Lou Cecere had been getting his life back in order after a few tough years, a friend said. He was found shot to death Thursday.
By NORA KOCH
Published June 12, 2004
CLEARWATER - Lou Cecere had just moved into a new place, all his own, and was ready to start fresh.
The tattoo artist had been through some rough patches over the past few years - his mother's death from cancer, a divorce - but was on his way out of a slump, said longtime friend and former business partner Jimmy Whitlock.
Then in the early morning hours on Thursday, Louis Cecere III, 31, was found shot to death in his newly rented home on Drew Street, where he had lived for just one week.
Clearwater police got a call at 1:17 a.m. from a woman who, after trying to reach Cecere by phone, went to his home and found him dead, spokesman Wayne Shelor said.
By 7 a.m. Thursday, police determined Cecere's death was a homicide. Investigators spent much of Thursday canvassing the neighborhood and collecting evidence near 1150 Drew St.
On Friday police were still working the case, Shelor said. At Cecere's residence, a white one-story house with green trim, the yard was littered with yellow police tape, the mailbox overflowed with uncollected mail and red evidence tape covered the lock on the front door.
And Friday, Whitlock, who partnered with Cecere a few years ago to start Lucky Supply, a medical and tattoo supply company, was grappling for an explanation for the killing of his friend of 12 years.
"It was a complete shock," Whitlock said.
Cecere was starting to get his life in order, Whitlock said. "He was trying to get back on his feet," he said.
Cecere, the father of a 3-year-old daughter, had recently divorced his wife. His mother, Julie Doggett, died of cancer in September 2002.
When Mrs. Doggett was in her last days, Cecere came by to visit her every day, said his grandmother, Emma Blank of Pittsburgh. Her oldest grandchild called her on Mother's Day, and told her that day he had tossed a red rose into the gulf, in the spot where they had thrown his mother's ashes.
She said the family, including his three brothers who live in the area, was having a difficult time with Cecere's sudden, puzzling death. "It was such a blow," said Blank, 81.
Cecere and Whitlock met the day both started work at a cabinet company. A few years later Cecere, who was a tattoo artist, opened his own tattoo parlor in St. Petersburg. He sold Ink Factory Tattoos on Tyrone Boulevard a few years later.
Then he and Whitlock started Lucky Supply, partly because Cecere was frustrated with his options for tattoo supplies.
"He was always trying to find places that had good tattoo supplies, so we decided to go ahead and open up our own," Whitlock said. About a year ago Cecere sold his part of the business to Whitlock.
Most recently, Cecere had started trimming trees to earn a living, Whitlock said.
Cecere himself was covered with tattoos, and still getting them, Whitlock said. Cecere's favorite was a tattoo on his leg of a devil-girl eating an apple with a snake wrapped around her, he said.
The Pinellas Park High School graduate was a good friend, Whitlock said. "He just really liked to hang out and have fun. . . . He was just superfriendly, would do anything in the world for any of his friends."
