Page 3 - 7-31-15 Friday's Edition Updated

Feature
Man Gets Life; 30 Years, For Killing Wife, Setting Car On Fire
City Councilman Hospitalized
Tampa City Councilman Frank Reddick, District 5, has been absent from City Council meetings and commu- nity events recently due to being hospitalized.
Councilman Reddick, who is Chair of the Council and State Director of the Sickle Cell Association, has been hos- pitalized for 10 days, and will have to undergo surgery within the next few weeks.
FRANK REDDICK Councilman D-5
On Wednesday, a Hillsbor- ough County judge sentenced a Seffner man to life in prison. He also handed down an addi- tional 30-year sentence for setting her car, containing her body, on fire.
Christopher Belcher, 46, was convicted of the murder and arson last week.
Belcher was charged with second-degree murder and first-degree arson in the death of his wife, Mrs. Gwendolyn Patricia Belcher. She died in September 2012.
The murder investigation began as a missing person’s case filed by the family of Mrs. Belcher on September 16, 2012. One of her family members filed the report. Deputies responded to con- duct a missing person’s inves- tigation around 4:30 p.m., that evening.
About two hours later, her
CHRISTOPHER BELCHER ... Convicted of Murder and Arson
car was located on Taylor Road and Pruett Road. After the fire was extinguished, human remains were discov- ered inside the car. The re- mains were positively identified as belonging to Mrs. Belcher.
GWENDOLYN BELCHER ...murdered in 2012
Belcher was arrested for domestic violence, but was re- leased after the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office dropped the charges. After his released, he fled to Greenville, South Carolina, where he was arrested by a multi-agency task force.
Jury Convicts Tampa Man Of 4th Murder Charge
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
On Wednesday, a Hillsbor- ough County jury found a Tampa man guilty of first-de- gree murder. The penalty phase of the trial began on Thursday.
The Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office is seek- ing its second death penalty for 29-year-old Dontae Rashawn Morris.
Morris was convicted of the murder of Derek Anderson. Anderson, who was 21, at the time of his death, was shot and killed in front of his mother’s apartment in East Tampa on May 18, 2010.
His was the first death linked to Morris after Morris’ re- lease from Florida State Prison on April 10, 2010.
According to court docu- ments, Morris and Ander- son became engaged in an altercation earlier in the day. Morris allegedly stalked An- derson and shot him in the back. Morris has also been charged with killing four other people.
Morris has been found guilty of the murder of Rod- ney Jones. Jones, 41, was shot outside of the Cotton Club in West Tampa on May 31, 2010. He was given a life sen- tence in that murder.
He (Morris) was given the death penalty for the murders of Tampa Police Officers David Curtis and Jeffery Kocab, both 31 years of age. On June 29, 2010, the mur- ders of the officers took place on June 29, 2010 during a traffic stop. Both officers were shot when they attempted to
DONTAE MORRIS
... Convicted of 4th murder
DEREK ANDERSON ...Killed May 18, 2010
arrest Morris on out-of- county warrants. The murders were captured on the officers’ dash cam.
Morris has also been charged with the shooting death of 25-year-old Harold Wright. Wright was shot and killed on June 8, 2010. No trial date has been set in that case.
Morris was the subject of the largest manhunt ever launched in Tampa, The re- ward for his capture after the murder of the two officers reached more than $100,000. He surrendered to police on July 10, 2010 and has been in jail since that time.
FRIDAY, JULY 31, 2015 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 3-A