TAMPA, Florida — Like many places in vibrant Ybor City, a home on 5th Avenue is rich with history, albeit an eerie one that’s only grown darker in recent weeks.
A few months ago, Kurt Schleicher, who’s owned the home for roughly 10 years, got an unexpected knock on his front door. A couple of law enforcement agents asked to check out his backyard.
An apparent deathbed confession led them there.
“They were explaining to me that this is a cold case from 1988,” Schleicher told 10 Tampa Bay. “The gentleman who used to live here as a rooming house, he supposedly, allegedly murdered a couple of women and buried them in the backyard."
The investigation has ramped up in recent days, and Schleicher says a handful of investigators have been at his home, meticulously digging, taking soil samples, photos and looking for answers.
Tampa Police have not confirmed all the details, only saying in a statement, “Investigators received information that a body may have been buried on a residential property.” Adding at this point, “no human remains have been found,” but their investigation continues.
The 1980s incident was news to Schleicher, but he was well aware of another storied killing that happened at the same home, 90 years ago.
As you go inside the Ybor City property, it fittingly looks like a museum, with trinkets and movie photos lining the walls, even the leftover wounds of a crazed killer.
Schleicher pointed to axe marks that still existed in the original windowsills.
In the 1930s, Victor Licata killed his five family members in the house, the narrative was that he was using marijuana at the time. The story in part spawned the federal prohibition of marijuana and was the loose basis for “Reefer Madness.”
“Reefer Madness is this house right here,” Schleicher said.
As the investigation continues into another potential killing at his property, Schleicher is hoping more comes out of this than just another chapter in the history books.
“I am into the history, but I really would love to have closure for the families,“ he added.