Speaker 1: Hi, It's Andrea, host of Betrayal, and I want to
Speaker 1: share my new podcast called Therein Gone South Street. I
Speaker 1: spent the last three years investigating the disappearance of two
Speaker 1: adults who vanished without a trace on one of the
Speaker 1: busiest streets in Philadelphia, the city I grew up in.
Speaker 1: It's been almost twenty years since Richard Patron and Danielle
Speaker 1: Embo went missing. It's become a Philadelphia urban legend, a
Speaker 1: story that haunts the city to this day. There are
Speaker 1: no suspects, no evidence, and no justice for the families
Speaker 1: of the missing. Every story we produce is personal, but
Speaker 1: this one feels even more so because it happened in
Speaker 1: my backyard. I was in high school when they disappeared,
Speaker 1: and for years I drove by a billboard on I
Speaker 1: ninety five South with photos of Richard and Danielle smiling,
Speaker 1: full of life, with a message asking for tips. And
Speaker 1: here's the thing, according to law enforcement, there are still
Speaker 1: people out there who know what happened to them. That's
Speaker 1: why I decided to take this on three years ago.
Speaker 1: Through our own investigation, We've turned over every lead, spoken
Speaker 1: with the families, and worked with the FBI, and there
Speaker 1: and gone South Street, and we've been hearing from people
Speaker 1: in Philadelphia. I have to share I was really touched
Speaker 1: when Betrayals Ashley Lytton called me to tell me she
Speaker 1: was listening to the new series, Drey.
Speaker 2: You know that I'm a huge crime podcast buff.
Speaker 1: That's that's how we met.
Speaker 2: And of course I wouldn't miss you, know, any of
Speaker 2: your projects that you've been working on. I was in
Speaker 2: my car on like a break listening and I was
Speaker 2: crying and it was so hot outside. I was like,
Speaker 2: it is so hot and I have the fucking chills.
Speaker 1: So what part gave you the chills? What resonated it?
Speaker 2: It did resonate with me. Richard and Danielle. They have children,
Speaker 2: they have established lives, they have loving families. But another
Speaker 2: thing that really hit me was that it's been nineteen years,
Speaker 2: because there has to be somebody that knows something, like
Speaker 2: somebody has heard something, or somebody slipped when they'd been drinking,
Speaker 2: or you know, friends of a friend, or you know
Speaker 2: what I mean, somebody knows something. Why isn't anybody coming forward.
Speaker 1: I love this city deeply, and anyone from Philadelphia there's
Speaker 1: just this love that runs so deep and the pride
Speaker 1: that we have, but I've learned to also, at the
Speaker 1: same time, fear the city in a way I didn't
Speaker 1: realize just how pervasive and how dark and how scary
Speaker 1: this city could be.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 2: I think those that have listened and really heard my
Speaker 2: story on Betreal season two will be compelled to listen
Speaker 2: to There and Gone South Street because of what you do.
Speaker 2: I see how much of you you put into your work,
Speaker 2: because I know it's so genuine and authentic. You don't
Speaker 2: just work this, You've lived.
Speaker 1: I really appreciate your words. Ash, Thank you. I want
Speaker 1: nothing more than for our work to bring those who
Speaker 1: harmed Richard and Danielle to justice. So, listeners, I want
Speaker 1: to share with you a special ad free presentation of
Speaker 1: episode one of There and Gone South Street. Please take
Speaker 1: a moment to listen, and if you're enjoying the show,
Speaker 1: just know new episodes drop every Monday on the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And if
Speaker 1: you want to listen to episodes one week early in
Speaker 1: ad free, you can sign up for iHeart True Crime
Speaker 1: Plus exclusively on Apple Podcasts. So here is episode one
Speaker 1: of They're in Gone South Street.
Speaker 4: Throughout this entire time Danielle's been missing. Trying to find
Speaker 4: literally consumed me. Some psychic called my mother in law
Speaker 4: and said Danielle was dying in a box car. So
Speaker 4: in the middle of the night, I went down to
Speaker 4: Philadelphia and searched the train tracks under the bridge with
Speaker 4: a flashlight. Here I am scaling this fence at midnight
Speaker 4: with a flashlight looking in box cars. I got in
Speaker 4: trouble for that one. The Mount Laurel police detective called
Speaker 4: me up screaming, telling me that they had to stop
Speaker 4: all of commerce in Pennsylvania to get me out of
Speaker 4: the railroad because I was looking in railroad cars. I
Speaker 4: just can't stop. It just consumed me.
Speaker 1: That's Johonna Tobray. His sister Danielle went missing in February
Speaker 1: of two thousand and five, but she wasn't alone. Kanielle
Speaker 1: and her friend Richard left a bar and simply vanished.
Speaker 1: Nineteen years later, they still have yet to be found.
Speaker 4: She was my sister, she was my friend, she was
Speaker 4: my blood. I would do anything for her throughout all
Speaker 4: these years. Speaking with the FBI, I know my sister
Speaker 4: died that night, but to this day, I still don't know,
Speaker 4: I can't stop my mind from wandering to the darker things.
Speaker 4: She alone? Was she scared? Was she calling out for someone?
