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Charlotte Fimiano /// Part 2 /// 699

September 15, 2023 / 56:07

This episode covers the unsolved murder of Charlotte Fimiano and its potential connection to the earlier murder of Sherry L. Lewis. The discussion includes details about both cases, the investigation, and theories surrounding the murders.

Charlotte Fimiano, a 40-year-old realtor, was murdered on September 11, 1997, after showing a vacant home in Hellertown, Pennsylvania. Her body was discovered the next morning, and she had been strangled and shot. The hosts, Nick and the Captain, discuss the circumstances of her death and the investigation that followed.

They also compare Charlotte's case to that of Sherry L. Lewis, a realtor murdered in 1994 in Decatur, Illinois. The hosts note similarities between the two victims, including their professions and physical appearances, and mention that investigators looked into possible connections between the two cases.

Throughout the episode, the hosts speculate on various theories regarding the motive behind Charlotte's murder, including the possibility of a targeted attack versus a random act of violence. They discuss the significance of phone calls made prior to her death and the implications of the evidence gathered during the investigation.

The episode concludes with a call for listeners to provide any information related to Charlotte's case, as law enforcement continues to seek leads.

TLDR

Charlotte Fimiano's murder is examined alongside Sherry L. Lewis's unsolved case, discussing potential connections and investigative theories.

