FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ Until last week, the deliveryman's knock at the door seemed like a welcome greeting, not a deadly threat.
Now, after the savage slaying of a Boca Raton woman when her washer and dryer were delivered, tremors of fear are shaking South Florida.
The attack called into question the trustworthiness of deliverymen and workers we invite into our homes every day. It left people wondering how much responsibility a company has to ensure its deliverymen are decent people. And it raised this scarier question: What can we do to make sure they aren't crazed killers?
When Evelyn Udell, 75, opened her door to two deliverymen in her upscale Boca Raton neighborhood on Monday, she trusted them to safely deliver a new washer and dryer she'd ordered from Best Buy. The men, David Gonzalez and Jorge Luis Dupre Lachazo, did that.
But, according to police, things turned violent when Lachazo was left alone with Udell in her home. Instead of doing as he was directed and explaining the new appliances to Udell, police say he hit her with a mallet and set her on fire with acetone, killing her.
"The fact that it happened here is shocking, and the fact that it happened from a well-known company like this is scary," Boca Raton Council Member Andrea O'Rourke said.
O'Rourke said many in the Boca Raton community are shocked and she has recommended that they remain on guard when opening their doors from now on.
"My message is to tell people we need to think about these things, about who we let into our home," O'Rourke said. "Something like this can happen anywhere."
Robin Siegal lives in a gated community across the street from Udell's enclosed neighborhood in Boca Raton. Siegal said she normally does not invite workers into her home when she is alone, unless she has dealt with them in the past. If she has to be alone, she keeps her phone in her hand in case of an emergency.
Now, she doesn't want strangers in her home period.
"I am scared," Siegal said. "When you have something delivered from the store _ Best Buy, Home Depot _ you don't know if they vet or don't vet the people that are coming to your home."
