Monica Kraft and her fiancé, John Waldo, had been together for seven years. They planned to get married.
But those plans were changed after Waldo, 42, was found dead in the backseat of his silver BMW at 1933 NW 2nd Ave. on Feb. 23. The car was ticketed seven times before he was found. He had been missing since Feb. 11.
Waldo's body was discovered by UF student Chris Cianfaglione, who said he had to press his face against the window of the car to see inside because of its illegal tint.
"All they had to do was punch in that tag number, and it would have showed where he was," Kraft said.
Kraft wants to create the Waldo Law, which, if passed, would require Florida law enforcement agencies to run the vehicle identification and tag number of an abandoned vehicle that is being ticketed.
"He spent 12 days in his car," Kraft said. "We believe he was in a coma for the first couple of days. But if they had ran his tag after the first ticket, he would still be alive."
Kraft said she recently met with city officials and Gainesville Police Department Capt. Ed Book to discuss preventing situations like this.
Kraft also thinks making parking officials or police officers look in what seems to be an abandoned car.
"It takes just one second out of a person's day who is going around giving tickets to look into the window and see if something is in there," she said. "A dog. A cat. A baby. A person."
The city government has discussed requiring officers to inspect vehicles after their third ticket, but Kraft believes this is insufficient.
The city Public Works Supervisor, Trish Everitt, said she was unable to comment.
