A fire was used to cover up evidence of a double homicide at Carlisle Club Townhomes, detectives believe. HCSO Photo
By KEVIN BRADY
A fire that was started to erase evidence in a double homicide could have left many more dead, say residents of a Brandon townhouse community who are just starting to come to terms with the death of two neighbors.
The bodies of Lindsay Nicole Greene, 25, and another woman, age 23, were found Oct. 10 inside a charred Carlisle Club Townhomes apartment. Greene’s mother called police after she could not get in touch with her daughter.
Although the cause of death has not yet been determined, detectives said the two females died as the result of “homicidal violence” with the fire used to cover up the crime, according to Larry McKinnon, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson.
Charles Andre Martinez, 24, identified as “a person of interest” by detectives and who lived part-time in the home, turned himself into police Oct. 11, accompanied by an attorney.
“We’re very fortunate we didn’t have a blaze that involved the entire complex,” Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee said at a press conference. “The fire never engulfed the building. It just burned inside. There’s some furniture that burned and things like that, so it could have smoldered for a long time.”
Neighbors had reported smelling smoke in the complex the day before.
“All of our smoke detectors are hard-wired with a battery backup. They are very sensitive,” said Lynn Krebs, who lives in the complex. “Sometimes my detector goes off when I am just making toast. I am very surprised the detectors in the apartment didn’t go off. It makes me think perhaps someone tampered with them before the fire started.”
Firefighters checked all of the smoke detectors in the complex after the fire.
“There is very little crime around here,” Krebs said. “This is a big shock for everyone.”
“Greene, who shared the apartment with her 3-year-old son and was going to school to be a dental assistant, was part of the close-knit commuter community, said Barbara Hornsby, a 14-year resident of the Carlisle Club.
“I would see her all the time on the street, watching her little child go up and down the street, and wave to her. Most people here work and walk in the evenings. She would sit out on her steps as her son played. Thankfully, he was not in the house when it happened,” said Hornsby, whose apartment is a short distance from Greene’s. “I never saw anyone else in her apartment.”
Greene’s family picked up the child from his daycare center Oct. 9 when she did not pick him up.
The quiet community is home to mostly older residents, Hornsby said. “The biggest thing we have is an ambulance coming in when someone has a stroke. Otherwise it’s quiet.”
Hornsby was sitting at the pool with her grandchildren when she heard sirens Oct. 10.
“You might say I locked my door a little extra that night. For anyone to lose a child, especially to violence, is a hair-raising thought.”
The fire could have spread to the entire complex, Hornsby said.
“It could have burned the whole unit down.”
Martinez, who has warrants for home invasion robbery and false imprisonment and was recently released from jail, had been seen in the complex in the “last day or so,” according to Gee.
“Detectives believe Martinez may have information that is pertinent to this investigation,” according to a Sheriff’s Office report.
Detectives had issued an alert for Martinez before he turned himself in. He is being held in Orient Road Jail on a $50,000 bond.
Anyone with information in the case is asked to call the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office at 813-247-8200 or contact Crime Stoppers of Tampa Bay.