Episode

56:07
00:00:00
thank you [Music] [Music] thank you welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thanks
00:00:43
for listening I'm your host Nick in The Jerk store just called and they are running out of my co-host I give to you
00:00:50
the captain hey thank you so much T-Bone it's going to be seen and good to see you thanks for listening thanks for
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telling a friend [Music] today ladies and germs we still got some ice cold pilsners in the old garage
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fridge we are drinking Lazy River pills by our friends over at New Trail Brewing
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this is an updated version of a traditional German pilsner with German Munich malts for a highly crisp and
00:01:21
refreshing light and flavorful pilsner with Citra hops to add a bright orange Citrus Aroma ABV 4.4 percent garage
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grade 4 and a five bottle caps and here's some cheers to our friends first up we have Daniel from Fargo North
00:01:39
Dakota cheers me and we also have Ashley and Kelly in Bakersville North Carolina
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thank you to everyone for going to our website and helping out with this week's beer fun providing the funds for the old
00:01:52
beer run yeah bwr you win Beer Run make sure you go to truecrime garage.com and sign up on the mailing list in kernel
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that's enough of the beers yes all right everybody gather round grab a chair grab
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a beer let's talk some true crime [Music] early on into the murder investigation
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of Charlotte fimiano the authorities were looking into another unsolved homicide now oddly enough Captain this
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one took place three years prior and hundreds of miles away this is the still unsolved murder of Sherry L Lewis a
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realtor from Decatur Illinois who was murdered on August 5th 1994. in a brief overview of that case is as follows on
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August 5th 1994 30 year old Sherry L Lewis of Decatur Illinois she's a realtor she was found deceased in a
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Macon County residence that was for sale which she had an appointment to show this home
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Sherry's case has been re-examined and thoroughly investigated by Macon County Sheriff's Office under former Macon
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County Sheriff Buffett assisted by special homicide investigator John Skaggs scallywag this is from the
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justice for Sherry Lewis Facebook page they say their full investigative report containing overwhelming evidence solving
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her brutal murder has been in the hands of Macon County State's Attorney's Office since May of 2018
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former Macon County State's attorney Jay Scott failed to bring Justice for Sherry
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Lewis this is they're trying to Rally here and try to get support to finally take this thing to trial if the evidence
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warrants that so I'm bringing this up because it is all a part of the Charlotte femiano case this is something
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that they reference and that police looked into now I don't know who reached out to who right I don't know if Decatur
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Illinois reached out to the State Police in Pennsylvania or if the State Police in Pennsylvania reached
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out to Macon County in Illinois but we do know that they were talking and they were
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examining the details of both cases what we would later be told after a few months they're not saying that they are
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ruling out the possibility that the two could be connected what they do say is we didn't find any direct connections
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from one to the other I think in this episode captain and I'm reluctant to say this because I I'm
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hesitant because I hate to go down these roads say it I might say it I think you're going to hear me say two things
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in this episode that you've never heard me say in almost 700 episodes of True Crime garage that he appreciate my work
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and my effort I say that all the time you just you just hit the stop button uh and and erase it in the editing process
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and the people think I hate you so but hear what's weird to me Captain I never think that these cases I I think maybe
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in the alphabet murders case that we talked about that that might be the only other time that I was like yeah these
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two cases that are hundreds of miles away and years apart might be connected I almost never say that because I never
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believe it and guess what it's because the numbers don't pan out it's almost never true yeah statistically it's it's
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very low but this this case is strange because you're pointing something you know off mic before is if you Google
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search images of either one of these victims they look very similar it's that's exactly right and here here's the
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weird thing like the only reason why this rattled me a little bit I I don't think that they're connected I
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want to say that but there's one stunning fact that that is of course my opinion
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but I can't get over it when I was is it a fact or a opinion it's a opinionated fact David the the
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thing is though when I was first reviewing Charlotte femiano's case I saw a picture of Sherry L Lewis but it
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wasn't labeled and I just made the assumption that it was a picture of her from maybe 10 or 12 years earlier prior
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to the her murder and then when I looked up sharielle Lewis just Google image like you said
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the first picture that came up I thought well they got it wrong that's just an old picture of Charlotte femiano
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and sure enough I'd click on a couple websites and very quickly realize no that is a picture of Sherry Lewis to me
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they look very similar yeah Charlotte looks like she could be Sherry's mother so Sherry's 30 years old when she's
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killed and Charlotte's 40 when she's killed and again I I mean not exactly spot on but at first glance it was
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enough for me to think that the Sherry Lewis picture was a picture of Charlotte when she was 28
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or 30 years old for me it's got me a little rattled because I can't get over the fact
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that they were both working in the same line of work the same title job title they look very similar and that they
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were both showing a home that they had an appointment now Sherry was beaten and strangled and then we know in
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Charlotte's case it was a gun in ligature strangulation I don't know enough details of the
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Sherry Lewis case to 100 say that I think that they're connected my gut tells me that they're not
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but we do know that police looked at it we do know that they did say they couldn't find any direct connection
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between the two now if you go to that Justice for Sherry Lewis Facebook page you're also going to find at least one
