February 19, 2021 • 25 mins
Key witnesses from the missing money case tell their stories for the first time, including the federal district court judge and Jonathan Luna’s co-counsel.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Somebody Somewhere as a production of Rainstream Media Incorporated. This
podcast investigates the unsolved death of federal prosecutor Jonathan Luna
in two thousand and three. It is a true story,
but the opinions of the hosts and interviewees are simply
that opinions, not facts, and the credibility of the witnesses
and what they say is to be determined by the listener.
(00:27):
Everyone is presumed innocent until proven otherwise in a court
of law. Previously on Somebody Somewhere.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Ravenel's accused of helping his client, a drug dealer, and
others in a criminal conspiracy evade law enforcement.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
He Lily bought I'm not he Lily bought another briefcase.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
Chen came to me some time ago to ask whether
I would testify as a character witness, But.
Speaker 5 (01:00):
I guess too excited that it's not an enormous surprise
to hear that he's involved in a case.
Speaker 6 (01:06):
On the other side.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Now, this is episode eight of season three, The Missing Money.
I'm your host David Payne. It's been ten years as
a federal prosecutors found deadna Boro, Lecaster County.
Speaker 6 (01:29):
We will find out who did this?
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Was he trying to stage some sort of attack and
went too far.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
There are a lot of disparate facts surrounding the death
of Jonathan Luna that either support the theory that he
was murdered or he killed himself, But there is one
fact out there that uniquely supplies oxygen to both theories.
Coclusion of Naco Brown's trial for bank robbery, thirty six
thousand dollars of shrink wrap cash evidence went missing, and
(02:08):
that fact, which occurred almost a year before he died,
sits at the center of the controversy as to whether
he killed himself to avoid being outed as the thief,
or if he was killed by those who actually took
the money. Former Baltimore Sun reporter Gail Gibson recalls how
this fact played out in the reporting and the investigation.
Speaker 5 (02:29):
From the very first night Jonathan went missing. It would
have been irresponsible as a journalist to not also put
into conversation this earlier case. It had not been very
long prior where the cash evidence handled had gone missing.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Can you tell up what you remember about that, how
it happened, who the players were, how Jonathan was connected.
Speaker 7 (02:51):
And so forth.
Speaker 5 (02:52):
Sure, so that was a bank robbery case that Jonathan
was prosecuting, and that stayed as a shadow throughout this investigation.
There were questions, you know, is this one of the
reasons that the US Attorney's Office doesn't want to talk
that much about this case or doesn't want to make
public all of their findings in this case. And so
(03:13):
when the theory of the suicide first became public, it
was another point to look back at what questions were
still there around the bank robbery case and the missing
evidence and could that have driven a person to feel
like they didn't have other choices other than to end
(03:34):
their life.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
And the samily in fact to making a connection between
the bank robbery case and Jonathan's death was that he
was reportedly scheduled to take a polygraph about the missing
money two days after he died. So if Jonathan knew
what happened, if he knew, for instance, that an FBI
agent or a courtroom clerk or a defense attorney had
(04:03):
taken the money, he was a threat to them.
Speaker 8 (04:07):
But if he knew he.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Was going to get caught, well, better to stage an
attack on himself for sympathy, take his life and maintain
his honor for his family and after his death. With
no official resolution as to who took the money or how,
people around the courthouse would make up their own minds
on whatever scraps of information they would hear. Defense attorney
(04:29):
Archie Tuminelli.
Speaker 8 (04:31):
What I know is this, and I can't tell you
how I learned exactly what the source was, but it
was all information that I received. And so you know,
at that time, the US Attorney's office was in the
same building as the court and at the time when
this incident occurred, when they were in troll, they would
(04:54):
have like this big cart they put all their documents
and exhibit on, and they'd wheel it from their offices
to the courtroom when they were enthralled. And at the
end of the court day, between the courtroom and the
US Attorney's office, it was discovered that the money had disappeared,
(05:19):
and it presumably happened between that courtroom, or maybe someone
could have gotten the money off the cart. So I
know that in the courthouse, not only did the US
Attorney's office or Debaggio believed that Jonathan took the money,
but so did people in that courthouse. I'm sure the
(05:41):
consensus was that people believed that the money went missing
because of Jonathan just.
Speaker 6 (05:48):
Sticks in my mind. He wouldn't take a lot to
take the test. And what did you read into that, Well,
he's the one who took them. He was the one
who grabbed the money. I mean, I just slowed down
in my mind about that.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
What do you remember about kind of the talk around
the courthouse.
Speaker 6 (06:06):
Well, basically, whoever it was that told me as far
as I was concerned, ended there.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Of course, when you come right down to it, it
didn't really matter what the rumors were or the scuttle
butt was. There were, in fact, only a handful of
people in the room where it happened, and three of
them spoke to us for the first time on record.
