Deep Secret

Was A Missing Teen A Runaway Or The Victim Of A Serial Killer?

(CBS) 
Old faded photographs are all Laurel Klee has left of the older brother who vanished in June of 1977. She heard nothing until four years later when, by chance, she ran into someone she knew from high school and had what she describes as "a bizarre conversation."

Laurel says Michael Collister told her that Jeff Klee was alive, but in hiding, living under an alias after a drug deal went bad. He refused to tell Laurel where and asked her not to tell anyone, because it could mean trouble for Jeff.

"He said, 'He had a nice girl, they were livin' somewhere. And he was set for life,'" Laurel tells Erin Moriarty. "It didn't sound like Jeff. But I - you know, I didn't know."

Laurel, who at first kept quiet, later confided in her mother.

"I just didn't believe this," Flossie Klee says. "I said, 'Laurie, this is just not something Jeff would do.'"

When investigators eventually tracked down Collister many years later, he denied telling Laurel that her brother was alive. A dead end, says Detective Bob Vernon.

"I discounted it right from the start," says Vernon, who took charge of the case in 1982, five years after Jeff Klee went missing. The detective says he was shocked by how thin the case file was. "It was listed a missing person on the face sheet. It was basically, an empty folder."

Vernon wondered how Jeff and his van could simply disappear without a trace. "It never showed up in five years. I mean, not in a chop shop. The license plate didn't show up. It didn't end up on some used car lot," he says.

Vernon's gut told him that Jeff was dead. In 1977, when Jeff disappeared, Coral Springs was an undeveloped maze of canals and levees, with plenty of places to dump bodies and vans.

While Vernon was beginning his search, Jeff's mom, Flossie Klee, had never stopped hers.

"I think I chased every black van in Broward County," she tells Moriarty. "I hate to admit it. I went to at least five different psychics trying to find out. I would just come away shaking my head thinking, this just - that's not him. They don't know him."

Through all the false leads, Flossie held out hope. "I'd never changed my phone number thinking that if something did happen to him, he'd know the phone number."

Like Jeff's family, Vernon thought that Jeff's friends had to know more than they were saying.

"Jeff Klee had been out with friends. They'd been drinking at the Crown Lounge," he says.

According to police reports, the last friend to see Jeff was David Cusanelli, so Vernon began dropping by his workplace.

David told Vernon what he told police in 1977: that Jeff dropped him and his brother Carl off at their house around 2 a.m. They never saw or heard from him again.

Vernon felt the best clue to the mystery was something Jeff's sister, Laurel, had mentioned offhandedly. "She said, 'A few years ago, I got a letter from Attica State Prison,'" he says.

The letter, according to Laurel, came from a New York State prison official who stated that an inmate named Scott Rango wanted to write to her. She had no idea who he was or why he wanted to write to her.

Rango was serving a life sentence for murder.

"I just didn't want my daughter involved with that. And so, that was the end of that," says Flossie.

Vernon wondered, "How would he get the address to write to the Klee family? At that particular point it was pulling on a string, you know? I'm gonna pull wherever I can to see whatever it is."

Rango had robbed and killed a psychiatrist in New York and was a suspect in as many as 17 other crimes - many violent. "He would lead people out, become friends, drink in bars, stuff like that. Later, rob 'em or try to kill 'em," Vernon explains.

More significantly, in 1977, Rango was living in the Coral Springs, Fla., area. And he just happened to wash dishes at a restaurant across the street from the Crowne Lounge - the same club where Jeff hung out with his friends on the night he disappeared.

Vernon started putting the pieces together. "I’m thinking, well, you know, he comes across the street, meets Jeff, asks for a ride home. I was thinking he probably killed him, took his van and went to New York."

Vernon was sure he was onto something, but it was too late to talk to Rango himself. Shortly after he reached out to Laurel Klee, Rango hanged himself in his cell.

Believing that Rango killed Jeff, Vernon thought his case was closed.

Nearly nine years after Jeff Klee went missing - and at the insistence of the insurance company -the Klees finally asked to have him declared dead. Flossie was hesitant. "He might walk through that door tomorrow."

Vernon testified how he believed Jeff died at the hands of Rango and the judge made it official. The Klees left his chambers in silence. "None of us talked," Cyndy says.

Vernon says "I would go to my grave believing that Scott Rango was responsible for the disappearance of Jeff Klee." Today he feels differently. "I was wrong. Totally."

[wyo-kid]

I'd say the Cusanelli brothers will pay for this crime with troubled consciences for the rest of their lives.

[p_rowe]

I am still absolutely stunned. I was 13 in this circle of friends in Coral Springs when Jeff went missing and we all figured the pressure of having so much responsibility at such a young age had caused him to leave. As an adult, I believe in retrospect that we all knew deep down something was very wrong but, with a kid's optimism, wanting to believe our friend was alive and well, it was easier to romanticize it.

I cannot imagine how David has lived with this all of these years. I was closer in age to his younger brother Peter and even noticed a change in him, a troubled sadness (at the risk of sounding melodramatic). I just hope that, now that the truth is out, everyone, especially Jeff and David, can find some peace.

[enough-already]

"You will be judged by God almighty in the end. A suffering is in store for you that no man can imagine . God bless the family and bring them peace. Posted by mypatch

Well, which is it? Is you god a loving and forgiving god, that would bless the family and bring them peace? Or is your god an evil, vengeful god that will cause this person suffering that no man can imagine? Sounds like a pretty messed up god, if you ask me. Can't decide if it's good or bad, mean or loving and forgiving. That's why I think the whole god idea is a silly crock.

[stickdog3]

What never has been explained and likely wont, is what did the guy in Attica State Prison want to tell the daughter?

[stickdog3]

This is a very sad case. That girlfirend of Jeff at the time is the biggest culprit in all this. Shes the puppet master, who put this whole thing in motion. As far as the two brothers, they have died a thousand deaths already and since this has gone public they really will be tortured by their own selves. David will continue to drink and tell women about his involvement. Moral of the story - never be to trusting of anyone, Anyone. Nothing personal, but theres some scandalous women in this World. His girlfriend probably didn't think nothing of this at the time. I see this type stuff on the show "Cheaters" every week. They look at these guys as paper towels are sponges, soak 'em than toss 'em away. Be careful out there.

[cjhappycat]

Are u kidding. Yes a very sad case. But why would infidelity equal murder. There is no excuse for murder. Sounds like you have been burned by a woman so you are making excuses for a murderer.

[MiddleClassWorker]

Where does the "serial killer" part come in?

[mypatch]

My condolences to the family and now the mystery is solved. As for the perpretrators of this horrible act. You will be judged by God almighty in the end. A suffering is in store for you that no man can imagine . God bless the family and bring them peace.

[Dgunner]

Before you can finish reading this article the same thing happened 50 times elswhere and will not be discovered for years. It is upon our bother and sisters that we place the in humanity that is human. Sigmund Freud.

[ibsteve2u]

This appears to be a killing over an unfaithful girlfriend. But as the transcript shows, there appears to be no independent recollection, remember both had been drinking, of how the killing occurred. Obviously, there was no premeditation.
Posted by bajajohn1 at 10:20 PM : Jun 3, 2009

Concur...there appears to be plenty of personal guilt to go around, but not so much legal guilt.

Would have liked to have seen a picture of the two side by side - the victim, who the story reports as "strong", and the suspect, who the story describes as physically...de nada.

Makes a difference, when you're potentially talking about one strong, angry guy who is displaying an intent to wreak havoc over the infidelity of a woman.

[gramto8]

Wow, these people really got ripped! How sad that such a horrible crime can have a statute of limitations at all, let alone a measley three years! ...SNIP...

Posted by galsmiley at 1:02 PM : Jun 3, 2009

Did you notice in the article that it was stated that the law that was in place in 1977 when the crime occurred has since been changed?