A historic Tampa home that was once the site of a horrendous axe-related homicide in the early 1960s is now for sale on Davis Islands.
Located at 51 Albemarle Ave., the Mediterranean Revival home was built in 1925 by famed developer D.P. Davis and was purchased in 1937 by the late Tampa businessman Burton H. Schoepf Sr. and his wife Reina.
Burton was the former president of Tamiami Trailways Bus Lines, and was the chairman of the Florida Safety Council. Most notably, he ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1940 as an Independent, with a platform of opposing sales tax, pushing for nine-month school years with year-round pay for teachers, and fighting against six-lane highways along the Gulf Coast.
The Schoepfs, and their two sons, lived in the Davis Islands home for decades, and were considerably active in Tampa social life. According to numerous newspaper clippings, Reina was an accomplished floral designer, and well-known around Tampa, often hosting extravagant birthday parties, luncheons and events at the house.
The Schoepf home was the weekly site of the Shakespeare Study Club, and in a 1954 article in the Tampa Daily Times, Reina was nominated by the local Hydrangea Garden Circle Club as the "Best Cook This Week."
However, on Aug. 7, 1963, 61-year-old Reina was arrested by Tampa police after Burton's body was discovered by a neighbor critically injured on a "blood-stained" mattress in his bedroom at 51 Albemarle Ave.
According to the Tampa Tribune, police said the bedroom was "spattered with blood, and that the door had been chopped through with an axe."
Reports at the time show slightly different details of exactly what happened, but police told multiple outlets that when they entered the two-story house, Reina was standing at the top of the stairs in her nightgown holding an axe, with her face and hands covered in dried blood.
Besides the axe, police said they also found a butcher knife, a hammer, a broken shotgun, scissors, a baseball bat, all blood-stained.
According to the Tribune, police said the entire house was a mess, with evidence that someone had been chopping at the walls, woodworks and doors. "The rooms downstairs, the officers said, were in disarray, with bloody towels and dirty clothing scattered about," wrote the paper.
Riana told the police that she broke down the door to her husband's bedroom after he scolded her for drinking, and said that his fatal injuries were the result of her pushing him down the stairs after he hit her with a baseball bat.
Some reports indicate that she had a swollen area visible on her forehead.
The Tampa Police Department stated that cuts found on Burton's head were "apparently from a chopping action," reported the Tribune.
Burton died from his injuries the next day at Tampa General.
A week later, Reina was charged with second degree murder, and was held with a $5,000 bond. One of her sons later told police that his parents had not been getting along, and that his mother was suffering from mental illness.
It's uncertain what exactly happened to Reina after she was charged. While the death was largely covered by papers around the country, the story disappeared from the media landscape, possibly due to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy a couple months later.
Creative Loafing Tampa Bay filed a records request with Hillsborough County Clerk of Courts, and will update this story if any records are found.
However, what is known, is that Reina likely served little to no time for Burton's death. Local newspaper clippings show that she was hosting Christmas decoration classes for the City of Tampa Recreation Department in 1970.
Reina died in 1976 at the age of 74, and her and Burton now share a headstone at Myrtle Hill Memorial Park in Tampa.
The Schoepf home is currently asking $1,675,000, and the listing agent is Jay Powell with Keller Williams Tampa Central.
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