0:00

Hello everyone, before we begin this episode,

0:02

I just wanted to remind you that

0:04

during the month of February, the trail

0:06

and cold is partnering with Season of

0:09

Justice, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping

0:11

families shed new light on their unsolved

0:13

cold cases. We're at the

0:15

halfway point right now and we thank you

0:17

so much for your support thus far, but

0:19

as a refresher, Season of

0:21

Justice provides grants to investigative

0:23

agencies that fund DNA testing

0:25

and forensic genetic genealogy research

0:28

to solve cold cases. Since

0:30

2020, they have raised over one million

0:33

dollars in grants for more than 140

0:35

cold cases in North America and at

0:37

the time of this recording, six of

0:39

these cases have been solved. But

0:41

they need the support of listeners like

0:44

you, which is why we're asking if

0:46

you would consider donating this month and

0:48

help bring victims' families ever so closer

0:50

to a resolution. So

0:52

to donate to Season of Justice,

0:54

please visit the website givebutter.com slash

0:58

soj underscore the trail

1:01

or text trail24 to 53555. We also have

1:03

a donate button on the Trail and

1:08

Cold's website and you'll also find links

1:10

and information about this in our show

1:12

notes and on our social media pages.

1:15

Like I just mentioned, our campaign with Season

1:17

of Justice will be lasting the entire month

1:19

of February and there will be more reminders

1:21

on our remaining episodes this month. So

1:24

thank you very much for your support and enjoy

1:26

today's episode. February

1:30

13th, 2001. Bogota,

1:32

New Jersey. The

1:35

husband of 42-year-old Patricia Viola returns home

1:37

to discover that she has vanished and

1:39

left all of her personal belongings behind.

1:43

Prior to her disappearance, Patricia had been experiencing

1:45

a lot of stress in her life and

1:48

hinted to her best friend that she had something

1:50

very important to get off her chest. One

1:53

year later, a severed foot is found washed up

1:55

on a beach 45 miles from

1:57

Patricia's residence. While DNA

1:59

tests Testing eventually confirms that the foot

2:01

belongs to Patricia, the rest of her

2:03

remains are never found, and there is

2:05

no explanation for how she died. After

2:08

that, the trail went cold. Hello

2:48

everyone, and welcome to our latest episode of

2:50

The Trail Went Cold. I'm your

2:52

host Robin Wider, and today we're

2:54

going to be exploring a case about a

2:56

missing person who was eventually confirmed to be

2:59

deceased, the unexplained 2001 death of

3:01

Patricia Viola. The

3:04

date of this particular episode's release happens

3:06

to be February the 14th, so to

3:08

commemorate the occasion, I thought I

3:11

would cover a case which took place around Valentine's

3:13

Day. This particular

3:15

story was featured on the true

3:17

crime show Disappeared, and while the

3:19

victim technically went missing on February

3:21

the 13th, the episode was titled

3:23

Missing Valentine. It

3:25

originally aired in 2011, but at

3:27

the time, no one realized that

3:30

a severed foot belonging to Patricia

3:32

Viola had actually been found 9

3:34

years earlier, and it would not

3:36

be identified via DNA testing until

3:38

the year after the episode's release.

3:41

However, since the rest of Pat's remains could

3:43

not be found, it's never been conclusively determined

3:45

how she died, or why her severed foot

3:48

wound up at a location 45 miles from

3:51

her home. Pat was

3:53

known for being a very devoted housewife and

3:55

stay-at-home mother to her two children, but

3:58

there were signs that she was becoming over-loved. overwhelmed

4:00

by all the stress and pressure in her life,

4:03

particularly since her struggles with epilepsy

4:05

had led to the temporary suspension

4:07

of her driver's license. The

4:09

night before she disappeared, Pat attended

4:11

a party at her best friend's house

4:13

where they had a tearful private conversation

4:16

in which Pat implied that she had something important

4:18

to say, but she wound up going

4:21

missing before she could provide any more

4:23

specific details. What's

4:25

particularly odd about this case is that even

4:27

though there were no signs of forced entry

4:29

at Pat's residence, the burglar alarm

4:31

had gone off hours before she vanished while

4:34

she was not at home. When

4:36

Pat returned, she reset the alarm system

4:38

before she left again, but no

4:40

one knows where she was going or what happened

4:43

to her afterwards. Even

4:45

though Pat's loved ones have always insisted that

4:47

she was not suicidal and never would have

4:49

taken her own life, we cannot

4:51

completely rule out that possibility given the

4:54

obvious stress she was experiencing at the

4:56

time. But on the

4:58

other hand, that still doesn't explain why her

5:00

severed foot washed up a great distance away

5:02

from her home. At this

5:04

point, you certainly can't rule out the

5:06

possibility of foul play, so we're going

5:08

to explore all the different scenarios on

5:10

this episode. Anyway before

5:13

we get started, just a quick reminder

5:15

that The Trail went Cold is a

5:17

weekly podcast which is currently available for

5:19

download on several platforms, including Apple Podcasts

5:22

and Spotify. So if you like

5:24

this podcast, be sure to subscribe to it, and

5:26

please leave us a rating or a review on any

5:28

of those sites to help spread the word. The

5:31

Trail went Cold is on Patreon, so if you would like

5:33

to learn how to support the show, please

5:35

visit our page at patreon.com/The

5:38

Trail went Cold. For

5:40

as little as $1 a month,

5:42

you can garner access to exclusive

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rewards, including stickers and thank you

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cards, early access to episodes, and

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bonus content, as our Patreon page

5:51

currently has over 60 exclusive bonus

5:53

episodes in our archives which are not

5:55

available on a regular feed. In

5:58

addition, I need to announce that

6:00

this coming Saturday, February the 17th,

6:03

we'll be holding one of our annual

6:05

Unsolved Mysteries Live Watch Marathons in which

6:07

I screen classic segments from the show

6:09

and you can watch them and chat

6:11

with myself and your fellow listeners. It's

6:14

taking place at 8pm Eastern Time and if you'd

6:16

like to join us, you can find the link

6:19

to our screening room and our show notes and

6:21

pinned to the top of our social media pages.

6:24

Hope to see you there! So with

6:26

all that out of the way, let's now

6:28

delve into the unexplained death of Patricia Viola.

