Investigators looking for people who met Konias while he was on the run

Bobby Kerlik And Chris Togneri
Thursday, April 26, 2012 12:14 p.m. | Thursday, April 26, 2012 12:14 p.m.

Investigators in Pompano Beach, Fla., return to the home where fugitive Ken Konias Jr. was arrested Tuesday. They asked his housemates about a stripper known as Summer who allegedly had $30,000 of his money, and where the rest of the money is. The housemates said they did not know. Chris Togneri | Tribune-Review

Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. said Tuesday that Pittsburgh police should dedicate supervisors to oversee large off-duty details, such as weekend security at South Side bars, and pay for those positions from money the city collects from businesses for the moonlighting jobs. File photo

Murder and robbery suspect Kenneth John Konias Jr., 22, of Dravosburg a guard with Garda Cash Logistics who allegedly killed fellow guard Michael Haines, 31, of East McKeesport during an apparant armored vehicle robbery on Tuesday, February 28, 2012.

Police are retracing Ken Konias' footsteps in Florida to pin down with whom he talked to determine his ultimate plans and answer a $900,000 question.

"I'm more concerned with knowing where the money went," Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. said on Thursday when asked whether detectives plan to interview the fugitive from Dravosburg.

Police say Konias, 22, took $2.3 million from Garda Cash Logistics when he killed co-worker Michael Haines and left his body and their armored car in the Strip District on Feb. 28.

Days later, police found nearly $300,000 stashed between his parents' Dravosburg home and his great-grandmother's grave in Munhall. And on Tuesday, when authorities arrested Konias at a seedy boarding house in Pompano Beach, Fla., they found another $1.1 million there and in a nearby storage facility.

So did he spend the remaining $900,000? That's an average of about $16,300 a day over 55 days on the lam.

Police are trying to figure out what happened to the money. Detectives from Pittsburgh and Ross joined Broward County Sheriff's Office deputies yesterday afternoon at the boarding house for more than two hours. They left about 6:30 p.m. without any items in their hands or people in custody and would not say what they were looking for.

Shewona Flowers, who lives in the house, said investigators asked about the missing money and the whereabouts of a stripper who goes by the name Summer. Flowers said she and the others in the house do not know where the money is, her real name or how to find Summer.

"They asked questions; they looked around; that's it," Flowers said. "I don't know where the money is. I didn't know he had money. There was a reward. If I'd known there was a reward, I'd have got it."

Those who knew Konias during his nearly eight weeks in Florida said he spent lavishly on strippers and prostitutes. One prostitute said she traded sex with Konias for $30 and about $800 of cocaine.

Police are looking into whether prostitutes or others took money from him, Zappala said. Flowers said Konias told her that Summer took $30,000 from him.

Flowers said police yesterday questioned two women whom she identified as strippers named Helen and Emlee.

Helen could not be reached. Emlee told the Tribune-Review last night that Konias told her nothing about his alleged crimes. She said they slept together "four or five times."

"He seemed like a respectable person," Emlee said. "I was totally shocked when I found out about all this."

She said she does not know where Summer is.

Police are looking for a cab driver -- possibly from Jamaica -- with whom Konias might have discussed plans to flee the country, Zappala said.

"There are other people we want to question," said Zappala, who declined to provide names. "We've always been interested in whether other people were complicit in the crime. We could not find anyone else at Garda."

Detectives said Konias yesterday got a federal public defender through the U.S. District Court in South Florida. That office did not return messages.

Konias gave a statement to FBI agents after his arrest. Zappala would discuss only the part in which Konias said he shot Haines, 31, of East McKeesport because the victim tried to stop the heist.

Police say a male friend of one of the women Konias was with in Florida tipped them this week to the fugitive's whereabouts. Whether he will get the $100,000 reward that Garda offered remains unclear.

Company spokesman Joe Gavaghan said the offer applies to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for the crimes, leading up through the completion of the court process. The reward money can be split between people.

Zappala said evidence shows Konias traveled straight to the Miami area after leaving Pittsburgh and that he did not linger anywhere along the way. Police believe he put a stolen license plate on his Ford Explorer, which they have not found. They are trying to determine why he picked Pompano Beach.

"That's something we're looking at," Zappala said. "We've been trying to profile the guy within the last several months."

Prosecutors have not decided whether to handle the case in state or federal court, or whether to seek the death penalty, he said.