Onetime pilot Catherine Marie Pileggi, apparently enraged by a potential breakup with a self-made Fort Lauderdale multimillionaire and also blaming him for the death of a sister during a vacation years earlier, took brutal revenge, investigators say.
Pileggi is accused of shooting Ronald C. Vinci in the head, stabbing him in the chest, slitting his throat, wrapping him in bedding and plastic bags – and then plotted to drop his body in the ocean. She was held without bond Wednesday.
“This is a brutal, brutal murder," police spokesman Detective Travis Mandell said. "I can’t imagine someone else doing this to another human being."
According to the arrest affidavit, Pileggi told one of Vinci’s friends: “I messed him up bad.’’
The admission was made to Spencer Gordon, who discovered the body at a mansion the couple shared in the upscale Tarpon River neighborhood, according to the arrest affidavit released by Fort Lauderdale police. Gordon had been called by the couple’s handyman the morning of June 28.
Vinci, 70, whose riches came from successful car dealerships, had and on-and-off relationship with Pileggi, 54, for two decades. The dead rich man is now a central figure in a bizarre family drama that also involves his lover’s late sister, Angela Pileggi Silverstein. She died suddenly at the age of 45, possibly from a drug overdose, while on a Caribbean cruise with the couple in December 2009.
Eight months earlier, Silverstein herself was a witness in another mysterious murder case, that of record producer Phil Spector, who was convicted that year of killing an actress in his California home.
In April 2009, Silverstein testified against a third Pileggi sister, Melissa Grosvenor, who claimed she had had a relationship with Spector. Grosvenor testified at trial that the eccentric producer had once threatened her with a gun, a charge that Silverstein, with a flourish, discredited on the witness stand, painting her sister as a fame-seeker.
“She was bragging about going on Court TV!” Silverstein said in court about her estranged sister. Spector is serving 19 years in prison for the death of the actress, Lana Clarkson.
Now it’s Catherine Pileggi who faces murder charges.
Vinci had made millions with a string of Honda dealerships in Southern California before moving to Fort Lauderdale.
Pileggi’s family said the pair met through their shared love of flying.
But after 20 years, Vinci apparently was ready to move on. According to the police report, “it was revealed through witness statements that Mr. Vinci had attempted to end his live-in relationship with Ms. Pileggi with negative results.’’
Pileggi responded by going to another Vinci home, on Nurmi Drive, on June 24, where she got two of his guns, and returned to the Tarpon Bend home, according to an arrest affidavit.
Neighbors in their Fort Lauderdale neighborhood said they heard a pop on June 27. The next day, police cars arrived on their street.
According to the arrest affidavit, Peliggi killed Vinci, called the couple’s handyman, Reynaldo Silva, on June 28 and claimed that her partner died from a fall in their recently-purchased $2.9 million mansion.
She explained that Vinci wanted to be buried at sea and asked Silva to help her hoist the body inside a large blue container then transport it to Vinci’s boat and take it out to be dumped in the Atlantic.
2011年7月6日 星期三
2011年4月12日 星期二
Mattress Firm launches effort to back pancreatic cancer research
Bedding retailer Mattress Firm has named the Translational Genomics Research Institute, a key player in the fight against pancreatic cancer, as its charitable partner of choice.
Mattress Firm will support the work of globalCure, a TGen-led alliance of scientists, physicians, and pancreatic cancer advocates.
Steve Stagner, Mattress Firm's president and CEO, said the retailer's support of research at the Phoenix-based TGen will provide employees the opportunity to change lives and raise awareness of pancreatic cancer with every customer interaction.
To launch its program with globalCure, Mattress Firm is partnering with Simmons in a promotion to donate $50 to globalCure for every Simmons Beautyrest dual floor sample sold nationwide at nearly 700 Mattress Firm stores from April 6 through April 17. The goal is to raise more than $100,000.
Jai Pausch, a national advisory committee member of globalCure, praised Stagner and the Houston-based mattress retailer. Pausch became a national advocate for pancreatic cancer following the death of her husband, Randy, a Carnegie Mellon professor and author of the bestselling book, "The Last Lecture."
Stagner said he hopes that Mattress Firm's support will multiply through globalCure and do for pancreatic cancer research and discovery what the Susan G. Komen foundation has done for the fight against breast cancer.
