Police say son murdered his dad, a former judge
James Scandirito Sr.’s body was found buried in an abandoned Boca Raton golf course last week.
BOCA RATON — James Scandirito Jr., loaded up at a grocery store and a home improvement center: duct tape, garbage bags, a mop and cleaning supplies, according to a report released Wednesday.
Boca Raton police allege it was part of a ghoulish do-it-yourself project: the murder of his father, former Michigan judge James Scandirito Sr. Police found the 74-year-old widower April 4, buried in an abandoned Boca Raton golf course.
While a report doesn’t specify a motive, it says “Skip” Scandirito was worth about $800,000, of which the sole beneficiary of much of that was his son.
James Jr., 49, who was picked up Monday, remains in a North Florida jail, awaiting return to Palm Beach County, where he’ll be charged with first-degree murder.
He said he and his father had golfed March 28 at the Southwinds Golf Course west of Boca Raton. That night the two shared rounds of tequila at James Sr.’s home in the 400 block of Northwest 72nd Street, east of Interstate 95 and north of Yamato Road in the city’s northern reaches. They’d toasted Theresa Scandirito, the judge’s wife of 49 years and James. Jr.’s mother, who died last year, because her birthday would be the following day, March 29.
James. Jr. told police he last saw
On April 3, police searched James Sr.’s home and found evidence of blood drops on several items in the garage, including a hand truck consistent with the one James Jr. bought. His father’s meds were sitting on the kitchen counter; a count of pills indicated it had been six days since the former judge had last taken any.
his father the afternoon of March 30.
At midday on March 31, Gary Goodin, a friend of James Sr., went to the home. He had a key and let himself in. He and the father and son planned to watch the Michigan-Loyola Chicago men’s Final Four basketball game at 6 p.m.
Good in said James Jr. arrived at 3 p.m. When the father hadn’t shown by tipoff, the other two tried his cellphone, but it went right to voice mail. Goodin went to sleep at the home and when he awoke April 1, James Sr. still hadn’t shown. He started calling area hospitals. Then he called police.
That day, police found James Jr.’s Ford Escape at Knowles Park in Delray Beach, about 2½ miles northeast of the former judge’s home. Police pulled surveillance-camera video that showed a similar vehicle entering the park the previous day.
Police did not find James Sr.’s cellphone, wallet or keys inside his Ford Escape. The phone never was found.
However, they did find on the passenger floorboard a receipt for a cash purchase made at a home improvement store at 6:06 a.m. March 29, for a hand truck and a gasoline can. Police called James Jr. and asked why his father would be at the store that early. The son said it wasn’t his dad and that he’d bought the items to use with a pressure washer he was bringing to his home in Fort Lauderdale.
James Jr. said he checked his father’s bank records and there was no activity. But records show someone used James Sr.’s debit card several times between March 28 and March 30.
Surveillance video shows the son, who wasn’t authorized, using the card at a grocery store to buy duct tape, garbage bags and cleaning supplies.
And financial records showed the son had several times tried, unsuccessfully, to pull $9,500 from a ben- efificiary account for which his father was the only person with authorized access. The son also took $1,400 out his own personal checking account, nearly emptying it.
And over several days, records would show, James Sr.’s cell phone moved between his home, his son’s apartment in Fort Lauderdale, and the Boca Raton golf course where the body was found.
On April 3, police searched James Sr.’s home and found evidence of blood drops on several items in the garage, including a hand truck consistent with the one James Jr. bought. His father’s meds were sitting on the kitchen counter; a count of pills indicated it had been six days since the former judge had last taken any.
Around this time, the report says, police tailed James Jr.’s 2012 Toyota Prius as he drove between Palm Beach and Broward counties.
He was seen arriving bet ween 3:30 a.m. and 5 a.m. April 4 at the Ocean Breeze golf course, not far from his father’s home. It has been closed for years and is being bought by the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Tax District.
Them an carried in a small bag and left with a suit case and wearing different clothes. He then was seen carrying a suitcase to a wooded area and throwing it in a dumpster. Police later recovered the suitcase and found bloody clothing and “the small of decomposing remains,” the report said.
Later that morning, police found James Sr.’s remains at the golf course, buried about 4 feet deep near where James Jr. was seen entering the course. A dive team searched the pond nearby and found a shovel about 20 yards from shore.
Police have not said how, when or where they believe James Jr. murdered his father.
The report said the son had replaced his license plate with one stolen in Fort Lauderdale. On Monday afternoon, Alachua County Sheriff’s deputies pulled him over on Interstate 75, about 10 miles north of Gainesville, because the windows of his Toyota Prius were especially dark. They saw the stolen plate, ran his ID and found the murder warrant from Palm Beach County.
Skip Scandirito had been a judge in the 1990s in Macomb County, Michigan, in suburban Detroit, but resigned in January 2000 after women accused him of offering leniency in traffic and criminal cases in return for sexual favors. Scandirito denied those allegations but later said his conduct “was wrong and inappropriate .” He moved to Florida with his wife and son and worked as an attorney for the Florida Department of Children and Families from June 2000 to 2003, when he was fired for undisclosed reasons. Reports indicate Michigan had revoked the former judge’s law license in July 2002 citing “predatory sexual misconduct.” Florida Bar records indicate he was disbarred here as well.