Latest / The Path Went Chilly / Su Taraskiewicz Pt. Two

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Su Taraskiewicz Pt. Two · The Path Went Chilly

0:30
Welcome back to the path Wind Chili for part two of our coverage on the
0:34
murder of Sue Trascowitz. Robin, do you want to catch us up on
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what we were talking about last week? Well, Sue Trascowitz was twenty seven
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years old and was employed Logan International Airport for Northwest Airlines as a baggage handler,
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and she was pretty much a trailblazer in her mail dominated industry because she
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was the first woman to every promoted to her current position of ramp supervisor.
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One night, she was working the grave yard shift and told the employees that
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she was going out to buy sandwiches for all of them, but for some
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reason, she never came back, and the employees did not contact the police
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and actually punched her time card for in order to cover for and she was
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a missing person for the next thirty six hours. But then they found her
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stabbed to death inside the trunk of her own car, which was parked outside
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an auto shop located away from the airport. They had no leads on the
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case for over a year, but then Sue's mother, Marlene, looked inside
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her daughter's diary and discovered that she had written a whole bunch of entries about
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dealing with sexual harassment in the workplace for years by a bunch of mail co
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workers who did not like the idea of having a woman in such a prominent
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position, And even though Sue complained to her union and to the higher ups,
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they never did anything about it, and she wound up receiving death threats
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and they figured that there was a connection between this and her murder. But
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as the years went on, they uncovered another potential motive for Sue's murder,
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as it turned out that a credit card theft ring had been going on at
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the airport during that time period, and that some of the baggage handlers who
2:00
worked under Sue were involved and wound up getting arrested and doing prison time.
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One of them was a man named Joseph Nuzo, who had been harassing Sue
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for years and was the ring leader behind this credit card scam, and the
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other was a guy named Bobby Brooks, who she had had a brief affair
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with but became increasingly hostile towards Sue when their relationship didn't go anywhere. And
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even though it was determined that Sue had no knowledge or involvement in this credit
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card ring, it seemed that Joseph Nuzo believed that she did and may have
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snitched her out to the authorities. So this has been looked at as a
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potential motive for her murder, but they've never been able to uncover any conclusive
2:38
evidence of who actually killed Sue, so the case remains unsolved over thirty years
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later. So this is a pretty horrible story about a good person who did
2:49
not deserve all the horrible things which happened to her. Out of all the
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victims we featured on the Path when Chili, Sue to Asqwitz is definitely one
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of the strongest and most admirable. This is a woman who decided to enter
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an industry where females were not welcome and had to suffer through years of brutal
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harassment. But in spite of this, she persevered and still managed to climb
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the ladder and get promoted to a position which no woman had ever held in
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the history of that company. I think that says a lot about the quality
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of Sue's work, considering how many people there were looking to undermine her at
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every opportunity. When she was wrongfully passed over for the promotion, Sue decided
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to file a grievance in order to obtain it, even though she must have
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known there would be a tremendous backlash to this, and after everything Sue went
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through, no one would have blamed her if she decided to quit, but
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she held her ground because she believed that walking away would only make things more
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difficult for other women who doubt with the same trauma. I think that says
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an awful lot about her character. Oh, it speaks volumes. It's also
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incredibly crazy because that type of discipline, that type of willingness to fight for
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her career, for fellow women, and her play of employment, like she
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had a lot of respect for what she was doing and expected everyone around her
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to work equally as hard and held them accountable for their behaviors. And so
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I think that painted a massive target on her back. But for anyone who
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cared about Sue, that discipline, that character that she presented with on a
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daily basis, wouldn't that be the reason why when she goes for a food
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run two hours into her shift for her crew and never comes back. Wouldn't
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that be enough for people to go what happened? And instead they quietly clogged
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her out six hours later, went about their business, and it would be
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thirty six hours until somebody said, what happened to Sue? Oh wait,
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we found her body? Right? Like? What in the heck was going
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through these people's heads. It's very hard to think that that entire crew was
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involved with this. It just doesn't seem plausible. But not a single soul
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said, hey, let's say we clock her out and we save her.
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We're in because this is out of her character. I don't want her to
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get in trouble. Wouldn't You would follow up, You'd call her family,
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you would go to her house, you would call some coworkers and be like,
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hey man, anybody heard from Sue. It seems like no one cared
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enough about her, so why would they cover for her? Just said a
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weird thing, like I think these people, probably, even if they weren't
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directly involved in the murder, may have had a good idea what happened to
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her and knew that something was going down, and they probably feared that if
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we interfere with this or contact the police, there's going to be retaliation against
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us. Or maybe they were just all lousy people who just did not care
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about her and were just going about their business and had no concern for a
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well being, and who knows, it could have been like new Zo or
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Brooks or something spoke up and was like, don't worry, like I'll take
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care of it. I'll talk about it with supervisors or whatever to the people
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that maybe weren't directly involved or didn't have direct knowledge. But it still does
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seem confounding that nobody would follow up after all that time, when we know
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that she's ever missed a shift. It's just mind blowing the fact that so
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much time went by before authorities were notified and that the family were like when
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they called police, oh yeah, we found her body. Cool? Did
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anybody try to contact us? Right? Was that your next port of call?
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Were you going to do that? Ever? And the other thing that
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you got to think about too, It's like, it's one of two things
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that could have happened with our coworkers. It's this idea that you know,
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maybe everyone thought someone else was gonna speak up. Everyone thought someone else was
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going to do the follow up. That's possible because it's easier to put responsibility
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on other people are assume something's going to be handled, But it also could
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be this idea of like I've seen this and I've lived this, where people
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who you put your neck out for, people that really you think would be
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standing next to you on the front lines, are the ones who turned their
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back the quickest because they're trying to protect their own career, they're trying to
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protect their own reputation, they're trying to protect the target on their own back.
