January 31, 2023 • 5 mins
Bonus 1: Detectives Denmark and Lewis share stories about the surreal level of gruesome crime in early 80s Miami- with interesting overlap.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Murder in Miami is a production of iHeartRadio. Here're some
additional interviews that provides some interesting context into the violent
and bizarre world of early eighties Miami, with some surprising overlap.
Starting with a story from retired Miami Dade detective Jeff Lewis,
(00:23):
and you said, when you finally got into that house,
they had two cougars in the.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Back In the backyard, they had two live cougars.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
It scared the hell out of us.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
We didn't know what to do with them. A couple
of days later, we learned that cougar's had escaped the
backyard and that residence and the police had to be called.
I guess they were legal to have. I'm not real
sure how that worked out, but they did end up
escaping and got caught.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
But yes, they were live cougars.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
It was the whole case.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
I could write a book about that case alone.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Speechless. I mean, you're watchdog, but to think of two
live cougars patrolling the backyard, that's horrifying.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Well, and the detectives that went, you know, because you
surround the house before you enter it, and that's you know,
they were they went back there and they were it
was funny because the one of the detectives got you know,
we got onto the radio to advise and listen, I'm
I'm advising everyone that we have our cougar in the backyard.
And the dispatcher heard that and she got on the
(01:31):
radio and she says, QSK with the VEN number. She
thought he saw about a car, a cougar car, and
was going to get the VEN number to run it
see if it was stolen. And then we had a clarific.
I know it's a cougar, a cat lion, and.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
That cougartail actually ties in with a childhood story from
current Miami Dade Police cold case Detective David Denmark.
Speaker 5 (01:56):
And I can attest to that because I would believe
I was in middle school and during those days you
had to pick up your report card when it was
the end of the year before summer started. You actually
had to appear and sign for it and accept it.
And when we were growing up, when I say we
(02:16):
as friends of mine, we would all bicycle to school
and we would notice the area changing and actually we
called it Cocaine Alley, which was between is off one
hundred and twenty seventh Avenue and southwest to sixth Street
and Bird Road, which is four two street. So that
area grew really quickly with huge homes, gated windows, and
(02:40):
driveways that we never saw in our neighborhoods, which was
only a quarter mile away. So it was just something
different and really affected us as kids because we weren't
afraid to drive through there. It was kind of entertaining
because one of those houses had two pumas in front
and cages, and we were just in all about that. So,
(03:01):
you know, we didn't have a problem driving it down
those neighborhoods, but we definitely saw a change, a huge
change go up rather quickly. We figured it was all
you know, that's why we call it Cocaine Alley because
we figured it was drug money that was purchasing and
building those homes.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
I was going to say, I've mentioned this to you,
but Jeff told me a story about responding to a
house that had to pumas in the same house.
Speaker 5 (03:30):
Yeah, absolutely, especially if it was in that area that
was known for a lot of the narcotics investigations and stuff.
Was that whole area there. But another little story is
during the time that we went to go pick up
our report cards, the evergrade started right around one hundred
(03:51):
and twenty seventh Avenue and went west and our church,
our local church was on the corner of Bird Road
and one hundred and twenty seventh Avenue, and they a
lot that was next to the church, and there would
always be cars parked there and they always had for
sale signs on them. And the day we would pick
up our report cards, we drove by there on our
bicycles and we smelled something awful. You know, we know
(04:15):
what roadkill smells like, but this was bigger than that,
because it engulfed the entire area, and we started looking
around the cars, just being nosy, and we came across
one where there was something dripping out of the trunk,
which ended up being maggots, And there was a huge,
very large, stained brownish reddish stain underneath the trunk of
(04:36):
that car, so we knew something was in that trunk. Well,
we flagged down a local police officer Miami Dade, and
he stopped, cleared us out and told us to step back,
and roped off the scene and homicide responded. You know,
the guys when the cool looking glasses and the dress
pants and the dress shoes showed up and they popped
(04:58):
that trunk, and indeed there was a body located that
was bound and gagged. So that's you know, that brings
it home to me again. I was born and raised
here in Miami. So when we saw that and figured,
you know, everything was going down and that was all
during the eighties, we knew times were changing.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get the stories that matter to you.
Murder in Miami is a production of iHeartRadio. Here're some
additional interviews that provides some interesting context into the violent
and bizarre world of early eighties Miami, with some surprising overlap.
Starting with a story from retired Miami Dade detective Jeff Lewis,
(00:23):
and you said, when you finally got into that house,
they had two cougars in the.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Back In the backyard, they had two live cougars.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
It scared the hell out of us.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
We didn't know what to do with them. A couple
of days later, we learned that cougar's had escaped the
backyard and that residence and the police had to be called.
I guess they were legal to have. I'm not real
sure how that worked out, but they did end up
escaping and got caught.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
But yes, they were live cougars.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
It was the whole case.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
I could write a book about that case alone.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Speechless. I mean, you're watchdog, but to think of two
live cougars patrolling the backyard, that's horrifying.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Well, and the detectives that went, you know, because you
surround the house before you enter it, and that's you know,
they were they went back there and they were it
was funny because the one of the detectives got you know,
we got onto the radio to advise and listen, I'm
I'm advising everyone that we have our cougar in the backyard.
And the dispatcher heard that and she got on the
(01:31):
radio and she says, QSK with the VEN number. She
thought he saw about a car, a cougar car, and
was going to get the VEN number to run it
see if it was stolen. And then we had a clarific.
I know it's a cougar, a cat lion, and.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
That cougartail actually ties in with a childhood story from
current Miami Dade Police cold case Detective David Denmark.
Speaker 5 (01:56):
And I can attest to that because I would believe
I was in middle school and during those days you
had to pick up your report card when it was
the end of the year before summer started. You actually
had to appear and sign for it and accept it.
And when we were growing up, when I say we
(02:16):
as friends of mine, we would all bicycle to school
and we would notice the area changing and actually we
called it Cocaine Alley, which was between is off one
hundred and twenty seventh Avenue and southwest to sixth Street
and Bird Road, which is four two street. So that
area grew really quickly with huge homes, gated windows, and
(02:40):
driveways that we never saw in our neighborhoods, which was
only a quarter mile away. So it was just something
different and really affected us as kids because we weren't
afraid to drive through there. It was kind of entertaining
because one of those houses had two pumas in front
and cages, and we were just in all about that. So,
(03:01):
you know, we didn't have a problem driving it down
those neighborhoods, but we definitely saw a change, a huge
change go up rather quickly. We figured it was all
you know, that's why we call it Cocaine Alley because
we figured it was drug money that was purchasing and
building those homes.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
I was going to say, I've mentioned this to you,
but Jeff told me a story about responding to a
house that had to pumas in the same house.
Speaker 5 (03:30):
Yeah, absolutely, especially if it was in that area that
was known for a lot of the narcotics investigations and stuff.
Was that whole area there. But another little story is
during the time that we went to go pick up
our report cards, the evergrade started right around one hundred
(03:51):
and twenty seventh Avenue and went west and our church,
our local church was on the corner of Bird Road
and one hundred and twenty seventh Avenue, and they a
lot that was next to the church, and there would
always be cars parked there and they always had for
sale signs on them. And the day we would pick
up our report cards, we drove by there on our
bicycles and we smelled something awful. You know, we know
(04:15):
what roadkill smells like, but this was bigger than that,
because it engulfed the entire area, and we started looking
around the cars, just being nosy, and we came across
one where there was something dripping out of the trunk,
which ended up being maggots, And there was a huge,
very large, stained brownish reddish stain underneath the trunk of
(04:36):
that car, so we knew something was in that trunk. Well,
we flagged down a local police officer Miami Dade, and
he stopped, cleared us out and told us to step back,
and roped off the scene and homicide responded. You know,
the guys when the cool looking glasses and the dress
pants and the dress shoes showed up and they popped
(04:58):
that trunk, and indeed there was a body located that
was bound and gagged. So that's you know, that brings
it home to me again. I was born and raised
here in Miami. So when we saw that and figured,
you know, everything was going down and that was all
during the eighties, we knew times were changing.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get the stories that matter to you.
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