Murder of Adrianne Robert by Thomas Frederick investigated on See No Evil

See No Evil is examining the brutal murder of Adrianne Robert, who was stabbed and sexually assaulted by Thomas Hampton Frederick in her apartment in Clearwater, Florida, in 2012.

On July 14, 2012, roommates Adrianne Robert and Jay Laffue were on a celebratory night out; Robert was moving out of their apartment the following day, so the pair had decided to mark the occasion with a few drinks at a Clearwater nightclub.

During the night, the couple became acquainted with Thomas Frederick at the bar, an encounter that would later prove fatal for Robert.

Robert decided to walk home at approximately 1:30 am, leaving Laffue behind, who wished to carry on drinking. Frederick was later spotted on surveillance footage catching up to Robert as she left. He gave her a black shawl she had accidentally left behind.

The camera footage showed Robert and Frederick walking in the direction of her apartment. A couple of hours later, Laffue returned home to find the 29-year-old Robert had been brutally murdered.

Robert was lying naked, except for a bra, on her bedroom floor; she had been stabbed in the chest and sexually assaulted. There was no sign of forced entry into the apartment, but there were signs of a struggle inside.

The police concluded that Frederick had returned home with Robert and then attacked her. He sexually assaulted her after the struggle had occurred and she’d been stabbed.

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Thomas Frederick’s downfall came from DNA evidence

The detectives were pretty sure that Frederick was the killer, but before arresting him, they put him under surveillance. Two weeks later, they got a break when the sick killer threw a cigarette butt out a window, and the cops extracted DNA from the butt and found it matched the DNA taken from the crime scene.

Frederick was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. He had had no previous run-ins with the law, and his record was clean.

Frederick had also stolen Robert’s Jeep after the murder, which was found in Largo a couple of days later. So the cops added grand theft auto to his murder charge. He was eventually convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

After Frederick’s sentencing, Robert’s father, Mark Robert, said he was “elated” with the judge’s decision. He added: “The animal that took my daughter is now going to be in a cage like an animal should be.”

More from See No Evil

Follow the links to read about more murders profiled on See No Evil.

When Michele Davis crashed her car on the highway near downtown Des Moines, Iowa, the police initially put it down as a tragic rush-hour accident. They were later shocked to learn that her estranged husband, Randy Davis, had shot her from his pick-up truck.

Quantell Jamar Alverson gunned down Amanda Drywater-Douglas and Jennifer Lynn Sudar outside their apartment complex in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Detectives suspect that Drywater-Douglas’s ex-husband, Larry Douglas, may have been involved with the crime but were unable to press charges.

See No Evil airs at 11/10c on Investigation Discovery.