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And so it's sad because, like it's impossible to know what was going
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on inside the department, but we know that Sue was enduring so much.
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She had not only been sexually harassed, but now she was being physically threatened.
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And then Robin, you started to tell us about this credit card scheme
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that went down, and that's adds another layer where everyone thought she was a
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snitch. So there's so many directions you could almost go with this that it
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becomes very complicated. But there's so many directions in this tiny social group,
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this tiny employment group. How are we talking about an unsolved murder here?
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It's it's very complex. This was just a coincidence, but Robin's original Trailink
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cold episode came out over a month before the hashtag me too movement started,
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in which many people publicized their own personal experiences with sexual abuse and sexual harassment.
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That movement is certainly relevant to Sue's case, and unfortunately, back in
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the late nineteen eighties in early nineteen nineties, the misogynistic culture at Northwest Airlines
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was so toxic that Sue really didn't have many options. Unfortunately, Northwest dropped
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the ball in a huge way when it came to dealing with this whole situation.
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We mentioned in our last episode that one of Sue's worst tormentors was a
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baggage handler named Joseph Nuzo, whom Sue filed the complaint against even though he
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was initially fired. What does it say about Northwest that they would allow him
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to come back six months later under the so called last chance policy and he
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wound up masterminding a credit card ring right under their noses. Things never should
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have gotten to this point. No, definitely not. I mean this idea
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that you can continuously cause a problem, right, you can harass somebody,
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you can physically fight somebody, you can call people derogatory terms, and guess
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what, you can also run a federal credit card ring and we're just going
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to keep giving you you that that last chance the last chance policy. No,
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baby, when you mess up, you know, one, two,
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three strikes, you're out. What is last chanceman Like people become too much
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of a liability for the safety of others at some point. And that's the
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thing with Sue is that she was in the opposite position where she felt she
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had to be walking on eggshells her entire tenure there because she had this mentality,
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if I make one mistake, there are people who hate me here so
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much that they will use it as an excuse to get rid of me.
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So that's why she always had to do like a perfect job, never miss
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shifts, never make any serious errors, because she knew that people just wandered
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her out of there so badly, whereas someone like Joseph Nuzo could screw up
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so many times and get a last chance policy because he was a male.
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I think the most unsettling thing about this murder is that it seems like there
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are quite a few people who knew the full truth about what happened, but
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if states silent. When Marlene Tarascoitz was interviewed during the Unsawved Mystery segment back
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in nineteen ninety five, she said, quote, it's been three years now
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and i'll we need is for someone to come forward. So it's awfully said
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that during the last several years, Marley has appeared in numerous YouTube videos in
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order to issue public please for information, and it's pretty much kept stating the
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exact same thing, except that instead of saying it's been three years, the
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number keeps increasing to twenty five years and now thirty years. Oh, it's
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pitiful. You have this poor mom who's sitting there saying, I'm going to
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continue to fight. I'm a fighter, Sue. As a fighter, we're
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going to continue to fight. You would think after thirty one years now at
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this point that whatever obligation you felt, whatever career you felt you were defending,
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whatever person you thought you were protecting, is it really worth it.
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Like a lot of these people would be aging out of their careers, they'd
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be retired, they'd be living their life, and they probably don't have the
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same connections to some odd coworker that they worked with, like no one has
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any information thirty one years later. Maybe they're worried about their own complicity in
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the crime and perhaps how it would make them look to come forward, or
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if there could be some type of charges it could be levied against them for
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coming forward. I mean, there could be a multitude of reasons, but
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you would think that if somebody wasn't directly involved, that their guilt would get
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the best of them, especially knowing how tirelessly the Tuascoit's family, Marlene in
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particular, has been really pushing to find out what happened to her daughter.
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But just nobody coming forward is kind of shicking because it feels like multiple people
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know what happened here. Well, you know how you could avoid getting in
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trouble on this case. You go and you create a federal you commit a
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federal crime, you turn on your co collaborator, and you make a plea
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deal that says, oh, yeah, all the people I murdered and helped
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murder, if you could just knock those off and not charge me with those
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or ask me any more questions because it hurts my feelings, that'd be fantastic.
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And then this prosecutor would be like, that sounds great, let me
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go ahead and excuse you or any questioning for future murderers, right. That's
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I mean, that's what they did in this case. Bobby had contact with
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new Zo the night or the month before Sue's murdered. The night that she's
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murdered, he's talking to new Zo. He lies about where he was,
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he lies about his phone records, and then when he gets caught up in
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that credit card ring, he makes a plea deal that says, hey,
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i'll talk to you and i'll turn on new Zo, but don't ever ask
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me any more questions about this murder. Okay, But no, he'd already
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done the plea deal prior to that. This was thrown in after the fact
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when he violated his parole from that original plea What yes, why they didn't
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have They didn't have to do it. That's why it's so confusing. No,
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you said this is the most rage inducing. Now I'm really mad.
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Now I'm going on. What it wasn't even the original plea deal to get
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information? No, No, it wasn't like they only got it for the
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credit card ring. And then a couple of years later he was caught lying
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and he got it. He didn't even need to get a plea deal.
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They had him dead to rights, yet he still got this deal where he
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didn't have to be questioned about Sue's murder. Un freaking believable. Okay,
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I just imagine you're someone else who has information about this case, and you
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hear about that that he gets to like this free ride where he doesn't have
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to talk about the crime. You're going to be more reluctant to come forward
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knowing that the that the cops are pretty much giving like a free pass to
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someone who may have direct knowledge and complicity in the murder. WHOA, what
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would happen? What would happen if someone came forward with evidence against him?
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I'm assuming at that point that plea deal's off the table because now I have
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physical evidence or eyewitness evidence or something that you were involved. Oh, bring
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charges against him, but they can't ask him any questions. Yeah, maybe
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that's it. Yes, where it's like they can charge him, they just
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can't question them. So yeah, I think if there was evidence which implicated
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them, they could charge him, but they just can't ask him anything.
