MAN CHARGED IN STABBING DEATH ON ISLAND
Victim's Last Telephone Call Led To Identifying Her Attacker

A 24-year-old Largo man was charged with Murder late Monday, about 15 hours after he apparently stabbed to death a woman in her Clearwater Beach apartment.

TODD WADATZ (10-14-77), of 6500 Ulmerton Road, Apartment 111, in Largo, was charged with one count of First-Degree Murder after admitting to stabbing Aimee J. Farrell multiple times with a carving knife. Wadatz was booked into the Pinellas County Jail Tuesday night.

According to Case Agent Detective James Kleinsorge, Wadatz - the husband of an acquaintance of Miss Farrell's - called the petite woman around 4:30 Monday morning, asking to come over to her 880 Mandalay apartment to discuss his eroding relationship with his wife.

Although she agreed to talk with Wadatz, Miss Farrell apparently had misgivings about the situation, and called her mother to tell her she was uneasy about Wadatz – a man she knew only in passing - stopping by her home.

Elizabeth Farrell, Miss Farrell's mother, called her daughter and spoke to her while Wadatz was at her apartment. But when she called back a short time later there was no answer.

Concerned, Mrs. Farrell drove from her Dunedin home to the expansive island apartment complex on the northern end of Clearwater Beach to check on her daughter. Accompanied by a security guard, Mrs. Farrell entered her daughter's apartment and found her dead on the floor at 5:30 a.m.

Investigators were quick to look to Wadatz as being involved in Miss Farrell's death after speaking with the dead woman's mother; Mrs. Farrell told investigators of the conversations she had with her daughter, and they were able to identify Wadatz as the man who had visited the apartment just before the death was discovered.

Wadatz was located and discussed with detectives his pre-dawn actions. He denied having been at the apartment or any involvement in her death.

Ultimately, Detective Kleinsorge confronted Wadatz with circumstances and evidence from the crime scene, and the man admitted to killing Miss Farrell.

Detective Kleinsorge believes Wadatz made amorous advances toward Miss Farrell, entreaties that were rebuffed by the 20-year-old woman. At some point, Wadatz got a kitchen knife and stabbed Miss Farrell repeatedly in the upper chest.

Once Miss Farrell collapsed, Wadatz assaulted her sexually.

Detective Kleinsorge believes after Wadatz assaulted Miss Farrell, the man realized his clothes were bloody. He disrobed, showered in Miss Farrell's bathroom, and dressed in her clothes, placing the murder weapon and his clothes in a plastic bag before leaving the complex.

After admitting late Tuesday to killing the woman, Wadatz - married with two children - led Detective Kleinsorge to a location on the Belleair Causeway to point out where he discarded the weapon among a stand of mangroves.

The knife believed used in the murder was recovered. Miss Farrell, a dispatcher for a private security firm, was studying Criminal Justice at Florida Metropolitan University.

This is the extent on information available regarding this case at this time. This investigation is continuing, and additional details will be made public as circumstances warrant.

For information regarding this investigation, please call Public Information Officer Wayne Shelor at 727-562-4333.

/s/
Sergeant John Scacca
Robbery/Homicide Unit
Criminal Investigations Division