Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - MUSALO MURDERS UNSOLVED: COUPLE MURDERED IN OWN HOME

Episode Date: December 30, 2024

Albert Musalo and his wife, Joan Behrman, are enjoying retirement in Nevada. They moved close to their daughter, Joanne Kohls, and her family, settling in the exclusive gated Montreux neighborhood in a rural area south of Reno. While the country club community boasts multi-million-dollar homes, the Musalos chose one of the more modest houses on the block. Joanne Kohls calls the Musalos’ landline, but the phone rings with no answer. She contacts Montreux’s security to check on them. The guard reports that no one answered his knocking. Joanne and her husband decide to check on her parents themselves. Joanne unlocks the front door and calls out for her parents. She steps inside but freezes. Mud is tracked through the entryway and dining room. Joanne’s husband walks toward the primary bedroom and discovers Joan and Albert shot to death in their bed. Detectives from the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office quickly arrive at the scene. There are no signs of forced entry, and nothing of value appears to be missing. Montreux's HOA fees cover an extensive security team. A guard staffs the neighborhood’s front gatehouse 24/7, 365 days a year, while a service entrance is manned 12 hours daily. All visitors must provide identification and receive homeowner approval for access. Even contract workers must obtain daily entrance passes. Investigators initially suspect the Musalos were targeted, but no one can explain why. Joining Nancy Grace today: Joanne Kohls  - Daughter of Albert and Joan Musalo Tom Green -  Private Investigator at Owner Nevada Investigative Services LLC, former Chief Deputy Washoe County Sheriff’s Office  Caryn L. Stark – Psychologist, Renowned TV and Radio Trauma Expert and Consultant; Instagram: carynpsych/FB: Caryn Stark Private Practice Dr. Eric Eason – Board-certified Forensic Pathologist, Consultant; Instagram: @eric_a_eason, Facebook: Eric August Eason, LinkedIn: Eric Eason, MD Alexis Tereszcuk – CrimeOnline Investigative Reporter; X: @swimmie2009  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. The Misalo murders unsolved. A beautiful couple murdered in their own home. LA law enforcement begging for tips. Good evening. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for

being with us. A happy and healthy couple look forward to retirement in their beautiful new Reno home, but their quiet retirement is quickly shattered by violence. In their own home, this beautiful couple murdered. How did the discovery of this crime begin? Listen. Ahead of their April plans to visit family in New York, Joanne Coles wants to invite her parents to dinner. Joanne calls the Musalis' landline, but the phone rings and rings with no answer. Joanne assumes her parents' power may be out, a common occurrence in snowy months. Joanne calls the Montrose security to check on

them. The guard reports back that no one answered his knocking. While it's odd for Joan and Albert to ignore the door, Joanne theorizes her parents may be laid up in bed with a cold. Joining me right now, the woman that made that fateful phone call, Joanne Coles. Joanne, thank you for being with us. Could you describe that phone call and what went through your mind? Well, it's interesting that I lived in so much denial at that moment, but I thought for sure that maybe they were sick, had the flu, something else was going on. So I called them the first time and they went to the door. The second time I asked them to please look through the garage window and tell me whether or not their car was in the garage.

So I knew that their car was in the garage. They only had one car. And I knew that they were not answering the door and all the lights were off. So my husband and I drove out to Montreux to check on them. Joanne, when you called and no one answered, you assumed that they were in bed with a cold. Is that correct? Yes. Or the flu or that they were sick. Yes. And what led you to get in the car and drive to check on your parents? What inner voice told you you could not just rely on them not picking the phone up? You had to drive there and find out for yourself. My parents moved to Reno to be near me and for me to help them. So I took that responsibility very seriously.

And when the answering machine didn't pick up and they didn't respond to knocks on the door, it was snowing that night and I knew that my father did not like to drive in the snow anymore. And with the car in the garage, I felt compelled to go out and find out what happened. Listen.

Joanne and her husband decide to check on her parents themselves. They make the drive to Montreux as a snowstorm blows in. Joanne unlocks the front door and calls for her parents. When there's no answer, Joanne steps into the home but freezes. There's mud tracked through the entryway and dining room. Joan would never let a mess like that sit.

