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Police: Sarasota Woman Followed Ex To Iowa, Killed Him

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Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: July 11, 2008

DAVENPORT, IOWA - Police have arrested a woman from Sarasota they say followed her ex-husband across the country as he worked for a traveling circus and fatally stabbed him at an Iowa mall.

Debi Joy Droguett was charged Thursday with first-degree murder and willful injury in the death of 52-year-old Mauricio Droguett.

He was walking into NorthPark Mall about 7:30 a.m. Thursday when he was stabbed more than 10 times, Davenport Police Department Capt. David Struckman said.

Police say Mauricio Droguett worked as an accountant for a traveling circus that set up on the north side of the mall.

Debi Droguett parked on the south side of the mall and walked to where her ex-husband entered, police said.

"She knew his routine," Struckman said.

One of Mauricio Droguett's co-workers was walking with him and subdued the attacker until police arrived, police said.

The co-worker had minor cuts on his hands.

Debi Droguett had a knife and a hammer, Struckman said.

It was the second time she attacked her ex-husband, according to law enforcement reports.

Ten days earlier, police in Eaton, Ohio, arrested her on charges of domestic battery and carrying a concealed weapon after finding her with a hammer and two knives in a fairgrounds parking lot.

Mauricio Droguett told the Ohio officers that she called him to say she wanted to pay him some of the money she owed him.

When he went out to the parking lot to meet her, she got out of the car with a hammer and tried to hit him in the face, a police report states.

Mauricio Droguett was able to take the hammer from her, but she pulled out a knife and chased him to the fairgrounds office, where he locked himself inside and called police.

The officers found her walking around the campers near the circus tents.

Officers said Debi Droguett told them she was upset about him seeing another woman, police said.

Mauricio Droguett had obtained restraining orders against his ex-wife in three states, Struckman said.

A childhood friend and co-worker from Sarasota, Harry Dubsky, said the couple had an off-and-on relationship and have an adult daughter.

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