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Police identify victim in apartment complex murder

By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
Published January 25, 2005

TAMPA - Hillsborough County Sheriff's investigators have identified the victim in Sunday's murder at the Camden Apartments as a woman who was dating her alleged killer.

But they continued to withhold details Monday about the manner and motive of 19-year-old Amy Montgomery's murder.

Raul H. Hankilevitz, 28, was arrested Sunday shortly after authorities found Montgomery's body inside his first-floor apartment at 8432 Camden St., Apt. B.

Hillsborough Sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said investigators originally went to the apartment in response to a 911 call in which someone reported there had been a suicide. But when they arrived shortly before 11 a.m., they determined Montgomery died of "blunt trauma," not suicide.

Investigators questioned three people - including Hankilevitz - who live in the apartment and are believed to have been there when Montgomery was killed, Carter said.

She would not identify the other two witnesses, but neighbors said Hankilevitz moved to the apartment about 18 months ago, and that he lived there with his mother and brother.

They said they saw Montgomery coming and going with Hankilevitz, a former Miami-Dade County resident with a lengthy criminal history.

Investigators arrested Hankilevitz on Sunday afternoon on one count of first-degree murder. He is being held without bail in the Orient Road jail.

State criminal records show he has a rap sheet dating back to 1994. He has served probation for crimes including burglary and larceny, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. He now works as a telemarketer, according to county jail records.

Little is known about Montgomery. Public records show no blood relatives. Carter said her next of kin was a foster parent. She was living at 8507 Woodburn Court in Town 'N Country, according to sheriff's officials.

Property records show that house is owned by Jesse B. Brown Jr. of Lutz. He said he rents out the 1,700-square-foot home through a real estate management company, and he does not know anything about the people renting it.

Montgomery's former address, 141010 Briarthorn Dr., has been owned since 1999 by American Habilitation Services of Texas, property records show. Montgomery lived there in 2003, records show.

American Habilitation provides support and live-in care for people with disabilities, according to the group's Web site.

--Staff researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report. Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler can be reached at 813 226-3373 or svansickler@sptimes.com

[Last modified January 25, 2005, 01:17:11]