Criminology - Danielle Imbo and Richard Petrone

Episode Date: July 10, 2022

On February 19th, 2005, 35-year-old Richard Petrone and 34-year-old Danielle Imbo went out on a casual night out on South Street in Philadelphia PA, and on the way back to Danielle's home in Mt Laurel, NJ they vanished, and have never been seen since. There have been many theories and a lot of speculation about what happened to the pair but to date, the authorities have not been able to solve the mystery. Join Mike and Morf as they discuss the mysterious disappearance of Danielle Imbo and Richard Petrone. Many people have been suspicious of Danielle's soon-to-be ex-husband Joe Imbo but he appeared to have a solid alibi. The authorities have since come out and expressed suspicion of their own. Much of the speculation centers around the possibility that a hit was ordered on Danielle. Some even believe that it was the mob that carried it out. You can help support the show at patreon.com/criminology An Emash Digital production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey there, it's Wayfair here, where delivery and setup are as easy as a few taps on your phone. You're relaxing in an old hammock, scrolling Wayfair's app, when you spot it, a brand new patio set. Next thing you know, Wayfair delivers it right to your patio and sets it up. Oh, you need a new grill, too? All right, Wayfair's got you covered. With Wayfair's room of choice delivery and fast experts set up on qualifying orders, life gets a little easier. Visit Wayfair.com or the Wayfair app. Wayfair, every style, every home. If you love chilling mysteries, unsolved cases, and a touch of mom-style humor,

Moms and Mysteries is the podcast you've been searching for. Hey guys, I'm Mandy. And I'm Melissa. Join us every Tuesday for Moms and Mysteries, your gateway to gripping, well-researched true crime stories. Each week, we deep dive into a variety of mind-boggling cases as we shed light on everything from heist to whodunit. We're your go-to podcast for Mysteries with a Motherly Touch. Subscribe now to Moms and Mysteries wherever you get your podcast.

Morbidology is a weekly true crime podcast hosted by me, Emily G. Thompson, author of Unsolved Child Murders, Unsolved Murders, Cults Uncovered, and Mysteries Uncovered. 911. I'm not one emergency. I just shot my husband. I need an ambulance. He's bleeding. Each week on Morbidology, I uncover a new true crime case using investigative research combined with source audio. I just snatched it from her to my side. I just hit her with it. Morvidology is a victim-focused podcast that mostly covers cases that aren't widely documented in mainstream media.

I also like to take an in-depth look at any systemic failures which had a part to play in the crime. Do you know why you're here? For a homeless Beijing run terribly wrong. Listen to Morbidology across all podcast platforms. Criminology is a true crime podcast that may contain discussion about violent or disturbing topics. Listener discretion is advised. Everyone and welcome to episode 214 of the criminology podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson.

I'm Mike Morford. Mr. Morford, what's going on with you? How was your fourth man? It was great. I had good time with the family and friends and just hung out and over to it a little bit and went a little bit wild. How about you? Yeah, same.

I definitely over eight. And I got some emails from people saying, hey, I'm recovering. I ate too much. So I think that kind of goes with the territory. A lot of hamburgers, hot dogs, a lot of sweets, which I have to be careful about because, you know, I have diabetes. So, but, you know, they're sitting there, man. What are you going to do? Yeah, I mean, it's a fourth of July.

You got to treat yourself. And we planned on being out there for, you know, three or four hours. And the next thing you know, we're packing it up at like 1 a.m. It's like a little bit overboard. Yeah, everything overboard. But that's okay, right? Every now and then, as long as you don't. do it every single day. Everything in moderation. Yeah, exactly. Let's go ahead and give our Patreon

shoutouts. We had Jada Baby Cakes, Lauren Kelly, Megan Smith, and Kaylee Curry. So that's a lot of great new support. We really appreciate it. Yeah, thanks to everyone for taking the time to support the show. It means a lot. We can't thank you enough. For anyone that would like to help support criminology, you can do so by going to patreon.com slash criminology. All right, buddy. Let's go ahead and jump into this episode and we have a bit of a head scratcher of a missing person's case this week. And I don't know if I should say it that way more. I mean, really, if you think about it, every missing person's case is a head scratcher. But on February 19th, 2005, 35 year old Richard Petron and 34 year old Danielle Imbo went out on a casual

night out on South Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. And on the way back to Danielle's home in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, which is about 20 miles away, they vanished. And they have not been seen since. I know more if this was a case in your neck of the woods when you live there in South Jersey, you're familiar with it. Yeah, I think like you, we've covered cases in Ohio. And when something's close to home, it's sort of, you sort of get a little bit inspired to look into it a little bit more. and some of the locations we're going to be talking about were in my neck of the woods. My wife worked in Mount Laurel.