Joanne's husband walks toward the primary bedroom and, to his horror, finds Joan and Albert shot to death in their bed. At this hour, law enforcement begging for tips. If you know or think you know anything about the murders of this beautiful couple. Please dial 775-328-3320. Repeat 775-328-3320. Joan, I do not enjoy asking you to relive that moment. For people that are not familiar with your parents' story, could you describe what happened when you finally get to their home? What happened? And I'd also like to hear what was going through your mind en route as you made that drive? We had left our two sons at home alone. They were 14 and 10 at the time. And as we were driving over, it was about 7.15 and I was thinking, oh, you know, getting home in time to put them to bed.

Because given on their own, they would have stayed up later than they should on a school night. So I looked at the clock when we were driving down the street to their house house and thinking I'll be home in time for them to go to bed. When we got to the house, um, and when in the garage door, cause I had the garage door opener and I knew the alarm code. Uh, when I walked through the garage and got into the kitchen and then into the dining room, I saw the mud on the floor. And I have to say at that point, my heart kind of stopped because I knew that my mother would not have gone to bed with mud on the floor. That was just not her.

She was a fastidious house cleaner and always kept a beautiful home. I'm just wondering what went through your mind when you saw that mud on the floor. Like, Joanne, my mom lives with us. And I remember just recently I walked in a room and I saw her walker just sitting there without her. And that never, ever, ever happens. And I knew immediately something was wrong. And sure enough, something was very wrong. And I ended up taking her to the emergency room.

There's that when you know someone so well and you know their behavior, when you saw that mud on the floor, you said your heart stopped? Yes. And I told my husband that I couldn't go any further. And he went into the room and saw them both. I stayed in the dining room and then when he came out he said they were dead and I asked him if he was sure and he said yes. And then we went into the kitchen to try and call 911. Their phone line had been cut so their phone did not work and And at that time in that area, cell phone reception was terrible. And I had ended up having to make multiple calls to 911 on two phones in order to get through. Joining me now is another special guest. In addition to Albert and Joan's daughter, Joanne,

Tom Green is joining us. former chief deputy with the Washoe County Sheriff's Office, the detective on this case, now private investigator and owner of Nevada Investigative Services. Tom, thank you for being with us and thank you for your continued diligence and dedication to solving this case. You know, Tom, two things just off the top of my head. Number one, how small details may mean nothing to some people, but to other people, they mean everything. I recall investigating the case of a beautiful young teacher that was murdered, Tara Grinstead. And when her mother and I went into Tara's home, she was, as Joanne is describing her parents, fastidious. Her home looked like a magazine ad, you know, for home decor.

But when we went into her bedroom, a lamp was askew and the bed was off center it was supposed to be up against the wall but it was off center and also I'm sure you've been in people's cars where you get in the car they've had the car 10 years and it still smells brand new and it looks brand new. She was like that. And Tara's car on the sides were covered in mud. And her mother said, the moment I saw that, I knew that she was gone. Isn't that odd? Probative, probative is a better word. That when Joanne walked in and I'm hung up on this fact, she knew immediately when she saw mud on the floor, she's like, my heart stopped. I knew. What about that, Tom Green? Well, I think to the lay person that's not involved in the case, they might think that's unusual or weird that that would catch her eye. But being in their home,

I can see exactly why that did catch her eye. And, you know, the patterns of your parents, somebody that you know very, very well, are super important in cases like this because it helps us develop timelines. It helps us develop areas to look that we might not have otherwise looked at. You know, we had to we had to rule out that that, you know, other muddy footprints within the house weren't the police that came in and did searching. So we photographed every officer that went in that house. We photographed all their shoe prints to make sure the other footprints that we found in there were not artifacts of the police going in. Oh, my goodness. Tom Green, that's a whole other can of worms. A probative.

