Assumed Deceased: Jill Dornbush--FL--04/30/2010

[LoriDavis]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/davie/fl-davie-missing-endangered-20100504,0,2500736.story

Davie police seek 'persons of interest' in woman's disappearance
Homeless couple seen recently with missing woman
By Sofia Santana and Juan Ortega, Sun Sentinel
8:25 p.m. EDT, May 4, 2010


Jill Dornbush

Police have identified a homeless couple as "persons of interest" in the suspicious disappearance of a woman who had opened her home to them.

Investigators on Tuesday named Delia Padron, 57, and Lazard Falco, 47, as two people they want to question in the weekend disappearance of Jill Dornbush, 62.

Her neighbors in Gateland Village, in the 3700 block of Northwest 78th Avenue, reported her missing on Monday.

Dornbush's light blue 2006 Honda Civic, Florida tag I99 1PX, also was gone from the neighborhood.

Jorge Antonatos, 30, who lives two doors down from Dornbush, said he became concerned by her unusual absence all weekend. He said he went inside her condo Monday morning and saw what looked like blood on the walls, carpet and door.

"Over the carpet and walls was, like, a white paint trying to cover it [the blood] up," Antonatos said.

Antonatos said he and his wife saw a couple visit Dornbush's home often during the past couple of months.

"I'm hanging on to hope and praying for the best," Antonatos said.

Shortly after neighbors reported Dornbush's troubling disappearance, investigators began retracing her steps.

They found surveillance video showing Dornbush entering the Walgreens at Davie Road Extension and University Drive Friday morning with Padron, said Davie police spokesman Sgt. Rob Choquette.

That morning marked the last time anyone, including neighbors, reported seeing Dornbush, police said.

They declined to say what they found inside Dornbush's home when they searched it Monday, and they also declined to comment on neighbors' accounts of blood inside the condo.

Dornbush, who lives alone, works at McDonald's at Stirling Road and the Davie Road Extension and apparently met the couple there, said neighbor Monica Antonatos, 28.

Police ask that anyone with information about Dornbush's disappearance contact Detective Jeff Corns at 954-693-8200 or Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS (8477).

[LoriDavis]

http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/MI86452/

Police arrest couple in missing woman's murder

Posted: 5/5/10 at 5:50 pm EDT      
Last Updated: 5/5/10 at 6:51 pm EDT

HIALEAH, Fla. (WSVN) -- Police have arrested two homeless people after they allegedly confessed to murdering a missing woman.

Both of those arrested had been persons of interest in the missing persons case of 62-year-old Jill Dornbush. Wednesday afternoon, Davie Police arrested and charged Delia Padron, 57, and Lazard Falco, 47, with first degree murder. Police said, both confessed to murdering Dornbush, though they have not found her body yet.

Both suspects were transported from Hialeah to Davie Police in the evening and will eventually be booked into the Broward County Jail.

According to police, at 7:30 Wednesday morning the two people of interest visited a McDonald's, located at 560 Hialeah Drive. Someone in the restaurant mentioned to a Miami-Dade Officer who came in for coffee that they thought those might be the people on the news. "They were working, and they saw the two subjects come in, and they said, 'Boy, they look like the two subjects the police had been looking for, that we saw on the news," said Davie Police Sgt. Rob Choquette.

The officer took the pair into custody and called Davie Police. Hialeah Police provided Davie detectives with a room for questioning where the two spent most of the day.

Neighbors had seen the couple in and out of Dornbush's apartment and were shocked to hear the outcome of her generosity. "When you give food to the dog, they don't bite your hand, so that's not good," said Angie Quintana, the victim's neighbor.

According to police, surveillance video had captured Dornbush at a Davie Walgreens last Friday at around 10 a.m. along with the two suspects behind her. According to police, Dornbush had recently begun helping the man and woman who were both seen with her on the video. Investigators released the footage in hopes of tracking them down as persons of interest.

According to neighbors, police had gone through the apartment complex dumpster at Gateland Village Apartments, located at 3777 NW 78th Avenue in Davie, finding bed sheets and other evidence from Dornbush's apartment, on Monday. "We are a little nervous, but we did go inside, and it was not pretty in there. They were trying to cover it up with paint. There was blood on the carpet and on the walls and paint splattered all over the carpet," said neighbor Jorge Antonatos.

Neighbors called Dornbush a hard-working woman who would help anyone in need. "She was a very nice person. Sweetheart, great, quiet lady but very nice lady, and I think that's what got her in trouble," said Antonatos.

Sharida Mohammad is a close friend to Dornbush and said had been calling her since Friday, the day she went missing. "I keep calling her Friday night until Sunday," said Mohammad. "She's part of the family, so we miss her a lot."

[LoriDavis]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/davie/fl-davie-missing-endangered-20100505,0,2566273.story

Homeless couple arrested in Davie woman's slaying
Hialeah McDonald's workers spot pair sought for questioning in disappearance of Davie woman
05/05/2010

A homeless couple has been arrested in the death of a woman who had opened her home to them, Davie police said Wednesday.

Police Sgt. David Choquette said Delia Padron, 57, and Lazard Falco, 47, were arrested on the charge of first-degree murder in the death of Jill Dornbush, 62, whose neighbors in Gateland Village, in the 3700 block of Northwest 78th Avenue, reported her missing on Monday.

