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Friends question dropped charges in murder case
Tommy Chapman would have been 28 last month and planned to head to Illinois for his 10-year high school reunion; instead, his parents attended a mass for him
Kelly L. McDermott
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NAPLES — The couple met at St. Matthew’s House, at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. But within 2 1/2 years, he would be dead and she’d be charged with his murder.
Tommy Chapman Jr., 27, a waiter at Roy’s restaurant at Bayfront, was found barely alive on June 19, lying in a pool of blood in his rental home at 1263 Barbizon Lane in East Naples, where bloody footprints led to his bedroom. Collier County Sheriff’s investigators said the house was filled with blood, and a door appeared as if it were painted red.
His live-in girlfriend, 45-year-old Kelly McDermott, was initially charged with aggravated battery. But when Chapman died of a leg wound 20 hours later, the charges were upgraded to second-degree murder.
“It was an accident,” McDermott said during her taped confession, telling detectives she’d stabbed him once in the leg during an argument that began when he accused her of flirting with a man hours earlier.
But 33 days after her arrest, McDermott walked out of the jail a free woman. Assistant State Attorney Dave Scuderi had filed a “notice of no information,” dropping charges on July 23.
That stunned Chapman’s parents Maureen and Thomas Chapman of Barrington, Ill., who’d expected the couple to visit last month for their son’s 10-year high school reunion. That also was the month he would have celebrated his 28th birthday.
“My son was never violent,” Maureen Chapman said, adding that the couple were bipolar. “He was a gentle, kind person. He never, ever was violent. That’s why it’s so hard to understand it was self-defense. ... To lose a kid like that is awful — and to know she walked is even harder.”
Instead of celebrating his birthday last month, Chapman’s parents went to a mass in his name, visited his grave and re-read mass cards and letters they’d received expressing sorrow over his death.
“We didn’t like the age difference, but we were going to open our arms to her,” Chapman said of the couple’s planned visit. “He loved Kelly.”
Chapman’s parents, who met McDermott months earlier, question why she won’t be tried, although they’ve been told that self-defense laws are on her side. They note that her confession contains inconsistencies and says she stabbed him only once.
“We had to have a closed coffin because he was so cut up,” Chapman said of her son’s funeral, adding that he had small cuts all over his body; reports also say he had several bite marks on his arm and cuts on his palms — cuts that often suggest defensive wounds. Deputies also took scrapings from his fingernails.
Friends also say Chapman wasn’t violent.
“He was a very articulate and well-educated person, who if upset could do far more damage with his words and wit than muscles,” Geoffrey Burton, Chapman’s co-worker, wrote in an e-mail. “Tommy admittedly had issues with drugs and drinking — but not violence.”
Although Chapman had confided to friends that McDermott had chased him out of their home with a knife shortly before his death, there was no 911 call. That can’t be used against McDermott because it’s hearsay. Nor can past allegations of violence.
“We couldn’t prove or disprove self defense,” Assistant State Attorney Mike Provost, who heads the office’s felony section, said of the case against McDermott. “We’ve got two witnesses and only one could testify.”
McDermott’s attorney, Chief Deputy Public Defender Mike Orlando, called it a wise decision, noting that McDermott’s medical records support her account.
“You could see she was beaten up,” Orlando said. “It was clear her acts were in self-defense and that was something the state could not overcome.”
Orlando also pointed out leg injuries usually aren’t fatal. “It just happened to hit the right artery and as a result, he died,” he said of the injury to a major artery — similar to the death of Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor. “Clearly, there was no intent to kill this man. ... It’s a credit to them that they fairly and accurately reviewed the facts and circumstances.”
State laws involving self-defense are very clear. “If you’re in your own home and you’re in danger, you have a right to defend yourself. If someone gets injured, that’s not your problem,” he said.
If the state doesn’t find any new evidence, McDermott can never be charged again in Collier County with killing Chapman. That’s not due to double-jeopardy, which prohibits prosecuting twice for the same crime, but because after McDermott’s arrest on June 20, her defense attorney invoked her constitutional rights to a speedy trial. That gave the state 175 days from her arrest to go to trial — or refile charges.
