Over the course of several months in late 2003, Fenzau began meeting new friends who were also dealing in small quantities of meth and who provided him with connections to other wholesale suppliers. One of those individuals was Anthony Valeri, a slightly paunchy 32-year-old with thinning brown hair. By that summer, the two were hanging out regularly. Their only common interest: dealing, snorting, and smoking crank.
According to friends, Valeri introduced Fenzau to a woman who would become part of their drug distribution ring: a 28-year-old stripper named Michelle Berry. According to the flight attendant, who has been in Miami's gay community for 17 years, Berry was the "Madonna of the gay drug-dealing world" in Miami. He adds, "She was very powerful. She knew a lot of people dealing meth in large quantities."
Courtesy of Lori Grande
Fenzau celebrates his 36th birthday with his niece Sophia.
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By 2004, Fenzau had gone from selling a few ounces of meth a week to a pound a month — which nets about $20,000 to $70,000 on the street. "I remember Will telling me once that he had $50,000 in cash," Edwards says.
Early that year, during one of his online encounters on Manhunt, Fenzau met a man named Kevin Goode. A handsome, muscular 47-year-old with short red hair and a trimmed goatee, Goode also enjoyed working on improving his home and partying with crystal meth. And like Linkous, Fenzau's previous partner, he had money. He owned a two-story five-bedroom house on North Bay Road in Miami Beach that was worth nearly $500,000 and drove a silver BMW Z3 convertible.
By 2005, Fenzau's meth use and dealing had gotten out of hand. "I fully expected Will to get busted," Edwards says. "One time, he ran a red light on South Beach and a cop pulled him over. He was holding a shoebox full of meth under the passenger-side seat."
During this period, Fenzau's friends say, he would make four, five, or sometimes more deliveries to customers in Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale on a daily basis.
Fenzau's mom was becoming increasingly worried. She says her son went from using meth "just a little bit here and there" in 2002 to "being on it almost all the time" in 2005, the year he died. The lean muscle he had sculpted in D.C. turned flabby. His eyes and cheeks were sunken. He was often irritable from lack of sleep.
Things began unraveling when Fenzau's dealer friend Valeri, whom Fenzau supplied, was popped March 3, 2005, by DEA agents. According to Valeri's arrest affidavit, a confidential informant set up Valeri by calling him to order two ounces of meth. Valeri told the CI to meet him at a RaceTrac gas station on State Road 84. Fort Lauderdale Police detectives and DEA agents confronted Valeri, who was still inside his 1999 green BMW sedan. Cops found approximately 66 grams of meth inside a yellow Banana Republic cardboard perfume box under the passenger seat. According to Valeri's criminal case file, Fenzau posted his bail and got his BMW out of the impound.
Two weeks later, Fenzau's sister came down to visit her brother for Memorial Day weekend. She says Fenzau told her he wanted to quit using and selling meth. He had grown tired of dealing with shady characters and was worried someone would turn him in to the feds. He also suspected Goode was cheating on him and planned to break up.
He wanted to take Cunard to Key West in early June. Says Cunard: "Our plan was to spend a week there drying out."
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Episode 39 of The First 48, titled "Pack of Lies," opens with Miami Police homicide Det. Leo Tapanes taking his new ride, a jet-black Porsche Boxster with a tan leather interior, for a wash. The veteran investigator cuts a dashing profile, wearing a crisp white guayabera, black slacks, and designer shoes. His bald head shines with authority.
As the Porsche emerges from the rinse cycle, Tapanes gets a call on his cell phone. The camera cuts to uniformed police officers putting up yellow tape in front Fenzau's house.
When cops enter, the camera documents a grizzly scene. Blood is spattered all over the floor and furniture and is smeared across a door.
Investigators find a broken handle to a steak knife blade. Knowing three knives were found lodged in Fenzau's body, Sgt. Altaar Williams looks at the camera: "With the three knives, I wouldn't be surprised if there is more than one attacker."
It didn't take long for cops to develop a theory as to what happened. In the days leading up to the murder, Fenzau had broken up with Goode and told Berry, one of the biggest meth dealers in Miami, he was no longer going to sell meth. On June 6, 2005, Fenzau went to Valeri's apartment in an attempt to reclaim nearly $20,000 he had used to get Valeri out of jail, according to a sworn statement by Karen Carvalho, a friend of Fenzau's who says she was there. Carvalho told the veteran investigator that Valeri gave Fenzau $6,000 in cash and about half a pound of meth before they left the apartment.
Meanwhile, around the same time, Berry paid a visit to her friend Javier Rosario at his apartment at 2001 N. Biscayne Blvd. According to a sworn statement Rosario gave Tapanes, Berry was "hysterical... like a little bit out of control." She accused Fenzau of being a snitch and said she wanted to kill him, Rosario claimed. "She wanted to cut him," Rosario said. "She was like, 'I'm gonna cut him up.'" Rosario said he told her he was not going to help her hurt Fenzau, which caused the stripper to fly into a rage.
