Brian and Michele Main, both 35, had been arrested in February and were each charged with production, possession and distribution of child pornography.
By STEVE THOMPSON
Published October 23, 2004
NEW PORT RICHEY - An FBI-sponsored task force in February searched the home at 4527 Blanche St. and arrested on child pornography charges the married couple that lived there.
A federal judge in Tampa on Friday set a November trial date for Brian and Michele Main.
Friday evening, their bodies were found inside their Blanche Street home.
Neighbor Jeff Lambert told the Times that Brian Main's brother came to his door about 6 p.m. and asked him to check on the couple. The brother told him that he had found a note just inside the house asking family members to look after the couple's dog, Lambert said. Something had to be wrong.
Lambert knocked on the door. He yelled their names and got no answer. So he asked the brother where the couple's bedroom was.
"I walked in and I got about 5 feet from the foot of the bed," Lambert said, "and I saw blood on her face and walked out."
Lambert said the last time he and his wife had seen Michelle and Brian Main was Wednesday evening.
On Friday night, Pasco sheriff's officials confirmed the bodies were those of Brian and Michele Main. Sheriff's spokesman Kevin Doll said the cause of death still was unknown, but carbon monoxide poisoning was suspected because a charcoal grill with burnt embers was found in the bedroom with the bodies. It appears to have been either a double suicide or a murder-suicide, Doll said. The couple had been dead little more than a day, Doll said.
Brian and Michele Main, both 35, were arrested by an FBI-sponsored task force on Feb. 20 and were each charged with production, possession and distribution of child pornography.
They posted their Blanche Street home as bond and were released from custody later that day.
Records from the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida indicate that the Mains pleaded not guilty on March 25 to the charges.
On Friday, federal Judge Elizabeth A. Kovachevich set the couple's trial for Nov. 29.
The couple has no history of previous arrests in Florida, according to state documents, and had lived on Blanche Street for four years.
Lambert said Brian Main had maintained their innocence of the child pornography charges. They had had a Web site, Main had said. But "he said everything was above board," Lambert said.
"He wasn't real sure how the charges would go," Lambert said, "but he was always looking at the positive side of it."
Staff writer Colleen Jenkins and researcher Carolyn Edds contributed to this story.
