Unsolved: Justice eludes these crimes
Mysteries remain behind many deaths in region
A man gunned down after opening his front door. A liquor store clerk shot and killed on the day he was supposed to retire. A motorcyclist struck by an SUV and left to die, in flames, on a street.
They were just three of the crimes in 2015 that detectives in Palm Beach and Broward counties are still working to crack as the new year begins.
And although the details of each case are unique, all have one thing in common: At least one life has been lost, and the case remains open.
As the new year starts, the Sun Sentinel takes a look back at eight notable unsolved crimes from 2015.
Detectives from across the area are hoping for witnesses to step forward to help bring the killers to justice.
Man complained about drug deals
Fort Lauderdale Police are trying to find who killed Robert Regan on Oct. 5. The 67-year-old had suspected drug dealers of vandalizing his pickup truck af- ter he complained to them about being on his property.
Less than 12 hours later, he was found dead on his front yard in the 1300 block of Northeast Third Avenue.
A police report from the night before the killing shows Regan suspected his truck was vandalized by people down the street from him as retaliation for him telling people dealing drugs to move off his property.
Police said vandals had covered the windshield of Regan’s 2000 Ford Ranger with blue paint and then drew a penis on the hood.
Investigators urge anyone with information about the in- cident to contact Detective Jason Wood at 954-828-5344 or Sgt. Steve Novak at 954-828-5556. Anonymous tips can be made to Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.
Store clerk ambushed
The killers of a North Lauderdale convenience store clerk remain on the loose after gunning down the clerk.
The shooting happened Sept. 25 at the Stop’n Go at 6151 Bailey Road when Randolfo Rangel 59,
was opening the store that morning. As he did, he was ambushed by armed robbers, investigators said.
Surveillance video shows Rangel turning to apparently talk with someone behind him just before he unlocked the front door. He then takes several steps before he starts to run, Rangel’s manager Syed Musharraf said.
The gunmen took off immediately after the shooting, police said.
A passer-by found the clerk collapsed on the grass of a nearby vacant lot.
The clerk, who customers knew as Randy, worked there for about a year and was described by Musharraf as a “good guy” and “extremely smart.”
“If he ate something or had a drink while working, he would write it down” so the cost of the items could be subtracted from his pay,” Musharraf recalled.
He said Rangel didn’t have a car and walked to work. He was trying to save up for a scooter.
Detectives are asking anyone with information on the killing to call Detective Mike Roque at 954-321-4242 or report anonymous tips to Crime Stoppers of Broward County at 954-493- 8477 or online at browardcrime stoppers.org.
Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of up to $3,000 for information leading to an arrest.
Cyclist dies in hit and run
The woman who hit and killed a motorcyclist with her SUV in Hollywood remains on the run, police said.
Jason David Swanson 30, died in the March 29 crash.
Authorities are looking for a woman who was driving a dark-colored Ford Explorer or Ford Explorer Sport Trac SUV. She exited an alley of Zinkil Park and turned south on South 56th Avenue, cutting off Swanson, Hollywood Police said.
The crash caused the motorcycle’s gas cap to fall off, starting an intense fire.
Witnesses told police the woman and a girl, about 12 years old, got out of the SUV, looked at Swanson’s burning body near his motorcycle, then got back in the SUV to head south on 56th Avenue toward Washington Street.
Authorities found a piece of the running board from the SUV at the crash scene.
“Our best hope is that child told someone,” said Hollywood Police Sgt. Paul Scheel. “Children talk, regardless of what their parents tell them to do. There are people out there who know something about this.”
Tips have come into police but none have led to the woman’s arrest.
Relatives of Swanson said he loved the outdoors and called him a “free spirit.”
Investigators said the Ford likely has damage to the running board along the passenger side. They’re hoping a body shop helps police track down the SUV.
Police ask anyone with information to call 954-967-4577 or 954-764-4357, or Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477 or hollywoodtips@hollywoodfl.org.
Officer’s husband gunned down
Shortly after arriving at his Miramar home, Darcy Jenkins Jr., 28, was gunned down in his driveway.
It happened at about 2:30 a.m. on Oct. 29 when calls started coming into Miramar police about shots fired in the 7600 block of Indigo Street, police spokeswoman Tania Rues said.
Police said Jenkins was coming home from Jenkins’ Bar-B-Que Ribs Chicken & Jerk Shack, a popular barbecue restaurant he built up from a single smoker in a strip-club parking lot.
According to his wife, Opa-locka Police Cpl. Nikeya Jenkins, 33, the couple recently had their third child.
“We just had a baby recently,” Jenkins said. “What am I supposed to tell my children? I will not rest until I find out who killed my husband.”
That search continues for Jenkins and detectives as the killer remains on the loose.
Jenkins described her husband as a man who kept to himself and didn’t bother anyone.
“He goes to work, comes home, he’s with his family,” she said.
Police ask anyone with information on the shooting to call Crime Stoppers of Broward County at 954-493-8477.
Open-door killing
Detectives are searching for a killer who knocked on a man’s door, then shot the man when he answered, Boynton Beach Police said.
Police believe Edward Morton, 27, recognized his killer when he opened the door at about 10 p.m. May 26 at his home on Northwest Third Ave.
The shooting stunned Morton’s family members.
His oldest sister, Avchon Wright, 38, of Boynton Beach, said Morton came from a family of nine siblings.
“If one is going through something, everyone is going through something,” she said. “And how [the killing] was done, it was too personal.”
The murder is the second such tragedy for her family in recent years. In 2009, her other brother, Ronald Wright, was one of three people killed in a domestic incident in Lake Worth. That killer was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences, records show.
“He ended up dying where he loved — home,” Wright said about Morton.
Police released a sketch of the shooter about a month after the killing but no arrests have been made.
Investigators ask anyone with information to contact Boynton Beach Police detective William Muhleisen at 561-742-6138, detective Midian Diaz at 561-742-6113 or Crime Stoppers of Palm Beach County, anonymously, at 800-458-8477. Tips can also be submitted at bbpd.org or on the police department’s MyPD app.
Shot through wall of home
A hail of gunfire July 19 in West Palm Beach left a woman dead and her boyfriend wounded but whoever fired the fatal shots remains on the run.
The bullets pierced the walls of Tiffany Parchment’s home in the 700 block of Fifth Street. The 28-year-old died after being taken to a hospital and her boyfriend, Anthony Garrett, 38, stepped outside after the shooting, drenched in blood and was taken to St. Mary’s Medical Center.
He was later treated and released from the hospital.
Neighbor Ashley Anglin, 24, thought the bullets were meant for Garrett and that Parchment was caught in the crossfire.
Anglin remembered her neighbor for always trying to make sure she was in a good mood.
“There was a point where I had to smile when I got out of my car,” said Anglin, a 24-year-old nursing student. “She just made coming home a little better every day.”
Police detective Lori Colombino said detectives are seeking witnesses and that were no suspects in the shooting. She asked anyone with information about the shooting to call police at 561-822-1900.
Shot dead inside his home
Deputies are trying to find who shot and killed a man in his suburban Jupiter home.
A neighbor of Ronald Oliver Schwartz, 65, grew concerned July 19 and called deputies to check Schwartz’s home in the 9700 block of Mockingbird Trail.
Deputies arrived to find Schwartz inside, shot to death.
It’s a death investigators with the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office have labeled as suspicious, Sheriff’s spokeswoman Teri Barbera said.
Schwartz had a license to practice gynecology in Georgia, according to the Composite State Board of Medical Examiners records. No Florida medical license was found and it’s unclear if he was retired from practicing medicine.
Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 800-458-8477.
Killed on his retirement day
Boynton Beach police are still trying to track down who killed a liquor store clerk the night he expected to retire.
Ali Arezoumandifar, 79, of Boynton Beach, was shot and killed Nov. 22 as he worked at Liquor Market, the liquor store he owned.
He was expected to retire at the end of his shift, and his family was waiting at his Jupiter home with a celebratory dinner.
But about 8:10 p.m., a customer found Arezoumandifar on the floor behind a counter.
The only lead police announced after the shooting is that a woman, who was not identified, may have “significant information” leading police to the killer.
Family members have set up a GoFundMe account to help raise money for a reward for information leading to the arrest of the shooter, police said.
Police ask anyone with information on the killing to call police at 561-732-8116 or Crime Stoppers of Palm Beach County at 800-458-8477.