TAMPA BAY, FLORIDA – Oba Chandler, a Florida man convicted of three counts of murder in the deaths of Joan Rogers and her two teenage daughters, maintained his innocence until the day he was executed. The brutal killings took place in June 1989 and left the victims submerged in Tampa Bay with yellow polypropylene rope tied around their necks, attached to concrete blocks.
The case went unsolved for three years until police were able to identify Chandler as a suspect using handwriting left behind at the crime scene. The Fox True Crime podcast details the exhaustive investigation, offering commentary from those involved in the case.
Rogers and her daughters were vacationing in Florida at the time of their murders, while Joan’s husband stayed behind at their dairy farm in Willshire, Ohio. Their bodies were found with their mouths taped shut, naked from the waist down, and submerged for 50 to 60 hours.
The breakthrough in the case came when a Canadian tourist reported being raped by a man matching the description of the suspect in the Rogers murders just two weeks before the family’s deaths. This information led to the identifying of Chandler’s handwriting, ultimately leading to his arrest.
Chandler, who had a criminal record dating back to his teenage years, was charged with the rape of the Canadian tourist. His face matched a composite sketch drawn in 1989, and his phone records placed him on the water at the time of the murders. Despite the evidence, Chandler maintained his innocence until his execution in 2011.
In 2014, DNA evidence linked Chandler to the unsolved murder of another woman, Ivelisse Berrios Beguerisse, in Coral Springs, Florida. The discovery brought a mix of emotions for the family of the fourth victim, providing some closure while also reopening the painful memories of the past.
The case serves as a haunting reminder of the tragic events that unfolded in Tampa Bay in 1989 and the lasting impact on the victims’ families.