Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - ZONE 7 : The Photo, the Killer, and the Woman Who Got Away - Georgia Durante |

Episode Date: October 26, 2025

Listen to Zone 7 on all podcast platforms: https://link.podtrac.com/Zone7 In this episode of Zone 7, Sheryl McCollum welcomes back Georgia Durante, whose remarkable life story took another unbelievable turn. While watching a true crime documentary, Georgia did not expect to see her photograph among evidence connected to convicted serial killer Joseph Naso. Sheryl and Georgia discuss how that moment unfolded, how it ties to the unsolved “Alphabet Killer” cases in Rochester, New York, and the shocking realization that Georgia once worked with a man who would later be convicted of multiple murders. Georgia also reflects on her plan to confront him in prison, and why she believes she might have been “the one who got away.” Guest Bio and Links: Georgia Durante is a former model, getaway driver for the mob, and author of The Company She Keeps. Her modeling career began at the age of 12, and by 17 she was one of America’s most recognizable faces as the "Kodak Girl.” After escaping an abusive marriage and a life tied to organized crime, Georgia rebuilt herself as one of Hollywood’s most sought-after stunt drivers. Listeners can learn more about Georgia at her website https://www.georgiadurante.com/ or on Facebook @GeorgiaDurante.   The Company She Keeps by Georgia Durante Watch the 2025 docuseries Death Row Confidential: Secrets of a Serial Killer on Prime Video or Oxygen. Missed Georgia Durante’s first Zone 7 episode? The Company She Keeps | Georgia Durante   Highlights: (0:00) Sheryl welcomes back Georgia Durante to Zone 7 (2:30) "They pulled this picture out of the ground that the serial killer had buried, and it was my picture.” Watching a documentary and realizing she is part of the case (3:15) Modeling for a photographer who turned out to be serial killer Joseph Naso (7:00) Potential links between Naso and the unsolved “Alphabet Killer” murders in Rochester, New York (13:00) "I think it was chicken soup that saved my life.” (18:45) The stunned detective’s reaction: “I’m so thankful you’re still living.” (20:30) Planning a prison interview with Joseph Naso, and Sheryl shares that retired FBI agent and profiler Julia Cowley has agreed to help Georgia find answers (26:15) Sheryl closes with a quote from Joseph Naso’s 2013 trial   Enjoying Zone 7? Leave a rating and review. Your feedback helps others find the show and supports our mission to educate and investigate. --- Sheryl “Mac” McCollum is an Emmy Award-winning CSI, a writer for CrimeOnline, forensic and crime scene expert for Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, and co-author of the textbook Cold Case: Pathways to Justice. She is the founder and director of the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute, a national collaboration that advances techniques for solving cold cases and assists families and law enforcement with unsolved homicides, missing persons, and kidnappings.   Social Links: Email: [e-mail] Twitter: @ColdCaseTips Facebook: @sheryl.mccollum Instagram: @officialzone7podcast See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Zone 7 welcomes back, Georgia Durante. Y'all remember Georgia? She's the former wheelman of the mob, former model, and former stunt car driver for TV and the movies. She has had a fascinating life. But tonight, she joins us with an unbelievable story, an addition to her life that you are not going to believe. Y'all, it ain't like her life wasn't already interesting, okay?

Georgia had to go and make it even more just shocking. So you know, when there's a new true crime documentary and you plan your whole evening around it, You get your snacks ready, you put your phone on mute, you snuggle up with your dog, you tell your friends and family that, hey, we're going to be in a group chat, we're going to talk about this new documentary. That's what Georgia was doing. Just relaxing, watching a serial killer show like we all do. Georgia, tell them what happened.

Well, got my jammies on, got all ready to watch a good crime show. It was called, um, Rethro Confidential Secrets of a serial killer. I had taped it the week before, so I wouldn't miss it, you know? So anyway, I get in bed, turn the TV on after a long day, and they're showing how this serial killer had killed 26 women, and they were trying to figure out, I guess he had a cellmate or a guy that used to,

to meet him for lunch in the yard every day. And he started telling him about all the murders that he committed. And this guy took notes. And as soon as he got back to his cell, he wrote down everything that he said. He didn't miss anything. After 10 years of taking these notes, he gets a hold of the cold case detective and turns the notes over to him so he can try. to match these victims up to, you know, who they knew was missing, right?

