Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - MOM'S GUT: SOMETHING HAPPENED TO MY ANASTASIA BEFORE BODY FOUND LACERATED IN ABANDONED HOUSE

Episode Date: June 3, 2022

Anastasia Hamilton texts her mom Sunday morning. That was the last time anyone heard from the 25 -year-old.  After hours of unanswered calls, texts, and messages on social media, Romanello went to Cleveland Police. Investigators pinged the woman's phone near Cleveland Steelyard.  Hamilton is seen on a surveillance video walking with an unidentified man. Her body is later found in an abandoned house.  Joining Nancy Grace Today: Melissa Romanello - Victim's Mother, GoFundMe: "Anastasia Hamilton Funeral Expenses"   Darryl Cohen - Former Assistant District Attorney, Fulton County, Georgia, Defense Attorney, Cohen, Cooper, Estep, & Allen, LLC, CCEAlaw.com Dr. Charles Heller - Clinical and Forensic Psychologist Specializing in Domestic Violence, Chief Forensic Consultant: Rockland County (New York) Forensic Mental Health Unit, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences  Joe Scott Morgan - Professor of Forensics: Jacksonville State University, Author, "Blood Beneath My Feet", Host: "Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan" Sia Nyorkor - Anchor & Reporter, WOIO-TV (Cleveland, OH), Instagram: @ TVNewsLady, Facebook.com/TVNewsLady See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. When a beautiful 25-year-old girl doesn't answer her cell phone, her mother knows immediately something is very wrong. What happened to Anastasia? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111. First of all, take a listen to our friends at News 5. Melissa Romanello says her daughter, 25-year-old Anastasia Hamilton, has a lot of plans for her future. She's got a lot of big dreams. She wants to get a real estate license. But Romaniello is now living a nightmare. Anastasia is missing. I just want her to come

home. I just need, I need her to, I need her to come home. Anastasia lives in Cleveland, works at K&D Properties in Terminal Tower. Sunday, I had texted her at 9.30 in the morning, asked her if she wanted to come over. She didn't answer. We talked half a dozen times a day. We FaceTimed several times a day. After several hours of unanswered calls, texts, FaceTimes, and messages on social media, Romanello went to Cleveland police. Joining me, an all-star panel to make sense of what we know right now. Big question, what happened to Anastasia? Again, thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and Series XM 111. A special guest joining us, Anastasia's mother, Melissa Romaniello. Ms. Romaniello,

thank you for being with us. You're welcome. Ms. Romaniello, I don't know how you're holding it together. I have a daughter and a son, and when they don't answer their phone, I go crazy because I think something horrible has happened. Tell me about when you first became concerned about your gorgeous daughter, Anastasia. I apologize. I'm not doing very well. I'm just so sorry what you're going through. I'm just so sorry what you and your family

are enduring right now. I mean, everything seemed normal. I text her goodnight like I always do around midnight. And then Sunday, I text her at 9.30 in the morning and I asked her if she wanted to come over and help me organize

my closets. She was getting her own apartment in two weeks, and I told her I would pay her to help me organize some closets so she could use the money towards furnishings for her apartment. And that was around 9.30, and I I didn't hear back and I thought maybe she was sleeping in or something um I went grocery shopping and then I don't know um a few hours had gone by and I just something didn't feel right so I called her I facetimed her I text her at this point in time I'm blowing her phone up. I'm freaking out.

You know, are you okay? What's going on? Where are you? And there was no response. And I just, I told my husband, something's wrong. I can feel it. I know it's, I know something's wrong. I actually went to Medina police, not Cleveland, because I had called Cleveland and they had told me to go to the nearest police station.