6:49

Our story begins in 2001

6:52

in Pagoda, New Jersey. A borough located in

6:54

Bergen County only about five miles west of

6:56

New York City which has a population of

6:58

around 8,000 people. Our central figure

7:02

is 42-year-old Patricia Viola who goes by

7:04

the name Pat and lives

7:06

with her 40-year-old husband Jim Viola as well

7:09

as her two children, 13-year-old

7:11

Christine and 10-year-old Michael. The

7:14

couple have been married 14 years and

7:16

originally met when Jim got a job

7:18

as an electrical engineer at Honeywell in

7:20

Teeterboro. At the time,

7:22

Pat was working in the company's personnel

7:25

department but after she and Jim had

7:27

their first child, she decided to become

7:29

a stay-at-home mother. According

7:31

to everyone who knows her, Pat is

7:33

very devoted to her husband and children

7:35

and known for going out of her

7:37

way to make occasions like birthdays and

7:39

Christmas truly special for her family. She

7:42

has also spent the past two years

7:45

working as a volunteer librarian at her

7:47

son's school Bixby Elementary School which is

7:49

only two blocks away from her residence

7:51

on Chestnut Avenue. But

7:54

by the time the year 2000 rolled around, Pat

7:56

found herself with a lot of extra

7:59

responsibilities which included visiting and caring

8:01

for her mother-in-law, who wound up

8:03

being hospitalized due to a serious illness. In

8:06

addition, Pat's sister-in-law, Donna, experienced

8:09

a tumultuous break-up with her

8:11

boyfriend, so Pat offered to

8:13

allow Donna to move into her family's residence

8:15

and stay with them until she could get

8:17

herself back onto her feet. Ever

8:20

since the age of 12, Pat always

8:22

struggled with epilepsy, which caused

8:24

her to experience seizures about once or

8:26

twice per year. In

8:28

November of 2000, Pat suffered through a

8:31

grand mal seizure, which led to her

8:33

being hospitalized, but while she wound up

8:35

recovering, her doctor did not believe it

8:37

would be safe for her to drive, so he

8:39

recommended the suspension of Pat's license for the next

8:41

90 days while he monitored

8:43

her progress. Unfortunately, this

8:46

made it extra difficult for Pat to

8:48

accomplish such tasks as driving her children

8:50

around, shopping for Christmas presents, and visiting

8:53

her mother-in-law in the hospital. Pat's

8:56

stress level seemed to greatly increase, but by

8:58

the time February of 2001 rolled around, she

9:01

was hoping for some relief when she got her

9:03

driver's license back. But unfortunately,

9:06

when Pat went to visit her doctor

9:08

for a follow-up appointment on February the

9:10

6th, he recommended that her license

9:12

remain suspended for an additional 90 days. On

9:16

February the 12th, Pat became increasingly

9:18

agitated when she discovered that her

9:20

sister-in-law, Donna, had left some cigarette

9:22

burn marks on the guest's bedspread.

9:25

Pat really did not like smoking in her house, but

9:27

she always did her best to tolerate it, but

9:30

this made her particularly upset, since Donna

9:32

could have potentially started a fire, which

9:34

endangered her family. Pat

9:37

shared her concerns with Jim, but ultimately decided that

9:39

she would not speak to Donna about this until

9:41

the following day. That

9:43

evening, Pat and Jim traveled to Brooklyn to

9:45

attend a party, being held

9:48

by Pat's best friend, Twenette

9:50

Fazio-Marcolets. Sometime after

9:52

they arrived, Pat asked Twenette to

9:54

join her in the bedroom for a private

9:56

conversation and suddenly broke out into tears. Pat

10:00

said there was something serious that she wanted

10:02

to discuss, but when Twinnett pressed for more

10:04

details, Pat told her that the issue

10:06

was too complex to get into at the moment. However,

10:10

Pat did ask Twinnett if she could cancel

10:12

an upcoming vacation she had planned so they

10:14

could instead go away together for a few

10:16

days in order to talk. Twinnett

10:19

agreed to do this, but became more concerned when

10:22

Pat cryptically asked her to quote-unquote, take

10:24

care of her kids no matter what

10:26

happens. Unfortunately, Twinnett

10:29

never learned any further details about what was

10:31

bothering Pat before she left the party. Well,

10:34

on the morning of February the 13th, after

10:37

Jim left for work at Honeywell and her

10:39

children left for school, Pat received a phone

10:41

call at home from Twinnett. Even

10:44

though Twinnett thought Pat sounded tired, she

10:46

did not address their conversation from the

10:48

previous night and pretty much just wanted

10:50

to talk about other things. While

10:53

attending Twinnett's party, Pat had

10:55

noticed a plush toy monkey which sang

10:57

and vibrated while inside a cage. Twinnett

11:01

had gotten the monkey as a gag gift for her

11:03

husband, and since the following day

11:05

was Valentine's Day, Pat wanted to do

11:07

the same thing for Jim. Overall,

11:10

Twinnett felt that Pat's conversation with her

11:12

seemed rushed and she soon ended the

11:14

call, but this would turn out to

11:16

be the last time she ever spoke to her friend.

11:20

Well shortly thereafter, Pat decided to confront

11:22

Donna about the cigarette burns she had

11:24

left on the bedspread. According

11:27

to Donna, Pat was extremely angry

11:29

and started screaming at her, which

11:31

was very uncharacteristic of Pat's typical

11:33

behavior. Shortly

11:35

after 8.30 am, Pat left

11:37

her house to walk two blocks to Bixby

11:40

Elementary School, where she was scheduled

11:42

to spend the rest of the morning performing

11:44

her duties as a volunteer librarian. Well

11:47

shortly after Pat left, a local security

11:49

company received a signal that the burglar

11:51

alarm had gone off at the Biola

11:54

residence. They attempted to

11:56

call the house, Jim's workplace, and Pat's

11:58

cell phone, but since Pat rarely kept

12:00

her cell phone turned on, they were unable to get

12:02

a hold of anybody. However

12:04

Pat's mother, Lucille Mari, lived near the

12:06

residence and was listed as a contact,

12:08

so the company phoned her. Lucille

12:11

then called the house to check on Pat but

12:14

got no answer and left a worried message on

12:16

the answering machine. After

12:18

the Bogota Police Department were informed about what

12:20

was going on, officers stopped

12:22

by the Viola residence to perform a

12:24

sweep around the exterior of the house

12:27

and checked her windows but did not

12:29

notice anything unusual. We

12:31

still don't know the exact reason the alarm went

12:33

off but it may have been triggered when

12:35

Pat forgot to completely close the door when

12:37

she left. Whatever the

12:39

case, Pat spent the morning working at the

12:42

school library while all of this was taking

12:44

place and while everyone who interacted with Pat

12:46

felt that she seemed quieter than usual, they

12:49

did not notice anything wrong with her. Pat

12:52

left the school at around 11.40 am

12:54

to walk home and a crossing guard and

12:56

a mailman would later recall having seen her.

