Search Captions & Ask AI

Stephen Spina ////// 642

January 18, 2023 / 55:04

This episode covers the unsolved murder of postal worker Steven Spina, the investigation details, and the community's response. Key discussions include the timeline of events leading to his death, the relationship dynamics with his girlfriend Tamara, and the potential suspects.

Steven Spina was murdered in his Mamaroneck, New York apartment on September 17, 2007. His girlfriend found him stabbed to death after he failed to respond to her texts. The police reported no signs of forced entry, suggesting that the killer likely knew Steven.

Details about the crime scene indicate a personal motive, with a size 11 boot print found at the scene. The detectives also noted that Steven had previously reported his tires being slashed, which may be connected to his murder.

The episode highlights the challenges faced by law enforcement in solving this case, including the lack of eyewitnesses and the ongoing investigation into physical evidence. A reward of $40,000 is offered for information leading to an arrest.

Listeners are encouraged to provide any tips regarding the case to the local authorities, as the community remains invested in finding justice for Steven Spina.

TLDR

The episode discusses the unsolved murder of postal worker Steven Spina and the ongoing investigation into his death.

Episode

55:04
00:00:07
[Music] thank you [Music] [Music] thank you foreign garage wherever you are whatever you are
00:00:43
doing thanks for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a man who
00:00:48
has the scars from the Dives that he's played in here is the captain it's good to be seen and good to see you thanks
00:00:55
for listening thanks for telling a friend [Music] today in the garage we are very excited
00:01:06
to be featuring Juicy ASAP from the Fantastic Brewers at the Saucy Brew Works juicy ASAP is an American India
00:01:14
Pale Ale with a beautiful deep gold color this beer is dripping with tropical fruit notes a good deal of
00:01:22
honeydew coming through with a superb finish of dank hops it's crisp and refreshing garage great I love this one
00:01:31
Captain so let's go four and three quarter bottle caps out of five and a big thank you goes out to all of our
00:01:39
wonderful listeners especially those ones who contributed to this week's beer fund a big cheers to Katie in Sacramento
00:01:46
California and a big we like to dip to Melody and Riverside California and last but certainly not least a big shout out
00:01:53
to char in Plainfield Illinois everybody we mentioned went to truecrimegarage.com
00:01:59
and clicked on the Donate button contributing to this week's beer fund and for that we thank you yeah b w e w r
00:02:06
u n beer run if you're not signed up on our mailing list you should do so so you're in the know and you can get
00:02:13
discounts on the garage store and you can sign up at truecrime garage.com Colonel that is Enough Of The B is yes
00:02:21
all right everybody gather round grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true crime
00:02:27
[Music] last year True Crime garage received a letter that read in part I live in one of those small NYC suburbs
00:03:04
where crime is predominantly of the property variety and murder is extremely rare
00:03:10
but on a Monday morning in September of 2007 a beloved Postman in our community was
00:03:18
killed in his third floor walk-up apartment the victim Steven Spina was a young and friendly single dad
00:03:27
the facts are somewhat cut and dry his on-again off-again girlfriend left him alone in his apartment when she
00:03:35
headed to work it was Steven's day off and when he didn't respond to his girlfriend's text about a lunch date she
00:03:43
returned to his apartment midday and found Stephen stabbed to death no arrests have ever been made in this
00:03:51
case where Stephen lived is a small town the kind of town where most people know
00:03:57
each other Stephen grew up here and was friends with most of the people in town and knew
00:04:04
or was friends with most of the people on his mail route in fact Stephen was good friends with one of the detectives
00:04:11
originally assigned to his case and now a new Cold Case detective has been assigned to Steven's case
00:04:19
thank you again for taking a look at this true crime garage has such a large following I really believe it might help
00:04:26
Advance Steven's case if you guys would cover it thanks again Suzanne after reading Suzanne's letter we of course
00:04:35
got on the internet to see what if anything could be found about Steven Spina there were a few internet stories
00:04:42
covering the case then we found an interview with his daughter Skyler and watching her
00:04:49
interview we both knew right then and there we had to cover this case this is true crime garage and this is
00:04:58
the still unsolved case of Steven Spina [Music] Sunday September 16 2007 I would be willing to make a
00:05:28
handsome wager that on that Sunday night 36 year old Stephen Patrick Spina when he went to bed and the head went to
00:05:37
pillow he was probably smiling and looking forward to Monday morning Steven had every reason to believe that that
00:05:46
Monday would be a great day that night his girlfriend Tamara was staying the night at his apartment
00:05:53
Stephen had Monday off from work and in the morning his girlfriend would take off for work and then she would be
00:05:59
joining Stephen for a lunch date after lunch Steven had his favorite event scheduled for the evening taking his
00:06:09
daughter to the New York Yankees baseball game now Stephen played and participated in some form of baseball
00:06:16
for almost his entire life and it had to be a dream come true for him to share his love of the game with the love of
00:06:25
his life his 12 year old daughter Skyler it was the middle of September and that
00:06:30
meant that the Yankees were still fighting to keep their October MLB playoff hopes alive that Monday evening
00:06:37
the Yankees were playing Baltimore Unfortunately they never went to the game someone killed Stephen Spina that
00:06:46
morning in his apartment now Captain let's go through what is known about this still unsolved homicide case well
00:06:55
like the colonel said it was a Monday morning but Stephen was a mail carrier so it was actually his day off this is a
00:07:02
brief description from Project coldcase.org they have several news articles from Steven's case on their
00:07:10
website which are interesting to check out if you have the extra time now the facts are as follows on Monday September
00:07:17
17 2007 Steven Spina was stabbed to death in his Mamaroneck New York apartment there were no signs of forced entry into
00:07:27
the apartment nothing was reported to have been stolen from the home it is very likely that Stephen knew his killer
00:07:36
