December 30, 2024 • 41 mins
Albert Musalo and his wife, Joan Behrman, are enjoying retirement in Nevada.
They moved close to their daughter, Joanne Kohls, and her family, settling in the exclusive gated Montreux neighborhood in a rural area south of Reno. While the country club community boasts multi-million-dollar homes, the Musalos chose one of the more modest houses on the block.
Joanne Kohls calls the Musalos’ landline, but the phone rings with no answer. She contacts Montreux’s security to check on them. The guard reports that no one answered his knocking. Joanne and her husband decide to check on her parents themselves. Joanne unlocks the front door and calls out for her parents.
She steps inside but freezes. Mud is tracked through the entryway and dining room. Joanne’s husband walks toward the primary bedroom and discovers Joan and Albert shot to death in their bed.
Detectives from the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office quickly arrive at the scene. There are no signs of forced entry, and nothing of value appears to be missing. Montreux's HOA fees cover an extensive security team. A guard staffs the neighborhood’s front gatehouse 24/7, 365 days a year, while a service entrance is manned 12 hours daily. All visitors must provide identification and receive homeowner approval for access. Even contract workers must obtain daily entrance passes.
Investigators initially suspect the Musalos were targeted, but no one can explain why.
Joining Nancy Grace today:
- Joanne Kohls - Daughter of Albert and Joan Musalo
- Tom Green - Private Investigator at Owner Nevada Investigative Services LLC, former Chief Deputy Washoe County Sheriff’s Office
- Caryn L. Stark – Psychologist, Renowned TV and Radio Trauma Expert and Consultant; Instagram: carynpsych/FB: Caryn Stark Private Practice
- Dr. Eric Eason – Board-certified Forensic Pathologist, Consultant; Instagram: @eric_a_eason, Facebook: Eric August Eason, LinkedIn: Eric Eason, MD
- Alexis Tereszcuk – CrimeOnline Investigative Reporter; X: @swimmie2009
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. The Mussalo murders unsolved. A
beautiful couple murdered in their own home, Ela law enforcement
begging for tips. Good evening, I'm Nancy Grace. This is
Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
A happy and healthy couple look forward to retirement in
their beautiful neur Reno home, but their quiet retirement is
quickly shattered by violence.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
In their own home. This beautiful couple murdered. How did
the discovery of this crime begin? Listen?
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Ahead of their April plans to visit family in New York,
Joanne Coles wants to invite her parents to dinner. Joanne
calls the Mussalis's landline, but the phone rings and rings
with no answer. Joanne assumes her parents' power maybe out,
a common occurrence in snowy months. Joanne calls the Montrose
Secure to check on them. The guard reports back that
no one answered his knocking. While it's odd for Joan
(01:06):
and Albert to ignore the door, Joanne theorizes her parents
may be laid up in bed with a cold.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Joining me right now, the woman that made that faithful
phone call Joanne Coles, Joanne, thank you for being with us.
Could you describe that phone call and what went through
your mind?
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Well, it's interesting that I lived in so much denial
at that moment, But I thought for sure that maybe
they were sick, had the flu, something else was going on.
So I called them the first time and they went
to the door. The second time, I asked them to
please look through the garage window and tell me whether
(01:46):
or not their car was in the garage. So I
knew that their car was in the garage. They only
had one car, and I knew that they were not
answering the door and all the lights were off, so
my husband and I drove out to to check on them.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Joanne, when you called and no one answered, you assumed
that they were in bed with a cold. Is that correct, yes?
Or the flu?
Speaker 4 (02:13):
Or that they were sick. Yes?
Speaker 1 (02:15):
And what led you to get in the car and
drive to check on your parents? What inner voice told you?
You could not just rely on them not picking the
phone up. You had to drive there and find out
for yourself.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
My parents moved to Reno to be near me and
for me to help them, so I took that responsibility
very seriously. And when the answering machine didn't pick up,
and they didn't respond to knocks on the door. It
was snowing that night, and I knew that my father
(02:55):
did not like to drive in the snow anymore, and
with the car in the garage, I felt compelled to
go out and find out what happened.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Listen.
Speaker 5 (03:05):
Joanne and her husband decide to check on her parents themselves.
They make the drive to Montreux as a snowstorm blows in.
Joanne unlocks the front door and calls for her parents.
When there's no answer, Joanne steps into the home but freezes.
There's mud tracked through the entryway and dining room. Joan
would never let a mess like that sit. Joanne's husband
walks toward the primary bedroom and, to his horror, finds
(03:28):
Joan and Albert shot to death in their bed.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
At this hour, law enforcement begging for tips. If you
know or think you know anything about the murders of
this beautiful couple, please I'll seven seven five three two
eight three three two zero repeat seven seven five three
two eight three three two zero. Joan, I do not
(03:55):
enjoy asking you to relive that moment for people that
are not familiar with your parents' story. Could you describe
what happened when you finally get to their home. What happened.
I'd also like to hear what was going through your
mind en route as you made that drive.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
We had left our two sons at home alone. They
were fourteen and ten at the time, and as we
were driving over, it was about seven point fifteen, and
I was thinking, oh, you know, getting home in time
to put them to bed, because given on their own,
they would have stayed up later than they should on
a school night.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
So I looked at the clock when.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
We were driving down the street to their house and
thinking I'll be home in time for them to go
to bed. When we got to the house, and when
in the garage door, because I had the garage door
opener and I knew the alarm code. When I walked
through the garage and got into the kitchen and then
(05:00):
into the dining room, I saw the mud on the floor,
and I have to say, at that point, my heart
kind of stopped because I knew that my mother would
not have gone to bed with mud on the floor.
That was just not her. She was a fastidious house
cleaner and always kept a beautiful home.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
I'm just wondering what went through your mind when you
saw that mud on the floor. Like Joanne, my mom
lives with us, and I remember just recently I walked
in her room and I saw her walker just sitting
(05:41):
there without her and that never ever, ever happens, and
I knew immediately something was wrong, and sure enough, something
was very wrong, and I ended up taking her to
the emergency room. There's that when you know someone so
well and you know their behavior. When you saw that
(06:04):
mud on the floor, you said your heart stopped.
Speaker 4 (06:09):
Yes, And I told my husband that I couldn't go
any further, and he went into the room and saw
them both. I stayed in the dining room, and then
when he came out, he said they were dead. And
I asked him if he was sure, and he said yes,
And then we went into the kitchen to try and
(06:32):
call nine one one. Their phone line had been cut,
so their phone did not work, and at that time,
in that area, cell phone reception was terrible and I
had ended up having to make multiple calls to nine
one one on two phones in order to get through.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Joining Me now is another special guest. In addition to
Albert and Jones' daughter, Joanne, Tom Green is joining US
US former chief Deputy with the Washoe County Sheriff's Office,
the detective on this case, now private investigator and owner
of Nevada Investigative Services, Tom, thank you for being with us,
(07:14):
and thank you for your continued diligence and dedication to
solving this case. You know, Tom, two things just off
the top of my head. Number one, how small details
may mean nothing to some people, but to other people
they mean everything. I recall investigating the case of a
(07:39):
beautiful young teacher that was murdered, Tara Grinstead, And when
her mother and I went into Tara's home, she was,
as Joanne is describing her parents, fastidious. Her home looked
like a magazine ad for home decor. But when we
went into her bedroom, a lamp was askew and the
(08:03):
bed was off center. It was supposed to be up
against the wall, but it was off center. And also,
I'm sure you've been in people's cars where you get
in the car, they've had the car ten years and
it still smells brand new, and it looks brand new.
She was like that. And Tara's car on the sides
were covered in mud, and her mother said, the moment
(08:26):
I saw that, I knew that she was gone, isn't
that odd? Probative. Probative is a better word that When
joe Ann walked in, and I'm hung up on this fact,
she knew immediately when she saw mud on the floor,
she saw like my heart stopped. I knew what about that?
(08:48):
Tom Green?
Speaker 6 (08:49):
Well, I think to the layperson that's not involved in
the case, they might think that's unusual or weird that
that would catch her eye. But being in their home,
I can see exactly why that did catch her eye.
And you know, the patterns of your parents, somebody that
you know very very well are super important in cases
like this because it helps us develop timelines. It helps
(09:11):
us develop areas to look that we might not have
otherwise looked at. You know, we had to we had
to rule out that that that, you know, other muddy
footprints within the house weren't the police that came in
and did searching. So, you know, we photographed every officer
that went in that house. We photographed all their all
their shoe prints to make sure the other footprints that
we found in there were not.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Artifacts of the police going on. Oh my goodness, Tom Green,
as a whole other can of worms. A probative in
other words, what if anything, does it prove a probative
can of worms, Because when you do get your killer,
and you will, you're going to have to rule out
every other person that walked into that home, including jo
(09:53):
Anne and her husband. Everybody's got to be ruled out
on those on that mud and any footprints that were
found crime stores. With Nancy Grace curious Tom Grain, Joanne
(10:14):
tells us that the first of all, the sale reception
was horrible in that area, but that the phone line,
the landline, had been cut.
Speaker 6 (10:26):
We had one other case that a phone line was
cut here in Washoe County and all the murders that
I looked at from nineteen sixty until the current time,
and so it is a super unusual tactic for a
killer to use, and somewhat risky in that area because
a cut phone line could signal an alarm company that
there's a problem at a house, and the alarms up
(10:48):
there are are radio based, so there's a radio receiver
close by that would receive such a cut phone line
or low power alert.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
So it was a risk to cut those phone lines.
Speaker 6 (11:01):
And that's one of the reasons that we feel that
the Maslos were targeted This wasn't some random spree killer
that happened across their house.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
They were killed for a purpose. Curiosity. When are you
saying that they had a burglar alarm system that was
connected to the phone line, so when the line was cut,
it should have alerted the alarm service. No, what I'm saying.
Speaker 6 (11:27):
Yeah, they didn't have it set so, but my point
is that a random killer in the neighborhood would assume
that there's an alarm system based on the homes in
that neighborhood, and so cutting the phone line would be
a risk if you did not know certain things about
the home.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
I mean, you don't know.
Speaker 6 (11:46):
It could set off a local alarm, It could set
off a siren on the house, right, You just don't know.
Cutting a phone line is a risky business. But Tom Green,
I agree with you. Guys. Tom is a former chief.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Deputy in the Wash County Sheriff's Office who worked this
case as a detective. You're really giving criminals a lot
of credit for them to know. Hey, if I cut
the phone line, I may set off an alarm. But
that said, you're completely right. So let me understand, Joanne.
Did they have an alarm that wasn't set or did
(12:19):
they not have a home alarm.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
They had a home alarm, but it was not set.
They tended to only set it when they left town,
not when they were home. When I went into the house,
the alarm was not set. I did not have to turn.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
It off, Joanne. Was it comeon knowledge that your parents
only turned on their alarm when they left or out
of town.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
No, no one would have known that. Only their children
would have known that, and probably only my sister and
I would be aware of that.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Bank to Tom Green joining us, who investigated the case
as a detective. Tom, when you say the lines to
the alarm were cut from outside from inside? What where
were the alarms cut? Where was the line cut?
Speaker 6 (13:04):
The lines come from underground, and there's a like a
PVC tube that comes out of the ground that goes
into the house and into the into the phone box.
So both the phone line and the cable line were
cut there. They're right next to each other, so I
could see how that would happen. You just cut them both.
And on top of that, we found mail DNA on
(13:27):
the phone line in the same general area in which
the phone line was cut, indicating that somebody probably touched DNA,
held that while they cut it and left behind their DNA.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
So you're telling me the phone line was cut from outside, yes, ma'am,
and mail DNA was found on the wire that was cut.
Is that correct, yes, ma'am.
Speaker 7 (13:49):
The Mussolo's home is quickly crawling with detectives from Washoke
County Sheriff's Office. There's no sign of forced entry to
the home and nothing of value is missing. Joanne Coles
tells deputies her parents it's never hired any outside help
and no one outside of family had intimate knowledge of
the home. Investigators initial thought is that the Musalos are targeted,
but no one has any idea why.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Joining me an all star panel to make sense of
what we know. A beautiful, married couple murdered in their
own home. Some believe experts believe it was a targeted attack.
Joining me the All Star panel, led by Alexis teresschut
Crime Online dot Com investigative reporter. We just heard no
(14:32):
sign of forced entry, nothing of value missing. Is that correct, Alexis?
Speaker 4 (14:38):
It is no.
Speaker 8 (14:39):
So there wasn't a broken window, the door wasn't broken.
Those sliding glass doors are not broken open, and nothing
really is missing.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
It wasn't.
Speaker 8 (14:47):
There wasn't a safe with thousands of dollars taken, not
even a car, jewelry, nothing significant taken from this home.
And what you did just say. They never had help
come in from outside the home. They took care of
the home themselves, So there wasn't somebody they could say, Oh,
it was this person, this handyman that was always in
the house, or this housekeeper's family, anything like. There was
(15:08):
nobody that they can pinpoint as a suspect because nobody
came in there except their family.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
I'm still intrigued by the fact that the killer obviously
cut the phone line outside. That takes a certain degree
of planning and preparation to know where the line is
to go cut it, to bring the instrument, the cutting
instrument with you. I'm curious about the DNA, the male
(15:33):
DNA left on that cable cord Tom Green. Was the
DNA maintained? Is it still at the lab?
Speaker 6 (15:41):
It is The reason we know it was contemporarious with
the crime scene is it is a full thirteen low
SI DNA. It's a strong profile. There's no question that
was left contemporaneous to the cutting of the phone line.
Based on whether the elements temperatures. All those kinds of
things joining me.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
In addition to Joanne Cole's Tom Green and Alexis Tereschuk,
Doctor Eric Asen certified a forensic pathologist and consultant Doctor Ason,
thank you for being with us. Question, isn't it true
that there is a procedure, very delicate procedure by which
(16:20):
DNA can be replicated? In other words, you have a
little DNA, you can turn it into more DNA enough
to potentially put it through the familial DNA genetic genealogy database.
It's called PCR, the polymerase chain reaction.
Speaker 9 (16:37):
It got invented back in the early nineties when I
was in college. I learned about it right in my
last semester of a college, right before I started medical school.
And all you need is just a small sample of
DNA and you can run it through these reactions that
utilize an enzyme that will just amplify all the DNA
and you can make multiple copies of it and then
(16:57):
run it through the genealogy, which is what I think
is going to happen here. And so what will probably
happen is that the tests will be run and we're
probably going to find a sibling or a cousin or
a distant cousin of the individual who left his DNA
on the phone lines, and hopefully that can be used
to figure out who this person was. It's something that
was not around back in two thousand and six, but
(17:19):
it is a recent development. That's what was used in
the Brian Coburger case too.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
You know, I'm very curious to Joe Anne Coles who
went in with her husband to discover the bodies of
mom and dad. Are you familiar with any updates on
the investigation? For instance, we very often consult with a
lab called author Ram Labs, and their specialty is degenerated
(17:47):
or compromised DNA or small amounts of DNA, and I'm
wondering if this male DNA that, as Tom Green tells us,
was left contemporaneously with the cutting of your parents phone line,
has that been sent to an advanced lab to try
(18:08):
to get a match.
Speaker 4 (18:09):
I've spoken to the head pathologist at the lab at
Washoe County Sheriff's Office, and my understanding from her is
that they have done as much as technology is able
to to try and do a genealogical study on the DNA.
(18:33):
We've reached out to a couple different labs that do
that kind of work and put them in touch with
Washa County, and my understanding is that there is not
adequate DNA to do that.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
I'm curious, Joanne, if I could hook up off ram
with the crime lab there in wash It absolutely be
willing for them to try. Absolutely joining me is Karen Stark,
aronoun psycholo, TV radio trauma expert at Karenstark dot com.
That's Karen with a sea if you search for her
(19:06):
Karen Stark. As the days go by, and the weeks
go by, and the months go by, and it goes
on and on and on, how do people deal with
the fact that first their parents are murdered brutally and
second no justice.
Speaker 10 (19:23):
It's really heartbreaking because your parents are murdered, you have
to deal with that shock and knowing that you won't
see them again. And yet it wasn't a natural depth
And here they are without any kind of a solution,
and all these years have passed and it never gets resolved.
She keeps trying to find out about it. She wants
(19:47):
to know more. There's new DNA results, and yet she's
still not getting an answer, So you are left with
this huge hole of what happened to my parents? What
will I ever know? Will I ever be able to
get an answer to the death of them. It's just terrible, terrible.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
For what happened to Albert and Joan Maslow. Their daughter
finds them dead in their own home, the phone line
cut from the outside with mel DNA on that wire,
mel DNA that as of tonight, has not been matched
to anyone. Immediately people start the blame the victim game.
Speaker 6 (20:31):
Listen, the Mussolos were not involved in any nefarious activities.
They had no criminal history. You know, there's been rumors
flowing around that they were in the Witness Protection programmer
that they'd been involved with the mafia because they were
from New York. Those are totally in substantial. We've vetted
them thoroughly through the FBI.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Witness Protection program, the mafia. That was from our friends
over a KRNV news for Joanne. Rumors flying your parents
were in the mafia or the witness protection That's insane,
it's absurd.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
I think that in a situation like this, their neighbors
were scared and it gave them some security To blame
my parents, or to blame me and my husband just.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Thinking about your parents dying as they did and now
that type of rumors. Nothing could be further from the truth. Listen.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
After thirty three years with pan Am, the Mussalos are
quite comfortable after years of savvy investments and settle in Wild, Nevada.
The couple is very active. They take daily walks and
golf together. Albert enjoyce skiing while Joan prefers tennis. The
grandparents spend most of their time together sharing a single
link in town car. They continue to travel frequently to
see their children.
Speaker 5 (21:51):
As they get older, Joan and Albert eventually decide to
move closer to their daughter, joe Anne Coles and her family.
The couple settles on the exclusive gated Montroux neighborhood in
a rural area south of Reno. While the country club
neighborhood boasts multimillion dollar houses, the Massalos move into one
of the more modest homes on the block. They quickly
make friends with neighbors on their daily walks using the
(22:13):
public hiking trail bordering their home. Joan Massolo is known
for hosting home cooked dinner parties and her immaculately kept home.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
Joanne, how did your parents meet?
Speaker 4 (22:27):
They both worked at the Gas and Electric Company in Brooklyn,
New York, and that's where they met. They were both
from Brooklyn.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Tell me about your family. How many siblings?
Speaker 4 (22:42):
I have three siblings, I'm the third, two boys and
two girls. They have seven grandchildren and now they have
four great grandchildren. They have never met, Joanne.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
I know you may not like this question, but I
have to ask. Tell me about any potential life insurance proceeds.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
My dad did take out a life insurance policy, I
think a couple of years before they died, and us
four children were the beneficiaries, and the policy was for
a million dollars.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
And Tom Green, I'm sure that you, as a detective,
verified all the children's alibis correct.
Speaker 6 (23:30):
We did, of course. The family was the first, the
first people we had to focus on, and I remember
very clearly having that conversation with all four of them
and explaining to them that before we can move out,
we need to we need to, you know, rule them
in or out immediately. And so that's what that's what
(23:50):
we attempted to do. We did a deep dive into
their finances, all of them, we saw nothing that that
read flagged us at all.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Alexa to us to that crime online dot Com invest
to get every reporter. What was the cause of death
of this couple?
Speaker 8 (24:07):
They were shot in multiple times to gunshot wounds. And
the one piece of evidence that we haven't spoken about
is they had ballistic evidence. So the bullets were found
and this was a huge piece of evidence, but that
has never matched with anything else.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Tom Green, what type of weapon was used?
Speaker 6 (24:25):
Well, that would be hold back information that we've held
And just so your viewers understand, hold back information is
critical to these kind of cases because if at some
point we develop or they develop a suspect, it's going
to be imperative that there are details that only the
investigators and the perpetrator would know. And so that's one
(24:48):
of the items that that we've held back. I released
a lot of information, more information than some people thought
I should have when I talked about the phone lines
and the mud on the floor or and some of
the other items. But you know, this case isn't getting
any warmer.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
And you know, I.
Speaker 6 (25:07):
Saw them dead in their beds, I saw them at
the funeral, and I saw their gravesites and I will
see that until the day I take my last breath.
So I hope, I hope that someone here's this information
comes forward. Somebody knows something, somebody has a suspicion about
(25:29):
someone being involved in this, and that's the tip that
the police need to move this case forward.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Let's piece it together, Tom Green. There is no sign
a forced entry, nothing was taken from the home. This
couple was involved in no sort of nefarious activity. All
those ideas and rumors about them being a witness protection
and tied to the mob, that's BS. It's exactly what
(25:57):
Joe Anne said. It's people want to feel safe themselves
and going, oh yeah, I right, they're in the witness
protection that's all BS. None of that's true. This is
a beautiful couple with children, grandchildren, asleep in bed in
their home, and they were brutally murdered, multiple gunshot wounds
(26:19):
on a couple parents, grandparents asleep in their own bed.
I'm curious, Joanne, did those muddy footprints lead to any
other room in the home.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
No, they were only in that one spot, in the
kitchen or in the dining room. I didn't see any
other mud. But to be honest, when I saw the
first bit I stopped. I froze. I couldn't go any further.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Tom, what about it, Tom Green? Did the muddy footprints
go to any other area of the home.
Speaker 6 (26:53):
Yeah, So we obviously saw the same mud that Joanne saw,
and we did what's called jel lifts, and those jeel
lifts were sent to the FBI laboratory, who's really the
best at doing footprint evidence, and they were inconclusive because
it was basically ridge detail from the shoe print. There
was mud on the carpeted stairs that went upstairs, but
(27:17):
again we were not able to develop any kind of
a footprint pattern, size, style, anything like that.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
This is driving me crazy. We have DNA, we have
muddy footprints, we have ballistics. Nothing is matching up in
the DNA database. Nothing is matching up in the ballistics database.
I don't understand it. And a lot of the fact
that the phone was cut it almost is striking me
(27:45):
as being a professional hit and I don't understand that. Also,
we know that this was a private neighborhood Listen.
Speaker 7 (27:55):
Montrose hoapes cover a large security team for the neighborhood.
A security guard ANNs Montro's front gatehouse twenty four seven
three sixty five and as service entrances man twelve hours
a day, all visitors must provide identification to the security
team and be approved by the homeowner for access to Montreal.
Contract workers are even required to obtain entrance passes for
(28:15):
each day they expect to be in and out of
the neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
One thing that struck me about that, Alexis Tereschak, is
that the service entrance is only manned twelve hours a day.
Is that right? That is right?
Speaker 8 (28:27):
That because during the daytime, because they wouldn't expect to
have service soaks come in in the middle.
Speaker 4 (28:32):
Of the night.
Speaker 8 (28:33):
Usually that wouldn't be a thing that you would when
you would have your dishwasher fixed or anything like that.
Speaker 4 (28:38):
But they did.
Speaker 8 (28:39):
Track down that the path that they believe the person took,
so they live in a wooded area behind them, and
that the person went through like out their backyard and
through an area and out into the woods. So that
is where they feared they went in and out was
through the wooded area behind their home.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
And how did you deduce that, Tom green Well, The
way we deduce that is that it had rained significantly
in the days preceding the murder.
Speaker 6 (29:09):
The night that Joanne drove to the home, it had
started snowing. During the time that the murder occurred, it
had not been snowing, it had been muddy and wet,
and so the area that the perpetrator had a step
to to cut the phone line was just a muddy
dirt area. We found muddy footprints on the pavers. Once
(29:31):
the snow melted, those same muddy footprints were tracked by.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
A man tracker.
