Film Crew in Gulfport: 'There's Still an Interest After all These Years'

27 years after Karen Gregory was murdered in her Gulfport home, the case is in the forefront again. A film crew with Investigation Discovery is featuring the city's biggest murder case in the second season of Unusual Suspects this summer.

The case headlined local papers and garnered even more attention after the lead detective arrested a St. Petersburg firefighter, neighbor, and personal friend for Gregory’s murder.

Retired Lt. Larry Tosi Jr. says the case has received local and national attention the past two decades. "What's amazing is, there's still an interest after all these years," Tosi said. Gregory was 36-years-old when she was stabbed to death on May 23, 1984.

Tosi was the lead detective on the case and found himself under a microscope when he arrested his friend George Lewis two years into the investigation. Tosi says a bloody footprint lead them to Lewis. Lewis was later convicted of rape and murder and sentenced to life in prison. 

In 1988 the St. Petersburg Times released a series about the case. Writer Thomas French published a book about the murder called Unanswered Cries.

Now the case is being featured in the series Unusual Suspects because the person convicted of the crime was exactly that. "We were friends. I think that's what caught the general interest . . . I had to arrest a friend," Tosi said.

Tosi and Retired Detective Bill Brinkworth worked on the case and were both interviewed this week.

The crew filmed several scenes and reenactments at the on Friday, June 3. Actors casted as Brinkworth and Tosi sat at a desk, talked about the case and pulled files during a reenactment. In another scene, the actor portraying Lewis is filmed being interrogated by Brinkworth. 

The crew will be filming in various locations in the city through Monday, June 6.

Officials with Investigation Discovery say the series premier is Monday August, 8 2011, at 9 p.m. The exact airdate of the show about Gregory's murder has not yet decided.