Crescent Drive

Summary

Felonious Florida: Crescent Drive | Episode 1 Summary

Introduction

In the gripping premiere of Season 5 of Felonious Florida, titled "Crescent Drive | 1," listeners are plunged into one of Florida's most harrowing unsolved crimes: the 1997 Altidore family massacre. Hosted by David Shoots of Wondery in collaboration with the South Florida Sun Sentinel, this episode meticulously reconstructs the tragic events of a quiet spring day in Miramar, Florida, where three generations of the Altidore family were brutally murdered. Through detailed storytelling, firsthand accounts, and investigative insights, the episode sets the stage for a deep dive into a case that has baffled authorities for nearly three decades.

Discovery of the Crime Scene

The episode opens on April 30, 1997, at approximately 5:30 PM, with Detective Ron Paluzzo responding to a quadruple homicide call at 8801 South Crescent Drive. The initial dispatch describes multiple deceased individuals, setting a tone of urgency and shock.

[00:35] Detective Ron Paluzzo: "This is going to be a quadruple homicide."

As Detective Paluzzo arrives, the gravity of the scene unfolds. Patrick James, a neighbor, discovers unusual activity involving his dog, which leads to the horrifying discovery of the Altidore family's lifeless bodies.

[02:35] David Shoots: "With a level of violence that sickened even the most hardened detectives."

First Responders' Account

Officer Edgar Gallardo and Sergeant John Thompson provide vivid descriptions of their initial reactions upon entering the Altidore home. Their immediate focus is on ensuring no further threat remains, displaying the meticulous nature required in such traumatic situations.

[15:19] Officer Edgar Gallardo: "You start running a mental checklist... You don't want to step in blood."

The officers detail the layout of the crime scene, highlighting the shocking brutality inflicted upon the victims. The sight of a six-week-old infant, Sabrina, lying cold in her bassinet and the grandmother's body covered in blood paints a chilling image of the massacre.

[19:17] David Shoots: "Six week old Sabrina Altidore is lying face up in her bassinet, wearing a blue onesie, a white diaper and little red socks."

Mystifying Clues at the Scene

One of the most perplexing aspects of the crime scene is the cryptic message scrawled on the living room wall:

[24:38] Officer Edgar Gallardo: "There was some writing on the wall which said something to the effect of, you know, I want my $100,000, you stole my drugs."

This message introduces a potential motive but simultaneously raises more questions, as the absence of forced entry or stolen items contradicts the narrative of a drug-related vendetta.

[25:16] Officer Edgar Gallardo: "That makes you think... that was completely fake. That doesn't make any sense."

Media Frenzy and Community Reaction

As the news spreads, Felonious Florida captures the intense media presence that descends upon Crescent Drive. Connie Piloto, a Miami Herald reporter covering the case, provides an insider’s perspective on the chaos that ensues in the typically quiet Miramar neighborhood.

[30:15] Connie Piloto: "It was just kind of a sleepy little town... but it was a small community, not a lot. Not this type of crime that you would see there on a regular basis."

George Altidore, the husband and father of the victims, arrives at the crime scene amidst the turmoil. His frantic response and apparent lack of awareness about the number of people in the house cast immediate suspicion on him.

[33:43] David Shoots: "Where's Samantha? He asks them, where's my two year old daughter?"

Initial Investigation and Suspicions

Detective Ron Paluzzo takes charge of the investigation, conducting a thorough yet emotionally taxing interview with George Altidore. The tension between the investigators and the primary suspect sets the tone for a protracted and complex investigation.

[40:24] Detective Ron Paluzzo: "We bring George into the police station. We talk to him for quite some time."

Gallardo reflects on the depth of the investigation, highlighting the perplexing nature of the crime and the elusive motives behind it.

[38:57] Sergeant John Thompson: "Who does that?"

Closing Thoughts and Future Implications

The episode concludes with the establishment of the Altidore massacre as a deeply personal and unsolved case, hinting at the extensive investigation that will unfold over the series. The unresolved questions about the killer's identity, motive, and the suspect's alibi set the stage for an intricate exploration in subsequent episodes.

[41:17] Detective Ron Paluzzo: "We had several calls at her house where she was very paranoid and worried about things."

