00:00:09
[Music] New York is a hub for business finance fashion technology entertainment art and
00:00:20
is commonly recognized as the city that never sleeps Diane Whitmore always dreamed of making
00:00:26
it in New York and when she met Wall Street stockbroker Joseph Michael she thought she was on the way to the
00:00:33
perfect life she had always dreamed but her marriage to Joe wasn't perfect far from
00:00:41
[Music] [Music] doyon Whitmore was born in the small city of South Bend Indiana on the 20th
00:01:12
of May 1943 her parents were Don Whitmore and Jane Whitmore from a young age Diane suffered
00:01:19
from asthma and was restricted to bed a lot so she read a lot of books her favorite novels were the Nancy Drew
00:01:25
collection in which a teenage girl would solve crimes what attracted Diane the most to Nancy Drew was that her
00:01:32
character was strong sophisticated and a prodigy in many aspects at the age of 12
00:01:38
Diane moved with her parents to Birmingham a suburb of Detroit they spent two years there during which Diane
00:01:44
felt extremely uncomfortable as if she didn't belong it was a miserable time of her childhood in 57 the family moved to
00:01:54
North Plainfield New Jersey Diane fit right in there and was much happier she finished school as one of
00:02:01
the top students in her class Diane transferred to University Mary Washington in Virginia before
00:02:07
transferring to me on Holyoke College in Massachusetts where she studied English
00:02:12
she met Doug Johnston in 1964 who was a student from Yale they quickly became engaged but Diane broke it off
00:02:20
the following year that same year she finished the college and went to work at a bank in San Francisco for the summer
00:02:26
before moving to New York where she had always dreamed of living Diane graduated from college with
00:02:32
recommendations so had no problem in getting a job as the secretary to Eleanor graves one of the editors at
00:02:38
Life magazine Diane first lived in an apartment in Upper East Side with three other women she'd met through a roommate
00:02:46
service in 1967 Diane became a hippie and started dating a string of wrong men they included a drug dealer a gang
00:02:54
leader and a married man in 69 Diane left New York and went on tour with her cousin Tommy who had a band called
00:03:02
Tommy James and the Shondells she traveled to many different places and took odd jobs before ending up back in
00:03:09
New York in 1970 in 71 Diane got a job at the new parks department as an administrative
00:03:16
assistant to the commissioner that same year she entered into a relationship with Ralph shuckin Berg a
00:03:22
photojournalist she'd met while working at Life magazine Diane also started to drink alcohol heavily the relationship
00:03:31
with Ralph was turbulent in 75 Diane sent Ralph a letter where she expressed she wanted them both dead this scared
00:03:38
Ralph however he still decided to marry her their marriage occurred on the 29th of
00:03:43
June 75 one week into the marriage Ralph saw Diane opening letters addressed the
00:03:49
him Ralph said if you do that again I'll push you out the window Diane was terrified she called her
00:03:57
father dawn in tears who sent her money to get an annulment in early 78 Diane decided to do
00:04:04
something about her drinking problem she started Alcoholics Anonymous and that's where she met joseph michael
00:04:13
joseph michael was born in where a small town in the hampshire county of massachusetts in 1934 his family was
00:04:22
both very poor and a very religious it said they had so few toys for joseph and his sister Janice that they had to play
00:04:29
with buttons from their mothers sewing box Joe's father was an alcoholic and used Joe as his personal punching bag
00:04:36
he was also allegedly a Nazi follow up after finishing school Joe took two jobs he was a construction worker by day and
00:04:45
a gravedigger by night after one year and with the help of a scholarship he was able to pay his way into
00:04:52
Northeastern University in Boston where he shared an apartment with a friend Henry saw Oscar at the age of 20 he had
00:05:00
a blind date with a girl named Sandra Java Ninh Sandra said Joe was very driven had three jobs at the time and
00:05:06
won her over by being funny charming and smart she knew he was going to be successful
00:05:13
they started a relationship and had a lot of fun together however when Sandra organized the
00:05:19
holiday with her friends Joe made a scene he showcased possessive controlling behavior Sandra's parents
00:05:26
didn't like him they thought he was someone who always got his own way and considered him to be somewhat of a
00:05:32
dreamer he had big plans of financial success which Sandra's parents thought were unrealistic in 1959 Joe graduated
00:05:42
second in his university class and got a scholarship offer for the MBA programs at Columbia and Wharton universities Joe
00:05:50
rejected the scholarships and paid his own way into Harvard during the summer he married Sandra at a Catholic Church
00:05:57
in Boston there was a small ceremony Sandra's parents didn't attend they had a short honeymoon in québec Canada and
00:06:06
returned soon after so Joe could studies classes at Harvard one year later Joe suffered a bad knee injury and his
00:06:13
doctor recommended taking one year off so Joe had to leave Harvard he found a job managing high-risk funds and started
00:06:22
to drink heavily Joe and Sandra then opened their own security analysis firm called argent they traveled all over the
00:06:30
country looking for potential clients and in the late 60s they were handling 18 million dollars in assets they
00:06:37
received a commission of 10 percent with that success they were able to start living comfortably they rented a duplex
00:06:45
penthouse in Greenwich Village New York and bought a country house in Monterey Massachusetts their financial
00:06:53
partnership was flourishing however their actual relationship was crumbling when Joe drank he had a tendency for
00:07:00
violence and would damage property the next day he'd buy Sandra flowers and acts sweet like nothing had happened in
00:07:08
the beginning these violent outbursts weren't targeted at Sandra however over time Joe started to throw things at her
00:07:15
and two men threatened to kill her Sandra spent a weekend at the country house they owned in Monterey she
00:07:23
returned home early and walked in on Joe having sex with another woman when Sandra had a go at Joe about his affair
00:07:29
he hit her in the back of the head with a sculpture Sandra fell to the floor bleeding Joe left her there and went
00:07:36
back to sleep as if nothing had happened Sandra lost consciousness and when she woke up she drove to her parents house
00:07:43
she had to stop several times along the way to throw up when she was seen by a doctor he didn't believe Joe had hit her
00:07:52
the doctor said come on you fell off a horse didn't you by 1970 Sandra couldn't take anymore
00:07:59
and moved out she rented a house in Massachusetts she told Joe she wanted a divorce which
00:08:06
resulted in her trying to get a restraining order due to his threats to kill her Joe state was getting worse and
00:08:13
worse he was now doing cocaine and amphetamines kept several guns in his office and continued to repeatedly
00:08:20
threatened Sandra's life Joe had several limousine drivers who shared stories with each other one of them said Joe had
00:08:28
asked to be driven to a desolate area and once there he pinned a picture of Sandra against the tree and shot at it
00:08:34
until there wasn't anything left another driver said Joe got into his limo with Sandra they got driven to a
00:08:41
desolate area and once there Joe dug a grave and told Sandra that's where he'd put her a third driver said he picked a
00:08:49
jart from his office one night when Joe got in the limo he pointed a gun at the driver and accused him of having an
00:08:56
affair with Sandra he forced him to write a letter stating he had been having an affair and it was now ready to
00:09:02
commit suicide the driver managed to escape this ordeal and needed to go to hospital as Joe had walked him over the
00:09:09
head with his gun repeatedly he made a complaint to the police however the charges were later dropped
00:09:15
as he refused to testify the divorce between Joe and Sandra became final on the 2nd of January 1974 few months later
00:09:26
Joe was arrested for DUI drugs and a shotgun were also found in his car after their divorce Joe and Sandra's
00:09:34
company argent was closed down Joe started to heavily abuse alcohol and by the end of 1975 he had lost it all he
00:09:43
