Perpetrators Michael Lee Platt (February 3, 1954 – April 11, 1986) and
William Russell Matix (June 25, 1951 – April 11, 1986) met in the early 1970's while serving in the
United States Army at
Fort Campbell,
Kentucky. Platt enlisted in the Army on June 27, 1972, as an
infantryman. While in basic training, Platt applied for Army Airborne
Ranger Training and subsequently entered the
United States Army Air Assault School at Fort Campbell, upon completion of which he was assigned to the
Military Police Unit. It was in this unit that he met and served with Matix. Matix's wife, Patricia Mary ( Buchanich) Matix, and a female co-worker, Joyce McFadden, both
cancer researchers, were stabbed to death on December 30, 1983, at
Riverside Methodist Hospital in
Columbus, Ohio. Their bodies were found in the hospital laboratory, having been bound and gagged before the killer/s stabbed them multiple times in the chest and neck. He subsequently collected a $350,000
life insurance policy and later filed a $3 million wrongful death lawsuit against the Riverside Methodist Hospital. According to the pastor of the Riverside
Baptist Church where Matix regularly attended services, Matix had attempted to date a number of women in the congregation, stating that he used the church "the same way some people would use a singles bar." On December 21, 1984, Platt's wife, Regina, was found dead from a single shotgun blast to the mouth. Her death was ruled a suicide. Platt reportedly told investigators that he suspected Matix had carried on an affair with his wife. Just several weeks later, Platt married his second wife, Brenda Horne. The family subsequently moved to a luxury housing development, not far from where the later shootout would take place. At the time of the shootout, Platt's second wife, Brenda, claimed to have had no idea that her husband and his friend were armed robbers. Almost all of their robberies occurred on or near the
South Dixie Highway (U.S. Route 1) in the southern
Miami metropolitan area. The following are the crimes that are largely attributed to the two men: • On October 4, 1985, Platt and Matix murdered 25-year-old Emilio Briel while he was
target shooting at a rock pit in the
Florida Everglades. The pair stole Briel's car, a gold
1977 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, and used it to commit several robberies. Briel's remains were found in March 1986 but not identified until May. • On October 9, 1985, five days after killing Briel, Platt and Matix attempted to rob a
Loomis armored van outside of a
Steak and Ale restaurant in the 9000 block of Southwest 97th Avenue. They managed to steal a duffel bag containing $2,825 from a
courier who was walking back to the armored van, but were unable to break into the van itself as the driver sped off before the robbers could steal the over $400,000 inside. • On October 16, 1985, Platt and Matix attempted to rob a
Wells Fargo armored van that was servicing a
Winn-Dixie supermarket at 7930 Southwest 104th Street. After ordering him to freeze, one of the pair shot a courier named Jose Sanchez in the leg with a
shotgun while the other fired a
rifle and possibly a
handgun from the getaway vehicle. Two other guards returned fire, but neither Platt nor Matix was wounded. No money was taken in the botched robbery. Sanchez survived the shooting and would make a full recovery. • On October 17, 1985, Platt and Matix attempted to rob a Loomis armored van outside of a Dalts American Grill restaurant at 11641 Southwest 88th Street. The courier — the same one involved in the October 9 robbery — saw the two robbers as he was walking back to the armored van, drew his revolver, and opened fire. The robbers did not fire back and immediately fled the scene. • On November 8, 1985, two robberies occurred within 90 minutes of each other. The first robbery happened at a
Florida National Bank branch at 14801 South Dixie Highway, where Platt and Matix stole a bag containing $10,000 from a
bank teller. A police officer briefly tailed them as they left the bank and managed to get the license plate number of the getaway vehicle. The second robbery happened at the Professional Savings Bank at 13100 South Dixie Highway, where the robbers stole $41,469 in three Wells Fargo
money bags that had been delivered that morning. • On March 12, 1986, Platt and Matix robbed and shot 30-year-old Jose Collazo as he was target shooting at a rock pit in the Florida Everglades, in an almost identical manner to Briel's killing; in fact, Collazo was shot not far from where Briel was murdered. According to Collazo, who survived the shooting, the two men arrived in a white Ford F-150 pickup truck and held him at gunpoint, taking the keys to Collazo's black 1979 Chevrolet Monte Carlo before shooting him three times in the back, arm, and head. Collazo played dead as the gunmen drove away in the F-150 and Monte Carlo, before walking three miles to get help. • On March 19, 1986, one week after shooting Collazo, Platt and Matix robbed a Barnett Bank branch, the same one that was targeted in the January 10 robbery, and stole $8,338 before fleeing in Collazo's Monte Carlo. The robbers were nicknamed the "Unknown Gang" by the C-1 Division of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation's Miami office, which was formed for the sole purpose of combatting bank robberies in Miami. While they did not know of the suspects' identities, the C-1 Division were able to establish a pattern in the Unknown Gang's robberies, noting that the men always committed the robberies on Fridays when the armored vans made their drop-offs. C-1 concluded that the robbers would likely commit another robbery on Friday, April 11, 1986. ==Events==