Notable Quotes

• Detective Ron Paluzzo [00:35]: "This is going to be a quadruple homicide."
• Officer Edgar Gallardo [15:19]: "You start running a mental checklist... You don't want to step in blood."
• Connie Piloto [30:15]: "It was just kind of a sleepy little town... but it was a small community, not a lot. Not this type of crime that you would see there on a regular basis."
• Sergeant John Thompson [38:57]: "Who does that?"

Conclusion

"Crescent Drive | 1" masterfully sets the stage for a detailed examination of the Altidor family massacre, blending firsthand accounts with investigative narratives to engage listeners. The episode effectively portrays the immediate impact of the crime, the initial investigative hurdles, and the profound questions that linger, enticing the audience to continue following this haunting story through the rest of the season.

For more information and to follow the ongoing investigation, listeners are encouraged to visit Felonious Florida and stay updated through the podcast's social media channels.

Transcript

[David Shoots]

Can't wait to finish Felonious the Altidor Massacre. Wondery members can binge all episodes right now and completely ad free. Even better, Wondery also lets you enjoy all previous seasons ad free too. Don't miss the twists and turns of this saga. Start your free trial in the Wondery app on Apple Podcasts or Spotify now. A listener Note this episode contains descriptions of graphic violence that some listeners may find disturbing. All subjects are innocent until proven guilty in court.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

Detective Pelosi, Investigative Note this is going to be a quadruple homicide. Case number 970-445-20 Date 430 of 97. At approximately 1730 hours, I was requested to respond to 8801 South Crescent Drive, a reference several dead individual.

[David Shoots]

That recording, made almost three decades ago, marks the beginning of an extraordinary investigation and the beginning of a story that's just as heartbreaking as it is shocking.

[Emergency Dispatcher]

We're going to need an ambulance. Next door neighbor. He just found out that an infant and an old lady has just passed away. And under the pool of blood I.

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

Was already thinking, okay, that's going to be a bad scene.

[David Shoots]

Nobody could be prepared for what was found inside the Altidor home in Miramar, Florida that day in the spring of 1997.

[Connie Piloto]

We've got a six week old baby in her bassinet, walked into the kitchen.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

And on the floor was the grandmother.

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

The two year old was in the fetal position and you could see her skull.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

Then I went to the living room and the wife was lying on the floor.

[David Shoots]

Some cases fade from memory over time. This one stays with you to this day.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

I can close my eyes and see that crime scene.

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

It was pretty shocking.

[David Shoots]

With a level of violence that sickened even the most hardened detectives. A cold blooded killer wiped out three generations of a family in an instant and left behind a puzzling crime scene that stumped investigators for decades.

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

There was some writing on the wall.

[Connie Piloto]

No one broke into the home. Nothing was really taken.

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

Who goes to a house, no forced entry, kills two children, kills two ladies. That's it.

[Connie Piloto]

Who did this? How did this happen?

[David Shoots]

