One of the two Apollo Beach restaurant workers who were kidnapped and raped in August said she was able to save herself from further assault by convincing her attacker she had a fatal sexually transmitted disease. ...more

November 13, 2008

Nylon rope, black electrical tape and a condom were among items seized during a search of an SUV linked to the rape and kidnapping of two Apollo Beach restaurant workers, according to documents released today by prosecutors in Hillsborough County. The evidence will likely be used in the case against Rigoberto Moron Martinez, Vicente Reyes-Carbajal and 13-year-old Jose Walle. The trio are charged with the Apollo Beach rapes on Aug. 15 as well as a similar attack at a St. Petersburg restaurant in July. The evidence was listed among 300 pages of discovery typically shared among lawyers prior to trial. The documents also reveal that one of the Apollo Beach rape victims had duct tape in her hair when deputies found her along I-75 in Manatee County just hours after the rape. The women were held for several hours against their will and repeatedly sexually assaulted, then dumped along the highway, where they used a roadside phone to call for help. ...more

November 13, 2008

A young manatee released into the Alafia River Aug. 13 is lucky to have survived her injuries, a Lowry Park Zoo veterinarian said. ...more

August 20, 2008

A young female manatee found entangled in rope, crab traps and a channel marker surely felt a weight lifted from her shoulders Wednesday morning when biologists released her back into the wild. ...more

August 14, 2008

Frannie, a young female manatee recuperating in the comfortable tanks of Lowry Park Zoo for the past two months, will be set free this morning in the Alafia River, if all goes according to plan. ...more

August 13, 2008