WiltonManors double murder trial opens

Peter Avsenew told his mother on Christmas Day 2010that he had done something terrible, the worst thing he had ever done. Prosecutors and defense lawyers agree, that’s what he said.

But a Broward jury heard conflicting accounts of what Avsenew meant.

Defense lawyer Gabe Ermine said the statement to his mother was Avsenew’s way of admitting that he’d hired himself out as a prostitute to a Wilton Manors couple, then took their credit cards, money and car after he found them shot to death in their home.

But prosecutor ShariTate saidAvsenewwas admitting to the murders of Kevin Powell and Stephen Adams, who took Avsenew into their home after finding his suggestive posts on the Craigslist classified ads website.

“He shot them multiple times in the head and left them to die,” said Tate. “He took their credit cards, their money and their car.”

Avsenew faces the penalty if convicted.

In opening statements Friday, Tate said Avsenew followed up the murders with a shopping trip. First he went to Bass Pro Shops and Walmart, where he bought camping equipment. Then he picked up a watch at a store in Cooper City. He used Adams’ credit cards to make his purchases, Tate said.

Finally, he drove north to Polk County to visit his mother.

Adams was scheduled to fly to Ohio on Christmas Day to visit his family. His sister, Marci Craig, testified that Powell, Adams’ partner for nearly 30 years, would have been welcome but had not planned tomake the trip death because he was recovering from two recent transplant surgeries— kidney and pancreas.

Craig said she waited at the airport for her brother to arrive Christmas night, but he never did. She checked with the airline and learned he never boarded the flight. She called the house in Wilton Manors. No one answered.

Desperate to find out what was wrong, Craig said she called Wilton Manors police. She checked news reports and hospitals to find out if either Adams or Powellwere in an accident.

Finally, on Dec. 27, she calledWiltonManors police again and gave them permission to break down the door if they had to. That’s when police found the bodies.

Avsenew, meanwhile, was visiting his mother, who immediately became suspicious when he arrived in a 2003 Saturn Vue he did not own. She knew her son did not have a license to drive, Tate said.

FirstAvsenewsaidhehad a friend’s permission to borrow the car. But after news reports of the murder were published online, Avsenew admitted he stole the car and asked for his mother’s help getting rid of it, Tate said. Themotherreluctantly complied, but she called police after she realized her sonwas amurder suspect.

Defense attorney Ermine offered no explanation for who shot Powell and Adams, but he said the men were dead when Avsenew found them. The shock of seeing them, coupled with the shame of why he was stayingwiththemin the first place, left Avsenew with a difficult choice, Ermine said.

The trial, before Broward Circuit Judge IlonaHolmes, is scheduled to resume Monday.