GUILTY FL - AnnaMarie Cruz Randazzo, 17, Cape Coral, 21 July 2005

Cape Coral teen missing
NBC2 News
Posted on: Sunday, July 24, 2005
— A Cape Coral teenager is missing and the circumstances of her disappearance have her family fearing for her safety.
Anna Marie Cruz Randazzo was last seen after dropping off some friends at their home late Thursday night.
Police found her car empty and burning on the banks of a canal in Cape Coral. Anna Marie’s father says his daughter never misses a curfew and always calls if she if going to be late.

“She's beautiful and she's smart. And she has a wonderful future ahead of her, I just want her here, that's all,” said Anna’s mother.

Anna is 17 years old, 4 feet, 11 inches tall, and weighs 100 pounds. She was last seen wearing a white shirt and blue jeans. If you have any information, you are asked to call the Cape Coral police.

How sad. Is this all the news they have on this little girl? The burning car does not sound good at all.

Picture of Annamarie at link:

http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050724/NEWS01/507240455/1075

She and her friends went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. After she dropped them off, she apparently went to go see some other friends of hers. Her dad said, "I personally went out there with a couple of my daughter's friends who brought us to these people that my daughter was going to see. One of the guys jumped me. I had to fight my way out." He says he and Annamarie's friends have also gotten threatening phone calls.

Poor girl! I hope she is okay.

Missing teen's family offers $10,000 reward

By CHARLES RUNNELLS


INFORMATION• Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Annamarie Cruz Randazzo can call Det. Bennett Walker of the Cape Coral Police at 574-3223.
• To claim the $10,000 reward, call the Randazzo family at 849-5146, 849-0138 or 540-0729.
• Annamarie Cruz Randazzo, 17, stands 4 feet, 11 inches tall and weighs about 100 pounds. She is of Filipino descent and has black hair, brown eyes and dark complexion.
• She was last seen wearing blue jeans and either a white shirt or a black bandanna tied as a shirt (the police and family members have differing descriptions). She also wore a silver charm bracelet and a silver necklace with a pendant shaped like the letter "A
The family of a missing Cape Coral teenager is offering a $10,000 reward for any tip that gets the girl home safely.

The Randazzo family has hung hundreds of reward posters in businesses and public places throughout Lee County, and even some in Charlotte County, said father John Randazzo.

SEE LINK FOR REMAINDER OF ARTICLE - EDITED DUE TO COPYRIGHT VIOLATIONS
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050726/NEWS01/507260452/1003/NEWS0101

Police divers searched a Cape Coral canal Tuesday for evidence of a missing teenager, but they didn't find any new clues, a police spokesman said.

Meanwhile, investigators are perplexed by a can of lighter fluid and a shirt found Monday near the girl's burned car, police spokesman Angelo Bitsis said.

The items weren't there Saturday when investigators searched the area around the car, Bitsis said. "We don't know if it has anything to do with the case."

http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050727/NEWS0101/507270405/1003

I wonder why AnnaMarie headed out to visit a guy after she dropped her girlfriend off. She dropped the girlfriend off at 12:30 and she had to be home by 1:00. She wouldn't have had time to drive somewhere...visit..and get back home on time. That sounds strange for a girl who was always home on time.

The conflict in tops is also strange. I wonder if she wore a white blouse out of her house and then changed later into the black bandanna? How do you wear a bandanna as a blouse anyway? What would hold the top up or am I just getting old??!!

I hope this girl is just scared to go home because she didn't go home that night. Why burn her car though and why the violence on the part of the man who started a fight with AnnaMarie's dad? And the threats to dad and the girlfriends? I'm sure the cops are on top of the people at the place where it was thought AnnaMarie was going.

Hopefully this story will have a happy ending and it is just a kid who got off track and then was afraid to go back home and face the music. That's my wish anyway.

Bobbisangel said:

I wonder why AnnaMarie headed out to visit a guy after she dropped her girlfriend off. She dropped the girlfriend off at 12:30 and she had to be home by 1:00. She wouldn't have had time to drive somewhere...visit..and get back home on time. That sounds strange for a girl who was always home on time.

The conflict in tops is also strange. I wonder if she wore a white blouse out of her house and then changed later into the black bandanna? How do you wear a bandanna as a blouse anyway? What would hold the top up or am I just getting old??!!

.

Click to expand...

When I was much younger I can remember driving by the current "love" interest's home- just to see if he was home, was anyone else there, would I get a casual chance to talk with him, etc.

I think that "bandana" tops are actually pretty popular to the kids right now. I have read elsewhere about them. She may have been wearing the white shirt to the Dr's and taken the "bandana" top to wear to see if the guy was home, as she may have felt it was sexier or cooler.

