Son of North Miami Cold Case Murder Victim Speaks – NBC 6 South Florida

Joseph DiMare was murdered in North Miami in 1961, but his killer was not identified until this week.

DiMare’s son, Richard, has been on an endless pursuit to close this cold case and after 62 years, Miami-Dade Police confirmed DiMare’s wife, Frances, pulled the trigger.

“This was all about money,” said Richard DiMare.

From the start of his father’s marriage to his second wife, Frances, Richard said he was skeptical.

“There were a lot of problems, my stepmother left the house three times,” Richard said.

On March 24th, 1961, Richard, then 21, learned his father was murdered in the passenger seat of his Cadillac Fleetwood.

“I told them in 1961 that my stepmother was the shooter and they said ‘oh no, she is not the shooter,'” Richard DiMare said.

Now, 62 years later, the Miami-Dade Police Cold Case Unit says Frances DiMare did in fact kill businessman Joseph DiMare.

More than six decades after a man’s dinner outing with his wife ended with him gunned down in his car in North Miami, detectives believe they’ve solved his murder. NBC6’s Laura Rodriguez reports

The motive, police say, was an impending divorce and her inheritance.

“There were concerns she had that she would be out of the will if she wasn’t living in the marital home. We know that she wasn’t in Miami prior to the homicide and when she found out about the will, she did travel back,” said Miami-Dade Police Det. Jonathan Grossman.

So why did it take six decades for police to come to this conclusion?

“What happened back in 1961, none of us were around for. What we can tell you is that now, going through the case file, looking at it through our set of eyes and the team that we have, we have been able to come to the conclusion that she is the person responsible,” said Grossman.

Volunteer investigator Paul Novack, who assisted with the case, said Frances DiMare died in 2006. She did not face criminal charges, but Frances did inherit more than $200,000.

“I’m relieved on one side, but the pain and suffering my family suffered, I don’t know that’s ever going to go away,” said Richard.

Miami Dade Police said they have 10,000 cold cases. The unit works on hundreds of cases per year to try to bring resolution and closure to victim’s families.