I worked close to it. I worked with a guy that was friends with Danielle. So it's it kind of hits home when something you have a direct firsthand or secondhand connection is like it. And it's close to home. You spend a little bit more time thinking about it. Yeah, I get a lot of emails from people after we do cases. and when a case comes up that, you know, let's say is in their hometown, that's when I get the emails from people saying, wow, I didn't know. Either they didn't know about it and they're

shocked that they didn't know about it or they were listening to the episode and we were talking about, let's say, locations, stores, things like that. And these are places that these people drive by every day. So, you know, it hits them differently is what I get from. a lot of people. Yeah, it's always surprising when you hear from people that are right there going through those areas and they've never heard of the case because you just assume that everyone in that area is familiar with it. But a lot of times, people aren't for whatever reason. So it's always interesting when you have that. So I think before we get into the mysterious disappearance of Richard and Danielle, we've got to take a look at their backstory a little bit. Danielle had a crush

on Richard way back in the day when they were in high school. Richard was Danielle's best friend, Christine's older brother. But Danielle ended up with someone else. So they never actually wound up dating back then. Danielle got married and divorced. And then she got remarried to a man named Joe Embo. Together they had a son. But their three-year marriage fell apart.

Danielle and Joe separated. supposedly because he had an affair after their son was born and wasn't around for Danielle. Following the separation, Daniel ended up talking to Richard Petron again, who by this point had a teenage daughter of his own from an old relationship. The two hit it off, getting along just like they used to. They had a lot in common since Richard, who managed his family's bakery, was a single parent, and Danielle, who was a mortgage loan processor, was about to beat one. Even their mothers were friends.

things seem to be going great. But as we know, separations and divorces can often be complicated. There's a lot of emotions there, and it can be hard to navigate dating life again. This was especially true for Danielle because her husband Joe reportedly wanted to get back together with her, but she apparently was ready to move on. Sometime in early 2005, Danielle did let Joe come over to her home in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, where she had moved to after the separation. but they got into a big fight. Danielle claimed that Joe smashed Little Joe's high chair on the wall or possibly had thrown it at the wall from the vague descriptions of the incidents that were available. But Joe denied that this event ever happened. Following the incident, Danielle's brother,

John changed the locks for Danielle. After that, she was even more determined not to go back to her estranged husband. But she actually broke things off with Richard Petron as well because she wanted to focus on her 18-month-old son. It seemed as though she felt like she just didn't need that added stress of the relationship. Richard Petron reluctantly agreed that they stopped dating. And being a parent himself, he understood and respected Danielle's decision. Danielle and Richard stopped talking altogether. But after about five weeks on February 19, 2005, Richard was at a bar in South Philadelphia by himself.

He texted his sister Christine an invite to go out for drink that night. She declined, but she happened to be at lunch at that moment with Danielle and both of their mothers. Christine told Daniel about the invite, and Danielle agreed to go out with Richard that night. It wasn't a serious date, it was just a fun night out with a friend. They weren't even going to stay out late either, since Richard had custody of his 14-year-old daughter the next day and had to pick her up early. It would be a quick night out on Philadelphia's famous South Street and then home to bed. Danielle was dropped off at Abilene's bar on South Street in Philadelphia to meet Richard and two of his friends. The group had a few drinks and listened to the band that was playing.

There was nothing unusual about the night out at around 11.45 p.m. Richard and Danielle said their goodbyes to Richard's friends and headed out into the cold February night. They didn't have a far walk, though, to Richard's truck, as he had told one of his friends at the bar that he got really lucky with his parking spot, which is a big thing because finding a parking spot on the busy South Street in that area was sometimes a very difficult thing to do. Richard didn't elaborate on how close to the bar the spot was, but his friends got the impression that it was very close. Richard's plan was to drive Danielle home and drop her off at her house in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, depending on the route they took and which bridge across the Delaware River they would cross, the drive should have taken a little more than half an hour, which was a good thing for both of them because each of them wanted to wake up early,

to go about their days and pick up their children. As far as anyone knows, just before midnight, the two got into Richards Black, 2001, Dodge Dakota pickup truck, and headed off. As we mentioned earlier, Daniel M. Bo and Richard Petron have never been seen since they walked out of Abilene's that night. Both of their families were worried by morning when they hadn't heard from them at all. Daniel didn't make a call to cancel her 11 a.m. hair salon appointment, and Richard didn't make it to watch the Daytona 500 with his friends. The lack of contact from both Daniel and Richard was out of character for them. Not only did Richard not show up to watch