The clock stops ticking on Dec. 12.
***
Randy Pickard knows what Chapman went through. The last time the 28-year-old Fort Myers man saw McDermott, he said, was when he was 24 and she assaulted him “out of the blue.”
“She beat the hell out of me with a 9-iron,” Pickard said this week. “I was crawling out the door and she was threatening to call police and I was begging her to. I was bleeding everywhere. There was a trail of blood everywhere. It looked like she dragged a dead body through there.”
“Yeah, she’s violent,” he said, adding that he has photos of his injuries. “I had imprints of the golf club’s name on me. I ended up moving out of state because of her, believe it or not. I literally called my mother and jumped on a bus to West Virginia. ... I stayed out of Florida for a good two years.”
Deputies told him it was a “he-said, she-said case,” Pickard said, and urged him to just get away from her; the incident report was not immediately available.
“I was bleeding profusely and she didn’t have a mark on her,” he said. “Just out of the blue, out of nowhere, it happened. We were just having a conversation, not a debate or an argument. She kind of went nuts. She’d go up and down.”
That was the third and last time he said she attacked him at the duplex they shared on Marley Lane. Theirs was a brief four-month romance that began at EB’s restaurant on the East Trail, where he met McDermott, a bartender who now works as a server at Windstar Country Club and as a cab driver.
The first time was when she chased him with a paintball gun, he said, adding that she began turning on him in their last month together. The second time, he ended up in jail after she told deputies he started to “choke her to a point she couldn’t breathe and was in fear.” His arrest report says he also destroyed her cell phone so she couldn’t call 911 and she fled to a neighbor’s home; deputies wrote that both had been drinking.
She liked erotic asphyxiation, being choked for sexual arousal, Pickard said, and rough sex — scratching and biting him. Reports say she admitted biting him during rough sex.
Pickard spent about a month in the county jail, charged with felony battery and witness tampering, until a prosecutor filed a notice of no information, dropping charges on June 10, 2005.
“She went down to the prosecutor’s office and filled out an affidavit saying it was all bogus, that she made it all up. She broke her own phone” said Pickard, a punk rock singer and guitarist who said McDermott was an alcoholic who spent her mornings smoking marijuana while watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Records also show a judge dropped a domestic violence restraining order case she filed against him.
Pickard’s experience is eerily similar to Chapman’s. Both homes were covered in blood, both men were into music — Chapman played guitar — both say they were chased by McDermott, and both involved allegations that the men broke cell phones.
Chapman has no criminal record, while McDermott’s record here began in 1999 and involves DUI, violations of probation, and marijuana cultivation and drug paraphernalia charges that ended in 1 1/2 years of probation, substance abuse counseling and random drug testing.
Sheriff’s reports show McDermott and Chapman had been drinking for hours that night. The argument began at Bayshore Coffee Co., where McDermott arrived at 8 or 9 p.m. for “live musician night,” later joined by Chapman. A waitress told detectives Chapman had a bad attitude and was rude to everyone, but McDermott wasn’t upset. The couple left about 11 p.m. — 2 1/2 hours before the fatal 911 call.
Deputies found the condo in disarray, an ax and an iron on the floor, rolling papers, a bong and a bag with marijuana residue in the living room. Crime scene photos show a messy home, but McDermott told detectives Chapman was a slob. He also snored, so they had separate bedrooms.
Reports say there was a “large amount of blood” on the walls, doors and floor of the hallway, bathroom and bedroom and bloody footprints lead to Chapman, who lay unconscious and bleeding in his bed, clutching a towel to the wound on his upper left leg.
McDermott, who was covered in blood, stood in the rain, wearing a towel and T-shirt a neighbor gave her after she banged on their door asking them to call 911 because she’d stabbed Chapman. Reports say her left eye was slightly swollen and beginning to blacken, her elbow was bloody and scraped and she smelled of alcohol.
She told detectives they’d argued for 20 minutes after he accused her of flirting with a man they’d talked to at the cafe. She denied it, prompting an argument. She admitted hitting him first after he broke her phone. She said she wanted to call deputies to “get him out.”
