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APOLLO BEACH - The phone rang just after midnight June 6 and woke Gayle Fisler.
It was her stepson, Gregory, calling.
He needed $280, he told her breathlessly. Right away.
"I said, "Gregory, you know my situation,' " she recalled. "I'm a single parent. I get no child support. He knew that."
She offered to call a friend of his. Time and again Fisler told Gregory she could give him dinner and a place to shower. But not money.
Gregory tried his grandparents and a couple friends. No luck.
No one knew that this time Gregory was truly desperate.
He had been kidnapped from a friend's home in Apollo Beach and was being held in a Riverview apartment by five captors who were trying to collect a debt, said Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies.
Hours later, Gregory was dead.
In the last days of June, authorities charged five people with first-degree murder in the death of 23-year-old Gregory Stephen Fisler II.
John Medich, 22, and Phillip Newgard, 17, of Riverview, Alicia Lattimore, 20, of Seffner and Chad Pelletier, 20, and Ethan Peterson, 23, of Tampa, remain in jail without bail.
According to the sheriff's report, just before midnight June 5, Fisler was abducted from the Apollo Beach home of family friend Cynthia Murray.
Murray said she answered a knock at her door around 11:30 p.m. and found a man and woman asking for Gregory. She told them it was late and they should leave, but Gregory walked out.
"He said, "It's alright Cindy. They're just here to say hey to me.' and then he left," Murray said. "That's the last time we saw him."
Gregory was taken to Peterson's apartment at 10103 Sherwood Lane in Riverview, law officials said. There, he was forced to make phone calls to raise money he allegedly owed to Peterson and Lattimore.
Medich left the apartment and went to a wooded area near Seffner to dig a grave, deputies said. He returned to the apartment and Fisler was taken at gunpoint to the woods where he was beaten, stabbed, shot and then buried.
Deputies said Medich punched and restrained Fisler as he tried to flee. Pelletier threatened him with a knife, Newgard choked him and Lattimore pointed a rifle at him and stabbed him. Peterson shot Fisler, deputies said.
Several days later, some of Fisler's attackers returned to the woods and covered the grave with fencing and debris, investigators said.
Law officials didn't comment on the nature of the debt, but friends said Gregory was buying crank, a raw form of methamphetamines, through Peterson.
"He always seems to get himself in trouble," said stepmother Gayle Fisler, 43, who works as a legal assistant at the Sun City Center law firm Linsky and Linsky and has three other children that range in age from 11 to 25.
Gregory always struggled, said Sandy Savino, the longtime girlfriend of Greg Fisler, Gregory's father.
She said Gregory failed first-grade at Apollo Beach Elementary School before being diagnosed with a learning disability. Throughout elementary school and his years at Eisenhower Middle School, he attended special education classes.
He left East Bay High School after ninth-grade when his stepmother and his father separated. He went to Kansas to live with his birth mother for a few months, then returned to Florida, but not to high school. He never talked to his mother again. He bounced back and forth between his father's house, his stepmother's home and the home of his grandparents, Ken and Mary Fisler, Savino said.
He also sometimes lived with Todd Mullins, 36, Cynthia Murray's brother, and worked for Mullins' landscape business.
Friends said Fisler liked to drink Wild Turkey and Budweiser. They also said he was creative and good with his hands. He could draw and build and repair things. He played guitar and could whip out songs by Metallica, Creed and Staind. His favorite band was Nirvana, and he did a hauntingly accurate imitation of the band's lead singer Kurt Cobain.
He wanted to teach Savino's children how to play guitar.
"Gregory had a way with children because he was so childlike," she said.
He adored his half-sister, Amy, now 11, and he made a point of seeing her off on her first day of kindergarten, Gayle said. He often talked with pride about being an uncle to the 3- and 4-year-old sons of his sister, Marcia, who lives in Texas, Savino said.
As a teenager, Gregory nicknamed himself Tigger, because like the Winnie the Pooh character, he was happy-go-lucky and just bounced from one place to another.
Gayle Fisler was alarmed when she didn't hear from Gregory after the midnight phone call.
"This time, when he didn't bounce back, I knew there was something wrong," his stepmother said.