Choquette said the couple confessed to the slaying, but he said he did not have information about how Dornbush was killed, or where her body was located.

Handcuffed, the couple was led by police from the Hialeah Police Department to a Davie police car. They were taken to the Davie police station for additional paperwork, and were expected to be jailed Wednesday night in Broward County, Choquette said.

The couple's arrest occurred a day after Davie police identified them as persons of interest in Dornbush's disappearance and released photographs of them to the news media. At about 7 a.m. Wednesday, the couple entered a McDonald's restaurant at 460 Hialeah Drive in Hialeah, and employees realized they were the couple seen on the news, police said.

The employees alerted a police officer who had just walked into the restaurant, and the officer detained Padron and Falco, Choquette said. The couple was taken to the Hialeah police station, where they were questioned for several hours before being arrested. Choquette said the couple cooperated with investigators.

Dornbush's Honda Civic also was found outside the Hialeah McDonald's. The Civic was towed Wednesday afternoon to the Davie police station, and officers were obtaining a warrant to search the vehicle.

Before the couple's arrests, police had information about the general area where the couple was, Choquette said. But the help from the McDonald's employees was crucial, he said. He also thanked the news media and the public for its help.

"If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be where we are right now," Choquette said.

Dornbush was a longtime employee at a McDonald's restaurant in Davie, and a neighbor said she befriended the homeless couple at her workplace. Choquette said Dornbush had not worked at the Hialeah McDonald's where the couple was detained.

Jorge Antonatos, 30, a neighbor of Dornbush's, said he went inside her condo Monday and saw what looked like blood on the walls, carpet and door. Police have declined to comment on Antonatos' account. Antonatos said he and his wife saw a couple visit Dornbush's home often during the past couple of months.

[Jenn]

http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/MI86531/

Couple accused of killing missing woman face judge

Posted: May 06, 2010 at 12:25 pm EDT     

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (WSVN) -- A couple, who according to police, confessed to killing a missing Davie woman, appeared in court.

Lazard Falco, 47, and Delia Padron, 57, were denied bond by a judge in a Broward County Court Thursday morning.

According to authorities, Wednesday morning, someone in a McDonald's restaurant recognized the couple and notified police. Falco and Padron were arrested and charged with first degree murder in the death of Article Image62-year-old Jill Dornbush.

Detectives said Dornbush opened her Davie home to the homeless couple, where they allegedly stabbed, strangled and dumped her body in a dumpster after she wouldn't let them use her shower.

Sharida Mohammad is a close friend to Dornbush and said she had been calling her since Friday, the day she went missing. "I keep calling her Friday night until Sunday," said Mohammad. "She's part of the family, so we miss her a lot."

Neighbors called Dornbush a hard-working woman who would help anyone in need. "She was a very nice person. Sweetheart, great, quiet lady but very nice lady, and I think that's what got her in trouble," said Antonatos.

[Deborah]

FDLE Poster

[Deborah]

Details released



Details released in couple's murder confession

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (WSVN) -- Police have released grisly details about what allegedly happened to a missing South Florida woman after a homeless couple made a chilling confession.

Lazaro Falco, aka Oscar Comejo, 47, and Delia Padron, 57, faced a judge in a Broward County courtroom Thursday morning after being accused of killing 62-year-old Jill Dornbush from Davie. She disappeared Friday after last being seen with the couple at a Walgreens, a visit that was caught on surveillance video.

Broward Circuit Court Judge John Hurley denied the couple bond. "By stabbing her and choking her and wrapping her body in a blanket, then dumping Ms. Dornbush's body in a dumpster," detailed Hurley, who was translated for the accused.

According to authorities, Wednesday morning, someone in a Hialeah McDonald's restaurant recognized the couple from the Walgreens surveillance footage that aired on news programs and notified police. The couple had stolen Dornbush's 2006 Honda Civic, police said. Police arrested Falco and Padron and charged them with first degree murder in the death of Dornbush.

Detectives said Dornbush opened her Davie home to the homeless couple to help them, and she wound up duct-taped inside her own bed sheets before being dumped in the neighborhood dumpster. The contents of that dumpster have since been incinerated, and it remains unknown if police will ever find her body.

According to the police report, the suspects allegedly killed Dornbush after she would not let them use her shower. Police said, Dornbush had refused the couple access to her home one day, as she tried to distance herself from the pair, and they decided to kill her. Neighbor Jorge Antonatos recalled her generosity. "She would basically let them come in and take showers and give them money since they were homeless and give them food, so she was just basically being a good person."

"A lot of people do want to help the homeless or help people in need, but we shouldn't let strangers into our home," noted Sean Cononey, Director of the Homeless Voice. "There are some people who are very bad and who have criminal activity, who choose to be homeless to get away from the law and being wanted and so forth."

According to police, Comejo had a long criminal history as a convicted felon. Detectives said he told them conflicting stories about the killing of Dornbush. First he had said she wielded a knife and fell down on it, and then he said he had her in a choke hold when she stabbed herself in the neck. "This lady was trying to do something good, and these two vicious people viciously killed her. It makes no sense, especially when someone's trying to help you," said Cononey.