September, 2008 -- Page 1

South Florida Media Coverage

*~ September, 2008 -- Page 1 ~*


In Loving Memory Of Nancy Bochicchio & her daughter, Joey Noel Bochicchio-Hauser

Florida Woman Says Mall Attacker May Be a Serial Killer (9/4/08)
20/20 reschedules Boca mall murder piece (9/5/08)
ABC's "20/20" to look at Caylee Anthony case (9/5/08)
Four-legged crime fighter joins malls' safety efforts (9/11/08)
Lauderhill may require emergency phones at malls, offices (9/14/08)
Town Center Mall focuses on safety (9/26/08)
New police substation to open at Town Center at Boca Raton (9/26/08)
Suspects made purchases with slain Palm Beach County woman's credit card number (9/26/08)
Men using Gorenberg’s credit card provide clue in stalled Boca Raton mall murder case (9/26/08)
PBSO: Town Center Mall victim's credit card used (9/26/08)
Gorenberg's husband discovered credit card charges, attorney says (9/27/08)

20/20 reschedules Boca mall murder piece
Posted by tjicha at 10:47:51 AM

To borrow a phrase from Saturday Night Live's Emily Latella, "Never mind."

ABC sent a message at 9:52 Friday morning that the 20/20 report on the Boca mall murders has been pushed back to a week from today, Sept. 12.

Please don't blame the messenger.

ABC's "20/20" to look at Caylee Anthony case
posted by halboedeker on Sep 4, 2008 2:57:09 PM

ABC's "20/20" will turn to the baffling saga of missing Caylee Anthony in its Friday broadcast.

Here's how the newsmagazine described the segment about Caylee: "In an exclusive report, '20/20' will air never-before-seen home videos and photographs offering new insights into her young life with her mother, Casey, who remains at the center of the investigation. Elizabeth Vargas' report also includes interviews with Caylee's grandparents and Casey's brother and a former boyfriend, as well as a detailed account of events from the time Caylee disappeared."

The report will feature reporter Walter Pacheco of the Orlando Sentinel. The newsmagazine airs at 10 p.m. Friday on WFTV-Channel 9.

On Friday morning, "20/20" said it had delayed another Florida segment to next week. That report will look at the possibility of a serial killer in Boca Raton.

What would the national media do without Florida?

Four-legged crime fighter joins malls' safety efforts

T.J. Perigo (right), director of public safety at the Boynton Beach Mall and security officer Mike Lausen walk Ares, a 2-year-old German Shepherd through the mall. Lausen and Ares began patrolling the mall this summer as part of a stepped-up safety effort.

By DON JORDAN

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Thursday, September 11, 2008

BOYNTON BEACH — The Boynton Beach Mall has unleashed its latest weapon in its quest to provide safer shopping.

It has four paws, a wet nose and responds to the name Ares.

The German shepherd and his handler began making the rounds earlier this summer, said Jon Lusher, vice president of IPC International, an Illinois-based shopping center security company that works with the mall.

"This is part of our desire to stay ahead of any potential problems and to show customers a new, friendly face," Lusher said.

Even if that face is whiskered.

The patrol unit splits its time among a number of South Florida malls owned by the Simon Property Group, including the Dadeland Mall in Miami and the Shops at Sunset Place in South Miami.

Ares' main purpose is simply to walk each mall and intimidate would-be evil-doers - more bark than bite - but he is trained to chase and hold a suspect.

Boynton Beach Mall officials hope the addition will provide customers and potential criminals with an "awareness of this extra level of security," Lusher said.

It's an especially tough task for malls in southern Palm Beach County, which have been the setting for some of the most violent local crimes in recent history.

A fight between rival gangs led to a shooting that left one man dead at the busy Boynton Beach Mall on Christmas Eve 2006.

Nearly a year later, Nancy Bochicchio and her 7-year-old daughter were found dead in her idling SUV outside the Town Center mall, another Simon-owned shopping center in Boca Raton.

Both had been shot in the head at point-blank range.

Joyce Block, a Delray Beach resident and regular morning mall walker, said she feels safe at the Boynton Beach Mall during the day, but rarely visits after the sun goes down.

"If I do come, it's with my husband," Block said. "It's a shame that a lady can't come here alone."

