B (10:28)

me through winter right now. I just did a little staycation at a house with an indoor pool and I brought my classic black one piece from Quinn's. It was so chic and so wearable. I kept it on the whole trip. And then I got these wide leg jeans that I can't stop recommending to people. They actually fit me because of the shorter inseams, so I didn't have to tailor them. My hem isn't dragging and my style actually feels current without any hassle. That's kind of the magic of quints. They make elevated essentials that feel effortless. Everything is designed to mix, layer and last with versatile silhouettes you reach for over and over. Refresh your wardrobe with quince. Go to quince.com downeast for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's quince.com/downeast to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com downeast.

A (11:29)

Years before April Grisanti disappeared, another young woman connected to James Aaron Jr. Vanished under eerily similar circumstances. 19 year old Mary Aaron, maiden name Mary Fratelloni, was last seen by her mother on July 3, 1981. That day, Mary told her mother she was heading to the home of her estranged husband to pick up a dress she planned to wear to a wedding the following day. Mary never showed up for the wedding. Days passed, then weeks, and on July 14, 1981, she was officially reported missing. Just over two weeks later, on July 31, a passing motorist made a grim discovery. Mary's badly decomposed body was found down an embankment in a wooded area off New Canaan avenue near exit 38 by a Merritt Parkway commuter lot in Norwalk. An autopsy was unable to determine a cause of death or identify clear signs of foul play. Even still, investigators treated her death as a homicide. Mary had been married to James Purple Aaron for about a year at the time of her death. Mary was just 18 years old when she married James, and he was 29. Their relationship was described as on again, off again, but they had lived together in the greater New Haven area until Mary moved back in with her mother. Still, sometime before her disappearance, she was reportedly dating someone new. And according to Mary's mother, Mary wanted a divorce, but James wouldn't allow it. She said he was violent and had hit Mary more than once on at least one occasion. When Mary tried to retrieve her belongings and leave his home, she and her mother felt it was necessary to have police escort them. James Aaron has long been considered a suspect in Mary's death. Her case remains classified as a homicide and is under investigation by the Connecticut State Police Cold Case Unit. Just like April's, her murder is still unsolved to this day. As the investigation refocused on April's final hours, police brought James Aaron Jr. In for questioning. When asked about the night April was last seen alive, James told investigators that she got out of his car at a stoplight just a few blocks away from Anthony's bar. He claimed that was the last time he saw her. But police were unable to find any witnesses or corroborating evidence to support that account. No one reported seeing April on foot in the area, and nothing placed her there. After she was forced into James's car, investigators seized James's vehicle as potential evidence. According to a story by Mark Santilla for NBC, New York, police found something inside that car that immediately raised new questions. A toll booth ticket from Interstate 95 in New Rochelle, New York, dated February 1st. Pat Tomlinson reports for the Connecticut Post that police learned James was known to hang out at bars in the Hunts Point Terminal area of the Bronx. At the time, investigators said it was possible to drive from Norwalk Connecticut to Hunts Point and back within a two and a half hour window. That time frame aligned with the toll receipt found in his car and the time he drove off from Anthony's with April kicking and screaming in his vehicle. Within days, authorities were no longer treating April's disappearance as a missing persons case. It was now considered a kidnapping and the FBI was notified. On February 8, police made another critical discovery. That afternoon. April's bright red 1975 Chevy Malibu Classic was recovered from approximately six feet of water in the Norwalk river near Ann Street. Investigators had decided to search that area after pieces of information gathered during the investigation pointed them to the general location. Police stated that they did not recover any direct evidence related to April's disappearance from inside the vehicle. But what they did find was unsettling. Inside the car was a cinder block that appeared to have been wedged onto the gas pedal apparently to force the vehicle into the river from a platform along Ann Street. Also inside were a cream colored blouse and a gift box containing a present April had intended to return. April had reported the car stolen weeks earlier. On January 15th. She told police that James had forced her to hand over the keys. Witnesses had seen the whole thing play out between James and April on the night she was last seen alive. And that eyewitness testimony left little denial that James had done something to her before she seemingly vanished. So with that, on February 10, 1985, police arrested James on two counts of first degree kidnapping. He was also charged with first degree larceny in connection with the theft of April's car. James was held on $250,000 bond pending arraignment. April Grisanti, however, was was still missing. After the arrest, investigators searched James room at his family home on Stewart Avenue in Norwalk and seized several items including a set of keys. However, police later said that none of the items recovered directly implicated James in April's kidnapping. As detectives worked to reconstruct the night April disappeared, they learned new details about James movements. In the early morning hours of February 1, a friend of both James and April who had heard about the fight at the bar became concerned and went looking for him. That friend reportedly drove past James house multiple times and noticed that James blue Cadillac was not there as late as 2:15am One source indicates that the car was seen back in James driveway around 3am Meanwhile, in court, James attorney argued that the kidnapping charges could not stand because there was no victim. April was still missing. Prosecutors pushed back, noting that a judge could allow the case to proceed without a victim present if there was Sufficient evidence to support the charges. And in this case, the judge decided just that. James pleaded not guilty to the kidnapping and larceny charges. His bail was lowered to $125,000 despite objections from the state's attorney. Prosecutors argued that bail should remain high because the case could, quote, very well be a homicide down the road, end quote. By the final week of February 1985, the active search for April was scaled back. Investigators were running out of leads, and without new information, the search effort slowly dwindled. Then, on Monday, March 4, 1985, a new discovery briefly shifted the investigation. Construction workers clearing brush on Philow street in Norwalk found a brown leather wallet laying on the ground. There was no cash inside, but several forms of identification remained. A license, credit cards and birth certificate, allowing police to quickly confirm it belonged to April Grisanti. Inside the wallet, investigators found something else too. Police reports to documenting prior incidents involving James that April herself had reported. It was unclear how long the wallet had been there. No other evidence was found in the area, but the location is significant. The wallet was discovered near utility lines, Roughly two miles from where April was last seen and about a half a mile from James home. Sources say police either considered sending the wallet to the