Probe of Fla. death leads to arrest in Kingston
Donald Place, 72, sent his daughter, a Rosendale resident, a letter saying her mother was dead and he was suicidal.
A Florida man wanted in connection with the suspicious death of his wife and who threatened to kill himself in a letter to his daughter, a Rosendale resident, was arrested at Kingston Plaza, Ulster County sheriff’s deputies and Florida police said Wednesday.
Donald Place, 72, of Ormond Beach, Fla., was located in a vehicle at the plaza about 7:30 p.m. Saturday after the Sheriff’s Office was notified by the Ormond Beach police that he was a person of interest in the death of Debra Jean Place, 62, at the Ridgecrest Mobile Home Park in Ormond Beach, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Ulster County deputies located Place by tracking his cell phone, according to Capt. Christopher Roos of the Ormond Beach police.
Ulster County Sheriff Paul VanBlarcum said Wednesday that Place was not armed and did not resist arrest when he was found at Kingston Plaza.
According to Ormond Beach police, Debra Jean Place was found dead in the couple’s mobile home Saturday morning. Roos said an initial coroner’s report indicates she had been dead for more than two weeks.
Ormond Beach police did not say how Debra Jean Place died.
The Daytona Beach News Journal reported that police checked on her welfare after the couple’s daughter, in Rosendale, received a letter from her father indicating her mother was dead and he would be dead soon. Place’s daughter was not in danger, VanBlarcum said.
Place also was wanted by Colonie police, in Albany County, for grand larceny, the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office said. After being arrested in Kingston, he was turned over to Colonie police.
Place was being held Wednesday in the Albany County Jail.