The suspect in the random execution of a Cleveland granddad had a cold-blooded pet — a snake he used to woo women, according to a report.
Steve Stephens, the subject of a nationwide manhunt, tried to pick up women by parading around with a python wrapped around his neck, the Daily Mail reported.
“It was a slimy thing to do and now he’s just a snake in the grass too,” next-door neighbor Alexis Lee, 34, told the paper. “He didn’t really know how to talk to us ladies. The snake was meant to draw my attention and he regularly told me he had a crush on me.
“There was nothing attractive about him. He did have a nice personality, though,” she added about the job counselor. “He was great with the kids around here and when he was driving out after seeing his mom, he’d stop his car. He would tell the kids, ‘Stay out of trouble, go to school and don’t be knuckleheads.’”
Stephens blamed the senseless killing of Robert Godwin Sr., 74, on his longtime gal pal, Joy Lane, whose name he told the victim to utter before opening fire, his video showed.
“He always seemed a bit lost and I’m not surprised that he’s upset about his girlfriend and blaming her for what he’s done,” Lee said. “I saw him at the casino a couple of times and he would remind me that he always had a crush on me.”
Another local woman said she thought he was confused about his sexuality.
“I had never known him to have had a girlfriend. But he had a nice nature as did his mother and family. I never saw his dad,” Charisse Leonard, 28, told the paper.
Theresa Blevins-Odom, 54, said she saw the 37-year-old just a couple of days before the slaying.
“He seemed quite normal and said, ‘Have a nice day.’ I am sorry for him and his mother, who is a good woman and who has brought her children up to be good people,” she said.
Stephens also was saddled with crushing gambling debts and filed for bankruptcy two years ago — despite holding down a job as a counselor in a behavioral health agency.
A $50,000 reward has been offered for information leading to his capture and prosecution as the manhunt enters its third day.