And I live in Medina. And I went there and they were very helpful. And they pinged her phone because I told them something was wrong. And when they pinged her phone, it pinged near a steel yard in Cleveland, which made no sense. Let me ask you a question. With me, Melissa Romaniello, this is Anastasia's mom. Did they ping it instantly? How long did it take them to ping her phone? Gosh, I would say it took a couple hours. I was there for a couple hours. Guys, with me is Melissa Romaniello. This is Anastasia's mom. You know, what you're saying is really striking a chord, Melissa. Ms. Romaniello, I remember distinctly when I learned my fiance had been murdered. I had, to make a long story short, just finished a statistics exam and walked out of the building. It was all bright and sunny outside,

and I looked down and realized I was going to be about 15 minutes late to my job at the university library. So, didn't have a cell phone, walked halfway across campus and went to a pay phone to call the library and route and say, hey, I'm late. I just got out of an exam. And I got a message from them to call Keith's sister, Judy. And I knew immediately just something was horribly wrong. I just knew right then. Nobody had to tell me. So, Ms. Romaniello, with me is Anastasia's mother, Melissa Romaniello. When you told your husband, I think something's really wrong,

did he believe you? He did. He was making dinner and he said, Honey, if you think something's wrong, go, go now. Go to the police. And I said, okay, I will. And then I did. And what time of the day was that? It was a Sunday, correct?

It was on Sunday. I feel like it was close to 5.30, 6 p.m. And I apologize. I haven't been sleeping well, so my memory is pretty jogged. But it was around 5 or 6 p.m. And I went to the local one near me. And I explained to them everything. And I just kept saying, I really think something bad has happened to her.

And thank goodness they took me serious because they pinged that phone, and it was literally the only clue we had. Yeah, somewhere where she would never, ever be, near Steelworks, as you're saying, is where her phone pinged. Two special guests joining us in addition to Anastasia's mother, Sia New Yorker, anchor reporter, WOIO-TV, joining us. And you can find her on Insta, at TV News Lady. Sia, thank you for being with us.

Describe the area where Anastasia's phone pinged. You know, when she told us, when she sat and she told me that her phone pinged at Steel Yard Commons, it just seems strange because, you know, the area is not the greatest area. It's not the area that you would typically be in unless you have some business there. And so, you know, when she told me that she had parked at Terminal Tower parking garage, that's where she left her car. And I said, well, why would her phone be over there? Why would it be pinging over there? She had parked at Terminal Tower Parking Garage. That's where she left her car. And I said, well, why would her phone be over there? Why would it be pinging over there? She didn't have any friends over there.

None of the stores were open. So it just seemed kind of strange. You know, I want to go to Daryl Cohen joining us, former prosecutor in the same office where I prosecuted, Fulton County District Attorney's Office, now civil attorney in the Atlanta jurisdiction. Daryl, I remember one particular case, the Julie Love case, a kindergarten teacher that had gone missing. And in that case, everything went quiet, or so many people thought it went quiet after Julie Love went missing. But then, turned out that part of her belongings were found near a trash dump. And when I heard where the trash dump was, I felt a chill go down me. Because it was far away, like seeing New Yorkers telling us, from where Julie Love lived, where she jogged off Collier Road.

Why would her belongings be near a trash dump way down in a high crime area? I mean, you just, just right then I knew something. It was just not going to have a good ending. Do you remember that? Nancy, I remember it well, because I think at the time her boyfriend was initially a suspect or a person of interest. Mark Kalish, as I recall. Go ahead. Yes. And when they found the clothing where they shouldn't have found it,

there's no way that she would have gone there on her own voluntarily. No way. So you knew that good was not going to follow. I'd like to apologize. It's not still yard. It's the still mill, which is very close to my understanding to the still yard. Yeah. Is it still mill commons or the still mill? It's a steel mill. It's a factory. Yeah. Why would her belongings be near a factory? Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we're talking about a gorgeous young girl, Anastasia Hamilton, age 25. She gets texted by her mom midnight on a Saturday night, 9.30, as she always does to say goodnight.

And Ms. Romaniello, you're really bringing back a memory because when I left home to go even to college my mom would call me every night and every morning and she had to get up really early in the morning to go to work so she would be calling me six o'clock seven a.m when she got to work to make sure I was up and about and going to where I was supposed to go. And if she didn't call or I didn't answer, the other one would know something was wrong. It was like clockwork, Ms. Romanella. Ms. Romanella, tell me, is that the way it was with you and Anastasia? You were in constant touch? Yes.

Every day. Dozen times a day, even FaceTime, text messaging, phone calls. We talked several times a day. What it is called is behavioral evidence, routine evidence. Not that it is stereotypical or run-of-the-mill routine. It's evidence of your routine. Joe Scott Morgan joining us, Professor of Forensics, Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon, and star of the hit series Body Bags with Joe Scott Morgan on iHeart.

Joe Scott, I know that you typically focus on hard evidence forensics such as fingerprints, fibers, DNA, but evidence of routine is very powerful. For instance, if I didn't show up to this anchor chair right here, Jackie would know that somebody was dead or in the hospital. That's routine evidence, evidence of routine. When Anastasia did not respond Sunday morning at 9.30 a.m., her mom knew something was wrong. Yeah, it's a pattern of what we look for. And patterns are all, you know, that's our bread and butter in investigations. Yeah, we, you know, we highlight the physical evidence that we find, those things that we can obviously observe and examine and those sorts of things.

But those circumstantial events that kind of, you know, paint this fringe around the hard evidence, it gives us an idea about the life that has been lived. And are there any commonalities there? Are there things that go into routine? And why would an individual such as Anastasia deviate from that routine? Exactly. Because that is a problem. Guys, imagine what her mom, Melissa Romaniello, is going through. The torture she's enduring.

Take a listen to Our Cut 3, our friends at News 5. She feels like she's in the dark. Not knowing if she's been called against her will, not knowing if something really bad happened to her and they just dumped her somewhere. I mean, I have a thousand things, all horrible, going through my head. Anastasia is 5'4 and has brown hair and brown eyes. Crime Stoppers is offering a $2,500 reward for any information that may lead to Anastasia. But Romanello tells me she will match that reward money and double the amount pleading for anyone

with any leads to call Cleveland police or Crime Stoppers. We know that she was headed to Terminal Towers parking garage on that Saturday. And then a sudden twist in the case. Take a listen to our cut for our friends at News 5. And we have breaking news now on the woman found dead in a home in Cleveland's Slavic Village neighborhood this afternoon. The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed just moments ago that that woman has been identified as 25-year-old Anastasia Hamilton. To see a New Yorker joining us on WOIO-TV in Cleveland. Sia, where was Anastasia found? In the Slavic Village neighborhood,

which, you know, some people would say is not one of the greatest neighborhoods in Cleveland. There's a lot of crime there. There are a lot of abandoned homes. It was an area where there were beautiful homes at one time and just a lot of people left the neighborhood. And so it has really gone down. They are trying to rebuild, but there's no reason to be over there unless you live there. It's called the Broadway Slavic Village. It's a neighborhood on the southeast side of Cleveland. It's one of Cleveland's oldest neighborhoods, and it first originated as a township of Newburgh and is known as Slavic Village because it was home to original immigrants from Czechoslovakia and Poland.

Hence the name Slavic Village, Czechoslovakian. That's where the name comes from. But over the years, it is really no longer the home of Czechoslovakian or Polish immigrants. It has become almost a ghost town. A lot of abandoned homes, as Sia New Yorker has just told us. Who found Anastasia, Sia? Yes, two women, two ladies were, you know, looking to find her, her mother and a private investigator, you know, the whole community was looking for her.

And sadly, they made that grisly discovery right there in the Slavic village neighborhood in a home that it doesn't appear anyone lives in. Melissa Romanello joining me. This is Anastasia's mother. Melissa, I hate going through the facts and upsetting you more than you already are so upset. is to solve your daughter's homicide, to find the man that did this to her. Melissa Romanello, when did you get the news that Anastasia's body had been found?

