Documents filed to obtain cell phone records in a Bayside Meadows woman's death add details to the case.
By AARON SHAROCKMAN
Published October 29, 2003
OLDSMAR - A woman killed inside her home this month was repeatedly stabbed in the chest and back, according to a recently filed court document.
Inside Karen Pannell's home, detectives found "Roc" written in blood on the wall where she was found, according to a sworn statement from Pinellas County sheriff's Detective Michael Holbrook.
"Roc" is the first name of Pannell's former boyfriend, who detectives said does not live in the area. That man has an alibi on the night of her death and is not a suspect in the case, officials said.
Pannell, a 39-year-old airline customer service employee, was found Oct. 11 at her home at 2030 Montego Court in the Bayside Meadows neighborhood.
In an affidavit to obtain a search warrant for the messages on Pannell's cell phone, Holbrook said that Pannell's current boyfriend, Timothy A. Permenter, 36, of Clearwater, told investigators that he last saw Pannell at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 10. He then discovered the body at 10:30 a.m. the following morning.
But witnesses told detectives they saw Permenter and his vehicle at Pannell's home at 9:30 p.m. Oct. 10. A witness also saw his car near her home at 2:45 a.m. the next morning.
Pannell "was in a dispute" with Permenter but had "continuing contact" with him, Holbrook said in the affidavit.
Sheriff's spokesman Detective Tim Goodman said Tuesday investigators have not said whether Permenter is a suspect in Pannell's death. He would not comment on the case or the information in the search warrant affidavit.
As a result of the search warrant, which was executed Oct. 20, detectives collected five voice mail messages, 12 text messages and 10 "quick notes," which are short prewritten text messages.
Meanwhile, Permenter was held without bail from Oct. 17 until Tuesday morning at the Pinellas County Jail on a charge that he violated his probation in a 1990 Leon County gun fight. On Tuesday, he was transferred to Leon County.
In 1990, Permenter, who owned a small chain of escort services, was involved in a turf war with another escort business, according to newspaper accounts. He was sentenced in 1991 to 20 years in prison on charges that include attempted first-degree murder, racketeering and kidnapping, according to state prison records.
Permenter was paroled Sept. 1, 2002, and placed on probation until September 2017. Joe Papy, regional director for the Florida Department of Corrections, said Pinellas sheriff's deputies arrested Permenter, whose name is spelled three different ways on various public records, on Oct. 17 for leaving Pinellas County without notifying his probation officer.
Michael R. Pannell, Karen Pannell's brother who lives in Macon, Ga., said detectives are awaiting the results of DNA testing from samples at the crime scene.
Karen Pannell was a model and then a flight attendant, who worked for the past 12 years for American Airlines as a customer service agent at Tampa International Airport.
She was one of six children and the only girl.
Pannell, whom her family has described as beautiful and intelligent, had also been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, according to her family.
"She was an amazingly bright and intelligent individual," said her ex-husband, Jeff Paine, 46, of Safety Harbor.
- Staff writer Chris Tisch and staff researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Aaron Sharockman can be reached at 771-4303 or asharockman@sptimes.com
