Was IK the Boca Raton Town Center Mall Killer??

In 2007, a killer preyed on shoppers at the Town Center Mall in Boca Raton, FL. A sketch based on a description by a woman who survived an attack bears a close resemblance to Israel Keyes. Though LE has not stated a connection between the Boca Raton murders and IK, it's not out of the realm of possibility.

March 23, 2007 -- Randi Gorenberg, a wife and mother, was carjacked in the mall parking lot at 1:00 in the afternoon. In 2009, a task force determined Gorenberg's murder was unrelated to the other attacks. The killing remains unsolved.

4 Years After, No Leads In Boca Mall Murder Case

March 23, 2011 5:48 PM
Four years ago, on March 23rd 2007, Randi Gorenberg was carjacked after leaving the Town Center Mall in Boca Raton just after 1 p.m. After being driven around for a time, Gorenberg was shot and then her body dumped out of her black 2007 Mercedes Benz GL450 SUV. She was left for dead in the parking lot of the South County Civic Center in Delray Beach, police said.

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Police release stills of suspects in Boca Town Center Mall murder

WSVN
Posted 09/28/08 at 6:55 am EDT Last Updated 09/29/08 at 6:55 am EDT
The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office is seeking the public's assistance with identifying the two suspects wanted for making several purchases using Randi Gorenberg's stolen credit card number in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

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Five years later: Boca mall murders remain unsolved

Sun Sentinel
December 12, 2012|By Ed Komenda
A special task force had been formed between Boca Raton police and the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, but it disbanded in 2009.

That's when investigators determined the Bochicchio murders were not connected to the killing of Randi Gorenberg, a 52-year-old woman last seen alive as she drove away from Town Center in her black Mercedes.

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August 7, 2007 - Jane Doe and her young son are kidnapped from the Town Center Mall parking lot by a man hiding in the back seat of her black Lincoln Navigator. JD and her son survive, and her description is used to make the sketch which resembles IK.

New Theories, Still No Suspect in Deadly Attacks

Jan. 28, 2009
By THOMAS BERMAN via 20/20
Jane Doe said it all began as a normal shopping trip. She drove to the mall with her young son and parked her black Lincoln Navigator near the Nordstrom department store.

After about two hours of shopping, she walked back to the vehicle and placed her son in his car seat in the rear passenger side. Then, she said, after putting some shopping bags in the front passenger seat and the stroller in the back, she walked around the SUV to the driver's seat.
Only then, she said, did she hear her son cry out for her. That's when, she said, she looked back into the car and was shocked to see a man seated there next to her boy holding a gun to his head.

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Police hunt Florida mall killer of 3

USA Today
Posted 3/22/2008 3:06 PM
"Take whatever you want, just don't hurt us," she tells him. The man orders the woman to drive to an ATM where she withdraws $600.
He then orders her into the back seat, where he binds her feet with plastic ties, secures her hands with cheap novelty handcuffs and fixes her neck to the headrest with another tie.
He's calm but threatens to kill her. She doesn't resist. They drive back to the mall where he puts a pair of blacked-out swim goggles over her eyes.
He asks if she's OK, even gets her a drink of water and her inhaler for asthma. Then he disappears.
The woman eventually frees herself.
"He took my license and told me if his picture was on the news that he would come after me ... and my son," she would later say. "I'm terrified."

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New sketch released in Boca Mall murder case

WFLX Lindsey Cohen, reporterPosted: Feb 15, 2008 8:53 AM CDT
Police released Thursday the newest rendition of the person they believe terrorized three women on three separate occasions at the Boca mall over the past year.

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December 12, 2007-The Bochicchio Case

Boca Raton Police Department

Shortly before midnight on December 12, 2007, a security guard at the Town Center Mall in Boca Raton, FL. noticed a black 2007 Chrysler Aspen with the engine running, parked in the lot on the south side of the Sears department store. He called the Boca Raton Police Services Communications Center on a non-emergency line and asked for an officer to check it out. Officers found Nancy Bochicchio (47 years of age) and her daughter, Joey Bochicchio-Hauser (7 years of age), in an SUV bound and shot.

On Wednesday, December 12, 2007, Nancy and Joey entered the Mall through Entrance #4 (between the Sears and Neiman Marcus department stores) at approximately 2:19 p.m. They left the building through the same doors at approximately 3:11 p.m. Boca Raton investigators believe that they were abducted and then taken to an ATM where they were forced to withdraw $500. A 911 call from Nancy’s cellular phone was received by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, but was disconnected before dispatchers could answer it. The operator tried to call back to Nancy’s phone, but received no response.