the race, but he failed to pick up his daughter. Worried family members began to call both of them, and both of their cell phones were going straight to voicemail. Daniel's brother, John, went to Daniel's townhouse to check on her, but she wasn't there, and it didn't look like she had been there overnight. At 3 p.m., Joe Imbo arrived at Daniel's townhouse, ready to drop off their son, only to find Daniels' worried family there instead of her. It was only a 30-minute drive from Abilene's to Daniel's house. So why hadn't they made it to replace? And morph, to me, this is the point in a lot of the stories that we do, this point where people start to worry. And why do they worry? Normally, it's because people are doing things or not doing things that they should be. You know, when you look at Richard,

okay, he doesn't meet up with his buddies to watch the Daytona 500. Out of character, sure. Would they have been a little concerned? Yeah, probably. Would they have called the police? No. But Richard doesn't pick up his daughter. That's where, you know, you get into the area of, okay, now this is very worrisome. Yeah, I think by all accounts, they were both responsible parents and wouldn't have just chucked their responsibility, their duty to go home and take care of their kids.

and by all accounts they were planning on doing that. That's why they had an early night planned. And I think it was also troubling to see that both of their phones were going straight to voicemail, another sign that something might be wrong. Yeah, that's a good point. I mean, we're so used to it being able to, you know, get in touch with someone on their cell phone, pretty much anytime we want to. Police were quickly summoned to investigate the disappearance.

They knew that Richards Black, 2001 Dodge Dakota with Pennsylvania plate YFH-2319 that he was presumably driving that night might be the biggest piece of the puzzle. They surveyed traffic cams and video surveillance in the areas along bridges that the truck might have crossed or most likely would have crossed on the way into New Jersey, but neither the couple nor the vehicle were apparently spotted in any of the footage. this day, the truck has never been found. None of what Danielle was wearing or had with her that night has turned up either. She regularly wore three silver rings and had her purse with her the night she

vanished. As police began to investigate, they couldn't help but notice that Danielle was separated from Joe Mbo and that they were not on the best of terms. It didn't take long for police to wonder if an ex or soon-to-be ex-husband, such as Joe Mbo, might be jealous of Danielle spending time with another man. And I think you see this in many, many cases more, you know, the suspicion quickly turned to him. And I think it often does, whether it's current husband, current spouse, ex-spouse, soon-to-be-ex, they are going to be looked at when someone vanished. Yeah, I think it's understandable that police looked closely at Joe Imbo, but they quickly established that he had a solid alibi, though. He had been at a crowded party in Tom's River, New Jersey,

the night that Daniel and Richard vanished, and after the party, was home with a friend where he spent the whole night, 50 miles away from Abilene's bar in Philly. Reportedly, some of the witnesses that placed Joe Inbo at the party were police officers. So with Joe Inbo apparently in the clear, police turned their attention elsewhere. But they couldn't find out of the police. find anyone in either Daniels or Richard's circles that may have had a motive to harm them. Please consider the possibility that perhaps Richard and Danielle were the victims of an attack while they made their way to Richard's truck after leaving the bar. But Richard was a solid 200 pounds.

He was not the smallest guy. And he wasn't alone. So, you know, when you think about it in those terms, someone would have to overpower both Richard and Danielle, which would definitely be more difficult. It's not as common to see two people abducted at the same time. But it wasn't just two people that were missing. Richards Dodge Dakota was also no place to be found. And to me, this is a big part of the story.

A truck doesn't just disappear. Even if there's been a robbery or an abduction, someone would have to make the truck disappear. Christian Zajak, an assistant special agent in charge would later say it best when he told NJ.com a 3,000 pound truck and two individuals do not disappear without a trace. And I absolutely agree with him. Now, it might sound callous, but we know that people disappear. We know that individuals make other people disappear. Is it impossible to get rid of a truck? No, obviously it's not.

You, more of you and I have done so many cases. We've seen trucks buried or cars buried. We've seen them smashed in, in one of those compactors. So, I mean, there are ways to do it, but someone would have to go to a lot of trouble. Yeah, because even if they burned a car or parked it in the middle of the city at an airport, what have you, there's usually some sign of it. found at some point. So to not be found any place, it definitely seems like this truck has been buried or scrapped or perhaps in the water, but it doesn't seem like it's out there any place to be found. And I think we're going to talk a little bit more about that as we go along.

