Who Killed Tia Poklemba?
UPDATE 8/24/08 - Police have issued a warrant for Luis Gonzalez, 22, on a charge of leaving the scene of a vehicle accident involving a fatality. He has not been charged with murder in Tia Poklemba’s death but was seen leaving the bar with her on the night of her death. Gonzalez also owned the tan Cadillac CTS that is believed to have hit Poklemba. That vehicle has been towed from Gonzalez’ address and taken for forensic analysis. Gonzalez is believed to have fled the area.
Tia Poklemba (L) and Luis Gonzalez (R)
San Carlos Park, FL - According to her friends and acquaintances, Tia Marie Poklemba was funny, and happy, and energetic. The 25-year-old also was strong-willed and tough (one friend says she carried a knife), which makes her murder at the hands of an as-yet-unknown assailant–and the circumstances surrounding her death–even more shocking.
Her last minutes were witnessed by Frank Roberts and his nephew Jessie Livermon. The two were driving down a quiet residential street delivering papers about 2:30 this morning when they came upon Tia, sitting upright in the middle of the street. While Livermon called 911, Roberts jumped out and went to the young woman’s side. Her condition, as described by Roberts, was gruesome. He reported her dress was pulled up around her waist and her top pulled down. She was covered in scrapes, blood, and bruises and missing an ear. There was a hole in her shoulder, and there were clumps of her hair on her clothing and the pavement. It looked to Roberts like she may had been thrown from a car then run over. He kept talking to her, asking her what happened and who she was with. “With friends,” are the only words she said to him. When Tia jerked, gasped for air, and began to fall over, Roberts lowered her to the street. Her eyes remained on his. Tia Poklemba died shortly after medics arrived.
Police are releasing little information at this time, but one of Tia’s friends said Tia was at the Tiki Bar at the Best Western Springs Resort. Apparently Tia met an ex-boyfriend there, argued with him, and then stayed at the bar after he left. When Tia left–possibly to walk to a friend’s mother’s house near the bar–she may have been followed.
Tia’s family released a statement today:
Thank you for anyone who has come forward so far with information. We wish the community would continue to assist us and the police department in finding out who did this. We aren’t emotionally ready to appear at this time. Anyone who met Tia couldn’t help but fall in love with her. She was always filled with so much life and energy. If anyone has any information please contact the police department. We appreciate all of your help. Thank you.
Investigators are looking for a person of interest in the case. The man is described as Hispanic, having black hair, between 5′7″ and 5′9″ tall, and between 170 and 180 pounds. He was last seen wearing a black t-shirt with logos on the back and front left side.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Lee County Sheriff’s Office at 477-1000 or Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers at 1-800-780-TIPS.
A person of interest has been identified in a picture…no name. I provided a link in the forums, to the photo.
Thanks Komak. I am just wondering if maybe she was dragged, half in and half out of the car. That could explain the hole and the shoulder and missing ear. =(
Thats is exactly what I thought, Unamused Cat, when I first read your post. I am pretty sure now. One article said there was a pool of blood 5-10 feet away near a driveway and theorized that she was pushed or jumped from a car and was run over.
Some more pics of her
http://www.naplesnews.com/photos/galleries/2008/aug/09/tia-poklemba/
The video interview with Jessie Livermon said he thought it looked like she had “been dragged a long way behind a car.” Folks that lived on the quiet street where she was found were wondering why someone would leave her there instead of somewhere more remote. I think whomever left here there, wanted her to be found.
I will never understand the violence some people have within them. I also can’t understand why they would leave her in a place so easily to be found, unless they thought she was already dead. Wouldn’t she have been able to identify the person/persons responsible for this horrific attack on her?
http://www.winknews.com/news/local/26461949.html
Video interview with the younger man who found her. I think it’s weird that the reporter seems to feel there’s something remarkable in the man’s wanting justice to be done even though he didn’t know Tia personally. Has the world grown that cold? Or is the reporter that desperate for an angle?
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080809/NEWS0115/808090487/1115/NEWS0119
Interesting comments below this article. Also her DUI record. They’ve taken her mugshot off and added other photos. A second interview with the younger man. There’s a pic of the “man of interest,” a blurry bar photo that could be almost anyone with dark hair.
