0:00

from Wondery. How

0:39

you doing tonight, Anne? I'm doing well,

0:41

Justin. How are you? I'm doing

0:43

good. So we did a poll the other

0:45

day. You asked our patrons what they

0:47

want to hear, and what were some

0:49

of their answers? Well,

0:51

interestingly enough, they wanted to

0:54

hear many more cases of

0:56

missing persons, and they also wanted

0:58

to hear us talking about things

1:00

in ASMR. Noted. So yeah, we

1:03

actually have already, you've already come

1:05

up with an idea for this.

1:07

Oh, so many ideas. So the great

1:09

news is in 2025, we're going

1:12

to be continuing our patron, but

1:14

we've listened to the people and

1:16

we have a few new ideas.

1:18

So if you haven't been there

1:21

in a while and want to

1:23

check out the new stuff, get

1:25

to our patron by going to

1:27

patron.com/ Generation Y. So

1:29

there in tonight's case is a,

1:31

well, when it came out, it

1:34

was a mysterious disappearance and... I

1:36

would say when a couple disappears,

1:38

typically you think, well, did they

1:40

disappear together? Did the husband do

1:42

it? Get rid of the wife

1:44

and then take off. There's so

1:47

many different rabbit holes you can go

1:49

down and things. And this is one

1:51

of those cases where, you know, if

1:53

you don't know much about it, you

1:55

can go down some rabbit holes

1:57

and think some different things before.

2:00

we get to the resolution. So

2:02

I found it very interesting to

2:04

read about how this all unfolds.

2:06

What are we talking about tonight?

2:08

Well, tonight we're talking about the

2:11

November 16th 1998 disappearance of Christopher

2:13

Benedetto and his wife Jeanette Piero

2:15

in Singer Island, Florida. And it

2:17

doesn't remain a disappearance, at least

2:19

for the most part. But yes,

2:22

this is definitely a case that

2:24

I found to be very interesting.

2:26

So who were these people? Christopher

2:28

J. Benedetto was born February 9th,

2:30

1956. Now he and his future

2:33

wife were originally from Flushing Queens.

2:35

He grew up fishing and enjoy

2:37

going to Florida when he could.

2:39

And as an adult, Christopher worked

2:41

as a carpenter and even ran

2:44

his own small business. The couple,

2:46

Christopher and Jeanette, met while he

2:48

was renovating his sister's house. He

2:50

was the contractor and Jeanette was

2:52

the interior designer. And according to

2:55

Chris's brother Michael, there was this

2:57

instant attraction between the two. And

2:59

because they were so close, they

3:01

had such a great time together,

3:03

they ended up getting married in

3:06

1990 while on a trip to

3:08

Florida. In 1995, Chris was working

3:10

a job and fell from some

3:12

scaffolding and got a serious injury.

3:14

The accident resulted in multiple surgeries

3:17

and he ended up having to

3:19

have some rods placed in his

3:21

back. He became permanently disabled and

3:23

could no longer work. This is

3:25

going to cause him chronic pain

3:28

and he ended up walking with

3:30

a cane and Jeanette helped him

3:32

during his recovery. But according to

3:34

the Palm Beach Post, Chris will

3:36

end up winning a $2 million

3:39

settlement from the construction sites, contractors,

3:41

insurance. The doctor advised him to

3:43

leave New York because if he

3:45

ever slipped and fell on the

3:47

ice he could be paralyzed for

3:50

life and as we know New

3:52

York streets are pretty dangerous when

3:54

it comes to people and ice

3:56

and all the weather. So Florida

3:58

seems like the best choice for

4:01

him to go and live a

4:03

better life in. Yeah, and Chris

4:05

already loved Florida and Jeanette was

4:07

all too happy to go with

4:09

him. So they purchased a house

4:12

and an upscale community and they

4:14

became close friends with their neighbors.

4:16

In 1997, Chris and Jeanette founded

4:18

Dolfon Enterprises Inc. A boat brokerage

4:20

But the company wasn't that successful.

4:23

Chris spent most of his time

4:25

fishing and the Palm Beach Post

4:27

reported that he went out every

4:29

day. He absolutely loved it. And

4:31

that leads us to November of

4:34

1998 because it's that morning, early

4:36

morning, on November 11th when Chris

4:38

got up early to go fishing.

4:40

This is a typical day for

4:42

Chris. He loves fishing. He lives

4:45

in Florida. He's living the life.

4:47

Janet went to the spa with

4:49

her friends that day and she

4:51

and Chris had plans to meet

4:53

up with their neighbors for dinner.

4:55

She was seen by neighbors in

4:58

the afternoon and it was thought

5:00

that she and Chris were supposed

5:02

to go show up for dinner,

5:04

but it's about a half hour

5:06

later that they're supposed to go

5:09

to this dinner party and they're

5:11

not showing up. Now, they're neighbors,

5:13

you know, this is not like,

5:15

hey Aaron, we got a dinner

5:17

party going on next month. You

5:20

live across town, you're running late,

5:22

this is your neighbor. And so

5:24

when they're not showing up, the

5:26

neighbors are thinking, hey, where are

5:28

you? They're calling, they're going, they're

5:31

going next door, knocking on the

5:33

door, saying, is everything okay? David

5:35

Nicholson and his wife were concerned

5:37

because Chris and Jeanette didn't show

5:39

up. Nicholson's wife asked another neighbor

5:42

to knock on the door and

5:44

check on the couple. Like we

5:46

said, people were calling, they were

5:48

checking. And they also noticed that

5:50

the forerunner that belonged to Chris

5:53

and Jeanette was missing. David Nicholson.

