Page 40 - Florida Sentinel 9-18-20

Crime
Man Convicted Of Rape Of Child Gets Death Sentence
Man Charged In 19-Year-Old Tampa Rape Case
FELECIA WILLIAMS 12/5/2004 — 5/19/2014
A Tampa man convicted of rape and murder of a child was sentenced last Friday. A jury unanimously voted for the death sentence.
In September 2019, Granville T. Ritchie was convicted following his trial for the brutal rape and murder of Felecia Williams.
Judge Michelle Sisco
affirmed the death sentence. Judge Sisco’s ruling fol- lowed tearful statements from the victim’s grandmother, sis- ter, father, and mother, Ms. Felecia Demerson, about the pain of missing Felecia and the anguish of knowing the brutal details of the way
she died.
Assistant State Attorneys
Scott Harmon and Jen- nifer Johnson presented a list of aggravating factors to merit the death penalty, in- cluding expert testimony of Felecia’s “torturous” experi- ence in the final minutes of her life. Judge Sisco, visibly moved by the terrible details of the crime, issued the death sentence, and deputies led Ritchie out of the courtroom for transportation ultimately to Florida’s Death Row.
“In Florida, we reserve the death penalty for the worst of the worst offenses—and if the brutal rape and murder of a nine-year-old doesn’t fit that definition, I don’t know what does,” Hillsborough State At- torney Andrew Warren
GRANVILLE T. RITCHIE ...Gets death sentence
said.
“I want to thank everyone
involved in this case, espe- cially our office’s Homicide and Victim Advocacy teams, along with the Temple Terrace Police Department and other agencies who assisted, and we appreciate the professionalism of the Defense counsel throughout the process. Most of all, thank you to Felecia’s family, for putting their trust in us to make sure justice is done for their daughter.”
Last year, a jury found Ritchie guilty of first-degree murder, sexual battery and ag- gravated child abuse. Jurors heard the details of the vicious crime, where prosecutors con- tend Ritchie raped and then strangled Felecia before hid- ing her nude body in a suitcase and dumping it into the waters of Tampa Bay.
The 12 jurors unanimously recommended the death penalty. The impact of COVID-19 and various proce- dural steps delayed the final sentencing.
“This crime was so heinous and so brutal, it reaches that high bar where the death penalty is appropriate,” State Attorney Warren said.
“This chapter has come to an end, but it’s never going to stop the pain for this little girl’s family. We should all keep them in our hearts in the difficult months and years ahead.”
Scientific evidence has re- sulted in an arrest in a rape case that took place nearly 20 years ago. The incident took place on December 17, 2000, in East Tampa.
According to the Tampa Police Department, 39-year- old Antonio Rivers was ar- rested last week and charged with armed burglary of a dwelling and armed sexual battery.
The crime occurred on De- cember 17, 2000, when the victim went to a residence on Mohawk Avenue in reference to a burglary an armed sexual battery. The victim told police that she returned to the home she shared with her sister and found the suspect already in- side the home.
The man had his face cov- ered and reportedly pointed a small firearm, ordering her to step inside and close the door. He then forcibly raped the vic- tim before fleeing the scene. The suspect, who ordered the woman to stay in the bath- room until he left, was de- scribed as a Black man in his 20s.
On July 7, 2001, police at- tempted to stop Rivers for a traffic infraction, but he fled the scene on foot throwing the silver Bryco Jennings 9 mm handgun as he fled. The gun was recovered and Rivers was apprehended.
Rivers was arrested and during the interview, admit- ted to having had the gun for 2 years. He celebrated his 20th birthday five days later.
Nearly 20 years later, in January 2020, a Tampa Police Latent Fingerprint Specialist re-analyzed prints that were collected during the rape and burglary investigation, and entered them into the Auto- mated Fingerprint Identifica- tion System (AFIS).
The prints lifted from a bedroom where the rape took place were a match to a male relative who was quickly ruled out as a suspect. An additional set of two right palm prints were lifted from the bathtub in the room where the rape took place. These prints were matched to Antonio Rivers by way of an Offender Based Tracking System number, corresponding to a Hillsbor- ough County Sheriff’s Office booking record for Rivers.
Based on Rivers’ state- ment in his July 2001 arrest, he was in possession of a sil- ver in color semi-automatic pistol at about the same time the burglary and rape were
ANTONIO RIVERS
committed.
During a follow-up inter-
view, the victim’s sister stated she did not know an Antonio Rivers and had no explanation as to why his print would be in the apart- ment bathroom. The victim was asked if she knew an An- tonio Rivers, and she stated she did not.
However, she recalled an incident in 2014, 14 years after the rape, where a subject, identifying himself as Anto- nio Rivers on Facebook, sent her a profane tirade that made no sense to her at the time. She indicated she did not know him, had not recalled ever meeting him, and could not understand why he mes- saged her. She forwarded the messages to police, where it is apparent by her responses at the time that she did not know him.
The Facebook photo appeared similar to the same
Antonio Rivers whose palm print was discovered on the bathtub, police said.
On July 2, 2020, Tampa Police Detectives went to Rivers’ home to serve a search warrant for a buccal swab. An interview was con- ducted with Rivers, who denied ever being at the crime scene, denied knowing or rec- ognizing the victim, and stated his DNA, prints, or hairs should not be found at the crime scene.
Tampa Police received the lab report analysis from FDLE generated by the buccal swab collected from Rivers. The report determined the DNA from the buccal swab to be a match to the DNA col- lected during the sexual assault examination.
On September 8, 2020, Antonio Rivers was ar- rested and charged with armed sexual battery and armed burglary of a dwelling.
Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan said, “We will never give up on our commit- ment to find justice for victims and hold criminals account- able. While it may sometimes take longer than we hope, we want every crime victim to know we never think of an investigation as a “cold case” and will use every advance- ment in investigative approach and technology to review cases that are not yet solved.”
UNCLE SANDY
You may find the worst enemy, 4, 17, 22, 36, 49, 50, or best friend in yourself, 9, 19, 32, 48, 61.
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