It has been 18 years since a South Florida neighborhood was rocked by a series of killings and a kidnapping at a local mall, and a retired FBI agent who worked on the investigations for more than a decade believes the crimes are linked and that the killer is still “out there.”
Randi Gorenberg and Nancy Bochicchio, mother of two, and her 7-year-old daughter Joey were murdered after shopping at the Boca Raton Town Center Mall, and another woman, Jane Doe, was kidnapped with her 2-year-old son, all within nine months in 2007.
“I heard about them just like everybody else on the news, and it was just horrible,” retired FBI Agent John MacVeigh, who investigated the three cases for 10 years, told Fox News Digital. “We contacted Boca Police Department, knowing that it was something that, you know, we could assist.”
Gorenberg, 52, was last seen on surveillance camera leaving the Town Center Mall in the early afternoon of March 23, 2007. About 45 minutes later, someone contacted 911 from a park about five miles away, claiming to have heard gunshots and seen someone being shoved out of a car. Gorenberg’s body was shortly discovered at Governor Lawton Chiles Memorial Park.
“It does appear that she resisted at some point,” MacVeigh said of Gorenberg. “She was shot and thrown out the car while the suspect drove away.”
Less than five months later, Jane Doe and her small son were taken in the same mall parking lot. MacVeigh reported the terrifying encounter when Jane Doe got into her SUV on August 7, 2007.
“She puts her son from the passenger side into the centre car seat. She walks around to the trunk,” MacVeigh said. “She opens the trunk. She puts the stroller in. She walks back around. As she opened the door to get in the driver’s seat, the suspect had already jumped in the back passenger seat. Now, you’re talking seconds … so he had to be extremely close to her.”
The suspect compelled Jane Doe to drive to an ATM and withdraw $600.
“Just terrified. I mean, she’s in the car with her 2-year-old, and this man has got a gun on her and threatening her,” MacVeigh said.
Unusually, the culprit appeared to be “a little bit sympathetic” to the mother and son, according to the retired FBI agent. The gunman chose to drive them back to the mall, where he shackled her wrists and covered her eyes with blacked-out swim goggles. He then fled.
MacVeigh claimed that to flee, Jane Doe “took the handcuffs and went up under her feet around to get out from behind her back” before driving to the valet and reporting the assault.
“It was just so blatant and bizarre because you just wouldn’t think that somebody would be accosted in the middle of the day — handcuffed, blindfolded — forced to go to an ATM and then brought back to the same location and dropped off,” he said. “It wasn’t the norm.”
Four months later, on December 12, 2007, Bochicchio, 47, went shopping at Boca Raton Town Center with her small daughter Joey. And, just like the abduction, authorities believe they were attacked as they attempted to leave the mall’s parking lot.
According to the Boca Raton Police Department’s website, investigators think they were abducted and driven to an ATM, where they were forced to withdraw $500, and that the suspect bound and controlled Bochicchio and her daughter with duct tape, plastic ties, handcuffs, and goggles.
“Nancy resists. She breaks her handcuffs. We do believe that she tried to get Joey out of the car, and then he turned around and shot both of them,” MacVeigh said.
Officers discovered the mother and daughter dead soon before midnight in their vehicle in the mall parking lot, with the engine still running, according to authorities.
As a private investigator, MacVeigh saw a common thread in all three attacks on the local mall.
“The suspect was trying to control women,” he explained. In both the Jane Doe and Bochicchio cases, the suspect used a pair of blacked-out swim goggles, as well as other material, to bind and control the victims.
MacVeigh said another repeated detail was the time of day. All three crimes took place in “broad daylight” and “right around the same time.”
“It’s not a small little coincidence. There’s not … one or two small things. This is an accumulation of things,” he added, referring to the related details among the cases.
According to the Boca Raton Police Department website, detectives from the Boca Raton Police Department and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office formed a task force in January 2007 to investigate the Gorenberg and Bochicchio killings. The task force was later disbanded, but both departments continued to investigate individual cases with the FBI’s cooperation, according to MacVeigh.
Investigators gathered hundreds of pieces of evidence from the Bochicchio crime, including DNA samples, and “a massive investigation involving resources from around the country” ensued, according to the Boca Raton police website. Detectives reviewed hours of security footage, examined multiple sites, and followed up on leads.
“We sent agents to the mall because they were interested in trying to find out if maybe it was somebody that had worked there,” MacVeigh said. “We issued subpoenas, and we went door to door. It was pretty overwhelming because you don’t realize how many people work at that mall. And I think the number when we were done was somewhere in the neighbourhood of 14,000.”
Following her kidnapping, officials interviewed Jane Doe about the person who attacked her and drew a composite sketch to try to discover his identity.
“You and I could both be that composite. I mean, it’s just you have a hat on with glasses and all you’re seeing is the bottom part of the face,” MacVeigh explained about the drawing’s details.
Although two people of interest were first identified in the Bochicchio case, police say all three cases remain unsolved, and MacVeigh believes the crimes are linked.
“It’s just so hard to believe that it’s not the same person,” MacVeigh said. “Three of these incidences … in the same area, and very similar. Here you have a very affluent mall … and, you know, you are targeting people that you suspect have money.
“While there is presently no physical or forensic evidence directly linking this case to any other investigations, there are enough similarities to lead Boca Raton investigators to believe this case is related to the August 7, 2007, Town Center Mall carjacking incident,” the Boca Raton Police Department states on its website, referring to the Bochicchio murders being related to the Jane Doe abduction.
MacVeigh said he continues to receive calls from detectives who are still looking for new clues and working on the case now.
“As technology changes and evolves regarding DNA testing, this case is continuously being reevaluated. We remain optimistic that technological advances will lead our investigators to a breakthrough in the investigation,” Jessica Desir, a spokesperson for the Boca Raton Police Department, told WPTV last month regarding the Bochicchio murders.
MacVeigh explained that, while the Boca Raton Town Center Mall may have stronger security measures in place today, a killer is still “out there, probably committing other crimes.”
“You want to feel safe going to the mall,” MacVeigh said, emphasizing the significance of eventually resolving the cases and ensuring justice for the Gorenberg and Bochicchio families.
The Boca Raton Police Department, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, and Boca Raton Town Center Mall did not immediately return requests for comment.