This is the story of a family that suffered an unimaginable loss. You had four innocent people that were brutally, savagely murdered and there were no answers. It's the story of how somebody committed one of Florida's most horrible, horrifying mass murders and got away with it. From the South Florida Sun Sentinel, this is Felonious Florida, the podcast that leads you into the dark side of the Sunshine State. I'm David Shutes welcome to season five. Over the next six episodes, we'll unravel an extraordinary investigation into one of Florida's most brutal and heartbreaking murder cases. The 1997 Altidore family massacre. Inside a modest home in a quiet neighborhood, someone shot a mother and a grandmother and viciously beat the two women with a hammer. Then the killer turned their rage on two of the most defenseless victims. A six week old infant laying in her bassinet and her two year old sister who was cowering in fear behind a couch. Who could commit such a monstrous crime? If you ask the victim's family, they'll tell you they know exactly who the killer is. And in fact, investigators agree. But that's what makes this one of the most remarkable murder cases in Florida. For nearly three decades it has been as close as one could imagine to being solved. And yet there are mysterious clues that have never been explained and may never be. Unusual behavior by the family in the weeks and hours before the murders. A cryptic message scrawled on a wall above the victims bodies, A car that was intentionally disabled, uneaten dinner, food, two missing puppies and a short but puzzling phone call made from inside the home on the day of the murders that stymied the investigation almost from the start. And to the agony of the family left behind, the Altidor murder case remains open to this day. In this episode, we'll start on that Wednesday back in 1997, the day the bodies were discovered. April 30, 1997. It's 7:20 in the morning and Patrick James steps out of his home on Midland Place in Miramar, Florida to check on his dog. She wasn't in the pool area where she's supposed to be. He finds her sniffing around the yard of his next door neighbors to the north, George and Marie Altidore. Their house is still and silent. George's black pickup truck isn't in the driveway, but that's not unusual. It's a Wednesday and by this time he'd be on his way to work. They live in a neighborhood called the Knolls, a quiet working class enclave in Miramar, a city halfway between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. Densely packed ranch and bungalow style homes line the narrow streets and Midland Place is one of them. It cuts through the Knolls running north from the busier Miramar Parkway. A few blocks up Midland turns into South Crescent Drive where it takes a sharp turn to the east and right at the bend is number 8801 South Crescent Drive, the home of the Altadors It's a boxy beige house, but it stands out from neighboring homes because of its three sweeping arches that span most of the front wall. A short driveway on the right side of the house leads to an attached garage with a chocolate colored door. Two years earlier, the newly married George and Marie bought the place for $118,000 and moved in to start their family. It's maybe a cliche, but in this case it's true. They were building the American dream. George and Marie both immigrated to America from Haiti, hoping to take advantage of the economic opportunities. And that's exactly what they were doing. Marie had recently been promoted to the media relations department for the Dade county public schools. George is a supervisor at a marine air conditioning plant, and he sells real estate on the side. They had worked hard to build their careers and save money. They got married, they bought the four bedroom house on Crescent Drive, and a year later, Marie gave birth to their first daughter, Samantha. Six weeks before the murders, their second daughter, Sabrina, was born. To the people around them, the Altidores were a thriving young family.

[Connie Piloto]

Yeah, very tight knit, trying to, you know, live the American dream. Right. I'd left Haiti, very religious.

[David Shoots]

Connie Piloto was a reporter for the Miami Herald and covered the case for several years.

[Connie Piloto]

And it felt like they were making it. The home was immaculate outside the yard. Nice neighborhood, two small children. And the photos are beautiful. They're stunning, sweet little girls. And Marie was just beautiful and her husband was just handsome. So it just felt like a, you know, perfect family in some ways. Looking at it from the outside in, it was like they had made it.

[David Shoots]

The Altidores were cordial but quiet neighbors, and they were intensely private people, a fact that would challenge detectives from the start. Marie had been on maternity leave since Sabrina's birthday, and she and her girls would remain secluded in the house during the day while George was at work. You'd rarely even see Marie walk to the mailbox. Marie's 67 year old mother, Teresa Laverne, was staying with the family to help with the babies, and she was just as reclusive. So on the day Patrick James is outside looking for his dog, nothing seems unusual about the Altidor home. He brings the dog inside, and around 8 o' clock, he goes to his car and drives off. An hour later, two women walk up to the Altidor's front door and knock. They're Jehovah's witnesses, and they'd been out walking the neighborhood early on a mission to spread their message. There's no answer at the Altidor house. So they move on. After that there's not much activity on the street. An occasional dog walker, the mail carrier. Patrick James returns home around 11am where he stays for the rest of the day. The minutes and hours tick on quietly, but the quiet would come to an end shortly after 5pm that's when a gold colored Toyota Camry turns onto Crescent Drive and pulls into the Altidore's driveway. It's George's brother in law and his brother in law's 12 year old son. The two get out of the car, walk to the door and knock. The Altidores should be home but there's no answer and strangely the door's unlocked. So they open it and walk into an unthinkable and horrifying scene. Seconds later they're rushing back out the door and over to Patrick James house, yelling for him to call 911.

[Emergency Dispatcher]

Yes, in Miramar. Yes. Okay, what's wrong there? Okay. Next to her neighbor, he just found out that an infant and an old lady has just passed away. An insect or an old lady? Do you know how they passed away? No, he does not know. He said he just took a look and there's a pool of blood. Can you get a phone to the child?

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

A phone?

[Emergency Dispatcher]

Yes, can you get a phone? Okay, well I have to go over there. Do you have a cellular phone? Yes, I do. Okay, go ahead and get on the cellular phone. Stay on the line with me and take the phone to the baby. We need to see if they're breathing. Okay.

