Carrollwood

Man killed in fire finally identified

Officials aren't saying exactly how he was killed, but they are calling the fire suspicious.

CARROLLWOOD - James Lee Walter loved automobiles and animals. He'd stop his car to help a turtle cross the street or rescue animals that were hit by cars.

And he knew a lot about cars.

Walter, 37, was a car wholesaler and had worked in the auto industry since he was a 10-year-old doing odd jobs around his stepfather's car dealership in Seminole.

"Cars were his first love," said Vincetta Krizmanich, Walter's mother.

Walter was killed July 3 in a fire at his home at 3901 Moran Road. The Hillsborough County Medical Examiner's Office officially identified his body on Aug. 15 using DNA analysis, said Dick Bailey, a spokesman.

Still, many of the details surrounding Walter's death remain a mystery.

The Medical Examiner's Office won't release the cause of his death until a police investigation is completed, and the Hillsborough County Fire Marshal's Office won't comment on details of the fatal fire until it sees lab results from evidence that's being tested.

"The fire is a suspicious fire at this time," said Frank Fernandez, deputy fire marshal.

Firefighters found Walter's body in the house after putting out the fire. The investigation is being done jointly by the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, the State Fire Marshal and the Hillsborough County Fire Marshal.

Mrs. Krizmanich said her son was never married and has no children. If he saw a family behind him at a fast food drive-through, he would sometimes pay their food bill in a random act of kindness, she said.

"He couldn't say no to anyone," she said. "He was always giving and sharing."

Walter was the fourth of her five children.

"I called him my quiet child," she said. "He was just always quiet, watching everything around him. He was a very peaceful soul."

Funeral arrangements are being handled by Moss-Feaster Funeral Home Serenity Gardens Chapel in Largo.

- Tim Grant can be reached at 813 269-5311 or at grant@sptimes.com

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