Gunshots In The Moonlight Frighten Fla. Family

June 10, 2006 was a typically warm, quiet night in  Pinellas County, Fla. A woman named Cathy, her husband, and their seven children were asleep when the phone suddenly rang at 3:30 a.m.

The caller told her that the two front windows of the business she owned had just been smashed. Cathy got dressed and drove to inspect the damage to her shop.  She found that her business, Hidden Treasures, had not been burglarized -- just vandalized.

But minutes later, things got downright bizarre. Her husband called to tell her that someone had shot up his van in their driveway. Her husband ran outside when he heard the shots, just in time to see a gray SUV speed away, with its headlights off, in the dead of night.

Cathy and her family were at a loss as to why someone would attack their home and business in the middle of the night. They had no enemies that they were aware of; often, the most dangerous enemies are those you aren't aware of.

Cathy immediately reported the incidents to the Pinellas County Sheriff's office.  After talking with the family, Det. Jeremy Lewis concluded that the shooting and vandalism weren't gang related.

The victims were a suburban family who lived in a area with no known gang activity.  Cathy was a busy mom raising five of her own children and two foster children, all while trying to making a living running her small boutique.

There was one ominous clue that hinted the shooting was specifically targeted at Cathy and her family: when Cathy checked her voicemail hours after the shooting, she discovered a bizarre message.

A digitally-altered voice told her:

"Good morning. I have a very important client, Michael Spears, and he said you shouldn't have gotten involved. Next time, those won't be warning shots. You have a good day now."

Cathy couldn't identify the voice, and she didn't know anyone named Michael Spears. It was all so mysterious and bizarre.  She felt panicked and vulnerable.

Was somebody really out to kill her family? Police traced the phone call back to a T-Mobile, pay-as-you-go "throw-away" cell phone.  It was a dead-end lead.

Another Full Moon, Another Scary Shooting

Meanwhile, Cathy was left to figure out who she knew, had known, or maybe didn't know that would shoot up her house, vandalize her business, and leave a confusing warning on her voicemail.

A month would pass with no answers. But the full moon returned on August 9, and at around 4 a.m. that night, someone pulled up in a vehicle and fired shots into a car parked out front, as well as into Cathy' house.

A bullet lodged in the wall of one of the children's bedrooms.

The shooter sped off and Cathy called 9-1-1. Fearing for her children's safety, Cathy asked Det. Jeremy Lewis to move her and her family to a safe place. The family was relocated to a local Days Inn. But living in a hotel with seven children soon proved to be too problematic, so after a few days, Cathy reluctantly moved back into their house.

At the suggestion of Det. Lewis, Cathy went to Wal-Mart and purchased an audio/video surveillance system to install outside of her home.  If the shooter came back again, the camera would catch the suspect in the act.

In the wee hours of the morning on September 7, the moon was full once again. Cathy had circled the date on her calendar in anticipation of another attack in the moonlight. Around 4 a.m., the still night air was disrupted by the crack of gunshots.

Cathy jumped out of bed in the room where she and one of her daughters were sleeping. Four bullets tore through the windows, shattering glass above the bed where her baby was sleeping.

Cathy's husband ran outside just in time to see a silver Toyota SUV speed away. The police were called as Cathy anxiously checked her surveillance video.

Her hunch had paid off.

Sure enough, the entire shooting was caught on tape.  The video showed the SUV pulling up in front of the house. Then, a person exited the vehicle, walked up the driveway of Cathy's home and calmly fired several shots into the dwelling before walking back to the Toyota and making a quick getaway.

Victim ID's Suspected Shooter By Distinctive Saunter

The surveillance tape proved to be a goldmine for Cathy and the Pinellas County Sheriff's detectives.

Although the shooter's face was disguised, Cathy recognized one unmistakable clue: the shooter's walk.

Her heart sank as she suddenly realized that the person who'd been terrorizing her family for three months was definitely somebody she knew.

It was someone Cathy knew very, very well.

It was one of her former business partners, Courtenay Savage, 31.  Savage had been involved in an aromatherapy business venture with Cathy two years prior to the shootings.

The business had been amicably dissolved -- or so Cathy had believed until she saw the tape.  It was all the more shocking because Cathy and Courtenay had not only been business partners, they'd been best friends for years.

But when police confronted Savage later that day, her actions left no doubt that she was capable of shooting up her friend's house. When the cops tried to arrest her, Savage went hard and lunged for a 9mm pistol in her SUV.

Cops had to use a taser on the pretty blonde to subdue her.

Det. Lewis soon learned that Courtenay Savage had an interesting background.

