WEBVTT 1 00:00:30.679 --> 00:00:34.560 Welcome back to the Path Went Chile for part two of our series about the 2 00:00:34.600 --> 00:00:38.679 unexplained death of Gita Angara. Robin, do you want to catch everyone up 3 00:00:38.679 --> 00:00:42.280 of what we talked about in our previous episode? Well, our victim here 4 00:00:42.359 --> 00:00:46.719 is Geeta Angara, a forty three year old chemist who originally hailed from India. 5 00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:51.159 She graduated top of her class at Loyola College, and after emigrating to 6 00:00:51.200 --> 00:00:55.280 the United States with her husband, she had three kids and got a bachelor's 7 00:00:55.280 --> 00:00:59.399 degree and a master's degree in chemistry and then got a job at the treatment 8 00:00:59.399 --> 00:01:03.960 facility for the Passaic Valley Water Commission in New Jersey. She had a high 9 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:07.040 position as senior or chemist, seemed to be well liked in her position, 10 00:01:07.120 --> 00:01:10.840 though apparently there was some resentment from a few people who did not like a 11 00:01:11.159 --> 00:01:14.959 female immigrant having a higher position than them, though it doesn't sound like it 12 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:18.760 led to any serious problems. But one day at work, Gita went down 13 00:01:18.840 --> 00:01:21.879 into the basement for what should have been a routine assignment, but she never 14 00:01:21.959 --> 00:01:25.799 returned and no one could find her, and she was eventually reported missing. 15 00:01:26.159 --> 00:01:29.719 And then they discovered that because a panel on one of the floors in the 16 00:01:29.760 --> 00:01:33.519 basement had been tampered with. They looked into it and found a water tank 17 00:01:33.719 --> 00:01:37.719 which contained some of Gita's personal items, and it would later turn out that 18 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:42.079 her body floated to another tank and that her exact cause of death was drowning. 19 00:01:42.599 --> 00:01:45.640 However, because she has bruised on her body, it seemed apparent that 20 00:01:45.719 --> 00:01:49.200 someone had assaulted her and attempted to strangle her and probably unscrewed the panel, 21 00:01:49.239 --> 00:01:53.079 put her body into the tank and then screwed the panel back on to cover 22 00:01:53.239 --> 00:01:57.159 up what they did. There was a Scottish expert on drowning who looked at 23 00:01:57.159 --> 00:02:01.719 the possibility that Guta's death could have been an accident, that maybe someone left 24 00:02:01.719 --> 00:02:06.519 the panel open and she was walking through the basement and fell through, and 25 00:02:06.560 --> 00:02:09.159 then later on someone went back and screwed the panel back on in order to 26 00:02:09.199 --> 00:02:13.800 cover up what she had done. But the vast majority of people, including 27 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:16.400 DA's family, believed that she was the victim of a homicide and that she 28 00:02:16.520 --> 00:02:21.759 was killed intentionally. Obviously, because of this security surrounding the plant, it 29 00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:23.800 meant that one of her co workers had to be the killer, and they 30 00:02:23.879 --> 00:02:29.159 determined that there were fifty employees working on the day that she went missing. 31 00:02:29.479 --> 00:02:32.919 They did it eventually narrow things down to three suspects, but a couple of 32 00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:36.960 years later they suddenly said, well, we couldn't find any evidence on them, 33 00:02:36.960 --> 00:02:39.520 and now we no longer believe that they were responsible. So it sounds 34 00:02:39.520 --> 00:02:44.400 like the investigation is right back to square one. And even though it seems 35 00:02:44.439 --> 00:02:46.960 obvious she was killed by someone who was at the plant that day, they 36 00:02:47.039 --> 00:02:52.120 just don't have any evidence to conclusively implicate anyone, and the motive for the 37 00:02:52.120 --> 00:02:55.800 crime is still a mystery. So if you're an unsolved mystery span, you 38 00:02:55.879 --> 00:03:00.000 might have noticed that this story is very reminiscent of the suspicion death of Dave 39 00:03:00.120 --> 00:03:04.360 Box, which was featured on the show, as well as an episode of 40 00:03:04.400 --> 00:03:08.400 The Trail Went Cold and an entire season of the long form investigative podcast Accused. 41 00:03:08.879 --> 00:03:13.280 In both of these cases, an employee disappeared during the middle of their 42 00:03:13.319 --> 00:03:16.120 shift at a large plant and was not reported missing for a long period of 43 00:03:16.159 --> 00:03:21.639 time before the victim or what was left to them, was discovered on company 44 00:03:21.680 --> 00:03:25.120 grounds. In one case, it was a uranium processing furnace and in the 45 00:03:25.159 --> 00:03:29.879 other it was a water tank, but no matter the circumstances of how they 46 00:03:29.919 --> 00:03:32.840 died, you could only hope the victim was not conscious when they found themselves 47 00:03:32.879 --> 00:03:38.240 in that position. Now, Dave Box was working the graveyard shift and died 48 00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:40.879 inside a building which was not being used at that particular time of night, 49 00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:45.680 so if it was a homicide, you can understand how someone could have gotten 50 00:03:45.719 --> 00:03:50.400 away with it. However, Geta Angara's death was a lot more brazen since 51 00:03:50.400 --> 00:03:53.439 it apparently took place in an open corridor during the morning hours, so the 52 00:03:53.439 --> 00:03:58.680 perpetrator got extremely lucky that no one else happened to come by while this was 53 00:03:58.719 --> 00:04:02.280 going on. While a suicide has been explored as a potential explanation in the 54 00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:06.759 Dave Box case, no one has ever considered that possibility in Geeta's case, 55 00:04:08.080 --> 00:04:12.000 because if she jumped into the water tank voluntarily, it obviously would have been 56 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:15.720 impossible for her to slide the panel back in place behind her. Theoretically, 57 00:04:16.079 --> 00:04:20.800 that detail should have eliminated all possibility of her death being an accident as well, 58 00:04:21.319 --> 00:04:26.160 But this has actually been presented as a potential explanation, and we'll talk 59 00:04:26.240 --> 00:04:30.680 more about that later on. Now. Dave Box's story has always had a 60 00:04:30.720 --> 00:04:34.079 major conspiracy vibe surrounding it, because in the months following his death, his 61 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:40.040 plan experienced a major scandal once it became public knowledge that they have been causing 62 00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:45.319 radioactive contamination in the surrounding community. So one of the most prominent theories is 63 00:04:45.360 --> 00:04:48.319 that Dave was murdered because he was threatening to blow the whistle on the plant's 64 00:04:48.399 --> 00:04:54.639 unsafe practices. This has been presented as a potential theory in Gheta's case as 65 00:04:54.639 --> 00:04:58.519 well, but it's unclear what she could have stumbled upon that put her life 66 00:04:58.519 --> 00:05:02.240 in danger. During this time period, the water facility was in the midst 67 00:05:02.279 --> 00:05:08.800 of an expensive project to transition from chlorine to an ozone disinfectant system. But 68 00:05:08.879 --> 00:05:13.439 while this wasn't a popular decision with all the employees, it was hardly scandalous, 69 00:05:14.040 --> 00:05:16.439 believe it or not. One of the most ridiculous theories which has been 70 00:05:16.439 --> 00:05:21.279 pushed forward is that the New Jersey Mob was angry about the Water Commission's decision 71 00:05:21.560 --> 00:05:27.120 to switch to ozone treatment because it would curtail what their contractors were doing, 72 00:05:27.680 --> 00:05:30.199 so as a result, the mob decided to order a hit on Geita. 