TAMPA, Florida — A Hillsborough County jury on Wednesday, November 4, found Robert Kessler, 74, guilty of second-degree murder and abuse of a dead human body in the 2021 death of Stephanie Crone-Overholts, 47, and Circuit Judge Nick Nazaretian sentenced him immediately afterwards to life in prison, plus a consecutive 15 years on the abuse count, Tampa Bay 28 reported from the courthouse.
Source: Tampa Bay 28 (WFTS)
The jury deliberated for more than 11 hours before returning its verdicts. Kessler had been charged with first-degree premeditated murder; the jury convicted him instead of second-degree murder, a lesser-included offence, alongside the abuse-of-a-dead-body charge as charged. A Tampa Bay 28 photojournalist in the courtroom reported that Kessler showed no reaction when the verdict was read.
Life in prison — the maximum — for second-degree murder, followed by a consecutive 15 years for abuse of a dead human body. Judge Nazaretian moved directly from verdict to sentencing on November 4, addressing the victim's family before imposing the terms.
What prosecutors told the jury happened
Prosecutors said Crone-Overholts, a mother of three from Erie, Pennsylvania, had been staying at Kessler's home in Lutz, north of Tampa, in the fall of 2021. After an argument, prosecutors said, Kessler stabbed her multiple times and then concealed her death by placing her remains in Tampa's McKay Bay in November 2021. Awaaz Punjab is reporting the prosecution's account in summary form, as the court accepted it through the guilty verdicts, without repeating graphic detail.
The case began on November 11, 2021, when a fisherman discovered human remains in McKay Bay, the industrial waterfront inlet east of downtown Tampa. Tampa Police arrested Kessler on November 24, 2021. He pleaded not guilty and the case spent almost five years moving towards trial.
A five-year road to the verdict
Kessler was first charged with second-degree murder and abuse of a dead human body; a grand jury later indicted him on the more serious charge of first-degree premeditated murder. The proceedings were also delayed after Kessler was at one stage found incompetent to stand trial and was later restored to competency, allowing the trial to go ahead.
Trial finally began with jury selection on October 26, 2026, in the Hillsborough County courthouse. Kessler represented himself — the State Attorney's Office confirmed he acted as his own attorney — and, in an exchange widely reported during the trial's first days, he offered to plead guilty in return for a Philly cheesesteak, fries and a Pepsi. Judge Nazaretian rejected the proposal and jury selection continued.
At sentencing, Court TV reported, Judge Nazaretian called the crime “unheard of” and told Kessler, “You had to go full Hannibal Lecter,” before imposing the maximum life term for the murder conviction and the consecutive 15 years. The judge first took a moment to address Crone-Overholts' family, who had waited since 2021 for the case to conclude.
Why the case gripped Tampa
The discovery in McKay Bay in November 2021 made the case one of the Tampa area's most closely followed homicide investigations: a victim who had travelled from Pennsylvania, a suspect who insisted on defending himself, and a trial that only reached a jury five years after the killing. For Crone-Overholts' family, Wednesday's verdicts close the criminal case that began with a fisherman's discovery in the bay.
What happens next
Kessler begins serving a life sentence for murder with the additional 15 years running consecutively, meaning the abuse-of-body term is added after — and separate from — the life term. As with any Florida felony conviction, he has the right to appeal, and because he represented himself at trial, any appeal would be handled through the appellate courts in the ordinary way. No appeal announcement was made in court reporting from the sentencing.