Robert Kessler Florida man arrested and charged with murder and dismemberment of Stephanie Crone-Overholts, Pennsylvania mother of three.
A Florida man has been charged with the murder and dismembering of a woman he invited to live with him after a chance meeting at a McDonald’s parking lot.
Robert Kessler, 69, has been charged with the murder of 49-year-old Stephanie Crone-Overholts, a Pennsylvania mother of three who moved in with him at his Lutz, Florida home before she went missing.
A fisherman found Crone-Overholts dismembered remains floating in McKay Bay near Tampa on November 11, with suspicions turning to Kessler, a known drug-user who had asked the woman to live with him.
The pair met at a McDonald’s in Lutz. With nowhere else to go, Crone-Overholts accepted the ‘stranger’s’ offer and lived with him for several days according to The Tampa Bay Times.
It remained unclear is if the woman ever made it out of the home alive.
Victim was living in her car when Kessler invited him to live with him
Kessler was arrested for drugs charges earlier this week while police investigated him for her murder.
They identified Crone-Overholts after releasing a photo of a tattoo on her leg that bears the names of her three sons.
The photo went viral and her children came forward to identify her.
Police then searched the home she shared with Kessler, with ClickOrlando reporting police finding Crone-Overholt’s blood inside his van and home before arresting him.
Police said Kessler had a criminal history dating back decades, comprising mostly petty drug crimes.
He has since denied any involvement in the murder, saying he met Crone-Overholt at a restaurant, with the woman allegedly telling him she was living in her car. Kessler in turn said he offered her a place to stay, only to later ask her to leave.
Kessler is facing charges of second-degree murder and abusing a dead body.
Not immediately clear is how Crone-Overholt came to end up in Florida, why she was living in her car and how long she had been separated from her family who had reported her missing the same day one of her body parts was discovered.