Simon officials said the four-legged enforcer is further proof that the company is "committed to security at all of our retail centers," said Lydia Gilmore, a vice president of the company, which also owns the Palm Beach Mall in West Palm Beach.

"This extra measure will serve as an extension of our ongoing security efforts in partnership with the local police, as well as enhance patrol officer interaction with shoppers," Gilmore said in a written statement.

Lake Worth resident Jessica Sebest said the added security was a "great idea."

"It won't hurt anything, so why not do it," Sebest said earlier this month during a visit to the mall at 801 N. Congress Ave.

Mall officials said they have not decided whether to add more dog patrols during the busy holiday shopping season.

Boynton Beach resident Sylvia Kriegel, who works at the Bavarian Colony restaurant inside the mall, said she has spotted the patrol passing by and approves of the addition.

"If there is a criminal around and there are police around with the dog, the dog's going to get them before they get me," Kriegel said, laughing. "Besides, I like dogs."

Florida Woman Says Mall Attacker May Be a Serial Killer
'No One Knows That I'm Going to Die Today,' Woman Recalls Thinking
By THOMAS BERMAN
Sept. 4, 2008

Video: http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=5559088&page=1

Thousands of people swarm to the vast and luxurious Town Center Mall every day. But one man who went to the Boca Raton, Fla., shopping center last August was shopping only for a victim.

The man abducted a woman and her 2-year-old son in their black SUV from the mall parking lot. Although the woman and son survived uninjured, she remains terrorized to this day. The woman, who asks to be identified as Jane Doe, worries that the man will hunt her down and kill her to protect his identity.

She's convinced that the same man later murdered another woman and her 7-year-old daughter. That woman, Nancy Bochicchio, was also driving a black sport utility vehicle, shopping at the same mall and was bound in a similar fashion, according to police. The only difference was that Jane Doe and her son survived, and Nancy and her daughter, Joey, did not.

And the worry does not end there. A few months before Jane Doe's abduction, a woman named Randi Gorenberg who, once again, was driving a black SUV and shopping at the same mall, was found killed a few miles away.

Jane Doe's lawyer, Skip Cummings, believes that the same man is responsible for the attack, and that he's on the loose in the area of Florida known as the Gold Coast.

"I believe that this gentleman is a serial killer," he said. "I believe very strongly that he is involved in at least three of these murders -- and who knows how many other ones?"

But the Boca Raton Police Department and Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office detective, who are working the cases, lack the evidence to know for sure, and they haven't ruled out anything.

"I think these are unique cases," Palm Beach sheriff's office Capt. Jack Strenges said. "As far as calling it a serial killer, by definition, I can't commit to that."

Boca Raton Police Capt. Matt Duggan said that calling the man a serial killer is irresponsible.

"We have no direct forensic links at this point actually linking all three cases," he said. "But we are confident that the August [Jane Doe] and December [Nancy Bochicchio] case occurred by the same individual."

'Get In the Car Now!'

But even that possible link has raised questions. Some wonder why the general public didn't hear about the Jane Doe case until after the Bochicchio killings.

Jane Doe believes it is because the police doubted her story.

"I just couldn't believe that it was taken so lightly," she said. "It's kind of sad, but I said, 'Did I have to be murdered to be taken seriously?'"

Jane Doe said it all began as a normal shopping trip. She drove to the mall with her young son and parked her black Lincoln Navigator in a parking lot near Nordstrom department store.

After about two hours of shopping, she walked back to the vehicle and placed her son in his car seat in the rear passenger side. Then, she said, after putting some shopping bags in the front passenger seat and the stroller in the back, she walked around the SUV to the driver's seat.

Only then, she said, did she hear her son cry out for her. That's when, she said, she looked back into the car and was shocked to see a man seated there next to her boy holding a gun to his head.

"I was shaking, and I was just in disbelief that this was happening," she said. "He said 'Get in the car now.'"

She described the man as about 6 feet tall, white or Hispanic, with a medium build. He had a ponytail and was wearing a floppy hat and sunglasses. She said she begged him not to hurt them and just take what he wanted, but what he wanted was for her to start driving.

"He just said drive to the bank,' she said. "He didn't raise his voice, he wasn't angry, wasn't yelling, wasn't frantic."