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But oh, my lord, will that all makes perfect sense? Okay?
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Keep going. Quite simply, the wall of silence surrounding Sue's murder is pretty
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disturbing, given that she was killed while going on a food run in the
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middle of the night. I guess it's not completely impossible that after leaving the
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airport. She could have crossed paths with a random stranger who killed her,
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and her death had nothing to do with anything going on at her workplace.
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But given the circumstances, I find that highly doubtful. It's quite unsettling that
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Sue could disappear while in the midst of working a shift, get nobody made
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any attempt to report her missing for thirty six hours. It would be one
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thing if Sue told her co workers that she was leaving for a while to
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take care of some personal business and then didn't return, but she was going
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up to buy sandwiches and took orders from everyone. Did none of them find
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it suspicious that Sue did not return with their food? Like? Were they
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not hungry? Like I'm hungry. I waited six hours, and then I
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clocked her out because you didn't show back up with my food. I'd be
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so mad I wouldn't help you at that point. It's weird because, like
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you said, there's such a different circumstance. If Sue quietly slipped out,
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no one noticed she was gone. She's a supervisor. She ran off to
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me with her boyfriend. She ran off to go do something else, right,
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and she just wasn't there when you clocked out. This is someone going,
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hi, everyone, Sue here, I'm going to run that favorite sandwich
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shop. Everybody has right down your order. I'll be back shortly. And
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she leaves announcing that not only is she going somewhere and we'll be back,
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but she's bringing things back that people are waiting for. So how did you
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sit there for six hours and wonder where this twenty seven year old kid was?
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You know, you know there's grown fifty year old people sitting there waiting
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for their sandwich. No one wondered where she was. The highlight of their
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day is probably their meatball, hogi or whatever they're getting. And so the
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idea that they're having to go without food for a meal, they would all
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be talking about Sue and where she was if they didn't already know what was
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happening. So the idea that nobody pushed this further because you could imagine that
16:03
they would be irritated too if they didn't know that student been murdered or that
16:08
like harm had befallen her. They'd be like, oh that you know,
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b word, she hasn't brought our food back. I'm starving. She promised
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this to us, you know, it would be like a huge topic of
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conversation. So the fact that the higher ups weren't made aware of this and
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that somebody then after she's decided not to feed you, she hasn't returned with
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your food, but you're then going to try to cover for her by punching
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her time card right when everyone has a problem with her anyway. Yeah,
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all right, guys. And not only did Sue's co workers downplay the fact
16:40
that she failed to return with her food orders, but they also responded by
16:44
punching her time card in her absence to make it look like she worked the
16:47
rest of her shift, And when she failed to show up for her next
16:49
shift, they did the exact same thing. I know. They claimed this
16:52
was done to cover for Sue so she wouldn't get into trouble, but I
16:56
don't buy this at all. By all accounts, this was very uncare hecteristic
17:00
behavior for her, and she had never slacked off from work like that before,
17:03
so the whole situation should erased some red flags immediately. In addition,
17:07
Sue had been scheduled to attend a baby shower with some co workers that took
17:11
place between her two shifts on September the thirteenth, but even though Sue never
17:15
showed up for that, no one made any attempt to report her missing.
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Oh my gosh, I mean this is the second time. I'm like,
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hi, Sue here, going to get our sandwiches and oh yeah, remember
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hey it's Sue. I'm going to be at the baby shower later and then
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I gotta go back to work. No one is looking around saying, hey,
17:33
guys, anyone seeing Sue. Hey, you know, Sue wasn't at
17:37
work last night either. She didn't come back. Oh yeah, she's also
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not at this baby shower with us. Like it just keeps getting to this
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point and again, remember mom shows up at the police station to eventually report
17:47
her missing, and they're like, oh, yeah, I know, we
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found her body. It's like, wait, what where's the communication here?
17:52
Where is anyone really prioritizing the fact that poor Sue's missing? And then Sue's
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discovered Like this almost seems like a really bad beaut level film. It seems
18:06
like no one raised any concern at all until one of Sue's coworkers called her
18:10
sister, Debbie on the morning of September fourteenth, but by that point,
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Sue had been missing for thirty six hours, and it doesn't look like any
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of the co workers wanted to take the initiative to contact the police themselves,
18:22
which is why they contacted her family instead. Sue did have some supporters at
18:27
Northwest, and not all of the employees there hated her, But the problem
18:33
is that the employees who did hate her really hated her. Given all the
18:37
hostility which was caused by Sue's promotion to ramp supervisor and the amount of men
18:41
who were just appalled by the idea of having to take orders from a woman,
18:45
I'm sure some of them would have jumped on any opportunity to report her
18:49
insubordination to management. So if Sue just left in the middle of a shift
18:55
and didn't come back, and then proceeded to no show her next shift without
18:59
explanation, there's no way anyone would have attempted to cover for her by punishing
19:03
her time card, or at least one of them would have taken that opportunity
19:07
to be like, oh, yeah, let's cover for her. Hey,
19:10
boss, By the way, that Sue the you promoted over me, Oh
19:12
that Sue that demands us around the sioux that makes all these false claims against
19:17
us and harasses us and mistreats us. She didn't come back to work tonight.
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Like I just feel like one of them would have said, hey,
19:26
let me, I'm gonna rat her out. Everyone covered for her. Everyone
19:30
just went along with the fact that she didn't show up. No one was
19:33
concerned that she wasn't in the baby shower. I mean, like you said,
19:36
Jules, I think not even just to help her. I think someone
19:37
would want to actively hurt her because Sue doesn't hesitate to go to authorities to
19:44
say, hey, we have a problem, So why wouldn't they take this
19:48
one chance to say, this is our chance to make a report against Sue.
