Night Of Adventure Ends In Deaths Of 2 Boys -- Florida Man Charged With Murder And Kidnapping

LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. - Prescription for a weekend of terror and death: three teenagers, a shared streak of adventure, a man with a gun and a camouflaged tent in the woods and no known motive for what happened next.

When it ended, police said yesterday, two young friends were dead and a third was hospitalized after trailing blood through the thicket as he staggered to a rural home for help.

The boys, ages 13 to 15, slipped away from their Southwest Florida homes early Sunday for a night of adventure.

Police said the three were kidnapped at gunpoint, bound and gagged, locked in a car trunk, held for 12 hours in a tent, subjected to "bizarre interviews" and - just when freedom seemed at hand - shot at point-blank range.

In custody was Robert Kay, 24, of Fort Myers, Fla., a thin, short, bespectacled man. He was described by neighbors as a quiet fellow, a man of mystery.

Police charged him with two counts of first-degree murder, three counts of kidnapping and one count of attempted first-degree murder. They said he shot each of the boys once and then, as they lay on the ground, returned to finish them off.

Kay was convicted of burglary in 1988. He was sentenced to 15 years probation and ordered to pay nearly $3,000 in fines and restitution.

Police also were investigating the role of a second man. A police report said the man, whose identity was not made public, was present during the abduction of the boys but apparently played no role in the deaths.

The police report and interviews with the victims' friends and relatives suggested that the boys' adventure, which began with a sleep-over party, took a quick detour into the macabre.

"They must have gone out sometime in the wee hours of the morning," said Carolyn Mullins. "I think they were just kind of being adventurous."

Her grandson, Irish Mullins, 15, was shot in the head and back. "He was a great kid," she said.

His friend, Nathan Goldsberry, 13, also was killed by a shot in the head and back. Friends said he was a happy-go-lucky kid, the class clown, the star of his school's upcoming play: "Help, I'm Trapped in High School."

Shot three times, Chris Stricklin, 14, was in stable condition at Southwest Florida Regional Medical Center. As the gunman fired, police said, Chris covered his head with his arms.

Losing blood at a rapid rate, he made it to the home of Alice Stewart, who lives in a remote part of Lehigh Acres, about 15 miles east of Fort Myers. At 3:30 p.m. Sunday, she heard a weak knock on her door.

Stricklin was banging on the door with his head because his arms were immobilized.

The boy told Stewart he and his two friends sneaked out of Irish's house early Sunday and were walking near the telephone office in Lehigh Acres when Kay drove up in a light blue Ford Tempo.

Stricklin apparently did not mention a second man to Stewart, but the police report says the man was in the car when the boys were abducted.

The police report provides this account of what happened next:

Kay pulled out a black, semi-automatic handgun and slammed Nathan in the head with it. He ordered all three into the back seat of the car and taped their legs, hands and mouths. Then he put them into the car's trunk.

Kay drove to the second man's house and dropped him off, supposedly promising to take the boys home. Instead, he took them to a tent camouflaged in a wooded area of Lehigh Acres, removed the tape from their legs and mouths and subjected them to "bizarre interviews." No details were provided.

After many hours, he forced them back into the trunk of the car, drove to another remote area and ordered them out of the trunk.

"Chris said the man kept telling them he was going to let them go, that he wasn't going to hurt them," Stewart said. Instead, the police report says, Kay began shooting them.

Police said he shot Irish first, in the back. The others screamed and ran. Chris was shot in the arms and pretended to be dead, but he saw Kay return to Irish and shoot him again, this time in the head. Then Kay chased Nathan, brought him down with a shot in the back and fired again into his head.

When Kay left, Chris staggered to his feet, checked on his friends and then walked 20 minutes until he found Stewart's house.

"If we weren't here, I don't think he'd be alive because there's no other house close by," Stewart said. "I think he probably would have passed out and bled to death before somebody could have found him."