FBI lab for processing or did send it there. But whatever testing may have been done and what the results were remains unclear. The wallet has since been returned to April's family. As the months passed, the legal pressure on James eased. He was released on bond in mid April while awaiting trial in November of 1985. After the trial was delayed, his bond was reduced again, this time to 75 grand. He finally faced trial in early January of 1986. Four witnesses testified about the events of January 31st and February 1st, 1985. According to reporting by H.S. folsom for the Bridgeport Telegram, One man told the court that he had watched James force April into his car while she struggled to get away. Under cross examination, James attorney attempted to minimize what the witness had seen, Characterizing it as nothing more than a quote, unquote, boyfriend, girlfriend spat. Another witness, a friend of James, testified that James and April had been in the process of breaking up. According to him, James was unhappy that April had begun seeing someone new. The friend also told the court that when he saw James car the following day, after everything played out at Binky's and Anthony's, something seemed off. There was mud inside the vehicle that hadn't been there before and the dashboard was split. But before the trial could progress much further, the case took a turn. James changed his plea as part of a deal with prosecutors, he pleaded guilty under the Alford doctrine to reduced charges, two counts of second degree kidnapping and one count of unlawful restraint. By that point, the larceny charge related to April's car had already been dropped under the Alford doctrine. James did not admit guilt, but instead he acknowledged that the evidence against him was strong enough that a conviction was likely if the case went to verdict. According to reporting by Steve Malkowitz for the Daily Advocate, at James sentencing hearing in March, the assistant state's attorney played a recording for the judge. It was April's voice, her call to police on the night she was last seen alive. The same call where she asked for Officer Brian Liddy, the same call where she said she needed a restraining order to get someone away from her. April's pleas, in what very well could have been the final hours of her life, were heartbreaking and devastating to hear. But the defense was quick to point out that James could not be sentenced. Based on a theory he could not be sentenced more harshly. Because the woman he was convicted of kidnapping and restraining unlawfully had yet to return, he could not face a punishment greater than the proven offense. James was sentenced to 10 years for kidnapping and five years for unlawful restraint, to be served consecutively. The sentence was suspended after 10 years, followed by five years of probation. He would be eligible for release after serving roughly two thirds of his sentence. April Grisanti, whose voice echoed through the courtroom on the day of the sentencing, was still missing. Even as the kidnapping case against James Aaron Jr. Reached a conclusion, April's family was forced to confront another reality. They felt the systems meant to protect her had failed, and those failures had yet to be addressed in a courtroom. In early 1987, April's mother, Mary Lou Grisanti, filed a negligence lawsuit against the Norwalk Police Department. The suit alleged that the department's policies surrounding domestic disputes left April unprotected. In the complaint, Marilu pointed directly to what she believed was a critical breakdown on the night April disappeared, the apparent failure of police to respond to two distress calls made by a woman who had reported the assault and kidnapping. By that point, two civilian dispatchers had already been suspended without pay in May of 1985 for mishandling a distress call related to April's disappearance. The initial suspension was 10 days. However, after the internal investigation was challenged, the punishment was reduced. Anthony P. Spinelli reports for the Connecticut Post that the Norwalk Municipal Employees association represented the dispatchers before a city grievance committee, which ultimately concluded that what had been described as mishandling was instead a misunderstanding of standard operating procedures. Mary Lou's complaint did not stop at individual actions. It alleged a broader systemic problem, stating the city has maintained a policy and practice of ignoring complaints of domestic abuse and violence, and in particular, complaints of domestic violence by unmarried women, end quote. The lawsuit came amid a shift in Connecticut law. In 1986, the state passed legislation requiring police to make arrests in domestic violence cases when there was evidence that a law had been broken and to file reports in all domestic violence incidents, not only those that resulted in arrests. The law was one year shy of April's disappearance. Important to note, while the negligence suit was still pending, one of the same dispatchers involved in April's case was suspended again. According to reporting by Gary Lebo, this time it was for failing to properly communicate information about a fatal shooting. The lapse reportedly caused police to arrive hours late. That December, Marilu filed another civil suit, this one against James Aaron Jr himself. She sought monetary damages in excess of $15,000, along with punitive damages, alleging that James had, quote, viciously assaulted and battered April Grisanti, end quote, restrained her against her will, and caused her severe personal injuries, pain and anguish. The suit also claimed that James had stolen and completely destroyed April's car, rendering it worthless. As civil litigation slowly unfolded, James remained incarcerated. However, in late November of 1990, he was scheduled to appear before the parole board in an effort to secure early release. His release date was already set for June of the following year and but parole could have shortened his sentence by as much as three months. Marilu's attorney requested access to James's file and asked to speak at the parole hearing. That request raised a legal question. Could a victim's interests be represented at a parole hearing if the victim had not been legally declared deceased? The issue was referred to the Attorney General's office, which delayed James's parole hearing indefinitely. The Connecticut Board of Pardons and Paroles told me that James never actually appeared before the board. But James was ultimately released on December 9, 1991, after serving six years. DOC records show he earned early release for good behavior while incarcerated. Marilu's civil case against James was resolved the following year. The family had hoped that James testimony in a civil trial might help move the investigation forward. But in the end, exhausted by years of proceedings, they chose to settle. Records indicate she was awarded $50,000 in damages shortly before the case was scheduled to go to trial. Gina tells me the amount was closer to $30,000. Under Connecticut law at the time, a missing person could be legally declared dead. After seven years. Seven years after April disappeared, with the negligence case against Norwalk police still pending, Marilu sought to amend that lawsuit into a wrongful death claim. Christine Dempsey reports for the Hartford Courant that the civil case against the Norwalk Police Department reached an unspecified settlement in 1994. April may have been declared legally dead, but James did not face any additional criminal charges. By then, nearly a decade had passed since April Grisanti was last seen, and it seemed that investigators were no closer to finding her either when the primary suspect, the only person ever publicly named a suspect, took any answers he might have held to his grave. Okay, I have to tell you about my latest Quince finds because they're carrying

