The Trail Went Cold - Episode 456 - Theresa Fusco

The Trail Went Cold

Robin Warder

True Crime, Tv & Film

4.5 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 5 November 2025

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

November 10, 1984. Lynbrook, New York, After getting fired from her job at a roller rink, 16-year old Theresa Fusco starts heading home, but she never arrives. Her nude body is eventually found in a wooded area and she has been raped and strangled to death with a ligature. Over four months later, a 21-year old suspect named John Kogut confesses to the crime and implicates two accomplices – 26-year old John Restivo and 31-year old Dennis Halstead – and they are all charged and convicted of Theresa’s murder. In 2003, all three men have their convictions overturned after DNA testing on the evidence excludes them. Kogut winds up being acquitted at his retrial while the charges against Restivo and Halstead are dropped, but there are still questions about who was actually responsible for killing Theresa. For the first time ever, the “Trail Went Cold” is covering a cold case in which an arrest was made while we were in the midst of putting together our episode about it, so we’re going to cover the full story and all the recent developments. Special thanks to listener Reemi Hautamaki for narrating the opening of this episode. Additional Reading: https://innocenceproject.org/cases/john-kogut/ https://centurion.org/cases/kogut-john/ https://exonerationregistry.org/cases/10591 https://exonerationregistry.org/cases/10504 https://exonerationregistry.org/cases/10795 https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=125077&page=1 https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/mom-of-1984-long-island-murder-victim-decries-award-verdict/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/721897625/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/728546280/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/710299952/ https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/15/us/theresa-fusco-suspect-indicted-cold-case https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/theresa-fusco-murder-indictment/ https://charleyproject.org/case/kelly-eileen-morrissey https://archive.longislandpress.com/2010/11/18/kelly-morrissey-the-search-for-kelly-morrissey-continues-26-years-later/ “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 produced and edited by Magill Foote. All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi everyone. Before we start the episode, I wanted to share a big announcement. In a few moments,
0:05.2	you're going to hear some narration from our most recent Trail Went Cold Voiceover contest winner,
0:10.1	and when he originally entered the contest, he requested that I cover the 1984 murder of Teresa Fusco.
0:16.3	So naturally, I started working on a new episode about this case, but about halfway through its completion,
0:21.8	an astonishing coincidence happened. After nearly 41 years, a suspect was finally arrested for this crime.
0:28.9	And since the upcoming intro was recorded before this took place, one of its lines, quote,
0:34.1	Teresa's real killer is never identified, is no longer entirely accurate.
0:39.3	I debated about whether or not to scrap this episode, but there was a lot to talk about in this
0:43.5	case, and I don't believe it has been covered on any other podcasts, so I ultimately decided to keep
0:48.6	going. Of course, I had to do some rewrites, and since the suspect is now in custody,
0:53.8	my theories and analysis
0:55.1	section will not be as extensive as it usually is. But after nearly 10 years, it's a breadth of fresh
1:00.8	air to finally do an episode of The Trail on Cold in which, the Trail has no longer gone cold.
1:06.8	Enjoy the show. November 10, 1984, Lindbrook, New York.
1:12.3	After getting fired from her job at a roller ring,
1:14.7	16-year-old Teresa Fusco starts heading home,
1:17.5	but she never arrives,
1:18.7	and her nude body is eventually found in a wooded area
1:21.2	after she has been raped and strangled to death with a ligature.
1:24.7	Over six months later,
1:25.9	a 21-year-old suspect named John Gogot confesses to the crime
1:29.7	and implicates two accomplices, 26-year-old John Restaveau and 31-year-old Dennis Halstead,
	...

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