FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Laurie Bellesheim had planned a trip to New York to see her grandaughter’s dance recital and to celebrate Mother’s Day with family. The 69-year-old cancer survivor died at her neighbor’s apartment on Saturday in Margate. Detectives said it was murder.
Her roommate, Joseph Misiti, said she left their apartment at the Viewpointe gated community to visit Evan Rosenthal, a neighbor who she considered to be a good friend, at about 6 p.m.
Misiti said he went out to walk her chihuahua named “Taco” at about 7 p.m. He said Bellesheim was outside smoking, so he gave her the dog, and she went back inside. It was the last time he saw her alive.
Officers said she didn’t come out of Rosenthal’s apartment alive.
“He was a nice guy until he wasn’t a nice guy and now poor Laurie is dead ... [Officers said] he beat her. He beat the hell out of her,” said Misiti, adding he had known Bellesheim for more than five decades.
Bellesheim’s son Keith Dori, who lives in New York, said a detective told him she had died from a blow to the head while at Rosenthal’s second-floor apartment at 5510 Lakeside Dr.
“I don’t know what could have happened that caused him to hit her so hard or hit her at all,” Doris said.
Rosenthal, who was born in Arizona, has co-owned the two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment in Margate since 1995, Broward County property records show. Misiti said he and Bellesheim had been Viewpointe roommates for about two years.
“She was just a very likable, lovable person. She would always help anybody — even though I think that she was the one who probably could use the help a lot of the time,” Doris said.
Rosenthal didn’t have a criminal record in Broward or Miami-Dade counties, court records show. He was a father who got divorced in 2015, Broward court records show. Before his divorce, a Facebook account shows he performed with a local rock band known as Project X at different bars and clubs in Broward County.
Rosenthal had a bandage on his forehead when deputies booked him into the Broward County main jail on Sunday and when he appeared in court on Monday. Rosenthal is facing a charge of murder with a depraved mind. His public defender asked Broward Circuit Judge Phoebe Francois for a mental health evaluation.
Bellesheim’s grieving son is asking the public for help so her funeral service can be held in New York and they can also take her chihuahua named “Taco” to be with her family.
“She was a wonderful Mom, Grandma, Sister, Aunt, and friend to so many. I wish I had more time, more photos. I miss her so much,” Dori wrote on a GoFundMe page.
Broward Circuit Judge Michael Lynch was assigned the case. Officers are asking anyone with information about the murder to call Detective Michael Berryman at 954-972-7111.
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