[David Shoots]

The long silence of that spring day on Crescent Drive is over. Neighbor Patrick James is on the phone with 911. All he can tell the operator is that two people were discovered dead in a pool of blood, including an infant. Miramar police officer Edgar Gallardo is finishing up his shift just a minute away from the scene when the call comes over the radio.

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

It was getting close to quitting time and I was on a traffic stop on Douglas Road just south of Memorial Parker, which is less than half a mile from the scene. As I was in the middle of the traffic stop, the dispatcher got on the. On the police radio and dispatchers, do they sound very clear and concise? They're always, you know, they're reading notes off the computer and she paused for some reason. So it was kind of like a weird call, like she said. Is there any, any units that can clear receiving a suspicious incident of a family member. Just arrived at the home and found people laying in a body on a pool of blood.

[David Shoots]

The Driver Gallardo had pulled over, catches a break that day, told him, hey.

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

Look, I gotta go, it's a traffic stop. I gave them their stuff back and we cleared. We cleared and got there within 30 seconds. It was that close.

[David Shoots]

Despite the short drive, a lot goes through Gallardo's mind.

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

I didn't know what I was getting into yet, so just wanted to get there quickly.

[David Shoots]

How unusual was a call like that?

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

Very unusual. Especially when you, you know, when you hear if it's a death scene, most of the time it'll be like, hey, you know, 90 year old person was found deceased, that's probably natural causes. Or this person was found slumped in the bathroom. They probably had a heart attack. But for a call to come out and say, hey, they just found bodies in a pool of blood, I was already thinking, okay, that's gonna be a bad scene. That's not a normal thing that you get very often.

[David Shoots]

A half mile to the west, Sergeant John Thompson has just started his shift as the patrol supervisor. He's at police headquarters when he gets the radio call for bodies found in a home.

[Sergeant John Thompson]

And of course that gets everybody going. I mean, at that time you're sending everybody because Miramar just doesn't have that type of, of calls back then when you were get a homicide. But when you're in route, you're thinking, okay, is this real? Because when a citizen calls something in, sometimes their information is not accurate. How many people on the street, when they look in a door, can tell you that it's a dead body? Not a lot of people. I'm going, I'm thinking, okay, you know, let's, let's get there, let's make sure this is not in progress because the guy made it sound like he just opened the door and saw this. And so I think our initial thing was we want to get there and we want to get the bad guy. If it's going on, we want to stop it.

[David Shoots]

Since there's a chance the intruder may still be in the home, Officer Gallardo turns his cruiser's lights on, but keeps the siren silent. And the adrenaline builds fast on the short drive.

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

You start running a mental checklist. Okay, is there suspects on scene? When I get there, make sure to preserve the crime scene as much as possible. Don't touch too many things. Watch what you where you're stepping. You don't want to step in blood. And look for details like any kind of weapons or anything like that. Is there force entry to any of the windows or doors? Is there something out of place?

[David Shoots]

Gallardo and his partner are first to arrive on Crescent Drive. Sergeant Thompson and a fourth officer follow right behind.

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

When I pulled up with my backup, there was some family there. When I go up to him, I say, hey, what's going on? And even though I've only been a police officer two years there, you can tell when someone's shaken up when they've seen something terrible. And the guy said he was stuttered a little bit, and he says, they're dead, they're dead. You know, he couldn't get the full sentences out. So I. I knew at that point I said, okay, well, he's not gonna be able to communicate with me too much. So, you know what? Let's just go in and clear the house, see what we got.

[Sergeant John Thompson]

I pretty much saw we had people and we just said, let's do it. I don't think we even said anything. We just looked at each other and they said. And we just went in the house.

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

We. We approached the front door, and, you know, first thing was it kicked in. Was it forced open? It didn't. There was no force entry on there. But it was unlocked. It was unlocked. So we open the door and guns drawn, which is very typical, you know, to see. You know, you don't know what you're going to find in there.

