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St. Pete Woman Charged with Murder in Deadly Love Triangle

by | Mar 6, 2017 | Firm News

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Deputies of the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office made an arrest last Thursday in the 2015 slaying that ended an alleged love triangle.

Priscilla “Dawn” Houck of St. Petersburg is alleged by authorities to have shot to death the long-time boyfriend of a woman with whom she was having an intimate relationship. According to detectives, Christopher Wayne Rotenberger impregnated his girlfriend Stephanie Dalrymple while she was in a relationship with Houck, and the resulting friction between Rotenberger and Houck escalated from a fistfight to premeditated murder. The 24-year-old Rotenberger was slain early on the morning of November 11, 2015 at his home near Seminole.

The arrest report accompanying Houck’s apprehension says that she researched methods on the Internet for purchasing firearms without a background check just days before the murder in which she’s a suspect. The report goes on to allege that she met with another individual and bought a gun using ten twenty-dollar bills bank records show that she withdrew shortly after she spoke with him on the phone.

The unnamed seller contacted police regarding the incident. He also spoke with Houck, authorities say, who assured him that his fear of being linked to a potential murder was misplaced, as she had already disposed of the gun.

The report also alleges that Houck told her roommates to give her an alibi at approximately the same time as the 2015 murder, as she was not at home at that time. It also alleges that she told another witness of Rotenberger’s shooting before the incident was made public.

The 38-year-old Houck was booked into the Pinellas County Jail at a quarter to four in the afternoon on Thursday. She is being held without bond on one count of first-degree murder.

Dalrymple, now 24, has not been arrested in connection with the slaying. A PCSO spokesman says that the investigation is still ongoing.

The Law Offices of Bjorn Brunvand have been representing people charged with capital murder, felony drug charges, drunk driving, government fraud, and white-collar crimes for over a quarter century. Contact our office today to discuss your Tampa Bay-area state or federal charges.

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