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Susan Taraskiewicz /// Part 2 /// 703

September 27, 2023 / 57:36

This episode covers the murder of Susan Teraskowitz, workplace harassment, and the investigation into her death. Key discussions include the discovery of Susan's journal, the harassment she faced at work, and the connection between her murder and a credit card theft ring involving her co-workers.

Hosts Nick and the Captain discuss the disturbing entries in Susan's journal that detail her experiences of harassment at her workplace, including graffiti and threats. They highlight the lack of action from her employer, Northwest Airlines, and the eventual complaint filed by her family.

The episode reveals how Susan's murder may be linked to her workplace conflicts and a larger criminal operation involving stolen credit cards. The hosts discuss the involvement of co-workers like Bobby Brooks and Joseph Nuzzo, who were implicated in both the harassment and the theft ring.

As the investigation unfolds, the hosts emphasize the systemic bullying Susan faced and the failure of the union to protect her. They also explore the possibility that her murder was connected to her knowledge of the criminal activities at the airport.

Finally, the episode concludes with a call for information about Susan's case, which remains unsolved, and the ongoing efforts to keep her story alive.

TLDR

Susan Teraskowitz's murder linked to workplace harassment and a credit card theft ring involving her co-workers.

Episode

57:36
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thank you [Music] [Music] thank you welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you're doing thanks for
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listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a man who keeps a Canadian
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Twitter Instagram at True Crime Garage in kernel that's enough of the business all right everybody gather around grab a
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chair grab a beer let's talk some true crime [Music] thank you [Music] a year after Susan teraskowitz murder
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Sue's mom Marlene could finally bring herself to go through Susan's things this is when she found a journal
00:02:53
authored by her daughter and inside it contained horrific entries again according to the UPI the diary
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detailed almost daily incidents of harassment and her efforts to report them to the company so these are
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detailed writings about incidents that took place at her workplace at Sue's workplace of
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harassment that she endured and her efforts to attempt to report them to her higher ups at the
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company well I think what this does for the investigation is we know or we've heard rumors about the harassment about
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the conflicts at work but now we have a detailed report so now it's going to give us some suspects to look into and
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keep in mind the evidence at the scene where her body is found in the vehicle her vehicle that her body's
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found in the trunk that evidence didn't lead police to any suspects of note it's only going to be this discovery of
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this journal this diary that will eventually lead them to suspects and we're going to see immediately why right
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now we have her family Susan's family they're so Disturbed and shocked by the revelations of what Susan endured at
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work that in March of 1994 so remember she's killed in 92 in September of 92. in March of 1994 her family filed a
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complaint on Susan's behalf the complaint alleged that the airline and its employees labor union had done
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nothing to stop this ongoing harassment but they also had another goal besides just avenging the unacceptable workplace
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Behavior they hoped that the complaint would then there's going to be an investigation that will take place based
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off of their complaint that would have nothing to do with the murder the murder investigation but they're hoping that
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investigation would help to flush out information about who killed their loved one and remember we finished yesterday's
00:05:08
show by saying her family believed 100 that her death her murder was connected to her workplace yeah I think there's
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two schools of thought one did she go out to her vehicle was she attacked there did she get in to her vehicle and
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go to pick up these sandwiches and get attacked over there by a random stranger or was this a plan attack
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by somebody that she was having conflicts at work I think if this crime took place today the first thing they
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would have done is round up everybody on that shift anybody that she had a conflict with and collect DNA the
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Massachusetts commission against discrimination the mcad investigated this complaint filed by Susan's family
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the mcad reviewed the writings in Susan's journal and testimony affidavits of five Northwest employees including
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two men which stated the following a giant lewd character of Susan was scrawled on the inside cargo hold of a
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Northwest plane where Susan would be guaranteed to see it the drawing was sexually explicit with
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her legs spread wide and was clearly intended to demean and degrade her other findings include these graffiti
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around the airport's cargo areas mentioned Susan's performing oral sex there was a drawing of a coffin with her
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name on it that was left in the women's bathroom there were words like [ __ ] [ __ ] and
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[ __ ] that were scrawled with her name well not her official name but remember many people called her Sue just simply s