I am wondering what the deal is that the lighter fluid and shirt showed up at the scene after police got there.

Differing stories- News vs. NCMEC

ANNAMARIE CRUZ RANDAZZO
Case Type: Lost, Injured, Missing
DOB: Mar 4, 1988 Sex: Female
Missing Date: Jul 22, 2005 Race: Asian
Age Now: 17 Height: 4'11" (150 cm)
Missing City: CAPE CORAL Weight: 100 lbs (45 kg)
Missing State : FL Hair Color: Brown
Missing Country: United States Eye Color: Brown
Case Number: NCMC1019482
Circumstances: Both photos shown are of Annamarie. She was last seen during the early morning hours of July 22, 2005 when she dropped some friends off at their homes. Annamarie failed to return home. Her vehicle was later found abandoned and burned near a canal bank in Cape Coral, Florida but her whereabouts remain unknown.
http://www.missingkids.com/missingk...en_US&orgPrefix=NCMC&caseNum=1019482&seqNum=1


Police seek help in case of missing Cape teen
By FROM STAFF REPORTS
Published by news-press.com on July 29, 2005

ANNAMARIE CRUZ RANDAZZO

Police want people throughout Lee County to be on the lookout for a missing Cape Coral teenager.

Anyone seeing Annamarie Cruz Randazzo, 17, should call 911, Cape Coral Police Chief Dan Alexander said at a news conference Friday evening.

Randazzo disappeared in the early morning hours of July 22 after seeing a movie at the Marquee Cinemas at Coralwood Shopping Center. Her family thinks she might have gone to see friends in Lehigh Acres.

"If anyone sees Annamarie Cruz they should call 911 and follow her," Police Sgt. John Mahshie said. "People should use common sense."

If Randazzo is accompanied by someone such as a man, people should maintain a respectable distance, Mahshie said.

Randazzo is 4 foot 11 inches tells and weighs 100 pounds. She is of Filipino descent and has black hair, brown eyes and a dark complexion.

She was last seen wearing blue jeans and either a white shirt or a black bandanna tied as a shirt (the police and family members have differing descriptions). She also wore a silver charm bracelet and a silver necklace with a pendant shaped like the letter "A."

I wish there was more information or updates on this case, if a car was found on fire you'd think it would get more coverage...I hope she's ok!!

Anyone here live in the same area as AnnaMarie? Seems like a lot of the time that is the only way we can find out anything. I would like to know how this case is going too.

Searchers hunt for missing Cape Coral honor student
The Associated Press

August 03. 2005

Volunteers are searching for a 17-year-old honor student whose car was found torched near her home the day after she disappeared nearly two weeks ago.

Annamarie Cruz Randazzo went missing July 21 after dropping off two friends who had gone with her to a movie at a Cape Coral theater, said the girl's father, John Randazzo. She didn't come home, and her burned-out 1990 Ford Mustang was found the next day.

Her father said he last talked to her when she called home on her cell phone at 11:15 that night.

"There is no way she would go one day without talking to me," John Randazzo told The News-Press of Fort Myers.

Dogs were shipped in from out of state to assist searchers who were combing the area where Annamarie may have gone to visit a male friend the night she disappeared. However, her family doesn't have any confirmation that she went to see a boyfriend or anyone else after dropping off her friends.

Cape Coral police spokesman Angelo Bitsis said the department has an officer assigned to the volunteer searchers in case they uncover any potential evidence.

Bitsis said a Lehigh man has been questioned and many of Annamarie's friends have been given lie-detector tests.

"We still have no evidence of a crime being committed," he said. "We don't have any hard evidence that she is alive or not alive. There are just a lot of unknowns."

Annamarie was a straight-A student and rising senior at Mariner High School, her family said.

I live in Naples which is south of Cape Coral and have heard nothing about this!!!!!!

There are two threads on this missing girl. They probably should be merged. I hope they find Annamarie soon and in good health.

August 3, 2005
Today, her face will appear on the national Fox News channel during a segment slated to begin at 10:30 a.m.

She had less than $110 and no credit or debit cards when she disappeared.

And she loved her red and black 1990 Ford Mustang.

"She saved all her money and spent a lot of money on repairs to that car," cousin Elizabeth Justesen said.

Authorities have checked into several sightings.

One of the most promising - a videotape of a girl the family thinks could be Annamarie at a Lehigh Acres convenience store just before her car was discovered on July 22 - has been sent to the FBI for enhancement.
The dogs spent Monday and Tuesday searching undisclosed locations in and around Lehigh, where Annamarie might have gone to visit a male friend the night of her disappearance.

But there again, the family has more questions than answers - and John Randazzo has been assaulted and threatened when he tried to ask.

"There is some reason to believe some of these kids are gang-related or drug-related," said Justesen, 30, a law student in town from New York to help with the search.

