August 21, 2024 • 42 mins
Introducing There and Gone: South Street. On this bonus episode of Burden of Guilt, Nancy Glass invites her colleague and dear friend, Andrea Gunning, to discuss Andrea's latest podcast, There and Gone: South Street. Andrea Gunning is also the host of the hit podcast, Betrayal. Please enjoy a special presentation of Episode 1 of There and Gone: South Street. Andrea shares her feelings about hosting and reporting on this true crime podcast. Please take a moment to listen and subscribe to There and Gone: South Street by clicking here.
You will find There and Gone: South Street on the iHeartApp, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And if you want to listen to episodes one week early and ad-free, you can sign up for iHeartTrueCrime+, exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Thank you for listening!
There and Gone: Ep 1 — Ghosts
How do two adults and a pickup truck disappear from a busy Philadelphia street? That’s the question that’s baffled law enforcement and the families of Danielle Imbo and Richard Petrone for almost 20 years. The FBI called the crime “personal”. But who would want to harm Danielle or Richard? And why?
To find more episodes of There and Gone: South Street, click here. Please subscribe to the show, leave a review and rate 5 stars!
If you would like to reach out to the There and Gone Team, please email us at thereandgonepod@gmail.com.
If you have any tips on the disappearance of Richard Petrone and Danielle Imbo, please contact the Citizens Crime Commission at 215-546-TIPS (8477).
Jerri Williams hosts the podcast “FBI Retired Case File Review”.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hi, It's Nancy Glass, host of Burden of Guilt. Today
I wanted to share a new true crime series. The
podcast is called There and Gone South Street and it's
launching now. The Last podcast team spent the last three
years investigating the disappearance of two people who vanished without
a trace on one of the busiest streets in Philadelphia.
(00:25):
It's been almost twenty years since Richard Patron and Danielle
Imbo went missing. Not only did they go missing, but
so did Richard's pickup truck. It's become a story that
haunts the city to this day. There are no suspects,
no evidence, and no answers for the families. Just like
Tracy Riquel's fight for justice for Matthew, Richard and Danielle's
(00:49):
families have pursued justice for nearly two decades, only to
be met with dead ends and unanswered questions. But the
FBI believes there are people out there who know exactly
what happened to Richard and Danielle and therein Gone. My
colleague and dear friend, Andrea Gunning takes on the case
and is taking a look at it in a way
(01:11):
no one ever has before. So Andrea, what was it
that inspired you to take this case on three years ago.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
This is a hometown story, and I grew up in
the suburbs of Philadelphia, not too far away from where
this happened. It was all over the news, and in
the beginning, a lot of us were concerned because they
went missing off of one of the busiest streets of Philadelphia.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
I mean South Street is like Marty Gras every night
of the year. It is so busy. It is just
clubs and had two parlors and bars. You know, it's
a party place, right.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
So originally it was a public safety concern for a
lot of people in the city and the surrounding areas,
and then soon we learned that this was a more
personal crime. And year after year, I remember every February,
which is the anniversary of when these two went missing,
you would see news packages saying if you have any
(02:13):
information about Danielle and Richard, please call this Distance Crime
Commission tip line. Now we're approaching the twentieth anniversary, and
so this case is close to my heart because this
happened in my own city. This is about two individuals
with families that remind me of my own, and so
it became a very personal experience trying to find justice
(02:36):
for Richard and Danielle and their families.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
So what are we going to hear on this podcast.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
You're going to hear from law enforcement, family members of
Richard and Danielle that haven't spoken, people on the streets
of Philadelphia with the rumors that they've heard, and we're
going to hear and explore theories never reported on. When
you live in the city, people talk and there are
a ton of rumors that are circula as to what happened.
(03:01):
So we're going to explore those rumors and see if
we can find any evidence to support them. Then I
do believe it will get solved. The FBI undoubtedly knows
that there are people in the city that know exactly
what happened to Richard and Danielle the night of February nineteenth,
two thousand and five. But what the FBI law enforcement
needs is testimony, witness testimony, and for people to come forward.
(03:26):
And there are people in the city living right now,
could be my neighbor, could be someone a few blocks
away that knows something, and so if they come forward,
it will be solved.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Well, Andrea, I want nothing more than for your work
to bring those who harmed Richard and Danielle to justice.
And since you've been covered so much new information, I
believe it will. So now I want to share with
you a special presentation of episode one of There on
Gone South Street. And if you're enjoying the show, just
(03:59):
know new episodes drop every Monday on the iHeart app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And if
you want to listen to episodes one week early and
ad free, you can sign up on iHeart True Crime
Plus exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Here is episode one of
There and Gone South Street. Thanks for listening.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Throughout this entire time. Danielle has been missing, trying to
find her literally consume me. Some psychic called my mother
in law and said Danielle was dying in a box car.
So in the middle of the night I went down
(04:44):
to Philadelphia and searched the train tracks under the bridge
with a flashlight. Here I am scaling this fence midnight
with a flashlight looking in box cars. I got in
trouble for that one. The Mount Laurel police detective called
(05:07):
me up screaming, telling me that they had to stop
all of commerce in Pennsylvania to get me out of
the railroad because I was looking in railroad cars. I
just can't stop. It just consumed me.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
That's Jonah Tobray. His sister Danielle went missing in February
of two thousand and five, but she wasn't alone. Danielle
and her friend Richard left a bar and simply vanished.
Nineteen years later, they still have yet to be found.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
She was my sister, she was my friend, she was
my blood. I would do anything for her throughout all
these years speaking with the FBI, I know my sister
died that night, but to this day, I still don't
know stop my mind from wandering to the darker things.
(06:06):
She alone? Was she scared? Was she calling out for someone?
For all I know? They have all this information, the FBI.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
So what does the FBI say.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
We have several working theories. We've done a number of
searches in different areas. We have a lot of folks
that we've talked to. We have statements, phone records. I
probably have the silver bullet and all of that stuff.
Speaker 5 (06:33):
I need somebody to tie it together. This needs to
get solved.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
I'm Andrea Gunning and this is Therein Gone South Street
Episode one, ghosts.
Speaker 6 (06:52):
I say in the train reached down on the top,
but you've been last to me. I'll never give up,
no matter how I open my eyes define can.
Speaker 7 (07:25):
A.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Note that the views and opinions expressed in this podcast
are solely those of the individuals participating. This podcast contains
subject matter which may not be suitable for everyone. Discretion
is advised. For fifteen years, Danielle and Richard were strangers
to me, Ghosts that loomed over I ninety five South.
(07:48):
It's the stretch of highway that connects Philadelphia to New
York City. Each side is lined with billboards. Most are
ads for ambulance chasers or beer, but one shows two
smiling faces is next to the word missing. It's Danielle
Mbau and Richard Patron, and it's been there for almost
twenty years.
Speaker 8 (08:08):
Inbo and Patron were last seen leaving a South Street
bar in the late evening of February nineteenth, two thousand
and five.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
I knew their faces, I knew their names.
Speaker 9 (08:18):
Investigators have turned up a few promising leaves, but have
not found.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
The couple or the car. South Street is one of
the busiest and most popular places for nightlife in Philadelphia.
At least it was in two thousand and five. Think
Bourbon Street, but without the balconies and beads. It's not
exactly the same, but you get the idea. No shortage
of places to grab a drink and have a good time.
(08:42):
It's not a place where two people just vanish, and
it's certainly a spot where you'd have plenty of eyewitnesses.
They had left a bar at Fourth and South, headed
to his pickup truck and simply vanished, not a trace.
Two adults in their mid thirties walk out of a
bar and into a block. How is that even possible.
(09:07):
I live within walking distance to South Street. I've been
to those bars, and I've walked those same streets. I
know how busy they are, so this has often haunted me.
The story of Richard Patrone and Daniel Imbo became an anecdote,
a Philadelphia urban legend. If my team was ever going
to produce a missing Persons podcast, this was the one.
(09:30):
And as I'll explain in a bit, it turns out
we're way more connected to the story than I originally thought.
When I begin working on a story, I usually reach
out to law enforcement. From the initial research, it was
clear the FBI was involved, so I decided to start there.
