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NORA KOCHDetectives are still groping for clues that could lead to a suspect, or even a motive.
PALM HARBOR - A year has passed since David J. Lunz was found killed inside his home in the sedate Sunshine Estates near Lake Tarpon.
Neighbors are still reminded of the crime scene on Parkway Place last March. The new homeowners found out just this month about the slaying in the home they bought at an estate sale last fall. And detectives are still hoping for a break in the case.
So far, they have talked to more than 100 people; considered, and rejected, a man accused in two other slayings as a suspect; and taken DNA samples from at least one neighbor.
But this slaying, a rare occurrence in North Pinellas, has remained a mystery.
Lunz, 56, was found dead at about 8:30 on a Saturday evening after neighbors became concerned about newspapers piling up in his driveway. He died of trauma to his upper body, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, which has released scant details about the case, one of 11 open homicides the Sheriff's Office is investigating.
"Unfortunately, we have no leads whatsoever on that case," sheriff's Lt. Steve Shipman said.
The circumstances of Lunz's death are sketchy, Shipman said. There was no forced entry into the house. Nothing appeared to have been stolen. An extensive background check didn't find anything that would indicate a possible motive. And there were no fingerprints at the scene.
Theoretically, whoever killed David Lunz knew him and was invited into the house, Shipman said.
Investigators have interviewed at least 106 people who might have information. They've talked with law enforcement agencies around the country and ruled out many possibilities, including William Deparvine, accused of a series of slayings.
One reason detectives considered Deparvine was that Lunz, like the Tierra Verde couple that Deparvine is accused of killing, had a vehicle for sale. But Deparvine was in a correctional facility in Zephyrhills at the time of Lunz's death.
"It's puzzling," Shipman said. "Most times people are not just killed for no reason."
While the Sheriff's Office continues to investigate, neighbors are still wondering.
"I'd like to know what happened," said Dottie Remsey, who has lived in an adjacent home for 24 years. "We don't want a killer on the streets. It's up to them to find out who done it."
Two houses down, on the other side of Lunz's former home, Joanne Spicer and Frank Huggett sometimes stay up at night, wondering what happened.
They watched as the bloodied carpet was removed from the house, and at a sale of Lunz's estate in August, the couple picked up a photo album that chronicled Lunz's life.
"Just in case someone from the family ever comes by, asking questions," Huggett said.
Lunz's death still weighs heavy on their minds.
"Every time you walk outside, you can't help but think about it," Spicer said.
And there have been other reminders.
Investigators have come to their home at least three times in the past year for questioning. Two weeks ago, Huggett said he was asked to give a DNA sample so investigators could eliminate him as a suspect.
Shipman wouldn't say how many such samples investigators have collected during their investigation, saying only that it's a routine step and not necessarily an indication that any one person is a suspect. Often, he said, when someone is a suspect, investigators will try to watch them and get a DNA sample without their knowledge.
In the case of Deparvine, investigators followed him and got his DNA from an ice cream spoon he threw in a shopping mall trash can.
Lunz and his wife, Laura, moved to Palm Harbor from upstate New York in 1998, after Laura was diagnosed with breast cancer. In February 2003, Laura Lunz died. David Lunz, who had devotedly cared for her in the months leading up to her death, became very sad, said his best friend Dennis Budziszewski, who still lives outside Buffalo, N.Y.
In Palm Harbor, the couple kept to themselves, but were friendly neighbors. David Lunz always offered to help neighbors with outside chores and would stop for regular chats.
David Lunz was found dead 31 days after his wife's death.
When his home was sold in an estate sale, Shelly Denardi and her husband, Rick Henningsen, thought they had found a great deal. They bought the home for about $50,000 less than the list prices for others in the neighborhood and moved into the one-story brick house in September.
Parts of a bathroom and the master bedroom were covered in a sooty black powder that amplified fingerprints, Denardi said.
"When we moved in, I thought it was a little weird - new carpet, fresh paint," Denardi said. The couple joked that the black dust was fingerprint powder. "I said, why would that be there?"
At the purchase, Denardi and Henningsen were told the previous owner had died.
Last week, they found out when their neighbor, Frank Huggett, mentioned that a year had passed since Lunz's mysterious death, and told their daughter Jenna, 19, about the DNA swab he was asked to submit.
Although her husband doesn't feel the same way, Denardi said knowing about the slaying might have changed her mind about buying the house: "It's just freaky to me that someone was killed here."
- Nora Koch can be reached at nkoch@sptimes.com or 727 771-4304.