00:06:59
u right and so these horrible words they're written on walls in graffiti or written on walls in the restrooms with
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her name Sue T attached to it so not exactly her name but it doesn't take an Einstein to figure out this is somebody
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saying terrible stuff about this woman yeah and this is very bizarre to me I've never worked in a workplace that
00:07:27
this kind of activity took place well it gets it gets stranger man like there's female undergarments and tampons
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that were commonly scattered around the break room the employee break room and even hung from the ceiling
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the break room was littered with pornographic magazines including nudie posters uh taped to the fridge
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male workers including a supervisor would expose themselves there's at least one report of of some
00:08:00
of a male employee or supervisor peeing in people's drinks yeah I mean this is I mean I've had
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people that have severely not liked other co-workers but would not waste their time or their energy
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on doing things like this this is when I go if I'm an employee first off I couldn't be out the door
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faster but yeah once I hear about you pissing and drinks uh Captain's gone but then on
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top of that and I'm not faulting sue for sticking with this job I mean her journal is detailing her attempts to
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report these items or efforts to say hey there's something bad going on at this workplace and maybe her being a good
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person a good-natured person thought that the problems would eventually go away if she took the right steps the
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steps that she was probably told to do hey you know file a complaint with this file a complaint with that but that's a
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problem sometimes with with unions though is they're set up to protect you but they're also set up to to protect
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your co-workers but you you see this kind of behavior and I'm sitting there if I'm an employee going
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you're kidding me I have to pay into a union and this is what I have to witness at work yeah or to be afraid somebody's
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going to piss in your drink I mean come on there first of all there's and I get it it's 1992 1990 you know this stuff
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according to the the Wilder times the journal starts taking place in 1989 and no and I'm I'm not saying that that's
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why I get it I'm just I there will be somebody that will email me and say hey man it was a different time it's like I
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don't know I wasn't old enough to work back then but I can say this like I don't think that pornography is is
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should be in the workplace at any time anywhere I mean unless you're in the pornography business than that right
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then it should be everywhere it should be everywhere but I mean this stuff dude I when we started to go through this
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I couldn't believe what I was reading and at first I had I was like this has to be
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embellished yeah exaggerated there's five there's five other she journaled about it there's five other
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employees that were willing to testify and sign sworn affidavits that this is what I witnessed when I worked there
00:10:27
yeah because I could see I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that something happens where somebody
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didn't get a job they feel like they got screwed over and they drew a character you know obscene character somewhere in
00:10:42
the office and then she saw it got upset and that's that's the end of that but for it to continue and then to
00:10:51
escalate and then to have managers that are exposing themselves yeah and then you have a situation there was one
00:11:00
report of Susan having been shoved To The Ground by another employee um there is some thought by these
00:11:07
individuals that sign the affidavits and that we're giving um uh statements for this harassment investigation
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that states that it is their belief I'm not saying all five because I've not been able to review all the statements
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here but at least one of these individuals believed that because Susan filed complaints about these other
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grievances that she was assigned to work the lav truck for a period of time emptying the
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toilets for a period of time in a way that like you can punish a person without it being obvious that you're
00:11:45
punishing a person we're gonna make you work third shift and by the way you need
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to empty out the pp and pupu there were a couple female employees that gave Anonymous affidavits because they were
00:11:59
worried about some kind of retaliation for giving statements but at least one of them said quote I often saw Sue
00:12:07
crying at work several statements said that the women were told by the union representatives
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to not Rock the Boat uh Susan's diary apparently said that that when Sue complained about the
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harassment both unofficially and in the form of official complaints filed with the airline she was told to just let it
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go you know just just roll with it take the high road and you know look away and
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what she should have done is this rolled her ass out to her car and never looked
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back because sometimes you can't fix stupid so I was really hoping to put be able to put some actual names
