Fitch pleads guilty in weapons case

Greg Tuttle

Friday, July 14, 2000 | 11:26 a.m.

A Boulder City man whose wife disappeared 10 months ago under mysterious circumstances has pleaded guilty in federal court to weapons and fraud charges.

David Kent Fitch, 41, remains a suspect in the disappearance of his wife, Maria Bozi, who was last seen five months after the couple married in England in April 1999 and moved to Nevada.

"We're still looking for Mrs. Bozi," Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Damm said Thursday after Fitch pleaded guilty to 10 charges filed after Bozi disappeared.

Fitch faces about six years in a federal prison on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition and using false identification. He is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 26.

Fitch was arrested Feb. 8 in Henderson after being stopped for speeding in Bozi's car. A subsequent search of a storage unit and Fitch's home near Lake Mead by the FBI turned up weapons, a false driver's license and false passports.

Fitch has a 1992 conviction in Arizona for manufacturing counterfeit currency and attempting to sell marijuana, both felonies. He was initially charged after his arrest in February with one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Nine more charges against Fitch were added to his case last month.

But other discoveries by the FBI at Fitch's home and the storage unit were more unsettling. Also allegedly found at the two sites were nearly two dozen how-to books on murder and changing identities. Agents also found a false mustache, a voice changing device and an open package containing one of two air cartridges for a Taser, a personal defense item used to shock people.

Also allegedly found among Fitch's belongings was a receipt for chloroform dated July 7, 1999, two months before Bozi disappeared.

The mystery deepened when investigators learned Fitch had been drawing large amounts of cash from Bozi's bank account. He also allegedly cashed a $40,000 check drawn on her account, and had traveled to England several times in the months following his wife's disappearance.

One of the trips to Europe included a January wedding in which Fitch married a 30-year-old English woman, initially raising concerns about her welfare.