This story is sickening. The police still haven’t said what she died from, but it keeps being mentioned that she may have been run over by the car and dragged.
The road is a deadend and very quiet. Some people are commenting that you’d have to know the neighborhood well to know it was a good place to leave the woman.
Pic on Video of the “Person of Interest”:
http://www.abc-7.com/index.shtml
‘Person of interest’ sought in woman’s homicide
Detectives have released photos of “a person on interest†in connection with the homicide of 25-year-old Tia Marie Poklemba, who died early Friday on a dead-end road in San Carlos Park.
Thank you. I gather from the comments on some of the articles that people who knew her were suggesting that the police look into this boyfriend before the police released the photo.
I don’t know why the reporters say she was found dead — she was found dying. How lucky she was that two kind men found her and tried to comfort her in her last moments.
This photograph was posted in the Caylee Marie Anthony thread:
http://www.briansprediction.com/gale/Caylee64.jpg
Can anybody tell us whether the young woman on the far left in this picture is in fact Tia Maria Poklemba? If it is not her, I have to say I find the similarity between her and Tia quite astonishing.
I don’t know, I also asked that question in the forum, and in the Caylee/Casey page…seems like it is Tia. Not sure what that means though. Perhaps the two cases are connected.
I don’t think she’s the same girl in the pic on briansprediction site.
I read in one article that she had a fight with her ex-boyfriend at the Tiki bar & then he left the same night she was killed. They had recently lived together & then broken up.
Wrybread,
I agree. Who wouldn’t want justice for someone they found dying!
Does any body see the possiblity that she said “boyfriend” instead of “with friends” ? If speech was difficult, I can see the confusion. I am guessing they find whoever did this soon.
Originally I thought perhaps she was simply hit and dragged, victim of random hit and run. THEN I read where the road was a dead end road……meaning someone had to turn around. Chances are she jumped or was shoved out of the car/truck, and which then turned around at the dead end and hit/dragged her on purpose.
A truck F150-250 was seen in the area.
That picture was posted in a photobucket album which was linked in one of our Caylee threads. There was another picture with the girls turned around, and their names are on the backs of their shirts. I don’t think that girl is Tia, but I will go hunt down the photobucket album link and double check.
From the Photobucket album link: http://s160.photobucket.com/albums/t168/icons157/pictures/
Here is the picture of the front of the girls as linked above:
And here is the picture of the back of the same girls:
It’s not Tia. Her name appears to be Carly or possibly even Darcy, but not Tia. Sorry.
Damn your good. Thanks Imp…
given how she died I would have been carrying a knife around too. No way was this a random crime.
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2008/aug/09/slain-south-lee-woman-left-tiki-bar-shortly-death-/
Jessica Schaub said she(Tia) had met an ex-boyfriend there (Tiki Bar), argued with him and then stayed at the bar after he left. He had tried to give her a ride, Schaub said, but Poklemba refused.
Victor Hidelgo, a cook at California Pizza Kitchen, called her “a happy person all the time.â€
She had worked at the restaurant for about a year and was known as a fun person who liked to party, Hidelgo, 28, said.
He said Poklemba came to the restaurant around 6 p.m. Thursday, hours before she died, to say hello to old friends.
A busboy, Gustavo Hernandez, said something was off during the visit. He said Poklemba got into an argument with someone she was speaking to on the phone.
She said, “I’ll kick your ass,†at one point, Hernandez recalled.
where did the reporter get this description ? does the b/f look like this the guy at the restuarant probably does, just say with a name like that.. . ok
that makes sense
how very sad, I do wished she could of wrote their name in the blood… something !!! - last anyone seen Tia was she left the bar WALKING to a friends mom nearby… so either someone stalking or a stranger maybe Driving DUI and hit and dragged her under the front bumper maybe not even realizing it… so would of said she was with friends (at the bar)
Did her friend’s mom expect her ? how far is that home from where she was found was it on route ?
in those pics I looked right to the girl on my right, the blonde … that is the Amy that let crazey use her car that took trip to Puerto Rico - when dose she claim to have seen Caylee last ?
