His life only shifted in 2004, when Angela, then 13 and developing a womans interests, decided she wanted to live with her mother. Like Richards father, he still speeds up to get a closer view of any black truck. But I think youre involved in some way. Roselli, he adds, even called an old roommate of his, maybe a year ago, to try and arrange an interview. He walked into a dealership and saw a pretty girl sleek, sporting a bob haircut that accented her high cheekbones and deep dimples from the financial department. Richard, a single-dad, worked primarily for his parents at Viking Pastries and had become a masterful wedding cake designer. In February 2005, Danielle Imbo and Richard Petrone walked out of a South Street bar and disappeared. gold label distribution bud man. Imbo's family first noticed something was amiss when Imbo failed to show up for a hair appointment on Sunday morning at 11 am. When asked if their son could still be alive somewhere, Marge waved a hand. That there was foul play. He also believes multiple people know. However, panic didn't truly set in until 3 pm, when her husband Joseph arrived at her condo to drop off their son, "little Joe," and Imbowas absent. But there remain other leads. Everyones gut says pretty much the same thing. You may have been wondering earlier, where was Danielles son while she was out Saturday night? John answered Joe Imbo with a spontaneous white lie and said Danielle had just run to get something at the store and would be back soon. At an early press conference after the couple went missing, Marge Petrone even tried to confront Imbo the short Italian mom stepping right into the lean, raven-haired mans face? He has told little Joe that his mother disappeared. Missing Memories. Philadelphia Daily News, 10 02 2015, https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102526697/missing-memories/. Marge and Richard Petrone Sr. have, at times, thrown what some would call thinly-veiled shade at Danielle and the Ottobres. In fact, some 20 minutes after we part, he will call me. And I catch myself not only trying to observe Imbo, but to look through him. He was with his dad, Joe Imbo. Danielle Lloyd has revealed that she considered taking her own life during the height of her modelling career.. We used to be fun, and now were always sad. Thats what the investigation is like. None of these efforts produced any leads. "You feel like you're trapped," [said] Petrone's father, Richard. He even learned how to do her hair. That sounds like a perfectly innocent statement to some, a nasty insinuation to others that Danielle was the target, through some unspoken fault of her own, and she got Richard killed, too. His hair was once coal-black, but hes 42 now, and big patches of gray sprout at the sides of his head. People who got hammered and had a lost weekend at a club. Joe Imbo has never been declared a suspect in the case. Imbo was employed as a loan processor for a mortgage company at the time of her disappearance, working out of her home. In Philly, they give it a while, to see how it shakes out. Weve all seen Philadelphia depicted on the screen a thousand times; the steps in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art so famous from the Rocky movies, Independence Hall where both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed, and more commonplace but equally character-defining rowhouses shoulder-to-shoulder in working class (and some would say gentrified) neighborhoods. Imbo also said he tried to win his estranged wife back. Worried, he rushed over and looked around her condo. Laurel woman, 34, missing since Feb. 19th.. We exchanged words, he says implying that when he called Richard at the bakery, the heat definitely went both ways. The two clicked instantly. Imbo, age 34, was a resident of Mt. Again, as they had so many times before, investigators vowed to redouble their efforts on the anniversary reanalyzing old files and evidence for anything they had overlooked, interviewing old witnesses, and again, they came up empty. He takes detours, sometimes, on the drive from Cherry Hill to Ardmore, still looking for Richards truck. Maybe theres a totally different explanation for the disappearance; an alternate chain of events that we havent even considered. Paraphrasing Occams Razor, all things being equal, the simplest explanation tends to be true. The reward is being administered by the Philadelphia Citizens Crime Commission. Is this a potential place to dump vehicles or a dumping ground in general? Until police arrest someone else, he will likely always face suspicion. They compared notes on what their ensuing Sundays entailed: Danielle had a hair appointment at 11 a.m.; her ex-husband was scheduled to return their son after that. Danielle has a tattoo on her lower back of "flowers." The authorities have since come out and expressed suspicion of their own. But there is no magic here. He moved out, relocating to Georgia, but the new