19:51
Ha. No one did. Yes, it definitely sounds like there was
19:56
a calculated cover up amongst Sue's co workers to explain raps. And while I'm
20:00
willing to believe that not all of them were actually complicit in the cover up,
20:03
they were probably frightened his staying silence. This is the main reason why
20:07
it's shocking that Sue's murder has remained unsaw for thirty years. There have to
20:11
be multiple people who know exactly what happened to her, and some of them
20:15
probably do feel guilt or remorse about it, but they are still afraid to
20:18
come forward. Absolutely, I mean it has to be that there's a very
20:22
very very small chance Sue walked out to her car and was apprehended by a
20:30
stranger who wanted to just kill her and put her in the trunk. It
20:33
seems like there's got to be so much more to the case. Was her
20:37
car ever moved from where she parked for work, it was because she was
20:41
found in the trunk of her own car, So I don't know if she
20:45
was confronted in the parking lot or if she drove somewhere to be killed.
20:48
But whoever did it put her inside her own trunk, And was she in
20:51
the parking lot where she normally parks, or she had actually her car was
20:53
moved, We don't have that information, Like we don't know what Sue did
20:57
when she took everyone's order and left the ramps, so I don't know if
21:02
she got into her car and drove away. But the car was found in
21:04
the parking lot and auto body shops, so even if she was killed in
21:07
the parking lot, someone went to the trouble of moving it there. Okay,
21:11
So the car was definitely moved and do we know like was she assaulted,
21:14
do we know anything to that extent or how she was murdered like she
21:18
was stabbed. She was stabbed several times. No sexual assault, but it
21:22
looked like a crime of rage from someone who hated her. Yeah, stabbed
21:26
multiple times, definitely screamed. It's intimate, it's personal, it's revenge,
21:30
and it's so up close and personal with her. It would make a lot
21:37
of sense that as somebody that not only knew her, but that had this
21:40
idea of I want you to hurt, like I want to make sure I
21:42
see the control I have over you at this point, so, it seems
21:48
pretty clear that Sue's murder was somehow connected to issues at her workplace. But
21:52
the big question is was the motive related to her sexual harassment or the stolen
21:57
credit card ring. Well, both of them are distinct possibilities, But Sue
22:03
had already been harassed NonStop for years and had her life threatened on several occasions.
22:08
Well, I'm sure it was a personal hell for her. It doesn't
22:11
look like anyone actually followed through on their death threats yet, only one month
22:17
after subpoenas are handed down, in the credit card investigation, Sue wound up
22:21
being murdered. I just don't think that's a coincidence, not to mention that
22:26
the crime took place shortly after Joseph Nuzo had his employment at Northwest terminated for
22:30
good, and after Bobby Brooks transferred to a new job in Minneapolis. As
22:36
you'll recall, in exchange for testifying against Neuzo about his role in the credit
22:41
card ring, Brooks received a limited immunity agreement and got to avoid jail time
22:45
with a sentence of three years probation. But I think it's pretty damning the
22:49
Brooks still decided to perjure himself while testifying about Sue's murder, which eventually led
22:56
to him receiving a prison sentence. Why lie about that under oath unless you
23:00
have something to hide exactly. And the reality is is that remember new Zo's
23:04
going around telling people that he got this subpoena and he's he's having to come
23:10
and testify, and he says, Sue that rat I know she's the snitch.
23:15
I know Susan one's that told on us. And there were thirty sum
23:18
on individuals eventually indicted in this credit card scam, so thirty five people and
23:26
Newso's part of it, and he's the one saying, you know who told
23:30
on us, it's that snitch Sue. And remember this is during the grand
23:34
jury and they're getting these subpoenas to come in and talk about the case.
23:40
So they're scared Sue's going to somehow become a very viable witness against them.
23:47
She had to go. So whether it's Neuzo and Brooks, someone they were
23:51
working with in this quite large credit card ring, would also have the potential
23:56
of seeing Sue as a kind of lynchpin or problem when she's in toted as
24:00
the big snitch. Oh yeah, Like, even those thirty seven people were
24:04
indicted, only ten of them were actually baggage chandlers at that airport. So
24:07
I have to assume that there were other people who involved who may have been
24:11
career criminals and may have been the ones who put this in motion, who
24:15
realized that, hey, if this woman is going to testify against us,
24:18
she has to go. So we can't even be certain that one of the
24:22
bagga chandlers committed the murder. It could have been someone that was hired by
24:25
them to kill Sue on their behalf. Wouldn't they have had to be involved
24:29
somehow and give them information about who Sue was and why she's this big problem.
24:33
Oh exactly Like, even if new Zo or Brooks didn't kill Sue herself,
24:37
I'm sure they fed like information whoever did kill her to know when she'd
24:41
be leaving and where she would be, so that they would know how to
24:45
attack her. So as a recap, when Brooks was called upon to testify
24:49
in front of a grand jury related to Sue's murder, he still maintained that
24:53
he was working in Minneapolis on the night she was killed and had no contact
24:57
with new Zo that weekend. He it's even given the chance to recant or
25:02
change his testimony while under oath, but still stuck to his original story,
25:06
and when concrete evidence was produced to show that Brooks was lying, he wound
25:10
up going to prison for fifteen months. I see no reason for Brooks to
25:12
have purgeing himself like this unless he knew something really incriminating. The investigation produced
25:18
time cards which showed that Brooke wasn't at work on the night of Sue's murder,
25:22
but it doesn't look like they uncovered any evidence that he was in Boston,
25:26
which is a long way from Minneapolis. So I'm not sure Brooks would
25:30
have participated in the actual murder, but at the very least I think he
25:33
spoke to news about it and knows what happened. Unfortunately, as part of
25:37
this plea deal, Brooks did not have to answer any further questions about Sue's
25:41
death, so that was a major blow for the investigation. It is so
25:45
infuriating. Just fine, you don't like talking about it. I don't want
25:51
to upset you. Here's a plea deal that seems really really contradictory to what
25:56
you should be doing in this case. Once you prove he had lied to
26:00
you about where he was and who he was talking to, and a girl
26:04
ends up dead, it's weak. It's so weak. Like Robin pointed out,
26:10
they held all the cards. Why did they have to make any kind
26:12
of plea deal At that point, it was like, here's the information that
26:17
you've violated the terms of your agreement, and so we should be handing down
26:21
this sentence to you type of a thing. But yet they're like, oh
26:25
no, obviously this is a pain. You don't like talking about Sue to
26:29
ask a wis so you know, just played out to this and you'll never
26:33
get asked a question about her again. Like the motivation on their part that
26:37
underlie that decision. I would love to know now Joseph Nuzo had a bigger
26:42
motive than anyone to murder Sue, as he'd held a grudge against her since
26:48
she played a role in getting him fired for six months in nineteen eighty nine,
26:52
and he was the source of some of the worst harassment that she received.
