[chris]

A jury convicted Hunt, 29, on two first-degree murder counts along with six lesser counts, all of which carry life sentences. They had seen a video tape of Hunt shooting 19-year-old Mark Ramsey on Oct. 20, 1989 while Ramsey was tied to a tree. The murder was videotaped by Hunt’s former lover, Daytona Beach bar owner Kosta Fotopoulos, who is currently on death row for the two murders for which Hunt now stands convicted.

Fotopoulos had a failing marriage with a woman named Lisa. Lisa had inherited a small fortune when her father died and was successfully building the family’s boardwalk business, Joyland Amusement Center, in Daytona Beach. Kosta was about $20,000 in debt in October 1989 and reliant on his wife’s largess to avoid bankruptcy and the loss of his business.

When Lisa discovered that Kosta was having an affair with 20-year-old Deidre Hunt, a bartender at Top Shots, she demanded that he end the affair and fire Deidre.

Kosta decided not to do that.

Kevin Ramsey was a 19-year-old ex-employee in Kosta’s pool hall, Top Shots, who was dropping hints about blackmailing Kosta with his knowledge of Kosta’s counterfeiting operation.

On October 20, 1989, Kosta, Deidre and Kevin Ramsey drove out to a remote shooting range where Ramsey believed he was going to be inducted into an ultra-secret Hunter-Killer Club. Kosta had managed to convince Ramsey that he was a contract assassin who worked for the mob and for the CIA and that by joining the Hunter-Killer Club, Ramsey would also become a hitman. Kosta claimed to have killed eight people.



Deidre later told police that she had gone with Kosta that night intending to be initiated into the club, as well. While Kosta and Deidre unloaded a .22 rifle and an AK-47 from the trunk of Kosta’s car, Ramsey was told to scout ahead to make sure there was no one around.

According to Deidre, it was at that time that Kosta told her that at most two people would be making the return trip that night. He told her that if she wanted to make it through the night, she would have to kill Ramsey.

The two prospective killers caught up with Ramsey and Kosta explained how the ritual would proceed. In addition to the weapons, Kosta carried a camcorder that would document the initiation. Each of the members of the club would commit a murder that would be videotaped. The tapes would be exchanged among the members as “insurance” to prevent anyone from going to the police in the future.

Reaching a remote clearing, Kosta told Deidre to tie Kevin to a nearby tree. Possibly believing that this part of the ritual to prove his trust, Kevin was silent when Kosta started the videotape. The 57-second tape is shocking in its brutality.

You can see the video recording that shows Kosta Fotopoulos killing Mark Ramsey below:

• http://www.documentingreality.com/fo...opoulos-18016/

In the trial, Haughwout had tried to convince the jury that Hunt had been controlled by Fotopoulos and that she was legally insane during the time that Ramsey and another teen-ager, 19-year-old Bryan Chase, were murdered.

In her opening statement to Sanders, Haughwout began to outline what she hopes the judge will consider to be the kind of mitigating circumstances that will allow him to spare Hunt’s life.

She began by pointing out that Hunt’s mother, Carol Ann Hunt, was mentally ill with a multiple personality disorder when she was raising Deidre.



Haughwout told of the rage and hatred Carol Hunt displayed toward her daughter and how the girl’s aunts and uncles could do nothing about it.

‘‘Dee grew up in households that were never the same place day-to-day,’’ Haughwout explained. ‘‘Not the same place, not the same people.’’

She also called Carol Hunt, 51, to the stand. She admitted to having abused her daughter in much the same way she had been abused as a child by her parents.

In trying to convince Sanders to save Hunt from the electric chair, Haughwout pointed out several mitigating factors recognized under state statute as being reasons that can be considered when mercy is sought in capital crimes.

Among those factors, she said, are emotional disturbance, age at the time of the crime, coercion, cooperation by the defendant with prosecutors and the defendant’s background and upbringing.

All of those, Haughwout said, apply to Hunt, and should be reason enough to keep her from being executed.

Hunt’s trial was moved to St. Johns County from Volusia County, where the murders took place, because of the media attention the high profile case received there.

[gonzogoatee]

I remember seeing the video, a grainy vhs recording. I think he convinced her
he was part of some spy shit. Murder kill club.

[gatagato]

Originally Posted by gonzogoatee ↗

I remember seeing the video, a grainy vhs recording. I think he convinced her
he was part of some spy shit. Murder kill club.