"John was jumped by some of these kids who were trying to evade his questions - they tried to beat him up," she said. "Unfortunately, you don't learn who your boyfriend's friends are, or your friend's friends are, right away."

Nor does the family have any conformation that Annamarie went to Lehigh to see a new boyfriend or anyone else - she had less than an hour between dropping her girlfriends off in Cape Coral and her 1 a.m. curfew.

"She wouldn't have gone out to Lehigh without calling," Justesen said. "She wouldn't have done it."
http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we...heme=gannett&s_site=news-press&p_product=FMNB

http://www.theconservativevoice.com/ap/article.html?mi=D8BQNMEO0&apc=9001
Body of Missing Florida Honor Student Found Burned in Refrigerator; Two Confess, Police Say
Saturday, August 06, 2005 11:08:32 PM

Campers discovered the burned body of a missing 17-year-old honor student in an abandoned refrigerator Saturday, and authorities said a teenage acquaintance and another man had confessed to killing her.

Annamarie Cruz Randazzo was last seen alive on July 21 when she dropped off two friends after a night at the movies.

Her car was later found torched in a field, but it wasn't until Saturday that her body was found in a wooded area near Lehigh Acres. Detectives were waiting for a medical examiner's report to determine how she died, said Cape Coral police spokesman Angelo Bitsis.

Joshua Henninger, a 16-year-old acquaintance of Randazzo's, and Jeremy Chapman, 23, were each charged with second-degree murder and kidnapping Saturday.

According to police, Randazzo went to Henninger's house after she dropped off her friends that night. There was an altercation, and one of the suspects struck her, police said.

The pair tied Randazzo up, put her in her car and drove to an unknown location, where she was killed, police said. The two then drove her to the wooded area where her body was set ablaze in the abandoned refrigerator, police said.

It wasn't immediately clear if either man had an attorney who could comment. They were being booked late Saturday at the Cape Coral jail, Bitsis said.

So sad. So young. So senseless.
I wonder about what the argument was about? Another boyfriend. So tragic.

Detectives were waiting for a medical examiner's report to learn how she was killed, said Cape Coral police spokesman Angelo Bitsis.

Joshua Henninger, 16, of Cape Coral, and Jeremy Chapman, 23, were each charged with second-degree murder and kidnapping. Additional charges were pending.

Detectives said both suspects confessed.

Police said Henninger was an acquaintance of the girl and she went to his house after dropping off her friends. There was an altercation and one of the suspects struck Randazzo, police said.

The pair tied Randazzo up, put her in her car and drove to an unknown location, where she was killed, police said.

Then the suspects drove her to a wooded area in Lehigh Acres where her body was set ablaze, police said. They drove her car to a vacant field and also set it on fire, police said.
http://www.sun-herald.com/NewsArchive2/080705/tp4ch21.htm?date=080705&story=tp4ch21.htm

One of two men charged with the murder of Annamarie Randazzo told police during questioning that he killed his roommate about two weeks ago.

Jeremy Chapman admitted to police that approximately two weeks ago, he killed his roommate while they were living together at 222 Northwest 28th Court.

Chapman, 23, of Cape Coral, is charged along with Joshua Henninger, 16, of 3010 S.E. 6th Ave., Cape Coral, with second-degree murder and kidnapping in the death of Randazzo. Her charred body was found Saturday in a refrigerator in Lehigh Acres.

Police, in a statement this morning, gave this account of what Chapman told them about the other alleged murder:
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050807/NEWS01/50807002/1075

I don't see how they can charge them with 2nd degree murder. IMO, it should be 1st degree murder.

They had a chance to change their mind and not kill her. They tied her up and drove her to where they eventually ended her life. IMO, that's when they had a chance to change their mind. They didn't. It's premeditated murder.

What a waste of a beautiful human life. Why?

JMHO
fran

The Randazzo family and her stepfamily went into mourning Saturday when campers found Annamarie Randazzo's 4-foot-11-inch, 100-pound body charred and stuffed inside an abandoned refrigerator in Lehigh Acres.

"The devastation is unimaginable to the family. We need time to deal with this," said Randazzo's stepfather, Jeff Walter. "We woke up to the nightmare of her being gone, and now this."

Neighbors of another Cape Coral resident, John Hardin, 66, didn't even know he had been killed. Neighbors said they had hardly ever seen Hardin.

"This is way too close to home," said Jason Millette, who recently moved to the Cape from Kentucky. "I have a wife and daughter and this happened next door.

"I know what they should do with those guys."

Millette lives down the block from 3010 S.E. 6th Ave., where police say Jeremy Chapman confessed to killing Hardin, his roommate.
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050808/NEWS01/508080396/1075