56-year-old man stole his 82-year-old neighbor’s debit car after shooting her to death in the back seat of her car, then withdrew $4,000 from her account before fleeing; charged
Arizona – In a shocking incident in Arizona, a 56-year-old man with a lengthy criminal past, identified as D. Bollwinkel, is now facing first-degree murder, kidnapping, armed robbery, and burglary charges after he killed his elderly neighbor, identified as L. Baran, and used her debit card to withdraw thousands of dollars from her account just minutes after her death.
Bollwinkel, a convicted man previously known for housing scams and forgery, was taken into custody on June 2 at an international airport following his extradition from Utah. His arrest stems from the shocking February 11 slaying of 82-year-old Baran, whose body was found in the back seat of her car, inside the garage of her home in Arizona. According to court documents, Baran had been shot to death, and evidence inside the home indicated a struggle had taken place, including disarranged furniture near the front door. Police say Bollwinkel had recently been evicted from a nearby property about three weeks prior to the murder, but before that, he had been Baran’s neighbor.
Baran was last seen alive on February 9. In the days leading up to her death, Bollwinkel had reportedly been harassing her for money. A neighbor reported seeing him park his van around 6:15 p.m. on the evening she disappeared, and another witness later observed him running from Baran’s home and speeding off in his van around 7:00 p.m. Baran’s family, concerned after being unable to reach her, requested a welfare check on February 11. Police responded to her home, where they discovered the lifeless body of the 82-year-old woman slumped in the back seat of her car. An autopsy later confirmed that she had been fatally shot in the left side of her torso.
Within nearly half an hour of the murder, surveillance footage and transaction records showed Bollwinkel at an ATM, using Baran’s debit card to attempt to withdraw $10,000. He successfully withdrew $4,000, according to police. Cellphone data also placed him at the scene during the time of the murder. Police did not reveal how they located Bollwinkel in Utah, but confirmed he had fled Arizona shortly after the killing. His arrest at the airport marked the end of a manhunt that had lasted nearly four months.
Bollwinkel is no stranger to law enforcement. His criminal history stretches back more than a decade and includes convictions for forgery and criminal impersonation, along with a high-profile consumer fraud case in 2014. At the time, Bollwinkel and his wife were accused of scamming dozens of individuals through a fake house-sitting program, offering renters lists of foreclosure properties that turned out to be occupied or unavailable. In 2015, he and his wife were hit with a $2.1 million judgment by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office for the housing scam. Before this, he had already served time following a 2008 arrest in Avondale for similar offenses.
Now, Bollwinkel faces the most serious accusations of his life. He is currently being held in the county jail on a $1 million cash-only bond. If convicted of the murder and related charges, he could spend the rest of his life behind bars. The violent and calculated nature of Baran’s death has left her family and neighbors in shock. Loved ones remembered her as a kind and generous woman, and the thought that she was killed while trying to surrender has only deepened the heartbreak.
Bollwinkel has not yet entered a plea, and a court date for his preliminary hearing has not been publicly released. Meanwhile, authorities are continuing their investigation to determine if additional charges may apply or if any other individuals were involved in the events surrounding Baran’s death. This tragedy marks a devastating turn in what began as a long trail of deception and fraud, culminating in the cold-blooded killing of an elderly woman for a few thousand dollars.
