In once case a man is charged with shooting his girlfriend; in the other a concerned friend fround the bodies of 2 people
By Austin L. Miller
Staff writer
Published: Sunday, February 14, 2010 at 6:30 a.m.
Authorities have investigated three suspicious deaths this weekend.
The first happened Friday night when Samantha Specter, 19, was fatally shot in the right eye. Her boyfriend, John Baptist Jenkins, 23, was arrested and charged with manslaughter.
Jenkins told investigators - and the Star-Banner - that a borrowed .38-caliber revolver fired accidentally while he was showing his girlfriend how it worked.
That fatal shooting occurred in Silver Springs. The other death investigation was in northeast Ocala.
About 5:20 p.m. Saturday, a man found two bodies inside Unit 404 at the Park Place condominiums, 1621 N.E. Second St.
Ocala police said the bodies had been there at least 12 hours. The victims were identified as Marshall Ian Pardee, 22, and Chyavana A. Hampton, 20.
Investigators didn't have many details Saturday night, though they did say that the victims appeared to be roommates and that this didn't appear to be a murder-suicide.
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In the Silver Springs case, Jenkins said he wanted his girlfriend to know how to use the firearm in case of an emergency.
"I emptied the gun, but I guess one shell was stuck in there and I didn't see it," a tearful Jenkins said early Saturday during an interview with the Star-Banner at the Marion County Jail.
Jenkins, who said he has been using guns since he was 14, is scheduled to appear in front of a judge today for a first appearance hearing.
Clad in jail-issued brown pants - the uniform for inmates under suicide watch - Jenkins said the shooting "was a freak accident."
Jenkins said he and Specter have known each other since high school. They lost contact but, thanks to a friend, recently were reunited and had been dating for three weeks.
Asked to explain what happened early Saturday, Jenkins said they were playing around, and she went into the bathroom to brush her teeth. He said Specter was facing him, and he was standing roughly five to seven yards away in the hallway, showing her how to use the gun.
He said he opened the cylinder and then closed it. He pulled the trigger once, then twice, and nothing happened either time. He said he pulled it a third time and the gun went off.
"I panicked and called her mom, who told me to check her pulse. And when I couldn't feel any pulse, I called 911," he said.
Jenkins provided a similar story earlier, during an interview with Inspector Mike Mongeluzzo of the Marion County Sheriff's Office.
Jenkins said Specter was in the bathroom getting ready to leave the residence when he decided to show her the gun. He said he wanted to show her the gun in case she ever needed to use it.
Jenkins told the inspector that he showed Specter how to open and close the cylinder. He said when he closed the cylinder, his left hand hit his right trigger finger, which was on the trigger, and it fired. He said he thought the gun was unloaded.
Jenkins further advised that he was pointing the gun at Specter, who had her hands in the air, and pulled the trigger twice before it fired on the third pull.
As for why her hands were in the air, Jenkins told the Star-Banner they were just playing around.
The incident occurred at 370 S.E. 165th Court Road in Silver Springs.
Inside the residence, Mongeluzzo and Detective Mark Peavy said Specter was found on her back on the bathroom floor.
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Fewer details were known about the northeast Ocala case by press time. Police officials were still at the scene investigating past 9 p.m.
Police said the man who found the bodies had traveled to Ocala from Jacksonville for a specific reason: He had been unable to contact a friend who lived in that unit and wanted to find out what was happening.
That man declined an interview request from the Star-Banner.
Pardee's name has been in the newspaper in the past: His live-in girlfriend, Toni Centracco, was killed in August 2007. That case remains unsolved.
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