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Missing Woman's Mom Wills Property To Police

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By JOYCE McKENZIE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 26, 2007

TEMPLE TERRACE - Doing their due diligence to solve cases is customary among those who have chosen police detective work as a profession.

Temple Terrace Detectives Michael Pridemore and Darrin Berberat thought they were doing just that in their search for missing Temple Terrace woman Sandra Prince, who has not been seen by neighbors since Dec. 30, 2005.

They've searched for clues at her Moffat Place home, identified blood found in the trunk of Prince's car as hers and released a surveillance video from area automated teller machines showing a masked man who was driving her car and withdrawing money from her bank account.

Through their investigative work, they identified the unmarried woman's lover and sole beneficiary of her estate, Earl Cranston Pippin III, as a "person of interest."

In the course of nearly two years, the detectives also developed a close association with Prince's mother, Dovie Moore Hamby of Boone, N.C., as they tried to gather information to solve the mystery of her only child's whereabouts.

It was Pridemore's goal to find Prince before her mother's death. Instead, he attended Hamby's funeral after she died March 11 at the age of 92.

Little did either detective know how much she appreciated their attentiveness to the case until last week, when they learned Hamby amended her will to make the Temple Terrace Police Department the beneficiary of property valued at more than $500,000. Her decision was based on her belief that her daughter would be found dead.

Police spokesman Michael Dunn said Hamby had a home in Boone valued at $310,000 and a couple of other properties in Dobson, N.C.

Public records, Dunn said, show Hamby and Prince have co-ownership in two of the three parcels. In the event Prince is declared legally dead after being missing five years, as state law allows, Pippin may be entitled to her half-ownership in the two properties.

City attorneys, at the direction of Temple Terrace City Council, will liquidate the properties when they become available. Calls to lawyer Linda Johnson in Boone, N.C., regarding the status of Hamby's estate were not returned.

"It was totally unexpected and the first time I've seen anything like this in my 38 years in law enforcement," Police Chief Tony Velong said. "I'm proud of the officers' work ethic and the relationship they developed with her mother. That's pretty typical of all the people in our department."

Velong said the department has spent more than $40,000 on the Prince case and still meets weekly to discuss it. In recent months, he said, there have been few leads.

Dunn also said the city is delighted to be on the receiving end of the willed property.

"It was Mrs. Hamby's wish, but unfortunately she never lived to see the story of her missing daughter come to fruition," he said.

Reporter Joyce McKenzie can be reached at (813) 865-4849 or jmckenzie@tampatrib.com.

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