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or two other realtors that were killed there's one from 1984. oddly enough September 11
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1984 which would be exactly 13 years before Charlotte fimiano was killed so just some very weird strange things
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with this case and I've got to tell you captain on the surface this case to me was very intriguing
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but there's this case is very fascinating and I hate to say that because there are
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people that are are related and loved Charlotte and we're great friends with her
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and I hate that they would hear or have to hear some schmuck in a garage yeah pencil dick it's a beer and a half deep
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say this case is fascinating you know it but but I feel okay to say it here in this case because oddly enough I was
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reviewing material and found a detective that was working on this case and he said those exact words all right so two
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wrongs make a right that's really stuck with me in this case because I told you I told you when I arrived at the garage
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today I will be happy to be done with these episodes because this case is is really messed with me over the past
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three to four days there's something very funny about this case that I can't quite put my finger on and I I feel like
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it's just one piece of the puzzle that's that's just missing that's that would put this whole thing together there's
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something very strange about this Charlotte femiano case that's that's really got me shook
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can I say a thought that I had without you uh putting me in the old pervert Roundup crew
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sure but the one one of the things that kind of stuck out to me and this is because we
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don't know if she was targeted or if it was just this location was targeted and I would just or I hate to interrupt
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yeah you hate that but keep in mind we don't know if either were targeted right but continue I'm sorry but we do know
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because of the call into the real estate company we we don't know if there was multiple calls that day from that number
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I would think that's something that law enforcement would want to look up because what if this killer calls in a
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male answers the phone and then they talk for a little bit but make no appointment and
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then call back and what if there was evidence that they kept calling back until they got a
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female Victim Because what do we know about crimes and killers there a lot of the crimes are sexually
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motivated and so that would seem a little strange as far as like this whole realtor scenario
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and this is where I don't want people going wow that Captain he's one pervert but uh
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I'm gonna shift this a little bit pornography there's a real estate agent category
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and pornography so I just don't think it's that far of a stretch for again a sexually motivated crime for
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somebody to be watching this category and then developing a sicker fantasy does that does that
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make any sense yeah I mean obviously here's the thing I I shouldn't say Obviously it makes total sense to me
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because what we've seen time and time again especially with serial offenders is that sex and violence is all wrapped
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up into one ugly package for them right and a lot of them will use pornographic materials to
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kind of keep those urges at Bay and so yes it to me it makes complete and total sense I am
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very glad that you started to go down this road what I wanted to point out here is you love looking at porn the facts
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okay we're going to get into a lot of opinion stuff a lot of theories a lot of speculation here and there's a lot of it
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in this case and I think that is in part why the detective even States this is such a fascinating case
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but when you break it down in its simplest of forms what do we know what do we know about the Killer
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we know only two things in my opinion a they were looking for a victim they called and made an appointment and
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were looking for a victim now you can throw in some variables there where they targeting Charlotte when they
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called right or were they just hoping for as you said a female realtor victim then you go okay location
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the location seems to be important well it might not this location itself could have been targeted or not targeted we
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don't know because we don't know the details of that conversation between Charlotte and the person that she had on
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the phone well let's just be clear on something and maybe you can clear this up for me and the listening the
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beautiful listeners like I like to say a fictitious name was given correct I'm assuming that we know whether that was a
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male name that was given our female name my guess is that it has to be a male name from my understanding the name's
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never been released but what we do know is that Charlotte did tell at least one other person that she
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worked with that she had this appointment with it and it was a male caller so for him to give a female name
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would seem to be a little bit of uh uh that would be a good indicator of maybe I shouldn't go on this appointment or
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take this call seriously but back to what do we know we do know that regardless if she was targeted or not we
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know that the killer was looking for a victim with that phone call number one and number two is
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it's a premeditated murder a gun was used in this homicide and it is not recovered at the scene so
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it didn't come from the vacant home he likely didn't pull it off of Charlotte in some kind of scuffle the this killer
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was looking for a victim and arrived on the scene prepared and ready to kill right but I also just want to be clear
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so just because we have a male caller doesn't necessarily mean that we have a male killer correct correct and and
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that's why I that's why I wanted to go down that road in the last episode to point out very clearly that
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while it stands to reason that the most likely perpetrator of this homicide is that caller who arranged that meeting
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it's not out of the realm of complete possibility that that the person that called is not the person that killed
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right somebody could have set up this Arrangement and then she arrives and she's either ambushed or there's a sneak
