By Denise-marie Balona
Orlando Sentinel
Related: Fla. inmate charged with murder in correction officer’s death
Officer Down: Correctional Officer Donna Fitzgerald
 Donna Fitzgerald |
PORT ORANGE —The best friend of Donna Fitzgerald, the correctional officer stabbed to death Wednesday at a state prison in Daytona Beach, said a prisoner recently threatened the woman’s life.
Nancy Duke said it was obvious to her that Fitzgerald’s killer at Tomoka Correctional Institution was waiting for “the perfect opportunity” to catch the officer unaware.
“That girl was strong -- she worked out,” said Duke, Fitzgerald’s friend for 10 years. “This guy had to be sitting and waiting for her.”
According to Duke, Fitzgerald, 50, said that an inmate threatened her when she told him to sit down after he became unruly because he wanted to visit the infirmary.
Duke, 51, could not say whether the inmate who Fitzgerald said threatened her was Enoch Hall, who authorities arrested on a murder charge Thursday.
Authorities said Hall, 39, folded a piece of sheet metal and hid in a prison building. When Fitzgerald, who was unarmed, came looking for him Wednesday, he pounced.
Gretl Plessinger, a Department of Corrections spokeswoman, said officials didn’t know Fitzgerald had been threatened.
The agency is conducting an administrative review of the stabbing while Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigates the murder.
Jim Baiardi, a president of the Florida Police Benevolent Association, called Fitzgerald a hero. He appealed to lawmakers for funding to hire more correctional officers.
On Friday, Duke, friends and family gathered at Fitzgerald’s home in Port Orange, where she lived with her son. He is shocked, Duke said, especially considering his father died of cancer this year.
Copyright 2008 Orlando Sentinel