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Murder at the Motel Season 2 Episode 6
Murder at the Motel
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Murder at the Motel
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00:00A woman was found in room 205.
00:12She's got blood all around her.
00:14There's blood coming out of her nose and mouth.
00:17I went back up and went 205 and opened the door and I could see her foot.
00:24She had a washcloth that was stuffed in her mouth and a shoe print on the side of her face.
00:30From prior incidents at the hotel, we knew there was pretty good surveillance there, a lot of cameras.
00:37We see someone walk into the room and he's in there for 14 minutes.
00:43He leaves the room and leaves the hotel.
00:46You see just this sinister look on his face.
00:50You really didn't know what was behind the eyes.
00:55He's just pure evil in my opinion. He always has been.
00:58He knew exactly what he was doing and the consequences for that.
01:02Venice, Florida.
01:28April 20th, 2021. Police respond to a call about a gravely wounded woman found in the roadway in
01:36from an employee at the hotel and the woman's husband.
01:41An employee from the hotel, Ryan, reported that a woman was found in room 205.
01:49When he was talking to the dispatch, he said that it looks like she fell.
01:57She's got blood all around her. There's blood coming out of her nose and mouth.
02:02She's got very shallow breathing. He put his hand on her chest and could feel a heartbeat.
02:07When he found her, he also noticed that there was a towel on her mouth.
02:13He pulled the towel out, just tried to resuscitate her at that point.
02:18We actually had one of our guys parked in the parking lot of the roadway when the call came out.
02:29My initial thought was likely a drug overdose. At this period of time, we're having a real problem
02:37with fentanyl overdoses, even to the point where, you know, we're carrying Narcan in our vest.
02:42When I first got there, the paramedics and firefighters, they were arriving on scene.
02:50I went up the stairway with them, and one of our deputies was already there providing first aid.
02:57And, you know, as soon as the paramedics got there, they took over first aid.
03:01And I kind of just stood outside the room in the doorway just to maintain the scene.
03:07The victim's husband, Gerald Strader, identifies her to the police as Tina Strader
03:15and informs them that she works as a cleaner in the roadway in.
03:20When they found her, she was half in the closet with her feet sticking out,
03:25so they could see her feet from the doorway.
03:27So when they pulled her, there was a trail of blood from the closet
03:31to where she was ultimately found by first responders.
03:35She had some trauma to her face and to her neck.
03:40What stood out the most is that she had a shoe print on the side of her face.
03:45As far as we knew, she hadn't been down too long
03:48because Ryan didn't see her chest rise.
03:50He had been performing CPR.
03:52So any signs of life, our first priority is preservation of life.
03:56So they're going to transport her to the hospital to see if they can save her.
03:59As Tina's rushed to the hospital, detectives pulled Gerald aside and asked him some questions.
04:08We needed to speak with him.
04:10We needed to get more information about some of the things that he saw
04:13because he was living there.
04:14He was on scene when this happened.
04:16He was one of our best witnesses to put a time frame together.
04:21It was 205 on her, on her...
04:27Yeah, a vacant list.
04:28It was on her vacant list.
04:29So she told you she was there at 849?
04:32At 849.
04:33And I texted her right back.
04:35She texted both those messages at 849.
04:37I texted her back at 851 and she didn't text me back.
04:41So what time did you end up going and looking?
04:44Honestly, it must have been right after 952.
04:46I went to the third floor and I saw Liz with the third floor girl.
04:52I said, have you seen Tina at all?
04:53She said, she's on the second floor.
04:55I said, well, she's supposed to be down there, but I don't see her anywhere.
04:58I went back up and I went to the file and opened the door and I could see her foot.
05:07He's got some physical disabilities, so he wasn't able to actually go into the room due to his wheelchair.
05:14But he called for Ryan.
05:16Her head was right by the water heater and she was kind of laying half in that room and half right there in front of the sink.
05:27And she was in a pool of blood under her head and it was smeared over here on the floor, too.
05:35And she had a rag in her mouth, like stuffed way down in her mouth.
05:39That was wadded like this and stuck down in her throat.
05:43Something just didn't seem right with the whole circumstance.
