The killer who hacked two homeless men to death off Fort Lauderdale beach likely ambushed them while they were sleeping in the middle of the night, newly released court records show.
Daniel Dovi, a drifter with a history of mental illness and a past in Pennsylvania, Maine and Texas, might have surprised his victims at the beachside Earl Lifshey Park on June 9, according to the police records. Video surveillance showed a man walking in the area just before 3 a.m. with a machete.
The man attacked Walter Amryan III, 59, while Amryan still was in his sleeping bag, court records show. The other victim, Adan Gonsulez, 37, was 43 feet away, and both of his “arms were almost completely severed off,” the records show.
The men may have been attacked by a stranger. “At this time, detectives are unclear if Mr. Dovi knew the two men but have no evidence to suggest any type of relationship prior to this incident,” said Fort Lauderdale Detective Ali Adamson on Tuesday. “Detectives are still working to gather information and details related to Mr. Dovi, to include how long he had been in the Fort Lauderdale area.”
The newly released records give the greatest insight yet into how investigators suspect Dovi went to kill the men. The police records, filed in Broward County Circuit Court, also reveal for the first time the extent of weapons found in Dovi’s Jeep: an 18-inch machete, razors, two saws and 20 various knives.
Dovi told police that everything they discovered in his car, saws, machetes and many knives, was destined to camp. He explained that the punch intended to cut down trees and that blood could come from dead insects while cutting.
He told other people he hadn’t faced anyone. Instead, he described photographs of other people in his car and the voices he had heard. He searched for the cops, who had broken his Jeep in his dramatic chase on the road, to buy him a new car.
Beyond that, the police downloaded any direct explanation from Dovi, according to the files. Dovi ignored an officer for 20 minutes before speaking.
A passerby discovered the bodies after 6 a.m. on June 9, apparently horrified when he called 911. Researchers also discovered blood near public showers on the beach.
Dovi caught the attention of the police that morning, had a violent argument with an owner four blocks from the scene of the murders, police said.
Dovi had been arguing with an owner who told him to leave his personal property, a grassy lot, police said. The owner stated that Dovi had camped there the night. But Dovi has become aggressive, insisting that he owned the land and gave him a boost. The guy got subsidized and called the police, then returned to the scene while waiting for the police.
Meanwhile, one of the owners arrived in a golf cart. Dovi turned the Jeep around and hit the golf cart, police said, then collided with the owner’s Porsche before taking off.
An hour later, at 10 a.m., when police still were at the scene surveying the damage and talking to the two witnesses, Dovi returned in the Jeep. Then a police chase began, becoming a televised event. The chase stretched 10 miles on Interstate 95.
A road patrol soldier forced the Jeep as Dovi drove back to his appearance and was arrested.
Neither the prosecutor nor the public defender commented on Tuesday.
The relatives of the two victims simply cannot be contacted for comment.
In June, police tracked down relatives for Amryan, but “we haven’t succeeded in all of our attempts to track down or touch Adam Gonsulez’s relatives,” Adamson said Tuesday.
Dovi described in court after his arrest as a guy with a history of intellectual fitness disorders and clashes with the police. His fees come with the intrusion of criminals out of Maine in 1992, resisting outdoor arrest in Texas in 2002, the attack causing physical damage outdoors in Texas in 1997 and the illegal use of an outdoor weapon in Texas in 1997.
Records show that Dovi was also arrested in 1998 in Texas for animal cruelty. And in Fort Lauderdale, he was arrested in 2006 on charges of prowling and prowling, but the city was ultimately not prosecuted.
In the Fort Lauderdale murders, Dovi charged two counts of premeditated murder.
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