Reward Offered in Latest Florida Tourist Slaying

The murder of another foreign tourist, the sixth since December, has prompted a $100,000 reward and a warning from Germany’s consul general that he may start telling Germans to stay away from South Florida.

On Friday, Barbara Jensen Meller was robbed and killed by two men after she and her family got lost leaving the Miami airport.

Her mother had been afraid to visit Florida but agreed to join Meller and her grandchildren on a vacation after they convinced her everything would be all right.

“We told her it was safe to come,” Meller’s husband, Christian Jensen, said at a Sunday news conference. He flew to Miami from Germany after learning of his wife’s murder.

“I’m concerned for the security of my citizens who come here as tourists,” Klaus Sommer, Germany’s consul general, said Saturday.

Three of the six foreign tourists killed since December were Germans, and a fourth German citizen was killed when she was accidentally hit by a police car in New Smyrna Beach, Fla., last month.

Police said Meller, 39, had just arrived from Berlin with her mother and two children, ages 2 and 6, and had gotten lost as she drove a rental car.

She had pulled off Interstate 95 in northeast Miami and was on a side street when her car was hit in the rear. When she got out, two men from the other car beat her, threw her to the ground, took her purse and sped off, crushing her head as they ran over her, police said.

Alamo Rent A Car Inc., which rented the car to Meller, said Sunday it was offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the slaying.