Blanche Delores Palacino, a 42-year-old woman, was tragically killed in a violent crime that unfolded in Coral Gables, Florida, on July 20, 1970. She was one of two female victims in a harrowing kidnapping and robbery incident that also left a male hostage critically wounded. The crime began when a gunman, described as a bespectacled Latin man approximately 40 years old, 5-foot-11, and 200 pounds, took hostages during a robbery at a Western Union office. Palacino, who was the day manager of the office, was forced into the ordeal alongside another woman, Judy Mary Messick Lamb, and a male victim, Bruce E. Reitz, the night manager of the establishment.
The gunman led his captives to an overgrown tomato field about ten miles south of downtown Coral Gables. There, he ordered them to lie down in the weeds before stripping Reitz of his rings, making a chilling remark about the nature of thieves. Moments later, he opened fire on the three hostages. Palacino and Lamb sustained fatal injuries and died en route to Baptist Hospital, while Reitz, despite suffering two gunshot wounds to the head, managed to survive. He later crawled to a highway to alert authorities to the crime.
The suspect remained at large following the attack. Authorities described him as a Latin male with glasses, but further details on his identity or any subsequent arrests were not immediately available. The amount of money stolen from the Western Union office was estimated to be between $400 and $3,000. The brutal nature of the crime and the loss of two innocent lives left the community in shock, as law enforcement worked to track down the perpetrator responsible for the senseless killings.
