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Hi, crime junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. And I'm Brit. And this is our new friend who literally just came to me
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from a shelter in South Texas at 5 a.m. So, my lovely new little girl doesn't even have a name yet. Feel free to drop
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suggestions in the comments. Um, this is our new audioch pup. We love her. She came from a shelter called Who Saved
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Who. if you want to make a little donation in the name of our old friend Chuck. Um, but she's already bringing a
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lot of like healing to my heart and to the office. And so, >> she seems pretty chill. Again, I'm only
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2 hours into this new form of motherhood. Uh, and if she is, I think you'll be seeing her on a lot more
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recordings. >> So, with that, I think we should just jump into today's story. >> Yeah. The story I have for you today,
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truly mysterious disappearance of [music] a 23-year-old woman from southeastern Pennsylvania. And if you
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just skim the headlines, you would think police [music] have had a strong suspect
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for decades, a twice convicted killer who actually knew our victim. [music] However, we got our hands on this
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woman's diary, and she wrote of not one, but two [music] love triangles that might actually lead to a break in this
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case. This is the story of Dawn Mosino. One day in June 1989, a woman in the Philly [music] suburbs named Kathy sees
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a report of a missing young woman. And Kathy studies the picture of a girl with curly brown hair. And something about
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her is so familiar. Her name is Don Mosino. And apparently, per this report, she's been missing since May 22nd.
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Dawn's last known to have clocked out of her shift at Binmar Hospital where she serves food to patients, [music] and it
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would have been sometime at around 3 or 4 p.m. that day. And Kathy like can't believe what she's seeing [music]
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because never in a million years does anyone expect that they might have information on a case, right? She
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doesn't know Dawn at all, but she does remember seeing a girl who looked just like her at a bus stop near the hospital
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a few weeks ago. At the time, she was driving her two boys home from school. And one of them actually pointed to this
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group of women waiting for the bus who were all dressed the same, gray skirts, maroon vests, and a [music] black bow
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tie. And that is actually one of the hospital's uniforms. And here is the kicker. She specifically remembers
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seeing Dawn in that group of young women. But Dawn wasn't talking to the other women. She was talking to a man
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standing nearby. Now Kathy isn't 100% positive of the date that she saw Dawn because the days can totally like bleed
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together if you have the same routine like picking up your boys from school and driving them home. But she doesn't
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want to risk not giving the information to police, especially if it could be valuable. and she definitely does know
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it was at least around May [music] 22nd. So she tells police about seeing Dawn, gives them the vague description of a
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guy that she thinks she was talking to. This [music] black man maybe in his 30s,
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Detective Luther Leighton, who everyone calls Lucky is the lead on Dawn's case. And so he wants to ask Kathy if she'll
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identify [music] him in a photo lineup. And she's like, "Absolutely." Wait, how?
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Well, because a couple of weeks after Dawn [music] had gone missing, police already had someone on their radar.
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Through their investigation, they came to realize that in Dawn's address book, there was an entry that said Tom Hawkins
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with a number beside it. Now, his full name was Thomas Hawkins Jr., and Thomas Hawkins Jr. is a convicted murderer. 9
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years before he sexually assaulted, stabbed, and strangled a 15-year-old girl named Karen Stubs. [music] This was
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in 1980. And Brit, he only served 6 years for that. Six? I know. It seems like prosecutors couldn't prove premeditation
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for firstdegree murder. Like that's why they ended up offering him like a deal for third degree in exchange for a
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guilty plea. But still, 6 years is astounding to me. like this man is clearly dangerous.
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>> So, okay, did Don just run into this guy once or did she like know him? >> She knew him. I mean, at least that's
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what her mom said. Like, they actually worked together 3 or 4 years before [music] at a local rehabilitation
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center. And what's wild is like when they worked together, this dude bullied her. Like one day, Dawn's sister Kath
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had to come pick Dawn up from work because quote someone was being nasty to her. Turns out it was this guy. After
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this, Kath like went and gave Hawkins a piece of her mind. And then shortly after, Dawn left that job to go work at
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the hospital. So before this witness, Kathy even called the police, they had already brought Hawkins in. And his
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story was weird because he says that 2 months before Dawn went missing, she had offered to help him get a job at the
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hospital she worked at. >> Him, the guy who bullied her at their last job together. Yeah. And he says
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that Dawn had even set up an interview for him on May 12th, which would have been 10 days before she goes missing.
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But he says that he never actually showed up for that interview and that Dawn was really angry with him about it.
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But other than that, when they talked to him, he's like, "Listen, I have not seen
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or heard from her since that whole thing, like again, weeks before." But guess what? They came to learn that that
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story was BS. The hospital had no record of an interview even being scheduled for
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Hawkins. Why would he even lie about the interview? >> Well, that's a good question, right?
