Father Of Infant Thrown From Car Wants Vengeance

TAMPA — Emanuel Murray Sr. wants the man charged with killing his son to die.

In a letter sent to the Tribune from Hamilton Correctional Institution in Jasper, Murray wrote that Richard McTear Jr. should pay for slaying the 3-month-old boy. He wrote that he wants McTear to die in jail.

The mother is 17-year-old Jasmine Bedwell, who is McTear’s ex-girlfriend.

Authorities say McTear, 21, forced his way into Bedwell’s apartment May 5.

They say McTear beat Bedwell, threw Murray Jr. on a concrete floor, then drove off with the child before throwing him onto the shoulder of Interstate 275 just south of Fowler Avenue.

“I know I hate Richard for what he did to my son,” Murray Sr. wrote.

Murray said he read in a newspaper that when a reporter asked McTear about the death, McTear called it a “dirty game.”

“I hope he die in jail,” Murray’s letter reads.

Murray, 22, said he and his family are going through something nobody should.

He and Bedwell shouldn’t have to bury their son, he wrote in the letter, dated May 18.

“This McTear dude should die much as I want it to be from my hands. I know I shouldn’t think like that, but if it was your son, what would you do?”

Murray wants McTear to face the death penalty. The state attorney’s office has not announced whether it will seek the death penalty against McTear, who has been held without bail since his arrest.

Murray is in the Hamilton Correctional Institution serving a three-year sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm and for possession of an illegal weapon.

He was incarcerated Jan. 5. The boy was born Jan. 25.

Murray’s convictions include delivery of cocaine within 1,000 feet of a school and delivery of marijuana.

A person who picked up a phone at Bedwell’s home today said that Bedwell was unavailable to comment.

THE FATHER’S LETTER

Dear Mr. Poltilove,

I received your letter, and thought about what you asked me in it. While I don’t mind let you know how I feel about Richard McTear Jr. I don’t know that much about the dude only what the news and my family told me. I know I hate Richard for what he did to my son. My son Emanuel W Murray Jr. didn’t have anything to do with him an Jasmine Bedwell relationship. So, I don’t know why he toke it out on my son. Then as I read in the paper a reporter ask him why? He replyed “it’s a dirty game.” I hope he die in jail. I look at my son’s picture ever night ask why my son. My family and I are going threw something that no one have to go threw. Me and Jasmine have to [bury] our son an feel we shouldn’t have to do. Our son should have [buried] us. It’s time I can’t go to sleep think about my son. I just hope we can get some justice. This McTear dude should die much as I want it to be from my hands. I know I shouldn’t think let that but if it was your son what would you do. I hope the judge give him the death pently for hes actions. That’s how I Emanuel Murray Sr. feel about Richard McTear Jr. Anything else you know how to reach me.

Sincerely,

Emanuel W Murray Sr.

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