Robbery may be motive in slaying of Canadian couple in Florida

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The slaying of a Canadian couple found dead in their winter home in Florida may have been motivated by robbery, police said Thursday.

Rochelle Wise’s wedding band – valued at $16,000 – was missing from the couple’s condo in Hallandale Beach, Fla., investigators said.

The ring is described as platinum finish with five half-carat white diamonds in a half moon shape and police said it may be engraved with the letters DCC on the inside.

The band has an unusual locking mechanism that allows it to open and close so that it can fit over a knuckle, they said.

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“We are hoping that if we find this ring it may lead us to more information,” Hallandale Beach Police Chief Dwayne Flournoy told the Miami Herald.

Investigators are asking pawn shops and anyone who deals in used jewelry to keep an eye out for the ring.

It’s the first clue to emerge regarding a possible motive in the deaths of Wise, 66, and David Pichosky, 71, whose bodies were found Jan. 10.

Police have described the killing as “senseless.”

Wise and Pichosky were married about four years ago and her son has said they were just beginning to take advantage of their retirement.

Wise, a popular former day camp director and educator, and Pichosky were at the local Jewish temple on Jan. 8 then went to a Wal-Mart and returned home, police have said.

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Police released video in February from a neighbour’s surveillance camera hoping to identify a woman seen walking to the rear of the couple’s home that day carrying an unidentified object then leaving without it.

The medical examiner has concluded the deaths are homicide by asphyxiation, although police haven’t said whether it was by hand or a ligature.