Dead Fla. Lawyer Apparently Robbed, Abducted
A Florida attorney whose body reportedly was found in a canal near her home last week may have been abducted from her own garage as she pulled in one night after a trip to a local supermarket.
There were signs of a struggle in the garage of the Plantation home, and it appears that Melissa Lewis, 39, maced her attacker, according to the Sun-Sentinel. She reportedly wore expensive jewelry, and both her purse and her groceries have not been found. Meanwhile, the security system for her home apparently remained armed during the attack.
Although an investigation is still ongoing, a Plantation police spokesman says initial evidence suggests that Lewis was robbed. A cause of death hasn’t been reported, but an autopsy was planned for this past Saturday, according to the Sun-Sentinel.
A labor and employment lawyer who had just made partner at Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler, Lewis was amicably divorced and lived alone, the Fort Lauderdale newspaper writes.
A reward of $250,000 is being offered by the firm for information about her death, according to local NBC and CBS affiliates. Additional details of the firm’s response to her apparent abduction are discussed an earlier ABAJournal.com post.
“There was no blood, but there was mace everywhere,” says her sister, Carrie Fisher, of Coral Springs, Fla. “Whatever it was, she put up a fight.”
Updated at 2:33 p.m. to correct the planned date of the autopsy.