Here you go for the videos
http://www.documentingreality.com/fo...opoulos-18016/

[Susan]

Didn't she try to kill Kosta's wife or something as well. If I remember right Kosta was married to some well off woman, yet he ran a bar full of prostitutes and drug dealing. Deirdre was his bit on the side and also a prostitute.

[chris]

Originally Posted by gatagato ↗

Here you go for the videos
http://www.documentingreality.com/fo...opoulos-18016/

Thanks man, added this to the initial thread. I forgot we had that.

[U2Addict]

If I remember correctly, Kosta hired a young man to come into his home and kill his wife in their bedroom at night while they slept. Unbeknownst to the kid, Kostas was going to kill the hired killer after the killer killed his wife.

Whew, that was tough to get straight. I did not bother to look it up so I could be so wrong. I apologize in advance if I am.

FWIW, he is a total asshole Psychopath.

[U2Addict]

I forgot to add, his wife survived the shooting. I don't think the hired gun did though.

[Agapeti]

Originally Posted by slyksleevemuckyey ↗

Didn't she try to kill Kosta's wife or something as well. If I remember right Kosta was married to some well off woman, yet he ran a bar full of prostitutes and drug dealing. Deirdre was his bit on the side and also a prostitute.

I watched something about this story a long time ago. Apparently Kosta hired some guy at his bar to shoot his wife. The guy shot her in the head, but she didn't die, she recovered. So he and this prostitute he was sleeping with took the guy out to a field and Kosta had her shoot him after they tied him to a tree. Kosta videotaped it to blackmail her.
It was an ugly case from what I remember.

[AussieAngel]

Originally Posted by Agapeti ↗

I watched something about this story a long time ago. Apparently Kosta hired some guy at his bar to shoot his wife. The guy shot her in the head, but she didn't die, she recovered. So he and this prostitute he was sleeping with took the guy out to a field and Kosta had her shoot him after they tied him to a tree. Kosta videotaped it to blackmail her.
It was an ugly case from what I remember.

I did a bit of research because I was intrigued.

A week after the shooting of Kevin Ramsey another 18 year old Bryan Chase broke into Kosta's family home through a downstairs window not attached to the alarm. He walked through the house and proceeded to shoot Kosta's wife Lisa in the head with a .22. The first shot miraculously did not kill her. The bullet entered Lisa’s forehead and, as bullets sometimes do, skidded from one side of her skull to the other, hugging the bone and coming to rest above her left eye. He tried to shoot her again but the gun jammed. Kosta then pulled a 9mm SIG-Sauer P226 shot and killed Bryan Chase. At first the police believed Kosta had shot and killed a intruder until another young man called crime stoppers to report he had been offered $10,000 to kill Lisa. Police eventually bought in Deidre Hunt who confessed to knowing about the attack on Lisa. She then told police about the murder of Mark Ramsey a week before. She plead guilty to 2 counts of first degree murder and was sentenced to death. She then testified against Kosta who was also charged with 2 counts of first degree murder and sentenced to death. You'd think that would be the end of this crazy story but no. Peter Niles, the court-appointed attorney who had represented Deidre in court was handling her appeal and contacted the warden at Broward Correctional Institution to arrange an attorney-client meeting. He told the warden that he had made arrangements with the prosecutor and the judge to videotape Deidre at BCI regarding testimony concerning Kosta. Niles indicated he would bring a law clerk and a cameraman to assist with the videotaping. The visit was approved. However, when Niles and his crew sat down with Deidre, he advised his client that they were not working on her case, but the people he had brought with him were from the tabloid TV show “A Current Affair.” Niles told Deidre that he was not being compensated for bringing the crew into the prison, and that she would not be paid for the interview. In fact, Niles had been promised $5,000 from the show’s producers if he set up the interview and a story subsequently aired. The deal had been in the works for six months, meaning that Niles was negotiating with “A Current Affair” at the same time he was representing Deidre Hunt before the state. The piece ran under the headline “Deadly Deidre.”
In 1993 the Supreme court felt they had no choice but to let Deidre recind her previous guilty pleas and release her from death row. She went on trial and was found guilty of 2 counts of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison!

Now that's one crazy story.

[imi]

Originally Posted by U2Addict ↗

Kostas was going to kill the hired killer after the killer killed his wife.

This is one of the most succinct English sentence I've ever read