So tragic- I am very curious to see what unfolds- whether is was a random hit and run, or someone she knew.
I hope Tia gets justice.
She said with friends…I’d venture to say she may have even said boyfriend…
On a dead end street the person who hit Tia would
A. be leaving a home nearer the dead end.
B. be driving to a home nearer the dead end.
Unless something totally random, such as a wrong turn, was the situation, well then it is intentional…LE is calling this a Homicide…not the newspapers or family. I wondered how they came up with “Homicide” so quickly, instead of hit and run. Everything I read, pointed to her leaving the bar with the person of interest….Jessica (her friend) speculated that she may have been walking to a friends moms, and got picked up. LE is saying that Tia left the bar with the POI. However, it shakes out, I am glad that the men found her, and comforted her. What a way to go. Bless her.
Tia’s Mom Said:
“Everything they said in the paper he did to my daughter, he did it worse,” Debbie Poklemba said.
When asked what she would tell the killer, Debbie responded, “You deserve everything you get. I hope somebody turns you in.”
Gary Williams, Debbie’s brother, suggested his sister soften her words.
“Say something that might hit his heart,” he said.
“He doesn’t have a heart,” Oben said.
The funeral will be held Thursday, the family said
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2008/aug/11/family-woman-left-dead-wants-monster-caught/
If she was buzzed and walking along a dark road, she may have simply been run over by a car while doing so (a car driven by an asshole who didn’t stop afterward, needless to say). The witness said it looked like she’d been run over, and maybe she was–not thrown from a car, just run over after being dropped off. That’s still horrific, of course, and I dearly hope they catch the hit-and-runner if that’s the case (his/her car should have damage).
No..LE is calling it a homicide, AND its a dead end road…Makes no sense
But Komak, it’s not unheard of to charge a hit-and-runner w/ homicide, is it? The dead-end street thing is bizarre…unless she was drunk and was lost or trying to look for a shortcut..and at that time of night after leaving a bar, I’m sure she was drunk. I’m just saying it’s a possibility. I’d hate to think someone did all that to her some other way!
The younger man who found her said her hair was pulled out in stands and scattered all over her body as if she had been dragged by the hair from a car. I don’t think there’s any way this could be a hit and run. She had ugly, ugly wounds that suggested (to me at any rate) more than a simple impact.
The family has had a press conference pleading for help from the public.
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080812/NEWS0115/808120385/1075&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL
“Poklemba’s body was so bruised and bloodied her family hasn’t been able to see her.”
There’s a very short video of the suspect at this link. Look toward the bottom on the righthand side of the screen.
Tia was a great girl, a friend and roommate of my sister. She was found not 5 minutes from the bar. I went to the site to leave some flowers, my first impression: weird area to leave someone. she was left in front of a home. about 40-50 feet from there was a roped of area were there was the dead end and woods. again odd place to leave someone when there would have been cover just a little up the road.
the girl in the video sitting next to the “person of interest” is Tia.
her condition, from talking to my sister, was 10x worse then what has been released by the press.
Police have released a photo of a car they believe may be connected to Tia’s death: a beige or gold 2003 to 2007 model Cadillac CTS with tinted windows.
Crap, I can’t get an image to display in my comment.
http://i37.tinypic.com/dpwcw5.jpg
I can’t even imagine what “10x worse” would look like. Thanks for the info, SanCarlos. My sympathies to you and your sister.
I don’t think it’s too odd a place to drop her. Perhaps the piece of shit who did this intended to take her all the way to the dead end and drag her into the woods or something, but realized that, if he parked, someone might notice, and thought he’d have better luck just dropping her and taking off?
Either way, I’m convinced that this is not a hit and run. It could account for the skirt being pulled up, but the shirt being pulled down? You’d think both items of clothes would be pulled in the same direction, if it were due to impact or something.
I hope they find any and everyone involved with this. People that sick need to be permanently removed from society.
They found the car. Police took samples from the tires before it was towed away — ugh. Guess they think she was run over.
