July 22, 2024 • 35 mins
In the days after Danielle and Richard vanished, something happened that drove a wedge between both victims’ families and it all centered on Danielle’s estranged husband, Joe. Richard’s family shares stories of threats and allegations while Danielle’s family quickly dismissed them. Lines were crossed and sides were drawn as both families hunt for answers.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
For years, Richard Patrone lived in the apartment above his
parents bakery. By two thousand and five, Richard had moved
out and was living in an apartment in South Philly
to be closer to his daughter. On the day after
he went missing, his mother, Marge, wondered if she'd find
any clues in his apartment.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I said, I should go up there.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I stole his laundry and his you know, refrigerator full,
and I saw concert tickets for like March. On his death,
everything was like he was coming back.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
As she works her way through her son's apartment, she
couldn't reconcile all the evidence of her son's everyday life
and the reality of his profound absence.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
He had some Christmas gadgets and stuff that he didn't
even take a part and fix yet. And I thought, oka, yeah,
it was just left like you would leave and you
were coming back. This one of the worst to days
of my life.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Across town, Danielle's mother, Felice, held out hope her daughter
would return.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
My mother, she was always optimistic. She had a two
bedroom condo and one bedroom shed. The bedmaid with like
a gift on the pillow for my sister. It was
just heartbreaking.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
I'm Andrea Gunning and this is there and Gone South Street.
Episode four, Parade of Misery.
Speaker 5 (01:40):
Is I say in my dream reached out in the
dog for you and last to me. I'll never give up.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
No matter howllah.
Speaker 5 (01:58):
I opened my define.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
A 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. In February two thousand and five, Danielle
(02:33):
Imbo and Richard Patrone walked out of a South Street
bar and disappeared. No bloodstains, no evidence, no clues. As
the trail grows colder, the question grows larger. What really
happened that night? Those are the words of journalist Steve
Volk from his article in Philadelphia Magazine titled Without a Trace.
(02:54):
I remember reading it when it first came out, and
I would come back to read it again and again.
I felt like I learned something new every time I
read it. As I dug into this story and really
got to know the victims' families and what they endured.
After Danielle and Richard disappeared, I went back to Steve's article,
hoping that what happened to their families would somehow change.
(03:15):
But in the ten years after the article came out,
their lives didn't change. Not in Steve's article and not
in real life. I'll explain what I mean in a bit. Okay,
So can you introduce yourself real quick.
Speaker 6 (03:30):
I'm Steve Volk. I'm a reporter, longtime reporter. I'm the
Philadelphia area and I was working at Philadelphia Magazine at
the time that I wrote this piece.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
After months of trading emails, phone calls, and texts, Steve
ben and I finally sat down to talk in April
of twenty twenty four. At that point, his article was
over ten years old, but not much in the investigation
has changed, you.
Speaker 6 (03:54):
Know, Like what you guys have undertaken is a lot
more ambitious than what I did in terms of being
an investmentation.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Steve was worried he wouldn't remember many of the details
of the case since so much time had passed since
he wrote about Danielle and Richard's disappearance. So I gave
him a PDF of his article to refresh his memory,
and then watched as he scrolled page after page.
Speaker 6 (04:21):
Wow, Yeah, it has been shocking to me to reread
the story and see the things that I thought I
remembered but didn't.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
As the memories flooded back. For Steve, I started counting
the number of times his face would WinCE.
Speaker 6 (04:39):
I wanted to write about it in part because people
had stopped writing about it, because I'd had a brother
die and recognized that, like you know, the anniversary's constant,
and so for some reason that really drew me to
writing about them.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Steve was bothered by the frequency of stories about Danielle
and Richard.
Speaker 6 (04:59):
Somebody would say, hey, it's been X number of years since, right,
there'd be one of those pieces if I remember correctly.
I always found that really wrong.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
It's wrong, Steve told me, because for the victims' families,
the anniversary happens every day.
Speaker 6 (05:14):
Really, the anniversary thing meant a whole lot to me.
I wanted to capture for people the unending pain that
I knew before I ever met them they must be
going through, so that we could stop talking about this
every February and start talking about it a lot more
than that.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
For his articles, Steve interviewed some of the same people
you've heard in this podcast.
Speaker 6 (05:36):
The thing I remember most really about it is the
emotional quality of spending time with Danielle's brother John. His
mom greets every new day with a fresh set of tears.
There's no metaphor there. She would wake up every day
and cry, just in order to sort of get herself started.
Speaker 5 (06:00):
And then Richard and Marge.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
That's when Steve paused. He said he hasn't been able
to shake the memory of interviewing Marge and Richard at
their bakery.
Speaker 6 (06:12):
When I'm in there, you're surrounded by these festive desserts
and cakes, but the two of them are really like
in hell. They're in absolute hell. They both basically acted
like they could die tomorrow, except for Richard's daughter was
a motivating factor that she was left behind.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
And then there was Richard's father, Richard. Steve said he
in particular stood out.
Speaker 6 (06:38):
He wanted to kill somebody, is what I remember. You
could just feel the anger and his desire to do
something about it, but he didn't know what happened.
Speaker 5 (06:51):
I mean, there was.
Speaker 6 (06:54):
Profound sadness. I remember it being a parade of fucking misery.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Covering that story, There's another line in Steve's article that
really summed up that sadness, he wrote. With no bodies
to bury and no agreed upon story to frame and
help them understand their loss, they can only stare into
empty space, sentenced to always wonder what happened.
Speaker 6 (07:19):
If they went to a grieving parenting support group, it
probably wouldn't work for them in the same way, because
those folks know what happened.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
You know.
Speaker 6 (07:29):
They had a body to bury, they had a funeral,
they had all those things, and this is so very different.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
We talked about how Danielle and Richard's families were close
before the two went missing, and that their bond got
even stronger when they united in their search.
Speaker 6 (07:45):
Only a very unfortunate few know what it's like to
have loved ones just go poof missing. And John seems
like he's going through basically what you guys are going
through Richard and Marge.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
But what Steve learned and will dig into is that
these two families managed to go from one unified team
to two different families that haven't spoken in nearly twenty years.
Speaker 6 (08:11):
Think about this. The next day, right after they discovered
their missing, who gets together John and Richard Senior and
they go on this long, all night drive to all
the places that they might have been. Do you think
about that initial instinct to band together and look for them.
Speaker 5 (08:32):
Gosh, you'd think.
Speaker 6 (08:33):
That would create a bond that couldn't be undone, But
it was completely undone.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
So what happened that caused that bond to fracture? According
to Steve, it all happened the last time both families
stood side by side.
Speaker 5 (08:52):
Good afternoon. So we're here to discuss a couple.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Different It's March twenty second, two thousand and five, roughly
four weeks after Danielle and Richard were last seen on
South Street. That's when a press conference took place right
outside the Philadelphia Police Department headquarters. That's where the patrons
and a towbrays lined up alongside Danielle's estranged husband, Joe Imbo.