had no money and was practically living homeless he decided he needed help and entered Alcoholics Anonymous he also got
00:09:53
an entry-level job at a Wall Street research firm Argus a primary rule for AAE members is not to form any new
00:10:02
romances or make any major life decisions in the first year of sobriety Joe had already been in a a for two
00:10:09
years when he met Diane Whitmore it was her first meeting he was 43 she was 34 their first date was in early 78 they
00:10:20
had their first argument on their second day Joe spat on Diane during this argument even though she considered him
00:10:27
crazy Diane was fascinated by Joe she thought he was someone who had endless potential
00:10:33
and she continued to see him a few months into their relationship Diane felt pregnant her friends thought
00:10:41
it wasn't such a good idea to have a baby with the man she had just met but Dorian didn't take their advice she
00:10:47
started making marriage plans they rented an apartment in Greenwich Village for $600 a month at this time Joe was
00:10:55
making $50,000 a year and Diane was still working at the New York Parks Department Joe didn't like Diane working
00:11:03
though and he asked her to quit she did and in June when Joe met Diane's father Don for the first time he told him your
00:11:12
daughter won't have to work anymore I'll be able to take care of her don't like to Joe for that both he and Diane not
00:11:19
only believed Joe they also thought it wouldn't be long until he was extremely successful Joe and Diane married on the
00:11:27
14th of July 1978 soon after Joe went into a rage and smashed all of the China that belonged
00:11:34
to Diane's mother who had since passed away he also accused her of cheating on him
00:11:39
throughout her entire pregnancy their baby daughter Claudia was born on the 1st of February 1979 after her birth Joe
00:11:49
left his job at Argus for a betta painting one at a Wall Street investment bank and fund management company in
00:11:57
October 79 Dorian sent a letter to a friend which said she was thinking about leaving Joe because of his tantrums
00:12:03
the next month she sent another letter to the same friend saying forget what she had said things were getting better
00:12:11
by 1980 both of them had dropped out of AAA and rumors started that Joe was beating
00:12:18
dying in at various times Joe would wake Diane up in the middle of the night tell
00:12:23
her she was a piece of [ __ ] and that she'd never be anything sometimes he also threatened to lock her
00:12:28
in the bathroom for the entire night in the winter of 81 Diane's father Don visited them during this visit Diane
00:12:36
said Joe's always boiling up for me he insults me he mistreats me I don't think it's ever going to get any better I'm
00:12:43
thinking of leaving him Don responded Diane stick with it if you can you've got a young child you don't just run and
00:12:51
get a divorce at the spur of the moment besides he's beginning to make money that'll probably make him treat you
00:12:58
better in the summer of 81 they bought a weekend house in Amagansett in the Hamptons
00:13:05
Long Island by 82 Joe was starting to have increasing success on Wall Street by seeing the potential in small
00:13:12
scandinavian stocks Joe and Diane returned to AAA and Joe became the treasurer he also became the sponsor to
00:13:20
several new starters Joe was thought to be a nice person and Diane was viewed as
00:13:25
elegant and strong nobody knew what happened behind closed doors in the summer of 82
00:13:34
Diane felt pregnant again just like the previous pregnancy Joe became extremely jealous and accused Diane of cheating on
00:13:42
him on one occasion the husband of one of Diane's friends visited Diane to return
00:13:48
a book Joe called home while he was there and heard his voice in the background Joe later turned up at his apartment and
00:13:55
threatened him with a gun he only left when they said they were calling the police after that incident
00:14:02
Diane's friends backed off and kept their distance when Diane was seven months pregnant her and Joe got into an
00:14:10
argument Joe ended up pushing going in out of the car into then sped off Diane hid in a hotel for three days but
00:14:17
eventually told Joe where she was he came for her board her presence and they pretended like nothing happened their
00:14:25
second child was born on the 28th of December 82 they had a son Blake to help out with the children
00:14:33
Diane hired a nanny the first one didn't last long and warned the second nanny to
00:14:38
watch out for Joe the second nanny Karina said she never saw Joe hit Don in but they did argue a lot most of the
00:14:46
arguing was caused by Joe's bad temper but sometimes Diane would provoke him Karina also said quote I noticed the
00:14:55
right away that Joe and Diane had a strange relationship I think they really loved each other but I never saw them
00:15:01
kiss or hold hands or hug each other and I never saw them sit down and talk maybe
00:15:06
they did it in bed before they went to sleep the worst fight Karina witnessed was on a trip to Boston in the spring of
00:15:14
83 Joe and Diane were shopping everything was calm but suddenly an argument broke out and two they hit each
00:15:22
other with umbrellas it was around this time that Joe started going through a perfectionist face he would do things
00:15:29
like mink Diane on his clothes repeatedly as he was never happy he always found some small fault he also
00:15:36
hired a boy to appear at 4 a.m. and clean up any garbage that appeared around his front door so he wouldn't
00:15:42
have to see it by the mid-80s Joe was making $800,000 a year he told Diane almost everyday that if
00:15:50
she left him she'd have nothing diane stayed both for her kids and for the fear of losing everything
00:15:57
she had in 1985 she wanted to get a job her passion was writing she consulted different friends who wrote for a living
00:16:06
and asked what it was like Diane was very insecure about her own writing and she didn't want Joe to ever see anything
00:16:13
she wrote because he tear her down when Diane told Jose she wanted to get a job he destroyed her contact lenses by
00:16:21
stepping on them furiously in the spring of 86 Diane was going through Joe's briefcase
00:16:28
and found a pair of woman stockings they were extremely large and she couldn't really imagine any woman
00:16:34
wearing them curious she went into the attic where she was banned only Joe was allowed in the Attic Diane found
00:16:43
pictures and videotapes of Joe wearing women's underwear dancing and touching himself for the fourth of July weekend
00:16:52
86 they went to the Hamptons and spent the night on the beach watching the fireworks with other friends it was one
00:16:58
of the rare times when it had been a memorable night for a good reason days later one of Diane's friends told
00:17:05
her Joe is so great Diane responded you don't know him a few weeks later Diane told another friend I
00:17:13
want to divorce Joe but I can't leave him because if I do he will kill me Diane wrote to another friend in Vail
00:17:22
Colorado and asked her if the children could stay with her if needed she also specified that all
00:17:28
communication had to be made via letter so Joe couldn't trace any phone bills though and then got three suitcases
00:17:35
ready and took them to another friend's house but Diane had almost no money to leave the joint account she had with Joe
00:17:43
was almost always the left empty on purpose two days later their housekeeper quit
00:17:50
because Joe had mistaken her for Diane and was extremely verbally abusive towards her the next week Joe and Diane
00:17:57
had another huge fight Diane couldn't take it any longer and called a divorce lawyer
00:18:03
rayul Felder she first met with Felder in August 86 Felder proposed getting an order of
00:18:10
protection which essentially was a restraining order with the addition of a private detective to bodyguard her Diane
00:18:17
wanted to know if this would really protect her from Joe Felder said it was only a piece of paper but if Joe was a
00:18:23
rational man it would be enough to keep him away dorian thought Joe was anything
00:18:27
but rational so she didn't get it she gave Felder the pictures and the video tapes of Joe dressed in women's
00:18:35
underwear Diane's friends were relieved she was finally leaving however when Joe got the initial divorce
00:18:41
papers he showered Diane with flowers and apologies and made promises to change they started couples counseling and
00:18:50
Diane taught Felder she had changed her mind she didn't want the divorce anymore
00:18:55
Diane retrieved the three suitcases she'd left at a friend's house she also mentioned she had to do a physical exam
