South Florida
Media Coverage
*~ August, 2009 -- Page 1 ~*
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| In Loving Memory Of |
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Man follows woman from Boca
Raton mall, tries to open her car door (8/13/09)
Police: Man Followed Woman From Boca Town Center (8/13/09)
Boca Raton police say man who accosted shopper is not Town
Center mall killer (8/13/09)
Man follows woman from Boca Raton mall, tries to open her car door
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
4:19 p.m. EDT, August 13, 2009
BOCA RATON - A woman was followed from the Town Center mall about 8
p.m. Tuesday by a man who attempted a distraction theft by telling her
she had a nail in her tire, police said.
When the woman was finished shopping and left the mall in the 6000 block of West Glades Road, she was approached by a man, who got out of a n SUV at a Military Trail traffic light.
He told her she had a tire with a nail in it but the woman refused to open the door. The suspect then tried to open the door but the woman drove off, police said.
He followed her as she called police and stopped on Southwest 18th Street, just east of Military Trail. The man got out of his SUV again, this time with a little girl, and insisted he just wanted to help her fix her car, police said.
When she would not open the door, he drove off with the girl.
Police ask anyone with information about this incident to call Detective John Moran, 561-338-1315.
Copyright © 2009, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Police: Man Followed Woman From
Boca Town Center
Victim Says Man Told Her She Had Flat Tire, Tried To Open Car Door
POSTED: 8:54 am EDT August 13, 2009
UPDATED: 1:35 pm EDT August 13, 2009
BOCA RATON, Fla. -- Police have released
surveillance video of a man suspected of following a woman from the
same Boca Raton mall where a woman and her daughter were found dead
in 2007.
Boca Raton police said an unidentified man and woman apparently followed
Mary Volpe while she was shopping with a friend at the Town Center at
Boca Raton on Tuesday night.Later, after Volpe separated from her friend
and left the mall, another man in a black sport utility vehicle approached
her car while she was stopped at a traffic light and told her that her
tire was flat."Well, our victim is aware that she doesn't, so she
won't open her window, doesn't open her door," Officer Sandra Boonenberg
said. "He tries to open the door, but the doors are locked. She
drives away, he follows, tries it again and she calls the police."The
second time, police said, the man had a young girl with him.Police said
the man had a small mustache and was wearing a fishing hat and sunglasses.
The description is similar to that of the man sought in the killings
of a 47-year-old woman and her 7-year-old daughter in December 2007.
Nancy Bochicchio and her daughter, Joey, were found bound with plastic
ties and shot to death inside their SUV in the parking lot of the mall.Two
years later, Town Center employees who spoke with WPBF News 25 said
they think the mall is a safer place."After that they improved
security and everything," mall employee Mariana Baquero said. "They
invested, like, a lot of money in security at the mall, so it's pretty
good."
Copyright 2009 by WPBF.com. All rights reserved. This material may not
be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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...and this is the best description they can give out?..."Police said the man had a small mustache and was wearing a fishing hat and sunglasses." That describes 90% of the elderly tourists in Florida!!! How about...race, height, age, weight, build, clothing, type of car he was driving (if any), hairstyle, accent (if any), description of accomplices...supposed to be 3 of them? For pete's sake people! You have citizens in the public who would be happy to turn these scuzzballs in to the cops! Throw us a bone here!
Aug. 13, 2009 5:20pm EDT | from MrNibbles
Boca Raton police say man who accosted shopper is not Town Center mall killer
By CHRISTINA DeNARDO
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 13, 2009
BOCA RATON — A man whose description is similar to that of a man
described as the Town Center killer tried to force his way into a 62-year-old
woman's car Tuesday evening, but Boca Raton police said they do not
believe the man is the same man who killed Nancy and Joey Bochicchio
or violently kidnapped and robbed a young mother and her child in 2007.
Mary Volpe said a Hispanic man with sunglasses and wearing a fishing
hat tried to get her to open her car door while sitting at a traffic
light at Military Trail near the Town Center Mall about 7:50 p.m.
Volpe had just left the Town Center of
Boca Raton, where her and a friend had spent the evening. Earlier in
the day while shopping, Volpe had noticed another man and a woman appear
to follow her to the Neiman Marcus after taking a break near the entrance
at the mall near the Grand Luxe Cafe. But Volpe said she never saw the
two people again.
At the traffic light, the man, who is described as about 40 years old
with a small mustache and wearing a tan button-down shirt, approached
Volpe's car and told her that her tire had a nail in it and it was flat.
Volpe refused to open her window and the man then tried to open the
door himself.
Volpe told police she drove away but the man followed her. Volpe then
called the police, stopping her car on S.W.18th Street, just east of
Military Trail. The man got out of his SUV again, but this time there
was a child about four years old with him, and tried to convince Volpe
that he was only trying to help her fix her car. When Volpe refused
to open her window or door, he put the child back in the SUV and drove
away.
Though the description of a Hispanic man wearing a fishing hat and sunglasses
is eerily similar to the man wanted in the kidnapping of a 30-year-old
woman and her child at the Town Center in August 2007 and possibly the
murder of the Bochicchios, there are other differences that make police
sure he is a different man.
The woman in the August 2007 case was forced at gunpoint to drive to
an ATM to withdraw cash and then bound in her car, along with her two-year-old
child. Nancy Bochicchio, 47, and her 7-year-old daughter Joey were found
bound and shot to death in an SUV idling outside the Town Center mall
in December 2007.
The man who accosted Volpe earlier this week is in his 40s while the
man who kidnapped and bound a woman and her child at the Town Center
in August 2007 was described as between 18 and 25.
The man in the Volpe case is Hispanic while the sketch is of a white
man with a dark tan.
The man in the Volpe case also appeared to work in concert with other
people. And Volpe, unlike the Bochicchios and the woman in the August
2007 attack is much older, drove a different light colored car not a
dark SUV and did not have any children with her.
"There is nothing to connect the two and we don't want to scare
people for no reason," said Officer Sandra Boonenberg, the police
department's spokeswoman. "This is a typical distraction theft."
Boonenberg said it appears the man was working with the two people that
Volpe saw follow her while at the mall. Though it's not clear, the man
might have tried to distract the woman with the flat tire story in order
to steal her purse or her car, Boonenberg said. The child may have been
used to ease Volpe's suspicions.
If anyone has information about this incident, they are asked to call
Detective John Moran at (561) 338-1315.