I heard it on the news. How did that happen? Apparently, the news was there, and I found out on the news before the detective even had a chance to call me because I was watching the news. Where were you? In my living room. Were you alone? I can't even remember. I believe my husband was home.

I'm pretty sure I was screaming. So my son and my daughter were outside. Yes, they were outside playing football together. I remember the moment like crystal clearly when I found out I was alone, when I found out that my alone, when I found out that my fiance had been murdered, that it seems to me that those seconds have took so long. And it was as if everything slowed down and each millisecond sticks in my mind. Melissa, what do you remember about that moment?

I just felt like I was dreaming that someone was going to smack me and wake me up. And then every memory of her just went through my mind. And I just couldn't believe what I was seeing or hearing and I was just devastated. Sia New Yorker with WOIO-TV. Sia, you said two women found her body? Yes, two women who had been out in the neighborhood looking for her. You know, when we put the story out there, you know, it was shared all over. And so a lot of people were, you know, wanting to help. And they went searching for her. Melissa Romaniello, do you know who these two women are?

I do not know who they are. I don't know who any of these people are, to be honest with you. And I really think that if Crime Stoppers wouldn't, Chief John Minnick and Mike Euler of Medina, Mike Euler is a police officer and a family friend, I really believe had they not got Crime Stoppers involved, we may have never found her. You know, once we realized she was in Cleveland, you know, I had to talk to new detectives in Cleveland and I know Anastasia would want to bring awareness to policies that we need to

change for missing persons. I am working with EquiSearch right now and Tim Miller, his daughter they wrote her off as a 16 year old runaway and for my daughter you know who's 25 you know how do we know she's not there willingly how do we know she's not ignoring you please listen to the families we know our children and time is of the essence and it's it's it's you know just it's frustrating because we know our children. We know when something is wrong. And in my opinion, policies need to change.

And it was only four days for me. I can't imagine families that go 30 days, 60 days, months without knowing where their loved ones are. Or, you know, people know people you know quick to say oh they just they're ignoring you or they ran away or it's done so often melissa romanello when someone goes missing police just discount and say oh they're a runaway or she's out with her new boyfriend or she's an adult she doesn't want to be found that has to change you're you're preaching to the choir melissa you are are. I agree with you 300%. Guys, I want you to take a listen now to our cut seven. This is Jessie Schultz at News 5.

Anastasia Hamilton's mom is doing the unthinkable, trying to plan her oldest child's funeral. But that pain is intensified by not knowing what happened in Anastasia's final hours. Call it a mother's intuition, a gut feeling. But Melissa Romaniello knew Sunday morning that something wasn't right. I knew something bad happened to her because she would never not respond to me. Later that day, Romaniello filed a missing persons report for her daughter, 25-year-old Anastasia Hamilton. And police found this surveillance photo from Saturday night of Anastasia and a man walking out of Terminal Towers parking garage. It would be the last known photo of Anastasia alive.

This has been extremely heartbreaking for our family and the most difficult thing I've ever gone through in my entire life. Wednesday, Anastasia's body was found at this vacant house in Slavic Village. Cleveland police noted cuts and bruising on her body. Two things, the surveillance video and the condition of Anastasia's body. Joe Scott Morgan is with me, as well as Dr. Charles Heller. Dr. Heller, the quandary of knowing your child is missing, that hell you go through imagining what is happening, and then the shock of learning your child has been killed. I remember learning not only that Keith was killed, but that he was in fact murdered.

It's another blow. It's almost surreal. It doesn't feel real, doctor. Yeah, we need to find out what happened to this lovely young woman who I heard from Ms. Romanello that she was very loving and caring and generous with herself and time. And so we've got to figure out what happened. We've got to find out what happened. We have to, Dr. Heller, and I am so grateful you're with us to make sense of that, to do just that.