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Like I'm thinking maybe he was actually near the hospital like Kathy the witness
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said and he wanted to have a reason for that if police ever figured it out. But I also don't know because it wasn't even
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on the same day. So I don't know like if you're going to make up a lie, why make
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up one that's so easy to dispute and also doesn't even make any sense or actually explain anything away. I mean,
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I could see him probably trying to like distance himself from her and specifically from her on that date cuz
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the interview that he missed was 10 days earlier, right? >> Maybe. But like they didn't know it was
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a lie at the time and then they didn't have anything on the guy. So at that time they had to let him go.
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>> Okay. So this guy is already on the radar. When Kathy calls, they offer this like photo lineup. Does she recognize
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him? >> So she agrees like yes, let's do this photo lineup. [music] But by the way,
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just 3 days after police had originally talked to him about Dawn, but before he comes in for like this lineup or
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whatever, this guy actually committed another murder. >> What? >> Hawkins sexually assaulted, strangled,
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and stabbed his niece, Andrea Thomas, with a meat fork and staged the scene to look like a burglary. [music]
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Now, what is interesting is police did not know that it was him who did this at the time. Like it ends up taking several
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months for him to get arrested for that. But I just wanted you to know like we're
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talking about a bad bad guy here. A bad guy that Kathy does ID as the one she said was talking to Dawn.
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>> Which if if like [music] that's the guy that she saw, then Dawn probably isn't
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just a missing person at this point. >> No. No. Everyone kind of fears the worst. But honestly, Hawkins or no
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Hawkins, the worst case scenario was already playing out in the minds of Dawn's family because they know it's not
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like her to just disappear and not contact them. [music] I mean, it took them only hours to report her missing
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because even though Dawn was 23, [music] she had some learning differences. She actually lived at home with her mom and
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her sister. Now, she's described as high functioning but developmentally delayed.
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and her sister Kath told us that [music] because of this, Dawn followed a pretty
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strict schedule. And if anything changed, she would always let her mom or her sister know. So that day that she
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went [music] missing, her sister Kath said that Don was supposed to come home after work, let the dog out, and then
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her plan was to either walk the 20 minutes to her boyfriend [music] Dan Cul's apartment in Wayne, Pennsylvania,
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or maybe just hop on like another bus over there. Now, Dan also had some learning differences, and the two of
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them had been dating for like 3 years. They were both super dedicated to the Special Olympics. Dawn actually won
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medals in like all these different events and the Special Olympics was something that she really took
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seriously. So when she was going over to his place, the two of them were supposed
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to be like getting together so that they could go to a practice together down at
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the local YMCA. But when Cath got home from work early that evening, she noticed that the dog had not been taken
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out and there were like half a dozen voicemails from Dan asking why Dawn hadn't met him, why she hadn't come to
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practice. So, all that to say, Don's family [music] was adamant that something was wrong when they filed a
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missing person's report. And police actually heard their concerns. They took the report and then immediately started
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looking into where she could be, who she could be with, all of that, which is how
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they wound up at Tom Hawkins. And now that he has been IDed by their witness, the detective on Dawn's case gets a
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search warrant for his apartment in Philadelphia. Now, there's nothing they find [music] there that directly ties
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him to Dawn, but they do seize [music] a stack of detective magazines. And it's interesting because they say that
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they're all underlined and like dogeared on articles about new police practices and tactics, stuff like that. So,
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[music] Detective Lucky thinks that maybe this guy was like making notes on how to get away studying
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>> with murders. Right now, fast forward a little bit. They end up connecting Hawkins to the murder of his niece, and
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he finally gets arrested and taken to trial on that, which only makes everyone more suspicious of him in connection to
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Dawn's disappearance. So much so that Dawn's family attends every single day of the court hearings because they are
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fully convinced that Hawkins did something to Dawn. And if police can't get him on that, at least they hope
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he'll go away and pay for this crime, right? He'll be off the streets, which he does. The jury convicts Hawkins of
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firstdegree murder, which like [music] in my mind, you must have been a terrible study of those magazines, which
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by the way, [music] they fully brought up at trial because his DNA and fingerprints were all over the crime
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scene. And so after the verdict, Hawkins is sentenced to death. And this gives Detective Lucky an idea. He sees this as
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kind of a unique opportunity. He basically goes to the prosecutor, Bruce Caster, and says, "Look, I think this is
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our guide, but [music] I got nothing. Would you be open to taking the death penalty away if he gives us information
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about Dawn?" Like, her family just wants some closure. >> And Bruce agrees, which to me, like,
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this is an offer that even the dumbest criminal would take if they could. Like, if I was facing the death penalty for a
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case where they have me dead to rights, like forget appeals. I try to be confessing to anything.
