Death in Britain brings visit to Tampa

Detectives arrive in Florida hoping to locate a couple that might have insight into an investigation in England.

By KATHRYN WEXLER

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 19, 2000

TAMPA -- Still looking a bit rumpled from their cross-Atlantic flight the night before, two English detectives stood in the lobby of the Tampa Police Department headquarters Tuesday and made a special plea to the American news media: Help us find two people who may know something about a suspicious death some 4,000 miles away that occurred six years ago.

Detective Inspector Martyn Underhill, wearing a checked short-sleeved shirt with khakis and bemoaning how he didn't have time to change into a suit, said they need to talk to Don and Cathy Hutson.

At issue is a 40-year-old English woman jailed in the County of Sussex, 50 miles south of London. Dena Webb is charged with trying to murder her third husband Jan. 2 with a baseball bat and knife at their home -- "a nice cottage," Underhill said.

But the detectives want information about how Webb's second husband died. Julian Webb swallowed 73 aspirin tablets in 1994 while married to Webb. The overdose always seemed suspicious, Underhill said, and all the more so now that Dena Webb is accused of attacking her third husband for financial gain.

How all this relates to Tampa is the Webbs vacationed frequently in the area and on one trip befriended Don and Cathy Hutson. Julian Webb, an avid fisherman, met Don Hutson at a now-closed Clearwater tackle shop where he worked, and the Hutsons wrote them letters around the time Webb died, Underhill said.

"We've got a letter from them suggesting they knew what was going on," Underhill said.

Even with help from the Tampa Police Department, the couple could not be found Tuesday afternoon. Detectives said the last address they had for the couple was on West Shore Boulevard.

A St. Petersburg Times researcher plied public records databases late Tuesday and found a number for Bonnie Goldman, owner of the defunct tackle shop. Goldman, reached by phone, said she remembered the English couple and how Don Hutson told her he thought Dena Webb's explanation of her husband's death sounded "strange."

Said Goldman, "He said it sounded so phoney."

She also said Don's full name was Brandon Hutson. That was enough for the Times researcher to locate a home number in Fort Lauderdale. Cathy Hutson was listed at the number, too, except her name was spelled Kathy.

"Oh my gosh!" said Kathy Hutson, when reached about 10 p.m. Tuesday and told that two English detectives had flown to Tampa to find her and her husband and made a public plea to the news media for help in locating them.

Mrs. Hutson said Don was friendly with the English couple and that she only met them once or twice.

When asked whether Dena Webb ever said anything incriminating to Don Hutson about Julian Webb's death, Mrs. Hutson said, "No, not that I know of. From what I know, she had her own story and that was that."

Mrs. Hutson said she never knew authorities considered the death suspicious. And she also said she was surprised a reporter was able to contact her.

"I was truly amazed because it's been five years and we moved three times and have an unlisted number," she said.

She said her husband was in Orlando, where they are moving, and that she would give him the number for the Tampa Police Department. "I'm sure he'll call tomorrow," she said late Tuesday.

- Times researcher John Martin contributed to this report.

- Kathryn Wexler can be reached at (813) 226-3386 or wexler@sptimes.com.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.