00:19:02
because Joe wanted to take out a 1 million dollar life insurance on her Diane's friends didn't think this was a
00:19:09
good thing in September 86 their nanny Karina and a friend moved in to Joe and Diane's apartment to take care of the
00:19:18
children while they went on an overseas business trip they visited Amsterdam Oslo Tokyo and other places
00:19:25
Diane wrote letters saying she couldn't believe she now had this life and that it couldn't get any better than this
00:19:32
when they returned in October Diane began actively looking for a job in February 87 she enrolled in a writing
00:19:40
workshop at the University School of Continuing Education in New York but Diane was becoming increasingly
00:19:47
pessimistic she told a friend what difference does it make if I find a great job and become a writer and leave
00:19:54
Joe I'll just end up with another man I don't know how to break this cycle in April 87 Diane got a job as an assistant
00:20:06
to the publisher at Harper's Magazine Joe hated the fact that Diane now had a job and he sent out private
00:20:13
investigators to follow her Diane entered a second writing workshop and laughed off J's reaction at first
00:20:20
but then a man who was following her started to really unnerve her and she had suspicions that the calls that the
00:20:26
house would now being monitored she relayed these concerns to her lawyer Felder and he sent a private detective
00:20:33
to check the house out it turned out the calls were being recorded by Joe from the Attic
00:20:38
Diane told the private detective not to remove the recording device and to leave
00:20:42
everything exactly as it was because she was terrified of how Joe would react Diane decided that she now had to leave
00:20:50
Joe and when she brought the divorce up again with him he said he wanted to do further couples counseling but Diane
00:20:57
refused Joe moved his things to another apartment in August 87 Joe called from overseas hotels while away on business
00:21:06
and threatened to die end after every call he'd stay on the line just so that Diane couldn't make any other calls
00:21:13
once a friend of Diane's wanted to use the phone but when she picked it up all she could
00:21:19
hear was heavy breathing on the other side in September 87 Felder requested a statement of Joe's net worth but Joe
00:21:28
refused to comply Joe said Diane could have the children but no money Felder wanted to use the tapes and
00:21:36
pictures of Joe dressed in women's underwear to make him comply but Diane refused she only wanted to use those as
00:21:42
a last resort on Saturday the 17th of October 87 Diane wrote a five-page memo to filter saying it was time to end it
00:21:52
once and for all she could no longer take Joe's mood swings or his violent erratic behavior
00:21:57
she wrote I find my plans continually sabotage along with my peace of mind after not being in the workplace for
00:22:05
nearly ten years with a history of alcoholism myself and asthma I am struggling to build a
00:22:11
go to school and raise normal happy children in a confusing environment in which the threat of abuse and violence
00:22:17
of one kind or another is constant the closing lines of Diane's memo were please help me to resolve this horrible
00:22:25
situation as quickly as possible for all of our sakes it isn't our time I fear for the World
00:22:31
War three you promised me we would have if necessary on Monday the 19th of October 87 Diane entered the office at
00:22:41
Harper's Magazine and sought out her closest friend there Linda McNamara Linda knew about all of the issues and
00:22:48
offered to help Diane pack Diane said she thought she would probably take Linda up on her offer Diane told her
00:22:55
that Jo had proposed to go to their house in Amagansett that Friday to spend the last weekend together as a family
00:23:02
and also to divide the furniture up and prepare the house for sale Diane was tempted to go not for the weekend as a
00:23:11
family but for the prospect of actually getting the house ready to sell and sorting the property out later that
00:23:18
morning Diane made an appointment with a realtor to look at a house available for
00:23:22
rent she used her maiden name Diane Whitmore to make the appointment on Tuesday the 20th Diane called their
00:23:29
nanny Corina and asked her to go to M against it with the family that weekend Corina said she'd think about it on
00:23:38
Wednesday the 21st Diane spoke to in stone the assistant editor of Harper's Magazine Diane
00:23:45
started sobbing while talking about the divorce she said it's so hard I'm so tired I don't know if I can do it n had
00:23:54
come out of a nasty divorce herself and responded you can before leaving Diane said I just want to be alone with my
00:24:02
children in the country that's the only time I feel peaceful Corina received a message on her answering machine from
00:24:11
Joe he asked her to join them on their weekend trip to an organza which she thought was really strange Joe had never
00:24:18
ever asked her to join them before on Thursday the 22nd Sandra dominant chose ex-wife arrived in New York they had
00:24:27
been divorced for 13 years and Sandra was still requesting that Joe pay her outstanding alimony
00:24:34
$28,000 plus $10,000 in interest and legal fees Joe had invited Sandra to New York for lunch
00:24:42
during their meeting he promised he'd settle the alimony he also asked her to sign that she'd become the legal
00:24:49
guardian of Claudia and Blake in the event of his and Diane's death Sandra found of that proposal to be
00:24:56
ridiculous and refused Joe had to return to work but he sent Sandra out with his
00:25:02
driver to do some shopping with his money Sandra couldn't believe she was being treated so well by her ex-husband this
00:25:09
would have been unthinkable when they were married later that evening Joe introduced Sandra to Claudia and
00:25:16
Blake Sandra left New York shortly after this meeting and Joe again requested that she would so on to become Claudia
00:25:23
and Blake's legal guardian if he and Diane were the daughter Sandra told him it was a bad idea
00:25:30
that same day Kareena called Diane to tell her she wouldn't be able to make it on the weekend trip away on Friday the
00:25:38
23rd Jo left for Anna Gansett early he took Claudia and Blake with him Diane had decided she wasn't going but then
00:25:47
later changed her mind she didn't want to leave the kids alone with Jo all weekend Diane didn't leave for
00:25:54
Amagansett until after 10:00 p.m. she arrived in the early hours of Saturday morning the 24th of October 1987 when
00:26:06
Claudia woke up earlier that morning she found her dad asleep on the lounge she wanted to know where her mummy was Jay
00:26:13
told her that Diane had run out of the house after they had an argument Blake woke up soon after and Joe put
00:26:21
both kids in the babysitter's room to watch TV he told them he had to get some things ready to take to the dump they
00:26:29
left the house at 9:30 a.m. they drove in Diane's station wagon to the dump Joe then drove to a hardware store where he
00:26:38
bought a shovel will barrow plastic bags fishing gloves a flashlight and a rope he charged it all to his credit card Joe
00:26:48
then bought 12 bags of ice he drove back to the house and made a series of calls
00:26:54
first he called his security service and changed their houses alarm security codes second he called the local dentist
00:27:02
for an emergency appointment there was no answer so he left a message on the answering machine he got a call back
00:27:09
from the dental office manager soon after Joe told her that his wife Diane had walked out on him after he
00:27:15
confronted her about finding another man's condom under their bed third he called Henry so Oscar his old
00:27:22
roommate from Northeastern University they hadn't spoken in nine years and Joan launched into a rant about finding
00:27:30
another man's condoms under his bed and Diane walking out on him when he confronted her Jo also said he was dying
00:27:37
he asked Henry if he could drive to his house and leave Claudia and Blake with him for the weekend Henry agreed and
00:27:45
invited the three of them for dinner Henry lived about a four-hour drive away at 11:45 a.m. Jo received a call it was
00:27:54
from Marshall Weingarten Marshall and his wife Barbara were friends with Joe and Diane Diane and Barbara had made
00:28:01
plans to have Story Ella that day at the library with the children Marshall was calling to confirm Joe told
00:28:09
Marshall it wouldn't be possible because Diane had disappeared he said Diane arrived at the house about 1:00 a.m.
