Suspect in disappearance of wife hit with weapons charge

A Lake Mead National Recreation Area resident suspected in the disappearance of his wife was indicted by a federal grand jury on a weapons charge Tuesday.

The grand jury indicted David Kent Fitch, who is also known as David Lee Krause and Daniel Joseph O'Hare, on one count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.

According to the indictment, Fitch, 41, possessed a Remington shotgun and Springfield rifle on Feb. 8 despite having been convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in jail.

The FBI is looking at Fitch in connection with the September disappearance of an English woman he married in April 1999 and brought to the United States.

Authorities believe Maria Bozi, 46, disappeared sometime between Sept. 4, when she last spoke by phone to the caretaker of her England property, and Sept. 7, when authorities allege Fitch began withdrawing thousands of dollars from her bank account.

Fitch was arrested on the weapons charges last week when he gave permission to Henderson Police to search his storage units following a traffic stop. He was driving Bozi's car at the time. The guns were inside a unit at 4180 S. Boulder Highway.

Fitch pleaded guilty to manufacturing counterfeit currency in Phoenix in February 1992 and ended up serving 20 months in prison after his probation was revoked in August 1993. His probation was revoked after he was convicted of attempting to sell marijuana. He received a 327-day suspended jail sentence in that case and one year probation.

During Fitch's initial appearance on Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Damm said Fitch initially denied knowing Bozi, but later conceded he was her husband.

Damm said Fitch told police that his wife had flown to her native Romania to visit her mother, then changed his story to say he believed her disappearance was connected to organized crime, the Romanian police or unknown people who had been surveilling them.

Since Bozi's passport was found inside the storage unit, Damm said he doubts she is traveling abroad.

"I believe (Fitch) is responsible or at least knows what happened to Ms. Bozi," Damm said last week. "I fear the worst for her."

Fitch is also alleged to have married another England resident last month after flying to London and that woman, Patricia Molano Gutierrez, 30, is also missing, Damm said.

FBI Special Agent Joe Dickey said that as of Tuesday evening no one had been able to determine the whereabouts of either wife.

FBI agents in London are working closely with law enforcement agencies there in the hopes more information will turn up about Fitch's time in that country, Dickey said.

While several calls have come in concerning the case, Dickey said agents are a little disappointed and surprised they haven't received more.

Anyone who saw Bozi and Fitch together or anyone who knew Fitch is asked to call the FBI at 385-1281.

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