A Florida man, Dima Tower, was sentenced to life in prison over the brutal killings of his adoptive parents, where he reportedly stabbed them more than 140 times.
The sentence was handed down by a Sarasota Circuit judge following a 12-person jury finding the defendant guilty of premeditated murder. The victims in the case were Jennifer and Robbie Tower, who were found dead inside their North Port home.
Dima Tower Sentenced to Life in Prison
Judge Thomas Krug sentenced Dima to life in prison without the possibility of parole on both counts of first-degree murder, to run consecutively. The defendant was also found guilty of fleeing to elude police with lights and sirens and was sentenced to five years in prison to run concurrently with the other sentences.
On top of his prison sentences, Dima is prohibited from having any contact with Jennifer and Robbie's loved ones. In a statement following the sentencing, Krug said, "It is a shame that in this great country that we live in that we lost two shining stars," according to the Herald Tribune.
The 24-year-old defendant was initially arrested in connection with the stabbing murders of his adoptive parents in the late hours of Aug. 31, 2023. When officers arrived at the family's home, Dima quickly fled the scene, leading North Port police on a high-speed car chase along Interstate 75 before he disappeared into a wooded area near Venice.
Law enforcement personnel were able to arrest the suspect the next morning after they found him behind a Shell gas station on Knight's Trail Road in Nokomis. When asked about the incident, Dima said that he fatally stabbed his adoptive parents in a fit of "rage."
First-Degree Murders
The defendant was initially charged with two counts of second-degree murder and fleeing to elude police. In January 2024, he was indicted by a grand jury for two counts of first-degree premeditated murder, Yahoo News reported.
Dima's defense, Assistant Public Defender Marc Gilman, argued in court that he was not seeking to prove his client's innocence. Instead, he simply asked the jury handling the case to find the defendant guilty of manslaughter, which is a lesser-included offense.
When police entered the Towers' home at the time of the discovery of the bodies, they found the victims lying on the living room floor. The father appeared to have puncture wounds in his upper back, while the mother's head was covered in blood, as per Gulf Coast News Now.
