Two Postal Managers Who Disappeared Left Mansion Behind

Mar 3, 2000 - 04:34 PM
The Associated Press

PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) - A pair of postal managers who mysteriously disappeared last month not only left behind a lot of questions, but they also abandoned a $1 million home.

Authorities investigating the disappearance of Jerry Lenn and his wife, Wanda Martinez, have little information about where the couple is and why they apparently left without telling anyone.

But they are looking into how a pair of government employees who made about $140,000 combined could afford a 6,300-square-foot house.

"Their spending habits and the cost of their home are all part of the investigation," said Manuel Gonzalez-Latimer, a spokesman for the Postal Inspection Service.

The house, which cost a little more than $1 million to build, has an indoor courtyard and pool, a goldfish pond and polished marble steps.

There is also a waterfall Jacuzzi, twin fountains in the shape of mermaids, a curving marble staircase with wrought-iron handrails, a built-in fish tank and an elevated electric train that chugs from room to room.

Lenn, 49, handled maintenance contracts for the U.S. Postal Service and Martinez, 41, managed the computer systems. Both worked in offices in Pembroke Pines and Miami.

Lenn had been employed with the Postal Service since 1969, and worked in South Florida since the late 80s. Martinez had been an employee since 1980.

The couple were last seen by a neighbor Feb. 6. They phoned in sick Feb. 9 and postal investigators were called in Feb. 14 when Lenn didn't return to work.

They didn't tell relatives of any plans to leave, yet their home gave the appearance that they had moved, Gonzalez-Latimer said.

Neighbor Camilla Comulada said nobody really knew Lenn and Martinez on the otherwise tight-knit block.

"He told everyone a different story about where he worked," she told The Miami Herald. "He never said he worked for the post office, though. We were shocked to hear that."

Lenn told some people he was in the mortgage business, and others, the computer business. He told others he didn't work at all, but that his wife did.

Neighbors rarely saw or spoke to Martinez but they said she was constantly traveling - carrying luggage out three or four times a month.

The contractor who built the house, about 15 miles northwest of Fort Lauderdale, said he doesn't expect Lenn to come back any time soon.

"The place has been stripped to the bone - all their personal stuff is gone," said Jim Barron of Barron Development, who had been meeting with Lenn to talk about an expansion to the house.

"It doesn't make any sense for them to make all these plans for an addition and then just up and leave. It throws up a lot of red flags."

When Lenn and Martinez do return, county appraisers have a nasty surprise waiting for them.

Until now, because of some sort of bureaucratic oversight, Broward County has been taxing the property as a vacant lot. Taxes in 1999 were only $2,101.

But the publicity over the couple's disappearance drew attention to the glitch.

Thursday, when the county appraiser's office recalculated the value of the property, they learned that taxes on the property are $16,400 annually.

A tax bill for $30,699 for 1999 and 2000 is in the mail.

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