0:00

When a young Tucson, Arizona woman goes

0:02

missing, her partial remains are discovered in

0:04

a dumpster days later. Potential

0:06

suspects and unanswered questions haunt a

0:08

case gone cold in this episode

0:10

of Last Seen Alive. Thanks

0:30

for listening to Last Seen Alive. I'm

0:33

your host, Leah, crime analyst by day

0:35

and true crime storyteller by night. And

0:38

as always, I'm your co-host, Scott. I

0:40

want to thank Mindy, who brought this case to

0:42

our attention and suggested that we do an episode on

0:44

it. The lack of attention this case

0:47

has received outside of the Tucson area, where

0:49

it occurred, is pretty shocking. And

0:51

if not for Mindy, we wouldn't have known

0:53

about it either. This case is definitely in

0:55

need of a public awareness boost, so thanks

0:57

a lot, Mindy. We appreciate the suggestion. And

1:00

for everyone listening, keep in mind that the

1:03

individual or individuals involved in this crime could

1:05

be anywhere by now. Decades have

1:07

passed since an Arizona family received the crushing

1:09

news that pieces of their daughter's body had

1:12

been found discarded in a dumpster. There's no

1:14

telling where the relevant people or information may

1:16

have made their way to in the years

1:18

since. Perhaps you know something that can help

1:21

finally bring justice. A

1:23

quick heads up. This episode contains mention

1:25

of sexual assault and of severe child

1:27

abuse. We won't go into any

1:29

graphic detail, but still, please listen with care.

1:32

Diana Vakari was last seen alive on October

1:35

22nd, 1992. She

1:38

was 19 years old at the time and

1:40

lived in Tucson, Arizona. Despite her

1:42

young age, she was a hardworking young woman

1:44

who kept herself busy laying the foundation for

1:47

a successful future. She was

1:49

a college student attending classes at

1:51

Pima Community College while simultaneously holding

1:53

down two jobs at two different

1:55

restaurants, each of which considered her

1:57

a very reliable employee. Hooper

2:00

of Nineteen Ninety Two. Diana lived in an

2:02

apartment which she shared with a roommate and

2:04

other college aged woman. However, she'd

2:06

found that having your own place was pretty

2:08

expensive. perhaps more expensive than it was really

2:11

worth at that time in her life. So.

2:13

She's recently decided to move back in with her

2:15

mom, who also lived in Tucson and was more

2:17

than willing to have her back in the family

2:19

home. Diana. And her mom

2:22

were close bespoke on the phone every single

2:24

day. As. For Diana's dad, he

2:26

lived in Washington State. For Parents

2:28

were divorced from one another but both loved

2:30

the for children they had together. Diana.

2:33

Eventually wanted to move to her dad's home

2:35

state so that she could study at the

2:37

University of Washington. She. Aspired to

2:39

become a marine biologist and the University

2:41

of Washington has one of the best

2:43

marine biology programs and the country. In

2:46

addition to her interest in the natural sciences,

2:48

Diana was also a skilled musician, and her

2:50

love of music was something she shared with

2:52

her dad. Should. Be done playing

2:54

the piano at his encouragement at age five.

2:56

So as you can probably imagine, by age

2:59

nineteen, she was pretty good. Music.

3:01

Was a passion of hers, both listening and

3:03

plane. She didn't plan to make it a

3:05

career, but it's something her loved ones remember

3:07

about her to this day, They. Also

3:09

remember her as being friendly and

3:11

unusually trusting. Qualities. That her

3:14

killer or killers may have exploited. It.

3:16

Wasn't that Diana wouldn't have stood up for

3:18

herself in a dangerous situation. She'd always been

3:20

vocal about what she thought was right and

3:23

wouldn't have been the type to shrink away

3:25

from opposition regarding something or someone she believed

3:27

in. But. At the same time,

3:29

it was also for nature to give

3:31

people the benefit of the doubt, trusting

3:33

them until and unless they prove themselves

3:35

untrustworthy. And. It's possible that by the

3:37

time her killer did so. It was too

3:39

late. Whoever. Killed Diana possessed

3:41

a cruel and malicious streak that she

3:44

probably never had any hope of anticipating.

3:47

According to an article for the Arizona

3:49

Daily Star Today that Diana was last

3:51

seen alive October Twenty Second was mostly

3:53

ordinary. She attended college classes, including a

3:55

drama class that was actually held on

3:57

a local high school campus rather than

3:59

on the. College Campus. When.

4:01

The class concluded. She gave one of her classmates

4:03

ride home. This was a common thing for Diana

4:06

to do. She was always up for giving a

4:08

friend ride whenever and wherever they needed one. She

4:10

was very generous in that way. Later.

4:12

That night she drove to the Tucson Convention

4:15

Center and parked vehicle. It. Was her

4:17

love of music that had brought her? They

4:19

are. There was a multibillion Thrash Metal concerts

4:21

happening that night called Marsh Tobar Fest. Sounds.