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attack by somebody should she did not anticipate of seeing there at that home and that person then killed her
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and I think that's why in part this case is so fascinating because there's so much of the speculation that can lead
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you to very certain theories but there's but everything's very open-ended with this case it leaves the possibilities
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very open in this case now I want to get into Circle back to the phone calls because ring ring ring many
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sources tell us one thing and only one source that I could find tells us a further detail on that item right so
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we talked about this Arrangement was made the day prior the day before the murder
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we would later learn police would eventually come off in in the corner or eventually come off and narrow down that
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window of time and question for us the time of death which is so important and key to any investigation because that
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goes to means and opportunity right and we said during the trailer that means an
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opportunity are the are the very best tools deciding factors to separate a good suspect from anybody
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else who actually was unaccounted for for during the time of death right now they narrowed down the time of death and
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later released it to be first they were saying 1 to 4 P.M and that I think the police may have
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been forced to kind of show their hand on this one because what happened Captain was two weeks after the murder
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she's murdered on a Thursday on a Thursday Two Weeks Later police set up a bunch of roadblocks
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in that neighborhood and surrounding that neighborhood and they were stopping all passer buyers and asking them if
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they regularly travel in this area if if they happen to be there two weeks prior
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between the hours of 1 and 4 pm and so these people were later interviewed by news stations and they're
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like yeah you know what the what were the police asking you well here you know they're asking me this that and the
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other thing but they wanted to know if I was here two Thursdays ago between one and four
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pm so that kind of shows you right away that they've already honed in on that that time period that three hour window
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one to four pm the police and then later the police come out and say the time of death the suspected time
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of death is between 1 and 3 P.M so they got a two-hour window that killer had to get into that area
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and out of that area and she was killed sometime between one and three now another thing that we would later
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learn several sources come out months later that say Charlotte went out to that appointment
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and then returned to the office and told several people that she worked with that
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she got stood up that the male caller that made the appointment never arrived and she got tired of waiting around and
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came back to the office all right what happens then is once she's back at the office
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phone rings wing wing she takes the call hello it's the person she had the appointment with saying oh I got I got
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tied up I couldn't make it to the appointment I was running late could could we still go and see the house well
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again though this is also kind of a remote area is it possible that the killer win to find the house and just
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couldn't find the house well again we don't know the details of that and and there are several people in their
00:18:55
reports that have said over the years well she was a real go-getter she wouldn't turn down the opportunity to
00:19:00
show a house and sell the house yeah that's true I get that but let's take it a step further she's been doing this for
00:19:07
like 15 16 years I'm sure it's not the first time that somebody has called and said I got tied up in a meeting I I got
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caught in traffic I uh my kids suck and I couldn't leave the house um you know so she's probably had
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several times that somebody didn't show or was running late and so this probably didn't didn't set
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her off didn't raise any flags for Charlotte and she tells a couple people this at the office and then she goes out
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and meets she goes to that that appointment back at the house on Chelsea Lane and we do know that she's killed there
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here's here's some of the details that that really set me off in this case captain and I kept harping on this
00:19:49
yesterday the devil's in the details the problem with these details is said time and time again she went for a
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one o'clock appointment and then she was killed and we do know the time and question that suspect the time of death
00:20:02
is between 1 and 3 pm what was the original Arrangement if if he calls and says I couldn't make it and
00:20:11
could we could we still go see the house and the people at the office are saying
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well she left at one o'clock and she had a one o'clock appointment what was the original Arrangement was it
00:20:22
for 11 A.M or noon and he didn't make it or was the appointment always for one and she actually came back and then left
00:20:30
after one o'clock which doesn't seem to stand a reason because if people saw her
00:20:34
alive at one o'clock or 1 15 or 1 30 then you're suspected time of death wouldn't be between one and three
00:20:41
exactly and the reason why I'm focusing in on this so much and why this pisses me off that we do not know this detail
00:20:48
and you know what there are people out there that know this detail clarification please because
00:20:54
her husband who would be ruled out as far as police say because it's about three or four months into the
00:21:01
investigation there's a newspaper headline comes out that the police have eliminated have ruled out husband in
00:21:08
Realtors death they rule him out why did they rule him out he has an alibi hmm did some digging Christian's work
00:21:17
schedule he worked 10 hour days he had a 20 to 30 minute commute to his job his his schedule was 1 pm to 11 pm
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makes a lot of sense and we know that there are other things backing up that information because what he gets home
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after 11 pm he gets home a little after 11 30 talks to his his daughter calls in
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that his wife is missing the reason why that time period is so important to me and what the original
00:21:45
appointment was for what time it was for was because even though police say that
00:21:50
they have moved on from the family that they have ruled out the husband they tell us they're ruling out the husband
00:21:56
because they can confirm 100 that he was at work between 1pm and 11 p.m on that Thursday and had
00:22:04
a 20 to 30 minute commute both ways if someone and I've I never say this on True Crime garage if someone were to set
00:22:11
up a hit and it were to be a husband to take out his wife what time am I scheduling it for when I'm at work when
00:22:18
I'm accounted for when I'm going to have dozens of people tell you nope I didn't
00:22:22
kill my wife because they all saw me hanging out there they all saw me working there
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the reason why I think that this detail is so important is because if it was a in fact a hit that was arranged by the
