Kevin Ramsey, 19




Summary of Offense:

During the summer of 1989, Konstantinos Fotopoulos began having an extra-marital affair with a bartender, Deidre Hunt, who worked at his bar. On October 20, 1989, Fotopoulos and Hunt lured Kevin Ramsey to an isolated shooting range by telling him he was to be inducted into a club. Fotopoulos intended to kill Ramsey to prevent Ramsey from blackmailing him [Fotopoulos] concerning counterfeiting activities. Fotopoulos threatened Hunt that he would kill her if she did not kill Ramsey. Ramsey was tied to a tree, and Hunt shot Ramsey three times in the chest and once in the head with a .22 pistol, while Fotopoulos videotaped the shooting. Fotopoulos stopped taping and shot Ramsey once in the head with an AK-47 assault rifle.

Fotopoulos then conspired to kill his wife, Lisa Fotopoulos, in order to collect $700,000 in insurance proceeds. Fotopoulos used the videotape of Hunt killing Ramsey in order to get Hunt’s cooperation in the murder of Lisa Fotopoulos. Fotopoulos instructed Hunt to hire someone to kill Lisa Fotopoulos. Hunt attempted to hire a man on two occasions, but the plan never materialized. A friend of Hunt’s, Lisa Henderson, led Hunt to her boyfriend, Teja James, who was hired to kill Lisa Fotopoulos for $5,000.

After James botched two attempts to kill Lisa Fotopoulos, Bryan Chase was hired to kill Lisa. After several unsuccessful attempts, Chase went to the Fotopoulos home on November 4, 1989 and shot Lisa Fotopoulos once in the head, but the wound was not fatal. Fotopoulos then shot Chase repeatedly, to make the murder attempt appear to be a failed burglary. In a search of the Fotopoulos home by police, the Ramsey murder videotape, a .22 pistol, and an AK-47 assault rifle were found.

Fotopoulos was sentenced to death in Volusia County on November 1, 1990.

Co-defendant information:
Deidre Hunt was indicted for the same crimes as Fotopoulos, but pled guilty to the charges and was sentenced to death for the murders of Ramsey and Chase. On appeal, however, her convictions were affirmed but her death sentences were vacated. Before her retrial, Hunt was allowed to withdraw her guilty verdict and proceed to trial. The jury returned guilty verdicts on all charges.
On May 7, 1998, Hunt was sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment.