Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Disney Trip Turns Deadly, Woman Stabbed 20 Times

Episode Date: February 4, 2022

Melissa Molinari is last seen at her home on November 21st. A friend reports the 38-year-old missing December 2nd. Her car is left at home. Neighbors say that is unusual as the mom of four is seen going in and out of the house multiple times in the day. According to the husband, Marcello, the couple had marital problems and had just cut short a family trip to Disney World. He claims she left the house on Monday, November 22nd, after an argument and that Melissa Molanari returned on Tuesday to pack her clothes. The husband says she left with an unknown male. Suffolk County police find the body of Melissa Molinari just off a dead-end road in Middle Island. The body was off of a trail, covered with leaves and branches, wrapped in plastic. Prosecutors say GPS data put Marcello Molanari twice at the scene where the body was found. Investigators say the victim had been stabbed 20 times in the torso, head, and back.Joining Nancy Grace Today: Dale Carson - High Profile Attorney (Jacksonville), Former FBI Agent, Former Police Officer, Author: "Arrest-Proof Yourself, DaleCarsonLaw.com Dr. Bethany Marshall - Psychoanalyst, www.drbethanymarshall.com, New Netflix show: 'Bling Empire' Joe Scott Morgan - Professor of Forensics: Jacksonville State University, Author, "Blood Beneath My Feet", Host: "Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan"  Jean-Paul Salamanca, Newsday Reporter, East End (Long Island), Newsday.com Twitter: @JPaulSalamanca Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Does a Disney trip turn deadly? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111. Take a listen first to our friends at NBC4. People are really starting to worry now because it has been so long since they last saw her.

Melissa Molinari was seen leaving her house, this blue house over here, on November 21st. Today, Suffolk detectives returned to the street, but not to the house. They went over here to the water basin across the street where detectives and a canine went in there to search for her. They were here for about an hour and then they left. It didn't appear they found anything, but they did bring the canine to the sump

to search for missing mother, Melissa Molinari. Police say that Molinari is 38 years old and last seen at her home on November 21st. She's a married mother of four children. Police say she's about 5'4 and 120 pounds. At this point, police won't say if her disappearance is suspicious, only that her family, including her husband, are cooperating. The whole family trying to find the missing mom this after a Disney trip. What if anything went wrong? Again, I'm Nancy Grace and I want to thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111. With me, an all-star panel to make sense of what we know. First of all, high-profile lawyer out of Jacksonville, former fed with the FBI as an FBI agent,

Dale Carson at dalecarsonlaw.com, author of Arrest Proof Yourself. Dr. Bethany Marshall, renowned psychoanalyst joining us from Beverly Hills, star of a hit series on Netflix, Bling Empire, and you can find her at drbethanymarshall.com. Joseph Scott Morgan, Professor of Forensics, Jacksonville State University, and author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon, star of a new series on iHeart, Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan. But first, let's go out to a special guest joining us from Newsday. It's Jean-Paul Salamanca. Jean-Paul, thank you for being with us. Tell me about the Disney trip. I'm a diehard Disney fan. We practically lived at Disney California during Dancing with the Stars. We practically lived at Disney in Florida during

the Tottenham and Casey Anthony trial. And, you know, there's nothing like a Disney cruise. So when I hear Disney trip turns deadly, question mark, question mark, I don't like the sound of that because I like taking my children to Disney. Let's just start with the Disney trip. Tell me about Melissa Molinari's Disney trip. Well, the details that Suffolk County Police had shared with us at the press conference were that apparently the family had gone on a trip sometime in November. For the whole family?

Her four children, Melissa and husband? Yes, apparently there was a family vacation. Around November 5th, they had ended their trip and left Disney and returned to Long Island. Hold on just a second. We think they left on November 5th. And that, from my understanding, was cutting the vacation short. It was. I don't like that either.

And I'll tell you why, Dr. Bethany Marshall, you pull out of your hotel at the last minute, you still have to pay for the nights that you don't stay. Plus, when you go to Disney, I mean, we have some friends, Dr. Bethany, and they're some of our best friends. And we've gone to Disney a couple of times with them and their children. They all know Disney like the back of their hands. They know all the secret hidey holes. They know where to get, what do you call those pineapple whip, dole whips, dole whips. They know every detail and they plan it out like it's war strategy.

Like, thank goodness, because we're just wandering around looking at everything. But they know, okay, we're going to get in this line, and then we're going to go to this, and then we're going to cut over to that, and we're just following along because it's so huge, and it's so fun, but if you leave early, if you've planned it out like they do, you miss a whole lot of stuff. Plus, you have to pay all those fees because you have to buy the tickets, buy the parking, get the hotel. So that's one question. Why would they do that? Second question, why is it when I, like so many other people, go to Disney, it seems like you suspend your disbelief because everybody really is happy there and you never think of anything bad happening at Disney.

Why is that? It's the happiest place on earth, Nancy. You know, the children are happy. And because of that, the family's happy. The parents are happy. The whole place is designed to be a happy place for family. And, you know, my philosophy about life is that there is no happier place than being in a happy family. So I

think that that's sort of at the center of it for me. But you know, you're right, Nancy, there's this whole strategy for any family vacation, whether you're going to Yosemite or a national park or Disneyland or on a cruise, it is all planned out in each child, even if it's an adult teenager or latency age child, they all have this plan in their mind of what they're going to do. What souvenir are they going to buy? What favorite food are they going to eat? So the mystery here is how… Hold your thought.

Can I just tell you what we went through just last spring? We took John, Dave, and Lucy to Disney with our friends. They should really work at disney and be tour guides but the whole trip down all john david could talk about was um maybe you know about it dell carson because you're there in florida there's some new well i lived through it there's a whole new star wars area and it looks just like the star wars set it looks like you're on another planet and you can go through and like build your own lightsaber that's all he talked about that was it that's that was the goal, the driving to Florida and that, to get that lightsaber. And Lucy, what did Lucy want to do?

Lucy was intent on getting a Dole Whip and something else. Anyway, everything was around that, when you could get into that lightsaber workshop. And we were not going to leave until he got the lightsaber and guess what he got the lightsaber and then he left it by accident oh yeah my point is you know jean paul solomonica when you came on crime stories i guess you didn't think we were going to divert down into my son John David's lightsaber. My point is, and this is important, Jean-Paul, when you go to trial on a case, these details matter. Why would I ever leave Disney without that dole whip and that lightsaber? Why? Why? Why? I wouldn't. I wouldn't leave. As a matter of fact, I checked to make sure he had the lightsaber before we got back in the car.

He had a different thing he had bought in this case, and I thought that was a lightsaber. Why would I open up the case? Of course it was a lightsaber. It wasn't the lightsaber. What? Go ahead. If I could add to this, you have four kids ages 4 through 17. So you have four sets of tears, four sets of disappointment, four disillusioned kids, right, when you leave Disneyland early. So that even, I think, broadens the mystery behind this. Exactly, just four children ages 4 to 17. And, you know, I'm digressing, Jean-Paul, just go with it.

You're next. But I will never forget the dichotomy talking about how everybody's happy. And I wrote a whole chapter on this in my book, Don't Be a Victim of Jean-Paul, about how when you go on vacation to another country or on a cruise or really anywhere, you are lulled into a false sense of security. And that makes you a sitting duck for people that might want to victimize you. But I'll never forget, Dr. Bethany, and I do need to shrink on this. I would be at Disney during the day with the twins. And then, you know, I have so many videos of them chasing Piglet and Eeyore and pulling their tails and they just die laughing.

You know, that was the funniest thing ever. And then I would leave there, Bethany, and go to the courthouse to sit in on testimony and the top mom Casey Anthony trial. I mean, talk about a mind war because it's reality versus fantasy. And I'm imagining Melissa Molinari in Disney. And, you know, we don't know what happened to her, but the fact is she was in this happiest place on earth with her family. And I said earlier that one of the reasons I think it is the happiest place on earth with her family. And I said earlier that one of the reasons I think it is the happiest place on earth is that families are supposed to be happy there. But the sad fact is not all families are happy.

And some families take their kids there. Everybody's not happy. I mean, it's kind of a choice to be happy. You wake up in the morning, you've got bills, you've got a job, you've got this, you've got that. You can look at it like that or you can wake up and think, wow, I have two children. Boy, am I blessed. I got a roof over my head.

I've got something to eat. I got a cup of hot tea. I have a job, thank God in heaven, that I love. I mean, there's two ways to look at it. Absolutely. Or also, I'm taking my family to Disneyland because I'm dedicated to the happiness of my family. You know, some, not everybody loves Disneyland. There's some parents for whom it's a chore and they take their kids there anyway because the happiness of the kids is paramount to them. And I, what you're

saying, Nancy, is so true as a marital therapist, psychoanalyst. You know, the people in my practice who are happy are those who determine to be happy. In fact, there's very, very robust research on happiness. And there are six factors that make us happy or lead to happiness. But one of the factors, well, the factors are savoring and replaying happy moments, living in the present, believing in a bright and optimistic future, acts of gratitude and giving to others, but also acting more extroverted and outgoing than you really are. This is supported by research that all these factors lead to happiness. And I would say that all these things are taking place when a family

goes to Disneyland. It actually fosters those kinds of attitudes that lead to happiness. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Joining us from Newsday is Jean-Paul Salamanca. And you can find him on Twitter at J. Paul Salamanca. So they go to Disney and they leave early. That would be the first thing I would tell a jury. They cut the trip short, dragging their four children back home to Long Island. I think it was Center Reach, New York.

Okay, so they come home early. Then what happens? Well, they come home early on November 5th. And the last time that she's seen by, you know, alive is on December 2nd. She was reported missing by a friend of hers to police at that point. Whoa, whoa, whoa. What did you just say? She was reported missing by a friend of hers on December 2nd.

That was the last time she was actually, you know. December 2nd. Did you say December 2nd, 12-2, correct? Yes. Okay. Right there. Jean-Paul, right there. Dale Carson

with four children and a husband why is a friend having to report her missing well because of course he's saying that she took

the stuff and left and went away and it's consistent with that that he wouldn't report her missing because

John Paul Salamanca you didn't tell me that I was about to get that actually before you were so rudely interrupted by Jack shut your pie hole woman go ahead John Paul so he

says what now so according to to police and they got the preface that police clarified that this is largely what Marcello that the husband had told them. He told them that they've been having marital problems and that she left the home after an argument on November 22nd and that she had returned then the next day on November 23rd to pack her clothes and left with an unknown male in an unknown vehicle.

OK, hold on just a moment. Take a listen to our cut. 00C, our friends at Newsday. The couple had had marital problems and cut short a family trip to Disney World in early November. He claims she left the house on Monday, November 22nd after an argument. He also claims she returned on Tuesday, 1123 to pack her clothes and she left with an unknown mail in an unknown vehicle. But wait a minute. Even by his own words, that's like the last time he heard from her. Take a listen to Sonia Rincon, ABC7. He claims she called him from an unknown number on Thanksgiving and told him to cook dinner.

So Jean-Paul Salamanca joining us from Newsday, they cut the Disney trip short. They come back and then the husband is saying she left and came back, packed up clothes and right there in front of God and everybody in the front yard leaves with another man. But then thanks to call back on Thanksgiving to explain how he should cook Thanksgiving dinner. Is that right so far? Yes, that is exactly what it is. Jean-Paul Salamanca joining me from Newsday. Can I just ask you a question? What did you do on Thanksgiving?

I ate dinner with the family. Your family? Yes. Do you have children? No. It was largely my parents, my aunt, and my my brothers and my adorable 12-year-old niece. So let me ask you this. Why did you do that?

Why did you have Thanksgiving with your niece and your whole family? Because it's an annual tradition and like anything else, I love them. And for me, that's kind of bigger than Christmas for me. Can I tell you something, Jean-Paul Salamanca? There is no way. Hell would have to freeze over before I would not cook a genio turkey and make my homemade dressing with celery and onions and have cranberry sauce with the berries in it. This year, I tried out for the first time homemade pecan pie. And it's not about the food totally.

It's about being together and giving thanks for being together. So you're telling me with a straight face is John Paul Salamanca that the husband, Marcello Molinari, says his wife called on Thanksgiving to tell him how to cook Thanksgiving dinner? That's what the police say that he told them that he says that his wife called from an unknown number on that day and asked him to cook dinner. Dale Carson, Dale Carson. I know you're the high profile lawyer out of Jacksonville, but I would have a field day basically running up and down in front of the jury with the fact that Melissa Molinari, who had never missed Thanksgiving with her children ever, suddenly calls from an undisclosed phone number to just basically tell the husband, just stick the turkey, the frozen turkey in the oven and turn it on.

