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Phoenix Canal Killer /// Part 1 /// 775

July 24, 2024 / 51:38

This episode covers the murders of Diana Vari and Angela Braso in Arizona during 1992, discussing the details of their abductions, dismemberments, and the investigations that followed.

Diana Vari, a 19-year-old college student, was last seen on October 22, 1992. Her severed arms were discovered in a dumpster in Tucson shortly after her disappearance. The police found her car near a party location, raising questions about her last known whereabouts.

Angela Braso, a 22-year-old communications trainer, was murdered just 16 days later. Her body was found in a vacant field in Phoenix, with her head discovered in a canal 11 days later. The investigation revealed a potential connection between the two cases due to the gruesome nature of the murders.

Experts, including Captain Michael Ulin and Robert Ressler, provided insights into the dismemberment and the possibility of a serial killer operating in Arizona at the time. The episode discusses the media's role in sensationalizing the cases and the challenges faced by law enforcement.

The episode concludes with reflections on the investigations and the implications of having multiple serial killers active in the same region.

TLDR

The episode discusses the 1992 murders of Diana Vari and Angela Braso in Arizona, examining their dismemberments and potential connections between the cases.

Episode

51:38
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n [Music] [Music] welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you were doing thanks
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for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a man who is helping you to learn how to survive when
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law gets Lawless here is the captain punch him right in the nuts it's good to be seen and good to see you thanks for
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subscription and Colonel that's enough of the business all right everybody gather around grab a chair grab a beer
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let's talk some true cry [Music] [Music] in the fall of 1992 the State of Arizona
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had a problem 120 M apart two women were snatched abducted murdered and dismembered while police say there is no
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evidence telling them that there is a direct Connection in the two cases to the public it didn't matter
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women were afraid and rightfully so the first case was on October 24th when the severed arms of Diana Vari were
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found in a dumpster near downtown Tucson vakari a 19-year-old college student was last seen wearing a purple
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blouse faded jeans and purple shoes just 16 days later on November 9th the decapitated and ounded body of Angela
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braso was found in a vacant field in Northwest Phoenix braso a 22-year-old trainer at a
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Communications company was riding her purple bike when she disappeared the night before her body was
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found the bike was not recovered but her head was 11 days later 1 and 1/2 miles away
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found in canal in Phoenix Arizona this is true crime [Music] garage today we go out to the great
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state of Arizona and fortunately as you heard in the trailer we have some particularly gruesome and horrific
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crimes to discuss Us in this week's True Crime Story the first is that of 19-year-old Diana Vari she was at the
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Tucson Community Center at about midnight on Thursday October 22nd 1992 her car was found abandoned near the
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laosa street the following Monday due to traffic parked cars and statements from
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residents in the area it was quickly determined by police that vicari's car had been parked in that spot since early
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Friday morning okay so she goes missing last seen around midnight on that Thursday October 22nd her vehicle is
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found on Monday morning but they're able to kind of backtrack that and figure out
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that the vehicle had been there since early Friday morning so shortly after she is last scene Diana Vari was missing
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at the time so was her car so police are out looking for both on Saturday in the
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meantime so this is during the weekend in the meantime on Saturday October 24th two severed arms were found wrapped in
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plastic bags in a dumpster this is near downtown Tucson and not terribly far from where she was last seen it would
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take some time but police would later confirm that the arms were that of the missing 19-year-old college student
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Diana Vari this location of where her vehicle was found would quickly become of interest to police obviously because
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that same very night the last night that she was seen there was a rather large house party there in the area we have a
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witness captain that comes forward trying to help out police this is an acquaintance of the victim his name is
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Troy Olen Troy tells police that on the night of October 22nd the night that vicari was last seen he had actually
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spoke with her Troy Olsen worked as a bartender at the New Orleans nightclub and bar this is located in Tucson he
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said that vicari was with some guy that he didn't know vicari mentioned a party that night to Troy and said that Troy
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should meet her there so vicari wrote down the address of this house party gave it to her friend and then she left
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the New Orleans Club Troy Olen said that he had not seen Diana Vari since so police find her car in the vicinity of
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that party her arms were found in a dumpster in Tucson they were able to determine a couple of things based on
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the recovery of the arms evidence indicated the arms had been severed from the body after death the medical
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examiner determined that two different instruments were used to to sever the arms and what the me referred to as a
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heavy knife was used for the bones and a sharp serated knife was used for cutting
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the flesh so this is not part of an attack this is a cleanup and conceal project by whoever killed her the
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medical examiner was able to determine that the victim had in fact been killed and dismembered but the rest of the
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remains have never been found then we go to approximately 120 mil away but only 16 days later this is only 16
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days after the gruesome discovery of the arms in the dumpster in Tucson this is when the body of Angelo
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Brasso 22 age 22 was found in a vacant field near her home in Northwest Phoenix she had been stabbed in the back
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decapitated and dis about authorities speculated that it appeared as if the killer had attempted to cut her in half
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the body also showing evidence the killer likely tried to skin the victim 11 days after the body was recovered and
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found her head which had been severed cleanly below the chin was found in a canal in the Phoenix area and as said in
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the trailer Angela's purple bike was not located in fact this case is from 1992 that bike has never been found to this
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very day anytime law enforcement finds a victim with severed body parts and within a short time period again we have
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a distance here but short time period you would think that law enforcement is going to try to connect these cases on
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on some level yeah well and with the that's exactly right captain and these cases as said are about 120 mil apart
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that is a significant distance the distance alone is suggestive that these murders are not connected the
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dismemberment is different it's very different and the dismemberment might indicate and be suggestive that the
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cases are in fact connected because it's such a rare thing that somebody goes to
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these lengths to dispose of a body afterward and we get the opportunity here to hear some of the thoughts and
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remarks about these two cases from some experts so first we have Captain Michael
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Ulin of the Tulsa Police Department in the early stages of the vicari homicide investigation the captain says not our
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captain the Tucson Police Department's captain says quote at this point there doesn't
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appear to be a tremendous amount of similarities in the two cases but he did say the police department is not
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discounting any possibilities now when asked if he thought that it could be possibly that vicari's murderer is a
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serial killer this answer doesn't make doesn't add any comfort to anyone's thoughts or fears at the time his answer
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says quote I think the person who did it will probably do it again end quote there's a certain level of piece of [ __ ]
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that becomes a murderer but there's another level to that piece of [ __ ] it's kind of like a spicy taco piece of [ __ ]
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that will dismember their victims shout out to the Tucson Citizen newspaper and the at the time assistant City editor
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Gabrielle fimbr uh they were smart enough to send the newspapers right up of each of these
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cases to a garage hero this is the late great Robert wrestler so the other expert opinion we're going to have here
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is one of the original mind Hunters the news media was really honing in on the idea of a serial killer working in the
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state of Arizona okay so we have to kind of remember everybody about the times here
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right this is 1992 and keep in mind that just the year prior the country saw two big things right the
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the release of the forever popular movie Silence of the Lambs in 1991 which had everybody talking in '92 you and I were
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little kids back then but however I I'm sure you can remember everybody talking about that movie and I remember talking
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about I had a full beard back in '92 I remember trying to figure out how the heck could I watch that movie right like
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I'm like I know I'm way too young to watch I know my parents would never allow me to watch something like that
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and I remember trying to strategize on how I could figure out how to watch that movie so Not only was that movie talked
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about because of how gruesome and it was like taking a slasher film but making it very real
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life making it incredibly realistic and then on top of that it wins the Oscar yeah movie of the year so and and
