Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Jewish Couple Found Slain in Florida Home

The deaths of a Toronto Jewish couple found in their winter home in south Florida are being investigated as a double homicide.

David Pichosky, 71, and Rochelle Wise, 66, who spent the winters in their Hallandale Beach townhouse, were found dead on the night of Jan. 10. Their deaths are not believed to be a murder-suicide.

“We have few details on how they were killed, but this is definitely a double homicide,” Capt. Sonia Quinones, a spokeswoman for the Hallandale Beach Police, told the Miami Herald.

The two reportedly were supposed to have lunch the day before with a friend. When the couple did not show up, the friend used a spare key to check their home, where he found their bodies.

Pichosky, who was known to friends and relatives as Donny, had retired after selling his office-carpet business and had spent at least 20 years wintering in Florida. He reportedly prayed every day and was religiously observant.

Wise was a former preschool vice principal at the Bialik Hebrew Day School in Toronto and a founding director of a local day camp.They were married after the death of Pichosky’s wife in 2006.

In Florida, she volunteered at a Hebrew day school in Hallandale, helping children with learning problems. She also was an active member of Na’amat, the Jewish women’s organization.

Shana Harris, Bialik’s head of school, wrote in an email to parents on Friday, “We are all profoundly shocked and distraught by the tragic loss of Rochelle Wise and her husband Donny. Rochelle was a beloved member of the Bialik community and respected as an outstanding educator and wonderful human being.”

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly. 

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at editorial@forward.com, subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.

Exit mobile version