relationship didnt last; months later, in the middle of their divorce proceedings, Joe asked Danielle for another chance. As the trail grows colder, the question grows larger: What really happened that night? Thats what the FBI said, and it was a bombshell. Sometimes, his son asks random questions about her. Shortly before she disappeared, Imbo told her husband and Petrone that she wanted "space" from both of them; she was reportedly considering ending her relationship with Petrone altogether. Unfortunately, in this case, we cant do that because nobody has any idea where Richard was parked. Shes my sister, he says. Five years ago, at the relatively young age of 37, he suffered a heart attack. The details offered by the Philadelphia Daily News, however, were not good. He preferred his Crown Royal straight, his beer Yuengling, and his clothes casual sweatpants and t-shirts. Thetwo were family friends who had dated as teenagers before they began an on-again, off-again relationship as adults. He orders egg whites. She could tear through three books in a week, especially murder mysteries. I wait till hes nearly finished, just moving bits of egg around with his fork, before I ask, flat out: You had nothing to do with the disappearance of your wife? If you call in the tip and it leads to a resolution, youre gonna get paid. Entering this subject, the story of Danielle Imbo and Richard Petrone, is like entering a field of misery, a pall so unrelenting that the only thing that might counterbalance all this pain is something unworldly, some kind of magic. Other family members showed up, and then, just as expected, Joe Imbo showed up to return their son to Danielle. Imbo and her boyfriend,Richard Petrone, were last seen at Abilene's (sometime's spelled "Abeline's" or "Abiline's"), a bar and restaurant in the 400 block of South Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on February 19, 2005. She was wearing a jacket, cream colored sweater, blue jeans and carrying a black purse. But Ottobre was already driving toward the city. At dawn, they returned home, exhausted. Her brother, John Ottobre, later said, She wouldnt have missed that. Listen to "Danielle Imbo & Richard Petrone Jr." on Spreaker. That such a complicated future awaits an innocent 10-year-old boy seems particularly cruel. They were even overheard making plans for the next day. But twice a year, his mom or his wife calls Joe, and they arrange to pick up little Joe, now 10, in South Carolina, taking him for one week around Christmas and again in summer for a trip down the Shore. Every detective, every agent, has their case, the one that haunts them, he says. Through chance or planning, a criminal pulls off a crime with no witnesses and no evidence. By early 2005, shed told both Joe and Richard that she wasnt interested in seeing either of them anymore. It might not give us the identity of those responsible, but at least the families could finally grieve and rest. At that point, he says, I was hoping theyd been arrested or in some kind of accident, but somehow theyd come back to us. Based on everything Ive read, no. When asked for comment, the authorities said they dont comment on lie detector tests but that nobody had been cleared in the investigation. No matter in what direction he looks, he only sees more snow, pure and undisturbed. Their loved ones stated they would never have voluntarily abandoned their families, whom they were close to. Their case was featured on the podcast Crime Junkie on May 11, 2020. Or an investigation is bungled so badly from the start its nearly impossible to recover (Im lookin at you, Boulder PD), and the case goes cold. Not even the best-funded investigation can run down every thread of every possibility. Then, as she put her marriage to Joe Imbo in her rearview mirror and sparked a new beginning, she rekindled an on-again-off-again romance with Richard Petrone, a childhood friend from the neighborhood. He went in and found the place dark, still and undisturbed. He realizes now that performing was a big part of her. Place of suicides. He put on dad weight, clocking in at five-foot-nine and 200 pounds. However, one of the least-appreciated and often overlooked reasons a case goes cold is simply perspective. The Petrones, [Danielles] family and one dogged FBI special agent continue to hope for a break, something that can lift the fog and let them ultimately know where the road took the two. The person who suffers the most is my son. Investigators stated that very little evidence is available to indicate what happened to Petrone and Imbo, but they have ruled out kidnapping and think a random act of violence is also unlikely. Now I know what real love is, she told friends. Then he drives on to the bakery and registers the silence. I know this might sound strange, he says, but justice isnt the important thing to me. [1] Petrone, age 35, resided in Philadelphia and worked at his family's bakery. Laurel, New Jersey