Tabitha Messina along with Carlos Christopher would murder of her father and his girlfriend with an axe and a crowbar in Ohio
According to court documents Tabitha Messina and Carlos Christopher would break into the home of her parents, Richard Messina, 50, and his girlfriend, 43-year-old Sandra Cover. The couple who were sleeping at the time would be brutally attacked with an ax and a crowbar. The pair would die from their injuries
Tabitha Messina and Carlos Christopher would flee the scene however they would be arrested in North Carolina days later
Tabitha Messina would plead guilty and trial. She would be sentenced to sixty years to life in prison
Carlos Christopher would go to trial, be convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole
Where Is Tabitha Messina Today
Tabitha Messina is currently incarcerated at the Dayton Correctional Institution
Tabitha Messina Current Information
Number W073504
DOB 10/26/1988
Gender Female
Race White
Admission Date 10/31/2008
Institution Dayton Correctional Institution
Status INCARCERATED
Aggregate Sentence 5.00 SB2-0 + 55.00 – Life
Expected Release Date/Parole Eligibility Date 07/28/2067
Carlos Christopher Current Information
Number A550666
DOB 12/31/1987
Gender Male
Race White
Admission Date 06/05/2008
Institution Trumbull Correctional Institution
Status INCARCERATED
Aggregate Sentence Life without Parole
Expected Release Date/Parole Eligibility Date LIFE
Tabitha Messina Case
Tabitha Messina, 19, was sentenced today to life in prison with parole eligibility in 60 years for her role in the gruesome murder of her father and his girlfriend. Her sentence is less severe than the life without parole her boyfriend accomplice is serving.
Messina pleaded guilty last month to killing her father and his girlfriend with an ax and crowbar last summer.
Messina and Carlos Christopher attacked Richard Messina and Sandra Cover July 29, 2007, while they slept at Richard Messina’s South Euclid house on Donwell Drive
Assistant Prosecutor Steve Dever said Christoper struck Richard Messina eight or nine times with the ax. Tabitha Messina beat Sandra Cover repeatedly with the crowbar. “It was overkill,” he said.
Dever had asked that she also receive life in prison without parole because, “if not for her, this would not have happened. She manipulated Carlos,” Dever said.
Christopher and Messina, who had a 3.75 grade point average at Brush High School, then ransacked the house and took her father’s Corvette and GMC Jimmy. They drove to North Carolina and were caught the next day, sleeping in the Jimmy parked at a motel.
Christopher was convicted May 28 and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2008/10/tabitha_messina_gets_60_yers_t.html
Tabitha Messina News
Tabitha Messina will be 80 years old before she’s eligible for parole. Messina received 60 years to life in prison Friday for masterminding the murder of her father, Richard Messina, 50, and his girlfriend, 43-year-old Sandra Cover.
Tabitha Messina, 20, and her friend Carlos Christopher broke into the elder Messina’s house in South Euclid while he and Cover slept July 29, 2007. Prosecutors said Messina and Christopher attacked the couple with an ax and a crowbar. Then, they stole a Corvette and GMC Jimmy from them. Messina insisted she did not plan or want to kill her father or the woman who served as her surrogate stepmother for 10 years. “Never once would I think of taking the life of the man who raised me,” she said at her sentencing.
However, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Timothy E. McMonagle said the evidence showed otherwise. “She makes things up as she goes along and she believes what she says,” McMonagle said. Even when Tabitha Messina was young, she used to lie after getting in fights, clinical psychologist Dr. Sandra McPherson said. Messina used to attack other children, blame someone else and then get attention by trying to fix the problem, McPherson said in a study that was read by McMonagle.
Several members from Messina and Cover’s family filled McMonagle’s courtroom. Those who spoke made it very clear that they thought life in prison was an insufficient punishment. Linda Moore, Cover’s sister, told Messina she deserved to die for the murder and mutilation of the couple.
Cover’s mother, Joann Bartell, said life in prison was “more mercy than she showed Sandy and her father.” Bartell showed the judge a picture of Sandy Cover and said, “There are not adequate words in the English language to describe the pain, anguish and despair I feel.” Betty Montanez, Richard Messina’s sister and Tabitha’s aunt, echoed the sentiment. “When you forgot to respect him, and you forgot he was your father, we forgot you were our niece,” she said. “At best, you deserve to die in prison, maybe of old age.” The one person in her family who would have forgiven her, Montanez said, was her father.