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>> But I don't think it's just like a confession they want, right? What they said is they want information. I think
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they want to know like where she is, what happened. >> But he says he has no information to
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give because [music] he had nothing to do with Dawn's disappearance. He's sticking to that. Now, Hawkins to this
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day is still sitting on death row because Pennsylvania's governor put a moratorum on the [music] death penalty.
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But in all this time, he has never come close to confessing to anything relating
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to Dawn's disappearance. You know, it is interesting to me that Don's case seems
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to be so different. And I say seems cuz I guess we don't really know what happened to
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her, right? We She's never been found. We can't say that it's like not the same mo, but his other two victims like
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>> they were found quick. Yeah. >> Found quickly. Not even hidden. Like, >> and you're right. So, I know we don't
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know what happened to Dawn, but we do know a lot about his other crimes. And what we know is like he knew both of the
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victims, which is the same for Dawn, right? And like his first victim, Karen, she lived in the same apartment complex
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as his parents. And so, like they met each other on a few different occasions. [music]
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And then obviously, Andrea was his niece. We know that he sexually assaulted and killed both of them in
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their homes and [music] then staged both crime scenes to look like robberies. And
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so, like I said, while he knew Dawn in that piece is the same, her home doesn't appear to be any kind of crime scene.
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>> He didn't, as far as we know, he didn't stage anything. >> Yeah. Honestly, it seems like she never
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even made it home afterward. [music] >> Right. >> And interestingly, Dawn is about a
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decade older than his two other victims, which I think could factor in if Hawkins
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crimes are [music] sexually motivated toward adolescent girls. But is that enough to rule him out for Dawn? not to
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Detective [music] Lucky. He is still convinced of Hawkins guilt. But what if he didn't do it? I mean, I get why they
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would think that. What are the odds that she knew a now twice convicted killer and he didn't have anything to do with
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it, but like what if they were right and wrong? What if a convicted murderer did
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have something to do with her disappearance, but they were just looking at the wrong one?
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>> [music] >> I am popping on to start a conversation about a case. I cannot get it out of my
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head. A true mind [music] bender. A huge twister your way. You gut check all your
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assumptions cuz this is a case that starts [music] like so many before. >> Hi crime junkies. [cheering]
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In 2001, Detective Lucky [music] gets the shock of his career when he reads the front page headline of the Delaware
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County Daily Times and it says, "Did Bennett kill Dawn?" Now, per this article that he's seeing for the first
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time, >> the detective, >> yes, >> cool. It's basically saying that a guy in prison named Gerald Bennett had
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written a letter to the paper confessing to Dawn's [music] murder. And let me preface this by saying Gerald is the
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actual worst. He's in prison for strangling his 33-year-old girlfriend, Roxanne [music]
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Carolyn Lighty, to death and then sexually assaulting her 13-year-old daughter at knife point for nearly 5
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hours right after. And this was in 1999, so like 10 years after Dawn's disappearance. And this I don't know
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that I've ever dropped an mfer like on an episode, but this man even self-published a book arguing that he is
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innocent of the crime and accusing the 13-year-old, a literal child, of killing her own mother.
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>> Okay. When you said the actual worst, I thought that was hyperbolic, but the actual worst. Now, in this letter that
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he writes to the paper, he says that he met Dawn in May of 1989 [music] while he was applying for a job at the
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hospital where she worked, which is eerily similar to Hawkins story. >> Yeah, >> I don't know what to make of that. It
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seems like just a weird coincidence. Now, there aren't a ton of details in the letter. And even though they clearly
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didn't reach out to Lucky, the detective, the paper did get Bruce Caster, the prosecutor, responding on
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record saying, quote, "If Bennett takes authorities to the body, then I will publicly apologize to Tommy Hawkins for
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indicating that I think he's the killer of Don Mosino." >> That's [music] pretty bold.
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>> Yeah. especially for a guy who like would go on to ascend the political ladder. I mean, he eventually became the
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acting [music] attorney general of Pennsylvania. And it turns out Bruce called this guy's bluff. Gerald isn't
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able to lead them to Dawn's remains. He can't really even give them any verifiable information on what he says
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happened. And according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, police determined that he was in an entirely different
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state when Dawn disappeared. Then why lie out of the blue like that? >> He was looking at life in prison or the
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death penalty and I think trying to save his skin by giving false information in
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a highprofile missing person's case. The judge in Gerald's case called him quote
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the most dangerous, remorseless, callous defendant I have seen in [music] my 20 years as a judge, unquote,
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>> which I feel like I can't disagree, but now with Don's case, they're back to Hawkins. Honestly, never really got off
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him. And again, I get why, but I also again ask, what if the obvious thing distracted police from the real thing?
