TAMPA, Fla. — Howell Donaldson III told his parents being in jail is "killing" him.
"I can't even explain all of the stuff that's been happening to in here to me, man," Donaldson says to his parents during a January phone call from the Hillsborough County Jail. "They're in here killing me, I'm surprised I'm still here honestly."
Late Wednesday, the Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office released a trove of materials collected by investigators in the last 15 months since Donaldson was arrested. Among those materials is a 15-minute phone call between Donaldson and his parents and a 40-minute video showing a jailhouse visit a few weeks later.
Donaldson is accused of killing four people in Seminole Heights over a six-week period that terrified a community and rocked the Tampa Bay area. Benjamin Mitchell, Monica Hoffa, Anthony Naiboa and Ronald Felton were all killed as they walked along in southeast Seminole Heights.
Donaldson was found competent to stand trial in July 2018. If he is found guilty during trial, he could face the death penalty.
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After the calls took place between Donaldson and his parents, he appeared in court Jan. 29 and spoke about his deteriorating health behind bars. Despite a warning from a judge, Donaldson presented an unexpected, self-serving list of questions that left victims' families disgusted and upset.
With the recently-released phone calls, we're hearing more about Donaldson's experience behind bars.
In the 15-minute phone call, Donaldson tells his parents his attorneys stopped coming for two months and that he wants to be moved to the general population because he's isolated and lonely. He said jail staff was manipulating him.
"I can't be in here no more," he said. "My spirit is down. They're killing me."
His mother, Rosita Donaldson, tells him to "stay strong so we can get you out of there" while his father, Howell Donaldson Jr., says he'll request to get him moved. The call was made Jan. 2. Donaldson was not moved.
During the 40-minute visitation, Donaldson details more about how he feels sitting behind bars. When his parents say he "looks good," he says, "I don't feel like it, trust me."
Donaldson doesn't discuss the allegations against him in either conversation. He says multiple times he knows "you gotta be mindful of what you say on here."
He claims "(Jail staff) got so much control over my life, period."
"It's not right, it's wrong," he said. "It don't have to be this way. It's personal. It's very personal."
Donaldson said he tries to pass the time and ease his alleged suffering by reading the Bible and books like The Age of Turbulence by Alan Greenspan and a Jason Bourne novel.
His parents ask him if he's been able to exercise, but Donaldson tells them "I'm so broken, I can't."
"I've got to see other inmates come out, you know, with a smile on their face, you know, doing their time, regular stuff that regular inmates are doing and I'm coming out every day in agony, man," Donaldson said.
Days after the visitation, Donaldson made three requests in court: to be present at all future court hearings, for enough money to get a copy of the transcripts from court hearings he missed and to see a doctor at an outside hospital.
A judge granted Donald's first request but denied the other two. The judge did order a full evaluation by the medical staff at the jail and for any concerns to be passed along to the public defender.
Donaldson's parents were also at that Jan. 28 court hearing but said nothing about their son's claims.
The next court date is set for April 23.
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