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No motive is obvious in murder-suicide

By ABBIE VANSICKLE
Published September 1, 2006

TAMPA - James E. Mangrum walked into his 86-year-old stepfather's kitchen Thursday morning, pulled out a handgun and killed him, then turned the gun on himself, deputies say.

Mangrum's sister, who also lives in the mobile home, was in her room at the time and heard the first shot. She went into the kitchen, where she found her stepfather dead on the floor, deputies say.

Mangrum, 66, told her that he had shot his stepfather, Maynard Isaac Powell. He said he planned to kill himself, too, she told deputies.

He asked her to go into another room. She did. Moments later, she heard another gunshot, investigators said.

When Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies arrived at the home at 6431 County Line Road, they found both men dead, said sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter.

Both suffered from chronic illnesses, Carter said. But deputies don't really know how to explain the murder-suicide, she said. No note was left behind.

The men shared the same plot of land along County Line Road in rural Hillsborough County - Powell in the off-white, wood-trimmed mobile home, Mangrum in a large brick house ringed by a chain-link fence.

A woman carrying cleaning supplies into the mobile home Thursday afternoon said she was related to Powell, but she declined to comment, as did a woman at Mangrum's home.

Between the house and the mobile home sits a construction company office.

Xochitl Thrasher, 47, works there and said Mangrum was her landlord.

She wasn't at work yet when the shootings happened, but she knew both men.

"It was very shocking," she said.

Powell, who walked with a cane, was friendly and always said hello, she said.

She described Mangrum as "just an average person."

"He was a nice guy, too," she said.

Deputies had been called to the home earlier this month, Carter said.

On Aug. 13, deputies were told Powell was threatening family members with his cane, she said.

But by the time deputies arrived, they were told the family had worked things out, and the deputies left. No report was written, Carter said.

Researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report. Abbie VanSickle can be reached at 813 226-3373 or vansickle@sptimes.com.

[Last modified September 1, 2006, 05:55:52]