Time of Death

Summary

Felonious Florida: The Altidor Massacre – Episode 4: Time of Death

Introduction

In Episode 4 of Felonious Florida: The Altidor Massacre, host David Shoots delves deep into the chilling quadruple homicide that shook Miramar, Florida, in 1997. This episode meticulously reconstructs the timeline of the murders, scrutinizes the evidence pointing towards George Altidore, and explores the inconsistencies in his alibi that have kept the case unsolved for nearly three decades. Through interviews, forensic analysis, and expert commentary, this episode unravels the complexities surrounding the Altidor family massacre.

Witness Testimony and Timeline Reconstruction

The episode opens with an interview between Detective Ron Paluzzo and Ann Elizabeth Tobias Johnston, a Jehovah's Witness who visited the Altidor home on the morning of April 30, 1997. Ann's testimony is pivotal in establishing the timeline of the murders.

"We go from door to door encouraging people to read the Bible." [02:22]

Ann recounts her visit to 8801 South Crescent Drive at 9:30 AM, where she and her partner found the house seemingly empty with no car in the driveway. Importantly, no one answered the door despite multiple knocks, raising suspicions about the family's whereabouts at that time.

Detective Paluzzo highlights the significance of this testimony in narrowing down the time of death:

"I'm now pretty certain that when Ann Johnston knocked on that door, Marie and her family were already dead inside." [03:08]

Crime Scene Details and Forensic Evidence

David Shoots outlines the initial findings at the crime scene, emphasizing the mysterious state of the kitchen and the victims' last activities.

The victims—Teresia, Marie, and their two young daughters, Samantha and Sabrina—were found in disarray. Teresia was discovered standing in front of the stove with three pots containing what appeared to be breakfast items. However, the messy pots contradicted the family's usual routine of maintaining a clean kitchen.

"Theresia was preparing breakfast, but there's something perplexing about the food and the scene." [06:17]

Autopsy reports revealed that Teresia, Marie, and Samantha had not eaten for at least four to five hours before their deaths, while Sabrina had been fed shortly before she was killed. This evidence supports the theory that the murders occurred long after dinner and before breakfast was prepared, placing the time of death between 7 AM and 9:30 AM.

George Altidore's Alibi and Inconsistencies

George Altidore, the primary suspect, presented an alibi that Detective Paluzzo found increasingly untenable. George claimed to have been fixing his friend Florence Daudin's air conditioner on the evening of the murders, returning home around 8:30 PM after a basketball game.

"When you came into the house... they were right there watching the game." [17:42]

However, discrepancies arose when George described the morning routine. He stated that he prepared his lunch using leftovers from the previous night’s dinner, which clashed with the messy pots found on the stove the next day. Additionally, George admitted to having sex with his wife, despite medical advice to abstain postpartum, contradicting his attorney’s prior statements.

"I had sex with my wife either the previous night or that morning before she was murdered." [23:58]

Further suspicion was cast when Detective Paluzzo discovered that the family's Lexus was inoperable due to a missing electrical relay module—the very component George provided to the police, suggesting his involvement in disabling the car.

"So he must have taken it out." [29:42]

Polygraph Test and Suspect Status

As the investigation progressed, George submitted to a polygraph examination. The results were telling:

"George Altidore was deceptive in his answers to those three questions." [33:22]

He lied when asked if he was the murderer, knew who the murderer was, and if he had ever considered hurting a family member. These deceptive responses further solidified George's position as the prime suspect in the eyes of the investigators.

Funeral Events and Public Reaction

The community's grief was palpable during the funerals of Marie, Samantha, Sabrina, and later Teresia in Haiti. George attended the funerals, appearing secluded and distant, which raised additional eyebrows.

"People were lined up outside... can we grieve in peace because there were so many people there." [34:12]

Alain Laverne, Marie's brother, delivered a heartfelt eulogy emphasizing divine justice:

"God knows all, God sees all. He brings all things to justice." [35:31]

Ongoing Investigation and Future Directions

Despite the mounting evidence against George, the case remained unsolved for years. It wasn’t until cold case detectives revisited the investigation that new leads began to surface, including the mysterious disappearance of two puppies from the Altidor household, initially overlooked details that could have provided crucial insights.