00:28:15
when he asked her why she arrived so late she got mad and stormed off and she still hadn't returned Marshall asked if
00:28:24
Diane had taken her car Joe said she hadn't Marshall found this odd since it wasn't easy getting anywhere without a
00:28:31
car in that area Joe then told Marshall the story of the condoms only this time he said he'd found them in the living
00:28:39
room not in the bedroom Marshall wasn't too fazed by the condom story he suggested
00:28:45
that they could have belonged to the boyfriend of one of the babysitter's Joe was fast to say no and it had to be
00:28:51
because Diane was cheating on him he added that he had just gotten an awful diagnosis from his doctor and everything
00:28:58
was falling apart for him so he was taking the children upstate to a friend's house Marshall said Joe and the
00:29:05
kids were welcome at his place Joe was grateful and said he would get back to him Barbara wasn't home during this call
00:29:14
but when she did arrive home Marshall instantly told her about it he said he was worried because when talking about
00:29:20
Diane Joe had used the word disappeared but Barbara shrugged it off and said Diane always used that word to describe
00:29:28
Joe Joe disappeared with the kids so on so she thought Joe probably just picked that up from her after lunch Joe
00:29:39
left Claudia and Blake in front of the TV again and told them he had the duck out but he would be right back when he
00:29:45
arrived home he packed clothes a shotgun a knife and the toys for the kids he left for Henry's house between 4:30 and
00:29:54
5:00 p.m. on the way Joe stopped and made a call from a phone booth to his ex-wife Sandra Jasmine he told her he
00:30:02
had something to hide and asked if he could hide it at her house Sandra said yes Joe and the kids arrived to Henry's
00:30:10
house at 9:30 p.m. Joe left the kids with Henry and was back on the road at 10:20 p.m. driving to Norwell
00:30:17
Massachusetts where Sandra lived at 3:30 a.m. he called Sandra asking for directions to her house and 4:00 a.m. he
00:30:27
called again saying he couldn't find it she went out to look for him and when she found him
00:30:32
Joe followed her back to her house but he remained at a distance they arrived that Sandra is at 4:30 a.m. when Joe
00:30:41
walked inside he said where can I bury it Sandra hadn't asked what it was Joe wanted to hide up until this point so
00:30:48
she replied bury what Joe just repeated himself where can I bury it Sandra thought that it must have had something
00:30:57
to do with some financial deal that had gone bad they continued having further conversation after which Sandra told Joe
00:31:05
her property wasn't a good place but she made some other suggestions like a nearby park and another property where
00:31:12
they used to spend weekends when that was still together she also offered to put Joe in touch with Vinny Federico a
00:31:18
lawyer and 5:30 a.m. Joe left Sandra's house Sandra remained sitting in the same spot for any hour in shock she then
00:31:28
got dressed and drove to the police station but turned around and drove home because she realized she really didn't
00:31:35
have anything to tell Joe called Sandra several times throughout that next day wanting to know
00:31:41
she got in touch with the lawyer Federico Sandra then left her house to visit her mother she had two messages
00:31:48
from Joe on her answering machine when she arrived home in the first one he said he was in where his hometown and he
00:31:55
couldn't leave the package there because it was too close to the road in the second message he said he was in a
00:32:01
different town but he couldn't do anything there because it was hunting season and people were walking around
00:32:08
Sandra I raised the both messages at 9:30 a.m. on Monday the 26th of October Joe called Harper's Magazine and told
00:32:19
the receptionist in a stuttering voice that Diane had disappeared over the weekend
00:32:24
the receptionist knew about Diane's situation and suspected the worst a few minutes later Joe called again as the
00:32:34
call ended Diane's friend Linda McNamara walked into the office the receptionist
00:32:38
told her about the strange calls from Diane's husband when the editor's assistant and stern arrived at 10:00
00:32:45
a.m. they decided to call the police they called two police departments the East Hampton department where Diane's
00:32:54
weekend house was located and the New York City Police Department where Joe and Diane usually resided in Stern was
00:33:01
the one who made the calls and said it wasn't like Diane to just not show up to work without any notice and that she
00:33:08
wouldn't walk out on her children both departments said there was nothing they could do a late arrival to work didn't
00:33:15
classify as a missing person case Joe kept calling Harper's every 20 minutes changing his story at first he
00:33:24
was asking where is she then he was saying she had run off with a boyfriend then that progressed to we had a fight
00:33:30
and it got out of hand then he made a reference that alarmed window he said something about dying in rolling-over
00:33:39
Linder and n wanted to know where Blake and Claudia were they called all of Diane's friends all of them suspected
00:33:46
straightaway that Diane had been murdered when they got in touch with Corinna their nanny
00:33:53
she thought that Joe might have locked to Diane in the basement of the Amagansett house Corina tried to call
00:33:59
their friends in the Hamptons to go and check but nobody answered Corina tried calling Joe's office to find out where
00:34:06
Claudia and Blake were but all she was told was that Joe wasn't him in the meantime
00:34:12
Joe stopped at Stewart auto car wash in Newburgh to have the station wagon cleaned as soon as he gave the keys to
00:34:19
the manager he started talking about his wife running off with another man and how he found his condoms under the bed
00:34:24
the manager thought this was a very random and weed conversation Joe made a point of asking for the trunk to be
00:34:32
thoroughly cleaned as it was very sandy Joe then walked over to a nearby dumpster and started throwing out a
00:34:38
number of different items two young men who worked at the carwash thought this was strange Joe then took out the
00:34:46
shotgun from the car he offered it to the manager for $25 the manager thought this was a bargain so he bought it
00:34:54
before leaving the carwash Joe called Sandra and left a message on her answering machine
00:34:59
the package is down as the manager went into the nearby woods to test out the shotgun the two young men who'd seen Joe
00:35:08
throwing things into the dumpster went to see what was in there they found credit cards in the names of Diane Pikul
00:35:15
and Diane Whitmore as well as a knife and a large rubber gloves they informed on the managers wife who was the cashier
00:35:23
and she told her husband he inspected the items and the two young men told him there was also women's clothes in the
00:35:30
dumpster at 3:00 p.m. that afternoon Joe arrived home with Claudia and Blake on the way
00:35:38
he called Federico who agreed to represent him and des they'd arranged for the lawyer to come to New York
00:35:43
stainer hotel at Joe's expense and discussed the case as Joe and the kids entered home one of Diane's friends
00:35:51
caught Joe said he couldn't talk right now but he'd call her right back he went back outside to move his car and while
00:35:59
he was outside Claudia grabbed the phone and called Harper's Diane's boss Randy Warner answered and Claudia asked do you
00:36:08
know where my mummy is Randy told her we're your friends and we're trying to find your mummy Diane's father Donlan
00:36:17
suspected the worst Donna's new wife Gretchen called Joe and asked where Diane was Joe said he couldn't talk
00:36:24
right near Don then called Joe himself Joe said what business of yours is it where my wife went Don called the East
00:36:35
Hampton police and said look I've got a hunch he killed her out by the side of the house in the shed where they keep
00:36:40
the bikes you've got to go to that shed an officer visited the house but the shed was padlocked and they weren't
00:36:48
legally able to remove it at 3:30 p.m. Kareena finally got in touch with Joe Joe was aware she had
00:36:57
been calling his office all day and wanted to know why Kareena said she was simply worried for the kids and she
00:37:04
asked him if he knew where Diane was Joe repeated the story of the boyfriend and
00:37:08
the condoms Kareena didn't believe it she asked if he'd like her to make dinner for the kids and put them to bed
00:37:16
he said no later that afternoon Marshall and Barbara along with another couple from the Hamptons called Joe to offer
00:37:25
their support Joe told them you're the only people who are being nice to me and who aren't accusing me of anything at
00:37:33
5:30 p.m. Kareena called Joe again and this time he said she could come and see the children in Newburgh a police
00:37:43
officer stopped by the auto carwash the officer was friends with the manager so the manager gave him their credit
00:37:49
cards the knife ended the GOP's the officer also went to the dumpster to check out that woman's clothes he
00:37:58
immediately called two other officers to help the three of them found women's clothes jewelry shoes and underwear one
00:38:06
of the officers made the comment that has got to be a body that goes with this they took everything they found to the
00:38:13
station encountered a total of 55 items they eliminated the possibility of a robbery since the credit cards tended to
00:38:21
be discarded separately they searched the owner of the cards on the police system and learned that Diane was of a
00:38:28
smaller build but the clothes they found seemed to be from an extremely large woman the clothes also appeared to be
00:38:35
really cheap but they found cards in the dumpster for very expensive upmarket fashion stores the bras were all of
00:38:43
different cup sizes and of the shoes were extremely large they also found small wallet-sized
00:38:50
pictures of a blonde boy in pajamas they couldn't understand why anyone would throw these pictures out none of it made
00:38:58
a lot of sense to them they alerted their sergeant who alerted detectives meanwhile and stern who had been calling
00:39:06
the police all day finally got to talk to a detective detective bill Glynn he tried to calm me and down and explained
00:39:14
to her that there were a lot of possible scenarios they didn't involve going ham being
00:39:18
murdered but Ian insisted so much that Glynn started to take a claim seriously back at the Newburgh Police Department
00:39:27
detective John Smith called Joe he posed as a regular citizen gave a fake name and said he had just found a whole heap
00:39:34
of credit cards belonging to died in Joe panicked and dropped the phone when Smith heard this he thought something
00:39:42
was definitely wrong so he quickly made a signal to have the conversation recorded Joe picked the
00:39:48
phone back up and said he would send his driver to collect the cards and also hand over a
00:39:52
cash reward they agreed to meet at the auto carwash at 9:30 p.m. Joe then decided to call the police himself he
00:40:03
called the New York City police and got detective Glenn who had just been speaking to n stern Joe said my name is
00:40:11
Joseph Michael and I want to report my wife missing I got your name from someone at Harper's Magazine I don't
00:40:17
really know why I'm calling I've never done this before I'll explain the situation and you can guide me from
00:40:23
there Joe then told Glynn the story about Diane running off with a boyfriend in the condoms Glynn believed that
00:40:32
checked the out for the most part with what Ian had told him he made an appointment to see Joe at 11:00 p.m.