73 00:05:31.040 --> 00:05:35.160 Well, that theory makes no sense whatsoever, because Guita was a chemist who 74 00:05:35.160 --> 00:05:39.800 had no authority to make big decisions like that. So I don't see how 75 00:05:39.879 --> 00:05:44.519 murdering her would change anything. No, I'm going to go ahead and let 76 00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:49.120 everyone know the mob didn't hire anyone to kill her. That is a pure 77 00:05:49.160 --> 00:05:55.560 conspiracy theory kind of sounding idea. But when you do think about what was 78 00:05:55.600 --> 00:06:00.279 going on at the plant, it is very clear that Gita stands out out 79 00:06:00.439 --> 00:06:05.240 amongst the other employees. She's incredibly educated, she immigrated to America. She 80 00:06:05.519 --> 00:06:09.879 is one of the only women likely at this plant, and she's in a 81 00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:14.759 place of a supervisory role. And so when there's issues at the plant, 82 00:06:14.920 --> 00:06:18.600 she's the one who's calling employees in. She's the one asked to retrain them, 83 00:06:19.319 --> 00:06:24.439 she's the one offering disciplinary actions and things like that when they need to 84 00:06:24.480 --> 00:06:29.240 happen. And so she's already a target there. She's confirmed that with her 85 00:06:29.319 --> 00:06:32.399 husband. She said there's tension in the workplace when they talk about it being 86 00:06:32.439 --> 00:06:36.720 an accident. Could it have been? There is a possibility, right, 87 00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:42.199 It makes sense if she accidentally fell in and someone later came after she had 88 00:06:42.240 --> 00:06:46.279 already passed away or was unconscious, they could have screwed that plate back on 89 00:06:46.759 --> 00:06:49.560 the same could have happened if she was a suicidal individual, I assume, 90 00:06:49.680 --> 00:06:54.920 because she could have been deceased and someone walks in and finds that plate move. 91 00:06:55.519 --> 00:06:59.480 But it makes so much more sense that someone wanted her gone. They 92 00:06:59.480 --> 00:07:01.600 didn't lie like the position she was in. They didn't like the way she 93 00:07:01.639 --> 00:07:04.920 had authority over them, they felt insecure, they didn't like her as a 94 00:07:04.959 --> 00:07:09.600 racial minority, they didn't like her as a woman. We know those things 95 00:07:09.600 --> 00:07:13.399 were active. So then when you have her death and then her body recovered 96 00:07:13.399 --> 00:07:17.519 thirty two hours later, especially with the bruising, it feels like we're pointing 97 00:07:17.560 --> 00:07:21.160 more towards foul play. In my opinion, it feels like it could have 98 00:07:21.199 --> 00:07:26.600 been something as simple as Gita was going to collect this water sample and she 99 00:07:26.759 --> 00:07:30.920 ran into somebody and maybe had a few words with that person, maybe implying 100 00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:35.399 that they were doing something wrong, or that is how they interpreted it, 101 00:07:35.839 --> 00:07:40.839 and they didn't like it coming from her, and that it was an impulsive 102 00:07:40.959 --> 00:07:45.439 crime of passion rather than something that was pre planned. I mean, the 103 00:07:45.480 --> 00:07:48.800 beaker was broken there, obviously, if she was killed, there was not 104 00:07:49.040 --> 00:07:54.399 some other weapon, Like we didn't see any blunt force injuries. So if 105 00:07:54.399 --> 00:07:57.439 she was strangled and then put in a water tank. It was likely that 106 00:07:57.480 --> 00:08:01.480 somebody just lost their temper, and who knows if it was from some kind 107 00:08:01.480 --> 00:08:05.720 of verbal exchange or just something that had been building and maybe at that moment 108 00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:09.120 just seeing her face was enough for this person to snap. I really don't 109 00:08:09.160 --> 00:08:15.000 get the sense that there's a massive conspiracy surrounding Gyda's death, and the crime 110 00:08:15.040 --> 00:08:18.319 may have been more personal in nature. This case is pretty unique in that 111 00:08:18.399 --> 00:08:22.920 it seems to be pretty solvable, yet at the same time, it's also 112 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:28.120 an investigator's worst nightmare. By the sound of things, the exterior security at 113 00:08:28.120 --> 00:08:31.360 the plant was pretty strong and it would have been very difficult for an outside 114 00:08:31.399 --> 00:08:37.519 intruder to sneak into the facility and commit this crime. This means that the 115 00:08:37.519 --> 00:08:41.559 perpetrator had to be one of Gita's coworkers who was on shift that day. 116 00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:46.000 So there's a pool of fifty potential suspects to work with, But at the 117 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:50.679 same time, there really doesn't seem to be any conclusive evidence which could implicate 118 00:08:50.759 --> 00:08:54.080 any of them. Since there was a window of over twelve hours before the 119 00:08:54.120 --> 00:08:58.679 police became involved, a number of people walked through the basement tunnels past the 120 00:08:58.720 --> 00:09:05.080 spot where Gita was likely killed, contaminating the crime scene. Contaminating the crime 121 00:09:05.120 --> 00:09:09.559 scene. The shards of glass on the floor from Gda's broken beaker could have 122 00:09:09.639 --> 00:09:13.120 provided evidence, but someone took the initiative to throw them away, and due 123 00:09:13.120 --> 00:09:18.759 to the heavy chlorination of the water, all potential forensic evidence which could have 124 00:09:18.759 --> 00:09:22.879 been left by the killer on Gita's body, such as DNA and fingerprints, 125 00:09:22.919 --> 00:09:28.440 were eliminated. With no witness or security camera footage placing a suspect at the 126 00:09:28.519 --> 00:09:33.559 murder scene, I think the police were hoping that if they interrogated everyone hard 127 00:09:33.639 --> 00:09:37.759 enough, the perpetrator would eventually break down and make a full confession, but 128 00:09:37.840 --> 00:09:41.399 this never took place. For a while, investigators were certain that they had 129 00:09:41.480 --> 00:09:46.759 narrowed down the field to three suspects, but after all these years, they 130 00:09:46.799 --> 00:09:50.679 apparently now believed that none of these guys were actually involved. So unless a 131 00:09:50.759 --> 00:09:56.559 confession takes place or someone with inside knowledge of the crime comes forward with information, 132 00:09:58.039 --> 00:10:01.200 it's really hard to see how the police police will be able to build 133 00:10:01.200 --> 00:10:05.639 a strong enough case against anyone to make an arrest. It kind of boggles 134 00:10:05.679 --> 00:10:07.360 my mind too, when you think about there were fifty people there that day 135 00:10:07.559 --> 00:10:11.759 and they were able to narrow it down to three. We don't know a 136 00:10:11.799 --> 00:10:15.159 lot about that information. The one guy was down in that area, so 137 00:10:15.200 --> 00:10:18.919 it was pretty clear he would be one of the people you'd question. But 138 00:10:18.120 --> 00:10:22.039 I'm wondering if the other two, if fellow employees were able to say they 139 00:10:22.080 --> 00:10:26.320 had a problem with her, right there was tension with her, and that's 140 00:10:26.360 --> 00:10:30.200 how they were even brought to the forefront in the first place. Yeah, 141 00:10:30.240 --> 00:10:33.360 I really wonder about that. I can understand police not releasing that information publicly, 142 00:10:33.440 --> 00:10:37.120 but when they say we've narrowed it down from fifty to eight, and 143 00:10:37.159 --> 00:10:39.279 now we've narrowed it down to three, I have to guess that they came 144 00:10:39.320 --> 00:10:43.799 to this conclusion just from maybe people other employees telling them that these people had 145 00:10:43.799 --> 00:10:46.759 a problem with the GITA and could have had a motive to kill her. 146 00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:54.320 While securities protocols preventing outsiders from entering the plant seemed to be adequate, security 147 00:10:54.320 --> 00:10:58.000 protocols inside the plant were a different story. Since no key card access was 148 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:01.759 required at the time, anyone could move about the plant freely and pretty much 149 00:11:01.799 --> 00:11:07.279 go wherever they wanted. They've since remedied that in the years following Gita's death, 150 00:11:07.639 --> 00:11:11.039 but investigators have stated that if these security protocols have been around all along, 151 00:11:11.399 --> 00:11:15.600 it would have been easier to track all of the employee's movements that day 152 00:11:15.960 --> 00:11:20.480 and possibly determine who is in the basement during the approximate time period Gita was 153 00:11:20.600 --> 00:11:24.200 killed. It's pretty unsettling to hear that the underground water tanks were not equipped 154 00:11:24.200 --> 00:11:28.159 with any lighting or ladders, even though there was a five foot gap between 155 00:11:28.200 --> 00:11:33.440 the water and the panels, so if someone did fall in there by accident, 156 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:37.360 it would have been impossible for them to climb out before they succumbed the 157 00:11:37.360 --> 00:11:41.000 freezing cold temperatures. In addition, the sensor, which was designed to send 158 00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:46.240 out alerts about changes with the water displacement, just happened to be broken that 159 00:11:46.399 --> 00:11:48.720 day, which is why it didn't go off when Gita's body hit the water. 