A man who killed four people in Seminole Heights, Tampa, in 2017 has pleaded guilty to four counts of murder and has been sentenced to life in prison.
A serial killer who murdered four people in Tampa in 2017 pleads guilty and is sentenced to life in prison
Howell Donaldson III changed his plea from not guilty to guilty and was given four consecutive life terms by the 13th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida. The guilty plea and sentence come five years after four people were shot in separate incidents over several weeks in October and November 2017. Each victim was killed while walking alone at night within a half-mile area of the Seminole Heights neighborhood.
Police initially feared that a serial killer was on the loose, leading to residents being advised not to go outside alone, to be alert, and keep their porch lights on. Donaldson was identified as the suspect when a McDonald’s employee tipped off police that Donaldson had given the employee a firearm for safekeeping and intended to leave the state. Donaldson had purchased the firearm, which was connected to the first three murders.
Cell phone location data also connected Donaldson to an address in Seminole Heights near the scenes of the first three murders on the same dates and times as those murders
The victims were Benjamin Mitchell, Monica Hoffa, Anthony Naiboa, and Ronald Felton. Mitchell, 22, was a student; Hoffa, 32, was a waitress; Naiboa, 20, had autism and had just started a temporary job; and Felton, 60, worked in construction and had three grown children. Prosecutors had previously said that they would seek the death penalty if the case had gone to trial.