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several other Oscars as well so it was a incredibly popular movie to that's an understatement but then on top of that
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months later you have the discovery and the arrest of Jeffrey dmer oh Jeffrey and keep in mind this is 1992 when these
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two murders took place when the brosso and vicari murders take place this is the peak of power days of magazine sales
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newspaper sales were huge at the time and local news ratings were extremely important there was no streaming back
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then so the things that were selling the headlines that were selling papers and magazines and the images that were
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selling magazines and the the stories that were getting people to tune into the local news unfortunately were serial
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killer stories because it was on the mind the minds of the people of the nation so you have the newspapers here
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the local media from Tucson and from the Phoenix area trying to hone in on this idea of
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they're connected and that there there's a serial killer at work here so they reached out to Big Bad Bob wrestler to
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get his expert opinion and this is what he had to say so while Tucson and the Phoenix police are saying early on that
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there is no evidence that the cases are connected what the paper referred to as one nationally known expert on such
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crimes says he would take a strong look to see whether the two could be related wrestler said he has studied dozens and
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even hundreds of dismemberment murders while wrestler cautioned that he was speaking in general terms and was not
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very familiar with the Arizona cases he said the proximity in time and location of the slangs would cause him to
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investigate whether they could be related wrestler said Killers dismember their victims for different reasons some
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Killers chop up their victims to make it more difficult ult for police to discover that a murder has been
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committed quote it's easier to dispose of a body that has been dismembered end quote he also said police have a harder
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time identifying bodies that have been dismembered and they're also are killers who simply quote get a thrill out of the
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dismemberment some Killers leave dismembered bodies in locations where they are likely to be found to shock
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Society he said it's a feeling of power control and Authority my first thought when looking at this is not connected
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based on the locations two hours away but you have this dismemberment and that is not common but the scarier question
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is if they're not connected do we have two serial killers happening at the same time in a pretty pretty close proximity
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to each other well I like what you're saying there Captain like that was my reaction based off of initial research
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on each one of these two cases right like you have to have that conversation right the newspapers are right the the
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Tucson Police Captain is right by saying hey we don't have any evidence to suggest that they're connected but we're
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not ruling out that possibility we're not going to Discount that possibility wrestler he's being interviewed he's in
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Virginia at the time I believe and he's being interviewed from thousands a thousand miles away saying that you have
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to consider it and in large part you do because of dismemberment is such a rare thing and we'll get into some of that
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psychology here with wrestlers comments in a minute but to what you're saying I want to add to that because my feeling
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is these are not connected because of the type of dismemberment and I apologize for this being an extra
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gruesome and horrific episode but we're reporting the facts of these crimes and there's no way getting around it to me
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when I look at the vicari murder her severed arms are found in wrapped in plastic in a dumpster like somebody's
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trying to hide evidence that's like I said earlier that's a clean up and conceal job that's somebody who is while
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they're not above dismembering a victim they appear to be doing it for the purpose of hoping that the victim's
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never found you go to the braso case 16 days later 120 miles away she's found in
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a vacant field not far from a from a rather busy part of town yeah so the the first murder is like you're saying it's
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to cover up to conceal evidence and the arms are probably not the only part of the victim that was possibly spread
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throughout the the rest of the city but in the second victim it's like it's not to conceal because the body wasn't
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concealed yeah and you don't even have to take our word for it I mean listen to what wrestler we just take our word for
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it some of what wrestler just said and he's somebody who's reviewed hundreds of these dismemberment cases he's saying at
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one part he says quote it's easier to dispose of a body that has been dismembered and he also says that police
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have a hard time identifying bodies that have been dismembered so that seems to 100% apply to the vicari murder and then
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he he ends that question by saying and there are some Killers who simply get a thrill out of the dismemberment that to
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me describes the braso murder yeah to me this is Black Dalia thank you I'm glad you said that
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because that's where my mind went immediate like was somebody attempting to recreate the Black Dalia but but
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couldn't do it because they were they had to do it appears to me that everything that was done to that poor
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victim Angela braso was done out in the open was done in or around where she was
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found because and we'll get into her timeline a little bit later but the the thing with her case is she very likely
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was abducted attacked and murdered all within a very small area and and very likely all of this took place outside
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with the vicari case we have no indication at all of where the dismemberment or any of that took place
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so it goes back to what I was saying or the question I was posing if these aren't connected then do we have two
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serial killers cuz to me these don't seem like firsttime murders the this seems like uh escalation I would think
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that it would be too hard to to make that come to that conclusion in in the investigation of either of these cases
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but I would think that th those are suspicions that you have to have looking at at both of these and and I yeah I
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would say that anybody look anybody capable of murder is capable of murder again if you tell me that they did these
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things to the bodies after the fact and we don't know how much of this trauma took place to braso before she was in
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fact dead which is a whole another scary sad thing to think about but yeah there's no way that you can't think of
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serial killers or serial offender with with this type of uh behavior and these type of actions that have been taken now
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wrestler goes on to say that dismemberment murders are usually stranger killings killings in which the
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victim did not know the killer he goes on to add in studying the cases it is crucial to know whether the murder
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scenes or scenes where the bodies were dumped are organized or not he says a killer who leaves a disorganized crime
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scene or a a scene that is left in disarray is more likely to be psychotic but cases like the one in Phoenix where
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the victim's clothing was piled next to the body are more organized in his opinion and he says if vicari's arms
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were meant to be found that could indicate that the killer that the killing was also organized he says it
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does not look like a psychotic person who is flipping out and doing these things that's interesting because he's
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saying that it's you would think that you'd have to be psychotic to dismember a body absolutely but I think it's what
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kind of monster are we dealing with here like are we dealing with with one who can organize plan and and form a
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strategy and carry it out right even somebody in a total frenzy and who's totally off the rails could have a plan
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the problem is they can't carry it out and what I think he's saying here and suggesting here that from what he's been
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able to see what the information that was sent to him in his review is in the vicari murder somebody very cold and
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callously and calculatedly tried to conceal this body so that shows some form of
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organization and then with this other case with the braso case it appears the same thing that the killer came prepared
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to the scene think of when we discuss all of those injuries and and everything that that we kind of we went through
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very quickly on purpose but when you think about that all of that stuff takes would take a good deal of time if the
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person that was attempting to perform those acts did not do it in a in a sort of matter OFA strategic way this is
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taking place out in the open this is this person could be spotted could be seen and un unfortunately that's not
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what happened they weren't seen doing any of this there was no eyewitness and not only that they were able to leave
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the scene themselves and not have put themselves under any suspicion yeah this guy's a real butt licker uh wrestler
00:23:14
went on to say that it isn't unusual for serial killers to move from City to city
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and in cases when body parts are missing it is possible that they were disposed of as well and have not been found he
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also said the killer or Killers could have a morbid desire to keep a souvenir quote people who do these things are
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losers they've been through the system before and they are getting back at the system they are throwing out a challenge
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so there a profound quote at the end of the interview from one of the best who have ever done it Robert wrestler now
