Florida man serving life terms charged in 1993 killing of 12-year-old girl

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Florida man serving life terms charged in 1993 killing of 12-year-old girl

The Associated Press
July 27, 2023, 1:43 PM

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — For three decades, nobody knew for certain what happened to 12-year-old Jennifer Odom after she got off a school bus on a typical day in 1993. The girl was found dead in a Florida orange grove not long after.

Now, authorities in Hernando County say a DNA match has identified her killer as Jeffrey Norman Crum, 61, who is already serving two life sentences for a 2015 sexual battery and attempted murder conviction. State Attorney Bill Gladson said Thursday prosecutors will seek the death penalty in the Odom case.

“This is every parent’s nightmare,” Gladson said at a news conference in Brooksville, a city of about 7,000 people roughly 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Tampa. “I have confidence we have the right person and we have the right aggravators in this particular case to treat it as a death penalty case,”

A grand jury indicted Crum on first-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual battery charges, Gladson added. It wasn’t immediately clear if Crum had a lawyer to speak for him about the case.

{snip}

Copyright © 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

[JT45242]

1. death penalty foolishness to look tough ... and waste more $$ in Flori-duh

He is already serving 2 life sentences. Get him to confess and have another life sentence run concurrently. Closure and no additional tax dollars.

A death penalty case will cost millions and he will likely die of natural causes at his age long before they can execute (even in DeSantis land) so it is pointless and a waste of money.

[AlGorerhythm]

2. I would think that life in a Florida prison...

... would be much worse than the death penalty. Under Desantis, as with Abbott, the prison system is operated for profit with little to no oversight.

[rubbersole]

3. A PR case desantis can exploit.