In other words, what, if anything, does it prove a probative can of worms? Because when you do get your killer and you will, you're going to have to rule out every other person that walked into that home, including Joanne and her husband. Everybody's got to be ruled out on those on that mud and any footprints that were found. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Curious Tom Green. Joanne tells us that the, first of all, the cell reception was horrible in that area, but that the phone line, the land line had been cut. We had one other case that a phone line was cut here in Washoe County and all the murders that I looked at from 1960 until the current time. And so it is a super unusual tactic for a killer to use and somewhat risky in that area because a cut

phone line could signal an alarm company that there's a problem at a house and the alarms up there are radio based. So there's a radio receiver close by that would receive such a cut phone line or low power alert. So it was a risk to cut those phone lines. And, and that's one of the reasons that we feel that, that the Masalos were targeted. This wasn't some random spree killer that happened across their house. They were killed for a purpose. Are you saying that they had a burglar alarm system that was connected to the phone line. So when the line was cut, it should have alerted the alarm service. No, what I'm saying.

Yeah, they didn't have it set. So but but my point is that a random killer in the neighborhood would assume that there's an alarm system based on the homes in that neighborhood. And so cutting the phone line would be a risk if you did not know certain things about the home. I mean, you don't know, it could set off a local alarm. It could set off a siren on the house, right? You just don't know. Cutting a phone line is a risky business. But Tom Green, I agree with you guys. Guys, Tom is a former chief deputy in the Washoe County Sheriff's Office who worked this case as a detective. You're really giving criminals a lot of credit for them to know,

hey, if I cut the phone line, I may set off an alarm. But that said, you're completely right. So let me understand, Joanne, did they have an alarm that wasn't set or did they not have a home alarm? They had a home alarm, but it was not set. They tended to only set it when they left town, not when they were home. When I went into the house, the alarm was not set. I did not have to turn it off. Joanne, was it common knowledge that your parents only turned on their alarm when they left for out of town? No, no one would have known that. Only their children would have known that. And probably only my sister and I would be aware of that.

Back to Tom Green joining us who investigated the case as a detective. Tom, when you say the lines to the alarm were cut from outside, from inside what where were the alarms cut where was the the line cut the lines come from underground and there's a uh like a pvc tube that comes out of the ground that goes into the house and into the uh into into the phone box so both the phone line and the cable line were cut they're they're right next each other. So I could see how that would happen. You just cut them both. And on top of that, we found male DNA on the phone line in the same general area in which the phone line was cut, indicating that somebody probably touched DNA, held that while they cut it and left behind their DNA. So you're telling me the phone line was cut from outside? Yes, ma'am. And male DNA was found on the wire that was cut. Is that correct? Yes, ma'am.

The Musalo's home is quickly crawling with detectives from Washoe County Sheriff's Office. There's no sign of forced entry to the home and nothing of value is missing. Joanne Coles tells deputies her parents never hired any outside help and no one outside of family had intimate knowledge of the home. Investigators initial thought is that the Mussalos are targeted, but no one has any idea why. Joining me in all star panel to make sense of what we know, a beautiful married couple murdered in their own home. Some believe, experts believe, it was a targeted attack. Joining me, the all-star panel led by Alexis Tereschuk, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. We just heard no sign of forced entry, nothing of value missing. Is that correct, Alexis?

It is. There was no, so there wasn't a broken window. The door wasn't broken. Those sliding glass doors were not broken open. And nothing really is missing. It wasn't, there wasn't a safe with thousands of dollars taken, not even a car, jewelry, nothing significant taken from this home. And what you did just say, they never had help come in from outside the home. They took care of the home themselves. So there wasn't somebody they could say, oh, it was this person, this handyman that was always in the house or this housekeeper's family, anything like that. There was nobody that they could pinpoint as a suspect because nobody came in there except their family. I'm still intrigued by the fact that the killer obviously cut the phone line outside. That takes a certain degree of planning and

preparation to know where the line is, to go cut it, to bring the instrument, the cutting instrument with you. I'm curious about the DNA, the male DNA left on that cable cord, Tom Green. Was the DNA maintained? Is it still at the lab? It is. The reason we know it was contemporaneous with the crime scene is it is a full 13 loci DNA. It's a strong profile. There's no question that it was left contemporaneous to the cutting of the phone line based on weather, the elements, temperatures, all those kinds of things. Joining me in addition to Joanne Coles, Tom Green, and Alexis Tereschuk, Dr. Eric Eason, Certified Forensic Pathologist and Consultant. Dr. Eason, thank you for being with us.

