On August 7, 2007, at approximately 6:30 p.m., a valet attendant working at the booth in front of Saks Fifth Avenue called the Boca Raton Police Services Communications Center on 911 to report that a 30 year old female informed him that she was the victim of a carjacking at the Town Center Mall. The first Boca Raton Police patrol unit arrived within three minutes followed by dozens of other police officers. The victim gave us the following account:
According to the victim, she parked her SUV in the bottom floor of the Nordstrom's parking garage at Town Center Mall and took her two year old son shopping in various stores. When she returned to her vehicle, she placed her son in his seat and other items in the vehicle. When she entered the SUV to leave, she saw an unknown male in the back seat pointing a handgun at her son. She described the suspect as a White or Hispanic male, approximately 5'11" tall, 180 pounds. He wore sunglasses and a floppy hat. The suspect may have had a ponytail.
The suspect told her to go to an ATM where she withdrew $600. He then forced her to drive to a parking lot in the area of Glades Road and the Florida Turnpike in unincorporated Palm Beach County. While in the parking lot, the suspect used handcuffs and plastic ties to control the victim and he covered her eyes with sunglasses and goggles. Her hands, feet, and neck were bound to restrict her movement in the vehicle. She was able to see around the edges of the eye coverings to provide some information about locations and direction of travel. He drove north on the Turnpike for some time, exited in Delray Beach, and then drove back south again. The suspect returned the victim and her son unharmed in the Nordstrom's parking garage at Town Center Mall.
The victim was able to free herself, drove to the valet stand and called an acquaintance. She then asked an attendant to call the police. The victim reported that the suspect remained calm throughout the incident and tried to make her comfortable before he left.
The immediate response and investigation into this incident was exhaustive and included the following:
- No less than 28 officers (Patrol, K-9, Tactical, Traffic, etc.) were involved in the initial response and immediate follow up to this event.
- Fingerprints were lifted from the scene.
- Crime scene photographs were taken of all of the people and property related to the case.
- Over a dozen pieces of evidence (including DNA swabs) were collected and submitted to the local laboratory for processing immediately following the incident.
- The victim and other related individuals were interviewed or contacted at least 20 times.
- The victim was personally driven around our area by detectives in order to retrace her activities.
- A report was created and sent to Palm Beach and Broward agencies so that they may compare the information to other similar events.
- Bank officials were contacted for information.
- Video was analyzed for evidentiary value.
- Other cases were specifically reviewed by our department and other agencies.
- State agencies were contacted for information.
- The Town Center Mall was notified about the incident on the day of the event.
- Physical evidence (DNA and fingerprints) was obtained from the victims to eliminate them from possible material taken from the scene.
- From an investigative standpoint, three detectives, two CSI techs and at least one evidence custodian followed up on this case.
In addition to the above mentioned notifications, the Boca Raton Police Services Department generated a news release about the incident on August 8, 2007. The release stated that the victim reported an armed robbery at the Town Center Mall. It specifically included mention of a weapon and the particular location at the mall property. Citizens were asked to call the detective working the case if they had any information.
In November of 2007, the victim tried to complete a sketch, but she was unsuccessful. Immediately following the Bochicchio incident, investigators approached her again and she helped produce the widely distributed drawing in December 2007, which is included on this site.
While there is presently no physical or forensic evidence directly linking this case to any other incidents, there are enough similarities to lead Boca Raton investigators to believe this case is related to the Bochicchio investigation.