October 27, 2025 • 38 mins
In March 1994, 28-year-old Tina Marie Arriaga dropped off her two young daughters at their grandmother’s house in Long Branch, New Jersey. She told her mother she was running to the pharmacy. She never came back. Weeks later, Tina’s body was discovered behind an auto shop, strangled and beaten. No one has ever been charged.
For more than 30 years, Tina’s family has lived with unanswered questions and growing doubts about the investigation. Her daughter, Patricia, joins Method & Madness to share her mother’s story and to ask the questions no one else has:
Was this case neglected? Or covered up?
“I have missed out on so much throughout my life because of someone else's actions. And I am ready to close this chapter. I'm ready to give my mother justice, and I also want my daughter to see that her voice matters,” Patricia says.
If you have any information about the murder of Tina Arriaga, please get in touch with:
The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, Detective Matthew Delgado at 800-533-7443.
To get in touch with Patricia, find her on Facebook:
Facebook Patricia Arriaga Douglas
Content Warning:
This episode includes discussions of graphic violence. Listener discretion is advised.
***
Method & Madness is researched, written, hosted, & produced by Dawn Cate
Music by Tymur Khakimov from Pixabay
***Get in Touch!:
methodandmadnesspod@gmail.com
CONNECT:
DIVE INTO MORE:
MethodandMadnessPodcast.com
***
All sources are listed on the website, under each episode description.
MethodandMadnessPodcast.com
Thank you for listening!
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/method-madness--6241524/support.
For more than 30 years, Tina’s family has lived with unanswered questions and growing doubts about the investigation. Her daughter, Patricia, joins Method & Madness to share her mother’s story and to ask the questions no one else has:
Was this case neglected? Or covered up?
“I have missed out on so much throughout my life because of someone else's actions. And I am ready to close this chapter. I'm ready to give my mother justice, and I also want my daughter to see that her voice matters,” Patricia says.
If you have any information about the murder of Tina Arriaga, please get in touch with:
The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, Detective Matthew Delgado at 800-533-7443.
To get in touch with Patricia, find her on Facebook:
Facebook Patricia Arriaga Douglas
Content Warning:
This episode includes discussions of graphic violence. Listener discretion is advised.
***
Method & Madness is researched, written, hosted, & produced by Dawn Cate
Music by Tymur Khakimov from Pixabay
***Get in Touch!:
methodandmadnesspod@gmail.com
CONNECT:
DIVE INTO MORE:
MethodandMadnessPodcast.com
***
All sources are listed on the website, under each episode description.
MethodandMadnessPodcast.com
Thank you for listening!
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/method-madness--6241524/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This episode contains graphic details of violence. Please listen with care.
David Ariaga walked the beach, carefully, combing through the sand,
scanning bits of debris, forgotten belongings, and trash carried in
by the wind. With every step came a mix of
(00:20):
anticipation and dread. His thoughts pulled in opposite directions. He
wanted to find what he was looking for, yet prayed
he wouldn't. Nearby stood the remains of an old peer,
once home to a lively amusement park, now just a
charred skeleton, demolished by fire seven years earlier. It was
(00:42):
a bleak backdrop for David's search. A local woman out
for a walk recognized him and asked what he was doing.
David answered, looking for my baby. It was the spring
of nineteen ninety four, and David was desperate to find
his daughter. Twenty eight year old Tina hadn't been seen
(01:02):
since March twenty fourth. Her family had reported her missing,
but weeks passed without answers. Unable to rest, David had
taken the search into his own hands, even if that
meant looking for her body. A few weeks later, Tina
would be found about a mile from her home. Decades
would follow, filled with silence and speculation as her family
(01:26):
tried to make sense of who had violently taken her
from them. Now, more than thirty years later, Tina's siblings
and her parents are deceased, but one family member is
ready to break that silence. She's seeking truth, justice, and
uncovering the worst things she's never imagined. Welcome to Method
(01:52):
and Madness. This is Agony the Murder of Tina Ariaga.
I'm your host, Dawn.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Just a note.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
If you like listening to Method and Madness, be sure
to leave a review or a rating on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
or on your favorite podcast platform. It helps spread the
word and make sure you subscribe to the podcast and
follow on social media. And Now, without further ado, this
is Tina's story. It's the birthplace of Bruce Springsteen. Located
(02:33):
on the New Jersey coast, Long Branch is an ocean
side town with a rich history. In the eighteen hundreds
and up until World War Two, it was known as
the nation's first seaside resort. A thirty eight acre beach
park called Seven Presidents got its name from the seven
US presidents who vacationed there. Chester Arthur, James Garfield, Ulysses S. Grant,
(02:57):
Benjamin Harrison, Rutherford B. Hayes, William McKinley, and Woodrow Wilson.
But like any town, Long Branch has, it's good and
it's bad, and in the nineteen nineties, the bad was
making headlines. Multiple murders shook the community, and one of
them was Tina Ariaga's. Today we're joined by a very
(03:20):
special guest.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
My name is Patricia Ariaga Douglas. I am the daughter
of Tina Marie Ariaga, who was murdered back in nineteen
ninety four. I'm just here to get her case out there.
We just recently reopened it and I just want people
to hear her story.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Patricia was only two years old when her mother was murdered.
She doesn't have memories of her mom, but she has stories.
She's been told that Tina was caring, kind hearted, and
strong spirited. But Patricia is also aware of her mother's struggles.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
The time frame when my mom was murder me and
my sister were actually in foster care. My mother had
a very trouble task with drug addiction and things like that,
so it was pretty rocky around the time that she
passed away.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Tina Marie Ariaga was born on October sixth, nineteen sixty five,
to David Ariaga and Patricia Valentine. The family lived on
Third Avenue in Long Branch, New Jersey. Tina grew up
with her siblings, Carlos and Donna. In the early nineties,
Tina gave birth to two daughters, and in the weeks
(04:35):
leading up to her death, was living across the street
from an ex boyfriend, one who was allegedly harassing and
stalking her. More on that in a bit. On Thursday,
March twenty fourth, nineteen ninety four, Tina dropped her two
little girls off at their grandmother's house on Dudley Street.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
In Long Branch.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
She never came back, no calls to say she'd be late,
no sign of her anywhere. The family reported Tina missing,
and her father, David began searching for her himself, walking beaches,
checking side streets, behind buildings, scanning places she might have gone.
Every day, still no sign of Tina. Easter Sunday, April third,
(05:20):
came and went. The family kept the light on, hoping
she'd walk through the door to see her little girls
to celebrate the holiday together. But she didn't, and with
each passing day that fragile hope began to fade here.
Her daughter Patricia, talks about the day that Tina went missing.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
On March twenty fourth. My mom was actually with me
and my sister that day. She dropped me and my
sister off to my grandmother and that's where we lived,
on Dudley Street.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Well at that moment.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
We weren't living there, but my mom and my grandmother and
our family did. And she told her, I'm going to
go on Broadway to Ace Pharmacy. I'm not sure if
Ace Pharmacy is still there. I believe it is on Broadway.
So she went over there and just was never seen.
Like she went missing, almost a little over a month.
(06:15):
My grandparents looked for her everywhere, even so much that
my grandfather went on top of a building just trying
to see if he could see her anywhere, and he
fell off his building and broke several bones, that's.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
How hard he was searching for his daughter. Their first thought.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Was that my mom ran away with her off and
on again boyfriend Ledo.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
In the weeks after Tina went missing, tension began to
ripple through Long Branch. Residents were growing nervous, and with
good reason. Two other women had recently been murdered in
separate cases. Now a third woman had vanished. Rumors spread fast.
