8-year cold case solved: Killers tracked down using phone technology

ESTERO, Fla. (WINK)—A brutal double murder that went cold for eight years has finally been solved, with two killers now serving life sentences for the execution-style deaths of a married couple lured to Southwest Florida by a fake gun sale.

Danny and Deana Lorenzo, military veterans from Hernando County, came to a shopping center off Corkscrew Road in Estero in April 2018, believing they were meeting someone to purchase firearms they found listed online.

THE “BONE-CHILLING” SCENE

The next morning, investigators with the Lee County Sheriff's Office discovered what they describe as one of the most gruesome crime scenes they had ever witnessed.

"I will tell you, it was a bone-chilling scene," Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said.

Lt. Sarah Rodriguez with the Lee County Sheriff's Office said the case still haunts her eight years later.

"This wasn't your normal run-of-the-mill homicide or suspects that were committing this crime," Rodriguez said.

The Lorenzos bought and sold items online as a side business. Detectives said they traveled to Estero thinking they were going to buy several guns from someone who posted on the website Armslist.

Danny's sister, Beverly Doucet, said her brother told her about the deal before he left.

"He told me about this great deal that he found. And I knew that he always found great deals. But I'm like, ‘Danny, I don't know about this,’" Doucet said.

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Danny reassured his sister that he would be safe. It was the last conversation they ever had.

"I'm so thankful that I had that last moment with him, but you just never know," Doucet said.

Investigators said Deana was sitting in the car while Danny was filling out a bill of sale when gunfire erupted.

"It was absolutely an ambush attack on them," Rodriguez said.

The bodies weren't discovered until the next morning. Marceno said he still gets chills thinking of the scene.

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"I mean, we're talking about probably the biggest case that's ever hit this county," Marceno said.

For the first time, investigators showed WINK Investigates the truck the Lorenzos were driving, which was filled with bullet holes. The precision of the shots suggested the shooter had military training.

"The grouping was so tight that I had said, ' This is someone who is a very trained professional. This is military," Marceno said.

Rodriguez said the case became personal for her.

"This was a really good family. And when I took a second to actually sit there with the family and learn about them and really get to know them, you realize how important it was to solve this," Rodriguez said.

But solving the crime took eight excruciating years.

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"For that investigation to pretty much go cold, and it became a case of ‘whodunit,’ and you worry about that," Marceno said.

The suspects made one critical mistake that eventually broke the case wide open.

"That was the moment that I knew that this case blew pretty much wide open," Rodriguez said.