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Police think man killed dancer, self
By LINDA GIBSON © St. Petersburg Times, published December 9, 2000 TAMPA -- The discovery Friday of a woman's body in her Tampa apartment has led police to conclude her boyfriend stabbed her to death several days ago, then killed himself in a Pasco County hotel room. A worried relative asked police to check on 20-year-old Melissa Crossgrove early Friday. About 4 a.m., police found her body in the back bedroom of the two-bedroom apartment she had shared with 22-year-old David L. Rentz. She had been stabbed repeatedly, Tampa police spokesman Joe Durkin said. On Monday, Rentz had checked into the Days Inn on U.S. 19 in Port Richey. Tuesday, he paid for another night and called the front desk about 2:30 p.m. to say he was dying, Pasco sheriff's spokesman Kevin Doll said. Paramedics found him sitting naked in a chair. He had used pieces of a broken glass ash tray to slash his wrists, and had bled in the bathtub and in a small trash can, Doll said. He left a note on a small hotel writing pad that said, "I'm sorry." Autopsy results for Crossgrove and Rentz hadn't been released Friday night, but police are investigating Crossgrove's death as a murder and Rentz's as a suicide. The two moved into the Westshore Apartments at 4601 Grayview Court a few months ago. Crossgrove worked as a dancer at Thee Dollhouse Lounge on Westshore Boulevard. Neither had any criminal records in Hillsborough County. Their families declined to comment, but both came from Ohio.
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