[David Shoots]

What the four officers find in there is an unspeakable scene of violence that would be etched into their minds forever. The front door to the Altador home opens into a tight space. A wall splits the entryway into two directions, left and right. In front of the wall is a table covered with framed family photos. The biggest one is a portrait of George and Marie with their first baby. It was taken right after Samantha's birth. A large mirror hangs on the wall over the table facing the front door. To the left, the living room is crowded with a large floral patterned furniture set. Beyond that and around the corner, mostly out of sight, is the dining room. The space is exceptionally neat and tidy. Nothing seems disturbed. To the right of the split entry, a hallway leads through the house to the back wall, which is covered by an entertainment console. The TV is on with the volume low, but what really draws their attention is a baby's bassinet. It's positioned in front of the TV in the middle of the hallway. It has white quilted sides, and it's stained with red. The first indication of the horror that went on here. Officer Gallardo and Sergeant Thompson stepped toward it.

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

So as we're methodically clearing the home, I see a bassinet. I look and it's a newborn. When I looked at the child, it looked like a doll. I could see a little bit of blood coming out of the ear and I touched it to see if it was alive. It was ice cold.

[David Shoots]

Six week old Sabrina Altidore is lying face up in her bassinet, wearing a blue onesie, a white diaper and little red socks. It's a traumatizing, heartbreaking scene.

[Sergeant John Thompson]

I still see the baby in the crib, period. I think when you've been exposed to certain things, some things will never leave you. And I still see that. Not all the time, but you'll get a flash of the baby in the crib.

[David Shoots]

Sabrina is dead. To the right of the bassinet is the family room and to the left is the kitchen.

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

When I looked to the left, it was basically the kitchen area. And I could see a lady face down laying in a pool of blood. The head was. Had heavy blunt trauma in the back of the head. I remember seeing brain matter on the, the ceiling. It just looked like blunt trauma, like someone took some kind of blunt instrument. Just kept striking on the head and then you have cast off on the ceiling.

[David Shoots]

It's Marie Altidor's mother, Teresa Laverne. She's wearing a blue robe over a white T shirt and a pair of black slippers. She's face down on the white tile floor. A large pool of blood has spread out around her. It seemed she had been surprised by her attacker.

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

I did see, remember seeing a pot like paint. Like I don't know if it was dinner or breakfast or whatever, but there was, it almost appeared like the person was cooking and there was some, like some food and plates broken on the floor and the blood was, I mean, I, you know, since then I've seen a lot, a lot of that scene. So. But that was the scene where it was a large amount of blood. And I think a lot of people don't know you can smell and taste blood in the air. You know, that iron that's in that blood. It's a distinct smell and taste, which is odd, but you can definitely like, wow, it's overwhelming.

[David Shoots]

By now the officers know they have a major crime scene on their hands. And the search of the house becomes more urgent.

[Sergeant John Thompson]

Considering that was probably my first, say, major crime scene that you would consider as very recent and active. I think I just went on instinct and training.

[David Shoots]

Thompson and his partner go left, Gallardo and his partner go right. It's just a minute into the search of the Altidor house and the four Officers already have two. Two victims, a newborn baby and an older woman. To search the rest of the house quickly, they had to split up. Sergeant John Thompson goes through the kitchen and into a formal dining room on the west side of the house. There is a large arrangement of silk flowers on the dark table with four chairs around it. To the left of the table is a tall china cabinet. A matching cabinet is against the wall to the right, and then a double sliding glass door that leads out to a screened in pool. The sliding glass doors are closed and locked. And lying on the tile floor in front of the doors is the body of Marie Altidore. She's face down in a black short sleeved dress.

[Sergeant John Thompson]

And you could see the blood, a large pool of blood. But it was old. Old in the sense that you tell that it looked dried or coagulated as you say it.

[David Shoots]

And her head injuries are horrific. She seems to have taken the brunt of the killer's violence. There's extensive blood splatter on the walls and floor around the room. At first glance, it appears possible that Marie had been attacked unexpectedly as she came out of the master bedroom, which was on the other side of the dining room. There were no other bodies or anything else unusual on this side of the house. But on the east side, Officer Edgar Gallardo and his partner were encountering some baffling clues.

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

And I went to the right of the kitchen where there was, I guess it would be a family room. Yeah, family room. Where there was a kind of an intersecting, like a sofa and a couch, like a love seat that connects in a corner.

[David Shoots]

It was actually a sofa and a recliner side by side against one wall and a loveseat against the other.