So all of a sudden, they pulled this picture out of the ground that the serial killer had buried. And it was my picture. And they thought I was a victim, and they were trying to figure out which victim I was. Now, George, hold on. Hold on. Just telling you, that's one of those things like, the call is coming from inside the house. I mean, here you are at home, in the bed, lights are out, snuggled in, and you're looking at your own photograph. Yeah, it was, and the thing was is that he, this guy, he was a photographer, his name was Joseph Nassau.

he hired me 50 years ago and he had me out in the woods and he took this picture and blew it up to an 11 by 14 and he buried it's the only picture he buried and now I'm thinking why didn't he kill me he had me in the woods you know the only thing I could think of he kind of chose women that were prostitutes and drug addicts and you know women that wouldn't necessarily be missed and at that time I was the Kodak girl I was on TV every day I was like in the newspapers you know doing ads and so maybe I was too maybe by killing me would bring more attention to him definitely that would definitely have happened yes no question now let me ask you do you remember this photo shoot? I don't remember the shoot, but I remember the outfit and I remember him. I remember his face. I mean, I can see having a conversation with him. I mean, he's that, that familiar.

Yeah. But I don't actually remember the actual shoot or why we were shooting anything because he wasn't a Kodak photographer. He wasn't one of the photographers, you know, that were, you know, that they were always there that you always worked for, you know. And another reason could be Rochester Institute of Technology where it was a photography school. Sometimes the students would call because they want to build up their portfolio and I would model for them. Could have been that. Or I had a nightclub with my husband at the time and he could have come in there. I could have met him there.

And that would be another reason why he wouldn't do anything. Because my husband was a mob guy. That's right. He knew that. He'd be taking his life at his own hands, right? That's right. So you do remember, though, because I've seen the photographs, and the photographs are beautiful. You're clearly in the woods, like remotely.

And, you know, you didn't really know this person. How crazy is it that you're the only photograph? He's driving me crazy. It really is. Now, this was on the Oxygen Channel. Dick Wolf's production company did this. And they're asking me if I would like to do a follow-up. They would do another episode talking about just what we're talking about, you know. And I said to them, I want to go into the prison. I want to see this guy face to face and I want to ask him why he didn't kill me. Right on. Because I got to know. I really got, am I going to, for the rest of my life, I'm going to wonder, you know? That's right. Yeah, no, I think you absolutely need to meet with him.

And you know what I thought, because, you know, I read a little bit about him and he's got a pretty big ego. So the first thing I would say when I walk in is, hey, Joe, remember me? that's right and you know he kept diaries so there could be some information about you that maybe hasn't been released yet that's in those diaries well see this is another thing that they're discovering by the diaries at that time back in like the 72 73 um we had a serial killer in Rochester. And this guy was killing women with the same initials, like Darlene Drennan, Carol, Comer, you know, they had the same first and last initials. They dubbed him the alphabet killer, but they never caught him. Now, they always suspected him, but they never had proof that it was

him. Then he moved to California's where he did all the rest of the murders. A couple in Las Vegas, too. So anyway, now with the guy's notes, he is talking about different things that he did in Rochester where he picked up these girls and everything. So now, you know, they're opening up that whole case again back in Rochester. Absolutely. Because he did live there at the time. You're absolutely right. And, you know, just in case everybody is not completely clear that he did, in fact, take pictures of you, I do want to mention, not only did he have this photograph, that he took the time to put in some kind of encasement, like a jar that he buried, which has taken even more time to make sure that he, you know, would know where this was decades

later, he had the negatives from the photo shoot. He had pictures of hundreds. He had pictures of hundreds of girls. But mine was the only one that he blew up and buried. Your photo shoot happened between 1970 and 1971, somewhere in that period of time. Or 72. Yeah. Or 72. Okay. And you know, if you do get to meet with him, if he will meet with you, he may remember. It may shock you how much he remembers about you. Well, I was going to just bring like a small photograph of what he buried if he didn't remember and show it to him and that would spark his memory for sure. But also, you know, because he's got such a large ego,