She said he seemed to know what he was doing. She didn't want to try to yell for help because her son was strapped in the car seat and the man was pointing his gun at him.
The Worst Part

After being ordered to an ATM, Jane Doe withdrew all the money she could -- $600 -- and hoped the man would let them go, she said. Instead, he told her to drive to a remote spot where he ordered her out of the car. He then handcuffed her wrists and used plastic zip ties to bind her feet and her neck to the headrest in the rear seat next to her child, she said.

He then pulled out onto the highway, in what Jane Doe said was the worst part of the ordeal.

"I remember seeing people in cars passing me and just wondering how no one knows, you know, that this is happening to us," she said. "No one knows that there is this horror going on inside this car. No one knows that I'm going to die today."

But in the hour or so they were together, driving and briefly conversing, Jane Doe said she somehow sensed a change in her abductor. Once cold and calculating, he slowly warmed to her. Eventually, she said, he turned the SUV around and returned to the parking lot. Leaving the engine running, he got out and took her driver's license.

But before he left, she said, he gave her a warning: He'd come back for her if she described him to the police.

Jane Doe said she was able to slip her feet through her handcuffed wrists, pop the headrest to free her neck and maneuver into the driver's seat. Feet still bound, she drove to a nearby valet stand where the police were called, she said.

Sympathetic, but Skeptical

But, she said, police didn't seem to believe her story. She said they made insinuations that her account didn't make sense, and that she might have been seeking attention.

"Why would I do this for attention?" she asked. "I'm with my child. I'm like, 'I didn't zip tie myself and handcuff myself.' I'm like 'I had marks up and down my neck with blood ... and I did that to myself?'"

The police said it's not that they weren't sympathetic, but that it's their job to be skeptical.

"Unfortunately, I wish it weren't this way, but not everything we are told is the truth," Duggan said. "We had some concerns about her story. ... Some of it didn't add up."

The detectives wondered how Jane Doe could have gotten out of the restraints in the way she described. They also initially found no proof she went through the highway toll booths, as she'd claimed. Finally, she failed a lie detector test.

But now, after investigating the case, police say they believe Jane Doe.

Still, during the investigation, the police issued a news release that contained only the details they'd been able to confirm. The release described Jane Doe's case as "an alleged armed robbery" and said nothing about the abduction or holding a gun to a child's head.

"They blew it," said Randy Schultz, editorial page editor of the Palm Beach Post.

His paper treated the story based on the merit of the news release -- a small item buried deep within the paper's police blotter. Not knowing the full extent of the story, no other media outlet even mentioned the case.

On the other hand, Randi Gorenberg's case had received extensive publicity. The 53-year-old mother of two had been shot and killed nearly five months earlier by someone who dumped her body in a park slightly north of Boca in broad daylight.

The crime was shocking, but police initially suspected Gorenberg was killed by someone she knew. Even though she had been driving a black SUV and had last been seen shopping at the same mall, detectives suspected no link to the Jane Doe case.

John Rulli, president of the Simon Property Group, said mall management provided ample security but had relied on police to advise them. Police gave management no cause for alarm, Rulli said.

Mother and Daughter Shot Dead

That's why Nancy Bochicchio had no reservations about taking her daughter Joey to go Christmas shopping at the mall, Bochicchio's sister Joann Bruno said. If there had been more publicity about the Jane Doe case, Bruno is certain her sister would never have taken the child that day, she said.

She said Bochicchio had been extremely protective of Joey ever since the child was born because doctors had warned Bochicchio that her child was likely to be born with severe physical ailments.

The two were found shot dead inside the family's Chrysler Aspen SUV, bound in a manner similarly described by Jane Doe. Bruno said she is furious that the Jane Doe case was never publicized.

Duggan defended his department's actions, saying there's no way to know if releasing additional information about the Jane Doe case would have stopped the mother and daughter from going to the mall at the height of the Christmas shopping season.

"The public needs to know that we didn't immediately look at this [Jane Doe] case and say, 'You know what, we've got some concerns about this story; we are done with it'," he said.

Although the investigation continues, there is no viable suspect. And the blame game has begun. All three families are suing the mall, which denies responsibility and says it provided ample security.

Police are asking anyone with information about the cases to come forward.

Lauderhill may require emergency phones at malls, offices
Businesses split on Lauderhill plan to require them

By Juan Ortega |South Florida Sun-Sentinel
September 14, 2008

Lauderhill's largest businesses may have to install emergency phones outside malls, shopping centers and offices.

