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Man faces charges in adjuster's slaying

 
Published Nov. 19, 2004|Updated Aug. 29, 2005

Haunted by a deadline that could have set a murder suspect free, investigators postponed sleep and pulled long shifts.

Thursday night, they got what they wanted: A first-degree murder charge against Jason Matthew Funk.

He is accused of killing insurance adjuster Katrina Anne Froeschle moments after the 25-year-old arrived to inspect damage from the summer's hurricanes to the roof of a house in Sulphur Springs.

Funk, 27, faces charges of attempted sexual battery with great force while armed, armed robbery and burglary of an auto, according to Tampa police.

Investigators rushed to prepare their evidence before today's scheduled 10 a.m. bail hearing. Judge Walter Heinrich had called the hearing earlier this week to re-examine the state's case against Funk, which, until Thursday, left him in jail only on charges of growing the marijuana that authorities said they found in his home. The judge said it would take more evidence to hold him any longer.

Since then, blood found on Funk's clothes and the shoes he was wearing at his arrest has been identified as that of Froeschle's in lab tests done by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, said Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy.

Police also matched a fingerprint to Funk that was found in Froeschle's Chevrolet Impala, which was found a few blocks from Funk's home.

"FDLE worked, literally, around the clock," she said. Investigators felt the pressure not to let someone suspected of such a heinous crime back on the streets, she added. Funk remained in the county jail Thursday night without bail.

Police say they recovered a receipt from Froeschle's credit card signed with Funk's name from a Qwick Stop at Nebraska and Powhatan Avenues where he bought groceries Saturday night, more than 24 hours after she disappeared. They say they also found a surveillance video of Funk at a Publix on Nebraska Avenue where he used another of her credit cards the same night.

Police say they also found some of Froeschle's belongings in Funk's home.

The last time anyone heard from Froeschle, it was last Friday between noon and 2 p.m. An adjuster for Farm Bureau Insurance, she got lost on her way to the home Funk rents at 1503 E Mulberry Drive. She called work on her cell phone to get directions.

As she pulled up to the house, she told a co-worker, "I'm here, and someone's coming outside to meet me," McElroy said. A neighbor also reported seeing Funk walking out to meet Froeschle and the two of them returning to the house.

Police think Funk attacked her shortly after they were inside the home, McElroy said.

He has not confessed and was not cooperating with police, denying any contact with Froeschle, she said. But because Froeschle's body was found partially clothed, Funk also faces an attempted sexual battery charge, McElroy said.

The charge could be upgraded with further test results, she said.

At some point during the attack, Funk struck Froeschle on the back of the head with a "very strange object" that police recovered in the home, McElroy said.

Funk is accused of dumping her body in the Hillsborough River behind the home and burning carpets from the home in his back yard, McElroy said.

More than 24 hours later _ after her parents became concerned and alerted authorities, and after her car was found a few blocks from Funk's home _ police pulled Froeschle's partially clothed body from the river. The body was under a dock, less than 5 feet from the back yard of Funk's rented house.

Funk and his girlfriend had moved into the home just a few days before the attack, police said. His girlfriend is cooperating with police and has not been charged, McElroy said.

Previously, Funk lived in a Brandon apartment.

Froeschle recently moved from northwest Hillsborough to Hyde Park, according to her father.

She had a multitude of interests. Before the hurricanes hit Florida and made her job so busy, she signed up for a graduate chemistry class at the University of South Florida.

A graduate from Florida State University with a degree in finance, Froeschle was a snow skier, former gymnast, softball player and certified diver.

She talked to her parents daily and adored her two younger brothers.

McElroy said detectives were shaken by the brutality of the crime against a young woman merely trying to do her job. One detective barely slept. Police are not releasing the exact cause of death, and have no motive.

"It appeared to be very senseless," McElroy said.

Froeschle's father, Jeff Froeschle, declined to comment on the case, but did express his "extreme gratitude" to officials for what he called a "prompt and efficient" investigation.

Jeff Froeschle said the family has been overwhelmed at the outpouring of love for his daughter since the crime and through services held for her Thursday.

"She has been tragically stolen from us, and I just want people to know what a kind, loving, happy, engaged-in-life, bright ," he paused to sigh, "wonderful, sweetheart she was.

"I just want everyone to know," he said. "I want the whole world to know."