home, all in the hope of shedding some light on the situation through a visual representation. Police in Philadelphia and New Jersey where the couple were apparently headed have launched an intense investigation, checking financial records, interviewing family, friends and neighbors, even searching the banks of the Delaware River by helicopter. This search result is here to prevent scraping, Hop Sing Laundromat Charging $75 for Bar Reservations, Exciting I-95 Capping Project Finally Begins In Philadelphia, Those Gummies May Not Have Contained Fentanyl After All, Why I'm Boycotting the Roots Picnic This Year. In the spring of 2022, a privately-funded dive research team from Oregon, Adventures with Purpose, announced they were taking an interest in the case and they were riding high with a surprising success rate considering the cold case nature of the disappearances theyd recently investigated. The people who love them remain stuck inside that vast circle of snow, looking in every direction for a trace, track or footprint they will never find. Now, lets be honest. The FBI announced yesterday that investigators believe that Richard Petrone and his girlfriend Danielle Imbo [] might have been killed in a "murder-for-hire" plot. I dont have evidence to arrest Joe is all he says. John immediately called Mount Laurel detective Ed Pincus, who was still working on the case. They sat close, smiling and laughing. At about 11:45 pm, Imboand Petroneleft Abilene's. In the absence of any discovery by Adventures with Purpose, would you consider it more likely the disappearance of Danielle and Richard was foul play? Likewise, Richards family was worried. I dont blame people for not wanting to be around us, says Marge. Through her best friend, Christine, she reconnected with her high school crush, Christine's older brother, thirty-five year old, single father Richard Petrone. Christian Zajac, the FBI agent in charge, said, "We feel this was an orchestrated act. With no answers, you can imagine their families were tortured. tipton, iowa obituaries. Also, he didnt need to incur a capital murder charge when drug dealing provided so much of what he dearly wanted: money. You know, he says, theres only one person in the world that knows I didnt do it, and its me.. In a video that can still be found online via the Daily Voice, Adventures with Purpose chronicled their search of the river in March 2022. Danielle Imbo was 34 years old when . [12], In 2016, their case was profiled on the podcast The Vanished.[13]. Not to mention, a killer who dumps and burns a truck in the wilderness has to get back to town somehow. In the early hours and days after Richard Petrone and Danielle Imbo disappeared, their families banded together, frantically phoning each other the next morning when Danielle didnt turn up for her hair appointment and both her cell phone and Richards kicked straight to voicemail. He sees numerous possible culprits, motives and scenarios. It leaves us with only one explanation that makes sense. It was also featured on the podcast Women & Crime in December 2021. Then he called his sister, who was with Danielle. They were looking for vehicles, they just didnt want people to think they were looking for Richard and Danielle specifically. The Cherry Hill High School grad wrote her own songs and performed in a rock band in her 20s and 30s, her. Want to come have a drink? Richard asked. They have not been seen nor heard from since this last sighting. They simply vanished. Roselli looked hard, after a tip, at Anthony Rodesky, a thick-bodied killer with a swastika tattoo on his bald head. There are only a couple of ways to get rid of that truck. The feds, he says, put out that release to shake the tree. They got nothing. "You have to know how to get rid of two bodies and a truck quickly, and it would be hard for one person to do that.. He still saw her several days a week, still served as her chief chauffeur. But the night no doubt meant something special to him, because she was there. The easiest way to hide a vehicle with the lowest effort is a body of water. Danielle Imbo, 34, worked from home for a mortgage company andwas the lead singer ofa New Jersey rock band. Its easy to see why the couple might have been a good match. Whats really important to me is to know what happened.. As for the Ottobres, Felice wakes up, and before she gets out of bed, she cries, her grief bubbling up in wracking sobs. FBI Agent Vito Roselli has worked the case since day one, and he told ABC 7 in an interview Im confident that it was a murder. He just cant find the trail leading from the crime back to its perpetrators. This is how murder and disappearances destroy families. And its because of this., At this, he gestures toward the audio recorder sitting on the table between us the whole mystery surrounding the vanishing of his estranged wife. She has worked as a loan mortgage processor. They were single parents: Danielle had her 