The judge who presided over the trial, Andre Davis, Jonathan
Luna's co counsul Jackie Rodriguez Costs, and the man who
(06:44):
stole the money in the first place, Naco Brown and
who believed his attorney Ken Ravenel, perhaps even working in
concert with Jonathan Luna, stole it from the court. But
when I tendered Nako's theory to Judge Davis, his reaction
action was, well, visceral, Ken.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Couldn't have gotten within one hundred feet of that money
once it left the courtroom. And by the way, you know,
it was not a small package. It wasn't going in
anybody's briefcase. Okay, whoever took it, who knows. But it
wasn't going in a small suitcase or a satchel. Well,
of course, if it was broken open, who knows.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
But you're talking like a trash bag some of people.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
Yeah, yeah, it was straight back, but you know, you
could see through it. You could see through it. It
was bigger than a basketball. It was bigger than a
beach ball. As I recall, I mean again, thirty six
thousand in tens and twenties.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
You know, it's a lot of cash, a lot of cash.
In your three h two. When they interviewed about the
missing money, you called the case something like a shit show.
They redacted it, so you know, I said, a man
after my own heart, I said, I remember this case.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
It was a reaction.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
I'm guessing that's.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
What that was.
Speaker 9 (08:07):
Guilty as charged.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
I think that had to do. You mentioned the you know,
the escape attempts with the hack saws, You mentioned the
crazy costumes, You mentioned the please when you think about
it as such a shit show, are those the elements
of it, or should we add onto it the missing.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
Money that too, all of the above, and you refreshed
my recollection when you sent me the doctor sheet. I
was reminded he tried to fire a Ravenel and I
think he tried to fire a Ravenel more than once.
So that's what made the case whatever it was. I
called it in that three h two talking to that agent.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Yeah, I'm gonna guess it was shit show. That's how
it really. So let's talk about the big thing that
happened after the trial. Let's kind of go through it sequentially.
Speaker 4 (08:59):
So our recollection is that near the end of the trial,
what Jonathan and his colleague did was they put the
case agent on the stand and then there came a
moment when I guess Jonathan or the other assistant reached
down in this box and pulls out this. I think
(09:19):
there were three shrink wrapped in plastic packages of US currency,
and they sort of you know, this was like show
and tell. This was see ladies in general of the jury,
we got these guys because here's the money that they took.
The whole thing took probably five minutes at the most.
I mean, all he did was set it on a
(09:41):
desktop in front of the witness chair, and so he
walked over he put it there, and you know, mister agent,
can you tell the ladies and jury what that is?
And I remember thinking to myself, everybody can see what
it is. This is a shrink wrap package of US currency.
And then he went back in the box and the
(10:01):
government's case came to an end. And I think it
was the next day that I learned from my courtroom
Deputy judge, you're not going to believe this. I'll believe anything,
because anything can happen. What the money is missing? Said,
what do you mean the money is missing? What are
you talking about that the money that they introduced an
(10:24):
evidence is missing? Well, you know, the invest is history.
And eventually, of course, the FBI opened an investigation, and
I was interviewed. Everybody in the courthouse was interviewed. And
my understanding is that, I guess, except for the judges,
everybody they interviewed. They question, are you willing to take
(10:48):
a polygraph on this matter? And to my knowledge, everybody
said yes. But I don't think they ever developed a
strong suspect.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
The insinuation, of course, was that Jonathan was somehow involved
and I'm just wondering, how does that strike you as
someone who was in that trial, knew Jonathan about his
character and so forth.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
Honestly, it is I almost said inconceivable, but that would
be an exaggeration, because honestly, at my age, with my experience,
I have to say nothing as inconceivable. But I can't
imagine he was a genuine individual. He struck me as
(11:29):
a person of deep integrity, of a true public servant.
It would take an awful lot to persuade me that
Jonathan was involved in the disappearance of that money, and
it just didn't strike me as possible.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
So if the judge was right in his assessment that
Jonathan wouldn't have taken the money by nature, and Ken
Ravenal couldn't have taken the money because it was too bulky,
then who took it? There was one other attorney in
the courtroom for Naco Brown's trial who might be able
to answer that question for us, his co counsel, Jackie
(12:11):
Rodriguez Costs, and as luck would have it, she agreed
to tell us her story for the first time publicly.
Speaker 9 (12:19):
I've never had a kids where we actually had money
like this sealed.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
I remember being surprised when he brought the evidence in
from the FBI and.
Speaker 9 (12:26):
Was like, Oh my god, we have the actual money bags,
you know.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
But in any event, the evidence in the case included
seven bags of money that were seized during a search,
and the important thing about it was that we could
trace that money to one or more of the bank
robberies because of the serial numbers of the bills.
Speaker 7 (12:46):
Can you describe the physical bags of money?
Speaker 3 (12:50):
They were clear, I want to say somewhere between were
like eighteen inches I want to say, maybe in length,
and then maybe a ten inches with I think.
Speaker 9 (13:02):
You know when you see a mate and you get
all the air out of it. They were like that,
and they were clear plastic.
Speaker 7 (13:09):
Do you remember at what point they went missing?
