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Horseman's Daughter Pleads For Tips In Slaying

News Channel 8 photo by PAUL LAMISON

Kimberly Higgins makes a tearful plea for information on her father's death.

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By VALERIE KALFRIN and JEFF PATTERSON

The Tampa Tribune and News Channel 8

Published: November 7, 2008

Updated: 11/07/2008 04:17 pm

Related Links

• Who Was Lawrence Higgins?
• Mysterious Death

Lawrence Higgins

TAMPA - Kimberly Higgins last saw her father alive at her Oct. 4 wedding in Washington, D.C., four days before the horseman and philanthropist was killed in his Odessa home.

Lawrence Higgins, 61, told the wedding guests how when his daughter was small, he would pull her in a red wagon to see the ducks near their apartment.

"As he pulled me along, he only sang the same song to me, 'You Are My Sunshine,' and he told everyone at the wedding that I was his sunshine then, always had been and still was," she said Friday, her voice cracking with emotion. "I had hoped he might sing that song to his grandchildren one day, but he was murdered at his home only a few days later."

Kimberly Higgins shared that memory as part of an emotional appeal for leads in her father's death. Hillsborough County sheriff's detectives on Friday asked for the public's help in finding a pickup and an older-model sedan seen near the slain man's home at 11523 Trotting Down Drive.

Lawrence Higgins was a businessman associated with racetracks across the country, including Tampa Bay Downs. He owned Icarus Aircraft Inc., a company that used blimps as airborne billboards, as well as several horses. Public records show his 3,575-square-foot home and acreage have a market value of about $740,000.

Sheriff's Maj. Harold Winsett said on Friday that Higgins died during the daytime hours of Oct. 8 but declined to say how. A business associate found Higgins dead Oct. 10. The sheriff's office has said there was no evidence of a break-in or robbery.

Winsett described the vehicles as a champagne-colored pickup with dual wheels on the rear, tinted windows and an extended cab, and an orange, older-model (possibly early 1980s) Nissan or Datsun sedan with a loud muffler.

The investigation already has stretched across the state and country because of the many people Higgins knew, Winsett said.

Joe Waunsch of Ocala, who trained horses for Higgins, remembered speaking to Higgins by phone Oct. 8 about a horse sale. But when he tried to reach Higgins later that day, he got the answering machine.

"It wasn't like Larry not to return a call," Waunsch said Friday at Tampa Bay Downs.

Higgins often said he never gambled what he couldn't afford, but for all his wealth, he acted like "a regular guy," Waunsch said. "If you met him at a bar or something like that, you would think he's Joe the plumber."

Crime Stoppers is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. Tipsters can call 1-800-873-TIPS (8477) or the sheriff's office at (813) 247-8000.

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