Detective Paluzzo reflects on the challenges of determining a precise time of death:

"Determining a time of death isn't as easy as it looks in movies and TV shows." [30:39]

The episode concludes with George ceasing all cooperation with investigators following his negative polygraph results and legal counsel advisement, leaving the case in prolonged limbo.

Conclusion

Episode 4 of Felonious Florida: The Altidor Massacre offers a comprehensive examination of the evidence and testimonies that have long implicated George Altidore in the brutal murders of his family. By meticulously piecing together witness accounts, forensic data, and investigative findings, the episode paints a compelling narrative that underscores the complexities of solving such a deeply personal and enigmatic crime. As Season 5 approaches, listeners are left eager to uncover whether new advancements will finally bring justice to the Altidor family.

Notable Quotes

• "We go from door to door encouraging people to read the Bible." – Ann Johnston [02:22]
• "I'm now pretty certain that when Ann Johnston knocked on that door, Marie and her family were already dead inside." – Detective Ron Paluzzo [03:08]
• "Theresia was preparing breakfast, but there's something perplexing about the food and the scene." – David Shoots [06:17]
• "I had sex with my wife either the previous night or that morning before she was murdered." – George Altidore [23:58]
• "George Altidore was deceptive in his answers to those three questions." – David Shoots [33:22]

Upcoming Episode

Stay tuned for the next installment of Felonious Florida: The Altidor Massacre, where Detective Paluzzo continues his relentless pursuit of the truth behind the unsolved murders, uncovering new evidence and overlooked details that could be the key to finally resolving this decades-old case.

Transcript

[David Shoots]

Summer fun goes great with family freedom from T Mobile. We'll pay off four phones up to $3200 and give you four free phones, all on America's largest 5G network. Visit your local T Mobile location or learn more@t mobile.com familyfreedom. Up to $800 per line via virtual prepaid card typically takes 15 days. Free phones via 24 monthly bill credits with finance agreement eg Apple iPhone 16 128GB8 2,999 eligible trade in eg iPhone 11 Pro for well qualified credits end and balance due if you pay off early or cancel contact T Mobile.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

You say you'll never join the Navy.

[David Shoots]

That you'd never track storms brewing in.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

The Atlantic and skydiving could never be part of your commute.

[David Shoots]

You'd never climb Mount Fuji on a.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

Port visit or fly so fast you break the sound barrier. Joining the Navy sounds crazy. Saying never actually is. Start your [e-mail] America's Navy forged by.

[David Shoots]

The Sea 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]

Can you please state your full name?

[David Shoots]

Ann Elizabeth Tobias Johnston Detective Ron Palozzo is interviewing Ann Johnston about the 1997 Altidore quadruple homic. She's a witness not to the murders themselves, but to the chronology of events.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

It's my understanding on April 30, 1997, you, along with several other people were in the area of the Knolls in the city of Miramar. April 30th. Was that Wednesday? Yes ma', am. Yes, April 39th, May. I was in that.

[David Shoots]

The Altidore home is in the Knowles, a middle class suburban neighborhood southwest of Fort Lauderdale. On that Wednesday, the day of the murders, the streets around the Altidor home were quiet and mostly empty. Mostly. Detective Paluzzo had learned that there were people with notepads and Bibles going door to door on Crescent Drive that morning. Ann Johnston was one of them. Around mid morning she and a partner walked up the Altidor driveway and knocked on the front door.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

Can you tell me why you were in that area? I'm Jehovah's Witnesses and we were servicing the area, knocking on doors. We go from door to door encouraging people to read the Bible. Do you recall going to a home at 8801 South Crescent Drive? Yes, I do.

[David Shoots]

8801 South Crescent Drive was the Altidor home. The recording of the interview is poor quality, so listen closely as Ann describes What she does next?

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

Went up the walkway, knocked on the door. I usually knock twice. If I don't get an answer the first time, we wait a while. And I knocked a second time and got no answer. And I do remember the house, and there was no car in the driveway. So we left and I parked and I was home.

[David Shoots]

This is a crucial revelation. George Altidore told police he left for work about 7am his murdered family was discovered at about 5pm a full 10 hours later. That's a gap that Detective Peluzzo needs to close. Ann Johnston, the Jehovah's Witness, would help do that.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

Did you notice if someone came to the window and looked and was checking, but was knocking? Assuming somebody was home and you knocked on the door and they looked out and they wouldn't let you in, would you indicate on your watch this way that someone's at home? And usually if they look through the window, they nod and they're not interested, so we don't mark them at all.

[David Shoots]

Peluzzo knows that on other recent occasions, when someone knocked at her door, Marie Altidore had pulled back the curtain on her front window to see who was there. When Ann knocked, no one looked out. And she's certain of the details, including the time, because she, like other Jehovah's Witnesses, keeps a detailed log of of every door she knocks on. According to that log, she went to the altidor home at 9:30 in the morning. Detective Paluzzo now has no doubt that when Ann Johnston knocked on that door, Marie and her family were already dead inside. 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 Shoots in every crime, time isn't just a detail, it's key. And that's never been more true than in the Altidor massacre. Time would become a thread that was woven through nearly every aspect of the investigation. When were Theresa, Laverne, Marie Altidore and Marie's baby daughters, Samantha and Sabrina, brutally slain? Who would have had time to commit four horrific killings? In this episode, Detectives rewind the clock to piece together a timeline of the Eltador massacre. This is episode four, time of death. Detective Ron Peluso had learned from the statements of the Jehovah's Witnesses that the Altidore massacre happened before 9:30am that left two possibilities. One, the murders took place between 7am when George Altador left for work, at 9:30am when Ann Johnston knocked on his front door. Or two, the family was killed before 7am which means George would have been home. Although clues at the crime scene were scarce, there were some that supported a conclusion that the victims were killed earlier than 7am not later. The most obvious clue was the clothing that Marie and her mother, Teresia, were wearing.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

Marie was still, like, in a nightgown. She had a black nightgown on. The grandmother was either cleaning up that stove or starting to warm something up for, you know, for breakfast or whatever.

[David Shoots]

Teresa was also wearing typical morning clothes as she worked in the kitchen. It didn't appear either of them had started getting ready for the day. Yet. It also seemed that Teresi was preparing breakfast. I said seemed because there's something perplexing about the food and the scene in the kitchen where Teresi was attacked and killed. In fact, it's still about as much of a mystery today as it was back in 1997. At the moment she was attacked, Teresi was standing in front of the stove, which had three pots on it. One contained sliced green plantain submerged in water. Another contained pieces of meat, maybe chicken or pork. The third had some kind of thick red sauce. It could have been rice and beans. Was that food for breakfast? Maybe it was for Teresia, who was visiting Florida from her rural village in Haiti. Boiled plantains wouldn't be an unusual Haitian breakfast, but meats would be unusual. I asked Marie's cousins about the food. They're also Haitian, and they told me it didn't sound like breakfast food, but they couldn't say for sure. When George was interviewed at Miramar police headquarters, Detective Peluso asked him about the previous night's dinner, and he described the meal similar to what was found on the stove the next day.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

What did you do to the dinner? It's rice. Rice and beans and chicken or ham.

[David Shoots]

So if the food in the pots was from dinner, Peluso thought perhaps Teresia had started warming it up at some point in the morning. The problem is there are photos of the pots in the case file, and they clearly show the sides and rims of the pots were heavily splattered with caked on food. They don't look like pots that had been scrubbed clean and were now being used to reheat the leftovers. It looked like the food had been cooked in those pots. Detective Pluso asked George if he noticed the pots after he finished eating dinner the night before.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

And the pots and pans that the dinner was cooked in, where were they? On top of the kitchen. On top of the kitchen. What was the kitchen? Well, you know, there dress on the stovetop.

[David Shoots]

He said they were on the stovetop, which is exactly where they were the next day when the bodies of George's family were discovered. And that's a big red flag to Marie's family. Her cousin Fabiola said that if the pots and pans were from the previous night's dinner, something was very off with the timeline. She said Marie's mother would never have gone to bed with unwashed pots and pans left out from dinner.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

My aunt would never go to bed with dishes in the sink and dinner not put away in the fridge. It just doesn't happen. Even if she's tired, if the kitchen is not clean and there's dishes in the sink, she washed them. And after she washed them, she left.