The suspect(s) used a variety of material to bind and control Joey and Nancy, including duct tape, plastic ties, handcuffs and goggles. Their hands, feet, and neck were bound to restrict their movement in the vehicle. When they were discovered, the bindings on Nancy’s wrists were broken. There is no direct evidence to suggest who broke the bonds or whether Nancy resisted the suspect(s) in any way. There is no information to determine whether Nancy and Joey were shot at the Town Center Mall or other location(s). There are no facts available regarding when the vehicle was returned to the Town Center Mall parking lot.

On December 14, 2007, a reward poster was released with a sketch (generated by the victim of the August 7th case at the Town Center Mall which is featured on this site) and a reward of $350,000 offered by the City of Boca Raton. Dozens of investigators worked tirelessly canvassing various locations, scrutinizing hours of surveillance video, processing and evaluating evidence, and following up on leads.

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Boca Raton investigators are still pursuing hundreds of leads and continue to work with law enforcement partners from around the region and throughout the country. A task force was formed on January 31st, 2007 to investigate recent high profile cases including the murder of Randi Gorenberg and the Bochicchio murders. The task force consists of detectives from the Boca Raton Police Services Department and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. The task force provides an opportunity to improve communication and coordination into solving these cases.

America’s Most Wanted profiled this case three times on their program, the most recent being February 16, 2008. For this episode, AMW commissioned forensic artist John McMahon to enhance the original sketch, which was provided by the August 7th victim. The sketch, in addition to the original sketch, is included on this site. The local media outlets continue to do a thorough job of ensuring extensive coverage.

While there is presently no physical or forensic evidence directly linking this case to any other investigations, there are enough similarities to lead Boca Raton investigators to believe this case is related to the August 7, 2007 Town Center Mall Carjacking incident (see “Other Cases” on this site).

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More links:

http://www.today.com/id/24920708/ns/today-today_news/t/terror-mall/#.Ui-FDz_ivAy

NOTE on the photoView attachment 29445

Me and some friends have been discussing the Case that was posted about the
Mall Murders...so much so that the sketch was put beside I. Keyes booking photo.....I feel there is a great possiblity...What do you all think???
Someone said the mouth was off.....He was being BOOKED...so he was not happy when he was caught according to LE....I'm assuming he was very mad when they booked him..I feel he was making some type of mad face and maybe had his lipss drawed or puckered as we say

Hope this helps...and this case has already been reported to the
Sheriff's office there

digndoodle said:

NOTE on the photoView attachment 29445

Me and some friends have been discussing the Case that was posted about the
Mall Murders...so much so that the sketch was put beside I. Keyes booking photo.....I feel there is a great possiblity...What do you all think???
Someone said the mouth was off.....He was being BOOKED...so he was not happy when he was caught according to LE....I'm assuming he was very mad when they booked him..I feel he was making some type of mad face and maybe had his lipss drawed or puckered as we say

Hope this helps...and this case has already been reported to the
Sheriff's office there

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The Mall Murders totally fits with what we know about IK.

This picture, presumably done by the woman who was abducted by him, but, her life spared, is to a T.

WOW

Has anyone submitted these possible connections/tips to the FBI?

Wanting2Help said:

Has anyone submitted these possible connections/tips to the FBI?

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Good question

Wanting2Help said:

Has anyone submitted these possible connections/tips to the FBI?

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I know they were gave to the Sheriff directly in Boca...and they have been called into one of the major crime shows....but do you all feel enough that this is Keyes??....I don't care to call them, but I need re-assurance so they won't think I'm a nut job...LOL

digndoodle said:

I know they were gave to the Sheriff directly in Boca...and they have been called into one of the major crime shows....but do you all feel enough that this is Keyes??....I don't care to call them, but I need re-assurance so they won't think I'm a nut job...LOL

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I think with tying it in to the other cases we have discussed recently it is a definite possibility. I wouldn't rely on the Sherrif in Boca to make the connection with the other cases or to do anything with the info other than solve the local case. (I have nothing against the Sheriff just with budgets cuts and such...) Go to the FBI they are the ones requesting tips.

Wanting2Help said:

I think with tying it in to the other cases we have discussed recently it is a definite possibility. I wouldn't rely on the Sherrif in Boca to make the connection with the other cases or to do anything with the info other than solve the local case. (I have nothing against the Sheriff just with budgets cuts and such...) Go to the FBI they are the ones requesting tips.

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OK....took your advice....contacted the FBI last evening, was able to send links of the photo's...sent the one with them side by side..also some different ones of Keyes so they could see at one time he wore long hair, side view and some various clothes he was in at different times...also told them in all known cases so far ZIP TIES seem to be just one of his things for securing victims and much more.....ALSO....Sent this to Crime-Stoppers...I did get a confirmation e-mail they had received it...and gave me a case number if I had more to add, but always use this code and they do the same in contacting anyone back...I PRAY this will help...I just feel if they would take the photo to Jane Doe...she could identify him very quickly...probably an image she will go to her grave remembering
So I did all I know to do at this point....Surely they will look at this and get some info. back to us or as I said most of all I want Jane Doe to see the side by side photo and she what she feels

http://www.alaskapublic.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IMG_2059.jpg


I was looking at the map closely.....New places that stood out to me was on 01-28-08 he flew from Anchorage to Mobile Alabama...rented a car with 691 miles on it and he left Mobile on 02-06-08 and flew to Seattle Washington and on the same day 02-06-08 in Seattle he rented another car and it had 1,152 miles when returned and from there he went back to Anchorage and arrived on 02-15-08........That's a LOT of traveling and driving in this small time period....and while in Mobile they have circled where he might have possibly driven and it was Louisiana, Mississippi and places in Alabama......Would be good places to check for bank robberies and missing people

Then on 12-11-08 he flew from Anchorage to Cancun Mexico..rented a car there but mileage is unknown...and stayed until 12-25-08

Then in 2009 he flew from Anchorage to Orlando Florida on 12-17-09 and left on 12-29-09 with no known vehicle

I feel just in these 3 given places we need to check for possible bank robberies and missing people during these times. almost certain Keyes was up to no good on each trip he is known to take

SheWhoMustNotBeNamed said:

Someone posted this comparrison in the Israel Keyes thread.

What do you think?!?

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The above sketch was giving out by JANE DOE in Boca Raton Florida....I had this posted on Keyes site quiet awhile back and Administration moved it to the ladies site, but wanted to show that there are other sketches out there
I feel 199.9% this is Keyes, don't exactly line up with the timeline but I am holding my breath until the final known victims are released from FBI
NOTE***** If you want to read about this case...my 1st 2 links listed below gives the total story and to this day Jane Doe has never released her name nor her sons......I know Keyes said he picked remote places...but I feel maybe in his early crimes he was not this way and perhaps this one spree changed his MO to remote places....When he let Jane Doe go, he got her billfold and told her to tell the Police he was short and black and if she ever linked him to the crime he would come back and kill her, but I THANK GOD each day she was brave enough to work with LE and give such a perfect sketch, they said she wanted everything to perfection, even to the skin tone of this person and by golly I think she hit the nail on the head!!!..........On the last released timeline they linked him to Orlando Florida in 2009, I just wonder if he could have been returning to florida to kill Jane Doe as he had promised he would do????....I feel it is a great possibility, He knew if he returned after this sketch was released, he would be caught..I feel it is just a carbon copy of him....so as we now know, he probably sat for a few years and planned and planned on how to finish her off...I'm sure he was very upset with her for giving out such a detailed sketch.....Interested to know what you all think of the 2 photo's beside each other???

Wow, dignidoodle, I think it very much resembles him.

That mouth seems very distinctive to me.

It's weird, because researching another angle of IK, I found some FL cases I wondered about, but I didn't really know if they were possibles. Think I'll go back and give them a closer look. (If I find anything really interesting, I'll post in the "South and Southwest" thread.)

HELLO!!!

Digndoodle - from one of your links:
http://www.today.com/id/24920708/ns/today-today_news/t/terror-mall/#.Ui979D8a7uh

BCBM

This was the composite police sketch she'd come up with. And this is the word picture description that went with it. A man she thought in his late 20s or early 30s. No body hair. Someone who could have been at the bar next to you.

Jane Doe: He didn't have an accent, but he could have been Hispanic or maybe Pacific Islands, you know.

Dennis Murphy: About 6 feet tall, not much taller?

