Czar Soonerov
9/15/2006, 01:00 AM
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15504474.htm
Man leaves dead woman in condo for four days
A Coconut Grove man faces a charge of failing to report a dead body -- that of a woman who lay in his condo for nearly four days.
BY DAVID OVALLE
For four long, hot days, police say, Angel Pichel hid a gruesome secret inside his fishing-themed Coconut Grove condo: the woman who died in her sleep after a night of partying with him.
Not knowing what to do, Pichel told police, he wrapped her body in a comforter and left her in the living room.
By the time detectives found the body, it had decomposed beyond recognition.
No foul play is suspected, says the Miami homicide unit, which arrested the fishing boat mechanic on a misdemeanor charge of failing to report a dead body.
''He just continued going to work like nothing at all,'' said Miami Sgt. Eunice Cooper.
The case unfolded when an anonymous woman called the homicide unit Monday evening saying Pichel had been asking around for a way to dispose of a body.
Detectives quickly found Pichel, 41, at his mother's Allapattah home.
Pichel said he met the woman at a Northwest Miami bar Thursday night and that they had gone back to his condo in the 3000 block of Southwest 27th Avenue, where they did drugs.
On Friday morning, Pichel woke up and left briefly.
''He said he thought she was asleep. When he returned, he found her dead. He wrapped her in a comforter and placed her on the floor of [the] living room,'' lead homicide Detective Kevin Ruggiero wrote in his arrest report.
Pichel posted $1,000 bond and was released from Miami-Dade County Jail at about 5 a.m. Tuesday.
He is not facing drug charges.
Pichel would not talk to The Miami Herald when reached at his parents' home Tuesday night.
Through fingerprints, homicide detectives identified the 43-year-old Nicaraguan woman but had not notified her next of kin by Tuesday afternoon.
There were no signs of trauma to her body. Detectives are waiting for the medical examiner to determine the cause of death.
The suffocating smell of the body still lingered Tuesday on the third floor of the Coco Plum Condominiums. The average high temperature between Friday and Monday, when her body was lying undiscovered, was 90 degrees.
Pichel apparently spent much of Friday shuttling a neighbor around Miami-Dade on errands.
''He was nervous, desperate, like he was drunk or on drugs,'' said neighbor Olga Yelamo. ``It was like he didn't want to go home.''
Yelamo had run into Pichel as she tried starting her car in the parking lot at about 11 a.m. Friday. He told her he had seen her headlights on the night before.
When a jump-start didn't work, Pichel offered to take her around town. They went to the bank, to pay a bill and to the Miami River marina, where he works as a fishing boat mechanic.
They went to lunch at a seafood restaurant near the Miami River.
He brushed off a suggestion that he go home and change -- he was wearing sandals, and his clothes were dirty, Yelamo said.
Pichel asked if he could go to church with her on Sunday, Yelamo said.
``He said he felt really bad and needed to go to Mass to find something spiritual.''
Anyone with information can call Miami homicide detectives at 305-579-6530 or Miami-Dade CrimeStoppers at 305-471-8477.
Man leaves dead woman in condo for four days
A Coconut Grove man faces a charge of failing to report a dead body -- that of a woman who lay in his condo for nearly four days.
BY DAVID OVALLE
For four long, hot days, police say, Angel Pichel hid a gruesome secret inside his fishing-themed Coconut Grove condo: the woman who died in her sleep after a night of partying with him.
Not knowing what to do, Pichel told police, he wrapped her body in a comforter and left her in the living room.
By the time detectives found the body, it had decomposed beyond recognition.
No foul play is suspected, says the Miami homicide unit, which arrested the fishing boat mechanic on a misdemeanor charge of failing to report a dead body.
''He just continued going to work like nothing at all,'' said Miami Sgt. Eunice Cooper.
The case unfolded when an anonymous woman called the homicide unit Monday evening saying Pichel had been asking around for a way to dispose of a body.
Detectives quickly found Pichel, 41, at his mother's Allapattah home.
Pichel said he met the woman at a Northwest Miami bar Thursday night and that they had gone back to his condo in the 3000 block of Southwest 27th Avenue, where they did drugs.
On Friday morning, Pichel woke up and left briefly.
''He said he thought she was asleep. When he returned, he found her dead. He wrapped her in a comforter and placed her on the floor of [the] living room,'' lead homicide Detective Kevin Ruggiero wrote in his arrest report.
Pichel posted $1,000 bond and was released from Miami-Dade County Jail at about 5 a.m. Tuesday.
He is not facing drug charges.
Pichel would not talk to The Miami Herald when reached at his parents' home Tuesday night.
Through fingerprints, homicide detectives identified the 43-year-old Nicaraguan woman but had not notified her next of kin by Tuesday afternoon.
There were no signs of trauma to her body. Detectives are waiting for the medical examiner to determine the cause of death.
The suffocating smell of the body still lingered Tuesday on the third floor of the Coco Plum Condominiums. The average high temperature between Friday and Monday, when her body was lying undiscovered, was 90 degrees.
Pichel apparently spent much of Friday shuttling a neighbor around Miami-Dade on errands.
''He was nervous, desperate, like he was drunk or on drugs,'' said neighbor Olga Yelamo. ``It was like he didn't want to go home.''
Yelamo had run into Pichel as she tried starting her car in the parking lot at about 11 a.m. Friday. He told her he had seen her headlights on the night before.
When a jump-start didn't work, Pichel offered to take her around town. They went to the bank, to pay a bill and to the Miami River marina, where he works as a fishing boat mechanic.
They went to lunch at a seafood restaurant near the Miami River.
He brushed off a suggestion that he go home and change -- he was wearing sandals, and his clothes were dirty, Yelamo said.
Pichel asked if he could go to church with her on Sunday, Yelamo said.
``He said he felt really bad and needed to go to Mass to find something spiritual.''
Anyone with information can call Miami homicide detectives at 305-579-6530 or Miami-Dade CrimeStoppers at 305-471-8477.