When she got dolled up, oh my god, gorgeous. Did she write these letters . Was this a hint to who killed her . This is a message saying this is my killer. Like you would see in a movie. And the ending, that was just like a movie, too. I cant believe what people do to each other. Hello, and welcome to dateline. Roc, in this case, those three letters would tell a story all their own. When Karen Pannell was found murdered in her South Florida home, the letters scrawled in blood above her body seemed like a beacon that could lead detectives to her killer. But what exactly did they mean . What other crucial clues were in sight . It would take dogged specialist with a keen eye to unravel this mystery. Heres Dennis Murphy with written in blood. If yearround sun and water is your thing, floridas west coast should be high on your list of places to live. It was for onetime model and Flight Attendant got sand in her shoes, she never looked back. She loved the beach, diving, boating, that life. Her friend worked the counter at American Airlines in tampa with karen. If you were a frazzled passenger who isnt these days karen is the antidote. Exactly the right agent to bump into to get you on your way. Karen was very pretty. She was smart. Smiled all the time. Funny. Reporter but when the always capable and reliable karen didnt show up for her Saturday Morning Shift on october 11th, 2003, clearly something was wrong. Her boyfriend had tried calling her at home. When she wasnt at work or answering her calls, i began to get worried, but it was a couple hours before i really got panicky about it. Reporter the boyfriend drove over to karens condo, The Front Door was unlocked. A bad sign. He said he stepped inside and looked to the right to the kitchen. I saw her body and i knew immediately, there was no doubt in my mind she was dead. I picked up the phone and i called 911. Shes laying on the floor, theres blood everywhere. Reporter karen pannel, sprawled on her back, bloody. A Murder Victim in her own home. When the first deputies arrive on the scene, her boyfriend is in the front yard, he was hysterical. He actually threw up he was so upset about finding his girlfriend. Depuies gave tim, the shaken boyfriend, a chance to collect himself in the back seat of the police car. He placed a call to her friend katherine with the unimaginable news. Karen, its tim. Im at karens apartment, she has been stabbed. Stabbed . Its a horrible way, its very horrible way to die. Karen, the baby of the family with five older brothers suddenly gone. She had been especially close to her oldest brother mike. My brother called me. I was at the airport, and said, you better sit down. He said, karens been murdered. Any theories about what happened . I dont know. I was trying to figure out the why and relying on the police to do what they needed to do. And what they had to do was plenty. They processed the crime scene, filmed every inch of karens home, knocked on doors, tried to figure out just who their victim was. Detectives holbrooke and larry nelvin began with the man that made that 911 call. The first Thing A Lead Investigator will do is talk to the people closest to her. In this case, we had Timothy Permente Finding his girlfriend. We took mr. Permenter back to the office and talked to him extensively. Tim, a car salesman, gave them a run down in the hours leading up to the terrible discovery. He said he popped in briefly on karen the night before to drop off a gift. A Photo Calendar of kittens he knew his Cat Lover Girlfriend would find irresistible. Tim said he left around 7 30. That was the last time he saw karen alive. Wouldnt it have been your routine to stay the night . Not on a friday night. She had to go in work the next day. After saying goodbye, he said he ended up spending the night with friends, about an hour to the north. Is he saying anything, he cant do it . I know boyfriends are figured suspicions, i want to talk to a lawyer . No, hes being more than cooperative. While tim says he was off with his friend, there appeared to have been a frenzied struggle at karens house. Forensic specialist, anna cox, assessed the aftermath. She put up a heck of a struggle. What are you looking at . She had defensive wounds, the way her body was contorted. I just remember thinking, she put up a heck of a struggle. She really fought for her life. Do you think oh my goodness or have you seen anything different at this point . I cant believe what people do to each other. It was terrible. Its terrible. Around back, cox, the crime scene tech, found the Security Bolt on a Sliding Glass Door had been dislodged. There were other signs of tampering. There was a cable box that was open. You start to think to yourself, somebodys trying to cut the wires. There was a knocked over bird bath. So there was evidence outside that at first you need to think to yourself, i think that this might be a burglary. And karens overturned purse on the stovetop supported the breakin theory. Anna cox took an inventory of everything at the crime scene. A pizza box, a garden glove, a grocery receipt, all routine findings so far. But its what authorities spotted next on the wall just above the body that would turn this case into something out of the movies. A threeletter message in blood. You didnt have to squint to make it out, either, roc. On the victim, karens right hand index finger was clearly stained with blood. Roc. What was the murdered woman try to tell the cops . All these theories were running through my mind . What does that mean . Is that a word . Is that a person, a thing . The clues pointed in so many different direction, it was a total mystery. Reporter theres a concept in the law known as a dying declaration. With those three letters scrawled in karens own blood lead to the apprehension of her own killer. Coming up, investigators dig into that threeletter mystery. Who or what was roc . When dateline continues. Ues. Shampoos that care for your color as well as your hair . Everpure by loreal. Expert sulfatefree formulas. Validated by colorists. Nonstripping to keep any colored hair beautiful for weeks. Everpure from loreal paris. What is humana doing sending me a diy test kit . Beautiful for weeks. Old Health Insurance reminds you to schedule a screening, say, for colon cancer. Humana does you one better and sends you an athome test kit, when its overdue. Huh one of those tests could save your life, or at least a little hassle. Or both. Yeah you get it, you do it, you send it back. I get it, i do it, i send it back. You get it, you do it, you send it back. Yeah, i got it. You got it humana. A more human way to healthcare. For skin that never holds you back dont settle for silver 1 for diabetic dry skin 1 for Psoriasis Symptom Relief and 1 for eczema symptom relief gold bond champion your skin the camera always liked Karen Pannell. She was both hard to miss and hard to forget. Just ask her boyfriend Tim Permenter, who was smitten right away when he met her at the dealership where he worked. What did you think of her . She was gorgeous, she was beautiful. You were pinching yourself. You thought you were the luckiest guy. I thought she was the one. I thought she was the one i could settle down with. Settling down hadnt been part of karens growing up. She and her five brothers had been raised as Military Brats and moved bases a lot. Now they were traveling from far flung parts of the country for her funeral. Shocked and in mourning for the lost sister who had always been their glue. All the boys kind of got involved in their own stuff. Then there was karen. She was really what connected all of us to the family unit. What does that tell us about her . She was really more important to us than we knew. I think she was always more interested in family as a whole than she was in herself. Brother mike wasnt alone in thinking his kid sister could have been a skys the limit person. She could have been anything she wanted, a scientist or a doctor or whatever. Well, her friends loved her. And she was hard not to love. Even harder to forget what a cruel fate she had suffered at the hands of a killer unknown. During the viewing, there were invisible stab wounds on her hand. You know, so we kind of pulled flowers down a little further. A few days after the murder her many friends at the airport said their goodbyes. Theres a chapel in the main terminal at the airport. There were so many people there from so many different airlines, the security people. It was incredible. Meanwhile, the Pinellas County sheriffs investigation was moving quickly on several fronts. First, they validated boyfriend tims story. He said after visiting karen early that evening, he spent the night with a friend, George Solomon in moon lake, about an hour to the north. He did, in fact, go up to where george was staying with his girlfriend if pasco county. There was confirmed by george and georges girlfriend. George gave us a time line consistent with what permaner gave us. Tims Story On The Night of the murder checked out. And he voluntarily came clean about something. He had a record. He had done time. Early on in your life, you get in trouble. What was going on with you . I was running an escort service. Got stupid, started it up small, basically, running an ad out of a newspaper, getting a small office. And it just expanded from there, it ballooned. What kind of money were you pulling down a week . I was grossing about 6,000, 7,000 a day. A day . You were how old . 20. Thats the trap. Why am i going to school when im making this kind of money . Why go straight, huh . Yes. It ended up in a gunfight . Yes, sir. Tim says he was worried hed be painted as a bad guy right away because of his sorted past. So he promised to cooperate in every way possible, and the cops took him up on it. I allowed them to photograph me. Removed my clothing. I allowed them to go to my home. Take anything they wanted. There was nothing about his clothing, his car, his person that led to us believe that he was involved in any other way than he said he was. He came over to see her, found her and was devastated. Tim permenters alibi checked out. Police dismissed any clues pointing to a home invasion. After all, karen had been stabbed 16 times, an attack so ferocious, it could only be a crime of passion. Now the detectives were desperate to figure out what their biggest clue of all meant, those three letters written in blood. Roc. This is a creepy scene. I mean, you got this scrawled in blood message saying this is my killer. Im now dead, you find this guy. Thats what its suggesting, isnt it . Absolutely, its what its suggesting. Just like you would see in a movie. Detectives soon discovered how those letters on the wall, roc, were, in fact, connected to the victim lying beneath them. Roc, it turned out, was a man that spelled trouble for karen in the past. Roc was an exboyfriend Karen Pannell had problems with previously. And whoever and wherever this roc was, hed just become the prime target of the investigation into her murder. Okay. Well, there it is. Thats what she meant to write was roc. They have to follow that lead, and off they go. To find roc . To find roc. Coming up, mission accomplished. Find him, they do. But what would they find next . Im looking at murder, somebodys talking to me about a murder. When dateline continues. Es flexible hours. That work around your schedule. Jackson hewitt is here to fight for the biggest refund you deserve. Whether youre a 95er or 59er. A Stomach Churning crime scene, with a cryptic message in blood. Roc. Roc was the unusual but proper spelling of Karen Pannells exboyfriend. So tell me about the former boyfriend known as roc, letters scrawled in blood. Who was he . Roc was an exboyfriend. He had a little legal problems, a little Substance Abuse problem. Roc had a personality as big and as loud as the pipes on the harleys he loved to cruise. He worked at an Auto Body Shop handling claims. When he met karen, she was on a downward spiral. After being married five years, she recently had got an divorce. The doctor had given her awful news. She had multiple sclerosis, 38yearsold. To be a young, divorced woman, with this awful diagnosis, what do you think that did to her . Thats a lot to put on your shoulders. Right. I think that really affected herself esteem. Frankly, i think it had an impact on the kind of men she was attracted to. Karen came to rely on roc to take her to doctors appointments and give her injections. But when she took the step of asking him to move in, her friends and family thought she was asking for trouble. I think thats true. But then is it my place to say, well, you need to go find somebody that is going to offer you a Better Future . You cant dictate terms to your kid sister . No, you can only fix yourself. As it turned out, roc wasnt a fix for karen either. The relationship soon took an ugly turn. They seemed to get along for a while and she was happy. And he turned into not a very nice guy. He was a little creepy. He was tough on her . There were some unexplained bruises. I used to tell her, what are you doing . He did not deserve her. She wouldnt listen. The fights got worse and police were called three separate times to intervene. One time roc allegedly broke down The Front Door. That was the last straw. Karen filed a domestic Battery Complaint and roc moved out. Tim says even a year later, he was still harassing karen about a rolltop desk he left behind. She was starting to get scared of him towards the end. The issue he had was i got a valuable piece of furniture, i want it back. Right. But karen said that that was a ruse. Trying to worm his way back in . Is that the way she saw it . Thats the way she put it to me. They knew they had to confront this roc, so they tracked him down and paid a surprise visit. He wasnt happy to see them. Im in the garage of my home in north port, florida. Unmarked car shows up, everybody know what is that is. Im thinking, what the heck is that . Detective holbrooke identified himself and said they need to talk to him about his friend karen. We sit down on the porch and he goes, well, shes dead. Of course this doesnt register. And i just said you need to tell me whats going on. But the detective wanted roc to do the talking. He asked about his troubled relationship with karen. Roc indicated that he was using drugs and that karen liked to drink and that they fought often. Roc said he savored the good times with karen, too. When she got dolled up, oh, my god, gorgeous. I mean, picture perfect. Wasnt anything out of place. Were there some sparks there, roc . Yeah, there was, she was all that, just by herself and ready to go. She looked hungry for attention and she was alone and it was perfect. It was a perfect setup. What do you think she saw in you . What was working from her side . Probably the bad boy kind of thing. I wasnt your conventional straightlaced kind of guy. Roc was open with the detectives. Even came across as a good guy. But conceded there were screaming matches with karen and a few rip roaring fights but said she was the instigator. Shed get violent, physically violent. Just stuff. Things would happen. But nobody ever got arrested, but theyd come out. They would address the issue. As roc tells it, she gave as good as she got. He dodged a few pieces of thrown crockery. She was ready to stand up for herself at the drop of a hat. She was a tough girl. Roc Remembers Karen Playing Hardball about that rolltop desk of his, too, not liking her attitude. I did call her on several occasions about my rolltop desk. The desk. That stupid desk and it was bugging me. I mean, it was a nice piece of furniture and i wanted to get it back. She pretty much said, you left, youre not getting it. He never did get. That roll top was still in karens condo on the night she was stabbed to death. Now, Detective Holbrooke pointedly wanted to know if roc had been there too. He says, where were you on suchandsuch a day. Im like, well, first of all, ill have to look at the calendar because i dont know where i was that day but i guarantee you i wasnt in oldsmar. So we go from there to discussing where i was, who i had been with, where i lived. So are you getting a serious grilling . Right. He ends up telling me that we found your name in blood on the wall. Roc . Yeah. So, obviously, im a suspect. I acknowledge that. I mean im looking at murder. Im getting somebodys talking to me about a murder. Roc waived his right to a lawyer and agreed to give fingerprints and swabbing. It looked as though police found yet another cooperative boyfriend of the victim. I said, if you are looking for fingerprints, theyre all over that home. I lived there for a year, so youre going to find them. Did you lose your patience . I did lose my patience when they cut the end of my finger off taking a fingernail. You take the end of my finger off, now im done. Rocs cooperation had an edge to it. Was he really trying to cover his tracks . Detectives were determined to find out. And they put that bloody clue under the microscope. Were those three little letters really what they had seen . Coming up the csi of roc. I remember thinking, wow, i wonder if thats what wrote these letters. 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