00:22:34
husband it would it would fall in line with some of the details we do know about the case
00:22:41
Charlotte wouldn't may not recognize the voice of the person he hired especially if she
00:22:46
doesn't know who the person is that he he hired but two if the caller on Wednesday originally
00:22:54
scheduled the appointment for one it it drives me mad to to sit there and think that it's happenstance that this
00:23:03
appointment is scheduled for a Time that this dude's also scheduled to be at work I'm not saying that the two camp
00:23:12
both have happened I'm saying it it leads me to believe and I've never said on the show before that
00:23:19
I think that there's a hit I think that this case is a hit I think that what I think the most too plausible things to
00:23:25
me are either a a complete freaking stranger killed this woman right and I think if that's the case they may never
00:23:32
solve this case most likely not they have been so tight-lipped about some things I think
00:23:38
that that police think they have an idea of what actually happened here and so let's take this a few steps
00:23:47
further well there's I'm not saying that it is concrete evidence but sometimes that's why law enforcement is
00:23:55
very tight-lipped about things is because there's certain pieces of of evidence that they
00:24:01
they know can't get out because it would basically crumble their whole case against a certain individual
00:24:10
to let's say they they wanted to follow the husband to see if he could lead them to
00:24:18
the killer or if they wanted to tap his phone or uh surveil this guy what better way to get him to act to
00:24:28
lead you to the killer than to publicly say well we rolled him out we ruled him out because we confirmed 100 that he was
00:24:35
at work that day during the time in question yeah because just because they roll you out
00:24:41
to a public you know newspaper or whatever or even tell him to his face we ruled
00:24:47
you out the police are allowed to lie during an investigation well not only that they're
00:24:53
ruling him out as the killer they're not ruling him out as being involved in the
00:24:58
homicide exactly ruling him out as the actual killer but also law enforcement is not the only tight lip
00:25:06
organization quote unquote in in this case sometimes you have a case where look at Delphi
00:25:16
very tight-lipped law enforcement very vocal family trying to get the word out uh trying to
00:25:24
get information coming in this one tight-lipped law enforcement and seems like the family was pretty
00:25:31
tight-lipped as well yeah and and we need to be completely Fair here because they could the family meaning her
00:25:39
daughter and her husband they could have been tight-lipped and shy away from the cameras or the
00:25:47
newspapers just out of pure Devastation their world is completely turned upside down they're completely heartbroken and
00:25:54
that's why they didn't do so much talking to the media one thing that does make me doubt this
00:26:02
husband being involved a little bit is the the fact that we do know and I had to do
00:26:09
a good amount of digging to figure this out that the husband was the one that actually called 9-1-1 the following
00:26:14
morning and it led to her body being found now it also wouldn't be the first time that somebody would lead police to
00:26:21
a body of somebody that they've killed well because it'd be pretty suspicious your wife doesn't come home
00:26:29
yeah in the morning you're like well I I guess she just didn't come home last night yes I don't have to make as much
00:26:35
coffee in the morning yeah let's get back to the other possibility that I don't think we can rule out either is
00:26:41
the complete stranger possibility stranger danger somebody cold calls this realtor office looking for a victim and
00:26:50
needs a secluded vacant ready to move into home to carry out their the dirty deed of of homicide done dirt cheap
00:26:59
one thing that that for me pointed away from a complete stranger is won the motive
00:27:07
yes it could be a Thrill Kill but many of these thrill kills are sexually motivated there's a sexual component to
00:27:14
them now one detail that has been released is that Charlotte was not only found fully clothed but still wearing
00:27:22
her coat her jacket so that may suggest to many that they're was no sexual component to
00:27:32
the case but I'm I'm gonna throw a wrench into everything that that most people believe about homicides when they
00:27:40
try to look at a crime scene and please allow me Captain to talk out of both sides of my face at the same time
00:27:46
normally do but this comes from a very well respected detective and somebody that we've talked about on the show
00:27:53
before Joe Kennedy he says be careful and do not assume there is a close personal relationship between the
00:28:02
suspect and victim based on evidence of Overkill example excessive stab wounds extensive blood force trauma
00:28:10
Etc at the crime scene if ligatures and restraining devices are present there was likely a sexual
00:28:18
component to the murder this should be considered before exploring other motives unless it is obvious another
00:28:25
crime gone bad robbery burglary home invasion or the victim was restrained so the primary crime could be completed
00:28:34
okay so that's that's interesting to to observe here because there is somewhat of Overkill involved in this case we
00:28:44
mentioned ligature strangulation we mentioned The Gunshot she was actually shot twice once in the back of the head
00:28:50
and once in the face just below the left eye what Kennedy is pointing out here is
00:28:58
that just that act of strangulation ligature strangulation may even though our victims found completely clothed
00:29:07
could still have a sexual component to it so with that with that possible sexual
00:29:13
component I don't think that we can completely rule out the idea of a complete stranger a complete pervert
00:29:20
stranger carrying out this homicide foreign [Music] this show is sponsored by betterhelp do
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00:32:17
rosettastone.com garage [Music] foreign all right we are back cheers mates onward and upward cheers to you Colonel
00:32:41
cheers Captain it's getting hot here in the garage Colonel's getting hot tub Colonel's
00:32:47
getting angry and worked up here now no this is a it's these are difficult because again
00:32:55
a setup job for who for um a hired killer or just let's have a mail call but who's waiting there for her her
00:33:09
husband yeah I I would say he couldn't he couldn't have been there we we know that to be fact
00:33:17
right we know 100 he was at work at the time that she was murdered right right but I was just trying to point out like
00:33:25
I have a male caller and then a female real estate agent that has some kind of beef with her
00:33:31
I would think because this is such a possibility that there would be some rumors of
00:33:38
possible infidelity in in her relationship and Charlotte's relationship with her husband so I did
00:33:47
catch some wind of those rumors um I but none of that comes from any of the newspapers or any of what I would
00:33:56
consider to be trusted sources none of it ever comes from police from my understanding that those rumors
00:34:03
might have been office talk office gossip um there there are people that expand on
00:34:09
that a little bit that say that he suspected her of having an affair and she was adamant that she was not having
00:34:15
an affair there are other people that say that the office gossip was that she might have been romantically seeing a
00:34:22
client or maybe another agent I mean if you were to have an affair this would be
00:34:27
uh a line of work that would would complement hiding that from your spouse right we've all seen American Beauty
00:34:36
yeah you'd be doing it in every house all over the city okay maybe you would be pervert Roundup but
00:34:44
here in in who knows maybe there is some truth to those rumors but maybe there's
00:34:49
not again I don't I wouldn't say that any of those rumors are coming from trusted sources a quick way to push
00:34:55
somebody into having an affair is constantly accused them of having an affair when they're not having an affair
00:35:02
well there's some weird again there's a lot of weird stuff about this case and I
00:35:07
haven't got to the weirdest of it all but the one weird thing too is the the couple the femianos had just moved into
00:35:17
what was kind of like a life goal for them they had moved into a new home six weeks or eight weeks before she's
00:35:25
killed they bought a piece of land and had a whole a custom home built on that piece
00:35:31
of land and they had her daughter his stepdaughter again I want to be very clear about this
