MA MA - Joan Webster, 25, Logan Airport, Boston, 28 Nov 1981

[eve carson]

I think visuals really help. I have put together a chart comparing the four individuals that promoted the Paradiso/boat theory ignoring evidence they had to the contrary. The first part is a comparison to the description of the man seen leaving Logan with Joan. The description is in source documents.

Eve Carson has shared 1 photo with you!

The second part looks at the involvement in a diverted investigation.

Eve Carson has shared 1 photo with you!
Eve Carson has shared 1 photo with you!

Part three looks at the disposal of evidence and Joan's body, and familiarity with those locations.

Eve Carson has shared 1 photo with you!

Finally, the current position.

Eve Carson has shared 1 photo with you!

 

[KEDude]

The Eastern Terminal at Logan has been torn down, right?

 

[eve carson]

Hi Kedude,

Eastern Airlines was dissolved years ago, sometime in the 1990s I think. They were probably swallowed up by other airlines, but Eastern does not exist anymore. The terminal would have new tenants in the space Eastern once occupied.

 

[eve carson]

Step one is the December 1981 lead that was suppressed. Who knew about the lead? The police knew about it, they took the report. It was contained in the MSP records turned over to the current custodian. Police records affirm the lead was provided to the Websters in December 1981.

The description is NOT Leonard Paradiso. A legitimate investigation would be looking for at least two individuals, the man described with Joan at Logan and maneuvered her to another car, and the driver of the blue car Joan and the man left in.

Review the charts. Four people promoted a false explanation ignoring evidence in their possession: Tim Burke, Andrew Palombo, Carmen Tammaro, and George Webster. I am looking at comparisons of these four people to the description of the man seen leaving Logan with Joan. I am looking at the known facts regarding where evidence and Joan's body were disposed. Who checks those boxes?

This is step one identifying the offender(s) in Joan's loss.

 

[KEDude]

Andrew Palombo was reputed to be a "good cop" and a family man.....what would be the motivation for him to try to cover up Joan's murder?

 

[eve carson]

Hi Kedude,

Not everyone holds that opinion of Andrew Palombo. I got very mixed reviews. Some had no respect for him whatsoever, so it depends who you talk to.

When Joan disappeared, Palombo was married with four children, the youngest was one. He lived in a small house in Peabody, MA. He had some expensive hobbies, his motorcycles and vehicles. What causes a cop to go rogue? Personal gain is the easy answer; money, influence, recognition, advancement. Perhaps he felt it was advantageous to shield the offender. Personal involvement would be another reason to project Joan's murder on a scapegoat. Remember, Palombo was involved in obtaining the Bond statement. That was a hoax; the MSP funneled information through a snitch, and then hid the source documents. Palombo knew the correct manner of death with correct detail more than seven years before Joan surfaced. That fact alone puts Palombo on the list of suspects. That was information only known to the killer or someone complicit in the crime.

Palombo was in a position to influence the direction of the investigation. There is zero question he threw a legitimate investigation off the rails. He had help from the others promoting this story and the media. Keep in mind there was a lot of dysfunction in law enforcement and legal circles at the time. Palombo knew how criminals avoid detection, a statement he made himself in warrants filed with the courts. When legal and law enforcement are involved, it makes it very difficult to solve these cases. Just think of former cop Joseph DeAngelo, the GSK. He was viewed as a family man and it turned out his family did not know his much darker side.

 

[KEDude]

I've read a lot about Palombo's involvement before........still doesn't explain a motive for her abduction/murder. Was her father involved with organized crime? The only reason that someone would deliberately want her dead would be if she knew or saw something.
I am guessing that a random abduction/murder involving rape or sexual violence has been ruled out, correct?
I'm hoping that the Eastern Terminal at Logan would (have been) be the least desirable place for a perp to pick up women.......

 

[KEDude]

Hi Kedude,

Eastern Airlines was dissolved years ago, sometime in the 1990s I think. They were probably swallowed up by other airlines, but Eastern does not exist anymore. The terminal would have new tenants in the space Eastern once occupied.

I will answer my own question.....the Eastern Terminal (Terminal A), the first terminal that you see after exiting the Callahan Tunnel and entering Logan, was torn down long ago. That's too bad, as it was the crime scene pertinent to the Webster case.

 

[KEDude]

Was the name of the cab driver or whoever saw Joan get into the abductors vehicle made public?

 

[eve carson]

Hi Kedude,

Through FOIA, I obtained the police report about a year ago. Prior to that, the official word was that Joan vanished after waiving to a friend at the luggage carousel. That was not true. Not only was the cabbie unknown, so was the fact that Joan was seen. The Town Taxi cabbie's name was Fenton Allen Moore. His name is in the police report.

The evidence in source documents is overwhelming. Andrew Palombo had evidence to the contrary, but continued to push a false narrative. The man that maneuvered Joan to the blue car is the key. We know what happened to Joan after that. Everything points to premeditation and a cover-up after the act. Some random perp would not be in a well-lit and busy area to abduct someone. The risk is too high to be caught. There is no evidence in source documents to suggest a random abduction, rape, or sexual assault.

I believe Palombo's motive would be directly related to the relationship he had with the man with Joan at Logan.

I cannot answer the question if George Webster was involved in organized crime or if he still worked for the CIA. I learned going through source documents, George and Eleanor were very secretive about what was going on in the investigation and what they knew. I think you hit the mark. Joan knew something. In a secretive family, that is problematic. Source documents affirm George had evidence in his possession that exculpated Paradiso including the December 1981 lead from the cabbie and case CR 85-010-S that affirmed the boat did not exist when Joan disappeared. George and Eleanor knew this was false; they are far from stupid or gullible.

As I mentioned before, I discovered a letter that made serious allegations against a member of the Webster family. If true, it is a serious enough concern to silence Joan. I have no evidence to conclude it is not related to what happened to Joan, and will not take a chance it is not.

 

[KEDude]

Eve,
It was mentioned in several places that the Harvard University Police were involved in the investigation of Joan's disappearance. What part did the HUPD play in the investigation?

 

[KEDude]

I'm assuming from her profile that Joan lived a rather simple unassuming life as a graduate student at Harvard. To me, the graduate student dormitories, Perkins Hall and Conant (across the street) were probably very lonely places. The graduate students who lived there-most had single rooms and were from many different departments across campus. Her place of study at GSD was most probably Gund Hall-a short walk from Perkins (her dorm)-down Oxford Street, then Kirkland Street- no bars or stores in between, just academic buildings.

 

[eve carson]

Hi Kedude,

There were two initial police reports filed when her classmate called Eleanor to ask if Joan was still in NJ. Eleanor filed one in NJ on December 1, 1981. Anne filed the other missing person report to the Harvard Campus Police the same night. Anne was in Joan's room. If there was any clue in her dorm room, it was contaminated. Joan never made it back to her dorm. Gund Hall was where most of her classes were held. When her class graduated, they dedicated a park to Joan outside Gund Hall. Sadly, it is no longer there.

You are correct, Joan had a single room at Perkins. She was a dorm proctor. She was not a big partier and a very serious student. She was low key, but had a lot of friends. She was well-liked and held in high regard.

The Harvard Campus Police had several officers assigned to the investigation early on. Their involvement dwindled after a few weeks, but I know the case really stuck with the officers, some who made statements to the media later. Source documents confirm the Harvard Campus Police were aware of the December 1981 lead that was suppressed.

 

[KEDude]

I assume that both Joan's hall-mates and her classmates at GSD were interviewed by HUPD and other LE, to see if she had "new" acquaintances.....especially before Thanksgiving. You know it's a little odd that she came back early. Most students come back to campuses the following Sunday rather than Saturday evening to spend more time with family.

 

[KEDude]

Eve,
You know, Harvard Square was just a block or two away.
There were (and still are!) lots and lots of places where people meet-unexpectedly or otherwise...clubs, bars, coffee shops (stores!).....even the outdoor area where people played chess and drank coffee. Were the LE absolutely SURE that she didn't meet some [interesting] weird-oh that maybe a little later, she would meet again? Were phone records (during Thanksgiving) between her parents home in New Jersey and other places in Mass/New England checked?

 

[eve carson]

Hi Kedude,

Classmates were interviewed and many of them actively spread fliers all through New England. People were devastated.

Phone records were checked. I can see them in police records. One thing jumped out at me though. The second line into the house was not checked. No investigator would know the number was missing unless you knew the line existed. The only phone on the second line was in a small study upstairs across the hall from Joan's bedroom. This was George's private line and he made it very clear the phone was off limits.

The plan was to go back with Anne on Sunday by car. A friend was supposed to visit Joan in NJ over the break. Those plans changed. To me, that means George's plans changed; he ran the show. It is very out of character for family plans to change. They scheduled things down to the minutia.

It was late when Joan arrived at Logan, after 10 pm. She had her luggage and belongings. I don't think she would arrange to meet someone and drag all of that along. She would not meet up with someone she knew only briefly or casually. Joan would have been headed to the dorm and probably planned to go right to bed by time she got back there. Her suitcase was already loaded in the trunk of the cab, and she had asked the cabbie to take her to Cambridge.

The key is the man described with Joan at Logan. That lead was suppressed. You don't do that if you are searching for a missing person in earnest. Viewed alone, switching vehicles at the airport may not seem sinister, but Joan disappeared and was later found brutally murdered. Joan switched cars with the man at the man's direction. She wouldn't do that with someone random or some casual acquaintance. She knew the man. I feel confident saying the man described at the airport is the offender responsible for Joan's loss.

 

[eve carson]

Here is another odd tidbit. In October 1982 there was an extortion incident. The man called the Websters at home. Authorities were called in and waited most of the night for the man to call back. Authorities left the house when he did not call. The man called back early the next morning. While George was on the phone with the man, Eleanor ran to a neighbor's to call authorities. It made no sense to me why she would do that; they had a second line upstairs. Instead, Eleanor takes the time to go to a neighbor's, knock on the door before 8 in the morning, wait for them to answer and let her in, and then make her call.

George met with the caller and an FBI agent posing as George's cousin. The three travelled across state lines, but the man gave them a bogus address. The FBI interviewed him, but did not press charges. This incident never made the papers. The current custodian knew nothing about the extortion incident until I provided them with FBI and police reports, documents they can obtain independently. Joan's brother Steve now claims nothing like this ever happened. His claim is documented and there is a witness. Steve lied.

 

[KEDude]

Agreed........Switching vehicles at the airport pickup at Logan does not seem "sinister" but more curious....
However....If I was a cabdriver and this 'switching' happened in the vehicle (blue car?) in front of me with a guy and an attractive young woman-it would raise one of my eyebrows.
The blue car?-----stolen? Was it ever located? The abduction at the airport is part of the crime....

The composite drawing of the bearded man........was there a description of how he was dressed? Type of jacket?

 

[eve carson]

Hi Kedude,

Agreed, switching cars is curious and viewed on it's own, probably not sinister. But we know what happened to Joan, so I do go back and examine that maneuver to get Joan into a different car. Knowing what happened to her, and how the lead was suppressed, I do believe this was sinister.

There is no evidence I have been able to find suggesting this lead was pursued. The man was not found and neither was the blue car. I was told there were no leads at tis time. Allegedly, Joan waived to a friend at the luggage carousel, and then vanished into the night unnoticed. That was not true. The story morphed into Paradiso driving a cab that Joan took. That is not true either.

I look at who knew about the lead. Carmen Tammaro and Andrew Palombo were both officers assigned to the F Barracks at Logan and involved in the case. Source documents also confirm George and Eleanor Webster had this lead in December 1981. Tammaro, Palombo and George Webster are three of the four key people promoting the Paradiso/boat theory.

You don't suppress a lead if you are sincerely looking for a missing person. Tammaro, Palombo, and George probably knew the man described by the cabbie, and shielded him. Why else would you conceal that information? Tim Burke had not entered the picture in December 1981. He only became part of the picture when he was paired with Palombo in the February 1982 meeting convened by the Websters to go after Paradiso. That meeting followed the anonymous call placed by a friend of Tammaro, Patty Bono, who implicated Paradiso in the Iannuzzi and Webster cases with no evidence, only unsubstantiated allegations.

The eyewitness description does describe an item of clothing the man wore. It raised a red flag for me. I was not with the family that Saturday night, but after 25+ years of attending functions with them, I am confident it is something George would have worn that night knowing where they had been. I can describe his attire on an evening like this down to his striped Brooks Brothers tie. The Websters are very predictable in that regard.

 

[cherrymeg]

Here is another odd tidbit. In October 1982 there was an extortion incident. The man called the Websters at home. Authorities were called in and waited most of the night for the man to call back. Authorities left the house when he did not call. The man called back early the next morning. While George was on the phone with the man, Eleanor ran to a neighbor's to call authorities. It made no sense to me why she would do that; they had a second line upstairs. Instead, Eleanor takes the time to go to a neighbor's, knock on the door before 8 in the morning, wait for them to answer and let her in, and then make her call.

George met with the caller and an FBI agent posing as George's cousin. The three travelled across state lines, but the man gave them a bogus address. The FBI interviewed him, but did not press charges. This incident never made the papers. The current custodian knew nothing about the extortion incident until I provided them with FBI and police reports, documents they can obtain independently. Joan's brother Steve now claims nothing like this ever happened. His claim is documented and there is a witness. Steve lied.

Eve,
That is crazy. Could the caller have been institutionalized for mental illness? What was the deal with the second phone line? Did you see people use it for normal calls?