NV NV - Maria Bozi, 46, Boulder City, 4 Sept 1999

The Doe Network:
Case File 2835DFNV

Maria Bozi
Missing since September 4, 1999 from Boulder City, Nevada
Classification: Endangered Missing

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Vital Statistics

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  [*]Age at Time of Disappearance: 46 years old
  [*]Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Romanian. Dark brown hair; brown eyes.

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Circumstances of Disappearance
Maria Bozi was last seen around Labor Day at the Lakeshore Trailer Village near Boulder City. She moved to the Lake Mead area after her April 1999 marriage to an American man, David Fitch. The Lakeshore Trailer Village, where Bozi kept her trailer, is located about six miles north of Boulder City at Boulder Beach. She called the caretaker of her home in Surry, England, on September 4. No one has heard from her since, and she has made no contact with her family in England.

National Park Service rangers reported Bozi missing in September, after Citibank Corp. began inquiring about abnormal activity involving her bank account. Citibank contacted the Bozi's caretaker in September in an attempt to locate Bozi regarding her account. For several days in a row, according to the complaint, $ 1,000 had been withdrawn from an ATM in Henderson. Bozi was no longer seen by the neighbors and no longer kept in contact with her family or her home caretaker in England, as was her usual custom.

Bozi's husband, David Fitch, admitted to fraudulently taking money from Bozi's account by using her ATM card and wearing disguises to conceal his identity from bank surveillance cameras. He also admitted to cashing a fraudulent $ 40,000 check after her disappearance and concealing the money in an account that he opened under a false name. He also tried to sell Bozi's clothing and other personal effects, including her car.

David Fitch told a variety of stories about his wife's activities after that time. He told the caretaker on September 18 that Bozi had gone to Vancouver, Canada, representatives of the National Park Service on September 29 that she had left for Romania three weeks earlier; neighbors in the Lake Mead area on September 30 that Bozi had returned to England. He later told investigators that he took Bozi to McCarran International Airport in September, where she boarded a plane bound for Romania, where her mother lives. He later changed that story and told investigators some unknown friends came by the trailer park and picked her up.
Bozi was born in Bucharest, Romania, but investigators found her passport among items her husband had removed from her trailer and placed in storage. It is unlikely she has traveled overseas without her passport. Maria worked as a beautician in Greenwich, south London when she met David Fitch. She left behind an adult son in England.
Federal officials are conducting the investigation because Bozi disappeared from federal land.
David Fitch was sentenced in 2007 to nearly 22 years in prison for committing bank fraud and other crimes in a case that stems from the disappearance of Maria Bozi.
Foul play is suspected.

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Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:Federal Bureau Of Investigation
702-385-1281Source Information:
North American Missing Persons Network
Las Vegas Review-Journal
Doe Network link case
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/2835dfnv.html

CastlesBurning said:

Maria Bozi – The Charley Project

Click to expand...

Maria Bozi – The Charley Project
Maria Bozi

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• 
• 

Bozi, circa 1999; David Fitch, circa 1999

• Missing Since09/01/1999
• Missing FromBoulder City, Nevada
• ClassificationEndangered Missing
• SexFemale
• RaceWhite
• Age46 years old
• Height and WeightUnknown
• Associated Vehicle(s)Ford Thunderbird (accounted for)
• Distinguishing CharacteristicsCaucasian female. Dark brown hair. Bozi was born in Bucharest, Romania. She is a naturalized British citizen.

Details of Disappearance
Bozi married David Kent Fitch in England in April 1999. Photos of Fitch are posted with this case summary. The couple relocated to the Boulder City, Nevada area shortly after their wedding. They resided in Lakeshore Trailer Village, which is part of the Lake Mead National Recreational Area.

Fitch was convicted for manufacturing counterfeit currency and selling marijuana in Arizona in 1991. Authorities are uncertain if Bozi was aware of her husband's criminal record.

Bozi was last seen at her residence between September 4 and September 9, 1999. She phoned the caretaker in England on September 4. This is the last time anyone heard from her. Fitch did not report her missing and told their neighbors and her British caretaker that Bozi traveled to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He told park rangers that Bozi returned to Romania to visit her mother, who resided in the country. In the aftermath of her disappearance he disposed of most of her belongings, including her clothes and car.

Citibank attempted to contact Bozi at her home in England during mid-September. The bank was concerned about a series of $1000 withdrawals from her account which started on September 7. All the transactions took place in Hendersonville, Nevada. Authorities were summoned shortly afterwards and Bozi's trailer was sealed, since she disappeared from federal land.

