- April 26, 2024
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Richard Resnicoff and his wife, Lucille Horton, were a handsome couple. When neighbor Gail Smith first met Resnicoff a few months ago, he told her, “You can think of us as Ricky and Lucy.”
Another neighbor said the couple played croquet and attended a monthly social down the street, each couple bringing an appetizer to share. Both were retired and had been married for only a few years. They lived in Grand Haven part time and also had a home in New Jersey.
Resnicoff, 68, was killed Saturday afternoon in an incident involving a moving car driven by his wife near their home on Jasmine Drive in Grand Haven. Resnicoff fell from the rear of the moving car, striking pavement hard enough to kill him at the scene.
An investigation is under way. The Florida Highway Patrol’s traffic homicide unit is working to determine whether Resnicoff jumped onto the car or was somehow thrust upon it, according to Sgt. Dylan Bryan, a public affairs officer for the FHP.
Some neighbors witnessed the incident, but there were conflicting accounts in their statements, Bryan said. Some said the incident stemmed from a domestic argument, but others disagreed.
Smith arrived home shortly after Resnicoff was killed and parked on the side of the street because the area was blocked by law enforcement. His body lay in the street for four or five hours under a tarp in front of her home, she said.
“It was a horrible sight,” she said. “All I could see was a lot of concern and stress and everybody trying to get to the bottom of what really happened. Everybody was pretty shaken.”
Horton’s car is in custody of the FHP for an analysis, which, when complete, should reveal why Resnicoff was on the car. At that point, Bryan said, investigators will consult with the State Attorney’s Office to decide whether to press charges against Horton.
“I can’t stop thinking about it,” Smith said. “Any time that you have such an instant, quick death, unexpectedly, there’s a lot of grief. There’s grief all the time when there is death, but when it’s someone so young and in great health, you can’t help but feel this tremendous loss.”
Horton was not injured. An alcohol test on her following the incident came back negative.
“You feel like, this neighborhood has been touched with something that it will never be able to overcome,” Smith said. “My heart goes out to the family. My heart goes out to them.”