She said she then smashed his phone and he repeatedly punched her head and knocked her to the ground. She went to the kitchen and grabbed a steak knife to “scare him,” to get him off her. “I wanted him to stay away from me. It was an accident,” she told Investigator Dave Hurm, alternately crying and laughing as she talked, at times getting nasty at detectives for trying to “trick and confuse” her.
She didn’t know if he kept coming at her or how she stabbed him. When pushed by detectives, she became angry, demanding to be taken to a hospital to have her “serious headache” checked. The one-hour interview ended at 4:13 a.m., when emergency personnel arrived. She was interviewed again the next day and arrested.
Friends say they’ll miss Chapman.
“He was a talented musician and writer who I believe would have made valuable contributions to society if his life had not been so callously stolen from him at such an early age,” Burton said.
Mark Blakemore called him a “great guy. He was making strides to better himself and things were looking up for him,” Blakemore wrote in an email. “It’s a shame that his killer is walking free because the state doesn’t want to pursue the case.”
Comments
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To all you single guitar playing guys out there - take a good look at this lady's face. If you see her just turn around and runaway. The life you save may be your own!!
#1 Posted by Analytical_Skeptic on October 10, 2008 at 8:23 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This woman is obviously hard core. In a good sense. This is the type person who the Marine Corps would love to have on the battlefield. Don't argue with her unless you enjoy the business end of a golf club embedded in your skull or a big kitchen knife to the femoral artery. Kelly in a small sense is womanhood's payback to all the nasty fat hairy men abusing their wives 24/7 and never being held accountable. Go Kelly! If, I were Governor you would be granted immunity in all you future disciplinary actions.
#2 Posted by ZhuZhu on October 10, 2008 at 8:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Zhuzhu are you and Ms. Kelly related? Cause you both sound f ing crazy to me
#3 Posted by tapakegger on October 10, 2008 at 11:04 p.m. (Suggest removal)
So this is one more case where the unfortunate victim's family will need to pay to get this investigated properly just like the hit-and-run case? Still too busy harassing innocent people to solve some real cases I guess. Poor Joe six-pack won't see any justice - too broke to buy some I bet "wink-wink doggone it".
#4 Posted by fearisfailure on October 10, 2008 at 11:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Welcome to Barrington, IL
#5 Posted by volochine on October 11, 2008 at 2 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The police -- They arrest and jail guys who take 45cents from a fountain and then they let murderers go free.
#6 Posted by thedudesview on October 11, 2008 at 8:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I see a pattern here with McDermott. What is it going to take, another death before she is finally brought to justice? It is a shame they just didn't have enough on her this time.
#7 Posted by ladybug on October 11, 2008 at 9:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Lie stopper,
It's not the police it's the Prosecutors. People need to remember that. I'm sure there are alot of cops who are upset that they arrest these people then see them walk out the door.
#8 Posted by idiotwatch on October 11, 2008 at 11:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)
#4, #6 and #7 please take a class or two in social studies and learn the functions of each part of the judicial system.
#9 Posted by youwilltapout on October 11, 2008 at 12:04 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Public Defender Mike Orlando's comment “Clearly, there was no intent to kill this man. ...
You've got to be kidding!!!!! She stabbed him with a knife!!! She beat her ex to a pulp with a golf club. No intent!!!! C'mon Provost!!!!! Get some balls and DO YOUR JOB!!! Do what we elected you to do!!!!
#10 Posted by idiotwatch on October 11, 2008 at 12:56 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Really, Rockford? Check this out...
http://www.usaelectionpolls.com/
#11 Posted by flatbroke on October 11, 2008 at 1:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I think that the Naples Daily News should do some research on what the percentage is for dropped violent crime cases under this prosecutor. You let this woman go without doing thorough research on her past and this woman will probably kill again because you let her walk!!
#12 Posted by tastelikechicken on October 11, 2008 at 1:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm no attorney but even if there was no intent and the guy dies, isn't that manslaughter?