Fitch was pulled over for a speeding violation in Hendersonville in February 2000. He was driving Bozi's Ford Thunderbird at the time. Fitch allowed authorities to search the vehicle, as well as two storage units he maintained in the 4100 block of South Boulder Highway. Investigators discovered firearms and ammunition inside the units, as well as books on how to kill people and how to change your identity.

Authorities arrested Fitch after finding these items; he is not allowed to possess firearms due to his previous felony convictions. Fitch admitted that he made the transactions from Bozi's account after she disappeared. He also stated that he cashed Bozi's check for $40,000 in September 1999.

Authorities learned that Fitch traveled to England in January 2000 and married Patricia Molano Gutierrez, a Colombian national, under the name David Lee Krause. He was still legally married to Bozi at the time of the marriage. Gutierrez was located in England shortly after Fitch's February 2000 arrest. Investigators were initially concerned for her safety, since Bozi vanished after her wedding to Fitch.

Fitch used numerous aliases, including Dr. David, Dr. DK Fitch, James O'Callaghan, Daniel Joseph O'Hare, Michael Bozi and Mario Bozi. Fitch also used the alias David Lee Krause. (He paid the real Krause $200 to borrow his identity.) Papers with Bozi's forged signature were also located in the units. Investigators believe that he attempted to coerce others into posing as Bozi for phone calls in an effort to steal cash from her accounts.

Fitch pleaded guilty to ten counts of firearms possession and fradulent document charges in July 2000 and sentenced to eight years in prison. After his release, he was charged with bank fraud, money laundering and unauthorized possession of Bozi's credit card. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 22 years in prison, nearly seven times the amount suggested by sentencing guidelines. The judge said there was "clear and convincing evidence" that he had killed Bozi, although he'd never been charged in her case.

Fitch's father told the media that his son often lied about his lifestyle and career. His family believed that he was working aboard an overseas oil rig at the time he was arrested in Nevada in 2000. Fitch's father said that his son has been married at least three times and has at least five children from previous relationships.

Fitch has never ben charged in connection with Bozi's disappearance, but he remains a suspect. He has maintained his innocence in his wife's case, which remains unsolved. Foul play is suspected in Bozi's disappearance.''

rbbm.
UNITED STATES v. FITCH | FindLaw
''We simply do not know any of the circumstances of Bozi's disappearance. We know that she has disappeared and that Fitch immediately exploited her disappearance for his own benefit. While Fitch may indeed have been played a causative, or a concealing, role in Bozi's disappearance, the record contains no evidence that sheds light on the manner of his involvement or the degree of his involvement.''

Evidence results in 22 years in prison | Las Vegas Review-Journal (reviewjournal.com)
2007
''A Las Vegas judge found by “clear and convincing evidence” Friday that David Fitch killed his wife eight years ago, although the defendant has never been charged with murder and the woman’s body has never been found.''

“Kind of the ultimate goal in any homicide investigation is to find the body and bring closure to the family, and we haven’t done that yet,” the agent said. “We’ll always be looking.”

''He told various stories about her whereabouts.

• He tried to sell her clothing and other personal effects, including her car.

• He married another woman without first seeking a divorce from Bozi.

• He had her checkbook and credit cards in his possession.

• He “raided” her accounts by using disguises and forgery.

Although federal guidelines suggested a sentence in the range of 41 to 51 months, Mahan chose to impose a 262-month sentence, which amounts to nearly 22 years. Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Vasquez had requested a 30-year term.

Mahan also ordered Fitch to pay a $75,000 fine. Rasmussen claimed her client is indigent, but the judge said Fitch has boasted about stashing money.

Authorities claim Fitch married Bozi, 46, and then killed her to steal her money and prope
“Everything Ms. Bozi had, the defendant took,” Vasquez told Mahan.

Images of Bozi, including a photo taken at the Grand Canyon shortly before her disappearance, were displayed on computer monitors Friday in Mahan’s courtroom. One of the monitors sat across from Fitch at the defense table.''

He argued that authorities have no evidence showing that he harmed anyone.
“I’m not a violent person,” he said.''

Bozi, a native of Romania, married Fitch in April 1999 in England and moved with him to Southern Nevada. She purchased a mobile home in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, where she was last seen around Labor Day that year.''.

''Records show that Fitch ordered chloroform, a toxic liquid used to anesthetize or kill, in July 1999.

“Although one might like to imagine that Maria Bozi somehow escaped from the defendant’s plot, such wistful sentiment cannot be reconciled with the hard facts,” prosecutors wrote in a court document that was filed Friday.

According to the document, the evidence “leaves no room for reasonable doubt as to Ms. Bozi’s fate.”

I think she is probably among the bodies found at swim beach in Lake Mead. The purple pin shows her last known location, Boulder beach (aka swim beach) can be seen immediately to the north.

Bump for Maria

No exclusions listed.