A week went by, and she filed a missing persons report. Based on an anonymous tip, investigators discovered Fisler's remains June 21.
Friends and family struggle with the thought that things might have been different.
In the weeks before the midnight phone call, Gregory asked his stepmother several times for small amounts of money. Just $10 or $20. She gave it to him. But she balked at the late night request.
"At first I felt guilty then I realized, what was the guarantee if we did come up with the money? This murder was premeditated," she said. "They dug the grave before they took him out there."
Gregory also tried calling Murray the night of his murder. A family friend, Chad Waltz, 17, answered the phone.
"He asked to talk to Cindy and I asked him why," Waltz remembered. "He said, "Just please let me talk to Cindy.' He said he needed $280. I said, "I don't think I can wake her up for that.' Now I wish I would have."
Gregory called his friend, Trish Farr, 35, several times that night. Farr also got a call from Peterson.
"I said, "Funny thing, I just got a call from Greg,' and he said, "I have Greg with me. . . . Greg needs to come up with $280 and he wants to talk to you.' I didn't know it was that serious."
Gregory called again and begged Farr, promising to pay her back as soon as possible. But Farr, who said she had given Gregory $60 earlier in the week, refused.
Finally, at 1:30 a.m., he called Farr's cell phone a final time, and her friend, Dana Scheffler, 18, answered. Scheffler said she heard Greg scream, "Oh God, not again!" and the phone went dead.
Friends and family honored Gregory on Sunday during a picnic at a canoe launch on the Little Manatee River, where he often partied with friends.
"I hope all the young ones learn a lesson," his half-brother, Chris, told the group.
A formal memorial service will be scheduled later this summer, Savino said.
"He was so loved. Gregory was a gentle soul. He was a happy kid, underneath the alcohol. The alcohol was what really got him. He couldn't hurt a flea," his stepmother said. "He did not deserve this."
" i just heard about this not to long ago maybe a month and finally today i found some stuff on the net , well facts of what really happened . this really made me think you really never know anyone . i went to school with these people i used to hang out with ethan drive his car that the drivers door wouldn't stay shut . life is freaking nuts honestly i really do not know what to do anymore who to trust . i think im going to be sick "
It was her stepson, Gregory, calling.
He needed $280, he told her breathlessly. Right away.
"I said, "Gregory, you know my situation,' " she recalled. "I'm a single parent. I get no child support. He knew that."
She offered to call a friend of his. Time and again Fisler told Gregory she could give him dinner and a place to shower. But not money.
Gregory tried his grandparents and a couple friends. No luck.
No one knew that this time Gregory was truly desperate.
He had been kidnapped from a friend's home in Apollo Beach and was being held in a Riverview apartment by five captors who were trying to collect a debt, said Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies.
Hours later, Gregory was dead.
In the last days of June, authorities charged five people with first-degree murder in the death of 23-year-old Gregory Stephen Fisler II.
John Medich, 22, and Phillip Newgard, 17, of Riverview, Alicia Lattimore, 20, of Seffner and Chad Pelletier, 20, and Ethan Peterson, 23, of Tampa, remain in jail without bail.
According to the sheriff's report, just before midnight June 5, Fisler was abducted from the Apollo Beach home of family friend Cynthia Murray.
Murray said she answered a knock at her door around 11:30 p.m. and found a man and woman asking for Gregory. She told them it was late and they should leave, but Gregory walked out.
"He said, "It's alright Cindy. They're just here to say hey to me.' and then he left," Murray said. "That's the last time we saw him."
Gregory was taken to Peterson's apartment at 10103 Sherwood Lane in Riverview, law officials said. There, he was forced to make phone calls to raise money he allegedly owed to Peterson and Lattimore.
Medich left the apartment and went to a wooded area near Seffner to dig a grave, deputies said. He returned to the apartment and Fisler was taken at gunpoint to the woods where he was beaten, stabbed, shot and then buried.
Deputies said Medich punched and restrained Fisler as he tried to flee. Pelletier threatened him with a knife, Newgard choked him and Lattimore pointed a rifle at him and stabbed him. Peterson shot Fisler, deputies said.
Several days later, some of Fisler's attackers returned to the woods and covered the grave with fencing and debris, investigators said.