#13 Posted by RedRyder on October 11, 2008 at 1:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Only in Collier County can you kill someone and the State Attorney's office will drop the charges rather than do some work and let a jury hear the case and decide. This is not the first nor, the last time this incompetent SAO will drop the ball! Thankfully this office in not responsible for prosecuting the Gateway homicides; Cooper would be a free man right now!
#14 Posted by buster1 on October 11, 2008 at 1:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Kelly Mcdermott said, “It was an accident,” during her taped confession. Accident??? I thought she was claiming self defense?? It's an accident when you slice your finger cutting fruit not cutting up your boyfriend!!!
#15 Posted by idiotwatch on October 11, 2008 at 2:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
#18, your moniker was likely coined after gazing at your reflection. Perhaps the woman stabbed Tommy in the groin whilst he was punching her face. Perhaps in her vernacular "accident" means she did not want to kill him but only to make him stop punching her face. Who knows? I was not there.
#16 Posted by yregrus on October 11, 2008 at 7:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)
ok women rights I see how fair you are....lol
if the roles were different you would be all over it.
I'm sorry but your group is a joke!!!!!!
#17 Posted by houdal on October 11, 2008 at 7:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
A jury should have made the decision not one state attorney making the decision. What is he showing the public "hey commit a felony, murder, I'll let you walk, don't worry about it" maybe the state attorney would be better as a criminal defense attorney!
#18 Posted by tastelikechicken on October 11, 2008 at 7:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Friggin' cops, I always see them out writing tickets to innocent people, but I NEVER see them out solving murders!
I would like to see more cops out there with magnifying glasses looking around for clues to crimes.
On tv it seems pretty easy, so maybe cops should watch more tv and learn from people like CSI, Kojak, Columbo, Scooby Doo, Hong Kong Phoey, The Ortino Files, etc.
#19 Posted by shwing on October 12, 2008 at 9:43 a.m. (Suggest removal)
idiotwatch.....Provost isnt an elected official, he is an Assistant State Attorney, an employee. Russell is the elected State Attorney for the 20th Judicial Circuit which includes Collier, Lee, Charlotte, Hendry and Glades Counties.
#20 Posted by SandnSurf on October 12, 2008 at 4:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This lady should be behind bars for the rest of her life. She took this young man's life without any consequences. What will stop her from doing it again...being put away!!! The State Attorney's Office need to do their job that they get paid for and put her away for good.
#21 Posted by lvetter on October 13, 2008 at 4:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Mr Scuderi & Mr. Provost- How did you look in the eyes of Tommy's parents & tell them you were letting his murderer go free? How do you sleep at night? She said it was an accident/self-defense???!!! She ADMITTED stabbing him!!! He had multiple stab wounds, bite marks, defense wounds, HIS blood was everywhere in that house, none of hers?? Where did you get your degrees from?? She had a small bruise under her eye??! There were knives, an axe, an iron???! Accident??!! WOW!!! Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on YOU AGAIN!! She is making fools of you and the sheriffs office, walking away with murder!!!!! You should reopen this case again & look at Ms. McDermott, she has gotten away with this twice, she'll do it again!!
#22 Posted by serickson on October 14, 2008 at 6:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)
How can you wake up and look at yourself in the mirror Mr. State Attorney??? I do not even live there but would never vote for you. Did you even realize what was in her system??? This is unbelievable the way our system works like this. You all should be discussed with yourselves. No parent should lose their child let alone to this. AND SHE WALKED:) This was a good young man and deserves to still be with us. She will fall again--- look at the record----HOW CAN SHE WAKE UP EVERY MORNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Just goes to show you how our country is going-- Who are you voting for Mr. State Attorney?????????? Probably someone who will bring us all down. You proved it in this case. I hope your looking deep into what happened and she will fall!!!!! We are all watching
#23 Posted by sadiegirl1 on October 15, 2008 at 1:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I thought law enforcement was to serve and PROTECT the public, tax payers?? Instead they put her back out on the streets putting everyone in danger.
Sounds like Aisling Swift did more research and work on this case than the prosecutors!!! How sad is that? She already admitted making up a bogus story. It says "she made it up" She probably is making up her defense story too about him hitting her in the head. She's a good liar I'm sure.
