CASE CLOSED
Gertrude Henschel, 56, was found dead at her Miami Shores home on
June 9, 1962. A widow, Mrs. Henschel had been out playing cards at a
friend’s house and returned home about 11:30 PM when she was assaulted.
She died around midnight, hands and feet tied with curtain cord and
mouth tightly gagged. A ring had been violently taken from her finger
and her house had been ransacked.
Mrs. Henschel was found the next afternoon; she had been multiple
bruises and had suffocated on the gagging. The Dade Sheriff’s Office
handled the homicide investigation.
Mrs. Henschel’s dog, an aging cocker spaniel named Bonnie, normally
barked frequently, but neighbors heard nothing that night. Bonnie was
found in a locked bedroom with a pan of water.
We noticed that the were commonalities between what happened to Mrs.
Henschel and what we had found in other cases from the same area and
time period. Here is some of what we uncovered.
Miami Shores Police had received an anonymous tip about a prowler at
Mrs. Henschel’s address soon after midnight, but a patrol car did not
see anything amiss.
A similar call was made following the burglary, tying and gagging,
and homicide of Estelle Oddo on October 23, 1966. Someone entered the
sliding glass rear door of Mrs. Oddo’s apartment and left her bound and
gagged. She suffocated. Two doors down, lived George DeFeis and Joe
Cacciatore. A voice print analysis of the call received by the Dade
Sheriff’s Department revealed that the caller was George DeFeis.
Not
even the detectives on the case were informed of the results until the
‘posse’ informed them in 2013.
Someone had left Mrs. Henschel bound and gagged in 1962. Same for
Mrs. Oddo in 1966. Someone had also left Aaron and Sally Goldman bound
and gagged following the kidnapping of Danny Goldman in 1966. The
kidnapper entered the Goldman home through the rear sliding glass door.
Although there were a number of “suspects” in the murder of Gertrude
Henschel, including Tommy Griffin, no arrests were ever made.
The information, links, and physical evidence that indicates
culpability on DeFeis, Cacciatore, and others named on this site, have
yet to be officially acknowledge by local, state or federal authorities.