Family of accused Seminole Heights killer may have connection to neighborhood, documents show

Weeks since his arrest in the four fatal shootings in Seminole Heights, the public still wants to know whether Howell Donaldson III has any ties to the neighborhood.

But now, according to a report by Spectrum Bay News 9, court documents reveal that his family might.

In the press conference following his arrest, Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan said they hadn’t found anything that connected him to the neighborhood.

“We have not been able to determine why he picked southeast Seminole Heights,” Dugan said.

Since then, his parents have refused to answer questions, including whether their son or either of their other two children had any connection to the neighborhood.

Last week, the couple went before a judge to determine if they should be held in contempt of court for not cooperating with investigators. The judge gave them until Friday, Jan. 5, to prove why they shouldn’t be held in civil contempt of court.

But court documents obtained by Bay News 9 show that in 2016 Donaldson Jr. filed a petition for protection against stalking, also known as a restraining order, against his daughter’s boyfriend.

In the petition, Donaldson Jr. accused the boyfriend, who is not named, of threatening their family and telling him that if he had a gun he would shoot him.

The injunction, Bay News 9 reports, was denied by a judge who wrote that the facts as alleged didn’t meet the Florida statues definition of stalking.

But Bay News 9 found that the boyfriend’s most recent address lists a home in Seminole Heights – and that the address is a five-minute walk from where the first victim, Benjamin Mitchell, was killed on Oct. 9. The address is within an eight-minute walk, or less, from the other three killings, the outlet reports.

This story was originally published December 11, 2017 at 11:16 PM with the headline "Family of accused Seminole Heights killer may have connection to neighborhood, documents show."