Police: Stolen gun safe may be key to ’16 Ocoee slaying

For her son, one of the hardest parts of dealing with Mary Anne Zosel’s death is believing she knew and trusted her killers, he said.

That those killers have not been brought to justice more than two years later makes it even more difficult, said John Zosel, 32.

“It’s been a living hell just knowing that it had to be someone who know us or knew her,” he said. “It was somebody she trusted. They came in there and took advantage of her.”

April 30 marked the twoyear anniversary of the 63-year-old Zosel’s slaying. Her daughter found her beaten to death in her bedroom around 12:30 a.m. April 30, 2016, at their home on West Franklin Street in Ocoee.

Ocoee police Det. David Gray said he has exhausted all leads in the case and has no suspects. There was no forced entry and Gray said the motive for the killing likely was robbery.

A gun safe — one heavy enough that at least two people are needed to carry it — was stolen during the homicide. Gray said finding that safe or its contents are key to solving the case.

John Zosel said the killers carried the safe out of the house, leaving behind marks on the walls.

“I’m a big dude myself and it took two people to get it in there when we put it in the house — and that’s when it was empty,” he said. “It definitely took two, maybe three people to move it when it was full.”

The Centurion model CE12 safe is about 5 feet tall, 21 inches wide and 19 inches deep. Gray said none of the guns or anything else that was inside the safe have turned up.

He said he believes the killers were specifically after the safe and waited for Mary Anne Zosel’s husband to leave for work that night around 11 p.m.

Her daughter returned from a friend’s house about 90 minutes later to find the body.

“Somebody knew the husband was gone at work and possibly the daughter wasn’t home,” Gray said.

He said the brutality of the case stood out to him because she was an innocent victim: “She was just in her home living her life.”

Zosel was a stay-athome wife with two grown children known for taking care of a variety of birds in her yard. She had about two dozen bids — including chickens, cockatiels and Quaker parakeets — in a coop in the backyard.

She would sell birds on eBay and the chicken eggs at the farmer’s market.

“She did everything for her birds,” said her son, a truck driver who was in California at the time of her death. “It’s just what she did. She loved all animals and people.”

One neighbor, who declined to identify himself for fear of retribution because the killers haven’t been caught, said she was often out in the yard feeding the birds.

“She talked to those birds like they were pets,” he said. “She was a good, easy-going person. She was the type of person who wouldn’t hurt anyone. … She didn’t deserve that.”

Zosel’s son said the killers could have easily stolen the safe without beating her to death. An arrest would give the family some closure, he said.

“It’s been two years of wondering,” he said. “Maybe [with an arrest] we can find out why it had to happen like that or get some sort of explanation.”

Anyone with information is asked to call Crimeline at 407-423-8477.