26:56
And most importantly, he seemed to think that Sue was working as an
27:00
informant for the authorities and the credit card investigation and could potentially send him to
27:04
prison. Nuso definitely sounds like the number one suspect, But what isn't so
27:10
clear is how many other people might have been involved in this murder. I
27:14
think there has to be multiple people involved. I don't think there had to
27:18
be multiple people to stab Sue. But I'm still there is a gut feeling
27:22
inside me that Sue was told by somebody, Hey, I'm really hungry.
27:29
I really wish I had Jimmy John's you know, I really wish I had
27:32
Subway right now. And She's like, I could go get everybody subway,
27:34
Like if that happened and then you picked up the phone and you called somebody
27:40
else who's waiting to see who Sue is and where she's going to be.
27:42
I could see this having multiple players waiting to figure out a way to get
27:48
Sue alone and to get rid of her so that she didn't testify as the
27:52
quote snitch, and then poor Sue's innocently functioning like, oh, the worst
27:56
problem I have is my ex boyfriend through a walkie talkie at work and people
28:02
are making dirty jokes and things like that. Well, behind her back,
28:07
everyone's saying she's a snitch, turning on you being the start witness for a
28:11
federal crime. So I think Sue has no idea, and I think that
28:15
makes her even more easy to manipulate and get her alone. So part of
28:18
me thinks it's this orchestrated plan to say, get out of here during your
28:22
shift. We're going to key people off that you're on your way to this
28:26
sandwich shop, and then we don't have to worry about you anymore. That
28:30
would make sense because Newso and Brooks were not actually working at Northwest by that
28:33
point, because Newzo have been fired and Brooks have been transferred so how would
28:37
they have known when she was going to leave the airport at what time.
28:41
So it definitely makes sense that maybe someone planted the seas that she would go
28:45
out and get sandwiches and then tip someone off to let them know she's off
28:48
the airport premises right now and you can go after her. Let's not forget
28:52
that this credit card. Let's not forget that this credit card scheme was not
28:56
just limited to ten baggage handlers at Northwest Airlines. Altogether, there were no
29:00
less than thirty five people involved, and a lot of them seemed like pretty
29:03
shady characters. As an example, there's a man named Arthur Rizzo who served
29:08
five years in prison for his involvement in this scam. In two thousand and
29:12
six, Rizzo made the news again after he was busted as part of an
29:17
identity theft ring, which involved him and his accomplices impersonating Homeland security officials and
29:22
calling up immigrants to obtain their personal information such as their credit card or social
29:27
security numbers. And while I can't one percent confirm their authenticity, I've also
29:33
read rumors online that the mob might have been involved in the stolen credit card
29:36
ring. If that was true, and Nuzzo told some higher ups and organized
29:40
crime that Sue was a quote unquote rat and responsible for the indictments which which
29:45
were about to be handed down. Then I can see a contract being put
29:48
out on her life, absolutely, and that's what you know. It's possible
29:52
that maybe no one did tip someone off, right, Maybe it was more
29:55
of like, hey, it's you know, we just got called for the
30:00
subpoenas and people are starting to testify, and rumor has it that there's some
30:04
girl named Sue here. We have a picture of her, we know who
30:07
she is. And it's possible they're waiting in the parking lot because they know
30:11
she's at work and they're just waiting for her to leave. It. It
30:15
just so happens to be one am and not the seven am clock out.
30:18
But it's possible no one else in the airport at the time was the person
30:22
tipping them off, which is why no one was really on guard at the
30:26
time. But something bigger was happening here. Somebody's waiting to get rid of
30:32
Sue. I think for bigger reasons than sexual harassment. See these names Neuzo
30:37
and Rizzo. I guess you just can't trust anyone whose last name ends with
30:41
two z's in an Oh, It's possible Neuzo did not actually commit the murder
30:47
himself, and that a professional was assigned to kill Sue. But then again,
30:52
I think a contract killer would have simply shot her and not gone through
30:56
the trouble of beating and stabbing her several times. The violent nature sure this
31:00
crime suggested a more personal killing. I've always wondered why the killer didn't decide
31:04
to murder Sue while she was off duty, because luring her to her death
31:08
in the middle of a shift is going to attract a lot of attention.
31:12
However, that might have been their intention all along, is having Sue disappear
31:17
like that would send a message to her co workers to keep quiet if they
31:21
didn't want to suffer the same fate. And if true, that strategy obviously
31:26
worked because their absence was covered up, and it seems like everyone from her
31:30
crew has kept their mouth shut. It's absolutely true. I mean, that's
31:33
the culture at this place anyway. The culture has been keep your mouth shut.
31:37
Because remember, Sue actually went forward, and she did have supporters.
31:41
Initially they were backing her up, but they started getting threatened, they started
31:45
getting their keys card, their car's keyed. They started getting threatening messages for
31:51
them, and so if they were to actually come forward, especially thinking about
31:56
this in worrying about her physical health, like what would happen into them?
