Latest / Crime and Horror / She disappeared in a Massachusetts gift shop - MrBallen

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She disappeared in a Massachusetts gift shop - MrBallen · Crime and Horror

0:00
Speaker 1: On an evening in September of 2017, a woman living
0:03
Speaker 1: in Massachusetts came home from work to an empty house.
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Speaker 1: Her boyfriend was gone, but she saw that his wallet
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Speaker 1: and his phone were still right there on the counter,
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Speaker 1: and also on the kitchen table were three fairly conspicuous envelopes. Confused,
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Speaker 1: she walked over to the envelopes and she began to
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Speaker 1: open them. One of them was her boyfriend's last will
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Speaker 1: and testament. Another was a note that was for her.
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Speaker 1: And the third was was a letter that was addressed
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Speaker 1: to the family of a woman who had been murdered
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Speaker 1: 25 years earlier. But before we get into today's story,
0:35
Speaker 1: if you're a fan of the strange, dark, and mysterious
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Speaker 1: delivered in story format, then you've come to the right
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Speaker 1: place because that's all we do, and we upload two, three,
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Speaker 1: any of our weekly uploads. Okay, let's get into today's story.
1:24
Speaker 1: On the afternoon of April 15, 1992, a 24-year-old woman
1:28
Speaker 1: named Lisa Ziegert drove through the quiet suburban streets of Agawam, Massachusetts.
1:33
Speaker 1: And eventually, she pulled into a shopping plaza in the
1:36
Speaker 1: center of town, which was full of shops and restaurants
1:38
Speaker 1: and bars. So Lisa was a teacher's aide at the
1:41
Speaker 1: local middle school. And while teaching was definitely her passion,
1:45
Speaker 1: the reality was being a teacher's aide did not pay
1:49
Speaker 1: very well. So to earn some extra money, she also
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Speaker 1: worked the evening shift at a store called Brittany's Card
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Speaker 1: and Gift Shop, which sold things like birthday cards and
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Speaker 1: stuffed animals and music boxes. As she drove through the
1:59
Speaker 1: lot looking for a parking space, she passed by a
2:02
Speaker 1: chicken restaurant where her friend Ed Borgatti worked. So Ed
2:06
Speaker 1: shared a house with Lisa's boyfriend, Blair Masoya, as well
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Speaker 1: as Lisa's sister, Lynn. So the four of them were
2:12
Speaker 1: all pretty close. And so as Lisa found her spot
2:15
Speaker 1: and parked her car and got out, She thought about
2:18
Speaker 1: popping into the restaurant to say hi to Ed, who
2:20
Speaker 1: was also working that day. But when she checked her time,
2:23
Speaker 1: she thought better of it, and instead she just walked
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Speaker 1: straight to the gift store to start her shift. A
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Speaker 1: few hours later, around 7 p.m., Lisa sat behind the
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Speaker 1: counter at the gift store, humming along to the song
2:34
Speaker 1: that was playing on the overhead speakers. Lisa was the
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Speaker 1: only employee on duty during the evening shifts, and she
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Speaker 1: was there until the store closed at 9 p.m. And
2:43
Speaker 1: working alone so late at night, definitely made her a
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Speaker 1: little bit anxious. And, you know, she did every now
2:48
Speaker 1: and again have issues with problem customers. And so she
2:52
Speaker 1: was just always kind of a bit on edge, especially considering,
2:55
Speaker 1: you know, some rowdy people often came out of the
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Speaker 1: pool hall that was just a few doors down and
3:00
Speaker 1: they sometimes came in the shop and were just kind
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Speaker 1: of a handful. And on top of all that, there
3:05
Speaker 1: was something else going on that Lisa actually couldn't quite explain. Lately,
3:10
Speaker 1: she'd been having this weird feeling that somebody was watching
3:13
Speaker 1: her through the windows of the store. So as Lisa
3:16
Speaker 1: is sitting behind the counter feeling, you know, very anxious
3:19
Speaker 1: and sort of stressed about the night, she hears the
3:21
Speaker 1: sound of the door to the shop opening. There was
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Speaker 1: a bell above the door that jingled every time the
3:26
Speaker 1: door opened. And so she whipped around to see who
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Speaker 1: it was. And she was very relieved to see that
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Speaker 1: it was actually just her older sister, Lynn, not some
3:33
Speaker 1: random customer who might be a problem. Lisa was really
3:36
Speaker 1: close with Lynn. And sometimes her sister would just stop
3:39
Speaker 1: by to chat and keep Lisa company, especially during her
3:43
Speaker 1: evening shifts. So Lynn walked in and asked Lisa how
3:46
Speaker 1: things were going and Lisa said it was fine. And
3:49
Speaker 1: then eventually she sort of shifted the conversation to how,
3:52
Speaker 1: you know, Lisa was still sort of upset that she
3:54
Speaker 1: had not been able to land a full-time teaching job yet.
3:57
Speaker 1: She told Lynn that what she really wanted here was just,
3:59
Speaker 1: you know, a teaching job that paid better than what
4:02
Speaker 1: she had now so that she could quit this gift
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Speaker 1: store job. Not only because this late night shift really
4:07
Speaker 1: creeped her out, but also because she'd be able to
4:10
Speaker 1: spend more time with her boyfriend Blair if she just
4:12
Speaker 1: had this full-time teaching job instead of splitting these two jobs.
4:16
Speaker 1: And so the two sisters continued to chat for about
4:18
Speaker 1: a half an hour, and then Lisa walked Lynn to
4:20
Speaker 1: the door and waved goodbye. And as Lisa watched her
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Speaker 1: sister drive away in her car, Lisa suddenly became aware
4:27
Speaker 1: of the fact that the parking lot of this plaza
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Speaker 1: was really full tonight, and there were lines of cars
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Speaker 1: of people honking at each other trying to get the
4:35
Speaker 1: few remaining spots. And as Lisa stood there in the
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Speaker 1: gift shop's doorway, she looked over and saw that the
4:41
Speaker 1: owner of the carpet shop next door, James Dent, was
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Speaker 1: closing up. And James, he looked over, saw Lisa, and
4:47
Speaker 1: he made a comment about how crazy the parking lot
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Speaker 1: was tonight. And Lisa was like, yeah, it gets pretty
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Speaker 1: busy at night, but this is even crazier than usual.
4:55
Speaker 1: After that, the two said goodbye and they went their
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Speaker 1: separate ways. And Lisa, she turned right around and went
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Speaker 1: back inside the gift store. About an hour later, around 8.20 p.m.,
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Speaker 1: Lisa rang up a customer at the counter. She handed
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Speaker 1: the customer his change and his receipt and told him
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Speaker 1: to have a good night. And then once he was gone,
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Speaker 1: she went into the back room to take inventory before closing.
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Speaker 1: After such a long and stressful day, Lisa was really
5:19
Speaker 1: glad that her shift was nearly over. In about 40 minutes,
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Speaker 1: she was going to close up the shop and then
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Speaker 1: maybe walk over to see if Ed was still working
5:26
Speaker 1: at the restaurant, chat with him for a bit, and
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Speaker 1: then head home. But just then... Lisa heard the sound
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Speaker 1: of that bell on the door, which meant somebody was
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Speaker 1: coming in. So she stepped out of the back to
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Speaker 1: see who it was. The next morning, so April 16, 1992,
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Speaker 1: Detective Wayne Macy of the Agawam Police Department stepped into
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Speaker 1: Brittany's card and gift shop. When he got in there,
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Speaker 1: he saw that there were already officers from his department
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Speaker 1: putting up crime scene tape and taking photos of the scene.
5:54
Speaker 1: One of the officers came over to Macy to fill
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Speaker 1: him in. And they explained that that morning, one of
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Speaker 1: the employees from this gift shop had called 911. And
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Speaker 1: what she said is she got to work that morning
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Speaker 1: to start her shift at the gift shop. And right
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Speaker 1: away when she arrived, she noticed something odd. She saw
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Speaker 1: one of her co-workers, Lisa Ziegert, who normally worked the
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Speaker 1: night shift and closed the shop down. She saw her
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Speaker 1: car was out in the parking lot. And so that
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Speaker 1: was odd because she shouldn't be here. She works at night.
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Speaker 1: And then this woman who ultimately called 911, her name
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Speaker 1: is Sophia, she went up to the storefront and found
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Speaker 1: the door was unlocked. And also when she stepped inside,
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Speaker 1: all the lights were on and the overhead speakers were
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Speaker 1: still playing. And so, you know, Sophia's thinking, that's odd. Like,
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Speaker 1: is Lisa working this morning or something? But she searched
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Speaker 1: the whole store and Lisa was nowhere to be found,
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Speaker 1: even though all her belongings were still in the store.
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Speaker 1: And so ultimately... She called the police. The officer also
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Speaker 1: told Macy that they had already spoken to the man
6:53
Speaker 1: who owned the shop right next door, the carpet shop.
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Speaker 1: And the owner of that store said he had actually
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Speaker 1: spoken to Lisa the night before around maybe 7.30 p.m.
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Speaker 1: And at the time, she was acting totally normal, seemed
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Speaker 1: very happy. They were just talking about, you know, how
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Speaker 1: hectic the parking lot was that night. Detective Macy asked
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Speaker 1: the officer if anyone had been in touch with any
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Speaker 1: of Lisa's family or friends to see if anybody had
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Speaker 1: heard from her or seen her. And the officer said
7:18
Speaker 1: that they had been in touch with those people and
7:21
Speaker 1: that no, no one had seen or heard from her
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Speaker 1: since last night. Additionally, the officer said that Lisa's roommate
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Speaker 1: had said Lisa never came home. And she also had
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Speaker 1: not shown up to her other job at the middle
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Speaker 1: school that morning where she was a teacher's aide. At
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Speaker 1: this point, the officer told Macy that, hey, you just
7:38
Speaker 1: got to come in the back of the store because
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Speaker 1: what we found in there make it really obvious that
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Speaker 1: what we're dealing with here is foul play. So Macy said,
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Speaker 1: all right, you know, lead the way. And he followed
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Speaker 1: this officer into the back room of the shop. And
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Speaker 1: as soon as he looked inside, his heart sank. There
7:53
Speaker 1: were all these cardboard boxes in the back room that
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Speaker 1: had been sort of flattened, like one or maybe multiple
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Speaker 1: people were laying on all these boxes. And there was
8:01
Speaker 1: blood all over the boxes. And so based on this,
8:04
Speaker 1: you know, it seemed pretty apparent to Macy and the
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Speaker 1: other officers that, you know, if Lisa is not here
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Speaker 1: right now, but her things are here, her car is here,
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Speaker 1: like she didn't disappear voluntarily. Like all the initial evidence
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Speaker 1: suggests that she was taken away by force. As Macy
8:21
Speaker 1: was walking around this small back room, he noticed there
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Speaker 1: was actually a back door that had been left partially open,
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Speaker 1: that no officers had touched. So this is how it
8:29
Speaker 1: was left. And he walked over and he opened this
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Speaker 1: door and he saw this door led to this narrow
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Speaker 1: back alley that ran behind the building. Also, as Macy
8:39
Speaker 1: was looking at this back door, he looked down And
8:42
Speaker 1: he saw what appeared to be, you know, pretty obvious
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Speaker 1: scuff marks across the ground, as if maybe somebody had
8:47
Speaker 1: been dragged and their shoes had sort of scuffed the
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Speaker 1: ground on the way out. And so Macy stepped into
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Speaker 1: this back alleyway to see if there was any nearby
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Speaker 1: security cameras that could have potentially captured whatever happened back
9:00
Speaker 1: here the night before, but he didn't see any. So
9:03
Speaker 1: he left the alley and he went to the front
9:05
Speaker 1: and he began going to the other stores in this
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Speaker 1: plaza to see if any of them had cameras that
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Speaker 1: potentially faced like the front of the shop. But Macy
9:14
Speaker 1: was very disappointed to learn that none of these shops
9:17
Speaker 1: had security cameras. So there was going to be no
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Speaker 1: footage of whatever happened here. And so at this point,
9:22
Speaker 1: Macy knew this was going to be a really challenging
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Speaker 1: case to solve. Because he had no eyewitnesses, at least
9:28
Speaker 1: not right now, and no security camera footage, it meant
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Speaker 1: there was no clear, easy way to try to figure
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Speaker 1: out what the assailant looked like, or what their car
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Speaker 1: could have looked like, or even what direction they might
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Speaker 1: have gone. like he had nothing. And so, Macy went
9:44
Speaker 1: right to his car, he grabbed his radio, and he
9:46
Speaker 1: called dispatch, and he told them to right now send
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Speaker 1: out search teams, police dogs, and scour every inch of
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Speaker 1: this area for any sign of Lisa. After that, Macy
9:57
Speaker 1: went back inside the shop to check the cash register.
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Speaker 1: He figured if this was a robbery, that very likely
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Speaker 1: the money would be missing. But when he got in
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Speaker 1: there and he opened it up, the cash was still inside.
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Speaker 1: But Macy knew that violent attacks by random strangers was
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Speaker 1: pretty rare. More often than not, people who get killed
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Speaker 1: or people who get kidnapped are their perpetrator or perpetrators
10:20
Speaker 1: are people they know. At some point, Macy pressed a
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Speaker 1: few buttons on the cash register and it began to
10:25
Speaker 1: spit out this paper log of all the most recent transactions.
10:29
Speaker 1: And Macy saw that the last purchase, at least as
10:32
Speaker 1: reflected on this register, was made with cash at 8.20 p.m.
10:36
Speaker 1: the night before. And for the first time, Macy actually
10:39
Speaker 1: felt a surge of optimism about this case because this
10:43
Speaker 1: was a very helpful clue. Since the gift store closed
10:46
Speaker 1: at 9 p.m., this narrowed down the time window significantly.
10:50
Speaker 1: It meant the attack likely happened in the 40 minutes
10:54
Speaker 1: between that transaction at 8.20 and closing at 9 p.m.,
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Speaker 1: a time when very few of the other businesses in
11:00
Speaker 1: the plaza were open, except for the restaurants and pool hall.
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Speaker 1: That afternoon, Detective Macy knocked on the door of Lisa's
11:15
Speaker 1: parents' house. The search at the shopping plaza was now
11:18
Speaker 1: fully underway, and a team of officers was already searching
11:21
Speaker 1: Lisa's apartment across town for clues. And in the meantime,
11:25
Speaker 1: Macy wanted to speak to Lisa's family and see if
11:27
Speaker 1: they knew anything. When Lisa's mother opened the door, she
11:30
Speaker 1: looked frantic, but she also seemed relieved that a police
11:34
Speaker 1: officer was finally there to fill her in on what
11:36
Speaker 1: was happening. And so she told Macy to come in.
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Speaker 1: And Macy stepped into a house that was absolutely buzzing
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Speaker 1: with activity. As the detective entered the dining room, he
11:45
Speaker 1: saw that at least a dozen people, most of them
11:48
Speaker 1: around Lisa's age, were gathered around the table. They had
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Speaker 1: this big map spread out on the table and were
11:54
Speaker 1: talking about maybe organizing their own search effort. And then
11:57
Speaker 1: when they saw Detective Macy, they all sort of flocked
12:00
Speaker 1: around him and began peppering him with questions about what
12:02
Speaker 1: happened to Lisa. You know, where is she? Macy told
12:05
Speaker 1: the group, which consisted mainly of friends and some family members,
12:08
Speaker 1: that he would speak to all of them, one by one,
12:10
Speaker 1: but in an orderly fashion. And he would start with
12:13
Speaker 1: Lisa's mother. The group seemed to understand this and kind
12:15
Speaker 1: of naturally throttled back. And then at that point, Macy
12:18
Speaker 1: took Lisa's mother, they went into the living room, and
12:21
Speaker 1: they sat down to talk. The first question he asked
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Speaker 1: her was, you know, do you know of anybody out
12:26
Speaker 1: there who might have wanted to harm your daughter? And
12:29
Speaker 1: Lisa's mother immediately said, like, no, no way. You know,
12:33
Speaker 1: Lisa did not have any enemies. She was quite friendly,
12:36
Speaker 1: very hardworking, and... really just stayed out of trouble. And
12:39
Speaker 1: for the rest of this interview, which lasted, you know,
12:41
Speaker 1: another 30 minutes or so, I mean, that really was
12:44
Speaker 1: the sentiment that Lisa's mother communicated, that this was like
12:47
Speaker 1: totally unheard of, that anything would happen to Lisa. Like,
12:50
Speaker 1: she never did anything wrong. She had no problems. She
12:52
Speaker 1: had no enemies. Like, I don't know what happened. And
12:55
Speaker 1: so Macy, after speaking to the mother, would also speak
12:58
Speaker 1: to Lisa's father, her two sisters, and her roommate. And
13:01
Speaker 1: then also he would speak to her boyfriend Blair and
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Speaker 1: Blair's roommate, Ed Borgatti. Blair seemed really broken up about
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Speaker 1: his girlfriend's disappearance. When Macy asked where he had been
13:11
Speaker 1: the night before, Blair said he was at his mother's
13:14
Speaker 1: home for most of the night, except for a quick
13:16
Speaker 1: trip to CBS. He said he didn't remember the exact
13:19
Speaker 1: time he went there, but he definitely had the receipt
13:21
Speaker 1: back at home. And when Macy spoke to Ed, so
13:24
Speaker 1: Blair's roommate, Ed also seemed really upset about what happened
13:27
Speaker 1: to Lisa. He told Macy that he and Lisa were
13:30
Speaker 1: definitely good friends and they worked near each other in
13:33
Speaker 1: that shopping plaza. And he said he'd actually been working
13:36
Speaker 1: at the chicken restaurant around the same time of Lisa's disappearance. Again,
13:41
Speaker 1: most violent attacks are not committed by strangers. They're committed
13:45
Speaker 1: by people who know their victims. And like here was
13:48
Speaker 1: a potential suspect who not only, you know, knew Lisa
13:51
Speaker 1: very well, but was also just a few hundred feet
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Speaker 1: away when she was attacked and potentially abducted. It just
13:58
Speaker 1: seemed like almost too obvious. So Macy made a note
14:02
Speaker 1: to be sure to look into Ed very thoroughly and
14:05
Speaker 1: see if any of Lisa's friends knew about maybe any
14:08
Speaker 1: tension between those two. However, as Macy would go around
14:12
Speaker 1: and question all of Lisa's friends who were at the house,
14:15
Speaker 1: none of them had anything negative to say about Ed
14:18
Speaker 1: or Blair. And none of them knew anything useful about
14:21
Speaker 1: Lisa's disappearance. However, one of Lisa's friends did say that
14:25
Speaker 1: about a week earlier, Lisa had told her about this
14:28
Speaker 1: feeling she had of being watched while she was at
14:31
Speaker 1: the store. But Lisa hadn't actually said anything about why
14:34
Speaker 1: she felt that way or who she thought was watching her.
14:37
Speaker 1: So even though it was an interesting lead, Macy knew
14:41
Speaker 1: it would be virtually impossible to actually follow up on.
14:44
Speaker 1: And at this point, he was just getting a little frustrated.
14:47
Speaker 1: Because not only did he have no eyewitness or security
14:50
Speaker 1: footage of Lisa's abduction... It seemed absolutely no one even
14:54
Speaker 1: had a motive to harm Lisa. In fact, the only
14:57
Speaker 1: useful piece of information he got from all the interviews
15:01
Speaker 1: was from Lisa's sister, Lynn, who said she had stopped
15:04
Speaker 1: by the store about an hour or two before Lisa disappeared.
15:07
Speaker 1: She was able to give Macy a very detailed description
15:10
Speaker 1: of what Lisa was wearing, a denim skirt, boots, and
15:13
Speaker 1: a charm bracelet. And so by the time Macy was
15:16
Speaker 1: leaving the home, he felt really disappointed by how little
15:19
Speaker 1: he had uncovered. He just hoped that the officers in
15:22
Speaker 1: charge of the search effort were maybe having more luck.
15:29
Speaker 1: Three days later, on the afternoon of Sunday, April 19th,
15:32
Speaker 1: Detective Macy parked at the edge of the woods off
15:34
Speaker 1: Route 75, less than a mile from the gift store.
15:37
Speaker 1: Seconds later, another police cruiser pulled up right behind him.
15:41
Speaker 1: So earlier that afternoon, a man had been out walking
15:44
Speaker 1: his dog in these woods, and he had unfortunately come
15:47
Speaker 1: across a dead body and had called it in. And
15:49
Speaker 1: so Macy, when he heard this, had driven straight over here,
15:53
Speaker 1: you know, thinking this could be Lisa's body. And now
15:55
Speaker 1: as he got out of his cruiser, he saw there
15:57
Speaker 1: were tire tracks that the man who had called in
15:59
Speaker 1: the body had said he had also seen. He said
16:02
Speaker 1: there were tracks near the body. And so Macy's thinking, OK,
16:05
Speaker 1: I got to follow these tracks and it will likely
16:07
Speaker 1: bring me to this body. And so Macy, along with
16:10
Speaker 1: three other officers, began following these tracks into the trees.
16:14
Speaker 1: But Macy, who was at the front of this group,
16:16
Speaker 1: only took a few steps before his feet literally sank
16:19
Speaker 1: down into the mud to the point where it was
16:21
Speaker 1: up to his ankles. This area would turn out to
16:24
Speaker 1: be extremely swampy to the point where the officers actually
16:28
Speaker 1: had to walk in each other's footprints in a single
16:30
Speaker 1: file line just to try to navigate this mud. And
16:33
Speaker 1: so into the woods they went, carefully walking in this
16:36
Speaker 1: straight line until the tire tracks began to fade. At
16:39
Speaker 1: this point, Macy and the others looked around and there
16:42
Speaker 1: was no body where they were and There was no
16:44
Speaker 1: sign of any body or anything unusual. But the man
16:48
Speaker 1: who had found the body had said these tracks sort
16:50
Speaker 1: of aimed in the direction of where the body was found.
16:54
Speaker 1: And so Macy and the others just continued in that
16:57
Speaker 1: single file line, sort of just trudging directly into the
17:00
Speaker 1: woods for hours until finally they did reach this small
17:05
Speaker 1: out of the way clearing. And in the clearing, Macy
17:08
Speaker 1: and the others saw clothing items scattered all over the place.
17:12
Speaker 1: At this point, it was starting to get dark, and
17:14
Speaker 1: so Macy pulled out his flashlight, and he shined it
17:17
Speaker 1: around in this clearing, and at some point, his beam
17:20
Speaker 1: of light landed on a woman's body lying right next
17:23
Speaker 1: to a tree. She was partially naked, and some of
17:26
Speaker 1: her clothes that she still had on had been pulled down,
17:29
Speaker 1: so it seemed fairly obvious that she had been sexually
17:32
Speaker 1: assaulted before she died. Also, there were clearly multiple stab
17:36
Speaker 1: wounds all over her body, including one to her throat.
17:40
Speaker 1: And then when Macy crouched down next to her to
17:42
Speaker 1: get a better look, his flashlight reflected off of a
17:45
Speaker 1: charm bracelet on her wrist. Less than an hour later,
17:52
Speaker 1: Detective Macy had to shield his eyes as a floodlight
17:54
Speaker 1: clicked on and threw blinding light all over this clearing
17:57
Speaker 1: he was in. A forensics team had just arrived and
18:00
Speaker 1: fired up their generators so they could work through the
18:02
Speaker 1: night with lights. And also overhead, a helicopter now circled
18:06
Speaker 1: the woods, taking aerial photos of the scene. These woods,
18:10
Speaker 1: at least from Macy's perspective, were such a maze that
18:13
Speaker 1: it seemed very likely that the killer must be a
18:16
Speaker 1: local who knew this area well. And also, if they'd
18:19
Speaker 1: driven through all that mud, Macy figured that whoever they
18:23
Speaker 1: were looking for likely was driving a vehicle with four-wheel drive,
18:26
Speaker 1: like a truck or a Jeep. So he told the
18:29
Speaker 1: forensics team to make a cast of the tire tracks
18:31
Speaker 1: that were left behind near the edge of the road
18:34
Speaker 1: to see if there was anything else they could find
18:36
Speaker 1: out about the vehicle. and then Macy also quietly was
18:39
Speaker 1: sort of crossing his fingers, that this forensics team would
18:42
Speaker 1: also be able to hopefully find a trace of the
18:44
Speaker 1: killer's DNA on Lisa's body. A few days later, Macy
18:51
Speaker 1: was sitting at his desk at the police station. The
18:53
Speaker 1: phones in the bullpen were ringing more than usual that day,
18:56
Speaker 1: but Macy was doing his best to shut the noise
18:59
Speaker 1: out and just focus on the reports that were on
19:01
Speaker 1: his desk. The forensics team had found DNA on Lisa's body.
19:05
Speaker 1: And so now, Macy had to make a list of
19:08
Speaker 1: all the potential suspects that he would need to collect
19:11
Speaker 1: DNA samples from to see if any of them were
19:14
Speaker 1: a match to the DNA found on Lisa's body. Lisa's boyfriend, Blair,
19:19
Speaker 1: seemed like an obvious suspect, even though none of Lisa's
19:22
Speaker 1: friends or family had known about any problems in their relationship.
19:26
Speaker 1: Blair also had handed over that receipt from CVS that
19:30
Speaker 1: confirmed he was there around the same time that Lisa
19:32
Speaker 1: was abducted. But it would have only taken about, you know,
19:35
Speaker 1: maybe three minutes to drive from the CVS to the
19:37
Speaker 1: gift store. So it seemed, you know, completely possible to
19:41
Speaker 1: Macy that, you know, Blair could have attacked Lisa while
19:44
Speaker 1: he was out and just also grabbed the CVS receipt
19:46
Speaker 1: to sort of build an alibi, but a shaky one.
19:50
Speaker 1: Another strong suspect was actually Blair's roommate, Ed. His alibi
19:54
Speaker 1: was that he'd been working at a restaurant right next
19:57
Speaker 1: to the gift store when Lisa was kidnapped, which just
20:00
Speaker 1: seemed way too convenient. And so Macy thought, you know,
20:03
Speaker 1: it was entirely possible that Ed during his shift could
20:06
Speaker 1: have snuck over to the shop, you know, maybe killed
20:09
Speaker 1: Lisa right there in the store and then left her there.
20:12
Speaker 1: And then, you know, after a shift was over, because
20:14
Speaker 1: he knows no one's going to be back in that
20:16
Speaker 1: gift shop, he could have gone back over, grabbed the body,
20:19
Speaker 1: disposed of her in the woods, and nobody knows. And
20:21
Speaker 1: on top of that, Ed just so happened to own
20:25
Speaker 1: a Jeep. So now Macy clearly needed to get DNA
20:28
Speaker 1: samples from both Blair and Ed. And also Macy planned
20:31
Speaker 1: to analyze the tires of both of their vehicles and
20:34
Speaker 1: to see if either of them matched the tracks from
20:37
Speaker 1: the woods. Suddenly though, the constant ringing of the bullpen
20:40
Speaker 1: phones just became too much for Macy to ignore. And
20:44
Speaker 1: so he stood up from his work, sort of annoyed,
20:46
Speaker 1: and he walked over to see what was going on.
20:48
Speaker 1: Why are there so many calls happening right now? And
20:51
Speaker 1: one of the officers that was out there said all
20:53
Speaker 1: these calls were for the Lisa Ziegert tip line. Macy
20:57
Speaker 1: was sort of surprised to hear that. He knew the
20:59
Speaker 1: tip line had been set up, but For the past
21:02
Speaker 1: few days, there really hadn't been many calls. But the
21:04
Speaker 1: officer told Macy that, you know, the floodlights in the
21:07
Speaker 1: forest and the helicopters flying over the woods the night
21:09
Speaker 1: before had really caught the attention of the local news.
21:13
Speaker 1: And as soon as word got out that, you know,
21:15
Speaker 1: Lisa's body had been found out there, almost everyone in
21:19
Speaker 1: Agawam seemed to have a theory about what had happened.
21:21
Speaker 1: And now they were calling in their theory. But he
21:24
Speaker 1: said that these tips were sort of all over the
21:26
Speaker 1: map and there were already clues dozens of different descriptions
21:30
Speaker 1: of suspicious vehicles or suspicious people that, you know, could
21:34
Speaker 1: be suspects. Macy told the officer to, you know, keep
21:36
Speaker 1: doing his job and to make sure you log all
21:39
Speaker 1: the tips that come in and that Macy and his
21:41
Speaker 1: team would look through them one by one when they
21:43
Speaker 1: had a chance. And as Macy turned and walked back
21:46
Speaker 1: towards his office and he continued to hear all these
21:48
Speaker 1: phones ringing, he realized his team might have to do
21:51
Speaker 1: a whole lot more DNA comparisons than he'd originally planned on.
21:55
Speaker 1: Because this was the early 90s, there was no way
21:57
Speaker 1: to To have one DNA sample, like you would find
22:01
Speaker 1: on a body, let's say, and then just put it
22:03
Speaker 1: into a bank and see what turns up. That didn't exist.
22:06
Speaker 1: And so what he's saying is he needs to compare
22:08
Speaker 1: this sample directly to basically all these potential people and
22:12
Speaker 1: hope one of them lines up. One full year later,
22:21
Speaker 1: on a morning in 1993... Detective Macy dug through a
22:25
Speaker 1: cardboard box full of police reports and interview notes. There
22:29
Speaker 1: were dozens of boxes just like this one stacked all
22:31
Speaker 1: over his office, and they were all full of files
22:34
Speaker 1: on the Lisa Ziegert investigation. Macy and his team of
22:38
Speaker 1: detectives had spent the entire past year basically working around
22:42
Speaker 1: the clock on this case, digging into one lead after another,
22:45
Speaker 1: and it had been exhausting. Since Agawam was such a
22:49
Speaker 1: small town, Lisa's murder was all anyone could talk about.
22:52
Speaker 1: and the detectives had received hundreds of tips on Lisa's case.
22:56
Speaker 1: The police station even had to install extra phones to
22:59
Speaker 1: handle all the calls. And no matter how far-fetched the
23:02
Speaker 1: tips seemed, Macy's team looked into each and every one.
23:06
Speaker 1: For example, there was a woman who worked at the
23:09
Speaker 1: all-female gym that Lisa used to go to who had
23:11
Speaker 1: called in and said there was this man who showed
23:14
Speaker 1: up at their gym every day at 3 p.m. and
23:17
Speaker 1: he would buy frozen yogurt from the juice bar. But
23:19
Speaker 1: while he ate the yogurt... He would just stand there
23:22
Speaker 1: and eat it, sort of staring out at all the women.
23:24
Speaker 1: And to this woman, this employee, she felt like he
23:28
Speaker 1: could be the killer. Another tipster had called in and
23:31
Speaker 1: said they actually had seen a police car parked right
23:33
Speaker 1: near the gift store around the time Lisa was abducted.
23:36
Speaker 1: And when Macy heard this, he ordered a DNA test
23:39
Speaker 1: from every single officer in the department, but none matched.
23:43
Speaker 1: There was also another wild theory that Lisa's boyfriend, Blair,
23:47
Speaker 1: apparently had a secret romance with his roommate, Ed. And
23:51
Speaker 1: Ed had apparently killed Lisa because Lisa found out about it.
23:55
Speaker 1: Somebody else had called in and said that their friend
23:58
Speaker 1: had borrowed their car on the day Lisa was killed.
24:01
Speaker 1: And when they returned the car, apparently there were bloodstains
24:04
Speaker 1: in it. So they were basically saying, look into my friend.
24:06
Speaker 1: And then also there were all these women who called
24:09
Speaker 1: in basically saying their husbands did it. You know, whether
24:11
Speaker 1: or not there was merit there, you know, wasn't clear,
24:14
Speaker 1: but lots of husbands were getting accused. There were also
24:17
Speaker 1: dozens of tips that were just too vague to do
24:20
Speaker 1: anything with. like people saying that they saw a man
24:23
Speaker 1: in a dark coat or a guy at a bar
24:26
Speaker 1: who looked suspicious. And so at the end of the
24:28
Speaker 1: first year of this investigation, Detective Macy had looked into
24:33
Speaker 1: 400 people of interest, but none of those leads went anywhere.
24:39
Speaker 1: To Macy's disappointment, Blair and Ed, who were really the
24:42
Speaker 1: two most obvious suspects, were actually ruled out very quickly.
24:45
Speaker 1: Their tires from their vehicles ultimately didn't match the tracks
24:49
Speaker 1: found in the woods, and they'd both given DNA samples,
24:51
Speaker 1: which did not match the DNA found on Lisa's body.
24:55
Speaker 1: And it was hard to get samples from all, you know,
24:57
Speaker 1: the rest of the 400 other suspects, especially because in 1993,
25:02
Speaker 1: you needed a pretty significant amount of DNA to run
25:06
Speaker 1: a test. So the police typically made suspects come in
25:09
Speaker 1: and get their blood drawn. And a lot of the
25:11
Speaker 1: suspects just said no to that because they just didn't
25:13
Speaker 1: want to go through the hassle. And since most of
25:16
Speaker 1: the tips that had led to these people of interest
25:18
Speaker 1: were pretty flimsy, Macy didn't have probable cause to get
25:22
Speaker 1: a warrant to force them to do the blood draw.
25:25
Speaker 1: But of the hundreds of suspects who did give their DNA,
25:29
Speaker 1: none matched the DNA found on Lisa's body. And again,
25:34
Speaker 1: there's no bank to just run the sample through to
25:37
Speaker 1: see who else it could be. Like if you don't
25:38
Speaker 1: have somebody to compare it to, you couldn't do it
25:41
Speaker 1: in the early 90s. So, as Macy stood there looking
25:44
Speaker 1: at all those boxes of files that he'd spent months
25:47
Speaker 1: poring over, he had the sinking feeling that maybe the
25:50
Speaker 1: answer was not in there after all. At this point,
25:53
Speaker 1: it was like every tip he had gotten had led
25:55
Speaker 1: him down like an entirely different path than he was on,
25:59
Speaker 1: and he was just more lost and confused than ever.
26:02
Speaker 1: And so he felt like if he was going to
26:04
Speaker 1: actually find Lisa's killer, he needed new evidence or he
26:08
Speaker 1: needed an eyewitness to help point him in the right direction.
26:11
Speaker 1: And so as daunting as it was for Macy to
26:14
Speaker 1: think of this, he knew what he really needed now
26:16
Speaker 1: was actually even more tips. Six months later, in the
26:24
Speaker 1: fall of 1993, so now we are about a year
26:27
Speaker 1: and a half after Lisa Ziegert's murder, Detective Macy stood
26:30
Speaker 1: in the corner of a massive call center in Burbank, California.
26:34
Speaker 1: All around him, dozens of workers sat in cubicles with
26:37
Speaker 1: computers and headsets. And Macy waited with nervous anticipation... as
26:41
Speaker 1: one by one, their phones began to ring. Macy knew
26:45
Speaker 1: that the very popular TV show, Unsolved Mysteries, which told
26:48
Speaker 1: real stories of unsolved cold cases, was actually airing a
26:52
Speaker 1: segment about Lisa's murder at that very moment, but he
26:55
Speaker 1: wasn't actually watching the show. Instead, he was in the
26:58
Speaker 1: studio's call center to monitor the tip line, in case
27:01
Speaker 1: any viewers at home called in with valuable information on
27:05
Speaker 1: Lisa's case. And sure enough, within a few minutes, every
27:08
Speaker 1: single phone in the call center was ringing off the hook,
27:11
Speaker 1: Macy began to walk around the room and peek over
27:14
Speaker 1: the shoulders of the workers as they took notes on
27:16
Speaker 1: these calls that were coming in. And Macy admittedly was
27:20
Speaker 1: frustrated by what he was seeing. Most of the callers
27:23
Speaker 1: were just repeating this old rumor that Ed Borgatti was
27:27
Speaker 1: the killer and that more than that, the police knew
27:30
Speaker 1: about it and were covering it up. So the reason
27:32
Speaker 1: for that is Ed actually had been ruled out by
27:35
Speaker 1: DNA evidence pretty early on in the investigation and But
27:39
Speaker 1: the police had decided not to announce that publicly until
27:43
Speaker 1: the case was closed. So the locals came up with
27:45
Speaker 1: a conspiracy theory to explain why Ed, who looked so
27:49
Speaker 1: suspicious from the outside, had never been arrested. That somehow
27:53
Speaker 1: the police were covering it up. Macy had hoped that
27:55
Speaker 1: by having this case be on Unsolved Mysteries, that it
27:59
Speaker 1: would lead to a fresh tip from a credible witness
28:02
Speaker 1: who maybe hadn't come forward yet. But instead, all he
28:05
Speaker 1: was getting was just more rumor and more speculations. In
28:08
Speaker 1: the end, the show generated 212 tips, and none of
28:12
Speaker 1: them led anywhere. And so as the years went on
28:15
Speaker 1: and still no new information came in, Lisa's case just
28:19
Speaker 1: continued to get colder and colder. By the time Detective
28:22
Speaker 1: Macy actually retired in 2003, it had been 11 years
28:26
Speaker 1: since her murder. Yet still, the murder was unsolved. Almost
28:31
Speaker 1: 23 years later, in January of 2015, Anthony Galluni, the
28:36
Speaker 1: newly elected district attorney, walked down the hallway at the
28:38
Speaker 1: Agawam police headquarters. He found the door he was looking
28:41
Speaker 1: for and he knocked. And a few seconds later, a
28:45
Speaker 1: detective named Mark Pfau opened the door. Galluni introduced himself
28:49
Speaker 1: and then asked to see all the files on the
28:51
Speaker 1: Lisa Ziegert investigation. Galluni told the detective that he had
28:55
Speaker 1: grown up near Agawam and he vividly remembered watching the
28:58
Speaker 1: news coverage of Lisa's murder when he was just 12
29:01
Speaker 1: years old. And now that he was the DA... Solving
29:04
Speaker 1: the cold case was one of his top priorities. Forensic
29:06
Speaker 1: technology had advanced a lot since the early 90s when
29:10
Speaker 1: this case was in its full swing. So Galluni suggested
29:13
Speaker 1: they just send the DNA sample from Lisa's killer to
29:16
Speaker 1: the lab for phenotyping, which is basically using DNA markers
29:20
Speaker 1: to figure out what a person could look like. So
29:23
Speaker 1: this is not the same thing as putting the DNA
29:26
Speaker 1: into a huge bank and getting an exact match back.
29:28
Speaker 1: It's sort of like building a profile of who this
29:31
Speaker 1: belongs to. And so the DA was very confident that
29:34
Speaker 1: through this process, if they could build a really accurate
29:38
Speaker 1: physical profile of the suspect, and cross-reference it against the
29:42
Speaker 1: hundreds of names they had collected over the years in
29:44
Speaker 1: this case, maybe they could finally close in on Lisa's killer.
29:49
Speaker 1: It would take over a year and a half for
29:52
Speaker 1: this process to be completed, but in September of 2016,
29:55
Speaker 1: DA Galluni held a press conference to announce the results
29:59
Speaker 1: of the phenotyping. And so, during this press conference, a
30:02
Speaker 1: composite sketch of the killer appeared on the screen behind
30:05
Speaker 1: the DA. And all it showed was a Caucasian man
30:08
Speaker 1: with dark hair and either brown or hazel eyes. Which
30:12
Speaker 1: does seem like not a whole lot of new information.
30:15
Speaker 1: But remember, this is sort of like, definitely, this person
30:19
Speaker 1: looks this way. This is not like a, we think
30:21
Speaker 1: he looks this way. This is what he looks like.
30:23
Speaker 1: And even though none of the investigators on the case
30:26
Speaker 1: actually recognize the face in the sketch... Galluni hoped that
30:30
Speaker 1: somebody in the public, you know, from this press release
30:33
Speaker 1: would recognize him. So after the press conference, Galluni went
30:37
Speaker 1: back to the police station and with the help of
30:39
Speaker 1: a state trooper, they began sorting through the massive cabinets
30:43
Speaker 1: full of files on Lisa's case. They put together a
30:46
Speaker 1: list of every person of interest who had previously refused
30:50
Speaker 1: to give a DNA sample and they were able to
30:53
Speaker 1: narrow it down to 11 suspects who fit the phenotype
30:56
Speaker 1: profile who didn't give their DNA sample. At that point,
31:00
Speaker 1: Galluni pulled together all the evidence that he had against
31:03
Speaker 1: those 11 people, and he used it to secure warrants,
31:06
Speaker 1: forcing each of them to actually give their DNA. But
31:10
Speaker 1: before those DNA results even came back, Galluni got a
31:14
Speaker 1: very unexpected phone call. And as he listened to the
31:17
Speaker 1: voice on the other end, his heart began to pound
31:20
Speaker 1: because he knew after, you know, two and a half
31:22
Speaker 1: decades here, he finally knew exactly who had killed Lisa Ziegert.
31:31
Speaker 1: Based on a written confession and DNA evidence, this is
31:35
Speaker 1: what police believe happened to Lisa Ziegert on April 15, 1992.
31:47
Speaker 1: Around 8.30 p.m., the killer parked in the alley behind
31:51
Speaker 1: Brittany's card and gift shop. Then they walked around to
31:54
Speaker 1: the front of the store and hid behind a car
31:56
Speaker 1: and stared in the window and just watched Lisa. The
32:00
Speaker 1: killer had always been fascinated by abduction and bondage ever
32:03
Speaker 1: since they were young. And they had done their best
32:06
Speaker 1: to try to, you know, keep those fantasies inside and
32:08
Speaker 1: not act on them. But when they had met Lisa,
32:12
Speaker 1: it was like their urges became just too powerful to control.
32:16
Speaker 1: So on this night, when they saw Lisa disappear into
32:19
Speaker 1: the store's back room, the killer, you know, steeled themselves
32:22
Speaker 1: and took a deep breath. stormed into the shop just
32:26
Speaker 1: as they had imagined doing for so long. They had
32:28
Speaker 1: thought about this and fantasized about what this would be
32:31
Speaker 1: like and now it was actually happening. And so they
32:34
Speaker 1: ambushed Lisa with a knife right as she was walking
32:36
Speaker 1: out of that back room and they kind of grabbed
32:39
Speaker 1: her and wrapped their arm around her neck and they
32:40
Speaker 1: sort of stumbled into the back room and Lisa, she
32:44
Speaker 1: began fighting back. And so they're struggling and they knocked
32:47
Speaker 1: over that huge pile of cardboard boxes and at some
32:50
Speaker 1: point Lisa tried to wrestle the knife out of the
32:53
Speaker 1: killer's grip and But after this intense struggle, the killer
32:57
Speaker 1: gained the upper hand and dragged her out the back
32:59
Speaker 1: door and into the alley. They shoved her into their
33:02
Speaker 1: vehicle and then drove a mile down the road and
33:05
Speaker 1: turned onto a dirt path that led into the woods.
33:08
Speaker 1: And then after they drove for a while, they reached
33:10
Speaker 1: a secluded spot in the forest, at which point they stopped.
33:14
Speaker 1: They pulled Lisa out of the back of the car.
33:16
Speaker 1: They threw her to the ground and then they sexually
33:19
Speaker 1: assaulted her. And then after they were done, they stabbed
33:21
Speaker 1: her to death and then they just left her. And
33:24
Speaker 1: they got back in their vehicle and they drove away.
33:26
Speaker 1: By the time the killer got back to their own home,
33:28
Speaker 1: they were still buzzing with adrenaline. I mean, this was,
33:31
Speaker 1: this was every bit as incredible as they thought it
33:34
Speaker 1: would be. However, when they actually walked into their house
33:37
Speaker 1: and they heard a familiar female voice calling out from
33:40
Speaker 1: the other room, asking where they'd been, the killer looked
33:44
Speaker 1: down and suddenly realized there were cuts all over their hands.
33:48
Speaker 1: But at this point, you know, it was too late
33:49
Speaker 1: to do anything about these cuts. Like, If they left
33:53
Speaker 1: to go clean up, they would just seem really suspicious
33:56
Speaker 1: to the woman in the next room. So the killer
33:58
Speaker 1: just took a deep breath and continued into their own house, hoping,
34:03
Speaker 1: you know, she wouldn't notice the cuts and piece together
34:05
Speaker 1: the awful truth. The killer's name was Gary Shara, and
34:09
Speaker 1: he was a young man whose only connection to Lisa
34:12
Speaker 1: was that he had been a customer at the gift
34:14
Speaker 1: store where she worked. And so, you know, the police
34:16
Speaker 1: had sort of begun the investigation with this idea that
34:19
Speaker 1: this really couldn't have been a random attack of sorts.
34:22
Speaker 1: But in reality, it sort of was. Police believe that
34:25
Speaker 1: just a few weeks before the murder, Shara had visited
34:28
Speaker 1: the shop just to buy a music box for his wife.
34:31
Speaker 1: Like that actually was the reason he was going. It
34:33
Speaker 1: was not to scout for a victim. He just went
34:36
Speaker 1: into the store to buy this gift. But when he
34:39
Speaker 1: saw Lisa working there, he sort of immediately became obsessed
34:43
Speaker 1: with her. and then that obsession ultimately turned into murder.
34:47
Speaker 1: In January of 1993, Shara's wife, who was the woman
34:51
Speaker 1: in the other room who called out to him asking
34:54
Speaker 1: where he had been on the night of Lisa's murder, she,
34:57
Speaker 1: the wife, ultimately called in a tip suggesting that her
35:00
Speaker 1: husband might have been involved in this murder, but the
35:03
Speaker 1: police decided the tip was not credible. Because Shara's wife was, one,
35:07
Speaker 1: an alcoholic, and two... Shara and his wife were in
35:11
Speaker 1: the middle of this heated divorce. And so it seemed
35:14
Speaker 1: like this could be revenge. And then also remember, there
35:17
Speaker 1: were all these other women calling in, basically suggesting their
35:21
Speaker 1: husband was the killer. So this is like one of many,
35:23
Speaker 1: and they had to filter some of them out. This
35:26
Speaker 1: one got filtered out. So ultimately, Shara's name sort of
35:29
Speaker 1: got buried amid the hundreds of other suspects until 25
35:32
Speaker 1: years later, when police served him a warrant for a
35:35
Speaker 1: DNA sample. He was one of those 11 people who
35:38
Speaker 1: fit the phenotype who had not given a sample. And
35:41
Speaker 1: realizing he was about to get caught, he left his
35:44
Speaker 1: girlfriend a letter confessing to the murder and actually tried
35:47
Speaker 1: to end his own life. But he survived. Following his
35:50
Speaker 1: failed attempt to take his own life, Gary Shara was
35:53
Speaker 1: tracked down at the hospital and arrested on September 16, 2017.
35:58
Speaker 1: Two years later, he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and
36:01
Speaker 1: was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Thank you
36:12
Speaker 1: so much for watching. Let me know what you thought
36:14
Speaker 1: of today's episode in the comments. And remember, we have
36:17
Speaker 1: a whole playlist of true crime episodes ready for you
36:19
Speaker 1: to binge right now. So click here and give them
36:22
Speaker 1: a watch. All right, until next time, see ya.