Marisa Maugeri
Real Name: Marisa Maugeri
Nicknames: No known nicknames
Date: November 22, 1989
Location: Miami, Florida
Case[]
Details: A few days before Thanksgiving in 1989, thirty-year-old paralegal Marisa Maugeri was shopping with her sister for the holiday at a supermarket in northern Miami. While her sister and a bagboy waited for her at the front of the store, she got into her car and a silver van pulled up alongside it. A young man got out and tried to grab her locked car door. As she tried to drive away, he began shooting into her car. She was shot in the eye and died soon afterward. Her killer got back into the van and sped away.
Suspects: The killer was described as a young Hispanic male in his late teens with dark hair to his shoulders. The van was described as either silver or silver-gray in color.
Extra Notes: The original airdate of this case is unrevealed; there are conflicting reports on whether or not it was actually on Unsolved Mysteries.
Thomas Pennington
Results: Solved. In 2003, a tipster gave information about the shooter, murder weapon and van, which had been stolen on the day of Marisa's murder. The tipster claimed that the motive was purse snatching. When police located the driver of the stolen vehicle, they were led to a thirty-two-year-old man named Thomas L. Pennington. In February 2006, he, who was only fifteen at the time, was charged with first degree murder. He pled guilty to second degree murder in 2012, and was sentenced to twenty years in prison. He will not begin serving that term, however, until he finishes serving a 15 year prison sentence for the 1995 murder of a drug dealer.
Links:
- Man Charged in 1989 Shooting Death - February 3, 2006
- Arrest in '89 Miami murder of paralegal Marisa Maugeri
- Florida Man Pleads Guilty to 1989 North Miami Murder - March 19, 2012
- Man rewarded for identifying killer in formerly unsolved 1989 murder