By Kevin Deutsch
This week marks the 15th anniversary of the abduction and killing of Randi Gorenberg, the mother whose kidnapping from Town Center at Boca Raton mall and ensuing murder at a nearby park remains unsolved.
A wife, philanthropist, and mother of two, Gorenberg, 52, of Boca Raton, was abducted from the high-end shopping center and shot in her head on March 23, 2007, after going shopping for a John Legend CD, authorities said.
Gorenberg’s killer, whose identity remains a mystery, shot her inside her Mercedes Benz GL450 SUV more than a half-hour after her abduction, just before tossing her out the passenger side of the SUV at Governor Lawton Chiles Memorial Park in suburban Delray Beach, authorities said.
Gorenberg’s murder is among a string of cold case homicides and kidnappings that happened at the Boca mall in 2007.
The Brooklyn, NY native was killed nine months before Nancy and Joey Bochicchio were slain inside an SUV parked in the same parking lot at Town Center where Gorenberg was last seen.
Nancy, 47, and Joey, 7, were shot in their heads at point-blank range by an unknown killer on December 12, 2007, after going shopping for Christmas gifts at Town Center.
Whether or not the same person or persons were involved in the Gorenberg and Bochicchio killings and a gunpoint abduction of a mother and her child from the same mall parking lot that year have never been determined.
According to court records, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office detectives have collected numerous DNA samples for testing to identify Gorenberg’s killer.
An unknown person’s DNA was found inside Gorenberg’s SUV after her murder, records show, but the sheriff’s office has not publicly announced a match for the DNA.
Among the people who had their DNA tested as part of the Gorenberg investigation are at least eight friends and associates of Gorenberg’s son, Daniel, court records show.
Randi’s husband, Stewart Gorenberg, was never eliminated as a suspect in the case, PBSO detectives testified as part of a lawsuit Stewart Gorenberg filed against the mall.
Daniel Gorenberg was also the subject of intense investigation by detectives probing Gorenberg’s murder, records show.
Last year, on the anniversary of Gorenberg’s killing, PBSO Det. William Springer said in a video that investigators are still working to determine what happened between the time Gorenberg was abducted from the mall at her murder more than a half-hour later.
“We have open timing there… we need to find out where she was,” said Springer. “If somebody saw something, please call.”
“At present, we’re going back through all the evidence and redoing all the DNA due to the new techniques that have come out over the years,” Springer said in the March 2021 video.
Teri Barbera, public information officer for PBSO, said the agency does not have any new information to provide in the case this week.
Tipsters can remain anonymous and submit information about Gorenberg’s killing by calling Palm Beach County Crime Stoppers at 800-458-TIPS (8477).
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