Kyle Aric Thomas says that hours after finding his father and his father's girlfriend slain, he called for a pizza.
By JAMAL THALJI, Times Staff Writer
Published April 12, 2005
Kyle Aric Thomas told detectives that he came home the night of Dec. 22, ate a sandwich and went to his bedroom to sleep.
The next morning, he woke up and discovered the bodies of his father, Craig Thomas, and his father's girlfriend, Irene Rita Martin.
That afternoon, he ordered pizza.
That's the account the 27-year-old Thomas gave to detectives of his activities during the time authorities suspect the Zephyrhills couple was killed in their home.
Thomas is the prime suspect in those killings. A grand jury indicted him Feb. 9 on two counts of first-degree murder. April 4, he returned to Pasco County from a Georgia jail, where he was held after authorities found him at a gas station pay phone.
That account, as well as new information in the killings, was revealed in recent court filings.
Craig Thomas, 54, and Irene Rita Martin, 45, had been repeatedly stabbed and beaten, authorities said, and their bodies found in their Lawanda Loop double-wide mobile home Jan. 4 by a police officer checking on their well-being.
Kyle Thomas, who lived with his father, was gone. A neighbor said he saw Craig Thomas' 1979 gray Oldsmobile Toronado peel out of the victims' driveway about 1:30 a.m. Dec. 26.
The couple was last seen at a Walgreens pharmacy at 8:47 p.m. Dec. 22 on surveillance cameras, court documents said.
According to those documents, when the bodies were discovered Jan. 4, Martin was found "semi" clothed, in the bathtub, her throat cut so that she was nearly decapitated.
Craig Thomas was discovered in the shower, stabbed numerous times, the documents say.
The home's thermostat was set at 55 degrees, according to the documents, and there were no signs of forced entry.
Police learned that Kyle Thomas had been living with his father, had keys to the residence and had not been seen at work at the Clock Restaurant since Dec. 21, the documents said.
A Florida Department of Law Enforcement technician told detectives that the carpets had been steam-cleaned, the documents said, though blood droplets were found on the walls, ceilings, a couch and a chair.
Further testing revealed large amounts of blood had been on the carpet, as well as the couch and chair.
Kyle Thomas and his father's car were tracked to Villa Rica, Ga., where police arrested him. Bartow County authorities took Kyle Thomas into custody, and he served time for violation of probation and traffic charges before waiving extradition to Pasco.
According to court documents, Zephyrhills police Detectives Jeff McDougal and Ken Keith and Pasco sheriff's Detective Allen Proctor questioned Thomas on Jan. 7 at the Bartow County Sheriff's Office in Cartersville, Ga., the day after his arrest.
When McDougal told Thomas that detectives knew he had not been to work Dec. 22, the documents said, Thomas had no response.
Thomas then told the detectives he had been in a drug-induced stupor from Dec. 23-27 and could not recall what happened Dec. 22, according to the documents. Thomas said he spent those five days by himself in the residence, with the bodies, according to documents, and said the killings and cleaning of the crime scene must have taken place while he slept Dec. 22.
But Thomas told detectives he did order delivery twice from Pizza Hut, the documents said, and an employee said he saw Thomas playing the computer game WarCraft III when he brought a pizza there Dec. 23.
According to the documents, Thomas told detectives sometimes he looked in and spent time with his father's body.
Thomas told detectives he packed his belongings and computer and left Dec. 28 in his father's car. Thomas, who was held without bail in the Pasco County jail, pleaded not guilty to the charges April 5.
