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    Tampa Bay briefs

    By Times staff and wire reports

    © St. Petersburg Times, published May 27, 2001


    Woman injured in fall from her watercraft

    HOLIDAY -- A woman was severely injured Saturday afternoon when she fell or jumped from her personal watercraft and crashed into a floating marker off Anclote River Park in Pasco County, rescue officials said.

    The woman, whose name was not released, was unconscious and bleeding from her nose when she was flown to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, said District Chief Timothy Fussell of Pasco County Fire Rescue. She was pulled from the water about 3 p.m. and brought to shore, he said.

    The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission assisted in the rescue, Pasco County sheriff's officials said. Commission spokesman Gary Morse said Saturday that he could not release any additional information about the crash.

    Police say dead woman was victim of murder

    TAMPA -- Police decided Saturday that a 72-year-old woman found dead in her home was murdered.

    Theresa Moore of 4409 N Branch Avenue hadn't been seen by neighbors for several weeks. They called police after noticing a foul odor.

    Officers found her decomposed body in a bedroom. Police have released no information about how Moore was slain.

    Warehouse fire causes $100,000 in damage

    ST. PETERSBURG -- A suspicious fire caused an estimated $100,000 worth of damage Saturday afternoon in a warehouse owned by Banks Supply Co.

    The storage building at the northwest corner of Third Avenue S and 21st Street contained PVC pipe, firefighters said. The fire caused about $60,000 worth of damage to the building and burned about $40,000 worth of inventory, said Acting District Chief Rich Johnson of the St. Petersburg Fire Department.

    The fire started about 5:30 p.m. Fire inspectors weren't sure what caused it, but they considered it suspicious.

    Firefighters arrived to find a trash fire outside the building. Once they extinguished that, it became clear that flames had spread inside.

    Investigators did not think the fire was linked to a series of fires earlier this year in which an arsonist was setting trash fires outside downtown buildings. Saturday's fire did not quite fit the same pattern, and it may have been started unintentionally, said St. Petersburg Fire Lt. Chris Bengivengo.

    "The owners told us they had a problem with bums sleeping outside the doorway," Bengivengo said.

    Driver loses tire, dies in crash of sports car

    HUDSON -- Abelardo Castillo Jr. was driving north on U.S. 19 on Saturday afternoon when the left rear tire fell off his 1986 purple sports car, Florida Highway Patrol said.

    The car spun out of control, crossed the center line and slammed into an oncoming sport utility vehicle.

    Castillo, 41, was thrown from the car and killed, troopers said.

    Paul A. Lajoice, 33, of Clearwater, was driving the sport untility vehicle south on U.S. 19 near Ideal Lane at about 3:35 p.m., troopers said. He hit the passenger side of Castillo's car.

    Lajoice and his passenger, Marina P. Christodoulou, 28, also of Clearwater, suffered minor injuries.

    They were both taken to Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point.

    Poll shows Reno would give Gov. Bush a race

    TALLAHASSEE -- Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno has not decided yet whether she will run for governor next year, but she is already close behind Gov. Jeb Bush, according to a poll.

    Bush was ahead of Reno by 49 percent to 43 percent in a telephone poll of 600 likely voters conducted for the Miami Herald, which was to publish the results today. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

    The newspaper said it could contact neither Reno nor Bush to comment on the poll.

    Detectives begin possible homicide investigation

    Homicide detectives from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office began investigating on Saturday the death of a 43-year-old Tampa woman.

    Investigators identified the woman as Sandra Kushmer of 5819 Rose Lane, said spokesman Rod Reder. Her body was found by her mother in her mother's home at 8831 Ashman Road in Riverview shortly after 4 p.m. Saturday.

    Kushmer's younger brother, 40-year-old William Maddox, was severely injured and airlifted to Tampa General Hospital. He was in critical but stable condition Saturday night, said Reder.

    Maddox had been visiting his mother from California, and his sister Kushmer had been staying at their mother's house, he said. Both suffered blunt trauma, but Kushmer's cause of death has not been determined.

    Several hours after the body was found, deputies found Maddox's rental car abandoned at Harry's Bar on U.S. 41 near Gibsonton, said Reder.

    Kushmer's death is considered suspicious, said Reder, and probably will be ruled a homicide after the medical examiner finishes his investigation.

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