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Thread: Ronald Citarelli Pleads No Contest and is Sentenced to LWOP for the 2014 FL Murder of 85-year-old Barbara Minardi

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    Ronald Citarelli Pleads No Contest and is Sentenced to LWOP for the 2014 FL Murder of 85-year-old Barbara Minardi


    85-year old Barbara Minardi


    Ronald Citarelli


    Deltona woman killed in home was sheriff's office volunteer

    By SNEJANA FARBEROV FOR MAILONLINE

    A homeless handyman from Florida has been arrested and charged with the killing of an 85-year-old widow who was discovered dead inside her home by her daughter and son-in-law.

    Ronald Citarelli, 49, was taken into custody Tuesday on charges of first-degree murder and burglary in connection to the death of Barbara Minardi in Deltona, Florida.

    Also on Tuesday the Volusia County Sheriff's Office released the heart-breaking 911 call placed by Miss Minardi's son-in-law after he and his wife discovered the elderly woman dead inside her home on Omaha Driver just before 9pm Monday.

    On the call, Barbara Minardi's daughter, Cindy Callison, could be heard wailing and sobbing uncontrollably while her husband, Don, tries to give information to the emergency dispatcher, reported WKMG.

    Struggling to keep his composure, Mr Callison tells the female 911 operator that he and his wife stopped by Barbara Minardi's home at around 8.45pm to check up on her after failing to reach her by phone all the day.

    The house was locked and there was no light inside, but the blinds were open. The Callisons also noticed that Minardi's Nissan was gone from her driveway.

    When the couple entered the house, Cindy Callison, a registered nurse, discovered her mother's lifeless body.

    When asked by the emergency dispatcher if CPR might help, Don Callison said that his mother-in-law was dead but asked her to send a paramedic for his hysterical wife who suffers from a heart condition.

    It is believed that the octogenarian, who had spent 13 years volunteering with the sheriff's office, died from blunt-force trauma. An autopsy will be performed to determine the exact cause of death.

    About three hours later, Ronald Citarelli was apprehended by deputies acting on a tip about a sighting of Barbara Minardi's stolen car just 7 miles from the crime scene.

    The 2010 grey Nissan Altima was found parked outside a house on Comstock Drive belonging to Citarelli's acquaintances.

    Officers set up a stakeout outside the residence and collared Citarelli as he was leaving the house on foot. They also recovered some stolen property connecting him to Minardi’s killing.

    According to investigators, Ronald Citarelli knew Barbara Minardi because he had recently installed flooring in her home.

    Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson had some harsh words for the man suspected of killing the woman he described as the unsung hero of the department who never sought any credit for her hard work.

    ‘I think he should get the chair. Of course we don't have that anymore, but he should get the death penalty. He deserves the death penalty,’ Johnson told WFTV.

    According to the woman's grieving family, Barbara Minardi had been living alone since 1999, when her husband lost his battle with cancer.

    Despite her advanced age, the retiree was independent and active, joining social clubs and enjoying spending time with friends and family, reported The Daytona Beach News-Journal.

    To keep herself busy, in 2001 Minardi joined the sheriff's office in Deltona as a volunteer, doing filing work, answering phones and putting together DNA kits.

    Cindy and Don Callison were shocked to learn that Ronald Citarelli, whom they described as a pleasant 'smooth talker,' has been charged with the murder.

    Mrs Callison recalled how one time Citarelli showed up to do work on her mother's floors with two women in tow - one of them pregnant - whom he introduced as his sisters.

    The elderly homeowner even donated some furniture to the expectant mother, Cindy Callison said.

    Mrs Minardi is survived by four grown children, nine grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ide-house.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Deputies: Flooring worker accused in Deltona sheriff’s volunteer killing boasted about crime

    By Patricio G. Balona

    DELTONA — The man accused of killing a woman Monday in her Omaha Drive home boasted about the crime in text messages to his daughter and said he stood to get a lot of cash, investigators wrote in a charging document released Wednesday.

    Ronald Citarelli, 49, who had been sent to work on Barbara Minardi’s floor by the Factory Warehouse of Kitchen, Baths and Floors, 735 S. Spring Garden Ave. in DeLand, was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Minardi.

    Before returning to the home Monday, Citarelli — a felon whose criminal record dates back 30 years — sent messages to his daughter boasting about his criminal intent, a Volusia Sheriff’s Office charging affidavit shows.

    “I have a score in Deltona I can get a car and get a lot of cash and a lot of property,” Citarelli texted to his daughter, who lives in Lake County, Volusia sheriff’s investigators said.

    In the additional text, Citarelli requested a ride, Volusia deputies wrote in their report.

    A message was left with the flooring business Wednesday asking how long Citarelli had been working with the company or whether any background checks were made, but was not immediately returned.

