Niece mourns as police look for clues in slaying

Jen Lawson

Friday, May 23, 2003 | 11:52 a.m.

Michelle Pendenza has a basket in her Florida home where she began placing sympathy cards sent after her uncle, Anthony Limongello, was killed in Las Vegas.

The basket now overflows, she said.

"He was very generous with everyone who knew him, and he was well loved," Pendenza wrote in an e-mail. "I have sliced the extremely limited information I have been provided in every possible way, and I have not come up with a motive for murder."

Limongello, 40, was found dead May 5 near some trash bins at a strip mall in the 1000 block of North Rancho Drive. He had suffered severe head wounds.

No arrests have been made, but Metro Police are hoping a surveillance video showing two men using Limongello's credit cards hours after his death will help solve the case.

Both possible suspects are black, and appear to be in their late teens or early 20s. One was wearing a black headband and a gray hooded top. The other wore a hooded jacket that said "Michigan" on front.

They are shown making purchases at a convenience store.

Lt. Tom Monahan of the Metro homicide unit wouldn't say how much money was taken from his account or the amount of purchases made on his cards. He also declined to say whether robbery appeared to be a motive.

Limongello was last seen alive the night of May 4 when he left his Rhodes Ranch home in his black 2002 Lincoln Navigator. Detectives are trying to figure out how Limongello spent the last hours of his life.

"We're working on that," Monahan said. "We have some whereabouts, but exactly what his intentions were, we can't say."

His vehicle was found intact two days later about a mile from where his body was found.

While Monahan said it's possible Limongello's death could be drug-related, Pendenza said her uncle wasn't a drug addict.

Limongello's death was especially hard on 22-year-old Pendenza, who said her immediate family consisted of Limongello and her grandparents.

Limongello, originally from New Jersey, moved to Las Vegas about five years ago and opened a kiosk selling toy airplanes in the Stratosphere.

He was a partner in a family-owned business called Uno Domani -- a name that means "one tomorrow" in Italian. A few years ago, Limongello began importing Italian charm bracelets and selling them at a kiosk in Fashion Show Mall.

When Limongello was killed, he had just begun settling down, Pendenza said. He had just purchased his house, furnished it and bought a set of plates as well as pots and pans.

"That was a real step for a single guy used to buying burritos in bulk at Taco Bell and throwing them in the microwave through the week," his niece wrote in an e-mail.

He chose his home because it's situated on a golf course, and his ailing father, Thomas, loved golf. In late January, Thomas Limongello, who was in hospice care in Florida, flew to Las Vegas to see his son's new house and play his favorite casino card game, "Let it Ride," one last time. Thomas Limongello died in Las Vegas Feb. 3.

Pendenza said she, Limongello and her grandmother told each other that as long as they had each other, they would be OK. Now Pendenza is left wondering, "Why is this happening to my family?"

"No one deserves the pain and suffering we have been forced to endure," she wrote. " Whatever (Limongello's) killer or killers got was not worth the price of a human life. All they got to my knowledge was his wallet, and the police have located his car. I would have given much more to have him back."