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California Psychics. he

10:00

directly called a Philly PD sergeant multiple

10:03

times. That sergeant and his

10:05

partner later arrived on the scene. That

10:08

sergeant also dispatched two other officers, including

10:11

an officer assigned to the K-9 unit. Seems

10:14

odd to send the K-9 unit to

10:16

a case like this, right? Two

10:18

different sets of

10:20

police showed up that night. The two

10:22

guys who got kicked out of Oasis

10:24

also dialed 911. So

10:27

another set of cops showed up on the scene.

10:29

Initially, Jimmy and his friend were seen

10:32

as the suspects, not

10:34

as the victims. Here's what

10:36

one of the cops testified. He

10:38

said Rob LaFleur was at the gym when

10:40

he got a call from his employees, alerting

10:42

him that two patrons at Oasis were causing

10:45

a disturbance. So LaFleur

10:47

drove to Oasis. LaFleur

10:49

told the cops that once he arrived, the

10:51

two patrons tried to steal his Rolex watch

10:53

and started fighting with him in the parking

10:55

lot. When the police questioned

10:58

LaFleur about the security cameras at

11:00

Oasis, LaFleur said the cameras weren't

11:02

working. That was a lie. The

11:05

police later found out someone had

11:07

simply disconnected the security system's computer

11:09

monitor. The victim's sister

11:11

went on to explain that the only

11:13

way she got justice for her brother

11:16

was because eventually these tapes and hard

11:18

drives and footage were

11:20

recovered and played in court.

11:23

Where were they recovered? Gianna's

11:26

junkyard. That's the same junkyard

11:28

where Richard's truck was rumored to have been

11:30

crushed in 2005. You

11:33

can't make this shit up. So

11:35

this is a Delco Times

11:37

article from February, 2010. Club

11:41

owner Robert LaFleur and bouncer John

11:43

Pettit are facing trial for the

11:45

murder in the death of James

11:47

Coons. They were among six

11:49

defendants who appeared in court. The

11:52

murder trial started October 15th, 2012, three

11:56

years after the death of James Coons,

11:59

before he would ever... This

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38:00

$1,000 reward for information leading to an

38:02

arrest and conviction in this case Earlier

38:06

I told you about a list of people I

38:08

wish you were able to hear from and on

38:10

that list were friends and acquaintances of both victims

38:13

two of which spoke to the media but didn't want to go

38:15

on the record with us and Then

38:17

there's another person who really disappointed me She

38:20

was with Danielle earlier in that night

38:22

before Danielle disappeared This person

38:25

said she had done several interviews in the

38:27

past and was upset that they never included

38:29

her recollection of specific details from that night

38:32

Specifically how Danielle had acted in

38:35

a lengthy conversation with this person She

38:38

told Ben how Danielle's mood shifted from

38:40

light and easy to on edge She

38:42

claimed Danielle was looking over her shoulder as though

38:44

she was under threat We offered

38:47

this eyewitness the opportunity to share all

38:49

those details After months

38:51

of exchanging messages she agreed to an

38:53

interview on the day

38:55

of our interview. She told Ben she was scared

38:58

There's a lot of fear that surrounds this case

39:01

fear and loyalty I Think

39:05

one of the biggest things that I related to

39:07

from the medium Jonathan Mark was he goes It's

39:11

like everyone's protecting their

39:13

circle It's

39:16

just very clear that there

39:18

are networks of people protecting their

39:20

own Whether you want

39:22

to be a skeptic or not It

39:25

rings true to me that

39:28

this is not just one person pulling

39:30

this off or one just Group

39:33

of criminals that got lucky even when he

39:35

uses the line the stars aligned for that

39:38

note. This is a sophisticated

39:41

network To keep this

39:43

case down and keep burying it

39:45

so that it doesn't see the light of day That's

39:49

what I imagine Vito

39:51

is running into people that are protecting

39:54

their own Even

39:56

if their own is responsible for murdering two

39:58

innocent people This

40:03

extends past rebel floor. I mean, let's

40:05

talk about Robert Carey, the alleged hit man.

40:07

I pounded the pavement in Fishtown. I've

40:09

talked to people who feel

40:11

certain that he was involved. Like

40:14

Steve Volk said, in Fishtown,

40:16

this case is closed. Like

40:19

this is bar room conversation.

40:22

Who talks about a murder so openly like

40:24

that, but this neighborhood does. But

40:26

no one except for one person was willing to

40:28

go on the record. And

40:31

it wasn't necessarily because they

40:33

were in fear for their

40:35

life. It was they respected

40:37

Robert Carey's family. And

40:39

they felt if they went on the

40:41

record, they would be identifiable. Someone would

40:43

know me by context clues. That's

40:46

how tight these neighborhoods are.

40:49

One of my sources said about Robert Carey, it

40:52

was like a well-known fact. He

40:54

made known. If

40:56

I get arrested, I'm calling it.

40:59

It was kind of like this floor in the neighborhood. I'm

41:02

never going to do a day in jail. And

41:05

he didn't do time. The same

41:07

day he was arrested for his prescription scheme,

41:10

he did call it. As

41:12

you may remember, Robert Carey was found on the floor of

41:15

his jail cell in 2010 with

41:17

a shoelace around his neck. We

41:20

learned that for several years, Carey had

41:22

a defense lawyer named Scott DeClaudio. In

41:25

2015, despite receiving a not recommended

41:28

rating from the Bar Association, Scott

41:30

DeClaudio was elected to the bench. Today,

41:33

he continues to be a sitting judge

41:35

in Philadelphia. Vito

41:37

once told me that when investigating a

41:39

crime, he never believed in coincidences. That

41:42

was until he started working on this case. And

41:44

I got to tell you, there are a lot

41:46

of coincidences when looking into the details. One,

41:50

we recently came across. Earlier

41:53

in this episode, I shared with you that

41:55

Rob LaFlore and strip club bouncer John Pettit

41:57

were charged with third degree murder of Jimmy

41:59

Coon. Well, the

42:01

strange circumstances around John Pettit's case

42:04

is that since 2019, John Pettit has

42:07

been petitioning the court for post-conviction

42:09

relief, essentially to get his conviction

42:11

thrown out. This has been in

42:13

the courtroom for over five years now. And

42:15

when we dug into those records, it got a

42:18

bit more suspicious. We learned

42:20

that the judge presiding over John

42:22

Pettit's post-conviction relief proceedings was

42:24

none other than Robert Carey's former

42:26

attorney, Scott DeClaudio. There

42:29

are a lot of coincidences in this case. Where

42:32

do all of these coincidences leave us? For

42:35

me personally, it leaves me heartbroken for the

42:37

families. I'm scared that

42:39

my city can hold such deep secrets, but

42:42

hopeful that someone will be brave enough

42:44

to come forward and break their silence.

42:47

In the meantime, the families must continue

42:49

to wait. One time somebody

42:51

asked my son, what would you do if your

42:54

sister walked through that door? And

42:58

I remember he said, I would

43:01

hug her and never let her go. You

43:05

need to just pull one little thread

43:09

and the whole thing can unravel. What

43:12

you think is unimportant may be

43:15

the most important thing in your life.

43:18

We want to know the why

43:20

and the whom. She

43:23

has a son who deserves more

43:25

than I deserve it. She

43:27

has a son who deserves

43:29

to know what happened to his mother. John

43:33

and Jodi's son Dominic doesn't remember his aunt

43:35

Danielle, but he lives in the wake

43:37

her life. Throwing under the carpet for a while and

43:40

the house across the street was for

43:43

sale at the time when they were looking at that house. He

43:45

means Danielle and Joe. I

43:48

guys remember my mom telling me that and me really

43:50

thinking about what life would be like

43:52

if they lived right across the street, how often

43:54

they'd come over and the

43:57

difference in the relationship I'd have with my cousin. One

44:07

night a few months back, I couldn't sleep. I

44:10

was thinking about Danielle and Richard, the

44:13

Petrones and the Etobres. And

44:15

I just couldn't shake this bigger question. What

44:19

is it to be alive? I

44:21

used to think it was in the big moments and milestones.

44:24

But more and more, it's in the small.

44:28

With the rubbing of your tired feet under warm

44:30

blankets after a long day, bathing

44:32

your two-year-old baby, trying

44:34

to braid your daughter's pigtails, drinking

44:37

a beer while listening to Bruce Springsteen, sweating

44:40

into your microphone as you sing alongside your

44:42

band on a hot summer night, placing

44:45

your bets before the football game, calling

44:47

your mom to ask what time to be there for

44:49

Sunday dinner, icing a

44:51

birthday cake, calling your brother

44:53

on his way home from work. And

44:56

then I thought, what is it

44:59

to be missing? Those

45:01

simple moments become memories, a

45:04

shadow forever following the people you

45:06

touch, heavily casting down

45:08

in the big moments. You

45:10

become an open chair at the Christmas table,

45:13

a face in a frame at the reception,

45:16

instead of walking your daughter down the

45:18

aisle. You

45:21

become a milestone. Five

45:23

years gone, 10 years gone, 19 years gone, 20. You

45:29

become a ghost, an

45:31

empty guest bedroom with a gift waiting for

45:33

your return. You

45:35

become a hollow ache. I

45:39

want nothing more than justice for Richard

45:41

and Danielle and their families. And

45:44

I truly hope if someone listening

45:46

knows something, please

45:49

reach out. Is

46:02

I see you in my

46:04

dreams Reach out in

46:06

the dark For

46:10

you've been lost to me I'll

46:13

never give up No

46:17

matter how long

46:19

I open my

46:22

eyes To

46:25

find that you're gone

46:32

Each corner I turn

46:36

There's another puzzle piece

46:38

I follow the clues

46:44

Looking for the key I'll

46:47

never give up No

46:51

matter how long I

46:55

open my eyes To

46:58

find that you're

47:01

gone Be

47:29

sure to follow the show on Apple Podcasts so you'll

47:31

be the first to learn if there are developments on

47:34

this case. There and

47:36

Gone is a production of Glass Podcasts,

47:38

a division of Glass Entertainment Group in

47:40

partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The

47:42

show is executive produced by Nancy Glass and

47:45

Ben Fetterman. It's hosted and written

47:47

by me, Andrea Gunning, with additional reporting

47:49

and writing by Ben Fetterman. The

47:52

series is also written and produced by Todd

47:54

Gans. Our associate producer is

47:56

Kristen Melchiori. Research by

47:58

Mason Clender, Anna Hamelkopf, and and Bella

48:00

Ricci. Our iHeart team is

48:03

Ali Perry and Jessica Kreinchek. Audio

48:05

editing and mixing by Matt Dalvekyo. Additional

48:08

editing support from Nico Arruca and

48:10

Tanner Robbins. Varengon's theme

48:12

and original compositions were composed by

48:14

Oliver Baines and Dari McCauley of

48:17

Noiser. Music library provided

48:19

by Mibe Music. And

48:21

a special thanks to both the Petrone

48:23

and Atobre families. Your strength and

48:26

willingness to share your stories have been invaluable

48:28

through the making of this podcast. Thank

48:30

you for allowing us to honor the memories of your

48:32

loved ones and to help keep their stories alive. For

48:35

more podcasts from iHeart visit the iHeart

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