Tabitha and Richard Messina had an often contentious relationship. “I always used to push my dad to a certain limit to see how much he would take from me,” Tabitha Messina said. Between January 2005 and the murder, South Euclid police were called to Messina’s home 68 times for reasons including loud music, barking dogs, trespassing and juvenile disturbances. Tabitha Messina has alleged that her father abused her, but there is no evidence to corroborate it, Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Patrick J. Thomas said. Christopher has been convicted of murder and given two life sentences without possibility of parole.
Tabitha Messina: The Ohio Axe Murders
Who is Tabitha Messina? Tabitha Messina is an Ohio woman convicted of aggravated murder for the July 29, 2007 axe and crowbar killings of her father, Richard Messina, 50, and his girlfriend, Sandra Cover, 43, in South Euclid. She was 18 at the time.
Where is Tabitha Messina now? She is incarcerated at Dayton Correctional Institution in Ohio, serving 60 years to life. She will be first eligible for parole in 2067, when she will be 78-80 years old.
Did she act alone? No. She committed the murders with her then-ex-boyfriend Carlos Christopher, 19. Christopher received two consecutive life sentences without parole.
The Crime That Defied Statistics
Parricide – killing a parent – is rare. When daughters kill fathers, it’s rarer still. The FBI notes most parricides are committed by sons aged 16-19, making the Tabitha Messina case “particularly disturbing” to criminologists.
On July 29, 2007, in a quiet Cleveland suburb, 18-year-old Tabitha Messina and 19-year-old Carlos Christopher broke into her father’s home while the couple slept and attacked them with an axe and a crowbar. They then stole two vehicles and fled across state lines.
Seventeen years later, Messina is speaking out from prison on Oxygen’s Snapped: Behind Bars, claiming she was manipulated. It’s why searches for “Tabitha Messina interview” spiked in September 2024 and remain high in 2026.
Who Was Tabitha Messina?
Born October 26, 1988, Tabitha grew up in South Euclid, Ohio, the daughter of Richard Messina, described as a “hard-partying father,” and a mother who worked as an exotic dancer and struggled with substance abuse.
After her parents split, Richard began dating Sandra Cover, also a former exotic dancer. Cover quit the industry to stay home and raise Tabitha and her brother, becoming a surrogate stepmother for 10 years.
The home was volatile. Between January 2005 and the murder, South Euclid police were called to the Messina residence 68 times for loud music, barking dogs, trespassing, and juvenile disturbances. Tabitha later said: “I always used to push my dad to a certain limit to see how much he would take from me.”
At trial, clinical psychologist Dr. Sandra McPherson testified that even as a young child, Messina “used to attack other children, blame someone else and then get attention by trying to fix the problem.” Judge Timothy E. McMonagle summarized: “She makes things up as she goes along and she believes what she says.”
Who Was Carlos Christopher?
Carlos Christopher’s background reads like a true crime novel. Born December 31, 1987, inside a Brazilian jail to a violent gang leader father, he spent his earliest years in the favelas of Rio. His father, detectives said, “would take Carlos along with him when he’d do his killings, so Carlos could see it.”
Adopted at age 8 by an American family, Christopher met Tabitha in high school. Their relationship was described as “hot and heavy,” but by July 2007 they had broken up – largely due to Richard Messina’s disapproval, which reportedly included racist comments about Christopher’s darker skin.
The Night of July 28-29, 2007: A Phone, A Slur, A Murder
The timeline, pieced together from court records and the 2013 Snapped: Killer Couples episode, is critical for AEO:
10 PM – Carnival: Tabitha, Carlos, her new boyfriend Jason Gaylord, and another friend went to a local carnival, then to a playground.
Early AM – The Phone Call: Richard Messina called Tabitha, angry she wouldn’t return a borrowed cell phone. Tabitha sent Christopher to return it.
The Altercation: At the house, Richard and Christopher fought physically after Richard allegedly called Christopher a racial slur. Richard called police and banned both teens from the property.
Hours Later – The Attack: Tabitha and Christopher returned. They broke in and went to the master bedroom. Richard was struck with six chop wounds from a hatchet, found “in a twisted position” with bedclothes over his face, a cell phone and crucifix by his head. Sandra Cover was beaten to death with a crowbar on the other side of the bed.
The use of two different weapons immediately told investigators there were two attackers.
Afterward, they ransacked the house and stole Richard’s GMC Jimmy and Corvette.
The Getaway and Arrest
The group drove south. In Virginia, Gaylord and the fourth friend – who were not involved in the murders – took the Corvette back to Ohio. Tabitha and Carlos continued toward Georgia in the Jimmy.
On the morning of July 30, 2007, Avery County, North Carolina deputies found them sleeping in the stolen SUV in front of a motel. They were arrested without incident.