Speaker 9 (13:12):
Yeah? I do. I'm positive about that.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
So I do remember clearly that when the trial ended
and the case was submitted to the jury, it is
customary for the USA and the defense attorney and the
clerk of the court to go over the exhibit list
to make.
Speaker 9 (13:31):
Sure that the court has all.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Of the exhibits that have been admitted into evidence, and
that those exhibits are going to be available for.
Speaker 9 (13:38):
The jury to look at.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Disgusts during the course of their deliberations, and so I
remember that happening and all of the exhibits being there.
And I also specifically remember at the end of the trial,
after the guilty verdict was heard, and now we are
receiving the evidence back from the clerk's office, going over
(14:00):
the list of exhibits and checking off every exhibit that
was on that card, because I want to make sure
that the clerk is giving me every single exhibit back,
and so every single exhibit was on there.
Speaker 9 (14:16):
I would not have left the courtroom.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Without an exhibit, and I kept that list. I went
over that list and I put the checkmarks next to
each exhibit. And I remember when this whole thing happened
that the money went missing.
Speaker 9 (14:33):
In my mind, to me, it went missing sometime after that.
Speaker 7 (14:42):
So where would it have gone, so you check off it.
Speaker 9 (14:45):
Went into that evidence room.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
We have our little cart that has wheels, and as
she's giving me back the exhibits, I'm checking them up
on the cart YEP seven G seven F seven it
was I think it was seven.
Speaker 9 (14:59):
I don't remember whatever. I think the exhibit numbers were.
Those bags were seven and there seven. I think I forget.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
So as she's giving me and we're marking off the exhibits,
it went on the car and we wheeled it out anyway,
it went on the car.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
And the interesting thing was the we she was referring
to was not her and Jonathan, but her and a
young FBI agent named Tony Capano.
Speaker 9 (15:22):
And I remember Tony and I willed it out of
the courtroom.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
We willed out that car from the courtroom and we're
wheeling it.
Speaker 9 (15:29):
You asked me about the proximity, Jody, it was not far.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Like we come out of the courtroom and we went
like half a hallway and then into the entrance to
our office.
Speaker 9 (15:38):
And once you enter our office, that evidence room was like.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
To the left, like shortly thereafter on the same hallway
right there on the left. And so we're coming back
and we're about to enter our space and he's like, oh,
I forgot my time lapse video machine or something in
the courtroom and it belonged to the FBI, and you know,
I lose, and I'm like, okay, well, let's go go
back and get your video time left video time machine.
(16:02):
And I went on like I didn't wait for him
in the whole way. I opened the door to my office.
I told him, I said, I'll put it in the
trial prep room while I locked the door, and he
had the key so he could get in. So I
opened the door, I wheeled it into the trial prep room.
I locked the door and I left.
Speaker 9 (16:19):
We were dune. I wasn't gonna do anything more. Yeah,
there's nothing else for me to him.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
At that point, we had a verdict this is done
and what he needed to come back pick up the
evidence and then bring it back to his evidence room
in the FBI office.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
And Jackie cost knew a little something about the Baltimore
FBI evidence room since she was married to a Baltimore
FBI agent.
Speaker 7 (16:46):
So when was it determined that there was money missing?
Speaker 6 (16:49):
Then?
Speaker 9 (16:50):
I didn't find out it was my missing until the
next day. I took the next day off. One of
my best friends was in from Puerto Rico.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
We were in DC sight seeing most of the day
and I called my husband just to check in, Hey,
we're still in DC and you know whatever.
Speaker 9 (17:05):
And he was like, oh my god, thank god you
call me. The FBI is looking for you.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Oh, that's a really weird thing for your FBI husband
to tell you right. I'm like what He's like, Yeah,
the FBI is looking for you. There's been an issue.
They need to talk to you. You need to call
them right away.
Speaker 9 (17:21):
And he gave me the name of an agent.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
Of course, I called him right away, and I think
that might have been the first time he said, you know,
some of this money has gone missing.
Speaker 9 (17:30):
I need to get a statement from you. And I
was like, what.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
So what I learned later was that when Tony went
to check the bags into evidence, there were six and
one was missing.
Speaker 9 (17:42):
But I learned that later through you know, second hand.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
So somewhere in between the trial prep room and the
FBI evidence while is when it went missing.
Speaker 9 (17:52):
That's what That's what I believe.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
I'm conscious that those seven bags poting to my list.
Speaker 9 (17:58):
Were on that card.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
So you know now that one of the things that
has been floated out there by the FBI is this
dark kin that Jonathan somehow took the money, had.
Speaker 9 (18:11):
Something to do with it. Jonathan wasn't with us.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
You're clear that there was no way that Jonathan had
anything to do with that missing money.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
I have absolutely zero reason to think that Jonathan had
anything to do with the missing money.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
What about the defense attorney. Would they have had access
to that money?
Speaker 9 (18:35):
No, I don't think so.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
No, it would never have been in the custody of
the attorney, the defense attorney.
