July 10, 2010
By Erin Sullivan, Times Staff Writer
The boyfriend is charged with killing the husband in Spring Hill.
SPRING HILL - The one-story house at 3505 Ligonier Road was their hangout and, even after things went sour, they still went. It was a friend's house, within walking distance of Joe Kasbach, his wife, Kimberly, and their friend William Siskos. About eight months ago, friends said, the Kasbachs separated and Kimberly began a relationship with Siskos.
The three tried to make sure they didn't stop by their hangout at the same time.
Friday night, they did.
Joe Kasbach, 46, and Kimberly, 45, showed up at the house first. At 11:30 p.m., Siskos drove over to bring her home, with a .22-caliber Ruger tucked in his waist-band. Authorities said he believed she was there doing drugs.
She didn't want to leave and said she would be home in a little while.
Siskos, 40, left and everyone thought he went home, according to the Hernando County Sheriff's Office.
Husband and wife, married in 2005, were in the living room.
"You can go ahead and be with him," Joe Kasbach said, according to Cory Gilbert, 17, who said he was there.
"I just wanted you to know I've always loved you."
When Joe Kasbach went outside, Siskos was there. The men argued for several minutes, deputies said.
Anthony Allen, 22, was inside the house and heard Kasbach shout, "She's my wife! She's my wife!"
Then, Allen heard a gunshot.
Kasbach was shot once in the front portion of his body, deputies said. He was flown to St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa, where he died early Saturday morning. His death is the ninth homicide this year in Hernando County, setting it on pace to possibly eclipse the county's deadliest year in two decades - 1993, with 13 murders. In 2009, there were only three.
After the shooting, Siskos stayed on the scene. He told authorities he shot Kasbach in self-defense. He said his girlfriend's husband hit him in the face and reached toward his waist for what Siskos believed was a gun. A witness told authorities the fight between the two men was never physical.
"He didn't warn the victim" he was going to shoot, Lt. Cinda Moore said. "There was no gun found on the victim at the crime scene."
Deputies arrested Siskos of 4224 Drummond Ave. and charged him with murder and carrying a concealed firearm.
All three people - the Kasbachs and Siskos - have arrest records.
Siskos was arrested in 1990 in Hernando on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon against a pregnant woman, but the case was dismissed, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Court records show that Siskos might still be married to a woman who filed for a domestic violence injunction against him in 2001.
Joe Kasbach was convicted of armed robbery for a 1991 bank heist in Pasco County and sentenced to five years in prison, according to the FDLE.
Kimberly Kasbach was convicted in 1997 of driving under the influence in Pasco County and was arrested June 17 in Hernando on a charge of driving with a suspended license, records show. She could not be reached for comment Saturday.
Allen, who was inside the house when the incident occurred, said Joe Kasbach worked in construction and would often mow the lawn at the Ligonier Road house for his friends.
"He was a real good friend," Allen said Saturday afternoon. Someone placed a small, cement angel on the grass, just off the driveway, where Kasbach fell. "He was never in a bad mood."
Less than half a mile away, at the house where authorities said Siskos lives, a neighbor, Dan Memet, 45, didn't know what Siskos did for a living, but said he left before most people were awake and came home in the late afternoon, lunch pail in hand.
"He's always been a nice person," Memet said. "I don't think he would be capable of doing something like that."
Allen believes Siskos snapped.
"The guy lost it," he said.
As of Saturday, Siskos was being held at the Hernando County jail with bail set at $52,000.
Times researcher Shirl Kennedy contributed to this story. Erin Sullivan can be reached at esullivan@sptimes.com or (727) 869-6229.
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