Police seek woman charged in shooting

Accused of firing at the house of a former business partner, she missed a July court date.

By TAMARA EL-KHOURY, Times Staff Writer
Published August 16, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [Special to the Times] Courtenay Savage, 32, has been wanted since she missed a court hearing on July 20, authorities say.

A woman arrested after a surveillance camera captured her shooting at a house with six children inside has vanished, authorities say.

Now an arrest warrant has been issued for Courtenay H. Savage, and the woman who lives at the house she is charged with shooting at is worried.

"As far as her location, I only wish I knew," Christina Lodrini said Wednesday. "We're nervous. Definitely."

Savage, 32, has been wanted since she missed a court hearing on July 20, authorities say.

She worked as a Tampa police reserve officer from 2000 to 2003 and as a Hillsborough County detention deputy in 1998.

Pinellas officials say the shooting last September stems from a dispute over an aromatherapy business she and Lodrini ran together.

The two had known each other for eight years and Savage thought Lodrini owed her money "due to a broken-down business relationship," prosecutor Lydia Wardell said in court last month.

Twice in three months, authorities say, someone fired shots into Lodrini's home, so she bought a $25 surveillance camera at Wal-Mart and installed it outside her home.

About 4 a.m. Sept. 7, the camera captured images of Savage pulling up to the house in a rented silver SUV, getting out and firing six rounds from a .357-caliber handgun, authorities say.

The shots hit a van, a porch light, a front bedroom window and a mirror over a baby's crib, shattering the mirror and causing a cut to the infant in the crib. In all, there were two adults and six children in the home at the time.

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office set up surveillance on Savage's home, Wardell told the court, and Lodrini arranged a meeting with Savage at a Perkins restaurant, saying she was going to give Savage $2,000 in cash. There, Savage was arrested and had to be subdued with a Taser.

In the car, investigators found throwing knives, a police raid vest and a 9 mm Glock in her purse that the Tampa Police Department had issued to Savage's husband, Officer David L. Savage. The Savages were divorced in May, and she had her maiden name, Courtenay White restored, according to court records.

Savage faces eight counts of attempted second-degree murder. She was out on $115,500 bail when she missed her court hearing last month.

Times staff writer Molly Moorhead and Demorris A. Lee contributed to this report. Tamara El-Khoury can be reached at tel-khoury@sptimes.com or 727 445-4181.

TO HELP

Anyone with information on Courtenay Savage's whereabouts is asked to contact the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office at (727) 582-6200 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-873-8477.

[Last modified August 15, 2007, 23:24:49]