00:23:54
like with most things our audience understands it's a numbers game you review the numbers and you play the
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percentages looking at some numbers here to find a dismemberment case in the City
00:24:06
of Tucson there had been none in over a decade prior to the varkari case there was a case in 78 1978 they caught and
00:24:18
convicted the guy who did it the last case to go unsolved prior to vicari's dismemberment murder was in
00:24:26
1975 and that was a male victim and unfortunately that victim remains unidentified and obviously no
00:24:41
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try Greenlight for free greenlight.com garage [Music] all right we are back cheers mates tall
00:29:38
cans in the air cheers to you Colonel squatty cans in the air too these two horrific homicides are
00:29:46
they related or not well the the the good news for these investigations here looking at this from far away many years
00:29:55
later there are couple of OB obious points that I want to make do so now one these are larger cities right two
00:30:04
different investigative agencies both with a lot of resources so that's that's going to be good for your investigations
00:30:12
two it's 1992 so you have 90s technology to help you with physical evidence collected at the scenes physical
00:30:21
evidence from the victim's car in the viari case you're hoping to find something there and a better
00:30:28
understanding of forensics in general and the not so obvious good news is in both cases we have a suspect a suspect
00:30:37
for each case both right from Jump Street so while the media was busy hunting for a connection law enforcement
00:30:46
is working these cases as not connected and both working on a different suspect well sadly I think the media looks for
00:30:54
those connections because it makes a better story let's not not try to tear the media apart for doing so because you
00:31:03
know we we've said this dozens of times if you if if this is your first time listening to the garage warning we've
00:31:09
said this dozens of times John Walsh taught all of us in the early 80s that the best thing that you could do for any
00:31:16
of these victims is to keep the story alive and keep it in the media and if if making a connection and trying to create
00:31:24
a story that there's a serial killer working in Arizona if that gets people to put
00:31:31
their eyeballs on a story and put their earballs on a story and read a story and
00:31:36
watch a watch a news clip for for the evening news even better as long as people are paying attention that's good
00:31:45
so if that's if that's what the media is providing here then God bless them but I
00:31:50
think the scarier story is that it's not one killer that we have multiple serial
00:31:54
killers well and the scarier thing that you're getting at that we need to kind of underline here is if in fact these
00:32:03
two are budding serial killers or active serial killers that's the scary thing they're
00:32:10
both operating in large cities at the same time and that needs to put everybody on high alert especially
00:32:18
females nobody's safe hide your kids hide your wife hide your husbands too lock your doors for the vicari murder
00:32:27
they are looking for the man that was with Diana Vari that night that she went missing right that's obvious right we
00:32:34
have the the friend they have a description of this man but no name for this man the friend that saw the two of
00:32:41
them together at the bar when she invited the friend to the party we got to figure out who that dude is right
00:32:48
he's not come forward to say I was with her that night this is where I dropped her off or this is where I last saw her
00:32:54
the last reported sighting that we have of our victim is from her acquaintance friend bartender at that New Orleans
00:33:02
nightclub so we need to figure out who that dude is police were looking to figure out who that guy was well
00:33:09
potentially if she went to the party with that victim CU we know her car was found by that party then we'd have a lot
00:33:16
of other eyewitnesses that might not have a name but might have detailed descriptions of this individual with the
00:33:24
reporting the constant reporting that the last sighting of was at that nightclub that's indicative to me that
00:33:31
she never made it to that party but why was her car found by the party because you have a a cunning killer who decided
00:33:38
to place her vehicle there or maybe that was the abduction site maybe he rode with her to the to or followed her there
00:33:46
and she never made it indoors very interesting that that's either your abduction site or he was smart enough to
00:33:53
place her vehicle there knowing because in his presence in his presence if if the dude that she was with that night at
00:34:01
the bar was the killer in his presence she handed the address to the bartender and if he's going to go to the links to
00:34:09
cut her up and drive around town and put her in different dumpsters which is what
00:34:14
I think happened here yeah absolutely we shouldn't gloss over the fact that it was probably pretty easy for him to know
00:34:20
that that address and to to do something about it to put to put something there to he's clearly trying to cover up and
00:34:29
conceal the murder yeah I think that's a great point he's trying to conceal the murder but then he's also trying to
00:34:35
create a a separate narrative that maybe she did make it to that party whether or
00:34:40
not people remember seeing her now we have another location and now we have other individuals that we have to
00:34:46
question and if he's not at that party then he then doesn't become a suspect yeah and and police are looking for a
00:34:54
breadcrumb trail why not give them several false breadcrumb to follow yeah he seems very organized for the Angelo
00:35:01
braso case they were looking at Angela's boyfriend so let's go back to the night
00:35:06
on the braso case and examine the timeline shall we 22-year-old Angela braso worked in the tech industry at a
00:35:14
Communication Center she is a transplant she grew up in Pennsylvania I believe she spent some time in California and
00:35:22
then at the time of the Murder She was building a career in Phoenix Arizona she lived with her boyfriend Angela
00:35:30
regularly and some Reports say almost every night would go out for a solo bike ride it's Arizona so she preferred to
00:35:39
ride around sunset time when it's you know starting to cool off but it's not yet dark out so she can still see but
00:35:48
she would ride her bike in the same area because it's Scenic it's convenient and
00:35:54