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

So it intersects in a corner there, which there's a little bit of space in that corner there.

[David Shoots]

It's a really small space in a really dark corner, so it would be easy to miss something important there. But Officer Gallardo's eyes are drawn to something else in the room. On the wall right above that corner, there's a message written by the killer.

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

There was some writing on the wall which said something to the effect of, you know, I want my $100,000, you stole my drugs. Which I thought was odd. It's like, who does that?

[David Shoots]

It was scrawled with a black marker across the entire wall. More like scribbled and obviously rushed. The last words sort of trail off down the side in full. It reads, I want my hundred thousand drug money. They stole my drugs. Has Gallardo already encountered a motive for the killings or is this a diversion?

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

It almost like it makes you think, all right, so these were drug dealers coming here and they killed everybody. And they wanted, they're looking for their money or drugs. But the house wasn't ransacked. So it's almost like a plot of a movie where that's completely fake. That doesn't make any sense.

[David Shoots]

The writing on the wall is an eerie and breathtaking image and it will become one of the most important pieces of evidence in the case. But for now, Gallardo and the officers must stay focused on searching and clearing the rest of the crime scene.

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

You know, we had to keep clearing the, that side of the residence.

[Sergeant John Thompson]

I haven't determined that there's not a threat in the house. So until you deter, for me anyway, do you determine there's not a threat? You're just going to keep going until you finish what you're there to do. You're trying to make it safe, but in the same time you're trying to determine whether there's still somebody in that house. And I think we believed in ourselves that there could be somebody still here.

[David Shoots]

On this side of the house, there are three more bedrooms, a garage and a bathroom. A gold colored Lexus is in the garage, but nothing else. A guest bedroom and a child's room are also cleared by the officers. And same with the bathroom, although there is something unusual there. It has a second door that leads out to the pool and it had been left open. And there's also something suspicious about the last bedroom. The door to that room is closed, but more than that, it's also locked from the inside.

[Sergeant John Thompson]

And I know when we came across the locked door, we kind of all think, oh, is there somebody, did we get them in here? Did we catch them? We got them blocked in the, in the, in the room that's locked.

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

So we made a quick decision. We're going to kick it in to see, make sure there's nobody in there or victims or suspects or whatever.

[Sergeant John Thompson]

We just kicked it open the old fashioned way. It was a wooden door, wooden bedroom door. You know, you could put, probably could have put your shoulder into it and the frame would have gave way and you would have been in there.

[David Shoots]

The bedroom is being used as a home office. It's cluttered with a few desks covered with computer equipment, paperwork and Rolodexes. Two bookshelves are crowded with more files, a television and videotapes. But there's no one inside dead or alive. But why was the door locked? It's a curious contradiction to the message Scrawled on the family room wall. If somebody invaded the home searching for money or drugs, why would they ignore a locked bedroom door that was so easily kicked in? Surely it could be a likely hiding spot for valuables. It's a question for later. The four officers keep moving. Outside in the screened in pool, a child's inflatable ring is floating in the water. A golden retriever is loose inside the fence, and women's clothing is strewn in the yard. But they find no other people. They've cleared every room.

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

Once we did that, I met up with the other two people, Sergeant Thompson. And Magnus says, hey, there's another deceased person in the back room there. I was like, okay. So at that point, there was no suspects or any victims that needed that. We could have helped with first aid. So now we got to get into.

[David Shoots]

Crime scene preservation mode, they call it in. Two dead women, a dead baby, and a suspect at large.

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

And then from that point on, we knew it was going to be a media frenzy. Media has access to police transmission, so when they hear multiple victims at a home, you know they're gonna respond, which is understandable. News helicopters, things like that.

[David Shoots]

And he's right. It's now a mass murder. Even before the crime scene tape is around the house, reporters and TV news crews are hitting the scene almost as fast as first responders. The Knowles neighborhood erupts into a scene of shock, horror, and chaos.

[Connie Piloto]

So I was working at the Miami Herald. I was a reporter covering crime in Broward County.

[David Shoots]

Connie Peloto is among the first reporters on Crescent Drive. When the chatter on police scanners hits the newsroom, Connie is sent right away. Because a crime like this doesn't happen often in the city of Miramar.