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What if for all these years people ignored the one clue that Dawn herself left behind, her diary? In this diary,
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which she seems to have started just three months before her disappearance, Dawn doesn't mention Hawkins once, and
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she certainly doesn't say anything about Gerald Bennett. What Dawn does write about is cheating on her boyfriend, Dan.
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From her writings, it seems like Dawn had been getting a little bored in her relationship with Dan. [music] And
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somehow while in this unsatisfied state, she meets this guy named Nick Katona. I don't really know how, but she devotes
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most of the pages of her diary to venting about her complicated feelings for Dan and Nick. We actually have a
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copy of Don's diary, which we're going to put in the fan club app [music] if you want to see it. But Dawn's sister
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Kath actually read some parts of her diary aloud [music] for us to share. Wednesday, the 22nd of March, 1989.
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The day after I saw Nick. I like him so much. The only thing is I still [music] have feelings for Dan. I love him. The
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25th of April, 7:51 [music] p.m. But really, what do I do? I'm lonely. Dan will never come up here. I know now. He
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said he will, but I know he won't. And I feel so bad. When he finds out that all
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this time I've [music] seen Nick, he'll be so angry. Oh well, he won't find out.
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I'll keep it from him. No problem. As long as he doesn't see this diary. Wow. Look at how many entries I've made.
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Wowee. Well, I know I would keep on writing. It's not fair though to my ulcer, and that's why I'm writing this.
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I hope my mom comes home soon. I'm so hungry. I only had a small salad and some coke. Well, I guess I'll go.
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Tomorrow is another s so day. Uh, bye. >> Did her sister know about Nick? >> No one in her family really knew about
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Nick. I mean, Kath said that like they knew who he was. He came to the house a couple of times. She knew Dawn was
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friends [music] with this guy, but she had no idea that Dawn was involved with him romantically. Here's the catch,
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though. Police did. They had this diary from the jump. And sometime in the 2010s, so this is after Detective Lucky
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had retired [music] and this new guy was on Don's case, Detective Maguire, he lets Kath see the diary. [music] That's
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how she found out for the first time. >> Wow. >> Which I'm sure was like so disorienting
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for her because for as long as she remembers, she believed the [music] same thing as police that Hawkins probably
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did something to her sister. But these writings, I don't know. She sees something more in
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them than police clearly do. Like, call it a sister's intuition, whatever. But she saw that Nick was clearly dominating
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Dawn's thoughts from March 1989 right up until her disappearance in [music] May.
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And it's clear from her entries that Nick did not treat her very well. Wednesday the 12th of April, 1989, 9:38
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p.m. Hi. Well, now Nick is on my list. [music] He told me he was going to see me and he didn't call me or stop by. He
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had done this I don't know how many times he stole my heart and now I want it back [music] if he's going to keep on
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doing this. I mean, I really liked him and so he has to do this all the time. I'm sick of it. Wednesday, [music] the
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19th of April, 1989. Nick called me at 9:30 a.m. this morning and [music] told me he was going to call me later, but he
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of course not. It pisses me off so much. It seems like Dawn would drop everything
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to be with Nick. And Nick kind of just kept stringing her along, basically like booty calling her. He's not taking Dawn
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on wholesome dates. He's taking her to hotels to have sex. So, Don talks in her diary about [music]
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how she's getting frustrated, like she is clearly infatuated with Nick, but she knows that she shouldn't be treated like
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this. She also can't stop. There's this moment where Don writes that she's listening to the song Every Rose Has Its
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Thorn by Poison on repeat, which is like something a tape she said she bought because it reminded her of Nick, which
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just like sends me back. >> I would say is such a relatable moment. I mean, >> it's like you and I like when in middle
00:21:54
school, we'd like lay in your guest room and just sing Carolyn Don Don Johnson. >> I [laughter] was saying complicated.
00:21:59
>> Okay. Yeah. Anyway, so after who knows how long of this, but at least 3 months
00:22:06
of entries, she and Nick seem to be on the fritz come May when she disappears. >> And police never talked to this Nick
00:22:14
guy. >> So, no, here's the thing. They did once. Rner police confirmed to us that they
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brought Nick in for an interview, but they wouldn't tell us when that was or what was asked or what was answered or
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not answered >> or anything. >> Yeah. And we tried to get the case file for Dawn's [music] case, but our foyer
00:22:32
was denied because police said that it is an active investigation. >> Okay. Then what about Dan? Like did they
00:22:40
look at him at all? Like maybe he found out about Nick, confronted Don, things got out of hand.
