Week in review

By Times staff writer

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 8, 2000

HOME INVASION IN TAMPA PALMS: A Tampa Palms apartment dweller was the victim of an armed home invasion Wednesday morning, marking the third time in two weeks that police responded to a crime involving a weapon in New Tampa.

Joel Strehle, 28, of Live Oak Plantation apartments said he was ambushed by two men shortly after his alarm clock went off at 6:15 a.m.

Police say Josef Langlois, 19, and Bryan Anthony Jackson, 22, cut through Strehle's screened porch and entered his home through a sliding glass door he had left slightly ajar. Strehle said they threatened to kill him if he resisted. They forced him to the floor and tied him up with telephone wire and fishing line. By 7 a.m., they left with $23 in cash, about $10 in coins, a credit card, a CD player and the keys to Strehle's 1999 Chevy Malibu. Strehle then managed to untie himself and call 911.

The suspects were caught in Brandon by sheriff's deputies after a chase that ended in a three-car collision and sent one innocent motorist to the hospital with minor injuries.

Tampa police arrested both on charges of armed home invasion, grand theft and false imprisonment.

HAMPTONS SITE COULD GROW: The attorney for Toll Brothers Inc., the developer of the proposed 645-acre Grand Hampton project in New Tampa, has a client who wants to annex 270 acres directly west of the project. City records suggest the 270 acres would be developed in connection to Grand Hampton. In an August letter, Mayor Dick Greco said the developer intends to absorb some of the 1,599 homes already approved for Grand Hampton "without any increase in density for the project."

Before the city can seek state approval, the land must be annexed. The City Council is scheduled to consider the proposed plan amendment at a public hearing Nov. 2.

NEW SCHOOLS NAMED: The new elementary school in the VillaRosa development in Lutz will be called Yvonne McKitrick Elementary, the Hillsborough School Board decided Tuesday. During her career, Yvonne McKitrick has served as a teacher, principal, supervisor and School Board member.

Town 'N Country's new high school will be called Braulio Alonso High School in honor of the Hillsborough High graduate who influenced generations of educators. Braulio Alonso was championed by University of South Florida President Judy Genshaft and leaders from the city's Latin community. Countryway residents had lobbied to honor New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, but the board went with Alonso instead.

A name for the new elementary school in Tampa Palms won't be decided until Nov. 14, after Superintendent Earl Lennard brings a recommendation on whether to split grades between that school and the existing Tampa Palms Elementary.

TODDLER DIES IN HOME FIRE: An 18-month-old boy died Thursday afternoon when a fire quickly destroyed the family's Citrus Park mobile home. Fire officials said Friday that the fire was started by his 4-year-old brother playing with matches. Robert Chillura Sr., 25, was taking a nap when 4-year-old Robert Jr. woke him up and told him the home was on fire. Chillura got his older son out of the house and then turned to go back in for the baby, Michael, but a wall of flames blocked his path.

By the time firefighters arrived at 4:50 p.m., the fire was too big to get inside, said Hillsborough County Fire Rescue Chief Ray Yeakley.

"Firefighters went in as soon as they had suppressed the fire and tried to rescue the baby, but he had died," Yeakley said. Michael likely succumbed to smoke inhalation before the fire ever reached him, Yeakley said.

The boy's father suffered first-degree burns, which redden the skin, over 10 percent of his body from his attempt to rescue Michael.

The boys' mother, April Horn Chillura, 25, arrived home from work shortly after the fire and became hysterical when she learned of the tragedy.

The family was staying at a motel provided by the Red Cross on Friday.

JOHNSTON CONVICTED AGAIN: Raymond Lamar Johnston, who faces execution for killing a Northdale woman, was convicted Friday of a second local murder.

Johnston was found guilty Friday of first-degree murder in the death of Janice Marie Nugent, a 47-year-old massage therapist found dead Feb. 7, 1997, in her Seminole Heights home.

A grand jury indicted Johnston in 1999, two weeks after he was found guilty of murdering LeAnne Coryell, a 30-year-old dental assistant from Northdale. Police linked Johnston to Nugent soon after his arrest in the Coryell case. Employees at Malio's restaurant said he and Nugent were seen there together several times. Johnston told the Times that he had dated Nugent once, months before she was killed.

Johnston, a 45-year-old businessman with a long prison record for raping women, said he left after Nugent poured burning hot oil on him in preparation for a massage. She was discovered in her bathtub, beaten and strangled, with no signs of forced entry into her home.

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