Joshua Rosa (X) youth minister, now convicted murderer.

Joshua Rosa, the (X) youth minister, was convicted today of first degree murder.

Jurors found Joshua Rosa, 22, guilty of first-degree murder as charged "and the killing was committed during the commission of or in the attempt to commit aggravated child abuse."

The judge sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Tomlinson's father said Rosa destroyed his life.

"Your honor, I'm so glad this is over," said Ron Tomlinson. "I can move on. I want him to know he took something from me I'll never get back again. My grandkids, I'll never see my grandkids. I'll never see my son drive a car. I'll never see my son's wife. None of that. My life is destroyed. I want him to know that's what he did to me."

Mr. Tomlinson had a brilliant thought and told Rosa that there should be a picture of his dead son in his cell so everyday he was reminded of what he had done and what he had taken away from his family.

The press asked Mr. Tomlinson after the trial if he could say anything else to Rosa what would it be?

Tomlinson simply stated “burn in hell”

Jurors delivered the verdict to the court this morning.


Here is a run down of the events that happened in this case.


December 8, 2005.
The body of 13-year-old Stephen Tomlinson was found in Logan Gate Park.

The police then reported that a group of teenage boys discovered the body in the woods behind the park. The boy was partially clothed and lying next to his bicycle.

Apparently Joshua Rosa was there and went out of the woods to report a dead body and later he tried to run and was held there by Tomlinson’s uncle until police arrived.
The police questioned Joshua Rosa that night and did not arrest him at that time.

Investigators said Tomlinson suffered trauma to the upper body.

December 12, 2005

Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee said he is confident his investigators will solve the case. The medical examiner has ruled the cause of death was manual strangulation.

Gee then said investigators are still waiting on forensics test results and tips from the public before making an arrest.

Stephen's father, Ron Tomlinson, also encouraged anyone with information to come forward.


"Anybody that's got any information, I beg you, please come forward so we can get this thing over with and done, so I can get some closure and put it behind me, and my family," said Tomlinson.

January 7, 2006

A suspect has been arrested in the murder of 13-year-old Stephen Tomlinson in December.

Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee said Joshua Rosa, 19, has been charged with Tomlinson's murder

Gee said that late Friday afternoon the sheriff's office received a report from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement indicating that Tomlinson's DNA was found on nail clippers belonging to Rosa and blood on gloves belonging to Rosa was Tomlinson's blood.

Gee also said that Rosa's statements to detectives were inconsistent.

"The only consistent thing about his statements was their inconsistency," Gee said.

Gee said the sheriff's office does not have a motive for the murder, but Tomlinson's clothing was in disarray when he was found.

The sheriff has kept Rosa under surveillance since the murder. He is being held without bond.

February 6, 2006

Joshua Rosa, accused of killing 13-year-old Stephen Tomlinson entered a not-guilty plea Monday in Hillsborough County court.

Rosa told police he lost the keys while jogging, but later told police he found Tomlinson's body and tried to revive him.

July 14, 2008

The trial of a former youth minister accused of the murder of teenage boy begins today in Hillsborough County.
Rosa, a 19-year-old youth minister who worked at the nearby Zion Pentecostal Church at the time of the murder, became a prime suspect once police began questioning witnesses.
They told investigators they saw Rosa, at the park about the time of Tomlinson's death.
Tomlinson's body was found December 8, 2005 in the woods behind the park. His partially clothed body was lying next to his bicycle. He was 13.
Jury selection began today.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Opening statements began Tuesday in the Stephen Tomlinson murder case.
Jurors will have to decide whether 22-year-old Joshua Rosa is guilty of killing Tomlinson, who was 13-years-old when he was found strangled to death.
Rosa's attorney said the wrong person is on trial.
Prosecutors say DNA on Tomlinson matched Rosa's DNA. Rosa's attorney says he was just trying to help the victim at the crime scene.

Monday, July 21, 2008

A man accused of killing 13-year-old Stephen Tomlinson has been found guilty. Joshua Rosa was convicted of first degree murder.
The prosecution did not pursue the death penalty in this case and the reasons they did not are unclear.




The Sheriff made this statement, some time ago, that they had no motive for this murder, but told the community to draw their own conclusions since Tomlinson clothing was in disarray.

The media interviewed Tomlinson’s brother. He said he knew the defendant and had played video games with him before and thought he was a good guy since he was the youth minister at the church his brother attended. He went on to say that there was an overwhelming amount of evidence against Rosa and he believes the motive for this case was Rosa attempted to rape his brother and his brother fought back.

A lot of the evidence was never heard in court. The recordings of statements and all of the inconsistent statements Rosa made was never heard in court. One reporter said the first time the jury heard Rosa’s voice was after the conviction and Rosa was allowed to make a statement.

Rosa did say in his statement that he knew things looked suspicious against him but he was not the perpetrator in this case.

Rosa went on to say he only hopes the person or people responsible for this death are caught.

I know this is a touchy subject and the majority of time defendants never take the stand in their own defense, but I think if I was facing life in prison without parole and was honestly innocent, I would be on the stand fighting for my innocence. Rosa only elected to make a statement post conviction to proclaim his is innocent in the murder of Stephen Tomlinson.