A Child-Killer Slain, A Radio Station Accused

ORLANDO, Fla. - Child-killer Donald McDougall died much like his victim did 14 years ago - beaten mercilessly to death. Now detectives are trying to determine whether an Orlando radio program incited the killing.

An inmate serving a 114-year sentence was charged yesterday with killing McDougall with a steel bar used for horseshoes. An attacker beat McDougall Tuesday night in a Polk County prison yard.

McDougall, 40, had been removed just nine hours earlier from protective custody at Avon Park Correctional Institution, where he was serving a 34-year sentence for killing Ursula Sunshine Assaid, his girlfriend's 5-year-old daughter.

In her final months, the child was fed soap; deprived of food, water and sleep; and forced to stand naked for hours and recite the alphabet.

Prison officials had placed McDougall in protective custody because of a radio call-in show on Sept. 25, the anniversary of the 1982 slaying. A caller to the "Russ & Bo Show" on station WTKS-FM "put a bounty on (McDougall's) head," said Debbie Buchanan, a Department of Corrections spokesman.

The officials heard that callers had wished McDougall dead. One had mentioned a $1,000 reward. The station is a favorite with inmates.

Host Russ Rollins said he didn't recall a caller offering a bounty for McDougall's death.

"All we wanted to do was keep this guy in prison," Rollins said during his broadcast last night. "We didn't want to have him killed. But we're not upset that he's dead."

He said he and partner Bo Rhodes received dozens of messages congratulating them.

"That," Rollins said, "puts chills up my spine."

The show took calls for five hours Sept. 25 about the seeming unfairness of McDougall's scheduled release next April.

"I will admit it was a pretty powerful show," Rollins said. "It was really strong. We poured it on really thick what that guy did."

But Rollins said he did not think it was fair to blame his show.

"Just because a radio station talks about something," he said, "I don't think you can be held responsible for that."

But Polk County sheriff's detectives have demanded a tape of the broadcast and are calling it "a contributing inciting factor."

They have charged inmate Arba Earl Barr, 33, with first-degree murder. He had been serving a sentence for robbery and aggravated battery.

Like other child-killers, McDougall was "the lowest of the low" in the inmate honor system, said corrections spokeswoman Buchanan.

McDougall's notoriety led to law changes and rulings that have kept thousands of prisoners behind bars longer, she said. When those changes were enacted, McDougall was placed in protective custody.

McDougall would have been out of prison Tuesday if not for a rule change earlier this year.

The Russ & Bo Show also has been credited with drumming up public support for the change.

At the time of McDougall's trial, the state could not seek the death penalty because state law required prosecutors to prove the killing was premeditated. That is no longer required in child-abuse cases.