DNA technology is catching up to murderer Tony Alvin Ables. Ables has been convicted of 2 murders, and charges for another are pending. Ables is not being charged with a 4th murder, despite DNA evidence.
On December 11, 1970, Ables (sometimes referred to as Abels) killed a man during a robbery. He pled guilty on March 1, 1971 and was sentenced to life in prison at the age of 16. He is released on parole in 1983.
Eight-four-year-old Adeline McLaughlin is found murdered in her home on June 25, 1983. She had been sexually assaulted and smothered with a pillow. Ables broke into her home through a first floor window, killed McLaughlin and burglarized the home. He won’t be charged for more than 20 years.
Deborah Kisor, 31, was involved with Ables. She was assaulted and strangled on Valentine’s Day, 1987. He dumps her partially nude body in some woods near Roser Park. She had been sexually assaulted. Kisor had been living at a residence for people with mental illness.
In June, 1990, Ables murders his girlfriend, Marlene Burns, in their Grove Street, St. Petersburg apartment. The couple had been drinking and arguing all day. When Burns went to another apartment in the complex, Ables found her and threw her down the stairs.
But he was not done with Burns. After throwing her down the stairs, he beat, kicked and stomped her to death. She had 29 rib fractures. Ables was charged with her death on June 6.
Ables is convicted of murdering Burns on January 30, 1992. The jury recommends the death sentence. Juries can only make recommendations. A judge must review the recommendation, and either accept it or substitute another.
On May 11, 1992, Circuit Judge Bob Barker overrides the jury recommendation, and changes Ables’s sentence to life. He said Ables’s mental health and other problems outweigh the aggravating factors that would otherwise result in the death penalty.
In December 2006, police announced 51-year-old Ables is suspected in the murders of 2 more people. Advances in DNA technology connected Ables to the murders of McLaughlin and Kisor. He was officially booked in McLaughlin’s murder on March 16, 2011. Charges in the McLaughlin murder have not proceeded. Ables is currently “detained” in her death.
Ables not be tried for Kisor’s murder. Because he and Kisor were romantically involved, prosecutors say it’s “too complicated” to proceed.
Ables, 16, kills a man during a robbery
Ables pleads guilty to robbery and murder, and is sentenced to life. He gets paroled in 1983.
Adeline McLaughlin is sexually assaulted and smothered in her downtown St. Petersburg retirement community apartment.
Deborah Kisor, Ables’s girlfriend, is assaulted and strangled. He is not immediately linked to the crime.
Marlene Burns, Ables’s girlfriend, is murdered in their Grove Street apartment. Ables is immediately arrested.
Ables is convicted of murdering Burns and sentenced to death.
