PA PA - Richard Petrone 35 & Danielle Imbo 34, Philadelphia, 19 Feb 2005 #2

[bykerladi]

No, we know why. The mastermind behind it took the child and fled the state before their bodies were even cold.

 

[ilovewings]

I think Danielle's ex is involved.

If it is, he apparently committed the perfect crime

 

[Jmoose]

If it is, he apparently committed the perfect crime

He’s not the only one; lots of people apparently manage to get away with it. Look at Cheryl Coker’s murder-looks very much like her husband did it, but they cannot arrest him yet. And Anna M. near Philadephia…pretty sure her husband did it, but not enough evidence to arrest him. Fotis Dulos, on the other hand, rhought he’d committed the perfect crime, but the police figured it out, even though they didn’t find Jennifer Dulos’s body. Fotis Dulos didn’t stick around to face the music, though.

 

[ilovewings]

He’s not the only one; lots of people apparently manage to get away with it. Look at Cheryl Coker’s murder-looks very much like her husband did it, but they cannot arrest him yet. And Anna M. near Philadephia…pretty sure her husband did it, but not enough evidence to arrest him. Fotis Dulos, on the other hand, rhought he’d committed the perfect crime, but the police figured it out, even though they didn’t find Jennifer Dulos’s body. Fotis Dulos didn’t stick around to face the music, though.

There are definitely people who have gotten away with murder- probably more than we can imagine. The police like to say there is no perfect crime, to which I say- BS

 

[Jmoose]

There are definitely people who have gotten away with murder- probably more than we can imagine. The police like to say there is no perfect crime, to which I say- BS

If you don’t get caught, it’s perfect! Even if you didn’t plan it perfectly.

 

[Shamrock1]

If I wanted to commit a crime, I’d seek the advice not of a criminal but of an experienced expert. Tax fraud? Tax attorney, JD/CPA. Other financial crimes? White-collar defense attorney, preferably. No-body murder? I’d start with police. Someone familiar with chop shops and camera-free driving routes, among other things.

 

[bykerladi]

Believe it or not I'm completely convinced you can commit murder and get away with it easier than white collar crime. Remember Al Capone?

 

[ilovewings]

Believe it or not I'm completely convinced you can commit murder and get away with it easier than white collar crime. Remember Al Capone?

We don't hear about the crimes that don't get solved- only the ones that do---
some crimes do become cold cases and are not solved and I attribute that to
mostly poor detective investigation, or crimes were committed before DNA and phone records.
I have seen too many cases where detectives have tunnel vision, focus on one suspect, basically ruining that person's life, when it was in fact someone else that was never even investigated at the time of the crime.

 

[JnRyan]

In case no one else has posted it the "Criminology" podcast covers the case. Nothing new here but it does two things: It provides a refresher and it keeps the case out there in the public eye.

 

[TruthIsStranger]

I actually used to work with the husband. I didn't know him that well, but definitely enough through conversations with him and observing the way he was around others to form a pretty decent impression of him. He was really just a down to earth, nice and pleasant dude. Now, I know you can never really know anybody too well or what they may be capable of. But, if I had to bet on it, I would seriously say there is a 99.9% chance that he had nothing to do with it

it's odd that you joined only to write this message, though, and nothing before or since.

 

[cherrymeg]

I spent a lot of time on South Street before and after their disappearance. One rumor was always that they had been killed and their car crushed with them in it and dumped somewhere. I think that is similar to what people believe about Jimmy Hoffa. I assumed it was her husband or his family put a hit out on her and made sure he had an alibi. It’s possible something else happened but there was never a sense of fear that someone was preying on people leaving bars. There are a lot of shady car places in south Philly.

 

[Shamrock1]

I spent a lot of time on South Street before and after their disappearance. One rumor was always that they had been killed and their car crushed with them in it and dumped somewhere. I think that is similar to what people believe about Jimmy Hoffa. I assumed it was her husband or his family put a hit out on her and made sure he had an alibi. It’s possible something else happened but there was never a sense of fear that someone was preying on people leaving bars. There are a lot of shady car places in south Philly.

Someone in LE would know all those shady car places too.