00:40:37
that night at Joe's apartment he would then make an official report as Greene hung up the phone detective John Smith
00:40:46
from the Newburgh Police Department called he wanted to know if they had anything on Joseph Michael the officer
00:40:52
who answered this call started taking notes this officer just happened to be sitting next to Detective Clinton when
00:41:01
the officer left the table to go and check the police system Green looked over and saw she had written Joe's name
00:41:06
on a notepad he picked up the phone and spoke to Smith to find out what was going on Smith explained the items they
00:41:14
had found in the dumpster and the meeting they had made with Joe's driver four nights
00:41:18
that night Glyn explained he sighed and said he had arranged a meeting with Joe at 11:00 p.m. they both came to the same
00:41:27
conclusion it was time to include the Long Island police in the investigation since they am against it house where
00:41:34
Diane was last seen was located in their jurisdiction they got in touch with Long
00:41:40
Island's most senior investigator from the Major Case unit Donald Delaney it was decided that
00:41:47
Delaney would join detective Glynn on the 11:00 p.m. interview with Joe at 7:30 that night Corina got to the
00:41:55
parcours home she saw Joe looked too nervous and was constantly making calls Corina asked Claudia how the weekend had
00:42:03
been and she simply said she had a good time this seemed odd to Corina as eight-year-old Claudia was usually
00:42:10
extremely talkative Claudia's hair looked a very dirty and when Corina asked her about her mummy Claudia just
00:42:18
shrugged her shoulders Corina noticed that Joe was missing a tooth Joe told her it had become loose and he had
00:42:26
accidentally swallowed it in the middle of the dinner Joe said he was leaving with his driver and that he'd be
00:42:32
disconnecting the phone he instructed Corina not to reconnect it Corina put the kids
00:42:38
to bed Blake said his father had told him he'd take them away if mummy left Karina told Blake she'll come back
00:42:47
although she didn't really believe it Joe had been ringing the Newburgh police repeatedly he didn't know it was the
00:42:55
Newburgh police he thought it was the citizen who had run him up about finding Diane's cards detective John Smith sat
00:43:02
by the phone he didn't answer it but he noticed the pan Joe would ring 10 times hang up wait 40 seconds then ring again
00:43:12
it was constant when he left the apartment Joe was driven to meet Federico for the
00:43:19
first time he paid the lawyer $5,000 after dropping Joe off with Federico the driver continued on to Newburgh to meet
00:43:28
the citizen who supposedly had Diane's credit card he got to the auto wash at 9:40 p.m. an
00:43:34
officer was posing as the cashier the plan was for no one to meet with the driver they just wanted to follow him
00:43:42
the driver approached the cashier and asked if anyone else was there the cashier said there was a man who had
00:43:49
been waiting around for a while but he had just left the driver setting his car to wait for a further half an hour
00:43:56
the cashier called detective Smith who arrived in an unmarked car to wait and see the drivers next move
00:44:04
the driver walked over to a hotel across the road which had a phone booth he then
00:44:09
sprinted back and forth between the hotel and the car while making calls to Joe he then returned to the auto wash to
00:44:16
continue waiting at 10:50 p.m. the cashier approached him and said he could stay parked if he wanted but they were
00:44:23
closing and it would get really dark the driver decided to leave and Smith followed him he got up to the New York
00:44:31
State Thruway south entrance but then stopped he ordered for the dumpster in the auto wash to be retrieved for a more
00:44:40
thorough inspection at 11:00 p.m. detective Glynn detective Delaney and a third officer arrived at Joe's house
00:44:49
they were invited inside and sat down and started with small talk about stocks to relax Joe then they asked him to walk
00:44:57
them through the disappearance of Diane Joe said he had an argument after Diane arrived at 1:30 a.m. then he went to
00:45:05
sleep and the next morning while he was taking a shower she left a bit later he changed this version and said Diane had
00:45:14
stormed out during the night the detectives asked him if a car had come to pick her up and he said no she walked
00:45:21
however he changed his version again and said he wasn't sure if Diane had walked
00:45:25
maybe she had been driven they asked him about her supposed to lover but Joe said
00:45:32
he didn't really know anything about them in they asked for permission to search the Amagansett house and Joe
00:45:38
signed a toilet when they asked for a photo of Diane he suddenly got jittery they requested an article of her
00:45:46
clothing Joe went to the bedroom and came out with a pair of her panties saying she wore them jogging and they
00:45:53
haven't been washed the dogs will get a good scent of her the detectives left the apartment and as
00:45:59
I were walking out each one made a different remark Glenn highlighted how many times Joe had changed his story the
00:46:07
other officer present said he was surprised that Joe didn't seem to give a [ __ ] at all about finding Diane Delaney
00:46:14
said Diane was dead and Joe was the killer at 3:00 a.m. Joe got another knock at the door two other officers
00:46:22
from the New York City Police Department had been briefed about the 11:00 p.m. interview and they wanted to take Joe in
00:46:28
for questioning Joe requested to reschedule for later that day but there was a fear that Joe
00:46:35
would leave the city and possibly even try to leave the country so they insisted that he go with them now Joe
00:46:41
finally agreed Joe began this new interview by saying he knew the man who called him about finding billions cards
00:46:49
had been a police officer he also said he had spent the weekend traveling between Massachusetts and New York but
00:46:56
in the 11 p.m. interview he had told detectives he had just stayed at Henry so Oscars house after leaving and
00:47:02
against it eventually he mentioned having a second apartment where he'd moved when he and Diane had split up the
00:47:10
detectives asked if they could see it Joe replied don't be surprised by what you find there what they found was
00:47:20
women's clothes which Joe admitted having a liking for Joe added that Diane knew about this she had videotaped him
00:47:27
and then tried to blackmail him after the check of the second apartment the detectives took Joey out for breakfast
00:47:34
and dropped him back home at 8:30 a.m. that morning Delaney went with a Long Island team to search the Amagansett
00:47:42
house they immediately found a red stains on the kitchen floor which they believed to be blood Delaney
00:47:49
put a stop to the search left an officer at the house to guard it and applied for
00:47:53
a search warrant that enabled them to test for blood hairs and fibers this delayed the search until 6:00 p.m. when
00:48:01
they returned a forensic scientist cutting out the piece of floor where the stains were and conducted a test for
00:48:06
blood the test was positive then they found a set of knives the knife that had been found in a dumpster
00:48:14
at Newburgh matched this set on top of the bedroom dresser they found under Joe's missing tooth Delaney concluded
00:48:22
michael was standing over there trying to kill her in an effort to free herself she stuck an elbow or a blunt object
00:48:30
into his face and broke his tooth they also found the condoms which were indeed under the bed lock Joe had said but
00:48:39
Delaney knew that Joe was conducting market research in Scandinavia on this particular brand
00:48:44
he believed Joe had planted them there in a Mazda car that was parked at the house they found at the backseat full of
00:48:53
sand under the car that was mud beach grass and more sand tire tracks appeared in a nearby potato field but they didn't
00:49:02
match with the car they used police dogs to go through the area but they didn't come up with anything there was a
00:49:09
cemetery next to the house and you know they found a freshly dug grave but the permit to dig up the grave would take
00:49:16
too long to get so Delaney considered it only as a last option he kept the house
00:49:22
secured in case they needed further evidence for trial he then left while this search was happening Glen and his
00:49:29
partner called Joe's driver they told him they had information that he'd been upstate tried to retrieve property
00:49:35
belonging to Diane Pikul the driver confirmed this but said no one had showed up to the meeting Greene asked
00:49:43
him to come into the station the driver showed up and when asked about Diane he said he believed she left
00:49:50
like Joe had told him they allowed the driver to leave but they arranged for a detective to follow him
00:49:57
Glen then went to Harper's through retrieve Dorian's paperwork among it he found a Joe's financial statement which
00:50:04
Felder was able to eventually get for Diane Glynn saw that Joe had hundreds of thousands of dollars hidden away in both
00:50:12
Mexico and Switzerland this made them even more worried that Joe might be planning to leave the country
00:50:18
the detective following the drive I reported that he picked someone up from the airport and then dropped that person
00:50:24
at a hotel they found out this person was Federico Jose Loya they sent some officers to the hotel and one of them
00:50:32
