Police: 'Persons of interest' held in turnpike slayings

CNN ^ | October 27, 2006 | Susan Candiotti

[BufordP]

FORT PIERCE, Florida (CNN) -- Four "persons of interest" were being held in the Palm Beach County Jail on Friday in connection with the shooting deaths of a family of four this month along Florida's Turnpike, authorities said.

The people in custody, who were not identified, were being held on federal drug charges, authorities said.

"We are looking for more people," a law enforcement source said.

A late-morning news conference was scheduled to discuss the case.

Late Thursday, the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office issued a nationwide bulletin asking people to be on the lookout for a 1999 red Dodge conversion van.

The bulletin asked that anyone who finds the van not touch it, but contact the sheriff's office.

"The vehicle is definitely involved in the homicides," said St. Lucie County sheriff's spokesman Lt. Jerry Rothman.

The van's Florida license plate bears the number F4388NZ, and it is registered to Michael James Naujalis, 24, of Lake Worth, Florida, just south of West Palm Beach, according to the bulletin. However, the tag might have been removed, St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara said.

Mascara said Naujalis is a "person of interest" in the case, but doesn't know whether he has any connection to the slain family. Authorities also wouldn't say whether Naujalis is in custody.

[Dutchgirl]

Florida Death Penalty Lovin' bump.

[Moonman62]

I wonder if the father of the executed family was involved in drug dealing.

[BufordP]

Have a look at the "Story Highlights" within the CNN article.

[King of Florida]

What kind of person can shoot three and four year old kids? What goes through their mind when they aim their gun at such young children?

Pure evil.

[Moonman62]

It says the brother is. I found a Sun-Sentinel article that said the brother is a major heroin distributor and a fugitive in Mexico (where else?).

[Fighting Irish]

It says the brother is. I found a Sun-Sentinel article that said the brother is a major heroin distributor and a fugitive in Mexico (where else?).

The older this story get gets the more it points to a drug deal dispute.....

The animals in this bidness have no souls.

[laker_dad]

What kind of person can shoot three and four year old kids?

I thought the same thing. It's probably someone who would get wacked himself if he did not carry out his orders.

[Kewlhand`tek]

I hate P.C. weren't "person's of interest" called suspects?

[sageb1]

Any MS-13 affiliations?

[CottShop]

Sorry but I don't read Taleban publications like CNN.

Christian news and commentary at: sacredscoop.com ...

[Joe Boucher]

A serious warning to others thinking maybe of turning on the drug gang.

[Paradox]

This was the very first thing I thought of. The manner of the killings was very much like a drug-deal-gone-bad hit. Especially when the news revealed that they had recently arrived from Texas. Sounds like they were trying to get away from someone(s)..

[Moonman62]

Not too many young families can afford a nice house in South Florida either.

[King of Florida]

What if the guy was just the drug-dealing black sheep of the family who could care less (relatively speaking <— no pun intended) about his brother and the brother's wife and kids?

[Joe Boucher]

I think it is pay back for turning in someone or else maybe they pocketed some drugs or money from the gang.

[Moonman62]

The Palm Beach Post is saying that the house the family rented was filled with drugs and guns. I thought the father looked like a thug. I guess he was.

[CottShop]

Everythign I've heard about the familythough said they were real nice, always willing to help others etc- Not to say that 'nice' people can't be mixed up in crime- but it's kinda shocking to see th4 developments after hearing how everyone liked the family.

Christian news and commentary at: sacredscoop.com ...

[Moonman62]

My experience is that most people aren't very good judges of character these days, especially in a place like South Florida where everything and anything is to be tolerated.

[King of Florida]

That's an awfully broad generalization about a part of this country, especially from someone who refuses to reveal where in this country he's from. I am the father in a family of four, raising two kids here in South Florida, and before I was married, I lived in a number of different places in this country. There is nothing that sets South Florida apart, other than the weather (and beaches, palm trees, etc.) and the number of Americans of Latin-American background.

So I take it you have a problem with the heat down here, because it obviously can't be anything else, eh?