he was last seen by a neighbor at approximately 9 30 a.m that morning and he was found deceased by his girlfriend
00:07:45
around 12 30 PM detectives raised a number of leads including information about Steven's tires being slashed not
00:07:53
long before his murder also investigated were tips regarding prior relationships of Stevens and his
00:08:01
girlfriend now let's fill in the blanks here if we can as we know Captain the injuries that are reported is that
00:08:09
unfortunately our victim was stabbed multiple times here there is evidence that this crime is personal the evidence
00:08:19
and the crime scene suggests that this was a personal cause homicide the weapon itself to the Public's knowledge the
00:08:27
weapon identified simply as a knife has never been found evidence that the scene
00:08:33
suggests that the killer brought the weapon with them to the crime scene and again the apartment was not ransacked
00:08:40
and nothing was stolen well and like we said Stephen was a mail carrier and he had a different schedule than most
00:08:47
people so the fact that he was off on a Monday and killed on the day he would have been off it's most likely that the
00:08:54
killer knew Stephen because he would have had to know that Stephen would have been home that day yes and you're
00:09:00
exactly right there Captain I believe that that is a significant clue in this case so a couple of things we discussed
00:09:08
that the apartment's not robbed there doesn't appear to be anything of significant value missing from the
00:09:14
apartment when the detectives are searching through the scene the other thing though too is this is a third
00:09:20
floor apartment it's not like somebody just stumbles in off of the street and attacks this guy in his apartment again
00:09:28
no signs of forced entry so did Stephen let the person or persons into his apartment that day around noon and
00:09:38
you're exactly right regarding his schedule so that Monday September 17th Stephen was off from work he's a postal
00:09:45
carrier in Larchmont which from my understanding the way that his schedule works it's quite different from
00:09:54
most people's work schedules it's not the typical Monday through Friday nine to five type of gig Steven was off on
00:10:02
Sundays every Sunday he had off now his other day off each week would be a rotating day for example on this week he
00:10:11
is off on Monday well the following week he would be off on Tuesday and then Wednesday and then Thursday and so on
00:10:17
and then this pattern repeats itself so on this particular day he's off from work this has to be some
00:10:26
kind of clue here because not so many people would just know that he would be off
00:10:33
on this particular day that he would be home if somebody had a beef with him or somebody had a reason to go to his
00:10:39
apartment and attack and kill him well then that person very likely knew and had prior knowledge that he was off that
00:10:47
day definitely the area itself this Mamaroneck is a small town in fact it's the the village of Mamaroneck Stephen's
00:10:57
girlfriend they had been together on and off for about two years right is my understanding at the time of this
00:11:05
homicide now on that day she had stayed the night at Steven's apartment the night before which was pretty common
00:11:12
from from my understanding and she goes off to work she works nearby this is about maybe a 10 minute drive
00:11:22
well she is texting Stephen because they had plans for a lunch date that day when
00:11:28
he doesn't respond to those texts she decides well I better go to the apartment and check on him make sure he
00:11:35
didn't lose his phone make sure everything's okay she gets to the apartment this is the tricky thing here
00:11:40
no forced entry into the apartment but when the girlfriend Tamara arrives at the apartment
00:11:47
the door is locked so she has to get the super and convince the super to let her into
00:11:55
the apartment which she successfully does when she goes in then she finds Stephen
00:12:02
having been stabbed to death in the apartment she calls 9-1-1 again small town so a
00:12:09
very quick response time we have police and First Responders on the scene very quickly after she arrives back at the
00:12:18
apartment that day well with no sign of force entry and the door being locked when they arrive it makes you wonder
00:12:24
what kind of lock was on the door yeah it's difficult to say I don't know the exact specifications of the lock or the
00:12:32
door itself other than to know that it required a key for her to get in when she found him that day the current
00:12:40
detective which we did speak with is not the original detective that was there on
00:12:46
the scene that day but that that would be interesting to know Captain how did the killer one gain access to the
00:12:53
apartment and two then leave having left the door locked behind them now there's
00:13:00
key things at this crime scene that we need to talk about so the weapon again described as a knife
00:13:08
there's evidence and things at the scene that suggests that the killer brought the weapon with them to the crime scene
00:13:16
the knife has never been found we've never actually received information or it's never been released
00:13:24
to the public how many times Stephen was stabbed and there's details about this crime scene and details about
00:13:33
the attack and his injuries that have never been released to the public so here we have the police holding back a
00:13:40
good bit of information with the understanding of a few things that we believe that there was no forced entry
00:13:48
to the home the weapon was brought to the scene there's also some things at the scene captain that it's a difficult
00:13:55
scene for for police right this would be a pretty violent struggle Stephen was in
00:14:02
good shape he was 36 years old he would not be easy to take down so one thing that we might have to consider here is
00:14:13
the possibility of more than one person present or more than one person involved
00:14:20
in the actual attack on Stephen there that day in his apartment police aren't willing to say one way or or the other
00:14:27
if it was two people or one person that was there they do believe though that it's likely that there is some kind of
00:14:37
involvement here where we have a situation where either somebody else knows what somebody did and who killed
00:14:46
Stephen or Maeve even had some knowledge at the time prior to this attack think about his employment he's a male carrier
00:14:54
so he is walking routes and carrying the bags of mail so like you said good shape
00:15:00
and on his off time he would umpire Little League games so this guy has an active life like you said there is a
00:15:08
good possibility there is more than one attacker yes police certainly not ruling
00:15:12
out that possibility now one of the items that is of significant evidence here in this case is that a size 11 boot