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to some of this harassment right who was the one conducting or behaving this way
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and who specifically seemed to be targeting Susan our victim right we don't want any of this harassment to
00:13:01
happen at the workplace at all but for the sake of this week's case the what's most important is what was happening to
00:13:09
Susan and who was administering that yeah so here is one incident where we do actually get a name so there this is
00:13:18
referred to as the radio incident this involved A co-worker who sue had briefly dated now that's the only knowledge I
00:13:27
have briefly dated I don't know if that meant like one date two dates went out together were known as a couple
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for a couple months I I don't know the extent of that but apparently what happened is that we do know that
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things turn sour between them at some point and it is stated that this individual
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his name is Bobby Brooks it stated that he's one of the worst defenders in terms
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of his treatment of Sue at work so let's talk it sounds like a jackass like if I
00:14:00
was going to write a character and you know from the 80s and go John Hughes movie I I need a jackass character Bobby
00:14:08
Brooks so there's this radio incident and the way that Sue described the radio incident in her diary she dated it April
00:14:17
12 1989. Bobby came into the break room and she wrote that Bobby picked up and dropped purposely picked up and dropped
00:14:26
her radio violently onto a table and then he looks at her and says that he was mad because the Bruins lost
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and Susan's diary entry continues saying quote he left the room and one of my co-workers picked up the radio and
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plugged it in to see if it still worked Bobby came back into the room and this time he ensured that the radio would be
00:14:51
broken by throwing it hard against the break room wall Sue of course anybody would be upset
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about this situation you have your personal property destroyed for no reason at all by this Meathead
00:15:04
that you work with right but Sue is especially upset about this because her mother
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gave her this radio for Christmas for as a gift and so this is you know you take
00:15:17
take the radio to work you have something to listen to in the background while you're working and this man
00:15:22
destroys your personal property well to me if I'm law enforcement I'm looking at
00:15:27
this as a that's to me a violent threat it's you know I can't get physical with you because you're a woman and so people
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would look down upon that or or maybe instantly get fired or whatever but I'll break this and if they come to me and
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say well why did you do this I'll claim it's an accident but to me this is this is a violent
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threat well and here's something that that is a violent threat as well here Captain so sue has a boyfriend at the
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time he's also an airport employee and he demands tells Bobby that he has to replace the broken radio the radio
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that Bobby broke yeah I'm gonna you replace the radio or I'm gonna break your face of course Bobby
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being a raging [ __ ] did not replace the radio so sue then later reminds him hey you owe me a radio I thought you're
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going to replace this radio and according to her diary when she tells him reminds him to buy her a radio
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he says his response is what are you going to do send your punk boyfriend over here again is he going to beat me
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up he's lucky I didn't kill him see again violent threat I hope if this guy didn't end up going to jail
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I hope and if he had children I hope one of them's listening and they're hearing
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that's my father and wow what a giant pile of [ __ ] he is because this is no way to treat anybody
00:17:06
there are some other situations where we do have persons that are named so this is in April of 1989 and this is when Sue
00:17:14
attempts to break up a fist fight that's going on between an individual his name
00:17:19
is Joseph nuzo and in case I'm not saying that correctly Captain it's n-u-z-z-o and this seems to have sparked some
00:17:31
trouble between Joseph and Sue going forward in fact there's a situation where he it's
00:17:40
reported that he very loudly cussed her out at the workplace so who was he fighting do we
00:17:48
have an idea of who he was in doing the fisticuffs with no but the interesting thing here is probably Bobby well
00:17:56
one thing we should know is that Bobby Brooks and Sue what we do know is they actually and I'm guessing this is based
00:18:05
off of what their job duties were in the Departments that they worked in but it is of note that they actually had very
00:18:13
little interaction with one another with a few exceptions and we know of those exceptions because they are
00:18:22
recorded in her diary and then backed up by the statements of some of these other
00:18:27
workers right right so these two really actually didn't interact very much at all at work together and then this
00:18:33
Joseph nuzo individual I don't know who he's fighting against but it wouldn't be
00:18:38
uncommon for if there were to be some kind of disagreement that gets to this point where people were up in each
00:18:45
other's faces fist fight is always a very vague description to me you would think that
00:18:51
it actually means fist or being thrown but a lot of times there can be just a pushing just a crowd of people
00:18:58
uh but it wouldn't be uncommon for the person breaking up this situation to be the boss
00:19:04
or the supervisor right but what it seems like is he then has a problem with her for breaking the situation up
00:19:14
there's no mention of these other individuals because I don't think they I think they probably expected whatever
00:19:21
was happening to be broken up they're probably happy that they weren't fired for that kind of
00:19:28
behavior at work yeah this case is so bizarre so Joseph because of this fisticuffs because he cursed out his