Speaker 10 (09:47):
This case was different because it was two people. They
were adults that were just out having fun and now
they disappear with you know, knowing from about where they
could be.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
That's Jerry Williams. She was an FBI agent and the
spokesperson for the Philadelphia Bureau when Danielle and Richard went missing.
Speaker 10 (10:12):
I don't think anybody had heard of a case like
this ever before. Vita would come into my office and
keep me updated.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Veto Special Agent Vito Rosselli. He has been working on
this case since the very beginning.
Speaker 10 (10:28):
I could tell that it was more than just another
investigation for him.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Agent Rosselli had spent almost two decades tracking down every
lead in this case but came up short.
Speaker 10 (10:41):
There were so many times over the past few years
that I thought Veto was close in solving this and
then nothing.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
I needed to talk to Vito.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
Hey, Andrea, I really appreciate your effort on this huge health.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Special Agent Vitose looks and sounds like someone in a
TV show who's playing an FBI agent. He's a stocky guy,
muscular with dark skin, and seems like someone you'd want
to grab a beer with.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
My dad was an old Hoover guy. He was an
old FBI agent, So I grew up around that. I
got in Philly in February of ninety seven, and I've
been in Philly pretty much my whole career.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Video is a warm and welcoming guy, but I could
tell that he carries pieces of this investigation around with him,
and that clearly rests heavily on his heart. I don't
know how else to explain it, but there's a heaviness
to that.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
It wasn't just an accident driving off a bridge. A
trucking two people just don't disappear. What I do know
is that the people who are involved had to have
the means to get rid of two bodies and a
truck in a very quick.
Speaker 5 (11:54):
Amount of time.
Speaker 4 (11:55):
That means that they did it before or they had
access to those circles.
Speaker 5 (12:02):
So I don't have the truck and I don't have
the bodies.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Just think about that. Not only are Danielle and Richard missing,
but so is the Dodge Dakota pickup truck they were driving.
And after nineteen years of searching, Fido still has no
physical evidence to work with. He's been trying to figure
out who wanted to kill either Danielle and Richard without
a fingerprint, a tire mark, or a single drop of blood.
(12:29):
But maybe what's stranger than any of that is the why.
Because on paper, neither of these two seem to have
a target on their back.
Speaker 5 (12:38):
What I did on covers that both were good people.
A lot of people cared for him.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
Danielle was very close to him, her mom and her brother,
and rich was very close to both his parents and
all his siblings and had a child that he was raising.
Both families are still extremely destroyed. It's very emotional for
as emotional to it was when I first met them.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Veto has a lot riding on this investigation. Obviously he
felt for Danielle and Richard's families. It's been on his
plate since two thousand and five. And all investigators will
tell you they always feel like they're racing against time.
But Vito had a different clock. You see in the
FBI there's a mandatory retirement age of fifty seven, and
(13:25):
Vito's fifty seventh birthday was fast approaching.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
Every investigator, every detective has that white whale that hangs
over the head, and in this particular case where you
don't get an answer that just crushes people's souls and
it's tough.
Speaker 5 (13:41):
So the case is very much open and hopefully we
make it arrest.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
I've met with Vito a few times now. After those conversations,
it's become clear what Veto is missing testimony someone who
heard something or saw something, or remembers anything, anything about
what happened on the night of February nineteenth, two thousand
and five. He just needs someone to come forward.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
Everybody that's working on this case, everybody that has worked
on this case, wants this to get out in the
public and wants people to call in.
Speaker 5 (14:15):
And that's why I'm very thankful for you guys.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
This case was a big deal in Philadelphia, and to
be fair, it did get national attention, but that interest
lasted for like two months because in May of two
thousand and five, an American teenager went missing in Aruba,
Natalie Holloway, and the nation turned their attention to her. Slowly,
Danielle and Richard faded from public consciousness, but Philadelphia hasn't forgotten.
(14:44):
For a big metropolitan city, there is a small town
feel here and it's that close knit community that keeps
their memory alive. See, everybody knows everybody here, or at
least knows someone who knows your sister or your cousin,
or used to work with that guy that you used
to work with. All of that is relevant here. The city,
(15:05):
it's people, It's all important to this story. Philadelphia is
the city of brotherly love, and often love extends to
loyalty vows of silence when it comes to nefarious behavior.
The FBI undoubtedly believes that there are people who know
what happened to Richard and Danielle but have remained silent.
(15:29):
So why now? I once heard this theory from law
enforcement that when it comes to these types of cases,
there are usually three windows of time to solve them.
The first few weeks, the first year, and then the
next best is the twentieth anniversary.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
I've gotten confessions from folks because it was chewing them
up on the inside. Not all folks that do illegal
activity are evil folks. A lot of them have consciences
and kids and families of the row own and eventually
it wears on them.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
By the time this podcast launches, we'll approach the opening
of that final window, maybe after two decades, perhaps someone's
own mortality will change their view and come forward with information.
I approached my team about taking this on and knew
(16:26):
my producing partner Ben would be interested because, like me,
he grew up in Philadelphia too. He knew this story
as well as I did. But there was something I
didn't expect. When discussing it with my colleague Carrie, she
went white. She looked at me and said, you know,
my brother grew up with Richard Patron and was good
friends with him. Right, I had no idea. So she
(16:48):
put me in touch with her brother, Jimmy.
Speaker 9 (16:50):
He was so likabley just had such a huge heart.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Jimmy Hartman grew up across the street from Richard and
the two immediately became fast friends.
Speaker 9 (17:00):
Like to play hockey. We would get the guys together,
and we became friends from there. And I knew Danielle
also because I graduated high school with her.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Like I said, everybody knows everybody.
Speaker 9 (17:11):
She was always nice. I just never got to know
her that well, but I knew her and she knew me.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
So Jimmy not only knew Danielle and Richard, but was
even close with Richard's parents, Richard and Marge Patron.
Speaker 9 (17:25):
You couldn't go to the house without eating, just so
typical Italian family, and there's just pasta and food and
bread and wine and everything everywhere.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Jimmy said, it's been tough to watch the patron suffer
all these years.
Speaker 9 (17:42):
You could see the pain, especially in Marge's eyes. You
could just see how much it hurts her, you know,
And when you have somebody taken from me like this,
it's just really hard to say goodbye.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
At first, he said, the patrons were dreading the phone
call from police, the call that would confirm that Richard
was dead. But now any information would be welcomed information.
Speaker 9 (18:08):
I would hate for either one of them to leave
the earth without having closure. I mean, they have not
let up on trying to get this mystery solved.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
We had the FBI on our side, but we understood
that to move forward we would need both families to participate.
It's a painful process but also an opportunity. The more
you talk about a missing person, the more likely it
is that someone who knows something will say something. But
approaching these families, I knew I would be asking them
to relive so much. It's tough. Since Jimmy knew the
(18:44):
patrons from childhood. He made an introduction, so we started there.
(19:10):
Marge Patrone greeted me and my colleague Ben at her
front door. It was a bright Sunday afternoon, nearly nineteen
years after her son Richard and his friend Danielle Imbo vanished.
We needed to learn who Richard and Danielle were and
understand everything they left behind. On February nineteenth, two thousand
and five. We had been told that both families were
(19:31):
done speaking to the press. Think about it. The closest
people to Richard and Danielle had to answer the same
questions about their disappearance for over nineteen years now. Yet
here I was, with my partner Ben, standing at the
threshold of the Petron's family home to again pick at
that scap. It took an introduction from Richard's childhood friend,
(19:55):
many conversations and veto expressing the importance of participating. Ultimately,
the patrons agreed, you want to sit like somewhere comfortable.
Speaker 7 (20:05):
Or what do you want to do?
Speaker 2 (20:07):
And much to my surprise and relief, Marge welcomed us
with a warm, friendly smile, and just like I was told,
she immediately wanted to feed us.
Speaker 7 (20:18):
I want something to eat.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Marge is a grandmother as well as a mother of three,
so hosting us seemed like old hat for March, like
we'd been over for dinner many times before, even though
this was a first for all of us. And that day,
Marge invited us for Sunday dinner. And know, this isn't
just a meal that happens to fall on Sunday. It's
actually a long running tradition for the patrons. That's when
(20:43):
their family comes together for a big Italian meal. So
we felt honored to be invited. It was just before Christmas,
and every inch of our house was decorated, including the kitchen.
That's where we all gathered around a charcuterie board filled
with slice telling meat to cheeses while a huge pot
of red gravy bubbled on the stove behind us. Marge's
(21:05):
freezer door was lined with several baby pictures and a
ton of magnets. She pointed to the Chicago Bears magnet
and said it was Richard's favorite football team. And then
there was this, I.
Speaker 7 (21:16):
Have a Susan Lucci doll.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
You might remember Susan Lucci from the long running daytime
TV show All My Children.
Speaker 7 (21:24):
You know it's funny because I love soap ackwards and
all that.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Marge explained that she always watched all my children and
how one year for Christmas, Richard surprised her with this
Susan Lucci doll.
Speaker 7 (21:38):
For a guy, he was the best gift giver and
just very thoughtful and did it all himself, Like he
didn't just go to the mall and buy anything. He
knew what you were into.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
I could tell Richard is Marge's firstborn. She lights up
at every mention of his name, like how he played
hockey from the time he was seven until the day
he went missing, and how she still holds on to
Richard's Bobby Clark jersey. That's when her voice trailed off.
And as the firstborn, you could say Richard got special treatment.
Speaker 7 (22:13):
When Richard had a sore throat, I would run him
to the doctors.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
That Christine always would say.
Speaker 7 (22:18):
If I said I had a store throat, you'd say,
spray your throat.
Speaker 5 (22:20):
You're right.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
So Christine and Alisa are MARTA's daughters. Christine was also
best friends with Daniel Imbo. She was supposed to join
us for dinner, but Christine backed out at the last minute.
Her sister Alisa gave us a clue as to why.
Speaker 11 (22:38):
I think this whole thing was really hard for Christine,
because it's her best friend and her brother. Richard and
Christine were only your difference. And she doesn't really say
anything too much about that night.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Alisa is well into her thirties now, but was just
a teenager when her brother Richard disappeared.
Speaker 11 (22:58):
We have no idea what happened to them or how
this happened, and we just lived with that, and it's
an awful feeling.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
There was a row of stockings in the living room
that hung across their mantle, just above the fireplace. I
couldn't help but wonder if Richard's stocking was one of them. Okay,
we all moved to the kitchen table as Marge arrived
with a giant bowl of stuffed mannicotti and homemade meatballs.
It was enough to feed a small army.
Speaker 7 (23:27):
Everything to me is happy and sad.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Marge pointed to where Richard sat for thirty five years,
and then to the empty chair where her husband used
to sit for forty years. Marge and her husband, Richard Sor,
owned and operated a Swedish bakery called Viking Pastries. In
the suburbs of Philly. That's where Richard and his father
worked side by side. The two were very close. Richard
(23:53):
Senior suffered multiple strokes and hasn't been home for a
while now.
Speaker 7 (23:57):
He's just never been here since Richard disappeared. He's never
been the same, no, never.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
He's the shell of the person he used to but he's.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Not at all who he was with them, you know.
I don't want to say that life hasn't gone on
for the patron since Richard disappeared, because it has. But
I got the feeling that Marge in particular has been
sort of treading water ever since that day. The void
Richard left was on full display that Sunday.
Speaker 7 (24:24):
I had to keep going, which I still am doing,
even though it's like yesterday for me.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Back on February twentieth, two thousand and five, Richard didn't
make it home for Sunday dinner.
Speaker 7 (24:38):
I remember Christine calling me and she said, Mom, Richard's missing.
I said, missing, What do you mean, He's home. There's
a nice car today. You would never leave the house.
He's home.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Marge said she was out running errands with her husband
that afternoon, and she was certain Richard was home. It
was the day of the Daytona five hundred, and Richard
had been looking forward to it all week.
Speaker 7 (24:58):
She's not home, mom.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Christine called Marge from the salon where she worked. She
was concerned about Danielle. Yeah, the same Danielle who was
with Richard the night before.
Speaker 7 (25:10):
And she said, Danielle didn't show up for an appointment
today and she never does that, and he's not home.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
He's missing. Marge and her son, Richard were close. They
usually talked multiple times a day, but that Sunday she
hadn't heard from him.
Speaker 7 (25:26):
And so when I called his phone a million times
and I just want right to voicemail, he would never
not answer his phone to me. Never.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
One thing to keep in mind, back in early two
thousand and five, most of us had flip phones and
texting wasn't common yet, so when our phones rang, we'd
actually answer them. The fact that Richard wasn't answering his
phone immediately concerned March and.
Speaker 7 (25:52):
Christine said the same thing with Danielle. It's just going
to rite to voicemail.
Speaker 10 (25:56):
Now.
Speaker 7 (25:56):
I call my sister and I said to her, we've
got to go in his apartment.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Marge's sister lived down the street from Richard, so she
had a spare key and headed over to the apartment.
She didn't see Richard's truck parked out front, so she
unlocked the door and went inside.
Speaker 7 (26:12):
She said, no, nobody came back here, and the boog's barking.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Richard's dog, Bismarck was in distress and needed to go out.
His food bowl was empty, and it was clear Richard
had not been home for hours. From everything I've learned today,
Richard was a reliable guy, not one to be out
of touch. Leaving his family in the dark like this.
It was out of character.
Speaker 7 (26:38):
He would never go anywhere without telling me. I know immediately,
immediately I'd like some Oh my god, this could not
be happening. But I lost my shot today. Oh my god,
there's thing. Said We're never going to see them again,
(26:58):
or are we?
Speaker 3 (26:59):
Mom?
Speaker 7 (26:59):
I said no, we're not, We're not.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Christine and Marge feared the worst, but Richard's father wasn't
about to jump to conclusions. Richard Senior was a strong
Italian father. He's as much braun as he is brains,
and what his wife was telling him it wasn't registering.
Speaker 7 (27:20):
He said, what are you just saying, I'm saying that
something terrible happened to your son.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
While the fear was hitting the Patron family, John and Tobray,
Danielle's brother, was also realizing Danielle didn't make it home
that night.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
I woke up Sunday morning early and I took a
ride to her house to fix the curtain. I sold
her car out front. I knock on the door. She's
not answering the CORR cell phone, it goes right to voicemail.
So I called my mother and I said, Mom, I'm
outside of Danielle's. I see her car here, but she's
not answering. I have her key. I don't want to
(28:04):
just walk in if she's in the shower or something.
I don't want her to get scared. And she said
maybe she slept at Richard's.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
At the time, John had been trying to support Danielle
as much as possible. See in the last twelve months,
Danielle's life had gotten complicated. Danielle had recently separated from
her husband, Joe Imbo. To make matters more challenging, Danielle
and Joe welcomed their son together just two years prior.
In February of two thousand and five, Danielle was in
(28:34):
uncharted waters. She was a single parent, navigating custody of
their twenty month old child, and deep in the throes
of dissolving her marriage with Joe. Anything John could do
to help his sister, he would, whether it be helping
out around the condo or looking after the baby.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
It was a typical ugly separation, you know, it was
headed towards divorce, so I didn't think anything of it.
Like curtains up and I left zobbious.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
No one was home, so John packed up his tools
and went about his day like he would any other.
That was until I got a.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
Phone call around three o'clock. It was my mother and
she said, Danielle never came home last night. I'm at
her condo now I need you to come here, and
my mother is in full blown panic. She said, Joe's
getting ready to drop the baby off in the next
hour and she's not here, and no one can get
in touch with either one of them. I knew right there,
(29:36):
someone was wrong. I just knew it.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
The divorce was nasty. Danielle's mom knew how bad it
would look for her daughter if Joe dropped off her
son only to find out Danielle never came home that night.
It was currently Mia. You see, over the past few months,
Danielle had been dating Richard Patron, and Joe knew that
she didn't want to give her soon to be excen
(30:02):
in law any ammunition.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
My mother said, don't tell him what's going on. I
don't want him to know because I don't want him
to say, well, I'll keep the baby until she comes home.
I said, Mom, don't worry about it.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
It was three o'clock that afternoon when Joe arrived to
drop off their son. That was the agreed upon time
for Joe to end his weekend with a baby, and.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
He kind of walked in. He goes, looked confused, and
he said worth Danielle, and my mother said, oh, she
went to dinner with Christine. And then he said something
like he mumbled under his breath, I guess telling a
lie is better than telling the truth. Then he left,
like saying what we were saying was bullshit.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
It was always our intention to start our own investigation,
but we had to ask ourselves, where do you start
on a case when two people go missing. We started
by retracing their last steps. We wanted to understand exactly
where Richard, Patron and Danielle Imbo were the night of
February nineteenth, two thousand and five.
Speaker 7 (31:15):
We're all out together. That night went to Chicky and Pete.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Marge and her two daughters, Christine and Alisa had dinner
with Danielle Imbo and Danielle's mother at Chickie and Pete's,
which is a popular Philadelphia restaurant. Think chicken sandwiches, che steaks, crabfries,
and beer. It's a sports bar with games on TVs everywhere,
A good place to blow off steam after a long week.
Here's Alisa, Richard's sister.
Speaker 11 (31:41):
It was just a girl's night out. I wanted to
tag along anywhere my sister and my mom were going,
so I was there.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Toward the end of dinner, Richard called Danielle to see
if she wanted to join him for the evening. Initially
Danielle wasn't sure, but eventually agreed she was open to
making the most for child free Saturday night.
Speaker 11 (32:05):
And then my sister drove Danielle to meet Richard.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Christine agreed to drop her off since Danielle's car was
back at her condo in Jersey.
Speaker 7 (32:15):
That was really like a spur of the moment thing.
I don't think he even knew that she was going
to actually go with him.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
And that's an important detail from Marge and something to remember.
This was a spontaneous meetup between Danielle and Richard.
Speaker 7 (32:31):
Richard was at another tap room having dinner and told
Christine to drop her wolf she would go with Richard
that night.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
As for Danielle, her brother John got the story of
what happened from his mother.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
She said, well, last night, Danielle and I and Margie
Christine went to Chicken Piece and Richard called and said, hey,
I'm at this boar Abilene's on Sale Street. Why don't
you come? Danielle said, show me you as long as
you can get her home at a reasonable time.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Danielle had an appointment at a salon the next morning.
It was the same salon that Christine Patron worked at.
So it's our understanding that from Chicky and Pete, Christine
drives Danielle to meet up with Richard, and Richard and
Danielle drive to Abilene's on South Street together.
Speaker 8 (33:19):
South Street had this huge strip of bars, Abilene's.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
One of them, journalists Steve Vogue, covered the story for
Philadelphia Magazine and explains what happened next.
Speaker 8 (33:31):
I remember that they were having a good time, that
they were enjoying themselves. They sat close together, they shared
a kiss. At some point, they were laughing a lot.
You know, they had a nice evening together.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
We heard Danielle and Richard spend a couple hours at
the bar that Saturday night, listening to a band.
Speaker 8 (33:48):
They leave before midnight. He was going to drive her
back to her home in Mount Laurel, and that's where
the trail ends.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
No one has seen Danielle or Richard since.
Speaker 8 (34:04):
Not just them, but a truck disappeared into the ether
from one of the most frequented spots in the whole city.
It was stunning. I just wish that the families could
have an answer, and whatever the answer was, to sort
(34:27):
through it and deal with it.
Speaker 4 (34:30):
I'm a father, I'm a brother, I'm a husband, I'm
a son. It was very hard not to see the
human side, the human impact on the two families.
Speaker 5 (34:45):
It keeps me motivated.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
For Vito Rosselli, he lives with the impact of that
reality every day and one of the major factors that
has stopped him from solving this case is the evidence
or lack thereof. This happened in two thousand, when even
basic equipment like security cameras were using outdated technology.
Speaker 4 (35:06):
Back then, everybody was still on VCRs that they were
taping over after two weeks of thirty days, street light cameras,
none of that existed back then. You know, the iPhones
weren't a thing, so it was a little different animal.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Today, we can track our friends. Everyone essentially has a
GPS in their pocket. Plus there's no shortage of documenting
with people recording their life for the whole world to see.
But in two thousand and five, people had flip phones
in MySpace. Even YouTube didn't come out until February of
two thousand and five.
Speaker 4 (35:39):
We have a lot more tools available to us now
than we did back then.
Speaker 10 (35:45):
Today, when something happened, you know, there's cell phone video,
and there's video on buildings and people are going on
social media and talking about it. Well, we didn't have
any of that back then.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
That's former FBI agent Jerry Williams.
Speaker 10 (36:03):
In my years of doing media relations for the FBI,
I've never heard of a case like this ever before.
I mean, people are concerned if this happened to this couple.
What could happen to me and my kids if I
let them go on South Street.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
The community was concerned and law enforcement didn't have much
to work with. After those initial days of the investigation,
the FBI got tapped in, and the lack of evidence
actually started to tell a story to Vito.
Speaker 4 (36:38):
Nobody checking into a hospital. Neither one of them would
have left their children. They wouldn't just have run away.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
The idea of Richard and Danielle getting hurt or skipping
town got ruled out pretty quickly.
Speaker 4 (36:52):
There was no activity on their credit cards on their phones.
The people who did it made two people in a
truck disappear. That's a clean cry, and it could have
been cleaned by accident, it could have been clean by luck,
or it could have been clean by design. So it
was clear that something bad happened pretty much off the start.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
Vito and Jerry were adamant about one thing. After nineteen
years of dead ends, they were out of options.
Speaker 10 (37:22):
When you have a case like this, you have to
figure out how to keep it in the news.
Speaker 4 (37:30):
Each year at the anniversary where you put something out
and without fail, we always get tips, callings and more.
Speaker 5 (37:38):
Over the past few years, have been pretty consistent.
Speaker 4 (37:40):
So it's good it keeps it out in the public's eye.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
Well, today marks ten years since the local couple vanished
without a trace, and despite a decade since their disappearance,
today their relatives made an emotional plea for new information.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
Every February twentieth, without fail, the city of Philadelphia is
reminded of Danielle and Richard. It has been eleven years
to the day since daniel.
Speaker 6 (38:06):
Either or Not.
Speaker 8 (38:07):
Today marks twelve years since Danielle Imbo and Richard Patron
Junior first one message.
Speaker 7 (38:12):
They have not been seen in thirteen years and.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
From nineteen years now. These segments go out, tips, come in,
rinse and repeat.
Speaker 8 (38:22):
Family but the MBI says they have not given.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
Up on this case, having lived here my whole life.
I've watched the segment each February with the rest of Philadelphia.
Now I have more of a context as to why.
Just like that billboard I mentioned in the beginning, it's
a lifeline thrown out for Richard and Danielle and their families,
(38:45):
anything to keep hope for justice alive.
Speaker 10 (38:50):
I think putting it out there to the public on
a true crime podcast as a brilliant step to add
to what has been done.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
So it's crazy for me to say this, but I
think the FBI needs our help and your help. So
do Danielle and Richard. The two left a crowded bar
in a popular area of Philadelphia on a Saturday night
two decades ago, and in those twenty years, we still
don't know who wanted to harm them and why.
Speaker 4 (39:23):
One of the important directions that law enforcement had to
take was to determine the history between Danielle and Richard.
Speaker 5 (39:32):
When you look deep into.
Speaker 4 (39:34):
Anybody's backgrounds, you got to be digging up stuff, and
we found some angles that were of interest to us.
Speaker 10 (39:45):
That's when started to look like this may have been
a very personal crime.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
That's next time on there and gone.
Speaker 6 (40:00):
All the tenas I see you in my dreams, reached
out on the dog, for you've been lost to me.
I'll never give up, no matter how long I open
(40:23):
my eyes defind lad you're gone. Each corner it turn,
there's another bus or piece. We follow the clues looking
(40:47):
for the key. I'll never give up, no matter how
long I open my eyes to find a gone.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
If you have any information about the disappearance of Danielle
Imbo and Richard Patron. Please call the Citizens Crime Commission
tip Line at two on five five four six eight
four seven seven, or you can reach out to the
show in our team by email at varrengonpod at gmail
dot com. That's there and Gone pod at gmail dot com.
(41:29):
Thank you so much for listening. One way for you
to show support is by subscribing to our show on
Apple Podcasts. Don't forget to rate and review because five
star reviews go a long way. A big thank you
to all of our listeners. Varin Gone is a production
of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group, in
partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show is executive produced by
(41:51):
Nancy Glass, Ben Fetterman, and me Andrea Gunning. It's hosted
and written by me Andrea Gunning, with additional reporting and
writing by Ben Fetnerman In The series is also written
and produced by Todd Gans. Our associate producer is Kristin Melcurrie.
Research by Mason Klinder, Annah Hamilton and Bella Riki. Our
iHeart team is Ali Perry and Jessica Crinchech. Audio editing
(42:15):
and mixing by Matt Delvecchio. Additional editing support by Nico
Aruka there in. Gon's theme and original compositions were composed
by Oliver Bains and Dary mcaulay of Neuser Music Library,
provided by My Music Special thanks to both the Patrone
and and tow Ray families. For more podcasts from iHeart,
(42:35):
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts.
Hi, It's Nancy Glass, host of Burden of Guilt. Today
I wanted to share a new true crime series. The
podcast is called There and Gone South Street and it's
launching now. The Last podcast team spent the last three
years investigating the disappearance of two people who vanished without
a trace on one of the busiest streets in Philadelphia.
(00:25):
It's been almost twenty years since Richard Patron and Danielle
Imbo went missing. Not only did they go missing, but
so did Richard's pickup truck. It's become a story that
haunts the city to this day. There are no suspects,
no evidence, and no answers for the families. Just like
Tracy Riquel's fight for justice for Matthew, Richard and Danielle's
(00:49):
families have pursued justice for nearly two decades, only to
be met with dead ends and unanswered questions. But the
FBI believes there are people out there who know exactly
what happened to Richard and Danielle and therein Gone. My
colleague and dear friend, Andrea Gunning takes on the case
and is taking a look at it in a way
(01:11):
no one ever has before. So Andrea, what was it
that inspired you to take this case on three years ago.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
This is a hometown story, and I grew up in
the suburbs of Philadelphia, not too far away from where
this happened. It was all over the news, and in
the beginning, a lot of us were concerned because they
went missing off of one of the busiest streets of Philadelphia.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
I mean South Street is like Marty Gras every night
of the year. It is so busy. It is just
clubs and had two parlors and bars. You know, it's
a party place, right.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
So originally it was a public safety concern for a
lot of people in the city and the surrounding areas,
and then soon we learned that this was a more
personal crime. And year after year, I remember every February,
which is the anniversary of when these two went missing,
you would see news packages saying if you have any
(02:13):
information about Danielle and Richard, please call this Distance Crime
Commission tip line. Now we're approaching the twentieth anniversary, and
so this case is close to my heart because this
happened in my own city. This is about two individuals
with families that remind me of my own, and so
it became a very personal experience trying to find justice
(02:36):
for Richard and Danielle and their families.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
So what are we going to hear on this podcast.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
You're going to hear from law enforcement, family members of
Richard and Danielle that haven't spoken, people on the streets
of Philadelphia with the rumors that they've heard, and we're
going to hear and explore theories never reported on. When
you live in the city, people talk and there are
a ton of rumors that are circula as to what happened.
(03:01):
So we're going to explore those rumors and see if
we can find any evidence to support them. Then I
do believe it will get solved. The FBI undoubtedly knows
that there are people in the city that know exactly
what happened to Richard and Danielle the night of February nineteenth,
two thousand and five. But what the FBI law enforcement
needs is testimony, witness testimony, and for people to come forward.
(03:26):
And there are people in the city living right now,
could be my neighbor, could be someone a few blocks
away that knows something, and so if they come forward,
it will be solved.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Well, Andrea, I want nothing more than for your work
to bring those who harmed Richard and Danielle to justice.
And since you've been covered so much new information, I
believe it will. So now I want to share with
you a special presentation of episode one of There on
Gone South Street. And if you're enjoying the show, just
(03:59):
know new episodes drop every Monday on the iHeart app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And if
you want to listen to episodes one week early and
ad free, you can sign up on iHeart True Crime
Plus exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Here is episode one of
There and Gone South Street. Thanks for listening.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Throughout this entire time. Danielle has been missing, trying to
find her literally consume me. Some psychic called my mother
in law and said Danielle was dying in a box car.
So in the middle of the night I went down
(04:44):
to Philadelphia and searched the train tracks under the bridge
with a flashlight. Here I am scaling this fence midnight
with a flashlight looking in box cars. I got in
trouble for that one. The Mount Laurel police detective called
(05:07):
me up screaming, telling me that they had to stop
all of commerce in Pennsylvania to get me out of
the railroad because I was looking in railroad cars. I
just can't stop. It just consumed me.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
That's Jonah Tobray. His sister Danielle went missing in February
of two thousand and five, but she wasn't alone. Danielle
and her friend Richard left a bar and simply vanished.
Nineteen years later, they still have yet to be found.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
She was my sister, she was my friend, she was
my blood. I would do anything for her throughout all
these years speaking with the FBI, I know my sister
died that night, but to this day, I still don't
know stop my mind from wandering to the darker things.
(06:06):
She alone? Was she scared? Was she calling out for someone?
For all I know? They have all this information, the FBI.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
So what does the FBI say.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
We have several working theories. We've done a number of
searches in different areas. We have a lot of folks
that we've talked to. We have statements, phone records. I
probably have the silver bullet and all of that stuff.
Speaker 5 (06:33):
I need somebody to tie it together. This needs to
get solved.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
I'm Andrea Gunning and this is Therein Gone South Street
Episode one, ghosts.
Speaker 6 (06:52):
I say in the train reached down on the top,
but you've been last to me. I'll never give up,
no matter how I open my eyes define can.
Speaker 7 (07:25):
A.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Note that the views and opinions expressed in this podcast
are solely those of the individuals participating. This podcast contains
subject matter which may not be suitable for everyone. Discretion
is advised. For fifteen years, Danielle and Richard were strangers
to me, Ghosts that loomed over I ninety five South.
(07:48):
It's the stretch of highway that connects Philadelphia to New
York City. Each side is lined with billboards. Most are
ads for ambulance chasers or beer, but one shows two
smiling faces is next to the word missing. It's Danielle
Mbau and Richard Patron, and it's been there for almost
twenty years.
Speaker 8 (08:08):
Inbo and Patron were last seen leaving a South Street
bar in the late evening of February nineteenth, two thousand
and five.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
I knew their faces, I knew their names.
Speaker 9 (08:18):
Investigators have turned up a few promising leaves, but have
not found.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
The couple or the car. South Street is one of
the busiest and most popular places for nightlife in Philadelphia.
At least it was in two thousand and five. Think
Bourbon Street, but without the balconies and beads. It's not
exactly the same, but you get the idea. No shortage
of places to grab a drink and have a good time.
(08:42):
It's not a place where two people just vanish, and
it's certainly a spot where you'd have plenty of eyewitnesses.
They had left a bar at Fourth and South, headed
to his pickup truck and simply vanished, not a trace.
Two adults in their mid thirties walk out of a
bar and into a block. How is that even possible.
(09:07):
I live within walking distance to South Street. I've been
to those bars, and I've walked those same streets. I
know how busy they are, so this has often haunted me.
The story of Richard Patrone and Daniel Imbo became an anecdote,
a Philadelphia urban legend. If my team was ever going
to produce a missing Persons podcast, this was the one.
(09:30):
And as I'll explain in a bit, it turns out
we're way more connected to the story than I originally thought.
When I begin working on a story, I usually reach
out to law enforcement. From the initial research, it was
clear the FBI was involved, so I decided to start there.
Speaker 10 (09:47):
This case was different because it was two people. They
were adults that were just out having fun and now
they disappear with you know, knowing from about where they
could be.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
That's Jerry Williams. She was an FBI agent and the
spokesperson for the Philadelphia Bureau when Danielle and Richard went missing.
Speaker 10 (10:12):
I don't think anybody had heard of a case like
this ever before. Vita would come into my office and
keep me updated.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Veto Special Agent Vito Rosselli. He has been working on
this case since the very beginning.
Speaker 10 (10:28):
I could tell that it was more than just another
investigation for him.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Agent Rosselli had spent almost two decades tracking down every
lead in this case but came up short.
Speaker 10 (10:41):
There were so many times over the past few years
that I thought Veto was close in solving this and
then nothing.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
I needed to talk to Vito.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
Hey, Andrea, I really appreciate your effort on this huge health.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Special Agent Vitose looks and sounds like someone in a
TV show who's playing an FBI agent. He's a stocky guy,
muscular with dark skin, and seems like someone you'd want
to grab a beer with.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
My dad was an old Hoover guy. He was an
old FBI agent, So I grew up around that. I
got in Philly in February of ninety seven, and I've
been in Philly pretty much my whole career.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Video is a warm and welcoming guy, but I could
tell that he carries pieces of this investigation around with him,
and that clearly rests heavily on his heart. I don't
know how else to explain it, but there's a heaviness
to that.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
It wasn't just an accident driving off a bridge. A
trucking two people just don't disappear. What I do know
is that the people who are involved had to have
the means to get rid of two bodies and a
truck in a very quick.
Speaker 5 (11:54):
Amount of time.
Speaker 4 (11:55):
That means that they did it before or they had
access to those circles.
Speaker 5 (12:02):
So I don't have the truck and I don't have
the bodies.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Just think about that. Not only are Danielle and Richard missing,
but so is the Dodge Dakota pickup truck they were driving.
And after nineteen years of searching, Fido still has no
physical evidence to work with. He's been trying to figure
out who wanted to kill either Danielle and Richard without
a fingerprint, a tire mark, or a single drop of blood.
(12:29):
But maybe what's stranger than any of that is the why.
Because on paper, neither of these two seem to have
a target on their back.
Speaker 5 (12:38):
What I did on covers that both were good people.
A lot of people cared for him.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
Danielle was very close to him, her mom and her brother,
and rich was very close to both his parents and
all his siblings and had a child that he was raising.
Both families are still extremely destroyed. It's very emotional for
as emotional to it was when I first met them.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Veto has a lot riding on this investigation. Obviously he
felt for Danielle and Richard's families. It's been on his
plate since two thousand and five. And all investigators will
tell you they always feel like they're racing against time.
But Vito had a different clock. You see in the
FBI there's a mandatory retirement age of fifty seven, and
(13:25):
Vito's fifty seventh birthday was fast approaching.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
Every investigator, every detective has that white whale that hangs
over the head, and in this particular case where you
don't get an answer that just crushes people's souls and
it's tough.
Speaker 5 (13:41):
So the case is very much open and hopefully we
make it arrest.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
I've met with Vito a few times now. After those conversations,
it's become clear what Veto is missing testimony someone who
heard something or saw something, or remembers anything, anything about
what happened on the night of February nineteenth, two thousand
and five. He just needs someone to come forward.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
Everybody that's working on this case, everybody that has worked
on this case, wants this to get out in the
public and wants people to call in.
Speaker 5 (14:15):
And that's why I'm very thankful for you guys.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
This case was a big deal in Philadelphia, and to
be fair, it did get national attention, but that interest
lasted for like two months because in May of two
thousand and five, an American teenager went missing in Aruba,
Natalie Holloway, and the nation turned their attention to her. Slowly,
Danielle and Richard faded from public consciousness, but Philadelphia hasn't forgotten.
(14:44):
For a big metropolitan city, there is a small town
feel here and it's that close knit community that keeps
their memory alive. See, everybody knows everybody here, or at
least knows someone who knows your sister or your cousin,
or used to work with that guy that you used
to work with. All of that is relevant here. The city,
(15:05):
it's people, It's all important to this story. Philadelphia is
the city of brotherly love, and often love extends to
loyalty vows of silence when it comes to nefarious behavior.
The FBI undoubtedly believes that there are people who know
what happened to Richard and Danielle but have remained silent.
(15:29):
So why now? I once heard this theory from law
enforcement that when it comes to these types of cases,
there are usually three windows of time to solve them.
The first few weeks, the first year, and then the
next best is the twentieth anniversary.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
I've gotten confessions from folks because it was chewing them
up on the inside. Not all folks that do illegal
activity are evil folks. A lot of them have consciences
and kids and families of the row own and eventually
it wears on them.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
By the time this podcast launches, we'll approach the opening
of that final window, maybe after two decades, perhaps someone's
own mortality will change their view and come forward with information.
I approached my team about taking this on and knew
(16:26):
my producing partner Ben would be interested because, like me,
he grew up in Philadelphia too. He knew this story
as well as I did. But there was something I
didn't expect. When discussing it with my colleague Carrie, she
went white. She looked at me and said, you know,
my brother grew up with Richard Patron and was good
friends with him. Right, I had no idea. So she
(16:48):
put me in touch with her brother, Jimmy.
Speaker 9 (16:50):
He was so likabley just had such a huge heart.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Jimmy Hartman grew up across the street from Richard and
the two immediately became fast friends.
Speaker 9 (17:00):
Like to play hockey. We would get the guys together,
and we became friends from there. And I knew Danielle
also because I graduated high school with her.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Like I said, everybody knows everybody.
Speaker 9 (17:11):
She was always nice. I just never got to know
her that well, but I knew her and she knew me.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
So Jimmy not only knew Danielle and Richard, but was
even close with Richard's parents, Richard and Marge Patron.
Speaker 9 (17:25):
You couldn't go to the house without eating, just so
typical Italian family, and there's just pasta and food and
bread and wine and everything everywhere.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Jimmy said, it's been tough to watch the patron suffer
all these years.
Speaker 9 (17:42):
You could see the pain, especially in Marge's eyes. You
could just see how much it hurts her, you know,
And when you have somebody taken from me like this,
it's just really hard to say goodbye.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
At first, he said, the patrons were dreading the phone
call from police, the call that would confirm that Richard
was dead. But now any information would be welcomed information.
Speaker 9 (18:08):
I would hate for either one of them to leave
the earth without having closure. I mean, they have not
let up on trying to get this mystery solved.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
We had the FBI on our side, but we understood
that to move forward we would need both families to participate.
It's a painful process but also an opportunity. The more
you talk about a missing person, the more likely it
is that someone who knows something will say something. But
approaching these families, I knew I would be asking them
to relive so much. It's tough. Since Jimmy knew the
(18:44):
patrons from childhood. He made an introduction, so we started there.
(19:10):
Marge Patrone greeted me and my colleague Ben at her
front door. It was a bright Sunday afternoon, nearly nineteen
years after her son Richard and his friend Danielle Imbo vanished.
We needed to learn who Richard and Danielle were and
understand everything they left behind. On February nineteenth, two thousand
and five. We had been told that both families were
(19:31):
done speaking to the press. Think about it. The closest
people to Richard and Danielle had to answer the same
questions about their disappearance for over nineteen years now. Yet
here I was, with my partner Ben, standing at the
threshold of the Petron's family home to again pick at
that scap. It took an introduction from Richard's childhood friend,
(19:55):
many conversations and veto expressing the importance of participating. Ultimately,
the patrons agreed, you want to sit like somewhere comfortable.
Speaker 7 (20:05):
Or what do you want to do?
Speaker 2 (20:07):
And much to my surprise and relief, Marge welcomed us
with a warm, friendly smile, and just like I was told,
she immediately wanted to feed us.
Speaker 7 (20:18):
I want something to eat.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Marge is a grandmother as well as a mother of three,
so hosting us seemed like old hat for March, like
we'd been over for dinner many times before, even though
this was a first for all of us. And that day,
Marge invited us for Sunday dinner. And know, this isn't
just a meal that happens to fall on Sunday. It's
actually a long running tradition for the patrons. That's when
(20:43):
their family comes together for a big Italian meal. So
we felt honored to be invited. It was just before Christmas,
and every inch of our house was decorated, including the kitchen.
That's where we all gathered around a charcuterie board filled
with slice telling meat to cheeses while a huge pot
of red gravy bubbled on the stove behind us. Marge's
(21:05):
freezer door was lined with several baby pictures and a
ton of magnets. She pointed to the Chicago Bears magnet
and said it was Richard's favorite football team. And then
there was this, I.
Speaker 7 (21:16):
Have a Susan Lucci doll.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
You might remember Susan Lucci from the long running daytime
TV show All My Children.
Speaker 7 (21:24):
You know it's funny because I love soap ackwards and
all that.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Marge explained that she always watched all my children and
how one year for Christmas, Richard surprised her with this
Susan Lucci doll.
