Missing $16K ring offers clue in slaying of Canadian couple in Florida: reports

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Police in Florida tell local media that robbery may have been the motive in the slaying of a Toronto couple found dead in their winter home there.

The Miami Herald reports investigators say Rochelle Wise’s wedding band was missing from the couple’s condo in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

The newspaper describes the ring as platinum finish with five half-carat white diamonds in a half moon shape and says it is valued at $16,000.

Hallandale Beach Police Chief Dwayne Flournoy told the TV station WSVN the ring “may be in a pawnshop” or someone may have “unwittingly” taken it.

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.

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.