What started as a normal morning for a man from Florida quickly turned into a nightmare when his beloved wife did not respond to his lyrics.
Tina Strader, 46, was a hard -working household manager at the Rodeway Inn in Venice, about an hour's drive from Fort Myers.
She had just started cleaning room 205 on April 9, 2021, when she sent her usual check -in message to her husband Gerald.
The couple had set up the simple but effective safety protocol – a routine text when she entered another room in the motel to clean.
But when his follow -up messages remained unanswered, concern soon changed in panic And a desperate search was started that led to a heartbreaking discovery.
'She texts me when she starts the room, so I will know, “husband Gerald explained to WFLA. 'Normally if it is a really bad room, she would say:' It will just take me longer or you can get this for me. '' '
“Nobody had seen her,” Gerald said, 56,. “When I went then and finally opened the door, I found her.”
The terrible face for him was shown in his memory forever when he found his wife, bruised, bloody and lifeless, in a cupboard with a towel that was filled in her throat.
Tina Strader, 46, a cleaner at a motel in Florida would send her husband Gerald, 56, a check -in message for every room they maintain
The murder was identified as the 34-year-old Stephen Havrilka who had stayed almost a week before the murder in room 209 of the same motel
Tina Strader was the hard -working household manager in the Rodeway Inn in Venice, Florida
The attacker, identified as the 34-year-old Stephen Havrilka, had been in the nearby room 209 of the same motel for almost a week.
Surveillance images later revealed how only a minute after Tina came in room 205, Havrilka followed.
Fourteen minutes later he appeared and wore a towel and his shoes.
What happened within those four walls in such a short period of time was difficult to understand.
Authorities said that Havrilka had no earlier connection with Tina, but Seriff Kurt Hoffman speculated that he might have monitored her in the days prior to the attack.
“I can only imagine that he might have spent his days to perhaps observe her in the Rodeway Inn,” Hoffman said Grimig.
“No murder scene is pleasant, but certainly when a spouse is the one you find and the resuscitation instructions of shipping must take, I can't imagine how difficult that was for him,” said the sheriff.
Just after the body of Tina was discovered, reports flowed over in 911 from a whimsical man who behaved aggressively on just two miles of the motel.
It took five delegates to subdue and arrest Havrilka, a man with a shocking criminal past consisting of four stints in prison from a combination of 34 earlier crime charges, 19 crime convictions and ties with neo-Nazi groups.
Tina was bruised, bloody and lifeless, pushed into a cupboard with a towel filled in her throat
“She was the greatest giver, the greatest heart and the greatest real soul of everyone I have ever known in my whole life and I am sure I will ever know,” said her mourning husband, Gerald Stader
A goofundme was set up to cover Gerald's daily residence with his wife, no longer to earn a wage
During the conviction, a statement was read by the family who recorded the destruction by the family after the murder of Tina
Havrilka argued guilty of second -degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison
It took five delegates to subdue and arrest Havrilka, a man with a shocking criminal past
His violent history painted a horrifying portrait of a man who should never have been free to strike again.
Havrilka argued guilty of second -degree murder of the 2021 attack and was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday.
In a non -related case, he also received an extra life sentence for a brutal prison.
The murder of Tina Strader shattered not only her family, but also the entire community.
A GoFundme was founded to no longer cover Gerald's daily life with his wife in the neighborhood to earn a wage.
Known for her friendliness and relentless dedication, she was loved by both guests and colleagues.
“She was the greatest giver, the greatest heart and the greatest real soul of everyone I have ever known in my entire life and I am sure I will ever know,” her mourning husband told WTVT.
During the condemnation of Havrilka Las Assistant lawyer Karen Fraivisse, a statement from Tina's four children and two grandchildren, where the destruction of the family is felt after the crime.
“The last thing my mother tasted was cotton. It was a dry towel that was pushed in her mouth, in her throat, and who eventually led to her death, “the court heard.
“Our mother will never be at our weddings. She will never be able to meet her grandchildren, kiss their heads, tell stories, to tell them good memories she used about pregnancy with us. '