05:50She was there alone.
05:51She was an employee.
05:53We knew she was in there cleaning the room.
05:55There was some blood on the floor.
05:56One of our guys on our unit immediately went down to the front office to start checking video to see if there's anything unusual.
06:07From prior incidents at the hotel, we knew there was pretty good surveillance there, a lot of cameras.
06:12He calls me up shortly after, like within minutes, he told me something's not right here.
06:19What you see in the video is Tina approaches room 205 with her cart.
06:31You see her husband kind of in the background, and they look like they're having some type of an exchange, just a verbal exchange.
06:41And she goes into the room and her husband leaves the opposite direction.
06:48Only a minute later, we see someone.
06:51He walks towards the room.
06:53You can see him look inside.
06:54He then walks back towards his room, which was 209, just around the corner.
07:03And then he comes back, and you see him walk into the room.
07:13He's in there for 14 minutes.
07:17He leaves the room and leaves the hotel.
07:19He's in there for 14 minutes.
07:24What was really scary with that tape is you see just this sinister look on his face.
07:46Both before and after he enters the room, he's smiling, and he looks like he's proud of himself.
07:54It was gut-wrenching to watch that.
08:05Investigators speak to the staff at the roadway in to learn more about the man staying in room 209.
08:12I interviewed the motel staff.
08:15I was tasked with speaking to them about any interactions they had had with him during that time.
08:19He was not favorably looked upon as a guest, created a lot of issues with some of the other tenants.
08:26The staff themselves were not comfortable being around him.
08:29My wife claimed, I think it was 209 yesterday, and said something to the management that something wasn't right about that guy.
08:42She's like, keep an eye on this guy, because there's just something not right about him.
08:46I don't know what it is.
08:47He had a lot of tattoos, which has nothing to do with it.
08:52Tattoos aren't the point.
08:53It doesn't really matter.
08:54It was more his eyes.
08:56He gave me a look.
08:57I don't know.
08:58It was weird.
08:59He had dark eyes.
09:00His eyes were black.
09:02So I called my husband before I went back to the room to give him his towels, and I had my husband come up.
09:09And then I handed the guy the towels.
09:10He said, thank you.
09:11He went on about his business.
09:12He just sat there with the door open, smoking, listening to a lot of music, loud music.
09:18Everybody that came in contact with him, he would not let them in.
09:24He was not a nice guy.
09:26He would snap at these people, and he would be that person where you look at him, and he would just start saying things to you in a demeaning manner, and you weren't sure what was going to happen.
09:37You really didn't know what was behind the eyes.
09:42All right.
09:46Investigators conduct a search of both rooms for evidence to see if they can establish a link between Tina Strader and the man staying in room 209.
09:57Room 205 was where Tina was located.
10:00So in there, we had, again, her clothing.
10:03We had the towel that was stuffed in her mouth, a lanyard that she had been wearing, her hearing aid, some blood swabs.
10:09at that point we kind of focused our attention to his room being that you know he's likely a
10:18suspect and whatever happened to tina in room 205 so we were outside the room we start making
10:24announcements for him to come out and there's no response so we thought we were probably gonna
10:29have to make entry within 209 we located some more narcotics another towel that was bloodied
10:37and we also took the p-trop in his sink because we were hoping to find some more evidence that
10:44maybe he had tried to wash himself prior to leaving the hotel police fanned across the hotel property
10:51in a desperate search for the suspect from room 209 but he was nowhere to be found they knew it
10:58was a race against time to apprehend a violent killer who might strike again
11:07april 20th 2021 police are searching for their prime suspect in the attack on tina straighter
11:17when they catch a break through interviewing the motel staff they learn the name of their suspect
11:23steven have roca steven have roca has an extensive criminal history i worked that area he grew up
11:36in i started my career down there he was one of those kids that started with the vehicle burglaries
11:43and we kind of just dealt with him on that aspect and then it became every briefing he would do something
11:48or he'd be a person of interest in doing something he did go to jail for a little bit of time
