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and a free $60 gift [Music] [Music] welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thanks
00:01:46
for listening I'm your host Nick and the jerk store just called and they are running out of my co-host I give to you
00:01:53
the captain hey thank you so much T-Bone it's good to be seeing and good to see you thanks for listening thanks for
00:01:59
telling a friends [Music] today ladies and germs we still got some ice cold pills ners in the old garage
00:02:10
fridge we are drinking Lazy River pills by our friends over at New Trail Brewing
00:02:17
this is an updated version of a traditional German pzer with German Munich malts for a highly crisp and
00:02:23
refreshing light and flavorful pser with Citra hops to add a bright orange Citrus
00:02:29
aroma ABV 4.4% garage grade four out of five bottle caps and here's some cheers to our friends first up we have Daniel
00:02:40
from Fargo North Dakota cheers mate and we also have Ashley and Kelly and Bakersville North Carolina thank you to
00:02:48
everyone for going to our website and helping out with this week's beer fund providing the funds for the old beer run
00:02:55
yeah BW r n Beer Run make sure you go to True Crime garage .c and sign up on the
00:03:01
mailing list and Colonel that's enough of the business all right everybody gather around grab a chair grab a beer
00:03:08
let's talk some true [Music] crime early on into the murder invest tigation of Charlotte Fano the
00:03:31
authorities were looking into another unsolved homicide now oddly enough Captain this one took place three years
00:03:39
prior and hundreds of miles away this is the still unsolved murder of Sherry L Lewis a realtor from decar Illinois who
00:03:50
was murdered on August 5th 1994 and a brief overview of that case is as follows on August 5th 199 4 30-year-old
00:04:01
Sherry L Lewis of decar Illinois she's a realtor she was found deceased in a mon
00:04:08
County residence that was for sale which she had an appointment to show this home
00:04:14
sher's case has been reexamined and thoroughly investigated by mon County Sheriff's Office under former mon County
00:04:22
Sheriff Buffett assisted by special homicide investigator John Scag Skelly wag this is from the justice for Sher
00:04:31
Lewis Facebook page they say their full investigative report containing overwhelming evidence solving her brutal
00:04:39
murder has been in the hands of mon County State's Attorney's Office since May of
00:04:45
2018 former mon County State's Attorney J Scott failed to bring Justice for Sheri Lewis this is they're trying to
00:04:53
Rally here and try to get support to finally take this thing to trial if the evidence warrants that so I'm bringing
00:05:03
this up because it is all a part of the Charlotte Fano case this is something that they reference and that police
00:05:10
looked into now I don't know who reached out to who right I don't know if decar Illinois reached out to the state police
00:05:17
in Pennsylvania or if the State Police in Pennsylvania reached out to mon County and Illinois but we do know that
00:05:25
they were talking and they were examining the details of both cases what we would be told after a few months
00:05:32
they're not saying that they're ruling out the possibility that the two could be connected what they do say is we
00:05:38
didn't find any direct connections from one to the other I think in this episode
00:05:44
captain and I'm reluctant to say this because I I'm hesitant because I hate to go down these roads say it come on say
00:05:51
it I think you're going to hear me say two things in this episode that you've never heard me say in almost 700
00:05:57
episodes of True Crime garage that you appreciate my work and my effort I say that all the time you just you just hit
00:06:03
the stop button uh and and erase it in the editing process and the people think I hate you so but here what's weird to
00:06:10
me Captain I never think that these cases I I think maybe in the alphabet murders case that we talked about that
00:06:18
that might be the only other time that I was like yeah these two cases that are hundreds of miles away and years apart
00:06:24
might be connected I almost never say that because I never believe it and guess what it's because the number
00:06:30
numbers don't pan out it's almost never true yeah statistically it's it's very low but this this case is strange
00:06:37
because you were pointing something you know off mic before is if you Google search images of either one of these
00:06:46
victims they look very similar ex that's exactly right and here here's the weird
00:06:51
thing like the only reason why this rattled me a little bit I I don't think that they're connected I want to say
00:06:58
that but there's one stunning fact that that is of course my opinion but I can't get over it when I
00:07:08
was is it a fact or opinion it's a opinionated fact damn it the the thing is though when I was first reviewing
00:07:17
Charlotte Fan's case I saw a picture of Sher L Lewis but it wasn't labeled and I
00:07:24
just made the assumption that it was a picture of her from maybe 10 or 12 years years earlier prior to the her murder
00:07:32
and then when I looked up Sherelle Lewis just Google image like you said the first picture that came up I thought
00:07:40
well they got it wrong that's just an old picture of Charlotte Fano and sure enough I click on a couple websites and
00:07:46
very quickly realized no that is a picture of Sher Lewis to me they look very similar yeah Charlotte looks like
00:07:53
she could be Sherry's mother so Sherry's 30 years old when she's killed and char
00:07:59
is 40 when she's killed and again I I mean not exactly spot-on but at first glance it was enough for me to think
00:08:07
that the Sherry Lewis picture was a picture of Charlotte when she was 28 or 30 years old for me it's got me a little