it's near her home and this is what is referred to as the Arizona Canal or the Phoenix Canal so the canal which spills
00:36:03
from empty fields from more than 20 miles east it winds through old Scottsdale Arizona and Arcadia and then
00:36:13
past the builtmore resort it meanders through workingclass Sunny Slope which is a nearby Town skirts North Mountain
00:36:23
and then starts its final run Northwest so the the canal itself is man-made from
00:36:31
my understanding and it looks very man-made if anybody's seen pictures of this or seen it on TV even on a map the
00:36:38
canal winds through this busy metro area and at times it goes under bridges goes
00:36:46
under traffic and even even the interstate uh Interstate 17 so when she goes out riding and you'll see like this
00:36:54
area is popular for people walking walking their dogs and riding bikes a lot of bike riders out there but what's
00:37:02
cool and kind of creepy about this area especially if it were to be dark out like the cool part is that the path goes
00:37:09
it's a Concrete path on both sides of the canal it it makes it very convenient in an obvious location for people to
00:37:17
want to to walk or to ride their bikes so one could one could ride next to the canal make their trip turn around and
00:37:28
now you're riding on the other side of the canal if you want back or just simply turn around but the creepy part
00:37:34
to me would be if it's dark out we talked about the canal going under traffic so at some parts the bike rider
00:37:44
braso Angela braso would there's like these little tunnels right that that still stay alongside of the canal but
00:37:52
now you can't see the canal you can't see the traffic you can't see the sky you're down in this tunnel so that you
00:37:58
can go underneath a major road or th and she's riding through these tunnels she's
00:38:03
riding through these tunnels but keep in mind they're just they're intermittent right there's you you're riding along
00:38:08
the scenic area next to this canal and then you have to go into this tunnel briefly and then you're back out you
00:38:14
know what I say to that not today Satan not today but let's not fault our victim
00:38:20
here because there's hundreds of people that do this no no I'm not faulting her I'm just saying I'm a I'm kind of a puss
00:38:26
I'm not I'm not going through tunnels well keep in mind that's why her friends and family are telling police she'd like
00:38:35
to ride at Sunset because it's not dark out yet she can still see and but it's also not 110 degrees with the sun
00:38:44
beating down on you this is part of her regular routine and this is where somebody abducted her from well like you
00:38:51
said wrestler was saying it's most likely because of the dismemberment a stranger on Stranger crime but in this
00:39:01
case it's with the the braso case it's because of her bike ride you would go well who who knows about this routine
00:39:12
people close to her so is it possible that the suspect is somebody that knows her and knows her routine oh yeah as an
00:39:20
investigator you're not just taking wrestler's word for it and eliminating everybody that knows her
00:39:27
wouldn't be doing a great job would they oh well we've seen some bad jobs conducted I I'm here to tell you I don't
00:39:33
think a bad job was conducted here in in this case at all or in the Vari case either now so on the evening of no
00:39:41
November 8th she goes out on a bike ride her bike ride as usual I believe this was a Sunday so she does not come home
00:39:49
she's we know that later she's found dead the next day the bicycle has never been found mhm but in the meantime the
00:39:56
boyfriend who lives with her says that he's at home when she went out he says he's at
00:40:03
home baking a cake the two were going to be celebrating I believe it was her birthday that they were going to be
00:40:08
celebrating that night and some reports state that the couple had plan to watch television together that evening but
00:40:14
when Angela didn't return her boyfriend he got worried got concerned he grabbed his bike according to his statements to
00:40:21
police he grabbed his bike and then he went out looking for her well not just TV they were going to watch HBO which
00:40:27
which is premium content and he searched in his in his words for an extended period of time and in fact he says
00:40:36
several hours to no avail and then he notified the police okay so she's found the next day in that vacant field and
00:40:44
from my understanding Captain it wouldn't have been too hard to spot her there so that's going to be a red flag
00:40:49
for police when when you're told by this guy he he knows where she rides he hopped on his bike and and went out
00:40:55
looking for her for several hours never discovered her okay so that's going to be concerning for you if you're an
00:41:02
investigator but we should focus in on the timeline if she is in fact riding at sunset during Twilight and it's going to
00:41:10
be dark soon one could surmise that by the time he's out looking for her it is in fact dark she's not found on the bike
00:41:19
path or directly near the bike pass she's found in this vacant field that he just simply was looking for her and and
00:41:27
as said did not find her the other problem though becomes his Alibi is that he was out looking for her for
00:41:35
hours you're not going to have anybody to cooperate that alibi right right and so he could have been doing the right
00:41:43
thing and not guilty of anything at all but The Alibi isn't solid either if you're an investigator and then then
00:41:53
this comes into play it just it it seems too vicious of a crime time for somebody
00:41:58
that's into Bak Goods the police say that the boyfriend became a suspect after telling the detectives that the
00:42:05
relationship was great and then they talked to some of Angela's friends and they told a different story right now I
00:42:13
want to be clear here because of we we need to make sure we are accurate on the details none of the
00:42:22
friends were saying that this guy was terrible that he was abusive or anything like that keep in mind Angela braso was
00:42:29
22 years old anybody that's been in a relationship in their early 20s look there there sometimes you're
00:42:36
just with the per you live together and you discover maybe this is not the guy or girl for me yeah right like maybe we
00:42:44
don't have as much in common or maybe we don't have the same interest or maybe we
00:42:48
don't have the same goals for our life or family life and it takes to living together to learn and understand
00:42:57
yeah not all boyfriends are going to be Ryan goling well and while he says the relationship is great it may have been
00:43:04
