October 2018
Serving Hypoluxo Island, South Palm Beach, Manalapan, Ocean Ridge, Briny Breezes, Gulf Stream and Coastal Delray Beach
Volume 11 Issue 10
Highland Beach
Unsolved mystery surrounding widow’s slaying deepens
Former financial adviser jailed on charges he stole $900,000 By Rich Pollack
It is a whodunit that could be the plot of an Agatha Christie murder mystery. An elderly widow is
discovered dead inside her fifth-floor condo in a quiet beachside community. Her financial adviser is charged with siphoning away almost $900,000 from her savings. Yet, as of now, the late April slaying of 85-year-old Elizabeth “Betty” Cabral remains unsolved. “This truly is a bizarre set of circumstances,” says Robert Cabral, nephew of William
Cabral
Del Rio
Cabral, Betty’s husband of more than 50 years who died in April 2017. Though five months have
passed since Betty Cabral’s car was found abandoned in Pompano Beach and Highland Beach police discovered the woman’s body in her Penthouse Highlands condo, crime scene tape still covers part of the front door and fingerprint dust is visible on the windows. Meanwhile, 35-year-old David Del Rio of Lehigh Acres on the state’s west coast, who until his arrest on fraud charges
last month had been working for a car dealer in Naples, remains in jail. While sheriff’s detectives, who have been meticulously working the homicide case, even scouring Del Rio’s home and his vehicles for evidence, have remained close-mouthed, Del Rio’s attorney has strongly denied any link between his See MYSTERY on page 20
Along the Coast
Red tide makes rare appearance on county’s beaches By Cheryl Blackerby
A beauty of a story to tell Miss Boca 1953 recalls town in its infancy, world at her fingertips as longtime travel agent
“My cousin, Dorothy Steiner, had been Miss Boca Raton 1952, so we kept it in the family,” she remembers. Dorothy Steiner went on to be crowned the Delray Beach Gladioli Queen on Valentine’s Day 1953, then Miss Florida By Ron Hayes 1956 and fourth runner-up in the Miss America pageant in 1957. On Monday evening, Dec. 15, 1952, Alberta Domeyer got married, became Alberta Domeyer was crowned Miss Boca Alberta Schultz, had four children before Raton 1953 at the local Lions Club. she was 30, got divorced, became a travel She was 19 and new in town, and Boca agent — and went around the world Raton was pretty new, too. The town, several times. incorporated in 1925, was only 27 itself. She’s 85 now, and in November “Well, I didn’t have a lot of her four children, along with assorted competition,” she says now. “The grandchildren, great-grandchildren and population was only about 1,000.” about 100 friends and colleagues, will In fact, 200 citizens had voted for gather to celebrate both her birthday, Alberta Domeyer, The Delray Beach Aug. 15, and her 50-plus years as a local Journal reported at the time, which travel agent. means about a fifth of the population Last year, Schultz and her daughter wanted her to reign. See MISS BOCA on page 24
Halloween and fall events Get spooked, enjoy autumn treats. Page AT30
INSET: Alberta Schultz’s half century as a travel agent has taken her to 139 countries. Tim Stepien/ The Coastal Star LEFT: Schultz worked for Southern Bell in 1953 when she reigned as Miss Boca Raton. Photo provided
A police officer handed South Palm Beach Mayor Bonnie Fischer a face mask to help relieve her burning eyes and sore throat when she walked on the beach. During the last week of September, officials knew there was an airborne irritant from the ocean that was causing coughing and burning eyes in some beachgoers, but they didn’t know what it was. The mystery was solved Oct. 1 when the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s water tests, taken from 11 sites from the Palm Beach Inlet north to Jupiter Inlet, came back identifying the culprit. Red tide had made a rare appearance on Florida’s southeast coast, its first since 2006-07. The algae, which can cause a red tint in the water, have shown up only nine times since 1953 on Palm Beach County beaches (with cell counts of 100,000 cells/liter or more). On Florida’s Gulf of Mexico beaches, red tide has occurred 57 times during that time frame. Public beaches from the Martin County line to Lake Worth were given health advisories from the See RED TIDE on page 11
Rising Water
Season Preview Our annual, comprehensive guide to cultural offerings from across South Florida. Page AT1
Property ownership dispute slows Delray’s efforts to control seasonal flooding. Page 10