Florida Death is Solved After 30 Years, But No Charges are Planned
More than 30 years after a young man disappeared in South Florida one July night in 1977, the mystery of what authorities later determined to be his death has reportedly been solved.
But even though police say David Cusanelli killed his friend Jeffrey Walter Klee that night by hitting him in the head with a rock during a fight over a teenage girl, no charges will be brought, the Miami Herald reports. Because there is no proof that Cusanelli, who is now 50, intended to kill Klee, “prosecutors decided the most they could seek was manslaughter, for which the statute of limitations is three years,” the newspaper explains.
Authorities decided not to pursue a second-degree murder case, because they would have had to prove that a deadly weapon was used, the Herald article continues.
Cusanelli and an older brother allegedly concealed Klee’s body in a canal, where it was eventually found, according to records provided by the Broward County state attorney’s office.
Louis Greco, a childhood friend who lost touch with Cusanelli after high school, said the situation was “‘stupefying,” the newspaper recounts, “but added that Klee was substantially larger than Cusanelli, making it plausible that Cusanelli needed a rock to defend himself.”
Authorities say the case was solved because Cusanelli confessed his involvement to a woman in 2000, while they were spending the night together. However, she was married at the time, and didn’t tell police until this year.