 

[bykerladi]

Most locals in south philly know those car places too. I doubt the killer would've taken it locally. Especially since IMO the exhusband did it and he was based in NJ.

 

[JnRyan]

I was following the recent Kiely Rodni case in CA. Adventures with Purpose put in at Prosser Reservoir at about 10:40 AM and in less than an hour found the car on sonar in very murky water. After that, I now have more confidence that if Danielle and Richard went into the water, by accident or on purpose, AWP probably would have found the truck in the obvious places. I still wonder was this a hit? Or some car jacking gone bad and covered it up through connections at a scrap yard by crushing it? I put a higher possibility on a planned murder though.

 

[cherrymeg]

Someone in LE would know all those shady car places too.

Knowing and searching or being able to are different things. Corrupt things happen in some areas. Supposedly Imbo and Petrone never crossed a bridge back to Jersey. I don’t know if that is fact or rumor. I Romberg this case being a big deal but it didn’t keep people off South Street. People weren’t worried some psycho was hijacking cars. The husband being involved was the one theory the other was an accident. I think the first day or two people had theories that they ran off together, that Richard kidnapped Danielle, or someone did maybe with the car, or that an accident happened and the car needed to be destroyed because it showed evidence of a DUI either by the driver or a person who hit them. At first there were so many theories. When they didn’t return, and no credit cards were used and the car remained missing it ruled out some theories. Not knowing what to look for possibly made an investigation difficult.

 

[wary]

I see a lot of posts mentioning a lack of camera sightings. How prevalent were street cameras in 2005?

 

[Dnp2be]

I see a lot of posts mentioning a lack of camera sightings. How prevalent were street cameras in 2005?

I think it was the toll bridges that did not show Richard’s truck and they needed to take at least one of them to get Danielle home or return to his place. If I’m remembering correctly. I’ve never been there but I’ve wondered how easy one could dispose of the truck before needing to cross a toll bridge. I’m gonna guess pretty easy since they don’t think they crossed one.

 

[bykerladi]

There are only so many bridges from Philly to NJ, and all of them in that area have cameras (Are toll bridges). There are 2 non toll bridges but they're all the way up in Trenton. There are also Delaware bridges, which I have no knowledge of.

 

[Jmoose]

There are only so many bridges from Philly to NJ, and all of them in that area have cameras (Are toll bridges). There are 2 non toll bridges but they're all the way up in Trenton. There are also Delaware bridges, which I have no knowledge of.

And there would be no reason for them to deliberately use either of the non-toll options, probably. Especially the Delaware options. Clearly, something terrible happened to them, since they’ve been gone so long, and have never resurfaced. There are really only two possibilities, as I see it-either foul play that caused the couple and the truck to disappear, or they are in the water someplace where no camera or EZ pass picked up the truck. Pretty sure it’s the foul play option; leaning towards the soon to be ex’s plan, and they will never prove it and will never find any trace of them.

 

[Shamrock1]

“Given the logical route from South Street to Mount Laurel -- a roughly 30-minute and 20-mile trip -- the exhaustive searches of the area and possible accident investigatons came up empty. Video footage from bridge toll plazas turned up nothing, as did searches of the Delaware River.”

'Promising' leads in cold case involving disappearance of Mt. Laurel woman, friend from Philadelphia bar

Danielle Imbo, 34, of Mount Laurel, and her friend Richard Petrone, Jr., 35, of Philadelphia, were last seen on Feb. 19, 2005 leaving a bar near 5th and South streets. Neither they nor the black 2001 Dodge Dakota they arrived in have never been seen again. The couple's cell phones, bank accounts...

www.nj.com

A bridge (though not a toll in that direction) is required to enter NJ from Philly. The “logical route” to Mt Laurel from South St would be either BF or WW. I don’t think it has been established whether there were cameras capturing Philly-to-NJ travel (there were cameras for NJ-to-Philly). It’s possible they drove into NJ but I doubt it.

There are dozens of MSM articles out there noting how “clean” of a disappearance this was. I’m still of the opinion that this was a professional hit and that they were last alive in PA. My guess is that she was the target.