The home where a West Park woman was found murdered Monday had been the scene of bloodshed before.
One day after Henriette Lubin was found slain in her West Park home, neighbors wonder if her house could be evil.
The neighbors were jolted from their living rooms shortly after 10 p.m. Monday by the sound of screams coming from outside Lubin's cream-colored home at 3811 SW 31st Ct. in South Broward.
Daniel Corugedo, who lives two doors down, said he peeked outside his living room window to see half a dozen patrol cars, lights flashing.
And his mind flashed back to another Monday night seven years ago:
On that balmy evening, May 4, 1999, the bloody bodies of John and Mary Holzknecht, ages 78 and 77, were discovered in the same house.
The couple's throats had been slashed by their 17-year-old neighbor, who later told investigators he had been ``in a killing mood.''
And even that wasn't the first time something horrific happened inside the house on Southwest 31st Court.
Twenty-four years before the couple were murdered, their son committed suicide in the house.
Apparently unaware of or undeterred by the house's bad karma, Lubin, a former Miami-Dade crossing guard, had bought the house in June 2005. She planned to hold her daughter's wedding shower in the house this Saturday.
Now residents who live in this quaint, blue-collar Lake Forest neighborhood -- many of whom lived here at the time of the last murders -- are spooked.
`THE HOUSE IS BAD'
''People are saying the house is bad, the atmosphere in the house is wrong somehow,'' Corugedo said. ``I know it's nuts, but they don't know how else to explain what's happened in that house.''
Holzknecht family members are also bewildered.
''I can't believe that it would happen again,'' said the couple's former daughter-in-law, Robin Holzknecht, who lives in Miami-Dade. ``It's very bizarre. It sounds exactly like what happened to my in-laws.''
Broward Sheriff's office investigators wouldn't say how Lubin, 57, died, but neighbors said they didn't hear anything that sounded like gunshots -- only the screams of Lubin's 25-year-old daughter, Martide, who found the body.
Lubin's other daughter, Mireille Lubin, 23, planned to have her wedding shower at the house this Saturday, neighbors said Tuesday night. Her wedding is set for June 3.
BSO would not say if the her killer stole anything from the home. The killer did, however, take off with Lubin's beige 1995 Nissan Maxima. As Martide drove onto Southwest 31st Court, she passed her mother's car driving away, neighbors said.
Neighbors described Lubin as a hard-working, church-going woman whom they said was a cafeteria worker with Broward County schools.
Many of the people who live in the neighborhood are related to Joseph Cotto, who is serving life in prison for killing the Holzknechts.
Cotto's older brother, Juan, 25, said he was close to Lubin, calling her murder ``heart-breaking.''
'She called me `baby' and I called her 'mom,' '' he said. ``I can't think of anyone who would want to hurt her.''
He declined to talk about the Holzknechts' murder, saying his brother, whom he misses, ''wasn't well'' at the time of the killings.
The night Joseph Cotto was arrested for stabbing the two neighbors to death, detectives said he offered a chilling explanation for the crime:
A KILLING MOOD
''I was in a killing mood,'' the then-17-year-old allegedly told police, before giving a detailed account of how he broke into the Holzknechts' home, then stood over them as they slept before slashing their throats and stabbing them.
Cotto later splashed cologne on his hands to cover the stench of blood, then took four credit cards and several $2 bills from John Holzknecht's wallet and drove to South Beach in the couple's 1998 Ford Escort, according to police.
Cotto pleaded guilty to the murders and was sentenced to two life in prison terms. Broward Circuit Judge Stanton Kaplan also imposed a life sentence for armed burglary and a five-year sentence for grand theft to be served at the same time.
Years before the Holzknechts' murder, their son, Stephen, committed suicide in the home in April of 1975. The 30-year-old suffered from mental illness, family members said. After the murders, the family sold the home to a real estate company.
Robin Holzknecht did not know if the company was aware that two people had been murdered in the home.
Nordan Beckford, 26, who lives next door, said when she moved in four years ago neighbors quickly told her of the grisly murders. At the time, Beckford wasn't concerned.
Now she is.
''There is something very peculiar about that house,'' Beckford said. ``I think it is haunted. They need to tear it down.''
Source: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/ne ... 540948.htm
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
