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Two bullets from a .38-calibre handgun did the trick.
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Thomas Lee Sehorne, 37, would swing no more.
His wife Cristie found the merchant marine’s body lying in the driveway face down in the carport of their Lithia, Florida home in the far eastern suburbs of Tampa. A pool of blood surrounded his body like a moat of death.
She called the cops around 8 a.m. and detectives quickly scratched robbery as a motive because Thomas Lee Sehorne’s wallet was untouched and full of cash.
No, this was personal. But the probe would soon head to the abyss of unsolved homicides.
Sehorne — a Georgia native — was described by friends as a kind, caring and loving man. He married Cristie after a three-year courtship and the pair quickly added a son and a daughter to their small family.
The hard-working sailor was often at sea for long stretches, but on the morning he was murdered he was home on leave.
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Cristie told detectives she had last seen her husband the previous evening. She said he had gone to pick up a pal from the airport.
What she didn’t tell cops was that the couple kept a small pile of secrets. One of the main dishes was that they had an open marriage and regularly attended a local swinger’s club called The Paradise for hormone-charged hijinks.
But they had boundaries to their various sexual peccadillos
Still, with Sehorne away at sea so much, a girl can get lonely. Cristie soon became enamoured of club bouncer Jerry Bottorff in early 2005.
When homicide detectives got around to talking to the libidinous lothario, he initially denied any romantic entanglements but eventually copped to having frequent sex with the merry widow.
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The merchant marine was okay with the arrangement, Bottorff added. And then the case went cold.
As often happens in these human dramas, Cristie and Bottorff hooked up, marrying in December 2008.
Still, determined detectives weren’t quite done with the investigation. No, there were still some angles to delve into.
There were numerous phone calls and texts between Cristie, Jerry and an unknown third number. Cops turned up the name Michael Garcia, a poohbah in the notorious Latin Kings gang.
He was in prison on other unpleasant matters. As it turned out, he was a friend of Bottorff and was “acquainted” with Cristie from the swinger’s club. Garcia wasn’t talking — but his wife Lana was.
She threw the case into overdrive in 2008 when she told detectives her husband was paid to take Thomas Lee Sehorne off the board. Gang crony Luis Angel Lopez helped out in the murder plot.
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Garcia didn’t want to be left holding the bag so he turned rat. He said Jerry approached him looking for a hitter and the two Latin Kings would get a $60,000 payday from the dead man’s life insurance.
The thug told cops he acted as lookout while Lopez squeezed the trigger. After Sehorn went down, the killers fled and ditched the gun in a local river, which police divers recovered in February 2009.
Next, cops set up an undercover sting with Garcia as the bait. Wired for sound, the gangbanger demanded Bottorff cough up the cash for the piece of work.
An undercover cop acted as Garcia’s rep. On three different occasions swinging Jerry met the cop, paying $18,000. Now, detectives were going with the theory that love, sex and a $1 million insurance policy as a sweetener were the motives.
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Both pleaded guilty, but … Thomas Lee Sehorne was an abusive alcoholic. Jerry added that Garcia and his flunky forced them into the plot and besides, they didn’t think the Latin King would go through with the murder.
Finally, in July 2012, Cristie, then 34, and Jerry, then 42, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and other charges. Both received three concurrent life terms in federal prison.
Lopez also got life while Garcia got hit with a 20-year jolt for his role.
The victim’s younger brother Ben said Thomas Lee Sehorne was planning to divorce Cristie and when she was arrested, he was not surprised.
“There was no doubt in my mind who was behind it,” he said.
MISSING
SYLVIA LINDA KLAYH – MANITOBA
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411: Sylvia Klayh (aka Ciprianovich), 14, disappeared on Aug. 13, 1967. She has brown eyes and hair, is 5-foot-6, weighs 119 pounds and is slender. When she disappeared, Sylvia was staying at the family cottage on Brereton, Manitoba with her father and two younger siblings. The last time she was seen, she and her father had argued. She left the cottage around 11 a.m. and was never seen again. Initially, it was believed she was a runaway and heading to Ottawa, but she never surfaced there. Police now believe she met foul play.
CONTACT: RCMP D Division Missing & Exploited Persons Unit at 1-204-983-6055 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS(8477).
MOST WANTED
MIECZYSLAW “MIKE” WIDZIAK – HAMILTON
411: Widziak is accused of sexually assaulting his daughter starting when she was 13. He is accused of sexual assault, incest, anal sex and failing to appear in court. Cops allege the sick assaults lasted three years becoming increasingly violent until detectives were notified. He was arrested but skipped and his whereabouts are unknown. Originally from Poland, Widziak is 5-foot-9, 175 pounds, with grey hair and blue eyes. He is considered extremely violent.
CONTACT: Hamilton Police 1-905 546-4925 or the RCMP.
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