32:00
Then they were scared for just reporting the sexual harassment, And now they're worried
32:05
that she didn't show up to work, Then what happens. One key piece
32:09
of information I've always found curious are some claims that Sue received a phone call
32:14
from an unknown person shortly before she left on her food run. Her mother
32:19
has always believed this call might have been from someone she trusted who lured her
32:22
to her death. Given what she'd been through the past several years, Sue
32:25
would have been very cautious about going to meet someone alone in the middle of
32:30
the night, so there is some credence to that theory. Remember, Joseph
32:34
Neuzo and Bobby Brooks were no longer working at Logan International Airport at this time,
32:38
so how would they have known when Sue was leaving to go get food
32:42
unless someone told them. It does seem like multiple people besides new Zo and
32:46
Brooks were complicit in Sue's murder, so it's possible that at least one of
32:50
them was a person she trusted. I'd like to think that the explanation here
32:54
is a fairly simple one, and that new Zo and possibly one or two
32:58
other people were the sole architects of this crime, and that there's no grand
33:01
conspiracy involving the mafia or organized crime. But the fact of the matter is
33:06
that Sue just disappeared in the middle of her shift, and none of her
33:08
call workers did anything about it. And that's the thing. That's what really
33:13
you saw Marlene and Ronald do when they sued the airport and they sued the
33:20
Machinists Federation, they're saying she didn't matter to you, Like at no point
33:25
did she matter to you or her colleagues because you allowed her to be mistreated
33:30
for years. You allowed her to just be this number and check mark and
33:37
body holder right at this airport, and no one stepped up and took care
33:43
of our daughter the way that you would pray your daughter was taking care of
33:45
that you would pray your wife was taking care of. You dropped the ball
33:50
for years with our daughter. And here you see, not only is it
33:54
like she just didn't matter, it's like she walks off and disappears and everyone
34:00
goes along with their life like nothing happened, Like this was not a catastrophic
34:05
event. When your coworker not only goes missing, but has found murdered in
34:09
the trunk of her cart when she was off to get sandwiches for you,
34:13
Like, to me, this seems life changing, life altering where I would
34:17
be part of the what happened to her movement. I would step up and
34:23
want to know with her mother what happened, because Sue's no different than any
34:28
of us who are working there, Like why Sue? Why did her life
34:32
end? And no one seemed to care. It's really disturbing. Yeah,
34:38
that is a good play because we talked about her in a last episode that
34:42
every year Marlene holds a vigil at the airport, like she's always spreading awareness
34:46
about her daughter's murder. Yet I never hear anything much about Sue's friends or
34:51
former co workers participating, like showing up the airport alongside Marley in order to
34:55
try to seek answer. Is it just seems like they wanted to go and
35:00
that Marlene is the only one in the Turrascowitz family who's and her sister Debbie
35:05
as well, who want to find answers about what happened. I mean,
35:07
when a lot of years go by, too, friendships change, or just
35:12
people change, people move away. I could see initially friends being involved,
35:17
and then as years go by, decades go by, they may kind of
35:22
fall by the wayside, or they move on with their lives, they live
35:24
somewhere different and they kind of forget about Sue. Not that like she's not
35:30
on their mind, I'm sure at some point, but you know, the
35:32
family will never forget about her, so they're always going to be there.
35:36
But we didn't really hear about that, even from the initial stages, that
35:39
a bunch of her friends were concerned or involved in these vigils or anything like
35:44
that, did we, Robin, No, not that I've heard of.
35:46
Like I usually in a lot of these unsolved missing persons cases and murders,
35:50
we see friends of Sue get interviews or speak to the media or spread awareness.
35:54
But I can't think of anyone outside the family who has been a public
35:59
face or Sue. I mean, it seems like she did spend a ton
36:02
of time at work though, because she dated Bobby Brooks and then dated her
36:09
boyfriend was the one that stood up to Brooks because he was being a dick,
36:14
and then Brooks had threatened the boyfriend and s that he would kill him
36:17
or whatever. So it just says to me, the fact that she's dating
36:22
in the pool of the men that are at her work, that she probably
36:25
doesn't have a lot of free time to be out there socializing, and so
36:30
it's just more convenient to meet a partner at work when you're not going to
36:36
bars with your friends or you're not doing those things that maybe typical twenty seven
36:40
year old is doing because you have a job that requires so much of you
36:45
and I don't know how much mental energy you have left at the end of
36:47
the day when you're getting constantly threatened and sexually harassed all the time. Yeah,
36:52
that does make sense. I haven't heard much about Sue having a social
36:55
life because she worked graveyard shifts from like eleven PM to seven eight, so
37:00
I can't imagine she went out too much, and that would explain that maybe
37:02
like the closest friend she had were people who worked with her. When it
37:07
comes down to it, I'm not sure all those employees would have kept their
37:10
mouth shut this long if all they had to worry about was Joseph Nuzo,
37:15
especially since he went to prison on other charges shortly thereafter. If Sue's murder
37:22
was motivated by the credit card ring, then that makes her story even more
37:25
tragic. Investigators have always made it clear that Sue was not involved in this
37:30
scheme and had never acted as an informant for them, and had not been
37:35
subpoena and had not been subpoena to testify. It seems pretty likely that Sue
37:40
knew nothing about the scheme at all, though given what we've heard about her
37:45
character, she probably would have gone to the authorities if she did find out.
37:49
But since Nuzo had a major personal vendetta against Sue, I'm sure he
37:53
just jumped on the opportunity to label her a rat, even if there was
37:58
no reason to believe that it was true. Even if it wasn't true,
38:02
every single person that new Zo talked to, he's likely not oversharing information about
38:07
this crime with people who also weren't involved. And when he sits there and
38:13
he says, hey, Sue, Sue is the one that turn on us,
38:15
whether it's true or not, which we now know is not true,
38:19
because everyone's going like, I don't know who the Sue character is right when
38:22
they're talking about the trial. But everyone that new Zo talked to now becomes
38:27
a very, very viable and potential suspect because when he names her and he
38:30
says she's a snitch, everyone says, well, that snitch can't make it
38:35
to court. We need one less person, right, We've got to make
38:38
sure that this person who's the head hauncho sharing information is deleted from the equation.
38:45
And so by Neuzo simply saying her name, I think you now have
38:49
a whole host of characters who have a vendetta against her. They have a
38:52
personal reason to get rid of her, and it's personal, it's intimate,
38:58
it's anger driven. And that's exactly the way that her body was discovered when
39:01
she stabbed multiple times. Yeah, even if Neuzo did not commit the crime
39:07
himself, he may have put Sue's life at serious risk with those false claims,
39:12
and if so, that just adds an extra level of tragedy to this
39:15
whole story, as a courageous woman had to deal with rampant sexism and harassment
39:20
for years and still managed to persevere, but then may have been murdered over
39:23
something she had absolutely nothing to do with. I'm really glad that Marline Traskowitz
39:29
will not give up it keeps going the extra mile to keep her daughter's story
39:32
in the spotlight. Because in spite of all the time which has passed,
39:36
this case is still solvable. All it might take is for the right person
39:39
to come forward and talk. So if you have any information on the unsolved
39:44
murder of Sue Traskowitz, please contact the Suffolk County State Police Detective Unit at
39:49
six one seven seven two seven eight eight one seven. That's six one seven
39:53
seven two seven eighty eight one seven. Jules Ashley, any final thoughts on
39:59
the case. I think this is one of those cases that kind of lights
40:01
a fire and makes you stop and think, like, why was Sue in
40:07
this situation to start with? And it makes you so grateful for people like
40:12
Sue. You know, Julie, I don't know about you, but as
40:15
a woman, when I'm listening to this story and I go, wait,
40:17
Sue put up with this and documents that she's putting up with it so that
40:22
future women don't have to be the next woman that's harassed by these same people.
40:27
And there's so many people who have done that for us. There's strong
40:31
men and women who have been major voices, so that we struggle a little
40:36
less than the women before us. But it's crazy to think it's twenty twenty
40:40
three and we still see and feel these same things happening in the workplace.
40:45
My begging plea to people is that you have this kind of conviction that you
40:54
owe it to not just the people around you, but to future generations,
40:58
to our children, to our sisters, to our brothers, people who are
41:01
going to stand and shoose where they have the ability to be harassed and teased
41:06
and degraded for who they are. And you start to say, it's not
41:12
funny anymore. It's not going to be tolerated anymore. And whether you like
41:16
the people around you or not, you look at them as fellow human beings
41:20
and say, I won't stand by while people are being mistreated. Right.
41:22
I don't have to go have a beer with you after work, we don't
41:25
have to have coffee in the morning, we don't even have to talk at
41:28
work. But I'm not going to watch while people get mistreated. And you
41:31
know, I hope that that gets easier and easier for people to do.
41:35
I also have to step back and think about Marlene in this case. Remember
41:38
Marlene had to go report her daughter missing where she's met with Oh, yeah,
41:43
we know she's actually deceased, right, That's how she finds out that
41:46
her daughter has been murdered. When she's going to, you know, with
41:50
this hope of okay, she's missing, but I just need help and I
41:52
can find her. And then Marlene isolates herself away from her daughter's belongings and
41:58
says, I can't even fathom walking into that bedroom without my heartbreaking. And
42:02
when she finally says, you know what, Sue would want me to move
42:06
forward, Sue would want me to understand her more. I'm gonna go be
42:08
with her things, she finds that hidden briefcase that has this diary that you
42:14
really dissects everything she's been dealing with. And you know that Marlene went into
42:17
this whole nother Oh my god, what if I had known? What if
42:22
I could have helped? Why didn't she tell me? Were we not that
42:24
close? Did I fail her? And so instead of saying I'm going to
42:28
shut down with that information, she says, quote, I'm a fighter and
42:32
Sue was a fighter, So she's not going to go anywhere. Wow.
42:37
Wow, Marlene went through a death of another child. She and port Ronald
42:43
got divorced. I'm sure that it wasn't just Sue's death, but a lot
42:46
of trauma definitely weighs on a marriage. And Marlene, still thirty one years
42:52
later, is fighting and saying, my daughter deserves justice, and boy does
42:55
she. I hope and pray that even though it's been when years, someone
43:00
says enough times, past cultures have changed. Right, the culture is changing,
43:05
and poor Marlene deserves answers, and Sue deserves someone being held accountable for
43:10
her murder. Man, You're right, this is one of the most rage
43:15
inducing cases I've heard of. How do you walk away and no one cares?
43:21
How's your body found thirty six hours later and no one cares? And
43:27
how are so many people wrapped up in your abuse and harassment and potential death?
43:32
And no one's caught the idea that, you know, the women of
43:37
the past paved the way for us, and that we stand on the shoulders
43:43
of giants. I truly believe that sutu Ascoits was one of those. She
43:50
really stood firm and steadfast in her conviction, and she refused to quit.
43:54
She excelled at her job amidst an environment that was working against her from every
44:00
single angle. You've got people like Bobby Brooks, You've got people like Joseph
44:05
Neuzo, and I'm sure a myriad of other individuals that haven't been named,
44:08
just likely because they weren't named in that diary. And she persevered not only
44:15
for herself. This wasn't like a selfish pursuit. She could have left and
44:19
gone to another job and had this excellent resume, and it probably would have
44:23
been a lot easier. But she didn't take the path that was easy.