00:15:22
print was found at the scene and to be perfectly clear here Captain this boot print had to take place either
00:15:32
during the attack or just after the attack so this person whoever this boot print belongs to is
00:15:39
directly involved in this crime it's a bloody boot print so it's a suspect boot print that was found at the scene it has
00:15:49
been reported that it's possibly a Timberland brand boot but to be perfectly honest here it's my
00:15:58
understanding that the print itself while comparing it to other boots the the Timberland boot most fits or best fits
00:16:09
this possible shoe pattern or the the sole of the boot itself right there are a couple of other brands that and
00:16:18
similar styles that could not be 100 rolled out so while police are leaning on the idea that this is a Timberland
00:16:26
brand boot it's certainly not 100 percent that it has to be a Timberland brand one thing that's very weird about
00:16:34
this case too is that there had been some vandalism done prior to Steven's murder you have to look at this
00:16:45
situation and go okay is this directly connected to the case or is it not so Steven had a white Nissan stanza which
00:16:54
is like a small sedan and he would park this vehicle out on the street typically in front of the
00:17:04
apartment building his tires were slashed approximately two months prior to his murder now this is very weird and
00:17:14
of course this is going to jump right off the page to everybody right for significant reasons one this was a
00:17:20
personal cause homicide this was something that was somebody had a beef with Stephen and and and attacked him
00:17:27
and his apartment well that goes right hand in hand with somebody vandalizing his vehicle and then when we talk about
00:17:35
him being stabbed to death entire slash well possibly a similar style weapon or the same weapon used here in the
00:17:43
vandalism and then later in the the homicide well when first looking into this case I thought oh that's that's
00:17:50
crazy is is it possible that just one of his tires were slashed and maybe it was an accident or maybe
00:18:00
you know you got a flat tire I I have known some people that actually had a flat tire that were convinced that
00:18:06
somebody slashed their tire but no and this scenario Steven had all four of his tires slashed and this was reported to
00:18:16
police at the time right and what's interesting here is while we don't know 100 percent who slashed
00:18:26
his tires when talking with detectives they believe that they know who who slashed the tires so the way that the
00:18:35
the portion of this story goes is when Stephen reports this of course the first thing they ask him is going to be
00:18:44
do you have any idea who would who would do this to you you know was this was this random was this some teenagers out
00:18:50
pulling a prank or was this somebody that uh you're having a problem with and he named a person to the detectives
00:18:59
and said this individual we've been having issues and I believe that it was this person that slashed my tires he's
00:19:07
basing this off of verbal altercations that he's had with an individual as well as threats that were made when we say
00:19:16
threats I don't know the extent of those threats Captain I don't know if this person threatened his life or threatened
00:19:22
him with bodily harm or threatened to slash his tires but whatever the threats were and whatever the verbal
00:19:29
altercations were that took place this is what led Stephen to telling police hey my tires were slash I'm I'm filing a
00:19:38
report and I believe it was this person now Stephen was a very popular individual he grew up in this area this
00:19:47
is a small town the village of Mamaroneck is a small smaller town in fact I want to say it was about 28 000
00:19:54
27 000 would be the population around the time of his murder but he grew up in this town and this is the kind of town
00:20:03
where you knew most of the people people in town and then given his job his occupation out there on his mail route
00:20:11
he knew most of the people on his mail route as well in that nearby Larchmont and his mail route from my understanding
00:20:19
Captain worked like this and this is pretty typical typical once you get a route you don't get
00:20:26
rotated on and off of that route frequently you stay on that route for a good deal of time and like I said he's
00:20:32
36 years old he's got years in on the job so he's had this route for a considerable amount of time he knows a
00:20:39
lot of people in the area from having grown up there and his occupation as you pointed out he umpires baseball games
00:20:47
and volunteers with the youth in the community coaching baseball and being a part of
00:20:53
softball in the community so he knows a lot of people and he's a popular guy he's well liked but I think this kind of
00:21:01
shows his personality a little bit too when he reports the tires being slashed and then tells police hey this is the
00:21:10
person I believe did it he tells the police you know it's not a big deal I just wanted to have it reported you
00:21:18
don't need to go talk to this person which of course they did in fact my understanding is this they don't go and
00:21:26
talk to the person because of the requests that they get from Stephen at the time when he reports the vandalism
00:21:32
but of course after the murder they go and speak with this individual yeah if somebody slashed
00:21:39
my tires I'm gonna go take a [ __ ] in their sandwich the other thing now this could be directly connected or it could
00:21:45
have nothing to do with anything at all here Captain but we can't we can't just not discuss this next item his
00:21:54
girlfriend's windshield was smashed and I don't have an exact date for this but it's my understanding that this this
00:22:04
vandalism took place before Steven's tires were slashed and Steven's tires on his white Nissan stanza were
00:22:13
slashed approximately two months prior to the homicide yeah another interesting point to this case you have vandalism to
00:22:21
Steven's car then you have vandalism that happened before that to his girlfriend's car and you wonder if those
00:22:28
are connected and if those are connected then maybe they're connected to his murder I don't know if the windshield
00:22:33
being smashed was reported to police I don't know if if it was if it was the same scenario where it was believed to
00:22:40
be a person that they knew that they could could say hey and suggest we think it was this person who who did this but
00:22:50
in a strange twist in this case police tell us tell the captain in the colonel that we have three to five individuals
00:23:02
while we're not really ruling anybody out we've not officially cleared anybody publicly in the case we have three to
00:23:10
five individuals that have separated themselves from everybody else and when we say separated themselves we