Jane Doe: Yeah, about six feet. Regular build. I saw he had a ponytail -- about this long from the base of the back of his neck and it was curly.

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No body hair.......same as what I saw.

Wondergirl said:

The Mall Murders totally fits with what we know about IK.

This picture, presumably done by the woman who was abducted by him, but, her life spared, is to a T.

WOW

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All sketches should be this professional.. 'Looks more like a photo of IK, than a sketch, imo.. Any feedback from LE/FBI?
I question the FBI's timeline being complete.. At least what was released to the public via ms media..

http://www.ktva.com/news/samantha-k...ith-Serial-Killer-Israel-Keyes-182915501.html

Investigators said there are good reasons for the slow rollout of the information they obtained from the interviews with Keyes.
"First of all, there's an awful lot of material, and I don't know that we can prepare all of it in one day, because we have to cut tapes, and we have to go to the family, and we have to do all these things, make sure we're not getting in the way of any legal issues,” Mew said. “So all of those things are kind of slowing us down a little bit."
But they said it's important to keep the story in the media so that a timeline of Keyes' movements and methods can be matched up with missing persons cases across the country.

Wow - that sketch is really close to IK's mugshot.

I think IK's mouth is quite distinctive for a male, and I reckon the sketch is almost perfection if it is him. You could imagine the victim trying to describe the upper lip, curves, etc - that sketch artist is certainly talented.

Spooky - and exactly the sort of thing he would do.

I wonder what the survivor thinks?

Strangeworld said:

Wow - that sketch is really close to IK's mugshot.

I think IK's mouth is quite distinctive for a male, and I reckon the sketch is almost perfection if it is him. You could imagine the victim trying to describe the upper lip, curves, etc - that sketch artist is certainly talented.

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The lips really stand out, don't they. Almost like they're pursed, or puckered. And the resemblance in the chin is striking, too. Look at the circular shading of the chin in the sketch, and then look at IK's chin. How on earth could a sketch artist get it so exact? My hat goes off to the victim for having the presence of mind to commit the details to memory. OTOH, I imagine the poor woman lived with the image of that face in her head for a very long time. Probably still to this day.

bessie said:

The lips really stand out, don't they. Almost like they're pursed, or puckered. And the resemblance in the chin is striking, too. Look at the circular shading of the chin in the sketch, and then look at IK's chin. How on earth could a sketch artist get it so exact? My hat goes off to the victim for having the presence of mind to commit the details to memory. OTOH, I imagine the poor woman lived with the image of that face in her head for a very long time. Probably still to this day.

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Bessie, when my friends and I were sitting comparing, someone said they thought the lips might be "off", so we then took the lip section of his drivers license photo, placed them over the sketch and WOW, it really was identical to Keyes....He was I'm sure mad in this booking photo, looks as if he maybe had them drawed more in a mad phrase, but when the lips are replaced with the other photo...It I feel is a total match....I also noticed the chin area, Keyes looks to maybe have a scare in the chin area, Jane Doe even got this correct, she made the sketch artists discolor that area also and I'm sure Jane Doe will never forget this image, after all he was holding a gun at her small baby boy in the backseat at the time she realized he was there and then he made her get in back with the goggles and he drove, Only God in Heaven will ever know what horror this poor lady must have felt...and just me personally moo, the only reason he let her go I feel is she tried to do every single thing he told her, she never put up any type of fight and begged him so hard to not kill them, however I feel when she worked with LE and this sketch was released, it was on sides of trucks, up all over Boca according to the video's in the interview posted, he knew he would be dead meat if he went close to Boca ever again, I sit and wonder and wonder if the trip to Orlando about 2 years later might have been his planning of returning to Boca and killing her for releasing a sketch after he told her to tell them he was short, fat and black...In my mind....I 100% feel he was going to try this

Much talk has been discussed on the sketch....PLEASE scroll down to the bottom of this link page and watch the video's, very informative..
http://www.today.com/id/24920708/ns/today-today_news/t/terror-mall/#.UjFPMNK-qFB