Speaker 7 (21:38):
For a guy, he was the best gift giver and
just very thoughtful and did it all himself, Like he
didn't just go to the mall and buy anything. He
knew what you were into.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
I could tell Richard is Marge's firstborn. She lights up
at every mention of his name, like how he played
hockey from the time he was seven until the day
he went missing, and how she still holds on to
Richard's Bobby Clark jersey. That's when her voice trailed off.
And as the firstborn, you could say Richard got special treatment.
Speaker 7 (22:13):
When Richard had a sore throat, I would run him
to the doctors.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
That Christine always would say.
Speaker 7 (22:18):
If I said I had a store throat, you'd say,
spray your throat.
Speaker 5 (22:20):
You're right.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
So Christine and Alisa are MARTA's daughters. Christine was also
best friends with Daniel Imbo. She was supposed to join
us for dinner, but Christine backed out at the last minute.
Her sister Alisa gave us a clue as to why.
Speaker 11 (22:38):
I think this whole thing was really hard for Christine,
because it's her best friend and her brother. Richard and
Christine were only your difference. And she doesn't really say
anything too much about that night.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Alisa is well into her thirties now, but was just
a teenager when her brother Richard disappeared.
Speaker 11 (22:58):
We have no idea what happened to them or how
this happened, and we just lived with that, and it's
an awful feeling.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
There was a row of stockings in the living room
that hung across their mantle, just above the fireplace. I
couldn't help but wonder if Richard's stocking was one of them. Okay,
we all moved to the kitchen table as Marge arrived
with a giant bowl of stuffed mannicotti and homemade meatballs.
It was enough to feed a small army.
Speaker 7 (23:27):
Everything to me is happy and sad.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Marge pointed to where Richard sat for thirty five years,
and then to the empty chair where her husband used
to sit for forty years. Marge and her husband, Richard Sor,
owned and operated a Swedish bakery called Viking Pastries. In
the suburbs of Philly. That's where Richard and his father
worked side by side. The two were very close. Richard
(23:53):
Senior suffered multiple strokes and hasn't been home for a
while now.
Speaker 7 (23:57):
He's just never been here since Richard disappeared. He's never
been the same, no, never.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
He's the shell of the person he used to but he's.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Not at all who he was with them, you know.
I don't want to say that life hasn't gone on
for the patron since Richard disappeared, because it has. But
I got the feeling that Marge in particular has been
sort of treading water ever since that day. The void
Richard left was on full display that Sunday.
Speaker 7 (24:24):
I had to keep going, which I still am doing,
even though it's like yesterday for me.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Back on February twentieth, two thousand and five, Richard didn't
make it home for Sunday dinner.
Speaker 7 (24:38):
I remember Christine calling me and she said, Mom, Richard's missing.
I said, missing, What do you mean, He's home. There's
a nice car today. You would never leave the house.
He's home.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Marge said she was out running errands with her husband
that afternoon, and she was certain Richard was home. It
was the day of the Daytona five hundred, and Richard
had been looking forward to it all week.
Speaker 7 (24:58):
She's not home, mom.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Christine called Marge from the salon where she worked. She
was concerned about Danielle. Yeah, the same Danielle who was
with Richard the night before.
Speaker 7 (25:10):
And she said, Danielle didn't show up for an appointment
today and she never does that, and he's not home.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
He's missing. Marge and her son, Richard were close. They
usually talked multiple times a day, but that Sunday she
hadn't heard from him.
Speaker 7 (25:26):
And so when I called his phone a million times
and I just want right to voicemail, he would never
not answer his phone to me. Never.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
One thing to keep in mind, back in early two
thousand and five, most of us had flip phones and
texting wasn't common yet, so when our phones rang, we'd
actually answer them. The fact that Richard wasn't answering his
phone immediately concerned March and.
Speaker 7 (25:52):
Christine said the same thing with Danielle. It's just going
to rite to voicemail.
Speaker 10 (25:56):
Now.
Speaker 7 (25:56):
I call my sister and I said to her, we've
got to go in his apartment.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Marge's sister lived down the street from Richard, so she
had a spare key and headed over to the apartment.
She didn't see Richard's truck parked out front, so she
unlocked the door and went inside.
Speaker 7 (26:12):
She said, no, nobody came back here, and the boog's barking.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Richard's dog, Bismarck was in distress and needed to go out.
His food bowl was empty, and it was clear Richard
had not been home for hours. From everything I've learned today,
Richard was a reliable guy, not one to be out
of touch. Leaving his family in the dark like this.
It was out of character.
Speaker 7 (26:38):
He would never go anywhere without telling me. I know immediately,
immediately I'd like some Oh my god, this could not
be happening. But I lost my shot today. Oh my god,
there's thing. Said We're never going to see them again,
(26:58):
or are we?
Speaker 3 (26:59):
Mom?
Speaker 7 (26:59):
I said no, we're not, We're not.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Christine and Marge feared the worst, but Richard's father wasn't
about to jump to conclusions. Richard Senior was a strong
Italian father. He's as much braun as he is brains,
and what his wife was telling him it wasn't registering.
Speaker 7 (27:20):
He said, what are you just saying, I'm saying that
something terrible happened to your son.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
While the fear was hitting the Patron family, John and Tobray,
Danielle's brother, was also realizing Danielle didn't make it home
that night.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
I woke up Sunday morning early and I took a
ride to her house to fix the curtain. I sold
her car out front. I knock on the door. She's
not answering the CORR cell phone, it goes right to voicemail.
So I called my mother and I said, Mom, I'm
outside of Danielle's. I see her car here, but she's
not answering. I have her key. I don't want to
(28:04):
just walk in if she's in the shower or something.
I don't want her to get scared. And she said
maybe she slept at Richard's.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
At the time, John had been trying to support Danielle
as much as possible. See in the last twelve months,
Danielle's life had gotten complicated. Danielle had recently separated from
her husband, Joe Imbo. To make matters more challenging, Danielle
and Joe welcomed their son together just two years prior.
In February of two thousand and five, Danielle was in
(28:34):
uncharted waters. She was a single parent, navigating custody of
their twenty month old child, and deep in the throes
of dissolving her marriage with Joe. Anything John could do
to help his sister, he would, whether it be helping
out around the condo or looking after the baby.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
It was a typical ugly separation, you know, it was
headed towards divorce, so I didn't think anything of it.
Like curtains up and I left zobbious.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
No one was home, so John packed up his tools
and went about his day like he would any other.
That was until I got a.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
Phone call around three o'clock. It was my mother and
she said, Danielle never came home last night. I'm at
her condo now I need you to come here, and
my mother is in full blown panic. She said, Joe's
getting ready to drop the baby off in the next
hour and she's not here, and no one can get
in touch with either one of them. I knew right there,
(29:36):
someone was wrong. I just knew it.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
The divorce was nasty. Danielle's mom knew how bad it
would look for her daughter if Joe dropped off her
son only to find out Danielle never came home that night.
It was currently Mia. You see, over the past few months,
Danielle had been dating Richard Patron, and Joe knew that
she didn't want to give her soon to be excen
(30:02):
in law any ammunition.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
My mother said, don't tell him what's going on. I
don't want him to know because I don't want him
to say, well, I'll keep the baby until she comes home.
I said, Mom, don't worry about it.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
It was three o'clock that afternoon when Joe arrived to
drop off their son. That was the agreed upon time
for Joe to end his weekend with a baby, and.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
He kind of walked in. He goes, looked confused, and
he said worth Danielle, and my mother said, oh, she
went to dinner with Christine. And then he said something
like he mumbled under his breath, I guess telling a
lie is better than telling the truth. Then he left,
like saying what we were saying was bullshit.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
It was always our intention to start our own investigation,
but we had to ask ourselves, where do you start
on a case when two people go missing. We started
by retracing their last steps. We wanted to understand exactly
where Richard, Patron and Danielle Imbo were the night of
February nineteenth, two thousand and five.
Speaker 7 (31:15):
We're all out together. That night went to Chicky and Pete.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Marge and her two daughters, Christine and Alisa had dinner
with Danielle Imbo and Danielle's mother at Chickie and Pete's,
which is a popular Philadelphia restaurant. Think chicken sandwiches, che steaks, crabfries,
and beer. It's a sports bar with games on TVs everywhere,
A good place to blow off steam after a long week.