[Connie Piloto]

It was just kind of a sleepy little town, right? Most of the major crimes happened in Fort Lauderdale or Hollywood, the bigger cities. But it was a small community, not a lot. Not this type of crime that you would see there on a regular basis. So the moment they say multiple bodies found, we, you know, rushed out there.

[David Shoots]

Dozens of police vehicles line the street. News helicopters circle overhead, and Miramar Police Lt. Bill Guest gives the media its first official statement.

[Lieutenant Bill Guest]

Police department was notified that there was a problem at this location at about 5:30 this afternoon. We had units respond. We have discovered three deceased people inside the house. One of them is an infant that appears to be approximately two years old. It appears at this time that the cause of death was gunshots.

[David Shoots]

As news reports spread across the airwaves, neighbors begin turning up on the street expressing shock and fear. And the news reaches someone else, too. He's driving home from work and catches the broadcast on a radio news segment. George Altidore pulls his black pickup truck onto Crescent Drive and leaps out into the chaotic scene at his home.

[Connie Piloto]

I'm standing outside the home. Police are inside. We're waiting. This pickup truck, you know, moves in, comes into the neighborhood, parks nearby. Guy gets out. Now, I know looking back that it was Mr. Altidor.

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

This is your brother.

[David Shoots]

In law right here.

[Connie Piloto]

And he rushes out and into the. Trying to get into the home. And police talk to him that he was frantic, that he was just screaming, that police were trying to calm him down. It was just a father getting to the scene of a horrendous crime where his family's inside. And it was just really sad.

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

Oh, Lord. What I remember that he came up running like screaming like someone, like a family member would if they saw a crime scene in front of a. And all his police vehicles and crime.

[David Shoots]

Scene truck and media with news cameras on him. George is ushered away by officers into a neighbor's house. George tells police he was rushing home because he'd been unable to reach his family by phone from work and was worried. He said he called his brother in law earlier and asked him to go check on them. And he tells them something else, something that sends officers rushing back into the home.

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

Someone informed him, hey, no, we have three victims in the house. And it was all to George that said, what do you mean there's four people living in the house.

[David Shoots]

Where's Samantha? He asks them, where's my two year old daughter?

[Sergeant John Thompson]

And we go, okay, do you know where your child is? And he goes, she should be in the house. And we're like, okay. And then first thing to our mind was, oh, maybe she got out, maybe she ran. Maybe she's hiding in the bush, maybe she's hiding outside the house because, you know, she saw what happened and she took off running. That's my first thinking, let's hope she's still alive.

[Connie Piloto]

And then we start looking for the little girl. There's a search for this little girl inside. We know that there's a crime scene, but there's this hope, right? There's this hope for that this little girl is found, that she got away. And so to this day, I still think about that feeling, right? And I. And that hope.

[David Shoots]

It's a brief glimmer of hope that Samantha may have escaped. By then, Miramar detective Ron Palooza was on Crescent Drive and assigned to oversee the crime scene.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

So what I did Was I said, everybody out of my crime scene. When it came to crime scenes, you know, I was meticulous with those things. Get out. I don't want anybody in here. Kicked everybody out.

[David Shoots]

Paloozo takes a couple of other officers back into the house.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

Went through the house. First thing I saw was Sabrina in the little bassinet. You came in 1980. Oh, she's six weeks old. Okay, she was dead. Walked into the kitchen and on the floor with the grandmother. Now, I went to the living room and the wife was lying on the.

[David Shoots]

Floor, but he doesn't see Samantha. If she's in here, she must be hidden, maybe in a small space where only a child could fit. And there is one such space in the family room. Officer Gallardo had missed it earlier. That spot where the recliner and loveseat come together in the corner, there was.

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

A little, that little bit of space that I find out later that family members said that was her playing spot. She would hide there, play there, things like that. So it was such a tiny space. You know, I, when I looked in that area, I didn't look in that corner, but I looked at the wall and, you know, I didn't see anything there.

[David Shoots]

But it's there, right there beneath the message scribbled on the wall in that tiny space where Detective Paluzzo makes the final heartbreaking discovery.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

And I started looking and I found the baby, the two year old's in the corner there.