44:28
She took the path that was hard. And for that, I think we
44:32
should celebrate her. And I truly believe that Marlene and Ronald in taking the
44:39
airline to court, Northwest to court and holding their feet to the fire and
44:45
saying, look, you failed our daughter. You didn't hold any of these
44:47
people accountable. You allowed them to make all of these missteps and screw up
44:52
here, there and everywhere, and then you brought back Newzo on this you
44:57
know, last Chance initiative or whatever the hell it was. And at the
45:01
end of the day, he ended up being the mastermind with this whole credit
45:05
card ring, and our daughter was failed. And so the fact that They
45:09
really made Northwest say hey, we're going to put up this two hundred and
45:14
fifty thousand dollars reward for any information that leads to a conviction, and I
45:20
love that Delta Airlines said, hey, if anybody has this information, we
45:23
will honor that. So if anybody does have that information, hopefully they will
45:30
feel inclined to come forward. Because I just cannot wrap my head around how
45:34
much work Marlene has done. In particular, she is such a hero in
45:38
this story, and I would love for her to be able to see some
45:42
kind of resolution as to what happened to Sue, because I feel like this
45:45
is still solvable as long as there's people who are alive that were connected to
45:50
this, and there seems to be so many. There has to be somebody
45:53
that could give the authorities the information, make a plea deal, and tell
45:59
them who did this. I mean, I'm just dumbfounded that this case hasn't
46:04
been solved with how many people seem to be privy to information or to have
46:08
been involved. Well, I said, this was one of the most reg
46:12
inducing cases we're ever going to cover. But I actually do have some good
46:15
news by peer coincidence. The day before we recorded this episode. The podcast
46:21
The Deck actually released their own new episode about this case, which featured interviews
46:25
with Marline Trascowitz as well as the new lead investigator on the case, and
46:30
he confirmed something which I didn't know before, which is that there is DNA
46:35
evidence which could point to a suspect. And he said that we may solve
46:38
this case sometime in the future, which is great news because I didn't know
46:44
if they had any DNA evidence. And since this is an example of a
46:47
case going on solved for three decades because people will stay silent and not come
46:52
forward, it will be pretty amazing if they're able to use this DNA evidence
46:55
and act and directly implicate a suspect and make an arrest. So that was
47:00
a huge side of relief to hear that, because we've gone on and on
47:02
this episode about how the only reason this has managed to stay unsolved for so
47:07
many decades is because people have remained silent. But it is solvable because you
47:13
just have the sense that more people out there, not just the perpetrators,
47:16
have knowledge about what happened and have just never decided to tell the police.
47:22
So we'll see where this plays out, but if it does, I'll definitely
47:24
be cheering that because I do think that Sue Trascowitz is one of the most
47:30
amazing individuals who has ever been a victim on one of our podcasts, because
47:34
she was a trailblazer who got a job in an industry where women were not
47:38
welcome, but still managed to persevere and held the mentality if I quit,
47:44
if I let them beat me, it's going to make it a lot more
47:45
difficult for people to follow in my footsteps and other women to break into this
47:50
industry. And unfortunately it may have wound up costing her life, but she
47:54
does have an amazing legacy going on here because I don't know what it's like
47:59
at Logan Internet, National Airport and Northwest Airlines these days, but I'm willing
48:02
to bet that it is at least better for women and that more female employees
48:07
are able to work there without facing the constant harassment that she had to do.
48:10
And I'm sure that was due in large part to her parents of drumming
48:14
up so much publicity surrounding this case and filing a lawsuit against the airlines to
48:19
put them on the spot and say that you failed our daughter, you did
48:22
not step in when she needed you. When she was being harassed and that
48:24
may have cost her her life. And overall, I do believe that even
48:29
if Joseph Nuzo and Bobby Brooks to not personally kill Sue, that they at
48:34
least were involved in the murder plot against her or know who did it.
48:37
And I do hope that this DNA evidence does lead somewhere and that when they
48:42
arrest a suspect, we'll find out the full truth and that maybe other people
48:45
who were complicit actually get arrested as well, and we will find the full
48:50
truth about what happened to her, because Sue is definitely a victim who deserves
48:53
justice. Robin, do you want to tell us a little bit about the
48:57
trailment called Patreon? Yes, the trail called Patreon has been around for three
49:00
years now, and we offer these standard bonus features like early ad free episodes,
49:07
and I also send out stickers and sign thank you cards to anyone who
49:10
signs up with us on Patreon if you join our five dollar tier Tier two.
49:15
We also offer monthly bonus episodes in which I talk about cases which are
49:21
not featured on the Trail Went Cold's original feeds, so they're exclusive to Patreon
49:24
and if you join our highest tier, Tier three, the ten dollar Tier.
49:29
One of the features we offer is a audio commentary track over classic episodes
49:34
of Unsaw Mysteries, where you can download an audio file and then boot up
49:37
the original Unsaw Mysteries episode on Amazon Prime or YouTube and play it with my
49:43
audio commentary playing in the background, where I just provide trivia and factoids about
49:47
the cases featured in this episode. And incidentally, the very first episode that
49:52
I did a commentary track over was the episode featuring this case. So if
49:57
you want to download a commentary track in which I make more smartass remarks about
50:00
Juel Kaylor, then be sure to join Tier three. So I want to
50:04
let you know a little bit about the Jewels and Ashley Patreon, so there's
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early ad free episodes of The Path Went Chili. We've got our Path Went
50:12
Chili minis, which are always over an hour, so they're not very many,
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but they're just too short to turn into a series, and we're really
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enjoying doing those, so we hope you'll check out those. Patreons will link
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them in the show notes. So I want to thank you all for listening
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and any chance you have to share us on social media with a friend or
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to rate and review is greatly appreciate it. You can email us at the
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path went Chili at gmail dot com. You can reach us on Twitter at
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the Pathwin. So until next time, be sure to bundle up because cold
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trails and chili pass call for warm clothing. Music by Paul Rich from the
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podcast Cold Callers Comedy