And that's why I said, you know, it might sound callous, but, you know, really, if you think about it, it's easier to get rid of a person to hide a person than it is a big truck. The case quickly went cold due to a lack of evidence, motives, and suspects. Some people wondered if Daniel and Richard disappeared on purpose to start a new life together, but there was no evidence of this being the case, and everyone that knew them said they would have never abandoned their kids. There's been no activity in any of their bank accounts, on any of the debit or credit cards in their names,

and all of their cell phone activity assigned. stopped. In April 2005, investigators clarified that this was not one of the theories they were looking at as plausible. Remembering that little Joe was supposed to be dropped off at Danielle's, her brother dismissed any theory of his sister starting a new life telling phillymag.com, she wouldn't have missed that. No way. And to me, this is one of the theories that often comes up in a disappearance case. With this example, you know, like with many others, There's no evidence. I mean, when you start looking at no bank card activity, no bank account activity,

no cell phone activity, okay, how are you going to start a new life with absolutely no money? That would make it very difficult. But to me, the biggest thing is why would they need to start a new life? You know, they weren't in trouble. That's the part that, you know, to me really makes this. this theory just absolutely fall apart. There was no reason for them to need to go on the run, and they wouldn't have left their kids behind.

And we know sometimes that people do leave their kids behind, but overwhelmingly I think it's clear that most parents would never leave their kids behind. That's the one thing that they couldn't picture as a parent, not having your children in your life. And by all accounts, they were both good parents. So that seemed to be something that the family knew right away. there's just no chance of that. Richard Petron and Danielle Imbo

certainly could have been the victims of a violent crime. After all, Philadelphia has long had more than its fair share of crime, much of it violent, but there's simply no evidence to back that up. Police have considered the possibility that Danielle and Richard were the victims of some type of accident. But there's no clear evidence to back that theory up either.

To get from Philadelphia to Daniel's home in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, there are a few different routes that the pair could have taken one way or another. They would have had to cross a bridge. The nearest bridge that they could have taken is the Ben Franklin Bridge, which crosses the Delaware River and would have taken them along Camden, New Jersey. And I can tell you from living in South Jersey and taking that same bridge many times that most people would not want to wind up in Camden, New Jersey after midnight. For many years, it was no secret that Camden was a city that was known for its violent crimes, one that rivals Philadelphia across the river.

That being said, barring a wrong turn, the highway on the New Jersey side of the Ben Franklin only skirts Camden, and they likely wouldn't have gone through the city of Camden itself. If they headed a bit south of the bar, Richard and Danielle would have had to cross the Delaware using the Walt Whitman Bridge. Going a bit further north than the Ben Franklin Bridge, they could have used the Betsy Ross Bridge. There are even more bridges that they could have used, but the three closest bridges make the most sense,

with the Ben Franklin being the most direct and closest to the bar. It's possible they wanted to stop off for something on the way, maybe even stop at a scenic lookout point they liked. So they really could have used any bridge, but again, they've never been found on any surveillance footage from any of the bridges, but you have to consider an accident of some sort since they needed to cross the river to get to New Jersey. With so many bridges to drive over, many people have asked the question.

Could Danielle and Richard have been involved in an accident of some kind in which Richards Dakota went into the water? Maybe this is the reason they didn't make it to any toll plaza on a bridge because they went over the side. And I think for listeners, I can paint a little bit of a picture of that area. The roads leading to the bridges run sort of parallel with the river. But there are several different spots at the end of roads along the way that aren't always gated. It's very dark. So I could see a scenario where somehow they could go off the road into the river before they ever got to the bridge and not be seen. There wouldn't necessarily be damaged.

If they went off the bridge, for example, I think they'd be caught on surveillance, plus you'd see the damage on the bridge where their car went over. So if there was any kind of accident, it likely happened before they got to the bridge. In August 2005, authorities reportedly denied that a search of the Delaware River taking place had anything to do with Danielle and Richard. Instead, they mentioned the spot was commonly used to dispose of cars, whether to hide them because they were stolen. or to hide them because they weren't stolen and someone wanted the insurance money. During this search, nine cars were pulled out of the Delaware River and up to five more were visible but had to be left behind. When the search was ended due to weather conditions,

out of the vehicles that were recovered and the ones left behind in the river, none were thought to be a Dodge Dakota. Despite over a dozen cars being found in the water, police didn't find any evidence. related to Richards, Dodge, Dakota, or to Richard or Danielle. But the search was definitely warranted. Just a few months ago in March of this year, divers found the body of a man inside a submerged car

near the Ridley Township Marina in 24 feet of water, not far from where Danielle and Richard were last seen. James Amabil vanished in December 2003, along with his 2002 Ford Explorer. authorities believe he drove into the water and died accidentally and he stayed there until his vehicle and his body were recovered over 16 years later and more of i talked about you know harder to hide a vehicle than a body i still think that's true but one of the the places that a lot of people have hid vehicles over the years or where vehicles have been hid vehicles have been

hidden through an accident or something like that are some of these bigger rivers. Yeah, and I can think of plenty of cases too where people missing along with their cars over the years have been recovered, you know, sometimes decades after they went missing. So I think it's definitely a worthwhile effort to look in these bodies of water along the route that Richard and Danielle would have taken that thing. If Richard Truck went into the Delaware, there was no sign of it. No damaged guardrails or fences, no broken glass, no floating debris. But if the truck isn't in the water, it's even more odd.

