HERNANDO COUNTY, Fla. (TCN) — A jury has unanimously recommended the death penalty for a 65-year-old man convicted of kidnapping, sexually abusing, and killing a 12-year-old girl in 1993.
According to WTVT, 12-year-old Jennifer Odom was last seen getting off the school bus in Pasco County, Florida, in1993. Classmates on the bus said they saw a blue truck pull up next to her as she walked down a private road. Her body was found in a wooded area a few days later, and her killing remained unsolved.
Jeffrey Crum was already behind bars serving two life sentences for the 1992 attack on a 17-year-old girl, also in Pasco County, when he was connected to Odom’s killing. Spectrum News 9 reports the victim in that case suffered a brain injury and was left permanently disabled.
A DNA match linked Crum to Odom’s killing, according to WUSF. DNA had previously linked him to the case he was sentenced to life for in 2015. According to court records, Crum was also charged with robbery and sexual battery in 1981 and 1985, respectively, WUSF reports.
At trial, prosecutors said Crum’s son testified his father admitted to killing Odom, WTVT reports. Crum’s son stated his father told him, “Remember Jennifer Odom? I did her too.” According to Spectrum New 9, prosecutors also showed evidence that Crum owned a blue truck at the time, corroborating what witnesses had seen on Odom’s last day alive.
On Aug. 25, the jury unanimously voted to recommend the death penalty, according to WTVT. It would have been Odom’s 46th birthday. Many of Odom’s loved ones spoke in court, including her aunt, Mary Beth Lambert, who said, “She was a barefoot water skier, an archer, clarinet player, a Girl Scout, the best babysitter ever and a devoted member of our Catholic Church. … But most of all, she was my precious niece.”
According to WTVT, Crum’s final sentence will be determined during a Spencer hearing on Oct. 21.
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