Savage had worked as a correctional officer for a brief time, and had been an auxiliary police officer in a neighboring jurisdiction.  She was also married to a cop.

At the police station, Savage admitted shooting up Cathy's house, and she told detective that she did it because Cathy "deserved it," saying, "I wanted to put a scare in her."

She admitted using a .357 Magnum, rental cars and disguises during the attacks. The motive: she wasn't happy about how the business venture had ended two years prior.

All of this was stunning news to Cathy; she'd thought things were cool between her and Courtenay until all the terror started.

The attacks had each been carefully staged. Rental vehicles and throw-away cell phones, wigs, masks, and careful planning made up the key elements of each shooting attack.  During interviews at the jail, detectives were stunned at the callousness of Savage's admissions and her total lack of remorse at shooting up a house full of children.

"I hate kids...but I love dogs," Savage told detectives.

Courtenay Savage was charged with eight counts of attempted murder: one count for each of the people who were in Cathy's home on the night of the third shooting.

She was held in jail, awaiting trial, for nine months before she finally made bail on April 30, 2007. On July 20, 2007, Courtenay Heather Savage failed to show up for a pre-trial hearing.

She was on the run.

Cathy and her family will continue to live in fear until Savage is back behind bars.

Investigators say friends describe Courtenay Savage as an eccentric, bizarre and ruthless woman who believes men are only good for what they can financially provide her with.

She's been known to dabble in the sex industry, sell lingerie, and could possibly be working as an escort or massage parlor worker.

Friends say Savage is also associated the Wicca movement and the occult. Savage is originally from New York/New Jersey area, but she has been known to travel to Mexico to save money on dental work.

She is considered armed and extremely dangerous.

AMW Capture #1033

Just 48 Hours After Heat From AMW, Savage Arrested

Just minutes after America's Most Wanted profiled fugitive Courtenay Heather Savage on Saturday, September 20, 2008, tips started coming into the AMW Crime Center in Washington, D.C.  Pinellas County (Fla.) Sheriff's detective Jeremy Lewis and Deputy U.S. Marshal Tim Craigin were in the Crime Center poring over the tips and working the phones.

When they flew out of Washington on Sunday to head home, they knew that Monday was going to be a busy day following up the leads from all over the country.  Little did they know that by the time the Chargers and Jets kicked off Monday Night Football, accused attempted murderess Courtenay Savage would be cuffed, stuffed and headed to the slammer.

The tip that set the capture in motion came into the AMW hotline around 4 p.m. on that Monday afternoon. Someone in New Jersey, Savage's home state, who'd seen Savage on AMW.com believed that she was dating a friend of his and going by the name "Courtenay White."

The tipster said his friend had moved to Houston, Texas a year before with his new girlfriend. Courtenay White was an alias cops knew Savage had used in the past, and that little tidbit had not been mentioned during the broadcast, lending more weight to the tip.

Detective Lewis and the Marshals immediately began researching the name of the boyfriend the tipster provided, and they found that the pieces of the puzzle were forming a picture.

The investigators wasted no time piecing together information and connecting the dots. Four hours later, a team of Houston-based U.S. Marshals arrived at an apartment complex in a suburb twenty miles north of Houston and set up surveillance on the residence.

They didn't have to wait and watch for long.  U.S. Marshal Cameron Welch and his team soon saw a woman drive up, park and enter the residence they were watching. A few minutes later, Welch told AMW, they "saw the woman come out of the house walking two dogs. We knew from the information from AMW that Courtenay Savage loves dogs, so that was the first good sign that it could be her. We decided to take her down while she was walking the dogs. Her hair color wasn't blonde, she'd dyed it,  but she still looked like Courtenay Savage. After we cuffed her, I asked her what her name was."

He says the woman responded, "You know who I am."

Minutes later, in Clearwater, Fla., Detective Jeremy Lewis got the call he'd been waiting for.  He'd been working on this case since July 2006, when the first shooting incident happened at Savage's former best friend's house.

He had arrested Savage in September of 2006 after the third shooting was caught on tape, only to see her bond out and go on the run in the spring of 2007.  This capture had been a long time coming for Detective Lewis, but even more so for the family Savage had allegedly terrorized. 

Detective Lewis said, "I called the victim right away and told her that Courtenay was finally in custody.  I could hear screaming and cheering erupt from the kids and everybody that was in the house!"

It was sound of joy and relief from a family that has lived in utter fear for two long years. Courtenay Savage was transported to jail in downtown Houston, and she will ultimately be extradited back to Florida to face justice after a year and a half on the run.