FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A judge is expected to decide this week whether disturbing audio recordings, in which millionaire developer Louis Bianculli admits to drugging and assaulting his stepdaughter, can be used as evidence in his trial.
“She used to pass out so fast it was weird,” says Bianculli of sexual abuse he allegedly afflicted on his stepdaughter beginning when she was just 12 years old. “I checked if her heart was still beating. That’s neck pressure point thing, a lot of people got off on it sexually. You get a rush from it.”
Prosecutors says Bianculli sexually assaulted and tortured the girl for more than six years, knocking her out with chloroform, pressure point techniques, and bags over her head.
They say he also performed “surgeries” on her during which he would use insulin needles to suck the fat out of her stomach and inject it into her breasts. Police said Bianculli used a kitchen filet knife to make small cuts on the victim's stomach and sides. The abused lasted until 2013, police said. He was arrested in 2015.
Numerous other women have also made allegations of similar abuse against Bianculli dating back 50 years, with one saying the abuse began when they were just 10 years old.
“It’s strange, it’s weird, it was like being a drug addict,” said Bianculli of the abuse on the tapes. “What the f—k is wrong with me? I don’t have a thing for children.”
The recordings were made by Bianculli’s ex-wife, Jill Bianculli, with the authorization and assistance of the Lighthouse Point Police Department. But now the recordings, which form the heart of the prosecution’s case, are in danger of being thrown out of court. Defense attorneys argued in a court hearing Monday the recordings should be thrown out due to “chain of custody” issues.
A blow to the prosecution came with Broward Circuit Judge Michael Usan’s controversial ruling months ago to exclude Jill Bianculli – whose daughter is the victim in the case -- as a witness from the case when she refused to hand over her own private mental health records.
With her testimony was stricken from the case, Louis Bianculli’s attorneys – Jane Weintraub and Herb Cohen -- argue that the tapes she made should also be jettisoned. The attorneys also argued that the tapes should be thrown out due to chain of custody issues with the Lighthouse Point Police Department.
On Monday Cohen questioned Lighthouse Point police Detective Jason Caruso about the recordings, claiming that someone might have gotten into his locked desk and tampered with them.
Caruso said no such tampering ever took place.
More witnesses and testimony are expected Tuesday in the case.