Speaker 9 (18:41):
Were you the only lawyers using that particular room. We
were the only ones using the peticgar room, and so
you were locking the room. Who else would have access
to So here's the thing.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
This is something I learned later. So mind you, I've
been in Baltimore a little bit earlier. But I thought
out later that other people had keys to that trial
prep room.
Speaker 9 (19:04):
I was not aware of that.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
I don't think Jonathan was aware of that that other
people had keys to that room.
Speaker 9 (19:10):
Our impression was that we had the key to that room.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
I left the office after I wieled the evidence in.
But Jonathan wasn't there when I wieled that evidence into
that trial prep room, and Tony couldn't have taken more
than like whatever, like what five minutes to go back
into the courtroom, grab a VCR and come back.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
You know, Of all the people associated with the missing money,
Jackie costs his assessment, as she had the chain of
custody of the money after trial, carried the most weight
with me. But it also had to carry weight with
the Feds because it was not only given under oath,
(19:49):
but strapped to their machine.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
I was polygraphed, as we all were, right, anyone who
was in contact with that money where automatically looked at
as suspects, and we were all interviewed, and you were
all polygraphed.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
I think so if, as Costs testified under oath, this
money went missing after it was locked up in the
US attorney's trial prep room, then three things were true. First,
the list of suspects must now almost exclusively consist of
federal law enforcement personnel. Second, those same law enforcement personnel
(20:25):
were responsible not only for investigating themselves for the missing money,
but for determining who was responsible for killing Jonathan a
year later. And third, those same federal law enforcement personnel
were also responsible for leaking disparaging information about Jonathan Luna
to the Baltimore Sun.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Never occurred to me for a single second that Jonathan
had anything to do with the disappearance of that mine.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
And what's so unfortunate about that, Jackie, is that what
has been painted in the newspapers right is this direct
tie between Jonathan's fear of being outed as the criminal
in the missing money case leading to this breakdown to
where he killed himself.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
You know, I remember Jonathan as an unbelievably committed father.
There's just not any part of me that could possibly
believe that he would have abandoned his children in that
manner and put something like that on them. So there
was nothing he ever said or did that would indicate
(21:32):
any sort of suicidal tendency or concern, at least to
me and the person that I knew.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
The FBI investigation into who took the money took well
over a year. They interviewed at least eighty four people
and came to no definitive conclusion and no charges.
Speaker 7 (21:56):
Do you have a theory about.
Speaker 9 (21:58):
What happened to the money? I have no idea. You know,
I don't have all the facts.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
I wasn't privy to the investigation, and so I hate
to comment on something like that when I don't have
all the facts. You know, I've told you what I did.
I know the agent had access to the money. It's
strange to me. I've said this before, and how do
you leave that room and not know you don't have selling.
Speaker 9 (22:20):
Backs with you? You know, to me, that's a little
difficult to believe.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
On the other hand, he was a young, inexperienced agent,
and I've seen young inexperienced agents do a lot of
knucklehead banks, not necessarily with any sort of malice or intention.
Speaker 9 (22:37):
But I don't have a conclusive theory ast to what
I happened too that money.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
But it always did bug me that it was the
FBI office in Baltimore conducting this investigation.
Speaker 9 (22:48):
Because one of the people who touched the money and who.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Was closest to it and obviously had the opportunity and ability.
Speaker 9 (22:57):
Was the FBI agent himself. I'm saying he's responsible.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Where I'm saying is if you're looking at the scene,
you're going to look at me.
Speaker 9 (23:04):
You're going to look at the FBI agent who was
with me.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Who later turned in six bags of money in So
how you leave that twild prep room and not go
one to three four foy sixty seven, I don't know.
They should have been accused. It should have been a
different office doing this investimation.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Next time on the season finale of Somebody Somewhere, I go.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Back to my experience investigating violent crimes. You have to
let you out and speak to you.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
I'm really curious to know whether he ever admitted his involvement.
Does he admit his involvement to you?
Speaker 2 (23:44):
He does?
Speaker 10 (23:45):
Okay, okay, there was a whisper campaign about his personal life.
And whoever knows anyone right what they do in their
personal time. Sixth grader could have figured out you should
ask more quest how could that be?
Speaker 6 (24:04):
And that's what our purpose is here.
Speaker 11 (24:08):
It goes the devil telling me to lie again, says
I'm around me, says it's all right to Britain.
Speaker 4 (24:23):
That you can get more then you give.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Somebody Somewhere is a production of Rainstream Media Incorporated. Sound design,
editing and mixing has been provided by Resonate Recordings. Original
score and voiceover work provided by Hallie Payne. Artwork provided
by Evan McGlenn and Kendall Payne. If you have any
information regarding the Jonathan Luna case, please contact us via
(24:49):
our website sbswpodcast dot com. And finally, if you enjoyed
this podcast, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts.
It really helps and we really appreciate it. Thank you
for listening.
Speaker 11 (25:07):
Dear God, I hate you say I'm sory? Would I
just want love.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
Even still love?