00:19:36
boss his Superior he gets a little vacation he gets a little suspension from work the old enforced impromptu
00:19:46
vacation from work now we do need to note that during the time that he is away from work
00:19:54
on this suspension Susan's vehicle was keyed her tires were slashed there were Anonymous Crank phone calls
00:20:07
that came to her home there were some phone calls that came to the home that said that uh
00:20:15
that that they were seeking revenge and it's hard to know because she was having
00:20:19
conflicts with other individuals it's hard to know if this was Joseph doing this or not
00:20:26
yeah it but it seems like it's yeah it sounds to me Captain like it's there's not 100 Proof
00:20:35
that Joseph nuzzo did all this stuff but it sounds like there's a pretty strong argument against him and a pretty good
00:20:42
uh group that agrees that yes he was the one doing these actions so she was having conflicts with him she was having
00:20:52
conflicts with uh Bobby was there anybody else that we know so here here's one thing that I think makes this a
00:20:59
little bit difficult we do have Bobby Brooks who we know had a problem with Sue and it that was clear he broke the radio
00:21:10
he harassed her but then we have the situation with Joseph nuzzo and according to Bobby
00:21:18
Brooks Joseph nuzo tells him that in regard to Susan that oh he will get his revenge I will get revenge
00:21:26
against Susan right the problem with that is it's like one bad guy pointing at the
00:21:34
other bad guy right two two people that that should be suspects you got one point at the other saying
00:21:40
well he told me that he would get his revenge against Susan and remember she started her job five years ago and it
00:21:48
seems like for the whole five years there there was almost like an escalation of this type
00:21:56
of behavior at her work and like we said we see these drawings we have these people breaking items
00:22:03
cursing her out at work I think uh uh like I said a violent threat when you're breaking her personal
00:22:10
belongings but also kind of a threat when you see a coffin with her name on it but then
00:22:17
there's also actual verbal death threats exactly the the report on this is a little loose so I want to be careful on
00:22:28
how we report it but for my understanding Captain remember we said earlier that usually when there's
00:22:34
conflicts amongst people there people naturally choose a side they'll pick a side not everybody but most people do
00:22:41
and in this situation seems to be no different so sue did have her supporters at work you know people that witnessed
00:22:50
this and people this you know she's being unfairly treated these people are harassing her this isn't right we have
00:22:55
her back and those people later told the Boston Herald that because we made it known that we support her
00:23:05
that we received threats some stating death threats from the people that had chose the other
00:23:12
side that's crazy now we did see reports that Sue's car and her friend's Vehicles were
00:23:20
vandalized in fact in the months before Susan's death Sue filed two more complaints with the Union this is the
00:23:27
International Association of machinists and Aerospace workers the first complaint was for unfair treatment in
00:23:35
the awarding of the supervisory assignments we talked about that briefly yesterday right the second
00:23:45
complaint was because her vehicle was vandalized in the lot where she parked it while at work at the airport
00:23:51
according to the Boston Globe her car was vandalized after she filed the first complaint but it was unclear whether
00:23:58
this occurred because she filed the complaint the union source told the globe her car
00:24:05
was messed up they scratched the paint end quote this had moved Way Beyond Simple workplace harassment this is
00:24:13
systemic bullying escalating to property damage intimidation and trying to instill fear
00:24:22
in a co-worker or a boss and shame on the union though because she is making complaints they're hearing about this
00:24:30
harassment it's like there's this Inferno there's this fire taking place at work and they're doing nothing to put
00:24:37
it out and look where all that bullying and all that harassment led to were possibly led to
00:24:48
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00:29:35
all right we are back cheers mates cheers to you Colonel onward and upward I'm going to file several grievances
00:29:43
about my workplace well I did piss in your coffee so in November of 1989. tinkle tinkle the union received
00:29:53
several letters from one of Susan's co-workers his name is Christopher he's known as Kip uh hedges
00:30:00
in these letters he also complained of being harassed at work and one of these incidents he says included
00:30:10
somebody drew a pistol Target with 11 bullet holes and it taped to a refrigerator they they drew this and
00:30:19
they taped it to the refrigerator in the break room and above the target with the
00:30:24
11 bullet holes it said kill hedges he stated that a tiny gang of workers had developed a pattern of violence and
00:30:34
threats at the workplace so he he writes this letter and then in filings with the
00:30:39
mcad Mr Hedges asserted that he too had been assaulted by this Joseph nuzzo he said for what reason he did not know
00:30:49
why this worker co-worker would assault him right after receiving the letters from Christopher Hedges the union says
00:31:00
it held an open meeting on the issue of tensions among employees so there there are they are stating here that yes we
00:31:08
identified that there were tensions among employees and what they did Captain was they later published an
00:31:16
article in their newsletter nobody reads the work newsletter nerd but in an article well then I'm going to
00:31:25
start I'm going to stop writing one every week so later the union published an article in its newsletter condemning
00:31:32
sexual harassment and workplace intimidation that should go without saying but glad that they put that in
00:31:39
print for us yeah exactly but what I'm getting at is that's all they're going to do when you have multiple employees
00:31:48
multiple members of your union trying to point out hey there's some really severe
00:31:53
problems here at this workplace they're like oh you know what don't worry we got
00:31:57
it under control we're gonna write an article in the newsletter and it'll straighten everything out yeah we have
00:32:03
people pissing in coffee I'm sure these these words are gonna they're gonna sink
00:32:07
right to their heart strings and it's not just women that are complaining like you said there's men complaining and
00:32:12
again stupid or lazy like why aren't they doing their job I think they did their job Captain they issued a standard
00:32:19