great it may have been great for him maybe maybe Angela was bored or maybe she just she's 22 she's young you know
00:43:12
so she she had told some friends that she was considering ending the the relationship at some point so this makes
00:43:21
police Wonder did the boyfriend in fact do something when you're hearing two sides of the story the question then
00:43:28
becomes is he telling us a fib right that that's where it goes to me if if if he's if he's telling a a fib or and
00:43:38
that's what you have to get to the bottom of I think when you're doing this investigation is he telling us a story
00:43:44
is he just telling us what he thinks we want to hear or is this what he actually
00:43:50
belied what was going down in the relationship and the other thing we we should point out here too and this is
00:43:56
from the Phoenix Police Department statements they they said that at no time was he not Cooperative with the
00:44:05
investigation that he he cooperated with police he anytime that they asked to interview him anytime they asked to
00:44:12
search the apartment where where they lived he always he always followed through and allowed them to do that he
00:44:19
always sat down and discussed anything with them so not not major red flags but you have you you have to form a pull and
00:44:28
that's naturally where it's going to start well and again the guy could be cooperating with you but if he's telling
00:44:34
you the truth his truth still might not line up or it might not give not might line up with what like his his truth
00:44:45
that he's telling you for example when he says when they go well where were you well I was out looking for her so that
00:44:52
could be the truth but there is no way to back up that story so as far as law enforcement goes you go
00:45:00
Alibi doesn't have one yeah yeah of course that's all I'm saying that's something we talked about but the the
00:45:07
the thing that that you I I believe you trying to get to earlier and this was an
00:45:12
item of concern for me a major item of concern for me here yeah would be the victim's head okay and I'm sorry there's
00:45:20
no nice way to talk about this stuff but the victim's head was found some reports
00:45:25
State 10 days later after body was recovered most say 11 so we're going to say 11 because it's like 90% of the
00:45:32
reports say 11 days later the victim's head was found and all reports say that the the victim's
00:45:40
head was found in the canal okay we say it all the time water is the killer of evidence time is the killer of evidence
00:45:48
do you want to know what everyone was saying when this item was recovered that there is no way that this
00:45:56
had been in the water for 11 days no way that this is what everybody was saying I'm just I'm relaying it so now I know
00:46:05
that perverse and psychotic comes in all sorts of different kinds of packaging but from a homicidal psychology
00:46:14
perspective here the boyfriend the husband when they are the killer rarely rarely rarely I can't I have a hard time
00:46:25
of thinking of one case at all where they keep the victim's head where they keep the victim's head that is what I
00:46:33
think happened here with this I think whoever did this kept the head as a souvenir yeah that is why it did not
00:46:40
look like it had been in the water for all of that time because it wasn't someone kept it preserved it until
00:46:47
things either got too hot or it no longer served its purpose or they got too scared so to further
00:46:57
along that point this is from the Arizona Republic newspaper now keep in mind this case originated in 1992 that's
00:47:06
a long time ago so over the course of over three decades that this K this case has been in the news reporters have come
00:47:14
and gone one great reporter who was on the case back in the day reported this about the head this is
00:47:23
from William Herman a great reporter and it states 11 days later a man named Mark
00:47:30
quals spotted the rest of bro's remains in the canal near Metro Center quals 39 years old was known to live outdoors and
00:47:41
went by the nickname fisher king some suggested it had come from the Robin Williams movie shout out to Robin
00:47:49
Williams rest in peace but qus also successfully fished the canal he was a fisherman of this canal and this is very
00:48:00
bizarre this next part uh and it's actually just going to keep getting more bizarre great his mother this qu's guy
00:48:07
his mother told him that she believed that he would find the slain woman's head which in fact we know that he ended
00:48:16
up finding him oh God she told the reporter William Herman quote it was just a strong
00:48:23
feeling I had now keep in mind though the fisher king she she's reading about this case in the newspaper and the canal
00:48:33
is right there her son is out there from my understanding day and night fishing this canal so if if if somebody if you
00:48:42
were to make you know this is sort of a great prognostication here but also again playing the numbers he's out there
00:48:51
every day if anyone were going to find it he's got to be at the top of the list it sounds bizarre at first but he's
00:48:58
sitting there going I'm fishing every day in this canal if anybody's likely to find this item it's going to be me so
00:49:06
William Herman one of the number one top reporters on the story at the time in 1992 here is he this is his words from
00:49:16
talking to police and from talking to the fisher king who found it quote I was told her head was in too good of shape
00:49:23
to have been in the canal all of that time Herman said the killer either kept it in a refrigerator or an ice chest now
00:49:31
we have a pretty good portrait of a 11% madman he had two trophies a head and a bike and he put the head back
00:49:42
another profound statement there now the case was drawing attention from other parts of the
00:49:49
country as police searched for similar killings and then the bad news just continues to get worse in September of
00:50:00
1993 the discovery that seemed inevitable was made Melanie Bernice's body was found in the water and no one
00:50:09
could ignore the coincidence William Herman said one of the first questions he asked was whether
00:50:16
Melanie bernus was riding a bicycle before she was killed his sources said she had a bike a green SPC Hard Rock
00:50:25
sport and had been riding it along the canal it was not found at the scene a shiver went up my spine Herman
00:50:35
said now we had [Music] two so much more to get to in this case for everything True Crime Check out true
00:50:52
crime garage.com and while you're there sign up on our mailing list until tomorrow be good be kind and don't
00:51:00
litter [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]

