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JAMIE JONESPolice say the victim was to testify against the husband in a battery case, so the wife shot her.
PINELLAS PARK - They got married on the Fourth of July.
A day later, police say, the new bride fatally shot a woman who had dated her husband.
Ashley Christine Humphrey, 21, of Brandon was charged Thursday with first-degree murder. Her husband, Timothy "Tracey" Humphrey, 37, was arrested on federal gun possession charges.
Police think Ashley Humphrey waited for a blond bartender, Sandra Lee Rozzo, to pull into her garage at a Pinellas Park townhouse on July 5.
Then, police said, she approached the woman's BMW convertible and shot her multiple times at close range.
Rozzo, 37, later died at the hospital.
Friends said Rozzo had been in a good mood the night of her death, hugging co-workers before leaving the Green Iguana Bar & Grill in Rocky Point just before 11 p.m.
The two women did not know each other, police said. But Humphrey's husband had dated Rozzo after meeting her at an Ybor City nightclub in November 2001.
Rozzo had accused Timothy Humphrey of beating and sexually assaulting her.
The case was scheduled for trial Aug. 4, a month before Rozzo's death. But prosecutors were relying on Rozzo's testimony and have since abandoned the case, a spokeswoman said.
Police handcuffed the couple at their personal training business, Body Logic, on Cook Street in Brandon. The pair had been renting a small mirrored room there for about two months.
The murder weapon has not been recovered, Pinellas Park Sgt. Paul J. Andrews said, but he thinks Ashley Humphrey borrowed a firearm from a relative in Hillsborough County.
Ashley Humphrey, of 409 Sadie St. W #C in Brandon, has no prior criminal history in Florida. Timothy Humphrey has been arrested at least eight times since 1986. He was released from prison in 2001 after he was convicted of kidnapping, aggravated battery, aggravated assault and grand theft motor vehicle in 1998.
From the start, Timothy Humphrey was a possible suspect, said Andrews, but police do not have evidence linking him to the shooting. He met Rozzo in November 2001 at Club Inferno in Ybor City. Humphrey worked as a doorman; Rozzo served drinks in the VIP room upstairs.
They went Christmas shopping in December, and he kissed her goodbye, according to a statement she gave prosecutors.
After they worked together New Year's Eve, he was angry because he felt she had disrespected him, prosecutors said. He left 23 messages on her answering machine.
She went to an attorney, but decided not to prosecute. Instead, she called him and apologized, prosecutors said.
He gave her a Victoria's Secret package for her birthday on Jan. 17, 2002. But several days later, he got angry at dinner because he thought she was flirting with another man, prosecutors said. Later, he went back to the restaurant and threatened the man, a friend told Rozzo.
In February, Rozzo tried to break off the relationship. She still loved her old boyfriend, with whom she had been living, she told prosecutors.
But she continued seeing Humphrey. In late February, she said, he beat her, spit on her, tore her pajamas and forced her to have sex. She waited five days before reporting the incident. Humphrey was charged with felony battery.
Friends were surprised by his arrest Thursday.
"He's polite, sweet, gentle," said Kelly Terrell, 20, a massage therapist and the couple's landlord.
She described Ashley Humphrey as "small and bubbly and funny."
Terrell, who lives in Brandon, said she was with Timothy Humphrey when he received a telephone call informing him of Rozzo's death.
"He got really, really pale," she said. He said he was going to throw up and went to the bathroom, she said.
Before her death, Rozzo had moved into a townhouse at 7818 66th Way N with her boyfriend. Also a nutritionist and personal trainer, she had a 13-year-old daughter.
"She had a zest for life," Andrews said. "She enjoyed doting on her daughter."
- Times staff writers Anne Lindberg and Janet Zink contributed to this report. Jamie Jones can be reached at 727 893-8455 or jjones@sptimes.com