COUPLE DIE AFTER LEAVING CAR RUNNING IN GARAGE
SALLIE JAMES, Staff WriterSUN-SENTINEL
MARGATE -- A popular retired couple who left their car running in a closed garage after returning from an evening card game with friends were found dead on Tuesday in their home, police said.
Joseph Caputi, 88, and his wife, Elsie, 72, of the 1400 block of Northwest 69th Avenue, apparently forgot to shut off the engine of their car after they returned home about 10:30 p.m. on Monday, Lt. Lanny Wyatt said.
They had closed the garage door and had gone to bed, he said.
"It doesn't give any appearance at all of a suicide attempt. It appears to be an accident," Wyatt said.
A neighbor with a key to the Caputis' house discovered their pajama-clad bodies about 5 p.m. on Tuesday after he and two other neighbors noticed the couple's newspaper outside and went in to check on them, Wyatt said.
"You could smell the fumes in there when we went in," said neighbor Ed Wildermuth. "The house just reeked. A lot of people are shocked."
Wildermuth said the car was out of gas and the key was still in the ignition. The garage door was blackened near the car's exhaust pipe, he said.
Joseph Caputi's body was lying in the doorway leading to the living room. His wife's body was on the floor of the master bedroom, Wyatt said.
"It looks like they got up out of bed, and at least he had made it out of the bedroom and was trying to make it to the telephone," Wyatt said.
All the windows in the couple's house were shut, the doors were locked and the air conditioner was off.
Neighbors said the couple usually slept with their windows closed because they feared being robbed.
"It's a shock. I feel very bad," said neighbor Arlene Kleppner, whose husband discovered the bodies. "It certainly was tragic. She and her husband were both hard of hearing, so the car was left on and she did not hear it."
Kleppner said the couple played cards at least once a week with friends at the Regency Retirement Group, attended Mass regularly at St. Vincent Catholic Church in Margate, and were friendly with their neighbors.
Both were hard of hearing and had been ill recently. Elsie Caputi usually drove because her husband was too frail and his hearing was worse than hers, Kleppner said.
"Elsie was a lovely person," Kleppner said. "She was a very dear person, always willing to help." Joseph Caputi, who suffered from a weak heart, usually stayed home except to attend church and to play cards, she said.
Elsie Caputi was a retired beautician who still cut hair every week at the Northwest Focal Point senior center in Margate.