WEBVTT 1 00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:35.200 Welcome back to the Pathway Chili. I'm Robin, I'm Jules, and I'm 2 00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:41.359 Ashley. Let's dive right into this week's case. February eighth, two thousand 3 00:00:41.399 --> 00:00:46.799 and five, Totowa, New Jersey, Forty three year old chemist Gita Angara 4 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:51.880 shows up to worker shift at the Passaic Valley Water Commission treatment facility, which 5 00:00:51.880 --> 00:00:56.840 turns up missing. The following day, Gita's body is discovered inside one of 6 00:00:56.880 --> 00:01:00.759 the water tanks, and her cause of death is determined to be drowning. 7 00:01:00.640 --> 00:01:04.799 A number of bruises on Gita's neck and body suggests that she got into a 8 00:01:04.879 --> 00:01:10.519 violent struggle before she was placed in the tank, so her case is classified 9 00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:15.959 as a homicide. Police investigated a number of Guida's coworkers, but the killer 10 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:22.040 is never identified and the motive for the crime remains unknown. After that, 11 00:01:22.359 --> 00:01:26.040 the path went chilly, So we've got a pretty harrowing case to cover today, 12 00:01:26.439 --> 00:01:30.560 the two thousand and five death of Ghita Anghara. The victim in this 13 00:01:30.640 --> 00:01:34.480 story is a chemist who emigrated to the United States from India in order to 14 00:01:34.480 --> 00:01:38.159 start a family and wound up getting a job at a water treatment plant. 15 00:01:38.879 --> 00:01:44.519 However, she inexplicably vanished during one of her shifts before her body was discovered 16 00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:48.959 inside one of the plant's water tanks. The evidence seemed to suggest that someone 17 00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:53.760 violently attacked Ghita and choked her to death before removing a panel from the floor 18 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:57.120 and dumping her body inside the tank. Given that the plant was a secure 19 00:01:57.159 --> 00:02:02.159 facility which could not be acts by outsiders, it seemed obvious that Gita was 20 00:02:02.239 --> 00:02:07.200 killed by one of her co workers, but in spite of an extensive investigation, 21 00:02:07.799 --> 00:02:09.919 no one can figure out who is responsible or what their motive could have 22 00:02:09.960 --> 00:02:15.159 been, and believe it or not. There are also some people who believe 23 00:02:15.199 --> 00:02:19.120 that Gita's death might have actually been a tragic accident, which occurred when she 24 00:02:19.159 --> 00:02:22.759 failed to notice an open panel in the floor and wound up falling into the 25 00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:27.120 tank. Whatever the case, there's still no conclusive answers about what happened, 26 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:30.240 So we're going to explore all the different theories on today's episode. So, 27 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:35.960 like you guys said, there's really no other explanation. She's in this secured 28 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:39.000 area where it has to be one of her coworkers or someone who has access 29 00:02:39.000 --> 00:02:44.360 to the plant, and so your pool is quite small, but with no 30 00:02:44.520 --> 00:02:49.280 evidence and no idea of what was going on. It's almost more maddening to 31 00:02:49.360 --> 00:02:52.800 know that we have a lineup of people that have to be the suspect, 32 00:02:53.240 --> 00:02:55.840 and yet there's really nothing to go on to say we can narrow it down 33 00:02:55.840 --> 00:03:00.000 to these three, or this is where we can go accusing one of these 34 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:04.800 people of her homicide. It's quite tragic. It's not one of those cases 35 00:03:04.800 --> 00:03:07.520 where you say, what could have happened, We know what happened, and 36 00:03:07.560 --> 00:03:10.400 now it's who did it. Yeah, it's almost like a setup with an 37 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:14.840 old school murder mystery, where you have a certain amount of people in a 38 00:03:15.159 --> 00:03:19.319 secure facility and you realize that only one of these people had to have committed 39 00:03:19.319 --> 00:03:22.159 the murder. But unlike a piece of fiction, they were not able to 40 00:03:22.240 --> 00:03:24.840 narrow it down just one suspect and solve the mystery. It was pretty much 41 00:03:25.120 --> 00:03:28.599 we have a whole bunch of people working here, and we know one of 42 00:03:28.599 --> 00:03:30.319 them had to have done this, but we can't figure out who did it 43 00:03:30.439 --> 00:03:36.159 or why, and that's why it's so frustrating. One case, this reminds 44 00:03:36.199 --> 00:03:39.159 me of what was the name of the woman, Robin she I think she 45 00:03:39.280 --> 00:03:46.080 worked for Southwest oh Sue Tarascalis, Sue Tarascoiz just because of the male dominated 46 00:03:46.120 --> 00:03:50.919 workplace, her being a woman up in a really high position. I know 47 00:03:50.960 --> 00:03:55.120 you will you'll later draw parallels to another case, but this one really reminded 48 00:03:55.159 --> 00:04:00.000 me of that, just because of all of the adversity that she faced it 49 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:03.479 inner workplace. Yeah, that's definitely a good comparison, because, as we're 50 00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:08.240 going to talk about, it was rumored that there was a lot of animosity 51 00:04:08.319 --> 00:04:12.240 towards Geta for having such a high position in the plant. But unlike Sue 52 00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:15.360 Tarascoitz case, it doesn't sound like she faced any outward harassment or there are 53 00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:20.959 any solid suspects who really wanted to harmor so we still have no idea if 54 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:27.160 that could have been the reason for her death. Our story begins in two 55 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:31.240 thousand and five in Totawa, New Jersey, a borough in Passaic County which 56 00:04:31.240 --> 00:04:36.600 has a population of around ten thousand people and is located about twelve miles outside 57 00:04:36.639 --> 00:04:42.800 of Newark. Our central figure is forty three year old Gita Angara, who 58 00:04:42.800 --> 00:04:46.759 works at the treatment facility for the Passaic Valley Water Commission. The commission is 59 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:53.439 responsible for providing drinking water to over eight hundred thousand residents, and their facility 60 00:04:53.480 --> 00:05:00.600 purifies an estimated eighty three million gallons of water every day. Gita originally from 61 00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:04.560 Chennai, India, and became the first woman to ever attend Loyola College when 62 00:05:04.600 --> 00:05:10.519 the school officially became co ed. She wound up earning both a bachelor's and 63 00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:15.759 a master's degree in chemistry and received a gold medal after graduating as the top 64 00:05:15.800 --> 00:05:19.439 student in her class. Gita also got married to her husband, Jaya Angara, 65 00:05:19.920 --> 00:05:24.120 and the couple would immigrate to the United States in nineteen eighty four. 66 00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:30.839 After attaining additional master's degrees and a doctorate in organic chemistry and New York University, 67 00:05:30.360 --> 00:05:35.360 Gita eventually started her job with the Passaic Valley Water Commission. By this 68 00:05:35.439 --> 00:05:40.519 point, she has been employed at the water treatment plant for over twelve years 69 00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:45.839 and lives with her family about forty five minutes away in Holmdel Township. Gita 70 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:49.600 and Jaya now have two daughters, nineteen year old Pavitra and nine year old 71 00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:55.680 Priya, along with a thirteen year old son named Vivic. In two thousand 72 00:05:55.680 --> 00:05:59.879 and four, Gita would earn her plant operator's license and was promoted to the 73 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:03.800 position of senior chemists, which meant she would be responsible for the calibration of 74 00:06:03.839 --> 00:06:09.360 one hundred and thirty five devices of the plant, including water clarity sensors. 