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By Times staff writers
© St. Petersburg Times, published December 9, 2000
Man dies after falling out of boat
ST. PETERSBURG -- A 40-year-old husband and father died Friday afternoon after he fell out of a fishing boat in Smacks Bayou between Snell Isle and Shore Acres.
A friend jumped into the water and tried to rescue Mark Turnage, but it was too late. Turnage's family thinks he had a heart attack.
Turnage, a St. Petersburg Times employee who lived in northeast St. Petersburg, was pronounced dead shortly after 3:15 p.m. at St. Anthony's Hospital. He is survived by his wife, two sons from an earlier marriage and a daughter from his current marriage. He donated a kidney to a son two years ago.
TAMPA -- The discovery Friday of a woman's body in her Tampa apartment led police to conclude that her boyfriend stabbed her to death several days ago and then killed himself in a Pasco County hotel room.
A relative asked police to check on Melissa Crossgrove, 20, early Friday. About 4 a.m., police found her body in the apartment she had shared with David L. Rentz, 22. She had been stabbed repeatedly, police said.
On Monday, Rentz had checked into the Days Inn on U.S. 19 in Port Richey. On Tuesday, he 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 ashtray to slash his wrists, said Doll. He left a note 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.
A memorial service for Bishop Cornelius L. Henderson will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at First United Methodist Church, 72 Lake Morton Drive, Lakeland.
The bishop, leader of 340,000 United Methodists in Florida, died Thursday after a two-year battle with cancer.
He had headed the Florida Annual Conference, which includes United Methodists east of the Apalachicola River, including the Tampa Bay area, since Sept. 1, 1996.
TAMPA -- Warned that outbursts in the courtroom would not be tolerated, the four families held hands in silence Friday afternoon as the verdicts were read.
Mitchell Houston James, 40, was found guilty of three counts of DUI-manslaughter and one count of DUI-causing bodily injury.
The verdicts, which could carry a life sentence, came after nearly a week of testimony about the night in November 1999 that James ran a red light and slammed his white Cadillac into a car carrying four University of South Florida students. Three students died, and a fourth was seriously injured.
ST. PETERSBURG -- Police have arrested three suspects in the gang rape of a 17-year-old mentally challenged girl, and they are looking for a fourth suspect who has gone into hiding.
Shermonte Johnson, 21, is charged with two counts of sexual battery. Police say Johnson knows officers are looking for him, but he hasn't given himself up.
"He's hiding," said Detective Joseph Dente Jr. "We've tried everything."
However, police think Johnson remains in the St. Petersburg area. Johnson, known by the street name "Trez," recently had dreadlocks but has cut them off, Dente said.
Also, investigators are trying to learn the name of an unidentified fifth suspect in the Oct. 30 rape.
The 17-year-old girl was forced into a car and was taken to 1124 64th Ave. S, where her attackers held her down and took turns raping her, police said.
Three suspects have been jailed on sexual battery charges: Lavon W. Fuller, 19; Marques Bell, 17; and Andrew Leon Williams, 18.
Police are investigating allegations of witness tampering in the case. Dente said the girl who was raped has heard threats that she will be beaten up unless she retracts her accusations. The girl has left her school and is being tutored at home.
"We need to get all these suspects into custody," said Maj. Randy Bratton.
Anyone who knows Shermonte Johnson's whereabouts is asked to call Detective Dente at 893-4114 or the St. Petersburg police communications desk at 893-7780.