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...When Jane Doe 1st went to the police, they thought she was making the whole story up, more or less kinda laughed but several days later they found where her vehicle had actually been at a toll booth where she told LE that when he drove he got lost, they began to believe her then.....The video's shows the 1st sketch released, but Jane Doe was not happy with that one at all, so when Randi was shot and killed and her vehicle was a very modern BLACK-Tinted Windows vehicle as was Jane Doe's, they began to think more that there might be a link to the 2 cases.....MOO....I feel Randi was taken or forced by Keyes, but her mother said plainly Randi did "NOT" have an ATM Card, she never used one.....I feel when he told her to go to the ATM, she somehow had to answer him and tell him she did not have one, so he knew she had already seen him and I feel she was probably arguing or putting up some type of struggle with him....so he shot her close range in a nearby PARK.....she had on very very expensive jewelry, but none was taken...Her Purse and Shoes were the only thing known taken..I just feel Keyes would never leave empty handed and I'm sure she had a lot of cash in that purse and it was a designer purse and her shoes were known to be very expensive sneakers...........several weeks on, her cell phone was found in Miami in a black homeless area and was being used......That is just soooooooooo IK to me...I feel he took the phone and threw it out there thinking and knowing the homeless would use the phone and I can almost say he probably gave that expensive purse to someone there and perhaps the shoes also...this just all ties in together to me after he told Jane Doe to tell them he was Short, Fat and Black.....and then dumping Randi's phone off in a black homeless area of Miami

and then when the Mother and Daughter was taken near Christmas of that year, also vehicle was a modern black SUV with tinted windows....seen on surveliance video going through the ATM machine......I just believe that she put up a big fight with Keyes, perhaps because he was threating her with her 7 yr old daughter being in the back seat and it almost had to prove this was right....She was found bound, goggles over the Mother and Daughter's eyes, both in the back seat of the SUV and both of course shot to death at close range.....This child was called her miracle child because the mother was over 40 yrs old and thought she would never have kids....Well this sweet child was born and family states they called her their Christmas Angel.......the sister of this lady says the look that was left on that childs face will haunt her till she draws her last breath..nothing but fear, pur horror

I feel personally this shoots Keyes MO that kids were off limits all to HELLO, I think he did this shooting out of anger because the mother was trying with all she had in her to defend this precious 7 yr old daughter and I feel his temper just got him so he shot them both.....Maybe after this the memories of doing this and that child's face haunted him so bad he knew he would never do a child again, but I definitely feel Keyes is guilty in all 3 of these cases and NOTE***....In the video's in the article, even after all these happened a lady in another mall had been approached by a man that fit exactly the sketch released, but she REFUSED very stern she was not taking him anywhere, and she threw her purse at him in an area he could reach it and she took off, she did not want to come forth, but after hearing all the other cases, she did and described a man that 100% matched the released new sketch

bessie said:

The lips really stand out, don't they. Almost like they're pursed, or puckered. And the resemblance in the chin is striking, too. Look at the circular shading of the chin in the sketch, and then look at IK's chin. How on earth could a sketch artist get it so exact? My hat goes off to the victim for having the presence of mind to commit the details to memory. OTOH, I imagine the poor woman lived with the image of that face in her head for a very long time. Probably still to this day.

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If this is indeed a sketch of IK, I wonder if, in this case, his efforts at disguise (which I'm thinking the hat/glasses were) backfired: Maybe the reason the victim was able to describe the mouth/cheekbones/jaw so aptly to the sketch artist was because, without the distraction of eyes (which most people tend to focus on, IMO) forehead, and hair, that's what she had to focus on during the time of her terror. Probably burned those features into her brain!

Backwoods said:

If this is indeed a sketch of IK, I wonder if, in this case, his efforts at disguise (which I'm thinking the hat/glasses were) backfired: Maybe the reason the victim was able to describe the mouth/cheekbones/jaw so aptly to the sketch artist was because, without the distraction of eyes (which most people tend to focus on, IMO) forehead, and hair, that's what she had to focus on during the time of her terror. Probably burned those features into her brain!

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That's such a good point! If it is him, he ended up emphasising the one facial feature that really distinguishes him. His lips.

One thing I noticed when I first glanced at the mugshot and the sketch was in the mugshot, IK's neck looks thicker than the sketch. Reminds me of the look of footballers where their neck sort of continues on into their face (if you know what I mean!). But then I thought maybe he has his neck/head pulled back a bit in the mugshot, which would make the jawline and neck blend more. Also, it is unlikely that IK would have held his head still long enough for this jawline/neck blending to really stand out to the victim so maybe it wasn't apparent to her. Do other photos of IK show this neck/jawline blending (sorry - don't know what else to call it!).

Any thoughts?