75 00:06:10.160 --> 00:06:13.920 At this point, the facility is currently in the midst of a seventy million 76 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:18.000 dollar project which will transition from the usage of chlorine treatments to purify the water 77 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:24.879 to an ozone disinfection system instead. One of Gida's responsibilities is to oversee the 78 00:06:24.920 --> 00:06:30.160 new ozone generators and ensure that the plant's water quality remains within the standards of 79 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:35.079 the Environmental Protection Agency. On the morning of February the eighth, Guida arrived 80 00:06:35.079 --> 00:06:40.240 at the water treatment facility to beginner shift, which ran from eight am until 81 00:06:40.240 --> 00:06:44.519 four pm. Shortly before ten am, Guida was chatting with some of her 82 00:06:44.560 --> 00:06:47.920 coworkers in the break room when the technicians from her lab walked in and informed 83 00:06:47.920 --> 00:06:54.079 her that the plant's filters and clarity sensors needed to be calibrated. Shortly thereafter, 84 00:06:54.399 --> 00:06:58.439 Geita returned to the lab, and sometime between ten fifteen and ten thirty 85 00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:00.639 she left the area. Will carry a clipboard, a beaker, and a 86 00:07:00.680 --> 00:07:04.839 two way radio. The instruments which needed to be calibrated were located in the 87 00:07:04.839 --> 00:07:10.319 plant's basement, which was a series of eight foot wide tunnels lined with large 88 00:07:10.360 --> 00:07:14.000 pipes. When Geeda did not return, the lab technician, who asked her 89 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:16.439 to go down there, went into the basement to search for He noticed some 90 00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:19.839 broken glass on the floor, but could not find Gida, and when he 91 00:07:19.920 --> 00:07:24.800 returned upstairs to ask if anyone had seen her anywhere, they said they didn't 92 00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:28.000 know where she was. Well, in spite of this, several more hours 93 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:31.160 would pass before anyone at the plant made a big deal about Geda's absence. 94 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:35.519 That right there speaks volumes of what the culture and climate would be because this 95 00:07:35.639 --> 00:07:41.759 is a supervisor. This is someone a with her license to help run this 96 00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:46.560 whole facility. She's a mom and a wife. She's a hard worker, 97 00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:50.399 she's an immigrant who has quite a success story. And yet when you see 98 00:07:50.480 --> 00:07:56.839 signs that there's been a struggle, something dangerous has happened, you don't seem 99 00:07:56.879 --> 00:08:00.639 to raise any concern for her. To me, that shows a culture climate 100 00:08:00.800 --> 00:08:05.319 that's not healthy from the start. Well, to make another parallel to the 101 00:08:05.360 --> 00:08:09.160 Sue Tarascuoitz case which we talked about, that was one where the victim went 102 00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:11.759 missing when she went on a lunch run to get sandwiches for entire crew, 103 00:08:13.160 --> 00:08:16.120 and she never returned for the rest of her shift, and no one sounded 104 00:08:16.120 --> 00:08:20.240 the alarm. She was never even reported missing for another thirty six hours, 105 00:08:20.639 --> 00:08:24.279 and that showed a major cultural problem going on in here. And it's pretty 106 00:08:24.319 --> 00:08:28.040 much the same thing with Geta, where she can disappear or she can leave 107 00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:31.320 some broken fragments from a lab beaker behind, yet nobody really does anything. 108 00:08:31.440 --> 00:08:37.440 For several hours that evening, Guita was supposed to give one of her daughters 109 00:08:37.440 --> 00:08:41.879 a ride to a basketball game, but never showed up. She also failed 110 00:08:41.919 --> 00:08:46.240 to return home, and all calls to her cell phone went unanswered. At 111 00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:48.840 around nine pm, the plant was ready to close for the day, but 112 00:08:48.960 --> 00:08:52.240 one of the guards noticed that Gita's car was still in the parking lot. 113 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:56.840 It turned out that Guitah's coat, purse, and cell phone were still inside 114 00:08:56.879 --> 00:09:01.440 the lab and the soundwhich she'd been planning to eat for lunch, was on 115 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:05.080 her desk. A search was performed to the plant and an interesting discovery was 116 00:09:05.080 --> 00:09:09.440 made in the basement corridor next to the spot where the lap technician had discovered 117 00:09:09.440 --> 00:09:15.159 broken glass earlier. That day. There was a series of water tanks located 118 00:09:15.240 --> 00:09:18.720 underneath the floor, which could be accessed by opening up some four foot fifty 119 00:09:18.759 --> 00:09:24.759 pounds aluminum diamond plated panels. They were ordinarily held in place by a dozen 120 00:09:24.759 --> 00:09:28.159 screws, but it turned out that one of the panels was slightly ajar and 121 00:09:28.279 --> 00:09:33.200 many of the screws were broken or missing. When a full search failed to 122 00:09:33.240 --> 00:09:37.720 turn up any trace of Guida, the manager called the police to officially report 123 00:09:37.720 --> 00:09:41.720 her missing at eleven twenty two pm. The authorities would focus their attention on 124 00:09:41.759 --> 00:09:46.840 the loose panel in the basement, as the tank beneath it was thirty five 125 00:09:46.879 --> 00:09:50.120 feet deep and one hundred feet in diameter and held a million gallons worth of 126 00:09:50.159 --> 00:09:56.200 water. At around two am on February ninth, the police ordered the plant 127 00:09:56.200 --> 00:10:00.639 to be shut down and began the process of draining the tank. Once all 128 00:10:00.639 --> 00:10:03.840 the water was drained out, Gidah's radio and clipboard were discovered inside the empty 129 00:10:03.919 --> 00:10:07.919 tank, but there was still no sign of her. A decision was made 130 00:10:07.960 --> 00:10:13.080 to start draining the plant's other water tanks in case Geta's body had managed to 131 00:10:13.159 --> 00:10:16.919 drift into one of them. Sure Enough, at around six thirty pm, 132 00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:20.080 that evening, her body was discovered inside a tank known as the clear well, 133 00:10:20.399 --> 00:10:24.159 which is the final storage space for filtered water after it has completed the 134 00:10:24.200 --> 00:10:31.679 filtration and disinfection processes. The tank would be drained and the Passaic Valley Water 135 00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:35.919 Commission issued a precautionary boil water order, a public health advisory which is sent 136 00:10:37.000 --> 00:10:41.759 out when the community's drinking waters has been contaminated, as the order recommends that 137 00:10:41.840 --> 00:10:46.759 residents boil their water in order to purify it. See, her death becomes 138 00:10:46.759 --> 00:10:50.360 a trauma for the whole community. It's do you guys remember the what was 139 00:10:50.360 --> 00:10:56.200 the hotel documentary inside the Cecil Hotel? Yeah, same kind of thing, 140 00:10:56.279 --> 00:11:00.159 right where people are showering with the brown water and being told, well, 141 00:11:00.159 --> 00:11:01.679 it's there, old pipes, it is what it is, and it wasn't. 142 00:11:01.720 --> 00:11:07.440 It was the remains of the poor girl who had fallen into the yeah, 143 00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:09.639 on the roof. And so it does. It becomes this kind of 144 00:11:11.080 --> 00:11:15.840 trauma that's widespread across the community. In more ways, it's a physical trauma 145 00:11:15.919 --> 00:11:18.080 for many people. But then you go back to the plant and you go 146 00:11:18.200 --> 00:11:24.159 back to Gita, and I'm wondering it's in the two thousands, are there 147 00:11:24.279 --> 00:11:28.120 not security cameras and things, because this had to take some time to unscrew 148 00:11:28.200 --> 00:11:31.879 all of those screws. It had to make some noise to lift those heavy 149 00:11:31.879 --> 00:11:37.440 steel panels. How did someone get away with this? Well, as we're 150 00:11:37.440 --> 00:11:39.360 going to talk about, there were a lot of security cameras on the outside 151 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:43.159 of the plant, but security cameras inside were I don't think there were many 152 00:11:43.200 --> 00:11:46.279 at all, and there certainly weren't any in the basement. And that was 153 00:11:46.279 --> 00:11:50.759 one of the big issues here is that it was very difficult to get inside 154 00:11:50.759 --> 00:11:54.320 the plant if it was unauthorized, but you could move around pretty freely, 155 00:11:54.840 --> 00:11:58.639 So you can understand why someone could kill Gita and put her body in that 156 00:11:58.759 --> 00:12:05.399 tank and somehow be able to do it without being noticed. An autopsy would 157 00:12:05.480 --> 00:12:07.840 reveal that Gita was still alive when she first entered the water, so her 158 00:12:07.840 --> 00:12:11.600 official cause of death was drowning. However, there were also a number of 159 00:12:11.600 --> 00:12:16.879 deep bruises on Guita's neck to suggests that someone had attempted to strangle her, 160 00:12:16.039 --> 00:12:20.799 as well as additional bruises on her waist and elbow to indicate she had been 161 00:12:20.799 --> 00:12:24.639 involved in a violent struggle. It was suspected that someone had attacked and incapacitated 162 00:12:24.679 --> 00:12:30.240 Gita in the plant's basement before removing one of the access panels, dumping her 163 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:33.759 body into the water tank, and hastily replacing the panel. There was a 164 00:12:33.799 --> 00:12:37.120 five foot gap between the water and the panel, and since the tank was 165 00:12:37.159 --> 00:12:41.639 not equipped with a ladder or any lighting, it would have been impossible for 166 00:12:41.679 --> 00:12:45.799 Geda to climb out, even if she was still conscious. As a result 167 00:12:45.840 --> 00:12:50.200 of these findings, the Passaic County Prosecutor's office announced that the case would be 168 00:12:50.240 --> 00:12:54.279 investigated as a homicide. There was no sign of sexual assault on Gita's body, 169 00:12:54.600 --> 00:12:58.080 and investigators believed that her killer did not use a weapon to attack her 170 00:12:58.320 --> 00:13:03.039 and only strangled her with their bare hands. The temperature of the water inside 171 00:13:03.080 --> 00:13:07.159 the tanks was only thirty six degrees fahrenheit, and since Ghita was believed to 172 00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:11.799 be submerged in there for around thirty two hours, the heavy chlorine levels would 173 00:13:11.799 --> 00:13:18.360 have corroded and eliminated any potential trace evidence that the perpetrator left behind, such 174 00:13:18.360 --> 00:13:22.120 as DNA and fingerprints. Another issue is that since a number of other people 175 00:13:22.159 --> 00:13:26.720 had walked through the basement tunnels in the hours following Gita's death, the potential 176 00:13:26.720 --> 00:13:31.080 crime scene was compromised. In fact, even though the shards of broken glass 177 00:13:31.080 --> 00:13:35.240 found near the panel seemed to be consistent with the beaker Geita had been carrying, 178 00:13:35.639 --> 00:13:39.399 employees had swept them up and threw them away before the police arrived. 179 00:13:41.120 --> 00:13:43.600 Even though the tank contained a censor which was designed to set off an alert 180 00:13:43.799 --> 00:13:48.960 about changes with the water displacement, it happened to be broken at this time 181 00:13:48.200 --> 00:13:52.240 and was not set off when Gheeta's body entered the water. Like I just 182 00:13:52.240 --> 00:13:56.679 said, there were also no security cameras in the basement, and it contained 183 00:13:56.679 --> 00:14:01.080 a lot of loud machinery which likely muffled any noise which may have been caused 184 00:14:01.080 --> 00:14:05.960 by an attack on Yeta. It's almost as if the force was simply needed 185 00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:09.720 to get her subdued and get her to the water taste, because I'm assuming 186 00:14:09.759 --> 00:14:15.840 once you drop somebody down into that, there's really no way to get back 187 00:14:15.879 --> 00:14:20.960 out, because there's there's no purpose for human entry into that, And so 188 00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:26.480 I'm assuming this person attacks her violently, is strangling her so that she's not 189 00:14:26.519 --> 00:14:30.559 making as much noise, she can't scream for help, those kinds of things, 190 00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:33.200 and then possibly she passes out, and when they drop her down there, 191 00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:39.200 even if there was access out, she wouldn't be able to It's interesting, 192 00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:43.200 do you think signs of sexual assault could go away with the chemicals and 193 00:14:43.240 --> 00:14:46.720 things like that, or it was thirty two hours she was submerged there, 194 00:14:46.759 --> 00:14:50.200 would they really be able to tell those kinds of details. Wasn't that just 195 00:14:50.279 --> 00:14:54.080 clear water though, Like it was the final stage, the clear well where 196 00:14:54.600 --> 00:14:58.120 water would just stand. It wasn't being treated with chemicals at that point, 197 00:14:58.279 --> 00:15:01.679 was it? It was just chlora. So they say the chlorine could eliminate 198 00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:05.200 DNA and fingerprints belong to a third party, But I don't know if that 199 00:15:05.200 --> 00:15:09.399 would have been strong enough to get rid of any sign of sexual assault. 200 00:15:09.879 --> 00:15:11.679 I mean, if there was semen inside her body, that still would have 201 00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:15.559 shown up, right, I guess yeah, yeah, And for me, 202 00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:18.360 I don't think you would have enough time to do all of this and then 203 00:15:18.519 --> 00:15:22.080 sexual abuse as well. It seems like they needed her gone. Someone who's 204 00:15:22.120 --> 00:15:26.480 resentful of her position, someone who's resentful of someone who's an immigrant working and 205 00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:31.600 being in a supervisory position, someone who doesn't like a woman being their boss. 206 00:15:31.399 --> 00:15:33.919 Somebody had a problem with her and needed her gone, so I think 207 00:15:33.960 --> 00:15:39.200 the purpose was just to eliminate her, and the bruising would be a sign 208 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:43.159 to subdue her and get her to a point where possibly unconscious, so they 209 00:15:43.159 --> 00:15:46.200 could drop her in and there'd be no fight back. That's what I'm thinking 210 00:15:46.240 --> 00:15:50.679 as well. And it's always been debated about whether this was a planned murder 211 00:15:50.799 --> 00:15:54.960 or just a crime of passion where just someone something escalated out of control and 212 00:15:54.320 --> 00:15:58.120 they didn't plan to kill Gita, but once they realized what they'd done, 213 00:15:58.279 --> 00:16:00.240 they knew how to dispose her body. And I have a feeling that if 214 00:16:00.240 --> 00:16:03.879 sexual assault had been the motive, they probably wouldn't have been risky enough to 215 00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:07.200 do it in the plant's basement when anyone could have walked in at any time. 216 00:16:08.919 --> 00:16:14.200 In a bizarre turn of events, just over one year before Gita's death, 217 00:16:14.440 --> 00:16:17.720 the plant had been used as a filming location for an episode of the 218 00:16:17.759 --> 00:16:22.399 TV series Law and Order Special Victims Unit. The episode, titled Brotherhood, 219 00:16:22.440 --> 00:16:26.320 featured a scene in which the body of one of the characters was found floating 220 00:16:26.320 --> 00:16:30.919 inside a water tank. In spite of this, investigators do not suspect that 221 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:37.679 the episode inspired Geita's death, and believed that the whole situation was nothing more 222 00:16:37.720 --> 00:16:42.360 than an unfortunate coincidence. Since access to the plant was restricted, it seemed 223 00:16:42.480 --> 00:16:47.679 very likely that one of Geta's coworkers may have been responsible for her death. 224 00:16:48.519 --> 00:16:52.240 There was only one driveway to access the facility, and anyone who entered had 225 00:16:52.240 --> 00:16:56.200 to check in at a manned security post, which was monitored by a camera 226 00:16:56.279 --> 00:17:02.600 and had a ten foot high gate. Number of cameras and motion detectors surrounding 227 00:17:02.639 --> 00:17:06.640 the perimeter, and the only section of the property which was not surrounded by 228 00:17:06.680 --> 00:17:10.720 a fence was the south side of the Passaic River. While it would have 229 00:17:10.759 --> 00:17:15.680 been very difficult for an outsider to enter the plant, security inside the facility 230 00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:18.680 was not that tight, as none of the areas required access with a key 231 00:17:18.720 --> 00:17:23.519 card and the employees could walk around freely anywhere. As a result, this 232 00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:29.640 would make it difficult for investigators to track the movement for each employee and determine 233 00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:33.440 which ones might have been in the basement during the time period that Guida was 234 00:17:33.519 --> 00:17:37.599 killed. So I know that they're processing large amounts of water. This is 235 00:17:37.640 --> 00:17:41.440 a very big plant. How many people would have been working there and on 236 00:17:41.480 --> 00:17:45.559 her shift? I mean, are we talking hundreds of people. We talked 237 00:17:45.559 --> 00:17:49.000 about ten people. How big is this pool of suspects? I was just 238 00:17:49.000 --> 00:17:52.680 about to talk about that they had a total of eighty five employees, and 239 00:17:52.759 --> 00:17:56.599 fifty of them happened to be working during the time period when Nigita went missing. 240 00:18:00.039 --> 00:18:03.720 So yeah, like I said, security records showed that fifty of them 241 00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:07.039 were present and working on the day Guida died. And while all of these 242 00:18:07.039 --> 00:18:11.480 employees willingly provided DNA samples to police, this did not prove very useful since 243 00:18:11.519 --> 00:18:17.880 all potential DNA evidence had been eradicated by the chlorine. When investigator started looking 244 00:18:17.880 --> 00:18:22.440 into Geda's background, she was described as a very friendly, cheerful person who 245 00:18:22.519 --> 00:18:26.079 generally had good relationships with her coworkers and management. However, there were some 246 00:18:26.200 --> 00:18:30.920 coworkers who reportedly did not like her and were resentful of her promotion to senior 247 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:37.839 chemist. Even though Geda always downplayed her own academic achievements, there was apparently 248 00:18:37.880 --> 00:18:41.759 some jealousy about her PhD. When this case was later featured in an article 249 00:18:41.759 --> 00:18:47.839 in People magazine, an anonymous employee alleged that there was rachel prejudice towards Geta, 250 00:18:48.240 --> 00:18:51.680 stating quote, ninety eight percent of the plant is white, and not 251 00:18:51.759 --> 00:18:56.279 all of them like seeing immigrants do well end quote. I could definitely see 252 00:18:56.359 --> 00:19:00.440 racism playing a role here. When you look at this, you you could 253 00:19:00.680 --> 00:19:07.480 see resentment and jealousy, kind of insecurity with a woman who's immigrated here to 254 00:19:07.640 --> 00:19:12.519 the United States. She is a high achieving woman with a solid family, 255 00:19:12.559 --> 00:19:17.319 She's hard working, she has her PhD. That and of itself can be 256 00:19:17.359 --> 00:19:21.279 threatening to people who just simply look at someone and they say, why her 257 00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:26.000 right, why did she get this? And they almost cast this kind of 258 00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:30.319 elitism on her, even though she's not necessarily carrying herself that way. And 259 00:19:30.400 --> 00:19:33.039 so if someone said, I've been working here for years, she hasn't. 260 00:19:33.440 --> 00:19:37.519 I've you know, been in this field for this long. How come she 261 00:19:37.559 --> 00:19:42.799 got to jump ahead? I could see that. Plus someone who has a 262 00:19:42.799 --> 00:19:48.559 anger and kind of a racist attitude, of course that's going to cause a 263 00:19:48.880 --> 00:19:52.839 bigger fuel of anger. And Geita not only had her doctorate, but she 264 00:19:53.079 --> 00:19:57.319 had like three master's degrees, isn't that right, Robin, Like she got 265 00:19:57.799 --> 00:20:03.359 one at Loyola and then also her bachelor's and then when she immigrated to the 266 00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:07.880 United States, she then got I think two more master's degrees. And her 267 00:20:07.880 --> 00:20:11.960 PhD. Exactly, yeah, so, and she got a gold medal for 268 00:20:12.039 --> 00:20:15.759 being the top student in her class at Loyola. So she already achieved really 269 00:20:15.839 --> 00:20:21.759 high in India and only did better when she immigrated to the US to get 270 00:20:21.799 --> 00:20:26.880 additional accomplishments. So she probably had better education and more accomplishments than nearly anybody 271 00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:30.400 else working at that plant. And even though she was very humble about it, 272 00:20:30.440 --> 00:20:33.920 she didn't like to brag. I could still see how there might be 273 00:20:33.000 --> 00:20:37.599 some resentment from some of the more blue collar folks. Do you know what 274 00:20:37.720 --> 00:20:44.240 percentage of the employees were women? They never actually said that. I mean, 275 00:20:44.279 --> 00:20:47.240 we just gave the statistic that ninety eight percent were white, but I 276 00:20:47.279 --> 00:20:51.599 don't have any information about how many other women worked there. But to hearken 277 00:20:51.720 --> 00:20:53.880 back to the Sue Tuasco its case, like she was one of the only 278 00:20:53.960 --> 00:20:57.640 women working at the airline at the time of her death, and there was 279 00:20:57.680 --> 00:21:03.160 just so much resentment about her getting a promotion and being a supervisor to some 280 00:21:03.279 --> 00:21:06.640 of these other men. And I could see the same thing happening with Geeta, 281 00:21:06.720 --> 00:21:10.240 where not only is she a woman, but she's also an immigrant woman. 