Murder of Bobby Kent

Bobby Kent (born Bobby Khayam on May 12, 1973) was the son of Iranian immigrants Fred and Farah Kent and attended South Broward High School in Hollywood, Florida. He had known Martin "Marty" Puccio Jr. since third grade, and the two remained close as teenagers despite what a prosecutor later described as Kent's bullying treatment of Puccio. Kent and Puccio had also collaborated on amateur pornographic films that Kent unsuccessfully tried to sell to local shops.

In early 1993, Puccio began dating Lisa Connelly, who grew frustrated with Kent's influence over Puccio and his history of mistreating him. Connelly attempted to distract Kent by introducing him to her friend Alice Willis, but the relationship ended after Willis said Kent was abusive. By June 1993, Connelly — who was pregnant by Puccio — had become determined to have Kent killed, and Willis said Kent raped her the night before the murder. On July 13, 1993, Connelly and Willis, joined by Donald Semenec and Heather Swallers, made an unsuccessful attempt to lure Kent to a construction site and kill him.

The following night, July 14, 1993, the group — now including Derek Dzvirko and a man recruited as a hired killer, Derek Kaufman — finalized plans at Puccio's house. Puccio convinced Kent to join them, and around 11:30 p.m. the group drove him to a Weston construction site. There, while Willis and Swallers distracted Kent, Semenec stabbed him in the neck, Puccio stabbed him repeatedly and slit his throat, and Kaufman delivered a fatal blow with a baseball bat. The group dumped Kent's body near a marsh, reportedly expecting it would be consumed by alligators.

In the days after the killing, several of the conspirators confessed to family members. Connelly's mother and Dzvirko's mother contacted a relative with police connections, which led to Detective Frank Ilarraza of the Broward County Sheriff's Office. Dzvirko cooperated fully and led police to Kent's body.

All seven participants were prosecuted. Puccio and Kaufman were convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy; Puccio was initially sentenced to death in August 1995, but the Supreme Court of Florida vacated the sentence in 1997 due to mitigating factors, and he was resentenced to life in prison. Kaufman received life without parole for 25 years plus a consecutive 30-year conspiracy sentence. Semenec was convicted of second-degree murder but given a life sentence. Connelly and Willis were both convicted of second-degree murder and related conspiracy charges, receiving reduced sentences on appeal, and were released in 2004 and 2001 respectively after serving under a decade each. Dzvirko and Swallers pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and conspiracy, cooperated with authorities, and were released in 1999 and 1998 respectively after serving shorter sentences.

The case became the basis for Jim Schutze's 1997 book "Bully: A True Story of High School Revenge" and the 2001 film "Bully," directed by Larry Clark.