From 'flesh collectors' to double juries, Pensacola prosecutor's 34-year career was a doozy

It's been over three decades since John Molchan began his first day as an Assistant State Attorney for the First Judicial Circuit in Santa Rosa County, and now, after 34 years, he will step away from his "simple" task of helping people and the community.

Molchan began as an assistant state attorney in 1989 after spending four years as a judge advocate general (JAG) with the U.S. Navy, and since then he's made it his mission to help as many people possible who have suffered from the crimes of others.

"It's been a great ride. That's the best way I can put it," he said as he sat in a partially packed office, gearing up for his last day on Sept. 30. "It's been very enjoyable working with a great group of people in law enforcement and in this office who have made the hard times easier and the good times good, but it's been very rewarding accomplishing what we can accomplish.

"Really, in many ways, our simple task is to put bad guys away," he added. "That's always been my overarching theme — put the bad guys away and do the right thing."

Memorable Molchan cases: Pensacola's most memorable crime stories

Where did Molchan first begin the path of his personal mission of putting bad guys away and doing the right thing? It all began when he read a book written by former prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi — "Helter Skelter: The True Story of The Manson Murders."

"That always was in my head, I mean that's what got me interested in the law," Molchan said. "It was a fascinating book about the investigation, the prosecution, and it was just fascinating, and that's what inspired me to go down that road."

Molchan's job of being in court nearly every day or supervising dozens of up-and-coming attorneys leaves little room for vacation — a week at most, according to the retiring attorney. So, he plans to travel and spend valuable time with his wife, traveling to places like Israel, Normandy and the World War II museum in New Orleans.

Even the Pensacola Police Department recognized his 34-year career by awarding him the title of Honorary Police Officer in August.

So, now that Molchan's career is coming to a close, here's a look at some of his most memorable cases.

"Flesh Collectors" store woman's calf muscle in freezer

Jeremiah Rodgers and his co-defendant Jonathan Lawrence killed Jennifer Robinson in Santa Rosa County in 1998. They also killed Lawrence's cousin Justin Livingston after taking him to a remote area and stabbing him to death, and they tried to kill Leighton Smitherman, but he survived.

"Rogers was basically sociopathic," Molchan said. "They decided they were going to kill somebody and take meat from the person."

Molchan said Rodgers and Lawrence made a list of supplies and retrieved scalpels, disinfectant and ice before taking Robinson "out to a remote part," shooting her in the head, taking polaroid photos of her and cutting off her calf muscle. Law enforcement later found the calf in Lawrence's freezer.

"That was an emotional case because ... this was over Mother's Day weekend," he said. "It all broke on a Friday. We worked Friday (and) all day Saturday, we got the bodies and the next day was Mother's day. For Mrs. Robinson, Mother's Day would hold no charm for her in any way shape or form, I would think."

During this case, Molchan was appointed as a special assistant U.S. attorney since the murder cases were federal prosecutions.

Both Rodgers and Lawrence have been on death row since 2000 for the murders.

Fred Rosen, a true crime author and former columnist for The New York Times, wrote a book regarding Rodgers and Lawrence's case in 2003 entitled "Flesh Collectors: Their Ghoulish Appetites Drove Them to Crimes that Only Began with Murder."

Mastermind Leonard Gonzalez Jr. kills Beulah philanthropists

In July 2009, Leonard Gonzalez Jr. led a group of men who forced their way into Byrd and Melanie Billings' home in black "ninja garb" and gunned the couple down during an attempted robbery. The couple had 17 children — 13 of them adopted and many of them with special needs — and nine of kids were home at the time of the murders.

"That (case) was an organizational challenge because of the number of defendants, the number of agencies involved and just the sheer complexity of discovery," Molchan told the News Journal. "Using codefendants to testify, the video evidence that made it more challenging, was an organizational challenge more than anything.

Gonzalez was convicted in 2010 and sentenced to death in a 10-2 jury vote. In April 2014, the Florida Supreme Court unanimously upheld his death sentence, finding that despite Gonzalez's claim of errors in his trial, evidence supported the conviction.

Mark Riebe and William Alex Wells leave Gulf Breeze woman buried for seven years

On Aug. 6, 1989, Gulf Breeze convenience store clerk Donna Callahan, who was pregnant at the time, suddenly vanished after work one night, and no one had any information about where she could have gone. Years later, Molchan says William Alex Wells admitted to kidnapping and killing Callahan to an inmate.

"We got a break in the case from Wells, who made some admissions that he was involved in her kidnapping and murder to an inmate who was a former highway patrol trooper who had killed his wife, and he reported it to FDLE," Molchan said. "We then started interviewing him and Wells' half-brother Mark Riebe. He gave us a lot of different stories ... and he basically said they went there, kidnapped her and buried her in Walton County, but we could never find her body."

Was Riebe a serial killer?: Could there have been two serial killers?

After Wells was indicted, he went to trial for Callahan's murder and kidnapping, but after the opening statements Molchan said Wells' preacher told the defendant that "he was going to burn."

"Wells at that point decided to cooperate and tell us where the body was," Molchan said. "We took him to Walton County, and for three days we opened up the area until we found her body."

Although Callahan went missing in 1989, Wells did not lead law enforcement to her body until 1996.

Both Riebe and Wells were convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

Some believe Callahan was not the only person Riebe murdered and could be responsible for anywhere between six and 13 deaths in northwest Florida.

Teenagers Raymond and Thomas Romero just wanted to get to Michigan

Brothers Raymond and Thomas Romero, who were 16 and 17 in 1995, were from Michigan. At some point they traveled to Santa Rosa County and needed a car to get back to their home state.

So in August 1995, 16-year-old Raymond Romero and his 17-year-old brother Thomas Romero devised a plan to steal a car from Sean Peaden.

"They got together, they actually concocted a scheme to rob him and steal his car," Molchan said. "They lured him to the location, and they took a hatchet to him and just started 'hatcheting' him, just brutally murdered him."

After stealing Peaden's car, Molchan said law enforcement later found the Romero brothers in Michigan still wearing the bloody clothes they were wearing while murdering Peaden with a hatchet.

The reason Molchan remembers this case so well is because it is the only time in his career they tried both defendant's at the exact same time with two different jury pools watching the trial in the same courtroom.

"There was one piece of evidence, one of the brothers had given a statement implicating himself and his brother; we couldn't use that against the brother," he reminisced. "Everything was the same evidence for the juries except for the one letter that was used against one of the brothers."

When the prosecution reached the point where they needed to admit the letter that only one jury could see and hear, the judge excused the second jury pool while the letter was placed into evidence.

"That was just unbelievable, I mean to have two juries?" Molchan said. "We had to give two closing arguments, two opening statements and things like that. That was a challenging trial to say the least."

Both Romero brothers were convicted and given two life sentences.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola John Molchan Florida assistant state attorney retires