Police tight-lipped about Florida murders

Donny Pichosky and Rochelle Wise

Hallandale Beach Police are still not releasing details about the Jan. 9 murder of Toronto snowbirds Donny Pichosky and Rochelle Wise, but they met with residents of the couple’s condo complex Jan. 22 to reassure them there is no increased risk to them.

As well, Hallandale detectives plan to meet with Toronto police and the couple’s families here this Sunday and Monday to learn more about the victims’ lives, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Hallandale Beach police chief Dwayne Flournoy told the Sun-Sentinel that police believe providing details to the media would “severely hamper” their ability to solve the case.

In an online video accompanying the article, Flournoy expressed confidence that police would solve the case.

“I’m very encouraged with the evidence we’ve collected, the analysis of the evidence, and some of the theories that we have developed,” he told the paper.

Hallandale Beach mayor Joy Cooper called the crime “highly unusual” for the city, according to the paper.

Pichosky, 71, and Wise, 66, were found Jan. 10 by a concerned neighbour who had a key to their Venetian Park townhouse after they failed to show up for a planned lunch and didn’t answer repeated phone calls.

Wise was a preschool administrator at Bialik Hebrew Day School and a founding director of Crestwood Valley Day Camp.

Pichosky, her husband of four years, was a retired businessman who volunteered with seniors at Baycrest, and had spent at least 20 years wintering in Florida.