People whispered that a serial killer was targeting women. The
(06:58):
mayor at the time, Adam Schneider, tried to calm the panic.
He told reporters, We've had a series of unfortunate, unrelated crimes.
People are frightening themselves and others needlessly. These stories start
to spread and it's like that game of Telephone. By
the time it gets to the fifth person, Jack the
(07:19):
Ripper is loose again. Well, Jack the Ripper wasn't loose
in Long Branch, but the fear was real. Police kept
quiet about what they knew, a standard part of any
open investigation, but silence comes with a cost. On the
other side of that secrecy were residents who didn't know
if it was safe to walk home after dark or
(07:39):
let their kids play outside. And for one family, that
uncertainty was about to end in a heartbreak. Twenty five
days after Tina went missing, the Ariaga's worst nightmare was confirmed.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
So turns out April eighteenth is when they found her.
She was discovered behind autocenter.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
It's on the corner of Broadway on Long Branch Avenue,
and she was beIN.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
She was strangled, and she was left under a pile
of tires. They weren't able to recognize her. That's how
badly she was beIN.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Tina was the fourth murder victim in Long Branch that year.
She was found just a five minute walk from the
Ace pharmacy where she said she was headed that day.
Found behind a tall wooden fence, buried beneath a mound
of tires, dumped like she didn't matter, but she did.
Tina deserved better than to be discarded, left in the
(08:41):
dirt for weeks until an autobody worker found her. At first,
officials said they couldn't make a visual identification. The condition
of the body made it impossible. Still, investigators were fairly
certain it was the missing young mother based on the
clothing she'd last been seen wearing. There was no immediate
sign of what had killed her, no gunshot wounds, no
(09:04):
stab marks, nothing obvious to explain how her life had
been taken so violently. An autopsy was scheduled for the
following day. Through dentle records, the remains were confirmed to
be Tina's. The medical examiner determined she'd been beaten and strangled.
She'd suffered eleven broken ribs, a lacerated liver and kidney,
(09:27):
and severe trauma to her head. Friends of the petit
twenty eight year old were devastated. Despite her struggles with addiction,
Tina had been trying to turn her life around. Her friend,
Jacqueline Schubert, told a reporter that Tina had recently enrolled
in a methadone program and was doing well. Her goal
(09:47):
was simple to get clean and to build a better
life for her two little girls for those who loved her.
That dream was now gone, replaced by grief, questions and
the haunt image of where she'd been found.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
When my mother passed away, my grandmother took custody of us,
and we lived with her like our whole lives.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Basically, were you aware of what happened to your mom
or do you remember a time when it clicked in
what had happened.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
I just kind of always knew.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
I don't think my grandparents have really hit it, or
it was just this was my life. I had my grandparents.
I knew my mom passed away. As I got older,
That's when I kind of.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Learned like, okay, like she was murdered.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
And I think around my teens is when I really
started asking questions, and.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Then I kind of became very rebellious.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
I blamed my grandparents a lot for not having my
mom here, and I had a lot of questions, and
I felt like I can't really ask my grandparents certain
things because.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
That's hurtful for them, I felt.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
So I just relied on the outside world, my even
like my aunts and cousins and just different information. I
found my first job that I had at McDonald's, I
had a woman tell me that she knew my mom
and you know, she was a prostitute and those were
her words. And I just remember being like, like, I
(11:17):
was very confused, and I remember asking my grandmother about
it and she was like, well, you know, no one
can confirm that rumors are rumors, right.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
So those are the memories I had growing up.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Was just hearsay. I wasn't really sure what was going on.
I just knew my mom was murdered. It was brutal.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Tina wasn't disposable, and while Patricia doesn't shy away from
acknowledging her mother's struggles, she also doesn't want them to
define her.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
I want people to realize that when you say those things,
it doesn't take away from the fact that she was
brutally murdered. She was someone's child, she was someone's mother,
she was someone's sister. For regardless of what she did
in her lifetime. No one deserves no one deserves this
at all. And I think that people go say, yeah,
(12:09):
I heard about that story and it's really sad, and
then they'll mention that, but you know, I heard she
was addicted to drugs or there's no butt. I wanted
to be known like she is a human being. She
was a daughter, she was a mother, and she didn't
deserve that. And she deserves justice no matter what she
(12:29):
did in her life.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Every single homicide victim deserves justice. And whether or not
Tina was in fact a sex worker, well, the rumors existed,
and those rumors had impact. Crimes against women and sex
work have long post challenges for investigators, and not just
because of the violence itself. Too often these cases are
(12:52):
met with indifference. When society devalues victims, their disappearances don't
spark the same urgence. Leads dry up quickly. Witnesses are
hesitant to come forward. That delay could mean lost time,
lost evidence, and lost chances at justice for victims like Tina.
(13:13):
That meant her case faced obstacles from the very beginning,
and these obstacles are ones that Patricia is ready to
take on and get to the truth.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
I was always led to believe that my mother was
raped and murdered. I just kind of got new information
that she wasn't raped, which thankful for that, right. It
was just kind of weird because I was like, well,
this is what I was told my whole life, you know,
And I'm not really sure if it was like my
grandparents who told me that, or this is just was
(13:45):
my thought my whole life growing up.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
And then just the part of.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Her with eleven broken ribs and lacerated organs. I had
no idea of that until recent and that he wasn't
even recognizable. That they figured out who she was through
her dental records. I learned a lot of like the
gruesome parts, which I don't think anyone would ever really
(14:12):
want to know, especially when it comes to their loved one.
So that's the biggest eye opener for me. Was just
like the details, you know.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
By May of nineteen ninety five, more than a year
after Tina's remains were discovered, a local newspaper headline read
city agonizes over jump and murders. Long Branch had a
reported eight murders in seventeen months, a significant increase from
the yearly average of one or two. The mayor at
(14:42):
the time, Adam Schneider, had concerns. An article from Asbury
Park Press said that he quote worries about the killings
effect on Long Branch's image, which officials and business owners
have worked hard to polish in recent years. He cited
the Urban Enterprise Zone Own program with its three percent
sales tax for qualified businesses, and the ongoing beachfront development plan.
(15:07):
The mayor was quoted directly as saying, you know in
your heart that it has nothing to do with the
safety of the streets or of our town in general.
But people pick up the paper and say, geez, another
murder and Long Branch. It's upsetting When a murder occurs
in your town. It sends out a message to other
people that's pretty frightening. Whether that impression is correct or not,
(15:30):
we know it's out there. It would be foolish to
pretend otherwise. Schneider went on to say that none of
the killings appeared to be random, that each victim knew
their killer, and that drugs played a role in several
of the murders. Further, there was no risk to the
public and average citizens were not in danger if they
(15:51):
weren't involved in illicit activities. We'll take a look at
those eight murders that occurred in Long Branch in seventeen months,
but first let's take a break. Two murders occurred in
(16:16):
Long Branch in May of nineteen ninety four. On May third,
twenty four year old Jennifer Sebula killed her boyfriend's five
year old son, Scott Musgrave. She showed no remorse in
court as she described wanting to kill someone to see
what it was like. Sebula was convicted and sentenced to
life plus twenty years, with a minimum of forty years
(16:39):
before being eligible for parole. On May seventh, Joseph mckowsky
said he felt unsafe living with his roommate, Joseph de Vido,
who he claimed was sexually assaulting him. Mckowsky stabbed his
roommate more than thirty times before calling the police and confessing.
Oscar Sanders killed his eleven month e Tiana Davis. In
(17:02):
January of nineteen ninety five, Sanders was convicted on charges
of first degree aggravated manslaughter and second degree endaydering the
life of a child. In December nineteen ninety four, twenty
four year old Anna Miheya was found in her Long
Brand apartment, stabbed to death. Her two young children were
(17:23):
found in the home unharmed. Anna had a white substance
rubbed onto her face and into her nose, which authorities
originally thought was cocaine. It was later revealed to be
baby formula. Just five months later, Anna's father, Nicholas Connors,
was shot and killed in his apartment. It took until
(17:44):
twenty twenty one, but these two murders were solved after
years of speculation that they must be connected. Anna's mother,
Dolores and Anna's brother Ted were arrested for both murders.
They'd conspired to kill Anna to prevent her from going
to the police about family member's drug dealings, and they
had killed Anna's father, Dolores's husband for an insurance payout.
(18:09):
And then there were the three women found murdered in
March and April of nineteen ninety four.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Around the time of my mother's murder, there was another
woman I think within a two month frame.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Think her name was Lillian Felise.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
She was found on Chelsea Avenue on the railroad tracks
and her body was badly decomposed.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
And then there was.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Another woman named Linda Brown and she was found in
a warehouse all around the same area, so they figured
they had connections. I believe it was George Sanders who
murdered one.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Of the women, so they the lead was always him.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
Every cop that I have spoken to that worked on
the force in nineteen ninety four to this day believes
that it was George Sanders who murdered my mother. He
admitted to killing the woman that they were accusing him
of killing, and when he was asked about my mother,
he didn't.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Say he did it, but he also didn't deny it.
You know.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
I asked about the whole DNA situation.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Was there any DNA on him?
Speaker 3 (19:18):
And I guess, because this is nineteen ninety four, right,
DNA was not what it is like DNA testing. It
wasn't what it is now, So I don't even believe
that they were able to match his.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
DNA at that point.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
So that's what we're hoping on now is to be
able to find out if there's any type of viable
DNA that was found on my mother that we.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Can use to solve this case.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
But every person that I have spoken to, their first
person of interest was George Sanders.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Let's talk about George Sanders, who coincidentally is the brother
of Oscar the man I mentioned a few moments ago,
who'd killed his infant daughter in January of nineteen ninety five.
On March twentieth, nineteen ninety four, George Sanders came home
with his clothes bloody and covered in mud, bearing scratches
on his body. He told his wife and family that
(20:13):
he'd been attacked by two men, beaten and thrown into
a lake. He was reluctant to report it, but upon
his family's insistence, George Sanders went to the Long Branch
Police Department to file a report. Five days later, the
body of forty three year old Linda Brown, a mother
and grandmother, was found in a warehouse on Long Branch Avenue.
(20:35):
She was covered in mud, her arms and legs tied
behind her body, and her pants pulled down. The police
connected George Sanders to the murder immediately they'd already suspected
his report about being attacked by two men was bogus.
Witnesses told the police that they had seen Linda and
George together shortly before she disappeared, and so they brought
(20:58):
him in for questioning. He admitted that he had seen
Linda the night of her murder and that the two
had fought. His version of events was that Linda had
attacked him, and while subduing her, he accidentally choked her.
Police believed that Sanders had tried to stage Linda's body
to make it look like a random sexual assault. George
Sanders was indicted in June for the murder, and what
(21:20):
Patricia says about hearing his name when officials talked about
her mother's murder is confirmed by the many reports I
pulled from the nineteen nineties. While the mayor of Longbrand
tried to calm down the residence by insisting there was
no danger to the public with an unsolved murder like Tina's,
there was no guarantee that any woman was safe. During
(21:49):
George Sanders's trial, the defense argued that Linda Brown had
attacked him first because he wouldn't give her money to
buy drugs. Attorney Finn told the court quote, this is
not a nun who was shot by a contract killer.
It was a drug dealer. This was nothing more than
a barroom brawl gone awry. She struck my client. Does
(22:11):
that make her the worst person on earth? No, but
seems like a bad idea. She provoked her own death
to a certain extent. Attorney Finn's words reflective mindset that
was and still is far too common. When the victim
is a woman struggling with addiction or involved in sex work,
(22:32):
her life is treated as less The violence against her
is rationalized. The focus shifts from what was done to
her to what she supposedly did wrong. It's a way
of softening the brutality, of making it sound like she
somehow deserved it. George Sanders was convicted and at sentencing,
Linda Brown's two daughters, Denise and Carrie at the time
(22:55):
twenty four and twenty five, respectively, shared victim impact statement.
They insisted that the picture of the defense had painted
of their mother was false, that Linda was a loving
mother and grandmother and had only a small amount of
drugs in her system at the time of her death.
As she was readying herself for a new grandchild. They
(23:16):
said she was always there for her family and that
she was very missed. Carrie went on to say, no
one deserves to die. I don't even feel he deserves
to die. He deserves to live and suffer for what
he did to my mother. Sanders was sentenced to sixty
five years in state prison. He would have to serve
(23:36):
at least thirty before he'd be eligible for parole. But,
like Patricia said, police in them in nineties believed that
George Sanders was also responsible for the murders of Lilian
Lucy Felicie. Lillian went missing on January third, nineteen ninety four,
and two months later her remains were found near a
railroad track by three children who were playing nearby, but
(23:59):
suspec buition shifted a bit toward another potential suspect. In
nineteen ninety nine, a man was charged with the nineteen
ninety four murder of Margie Rodriguez, a woman from Long
Branch whose body was found in a neighboring town. Gregory
George was tracked down five years after the murder and
(24:19):
convicted of aggravated manslaughter. He was sentenced to twenty years.
At the time of his capture. Police were looking to
see if Margie's murder was linked to Tina's or to Lillian's. Still,
Tina's murder remains unsolved, and yet another person of interest
has recently re entered the conversation.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
So my whole life.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
I kind of like, do you know, just ask questions,
did my own little investigations online with a little bit
that was there within the last few years.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
It kind of like came up.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Really big when there was a woman who went on
Facebook live who who was really close to my family,
and my cousin joined the Facebook live and the girl
sees my cousin join and right away she just says,
I'm so sorry, Duzzy, but I have to get this
off my chest. My uncle Liedo is the one who
(25:17):
killed your aunt. So my cousin was kind of like, okay,
what's going on and she just kept saying it over
and over, and then I had got the phone call
of what was going on.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
I reached out to the girl.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
She we had some messages back and forth, and she
ended up deleting the live after she had got off.
But once that happened, I kind of was like, Okay,
I know I'm going to reopen this case, like this
woman said this for a reason, something has to come
from this, right And I left it alone, I think
for about two years because at that time I was
(25:51):
a single mom, like I was struggling.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
I was not ready to take on any type of
case like this. I just wasn't there.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
And I'm in a great place in my life now,
I have a supportive husband who wants me to do this.
I emotionally I'm ready. So that's kind of like what
triggered me to fully kind of go out there.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
And then I came across a.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Facebook group who had mentioned my mom, I believe it's
called New Jersey Unsolved, and she made a like a
little post about it.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
My mom's name was in it.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
I commented on it and I was like, oh, that
you know Tina mariarri Araguz my mother. She reached out
to me, and then it just kind of like blew
up from there.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
In the nineties, rumors lived in the corners of bars,
whispered between SIPs of beer, told and half truths and
sideways glances. They were shared over backyard fences and only
became dormant when the next big story hit The newspapers.
Now those rumors also live online. All it takes is
(26:55):
one click, one live stream, one stranger with a story
that may not be true. When Patricia Ariaga's cousin logged
into Facebook that day, she wasn't expecting to hear a
confession or what sounded like one. It's easy to forget
that behind every name, every rumor, there's still a family
waiting for the truth, not the version that gets likes,
(27:17):
but the one that brings peace. But social media can
also be a great resource for families of homicide victims.
A woman named Teresa Reid administers two Facebook groups, Angels
Lost and New Jersey Unsolved. She researches and shares information
about the murdered and the missing, and with the help
of the community, Teresa gets in contact with various law
(27:39):
enforcement agencies asking about DNA testing and possible connections between cases.
She's a wonderful asset to the true crime community. Thank you, Teresa,
and it's the kind of support that has encouraged Patricia
to speak out. It wasn't the first time she had
heard the name Leto. He was on again, off again
(28:01):
boyfriend who lived across the street from Tina.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
My grandmother's first thought was leto she thought that when
my mom originally went missing in the beginning, that maybe
my mom ran away with him to New York. So
when my mom was found murdered, the first person she
said was liedo. He ended up having an alibi that
(28:25):
he wasn't in the state at that time, and then
later on they were told that he it was rumored
that he was in the area at the time that
my mom was murdered, but there was no further investigation
on that, which kind of like like stuns me because
I'm like, if he was the first person that my
grandmother said he had an alibi that probably wasn't even true,
(28:49):
why wouldn't you continue to investigate that. So that's where
I'm kind of like, Okay, was it him? Did my
mom get a proper investigation? Is it just all does
not make.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Sense to me?
Speaker 1 (29:02):
It's a fair question. Did Tina Ariaga get a proper investigation?
What happened with George Sanders being a person of interest
or what about Gregory George who investigators were looking at
as possibly connected to Tina was the ex boyfriend Leedo
looked at closely. It's been said that he had an alibi,
(29:23):
but also that he may have had connections to the police.
Does TJ's autobody where Tina's body was found have any
connection to the killer? Why there was it a familiar location?
Was it a place that seemed low risk? Have you
spoken recently with investigators in Long Branch or in Mammoth County.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
We have a detective in Freehold who is pulling the
files as we speak. They're trying to see if there's
any viral DNA that they can send off to labs.
They did tell me it's a slow process. It's not
going to be a one into type of thing. So
now it's just like a waiting game, honestly, And it's
(30:06):
always in the back of my mind if I'm going
to get a phone call and email something. But they
are looking into it. As of now, it's a reopened case.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
So it seems there's only been two persons of interest
that you know of. George Sanders is serving time for
the murder of Linda Brown. And do you know where
Liedo is?
Speaker 3 (30:25):
From what I have been told, I believe he passed
away over a year ago.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
And the thing is I lived.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Across from Liedo almost my whole childhood, and I had
very weird interactions with him.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
There was even there was a day that we were.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
Kind of like playing with the kids across the street
and we were playing in a basement and all the
kids ran upstairs and he kind of cornered me and
was like, you know, I'm your father, right, I'm your
real dad. And I don't even remember how old I was,
but I remember this clear as day, and I was scared.
I was like, yeah, I know, but I know who
(31:03):
my dad is and he is not my father. But
I've had very weird interactions with him my whole childhood,
and even looking back on it, he lived across the
street from us, and my grandmother always suspected that it
was him, but we all still were cool with their family.
We played together, we hung out, and I think for me,
(31:25):
I look back and I'm like, okay, why were we
like cool with these people? You know, if you suspected
that it was him. I just believe that my grandparents
were very tired. They you know, they raised their kids
now they're raising their daughter's kids. They they you know,
they struggled a lot. And we're like, all right, the
cop said he wasn't here.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
We'll just go with that.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
You know, but now that I'm grown and I look back,
I'm just I'm very upset that I was even nice
to these people, because especially after I believe it was
his niece that was the one that I said went
on Facebook Live because she said it clear as day,
she said, my.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
Uncle admitted to it.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
And even now I get phone calls about this. She
claimed that he wasn't properly investigated because he had a
family member that was on the police force. I'm not
sure how true that is from what I've read. I
did my own little research. Teresa even kind of helped
me out with that, and the family member wasn't on
(32:29):
the force until nineteen ninety six or nineteen ninety seven,
so you know, maybe she wasn't involved. Like who knows,
But this woman went on Facebook Live and said Lido
admitted it. He did it, And it's kind of like,
where did that come from? Like, all out of all
things in this life, why did she go on Facebook
(32:50):
Live and say that to my cousin.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Here, Patricia reflects on what could have been.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
This has changed my whole life and I was robbed
of a lot of things. My sister, even my daughter,
you know, like she doesn't have a grandmother from my side,
So someone completely altered my life and they don't even
realize it. But at the end of the day, this
is still someone's real life. This is my real life
(33:17):
that I'm living, and I've lived every single day and
I've had questions my whole life. My whole life was
altered because of this, and no one will understand unless
they are in my exact situation. I have missed out
on so much throughout my life because of someone else's actions, and.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
I'm ready to close this chapter. I'm ready to give
my mother justice.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
And I also want my daughter to see that your
voice matters, you know, Like I never thought I would
be here on a podcast telling.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
My mom's story. I never thought anyone would listen.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
And this is one thing that I want people to
realize is if you if something happens, keep talking about it,
keep pushing it, because you never know what information you're
gonna get.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
And I just feel like this is my real life
and I'm just hoping that.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
We get this solved, and I'm hoping that my mom
is proud that I'm doing this, and I hope that
I just hope I'm doing the right thing.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
At the end of the day, because.
Speaker 3 (34:35):
Although my sister doesn't speak about it like I know,
it's hurtful.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
For her as well.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
And what would you like listeners to do if they
have any information.
Speaker 3 (34:44):
I just want anyone who's listening if you have because
I know this is a long time ago, right, This
is years and years and years ago. But if you
have parents, grandparents that lived in that area, show them
this pist cast, redirect them to my page with a post.
My name on Facebook is Patricia Ariaga Douglas. My name
(35:06):
on TikTok is Trish Ariaga, and it's the same thing
on Instagram Patricia Ariaga Douglas. If you have any information,
send it to me. Call the tip lines any information,
Talk to your grandparents, your parents, maybe they know something.
Anything can help, even if it's the smallest bit of information,
(35:27):
Even if you saw her walk past McDonald's on a
Wednesday afternoon around that time, send it in because you
never know what type of lead can happen from that.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
What you're doing is really important and shows a lot
of strength and perseverance. I hope you can find a
way to feel really proud of that.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
Even if we cannot close this case.
Speaker 3 (35:50):
You got her name out there that thousands of people,
her story is out there, and that's what makes me
proud is that I'm here doing.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
This because I don't know the outcome.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
You know, nothing could come from this, but I put
the effort in it, and I tried, and I put
myself out there, and people are gonna hear her story, and.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
I'm just blessed for that much, you know.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
And you're not only advocating for your mom. Tell us
more about that.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
Who knows what these cases could lead to because there
were other women around the time that my mom was
murdered that were also murdered. So if this was a
crazy serial killer who was out there, maybe this case
could lead them to other things.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
And I don't think that people really see it that way, but.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
It's important to realize, like you never know what is
going to come out of something like That's all we
can hope for, right is just answers for anyone who's
going through these situations. But like I said, around the time,
there was a lot going on, and if they can
figure it out and it leads them to other unsold
(37:00):
of cases, that that's always a good thing.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
I reached out to the Long Branch Police Department to
see if there was any information.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
They could share.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
Because this is an ongoing and open investigation, there's not
much they could say, but here is your call to action.
