Man charged with murder after running over guests with car at wedding

By Eliot Kleinberg Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Updated: 5:18 p.m. Saturday, April 17, 2010
Posted: 10:55 a.m. Friday, April 16, 2010

WEST PALM BEACH — A Boynton Beach man plowed into fellow wedding celebrants standing outside a home west of Lake Worth, killing the single mother of a 7-year-old and injuring the mother of the bride, authorities said.

"He ran her over,! He ran her over!" a wedding guest shouted after Lewis Clifton Weilenman, 46, had slammed his Ford Taurus into fatally injured Deanna Gambino-Ferola on March 28 at 3810 Lake Worth Road, near Kirk Road, according to a Palm Beach County Sheriff's report.

As wedding guests dashed for safety, witnesses told deputies, Weilenman — shouting, "I'm going to kill you guys" — raced his car toward the two women, striking Debra Van Buren, 52, the bride's mother.

He backed up and struck Gambino-Ferola, 42, of Greenacres, then backed up again and ran over her a second time, the witnesses said.

With the car's right tire still on Gambino-Ferola's body, one of the witnesses reached in to turn off the car and Weilenman punched him to try to stop him. The others were able to push the vehicle off the woman and drag her away.

Gambino-Ferola was taken by Trauma Hawk helicopter to Delray Medical Center but died on the way, the report said.

It said she suffered a damaged liver and heart, broken ribs, a broken left arm and bruises to the head.

Van Buren was taken to JFK Medical Center in Atlantis. Her condition couldn't be learned this morning.

Weilenman, booked into the Palm Beach County Jail Thursday night, is charged with second-degree murder, attempted second degree murder, and two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

This morning, Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Ted S. Booras ordered Weilenman held without bond.

Weilenman was convicted in 1996 in Nevada for lewdness with a child under 14, Florida's sex offender registry said.

The grandmother of Gambino-Ferola's 7-year-old daughter said the woman and her son had lived together for seven years.

"She was a great mom. A good girl," Bonnie Fuchs said outside court. "Tried real hard, involved in looking for work. She stepped up to the plate when it came to her daughter."

Fuchs said 30 to 40 people were at the wedding.

She said Gambino-Ferola was a friend of both the bride and groom and a former co-worker of Weilenman's at a Denny's restaurant.

According to the sheriff's report, the witnesses had told deputies Weilenman was getting drunk at the wedding celebration and was becoming surly and angry. They eventually asked him to leave.

He did, but returned with a knife and sat down.

Saying "I'm going to prove my friendship to you," he gestured as if he was going to stab his right arm. One of the others grabbed his hand and took the knife.

About a half hour later, Weilenman returned again. The celebrants urged him to leave. He shouted, "I'm going to kill you guys," and backed his car into several hedges, then drove at the two women.

Arriving deputies later said Weilenman had slurred speech and bloodshot eyes, and they smelled alcohol on him.



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