Bond Denied For Suspect In Body Parts Murder
FT. LAUDERDALE (CBS4) – A Davie man accused in a gruesome case where human remains were found in three different South Florida cities will remain behind bars.
Wednesday morning Broward Judge John Hurley denied bond for 51-year old Jamie Saffran who is charged with premeditated murder
According to his arrest affidavit, Saffran allegedly used a sledgehammer and backyard cutting tools to kill and dismember acquaintance Warren Danzig, then used the victim's credit card to buy tires for his red Jeep and pay $719 toward his daughter's tuition at Florida Atlantic University.
"It's creepy," said Pablo Abad from Fuzzy Tires in Plantation.
Abad says Saffran came to Fuzzy Tires posing as the victim and used his credit card to buy new tires.
The case began Nov. 6 when a concrete box which contained human legs and arms covered in concrete was discovered in Fort Lauderdale. On November 14, an auto store employee found a human head in a bucket along with a human hand, also covered in concrete, in a bucket along a Dania Beach canal. On November 26, two fishermen found a human torso in a container near a canal in Northwest Miami-Dade. DNA and fingerprints confirmed that the body parts all belonged to the same person identified as Danzig.
"The police went to your house, they found blue rope similar in size and appearance and construction as the rope that was recovered from the head and the hand on November 14th in Dania Beach," said Hurley reading from the arrest report.
Investigators said Saffran and Danzig were acquainted; Danzig's driver's license had Saffran's address on it. Saffran told investigators that he and Danzig were friends for many years. Saffran said Danzig lived in the Dominican Republic and used his address as his U.S. mailing address.
According to the arrest report, a plane ticket for a return flight to the Dominican Republic was found with the remains. Investigators say the ticket was canceled via phone and the number was traced to a cell phone found in Saffran's house.
Police have not released a motive for the killing.
People who knew Danzig from the years he lived at The Wave condominium in Hollywood, said he was a nice man who was kind to everyone and loved to fish.
"He was a sweet man," said Tami Klein. "He was a fisherman and he was always asking me cause I was going fishing, he would come fishing. He'd bring his cooler in and give everybody fish. He was just a quiet guy."
Tuesday, investigators from several law enforcement agencies, including Fort Lauderdale, Police, the Broward Sheriff's Office, Miami-Dade Police and the Davie Police Department arrested Saffran at his Davie home.
Aerial pictures Tuesday showed investigators turning Saffran's Davie home that he reportedly shares with his wife and a teenage daughter into a makeshift junkyard.
They pulled tons of items out of the home and crime scene investigators carted away two shovels and a Jeep as they searched for evidence. The shovels, which were covered in concrete, tested positive for human blood, according to police.
"They went to your house into a shed and found a shovel that was covered in concrete and a sledge hammer tested positive for human blood. The cadaver dogs also indentified your house and the shed area that human blood was there," said Hurley.
After his arrest, Saffran reportedly told detectives that he knew Danzig but hadn't seen him since October 31st.
Neighbors were surprised by the news of Saffran's arrest, describing him as a nice guy who always rode his scooter and said hello.
"It's creepy," said Jenny Muniz, who lives across the street from the Saffran's. "It's very bizarre to think that somebody like that was living right across the street from us. I'm hoping this is the only time he's done something like that. It looked completely out of character for them."
Click here to read the entire arrest affidavit.
