The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 22

6B The Miami Herald Monday Jan 9 1984 FI AUCTIONS Sit Ad in BusinostMonday or call 374-4333 AUCTION CO OF AMERICA JIM CALL trand of 1 Evidence is circumstantial but suspicions are strong in Broward case NOW HIRING STEJUCYS A UNIQUE STEM HOUSE I LOUISE i iV v' gv I Purvis gave police several different stories about how many times he had visited with Hamwi just tried to be he told them concerned about people in my He said he had never given Hamwi anything but had written down his telephone number for her in case she needed something just for an not in no trouble I kill the he said was just a neighbor" Police then asked him how long he and his mother had lived in the neighborhood 10 years" he said But Hamwi he said didn't like the area like it said Purvis I blame her for that It gets pretty bad around here sometimes" OPENING SOON NORTH MIAMI'S NEWEST RESTAURANTS LOUNGE WaitersWaitresses HostessesBus Boys Apply 4 PM to 8 PM 12885 Biscayne Blvd (Now Banana Boat) PUBLIC HEARING the baby" said Cronin her sister was my life She was 38 a late When she came back to Fort Lauderdale for the double funeral Cronin said she saw life much differently She said she became suspicious of everyone even the retarded young son of a friend whom she had hired to do odd jobs around the store began to wonder if he would be capable of murdering Cronin said do you sad thing is we said Klass the Hollywood psychiatrist who interviewed Purvis on Tuesday the night police said he confessed to the killings Purvis recanted the confession the next day think psychiatrists are any better than anyone else in predicting violent After police first interviewed Purvis police kept a surveillance on him for more than month believing that he might have killed Hamwi fearful that he might kill again said Patterson Nothing could be done until police had enough cause to make an arrest he said When police saw him alone at a drugstore Tuesday they brought him in for more questions That was when he confessed Patterson said Attorney Richard Kirsch who took over defense on Thursday said he might ask to have his client placed in a psychiatric institution rather than jail while he awaits trial Purvis is being held without bond charged with two counts of first-degree murder Kirsch cautioned that his medical record make him guilty is most confused but he vehemently denies that he has anything to do with this murder or with the woman 7-Eleven and asked her if she wanted a lift and then I asked her if she would have intercourse with The police report states stated that he likes to pick up females and that he likes little girls because he would like to go to bed with His mother told police that little girls were always trying to seduce her son and that older women were attracted to him Patterson said Police also found that Purvis allegedly badgered women at the Williams Drug Store 1302 NE 26th St Wilton Manors Store employe Stella Gormon told police that Purvis often pestered women at the lunch counter Store-owner Don Hicks said Purvis never become violent or so obnoxious that police were called but said "that an eye was always kept on him" the report states Neighbors and church members also chose to handle incidents quietly Several complaints about Purvis reportedly were lodged with a church security guard Police said Purvis allegedly offered female church-members money to give him a kiss or to let him feel their breasts Within the past few weeks a woman neighbor complained to police that Purvis kept staring at her and bothering her The mother of an 11 -year-old girl told police that Purvis yelled lewd remarks as he chased her daughter through a nearby playground about' two weeks ago The mother declined to prosecute he was constantly bothering Hamwi Of course this man became a said Patterson the homicide sergeant Police had little to go on at first They have yet to determine the exact time of the killing They HISTORIC PRESERVATION BOARD Thursday January 19 1984 The Historical Association of Southern Florida Conference Room 3280 Miami Avenue 3:00 PM The Board will review and vote on these requests for Dade County Historic Site Designations: 1 Atlantic Island Bridges Atlantic Avenuei Atlantic Island 2 Water Court Villa Pergola 334 Atlantic Avenue Atlantic Island The public is invited to attend and comment on these items person who decides to appeal any decision made by any board agency or commission with respect to any matter considered at its meeting or hearing wilt need a record ot the proceedings Such person may need to ensure that a verbatim record of the proceedings is made Including the testimony and evidence upon which the appeal is to be Susan Bollender Hamwi and daughter Shane found the baby dead in her crib She died of dehydration days after her mother was slain Hamwi was sprawled on the floor in the kitchen of her one-story home A knife was broken off in her chest The handle lay next to her body There were signs that she had been raped The only clue was a red hair found in torn panties Purvis has red hair although police have not been allowed to compare it with their clue He has an alleged weakness for women Neighbors said he had been bothering Hamwi The day after the bodies were found police asked both Purvis and his mother to come down to the station for questioning The 6-foot-l-inch 180-pound red-haired man told police he had never bothered the woman who lived three doors away Susan Hamwi did not want to come back to Fort Lauderdale "She was worried because she did not want to raise Shane in an atmosphere of South Florida Tom Ziolkowski said From 1980 to 1982 Hamwi sold time-sharing units for Ziolkowski through the Holiday Ocean Resorts in Pompano Beach She left Broward to marry Paul Hamwi a Colorado contractor After having the baby she and her husband separated She came back to Fort Lauderdale where she owned the house on Poinsettia Drive Although on a tight budget she worked only part-time doing market research for a fast-food firm owned by Fort Lauderdale lawyer Edmund Sciarretta a long-time family friend wanted to stay home with COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (305) 579-2553 METROPOLITAN DADE COUNTY By JENNIFER SCHENKER Herald Staff Writer Neighbors figured he was slightly slow-witted Psychiatrists diagnosed him as a potentially violent schizophrenic living in the shadow of his mother Women at a local drugstore and at his church claimed he was a lecherous nuisance Police call him a murderer They have charged John Gordon Purvis with stabbing neighbor Susan Bollender Hamwi to death with a kitchen knife in November and leaving her 18-month-old daughter Shane to die The Hamwis and Purvis are linked by nothing more than a strand of red hair and a twist of fate Hamwi 38 was pretty independent and by all accounts a good mother to the little girl she nicknamed She had an ordinary life a strait-laced upbringing Catholic schooling in Canton Ohio a sales job in Fort Lauderdale marriage after a proper courtship But soon she divorced and returned with her child to 1656 Poinsettia Dr in northeast Fort Lauderdale Purvis who first confessed but then denied the killings last week was different from other people in the neighborhood one reason police suspected him although they are still trying to obtain a court order to compare his red hair with the only piece of physical evidence in the case His attorney says the confession was coerced and that Purvis denies he had anything to do with the killings At 42 he had never held a job and still lived with his mother Often he would accompany his 66-year-old mother Emma Jo Bartlett to a Fort Lauderdale Sears store where he would stand for hours staring at the rows of television sets while she shopped Sometimes mother and son would visit Holiday Park where he would walk on the jogging trail while she followed 30 feet behind Later they would stop for coffee at Mother Butler Pies He tried hard to fit in He packed and delivered Thanksgiving baskets at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church and frequently gave oranges to neighbors as tokens of friendship There were episodes that police say indicate a darker side: violent behavior that moved his mother to commit him for a year to the psychiatric ward of Imperial Point Medical Center in 1978 complaints about his scaring little girls crude propositions to women at church and a drugstore In a statement to police Nov 9 the day after the bodies were found Purvis explained that there was good John and a bad John Purvis would terrorize Hamwi by recreating a scene from the horror movie The Shining popping up unexpectedly at the window and yelling just as actor Jack Nicholson did while stalking his terrified wife said Fort Lauderdale homicide Sgt Dave Patterson The connection But it was another thriller Alfred Psycho that best describes type of mental illness said Hollywood psychiatrist Joel Klass who questioned Purvis during the police investigation Klass said a person with type of schizophrenia often is abnormally dependent on his mother and also harbors intense rage toward her Since the mother is needed sometimes the rage will be released on a who has some of the mother Klass said In Psycho the main character not bear her loss yet felt rage He identified as her He loved her to Klass said what police allege John Purvis did that he loved this woman Hamwi to Klass said Susan Hamwi had been increasingly worried by attentions Labor Day when we came to visit Hamwi told me she was upset and frightened of him He was always bothering her" said her sister Karen Cronin 42 of Winter Haven was always hanging around He came to the door He was a pest" Some of the people living in neighborhood thought he was retarded said Detective Rich Martin who worked the homicide case along with Detective Rick Rice Some were concerned Some felt sorry for him why police say no one wanted to prosecute when Purvis got into trouble Picking up girls On April 27 police received a complaint that Purvis had tried to entice a 13-year-old girl as she got off a school bus The girl refused to get into the car jotted down its license-tag number and ran home and told her mother When police confronted Purvis he admitted that he had approached the girl And he told them about an incident with another girl: picked her up in the area of the it cess From the moment you walk into our bank you can sense it In the way we take a personal interest in helping you solve your financial problems and recognize profitable opportunities In the sophisticated array of products and services we offer you In our entire customer-oriented approach to our business So come into a nearby Florida National office and discover your own personal financial formula From 24-hour statewide banking to-comprehensive investment and trust services well put together everything you need to succeed Being the very best at what you do for a living can often take its toll on what you planned to do for the evening But somehow it has never been a difficult choice for you to make Because what you enjoy most is working toward an ambitious goal And achieving it with flying colors That's probably why you've always been successful no matter how high you set your sights And thafs also why you need a bank with the same kind of personal commitment to excellence At Florida National we call it the Spirit for suc i i LOCATIONS: Main Office 169 East Flagler Street Miami 33101 (305) 373-1171 3899 Bird Road Miami 33146 (305) 545-3268 169 Miracle Mile Coral Gables 33134 (305) 545-3250 1312 South Miami Avenue Miami 33101 (305) 545-3230 13700 North Kendall Drive Miami 33101 (305) 385-4411 13100 NW 27th Avenue Opa-Locka 33054 (305) 545-3270 25th Street 8c 72nd Avenue Miami 33122 (305) 593-5054 -10815 Sunset Drive Coral Gables 33101 (305)545-3275 11115SW 132nd Avenue Miami 33146 (305) 385-2096 3300 North Federal Highway Fort Lauderdale 33339 (305) 537-5200 4850 Oakland Park Boulevard Lauderdale Lakes 33313 (305) 537-5280 191 1 South University Drive Plantation 33324 (305) 472-2707 6730 University Drive Tamarac 33321 (305) 722-8305 7137 West Broward Blvd Plantatioif 33317 (305) 584-8991 a- MEMBER FDIC.