SKULL CRUSHED… BRUTALLY BATTERED… SEVENTEEN CENTIMETER INCISION.
BY: ANDREW COLTON | Editor and Publisher
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2023 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — New details were just released in the murder of Dena Vanvoorhis, the woman killed by her son — Wayne Pfeister — in July of 2022. The high-profile murder-suicide took place around 5:36 p.m. on July 10th inside 5500 NW 3rd Terrace in Boca Raton.
As we have previously reported, Pfeister — self-identified on social media as a traveling nurse — came to a family event, even though he was banned from the family home. He got into an altercation with his mother — Deena Vanvoorhis — and brutally killed her. He then killed himself as Boca Raton SWAT entered the home. With no one to arrest, the Boca Raton Police Department did not file an affidavit of probable cause with details of the murder scene, and worked very hard to protect the family from those seeking information.
But BocaNewsNow.com filed several public information requests. The Palm Beach County Medical Examiner released details of Pfeister’s suicide in January. We published that here. The Medical Examiner just released details of Vanvoorhis’ death, and confirmed our reporting that she was brutally battered, slashed, and burned with a chemical compound. From the medical examiner’s report, Vanvoorhis suffered a laceration of the right side of her forehead, laceration of her mid-forehead, laceration of her nose, left eyelids, left side of forehead and left cheek; laceration of left temporal scalp, abrasions and contusion of her right cheek.
Additional injuries include cranial fractures, crushed frontal cerebral lobes, bilateral temporal and parietal lacerations and contusions, hemorrhage of right basal ganglion, contusion of right arm, contusion of right hip. She was also slashed, sustaining incisions of the muscles of her neck and left internal jugular vein, and superficial incisions of submental region and neck.
From the autopsy report: “An incised wound involves the bilateral aspects of the anterior neck. The incision is 17-centimeters long and up to 1 centimeter deep. The margins lack tissue bridges or abrasions, and both ends are tapered. On the right side of the neck the incision extends into the subcutaneous tissue and has sparse hemorrhage. On the left side of the neck, the incision involves subcutaneous tissue and muscle and is densely hemorrhagic. The incision continues through the left sternocleidomastoid muscle, the left sternohyoid and left sternothyroid muscles exposing but not cutting into the left lamina of the thyroid cartilage. The thyroid cartilage lamina has areas of darkness and dryness, consistent with chemical burns (to be later described). The wound involves only the left internal jugular vein and spares the external jugular vein and the carotid artery.” Vanvoorhis was also burned with a chemical.
The official cause of death: blunt head trauma. The official manner of death: homicide.
