Posted on 08/19/2006 7:51:15 AM PDT by ruffisthudpucker
So what good is an injunction?
DEADLY RELATIONSHIP: Grisly murder, suicide on island
BRADENTON BEACH - Witnesses driving to work told police that Orland Hanks stood over former girlfriend Michele Smith as she sat in the middle of Gulf Drive, fired a .38 slug into her head and then killed himself at dawn Friday.
Hanks, 32, had taken Smith, 33, from her west Bradenton home minutes earlier, parked in the Coquina Beach lot and argued by the side of the road, witnesses told Bradenton Beach police.
"He's shooting her now. . . . He is shooting her in the head," a caller to 911 said.
The witnesses then described to a dispatcher how Hanks ran into nearby bushes and shot himself in the head.
Police Lt. John Cosby was one of the first on the scene.
"He picked her up at her house at gunpoint. He took her out here and allowed her to make two calls to say goodbye," Cosby said.
Hanks' former girlfriend, Lori Powers, said she was not surprised. Like Smith, she had to get a court-ordered injunction to keep Hanks away.
"He had a big, long file, and then this girl (Smith) also," she said. "It took all this to get someone interested."
Smith, a bartender in the neighborhood, was well liked and thought of as a very friendly person. She moved to Bradenton after getting a divorce in Georgia in June 2003. Her parents live in New Jersey.
Barb Ellison, who lived next door to the house Smith at one time shared with Hanks at 4419 102nd St. W., said it was generally quiet at the residence.
"She kept to herself," Ellison said, "But she was afraid. She knew."
Smith told Ellison's roommate that Hanks "was going to kill her," Ellison said.
When Hanks threatened her, Smith obtained a restraining order in July mandating no contact. Hanks violated it several times and the state attorney's office noted as much in a court record Tuesday.
The injunction also stated Hanks could not own or possess a firearm or ammunition.
Court documents said Smith met Hanks in April.
One of the witnesses described the shooting to the investigators.
Craig Meldahl, of Longboat Key, was going north on Gulf Drive when he saw the couple struggling in the middle of the road, according to Sgt. Lenard Diaz.
After Meldahl turned his vehicle around, he drove back toward the two, blowing his horn to distract Hanks.
He said he saw Smith sitting on the pavement with Hanks over her and then saw Hanks shoot Smith.
Another witness, whom investigators only identified as a registered nurse, said she saw Hanks and Smith in the road and Smith falling to the pavement before she could pull over her vehicle to help.
The nurse said she saw Hanks run to the west side of the highway to a clump of trees.
When she went to the area, she said Hanks was lying on the ground with blood all over his head.
"There's blood all over. It looks like he shot himself," a 911 caller told the dispatcher. "The girl is still in the street. Is someone coming?"
According to Diaz, the incident started at Smith's house sometime before 6:45 a.m.
Hanks showed up at the red brick home Smith shared with a roommate, Sara Sheetz.
Sheetz told investigators that by the time she came out of the shower, Smith and Hanks were gone.
The two drove to the south end of the Coquina Beach parking lot in Smith's car.
Hanks' car was found later in the day parked at the Beach Bay Shopping Plaza, 10015 Cortez Road.
"He must have walked from there to Smith's house," Diaz said.
Smith had been renting her home near Cortez since early June and her landlord, Frank Brazzy, visited the home Friday afternoon shortly after learning of her death.
He planned on changing the front-door lock as a security measure, but police instructed him not to.
Smith had already changed the lock once shortly after obtaining a restraining order on Hanks, Brazzy said.
Sheetz stopped by the house while Brazzy was there Friday and picked up two dogs from inside the house.
Brazzy last heard from Smith two weeks ago when she notified him of a plumbing problem, but before then he heard from her often regarding problems she was having with Hanks.
"She told me all along that she was afraid he was going to kill her," Brazzy said.
He had met Hanks once and said he was hard to understand because of a hearing disability.
"He was real sick," Brazzy said. "He would call from inside the house and hang up just to let her know he was in the house. He would play mind games with her."
Smith paid her rent on time and was a nice girl, said Jennifer Brazzy, the landlord's wife.
"She's lived there less than three months," she said. "It's a real shocker."
Smith worked for Ron Masanotti, manager of the Banana Factory Too, 10104 Cortez Road, for about two months.
"She was exceptionally friendly," Masanotti said of Smith. "She was a cheerful person - everybody loved her."
Masanotti said Hanks would come into the tavern occasionally.
"He was fine," he said. "He seemed to be a nice guy."
Masanotti said there was no indication Hanks could be violent.
Smith also worked at the Banana Factory at 6916 14th St. W. as a bartender until about a month ago, according to office manager Jackie Riley.
"She was very nice," Riley said. "She was always smiling and would tell jokes."
Co-workers and patrons at the 14th Street location said they knew Smith was afraid of Hanks.
"I told her, 'He's going to kill you,' and he did," said bartender Danny O'Brien.
A patron at the bar Friday night, who declined to give her name, said Smith "was a beautiful lady, very nice, but you could tell she was always nervous. Every time the door opened, she thought it was him." She added, "It sends chills through you, the cops should have done something about him."
Hanks worked as a sub-contractor for Georgia Carpet World, 5425 14th St. W., for about 1½ years.
Employees at the flooring store, who did not want to be identified, said Hanks was a good worker.
They said he was in love with Smith and everything was fine with Hanks up until they last saw him Thursday evening.
His co-workers said Hanks was always in good mood and was a funny guy.
According to Powers, who has a 2½-year-old daughter with Hanks, he was "the best guy ever when I first met him."
As their relationship developed, Hanks became more and more possessive, said Powers, who met him about four years ago.
"As we were going through the break-up he would stalk me," she said. "He was never physical. It was all emotional and mental."
The authorities could not do anything until Hanks did something, Powers said.
"So he did something," she said. "There were definitely signs. There were signs there all along."
Unless an Injunction is a brand of .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol, it's worthless.
She's DEAD. The court order was, and remains, useless. "What if" is for children. No time for subjunctive realities in my world.
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