Speaker 5 (25:23):
Money?
Speaker 4 (25:26):
I need more money
Somebody Somewhere as a production of Rainstream Media Incorporated. This
podcast investigates the unsolved death of federal prosecutor Jonathan Luna
in two thousand and three. It is a true story,
but the opinions of the hosts and interviewees are simply
that opinions, not facts, and the credibility of the witnesses
and what they say is to be determined by the listener.
(00:27):
Everyone is presumed innocent until proven otherwise in a court
of law. Previously on Somebody Somewhere.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Ravenel's accused of helping his client, a drug dealer, and
others in a criminal conspiracy evade law enforcement.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
He Lily bought I'm not he Lily bought another briefcase.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
Chen came to me some time ago to ask whether
I would testify as a character witness, But.
Speaker 5 (01:00):
I guess too excited that it's not an enormous surprise
to hear that he's involved in a case.
Speaker 6 (01:06):
On the other side.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Now, this is episode eight of season three, The Missing Money.
I'm your host David Payne. It's been ten years as
a federal prosecutors found deadna Boro, Lecaster County.
Speaker 6 (01:29):
We will find out who did this?
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Was he trying to stage some sort of attack and
went too far.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
There are a lot of disparate facts surrounding the death
of Jonathan Luna that either support the theory that he
was murdered or he killed himself, But there is one
fact out there that uniquely supplies oxygen to both theories.
Coclusion of Naco Brown's trial for bank robbery, thirty six
thousand dollars of shrink wrap cash evidence went missing, and
(02:08):
that fact, which occurred almost a year before he died,
sits at the center of the controversy as to whether
he killed himself to avoid being outed as the thief,
or if he was killed by those who actually took
the money. Former Baltimore Sun reporter Gail Gibson recalls how
this fact played out in the reporting and the investigation.
Speaker 5 (02:29):
From the very first night Jonathan went missing. It would
have been irresponsible as a journalist to not also put
into conversation this earlier case. It had not been very
long prior where the cash evidence handled had gone missing.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Can you tell up what you remember about that, how
it happened, who the players were, how Jonathan was connected.
Speaker 7 (02:51):
And so forth.
Speaker 5 (02:52):
Sure, so that was a bank robbery case that Jonathan
was prosecuting, and that stayed as a shadow throughout this investigation.
There were questions, you know, is this one of the
reasons that the US Attorney's Office doesn't want to talk
that much about this case or doesn't want to make
public all of their findings in this case. And so
(03:13):
when the theory of the suicide first became public, it
was another point to look back at what questions were
still there around the bank robbery case and the missing
evidence and could that have driven a person to feel
like they didn't have other choices other than to end
(03:34):
their life.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
And the samily in fact to making a connection between
the bank robbery case and Jonathan's death was that he
was reportedly scheduled to take a polygraph about the missing
money two days after he died. So if Jonathan knew
what happened, if he knew, for instance, that an FBI
agent or a courtroom clerk or a defense attorney had
(04:03):
taken the money, he was a threat to them.
Speaker 8 (04:07):
But if he knew he.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Was going to get caught, well, better to stage an
attack on himself for sympathy, take his life and maintain
his honor for his family and after his death. With
no official resolution as to who took the money or how,
people around the courthouse would make up their own minds
on whatever scraps of information they would hear. Defense attorney
(04:29):
Archie Tuminelli.
Speaker 8 (04:31):
What I know is this, and I can't tell you
how I learned exactly what the source was, but it
was all information that I received. And so you know,
at that time, the US Attorney's office was in the
same building as the court and at the time when
this incident occurred, when they were in troll, they would
(04:54):
have like this big cart they put all their documents
and exhibit on, and they'd wheel it from their offices
to the courtroom when they were enthralled. And at the
end of the court day, between the courtroom and the
US Attorney's office, it was discovered that the money had disappeared,
(05:19):
and it presumably happened between that courtroom, or maybe someone
could have gotten the money off the cart. So I
know that in the courthouse, not only did the US
Attorney's office or Debaggio believed that Jonathan took the money,
but so did people in that courthouse. I'm sure the
(05:41):
consensus was that people believed that the money went missing
because of Jonathan just.
Speaker 6 (05:48):
Sticks in my mind. He wouldn't take a lot to
take the test. And what did you read into that, Well,
he's the one who took them. He was the one
who grabbed the money. I mean, I just slowed down
in my mind about that.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
What do you remember about kind of the talk around
the courthouse.
Speaker 6 (06:06):
Well, basically, whoever it was that told me as far
as I was concerned, ended there.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Of course, when you come right down to it, it
didn't really matter what the rumors were or the scuttle
butt was. There were, in fact, only a handful of
people in the room where it happened, and three of
them spoke to us for the first time on record.
