Financially, things did not improve for Goode following Fenzau's death. He filed for bankruptcy. He claimed assets worth between $1 million and $10 million but said he had $500,000 in outstanding debt. Last year, the IRS placed a lien on Goode's property because he owes the government $9,755 in unpaid income taxes for 2002. He also lost the North Bay Road house to foreclosure. Property records show the home was sold in December last year for $1 million.
Efforts to locate and interview Goode for this story were unsuccessful. "The police did have the wrong man behind bars," says Goode's lawyer, Lewin. "Kevin is innocent and the government's dismissal affirms it."
Courtesy of Lori Grande
William Fenzau and his younger sister, Lori Grande, were inseparable until his death in 2005.
C. Stiles
Tom Edwards met Fenzau in an online chat room for men seeking men.
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Berry, the so-called Madonna of Miami's underground gay drug culture, currently lives in an apartment at 11855 NE 19th Dr. in North Miami. New Times twice visited Berry's home and left a business card with a note requesting an interview about her relationship with Fenzau. She has not responded.
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Lori Grande walks on the winding wood deck her brother built in his back yard. She kneels down and points at pieces of concrete that act as a barrier between the deck and the plants and bushes her brother planted. "I helped my brother put these in," she says. "And I helped him plant the bougainvillea trees, which you see are draping over the garden now. He had this amazing ability to instill confidence in people."
For the past four years, Grande has been badgering the Miami Police Department and the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office to file new charges against Goode and to arrest Valeri and Berry as accomplices. She has expressed her frustration in multiple letters to Chief John Timoney. Each time, she has been told police cannot discuss specifics about the investigation because it remains open.
The Miami Police Department declined several interview requests from New Times. Department spokeswoman Kenia Alfonso says homicide detectives do not want to talk about the case because it is still open.
When Fenzau's sister found out Valeri became a government informant three days after her brother's death, she began writing letters to South Florida's U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta, demanding Valeri be held accountable for his alleged role in Fenzau's murder. She believes Valeri has been given protection from prosecution because of his informant status. In response, Acosta's office has told her that because the murder is a state case, the feds have no jurisdiction to investigate it.
A year after the killing, Grande hired Miami private investigator Steve Sessler to review the case. A former Miami-Dade Police homicide investigator, Sessler faults the Miami Police Department for allowing the taping of The First 48 to interfere with the investigation. "Too much information comes out on the show," he says. "If there was no First 48, you can't help but wonder if the Miami Police detectives would have rushed to charge Goode. There are times you are sure who did it, but it can take you weeks to build a case."
Sessler specifically criticizes the "Pack of Lies" episode for revealing the fact that there were multiple suspects in Fenzau's murder. "A good criminal defense lawyer would use that footage against the prosecution. The fact is that you just can't close some cases in 48 hours." Indeed, the popular television series has come under fire in other jurisdictions where producers follow homicide investigators. Last year in Birmingham, Alabama, Jefferson County's top prosecutor, David Barber, publicly expressed his concern that the show might deter potential witnesses from coming forward and that defendants could argue that destroyed footage might prove their innocence. Barber told the Birmingham News: "It puts us in the position of having to prove a negative." In Memphis, the city's police director opted not to renew the contract with A&E, citing pretrial and trial issues. The Miami Police Department, on the other hand, has continued to cooperate with the show. Some within the department see it as a recruitment tool at a time when major police departments across the nation are struggling to fill positions.
William Moreno, a Miami Police spokesman, says the department is very careful to guard investigations that end up on The First 48. "The producers pick which ones to air," Moreno says. "But we always review them first to make sure it doesn't interfere with an investigation."
In the meantime, Assistant State Attorney Gary Winston insists bringing Fenzau's killers to justice remains a top priority. "It is still an open investigation and every effort is being made," he says. "But there has been no progress, regrettably."
The state prosecutor says he needs more evidence to refile murder charges against Goode and any co-conspirators. He says the existing evidence, including Goode's blood that was mixed in with Fenzau's blood found on the door handle, could not be used because police did not read Goode his Miranda rights while he was being questioned prior to being charged with tampering.
Asked if The First 48 had a negative effect on the investigation, Winston replies, "I don't know. There were a lot of things that had an impact on this investigation. Some of it was good. Some of it was bad. But in those instances when there could be more than a single killer, the effort to catch one often leads to the others being forgotten about."