memo condemning sexual harassment they they that's the champion I want to work for
00:32:25
so that's kind of a long way around to get back to the point that Susan's family filed a lawsuit for the
00:32:32
harassment that she did face that nobody basically tried to stop nobody did anything about and she had to live in
00:32:40
this tortured environment they sue the company and they win yeah that that's the short of it and that's a good way to
00:32:48
sum this up because there's really a lot that you could tear through here and it
00:32:52
will kind of muck up our story but goodbye the Massachusetts commission against discrimination because they did
00:32:59
their investigation and goodbye Susan's parents and family to come up with this idea and the strategy that look
00:33:08
you know we refuse to to understand that our daughter was treated unfairly it may or may not have
00:33:18
anything to do with her murder but we refuse to not right this wrong and so they took this complaint to the
00:33:27
mcad and later this would be 1995 captain that the mcad they ruled in Susan's favor and her
00:33:39
family's favor they said that they found very compelling evidence that Northwest
00:33:43
had failed to protect Susan from the harassment she suffered at the hands of her colleagues yeah but this lawsuit's
00:33:51
not going to bring back their loved one somebody murdered her placed her in her trunk and left the
00:34:00
vehicle what it did do Captain Northwest Airlines then agreed to settle with the
00:34:06
family with Susan's family for seventy five thousand dollars but on top of that and I
00:34:14
you would hope that this would have led somewhere but here we are talking about this case so many years later but they
00:34:21
did agree Northwest Airlines did agree to post a 250 000 reward for information leading to Susan's killer and to
00:34:30
establish a scholarship in her name at the time at that time this amounted to the largest sexual harassment award the
00:34:39
commission had ever dealt with a spokesman for the airline said to the Boston Globe quote we are with the
00:34:46
parents entirely to help find who did this to their daughter end quote only after they were forced to be of course
00:34:53
we kind of remind everybody of that only after they were forced to be it was a bit of a
00:34:58
Hollow victory let's say for the family because it didn't as you pointed out didn't bring Susan back never could
00:35:05
bring Susan back but at least there would be some Headway in Susan's murder investigation
00:35:13
well and this is probably goes without saying but if you're in a situation where you're being harassed at work
00:35:20
and the people that are supposed to help protect you and are supposed to help make it be at least
00:35:27
a place that you feel safe you know looking back on my life now as as we talk about this case there's one
00:35:34
or two times that I was working a job man I should have left months before I did because once the person that is
00:35:44
bullying you sees that there's no consequence it just gets worse yeah they can act
00:35:51
with an impunity yeah and life is just way too short so you know and that's but some of that is self-care self-love if I
00:35:59
cared about myself enough if I woulda uh love myself enough that maybe I would have said this is not correct and
00:36:06
nobody's helping me here and it's just a job and it's time to move on right but why was Susan killed okay was it the
00:36:15
harassment cover up the harassment or somebody just just had it in for her so bad that they had to get rid of her
00:36:23
I think people can see Avenues to that idea real quick but the harassment is actually just the tip of the iceberg
00:36:31
into potential motives here especially potential motives when we talk about persons or suspects from her workplace
00:36:39
so there was something else going on at the time this is a lot of criminal activity on a much
00:36:46
grander scale and was Susan aware of this had she witnessed something was she privy to
00:36:53
some information that could get some people into some severe trouble here so remember Susan was in charge of the
00:37:02
baggage handlers and what's going on at this time U.S mailbags pass through Logan Airport
00:37:11
every day and those mailbags back then included brand new credit cards shipped by the Banks to their users in
00:37:23
the Boston and around the Boston area in 1991 a federal investigation by the Secret Service
00:37:31
and the Massachusetts State Police and the U.S Postal Service was launched into a massive theft of credit card
00:37:38
investigation from U.S mailbags at the Logan Airport eventually the credit card theft probe
00:37:46
revealed that seven million dollars in stolen credit cards had been lifted from that airport from the Logan Airport well
00:37:54
that's a motive and so how many people were involved in this well the thing is is
00:38:02
I don't think there's any mention of this in her diary or the journals of the complaints that she was making
00:38:10
but that doesn't matter if the person is suspicious that you possibly know that's all they need to know to have the
00:38:22
motive to try to take you out if that makes any sense well exactly and what we end up learning and this is from
00:38:30
The Wall Street Journal is that the thieves were using the computers at Northwest
00:38:39
to go through the mail and then eventually what they're doing is they're ripping open sealed mail
00:38:46
where they believe that there are credit cards in there and as we said there was enough theft
00:38:52
going on and theft of these credit cards that it eventually racked up seven million dollars
00:38:59
and fraudulent charges so the possibilities that we've laid out so far is that she heads out on her lunch break
00:39:07
and she is met with a stranger at some point another possibility is because of this
00:39:15
harassment at work somebody has it out has a vendetta against Susan the other possibility is
00:39:23
there is criminal activity done by one or multiple people and if they were suspicious to believe
00:39:33
that Susan knew more than they wanted her to know that that would be a motive for this crime as well and
00:39:41
I'm gonna throw in a couple of other suspects here before we get to one I want to point out the idea that the
00:39:48
harassers and the thieves could be one in the same or a couple that were involved in both right had
00:39:56
multiple motives now this is interesting too some of the the cards that were sold
00:40:01
they're stolen and then they're sold to a fence in a nearby town of Revere sound
00:40:08
familiar that's the same town where Susan's body was found for 10 of their available credit
00:40:16
so there's a little bit of a connection there now others were used by the actual
00:40:21
airport workers to buy merchandise such as camcorders and expensive items that's
00:40:27