160 00:11:50.559 --> 00:11:54.799 It's possible it was deliberately sabotaged by the perpetrator, but if the sensor 161 00:11:54.919 --> 00:11:58.559 was simply broke in, that's really not reassuring. Remember this was just over 162 00:11:58.559 --> 00:12:03.759 three years removed from nine to eleven, and one disturbing point which was raised 163 00:12:03.039 --> 00:12:07.480 is if the sensor couldn't detect a body. What if there had been an 164 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:11.159 attempt at a terrorist act and someone dumped some dangerous chemicals into the drinking water. 165 00:12:11.960 --> 00:12:18.039 Obviously, Yita's death exposed some major inadequacies with the plant safety protocols, 166 00:12:18.600 --> 00:12:22.360 and that alone would have been grounds for her family to say, listen, 167 00:12:22.559 --> 00:12:26.399 you were responsible in many ways for even allowing her body to sit in that 168 00:12:26.480 --> 00:12:31.799 water for so long, right, and for the aftermath that came with that, 169 00:12:31.320 --> 00:12:35.639 because had that sensor been working, had those protocols been checked and that 170 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:41.320 was working, the moment her body hit that water, the alarms would have 171 00:12:41.360 --> 00:12:43.960 gone off. So God forbid it was an accident. God forbid, she 172 00:12:43.960 --> 00:12:48.200 had been rendered unconscious but was still alive. Someone could have run to that 173 00:12:48.600 --> 00:12:54.639 tank and removed her body and saved her life. And so it really was 174 00:12:54.720 --> 00:12:58.159 that sensor alone could have been a deciding factor whether she was able to get 175 00:12:58.600 --> 00:13:03.639 retrieved from that tank or not. And so since there wouldn't be going off 176 00:13:03.679 --> 00:13:07.279 for hours without someone checking it, someone would have immediately run down there because, 177 00:13:07.320 --> 00:13:09.080 like you said, at the time, they would have been on alert 178 00:13:09.159 --> 00:13:15.799 for any potential risk of something foreign going into that water. And that is 179 00:13:15.840 --> 00:13:20.440 true because Geta's exact cause of death was drowning, so she technically was still 180 00:13:20.440 --> 00:13:22.320 alive when she first went into the water. We don't know if she was 181 00:13:22.360 --> 00:13:26.960 still conscious or not. But like you said, if the sensor had gone 182 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:28.799 off, there still would have been a chance to rescue her and save her 183 00:13:28.840 --> 00:13:31.919 life if they had gotten there in time. Oh. Absolutely, you hear 184 00:13:31.919 --> 00:13:35.919 a people who have been underwater for a couple of minutes, right and are 185 00:13:35.960 --> 00:13:39.039 still rescued, and so a plant like that, response would be quick. 186 00:13:39.080 --> 00:13:43.679 When they thought, okay, the rates have the levels of water have gone 187 00:13:43.120 --> 00:13:46.960 this much over the sensor, something's really problematic down there, there'd be a 188 00:13:48.200 --> 00:13:52.320 massive rush to get to that tank. And we know when it comes to 189 00:13:52.399 --> 00:13:56.799 asphyxiating somebody or strangling them that it can take like three four minutes, so 190 00:13:56.879 --> 00:14:01.360 it can take an inordinate amount of time. I'm more time than I think 191 00:14:01.399 --> 00:14:05.559 that most people prepare to be in a position with their hands around somebody's neck 192 00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:11.320 or using a ligature. So it's possible that whomever her attacker was, they 193 00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:15.320 thought, okay, well she's rendered unconscious. At least if she isn't dead 194 00:14:15.360 --> 00:14:20.559 by the time she hits that water, she'll die from drowning. I also 195 00:14:20.639 --> 00:14:24.480 find it troubling that there was a window of over six hours during Geita's shift 196 00:14:24.799 --> 00:14:28.960 when her whereabouts were unaccounted for, but no one really seemed to be troubled 197 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:33.360 by it, and the police were not contacted until several hours after her shift 198 00:14:33.480 --> 00:14:37.600 ended. I mean, when Gita went missing, she was carrying a radio 199 00:14:37.960 --> 00:14:43.159 which wound up being found inside the tank, but it's not clear if anyone 200 00:14:43.240 --> 00:14:46.399 even attempted to call her on the radio to see where she was. Even 201 00:14:46.480 --> 00:14:50.519 if there was only one person who was directly involved in Gita's death, this 202 00:14:50.639 --> 00:14:54.360 makes me wonder if others might have been aware of what happened but kept their 203 00:14:54.399 --> 00:15:00.039 mouths shut. The panel to the water tank weighed about fifty pounds. It 204 00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:03.639 would have been difficult for one person to remove it, dump get it into 205 00:15:03.720 --> 00:15:07.000 the tank, and then replace the panel by themselves. So even if only 206 00:15:07.039 --> 00:15:11.240 one person killed her, they could have enlisted the assistance of others to cover 207 00:15:11.279 --> 00:15:16.519 the whole thing up. You can't understand how unsettling this whole situation must have 208 00:15:16.559 --> 00:15:22.559 been for everyone at the plant. It was conclusively established that Geta's killer had 209 00:15:22.600 --> 00:15:26.919 to be one of the fifty employees working there that day, which men from 210 00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:30.799 that point on, they all had to keep showing up with the knowledge that 211 00:15:30.879 --> 00:15:35.240 at least one of their co workers was a murderer and continuing to get away 212 00:15:35.240 --> 00:15:39.360 with it. I heard the morale at the plant went down following Gita's death, 213 00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:43.879 and I can certainly understand why, as I'm sure many of the employees 214 00:15:43.919 --> 00:15:48.840 felt they had to constantly look over their shoulders. I definitely would think there's 215 00:15:48.039 --> 00:15:54.159 a concern there when you have fifty employees who realized that their supervisor has been 216 00:15:54.240 --> 00:15:58.720 found in a water tank. They have no idea, just like we're sitting 217 00:15:58.759 --> 00:16:02.720 here years later with no answers. They have no idea what happened to her, 218 00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:07.480 and so I would assume that they also learned she had bruising on her. 219 00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:10.879 The family was likely outspoken that they believed it was a murder, and 220 00:16:10.960 --> 00:16:14.320 so the people who are looking around there going, well, if it's a 221 00:16:14.399 --> 00:16:15.519 murder, it was one of us, and it is. It's like that 222 00:16:15.559 --> 00:16:19.960 game of clue where there's only this many people in the house and we have 223 00:16:21.039 --> 00:16:25.399 a deceased individual who did it, and it would be that constant fear of 224 00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:27.720 if we can't figure out what happened to her. Then we make all of 225 00:16:27.720 --> 00:16:32.559 these assumptions and we're looking back and forth saying it's one of us. So 226 00:16:32.919 --> 00:16:36.960 am I safe out word? Remember that episode we recorded a few months ago 227 00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:41.399 about the death of Rodney Marx at the research station in Antarctica. Yes, 228 00:16:41.720 --> 00:16:45.360 yes, And even though we don't know for certain if that's a homicide, 229 00:16:45.440 --> 00:16:48.360 you can still imagine the fear that, well, if it was a murderer. 