37-year-old Florida man, Lenard White and his 21-year-old cousin, Sheldon Robinson, face sentencing on Jan. 30, 2026, for the murder of 17-year-old Isabella Scavelli, who was killed a day after reporting White for sexual assault.
On February 6, 2023, Scavelli and her mother, La Shawn Pope, reported to the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office that White had sexually assaulted her, as noted in court filings through US Dept of Justice (DOJ). White paid his cousin $10,000 to commit the murder.
Robinson reached out on social media, according to Fox 13 Tampa Bay, offering $5,000 and cocaine to anyone willing to help him with a “clean-up job,” according to authorities.
Authorities say 22-year-olds Keshawn Woods, gang member, took the offer. Deputies executing a search warrant at Woods’ home recovered roughly $4,000 in cash, a firearm, and illegal drugs.
According to the news outlet, investigators also found that Robinson still had about $6,000, the remainder of the $10,000. The sheriff reported that Janet Williams, Robinson’s mother, discovered the $6,000 in her home and did not fully disclose the money to law enforcement.
The next day, just before midnight Scavelli and her mother were at home when someone knocked at the door. When Scavelli answered, she was confronted by Robinson, who opened fire. Scavelli was shot and killed in front of her mother, who was also critically injured.
White left the state prior to her murder to give himself an alibi that he wasn’t in the state when the crime occur. During the second investigation at Robinson’s home, authorities found the gun he used in the crime buried in a forest area behind his home.
Both men were found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, murder-for-hire, premeditated first-degree murder, discharge of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, discharge of a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime, tampering with witnesses, and obstruction of justice, according to the US Dept of Justice. They now face mandatory life sentences.
At the time of her death, Isabella was a high school junior, active on the tennis team and in the ROTC program, with aspirations of joining the military after graduation, according to prosecutors.