00:08:15
rattled because I can't get over the fact that they were both working in the same line of work the same title job
00:08:22
title they look very similar and that they were both showing a home that they hadn't appointment now Sherry was beaten
00:08:31
and strangled and then we know in Charlotte's case it was a gun in ligature strangulation I don't know enough
00:08:38
details of the Sher Lewis case to 100% say that I think that they're connected my gut tells me that they're not but we
00:08:47
do know that police looked at it we do know that they did say they couldn't find any direct connection between the
00:08:53
two now if you go to that Justice for Sherry Lewis Facebook page you're also going to find
00:09:00
at least one or two other realtors that were killed uh there's one from 1984 oddly enough September 11 1984
00:09:11
which would be exactly 13 years before Charlotte Fano was killed so just some very weird strange things with this case
00:09:19
and I've got to tell you captain on the surface this case to me was very intriguing
00:09:28
but there's this case is very fascinating and I hate to say that because there are people
00:09:33
that are are related and loved Charlotte and were great friends with her and I hate that they would hear or
00:09:43
have to hear some schmuck in a garage yeah pencil dick that's a beer and a half deep say this case is fascinating
00:09:50
you know but but I feel okay to say it here in this case because oddly enough I reviewing material and found a detective
00:09:59
that was working on this case and he said those exact words all right so two wrongs make a right that's really stuck
00:10:06
with me in this case because I told you I told you when I arrived at the garage today I will be happy to be done with
00:10:12
these episodes because this case is is really messed with me over the past 3 to four days there's something very funny
00:10:21
about this case that I can't quite put my finger on and I I feel like it's just one piece of the puzzle that's that's
00:10:29
just missing that's that would put this whole thing together there's something very strange about this Charlotte Fano
00:10:35
case that's that's really got me shook can I can I say a thought that I had without you uh putting me in the old
00:10:44
pervert Roundup crew sure but the one one of the things that kind of stuck out to me in this is
00:10:54
because we don't know if she was targeted or if it was just this location was targeted and I would or I hate to
00:11:05
interrupt yeah you hate that but keep in mind we don't know if either were targeted right right but continue I'm
00:11:11
sorry but we do know because of the call into the real estate company we we don't
00:11:17
know if there was multiple calls that day from that number I I would think that's something that law enforcement
00:11:23
would want to look up because what if this killer calls and a and a mail answers the phone and then they talk for
00:11:32
a little bit but make no appointment and then call back and what if there was evidence that they kept calling back
00:11:40
until they got a female Victim Because what do we know about crimes and Killers they're a lot of the crimes are sexually
00:11:49
motivated and so that would seem a little strange as far as like this whole realtor
00:11:56
scenario and this is where I don't want people going wow that Captain he's one pervert but
00:12:02
uh I'm going to shift this a little bit pornography there's a real estate agent category in
00:12:14
pornography so I just don't think it's that far of a stretch for again a sexually motivated crime for
00:12:21
somebody to be watching this category and then developing a a or fantasy does that does
00:12:30
that make any sense yeah I mean obviously here here's the thing I I shouldn't say Obviously it makes total
00:12:37
sense to me because what we've seen time and time again especially with serial offenders is that sex and violence is
00:12:45
all wrapped up into one ugly package for them right and a lot of them will use pornographic materials to kind of keep
00:12:54
those urges at Bay and so yes it it to me makes complete and total sense I am very glad that you started to go down
00:13:05
this road what I wanted to point out here is you love looking at porn the facts okay we're going to get into a lot
00:13:13
of opinion stuff a lot of theories a lot of speculation here and there's a lot of
00:13:17
it in this case and I think that is in part why the detective even States this is such a fascinating case but when you
00:13:27
break it down in it's simplest of forms what do we know what do we know about the
00:13:36
killer we know only two things in my opinion a they were looking for a victim they called and made an appointment and
00:13:47
were looking for a victim now you can throw in some variables there where they targeting Charlotte when they called
00:13:56
right or were they just hoping for as you said a female realtor victim then you go okay
00:14:05
location the location seems to be important well it might not this location itself could have been targeted
00:14:12
or not targeted we don't know because we don't know the details of that conversation between Charlotte and the
00:14:19
person that she had on the phone well let's just be clear on something and maybe you can clear this up for me and
00:14:25
the listening the beautiful listeners like I like to say a fictitious name was given correct I'm
00:14:32
assuming that we know whether that was a male name that was given or a female name my guess is that it has to be a
00:14:40
male name from my understanding the name's never been released but what we do know is that Charlotte
00:14:46
did tell at least one other person that she worked with that she had this appointment with and it was a male
00:14:54
