Avis de décès de Boca Raton - Nécrologie - MesAieux.com

BOCA RATON — Police are investigating the suspected homicide of a suburban Boynton Beach couple whose bodies were found Monday morning in the upscale Glades Plaza men's clothing store they've owned for nearly 20 years, police said.Monday evening, police identified the couple as James and Sandra Mayer, both 62, owners of King James Big & Tall shop since 1989. Police would not provide any details about the deaths other than to say they are suspicious."Please respect our privacy," Darin Mayer, one of the couple's sons, said Monday evening from his home in Meridianville, Ala.Neighbors of the couple said they were saddened and shocked when police cars pulled up to the Mayers' home on Horseshoe Bay Road in a gated community Monday afternoon."I hope it's not them, but police were just here," said Jerry Kruman, who has lived next door to the couple for 11 years. Police "were testing a key and got some things from inside the house. So that's not a good sign."Kruman and other neighbors described the Mayers as a friendly couple whose passion was running the clothing store."Their whole life really revolved around their business," said Arthur Glaser, another next-door neighbor.A customer discovered the couple and ran to the adjacent Don Pan International Bakery to call 911, bakery owner Lorenzo Avila said.Police received the call at 11:22 a.m., spokesman Sgt. Jeff Kelly said. A sign in the store window showed King James opened at 9:30 a.m.As detectives and crime scene investigators scoured the parking lot for clues and dusted the store's windows for fingerprints, friends and customers of the Mayers described them as genuine people who had plans to sell the business and retire to Tennessee in September."It breaks your heart," said Harold Rosenberg, owner of the nearby Harold's Jewelers and a friend of the couple. "They were hardworking and enthusiastic about life."Frank Murphy, a broker for Stoltz Business Resources, said the Mayers asked him to sell their store about eight months ago. Though a few people inquired about the property, the deals fell through as a result of rumors that the shopping center was being torn down and turned into a mixed-use, Mizner Park-like plaza.Jacki Gold, sales manager at the neighboring Barbara Katz clothing store, said people who work in the plaza had become alarmed since a burglary at a nearby Quiznos. Someone shattered the glass front door and stole a cash register before the sub shop opened, Gold said.Police confirmed there was a burglary there March 24."There used to be cops driving by here all the time," Gold said. "Now there's little presence. It's terrifying. This is our back yard."The plaza is owned by Woolbright Development of Boca Raton. Messages left for property manager Dan Karpinski were not returned Monday.Shortly before 5 p.m., a crew from the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner's Office loaded the couple's bodies, side by side, in the back of a black Ford Excursion. The medical examiner's office will do autopsies to determine the causes of death."They were lovely, lovely people," said Beth Bernhardt, whose husband regularly shopped in the store. "They've been a husband-and-wife team forever."