True Crime All The Time - Patrick Anthony Russo

Episode Date: November 6, 2023

In November 2001, 43-year-old Diane Holik was trying to sell her house in Austin, Texas. She had plans to move in with her fiance, Dennis, in Houston. What Diane didn't know was that there was a predator in the area posing as an interested home buyer. A fateful encounter with this predator resulted in Diane's murder.Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss Patrick Anthony Russo. Russo had a terrible childhood and a lengthy criminal record, which included a stint in prison. By 2001, Russo was a husband and father and was highly involved with his church. But, Patrick Russo had a burning desire hidden within that involved asphyxiation for sexual gratification. He began searching for victims by posing as an interested home buyer.You can help support the show at patreon.com/truecrimeallthetimeVisit the show's website at truecrimeallthetime.com for contact, merchandise, and donation informationAn Emash Digital productionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 357 of the True Crime All the Time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson and with me as always is my partner in true crime, Mike Gibson. How are you? Hey, I'm doing good. How about you? I'm doing really well. Good. I'm shocked that it is November.

Talked about that on Patreon. And I'm shocked at how cold it's getting already. It's cold out there. It's passing out Halloween candy the other night and it felt bad for the kids. It was really, really cold. I had to put my half shirts away and start wearing old shirts again, yeah. No more belly shirts for me. Did you ever watch Reno 911?

Yeah. I kind of have this idea of you as that, the guy that was always on the roller skates with the half shirts. And the shorty shorts. In the short shorts. Just kind of rolling around the neighborhood. Yeah. I think that's you. Let's go ahead and give our Patreon shoutouts.

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And then if we go back into the vault, this week we selected Michelle Harriage. Hey, Michelle. Yeah, appreciate all the support. And we had a great PayPal donation from Tana Atkinson. Oh, I appreciate that, Tana. Yep. Thanks to everyone.

Gibbs right now on Unsolved. We have an episode out. on Zeb Quinn. And this is a episode for people who have trouble with the unsolved because they know who did this. Yeah, it's more unresolved. Yes. It's just that they cannot do anything to this person.

I don't want to give it away. But, you know, if you're one that can't handle the unsolved nature, this one you will definitely like. So go give it a listen. All right, buddy. Are you ready to get into this episode of true crime all the time? I am ready. We're talking about Patrick Anthony Brousseau.

But we have to start off talking about Diane Holley. Diane was born on September 10th, 1958 in Long Island, New York. She was 43 years old when she died. Diane lived in the Great Hills subdivision in Austin, Texas, which was considered a wealthy neighborhood. She was described as a. work a holiday. She had worked with IBM as a senior programmer for over 25 years. At the time of her death, she worked as an early career manager for the Southwest region. She worked from home and had daily contact with employees across the country to manage new hires. It's a busy person.

Yeah, she was very busy and she was described as, you know, someone who worked very long hours, was very dedicated to her job. But we're talking about the early 2000s here. And we're all really used to it today from, you know, working from home, COVID, kind of forced a lot of us into that. But it was much less common in the early 2000s. Yeah, pretty rare. Always think about IBM, though, back in the day, you know, that they really kind of started

that whole corporate culture, for least for my, my area. You know, everybody thought about IBM. You know, that's when you wore, you know, a Navy suit to work every day. That's how everybody described it, you know. It's like the IBM culture. You go to work every day with the suit and tie. Why did it have to be Navy? I don't know, but that's what it was.

So you just had everybody walking around wearing Navy suits? What did the women wear? Navy suits? Navy suits. Now, although she worked a lot, Diane loved going out. with their friends or hosting parties at her house. She also enjoyed spending time with her two dogs. When Diane turned 40, she decided she was ready to get married.

She met her fiance, Dennis Conley, through a dating service. Dennis was a divorced father of two and a successful businessman. He and Diane fell in love and he proposed just two months later. Now, you can say that's pretty quick, but you could also say, okay, these are people in their 40s, they knew. And they didn't want to wait. Yeah, they knew what they wanted. They found it. They were happy. Yep. So let's go ahead and move this forward. Diane planned to sell her house in Austin and move in with Dennis in a house they were building in Houston. But they had some problems in their relationship. And it was sad that they argued a lot. For example, Dennis didn't want dogs in the

house, but Diane wasn't going to give up her beloved pets. That's a big problem, I think. Yeah. And, So now with this information, does it make it seem like maybe they rushed into it a little too quickly? Because isn't that something you would want to know? Hey, my dogs are my life. Right. They're coming with me. And he's saying, I don't want dogs in the house. Yeah, I definitely think it's something that they probably should have had some more conversations around.

Yeah, up front. Yeah. And all the arguments, man, only two months into it and they're arguing a lot. That's not a great sign. Not a great sign. Diane's friends told Dateline that they got into arguments because Diane was very independent and didn't always go along with what Dennis wanted her to do. One friend said he was controlling.

Now, we've talked a lot about that word. And to me, it has such a negative connotation. Yeah. Controlling just doesn't ever seem to be good in any scenario. And, you know, you think about it, Diane had a, pretty dominant personality based on the role that she was in at work. And so I think she probably didn't like someone being controlling. Well, and also I think she'd been on her own.

Yeah. For a while, she was used to doing things her way and to just go along with somebody else at the age of 40. Is that easy to do for everybody? And I would say no. No. Imagine if you had to go along with somebody. Yeah, I have a hard time going along with anybody.

Exactly. At one point, Diane and Dennis ended their engagement and stopped building the house, but later decided they were going to get married. They went to therapy, and it seemed like they were making progress. And you love to hear that. Okay, maybe we did rush into it, but we do love each other. There are some things we need to work on. Let's do that. In November 2001, Diane was trying to sell her house so she could move in with Dennis. However, around the time of her death, She told a friend, she wasn't sure what to do about the engagement. She made plans to go on a date with someone else, but she was killed before this happened. So we're just getting so much conflicting information here about this relationship.

Yeah. It's great. It's not great. We're working on it. And now maybe Diane was having second thoughts. I think if you really did make a date with someone, you're definitely having. Oh, for sure. Second thought. The housing market was pretty slow at this time. So it was taking a while for the house to sell. Diane had her house listed for $435,000 and kept a for sale sign in her front yard. So I mentioned it was a pretty, you know, affluent neighborhood. Yeah. It's a good price tag. It is a good price tag. In 2001, Diane was working from home as usual on November 15th, 2001. She got on a call with her. Los Angeles based colleague Cynthia Barajas. Diane said she was running late for their call because a man had just stopped by to see the house. He said he would come back at a later time with his wife.

Diane seemed excited about the potential buyer. Cynthia told her she shouldn't let strangers into the house when she was home alone. Exactly. He should never do that. And I do think that is a very risky proposition. You know, I go back to the, the story we did about, was it the woman who had her waterbed up for sale? Yeah. Was that on unsolved? It was. I think it was. Unolved. Yes. And, you know, it's thought that she let the killer in and, yeah, it's dangerous. But when you're trying to sell things on your own, especially a house, you can't meet somebody at a separate location. No. To view your house. But normally, you know, you would have an agent there or maybe you would have a friend with you.

But if she's trying to sell it on her own, then that situation is going to crop up. During the call, Diane mentioned that she wasn't wearing her engagement ring. She stepped away to put it back on before continuing the conversation. Diane and Cynthia ended their call around 1.30 p.m. She had another phone call at 330 and shut her computer down at 359. p.m. Okay, she was all done at work at 4 o'clock. According to later released court documents, Diane told a friend over the phone that the man who stopped by the house gave her the creeps. Now, we can talk about intuition. We can talk about don't judge a book by its cover. But my thought

is always that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. You shouldn't judge someone like that. But if someone is really giving you that creepy vibe. Right. You don't have to be mean, but you should probably listen to that and extricate yourself from that situation, whatever it is. In the late afternoon, Austin was hit by a severe storm. And this was a really bad one. Local news outlets warned residents that they shouldn't go outside unless they absolutely

had to. I did watch some videos from the news. reports on the storm. It was bad. I mean, there was flooding in the streets and it was a nasty one. Diane's friends made calls to check in with each other after the storm, but no one could get in contact with Diane. On the morning of November 16, Diane's coworker Tina Fownd, who was based in Illinois, received a call from Diane Capcar based in Dallas and Cynthia Brahas from Los Angeles, who reported that Diane missed a conference call and they couldn't get in contact with her. So at that point, they have to be alarmed.

Yeah, I think they were based on the fact that they made these calls. And I'm assuming it was based on her work ethic. Yeah. You know, she didn't miss calls or if she did, she would let somebody know. That's usually how it goes in these stories. Tina knew about the storm. So she called the Austin PD in the afternoon to request. day welfare check. And I think that that was very smart. You know, these sound like good friends.

They were obviously very worried about her. Officers got to the house around 5.30 p.m. They found all the doors and windows locked from outside. They could see that Diane's dogs had defecated on the carpet, which indicated to them that they had been, you know, kept inside for a long time. And this was unusual because Diane was often seen walking the dogs around the neighborhood. and the weather had cleared up by this point. So it wasn't like it was pouring down rain. She could have taken the dogs outside. Diane's neighbor and realtor Lackey Brown spotted the officers and used her key to let them inside.

She had passed by the house around 7.15 a.m. and noticed that Diane's office light was on. She didn't knock on the door because she assumed Diane was up early for a meeting. Later that day, Diane's fiancé Dennis left her a message, asking her to check on Diane, but Lackey didn't listen to the message until later in the day after her encounter with the police. Diane's body was found on her upstairs guest bedroom floor. She was lying face down and fully clothed. There were no signs of sexual assault, but she had ligature marks on her neck, carpet burns on her face, and red marks on her wrists that

suggested her hands were bound. The marks suggested that Diane was bound. and strangled with zip ties or something similar to that, but no zip ties were found in her house. If that's what was used, then the killer had cut them and taken them with them. It sounded like this killer knew what they were doing. Yeah, maybe you could take from it that they had done it before. Yeah. Or at the very least, had put a lot of planning into it. When the police rolled Diane over, a charm fell out of her hair.

The charm was attached to a necklace, but the next. was never found. Diane's engagement ring, which cost over $17,000, was also missing. Wow. That is a hell of an engagement ring in, what, 2001? Oh, yeah. I know you always say three-year salary, but that's a lot of money. That's a lot of money. Her jewelry box was missing from her primary bedroom. According to Dateline, she was still wearing a watch and tennis bracelet and had some money in her pocket. Diane's spare key was also missing from its usual spot. So there are some things here that make it seem like a robbery. The necklace is gone. This very expensive engagement ring is gone. The jewelry box is missing. But why not take the watch? Yeah. Why not take the tennis

bracelet? I'm sure those were, you know, expensive items. Two thousand bucks, right? I have no idea. She had money. I can't imagine that she was wearing. costume jewelry. Right. Or a very inexpensive watch. Diane's cause of death was ligature strangulation. The medical examiner initially estimated that she died between 3 p.m. on November 15th and 3 a.m. on November 16th. So it's a pretty big gap initially. It really is. That's 12 hours. A lot can happen in 12 hours. It's a big window of time. Dennis Connolly was one of the first potential suspects, Dennis said he was working in Houston on the afternoon of the 15th. He messaged Diane to tell her he was working late that evening. And how could he not be looked at?

He is the fiancé. We mentioned that there were some problems with the relationship. Could he have found out that she was potentially set to go on a date? For sure. Yeah. With someone else, you know, please learn all that. And he's going to become you know, even higher up on their, on their list. According to the dateline, Dennis admitted he and Diane had ups and down saying, we ran into some rough spots. I mean, we don't fight. It's just, you know, everybody carries baggage into your relationships at this age. And our baggage was clashing. And we were working on it. And again, it's kind of like what we talked about. Right. If you go into a relationship in your 40s, that's a heck of a lot different than going. And we were working on. And again, it's kind of like,

into a relationship in your early 20s. Oh, big difference. You know, by the time you're in your 40s and let's say you, you've not been married, you've developed your routine. You have your life. Your habits. And so that's a big change now to think about spending it with someone else and how do you mesh the two lives together.

