MARISSA KARP - 17 yo (2002) - Fort Lauderdale FL

Seven years to the day his teenage daughter's body was found in a
garbage bag in the Everglades, Gary Karp today appealed for the
public's help in finding whoever killed her.

This family photo shows Marissa Karp at age 15, two years before her disappearance.

It had been at least two years since Karp, 56, a former Parkland
resident who now lives in Wellington, spoke at a news conference about
the shooting death of his 17-year-old daughter, Marissa Karp.

But the promise of the case being solved drew him and his 28-year-old
son, Joshua Karp, to the Broward Sheriff's Office Public Safety
Building today.

He said investigators from the Broward Sheriff's Office and Collier
County Sheriff's Office are close to making an arrest, but they need a
few more tips.

"It's been horrendous. It's been seven years of up and down," Karp said. "I don't want pity. I want answers."

Broward Sheriff's Homicide Detective Ray Carmody says investigators are "missing maybe one or two little pieces."

"If we put those together, we have enough to make an arrest."

Marissa Karp grew up in Broward, attending Westpine Middle School and Piper High School in Sunrise.

About 5 feet tall, she was nicknamed Shorty.

Dealing with some difficult issues, including the death of her mother,
she began spending time with people who may have been involved in
drugs, Gary Karp said.

She was outspoken and may have been killed over something she said, her father said.

"Whatever she said or whatever she did, she didn't deserve to die," Karp said.

Karp said he's confident someone knows how Marissa Karp's body
ended up in a canal under an Alligator Alley bridge near Mile Marker
52, in Collier County. It was found on Aug. 19, 2002, by a man in an
airboat.

Investigators have said they think she was killed days earlier
somewhere else, her 100-pound body placed in a green garbage bag and
later dumped in the swamp. They have determined she was shot to death,
but why she was killed remains unknown.

Carmody, who has been involved in the case since 2002, said authorities
have murder suspects, but he declined to publicly identify them or say
how many there were out of concern it could jeopardize the case.

Carmody said detectives have been consulting with state
prosecutors and accumulating evidence and information to build a strong
case against the suspects.

Even though no one has been charged, there have been people investigated in the slaying.

The Sheriff's Office looked into whether a man charged in the 2006
shooting death of Deputy Brian Tephford might have been involved in
Karp's killing.

They executed a search warrant in April 2005 to get DNA samples
from Eloyn Devon Ingraham. Samples were taken, but he was never charged
in the girl's slaying.

Another suspect identified in a search warrant was Randy Gilbert, a
former Sunrise resident. But Gilbert was killed in a drive-by shooting
in the Bahamas about two years ago, Carmody said.

"We don't know if he was involved or not," Carmody said.

Meanwhile, the Karp family remains cautiously optimistic an arrest will be made.

"There's some compelling evidence that I believe is going to lead us to
an arrest, hopefully in the not-too-far-distant future," Gary Karp said.

Authorities ask anyone who knew Marissa Karp to call the Collier
County Sheriff's Office Major Crimes Unit at 239-793-9215 or Crime
Stoppers at 800-780-TIPS (8477).

Broward County tips can be provided to Broward sheriff's homicide
investigators at 954-321-4210 or Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS.

The information can be provided anonymously. If a tip leads to the
arrest of the murder suspect, the tipster is eligible for a reward of
up to $1,000.

WPLG-10's Rob Schmitt reports that Broward Sheriff's deputies are close to charging a suspect in the murder of 17-year-old Melissa Karp seven years ago. Here's the video. Karp's father told Schmitt there's a DNA match.
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/juice/2009/08/morning_juice_aug_20_karp_ron_klein_marek.php

(is it melissa or marissa?)

Who Murdered Marissa Karp? Florida Teen's Father Says "I Know Who Did It...Cops Know," 8 Years Later
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20013595-504083.html
BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. (CBS) For many the 2002 murder of 17-year-old Marissa Karp, though heartbreaking, has become a distant memory.Not for the victim's father Gary Karp, who says his daughter's death is still fresh in his mind, and he vows to do everything in his power to see her killer bought to justice.

``While the earth keeps spinning, I am still in the same spot I was eight years ago,'' he told The Miami Herald.

With the 8-year anniversary of Marissa's murder fast approaching on Aug. 19, Karp has raised his profile and intensified his search efforts.

The heartbroken father has been in contact with Broward County sheriff's investigators and has reached out to Fox's America's Most Wanted show in hopes of generating new leads, says the Herald.

According to the Broward County Sheriff's Office, Marissa Karp's body was found on August 19, 2002 when Collier County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to a call from a local fisherman who had discovered a plastic bag containing the body of a young woman.

Her body was battered, she had been shot in the chest, stuffed into plastic bags, then dumped into a canal along Alligator Alley.

Sheriff's Office Cmdr. Michael Calderin would not comment on the ongoing investigation, but said the amount of time that has lapsed has been somewhat of an obstacle.
Although no arrests have been made, Karp believes it is only a matter of time.

``I know who did it, the cops know who did it. It is just how to prove it,'' Karp said.

On Aug. 19, 2002, an airboat operator spotted a garbage bag on the embankment of the L-28 canal in Collier County along Alligator Alley just north of the Broward County line. Inside were the remains of a small teenage girl. She had been shot in the chest.

It took more than a month to identify the victim as 17-year-old Marissa Karp, a runaway who had been living in a tiny efficiency on Ninth Court in Hallandale Beach.

Now investigators are looking at a new possible suspect in the case. Collier County Sheriff homicide detectives executed a search warrant Wednesday to take DNA samples, including pubic and head hairs, from Randy Gilbert, a native of the Virgin Islands who is in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Federal Detention Center in Albuquerque, N.M..

It was not clear why Gilbert -- a former acquaintance of Karp's -- was in federal custody or for how long, but Hollywood police arrested him Sept. 7 for having a false driver's license. Gilbert told police he bought it for $500 in Miami. Federal authorities took him into custody on Sept. 14.

Detectives demanded Gilbert's DNA so they can ''either include or exclude Randy Gilbert as the person who murdered Marissa Karp or assisted in the disposal of her body,'' according to a copy of the search warrant obtained by The Miami Herald.

COOKED DINNER

The search warrant said a witness told detectives that Gilbert, along with another friend, went to the apartment Karp shared with her boyfriend, Shawn Smith, on Aug. 18, 2002 -- the day before her body was discovered. Karp, nicknamed ''Shorty,'' cooked dinner for the men in the minuscule efficiency, the witness said.

The witness also said that during August and September 2002 the witness overheard Smith, who goes by the name ''Almanto Coakley,'' and Gilbert talking about Karp's death. The men said that if they were 'approached by the police about Marissa Karp's death they were going to blame `Paul.' ''

It wasn't clear from the warrant who Paul was.

A neighbor of Karp's told police that late Sunday, Aug. 18, she heard what she thought was a ''muffled gunshot'' coming from the apartment -- which backed up to her apartment and shared a common wall. The landlord of the apartment told investigators that on Aug. 19, after Smith vacated the apartment, she inspected the residence and found what appeared to be a bullet hole in the refrigerator and cushions missing from the sofa.

Investigators from the Broward Sheriff's Office examined the tiny apartment for evidence. They collected several items and took the refrigerator with the bullet hole.

Hallandale Beach detectives questioned Smith several times. Investigators compared DNA samples from Smith and several other men who were reported to have been with Karp in the time before her death, and the results were negative. Smith now lives in the Bahamas and isn't cooperating with authorities.

On Wednesday, detectives swabbed Gilbert's mouth, spoke with him and returned to Collier County. Gilbert, 34, a former Hollywood resident, is being held at the detention center until he can be deported to the Caribbean.

Letticia Zamarripa, of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, would only confirm that Gilbert was in custody.

Gilbert has been arrested at least seven times in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, according to jail records.

SKIN PARTICLES

His DNA will be compared to DNA from skin particles found under Karp's fingernails. Investigators also found hair strands in a sheet wrapped around Karp's body, the search warrant states.

''They [detectives] told me last week that they were going to New Mexico to question someone, but they didn't tell me much more than that,'' said her father, Gary Karp of Parkland.

Karp said he hopes the detectives will finally find the killer who shot his daughter.

''I just want some kind of closure,'' Karp said. ``It won't stop the hurting but at least the person who killed her will finally pay for what he did.''

Before her murder, the teen was on the Department of Children & Families' list of 393 missing Florida children and had spent several years in and out of DCF's care. Her death led to a major overhaul of the agency.

http://angelsresort.yuku.com/topic/786