282 00:21:10.359 --> 00:21:12.039 And I think there could have been some men there who had a problem 283 00:21:12.039 --> 00:21:17.359 with that. My stepdad, for years, he just retired recently, worked 284 00:21:17.400 --> 00:21:22.000 at a water treatment facility and it was a huge water treatment facility, state 285 00:21:22.039 --> 00:21:25.440 of the art. And I can only say, I don't want to project 286 00:21:25.480 --> 00:21:30.680 this onto this case because I don't know what the what the statistics are there, 287 00:21:30.759 --> 00:21:33.559 how many women were employed. But I do know in his workplace, 288 00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:38.759 I think the total people there that might have worked were maybe around fifty And 289 00:21:40.119 --> 00:21:44.799 I also think that of that maybe there was one woman, maybe two. 290 00:21:45.519 --> 00:21:48.119 And this is like a few years back, and maybe now there's more women 291 00:21:48.240 --> 00:21:53.200 working there. But I do know it was definitely skewed way more towards men. 292 00:21:53.799 --> 00:21:57.799 So I could say that in there was some strange politics that happened at 293 00:21:57.799 --> 00:22:02.200 that place. If there was a woman who was in the highest position, 294 00:22:02.599 --> 00:22:06.319 I would have thought, based on the way my stepdad described it, that 295 00:22:06.400 --> 00:22:10.920 there would have been certain men there who would have been resentful of her position. 296 00:22:11.799 --> 00:22:17.599 There was also tension about the plant's transition from chlorine treatments to an ozone 297 00:22:17.599 --> 00:22:22.279 disinfection system, as some employees apparently did not agree with the initiative. In 298 00:22:22.319 --> 00:22:26.319 the weeks prior to her death, a pinkish substance was found in some treated 299 00:22:26.359 --> 00:22:32.319 water while Gita was outsick. Even though the issue was resolved in her absence, 300 00:22:32.799 --> 00:22:36.319 it was not done according to the plant's protocol, so Gida would be 301 00:22:36.400 --> 00:22:40.559 a signed to retrain some of her co workers. This did not go over 302 00:22:40.640 --> 00:22:45.799 well with everyone, and some employees reportedly blamed Gida and the plant's knew ozone 303 00:22:45.799 --> 00:22:49.559 cleansing process for the appearance of the pinkish substance. Her husband, Jia, 304 00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:53.799 would state, quote, my wife told me the atmosphere was very hostile at 305 00:22:53.839 --> 00:23:00.319 the time. There was friction end quote. However, investigators suspect did that 306 00:23:00.400 --> 00:23:03.799 Gita's death was not a premeditated murder and could have been the result of a 307 00:23:03.799 --> 00:23:10.079 workplace dispute which escalated out of control. I find it a little difficult to 308 00:23:10.119 --> 00:23:14.279 say you could rule out a premeditated murder because I might have that in the 309 00:23:14.319 --> 00:23:15.400 back of my head and when we get into a fuss, I go, 310 00:23:15.519 --> 00:23:18.279 now's the time to take this woman out. So I don't know that you 311 00:23:18.279 --> 00:23:22.400 can completely rule that out. But when you look at Gita, she is 312 00:23:22.440 --> 00:23:26.519 a supervisor. She's one of the top people at this plan, and so 313 00:23:26.119 --> 00:23:30.720 right here's case in point that when there's a problem she's gone, it gets 314 00:23:30.759 --> 00:23:34.440 resolved, but when she gets back, she now has to go back and 315 00:23:34.720 --> 00:23:40.400 basically get on to everyone and reteach them, retrain them. These are people 316 00:23:40.440 --> 00:23:44.599 who feel like they are competent at their job, they do the right thing. 317 00:23:44.839 --> 00:23:48.039 They don't like this new system. They've already voiced that they're frustrated with 318 00:23:48.079 --> 00:23:52.039 it. There was a problem, and now one of the women instituting the 319 00:23:52.160 --> 00:23:56.680 new system is going to sit them down and retrain them, which could feel 320 00:23:56.720 --> 00:23:59.759 very belittling to them. They could be very resentful and upset with that. 321 00:24:00.279 --> 00:24:04.240 And so I could see where those kinds of moments where she's either disciplining someone 322 00:24:04.599 --> 00:24:10.240 or having to quote retrain people who might, in their own head think I 323 00:24:10.319 --> 00:24:12.759 know all of this stuff. I don't need her especially to be retraining me. 324 00:24:14.119 --> 00:24:15.799 I could see where that would create that kind of friction that her husband 325 00:24:15.799 --> 00:24:21.240 described. Oh yeah, we're going to talk about this more in the episode. 326 00:24:21.240 --> 00:24:23.279 But they did say that some of the employees who worked at that plant 327 00:24:23.319 --> 00:24:29.039 were described as quote unquote old school, So it sounds like they liked the 328 00:24:29.079 --> 00:24:32.240 old system, they didn't like these new changes. And if you bring in 329 00:24:32.279 --> 00:24:36.640 this woman to retrain them and kind of throw everything for a loop. I 330 00:24:36.640 --> 00:24:41.480 can see how that would create potential resentment. After spending a month interviewing all 331 00:24:41.519 --> 00:24:45.599 of the plant's employees, police narrowed down the field of potential suspects to eight, 332 00:24:45.960 --> 00:24:49.400 but after a year long investigation, it was announced that the number had 333 00:24:49.400 --> 00:24:53.759 been narrowed down to three. While none of these three potential suspects were named 334 00:24:53.799 --> 00:24:57.640 publicly, it was revealed that all of them were male and had been working 335 00:24:57.640 --> 00:25:02.640 at the plant on the day was killed. It also turned out that one 336 00:25:02.640 --> 00:25:06.960 of these suspects was a supervisor and one of the others was the lab technician 337 00:25:07.240 --> 00:25:11.079 who would ask Gheeta to go down into the basement to calibrate the filters and 338 00:25:11.119 --> 00:25:15.160 clarity sensors. But it must be noted that, according to plant records, 339 00:25:15.440 --> 00:25:18.920 these instruments did need to be calibrated that day, so his story checked out. 340 00:25:19.799 --> 00:25:25.480 According to Lieutenant James Wood, the chief homicide detective for the Passaic County 341 00:25:25.480 --> 00:25:29.839 Prosecutor's Office, none of these three men had solid alibis, and he believed 342 00:25:29.839 --> 00:25:33.400 that one of them was on the verge of confessing until he decided to lawyer 343 00:25:33.519 --> 00:25:37.079 up and stop speaking. With the police. They reach asked to take light 344 00:25:37.119 --> 00:25:40.319 detector tests, and while one of them refused to do so, one of 345 00:25:40.359 --> 00:25:44.119 the men did wind up passing, and the other man's results were inconclusive. 346 00:25:44.839 --> 00:25:48.960 There was just no conclusive evidence to implicate any of the three suspects, so 347 00:25:48.039 --> 00:25:53.240 the investigation would reach a standstill until a theory started to form that Gheta's death 348 00:25:53.440 --> 00:25:57.440 may have been an accident. Hmmm, I'm wondering about the bruises on our 349 00:25:57.480 --> 00:26:02.839 body, because if you have marks of strangulation around your neck and you have 350 00:26:02.960 --> 00:26:07.279 bruises on your waist in your arms, I don't really know how you could 351 00:26:07.319 --> 00:26:11.240 say that's an accident. Maybe there's an explanation for the bruising around her neck, 352 00:26:11.279 --> 00:26:15.279 but I'll wait to hear that when we talk about the three suspects. 