Young mom dies in gunfire burst meant for 'thief'

The woman had come to give his brother a ride, but the man opened fire in the dawn darkness.

By DONG-PHUONG NGUYEN, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 2, 2002

GIBSONTON -- A 28-year-old man armed with an assault rifle shot and killed a young mother of two early Friday when he mistook her for a robber, authorities said.

The woman, 19-year-old Crystal Stith, had driven up to the man's trailer to pick up his brother for his construction job.

According to Hillsborough sheriff's officials, Jason Ernest Pospeschil heard noises outside his trailer on Bullfrog Creek Road about 5:20 a.m. and thought thieves were trying to steal tools from his truck.

He and his brother ran from the trailer and Pospeschil fired several shots from his assault rifle into the early morning darkness.

Stith was hit in the upper torso and died in her red 1988 Ford Mustang. Her cousin, who was a passenger, was not injured.

The shooting happened on a dirt road leading from Bullfrog Creek Road to a cluster of trailers patrolled by pit bulls and mutts.

Stith's cousin is the girlfriend of the shooter's brother, a sheriff's official said. Officials would not release the names of the cousin or the brother because they are considered witnesses.

Pospeschil, who has a criminal record involving various driving infractions -- from DUI to speeding to driving without insurance -- was charged with second-degree murder.

Stith lived about a mile away in a trailer park off of Symmes Road with her two children and their father. They had a 3-year-old boy and a girl, almost 2.

She and her cousin had apparently driven up to the trailer earlier, but the lights were not on in the trailer so they left, Carter said. When they returned a second time, the trailer was still dark, so Stith turned the car around.

She had made it down a good portion of the lengthy dirt road when Pospeschil fired the shots.

-- Times researcher John Martin contributed to this report.

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