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>> No. So Dan isn't really considered a suspect at all like by anyone including Kath. He has a solid alibi. I mean a
00:22:53
there are all those voicemails that he left on Don's answering machine. Keep in mind this is the8s so they're either
00:22:59
coming from his apartment or pay phone >> landline. Yeah. >> And then someone at the YMCA confirmed
00:23:04
that Dan did attend the Special Olympics practice [music] that night. And Kath told us that she knows Dan really well.
00:23:11
He is this really sweet man [music] who, get this, still calls Dawn's mom every single evening for the past 36 years to
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say good night. >> And the thing that really sticks with me that I was so surprised by [music]
00:23:26
is he wouldn't even have a motive because Kath says that to this day Dan still doesn't know that Don was cheating
00:23:35
on him. >> As Kath told us, like they didn't want to break his heart. And I like when I
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heard that I was like like we're we're putting this out. >> I was going to say like do should we be
00:23:45
saying this? >> I checked with our reporter and she checked with the family. I was like
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listen like someone needs to tell him before this episode comes out. But we talked this up and down with Kath and
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she says he doesn't even know what a podcast is. He doesn't have a smartphone. So he is living in a very
00:23:59
like sheltered bubble. So all this to say that Dan was and is quickly ruled out. Nick, on the other hand, is a
00:24:09
different story. After Kath reads her sister's diary, she really pushed police to explore the lead
00:24:17
on Nick [music] more. Like, in all this time, things with Hawkins hadn't progressed at all. And it's not like he
00:24:24
was going anywhere. So, like, let's just be sure, right? Make sure every other avenue is explored to ensure nothing was
00:24:30
missed. And that if Hawkins is still where we end up, like in the end, so be it.
00:24:35
>> Yeah. He's right here. We know where he is. >> Yeah, but like might as well, right?
00:24:39
>> But when she's pushing for this, Detective Maguire drops a bombshell. He tells Cath that Nick [music] had
00:24:47
actually taken his life in September 2011, which is before she is now coming to him asking for this. So now they're
00:24:56
like, there's nothing we can do. >> I mean, that seems like it might be like relevant information to have before now.
00:25:02
At the time they didn't have any details for Cath about the circumstances around
00:25:07
or leading up to his [music] death, which mind you was over 20 years after Dawn disappeared. But yeah, I mean to
00:25:12
say that Kath didn't have [music] some follow-up questions like that seem to have not been asked like that's an
00:25:17
understatement. And so this in 2013 is where she kind of becomes at odds with [music] not just police, but her own
00:25:26
family a little because Dawn's mother is still in the Hawkins camp with police. And Kath thinks that they've been so
00:25:34
focused on Hawkins that they've been neglecting to follow up on other important leads like this one. So, by
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2023, Cath ends up working with a former social worker turned civilian criminologist named Clark Williams,
00:25:47
who's pretty legit. Like, he's helped solve some cold cases. And Clark starts his investigation with Dawn's diary
00:25:55
[music] and methodically tracks down almost everyone Dawn ever mentions, including [music] Nick's family since
00:26:02
Nick isn't around. And really, he was reaching out to them most of all to find out what contributed to Nick's death.
00:26:09
and his family told Clark that he was in love with a woman who [music] had a serious illness and when that woman
00:26:15
died, Nick just couldn't go on. They also say, and I find this part real interesting, that he never mentioned
00:26:25
anyone named Dawn to them ever. Okay. I mean, even if Nick didn't want to get into like his sex life with his
00:26:34
parents, you're telling me someone you know goes missing. Yeah. >> They're all over the news. Didn't even
00:26:40
mention her as like a friend and you don't say anything. It makes you wonder. Yeah.
00:26:45
>> Right. Like why wouldn't Nick go to the police when his [music] friend goes missing? Like why not tell your family
00:26:51
that your friend is missing? Like you were clearly like in the same orbit. Like even if you didn't do anything,
00:26:56
like could you offer information? >> Yeah. I mean, it doesn't sound like [music] from the diary at least Nick was
00:27:01
taking the relationship seriously. So maybe he wasn't taking it seriously at all. Like he didn't think that it
00:27:07
mattered. He thought like that little of Dawn. >> Maybe. But it also makes me think about
00:27:13
the fact that Nick would sometimes randomly like show up at her house unannounced when [music] it was
00:27:18
convenient for him. So like I don't know, maybe he showed up at the hospital or the bus stop and picked her up that
00:27:24
day she disappeared. And you know, because of her strong feelings for Nick, it's possible that Dawn might blow off
00:27:30
other plans to hang out with him and then maybe something happened between them. They got in a fight or Dawn
00:27:36
confronted him about like being a total flake. I mean, all these are just like I'm just like spitballing. These are
00:27:41
theories. But I mean, as we know, theories that no one even looked into by this point. And it's all speculation.
