Joanne Mazollo was killed on April 19, 1994, at the Big Dollar pawn shop in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where she worked. The shop owner, Gerald Singer, found her body in the back room; the medical examiner determined she died instantly from a single gunshot wound to the head. Several firearms, jewelry, and cash were reported missing after the robbery.

More than a decade later, Herman Lindsey was arrested and charged with the murder in 2006. Prosecutors presented evidence including a jailhouse informant’s claim that Lindsey admitted killing a witness during a robbery, and Lindsey’s statements to police that he had been at the pawn shop earlier to pawn a Sega under a false name and that Ronnie LoRay had arrived at his house the day of the robbery with jewelry, cash, and a gun. LoRay later pleaded guilty to involvement in the crime.

In 2009 the Florida Supreme Court overturned Lindsey’s conviction, finding the evidence—largely circumstantial and dependent on the jailhouse informant—insufficient to sustain the guilty verdict and criticizing inflammatory prosecutorial statements at sentencing. The murder of Joanne Mazollo remains unsolved; anyone with information is asked to come forward.