The Night Fire (Harry Bosch #22) - Michael Connelly Page 0,76

him for real.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t.”

They disconnected and Bosch got back to his Google search. He quickly found and pulled up a story from the Tampa Bay Times on the arrest of two suspects in the killing of Larry and Melanie Cassidy.

Two Arrested in Palma Ceia Murders By Alex White, Staff Writer

Two men were arrested Thursday in the double slaying of a California couple who were found shot to death execution-style in a car parked at the Palma Ceia Country Club last February.

At a press conference at the Tampa Police Department, Chief Richard “Red” Pittman announced the arrests of Gabriel Cardozo and Donald Fields in the slayings of Larry and Melanie Cassidy on February 18. Both men are being held without bail pending arraignment on the charges.

Pittman said the killings were motivated by money. Larry Cassidy was known to have been carrying at least $42,000 in cash that he had won earlier that day at the Hard Rock Resort & Casino. Pittman said the suspects abducted the couple in their own car and had them drive to a darkened corner of the empty parking lot of the Palma Ceia Country Club, which is closed on Mondays. They forced Larry Cassidy to turn over the cash he was carrying as well as jewelry both victims were wearing. It was believed that Cardozo then executed the couple with shots to the back of the head.

“It was cold-blooded,” Pittman said. “They got what they wanted—the money and jewelry—but then they killed them anyway. It was heartless. The indications from the crime scene are that the victims put up no resistance.”

Pittman said Cardozo was believed to have been the shooter. The police chief praised the work of Detectives Julio Muniz and George Companioni in bringing the case to closure. According to Pittman, the two detectives solved the case by painstakingly back-tracing the movements of the doomed couple throughout the days before the murders.

Muniz and Companioni learned that the Cassidy couple had arrived from Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 17, for an appearance by Melanie Cassidy on the Home Shopping Network scheduled for the following Tuesday afternoon. Melanie Cassidy regularly hosted a sales segment regarding a unique student lunch box that she and her husband had created. The two had been to Tampa on several prior occasions and routinely stayed at the Hard Rock because they enjoyed the casino. They were also regulars at Bern’s Steakhouse.

Pittman stated that the Hard Rock security team was fully cooperative with the investigation. Muniz and Companioni were able to use casino surveillance cameras to trace the couple’s movements during the day of the killings. They were seen gambling and winning a jackpot on one of the progressive play tables, meaning that a community pot continually grows in value as gamblers from all connected tables play. Certain winning hands draw a percentage of winnings from the progressive pot. Larry Cassidy won a $42,000 jackpot and cashed in the casino check he received after the win.

Pittman said they also observed two men in the casino watching the couple’s movements after the jackpot win. The two men, later identified as Cardozo and Fields, were traced by the detectives as well. It is believed, according to the investigators, that they followed the Cassidy couple when they left the casino to celebrate their winnings during a dinner at Bern’s. In an earlier report, the Times spoke with James Braswell, who served the couple. He said the couple were regulars but that Monday night they were more celebratory than usual, buying a bottle of expensive champagne and even sharing it with a couple at a nearby table.

Pittman said that after dinner the couple left the restaurant and drove toward Bayshore Boulevard on their way back to their hotel. At the red light at Howard Avenue and Bayshore, they were rear-ended by the car behind them. When Larry Cassidy got out to check for damage to his rental car, he was confronted by Cardozo, who showed he had a handgun in his belt. He ordered Cassidy back into his car and then got into the back seat behind him. The Cassidy car then proceeded to Palma Ceia on MacDill Avenue, with Fields following in the suspects’ car. The killings occurred shortly after the car was parked.

Cardozo and Fields were identified through a facial recognition program used to analyze the Hard Rock surveillance videos. The process took more than two weeks and was conducted by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The suspects were then traced to