00:27:47
There's nothing to suggest that's what actually happened. But again, we have to speculate because [music] police did not
00:27:53
do the leg work that we can actually like cross any of this off. Like, did they search his car? Did they search his
00:27:59
place? Did they do anything but talk to him one time, TBD? Who knows when? >> I mean, did Nick have any kind of record
00:28:04
over the years? Anything that would indicate he was capable of doing something to Dawn?
00:28:09
>> We look we tried looking it up, so I don't know a whole lot about Nick or who
00:28:12
he was in the years after 1989. on his like official record, we found that he got a DUI in 1992, which is
00:28:20
three years after her disappearance. And then in 1996, Nick's charged with reckless endangerment, simple assault,
00:28:26
and terroristic threats. I'm not sure what the story is behind these charges because our attempts to get the records
00:28:33
were denied. And Nick's father [music] has passed away. His mother didn't respond to our request for comment. So,
00:28:39
we're here. We were here. So, actually, I mean, this is a good point to call out. Like if anyone out there listening
00:28:43
knew Nick Katona in Coatsville, PA in 1989, like would love to hear from you. [email protected].
00:28:51
Now, the one problem I have with this Nick angle is motive. I mean, he seemed like a kind of gradea a a-hole, right?
00:28:59
Like who I wouldn't want my sister to date. But I mean, like everything we know just kind of makes it seem like
00:29:05
like you said, he didn't care about Dawn. [snorts] >> Yeah. almost to the point where he
00:29:10
wouldn't have done something like this because he didn't care about her enough to act
00:29:15
on anything. Does that make sense? >> Yeah. And that's what I'm saying like I don't know if he had another partner
00:29:20
like was he having an affair or like you know the way she had a boyfriend >> but we don't see any evidence in her
00:29:25
diary or anything that Don was like threatening him in any way. So it doesn't feel like there's a real reason
00:29:32
that he would need her out of the picture. [music] But there was someone else mentioned in Dawn's diary who was
00:29:39
having an affair, who Dawn had threatened to expose and who really needed Dawn to go away. From her
00:29:48
writings, it is clear to the criminologist Clark that for the most part, Dawn lived out her life in like
00:29:56
this 5m radius. She would hang out at the Kmart with a group of friends near Dan's apartment in Wayne, [music]
00:30:03
Pennsylvania, and at the local Wawa. Our reporter Jennifer Al even took a drive with Kath to all the areas that Dawn
00:30:10
would [music] frequent. And they trace the route that Dawn would usually take from her house, her shortcut through the
00:30:16
park, past where Dan lived, and then to [music] Kmart. And this was the hub of her social life. That is where she met
00:30:23
her best friend, Carol, who has a similar learning disability. Now, Carol is mentioned in Dawn's diary. And
00:30:31
basically what happens is Dawn finds out a few months before her disappearance that Carol is seeing a married man named
00:30:39
[music] Hampton. Now, one thing I haven't mentioned about Dawn is that she was quite religious. [music] She grew up
00:30:44
Catholic and she would go to church often and belong to a few Bible studies. And it's interesting because Dawn never
00:30:50
wrote about her own affair with Nick behind Dan's back as something sinful. But Cath thinks that Dawn would have
00:30:58
probably viewed Carol's affair with Hampton as something more serious because he was married.
00:31:05
>> So Dawn actually had gone to, per her diary, gone to Hampton's wife and told her about the affair.
00:31:13
>> Oh, and I can't imagine Carol and Hampton were like thrilled about that. >> No, I mean, Don probably thinks she's
00:31:20
doing the right thing here because Carol and Hampton are really mad at her for this. So Kath thinks that maybe there
00:31:27
was some kind of confrontation about this between Hampton, his wife, and Dawn. But there is no solid evidence of
00:31:34
this, and Dawn doesn't write about any specific incident in her diary. We do know, however, that Dawn's very last
00:31:43
entry before she disappeared is about this situation. Her last diary entry is on May 17th, 1989. This is 5 days before
00:31:53
her disappearance. and B, I'm going to have you read it for me. >> Well, these few days have been hell with
00:31:59
Carol and Hamp. They're getting more in trouble. Plus, his wife is asking for things I know, [music]
00:32:05
which really isn't that much. Other than that, everything is okay. Dan is such a
00:32:10
honey. Nick is a bastard. That's all it is. Well, I guess I'm going to go. Talk to you later, Don.
