Isis Valdes Cruz, 40, was getting out of her car on Wednesday when she was approached by her estranged husband, Heriberto Garcia Ortega, 55, on 58th Court. They got into an argument and Heriberto slashed his wife's throat with a knife, then stabbed himself. Responding officers found Isis dead at the scene and Heriberto conscious but bleeding profusely. He later died at Jackson Memorial Hospital. More Florida Murder-Suicides Man Shoots Neighbor … [Read more...]
Shooting Victim Seeks Help At Subway, But Later Dies
John Roland, 49, died in surgery after a shooting in West Palm Beach. Police deputies were dispatched to a disturbance in the 4600 block of Myla Lane, but just before arriving at the scene, dispatch received a 911 call from a nearby Subway restaurant regarding a shooting victim entering the restaurant. Palm Beach County Fire Rescue transported the victim to a local hospital for treatment, but he died in surgery a little while later. More … [Read more...]
Neighborhood Blames ‘Squatters’ In Fatal Shooting
Neighbors claim a man’s death might not have happened last Tuesday if the city had listened to their cries for help with the rundown squatter home in the neighborhood. The house was an eyesore with an overgrown lawn and broken-in windows. Residents of the Northwood Hills Historic District say the house has been filled with squatters since the owner died a few months ago. Yet despite their many calls for help to police and city officials, the … [Read more...]
A Fort Lauderdale Southern Rocker Is Shot And Killed
Richard Pierce Jr., 57, a guitarist for the Southern rock band, Rambler, was shot several times in the 400 block of North Andrews Avenue early last Thursday morning. Pierce was approached by Stevens Jean, 29, who shot him several times and then fled before being charged with first-degree murder. Rambler opened for established Southern rock bands like BlackFoot and Molly Hatchet. Their albums have sold approximately 60,000 copies. Three Other … [Read more...]
Relatives Fear Facebook Posts Led To Murder
It took the rags to riches mom, Makeva Jenkins, just two years to work her way from homelessness to financial success. Late Wednesday evening, she reached out and wrote the following post on FaceBook: “I’m in awe of how far I’ve come … Fast forward to now: We overcame being homeless in 2013/2014 to reaching my six-figure mark in 2015…” Early Thursday morning at around 2 a.m.—barely two hours after that post—a masked man knocked on the front door … [Read more...]
A Palm Beach Murder From My True Crime Book, DADDY’S LITTLE SECRET
Rodney Clark, a fifty-year-old man from Jackson, Miss., is being tried in Palm Beach this week after being charged with first-degree murder in the 1987 death of Dana Fader. It will be the first death penalty case to be tried in the county since Florida got a new death penalty law in March. This is a Palm Beach murder from my true crime book, Daddy’s Little Secret: “Detective Venetucci was not just a dedicated detective, he was also the drummer … [Read more...]
Author Denise Wallace Discusses the Ups and Downs of Her “Tornado Writing Process”
Have you ever seen the speeded up blur of Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote's feet when they're running? Well, that's what the first draft of my book looks like. You don't get any transitions or segways while you're reading, because, frankly, I like to write all the fun parts first. That's just me. I live my life like that, too. You don't really get any notice about what time I'm going to show up or what kind of park in L.A. I'm going to drag you to … [Read more...]
Denise Wallace Reveals Her Discussion With the Prosecutor From Her Father’s Trial
Near the end of the trial in Daddy's Little Secret, I pulled the prosecutor, Marc Shiner, aside and confessed something about my father that I had never divulged to anyone. We were of opposing views from that point on. "Every little girl thinks her father's scary," he had told me, but I had not told him a story from when I had been a little girl--I had told him one from when I had been nineteen. Shiner had listened to me and assessed the … [Read more...]
Author Denise Wallace on the Power of Visualization In Accomplishing Your Goals
After a rough day at the picture car company when a film industry worker had threatened to bring a gas can and set the place on fire, I went home and thought to myself, "This can't be all there is to life." Working fifty hours a week at a place where they threw chairs and humiliated anyone who had figured out a way to get a job in Hollywood was hardly living the dream. It was actually more like the film, Swimming With the Sharks, starring Kevin … [Read more...]
Denise Wallace Discusses Her Efforts To Overcome Impatience When Writing
Without a doubt, I used to be one of the most impatient people on the planet. I'm serious; I really was. Just to give an example: If I had a dinner date with the president and got hungry on the way, I'd stop somewhere and grab a burger. It's ridiculous, I know. And though I had the discipline to burn the extra calories, I was well aware that this was not a virtue, especially if I wanted to be a writer. That's why when I wanted to … [Read more...]
