Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1936-04-21
UphoIsterer's Helper Enter
ed Apartment, Committed
Crime, Then Returned to
Find Remains.
POLICE HEAD REPORTS
TWINE AS MAIN CLUE
Valentine Says Youth Was Under
Constant Surveillance Since
Murder-Has Record of Four
Arrests and Served Reforma-
tory Term for Grand Larceny.
BACKGROUND

Mrs. Nancy Titterton, luth0reSS
and tCite OF broadcasting erecu-
the, Was found dead in her FASH
ionable Beekman place apartment,
in New York City, on April II.
Tpo delivery men found the par
italy clad body in the bathtub
Dhen they entered the apartment
through an unattached door to make
deliUery.
Mrs. Titterton had been crimi-
nally assaulted before being stran-
gled to death, investigators report
ed. TUelUe persons Uere questioned
but later released.
by the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, April 21.-Police
Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine
said today that John Fiorenza,
an upholSterer's helper, had at
nitted Staying Mrs. Nancy Evans
Titterton.
The young man was one of two
who had reported the finding of the
y body in the bath room of the litter
ton apartment in fashionable Beck
man place.
Valentine said Fiorenza admitted
assaulting the 34-year-old author and
then strangling her.
He was traced, the commissioner
said. by piece of Irvine with which
Mrs. Titterton had been bound
Fiorenza is "a years old and lives
on Sixty-fifth street, Brooklyn.
Valentine said the youth told him
that on Thursday, April 9, the day
before the Staying, he was sent to
the Titterton apartment to receive
instructions for repairing dlvan.
Returned in Morning.
At that time he saw Mrs. Titterton.
The next morning, Valentine quoted
him, he returned to the apartment
alone, seized Mrs, Titterton, placed a
gag in her mouth and bound her
hands.
After she was dead, the story con-
tinued, he placed the body in the
bathtub and cut the Irvine from her
hands.
FiorenZa returned to work, and
came back with Theodore Kruger of
the upholstering firm to deliver the
divan. They found the door to the
fourth-foor apartment ajar and called
two building superintendent
The four men found the body face
down in the tub
Fiorenza and the other three were
among a dozen persons questioned i'm
mediately after police learned of the
Staying.
Had Been Suspected.
Valentine and District Attorney Will
liam C. Dodge, who joined in an
nouncing the solution of the crime,
said FiorenZa had been under constant
surveillance
Working with the piece of Irvine as
virtually their only clue, police traced
its manufacture and learned it was a
special brand used by upholsterers.
Fiorenza has record of four ar
rests, police said, and was sent to
Elmira Reformatory for grand larceny
on one complaint. In two other cases
he was given suspended sentences, and
one complaint was dismissed.
All the previous arrests had been
for burglary or grand larceny
When Valentine made the announce
ment at police headquarters, Fiorenza
was being held at some midtown point
which police did not divulge. They
said he would be taken back to the
scene Of the crime during the after
noon
FiorenZa was arrested this morning
and was questioned for several hours
by District Attorney Dodge and
Valentine
Police Issue Statement.
The statement issued by Commits
sioner Valentine and District Attor-
ney Dodge read:
I'VE have broken the Titterton
case, and now have in custody the
perpetrator, who has confessed. He |
Is John c. Fiorenza, "a years old, an |
upholsterer, of 1901 Sixty-flfth street, |
Brooklyn.
THE solution of this case is an IL
lustration Of what can be done by |
close and sincere cooperation of law
enforcement agencies. District At |
torney Dodge and his Office, particu-
larly Assistant District Attorney Will |
liam O'Rourke, worked tirelessly with
members OF this department from the
very outset of the investigation.
"FiorenZa is an ex-convict now on