A man adopted from Ukrainian orphanage is now facing murder charges after police say he “slaughtered” his adoptive American parents and left their bodies face-down before fleeing.
Fox News Digital reports that 21-year-old Dima Tower was arrested Friday after his parents, Robbie and Jennifer Tower, were found stabbed to death in their North Port home, in the 1200 block of Mallicoat Road.
“These were two really good, caring people,” Robbie’s uncle, Warren Rines, told the New York Post. “It just makes no sense, none of us understand the hate. They were the only two people in his life who ever tried to help him. They treated him like their own son.”
Family members said the couple adopted Tower from the Ukraine, when he was 14. They spotted him during one of their many mission trips to the Ukraine, at a orphanage, where he was abandoned, following his mother’s death.
Rines told the Post that the orphanage routinely abused Tower and starved him, prompting the victims to start the adoption process.
“When they went out to eat, he would have like six hot dogs. He wasn’t getting a lot to eat. These orphanages are like prison for kids,” Rines said.
PIO for North Point Police Department, Josh Taylor, told Fox 13 that a neighbor contacted police after hearing noises at the home Friday. When officers arrived, they spotted Tower looking for something inside a car but he fled when he saw police.
Police gave chase and forced his car to a stop near Interstate 75 and Laurel Road in Sarasota County, but Taylor said the defendant got out of the vehicle and fled on foot. He was captured shortly after police shared his photo on social media.
“We put his photo out on social media and to the news and really within a couple of minutes of doing that we started getting tips, and quickly local law enforcement agency an officer with the Venice Police Department was able to located that individual,” said Taylor.
Meanwhile, officers at the victims’ home walked into a “gruesome” crime where the bodies were laid “head-to-head,” face-down and saturated in blood, according to WINK News.
“It is a very gruesome scene,” Taylor said.
Tower remains behind bars without bail, charged with murder.
“They sacrificed a lot of things for him, and they couldn’t have children of their own,” a neighbor of the family said. “He was adopted, and he was his mom’s world. He was everything to her.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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[Feature Photo: Tower Family/Facebook]