00:35:38
there's no indication that this guy was a bad husband or a bad stepfather and I know that I said well maybe he
00:35:44
ordered a hit on his wife yeah I get it but everything that I've seen what is it
00:35:49
well but listen for a second I want that's what I'm going out of my way to point this out because
00:35:55
I'm saying that there are details of the case that lead you to that theory time and time again there's nothing in his
00:36:01
personality that leads you to that theory his personality from my understanding Captain this man passed
00:36:07
away in 2014 and maintained a very close relationship with his stepdaughter up until the day he died
00:36:17
and not only close relationship keep in mind she and her I believe it was even her fiancee was living with the femianos
00:36:26
at the time of Charlotte's death right and I believe that his stepdaughter and fiance then turned husband lived with
00:36:34
him for several years after Charlotte was murdered and look this guy was a successful guy so he he's no dummy and
00:36:43
but and I say that because when your wife is murdered of course law enforcement is going to look at you you
00:36:54
should expect that I think it's the ones that fight that and it doesn't seem like this
00:37:01
individual thought that at all it seems like in every turn that the family was cooperative with law enforcement
00:37:09
when law enforcement is tight-lipped you're going to get more rumors and more speculation that just happens in these
00:37:16
cases every police said along the way is that the family was extremely Cooperative with their
00:37:26
investigation and I believe he's the only individual the husband is the only individual that they cleared publicly
00:37:33
correct now here's here's the weirdest and strangest of the details and the this is what circles back to what I was
00:37:41
talking about earlier the fact that we have several people come forward very trusted sources saying
00:37:49
that Charlotte returned to the office then received another phone call and then went back to the property
00:37:56
now to be clear if she was running around on her husband she may not have been at that property
00:38:04
in the first place and these calls could be there could be a more mysterious element to them maybe she's lying about
00:38:11
her whereabouts maybe she's lying about who she talked to her comings and goings
00:38:16
right that would stand to reason if she is having a secret affair but let's push that completely aside and
00:38:23
go down this road there is a source out there that says and I'm throwing out a buyer beware here
00:38:30
on this on this information but I also don't have any even though I've not been able to confirm it double triple check
00:38:37
it I don't really have any reason to doubt the information either or the source the information is that now we have two
00:38:46
phone calls that police are going to be concerned about the one setting up the appointment
00:38:52
for the next day which would be the day of the murder and then the one that she receives when she returns saying oh that
00:38:58
person stood me up never showed up at the meeting I I came back and then gets another phone call and goes back out
00:39:05
this Source says that police attempted to locate where those calls came from and that they could not determine the
00:39:15
source of the first call but they did the second call now this is going to be pretty simple
00:39:22
when I lay it out for you the second call they traced it back to a pay phone at a local mall
00:39:32
and it's my understanding that in 1997 where this phone was this pay phone it was
00:39:39
across the street within viewing distance of the real estate office that Charlotte worked at
00:39:49
now that's strange r going through all these other previous homicide cases that we've covered we can
00:39:57
we can fill in some of the blanks for you here if you've not listened to all 690 episodes of our wonderful garage
00:40:04
coverage we know that that these are not cell phones you know nowadays we talk about DNA solving murder cases
00:40:14
cell phones are solving just as many murder cases if not more than DNA that's because the phone can track you
00:40:23
they can track the victim they can trace the victim they can trace the communications with the victim with the
00:40:27
in some cases with the murderer 1997 not so many cell phones out there but what they can determine is we know
00:40:38
that back then that they could easily find a location of a call if there was if there was billing involved if it was
00:40:44
not going to be a free call well the pay phone obviously is not a free call somebody somebody dropped the quarter
00:40:51
into the slot and called the real estate office spoke to Charlotte and said you know what I was running late and
00:40:57
according to that Source it came from that pay phone at that mall across the street from the real estate office the
00:41:03
first call they couldn't track it why because it probably came from a residential
00:41:09
location in that same area code where there was no long distance calling needed so for me there the there is added
00:41:21
problems with that that situation learn how to speak please because when we look at these cases
00:41:27
don't we usually try to determine when we have an unknown perpetrator we try to apply the evidence and the facts as they
00:41:35
were to see and get gather if if we can get some insights into the Killer and if
00:41:40
they have any criminal sophistication to me this at first at first glance I thought this is potentially showing some
00:41:49
signs of criminal sophistication however I think I think there's two sides to that coin Captain I think with this
00:41:57
situation you one could go you know what I don't know any better I don't know if
00:42:01
they can track that call yesterday to my house but what I do know is there's probably
00:42:08
if they can if they can track calls let's make it let's not show up to the appointment and let's make a second call
00:42:15
from somewhere else and then that way if at least if they trace the first call to
00:42:19
me at the very least that they're going to have another call with another appointment
00:42:24
that moves them they can't completely hone in on me because there's another call with another appointment
00:42:30
so it's a weird situation where it could be a default reaction to oh [ __ ] I used
00:42:36
my home phone number to call this lady or it could be uh I know what I'm doing and let's make
00:42:45
a a second call this case again is all screwy in in all funny and fascinating and weird you
00:42:54
reference red light case this is a bang my head against the desk case yeah because on there's so many
00:43:02
possibilities there's roads that lead you to a stranger there's roads that lead you to
00:43:07
a competitor that may have wanted to offer because she's so successful taking business from them and then there's
00:43:13
roads that lead you back to her husband or if she is having an affair maybe to the person she's having an affair with
00:43:19
yeah let's just go through this very slowly a guy has a fantasy of killing a woman
00:43:27
he finds a remote location he calls he meets her out there he kills her or there's a female hey
00:43:34
she's having an affair with this lady's husband she has a male call the woman meets her out there kills her
00:43:42
or hires a hit the husband hires a hit and has the killer call or like you said she's
00:43:50
having an affair and the guy the the phone call in general was a phony phone call and she knew it was a funny phone
00:43:57
call I mean there's so many possibilities I think because of the strangulation and the shots
00:44:07
it's almost like the shots were like to make sure that she was dead well a couple thoughts that I have on if it
00:44:14
were if she were targeted or not right because if it was a stranger then you would believe that that she's
00:44:22
probably not targeted if it were a perfect stranger she's probably not targeted but then again how
00:44:28
perfect could The Stranger be they weren't able to trace the first call so that came within her area code
00:44:34
but but here's the thing if if somebody wanted to Target her but make it look like she wasn't targeted
00:44:42
somebody that knew her schedule or had a general feel for how that Opera that operation the the office operated where
00:44:49
they put people on the phones on a rotation to take these cold calls and to take the walk-ins
00:44:57
somebody may know that information especially somebody she works with I'd like to know too especially her husband
00:45:04
I'd like to know if there was any male walk-ins that day because what go ahead I'm sorry I was going to say
00:45:14
because you know most of the time the the killer has a a vision of their victim and so by that
00:45:24
by the calls being traced back to a pay phone that's really close to their office it would
