Robbie and Jennifer Tower: Adoption, Murders, and Life Sentence

The Dima Tower murder case ended on November 14, 2025, when a Sarasota County jury convicted the 23-year-old of first-degree murder in the stabbing deaths of his adoptive parents, Jennifer and Robbie Tower, at their North Port, Florida home on the night of August 31, 2023. Judge Thomas Krug sentenced him to two consecutive life terms in prison without the possibility of parole, plus a concurrent five-year term for fleeing police.¹

Who Dima Tower Is and How He Joined the Family

Dima Tower was born in Ukraine. His biological mother died when he was around six, and he moved between a brother, an uncle, and the Ukrainian foster care system before Jennifer and Robbie Tower met him on mission trips while he was in middle school. He came to live with them in the United States in 2013 and became a citizen in 2015.² He spoke no English on arrival and later dropped out of high school in tenth grade.³

The household had a documented history of conflict. In 2018, the Towers called police to report that Dima had pushed Jennifer. In 2019, Robbie contacted police asking that Dima be removed from the home and told officers he had begun locking his bedroom door at night because he was afraid.⁴ Family members testified that Jennifer and Robbie had spent their savings and taken out loans trying to help their son build a life in the country.² Jennifer was 51 and Robbie was 49 at the time of their deaths. Both were active in New Day Christian Church in North Port.⁵

The Night of the Murders

Tower, then 21, took a steak knife from the kitchen and entered his parents’ bedroom on Mallicoat Road while they slept, stabbing Robbie first in the neck. When he lost that knife during the attack, he grabbed a second one from the kitchen.⁶⁷

Jennifer escaped to a neighbor’s house. Neighbor Jana Walton was woken by screaming and banging on her front door and called 911. Dima forced his mother back to their home, sat her on the couch, told her what he had done to Robbie, and then killed her.⁴⁶

Sarasota County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Russell Vega testified that Robbie suffered 68 cutting wounds to his face, back, neck, scalp, shoulder, and arm. Jennifer suffered 79 wounds, primarily to her face and neck. Both died from blood loss and were found face down, positioned head-to-head in the living room.⁴

The Chase and Confession

Tower fled by car. North Port Police Officer Tyler Ragauckus tried to stop him, setting off a chase of more than 30 minutes through residential streets and onto Interstate 75. Sarasota County Sheriff’s deputies deployed a spike strip near Venice, and Tower ran into a wooded area near canals. The ground search was initially called off because of alligators in the water.⁸

Around 7:30 a.m. on September 1, 2023, a store manager at a Shell gas station in Nokomis spotted him with blood and dirt on his hands. Taken to the Venice Police Department, he admitted the stabbings. Asked why, he gave a one-word answer: “rage.” He also told detectives he had thought about it before, that his parents “fought all the time about him,” and that his father blamed him for “ruining their marriage.”⁸

The Trial and Rejected Plea

Tower was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of fleeing to elude police. Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty. Before trial, the defense offered to plead guilty to manslaughter in exchange for a 40-year sentence. Prosecutors rejected that offer, saying they would accept a manslaughter plea only if the sentence were life in prison.⁹

The three-day trial began November 12, 2025. Assistant State Attorneys Karen Fraivillig and Liana Whipple prosecuted; public defender Marc Gilman represented Tower.⁸

Prosecutors argued the killings were premeditated, pointing to Tower’s decision to take a knife from the kitchen, his retrieval of a second knife when the first was lost, his forcing Jennifer back into the house after she escaped, his attempt to clean the scene, and the long flight from police. They called this a pattern of “consciousness of guilt.”⁴

The defense did not dispute that Tower killed his parents. Gilman asked the jury to return a manslaughter verdict instead of first-degree murder, arguing Tower lacked the capacity for premeditation and pointing to his orphaned childhood in Ukraine, foster care, language barriers, and difficulty adjusting to life in the United States.⁴

Tower took the stand on November 13, 2025. He initially told the jury he “wasn’t thinking about anything” during the attack and claimed he was “temporarily insane.” Under cross-examination by Fraivillig, he admitted he had planned the murders and intended to kill both parents. He confirmed bringing Jennifer back to the house, sitting her on the couch, telling her what he had done to Robbie, and then stabbing her. He said he was “boiling with rage.”⁶⁷

The Verdict and Life Sentence

The jury deliberated less than two hours before finding Tower guilty on all counts.¹⁰

At sentencing the same day, Robbie’s father, Phillip Tower, told the court that Robbie and Jennifer had been trying to help Dima become “somebody” and said directly to the defendant, “I don’t want Dima to use my name anymore.”¹¹ Robbie’s mother, Debbie Tower, defended her son and daughter-in-law’s parenting, saying they were not “bad parents.”¹

Judge Krug imposed two consecutive life sentences without parole for the murders and a concurrent five-year term for fleeing police, and prohibited Tower from contacting the victims’ loved ones. Krug called Tower “an evil spirit with no remorse” and said, “It is a shame that in this great country that we live in that we lost two shining stars.” Tower interrupted, saying, “Evil spirit because you’re talking foolish,” before the judge ended his remarks.¹

1
Herald-Tribune. Dima Tower Murder Trial Sentencing
2
MySunCoast. An Evil Spirit – Judge Hands Down Maximum Penalty to Convicted Killer
3
Crime Online. Dima Tower Murder Trial: Prosecutors Outline Motive as Son Who Slaughtered Adoptive Parents Takes Stand
4
Court TV. FL v. Dima Tower: Troubled Orphan Murder Trial
5
Roberson Funeral Home. Jennifer Christine Tower Obituary
6
Court TV. Dima Tower Admits to Brutal Murder of Adoptive Parents in Chilling Testimony
7
MySunCoast. Dima Tower Found Guilty of First-Degree Murder in Parents’ Deaths
8
Herald-Tribune. Dima Tower’s Killing of Parents in Sarasota Driven by Rage, Prosecutors Say
9
MySunCoast. Dima Tower Murder Trial: Defense Offers Manslaughter Plea, Jury Selection Begins
10
Court TV. Dima Tower Trial Coverage
11
Court TV. Robbie Tower’s Father: I Don’t Want Dima to Use My Name Anymore