11:54to take us away from there if you had a crime committed in that area he was always a person
12:00of interest at the time if he was out of jail as the crime scene is being processed detectives receive
12:08a surprising call about a potential sighting of this suspect there is a gentleman who was acting
12:14very erratic down by the regents bank he has his arms outstretched he's proclaiming that he's jesus and
12:23this is when the 9-1-1 calls start coming in we start hearing calls for backup from the deputy that
12:31responded to the bank down the road for the suspicious person to be honest i didn't really pay
12:39any attention when the initial call came out because our circumstance at the hotel but then
12:45when we start hearing our deputy down the road calling for backup another deputy at the hotel
12:51told me hey i think he's out with you know steven havrilka who's our suspect here at that point
12:58i ran down to my car and i got to him as fast as i could we were really fortunate with this case and
13:06that we did have all of the community support that we did because they saw this guy and they said you
13:10know what he doesn't look right there's something off about him people thought he was crazy they
13:17didn't know if he was on something but he was getting down on his knees acting like he was on a cross
13:23not normal behavior for somebody at roughly 11 o'clock in the morning in front of a bank
13:30when the callers called there was one female that said that he was stripping down and maybe
13:35possibly fondling himself there was another caller that stated that he was on his hands and knees
13:41praying when i got there there was two deputies they were just placing handcuffs on havrilka he was
13:53on his belly face down he was like trying to buck them off at that point i i came up and i helped
13:59him out i tried to hold him down and he just it felt like superhuman strength i remember i was trying
14:07to hold his legs and hamstrings down and he was like bucking me up i heard he was saying things like
14:13she and her and knowing that he had some involvement likely what happened to t-net i took out my my cell
14:21phone i started recording just in case he made any like spontaneous statements about what he did there
14:26I just wanted to know about him, but he managed to bring his glasses down to the hospital, he just held
14:34himself as a soda and something like it was like a support student in his part of the hospital.
14:34Just getting involved and like that, he said yes, no it was it's all that much
14:35right.
14:36In fact, the way he said no she was at this point for you.
14:38It's all right.
14:39He didn't have to get you in, but the repairer.
14:39Hey, I didn't have to leave, I didn't even have to believe in.
14:41Stop, stop, stop.
14:42Stop.
14:43Stop, stop, stop.
14:44stop, stop, stop.
14:45Stop.
14:46Stop, stop, stop, stop.
14:48Stop, stop, stop.
14:49Stop.
14:49Stop, stop, stop.
14:50Stop.
14:51Stop, stop, stop.
14:52Stop.
14:53Stop, stop.
14:53Stop.
14:55We're going to get an ambulance to check you out, OK, man?
15:00He was trying to eat grass.
15:02He was just delusional.
15:04He looked like he was definitely
15:05under the influence of drugs.
15:09Stop eating grass, man.
15:11Stop eating the grass.
15:13Mommy, I wasn't really you.
15:16I was done with you.
15:18Mommy, don't hurt me.
15:21Stop it.
15:22Stop eating the grass.
15:24She told me.
15:25You told me I had to kill him.
15:26I had to kill him.
15:28Ah!
15:29Ah!
15:30Ah!
15:39Some of the deputies that were there
15:41knew him from past encounters.
15:44So luckily, they were able to kind of talk him down a little bit
15:47so he didn't end up fighting them.
15:49And they were able to take him into custody.
15:51And ultimately, he was transported to the hospital
15:53because he was so influenced by narcotics.
15:58He was soaking wet.
15:59He had no shirt on.
16:00He had jeans that were, they felt like he just got out
16:04of a swimming pool.
16:05He obviously had something going on, a mental situation
16:09or a drug situation.
16:11In the hospital, they're checking his blood toxicity, making sure
16:15that he doesn't have any kind of injuries.
16:17So he's just there basically for medical clearance at this point.
16:23At that point, he was pretty sedated.
16:26We collected his jeans and, you know, put them in a paper bag for evidence purposes,
16:32which it was later handed off to our crime scene people.
16:38Tina, she was there at the same hospital as a few rooms down, actually.
16:43Steven Havrilka is too under the influence of drugs for police to question him about the attack on Tina Strader,
16:51who remains in critical condition.
16:55Investigators can only wait and hope that she will wake up and give a statement about what happened in room 205.
