5 killings near Detroit expose jeweler family's troubles
Patty
Livonia police question mom; robbery seen as possible motive
December 24, 2002
BY JIM SCHAEFER, SHAWN WINDSOR AND NIRAJ WARIKOO
Detroit FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
Before five people were killed, there was a split marriage, a personal
protection order and a mother addicted to crack cocaine.
Police said they didn't have any answers Monday to why someone shot
and killed three generations of a Livonia family, but robbery of the
jewelry store owner was a likely motive. The crime, detectives said,
was not random.
Someone ransacked the house on St. Martins Street where the five
bodies were found.
No one has been arrested in the killings of a grandmother, a father
and his three children, all of whom were shot Saturday night, Livonia
Police Chief Peter Kunst said. Some items are missing from the home,
Kunst said.
Police said Marco Pesce, the father, was at the jewelry store Saturday
when his son called about 5:45 p.m. and asked him to come home.
Someone at the store called the Pesce home about 7:15 p.m. There was
no answer, police said.
Police suspect the family was shot around that time.
Wayne County Circuit Court records show Pesce, 38, had filed for
divorce from his wife, Diane, three times, saying she was addicted to
crack cocaine and had taken their children to drug houses while she
purchased narcotics.
In January, Pesce won a court ruling granting him temporary custody of
their children and ordering his wife to move out of their home because
of her drug use.
Livonia Police Lt. Ben McDermott, the lead detective in the
investigation of the killings, said the woman was not a suspect.
He also said: "We have not ruled anything out, yet."
Detectives have questioned her at length and intend to talk to her
again, he said.
Family life troubled
Married in August 1989 in Livonia, Marco and Diane Pesce had three
children. When they died, Carlo was 12, Sabrina was 9 and Melissa, 6.
The fifth victim was Pesce's mother, Maria Vergati, 68, who was
visiting from Italy.
Marco Pesce first filed for divorce in January 1998. At the time, he
asked for and was granted a personal protection order against her. The
court file explaining why he sought the order was not available
Monday.
The case was dismissed in April 1998, apparently because the two
reconciled.
In September 2000, he filed for divorce again, asking for custody of
the children because of his wife's crack cocaine use and saying that
she had abandoned her obligations to the children. He removed her name
from all of the couple's bank accounts, cutting off her access to
their money, court records show.
But the following April, the pair again reconciled and dropped plans
for the divorce. Six months later, in October 2001, Marco Pesce filed
for the final time.
Diane Pesce fought for custody, saying in court records that she was
no longer using crack cocaine. She said she had completed a drug rehab
program and had passed drug tests ordered as part of her probation.
She was earlier convicted in 16th District Court in Livonia for
possession of narcotic paraphernalia, records show.
In January, Wayne County Circuit Judge Kathleen McCarthy ordered Diane
Pesce to move out of the home and gave Marco Pesce custody of the
children. McCarthy also ordered Diane Pesce to see a psychiatrist and
enter an in-patient drug abuse program.
In April, McCarthy granted the divorce. The judge gave the Pesces
joint legal custody of the children, but said they must live with
their father until they turned 18.
Harvey Hauer, a Bingham Farms lawyer who represented Diane Pesce in
the divorce, wouldn't discuss her problems but said he thought the
case was settled satisfactorily.
"As far as divorces go, this was far from the worst," Hauer said.
In a separate court matter earlier this year, Marco Pesce successfully
petitioned the Livonia Police Department to return to him a .38
Special handgun that police confiscated in October 2001. It was
unclear Monday how police got the gun, but it was returned to him in
March.
Big dreams realized
The killings mark the third time Livonia has been rocked by violence
since July. Two men were shot outside a bowling alley this month. In
July, two employees of a steak house were killed before the restaurant
opened. The city ranks as one of the nation's safest, according to FBI
statistics.
On Monday, friends and colleagues recalled details of Marco Pesce's
life and pieced together bits of information about his killing.
"I'm in total disbelief," said Karen Oliver, a 43-year-old lifelong
Livonia resident who runs a hair salon next to Pesce's jewelry store,
Italia.
"I cut his hair Friday," she said. "We talked about Christmas gifts we
were getting for our kids."
Pesce owned the strip mall -- 7 Farmington Plaza -- that housed five
businesses, including the salon and jewelry store. Most knew him as a
landlord, but at Hair Studio, stylists and customers knew him as a
dapper, savvy entrepreneur with big dreams who loved talking about his
children.
"It makes me physically sick to think those babies died," said Debby
Benson, a hair stylist.
Sandi Tomlinson said she couldn't believe Pesce's white sport-utility
vehicle wasn't in the parking lot.
"It's strange not seeing it," said the manicurist.
Sometimes, his kids bounded out with him. He often dropped in the
salon, even when he wasn't getting a trim.
"He was just easygoing and always had time for everybody," Tomlinson
said.
The landlord had recently expanded and remodeled the strip mall on 7
Mile and had moved his jewelry business into the mall a few months
ago.
Not far from the strip mall, in Pesce's neighborhood, residents
recalled his family.
"Nice, normal and neat," was how one neighbor described Pesce and his
three kids. They were a close-knit group, well-behaved and active in
their church, St. Michael Catholic Church in Livonia. The children
attended the church's school.
A reward of at least $50,000 was being offered for information leading
to an arrest and conviction, police said.