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Killers At Large A Year After Elderly Couple's Slaying

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By KYLE MARTIN, Hernando Today

Published: October 30, 2007

MASARYKTOWN - It was a year ago along the border of Hernando and Pasco counties when two people were stabbed to death in their home.

Although authorities don't know who did it, they're still working on it.

Sunday marked the anniversary of the deaths of Patrick and Evelyn DePalma, 84 and 79.

On that night last year, a Saturday, the DePalmas attended Mass at St. Mary's Catholic Church. They stopped at a store on the way home.

A family friend knocked on their door the next afternoon, then phoned the Hernando County Sheriff's Office when no one answered.

During the intervening 22 hours, the DePalmas were killed.

A deputy found their bodies.

Soon after, the narrow, weed-choked portion of Korbus Road where the DePalmas lived was clogged with detectives and forensics crews.

The details they released were sketchy.

Investigators used words such as 'violent death' to describe the stabbing. They said the couple's sport utility vehicle was driven but abandoned on a driveway on the property that led to County Line Road.

Items were stolen from the home: a new vacuum cleaner and a portable stereo. A motive remains elusive, though. Whether it was a random crime of opportunity or a planned homicide has yet to be determined, said Capt. Michael Mauer, commander of the Hernando County Sheriff's Office criminal investigation division.

On Friday, Mauer expressed confidence the case would be solved, but acknowledged progress was slow.

No new evidence. No suspects. No leads.

So investigators continue to work with what they do have. They look at the clues from a different angle and confer with detectives in other agencies.

The DePalmas' slaying has been entered into the FBI's Violent Criminal Apprehension Program, which charts crimes across the nation.

Any similar attacks will be matched with Hernando County's case.

The usual tests have been run on the evidence by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the FBI, so investigators have sent it to a private lab for more unconventional tests.

'The sheriff always encourages us to think outside the box,' Lt. Kevin Morrison said.

Although a year has passed, Mauer was quick to emphasize this case will not be sealed and tucked away.

It's personal.

The detectives spent 10 days poring over the intense scene. There were pictures on the walls of treasured memories, grandchildren.

They have spent time reconstructing the couple's last days alive and watched them on surveillance cameras walking into stores.

Dipping into a life like that always brings a degree of attachment, Sgt. Billy Beetz said.

When Deputy Donna Black, the sheriff's spokeswoman, approached the investigating team about an article on the anniversary, they seemed surprised the milestone was already upon them.

To them 'it's just another day to work on the case,' she said. The investigators don't consider the timeframe, just the task at hand. 'That's what impressed me.'

Asked at what point this murder would labeled a 'cold case,' Mauer said the sheriff's office tends to shy away from that term because it's mostly irrelevant.

Their philosophy is that every case will be solved one day, including the high-profile mysteries like the death of 12-year-old Jennifer Odom of Pasco County in 1993. Advances in science will see to that, Mauer, captain of the sheriff's office criminal investigation division, said.

The captain has this message for the DePalmas' killer: 'Don't get too confident, because we're going to find you.'

Patrick DePalma Jr. continues to hold out hope authorities will capture his parents' killer. But his optimism slowing is fading.

After a year, the ache of his loss still throbs. 'It's something we'll never really get over,' he said.

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