Question, isn't it true that there is a procedure, very delicate procedure, by which DNA can be replicated. In other words, you have a little DNA, you can turn it into more DNA, enough to potentially put it through the familial DNA genetic genealogy database. It's called PCR, the polymerase chain reaction. It got invented back in the early 90s when I was in college. I learned about it right in my last semester of college, right before I started medical school. And all you need is just a small sample of DNA. You can run it through these reactions that utilize an enzyme that will just amplify all the DNA.

And you can make multiple copies of it and then run it through the genetic genealogy, which is what I think is going to happen here. And so what will probably happen is that the test will be run, and we're probably going to find a sibling or a cousin or a distant cousin of the individual who left his DNA on the phone lines, and hopefully that can be used to figure out who this person was. It's something that was not around back in 2006, but it is a recent development. It's what was used in the Brian Koberger case, too. You know, I'm very curious to Joanne Coles, who went in with her husband to discover the bodies of mom and dad. Are you familiar with any updates on the investigation? For instance, we very often consult with a lab called Othram Labs, and their specialty is degenerated or compromised DNA or small amounts of DNA. DNA that, as Tom Green tells us, was left contemporaneously with the cutting of your

parents' phone line. Has that been sent to an advanced lab to try to get a match? I've spoken to the head pathologist at the lab at Washoe County Sheriff's Office, and my understanding from her is that they have done as much as technology is able to, to try and do a genealogical study on the DNA. We've reached out to a couple different labs that do that kind of work and put them in touch with Washoe County. And my understanding is that there is not adequate DNA to do that. I'm curious, Joanne, if I could hook up OTHRAM with the crime lab there in Washoe, would you be willing for them to try? Absolutely. Joining me is Karen Stark, a renowned psychologist, TV radio trauma expert at KarenStark.com. That's Karen with a C if you search for her.

Karen Stark, as the days go by and the weeks go by and the months go by and it goes on and on and on. How do people deal with the fact that first, their parents are murdered brutally. And second, no justice. It's really heartbreaking because your parents are murdered. You have to deal with that shock. And knowing that you won't see them again, and yet it wasn't a natural death. And here they are without any kind of a solution. And all these years have passed and it never gets resolved. She keeps trying to find out about it. She wants to know more. There's new DNA results, and yet she's still not getting an answer. So we are left with this huge hole of what happened to my parents? What will I ever know? Will I ever be able to get an answer to the death of them?

It's just terrible, terrible for her. What happened to Albert and Joan Masalo? Their daughter finds them dead in their own home. The phone line cut from the outside with male DNA on that wire. Male DNA that as of tonight has not been matched to anyone. Immediately, people start the blame the victim game. Listen. The Musalos were not involved in any nefarious activities. They had no criminal history. You know, there's been rumors floating around that they were in the witness protection program or that they'd been involved with the mafia because they were from New York. Those are totally unsubstantial. We vetted them thoroughly through the FBI.

Witness protection program, the mafia. That was from our friends over at KRNV News 4. Joanne, rumors flying your parents were in the mafia or the Witness Protection Act. That's insane. It's absurd. I think that in a situation like this, their neighbors were scared and it gave them some security to blame my parents or to blame me and my husband. Just thinking about your parents dying as they did. And now that type of rumors, nothing could be further from the truth. Listen.

