Jake Powell III was arrested Thursday on murder and other charges in connection to the 1994 shooting of Anthony P. Smith.
In 1994, Tampa police launched a homicide investigation after 22-year-old Anthony Prevsto Smith was found fatally shot behind the wheel of a Ford Bronco parked on a dead end street.
A witness to the shooting reported it at the time but didn’t know the shooter, who appeared to be a boy of about 16, records show. Detectives continued to investigate over the years, sending evidence for processing as forensic techniques advanced.
On Thursday, police finally arrested a suspect: Jake Powell III, 47, of Tampa. Powell was 17 years old at the time of the shooting. He faces charges of first-degree murder, robbery, carjacking and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
The evidence gathered over the years is outlined in Powell’s arrest affidavit released Friday.
On June 1, 1994, Powell, Smith and a third person stopped for food at a Pizza Hut near the intersection of Busch Boulevard and 40th Street. After the meal, Smith took from his pocket a sum of cash between $2,000 and $2,500 and put it down on the table, according to the affidavit.
The third person, whom the Tampa Bay Times is not naming because he is a homicide witness, knew Smith but had never met Powell and didn’t know his name.
The witness said he, Smith and the teen got into a 1988 Ford Bronco. The witness agreed to drive at the request of Smith, who said he was tired. Smith sat in the passenger seat and the teen was sitting in the back seat.
The witness said he heard a loud bang. When he looked to his right, he saw Smith slumped over and bleeding from his head. The witness then saw the teen in the back seat was pointing a silver revolver at him.
The teen ordered the witness to pull off of Nebraska Avenue onto a side road and stop. The teen then got into the driver’s seat of the Bronco and drove away with Smith still in the passenger seat. The witness walked to a nearby gas station, called 911 and reported what happened.
The witness said the shooter was Black, maybe 16 years old, about 5 feet, 8 inches tall with short hair and a small build. He was wearing a gray short-sleeved shirt and gray pants. Booking details for Powell in 1994 and 1995 list him as 5′4″ and 5′5″ and weighing 130 pounds, according to the affidavit. Both photos in the entries show Powell with short hair.
The next morning, a city of Tampa employee came upon the Bronco parked at a dead end near the intersection of 36th Street North and 23rd Avenue. Smith was slumped over in the front passenger seat, dead. In the mouth of a nearby storm drain, detectives found two pieces of gray clothing with what appeared to be large amounts of blood.
An autopsy determined Smith had been shot twice in the head with a .375 or .38 caliber gun. He had 95 cents in his pocket.
An analysis by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement confirmed the substance on the clothing was blood. Investigators also collected eight fingerprints from the Bronco. There was no money inside.
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