Wife calmly called 911 after slaying

Carri Rousonelos washed dishes as she reported that she had stabbed her husband.

By JANE MEINHARDT

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 19, 1999

LARGO -- When she called 911, Carri Rousonelos initially told authorities she did not know where her husband's attacker was. Then, she washed the dishes as she waited for paramedics and her husband lay dying in the next room, according to a transcript released Friday.

Mrs. Rousonelos told a 911 operator that she "had no idea" where the Rev. Anthony Rousonelos' assailant was. After her call was routed to Largo police, adispatcher asked her who stabbed him.

"Well, I did," she answered.

"Where's the knife at now, ma'am?" asked the dispatcher.

"It's lying beside him," Mrs. Rousonelos said.

She told the dispatcher her husband was on the floor in their house at 2889 Dryer Ave., and she did not know whether he was conscious. Mrs. Rousonelos said they'd had a fight.

"Did he hit you at all?" the dispatcher asked.

"No. He didn't have a chance to," Mrs. Rousonelos said.

When police and paramedics arrived at the couple's house early Wednesday, Rousonelos was dead. Mrs. Rousonelos, 35, was charged with first-degree murder. She is being held without bail at the Pinellas County Jail.

Largo police charged that she stabbed her 42-year-old husband with a 6-inch butcher knife in their bedroom after they argued over his affair with a member at Faith Assembly of God in St. Petersburg, where he was the senior pastor. He bled to death from a wound in an artery in his leg.

One of the couple's three children was home when the stabbing happened. Ten-year-old Zachary was asleep at the foot of the couple's bed, where his father was lying when he was stabbed. The boy's twin brother and teenage sister were at a relative's home.

While Mrs. Rousonelos talked to authorities on the telephone after the stabbing, a television was on, and Zachary was sitting in the living room. According to a transcript of the conversation, she seemed calm.

She told the dispatcher that her husband was lying face down on the floor of the family room, which police said adjoins the kitchen.

"Okay, where'd you stab him at, Carri?" the dispatcher asked.

"Uh, I guess in the stomach or lower groin," she said.

When the dispatcher heard some noises in the background, he asked Mrs. Rousonelos what it was.

"I'm just washing my couple of dishes," she replied.

As officers arrived, the dispatcher told Mrs. Rousonelos to walk out the front door with her hands in plain view. She complied.

Because the pastor's church is too small to hold the large crowds expected for his visitation and funeral, both services are scheduled for a much larger sister church where Rousonelos formerly was a lay minister. The visitation will be from 1 to 3 p.m. and from 5 to 8 p.m. Monday at Seminole Assembly of God Church, 10600 113th St. N.

The funeral is will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the same church, with burial at Serenity Gardens Cemetery in Largo.

According to Reese Funeral Home, the family suggests memorial contributions to the Rousonelos children, twin 10-year-old boys and a 13-year-old girl. Checks should be made out to Seminole Assembly of God Church, where a Rousonelos relative is the finance director. The church will hold the funds and disburse them to the children as needed.

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