I was going to, I don't know. I may have just charmed him. I don't know. Maybe I was, I killed him with kindness or something. But I'm going to say to him, if I do have the opportunity to meet him, I'm going to say, you know, Joe, you're 92. two years old. He said, you're going to die soon. I said, don't you want to go out on top? I mean, Ted Bundy killed 36 women. Gacy killed 38. Don't you want to like add them up a little

bit and, you know, let's talk about those. The Rochester, the Rochester murders. Come on, I was there. No, I think that's valid. But you know what it could be. It could be. You could be you were the most famous person he ever photographed. I mean, you were super famous. You did Kodat, but you also did Virginia Slim. You did other commercials that were huge in the 70s. Yeah. Well, the biggest thing in the 70s was the life-size cutout of the summer girl poster

that was in all the camera stores and drug stores all over the world. right so i mean you had to be the most famous person he ever took a picture of maybe i don't know he had a lot of pictures there but was anybody else somebody you knew was anybody else a major that's what i'm thinking no he used to put ads in the paper in california for for models and people would answer the ads and that's how he got most of the girls but I just I'm still flabbergasted I can't even you don't know what I can't even you don't know what it's like no you've got to be TV and seeing your picture and they think you're a victim oh it's horrible it's horrible I found to me it would be a little I don't know it would freak me out to think

this guy had a picture of me that he blew up and he buried and Lord Knowles What else he kept, I mean, he kept the negatives, but I mean, maybe he had other pictures that he carried in his wallet. Who knows what he did? What I did was I tried to find that cold case detective, and I figured out what his name was, and I googled him, and I found his website, and I emailed him, and I said, the woman that you think is a victim from Mount Tam is me. I said, that is me. That is not who you think it is. Because what they did, they did a facial recognition, and they came up with this other girl who didn't look anything like that picture, right?

And so I said, your facial recognition is not working. It is not that girl. But he said the next episode that they aired last Saturday was they showed that picture to the mother of that victim, and she said that was not her daughter. But, you know, but it's still a mystery. They haven't answered the question of who this woman is. So if they do this other series, they've got to get the green light from oxygen to go ahead and do it. Then they'll be able to explain about that picture.

Well, you know, you're right. His other victims were sex workers. They were strangled and they were dumped in rural areas, the same type of area he. photographed you in. Another interesting thing was somebody sent me an article of one of the girls that he didn't kill. He was photographing her and she said she actually testified in his trial. But when he was photographing her, she said, you know, he started out very nice and pleasant and then he had a pair of socks with a hole in it and wanted me to wear. And when I refused to wear him, that's when he got like a little aggressive and his whole tone changed.

And I guess they were filming in her apartment. And so she made him some homemade chicken soup. She said, he loved that soup. He was so happy to have that soup. And she said, I think it was the chicken soup that saved my life. And then I thought, huh, I actually, and I could. I couldn't remember what photographer it was, but he had a studio set up in his apartment, and we did a shoot. And when we were done shooting, he was making this potato recipe, and he taught me how to make it.

And every time I make it, I always think of this guy, but I can't remember who it was. But that could have been him. That could have been maybe she gave him chicken soup. I gave him chicken soup for the soul, you know. Well, the good thing is if he is, you know, the alphabet killer, your initials didn't match. You didn't have the same first and last initials that might have helped too. Because, you know, when he's confessing to these 26 women, even in his diary, there's 10 women that are unnamed. And then he's got these photographs that are horrible that they're trying to match up to see who are these