4:25

Fun! As does several local bands

4:27

would be playing in. Diana, who had

4:29

very diverse listening tastes, was excited. And.

4:32

She wasn't alone and her enthusiasm either. She was

4:34

planning to meet up with some friends at the

4:36

convention center. Who. She actually met

4:38

up with though is hard to say for

4:40

certain. The details of her last night are

4:43

hazy. The. Following day for mom

4:45

cat, he realized she was missing when one

4:47

of her employers called the family home asking

4:49

if they knew where Diana was because she

4:51

hadn't. Shown up for work. Blowing. Off

4:53

a scheduled shift was unheard of for Diana,

4:56

so it didn't take Cathy long to realize

4:58

that something was wrong. So Cathy reported Diana

5:00

missing and wasted no time and setting out

5:02

to. Search for Diana herself. For.

5:05

A couple of days she drove up and down

5:07

the streets of Tucson looking anywhere and everywhere for

5:09

her. But. The brutal truth of what

5:11

had ultimately happened today and on the night

5:13

of the concert didn't come into focus until

5:15

two days afterwards, when a woman made a

5:17

grim discovery. I. Don't know

5:19

that woman's name. Perhaps she didn't want

5:21

to be publicly named, only the she

5:24

was experiencing homelessness and that on the

5:26

morning of Saturday, October twenty fourth, she

5:28

was walking in the vicinity of the

5:30

intersection of West Seventeenth Street and Pharaoh

5:32

Avenue in Tucson. They. Are

5:34

behind a business was a dumpster. The

5:36

woman was looking for aluminum cans to

5:38

recycle so she approached it. Inside

5:40

she saw a garbage bag from which

5:43

to bloody arms were protruding. What?

5:45

A gruesome discovery. And that poor

5:47

woman the last thing she was

5:50

expecting. I'm sure. Like. She didn't

5:52

already have it hard enough. Now she's trying to scrape

5:54

by and find a way to survive in this happens.

5:57

when investigators responded to the scene they found

5:59

that the were the only remains present.

6:01

They've been separated from the rest of the body.

6:04

As you can surely imagine, this discovery quickly

6:07

made the local news. When

6:09

it aired, Diana's mom, Kathy, was still out

6:11

driving the streets of Tucson in search of

6:13

Diana. Meanwhile, another one of her

6:15

daughters, Debbie, was holding things down at home,

6:17

hoping for the police or perhaps even Diana

6:19

herself to call with news. According

6:22

to an article by Gabrielle Simbras for

6:24

the Tucson Citizen, when Debbie saw that

6:26

news segment on the partial remains recovered

6:28

from the dumpster, she was struck with

6:30

certainty. Those arms were her sister's. She

6:33

was so sure of it that when her mom called, she

6:35

told her, quote, "'They just had

6:37

a bulletin on TV. Two arms were found

6:39

in a dumpster. Mom, I know those are

6:42

Diana's arms.'" End quote. That's

6:45

so crappy for

6:47

the news to get their article out before... Before

6:50

the family is notified? Any notifications or

6:52

even the ability to identify the person

6:54

has gone out. Right, now of course,

6:56

the news didn't say who the arms

6:59

belonged to, but imagine having a missing

7:01

child or sister and seeing that on

7:03

TV. Even if it didn't turn

7:05

out to be them, it would be psychologically traumatizing,

7:07

just the fear that that would cause. Yeah,

7:10

I've said it before. I'll

7:12

say it again. The power-hungry news

7:14

stations need to cool it sometimes

7:16

before they make these announcements and

7:19

give investigation time to actually have some

7:21

answers. So that way, when they do come

7:23

out with these, it doesn't put

7:25

anyone that might be on edge, even

7:28

into a worse sense of shock. Yeah,

7:31

I do think that that would be ideal

7:33

in some cases. I mean, this is very

7:35

sensitive information. Now, unfortunately,

7:37

Debbie was right about the arms belonging

7:39

to her sister. As

7:41

I mentioned, Kathy had already reported Diana missing

7:43

to the Tucson PD, so when they found

7:45

the arms, which appeared to have belonged to

7:48

a woman, they knew there was a possibility

7:50

that they could be Diana's. They

7:52

showed Kathy a ring that had been on one

7:54

of the fingers and she recognized it instantly as

7:56

one that Diana had worn every single day. Her

7:58

dad had given it to her. to her for her

8:00

birthday and it had meant a lot to her. According

8:03

to that Tucson Citizen article, Kathy spent the

8:05

next three days in a state of intense

8:07

shock, unable to eat or sleep. Meanwhile,

8:10

investigators confirmed that the arms were

8:12

Diana's via fingerprints. Kathy

8:14

had had Diana fingerprinted as a child, you know,

8:16

on one of those little cards, and had held

8:19

on to that just in case of an emergency.

