DANIA BEACH, Fla. – A 62-year-old woman is accused of shooting her brother in the back of the head and burying his remains in the backyard of a home in Dania Beach, authorities confirmed Thursday.
According to the Broward Sheriff’s Office, Homicide Detective John Curcio received a tip from a retired law enforcement officer in early June that Donald Marks Shoff, who would now be 60, had been murdered years ago and his remains were buried in the backyard of a home.
Curcio contacted Shoff’s sister, Darlene Ann Shoff-Brock, on June 29 to set up an interview to talk about her brother, authorities said.
According to BSO spokeswoman Veda Coleman-Wright, Shoff-Brock told Curcio that her brother had been living out of the country for the last couple of years. The following morning, her attorney contacted the detective to cancel the interview, Coleman-Wright said.
Authorities said detectives and crime scene technicians located the victim’s remains on July 9 in the exact location where someone told the retired law enforcement officer Shoff had been buried.
“On July 19, 2021, the Broward Medical Examiner’s Office, with the assistance of an anthropologist, determined the victim had been shot in the back of the head,” Coleman-Wright said. “Additionally, detectives said the Pinellas County Forensic Lab confirmed on Aug. 4, 2021, the remains of the murder victim were consistent with being the biological child of Shoff-Brock’s mother.”
Detectives believe Shoff-Brock killed her brother sometime in May 2014 based on witness statements and evidence from the skeletal remains and DNA results.
They believe she killed Shoff at a home in Hollywood and then buried his body in the backyard of the home in Dania Beach.
The addresses of the homes are being withheld by authorities due to the ongoing investigation.
A motive for the killing remains unclear, however witnesses told detectives that the two often argued about money and Shoff accused his sister of stealing money from him.
Shoff-Brock was arrested around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at her home in Tamarac. She is being held without bond on a first-degree murder charge.
