Cold Case Files - REOPENED: Frozen In Time

Episode Date: October 24, 2024

On a dark summer night, a young woman vanishes from her car. With no trace of her, the case goes cold... until years later when a stolen truck reveals a disturbing object inside.

On June 2, 1991, Denise Huber went to a Morrissey concert with her friend Tammy. Denise was 23 and had just finished college the year before. Denise got into her car, waved goodbye, and headed for the beach house that she shared with her parents. She was almost home when she had to pull over. Her car had a flat tire. I would have gotten out of the car to look at the tire and then have done my best to change it. I would have acted brave, though I would secretly be hoping a good citizen would pull over and help me. I don't know what Denise did after she pulled over that night. No one does.

Because her friends and family never heard from her again. From A&E, this is Cold Case Files. Denise's friend, Tammy Shriven, felt concerned when Denise didn't come home or even call. This is Tammy. Every time I would pass by a car, a blue-colored car or a Honda, I always looked to see if it was her car. And so I was looking at everything on my way home that evening.

And then all of a sudden, I looked to the side of the road, and her car was right there. And I couldn't believe it. Tammy found Denise's car and noticed a flat tire. She ran to look inside, hoping for some clue as to where her friend had gone. The car was empty, though, and her temporary relief turned to frustration. Here's Tammy again. I think I even screamed, oh my God, Denise, where are you? Come home to me. Tammy called the police, and Lieutenant Ron Smith was the one to respond.

This is Lieutenant Smith. At that point, we had absolutely no clues. She wasn't involved with high-risk activities like gangs or drugs or gambling or anything like that. But she just disappeared without a trace. All we had was an empty car. So we believed we had a crime, but not really a crime scene. Search crews combed the area and helicopters surveyed the area. But they weren't having any luck locating Denise. Her parents stayed at home near the phone in case anyone called.

Her car was that close to the house so we could hear the helicopter searching and you know what they're searching for and you just, I mean, it's just impossible to even describe that night, that sinking feeling. It was totally the worst night of my life, I know. The search went on for days, but there weren't any leads on where Denise had gone. It was like she just disappeared. Here's Lieutenant Smith again. We never got a lead that we considered hot, and so eventually the case went cold. Even though we continued to work it, and it was our top priority case,

we got to the point where we had no clues that were leading us anywhere productively. Tammy never stopped looking for her friend Denise, and she never gave up hope that she would be found. I still had dreams about her. I had dreams that she came back, or I had dreams that it never happened. And I found her, and we were going to come back on this big ship and show everybody that Denise is me. Oh, Forrest Gump, come on.

Criminal Minds. Solving crime after bedtime. Whatever you love to watch, Pluto TV makes it easy with thousands of free movies and shows. Pluto TV. Stream now. Pay never. Never. In 1994, three years after Denise went missing, Alide came from an unexpected location,

300 miles away from where her car had been found. Jack and Elaine Court lived in Arizona, and on July 9th, they met a man named John Famolaro. They wanted to buy some painting supplies from him. This is Jack Cort. John is a little bit off-center. I mean, he's a little bit different. When you talk to him, he's not straightforward

and very evasive when you ask the questions. John Famolaro tells the couple that he's an experienced paint supplier and just moved from California. He gestured to a large Ryder truck parked in his driveway. This is a lane court. It had accumulated quite a bit of dust. There was grass growing around the wheels, so it's pretty obvious they'd been sitting there for some time. Feeling somewhat suspicious, the couple decided to look into John Famolaro and the truck a little more. So as we pulled away, said, you know, just write down the numbers.

And we have a friend that's out of Phoenix, a policeman who's in charge of stolen vehicles. And so we said, we'll give him the number. When the truck numbered 488708 was run through the missing vehicle search, there was a hit. The truck had been stolen. On July 13th, Deputy DiGiacomo headed to John Famolaro's house. No one answered. So the deputy focused on the stolen truck. Here's Deputy DiGiacomo. I looked at the truck, and I noticed from the back of the truck, which was locked, it's a batten lock, it's very small, but it's real secure, running out from under this door where the lock is, is a red extension cord. Deputy DiGiacomo, a veteran of the narcotics squad,

believed the signs indicated that the truck could be a meth lab. I think because of the cord running, something's plugged in, and I think it's floating that, and they're used all the time. He notifies the narcotics task force, and less than an hour later, they pull into the drive, led by Detective Mark Garcia. The detective pulled open the back door of the truck, but he didn't find drugs. Instead, there was a single freezer powered by the red cord. Inside the freezer was a large, black, plastic garbage bag.