That could point to the truck being scrapped or destroyed. As we mentioned, it was never seen on video surveillance. So whatever happened may have happened on the Pennsylvania side of the river. The truck was black and silver with a NASCAR sticker on the back, distinguishing it from other similar trucks. If it was taken to a chop shop, it still had to travel on roads near the bar. And there's still no explanation of it. how the vehicle ended up out of Richard's hands.

Could Richard and Daniel have been carjacked? Since we don't know exactly where Richard's truck was parked, when he arrived at the bar, it only adds to the mystery. Could the Dakota have been stolen and something happened to the pair separate of that event while trying to find it, or perhaps even while interrupting the car theft? There's no shortage of possibilities in this case, but unfortunately there is a shortage of clues to go on. Daniel's brother John told NJ.com,

From the minute they got out the door, no one knows if they turned left or right. Apparently, while there was surveillance video of the bridges in the area, footage from around the bar didn't help review. In the suburbs of D.C., a woman fails to show up for work and is found brutally murdered. I wonder what's emergency. We just walked in the door and there's blood in the foyer. For the next two decades, the case remained unsolved until new technology allowed investigators to do what had once been impossible.

A new series from ABC Audio in 2020. Blood and water. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts. The movements of the couple after they left the bar. As FBI Special Agent J.J. Claver explained to NBC, Philadelphia, when all the pieces of the puzzle are blank, there's nothing to put together. And I think more of that quote from the FBI special agent is very telling.

You know, basically saying we don't have any of the pieces of the puzzle. And when that's the case, obviously it's very tough, if not impossible, to put it together. It seems to be that the conclusion of the authorities is that they do not believe that Richard and Danielle were the victims of a random crime. Perhaps it's because of some of the things we've already talked about. More difficult to overpower two people. also more difficult to hide more than one body. And then there's the truck.

That would have to be hidden or disposed of. And really pretty quickly, if you think about it. It seems to rule out a random loan attacker trying to rob or carjack them. Despite earlier searches of the Delaware River, not yielding any clues in the case. Many people think that the answers to this mystery still lie there. There are at least a few different groups dedicated to searching for missing people, specifically out in the wilderness or in bodies of water. These are groups outside of law enforcement agencies,

and at least one of them plans to find Daniel Imbo and Richard Petron. Adventures with Purpose, an Oregon-based civilian search and rescue group, confirmed recently in May 2022 that they're still actively searching for the two, despite a search of multiple locations in the Delaware River in March, 2022 coming up empty. That same month, Adventures with Purpose spoke to someone with information about a possible point of entry. Just two days after Richard and Daniel disappeared, a man named Robert, who lived in Philadelphia, decided to stop at the Race Street pier under the Ben Franklin Bridge. He noticed that the gate of an old boat ramp was broken. He immediately thought that a car could have driven through there, smashing the gate.

This pier is just down the road from Abilene's, a mile and a half away, and also in the direction that they'd Richard and Daniel may have been headed. Still, for whatever reason, it appeared that the area just off the Ray Street pier had never been searched. I, too, have spoken to Robert personally, and he makes a strong case for this location being a possible point of entry for Richard's truck. Adventures with purpose found a boat, an old underwater pier, and a large block of concrete, but they didn't find any vehicles at all in that area of the water. They also searched the Skulkel River as part of an investigation of another case, hoping that they might find the pair there,

but found nothing connected to their case. So to try and paint a picture of what Robert was talking about, this area coming from the general direction of Abilene's heads down a road toward the Delaware River, at which point Richard would presumably make a left and head towards the bridge. Now, if he somehow didn't see a stop sign and didn't see a turn there because of it being dark in that area,

he may have driven through this gate that Robert was talking about and went straight into the river. So it is a good possible spot of where something could have happened along the way of an accident. Adventures with Purpose knows what they're doing as evidenced by their countless videos on their YouTube channel in which they post videos of underwater recoveries and dives for their 2.2 million followers. Jared Lysick, a member of Adventures with Purpose, told, MSN in March of this year that in regards to their search for Danielle and Richard, we're done with it for this year, but we're back again next year. The group took a road trip across the U.S. for 40 days to investigate at least 22 different

cases. This group Adventures with Purpose helped solve 11 missing person cases just in the fall of 2021. So perhaps if the secret to this case lies in the Delaware River, this is the team that might figure out what happened. But while some people continue to look to an accident in the water for answers, the FBI seems to be hinting that whatever happened to Richard and Danielle was no accident. According to the FBI's website, investigators have reason to believe that Richard Petron and Danielle Embo were victims of foul play. For the FBI to believe that it wasn't just an accident that ended in the water, there has to be something.

