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Missing man's car found by Ohio troopers
By BRYAN GILMER © St. Petersburg Times, published February 12, 1999 TARPON SPRINGS -- Early Thursday, Ohio state troopers found the red 1985 Porsche 944 owned by Panormitis "Michael" Markonios, a hairstylist and fashion designer who has been missing from his home in Tarpon Springs since early this month. They did not find Markonios. But they arrested a man they found with the car. Tarpon Springs police said he has a tattoo of 666, a biblical symbol for evil. The 36-year-old Markonios had told friends a man he had begun spending time with had such a tattoo. Markonios' family and friends worry that something terrible may have happened. Markonios, of 602 N Grosse Ave., last showed up for work at Salon Kome in Manatee Village shopping center on S Pinellas Avenue on Feb. 2, his co-workers said. Markonios is gay and has suffered severe bouts of depression, said Tarpon Springs police spokesman Sgt. Tom Hill. His family became concerned for his safety when he did not come home and filed a missing person report Sunday, Hill said. There were no signs of Markonios until an Ohio state trooper noticed the red Porsche in a rest area along Interstate 70 west of Dayton early Thursday. The trooper ran a computer check on the tag and found that the car was associated with the missing person case for Markonios. And he found a man with a 666 tattoo, William Mahood, 27, nearby, said Ohio Highway Patrol Sgt. Joe Black. Mahood was wanted on a parole violation charge, so the trooper arrested him. On Jan. 31, Markonios first talked about a man he had met on a Tarpon Springs beach the previous week and had been seeing regularly, according to Angeliki Klodakis, a friend of Markonios' since high school and a co-worker at the hair salon. Co-workers were not sure of the man's name. Markonios talked about the man's tattoos and said he carried a knife in his underwear, she said. Markonios also told his co-workers about something the man said that frightened them. "He told Mike, "I could have killed you three times already,"' said Nadia Costa, a nail technician who works at the hair salon. Markonios told Klodakis about it, too. But she said Markonios was not alarmed. "(Markonios) means well -- he's just too trusting sometimes," she said. "I hope to God they find him." Mahood is being held for extradition to West Virginia, where he had served a prison term in the Huttonsville Correctional Center, said Tarpon Springs Detective Robert Faugno. Mahood's criminal record includes convictions for escape and grand theft, he said. Mahood has refused to answer any questions, Black said. Tarpon Springs police have obtained the record of transactions for Markonios' First Union credit card and know the card was used in New Port Richey several times, then in Alachua County, then in South Carolina and then near Cleveland, Hill said. Klodakis said Markonios had just gotten the credit card, which had a $500 limit, and she had planned to go shopping with him to break it in. Klodakis described Markonios as fabulously creative. He designed and sewed his own line of women's clothing, which bore his Greek first name. The hair salon sells the garments, breezy dresses and tops that hang on a rack near the lobby. Markonios also designed jewelry and was excellent at cutting people's hair, she said. Kathryn Simeon of Sea Horse on the Docks, an artwork shop at the Sponge Docks, said Markonios worked with her for more than five years before becoming a hairstylist about 18 months ago. "He was just a very visual person," she said Thursday. "He had a gift: He could design anything. He was phenomenal." Markonios' home is in his design studio, a building behind his parents' home. Detectives on Thursday searched some woods behind the property but found nothing of interest, Faugno said. They are waiting for Ohio authorities to search the Porsche for evidence that might provide a clue as to what happened, and they have also broadcast an alert for all law enforcement officers to be on the lookout for Markonios in the states between here and Ohio, Faugno said. Family and friends said they would have expected Markonios to contact them by now if he were able to. "I think he'd be calling somebody to come and get him," said Elaine Pope, who owns the salon with her husband. "He would normally give a call," agreed Sam Markonios, the missing man's brother. "It's just a waiting game right now."
Can you help? Tarpon Springs police detectives ask anyone with information that might help them locate Panormitis "Michael" Markonios to call them at (727) 937-2549 or (727) 988-2849.
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