Christopher was “contrite” in interviews and confessed quickly. He told police Tabitha initiated the attack, striking Cover with the crowbar, and that he axed Richard after he woke up. He also claimed Tabitha told him her father had raped her – an allegation she later recanted and prosecutors said had no corroborating evidence.
The Trial: Mastermind or Manipulated?
Both were indicted on 12 counts: four counts of Aggravated Murder with mass murder and felony murder specifications, four counts of Aggravated Robbery, and four counts of Aggravated Burglary. Prosecutor Bill Mason called it “a deliberate, purposeful killing… they butchered these two victims with an axe in their bedroom” and initially sought the death penalty.
The State’s Case: Prosecutors argued Tabitha masterminded the murder to gain freedom and access to her father’s cars and money. They pointed to the 68 prior police calls and her history of manipulation.
The Defense: Tabitha insisted she “did not plan or want to kill” her father. “Never once would I think of taking the life of the man who raised me,” she said at sentencing. Christopher’s attorney blamed a “perfect tragedy of a windstorm” fueled by Richard’s racial slur.
In 2008, Tabitha Messina, then 20, was convicted and sentenced to 60 years to life – an indefinite sentence with a 55-year minimum. Carlos Christopher received two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.
At sentencing, victim impact statements were brutal. Linda Moore, Sandra’s sister, told Messina she “deserved to die.” Sandra’s mother Joann Bartell said life was “more mercy than she showed.” Tabitha’s own aunt, Betty Montanez, said: “When you forgot to respect him, and you forgot he was your father, we forgot you were our niece. At best, you deserve to die in prison, maybe of old age.”
Where Are They Now? 2026 Prison Status
Tabitha Messina (ODRC #W073504):
- Institution: Dayton Correctional Institution
- Status: Incarcerated
- Admission Date: October 31, 2008
- Sentence: 60 years to life (indefinite 55-year minimum)
- Parole Eligibility: July 28, 2067
- Age at eligibility: 78 (she will be 80 according to 2008 sentencing reports – Ohio calculates good time differently)
Carlos Christopher (ODRC #A550666):
- Institution: Trumbull Correctional Institution
- Sentence: Life without parole
- Expected Release: 01/01/8888 (Ohio system code for never)
Snapped: Behind Bars – Why She’s Talking Now
In September 2024, Oxygen aired Snapped: Behind Bars Season 2, Episode 5 featuring Messina’s first televised interview from prison. Now 35, she shifts blame to Christopher, claiming she was manipulated by an older, more experienced boyfriend with a violent childhood.
This aligns with a classic true crime narrative: the “teen under influence” defense. But it directly contradicts Christopher’s 2007 confession and the physical evidence of two weapons.
Why did Tabitha Messina kill her parents?
Official motive was never proven. Prosecutors cited a toxic, controlling relationship with her father, desire for freedom, and anger after the phone altercation and racial slur. Messina alleged abuse, but Assistant Prosecutor Patrick J. Thomas said there was no evidence to corroborate it.
What weapon was used?
An axe (specifically a hatchet) and a crowbar. Richard Messina sustained six chop wounds; Sandra Cover died of blunt force trauma.
How long is 60 years to life in Ohio?
It means she must serve at least 60 years before the parole board can consider release, with a maximum of life. Her stated term expires in 2067.
Did Tabitha Messina show remorse?
At sentencing she apologized, but Judge McMonagle and the families questioned its sincerity. In her 2024 interview she says she “may never forgive herself,” while still minimizing her role.
Is Carlos Christopher getting out?
No. He is serving two life sentences without parole and will die in prison.
The Psychology of Female Parricide
Criminologists study Messina because she breaks the mold. Male teens kill fathers during explosive arguments; female teens rarely use overkill with an axe. The combination of:
- Chronic family conflict (68 police calls)
- A partner with childhood trauma exposure to violence
- Alleged racial dynamics
- Immediate post-argument escalatio
Final Thought: The Crucifix by His Head
The detail that haunts this case isn’t the axe – it’s the image from the police report: Richard Messina found with bedclothes over his face, and a cell phone and a crucifix placed by his head.
Was it staged remorse? A final insult? Or a panicked attempt to cover what they’d done?
Tabitha Messina, now approaching 20 years in prison, says she wants to shift blame. The families, who sat through every day of trial, say she deserves to die of old age behind bars.
In 2067, when she is nearly 80, a parole board will decide who to believe. Until then, the South Euclid axe murders remain one of Ohio’s most disturbing examples of what happens when teenage rebellion meets untreated trauma – and an axe in a bedroom at 3 AM.