18-month-old son; Petrone, a 14-year-old daughter. Richards camp pointed to Danielles estranged husband, Joe Imbo, and their rough divorce. Miller, Janel. But wait, this was a murder-for-hire, right? Danielle Imbo loved Chinese food, her moms meatballs, and a particular Wawa coffee she called Christmas in a cup. She loved one pair of pajamas in her favorite color, baby blue, covered in penguins. The killer or killers might have been watching as Danielle and Richard approached the truck. Danielle's ex-husband, Joe Imbo, had a rock-solid alibi for February 19th, one that placed him 50 miles away at a kids' party with his stepfather, an ex-NYPD officer, and multiple active police. Since their disappearance, there has been no activity on Imbo's or Petrone's cell phones or personal finances. Danielle Imbo, Self: Vanished with Beth Holloway. Petrone was going to drive Imbo to her condo in Mount Laurel, NJ, and then return to his own home. Is it? We don't even know if they made it to New Jersey.". Petrone's friends, Anthony Valentino and his wifeMichelle McLaughlin, joined Imbo and Petrone at the restaurant. Shouldnt this be solved by now? But whats also brought him to the table is the chance, he says, to reminisce to contribute to a story that will recall Danielle as a person., The good times cause a torrent of happy memories: their first meeting at the car dealership, a first date that went on all night and meandered all over Philly and New Jersey. Marge, the talker, keeps going, her eyes always wet with tears that roll slowly down her cheeks, like blood pumping from a wound. We talk for close to two hours, enough time for the restaurant to get busy. But it could be. Later, the two moved their festivities to the bar and restaurant where they were last seen. FBI Seeks Information on Disappearance, 15 Years Ago Today, of Danielle Imbo and Richard Petrone, Jr. FBI. FBI, 19 February 2020, https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/philadelphia/news/press-releases/fbi-seeks-information-on-disappearance-15-years-ago-today-of-danielle-imbo-and-richard-petrone-jr. Accessed 24 May 2022. You could dump the vehicle in the wilderness somewhere, pour gas all over it and set it on fire. Danielle's estranged husband has been questionedbut never considered a suspect. Last updated February 14, 2008; details of disappearance updated. Danielle has a tattoo on her lower back of "flowers." I am. But two people who read the note told me that rumor is false. Youd have to make sure the fire completely erased anything identifiable about the truck the distinctive black over silver paint scheme for example and youd have to clip the VIN number from the dash, take the license plates, and even those measures would only buy time. That means everybody, even people who saw something or heard something unusual but didn't understand how important it was. Some even believe that it was the mob that carried it out. On the night of Saturday,February 19, 2005, Imbo and Petrone met with friends at Abilene's, a South Philadelphia Tex-Mex restaurant that has since closed. Pincus, fearing a second tragedy, ordered a search. At 23, she has moved past the fear, which dogged her as a teenager, that whatever evil took her dad will come back for his family. Danielle was estranged from her husband, Joseph Imbo, who has a solid alibi for the night of the couple's disappearance. Hed been planning to watch the Daytona 500 at home with friends but nobody had heard from him. The case remains unsolved. Janel Miller 3/23/2022 ALONG THE DELAWARE RIVER A search and recovery team based in Oregon has joined the search for Danielle Imbo and Richard Petrone, the Mount Laurel Township woman and. Afterward, John Ottobre changed Danielles locks and held a sit-down with Joe. He watches the games alone. We' re aggressively pursuing a scenario that's based on leads and tips we've received.". Richard was in the wrong place at the wrong time, she said. Here's everything we know about what happened to Danielle Imbo and Richard Petrone. [8] Media accounts state that both had close relationships with their children and families and were unlikely to have voluntarily disappeared. It is possible whomever was driving the vehicle was a little impaired and just made a costly error a wrong turn, a slip of a foot off the brake pedal. In 2008, the FBI announced that the case was being treated as murder-for-hire. The couple knew each other in high school and began dating ten months before their disappearances after they separated from their respective partners. And he seems to understand the predicament he faces: Danielle and Richard came together that night by chance, and a motive could be attributed to him for the disappearance of either. In April, 2005, the Allentown Morning Call reported: Joseph Imbo has said he made it clear in telephone conversations with Petrone that he did not like that his wife was involved with him. They were rivals. Imbo took a lie-detector