17:02Venice, Florida, April 2021, Tina Strader is in critical condition after a brutal attack in the roadway end.
17:19A few hours after being rushed to the hospital, Tina passes away from her injuries.
17:26There's no easy way for us to tell someone that their loved one has died, and especially in a manner such as this.
17:32We all dreaded it. It's the worst part of the job.
17:39I feel so awful for her and her family and what they've gone through.
17:44I can't even imagine the depth of pain that it must be for them.
17:52Gerald was what you would expect of a very grieving husband.
17:56He was very emotional.
17:57He really described Tina as everything to him, with the reason for him to continue living, the reason for waking up every single day.
18:05And when we were speaking with him, you could just see the pain and the hurt that he was carrying both on the outside and the inside.
18:13I think about her every day and what she deserves.
18:21She was the biggest giver, the biggest, biggest heart, the biggest genuine soul of anybody I've ever known in my entire life.
18:28From what I learned from Gerald, Tina just appeared to be a very infectious person, somebody that was willing to help others, somebody that was willing to talk to anybody that may be down on their luck, and somebody that was always willing to lend a helping hand.
18:49We learned that Gerald had met Tina at a poultry plant when they were both living in Texas, and Tina had this bubbly personality, and something just really stuck out and caught Gerald's attention.
19:05Gerald and Tina were really living out their honeymoon phase here in Florida.
19:09They were making friends.
19:10They loved going to the beach.
19:12Gerald did have some health problems, but Tina was working to take care of him.
19:16He used a wheelchair to get around, and he was also employed at the motel as well, sort of as a maintenance man.
19:22So the two of them were really trying to build a life together here in Florida.
19:26Initially, at the hospital, some things were not observed that were observed in the autopsy.
19:46For instance, the severe amount of bruising to her head and a shoe imprint that we found on her face.
19:51With everything that's going on in the hospital, with all the tubes and everything, that was not necessarily visible at that time.
20:02We want to know exactly how she died.
20:05Even though we have a lot of evidence pointing us to a certain cause of death, we need a definitive answer.
20:11We need somebody in a medical background telling us this is what she actually died of.
20:17On the 21st of April, 2021, Sarasota Sheriff's Department hold a press conference to inform the community of the heinous crime that has taken place.
20:34We knew that this was a big deal because the sheriff himself, Sheriff Kurt Hoffman, had called a press conference.
20:40You could tell the sense of urgency when we were out there.
20:47We knew that something very bad had happened inside that room.
20:52By all accounts, what I'm about to share with you is one of the most egregious crimes we've seen recently here in Sarasota County.
21:00So we are following up leads today, interviewing people, looking at video, things of that nature.
21:05So it is still a very active investigation.
21:10We found out it was strangulation, not by a cord or a rope, but by crushing force, which could only be done by somebody's hands.
21:23Not to our surprise, Havruka was uncooperative when interviewed.
21:30However, through the investigation, detectives have learned that Havruka did not know the victim.
21:36I can only imagine that he may have spent his days perhaps observing her at the roadway in where she was employed and he was staying.
21:46As you can see, Havruka is extremely familiar with law enforcement.
21:50He is a convicted felon with 34 prior felony charges and 19 felony convictions.
21:59Havruka's prior crimes range from battery, domestic battery by strangulation, burglary with a battery, battery of a detained person, battery of a person 65 years or older, and tampering with a witness, to name a few.
22:13There is no other way to describe Mr. Havruka.
22:16He is an animal.
22:18He also has tattoos that depict his certain symbols of white supremacy.
22:28The victim in this case was doing her job, was certainly terrorized, battered, and now is deceased.
22:36As this investigation continues, we are committed to working with the state attorney's office to see that this man is put away for the rest of his life.
22:44While Stephen Havruka is in the hospital, he talks to the police about what happened that morning and admits to some howering details of the crime.
22:55I did initially attempt to talk to him at the hospital, and he would not talk with me.
23:09However, what was interesting is that we had deputies that had to go with him everywhere that he went as an inmate, and at the hospital, we admitted to the offense on several occasions to several of the corrections deputies.
