Dima Tower, a Ukrainian orphan adopted by Florida couple, is on trial for murder after brutally stabbing his adoptive parents in 2023.
On Aug. 31, 2023, Dima Tower, then 21, stabbed Jennifer and Robbie Tower more than 140 times at their North Port home.
Tower fled in his car as police arrived at the scene, leading authorities on a high-speed chase on I-75, before fleeing into a wooded area near Venice. He was arrested a day later at a gas station in Nokomis.
During a police interview, Tower admitted to the murders, saying he killed his adoptive parents out of rage. Tower told police his story was “too complicated” to explain.
Tower, now 24, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of fleeing to elude police. If convicted, he faces life in prison.
Instead of arguing innocence, Tower’s attorney is asking jurors to find him guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter instead of premeditated murder.
Tower took the stand against his attorney’s advice on Nov. 13, telling the jury he was “temporarily insane” when he killed his parents.
Dima Tower case
Just before midnight on Aug. 31, 2023, a neighbor of the Tower family on Mallicoat Road in North Port called police to report a woman on her doorstep screaming for help.
When she went to her door, the woman was gone and blood was covering her doorstep.
When police arrived, they saw a man, later identified as Dima Tower, standing by a car, his head and shoulders covered in blood. Police ordered Tower to stop, but he got in the car and fled, leading officers on a 30-minute, high-speed chase on Interstate 75.
Authorities eventually used spike strips to stop the car, but Tower ran into a wooded area.
Back at the Tower home, police entered the residence and found the bodies of Dima Tower’s adoptive parents, Jennifer and Robbie Tower, face down and head-to-head on a blood-soaked carpet in the living room. A kitchen knife, presumably used in the attack, was found behind a nightstand in Jennifer and Robbie Tower’s bedroom, where the walls and Robbie Tower’s side of the bed were stained with blood.
At 7:30 a.m. the next day, Venice police officers arrested Tower at a gas station in Nokomis.
He confessed to the murders, telling detectives he first stabbed his father, then his mother. He repeatedly told them his backstory was “too complicated,” saying they wouldn’t understand his situation.
Dima Tower was adopted from an orphanage in Ukraine
Tower was born in Ukraine. After his mother died, before he was 10 years old, he lived with several relatives before being placed in an orphanage. He met Jennifer and Robbie Tower in 2013 and joined them in Florida in 2015.
He told police he felt like a “nobody coming from nowhere,” being picked up by two strangers and brought to a new country thousands of miles away from his homeland.
He claimed his parents fought about him all the time, his mother cared more for him than his father did, and his father blamed him for ruining their marriage.
“I’m not a good kid,” Tower told detectives. “I was telling you, I wasn’t raised right, and I’ve been misbehaving and not listening and not doing what I’m told.”
At trial, Tower testified his adoptive parents didn’t know how to raise someone who’d come from a harsh environment like he had and that he made their lives a “living hell.”
Tower said he’d only thought about killing his parents about two times, and acted on the second thought.
Dima Tower killed his parents in North Port, Florida. Where is that?
North Port is a city in Sarasota County, Florida, with a population of around 96,000.
The Tower home, where the murders took place, is located on Mallicoat Road in North Port.
Dima Tower’s parents: Who were Jennifer and Robbie Tower?
Jennifer and Robbie Tower, were married on October 21, 2000.
According to her obituary, Jennifer, 51, was born in Columbus, Ohio, the youngest of three sisters. She owned her own real estate services business and was involved in her church. She reportedly loved her family, bird watching and animals, especially raccoons and Rottweilers.
“She was an extraordinary person who led an ordinary life with grace, grit, and loads of love,” her obituary states.
Robbie Tower, 49, was born in Salem, Massachusetts.
His obituary describes him as a warm, witty and wise man who “touched the lives of all who had the privilege of knowing him,” and was a “beacon of love, generosity, and intelligence, leaving an indelible mark on the hearts of many.”
He “found his heart’s counterpart in his wife, Jennifer,” the obituary reads.
“She wasn’t just his partner but the very essence of his joy. Jennifer’s compassion and love mirrored Robbie’s, and together, they built a love story that was truly enviable. Tragically, Jennifer too was taken from this world alongside Robbie, leaving two bright stars in the heavens above.”
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Dima Tower on trial in Florida, stabbed parents 140 times. What to know
Reporting by Kim Luciani and Gabriela Szymanowska, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Sarasota Herald-Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
