Hotel Employee Attacked By Venice Man, Left For Dead: Sheriff

VENICE, FL — A 30-year-old Venice man has been charged with homicide after severely battering a woman and leaving her for dead in a hotel room Tuesday morning, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

Stephen Havrilka of Venice was arrested Tuesday, the sheriff's office said.

Deputies were called to the Rodeway Inn at 1710 S. Tamiami Trail in Venice, arriving just after 10:30 a.m., after a man found his wife battered and bruised in a hotel room. The woman was an employee at the hotel and her husband went looking for her after he was unable to reach her via text message, Sheriff Kurt Hoffman said during a news conference.

Witnesses performed CPR on her until paramedics arrived and brought her to a local hospital, where she died Tuesday evening.

Less than five minutes after this 911 call, the sheriff’s office received a separate call about a man acting erratically on a street corner at the intersection of Alligator Drive and S. Tamiami Trail.

Deputies found the man, later identified as Havrilka, “speaking in tongues” and appearing to be under the influence of drugs, Hoffman said. He was taken into custody under the Marchman Act and brought to Venice Regional Bayfront Hospital for observation.

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While reviewing video surveillance footage from the Rodeway Inn, detectives watched Havrilka enter the hotel room where the victim was found. Hotel management also confirmed that he had been staying at the hotel for the past six days, the sheriff’s office said.

A search warrant allowed detectives into Havrilka’s room, where they found evidence from the aggravated battery. A K-9 deputy also found his shirt and watch in a wooded area south of the hotel where he fled to after the attack, the sheriff’s office said.

Havrilka, who has been uncooperative during the investigation, is a convicted felon with 34 prior felony charges, 19 felony convictions and 16 prior misdemeanor charges, the sheriff’s office said.

Hoffman said Havrilka, who didn’t know the victim, had multiple tattoos associated with white supremacist groups. The sheriff said the crime didn’t have a connection to white supremacy or race.

“This is one of the most egregious recent crimes we have seen in Sarasota County,” Hoffman said. “My heart breaks for this woman’s husband and her family. By all accounts, she was doing her job when she was terrorized by this animal. I am committed to working with the State Attorney’s Office to see that this defendant is put away for life.”

The victim’s name isn’t being released under Marsy’s Law, which protects her identity from being publicly released. SCSO’s Victim’s Assistance Unit have been on scene since early Tuesday and will continue to provide support to the victim’s family through the criminal justice process.