00:45:30
make some sense oh I'm just going to go in the office and see which girls are working today
00:45:37
and okay well this one will do well there's a pay phone across the street I'll go make the call and sub the
00:45:45
appointment there not going to assume that it's the same person why would I well I what why one
00:45:53
and I just made the appointment while I was there well because I don't want that
00:45:57
appointment traced back to me so I wonder if there's any walk-ins that day there's a couple things that I want
00:46:03
to know and I think that the police probably know the answer to at least one of these questions
00:46:09
I do know that her husband for in 1997 I do know that he did own a cell phone which is not common in 1997. now we do
00:46:18
know that they traced the one call that came in via the pay phone or or at least
00:46:22
that Source tells us that they did I wonder all of those calls on his cell phone would have been billed
00:46:30
did they did they do a background check on his call log for that cell phone right that would be interesting I don't
00:46:38
care so much about the walk-ins I understand why you you would want to know and other people would want to know
00:46:42
here's what I want to know we know that two people were Manning the phones that week
00:46:46
if you were to Target Charlotte right if I'm setting up a hit here's what I need
00:46:53
I need my Hitman to arrange a meeting with my target with my hip but I want to muddy the waters and make
00:47:06
and not create a trail from the Target to my Hitman to me right how could I do that well if I have an
00:47:16
understanding of how that office operates that works right away the people that would have
00:47:22
that knowledge would be people that work there or people close to people that work
00:47:28
there and her husband so if I know that my target is going to be one of two people manning the phones
00:47:37
that week is it as simple as having my Hitman call in and go because here's here's typically
00:47:48
what happens especially look customer service ain't what it used to be my friend I don't
00:47:54
care who you are but or where you're from it ain't what it used to be but back in the day 1997 I can get I would
00:48:01
wager Franklin you love it when I wager Franklin's I'm down like 900 Franklin's now yeah I wager Franklin than 1997 90
00:48:09
of the time when somebody answers a call at that real estate office for these cold calls when they're put on the desk
00:48:15
that week they go uh thank you for calling True Crime garage real estate office this is the crispy Colonel how may I
00:48:24
direct your call this is the crispy Colonel how can I help you and guess what if your target is Charlotte
00:48:31
all your Hitman has to do if she doesn't pick up the phone is click click as soon as that other lady who's
00:48:39
answering the phones or some guy that might have answered the phone that day if it's a guy's voice easy hang up
00:48:44
that's not your target if someone picks up the phone says this is Sharon how can I help you well Sharon's
00:48:51
not your target click and you call back later you got a 50 50 shot of getting Charlotte on the phone if you know the
00:48:58
operations of that office for that week I I cannot get past the fact that I I don't know who hired the hit I think
00:49:07
this was absolutely a hit I don't think it was a stranger crime I think that there's too many
00:49:12
connecting factors I think that the The Stranger would have to know too much and the reason why I think it's a hit is
00:49:20
I think that Charlotte was too smart that I think she would have recognized you know how someone from her office
00:49:27
calls how do they disguise their voice 50 people in that office yeah you're not gonna maybe know everyone's voice on the
00:49:36
phone but it but it it seems unlikely and here's why I say hit too they say and we hear this all the time
00:49:44
in homicides but here especially in this in this case gunshot wounds ligature strangulation
00:49:52
and oftentimes the coroner will tell us both could have caused the death well both could have caused the death
00:50:00
but both didn't cause the death one of them caused the death and guess guess what is the absolute weapon most
00:50:08
of the time a gun the gun caused her death I think this shows signs of a hit because I think that the guy showed up
00:50:17
with the intention of going to a secluded place in a vacant house one-on-one and when he confirmed that
00:50:25
she was there by herself he went in for the kill with the strangulation and what
00:50:30
do we know and what have we said a hundred times on the show Killers have told us it is surprisingly difficult at
00:50:38
times to strangle someone to death she could have come to and he decided I don't care if this gets loud I gotta
00:50:46
make sure that I do what I was sent here to do and I think that that's when the gun
00:50:52
come came into play yeah or even so it's uh strangulation first and then they like I said before
00:50:59
the gunshots are just to make sure that there's no chance that she's surviving the strangulation
00:51:07
and sometimes we like to give a little homework out there if anybody can find like a a real true very good source that
00:51:16
that backs up the information that police and we're talking I want this from like a local newspaper
00:51:24
a statement coming from the the police the investigating agency a detective or the state police saying we traced that
00:51:31
second call to a pay phone because if that information is incorrect that changes that's a game changer right
00:51:39
there so if anybody can can send us a link to that hit us up on Twitter Instagram or put it on our blog on True
00:51:47
Crime garage.com that's information that we need to know this case is is incredibly interesting
00:51:53
there's a lot of a lot of problems and a lot of puzzle pieces missing from this case we want to hear what you think and
00:51:59
what your thoughts are we also want to remind you that there is still a reward for information in this case now
00:52:09
we talked about the real estate office offering up a hundred grand back in the day that for my understanding that
00:52:16
reward is no longer available I mean it was 26 years ago but from what I could find here Captain
00:52:24
this is uh dated December 16 2021 the Pennsylvania State Police continues their investigation into the
00:52:35
homicide of 40-year-old Charlotte fimiano Charlotte femiano an agent with Weichert Realtors failed to return home
00:52:42
after showing a home to an unknown client on September 11 1997. it was determined that her last destination was
00:52:51
a vacant home for sale at 2147 Chelsea Lane Hellertown lower sock'em Township Northampton County Law Enforcement
00:53:01
discovered her body in the vacant home during the early morning hours of 9 12 1997. Charlotte had been strangled and
00:53:10
shot to death anyone with information on this case is asked to anonymously contact the Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers
00:53:17
toll-free at 1-800-4pa tips that's 1-800-4 PA 8477 [Music] thank you [Music] I want to thank everybody so much for
00:53:48
joining us here in the garage for everything True Crime Check out True Crime garage.com
00:53:54
Colonel do we have any recommended reading for the beautiful listeners this week captain we're going to recommend
00:54:00
that everybody go out and listen and consume as many podcasts as they possibly can it's fall time for most of
00:54:07
us that means kids are back in school football starting up kids sports are starting up everybody's running around
00:54:14
crazy busy but you know what keep your ear balls entertained with some podcast and we've been recommending several over
00:54:23
the past week to two weeks and just a quick reminder here off the Record that is brought to you by True Crime garage
00:54:30
every other week and plus we have a bunch of extra episodes on there as well if you've not checked it out yet you can
00:54:37
check it out now on patreon and for Apple listeners you can subscribe on Apple podcast and you can also get a
00:54:45
little bit of a free trial on there if you just want to dip your toe in the waters we've also recommended Mary and
00:54:52
Bill an Ohio Cold Case podcast ass check that one out we've recommended the prosecutors podcast and if you want
00:55:00
complete and total nonsense in your life which we all need a little touch of that
00:55:04
we got two good ones for you there's the captain and Morgan podcast and there's also the big kids show podcast that you
00:55:12
will find one of us and maybe sometimes both of us on those shows so check all of those out if you want something good
00:55:19
to read go to truecrimegarage.com click on the recommended page and we got lots of book titles there for you and until
00:55:26
next week be good be kind and don't live thank you [Music]

