Photo: Miami-Dade Police Department
Wealthy Miami businessman Joseph Dimare was shot dead on March 24, 1961 at the age of 53. His wife, Frances Dimare, had been a suspect but was never charged before her 2006 death.
This week, more than six decades later, Miami-Dade County police released a statement saying that Frances was indeed “responsible” for the death of her husband, whom she was divorcing at the time.
“Investigators met with the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office who all agree that there is no credible evidence to support that anyone other than Frances Dimare is the person responsible for the killing of Joseph Dimare,” the police department stated, viaNBC News.
At the time, Frances said the couple had been driving to dinner when two armed men rushed into their car. A Miami-Dade County police spokesperson said the attack was never corroborated, but said Frances may have worked with accomplices.
Miami-Dade Police Department
According to Frances' account, the me pointed a gun at her head and told her to drive to an empty lot. She said that after getting pistol-whipped to the point of unconsciousness, she came to and saw her husband’s dead body in the driver’s seat. Though Frances had described running barefoot from the scene for help, police say there was no evidence to corroborate this claim, citing the fact that there was no scraping on her feet and that her sneakers were placed neatly against the car.
Police later determined that Joseph was shot in the couple’s garage at their home from his own pistol. The shots came from the driver’s seat, according to the police statement.
Police also discovered that Joseph changed his will, stating that his wife had to be living at home at the time of his death in order to inherit any money. Frances had moved north to Ohio, but police said she returned to Miami when she was alerted of the change.
Joseph’s son, Richard, has been waiting his entire life for this confirmation, NBC Miami reports.
“This was all about the money,” he told the outlet. “There were a lot of problems, my stepmother left the house three times.”
Added Richard, “I told them in 1961 that my stepmother was the shooter and they said, ‘Oh no, she is not the shooter,'” Richard said.
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Det. Jonathan Grossman toldInsideEditionDigitalthat the case “resurfaced” a few years ago.
“This is a case that the Miami Police Department’s cold case unit has been investigating for many, many, many years,” Grossman said on Wednesday. “It sort of resurfaced a few years ago and we finally have been able to come to the conclusion that Frances DiMare was the person who orchestrated and [was] responsible for Joseph’s death.”
source: people.com
