FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – South Florida developer Louis Bianculli sat in court Tuesday a free man, now living in his waterfront mansion while awaiting trial for allegedly chloroforming, molesting and torturing his former stepdaughter over a six-year period.
But Bianculli's release in order for him to get emergency knee surgery, despite the fact that the court has ruled he's a danger to the community, doesn't sit well for the victim's grandmother.
Deb Dahlberg-Rowland traveled to Fort Lauderdale from Texas to attend Tuesday's hearing.
"There's nothing worse than learning that your granddaughter had been molested for all those years and hidden," she said.
That, combined with the allegation that Bianculli has numerous victims dating back 50 years, has her convinced that he needs to be locked up prior to trial.
"Why hasn't he had the surgery?" Dahlberg-Rowland said. "If he needed it, why hasn't it happened? I think it's a stall tactic. He needs to go back to jail."
Adding to the danger are Bianculli's own words in a secret police audiotape prior to his arrest, in which the gun enthusiast admitted to the victim's mother that he'd spoken of killing people and of having a shoot-out with police if they came to his door.
"You told me if my dad showed up here you would shoot him in the head. You told me if police showed up here to arrest you, you would have a gun battle with them. Did you not say that?" the girl's mother said to Bianculli in the recording.
"Of course," Bianculli replied.
Bianculli refused to speak to Local 10 News investigative reporter Bob Norman outside the courtroom.
"He would potentially come after my granddaughter and her mother," Dahlberg-Rowland said. "I know they don't feel safe. I don't feel safe."
The new judge on the case, Michael Usan, also said that he didn't want the surgery to be used as a stall tactic, and said that he intended to return to Bianculli back to jail as soon as he's medically cleared.