8:21

So a medical examiner was able to

8:24

determine that the recovered arms had been

8:26

separated from the rest of the body,

8:28

Diana's body, post-mortem. Of course,

8:30

without the rest of Diana's remains, the

8:32

medical examiner had no way of determining how

8:34

she'd died. Given the fact

8:36

that someone had dismembered her body, however,

8:38

investigators were confident that she'd been murdered.

8:42

Okay, so first off, it's a great

8:44

idea to have any of your children

8:46

fingerprinted just in case. That's

8:49

an invaluable asset to investigators. Yeah,

8:51

and just to be clear, those fingerprints, they don't go

8:53

on file anywhere. This is on a little card that

8:55

you would keep at home in a safe place just

8:57

in case, you know, God forbid your child everyone missing.

9:00

The second thing that stood out was the

9:02

fact that she still had this ring on

9:04

her. So that tells me that it wasn't

9:06

taken as a trophy and it wasn't used

9:09

as part of a robbery. No, it was

9:11

still there. Two days after the discovery

9:13

in the dumpster, investigators located another

9:15

important piece of evidence, Diana's car.

9:18

It was found parked in the 1200 block of

9:21

West La Osa Drive near North Flowing

9:23

Wells Road and West Wetmore Road. This

9:25

block is a residential area lined with

9:27

single story homes, many of which are

9:30

fronted by decorative cacti and palm trees.

9:32

Investigators learned from residents of the block that

9:35

there had been a big house party in

9:37

the area on Thursday night, that is the

9:39

night of the concert and Diana's disappearance. The

9:41

residents of that street also told investigators that

9:44

the car had been parked there since either

9:46

late Thursday night or early Friday morning. Actually,

9:49

since it had been sitting there for several days,

9:51

a sheriff's deputy had come by and put a

9:53

sticker on its back windshield, marking it as abandoned.

9:56

Before a truck had come by to tow it, though, a resident

9:58

of the street had seen a new car. news broadcast

10:00

about Diana's murder. The broadcast

10:02

had included a description of her car which

10:04

was still considered missing at that point, prompting

10:06

the man to call police. When

10:09

investigators arrived, they confirmed that the abandoned

10:11

car was indeed Diana's. Inside, they found

10:13

some textbooks of hers as well as

10:15

her purse, a hat belonging to her,

10:17

and a water burger bag. Naturally,

10:20

investigators wondered whether Diana had driven to the

10:22

area in order to attend the house party.

10:25

It was a possibility that made a lot

10:28

of sense, especially since, according to an article

10:30

for the Deseret News, friends of Diana's had

10:32

reported that on the night of her disappearance,

10:34

after the concert, she'd been asking about parties

10:36

to attend. Specifically, she'd been

10:38

asking other concertgoers in the parking lot if

10:40

they knew of any parties going on, and

10:43

that, according to an article by David Table

10:45

for the Tucson Citizen, is the last known

10:48

time that Diana was seen alive. Diana

10:50

was a hard-working woman between school and

10:52

two jobs, and presumably, she'd wanted to

10:54

let her hair down that night and

10:57

socialize. It seemed as if she'd

10:59

ended up finding a party to attend, but

11:01

that something had gone terribly wrong. If

11:04

Diana had driven her car to the 1200 block of West

11:06

Lohosa Drive herself, which seems

11:08

likely given the fact that she'd reportedly

11:10

been looking for a party, she'd

11:12

presumably either been killed at the party or

11:14

have left the party with someone else. On

11:17

that note, according to a 1992 article published

11:20

in the Arizona Daily Star, a

11:22

resident of that block told police that she'd heard

11:24

a woman screaming on the night of the party.

11:27

However, that same article says that police

11:30

claim the screams couldn't have been Diana's.

