Kanubhai’s Motel

Florida, America, 24 June 2012

Gujarati NRIs Kanubhai Patel and his wife Indiraben, both 57, suffered head injures when a former Hillsborough County principal Anthony Giancola, apparently high on drugs beat them with a hammer, Pinellas Park police said. Patels own Kenvin’s Motel at 6801 Haines Road, Pinellas Park. Kanu Patel is in critical condition at a local hospital.

On Friday, the former Hillsborough County principal was accused of going on a bizarre, violent rampage in Pinellas that left two people dead and nine others injured, Patels were two of them. In the course of an hour, Giancola stabbed four people, killing two, in a Lealman group home for the hearing impaired, bludgeoned two owners of a Pinellas Park hotel with a hammer and hit four pedestrians and a teenager on a bike in a Lealman neighborhood, according to police.

“This is the worst of the worst here because this appears to be a random crime,” Gualtieri said. There’s no nexus…no connection between the suspect and the victims as we know it.”

The mayhem started 10:48 a.m. Friday when deputies were called to the group home at 5100 35th Way North in Lealman. Justin Lee Vandenburgh, 27, was found dead at the home and Mary Anne Allis, 29, later died after she was taken to a hospital. Danielle Whitney Gilbert, 25, and Janice Denise Rhoden, 43, were taken to Bayfront Medical Center with non life-threatening injuries. All four were stabbed multiple times, detectives said.

“He used a big knife,” Gualtieri said. “A huge knife.’’

A child who lived there was not home at the time, said neighbors stunned by the day’s events.

“It’s crazy,” said Ken Seidl, 52, who lives down the street from the group home. “There’s always problems in this neighborhood, drugs, prostitution. But never nothing this drastic.”

Giancola then went to the Kenvin’s Motel, 6801 Haines Road, Pinellas Park and broke in, detectives said. Motel owner Kanu Patel and his wife, Indiranden, both 57, suffered head injuries when Giancola beat them with a hammer, Pinellas Park police said.

Kanu Patel was listed in critical condition at a local hospital Friday night.

At approximately 11:30 a.m., Pinellas Park police officers and firefighters responded to the Kenvin’s Motel on Haines Road in Pinellas County where two people had been attacked.

A woman found one of the motel owners face down in a pool of her own blood and called 911. When deputies arrived, they found the woman’s husband even worse off.

Witnesses said there was blood everywhere. TheTimes reports that Kanubhai and Indiraben were severely beaten with a microwave.They were transported to Bayfront Medical Center.

Another woman who was staying at the motel said Giancola came by on Thursday night in search of someone to “party” with.

Tenants said the owners were well-liked and that they don’t know why someone would have targeted them.

At 11:40 a.m., Giancola was seen parking his red, 2005 Ford 500 Limited at the HCF Food Discount Store, 5705-B 58th Ave. N., the Florida Highway Patrol said. When he backed out of the lot, he hit a wooden pole and drove across the street, where he talked to several people hanging out on a duplex’s front porch.

“This dude pulled up, seemed a bit drunk and was asking if the women we were with were down to party,” said Cory Winter, 18, who was part of the group. “I said, ‘No, they’re all married.”

Giancola cursed at the group and sped away, Winter said.

But the car turned around and rammed straight into the porch, hitting a man and three women.

The highway patrol said after the Ford plowed through the porch and drove off, a 13-year-old boy just east of U.S. 19 was hit by the car. The women were being treated at Bayfront Medical Center; the boy was treated at the scene.

After the hit-and-run crashes, Giancola went to the Egg Platter Restaurant, across the street from Kenvin’s Motel, and parked the Ford. Police said Giancola was spattered with blood when two women, one of them his mother, pulled up in a white pickup, put him inside and drove away.

Gualtieri said the women brought Giancola to his mother’s house, but he wandered off. His mother then called the sheriff’s office, Gualtieri said.

Pinellas Park detectives and police dogs tracked Giancola to Kenneth City, where he was hiding in brush near his mother’s house.

He was arrested at 1:06 p.m., and charged with two counts of first degree murder and two counts of attempted murder in connection to the stabbing at the group home. He was booked at Pinellas County Jail late Friday.

The sheriff’s office said the highway patrol was investigating the hit-and-run, and Pinellas Park police were investigating the motel attack. It wasn’t immediately clear if charges had been filed in either of those cases.

Giancola was named Van Buren principal in 2006. A year later, Van Buren was listed on the state Department of Education’s list of 75 most improved middle schools.

He has a degree in physical education and a master’s degree in the education of emotionally handicapped students. He has been credited for his ability to help children believe in themselves.

But marital problems led to a $300- to $400-a-day crack cocaine habit, Giancola told police after his drug arrest at the school.

After he was sentenced to a year in jail, Giancola said he would follow the advice he gave to thousands of students over his 16 years as an educator.

“I’ve always told my students the same thing when they got into trouble,” Giancola said. “Accept responsibility for your actions, deal with the consequences in a respectful manner, and then move on and don’t make the same mistake again.”

It was a promise police say he couldn’t keep.

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