Law officials didn't comment on the nature of the debt, but friends said Gregory was buying crank, a raw form of methamphetamines, through Peterson.
"He always seems to get himself in trouble," said stepmother Gayle Fisler, 43, who works as a legal assistant at the Sun City Center law firm Linsky and Linsky and has three other children that range in age from 11 to 25.
Gregory always struggled, said Sandy Savino, the longtime girlfriend of Greg Fisler, Gregory's father.
She said Gregory failed first-grade at Apollo Beach Elementary School before being diagnosed with a learning disability. Throughout elementary school and his years at Eisenhower Middle School, he attended special education classes.
He left East Bay High School after ninth-grade when his stepmother and his father separated. He went to Kansas to live with his birth mother for a few months, then returned to Florida, but not to high school. He never talked to his mother again. He bounced back and forth between his father's house, his stepmother's home and the home of his grandparents, Ken and Mary Fisler, Savino said.
He also sometimes lived with Todd Mullins, 36, Cynthia Murray's brother, and worked for Mullins' landscape business.
Friends said Fisler liked to drink Wild Turkey and Budweiser. They also said he was creative and good with his hands. He could draw and build and repair things. He played guitar and could whip out songs by Metallica, Creed and Staind. His favorite band was Nirvana, and he did a hauntingly accurate imitation of the band's lead singer Kurt Cobain.
He wanted to teach Savino's children how to play guitar.
"Gregory had a way with children because he was so childlike," she said.
He adored his half-sister, Amy, now 11, and he made a point of seeing her off on her first day of kindergarten, Gayle said. He often talked with pride about being an uncle to the 3- and 4-year-old sons of his sister, Marcia, who lives in Texas, Savino said.
As a teenager, Gregory nicknamed himself Tigger, because like the Winnie the Pooh character, he was happy-go-lucky and just bounced from one place to another.
Gayle Fisler was alarmed when she didn't hear from Gregory after the midnight phone call.
"This time, when he didn't bounce back, I knew there was something wrong," his stepmother said.
A week went by, and she filed a missing persons report. Based on an anonymous tip, investigators discovered Fisler's remains June 21.
Friends and family struggle with the thought that things might have been different.
In the weeks before the midnight phone call, Gregory asked his stepmother several times for small amounts of money. Just $10 or $20. She gave it to him. But she balked at the late night request.
"At first I felt guilty then I realized, what was the guarantee if we did come up with the money? This murder was premeditated," she said. "They dug the grave before they took him out there."
Gregory also tried calling Murray the night of his murder. A family friend, Chad Waltz, 17, answered the phone.
"He asked to talk to Cindy and I asked him why," Waltz remembered. "He said, "Just please let me talk to Cindy.' He said he needed $280. I said, "I don't think I can wake her up for that.' Now I wish I would have."
Gregory called his friend, Trish Farr, 35, several times that night. Farr also got a call from Peterson.
"I said, "Funny thing, I just got a call from Greg,' and he said, "I have Greg with me. . . . Greg needs to come up with $280 and he wants to talk to you.' I didn't know it was that serious."
Gregory called again and begged Farr, promising to pay her back as soon as possible. But Farr, who said she had given Gregory $60 earlier in the week, refused.
Finally, at 1:30 a.m., he called Farr's cell phone a final time, and her friend, Dana Scheffler, 18, answered. Scheffler said she heard Greg scream, "Oh God, not again!" and the phone went dead.
Friends and family honored Gregory on Sunday during a picnic at a canoe launch on the Little Manatee River, where he often partied with friends.
"I hope all the young ones learn a lesson," his half-brother, Chris, told the group.
A formal memorial service will be scheduled later this summer, Savino said.
"He was so loved. Gregory was a gentle soul. He was a happy kid, underneath the alcohol. The alcohol was what really got him. He couldn't hurt a flea," his stepmother said. "He did not deserve this."
" i just heard about this not to long ago maybe a month and finally today i found some stuff on the net , well facts of what really happened . this really made me think you really never know anyone . i went to school with these people i used to hang out with ethan drive his car that the drivers door wouldn't stay shut . life is freaking nuts honestly i really do not know what to do anymore who to trust . i think im going to be sick "