not real smart because they're going to be easily traced back to those individuals that are working at Logan
00:40:32
Airport but there were some aspects to this that were that point out that it was a well thought out criminal
00:40:41
Enterprise so what we have here Captain the thieves stole the credit cards and then generated fake driver's licenses to
00:40:49
match the names on the cards they then used the activated cards to buy jewelry and obtain cash advances in casinos in
00:40:58
Vegas Atlantic City and Foxwoods but much more than just credit card theft and fraud was at play here according to
00:41:06
the Boston Globe the plot involved a mafia-like corrupt organization which had its hands in loan sharking drugs
00:41:14
betting and fraud the the ring was rooted in the orient height section of East Boston in fact that newspaper
00:41:22
reported that much illegal activity occurring at Logan Airport was mob sanctioned a secret service agent worked
00:41:32
undercover at the Northwest terminal during the credit card fraud investigation and gathered evidence of
00:41:38
illegal activity connected to the mafia and controlled by organized crime extending to the North Shore of Boston
00:41:46
and here is where we tie it back to some of Susan's harassers in April through August of 1992 a Federal grand jury
00:41:56
looked into the credit card theft ring on August 4th several baggage handlers received subpoenas from the grand jury
00:42:02
according to several sources the baggage handlers grand jury testimony revealed that Joseph nuzzo believed that Sue had
00:42:14
either told the police about the scheme or plan to help them ferret out the masterminds
00:42:22
newso told your boy Bobby Brooks that he believed Sue was quote the rat the government had hard evidence showing
00:42:33
that in August of 1992 just after nuzo and Brooks and other credit card thieves had learned that federal agents were on
00:42:42
to them nuzo stated that he bet Sue was the snitch or the rat that's August of 1992. Susan is killed
00:42:53
in September of 1992. yeah coincidence I I think not my friend but newso one of the harassers one of
00:43:02
the people that Susan got into at least well one time she was cursed out by this individual the one that had
00:43:10
a suspension and we thought maybe during that suspension he was vandalizing her vehicle but he later on
00:43:18
was fired yeah he's fired in August actually August 14th of 1992. and that's why I
00:43:26
wanted to point out early on when we started talking about the details of this case where her vehicle was found in
00:43:32
close proximity to that bar that was frequented by a bunch of the employees at that Logan airport now I can't tie
00:43:40
newso to that specific bar or being one of the persons that frequented that bar but it's interesting to me because you
00:43:48
brought up the idea and rightfully so it's on everybody's mind how many killers were involved or how many people
00:43:55
set her up how many people did it take to orchestrate what we do know did in fact
00:44:02
happen what we do know based off of what the police tell us is they believe and there's no reason for them to tell us
00:44:09
this if if they don't have evidence to suggest this they believed that she was killed
00:44:14
elsewhere well if she was killed elsewhere she did not drive her vehicle to where it was later found somebody
00:44:20
else did and either they walked away or somebody picked them up did they walk back to that bar catch a
00:44:29
ride with somebody that couldn't be at work anymore or did somebody that wasn't at work that
00:44:37
night pick up the driver of that vehicle I mean you can see how this plays out and now we start to bring and pull
00:44:47
identified individuals into the suspect Spotlight yeah so this is where it gets a little tricky because of her journal
00:44:56
we we know that she obviously knew about the harassment and the bullying and she
00:45:02
knew who was doing it and she could tell us who did what and when there is no evidence that
00:45:11
we can find that Sue knew what was going on as far as the credit card stealing correct
00:45:19
there's there's not proof positive that she absolutely knew uh you would think that she probably had
00:45:27
some idea that something strange or fishy was going on I mean she it's a large operation
00:45:33
and she's in a supervisor role so it's going on right under her nose essentially
00:45:41
uh one thing that was reported here captain that is of interest that would indicate maybe she knew something was
00:45:48
going on was the investigation one thing that it yielded was that when they were
00:45:54
divvying up the credit cards after illegally ripping them out of the mail that this typically would take place in
00:46:03
the break room lunch hours she leaves for lunch to pick up lunch for people but also one of her uh tasks
00:46:14
if you will as a supervisor was she would make assignments including the baggage handlers as well as regulate
00:46:22
their lunch hours their their their break hours of the workers right so did this
00:46:29
once she remember she got the new promotion shortly before she disappears for 24 30 hours and then is found dead
00:46:38
so given this new power this new Authority did she somehow shake up and make it so
00:46:47
that the players involved in the scheme were not on break together at the same time not in the break room together at
00:46:53
the same time well that's what I was saying to you off Mike is we don't know if she knew right but that
00:47:04
doesn't matter if somebody a part of this plan thinks she knows then that's a motive to get rid of her and it could
00:47:12
have been as simple as she gets in control and decides hey I'm going to shake things up a little bit by
00:47:19
switching people's lunch ing people's lunch schedules and she might not even known that by
00:47:27
doing so that foils their operation and and so if they go hey is there any way to get me back on this schedule or
00:47:36
this one and she says no this is just the way it is again that's that's a you're stealing millions of dollars
00:47:45
yeah that's that is motive enough whether she knows or not that she's foiling or operation
00:47:55
we have to get rid of her yeah and here's the thing the credit card theft in fraudly sorry and here's
00:48:03
the thing the credit card theft and fraud ring was a massive operation eventually 37 people were convicted on
00:48:10
federal charges related to this 7.5 million dollar corrupt Enterprise 10 of them were Northwest employees including
00:48:20
some baggage handlers five Northwest baggage handlers had been indicted as of September of 1993. this is Christopher
00:48:29
Sweeney cleave Frederick Thomas Cooney Richard Bart and Richard Raymond it also makes you wonder because these
00:48:38
people wearing Cahoots together and they have fine financial means do you place a hit on her and hey we'll
00:48:48
