Suspect charged in Lutz triple murder

TAMPA --Hillsborough Sheriff's officials have arrested Edward Allen Covington in the gruesome murders of a mother and her two children.

Covington, left, the 35-year-old live-in boyfriend of victim Lisa Freiberg, is charged with three counts of first degree murder and three counts of abuse of a dead human body and one count of animal cruelty in connection with Monday's triple murder in Lutz.

Freiberg, 26, and children Heather Savannah, 2, and Zachary, 7, pictured above, were victims of a gruesome slaying that was discovered Monday when Frieberg's worried mother stopped by her daughter's mobile home Monday to check on her.

Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office Chief Jose Docobo said Covington was interviewed today and confessed to the killings. "He’s provided extreme detail as to the manner, the order and the means by which he committed these crimes,'' Docobo said.

In an arrest affidavit, deputies wrote that Covington admitted to "choking, beating, stabbing, dismembering and mutilating the victims, as well as the victim's dog.''

Investigators believe the murders occurred Sunday morning, and Covington stayed in the mobile home the couple and children shared until he was found by deputies on Monday hiding inside.

Asked if it was a premeditated act, Docobo said "it appears it was more spontaneous than any kind of plan.''

The victims were so mutilated it's hard to say what was the cause of death at this point, "given the damage,'' Docobo said. "There were multiple means used to inflict the wounds on the bodies,'' he said.   

An arrest affidavit says Covington told authorities he sold his motorcycle last week in exchange for crack cocaine. On Monday, he tested positive for having cocaine in his system.

Just after 5:30 p.m., Covington was escorted in handcuffs from the Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigations Center on Falkenburg Road where he'd been questioned to a sheriff's cruiser to be taken  to Orient Road Jail.

A 6-foot-2 figure with steely hazel eyes and a close-shaven head, Covington kept his eyes mostly downward and said nothing as reporters asked him questions on the walk. He wore red sock feet, a hospital gown and orange prison pants. After he ducked into the cruiser, only back of his head was visible from the back window as it drove away.

- Rebecca Catalanello, Times staff writer