Cold case murders in Palm Beach County: 10 homicides where the killer hasn't been found
For decades, their cases have gone unsolved.
In some instances, Palm Beach County's cold-case victims have disappeared without a trace. In others, victims were killed with their attackers never being found.
State and local law enforcement agencies have vowed to continue the search for their killers and to locate the missing, with the state Attorney General's office announcing in February the formation of the Florida Cold Case Investigations Unit.
Here are some cold cases in Palm Beach County that have recently been spotlighted by law enforcement officials. Anyone with information about them can call Crime Stoppers of Palm Beach County at 1-800-458-TIPS (8477).
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Susan Poole, remains found in 1974
Susan Poole went missing shortly before Christmas in 1972. Her remains were found nearly two years later in a thicket of mangroves near North Palm Beach. She was 15 years old at the time of her disappearance.
DNA technology confirmed the Broward County teen's identity in June 2022. Palm Beach County sheriff's Investigators said she may have been a victim of the suspected serial killer Gerard Schaefer, a one-time Martin County Sheriff’s Office deputy who was convicted in the 1973 murders of two teens in St. Lucie County.
Schaefer, who was suspected in dozens of other murders, died in 1995 after being stabbed by a fellow prison inmate.
Douglas Streeter, remains found in 1976
Douglas Streeter disappeared in 1976 while visiting Florida from Ohio with friends. His remains were found in October of that year off County Road 827, at the end of a road near the former Talisman Farm cane field between Belle Glade and South Bay.
His identity was confirmed in 2023 through the use of forensic genealogy. He was 29 at the time of his death, investigators said.
Terry Ketron, remains found in 1985
A group of children discovered Terry Ketron’s remains in a shallow grave near Greenacres. Investigators say the children spotted his skull in a wooded area near Okeeheelee Park. Authorities identified him in December 2023, using DNA technology.
Palm Beach County sheriff's deputies believe Ketron traveled to South Florida from Kentucky in the early 1980s with a woman named Connie or Bonnie, her last name unknown. Ketron told his family he was having problems with the woman and her relatives, then was never heard from again.
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Pati Lisa Rust, remains found in 1987
For more than than 30 years, the identity of a woman whose remains were found by a passerby northwest of Acreage Community Park was unknown.
In February, Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office cold-case investigators identified the woman as Pati Lisa Rust, citing genetic genealogy testing. Rust's skeletal remains were found Dec. 20, 1997, by a person walking a dog. Investigators believe that she lived in the area of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea in Broward County in the late 1980s.
Rachel Hurley, found dead in 1990
Police say someone abducted Rachel Hurley, 14, near Carlin Park in Jupiter and murdered her, leaving her partially clothed body in a wooded area.
She had gone on a boating outing with friends and was returning to meet her mother. Two men suspected to be involved were investigated but never charged.
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Tebble Garrett, remains found in 1993
Tebble Garrett went missing in September of 1988 at the age of 17. Her remains were found nearly five years later in western Palm Beach County.
Investigators believe she was traveling between South Carolina and Florida at the time of her disappearance.
Unidentified woman, remains found in 2005
Investigators say the body of a woman was found in the South Bay are, near the Palm Beach and Broward County border. Authorities have described the case as "The Blue Bin Murder," based on how the body was discovered.
A cyclist who stopped to camp overnight near U.S. 27 found a blue Rubbermaid bin containing the woman’s decomposed body. Investigators believe the woman was elderly in age and DNA extracted from her hair suggested she could have been from Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina or North Macedonia.
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Cynthia Moffett, died March 23, 2006
Cynthia Moffett was killed during a robbery as she was closing the pro shop at the now-closed Forest Oaks Golf Club near Greenacres. She was 52 years old, a Michigan native living in suburban Boca Raton and active in several community groups.
Investigators said one or more persons fled from the pro shop with $300 in wrapped coins after the murder.
Randi Gorenberg, died March 23, 2007
Someone killed Randi Gorenberg following a shopping trip to Town Center at Boca Raton. Her body was dumped in the parking lot of the South County Civic Center west of Delray Beach, about 5 miles northwest of the mall.
A witness described hearing gunfire, then seeing a woman pushed out of the passenger side of a black Mercedes-Benz SUV. The SUV, later identified as belonging to Gorenberg, was found that afternoon in the parking lot of Home Depot near Atlantic Avenue and Jog Road.
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Nancy and Joey Bochicchio, died Dec. 12, 2007
Nancy Bochicchio, 47, and her 7-year-old daughter, Joey, were found shot in an SUV idling in the parking of the Town Center at Boca Raton mall. The mother and daughter were found bound with plastic ties and handcuffs.
Detectives discovered that the Bochicchios had been abducted, taken to an ATM and forced to withdraw $500. The murders occurred months after Randi Gorenberg was abducted from the same mall.
Boca Raton police and the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office formed a task force to investigate whether there was a link between the two crimes. The task force was disbanded after investigators found no evidence to link the cases.
Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at [email protected] and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Cold case murders in Palm Beach County: 10 homicides without arrests