Here's Alisa, Richard's sister.
Speaker 11 (31:41):
It was just a girl's night out. I wanted to
tag along anywhere my sister and my mom were going,
so I was there.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Toward the end of dinner, Richard called Danielle to see
if she wanted to join him for the evening. Initially
Danielle wasn't sure, but eventually agreed she was open to
making the most for child free Saturday night.
Speaker 11 (32:05):
And then my sister drove Danielle to meet Richard.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Christine agreed to drop her off since Danielle's car was
back at her condo in Jersey.
Speaker 7 (32:15):
That was really like a spur of the moment thing.
I don't think he even knew that she was going
to actually go with him.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
And that's an important detail from Marge and something to remember.
This was a spontaneous meetup between Danielle and Richard.
Speaker 7 (32:31):
Richard was at another tap room having dinner and told
Christine to drop her wolf she would go with Richard
that night.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
As for Danielle, her brother John got the story of
what happened from his mother.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
She said, well, last night, Danielle and I and Margie
Christine went to Chicken Piece and Richard called and said, hey,
I'm at this boar Abilene's on Sale Street. Why don't
you come? Danielle said, show me you as long as
you can get her home at a reasonable time.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Danielle had an appointment at a salon the next morning.
It was the same salon that Christine Patron worked at.
So it's our understanding that from Chicky and Pete, Christine
drives Danielle to meet up with Richard, and Richard and
Danielle drive to Abilene's on South Street together.
Speaker 8 (33:19):
South Street had this huge strip of bars, Abilene's.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
One of them, journalists Steve Vogue, covered the story for
Philadelphia Magazine and explains what happened next.
Speaker 8 (33:31):
I remember that they were having a good time, that
they were enjoying themselves. They sat close together, they shared
a kiss. At some point, they were laughing a lot.
You know, they had a nice evening together.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
We heard Danielle and Richard spend a couple hours at
the bar that Saturday night, listening to a band.
Speaker 8 (33:48):
They leave before midnight. He was going to drive her
back to her home in Mount Laurel, and that's where
the trail ends.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
No one has seen Danielle or Richard since.
Speaker 8 (34:04):
Not just them, but a truck disappeared into the ether
from one of the most frequented spots in the whole city.
It was stunning. I just wish that the families could
have an answer, and whatever the answer was, to sort
(34:27):
through it and deal with it.
Speaker 4 (34:30):
I'm a father, I'm a brother, I'm a husband, I'm
a son. It was very hard not to see the
human side, the human impact on the two families.
Speaker 5 (34:45):
It keeps me motivated.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
For Vito Rosselli, he lives with the impact of that
reality every day and one of the major factors that
has stopped him from solving this case is the evidence
or lack thereof. This happened in two thousand, when even
basic equipment like security cameras were using outdated technology.
Speaker 4 (35:06):
Back then, everybody was still on VCRs that they were
taping over after two weeks of thirty days, street light cameras,
none of that existed back then. You know, the iPhones
weren't a thing, so it was a little different animal.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Today, we can track our friends. Everyone essentially has a
GPS in their pocket. Plus there's no shortage of documenting
with people recording their life for the whole world to see.
But in two thousand and five, people had flip phones
in MySpace. Even YouTube didn't come out until February of
two thousand and five.
Speaker 4 (35:39):
We have a lot more tools available to us now
than we did back then.
Speaker 10 (35:45):
Today, when something happened, you know, there's cell phone video,
and there's video on buildings and people are going on
social media and talking about it. Well, we didn't have
any of that back then.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
That's former FBI agent Jerry Williams.
Speaker 10 (36:03):
In my years of doing media relations for the FBI,
I've never heard of a case like this ever before.
I mean, people are concerned if this happened to this couple.
What could happen to me and my kids if I
let them go on South Street.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
The community was concerned and law enforcement didn't have much
to work with. After those initial days of the investigation,
the FBI got tapped in, and the lack of evidence
actually started to tell a story to Vito.
Speaker 4 (36:38):
Nobody checking into a hospital. Neither one of them would
have left their children. They wouldn't just have run away.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
The idea of Richard and Danielle getting hurt or skipping
town got ruled out pretty quickly.
Speaker 4 (36:52):
There was no activity on their credit cards on their phones.
The people who did it made two people in a
truck disappear. That's a clean cry, and it could have
been cleaned by accident, it could have been clean by luck,
or it could have been clean by design. So it
was clear that something bad happened pretty much off the start.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
Vito and Jerry were adamant about one thing. After nineteen
years of dead ends, they were out of options.
Speaker 10 (37:22):
When you have a case like this, you have to
figure out how to keep it in the news.
Speaker 4 (37:30):
Each year at the anniversary where you put something out
and without fail, we always get tips, callings and more.
Speaker 5 (37:38):
Over the past few years, have been pretty consistent.
Speaker 4 (37:40):
So it's good it keeps it out in the public's eye.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
Well, today marks ten years since the local couple vanished
without a trace, and despite a decade since their disappearance,
today their relatives made an emotional plea for new information.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
Every February twentieth, without fail, the city of Philadelphia is
reminded of Danielle and Richard. It has been eleven years
to the day since daniel.
Speaker 6 (38:06):
Either or Not.
Speaker 8 (38:07):
Today marks twelve years since Danielle Imbo and Richard Patron
Junior first one message.
Speaker 7 (38:12):
They have not been seen in thirteen years and.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
From nineteen years now. These segments go out, tips, come in,
rinse and repeat.
Speaker 8 (38:22):
Family but the MBI says they have not given.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
Up on this case, having lived here my whole life.
I've watched the segment each February with the rest of Philadelphia.
Now I have more of a context as to why.
Just like that billboard I mentioned in the beginning, it's
a lifeline thrown out for Richard and Danielle and their families,
(38:45):
anything to keep hope for justice alive.
Speaker 10 (38:50):
I think putting it out there to the public on
a true crime podcast as a brilliant step to add
to what has been done.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
So it's crazy for me to say this, but I
think the FBI needs our help and your help. So
do Danielle and Richard. The two left a crowded bar
in a popular area of Philadelphia on a Saturday night
two decades ago, and in those twenty years, we still
don't know who wanted to harm them and why.
Speaker 4 (39:23):
One of the important directions that law enforcement had to
take was to determine the history between Danielle and Richard.
Speaker 5 (39:32):
When you look deep into.
Speaker 4 (39:34):
Anybody's backgrounds, you got to be digging up stuff, and
we found some angles that were of interest to us.
Speaker 10 (39:45):
That's when started to look like this may have been
a very personal crime.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
That's next time on there and gone.
Speaker 6 (40:00):
All the tenas I see you in my dreams, reached
out on the dog, for you've been lost to me.
I'll never give up, no matter how long I open
(40:23):
my eyes defind lad you're gone. Each corner it turn,
there's another bus or piece. We follow the clues looking
(40:47):
for the key. I'll never give up, no matter how
long I open my eyes to find a gone.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
If you have any information about the disappearance of Danielle
Imbo and Richard Patron. Please call the Citizens Crime Commission
tip Line at two on five five four six eight
four seven seven, or you can reach out to the
show in our team by email at varrengonpod at gmail
dot com. That's there and Gone pod at gmail dot com.
(41:29):
Thank you so much for listening. One way for you
to show support is by subscribing to our show on
Apple Podcasts. Don't forget to rate and review because five
star reviews go a long way. A big thank you
to all of our listeners. Varin Gone is a production
of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group, in
partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show is executive produced by
(41:51):
Nancy Glass, Ben Fetterman, and me Andrea Gunning. It's hosted
and written by me Andrea Gunning, with additional reporting and
writing by Ben Fetnerman In The series is also written
and produced by Todd Gans. Our associate producer is Kristin Melcurrie.
Research by Mason Klinder, Annah Hamilton and Bella Riki. Our
iHeart team is Ali Perry and Jessica Crinchech. Audio editing
(42:15):
and mixing by Matt Delvecchio. Additional editing support by Nico
Aruka there in. Gon's theme and original compositions were composed
by Oliver Bains and Dary mcaulay of Neuser Music Library,
provided by My Music Special thanks to both the Patrone
and and tow Ray families. For more podcasts from iHeart,
(42:35):
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts.
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