Speaker 5: Was?
Speaker 4: For all I know? They have all this information, the FBI.
Speaker 1: So what does the FBI say?
Speaker 6: We have several working theories. We've done a number of
Speaker 6: searches in different areas.
Speaker 7: We have a lot of folks that we've talked to.
Speaker 6: We have statements, phone records. I probably have the silver
Speaker 6: bullet and all of that stuff. I need somebody to
Speaker 6: tie it together. This needs to get solved.
Speaker 1: I'm Andrea Gunning and this is therein Gone South Street,
Speaker 1: Episode one, Ghosts.
Speaker 6: All that I know.
Speaker 3: Is I say you in that dream, reached out on
Speaker 3: the dog for you fe lost to me. I'll never
Speaker 3: give up, no matter how long I open my eyes
Speaker 3: define you Gone.
Speaker 1: A Note that the views and opinions expressed in this
Speaker 1: podcast are so those of the individuals participating. This podcast
Speaker 1: contains subject matter which may not be suitable for everyone.
Speaker 1: Discretion is advised. For fifteen years, Danielle and Richard were
Speaker 1: strangers to me. Ghosts that loomed over I ninety five South.
Speaker 1: It's the stretch of highway that connects Philadelphia to New
Speaker 1: York City. Each side is lined with billboards. Most are
Speaker 1: ads for ambulance chasers or beer, but one shows two
Speaker 1: smiling faces next to the word missing. It's Danielle Imbau
Speaker 1: and Richard Patron, and it's been there for almost twenty years.
Speaker 8: Inbo and Patron were last seen leaving a South Street
Speaker 8: bar in the late evening of February nineteenth, two thousand
Speaker 8: and five.
Speaker 1: I knew their faces, I knew their names.
Speaker 8: Investigators have turned up a few promising leads, but have
Speaker 8: not found the couple or the car.
Speaker 1: South Street is one of the busiest and most popular
Speaker 1: places for nightlife in Philadelphia, at least it was in
Speaker 1: two thousand and five. Think Bourbon Street, but without the
Speaker 1: balconies and beats. It's not exactly the same, but you
Speaker 1: get the idea. No shortage of places to grab a
Speaker 1: drink and have a good time. It's not a place
Speaker 1: where two people just vanish, and it's certainly a spot
Speaker 1: where you'd have plenty of eyewitnesses.
Speaker 8: They had left a bar at Fourth and South, headed
Speaker 8: to his pickup truck and simply vanished, not a trace.
Speaker 1: Two adults in their mid thirties walk out of a
Speaker 1: bar and into oblivion. How is that even possible. I
Speaker 1: live within walking distance to South Street. I've been to
Speaker 1: those bars, and I've walked those same streets. I know
Speaker 1: how busy they are, so this has often haunted me.
Speaker 1: The story of Richard Patrone and daniel Embou became an anecdote,
Speaker 1: a Philadelphia urban legend. If my team was ever going
Speaker 1: to produce a missing persons podcast, this was the one.
Speaker 1: And as I'll explain in a bit, it turns out
Speaker 1: we're way more connected to the story than I originally thought.
Speaker 1: When I begin working on a story, I usually reach
Speaker 1: out to law enforcement. From the initial research, it was
Speaker 1: clear the FBI was involved, so I decided to start there.
Speaker 9: This case was different because it was two people. They
Speaker 9: were adults that were just out having fun, and now
Speaker 9: they disappear with you know, no information about where they
Speaker 9: could be.
Speaker 1: That's Jerry Williams. She was an FBI agent and the
Speaker 1: spokesperson for the Philadelphia Bureau when Danielle and Richard went missing.
Speaker 9: I don't think anybody had heard of a case like
Speaker 9: this ever before. Vita would come into my office and
Speaker 9: keep me updated.
Speaker 1: Vito special Agent Vito Rosselli. He has been working on
Speaker 1: this case since the very beginning.
Speaker 9: I could tell that it was more than just another
Speaker 9: investigation for him.
Speaker 1: Agent Rosselli had spent almost two decades tracking down every
Speaker 1: lead in this case but came up short.
Speaker 9: There are so many times over the past few years
Speaker 9: that I thought Vito was close in solving this and
Speaker 9: then nothing.
Speaker 1: I needed to talk to Vito.
Speaker 10: Hey, Andrea, I really appreciate your effort on this huge hen.
Speaker 1: Special Agent Vito Rosselli looks and sounds like someone in
Speaker 1: a TV show who's playing an FBI agent. He's a
Speaker 1: stocky guy, muscular with dark skin, and seems like someone
Speaker 1: you'd want to grab a beer with.
Speaker 6: My dad was an old hover guy. He was an
Speaker 6: old FBI agent, so I grew up around that. I
Speaker 6: got in Philly in February of ninety seven, and I've
Speaker 6: been in Philly pretty much my whole career.
Speaker 1: Vito is a warm and welcoming guy, but I could
Speaker 1: tell that he carries pieces of this investigation around with him,
Speaker 1: and that clearly rests heavily on his heart. I don't
Speaker 1: know how else to explain it, but there's a heaviness
Speaker 1: to that.