    Volusia County sheriff’s spokesman Gary Davidson said that investigators are not releasing the days when Citarelli did the flooring job at Minardi’s Omaha Drive home.

    “We’ve confirmed that Citarelli worked there. Any additional information is part of the investigation and not being released by us at this time,” Davidson said.

    Minardi’s family said Citarelli spent two days working on Minardi’s floor. Deputies said Citarelli returned to Minardi’s home on Monday, broke in, stole from her and left her dead.

    The 85-year-old great-grandmother was found lifeless in her home at 8:45 p.m. Monday by her daughter and son-in-law. Her home had been ransacked and her car was missing, a sheriff’s report states.

    Minardi’s bedroom was in disarray, her entertainment center had been moved and a safe in her closet had been opened, investigators said.

    Minardi was found on the floor in the front office section of her home and had trauma to her body. Her personal laptop, jewelry and a 20-gauge shotgun were also missing, deputies said.

    Minardi died of blunt-force trauma and an autopsy scheduled for today will determine her cause of death, sheriff’s investigators said.

    Deputies were called to 620 Comstock Drive at 12:39 a.m. Tuesday after the homeowners saw the unfamiliar car parked outside of their property and became suspicious. Investigators got to the house and determined it was Minardi’s missing car, reports state.

    After a brief surveillance, Citarelli was arrested when he walked out of the house. He was barefoot.

    Inside the home, deputies found the owner’s manual and the key to Minardi’s car on a ledge near the front door, reports indicate.

    Deputies also found a pair of tan boots with blood on the front porch of the home. After Citarelli was arrested, he said he wore the tan boots but denied he knew Minardi, investigators said.

    A review of Citarelli’s criminal records show he was first arrested in 1984 for grand theft, assault and battery by Miami-Dade police. He pleaded guilty to grand theft of $20,000 but less than $100,000 and was convicted of the crime, state records show.

    Since 1984, Citarelli has been arrested nine other times by other law enforcement agencies including the Miami-Dade police, Lake, Broward and Marion sheriff’s offices, state records show.

    Marion County sheriff’s deputies arrested Citarelli on a warrant because he was wanted for accessory after the fact in a capital felony in Burleson County, Texas, said Marion County sheriff’s Capt. James Pogue.

    Citarelli’s Monday arrest on first-degree murder in Volusia is his 11th arrest. He did not speak during his first appearance in front of a judge Wednesday at the Volusia County Branch Jail near Daytona Beach.

    In the past 30 years, Florida Department of Law Enforcement records show Citarelli has been arrested for resisting an officer, carrying a concealed weapon, theft of a vehicle, burglary with a firearm, burglary with assault among many other charges.

    Citarelli’s March 30, 1993, charge of burglary with a firearm filed by Broward County sheriff’s deputies was reduced to burglary of dwelling by prosecutors in Miami and he served one year and a day in state prison for the crime, documents show.

    In May 1990, Citarelli was arrested for grand theft auto and burglary of an unoccupied dwelling. No action was taken on the burglary charge by prosecutors but Citarelli served 11 months 29 days in a South Florida county jail after being convicted of auto theft, records show.

    Miami-Dade police charged Citarelli with burglary with assault in September 1993 but that was reduced to criminal mischief, to which Citarelli pleaded no contest.

    http://www.news-journalonline.com/ar...1040?p=1&tc=pg
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Ronald Citarelli headed to prison for killing of Barbara Minardi, 85

    Ronald Citarelli plead no contest to murder of Barbara Minardi

    DELTONA, Fla. — A Volusia County man will spend the rest of his life in prison after he took a plea deal on Monday in the murder of an 85-year-old Deltona woman.

    Ronald Citarelli pleaded no contest to the Dec. 1 murder of Barbara Minardi. It spares him the death sentence, which he would have faced at trial.

    Minardi's loved ones told WESH 2's Claire Metz that Citarelli is going to a place where even hardened criminals have mothers and grandmothers, and will likely not take kindly to someone who beat and stomped an 85-year-old woman in her own home

    The deal spares the family from enduring a trial, but they believe the plea and sentence show that Citarelli is a coward.

    Citarelli, a career criminal who investigators said was not background checked by the business he was working for, installed floors at Minardi's Omaha Drive home and returned to steal a number of items, including the victim's vehicle.

    It was spotted at a residence where Citarelli had been staying and detectives linked it and other stolen items to the killer.

    It was her daughter and son-in-law who went to check on Minardi when they couldn't reach her by phone.

    Family members said that as a way to deal with their grief, they plan to work toward whatever laws failed them or are not yet in place allowing the elderly victim, who was also a Volusia County Sheriff's Office volunteer, to unknowingly let a convicted felon into her home.

    http://www.wesh.com/news/ronald-cita...di-85/31180740
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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