Graham Brunk - Solving the West Palm Beach Murder of Jeffrey Heagerty

Published by The History Press

Charleston, SC

www.historypress.com

Copyright 2019 by Graham Brunk

All rights reserved

Cover photo: Jeff at his Jupiter Farms home in 1983. A version of this photo also appears on his tombstone. Courtesy Faye and Andy Heagerty.

First published 2019

E-Book edition 2019

ISBN 978.1.43966.723.1

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019935361

print edition ISBN 978.1.46714.256.4

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

For Jeffrey Michael Heagerty (19651984).

I never knew you, but none of us will forget you.

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I was inspired to propose this book to The History Press after I had already written most of it. Its book Murder in Pleasanton was my inspiration for doing so. That book was written similarly to mine, took place around the same time and the author, Joshua Suchon, seemed to use many of the same primary resources I did. Ive never met or even spoken to Mr. Suchon, but I thank him since his story, while quite different, had all the same types of twists and turns mine did, and it was a great inspiration for me to submit my own proposal to The History Press.

I thank my acquisitions editor, Joe Gartrell, for being really easy to work with and for truly seeming to understand the potential this story had as a book right from the get-go. I hope this is not the last time I get to work with him.

My family has always been the biggest backbone. I thank first and foremost my mother and stepfather, Gloria and Joe Sollecito, for always reminding me that Im a winner. I also thank my loving grandparents Carl and Yvonne Graham for also always having faith in me, reading everything I write and supporting all my efforts in everything I do.

In addition, I thank my other grandmother, Jean Brunk, for also being an advocate in everything I do and always having an interest to read what I write. I thank my aunt Pamela Graham for inspiring me to be the librarian that I am and teaching me how to use all the various resources that are available to me. I also thank my only sibling, my sister, Sabrina. Without all of our inside jokes, it would have been hard for me to find comic relief when working on a project such as this at times.

I must offer my extreme gratitude to Jeff s loving mother, Faye Heagerty, and his youngest brother, Andy Heagerty. Im thankful that the first time I attempted a project like this at full scale they were so receptive to my proposal to do this book and for allowing me, a stranger, into their home, where they shared many stories and pictures of Jeff s early life that I would not have been able to get anywhere else.

I am forever indebted to Robert Smallwood, who really made this story come alive. He was with Jeff a lot of the time leading up to his death. Because he remembered so many details, he was crucial to fact-checking my manuscript and really making this project a reality.

Id also like to thank Dwayne Presto. I can imagine that this is probably a difficult topic for him, and I cant thank him enough for chatting with me. I will say that despite how he may be perceived in this book during that period, I can absolutely attest that from our conversations his feelings for Jeff remain truly sincere.

Sandy at the Palm Beach County Courthouse Criminal Records Division was very helpful in assisting me with my research, as was Marsha Tooks at the Palm Beach County Sheriff s Office Central Records Division, who really went above and beyond.

I am very appreciative of Jason Parsley for being a great writing mentor and for giving me a chance at writing regularly and the ability to be a voice for the community.

I, like Jeff, enjoy spending time out and about on the town in West Palm Beach on a Saturday night. I thank my friends David Scott and Dana Munson for letting me ramble on about this case every time I learned something new over and over for the past year.

Emery Grant and Paul Fasana at the Stonewall Library and Archives in Fort Lauderdale have always been most helpful to me, especially when I needed help with research from a distance, as its sometimes difficult for me to get down to their archives during operating hours.

Many others helped contribute to this book in some form, including, George Kent IV, Andy Delancey, Carmen Padron, David Putnam, Lisa-Ann McGahee, Charlie Fredrickson, Melissa St. John, A.J. Wasson, Janet DeVries Naughton, Joey B., Chip Pruitt and Arthur Vale.

IN MEMORY

Jeffrey Heagerty circa 1983. Courtesy Robert Smallwood.

By Lisa-Ann McGahee, July 1984

For Jeff

It broke our hearts to lose you, but you did not go alone.

A part of us went with you the day God took you home.

A million times we need you, a million times we cried.

If love could have saved you, you never would have died.

To the grave we traveled, the flowers placed with care.

But no one knows the heartaches as we turn and leave you there.

No farewells were spoke, no time to say goodbye.

You were gone before we knew, and only God knows why.

If tears could build a stairway, and heartaches make a lane,

we would walk our way to heaven and bring you back again.

We smiled because we loved him. We cry because we lost him.

Missed by Mom and Dad and Brothers and Lisa and Friends.

PREFACE

I always knew that I wanted to author a book using my research skills, but I just didnt know when the right story would hit me. I was working on a different story for a freelance column I write for a local newspaper when I stumbled upon a January 7, 1985 article in the Palm Beach Post that listed several Palm Beach Countyarea unsolved murders from 1984. That year is considered one of the bloodiest on record in our local history, with 113 homicides by the years end. After the years end, 16 remained unsolved. The very first one at the top of the list jumped right out at me:

Jeffrey Heagerty, 19, was found floating in a Royal Palm Beach canal at 10 a.m. on July 1. He had been to several bars June 30 and was last seen at Kevins Lounge [Cabaret] in West Palm Beach in the early morning hours of July 1. He had been strangled and his car was missing.

From that paragraph alone, I knew this would make for an interesting story, perhaps another newspaper article for me to write, but I never imagined all the twist and turns Id find that were yet to happen in the years following when that snippet was published in the Post.

Everything in this story is based on police records, court records, newspaper stories and memories of those associated with the incident. This was thirty-four years ago, so I do caution that some things may not necessarily be the way others remember it. At times, this was difficult to research since police, court records and newspapers often misspelled Jeffrey as Jeffery.