 18, is charged with accessory after the fact to murder. The two suspects were denied bail at a court hearing Thursday morning.

A third suspect, Kasey Lee Ackerman, 20, also is charged with first-degree murder. He was not in court because he's in the hospital for tests. Sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said Ackerman is in stable condition, but wouldn't elaborate because of medical privacy laws.

Colicci said he wasn't surprised Brewer quickly made friends with strangers. He was friendly and talkative, he said.

He last saw him at a Christmas family gathering in Valrico. Brewer, whose grandmother lives in Valrico, was chatty and warm and talked to Colicci's father for awhile.

"He was just Robbie," Colicci said. "It was nice."

Brewer graduated from Wharton High School and was a music fan who played the guitar.

"Everybody seemed to like him," Colicci said.

Colicci came into Brewer's life when he was 11. He is married to Brewer's mother, Sandra Lynn Colicci, of Sarasota, but they are currently separated.

He said she has taken the news hard. She last talked to Brewer on Friday night and said he sounded good, Colicci said. Brewer was supposed to attend a family gathering Sunday at his grandmother's Valrico home, but he didn't make it.

"I just want people to know that overall he was a good kid," Colicci said. "He was battling inner demons. He wasn't some bum. He was a good person."

Brewer had a drug addiction, Colicci said. Over the years, he entered rehabilitation programs to kick the addiction but never could get completely clean, he said.

He entered the U.S. Marines, but was kicked out after a few months for testing positive for drugs, Colicci said.

Brewer was sentenced in 2008 to one year and a month in state prison for trafficking in heroin and possession of a controlled substance. He served six months and was released in January 2009 for the charges, which originated from Hillsborough County, records show.

He was also diagnosed as bipolar and manic depressive when he was about 14, Colicci said.

Brewer's cousin described him as a kind man who loved playing music.

"He's a kind, loving person who didn't do anything wrong and who didn't deserve to die like this," said Hampton Burnett.

Colicci said the suspects deserve a stiff penalty.

"They don't deserve to spend life in prison," Colicci said. "In reality, what they deserve is exactly what they did to him."

Brewer will be buried in Brandon next to his grandfather, Colicci said.