00:32:19
So, the literal last thing Dawn writes is that Hampton's wife is trying to get more information out of [music] Dawn
00:32:25
about her husband's affair. >> And by the way, it's worth pointing out that Hampton had an apartment right down
00:32:31
the road from Dan and the Kmart where we know she hung out. And Hampton is a black man. So, if the witness Kathy
00:32:40
really did see Dawn on the 22nd and she really was talking to a black man and it
00:32:46
wasn't Hawkins, could it have been Hampton? >> Do they ever find out if Dawn got on the
00:32:52
bus that day or like talked to any of the people who would have been waiting at the stop at the same time? They were
00:32:57
all like in the same hospital uniform. I assume they knew each other. >> We don't really know. So, because we
00:33:01
don't have the files, all we know is that police did interview the bus driver, like the guy who did that route.
00:33:07
He didn't remember seeing Don get on, but like I mean that's just relying on a guy's memory who sees probably hundreds
00:33:13
of people passing each [music] day. And would Hampton have known where Dawn live? Because if she did get on the bus
00:33:20
and made it to Wayne, like she could have been intercepted before she even gets home.
00:33:25
>> I Here's the thing. I know Carol, who is best friends with Dawn, definitely knew
00:33:30
where she lived. So she could have told Hampton whether he knew outside of that or not. So yeah, if Dawn made it to
00:33:36
Wayne, as she usually would after work, Hampton would know exactly when and where to like bump into her on her walk
00:33:43
home. >> But yeah, to your point, it would have had to have either been at the bus stop
00:33:48
like before she got on or at the bus stop after she got off before she got to her house because the consensus is she
00:33:54
never actually made it back inside her house the day she went missing. >> Right. Cuz the dog hasn't been let out,
00:33:59
the voicemails, etc., etc. >> And did the police ever question Hampton? So Kath told us that police
00:34:06
have spoken to both Carol and Hampton several times over the years, though, by the way, the two have long stopped
00:34:12
seeing each other. But she told us that police recently interviewed Hampton and said that they are currently not looking
00:34:19
into him any further, but have not officially ruled anyone out. Kath also tells us that Carol's brother is
00:34:27
actually a detective in the next town over. So, Carol would cooperate with police whenever they wanted to ask
00:34:32
questions, but she would always bring her brother with her and being a good brother and hip to police tactics and
00:34:39
sensitive to Carol's disability. Her brother has advised her to say like as little as possible, which I understand.
00:34:45
>> And what about Hampton's wife? Like, we still have another player here. Did Did
00:34:49
they stay together? >> Uh, I actually want to talk to her more than anyone since like she's the one
00:34:54
trying to get Don to give her more information right before she went missing. The thing is she [music] passed
00:34:59
away in 2021. In her obituary, her family said that she was diagnosed with diabetes when she
00:35:06
was nine and it was like she was in and out of nursing homes all her life due to
00:35:10
that. And despite Hampton's unfaithfulness, they actually stayed together until her death. And we tried
00:35:15
to get a hold of Hampton, of course, but we [music] weren't able to. Kath also told us that over the years she would
00:35:21
run into Carol around town. One time actually in the grocery store, Kath like turned into the aisle, saw Carol. Carol
00:35:30
like stopped dead in her tracks, stared at Kath, and then like turned around like quickly to avoid her. I don't know
00:35:36
what Kath makes of this other than it was odd, and it's like stayed with her, but like it was something that she
00:35:43
brought up to us, so I just wanted to share. And listen, I think these new lines of inquiry coming from the diary
00:35:50
are really interesting. But Clark doesn't want to get tunnel vision. So, he's still working on even more
00:35:57
different [music] leads. Like, he learned from Dan that he used to work at the Kmart they all hung out at. And
00:36:03
apparently, there was this guy called Maurice Beal who worked there, too, and would hang around their group. Dawn knew
00:36:10
him, but not super well. But it turns out that Maurice had a long criminal history. From 1990 to 1994, Maurice was
00:36:20
convicted of drug possession, criminal conspiracy, and assault. He also had reckless endangerment and false
00:36:28
imprisonment charges, but those ended up getting dropped. And then in 2003, he's charged with the
00:36:34
most serious crime, sexually abusing his then girlfriend's 8-year-old daughter and stabbing her big sister multiple
00:36:41
times when she tried to escape him. Thankfully, big sister survived. Maurice went to court for these charges, but was
00:36:50
never convicted because the judge declared a mistrial. And I find this interesting because on the surface when
00:36:59
you look at the victim type, you're like, "Oh, eight-year-old girl, 20some woman, very different, right?" But I've
00:37:07
seen in past cases that a certain type of predator preseaker [music] or like easily manipulated. So you might
00:37:17
see the same per go after the elderly and children and those who are disabled. So, what if Maurice thought that he
00:37:24
could target Dawn because of her disability and then maybe really underestimated her? I don't know. As of
00:37:32
now, Maurice is incarcerated for another assault and harassment charge. We did reach out to him as well, but he hasn't
00:37:40
[music] responded. And we also sent a letter to Tom Hawkins in prison, but we didn't hear back from him either.
