July 14, 1993
KENT
Bobby Kent was an American man who was murdered by 7 people (including his best friend Martin Joseph Puccio Jr) in Weston, Florida. Toward the beginning of 1993 Puccio (aged 20) began dating Lisa Connelly (aged 18). Frustrated by how much time her boyfriend spent with Kent (aged 20) Connelly tried to distract Kent from Puccio by setting up her friend Alice Willis (aged 17) with Kent. Kent and Alice dated for a few weeks but Kent was abusive toward Alice and she cut off the relationship. In June Puccio confided to Connelly that Kent had been abusive to him quite often over the years. Connelly tried to convince him to cut off his friendship but Puccio didn't seem able to do that. By that time Connelly knew she was pregnant by Puccio and was determined that Kent wasn't going to get in her way of a permanent relationship with Puccio. Allegedly Connelly decided that Kent needed to be eliminated permanently and started talking to Puccio and other friends about murdering Kent. On July 13, 1993 Connelly called Willis and told her that "Bobby Kent was planning to come to Palm Bay [where Willis was living] to murder her and smother her baby [by a previous relationship], unless she returned to Broward County to date him again". Willis claimed Connelly asked her to come to Connelly's house to discuss murdering Kent. Willis went to Connelly's house and brought 2 friends - her current boyfriend Donald Semenec (aged 17) and Heather Swallers (aged 18). On the night of July 13, 1993 Puccio, Semenec, Swallers, Connelly and Willis met with Kent. Puccio, Semenec and Swallers became uncomfortable and left. Connelly and Willis lured Kent to a new development under construction with the promise that he would be able to drive Willis's Mustang and have sex with her. Connelly had brought along her mother's pistol intending to kill Kent while he was distracted by sexual activity with Willis. Ultimately she was unable to go through with shooting him. Despite the failed attempt Connelly still wanted Kent dead. Seeking assistance she contacted a self-proclaimed "hit man" named Derek Kaufman (aged 20) who had been recommended by a friend of Willis's. The group met Kaufman at his home in Rolling Oaks. They told him they wanted him to get a gun so they could kill Kent that night but Kaufman told them he couldn't get a gun that quickly. Willis, Connelly, Semenec and Swallers then went back to Connelly's house and were joined by her cousin Derek Dzvirko (aged 19). The group continued to discuss their plans and ultimately decided to go ahead with murdering Kent the next night with Kaufman's assistance. Late on the night of July 14, 1993 the seven joined together at Puccio's house and finalized their plans. Puccio contacted Kent and convinced him to come out with the group that night with the promise that they would race their cars and that Willis wanted to have sex with him again. The group assembled their weapons between them - they had 2 knives, a lead pipe and a baseball bat. Around 11:30 PM they picked Kent up from his home and headed out to a construction site. When they arrived at the site Willis - in accordance with the plan - took Kent off to a secluded spot where they were talking. Swallers joined them there. While she and Willis distracted Kent Semenec came up and stabbed Kent in the neck with a knife. When Kent asked for Puccio's help Puccio stuck a knife in his stomach. Kent yelled out an apology but Puccio continued to stab him. When Kent tried to flee Puccio, Semenec and Kaufman followed him and continued wounding him. Puccio then slit Kent's throat and hit his head against the ground. Kaufman then approached and hit Kent in the head with the baseball bat which was the final blow. After this Dzvirko, Semenec, Puccio and Kaufman helped dump Kent's body on the edge of the shore of the marsh in the belief that alligators would eat the decaying body.
