At a glance
- Location: Clearwater, Florida
- Case period: Murder occurred on Super Bowl Sunday; investigation stretched more than six years
- Victim: A successful local architect and businessman, shot inside his own home
- Person of interest: The victim’s wife, a former escort with an insurance policy tied to his death
- Critical clue: A missing SUV recovered blocks away with valuables left untouched inside
The 911 call came in urgent and hysterical. A Clearwater, Florida woman told the dispatcher her husband was lying motionless on the floor, their home ransacked around him. What responding officers found inside would launch one of the strangest homicide investigations in the department’s history — a case where the evidence seemed to point everywhere and nowhere at once, and where the person police believed was responsible would walk free from the interrogation room, not once, but for years.
A Whirlwind Romance Turns to Tragedy
According to police and court records, Larry Fenton, a successful architect who later built a fortune in the surgical equipment business, met his wife, Rebecca, at a gym in Clearwater when she was in her late 30s and he was in his early 50s. The two married quickly — Larry proposed after just three months — and held a second wedding ceremony months later in Nevada for extended family. Rebecca has described the marriage as a “fairy tale,” saying she gave up working and enjoyed a comfortable life in a home Larry purchased for them.
But on a Sunday afternoon in early February, with the Super Bowl approaching, that life ended abruptly. Rebecca told investigators she had gone to work out in the couple’s detached home gym while Larry planned to nap before the game. When she returned less than two hours later, she said she found him lying in a pool of blood in the foyer of their home, at the foot of the staircase.
The Scene That Didn’t Add Up
Responding officers and paramedics confirmed Larry had been shot multiple times and was dead by the time they arrived. Drawers were pulled out throughout the house, and items had been knocked from shelves, giving the initial appearance of a burglary. Larry’s SUV, a Jeep Cherokee, was missing from the driveway.
But detectives told Crime Watch Daily that closer inspection raised red flags. Nothing of significant value had actually been taken — not even Larry’s wallet, which was full of cash. “It looked like somebody just took their hand and just knocked the books off the shelf onto the floor,” one investigator said, adding that the disorder appeared staged rather than the product of an actual break-in.
A Widow’s Puzzling Behavior
Investigators said Rebecca’s demeanor at the scene troubled them almost immediately. Local news cameras captured her smiling and laughing with officers on the sidewalk outside the home just after her husband’s body was discovered. Rebecca later told Crime Watch Daily she had been reacting to a joking comment from police about onlookers, but investigators disputed that account.
Detectives were also struck by what Rebecca did — and didn’t do — inside the house. By her own account, she checked for a pulse at Larry’s neck, then ran through the home to see what had happened rather than attempting to render aid or immediately call 911. She told investigators she avoided touching Larry’s blood because she worried it might “incriminate” her, saying she had learned from television crime shows not to disturb a scene.
Forensic examiners said there was no blood found on Rebecca at all, despite the pool of blood investigators described as extensive around Larry’s body. That absence, combined with her repeated statements on the 911 call that she had been “in the gym,” led detectives to suspect she was building an alibi rather than reacting in shock.
“I believe that it was physically impossible, based on this blood evidence, that she checked his pulse,” one investigator said.
Secrets Behind Closed Doors
As detectives dug into the Fentons’ private life, they learned Rebecca had worked for seven years as a high-priced escort before marrying Larry, and had once been arrested on prostitution charges. She did not deny it, telling investigators the work had given her money, excitement and a sense of control.
Investigators also learned Rebecca had grown restless in the marriage and had developed a close relationship with a younger prep chef named David, whom she met privately at a hotel. Both Rebecca and David denied any affair, but detectives came to believe the relationship played a role in a possible motive, along with life insurance policies and an estate that stood to pay Rebecca close to $1 million.
The Missing Jeep and the Gun
Two days after the murder, investigators located Larry’s Jeep abandoned about a block from the house. Inside were only minor items — some costume jewelry, a jar of coins, an iPod and a laptop — leading detectives to question why an actual burglar would leave behind anything of value at all.
Then, in Rebecca’s own car, investigators said they found Larry’s gun in a plastic bag under the front passenger seat, along with jewelry Larry regularly wore and keys to both the gun case and the missing Jeep. Detectives said the discovery all but confirmed their theory: that the burglary had been staged, and that someone familiar with the house — someone who knew where the gun was kept — was responsible.
Police Believed They Had Their Man — But Had to Let Her Go
With the gun, missing valuables and Rebecca’s inconsistent statements in hand, detectives felt confident they had solved the case. But the forensic results that followed upended their certainty. Gunshot residue testing on Rebecca’s hands came back negative. Investigators noted she could have showered or worn gloves to avoid detection, but there was no physical evidence placing her at the trigger.
Compounding the problem, Rebecca passed not one but three separate polygraph examinations — two administered by investigators and a third conducted independently. Without forensic proof tying her to the shooting, detectives had no choice. Rebecca was released, and the case went cold.
A Fire Reignites the Investigation
The case sat unsolved for years until the Fentons’ former home — by then vacant — burned to the ground. Arson investigators found evidence of accelerants at the scene. Rebecca denied any involvement, noting the house was in foreclosure and she stood to gain nothing financially from its destruction.
The suspicious fire drew renewed attention from cold case investigators, who were assigned to take a fresh look at Larry’s murder. During that period, Rebecca called 911 to report a domestic dispute with a boyfriend, Alfred Nolan. Nolan later told detectives that during a previous argument, Rebecca had held a knife to his throat and said she would “kill you like I killed Larry.” Rebecca has denied the incident ever occurred and has questioned Nolan’s credibility, noting his criminal record and a pending prison sentence at the time he came forward.
Where the Case Stands Today
More than six years after Larry Fenton’s murder, investigators arrested Rebecca and charged her in his death, citing the totality of the evidence — the staged crime scene, the recovered gun, the financial motive, her demeanor at the scene, and Nolan’s account — rather than any single piece of proof. Rebecca has continued to maintain her innocence, telling Crime Watch Daily she believes an unknown intruder panicked and shot Larry before the weapon was planted in her vehicle.
A former British Home Office investigator, Andrew Tizzard, has since taken up her cause, arguing publicly that the case lacked forensic evidence placing her at the scene and that Nolan’s testimony amounted to uncorroborated hearsay. Tizzard has said he intends to pursue her case further. Rebecca’s appeals to date have been denied, and she remains incarcerated in Florida.