(09:17):
In the middle was a lawyer the patrons hired. The
lawyer addressed the many local reporters who showed up that
cloudy afternoon, and he made a push for clues and
information about what happened to Danielle and Richard. Eventually, Marge
stood behind the podium.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
All of our lives have been taken from us, and
we don't know now how to live.
Speaker 7 (09:39):
Each day without them, without knowing where they are.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
And then and Richard's daughter made a desperate plea to
find her father. It would become a SoundBite played time
and time again on news reports.
Speaker 7 (09:53):
And what is any information about my dad? Please?
Speaker 5 (09:56):
You just need a beck?
Speaker 7 (09:57):
Please?
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Those the words haunt me every time I hear them.
Danielle's brother, John also addressed the media.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Her son meets here, Richard's daughter meets him, and we're
just begging for anyone for any information, please.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Please, So you have both families lined up right in
front of Philadelphia police headquarters pleading to the public for help.
I guess I'm not understanding how this led to any
sort of friction between the families, and that's when Steve
clued me in.
Speaker 6 (10:35):
I do remember that Marge supposedly confronted Joe right there.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
The search for clues to what happened to Danielle and
Richard took place on foot, on TV, and online in
the days and weeks that followed. The two families coordinated
multiple search parties and appeared on numerous local and national
news programs. There were also websites asking for any information
on Danielle and Richard's whereabouts, which was something new for
(11:21):
that day and age.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
I stood outside of sporting events with flyers of Danielle
and Richard and hand and Matison. Forty five thousand people
walked outside.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
That's Danielle's brother John.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
I was in a helicopter looking for her. I searched
the pine barons on foot looking for anything, and it
just consumed me. The days just blur together, the week's
blair together. And then I got a phone call.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
That call was from Richard's father.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
He said, you know, hey, Johnny, I think I found
a way to bring the kids home. Meet me at
self Detectives at noon.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Self Detectives is a division of the Philadelphia Police Department.
They were just one of a handful of agencies that investigated.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
Showed up with self Detectives at noon. And the next
thing you know, there's some attorney standing up there on
his soapbox, and my mother, me and Danielle's strange husband
Joe were standing there looking at each other like, what's
going on? Wait, this is a press conference. Wait a minute.
I don't want to time out. I don't want to
be on TV, like I don't know what's going on.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
John was under the impression he and his family were
needed at police headquarters because Richard Senior learned something new
about what happened to Danielle and Richard, something that might
bring his sister home. And when he walked into a
press conference, he said, it felt like a slap in
the face.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
Not a slap in my face, as this disrespect, like
a wake up call.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
A wake up call for John that maybe the two
families were not on the same page.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
You told me you found a way to bring the
kids home. Those were your words. I just assumed he
knew something. They wanted us to stand immunity together as
two families and blame Danielle's the strange husband. And I
could not in good conscious too that because I did
not know at the time whose response.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
That wasn't the first time John had heard the Patrons
blame Joe imbo. John said, it happened the first night
after Danielle and Richard vanished.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
But at that point we thought it was an accident.
They're on the side of the road or they're locked up.
Marge Patron was like, it's Joe.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Joe did this. He did this, Joe.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
Did something to my boy and Danielle. I understand emotions
are high. But let's worry about what's going on, John said.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Marge wanted to double down at the press conference and
blame Joe, but John refused.
Speaker 4 (13:47):
Nobody knows what happened yet, so stop slinging insults and
stop pointing fingers.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Marge wasn't just pointing fingers. She was ready to slap
handcuffs on Joe. So I asked her why she was
so convinced it was him.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
That was talked about that summer at the shore. That summer,
I will still relive the whole day on the beach.
She said, if anything ever happens to me, Joe did this.
That's what Danielle kept saying to me and Christine.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Marge is talking about the summer of two thousand and
four when Danielle spent time with the patrons at their shorehouse.
According to Marge, that's when Danielle shared all the drama
going on behind closed doors. She was scared to death
of him. Why exactly it was Danielle so afraid of Joe?
Speaker 3 (14:37):
She told me that one day he came and threw
the hechier across the room. That's when she changed the
locks and he was not allowed in her apartment.
Speaker 8 (14:45):
Ever again.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
In twenty fourteen, Joe told Philadelphia Magazine that incident never happened.
There was another time, Marge said, Joe freaked out while
driving with Little Joe. A truck passed by that looked
like Richard's, and Little Joe got excited and then pointed
at it.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
And Little Joe said rich rich rich and he went nuts.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Marge said. Joe got upset, called Danielle and yelled.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
At her, what does he saying rich rich rich for?
Speaker 1 (15:15):
According to Marge, Danielle shared that story the night before
she disappeared. It was at the dinner at Chicky and Pete's.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Danielle told us that that night, I said, oh yeah,
because he used to put them in the back of
the truck and jump in home in this car. He
was pissed that night. I told all this Tovito in
the very beginning.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
What was going through your mind is she was telling
you this.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
I'm horrified for her, horrified for her. She said, That's
why I tell my lawyer everything. That's why she documents everything.
You know that he's not allowed in my house. I
changed the locks. I have to meet in a public
place with the baby.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
So Danielle had a lawyer.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
Yes, yes, she told her lawyer. It was documented all
the times that she felt threatened by him.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
I knew Christine and Danielle were close, especially at the
time of her disappearance. They both were going through a divorce,
so they bonded over that shared experience. I asked her
if she remembers her friend being afraid of Joe.
Speaker 9 (16:21):
The cops asked me that too, do you think she
was scared of him? And I remember thinking, in hindsight,
only because I know Danielle and she was a tough person,
like she would stand up for herself. I never looked
at her to be afraid of anything.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Obviously, nineteen years has passed between then and now. But
then I thought she changed her locks. They let her
change your locks.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
I went through a divorce.
Speaker 9 (16:45):
I was never told to write down anything, so I
mean the lawyer told her to document every single thing
that happened, even if she thought it was minimal, write
it down, keep notes, and she did, like she wrote
down everything.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
I never changed my locks.
Speaker 9 (17:03):
I never thought about changing my locks. So then I thought, well,
I'm not afraid of my ex husband like I don't know, maybe.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
She was, I asked Vido if you found any evidence
of physical abuse in Danielle and Joe's relationship. I even
asked him about the high chair incident.
Speaker 10 (17:17):
That was an incident that was really to me that
I believe was pretty commonly known because a number of people.
Speaker 7 (17:23):
Talked about it openly.
Speaker 10 (17:24):
But other than that, I was not able to put
any other context to it other than a chair was
thrown in anger. The bottom line was I did not
uncover any physical abuse one way or the other.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
We heard Danielle was documenting so much about what was
going on with her marriage leading up to the divorce,
all at the advice of her attorney. I needed to
find Danielle's lawyer, and we certainly went to great lengths.
Ben and I made multiple attempts to reach her.
Speaker 6 (17:57):
The person you're trying to reach is not available the tone.
Speaker 11 (18:00):
Please record your message.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
When you have finished recording, you may hang up.
Speaker 11 (18:05):
My name is Ben Setterman. I'm a producer with Glass Podcasts.
