Murder suspect's story doesn't match medical expert testimony

Hillsborough County Associate Medical Examiner Leszek Chrostowski, left, demonstrates on the neck of defense attorney Brian Gonzalez how certain certain marks could have been left on the victim's throat.

[Times photo | Ken Helle]

  TAMPA -- Two years ago, Joshua Rosa told deputies that he had lost his keys while jogging in a park and then found the body of his 13-year-old neighbor when he returned with a flashlight to search for the keys.

Rosa said he heard Stephen Tomlinson gurgle, so he tried to help the teen by puncturing his throat with a key to open an airway.

Authorities didn’t buy the story. They charged Rosa, now 22, with first-degree murder.

During Rosa’s trial today, a medical examiner said he saw no evidence that a sharp object of any kind had been thrust into Stephen’s neck.

Nothing like a key, a prosecutor asked.

“No,” said Dr. Leszek Chrostowski.

The medical examiner confirmed that Stephen died of manual strangulation the night of Dec. 8, 2005, in a park in Carrollwood’s Logan Gate Village subdivision.

Stephen had bruises on his body that indicated a struggle, Chrostowski testified. He could not say exactly what position the victim and assailant were in when death occurred but said the assailant’s position changed several times. Stephen’s death likely occurred from more than a single hold, he said.

Stephen’s family left the courtroom during the medical testimony, which included graphic pictures from the autopsy. Rosa has a large group of supporters who stayed throughout the testimony.

-- Colleen Jenkins, Times staff writer