be at work when this takes place so none will be the wiser according to the UPI four specific baggage handlers Susan had
00:48:59
expressly named as her harassers were among those convicted in the fraud case one of the men who would be convicted in
00:49:07
the federal case in fact The Mastermind behind the whole thing was Joseph nuzzo he had started the operation shortly
00:49:16
after returning to work after his suspension brought about partially by Susan's testimony and don't think we
00:49:23
haven't forgot about old [ __ ] stained Bobby Brooks because he was indicted as well
00:49:31
yeah convicted he was a peripheral player I it seems like he himself did not steal any of the charge cards but he
00:49:40
was caught shopping with Joseph nuzzo using the stolen cards and he he played he definitely played a role
00:49:49
in this because he was in fact convicted on some of the charges well the harassment also seems this it
00:49:57
just seems like over the top like I said I've never experienced that kind of level of bullying I mean I've
00:50:05
experienced some hostile workplaces but I you almost wonder if it was like a a ruse
00:50:14
but having all this harassment and all this tension at work that maybe you won't notice what else we're doing
00:50:21
your hands will be so filled with this other nonsense that we bring to the table
00:50:28
but with all this going on at work the harassment this I mean this massive fraud that is happening
00:50:37
to me it would lean more towards somebody that's in her Inner Circle that's responsible for her death would
00:50:45
be it just seems like it'd be too big of a coincidence that just some random attacker
00:50:51
would would attack her at work yeah it's difficult because we are certainly missing some pieces of the
00:50:58
puzzle in fact to this day no one knows for sure whether Sue knew anything about the criminal
00:51:05
activity at the North that the Northwest employees were involved in it does seem
00:51:09
crazy to think that she didn't know though officials later said that a lot of people knew about what was going on
00:51:16
the number of people involved in the ring was close to 40 as we pointed out and Sue's friend Deb who we've talked
00:51:24
about previously said that one day shortly before her death Sue told her that she was afraid now of what
00:51:33
Sue did not say it seems likely in Deb letter later says that looking back in retrospect that
00:51:42
she just thought that she was afraid to stand up for herself and file complaints
00:51:47
about the harassment but now she looks back and wonders did Sue know some something else did she know more was she
00:51:56
saying she was afraid for her life in 2002 investigators decided to re-examine this case including retesting
00:52:04
any evidence I'm guessing hopefully physical evidence that was found in her vehicle at this
00:52:12
time the police decided to release photos of Sue's missing necklace in case someone recognized the medallions
00:52:19
one of the biggest knowing questions is where was Susan murdered this according to the district attorney
00:52:27
now they do not believe that Sue was killed in her car which means she was taken
00:52:35
somewhere else bound beaten stabbed before she was dumped at that Bravo mechanic
00:52:44
location found in the trunk of her car in 2008 Northwest merged with Delta Airlines Delta has pledged to honor that
00:52:54
250 000 reward that Northwest originally offered for information in Sue's case Massachusetts State Police say they are
00:53:02
still actively working Sue's case and they have significant leads well and with this case happening what over 30
00:53:10
years ago you wonder what evidence they have to possibly test with new technology
00:53:17
that's exactly right captain and we're told that they're keeping this investigation alive God bless her mother
00:53:25
because we know that she's been out front actively keeping this investigation very much alive and very
00:53:31
much on the minds of the general public they did put up some billboards with uh not only a picture of Susan but also a
00:53:41
picture of her blue Toyota Tercel and asking people did you see Susan or did you see the vehicle or both
00:53:52
on the night in question September 12 September 13th did you see this vehicle the other thing
00:54:00
too we don't know exactly when the vehicle was placed there in the lot as we said there's roughly about 30 hours
00:54:07
that expired from the time it's believed that she was last seen until the time that the vehicle was discovered last
00:54:13
year in 2022 the state police made the following statement quote we make a plea to anyone who can help us cross the last
00:54:22
few miles of this Marathon investigation if you have any information about Susan's murder or the person or people
00:54:30
who may have been involved please contact us whatever reason you had for remaining silent Until Now does not
00:54:38
matter anymore time passes and people change maybe you were scared maybe you were protecting someone or maybe you
00:54:45
just did not want to get involved in a police investigation yet time passes and people change so too
00:54:52
do priorities and the reasons for keeping quiet maybe you don't seem so important anymore not when compared to
00:55:00
the chance to do the right thing before it's too late and it's not too late anyone with such information is asked to
00:55:07
call the state police detective unit for Suffolk County at 617-727-8817 [Music] foreign
00:55:19
[Music] thanks to each and every one of you for joining us here in the garage again this
00:55:38
week if you are a member of law enforcement and you would like for True Crime garage to feature a case from your
00:55:44
jurisdiction please find our contact information on our website truecrime garage.com Colonel do we have a
00:55:51
recommended reading for the Beautiful List news this week Captain we are recommending Without a Trace and this is
00:55:59
largely in part because this book and the case featured in this book the fight of the victim's mother reminds me so
00:56:08
much of the case that we featured here in the garage this week you're going to want to check this one out it's an oldie
00:56:14
but a goodie the case is fascinating but the most fascinating part is the courage and the strength that we
00:56:21
all can get from being witness to This Woman's fight for her missing daughter back in 1974
00:56:31
seventeen-year-old Amy billig left her home to meet a friend for lunch and vanished and her mother spent
00:56:40
decades searching for her daughter you're going to want to check out this book it's called Without a Trace you can
00:56:46
find that great title and many more other wonderful recommendations on our recommended page on our website
00:56:54
truecrimegarage.com and until next week be good be kind and don't let it thank you
00:57:08
[Music] [Applause] [Music]

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  • 75
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  • 70
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Episode Highlights

  • Systemic Bullying at Work
    A union member describes escalating workplace harassment leading to property damage and intimidation.
    “This had moved way beyond simple workplace harassment.”
    @ 24m 07s
    September 27, 2023
  • Susan's Family Fights Back
    After Susan's tragic murder, her family files a lawsuit for the harassment she faced.
    “This lawsuit's not going to bring back their loved one.”
    @ 33m 51s
    September 27, 2023
  • Credit Card Theft Investigation
    A federal investigation reveals a massive theft of credit cards linked to Susan's workplace.
    “Seven million dollars in stolen credit cards had been lifted from that airport.”
    @ 37m 49s
    September 27, 2023
  • The Fraud Operation Uncovered
    A massive fraud ring involving 37 people, including employees, was uncovered.
    “The credit card theft and fraud ring was a massive operation.”
    @ 48m 05s
    September 27, 2023
  • Susan's Fear Before Her Death
    Shortly before her death, Susan expressed fear to a friend, raising suspicions.
    “Sue told her friend that she was afraid.”
    @ 51m 27s
    September 27, 2023
  • Ongoing Investigation
    Massachusetts State Police are still actively working on Susan's case with significant leads.
    “They are keeping this investigation alive.”
    @ 53m 22s
    September 27, 2023

Episode Quotes

  • It's like there's this inferno, and they're doing nothing to put it out.
    Susan Taraskiewicz /// Part 2 /// 703
  • There's this fire taking place at work and they're doing nothing to put it out.
    Susan Taraskiewicz /// Part 2 /// 703
  • We refuse to understand that our daughter was treated unfairly.
    Susan Taraskiewicz /// Part 2 /// 703
  • This lawsuit's not going to bring back their loved one.
    Susan Taraskiewicz /// Part 2 /// 703
  • Life is just way too short.
    Susan Taraskiewicz /// Part 2 /// 703
  • Time passes and people change.
    Susan Taraskiewicz /// Part 2 /// 703

Key Moments

  • Workplace Harassment24:13
  • Union Inaction24:37
  • Lawsuit Filed33:15
  • Motive for Murder36:29
  • Credit Card Theft37:40
  • Fraud Ring Convicted48:07
  • Susan's Fear51:27
  • Investigation Continues53:22

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown