The Tape Room Podcast

It's a story about the man who may have inadvertently triggered a chain of events leading to the conviction of John Gotti. To fully understand the impact of this story you have to turn the clock back to 1985 and the mob hit that changed everything. The Tape Room explores the connection and the new podcast from Investigation Discovery podcast series called Mafia Tapes.  

Kathy McCormack Durst disappeared in January of 1982 – 40 years ago. From the time she vanished the focus has been on her husband at the time, Robert Durst. A man born into enormous wealth who grew up to become one of the most infamous killers this country has ever seen. Four decades after his first wife vanished, Durst was finally set to stand trial for her murder, but he died in prison. The Tape Room takes a closer look at the case with author Matt Birkbeck who believes there may be more victims out there.

Mary Rogers was what one would consider the reality star of her time. Long before television and social media, Mary's popularity was trending in New York City in the 1840's. Her murder shocked a city and arguably began the true crime genre. The Tape Room travels back in time to explore the circumstances of her untimely death and the strange connection to legendary author Edgar Allen Poe.

What happened to Oscar Suarez and Magdalena Devil? The Tape Room investigation about a New Jersey couple that rented a Jet Ski in Barbados and disappeared into the ocean.  It was supposed to be a 30 minute ride, but two years later they are still missing.

At the end of an impossible day… when it felt like the world fractured wide open… the detectives in the 79th precinct received an unexpected report. There'd been a murder in Brooklyn. When they arrived the circumstances became even more strange. The victim was a polish immigrant who was never supposed to be in this neighborhood. 20 years later the case is still unsolved.

The crime happened back in 1990. Assistant Hofstra football coach Joe Healy was killed while sitting with his friends outside a fast-food restaurant. Police said it was a botched robbery. His death shattered the community and led to a lot of media attention. With pressure to find a killer, investigators eventually zeroed in on Christopher Ellis, who was 20 at the time, and two other men. Ellis has been locked in prison for the last 30 years but his murder conviction was just tossed out.    

Summer 1977. New York City. A turbulent time in the five boroughs perhaps like no other in modern history. An economic crisis, a historic blackout and the haunting presence of a brutal serial killer. In August of that year, David Berkowitz was arrested and admitted to the attacks, ending some of the pressure. Now decades later, there are new questions. Did the .44 Caliber killer really act alone? A new Netflix series, The Sons of Sam: A Descent Into Darkness explores this theory. The Tape Room sits down with the director Joshua Zeman.

Nick Brandi was working his regular shift at a diner on September 5, 1995 when he received a call from the fiancé of his best friend, Jon Weaver. She wanted to know if Nick could check on Jon at his job at the Saw Mill River Motel just across the street. When Nick went across the street he was greeted by crime scene tape and the unimaginable. Jon Weaver had his colleague at the motel,  Kerson “Kay” Praponpoj had been killed. A crime that remains unsolved to this day.

On Long Island's south shore, between the charming homes and alluring beaches, there are secrets. A mystery deep and twisted: The Gilgo Beach Murders. At least 11 bodies discovered, mostly near Ocean Parkway. In all the years since the first bodies were discovered in 2010 no arrests have ever been made. Now a new series is taking a closer look: The Tape Room speaks with Billy Jensen and Alexis Linkletter  hosts of "Unraveled: The Long Island Serial Killer "

He was the definition of an American success story. Abe Lebewohl was a Holocaust survivor who immigrated to the United States at the age of 19. He later opened the 2nd Avenue deli in the East Village where he was known to feed every homeless person who walked into the deli hungry. He was a man who lived to help others, until one day someone took everything. Abe was killed in March of 1996. The Tape Room takes a closer look at this case with an emotional conversation with Abe's brother.

How can you know you neighborhood, if you don't know its secrets? For a neighborhood in Brooklyn, it's a secret that changed the course of organized crime in NYC in 1979. The Tape Room takes a closer look at the Assassination Of Carmine Galante

A Major update to the Jennifer Dulos case. The Tape Room first featured the disappearance of the missing mother of 5 on an episode in September, 2019. Now authorities have charged her husband Fotis Dulos with murder. The new arrest warrants detailing a gruesome crime.

It was July 23, 1991. Three men were working in Inwood Hill Park, not far from the Henry Hudson Bridge, when they found a cooler. Inside, they made a horrifying discovery: the body of a little girl. The crime would come to be known as the Baby Hope murder. The story behind the investigation into the killing is now one of the featured in the NYPD’s new true crime podcast called “Break in the Case”

A special report from The Tape Room. On this episode, a closer look at one of the most notorious criminals in U-S history. The year long crime spree carried out by John Dillinger and his gang re-defined what it meant to be a gangster in America. Now, more than 80 years after his death there is a legal battle to have his body exhumed. His family says he wasn’t killed by the FBI that fateful night in Chicago all those years ago.Dan Bowens talks with Chicago Sun-Times reporter Jon Seidel. Jon has written about many of Chicago's most notorious crimes and criminals as a reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times

It is one of the most sensational cases in New Jersey history. A suburban mom Convicted of drugging, shooting, dismembering and then stuffing her husbands remains into suitcases &tossing them into Chesapeake Bay. New podcast , Direct Appeal , examines the case of so called SuitCase Killer, Melanie McGuire. The Tape Room takes a closer look with the hosts of that podcast.

Jennifer Dulos has been missing for months.  The 50-year-old New Canaan woman was last seen dropping her children off at school last Friday morning. When she wasn't heard from for more than 10 hours, friends alerted police.  Her car was later found near a nearby park.  Investigators have focused their attention on her estranged husband.

When troopers arrived, they discovered the bodies of Gary Deal, his wife Joan Deal, both 26, and their 3-year-year old son, Jason inside their home. Gary Deal was found lying on the floor near the front door. He was shot in the head multiple times and his throat was cut. Joan’s naked body was discovered on their bedroom floor. She was also shot in the head multiple times and had her throat cut. Jason was found lying on his bed in his pajamas. More than 40 years later, NJ State Police hope new DNA technology can solve the case. The Tape Room speaks to Detective Mario Nocito, of the New Jersey State Police Homicide South Unit.Anyone with information is urged to call 609-561-1800 extension 3354. Anonymous leads are also welcome.

A haunting ransom call released 45 years after Margaret Ellen Fox's disappearance.The FBI and local police in Burlington City, NJ hope it could help crack this decades old case.She was just 14 years old when she vanished on the way to a babysitting job on June 24, 1974. What happened to Margaret?

A major UPDATE to a case featured on The Tape Room. The Connecticut Supreme Court ordered new trials for Ralph "Ricky" Birch and Shawn Henning , the two men convicted more than three decades ago in the stabbing and beating death of a 65-year-old man. The felony murder convictions in the Dec. 1, 1985, slaying of Everett Carr were based in part on false testimony about bloodstains on a towel that later were proven not to be blood, the court ruled. In throwing out the convictions, the Supreme Court was heavily critical of state prosecutors and world famous forensic scientist Dr. Henry Lee.  Dr. Lee's false testimony helped put the men in prison nearly 30 years ago.

In 1930, New York State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Crater had it all. A position of influence and plenty of power. Then,one night, he vanished and was never seen again. At the time it was one of the biggest missing persons investigations in NYC history. It is now one of the oldest Cold Cases.The Tape Room takes a closer look with the help of New York Post Crime Reporter Larry Celona  at this case and the strange letter that led detectives in the early 2000’s to re-open the investigation with a hunch Crater, might be buried beneath the boardwalk in Coney Island, Brooklyn.

Manhattan, 1990. It was different back then. Crime was more prevalent. There were more than 2,000 people killed in NYC that year. Much of it related to the crack epidemic. Still, the box at the corner of west end avenue in the Upper West side didn't seem out of place. The crate was well constructed. The dimensions and even the sanding showed top notch craftsmanship. After a day or so neighbors started to wonder though. A sanitation crew tried to lift it, but it was too heavy. Finally they opened it. Inside, they found the body of  Marcia Brushingham. It turns out her killer is someone she knew very well. The Tape Room speaks with Thomas Hyland, former NYPD Homicide Detective and current John Jay College professor.

From our first podcast episode;Sarah Fox, 21, vanished after going out for a run in upper Manhattan in May of 2004. A few days later her body was found inside Inwood Hill Park. Her murder has never been solved and some investigators describe this case as one the City's most unusual crimes in recent history. In this episode Dan Bowens talks with a friend of Sarah Fox who wishes to remain anonymous because the killer has yet to be found. This is the extended phone interview. A portion of this interview was used for TV special which will soon be available on our youtube page www.youtube.com/fox5ny

In 1985 a senior citizen was killed inside his home in New Milford, Connecticut. It was a brutal crime that shocked this suburb.Two men eventually convicted of murder have maintained their innocence for 30 years. Now the Connecticut State Supreme Court is taking a second look at the case. There are serious questions about decades old testimony from a world famous criminologist.

It happened in December way back in 1985.  A 65 year old man named Everett Carr murdered. A burglary gone wrong police said. Police zeroed in on two local teenagers Sean Henning and Ricky Birch who were eventually convicted of the murder. The testimony from Forensic Expert, Henry Lee, helping to put them away.  But did they do it?  Ricky Birch incarcerated at the Osborn Correctional Institution sent a letter to Dan Bowens at Fox 5. Here is a portion of our interview with Ricky Birch.

Thousands of men and women have passed away without anyone being able to identify them. They are known now only as John and Jane Doe in the national cold case database of unidentified person. Dan Bowens talks with Rebekah Turner creator of [theunidentified.org](https://www.theunidentified.org/) a website dedicated to cold cases to identify those who have passed by accident or by the hand of another.

She was someone’s daughter, sister, friend. Whoever she was… … she wasn’t supposed to be here. If you have any information regarding this case:  Mount Vernon Police Dept  Detective Chris DiMase / 914-668-6841  Or Anyone with a cell phone may send an anonymous tip to us by texting MVPD and their message/tip to 847411 (tip411) 

Jamal Gaines was killed defending his dream. Jamal had a love for sneakers and he turned that passion into his own store. His shop in Rahway, NJ had some of the rarest and most popular sneakers on the market and people came from all over the world to have a look. Two years after his death, the case remains unsolved. In this episode ( Sneaker head Part Two ) Dan Bowens speaks with friends and family about the night Jamal"Mally"Gaines lost his life.

He was a young entrepreneur living his dream. Jamal Gaines had a love for sneakers and he turned that passion into his own store. His shop in Rahway, NJ had some of the rarest and most popular sneakers on the market and people came from all over the world to have a look. Then one night... it was all gone. He was killed defending his store. His dream. Two years after his death, the case remains unsolved.

In February of 1985, Steve Mason and his half brother Charles Taylor left their Bronx apartment for a short walk to school. Hours later their bodies were discovered in a dark stairwell of their apartment building. They were only six and eight years old. Three decades later the killing remains unsolved and one of the most disturbing for an NYPD detective who worked the case.

It was a brutal killing.Karina Vetrano was raped and murdered after she went out for a jog in the summer of 2016.Police didn't solve the crime, that came to be known as the case of the Howard Beach jogger, for months. During that time her father, Phil, became a leading advocate for a new crime fighting tool known as familial DNA testing. In a candid interview about his daughter's death he tells the Tape Room why he thinks the new method will help other families who know his pain.

If you walk into the police department and many stores in Sayreville, New Jersey you can still see flyers and posters hanging from the walls with the picture of a girl named Nancy Noga. January 7th 1999 seventeen-year-old Nancy Noga left her job for the night. Normally a 15minute walk to her family's apartment but on this night she never came home. Her death shattered the quiet suburb of Sayreville New Jersey. Dan Bowens enters the Tape Room and revisits this case with Middlesex County prosecutor Andrew Carey and Sgt. Scott Crocco.

He was the definition of an American success story. Abe Lebewohl was a Holocaust survivor who immigrated to the United States at the age of 19. He later opened the 2nd Avenue deli in the East Village where he was known to feed every homeless person who walked into the deli hungry. He was a man who lived to help others, until one day someone took everything. Abe was killed in March of 1996. The Tape Room takes a closer look at this case with an emotional conversation with Abe's brother.

The Tape Room goes back to 1986. The Rabbinical Student: Orthodox Judaism is unique. On one side it is the practice of living to strict codes that have remained unchanged for centuries. One the other, it is mingling and living in secular society. To keep up the traditions, many communities set up schools known as yeshivas. It is at one of these schools on Long Island back in 1986 where a young student was found beaten to death. His name was Chaim Weiss. Police say he died from a blow to his head so powerful, it severed his spine. We speak with the Chaim's father. Three decades later this brutal crime still haunts this family.

Fox 5 News is opening up its Tape Room and taking a look back at some of the most infamous and unsolved crimes in the New York and New Jersey area. Sarah Fox, 21, vanished after going out for a run in upper Manhattan in May of 2004. A few days later her body was found inside Inwood Hill Park. Her murder has never been solved and some investigators describe this case as one the City's most unusual crimes in recent history.