Florida Correctional Officers Online

November 2008

By LYDA LONGA
Staff Writer

DAYTONA BEACH -- A few days before corrections officer Donna Fitzgerald was murdered at Tomoka Correctional Institution, an inmate said he overheard the suspect saying he would have the victim "one way or another," a report by state investigators shows.

A day before Fitzgerald was stabbed 25 times, an inmate who overheard suspect Enoch Hall talking about the 50-year-old corrections officer says he sent a letter to prison officials detailing what he claims Hall said to four other inmates in the facility's recreation area, the report states.

In addition, at least two friends of Fitzgerald's told Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigators Fitzgerald feared for her safety.

According to Jennifer Razer, one of the friends, the slain corrections officer gave Razer a letter and told her that if anything happened to her, Razer was to give the note to authorities. The exchange between the two women occurred about 10 days before Fitzgerald was stabbed, the report shows.

Regardless of Fitzgerald's fear someone was plotting to kill her, FDLE agents concluded the 39-year-old Hall, serving two life sentences for rape and kidnapping, acted alone to kill Fitzgerald the night of June 25 inside a work facility at the state prison near Daytona Beach.

The inmate who said he overheard Hall talking about Fitzgerald told FDLE investigators Hall commented on the officer's appearance, saying "she would be his one way or another."

But the report, the FDLE's investigative summary of the Fitzgerald murder, does not solely address the killing of the veteran corrections officer. It also mentions a subplot involving Fitzgerald and a woman who worked at the prison canteen.

The woman, Laurie Chilcot, was fired from Tomoka in October after it was learned she was having a relationship with Tomoka inmate Howard Keyes, a murderer. In a separate internal investigation of Chilcot by the Department of Corrections just before she was dismissed, it was revealed the relationship between Chilcot and Keyes manifested itself via love letters.

After interviewing Chilcot following Fitzgerald's death, FDLE investigators concluded Fitzgerald facilitated the relationship because as a corrections officer who had daily contact with inmates, she was able to give Chilcot's letters to Keyes, and vice versa.

At one point however, the two women had a falling out because Fitzgerald grew tired of acting as Chilcot's letter "mule," the report shows.

In response to that, Chilcot wrote a letter to Fitzgerald somewhat bemoaning their crumbling friendship.

That was the letter Razer said Fitzgerald gave her, the report states.

Another friend of the victim, Kathy Costello, told the FDLE that on June 19, six days before Fitzgerald was slain, she called Costello and told her she had been threatened by an inmate. When Fitzgerald arrived at Costello's residence to talk further, Costello said Fitzgerald looked "visibly upset and concerned for her personal safety." .

Costello said Fitzgerald told her she had been taking Chilcot's letters to an inmate. But when she refused to continue acting as a go-between, the inmate threatened to hurt Fitzgerald and her family, the report states. Costello said she never asked Fitzgerald the inmate's name, but said she thought it was the same man Chilcot was writing.

The report also shows Fitzgerald's own son, Kyle Antonelli, thought his mother's murder was an arranged hit.

But while the report shows FDLE investigators questioned several people in search of that possibility, it never materialized.

Reports done by the Department of Corrections and the FDLE soon after the stabbing showed Hall immediately confessed he had killed Fitzgerald when he was confronted by two male corrections officers the night of the murder. Hall said, "I freaked out, I killed her," they reported.

However, in the FDLE report released last week to The Daytona Beach News-Journal, any confessions uttered by Hall were blacked out.

Hall, now held at the Volusia County Branch Jail, has been indicted on a charge of first-degree murder. His trial is slated for January and State Attorney John Tanner said he would seek the death penalty.

lyda.longa@news-jrnl.com

Prison Findings

While investigators with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement have concluded Tomoka Correctional Institution inmate Enoch Hall is the sole suspect in the stabbing death of corrections officer Donna Fitzgerald, the investigation into the June 25 killing uncovered a series of smaller subplots within the prison:

· Investigators learned Fitzgerald was facilitating a relationship between Laurie Chilcot -- who worked in the prison canteen -- and inmate Howard Keyes. Fitzgerald, according to the FDLE, was taking letters to Keyes written by Chilcot, and vice versa.

· Fitzgerald told two friends that she feared for her safety. She gave one of her friends a letter written by Chilcot after Fitzgerald and Chilcot had a falling out over the letters.

· Fitzgerald told her other friend that an inmate she was giving letters to on behalf of Chilcot had threatened her and her family, because Fitzgerald wanted to stop.

· At least two inmates claimed they heard Hall talking about how he would hurt Fitzgerald, but those claims were never proven.

· One inmate said he overheard Hall -- known as "Bayamon" at Tomoka -- talking about Fitzgerald on the prison's basketball court. The inmate said Hall had praised Fitzgerald's physique and said she would be his.

SOURCE: Florida Department of Law Enforcement

Previous coverage available at www.news-journalonline.com/special/corrections/

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