11:32

Does not say how they would have known such a thing. I'm

11:36

glad that you clarified that doesn't

11:38

say that because I'm stupefied at

11:40

the fact that they can't have

11:42

any insight into that. Well,

11:44

I have a little theory. I'm thinking, what

11:47

if police had gone to that area to

11:49

respond to a noisy call, like maybe a

11:51

domestic disturbance, a fight, someone who had

11:53

a little bit too much to drink and was making a scene,

11:55

and there had been screaming. And so when they were told this,

11:57

they thought, oh, well, that was just that other call we went

11:59

to. Now that's still foolish just

12:02

because there were screams at one call doesn't mean that

12:04

these couldn't have been from a different event But

12:06

that's my best guess there's a lot

12:08

of variables that I can't see how

12:10

you could just write off that the

12:12

screams weren't hers It seems pretty

12:15

foolish in any case

12:17

It's important to note that the 1200

12:19

block of loosa Drive where Diana's car

12:21

was found Wasn't anywhere near the dumpster

12:23

where her arms were located that

12:25

dumpster was located just north of downtown Tucson

12:28

more than a five mile or eight kilometer

12:30

drive away According to

12:32

an article published in the Arizona Daily

12:34

Star investigators brought a tracking canine to

12:36

the dumpster But the canine was unable

12:38

to detect Diana sent anywhere about the

12:40

dumpster itself This led investigators

12:42

to believe that whoever had put Diana's arms

12:44

in the dumpster had driven there placed them

12:47

inside and then driven away There

12:49

was unfortunately no way to detect where

12:51

they'd come from or where they'd gone

12:53

afterward Nor was there any

12:55

clue as to where the rest of Diana's

12:58

remains might be to this day They remain

13:00

missing only Diana's arms have ever been found

13:02

and although investigators haven't been able to locate

13:04

the rest of her remains in 1997

13:08

they managed to locate her killer or

13:10

so they thought that year Diana's

13:12

case went from an unsolved mystery

13:14

to a legal rollercoaster and eventually

13:16

back again More on

13:19

that next hosted

13:21

by Ben McKenzie Southland

13:23

Gotham He had an

13:26

alibi He didn't have a violent history

13:28

and it seemed almost impossible to imagine

13:30

the crime could have been committed by

13:32

just one man But Ronald

13:34

Trimboli's DNA test performed in the

13:36

infancy of DNA testing was a

13:38

match Is it possible

13:40

he was innocent of the Texas triple murder? He was

13:42

convicted of in The

13:44

blood presents all the evidence including evidence

13:46

jurors were not privy to and asks

13:48

you the audience for your verdict The

13:51

crime took place in Texas in 1985 But

13:54

it echoed across decades through multiple

13:56

trials a DNA test and retest

13:58

and the discovery of new evidence

14:01

all the way to modern times. Was

14:03

Ronald Trimboli a terrifying murderer of three

14:05

teenagers or the victim of an incredible

14:07

string of bad luck in his own

14:10

tendency to talk himself into trouble? You'll

14:12

listen to the evidence and decide. Look

14:15

for In the Blood from Voyage Media

14:17

anywhere you listen to podcasts. And

14:21

now back to Diana's story. In

14:24

1997, a grand jury indicted a

14:26

man named Lemuel Prion on charges

14:28

of first-degree murder, sexual assault, aggravated

14:31

assault, and kidnapping, all in relation

14:33

to Diana's death. Here's

14:35

how it happened. In 1992, just

14:38

a couple months after Diana's murder, another

14:40

woman, a sex worker named Tabitha, had

14:42

been abducted, sexually assaulted, and threatened by

14:44

a man with a knife. Fortunately,

14:47

Tabitha survived the encounter. Although the man

14:49

threatened to murder her and dismember her

14:51

body, he didn't actually do it. However,

14:54

when investigators identified a man named

14:56

Lemuel Prion as Tabitha's attacker, they

14:59

wondered if he might also have been responsible

15:01

for Diana's murder. After all,

15:03

he was obviously a violent predator and

15:05

had specifically threatened to dismember Tabitha. Plus,

15:07

he had a bad history. He'd previously

15:09

been convicted of raping a 15-year-old victim,

15:12

a crime for which he'd recently served

15:14

five years in prison. And

15:16

the more investigators looked into Prion, the

15:18

more red flags they found. Yeah,

15:21

I can definitely understand their suspicion

15:23

so far. For sure. And in

15:25

addition to what I've just told you, there's

15:27

the fact that Prion liked to talk. He

15:29

was one of those guys who was always

15:31

running his mouth. And his

15:33

preferred topic of discussion seems to be violence

15:36

against women. According to

15:38

court documents, he would often brag about

15:40

crimes he'd allegedly committed against women. Here's

15:42

a quote from an oral argument case summary

15:44

from the Arizona Supreme Court. Quote,

15:47

He had a habit of telling others

15:49

about incidents where he had picked up

15:51

a woman, threatened her with a knife

15:53

or machete, and thought about killing the

15:55

woman. These stories often involved prostitutes, knives,

15:57

and women ripping off the defendant. End

15:59

quote. Plus, in December

16:01

of 1992, a couple of months after

16:03

Diana's death and around the time of

16:05

the attack on Tabitha, Priyant had

16:08

told his employer that, you know, just casually,

16:10

he was afraid he might kill someone, which

16:12

was probably really comforting to his employer considering

16:14

that he worked at his nursing home, full

16:17

of elderly people who needed help with

16:20

the basic care and life activities. And

16:23

in addition to that, you know the dumpster where

16:25

Diana's partial remains were found? Did

16:27

he work nearby? Well, no,

16:29

but there was a recording studio near

16:31

there that Priyant had patronized. I don't

16:34

know if he considered himself a musical

16:36

artist or what, but he'd definitely been

16:38

there, so investigators knew he was at

16:40

least somewhat familiar with that area. Tucson

16:43

is a big city, so the fact that

16:45

he'd been very close to that dumpster is,

16:47

you know, perhaps saying something. Certainly

16:49

doesn't mean he's guilty, but it's a

16:51

little suspicious. It doesn't alleviate any

16:53

of the red flags. Right. So

16:56

it's not difficult to see why investigators

16:58

considered Priyant a suspect in Diana's case.

17:01

Eventually, in 1997, Priyant went on

17:03

trial for Diana's murder as well

17:05

as his attack on Tabitha. He

17:08

was tried for both crimes at the same

17:10

time, strangely. Priyant ended

17:12

up being convicted on both counts and

17:14

was sentenced to death for murdering Diana.

17:17

However, several years later, the Arizona

17:19

Supreme Court overturned his conviction for the

17:21

murder and other related crimes he'd been

17:23

convicted of committing against Diana. Priyant

17:26

was officially exonerated. I

17:29

am surprised and

17:31

intrigued. It's a

17:33

weird case. The Arizona

17:35

Supreme Court found that there had been

17:37

problems with the legal proceedings that had

17:40

ultimately resulted in Priyant's conviction for Diana's

17:42

murder. For starters, he

17:44

shouldn't have been tried for two totally

17:46

different cases against two totally different women

17:48

at once. Him being found

17:50

guilty of the attack against Tabitha almost certainly

17:53

influenced the jurors' perception of his guilt in

17:55

relation to Diana's murder, even though the crimes

17:57

had not occurred at the same time or

17:59

date. even really close to it. Additionally,

18:02

Prion's defense attorneys had wanted to present evidence

18:04

that another man had been responsible for Diana's

18:06

murder. That was pretty much their whole case,

18:09

but the trial court had refused to allow

18:11

them to share that evidence. That

18:13

had been a crippling blow to the defense's case,

18:16

one they hadn't been able to overcome. So

18:18

they have evidence that was someone

18:20

else and investigators weren't interested. I

18:23

suppose you could say that because investigators didn't end up

18:25

taking that man to court, so I'm not sure how

18:28

interested they could have been, but it

18:30

was the judge who said, you know, you know what,

18:32

I'm not gonna let you present those arguments, no mentioning

18:34

this guy. Okay, so

18:36

the judge will allow you to

18:38

present cases against two different people

18:40

at the same time, but if

18:43

you have evidence that somebody else

18:45

committed one of the murders, then

18:48

it's just too many people for the

18:50

jurors to keep straight? I

18:52

don't know what the court was thinking when

18:54

they forbade them from entering that evidence into

18:57

discussion, but they did. And

18:59

anyway, all of the evidence against Prion

19:01

had been circumstantial. Yes, he was a

19:03

predator and an extraordinary creep brimming

19:05

with ill will toward women, but

19:08

no evidence has ever arisen to link him

19:10

to Diana's case physically. The argument for his

19:12

guilt was pretty much just that he seemed

19:14

like the kind of person who might commit

19:16

such a heinous crime. And

19:19

then if evidence comes up that he

19:21

actually did it later, you've

19:23

already tried him. No double jeopardy,

19:25

and they didn't just try him on the

19:27

first-degree murder charges. There was also the abduction,

19:29

the sexual assault, and all that. So

19:31

pretty much it was a one-shot deal. So

19:35

if Prion hadn't been responsible for Diana's

19:37

death, then who had been? Scott,

19:39

you're probably wondering about the other guy, the

19:42

man who Prion's defense had built their case

19:44

around only to be forbidden to actually mention

19:46

him in court. They seem

19:48

more interested in it than the courts did.

19:51

Well, your interest is more than warranted. The

19:53

defense had planned to raise some pretty

19:55

compelling points about the man who they

19:58

believed had killed Diana, a gun. named

20:00

John Mazur. Mazur was

20:02

someone who Diana had known through work. At the

20:04

time of her death, they'd both been employees at

20:07

a restaurant called E.G.'s. According

20:09

to court documents, Mazur was known

20:11

for sexually harassing his female coworkers,

20:13

something he'd been punished for by

20:15

management. He'd even reportedly gone

20:17

so far as to attempt to rape

20:20

one of his female coworkers. That's alarming.

20:23

For sure, and that wasn't all. In

20:25

addition to being an alleged sexual predator,

20:27

he was also known to have a

20:30

violent temper. So violent, in fact,

20:32

that he'd reportedly once gotten into a fight

20:34

with a woman and had savagely bitten her

20:36

on the nose. Who does that? I

20:39

don't even know where to go with this. Me

20:41

neither. Early on in the investigation,

20:44

investigators had identified Mazur as a person

20:46

of interest. When they'd spoken to

20:48

him, he'd hidden certain information from them, like

20:50

the fact that he'd gotten into trouble at

20:52

work for sexually harassing coworkers. He'd

20:54

also lied to investigators about where he'd

20:57

been on the night of Diana's death.

20:59

Mazur had been at work that night, not at

21:02

E.G.'s, but at a bar where he also worked

21:04

called the New Orleans Lounge. The

21:06

fact that he'd been working there was significant

21:08

because investigators had learned that Diana had actually

21:10

stopped by the New Orleans Lounge on the

21:12

night of her death. What's

21:15

more, a bouncer from the New Orleans

21:17

Lounge told investigators that Diana had actually

21:19

been there specifically to see Mazur. I

21:22

don't think that nobody would ever find out is

21:24

kind of asinine. Yeah,

21:27

so the fact that Mazur lied

21:29

about all of this to investigators

21:31

is decidedly suspicious, and that's still

21:33

not all. At the time

21:35

of Diana's death, Mazur had just gotten a

21:37

new apartment, one that was located close to

21:40

both the New Orleans Lounge and to the

21:42

place where Diana's car was later found abandoned.

21:45

Furthermore, on the morning following her death,

21:47

Mazur showed up to work, quote, so

21:49

disheveled and disoriented that he was fired,

21:51

end quote. That's according to court documents.

21:55

I'm getting mad at the courts

21:57

and investigators now. Now, it's not

21:59

like investigators investigators hadn't looked into him

22:01

at all, they did interview him, and early

22:03

on in the investigation, investigators had inspected

22:05

Mazur's car for any traces of blood. None

22:08

of the sources I consulted said what

22:10

they found, if anything, but obviously they

22:12

harbored some suspicion toward this man, and

22:14

I'm not sure where investigators stand today

22:16

on Mazur as a potential suspect. It's

22:18

been a very long time since Diana's

22:20

case has made the news, so what

22:22

investigators are thinking is really anyone's guess.

22:26

One last thing on Mazur. I searched Arizona

22:28

court records for any cases involving him. Given

22:30

the behavior we just discussed, I figured he

22:32

was bound to have a criminal record of

22:35

some sort. I found a

22:37

criminal case from 1993, about six months

22:39

after Diana's death. It wasn't related

22:41

to her case, but it involved a

22:44

Tucson man named John Mazur being charged

22:46

with assault, disorderly conduct, making a false

22:48

report to law enforcement, and ultimately failing

22:50

to appear in court, all in Tucson.

22:53

Not individual that John Mazur, who appears

22:55

to probably be the same John Mazur

22:57

we're discussing, has long since moved out

22:59

of Arizona, is still alive and appears

23:02

to now reside in another state. While

23:05

it's easy to get caught up in the

23:07

information surrounding Mazur, you should know that his

23:09

name wasn't the only one mentioned in court

23:11

documents. A man named Gregory

23:13

Hatton was also mentioned as someone potentially having

23:15

something to do with the case. A

23:18

judge had decided that Prion's defense could

23:20

present evidence involving Hatton if they wished,

23:23

but not Mazur. So they were given the

23:25

green light on one man, but not the other. And

23:28

ultimately, the defense had decided not

23:30

to present any evidence potentially implicating

23:32

Hatton. Perhaps they didn't

23:34

feel the evidence was strong, or perhaps it

23:37

couldn't stand on its own without information about

23:39

Mazur's potential involvement, which the judge had forbidden

23:41

them from mentioning. I have

23:44

no way of knowing the defense attorney's reasoning,

23:46

but I bring Hatton up anyway because he

23:48

was mentioned in court documents and he is,

23:50

to put it mildly, a profoundly sick criminal

23:53

in his own right. Hatton

23:55

was an acquaintance of Diana's and worked as a

23:57

clerk at a local gas station. His

23:59

tremendous Mostly disturbing crimes came to

24:01

light in 1993, so the year

24:04

following Diana's death. Prior

24:06

to that, few, if any, people who

24:08

knew him realized the true extent of

24:10

the crimes he was capable of. Here's

24:13

what happened, according to documents from the Arizona

24:15

Supreme Court. Hatton, then

24:17

29 years old, met and began

24:19

dating a single, vulnerable teen mom

24:21

named Angela Lehman. She was

24:23

only 17 years old, was the parent of an

24:25

infant son, and had just been evicted from her

24:27

home when Hatton offered her a place to stay.

24:30

She had been raised in an abusive family, which

24:32

she'd fled from, so she didn't have many options.

24:35

She accepted Hatton's offer of a place to

24:38

stay, but it came with expectations. Namely,

24:40

her attorneys would later state, the expectation that

24:42

she have sex with Hatton, who was her

24:44

senior by a dozen years. Most

24:47

news sources refer to Hatton and Angela

24:49

Lehman as boyfriend and girlfriend. Whatever

24:51

you want to call their relationship, it's clear

24:54

that Hatton was taking advantage of a vulnerable

24:56

young woman, something he was known to do

24:58

whenever the opportunity presented itself. And

25:00

really, what he put Angela Lehman through is

25:02

only the tip of the iceberg. It

25:05

paled in comparison to the worst of his other

25:07

crimes. Hatton didn't just

25:09

support himself by working the register at a

25:11

local convenience store. He was also a drug

25:13

dealer. Both he and

25:16

Lehman regularly abused drugs, including

25:18

methamphetamines. Often, infants in

25:20

the care of parents abusing such substances

25:22

are neglected, and that's certainly true in

25:24

this case. The baby boy

25:26

in question was deprived of basic needs

25:28

such as adequate food, medical care, and

25:30

hygiene. But, as terrible as that

25:32

is, it was much worse than that. The

25:34

baby boy was also severely physically and

25:37

sexually abused by Hatton. For

25:39

months, Lehman allowed this to go on, refusing

25:41

to get medical care for her son, even

25:43

when other drug users visiting her home to

25:45

get high urged her to. This

25:48

is enraging. Yeah,

25:50

it's pretty bad if people who are coming over to

25:52

your house to use meth are taking one look at

25:54

your baby and begging you to take them somewhere for

25:57

medical attention. But apparently, that was what was going on

25:59

in the house. Eventually,

26:01

Lehman caved and took her son to the

26:03

ER. When they arrived, he was

26:05

near death. He had a high fever, numerous

26:07

broken bones, infections, and other injuries that had

26:09

resulted from the abuse he'd been subjected to.

26:12

He survived, prevailing against slim

26:14

odds, but was left permanently impaired.

26:18

We won't go into any of the graphic details, but

26:20

to say that it was an extreme case of

26:22

child abuse would be a tremendous understatement. And

26:25

on that note, a quick word of warning. We always

26:27

list our sources for the information we present in our

26:29

episodes on our website, and this one is no different.

26:32

However, I want to caution anyone who may

26:34

be considering reading the court documents and news

26:37

articles we've linked to regarding Hatton and Lehman's

26:39

crimes. They all go into significantly

26:41

more detail than we have, and

26:43

the details are intensely disturbing. Frankly, I

26:45

don't recommend reading them. I

26:48

believe it's possible to more or less grasp

26:50

the magnitude of Hatton's crimes without subjecting yourself

26:52

to the details of what his helpless victim

26:54

endured. There really

26:56

isn't a punishment cruel enough for

26:58

the people that will go out and do this.

27:02

No, I think what he deserves for what he

27:04

did to that child, it feeds

27:06

greatly the limits of human imagination. In

27:09

addition to Hatton's crimes against an infant,

27:11

Hatton was also noted in court documents

27:13

as being known for preying upon adolescent

27:15

girls. So could Diana,

27:17

a teenager herself, have possibly been one

27:20

of his victims? Could he

27:22

have assaulted her or tried to assault her and

27:24

then killed her, maybe in her rage if she

27:26

said no? It's difficult to say. Someone

27:29

capable of committing the profound and repeated

27:31

physical and sexual abuse of an infant

27:34

is obviously not morally adverse to indulging

27:36

their desires, no matter how repulsive, illegal,

27:38

or deadly they may be. There's

27:41

no reason for us to assume that he

27:43

would have had any personal qualms about killing

27:45

and dismembering Diana had he desired to do

27:47

so. However, it sounds

27:49

as if Hatton was an opportunistic

27:52

predator who targeted extremely vulnerable victims.

27:55

Diana strikes me as being a lot stronger and less

27:57

vulnerable than his known victims, and that's why I'm here.

27:59

And that gives me pause. Diana

28:02

wasn't a homeless minor with nowhere to go,

28:04

and she wasn't a helpless infant either. And

28:07

she was known for standing up for herself. Frankly,

28:09

I wonder whether Hatton would have been bold enough

28:11

to attack someone like her. Someone

28:14

who likely would have fought back if he'd attempted to

28:16

abuse her. Even with

28:18

his 17-year-old girlfriend who he

28:20

abused, he reportedly did so

28:22

by kind of keeping her

28:24

in a drugged stupor. Only

28:27

though I don't know Hatton and the window

28:29

I have into his mind is limited, it's

28:31

possible that he might have attacked a strong

28:34

young woman like Diana had he sensed some

28:36

kind of an opportunity. If

28:38

that was what happened, I'm not sure how or when

28:40

he would have crossed her path that night. Diana

28:42

was not a drug user, but she was

28:44

friendly and social, and everything that I've read

28:47

about her paints a picture of a very

28:49

non-judgmental person who would socialize with all kinds

28:51

of people. So it's definitely

28:53

possible that she might have found herself

28:56

in Hatton's company in a social situation.

28:58

They were, after all, acquaintances. Now

29:01

Hatton has been in prison since 1994 and

29:04

will hopefully never have the opportunity to venture

29:06

outside its walls. According

29:08

to the Arizona Department of Corrections, he could

29:10

potentially be released in 2038. However,

29:14

by then he'd be just a couple

29:16

years shy of the average American male

29:18

life expectancy and prison isn't exactly the

29:20

healthiest environment, so the statistical odds of

29:23

him dying before then are decent, and

29:25

I find that comforting. Now

29:28

there's something else I want to mention before

29:30

we wrap up Diana's story, two elements in

29:32

specific that are rarely brought up. Most

29:35

news cases on Diana's story don't mention this, but

29:37

I was able to find one that did. In

29:40

an article published by the Arizona Daily

29:42

Star just days after Diana's death, it's

29:44

revealed that there had been somewhat unusual

29:46

events that had occurred immediately preceding her

29:49

death. For one, it's

29:51

mentioned that Diana wasn't just moving out of

29:53

her apartment and back in with her mom

29:55

because of financial pressures. That

29:57

was part of it, sure, but also, according to what

29:59

Diana's story is, it's also a very brother told the

30:01

Arizona Daily Star, she hadn't been getting along with her

30:03

roommates' friends. Now, I don't

30:05

know who her roommates' friends were, not how old

30:08

they were or even their genders, and I don't

30:10

know why they were butting heads with Diana or

30:12

how serious their aversions to each other were, but

30:14

apparently the conflict had been enough, in combination

30:17

with the cost of independent living, to drive

30:19

Diana back home. Maybe the conflict

30:21

was nothing more than petty drama, but in

30:23

light of the fact that Diana was murdered,

30:25

any conflict in her final days is worth

30:28

mentioning and, for investigators, worth looking into. Secondly,

30:31

and perhaps more sinisterly, the article

30:33

also reveals that Diana had been

30:35

receiving harassing phone calls prior to

30:37

her death. They'd been so

30:39

frequent and so annoying that, according to what

30:42

her brother told the Arizona Daily Star, she'd

30:44

actually had her phone disconnected, which was a big

30:47

deal considering that the year was 1992 when

30:49

she didn't have a cell phone. Apparently, the phone calls

30:51

were enough of an issue that she'd been willing to

30:53

be without a phone or number of her own at

30:55

all. I'll be honest,

30:58

I really wish we knew more about

31:00

those harassing phone calls, because they could

31:02

potentially be relevant to her case. Scott,

31:04

last year we covered another case, the

31:06

unsolved murder of Beverly J. Potter Mintz,

31:08

in which a young woman was murdered

31:10

after receiving harassing phone calls. That

31:13

is a shocking similarity, and it's

31:15

one that, if you're getting those

31:17

kind of phone calls, it's important

31:19

that you take them seriously, because

31:21

that could be a very significant

31:23

pre-violent indicator. It could be.

31:25

In Beverly J's case, the phone calls

31:27

were very possibly related to her murder,

31:30

and, as we noted in that episode,

31:32

repeated harassing phone calls, when made by

31:34

the same person or persons, are in

31:36

and of themselves considered a type of

31:38

stalking. So, when we keep that

31:40

in mind, when we consider that someone may

31:42

in fact have been stalked prior to their

31:45

murder, well, it's concerning. I

31:47

don't know who was harassing Diana over

31:49

the phone, but I certainly hope that

31:51

investigators tracked down that information and investigated

31:53

the person or persons responsible. At

31:56

the time of this recording, 32 years

31:58

have passed since Diana was murdered. dismembered

32:00

and partially discarded in a dumpster. Many

32:03

of her family members have died without ever

32:05

seeing her killer identified or justice served, and

32:07

although her case struck fear into the hearts

32:09

of her fellow Tucson residents, for

32:11

some reason news of her tragic death

32:14

has seldom circulated beyond the city's limits.

32:16

Her killer or killers may still be alive and

32:18

may have moved on from the Tucson area. They

32:21

may be living life in a place where few,

32:23

if any, people have ever heard of Diana. They

32:26

may believe that they've outrun the consequences of

32:28

their actions, but they may be wrong about

32:30

that. If you know anything about

32:32

the death of Diana Vaccari, please call the

32:35

Tucson Police Department directly at 520-791-4444, or if

32:37

you'd prefer to submit a tip anonymously, call

32:39

520-882-7463 or

32:49

go to 88crime.org. That's

32:52

the number 88 crime.org. You

32:55

can remain totally anonymous if you wish. And

32:59

if you found this case to be of special

33:01

interest, you may want to check out our episode

33:03

on the Unsolved Homicide of Beverly J. Potter Mintz.

33:06

Her case isn't related to Diana's, but

33:08

both Diana and Beverly J. were cruelly

33:10

murdered in young adulthood and each of

33:12

them experienced harassing phone calls prior to

33:14

their deaths. We aired our episode

33:16

on Beverly J's case back in May of 2023. You

33:20

can scroll back to then in our feed to listen if you'd

33:22

like. That's all for this episode

33:24

of Lasting In Life. Thanks for listening. Make sure

33:26

to check out our website, lastinginlifepodcast.com, for photos from

33:28

the story and links to the sources we used

33:30

to write it. While you're at it,

33:32

follow us on Instagram and Twitter, at LSA Podcast.

33:36

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33:38

See you then. And if you think

33:40

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33:42

is important, please take a moment to write or

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34:00

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