00:23:19
mean they've put themselves on a short list of suspects here in this case three to five individuals
00:23:28
the strange twist is the individual that is believed to have slashed the tires did not make it onto that short list
00:23:37
of individuals that the police are interested in for Steven spina's case now I don't know what you found or what
00:23:44
you were told but again when you're looking into this case and you hear that Stephen's car was vandalized four tires
00:23:52
slashed obviously with a knife and he was murdered with a knife you go red flag well it could have been a box
00:23:58
cutter or I mean right we don't know exactly what was used for the for the slashing of the tires but yes you're
00:24:05
right it's a sharp weapon similar something immediately you jump when you hear of the the knife attack and you
00:24:14
hear of the tires being slashed you immediately make that leap and go these two things have to be connected we say
00:24:20
it all the time the timelines are so important and in this case it's even more important because we have such a
00:24:26
small window so you'd have to have an alibi for that small window well and that's exactly the scenario here Captain
00:24:34
we have but a three hour window when this murder had to have taken place and therefore if you go and you speak to
00:24:45
suspect number one in the tire slashing incident and you can confirm that this individual was at work or was in another
00:24:54
town or was somewhere where you have a lock down solid Alibi for this person then this person doesn't make it onto
00:25:04
that short list of suspects and I'm guessing knowing the amount of people that police spoke to in the amount of
00:25:10
people that were investigated in this case that that is what separated this individual and did not put them on that
00:25:18
short list of suspects which would be frustrating if your law enforcement you would think you have a really good lead
00:25:24
and then you realize if the glove don't fit you must have quit foreign [Music] this episode is sponsored by betterhelp
00:25:51
when you're at your best you can do great things but sometimes life gets you bogged down and you may feel overwhelmed
00:25:59
or like you're not showing up the way you want to working with a therapist can help you get closer to the best version
00:26:06
of you and when you feel empowered you're more prepared to take on everything life throws at you when I
00:26:14
feel off track the best thing for me to do is get back to a routine that's me focusing on my diet my sleep my water
00:26:23
intake exercise and talk therapy as many of you guys know I've struggled with depression for years and talk therapy
00:26:32
has been a game changer if you're thinking about giving therapy a try better help is a great option it's been
00:26:40
the best option for me why because it's convenient flexible affordable and entirely online just fill out a brief
00:26:49
questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist and switch therapist anytime for no additional charge like
00:26:56
I've said talk therapy has been a game changer for me and the best option out there is better help with better help
00:27:04
I've learned coping skills and how to set healthy boundaries and also knowing that I'm enough
00:27:12
self-empowerment and dealing with trauma if you want to live a more empowered life therapy can get you there visit
00:27:20
betterhelp.com garage today for 10 off your first month that's better help help.com slash garage get back to your
00:27:31
best with better help did you know that property crimes like burglaries and package thefts Spike over
00:27:38
the winter that's why now is the best time to secure your home with award-winning home security from
00:27:43
SimpliSafe SimpliSafe was named the best home security system of 2022 by U.S news
00:27:50
and World Report in an emergency 24 7 Professional monitoring agents use fast protect technology exclusively from
00:27:58
SimpliSafe to capture critical evidence and verify the threat is real so you get
00:28:03
a priority police response Simply Safe is whole home security with Advanced sensors for every room window and door
00:28:12
and even Hazard sensors that detect fires floods and other threats to your home 24 7 Professional monitoring
00:28:20
service costs less than one dollar a day that's less than half the price of adts
00:28:25
professionally installed system stay in control of your system anytime anywhere with the top rated SimpliSafe app here
00:28:34
at the garage we love Simply Safe we've been using SimpliSafe to keep and protect our garage studio for years we
00:28:41
love the advanced technology that Simply Safe offers and we love that we can control our system on our phone using
00:28:48
the app we can also watch crystal clear HD live streams of our security cameras giving us Solid Peace of Mind customize
00:28:59
the perfect system for your home in just a few minutes at simplysafe.com garage go today and claim a free indoor
00:29:07
security camera plus 20 off your order with interactive monitoring that's simplysafe.com garage there's no safe
00:29:16
like SimpliSafe foreign [Music] [Music] you filthy animals we are back cheers thank you so much for listening thanks
00:29:43
for telling a friend thanks for sharing these cases on social media cheers to you cheers to you Captain cheers to all
00:29:51
the people out there in listener and land now this case is incredibly difficult for a couple of reasons it's
00:29:58
one a little difficult to tell the story because we have that hold back information that is not providing a
00:30:06
whole lot of details about the crime scene itself we have been told by law enforcement that this was a complicated
00:30:13
crime scene and that they've had some some setbacks with it they are going through the testing or retesting process
00:30:23
we should say there is a significant amount of physical evidence that was collected at Steven's apartment that
00:30:30
evidence is being retested they're hoping to learn new information based off of those tests and that will
00:30:40
be taking place within the next couple of weeks so we could be getting some big news here in Steven's case but without
00:30:49
that big news or without somebody coming forward with additional information the
00:30:54
way that this case looks now it's sitting there and it's it's pretty cold with the exception of the retesting of
00:31:00
the evidence well at least there's some movement and hopefully those tests give us some kind of answer well in this area
00:31:07
this Mamaroneck is a it's a village it's a small town as I said earlier we're looking at about 28 29 000 people in
00:31:19
2007. the state of New York's homicide rate is lower than the national average the village of mamaroneck's homicide
00:31:28
rate is well below that of the state of New York in fact most years the village of Mamaroneck experiences zero homicides
00:31:37
and because of this as you can imagine Captain there are very few unsolved homicides left on the books currently
00:31:45
they have three so this is personal when you have this type of scenario this is personal for the detectives and for
00:31:53
the police department itself currently in 2023 they only have three unsolved homicides it's the kind of situation
00:32:04
where you have the entire detective Bureau you have the entire police force everyone from the police chief all the
00:32:10
way down through the ranks to the rookie cop all of them here knows every one of
00:32:17
them knows of the three unsolved homicides that you have left here in Mamaroneck there's a female torso that
00:32:24
washed up in Mamaroneck there's a male victim that was murdered in the 90s and then you have Steven spina's case the
00:32:32
well-liked mail carrier that everybody knew so you have a lot of individuals with the vested interest in solving this
00:32:40
case because it is a community it's a crime against the community and Stephen was one of the Beloved members of that
00:32:49
Community currently there's a forty thousand dollar reward for information in this case some of that is coming from
00:32:57
by the way of the family and some of that comes by the way of Crime Stoppers like you said Stephen lived on the third
00:33:05
floor so do we have any more information about that location yes like I said here
00:33:10
Captain most years experiencing no homicides in the area so the crime rate rather low it's mostly property crimes
00:33:18
in this area Steven owned a third floor walk-up Co-op apartment at the Mamaroneck Gardens apartment complex and
00:33:28
it looks like this is a freestanding red brick Garden style apartment his building was between Palmer Avenue and
00:33:38
Boston Post Road and located at 300 richbell Road and as we said Stephen lived there technically he lived there
00:33:47
alone to come complicate things a little bit we have his girlfriend Tamara who from my understanding they've been on
00:33:56
again off again for about two years at this point in their relationship everything's going great this is one of
00:34:04
the the high points of their relationship everything's going good they're getting along very well and she
00:34:11
is staying most nights at his apartment now as said Stephen is also a father he's separated from his daughter's
00:34:21
mother and his daughter Skyler she has her own bedroom at his apartment and Steven had
00:34:29
a rule that he was pretty strict about he did not have his girlfriend stay the night on the same nights that his
00:34:36
daughter stayed the night his daughter's mother is not on that short list is not a person that has separated
00:34:44
themselves from everybody else police are satisfied with all of the information that they've received from
00:34:50
her in fact it's well noted and well known in the community the relationship between Stephen and his ex
00:35:00
it was it was a very good relationship and they had a very good setup as far as shared custody of Skyler went the a
00:35:09
schedule that was working for both of them on both ends and also keep in mind this is not like a a recent separation
00:35:17
or a recent split up this was a situation that they had been in for years prior to the homicide and this
00:35:25
wasn't the only ex of Stevens that law enforcement talked to and it seemed like all of his ex-girlfriends had good
00:35:32
things to say about Stephen and it didn't seem that there was any bad blood between any of his exes that's exactly
00:35:39
right the the any time that he had a separation that for the most part people stayed friends and people still
00:35:47
liked each other after they parted ways I think the suspicion here then falls into the category of the person who
00:35:55
slashed the tires right this person as we know is not on that short list for police
00:36:01
but you're going to have individuals Stephen was a popular guy he had been in and out of some different relationships
00:36:09
and there is some thought that maybe this all has to do with jealousy that somebody that was either in a
00:36:19
relationship with Stephen or was involved with somebody who was in a relationship with Stephen at some point
00:36:26
that this that this may have to do with one of those relationships some type of Love Triangle
00:36:33
that is believed to be the case here in this situation the the whoever attacks Stephen had personal cause to do so we
00:36:43
talked about that boot print that was found at the scene now it sounds like no unknown fingerprints were found at the
00:36:50
scene and the scene was pretty bloody that's the best description I can give to you
00:36:57
the the boot print was a size 11 there that's That's a hardcore fact right there they're not saying 11 and a half
00:37:05
they're not saying ten and a half no they know the size of this boot print they believe that it's possibly from a
00:37:12
Timberland style boot our victim was stabbed multiple times but again nothing was missing from this third floor
00:37:19
apartment the small garden style apartment one of the things I can't get over is a couple months before his
00:37:25
murder his tires were slashed is it possible that Stephen told the police I think this is who did it but it was
00:37:33
actually somebody else well and because this is a suburb of New York City I'm envisioning this situation captain and
00:37:42
and very much thinking about Law and Order right where you okay you got the cops
00:37:48
now we we have a victim here a homicide victim here the detectives are out they're gonna go talk to this person who
00:37:55
Stephen believes slashed his tires and I'm kind of picturing this and it goes like this where the guy goes yeah I
00:38:03
slashed the tires but I I didn't kill anybody we've all seen that scene before or
00:38:08
similar scene on on something like Law and Order right but what I've been told here from the detectives that have
00:38:15
worked this case the individual that they spoke to that Steve had pointed them toward never
00:38:22
admitted to slashing the tires and certainly didn't admit to killing Steven Spina what their belief is they believed
00:38:30
that Stephen was probably correct about the vandalism that he had picked the right person and they have reasons for
00:38:38
backing that up we can't prove it you're exactly right we can't prove it 100 percent but I think that if the
00:38:45
detectives were actually getting paid to solve the vandalism incident that they probably would be able to solve it
00:38:50
however they're working a homicide and again while they're satisfied that they've identified the person that that
00:38:57
may be responsible for the vandalism they're saying that person is not on their short list of suspects well one of
00:39:03
the things that really frustrates me about this case is you would assume that the killer would have some blood on him
00:39:08
where are the eyewitnesses that saw a man with blood where is the security footage maybe from the apartment complex
00:39:15
or a local store I mean this is a small town down that would have multiple cameras why didn't we get somebody on
00:39:24
security footage well and that's just the problem here we don't have that eyewitness and so where we have a
00:39:33
situation where the time of day very likely can clue you into who should be a suspect and who should not be a suspect
00:39:42
it also in some weird way works toward the advantage of the killer because it's a Monday and most people were busy
00:39:51
they're off at work they're out doing their thing there's not a lot of not a lot of eyeballs just scanning the
00:39:57
neighborhood watching what's going on one set of eyeballs was a neighbor person that saw Stephen go out to his
00:40:06
car around 9 30 a.m that morning this person while we said almost nobody has been publicly cleared this person is not
00:40:15
a suspect and there's no evidence to that this person should be a suspect in fact this information is helpful to the
00:40:23
investigation and this person came forward so now we're dealing with a very short window of only three hours a lot
00:40:30
of people have suggested maybe the girlfriend his current girlfriend at the time should be a suspect and of course
00:40:37
she was certainly looked at here in this case police have not said if she's a suspect or not they've certainly not
00:40:44
publicly named his girlfriend as a suspect people are suspicious of her because she
00:40:51
lawyered up but there's there's a little more information than just girlfriend finds boyfriend dead and then lawyers up
00:41:00
she didn't lawyer up until about three or four months after and she was very Cooperative with police and detectives
00:41:08
early on in their investigation and when I asked the detective I said you know some people think that it's suspicious
00:41:16
that this girlfriend switched from being cooperative to not cooperative and then
00:41:20
lawyers up the detective wasn't going to offer up personal feelings or opinions about that
00:41:28
but was very open and honest when saying look it's not uncommon in our investigations for somebody to
00:41:37
cooperate for a period of time and then get a lawyer and be less Cooperative or not cooperate at all so while this may
00:41:45
look suspicious to Joe public out there this doesn't look so suspicious to the detectives that are actively
00:41:52
investigating this homicide well you can also get a lawyer from the beginning and
00:41:56
also be cooperative with police I just wonder if there's another reason why she ended up getting a lawyer is it possible
00:42:05
that they were asking her if there's anybody suspicious in her past and maybe she was getting fearful that she was
00:42:12
given too much information well sometimes people get scared and that could be the situation here it's it's
00:42:19
difficult to say I would love for her to explain to us her thoughts on it but if
00:42:26
she's not talking to detective she's likely not going to talk to us two guys here in the garage oh come on why not we
00:42:32
could offer a lawn chair or a nice cold beverage when we say some people get scared we know that
00:42:40
Skyler his daughter chooses not to live in this area and that is in large part because the person that killed Stephen
00:42:49
has not been identified not been arrested it's one of those tricky cases where you have some
00:42:56
people on the outside that look good and then you get to talking to detectives who have worked this case very
00:43:03
diligently they're telling you that look while we're we've not publicly named suspects
00:43:10
we have three to five that have separated themselves from everybody else and the person that we believe that
00:43:17
slashed the tires is not on that list his daughter's mother not on that list it doesn't sound like the the girlfriend
00:43:28
that his girlfriend at the time was on that list either it sounds to me like they were interested in some other
00:43:36
persons and again they can't rule out they're not saying was this one person or two people that were at the crime
00:43:44
scene when Stephen was killed so there's a lot of meat left on the bone here a lot more information that is needed to
00:43:54
take a good strong look at his case what's interesting too when you go back to the vandalism
00:44:03
incident is Stephen says that while he believes this person slashed his tires I assume that that meant that he this was
00:44:14
a a jealous ex of Stephen's current girlfriend or maybe Steven was involved with somebody that this person that may
00:44:23
have slashed his tires was involved with it's my understanding that while that might have been
00:44:29
a suspicion of this individual that Stephen told police at the time he was not involved with what whatever this
00:44:37
person suspected him of Stephen had not done he had not had a relationship or or
00:44:44
whatever this individual that slashed his tires believe Stephen had done or whatever he was mad at him for Stephen
00:44:52
told detectives that he did not do that he didn't have any involvement in that well I know there's a lot of Suspicion
00:44:58
around his girlfriend but she didn't work that far from the apartment but she was at work so you'd think that they
00:45:04
would know where she was at at the time of the murders she works about five to maybe 10 minutes drive from the
00:45:12
apartment right and from what we've been told is they don't have any evidence to
00:45:17
suggest that she wasn't where she said she was that morning right so that would be at work again a lot of the the
00:45:26
answers here and a lot of the information that is public in this case is vague and it's purposely done that
00:45:32
way to keep some of the information vague there's clearly something here in this
00:45:40
case that police are aware of that only the killer or Killers would would know and that's the information that they are
00:45:48
protecting and that is what will ultimately lead them to an arrest the interesting thing to me is that we
00:45:55
already have some individuals that have been separated from the rest of the herd
00:46:00
as suspects again they've not publicly cleared anybody not publicly naming any suspects I would be willing to wager a
00:46:09
hundred dollars here captain that there are people that they've air quotes cleared in their investigation they're
00:46:15
not going to go out of their way to publicly clear those individuals they're looking for information they're they're
00:46:22
still requesting information from the public they will be retesting physical evidence at the murder scene that will
00:46:30
be retested again this year very soon and that could come back with some information and yield some Clues to
00:46:40
really shrink that list of five potential suspects down to the two that did it are down to the one that did it
00:46:48
at that point we might have winner winner chicken dinner and they might have some DNA that they're able to test
00:46:54
or some even touch DNA you take somebody that was an ex-boyfriend of his current girlfriend
00:47:01
and and placed them at the scene they shouldn't be in his apartment and there what there is one individual in
00:47:09
particular that has not been named but has moved away from the area that is of concern that has
00:47:19
further complicated the murder investigation and police just want to remind everybody that there is no tip
00:47:26
that is too small in this case as we said this is an area that experiences zero homicides most years and in fact
00:47:35
they only have three unsolved homicides still on the books Steven spina's 2007 case is one of those three homicides
00:47:45
that is still unsolved everybody on the force is aware of Stephen's case he was a popular guy friendly guy well liked in
00:47:52
fact one of the detectives that was originally assigned to the case was very good friends with Steven Spina so well
00:48:00
Colonel I don't know if you've been on Reddit this week but we have become Reddit famous again one of the listeners
00:48:07
was pointing out in the Browns Chicken Massacre case how we seem to to be champion this hold back information but
00:48:14
then in other cases we haven't been champions of law enforcement holding back so much information well I think
00:48:22
that every case is unique and certainly it gets tough to really have a strong opinion on the finer details of those
00:48:32
cases until you know what the specifics are yes it's it's difficult because there are cases that you look at it and
00:48:41
you go why are they still holding back this information why won't they release more information and in fact in Steven's
00:48:48
case I I look at that this case and go I think that it may be helpful to have more info out there on this case
00:48:57
however I don't know what that information is so detectives know what that information
00:49:03
is and they're looking at it and they are deciding okay will this help us identify the person that that killed
00:49:10
Stephen Spina if the answer is no then there's no reason to release that information
00:49:18
so just like in the Delphi case one thing that the police were clear on here was they were saying the way that the
00:49:25
girls were killed is not going to help us identify the man that was seen on the bridge that day
00:49:32
that it's not helpful to the investigation things here in this case that are helpful are things like the
00:49:40
murder weapon was it brought to the scene did you find find the murder weapon the answers to
00:49:45
those questions yes we believe it was brought to the scene by the Killer and no we've not recovered the murder weapon
00:49:51
that is helpful information the number of times the the Stephen was actually stabbed
00:49:59
doesn't help us identify the killer at all so again it goes back to the idea of what is that information every case is
00:50:09
unique all evidence is unique to their cases and you have to review them one at a time when you review something
00:50:17
at like the Amy maholovic case and they come out with information and they tell me telling you something 27 years after
00:50:24
the fact on something that's very uh one of almost a one-of-a-kind item they're asking for for the potential owner of a
00:50:32
particular item well that yes it's helpful to identifying the the potential killer or
00:50:40
the suspect in the Amy mihalovic case however you're asking the public for their help on something that is 27 years
00:50:46
old right and so I think you can look at each situation and you can have a difference of opinion on
00:50:56
should they be releasing more or are we fans of holding back the information in the Browns case it appeared very
00:51:03
necessary there were a couple of items that they were convinced that the the only the killers were going to know that
00:51:11
case we saw how it panned out they ended up getting more than one confession from persons
00:51:18
that they did not try that they did not arrest they did not charge with the murders that hold back
00:51:27
information separated the confessions of the killers from the confessions of people that they just
00:51:34
really look they they got they got aggressive with them and they got confessions from people that they were
00:51:40
interviewing those confessions weren't correct and they knew that based off of that hold back information well I didn't
00:51:46
see the question on Reddit but somebody emailed it to me but it is a good question no that's a very good question
00:51:52
that's a very good question well very good question but I think a very good answer all these cases are so unique
00:51:59
they're almost like individuals fingerprints well and to segue this back into Stephen's case
00:52:06
look at the boot print that's something that's very specific that's something that we it's a size 11. someone at the
00:52:14
crime scene someone that was present during the attack and during the murder could be the murderer themselves
00:52:20
has a size 11 shoe a size 11 boot print that information was released to the public that is something that can help
00:52:28
identify the killer one thing that would be great and I really wish that they would be able to sort this out is if
00:52:36
they could come out and definitively say I think it's very responsible of them to
00:52:40
be saying it the way that they are but it would be great if they would be able to sort this out and definitively say
00:52:46
yes that came from a Timberland brand boot they can't do that because there there's
00:52:52
a couple of other boot prints that are so similar that they're saying we believe it's a Timberland but we can't
00:52:58
rule out one or two other possibilities here so that is a an identifier and so when we talk about hold back information
00:53:08
here we have a good piece of information that could identify the Killer and that
00:53:13
being the size of their shoe right again there's no tip that's too small detectives are welcoming any and all
00:53:19
tips and information if you have any information regarding the murder of Steven Spina and Mamaroneck New York
00:53:25
please contact the village of Mamaroneck detective Bureau at 914-825-8541 or you can call the New
00:53:35
York State Crime Stoppers tip line at 866-313-t-i-p-s there is a reward totaling forty thousand dollars for
00:53:45
information that directly leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for Stephen's murder
00:53:55
[Music] I want to thank you guys so much for joining us here in the garage thanks for
00:54:17
listening thanks for telling my friend for everything True Crime Check out true crime garage.com and until next week be
00:54:24
good be kind and don't litter thank you [Music] foreign

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 80
    Most heartbreaking
  • 70
    Most shocking
  • 65
    Most intense
  • 60
    Most emotional

Episode Highlights

  • Unsolved Case of Steven Spina
    A beloved postman was murdered in a small town, and no arrests have been made.
    “No arrests have ever been made in this case.”
    @ 03m 48s
    January 18, 2023
  • The Last Day of Steven Spina
    On the day of his murder, Steven had plans to take his daughter to a Yankees game.
    “Unfortunately, they never went to the game.”
    @ 06m 43s
    January 18, 2023
  • A Personal Homicide
    The evidence suggests that Steven Spina's murder was personal in nature.
    “This was a personal cause homicide.”
    @ 17m 20s
    January 18, 2023
  • The Unsolved Case of Steven Spina
    Steven Spina's murder remains unsolved, with only three homicides in the area still open.
    “This is an area that experiences zero homicides most years.”
    @ 47m 32s
    January 18, 2023
  • Public Tips Welcome
    Detectives urge anyone with information on Steven Spina's murder to come forward.
    “There's no tip that's too small.”
    @ 53m 15s
    January 18, 2023
  • Reward for Information
    A reward of $40,000 is offered for information leading to an arrest in Spina's case.
    “There is a reward totaling forty thousand dollars for information.”
    @ 53m 43s
    January 18, 2023

Episode Quotes

  • This is the still unsolved case of Steven Spina.
    Stephen Spina ////// 642
  • This was a personal cause homicide.
    Stephen Spina ////// 642
  • You go red flag when you hear of the knife attack.
    Stephen Spina ////// 642
  • Every case is unique, almost like fingerprints.
    Stephen Spina ////// 642
  • It would be great if they could definitively say...
    Stephen Spina ////// 642
  • There's no tip that's too small.
    Stephen Spina ////// 642

Key Moments

  • Thank You00:11
  • Beer Review01:34
  • Murder Case04:58
  • Personal Homicide17:20
  • Murder Investigation47:21
  • Unique Cases51:59
  • Community Appeal53:15
  • Reward Announcement53:43

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown