venetian drive - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-29T08:48:27Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/venetian+driveDelray Beach: Man charged with killing wife, 80, in dismemberment casehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/delray-beach-man-charged-with-killing-wife-80-in-dismemberment-ca2023-08-03T21:21:55.000Z2023-08-03T21:21:55.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p><strong> By Rich Pollack</strong></p>
<p>A 78-year-old Delray Beach man has been charged with fatally shooting his 80-year-old wife last month and then placing pieces of her dismembered body into suitcases and bags before pushing them into the Intracoastal Waterway close to his Venetian Drive home.</p>
<p>In court documents, Delray Beach detectives say evidence led them to believe that William Lowe Jr. killed his wife, Aydil Barbosa Fontes with a single gunshot behind her ear and then used a chainsaw to carve up her body.</p>
<p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}12176319278,RESIZE_180x180{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}12176319278,RESIZE_180x180{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="12176319278?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="95" /></a><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}12176319855,RESIZE_180x180{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}12176319855,RESIZE_180x180{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="12176319855?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="99" /></a>In a charging document released Thursday after Lowe made an initial court appearance, investigators wrote that witnesses had seen him several times at a boat dock near where two of the suitcases were found.</p>
<p>Video surveillance also indicated that someone matching Lowe’s description was seen in the area climbing down a dock ladder carrying a Cheesecake Factory bag, which he no longer held after climbing back up the ladder.</p>
<p>In addition, investigators armed with a search warrant found evidence of blood splatters throughout the apartment Lowe shared with his wife. A chainsaw was later located in a storage unit owned by Lowe. Police also found a 9mm firearm in the apartment.</p>
<p>When detectives asked Lowe where his wife was, he told them she was in Brazil, they wrote in the court records.</p>
<p>During a news conference soon after Lowe appeared in court Aug. 3, lead detective Mike Liberta said that investigators have not determined a motive for the homicide, nor did they receive any information from Lowe, who requested an attorney soon after being charged.</p>
<p>“The defendant obtained counsel and did not give a statement,” Liberta said.</p>
<p>While investigators had been asking the community for help in identifying the woman whose body was found in suitcases and bags, Liberta said they focused on Lowe as a suspect first, before they were able to identify Barbosa Fontes as the victim.</p>
<p>Liberta and Police Chief Russ Mager said that information from residents who lived near where two of the suitcases were first discovered was critical to them solving the homicide.</p>
<p>“We want to recognize and thank the community for the assistance in providing vital information that was greatly beneficial in the outcome of this investigation,” Mager said.</p>
<p>Two days after the bags were found, witnesses told police that they saw a man in his 50s or 60s looking at the suitcases in the Intracoastal Waterway five or six times over a three-day period. Other witnesses later told investigators they saw a man with a similar description using a brush on a metal pole trying to push something in the water.</p>
<p>Detectives said they first identified Lowe as a possible suspect after one of the investigators took a photo of a tag from a car that had been seen in the area near where the bags were found. The tag came back to Lowe and to his address, which was a tenth of a mile from where two suitcases were found.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}12176320481,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}12176320481,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="12176320481?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="710" /></a> The condo building at 315 Venetian Drive in coastal Delray Beach where police say the murder took place. <strong>Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star</strong></em></p>
<p>Lowe was brought to the police department to give a DNA sample, while at the same time investigators armed with a warrant searched his home. When Lowe was done, he returned home while police were still doing their search. He tried to get into the home through a back window but was stopped by investigators. He told them he wanted to get his phone and the key to his storage locker, the same locker where the chainsaw would later be found.</p>
