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Details trickle out in slayings

The couple's missing SUV is found, but authorities say little about the case.

By JONATHAN ABEL
Published October 31, 2006

	Evelyn and Patrick DePalma, shown in this family photo, were found slain Sunday.
[Photos: Hernando County Sheriff's Office]

ADVERTISEMENT This is a suspicious person seen in the Masarkytown area, on Oct. 23. If you have seen this person, notify Detective Jeff Swartz at 352-754-6830.

MASARYKTOWN - Again on Monday, the crime scene tape and wire cattle fences kept the world back from the stucco house where Evelyn and Patrick DePalma Sr. were killed.

Deputies combed through the fields and bushes of the DePalmas' property, just north of County Line Road and west of U.S. 41.

Detectives wearing T-shirts waded through the tall grass on the south side of the property.

Monday morning, they found the green Kia SUV that belonged to the couple. Deputies would not say where the vehicle was discovered, except that it was nearby.

Investigators did reveal that the couple was not shot to death as some neighbors had speculated, but the nature of the slayings - and the motive - were not released.

The last time the elderly couple was seen was about 5 p.m. Saturday at St. Mary's Church on U.S. 41.

Evelyn and Patrick DePalma attended Mass, lingered to talk with another couple, and then headed home, according to Father James Alfred Bucaria, who had known them for 15 years.

"They were very ordinary, gentle, quiet people, very devoted to one another," he said. "When they left church Saturday afternoon, they weren't aware this would be their last Mass."

Bucaria said Evelyn DePalma, 79, had suffered health problems recently, and that Patrick DePalma, 84, couldn't have been more solicitous.

Patrick DePalma was blind in one eye. He was a veteran. He and Evelyn had one son, Patrick DePalma Jr., and a number of grandchildren who lived locally. Funeral plans were being set for St. Mary's Church.

"They just basically stayed to themselves," said June Weber, 46, who lives nearby on Korbus Road.

She speculated about the killer or killers: "It had to have been somebody that knew they didn't have any dogs or guns."

Husband Richard Weber, 51, said this is a neighborhood people move to because they don't want to have neighbors.

He and his wife keep dogs for protection and fire guns in the back yard.

"I think it's an evil month," June Weber said. "I think there are a lot of evil people in this little neighborhood."

The double slaying wasn't discovered until 2:20 Sunday afternoon. Relatives of the DePalmas asked the police to check in on them because they hadn't heard from them in awhile.

On Monday, the neighbors were scarce, staying in their homes or leaving for the day to avoid the commotion of news vans and helicopters.

And in the shade, beneath the Spanish moss at the edge of the DePalmas' property, everything looked peaceful.

Jonathan Abel can be reached at jabel@sptimes.com or 352 754-6114.

[Last modified October 30, 2006, 23:25:42]