that they know. Agent Roselli told ABC 7, I'm confident that it was a murder, that there was foul play. And to me more, if that is a big statement for an agent to come out and tell that to a news organization, I definitely think it backs up that they have to know something. They have to have something that's fairly concrete in order to be willing to make that kind of statement. And obviously, they hold back a lot of stuff they don't share everything they know, but I agree with you. There'd be something pretty strong to make them that sure of it. In 2008, the FBI put forth a theory announcing that they were aggressively pursuing a scenario based on leads and tips they had received and added ominously, we're looking very closely at a murder-for-hire scenario. Many people

theorized that the person behind the murder-for-hire plot, if it really existed, was Joe Imbo, the guy with a cast iron alibi for the night of the disappearance. Some theory is that he had connections to the mob and called in a favor to have Daniel killed. After all, the mafia has long been known to make people vanish. While the mafia is sometimes responsible for murders of innocent people outside of their organization, those people usually aren't targeted unless they've wronged the mafia in some way. And as far as we know, there's no connections that would put Daniel or Richard in the crosshairs of the mob. If this theory that Joe Imbo called in a favor to have Daniel killed was true, it would mean that

the hitman would have had to follow her all the way to Philadelphia to commit this crime. But other people theorize that perhaps Richard and not Danielle was the intended target of murder for hire. People pointed out that due to his last name being Italian, that perhaps he was the target of a mob hit and that someone was actually stalking him and struck while he was with Danielle. I think it's unfortunate that people automatically jump to a mob connection of some sort when they hear about cases with Italian last names, as if everything is somehow connected to the mob. But just like everything else in this case, there's no clear evidence, at least that's publicly available, that points to that scenario. Police did look at some potential suspects that were not connected to organized crime. there were rumors that a man named Robert Carey might be responsible.

He was a drug dealer from Palmyra, New Jersey. And according to phillymag.com, he was the alleged leader of a Kensington area prescription pill ring. He was also said to have been a hitman. He took his own life in prison in 2010. And there were rumors that he left a note confessing to the murders of Danielle and Richard. He had been serving time in prison. for the attempted murder of a man who owed him money for drugs. However, people who were there to see the note deny that he even mentioned Danielle or Richard

in the note, though no connection has been found between the couple and Robert Carey, he has not been officially ruled out as a suspect. So more if you know, every time we do a case. There are strange theories. there are individuals who put forth all kinds of different things because that's kind of what happens when you have a mysterious disappearance or unsolved case. Was this Robert Kerry a good guy? Doesn't sound like he was.

But the one thing that always strikes me is rumors. A person was rumored to have said this or, you know, this note was rumored to have have mentioned Danielle and Richard. Well, if there was a note, my thought is some authority would end up with that note. And it would either be in there or not be in there. And then I think it would most likely come out at some point. Well, we don't know the contents of everything in that letter from what we've been able to gather and what people have spoken up about that have apparently read this letter.

There is no mention of Richard and Danielle. and I think that's the main takeaway with the letter. Theory, rumors, and no solid evidence surround this case. There was even a comment on my website, Truecrimeguy.com, responding to an article I wrote about this case. The comment was from someone who claimed to be a neighbor who saw men moving furniture out of Daniel's townhome at night after she disappeared.

It was almost as if someone thought they were doing it in a way to prevent people from seeing them. The commenter wrote, I lived in the complex when Daniel disappeared. Weeks after she disappeared, I saw a man accompanied by at least another person in Daniel's condo. They had two vehicles, and it was the strangest thing. I called the cops and told them what I'm about to say,

but I guess it didn't mean much. I don't know who the man was as it was dark, and he came at least three separate nights with another person. As I said, they came with two vehicles, none of which was the missing truck. I assumed it was the ex-husband, but it could have been the brother or a friend. They obviously had a key. They would take random pieces of furniture out of the condo and load them into the cars.

And one man would chain smoke for hours outside of her condo balcony. This was done odd hours of the night when people should be sleeping. I called the cops and gave them misinformation and suggested they go in there with Luminal. I doubt a crime happened in there, but it was also odd. There's no way to know whether this poster really was a neighbor of Danielle's and whether they saw what they claimed to have seen. But even if they were being honest, this may be a totally odd and random event not connected to the disappearance at all. But it's all interesting to me, more if, you know, we get a lot of information from people, from listeners, you know, this person wrote in on your website. I don't totally discount anything.

