Murder Plea Deal: 19 Years In Prison
December 16, 1987|By David C. Scruggs of The Sentinel Staff
MELBOURNE — In exchange for 19 years in prison, a former Lakeland man pleaded no contest Tuesday to the second-degree murder of a state witness who disappeared during a 1981 drug-smuggling trial.

State prosecutors say they also hope that Thomas William Bryan, 39, will lead them to the body of Richard Hunt, 30, who was abducted by two men posing as federal marshals in January 1981.

Prosecutors said Bryan and Harry Bell, another man convicted in 1984 in connection with the abduction, were hired by Clarence Zacke, a former West Melbourne auto parts dealer, to get rid of Hunt, a car repossessor who was to testify against Zacke in a drug-smuggling trial.

Posted by Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, No Body Guy