caller so for him to give a a female name would seem to be a a little bit of uh uh of an indicator of maybe I
00:15:03
shouldn't go on this appointment or take this call seriously but back to what do
00:15:07
we know we do know that the regardless if she was targeted or not we know that the killer was looking for a victim with
00:15:15
that phone call number one and number two is it's a premeditated murder a gun was used in this
00:15:23
homicide and is not recovered at the scene so it didn't come from the vacant home he likely didn't pull it off of
00:15:31
Charlotte in some kind of scuffle the this killer was looking for a victim and arrived on the scene prepared and ready
00:15:39
to kill right but I also just want to be clear so just because we have a male caller doesn't necessarily mean that we
00:15:47
have a male killer correct correct and and that's why I that's why I wanted to go down that road in the last episode to
00:15:57
point out very clearly that while it stands to reason that the most likely perpetrator of this homicide is
00:16:04
that caller who arranged that meeting it's not out of the realm of complete possibility that that the
00:16:11
person that called is not the person that killed right somebody could have set up this Arrangement and then she
00:16:18
arrives and she's either ambushed or there's a sneak attack by somebody she she did not anticipate of seeing there
00:16:27
at that home and that person then killed her and I think that's why in part this
00:16:33
case is so fascinating because there's so much of the speculation that can lead you to very certain theories but there
00:16:41
but everything's very open-ended with this case it leaves the possibilities very open in this case now I want to get
00:16:51
into Circle back to the phone calls because ring ring ring many sources tell us one thing and only one that I could
00:16:59
find tells us a further detail on that item right so we talked about this Arrangement was made the day prior the
00:17:07
day before the murder we would later learn police would eventually come off in in the corner or eventually come off
00:17:15
and narrow down that window of time in question for us the time of death which is so important and key to any
00:17:22
investigation because that goes to means and opportunity right and we said during
00:17:28
the trailer that means and opportunity are the are the very best tools deciding factors to separate a good suspect from
00:17:38
anybody else who actually was unaccounted for for during the time of death right now they narrowed down the
00:17:46
time of death and later released it to be first they were saying 1 to 4: p.m. and that I think the police may
00:17:55
have been forced to kind of show their hand on this one because what happened Captain was two weeks after the murder
00:18:02
she's murdered on a Thursday on a Thursday Two Weeks Later police set up a bunch of road blocks in that
00:18:08
neighborhood and surrounding that neighborhood and they were stopping all passer buyers and asking them if they
00:18:15
regularly travel in this area if if they happen to be there two weeks prior between the hours of 1 and 4:00
00:18:23
p.m. and so these people were later interviewed by news stations and they're like you know what the what were the
00:18:29
police asking you well here you know they're asking me this that and the other thing but they wanted to know if I
00:18:34
was here two Thursdays ago between 1: and 400 p.m. so that kind of shows you right away that they've already honed in
00:18:41
on that that time period that three-h hour window 1 to 400 p.m. the police and then later the police come out and say
00:18:49
the time of death the suspected time of death is between 1 and 300 p.m. so they got a 2hour
00:18:56
window that killer had to get into area and out of that area and she was killed sometime between 1 and
00:19:03
3 now another thing that we would later learn several sources come out months later that say Charlotte went out to
00:19:12
that appointment and then returned to the office and told several people that she worked with that she got stood up
00:19:20
that the male caller that made the appointment never arrived and she got tired of waiting around and came back to
00:19:27
the office right right what happens then is once she's back at the office phone rings wing wing she takes the call hello
00:19:37
it's the person she had the appointment with saying oh I got I got tied up I couldn't make it to the appointment I
00:19:43
was running late could could we still go and see the house well again though this
00:19:47
is also kind of a remote area is it possible that the killer went to find the house and just couldn't find the
00:19:53
house well again we don't know the details of that and and there are several people in their reports that
00:19:58
that have said over the years well she was a real go-getter she wouldn't turn down the opportunity to show a house and
00:20:03
sell the house yeah that's true I get that but let's take it a step further she's been doing this for like 15 16
00:20:11
years I'm sure it's not the first time that somebody has called and said I got tied up in a meeting I I got caught in
00:20:16
traffic I uh my kids suck and I couldn't leave the house um you know so she's probably had several times that somebody
00:20:23
didn't show or was running late and so this probably didn't didn't set her off didn't raise any flags for Charlotte and
00:20:32
she tells a couple people this at the office and then she goes out and meets she goes to that that appointment back
00:20:39
at the house on Chelsea Lane and we do know that she's killed there here's here's some of the details that that
00:20:46
really set me off in this case captain and I kept harping on this yesterday the devil's in the details the problem with
00:20:54
these details is it's said time and time time again she went for a 1:00 appointment and then she was killed and
00:21:02
we do know the time in question the suspected time of death is between 1 and 300
00:21:07
p.m what was the original Arrangement if if he calls and says I couldn't make it
00:21:13
and could we could we still go see the house and the people at the office are saying well she left at 1:00 and she had
00:21:20
a 1:00 appointment what was the original Arrangement was it for 11:00 a.m. or noon and he didn't make it or was the
00:21:28
appointment always for one and she actually came back and then left after 1:00 which doesn't seem to stand a
00:21:35
reason because if people saw her alive at 1:00 or 1:15 or 1:30 then your suspected time of death wouldn't be
00:21:42
between 1 and 3 exactly and the reason why I'm focusing in on this so much and why this pisses me off that we do not
00:21:49
know this detail and you know what there are people out there that know this detail clarification please because her
00:21:57
husband who would be ruled out as far as police say because it's about 3 or 4 months into the investigation there's a
00:22:05
newspaper headline comes out that the police have eliminated have ruled out husband in realtor's death they rule him
00:22:13
out why did they rule him out he has an alibi did some digging Christian's work schedule he worked 10-hour days he had a
00:22:22
20 to 30 minute commute to his job his his schedule was 1: p.m. to 11:00 p.m. makes a lot of sense and we know that
00:22:31
there are other things backing up that information because what he gets home after 11:00 p.m. he gets home a little
00:22:38
after 11:30 talks to his his daughter calls in that his wife is missing the reason why that time period is so
00:22:45
important to me and what the original appointment was for what time it was for was because even though police say that
00:22:53
they have moved on from the family that they have ruled out the husband they tell us they're ruling out the husband
00:22:59
because they can confirm 100% that he was at work between 10000 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. on that Thursday and had a 20 to 30
00:23:07
minute commute both ways if someone and I've I never say this on True Crime garage if someone were to set up a hit
00:23:15
and it were to be a husband to take out his wife what time am I scheduling it for when I'm at work when I'm accounted
00:23:21
for when I'm going to have dozens of people tell you nope I didn't kill my wife because they all saw me hanging out
00:23:26
there they all saw me working there the reason why I think that this detail is so important is because if it
00:23:34
was a in fact a hit that was arranged by the husband it would it would fall in line
00:23:40
with some of the details we do know about the case Charlotte wouldn't may not recognize the voice of the person he
00:23:47
hired especially if she doesn't know who the person is that he he hired but two if the caller on Wednesday originally
00:23:57
scheduled the appointment for one one it it drives me mad to to sit there and think that it's happen stance that
00:24:06
this appointment is scheduled for a time that this dude's also scheduled to be at work I'm not saying that that the
00:24:14
two can't both have happened I'm saying it it leads me to believe and I've never
00:24:20
said on the show before that I think that there's a hit I think that this case is a hit I think that I think the
00:24:26
most two plausible things to me are either a a complete freaking stranger killed this woman right and I think if
00:24:33
that's the case they may never solve this case most likely not they have been so
00:24:39
tight lipped about some things I think that that police think they have an idea of what actually happened here mhm and
00:24:47
so let's take this a few steps further well there's I'm not saying that it is concrete evidence but sometimes that's
00:24:56
why law enforcement is very tight lipped about things is because there's certain
00:25:00
pieces of evidence that they they know can't get out because it would basically crumble their whole case against a
00:25:09
certain individual and if they're hoping to let's say they they wanted to follow
00:25:18
the husband to see if he could lead them to the killer or if they wanted to tap his phone or uh surveil this
00:25:26
guy what better way to get him to act to lead you to the killer than to publicly
00:25:33
say well we ruled him out we ruled him out because we confirmed 100% that he was at work that day during the time in
00:25:39
question yeah because just because they roll you out to a public you know newspaper or
00:25:47
whatever or even tell him to his face we ruled you out the police are allowed to
00:25:52
lie during an investigation well not only that they're ruling him out as the killer they're not ruling him out as
00:25:58
being involved in the homicide exactly ruling him out as the actual killer but also law enforcement is not the only
00:26:07
tight lip organization quote unquote in in this case sometimes you have a case where look at
00:26:17
Deli very tight lipped law enforcement very vocal family trying to get the word out uh trying to get information
00:26:28
coming in this one tight lipped law enforcement and it seems like the family was pretty
00:26:34
tight lipped as well yeah and and we need to be completely Fair here because they could the family meaning her
00:26:42
daughter and her husband they could have been tight lipped and shy away from the cameras or
00:26:49
the newspapers just at a pure Devastation their world is completely turned upside down they're completely
00:26:55
heartbroken and that's why they didn't do so much talking to the media and one thing that does make me
00:27:03
doubt this husband being involved a little bit is the the fact that we do know and I had to do a good amount of
00:27:12
digging to figure this out that the husband was the one that actually called 911 the following morning and that led
00:27:18
to her body being found now it also wouldn't be the first time that somebody would lead police to a body of somebody
00:27:25
that they've killed well cuz it'd be pretty susp icious your wife doesn't come home in the morning you s and do
00:27:31
nothing yeah in the morning you're like well I I guess she just didn't come home
00:27:35
last night guess I don't have to make as much coffee in the morning yeah let's get back to the other possibility that I
00:27:42
don't think we can rule out either is the complete stranger possibility stranger danger somebody cold calls this
00:27:49
realtor office looking for a victim and needs a secluded vacant ready to move into home to carry out their the dirty
00:27:58
deed of of homicide D dirt cheap one thing that that for me pointed away from a complete stranger is one the motive
00:28:10
yes it could be a Thrill Kill but many of these thrill kills are sexually motivated there's a sexual component to
00:28:16
them now one detail that has been released is that Charlotte was not only found fully clothed but still wearing
00:28:24
her coat her jacket so that may suggest to many that there was no sexual component to the
00:28:35
case but I'm I'm going to throw a a wrench into everything that that most people believe about homicides when they
00:28:42
try to look at a crime scene and please allow me Captain to talk out of both sides of my face at the same time
00:28:49
normally do but this comes from a very well resected detective and somebody that we've talked about on the show
00:28:56
before Joe Kennedy he says be careful and do not assume there is a close personal relationship between
00:29:04
the suspect and victim based on evidence of Overkill example excessive stab wounds extensive blood force trauma
00:29:13
Etc at the crime scene if ligatures and restraining devices are present there was likely a sexual component to the
00:29:21
murder this should be considered before exploring other motives unless it is obvious another crime gone bad robbery
00:29:29
burglary home invasion or the victim was restrained so the primary crime could be
00:29:35
completed okay so that's that's interesting to to observe here because there is somewhat of Overkill involved
00:29:45
in this case we mentioned ligature strangulation we mentioned The Gunshot she was actually shot twice once in the
00:29:52
back of the head and once in the face just below the left eye what what Kennedy is pointing out here is that
00:30:00
just that act of strangulation ligature strangulation may even though our victims found completely
00:30:09
clothed could still have a sexual component to it so with that with that possible sexual component I don't think
00:30:17
that we can completely rule out the idea of a complete stranger a complete pervert stranger carrying out this
00:30:24
homicide [Music] sports fans listen up with sling you can watch your favorite sports all year
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00:31:18
[Music] that all right we are back cheers mates onward and upward cheers to you Colonel cheers Captain
00:31:32
it's getting hot here in the garage colonel in the hot tub Colonel's getting angry and worked up here now no this is
00:31:40
a it's these are difficult because again a setup job for who for um a hired killer or just let's have a mail
00:31:56
call but who's waiting there for her her husband yeah I I would think he couldn't
00:32:04
he couldn't have been there we we know that to be fact right we know 100% he was at work at the time that she was
00:32:11
murdered right right but I was just trying to point out like I have a male caller and then a female real estate
00:32:17
agent that has some kind of beef with her I would think because this is such a possibility that there would be some
00:32:26
rumors of possible infidelity in in her relationship and Charlotte's relationship with her
00:32:35
husband so I did catch some wind of those rumors um I but none of that comes from any of the newspapers or any of
00:32:45
what I would consider to be trusted sources none of it ever comes from police um from my understanding that
00:32:51
those rumors might have been office talk office gossip um there there are people that
00:32:58
expand on that a little bit that say that he suspected her of having an affair and she was adamant that she was
00:33:04
not having an affair there are other people that say that the office gossip was that she might have been
00:33:09
romantically seeing a client or maybe another agent I mean if you were to have an affair this would be uh a line of
00:33:19
work that would would complement hiding that from your spouse right we've all seen American Beauty yeah You' be doing
00:33:26
it in every house all over the City okay maybe you would be pervert Roundup but here and and and who knows maybe there
00:33:35
is some truth to those rumors but maybe there's not again I don't I wouldn't say
00:33:39
that any of those rumors are coming from trusted sources a quick way to push somebody into having an affair is
00:33:47
constantly accuse them of having an affair when they're not having an affair well there's some weird again
00:33:54
there's a lot of weird stuff about this case and I haven't got to the weirdest of it all the but the one weird thing
00:34:00
too is the the couple the fanos had just moved into what was kind of like a life
00:34:08
goal for them they they had moved into a new home six weeks or eight weeks before
00:34:13
she's killed they bought a piece of land and had a home a custom home built on that piece of land and they had her
00:34:22
daughter his stepdaughter again I want to be very clear about this the there's no indication that this guy was a bad
00:34:30
husband or a bad stepfather and I know that I said well maybe he ordered a hit on his wife yeah I get it but everything
00:34:37
that I've seen and review what is it but listen for a second I want that's what I'm going out of my way to point this
00:34:43
out because I'm saying that there are details of the case that lead you to that theory time and time again there's
00:34:50
nothing in his personality that leads you to that theory his personality from my understanding Captain this man passed
00:34:56
away in 200 4 and maintained a very close relationship with his stepdaughter up until the day he
00:35:06
died and not only close relationship keep in mind she and her I believe it was even her fiance was living with the
00:35:15
fanos at the time of Charlotte's death right and I believe that his stepdaughter and fiance then turned
00:35:22
husband lived with him for several years after Charlotte was murdered and look this guy was a successful guy so he he's
00:35:30
no dummy and but and I say that because when your wife is murdered of course law enforcement is going to look
00:35:42
at you you should expect that I think it's the ones that fight that and it doesn't seem like this individual fought
00:35:51
that at all it seems like in every turn that the family was cooperative with law
00:35:57
enforce forcement when law enforcement is tight lipped you're going to get more rumors and more speculation that just
00:36:04
happens in these cases and every thing that police said along the way is that the
00:36:12
family was extremely Cooperative with their investigation and I believe he's the only individual the husband is the
00:36:20
only individual that they cleared publicly correct now here's here's the weirdest and strangest of the det dets
00:36:28
and the this is what circles back to what I was talking about earlier the fact that we have several
00:36:35
people come forward very trusted sources saying that Charlotte returned to the office then received another phone call
00:36:43
and then went back to the property now to be clear if she was running around on her
00:36:50
husband she may not have been at that property in the first place and these calls could be there could be a a more
00:36:58
mysterious element to them maybe she's lying about her whereabouts maybe she's lying about who she talked to her
00:37:04
comings and goings right that would stand to reason if she is having a secret affair but let's push that
00:37:11
completely aside and go down this road there is a source out there that says and I'm throwing out a buy or
00:37:19
beware here on this on this information but I also don't have any even though I've not been able to confirm it double
00:37:25
triple check it I don't really have any reason to doubt the information either or the source the information is that
00:37:34
now we have two phone calls that police were going to be concerned about the one
00:37:38
setting up the appointment for the next day which would be the day of the murder
00:37:43
and then the one that she receives when she returns saying well that person stood me up never showed up at the
00:37:49
meeting I I came back and then gets another phone call and goes back out this Source says that police
00:37:56
attempted to locate where those calls came from and that they could not determine
00:38:03
the source of the first call but they did the second call now this is going to be pretty
00:38:11
simple when I lay it out for you the second call they traced it back to a pay phone at a local
00:38:20
mall and it's my understanding that in 1997 where this phone was pay phone it was across the
00:38:30
street within viewing distance of the real estate office that Charlotte worked at now that's strange are going through
00:38:43
all these other previous homicide cases that we've covered we can we can fill in
00:38:47
some of the blanks for you here if you've not listened to all 690 episodes of our wonderful garage
00:38:55
coverage we know that that these are not cell phones you know nowadays we talk about DNA solving murder cases cell
00:39:04
phones are solving just as many murder cases if not more than DNA that's because the phone can track
00:39:12
you they can track the victim they can trace the victim they can trace the communications with the victim with the
00:39:17
in some cases with the murderer 1997 not so many cell phones out there but what they can determine is
00:39:26
we know back then that they could easily find a location of a call if there was if there was billing involved if it was
00:39:33
not going to be a free call well the pay phone obviously is not a free call somebody somebody dropped a quarter into
00:39:40
the slot and called the real estate office spoke to Charlotte and said you know what I was running late and
00:39:46
according to that Source it came from that pay phone at that mall across the street from the real estate office the
00:39:52
first call they couldn't track it why because it probably came from a resid location in that same area code where
00:40:01
there was no long dist calling needed so for me there there is added problems with that that situation Lear
00:40:13
know how to speak please because when we look at these cases don't we usually try
00:40:18
to determine when we have an unknown perpetrator we try to apply the evidence and the facts as they were to see and
00:40:26
get gather if if we can get some insights into the Killer and if they have any criminal
00:40:31
sophistication to me this at first at first glance I thought this is potentially showing some signs of
00:40:39
criminal sophistication however I think I think there's two sides to that coin Captain I think with
00:40:46
this situation you one could go you know what I don't know any better I don't know if they can track that call
00:40:53
yesterday to my house but what I do know is there's probably if they can if they can track
00:41:00
calls let's make it let's not show up to the appointment and let's make a second
00:41:04
call from somewhere else and then that way if at least if they trace the first call to me at the very least that
00:41:09
they're going to have another call with another appointment that moves them they can't
00:41:15
completely hone in on me because there's another call with another appointment so it it's a weird situation
00:41:22
where it could be a a default reaction to oh [ __ ] I used my home phone number to call this
00:41:29
lady or it could be uh I know what I'm doing and let's make a a second call this case again is all screwy and
00:41:39
and all funny and fascinating and weird you reference red light case this is a bang my head against the desk
00:41:48
case yeah because on there's so many possibilities there's roads that lead you to a stranger there's roads that
00:41:55
lead you to a competitor that may have wanted to off her because she's so successful taking business from them and
00:42:01
then there's roads that lead you back to her husband or if she is having an affair maybe to the person she's having
00:42:07
an affair with yeah let's just go through this very slowly a guy has a fantasy of killing a
00:42:15
woman he finds a remote location he calls he meets her out there he kills her or there's a female hey she's having
00:42:24
an affair with this lady's husband she has a male call the woman meets her out there kills her or hires a hit the
00:42:34
husband hires a hit and has the killer call or like you said she's having an affair and the guy the the phone call in
00:42:42
general was a phony phone call and she knew it was a phony phone call I mean there's so many
00:42:50
possibilities I think because of the strangulation and the shots it's almost like the shots were like to make sure
00:42:59
that she was dead well a couple thoughts that I have on if it were if she were targeted or not right because if it was
00:43:07
a stranger then you would believe that that she's probably not targeted if it were a perfect stranger she's probably
00:43:15
not targeted but then again how perfect could The Stranger be they weren't able to trace the first call so that came
00:43:21
within her area code but but here's the thing if if somebody wanted to Target her but make
00:43:28
it look like she wasn't targeted somebody that knew her schedule or had a general feel for how that op
00:43:35
that operation the the office operated where they put people on the phones on a rotation to take these cold calls and to
00:43:44
take the walk-ins somebody M may know that information especially somebody she works with I'd like to know too if
00:43:52
especially her husband I'd like to know if there was any male walk-ins that day because what go ahead I'm sorry I
00:44:03
was going to say because you know most of the time the the killer has a a vision of their victim and so by that by
00:44:13
the calls being traced back to a pay phone that's really close to their office it make some sense I'm I'm just
00:44:20
going to go in the office and see which girls are working today and okay okay well this one will
00:44:30
do well there's a pay phone across the street I'll go make the call and set the appointment
00:44:35
there they're not going to assume that it's the same person why would I why would why wouldn't I just made the
00:44:43
appointment why I was there well because I don't want that appointment traced back to me so I wonder if there's any
00:44:50
walk-ins that day there's a couple things that I want to know and I think that the police probably know the answer
00:44:56
to at least one of of these questions I do know that her husband for in 1997 I do know that he did own a cell phone
00:45:04
which is not common in 1997 now we do know that they traced the one call that came in via the pay phone or or at least
00:45:11
that Source tells us that they did I wonder all of those calls on his cell phone would have been
00:45:18
build did they did they do a background check on his call log for that cell phone right that would be interesting I
00:45:27
don't care so much about the Walkins I understand why you you would want to know and other people would want to know
00:45:31
here's what I want to know we know that two people were Manning the phones that week if you were to Target Charlotte
00:45:39
right if I'm setting up a hit here's what I need I need my Hitman to arrange a meeting with my target with my
00:45:50
hit but I want to muddy the waters and make and not create a trail from the Target to my Hitman to me right how
00:46:03
could I do that well if I have an understanding of how that office operates that works right away the
00:46:10
people that would have that knowledge would be people that work there or people close to people that
00:46:17
work there and her husband so if I know that my target is going to be one of two people manning
00:46:25
the phones that week is it as simple as having my Hitman call and go you because here's here's
00:46:37
typically what happens especially look customer service ain't what it used to be my friend I don't care who you are
00:46:44
but or where you're from it ain't what it used to be but back in the day 1997 I can G I would wager a Franklin you love
00:46:51
it when I wager Franklin I'm down like 900 Franklin now yeah I wager a Franklin that
00:46:57
1997 90% of the time when somebody answers a call at that real estate office for these cold calls when they're
00:47:04
put on the desk that week you go uh thank you for calling True Crime garage real estate office this is the Chrispy
00:47:13
Colonel how may I direct your call this is a crispy Colonel how can I help you and guess what if your target is
00:47:20
Charlotte all your Hitman has to do if she doesn't pick up the phone is click click as soon as that other lady
00:47:28
who's answering the phones or some guy that might have answered the phone that day if it's a guy's voice easy hang up
00:47:33
that's not your target if someone picks up the phone says this is Sharon how can
00:47:39
I help you well Sharon's not your target click and you call back later you got a
00:47:44
5050 shot of getting Charlotte on the phone if you know the operations of that office for that
00:47:50
week I I cannot get past the fact that I I don't know who hired the hit I think this was absolutely a hit I don't think
00:47:58
it was a stranger crime I think that there's too many connecting factors I think that the that the
00:48:04
stranger would have to know too much and the reason why I think it's a hit is I think that Charlotte was too smart that
00:48:12
I think she would have recognized you know how someone from her office calls how do they disguise their voice
00:48:21
there 50 people in that office yeah you're not going to maybe know everyone's voice on the phone but it but
00:48:26
it it seems unlikely and here's why I say hit too they say and we hear this all the
00:48:33
time in homicides but here especially in this in this case gunshot wounds ligature strangulation and often
00:48:42
times the coroner will tell us both could have caused the death well both could have caused the death but
00:48:50
both didn't cause the death one of them caused the death and guess guess what is the absolute weapon
00:48:57
most of the time a gun the gun caused her death I think this shows signs of a hit because I
00:49:04
think that the guy showed up with the intention of going to a secluded place in a vacant house one on1 and when he
00:49:14
confirmed that she was there by herself he went in for the kill with the strangulation and what do we know and
00:49:20
what have we said hundred times on the show Killers have told us it is surprisingly difficult at times to
00:49:28
strangle someone to death she could have come too and he decided I don't care if
00:49:34
this gets loud I got to make sure that I do what I was sent here to do and I think that that's when the gun come came
00:49:41
into play yeah or even so it's uh strangulation first and then the like I said before the gunshots are just to make
00:49:51
sure that there's no chance that she's surviving the strangulation and sometimes we like to give a little
00:49:58
homework out there if anybody can find like a a a real true very good source that that backs up the information that
00:50:08
police and we're talking I want this from like a a local newspaper a statement coming from the
00:50:15
the police the investigating agency a detective or the state police saying we traced that second call to a pay phone
00:50:23
because if that information is incorrect that changes that's a game Cher right there so if anybody can can send us a
00:50:31
link to that hit us up on Twitter Instagram or put it on our blog on true Crim garage.com that's information that we
00:50:39
need to know this case is is incredibly interesting there's a a lot of a lot of problems and a lot of puzzle pieces
00:50:46
missing from this case we want to hear what you think and what your thoughts are we also want to remind you that
00:50:52
there is still a reward wward for information in this case now we talked about the real estate
00:51:00
office offering up 100 Grand back in the day that from my understanding that reward is no longer available I mean it
00:51:08
was 26 years ago but from what I could find here Captain this is uh dated December 16
00:51:18
2021 the Pennsylvania State Police continues their investigation into the homicide of 40-year-old
00:51:25
Charlotte fan Charlotte Fano an agent with wer Realtors failed to return home after
00:51:32
showing a home to an unknown client on September 11 1997 it was determined that her last destination was a vacant home
00:51:41
for sale at 2147 Chelsea Lane heler toown lower sockum Township Northampton County Law Enforcement discovered her
00:51:51
body in the vacant home during the early morning hours of 92 19 1997 Charlotte had been strangled
00:51:59
and shot to death anyone with information on this case is asked to anonymously contact the Pennsylvania
00:52:05
Crime Stoppers tollfree at 1 18004 paa tips that's 1 8004 paa 8477 [Music] [Music]
00:52:36
want to thank everybody so much for joining us here in the garage for everything True Crime Check out True
00:52:41
Crime garage.com Colonel do we have any recommended reading for the beautiful listeners this week captain we're going
00:52:48
to recommend that everybody go out and listen and consume as many podcasts as they possibly can it's fall time for
00:52:56
most of us that means kids are back in school football starting up kids sports are starting up everybody's running
00:53:03
around crazy busy but you know what keep your earballs entertained with some podcast and we've been recommending
00:53:11
several over the past week to two weeks and just a quick reminder here off the Record that is brought to you by True
00:53:19
Crime garage every other week and plus we have a bunch of extra episodes on there as well if you've not checked it
00:53:25
out yet you can check it out out now on patreon and for Apple listeners you can subscribe on Apple podcast and you can
00:53:33
also get a little bit of a free trial on there if you just want to dip your toe in the waters we've also recommended
00:53:40
Mary and Bill and Ohio Cold Case podcast check that one out we've recommended the
00:53:46
prosecutor's podcast and if you want complete and total nonsense in your life which we all need a little touch of that
00:53:54
we got two good ones for you there's the C captain and Morgan podcast and there's
00:53:58
also the big kid show podcast that you will find one of us and maybe sometimes both of us on those shows so check all
00:54:06
of those out if you want something good to read go to True Crim garage.com click
00:54:10
on the recommended page and we got lots of book titles there for you and until next week be good be kind and don't live
00:54:19
[Music]