Arizona's Torso Killer: Too Many Unanswered Questions

"Where's the rest of Mr. Pomerantz?" is a simple-enough, yet, still-unanswered question from the 2002 murder trial of a Scottsdale, Arizona beauty salon owner, Valerie Pape, a French citizen.

The sixty-three-year-old blonde bombshell (for a woman her age) was seen by witnesses on a January morning in 2000. They said Valerie drove up to a dumpster in her Jaguar, pausing long enough to toss a wrapped package into the waste bin behind a grocery store, and then speeding off, going back to work at her salon.

The wrapped package contained the torso of Mr. Ira Pomerantaz, Valerie's husband.

One of Scottsdale's most well-known business celebrity couples, Ira and Valerie had their share of problems. She accused him of domestic abuse. A French man who lived with them -- yes, there is a romantic triangle in this story, too -- said Ira would shout and yell at Valerie. "Why she stayed, I will never understand," the man who Ira said was having an affair with Valerie, told police.

Maybe rather than leave, Valerie opted for murder?

Here's what we know:

First: Ira was missing both legs, both arms and his head when is torso was flipped into the dumpster. Second: Valerie had a receipt for a reciprocating saw; the same kind of tool that was used to butcher the late Mr. Pomerantz according to Scottsdale detectives.

And she purchased the Craftsman saw just before Ira was killed.

Damning evidence? Not yet. You see, just like Ira's arms, legs, and head; the saw and its blades have never been found.

Still, over her protestations of innocence, Valerie was arrested on a charge of second-degree murder.

Valerie readily admitted to discovering her husband's torso, wrapping what was left of Ira and tossing him into the garbage. But she vehemently denied killing the guy. Valerie said after discovering Ira's torso, she was afraid she'd be blamed. So Valerie opted for a dumpster burial.

Did she do it? Did Valerie kill Ira? Yeah, finally she admitted doing the crime before her case went to trial.

Valerie did her time in prison, was released in 2016, and deported to France.

So case closed? Not as far as Ira's immediate family is concerned. You see, Valerie is a petite woman. No one believes she could have killed and sawed up Ira by herself. Was their a conspirator? The Pomerantz family wants to know.

And perhaps more importantly, they need to know, "what happened to the rest of Ira Pomerantz?"

Love. Jealousy. Rage. Revenge.

How far would you go to punish the man you love

if he loved another?

Please Don't Shoot: A Shocking True Crime Story is available wherever books are sold including:

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