353 00:26:15.279 --> 00:26:18.880 I know that one man was in the right place at possibly the wrong time, 354 00:26:19.079 --> 00:26:22.960 and it checks out with these sensors. How were the other two pulled 355 00:26:22.960 --> 00:26:26.359 in? Had they had conflicts with her? What made the other two men 356 00:26:26.400 --> 00:26:32.039 a suspect? I wish I had that information, but nothing has been released 357 00:26:32.079 --> 00:26:34.119 about them publicly. I guess this could have been done so that they didn't 358 00:26:34.160 --> 00:26:38.880 want the public figuring out their identities, so potentially falsely accusing them if they 359 00:26:38.880 --> 00:26:42.000 didn't do anything. I mean, we do know that one of them, 360 00:26:42.079 --> 00:26:47.279 this lab technician, was the same man who found the broken glass near the 361 00:26:47.319 --> 00:26:49.640 spot where Gita went into the tank, but he didn't really do anything, 362 00:26:49.759 --> 00:26:55.039 and nobody noticed she was missing for the next several hours. But it could 363 00:26:55.119 --> 00:26:56.880 be, like I said, his story did check out. He did have 364 00:26:56.920 --> 00:27:00.359 a reason to send Gieda down there, so you can't just assume that this 365 00:27:00.519 --> 00:27:03.839 was some sort of elaborate setup and he lured her down there to kill her. 366 00:27:04.359 --> 00:27:08.480 But because this investigation is so secret and we have other than knowing about 367 00:27:08.480 --> 00:27:14.440 the lab technician, we have no information whatsoever about these three potential suspects and 368 00:27:14.440 --> 00:27:18.599 what kind of motive they might have had to kill Gieda. Here's a quick 369 00:27:18.640 --> 00:27:22.680 question, Robin. Okay, so we talked about this earlier, but I 370 00:27:22.799 --> 00:27:27.759 just want to confirm. Did we say that her clipboard was found in one 371 00:27:27.759 --> 00:27:33.720 of the water tanks and she was found in another. Let me just double 372 00:27:33.799 --> 00:27:37.480 check that. I think her radio or something was found in the other tank. 373 00:27:37.720 --> 00:27:41.119 Yeah. Yeah, the radio and the clipboard were found in the tank 374 00:27:41.319 --> 00:27:45.480 beneath the panel where she had gone into, but they thought that her body 375 00:27:45.519 --> 00:27:48.240 had floated to the other tank where she was eventually found. Okay, so 376 00:27:48.319 --> 00:27:52.720 they were connected. It wasn't like I don't believe this was an accident due 377 00:27:52.720 --> 00:27:56.599 to her injuries. But hypothetically, if she had fallen in the tank, 378 00:27:56.720 --> 00:28:00.200 her clipboard could have been found in one and she could have floated to the 379 00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:04.359 other. Yes, exactly. So they think that if she had fallen in 380 00:28:04.599 --> 00:28:07.559 her items could remain behind, but she could have floated to the other place 381 00:28:07.559 --> 00:28:14.839 where she was eventually found. Detectives would consult with Derek Pounder, a forensic 382 00:28:14.839 --> 00:28:18.839 pathologist from the University of Dundee in Scotland who was considered to be an expert 383 00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:23.599 in the field of drownings. Even though the bruising on Gita's neck suggested that 384 00:28:23.640 --> 00:28:29.799 she'd been strangled, Pounder had an alternate explanation for them. He claimed there 385 00:28:29.799 --> 00:28:33.640 were a few documented cases of drowning victims being found with similar bruising, which 386 00:28:33.680 --> 00:28:38.359 had been caused by extremely cold water. According to Pounder, if Gita was 387 00:28:38.400 --> 00:28:42.920 still conscious when she entered the water tank, the cold temperatures could have caused 388 00:28:42.960 --> 00:28:47.480 her to go into shock. If her head and neck were above the water 389 00:28:47.559 --> 00:28:51.440 while this was taking place. This may have led to hemorrhaging at the neckline, 390 00:28:51.519 --> 00:28:55.640 which caused her bruises to form. During an article published in The New 391 00:28:55.720 --> 00:29:00.000 York Post, an anonymous insider from the plant came up with a potential expert 392 00:29:00.240 --> 00:29:04.400 nation for how Geda could have entered the water accidentally. According to this insider, 393 00:29:04.559 --> 00:29:07.960 on the day of Gita's death, the state ordered some testing on the 394 00:29:07.960 --> 00:29:12.480 water due to the appearance of a pinkish haze. Even though water samples could 395 00:29:12.519 --> 00:29:17.880 be collected from the tanks with some newer machinery, there was apparently one water 396 00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:22.240 quality supervisor who was described as very old school and still had a tendency to 397 00:29:22.279 --> 00:29:26.680 take water from the tank manually. This would have involved removing a panel from 398 00:29:26.680 --> 00:29:30.759 the floor of one of the basement corridors, so a potential theory is that 399 00:29:30.839 --> 00:29:34.319 someone could have done this and left the scene without putting the panel back in 400 00:29:34.400 --> 00:29:41.200 place. Since the corridors were dimly lit, it's possible that Gita unknowingly walked 401 00:29:41.240 --> 00:29:45.640 over the opening in the floor and fell into the water tank, while when 402 00:29:45.680 --> 00:29:48.319 the responsible party returned to the scene and put the panel back into position, 403 00:29:49.000 --> 00:29:52.720 they may have been unaware that Gueda was inside the tank, or if they 404 00:29:52.759 --> 00:29:57.039 did know, they decided to cover their tracks in order to avoid potential liability 405 00:29:57.079 --> 00:30:02.480 issues. Well, believe eive it or not. After the lead homicide detective 406 00:30:02.559 --> 00:30:07.279 James Wood retired, he stated during an interview that he had changed his mind 407 00:30:07.279 --> 00:30:11.119 about the case and now believe the Gidah's death was an accident caused by negligence 408 00:30:11.200 --> 00:30:18.240 rather than an intentional homicide. Question that there are not deaths where there was 409 00:30:18.279 --> 00:30:22.440 bruising due to cold water, but it sounds very odd to me. It's 410 00:30:22.519 --> 00:30:26.880 frustrating when you read this because any of these options, the option of someone 411 00:30:27.160 --> 00:30:32.960 knowing she had fallen in there and covering it on purpose to avoid liability, 412 00:30:33.480 --> 00:30:37.319 and or someone putting her there, those are both tragic situations. Someone who 413 00:30:37.400 --> 00:30:41.559 came by and put the lid back on and screwed the floor back down partially, 414 00:30:42.240 --> 00:30:47.359 that would be, you know, absolutely understandable. But the other two 415 00:30:47.480 --> 00:30:51.839 explanations are both tragic. Right, someone knew and didn't help and didn't say 416 00:30:51.880 --> 00:30:55.920 anything, let her sit there for thirty two hours, or someone murdered her. 417 00:30:56.440 --> 00:31:00.480 I'm still leaning towards somebody hurt her. There was tension, there was 418 00:31:00.559 --> 00:31:04.319 frustration with her. She had confided in her husband that there was stress at 419 00:31:04.359 --> 00:31:07.319 work. And to me, the bruising around the neck is worrisome. I 420 00:31:07.440 --> 00:31:11.839 need more information of how and why that bruising occurs with cold water. And 421 00:31:11.920 --> 00:31:15.599 what could you say about the bruising around the waist If you're going to explain 422 00:31:15.640 --> 00:31:21.880 the bruising because her neck was above water and that was like a contact point 423 00:31:22.039 --> 00:31:26.079 and it caused the bruising due to the shock, how could you explain the 424 00:31:26.079 --> 00:31:29.759 bruising at the waist? And let me ask you this too. When you 425 00:31:29.880 --> 00:31:33.880 think about when you tread water, you don't sit in one location for minutes. 426 00:31:34.200 --> 00:31:37.079 I mean, when you tread water, you're using your arms. You're 427 00:31:37.119 --> 00:31:38.640 pushing your body up and down, up and down, up and down, 428 00:31:38.640 --> 00:31:42.960 so the water is constantly moving across your neck and your shoulders, and eventually 429 00:31:44.039 --> 00:31:47.119 you would get exhausted. But at that point I almost think only your head 430 00:31:47.119 --> 00:31:49.160 would like the top of your face would be out, you know what I 431 00:31:49.240 --> 00:31:55.160 mean. So around her neck, I can't imagine just treading water to my 432 00:31:55.279 --> 00:31:57.839 neck is in the same position for long enough to bruise. It just seems 433 00:31:59.519 --> 00:32:04.039 odd and by your logic, which makes total sense to me. If it 434 00:32:04.200 --> 00:32:07.319 was going to bruise, like the University of Dundee guy said, then I 435 00:32:07.359 --> 00:32:10.880 would think a Pounder that was his name, But I would think that it 436 00:32:10.880 --> 00:32:14.799 would also be all the way up the neck, right, so you'd see 437 00:32:14.880 --> 00:32:16.599 bruising through the length of a neck, because You're right, she'd be bobbing 438 00:32:16.680 --> 00:32:21.279 up and down. So if that cold water and the shot caused bruising, 439 00:32:21.680 --> 00:32:27.279 wouldn't you see that bruising like in multiple, multiple locations, multiple layers at 440 00:32:27.359 --> 00:32:30.559 least. Yeah, like multiple layering where I could hold my body here and 441 00:32:30.559 --> 00:32:32.440 then here and then here, and I got so tired I went under like 442 00:32:32.640 --> 00:32:38.119 banded bruising. And another issue I have is that even though Pounder is considered 443 00:32:38.160 --> 00:32:43.400 to be an expert in drownings, how many other drownings has he studied under 444 00:32:43.400 --> 00:32:47.440 these exact circumstances, Because I'm guaranteeing that there's probably not too many other examples 445 00:32:47.519 --> 00:32:52.519 of someone drowning after falling in a water tank and a plant, and they 446 00:32:52.519 --> 00:32:55.839 talk about the circumstances that this was completely dark and she was something like five 447 00:32:55.880 --> 00:33:00.799 feet below the opening, so it's kind of like drowning even if he has 448 00:33:00.839 --> 00:33:06.359 found other documented cases of someone drowning with bruises on their neck. I'm willing 449 00:33:06.359 --> 00:33:09.160 to bet that those other cases aren't anything like Geeta's, and so how could 450 00:33:09.200 --> 00:33:14.039 he accurately predict what kind of bruising she's gonna get on her body when she's 451 00:33:14.079 --> 00:33:19.400 in such unusual position. However, the biggest issue was that Derek Pounder's theory 452 00:33:19.480 --> 00:33:22.480 was based on nothing more than guesswork, as he apparently did not view the 453 00:33:22.519 --> 00:33:28.720 original autopsy report. He also couldnot examine Geta's body, as her family had 454 00:33:28.759 --> 00:33:32.839 elected to cremate her in accordance with Hindu funeral customs. During the initial stages 455 00:33:32.880 --> 00:33:37.720 of the investigation, Gita's body and autopsy report have been examined by no less 456 00:33:37.759 --> 00:33:42.920 than five separate pathologists from Passaic County, and they all came to the same 457 00:33:43.000 --> 00:33:46.480 conclusion that her death was a homicide. Geedah's family also did not agree with 458 00:33:46.519 --> 00:33:51.839 the accident theory, noting that she was a very conscientious person with a reputation 459 00:33:52.000 --> 00:33:54.759 for being a perfectionist, and they found it doubtful that she would have walked 460 00:33:54.799 --> 00:33:59.880 through the basement corridor without noticing an open panel on the floor beneath her. 461 00:34:00.279 --> 00:34:02.799 Her oldest daughter Pavritha, would state quote, I think he would have to 462 00:34:02.799 --> 00:34:07.519 ignore a lot of facts to believe it was an accident end quote. For 463 00:34:07.599 --> 00:34:12.199 their part, other plant employees claimed that they had never personally witnessed an incident 464 00:34:12.480 --> 00:34:15.480 where someone removed a floor panel and left it open for an extended period of 465 00:34:15.480 --> 00:34:21.239 time after leaving the scene. In two thousand and seven, the Angara family 466 00:34:21.280 --> 00:34:25.119 would file a wrongful death lawsuit against the Passaic Valley Water Commission, alleging that 467 00:34:25.159 --> 00:34:30.599 the plant had a history of safety violations which were never remedied. The suit 468 00:34:30.679 --> 00:34:34.760 was tied up in litigation for two years before a state judge ordered the parties 469 00:34:34.760 --> 00:34:37.320 to mediate for a potential settlement. But I'd been not able to find out 470 00:34:37.360 --> 00:34:44.559 how this lawsuit ultimately turned out. In twenty fifteen, a tenth anniversary article 471 00:34:44.639 --> 00:34:49.559 was published about Gitta's death, where John Ladaka, the former Passaic County Chief 472 00:34:49.559 --> 00:34:53.679 Assistant prosecutor, confirmed that the three men considered to be potential suspects during the 473 00:34:53.679 --> 00:35:00.000 early stages of the investigation, were no longer believed to be responsible. Ladaraki 474 00:35:00.159 --> 00:35:02.960 stated quote, there were a couple of people who raised their antennas, but 475 00:35:04.000 --> 00:35:07.079 when push came to shove, we looked into the additional things that became areas 476 00:35:07.119 --> 00:35:12.760 of concern in interviewing these folks, and based on that we thought that while 477 00:35:12.800 --> 00:35:16.480 there were reasons they came across as hinky, we ultimately didn't believe the actively 478 00:35:16.559 --> 00:35:22.039 killed her end quote. At the moment, the case is described as quote 479 00:35:22.280 --> 00:35:25.639 open but inactive. So there's still no answers about what caused the death of 480 00:35:25.719 --> 00:35:30.079 Guita and Gara. So I guess you could say the path went Chiley. 481 00:35:30.960 --> 00:35:36.480 I'm praying that her family was able to get some kind of financial compensation to 482 00:35:36.719 --> 00:35:42.519 help with you know, they lost their mother and their matriarch and one of 483 00:35:42.519 --> 00:35:46.360 the major breadwinners in their family, and you know, it's difficult to go 484 00:35:46.480 --> 00:35:50.920 on as a widower and to have your little ones that you're trying to raise 485 00:35:50.920 --> 00:35:53.039 on your own, and you've lost an income. So I think the financial 486 00:35:53.079 --> 00:35:57.840 compensation that they were seeking, whether it was a murder or an accident, 487 00:35:58.039 --> 00:36:00.960 means something of the lab had gone wrong, something that that plant had gone 488 00:36:01.000 --> 00:36:06.559 wrong, and so I am praying to get financial compensation. However, we 489 00:36:06.599 --> 00:36:09.880 all know that financial compensation doesn't help with the emotional loss of their mother and 490 00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.639 wife, and so not having the answers. We talk about this all the 491 00:36:14.679 --> 00:36:17.880 time. You could have given them fifty million dollars And I still want to 492 00:36:17.880 --> 00:36:22.559 know what happened to her, How did this happen to her? Why weren't 493 00:36:22.599 --> 00:36:24.880 things in place that would have prevented this from happening to her, or that 494 00:36:24.920 --> 00:36:28.920 would have allowed us to have some kind of justice or understanding of how she 495 00:36:29.039 --> 00:36:34.400 died. And so my heart is just so sad. She had three children 496 00:36:34.599 --> 00:36:38.639 correct, yes, yeah, three little ones that she left behind that were 497 00:36:38.920 --> 00:36:42.559 young. They needed their mom, and their mom's not going to be there 498 00:36:42.559 --> 00:36:45.639 for any of their major life events. She worked so hard, she moved 499 00:36:45.760 --> 00:36:50.960 herself here to create a better life so she could have those babies and she 500 00:36:51.000 --> 00:36:53.079 could provide a life for them. And that's what she was doing, and 501 00:36:53.119 --> 00:36:59.159 it was taken away. So, whether an accident or a murder, things 502 00:36:59.519 --> 00:37:02.920 most likely could have been done better to help either the investigators figure out who 503 00:37:02.960 --> 00:37:07.440 it was, or to keep the people, all people, not just her 504 00:37:07.840 --> 00:37:12.039 that we're working in that plant much safer, are you guys? Just as 505 00:37:12.039 --> 00:37:15.119 frustrated by the comments from John lotteraca how vague they are, where he says 506 00:37:15.159 --> 00:37:19.599 that well, we have three potential suspects, but we don't believe they're responsible 507 00:37:19.639 --> 00:37:22.800 now. But they don't provide any specific details why. They just essentially just 508 00:37:22.840 --> 00:37:27.199 say, well, they looked suspicious at first, but we ultimately don't believe 509 00:37:27.280 --> 00:37:30.360 that they killed her. But why, I mean, how do you know 510 00:37:30.440 --> 00:37:32.159 that? Yeah, tell us, why how do you know that? And 511 00:37:32.480 --> 00:37:36.559 like I said, the bruising and saying that that was all proof of an 512 00:37:36.599 --> 00:37:38.760 accident, it's just not convincing enough for me to say, oh, okay, 513 00:37:39.000 --> 00:37:42.840 that's good, thank you for updating us, and now we can all 514 00:37:42.880 --> 00:37:45.559 go to sleep and rest easy. We don't have any information to go and 515 00:37:45.719 --> 00:37:50.119 say, okay, now I'm confident that he's right. And we know that 516 00:37:50.159 --> 00:37:53.360 people are pissed off about having to be retrained about this pinkish hued water, 517 00:37:53.840 --> 00:37:58.719 and what is Geeda doing. She's going to get water as a sample to 518 00:37:59.159 --> 00:38:02.400 test and figure out why this pink isshue is there. But as a result 519 00:38:02.480 --> 00:38:07.880 of that whole situation, she has been put in a leadership role again, 520 00:38:07.159 --> 00:38:12.679 tasked with doing this thing, which obviously a lot of the employees don't like. 521 00:38:13.000 --> 00:38:16.000 They probably don't like it because she's a racial minority and the plant was 522 00:38:16.039 --> 00:38:21.760 predominantly white, and because she's a woman, so I would think that tempers 523 00:38:21.800 --> 00:38:27.559 could be potentially running hot at this exact time. So to rule out it 524 00:38:27.679 --> 00:38:30.800 being a homicide and to say that, oh, yeah, very well, 525 00:38:30.840 --> 00:38:34.119 could be an accident, I think like you said, Robin, and I 526 00:38:34.119 --> 00:38:37.719 think was a really good point that Pounder, the probability is low that he's 527 00:38:37.719 --> 00:38:43.480 ever investigated a death in water, that is, in conditions that are similar 528 00:38:44.000 --> 00:38:47.159 to this, So it can be really difficult to say that, oh, 529 00:38:47.199 --> 00:38:51.920 well, it happened in these other cases there was bruising, and we don't 530 00:38:51.920 --> 00:38:55.199 know how many cases, and what the exact temperatures were of the water, 531 00:38:55.639 --> 00:38:59.159 what was the position of the body, was the size of the person. 532 00:38:59.360 --> 00:39:02.039 Was a woman, was it a man. There's so many different variables that 533 00:39:02.199 --> 00:39:07.079 go into this, and to just kind of dismiss it and say that it 534 00:39:07.119 --> 00:39:10.519 was an accident, it just seems so preposterous. That's why I'm hoping that 535 00:39:10.559 --> 00:39:15.039 when a lot of Roco made those statements that he wasn't ruling out the suspects. 536 00:39:15.079 --> 00:39:17.679 Based on Derek Pounder's conclusions, that he now thinks it's a homicide. 537 00:39:17.719 --> 00:39:21.760 Because you remember their methods they said, well, we narrowed it down to 538 00:39:21.800 --> 00:39:23.360 eight, and then we narrowed it down to these three. And I'm like, 539 00:39:23.400 --> 00:39:27.440 well, if you don't think these three are responsible, then you should 540 00:39:27.599 --> 00:39:30.559 start over because somebody in that plant had to kill her. So I can 541 00:39:30.679 --> 00:39:36.079 understand that our family must be frustrated that there haven't been any new developments in 542 00:39:36.119 --> 00:39:40.119 the investigation for over a decade now, So you're wondering are they reinvestigating these 543 00:39:40.159 --> 00:39:44.239 people? Like what are exactly are they doing to try to figure out who 544 00:39:44.360 --> 00:39:47.239 killed Gita? So I think this would be a good time to bring an 545 00:39:47.320 --> 00:39:51.480 end to part one. But join us next week as we present part two 546 00:39:51.480 --> 00:39:55.840 of our series about the unexplained death of Geta and Ghara. Robin, do 547 00:39:55.840 --> 00:40:00.400 you want to tell us a little bit about the Trailment Cold Patreon. Yes, 548 00:40:00.440 --> 00:40:02.440 the Trail Cold Patreon has been around for three years now, and we 549 00:40:02.519 --> 00:40:07.800 offer these standard bonus features like early ad free episodes, and I also send 550 00:40:07.840 --> 00:40:13.079 out stickers and sign thank you cards to anyone who signs up with us on 551 00:40:13.159 --> 00:40:17.280 Patreon if you join our five dollars tier Tier two. We also offer monthly 552 00:40:17.360 --> 00:40:22.039 bonus episodes in which I talk about cases which are not featured on The Trail 553 00:40:22.079 --> 00:40:27.119 Went Cold's original feed, so they're exclusive to Patreon and if you join our 554 00:40:27.239 --> 00:40:30.880 highest tier, Tier three, the ten dollar Tier. One of the features 555 00:40:30.880 --> 00:40:36.519 we offer is a audio commentary track over classic episodes of Unsawd Mysteries, where 556 00:40:36.519 --> 00:40:40.360 you can download an audio file and then boot up the original Unsolved Mysteries episode 557 00:40:40.400 --> 00:40:45.119 on Amazon Prime or YouTube and play it with my audio commentary playing in the 558 00:40:45.119 --> 00:40:50.400 background, where I just provide trivia and factoids about the cases featured in this 559 00:40:50.519 --> 00:40:53.880 episode. And incidentally, the very first episode that I did a commentary track 560 00:40:53.960 --> 00:40:58.840 over was the episode featuring this case. So if you want to download a 561 00:40:58.880 --> 00:41:02.320 commentary track and try I make more smart ass remarks about Jewel Kaylor than be 562 00:41:02.400 --> 00:41:06.440 sure to join Tier three. So I want to let you know a little 563 00:41:06.440 --> 00:41:09.440 bit about the Jewels and Nashty patreons. So there's early ad free episodes of 564 00:41:09.559 --> 00:41:14.760 The Path Went Chili. We've got our Pathwent Chili mini's, which are always 565 00:41:14.760 --> 00:41:16.559 over an hour, so they're not very mini, but they're just too short 566 00:41:16.559 --> 00:41:21.199 to turn into a series, and we're really enjoying doing those. So we 567 00:41:21.239 --> 00:41:23.320 hope you'll check out those patreons. We'll link them in the show notes. 568 00:41:23.840 --> 00:41:27.880 So I want to thank you all for listening and any chance you have to 569 00:41:27.920 --> 00:41:30.599 share us on social media with a friend or to rate and review is greatly 570 00:41:30.639 --> 00:41:35.800 appreciated. You can email us at the Pathwentchili at gmail dot com. You 571 00:41:35.840 --> 00:41:38.360 can reach us on Twitter at the Pathwin. So until next time, be 572 00:41:38.400 --> 00:41:43.559 sure to bundle up because cold trails and chili pass call for warm clothing. 573 00:41:43.800 --> 00:41:45.960 Music by Paul Rich from the podcast Cold Callers Comedy