230 00:16:48.399 --> 00:16:51.679 We're trapped here in the middle of nowhere for a couple more months, 231 00:16:51.720 --> 00:16:53.440 and at least one of these people is a murderer, so we're going to 232 00:16:53.519 --> 00:16:59.320 have to constantly look over our shoulder and be frightened for months. And yeah, 233 00:16:59.320 --> 00:17:02.360 thinking he was poisoned or something. I've got to sit here and eat 234 00:17:02.440 --> 00:17:06.759 and drink around you people like yeah, I'm pretty sure. We all kept 235 00:17:06.799 --> 00:17:08.640 saying that it was like the plot of a horror movie, like there was 236 00:17:08.759 --> 00:17:12.599 no way in or out. We talked about that doctor that basically had to 237 00:17:12.599 --> 00:17:18.720 perform like a biopsy or a lumbaectomy or whatever and like treat her breast cancer 238 00:17:18.839 --> 00:17:22.839 at that station. It's just so intense to be trapped there with a potential 239 00:17:22.960 --> 00:17:26.839 murderer. Oof and it's kind of the same thing here where it's like, 240 00:17:27.279 --> 00:17:30.559 even though they still got to pay the bills, So even though they're showing 241 00:17:30.640 --> 00:17:33.680 up to work potentially with a murderer, they still have to keep doing it 242 00:17:33.880 --> 00:17:38.720 whether they like it or not. It seems like the majority consensus about Ghita 243 00:17:38.880 --> 00:17:42.160 was that she was a very dependable and well liked person at the plant, 244 00:17:42.480 --> 00:17:47.559 but there have been quotes from anonymous sources about how some of Ghita's co workers 245 00:17:47.680 --> 00:17:52.240 resented her because of her education and qualifications and did not appreciate being a subordinate 246 00:17:52.279 --> 00:17:56.599 for an immigrant. No matter who was responsible, it sounds like investigators have 247 00:17:56.640 --> 00:18:00.400 always believed this was not a premeditated murder her, but more of a spur 248 00:18:00.440 --> 00:18:06.319 of the moment crime the passion. After all, Yita had strangulation marks on 249 00:18:06.359 --> 00:18:08.720 her neck, which seems to imply that the perpetrator had no weapon on them 250 00:18:08.960 --> 00:18:12.920 and was trying to fatally choke her. And since drowning was her exact cause 251 00:18:12.920 --> 00:18:17.759 of death, Guita was technically still alive when she was thrown into the tank. 252 00:18:18.720 --> 00:18:22.319 We know that Gita was heading down into the basement to calibrate the instruments 253 00:18:22.319 --> 00:18:25.960 when she disappeared, so it seems like she must have crossed paths with her 254 00:18:26.039 --> 00:18:30.599 killer in the corridor, who subsequently attacked her before they removed the floor panel 255 00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:33.279 and dumped her body into the tank. But what could have caused things to 256 00:18:33.400 --> 00:18:37.880 escalate like this? Did Gita bump into someone and get into a heated confrontation 257 00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:41.839 which led to violence, or did she stumble upon something she wasn't supposed to 258 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:47.319 see which led to her being killed. Do you guys remember the pink stuff 259 00:18:47.359 --> 00:18:49.559 that they were finding in the water. Did they ever determine what that was? 260 00:18:49.640 --> 00:18:55.440 Because is it possible someone was manipulating and doing something to the system that 261 00:18:55.559 --> 00:18:59.759 caused that contamination and they're saying, oh what now, we can't use this 262 00:18:59.799 --> 00:19:03.240 new system. It doesn't work right, like causing a problem, And maybe 263 00:19:03.279 --> 00:19:07.519 someone was down there doing something like that. I'm not exactly sure what the 264 00:19:07.559 --> 00:19:11.839 pinkish substance was, but I do know they found it when Geta was absent, 265 00:19:11.319 --> 00:19:15.359 So it could be one of those things where someone was doing something while 266 00:19:15.400 --> 00:19:18.480 she wasn't around and she was trying to maybe I'd cover the truth about it, 267 00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:22.599 like try to figure out what was going on here, and maybe someone 268 00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:27.000 got paranoid and decided to kill her for it. It was established that one 269 00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:32.160 of Gita's coworkers from the lab asked her to go down into the basement and 270 00:19:32.240 --> 00:19:36.039 later went to search for her, where he discovered the broken glass from Geta's 271 00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:41.279 beaker. Under these circumstances, you can understand why this guy would have been 272 00:19:41.359 --> 00:19:45.200 one of the three employees that police zeroed in on as a potential suspect, 273 00:19:45.759 --> 00:19:49.079 But they apparently no longer believe that any of these three men were involved. 274 00:19:49.640 --> 00:19:55.799 Without knowing anything else about this lab technician or his relationship with Gita, or 275 00:19:55.880 --> 00:20:00.599 potential motives for wanting to harm her, I cannot evaluate the likely of him 276 00:20:00.640 --> 00:20:06.160 being the perpetrator. One detail I do find interesting is that before this incident 277 00:20:06.200 --> 00:20:10.400 took place, some of the plant's employees claimed they had no idea there were 278 00:20:10.440 --> 00:20:15.160 tanks underneath the basement floor and walked through that area numerous times without even realizing 279 00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:21.440 there were millions of gallons of water below them. But obviously Guida's killer would 280 00:20:21.440 --> 00:20:25.400 have known this since they went to the trouble of removing a panel and disposing 281 00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:29.680 of her body. Considering that many of the screws on the panel were broken 282 00:20:29.759 --> 00:20:33.640 or missing, and it was left slightly Ajar. I get the impression that 283 00:20:33.680 --> 00:20:37.680 whoever did this was in a hurry for fear that someone else would enter the 284 00:20:37.720 --> 00:20:41.400 corridor and catch them. So I'm assuming that when investigators were narrowing down their 285 00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:45.720 pool of suspects, they focused on employees who might have had knowledge of those 286 00:20:45.759 --> 00:20:51.119 tanks and the panels. Another odd detail of this case is that they filmed 287 00:20:51.160 --> 00:20:55.799 an episode of Law and Order spu at the plant one year earlier, which 288 00:20:55.839 --> 00:20:59.680 contained a scene where a victim's body was found floating inside a water tank. 289 00:21:00.279 --> 00:21:03.640 As you probably know, the bread and butter of the entire Law and Order 290 00:21:03.680 --> 00:21:07.279 franchise a fictitious storylines which are based on real life crimes from the news. 291 00:21:07.799 --> 00:21:11.440 Well, this is a rare occurrence where the real life crime occurred after the 292 00:21:11.519 --> 00:21:15.400 Law and Order episode. Of course, the whole thing is probably just a 293 00:21:15.400 --> 00:21:22.160 coincidence, as investigators found no indication that Getah's death was some sort of copycat 294 00:21:22.200 --> 00:21:26.160 crime. But I can help but wonder if the perpetrator might have seen the 295 00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:29.480 episode and remembered it, which is how they came up with the idea of 296 00:21:29.559 --> 00:21:34.480 hiding Geta's body inside a water tank. That gave me chills when you said 297 00:21:34.519 --> 00:21:38.119 that this was a Law and Order episode, and did you say it was 298 00:21:38.160 --> 00:21:44.599 filmed at the facility it was, Yeah, so that's just crazy. Oh 299 00:21:44.640 --> 00:21:49.119 my lord, Yes, that seems really odd. It's also very eerie. 300 00:21:49.359 --> 00:21:52.160 I don't know, is it that a copycat? Is it? Like you 301 00:21:52.200 --> 00:21:53.720 said, in the heat of the moment, they said, what do I 302 00:21:53.759 --> 00:21:56.319 do with her body? And they said, well, wait, we were 303 00:21:56.319 --> 00:21:57.839 here when they were filming, and they dumped her in the water tank. 304 00:21:59.200 --> 00:22:04.799 I'm going to go ahead and do that. It seems way too ironic for 305 00:22:04.880 --> 00:22:10.400 that to be a coincidence. Yeah. Are you aware, Robin, if 306 00:22:10.400 --> 00:22:15.880 all the employees knew that the plant was used to film that Lawn Order episode. 307 00:22:15.680 --> 00:22:19.640 That's a good question, because it's possible that they filmed while the plant 308 00:22:19.720 --> 00:22:23.640 was closed and none of the employees were there because they didn't want to disrupt 309 00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:27.039 work. But I have to think that they were at least aware of it, 310 00:22:27.240 --> 00:22:30.680 and that they probably some of them would have at least watched the episode 311 00:22:30.720 --> 00:22:34.400 and realized, hey, that's where I work. So I'm sure sure it 312 00:22:34.440 --> 00:22:40.119 was probably common knowledge. I would think they'd know, like here they filmed 313 00:22:40.960 --> 00:22:44.240 like a ghost Hunter episode, you know, at the local hotel, and 314 00:22:44.240 --> 00:22:45.920 everyone was like, Oh my gosh, they're filming at the hotel on Thursday. 315 00:22:45.960 --> 00:22:48.279 This is so cool. I wish I was on you know, the 316 00:22:48.359 --> 00:22:52.319 schedule that day, and so I would think it was quite a big deal, 317 00:22:52.400 --> 00:22:56.279 especially such a large show. This isn't like a mom and pop production 318 00:22:56.400 --> 00:23:00.119 company coming into film a forty five second you know promo. This is a 319 00:23:00.200 --> 00:23:06.039 Law and Order episode. So I bet they were all quite aware and quite 320 00:23:06.119 --> 00:23:07.720 excited and then able to say like, oh my gosh, that's my office. 321 00:23:07.920 --> 00:23:11.640 Holy cow, that's where I go down every day, right, And 322 00:23:11.799 --> 00:23:15.880 I bet people were quite hyped up about the facility being featured on the show, 323 00:23:15.720 --> 00:23:19.519 which would lead us to believe that probably if everybody the plan knew about 324 00:23:19.519 --> 00:23:23.799 this, they likely all watched the episode. Because if your workplace is featured 325 00:23:23.799 --> 00:23:27.480 on a show like Law and Order, SBU, I think you would actually 326 00:23:27.480 --> 00:23:32.319 want to see that episode and then talk about it later with everybody at work. 327 00:23:32.799 --> 00:23:34.680 And that's why it's not implausible that it could have been on the killer's 328 00:23:34.720 --> 00:23:40.079 mind when they were thinking of a way to dispose of Geita's body. Well, 329 00:23:40.119 --> 00:23:44.640 investigators actually looked through the possibility that Geta's death might have been connected to 330 00:23:44.680 --> 00:23:49.200 another similar unsolved homicide which took place in New Jersey over thirty six years earlier. 331 00:23:51.119 --> 00:23:53.599 The crime occurred on August the thirty first, nineteen sixty eight, at 332 00:23:53.599 --> 00:23:59.720 a massive eighty six building campus for the Hoffman Laroche pharmaceutical firm, which was 333 00:23:59.720 --> 00:24:03.799 Lowald on the Passaic County Essex County border. That evening, the body of 334 00:24:03.799 --> 00:24:07.880 a twenty two year old secretary named Joan Freeman was found in the hallway of 335 00:24:07.880 --> 00:24:11.839 building number thirty four. She was struck on the hedge several times with a 336 00:24:11.880 --> 00:24:17.160 wooden mallet before her throat was slashed. Joan had been employed by the firm 337 00:24:17.200 --> 00:24:19.440 for three years, and since it was a Saturday, she was working there 338 00:24:19.480 --> 00:24:25.480 alone doing overtime. She had spent the day in a second floor library recording 339 00:24:25.519 --> 00:24:29.880 the employee's work hours from their time cards before she was attacked from behind in 340 00:24:29.880 --> 00:24:34.519 the hallway. Much like the Passaic Valley Water Commission treatment facility, the Hoffman 341 00:24:34.559 --> 00:24:38.880 Laroche campus had a high level of security and was surrounded by fences, so 342 00:24:38.960 --> 00:24:44.480 access was restricted to employees, meaning that Jan's killer had to be someone who 343 00:24:44.559 --> 00:24:47.920 worked for the company. However, there were no fingerprints found in the wooden 344 00:24:47.920 --> 00:24:52.200 mallets, and the knife was never found, so investigators had no forensic evidence 345 00:24:52.240 --> 00:24:56.400 to identify a suspect. They also found nothing in Joan's background to provide any 346 00:24:56.440 --> 00:25:00.680 insight into a potential motive for this crime. Over the course of the next 347 00:25:00.680 --> 00:25:04.839 several months, a grand jury investigation would take place, though I get the 348 00:25:04.839 --> 00:25:10.240 impression they did not have a specific suspect in mind and only wanted to test 349 00:25:10.240 --> 00:25:14.200 the waters to see what kind of case they could present if the suspect ever 350 00:25:14.240 --> 00:25:18.400 popped up on the radar. But even though over three hundred people were interviewed, 351 00:25:18.599 --> 00:25:22.920 the investigation hit a complete dead end, and Joan's murder is still unsolved 352 00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:26.400 to this day. Given that both crimes took place in Passaic Valley, the 353 00:25:26.480 --> 00:25:32.559 investigators on Geta's case thought there were enough similarities to look into the possibility that 354 00:25:32.559 --> 00:25:36.519 they were connected. They checked to see if there were any employees who had 355 00:25:36.559 --> 00:25:41.640 worked for both Hoffman Laroche and the water treatment facility during the respective time periods 356 00:25:41.680 --> 00:25:45.960 of each murder that came up empty, and yes, given the massive time 357 00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:48.640 difference, I am inclined to believe that these two crimes are not connected, 358 00:25:48.960 --> 00:25:52.240 because, at the minimum Guta's killer would have had to have been in their 359 00:25:52.319 --> 00:25:57.880 late fifties if they were also responsible for murdering Joan Well. Joan Freeman's case 360 00:25:57.880 --> 00:26:02.440 sounds like a pretty baff mystery in its own right. I get the feeling 361 00:26:02.480 --> 00:26:07.240 that investigators only looked at her murder because they were grasping its straws and desperate 362 00:26:07.279 --> 00:26:11.440 to explore any possible lead to help them solve Geeta's case. Yeah, it 363 00:26:11.440 --> 00:26:15.279 does seem like a little bit of a stretch. Are they ironically similar? 364 00:26:15.519 --> 00:26:18.640 Yes, I mean, you have an unsolved murder in a workplace, no 365 00:26:18.759 --> 00:26:22.119 forensic evidence to go off of. But other than that, you know one's 366 00:26:22.119 --> 00:26:26.920 attacked, one strangled, and you have a thirty six year gap. And 367 00:26:27.000 --> 00:26:32.759 so while you definitely do have killers who have killed over the course of decades, 368 00:26:33.440 --> 00:26:37.799 to say that you can successfully pull it off in an isolated, confined 369 00:26:37.839 --> 00:26:41.799 workplace over and over and over again and get away with it so seamlessly, 370 00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:48.319 I think that would be quite implausible. However, the big complicating factor in 371 00:26:48.359 --> 00:26:52.559 this case is the theory that Gita could have accidentally fallen into the water tank 372 00:26:52.599 --> 00:26:57.839 her self because someone left the panel open during the early stages of the investigation, 373 00:26:59.440 --> 00:27:03.640 no one was even willing to entertain that notion, because well, who 374 00:27:03.680 --> 00:27:07.519 would have put the panel back in place after she fell in. It seems 375 00:27:07.640 --> 00:27:12.880 this idea gained traction when Scottish forensic pathologist Derek Pounder pushed forward the possibility that 376 00:27:12.960 --> 00:27:18.079 the cold temperature of the water caused hemorrhaging on Guita's neck, which could have 377 00:27:18.119 --> 00:27:22.160 been mistaken for strangulation mars. But there are numerous fallacies with this theory, 378 00:27:22.559 --> 00:27:27.119 and by Pounder's own admission, this type of thing only occurs in a small 379 00:27:27.200 --> 00:27:33.319 percentage of drowning cases, and technically Pounder was only presenting a hypothetical scenario without 380 00:27:33.400 --> 00:27:40.319 actually looking at Gita's body or the autopsy reports, whereas the five pathologists who 381 00:27:40.359 --> 00:27:45.519 did perform a full examination concluded that she was likely the victim of a homicide. 382 00:27:45.920 --> 00:27:49.200 I think this theory has gained more traction since the former lead detected James 383 00:27:49.240 --> 00:27:53.559 Wood, went on the record claiming the Pounder's assessment caused him to change his 384 00:27:53.640 --> 00:27:59.160 mind and he now believes that Geeda's death was an accident. Well, you 385 00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:03.079 have to take into account that Wood made the statement after his retirement, and 386 00:28:03.200 --> 00:28:07.880 no homicide detective wants to end their career with an unsolved murder still on the 387 00:28:07.920 --> 00:28:14.200 books. So maybe this was his way of rationalizing the whole situation. Well, 388 00:28:14.279 --> 00:28:18.680 if I could go home and enjoy retirement and not think about the cases 389 00:28:18.720 --> 00:28:22.440 that haunt me, right, because you don't want to go off of your 390 00:28:22.880 --> 00:28:26.440 career with unsolved murders lingering. They're people and they matter, and a lot 391 00:28:26.440 --> 00:28:30.680 of these detectives really do carry those people with them. So if he could 392 00:28:30.720 --> 00:28:33.240 say, listen, a scientist comes forward. He says that he thinks it 393 00:28:33.319 --> 00:28:37.319 is a drowning. He said, there's cases like this. I'm just gonna 394 00:28:37.359 --> 00:28:41.359 go with that, like I could see that being a peace of mind thing. 395 00:28:41.799 --> 00:28:45.960 But I also when you talk about Pounder, he didn't look at her 396 00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:49.839 body. Yes, have there been a few cases where there's bruising on the 397 00:28:49.920 --> 00:28:53.240 neck according to Pounder, Yes, But again we talked about this. I 398 00:28:53.279 --> 00:29:00.279 believe on episode one where to have her sitting in that position for so long 399 00:29:00.400 --> 00:29:03.920 that that cold water is going to create just a simple ring around her neck 400 00:29:03.000 --> 00:29:11.319 of strangulation. I don't buy that. I think you would have either multiple 401 00:29:11.480 --> 00:29:15.079 rings showing when she got more and more tired and going below the water more 402 00:29:15.079 --> 00:29:18.720 and more even bruising on her face when she just has her mouth above water 403 00:29:18.799 --> 00:29:25.240 trying to breathe. Unless she was rendered unconscious before she was put into that 404 00:29:25.359 --> 00:29:32.079 water and via strangulation and wasn't actually bobbing in the water, But if she 405 00:29:32.200 --> 00:29:34.720 was fighting for her life, I think there would be different kind of marks, 406 00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:38.519 maybe even more bruising where she's trying to hit the side of the tank 407 00:29:38.640 --> 00:29:44.039 and crawl out. Just I'm not buying it. I think when you have 408 00:29:44.119 --> 00:29:48.640 five people who actually got to see her body and then you have Pounder who 409 00:29:48.640 --> 00:29:51.000 didn't, and it is just saying, well, once I saw this case 410 00:29:51.000 --> 00:29:55.039 where this happened, I'm not going to pin my career in a conclusion of 411 00:29:55.039 --> 00:30:00.000 a case on that assessment. The other ammunition for this theater is the anonymous 412 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.559 plant insider who claimed that a water quality supervisor may have removed a panel from 413 00:30:04.559 --> 00:30:10.000 the basement corridor's floor to collect water samples on the day of Keita's death, 414 00:30:10.319 --> 00:30:15.000 providing a potential explanation for how she could have stepped in there accidentally. The 415 00:30:15.039 --> 00:30:18.880 evidence seemed to show that the panel had been put back in place very hastily, 416 00:30:18.039 --> 00:30:22.119 so theoretically, if the responsible party returned to the scene and discovered the 417 00:30:22.119 --> 00:30:26.039 Gheeta drowned. Because of their own negligence, they could have replaced the panel 418 00:30:26.119 --> 00:30:30.440 and kept their mouth shut about what they did. I mean, this plant 419 00:30:30.480 --> 00:30:34.640 obviously had serious internal issues with their safety protocols, so I cannot completely discount 420 00:30:34.680 --> 00:30:38.759 the possibility that a scenario like this took place. I know that one of 421 00:30:38.759 --> 00:30:44.960 the three potential suspects investigators focused on was a supervisor, though it's unclear if 422 00:30:44.960 --> 00:30:48.119 it might have been the same old school water quality supervisor. This anonymous insider 423 00:30:48.240 --> 00:30:53.599 was referring to. If a person is indirectly responsible for someone's death by negligence, 424 00:30:53.920 --> 00:30:59.279 but is interrogated as if they committed an intentional homicide, you have to 425 00:30:59.319 --> 00:31:03.240 wonder if them might affect their demeanor. I know that James Woods said he 426 00:31:03.319 --> 00:31:06.599 believed that one of the suspects was on the verge of cracking and making a 427 00:31:06.640 --> 00:31:11.079 confession before he stopped talking to the police. So could this person have been 428 00:31:11.119 --> 00:31:15.680 overwhelmed with guilt because they were responsible for Ghita's death even though it was purely 429 00:31:15.720 --> 00:31:19.359 accidental. I mean, I assume you could be, but you would really 430 00:31:19.400 --> 00:31:23.200 pray that people's moral compass would say, oh my god, there's this poor 431 00:31:23.200 --> 00:31:27.200 family. There's three children and a husband who are wondering what happened. I 432 00:31:27.319 --> 00:31:33.200 messed up, Like I removed that panel this morning, and I want to 433 00:31:33.240 --> 00:31:37.519 tell them what happened, because what if it was the panel falling through or 434 00:31:37.359 --> 00:31:41.799 she stepped on it and she fell into the water. I don't know. 435 00:31:41.799 --> 00:31:45.680 Maybe I'm an odd ball, but I feel like I would say, this 436 00:31:45.839 --> 00:31:48.759 is so accidental? Could it have been my fault? Like I almost feel 437 00:31:48.759 --> 00:31:51.799 like I'd come forward and be like they found her body down there there was 438 00:31:51.839 --> 00:31:53.799 a panel missing, Oh my god, I moved a panel this morning. 439 00:31:55.319 --> 00:32:00.279 Was it that panel? And give information if it's accidental? I don't. 440 00:32:00.640 --> 00:32:02.599 Yes, someone passed away, But when there's an accident like that, you're 441 00:32:02.599 --> 00:32:08.240 not going to be charged with murder or something because you didn't screw a panel 442 00:32:08.319 --> 00:32:13.279 on tight enough. It was a workplace accident and the company would get in 443 00:32:13.319 --> 00:32:16.119 trouble, but you're not. I don't. I don't know. I guess 444 00:32:16.119 --> 00:32:19.640 a lot of people cover their own skin before they do the right thing, 445 00:32:19.720 --> 00:32:23.240 but you'd pray that that wouldn't be the case when a mother dies and people 446 00:32:23.240 --> 00:32:29.079 are wondering what the heck happened to her. But if there's like five pathologists 447 00:32:29.119 --> 00:32:34.359 who are saying that their likely way that Gita died was by homicide, then 448 00:32:34.559 --> 00:32:38.440 I could see if that was already the narrative that somebody, even if they 449 00:32:38.559 --> 00:32:42.680 accidentally were like, okay, I put the panel there and it was a 450 00:32:42.680 --> 00:32:45.519 total accident. I didn't know that she was in the tank at that point, 451 00:32:45.559 --> 00:32:50.920 they might be nervous to come forward and be questioned as a murder suspect, 452 00:32:51.240 --> 00:32:54.279 because how many times do we see where somebody who is innocent, or 453 00:32:54.319 --> 00:32:59.599 maybe the one that discovers the body, they're then like suspect numero uno. 454 00:33:00.079 --> 00:33:02.960 There's times where police do get it wrong or investigators get it wrong. So 455 00:33:04.200 --> 00:33:08.200 I could see how somebody would be slightly trepidacious if they did that. But 456 00:33:08.400 --> 00:33:12.240 I'm the same way as you ash. If it were me in that situation, 457 00:33:12.359 --> 00:33:15.279 the guilt would get me, so I would have to come forward and 458 00:33:15.319 --> 00:33:17.599 be like it was me. I accidentally did this. I had no idea, 459 00:33:17.799 --> 00:33:22.000 and I'm sorry. I do see what you're saying too. Though if 460 00:33:22.759 --> 00:33:25.880 the narrative was already homicide, I might have more like, oh my gosh, 461 00:33:25.960 --> 00:33:30.559 because ask rebel, he said, please don't ever die in are like 462 00:33:30.880 --> 00:33:34.000 around me, right, don't let me be the first to find you, 463 00:33:34.039 --> 00:33:36.640 because he's like, I don't trust people anymore, Like I'd be scared to 464 00:33:36.680 --> 00:33:39.200 call nine one one and what would follow, you know, because you do 465 00:33:39.240 --> 00:33:45.359 see these cases where people are accused of murder when a natural death or an 466 00:33:45.599 --> 00:33:51.480 accident occurs. But I would assume that they knew her body was found in 467 00:33:51.599 --> 00:33:55.640 that tank, and I'm not sure that the homicide narrative was immediate, but 468 00:33:55.759 --> 00:33:59.000 like you said, if it was, then oh my lord, maybe I 469 00:33:59.000 --> 00:34:04.240 don't want to put myself in position anymore. I was just saying, gosh, 470 00:34:04.240 --> 00:34:07.400 when they're scrambling to figure out what happened to this poor woman, I 471 00:34:07.599 --> 00:34:13.320 was down there, Like maybe information would have come out before the homicide noticed, 472 00:34:13.360 --> 