Speaker 6 (29:35):
We actually had a man tracker come out and track
those muddy footprints up and over the back fence that
led to.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
A walking path and a parking area off the Mount
Rose Highway.
Speaker 6 (29:46):
So we're pretty convinced that that's the route the person
would have taken. It's also the route of it's the
safest route for a perpetrator. You know, this is a
higher risk event for them going into a gated community
full of homes with alarms, security patrol that drives around,
but that area was the safest, least risky.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
Area to enter from us from the back. When you
try to determine what happened, you must look at establishing
a timeline. You can't always deduce the time of the
murder based on the condition of the body, such as
body temperature. Very often you must look at extrinsic evidence,
and they did just that. Listen.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
Investigators find March twenty seven's newspaper inside the home, and
a furniture salesman says he met with the Mussalas around noon.
Their computer shows Internet activity until late into the evening
on the twenty seventh. Detectives theorized that the couple was
attacked while they slept in the early morning hours of
March twenty eighth. Investigators are stumped on how the perpetrator
(30:43):
gained access to the home. Montrose Security Team reports that
no one came through either gate around the estimated time
of the murders.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
So the killer did not enter through the security gate,
which corroborates Tom Green's theory as to the access and
entrance to the home. I'm curious, Tom Green, have you
ever considered, as we are considering in the Brian Coburger
(31:13):
case where four beautiful young Idaho students were murdered in
their beds, the possibility of a thrilled kill Because this
couple has no background. They don't even have a traffic fine.
For Pete's sake, they are loving grandparents who try to
(31:34):
move closer to be to their children, all right, and
they're murdered in their beds. Question why it's not. It's
not a professional hit, all right by the mob. So
could it be a thrill kill like that alleged in
the Brian Coburger case.
Speaker 6 (31:54):
You know, it's definitely not out of the realm of possibility,
and it's one of the things we looked at that
look at.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
You know, you cannot rule out a.
Speaker 6 (32:03):
Thrill kill, a spree kill, and those are the scariest
ones because they're the hardest to solve, and especially at
that time, we didn't have the ability to dump a
cell tower and figure out everybody this is in the neighborhood.
You know, we didn't have a lot of those investigative techniques.
So if it was somebody who had, you know, taken
(32:23):
a fancy to these to these people and decided, you
know what, I'm gonna kill them for no particular reason,
it's gonna be a tough one to solve. It's going
to be a tough one to solve unless they get
caught for something else. And we get a DNA comparison.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Crime stores with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 5 (32:47):
While many try to write off the murders as a
random attack or robbery. Investigators are convinced them as sallows
we're targeted. Montro is not a neighborhood stumbled on by accident,
and nothing of significance was founding from the couple's home.
Detectives eventually reveal a chilling piece of evidence supporting their theory.
The Masalo's phone lines were cut.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Listen to our friends at k Aren't in.
Speaker 6 (33:10):
The since nineteen sixty, we've only had one other case
where phone lines were cut, and that case bears no
resemblance to this case at all. We think it tells
us some things about the offender that it's quite probably
the offender had prior knowledge of the home, possibly even
knew the victims that this wasn't a random act that
they were targeted.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
Joanne Coles is joining us. Joe Anne, what is your theory?
Speaker 4 (33:36):
Given the information that's available and knowing my parents, I
believe that they were the unintended targets. I've never thought
of it being a thrill kill, because my thought would
be if someone did that for thrill, they would do
(33:56):
it to someone else with the same method and means.
So my feeling has been that it's a professional hit
and they have the wrong people.
Speaker 6 (34:07):
Is that possible, Tom Green, Well, I'm assuming it's possible,
But you know, when we looked at that looked we've
looked at this extensively because of other reporting of threats
being received by another family within that same gated community. However,
(34:28):
it becomes somewhat of a rabbit hole because the homes
are so much different.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
But it's clearly someone that knows that they have to
come through the woods to get into the home. They
know enough to cut the phone lines. It's clearly targeted.
I think Jones' idea could be on point, But with
that ballistics evidence, DNA evidence, footprint evidence, is very difficult
(34:53):
for me to believe that we can't solve this case.
Joe Anne, how has this affected your life?
Speaker 4 (35:01):
Sometimes you have an event in your life that happens
and you look at life as before and after. Usually
it's marriage or having children or grandchildren. For me, it's
the death of my parents. It gives you a whole
new perspective on life. You treasure relationships more and worry
(35:28):
less about little things. It's very difficult. It's very difficult
to live with the last eighteen and a half years
in many ways have been just hell. I'm lucky to
have my faith and that has helped me in many moments,
(35:49):
but it's been tremendously difficult and difficult not only for me,
but for my entire family, for my husband, for my siblings,
for their families as well. It's been devastating.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
Tom Green, you study the footprints went off into the
woods into a trail.
Speaker 6 (36:08):
What was on the other end of that trail, Well,
that trail actually crosses the Mount Rose Highway and it's
a hiking trails, common hiking trails called the Gleena Creek Trail.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
And a lot of people use it in biking, walking,
dog walking.
Speaker 6 (36:22):
I would also note that we brought in the FBI
pretty early on and asked their Behavioral Sciences unit to
send out a team, and they did, and we met
with that team, and they developed a neighborhood canvas questionnaire
under the theory that somebody in the neighborhood may know something,
and so we canvassed a lot of homes and we
did a DNA dragnet where we DNA swabbed everybody that
(36:46):
we could think of if they sat still long enough,
and it would tolerate it.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
We swabbed them. Was another bedroom tampered with? We're not sure.
Speaker 6 (36:55):
I will tell you this that there was a bed
there was she's such a such a housekeeper that all
of the beds, everything that wasn't used was covered with
a sheet, and in the upstairs bedroom a sheet was
pulled back as if somebody was potentially checking to see
if someone else was in bed. That sheet was submitted
to for evidence and testing was done on it. They
(37:17):
were not able to get any kind of forensic results
from that.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
Doctor Ason, obviously, this is not a murder suicide. Could
you explain how we know that? Number one, the gun's
not there.
Speaker 9 (37:32):
There was no gun found at the scene, and so
if this was a situation where somebody shot the other
individual then shot his or herself, there would still be
a gun at the scene, and there was not. The
other way to find out is during the actual autopsy.
Both of them supposedly had multiple gunshot wounds, and so
it would be as possible to commit suicide with multiple
(37:53):
gunshot wounds, but it's usually going to be a single
gunshot wound and the wound's going to be contact after
the autopsies done, the death certificates would have been signed
and the manner of death would have been homicide for both.
And so if this was a homicide suicide situation, then
one of the de certificates would.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
Have said suicide. That's not what we had.
Speaker 9 (38:11):
And those are the main reasons why this is not
consistent with a homicide suicide. It's a double homicide.
Speaker 7 (38:18):
Washok County Sheriff's believe new tips hold the answer to
the question of who killed Joan and Albert Massalo. Sergeant
Urban West says the key must lie outside of the
seventeen binders of evidence in the case, as too many
good investigators have poured over it to have missed something.
Detectives are asking the public to look back and try
to remember if anyone made odd comments or had a
(38:39):
noticeable shift in behavior after that fateful, frosty March night.
Speaker 6 (38:44):
We continue to sporadically get pseudo witness tips that may
point to us in the direction, and we immediately follow
up on every lead.
Speaker 4 (38:55):
It is my hope that I will know what happened
before or I leave this earth, and I certainly don't
want my children or my nieces and nephews to face
the killer after I'm gone, and I hope that someone
(39:16):
will come forward with whatever information they have, no matter
how small, no matter how much it may seem insignificant,
to help us to solve this.
Speaker 10 (39:28):
I think it's really important, first of all, to go
along with what Joe ansaid, which is help this family
to get some answers because they have lived with this
for too long, and obviously Tom has as well. Nobody
wants to die not understanding what happened to your parents
or your grandparents.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
Someone somewhere knows something. They may not.
Speaker 6 (39:53):
They may not have the knowing that you're one hundred
percent positive, but you have an inkling, you have a suspicion,
you have a feeling, and that's all we need. The
police need a nudge in the right direction, and the
science will do the rest of it. Just a nudge,
and that's what That's what I hope for. And as
far as what Joanne said, if Joanne leaves this earth
(40:16):
before I do, I will persist and I will be there.
I don't care if I'm eighty five years old, even
though I already look eighty five. I will be there
to see this. Whoever this, whoever did this, go through
a trial and have justice served. So you know, it
seems like yesterday that I sat in Johanne's living room
(40:38):
had a family meeting about this case. And I can't
believe it's been eighteen and a half years. Wow.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
If you know or think you know anything about the
brutal murders these two beautiful people, Albert and Joan Masamo,
please we asked that you call seven seven five three
two eight thirty three twenty repeat seven seven five three
(41:05):
two eight thirty three twenty Nancy Grace signing off, goodbye friend,
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. The Mussalo murders unsolved. A
beautiful couple murdered in their own home, Ela law enforcement
begging for tips. Good evening, I'm Nancy Grace. This is
Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
A happy and healthy couple look forward to retirement in
their beautiful neur Reno home, but their quiet retirement is
quickly shattered by violence.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
In their own home. This beautiful couple murdered. How did
the discovery of this crime begin? Listen?
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Ahead of their April plans to visit family in New York,
Joanne Coles wants to invite her parents to dinner. Joanne
calls the Mussalis's landline, but the phone rings and rings
with no answer. Joanne assumes her parents' power maybe out,
a common occurrence in snowy months. Joanne calls the Montrose
Secure to check on them. The guard reports back that
no one answered his knocking. While it's odd for Joan
(01:06):
and Albert to ignore the door, Joanne theorizes her parents
may be laid up in bed with a cold.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Joining me right now, the woman that made that faithful
phone call Joanne Coles, Joanne, thank you for being with us.
Could you describe that phone call and what went through
your mind?
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Well, it's interesting that I lived in so much denial
at that moment, But I thought for sure that maybe
they were sick, had the flu, something else was going on.
So I called them the first time and they went
to the door. The second time, I asked them to
please look through the garage window and tell me whether
(01:46):
or not their car was in the garage. So I
knew that their car was in the garage. They only
had one car, and I knew that they were not
answering the door and all the lights were off, so
my husband and I drove out to to check on them.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Joanne, when you called and no one answered, you assumed
that they were in bed with a cold. Is that correct, yes?
Or the flu?
Speaker 4 (02:13):
Or that they were sick. Yes?
Speaker 1 (02:15):
And what led you to get in the car and
drive to check on your parents? What inner voice told you?
You could not just rely on them not picking the
phone up. You had to drive there and find out
for yourself.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
My parents moved to Reno to be near me and
for me to help them, so I took that responsibility
very seriously. And when the answering machine didn't pick up,
and they didn't respond to knocks on the door. It
was snowing that night, and I knew that my father
(02:55):
did not like to drive in the snow anymore, and
with the car in the garage, I felt compelled to
go out and find out what happened.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Listen.
Speaker 5 (03:05):
Joanne and her husband decide to check on her parents themselves.
They make the drive to Montreux as a snowstorm blows in.
Joanne unlocks the front door and calls for her parents.
When there's no answer, Joanne steps into the home but freezes.
There's mud tracked through the entryway and dining room. Joan
would never let a mess like that sit. Joanne's husband
walks toward the primary bedroom and, to his horror, finds
(03:28):
Joan and Albert shot to death in their bed.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
At this hour, law enforcement begging for tips. If you
know or think you know anything about the murders of
this beautiful couple, please I'll seven seven five three two
eight three three two zero repeat seven seven five three
two eight three three two zero. Joan, I do not
(03:55):
enjoy asking you to relive that moment for people that
are not familiar with your parents' story. Could you describe
what happened when you finally get to their home. What happened.
I'd also like to hear what was going through your
mind en route as you made that drive.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
We had left our two sons at home alone. They
were fourteen and ten at the time, and as we
were driving over, it was about seven point fifteen, and
I was thinking, oh, you know, getting home in time
to put them to bed, because given on their own,
they would have stayed up later than they should on
a school night.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
So I looked at the clock when.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
We were driving down the street to their house and
thinking I'll be home in time for them to go
to bed. When we got to the house, and when
in the garage door, because I had the garage door
opener and I knew the alarm code. When I walked
through the garage and got into the kitchen and then
(05:00):
into the dining room, I saw the mud on the floor,
and I have to say, at that point, my heart
kind of stopped because I knew that my mother would
not have gone to bed with mud on the floor.
That was just not her. She was a fastidious house
cleaner and always kept a beautiful home.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
I'm just wondering what went through your mind when you
saw that mud on the floor. Like Joanne, my mom
lives with us, and I remember just recently I walked
in her room and I saw her walker just sitting
(05:41):
there without her and that never ever, ever happens, and
I knew immediately something was wrong, and sure enough, something
was very wrong, and I ended up taking her to
the emergency room. There's that when you know someone so
well and you know their behavior. When you saw that
(06:04):
mud on the floor, you said your heart stopped.
Speaker 4 (06:09):
Yes, And I told my husband that I couldn't go
any further, and he went into the room and saw
them both. I stayed in the dining room, and then
when he came out, he said they were dead. And
I asked him if he was sure, and he said yes,
And then we went into the kitchen to try and
(06:32):
call nine one one. Their phone line had been cut,
so their phone did not work, and at that time,
in that area, cell phone reception was terrible and I
had ended up having to make multiple calls to nine
one one on two phones in order to get through.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Joining Me now is another special guest. In addition to
Albert and Jones' daughter, Joanne, Tom Green is joining US
US former chief Deputy with the Washoe County Sheriff's Office,
the detective on this case, now private investigator and owner
of Nevada Investigative Services, Tom, thank you for being with us,
(07:14):
and thank you for your continued diligence and dedication to
solving this case. You know, Tom, two things just off
the top of my head. Number one, how small details
may mean nothing to some people, but to other people
they mean everything. I recall investigating the case of a
(07:39):
beautiful young teacher that was murdered, Tara Grinstead, And when
her mother and I went into Tara's home, she was,
as Joanne is describing her parents, fastidious. Her home looked
like a magazine ad for home decor. But when we
went into her bedroom, a lamp was askew and the
(08:03):
bed was off center. It was supposed to be up
against the wall, but it was off center. And also,
I'm sure you've been in people's cars where you get
in the car, they've had the car ten years and
it still smells brand new, and it looks brand new.
She was like that. And Tara's car on the sides
were covered in mud, and her mother said, the moment
(08:26):
I saw that, I knew that she was gone, isn't
that odd? Probative. Probative is a better word that When
joe Ann walked in, and I'm hung up on this fact,
she knew immediately when she saw mud on the floor,
she saw like my heart stopped. I knew what about that?
(08:48):
Tom Green?
Speaker 6 (08:49):
Well, I think to the layperson that's not involved in
the case, they might think that's unusual or weird that
that would catch her eye. But being in their home,
I can see exactly why that did catch her eye.
And you know, the patterns of your parents, somebody that
you know very very well are super important in cases
like this because it helps us develop timelines. It helps
(09:11):
us develop areas to look that we might not have
otherwise looked at. You know, we had to we had
to rule out that that that, you know, other muddy
footprints within the house weren't the police that came in
and did searching. So, you know, we photographed every officer
that went in that house. We photographed all their all
their shoe prints to make sure the other footprints that
we found in there were not.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Artifacts of the police going on. Oh my goodness, Tom Green,
as a whole other can of worms. A probative in
other words, what if anything, does it prove a probative
can of worms, Because when you do get your killer,
and you will, you're going to have to rule out
every other person that walked into that home, including jo
(09:53):
Anne and her husband. Everybody's got to be ruled out
on those on that mud and any footprints that were
found crime stores. With Nancy Grace curious Tom Grain, Joanne
(10:14):
tells us that the first of all, the sale reception
was horrible in that area, but that the phone line,
the landline, had been cut.
