Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Camera missing in Ocala slayings

Authorities want to see what's on the waterproof disposable that the suspect bought the day before the shootings.

By JACOB H. FRIES, ALEX LEARY and CURTIS KRUEGER
Published January 14, 2006

LARGO - Among the supplies Leo L. Boatman bought the day before authorities say he gunned down two campers in the Ocala National Forest was a waterproof disposable camera.

Now investigators want to find it.

If recovered, the camera could provide a glimpse into the crimes or the mind of Boatman, 19, whom investigators have described as an aspiring serial killer.

"We don't know what might be on the camera, but we'd sure like to have a look," said Marion County sheriff's Capt. Dennis Strow.

Detectives did not find it in the pond where the bodies were discovered Jan. 7 or at the Largo mobile home where Boatman lived. Strow said Boatman may have brought the camera back to Pinellas County to have the film developed.

"You find certain criminal elements do stupid things ... including videotaping themselves," Strow said.

Also, on Friday, the Marion County Sheriff's Office released a crime scene photograph of a tree that had its bark carved into what detectives described as "an angry face." The carving appeared fresh, but investigators could not say whether Boatman made it or why.

Boatman took a Greyhound bus from Largo to Marion County on Jan. 3, authorities said. He stopped at a Wal-Mart in Silver Springs and bought $391 worth of camping gear. Then he spent $151 at a campground store, including $21 for the camera.

Detectives said he then hiked into a secluded area of the forest called Hidden Pond, found two college students, Amber Marie Peck and John Parker, and shot them to death with an AK-47 assault rifle. He later told a friend that he tried unsuccessfully to submerge the bodies, authorities said.

"I think he was definitely a serial killer in the making, and he was maybe fulfilling a dream," Strow said.

Boatman was arrested Tuesday on first-degree murder charges and slept during most of the drive up to Marion County, authorities said.

He has an extensive criminal record dating back to age 10, the year his mother drowned in a river. His father was never part of his life, a relative said.

In 1997, he was arrested by Pinellas County sheriff's deputies on charges of arson and burglary. Two years later, St. Petersburg police arrested him on charges of criminal mischief and grand larceny.

Boatman ended up in foster homes when family could not control him, his uncle Vick Boatman said. He was put in the juvenile justice system at 12 and stayed until his release in August, he said.

After that, Boatman landed a job at Hooters and enrolled at St. Petersburg College, where he qualified for a Pell Grant and state aid. He started classes Monday and had signed up for four courses: composition, elementary algebra, keyboarding and applied ethics.

Several people who met Boatman in recent months described him as a young man who at times appeared calm and friendly and, at other times, seemed strange or angry.

Stephanie Lopez, 20, who worked with Boatman at Hooters on Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard in Clearwater, said they had become close friends and hung out outside of work.

"He was very cool," she said. "He showed no signs of being a bad person at all. He was actually a gentleman."

On Jan. 7, three days after authorities think the slayings took place, Boatman came into the restaurant to eat and watch the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' playoff game. When Lopez got ready to go home, she looked at him.

"He had a look that I've never seen before," she said. "When Leo usually smiled at me, he seemed very happy. But this time his smile seemed very evil. Something wasn't right. But I didn't bother to ask him anything."

Dennis Segall, 62, a retired teacher, said he had met Boatman twice and even considered giving him a temporary home after he was released from the juvenile system.

During their conversations, Boatman talked about his childhood.

"He said, "I spent all of my life locked up,"' Segall said. "He just went through a hell of a life, and it made him angry."

Jacob H. Fries can be reached at 727 445-4156 or jfries@sptimes.com

[Last modified January 14, 2006, 01:38:14]