The judge who presided over the trial, Andre Davis, Jonathan
Luna's co counsul Jackie Rodriguez Costs, and the man who
(06:44):
stole the money in the first place, Naco Brown and
who believed his attorney Ken Ravenel, perhaps even working in
concert with Jonathan Luna, stole it from the court. But
when I tendered Nako's theory to Judge Davis, his reaction
action was, well, visceral, Ken.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Couldn't have gotten within one hundred feet of that money
once it left the courtroom. And by the way, you know,
it was not a small package. It wasn't going in
anybody's briefcase. Okay, whoever took it, who knows. But it
wasn't going in a small suitcase or a satchel. Well,
of course, if it was broken open, who knows.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
But you're talking like a trash bag some of people.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
Yeah, yeah, it was straight back, but you know, you
could see through it. You could see through it. It
was bigger than a basketball. It was bigger than a
beach ball. As I recall, I mean again, thirty six
thousand in tens and twenties.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
You know, it's a lot of cash, a lot of cash.
In your three h two. When they interviewed about the
missing money, you called the case something like a shit show.
They redacted it, so you know, I said, a man
after my own heart, I said, I remember this case.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
It was a reaction.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
I'm guessing that's.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
What that was.
Speaker 9 (08:07):
Guilty as charged.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
I think that had to do. You mentioned the you know,
the escape attempts with the hack saws, You mentioned the
crazy costumes, You mentioned the please when you think about
it as such a shit show, are those the elements
of it, or should we add onto it the missing.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
Money that too, all of the above, and you refreshed
my recollection when you sent me the doctor sheet. I
was reminded he tried to fire a Ravenel and I
think he tried to fire a Ravenel more than once.
So that's what made the case whatever it was. I
called it in that three h two talking to that agent.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Yeah, I'm gonna guess it was shit show. That's how
it really. So let's talk about the big thing that
happened after the trial. Let's kind of go through it sequentially.
Speaker 4 (08:59):
So our recollection is that near the end of the trial,
what Jonathan and his colleague did was they put the
case agent on the stand and then there came a
moment when I guess Jonathan or the other assistant reached
down in this box and pulls out this. I think
(09:19):
there were three shrink wrapped in plastic packages of US currency,
and they sort of you know, this was like show
and tell. This was see ladies in general of the jury,
we got these guys because here's the money that they took.
The whole thing took probably five minutes at the most.
I mean, all he did was set it on a
(09:41):
desktop in front of the witness chair, and so he
walked over he put it there, and you know, mister agent,
can you tell the ladies and jury what that is?
And I remember thinking to myself, everybody can see what
it is. This is a shrink wrap package of US currency.
And then he went back in the box and the
(10:01):
government's case came to an end. And I think it
was the next day that I learned from my courtroom
Deputy judge, you're not going to believe this. I'll believe anything,
because anything can happen. What the money is missing? Said,
what do you mean the money is missing? What are
you talking about that the money that they introduced an
(10:24):
evidence is missing? Well, you know, the invest is history.
And eventually, of course, the FBI opened an investigation, and
I was interviewed. Everybody in the courthouse was interviewed. And
my understanding is that, I guess, except for the judges,
everybody they interviewed. They question, are you willing to take
(10:48):
a polygraph on this matter? And to my knowledge, everybody
said yes. But I don't think they ever developed a
strong suspect.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
The insinuation, of course, was that Jonathan was somehow involved
and I'm just wondering, how does that strike you as
someone who was in that trial, knew Jonathan about his
character and so forth.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
Honestly, it is I almost said inconceivable, but that would
be an exaggeration, because honestly, at my age, with my experience,
I have to say nothing as inconceivable. But I can't
imagine he was a genuine individual. He struck me as
(11:29):
a person of deep integrity, of a true public servant.
It would take an awful lot to persuade me that
Jonathan was involved in the disappearance of that money, and
it just didn't strike me as possible.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
So if the judge was right in his assessment that
Jonathan wouldn't have taken the money by nature, and Ken
Ravenal couldn't have taken the money because it was too bulky,
then who took it? There was one other attorney in
the courtroom for Naco Brown's trial who might be able
to answer that question for us, his co counsel, Jackie
(12:11):
Rodriguez Costs, and as luck would have it, she agreed
to tell us her story for the first time publicly.
Speaker 9 (12:19):
I've never had a kids where we actually had money
like this sealed.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
I remember being surprised when he brought the evidence in
from the FBI and.
Speaker 9 (12:26):
Was like, Oh my god, we have the actual money bags,
you know.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
But in any event, the evidence in the case included
seven bags of money that were seized during a search,
and the important thing about it was that we could
trace that money to one or more of the bank
robberies because of the serial numbers of the bills.
Speaker 7 (12:46):
Can you describe the physical bags of money?
Speaker 3 (12:50):
They were clear, I want to say somewhere between were
like eighteen inches I want to say, maybe in length,
and then maybe a ten inches with I think.
Speaker 9 (13:02):
You know when you see a mate and you get
all the air out of it. They were like that,
and they were clear plastic.
Speaker 7 (13:09):
Do you remember at what point they went missing?
Speaker 9 (13:12):
Yeah? I do. I'm positive about that.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
So I do remember clearly that when the trial ended
and the case was submitted to the jury, it is
customary for the USA and the defense attorney and the
clerk of the court to go over the exhibit list
to make.
Speaker 9 (13:31):
Sure that the court has all.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Of the exhibits that have been admitted into evidence, and
that those exhibits are going to be available for.
Speaker 9 (13:38):
The jury to look at.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Disgusts during the course of their deliberations, and so I
remember that happening and all of the exhibits being there.
And I also specifically remember at the end of the trial,
after the guilty verdict was heard, and now we are
receiving the evidence back from the clerk's office, going over
(14:00):
the list of exhibits and checking off every exhibit that
was on that card, because I want to make sure
that the clerk is giving me every single exhibit back,
and so every single exhibit was on there.
Speaker 9 (14:16):
I would not have left the courtroom.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Without an exhibit, and I kept that list. I went
over that list and I put the checkmarks next to
each exhibit. And I remember when this whole thing happened
that the money went missing.
Speaker 9 (14:33):
In my mind, to me, it went missing sometime after that.
Speaker 7 (14:42):
So where would it have gone, so you check off it.
Speaker 9 (14:45):
Went into that evidence room.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
We have our little cart that has wheels, and as
she's giving me back the exhibits, I'm checking them up
on the cart YEP seven G seven F seven it
was I think it was seven.
Speaker 9 (14:59):
I don't remember whatever. I think the exhibit numbers were.
Those bags were seven and there seven. I think I forget.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
So as she's giving me and we're marking off the exhibits,
it went on the car and we wheeled it out anyway,
it went on the car.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
And the interesting thing was the we she was referring
to was not her and Jonathan, but her and a
young FBI agent named Tony Capano.
Speaker 9 (15:22):
And I remember Tony and I willed it out of
the courtroom.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
We willed out that car from the courtroom and we're
wheeling it.
Speaker 9 (15:29):
You asked me about the proximity, Jody, it was not far.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Like we come out of the courtroom and we went
like half a hallway and then into the entrance to
our office.
Speaker 9 (15:38):
And once you enter our office, that evidence room was like.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
To the left, like shortly thereafter on the same hallway
right there on the left. And so we're coming back
and we're about to enter our space and he's like, oh,
I forgot my time lapse video machine or something in
the courtroom and it belonged to the FBI, and you know,
I lose, and I'm like, okay, well, let's go go
back and get your video time left video time machine.
(16:02):
And I went on like I didn't wait for him
in the whole way. I opened the door to my office.
I told him, I said, I'll put it in the
trial prep room while I locked the door, and he
had the key so he could get in. So I
opened the door, I wheeled it into the trial prep room.
I locked the door and I left.
Speaker 9 (16:19):
We were dune. I wasn't gonna do anything more. Yeah,
there's nothing else for me to him.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
At that point, we had a verdict this is done
and what he needed to come back pick up the
evidence and then bring it back to his evidence room
in the FBI office.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
And Jackie cost knew a little something about the Baltimore
FBI evidence room since she was married to a Baltimore
FBI agent.
Speaker 7 (16:46):
So when was it determined that there was money missing?
Speaker 6 (16:49):
Then?
Speaker 9 (16:50):
I didn't find out it was my missing until the
next day. I took the next day off. One of
my best friends was in from Puerto Rico.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
We were in DC sight seeing most of the day
and I called my husband just to check in, Hey,
we're still in DC and you know whatever.
Speaker 9 (17:05):
And he was like, oh my god, thank god you
call me. The FBI is looking for you.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Oh, that's a really weird thing for your FBI husband
to tell you right. I'm like what He's like, Yeah,
the FBI is looking for you. There's been an issue.
They need to talk to you. You need to call
them right away.
Speaker 9 (17:21):
And he gave me the name of an agent.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
Of course, I called him right away, and I think
that might have been the first time he said, you know,
some of this money has gone missing.
Speaker 9 (17:30):
I need to get a statement from you. And I
was like, what.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
So what I learned later was that when Tony went
to check the bags into evidence, there were six and
one was missing.
Speaker 9 (17:42):
But I learned that later through you know, second hand.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
So somewhere in between the trial prep room and the
FBI evidence while is when it went missing.
Speaker 9 (17:52):
That's what That's what I believe.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
I'm conscious that those seven bags poting to my list.
Speaker 9 (17:58):
Were on that card.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
So you know now that one of the things that
has been floated out there by the FBI is this
dark kin that Jonathan somehow took the money, had.
Speaker 9 (18:11):
Something to do with it. Jonathan wasn't with us.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
You're clear that there was no way that Jonathan had
anything to do with that missing money.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
I have absolutely zero reason to think that Jonathan had
anything to do with the missing money.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
What about the defense attorney. Would they have had access
to that money?
Speaker 9 (18:35):
No, I don't think so.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
No, it would never have been in the custody of
the attorney, the defense attorney.
Speaker 9 (18:41):
Were you the only lawyers using that particular room. We
were the only ones using the peticgar room, and so
you were locking the room. Who else would have access
to So here's the thing.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
This is something I learned later. So mind you, I've
been in Baltimore a little bit earlier. But I thought
out later that other people had keys to that trial
prep room.
Speaker 9 (19:04):
I was not aware of that.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
I don't think Jonathan was aware of that that other
people had keys to that room.
Speaker 9 (19:10):
Our impression was that we had the key to that room.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
I left the office after I wieled the evidence in.
But Jonathan wasn't there when I wieled that evidence into
that trial prep room, and Tony couldn't have taken more
than like whatever, like what five minutes to go back
into the courtroom, grab a VCR and come back.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
You know, Of all the people associated with the missing money,
Jackie costs his assessment, as she had the chain of
custody of the money after trial, carried the most weight
with me. But it also had to carry weight with
the Feds because it was not only given under oath,
(19:49):
but strapped to their machine.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
I was polygraphed, as we all were, right, anyone who
was in contact with that money where automatically looked at
as suspects, and we were all interviewed, and you were
all polygraphed.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
I think so if, as Costs testified under oath, this
money went missing after it was locked up in the
US attorney's trial prep room, then three things were true. First,
the list of suspects must now almost exclusively consist of
federal law enforcement personnel. Second, those same law enforcement personnel
(20:25):
were responsible not only for investigating themselves for the missing money,
but for determining who was responsible for killing Jonathan a
year later. And third, those same federal law enforcement personnel
were also responsible for leaking disparaging information about Jonathan Luna
to the Baltimore Sun.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Never occurred to me for a single second that Jonathan
had anything to do with the disappearance of that mine.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
And what's so unfortunate about that, Jackie, is that what
has been painted in the newspapers right is this direct
tie between Jonathan's fear of being outed as the criminal
in the missing money case leading to this breakdown to
where he killed himself.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
You know, I remember Jonathan as an unbelievably committed father.
There's just not any part of me that could possibly
believe that he would have abandoned his children in that
manner and put something like that on them. So there
was nothing he ever said or did that would indicate
(21:32):
any sort of suicidal tendency or concern, at least to
me and the person that I knew.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
The FBI investigation into who took the money took well
over a year. They interviewed at least eighty four people
and came to no definitive conclusion and no charges.
Speaker 7 (21:56):
Do you have a theory about.
Speaker 9 (21:58):
What happened to the money? I have no idea. You know,
I don't have all the facts.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
I wasn't privy to the investigation, and so I hate
to comment on something like that when I don't have
all the facts. You know, I've told you what I did.
I know the agent had access to the money. It's
strange to me. I've said this before, and how do
you leave that room and not know you don't have selling.
Speaker 9 (22:20):
Backs with you? You know, to me, that's a little
difficult to believe.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
On the other hand, he was a young, inexperienced agent,
and I've seen young inexperienced agents do a lot of
knucklehead banks, not necessarily with any sort of malice or intention.
Speaker 9 (22:37):
But I don't have a conclusive theory ast to what
I happened too that money.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
But it always did bug me that it was the
FBI office in Baltimore conducting this investigation.
Speaker 9 (22:48):
Because one of the people who touched the money and who.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Was closest to it and obviously had the opportunity and ability.
Speaker 9 (22:57):
Was the FBI agent himself. I'm saying he's responsible.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Where I'm saying is if you're looking at the scene,
you're going to look at me.
Speaker 9 (23:04):
You're going to look at the FBI agent who was
with me.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Who later turned in six bags of money in So
how you leave that twild prep room and not go
one to three four foy sixty seven, I don't know.
They should have been accused. It should have been a
different office doing this investimation.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Next time on the season finale of Somebody Somewhere, I go.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Back to my experience investigating violent crimes. You have to
let you out and speak to you.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
I'm really curious to know whether he ever admitted his involvement.
Does he admit his involvement to you?
Speaker 2 (23:44):
He does?
Speaker 10 (23:45):
Okay, okay, there was a whisper campaign about his personal life.
And whoever knows anyone right what they do in their
personal time. Sixth grader could have figured out you should
ask more quest how could that be?
Speaker 6 (24:04):
And that's what our purpose is here.
Speaker 11 (24:08):
It goes the devil telling me to lie again, says
I'm around me, says it's all right to Britain.
Speaker 4 (24:23):
That you can get more then you give.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Somebody Somewhere is a production of Rainstream Media Incorporated. Sound design,
editing and mixing has been provided by Resonate Recordings. Original
score and voiceover work provided by Hallie Payne. Artwork provided
by Evan McGlenn and Kendall Payne. If you have any
information regarding the Jonathan Luna case, please contact us via
(24:49):
our website sbswpodcast dot com. And finally, if you enjoyed
this podcast, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts.
It really helps and we really appreciate it. Thank you
for listening.
Speaker 11 (25:07):
Dear God, I hate you say I'm sory? Would I
just want love.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
Even still love?
Speaker 5 (25:23):
Money?
Speaker 4 (25:26):
I need more money
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