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

It was pretty shocking. It looked like the two year old was in the fetal position and you could see her skull, which was terrible.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

Absolutely terrible, you know, and I've seen a lot in my career, but that's probably the most horrendous, worst thing I could visualize to this day. I can close my eyes and see that crime scene.

[David Shoots]

The frantic but brief search for Samantha comes to an end. Lt. Guess makes the announcement to the media in front of the Altidore home.

[Lieutenant Bill Guest]

When the father, the man who lives here, had arrived home, he mentioned his three year old daughter. And we didn't have any information concerning the three year old daughter. Our officers then caring for her, being concerned for her safety, for her condition, have reentered the house and unfortunately they found the child also deceased. Appears to be also cause of gunshot wound behind the sofa in the residence.

[Connie Piloto]

So.

[Lieutenant Bill Guest]

So now we have a total of four.

[Connie Piloto]

We know we've got a mother who is dead inside. We have a grandmother also murdered. We've got a six week old baby in her bassinet. And then the hope of this two year Old that. That she had made it out alive. I think that's the thread that to this day, just pulls at me.

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

George Altidore coming home to a crime scene in which his wife, two children and mother in law are found murdered.

[David Shoots]

Three generations of one family are gone. Teresa Laverne, her daughter, Marie Carmel Eltador, and her two baby girls, Samantha and Sabrina. Inside the house where their bodies lie is a puzzling and contradictory crime scene. The message on the wall, the locked office door, the lack of any indication of a burglary or ransacking. Just four senseless murders. And not just murders. Overkill.

[Sergeant John Thompson]

Who does that?

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

Who goes to a house, no force entry, kills two children, kills two ladies. That's it.

[Connie Piloto]

Who did this? How did this happen? It felt very even back then. It felt very targeted because very quickly we found that there was not. No one broke into the home. Right. Nothing was really taken.

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

Why would you kill the children? There's no reason to kill the children. They were too little. They're not gonna be witnesses. You wouldn't kill the children. Why would you kill the. The mother and the grandmother? Wouldn't you kidnap them or call the one that stole the drugs? Hey, we have your family. We want the drugs. So all that stuff didn't make any sense to me.

[David Shoots]

The daunting task of making sense of it all will fall to Detective Ron Paluzzo. He's a seasoned investigator with years of experience, and he'll need it. Because the Altidor Massacre is not going to be an open and shut case. In fact, far from it. In highly personal crimes like this one seems to be, the place to start is usually right very close to home. So that's where Detective Palozzo begins. Well, easier said than done.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

We bring George into the police station. We talk to him for quite some time.

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

That was the longest interview that I ever did in my whole 35 years in law enforcement.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

And I'll be honest with you, I was not pleased with the way our.

[David Shoots]

Interview, the way it went sets the tone for an investigation that will drag on for nearly three decades. On the next episode of Felonious Florida, the Altidor Massacre.

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

Mommy was just one of a kind. She was loving.

[Connie Piloto]

Oh, my gosh.

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

Things was going well for her. The day of her wedding, I was expecting for her to be happier.

[Connie Piloto]

She was standing outside of the church, bawling.

[David Shoots]

That wedding was not a celebration.

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

I knew there was something wrong. I knew they were not in love. I could tell.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

We had several calls at her house where she was very paranoid and worried about things.

[Officer Edgar Gallardo]

Someone entered my sister's house and kill my mom, my sister and my little nieces.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

You think of any person that would do something? Absolutely not. George became a person of interest right away.

[David Shoots]

Thank you for listening to this episode of Felonious the Eltidore Massacre. If you have information about this crime or any others we've covered in this series, please call Crime Stoppers at 954493 TIPS. That's 954493 TIPS. You can read more about the Altidor murders and see photos and videos online@melonious florida.com and be sure to follow us on social media for updates. Felonious Florida is a production of the South Florida Sun Sentinel in association with Wondery. This season was reported and written by me, David Shoots. Shawn Pitts is our sound designer, editing by Robin Webb, original theme music composed by Brian Sanishin, cover art by John DeLuca and website design by Carbell Multimedia. Gretchen Day Bryant is our Executive editor. Felonious Florida was created by Lisa Arthur and Juana Ortega. Follow Felonious Florida Season 4 in the Wondery app. You can binge the entire series early and ad free right now by joining Wondery in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify.