The Trail Went Cold - Episode 376 - Monika Rizzo

The Trail Went Cold

Robin Warder

True Crime, Tv & Film

4.5 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 24 April 2024

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

June 5, 1997. San Antonio, Texas. Police receive an anonymous phone call from a man who claims that 44-year old Monika Rizzo has been murdered by her husband, Leonard Rizzo, and that her remains can be found in her backyard. While a search of the property turns up nothing, investigators learn that Monika has not been seen for weeks and there are allegations of abuse in her marriage. One month later, a new search of the Rizzos’ backyard turn up over 200 bone fragments and it is eventually determined that they belong to Monika. While Leonard is suspected of having killed Monika, the authorities do not believe there is enough evidence to file murder charges and there are a number of unanswered questions about how she died. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore a gruesome murder which has gone unsolved for nearly 27 years. If you have any information about this case, please contact the San Antonio Police Department at (210) 207-7273. Join us on Saturday, April 27 at 8:00pm ET for an online streaming marathon where we will be watching classic segments from “Unsolved Mysteries”. You can enter our screening room by clicking on this link. Additional Reading: https://unsolved.com/gallery/monika-rizzo/ https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Monika_Rizzo “The Raw Truth” by Bill McKinney https://www.newspapers.com/image/366612835/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/357041607/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/356830156/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/356760486/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/356761194/ https://www.ksat.com/news/2019/05/31/more-than-200-bone-fragments-found-nobody-charged-in-monika-rizzo-murder/ https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2022/05/03/the-bone-yard-who-killed-monika-rizzo-south-texas-crime-stories-episode-2/ https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/tx-court-of-appeals/1205799.html “The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon. Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content. “The Trail Went Cold” is going to be appearing on podcast row at “Crimecon” in Nashville on May 31-June 2, 2024 and “Crimecon UK” in London on September 21-22, 2024. To get a 10 % discount on the purchase of tickets to either event, please use our specialized promo code, “COLD24”, by visiting Crimecon.com or Crimecon.co.uk. “The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing at the True Crime Podcast Festival, taking place at the Denver Marriott Westminster in Colorado on July 12-14, 2024. To get a 15 % discount on tickets, please use our specialized promo code, “TRAIL”, by visiting https://truecrimepodcastfestival.com. The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote. All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

Transcript

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0:00.0	June 5th, 1997.
0:03.2	San Antonio, Texas.
0:05.9	Police receive an anonymous phone call from a man who claims that 44-year-old Monica Rizzo
0:10.8	has been murdered by her husband, Leonard Rizzo, and that her remains can be found in her backyard.
0:16.4	While a search of the property turns up nothing,
0:18.8	investigators learn that Monica has not been seen for weeks,
0:22.1	and their allegations of abuse in her marriage.
0:25.4	One month later, a new search of the Rizzo's backyard turned up over 200 bone fragments which
0:30.3	belonged to Monica, but what Leonard is suspected of killing her, there is not enough
0:34.6	evidence to charge him and the murder is never solved.
0:38.7	After that, the trail went cold. Oh, uh, well, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, Hello everyone and welcome to our latest episode of the murder of Monica Rizzo.
1:33.0	This story was once featured on unsolved mysteries
1:35.7	and involves a woman who went missing while trapped in what was alleged to be an
1:39.1	abusive marriage to her husband, Leonard Rizzo. Acting on a pair of anonymous phone calls, the authorities
1:45.9	would eventually discover over 200 small bone fragments scattered throughout the Rizzo's
1:50.5	backyard, and given that Leonard was living there at the time you would
1:54.4	think this case would be pretty cut and dried right? Well not so fast.
1:59.7	The initial DNA analysis concluded that none of these bones belong to Monica, and a second round of testing would conclude that they belong to Monica and three other unidentified individuals.
2:11.0	Needless to say, this threw the entire case for a loop, and it would be at least two years, before more advanced testing, finally confirmed that yes, these bone fragments all belong to Monica and Monica alone.
2:24.0	However, this whole situation caused a lot of complications with the investigation,
2:29.0	and while Leonard was still considered to be a suspect,
2:32.0	the authorities have felt that the case against him is not strong enough to file murder charges.
	...

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