[David Shoots]

If Theresia and Marie were murdered after they went to bed that night, why had they broken their routine and left the kitchen such a mess? Detective Peluzzo hoped the autopsies would help fill in some of the blanks. Most importantly, what and when had the victims last eaten? The report from Assistant Medical Examiner Dr. Ariston Price showed that Teresia, Marie and two year old Samantha had nothing in their stomachs at the time they were killed. They hadn't eaten for at least five, four hours and probably longer. Six week old Sabrina had about 2 ounces of thick white liquid in her stomach that was consistent with baby formula. She had been fed shortly before she was killed. Those facts are consistent with the theory that the victims were killed long after dinner and before the adults ate breakfast. Investigators were now pretty certain that the murders happened overnight or in the early morning. The timeline was narrowing further. But Detective Peluso needed to know more about what was happening in the Altidor house leading up to the murders. So he went back to press George for details on the final hours he spent with his family. George revealed some intriguing information. First, that the Altidores had visitors the night before the murders. Ones who had some curious observations about Marie's behavior hours before she was killed. But perhaps more significantly, that evening, George had gone out to visit a friend. A woman who would become a big part of George's life after the killings. He told Detective Paloozo that he went to see her shortly after he ate his dinner.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

I had an appointment. You had an appointment? Yes. I had told a friend that I was going to look at her. When you say friend, what kind of friend is this? She used to go to church in the same church with me. Plus, you know, I fix AC several times. She had problem Every time she had problems, she used to call it Florence.

[David Shoots]

Florence Daudin. She lived just a mile from the Altidor home. George said he'd tried to fix her air conditioning but needed a part. He planned to return the next day to finish the repairs. The next day, tragedy struck, and George didn't make it. But it certainly wasn't the last time he saw Florence Daudin. Far from it. Something was off with Marie Altidor the night before she was murdered. Her cousin Carol Atias, knows because she was there. Carol would only agree to talk to me over the telephone, but in that call, she told me that she went to the Altador home with her husband, daughter, and two sons. In the early evening of Tuesday, April 29, Marie was holding something special for the Atias family.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

She had a couple of dogs. She had a mother that gave birth to a lot of dogs, and she was giving them away. I'm not sure how many she had, but I saw three. So she wanted me to come and pick one of them.

[David Shoots]

They were golden retriever puppies. The Atias kids picked one out and named her Penny. This wasn't the first time Carol had been at her cousin's home, but this visit was different from her previous ones. She knew Marie to be always polite and accommodating. But Carol didn't feel very welcomed by Marie or George on this visit.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

She didn't look like herself, like maybe she didn't want a visitor or something. Something was going on. I could sense it, but I don't know. We didn't take anything otherwise. You know, when you go to somebody's house, you could feel like they don't want you there.

[David Shoots]

While Carol talked with Marie and Theresia in the family room, George was elusive, mostly secluding himself in his home office.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

George only came out one time to say hi, and then my husband was talking to him.

[David Shoots]

Carol's husband, Michael, told detectives his conversation with George was brief. It was just small talk about dogs and air conditioners. But he said that George was also not behaving like himself.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

In this last meeting, you noticed the change in George? 50. 50. Not that happy compared to the last two times that we met before. How did you draw the conclusion? I could see, if not happy, even talking to me, I could see not 100% happy, you know?

[David Shoots]

Carol and Michael both sensed something was going on beneath the surface in the El Deador home. Carol told investigators that she remembered seeing three large pots on the stove and that one contained rice and beans. She also recalled the phone ringing about 30 minutes into her visit, Carol said Marie answered, then told George, these are the same people that called you before. Carol said her cousin told her it was the person who needed George to fix the air conditioner. And moments later, George excused himself and left to go to his friend Florence's home. The Attias family stayed a while longer, and it was close to sunset when Marie walked them to the door. The recording of Carol's statement to police is poor quality, but in it, Carol says that Marie had always walked her visitors out to their cars when they were leaving. But on the April 29 visit, Marie stopped at the door and wouldn't go outside. She was too underdressed to be seen out, she told Carol. But Carol was surprised. Marie was wearing a black dress and slippers that Carol thought were perfectly fine for taking the few steps out to the driveway. And it was no different from what she'd worn on previous visits. When she did go out to the driveway, Detective Paluzzo highlighted the encounter in notes he dictated into a cassette recorder shortly after the murders.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

On the day in question, Maria, out the door, appeared to be fully dressed, refused to come out of the residence to speak to her cousins. Maria Altidor stated she was undressed and could not leave the residence. The cousins felt this to felt this was extremely unusual and strange behavior.

[David Shoots]

Here's something else that's strange about the night the Atias family visited. You heard Carol tell me that the Altidores had at least three puppies. That's how many she and her family saw. They picked one out, put it in a box and left with it around 8pm the other two puppies remained at the Altidor house. But the next day, when the bodies of the victims were found, only the golden retriever mother was there. The puppies were nowhere to be found. And what's more, other than the statements by Carol and Michael Attias, there's nothing about the dogs in the Miramar Police Department's case file. It could have been an important trail to follow, but it wasn't until cold case detectives picked up the investigation more than a decade later that anyone would look into what happened to the puppies. By then, nobody could remember anything about them. What we know about the happenings in the Altidor house for the rest of the night and early the next morning comes from one source. George Altidore's statements to police after the murders. According to George, he was at Florence Daudin's house until around 8:30pm Attempting to fix her air conditioner. He remembers the time because on his drive home he was listening to a basketball game on the radio. The Miami Heat were taking on the Orlando Magic in the NBA Eastern Conference semifinals.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

When I get home, it was, you know, halftime of the basketball game that I remember now. When you came into the house, where was your family? They were right there watching the game.

[David Shoots]

They watched the game on TV until the Magic beat the Heat. Then George went to take a shower. Beyond that, George said it was just a typical night and he couldn't remember precise details such as what clothing were Marie and Theresia wearing. He could only describe what they would typically wear at night.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

I do not recall precisely because it wasn't something that I was taking time.

[David Shoots]

What time did the kids go to bed?

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

Again, I don't recall precisely who fed the baby. I don't recall who with him, but I believe it was my wife.

[David Shoots]

George explained that there was nothing remarkable about what they did and there was no reason to take mental notes of small details, no matter how important they may seem.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

Now I don't have notes that, but sometime after that probably will go turn off the light up front, turn the alarm on.

[David Shoots]

George said that at some point he armed the security system, then got his daughters to bed. Both girls slept in their parents room. Six week old Sabrina on their bed and two year old Samantha on a couch next to them. Marie's mother, Teresa slept in a guest bedroom on the other side of the house during her visit from Haiti. George said he laid in bed and watched TV as his family fell asleep. At some point he clicked off the TV and fell asleep around midnight. George slept, he said, until his alarm woke him dawn. Then he described an ordinary morning. But every minute of what George did before leaving for work that morning would be critical to the timeline. Detective Palooza was stitching together. And there were some inconsistencies that turned up the scrutiny on George. George Altidore was in the Miramar police headquarters answering questions about the morning of April 30, 1997, the day his wife, his two young children and his mother in law were murdered in his home. Detective Ron Paloozzo was leading the questioning.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

So what time did you actually get out of bed? Sometime after six. Sometime after six. Was anyone else up at that point? Yeah, in my little building. The six week old was awake, you know, wanting food. How many? One. I don't remember if I wake her up but you know, if I'm going to work and I should take care of the baby, so. But you know, I think the baby probably I heat up the bottle and give it to her to give to the baby.

[David Shoots]

George said he warmed up Sabrina's formula in the microwave, then continued getting ready for work as Marie fed the baby.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

Did you have an opportunity to go into the kitchen to prepare your lunch? To prepare my lunch, yeah. With my mother in law, you know, at night, food always put that together for me. You know, whenever there is, you know, leftover food, put it at night and I'll leave it in the refrigerator. I'll take that out of the refrigerator, I'll heat it up for about three minutes and put it in the bag and I hang it on the door. And that morning I did that hanging it on the door, on the doorknob. So whenever I'm leaving the house, I can remember take it. And what did you have in that little container? What kind of food? Well, it's in food that we eat, which must have been rice and beans again and some chicken. And that was in the refrigerator. You said it was prepared by your mother in law? Yes.

[David Shoots]

George says his mother in law packed leftovers from dinner into the refrigerator the night before for George's lunch. That only furthers the mystery about the pots on the stove. Why would Theresia pack up leftovers but not clean up the pots? Then George told Detective Peluzzo he didn't even notice the pots on the stove.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

Now, when you got to the kitchen, were there any plates in the sink there? I didn't pay attention to that. Was there anything on the stove? Again, that I did not pay attention there. But we usually put the food in the refrigerator.

[David Shoots]

The thing is, George said he warmed up Sabrina's bottle and his lunch in the microwave. It's a small kitchen with only a tiny amount of counter space. And the microwave was on the counter directly to the left of the stove. It would be nearly impossible to overlook three large, messy pots right there in front of you. And for a family that always made a point to clean the kitchen after dinner, the mess should have stood out immediately. Something wasn't adding up. Next, George told Detective Paluzzo that at some point he went back into his bedroom where his wife had finished feeding the baby and was laying on the bed. George joined her.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

After she feed the baby, she went to bed and like I told you, I went back on her back on the bed, you know, and telling you that we were touching each other that morning. Yes. So you will be involved in. Yes, yes, yes.

[David Shoots]

But George denied that he had sex with his wife. After all, Marie's primary care physician told investigators that he had not given Marie permission to resume having sexual intercourse after giving birth just six weeks earlier. Yet the autopsy showed that she had semen in her. And a DNA test confirmed it was George's. He and Marie did have sex either the previous night or that morning before she was murdered, despite her doctor's order to abstain. Why had he left this detail out? And then George told Detective Peluso something else that was also inconsistent with the evidences in the house. Marie's maternity leave after Sybrina's birth was about to end and she was set to return to work that Monday. And her mother Teresia was returning to Haiti on Saturday. So the girls had to be registered for daycare. George said that before he left for work on the morning of April 30, he went into his home office and prepared some paperwork for the daycare center.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

My wife was supposed to be. I remember that my wife was supposed to go taking Samantha to the daycare that day. I spent little time looking for the paper inside my little document, you know, back there. I pulled all the paper that she will need. I leave them on top of the desk and I tell her that I leave there.

[David Shoots]

George always kept the door to his office locked.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

I remember checking that the key was there because I didn't want to go and to have the door locked. I checked in the bathroom. The key was inside that little pink candle light where the key was. I went inside the bedroom and told my wife that the paper inside the office.

[David Shoots]

So according to George, he expected that at some point during the day, Marie was going to get the paperwork from his locked office and drive to the daycare center in Miami. But there's one very big problem with that story. Marie's car was a gold colored Lexus that they kept in the garage. George told friends that he bought it for Marie and presented it to her at their wedding day in a big, big show in front of their guests. Well, it turns out he didn't actually buy it for her as everyone thought he leased it. But in any case, the Lexus that Marie was supposed to drive to the daycare center was in the garage that day as usual. But there's no way that Marie would have been able to drive it anywhere it had been disabled intentionally. The truth about the Lexus wouldn't become known until a couple of days after the murders. By then, the Altidor house had been scrubbed clean of any sign of the horror that went on there. That in itself was unusual in an unsolved mass murder such as this. Crime scenes are usually preserved for much longer. But when Maria's cousin Fabiola went to the house just before the funerals, she was stunned to find the Altidor house scrubbed down.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

My question is, why was the house cleaned so quickly? And Miramar police allowed it to happen. Why was. Why didn't it remain taped off? When my husband and I went to the house, you know, during the week, the house, there was someone there. They cleaned the entire house. This is a crime scene. You haven't gone to trial, you haven't done anything, and all the evidence has been cleaned up. Wasn't thinking along those lines. Now, years later, it's like, wait a minute. If you're supposed to keep it secured, why was it that they allowed a cleaning company to come and clean mommy's house so quickly after the murders?

[David Shoots]

Detective Beluzzo told me he was just as surprised when his captain told him the crime scene had been cleaned. Police leadership blamed the cost of keeping officers at the house around the clock. The cleaning crew was still at the house when Fabiola went there two days after the killings. A tow truck was coming to remove the Lexus. So they tried to start the car to back it out of the garage. It wouldn't start.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

The police didn't discover that. My husband did. And when we. He goes, hey. You know, he was just looking. Just looking at the car. And he was like, the fuse in the car is missing. And I was like, leave it alone. We have to call Palouso and let him know.

[David Shoots]

It wasn't actually a fuse, but very similar. It was an electrical relay module. This one controlled the car's starter. Special Agent Tony Panetta said he went over and confirmed the part was missing.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

The car was dead. We couldn't get it cranked up. The man came over to pick it up, and they couldn't crank it up. I went, why not? So I went in, and they had a module missing that controls the brains of the car. So if you take that off, the car won't start. Even if mommy wanted to leave, she would not have been able to leave the house that night.

[David Shoots]

Investigators contacted George to ask if he knew anything about the missing module.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

And George said, oh, the police must have took the brain. And, well, he comes with the module. He said, I bought this module, called it. I called Lexus, Toyota. No, that's factory. That's not a replacement module.

[David Shoots]

In other words, the module that George brought to Detective Peluso was the original module that came with the Lexus.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

So he must have taken it out.

[David Shoots]

George had told detectives that his wife, Marie, was planning to drive to the daycare center the day she was murdered. He even signed the registration documents, left them on the desk inside his locked home office, and made sure Marie had a key to unlock that door. All the while knowing that Marie's Lexus wouldn't have even started because George had the car's starter module. As the timeline of the murders tightened and cracks in George's story began to show, suspicion around him continued to mount, Detective Paluzzo needed to narrow down the timeline even further. So he turned once again to the autopsy report. But a critical detail was noticeably absent. A time of death for any of the four victims. Detective Peluso told me that's not uncommon. Determining a time of death isn't as easy as it looks in movies and TV shows.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

You know, this is not. Remember Quincy, the TV show Quincy? Okay, you know, it died at 12:02am and blah, blah, blah. You know, he was like the expert.

[David Shoots]

Even for experts, the real science isn't nearly that exact.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

The medical examiner basically will give you one of the last time they were seen alive, one of the last time they were dead. That's your time of death.

[David Shoots]

So a time of death wasn't part of the original report. But Detective Beluzzo asked Dr. Price for an unofficial opinion. Is it possible the Altidore family was murdered before 7am?

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

So I'm talking to them and I told myself, listen, okay, you want to give me anything officially? I said, I believe between 5:36 is around that time. It's possible is what they said. It's possible.

[David Shoots]

And that punched a very big hole in George's alibi that he was at work at the time of the murders. Detectives were beginning to doubt some of Georgia's statements. How truthful was he being? There was one way to gain some insight. And a week after the murders, detectives asked George if he would voluntarily submit to a polygraph examination. George consulted with his brother in law, Rochenar Serafin, then agreed to the polygraph. George told detectives he was willing to do anything to help the case. So on May 6, he took the lie detector test at Miramar Police headquarters. He answered a series of questions, most of them basic control questions, to establish a baseline for measuring his reactions. The examiner determined that George had reactions to two of the four relevant questions. Are you the one who killed your family? No. Do you know who killed your family? No. And he had a reaction to one of the control questions that was close to the subject of his family's murders. Have you ever considered hurting someone in Your family? No. The examiner consulted with three other experts who all agreed with his conclusion. George Altidore was deceptive in his answers to those three questions. Three days after George's polygraph examination, Saturday, May 10, a funeral was held for Marie Carmel Laverne Altidore and her and Georgia's two daughters, Samantha and Sabrina. It was held at New Way Fellowship Baptist Church in the city of Miami Gardens. Hundreds turned out to file past two open pearl white caskets. Two year old Samantha was in one.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

And then in Mommy's casket. If you were from, if you were looking at her casket from a distance, it looked like she was in her casket with a baby doll. But as you got closer, you realize that was Sabrina in her hand. Because she was so tiny, they didn't have a casket small enough for her size. So they had to put her and buried her in her mother's arms. And it really looked like she was holding a baby doll for comfort while she laid in her casket. Wow, that was. I felt like I was having an out of body experience that day. That's something that stayed. I can see it now. That's something that never leave you.

[David Shoots]

Mourners stretched their hands to heaven and wailed as Marie and her girls were remembered.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

People were lined up outside. There were a lot of people. I remember seeing a lot of people. I, I remember saying, can we grieve in peace because there were so many people there. It was never seen anything like that in my life.

[David Shoots]

Before the crowd filed out to attend the burial, Marie's brother Alain Laverne spoke in both English and Creole. He said, God knows all, God sees all. He brings all things to justice. In the front row on the Altidore side of the church sat George Altidore. His family was huddled around him and so was a woman that Marie's family didn't recognize until much later, Florence Daudin. On May 30, three weeks after the funeral for Marie and the girls, Theresia Laverne was laid to rest in a separate funeral in Tamonde, Haiti. Artie Friedberg was a reporter for the South Florida Sun Sentinel and traveled there for the service. He said it wasn't a somber event.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

It was upbeat. It was. I don't remember the songs that were sung, but they were sung with gusto.

[David Shoots]

And it was sort of a celebration more.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

And that's good, I think celebration rather than a somber event. I mean, there was a liturgy, but not much in the way of religion was involved. It was more just talking.

[David Shoots]

The whole town turned out and Many people traveled long distances to honor and mourn the woman, who was a revered matriarch to the town of Tamond. George, who had been in seclusion since the murders, also made the trip to his mother in law's funeral, then returned to Miami the same day. News coverage of the funerals included updates on the investigation. Detectives had few leads, the report said, and no suspects. But that was about to change. Ten days after Theresia Laverne's funeral in Haiti, Miramar police submitted a request for financial assistance from the state of Florida. Overtime expenses related to the Altidor case were stacking up, and the state sets aside money to subsidize local police agencies that are strained by major violent crimes. The application was a standard justification for funding, but it also contained a significant revelation. The last paragraph caught the attention of the press. Connie Pellotto had been covering the murders for the Miami Herald.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

I heard that they had applied for a grant from the, from fdle, Florida Department of Law Enforcement. And they had to submit an application or go in front of a panel. And so I reached out to the FDLE and asked them for the application, and they faxed it over to the newspaper office.

[David Shoots]

The application said, quote, the collaborative team of investigators are confident that we are progressing in the right direction and that the perpetrator has been identified without providing a name. The police department had announced that they had a prime suspect.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

By then, Mr. Altidore had an attorney. So I talked to the attorney, and then the attorney is the one who said, yes, they, they believe that he is. If he isn't the suspect, he is one of these suspects. And, and we ran the story.

[David Shoots]

The headline in the Herald the next day read, miramar dad. A suspect in slayings. Officer Edgar Gallardo, the first to arrive on the scene of the murders on April 30, told me the news wasn't much of a surprise to him.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

Whatever Larry, through 28 years of police work, is, when you see the violence put on a family, it's usually a loved one. It's usually, you know, the husband or the boyfriend or something like that. So very quickly, at least me, and not only me, but everybody involved, he's primary suspect. He's definitely the guy who has to be looked at.

[David Shoots]

After the news broke, George's lawyers advised him to stop cooperating with the investigation. And George Altidore never again answered any questions about the murders of his entire family. On the next episode of Felonious Florida.

[Detective Ron Paluzzo]

The wall, that's the key issue here, is that wall. You have handwriting on the wall saying, I want my 100,000. You stole my drugs. If we can put him writing on that wall, we got him. When you request the writing from someone, they're going to disguise their writing as much as possible. Would you say George is a jealous type of person? Very jealous. George threatened to kill her. You said he had a gun? Yes. Was that a handgun? Yes, a handgun. And he had a.38 snub nose, which is five shots. He said if he killed me, nobody would know because she was afraid for her life.

[David Shoots]

Thank you for listening to this episode of Felonious Florida, the Eltador Massacre. If you have information about this crime or any others we've covered in this series, please call Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS. That's 954-493-TIPSIPS. 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 Florida Sun Sentinel in association with Wondery. This season was reported and written by me, David Shutes. Sean 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 Juan Ortega. Marketing is hard, but I'll tell you a little secret. It doesn't have to be. Let me point something out. You're listening to a podcast right now and it's great. You love the host. You seek it out and download it. You listen to it while driving, working out, cooking, even going to the bathroom. Podcasts are a pretty close companion. And this is a podcast ad. Did I get your attention? You can reach great listeners like yourself with podcast advertising from Libsyn Ads. Choose from hundreds of top podcasts offering host endorsements or run a pre produced ad like this one across thousands of shows. To reach your target audience in their favorite podcasts with Libsyn ads, go to Libsynads.com that's L I B S Y N ads.com today.