According to Broward Sheriff's Office homicide detective Luis Rivera, authorities have arrested a suspect in the murder of Wilton Manors resident Larry Ellison. 27-year-old Gabriel Nock, of Delaware, was a drifter who escaped from a work release program in Delaware, Rivera said. Nock has confessed to strangling Ellison with his hands.
According to Rivera, Nock arrived in Fort Lauderdale March 6. He met Ellison on Fort Lauderdale Beach near Sebastian Street on Sunday, March 8. The two men went to Ellison's townhouse in Wilton Manors to hook up, Rivera said. Nock admitted killing Ellison and stealing his laptop, camera, tote bag, and car.
Rivera says, "We arrested the suspect yesterday in the late afternoon on Miami Beach. The car was parked several blocks away. He led us on a trail using the victim's credit card." Rivera says they have surveillance footage of Nock at the Pembroke Pines Mall and at the Target on Hollywood Boulevard. He bought clothing at the Gap, shoes at Athlete's Foot, an iPod at Target, and other electronics. He drifted in the days following the murder, and visited a strip club in Hallandale.
Rivera said the case in unrelated to a murder in Coconut Creek. Ralph Apuzzo was a gay pharmaceutical salesman who was killed December 20 in his own condominium. Rivera said he is investigating leads in that case.
