Man Planned to Film Killing and Rape, Sell on DVD, Say Florida Police
A man planned to film the killing of a family and the rape of a 9-year-old girl in Longwood, Florida, police reported Friday. Shawn Ryan Thomas, 29, had intended on luring three people to a vacant home and slitting their throats, but his gruesome plot failed when the targets became suspicious and left.
The man's plan to film the killing of a grandfather, father and young daughter involved Thomas posing as a student from Full Sail University who was making an independent movie, The Orlando Sentinel reported. He managed to get the family into the home on June 7, but the grandfather became suspicious and they all left.
Thomas told his plan to a Florida Department of Law Enforcement informant: he was going to kill the father and grandfather, rape the 9-year-old girl, kill her afterwards and film the entire thing for a DVDs that he would sell for $1,000 each. The Longwood resident said that he had been fantasizing about the rape and murders "for so long" and would "not be able to stop" getting new victims once he started.
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Thomas also said after his plan had failed that bringing along an accomplice with a silenced gun would have made sure the family didn't leave.
The reason the plan failed was apparently pure happenstance. The grandfather was driving by the house on East Orange Avenue earlier in the day when he spotted a "For Sale" sign in the yard. When he stopped and peered inside, he noticed a room with no furniture and plastic lining on the floor. In another room was a tripod.
When Thomas was arrested police found a bag with a knife, sexual lubricant a camera, a tripod, a sex toy and zip ties on his person. A search of his apartment yielded plastic sheeting, a receipt for the sex toy and 10 pieces of child pornography, The Sentinel reported.
Thomas has been charged with premeditated attempted homicide, attempted sexual assault on a victim under 12 years old and 10 counts of possession of child pornography. He's currently being held in the Seminole County Jail without bail.
