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'Person of interest' named in slaying case
Investigators say the man they questioned lived at the Clearwater address where the victim was violently beaten.
By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
Published March 22, 2005
TAMPA - Tampa police named a "person of interest" Monday in their investigation of a 26-year-old man found dead along the Courtney Campbell Parkway on March 15.
Homicide detectives spent the evening talking to Dominic A. Coretto, 35, who they say was living at a Clearwater address where Larry Paul Sanders II was violently beaten in the head.
"We do not anticipate arresting him tonight," Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said. "We did question him, and it helped out our investigation. We're following some leads."
Investigators have found evidence to show that Sanders was attacked at 226 N Mars Ave. in Clearwater and then dumped in Tampa near some rocks along the Courtney Campbell's utility road, McElroy said. She said detectives weren't comfortable releasing anything more about the relationship between Coretto and Sanders.
A couple strolling along the road found Sanders' body. The couple ran about a quarter-mile to the boat docks and told city workers about the body.
Detectives are looking for the car Sanders drove, a black two-door 1994 Toyota Celica with Florida tag 094UBD. It is registered to his mother.
"We feel at this point it's critical to find the victim's car," McElroy said.
Sanders was last seen alive in Clearwater, McElroy said. He lived in Clearwater with his mother.
State law enforcement records show that in 1997 Clearwater police charged Sanders with possession and sale of cocaine. He pleaded no contest, and the court withheld a finding of guilt.
Coretto has no criminal history in Florida, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. He moved to Pinellas County after spending several years in Vermont and Connecticut, records show.
He is listed in corporate records as president of Coretto & Morgan Inc., a Clearwater company based at 1846 Union St.
[Last modified March 22, 2005, 01:21:16]
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