23:24I went ahead, and I got high, and I was up for about a week, and when I was up for about a week, I fell into a hairbrush, and then we just walked out the door, and then I took a left, and when I took to the left, I sensed that there was a woman right there in that room, because there was a cleaning maze there, but there could have been a guy.
23:44And when I went in there, I took a left, and then when I took a left, I went there, and she was in the room, and I said, hey, and when she came in the room, I hit her, and when I hit her, she fell on the floor.
23:57And she fell on the floor, I turned on her, and started choking her, and I stomped on her.
24:02Steven Havrotha is released from the hospital, and taken straight into custody.
24:15He refuses to tell investigators anything else about that morning, or why he chose to attack Tina Strader, so the investigators have to piece together the events themselves.
24:25We knew that she had been kicked in the face, because we could see the shoe print, and we couldn't find his shoes, and we wanted to know if he had dumped any additional evidence, so we did a canine track.
24:38We actually did several of them in order to try to recover any of this potential evidence, and that canine track led us to the wooded area where we located some of his clothing and some narcotics.
24:49By his own admission, he said that he had ingested methamphetamine in those woods immediately after the murder.
24:58Once he's now high on meth, he exits the wooded area and starts walking southbound on Tamiami Trail, which is a very heavily traveled roadway.
25:09It was either the day after or two days after we assisted in canvassing the neighborhood back behind where he walked down Genshin, trying to locate video surveillance.
25:19At one home right behind where the roadway is located, on Genshin, I found someone that did have video surveillance of him walking down the street.
25:32Investigators then catch a break when Habroka's DNA is discovered on Tina's lanyard.
25:38The only piece of evidence that we had both Tina and Halbroka's DNA on was her lanyard, which was great for the case because she had obviously been wearing that at the time of the crime.
25:50And then the rest of the items were all just her DNA.
25:58His room, we didn't end up sending anything off for testing.
26:01At that point, we were very confident in the case that we had and were limited with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement on how many pieces of evidence we can send.
26:09So we sent what we felt were the most important pieces for them to test.
26:15Detectives also interviewed Habroka's family members to gain more insight into his character.
26:21They stated he was a good kid when he's on drugs, he's not the same person that he normally is.
26:28They don't know what happened here, but this is not normally who he is.
26:35I know they're not a family of well-means, so I don't know how much they could actually help him out with.
26:40Him, his mother, his sister, they tried getting him into several different, you know, outpatient treatment programs.
26:50None of them succeeded or he didn't qualify for.
26:55His mom did tell us that around, but she said between 9 and 9.30, the day of the murder, that Stephen texted her.
27:02And it was just a very bizarre text that he was moonwalking and talk of rainbows, and she said it made absolutely no sense.
27:10And we found out that that was almost immediately after the murder.
27:18While the Sarasota Sheriff's Office builds their case against Habroka, they continue to try to talk to him.
27:25Detectives have a confession from Stephen Habroka, but still do not know his motive.
27:30He flat out refused to talk to us.
27:34Approximately two or three weeks later, happened to check my email, and I was told that he wanted to talk to the detectives about this case.
27:43So, around lunchtime, myself and Detective Patella went to the jail.
27:48We went to the proper room.
27:49At that time, Mr. Habroka was brought in by the deputies.
27:54He was a very subdued state compared to what we had normally seen him in previously.
27:58And then he decided he was going to tell us what happened.
28:11April 2021, Venice, Florida.
28:15Detectives are interviewing Stephen Habroka for the murder of Tina Strader at the Roadway Inn Motel.
28:21We were told that you wanted to speak with us.
28:27I just want to tell you all what happened.
28:28Okay.
28:29That's it.
28:30I remember I was working out that night, and I went to go try and have a drink and clear my head.
28:36A few places down at this Wally's place, but it was closed.
28:40So, I went back and said, all right, that's fine.
28:44Went and got like a four-pack of beer or something and just sat in there and was just kind of getting in my head,
28:53which I had been doing for a long time, and it's a dangerous place.
28:57Well, I went across the street to checkers, and when I went across the street to checkers, I, you know,
29:05it's just the way the world is these days, man.
29:08And there was somebody there who was talking about drugs, and then I started using it.