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 70
    Most heartbreaking
  • 65
    Most intense
  • 60
    Most shocking
  • 60
    Most surprising

Episode Highlights

  • The Husband's Alibi
    Charlotte's husband was confirmed to be at work during the time of her murder.
    “We know 100% he was at work at the time she was murdered.”
    @ 33m 11s
    September 15, 2023
  • Rumors of Infidelity
    Gossip suggested Charlotte may have been involved in an affair, but sources are unverified.
    “There are rumors that she might have been romantically seeing a client.”
    @ 34m 22s
    September 15, 2023
  • The Mysterious Phone Calls
    Charlotte received two phone calls before her murder, one from a pay phone nearby.
    “The second call traced back to a pay phone at a local mall.”
    @ 39m 22s
    September 15, 2023
  • The Mysterious Call
    A call traced back to a pay phone raises questions about the case.
    “I wonder if there's any walk-ins that day.”
    @ 45m 59s
    September 15, 2023
  • Signs of a Hit
    Evidence suggests that Charlotte's death may have been orchestrated rather than random.
    “I think this shows signs of a hit.”
    @ 49m 09s
    September 15, 2023
  • Ongoing Investigation
    The Pennsylvania State Police continue to investigate Charlotte's homicide from 1997.
    “Anyone with information on this case is asked to contact the Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers.”
    @ 53m 12s
    September 15, 2023

Episode Quotes

  • It drives me mad to sit there and think that it's happenstance.
    Charlotte Fimiano /// Part 2 /// 699
  • I think that there's a hit. I think that what I think is plausible.
    Charlotte Fimiano /// Part 2 /// 699
  • Their world is completely turned upside down; they're completely heartbroken.
    Charlotte Fimiano /// Part 2 /// 699
  • A quick way to push somebody into having an affair is constantly accusing them.
    Charlotte Fimiano /// Part 2 /// 699
  • This case again is all screwy and fascinating and weird.
    Charlotte Fimiano /// Part 2 /// 699
  • This case is incredibly interesting; there are a lot of puzzle pieces missing.
    Charlotte Fimiano /// Part 2 /// 699

Key Moments

  • Tight-Lipped Investigation25:11
  • Heartbreak25:49
  • Infidelity Rumors34:22
  • Murder Mystery42:51
  • Tracing Calls45:24
  • Appointment Setup45:53
  • Understanding Operations47:14
  • Ongoing Investigation52:35

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown