This case popped into my mind recently, so I reread the entire thread and have some thoughts.
I’m nearly positive Israel Keyes is NOT the perpetrator. These crimes seem primarily motivated by money, and if Keyes wanted cash, he’d rob a bank. He’d gotten away with plenty of them in his life; I don’t imagine him risking being caught or seen in such a busy, populated area for such a relatively small amount of money. Sure, he kidnapped Koenig from a coffee stand out in the open and used her credit cards carelessly afterward, but he seemed to be decompensating psychologically at that point; prior to that, he’d spent years being meticulous about how he committed his crimes and rarely risked that kind of exposure. His crimes seemed motivated primarily by his sexual/personal sadism and deviant personal desires. Like another commenter stated, he also avoided targeting children. While the composite sketch looks kind of like him, I think that’s more of our minds seeking patterns and connections that aren’t there. He looks similar to the sketch, so our minds start building a case around that connection, when it’s more subjective interpretation than objective fact. Finally, if they have DNA from the Boca murders, wouldn’t they have compared it to Keyes by now, or wouldn’t that link show up when they entered the DNA into databases?
Even though all these cases happened near or at the same mall, police have said in the past they do not believe Randi Gorenberg’s death is connected to the two other cases from the same year.
Unlike the unidentified woman and Nancy Bochicchio, Randi Gorenberg was not bound with zip ties and blinded by blacked-out goggles.
My feeling is Randi was the first one killed from the mall. She fought him and he changed tatics and used the zipties/ blackout goggles for more control. Many in LE think he husband had something to do with it but I think they are just pointing to him because they have no leads. Sad.
I don’t know whether Gorenberg’s murder is related or not. I tend to lean toward it being an unrelated crime, since LE stated the DNA didn’t match DNA collected from the mother/child incidents and they don’t seem convinced of a link. But it is an incredible coincidence if unrelated. Maybe two different perpetrators who operate in similar circles. I haven’t read enough about her husband to make a judgement as to his possible guilt or innocence, but it’s worth remembering that women are more often than not killed by men they know and are close to. I wonder if there is any other testing being done on any of the DNA, like genetic genealogy, or if there is evidence that could be processed with newer technology?
This is just my opinion on the guy, and why I think that
robbery, as opposed to murder, was his ultimate objective in these crime.
This guy had planned this out long in advance, and he had a
very specific victim profile. He specifically choose women with younger children that rode in car seats, and the reason he did so is actually two-fold.
- Victims will be more likely to comply with the perp, as they not only fear for their own safety, but more importantly they fear for the safety of their child.
- The fact that women are distracted while putting their child in a car seat buys him time to step up and make the initial part of the attack. It gives him the advantage.
I think you’re spot on with this. Whoever the perpetrator is, he clearly spent a lot of time thinking out and planning these crimes, and had very specific motivations and quirks. He seems aware of forensics or crime scene investigation to a degree, and has worked out what he believes is an effective (and clever) strategy for getting quick cash. I think there is also some underlying motivations here that are a little less clear. He enjoys exerting control over these women, and using their children and the threat of harm to them as a means of furthering that control. He uses cheap handcuffs, and then the block-out goggles for sensory deprivation. He threatens to harm the child unless they comply. It’s more psychological than physical. He doesn’t want confrontation or a struggle, which is why he chooses women with small children instead of women alone. I think he killed Nancy and Joey because one or both of them fought back, or tried to escape. For him, it’s all about exerting power over them and taking their money.
I’ve spent some time “burning the midnight oil” on this one lately. Something that slipped my mind is the amount of preparation this perp has is a clear sign to his organized, prepared way of doing things. This perp wasn’t the run of the mill “junkie” type, he was deliberate, calculated, prepared, and his methods show this. He left the phone in an area that was frequently used by homeless people (that Burger King is in a very seedy area..I went to a Miami Heat game about 2 years ago, and my ex-girlfriend and I had to literally walk over homeless people sleeping on the sidewalk). The tech-savvy nature of the perp is a huge indicator, back then (at the time of the crime) it wasn’t well known that a cell phone could be tracked; but he somehow made sure to go two counties away and drop the phone off in an area where he knew it would be picked up by homeless people. Huge indicator to me that this perp wasn’t doing this on a whim, nor was he stupid...both of these suggest that he’s likely older than what some people (myself included) have suggested based off the sketch.
This is why I think there is more to this than just robbery. The perpetrator seems to have put a lot of thought into these crimes, and I think they were as much about mind games as they were about getting some quick cash. I think all the rituals involved in planning the crimes, executing them, and then covering his tracks, show a higher intelligence and more organization than the average crook. He probably got a rush by getting away with committing these crimes in such a busy and affluent area; almost like thumbing your nose at society, especially the upper class. Maybe I’m reading a little too much into it.
These crimes are so frightening and callous. I don’t think murder was the original intent, but this creep clearly didn’t have a problem executing a woman and her child for nothing more than a wad of cash, which makes him exceptionally vile. I really, really hope they catch this guy. Nancy and Joey deserve justice, as do the other victims who were terrorized by this monster.
