Tampabay: Identity of victims at Seffner home revealed

TAMPA -- Two days after finding five bodies and an armed man in a Seffner home, officials identified the victims Sunday as four members of an extended family and a girl in their care.

Nancy Marlins, 57, owned the Lakewood Drive home where she lived with four people she had taken in: her sister and brother-in-law, Lillie and Barry Cacciamani, age 56 and 47; Lillie Cacciamani's daughter Connie Carter, 40; and Michele Murtha, 12.

Officials said all five died of "blunt trauma" but also said that could include shooting, stabbing, beating or hitting with an object. They wouldn't be more specific.

Still in custody Sunday -- but not charged with the deaths -- was Marlins' 25-year-old grandson Dexter Alonzo Levingston, who also lived at the home. Deputies found Levingston, who is deaf, crouching in the garage with a gun in his hand. He was taken into custody after a standoff at the home Friday.

Deputies have not named Levingston a suspect. He is being held without bail on three charges of aggravated assault on deputies.

On Sunday three big questions remained unanswered: What happened? Who could do such a thing? And why?

"I want to know who did what," said William A. Dennis, Levingston's stepfather. "If Dexter killed some of them, then we'll deal with that. But I don't want him to be blamed for something he didn't do. We should all just be waiting for the truth to come out. That's all we can do."

Sheriff's deputies offered little information about what happened inside as they continued to investigate at the scene Sunday.

Sgt. Rod Reder, a spokesman for the Sheriff's Office, would not comment on Levingston's hearing impairment, but said deputies were visible during the 31/2-hour standoff. He was forced out after they fired tear gas into the one-story home.

"Obviously, he saw us standing there," Reder said. "He saw the team. He saw them motioning for him to come out, as well as a bullhorn and a telephone."

Dennis said his stepson Levingston is so deaf that he would not be able to hear a knock at the door, a ringing telephone or commands barked into a bullhorn.

"It's not like we're trying to hide anything," Dennis said. "We just don't know anything. The Sheriff's Office isn't telling us anything."

Neighbors said they did not hear gunshots.

Reder would not comment on the causes of death, choosing to use a vague term like blunt trauma "until we are ready to give the exact cause of death," he said.

"Sometimes what may appear to be the cause (is not)," he said. "Your first glance tells you this person was obviously shot, and then autopsy says they were stabbed to death."

Deputies discovered the bodies Friday after Marlins and Lillie Cacciamani failed to show up for work. Both are employed by Hillsborough County school district.

Marlins assisted disabled children as they traveled on buses to and from Hillsborough schools. Her sister was a bus driver for the district.

Authorities were unsure of Marlins' relationship with Michele Murtha, who attended Dover Elementary School. Tom Jones, a spokesman for Florida's Department of Children and Families, said Marlins was not listed as a foster parent and the department had no record of Michele. Reder said a relative came up from Sarasota to identify the girl.

In the Seffner neighborhood where Marlins had lived for nearly 10 years, friends and neighbors remembered her as a kind-hearted woman who opened her home to family.

Betty Williams met Marlins in 1991, shortly after Marlins and her husband moved into the neighborhood. They took walks together and always addressed each other as "Miss Williams" and "Miss Marlins," never by their first names, respecting a Southern tradition.

"She took care of everyone," Williams said. "She would always say yes, no matter how tired she was. She was never too busy to do anything for anybody. She had more patience than anyone I know."

One person she came to depend on, Dennis said, was her grandson Levingston.

After her husband died, Marlins and Levingston lived alone together.

"He loved his grandmother so much," Williams said.

Levingston worked for Sonya Barcena, a neighbor across the street whose family owned Rigatoni Italian Eatery, a restaurant and caterer.

"He was a nice guy who would help anybody," Barcena said. "But his temperament was different. One minute, he'd be happy and giggling, the next minute he'd be real quiet."

Levingston has previous arrests for drugs, drunken driving and resisting arrest in Hillsborough County dating back to 1995.

Williams said the rest of the family moved into the home in the past six months.

"A lot of family kept moving in and out," said Blanche Copeland, a neighbor. "We couldn't keep track. (But) there was nothing to give you a clue that anything could have been wrong."

At Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church, Marlins often brought homemade pies and attended regular services. She also brought Michele.

The Rev. C.P. Epps briefly addressed the tragedy in his sermon.

"Our old ship of Mount Olive is going through some trouble right now," he told the congregation.

He asked them to pray for the families but urged them not to speculate.

"We've got to wait," he said. "We all live one day at a time."

- Times staff writer Amy Wimmer and staff researcher John Martin contributed to this report.