Boyfriend a 'person of interest'

Relationships complicate the inquiry into the slaying, authorities say.

By JOEL ANDERSON, Times Staff Writer
Published January 12, 2008

ADVERTISEMENT Dominique Lewis' body was found Dec. 11 at the end of a remote road in Hernando County.

BROOKSVILLE - The lead Hernando investigator in the slayingof a 19-year-old St. Petersburg woman said Friday that detectives have identified several "people of interest" in the month since her body was found at the end of a remote two-lane road inHernando County.

One of those people is Dominique Lewis' boyfriend, Jeremy Grisby, who has been in the Pinellas County Jail since Dec. 14 on an unrelated charge of sexual battery. His bond has been set at $100,000.

"We've talked to him at length for almost 20 hours of interviews," Sgt. Bill Beetz of the Hernando County Sheriff's Office told the Times on Friday. "But he's a suspect with everybody else. We've also talked to some other people of interest in this investigation."

Beetz's disclosure of the interest in Lewis' boyfriend was one of several things he revealed during his first interview since being assigned to the case. He also said:

- The investigation has been complicated because of the number of relationships that Lewis started through Internet dating sites and a profile on the social networking site MySpace. "She utilized a dating service, which makes our investigation take many twists and turns because of the amount of people that she had different relationships with," Beetz said. Many of those relationships involvedsex, he said.

- Detectives have not determined Lewis' link to Hernando County or why she may have been in the area. But Beetz said Lewis made contact with people from a wide range of areas through Internet sites, including Hernando and Pasco counties, Orlando and St. Petersburg.

- Lewis' last known address was the Bay Breeze Motel in St. Petersburg but she was known to frequent several motels and strip clubs in the area. "She may have been visiting other people at these motels," Beetz said. Lewis paid for a room at Bay Breeze on Nov. 20 and checked out Nov. 30. Beetz also said that Grisby was believed to have paid for other motel rooms where Lewis may have stayed.

- The last time anyone was known to have contact with Lewis was on Nov. 26, when she was stopped for a couple of traffic violations in St. Petersburg. She was ticketed for driving with a suspended license and for an equipment violation. After her body was found, authorities eventually discovered her vehicle in the parking lot of a Fat Boys Beauty Supply storein St. Petersburg.

- Detectives found certain pieces of evidence near the spot where Lewis' body was found at the end of Brooksville Rock Road, next to the train tracks and amid tall trees and thick brush. Beetz declined to identify the evidence, but said the items were sent to a private lab to expedite a return on the results. He expects the results back in about four to six weeks.

Beetz and other Hernando detectives have been working out of an office at the St. Petersburg Police Department since Lewis' body was found Dec. 11. He estimated the Sheriff's Office has invested more than 300 hours of overtime, out of about 1,000 hours of investigation, into solving the only reported homicide in Hernando in 2007.

"This investigation has been extremely difficult because so many people that need to be contacted and interviewed," Beetz said. "Our focus has been trying to figure out who our victim was.

"Being in Hernando County, we don't have any knowledge of what she was about. So trying to find out who she associated with ... a lot of those people she was secretively associating with.

"Many of the friends and family that we're asking for names, they're not able to provide information. I don't think the family was aware of all these different relationships she may have had," he said.

A day earlier, Dominique Lewis' mother expressed frustration with the reticence and the pace of the investigation. She told the Times on Thursday that she had grown weary of dealing with the Hernando detectives.

"They're not telling me anything," Mary Lewis said. "So I have to get my own information." Lewis didn't return a message left on her cell phone Friday afternoon.

Beetz confirmed Friday that detectives had struggled to get information out of the Lewis family. He said detectives met again with Lewis' mother and father and the mother's boyfriend for about two hours on Wednesday.

"It's been tough getting information from the family, friends and associates of our victim," Beetz said. "It seems like every time we have a conversation we get a little bit more information. But a lot of the information that we received as late as (Thursday), should have been information we received three to four weeks ago."

Meanwhile, Lewis' 20-year-old boyfriend, Grisby, remains behind bars in Pinellas County after being accused in the sexual battery of a 16-year-old girl. The alleged crime took place in an apartment that was being rented by Lewis, according to a report from the St. Petersburg Police Department.

The allegations of sexual battery came to light during the investigation into Lewis' death, according to the report. The victim was listed as a friend of Grisby's in the report.

Mary Lewis said Thursday her daughter moved out of their home two weeks before Christmas because she wouldn't allow Grisby to move in with them. Lewis called Grisby abusive.

"I had been telling her to leave him alone," Lewis said. "But when your child is grown, they're going to do whatever they want with anyone they want."

Grisby had several run-ins with the law before this latest arrest. He's been arrested on charges ranging from carrying a concealed weapon, criminal mischief and tampering with a witness, among others.

Anyone with information regarding this case should call the Hernando County Sheriff's Office at (352) 754-6830. Toll-free calls can be made anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-866-990-8477. A $1,000 reward has been offered in the case.

Joel Anderson can be reached at joelanderson@sptimes.com or 754-6120.

[Last modified January 11, 2008, 20:48:17]