Dating & Relationship status

When they arrived at the site, Willis—in accordance with the plan—took Kent off to a secluded spot where they were talking. Swallers joined them there. While she and Willis distracted Kent, Semenec came up and stabbed Kent in the neck with a knife, which was the first blow. When Kent asked for Puccio’s help, Puccio stuck a knife in Kent’s stomach. Kent yelled out an apology, but Puccio continued to stab him. When Kent tried to flee, Puccio, Semenec, and Derek Kaufman followed him and continued wounding him. Puccio then slit Kent’s throat and hit his head against the ground. Kaufman then approached and hit Kent in the head with the baseball bat, which was the final blow. After this, Dzvirko, Semenec, Puccio, and Kaufman helped dump Kent’s body on the edge of the shore of the marsh, in the belief that alligators would eat the decaying body.

The murder resulted in a best-selling true crime book in 1998, Bully: A True Story of High School Revenge (ISBN 0-380-72333-6), written by Jim Schutze. The book was adapted by David McKenna (credited under the pseudonym “Zachary Long” after he demanded his name be removed from the film) and Roger Pullis into the 2001 film Bully, directed by Larry Clark. The story was also covered during an episode of the A&E series American Justice as well as Forensic Files, and, more recently, Investigation Findy’s Murder Among Friends.

Toward the beginning of 1993, Puccio (aged 20) began dating Lisa Connelly (aged 18). Frustrated by how much time Puccio spent with Kent (aged 20) as well as Kent’s treatment of Puccio, Connelly tried to distract Kent from Puccio by setting up her friend Alice (Ali) Willis (aged 17) with Kent. Kent and Willis been in a relationship with? for a few weeks, but she ultimately ended the relationship because he was abusive. In June, Puccio confided to Connelly that Kent had been abusive to him quite often over the years. Connelly tried to convince him to end the friendship, but Puccio seemed hesitant. By this time, Connelly knew she was pregnant with Puccio’s child, and was determined to pursue a permanent relationship with him.

Allegedly, Connelly decided that Kent needed to be eliminated permanently, and began talking to Puccio and other friends about murdering him. On July 13, 1993, Connelly called Willis and told her that “Bobby Kent was planning to come to Palm Bay [where Willis was living] to murder her and smother her baby [by a previous relationship], unless she returned to Broward County to been in a relationship with? him again.” Willis claimed Connelly asked her to come to Connelly’s house to discuss murdering Bobby Kent. Willis went to Connelly’s house and brought two friends, her current boyfriend, Donald Semenec (aged 17), and Heather Swallers (aged 18).

On the night of July 13, 1993, Puccio, Semenec, Swallers, Connelly and Willis met with Kent. Puccio, Semenec, and Swallers became uncomfortable and left. Connelly and Willis lured Kent to a new development under construction with the promise that he would be able to drive Willis’ Mustang 5.0 and have sex with her. Connelly had brought along her mother’s pistol, intending to kill Kent while he was distracted by sexual activity with Willis, but was unable to go through with shooting him.

Late on the night of July 14, 1993, the seven joined together at Puccio’s house and finalized their plans. Puccio contacted Kent and convinced him to come out with the group that night, with the promise that they would race their cars and that Willis wanted to have sex with him again. The group assembled their weapons: between them, they had two knives, a lead pipe, and a baseball bat. Around 11:30 p.m., they picked Kent up from his home and headed out to a construction site.

Bobby Kent (né Khayam; May 12, 1973 – July 14, 1993) was an Iranian-American man who was murdered by seven people, including his best friend, Martin Joseph “Marty” Puccio, Jr. (born March 21, 1973) in Weston, Florida.