Dr. Heller, what is it in the human mind that takes over when you get a shock, you get shocking news that you feel it's not real. Like we heard earlier, Melissa described me, it felt like a nightmare. It didn't seem real, but you do know it is real. It is happening. What is that state of mind? It's what we call dissociation. It's like a splitting. We go into a very deep place to protect ourselves from the pain, but also because we're confused. It's a terrible situation. Two special guests joining us,

Joe Scott Morgan, Professor of Forensics. Explain to me the damage done, the injuries on Anastasia's body. Yeah. And from what we're hearing right now, of course, the Cuyahoga ME has not released everything yet. But from what we're understanding right now, we've got multiple lacerations that have been mentioned, also abrasions at this point in time. And so you're dealing with multiple trauma, Nancy. And there's a lot to be learned here. And if I can just kind of talk about this a little bit,

where she was last seen in the tower on that camera, you know, checking this thing out and where she was found, you're talking about a 10-minute car ride versus an hour and a half walk to get to that same location. So, she had to be transported there by someone with a vehicle. I don't know if she went willingly or unwillingly at this point. I can only imagine unwillingly. We don't know who this person is, but we do know that this individual is only imagine unwillingly. We don't know who this person is, but we do know that this individual is still on the street.

We also know she was covered in lacerations. Covered in lacerations. Yeah, and that goes to, forgive me for saying this, but this goes to strikes. This goes to blunt force trauma. And I hate to say that, but that's the reality.

We're looking at, as Joe Scott Morgan said, two issues. One, the mode of death called manner of death and the cause of death. Neither have been released. We're now trying to figure out what happened to Anastasia specifically. Why she was left in this abandoned building of all places because I believe where a body is left is a major clue as to the perpetrator. Now let's talk about the surveillance video. Take a listen to our cut five our friends at WKYC. Rachel McDonald has been friends with

Anastasia Hamilton since middle school, a bond no one could break. The sweetest, nicest, kindest person. If you were lucky enough to be her friend, like you knew she had your back through whatever. But late Saturday, 25-year-old Anastasia went missing, last seen leaving a Tower City parking garage where she worked at the apartments managed by K&D. This grainy surveillance photo shows her with a man police called a known male without describing the connection between the two, a photo that troubled those who knew her well. She didn't look like she was that comfortable around him in the video footage, so immediately I was freaking out and I feared the worst.

The worst would eventually come true. Missing for four days, Anastasia's body was found Wednesday afternoon in a home on East 54th Street in the Slavic Village neighborhood. The circumstances surrounding her death, not known at this time. incredibly braving through the worst moment of her life and her valiant fight to find her daughter's killer. And we are joining her with me, Melissa Romaniello. Ms. Romaniello, I'm looking down right now directly at the video. I think you're right. They're not walking together. There's maybe this much space between them. I wouldn't say that they're together. I would say he was walking beside her. They don't look together. She's looking straight ahead. He's looking a little bit at an angle toward her direction. They're not holding hands. Their arms are not linked. Nothing. He's got a bag in his right hand indicating to me that

he is right-handed. He's got something like a mailbag type messenger bag over his shoulder and I'm just looking at it very carefully. She is not looking at him at all. When did you first see the video? Her co-worker sent it to me because she wasn't sure if she was allowed to, but her heart was breaking for me. So I don't remember when the video was sent to me. So you got it sent by a coworker of hers? Yeah, she sent me the photos.

And then I gave that to, I believe, I'm so sorry. Do you know the guy? That's what I'm getting at. Do you know this guy? I do not, no. Did Anastasia have a boyfriend at that time? No. You would have known, correct?

Yes. I would have hoped that she would have shared that with me. You seem very close and you would have known. What is it that she has in her hand? I'm honestly not sure. It could be her keys had a, what do you call those? Lanyard? Yeah, like a lanyard.

Thank you. But that was really long. It is really long. She's holding the keys like this in front of her, which, of course, I'm not a nonverbal expert, but I do know that's a defensive move. When you put something in front of you or touch and hold your neck or cross your arms, that is a defensive gesture. She's holding her hands like this and in her hands are keys as she's walking.

She's not talking. She's not smiling. She's looking forward and down a little bit. And I can see the like a ribbon or a string, a lanyard of some sort hanging down from here in front of her chest and it goes all the way down to below her knee okay do any of her friends know this guy no not that i'm aware of no the only way i found out his name was because of the million people on social media messaging me tell Tell me about that. See a New Yorker, this picture has been disseminated.

And people, it's a really good picture of the guy, although he's wearing a hat. To me, he looks like a white male, maybe 5'10 to 6' tall. What more do we know about who this guy is? You know, I can tell you, police haven't released. They say that he's known to them, but they've not released his name. You know, through some of our own investigations and through tips people have given us through social media, we do know his name uh but several people uh in the slavic village neighborhood told um our news crews that he was a familiar face they'd seen him hanging around there so they do know who he is but he's to my knowledge he's since kind of disappeared and they're looking

for him police are looking for him okay right there Daryl Cohen, he's disappeared. Why would he disappear? Oh, obviously he had a vacation. He disappeared because he's hiding. He's disappeared because out of sight is out of mind. He disappeared because he doesn't want to be questioned. And if he committed this horrible crime, he clearly doesn't want to be arrested and prosecuted. He disappeared because that's the only thing he could do was hide. See a New Yorker. Are you releasing the name? No, we have not released the name because he's not been named as a suspect just yet. So we have not. OK, but Melissa Romanello, you know his name?

I do. Well, if that's who, again, I don't know this person. It's, you know, I've gotten a lot of, you know, there were people messaging me pretending to be my daughter before we found her. Oh, okay. Wait a minute. What? Yeah. I had a person call me three o'clock in the morning the day before we found her.

I didn't answer it. And then I was, you know, I was so angry that I didn't answer the phone because I thought maybe it was really her. And then they sent text messages saying, Mom, it's me. I'm not okay. I need to talk to you. And then I kept calling the number and actually had a detective coming over that morning and I was in panic mode. We need to trace to you and then I kept calling the number and I actually had a detective coming over that morning and I was in panic mode we need to trace this phone down and he just said that's a scam and I I just said what kind of person

would do that to me and on top of that because there's a reward just a lot of not nice people sending you mean they were trying to get money from you that that is the opinion yes oh my stars crime stories with nancy grace Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

Dr. Charles Heller, who are these harpies, these vampires, these leeches, trying to take advantage of Anastasia's mother by texting her and pretending they're Anastasia? What pervert would do that? Well, very evil people. But this brings up one of my questions about a clue that I heard about regarding a text message that appeared to come from Anastasia's telephone. What about it? The report was that she said she was feeling ill and she had to leave okay hold

on let me ask melissa about that melissa romanella did you get a text message from your daughter claiming she was ill no her her friend her one of her best friends got a message that her friend was at a wedding so she wasn't responding so and it was around like 1 a.m or so so so at that time Anastasia was still alive and well and unless someone was texting from her phone but she was texting um I'm I'm not feeling well let me ask you this Miss Romanello where I know she parked her car where she worked at K&D properties and terminal tower was her car moved or was it still there? It was still there. What about her cell phone and her pocketbook? Those are missing.

Okay. So what we don't know is what happened in her final hours. Take a listen to our cut eight, our friend Jessie Schultz. There are homicide detectives that are still working the case and we're still looking for the person of interest. Romanello says her daughter sent texts Sunday morning around 1 a.m. to friends that said she didn't feel well, her head was pounding, and she wanted to go home. Texts that just bring more questions for Romanello.

Where's her purse? Where's her phone? Where's the shirt that she laughed in? I mean, there are just so many questions. Why would someone dump my beautiful daughter in this horrible home? I don't know. Nothing makes sense. Nothing is making sense right now. See a New Yorker joining us, WOIO-TV. Have police named this unidentified male as a person of interest? No, police said that they have someone that they are looking at, but they have not named an official suspect. And so until then, we're kind of just waiting to find out what's happening. But if they're looking at someone, Daryl Cohen, doesn't that make them a person of interest? Well, it certainly makes them a person of interest, but then they don't want that person to know that they're a person of interest, which, of course, I always believe is a suspect.

I'm not in the days of a person of interest. If they're looking at a person that carefully, that closely, he or she is a suspect. In this case, he's a suspect and probably more than that. There is a clear photo of Anastasia Hamilton walking along with this guy. Melissa Romaniello, how would you describe him? To me, he looks like about 5'11 to 6 feet tall white male. Yeah, I felt like the photo was a bit crazy and very difficult to see. But yeah, Anastasia is about 5'4 and a half. And he looked to be about 5'10 ish, in my opinion, a white male. Also had some things around his neck. I don't know if those were keys or what those were. To you, Jessica Morgan, you're the forensics expert.

What do you make of this grainy surveillance video? And I think this was taken near where she worked. Yeah, one of the things that really jumped out to me, believe it or not, were shoes. Yeah, me too. They don't look like. Those are expensive. It doesn't look like somebody that's living on the street. You know what I mean, Nancy?

They look new. They look clean. He doesn't necessarily look disheveled. I don't understand what all of this stuff is around his neck at that point in time. But he does. There's, you know, maybe this is just me, you know, kind of projecting on this. He seems purposed that he's kind of guiding along the way here. And this goes to this idea of familiarity.

He's comfortable in this environment, in the parking garage with this young lady that he does not know. And then when she is found, that is a very specific area, Nancy. That would give me an idea that whoever brought her there was very familiar about that area, that they're very confident in it because they knew that this is a vacated location where, you know, it's just by the grace of God that she was actually found in that location. But yeah, all of that is kind of adding up into a picture that appears to be kind of well-formed and purposed if he's involved in this.

There is no doubt in my mind that somebody has identified this guy, if not just on those tennis shoes and that outfit alone. Take a look at this surveillance video. I also want to tell you about a GoFundMe. You can find it at Anastasia Hamilton Funeral Expenses. Can you even consider the heartbreak? This mom is suffering. Instead of planning a trip with her daughter or her daughter's wedding

or a July the 4th party with her daughter, she's gathering funds to pay for Anastasia's funeral. Ms. Romanello, I am so sorry. The only thing I know to do right now is to try to help you solve this homicide. What are your words, Ms. Romaniello, to those that are listening or watching right now? If anyone obviously knows more than they're saying, then please go to the police and bring justice. And let's find out what took place that evening.

And again, I just want to touch on bringing awareness to missing persons. And I know Anastasia would want me to. If any parent ever goes through this, get your community involved. You've got to get an army because that's that's how you get people to listen and take it serious and um you know we know what we know our kids and i knew something was wrong and they're too quick to say well she's ignoring you or you know how do we know she's not somewhere willingly okay well why don't you go ask her then and just doesn't want to talk to her mother that was far from the case i'm sure the

thing she wanted the most in the world was her mother i also want to touch on the community that i live in and old friends new friends they've been amazing support to me. The donations for the GoFundMe has certainly helped us with her funeral expenses and anything that is left over will be donated to her brother's college expenses and EquiSearch. I want to talk about EquiSearch because they've sent dogs out there looking for her phone, her purse. They've been helping me. And they do all of this for free of service for families because you know i've read some of the stories and i didn't know about them i wish i would have

known about them on day one but they're an additional resource source to the police um and and i hope that moving forward the police will will work let them work with them because they're just an amazing group. If you have information or think you have information, call the Sheriff's Tip Line 216-252-7463. Repeat, 216-252-7463. Our prayers with Anastasia's family. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.