A Florida neo-Nazi who converted to Islam pleaded guilty Monday to murdering his roommates for disrespecting his faith. Devon Arthurs, now 24, agreed to a term of 45 years in prison in exchange for admitting his guilt for the 2017 shooting deaths of Jeremy Himmelman and Andrew Onseschuck inside a Tampa apartment.
HOW IT WENT DOWN IN 2017:
CBS News (h/t Thereza B) A former member of a neo-Nazi group pleaded guilty Monday to fatally shooting his two Florida roommates in 2017, abruptly avoiding the start of a murder trial in which he had planned to use the insanity defense, according to court records.
Devon Arthurs, now 24, spent years in a mental health facility after he was deemed not competent to stand trial, CBS affiliate WTSP reported. Now, he has agreed to spend 45 years in prison and be eligible for parole after 25 years, followed by 15 years of probation. The plea deal with prosecutors means Arthur will not face a possible life sentence.
“This defendant committed a cold and calculated crime and for that he will spend the majority of his life in prison,” said State Attorney Suzy Lopez in a statement. “The victims’ families are satisfied with this outcome which allows them to avoid a painful trial while knowing the defendant will have to dwell upon the pain he has caused for the next several decades behind bars.”
Arthurs admitted killing the roommates, Andrew Oneschuk, 18, and 22-year-old Jeremy Himmelman, nearly 6 years ago at the Tampa apartment they shared. Arthurs told police after his arrest that all three had been part of a small, mostly online neo-Nazi group called the Atomwaffen Division and that he shot the pair with an assault-style rifle because they ridiculed his conversion to Islam.
A third roommate and Atomwaffen co-founder, Brandon Russell, was not home when the slayings happened but found the bodies when he returned from duties with the National Guard, investigators said. Russell pleaded guilty in September 2017 to federal charges of possessing illegal firearms and a destructive device, as well as storing explosives illegally.
Inside the apartment the men shared, authorities said they found guns, ammunition and bomb-making material, along with a framed picture of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh on a bedroom dresser. Atomwaffen is German for “nuclear weapons.”
The bomb-making materials — including the highly explosive substance HMTD, several pounds of ammonium nitrate and homemade fuses — were discovered during the murder investigation. Arthurs told police the group planned terrorist attacks, possibly against nuclear plants.
As for Arthurs, his case was delayed several times while he received mental treatment after being declared incompetent to stand trial in 2018 and again in 2020. Finally, in June 2022, a Hillsborough County judge determined Arthurs had restored his mental capacity sufficiently to stand trial.
Devon Arthurs, now 24, spent years in a mental health facility after he was deemed not competent to stand trial, CBS affiliate WTSP reported. Now, he has agreed to spend 45 years in prison and be eligible for parole after 25 years, followed by 15 years of probation.
They’ve always got ginger hair, these Muslim converts. Muslims see them as easy meat because they’re generally ridiculed and rejected by western society.
Islam only appeals to the mentally ill.
Why on earth should the US taxpayer fund this creature’s existence for 45 years to come? There is no purpose to his continued existence.
Another young man finds Islam “fascinating” and it works out well for everybody. yep…
Neo-Nazis mostly keep ‘to themselves’ in their little shacks out in the countryside. But radical Islam has the media on their side, either covering up for them or sympathizing with them openly.
I know which of the two kinds of extremists I’m more scared of cause I’m not a f___ ing moron.
He substituted one ideological falsehood for another when he changed from a nazi to a
muslim. So notable how the extremist personality requires an ideological foundation to act out violently. It would be better if such extremist people found their way into a Trappist monastery where the world would not have to listen to their bullshit as they would be under an oath of silence and sequestered away from decent innocent people. At least the SOB took out two other nazis. I wish he had the patience to wait until his third nazi roommate returned and took care of him as well. So may I say, so long a**hole.
It should be well known by now. Some of my Muzzie brethren PREY ON the weak, gullible, depressed, and broken-hearted non-Muzzies. We just have to wind them up a bit…
I’m sorry the TROLLING initiated by our 7th century Prophet got this far….
If true Nazis and Muzzles shoot each other that’d be fine with me though. Hope it happens the other way round too.
F*cking Moslem convert scumbag murdered two handsome White Christians for “insulting islam!”
Well it looks like 9/11 blew the gates of Vienna off its hinges. What’s in the pipelines underneath.
Mental issues, don’tcha know.