After 33 years with Pan Am, the Musalos are quite comfortable after years of savvy investments and settle in wild Nevada. The couple is very active. They take daily walks and golf together. Albert enjoys skiing while Joan prefers tennis. The grandparents spend most of their time together sharing a single Lincoln Town Car. They continue to travel frequently to see their children. As they get older, Joan and Albert eventually decide to move closer to their daughter, Joanne Coles, and her family. The couple settles on the exclusive gated Montreux neighborhood in a rural area south of Reno. While the country club neighborhood boasts multi-million dollar houses, the Masalos move into one of the more modest homes on the block. They quickly make friends

with neighbors on their daily walks using the public hiking trail bordering their home. Joan Masalo is known for hosting home-cooked dinner parties in her immaculately kept home. Joanne, how did your parents meet? They both worked at the gas and electric company in Brooklyn, New York, and that's where they met. They were both from Brooklyn. Tell me about your family. How many siblings? I have three siblings. I'm the third. Two boys and two girls. They have seven grandchildren and now they have four great-grandchildren they have never met. Joanne, I know you may not like this question, but I have to ask. Tell me about any potential life insurance proceeds.

My dad did take out a life insurance policy, I think, a couple years before they died. And us four children were the beneficiaries. And the policy was for a million dollars. And Tom Green, I'm sure that you as a detective verified all the children's alibis, correct? We did. Of course, the family was the out, we need to rule them in or out immediately. And so that's what we attempted to do. We did a deep dive into their finances, all of them.

We saw nothing that red flagged us at all. Alexis Tereshka, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. What was the cause of death of this couple? They were shot multiple times, gunshot wounds. And the one piece of evidence that we haven't spoken about is they had ballistic evidence. So the bullets were found and this was a huge piece of evidence, but that has never matched with anything else. Tom Green, what type of weapon was used? Well, that would be holdback information that we've held. And, you know, just so your viewers understand, holdback information is critical to these kind of cases, because if at some point we develop or they develop a suspect, it's going to be imperative that there are details that only the investigators and the perpetrator would know. And so that's one of the items that we've held back.

I released a lot of information, more information than some people thought I should have when I talked about the phone lines and the mud on the floor and some of the other items but you know this case isn't getting any warmer and you know I saw them dead in their beds I saw them at the funeral and I saw their grave sites and and I will see that until the day I take my last breath. So I hope, I hope that someone hears this information, comes forward, somebody knows something. Somebody has a suspicion about someone being involved in this and that's the tip that the police need

to move this case forward. Let's piece it together. Tom Green, there is no sign of forced entry. Nothing was taken from the home. This couple was involved in no sort of nefarious activity. All those ideas and rumors about them being in witness protection and tied to the mob, that's BS. It's exactly what Joanne said. It's people wanting to feel safe themselves and going, oh yeah, I heard they're in the witness protection. That's all BS. None of that's true. This is a beautiful couple with children, grandchildren asleep in bed in their home

and they were brutally murdered. Multiple gunshot wounds on a couple parents, grandparents asleep in their own bed. I'm curious, Joanne, did those muddy footprints lead to any other room in the home? No, they were only in that one spot in the kitchen or in the dining room. I didn't see any other mud, but to be honest, when I saw the first bit, I stopped. I froze. I couldn't go any further. Tom, what about it? Tom Green, did the muddy footprints go to any other area of the home? Yeah. So we obviously saw the same mud that Joanne saw. And we did what's called gel lifts. And those gel lifts were sent to the FBI laboratory, who's really the best at doing footprint evidence. And they were inconclusive because it was basically ridge detail from the shoe print. There was mud

on the carpeted stairs that went upstairs. But again, we were not able to develop any kind of a footprint pattern, size, style, anything like that. This is driving me crazy. We have DNA. We have muddy footprints. We have ballistics. Nothing is matching up in the DNA database. Nothing is matching up in the ballistics database. I don't understand it. In light of the fact that the phone was cut, it almost is striking me as being a professional hit. And I don't understand that. Also, we know that this was a private neighborhood.

Listen. Montrose HOA fees cover a large security team for the neighborhood. A security guard mans Montreux's front gatehouse 24-7, 365, and a service entrance is manned 12 hours a day. All visitors must provide identification to the security team and be approved by the homeowner for access to Montreux. Contract workers are even required to obtain entrance passes for each day they expect to be in and out of the neighborhood. One thing that struck me about that, Alexis Therese Chuck, is that the service entrance is only managed 12 hours a day. Is that right? That is right. During the daytime, because they wouldn't expect to have service folks come in

in the middle of the night, usually. That wouldn't be a thing when you would have your dishwasher fixed or anything like that. But they did track down that the path that they believe the person took. So they live in a wooded area behind them and that the person went through, like out their backyard and through an area and out into the woods. So that is where they, they figured they went in and out is through the wooded area behind their home. And how did you deduce that, Tom Green? Well, the way we deduced that is that it had rained significantly in the days preceding the murder. The night that Joanne drove to the home, it had

started snowing. During the time that the murder occurred, it had not been snowing. It had been muddy and wet. And so the area that the perpetrator had to step to to cut the phone line was a mutt what just a muddy dirt area we found muddy footprints on the pavers once the snow melted those same muddy footprints were tracked by a man tracker we actually had a man tracker come out and track those muddy footprints up and over the back fence that led to a walking path and a parking area off the Mount Rose Highway. So we're pretty convinced that that's the that's the route that person would have taken. It's also the route of it's the safest route for a perpetrator.

You know, this is a high risk event for them going into a gated community full of homes with alarms and a security patrol that drives around. But that area was the safest, least risky area to enter from. It was from the back. When you try to determine what happened, you must look at establishing a timeline. You can't always deduce the time of the murder based on the condition of the body, such as body temperature. Very often, you must look at extrinsic evidence, and they did just that. Listen. Investigators find March 27th's newspaper inside the home, and a furniture salesman says he met with the Musalos around noon. Their computer shows internet activity until late into the evening on the 27th. Detectives theorize that the couple

was attacked while they slept in the early morning hours of March 28th. Investigators are stumped on how the perpetrator gained access to the home. Montrose security team reports that no one came through either gate around the estimated time of the murders. So the killer did not enter through the security gate, which corroborates Tom Green's theory as to the access and entrance to the home. I'm curious. Tom Green, have you ever considered, as we are considering in the Brian Koberger case, where four beautiful young Idaho students were murdered in their beds, the possibility of a thrill kill because this couple has no background. They don't even have a traffic fine for Pete's sake.

They are loving grandparents who try to move closer to be to their children. All right. And they're murdered in their beds. Question why? It's not a professional hit, all right, by the mob. So could it be a thrill kill like that alleged in the Brian Koberger case? You know, it's definitely not out of the realm of possibility. And it's one of the things we looked at that, look, you know, you cannot rule out a thrill kill, a spree kill. And those are the scariest ones because they're the hardest to solve.

And especially at that time, we didn't have the ability to dump a cell tower and figure out everybody that's in the neighborhood. You know, we didn't have a lot of those investigative techniques. So if it was somebody who had taken a fancy to these people and decided, you know what, I'm going to kill them for no particular reason, that's going to be a tough one to solve. It's going to be a tough one to solve unless they get caught for something else and we get a DNA

comparison. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace While many try to write off the murders as a random attack or robbery, investigators are convinced the Masalos were targeted. Montreux is not a neighborhood stumbled on by accident, and nothing of significance was found missing from the couple's home. Detectives eventually reveal a chilling piece of evidence supporting their theory. The Masalos phone lines were cut. Listen to our friends at KRNV. Since 1960, we've only had one other case where phone lines were cut and that case bears no resemblance to this case at all.

We think it tells us some things about the offender, that it's quite probable the offender had prior knowledge of the home, possibly even knew the victims, that this wasn't a random act, that they were targeted. Joanne Coles is joining us. Joanne, what is your theory? Given the information that's available and knowing my parents, I believe that they were the unintended targets. I've never thought of it being a thrill kill because my thought would be if someone did that for thrill, they would do it to someone else with the same method and means. So my feeling has been that it's a professional hit and they have the wrong people. Is that possible, Tom Green? Well, I'm assuming it's possible. But, you know, when we looked at that and we've looked at this extensively because of

other reporting of threats being received by another family within that same gated community. However, it becomes somewhat of a rabbit hole because the homes are so much different. But it's clearly someone that knows that they have to come through the woods to get into the home. They know enough to cut the phone lines. It's clearly targeted. I think Joan's idea could be on point, but with that ballistics evidence, DNA evidence, footprint evidence, it's very difficult for me to believe that we can't solve this case.

Joanne, how has this affected your life? Sometimes you have an event in your life that happens and you look at life as before and after. Usually it's marriage or having children or grandchildren. For me, it's the death of my parents. It gives you a whole new perspective on life. You treasure relationships more and worry less about little things. It's very difficult. It's very difficult to live with. The last 18 and a half years in many ways have been just hell. I'm lucky to have my faith and that has helped me in many moments, but it's been tremendously difficult and difficult not only

for me but for my entire family, for my husband, for my siblings, for their families as well. It's been devastating. Tom Green, you stated the footprints went off into the woods, into a trail. What was on the other end of that trail? Well, that trail actually crosses the Mount Rose Highway and it's a hiking trail. It's a common hiking trail. It's called the Galena Creek Trail. And a lot of people use it in biking, walking, dog walking. I would also note that, you know, we brought in the FBI pretty early on and asked their behavioral sciences unit to send out a team and they did. And we met with that team and they developed a neighborhood canvas questionnaire under the theory that somebody in the neighborhood may know something. And so we canvassed a lot of homes and we did a DNA dragnet where we DNA swabbed everybody that we could think

of. If they sat still long enough and would tolerate it, we swabbed them. Was another bedroom tampered with? We're not sure. I will tell you this, that there was a bed. She's such a housekeeper that all of the beds, everything that wasn't used was covered with a sheet. And in the upstairs bedroom, a sheet was pulled back as if somebody was potentially checking to see if someone else was in bed. That sheet was submitted for evidence and testing was done on it. They were not able to get any kind of forensic results from that. Dr. Eason, obviously, this is not a murder-suicide. Could you explain how we know that? Number one, the gun's not there. There was no gun found at the scene. And so if this was a situation where somebody shot the other individual and then shot his or herself,

there would still be a gun at the scene and there was not. The other way to find out is that during the actual autopsy, both of them supposedly had multiple gunshot wounds. And so it would be, it's possible to commit suicide with multiple gunshot wounds, but it's usually going to be a single gunshot wound and the wound's going to be contact. After the autopsies were done, the death certificates would have been signed and the manner of death would have been homicide for

both. And so if this was a homicide-suicide situation, then one of the death certificates would have said suicide. That's not what we had. And those are the main reasons why this is not consistent with a homicide-suicide. It's a double homicide. Washoe County sheriffs believe new tips hold the answer to the question of who killed Joan and Albert Misalo. Sergeant Urban West says the key must lie outside of the 17 binders of evidence in the case, as too many good investigators have poured over it to have missed something. Detectives are asking the public to look back and try to remember if anyone made odd comments or had a noticeable shift in behavior

after that fateful frosty March night. We continue to sporadically get secret witness tips that may point us in a direction and we immediately follow up on every lead. It is my hope that I will know what happened before I leave this earth. And I certainly don't want my children or my nieces and nephews to face the killer after I'm gone. And I hope that someone will come forward with whatever information they have, no matter how small, no matter how much it may seem insignificant, to help us to solve this. I think it's really important, first of all, to go along with what Joanne said, which is help this family to get some answers because they have lived with this for too long. And obviously Tom has as well.

Nobody wants to die not understanding what happened to your parents or your grandparents. Someone somewhere knows something. They may not have the knowing that you're 100% positive, but you have an inkling, you have a suspicion, you have a feeling. And that's all we need. The police need a nudge in the right direction, and the science will do the rest of it.

Just a nudge. And that's what I hope for. And as far as what Joanne said, if Joanne leaves this earth before I do, I will persist, and I will be there. I don't care if I'm 85 years old, even though I already look 85. I will be there to see this, whoever did this, go through a trial and have justice served. So, you know, it seems like yesterday that I sat in Joanne's living room and had a family meeting about this case. And I can't believe it's been 18 and a half years. Wow. If you know or think you know anything about the brutal murders of these two beautiful people, Albert and Joan Masalo, please, we ask that you call 775-328-3320. Repeat, 775-328-3320.

Nancy Grace, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.