Joseph Magaletti

Joseph Magaletti Jr. (April 5, 1950 – February 16, 2015) was an American murderer and suspected serial killer who was convicted of killing his neighbor in Sarasota, Florida, in 1995, for which he was sentenced to life imprisonment. After his death in 2015, he was linked to a similar murder dating back to 1985 via touch DNA analysis, and authorities are now investigating his possible involvement in other murders.

Early life Joseph Magaletti Jr. was born on April 5, 1950, in White Plains, New York. Little is known about his upbringing, but as an adult, he developed a drug addiction that prevented him from holding jobs for too long, due to which Magaletti became a drifter. By the 1980s, he moved to Florida, where he made a living by working various jobs ranging from a cashier to a bouncer at a nightclub.

On May 17, 1981, he was working at a bar named The Crown Lounge when he had to order one client, 31-year-old Irene Rubin Zayas, to leave, as he had attempted to steal a glass from the establishment. Approximately ten minutes, Zayas returned armed with a pocket knife and stabbed Magaletti in the stomach, but the injuries proved minimal. Newspaper accounts from the time claimed that after being released from jail, Zayas smashed the windshield of Magaletti's car and flattened his tires. One outlier in this case was that Stafford was apparently standing when she was first struck, and that her killer had moved her body after killing her, leaving behind DNA on her clothes. The following day, a passer-by walking through a residential area in Sarasota passed by a car and noticed that the woman inside was dead. The car, a red 1980 Toyota Corolla, matched the description of Zea's car, and the body was sent for an autopsy for possible identification. Following this, her brother devoted a large portion of his time to discussing his sister's murder both in interviews and in person, culminating in the foundation of a committee that aimed to raise a $10,000 reward for anyone that could provide information leading to Zea's killer. In September of that year, the police department released a facial composite seeking a supposed "key witness" in the case, but this man was never located.

On or about March 10, 1995, 45-year-old Kathleen Leonard, a nurse who worked at a hospital in Sarasota, stopped showing up to work. When she failed to turn up in the following days, one of her co-workers reported her missing to the police and a search began for her. When they checked the apartment, officers found Leonard's body in her bedroom. Her hands had been bound with a towel behind her back, and she appeared to have been strangled with terrycloth.

Arrest, trial, and imprisonment A week after Leonard's killing, Magaletti was arrested for burglary and robbery in relation to two separate incidents in which he had robbed a female acquaintance's house and had threatened to kill her. In the meantime, detectives investigating the crime scene of the Leonard murder found a strand of hair and palm prints that matched Magaletti, her neighbor at the time, but as this was not considered sufficient evidence for an arrest, he was not charged.

Five years later, the hair and a sample from Magaletti were sent to a laboratory in North Carolina, where they hoped that the advancements of DNA technology could help them. Using touch DNA analysis, it was confirmed that Magaletti had been present at the crime scene when Leonard had been murdered resulting in his subsequent arrest. While he vehemently denied responsibility, Magaletti would later be charged, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder on June 15, 2001.