Speaker 6 (10:26):
We had one other case that a phone line was
cut here in Washoe County and all the murders that
I looked at from nineteen sixty until the current time,
and so it is a super unusual tactic for a
killer to use, and somewhat risky in that area because
a cut phone line could signal an alarm company that
there's a problem at a house, and the alarms up
(10:48):
there are are radio based, so there's a radio receiver
close by that would receive such a cut phone line
or low power alert.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
So it was a risk to cut those phone lines.
Speaker 6 (11:01):
And that's one of the reasons that we feel that
the Maslos were targeted This wasn't some random spree killer
that happened across their house.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
They were killed for a purpose. Curiosity. When are you
saying that they had a burglar alarm system that was
connected to the phone line, so when the line was cut,
it should have alerted the alarm service. No, what I'm saying.
Speaker 6 (11:27):
Yeah, they didn't have it set so, but my point
is that a random killer in the neighborhood would assume
that there's an alarm system based on the homes in
that neighborhood, and so cutting the phone line would be
a risk if you did not know certain things about
the home.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
I mean, you don't know.
Speaker 6 (11:46):
It could set off a local alarm, It could set
off a siren on the house, right, You just don't know.
Cutting a phone line is a risky business. But Tom Green,
I agree with you. Guys. Tom is a former chief.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Deputy in the Wash County Sheriff's Office who worked this
case as a detective. You're really giving criminals a lot
of credit for them to know. Hey, if I cut
the phone line, I may set off an alarm. But
that said, you're completely right. So let me understand, Joanne.
Did they have an alarm that wasn't set or did
(12:19):
they not have a home alarm.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
They had a home alarm, but it was not set.
They tended to only set it when they left town,
not when they were home. When I went into the house,
the alarm was not set. I did not have to turn.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
It off, Joanne. Was it comeon knowledge that your parents
only turned on their alarm when they left or out
of town.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
No, no one would have known that. Only their children
would have known that, and probably only my sister and
I would be aware of that.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Bank to Tom Green joining us, who investigated the case
as a detective. Tom, when you say the lines to
the alarm were cut from outside from inside? What where
were the alarms cut? Where was the line cut?
Speaker 6 (13:04):
The lines come from underground, and there's a like a
PVC tube that comes out of the ground that goes
into the house and into the into the phone box.
So both the phone line and the cable line were
cut there. They're right next to each other, so I
could see how that would happen. You just cut them both.
And on top of that, we found mail DNA on
(13:27):
the phone line in the same general area in which
the phone line was cut, indicating that somebody probably touched DNA,
held that while they cut it and left behind their DNA.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
So you're telling me the phone line was cut from outside, yes, ma'am,
and mail DNA was found on the wire that was cut.
Is that correct, yes, ma'am.
Speaker 7 (13:49):
The Mussolo's home is quickly crawling with detectives from Washoke
County Sheriff's Office. There's no sign of forced entry to
the home and nothing of value is missing. Joanne Coles
tells deputies her parents it's never hired any outside help
and no one outside of family had intimate knowledge of
the home. Investigators initial thought is that the Musalos are targeted,
but no one has any idea why.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Joining me an all star panel to make sense of
what we know. A beautiful, married couple murdered in their
own home. Some believe experts believe it was a targeted attack.
Joining me the All Star panel, led by Alexis teresschut
Crime Online dot Com investigative reporter. We just heard no
(14:32):
sign of forced entry, nothing of value missing. Is that correct, Alexis?
Speaker 4 (14:38):
It is no.
Speaker 8 (14:39):
So there wasn't a broken window, the door wasn't broken.
Those sliding glass doors are not broken open, and nothing
really is missing.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
It wasn't.
Speaker 8 (14:47):
There wasn't a safe with thousands of dollars taken, not
even a car, jewelry, nothing significant taken from this home.
And what you did just say. They never had help
come in from outside the home. They took care of
the home themselves, So there wasn't somebody they could say, Oh,
it was this person, this handyman that was always in
the house, or this housekeeper's family, anything like. There was
(15:08):
nobody that they can pinpoint as a suspect because nobody
came in there except their family.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
I'm still intrigued by the fact that the killer obviously
cut the phone line outside. That takes a certain degree
of planning and preparation to know where the line is
to go cut it, to bring the instrument, the cutting
instrument with you. I'm curious about the DNA, the male
(15:33):
DNA left on that cable cord Tom Green. Was the
DNA maintained? Is it still at the lab?
Speaker 6 (15:41):
It is The reason we know it was contemporarious with
the crime scene is it is a full thirteen low
SI DNA. It's a strong profile. There's no question that
was left contemporaneous to the cutting of the phone line.
Based on whether the elements temperatures. All those kinds of
things joining me.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
In addition to Joanne Cole's Tom Green and Alexis Tereschuk,
Doctor Eric Asen certified a forensic pathologist and consultant Doctor Ason,
thank you for being with us. Question, isn't it true
that there is a procedure, very delicate procedure by which
(16:20):
DNA can be replicated? In other words, you have a
little DNA, you can turn it into more DNA enough
to potentially put it through the familial DNA genetic genealogy database.
It's called PCR, the polymerase chain reaction.
Speaker 9 (16:37):
It got invented back in the early nineties when I
was in college. I learned about it right in my
last semester of a college, right before I started medical school.
And all you need is just a small sample of
DNA and you can run it through these reactions that
utilize an enzyme that will just amplify all the DNA
and you can make multiple copies of it and then
(16:57):
run it through the genealogy, which is what I think
is going to happen here. And so what will probably
happen is that the tests will be run and we're
probably going to find a sibling or a cousin or
a distant cousin of the individual who left his DNA
on the phone lines, and hopefully that can be used
to figure out who this person was. It's something that
was not around back in two thousand and six, but
(17:19):
it is a recent development. That's what was used in
the Brian Coburger case too.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
You know, I'm very curious to Joe Anne Coles who
went in with her husband to discover the bodies of
mom and dad. Are you familiar with any updates on
the investigation? For instance, we very often consult with a
lab called author Ram Labs, and their specialty is degenerated
(17:47):
or compromised DNA or small amounts of DNA, and I'm
wondering if this male DNA that, as Tom Green tells us,
was left contemporaneously with the cutting of your parents phone line,
has that been sent to an advanced lab to try
(18:08):
to get a match.
Speaker 4 (18:09):
I've spoken to the head pathologist at the lab at
Washoe County Sheriff's Office, and my understanding from her is
that they have done as much as technology is able
to to try and do a genealogical study on the DNA.
(18:33):
We've reached out to a couple different labs that do
that kind of work and put them in touch with
Washa County, and my understanding is that there is not
adequate DNA to do that.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
I'm curious, Joanne, if I could hook up off ram
with the crime lab there in wash It absolutely be
willing for them to try. Absolutely joining me is Karen Stark,
aronoun psycholo, TV radio trauma expert at Karenstark dot com.
That's Karen with a sea if you search for her
(19:06):
Karen Stark. As the days go by, and the weeks
go by, and the months go by, and it goes
on and on and on, how do people deal with
the fact that first their parents are murdered brutally and
second no justice.
Speaker 10 (19:23):
It's really heartbreaking because your parents are murdered, you have
to deal with that shock and knowing that you won't
see them again. And yet it wasn't a natural depth
And here they are without any kind of a solution,
and all these years have passed and it never gets resolved.
She keeps trying to find out about it. She wants
(19:47):
to know more. There's new DNA results, and yet she's
still not getting an answer, So you are left with
this huge hole of what happened to my parents? What
will I ever know? Will I ever be able to
get an answer to the death of them. It's just terrible, terrible.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
For what happened to Albert and Joan Maslow. Their daughter
finds them dead in their own home, the phone line
cut from the outside with mel DNA on that wire,
mel DNA that as of tonight, has not been matched
to anyone. Immediately people start the blame the victim game.
Speaker 6 (20:31):
Listen, the Mussolos were not involved in any nefarious activities.
They had no criminal history. You know, there's been rumors
flowing around that they were in the Witness Protection programmer
that they'd been involved with the mafia because they were
from New York. Those are totally in substantial. We've vetted
them thoroughly through the FBI.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Witness Protection program, the mafia. That was from our friends
over a KRNV news for Joanne. Rumors flying your parents
were in the mafia or the witness protection That's insane,
it's absurd.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
I think that in a situation like this, their neighbors
were scared and it gave them some security To blame
my parents, or to blame me and my husband just.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Thinking about your parents dying as they did and now
that type of rumors. Nothing could be further from the truth. Listen.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
After thirty three years with pan Am, the Mussalos are
quite comfortable after years of savvy investments and settle in Wild, Nevada.
The couple is very active. They take daily walks and
golf together. Albert enjoyce skiing while Joan prefers tennis. The
grandparents spend most of their time together sharing a single
link in town car. They continue to travel frequently to
see their children.
Speaker 5 (21:51):
As they get older, Joan and Albert eventually decide to
move closer to their daughter, joe Anne Coles and her family.
The couple settles on the exclusive gated Montroux neighborhood in
a rural area south of Reno. While the country club
neighborhood boasts multimillion dollar houses, the Massalos move into one
of the more modest homes on the block. They quickly
make friends with neighbors on their daily walks using the
(22:13):
public hiking trail bordering their home. Joan Massolo is known
for hosting home cooked dinner parties and her immaculately kept home.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
Joanne, how did your parents meet?
Speaker 4 (22:27):
They both worked at the Gas and Electric Company in Brooklyn,
New York, and that's where they met. They were both
from Brooklyn.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Tell me about your family. How many siblings?
Speaker 4 (22:42):
I have three siblings, I'm the third, two boys and
two girls. They have seven grandchildren and now they have
four great grandchildren. They have never met, Joanne.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
I know you may not like this question, but I
have to ask. Tell me about any potential life insurance proceeds.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
My dad did take out a life insurance policy, I
think a couple of years before they died, and us
four children were the beneficiaries, and the policy was for
a million dollars.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
And Tom Green, I'm sure that you, as a detective,
verified all the children's alibis correct.
Speaker 6 (23:30):
We did, of course. The family was the first, the
first people we had to focus on, and I remember
very clearly having that conversation with all four of them
and explaining to them that before we can move out,
we need to we need to, you know, rule them
in or out immediately. And so that's what that's what
(23:50):
we attempted to do. We did a deep dive into
their finances, all of them, we saw nothing that that
read flagged us at all.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Alexa to us to that crime online dot Com invest
to get every reporter. What was the cause of death
of this couple?
Speaker 8 (24:07):
They were shot in multiple times to gunshot wounds. And
the one piece of evidence that we haven't spoken about
is they had ballistic evidence. So the bullets were found
and this was a huge piece of evidence, but that
has never matched with anything else.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Tom Green, what type of weapon was used?
Speaker 6 (24:25):
Well, that would be hold back information that we've held
And just so your viewers understand, hold back information is
critical to these kind of cases because if at some
point we develop or they develop a suspect, it's going
to be imperative that there are details that only the
investigators and the perpetrator would know. And so that's one
(24:48):
of the items that that we've held back. I released
a lot of information, more information than some people thought
I should have when I talked about the phone lines
and the mud on the floor or and some of
the other items. But you know, this case isn't getting
any warmer.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
And you know, I.
Speaker 6 (25:07):
Saw them dead in their beds, I saw them at
the funeral, and I saw their gravesites and I will
see that until the day I take my last breath.
So I hope, I hope that someone here's this information
comes forward. Somebody knows something, somebody has a suspicion about
(25:29):
someone being involved in this, and that's the tip that
the police need to move this case forward.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Let's piece it together, Tom Green. There is no sign
a forced entry, nothing was taken from the home. This
couple was involved in no sort of nefarious activity. All
those ideas and rumors about them being a witness protection
and tied to the mob, that's BS. It's exactly what
(25:57):
Joe Anne said. It's people want to feel safe themselves
and going, oh yeah, I right, they're in the witness
protection that's all BS. None of that's true. This is
a beautiful couple with children, grandchildren, asleep in bed in
their home, and they were brutally murdered, multiple gunshot wounds
(26:19):
on a couple parents, grandparents asleep in their own bed.
I'm curious, Joanne, did those muddy footprints lead to any
other room in the home.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
No, they were only in that one spot, in the
kitchen or in the dining room. I didn't see any
other mud. But to be honest, when I saw the
first bit I stopped. I froze. I couldn't go any further.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Tom, what about it, Tom Green? Did the muddy footprints
go to any other area of the home.
Speaker 6 (26:53):
Yeah, So we obviously saw the same mud that Joanne saw,
and we did what's called jel lifts, and those jeel
lifts were sent to the FBI laboratory, who's really the
best at doing footprint evidence, and they were inconclusive because
it was basically ridge detail from the shoe print. There
was mud on the carpeted stairs that went upstairs, but
(27:17):
again we were not able to develop any kind of
a footprint pattern, size, style, anything like that.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
This is driving me crazy. We have DNA, we have
muddy footprints, we have ballistics. Nothing is matching up in
the DNA database. Nothing is matching up in the ballistics database.
I don't understand it. And a lot of the fact
that the phone was cut it almost is striking me
(27:45):
as being a professional hit and I don't understand that. Also,
we know that this was a private neighborhood Listen.
Speaker 7 (27:55):
Montrose hoapes cover a large security team for the neighborhood.
A security guard ANNs Montro's front gatehouse twenty four seven
three sixty five and as service entrances man twelve hours
a day, all visitors must provide identification to the security
team and be approved by the homeowner for access to Montreal.
Contract workers are even required to obtain entrance passes for
(28:15):
each day they expect to be in and out of
the neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
One thing that struck me about that, Alexis Tereschak, is
that the service entrance is only manned twelve hours a day.
Is that right? That is right?
Speaker 8 (28:27):
That because during the daytime, because they wouldn't expect to
have service soaks come in in the middle.
Speaker 4 (28:32):
Of the night.
Speaker 8 (28:33):
Usually that wouldn't be a thing that you would when
you would have your dishwasher fixed or anything like that.
Speaker 4 (28:38):
But they did.
Speaker 8 (28:39):
Track down that the path that they believe the person took,
so they live in a wooded area behind them, and
that the person went through like out their backyard and
through an area and out into the woods. So that
is where they feared they went in and out was
through the wooded area behind their home.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
And how did you deduce that, Tom green Well, The
way we deduce that is that it had rained significantly
in the days preceding the murder.
Speaker 6 (29:09):
The night that Joanne drove to the home, it had
started snowing. During the time that the murder occurred, it
had not been snowing, it had been muddy and wet,
and so the area that the perpetrator had a step
to to cut the phone line was just a muddy
dirt area. We found muddy footprints on the pavers. Once
(29:31):
the snow melted, those same muddy footprints were tracked by.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
A man tracker.
Speaker 6 (29:35):
We actually had a man tracker come out and track
those muddy footprints up and over the back fence that
led to.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
A walking path and a parking area off the Mount
Rose Highway.
Speaker 6 (29:46):
So we're pretty convinced that that's the route the person
would have taken. It's also the route of it's the
safest route for a perpetrator. You know, this is a
higher risk event for them going into a gated community
full of homes with alarms, security patrol that drives around,
but that area was the safest, least risky.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
Area to enter from us from the back. When you
try to determine what happened, you must look at establishing
a timeline. You can't always deduce the time of the
murder based on the condition of the body, such as
body temperature. Very often you must look at extrinsic evidence,
and they did just that. Listen.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
Investigators find March twenty seven's newspaper inside the home, and
a furniture salesman says he met with the Mussalas around noon.
Their computer shows Internet activity until late into the evening
on the twenty seventh. Detectives theorized that the couple was
attacked while they slept in the early morning hours of
March twenty eighth. Investigators are stumped on how the perpetrator
(30:43):
gained access to the home. Montrose Security Team reports that
no one came through either gate around the estimated time
of the murders.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
So the killer did not enter through the security gate,
which corroborates Tom Green's theory as to the access and
entrance to the home. I'm curious, Tom Green, have you
ever considered, as we are considering in the Brian Coburger
(31:13):
case where four beautiful young Idaho students were murdered in
their beds, the possibility of a thrilled kill Because this
couple has no background. They don't even have a traffic fine.
For Pete's sake, they are loving grandparents who try to
(31:34):
move closer to be to their children, all right, and
they're murdered in their beds. Question why it's not. It's
not a professional hit, all right by the mob. So
could it be a thrill kill like that alleged in
the Brian Coburger case.
Speaker 6 (31:54):
You know, it's definitely not out of the realm of possibility,
and it's one of the things we looked at that
look at.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
You know, you cannot rule out a.
Speaker 6 (32:03):
Thrill kill, a spree kill, and those are the scariest
ones because they're the hardest to solve, and especially at
that time, we didn't have the ability to dump a
cell tower and figure out everybody this is in the neighborhood.
You know, we didn't have a lot of those investigative techniques.
So if it was somebody who had, you know, taken
(32:23):
a fancy to these to these people and decided, you
know what, I'm gonna kill them for no particular reason,
it's gonna be a tough one to solve. It's going
to be a tough one to solve unless they get
caught for something else. And we get a DNA comparison.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Crime stores with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 5 (32:47):
While many try to write off the murders as a
random attack or robbery. Investigators are convinced them as sallows
we're targeted. Montro is not a neighborhood stumbled on by accident,
and nothing of significance was founding from the couple's home.
Detectives eventually reveal a chilling piece of evidence supporting their theory.
The Masalo's phone lines were cut.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Listen to our friends at k Aren't in.
Speaker 6 (33:10):
The since nineteen sixty, we've only had one other case
where phone lines were cut, and that case bears no
resemblance to this case at all. We think it tells
us some things about the offender that it's quite probably
the offender had prior knowledge of the home, possibly even
knew the victims that this wasn't a random act that
they were targeted.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
Joanne Coles is joining us. Joe Anne, what is your theory?
Speaker 4 (33:36):
Given the information that's available and knowing my parents, I
believe that they were the unintended targets. I've never thought
of it being a thrill kill, because my thought would
be if someone did that for thrill, they would do
(33:56):
it to someone else with the same method and means.
So my feeling has been that it's a professional hit
and they have the wrong people.
Speaker 6 (34:07):
Is that possible, Tom Green, Well, I'm assuming it's possible,
But you know, when we looked at that looked we've
looked at this extensively because of other reporting of threats
being received by another family within that same gated community. However,
(34:28):
it becomes somewhat of a rabbit hole because the homes
are so much different.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
But it's clearly someone that knows that they have to
come through the woods to get into the home. They
know enough to cut the phone lines. It's clearly targeted.
I think Jones' idea could be on point, But with
that ballistics evidence, DNA evidence, footprint evidence, is very difficult
(34:53):
for me to believe that we can't solve this case.
Joe Anne, how has this affected your life?
Speaker 4 (35:01):
Sometimes you have an event in your life that happens
and you look at life as before and after. Usually
it's marriage or having children or grandchildren. For me, it's
the death of my parents. It gives you a whole
new perspective on life. You treasure relationships more and worry
(35:28):
less about little things. It's very difficult. It's very difficult
to live with the last eighteen and a half years
in many ways have been just hell. I'm lucky to
have my faith and that has helped me in many moments,
(35:49):
but it's been tremendously difficult and difficult not only for me,
but for my entire family, for my husband, for my siblings,
for their families as well. It's been devastating.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
Tom Green, you study the footprints went off into the
woods into a trail.
Speaker 6 (36:08):
What was on the other end of that trail, Well,
that trail actually crosses the Mount Rose Highway and it's
a hiking trails, common hiking trails called the Gleena Creek Trail.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
And a lot of people use it in biking, walking,
dog walking.
Speaker 6 (36:22):
I would also note that we brought in the FBI
pretty early on and asked their Behavioral Sciences unit to
send out a team, and they did, and we met
with that team, and they developed a neighborhood canvas questionnaire
under the theory that somebody in the neighborhood may know something,
and so we canvassed a lot of homes and we
did a DNA dragnet where we DNA swabbed everybody that
(36:46):
we could think of if they sat still long enough,
and it would tolerate it.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
We swabbed them. Was another bedroom tampered with? We're not sure.
Speaker 6 (36:55):
I will tell you this that there was a bed
there was she's such a such a housekeeper that all
of the beds, everything that wasn't used was covered with
a sheet, and in the upstairs bedroom a sheet was
pulled back as if somebody was potentially checking to see
if someone else was in bed. That sheet was submitted
to for evidence and testing was done on it. They
(37:17):
were not able to get any kind of forensic results
from that.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
Doctor Ason, obviously, this is not a murder suicide. Could
you explain how we know that? Number one, the gun's
not there.
Speaker 9 (37:32):
There was no gun found at the scene, and so
if this was a situation where somebody shot the other
individual then shot his or herself, there would still be
a gun at the scene, and there was not. The
other way to find out is during the actual autopsy.
Both of them supposedly had multiple gunshot wounds, and so
it would be as possible to commit suicide with multiple
(37:53):
gunshot wounds, but it's usually going to be a single
gunshot wound and the wound's going to be contact after
the autopsies done, the death certificates would have been signed
and the manner of death would have been homicide for both.
And so if this was a homicide suicide situation, then
one of the de certificates would.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
Have said suicide. That's not what we had.
Speaker 9 (38:11):
And those are the main reasons why this is not
consistent with a homicide suicide. It's a double homicide.
Speaker 7 (38:18):
Washok County Sheriff's believe new tips hold the answer to
the question of who killed Joan and Albert Massalo. Sergeant
Urban West says the key must lie outside of the
seventeen binders of evidence in the case, as too many
good investigators have poured over it to have missed something.
Detectives are asking the public to look back and try
to remember if anyone made odd comments or had a
(38:39):
noticeable shift in behavior after that fateful, frosty March night.
Speaker 6 (38:44):
We continue to sporadically get pseudo witness tips that may
point to us in the direction, and we immediately follow
up on every lead.
Speaker 4 (38:55):
It is my hope that I will know what happened
before or I leave this earth, and I certainly don't
want my children or my nieces and nephews to face
the killer after I'm gone, and I hope that someone
(39:16):
will come forward with whatever information they have, no matter
how small, no matter how much it may seem insignificant,
to help us to solve this.
Speaker 10 (39:28):
I think it's really important, first of all, to go
along with what Joe ansaid, which is help this family
to get some answers because they have lived with this
for too long, and obviously Tom has as well. Nobody
wants to die not understanding what happened to your parents
or your grandparents.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
Someone somewhere knows something. They may not.
Speaker 6 (39:53):
They may not have the knowing that you're one hundred
percent positive, but you have an inkling, you have a suspicion,
you have a feeling, and that's all we need. The
police need a nudge in the right direction, and the
science will do the rest of it. Just a nudge,
and that's what That's what I hope for. And as
far as what Joanne said, if Joanne leaves this earth
(40:16):
before I do, I will persist and I will be there.
I don't care if I'm eighty five years old, even
though I already look eighty five. I will be there
to see this. Whoever this, whoever did this, go through
a trial and have justice served. So you know, it
seems like yesterday that I sat in Johanne's living room
(40:38):
had a family meeting about this case. And I can't
believe it's been eighteen and a half years. Wow.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
If you know or think you know anything about the
brutal murders these two beautiful people, Albert and Joan Masamo,
please we asked that you call seven seven five three
two eight thirty three twenty repeat seven seven five three
(41:05):
two eight thirty three twenty Nancy Grace signing off, goodbye friend,
Host
Nancy Grace
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