Local Cold Cases Similar to Caylee Anthony

Striking similarities between two unsolved Broward murders and the Caylee Anthony case stir painful memories

It takes a good memory to recall the names Amanda Dougherty and Julie Magliulo.

Dougherty was 5-years old in 1994 and lived in North Lauderdale. Magliulo was 3-years-old in 1987 and lived in Pompano Beach.

Both were adorable little girls who disappeared right under their parents' noses, and were later found dead in remote areas.

No one has ever been convicted in their killings, just like the more publicized case of Caylee Anthony.

"They're all young girls, mysteriously disappeared, all of a sudden they just vanished into thin air," said Broward County Sheriff Al Lamberti, who was involved in the investigations when Amanda and Julie went missing. "These girls are the most innocent of victims. There's nothing they could've done to egg on their killers."

Lamberti said just as in the Caylee Anthony case, investigators focused on Julie's parents and Amanda's parents as suspects, but were never able to bring charges against them.

"Obviously there were suspicions and doubts raised in looking at family members in all three cases. Family members were considered people of interest for awhile," Lamberti said.

Amanda's father, David Dougherty, had a long, violent criminal record.

Someone kidnapped his daughter as she slept in her bedroom, apparently never rousing the family's two pit bulldogs.

The father was a natural suspect, Lamberti said, as detectives figured the killer could not be an intruder.

But Dougherty has always denied any involvement in his daughter's murder, and even though he reportedly failed polygraph tests, investigators didn't have enough evidence to charge him with Amanda's abduction and killing.

"Obviously, he denied it and there never was enough evidence to win in court," Lamberti said.

Another suspect in Amanda's murder is already in prison, serving a life sentence for kidnapping and raping another little girl. Stephen Covell sometimes visited the Dougherty home.

Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigators are looking into whether he could have been involved in Amanda's death.

"You know, there's alway hope, we thrive on that, we work on that," said BSO homicide detective Scott Champagne.

He re-opened the Julie Magliulo investigation with the FBI in 2008, got the case featured on America's Most Wanted, and re-interviewed the girl's parents with help from an FBI profiler.

Still no breakthrough.

"There are people we've focused our attention on, and we're one tip away from a break that may put this thing over the edge for us," Champagne said.

Detectives have focused on Julie's mom, Brenda Magliulo, from the start. Polygraph tests were inconclusive, and Tony Magliulo, Julie's father, told WTVJ back in 1987 that he didn't appreciate being considered a suspect in his daughter's disappearance.

"I don't get that. What I feel is they're frustrated, they hit a brick wall, they're frustrated, so they're just grabbing everybody," Magliulo said at the time.

Investigators are still frustrated, but say they're not giving up.

"I always say that closure is overrated," Lamberti said. "It's really justice that you're looking for. Someone, somewhere, knows who killed these little girls."

Contact Us