During his interview, Dennis brought up Diane's coworker, Ray, saying that, Ray worshipped the ground she walked on and was attracted to women who were not attracted to him. Okay, I get that. Maybe he had a thing for Diane, but if every man who was attracted to women who were not attracted to him was a suspect, we'd have a lot more suspects. We would. Apparently Ray and Diane had a falling out a month earlier, but he didn't know exactly why. Diane's friends told Dateline that Ray was in love with her and was willing to do a lot for her like dog sitting. Ray even had a key to her house. So, you know, just like Dennis, you could see

why Ray would peak the interest of law enforcement. Yeah, I mean, he sounds like he was kind of obsessed with her. Could be, could be, but he also had a key to the house. Yeah, he had access. So, you know, when they got there, everything was locked up. Well, how did the person, you know, get in, get out? Ray told the police he had known Diane for two years, but hadn't spoken to her for about two weeks. He did admit that he had feelings for her, but Diane didn't feel the same. He agreed to submit his DNA, and he said he was clocked in at work during the murder. He didn't get home until 10.30 p.m. because of the traffic caused by the storm.

So what do you make of the first two suspects and how their interactions win? with police. I think their interaction went fairly well. I think they were cooperative with the police. Yeah, it sounds like they were cooperative. It also sounds like they were pretty truthful. Yes. Now, you could make the argument that Dennis was maybe trying to throw Ray under the bus,

but you could also just say that, you know, he was torn up and was trying to help the police and thought maybe Ray did it. Investigators looked into all of the men. Diane met through the dating service she once used, but none of the leads panned out. The police learned that on November 15th, some of the neighborhood residents who were also selling their houses were approached by a man who claimed he was a potential buyer. He told some of the homeowners he would come back with his wife over the weekend. He said he had recently sold his ranch and was planning to pay cash.

He gave different names to different homeowners, at least two. two of them later testified that he came to their houses twice on November 15. So now we've got someone who really seems sketchy. He's almost like he's prowling this neighborhood. Yeah. Looking for houses for sale, posing as a potential buyer, but he's giving different names. And the big thing to me is telling people that he's going to bring his wife back over the weekend. well, we know that the person who looked at Diane's house also said that he was wanted to bring his wife back later. And he also creeped her out. One woman helped the police create a composite sketch, which local media outlet shared. This led other women to come forward with their stories.

The police discovered that in the months before the murders, female homeowners and real estate agents were approached by a man claiming he wanted to buy a home with cash, saying the house was for him and his wife. A homeowner from another subdivision saw the composite sketch and called the police. She said that in May 2001, a man came to her house after her husband left for work. He returned on November 5th and made her feel so uncomfortable that she wrote down his license plate. Wow, that's really making somebody uncomfortable.

Like if you got to say, hey, I'm a remember. write down this Joker's license plate because something's not right. It means you got creaked out. You felt as though you had a reason to need to do that. And this woman was so nervous during her encounter that after she wrote down the man's license plate number, she put it on her fridge. So she ended up being able to give this information to police. The license plate was registered to a gold van owned by a 38-year-old Patrick.

Anthony Russo, who went by the nickname Tony. The Austin American statesman described Russo as an ex-convict, one-time gang member, former rock and roller recovering drug addict and autobiographer. Well, that's a pretty good laundry list. Yeah, that's a plethora of descriptions. And it kind of runs the gamut. If you think about it, gang member, ex-convict. I'm not sure what former rock and roller has to do.

I mean, aren't we all former rock and rollers in one way or another? Just different levels. And then the autobiographer kind of stood out to me as well. At this time, Tony was the worship leader and part-time music director at the New Life in Christchurch in Bastrop, Texas. He was the lead vocalist, guitarist, and keyboard player in Broken Silence. It's a Christian rock band. They released their first album in 2001. Well, sounds like it's almost a one-man show.

Yeah, I don't know who else was in Broken Silence. But if he's lead vocalist, guitarist, and keyboard player, I don't even know how you can be a guitarist and keyboard player at the same time. I know. I mean, I've seen some of those comedian acts where they can play a bunch of different instruments at the same time. Yeah. And maybe he could just play both. But he didn't play in both at the same time.

That's what I'm thinking. It's why he didn't do the drums to at this point. Tony was also a father of two children and married to a woman named Janet, whom he met while incarcerated. He was out on parole after a 1993 conviction for crimes against women, which we'll discuss later in the episode. Tony described himself as a born-again Christian, and he was heavily involved in the church. It's kind of unfortunate, but a lot of times when we're talking about.

talking about people who've been paroled, we're talking about them in a very negative light, right? Because we're doing an episode where they've gone on to do something else, usually even more serious than what they were incarcerated for. But it is possible, right, for people to get paroled, turn their life around, lead very, very productive lives. All the time. But we know it's not going to be Tony Russo. The police executed a search warrant. on Tony's home early on November 21st, 2001. He followed officers to the Austin police station and told his wife, they probably wanted to question him about his parole status.

And what else is he going to tell her? He's not going to tell her that they want to talk to him about a possible murder. Yeah. Sorry, honey. I'll be a little bit late. I got to talk to the police about a murder. And she definitely knew about his past. She married him or met him while he was incarcerated.

Tony told detectives that on the afternoon of November 15, he drove to the K&E radio station in Austin to speak with someone about a website for his band. He knocked on the front door, but claimed no one answered. He left because the storm was starting. He got lost in a residential area during the storm, and he stopped at one house to ask four directions. He spoke to an elderly man and didn't enter any houses in the neighborhood. And why do you think he went this route with his kind of alibi?

Well, I think he wanted to show why he was in that area on that day. And by giving that information, it kind of covers his tracks. Yeah, that's, that was my thought. Okay. If he was seen, which he had to have known he was, they put out a composite sketch. Does he have to then put himself in the area, but for he different reason. He was released around 8 a.m. that morning. Later that day, he went to the home of his pastor, Jim Fox, and discussed his police interview. According to Fox, Tony said he felt like he would

be arrested for killing a lady. He mentioned that some jewelry had been taken from her home. Prosecutors later noted that the police didn't tell Tony that Diane's jewelry had been stolen. Oh, see, that's where you get in the problems, you know. Same thing. that you shouldn't be saying. Yeah. And, you know, we've said it before, but it's hard to keep track of things. He knows that the jewelry was stolen because he stole it. But if in the interview, the police didn't tell him that. And I'm sure they have a record. They have a transcript of it. Then he's really given himself away. Tony told the police that he spoke to an elderly man during the storm. But Jim Fox's wife, Susan, later testified that Tony said he spoke to a

woman when he stopped for directions and she seemed kind of bothered that he was there. Now, you know, people can be bothered just by you stopping and asking for directions, but are most people? No, I don't think so. Maybe if they're, you know, on their way somewhere in a hurry. In a hurry. But it almost makes you think that there was, there was a little more to it. Susan also noticed that Tony shaved his goatee and removed the.

pinstriping from his van after the murder. Well, that's interesting, right? Yes. Changing your appearance, changing the appearance of your van. I think it's all suspicious. It doesn't mean anything per se, but, you know, if I came down, met you at the door, and you noticed that I had shaved my goatee. Yeah.

And I had changed the appearance. My truck was a different color. Yeah. Would you be suspicious that something was going on? The fact that you showed up to my place, I'd be right there. I'd be suspicious. No, I meant here at mine. Like when you showed up to record, because I'm a creature of habit.

I'm fine just keeping kind of things the way they are. If I pulled up and saw your truck was a different color, I keep going. Yeah, because that means something terrible has gone wrong. Exactly. The thing about the pen striping that he had on his van, remember pinstriping? Yeah, they used to be a big thing. Yeah, yeah, people over pen striping. their vehicle and they never really understood why i mean they they're still pinstriping today yeah but

it's like the old one that used to peel off easily yeah so you'd like have it curled up on the end and half of it would be hanging off now i understand like maybe on a a cool muscle car from the 60s or but you know on the the the grand wagon yeah the family truckster i never i really understood the need for pinstriping. Ford Fiesta. Or a Ford Fiesta. They might have used that, hold it together.

I don't know. That's part of the structural integrity of the car. Just to add to our people that hate how we talk about four fiestas. One of Diane's neighbors called the police on November 21st after the sketch was released. The neighbor said that a similar looking man entered her home in the days before the murder. He said his name was Tony. He claimed he recently sold his ranch and wanted to tour the house. house and look at floor plans, he left behind a flyer, which she kept. Tony's prince matched the one

on the flyer. Oh, there we go. So, I mean, this guy really had kind of this big ruse going on. It sounds like he was stalking. Yeah. He was looking for the right situation. And he went to a lot of homes. Stalking, casing. Casing. Yeah. Now, why? Why? you would leave behind a flyer, I don't know. Normally when you go to look at a house, you might take a flyer with information on the home. I'm not sure what he's leaving behind. He was arrested at Jim Fox's house and taken to Austin for another interview. Tony was held on a parole violation for giving a false report to a police officer who was investigating Diane's death. He lied when he said he had not been in the Great Hills neighborhood at the time of the murder.

According to the Austin American statesman, he also said, my fingerprints are not on any flyer. I haven't touched any flyers. Yeah, Tony, you're wrong. Because we have the flyer and it has your fingerprints on it. But despite all this evidence in Tony's criminal history, at this point, the police said he wasn't a suspect in the murder. No, I get that.

I mean, he's a person of. of interest. Really? Because I'm thinking he's more than that. I think he's a number one suspect in my mind. Yeah, I think they're just waiting for a little bit more evidence before they can just And that could be. It could just be a game of, you know, we don't want to scare him.

We don't want him to. But, you know, he's being held on a parole violation. So could he have run if he wanted to? I don't know. Patrick Anthony Rousseau grew up. in Los Angeles County. He had a difficult childhood. He wrote in his self-published biography, that he was beaten and sexually abused by his stepfather. He was homeless as a teenager and committed crimes like shoplifting and breaking into cars. He used drugs like cocaine and LSD. He burglarized

his neighbor's house and in elementary school. He also stole a bike and money from his foster parents and babysitter and had threatened to kill other residents at a boy's home. All right. So he's admitting he wasn't the all around great neighbor kid, was he? No, he wasn't. But it also sounds like, you know, he was he was dealt a pretty rough hand. You know, if his stepfather beat him and sexually abused him, you know, that's, that's rough. That's nasty stuff. Tony wrote that he was in a band and the group had a record deal in the 80s. But the contract ended when he and the band were using cocaine with a groupie and the groupie fatally overdose. A lot of cocaine in the 80s.

Yes, there was. That's one way to ruin any record deal. For some reason, when I think 80s, I think hair. And I think a lot of guys walking around in Miami Vice jackets. Yeah. And doing cocaine in the bathroom. For some reason, that's what I think. I mean, I wasn't old enough to be doing cocaine and wearing.

Miami Vice Jackets. I know you were, but. What happened in the 80s stays in the 80s. That was the old saying. Absolutely, yeah. Vegas stole it from the 80s. Except for syphilis. That shit will stay with you. Tony then moved from Los Angeles to Texas, where his two children were born. Tony was connected to five attacks against women in 1989, 1990, and 91.

A man matching his description, forced his way into women's homes or women's homes or or businesses. In two cases, he tied victims up and threatened them with a knife or screwdriver. He was charged with aggravated kidnapping and burglary for those cases. Well, it sounds like his MO. Well, we do know that Diane was bound. According to Lieutenant Dale Davis from Lake Jackson, Texas, authorities responded to five incidents where a man with what he called an unusually large nose pretended to be. be a potential renter looking for apartments. During the tour, he waited until he was alone with

the woman. Then he tied her up and choked her. The attacks ended because someone else came to the apartment or parked nearby. In 1992, he entered a business and attacked a female employee who was alone in her office. Russo fled when a car pulled up, but the woman was able to rip two buttons off his shirt. The police searched Rousseau's house and matched the buttons to a ripped up shirt. Now, I don't know if that was on purpose or not, but if it was, man, that was very, very intelligent. Oh, yeah. Now, it could have just happened in the heat of everything that was going on in the panic. But if she did that on purpose, man, that was smart. She was really thinking. In 1993, Rousseau was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

but was released on parole in December of 1999. So he did what, six years? Short little stint. And I know you and I often rail against parole. I'm not against parole. It just so happens that the people we're talking about get out on parole and then go on to do horrible things. Yeah, sometimes I think they get out too soon.

Yeah. And I don't know if we're biased because we're talking about, you know, rapists and murderers and in people who at the very least are not rehabilitated. Right. They go on to commit major crimes. Tony wrote about two attacks in his autobiography. He claimed that his defense attorney helped him find religion, but he turned back to crime after he was released from prison.

He blacked out and woke up from a terrified woman whom he kidnapped. On May 29, 2002, a grand jury. jury indicted Tony Russo for capital murder. After the indictment, court documents were released that revealed Russo visited a website with photos and stories about strangled women before the murder and paid for a six-month subscription to a pornographic website on erotic asphyxiation. So we know what he was into? Yeah, and I normally say what?

You know, what people do in their own homes behind closed. doors as long as they're not hurting anyone else yeah i don't really care about but it's pretty telling when you're indicted for murder and you bound and strangled a woman and you had a subscription you know to this website on erotic asphyxiation it kind of lends some credence to maybe the the sexual aspect of this murder as far as it relates to it relates to you. to Tony Russo. Well, it certainly helps the prosecution. The document stated that he posed as a potential homebuyer from May to November 2001 and had been meeting with female real estate agents and homeowners in Houston, Austin, and Bastrop. The records alleged this series of encounters

represent a sophisticated scheme and plan of the defendant. These encounters also represent preparation for the ultimate murder of Diane Holley. And it's kind of what we talked about, right? It was almost as if he was casing. Right. Now, they're saying this was preparation. And maybe you can mix and match somewhat the two of those. But I ultimately think he was searching for what he felt was the right scenario.

Yeah. The right person at the right time alone. And not just alone, but maybe a person who he was attracted to. to sexually. That could have been part of it as well. Oh, sure. Maybe he was scoping that out too, right? Do you know, does the victim, does the person match my likes? It's kind of scary to think about. It is.

But I think that was part of it. Before trial, his wife, Janet Russo, said, is quoted by the Austin American statesman, I am standing beside him throughout the trial. And we know the right thing will be done. Well, I'm sure at this point she still has some blinders on. I'm assuming. I'm sure he told her, hey, I didn't do this. She loves him. She's sticking by him.

I don't blame anybody for that. Opening statements in Tony's trial started on February 5th, 2004. Prosecutors alleged that Russo got into Dian's home by pretending to be a potential buyer. Once inside, he strangled her with a zip tie. In his opening statement, ADA Robert Smith told the jury that the killer left hairs on a towel. in Diane's home and Tony Russo could not be excluded as a DNA match. Now it is 2004. So they were a little more limited than they are today with, you know,

what they could do with the hairs and DNA and all that. Smith pointed out that the killer didn't leave any prints in the house. The murder weapon was never found. Diane was not sexually assaulted. But the red marks on her body and the carpet burns on her face indicated her hands were tied behind her back and she was face down on the carpet. So we, we did kind of reference a sexual motive possibly for this murder. Now, we know that she wasn't sexually assaulted, but we also know that some killers can derive sexual gratification, not from the sexual act, but more from

the killing, the strangulation. Yeah, I'm sure he got. got off his own way from what he did. Deputy medical examiner Elizabeth Peacock testified that the wounds on Diane's hand indicated she was tied up after she lost consciousness. She couldn't conclusively determine the murder weapon. She also determined that Diane died between 4 and 6 p.m. on November 15. So it was 3 to 3, a 12-hour gap. This woman was able to narrow it down to about a 2-hour.

window. Much better gap. The defense argued that the presence of the hair didn't prove Tony killed Diane. They presented his story that he was in the neighborhood because he was lost in the storm. But there was no evidence to conclusively prove he was in the house. Now, I see what they're trying to do there. Our client's hair was found in the house. But that doesn't mean he killed this one. Right.

And, okay, you can make that argument. but at some point, you kind of do have to wonder how the hair got in the house and on this towel. Yeah, you have to explain that at some point. How do you do that? Because at the same time, they're saying there was no evidence to prove he was in the house. Well, how did the hair get in there? Now, you can talk about transference and all kinds of things. And again, when you're trying to say 100%, does it prove that he killed her?

No, it doesn't. The jury watched a video of Tony's interview where he said he had never met Diane. Detectives told him that five people had seen him in the neighborhood on November 15th. He responded as quoted by the Austin American statesman. I don't care how hard you dig. You won't find me committing any crime like that. I can tell you this. There's nobody on this earth that I would hurt.

And obviously he must be talking about now because we know he's been time. in prison for hurting women. Yeah, we know it's in his past. His wife was brought into the room during the interview and they were left alone for a few minutes. He told her, I promise you, it doesn't matter what anyone says or does. I'm an innocent man. I don't understand how I can always be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Well, you know how you can always be in the wrong place at the wrong time? Doing stuff you're not supposed to be doing. Exactly. Doing that wrong stuff. Bad things. A cell phone company employee testified that phone records indicated Tony was near the Great Hills neighborhood of Austin in the late afternoon, early evening of November 15th, 2001.

So we got a cell record saying he was there. We got neighbors saying that they saw him in and around that area. But he's still saying no. And we got a hair on a towel inside her home. Four neighbors testified that Rousseau came to their houses that. day, Lisa Faulkner testified that Tony asked several times to see her floor plan. He left the house and returned a few hours later, but left again when he saw her babysitter was there. So to me, that kind of goes to the scoping casing aspect. Yeah. He's looking for someone alone. Lisa was probably

like, man, I'm so glad my babysitter was there. Or it could have been me. Yeah. Jody Allen testified that Rousseau walked around the house while she, spoke to her husband on the phone. Russo told her that his wife didn't like working with realtors and he didn't want to call a realtor every time he wanted to see a house. After he left, she saw that he had unlocked the door connecting her primary bedroom to a deck. Wow.

See? You mean, he knew what he was up to. Yeah, it just makes you think that he was giving himself a way back into that home later on. Next, manager for Christian radio station, KN-L-E-88.1, testified that he didn't see Tony on November 15th. Russo said he claimed to the station, but no one let him in. The manager testified that all the employees were gathered in the lobby because of the storm. They had a phone outside

Tony could have used to get them to open the door. So I think, you know, they're trying to blow a hole in this part of the alibi, right? I'm at the radio station. I'm trying to get in. They won't let me in. Diane's friend and neighbor, Robert Hebner, testified that he saw a van parked outside Diane's house around 5 p.m. on November 15th, and it was pointed out that Rousseau owned a similar van. Now, Hebner didn't tell the police about the van until February 2004. His wife read a story in the paper mentioning that Diane died between 4 and 6 p.m. He thought Diane was killed late at night, which is why he didn't report the van earlier. He originally assumed the van belonged to a

potential buyer. And this is why the window of the time of death is so important. You know, if it's reported that someone was killed late at night, as this guy thought, then he's not going to come forward with information because to him, it's not relevant. Yeah, why bring it forward? But when it's changed to four to six, well, now it becomes very relevant. In rebuttal, the defense noted that Diane's autopsy stated she could have died between 3 p.m. and 3 a.m. And that was true, but it does seem to me as though they were able to narrow it down later. Over a dozen witnesses testified that Tony Russo made them feel uncomfortable during a showing.

The witnesses were either female homeowners or realtors, excluding one man who interacted with Tony from May to November 2001. Man, that's a lot of people that felt like you were creepy. Well, and it's also a lot of houses to look at. Not saying that a potential buyer couldn't look at that many houses, but look at the pattern here.

Almost all of these people. that he's interacting with are female homeowners, female realtors. He's seeing houses in different areas. And he's making them all feel uncomfortable. Yeah. Five witnesses lived in the Great Hill subdivision and testified that Tony approached them on November 15th. And to me, that's even more damage because that's the day that Diane was killed. Yeah. So not only is that putting him in the subdivision, but it's also putting him in this role of, you know, coming up to people and, you know, wanting to see their houses and telling them that he's a potential buyer. I mean, that's five, right? I mean, if one witness comes forward, you might say,

eh, they think they saw me. But when you have five coming up and they're all saying the same thing, it puts you there. Yeah. Most of them identified Tony as the man who came to their house. house and he gave them the same story. He was a cash buyer. He just sold his ranch. He didn't want to contact a realtor and he would come back with his wife over the weekend. Witness Tammy Cranford testified about a disturbing encounter with Tony in early November 2001. Her testimony was summarized in Rousseau versus State. He came to her house in South Austin around 1.30 p.m. She was home alone with her two children. The man pulled into her driveway in a gold minivan and took a flyer out of the bucket near the for sale sign. She opened the door so that the doorbell wouldn't wake up her kids.

He seemed nervous and sweaty and his hands were shaking. The man said he was going to sell his ranch and would pay cash. She invited him into the house and he put the flyer on a table in the foyer. She said he breezed through parts of the house and asked if she had a boyfriend or her husband he could talk to. Tammy said her husband wasn't home, but they did have a realtor. When they were looking at her son's bedroom, he opened the closet door and stood there without saying anything. He was sweating and shaking and had a strange look in his eyes. Tammy left the room and felt nervous when he continued standing in the bedroom. She went into her daughter's room because the baby started crying. The man was suddenly standing close behind her without speaking.

she left to get her dog out of another room because she felt uncomfortable. And rightfully so. I'm saying, I'm uncomfortable reading this, thinking about, you know, how this interaction went down. The man asked several times when her husband would be home. He said he and his wife could come back the next day. As he left, he said his name was Tony. He took a colored flyer from a table inside, but left the one he originally brought in. and he never did come back the next day with his wife.

Tammy told a friend what happened. This friend called her back and told her to look at a composite sketch in the paper. She thought it looked like the man who came to her house. So she called the police and turned in the flyer. So this goes back to what we said earlier. Yeah. Right? This flyer had his fingerprints on it.

Female realtors testified that a man contacted them and said he was a cash buyer. looking for something in the $200 to $700,000 range. Okay. It's a pretty big range. It is a big range. Most people don't go that wide in their range. Basically show me anything that's available. You know, if you said five to $700,000.

Okay. And most of these realtors identified Tony Russo as the man they interacted with. He wanted to see vacant houses and wanted to meet. the realtors alone. Many of them felt uncomfortable. During the showing, they later gave his phone number to the police. Investigators found the realtors' numbers on Tony's phone bill. That's just all creepy.

You know, I mean, I grew up in a family that owned a real estate brokerage, and you'd hear these stories all the time about these men calling, trying to set showings, vacant homes, you know, to the point where eventually kind of became the policy that. if you were going to show a vacant home, you went with somebody else because the threat was real. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, we kind of talk about predators and how they try to get victims alone.

Well, this is one way. Yeah. And we've actually done stories where female realtors were attacked, sexually assaulted inside a home that they were showing by themselves. That's a scary deal. Real scary. The prosecution presented evidence about Tony and Janet Russo's financial situation, which showed he couldn't afford the homes he was viewing. Janet worked as a teacher. Tony received about $50 a week from the church, and he worked full time at a cabinet making company, but quit this job before he was arrested.

And you and I talked about teachers on Patreon. We did. this week and how many teachers or probably all teachers are underpaid for for what they have to deal with. I think it would be tough on her salary and whatever he was making at a cabinet making company to probably afford a $700,000 home. And the evidence showed that. And how many times do we talk about if it's not one thing, right? If it's not the smoking gun, it's building. this mountain of evidence.

Yeah. And man, we really are building it here. We are. Or the prosecution did. And I wonder how his wife feels. You know, she was going to stand by him. She starts hearing all this stuff. How long do you stand by that person before?

Or at what point as all of this starts to come out, do you not believe him? Yeah. You know, and I don't know what point that is. A forensic analyst from the DA. office testified that in 1999, Tony and Janet had over $40,000 available to them. But in November 2001, they only had around $1,800. They had a $199,000 mortgage on their home in Bastra. So just by that math alone, pretty tough to buy a $700,000 home. The defense argued that most of the money was tied up in their home and cars, and they were building equity.

The prosecution presented a new piece of DNA evidence at trial. Investigators took a swab of Diane's left ring finger, which contained a mix of Diane and Tony Russo's DNA. So, you know, I talked about it. There's only so much they could do back then with DNA, but here's one thing they could do. And I think this had to be pretty damning. You know, we talked about the hairs on the towel. Okay.

How did they get there? We don't know. But when you have a mix of the victim's DNA and the suspect's DNA, how are you explaining that away? It's a little tough to do. Now, it wasn't a complete match, but the prosecution noted that Tony could not be excluded as a match. And there again, the limitations, right, of what they could do with DNA back then.

Diane's fiance and male co-worker were excluded as matches. And we talked about both of them as being looked at pretty hard early on. An expert testified that the DNA from Diane's hand had a one in 17,000 chance of belonging to someone other than Rousseau. But there was a one in 12.9 million chance that someone other than Rousseau would have DNA that matched both the hair and the. and the DNA from Diane's hand. So that's,

that's pretty interesting. You know, one in 17,000, that's a far cry from what we hear today. Oh, yeah. The technology has it as like one in billions or trillions. Right.

It's gotten to that point. One in 17,000, it's nothing to sneeze at, but it's a far cry from being a certainty. Now, one in 12.9 million, for both of them, I think that puts it in a much more favorable light. Yeah, I think as a prosecutor, you've got to be kind of happy with those numbers.

In contrast, one prosecution witness testified that she couldn't positively link the hair to Russo because the Strand didn't have a root. Finally, the prosecution presented evidence about Tony's internet activity on June 18, 2003. A warrant was issued for a search of Tony's home and the seizure of his computer. According to State v. Rousseau, over 136 documents, including web pages relating to real estate were found on the computer. Some of the web pages related to the realtors who testified at trial. So you have the realtors saying they met with Tony.

We've already said that they found the realtors numbers on his, phone bills and now we have evidence that he searched their web pages got to get rid of those laptops man yeah well we've said that a lot always think about ted too you ever seen ted and ted and ted too ted and ted too yeah yeah i've seen them both when uh ted discovers on johnny's laptop his porn collection you know and johnny's like i'll just delete it all he's like ted's like no you got to take they're out in the alley like smash flashing it. Then they take it out to the harbor. This is the only way to really get rid of it.

Tony's internet history referenced a pornographic website that focused on asphyxiation called necrobabes.com. Tony spent 30 minutes looking at the website two days before the murder. In the month before the murder, he viewed the website for two and a half hours and he stored over 1,000 pictures related to the strangulation of women on his computer. That's excessive. That's a lot. Joseph Schwelberg, the custodian for generic systems, the billing company that controlled access to necrobabes.com, testified that Tony Russo purchased a six-month membership in July 2001. Janet Russo purchased a membership back in February.

Janet or someone using Janet's credit card? Well, I don't know. Yeah. I don't know. But, you know, could it have been that she was into that too? and they both were. Sure. Who know? Yeah. The defense chose not to call any witnesses because in their minds, the prosecution only had circumstantial evidence. In his closing argument, Robert Smith said that Rousseau strangled Diane

so quickly. She had no time to react. He believed that he choked her until she lost consciousness, then tied her hands and choked her again. He contrasted Rousseau's claims of being a born-again Christian with his internet activity, saying, per the Austin American statesman, it was church in the morning, praise team, music ministry, and then necrobabs at night. Yeah. Ouch. That had a hit home. Well, I don't think he was wrong.

No. I mean, the evidence kind of proved it. The defense argued that the DNA evidence was not accurate enough to prove Rousseau was in Diane's home and that he shouldn't be convicted of kidnapping because Diane was dead when her hands were bound. The defense also claimed there was insufficient evidence to prove who exactly viewed the pornographic website. Well, that's going to be difficult, right?

Who's looking at the porn site? It's on that computer, but we don't have a way to see who's actually staring at it. And it did say that Janet Russo, or at least someone using her name, purchased a subscription at one time as well. Yeah. But I always find it interesting when the defense argues that, you know, my client's not

guilty. He wasn't even there. But also he shouldn't be convicted of kidnapping because Diane was already dead when her hands were bound. Yeah. Or they're trying to do whatever they can to help him out. Yeah. I mean, that's their job.

They're trying to do their job. And I don't blame them at all for that. The jury went into deliberations, but returned to the courtroom to hear further testimony from deputy medical examiner Elizabeth Peacke. She initially said that Diane was dead when the restraints were applied. But when questioned by the prosecution, she said the restraints were put on before Diane's heart stopped. She explained that she had misspoken. And the restraints were placed after Diane lost consciousness. So now the kidnap charges back in.

Well, that's a big difference. But it also points out how important it is not to misspeak. You know, when you're talking about some of this very critical stuff. Yeah, when you're up on the stand, you got one purpose up there, right? That's to give the most credible, correct information that you can. So to misspeak, it kind of hurts your reputation. Yeah, you can. Sure.

It can cause you to lose some credibility. but have you ever been on the stand? Yes. And been grilled by an attorney. I have as well. It is very uncomfortable. Very. It's anxiety inducing.

I can remember because I wore a suit that day with a tie, I was sweating. I mean, I looked like I was guilty and I wasn't even on trial. I was just a witness. It's not an easy thing to do. And I'll throw depositions in there as well because I did a deposition.

one time and that was very tough as well. They always act like their buddies with you until that recorder goes on. They drop the bombs. Yeah. On February 20th, 2004, Tony Russo was convicted of capital murder. The jury agreed that Tony kidnapped Diane before she was killed, which made him eligible for the death penalty. They carefully considered whether or not Diane was a lot when her hands were bound.

And they asked twice to rehear testimony before. making their decision. So it sounds as though they didn't take this lightly. They didn't go in there and just take a vote. I mean, they wanted to, you know, rehear testimony and really kind of go over things.

During the sentencing phase, five women testified about the attacks committed by Tony Russo in the late 80s and early 90s. The fifth woman was his former wife, Mary. She testified that Tony rubbed her neck or choked her when they had sex. And he once choked her so hard that she blacked out.

I don't think there's any doubt that he had this asphyxiation fetish. Yeah, for sure. And I don't know how common it is. I don't know how uncommon it is, but I'll say it again. If two people are into it and it's all consensual, no big deal. And nobody gets hurt. No big deal. Yeah.

But you both have to be into it. And you got to know when to let off on the. hold. That's where the safe word comes in. Absolutely. Asparagus. Or the safe wink if you can't speak. Rousseau's wife, son and sister testified as character witnesses. Janet Rousseau testified that Tony was a good husband and father. She admitted that he liked to touch her neck and he had only choked her once. She asked him to stop because she couldn't breathe. Does that seem strange that he only choked her once, knowing that he had this fascination for as long as they were together. Well, I could look at it a couple different ways.

Either she's not being truthful, but she doesn't want to make him look bad, or she is being truthful. And so therefore, she wasn't meeting his sexual needs. Does that make sense? Yeah. If he has this erotic asphyxiation fetes, and she's not into it. Well, then he's going somewhere else for it to get that either of the internet,

but it sounds like maybe that wasn't, you know, enough or it definitely wasn't enough. He ultimately choked and killed Diane Hunt. Tony's sister testified about the physical and sexual abuse. She and her siblings suffered during their childhood. She said Tony was sent to a foster home because he pushed their stepfather away when he tried to beat her. And no doubt this probably formed a person had he became. It undoubtedly had an effect on him. Now, it would have an effect on anyone who suffered, you know, this type of abuse, physical, sexual, but it's not going to have the same type of effect on on everybody.

And obviously, we know that alone is not. going to make someone go out and kill because so many people have dealt with that. Russo's son Anthony testified that his father was affectionate and helped him with his school. And I understand this part of the process, right? You want, if you're the defense, to call people who are going to humanize the defendant. He's already been found guilty. Yeah.

Now we're trying to figure out how to sentence him. And you want people in his corner. who are going to say, you know, he's a good husband. He's a good father. And maybe he was. On February 27, 2004, Tony Russo was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 40 years before parole eligibility. He was ordered to finish the remainder of his 20 year sentence for the 1993 conviction before he started the 40 year minimum sentence. Well, that's what happens when you jack up your parole, right? You got to go back, finish with you. you started. Tony's appeal to the Texas Court of Appeals was denied in June 2007. Tony Russo is currently

60 years old and he's still incarcerated. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice inmate search page lists his parole eligibility date as February 27, 24. And actually found that math a little strange because it said he had to finish out the remainder of his 20 year sentence before he started the 40 year minimum sentence. So maybe there was credit for time served there. I don't know, but the math doesn't seem to to work out exactly right because that February 27, 24, 24 date is exactly 40 years. Yeah.

From when he was sentenced. Well, he'll be 80 years old, roughly, if he makes it that far. Yeah. Yeah. And I think he's lucky that he got what he got. I mean, he's in Texas. he very easily probably could have got the death pill. Yeah, he really could have.

The prosecutor described Tony as a predator looking for, quote, watering holes of potential victims. Again, that's just scary to me. The fact that he visited Holmes in the Austin area for six months led prosecutors to believe that he was looking for an opportunity to strangle another woman as he had done in the past. Once he discovered that Diane Hollick lived alone, he decided she would be another victim. No one caught him in the act like they had in previous cases, most likely because he targeted Diane during the storm. Yeah, it was a perfect storm. Perfect storm. It was a confluence of different events. You had this kind of really big storm. You had Diane alone, who happened to have her

house up for sale. And I think once he saw her, he made up his mind. Yeah. That she was going to be his victim. And sadly, that's what ultimately happened. Yeah. But no doubt, you know, this, this was a bad guy. You know, this wasn't a singular act. He had hurt women throughout the years. Yeah, he's definitely a predator. He was a predator. But that's it for our episode on Patrick Anthony Rousseau. We got some voicemails. You want to check those out? Let's hear them. Hi, you guys can givey. This is Kaylee calling from Louisiana. I have been listening to y'all's podcast since 2020 when the whole epidemic happened with COVID when I was working in a hospital. I was actually here if anybody has recommended this case, the Idaho case for Brian Coburger, the one that ended up, you know, going after four college students.

And it's pretty, I would say it's fair if you decide not to do it because I understand, of course, mindset. You actually have a daughter that's in college at the moment. And I don't blame you if it's too gut-riching just to talk about it because I'm not going to lie when I was living on my own. I've watched so many TikTok videos of this whole case where it actually scared me to where I didn't even want to stay at home by myself. I would either go stay at my dad's for the night or I'd go visit my boyfriend. But if y'all ever decide to do that case, I would love to hear y'all's version of the case. But I enjoy y'all's podcast and hope to hear more so keep your head on this level and keep your own time ticking yeah that's absolutely a huge case that i think we will cover in the future

morph and i covered it on criminology but it was as it was unfolding yeah it was before they they identified the killer so you and i normally like to wait until everything is kind of wrapped up and then we'll take a look at it. Hello, Mike and Debbie. This is Laura calling. I just finished listening to your Lori Valo-Dabell two-parter. And I didn't realize this until you said that she filed an appeal. I really hope she wins that appeal because if she wins and they have to retry her,

they can go after the death penalty on her. So fingers crossed that she wins. Secondly, Mike, I've noticed that you say the word okay a lot. I created a drinking game where every time you say, okay, I take a drink. And luckily for you, I get ready in the morning and it's usually coffee because I have the feeling I'd get a little schnockered if I did it with alcohol. Anyway, I love Mike. I love Gibby. I'm Team T-Cat.

You guys play it safe. and keep your own time picking. Bye. Hey, no doubt we've had plenty of word games out there over the year. Drinking games. Yeah. I didn't realize I said okay a lot. But there's a lot of things that you and I don't realize that we say. Right. That people point, right, right is one of them, that people point out to us. And I don't know. I guess it's just you talk the way you talk and it's just the way it comes out.

Okay. Okay. But we appreciate the voicemails. Absolutely. And the kind words for sure. We had no mailbag this week. So that's it, buddy, for another episode of true crime all the time. So for Mike and give me, stay safe and keep your own time ticking.