29:14And it's just I ended up staying in my hotel room for a week.
29:18I didn't really leave.
29:19I'd come out.
29:20I was paranoid, and some of it had to do with some drug use, but a lot of it was already there.
29:27Everything inside my head got more vivid and louder because I wasn't, I was, that's the only place I was at.
29:34I had this voice in my head that was telling me that I don't belong here, that I belong.
29:40I'm meant to go home, and I'm from hell or something.
29:44They just kept repeating over and over and over and over and over again to where I would actually believe them.
29:50The last thing that I thought that I, that this was heaven, and that I was, I was from hell, and I don't belong here,
29:58and I needed to go home to my family.
30:00And the only way I could go home to my family is if I did what I did, and I just went outside,
30:07and I just picked the first person that I seen.
30:11I didn't, I didn't really think about it.
30:17I went out, and I looked in.
30:18I went back in my room a few times, trying to push it off, telling myself that this is, this is not, you don't have to do it.
30:27And then just, voices came in my head and said, this is the only way you're going to be able to go home.
30:33And I just went and picked somebody, and I ran in, I don't remember what number of room it was.
30:40I ran in, went up to the right, went in a room, and I did what I did.
30:46And I don't, I don't, I don't really have the heart to go into detail to it right now.
30:56I asked him why he had his shoes off, because that was concern when we saw his shoes off,
31:01and maybe he had committed a rape against her in there.
31:04And he said, no, he did not rape her.
31:05He did not have any intention of raping her.
31:07And he said that he took his shoes off because he didn't want to leave shoe marks on the floor
31:11as he was cleaning it in the room where he killed her.
31:16We know you were in there for about 14 minutes.
31:20What was the 14 minutes?
31:22I mean, that's a long time.
31:24Because she wasn't gone yet.
31:28I made the mistake when I went in, I hit her.
31:32And then I just grabbed her neck, and I just, I was joking her.
31:37And then I started worrying about cleaning whatever up.
31:41And I kept having to go back and keep cleaning stuff up, because I was sweating really bad.
31:46And I kept, it was dripping on the floor, so I kept trying to wipe it up.
31:51I had to do that like three times.
31:57He was ultimately charged with second-degree murder.
32:00Had we found out that he had raped her, we would have perhaps gone in a different direction.
32:05But yes, there was definitely discussion about that and about doing death penalty.
32:09But we decided that second-degree would be the best course.
32:15There's some statutory requirements that we thought we would have the best chance of conviction as second-degree.
32:22But before the trial could take place, Havroka begins to engage in self-destructive activity within custody.
32:31Several times, he actually tried committing suicide in the jail.
32:43Tried drowning himself in the toilet.
32:44He tried starving himself.
32:46He tried hanging himself at one point, all of which were unsuccessful.
32:51The deputies were able to intervene.
32:52He was put in segregation because he couldn't be around anybody.
32:57He would start fights.
32:59He was just uncontrollable.
33:04From all accounts, from his psychological reports, he just would not communicate with the psychologist or the psychiatrist or whomever was evaluating him.
33:13He would sit off in a dark corner and cover himself with a blanket and refuse to participate in anything.
33:20So the medical staff had him evaluated.
33:24And during that evaluation, they found him incompetent.
33:30Stephen Havroka is ruled mentally unsound.
33:33And the trial is postponed indefinitely.
33:37Detectors are worried that there might never be justice for Tina and her family.
33:43I really felt that that was not right because he told us in the interview that he knew what he was doing.
33:57Although he had a different way of thinking, he knew exactly what he was doing and the consequences for that.
34:03I absolutely think it was a game because he was clearly able to articulate what he did.
34:12And he articulated that multiple times to multiple different people.
34:15He knew what he did was wrong.
34:17He recognized that.
34:19He was not a stupid person by any stretch of the imagination.
34:24He had been so familiar with the court system throughout his life.
34:28He understood what that system looked like and what trial looked like and how to communicate with his attorneys.
34:34I know that is a common play that is used, especially with him being a known drug user.
34:40So I wasn't completely shocked to see that.
34:44I was more shocked to see that they kept going back and forth, leaving him competent and then incompetent.
34:48So really for two years, it was a wait and see period.
34:55And there's a lot of frustrations from not only Tina's husband, but also from law enforcement.
35:00Because this is a man that they want to convict and they want to get behind bars and make sure that he is never on the streets again.
35:06And for Gerald, it was a very emotional process.
35:12There was no closure for him.
35:14He wanted justice for Tina.
35:16He wanted this man to be put away behind bars.
35:21It was not unexpected that he would be ruled incompetent, but it wasn't what I'd hoped for.
35:28There's no justice for Tina and there's no peace for me.
35:31I believe in the court system and I have to because that's one of the choices I have.
35:44It is only in November 2023, two and a half years after the brutal murder of Tina Strader, that Stephen Havroga is finally found competent to stand trial.
35:55They went back and forth for years on whether or not he was going to be competent to stand trial.
36:02So when he finally was found competent, I think the third time back in 2023, it was great.
36:09In preparation for the trial, investigators also delve into Havroga's troubled past.
36:15He tells me all about his issues after prison.
36:20He said he got out of prison and he said that he couldn't really find his way.
36:25He stated that he was looking forward to getting into weightlifting and exercising and wanted to be a trainer and become a better person.
36:39But he just could not follow through with it because of his mental health issues.
36:45He knew he had mental health issues.
36:48He said that he heard voices in his head all the time.
36:53He said that these voices told him to do bad things.
36:56And when he would work out, those voices would go away.
36:59Having known him basically since my career started to seeing where he was now, can't say I was completely shocked by it.
37:10But yeah, it was pretty up there in far as the realm of craziness.
37:19He is covered.
37:21The top of his head, his face, neck, chest, back, everything in tattoos.
37:26Mainly, he got in prison.
37:27A lot of the tattoos are a neo-Nazi Aryan Brotherhood realm of tattoos.
37:37He thinks that some of the symbols are religious and belief and not following those ideologies.
37:46That's his explanation of it.
37:51When he was ruled competent to stand trial, this was really a big moment for Gerald.
37:57It was a mix of emotions.
38:00On one hand, there is some relief that this trial is finally going to continue and going to move forward.
38:07But on the other hand, he continued to carry the grief and the sorrow of Lucy and Tina.
38:12And that was something that weighed very heavily on his heart.
38:14You could tell it just in his voice and talking with him.
38:18Gerald didn't continue to live in the motel.
38:20Last time that I spoke with him and met with him, it was at a small home, just a few miles away from where the murder had happened.
38:30Around Gerald's neck, he often carried a memory of Tina with him.
38:34He wore a necklace of her thumbprint.
38:36And that was something that he said was a part of Tina that would always remain with him forever.
38:42On the 3rd of February, 2025, Stephen Havroka changes his plea to guilty of second-degree murder.
38:58We found out just days before his actual sentencing, so I was surprised that we were finally going to be coming to our resolution, and I was very happy at the same time.
39:10I was in the room, and he didn't recognize me, but it was very satisfying to finally get him to tell a judge, this is what I did, just like he told us.
39:29He told the judge that he was responsible for her death.
39:36He didn't really express any type of remorse.
39:39I know that the state attorney read a victim impact statement from Tina's daughter, and yeah, he didn't offer any type of apologies, just admitted that he did it, and that was kind of the end of his story.
39:54He was sentenced to two life sentences, and that included some of the offenses that he had committed while he was in jail.
40:04I'd say the stars kind of aligned on this case.
40:07If we didn't get him right, then, like I said, that's a very robust residential community.
40:15Who knows if he did a home invasion, what else he had on his mind.
40:19You had a very evil man commit an extremely evil act for no reason, and you had a victim that was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and there was no other reason for it other than that.
40:36We now have an animal that's off of the streets.
40:42He's not going to be able to hurt anybody anymore, but Tina's family will forever be suffering with this.
40:48So one of the hard things in all of this story, which remains so tragic, is Gerald wasn't even here for the sentencing.
41:01He had ultimately passed away, and he wasn't here to receive the justice and to learn the justice for Tina that he had so wanted.
41:09He said.
41:14He said.
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