Guarantee ya, she'll be back in your jail.
What a waste of tax payers money!!!!
#24 Posted by blowfish on October 15, 2008 at 7:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Wow! I am new to naples aroud 5 months and the gossip was up and down on 5th avenue about this looney tune Kelly Mcdermott stabbing her boyfriend to death. Now she is free! You got to be kidding Mr. elected DA. What's wrong with the ADA? HOw about the police work, absolutly nothing. You've got to be joking.I hope the DA does a public anoucement to warn people to be careful when they go to WINSTAR COUNTRY CLUB.If she doesn't like her tip you may be clobbed with a golf club. I am sure Kelly enjoys being around all these golf clubs. Wow its like a little kid in a candy store. What about the taxi company she works for? Does she carry a knife with her that she will use to stab you in the leg if she doesnot like the way you talk or disagree with her. Be careful with your legs. I think the snowbirds should publically be warned about her working at WINSTAR COUNTRY CLUB and for what ever cab company. People beware Kelly Mcdermott may be their. Concern for the snowbirds...
#25 Posted by ohana69 on October 16, 2008 at 5:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This is amazing, a repeat offender that gets charges dropped? It seems to me that MR.DA needs to look a little closer into this case. Mcdermott should not be allowed to get away with this. She needs to be charged and locked away in prison. How can she claim this was self defense? I sure hope I don't *bump* into her.
#26 Posted by bobo5 on October 16, 2008 at 11:18 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Tommy Chapman is my cousin and did not deserve to die this way. My husband and three children just adored him. What is sad here is that Kelly is not being charged at all. She surely does not deserve to walk free. She is a sick woman and with her pattern of behavior, a danger to society. This is not a case of Kelly, the battered woman. Tommy is the victim here, and his dear parents deserve justice for their son. She killed a young man and should be charged accordingly
#27 Posted by justice1 on October 18, 2008 at 11:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I was in a taxi last week, and thought this woman looked familiar.
I asked the driver what her name was.
Oddly enough it was Kelly.
The cab was from the 200-0000 taxi company.
For your safety, as well as the safety of your friends and family, you may want to pick a different taxi company.
#28 Posted by Dynomit29 on October 19, 2008 at 11:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This brings to mind the Moritz case where the authorities dropped the ball and let a 4 time DUI offender who was driving without a valid D/L at walk away from the DUI Manslaughter of Naples resident and philanthropist Michael Moritz.
The Moritz family was forced to hire Victor Ortino, a local PI who did a more thorough investigation and was able to secure a conviction and 20 year prison sentence against Jeffrey Ryals.
Will the Chapman family be forced to hire a PI to find out what really happened in this case?
#29 Posted by Dynomit29 on October 19, 2008 at 11:49 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Mike Orlando has made some stupid remarks in this article. For instance, saying the State made a “wise decision” by dropping the charges against McDermott noting that her medical records support her (self-defense) account.
Medical records are not disclosed unless the patient gives written authorization. Orlando advised McDermott to refuse disclosure of those records. How come?
“You could see she was beaten up,” Orlando said. She had a black eye!
That’s not an indication that she was beaten.
Orlando also pointed out leg injuries usually aren’t fatal. “It just happened to hit the right artery and as a result, he died,”
So McDermott picks up a knife and goes after Chapman, stabs him with the knife and says “Oh shoot, I think I stabbed him in “right artery”....I guess she just wanted to hurt him with that knife, not kill him.
Orlando also continues with “It’s a credit to them (the State’s Attorney) that they fairly and accurately reviewed the facts and circumstances.”….No Orlando…it just made work a little easier for you!
Orlando also says that State laws involving self-defense are very clear. “If you’re in your own home and you’re in danger, you have a right to defend yourself. If someone gets injured, that’s not your problem,” he said.
That’s absurd. Chapman was in his own home, he was in danger, he was fatally injured but “that’s not your problem”. Guess again Orlando. It is our problem and you’re part of it.
Have you arranged for a psychiatric intervention? Or are you done with it?
#30 Posted by skarrrrri on October 27, 2008 at 1:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)
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