This is Detective Garcia. There was obviously something frozen inside. I began to run my hand down from the top to the bottom and felt what I believed was the arm, the arm of a human being. The truck that went from a simple stolen vehicle to a possible meth lab now needed to be investigated for evidence of a homicide. We have a Ryder truck which is found to be stolen. And inside of this vehicle, I'm told there's a freezer with some body parts. So we will be handling this as a homicide. Responding to the homicide call was Detective Lonnie Brown and Lieutenant Scott Masher.

They turned a video camera on as they entered the truck. Here's Detective Brown. The only thing in the freezer is kind of a lump of black plastic in one corner of the freezer. That's the only thing in there. There is quite a stench coming from this bag. After using his pocket knife to cut through three layers of large black plastic bags, Detective Brown revealed what was inside the bag. This is Lieutenant Masher.

As Detective Brown cut through three bags and pulled them back, it was quite apparent, it was obvious, it was a human body, frozen solid. The very first thing I can remember seeing is the right arm up behind the back and the steel handcuffs. And that's like, my God, we've got a frozen body here that's handcuffed. That was Detective Brown, who after discovering the handcuffed body, had no doubt that he was dealing with a homicide. Here's Detective Brown again. To me, it's very obvious.

You know, people don't just jump in the freezer and get handcuffed. At this time, we don't have an identity. I'm going to go ahead and seal this freezer back up and shut off the video. The detectives closed up the truck and set it to be processed for evidence at the crime lab. Before the truck was removed, though, John Famolaro, now a homicide suspect, pulled in the driveway. He's arrested and brought in for questioning. My name's Scott. I'm a lieutenant here with the Sheriff's Department.

And it's real important that you be truthful with me, that you be honest with me. That's all I want. Famolaro? Yes, sir. Is that Italian? Yes, sir. The reason I want to talk to you is it's a pretty serious problem. We have a stolen truck there at your house, okay? That Ryder truck.

And, John, there's a body in the truck. John Famolaro had been cooperative up until Lieutenant Masher asked him questions about the truck. This is Lieutenant Masher again. I began to ask him about the truck, the freezer, and the body, which he had absolutely nothing to say. He just requested a lawyer. With their suspect refusing to speak, the investigators reviewed the evidence, hoping to find the identity of the victim found in the freezer.

Lt. Masher and Detective Brown returned to his home to see if they had missed any clues. The garage, the living room, the bedrooms are full of boxes, cardboard boxes. They're full of stuff. They took video of that search as well. This is the living area, stacked with boxes, PCR. They took video of that search as well. It turned out that John Famolaro wasn't only a murder suspect, but he also appeared to be a hoarder. Here's Detective Brown again. It's incredible to walk in and think, my God, we've got to search this house. We're looking for evidence of a homicide, and this is what we have to search. When they were able to negotiate through the maze of boxes,

they found some items in the bedroom that could help their case. Several weapons, what appears to be a Colt revolver. There's a sledgehammer on the floor and a shotgun. Under the bed, a pair of handcuffs and two knives. As they continued their search into the garage, they found more boxes. One labeled Christmas. It had a hammer and a nail puller inside. Those tools could be used for Christmas decorations, but that wouldn't have explained why they appeared to be speckled with blood. All the potential evidence was packed up and sent in to be processed. After returning to the station with the evidence, the investigators prioritized the boxes

and started with five that seemed particularly likely to be related to their investigation. Four of the five boxes appeared to have belonged to a woman. They recorded as they went through the boxes. Detective, would you please start? Appears to be a pair of black female underwear. I'm taking out a small black woman's bag with her ID still inside. They all seem like probable evidence of an abduction and murder. I need you to go up there and start booking him for homicide. A true crime podcast. It got me upset because this is someone's kid and someone knows she's gone.

That takes a different approach. It was shocking for something like this to happen in our little town. Focusing on the communities affected by life-shattering crimes. It made news throughout the entire region that these two people had been shot while they slept in such a safe community. To give a new perspective on the devastation crimes can cause. It was shocking for something like this to happen in our little town. Featuring cases from quiet towns to bustling cities and interviewing the people closest to the case. My first thought was that it's an unusual location for us to have a homicide.

Listen to the true crime podcast, City Confidential, and step beyond the yellow tape to learn just how far a crime can reach. There are certain cases in the history of Boston that I think sort of define the city. I think this is one of them. New episodes of the City Confidential podcast are available every Thursday, available wherever you get your podcasts. The investigator's first priority became to determine if the victim was the same woman whose identification was found in the boxes. Dr. Amber Schultz was responsible for processing the body along with the crime scene investigator,

