Searches raise concern for missing woman

Kim Smith

Tuesday, Feb. 29, 2000 | 11:14 a.m.

Authorities may have found one of David Fitch's wives alive and well, but after executing several search warrants last week, authorities are more concerned than ever about his other wife.

According to court documents filed Monday, FBI agents searched a storage unit, mobile home, three vehicles and a fifth-wheel trailer last week in their quest to find Maria Bozi, a 46-year-old resident of England, who was last seen in Boulder City in September.

Fitch married Bozi in England in April, and she joined him in the United States on July 30. However, no one has seen or heard from Bozi since Sept. 4, when she talked on the telephone to the caretaker of her property in England.

Fitch was arrested on federal firearms charges Feb. 8 after being stopped for speeding in Bozi's Ford Thunderbird in Henderson. He remains in federal custody.

In applying for the search warrants, FBI Special Agent James Bonich filed an affidavit saying that Fitch made several withdrawals from Bozi's bank account following her disappearance and cashed a $40,000 check drawn on her account.

Moreover, the affidavit says that after Citibank closed Bozi's account, letters were drafted to Citibank in an attempt to unblock the account.

"One letter was typed, and the other was handwritten with an irregular signature," the affidavit says. "These letters were found on Feb. 8 in David Kent Fitch's briefcase in the same folder with Maria Bozi practice signatures and handwriting samples."

There were many other items seized as a result of the search warrants.

Authorities found an open package containing one of two air cartridges for a Taser, a personal defense item used to shock people, a false mustache, voice changer devices and a catalog for Fox's Spy Outlet on East Tropicana Avenue.

They also found almost two dozen books with titles such as "100 Ways to Disappear and Live Free," "Hit Man, a Technical Manual for Independent Contractors," "Kill Without Joy! The Complete How to Kill Book" and "The Death Dealer's Manual."

Court documents say Fitch bought chloroform July 7 under the name Dr. David and later told FBI agents he meant to use it as a degreaser, but it evaporated.

Authorities had already reported that Fitch began using several aliases after Bozi's disappearance and had even married another woman while traveling under the name of David Krause. Identification under a handful of additional names was found during last week's searches. They also found blank pilot identification and special agent identification cards.

Bonich wrote in his search warrant application that the real David Lee Krause was interviewed Feb. 16. Krause told FBI agents that Fitch claimed to be with the Secret Service and offered to pay him $1,000 for the use of his identifying information. Krause said Fitch ended up paying him $200.

During the searches, FBI agents found handwritten notes on the biographical information of Krause and a Joshua Kade Neuland.

FBI Special Agent Joe Dickey and Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Damm declined to comment on the results of the search warrants, saying only that the investigation is continuing.

Damm announced Friday that the woman Fitch married in England last month, Patricia Molano Gutierrez, had been located abroad, alive and well.

"I'm very pleased Wife No. 2 is safe, but that doesn't relieve any concerns I have about Wife No. 1," Damm said.

When asked about Gutierrez's role in the mystery, Damm said, "There are certainly a lot of avenues we need to explore, and that's one of them."

Kim Smith covers courts for the Sun. She can be reached at (702) 455-4844 or by e-mail at kimberly@lasvegassun.com