Speaker 6: It wasn't just an accident driving off a bridge, a truck,
Speaker 6: and two people just don't disappear. What I do know
Speaker 6: is that the people who are involved had to have
Speaker 6: the means to get rid of two bodies and a
Speaker 6: truck in a very quick amount of time. That means
Speaker 6: that they did it before or they had access to
Speaker 6: those circles.
Speaker 7: So I don't have the truck and they don't have
Speaker 7: the bodies.
Speaker 1: Just think about that. Not only are Danielle and Richard missing,
Speaker 1: but so is the Dodge Dakota pickup truck they were driving.
Speaker 1: And after nineteen years of searching, Fido still has no
Speaker 1: physical evidence to work with. He's been trying to figure
Speaker 1: out who wanted to kill either Danielle and Richard without
Speaker 1: a fingerprint, a tire mark, or a single drop of blood.
Speaker 1: But maybe what's stranger than any of that is the why.
Speaker 1: Because on paper, neither of these two seem to have
Speaker 1: a target on their back.
Speaker 6: What I did on covers that both were good people.
Speaker 6: A lot of people cared for him. Danielle was very
Speaker 6: close to her mom and her brother, and rich was
Speaker 6: very close to both his parents and all his siblings
Speaker 6: and had a child that he was raising.
Speaker 7: Both families are still extremely destrought.
Speaker 6: It's very emotional for him, as emotional today as it
Speaker 6: was when I first met them.
Speaker 1: Vito has a lot writing on this investigation. Obviously, he
Speaker 1: felt for Danielle and Richard's families. It's been on his
Speaker 1: plate since two thousand and five. And all investigators will
Speaker 1: tell you they always feel like they're racing against time,
Speaker 1: but Vito had a different clock. You see in the
Speaker 1: FBI there's a mandatory retirement age of fifty seven, and
Speaker 1: Vido's fifty seventh birthday was fast.
Speaker 7: Every investigator, every detective, has.
Speaker 6: That white whale that hangs over the head, and in
Speaker 6: this particular case, where you don't get an answer, that
Speaker 6: just crushes people's souls and it's tough. So the case
Speaker 6: is very much open, and hopefully we make it arrested.
Speaker 1: I've met with Vito a few times now. After those conversations,
Speaker 1: it's become clear what Veto is missing testimony, someone who
Speaker 1: heard something or saw something, or remembers anything, anything about
Speaker 1: what happened on the night of February nineteenth, two thousand
Speaker 1: and five. He just needs someone to come forward.
Speaker 6: Everybody that's working on this case and everybody that has
Speaker 6: worked on this case wants this to get out in
Speaker 6: the public and wants people to call in.
Speaker 7: And that's why I'm very thankful for you guys.
Speaker 1: This case was a big deal in Philadelphia, and to
Speaker 1: be fair, it did get national attention, but that interest
Speaker 1: lasted for like two months because in May of two
Speaker 1: thousand and five, I'm an American teenager went missing in Aruba,
Speaker 1: Natalie Holloway, and the nation turned their attention to her. Slowly,
Speaker 1: Danielle and Richard faded from public consciousness, but Philadelphia hasn't forgotten.
Speaker 1: For a big metropolitan city, there is a small town
Speaker 1: feel here and it's that close knit community that keeps
Speaker 1: their memory alive. See, everybody knows everybody here, or at
Speaker 1: least knows someone who knows your sister or your cousin,
Speaker 1: or used to work with that guy that you used
Speaker 1: to work with. All of that is relevant here. The city.
Speaker 1: It's people, It's all important to this story. Philadelphia is
Speaker 1: the city of brotherly love, and often love extends to
Speaker 1: loyalty vows of silence when it comes to nefarious behavior.
Speaker 1: The FBI undoubtedly believes that there are people who know
Speaker 1: what happened to Richard and Danielle, but have remained silent.
Speaker 1: So why now? I once heard this theory from law
Speaker 1: enforcement that when it comes to these types of cases,
Speaker 1: there are usually three windows of time to solve them,
Speaker 1: the first few weeks, the first year, and then the
Speaker 1: next best is the twentieth anniversary.
Speaker 6: I've gotten confessions from folks because it was chewing them
Speaker 6: up on the inside.
Speaker 7: Not all folks that do illegal activity are evil folks.
Speaker 6: A lot of them have consciences and kids and families
Speaker 6: of their own, and eventually it wears on them.
Speaker 1: By the time this podcast launches, we'll approach the opening
Speaker 1: of that final window. Maybe after two decades, perhaps someone's
Speaker 1: own mortality will change their view and come forward with information.
Speaker 1: I approached my team about taking this on and knew
Speaker 1: my producing partner Ben would be interested because, like me,
Speaker 1: he grew up in Philadelphia too. He knew this story
Speaker 1: as well as I did. But there was something I
Speaker 1: didn't expect. When discussing it with my colleague Carrie, she
Speaker 1: went white. She looked at me and said, you know,
Speaker 1: my brother grew up with Richard Patron and was good
Speaker 1: friends with him. Right. I had no idea, So she
Speaker 1: put me in touch with her brother, Jimmy he.
Speaker 11: Was so likable. He just had such a huge heart.
Speaker 1: Jimmy Hartman grew up across the street from Richard, and
Speaker 1: the two immediately became fast friends.
Speaker 11: We'd like to play hockey. We would get the guys together,
Speaker 11: and we became friends from there. And I knew Danielle
Speaker 11: also because I graduated high school for with her.
Speaker 1: Like I said, everybody knows everybody.
Speaker 11: She was always nice. I just never got to know
Speaker 11: her that well, but I knew her and.
Speaker 4: She knew me.
Speaker 1: So Jimmy not only knew Danielle and Richard, but was
Speaker 1: even close with Richard's parents, Richard Senior and Marge Patron.
Speaker 11: You couldn't go to the house without eating, just to
Speaker 11: poopole Italian family, and there's just pasta and food and
Speaker 11: bread and wine and everything everywhere.
Speaker 1: Jimmy said. It's been tough to watch the Patron suffer
Speaker 1: all these years.
Speaker 11: You could see the pain, especially in Marge's eyes. You
Speaker 11: could just see how much it hurts her, you know,
Speaker 11: And when you have somebody taken from me like this,
Speaker 11: it's just really hard to say goodbye.
Speaker 1: At first, he said that patrons were dreading that phone
Speaker 1: call from police, the call that would confirm that Richard
Speaker 1: was dead. But now any information would be welcomed information.
Speaker 11: I would hate for either one of them to leave
Speaker 11: the earth without having closure. I mean, they have not
Speaker 11: let up on trying to get this mystery solved.
Speaker 1: We had the FBI on our side, but we understood
Speaker 1: that to move forward we would need both families to participate.
Speaker 1: It's a painful process, but also an opportunity. The more
Speaker 1: you talk about a missing person, the more likely it
Speaker 1: is that someone who knows something will say something. But
Speaker 1: approaching these families, I knew I would be asking them
Speaker 1: to relive so much. It's tough. Since Jimmy knew the
Speaker 1: Patrons from childhood, he made an introduction, so we started
Speaker 1: there we go. Marge Patrone greeted me and my colleague
Speaker 1: Ben at her front door. It was a bright Sunday afternoon,
Speaker 1: nearly nineteen years after her son, Richard and his friend
Speaker 1: Danielle Imbo vanished. We needed to learn who Richard and
Speaker 1: Danielle were and understand everything they left behind. On February nineteenth,
Speaker 1: two thousand and five, we had been told that both
Speaker 1: families were done speaking to the press. Think about it.
Speaker 1: The closest people to Richard and Danielle had to answer
Speaker 1: the same questions about their disappearance for over nineteen years now,
Speaker 1: Yet here I was, with my partner Ben, standing at
Speaker 1: the threshold of the patron's family home to again pick
Speaker 1: at that scap. It took an introduction from Richard's childhood friend,
Speaker 1: many conversations and veto expressing the importance of participating. Ultimately,
Speaker 1: the patrons agreed.
Speaker 12: You want to sit like somewhere comfortable.
Speaker 9: Or what do you want to do?
Speaker 1: And much to my surprise and relief, Marge welcomed us
Speaker 1: with a warm, friendly smile, and just like I was told,
Speaker 1: she immediately wanted to feed us something. Marge is a
Speaker 1: grandmother as well as a mother of three, so hosting
Speaker 1: us seemed like old hat for March, like we'd been
Speaker 1: over for dinner many times before, even though this was
Speaker 1: a first for all of us. And that day Marge
Speaker 1: invited us for Sunday dinner. I know this isn't just
Speaker 1: a meal that happens to fall on Sunday. It's actually
Speaker 1: a long running tradition for the Patrons. That's when their
Speaker 1: family comes together for a big Italian meal. So we
Speaker 1: felt honored to be invited it was just before Christmas,
Speaker 1: and every inch of our house was decorated, including the kitchen.
Speaker 1: That's where we all gathered around a charcuterie board filled
Speaker 1: with slice delling meats and cheeses, while a huge pot
Speaker 1: of red gravy bubbled on the stove behind us. Marge's
Speaker 1: freezer door was lined with several baby pictures and a
Speaker 1: ton of magnets. She pointed to the Chicago Bears magnet
Speaker 1: and said it was Richard's favorite football team. And then
Speaker 1: there was this, I have a Susan Lucci doll. You
Speaker 1: might remember Susan Lucci from the long running daytime TV
Speaker 1: show All My Children.
Speaker 5: You know it's funny because I love soap, a Opwards
Speaker 5: and all that.
Speaker 1: Marge explained that she always watched All My Children and
Speaker 1: how one year for Christmas, Richard surprised her with this
Speaker 1: Susan Lucci doll.
Speaker 5: For a guy, he was the best gift giver and
Speaker 5: just very thoughtful and did it all himself, Like he
Speaker 5: didn't just go to the mall and buy anything. He
Speaker 5: knew what you were into.
Speaker 1: I could tell Richard is Marge's first born. She lights
Speaker 1: up at every mention of his name, like how he
Speaker 1: played hockey from the time he was seven until the
Speaker 1: day he went missing, And how she still holds onto
Speaker 1: Richard's Bobby Clark jersey. That's when her voice trailed off.
