COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. — Behind every face and every action, there's a name. The search for those names is where the journey begins.
Fox 4's Senior Reporter Kaitlin Knapp is on a mission to get to know the names we know, and perhaps find the ones we don't, along with the detectives working in the same communities you call home.
In Fox 4's series called "Sunshine Crimes," we are going across Southwest Florida to tell the stories of people waiting for justice.
In broad daylight, a Naples businessman was shot and killed here inside of his office. The question is why. Was it because of money? A bad investment? Something personal? Or all of the above?
Watch Senior Reporter Kaitlin Knapp explain why money could've been the murderer's motive:
"For a businessman to be killed right under our nose at his business, I think was kind of unusual," said Butch DiFonzo, an investigator with the Collier County Sheriff's Office Cold Case Unit.
Unusual because the murder happened in an area tucked away in Naples.
DiFonzo says you have to come here for a reason.
"Someone had to know this area pretty well," he said.
And know the businessman: 81-year-old Karl Lievense.
"That day his vehicle was parked right here, right in front of the building," DiFonzo said.
It was around 11:30 a.m. on April 9, 2018.
Through the walls, people in the building said they heard Lievense on the phone.
"He was yelling and screaming at different people," DiFonzo said. "It had to deal with some of the words of I’m going to sue you or you owe me this kind of money and vice versa."
Around the same time, DiFonzo says Lievense went outside with someone, but no one got a good look at the person.
Then, around 2 p.m., in a room next to Lievense's office, there was a gruesome discovery by his friend.
"He was under a desk, his head was close to a bookshelf," DiFonzo said. "What was the behavior at the crime scene? Overkill. He had been shot more than once."
The walls were paper thin, but did anyone hear the gunshots?
"No, people heard bangs. Now was the bang the phone banging, him hitting things — nothing was specific when it came to gunshots," DiFonzo explained.
Papers were scattered on Lievense's desk, but nothing pointed to any appointment when the murder happened.
With no witnesses to the murder, DiFonzo had to follow what seems to be a common theme.
"Money is the root of all evil and I think it had to deal with money," he said. "He was a businessman. Was he successful? I don’t know. I looked at — he had numerous businesses. What does that mean? I don’t know."
This business was called Integrated Companies LLC. The Sheriff's Office said he was a business broker and gathered investors for business ventures. One investment project included some mobile home parks in Michigan, some energy-based enterprises in Texas and a proposed movie to be filmed in Collier County.
"I think, we think it’s probably someone definitely that was associated with him that knew him and had some dealings with him," DiFonzo said.
That someone could be anyone. Lievense had so many businesses and dealt with a lot of people, so there's a big network for DiFonzo to comb through.
"I think the person felt very comfortable coming in and getting in an argument and shooting him and walking straight on out the door and driving out of here," DiFonzo explained. "This is almost like a white collar crime, but with violence."
DiFonzo hopes one thing will crack this case.
"Remorse. Somebody may have remorse doing this down the line," DiFonzo said.
He hopes that emotion is a motivator.
"There’s somebody else who knows something out there," DiFonzo said. "You may not be a killer, but somebody got killed."
Now even though there aren't a lot of people in the area where the murder happened, and some may not work there, DiFonzo believes someone in Collier County knows something.
If you have a tip that can help the detective, call the Collier County Sheriff's Office or Southwest Florida Crimestoppers.