00:37:46
Ultimately, there's no solid evidence tying any of these people to Dawn's disappearance.
00:37:52
So, where does that leave the case? Kath, her sister now. >> Well, I mean, like I said, the
00:37:58
old-timers still have their money on Hawkins. And I get why, because if Cathy's ID
00:38:05
really was right, and she really saw Hawkins on the 22nd, then he is one of the last, if not the
00:38:13
last person to see Dawn alive. Bruce, the prosecutor, even has a framed newspaper clipping of the Hawkins trial
00:38:19
with the headline, "Hawkins sentenced to die." So, it's not like it's water under
00:38:24
the bridge for him. And Bruce told us that he is still convinced to this day that Hawkins abducted and killed [music]
00:38:30
Dawn. He is just confidently waiting to be proven right. Now, there is a new detective on Dawn's case now, Detective
00:38:38
Brian Bell. And Cath tells us that this guy's finally going down all the rabbit holes that police should have gone down
00:38:46
back when this was still fresh in people's [music] minds. And though Detective Bell declined to comment on
00:38:51
the record, my impression is that while he respects where the investigation has been, he is also trying to come at this
00:38:59
from like a very different angle [music] and explore the unexplored, so to speak.
00:39:04
And the Mosino family is thrilled to have a detective who is doing the hard work to look at past previous biases.
00:39:11
The reality is it's been 36 years and the Mosino family still doesn't know where Dawn is. They know nothing more
00:39:20
today than the day she stepped out of work and vanished. So, they're taking every tip that comes their way, even the
00:39:26
ones that might seem far-fetched to some people, like one that came about 2 years
00:39:31
ago. That's when Kath was contacted by what's called a remote viewer, which is a person who says they'll psychically
00:39:38
find where missing loved ones are located. And listen, like Kath was skeptical, but like what does she have
00:39:43
to lose at this point? Well, this remote viewer zeroed in on one particular park
00:39:51
and gave this very detailed description. And Cath thinks that the park that this
00:39:57
remote viewer described was an exact match to the one that Dawn would cut through [music] to get to the Kmart or
00:40:03
the Wawwa. The park that's nestled between the apartment buildings where Dan and Hampton lived. It's also right
00:40:12
down the street from the house that Carol lived in. >> And did they know anything about this
00:40:17
park beforehand? >> No. According to Kath, not much. Like all she says the remote viewer was given
00:40:23
was the FBI's VCAP report which had Dawn's name, picture, height, weight, that's it.
00:40:29
>> And just to be clear, is the remote viewer saying that Dawn's remains are in this park or just something happened
00:40:36
there? This is like an important park to the case. Like what? >> She thinks that's where her remains are.
00:40:40
And listen, I'm in the nothing to lose camp. >> If we can get a search done in this
00:40:45
area, what would it hurt? I mean, the park isn't too big. There's like a playground and a baseball diamond and
00:40:52
it's a highly residential area. There are pockets of dense foliage where human remains could possibly be hidden. But
00:41:00
also like committing a crime here and not having anyone see or hear anything is pretty far-fetched unless it was in
00:41:07
the middle of the night or it happened somewhere else and maybe she was just disposed of there cuz whatever happened
00:41:12
to Dawn we know had to have happened in the late afternoon. [music] For her part, Kath is a bulldog for her
00:41:18
sister's case. She actually contacted us to cover this story, and I'm glad that we can do our small part to bring
00:41:25
awareness to Dawn's case. Kath says that she has had this recurring dream. She's
00:41:32
driving through this neighborhood in Wayne, just past the park, and there, walking up the hill, is Dawn. Cath pulls
00:41:40
the car over, tells her sister to get in, but for some reason, Dawn won't answer. won't even like look at her. She
00:41:46
just keeps walking up the hill and then Kath wakes up. If you have any information on the
00:41:53
disappearance of Dawn Mosino on May 22nd, 1989, please contact the Rner Township Police
00:42:01
at 610-688-5600. You can find all the source material for this episode on our website,
00:42:09
crimejunkypodcast.com. And if you want to listen to more episodes like this and all of our
00:42:16
episodes completely adree, be sure to join our fan club. You can also get early access to new episodes every week.
00:42:23
And you can follow us on Instagram >> [music] >> @rimejunkie podcast. We will be back
00:42:28
next week with a brand new episode and with this pup who will hopefully have a name by then. [laughter]