Their defense team argued that the recordings did not contain intelligible incriminating statements. In 1999, Steve and Marlene Aisenberg were federally indicted based on recordings from devices investigators secretly placed in their home. Challenges with no bodyĪfter baby Sabrina Aisenberg went missing from her parents’ Valrico home in 1997, Hillsborough investigators suspected her parents. He remains on Florida’s death row to this day. The jury unanimously recommended that Crain receive the death penalty. When she woke up, Amanda was gone.Ĭrain denied he killed the girl but authorities found Amanda’s blood in his bathroom and underwear, and prosecutors called witnesses who said Crain had confessed. Crain had befriended Brown’s mother and had spent the night at her home. In a high-profile 1999 Hillsborough County case, a jury convicted Willie Crain in the death and disappearance of 7-year-old Amanda Brown. “I think the biggest challenge was having a credible witness as to what exactly happened to the body,” said Tim Hessinger, a former Pinellas-Pasco assistant state attorney who prosecuted the case. Prosecutors relied on witnesses who said they had seen the shooting. Relatives and business associates said they hadn’t heard from the victim. Police had discovered the victim’s Shore Acres home spattered with blood and bullet holes. Petersburg exotic-goods dealer who was never found. In 1987, a jury convicted Steven White of first-degree murder in the death of a St. That was years before modern DNA testing gave investigators a powerful tool and decades before suspects would leave digital bread crumbs with their phones. Tampa Bay assistant state attorneys have prosecuted bodyless homicides for decades, including high-profile cases in the 1980s and ‘90s. “And that’s not true.” “Develop a strong motive” Petersburg police detective Jim Culverson, who investigated the homicide of a missing 17-year-old that resulted in a conviction despite a body never being found. “A lot of these other cases you see on TV, if there’s no body, there’s no crime,” said retired St. Local attorneys and police who’ve handled such cases say circumstantial and forensic evidence can convince a jury. In fact, according to research by one former federal homicide prosecutor, these cases have a higher conviction rate than murder cases overall.

While homicide cases in which a body is never found are uncommon, Tampa Bay prosecutors have won convictions in a handful of cases missing that key piece of evidence.

A Plain Death by Amanda Flower