posed there's a bellboy to check if Federico was in the room on his own he was Karina and a friend then turned up
00:50:41
to Joe's apartment and offered to take Claudia and Blake out for dinner the plan was to actually take the kids to
00:50:47
Detective Glen so he could question them alone Joey lay out Karina to take them during
00:50:54
the dinner green question Claudia since Blake was too young but she closed off and he wasn't able to get anything out
00:51:01
of her at 11 p.m. East Hampton police found a freshly dug grave under a kiosk at the beach where Joe and Diane had
00:51:09
spent fourth of July in 1986 what was one of the few happy memories they dug out the grave but found nothing that
00:51:19
Tuesday night there was a big storm in at 2:45 p.m. the next day Wednesday the 28th of October a New York State Thruway
00:51:27
Authority operator was inspecting the drainage he found the Diane's body wrapped in towels and covered in plastic
00:51:35
at a spot that was about a five minute drive away from the car wash at Newburgh officer car Hill was at the Y Amagansett
00:51:43
house when he heard about Diane's body being found he took some towels from the house to see if they matched the ones
00:51:50
Diane's body was wrapped in they did match the towels were Brazilian imports sold only at very few stores on the East
00:51:58
Coast Allen Joseph a district attorney from Orange County New York was assigned the
00:52:04
case to prosecute Joe he believed that the rarity of the towels proved that nobody but Joe could have wrapped
00:52:11
Diane's body Joe was nowhere to be found Claudia and Blake were at home being babysat by Joe's niece police did what
00:52:25
is known as an emergency remove all of the kids and took them to the station where child protection services were
00:52:30
called child protection services wouldn't allow detectives to question Claudia or Blake
00:52:36
they said they have nothing to say please leave them alone detective Glenn asked for permission to keep Claudia and
00:52:44
Blake at his house for the night he knew Child Protective Services were a mess and the kids would probably end up
00:52:50
sleeping uncomfortably somewhere Child Protection refused Claudia and Blake ended up sleeping in wooden chairs at
00:52:58
the agency's center meanwhile the forensic scientist was performing the autopsy on going in and he found the
00:53:06
cause of death was strangulation she had marks on the skin fractures on the bones
00:53:10
of her neck and a buildup of fluids in her lungs the conclusion was that the killer had used his hands and gripped
00:53:17
for more than 30 seconds and then a cord was used for a second strangulation she
00:53:23
also had 10 points of impact on her head where the killer had delivered blows two
00:53:30
officers were checking all of the calls Joe had made they found the calls that he had made to his ex-wife Sandra and
00:53:36
they arranged for her to be interviewed on Thursday the 29th the main priority of the investigation was still to locate
00:53:44
Joe they ran checks at the airport hotels and with Joe's family members at 2:00 p.m. that afternoon a question that
00:53:53
Joe's lawyer Federico he was reluctant to give information at first but eventually said Joe had fired him over
00:54:01
lunch that day Joe had hired two new lawyers and he was currently meeting with them at 3:05
00:54:06
Madison Avenue Suite 1301 the officers ran there to get him when they got to Joe's location there were eight
00:54:16
elevators all of them were coming down at the same time they decided to wait and see if Joe would emerge from one of
00:54:23
them he did he was arrested for Diane's murder they told her they wanted to get information on Joe Pikul
00:54:33
Sandra asked if he was in trouble they told her he was a suspect in the murder of his wife Diane Sandra said I'm lucky
00:54:42
it wasn't me I knew that someday his temper was going to get the best of him she spoke about their divorce about Joe
00:54:50
and explained that she visited New York recently to see him about the alimony money she left out the part where Joe
00:54:57
asked her to be his children's guardian Sandra said she hadn't spoken to Joe since her New York visit they asked her
00:55:04
about the calls she had received from Joe since that trip Sandra said she had missed them and that Joe had left a few
00:55:10
messages on her machine just seeing how she was but she had since erased those messages Sandra then revealed she was in
00:55:19
a relationship with Joe's lawyer federico but said she didn't know Joe had been using his services they asked
00:55:26
her to call if she remembered anything else while Joe was being transported to the police station he said he loved
00:55:33
Claudia and Blake and they were the best part of him he began to cry and talked about Diane and complained she was a bad
00:55:40
mother extremely inattentive hired a different babysitter every night and suddenly he
00:55:46
came out with that's why I did it she's such a [ __ ] she deserved it I never did anything wrong before in my
00:55:53
life well I can't change it now how much will they all be since that outburst wasn't provoked the officers believed
00:56:02
that statement could be admissible in court when they got to the station Joe continued talking about Diane at one
00:56:10
point he said she was an evil and malicious person she tried to kill me not physically but mentally she tried to
00:56:19
break me down I just couldn't take it anymore I don't care if you guys give me ten or twenty years I don't care what
00:56:26
penalty I have to pay I think everybody's just better off without her an officer ready miss Miranda rights
00:56:34
filled out an arrest report and Joe began complaining about his new lawyers he said he'd paid them two hundred and
00:56:40
fifty thousand dollars the least they could do was be there with him but then he smirked and said
00:56:46
he'd stop the payment on the check so they wouldn't get any money anyway Joe then said there's a hook to this case
00:56:53
and asked the way of dying in was he wanted to know if an autopsy was performed and if she had been checked
00:57:00
for eight the bad diagnosis Joe had received from his doctor that he talked about earlier was him testing positive
00:57:07
for AIDS Dayan suspected that he had it he later made the comment my only hope is to beat this thing on a technicality
00:57:17
I killed her for no particular reason this began to go bad in July he went on saying Diane had mentioned at the
00:57:25
divorce she tried to blackmail him and she betrayed him by telling everyone he was a crossdresser
00:57:30
his life was now over anyway he then asked for someone to shoot him at 11:15 p.m. he requested the seat Dorian's body
00:57:40
his words were let's go see the stiff they did take him to see Diane and he made a remark about her not wearing
00:57:48
makeup he said she'd be very upset if she knew we were looking at her like this at 12:30 a.m. Joe was back at the
00:57:58
station and he started asking about his children where they were and what would happen to them he also wanted to know
00:58:04
what exactly his charge was and when his arraignment would be detective Joe tripodo took this opportunity to try and
00:58:12
question him chaparro asked him how did you do it Joe Joe told him he knew already chapada
00:58:20
said he didn't and after some back-and-forth banter Joe took both hands to his neck and simulated a
00:58:26
choking motion at 2:15 a.m. the judge was in the courtroom and ready to arraign Chaparro told Joe to take off
00:58:35
his clothes so they could give him new ones before entering the court Joe begged to get changed in the bathroom in
00:58:41
privacy but it wasn't allowed after taking off his shirt and pants joe revealed a bra
00:58:48
and panty hose he also had a large scratch going from his stomach around through his back
00:58:54
Joe explained he'd gotten this scratch while playing with the kids his bail was set at three hundred and fifty thousand
00:59:02
dollars billions murder appeared on the front page of the New York Post one of the people to see it was Paul Kurland a
00:59:10
corporate securities whale and a teacher of trial advocacy who had met Joe once on Sunday the 1st of November Kurland
00:59:19
and Ronald back off went to see Joe back off was friends with Kurland and a high-profile criminal lawyer who he
00:59:26
recommended to Joe Diane's funeral was held on the 5th of November afterwards Don and other members of her
00:59:35
family held a meeting to discuss what would happen to Claudia and Blake Diane had mentioned two of Joe's nephews in
00:59:43
her will as possible Guardians and in addition Diane's cousin Kathy Hogan offered to take them if neither of Joe's
00:59:51
nephews were able Don then called Diane's lawyer Felder to check if there was a retainer left from her Felder
00:59:58
initially said no but later called Don and said I have good news for you I checked into there's $10,000 left I'll
01:00:06
do whatever fighting I have to do to make sure that those children are taken care of properly the children were sent
01:00:13
to Washington to live with one of Joe's nephews who died in had mentioned in her
01:00:17
will Eadie Pulaski on the 9th of November Joe made bail by paying 180 thousand dollars
01:00:24
of his own money and getting investor friends to meet the other 170,000 the first thing he said when he got out was
01:00:32
I want to see my kids the mother of one of Claudia's classmates heard Joe might get the
01:00:39
children again she was concerned and raised her concerns with the school headmaster the headmaster responded I've
01:00:46
talked to Joe and he's cheerful he's rational he says everything was a dreadful mistake and will be cleared up