If you have any information about the murder of Tina Ariaga,
you can contact the Long Branch Police Department at seven
three to two two two two one thousand. I'll also
have details in the show notes. Thank you to Patricia
(37:34):
for sharing your mother's story, and thank you so much
for listening. Method and Madness is a completely independent podcast, written,
produced and hosted by me. To find out more about
the show, including access to all episodes, visit Method and
Madness podcast dot com. To support the show, consider leaving
(37:56):
a rating or a review.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
And immact.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
I'm on Instagram at Method and Madness Pod, and you
can find me on TikTok and Facebook as well. To chat,
suggest a case, or to discuss this episode, reach out
to me at methodand Madnesspod at gmail dot com. That's
it for this week. Until next time, take care of yourself.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
You matter.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
For crisis support, text Hello to seven four one seven
for one
This episode contains graphic details of violence. Please listen with care.
David Ariaga walked the beach, carefully, combing through the sand,
scanning bits of debris, forgotten belongings, and trash carried in
by the wind. With every step came a mix of
(00:20):
anticipation and dread. His thoughts pulled in opposite directions. He
wanted to find what he was looking for, yet prayed
he wouldn't. Nearby stood the remains of an old peer,
once home to a lively amusement park, now just a
charred skeleton, demolished by fire seven years earlier. It was
(00:42):
a bleak backdrop for David's search. A local woman out
for a walk recognized him and asked what he was doing.
David answered, looking for my baby. It was the spring
of nineteen ninety four, and David was desperate to find
his daughter. Twenty eight year old Tina hadn't been seen
(01:02):
since March twenty fourth. Her family had reported her missing,
but weeks passed without answers. Unable to rest, David had
taken the search into his own hands, even if that
meant looking for her body. A few weeks later, Tina
would be found about a mile from her home. Decades
would follow, filled with silence and speculation as her family
(01:26):
tried to make sense of who had violently taken her
from them. Now, more than thirty years later, Tina's siblings
and her parents are deceased, but one family member is
ready to break that silence. She's seeking truth, justice, and
uncovering the worst things she's never imagined. Welcome to Method
(01:52):
and Madness. This is Agony the Murder of Tina Ariaga.
I'm your host, Dawn.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Just a note.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
If you like listening to Method and Madness, be sure
to leave a review or a rating on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
or on your favorite podcast platform. It helps spread the
word and make sure you subscribe to the podcast and
follow on social media. And Now, without further ado, this
is Tina's story. It's the birthplace of Bruce Springsteen. Located
(02:33):
on the New Jersey coast, Long Branch is an ocean
side town with a rich history. In the eighteen hundreds
and up until World War Two, it was known as
the nation's first seaside resort. A thirty eight acre beach
park called Seven Presidents got its name from the seven
US presidents who vacationed there. Chester Arthur, James Garfield, Ulysses S. Grant,
(02:57):
Benjamin Harrison, Rutherford B. Hayes, William McKinley, and Woodrow Wilson.
But like any town, Long Branch has, it's good and
it's bad, and in the nineteen nineties, the bad was
making headlines. Multiple murders shook the community, and one of
them was Tina Ariaga's. Today we're joined by a very
(03:20):
special guest.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
My name is Patricia Ariaga Douglas. I am the daughter
of Tina Marie Ariaga, who was murdered back in nineteen
ninety four. I'm just here to get her case out there.
We just recently reopened it and I just want people
to hear her story.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Patricia was only two years old when her mother was murdered.
She doesn't have memories of her mom, but she has stories.
She's been told that Tina was caring, kind hearted, and
strong spirited. But Patricia is also aware of her mother's struggles.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
The time frame when my mom was murder me and
my sister were actually in foster care. My mother had
a very trouble task with drug addiction and things like that,
so it was pretty rocky around the time that she
passed away.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Tina Marie Ariaga was born on October sixth, nineteen sixty five,
to David Ariaga and Patricia Valentine. The family lived on
Third Avenue in Long Branch, New Jersey. Tina grew up
with her siblings, Carlos and Donna. In the early nineties,
Tina gave birth to two daughters, and in the weeks
(04:35):
leading up to her death, was living across the street
from an ex boyfriend, one who was allegedly harassing and
stalking her. More on that in a bit. On Thursday,
March twenty fourth, nineteen ninety four, Tina dropped her two
little girls off at their grandmother's house on Dudley Street.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
In Long Branch.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
She never came back, no calls to say she'd be late,
no sign of her anywhere. The family reported Tina missing,
and her father, David began searching for her himself, walking beaches,
checking side streets, behind buildings, scanning places she might have gone.
Every day, still no sign of Tina. Easter Sunday, April third,
(05:20):
came and went. The family kept the light on, hoping
she'd walk through the door to see her little girls
to celebrate the holiday together. But she didn't, and with
each passing day that fragile hope began to fade here.
Her daughter Patricia, talks about the day that Tina went missing.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
On March twenty fourth. My mom was actually with me
and my sister that day. She dropped me and my
sister off to my grandmother and that's where we lived,
on Dudley Street.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Well at that moment.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
We weren't living there, but my mom and my grandmother and
our family did. And she told her, I'm going to
go on Broadway to Ace Pharmacy. I'm not sure if
Ace Pharmacy is still there. I believe it is on Broadway.
So she went over there and just was never seen.
Like she went missing, almost a little over a month.
(06:15):
My grandparents looked for her everywhere, even so much that
my grandfather went on top of a building just trying
to see if he could see her anywhere, and he
fell off his building and broke several bones, that's.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
How hard he was searching for his daughter. Their first thought.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Was that my mom ran away with her off and
on again boyfriend Ledo.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
In the weeks after Tina went missing, tension began to
ripple through Long Branch. Residents were growing nervous, and with
good reason. Two other women had recently been murdered in
separate cases. Now a third woman had vanished. Rumors spread fast.
People whispered that a serial killer was targeting women. The
(06:58):
mayor at the time, Adam Schneider, tried to calm the panic.
He told reporters, We've had a series of unfortunate, unrelated crimes.
People are frightening themselves and others needlessly. These stories start
to spread and it's like that game of Telephone. By
the time it gets to the fifth person, Jack the
(07:19):
Ripper is loose again. Well, Jack the Ripper wasn't loose
in Long Branch, but the fear was real. Police kept
quiet about what they knew, a standard part of any
open investigation, but silence comes with a cost. On the
other side of that secrecy were residents who didn't know
if it was safe to walk home after dark or
(07:39):
let their kids play outside. And for one family, that
uncertainty was about to end in a heartbreak. Twenty five
days after Tina went missing, the Ariaga's worst nightmare was confirmed.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
So turns out April eighteenth is when they found her.
She was discovered behind autocenter.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
It's on the corner of Broadway on Long Branch Avenue,
and she was beIN.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
She was strangled, and she was left under a pile
of tires. They weren't able to recognize her. That's how
badly she was beIN.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Tina was the fourth murder victim in Long Branch that year.
She was found just a five minute walk from the
Ace pharmacy where she said she was headed that day.
Found behind a tall wooden fence, buried beneath a mound
of tires, dumped like she didn't matter, but she did.
Tina deserved better than to be discarded, left in the
(08:41):
dirt for weeks until an autobody worker found her. At first,
officials said they couldn't make a visual identification. The condition
of the body made it impossible. Still, investigators were fairly
certain it was the missing young mother based on the
clothing she'd last been seen wearing. There was no immediate
sign of what had killed her, no gunshot wounds, no
(09:04):
stab marks, nothing obvious to explain how her life had
been taken so violently. An autopsy was scheduled for the
following day. Through dentle records, the remains were confirmed to
be Tina's. The medical examiner determined she'd been beaten and strangled.
She'd suffered eleven broken ribs, a lacerated liver and kidney,
(09:27):
and severe trauma to her head. Friends of the petit
twenty eight year old were devastated. Despite her struggles with addiction,
Tina had been trying to turn her life around. Her friend,
Jacqueline Schubert, told a reporter that Tina had recently enrolled
in a methadone program and was doing well. Her goal
(09:47):
was simple to get clean and to build a better
life for her two little girls for those who loved her.
That dream was now gone, replaced by grief, questions and
the haunt image of where she'd been found.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
When my mother passed away, my grandmother took custody of us,
and we lived with her like our whole lives.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Basically, were you aware of what happened to your mom
or do you remember a time when it clicked in
what had happened.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
I just kind of always knew.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
I don't think my grandparents have really hit it, or
it was just this was my life. I had my grandparents.
I knew my mom passed away. As I got older,
That's when I kind of.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Learned like, okay, like she was murdered.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
And I think around my teens is when I really
started asking questions, and.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Then I kind of became very rebellious.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
I blamed my grandparents a lot for not having my
mom here, and I had a lot of questions, and
I felt like I can't really ask my grandparents certain
things because.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
That's hurtful for them, I felt.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
So I just relied on the outside world, my even
like my aunts and cousins and just different information. I
found my first job that I had at McDonald's, I
had a woman tell me that she knew my mom
and you know, she was a prostitute and those were
her words. And I just remember being like, like, I
(11:17):
was very confused, and I remember asking my grandmother about
it and she was like, well, you know, no one
can confirm that rumors are rumors, right.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
So those are the memories I had growing up.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Was just hearsay. I wasn't really sure what was going on.
I just knew my mom was murdered. It was brutal.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Tina wasn't disposable, and while Patricia doesn't shy away from
acknowledging her mother's struggles, she also doesn't want them to
define her.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
I want people to realize that when you say those things,
it doesn't take away from the fact that she was
brutally murdered. She was someone's child, she was someone's mother,
she was someone's sister. For regardless of what she did
in her lifetime. No one deserves no one deserves this
at all. And I think that people go say, yeah,
(12:09):
I heard about that story and it's really sad, and
then they'll mention that, but you know, I heard she
was addicted to drugs or there's no butt. I wanted
to be known like she is a human being. She
was a daughter, she was a mother, and she didn't
deserve that. And she deserves justice no matter what she
(12:29):
did in her life.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Every single homicide victim deserves justice. And whether or not
Tina was in fact a sex worker, well, the rumors existed,
and those rumors had impact. Crimes against women and sex
work have long post challenges for investigators, and not just
because of the violence itself. Too often these cases are
(12:52):
met with indifference. When society devalues victims, their disappearances don't
spark the same urgence. Leads dry up quickly. Witnesses are
hesitant to come forward. That delay could mean lost time,
lost evidence, and lost chances at justice for victims like Tina.
(13:13):
That meant her case faced obstacles from the very beginning,
and these obstacles are ones that Patricia is ready to
take on and get to the truth.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
I was always led to believe that my mother was
raped and murdered. I just kind of got new information
that she wasn't raped, which thankful for that, right. It
was just kind of weird because I was like, well,
this is what I was told my whole life, you know,
And I'm not really sure if it was like my
grandparents who told me that, or this is just was
(13:45):
my thought my whole life growing up.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
And then just the part of.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Her with eleven broken ribs and lacerated organs. I had
no idea of that until recent and that he wasn't
even recognizable. That they figured out who she was through
her dental records. I learned a lot of like the
gruesome parts, which I don't think anyone would ever really
(14:12):
want to know, especially when it comes to their loved one.
So that's the biggest eye opener for me. Was just
like the details, you know.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
By May of nineteen ninety five, more than a year
after Tina's remains were discovered, a local newspaper headline read
city agonizes over jump and murders. Long Branch had a
reported eight murders in seventeen months, a significant increase from
the yearly average of one or two. The mayor at
(14:42):
the time, Adam Schneider, had concerns. An article from Asbury
Park Press said that he quote worries about the killings
effect on Long Branch's image, which officials and business owners
have worked hard to polish in recent years. He cited
the Urban Enterprise Zone Own program with its three percent
sales tax for qualified businesses, and the ongoing beachfront development plan.
(15:07):
The mayor was quoted directly as saying, you know in
your heart that it has nothing to do with the
safety of the streets or of our town in general.
But people pick up the paper and say, geez, another
murder and Long Branch. It's upsetting When a murder occurs
in your town. It sends out a message to other
people that's pretty frightening. Whether that impression is correct or not,
(15:30):
we know it's out there. It would be foolish to
pretend otherwise. Schneider went on to say that none of
the killings appeared to be random, that each victim knew
their killer, and that drugs played a role in several
of the murders. Further, there was no risk to the
public and average citizens were not in danger if they
(15:51):
weren't involved in illicit activities. We'll take a look at
those eight murders that occurred in Long Branch in seventeen months,
but first let's take a break. Two murders occurred in
(16:16):
Long Branch in May of nineteen ninety four. On May third,
twenty four year old Jennifer Sebula killed her boyfriend's five
year old son, Scott Musgrave. She showed no remorse in
court as she described wanting to kill someone to see
what it was like. Sebula was convicted and sentenced to
life plus twenty years, with a minimum of forty years
(16:39):
before being eligible for parole. On May seventh, Joseph mckowsky
said he felt unsafe living with his roommate, Joseph de Vido,
who he claimed was sexually assaulting him. Mckowsky stabbed his
roommate more than thirty times before calling the police and confessing.
Oscar Sanders killed his eleven month e Tiana Davis. In
(17:02):
January of nineteen ninety five, Sanders was convicted on charges
of first degree aggravated manslaughter and second degree endaydering the
life of a child. In December nineteen ninety four, twenty
four year old Anna Miheya was found in her Long
Brand apartment, stabbed to death. Her two young children were
(17:23):
found in the home unharmed. Anna had a white substance
rubbed onto her face and into her nose, which authorities
originally thought was cocaine. It was later revealed to be
baby formula. Just five months later, Anna's father, Nicholas Connors,
was shot and killed in his apartment. It took until
(17:44):
twenty twenty one, but these two murders were solved after
years of speculation that they must be connected. Anna's mother,
Dolores and Anna's brother Ted were arrested for both murders.
They'd conspired to kill Anna to prevent her from going
to the police about family member's drug dealings, and they
had killed Anna's father, Dolores's husband for an insurance payout.
(18:09):
And then there were the three women found murdered in
March and April of nineteen ninety four.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Around the time of my mother's murder, there was another
woman I think within a two month frame.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Think her name was Lillian Felise.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
She was found on Chelsea Avenue on the railroad tracks
and her body was badly decomposed.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
And then there was.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Another woman named Linda Brown and she was found in
a warehouse all around the same area, so they figured
they had connections. I believe it was George Sanders who
murdered one.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Of the women, so they the lead was always him.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
Every cop that I have spoken to that worked on
the force in nineteen ninety four to this day believes
that it was George Sanders who murdered my mother. He
admitted to killing the woman that they were accusing him
of killing, and when he was asked about my mother,
he didn't.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Say he did it, but he also didn't deny it.
You know.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
I asked about the whole DNA situation.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Was there any DNA on him?
Speaker 3 (19:18):
And I guess, because this is nineteen ninety four, right,
DNA was not what it is like DNA testing. It
wasn't what it is now, So I don't even believe
that they were able to match his.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
DNA at that point.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
So that's what we're hoping on now is to be
able to find out if there's any type of viable
DNA that was found on my mother that we.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Can use to solve this case.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
But every person that I have spoken to, their first
person of interest was George Sanders.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Let's talk about George Sanders, who coincidentally is the brother
of Oscar the man I mentioned a few moments ago,
who'd killed his infant daughter in January of nineteen ninety five.
On March twentieth, nineteen ninety four, George Sanders came home
with his clothes bloody and covered in mud, bearing scratches
on his body. He told his wife and family that
(20:13):
he'd been attacked by two men, beaten and thrown into
a lake. He was reluctant to report it, but upon
his family's insistence, George Sanders went to the Long Branch
Police Department to file a report. Five days later, the
body of forty three year old Linda Brown, a mother
and grandmother, was found in a warehouse on Long Branch Avenue.
(20:35):
She was covered in mud, her arms and legs tied
behind her body, and her pants pulled down. The police
connected George Sanders to the murder immediately they'd already suspected
his report about being attacked by two men was bogus.
Witnesses told the police that they had seen Linda and
George together shortly before she disappeared, and so they brought
(20:58):
him in for questioning. He admitted that he had seen
Linda the night of her murder and that the two
had fought. His version of events was that Linda had
attacked him, and while subduing her, he accidentally choked her.
Police believed that Sanders had tried to stage Linda's body
to make it look like a random sexual assault. George
Sanders was indicted in June for the murder, and what
(21:20):
Patricia says about hearing his name when officials talked about
her mother's murder is confirmed by the many reports I
pulled from the nineteen nineties. While the mayor of Longbrand
tried to calm down the residence by insisting there was
no danger to the public with an unsolved murder like Tina's,
there was no guarantee that any woman was safe. During
(21:49):
George Sanders's trial, the defense argued that Linda Brown had
attacked him first because he wouldn't give her money to
buy drugs. Attorney Finn told the court quote, this is
not a nun who was shot by a contract killer.
It was a drug dealer. This was nothing more than
a barroom brawl gone awry. She struck my client. Does
(22:11):
that make her the worst person on earth? No, but
seems like a bad idea. She provoked her own death
to a certain extent. Attorney Finn's words reflective mindset that
was and still is far too common. When the victim
is a woman struggling with addiction or involved in sex work,
(22:32):
her life is treated as less The violence against her
is rationalized. The focus shifts from what was done to
her to what she supposedly did wrong. It's a way
of softening the brutality, of making it sound like she
somehow deserved it. George Sanders was convicted and at sentencing,
Linda Brown's two daughters, Denise and Carrie at the time
(22:55):
twenty four and twenty five, respectively, shared victim impact statement.
They insisted that the picture of the defense had painted
of their mother was false, that Linda was a loving
mother and grandmother and had only a small amount of
drugs in her system at the time of her death.
As she was readying herself for a new grandchild. They
(23:16):
said she was always there for her family and that
she was very missed. Carrie went on to say, no
one deserves to die. I don't even feel he deserves
to die. He deserves to live and suffer for what
he did to my mother. Sanders was sentenced to sixty
five years in state prison. He would have to serve
(23:36):
at least thirty before he'd be eligible for parole. But,
like Patricia said, police in them in nineties believed that
George Sanders was also responsible for the murders of Lilian
Lucy Felicie. Lillian went missing on January third, nineteen ninety four,
and two months later her remains were found near a
railroad track by three children who were playing nearby, but
(23:59):
suspec buition shifted a bit toward another potential suspect. In
nineteen ninety nine, a man was charged with the nineteen
ninety four murder of Margie Rodriguez, a woman from Long
Branch whose body was found in a neighboring town. Gregory
George was tracked down five years after the murder and
(24:19):
convicted of aggravated manslaughter. He was sentenced to twenty years.
At the time of his capture. Police were looking to
see if Margie's murder was linked to Tina's or to Lillian's. Still,
Tina's murder remains unsolved, and yet another person of interest
has recently re entered the conversation.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
So my whole life.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
I kind of like, do you know, just ask questions,
did my own little investigations online with a little bit
that was there within the last few years.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
It kind of like came up.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Really big when there was a woman who went on
Facebook live who who was really close to my family,
and my cousin joined the Facebook live and the girl
sees my cousin join and right away she just says,
I'm so sorry, Duzzy, but I have to get this
off my chest. My uncle Liedo is the one who
(25:17):
killed your aunt. So my cousin was kind of like, okay,
what's going on and she just kept saying it over
and over, and then I had got the phone call
of what was going on.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
I reached out to the girl.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
She we had some messages back and forth, and she
ended up deleting the live after she had got off.
But once that happened, I kind of was like, Okay,
I know I'm going to reopen this case, like this
woman said this for a reason, something has to come
from this, right And I left it alone, I think
for about two years because at that time I was
(25:51):
a single mom, like I was struggling.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
I was not ready to take on any type of
case like this. I just wasn't there.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
And I'm in a great place in my life now,
I have a supportive husband who wants me to do this.
I emotionally I'm ready. So that's kind of like what
triggered me to fully kind of go out there.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
And then I came across a.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Facebook group who had mentioned my mom, I believe it's
called New Jersey Unsolved, and she made a like a
little post about it.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
My mom's name was in it.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
I commented on it and I was like, oh, that
you know Tina mariarri Araguz my mother. She reached out
to me, and then it just kind of like blew
up from there.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
In the nineties, rumors lived in the corners of bars,
whispered between SIPs of beer, told and half truths and
sideways glances. They were shared over backyard fences and only
became dormant when the next big story hit The newspapers.
Now those rumors also live online. All it takes is
(26:55):
one click, one live stream, one stranger with a story
that may not be true. When Patricia Ariaga's cousin logged
into Facebook that day, she wasn't expecting to hear a
confession or what sounded like one. It's easy to forget
that behind every name, every rumor, there's still a family
waiting for the truth, not the version that gets likes,
(27:17):
but the one that brings peace. But social media can
also be a great resource for families of homicide victims.
A woman named Teresa Reid administers two Facebook groups, Angels
Lost and New Jersey Unsolved. She researches and shares information
about the murdered and the missing, and with the help
of the community, Teresa gets in contact with various law
(27:39):
enforcement agencies asking about DNA testing and possible connections between cases.
She's a wonderful asset to the true crime community. Thank you, Teresa,
and it's the kind of support that has encouraged Patricia
to speak out. It wasn't the first time she had
heard the name Leto. He was on again, off again
(28:01):
boyfriend who lived across the street from Tina.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
My grandmother's first thought was leto she thought that when
my mom originally went missing in the beginning, that maybe
my mom ran away with him to New York. So
when my mom was found murdered, the first person she
said was liedo. He ended up having an alibi that
(28:25):
he wasn't in the state at that time, and then
later on they were told that he it was rumored
that he was in the area at the time that
my mom was murdered, but there was no further investigation
on that, which kind of like like stuns me because
I'm like, if he was the first person that my
grandmother said he had an alibi that probably wasn't even true,
(28:49):
why wouldn't you continue to investigate that. So that's where
I'm kind of like, Okay, was it him? Did my
mom get a proper investigation? Is it just all does
not make.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Sense to me?
Speaker 1 (29:02):
It's a fair question. Did Tina Ariaga get a proper investigation?
What happened with George Sanders being a person of interest
or what about Gregory George who investigators were looking at
as possibly connected to Tina was the ex boyfriend Leedo
looked at closely. It's been said that he had an alibi,
(29:23):
but also that he may have had connections to the police.
Does TJ's autobody where Tina's body was found have any
connection to the killer? Why there was it a familiar location?
Was it a place that seemed low risk? Have you
spoken recently with investigators in Long Branch or in Mammoth County.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
We have a detective in Freehold who is pulling the
files as we speak. They're trying to see if there's
any viral DNA that they can send off to labs.
They did tell me it's a slow process. It's not
going to be a one into type of thing. So
now it's just like a waiting game, honestly, And it's
(30:06):
always in the back of my mind if I'm going
to get a phone call and email something. But they
are looking into it. As of now, it's a reopened case.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
So it seems there's only been two persons of interest
that you know of. George Sanders is serving time for
the murder of Linda Brown. And do you know where
Liedo is?
Speaker 3 (30:25):
From what I have been told, I believe he passed
away over a year ago.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
And the thing is I lived.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Across from Liedo almost my whole childhood, and I had
very weird interactions with him.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
There was even there was a day that we were.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
Kind of like playing with the kids across the street
and we were playing in a basement and all the
kids ran upstairs and he kind of cornered me and
was like, you know, I'm your father, right, I'm your
real dad. And I don't even remember how old I was,
but I remember this clear as day, and I was scared.
I was like, yeah, I know, but I know who
(31:03):
my dad is and he is not my father. But
I've had very weird interactions with him my whole childhood,
and even looking back on it, he lived across the
street from us, and my grandmother always suspected that it
was him, but we all still were cool with their family.
We played together, we hung out, and I think for me,
(31:25):
I look back and I'm like, okay, why were we
like cool with these people? You know, if you suspected
that it was him. I just believe that my grandparents
were very tired. They you know, they raised their kids
now they're raising their daughter's kids. They they you know,
they struggled a lot. And we're like, all right, the
cop said he wasn't here.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
We'll just go with that.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
You know, but now that I'm grown and I look back,
I'm just I'm very upset that I was even nice
to these people, because especially after I believe it was
his niece that was the one that I said went
on Facebook Live because she said it clear as day,
she said, my.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
Uncle admitted to it.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
And even now I get phone calls about this. She
claimed that he wasn't properly investigated because he had a
family member that was on the police force. I'm not
sure how true that is from what I've read. I
did my own little research. Teresa even kind of helped
me out with that, and the family member wasn't on
(32:29):
the force until nineteen ninety six or nineteen ninety seven,
so you know, maybe she wasn't involved. Like who knows,
But this woman went on Facebook Live and said Lido
admitted it. He did it, And it's kind of like,
where did that come from? Like, all out of all
things in this life, why did she go on Facebook
(32:50):
Live and say that to my cousin.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Here, Patricia reflects on what could have been.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
This has changed my whole life and I was robbed
of a lot of things. My sister, even my daughter,
you know, like she doesn't have a grandmother from my side,
So someone completely altered my life and they don't even
realize it. But at the end of the day, this
is still someone's real life. This is my real life
(33:17):
that I'm living, and I've lived every single day and
I've had questions my whole life. My whole life was
altered because of this, and no one will understand unless
they are in my exact situation. I have missed out
on so much throughout my life because of someone else's actions, and.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
I'm ready to close this chapter. I'm ready to give
my mother justice.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
And I also want my daughter to see that your
voice matters, you know, Like I never thought I would
be here on a podcast telling.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
My mom's story. I never thought anyone would listen.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
And this is one thing that I want people to
realize is if you if something happens, keep talking about it,
keep pushing it, because you never know what information you're
gonna get.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
And I just feel like this is my real life
and I'm just hoping that.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
We get this solved, and I'm hoping that my mom
is proud that I'm doing this, and I hope that
I just hope I'm doing the right thing.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
At the end of the day, because.
Speaker 3 (34:35):
Although my sister doesn't speak about it like I know,
it's hurtful.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
For her as well.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
And what would you like listeners to do if they
have any information.
Speaker 3 (34:44):
I just want anyone who's listening if you have because
I know this is a long time ago, right, This
is years and years and years ago. But if you
have parents, grandparents that lived in that area, show them
this pist cast, redirect them to my page with a post.
My name on Facebook is Patricia Ariaga Douglas. My name
(35:06):
on TikTok is Trish Ariaga, and it's the same thing
on Instagram Patricia Ariaga Douglas. If you have any information,
send it to me. Call the tip lines any information,
Talk to your grandparents, your parents, maybe they know something.
Anything can help, even if it's the smallest bit of information,
(35:27):
Even if you saw her walk past McDonald's on a
Wednesday afternoon around that time, send it in because you
never know what type of lead can happen from that.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
What you're doing is really important and shows a lot
of strength and perseverance. I hope you can find a
way to feel really proud of that.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
Even if we cannot close this case.
Speaker 3 (35:50):
You got her name out there that thousands of people,
her story is out there, and that's what makes me
proud is that I'm here doing.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
This because I don't know the outcome.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
You know, nothing could come from this, but I put
the effort in it, and I tried, and I put
myself out there, and people are gonna hear her story, and.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
I'm just blessed for that much, you know.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
And you're not only advocating for your mom. Tell us
more about that.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
Who knows what these cases could lead to because there
were other women around the time that my mom was
murdered that were also murdered. So if this was a
crazy serial killer who was out there, maybe this case
could lead them to other things.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
And I don't think that people really see it that way, but.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
It's important to realize, like you never know what is
going to come out of something like That's all we
can hope for, right is just answers for anyone who's
going through these situations. But like I said, around the time,
there was a lot going on, and if they can
figure it out and it leads them to other unsold
(37:00):
of cases, that that's always a good thing.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
I reached out to the Long Branch Police Department to
see if there was any information.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
They could share.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
Because this is an ongoing and open investigation, there's not
much they could say, but here is your call to action.
If you have any information about the murder of Tina Ariaga,
you can contact the Long Branch Police Department at seven
three to two two two two one thousand. I'll also
have details in the show notes. Thank you to Patricia
(37:34):
for sharing your mother's story, and thank you so much
for listening. Method and Madness is a completely independent podcast, written,
produced and hosted by me. To find out more about
the show, including access to all episodes, visit Method and
Madness podcast dot com. To support the show, consider leaving
(37:56):
a rating or a review.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
And immact.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
I'm on Instagram at Method and Madness Pod, and you
can find me on TikTok and Facebook as well. To chat,
suggest a case, or to discuss this episode, reach out
to me at methodand Madnesspod at gmail dot com. That's
it for this week. Until next time, take care of yourself.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
You matter.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
For crisis support, text Hello to seven four one seven
for one
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