Howell Donaldson III walked into the McDonald’s where he worked and handed over a bag to his manager, investigators say.
Inside that bag, authorities say, was a gun.
It was 2017, and 51 days of terror in a Tampa community had come to an end. During that time, Seminole Heights was haunted by a serial killer who murdered four people.
Benjamin Mitchell, 22, Monica Hoffa, 32, Anthony Naiboa, 20, and Ronald Felton, 60, were shot to death within blocks of each other.
After the fourth killing, Donaldson, 24, turned over the gun to Delonda Walker, his manager at the McDonald's. Walker immediately called police.
Now, a podcast is looking back at those 51 days of terror. “True Crime Chronicles,” a podcast by Vault Studios, digs into the case and the man who police say was responsible for the murders.
You can download and subscribe to "True Crime Chronicles" on any podcast platform, including Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher and Apple Podcasts. You also can listen to the latest episode in the player below when it is released on Monday.
“I think about it all the time because I was around that individual that did that horrible crime, you know?” Walker told 10News a year later.
10News reporter Emerald Morrow was on the scene as police uncovered the horrific work of the serial killer.
“It was just terrifying and heartbreaking on so many levels,” Morrow remembered.
But the community wasn’t going to let the fear stop them from finding out what happened to their loved ones or getting justice, she said.
“You had the Seminole Heights community banding together to do different projects to show that they were not going to allow this serial killer to take over their lives," Morrow said. "But it was absolutely a terrifying time.”
Donaldson was arrested and charged with four counts of first-degree murder.
In July 2018, Donaldson, who pleaded not guilty, was found competent to stand trial. His trial is slated to begin in August.
If found guilty, he faces the death penalty.
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