From The Garden City Telegram:

Floyd trial No. 2 set to start Monday

Published 4/4/2008

By RACHEL DAVIS

rdavis@gctelegram.com

The retrial of husband and wife Chad and Shannon Floyd of Stanton County, who are accused of murdering a Stanton County man, begins Monday.

Jury selection was scheduled to end today but lasted only Monday and Tuesday, said Bonnie Parks, clerk of the Stanton County District Court.

Defense attorneys Dan Monnat and Kurt Kerns, and state attorneys Richard Guinn and Barry Disney could not be reached for comment.

The Floyds are accused of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the alleged killing of 27-year-old Michael Golub, Shannon Floyd's ex-boyfriend, in May 2005. Golub disappeared May 20, 2005, on his way to pick up his son, Mikey, whom he had shared custody of with Shannon.

The initial trial ended July 27, 2007, with a hung jury, as jurors could not reach an agreement on a verdict.

The prosecution's case in the initial trial centered on the custody of Mikey and the extremes the Floyds would go to keep residential custody of the boy.

Guinn, lead prosecutor assigned to the case by the state Attorney General's office, stated in the first trial that the Floyds had devised a plan to get rid of Golub, starting with a $50,000 bank stock purchase. According to Guinn, the Floyds told family members the $50,000 would be used to pay Golub off in exchange for relinquishing his parental rights.

According to testimony, the money was sent to Western State Bank in Ulysses and an account opened under the name Michael R.L. Golub, aka "Mikey." Guinn said Shannon Floyd then wrote a check from her First National Bank account in Johnson City on May 6, 2005, payable to Michael Golub for $49,000, but the check was never endorsed, though it had cleared the bank.

Defense attorneys said the prosecution's case was circumstantial and the Floyds were unfairly targeted.

In the first trial, the defense argued that the prosecution could not prove Golub was dead -- they had no body and no murder weapon. The defense also made mention of Golub's admission to a friend of disappearing the weekend of May 20, 2005, and his prior drug use.

The Floyds have been out of jail on bond since July 14, 2006, and living in Colorado. Golub still has not been found.

Depending on a person's criminal history, if convicted, first-degree murder can carry a term of life imprisonment. Conspiracy to commit first-degree murder can carry a prison term of nine to 41 years.

Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, "No Body" Guy

A new book called, "Erased: Missing Women, Murdered Wives" by authors Marilee Strong and Mark Powelson was published this month. It's the story of domestic homicides and includes several "no body" cases. OK, OK, I'm also plugging it because yours truly is quoted several times. I haven't read it yet but spoke to the authors last summer and it looks like an excellent true crime read. You can see more about the book by clicking on here: Amazon

Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, "No Body" Guy

From Delaware On Line (note mention of distinguished "no body" prosecutor and current U.S. Attorney for Delaware Colm Connolly):

Without a body, can jury convict?
Case against N.J. man evokes memories of Thomas Capano trial

By CRIS BARRISH • The News Journal • March 22, 2008

A New Jersey prosecutor insists investigators have amassed "a lot of evidence" to convict Rosario DiGirolamo of murdering his mistress.
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Yet more than nine months after she vanished, Amy Giordano has never been found, leaving authorities with a daunting challenge for any murder trial: proving their case without a body.

It's the same barrier, however, that Delaware prosecutors overcame to prove millionaire attorney Thomas Capano killed his mistress and gubernatorial aide Anne Marie Fahey in 1996.

"When there's no body, you first have to establish there was actually a killing and a death -- and then who did it," said Colm F. Connolly, the U.S. attorney for Delaware and lead prosecutor against Capano. "It's a pretty significant hurdle."

On Friday, prosecutors announced that an alleged accomplice of DiGirolamo's has been charged with fourth-degree evidence tampering. John A. Russo Jr., 43, of Staten Island, has not yet been arrested, but authorities said he will be picked up in the next few days.

Authorities would not release any details on Russo's alleged involvement or connection to DiGirolamo. Russo faces up to 18 months in prison if convicted.

DiGirolamo was arrested Thursday at his parents' home in Brooklyn, N.Y., for allegedly killing Giordano. DiGirolamo, who was married and lived in Millstone Township, N.J., had carried on a three-year clandestine affair with Giordano. Under New Jersey law, which has no death penalty, he faces 30 years to life in prison.

In November, DiGirolamo pleaded guilty in Delaware Superior Court to misdemeanor abandonment and endangerment and received probation. Those charges stemmed from his dumping his and Giordano's 11-month-old son Michael in a Christiana Hospital parking lot on June 9. Michael is living in a Delaware foster home.

Authorities contend DiGirolamo killed Giordano on June 7, sometime after the two were captured by a supermarket surveillance video shopping for groceries with Michael.

Investigators have said blood was found in Giordano's apartment, but have not said whether it was hers.

Casey DeBlasio, spokeswoman for Mercer County Prosecutor Joseph L. Bocchini Jr., said Friday that some evidence against DiGirolamo would likely be made public after he is extradited from New York. The suspect's bail has been set at $1 million.

DeBlasio would not comment further on the case except to say that police had not found Giordano's body.

DiGirolamo's attorney, Jerome Ballarotto, pointed out the difficulty of prosecuting a homicide without a body. "To convict someone of a homicide is a long journey from the arrest," Ballarotto said after the arrest.

DiGirolamo has insisted for months through his lawyer that Giordano would turn up unharmed.
Reliable witness key

DiGirolamo's prosecutors definitely would have a better chance, experts said, if a reliable witness such as Russo ends up providing damning testimony. In the Fahey case, the account of Capano's younger brother, Gerard, was pivotal in winning a conviction.

While tracking Capano's actions around the time Fahey vanished after dining with him on June 27, 1996, at a Philadelphia restaurant, Connolly oversaw a team that built a circumstantial case that Capano killed her that evening.

Like Giordano last year, Fahey had vanished with her wallet, credit cards and identification left behind in her apartment. All activity on her credit cards ceased. Fahey didn't contact any of her friends, who told investigators she was afraid of her married boyfriend. That April, Fahey had described Capano in her diary as a "controlling, manipulative, insecure, jealous maniac."

But it was nearly 17 months before the FBI and Delaware police agencies gathered enough evidence to charge Capano, a former state prosecutor and legal counsel to former Gov. Mike Castle.

In a case without a body, weapon or eyewitness, perhaps the biggest break came in November 1997 when Gerard, in a taped statement, said he helped Thomas dispose of a body in a cooler off the New Jersey coast on June 28, 1996. A few days after Gerard turned on his brother, a grand jury indicted Thomas for murder.

"If you have a witness that says, 'I threw the body overboard,' then we're done with one of the problems. We have a death," said Jules Epstein, a professor at Widener University School of Law. "But they still need to answer, how did she die?"

Another fortuitous break for the prosecution also occurred the day after Capano's indictment. A fisherman who read a News Journal account of the arrest surmised that a cooler he found floating in the Atlantic Ocean in the summer of 1996 might be the one used to dispose of Fahey's body. The cooler was given to the FBI, and the bar code matched the one Thomas bought and Gerard had described.

Connolly's team also traced the purchase of a pistol used to kill Fahey to another Capano mistress, Deborah MacIntyre, who told authorities she bought the gun for Thomas because he told her he needed it for protection.

Connolly stressed Friday the interlocking evidence led the jury to the conclusion that Fahey not only was dead, but that Thomas Capano had killed her. Connolly called Gerard a "critical witness" against his brother, who is serving a life sentence.
Defense will raise doubt

Wilmington criminal attorney Joseph A. Hurley, who briefly represented Thomas Capano, said the testimony of an accomplice would aid the prosecution of DiGirolamo. Hurley said prosecutors "must have substantial evidence" to support the murder charge against the 33-year-old former computer programmer.

Some circumstantial evidence was made public in August, in a Delaware affidavit charging DiGirolamo with abandoning his son.

A detective wrote that authorities received a report that the couple argued about her desire to end the affair in the days preceding Giordano's disappearance. "She wanted him out of her life," Detective Mary Bartkowski wrote.

Bartkowski also said DiGirolamo told his wife he would be away on business from June 5 to 9 -- the period Giordano was last seen. DiGirolamo last reported to his $56,000-a-year job at Conair Corp. on June 11 -- the day after police released his then-unidentified son's photograph to the media -- but left "in a rush," the affidavit said.

On June 12, he called his wife to say he had been in an accident in New York, and she never heard from him again, the affidavit said. That same day, he called his father and said "he was very confused and needed to take some time." On June 14, he flew to Italy.

That was the day DiGirolamo asked the landlord to end Giordano's lease, Bartkowski wrote. A real estate agent told authorities DiGirolamo had inquired about a larger apartment nearby but later said he could not afford the higher rent and "was tired of supporting [Giordano] while she sat home and did nothing," the affidavit said. DiGirolamo allegedly told the agent not to tell Giordano.

The landlord, Mike Vanderbeck, told The News Journal in August that shortly before Giordano vanished, DiGirolamo asked him not to show the unit to prospective tenants because she was ill.

Prosecutors have not revealed the results of laboratory testing on blood spots found in Giordano's apartment.

Hurley said that evidence is a solid base. "They have to prove without a reasonable doubt that the person hasn't run off to Mexico," he said. "They have to hammer on the motive and try to make an emotional impact on the jury that this is a bad person. It's great if there were prior threats or prior domestic abuse, some pattern to show a violent disposition."

Hurley also expects prosecutors to focus on DiGirolamo's bizarre moves -- abandoning the baby and fleeing to Italy for seven weeks.

The defense, Hurley said, will try to raise doubt that Giordano has come to harm.

David Ruhnke, a New Jersey criminal attorney who worked on Capano's unsuccessful appeal in the Delaware courts, said prosecutors realize they must clear a high bar. "It's a very tough hurdle," Ruhnke said, "But it should be."

Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, "No Body" Guy

Clink here and scroll down a bit for the latest "no body" murder trials list. You'll see I have 246 cases (and more to add) covering every state in the union except New Hampshire, Vermont and Idaho. Many of you have been kind enough to send me cases and information. Please continue to do so.

Table of "No Body" Murder Trials in the United States

All the best,

Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, "No Body" Guy

N.J. man accused of murdering tot's mom
DiGirolamo abandoned infant outside Christiana Hospital

By CRIS BARRISH • The News Journal • March 21, 2008

New Jersey authorities Thursday charged the man who abandoned his 11-month-old son at Christiana Hospital last summer with murdering the child's mother.
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Rosario "Roy" DiGirolamo, 33, a former computer programmer, was arrested at his parent's home in Brooklyn, N.Y., at about 4:45 p.m. for allegedly killing Amy Giordano, with whom he had a three-year affair while married to another woman.

Giordano's body has not been found, authorities acknowledged after DiGirolamo's arrest. They did not reveal any other details about what led them to charge DiGirolamo with murder and tampering with evidence, but Mercer County Prosecutor Joseph L. Bocchini Jr. said, "We've accumulated a lot of evidence."

Authorities have said blood spots which they have not identified were found at Giordano's apartment days after she vanished.

DiGirolamo is being held in New York on $1 million bail, and no extradition hearing was immediately scheduled. Courts are closed today for Good Friday.

Giordano's cousin, Stephen Fishbaum, who has been saying for months that Giordano was dead, said he was gratified authorities believe they had enough evidence to convict DiGirolamo, but hopes her body can be recovered.

"I don't feel surprised or shocked. I've said all the way through that she wasn't here, because she would have contacted me," said Fishbaum, who had offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to her discovery. "Even though I think it's doubtful, I would like to find the body so we could give her a proper burial."

After DiGirolamo's arrest, defense attorney Jerome Ballarotto said they were ready to defend the case, but added that authorities have not yet provided him with any details.

"I've been told that no body has been found," Ballarotto said. "To convict someone of a homicide is a long journey from the arrest. Not only do they have to convict him, but prove that she's dead. Generally in most homicides you start with a dead body and then someone who you try to prove did it. This is going to be a very interesting prosecution."

For months, Ballarotto has said Giordano was fine the last time his client saw her, and has predicted she eventually would turn up safe and healthy. Ballarotto also said DiGirolamo had provided authorities with information on her possible whereabouts.

Giordano, 27, was last seen shopping for groceries with DiGirolamo on June 7 in Mercer County, N.J.

On June 8, she talked by phone to her 6-year-old son, JoJo, who lives with her ex-husband in Brooklyn.

And on June 9, a nurse found their son, Michael, barefoot and crying, on a parking lot curb at the hospital near Stanton.

The child was found with a handwritten note pinned to his diaper calling him "John Vincent" and saying his caregiver had no job or health insurance. The note ended with the words, "God have mercy on me."

Authorities have said they received a report that the couple argued about her desire to end the affair in the days preceding Giordano's disappearance. "She wanted him out of her life," a Delaware state police detective wrote in an arrest affidavit released in August when DiGirolamo was charged with dumping his son.

In addition, the detective wrote, DiGirolamo told his wife he would be away on business from June 5 to 9 -- the period when Giordano was last seen.

DiGirolamo last reported to his $56,000-a-year job at Conair Corp. on June 11 -- the day after police released his then-unidentified son's photograph to the media -- but left "in a rush," the affidavit said.

The next day, June 12, he called his wife to say he had been in an accident in New York, and she never heard from him again, the affidavit said. That same day he called his father and said "he was very confused and needed to take some time."
Takes trip to Italy

Two days later, on June 14, DiGirolamo flew to Milan, Italy, from Newark, N.J. He returned to Delaware seven weeks later, on Aug. 3, and in November pleaded guilty in Delaware Superior Court to misdemeanor abandonment and endangerment. A judge gave him 18 months' probation and ordered him to pay $2,452 in boarding expenses for his son, who is living in a Delaware foster home, plus unspecified medical expenses. He also was barred from having further contact with Michael.

But for nine months, New Jersey authorities have investigated Giordano's disappearance and said they suspected she had come to harm.

Days after she vanished, her purse was discovered in a bedroom closet of her third-floor apartment, still containing her wallet and identification cards.
'Additional blood evidence'

She and DiGirolamo met in Brooklyn in 2004, when he worked at his father's pizza shop. Giordano, the adopted daughter of strict Jewish parents, moved away from home at 19 and lived down the street from the pizza shop with her then-husband and their young son, JoJo. She and the dark-haired DiGirolamo reportedly began a torrid affair and she ran off with him in 2005.

He rented her an $850-a-month apartment in Hightstown, N.J., just a few miles from the sprawling brick home where he and his wife lived on two acres. Michael was born in July 2006, about the same time DiGirolamo's wife gave birth to a son. The attorney for DiGirolamo's wife, who has since divorced him, said she knew nothing about his secret life.

But the clandestine affair had become rocky. Days before Giordano disappeared, DiGirolamo asked her landlord to end her lease on June 14, the Delaware arrest affidavit said. In addition, an unidentified real estate agent told authorities DiGirolamo had inquired about a larger apartment nearby but changed his mind, saying he could not afford the higher rent and "he was tired of supporting [Giordano] while she sat home and did nothing," the affidavit said. DiGirolamo allegedly told the agent not to tell Giordano.

The landlord, Mike Vanderbeck, told The News Journal in an August interview that shortly before Giordano vanished, DiGirolamo asked him not to show her apartment to prospective tenants because she was ill.

Days after Giordano disappeared, blood spots were found in Giordano's apartment, prosecutors have said. The prosecutors have not revealed the results of laboratory testing on the spots, but investigators returned to the apartment on Jan. 15, saying they were looking for "additional blood evidence."

Bocchini said Thursday that police in New Jersey, New York and Delaware, along with the FBI and state prosecutors, have "worked tirelessly on this case," which he said "has taken several turns."

The defendant is being held by New York authorities pending extradition to New Jersey. Angelo Onofri, spokesman for Bocchini, said DiGirolamo would be arraigned once he returns. Ballarotto said he did not expect DiGirolamo to fight extradition. If convicted of murder, DiGirolamo faces 30 years to life in prison, as New Jersey does not have the death penalty.

Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase, "No Body" Guy