00:34:16.199 but it I still am leaning towards the fact that it was a murder, 473 00:34:16.559 --> 00:34:21.199 given the fact that these five pathologists all agreed and they saw her body 474 00:34:22.079 --> 00:34:27.159 well. One of the biggest issues with this accident theory is that Gita was 475 00:34:27.199 --> 00:34:31.199 known for being a very conscientious person, and she'd walked through those basement corridors 476 00:34:31.360 --> 00:34:37.039 numerous times before, so everyone who knew her found it unlikely that she would 477 00:34:37.039 --> 00:34:40.000 have failed to notice an open panel in the floor. I also think that 478 00:34:40.159 --> 00:34:44.679 if Gita had fallen into the tank, her beaker may have been found in 479 00:34:44.719 --> 00:34:47.679 there, alongside her radio and clipboard, but since it was found broken on 480 00:34:47.719 --> 00:34:52.840 the basement floor, this suggests that she got into a struggle beforehand. Even 481 00:34:52.840 --> 00:34:58.360 though an alternate theory was presented to explain how cold water could have caused the 482 00:34:58.400 --> 00:35:02.079 marks on Gita's neck, Let's not forget that she also had additional bruising on 483 00:35:02.119 --> 00:35:07.440 her waist and elbow. So I really think the evidence supports her being violently 484 00:35:07.480 --> 00:35:12.599 attacked. We've covered so many cases where the authorities ruled someone's death to be 485 00:35:12.639 --> 00:35:17.519 a suicide or an accident and ignored compelling evidence to suggest homicide. But I 486 00:35:17.559 --> 00:35:21.880 think this is one case where they got it right the first time around, 487 00:35:22.320 --> 00:35:27.000 and that any alternate theories besides Gita being murdered do not hold up at all. 488 00:35:27.480 --> 00:35:30.239 But even if by chance, this was an accident, whoever left that 489 00:35:30.280 --> 00:35:35.239 panel open and caused Geeda to fall to her death still needs to be held 490 00:35:35.280 --> 00:35:38.679 accountable for what happened. I mean, it's true they need to be able 491 00:35:38.719 --> 00:35:43.880 to tell what happens so that her family has answers. Again, I think 492 00:35:43.920 --> 00:35:47.039 the plant as a whole would be more responsible for not having the protocols in 493 00:35:47.119 --> 00:35:52.880 place, for not having safety checks or signing off when you move the panel, 494 00:35:53.119 --> 00:35:57.719 all the things that could have been put into place to protect all the 495 00:35:57.760 --> 00:36:02.000 employees from accidents like that, those would be the things that I'd focus on. 496 00:36:02.119 --> 00:36:06.840 I think the family needs the answers, and that's what should be compelling 497 00:36:06.920 --> 00:36:09.599 someone to say, I did this. I need to tell you what happened. 498 00:36:10.239 --> 00:36:15.519 I'm so remorseful it was an accident and see what occurred. But again, 499 00:36:15.320 --> 00:36:20.880 I just don't feel like that's the case. I feel like the beaker 500 00:36:20.960 --> 00:36:24.119 was dropped in a struggle. That's why she got the bruising on her waist, 501 00:36:24.639 --> 00:36:29.800 Like what part of you would be bruised on your waist unless she fell 502 00:36:29.840 --> 00:36:31.519 through that hole and hit the you know, the side on the way down. 503 00:36:32.000 --> 00:36:36.840 She has bruising on her waist, she has bruising on other parts of 504 00:36:36.840 --> 00:36:42.920 her body. She has that strangulation markings that by pathologists recorded they saw on 505 00:36:42.960 --> 00:36:46.400 her body. It just indicates more that there was a struggle and a fight 506 00:36:46.639 --> 00:36:51.559 and then a desperate need to cover her up. And then you think back 507 00:36:51.599 --> 00:36:53.760 that one year earlier, in that same location, they filmed a lawn or 508 00:36:53.880 --> 00:36:58.000 episode where a woman drowned in the tank, and I could see someone saying, 509 00:36:58.599 --> 00:37:00.440 that is genius. I'm going to dispose of her body here and it'll 510 00:37:00.480 --> 00:37:04.639 be hours before they find her. I'll be home, they won't even know 511 00:37:04.760 --> 00:37:08.360 what happened to her. Still don't have a clear cut idea of what the 512 00:37:08.400 --> 00:37:12.480 motive might have been for a homicide, but I doubt the crime was pre 513 00:37:12.559 --> 00:37:16.239 planned, and I think the perpetrator or perpetrators just got very lucky that they 514 00:37:16.280 --> 00:37:21.320 weren't caught in the act, and some potentially crucial evidence which could have implicated 515 00:37:21.360 --> 00:37:24.280 them wound up being destroyed. But no matter how Gheeta died, this was 516 00:37:24.400 --> 00:37:29.639 just an incredibly tragic end to her life. Remember this is a woman who 517 00:37:29.679 --> 00:37:34.239 found great success in her male dominated native country for not only becoming the first 518 00:37:34.239 --> 00:37:37.559 woman to attend Loyola College, but graduating as the top student in her class. 519 00:37:38.199 --> 00:37:42.199 She then moved to the US to provide a better life for her family 520 00:37:42.480 --> 00:37:45.400 and was pretty much living the American dream until her life was cut short by 521 00:37:45.440 --> 00:37:51.519 a pretty horrific death. I read a number of heartbreaking articles about the difficulties 522 00:37:51.519 --> 00:37:54.599 that Gyeeda's husband, Jaya, and their children have experienced while dealing with her 523 00:37:54.639 --> 00:37:59.639 loss, as I know that Jaya actually held on too Geda's cell phone and 524 00:37:59.639 --> 00:38:02.880 would frequently call her voicemail just so he could hear his deceased wife speak again. 525 00:38:04.400 --> 00:38:08.199 The Ingara family has frequently voiced for frustrations over the police's inability to make 526 00:38:08.239 --> 00:38:13.000 an arrest in the case, but I honestly get the impression that without any 527 00:38:13.039 --> 00:38:16.199 real forensic evidence to work with, there's really not much they can do until 528 00:38:16.239 --> 00:38:21.559 they receive a big break. Perhaps all this case needs for a resolution is 529 00:38:21.599 --> 00:38:24.119 for the right person to come forward. So if you happen to have any 530 00:38:24.119 --> 00:38:30.039 information on the death of Geta Angara, please contact the appropriate authorities. Jules 531 00:38:30.079 --> 00:38:35.760 Ashley any final thoughts in this case. I can't stop thinking about her three 532 00:38:35.800 --> 00:38:40.159 babies and how their father was the one who had to step up and comfort 533 00:38:40.239 --> 00:38:44.880 his children and the loss of their mother. He also has to try to 534 00:38:44.920 --> 00:38:49.480 grieve the loss of his best friend and the fellow parent in the house, 535 00:38:49.840 --> 00:38:52.400 So he's raising these babies on his own without the person who he created them 536 00:38:52.440 --> 00:38:57.440 with. The children are growing up and having these experiences where their mother should 537 00:38:57.480 --> 00:39:02.119 be present and she's not. And more so in these cases where you see 538 00:39:02.159 --> 00:39:08.000 a woman fight so hard and she moves to America to create this dream where 539 00:39:08.000 --> 00:39:12.159 she says, I'm going to raise a family in America so I can provide 540 00:39:12.159 --> 00:39:16.719 for them. I'm going to secure my education so that I can financially be 541 00:39:17.960 --> 00:39:22.679 an asset to my family. And that's what she's doing. And then all 542 00:39:22.719 --> 00:39:25.039 of a sudden, she doesn't come home one day after work. And I 543 00:39:25.079 --> 00:39:30.280 can't even imagine what that was like with those three children learning that their mother 544 00:39:30.360 --> 00:39:34.639 was deceased. And you have this father who, like he said, I 545 00:39:34.639 --> 00:39:37.639 would call her phone just to hear her voice. Been there, done that. 546 00:39:38.119 --> 00:39:42.960 It is awful. And yet, like I said, he's also responsible 547 00:39:43.000 --> 00:39:46.679 for these three children who are grieving as well. So accident or homicide, 548 00:39:46.719 --> 00:39:53.000 it would be my prayer that someone in that fifty person pool would say I 549 00:39:53.159 --> 00:39:59.639 have information. It might not even seem significant, it might seem so minor. 550 00:40:00.079 --> 00:40:02.760 I remember overhearing a conversation where someone was frustrated with her. I remember 551 00:40:02.760 --> 00:40:07.679 hearing a conversation where someone said they gave information they probably shouldn't have known. 552 00:40:08.679 --> 00:40:14.400 There was this conflict that I'm aware of. Any of that could be profound 553 00:40:14.480 --> 00:40:16.159 information, even if it doesn't seem like it. So, like you said, 554 00:40:16.639 --> 00:40:20.880 without forensic evidence, which we don't have here because of the chlorine, 555 00:40:21.280 --> 00:40:27.360 and without people coming forward, these cases can't be investigated deeply by police, 556 00:40:27.440 --> 00:40:31.320 there's nothing to go on. And so at this point it would take somebody 557 00:40:31.320 --> 00:40:37.199 who's had distance in space and time to say, I have information and I 558 00:40:37.199 --> 00:40:39.199 don't know if it'll help, but see if it will, and you never 559 00:40:39.239 --> 00:40:44.159 know, it could both a case wide open. That's what I hope for 560 00:40:44.280 --> 00:40:46.519 as well. I really, just like you said, Ash, I can't 561 00:40:46.519 --> 00:40:52.079 stop thinking about her three children and her husband who were left behind. Gito 562 00:40:52.239 --> 00:40:58.199 was brilliant to be the first woman to be in Loyola College after it became 563 00:40:58.320 --> 00:41:01.159 co ed, to get a masters and bachelors there, to come to the 564 00:41:01.280 --> 00:41:07.239 United States to get two more master's degrees and a PhD. She was so 565 00:41:07.480 --> 00:41:10.960 accomplished and clearly so so intelligent. Oh when I forgot to mention that she 566 00:41:12.000 --> 00:41:14.920 won the gold medal for being the student at the top of her class, 567 00:41:15.320 --> 00:41:19.119 being an immigrant woman at the time, being in this position of power at 568 00:41:19.119 --> 00:41:23.159 this water treatment plant or facility. It couldn't have been easy, and yet 569 00:41:23.199 --> 00:41:27.519 she managed to navigate it. And I'm sure that she did it all with 570 00:41:27.639 --> 00:41:30.960 grace because that just seems to be the type of woman that she was. 571 00:41:30.719 --> 00:41:36.920 And I really hope that in these coming years, before the clock starts to 572 00:41:37.000 --> 00:41:39.960 run out on who may have done this, people start to die, things 573 00:41:40.159 --> 00:41:45.320 change. This was so many years ago, that somebody will come forward with 574 00:41:45.400 --> 00:41:50.360 some kind of information, because even if that person wasn't responsible, I believe 575 00:41:50.440 --> 00:41:53.840 that there are multiple people there who are aware of what happened and who is 576 00:41:53.920 --> 00:42:00.440 the perpetrator, because it just seems unlikely that it was one person was able 577 00:42:00.480 --> 00:42:04.199 to dispose of her body into that tank and to get that panel on there, 578 00:42:04.880 --> 00:42:07.599 even if it was somebody who just helped in the aftermath during the cleanup, 579 00:42:07.920 --> 00:42:12.800 there has to be somebody out there who has this guilt that is eating 580 00:42:12.840 --> 00:42:16.119 away at them just because of the knowledge that they have. And I really 581 00:42:16.199 --> 00:42:22.320 hope that in these coming years they come forward and give those babies that resolution 582 00:42:22.599 --> 00:42:27.639 of who killed their mother and why. Yeah, this is definitely such a 583 00:42:27.679 --> 00:42:30.639 frustrating and heartbreaking case because we've gone over all the points how Ghita was a 584 00:42:30.679 --> 00:42:36.199 brilliant woman who moved her family to the US and was living her best life, 585 00:42:36.199 --> 00:42:38.599 but then wound up being murdered in a place she probably never would expect 586 00:42:38.639 --> 00:42:42.880 it. I don't think she felt that when she went down to the basement 587 00:42:42.880 --> 00:42:45.679 of her plant to perform a routine check that she would cross paths with someone 588 00:42:45.679 --> 00:42:50.880 who would kill her. And we talked about how this is both solvable and 589 00:42:51.000 --> 00:42:54.000 unsolvable because you only have a limited amount of suspects to work with. It 590 00:42:54.119 --> 00:42:58.679 had to be an employee at the plant, and you, like Jules said, 591 00:42:58.840 --> 00:43:01.159 could only one person have done this, Like there has to be other 592 00:43:01.239 --> 00:43:06.360 people who at least know or suspect who is responsible. Yet they have no 593 00:43:06.440 --> 00:43:10.039 forensic evidence, no security footage, no eyewitnesses, so they just are unable 594 00:43:10.079 --> 00:43:15.719 to make an arrest. And I keep parking back to the narrowing down of 595 00:43:15.760 --> 00:43:19.480 the suspects, how it originally went down from fifty to eight, and then 596 00:43:19.519 --> 00:43:22.800 it was narrowed down to three, and then ten years ago the authorities say, 597 00:43:22.840 --> 00:43:27.239 well, we no longer believe that these streamn were responsible, and we 598 00:43:27.360 --> 00:43:30.679 haven't heard anything new since then. We have no idea if other people are 599 00:43:30.719 --> 00:43:37.199 being reinvestigated and because so little information has been released publicly, we know nothing 600 00:43:37.239 --> 00:43:39.400 about these suspects, what their motives could have been, and we have no 601 00:43:39.519 --> 00:43:45.400 idea where the investigation is right now. It's completely inactive, which is a 602 00:43:45.440 --> 00:43:49.760 real shame. It just sounds like whoever did this probably did not plan what 603 00:43:49.800 --> 00:43:52.199 they were doing. It could have been a spur of the moment thing and 604 00:43:52.239 --> 00:43:55.280 they just got incredibly lucky that they were able to do it without being seen 605 00:43:55.400 --> 00:43:59.960 and without leaving any forensic evidence behind. And who knows. We can hope 606 00:44:00.159 --> 00:44:04.039 maybe this person has a conscience that one day from now they'll spill the beans 607 00:44:04.039 --> 00:44:07.679 and confest and we can finally find out the truth. But for now, 608 00:44:07.000 --> 00:44:10.280 Keith's family still has to live with the pain on not knowing what happened to 609 00:44:10.320 --> 00:44:15.119 her, and I really do hope that they get answers someday. Robin, 610 00:44:15.159 --> 00:44:17.800 do you want to tell us a little bit about the Trail Went Cold Patreon? 611 00:44:19.559 --> 00:44:22.519 Yes, the Trail Cold Patreon has been around for three years now, 612 00:44:22.599 --> 00:44:27.679 and we offer these standard bonus features like early ad free episodes, and I 613 00:44:27.679 --> 00:44:31.159 also send out stickers and sign thank you cards to anyone who signs up with 614 00:44:31.239 --> 00:44:36.440 us on Patreon. If you join our five dollars tier Tier two. We 615 00:44:36.480 --> 00:44:40.840 also offer monthly bonus episodes in which I talk about cases which are not featured 616 00:44:40.880 --> 00:44:45.719 on the Trail Went Cold's original feed, so they're exclusive to Patreon, and 617 00:44:45.760 --> 00:44:49.760 if you join our highest tier tier free the ten dollars tier. One of 618 00:44:49.800 --> 00:44:54.480 the features we offer is a audio commentary track over classic episodes of Unsolved Mysteries, 619 00:44:54.719 --> 00:44:59.719 where you can download an audio file and then boot up the original Unsolve 620 00:44:59.719 --> 00:45:05.320 miss episode on Amazon Prime or YouTube and play it with my audio commentary playing 621 00:45:05.320 --> 00:45:08.559 in the background, where I just provide trivia and factoids about the cases featured 622 00:45:08.599 --> 00:45:13.360 in this episode. And incidentally, the very first episode that I did a 623 00:45:13.400 --> 00:45:16.679 commentary track over was the episode featuring this case. So if you want to 624 00:45:16.679 --> 00:45:22.119 download a commentary track in which I make more smart ass remarks about Jewel Kaylor, 625 00:45:22.400 --> 00:45:24.280 then be sure to join Tier three. So I want to let you 626 00:45:24.360 --> 00:45:28.960 know a little bit about the Jewles and Nashty Patreons. So there's early ad 627 00:45:28.960 --> 00:45:32.079 free episodes of the Path Went Chili. We've got our Pathwent Chili mini's, 628 00:45:32.119 --> 00:45:36.320 which are always over an hour, so they're not very mini, but they're 629 00:45:36.360 --> 00:45:39.000 just too short to turn into a series and we're really enjoying doing those, 630 00:45:39.079 --> 00:45:43.360 so we hope you'll check out those patreons. We'll link them in the show 631 00:45:43.360 --> 00:45:45.800 notes. So I want to thank you all for listening, and any chance 632 00:45:45.840 --> 00:45:50.079 you have to share us on social media with a friend or to rate and 633 00:45:50.119 --> 00:45:53.199 review is greatly appreciate it. You can email us at the Pathwentchili at gmail 634 00:45:53.239 --> 00:45:58.159 dot com. You can reach us on Twitter at the Pathwin. So until 635 00:45:58.199 --> 00:46:01.079 next time, be sure to bundle up because cold trails and chilly pass call 636 00:46:01.159 --> 00:46:06.320 for warm clothing. Music by Paul Rich from the podcast Cold Callers Comedy