The phones would provide shoppers another way of calling police at the Swap Shop flea market, Lauderhill Mall and 10 other locations.

But the plan is getting a mixed reaction from businesses.

"It doesn't sound to me like it's an out-of-line expense for the safety and security of shoppers," said Bob Geiserman, Lauderhill Mall's owner.

"We've got a lot of security," said Preston Henn, the Swap Shop's owner. "Spending $5,000 that isn't necessary bothers me."

Under the proposal, the city would require businesses, parks and developments with 300 parking spaces to install the phones within five years. The devices come in different models. Some have one button to call for help with a single touch. City officials estimated the phones, which can be mounted on walls or poles, cost between $5,000 and $15,000. Another phone would be required for every additional 300 parking spaces.

Lauderhill Mayor Richard Kaplan said the stations could be vital in emergencies, saying not everyone has a cell phone on them at all times.

"If it costs $5,000 to save one life, I think that's cheap," Kaplan said.

The city is the latest local government to propose boosting security in recent months. Broward County Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion is developing a plan that would require retailers to install cameras outside drugstores and shopping centers across Broward. He expects the County Commission to vote on his proposal in November.

Under Lauderhill's plan, retailers who get building permits after the new law takes effect would be required to install the phones immediately.

If commissioners endorse the phone plan Monday, they likely would vote on the ordinance next month.

Juan Ortega can be reached at jcortega@SunSentinel.com or 954-356-4701.

Town Center Mall focuses on safety
Reported by: WPTV staff
Email: webteam@wptv.com
Last Update: 7:42 am

BOCA RATON, FL -- Boca Raton's Town Center Mall will unveil its new closed-circuit television command post next week.

According to our news partners at the Sun-Sentinel, local leaders will also cut the ribbon of the new Boca Raton police substation located on the south side of the mall.

This comes nearly a year after the bodies of Nancy Bochicchio and her daughter, Joey, were found in the mall's parking lot.
Surveillance tapes showed the two entering and leaving the mall hours before they were killed.

New police substation to open at Town Center at Boca Raton

By Jerome Burdi
September 26, 2008

The Town Center at Boca Raton will unveil the mall's new closed-circuit television command post on Thursday.

City, police and mall officials will also formally open the new Boca Raton Police Department substation on the second floor of The Terrace, the outdoor shopping area on the mall's south side.

The new, 1,700-square-foot substation will be the base for police officers assigned to the mall and will include work space for four Crime Prevention Unit members. It will be staffed by a community service officer and civilian volunteers who will help shoppers with police reports and fingerprinting services.

Security at the mall came under scrutiny last year when the bodies of Nancy Bochicchio, 47, and her daughter, Joey Bochicchio-Hauser, 7, were found in their black SUV in the mall's parking lot around midnight on Dec. 13. Before they were fatally shot, the two were bound at the hands and feet. Surveillance footage showed them walking in and out of the mall hours earlier.

Back To Top

Suspects made purchases with slain Palm Beach County woman's credit card number

By Jerome Burdi |South Florida Sun-Sentinel
11:54 AM EDT, September 26, 2008

Palm Beach County sheriff's investigators are trying to identify two men who made purchases with a slain woman's credit card number.

Randi Gorenberg, 52, was killed March 23, 2007, in one of the highest profile cases in Palm Beach County's recent history.

On Aug. 12, two suspects made several purchases in Massachusetts and Connecticut. On Friday, investigators released photos of the two people who made the purchases.

"It is unknown at this time if these suspects are involved in the murder of Randi Gorenberg," sheriff's spokeswoman Teri Barbera said.

It is also unknown if the suspects had the credit card or used a cloned version .

The purchases were:

• 1:02 pm - two portable Playstation hand-held game systems from Sears at the Holyoke Mall, Holyoke, Mass.

• 1:22 pm - food in West Springfield, Mass.

• 2:20 pm - a Playstation 3 Game System from Toys R Us in Newington, Conn.

On March 23, 2007, surveillance cameras captured footage of Gorenberg leaving the Town Center at Boca Raton. She was seen near the Neiman Marcus store talking on a cell phone about 1:16 p.m.

Detectives think Gorenberg made it to her car safely but don't know what happened after that.

