Shivangi Sinha
The tale of Kosta Fotopoulos and Deidre Hunt has captivated true crime enthusiasts for an extended period. While the severity of their punishment may initially appear perplexing, delving into the depth of their crimes reveals a web of duplicity and betrayal, evoking nothing but disdain for their heinous acts. Investigation Discovery’s ‘Seduced To Slay: Boardwalk Pied Piper’ meticulously explores this case, offering a detailed examination. It beckons us to closely scrutinize the story and ponder where the perpetrators find themselves today.
Who are Kosta Fotopoulos and Deidre Hunt?
Konstantin Fotopoulos, an immigrant from Greece, came to the United States with aspirations of pursuing education and building a prosperous life. In the mid-1980s, he crossed paths with Lisa Paspalakis, whose father managed the Joyland Amusement Center in Daytona Beach. Lisa herself worked with an amusement company on the renowned Boardwalk. Merely three weeks after their meeting, Fotopoulos proposed marriage. Hoping to leverage the family’s wealth, he aspired to independently operate a business, but most of his ideas lacked financial support. Eventually, he managed to establish his pool hall on the Boardwalk, but it attracted a clientele of delinquents and criminals rather than the upscale crowd his wife would have envisioned.
Kosta had no qualms about associating with the patrons of his pool hall. Leveraging connections from Greece, he engaged in a scheme involving counterfeit American dollars, seamlessly infiltrating the local currency with the fake notes he acquired. To execute this operation smoothly, he enlisted the assistance of Kevin Ramsey, a young individual known for minor criminal activities such as pickpocketing and shoplifting in the vicinity. Ramsey not only played a pivotal role in the counterfeit currency operation but also aided Kosta in recruiting other young individuals, ensuring the illicit enterprise generated substantial profits for him.
During this period, one of the individuals working for Kosta was Deidre Hunt, who took on the role of a waitress at Kosta’s pool hall. By 1989, a romantic relationship had developed between the 30-year-old Kosta and the 20-year-old Hunt. Hunt, hailing from a neglectful background and having faced troubles in Manchester, New Hampshire, sought a fresh start in Daytona. Concurrently, Lisa’s father unexpectedly passed away, leaving substantial sums of money for Lisa to inherit. The allure of this inheritance, along with a significant $700,000 from life insurance, enticed both Kosta and Hunt, yet an immediate challenge presented itself for the pair.
Facing threats from 19-year-old Kevin Ramsey, who knew about Kosta’s counterfeit currency operation and affair with Deidre, the situation took a dire turn. Lisa had also discovered the affair and demanded a divorce. Fearing the impending end of his relationship with his affluent wife, Kosta felt desperate. In a bid to resolve their mounting problems, Kosta and Deidre devised a plan. On October 20, 1989, they lured Ramsey to an isolated location under the pretense of initiating him into a “club.” However, it was a ruse, and they tied him to a tree, with Hunt shooting him three times—twice from a distance in the chest and once at point-blank range in the head. To document the crime and build their trust, Kosta recorded a video of the shooting. After disposing of Ramsey’s body, they turned their attention to planning the murder of Lisa.
Both Kosta and Deidre believed that hiring a third party to carry out the crime would divert suspicion from them. Despite Kosta attempting attacks on Lisa many times, all unsuccessful, they eventually convinced 18-year-old Bryan Chase, who had come to Daytona recently from Ohio, to murder Lisa in exchange for $5000. On November 4, 1989, Kosta left a door open for Chase, who silently entered the bedroom where Kosta and Lisa were sleeping. Chase shot Lisa in the head once. In an attempt to build up a ruse and to preserve his innocence, Kosta sprang into action, firing at Chase multiple times with an AK-47 and Chase died on the spot. Lisa’s mother and brother were also in the house, and when the police arrived, Kosta claimed he thought it was a botched burglary.
Lisa survived the attack and as the police investigation began, she and her family voiced suspicions to the police, pointing towards Kosta’s involvement. The police investigation commenced, leading to the discovery of some evidence at the crime scene, including a videotape depicting Ramsey’s murder, a .22 pistol, and an AK-47 assault rifle. Subsequently, both Kosta and Deidre were indicted on murder charges.
Kosta Fotopoulos and Deidre Hunt are incarcerated till Today
In 1990, Deidre Hunt pleaded guilty to the slayings, receiving a death sentence. However, in 1995, the Florida Supreme Court granted her the opportunity to withdraw her guilty plea. This decision stemmed from the court’s finding that her former attorney, Peter Niles, had inappropriately sold her story to the TV show ‘A Current Affair’ for $5,000. As a result of these legal developments, she got a trial in 1996 was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder, and was given a life sentence. Hunt is currently serving her sentence at the Lowell Correctional Institution in Ocala, Florida.
Amidst substantial evidence, including testimony from his wife Lisa who expressed long-standing suspicions about his intentions to kill her for her wealth, Kosta faced a trial where he was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy. The jury, with an 8 to 4 vote, sentenced him to death. The scheduled execution was set for 2008, but Kosta initiated a series of appeals against his sentence. In 2018, he appealed to the Supreme Court, citing the Hurst ruling that mandated unanimous jury recommendations for death sentences. However, the Supreme Court ruled that the Hurst decision only applied retroactively from 2002 onwards. Consequently, Kosta remains on death row, incarcerated at the Union Correctional Institution in Raiford, Florida.
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