5:55

talked with the Palm Beach post

5:57

saying it was so uncharacteristic of

5:59

them you couldn't ask for better

6:01

neighbors and we spent a lot

6:04

of time with them. So you

6:06

know when you ask someone what

6:08

do you know about this and

6:10

they would say every time there

6:12

were plans we would meet up

6:15

and this is the first time

6:17

it never happened and now we

6:19

don't know where they are that's

6:21

about as big a red flag

6:23

as you can get and after

6:26

a few days with no word

6:28

from the couple neighbors called Chris's

6:30

relatives in New York. This was

6:32

on November 14th. The neighbors were

6:34

worried. Newspapers were piling up on

6:37

their door. Mail was piling up

6:39

in the mailbox. These are all

6:41

great neighbors. They have keys to

6:43

each other's houses because they can

6:45

house it and look after each

6:48

other's pets and whatnot. So they

6:50

let themselves into Chris and Jeanette's

6:52

house with the keys. And they

6:54

found no sign of Christopher and

6:56

Jeanette. There was no sign of

6:59

any kind of any kind of

7:01

trip. Suitcases and medications, Chris's wallet

7:03

and cell phone were all there,

7:05

present in the home. He had

7:07

also left thousands of dollars worth

7:10

of fishing gear on his boat

7:12

and had left the motor running.

7:14

So what happened here? They just

7:16

disappeared. So this gets all the

7:18

way back to Chris's brothers, Michael

7:21

and Paul. They flew into Florida

7:23

on November 18th. and reported him

7:25

missing on November 19th, according to

7:27

the Palm Beach Post. Their cousin

7:29

Arthur Esposito, a detective in Titusville,

7:32

Florida, also got involved in the

7:34

search efforts because they have law

7:36

enforcement backgrounds in their family. Michael

7:38

and Paul stayed in Chris and

7:40

Jeanette's home while they were in

7:43

Florida, because they're just like, well,

7:45

if they come home, we're here,

7:47

what's the point of getting a

7:49

hotel? Maybe we'll find some more

7:51

evidence here. Maybe they'll call, maybe

7:54

something will happen. And we know

7:56

they're gone, we know something bad

7:58

has happened, so this is where

8:00

they set up their search headquarters.

8:02

Now they know the Toyota forerunner

8:05

is missing. So if the couple's

8:07

gone, maybe they drove off in

8:09

that. The other vehicle that the

8:11

couple owned was a BMW that

8:13

was in the garage. So the

8:16

police who were notified this couple

8:18

was missing, they issued be on

8:20

the lookout for that vehicle, the

8:22

forerunner that was missing. and by

8:24

November 20th the FBI was involved

8:27

in the search due to the

8:29

unusual circumstances and time delay since

8:31

the couple disappeared. Chris and Jeanette's

8:33

neighbors had also called her sister

8:35

Regina who lived in New Jersey

8:38

and her husband Michael Coblin came

8:40

to Florida to help. He went

8:42

to different marinas in the area

8:44

and he spoke to someone who

8:46

said Chris and Jeanette went on

8:49

a friend's boat to the Bahamas

8:51

and would be back. According to

8:53

oxygen... you can get to the

8:55

Bahamas easily from Singer Island. It's

8:57

about 70 miles away and it

9:00

takes three hours if the conditions

9:02

are good, but in November, well,

9:04

there are strong winds and currents

9:06

which can be dangerous. And at

9:08

no point did they say they

9:11

were going on this trip to

9:13

the Bahamas. They were supposed to

9:15

have dinner plans, but this is

9:17

the only lead that at least

9:19

Michael's come up with thus far.

9:22

Family friend Ben Demonstrante, who lived

9:24

close to the couple, allowed them

9:26

to dock their boat on his

9:29

waterfront property. And Chris and Jeanette

9:31

used this boat for deep sea

9:33

fishing. Demonstrante thought it was unusual

9:35

for Chris and Jeanette to leave

9:37

without telling anyone, since they weren't

9:39

known as a spontaneous couple. Now

9:41

it's on November 21st that the

9:43

missing forerunner is found in a

9:46

parking lot of the Embassy Sweets

9:48

Hotel and Palm Beach Shores. However

9:50

oxygen reported that the vehicle was

9:52

found on the night of November

9:54

16th, but a few days difference.

9:56

Not sure if it matters. at

9:58

this point in the investigation, police

10:00

thought it was possible. They left

10:02

the vehicle when meeting with friends

10:05

for their alleged trip to the

10:07

Bahamas. So they're thinking, well, if

10:09

they did go to the Bahamas,

10:11

they parked their vehicle at this

10:13

hotel and then went from there.

10:15

But the search effort's been going

10:17

on. They don't know where they

10:19

are, and we have family members

10:22

staying at the home. But they're

10:24

about to wrap things up because

10:26

they're done with their search. They

10:28

feel like they don't have any

10:30

more they can do. So they're

10:32

like, okay, you know what, let's

10:34

just close the house up. Let's

10:36

turn off anything that's running because

10:39

we don't want to run the

10:41

electricity bill up. So they go

10:43

down into the garage to turn

10:45

off a deep freeze freezer. And

10:47

what happens next, Aaron? Yeah, unfortunately,

10:49

Chris's brothers. as you said they're

10:51

going through the home, they get

10:53

into the garage and they're shutting

10:55

up this freezer and they discover

10:58

Jeanette's body inside the freezer in

11:00

the garage. At first they weren't

11:02

able to tell who it was

11:04

because this person was put in

11:06

the freezer head first and upside

11:08

down, but upon closer inspection they

11:10

realized this was Jeanette. She had

11:12

ligature marks on her neck as

11:15

well as a braided rope double

11:17

tied around her neck. the freezer

11:19

appeared to have been purposefully hidden

11:21

behind the BMW. And Jeanette's sister,

11:23

Regina, flew down to Florida to

11:25

make the official identification on November

11:27

24th. And this is a terrible

11:29

discovery. I mean, I don't fault

11:32

them for not going and searching

11:34

the entire home, especially a deep

11:36

freeze in the garage, because they're

11:38

thinking this couple's missing. Their vehicle

11:40

is found miles away. It's possible

11:42

they went to the Bahamas. I

11:44

mean I'm sure they walked through

11:46

the house, but we have what?

11:48

Eight people in the house, including

11:51

neighbors and family, walking through the

11:53

house. If this was a crime

11:55

scene... That's kind of tainted now,

11:57

don't you think? Yeah, it's possible,

11:59

but when they say eight people,

12:01

it actually doesn't sound that bad

12:03

to me. It's just if one

12:05

of those eight people or more

12:08

of them are involved in what's

12:10

happened here, that's a real problem.

12:12

But I was surprised it wasn't

12:14

more than eight. And at this

12:16

point, Aaron, I'm thinking, well, they've

12:18

been missing. Now we've found the

12:20

wife's body at the home. Husbands

12:22

still missing. I'm thinking husband killed

12:25

the wife and took the wife

12:27

and took off. That's my normal

12:29

train of thought here. And it

12:31

makes sense, although, as far as

12:33

we can tell, everyone believed that

12:35

this was a very close couple.

12:37

And so where's the motive? But

12:39

I guess we're going to get

12:42

to that and talk more about

12:44

what happened here, but there were

12:46

questions about this. How come so

12:48

many people are allowed to go

12:50

through the house? And the official

12:52

who responded to this said, we

12:54

couldn't see anything that led us

12:56

to believe a crime had been

12:58

committed, the crime scene would have

13:01

already been contaminated. And the Palm

13:03

Beach Post reported that police walked

13:05

through the house on November 20th

13:07

and asked the family to stay

13:09

out of certain areas until they

13:11

could get a search warrant. So

13:13

there was some idea that, you

13:15

know, there are certain things they

13:18

want to look at, but no

13:20

way in any shape or form

13:22

did they expect to find a

13:24

body in the house. Chris's cousin

13:26

Esposito recalled that when he first

13:28

went into the house, he smelled

13:30

Clorox or Lysol, some kind of

13:32

cleaning agent, but he didn't think

13:35

much of it because of it

13:37

because... Hey, Chris always kept his

13:39

house very clean. And this is

13:41

a nice neighborhood. This is a

13:43

nice house. You clean things up.

13:45

So even though he kind of

13:47

was like, I think I smell

13:49

something, that didn't trigger any alarm

13:51

bills for him. Esposito said several

13:54

New York City officers came down

13:56

to help with the search. They

13:58

looked at the home, but understood

14:00

that it had already been contaminated

14:02

by the neighbors and the family

14:04

that had been there. They checked

14:06

for blood and signs of struggle.

14:08

They checked the carpet for discoloration,

14:11

they didn't find anything that indicated

14:13

there had been a crime committed

14:15

here. It was actually Chris's brother

14:17

Paul who first discovered Jeanette in

14:19

the freezer and when he did

14:21

discover her he screamed he stumbled

14:23

backward and he ran into the

14:25

living room. Mike then saw the

14:28

body and broke down and it

14:30

was Arthur Esposito who called 911.

14:32

Now Esposito said it was tucked

14:34

underneath a counter like a workbench.

14:36

He's explaining where the freezer was.

14:38

You had to walk around the

14:40

BMW parked on the far side

14:42

of the garage to get to

14:44

it. You couldn't open the lid

14:47

without pulling it out. So obviously

14:49

someone put Jeanette in the freezer

14:51

and they moved it so that

14:53

it wouldn't be an obvious place

14:55

to look anyway if you were

14:57

just walking around. You wouldn't even

14:59

notice it. You have to move

15:01

the car too to get this

15:04

freezer pulled out. Like they really

15:06

took the time to get this

15:08

out of the way. So investigators...

15:10

They're thinking it's possible that Chris

15:12

Benedetto killed his wife Jeanette Piero

15:14

and then fled because the forerunner's

15:16

missing. And so they started looking

15:18

into the couple's background searching for

15:21

new leads. Riviera Beach detective Pat

15:23

Galligan said, everyone is a suspect

15:25

including Mr. Benedetto, family, friends, associates,

15:27

were exploring every avenue. And for

15:29

Arthur, he thought the motive had

15:31

to do with Chris and Jeanette's

15:33

money because they had that settlement.

15:35

that payout from his injury. Which

15:38

that kind of gives motive. We've

15:40

seen it happen in other cases,

15:42

whether it's life insurance policies or

15:44

payouts. Or lottery winnings. Yeah, there's

15:46

a whole litany of things that

15:48

give people motive. So this makes

15:50

sense. We found her body and

15:52

he's missing. He's the prime suspect.

15:54

Jeanette's autopsy was completed December 1st.

15:57

It was obvious that Jeanette had

15:59

been strangled. Chief Medical Examiner Dr.

16:01

Martin said the body's frozen condition

16:03

made it easy to cause of

16:05

death, but not time of death.

16:07

Obviously, investigators are looking at everyone,

16:09

and one of the early suspects

16:11

was Jeanette's brother-in-law, Michael Coblan. The

16:14

investigators looked at bank records and

16:16

saw that there was no activity

16:18

since the couple were last confirmed

16:20

to be alive. And when the

16:22

police spoke to Chris and Jeanette's

16:24

neighbor Ben Devastranti, they learned that

16:26

Devastranti heard Chris and an unknown

16:28

man near Chris's boat around 8

16:31

AM on November 11th. and Ben

16:33

heard Chris say grab the rods

16:35

before the boat departed. Now he

16:37

didn't think much of it at

16:39

the time because that sounds like

16:41

something that Chris would say before

16:43

he went fishing. The boat returned

16:45

a couple hours later and parked

16:47

at his dock, but Chris wasn't

16:50

on the boat. The unknown man

16:52

then got in Chris's vehicle and

16:54

drove off. This is huge because

16:56

you have a neighbor who knows

16:58

Chris very well, knows his vehicle.

17:00

and is seeing someone else show

17:02

back up without Chris and driving

17:04

off in Chris's vehicle. I mean

17:07

this is the first lead they've

17:09

had here and now is this

17:11

man in cahoots with Chris or

17:13

has this man disposed of Chris?

17:15

Yeah so detectives they searched Chris's

17:17

boat and Dimonstrante noticed the second

17:19

anchor was missing. Ropes missing from

17:21

the boat matched the rope used

17:24

on Jeanette. Investigators brought in Chris's

17:26

brothers and Michael Coblan. to Ben

17:28

Domenstrante to see if he recognized

17:30

any of them. And Ben told

17:32

investigators that Michael Coblan was the

17:34

man with Chris on the morning

17:36

of November 11th. So they are

17:38

going to bring him in for

17:40

an interview. During his interview, Michael

17:43

Coblan said he was in New

17:45

Jersey when Chris and Jeanette disappeared

17:47

as wife Regina supported his alibi,

17:49

saying, yep, he was back here.

17:51

So this is... kind of hard

17:53

to pin down who was where

17:55

at the time of their disappearance.

17:57

Yeah and Regina is supporting his

18:00

alibi and that's Jeanette's sister. Now

18:02

relatives they're surprised by this accusation

18:04

because according to them Chris and

18:06

Michael were very close and they

18:08

wondered if somehow Ben demonstrate the

18:10

neighbor was mistaken. Now Coblan was

18:12

a frequent visitor to Chris and

18:14

Jeanette's home. Chris and Michael owned

18:17

a trucking company together called Mark

18:19

Industries. Coblan held 51% interest. Chris

18:21

held 49. Chris invested most of

18:23

his settlement into this venture. Now

18:25

when the police checked Coblan's American

18:27

Express card, they found that a

18:29

third party named Mike Kerry booked

18:31

a flight on November 10th 1998,

18:34

which is the day before, from

18:36

when this all went down, from

18:38

Newark New Jersey to West Palm

18:40

Beach, and this Mike Kerry flew

18:42

back on November 12th. So of

18:44

course the police want to know

18:46

who's Mike Kerry. Yeah, that's very

18:48

convenient to have somebody flying down

18:50

from exactly where you are located

18:53

to exactly where this crime is

18:55

committed and then fly home. Yeah,

18:57

the day before and the day

18:59

after, it's so strange. So they

19:01

want to know who this is.

19:03

In June of 1999, they found

19:05

phone records indicating that a Florida

19:07

number called Regina Coblan's mobile phone

19:10

on the day Chris and Jeanette

19:12

disappeared. So an investigator called the

19:14

number and learned that it was

19:16

for the Rutledge Inn. which is

19:18

a hotel within walking distance of

19:20

Chris and Jeanette's house. So they're

19:22

looking through hotel records. Investigators found

19:24

a registration card for Mike Kerry.

19:27

And get this, there's an address

19:29

with it which matched Michael Coblin's

19:31

address in brick Township, New Jersey.

19:33

So investigators are thinking maybe this

19:35

Mike Kerry person doesn't exist and

19:37

it's an alias being used by

19:39

a certain someone else, right? Yeah,

19:41

so they bring in handwriting experts

19:43

from the FBI who after analysis

19:46

are very certain that might carry

19:48

well. That's Michael Copeland because their

19:50

writing is so similar. So now

19:52

they have evidence that Michael Copeland

19:54

was on Singer Island when Chris

19:56

and Jeanette disappeared. So it doesn't

19:58

matter how close they were. I

20:00

mean, people said that about couples

20:03

where one killed the other. So

20:05

the police go back to Chris's

20:07

financial records and learned that Chris

20:09

loaned Michael $165,000. And it's in

20:11

November 2000, Chris's family sued. the

20:13

Coblins to recover that loan because

20:15

apparently he wasn't paying it back.

20:17

Chris's family pressured the Riviera Beach

20:20

police and federal investigators to solve

20:22

the murders and we're now offering

20:24

a hundred thousand dollar reward saying,

20:26

hey, we think we have the

20:28

suspects here, there's motive here, now

20:30

we're going to offer a reward

20:32

hoping that they start turning on

20:34

each other. And at this point,

20:37

the Coblins will end up filing

20:39

for bankruptcy. because of this lawsuit.

20:41

Now, Chris's family pressured the Riviera

20:43

Beach police and federal investigators to

20:45

solve the murders and offered a

20:47

$100,000 reward, but this lawsuit that

20:49

was filed against the Koblin's, well,

20:51

that petition was dismissed in August

20:53

of 2002. Investigators worked with the

20:56

Department of Justice to review phone

20:58

records from the boat Coblin stayed

21:00

on while on Singer Island. They

21:02

found that someone on the boat

21:04

called DeAngelis Jewelers. in New York

21:06

City during his stay. So they're

21:08

looking into this and they discover

21:10

that Jeanette's engagement ring, diamond earrings,

21:13

and her watches were missing. Jeanette

21:15

had recorded a video in July

21:17

of 1998 showing her valuables for

21:19

insurance purposes. And Chris's safe deposit

21:21

box contained certification from DeAngelis Jewelers

21:23

showing the valuables were worth $58,300.

21:25

So in May of 2003, the

21:27

investigators visited Deangelis Jewelers. and a

21:30

worker confirmed that Michael Coblan is

21:32

a person who came in to

21:34

sell a ring. believed to belong

21:36

to Jeanette Piero, but there's no

21:38

receipt for the transactions. They just

21:40

recall this happening. So they have

21:42

some evidence pointing at Michael Coblan,

21:44

but these investigators, they don't feel

21:46

like they have enough evidence. But

21:49

the jeweler told the police that

21:51

Michael had an appointment in a

21:53

few weeks and agreed to wear

21:55

a wire. So maybe they'll be

21:57

able to collect some evidence here.

21:59

And at one point during the

22:01

appointment, the jeweler had asked Michael,

22:03

what if... and they're referring to

22:06

the investigators. What if they come

22:08

in asking about the pieces? And

22:10

Michael responded, as far as I'm

22:12

concerned, you never saw them again,

22:14

because all that would do is

22:16

definitely throw me under the bus.

22:18

So there's an understanding here, he's

22:20

doing something illegal, but he's going

22:23

to do it anyway. I guess

22:25

this is worth the risk. A

22:27

quick recap here. He said he

22:29

was in Jersey. but another person

22:31

under the name of what might

22:33

carry or something goes down to

22:35

Florida at the same time stays

22:37

at a hotel the registration handwriting

22:39

matches his then they have financial

22:42

records and then they have somebody

22:44

who's claiming he's selling all of

22:46

the wife's jewelry to this jewelry

22:48

shop. I think we're connecting the

22:50

dots here. Yeah, so on June

22:52

27th 2003 investigators finally feel like

22:54

they have enough and Michael Coblin

22:56

was arrested on five charges two

22:59

counts of murder stalking stealing over

23:01

$100,000 worth of jewelry and transporting

23:03

it out of state and Conspiring

23:05

with another to hinder the investigation

23:07

So according to the investigation, it's

23:09

believed that Michael and Chris went

23:11

out on Chris's boat and argued

23:13

about the loan Coblin then incapacitated

23:16

Chris tied him to the anchor

23:18

and threw him overboard The currents

23:20

would have carried his body out

23:22

into the ocean, meaning they'll probably

23:24

never be located. Then Coblan killed

23:26

Jeanette because she could have identified

23:28

him as the last person with

23:30

Chris. So they're saying there's a

23:33

co-conspirator here, Justin, but... It's not

23:35

named in the indictment, although we

23:37

could probably guess that it's Regina,

23:39

Jeanette's sister. Yeah, because she's the

23:41

one that tried to back up

23:43

his alibi when questioned about where

23:45

he was on the day of

23:47

the disappearance. And she communicated with

23:49

her husband by phone when he

23:52

was out of town when she

23:54

said he wasn't out of town.

23:56

It's just, it's so strange. She

23:58

knew where he was and she

24:00

lied to investigators. So Michael and

24:02

this unnamed co-conspirator lied to investigators

24:04

about his whereabouts on the day

24:06

of the disappearance, claiming he was

24:09

in New Jersey, the co-conspirator told

24:11

the same lie under oath in

24:13

a bankruptcy proceeding on April 11th

24:15

2002. This is the day that

24:17

Regina Coblin gave sworn testimony in

24:19

the bankruptcy case, so again we

24:21

can do this simple math. So

24:23

they're being sued for the $165,000.

24:26

They're doing a bankruptcy case. and

24:28

she has now repeated this lie

24:30

but once under oath, so not

24:32

a good look. The indictment also

24:34

said that Coblan and the co-conspirator

24:36

lied about the financial relationship between

24:38

Chris and Coblan and would harass,

24:40

intimidate, and threaten potential witnesses. In

24:42

March 1999, Michael Coblan was beaten

24:45

outside an office complex in West

24:47

Orange. He was in critical condition

24:49

and was unable to talk. His

24:51

skull was fractured and his pants

24:53

and underwear were torn off. Now

24:55

the police, they never determined if

24:57

this was related to the murders.

24:59

I mean, what do you think?

25:02

This is strange, right? I mean,

25:04

how do you see this, Justin,

25:06

that Michael Coblan has beaten severely,

25:08

and his clothes are ripped off

25:10

in 1999? March of 1999. Either

25:12

this is a random act of

25:14

violence, or Chris and Jeanette's family

25:16

members and loved ones, or thinking,

25:19

Justice isn't working fast enough. Well,

25:21

I think there's another possibility. I

25:23

mean... He's obviously been in some

25:25

dire straits and who knows who

25:27

else he's at odds with. But

25:29

yeah, it's a real good question

25:31

about what happened to him, but

25:33

yeah, he wasn't able to talk.

25:35

Now obviously Michael Copeland goes on

25:38

trial. That's February 28th 2005. The

25:40

prosecution argued that Michael Copeland killed

25:42

Chris Benedito on his boat and

25:44

then returned to the house to

25:46

kill Jeanette. He traveled to Florida

25:48

using the alias Mike Kerry. and

25:50

he killed Chris because he still

25:52

owed him $95,000 in business loans.

25:55

Documents presented at trial showed the

25:57

trucking company had no federal or

25:59

state licenses and paid no taxes.

26:01

So they're kind of operating under

26:03

false pretenses here. The defense argued

26:05

that Michael came to Palm Beach

26:07

County to have an affair and

26:09

drug dealers killed Chris and Jeanette.

26:12

They pointed out that Michael cooperated

26:14

with police by giving fingerprints, writing

26:16

samples, DNA samples, and his family

26:18

helped pay for the funeral. Okay?

26:20

Just because you cooperated and helped

26:22

pay for a funeral doesn't mean

26:24

that you're innocent. And the fact

26:26

that you lied about going and

26:29

now they're saying, oh, he lied

26:31

because he was having an affair.

26:33

But then why would his wife

26:35

back up his alibi if he's

26:37

having a like? This defense is

26:39

a mess. Can we disagree on

26:41

that? No, I mean, you have

26:43

to do what you have to

26:45

do, and I don't know what

26:48

other path they could take here,

26:50

except for he did it, how

26:52

can we minimize this? And random

26:54

drug dealers killed him. Okay, well,

26:56

I realize that this is, you

26:58

know, the late 90s and cocaine

27:00

and scarface goes on in Florida,

27:02

but come on. Unless we can

27:05

point to Chris. having interactions with

27:07

drug dealers and a whole criminal

27:09

side life, I don't know where

27:11

this theory comes from. Well, we

27:13

see this a lot in criminal

27:15

cases, Justin. where the defense will

27:17

always come up with well-drug dealers

27:19

did this. Or roving bands of

27:22

Satanists, I don't know. So the

27:24

prosecution played a tape from Coblan's

27:26

lawsuit deposition where he said he

27:28

was in Florida the week the

27:30

police were searching for Chris and

27:32

Jeanette, but not the week before.

27:34

He claimed he could not remember

27:36

the last time he was in

27:38

Florida before the search. He said

27:41

he was already coming to Florida

27:43

for a fishing tournament in the

27:45

Bahamas. And an acquaintance of Michael's

27:47

testified, he did not know of

27:49

any tournament scheduled scheduled that week.

27:51

Scheduled that week. So the jury,

27:53

they listened to a tape of

27:55

Michael Coblan's interview, which took place

27:58

before Jeanette was found, but after

28:00

he was identified as the one

28:02

who drove off alone in Chris's

28:04

vehicle, Coblan insisted he was in

28:06

New Jersey at the time of

28:08

the murders. He said the witness

28:10

must be mistaken. Of course. Yeah,

28:12

they're mistaken. It doesn't know what

28:15

they're talking about. The cops are

28:17

arresting you and they find drugs

28:19

in your pants and you're like,

28:21

oh, they're not my pants. He

28:23

wrote a report two and a

28:25

half years after the murders and

28:27

it was six pages long. They

28:29

noted that no one did an

28:32

intense search of the home or

28:34

boat after Jeanette was found. Pain

28:36

testified that was because it started

28:38

off as a missing persons case

28:40

and the house was not considered

28:42

a crime scene at the time.

28:44

This reminds me of another case.

28:46

The prosecution presented the freezer where

28:48

Jeanette was found and argued that

28:51

Michael put her body in the

28:53

freezer, returned to New Jersey, and

28:55

planned to dispose of the body

28:57

the following week. but Jeanette was

28:59

frozen to the side so he

29:01

couldn't even move her. It's kind

29:03

of morbid, but this sounds like

29:05

a solid plan because he obviously

29:08

has gotten rid of Chris out

29:10

on the ocean and I'm assuming

29:12

he was planning to do the

29:14

same thing with Jeanette. Neighbour Thomas

29:16

LaRose testified that around 5.30 p.m.

29:18

on the evening of November 11th,

29:20

he his wife and another couple

29:22

were waiting for Chris to return

29:25

for fishing so they could all

29:27

go to dinner. Jeanette was in

29:29

her front yard and she said

29:31

she had talked to them and

29:33

they were on the way, meaning

29:35

Chris and whoever he was with.

29:37

However, Benjamin Demenstrante testified he heard

29:39

Chris talking to another man on

29:41

the morning of November 11th. He

29:44

saw Michael Copeland return alone at

29:46

11am. This was over six hours

29:48

before LaRose said Jeanette described her

29:50

call from Chris. So at trial,

29:52

Thomas LaRose was unsure of the

29:54

exact words that Jeanette said because

29:56

his wife is saying, I heard

29:58

Jeanette say Chris. But Thomas the

30:01

Rose hadn't testified to that effect.

30:03

And so the defense was trying

30:05

to pick this apart, saying, you

30:07

don't even know what Jeanette said.

30:09

But I find this to be

30:11

kind of a moot point. I

30:13

mean, there's a lot of other

30:15

evidence here. So Thomas the Rose,

30:18

he does testify. He talks about

30:20

seeing Chris's SUV in the driveway

30:22

on the evening of November 11th.

30:24

He said the departure for dinner

30:26

was delayed because someone had to

30:28

take a business call. He stepped

30:30

outside over 10 minutes later. anybody

30:32

leave in it. It's just gone

30:34

10 minutes later. And the owner

30:37

of a jewelry shop testified that

30:39

Michael Coblin came to her store

30:41

after Jeanette was found and offered

30:43

to sell her diamonds, but she

30:45

told him she didn't buy from

30:47

the public. And the jewelry store

30:49

owner, Larry Hoffman, testified that Coblin

30:51

showed him a ring that looked

30:54

like the one he designed for

30:56

Jeanette Piero, which was worth $58,000

30:58

or so. He also had two

31:00

pairs of earrings and a diamond

31:02

tennis bracelet. Altogether... this jewelry was

31:04

worth almost $94,000. So regardless of

31:06

whether there's a miscommunication in a

31:08

statement or whether he saw somebody

31:11

leave in an SUV, this jewelry

31:13

store owner is saying, now this

31:15

person came in to sell me

31:17

her jewelry, the dead woman's jewelry.

31:19

Like, so I guess it's all,

31:21

it doesn't really matter if you

31:23

saw him driving the SUV or

31:25

if somebody said them or him,

31:28

it doesn't matter anymore. Well, I'm

31:30

a big believer that one of

31:32

the things that defense attorneys like

31:34

to do in court, especially when

31:36

they have a difficult case, is

31:38

to sound perturbed about different aspects

31:40

of the case so that they

31:42

can appear frustrated and feel like

31:44

this case isn't as solid as

31:47

the prosecution wants it to seem

31:49

like it is and you know

31:51

hopefully embed something in the jury

31:53

to think well there are problems

31:55

with this even if the problems

31:57

don't really amount too much. It's

31:59

confusing the jury and trying to

32:01

poke holes and all the statements.

32:04

Now this jewelry store owner... testified

32:06

that Michael Coblin told him that

32:08

Jeanette was dead and Christopher was

32:10

missing. Coblin said he incurred a

32:12

lot of expenses during the search

32:14

and so he took the jewelry

32:16

from the safe trying to explain

32:18

why he had it. He said

32:21

I want you to fence it

32:23

and Hoffman agreed to do it.

32:25

This jewelry store owner agreed. Hoffman

32:27

warned Coblin he could only get

32:29

a fraction of the value because

32:31

it was a distress sale. He

32:33

sold the jewelry in Manhattan for

32:35

$25,000 and took $2,000 commission. So

32:37

the FBI agents caught Hoffman and

32:40

offered him partial immunity if he

32:42

would wear a wire for another

32:44

meeting with Coblin. Hoffman testified under

32:46

an agreement that his testimony could

32:48

not be used against him. I

32:50

mean, because he's obviously bought jewelry

32:52

that he knew was stolen or

32:54

from a bad place. So they're

32:57

saying, hey, we're not going to

32:59

go after you for this, if

33:01

you wear this wire, work with

33:03

us and get this guy to

33:05

admit what he did and where

33:07

the origin of this jewelry is

33:09

from. So on this tape, the

33:11

jurors are hearing Coblan telling Hoffman

33:14

that the authorities can't know what

33:16

they did because all that would

33:18

do is would definitely throw me

33:20

under the bus. And on this

33:22

tape, Coblan apologized for getting Hoffman

33:24

involved and actually recommended a lawyer

33:26

and Hoffman asked, what if they

33:28

asked about the pieces? And like

33:30

we said earlier, Coblan responded, as

33:33

far as I'm concerned, you never

33:35

saw them again. He promised the

33:37

police would never get a word

33:39

out of me no matter what.

33:41

Why do I need a lawyer?

33:43

Why do I need any of

33:45

these things, except this is just

33:47

a regular transaction? The defense. They're

33:50

going to try to poke holes

33:52

in this. They're going to attack

33:54

Hoffman's credibility. They got him to

33:56

admit that his business was almost

33:58

completely cash, like a cash business,

34:00

no receipts, no records kept, which

34:02

a lot of businesses that are

34:04

cash businesses, it's because credit card

34:07

fees are high. And if you

34:09

are a criminal, you don't want

34:11

to report your profits or your

34:13

books to the IRS because you

34:15

don't want to pay taxes. So

34:17

The defense is saying this guy

34:19

is a criminal, this is why

34:21

you can't believe him, but this

34:24

is exactly why somebody who murdered

34:26

somebody would go sell high-priced jewelry

34:28

to somebody like this because they

34:30

don't keep logs or receipts or

34:32

anything too. So it kind of

34:34

works both ways, right? Yeah, and

34:36

they can say all this, but

34:38

once again, there's stuff that's being

34:40

recorded here and being played back

34:43

for the jury that they can

34:45

hear with their own ears. I

34:47

don't understand. how they can even

34:49

attempt the poke holes in this,

34:51

but I guess you have to

34:53

try. An FBI agent testified that

34:55

they were led to Hoffman based

34:57

on calls made to him by

35:00

Coblan, so they found him during

35:02

the investigation. The defense called three

35:04

witnesses. One of them was Coblan's

35:06

own daughter, Andrea. The defense argued

35:08

that Coblan could not have killed

35:10

Jeanette, stolen or jewelry, stuffed Jeanette's

35:12

body into the freezer, and cleaned

35:14

up in the 45-minute window laid

35:17

out by the prosecutors. So that's

35:19

their final shot to try and

35:21

clear their client. So now they've

35:23

gone from, he says he was

35:25

in New Jersey, he wasn't even

35:27

in Florida, to, yeah, I was

35:29

there, but I was having an

35:31

affair with somebody to, oh, well,

35:33

according to the prosecutor, there's only

35:36

a 45-minute timeline, and he couldn't

35:38

have done it in that 45-minute

35:40

timeline, which is completely disregarding the

35:42

lies, the made-up alibi. the witnesses

35:44

that lied to his alibi, then

35:46

him selling jewelry to a jewelry

35:48

store and what is this affair?

35:50

Who is the woman he's having

35:53

an affair with? Did they bring

35:55

her on the stand? Like nothing

35:57

they claim here is provable. They

35:59

did not bring any evidence to

36:01

back up their defense claims here.

36:03

They just tried to discredit everybody

36:05

and now they're saying it was

36:07

too small of a window for

36:10

him to commit this crime. Man,

36:12

Aaron. If I was on this

36:14

jury, I would have a hard

36:16

time looking at this defense and

36:18

taking it seriously. Well, they also,

36:20

the defense, pointed out that there

36:22

was no partnership in the trucking

36:24

firm because, you know, we talked

36:27

about Chris having a 49% stake

36:29

and Michael having a 51% stake,

36:31

but according to the defense, there's

36:33

no partnership. Chris had loaned Copeland

36:35

all the money for this. And

36:37

they said that the government was

36:39

desperate to find a motive, and

36:41

if there was reasonable doubt. Just

36:43

regarding the lawsuit to get this

36:46

money. Oh my God. Assistant U.S.

36:48

Attorney Stephen Carlton noted that Coblan

36:50

made many mistakes. He gave different

36:52

alibis. First he was home in

36:54

New Jersey, that he was fishing

36:56

in New England, then he was

36:58

having an affair with his ex-wife

37:00

in South Florida. So they came

37:03

up with somebody. They came up

37:05

with a name, but he said

37:07

that Coblan's big mistake was not

37:09

counting on investigators, looking at his

37:11

credit card and phone records or

37:13

analyzing handwriting samples. to link him

37:15

to the alias, Mike Kerry. I

37:17

mean, why is he coming up

37:20

with an alias, right? It's because

37:22

he's doing something wrong. He also

37:24

didn't count on a neighbor, meaning

37:26

Ben, seeing him come back alone

37:28

in Chris's boat, and also he

37:30

never counted on Jeanette's body getting

37:32

stuck to the sides of the

37:34

freezer, which prevented him from disposing

37:36

of Jeanette. So March 9, 2005,

37:39

Michael Coblan was convicted of all

37:41

five counts against him. First degree

37:43

murder, interstate stalking, killing a witness,

37:45

conspiracy to obstruct justice, and interstate

37:47

transport. of stolen property. And if

37:49

you're wondering about the killing of

37:51

a witness, that is Jeanette Piero.

37:53

I think this played out exactly

37:56

how it should, and I think

37:58

this investigation was pretty spot on.

38:00

Because again, while you're listening to

38:02

this, you think the husband was

38:04

he the one that did this,

38:06

and he got away with it

38:08

and disappeared. But then when you

38:10

find his boat came back, there

38:13

was other people. that were involved

38:15

and there's this whole conflict between

38:17

he and Copeland. Now Michael Copeland

38:19

he ended up dying December 28

38:21

2006 at a hospital in Springfield

38:23

Missouri it was due to congestive

38:25

heart failure but his case was

38:27

under appeal at the time of

38:29

his death and early the next

38:32

year on February 15th the US

38:34

Court of Appeals for the 11th

38:36

Circuit issued the following decision. After

38:38

review the court grants the motion

38:40

filed by defendant Michael Coblan's counsel

38:42

to dismiss this appeal as moot

38:44

because the defendant died in the

38:46

custody of the Bureau of Prisons

38:49

while his appeal remained pending before

38:51

this court. The court remands the

38:53

case to the district court to

38:55

vacate the judgment and dismiss the

38:57

indictment. So Justin this case obviously

38:59

one that could have been confusing

39:01

because Michael Coblan did his, I

39:03

guess his best, to obscure what

39:06

he was up to. He had

39:08

the support of his wife. But

39:10

here's the thing, when we see

39:12

criminals get caught and the evidence

39:14

starts to mount against them, it's

39:16

not because these people weren't thinking.

39:18

It wasn't because they didn't have

39:20

a plan. The problem is, is

39:23

you can't control everybody else. He

39:25

can't control whether or not a

39:27

neighbor will see him come back

39:29

without Chris. He can't control whether

39:31

someone else who knows his plan

39:33

or knows what he was up

39:35

to. He doesn't know whether they're

39:37

going to talk. He can't control

39:39

that. So when it comes down

39:42

to it. You can't control everything.

39:44

So if you think you can

39:46

get away with murder, you think

39:48

you can get away with crimes,

39:50

as long as one other person

39:52

knows. You're not safe. That's what

39:54

I would say because while he

39:56

had people who didn't talk He

39:59

had some who did and that's

40:01

all it took because you don't

40:03

have to believe the jewelry store

40:05

owner You don't have to believe

40:07

Hoffman, but what you can believe

40:09

is the recording that happened when

40:11

he was wearing the wire and

40:13

that should tell everyone everything they

40:16

need to know about how this

40:18

went down and why? Because it

40:20

was about the money That's why

40:22

he never paid Chris back. He

40:24

didn't want to lose any money

40:26

I don't want to say how

40:28

I would have done this and

40:30

gotten away with it, but why

40:32

would you bring the boat back?

40:35

Why not dump the boat somewhere,

40:37

you know, and then leave? Why

40:39

go try to sell this jewelry?

40:41

There's so many ways I'm like,

40:43

you could have just burned the

40:45

boat in the middle of the

40:47

ocean and no one would have

40:49

known, swam back to shore, you

40:52

could have taken this jewelry and

40:54

gone to the other side of

40:56

the country or another country. and

40:58

sold it for money. There's a

41:00

hundred ways where he could have

41:02

concealed his activities here, but thank

41:04

God criminals are dumb and this

41:06

guy got caught. There was such

41:09

a witness trail and paper trail

41:11

pointing back to him. Yeah, it

41:13

didn't work and it so often

41:15

doesn't, but thankfully the investigators were

41:17

able to follow everything he did.

42:15

You