I wanted to see if you would be willing to
speak with me about a story of one of your
former clients, Danielle Imbo. If you could give me a callback,
I would really appreciate the opportunity for us to connect.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
We located her law office and dropped by to introduce ourselves.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
No, Hi, the law firm is that upstairs.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
No, there's no law firm here any longer.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
No, it's no longer in business.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
I even drove to her home. Nobody's there, but there's
no mailbox, which is very strange. I left a note
with my contact info, but Danielle's lawyer never responded, not
to one single message, letter or knock on her door.
The other thing I couldn't get my hands on was
a full, unedited version of that press conference. To my
(19:15):
team's credit, they contacted every local and national media outlet
that covered it, but none of them claimed to still
have it. According to Steve Volk's article, Marge confronted Joe
at the press conference. So I asked Marge if she
remembered doing that. She said she didn't.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
We had a lawyer at the time who said, don't
approach him, don't go near him, and I didn't. It's
the only time I ever saw him.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
I also asked Richard's daughter ang about that day, but
she couldn't confirm Marge's confrontation.
Speaker 7 (19:46):
You would have to ask her because it's a blur then,
but I feel like she may have yelled at him.
I mean, that was like such just a wild time.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
The one thing Ange said she clearly remembers was Joe's demeanor.
Speaker 7 (20:01):
There wasn't a tear, like, there wasn't any emotion coming
from him.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Joe did not address the media at the press conference.
Speaker 7 (20:10):
Why aren't you like absolutely destraw it, like, why aren't
you a mess right now?
Speaker 5 (20:18):
And he wasn't.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
I will say I've seen snippets of the press conference,
but I did not see Marge confront Joe. If she did,
maybe it was after the cameras stopped rolling. There was
something else I wanted to know more about. In the
last episode, Christine said Joe had been calling Richard at
the bakery. I asked Marge what she remembered about that.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
It was the day before Thanksgiving. We were totally busy
in the bakery, and he must have called it twenty
seven times, threatening him with a baseball beat, and Richard said,
you're getting divorced. I'm not going out with a married woman,
you know. And if you don't want me to go,
tell her.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Marge told the Philadelphia Daily News about these threats in
June of two thousand and five. She said Joe and
Richard never met face to face, and her biggest regret
is that they never reported those threats to the police.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Why didn't we document that to say, you know, you're
just calling and threatening. But she did tell her lawyer that,
so that was documented that she told her lawyer that.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
As FBI agent Fto Rosselli shared in the last episode,
he was aware of the alleged phone call and threat.
Speaker 10 (21:27):
We did find in our investigation the work conversations between
the two there was at least one phone call explicit
phone call exchange. There was reference to a threat made
about a baseball bat. I don't know how much to
put into that, because emotions were high, and when emotions
are high, embellishments are made. That could have been an embellishment.
(21:47):
It could have been just a misinterpretation of what somebody
was told.
Speaker 7 (21:51):
But I did hear that.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Yes, Marge wasn't alone when it came to Joe's involvement.
Every member of the Patrone family told me the same thing.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
It was Joe, and though Joe did this, everything pointed
to him.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
And then there's Richard's ex girlfriend, Julie. She's the mother
of his daughter Ange. Both Julie and Ange shared how
these threats affected Richard.
Speaker 5 (22:13):
Rich was so scared that that evening out to dinner.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
That dinner Julie is talking about happened right before he
went missing.
Speaker 7 (22:21):
I would say it was probably about three weeks before
he went missing. We went to this little Italian restaurant
in South Philly.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Richard wore his heart on his sleeve, and that's how
they both knew something was up.
Speaker 5 (22:34):
You could tell like something was weigh and heavy on them.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
They both remember Richard sharing what was happening between him
and Joe.
Speaker 12 (22:41):
He's telling us about how crazy Joe is, you know,
and that he's scared, that he's scared for his life,
and that he's done with Danielle.
Speaker 7 (22:50):
My mom was concerned. I mean, I knew more of
what was going on with my dad and Danielle and
Joe more than my mom did, so I think he
was also taking my mom out to fill her and
more on what was going when.
Speaker 12 (23:04):
I mean, he was just saying that the X was
really causing problems for him, and he told us if
something was to happen, it was her husband.
Speaker 7 (23:12):
If something happens to me, it was Joean them, it's
like one of those things where you're like, you know,
you asked him like, well are you okay? Are you worried?
And he's like yeah, Like but it's just getting out
of hand and like the threats now are getting serious,
and I just want you guys to be aware of it.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Julian An said they were both relieved to hear that
Danielle ended things with Richard.
Speaker 5 (23:35):
I was just like, well, thank god, you know, you
broke up with her.
Speaker 12 (23:38):
You're not seeing her anymore, like you know, you need
to get that out of your life type of situation.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
It came as a surprise to Julie that just a
few weeks later Richard ended up with Danielle and then vanished, went.
Speaker 12 (23:49):
Out to dinner maybe in January, and then now it's
February and this is happening.
Speaker 5 (23:54):
It was too much of a coincidence.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Vito said he was also aware of that story.
Speaker 10 (24:00):
Both Richard's baby's mom Julie and their daughter Angela. They
did mention that Richard said, you know that if anything
happened to me, it was the husband, meaning Joe Wimbo.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Four different law enforcement agencies investigated Danielle and Richard's disappearance,
and since there was not one piece of physical evidence,
it wasn't easy. One of the detectives was quoted as saying,
we don't believe in flying saucers, so where did they go?
Speaker 10 (24:44):
At this point, the emotions are very high. You have
two families, their daughter and son are missing, and people
are trying to find answers.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
That Special Agent Feto Rosselli, once he and the FBI
got involved, that pushed the number to five, five different
agencies investigating Danielle and Richard's disappearance.
Speaker 10 (25:06):
I was somewhat familiar with the case at the time
because there was a lot of finger pointing, and there
was quite a bit of animosity between the two families,
and there are a lot of people voicing their opinions
that just kind of steamroll. That's the investigation kept grinding
on with no results.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
It was no secret to Veto that the Patrons had
already named Joe Imbo their number one.
Speaker 5 (25:32):
Suspect in this case.
Speaker 10 (25:34):
I know there's a lot of effort going towards the
estranged husband, Joe Imbo. We learned earlier on that there
was some verbal jousting between Richard Patron and Joe.
Speaker 7 (25:47):
Imbo over the phone.
Speaker 10 (25:49):
Statistically, that's the first place you would look when you
have the estranged wife missing, and that's what the police
were doing.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
I should mention that we've reached out to Joe for
comment and to hear his side of the story. At
the time of this recording, Joe has not agreed to
talk with us on the record, but he has agreed
to give us a statement. We have yet to receive it.
But let's talk about Danielle's family, Theoteau Rais, and how
they felt about the patrons blaming Joe.
Speaker 4 (26:20):
Statistically, it's always a spouse. I mean, Vido told me that,
so John, They're going through a nasty divorce, a custody battle,
and I have to pay child support, so gain it
would only make sense.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
And what did you think about Joe's involvement. Was that
something that ever crossed your mind?
Speaker 4 (26:38):
Yeah, I mean, I can tell you it doesn't look
good for Joe, like the whole cadence, from the time
he left to the Super Bowl to the time he
came back, and you know, threatening Richard on the phone.
And if I was an outsider looking in, I'd be like,
how are you not locking this guy?
Speaker 3 (26:55):
Up right now.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
But John is not an outsider. He's been there since
Danielle first met and started dating Joe. He was there
for Danielle when Joe announced he was leaving her for
another woman, and John was also there when Joe tried
to win Danielle back.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
I think, deep down inside he always loved her. He
just resented the fact that she domesticated him. But I've
never saw that evil side of him that he would
want to take someone's life, especially Danielle's life.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
What did you mean when you said Joe resented the
fact that Danielle domesticated him.
Speaker 4 (27:34):
You know, I don't want this house in suburbia and
the two kids in the white pick of fence. And
it was never like fully satisfied. He hated this quote
suburbia life. And he would always say to Danielle when
we get married, we're moving to San Diego. She would
pacify him, Okay, whatever you want, whatever, but deep down
she would never leave her family. We believed in roots
(27:58):
and family and being together, and he just didn't come
from that type of background.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
John's wife, Jody, said Joe longed for that surfer lifestyle.
Speaker 8 (28:08):
He always said he wanted to have a taco stand
in San Diego on the beach and just sell tacos
during the day and surf.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
After Danielle got pregnant, Jody said she noticed a change
in Joe, but she said it was nothing that would
be a motive for murder.
Speaker 8 (28:23):
He seemed like a little more moody. I guess I
would say, like not as happy as he was in
the beginning.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
When Joe ran off with another woman, John said Joe
shifted the responsibility of their marriage ending onto Danielle.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
He blamed everything on her. I never wanted to be
a suburban father. I never wanted to be a suburban husband.
I want to live on the beach and serf. You know,
you're a grown man and you're trying to chase what
you did when you were a teenager.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
So why do you think Joe wanted to get back
together with Danielle.
Speaker 4 (28:58):
He was getting a lot of pressure from his family
to reconcile because they all loved Danielle and they just
were all on her side throughout this whole thing. So
that's when he started falling and trying to reconcile and
get back together. But I don't think he was interested
in reconciling or that was something he really wanted it
(29:19):
deep down.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
According to John, it was all a big show for
Joe's mom.
Speaker 4 (29:25):
You're pacifying your mother so you can call her and say, Mom,
I called her. I tried to get her back. I
asked her to take me back. She's just not taking
me back. I think it was as long as Danielle
was home by herself with the baby and he was
free to do what he wants, everything was fine.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
While listening to John and Jody, I couldn't help but
think about Danielle and Joe's son. Let's say Joe did
have something to do with Danielle's disappearance. Well, if that
was the case, Joe wouldn't be spending his days slinging
tacos and surfing. No, he'd be taking care of little
Joe and playing the role of mom and dad. And
that's what actually happened. After Danielle first disappeared, Joe moved
(30:04):
back into Danielle's condo for a few months to take
care of his son.
Speaker 8 (30:09):
Obviously, Joe did something wrong, you know, for cheating on Danielle.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Do I believe that it's his fault that she's missing?
Speaker 8 (30:18):
No, because a million people get divorced, and I don't
believe because they were going to get a divorce is
the reason why she went missing.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Back in June of two thousand and five, Joe told
the Philadelphia Daily News that he was tired of all
the accusations that he had something to do with Danielle's disappearance.
In that article, he said, I have nothing to hide.
I know I had no involvement in this. And until
the day Danielle disappeared, Joe said he was actively trying
to get back with Danielle. But quote, it wasn't happening.
(30:51):
End quote. That was why Joe said he called Richard
two or three times to tell Richard to quote back
off until the divorce end quote.
Speaker 8 (31:00):
I hear about the threats that Joe made to rich
at the bakery and all that kind of stuff. Yes,
do I believe the whole conversation.
Speaker 7 (31:07):
No.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Jody and John felt differently about the threats that Marge
claimed happened in the weeks leading up to Danielle and
Richard's disappearance.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
She told me that one day he came and threw
the high chair croaster room.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
The time Little Joe allegedly pointed out a truck that
looked like Richard's, which upset Joe.
Speaker 5 (31:26):
What does he say?
Speaker 1 (31:27):
And rich rich rich for.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
And he went mutch.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
And then there were the alleged phone calls to Richard
at the bakery.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
It was the day before Thanksgiving, threatening him with a
baseball man.
Speaker 8 (31:44):
I don't believe all those stories because none of those
stories came from us, about throwing the high chair, about
the phone call, all that kind of stuff. Danielle never
told me any of them. Like if she came to
me and said, I really fear for my life and
I'm worried about little Joe, we would have been at
her door, were in five minutes and like bringing her
here and being like, nothing will.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Happen to you here. Vito confirmed a report of a
heated phone conversation between Richard and Joe, and he knew
about the high chair incident, and this is where everything
gets turned upside down, and that June two thousand and
five Philadelphia Daily News article, Joe said it was Richard
who threatened him during one of their phone calls. Joe
(32:26):
claimed he even provided a tape recording of that phone
call to the police, but Vito says he does not
have a copy of those recordings. So who do you
believe in this case? John and Jody said they believe
Joe Imbo was an adulterer, not a murderer.
Speaker 8 (32:43):
I truly, in my heart of hearts, hate him for
leaving her, but do not believe that he had anything
to do with this whatsoever.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
And here's the thing. Joe Imbo was never charged or
formally named a suspect, although that seems to come with
a giant asterisk.
Speaker 10 (33:01):
And everybody is a suspect up to this point that
I haven't discounted, and I haven't discounted a.
Speaker 5 (33:06):
Lot of people.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
According to the FBI, Joe had a rock solid alibi
for the night Danielle and Richard disappeared.
Speaker 10 (33:13):
Joe Imbo was not in Philadelphia on the evening of
February nineteenth.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
If Joe had an alibi, why does Richard's family still
think he did it? Why hasn't law enforcement publicly cleared him?
Speaker 4 (33:26):
You know, it all looks bad. If someone told me that,
I'd be like guilty. And if you can prove to
me that it's him, I'll be the first one that
drag is Zias down the jill.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
That's next time on there and Gone. 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
(33:58):
by email at Varren gaunpod at gmail dot com. That's
There and Gone pod at gmail dot com. 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
(34:18):
of our listeners. Therein Gon is a production of Glass Podcasts,
a division of Glass Entertainment Group, in partnership with iHeart Podcasts.
The show is executive produced by 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.
The series is also written and produced by Todd Gans.
(34:41):
Our associate producer is Kristin Melcurrie. Research by Mason Klinder,
Anna Hamilton and Bella Riki. Our iHeart team is Ali
Perry and Jessica Krincheck. Audio editing and mixing by Matt Delvecchio,
additional editing support by Nico Ruco.
Speaker 7 (34:57):
Thereon.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Gonn's theme and original compositions composed by Oliver Bains and
Darry Macaulay of nousert Music Library provided by my Music
Special thanks to both the Patrone and A Towbray families.
For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts
For years, Richard Patrone lived in the apartment above his
parents bakery. By two thousand and five, Richard had moved
out and was living in an apartment in South Philly
to be closer to his daughter. On the day after
he went missing, his mother, Marge, wondered if she'd find
any clues in his apartment.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I said, I should go up there.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I stole his laundry and his you know, refrigerator full,
and I saw concert tickets for like March. On his death,
everything was like he was coming back.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
As she works her way through her son's apartment, she
couldn't reconcile all the evidence of her son's everyday life
and the reality of his profound absence.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
He had some Christmas gadgets and stuff that he didn't
even take a part and fix yet. And I thought, oka, yeah,
it was just left like you would leave and you
were coming back. This one of the worst to days
of my life.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Across town, Danielle's mother, Felice, held out hope her daughter
would return.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
My mother, she was always optimistic. She had a two
bedroom condo and one bedroom shed. The bedmaid with like
a gift on the pillow for my sister. It was
just heartbreaking.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
I'm Andrea Gunning and this is there and Gone South Street.
Episode four, Parade of Misery.
Speaker 5 (01:40):
Is I say in my dream reached out in the
dog for you and last to me. I'll never give up.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
No matter howllah.
Speaker 5 (01:58):
I opened my define.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
A 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. In February two thousand and five, Danielle
(02:33):
Imbo and Richard Patrone walked out of a South Street
bar and disappeared. No bloodstains, no evidence, no clues. As
the trail grows colder, the question grows larger. What really
happened that night? Those are the words of journalist Steve
Volk from his article in Philadelphia Magazine titled Without a Trace.
(02:54):
I remember reading it when it first came out, and
I would come back to read it again and again.
I felt like I learned something new every time I
read it. As I dug into this story and really
got to know the victims' families and what they endured.
After Danielle and Richard disappeared, I went back to Steve's article,
hoping that what happened to their families would somehow change.
(03:15):
But in the ten years after the article came out,
their lives didn't change. Not in Steve's article and not
in real life. I'll explain what I mean in a bit. Okay,
So can you introduce yourself real quick.
Speaker 6 (03:30):
I'm Steve Volk. I'm a reporter, longtime reporter. I'm the
Philadelphia area and I was working at Philadelphia Magazine at
the time that I wrote this piece.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
After months of trading emails, phone calls, and texts, Steve
ben and I finally sat down to talk in April
of twenty twenty four. At that point, his article was
over ten years old, but not much in the investigation
has changed, you.
Speaker 6 (03:54):
Know, Like what you guys have undertaken is a lot
more ambitious than what I did in terms of being
an investmentation.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Steve was worried he wouldn't remember many of the details
of the case since so much time had passed since
he wrote about Danielle and Richard's disappearance. So I gave
him a PDF of his article to refresh his memory,
and then watched as he scrolled page after page.
Speaker 6 (04:21):
Wow, Yeah, it has been shocking to me to reread
the story and see the things that I thought I
remembered but didn't.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
As the memories flooded back. For Steve, I started counting
the number of times his face would WinCE.
Speaker 6 (04:39):
I wanted to write about it in part because people
had stopped writing about it, because I'd had a brother
die and recognized that, like you know, the anniversary's constant,
and so for some reason that really drew me to
writing about them.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Steve was bothered by the frequency of stories about Danielle
and Richard.
Speaker 6 (04:59):
Somebody would say, hey, it's been X number of years since, right,
there'd be one of those pieces if I remember correctly.
I always found that really wrong.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
It's wrong, Steve told me, because for the victims' families,
the anniversary happens every day.
Speaker 6 (05:14):
Really, the anniversary thing meant a whole lot to me.
I wanted to capture for people the unending pain that
I knew before I ever met them they must be
going through, so that we could stop talking about this
every February and start talking about it a lot more
than that.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
For his articles, Steve interviewed some of the same people
you've heard in this podcast.
Speaker 6 (05:36):
The thing I remember most really about it is the
emotional quality of spending time with Danielle's brother John. His
mom greets every new day with a fresh set of tears.
There's no metaphor there. She would wake up every day
and cry, just in order to sort of get herself started.
Speaker 5 (06:00):
And then Richard and Marge.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
That's when Steve paused. He said he hasn't been able
to shake the memory of interviewing Marge and Richard at
their bakery.
Speaker 6 (06:12):
When I'm in there, you're surrounded by these festive desserts
and cakes, but the two of them are really like
in hell. They're in absolute hell. They both basically acted
like they could die tomorrow, except for Richard's daughter was
a motivating factor that she was left behind.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
And then there was Richard's father, Richard. Steve said he
in particular stood out.
Speaker 6 (06:38):
He wanted to kill somebody, is what I remember. You
could just feel the anger and his desire to do
something about it, but he didn't know what happened.
Speaker 5 (06:51):
I mean, there was.
Speaker 6 (06:54):
Profound sadness. I remember it being a parade of fucking misery.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Covering that story, There's another line in Steve's article that
really summed up that sadness, he wrote. With no bodies
to bury and no agreed upon story to frame and
help them understand their loss, they can only stare into
empty space, sentenced to always wonder what happened.
Speaker 6 (07:19):
If they went to a grieving parenting support group, it
probably wouldn't work for them in the same way, because
those folks know what happened.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
You know.
Speaker 6 (07:29):
They had a body to bury, they had a funeral,
they had all those things, and this is so very different.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
We talked about how Danielle and Richard's families were close
before the two went missing, and that their bond got
even stronger when they united in their search.
Speaker 6 (07:45):
Only a very unfortunate few know what it's like to
have loved ones just go poof missing. And John seems
like he's going through basically what you guys are going
through Richard and Marge.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
But what Steve learned and will dig into is that
these two families managed to go from one unified team
to two different families that haven't spoken in nearly twenty years.
Speaker 6 (08:11):
Think about this. The next day, right after they discovered
their missing, who gets together John and Richard Senior and
they go on this long, all night drive to all
the places that they might have been. Do you think
about that initial instinct to band together and look for them.
Speaker 5 (08:32):
Gosh, you'd think.
Speaker 6 (08:33):
That would create a bond that couldn't be undone, But
it was completely undone.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
So what happened that caused that bond to fracture? According
to Steve, it all happened the last time both families
stood side by side.
Speaker 5 (08:52):
Good afternoon. So we're here to discuss a couple.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Different It's March twenty second, two thousand and five, roughly
four weeks after Danielle and Richard were last seen on
South Street. That's when a press conference took place right
outside the Philadelphia Police Department headquarters. That's where the patrons
and a towbrays lined up alongside Danielle's estranged husband, Joe Imbo.
(09:17):
In the middle was a lawyer the patrons hired. The
lawyer addressed the many local reporters who showed up that
cloudy afternoon, and he made a push for clues and
information about what happened to Danielle and Richard. Eventually, Marge
stood behind the podium.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
All of our lives have been taken from us, and
we don't know now how to live.
Speaker 7 (09:39):
Each day without them, without knowing where they are.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
And then and Richard's daughter made a desperate plea to
find her father. It would become a SoundBite played time
and time again on news reports.
Speaker 7 (09:53):
And what is any information about my dad? Please?
Speaker 5 (09:56):
You just need a beck?
Speaker 7 (09:57):
Please?
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Those the words haunt me every time I hear them.
Danielle's brother, John also addressed the media.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Her son meets here, Richard's daughter meets him, and we're
just begging for anyone for any information, please.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Please, So you have both families lined up right in
front of Philadelphia police headquarters pleading to the public for help.
I guess I'm not understanding how this led to any
sort of friction between the families, and that's when Steve
clued me in.
Speaker 6 (10:35):
I do remember that Marge supposedly confronted Joe right there.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
The search for clues to what happened to Danielle and
Richard took place on foot, on TV, and online in
the days and weeks that followed. The two families coordinated
multiple search parties and appeared on numerous local and national
news programs. There were also websites asking for any information
on Danielle and Richard's whereabouts, which was something new for
(11:21):
that day and age.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
I stood outside of sporting events with flyers of Danielle
and Richard and hand and Matison. Forty five thousand people
walked outside.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
That's Danielle's brother John.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
I was in a helicopter looking for her. I searched
the pine barons on foot looking for anything, and it
just consumed me. The days just blur together, the week's
blair together. And then I got a phone call.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
That call was from Richard's father.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
He said, you know, hey, Johnny, I think I found
a way to bring the kids home. Meet me at
self Detectives at noon.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Self Detectives is a division of the Philadelphia Police Department.
They were just one of a handful of agencies that investigated.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
Showed up with self Detectives at noon. And the next
thing you know, there's some attorney standing up there on
his soapbox, and my mother, me and Danielle's strange husband
Joe were standing there looking at each other like, what's
going on? Wait, this is a press conference. Wait a minute.
I don't want to time out. I don't want to
be on TV, like I don't know what's going on.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
John was under the impression he and his family were
needed at police headquarters because Richard Senior learned something new
about what happened to Danielle and Richard, something that might
bring his sister home. And when he walked into a
press conference, he said, it felt like a slap in
the face.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
Not a slap in my face, as this disrespect, like
a wake up call.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
A wake up call for John that maybe the two
families were not on the same page.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
You told me you found a way to bring the
kids home. Those were your words. I just assumed he
knew something. They wanted us to stand immunity together as
two families and blame Danielle's the strange husband. And I
could not in good conscious too that because I did
not know at the time whose response.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
That wasn't the first time John had heard the Patrons
blame Joe imbo. John said, it happened the first night
after Danielle and Richard vanished.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
But at that point we thought it was an accident.
They're on the side of the road or they're locked up.
Marge Patron was like, it's Joe.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Joe did this. He did this, Joe.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
Did something to my boy and Danielle. I understand emotions
are high. But let's worry about what's going on, John said.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Marge wanted to double down at the press conference and
blame Joe, but John refused.
Speaker 4 (13:47):
Nobody knows what happened yet, so stop slinging insults and
stop pointing fingers.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Marge wasn't just pointing fingers. She was ready to slap
handcuffs on Joe. So I asked her why she was
so convinced it was him.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
That was talked about that summer at the shore. That summer,
I will still relive the whole day on the beach.
She said, if anything ever happens to me, Joe did this.
That's what Danielle kept saying to me and Christine.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Marge is talking about the summer of two thousand and
four when Danielle spent time with the patrons at their shorehouse.
According to Marge, that's when Danielle shared all the drama
going on behind closed doors. She was scared to death
of him. Why exactly it was Danielle so afraid of Joe?
Speaker 3 (14:37):
She told me that one day he came and threw
the hechier across the room. That's when she changed the
locks and he was not allowed in her apartment.
Speaker 8 (14:45):
Ever again.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
In twenty fourteen, Joe told Philadelphia Magazine that incident never happened.
There was another time, Marge said, Joe freaked out while
driving with Little Joe. A truck passed by that looked
like Richard's, and Little Joe got excited and then pointed
at it.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
And Little Joe said rich rich rich and he went nuts.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Marge said. Joe got upset, called Danielle and yelled.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
At her, what does he saying rich rich rich for?
Speaker 1 (15:15):
According to Marge, Danielle shared that story the night before
she disappeared. It was at the dinner at Chicky and Pete's.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Danielle told us that that night, I said, oh yeah,
because he used to put them in the back of
the truck and jump in home in this car. He
was pissed that night. I told all this Tovito in
the very beginning.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
What was going through your mind is she was telling
you this.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
I'm horrified for her, horrified for her. She said, That's
why I tell my lawyer everything. That's why she documents everything.
You know that he's not allowed in my house. I
changed the locks. I have to meet in a public
place with the baby.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
So Danielle had a lawyer.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
Yes, yes, she told her lawyer. It was documented all
the times that she felt threatened by him.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
I knew Christine and Danielle were close, especially at the
time of her disappearance. They both were going through a divorce,
so they bonded over that shared experience. I asked her
if she remembers her friend being afraid of Joe.
Speaker 9 (16:21):
The cops asked me that too, do you think she
was scared of him? And I remember thinking, in hindsight,
only because I know Danielle and she was a tough person,
like she would stand up for herself. I never looked
at her to be afraid of anything.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Obviously, nineteen years has passed between then and now. But
then I thought she changed her locks. They let her
change your locks.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
I went through a divorce.
Speaker 9 (16:45):
I was never told to write down anything, so I
mean the lawyer told her to document every single thing
that happened, even if she thought it was minimal, write
it down, keep notes, and she did, like she wrote
down everything.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
I never changed my locks.
Speaker 9 (17:03):
I never thought about changing my locks. So then I thought, well,
I'm not afraid of my ex husband like I don't know, maybe.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
She was, I asked Vido if you found any evidence
of physical abuse in Danielle and Joe's relationship. I even
asked him about the high chair incident.
Speaker 10 (17:17):
That was an incident that was really to me that
I believe was pretty commonly known because a number of people.
Speaker 7 (17:23):
Talked about it openly.
Speaker 10 (17:24):
But other than that, I was not able to put
any other context to it other than a chair was
thrown in anger. The bottom line was I did not
uncover any physical abuse one way or the other.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
We heard Danielle was documenting so much about what was
going on with her marriage leading up to the divorce,
all at the advice of her attorney. I needed to
find Danielle's lawyer, and we certainly went to great lengths.
Ben and I made multiple attempts to reach her.
Speaker 6 (17:57):
The person you're trying to reach is not available the tone.
Speaker 11 (18:00):
Please record your message.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
When you have finished recording, you may hang up.
Speaker 11 (18:05):
My name is Ben Setterman. I'm a producer with Glass Podcasts.
I wanted to see if you would be willing to
speak with me about a story of one of your
former clients, Danielle Imbo. If you could give me a callback,
I would really appreciate the opportunity for us to connect.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
We located her law office and dropped by to introduce ourselves.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
No, Hi, the law firm is that upstairs.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
No, there's no law firm here any longer.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
No, it's no longer in business.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
I even drove to her home. Nobody's there, but there's
no mailbox, which is very strange. I left a note
with my contact info, but Danielle's lawyer never responded, not
to one single message, letter or knock on her door.
The other thing I couldn't get my hands on was
a full, unedited version of that press conference. To my
(19:15):
team's credit, they contacted every local and national media outlet
that covered it, but none of them claimed to still
have it. According to Steve Volk's article, Marge confronted Joe
at the press conference. So I asked Marge if she
remembered doing that. She said she didn't.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
We had a lawyer at the time who said, don't
approach him, don't go near him, and I didn't. It's
the only time I ever saw him.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
I also asked Richard's daughter ang about that day, but
she couldn't confirm Marge's confrontation.
Speaker 7 (19:46):
You would have to ask her because it's a blur then,
but I feel like she may have yelled at him.
I mean, that was like such just a wild time.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
The one thing Ange said she clearly remembers was Joe's demeanor.
Speaker 7 (20:01):
There wasn't a tear, like, there wasn't any emotion coming
from him.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Joe did not address the media at the press conference.
Speaker 7 (20:10):
Why aren't you like absolutely destraw it, like, why aren't
you a mess right now?
Speaker 5 (20:18):
And he wasn't.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
I will say I've seen snippets of the press conference,
but I did not see Marge confront Joe. If she did,
maybe it was after the cameras stopped rolling. There was
something else I wanted to know more about. In the
last episode, Christine said Joe had been calling Richard at
the bakery. I asked Marge what she remembered about that.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
It was the day before Thanksgiving. We were totally busy
in the bakery, and he must have called it twenty
seven times, threatening him with a baseball beat, and Richard said,
you're getting divorced. I'm not going out with a married woman,
you know. And if you don't want me to go,
tell her.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Marge told the Philadelphia Daily News about these threats in
June of two thousand and five. She said Joe and
Richard never met face to face, and her biggest regret
is that they never reported those threats to the police.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Why didn't we document that to say, you know, you're
just calling and threatening. But she did tell her lawyer that,
so that was documented that she told her lawyer that.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
As FBI agent Fto Rosselli shared in the last episode,
he was aware of the alleged phone call and threat.
Speaker 10 (21:27):
We did find in our investigation the work conversations between
the two there was at least one phone call explicit
phone call exchange. There was reference to a threat made
about a baseball bat. I don't know how much to
put into that, because emotions were high, and when emotions
are high, embellishments are made. That could have been an embellishment.
(21:47):
It could have been just a misinterpretation of what somebody
was told.
Speaker 7 (21:51):
But I did hear that.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Yes, Marge wasn't alone when it came to Joe's involvement.
Every member of the Patrone family told me the same thing.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
It was Joe, and though Joe did this, everything pointed
to him.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
And then there's Richard's ex girlfriend, Julie. She's the mother
of his daughter Ange. Both Julie and Ange shared how
these threats affected Richard.
Speaker 5 (22:13):
Rich was so scared that that evening out to dinner.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
That dinner Julie is talking about happened right before he
went missing.
Speaker 7 (22:21):
I would say it was probably about three weeks before
he went missing. We went to this little Italian restaurant
in South Philly.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Richard wore his heart on his sleeve, and that's how
they both knew something was up.
Speaker 5 (22:34):
You could tell like something was weigh and heavy on them.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
They both remember Richard sharing what was happening between him
and Joe.
Speaker 12 (22:41):
He's telling us about how crazy Joe is, you know,
and that he's scared, that he's scared for his life,
and that he's done with Danielle.
Speaker 7 (22:50):
My mom was concerned. I mean, I knew more of
what was going on with my dad and Danielle and
Joe more than my mom did, so I think he
was also taking my mom out to fill her and
more on what was going when.
Speaker 12 (23:04):
I mean, he was just saying that the X was
really causing problems for him, and he told us if
something was to happen, it was her husband.
Speaker 7 (23:12):
If something happens to me, it was Joean them, it's
like one of those things where you're like, you know,
you asked him like, well are you okay? Are you worried?
And he's like yeah, Like but it's just getting out
of hand and like the threats now are getting serious,
and I just want you guys to be aware of it.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Julian An said they were both relieved to hear that
Danielle ended things with Richard.
Speaker 5 (23:35):
I was just like, well, thank god, you know, you
broke up with her.
Speaker 12 (23:38):
You're not seeing her anymore, like you know, you need
to get that out of your life type of situation.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
It came as a surprise to Julie that just a
few weeks later Richard ended up with Danielle and then vanished, went.
Speaker 12 (23:49):
Out to dinner maybe in January, and then now it's
February and this is happening.
Speaker 5 (23:54):
It was too much of a coincidence.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Vito said he was also aware of that story.
Speaker 10 (24:00):
Both Richard's baby's mom Julie and their daughter Angela. They
did mention that Richard said, you know that if anything
happened to me, it was the husband, meaning Joe Wimbo.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Four different law enforcement agencies investigated Danielle and Richard's disappearance,
and since there was not one piece of physical evidence,
it wasn't easy. One of the detectives was quoted as saying,
we don't believe in flying saucers, so where did they go?
Speaker 10 (24:44):
At this point, the emotions are very high. You have
two families, their daughter and son are missing, and people
are trying to find answers.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
That Special Agent Feto Rosselli, once he and the FBI
got involved, that pushed the number to five, five different
agencies investigating Danielle and Richard's disappearance.
Speaker 10 (25:06):
I was somewhat familiar with the case at the time
because there was a lot of finger pointing, and there
was quite a bit of animosity between the two families,
and there are a lot of people voicing their opinions
that just kind of steamroll. That's the investigation kept grinding
on with no results.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
It was no secret to Veto that the Patrons had
already named Joe Imbo their number one.
Speaker 5 (25:32):
Suspect in this case.
Speaker 10 (25:34):
I know there's a lot of effort going towards the
estranged husband, Joe Imbo. We learned earlier on that there
was some verbal jousting between Richard Patron and Joe.
Speaker 7 (25:47):
Imbo over the phone.
Speaker 10 (25:49):
Statistically, that's the first place you would look when you
have the estranged wife missing, and that's what the police
were doing.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
I should mention that we've reached out to Joe for
comment and to hear his side of the story. At
the time of this recording, Joe has not agreed to
talk with us on the record, but he has agreed
to give us a statement. We have yet to receive it.
But let's talk about Danielle's family, Theoteau Rais, and how
they felt about the patrons blaming Joe.
Speaker 4 (26:20):
Statistically, it's always a spouse. I mean, Vido told me that,
so John, They're going through a nasty divorce, a custody battle,
and I have to pay child support, so gain it
would only make sense.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
And what did you think about Joe's involvement. Was that
something that ever crossed your mind?
Speaker 4 (26:38):
Yeah, I mean, I can tell you it doesn't look
good for Joe, like the whole cadence, from the time
he left to the Super Bowl to the time he
came back, and you know, threatening Richard on the phone.
And if I was an outsider looking in, I'd be like,
how are you not locking this guy?
Speaker 3 (26:55):
Up right now.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
But John is not an outsider. He's been there since
Danielle first met and started dating Joe. He was there
for Danielle when Joe announced he was leaving her for
another woman, and John was also there when Joe tried
to win Danielle back.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
I think, deep down inside he always loved her. He
just resented the fact that she domesticated him. But I've
never saw that evil side of him that he would
want to take someone's life, especially Danielle's life.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
What did you mean when you said Joe resented the
fact that Danielle domesticated him.
Speaker 4 (27:34):
You know, I don't want this house in suburbia and
the two kids in the white pick of fence. And
it was never like fully satisfied. He hated this quote
suburbia life. And he would always say to Danielle when
we get married, we're moving to San Diego. She would
pacify him, Okay, whatever you want, whatever, but deep down
she would never leave her family. We believed in roots
(27:58):
and family and being together, and he just didn't come
from that type of background.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
John's wife, Jody, said Joe longed for that surfer lifestyle.
Speaker 8 (28:08):
He always said he wanted to have a taco stand
in San Diego on the beach and just sell tacos
during the day and surf.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
After Danielle got pregnant, Jody said she noticed a change
in Joe, but she said it was nothing that would
be a motive for murder.
Speaker 8 (28:23):
He seemed like a little more moody. I guess I
would say, like not as happy as he was in
the beginning.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
When Joe ran off with another woman, John said Joe
shifted the responsibility of their marriage ending onto Danielle.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
He blamed everything on her. I never wanted to be
a suburban father. I never wanted to be a suburban husband.
I want to live on the beach and serf. You know,
you're a grown man and you're trying to chase what
you did when you were a teenager.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
So why do you think Joe wanted to get back
together with Danielle.
Speaker 4 (28:58):
He was getting a lot of pressure from his family
to reconcile because they all loved Danielle and they just
were all on her side throughout this whole thing. So
that's when he started falling and trying to reconcile and
get back together. But I don't think he was interested
in reconciling or that was something he really wanted it
(29:19):
deep down.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
According to John, it was all a big show for
Joe's mom.
Speaker 4 (29:25):
You're pacifying your mother so you can call her and say, Mom,
I called her. I tried to get her back. I
asked her to take me back. She's just not taking
me back. I think it was as long as Danielle
was home by herself with the baby and he was
free to do what he wants, everything was fine.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
While listening to John and Jody, I couldn't help but
think about Danielle and Joe's son. Let's say Joe did
have something to do with Danielle's disappearance. Well, if that
was the case, Joe wouldn't be spending his days slinging
tacos and surfing. No, he'd be taking care of little
Joe and playing the role of mom and dad. And
that's what actually happened. After Danielle first disappeared, Joe moved
(30:04):
back into Danielle's condo for a few months to take
care of his son.
Speaker 8 (30:09):
Obviously, Joe did something wrong, you know, for cheating on Danielle.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Do I believe that it's his fault that she's missing?
Speaker 8 (30:18):
No, because a million people get divorced, and I don't
believe because they were going to get a divorce is
the reason why she went missing.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Back in June of two thousand and five, Joe told
the Philadelphia Daily News that he was tired of all
the accusations that he had something to do with Danielle's disappearance.
In that article, he said, I have nothing to hide.
I know I had no involvement in this. And until
the day Danielle disappeared, Joe said he was actively trying
to get back with Danielle. But quote, it wasn't happening.
(30:51):
End quote. That was why Joe said he called Richard
two or three times to tell Richard to quote back
off until the divorce end quote.
Speaker 8 (31:00):
I hear about the threats that Joe made to rich
at the bakery and all that kind of stuff. Yes,
do I believe the whole conversation.
Speaker 7 (31:07):
No.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Jody and John felt differently about the threats that Marge
claimed happened in the weeks leading up to Danielle and
Richard's disappearance.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
She told me that one day he came and threw
the high chair croaster room.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
The time Little Joe allegedly pointed out a truck that
looked like Richard's, which upset Joe.
Speaker 5 (31:26):
What does he say?
Speaker 1 (31:27):
And rich rich rich for.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
And he went mutch.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
And then there were the alleged phone calls to Richard
at the bakery.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
It was the day before Thanksgiving, threatening him with a
baseball man.
Speaker 8 (31:44):
I don't believe all those stories because none of those
stories came from us, about throwing the high chair, about
the phone call, all that kind of stuff. Danielle never
told me any of them. Like if she came to
me and said, I really fear for my life and
I'm worried about little Joe, we would have been at
her door, were in five minutes and like bringing her
here and being like, nothing will.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Happen to you here. Vito confirmed a report of a
heated phone conversation between Richard and Joe, and he knew
about the high chair incident, and this is where everything
gets turned upside down, and that June two thousand and
five Philadelphia Daily News article, Joe said it was Richard
who threatened him during one of their phone calls. Joe
(32:26):
claimed he even provided a tape recording of that phone
call to the police, but Vito says he does not
have a copy of those recordings. So who do you
believe in this case? John and Jody said they believe
Joe Imbo was an adulterer, not a murderer.
Speaker 8 (32:43):
I truly, in my heart of hearts, hate him for
leaving her, but do not believe that he had anything
to do with this whatsoever.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
And here's the thing. Joe Imbo was never charged or
formally named a suspect, although that seems to come with
a giant asterisk.
Speaker 10 (33:01):
And everybody is a suspect up to this point that
I haven't discounted, and I haven't discounted a.
Speaker 5 (33:06):
Lot of people.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
According to the FBI, Joe had a rock solid alibi
for the night Danielle and Richard disappeared.
Speaker 10 (33:13):
Joe Imbo was not in Philadelphia on the evening of
February nineteenth.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
If Joe had an alibi, why does Richard's family still
think he did it? Why hasn't law enforcement publicly cleared him?
Speaker 4 (33:26):
You know, it all looks bad. If someone told me that,
I'd be like guilty. And if you can prove to
me that it's him, I'll be the first one that
drag is Zias down the jill.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
That's next time on there and Gone. 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
(33:58):
by email at Varren gaunpod at gmail dot com. That's
There and Gone pod at gmail dot com. 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
(34:18):
of our listeners. Therein Gon is a production of Glass Podcasts,
a division of Glass Entertainment Group, in partnership with iHeart Podcasts.
The show is executive produced by 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.
The series is also written and produced by Todd Gans.
(34:41):
Our associate producer is Kristin Melcurrie. Research by Mason Klinder,
Anna Hamilton and Bella Riki. Our iHeart team is Ali
Perry and Jessica Krincheck. Audio editing and mixing by Matt Delvecchio,
additional editing support by Nico Ruco.
Speaker 7 (34:57):
Thereon.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Gonn's theme and original compositions composed by Oliver Bains and
Darry Macaulay of nousert Music Library provided by my Music
Special thanks to both the Patrone and A Towbray families.
For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts
Hosts And Creators
Andrea Gunning
Ben Fetterman
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