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  • 70
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  • 60
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  • 60
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Episode Highlights

  • The Gruesome Cases of Arizona
    In 1992, two women were abducted and dismembered in Arizona, sparking fear and speculation.
    “Women were afraid and rightfully so.”
    @ 03m 00s
    July 24, 2024
  • Diana Vari's Disappearance
    19-year-old Diana Vari went missing after a night out, leading to a horrific discovery.
    “Her arms were found wrapped in plastic bags in a dumpster.”
    @ 05m 39s
    July 24, 2024
  • Angela Braso's Tragic Fate
    Just 16 days later, Angela Braso's body was found, decapitated and mutilated.
    “Her head was found in a canal 11 days later.”
    @ 08m 51s
    July 24, 2024
  • Simply Safe's Flexibility
    With Simply Safe, you're never locked into a long-term contract and can cancel anytime.
    “You'll never be locked into a longterm contract.”
    @ 25m 21s
    July 24, 2024
  • A User's Peace of Mind
    One user expresses their satisfaction with Simply Safe's ease of use and reliability.
    “I just set it and forget it and know that I am protected.”
    @ 25m 49s
    July 24, 2024
  • Multiple Serial Killers?
    A chilling discussion about the possibility of multiple active serial killers.
    “The scarier story is that it's not one killer, but multiple serial killers.”
    @ 31m 50s
    July 24, 2024
  • A Warning About Safety
    In light of recent events, a stark reminder about personal safety is shared.
    “Hide your kids, hide your wife, hide your husbands too.”
    @ 32m 21s
    July 24, 2024
  • Dark Tunnels and Humor
    A light-hearted moment about avoiding dark tunnels while biking.
    “Not today Satan.”
    @ 38m 17s
    July 24, 2024
  • The Fisher King
    Mark Quals, known as the Fisher King, finds the remains in the canal. His mother had a strong feeling he'd find them.
    “It was just a strong feeling I had.”
    @ 48m 19s
    July 24, 2024
  • Melanie's Body Found
    In September 1993, Melanie Bernice's body was discovered, raising chilling questions about her fate.
    “A shiver went up my spine.”
    @ 50m 31s
    July 24, 2024

Episode Quotes

  • I think the person who did it will probably do it again.
    Phoenix Canal Killer /// Part 1 /// 775
  • It's easier to dispose of a body that has been dismembered.
    Phoenix Canal Killer /// Part 1 /// 775
  • People who do these things are losers.
    Phoenix Canal Killer /// Part 1 /// 775
  • The scarier story is that it's not one killer, but multiple serial killers.
    Phoenix Canal Killer /// Part 1 /// 775
  • Not today Satan.
    Phoenix Canal Killer /// Part 1 /// 775
  • It was just a strong feeling I had.
    Phoenix Canal Killer /// Part 1 /// 775

Key Moments

  • Beer Fund Shoutouts01:23
  • Fear in the Community03:00
  • Dismemberment Discovery05:39
  • Psychological Insights21:41
  • Serial Killers31:50
  • Safety Warning32:21
  • Dark Tunnels38:17
  • Chilling Discovery50:31

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown