Oscar Ray BOLIN was convicted in 1986 of the brutal rapes and murders of three women and suspected of four other killings.
A former carnival worker, Bolin was found guilty of first-degree murder and false imprisonment in the November 1986 death of Stephanie Collins, 17. The high school senior's disappearance from a suburban shopping center sparked a massive monthlong search. He was sentenced to death almost eight years ago for the murders of Stephanie Collins, Terry Lynn Matthews and Natalie Blanche Holley, 25, of Tampa. He won new trials, however, when the Florida Supreme Court said improper evidence had been introduced.
Bolin was retried in 1996 and sent to death row for murdering Matthews. In February, a Hillsborough jury recommended that Bolin get the death penalty for killing Holley. He is to be formally sentenced by a judge in May in the Holley and Collins cases. Prosecutors say Bolin abducted Collins after she stopped by the drugstore where she worked to see about picking up extra work over the holidays. She was on her way to chorus practice. Bolin took the teenager to his north Tampa travel trailer and bludgeoned and stabbed her to death, jurors were told.
A hair found on Collins was matched to Bolin, FBI analysts testified. Bolin's wife at the time of the murders, who now is dead, testified on videotape that he admitted killing Collins. Bolin's attorneys said their client merely helped conceal the crime of an unnamed person. Bolin did not take the stand. After the trial, his attorneys said they think numerous issues will provide a basis for an appeal. They argued during trial that they were hamstrung by a poor cross- examination of Bolin's ex-wife by his previous attorneys.
UPDATE: October 25, 2001
For the seventh time in a row, Florida serial killer Oscar Ray Bolin has been found guilty of first-degree murder. Since 1986 he has been found three times guilty of killing Terry Lynn Matthews. He has also has stood trial for the 1986 murders of two Hillsborough County women, Natalie Blanche Holley and Stephanie Collins. Twice he has been convicted for each of those murders. Each time the victims' families, the prosecutors, the judges, thought they had moved closer to justice, the Florida Supreme Court found mistakes in the trials and overturned the convictions. During Bolin's eight-day trial, signs of just how much time has passed since the killings were everywhere. Time and again, witnesses were forced to answer questions apologetically by saying, simply, "I don't remember. It's been so long." Bolin was 24 when Matthews was murdered; now he's 39.
Some witnesses have died, including Bolin's ex-wife, Cheryl Jo Coby. Another witness, Robert Kahles, committed suicide in 1991. He owned the tow-truck company that Bolin worked for in 1986. Ultimately, it was his decision to allow Bolin to take a wrecker to Pasco County on the day Matthews was abducted and murdered. Before putting a gun to his head, Kahles called his wife and said, "I shouldn't have had that boy working for us."