42:00

completely falls apart. Now

42:02

the doing dishes story sounded strange to

42:04

me even before I saw pictures of

42:06

his kitchen. Two hours is a

42:09

long time to be doing dishes and

42:11

I say that as someone with

42:13

six children. How many dishes did this

42:16

man have? But then I saw

42:18

the photos of the kitchen which didn't

42:20

look like it had been cleaned for

42:22

two hours just a couple days before.

42:24

It didn't look like it

42:26

had been cleaned in some time. This

42:29

was just not the kind of guy who

42:31

cleans for two hours on a Sunday night.

42:34

So why did Tony insist

42:36

on this doing dishes story?

42:39

He mentioned it multiple times

42:41

and even how long it took him. To

42:44

me and I'm sure to the investigators it

42:46

looked like he was coming up with a

42:48

reason why he had no

42:50

phone or computer usage during the

42:52

time he was in New Jersey

42:55

killing Rob. When Tony returned

42:57

he made the beer run to create a

42:59

bit of an alibi and then he set

43:01

his computer to erase all of the evidence

43:03

of what he had done and his motive

43:05

behind it. That

43:07

was at least the theory the

43:10

investigators came up with. What they

43:12

didn't have was proof particularly proof

43:14

he ever left Manhattan that night.

43:17

They believed that Tony must have had help getting

43:19

off the island and the

43:21

investigation showed that two days after

43:23

the murder Tony got a

43:26

phone line in a fake name and

43:28

then he used it for two months

43:30

primarily to call his brother. Why

43:33

would Tony need to call his brother on

43:35

a phone line that the police didn't know

43:37

about? Maybe he worried

43:40

they had tapped his usual line.

43:43

But again I need to repeat that they

43:45

did not find evidence that anyone including

43:47

Tony's brother drove him anywhere that night.

43:50

They only know that he walked away from

43:52

his apartment at around 1040 and then there

43:54

is no confirmation he was back home until

43:57

111. But

44:00

Tony was not the only lead they

44:02

had to pursue. It

44:04

turned out Rob Cantor wasn't the only

44:06

person in T-NEC New Jersey who had

44:08

been murdered and the house set on

44:10

fire. T-NEC has

44:12

a population of 40,000 and this

44:14

other fire happened less than a

44:17

year before. Joan Davis

44:19

was a 74-year-old woman who was found dead

44:21

in her home on August 17, 2010. She

44:25

had been beaten and stabbed and her house

44:28

was then set on fire. According

44:30

to the New York Times and

44:32

most other publications, Joan was a

44:35

government gadfly. And what a word

44:37

that is. You would have thought these articles were written in 1934. A

44:41

gadfly is a person who criticizes in

44:43

a bit of an annoying way. She

44:46

was the lady who went to every city

44:48

council meeting, every park board meeting, pretty much

44:51

everything to keep everyone on their toes. Members

44:55

of the public were given five minutes

44:57

to voice their opinions on these issues

44:59

and she used every second of those

45:01

five minutes on every issue. But

45:04

Joan wasn't rude or abusive. She

45:06

just had strong feelings on certain

45:08

issues. She cared a lot about

45:10

the environment. She cared that

45:12

the township was treating their employees well

45:14

and she wanted to cut wasteful spending.

45:18

There's another word the New York Times uses

45:20

to describe Joan that I think fits her

45:22

well and that is harmless.

45:25

She wrote letters and she voiced her opinions. It

45:27

was kind of a hobby for her. And

45:30

there are worse hobbies to have. She

45:32

was so harmless, in fact, that a city

45:34

council member was the one who would give

45:37

her rides to these meetings. The

45:39

police were looking deep into any grudges people might

45:41

have held against Joan, but they were having trouble

45:44

finding anyone who knew much about her at all.

45:46

Joan had lived in her house for 20

45:49

years and rarely shared much, if anything, about

45:51

her life. And

45:53

then seven months after Joan's murder, Robert

45:55

Cantor was murdered and his house was

45:57

torched and it seemed like quite the

45:59

quilt. And

54:00

of course, there were Sophie and Susan, the

54:02

two women in Rob's life who might have

54:04

a motive. The defense

54:06

didn't name them as likely suspects,

54:09

but definitely used them as examples

54:11

of the police department's tunnel vision

54:13

in not pursuing them. The

54:16

trial lasted two months, which is a

54:18

long time considering that there wasn't much

54:20

by way of forensic or scientific testimony.

54:23

It was really just the state building the

54:25

case by presenting all of the circumstances a

54:27

piece at a time. The

54:29

jury took the case and deliberated for three

54:31

full days and then partway through day four,

54:34

they were back with a verdict. Rob's

54:36

family had worried in those days the jury

54:39

was deliberating that they were going to not

54:42

come to a consensus and it would

54:44

be a mistrial. But then when

54:46

there was a verdict, they were terrified it would

54:48

be an acquittal. They could see the issues with

54:50

a 100% circumstantial case, but

54:52

they also 100% believed Tony was guilty.

54:58

The jury came back with guilty verdicts

55:00

on eight of the charges, including one

55:02

of the murder counts. They

55:04

found Tony not guilty of felony murder

55:06

and burglary. Tony Tong was

55:09

then sentenced to life in prison without parole

55:11

for 68 years and at

55:13

52 years old, he would die before

55:15

that day came. After

55:17

trial, Tony did two media interviews that

55:20

I could find, one with Andrea Canning

55:22

from Dateline and one from Allison Priest

55:24

with the record. In

55:27

these interviews, Tony tried to explain away

55:29

the evidence against him. It

55:31

was a coincidence that he decided to wipe

55:33

his computer hours after Rob's murder. It

55:37

was a coincidence that Rob was found

55:39

dead in the room where he first

55:41

slept with Sophie. It was

55:43

a coincidence that Tony was asking about a

55:46

magazine for the same type of gun as

55:48

the murder weapon. Tony

55:50

said he was only asking his friend about guns

55:52

because he lived in Texas and guns are cheaper

55:54

there. His friend never got

55:56

him the magazine, so how was this conversation even

55:58

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