‘HOMOSEXUA MUST BE PUT DOWN’
VILE thug Peter Avsenew felt it was his mission in life to exterminate homosexuals – a sickening quest that made him ‘proud’.
And, after boasting about his exploits in a letter to his trial judge, he even flipped the middle finger to bereaved family members as he was handed a death sentence...
TWISTED Peter Avsenew lived in the quiet Florida community of Wilton Manors, Fort Lauderdale.
It’s an affluent area known as a ‘gay district’ – popular with same-sex couples – that’s also filled with parks and museums and popular with tourists.
But for Avsenew, the people who resided there represented everything he detested.
In 2010 he posted an ad on the popular website Craigslist, advertising his services as a male escort.
He got a reply from an adventurous couple – Stephen Adams, 52, and Kevin Powell, 47, partners who had been together for 30 years.
But ‘escorting’ was the last thing on Avsenew’s mind.
As he entered their home he shot them both repeatedly in the head with a handgun, before stealing their credit cards and car and leaving them to bleed to death.
Avsenew, who already boasted an extensive criminal record, was eventually shopped to police by his own mother, Jeanne.
And despite Avsenew initially pleading his innocence, once convicted he soon showed his true colours.
In a letter to Broward Circuit Judge Ilona Holmes, Avsenew said: “It is my duty as a white man to cull the weak and timid from existence.
“I will always stand up for what I believe and eradicate anything in my way.
“Homosexuals are a disgrace to mankind and must be put down. These weren’t the first and won’t be the last.
“I must secure an existence for white people and a future for white children. “You will never stop me.” In a further rant in court, he added: “There is nothing that can hurt me now. I have no consequences for my actions. I plan on hurting people.
“I wholeheartedly have nothing to lose and I’m going to take it out on everybody I can.
“What is a life in prison? There is none.
“I’d rather just kill people and be by myself. It’s much easier.”
He even sounded off about his killing prowess in front of stunned family members.
Hatred
He laughed: “It’s really easy to talk someone into teaching them jiu jitsu, putting them in a choke and just holding on too long and there’s nothing they can do about it. “Only takes about six seconds.” In the face of such overwhelming hatred, in January this year Judge Holmes handed Avsenew the death penalty.
If anyone expected a show of remorse, they didn’t get one.
Instead, sick Avsenew chortled, smirked and then gave the middle finger to the grieving friends and family of Stephen Adams and Kevin Powell.
Stephen’s disgusted sisters, Marci Craig and Missi Badgett, said: “We know that justice was served.
“I knew he was making that gesture to us. I said to my husband right away, ‘He just flipped us off’.”
Avsenew, now 33, is the glaring result of a grim life.
In his defence he claimed to have been sexually abused by a stepfather and then thrown into turmoil when his sister was murdered.
Growing up, Avsenew was a bad apple well known to local cops. He had convictions for vehicle theft, robbery, grand theft and fraud.
He also had pleaded no contest to marijuana possession, criminal mischief and resisting an officer.
Stephen and Kevin, meanwhile, had been loved by all who met them.
The couple had also been through their own hardships. Kevin was a lifelong diabetic who had just got over double organ transplant surgery.
Stephen, a nurse, had been caring for his partner.
Kevin’s distraught brother, Shannon Kicklighter, said at the time of the slayings: “They had been together for years and years.
“They took care of each other. They were loving partners.
“We were an extended family. We are just heartbroken.”
Avsenew, a father of one, had only just been released from prison when he decided to kill.
Shocking
In a Facebook post in July 2010, he wrote: “Today is the first day of the rest of my life and I am going to make it count. I am free and coming home.
“Robbie, Daddy loves you – and I am going to prove it to everyone.”
By December of that year, however, Avsenew was covered in blood trying to clean up a crime scene – having committed one of the most shocking murders Florida has ever witnessed.
It started when Avesnew placed an advert online claiming to be a male escort.
Prosecutors said there was no evidence that he actually worked as a prostitute at any time.
Instead, it appears to have been a simple ruse to enter Stephen and Kevin’s home on December 23, 2010, and commit carnage.
The victims were shot ‘multiple times’ with a .25-calibre handgun.
They also suffered horrific trauma to their heads after they were
mercilessly bludgeoned.
Their bodies were discovered three days later when concerned family members realised that neither Stephen nor Kevin were turning up for Christmas gettogethers.
Avsenew fled the scene and drove the couple’s car to his mother’s home in nearby Polk County.
His mother, Jeanne, told investigators that she suggested her son take a hot shower when he turned up as he appeared “agitated and upset”.
According to the search warrant, after he had finished bathing Avsenew told his mother: “Yeah, finally I got the smell of bleach off me.”
Fight
Investigators said d they had found bleach at t the crime scene.
Avsenew had used it t to try to clean the blood d from the walls and floor. .
He also told his mother r that he had “done e something really bad” – but that she shouldn’t t worry because he had d covered his tracks.
He alluded to getting g into a fight and told her r “they got what they y deserved”.
While blood may be thicker than water in most cases, unlike her son, Jeanne clearly had a conscience.
She promptly called police and tipped them off about what her son had “confessed” to her.
Avsenew was quickly rounded up by cops and taken in for questioning.
Jeanne later testified against the boy she had brought into the world in emotional courtroom scenes.
Speaking via video, she said: “He told me he had done something and needed to get away for six months and everything would be all right.”
She added that Avsenew had asked her to help dump the dead couple’s car that he initially said he had “borrowed”.
Jeanne added: ‘I said, ‘Is the car stolen? You told me it wasn’t stolen, that your friend gave you this car’. “He said, ‘I lied!’ “I told him he was making me an accessory to whatever he had done.
“He just laughed and said, ‘Don’t worry about it’.
Slaying
“I obviously knew something was wrong.”
Jeanne also noticed that her son was checking the computer frequently.
When she was finally able to see what he was looking at, she was shocked.
She explained: “There was a thing – Peter was a person of interest in a slaying in Wilton Manors.
“I saw his picture, I saw the car in the background that was in front of my house.
“It said they were looking for Peter Avsenew as a person of interest.
“I raced over to a friend’s house and told her what was going on and what I had seen on the computer.
“She said the only thing I could do was call the police. I called 911.”
On December 3, 2017, Avsenew was found guilty of double murder.
And, while Stephen’s sisters Missi and Marci said they had ‘forgiven’ Avsenew, they were still deeply troubled by his lack of remorse.
Missi said: “It was hard on our parents. We lost our dad two years ago, but he told us we had to forgive Peter.
“He still has a grin on his face as of today. How can you sit there and show no remorse?”
Avsenew was handed his death sentence in January this year.
But spare a thought for his mum, Jeanne.
She says she has “mixed feelings” about the fact her son will now be put to death by the state – largely based on her own evidence.
“I’m troubled by that,” she said.
“I know he doesn’t want to spend the rest of his life in prison.”
As she made her way out of the courtroom, Jeanne Avsenew looked to her son but made no gestures.
Peter Avsenew looked back and said nothing in return.