TAMPA, Fla. — Seminole Heights is infamous for one of the biggest cases in Tampa, the Seminole Heights serial killings.
It was a time when the community and loved ones mourned the loss of four people. People lived with fear until the suspect was caught.
Years later, after the suspect was sentenced to life in prison, neighbors are able to reflect on that time. The community now realizes how they rallied together.
Back in the fall of 2017, most people living in Seminole Heights were nervous about leaving their own homes.
"We had to change everything, like no one was able to walk to their car by themselves anymore and we told parents the kids can’t walk to church anymore," Pastor Matt Horan said.
In 2017, Matt Horan was the pastor at Seminole Heights United Methodist Church. He recalls everything changing after a spree of killings.
"The first one was terrible. To hear that someone would’ve been killed," Pastor Horan recalled.
Benjamin Mitchell was the first to lose his life on Oct. 9, 2017. Just four days later and ten blocks away, Monica Hoffa was killed.
"The news got a little graver when Monica was killed and they discovered that it was the same gun that killed both her and Benjamin," Horan said.
Two more innocent people were killed. Anthony Naiboa on Oct. 19, 2017, and Ronald Felton on Nov. 14, 2017.
"It was depressing and dark. It just felt like kind of there was hovering evil everywhere," Horan explained.
Tampa Police officers flooded Seminole Heights. They recall struggling to figure out who was pulling the trigger.
"We had some evidence, but our best evidence wasn’t right away identifying who was responsible," Tampa Police Det. Sgt. Greg Van Heyst said.
With each senseless murder, Tampa police still didn’t have a name for who was responsible. "As the murders continued, the pressure just grew," Det. Sgt. Greg Van Heyst stated. The investigation spanned 51 days.
"You don’t know what’s happening and neither does law enforcement. They just know it is happening," Brian Frey said.
Brian Frey was a community leader in Hampton Terrace at the time. That neighborhood is blocks away from the spot of one of the murders.
"You always have a question mark in your mind of what’s next? Who’s next? When is it going to happen again?" Frey said.
Police had a hard time figuring out who murdered four innocent people.
"We had no leads and nothing really other than the murder weapon to tie them together," Tampa Police Cpl. Randi Whitney stated.
The search for the Seminole Heights serial killer went national as police and people were desperate to catch the criminal behind the gruesome killings.
"We needed to do everything that we can do in order to bring that feeling of safety back," Tampa Police Cpl. Randi Whitney said.
Cpl. Whitney was able to do that for her community. She was in the McDonalds in Ybor in November 2017 when the manager inside approached her.
"She said, 'Well, I have an employee who just handed me a bag and left to go to Amscot. He said, that he will be back to pick up the bag but not to look inside and then he’s leaving town.'" Cpl. Whitney said.
In that bag was a gun. "There was a high probability that I was holding onto the murder weapon," Cpl. Whitney stated.
After a phone call to the police station, Tampa detectives believed Howell Donaldson III was the Seminole Heights serial killer.
"As soon as I sat down the phone down, someone yelled, ‘he’s back, lock the door’ and I said, ‘No, we want him’ and I ran out the door," Cpl. Whitney said.
At the same time, a police captain pulled into the lot. Together they handcuffed Donaldson, arresting him for the murders of four innocent people.
"You realize the gravity of what had happened has now ended. There’s an ending," Frey said.
Pastor Horan alerted the community by ringing the church bells.
"What a relief it was to hear this beautiful, kind of holy sound, in the middle of this cloud of evil that has been all over the place," Pastor Horan said.
Finally, a sense of safety returned. "It was over and the weight of that was immense," Frey said.
Those like Frey realized how their already tight-knit community was now closer than before.
"I think we are better for the relationships that were forged," Frey said.
Police realized they wouldn’t have solved this case without help.
"Our whole community came together to help solve this case. We all worked on it and fought through from the beginning to the end together," Cpl. Whitney said.
Together, the community brought safety back to their streets.
"I really got the glimpse of this is what the neighborhood was supposed to be... coming in together to get through this together," Pastor Horan said.
TECO also worked with the community to install more streetlights. After the serial killings, TECO officials said they installed and repaired hundreds of streetlights in Seminole Heights.