PA PA - Richard Petrone, 35, & Danielle Imbo, 34, Philadelphia, 19 Feb 2005 - #3

[Valiant]

It would seem that even if someone had the ability to track Richard and Danielle we still end up with the same question. How did the truck just disappear from the area? It does not look like they were hijacked outside the bar. So where along the journey were they taken?
The same problem of the truck not being seen with them driving home on any of the cameras is the same problem I see with the abduction. The truck would have still had to get where they were intercepted before they and the truck were disappeared.
I won't rule out foul play. But I also won't rule out an accident that occurred while they traveled an unexpected route.

 

[RedHaus]

It would seem that even if someone had the ability to track Richard and Danielle we still end up with the same question. How did the truck just disappear from the area? It does not look like they were hijacked outside the bar. So where along the journey were they taken?
The same problem of the truck not being seen with them driving home on any of the cameras is the same problem I see with the abduction. The truck would have still had to get where they were intercepted before they and the truck were disappeared.
I won't rule out foul play. But I also won't rule out an accident that occurred while they traveled an unexpected route.

Well, maybe I've seen too many hitman type movies, but I imagine if there was a 'hit' out on one of them (for drugs, infidelity, witness) and a tracking device was used to track them (could also just be informants at the right place, at the right time), then while the two were in the bar a killer could break into / open the truck and get into the back seat (if it had a crew cab) and when RP and DI returned to the truck, the perp pulled a gun on them, made them drive somewhere (like a friend's salvage yard), shot them, and then had the truck crushed within an hour.

 

[Bibi55]

I am more leaning towards murder for hire after listening to podcast there and gone on south street it is apparent the FBI have a lot of info we don’t know about and they believe couple were killed that night. They said they need more info to tie things in

Yes it sounds like law enforcement have quite a lot of information enough to say they were killed that Saturday night. Even Danielle’s brother said. He knew they were killed that night from Law enforcement. I was watching another video on uTube I had seen a few years ago where they did interview family members and it really made me freeze when Richard’s sister Christine said word to effect that she knew straight away when they went missing she would never see them again and she felt she knew exactly why but told the interviewer she wasn’t going to share the information. In the last episode of South Street podcast the podcaster said there was quite a few things she couldn’t share first legal and other reasons such as interviews with friends, co workers and she said one person pulled out of an interview with her as she had done other interviews and she was scared, she was out with Danielle before she met Richard that night. I did wonder if it might be Christine because I understand Christine and one or both mothers was out that night with Danielle before she went o meet Richard

 

[Bibi55]

It would seem that even if someone had the ability to track Richard and Danielle we still end up with the same question. How did the truck just disappear from the area? It does not look like they were hijacked outside the bar. So where along the journey were they taken?
The same problem of the truck not being seen with them driving home on any of the cameras is the same problem I see with the abduction. The truck would have still had to get where they were intercepted before they and the truck were disappeared.
I won't rule out foul play. But I also won't rule out an accident that occurred while they traveled an unexpected route.

 

[Bibi55]

I think as someone else mentioned that the truck was transported to a scrap yard. I also believe they were hijacked when car was parked

 

[Jmoose]

I have no real idea why. Maybe they believe in the “no body, no crime” saying. So even if the disappearance of Robert & Danielle could lead back to them, they were banking on the “no body, no crime” defense.

Soooo many killers think that if there is no body, no one can be charged and convicted. It appears to be true in this case, although even with the bodies it might be difficult to charge and convict someone.

 

[Jmoose]

Which leaves us pondering - what was the motive? IF this was a hit, I can see the killer following one of them. Of course, with this scenario, one of them might be the target and the other was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I see what you're saying about a hit man. But it just seems too well organized for a random crime or the two of them stumbling into a crime in progress.

As I think about this though, do we really know if it all went down outside the bar? What if they decided to stop somewhere else - another bar, a convenience store. And somewhere at that 2nd location or on the way they were car jacked and it went sideways. Would someone who has car jacked others in the past know a good chop shop? Or a convenient place to drive it into a body of water? I suppose that is one way this could have been a random crime.

I got the impression that the feds are virtually certain that they were carjacked or taken somehow, and that they are virtually certain the truck went to a chop shop, and even which one it went to. I think this is why Carey killed himself-he spilled, I think. They just can’t prove it.

 

[Jmoose]

This case has always interested me. The obvious explanation would be that the pickup skidded of the road into a body of water. I have never been involved in a “hired hit” but my guess is that it would be extremely unusual for a “hit man” to not only disappear two bodies but to disappear the vehicle as well. Disposing of the vehicle so that it isn’t ever found would be difficult and would greatly increase the chance of something going wrong. It would involve more time spent with critical evidence and multiple crime scenes. And, it really wouldn’t serve any purpose. The key to a successful “hit” is that the contractor is never identified and the contractee is not tied to the kill. The victim’s vehicle shouldn’t really matter. Anything is possible I suppose but this just isn’t what a normal “hired hit” looks like.

Not if you have access to a garage where they can strip the truck down fast.

 

[Jmoose]

If it was a “professional” hit the car would not be chopped up. It would be gone immediately. No one wants involved in pedaling parts from a murder victim’s vehicle. It’s not worth the risk for the money made from the parts. Some major parts like the engine and transmission have the VIN inscribed on them, and even sometimes regular body parts may have the VIN as well. Just my opinion, but there is a big difference between selling stolen car parts and possibly being an accessory to murder (destroying evidence after the fact).

Philly Police find open air chop shop, stolen vehicles in wooded area near I-95, airport and Platt Bridge

Philadelphia police found several stolen vehicles – including some that had been taken from Philly International Airport -- in an open air chop shop in a wooded area near I-95 and the Platt Bridge, investigators said.

www.nbcphiladelphia.com

These folks don’t seem to mind chopping up a vehicle, and you know there are more of them.

 

[kemo]

Can anyone offer up any example of a “professional hit” that involved the vehicle being disappeared? When we think of a “professional hit” we think of a Sammy the Bull type mafioso. They don’t advertise and I would think they are pretty selective about who they do business with. I just don’t think anyone who might have reason to want either Richard or Danielle dead would have those kind of connections. Most “hit men” are just some lowlife, someone who wanted someone dead, just happened to know. They may get away with it but you aren’t going to get anything fancy; usually something that looks like a random act of violence. Even your “Made Man” pro might bury a body in the Jersey Pine barrens but I’m not aware of them ever making a vehicle vanish as well. The whole “hired hit” theory is highly unlikely.

This “case” might get solved when someone stumbles on a wreaked truck in some waterway in the greater Philly area. If someone is actually going to actually “solve” it, the first step is to figure out where they might have gone when they left South Street. There are clubs all over and bodies of water that would have to have been crossed to get to them.