<p>Knowing that Lowe and Barbosa Fontes shared the apartment and that she hadn’t been seen by neighbors for weeks, investigators were able to then confirm her identity using dental records and DNA.</p>
<p>Liberta, who has been with the Delray Beach Police Department for 10 years and has been a detective for four years, said the nature of the crime — with the victim’s body dismembered — made this case particularly disturbing.</p>
<p>“This is probably the worst I’ve seen,” he said.</p>
<p>Lowe has been charged with first degree murder and abuse of a dead body and was being held without bond in the Palm Beach County Jail.</p>
<p> </p></div>Delray Beach: Atlantic Avenue paver project put on hold until Mayhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/delray-beach-atlantic-avenue-paver-project-put-on-hold-until-may2018-11-28T17:50:06.000Z2018-11-28T17:50:06.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Jane Smith</strong><br /> <br />Construction work to replace the pavers in four barrier island crosswalks on East Atlantic Avenue has stopped for the season and will resume in May, according to a Delray Beach department head.<br /> The four crosswalks at the intersections of Gleason Street and Venetian Drive with East Atlantic have reopened, Susan Goebel-Canning, Delray Beach public works director, wrote in mid-November.<br /> “During the project, we identified a water main leak,” Goebel-Canning wrote. “The leak needed to be addressed prior to construction of the crosswalk, so it appeared that construction ceased.” <br /> The project was on a tight schedule with an anticipated Dec. 3 completion date. Fixing the water main leak pushed the crosswalk work into the holiday season, according to Goebel-Canning.<br /> “As a result, two-thirds of the project was completed before we needed to open the road again,” Goebel-Canning wrote. “You will see fresh asphalt, which allowed the road to be open.”<br /> Some East Atlantic Avenue merchants had complained to the City Commission about the road work during high season.<br />Sales were off about 30 percent compared with the same period last year at C. Orrico Delray Beach, said store manager Sue Vidulich.<br />“We were absolutely affected,” she said. “Customers could not turn left onto Seabreeze Avenue to enter our parking lot. They had to drive down Atlantic and make a U-turn. Guests at the Seagate Hotel could not find a safe place to cross Atlantic to get to our store.”<br />Vidulich is happy the construction ended in time for the Holiday Beachside Stroll on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The women’s clothing boutique, which sells Lilly Pulitzer fashions, planned to make it a festive day.<br /> The Florida Department of Transportation owns Atlantic Avenue on the barrier island. The crosswalk pavers have shifted, creating an uneven surface, and need to be replaced. <br /> FDOT does not permit the use of pavers in its streets, although the department did allow the pavers at the time the crosswalks were installed about 10 years ago, said Barbara Kelleher, FDOT spokeswoman.<br /> Under FDOT rules, cities can use stamped concrete, which looks like pavers.<br /> The city’s Community Redevelopment Agency will cover the $329,965 cost to R&D Paving LLC of West Palm Beach for the upgrade.</p></div>Delray Beach: Crosswalk work begins on Atlantic Avenue intersectionshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/delray-beach-crosswalk-work-begins-on-atlantic-avenue-intersectio2018-10-03T15:39:11.000Z2018-10-03T15:39:11.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Jane Smith</strong><br /> <br />Work is underway at two Delray Beach barrier island intersections to replace the crosswalk pavers. <br />The replacement work at the Atlantic Avenue intersections at Gleason Street and at Venetian Drive will be finished Dec. 3, said Isaac Kovner, city engineer and project manager.<br /> The Florida Department of Transportation owns Atlantic Avenue on the barrier island, Kovner said. The pavers are worn and need to be replaced, but FDOT no longer allows pavers. The department lets cities use stamped concrete, which can look like pavers, Kovner said. <br /> But FDOT pays only for the basics and considers stamped concrete an upgrade, Kovner said. That’s why the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency has agreed to cover the $329,965 cost to R&D Paving LLC of West Palm Beach. <br /> The Beach Property Owners’ Association did not push for the pavers to be replaced, said Andy Katz, a trustee of the group. “We did alert our members about the work,” he said.<br /> The pavers will be replaced in two phases, Kovner said, first in the inner two lanes of Atlantic at the Gleason Street and Venetian Drive intersections, then in the outside lanes.<br /> That way, traffic will keep moving on Atlantic Avenue, Kovner said.<br /> All disturbed areas will be restored before the project ends.<br /> For questions or concerns about the project, Kovner can be reached at 243-7341.</p></div>