TAMPA (WFLA) – Tampa police have made an arrest in the homicide investigation involving body parts, located in McKay Bay earlier this month.
Tampa police say Robert Kessler of Lutz has been arrested in connection to the death of Stephanie Crone-Overholts.
Tampa police identified Stephanie Crone-Overholts as the victim from the homicide investigation following the discovery of body parts in McKay Bay on Nov. 20.
Crone-Overholts had been living in Florida for several months, most recently at a home in Lutz with Kessler who told 8 On Your Side, he met her by chance at a McDonald’s parking lot.
Kessler denied any involvement in her death when he spoke in a recorded off-camera interview with 8 On Your Side.
Detectives spoke with Kessler who told investigators Crone-Overholts had been staying with him for several weeks but recently left. Days later, HCSO homicide detectives located Crone-Overholts’ vehicle abandoned in Hillsborough county.
Tampa Police Interim Chief Ruben Delgado said detectives obtained a warrant to search Kessler’s van and home and found Crone-Overholts’ blood on a pair of shoes at his Lutz home.
Kessler’s criminal history dates back to the 80s – he has been in and out of state prison system seven times with convictions out of Pinellas and Broward counties.
Sean Overholts spoke with WFLA Now following the announcement by the Tampa Police Department.
“My mother she was a loving person, she may not have made the best decisions in life, but she was my mother, she loved us very much and she did not deserve what happened to her and nobody does,” Overholts said.
The cause of death is still unknown, according to the chief. However, the medical examiner did rule the case a homicide.
Kessler has been charged with second-degree murder and abuse of a dead body. Delgado says Kessler was already in custody on an unrelated drug charge.