You'll be fine. What? In a situation like this where somebody doesn't show up for a standard traditional meal, there's always an extreme question, particularly when it's the woman and particularly when it's a mother of four children who are now absent a mother during a precious holiday. And of course, you know, Joe Scott Morgan, professor of forensics, you're all about blood spatter and fingerprints and mitochondrial DNA, the nucleus and the root in the middle of a root of a hair. I would take this evidence over anything else that mommy doesn't show up for Thanksgiving. Yeah, you're absolutely right.

Mommy's going to be present for Thanksgiving, Nancy. I know that for a fact because in my house, mommy dictates how things are going to be at Thanksgiving. And she should. And she should. Because you may be able to pick up a latent fingerprint, but I bet she can run circles around you baking a turkey. I know her. Well, circles around you baking a turkey i know her well we

actually do so mommy doesn't show up for thanksgiving did the children try her four children try to call her oh wait though you said it was an undisclosed phone number the husband says yeah that's uh that my husband claimed the one she went claimed that when she called him that it was from an unknown phone number. And what he also told police was that his wife's phone had been turned off and he was unable to contact her and that her family were out of state and her friends were mostly unable to contact her. So what do we know about her movements? Take a listen to Erica Double O. This is our friend from Newsday.

Suffolk police, including homicide detectives and this canine, were on Melissa Molinari's Center Reach Street Wednesday, searching this sump across from her house. Cops say the missing mom of four was last seen at her Lolly Lane home on November 21st.

It's just all really crazy. It's a shock, kind of, you know, we're all just a little like what happened. Police confirm it was a friend who reported the 38-year-old missing on December 2nd. Her car left at home. I find it very surprising that she didn't take her car or nothing because she was in that car all the time. Literally like seven times a day, I would see her going in and out of the house. It scares you as being a neighbor that she's missing. And also take a listen to our three, our friends at NBC4. And I find this very interesting too.

I find it very surprising that she didn't take her car or nothing because she was in that car all the time. That was her car. She was in and out of it. Literally like seven times a day I would see her going in and out of the house. And Gabby Petito's father, who has vowed to help other families find their missing loved ones, tweeted his audience to please help looking for any and all clues that will lead police to Molinari. Again, if you know anything about this case, you're urged to call the Suffolk County Police. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

Melissa Molinari, the mother of four, one as young as four years old, missing. And the neighbors find it very suspicious that her car is still there at the home. But Jean-Paul Salamanca joining us from Newsday has been on the story from the very beginning. The husband says she left with an unknown mail and then she called from an unknown phone. Right. So that would explain why her car is still there. Yeah, basically, that's going to what police what he told police that she had left on December the 22nd. And then she came back the next day on the 23rd, backed her clothes and left with an unknown mail and an unknown vehicle. So the unknown vehicle probably was not was not recorded. You mean November, correct, Jean-Paul?

Yes, it was November. That's what he told the police. How does a cell phone suddenly take center stage in this investigation? Take a listen to our cut 11 NBC4. Early on in this investigation, police had concerns. Why? Because they had searched her husband's phone history and realized he had recently purchased duct tape, rope, and had searched for a list of non-extradition countries. He did initially tell police he and his wife were separating and that she left him.

And that's not all. Take a listen to Jennifer McClough in CBS2. We're working under the theory that the house is the crime scene. Police say husband Marcelo underwent facial plastic surgery, joined a dating website and researched non-extradition countries. Back to Jean-Paul Salamanca, investigative reporter joining us from Newsday. He's been on the story from the very beginning. Jean-Paul, that's quite the coincidence, is it not, that she goes

missing. He's the only one she speaks to from an undisclosed phone. He says her phone isn't disconnected. And it turns out that searches on his phone include non-extradition

countries and that he joined a website. Right. That's correct. What more was revealed on his phone? What police had told us was that GPS data from his phone had placed him at the Rocky Point Barrens Forest, which is where she was found later on two key dates, which was the night of their argument on November 22nd and soon after the missing persons report was made.

Well, you're absolutely correct, Jean-Paul Salamanca. Now take a listen to Our Cut Zero Eight, our friends at NBC4. Today, people returned to the home to retrieve the family dog and what appeared to be Christmas presents. Neighbors were saddened to hear the news. She was a really nice lady, a good mother. That's the hardest part of this, is she was a good mother. And I'm sad.

At this point, police say they have not yet located the murder weapon. A couple of interesting items that came up. They looked at his search history. They noticed he had purchased recently duct tape and rope, and he had also been searching about countries that didn't have extradition. Meanwhile, those four children are now currently living with a family friend. Back to John Paul Salamanca joining us from Newsday. So we've got him purchasing duct tape and rope and searching countries that don't have extradition treaties with the U.S.

What can you tell me about his plastic surgery? Well, they had mentioned that he had recently had plastic surgery. To Dr. Bethany Marshall, extradition treaties with the U.S., countries that don't have them, buying rope and duct tape. Let me ask you about the husband getting plastic surgery, coincidentally, when his wife goes missing. Nancy, you know, I don't think he was trying to look more youthful. I don't think he was getting a brow lift, a neck lift or a facelift. I don't think he was getting CO2 laser treatment or upper blepharoplasty. I mean, I do know that it was facial surgery, facial plastic surgery. Nancy,

this guy was preparing to go on the lam. And what I find interesting is all of these extensive, extensive plans to leave and go somewhere else. I'm trying to think now of people who go to South America or go to Europe, they change their appearance dramatically and they begin a whole new life. I mean, they will get another wife. They will have more children. It's as if the existing family doesn't even matter. What was he going to do with his four children, ages 4 to 17, once he went on the lam? Was he thinking about them?

Probably not. You know, I get suspicious, Dale Carson, when my husband goes on an exercise jag. Because typically we walk together. And suddenly when he goes to lift weights, I'm like, what? God forbid he joined a yoga class. That would just never do. But this guy goes and gets facial plastic surgery and joins a dating website. Now, if his wife had left him for another man, I could see him having that kind

of reaction. But what I don't get is the purchase of duct tape and rope, Dale Carson. You're the high-profile defense attorney. How are you going to explain that away? Well, the problem is you can't explain that away. And the electronics that are involved in this case, which are massive, I mean, the phone becomes, as you said, the central part in all of this. And when it's storing records of what you've been thinking, where you've been writing, all of those things are very indicative of a desire to hurt somebody else and then to leave. Guys, we were talking about a missing mom, a Disney trip with the family seemingly turns deadly or did it. So straight out to you, Joe Scott Morgan, the home, the car at the home. What does that tell you? Yeah, considering that the car was still

there. Remember, the neighbors actually said they saw her going up and down the road every day, Nancy, in this car several times a day. And wouldn't that make sense? I mean, they've got four kids, right? But yet she's left with another person. So the car is there. That means that they're not in this vehicle that she uses on a regular basis. So that's going to be a big part to putting this puzzle together. Yeah. When it's your behavior, your standard behavior, SOP, that you're in and out of that car throughout the day, then suddenly you're gone and your car is there. If she had left her husband and her four children, she wouldn't have gone in her car. That would make me focus on the home and the car as potential crime locations.

But to Jean-Paul Salamanca from Newsday, his phone also yielded other evidence, GPS evidence. Where did the GPS locator place the husband, Marcelo Molinari? The GPS data from his phone, according to police, had placed him on Kearns Road at the Rocky Point Barrens Forest the night of their argument on November 22nd and soon after the missing person's report was made. So Jean-Paul Salamanca, where is the location you're describing? The forest? Yeah. It's in Rocky Point. It's a 6,000 acre forest as far as what the description of it is. So it's a pretty massive area. So it's the Rocky Point Pine Barrens, correct? Yes, the Rocky

Point Barrens Forest. How far was the Rocky Point Barrens Forest from their home? We just looked up. It's 12.6 miles. So to you, Joseph Scott Morgan, we learned that the Rocky Point Barrens State Forest is 12.5 miles from the home, 20 minutes from the home. They have access throughout the day. You have seasonal permits, but the reality is it's huge. It's 6,000 acres of pine barrens and open lands. What about that, Joe Scott? Yeah, this would give you an indication that, you know, he would have familiarity with this location. Nancy, it's only 12 miles away, you know, he would have familiarity with this location, Nancy. It's only 12 miles away, you know, from where they live.

And there's actually a shorter route, but it goes through a more congested area. And this is kind of interesting, Nancy. There are multiple points coming from their home in Center Reach where you can access the park. There's kind of a southern access location. And then there's like a primary access location that's out on kind of the water side. This is really close to the Atlantic Ocean, Nancy, and of course, we're on Long Island, but this is particularly close to it. So, the family probably has utilized this area in the past. It's got hiking trails and all this sort of thing,

probably play equipment for kids. It just looks like it's kind of a natural setting in the midst of a rather densely populated area, Nancy. So what do you do with that, Dale Carson? You're the veteran defense attorney. You've got her missing in what, Daddy Goes to Ponder Life out in the Pine Barrens in November, December? Well, that's the only logical argument, but ultimately it doesn't make any sense. He's pre-checking the area to see what's available in that distinct location. And what amazes me is the accuracy of these pings and how close they are to places that the police ought to ultimately search.

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. The Rocky Point Barrens State Forest. This is 6,000 acres of pine forest, about 20 minutes from his home. And as Jean-Paul Salamanca tells us, the pings from his phone place him there not once, but twice. Why would he go out to the Pine Barrens in the freezing cold in November and December while his wife is missing? To Jean-Paul Salamanca, Jean-Paul, what can you tell me about obtaining a search warrant for the Molinari home? After her body was discovered, the search warrant was executed on that same night. And then the forensic examination had revealed that there was the presence of blood in the basement. Take a listen to our cut 11, our friends at NBC4 New York. Evidence inside the Molinari home tells a different story.

Forensics examination and analysis by members of the Suffolk County Crime Lab revealed indications of the presence of blood. Detectives found blood in the basement and in the back of her minivan. Police searched Marcello's phone. They found he visited the Rocky Point Barrens, stopping on Currens Road. To Justice Scott Morgan, professor of forensics, joining us. What type of blood do you suspect would be found in the home and the minivan? You know, the type of blood, Nancy, is going to be dependent upon who's occupying the home or those spaces specifically.

If you have a pet, for instance, you could have pet blood, but more than likely human blood. And when we go out to scenes, Nancy, one of the things that we do is actually test the blood or what we believe to be blood out there. First off, we go through a step where it says, you know, this is in fact blood. Then we have to decide, well, is it human versus animal? And we go through all of these steps at the scene. We just don't blindly call an unidentified substance at a scene blood.

We have to verify that scientifically because, as you well know, we will get eaten alive in court if we say otherwise. Then you go into this idea of typing, and then from that, you go to DNA. But what's really important here, Nancy, is what type of volume of blood are we talking about here at the home? Now, you know, we go about everyday life in our homes, and we'll have droplets of blood that are found about the home, you know, and that can come from any number of locations. But if you go to that location and you're an investigator and you're looking at this and you have these kind of wide swaths of blood on the floor in a centralized area, maybe there's evidence that it's been wiped across the floor where there's an attempt to clean it up and this sort of thing, then that's going to make alarm bells go off in our head. And then you take that, you go to a conveyance like a vehicle, and you see that there is

significant blood in the back of the vehicle, then you're going to begin as an investigator to put all of this together. Was somebody injured in the home and then the car was used in order to transport them? I don't know, for assistance you know, for assistance, or is it something more sinister? As a matter of fact, take a listen to our friends at Newsday. We're working under the theory that the house is the crime scene, the car was used to transport her, and she was placed in the Pine Barrens. Suffolk County Police found the body of Melissa Molinari just off this dead-end road in Middle Island Thursday.

The body was off a trail covered with leaves and branches and wrapped in plastic. Investigators continue to gather evidence of the Rocky Point Barren State Forest Friday. Prosecutors say the victim had been stabbed 20 times in the torso and back. 20 stab wounds. Take a listen to more in our cut four from ABC7. The case of a missing mother here in Center Reach had police suspicious of her husband right away. Marcello Molinari claimed his wife ran off with another man. He let the police search her vehicle and his phone

and police say he was cooperative until they found her body early yesterday in a wooded area in Middle Island. 43-year-old Marcello Molinari was arrested shortly after the grim discovery of his missing wife's body, saying nothing today in court as prosecutors described the evidence. His phone GPS showing he'd been to the Rocky Point Pine Barren State Forest early the morning of November 23rd. To Dr. Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst, text messages that lead to an abrupt Disney departure. What do you believe the text messages were, Dr. Bethany? Well, this is a little like a tale of two stories, like a tale of two cities.

You know, according to the husband, she was having an affair. So he found these text messages and then cut the Disney trip short. But what if this is a Scott Peterson scenario? What if, in fact, he's the one who's having the affair? What if he staged all this so he could get rid of his wife? I mean, I think it's really important, no matter what those text messages say, to really take a deep dive into this marriage, into the behavioral evidence. I would guess if there are 20 stab wounds to the torso, that whoever did that has extreme rage towards her. I would guess there was ongoing abuse going on. Victims of domestic abuse don't normally have affairs.

What they generally do is they begin to reach to outside parties to gain support because they feel themselves to be in desperate, desperate circumstances. And this could be, I'm guessing, maybe a male or a woman or somebody that she had begun to confide secrets in about the marriage. And that felt to him like an affair. Remember, abusers are always jealous. They always feel cheated on, even when there's no real, you know, firm evidence to support that. It all begins to unfold. Take a listen to our cut nine, our friends at CBS2. Prosecutors say he planned it for weeks, killing the mother of his four children after learning of her alleged extramarital affair. Marcello Molinari is held without bond.

Loved ones raced away from court as police continued scouring the center reach home for evidence. The missing person's case of 38-year-old Melissa Molinari turned to murder. All the lives that were destroyed in this, it's just a terrible story. November 5th, the family abruptly left Disney World after a marital affair confrontation. On the 21st, Melissa was last seen in public at her son's soccer game and coach party. The 23rd, Marcello's phone GPS rings in the Pine Barrens. Four children ages four to 17 spend Thanksgiving without their mother. A friend, not the husband,

reports Melissa missing. Marcello's GPS back at the Pine Barrens. Canine reacts to blood in the basement and her minivan. December 9th, Melissa's body found in the Pine Barrens Forest, Middle Island, 10 miles from her center reach home. And to our friend Jennifer McClogan, CBS2 at our cut 10. Prosecutors say there was marital strife and jealousy when they recovered Melissa's body here, 20 stab wounds. She was wrapped in garbage bags, duct tape with towels, blankets, and saran wrap. I mean, Dale Carson, you're the high-profile defense attorney joining us out of Jacksonville, saran wrap, duct tape. I mean, there's no way you could argue that that's not premeditated. You think he just found those garbage bags and blankets out there in the Pine Barrens?

Well, of course, it's well planned, as indicated by his effort to find an extradition-proof country and other things. But it's interesting that under New York law, it appears there's an exception that if you are, in fact, angry at someone because you think they're being duplicitous sexually, then the result is they can't be prosecuted for premeditated murder. OK, you just keep dreaming, Dale Carson, because he may have been angry about an alleged affair. But the fact that he then put in all this time planning the murder, there's no way this is not going to be premeditated murder. And I want to go to you, Joseph Scott Morgan, professor of forensics at Jacksonville State University. What do you make of the fact that her body was off the trail, then covered

with leaves and branches and wrapped in plastic? What does that tell you about the mind of the killer? That he's highly disorganized. Keep in mind, the individual is taking, well, let me rephrase that. Not only was there plastic, there's also towels. There's also sheets, bedding, that sort of stuff that is easily traceable back to a specific individual. I mean, all you have to do is have a friend walk through the house and say, yeah, look, you know, we've got the same bedding or the same towels, this sort of thing. There's not a lot of organized thought that goes into this. But here's the real problem that this guy's defense is going to have, Nancy. There are specific forensic tiebacks with him because he is what

I refer to as cocooning the body. He has taken this body, this poor woman, and has wrapped her. So all of that evidence that he has left behind, and trust me, there is a myriad of it, is going to be contact evidence that he's left behind on the interior of those bags. Also on this tape, the body is sealed with he's going to have what we refer to as plastic prints that you can find on the adhesive surfaces. And not to mention the nature of these injuries, as Dr. Bethany had mentioned, he's going to be in a dominant position as he is stabbing this woman over and over and over again. The trick is, can they marry up the knife that he used? Is it one just like the sheets and towels? Is it something that they had in that home?

Did he go and grab a butcher knife? What did he actually use out of the home that inflicted these injuries? Take a listen to our cut six, our friends at NBC4. They're saying it was well thought out and planned. And the motive, according to prosecutors, marital troubles. They say that the family had taken a trip to Disney in early November, and that's where the husband learned of an alleged extramarital affair that his wife was having. They came home, they ended the trip abruptly, they decided to get divorced, but they were still living in the same home. And that eventually led to her death. And to you, Jean-Paul

Salamanca, where does the case stand right now? Currently, he was killed initially for a psychological evaluation and deemed for confinement. The lady was charged with his wife's killing. He's charged with murder. Has he pled guilty as a child, they said? No, I believe he has an attorney and he had pleaded not guilty to the charges. So at this juncture, the husband, Marcello Molinari, has pled not guilty and awaits trial. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.