GUILTY MT - Beverly, 79, Gregory Giannonatti, 57, murdered, Deer Lodge, 24 Oct 2015

[ClaireNC]

Except, media wasn't even aware they were missing yet, when the break-in happened. LE were there earlier that day, and the break-in call came in late that evening. So, no one knew those homes were empty except possibly the person or persons responsible for them being empty in the first place.

Good point about it not yet reaching the news, however, it is a small town and I'm sure the community was talking about it. By Sunday night, most of the town was probably aware.

 

[Ontario Mom]

Hi Steelman, Glad you decided to join the discussion.

To answer your question about the cell phone records. The investigators requested a search warrant/court order for the phone records right away. It took a couple of days for them to get those records.

Any other cars have been accounted for. We don't know how many they have. So there are no cars missing.

The scenario that Mom was given a ride, either willingly or unwillingly, to the father's house and somebody called Greg to have him go there is likely. Hopefully, LE have the phone records to see if this happened. However, if there are landlines at the father's house and Greg's house are phone records available like they are with cell phones?

From the descriptions of her being very independent and preferring to drive herself and both of them being very private people, I don't think she went with whoever it was willingly, unless maybe they told her that Greg was in trouble or something along those lines.

Yes it does sound like Greg left suddenly. If the reports of him being seen leaving his home at 10 pm are true, why did he have a roast cooking at that hour? What was he so busy doing all evening - until 10 pm - that he didn't have time to eat? I wonder if they have been able to track his movements throughout the day.

The robbery attempt could have been unrelated, as you said some criminals take advantage of things they hear to know when a house is vacant. However, why would a burglar attempt to take clothes, towels and pillows? Also the homes are very close to neighbors, so they aren't particularly easy targets for robbery.

And one last comment - this is small town Montana. It is unlikely that there are many security cameras around town.

Yeah, didn't see any in these pics of Muriah's https://www.facebook.com/muriahsofmontana/photos_stream

 

[Ontario Mom]

Good point about it not yet reaching the news, however, it is a small town and I'm sure the community was talking about it. By Sunday night, most of the town was probably aware.

Which is also entirely possible.

 

[steelman]

I'm more curious about this 60' ish guy she was having lunch with, and why nobody seems to know who he is or where he came from. Why was she comfortable enough to let him escort her around ? Online dating ?

 

[ClaireNC]

I'm more curious about this 60' ish guy she was having lunch with, and why nobody seems to know who he is or where he came from. Why was she comfortable enough to let him escort her around ? Online dating ?

We don't know if he was "escorting her around" or if they just met there for lunch. She is a business woman, owns a lot of rental property and a day care center. She might regularly meet people there for lunch to discuss business matters. He might be a stranger and she met him there to discuss selling the gold bar and it all went downhill from there. We don't know.

 

[steelman]

Looking at ClairNC's map, there is a residence directly across the street from her late husbands house.

I assume those folks have been interviewed and asked about what they saw the night his car was parked there. It was late at night, so obviously they may not have really seen much, but if the house was currently unoccupied, you'd think that activity and lights being on long after dark would be something they might take note of.

I count 6 different outbuildings plus the main house on the property. That's a lot of buildings that need to be searched top to bottom, and that includes underneath them as well.

 

[Ontario Mom]

Looking at ClairNC's map, there is a residence directly across the street from her late husbands house.

I assume those folks have been interviewed and asked about what they saw the night his car was parked there. It was late at night, so obviously they may not have really seen much, but if the house was currently unoccupied, you'd think that activity and lights being on long after dark would be something they might take note of.

I count 6 different outbuildings plus the main house on the property. That's a lot of buildings that need to be searched top to bottom, and that includes underneath them as well.

I said the exact same thing about the outbuildings at the beginning. Not only all the ones at the Larkspur home but at Beverly's and Gregory's as well. Not to mention all the OTHER properties owned by Beverly. Although, I honestly don't think they're still in Deer Lodge. I could be wrong, but I think they were taken elsewhere. Somewhere that had them travelling south on I-90.

 

[ClaireNC]

Looking at ClairNC's map, there is a residence directly across the street from her late husbands house.

I assume those folks have been interviewed and asked about what they saw the night his car was parked there. It was late at night, so obviously they may not have really seen much, but if the house was currently unoccupied, you'd think that activity and lights being on long after dark would be something they might take note of.

I count 6 different outbuildings plus the main house on the property. That's a lot of buildings that need to be searched top to bottom, and that includes underneath them as well.

If you look at regular Google maps and tilt the view and look at the house at street level from Rt 90, you will see that the area is not flat. It looks like the neighbors across the street might not have a view of the driveway into the property, because a hill blocks the view. https://www.google.com/maps/place/8...2!3m1!1s0x535c9b54439727dd:0x5740d59e953e7d6d

I agree about the need to search the outbuildings. Since the late Mr. G worked in the railroad for most of his life, I wonder if he collected railroad memorabilia. There must be some reason for him to have all those outbuildings. The property is only 5.5 acres so they are not farming.

 

[Elainera]

Maybe it used to be a farm long ago and they sold the land and only kept the buildings.


Have any of their properties been searched? I don't remember hearing anything like that. It's unlikely that they are in/on any of the properties but stranger things have happened. Wouldn't be the first time a dead missing person is hidden close by, or underneath, as Steelman pointed out.

 

[paris_paris]

Maybe it used to be a farm long ago and they sold the land and only kept the buildings.


Have any of their properties been searched? I don't remember hearing anything like that. It's unlikely that they are in/on any of the properties but stranger things have happened. Wouldn't be the first time a dead missing person is hidden close by, or underneath, as Steelman pointed out.

On Google Earth if you view by date you can see most of the smaller buildings were only added a couple of years ago.

 

[Portabella]

I thought it was stated that the late Mr. G was a District Court Judge, I had not heard he was a railroad man....Was he both? Is that even possible? IMHO

 

[ClaireNC]

On Google Earth if you view by date you can see most of the smaller buildings were only added a couple of years ago.

I'll have to go back into the GIS records but there are dates for when some of the buildings were added. I seem to remember that one of the outbuildings was there for a long time, but the others are more recent.

 

[Portabella]

Not only do the outbuildings need searched, but any crawl spaces , and the property and nearby need walked. Also, when looking at the home on the map, I see a large debris or rock pile up in front of house....has anyone gone through that with a fine tooth comb, that would be a perfect way to hide someone. IMHO

 

[ClaireNC]

I thought it was stated that the late Mr. G was a District Court Judge, I had not heard he was a railroad man....Was he both? Is that even possible? IMHO

I believe that District Court Judge comment was a mistake in an article. I think it was the husband of one of the community members interviewed that was a court judge. I went back to find it and it looks like the article has been edited.

Edit to add: Here is a link to Mr G's obit. http://www.sspmt.com/obituaries/september-16th-2015

 

[Elainera]

I wonder whether LE knows something that they're not telling. They didn't take the phone from Greg's house to look for leads, they don't seem to be doing any searches. It seems rather unusual imo.

 

[shefner]

I'll start off by saying you guys are amazing....A true, blue, fantastic bunch of sleuths!

My mother-in-law is in her mid-70's...she has managed the same business for 50 years. She absolutely will not get in a car and allow another person to drive. She just won't. Her church is just down the street from where she lives and she refuses to ride with her husband. They leave at the same time, taking separate cars. Its really crazy. So perhaps Beverly was this way.

Surely by now, all the construction/remodeling people have been interviewed and checked out. I was thinking there might be a connection there but now I don't know.

The friend that said Beverly had been seen at McDonald's, I wonder if this has been followed up on....I mean, that was on October 31 and Beverly was supposed to be at a party elsewhere. She missed that party and that started the cause for concern. Don't most McDonald's restaurants have surveillance cameras?

 

[shefner]

BTW, looking at that Google Earth map, I'm surprised how rural it is. Why would Beverly want to live out there and take on a much bigger place? Most people nearing 80 are looking to downsize.

 

[CookieM]

How crazy! The son was last seen On Oct 28th at around 10pm and the police gained access to his home Nov 1st, right? That's when they discovered he had a crockpot cooking a roast??? Not to make light of anything, but geez I'm paranoid that leaving my crockpot on for over 12 hours will cause some sort of fire. How the heck was it on for like 3 days and not burned the place down?? Also, if the dogs were in the house the poor things must've been going crazy smelling a roast cooking for 3 days when they had not been fed!!

This case is super hinky.

Could the son have been trying to "get rid of mom" or maybe hired someone to just rob her of the gold bar and then something went wrong?? The gold bar was found in the dad's house. So maybe it was something that had not been disclosed in the will and he felt he was entitled to it.

Not trying to bash but just trying to make sense of this very weird case.
moo

 

[steelman]

Another hint for the investigators. You know the maid, the one that found the gold bar and alerted
Beverly about it ? What does her family tree look like, and how many unsavory characters live in it ?
What kind of a history do her family members have ? People have families, and they like to tell stories while sitting around the firepit, especially really cool stories about finding gold bars in a strangers home.

The way I see it, the goldbar came to light on October 19th. She was last seen eating lunch with a stranger on October 28th. That's 9 days between events. That's plenty of time for somebody to hear about the gold, gather information about the property and the owner, plan an abduction, and carry it out.

This 60 year old mystery man has to be tracked down. What are the chances she would be eating lunch with a person that nobody recognizes in a little town that size ?

What are the chances this mystery man is simply an innocent local that hasn't come forward yet ?----> Zilch, Zero.

Imagine a scenario where the maid tells some of her family members about finding this gold. These family members don't live there locally, but they live closeby........say.....25 miles to the south. After finding out this old lady is leaving gold bars lying around the house and carrying it around town like a bar of soap, the lure of an easy score is too much for these unscrupulous family members.

A plan is hatched where one of the older individuals will set up a meeting and approach her about doing some work on the late husbands house, or maybe it was a sham offer to buy said house. Either way, there was a plan developed. Without knowing all the details, I think the plan unfolded to where they put the squeeze on Beverly to tell them where the gold was. Either she wouldn't or she couldn't, so then they drag her son into it. He gets a phone call at 10 p.m. that night explaining what the demands are, and screeches away from the house, forgetting all about the roast in the crockpot, the dogs, and everything else. He goes to where he's told to go, which is his Fathers house. This would be the meet and greet spot to discuss the gold bar and the transfer of ownership of such.

What happens from that point on is left to the imagination. They were taken somewhere to get the gold, they told where the gold was and were killed, or maybe a combination of the two. Either way, neither one of them is coming back home, because there's no way the perps could just let them go seeing how Beverly at least had an idea who the older man was.

By the way, this exact same scenario could have been played out through someone on the remodel crew who simply heard rumors and stories about this gold bar. They need to lean on this maid very heavily and find out who she told about the gold as well as who might have been asking her a bunch of questions about it after the fact.

 

[ClaireNC]

(snipped for focus)
The friend that said Beverly had been seen at McDonald's, I wonder if this has been followed up on....I mean, that was on October 31 and Beverly was supposed to be at a party elsewhere. She missed that party and that started the cause for concern. Don't most McDonald's restaurants have surveillance cameras?

I didn't see where the friend said that she saw Beverly on Oct 31. Where did that come from? The comment I saw just said that a friend saw her at McD's with a man, but did not give a date. The investigators have said that Beverly was last seen on Oct 28 having lunch with a man at Muriah's Restaurant in Deer Lodge.

The friend that called LE to report Beverly missing said that she had not seen Beverly in a few days. That Beverly had missing Bingo and some other things she normally does. When she did not show up on the 31st for Halloween is when she got very concerned and went to the house to check on her. Beverly was not there so she called the police.