01:00:53
the mother decided to turn to her friend who is the editor of New York magazine they both got in contact with
01:01:00
Manhattan's district attorney the DA's assistant Mary O'Donoghue worked for the child abuse unit and she
01:01:07
took personal care of the case Kurland advised Joe not to meet up with the children at home or at the Hamptons as
01:01:14
press would be waiting so Joe arranged to meet them at a hotel Mary O'Donoghue found out about these
01:01:21
plans and called the special services for child abuse hotline to report that two children who may have witnessed
01:01:26
their father murder their mother were near with the father that night a Sullivan County child abuse case worker
01:01:34
reported back to Mary the children were with their father that was safe and well
01:01:39
and there was nothing they could do because there was no evidence of neglect abuse or immediate danger Mary kept
01:01:49
insisting though and at 1:30 a.m. on the 13th of November three state troopers and the caseworker into Joe's apartment
01:01:56
to take the children into protective custody for they're not on the 15th of November there was a hearing in the
01:02:02
Sullivan County Family Court to decide if Joe could have the children for the weekend the judge decided he could
01:02:09
because there was no finding of child abuse Ronald back off said that you could see Joe lived for his kids and it
01:02:16
was very touching so at this stage it was ruled that Joe could have the kids on the weekends in New York however
01:02:25
during the week they would stay with his nephew and Pulaski in Washington but in
01:02:29
the first week of December Edie Pulaski said he couldn't take care of the children anymore so he sent them
01:02:35
back to live full-time with Joe on the 14th of December Diane's cousin Kathy Hogan and her husband Mark filed for
01:02:43
custody of Claudia and Blake through Diane's lawyer filter in a statement they said we wish to god
01:02:51
it wasn't necessary to do so we are not seeking to pass judgment on Joseph Michael nor do we assert that all we
01:02:57
have heard and read is entirely true but because of our love for Dian our great concern for the immediate safety
01:03:04
of the children and our genuine belief that we can provide a safe loving and normal family environment for their
01:03:09
children we're asking for custody the file mentioned Diane's murder should be considered an extraordinary circumstance
01:03:19
the petitions were made to Supreme Court Judge Kristen booth Glenn who accepted Diane's murder as an extraordinary
01:03:25
circumstance she scheduled the first custody hearing for the 17th of December Felder would be representing Cathy and
01:03:33
Mike agin and the pall Kurland would be representing Joe during the hearing judge Blynn had an
01:03:39
idea she believed that whether the children had witnessed something or not if they gave testimony then the
01:03:45
information would be out in the open and the danger against them would disappear
01:03:49
she discussed the possibility of recording a testimony by Claudia since Blake was considered too young with Alan
01:03:56
Joseph Orange County's DA who would prosecute Joe in the criminal trial Alan Joseph said that it wouldn't be
01:04:03
possible since both parties wouldn't agree to do it impartial II judge Glenn then decided to question Claudia herself
01:04:11
alone in a room Glenn came out saying the kids adore their father miss their father and she saw them sleeping in
01:04:19
Joe's arms Glenn asked to have access to Joe's last therapist Kurland denied that
01:04:26
access judge Glenn analyzed the files that had been completed by the child abuse case workers and concluded there
01:04:34
was no evidence of abuse or neglect to the children Shelia and Claudia and Blake to stay with Joe for the weekend
01:04:41
stating in some ways Diane's voice from beyond and her willingness to leave the children in that household for well over
01:04:48
a year after retaining mr. Felder indicates to me that these children are not in any greater danger from this man
01:04:55
than any child is from any parent in the city at this time Felder was outraged and threatened to
01:05:02
contact the media but Glenn said this wouldn't be good for their children's best interest quote the fact that the
01:05:09
lunatic judge gave the kids to the homicidal maniac I don't think that is a good thing for the kids
01:05:15
Felder didn't end up contacting the media on Monday the 21st of December the hearing continued Felder appeared in
01:05:24
court with the five page memo Diane had given him in which she specified the children weren't safe with Jo in one
01:05:30
part she wrote after hearing the nature of our current home life my therapist urged me to ask you to make some
01:05:36
intervention on the basis of psychological abuse of the children this is a situation in which their
01:05:42
babysitter's are subjected to extreme anger or dismissal their mother is belittled and denigrated they have no
01:05:49
ability to predict their schedule or whereabouts no constancy in human relationships just
01:05:56
a constant round of limousine pickups late hours junk food and presence however since Diane wasn't there to give
01:06:04
evidence her memo wasn't admitted neither was a statement from her a a sponsor who described the Jo as
01:06:10
dangerous when Jo took the stand he denied everything he denied being violent doing drugs or ever mistreating
01:06:18
his children or Diane he was the one who insisted they enter counseling and he said Diane verbally abused the children
01:06:26
the hearing was adjourned over the Christmas and New Year period the judge ruled that Jo could keep custody of the
01:06:32
children until the hearing recommenced on the 6th of January 88 Diane's friends organized the protest this decision one
01:06:41
of them got a permit to picket in front of the Supreme Court many didn't join in
01:06:45
as those who knew Jo were afraid he'd recognized them and go after their children Felder was scared the picketing
01:06:52
would backfire on them since judge Glenn didn't like press he said it was a bad idea
01:06:57
Felder found it difficult to get witnesses to testify at the custody hearing because they were all scared of
01:07:03
Jo two days before the custody hearing recommends to Monday the 4th of January 88 Jo was indicted in Orange County for
01:07:12
the second-degree murder in when the custody hearing recommenced the first person called the testifier
01:07:18
was a psychiatrist Glenn had appointed during the holiday break he was asked to examine John the children in two
01:07:25
evaluative Joe was a danger to them he testified what he saw was love and devotion from the kids to their father
01:07:32
and a healthy relationship between the three of them Felder asked him if mr. Park will retained custody do you have
01:07:40
maybe an itty-bitty worry that something could happen to the kids the psychiatrist's report yes I think this
01:07:46
is an open possibility judge Glenn then stepped in is it your opinion that there
01:07:53
could be harm to the children from number one removing their children from his custody and the number two does that
01:08:00
outweigh in your view the open possibility that something could happen to them in his custody
01:08:05
the psychiatrist answered indeed I do because as far as the children are concerned their father is innocent of
01:08:12
any criminal charges he's their daddy and they love him the psychiatrist didn't believe Joe was
01:08:18
a flight risk he believes suicide would be a much more likely outcome given that he had AIDS
01:08:24
and it was believed to be terminal judge Glenn asked him Joe might take Claudia and Blake's lives along with his
01:08:30
own in this event the psychiatrist responded he had no information to conclude that
01:08:36
at the end of the day Glenn again granted Joe temporary custody Felder ended up going to the media the
01:08:44
New York Post ran an article with the headline lawyer says judging wife kill case is playing Russian roulette with
01:08:51
kids lives there were several more days spent in court arguing the custody one child psychologist rebutted previous
01:08:59
testimony she said children love us for all kinds of ways that we have we can be
01:09:05
loved if we're cruel we can be loved if we beat them I have known children who have begged to be returned to psychotic
01:09:10
mothers children who have no trouble loving a father who whips them or whips their mother so for a child to say I
01:09:18
love my daddy is not something we should take at face value another psychologist
01:09:24
took the view that since Joe would most likely be going to prison for a long time that meant he should be able to
01:09:29
spend as much time as he could with the kids a proposal was then put forward that Joe wouldn't lose his rights but
01:09:36
would share them with a family member in this case Joe would be sharing custody with Kathy and Mike again judge Blynn
01:09:43
said she would consider this proposal in late April 88 Glen returned with her decision she said I cannot find that
01:09:53
petitioners have met the heavy burden which would be necessary to deprive Joseph Michael of custody of his
01:09:59
children the testimony she'd given most importance to was that of Mary Bain Mary
01:10:06
Bain was the mother of Jennifer one of Claudia's classmates her and her husband Steven invited John Claudia over for a
01:10:13
playdate after the playdate Mary said Joe is not the horrible person that newspapers were seen after that first
01:10:21
