A Florida murder suspect appeared ready to make a deal—but only if lunch was part of it.
Robert Kessler, accused of killing and dismembering Stephanie Crone-Overholts, offered to plead guilty in exchange for a Philly cheesesteak, fries and a Pepsi.
He even specified the toppings. The 74-year-old asked Hillsborough Circuit Judge Nick Nazaretian for onions and mayonnaise, along with the soda served in a 20-ounce cup.
The unusual request left Nazaretian struggling for words.
“I’ve never—in my almost 40 years—ever heard that request before,” he said Oct. 26. “I can’t obviously give food to people to enter a plea, that would be wrong in a thousand ways. But I could guarantee you could have lunch today.”
Kessler remained unconvinced.
“Don’t want an open plea,” Kessler later told the judge. “Just pick the jury. And then I want this cheese sandwich. If I get the sandwich, then I can go for it, but I’m not going to get it.”
Kessler, who is blind and uses a wheelchair, made the highly specific demand as his murder trial began.
Prosecutors allege Kessler stabbed Crone-Overholts four times, including in the neck, then cut her body into at least seven pieces and threw her remains into a bay, according to Court TV. Kessler has pleaded not guilty.
Kessler’s attorney, Maria Dunker—he initially sought to represent himself before changing course—argued that there is insufficient evidence showing how Crone-Overholts died or proving that Kessler was responsible, the outlet reported.
Dunker did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Oxygen.
The grisly investigation began Nov. 11, 2021, when someone spotted a human leg floating in Tampa’s McKay Bay, according to a criminal complaint obtained by Oxygen.
The right leg had been severed several inches above the knee and carried a distinctive tattoo depicting three hearts and the names “Sean,” “Greg” and “Zach.”
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The next day, investigators found a severed left leg in the same waters. As officers waited for a dive unit, they spotted a woman’s lower torso and discovered internal organs several hours later.
Detectives questioned three fishermen who reported seeing suspicious activity in the days before the remains were found.
According to the complaint, one fisherman told investigators he saw an older man holding a black garbage bag over a bridge railing after apparently dropping items into the water. Two days later, another fisherman reported seeing a similarly described man throw plastic bins and garbage bags from a Dodge minivan into the bay. When he paddled over to one of the bins, he noticed a foul odor.
Investigators identified Crone-Overholts as a 47-year-old Pennsylvania mother of three who had been reported missing and had moved into Kessler’s home in Lutz. When officers visited Kessler, they saw bins in his living room and car that resembled containers found near the location where the body parts were recovered, the complaint said.
Kessler told police that he met Crone-Overholts at McDonald’s and invited her to stay with him because she needed housing, according to the complaint. He said he could not remember the last time he saw her but claimed that when he returned home Nov. 5, she and her car were gone, prompting him to discard her belongings.
But Kessler’s 8-year-old daughter offered investigators a different account.
In an interview cited in the complaint, the girl said Kessler and Crone-Overholts argued Nov. 5 and that he told her to leave. She said Crone-Overholts agreed only after he offered her $200. Kessler’s daughter also told investigators that he sent her to bed before he and Crone-Overholts went outside.
The next morning, Kessler told his daughter that Crone-Overholts had left with her boyfriend, according to the complaint. She noticed that Crone-Overholts’ bedroom smelled bad and said her dad planned to redecorate it.
Surveillance video later showed a man whom police wrote in the complaint fit the general physical characteristics of Kessler, abandoning Crone-Overholts’ car in a commercial lot.
“They got a search warrant and they took my van,” Kessler told WFLA Nov. 22, 2021. “There’s no evidence in it—there’s evidence that she had been here or something like that.”
Two days later, Kessler was arrested for second-degree murder and abuse of a corpse.
DNA testing later confirmed that blood found on Kessler’s shoes and kitchen cabinets, along with a mattress in his home matched Crone-Overholts’ DNA.
At his Oct. 27 court appearance, Kessler said he no longer wanted to be present, so an official escorted him out the courtroom, Court TV reported.