"We have the opportunity to educate our customers about our efforts beyond the sales floor," he said. "We have the opportunity to get involved and engaged with our communities, and impact the lives of over 43,000 Americans that are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer each year."
Pancreatic cancer is the nation's fourth leading cause of cancer death, and is the only one of the 10 most deadly cancers with a survival rate in the single digits. Nearly 75% of the estimated 43,000 Americans diagnosed annually die within the first year. Only 6% survive longer than five years. In addition, less than 2% of the National Cancer Institute's federal research funding is dedicated to pancreatic cancer research, officials said.
According to Dr. Daniel D. Von Hoff, TGen's physician-in-chief and one of the world's leading authorities on pancreatic cancer, early detection of pancreatic cancer is nonexistent, the survival rate remains low, and federal funding is limited.
"Discoveries directly follow funding and pancreatic cancer receives little in comparison to the percentage of lives it takes," said Von Hoff, who leads the team of 46 physicians from around the world who form the backbone of globalCure. "Having the commitment of Mattress Firm will elevate globalCure's efforts, and the monies raised will allow us to aggressively pursue the underlying genetic causes of the disease and drive an unprecedented number of new therapeutic approaches to patient care."
Donations to globalCure enable the international team of physicians to move quickly on promising new clinical therapies. Specifically, the funds enable globalCure scientists and clinicians to identify diagnostic biomarkers as drug targets; identify and improve new agents that affect the activity of those targets; and evaluate new agents and take the most promising ones to clinical trials for patients in advanced stages of pancreatic cancer.
Mattress Firm will support the work of globalCure, a TGen-led alliance of scientists, physicians, and pancreatic cancer advocates.
Steve Stagner, Mattress Firm's president and CEO, said the retailer's support of research at the Phoenix-based TGen will provide employees the opportunity to change lives and raise awareness of pancreatic cancer with every customer interaction.
To launch its program with globalCure, Mattress Firm is partnering with Simmons in a promotion to donate $50 to globalCure for every Simmons Beautyrest dual floor sample sold nationwide at nearly 700 Mattress Firm stores from April 6 through April 17. The goal is to raise more than $100,000.
Jai Pausch, a national advisory committee member of globalCure, praised Stagner and the Houston-based mattress retailer. Pausch became a national advocate for pancreatic cancer following the death of her husband, Randy, a Carnegie Mellon professor and author of the bestselling book, "The Last Lecture."
Stagner said he hopes that Mattress Firm's support will multiply through globalCure and do for pancreatic cancer research and discovery what the Susan G. Komen foundation has done for the fight against breast cancer.
"We have the opportunity to educate our customers about our efforts beyond the sales floor," he said. "We have the opportunity to get involved and engaged with our communities, and impact the lives of over 43,000 Americans that are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer each year."
Pancreatic cancer is the nation's fourth leading cause of cancer death, and is the only one of the 10 most deadly cancers with a survival rate in the single digits. Nearly 75% of the estimated 43,000 Americans diagnosed annually die within the first year. Only 6% survive longer than five years. In addition, less than 2% of the National Cancer Institute's federal research funding is dedicated to pancreatic cancer research, officials said.
According to Dr. Daniel D. Von Hoff, TGen's physician-in-chief and one of the world's leading authorities on pancreatic cancer, early detection of pancreatic cancer is nonexistent, the survival rate remains low, and federal funding is limited.
"Discoveries directly follow funding and pancreatic cancer receives little in comparison to the percentage of lives it takes," said Von Hoff, who leads the team of 46 physicians from around the world who form the backbone of globalCure. "Having the commitment of Mattress Firm will elevate globalCure's efforts, and the monies raised will allow us to aggressively pursue the underlying genetic causes of the disease and drive an unprecedented number of new therapeutic approaches to patient care."
Donations to globalCure enable the international team of physicians to move quickly on promising new clinical therapies. Specifically, the funds enable globalCure scientists and clinicians to identify diagnostic biomarkers as drug targets; identify and improve new agents that affect the activity of those targets; and evaluate new agents and take the most promising ones to clinical trials for patients in advanced stages of pancreatic cancer.
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