Detective Mike Winey. This is Dr. Bischolz. Well, as you can imagine, in Phoenix, Arizona, we don't deal with frozen bodies very often. It's very hot here. We deal with decomposition due to heat, not due to cold. So this was something new for us to deal with. As the body thawed, it had literally started falling apart. Here's Detective Wynne. Oftentimes, you'll find that the skin, the outer skin, will tend to separate from the inner tissues. It's what we call sloughing, and the skin was in that state. Using a hairdryer, Detective Wynne attempted to thaw one of the hands

with the hope of being able to lift a fingerprint. Here's Detective Winey again. What I did in this case was to grasp the fingers and pull the skin tightly behind the behind the finger so as to flatten or tighten the skin on the underlying surface where the pattern area is. After the hand was thawed, he pressed it to an ink pad and then made prints to compare it to the ones on Denise's driver's license. This is Detective Wynne again. Well, after comparing the two prints, I told the investigators that this was in fact a positive identification and that the deceased was indeed Denise Huber. The investigators called the police in Newport Beach and shared what they had uncovered about Denise Huber.

This is Lieutenant Ron Smith. Remember, he's the investigator from Newport Beach that was on Denise's case four years prior. I had never heard of Yavapai County up to that point. Didn't even know where it was. But they said, we think we have Denise Huber. Do you know who she is? And the hair on the back of my neck just stood up. The detectives from California and Arizona started to work together to build a case for

murder. They had a suspect and they had a victim, but they didn't know how exactly the murder had happened. Lieutenant Masher had a theory. The skull of the victim was completely crushed in, and it was pretty apparent that from blunt force trauma caused the death of Denise. None of the weapons found in John Fomolaro's bedroom matched the injuries on Denise. But there was another object that could have caused her head injury. This is the tape made while in the suspect's garage. In it is a wood handle claw hammer. And on the claw hammer section and the blunt side hammer section appears to be dry blood.

What I think at that time is this is probably going to be related to the female in the freezer. As an investigator, you want to know those things. That was Lieutenant Masher, and he believed that the hammer helped support his theory of blunt force trauma causing Denise's death. So they turned to Dr. Laura Fulginetti, a forensic anthropologist.

This was probably the most difficult blunt force trauma case I've ever done. And the reason for that is that her head literally was in hundreds of pieces. He either became enraged or he just needed to kill her. I mean, I don't know. This is an overkill situation where he's hitting her with more than one weapon and he's pounding on her. It's not, I just need you dead. It's like, I hate you almost. Dr. Fulginetti reconstructed the skull fragments, putting them together like a mosaic. Denise had been beaten 37 times and each fracture was consistent with a hammer and nail puller found in the garage. Having identified the weapon and victim,

there was one more thing that needed to be settled. Which state had jurisdiction? The exact location where Denise Huber was killed had to be discovered so that the suspect could be tried in the right state. Investigators re-examined the evidence, and they found a receipt for a freezer that had been purchased just a few days after Denise had disappeared. Here's Lieutenant Masher again. We were even able to determine that it was delivered to a location, and that freezer was delivered to a storage shed facility in Laguna

Hills. Crime scene investigator Lori Crutchfield is sent to the storage shed to look for evidence. She decided to use luminol. It's a chemical reaction, and it reacts with a component in the blood. And in doing so, it glows, it luminesces, and it's a blue-green color. To get that color, you have to be in the dark. She concentrated in the southwest corner of the building. She noticed the paint on the concrete was chipping away. The luminol had a reaction.

Here's CSI Crutchfield again. The positive reaction was on the edges of where the paint was chipping away and the concrete. And it was just two semicircular areas within a few inches of the wall. Behind the boards, the investigators found traces of blood, confirmed by a DNA test. It appeared that they had found the scene of Denise's murder. John Famolaro would be charged in California.

I'm the defendant, John Joseph Famolaro, guilty of the crime of felony to whip, violation of Section 187 of the Penal Code of the State of California. After a six-week trial, John Famolaro was convicted of kidnapping and killing Denise Heuer. He was sentenced to death. Denise's father was comforted by the fact that the mystery had been solved. I always tried to hold out hope, and as bizarre as it was in the way that it happened, we were glad because it was solved. And we do have a man in prison right now. The cold case detectives didn't feel the same closure as Denise's family

because when they went over the boxes of evidence, other personal effects were revealed and women's clothing that didn't belong to Denise. This is still an open book. You know, where it all goes, I don't know. I would love to talk to Mr. Famolaro and find out. John Famolaro hasn't at this point been charged with any additional murders. He was 37 when the truck was discovered in 1994. He's now 62 and still currently incarcerated on death row in St. Quentin. Cold Case Files the podcast is hosted by Brooke Giddings, produced by McKamey Lynn and Steve Delamater. Our executive producer is Ted Butler. Our music was created by Blake Naples.

This podcast is distributed by Podcast One. The Cold Case Files TV series was produced by Curtis Productions and is hosted by Bill Curtis. Check out more Cold Case Files at aetv.com or learn more about cases like this one by visiting the A&E Real Crime blog at aetv.com slash realcrime.