victims, can we put a name to any of the faces? Right. And that was just the 10 that he said were his top 10. They weren't just the 10. That's right. That's right. Well, listen, you know, you and I can sit here and talk all night about why we think he did what he did. But I would be putting a lot of my experience in education and I'd be guessing. But I did reach out. But I did reach out to my buddy, Julia Cowley, Julia is a retired FBI profiler. And she has a podcast called The Consult. And it's a group of friends and they're all FBI trained profilers. And they're going to look at this for you to give you a solid answer. Oh, God, that would be great. Won't that be wonderful? Yeah. And let me tell you, she's so smart. Oh, my gosh. When I tell you, she's one of the

smartest people I've ever worked on a case with. She's got information and insight like nobody else. And hopefully she can put a little bit of your trepidation to rest. She can maybe tell you that he was in love with you, didn't want to kill you, who knows. But we're going to let her take it from here. But, you know, I think you and I, we need to get in the truck and drive up to the prison. Yeah. I think you walking in there. I think it would do you. you a lot of good. Yeah. Now, they said they can't bring the cameras in there. And if we did, he wouldn't talk. If it was just me one-on-one with him, he may open up. Yeah, I think it needs to be just you, not for TV. I think it needs to be for you, only you, by you. Is there anything

else they have told you about him that made you have a memory, made you think, hey, wait a minute. is where he took me in the woods, where he dropped a body, or did he get you to drive your own car and meeting there? Did he pick you up and take you? How did that happen, or do you just not remember at all? I don't remember at all. But I would usually, I would usually, you know, meet them at the location, whatever, you know. But I think what I'm holding there is cornstalks, like the end of the season, you know,

how they just, that's what it looks like to me. Looks like cornstalks. Well, the pictures are gorgeous. I'm going to tell you that. Oh, thanks, honey. But, I mean, something kind of freaky about it now, isn't it? Yes. Well, when you were doing all the work with Kodak and all the other things you were doing in the TV and the movies,

I guess for me, there's such a, I have to go back in my head. And again, I'm going to let Julia, you know, do her thing. But I can't imagine if, in fact, you were the most famous person that he ever dealt with and privately got to, you know, have you in a photo shoot and kept those negatives and, you know, took it a step further. To me, maybe, hopefully, you were more like the unattainable. You were married. You were married to a mobster. So he wasn't going to be able to get to you anyway.

you weren't going to leave your husband for him. It wasn't like he could really stand a shot with you. So maybe it just stayed in this, you know, she was, you know, the one I chased. She's the one I fantasized about, but was never going to hurt you. The one that got away. The one that got away. Yes. Yeah, I mean, straight up.

I mean, that to me is what it almost sounds like, you know. Now, you sent an email and the detective did. call you back. Yes. And he was like just flabbergasted. He said, oh my God. He says, you have no idea how many nights I've been up trying to figure out who you were. He said, I am so thankful you're still living. And it's something. That is unbelievable. And you know, this is a good lesson for people. When you're doing a show or you're working a cold case, you don't ever know. know who you might freak out or upset, you know? So, you know, it's a good lesson, I think, for all of us just to say, hey, do you know this person instead of putting it, you know,

hey, we think she's dead, you know. Yeah. Yeah. It could have been a little gentler. Wow. Well, it was so bizarre. But you know what? All of my friends say, only you. Only you. Only you. Only you. Yep, only you. Because I'll tell you, even when I first heard your story, you know, years and years ago, I'm like, man, you know, the 14-year-old me was so jealous. If I could have driven a car for the mob, I mean, unbelievable. And then to become a stunt car driver, I mean, I don't think there's anything cooler.

Max and I were talking about that right before you came on. And even Max was like, yeah, I mean, driving through fire, skidding on a, you know, wet road. doing a 360, jumping a ramp. I mean, it just sounds like heaven. And again, your life has been so just out of this world fascinating. And you think, well, that's it. You know, I've done all that cool stuff. And then bam.

Just when I thought it was over, right? Yep. You were just going to have a quiet little, you know, nope, not Georgia, honey. So again, with George. Julia, what I think they're going to be able to help you understand is they will be able to get into his head. They will understand his pattern. They will understand how he selected victims. And they will be able to give you some solid answers.

That would be so fantastic. Are you going to let her listen to this show so she can go from there or what? Yes. I actually invited her to be with us tonight, but she couldn't. She had a prior engagement. And so what's going to probably happen? I'm just going to give it to her, and then probably what you'll do is have an episode on her podcast, where they can have you on and then break down everything they did to explain it to everybody. Yeah, that would be great.

I know, and we can listen to it on the way to the prison. Yeah, you're going to come with me for sure. Oh, no doubt. I'm driving. Are you kidding? And I'm going to wait out there and just be on pins and needles until you get out. out, but absolutely. I'm going with you. There's no doubt about it. But I'll tell you something, Georgia, I have always admired you. And, you know, part of the thing that's happening now,

I know this was scary. I know this was one of those things that you're a biarrhythms changed, you know, but you handled it like you've handled everything with such good humor with grace and just saying, hey, I'm going to confront this head on. I mean, let's sit with him. I mean, I think that's just a testament to who you are. Well, everybody's telling me, don't do it. Don't go there. You know, these people have people on the outside or there's copycats and stuff like that. You know, that doesn't faze me at all.

Listen, he worked alone. Ain't nobody thinking about him. He has nobody on the outside. He doesn't. That I can flat tell you. I mean, nobody's, he has no power. The power sits with you. and the only reason for you to go there and sit with him is for your own just comfort

and just being aware that, okay, this happened, I just want to know why. What were you thinking? I honestly think he will tell you. I do. I think so. I think he will. I don't know if he'll open up about the murders back then, but I think he will tell me that. If anybody can get him to talk, it's going to be you.

Because listen, my granddaddy used to tell us. If you want to know whether or not a boy likes you, pay attention to what he does and doesn't do. If he's not going out of his way to call you or come see you or remember your birthday, it'll be obvious. He took extra steps to preserve your picture that he blew up. To me, and again, I'm going to let Julia do her thing, but to me, when a man takes extra steps, that's important. So I wouldn't ignore that fact. And buried it. And buried it.

And buried it. And buried it. Well, it could be. Now, listen now, I will say this. I feel two ways about it. It does kind of freak me out on one hand. But on the other hand, there are people that bury money. They bury treasure.

They bury things that are important to them. They bury things they want to keep and have them be pristine. So, again, I'm going to let Julia do her thing. but it could be, again, because of the way he felt about you. Well, I'll be interested. I'll be interested in to see how she breaks us all apart and puts it all together. Oh, me too, me too. And again, that's why I don't want to guess.

I don't want to give you my two cents because, I mean, that's about worth two cents. I want Julia and company to take a look at it because then again, you will have solid, definitive, factual information. well i really appreciate that that's really super good doing that all right i appreciate you and we're going to make plans to get up to the prison and when we get off here we'll start picking a date okay well i appreciate you so much and you just you know this is going to be such an asterisk to your book it's crazy october 1st they're going to amazon hulu and one other and then on the 20th is going to be Netflix.

So just keep your fingers crossed that one of them, pick it up, and this will be another episode. Well, I've told you for years it's got to be, and this one is going to be one of those episodes. People are like, no way. You've got to be kidding. But nope, it happened because, honey, when you called me, I had not watched it.

I hadn't seen this documentary. And when you first called me and you were like, you're not going to believe this. I'm sitting there. I'm watching this true crime documentary about a serial killer, and then my picture pops up. I'm like, wait a minute, what? Like, I couldn't even process what you were telling me because it was just unbelievable.

But hey, here's the other cool thing. With one of the possible crimes, you solved it. That's right. I did solve that part of the puzzle for sure. You did. This is not a cold case because, you know, when we ever, anytime we ever have a call out, the first thing we have to do is determine whether a crime has been committed. So the very first step in investigation, you did it.

No crime here. Perfect. Y'all, I'm going to end zone seven the way that I always do with a quote. I am not the monster that killed these women. I dated. I danced. I took pictures. But I don't kill people.

And there's no evidence of that. Joseph Nazo representing himself at trial in 2013. I'm Cheryl McCollum, and this is Zone 7.