playdate Claudia started calling Mary every day asking to talk to Jennifer Mary in turn got to know Joe better
01:10:28
she said he was gentle funny charming and had charisma by early February Mary's husband Steven said Mary was
01:10:37
hardly ever home anymore Mary testified and described Joe as a wonderful man who'd she left her own
01:10:43
daughter with she also offered to adopt Claudia in Blake if Joe was sent to jail
01:10:49
by early April Mary had separated from her husband Steven and was in a relationship with Jo it wasn't long
01:10:57
before Jo was talking about marrying Mary his lawyer Ronald back off said to Joe look you're going to trial for
01:11:04
killing a wife in a small close-knit conservative community if you tried into court with a new wife on your arm you
01:11:11
might end tag annoys people they'll think didn't he have the decency to wait until he was cleared of the charge some
01:11:18
of them may even think she was your motive for murdering Diane Joe still decided to go through with it and on the
01:11:25
2nd of July they married in a secret ceremony on the 27th of July Kathie and Mike again decided to stop trying to get
01:11:34
custody of Claudia and Blake they visited them and saw the kids call Mary mummy they believed that if they were
01:11:41
happy and had a second mother now then they didn't want to be responsible for taking that away on the 4th of August
01:11:48
Mary Bain wrote a sworn statement saying she wanted custody of Claudia and Blake
01:11:52
no matter the outcome of the criminal trial as a 10 information she wrote her parents had an unused house in Brooklyn
01:12:00
that they could live in and if their children could remain in the same school when Kathie and Mike again found out
01:12:07
about this sworn statement they decided to fight for custody again this time it was Joe who requested a custody hearing
01:12:15
he wanted to block the oguns from getting custody the new hearing took place on the 14th of September and it
01:12:22
started with a recap of all of the previous testimony and evidence then an explosive piece of information
01:12:29
Mary Bain had been going to counseling as she was experiencing marital problems with Joe they'd been married for two
01:12:36
months during one of these counseling sessions she described the violent incident that happened in front of
01:12:42
Claudia and Blake as the children were involved the terms of confidentiality didn't apply so this information came in
01:12:51
Mary was called to the stand reminded she was still under oath and was asked about this particular incident Mary
01:12:59
described getting home late one day Joe was furious and cut the dress she was wearing with a
01:13:05
hunting knife Mary ran from the house and Joe chased her Mary hid at a neighbor's house until Joe approached
01:13:12
the next day and said he wasn't mad any longer Claudia and Blake witnessed this incident Kurland immediately resigned as
01:13:22
Joe's lawyer Joe withdrew his custody petition Glen gave immediate custody of Claudia and Blake to the oguns and a
01:13:30
place for them along with the lawyers and Mary bein under protective custody from Joe a request was made to hold Joe
01:13:37
until the organs got the children but Judge Glenn refused finding it unnecessary as soon as the oguns went
01:13:45
out to look for Claudia and Blake Joe and Mary got in their car and raced to get to them first
01:13:50
but the police got to Claudia and Blake and place them in protective custody before Joe and Mary could find them
01:13:57
judge Glenn allowed Joe to make a nightly phone call to his kids only two days later Joe told Blake on his nightly
01:14:04
call tonight I'm going to come through the window and take you away a security guard was placed with the oguns that
01:14:12
night and he was told by a detective if this maniac comes through a window do what you're going to do because if he
01:14:19
has an opportunity he'll kill you the next day Joe crashed his car into his house a
01:14:26
neighbor came out to see what had happened Joe forced him to change his tire and
01:14:31
the vents started blubbering about going to the border of Canada or Mexico he then said his first wife had been bad
01:14:37
his second one was dead and the third one was good he ended with he can't kill them all
01:14:45
the following day the oguns left with the children to go to a friend's house that night Claudia and Blake spoke to
01:14:52
Joe on the phone Joe asked them how long the drive was from the oguns to where they were now and instructed them to
01:14:59
look out for a street name enter the number of the house he told them not to tell anyone and he'd call back the next
01:15:05
night Mike again was listening in on this call the against old filter and a custodial
01:15:14
interference motion was put forward Felder pled for protection for the children from the homicidal lunatic
01:15:20
judge Blynn suspended Jose Knightley calls as well as barring him from the area where the oguns lived
01:15:28
despite her damaging testimony Jo stayed with Mary and do they appeared on a Current Affair together Mary blamed
01:15:36
herself for losing custody of the kids saying it was her fault for getting counseling instead of giving the
01:15:41
marriage a period of adjustment Orange County newspapers posted regular stories about Jo and airports and
01:15:48
borders had his picture and profile the psychologist who testified at the custody hearing that Jo should spend as
01:15:55
much time as possible with the children before he goes to jail was now Blake and
01:15:59
Claudia's therapist he recommended that Jo should be able to have visitations these were granted every Sunday a
01:16:07
security guard was always present and searched Jo before his visits Jo pleaded not guilty to murder enter the criminal
01:16:16
trial officially started on the 31st of January 1989 the jury was formed by eleven men and one woman
01:16:24
Sandra Jarvan and was the first witness called to the stand her lawyer had since
01:16:29
contacted the police informing him that she knew more information but wanted immunity from prosecution
01:16:35
the police agreed and place their into protective custody Sandra testified that Jo had confessed
01:16:42
to killing Diane and wanted to bury her body in her yard she refused but admitted making suggestions of other
01:16:50
locations where he could bury Diane she said she only did this for her own safety and to get Jo out of her house
01:16:58
next Diane's best friend Maggy Gary was called she identified the brazillian tails that had been wrapped around
01:17:06
Diane's body then everyone who came into contact with Jo after the murder was called the store owner who sold him the
01:17:16
ice the employee at the hardware store the dental assistant the people at the auto wash even Joe's friend Henry
01:17:23
Sawatzky was called then the detectives who worked the case Joe took the stand on the 27th of
01:17:31
February 89 he was going with self-defense he gave a more elaborate story of what he'd been saying since the
01:17:38
night of the murder he said Diane had a boyfriend that she was treating on him with and she didn't enjoy being with the
01:17:45
kids then on the night she was killed he confronted her as she arrived to the house and said he'd win in the divorce
01:17:52
battle Diane became furious and charged at him with a knife cutting him on the side this is how he says he really got
01:18:00
his scratch the one that was seen the night he took his clothes off at the police station that night he said he got
01:18:06
it from playing with the kids now he changed his story during the attack joe said he couldn't control Diane and it
01:18:15
ended up becoming a battle of life or death during which he had to kill her in order to protect himself
01:18:21
Joe's lawyers painted a picture of going in running off with other men all of the
01:18:25
time and being a bad mother he made it believable to at least some of the jurors as one of them told the
01:18:31
other let's face it she was nothing but a pig and a [ __ ] but the jury didn't buy Joe's self-defense story on the 16th
01:18:41
of March they returned with their verdict guilty on the 18th of April they were back in court for sentencing it was
01:18:50
announced that Mary Bane had found a new evidence a tape where Joe and Diane had
01:18:55
a fight and Diane called him a [ __ ] and a bully amongst other names and also threatened to stab him
01:19:02
Joe's lawyer asked for a postponement on the sentencing until the evidence could
01:19:06
be presented in the form of a petition to set aside the guilty verdict and ask for a new trial the judge agreed on the
01:19:15
second of June Joe was secretly transferred from the Orange County Jail to the nearby Arden
01:19:20
Hill hospital his health had been deteriorating rapidly and he died only a few hours later he
01:19:28
was buried in the cemetery next to the hammock Gansett house he murdered Diane six months after his
01:19:35
death his conviction was vacated because he died before he had the chance to appeal so technically he died an
01:19:43
innocent man in 1990 the adoption of Claudia and Blake by the oguns became final years later Kathy Odom's stated
01:19:54
it's not clear to us from what the children have told us that they did not wake up that night
01:19:59
or that they were unaware of a fight or unusual activity and it's clear to us that Claudia would not have revealed to
01:20:06
anyone including justice Glen anything she might have seen or heard not only to protect her father but because she knew
01:20:15
that such a revelation would have put her security in terms of her life with her father in danger
01:20:25
[Music] you