The half-sister of a Sarasota man on trial for murder testified Thursday that he’d expressed interest in writing a book that could make him famous while at a family gathering for a funeral after he allegedly shot his ex-partner.
Natassia Wakey, 36, flew in from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to testify in the trial of Brennan Wakey, 29, who is charged with second-degree murder and tampering with evidence. He is accused of shooting Colton Wright, 24, in a hotel room at the Hyatt Place hotel on University Parkway in December 2021. Trial evidence indicated Wakey left the hotel via a side entrance around 3 a.m. without notifying police or hotel staff about the shooting.
Surveillance video from the hotel showed Wakey pulling a black suitcase behind him as he left the hotel during the early morning hours of Dec. 9, 2021, hours before a housekeeping supervisor discovered Wright’s body and notified police. Still photos from the video showed a gun was stuck into the back waistband of his dark blue jeans…