Speaker 1: And as the firstborn, you could say Richard got special treatment.
Speaker 1: When Richard had a sore throat, I would run him
Speaker 1: to the doctors.
Speaker 5: That Christine always would say, if I said I had
Speaker 5: a store throat, you'd say, spray your throat. You're right.
Speaker 1: So Christine and Elisa are Margin's daughters. Christine was also
Speaker 1: best friends with Daniel Imbo. She was supposed to join
Speaker 1: us for dinner, but Christine backed out at the last minute.
Speaker 1: Her sister Elisa gave us a clue as to why.
Speaker 13: I think this whole thing was really hard for christinecause
Speaker 13: it's her best friend and her brother Richard and Christine
Speaker 13: rolling your difference. And she doesn't really say anything too
Speaker 13: much about that night.
Speaker 1: Alisa is well into her thirties now, but was just
Speaker 1: a teenager when her brother Richard disappeared.
Speaker 13: We have no idea what happened to them or how
Speaker 13: this happened, and we just lived with that, and it's
Speaker 13: an awful feeling.
Speaker 1: There was a row of stockings in the living room
Speaker 1: that hung across their mantle, just above the fireplace. I
Speaker 1: couldn't help but wonder if Richard's stocking was one of them. Okay,
Speaker 1: we all moved to the kitchen table as Marge arrived
Speaker 1: with a giant bowl of stuff, mannicotti and homemade meatballs.
Speaker 1: It was enough to feed a small army.
Speaker 5: Everything's to be is happy and sad.
Speaker 1: Marge pointed to where Richard sat for thirty five years,
Speaker 1: and then to the empty chair where her husband used
Speaker 1: to sit for forty years. Marge and her husband, Richard,
Speaker 1: owned and operated a Swedish bakery called Viking Pastries in
Speaker 1: the suburbs of Philly. That's where Richard and his father
Speaker 1: worked side by side. The two were very close. Richard
Speaker 1: Senior suffered multiple strokes and hasn't been home for a
Speaker 1: while now.
Speaker 5: He's just never been here since Richard disappeared, left face it.
Speaker 5: He's never been the safe no, no, never. He's the
Speaker 5: shell of the person he used to but he's not at.
Speaker 3: All who he was with them. You know.
Speaker 1: I don't want to say that life hasn't gone on
Speaker 1: for the patron since Richard disappeared, because it has, but
Speaker 1: I got the feeling that Marge in particular has been
Speaker 1: sort of treading water ever since that day. The void
Speaker 1: Richard left was on full display that Sunday.
Speaker 5: I had to keep going, which I still am doing,
Speaker 5: even though it's like yesterday for me.
Speaker 1: Back on February twentieth, two thousand and five, Richard didn't
Speaker 1: make it home for Sunday dinner.
Speaker 5: I remember Christine calling me. She said, Mom, Richard's missing.
Speaker 5: I said missing, What do you mean. He's home. There's
Speaker 5: a nice car today. You would never leave the house.
Speaker 5: He's home.
Speaker 1: Marge said she was out running errands with her husband
Speaker 1: that afternoon, and she was certain Richard was home. It
Speaker 1: was the day of the Daytona five hundred, and Richard
Speaker 1: had been looking forward to it all week.
Speaker 5: She's not home, mom.
Speaker 1: Christine called Marge from the salon where she worked. She
Speaker 1: was concerned about Danielle. Yeah, the same Danielle who was
Speaker 1: with Richard the night before.
Speaker 5: And she said, Danielle didn't show up for an appointment
Speaker 5: today and she never does that, and he's not home.
Speaker 5: He's missing.
Speaker 1: Marge and her son Richard were close. They usually talked
Speaker 1: multiple times a day, but that Sunday, she hadn't heard
Speaker 1: from him.
Speaker 5: And so my coldest phone a million time time, and
Speaker 5: I just went right to voicemail. He would never not
Speaker 5: answer his phone to me.
Speaker 12: Never.
Speaker 1: One thing to keep in mind. Back in early two
Speaker 1: thousand and five, most of us had flip phones and
Speaker 1: texting wasn't common yet, so when our phones rang, we'd
Speaker 1: actually answer them. The fact that Richard wasn't answering his
Speaker 1: phone immediately concerned March.
Speaker 5: And Christine said the same thing with Danielle. It's just
Speaker 5: going right to voicemail.
Speaker 10: Now.
Speaker 5: I call my sister and I said to her, you've
Speaker 5: got to go in his apartment.
Speaker 1: Marge's sister lived down the street from Richard, so she
Speaker 1: had a spare key and headed over to the apartment.
Speaker 1: She didn't see Richard's truck parked out front, so she
Speaker 1: unlocked the door and went inside.
Speaker 5: She said, no, nobody came back here, and the book's barking.
Speaker 1: Richard's dog, Bismarck was in distress and needed to go out.
Speaker 1: His food bowl was empty, and it was clear Richard
Speaker 1: had not been home for hours. From everything I've learned today,
Speaker 1: he's a reliable guy, not one to be out of touch.