Now, am I going to sit here and say that it means this, this, or this? No, because I have no idea. It could just be that family members were moving Danielle's stuff out and they worked odd hours. You know, it could be a number of different things. Yeah, I think that just goes to show that when you have a case like this, you start putting everything under the microscope and things that, you know, before she vanished might not have been that odd, might not have drawn your attention. but when you have a missing person, you start wondering, hey, what's that weird car out there? Who are these weird people? Why are they here at night?

So it could just be something just totally innocent that this person perceived as possibly being shady. In 2014, the FBI placed billboards appealing to the public for information the next year, Agent Zajack told NJ.com, I think the leads we have uncovered over the past two years confirm our thoughts. that this is an act carried out by more than one person. In the aftermath of the disappearances, Joe Embo moved away with he and Danielle's son, Little Joe the third to South Carolina. Despite the move, Daniel's family did get to see Little Joe over the years. Many people remain suspicious of Joe Embo to this day, although he has denied having any

knowledge of or connection to the disappearance of his estranged wife. and Richard Petron. Some people have pointed out that it was somewhat odd, that he went out and spent the night somewhere in a very public setting. The night his estranged wife vanished. Since he had their son for the weekend, Danielle was set to pick him up the morning after she disappeared. The two were sharing custody.

So some people have asked the question, why would he plan to go out on one of the nights when he was supposed to watch his son. Once again, Joe Inbo is denied playing any role in this case, but he has admitted that he didn't really like Richard Petron and certainly didn't care for the romantic interest he had in Danielle. He even talked about phone calls he had made to the bakery Richard worked at, telling phillymag.com that he and Richard exchanged words. Joe Inbo seemed like a cold person to many people that knew Danielle. Her brother John remembers that the reason they separated is that,

that when Daniel was sick with a cold, as was Little Joe, who was just an infant at the time, Joe went to New Orleans for the Super Bowl, leaving Daniel alone. When he got back, he told her he was leaving her for someone he had met on the plane. Joe Inbo told Philly Mag, the person who suffers the most is my son. He lost a wonderful person in his life. Joe Inbo has never officially been named a suspect in this case, but authorities have not gone out of their way to clear his name publicly. Joe Inbo told Philly Mag, if you haven't ruled me out, then you're not good at your job. You're just not good at your job. I'm not a mastermind.

So more of my stance on that is that statement could be true, but it's also the same type of statement that someone would make if they were involved. That's why, you know, those types of statements are so hard to kind of wrap your arms around. It really just comes down to do you believe a person or not? Because I don't think you have to be a mastermind. You don't have to be Lex Luther to plan, you know, some of these murders that you and I talk about. On the other hand, if he is involved in some kind of murder for hire scheme,

possibly involving the mafia, he would have to have some kind of connections, you would think you don't just say, hey, let me advertise and see if I can get a hitman here. You have to have some kind of channel to find that. So, you know, he wouldn't be a mastermind, but he would have to have some kind of connection if he was involved, which he, again, he's denied that repeatedly. Danielle Embo and Richard Petron have been missing now for over 17 years. And their families don't seem to have a lot of hope that they will ever get the answers they're looking for. It only took Richard's mother, Marge Petron, about six months to be completely sure that her son was dead.

Telling ABC 7, you always feel it. It never goes away. You can't imagine outliving your child. Danielle's family held out hope for longer, believing they could find the pair. They tried everything to find them, driving over all the bridges in the area, taking every possible route. John Daniel's brother even got up in the air in a Camden police helicopter, which cost him $1,200, just for the hope that he would see something from the air that might have been missed. The FBI's scenario of a hired hit only solidified the family's beliefs that Danielle and Richard had been killed and would not be found a lot. Richard's mother, Marge, told NBC Philadelphia, I raised him like a piece of crystal.

Now he is a piece of trash somewhere. We just want someone to pay for killing two innocent people for no reason. In late 2006, Angela, Richard's daughter, who was still a teen, wrote a heartbreaking message to her father, as detailed by the New York Times. It read, There's not a soul on earth that could amount to the love I hold inside my heart for you. You're my father, my idol, and my best friend. My heart will never mend until we find justice. Ten years later, her heartbreak continued. Angela Petron McNally, who was now an adult, told NBC Philadelphia,

my wedding. That day it was really hard to hold back. That day, she walked down the aisle with just a small locket containing a photo of Richard, sewn into her bouquet, but he couldn't be there to stand by her side. As a child, Angela would help Richard make icing and put sprinkles on top of pastries in the family bakery, below their apartment. but for years after Richard's disappearance, she couldn't even step inside. Now mother herself, with a son who will be a teenager soon, Angela works at her family's bakery,

Viking pastries, where her father worked before her. Looking back now as an adult, like the rest of her family, Angel believes that the pair were killed. She told NBC Philadelphia, I care about the person who did it, paying the cost of what they did. And that is absolutely heartbreaking. but that's what the family members of victims go through. You know, her father's disappearance changed the course of her life.

Now, it doesn't mean she can't have a good life, but it altered it. There's no doubt that it will be different. She wanted her dad with her at her wedding to walk her down the aisle. Yeah, I think there's definitely a ripple effect in these cases. The family members are affected and Danielle's son,

Lord Joe, had to grow up without his mom as well. So just it's sad all the way around that these kids grew up without their parents in their life. If you have any information about the disappearances of Danielle, M. Bo, and Richard Petron, or if you know their whereabouts, please call the Philadelphia Citizens Crime Commission tip line at 215-5-46-8477. You can remain anonymous, but there is a substantial monetary reward being offered in the case. the total reward for information that leads to an arrest in the case or for information regarding their whereabouts or remains is over $100,000. And that is a lot of money more for cases here in the U.S.

You know, we touch on so many different cases. A lot of them have amounts, reward amounts for information. But unlike in some other countries, the amount. amounts here in the U.S. are often fairly low, $5,000, $10,000. I often think that a lot of times it's not enough money to make someone come forward if they have to, you know, rat on someone else. Now, when you get over $100,000, then I think people may start to think about it differently. Yeah, it's definitely a substantial amount of money and people's allegiance has changed. and their loyalties change, and that might lead to someone one day coming forward with

information to help solve this case. Yeah, my mind goes that route in a lot of cases. You know, the passage of time changes a lot. You mentioned allegiances, loyalties, friendships dissolve over the years. You know, you might get into an argument and into a fight with someone. well, now you're no longer friends, but you know something about this person. You know that they had a role or they had a hand in some type of crime. Okay, once that friendship dissolves, that person's got to be a little leery if they know that you know, especially if there's a lot of

money out there to be had for a tipster. As a side note, Adventures with Purpose is privately funded by people like us who want to help families find their missing loved ones. They never charge families a penny and they work off of the public's tips. You can support their search efforts by going to their website, Adventures with Purpose.com or by watching their ad-supported videos on YouTube. To morph as we wrap up this episode, it's a very tough case because there's just so little to go on. I mean, there's been a lot of speculation. There are some theories. out there, you know, it was an accident. The truck was driven into the water. It was a random crime all the way up to, you know, it was a hit, maybe even a mob hit. And then obviously a lot of people have tried to connect Joe Embo to the case. But I think the bottom line is, you know, at this point in time, there's just really no concrete evidence that supports any of them. That's what makes it so tough. Yeah, I think it's got to be a really tough job for authorities to say,

hey, where do we start? Where do we look? Is it on this side of the river? Is it over there? Is it in Pennsylvania? Is it in New Jersey? I think one crucial thing that we do have is the video surveillance of those bridges, and it doesn't appear to show Richard's truck going across the bridge that night. So that would seem, at least, to concentrate the focus. of what happened on the Pennsylvania side of the bridge. Now, if they met with foul play on that side of the bridge or they got into an accident on that side of the river, could still be connected to something from New Jersey,

especially if there's some kind of murder-for-hire aspect to this. So in that respect, it wouldn't stop necessarily the authorities from looking on both sides of the bridge. But it's just unfortunate that there was so much surveillance around those bridges, but not around the bar because that might really give police something to work with as far as what happened when they left that bar. Yeah, I go back to the one law enforcement official who said, you know, you can't complete the puzzle without any of the pieces.

I'm paraphrasing. I don't remember exactly what he said, but that's very true. You need that first kind of nugget of information if you're the authorities to lead you down the right path. If you don't have anything, where do you go? Where do you start? Who do you talk to outside of the people that you're going to talk to in every case, right? Friends, family, just extremely difficult. And the toll that this case has taken all these years with Richards and Daniel's families not having those answers and their kids having to grow up without their parents is just a reminder of how big this is and how many lives this case is affected.

Thanks, because out the Sunny Landon for help with research and writing in this episode. As always, if you love the show, but haven't done so yet, take a minute. Go out, give us a rating, give us a review that really helps us out. And keep telling your friends, that word of mouth really goes a long way. If you want to find us on social media, we're on Twitter with the handle at Criminology Pod. you can also find us on Facebook by searching for Criminology Podcast or by searching for our Facebook discussion group, Criminology Podcasts, Discussion, and Fans.

So, Morf, that's it for our episode on Danielle Mbo and Richard Petron. But we'll be back with everyone next Saturday night with an all-new episode of Criminology. So until then, for Mike. And Morph. We'll talk to you next week. Take care, everyone.