At 1:54 p.m., a witness heard gunshots and saw Gorenberg pushed from her Mercedes at Gov. Lawton Chiles Memorial Park on Morikami Park Road and Jog Road west of Delray Beach, about five miles from the mall. At 1:59 p.m., surveillance cameras captured the SUV entering the Home Depot parking lot at Atlantic Avenue and Jog Road, less than two miles from the park.

Detectives found the Mercedes shortly later, behind the Home Depot.

The Sheriff's Office asks anyone with information to call Sgt. Bill Springer, 561-688-4013, or Crime Stoppers, 800-458-8477 or text message to tips@cspbc.net.

Men using Gorenberg's credit card provide clue in stalled Boca Raton mall murder case

By CHRISTINA DeNARDO

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Friday, September 26, 2008

Seventeen months after she was murdered, two men used Randi Gorenberg's credit card number to go on a shopping spree, buying PlayStations at malls in the Northeast, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.

It was the first time anyone used her credit card number since she was murdered in March of 2007.

The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office on Friday released photos of the men accused of using the slain Boca Raton wife and mother's credit card in Massachusetts and Connecticut. One of the men wore blue jeans and a black T-shirt. The other wore jeans and a multi-colored shirt with a black ball cap.

What they don't know is who the men are, or whether they had Gorenberg's card or had stolen clone of it, officials said.

Gorenberg, 52, was shot in the head and shoved from her Mercedes-Benz sports utility vehicle in Delray Beach. Her Kooba purse and Puma sneakers have never been found. The murder happened about 40 minutes after she finished shopping at the Town Center Mall in Boca Raton.

The sheriff's department said the men purchased two portable Playstation hand held game systems from a Sears at the Holyoke Mall, Holyoke, Mass., north of Springfield on Aug. 12. The men also purchased food in Springfield and a Playstation 3 from a Toys R Us in Newington, Conn.

"We receive tips all the time that just don't pan out, but this is something we really need the public's assistance with," said Teri Barbera, the sheriff's office spokeswoman.

The sheriff's office is also pushing the media in Connecticut and Massachusetts to publish the pictures in hopes of finding the men. America's Most Wanted, which has aired episodes on the Gorenberg murder, plans to update its Web site to include the new information.

"We would like to speak with these individuals," Barbera said. "We have no idea if there is any involvement in the murder, but it's something we like to follow through with and we need the public assistance to do that."

Though law enforcement officers do not know if the men were involved in Gorenberg's murder or if they were using her credit card or a clone, the use of Gorenberg's credit card number is the first lead in the cold case in several months. Clones are fake credit cards made when someone steals the numbers using a hand-held skimmer after a card is swiped, while the original stays with its owner.

Police also believe there may be a connection between Gorenberg's murder, an August 2007 attack during which a mother and her son were carjacked in the Nordstrom parking garage of the mall and the December murders of Nancy Bochicchio and her 7-year-old daughter, Joey.

The Bochicchios were found shot to death in a black 2007 Chrysler Aspen SUV idling near the Sears loading dock. The killer had pulled a pair of swimming goggles, the lenses of which were covered with black cloth, over Nancy Bochicchio's eyes and bound her ankles, wrists and neck with plastic ties. A broken pair of inexpensive metal handcuffs dangled from her wrists.

The victim in the August 2007 robbery described her attacker as a white or Hispanic man who wore a floppy brown hat and sunglasses.

Despite hundreds of leads, no one has been arrested in connection with the murders but the county's violent crimes task force is pursuing leads every day.

"They devote their days to this investigation," Barbera said.

In the months after the Bochicchios were murdered, family members of Gorenberg, the August 2007 victims and the Bochicchios each sued Town Center and its corporate parent, Simon Property Group, alleging negligence.

The Town Center responded by offering free valet parking for mothers with children, created a public-private task force to ensure safety and crime prevention and surveyed its shoppers over changes they would like to see to the mall's security.

Next week, officials from the city, police and mall formally open the new Boca Raton Police Department substation on the second floor of The Terrace, the outdoor shopping area on the mall's south side. The new, 1,700-square-foot substation will be the base for police officers assigned to the mall and will include work space for four Crime Prevention Unit members. It will be staffed by a community service officer and civilian volunteers who will help shoppers with police reports and fingerprinting services.

If anyone can identify these individuals they are urged to contact Sgt. Springer at (561) 688-4013, Detective Romagnoli at 688-4065, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-458-TIPS or text to tips@cspbc.net .

~'christina_denardo@pbpost.com

PBSO: Town Center Mall victim's credit card used

Reported by: WPTV staff
Email: webteam@wptv.com
Last Update: 12:36 pm

BOCA RATON, FL -- The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office wants the public's help with identifying two suspects wanted for making several purchases using Randi Gorenberg's stolen credit card number in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Gorenberg is one of three victims murdered last year after shopping at Boca Raton's Town Center Mall.

On Tuesday, August 12, 2008, deputies say three purchases were made using Randi Gorenberg's stolen credit card number.

The purchases are as follows, according to a PBSO press release:

1:02 pm – two portable Playstation hand held game systems were purchased from Sears located at the Holyoke Mall, Holyoke, Massachusetts.
1:22 pm – a purchase of food was made in West Springfield, Massachusetts.
2:20 pm – a Playstation 3 Game System was purchased from Toys R Us located in Newington, Connecticut.

Deputies say it is unknown at this time if these suspects are involved in the murder of Randi Gorenberg. Officials say they do not know if these suspects are in possession of Randi's credit card or if the credit card was cloned.

On March 23, 2007, Randi Gorenberg, 52, shopped at Boca Raton's Town Center Mall.

Surveillance video shows the mother of two leaving the mall at about 1:16 p.m. She walked into the parking lot to her black Mercedes SUV. At 1:54 p.m., witnesses spotted her car driving through a Delray Beach park.

Gorenberg was shot in the head and fell from the vehicle. Her SUV was found a few minutes later abandoned behind a Home Depot. Her purse and cell phone were missing, as well as her shoes. No one saw a suspect.
On December 13, 2007, Nancy Bochicchio and her 7-year-old daughter, Joey, were found murdered inside of their black Chrysler Aspen SUV at the mall. Both were bound and shot in the head.

Boca Raton Police, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office and other agencies have since formed a task force to catch the killer or killers. No arrests have been made in either case.

If anyone can identify these individuals they are urged to contact Sgt. Springer at 561/688-4013, Detective Romagnoli at 688-4065, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-458-TIPS or text to tips@cspbc.net.

You can remain anonymous and receive up to a $1000 award.

Gorenberg's husband discovered credit card charges, attorney says

By CHRISTINA DeNARDO

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Saturday, September 27, 2008

The attorney representing the husband of a slain Boca Raton woman said that Stewart Gorenberg provided authorities with the newest lead in his wife's unsolved murder.

The Broward chiropractor was reviewing a credit card statement and noticed charges made to his wife's credit card 17 months after she was killed, according to his lawyer, Guy Fronstin.

"It freaked him out," Frostin said today. "It was a little spooky to everybody."

Gorenberg contacted his lawyer about the charges, and Frostin reported it to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.

"It was important for the public to know the Gorenbergs are participating in this investigation and that this is where this lead came from," Frostin said. "They are hopeful that the lead they provided is the break detectives need to find the monster responsible for Randi's murder."

Randi Gorenberg, 52, was shot in the head and shoved from her Mercedes-Benz sports utility vehicle in Delray Beach in March 2007. Her Kooba purse and Puma sneakers have never been found. The murder happened about 40 minutes after she finished shopping at the Town Center Mall in Boca Raton.

The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office on Friday released photos of the men accused of using Gorenberg's credit card number in Massachusetts and Connecticut. One of the men wore blue jeans and a black T-shirt. The other wore jeans and a multi-colored shirt with a black ball cap.

They don't know who the men are, or whether they had Gorenberg's card or had stolen clone of it.

The Sheriff's Office said the men purchased two portable Playstation hand-held game systems from a Sears at the Holyoke Mall, Holyoke, Mass., north of Springfield on Aug. 12. The men also purchased food in Springfield and a Playstation 3 from a Toys R Us in Newington, Conn.

Frostin said the family left Gorenberg's credit card accounts open in case someone used them. As a former prosecutor, Frostin said criminals would often steal credit cards or clone them and wait months before using them. But he added that the card could have been sold and then re-sold and there is no certainty the men had anything to do with Gorenberg's murder.

"It could be totally irrelevant," he said. "But this is a little something for them to hold onto. The person who did this did not leave a lot of evidence.