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After acquittal, a fresh start begins to sour

A man cleared in his daughter's death may return to jail after being arrested following an argument with his wife.

By ALEX LEARY
Published March 9, 2005

LARGO - After being acquitted last week in the death of his 2-year-old daughter, Kevin Wolfe emerged from jail and repeatedly hugged his wife.

Time for a new start, Wolfe was saying.

On Monday, Wolfe was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge alleging that after a drunken argument with his wife he threw an urn containing the girl's ashes across a parking lot.

Wolfe, 30, bailed out of jail early Tuesday but may have to return because the arrest violates his probation for a previous grand theft charge.

"One nightmare was over and now another starts," Wolfe told the Times Tuesday night from his sister's house in Clearwater. He said he was preparing to tell his three other children he may return to jail.

"It's stupid he would do something like that," said Wolfe's mother, Gayle Keesler. "The kids really need him."

Largo police were called to an apartment on Bradford Street about 8:30 p.m. Monday to resolve an argument between Wolfe and his wife, Michelle.

Officer Ryan Dulski said the matter seemed to be defused until Michelle and a friend started to leave. Wolfe came outside, screaming profanities, he said.

"Then, in a fit of rage (he) threw an urn containing the ashes of his 2-year-old daughter across the parking lot," an arrest report said.

Michelle Wolfe cried out:

"That's my daughter's ashes," according to the report. The urn was slightly chipped but did not break open.

Wolfe disputed that account, saying he merely dropped the urn into dirt from a second-story balcony.

"I said here, take Summer." He said he regrets doing that but, "I was hurt."

Summer Wolfe was killed May 22 outside Longbranch Apartments in Largo after being hit by a car driven by an 11-year-old boy. Prosecutors say Wolfe allowed the boy to drive and was thus responsible for the death. But a jury disagreed during the trial last Thursday.

The Wolfes seemed a portrait of bliss as they left the county jail that night but problems arose.

Kevin Wolfe said he learned his wife had been seeing another man while he was in jail.

"I had a right to be upset," he said.

His wife denied his version of events, saying the other man was only a friend. She said the couple had problems in their nearly nine-year marriage but that she stood by him.

"I still care about him," she said. "I just need to find out what I want. I have to get myself straightened out and settled. But I'm not seeing anyone."

Wolfe only spent a few hours in jail on the misdemeanor disorderly charge before being bailed out early Tuesday.

He said his probation officer told him she will file paperwork showing he violated terms of the probation, which was reinstated last week by Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Douglas Baird.

[Last modified March 9, 2005, 00:55:19]