Victim’s family praises detective’s diligent work.
By Wanda J. Demarzo, The Miami Herald
A man whose murder charge was dropped after the Broward Sheriff’s Office crime lab mishandled DNA evidence is back behind bars, thanks to the determined efforts of a Fort Lauderdale detective.
Homicide detectives picked up Kevin Hoffman, 27, as he stepped out of a truck outside his attorney’s office Tuesday.
He is charged with the murder of Michael Sortal, who was found slain in his Fort Lauderdale apartment two years ago.
The victim’s brother credited the work of Detective John Curcio for rebuilding the case.
“This should be Detective Curcio’s day,” Nick Sortal said. “He could have bagged the whole case the day Hoffman walked out of the courthouse, but he kept pounding away. He never gave up.”
Hoffman didn’t say a word as investigators placed handcuffs on him.
His attorney, Hilliard Moldof, could not be reached for comment.
Fort Lauderdale police were able to reinstate the murder charge because additional forensic evidence separate from the sample sent to BSO reportedly linked Hoffman to the scene of the slaying. Hoffman’s codefendant also agreed to testify against him after refusing to do so earlier.
The Broward State Attorney’s Office reluctantly dropped charges against Hoffman on June 23 after his co-defendant Geoffrey Kennedy, already serving a life sentence, refused to testify against him, and the Broward Sheriff’s Office acknowledged that DNA samples from the murder scene had been contaminated. Material from an unrelated rape was mixed in with the DNA from the murder.
But there was other DNA related to the case, and it was sent to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s crime lab. That DNA -- consisting of genetic identifiers found in skin, blood, semen and other bodily materials -- linked Hoffman to the crime scene, police said.
“We said when he walked out of jail that he needed to wonder if the next knock at his door would be Fort Lauderdale police with a fresh murder warrant for his arrest,” said Fort Lauderdale Detective Mike Reed. “Well, today was that day.”
Sortal’s brother said his family is glad Hoffman has been charged.
“It’s about the truth. It’s about accountability,” Nick Sortal, a Sun-Sentinel reporter, said Tuesday in a phone interview.
Speaking from her Terre Haute, Ind. home, Hoffman’s mother, Kathy Hoffman, was upset she hadn’t been told any details about her son’s arrest until hours after the fact.
“I think they’re out to ruin my son,” she told a reporter with The Terre Haute Tribune-Star in Indiana. “I’m sorry, I just can’t talk about this right now.”
Police discovered the body of Sortal, 47, a manager at A Advantage Storage Warehouse, in his apartment March 15, 2001. Sortal was naked with a plastic bag over his head and a belt around his neck.
Police arrested Kennedy, 28, and Hoffman, both of Fort Lauderdale. Detectives believed the two men, who were roommates, targeted gay men, robbing them in their homes.
Kennedy was convicted in January 2002 and sentenced to life. After his sentencing, Kennedy agreed to testify against Hoffman.
In February, Kennedy changed his story and said he was alone at the time of the murder. Kennedy’s recantation, along with the contaminated DNA, led prosecutors to drop the case. Hoffman was released from jail June 23.
After Hoffman’s release, new witnesses came forward. Hoffman had told several people about the murder, Reed said.
“They had information that was never released to the media or the police,” Reed said.
Testing of the new DNA at Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s crime lab placed Hoffman at the scene at the time of the homicide, Reed said.
A revelation that the apartment had been cleaned shortly before the slaying allowed police to create a time line showing that DNA found in the apartment dated to the time of the killing.
Curcio has been credited with other DNA-related successes. His work helped free u Jerry Frank Townsend, a Broward man who served 22 years of a life sentence for rape-murders linked by DNA to another man.
Melissa Vogt of The Terre Haute (Ind.) Tribune-Star contributed to this report.