Speaker 1: Leaving his family in the dark like this. It was
Speaker 1: out of character.
Speaker 5: He would never go anywhere without telling me. I know
Speaker 5: immediately immediately, I like, so, oh my god, this could
Speaker 5: not be happening. But I lost my son today. Oh
Speaker 5: my god, there's Thine said, we're never going to see
Speaker 5: them again, are we?
Speaker 2: Mom?
Speaker 5: I said, no, we're not, We're not.
Speaker 1: Christine and Marge feared the worst, but Richard's father wasn't
Speaker 1: about to jump to conclusions. Richard was a strong Italian father.
Speaker 1: He's as much braun as he is brains, and what
Speaker 1: his wife was telling him it wasn't registering.
Speaker 5: He said, what are you saying. I'm saying that something
Speaker 5: terrible happened to your son.
Speaker 1: While the fear was hitting the Patron family, John and Tobray,
Speaker 1: Danielle's brother, was also realizing Danielle didn't make it home
Speaker 1: that night.
Speaker 4: I woke up Sunday morning early and I took a
Speaker 4: ride to her house to fix the curtain. I sold
Speaker 4: her car out front. I knock on the door. She's
Speaker 4: not answering on a cor her cell phone. It goes
Speaker 4: right to voicemail. So I called my mother and I said, Mom,
Speaker 4: I'm outside at Danielle's I see her car here, but
Speaker 4: she's not answering. I have her key. I don't want
Speaker 4: to just walk in with if she's in the shower
Speaker 4: or something. I don't want her to get scared, and
Speaker 4: she said maybe she slept at Richard's.
Speaker 1: At the time, John had been trying to support Danielle
Speaker 1: as much as possible. See in the last twelve months,
Speaker 1: Danielle's life had gotten complicated. Danielle had recently separated from
Speaker 1: her husband, Joe Imbo. To make matters more challenging, Danielle
Speaker 1: and Joe welcomed their son together just two years prior.
Speaker 1: In February of two thousand and five, Danielle was in
Speaker 1: uncharted waters. She was a single parent, navigating custody of
Speaker 1: their twenty month old child, and deep in the throes
Speaker 1: of dissolving her marriage with Joe. Anything John could do
Speaker 1: to help his sister, he would, whether it be helping
Speaker 1: out around the condo or looking after the baby.
Speaker 4: It was a typical ugly separation, you know, it was
Speaker 4: headed towards divorce, so I didn't think anything of it.
Speaker 4: Like hung the curtains up and I left zobbious.
Speaker 1: No one was home, so John packed up his tools
Speaker 1: and went about his day like he would any other.
Speaker 1: That was until I got a.
Speaker 4: Phone call around three o'clock. It was my mother and
Speaker 4: she said, Danielle never came home last night. I'm at
Speaker 4: her condo now I need you to come here. And
Speaker 4: my mother is in full blown panic. She said, Joe's
Speaker 4: getting ready to drop the baby off in the next
Speaker 4: hour and she's not here, and no one can get
Speaker 4: in touch with either one of them. I knew right
Speaker 4: there something was wrong. I just knew it.
Speaker 1: The divorce was nasty. Danielle's mom knew how bad it
Speaker 1: would look for her daughter if Joe dropped off her son,
Speaker 1: only to find out Danielle never came home that night.
Speaker 1: It was currently Mia. You see, over the past few months,
Speaker 1: Danielle had been dating Richard Patron, and Joe knew that.
Speaker 1: She didn't want to give her soon to be ex
Speaker 1: son in law any ammunition.
Speaker 4: My mother said, don't tell him what's going on. I
Speaker 4: don't want him to know because I don't want him
Speaker 4: to say, well, I'll keep the baby until she comes home.
Speaker 4: I said, Mom, don't worry about it.
Speaker 1: It was three o'clock that afternoon when Joe arrived to
Speaker 1: drop off their son. That was the agreed upon time
Speaker 1: for Joe to end his weekend with a baby, and.
Speaker 4: He kind of walked in look confused, and he said
Speaker 4: worth Danielle and my mother said, oh, she went to
Speaker 4: dinner with Christine, And then he said something like he
Speaker 4: mumbled under his breath, I guess telling a lie is
Speaker 4: better than telling the truth. Then he left, like saying
Speaker 4: what we were saying was bullshit.
Speaker 1: It was always our intention to start our own investigation,
Speaker 1: but we had to ask ourselves, where do you start
Speaker 1: on a case when two people go missing. We started
Speaker 1: by retracing their last steps. We wanted to understand exactly
Speaker 1: where Richard Patron and Danielle Imbo were the night of
Speaker 1: February nineteenth, two thousand and five.
Speaker 5: We're all altogether. That right went to Chicky and Pete.
Speaker 1: Marge and her two daughters, Christine and Alisa had dinner
Speaker 1: with Danielle Imbo and Danielle's mother at Chicky and Pete's,
Speaker 1: which is a popular Philadelphia restaurant. Think chicken sandwiches, she
Speaker 1: stakes crabfries, and beer. It's a sports bar with games
Speaker 1: on TVs everywhere, a good place to blow off steam
Speaker 1: after a long week. Here's a Lisa, Richard's sister.