test, but Roselli wont discuss the results. Danielles family believed the bad blood between the Petrones and Joe Imbo was counterproductive. Tipsters can remain anonymous. We dont say anything about her being missing. He is married, the father of 11-year-old twin boys, and describes himself as bitter. Before she went missing, during football season he and Danielle would watch the Eagles, and if the team needed a score, hed hide his face until his sister gave my head a squeeze so Id know it was safe to look. Now, Sunday is just Sunday. But he has a different view. I wouldnt be able to live with myself this long after such a heinous thing, or look my son in the eye.. At the time, Danielle was married to her husband Joe Imbo, but they were estranged, and Danielle was in the process of separating from him. Even four months later, at a concert to benefit Danielles son, John told reporters the family still hoped she would turn up alive. [3] [4] [5] danielle imbo husband, joeare you required to disclose you were fired. They had drinks with friends at the establishment before leaving between 11:30 and 11:45 p.m.; they stated they were going to Imbo's home in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. Updated 3 times since October 12, 2004. Christine said no. If I was them, I wouldnt want to be around me either.. Neither of them have been heard from again. She was wearing a black jacket, a cream-colored sweater, blue jeans and carrying a two-handle black purse. Did someone follow him in another vehicle? Cmon, he told me over the phone before I arrived, its been nine years. Imbo at the time was in the process of separating from her husband, who according to reports is not considered a person of interest. Accessed 24 May 2022. Thecomplete lack of evidence has even led the FBI to speculate that they may have been targets of a professional hit. Your sister, she told him, is being held in the boxcar of a train in Philadelphia. Thats a theory that has been recently investigated more thoroughly, but well get to that later. The truck must be in a body of water somewhere. All of those things considered, the million dollar question then becomes is it foul play? On February 26th, 2005, the Camden Courier-Post ran a story with the headline Mt. A few weeks earlier, Danielle Imbo had ended their on-again, off-again relationship. Hes dressed in jeans, a button-down shirt and a black baseball cap. Just days before he vanished, Petrone told his father he had angry words with Joe Imbo over the phone. She was wearing a jacket, cream colored sweater, blue jeans and carrying a black purse. On The Night They Vanished, Imbo Met Up With Petrone To Watch Live Music At A Bar Accessed 24 May 2022. They were still hoping for the best. A few weeks earlier, Danielle Imbo had ended their on-again, off-again relationship. They saw each other sporadically. But that is the legacy of this case: We have yet to learn why Richard Petrone will never see his grandson, or why Danielle Imbo isnt alive to care for her son. But the truth is, we dont know what happened.. Petrone channels his pain into writing, posting poetry, prose and song lyrics, liberally referencing Springsteen, on the memorial website Richardpetrone.com: Nothing to sayEven less to feelTheres no more leftFor this sorrow to steal. Two years after that, their son, little Joe, grounded her. I ask him: The affair with the girl he met on the plane to New Orleans? [2] The couple had been involved in what family and friends describe as an "on again, off again" romantic relationship. The FBI had last released information on the case in 2008 and there had been no movement. No bloodstains. Richard said he understood; hed raised a daughter on his own. Marge Petrone has said if it was murder-for-hire, she does not believe Richard was the target of the hit. The disappearance of Imbo and Petrone: FBI says people know who did it. ABC7, 19 February 2020, https://abc7.com/true-crime-6abc-cold-case-philadelphia-police-department/5948803/. Thirty-four year old Danielle Imbo was going through a divorce and raising her eighteen month old son. Danielle Imbo is known for Vanished with Beth Holloway (2011), The Vanished Podcast (2016) and Crime Junkie (2017). Were missing couple victims of a hit? Philadelphia Daily News, 07 02 2008, https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102527418/were-missing-couple-victims-of-a-hit/. And two hours later, the reunited couple looked happy together. Until you or someone like you comes forward with the tip that brings this case to a close, the disappearance of Danielle Imbo and Richard Petrone Jr. will remain Unresolved. He confirms that a grand jury convened at least five years ago, interviewing people close to him, but took no action. Anyone might wonder if, in time, those questions will grow pointed. He didnt know why Danielle wasnt there, but he didnt want to give her soon-to-be ex-husband anything he could later use against her.