13:00

It was established that Pat did arrive at

13:02

her house because she phoned her mother Lucille

13:04

to let her know that she received her

13:06

message on the answering machine and assured

13:08

her that everything was fine. Lucille

13:11

would be the last known person to speak with Pat

13:13

but according to records from the security company,

13:16

Pat used the burglar alarms control panel to

13:18

perform a reset of the system at 11.11

13:20

pm. But

13:23

sometime within the next three hours,

13:25

Pat would apparently leave the house

13:28

for unknown reasons. Jimmer turned home from work

13:30

at 4.30 but was surprised to

13:32

discover that the front door was locked and burglar

13:34

alarm had been set, forcing him to

13:36

deactivate it when he went inside. He

13:39

soon noticed that Pat was not there

13:41

but even though her coat was gone,

13:44

all of her other personal belongings, including

13:46

her purse, keys, cell phone and identification,

13:48

had been left behind. Most

13:51

concerningly, Pat's epilepsy medication was

13:53

still there even though she was

13:55

required to take her medication twice per day. In

13:58

addition, a key which the family used

14:01

to lock the back door of the house

14:03

and was ordinarily lodged in the deadbolt was

14:05

now lying on the counter. At

14:07

this point, the two Viola children were at

14:10

friends' houses, so Jim left to pick them

14:12

up. He was hoping

14:14

that Pat would have returned by the time

14:16

he got back, but when she didn't, he

14:18

grew even more concerned and started calling around

14:20

to everyone he knew to see if anyone

14:22

had any idea where Pat was. For

14:25

the next several hours, Jim had no

14:27

success at locating Pat, so shortly before

14:30

midnight, he finally called the

14:32

Bogota Police Department to officially report her

14:34

missing. An extensive

14:36

search effort was launched for Pat,

14:38

which involved police performing door-to-door checks

14:40

in the surrounding neighborhoods. Since

14:42

Pat could not drive, investigators also

14:45

checked buses, taxi logs, and airline

14:47

logs to try and figure out

14:49

if she traveled anywhere, but found

14:51

nothing. A check

14:53

was performed above the local hospitals to see

14:55

if Pat had been treated for another epileptic

14:57

seizure, but while this came up empty, Jim

15:00

still wondered if Pat might have suffered from

15:02

a seizure which caused her to lose her

15:04

memory and develop amnesia. During

15:07

the early stages of the investigation, police

15:09

looked at Jim as a potential suspect, as

15:12

it turned out he had left work early on the

15:14

afternoon of February the 13th in order to purchase

15:17

some Valentine's Day gifts. Since

15:20

it happened to coincide with the time period

15:22

when Pat went missing, he was

15:24

extensively questioned by investigators, but

15:26

they were able to establish his whereabouts

15:29

that afternoon and confirm his story. Since

15:32

Jim was very cooperative and passed a

15:34

polygraph, he was ultimately ruled out as

15:36

a suspect. In later

15:38

interviews, Jim would say that the

15:40

Valentine's Day gifts that he bought for Pat

15:42

continued to remain unopened in his living room

15:45

on the chance that she might return home someday and

15:47

he could give them to her. While

15:50

Pat's loved ones insisted that she wasn't

15:53

suicidal and never would have left her

15:55

children behind, investigators could not discount that

15:57

possibility since Pat had been noticeably distressed

16:00

and depressed prior to her disappearance.

16:03

If she wanted to end her life by jumping into

16:05

a body of water, Pat could have

16:07

travelled about five miles to the George

16:09

Washington Bridge, which runs over the Hudson

16:12

River into Manhattan. However,

16:14

there were no reports of anyone having jumped off

16:16

the bridge, and no bodies turned up in the

16:18

river. Pat's friends

16:20

and family performed their own searches of

16:23

nearby businesses to see if anyone recalled

16:25

seeing her. When Twinnett

16:27

went into a nearby pharmacy, she noticed that

16:29

they were selling the singing monkey in a

16:31

cage that Pat had wanted to buy Jim

16:33

for Valentine's Day. Twinnett

16:35

decided to show Pat's photo to the

16:37

clerk, who said she did recall having

16:40

recently seen Pat in the store, but

16:42

could offer no further information. On

16:45

March the 14th, one month after

16:47

Pat originally went missing, police received

16:49

a tip from a witness who saw Pat's

16:51

photo in a newspaper, and was

16:53

certain they had seen her walking down the

16:55

street in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. Even

16:58

though East Stroudsburg was over 70 miles west

17:00

of Bogota, the Viola family

17:03

had recently purchased a timeshare

17:05

in the nearby unincorporated community of

17:07

Shawnee. This

17:09

made Jim hopeful that Pat may have decided to travel

17:11

to the area in order to get away for a

17:14

while, but a search of East Stroudsburg

17:16

failed to find any trace of her. In

17:18

early 2002, police received

17:21

a call from an anonymous male who

17:23

took responsibility for Pat's disappearance,

17:25

stating, quote, I killed the

17:27

old girl. However,

17:29

when the caller mentioned that he had Pat's

17:31

driver's license, police suspected the tip was a

17:34

hoax, since she had left her license behind

17:36

at her house. The

17:38

call was traced to Florida, and before he hung

17:40

up, the man on the phone said

17:42

he was taking a bus trip to Massachusetts, and

17:45

provided the name of a woman whom he would

17:47

be traveling with. While the

17:49

authorities coordinated to stop this bus in

17:51

North Carolina, and did find a woman

17:53

on board with the name the caller

17:55

had provided. However, it would

17:57

turn out this woman was being harassed by her

17:59

ex-boyfriend. boyfriend who had decided to

18:02

phone in a false tip and implicate

18:04

her in a missing persons investigation in

18:06

order to make her life miserable. The

18:09

investigation and the past disappearance seemed to

18:11

reach a standstill, so Jim

18:13

decided to focus his energies on attempting

18:15

to get a new law passed which

18:18

would borrow law enforcement from refusing to

18:20

accept missing persons reports. The

18:23

law would also make it mandatory

18:25

for investigators to secure DNA samples

18:27

for missing victims' family members if

18:29

they were not found within 30

18:32

days and then enter the DNA

18:34

into national databases for the purposes

18:36

of cross-checking with DNA from unidentified

18:38

remains. While in March of 2008, Jim's

18:42

efforts paid off as a bill named

18:44

after his wife called Patricia's Law was

18:46

signed into law by New Jersey Governor

18:49

John Corzine. Within

18:51

the next few years, DNA samples

18:53

were collected from past children and

18:55

entered into national databases. Tragically,

18:58

in October 2010, Pat's

19:00

mother, Lucille Mari, passed away

19:02

at the age of 88, without

19:05

ever receiving answers about what happened to her

19:07

daughter. In

19:09

October of 2011, Pat's

19:11

story was featured on an episode

19:13

of Disappeared titled, Missing Valentine. The

19:16

episode would focus on a potential foul play

19:18

angle as it turned out that three and

19:20

a half years before Pat went missing, a

19:23

triple homicide had taken place at the house

19:25

across the street from a residence on Chestnut

19:28

Avenue. The residence belonged

19:30

to a diamond dealer named Rajas

19:32

Kalseria and on October 23, 1997, Kalseria

19:36

and two of his friends, Ajitira

19:39

and Bhushan Raval, were all shot

19:41

to death execution style and

19:43

over $60,000 worth of cash,

19:45

diamonds and jewelry were stolen. However,

19:48

the crime was solved within two days

19:50

as it turned out to be a

19:53

murder for hire plot orchestrated by another

19:55

diamond merchant named Dimpy Patel, who

19:57

hired two other men named Miguel Suarez and

19:59

Richard Marquez. Morales to enter the residence

20:01

and kill the victims. A

20:04

forest suspect named Darwin Godoy functioned

20:06

as the getaway driver and remained

20:08

parked outside in their vehicle, but

20:11

the plan unraveled when an eyewitness from

20:13

the neighborhood became suspicious of the vehicle

20:15

and phoned the police. But

20:18

go to police officer James Sepp, who

20:20

would later become the lead investigator on

20:22

Pat's case, was summoned to the scene

20:24

and spoke with Darwin Godoy, who shared

20:26

a false story about having been sent

20:28

there by his brother to perform

20:30

an estimate on a garage for an

20:32

upcoming construction project. At

20:34

the time, Godoy was carrying three close

20:36

cell phones which were seized by Sepp,

20:38

who cited Godoy for a

20:40

pair of traffic violations and took down

20:42

his information before leaving the scene. Of

20:45

course, when Sepp learned that a triple

20:47

homicide had taken place in the same

20:49

neighborhood, Godoy was immediately tracked down

20:52

and taken in for questioning. He

20:55

soon confessed to his involvement in the murder for

20:57

hire plot, which led to the

20:59

arrests of Patel, Suarez and Morales. Even

21:02

though they lived in the same neighborhood, the Viola

21:04

family did not appear to have any connection to

21:07

the crime, but investigators were intrigued

21:09

by the fact that the various trials

21:11

for the four suspects just happened to

21:14

be taking place around the same time

21:16

Pat went missing. In

21:19

February of 2000, Suarez was in

21:21

the Bergen County Jail awaiting trial

21:24

when he started making incriminating statements to

21:26

other inmates about hiring a hitman

21:28

to kill witnesses who were scheduled

21:30

to testify against him. When

21:32

this information got back to the authorities,

21:35

an undercover detective went inside the jail

21:37

and posed as a hitman and

21:39

after Suarez attempted to solicit his services

21:41

to kill someone, he was charged

21:44

with an additional account of conspiracy to

21:46

commit murder. This

21:48

led to speculation that one or more of

21:50

the defendants may have believed that Pat was

21:52

an important witness in the case and arranged

21:54

to have her killed, which is why she

21:57

ended up going missing. But

21:59

in the end, No tangible link was

22:01

found between the two cases, and

22:03

Patel, Suarez, and Godoy all received

22:05

life sentences for their roles in

22:08

the murders, while Morales received a

22:10

20-year sentence for conspiracy. While

22:13

at the time the disappeared episode originally

22:15

aired, no one realized that one

22:17

of Pat's remains had already been found. On

22:20

July 27, 2002, 17

22:23

months after Pat originally went missing, a left

22:26

foot clad in a shoe and a sock

22:28

washed up on Rockaway Beach in Queens.

22:32

The beach ran alongside the Atlantic Ocean,

22:34

and the foot was found on a

22:36

stretch of beach near 123rd Street, approximately

22:39

45 miles away from the

22:41

Biola residence. Even

22:43

though police performed an extensive search, they were

22:45

unable to turn up any additional remains for

22:48

the victim, and the foot was buried in

22:50

the potters field on Hart Island, which

22:52

houses the remains for over

22:54

1 million unidentified individuals. Years

22:57

later, DNA samples taken

22:59

from the foot were entered

23:01

into the combined DNA index

23:03

system, aka CODIS, and on

23:05

September 11, 2012,

23:08

it was announced that there was a match

23:10

to the DNA which had been submitted by

23:12

Patricia Viola's children. It was

23:14

positively confirmed that the foot belonged to her

23:17

and that she was deceased. Police

23:19

soon notified Jim about the match, and

23:22

in an ironic turn of events, it

23:24

turned out that he illegally declared Pat

23:26

dead only four days beforehand. Jim

23:29

subsequently told his daughter Christine about this, but

23:32

his son Michael was in a medically induced

23:34

coma at the time since he was battling

23:36

an infection, and while he made

23:38

a full recovery, Jim had to hold off on

23:40

informing him about his mother's death. In

23:43

February of 2013, the Viola

23:46

family finally held a funeral service for Pat,

23:48

in which they were able to bury a

23:50

small container with the few remains of

23:52

her they had. Since the

23:55

rest of Pat's remains could not be found,

23:57

investigators have been unable to establish an example

23:59

of this. exact cause of death. So

24:02

after two decades, the full circumstances

24:04

of how Patricia Biola went missing

24:06

and wound up deceased remain unclear.

24:10

So I guess you could say the trail

24:12

went cold. So

24:40

looking at the history of all the missing

24:43

persons cases which have been profiled and disappeared,

24:45

many of them are still unsolved today, but

24:48

there have also been a wide variety of

24:50

resolutions. Some of these

24:52

cases have been conclusively solved, with the

24:54

victims remains being found and a suspect

24:56

being charged with murder. There

24:59

were other cases where the remains were recovered

25:01

and it was ruled that the victim either

25:03

died by suicide or exposure. How

25:05

there have even been a few cases where

25:07

it turned out that the victim disappeared voluntarily

25:10

and were still alive somewhere. But

25:12

then there are those frustrating cases where the

25:14

victims remains were found and no one knows

25:16

how they died. The

25:18

Patricia Biola case fits into that category

25:21

and is all the more frustrating because

25:23

all they have is one of her

25:25

feet. So even though her loved

25:27

ones now know for certain that she is deceased,

25:29

there's not enough evidence to conclusively

25:31

determine if her death was a

25:33

homicide, suicide or accidental. This

25:36

situation is very reminiscent of another case

25:39

I covered on the podcast last year

25:41

on episode number 312 and

25:43

that's the death of Brian Nisenfeld, an 18-year-old

25:47

university student who vanished in Rhode Island

25:49

in February of 1997, before a severed

25:51

foot was found washed up on

25:54

a beach seven months later. Much

25:56

like Patricia Biola, none of Brian's other remains

25:59

could be found. found, and

26:01

while there are compelling arguments to be made

26:03

from both sides about his death being a

26:05

homicide or suicide, there was just

26:07

not enough evidence to know for certain. However,

26:10

it must be reiterated that just because

26:12

a victim's severed foot is found does

26:15

not necessarily mean they were murdered by

26:17

someone who dismembered them, as

26:19

decomposition can cause a foot to detach

26:21

from a victim's body. As

26:24

another example of this, there's the

26:26

infamous Salish Sea Feet mystery, where

26:28

20 detached human feet, many of them

26:30

wearing shoes, have been found washed up

26:32

on the coasts of the Salish Sea

26:35

in British Columbia and Washington State. The

26:38

majority of these feet were eventually linked back

26:40

to victims who wound up in the water,

26:42

and it was determined that they died by

26:44

a suicide or accident. When

26:46

a foot detaches from the body while still

26:48

inside a shoe, much like what happened with

26:51

Pat and Brian Nisenfeld, that makes it easier

26:53

for the foot to float away and eventually

26:55

wash up on shore even if the rest

26:57

of the victim's remains are never recovered. So

27:01

yes, the discovery of Pat's severed foot

27:03

would not rule out the possibility that

27:05

her death was a suicide. I've

27:08

always felt so bad for Pat's family

27:10

as it sounds like she was a

27:12

legitimately great wife and mother and her

27:15

husband and children desperately miss her. The

27:18

Disappeared episode aired 10 years after

27:20

she originally went missing, and

27:22

it was pretty heartbreaking to see footage of

27:25

Pat's daughter Christine getting married and sharing how

27:27

sad she was that her mother couldn't be

27:29

around for her wedding. And

27:31

when Pat's official obituary was published a few

27:34

years later, it was revealed

27:36

that she now had some grandchildren whom she

27:38

never got the opportunity to meet. I

27:41

know that Jim Viola was initially considered to

27:44

be a potential suspect since he

27:46

just happened to leave work early to go

27:48

shopping on the afternoon Pat went missing, but

27:51

I can only assume that investigators were

27:53

able to account for his whereabouts in

27:55

order to conclusively rule him out. After

27:58

all, Jim is frequently stated that

28:00

the Valentine's Day gifts he purchased remained

28:02

unopened at his residence for years, so

28:05

they were obviously able to confirm that he purchased

28:07

them. And, of course,

28:09

Jim was very proactive about searching for

28:11

Pat and spreading awareness about her case,

28:14

even going so far as to getting a

28:16

bill named after her past called Patricia's Law.

28:19

I suppose it's only appropriate that this

28:22

bill made it mandatory to collect

28:24

DNA samples for missing persons' families,

28:26

because this is what ultimately led to a

28:28

partial resolution in this case. Remember,

28:32

Pat's effort was originally discovered

28:34

in 2002, but since it

28:36

took so long to enter her children's

28:39

DNA into the appropriate databases, it

28:41

was not identified for another ten years.

28:44

Now, even though Pat's loved ones went out of their

28:46

way to keep her case in the spotlight while she

28:49

was missing, I have seen virtually

28:51

no media coverage at all since her funeral

28:53

service took place in early 2013. Even

28:57

though her case technically remains open, I

29:00

can only assume there have not been any

29:02

new developments in the investigation into her death

29:04

for quite some time, so there

29:06

just isn't anything to report. Pat's

29:08

friends and family used to be very adamant

29:11

in their belief that she was not suicidal

29:13

and never would have left her children behind,

29:16

even if she was feeling seriously depressed.

29:19

I know that several years ago, shortly

29:21

after the identification of Pat's foot,

29:24

Jim appeared in a thread about this case

29:26

at the Web Sluce forum and left some

29:28

comments in which he seemed very defensive over

29:30

the idea that people would think that Pat

29:32

took her own life. Well,

29:35

with the evidence we have, we obviously

29:37

can't say with any certainty that her death

29:39

was a suicide, but the problem

29:41

is that there's no evidence to prove it wasn't

29:43

a suicide either. What

29:47

we do know is that Pat was going

29:49

through a very stressful time before she disappeared,

29:52

and almost seemed to be on the verge of a

29:54

mental breakdown. She was pretty

29:56

overwhelmed by all the responsibilities in her life, and this whole

29:58

situation was just a little bit different. was exacerbated

30:00

by the fact that her epileptic seizures

30:02

led to her driver's license being suspended

30:05

for 90 days and she

30:07

had recently been informed by her doctor that

30:09

the suspension would be extended another three months.

30:12

It sounds like Pat still attempted to put on

30:15

a happy face for her family but the night

30:17

before she went missing, she had

30:19

that private conversation with her friend

30:21

Twinnett in which she broke down

30:23

crying and indicated that something was

30:25

seriously wrong. Now on

30:27

one hand, the fact that she asked Twinnett

30:29

to cancel her planned vacation so they could

30:31

go somewhere together would not seem

30:34

to point towards Pat being suicidal. Even

30:37

if she was having suicidal thoughts, this

30:39

would indicate that Pat was at least going

30:42

to attempt to reach out for help from

30:44

Twinnett who agreed to her request. So

30:47

why wouldn't Pat have at least waited until after

30:49

she went on her trip with Twinnett? But

30:51

on the other hand, Pat also asked

30:54

Twinnett to quote-unquote take care of her

30:56

kids no matter what happens which

30:58

is a disturbing statement implying that she may

31:00

have been planning to end her own life.

31:03

Of course that statement could also be construed

31:06

as Pat believing that her life was in

31:08

danger and hoping that Twinnett would protect her

31:10

kids if she was killed but if

31:12

there was anything going on to suggest

31:14

that Pat was being targeted for murder,

31:16

investigators have never found it. Of

31:19

course when Twinnett phoned Pat the very

31:21

next morning, Pat pretty much ignored their

31:24

previous conversation and acted like everything was

31:26

fine but maybe by that point

31:28

Pat had decided she was going to end things

31:30

and was at peace with it. Now

31:33

if she was planning suicide, it's very

31:35

unusual that Pat would inquire about buying

31:37

a singing monkey for her husband as

31:39

a gag Valentine's gift since as far

31:41

as we can tell, she never bought

31:44

this monkey or stuck around for Valentine's

31:46

Day. But I've always

31:48

wondered if there might have been some symbolism

31:50

over the fact that the singing monkey was

31:52

inside a cage as if

31:55

Pat wanted to tell Jim that all

31:57

of her responsibilities as a stay-at-home housewife

31:59

and mother were making her feel

32:01

like she was trapped inside a cage. We

32:04

have one witness who thought they saw Pat

32:06

inside a pharmacy where these monkeys were sold,

32:09

but once again, we have no evidence that

32:11

she ever bought one, so this angle

32:13

may not have any significance to the case. So

32:18

one aspect of this story which does not

32:20

appear to have been fully fleshed out is

32:22

Pat's sister in law Donna, who was

32:24

staying at the Viola residence at that

32:26

time in order to recover from a

32:28

difficult breakup. After her

32:31

phone call with Twinnett, Pat reportedly

32:33

confronted Donna and had a huge meltdown

32:35

over the fact that Donna was smoking

32:37

in the house and had gotten cigarette

32:39

burns on the bedspread. According

32:41

to Jim, getting this angry was very out

32:44

of character for Pat as he claimed that

32:46

he never even heard her raise her voice

32:48

before this. Now the

32:50

disappeared episode is the only source I found

32:52

which mentions this incident with Donna as she

32:55

was not interviewed on the show and I

32:57

never seen her mentioned in any news articles

32:59

about the case. And

33:01

even though investigators have spoken about how

33:03

thoroughly they questioned Jim in order

33:06

to rule him out as a suspect, we've

33:08

never heard anything about how much Donna was

33:10

questioned or what kind of alibi she had

33:12

that day. This

33:14

has caused some online sleuths to suspect

33:17

that perhaps Donna may have even been

33:19

involved in Pat's disappearance, but

33:21

since this possibility has never been openly

33:23

pushed forward by law enforcement, I

33:25

can only assume they were able to account for

33:28

her whereabouts, as for all we know, maybe she

33:30

was at work the entire day. It

33:34

definitely sounds like Donna was no longer at the

33:36

house when the burglar alarm went off and police

33:38

stopped by there to perform a check. Now

33:41

even if Donna had nothing to do with

33:43

Pat's disappearance, you could still believe

33:45

this confrontation was Pat's breaking point, but

33:48

let's not forget that she spent the

33:50

next three hours performing her work as

33:52

a volunteer librarian at her son's school

33:54

and apparently did not give anyone else

33:56

there the impression that something was wrong.

34:00

Pat was planning suicide, you might be

34:02

wondering why she would even bother to

34:04

show up at the school but sometimes

34:06

suicidal people can be very unpredictable and

34:09

their actions don't make sense to anyone

34:11

but themselves. Pat

34:13

was described as being a very meticulous

34:15

homemaker when it came to maintaining the

34:17

household and completing all her familial responsibilities,

34:19

so she may have just held the

34:21

mindset that she didn't want to leave

34:24

the school in the lurch by not

34:26

showing up as scheduled that day even

34:28

though she had planned it to be her last day

34:30

on earth. You

34:32

do know that Pat returned home because

34:34

she spoke to her mother on the

34:36

phone and reset the alarm system at

34:38

1.11pm but what happened to her

34:40

afterwards is anyone's guess. Perhaps

34:43

her decision to end her own life was

34:45

a completely spur of the moment thing was

34:47

just popped into her head during the sign

34:50

period. So

34:52

there's been some question about whether this burglar

34:54

alarm which went off while Pat was at

34:56

the school has any relation to what happened

34:58

to her. While her

35:00

family seems to believe that it simply went off because

35:02

she forgot to close the door all the way, there

35:05

has been speculation that someone may have attempted

35:07

to break into the house that morning and

35:09

then later return to do something to Pat.

35:13

But I don't believe they were lying and waiting for

35:15

her to come back because we know that Pat was

35:17

at home for at least an hour and a half

35:19

before she left again and when she spoke to her

35:21

mother on the phone she did not act like anything

35:23

was out of the ordinary. There

35:26

were also no signs of forced entry at

35:28

the residence and if someone abducted Pat from

35:30

there, I'm not sure why they would

35:32

have had to reset the system and activate the

35:34

alarm. Overall I am inclined

35:36

to believe that the situation with the

35:38

alarm was just a coincidence and if

35:40

Pat did not close the door properly,

35:43

that could be another sign that her mind was

35:45

elsewhere that day. Now

35:47

the only scenario which has been pushed

35:49

forward as a possible reason for someone

35:51

wanting Pat dead is the

35:53

fact that a triple homicide took place at

35:55

the house directly across the street from the

35:58

Viola residence in October of 19... Granted,

36:02

it is unusual that two separate cases

36:04

like this would take place so close

36:06

to each other on the same street

36:08

in a seemingly safe neighborhood in Magoda,

36:11

which is not known for having a particularly

36:13

high crime rate. But

36:15

I think that trying to link these cases

36:17

together is a major stretch. Now,

36:20

it is true that while he was in jail

36:22

awaiting trial, one of the perpetrators,

36:24

Miguel Suarez, tried to hire

36:26

a hitman to kill witnesses who were scheduled

36:29

to testify against him at trial, but

36:31

this was an entire year before Pat

36:33

went missing. And

36:35

the key word here is testify as

36:38

Pat never appeared at any of these

36:40

trials, so what reason would there be

36:42

to order a hit on her? The

36:45

reason this murder plot unraveled is because

36:47

a witness had called the police to

36:49

report a suspicious looking vehicle in the

36:51

neighborhood, but while I'm not sure who this

36:53

witness was, their call prompted

36:55

Officer James Sepp to arrive at the

36:58

scene and speak directly with the getaway

37:00

driver, Darwin Godoy. Given

37:02

that Sepp himself would place Godoy near the

37:05

side of the homicide, eliminating

37:07

the witness who phoned in the tip would

37:09

not make any difference. So

37:11

unless some major miscommunication occurred and

37:14

someone killed Pat because they mistook her

37:16

for another witness from one of the

37:18

trials, I see no reason to

37:20

believe her case is connected to this one. So

37:25

if you discount this whole angle involving

37:27

the triple homicide, what mode of

37:29

what anyone else have to kill Pat? I

37:32

guess an alternate possibility is that after leaving her

37:34

house shortly after 1 p.m. Pat

37:36

wound up crossing paths with someone who wound

37:38

up abducting and killing her, but

37:40

that still doesn't explain why she left the house

37:43

to begin with. I

37:45

guess it is possible that Pat may have

37:47

planned to walk to that nearby pharmacy in

37:49

order to pick up the singing monkey as

37:51

Jim's Valentine's gift. If so,

37:54

I'm not sure why Pat would leave her purse

37:56

behind, but to be fair, we have

37:58

no idea if she might have taken some cash out. of

38:00

the purse to make the purchase. But

38:02

I am inclined to believe that the clerk

38:04

at the pharmacy may have simply mistaken another

38:06

woman for Pat, or they saw

38:08

Pat there on a previous date prior to

38:10

her disappearance. Even

38:13

if Pat just wanted to make a quick

38:15

trip that day, it's odd that she would

38:17

not take her epilepsy medication with her, considering

38:19

that she was only three months removed

38:22

from having suffered a terrifying seizure. So

38:25

leaving the medication behind could be one

38:27

sign which might point towards Pat having

38:29

no intention of ever coming back. In

38:33

fact, I have to wonder if taking this medication

38:35

may have had a very negative effect on Pat's

38:37

mood and caused her to become

38:39

so anxious and depressed that she eventually

38:42

reached the point where she contemplated suicide.

38:45

Of course, since her severed foot was eventually

38:47

found washed up on a beach, the

38:49

only method of suicide which would make any

38:51

sense is if she jumped from a high

38:53

place into a body of water. However,

38:56

trying to figure out how she would have

38:58

traveled to this location is another matter since

39:00

she did not have access to a vehicle at this

39:03

point, and a check of all

39:05

buses and taxi logs from the area failed

39:07

to turn up any evidence that Pat traveled

39:09

anywhere. In fact, other

39:11

than the sighting of Pat in the pharmacy and

39:14

the one from East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, which

39:16

I'm 100% sure was

39:18

completely mistaken, it is

39:20

surprising that there don't appear to be any

39:22

other witnesses who recall having seen Pat after

39:24

she left her house that day. While

39:27

her foot was found 45 miles from

39:29

her residence, it easily could

39:31

have floated there from another faraway

39:33

destination. The most

39:36

obvious location for a suicide would

39:38

be the George Washington Bridge which

39:40

connects Bogota to Manhattan and runs

39:42

over the Hudson River. If

39:45

the river was flowing south, then theoretically,

39:48

Pat's foot could have become detached from the

39:50

rest of her body and reached the Atlantic

39:52

Ocean and traveled east before it washed up

39:54

on Rockaway Beach. However,

39:57

the bridge was about five miles east from

39:59

Pat's residence. and would have

40:01

taken her about two and a half

40:03

hours to walk there, and could she

40:05

have managed to jump from this heavily

40:07

traveled bridge without anyone seeing anything? Another

40:11

possibility pushed forward on the disappeared episode

40:13

is that Pat could have visited Palisades

40:15

Interstate Park and jump from the top

40:17

of one of the cliffs there into

40:19

the Hudson River, but that's

40:21

over 10 miles northeast of her residence.

40:24

I guess it's also possible that Pat could have

40:26

jumped into the Hackensack River, which is much closer

40:28

to her home. The river

40:31

empties into Newark Bay, which is a back

40:33

chamber of New York Harbor, but

40:35

could her foot have floated all the way to the

40:37

spot where it was found? Overall,

40:40

I personally lean towards suicide due

40:42

largely to Pat's troubled behavior prior

40:45

to her disappearance, but I

40:47

certainly don't rule out the idea of

40:49

homicide either. I

40:51

guess we also can't completely discount the

40:53

possibility that Pat died accidentally, but that

40:55

wouldn't answer the question about why she

40:57

traveled to a spot near the water

41:00

to begin with. There

41:02

isn't any hard evidence pointing towards

41:04

any particular scenario because after Pat

41:06

left her residence, it's almost like

41:08

she just vanished into thin air.

41:12

I can understand why this is a major

41:14

dilemma for Pat's loved ones because if her

41:16

death was a suicide, there's no

41:18

way they can ever know for certain unless

41:20

the rest of her remains surface someday, and

41:23

they offered more concrete evidence of how she

41:25

died. In cases like

41:27

this, I know why a victim's family leads

41:30

towards a foul play scenario because

41:32

while I'm sure it's not comforting to believe

41:34

there's a killer out there somewhere who's never

41:36

been caught, at least it

41:38

would mean there's still a chance of learning the full

41:40

truth about the victim's death. I

41:43

hope that Jim and his children have

41:45

at least attained some peace because while

41:47

receiving confirmation that Pat was deceased must

41:49

have been a traumatic event. I'm

41:52

sure it would still be a lot worse for them if

41:54

she was still missing today and they

41:56

had no idea where she was. But

41:58

if the police investigation remains open,

42:00

at least there might be a chance

42:02

that someone might provide the answer someday.

42:06

So if you happen to have any information

42:08

about the death of Patricia Viola, please

42:10

contact the Pagoda Police Department at 201-487-2400.

42:12

That's 201-487-2400. But

42:21

if you just have your own thoughts about

42:23

what happened, feel free to leave me a

42:25

comment or send me an email to robin.warder

42:28

at icloud.com. That's robin.warder

42:30

at icloud.com. We

42:33

also wanted to once again remind everyone

42:35

that during the month of February, The

42:37

Trail When Cold is teaming with a

42:39

non-profit organization called Season of Justice, which

42:41

raises money for the families of cold

42:44

case victims by helping spread awareness and

42:46

attempting to fund such initiatives as DNA

42:48

testing. If you would like

42:50

to make a donation to Season of Justice, all

42:52

the information about them is listed in our show

42:54

notes and on our social media pages, but

42:57

you can donate by

42:59

visiting the link givebutter.com/SOJ

43:02

underscore The Trail or by clicking the

43:04

donate button on our website or texting

43:06

trail24 to 53 555.

43:11

That's givebutter.com/SOJ underscore

43:13

The Trail or

43:16

you can text trail24 to 53 555, or

43:20

you can use the donate button on our website. Another

43:23

reminder we have is that this coming

43:25

Saturday, February the 17th at 8 p.m.

43:27

Eastern Time, we'll be holding one

43:29

of our annual Unsolved Mysteries Live Watch Marathons

43:32

in which I screen classic segments from the

43:34

show, and you can watch them and chat

43:36

with myself and your fellow listeners. If

43:39

you'd like to join us, you can find the link

43:41

to our screening room in our show notes and pinned

43:43

at the top of our social media pages. Once

43:46

again, it's taking place this coming Saturday

43:48

at 8 p.m. Eastern Time, and we

43:50

hope to see you there. Another Reminder

43:52

that The Trail Went Cold is on

43:54

Patreon, So please visit patreon.com/the Trail Went

43:56

Cold to learn how you can support

43:59

our podcast. And become eligible for

44:01

some pretty neat roars. Over.

44:03

The past six years are patriot

44:05

on pages release nearly seventy exclusive

44:07

bonus episodes which are all currently

44:09

available and archive for our patrons

44:12

in tears. Two and Three. This

44:14

past month I released in episode about

44:17

a very memorable case from Unsolved Mysteries.

44:19

The. Disappearance of wanted fugitive Randall Utter Back,

44:22

who has not been seen since he

44:24

broke out of jail nearly thirty years

44:26

ago. I've also dropped

44:28

an exclusive bonus episode from I Spit

44:30

our podcast, The Pathway Chile and which

44:32

myself am I to cohosts shoes and

44:34

Ashley. Cover. Another memorable case

44:37

from unsolved mysteries. The. Nike

44:39

for murder a more A status. And

44:42

for our patrons, the Tier Three, I've

44:44

recorded another new audio commentary track which

44:46

can be played over a classic episode

44:49

of Unsolved Mysteries, and we now have

44:51

nearly sixty Be commentary tracks and archives.

44:53

I don't like to give a shadow

44:55

to her most recent listeners who have

44:57

signed up with us on Patreon this

44:59

week and they are Michelle Wu, Sean

45:02

Be, and Elizabeth M. W. Thank.

45:04

You all so much for your support. Have

45:06

a five in this episode to a close. I'd

45:08

like to play a promo for another podcast. Mystery.

45:11

Incorporated. These

45:15

things yourself captivated by

45:17

the inexplicable entranced by

45:19

next month and tantalize

45:22

that he and. We're

45:26

saying And Josh Waters Brothers who

45:28

will we view through tales that

45:30

have mystified us for years? From

45:34

haunted hotel to and explicable

45:36

disappearances. Hour episodes offered you

45:39

a panoramic view of the

45:41

world's greatest mysteries weaving no

45:43

stone. Unturned, no clue or

45:46

noticed with a gripping narrative we

45:48

invite you to join us on

45:50

a journey into rounds of the

45:53

unexplained. Or unraveling the

45:55

mysteries that are perplexed. Humanity

45:57

for ages. So.

46:00

I'm also excited to announce that The

46:02

Trail When Cold will be returning again

46:04

to the True Crime

46:28

Podcast Festival this year, which is

46:30

being held at the Denver Marriott

46:32

Westman's during Colorado from July 12th

46:34

to the 14th. If

46:37

you would like to purchase tickets,

46:39

we have a discount code for

46:41

15% off, so please visit truecrimepodcastfestival.com

46:43

and enter the promo code TRAIL.

46:46

Once again, that's truecrimepodcastfestival.com and

46:49

the promo code is TRAIL

46:51

for 15% off tickets. I

46:54

just wanted to give another shout out to

46:56

my supporters at the Unsolved Mysteries message board

46:59

at the sitcomsonline forum and the Unresolved Mysteries

47:01

subreddit. I need to provide a big

47:03

thanks to Miguel Foote, who edits and assembles this podcast

47:05

together for me, and Vince Nitro, who

47:07

composes the year in music he hears on every

47:09

episode. If you haven't already,

47:12

you can like us on Facebook, follow us

47:14

on Twitter and Instagram, or leave us a

47:16

rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

47:19

Anyway, we've reached that time of year again. Next

47:22

week will mark a very special occasion

47:25

for The Trail Went Cold, as our

47:27

podcast will officially be reaching its 8

47:29

year anniversary. And to commemorate

47:31

the occasion, we will be exploring one

47:33

of the most famous cases from our

47:35

podcast, Home Country of Canada, which

47:38

will necessitate the release of another

47:40

two part episode. So have

47:42

yourselves a good week and join us

47:44

next Wednesday for part one of our

47:47

special anniversary edition of The Trail Went

47:49

Cold. Thanks

47:54

for watching.