Speaker 13: It was just a girl's night out. I wanted to
Speaker 13: tag along anywhere my sister and my mom were going,
Speaker 13: so I was there.
Speaker 1: Toward the end of dinner, Richard called Danielle to see
Speaker 1: if she wanted to join him for the evening. Initially
Speaker 1: Danielle wasn't sure, but eventually agreed she was open to
Speaker 1: making the most for child free Saturday night.
Speaker 13: And then my sister drove Danielle to meet Richard.
Speaker 1: Christine agreed to drop her off since Danielle's car was
Speaker 1: back at her condo in Jersey.
Speaker 5: That was really like a spark of the moment thing.
Speaker 5: I don't think he even knew that she was going
Speaker 5: to actually go with.
Speaker 1: Him, And that's an important detail from Marge and something
Speaker 1: to remember. This was a spontaneous meetup between Danielle and Richard.
Speaker 5: Richard was at another tap room having dinner and told
Speaker 5: Christine to drop her role she would go with Richard
Speaker 5: that night.
Speaker 1: As for Danielle, her brother John got the story of
Speaker 1: what happened from his mother.
Speaker 4: She said, well, last night, Danielle and I and Margie
Speaker 4: Christine went to Chicken and Pete's, and Richard called and said, Hey,
Speaker 4: I'm at this bar, Abilene's on Sale Street. Why don't
Speaker 4: you come. Danielle said, she'll meet you as long as
Speaker 4: you can get her home at a reasonable time.
Speaker 1: Danielle had an appointment at a salon the next morning.
Speaker 1: It was the same salon that Christine Patron worked at.
Speaker 1: So it's our understanding that from Chicky and Pete, Christine
Speaker 1: drives Danielle to meet up with Richard, and Richard and
Speaker 1: Danielle drive to abilene'es on sou Street together.
Speaker 12: South Street had this huge strip of bars, Abilene's. One
Speaker 12: of them.
Speaker 1: Journalists, Steve Vogue, covered the story for Philadelphia Magazine and
Speaker 1: explained what happened next.
Speaker 12: I remember that they were having a good time, that
Speaker 12: they were enjoying themselves. They sat close together, they shared
Speaker 12: a kiss at some point, they were laughing a lot.
Speaker 12: You know, they had a nice evening together.
Speaker 1: We heard Danielle and Richard spent a couple hours at
Speaker 1: the bar that Saturday night listening to a band.
Speaker 12: They leave before midnight. He was going to drive her
Speaker 12: back to her home in Mount Laurel, and that's where
Speaker 12: the trail ends.
Speaker 1: No one has seen Danielle or Richard since.
Speaker 12: Not just them, but a truck disappeared into the ether
Speaker 12: from one of the most frequented spots in the whole city.
Speaker 12: It was stunning. I just wish that the families could
Speaker 12: have an answer, and whatever the answer was, to sort
Speaker 12: through it and deal with it.
Speaker 6: I'm a father, I'm a brother, I'm a husband, I'm
Speaker 6: a son. It is very hard not to see the
Speaker 6: human side, the human impact on the two families.
Speaker 7: It keeps me motivated.
Speaker 1: For Vito Rosselli, he lives with the impact of that
Speaker 1: reality every day and one of the major factors that
Speaker 1: has stopped him from solving this case is the evidence,
Speaker 1: or lack thereof. This happened in two thousand and five,
Speaker 1: when even basic equipment like security cameras were using outdated technology.
Speaker 6: Back then, everybody was still on VCRs that they were
Speaker 6: taping over after two weeks of thirty days, street light cameras,
Speaker 6: none of that existed. Back then, you know, the iPhones
Speaker 6: weren't a thing, so it was a little different animal.
Speaker 1: Today, we can track our friends. Everyone essentially has a
Speaker 1: GPS in their pocket. Plus there's no shortage of documenting
Speaker 1: with people recording their life for the whole world to see.
Speaker 1: But in two thousand and five, people had flip phones
Speaker 1: in MySpace. Even YouTube didn't come out until February of
Speaker 1: two thousand and five.
Speaker 6: We have a lot more tools available to us now
Speaker 6: than we did back then.
Speaker 9: Today, when something happened, you know, there's cell phone video,
Speaker 9: and there's video on buildings, and people are going on
Speaker 9: social media and talking about it. Well, we didn't have
Speaker 9: any of that back then.
Speaker 1: That's former FBI agent Jerry Williams.
Speaker 9: In my years of doing media relations for the FBI,
Speaker 9: I've never heard of a case like this ever before.
Speaker 9: I mean, people are concerned. If this happened to this couple,
Speaker 9: what could happen to me and my kids if I
Speaker 9: let them go on South Street.
Speaker 1: The community was concerned, and law enforcement didn't have much
Speaker 1: to work with. After those initial days of the investigation,
Speaker 1: the FBI got tapped in and the lack of evidence
Speaker 1: actually started to tell a story to Vito.
Speaker 6: Nobody checks into a hospital. Neither one of them would
Speaker 6: have left their children. They wouldn't just have run away.
Speaker 1: The idea of Richard and Danielle getting hurt or skipping
Speaker 1: town got ruled out. Pretty quickly.
Speaker 6: There was no activity on their credit cards on their phones.
Speaker 6: The people who did it made two people.
Speaker 7: In a truck disappear. That's a clean cry, and it.
Speaker 6: Could have been cleaned by accident, it could have been
Speaker 6: cleaned by luck, or it could have been clean by design.
Speaker 6: So it was clear that something bad happened pretty much
Speaker 6: off the start.
Speaker 1: Vido and Jerry were adamant about one thing. After nineteen
Speaker 1: years of dead ends, they were out of options.
Speaker 9: When you have a case like this, you have to
Speaker 9: figure out how to keep it in the news.
Speaker 6: Each year at the anniversary where you put something out
Speaker 6: and without fail, we always had tips, callings and more.
Speaker 7: Over the past few years have been pretty consistent.
Speaker 6: So it's good it keeps it out in the public's eye.
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 3: Today marks ten years since the local couple vanished without
Speaker 3: a trace, and despite a decade since their disappearance, today
Speaker 3: their relatives made an emotional plea for new information.
Speaker 1: Every February twentieth, without fail, the city of Philadelphia is
Speaker 1: reminded of Danielle and Richard.
Speaker 8: It has been eleven years to the day since daniel Believe.
Speaker 12: It or not, Today marks twelve years since Danielle IMBO
Speaker 12: and Richard Patron Junior first one message they have not.
Speaker 5: Been seen in thirteen years, just right on.
Speaker 1: And from nineteen years now, these segments go out and
Speaker 1: tips come in rints and.
Speaker 4: Repeat the family.
Speaker 8: But the MBI says they have not given up on
Speaker 8: this case.
Speaker 1: Having lived here my whole life. I've watched the segment
Speaker 1: each February with the rest of Philadelphia. Now I have
Speaker 1: more of a context as to why. Just like that
Speaker 1: billboard I mentioned in the beginning, it's a lifeline thrown
Speaker 1: out for Richard and Danielle and their families, anything to
Speaker 1: keep hope for justice alive.
Speaker 9: I think putting it out there to the public on
Speaker 9: a true crime podcast is a brilliant step to add
Speaker 9: to what has been done so far.
Speaker 1: It's crazy for me to say this, but I think
Speaker 1: the FBI needs our help and your help. So do
Speaker 1: Danielle and Richard. The two left a crowded bar in
Speaker 1: a popular area of Philadelphia on a Saturday night two
Speaker 1: decades ago, and in those twenty years, we still don't
Speaker 1: know who wanted to harm them and why.
Speaker 10: One of the important directions that law enforcement had to
Speaker 10: take to determine the history between Danielle and Richard. When
Speaker 10: you look deep into anybody's backgrounds, you gotta be digging
Speaker 10: up stuff. And we found some angles that were of
Speaker 10: interest to us.
Speaker 9: That's when started to look like this may have been
Speaker 9: a very personal crime.
Speaker 1: That's next time on There and Gone.
Speaker 3: All is I say you in that dream, reached out
Speaker 3: in the dog for you felast to me. I'll never
Speaker 3: give up, no matter how I opened my eyes. Define
Speaker 3: gone a.
Speaker 1: Hitch corner.
Speaker 3: Lit another puss O peace, I follow the clues, looking
Speaker 3: fo the key HOLEVE give up no matter. Hello, I ope.
Speaker 4: My o.
Speaker 3: To find that your gone.
Speaker 1: If you have any information about the disappearance of Danielle
Speaker 1: Imbo and Richard Patron, please call the Citizens Crime Commission
Speaker 1: tip line at two one five five four six eight
Speaker 1: four seven seven, or you can reach out to the
Speaker 1: show in our team by email at varngonpod at gmail
Speaker 1: dot com. That's There and Gone, p o d at
Speaker 1: gmail dot com. Thank you so much for listening. One
Speaker 1: way for you to show support is by subscribing to
Speaker 1: our show on Apple Podcasts. Don't forget to rate and review,
Speaker 1: because five star reviews go a long way. A big
Speaker 1: thank you to all of our listeners. Barin Gonn is
Speaker 1: a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group,
Speaker 1: in partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show is executive produced
Speaker 1: by Nancy Glass, Ben Fetterman, and me Andrea Gunning. It's
Speaker 1: hosted and written by me Andrea Gunning, with additional reporting
Speaker 1: and writing by Ben Fetterman. The series is also written
Speaker 1: and produced by Todd Gans. Our associate producer is Kristin Melcurrie.
Speaker 1: Research by Mason Klinder, Anna Hamilton, and Bella Riki. Our
Speaker 1: iHeart team is Ali Perry and Jessica Krincheck. Audio editing
Speaker 1: and mixing by Matt Delvecchio, additional editing support by Nico Ruka. Thereon.
Speaker 1: Gonn's theme and original compositions were composed by Oliver Bains
Speaker 1: and Darry McCauley of Neuser Music Library, provided by my
Speaker 1: Music Special thanks to both to Betrone and a tow
Speaker 1: Ray Families. For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeartRadio app,
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