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080816/NEWS0115/308160002/1002/NEWS01
People in the comments section are wondering why the police haven’t released the name of the Ex-bf of Interest.
http://www.naplesdailynews.com/videos/detail/person-interest-poklemba-investigation/
A much bigger video of Ex-bf of Interest. I wonder of what use these security cameras really are. I saw thousands of men who looked just like this when I live in California, and I can see fifty or sixty every day who look just like Mr. Baseball Cap in front of him. The images are so poor!
This story gives a lot more detail about where the police found the car and how carefully they took from the neighborhood.
http://m.naplesnews.com/news/2008/aug/15/police-locate-car-believed-owned-person-interest-t/
I am very, very sorry about this poor woman’s death. Thank you for posting and giving us more information about where she was found. I think whoever killed her meant that she be found. It was a crime of hate and anger.
I hope that her murderers are found very soon. I understand they are looking for a man and a woman.
They have released the name of the man who was seen with Tia Poklemba in the bar the night she was killed — it’s Luis Gonzalez.
http://www.fox4florida.com/Global/story.asp?S=8890307
A Four In Your Corner Crime Tracker Alert from Lee County: Detectives say they have identified a homicide suspect and now they need your help to find him. He is 22-year-old Luis Gonzalez of San Carlos Park. He’s been charged with leaving the scene of a crash involving a death. They say he was the last person seen with 25-year-old Tia Poklemba of Bonita Springs. Poklemba was found bleeding to death on a remote street in San Carlos Park two weeks ago Friday. Evidence shows she was hit by a car but cops don’t know if it was intentional. Since then detectives have been circulating surveillance video of a suspect and a car that might be involved in her death. Crime Stopper tips led them to Gonzalez.
If you know where detectives can find Gonzalez or anything about the death of Tia Poklemba you’re asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-780-TIPS.
He must have a great personality because he sure takes an ugly mug shot. Any chance of getting it on here, Imp, in case someone recognizes him while cruising DD?
NOOOOO, not another Gonzalez.
He probably has Caylee.
BTW, thank you for updating the article, Impqueen.
man this guy pisses me off.. just look at that ugly ass mug!! what a fucking coward! he should have his nuts cut off and sewed onto his fucking eye balls… ok I dont really know what that would accomplish but it would be humiliating!!.. and funny as fuck!…but anyhow that poor poor girl!!….
Yes! And then we’ll fracture his penis. This has to be one of the most unattractive men that I have ever seen. I can’t believe Tia was dating him.
The Gonzelez family sure is hitting the headlines…….. WTF !
Thanks Imp for getting me back on the front pages!!
I’ve been checking the headlines hoping to see something about this case, but nothing so far.
One comment said that a second car was taken from the driveway and that the hispanic woman they are searching for in addition to Luis is five months pregnant. I don’t know if any of this is true, but I guess we’ll see.
Yeah, I have a Google alert for her. Her name showed up in an editorial today, but that’s pretty much it since Friday.
What’s a Google alert? Sounds like something that could save me alot of search time.
Here is the link to the editorial in case anyone else in interested. It does seem strange that the police kept so much secret for so long. I’d think they’d want a real public hunt for this creep.
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2008/aug/28/strongeditorial-dont-hold-back-details-when-public/
I was wondering if anyone knows where I can see the video of Tia and Luis at the bar.
Have the police said anything about him being in mexico?
I have heard a lot of people wondering why he would have left her there. Does anyone know how far she or he lived form there? I think that maybe a first she was going along with this guy. After having a few drinks even a troll can seem attractive.. Perhaps he got a bit to aggressive, she tried to stop him or maybe she tried to call the police. He then angry from being “rejected”, pushed her out. I heard things about her carrying a knife. Maybe she tried to stop him by pulling the knife out, sending this creep into a rage. Who knows… just some thoughts.
There is a link in the comments above. They aren’t together. It’s just Mr. Ugly sitting at the bar alone.
They would have to be drinks of antifreeze or wood alcohol in his case.
If you find anything about this case, please post it here. I want to know if/when they catch him and what happened. Mexico has not been mentioned yet in anything that I’ve read, but that or a sanctuary city and a name change seem like obvious options for this creep.
Isn’t it sad? All that flurry about the boyfriend and all and now silence. I hope the police are working quietly toward finding and punishing whoever handed such a hard death to Tia.