B (27:40)

me through winter right now. I just did a little staycation at a house with an indoor pool, and I brought my classic black one piece from Quinn's. It was so chic and so wearable. I kept it on the whole trip. And then I got these wide leg jeans that I can't stop recommending to people. They actually fit me because of the shorter inseam, so I didn't have to tailor them. My hem isn't tracking, and my style actually feels current without any hassle. That's kind of the magic of quints. They make elevated essentials that feel effortless. Everything is designed to mix, layer and last with versatile silhouettes you reach for over and over. Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to quince.com downeast for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada, too. That's quince.com/downeast to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com downeast.

A (28:41)

James Aaron Jr. Died on October 10, 2016. For April's family, his death brought a complicated mix of emotions. There was no relief, only the hope that without James to fear, someone who had kept quiet for decades might finally speak. Investigators had long been aware that James traveled to New York in the hours after April's disappearance. And so over the years, law enforcement compared April's dental records against those of unidentified Jane does found along possible routes between Norwalk and New York City. Despite those efforts, April's remains have not yet been located. In 2022, April's sister Gina brought what she believed was a critical lead to the Norwalk Police Department. It was a screenshot of a conversation between two unidentified individuals. The message reads, in part, they said they knew I murdered April, and it was just a matter of time until they found the body. The only two people who know are you and my brother. They won't find her body unless you said something and you know what's up If I find out you did. End quote. Gina alleges that the conversation took place between. Between James and a witness or an accomplice in April's presumed murder. She says she believed it could finally explain what happened to her sister and who else might know the truth. But according to Gina, Norwalk police did not act on the information. The department, however, has since stated that the lead was reviewed and determined not to be credible. Still, Gina strongly disputes that conclusion. She. She alleges that police waited passively for a body instead of aggressively pursuing evidence, and that once James was convicted and imprisoned for kidnapping rather than murder, the urgency to investigate April's disappearance faded. The family maintains that the evidence against James was overwhelming and that prosecution could have and should have occurred even without April's body. Gina says, quote, many other victims lucky to not have been killed or willing to testify, end quote. But authorities failed to move forward. She alleges that certain officials knowingly allowed a violent offender to live freely for decades, despite widespread awareness of his behavior. Today, April Grisanti's case remains officially unsolved. No remains, no final answers. Just a young woman who vanished and a family that has never stopped asking where she is. After more than four decades without answers, April Grisanti's sister believes the truth is closer than anyone wants to admit. Gina Grassanti tells me she has gained additional insight into the hours before April disappeared based on information she's gathered. Gina says that after James forcibly removed April from Binky's, he took her and another person to Bridgeport, where he beat April before bringing her to Anthony's bar. She says this account adds yet another layer to a night that was already spiraling out of control. Gina also says she was told that a police officer passed by the commotion outside Anthony's that night. And according to Gina, had that officer understood the full extent of what was happening, he would have turned his cruiser around. Instead, the moment passed, and with it, another chance to intervene. Over the years, investigators have considered that April may have been taken out of state because James traveled to New York. In the hours after her disappearance, police explored the possibility that her remains could be somewhere along that route, including areas of the Bronx he was known to frequent. But Gina believes April never went that far at all. In recent years, Gina has conducted her own investigation. She's interviewed witnesses herself. She's hired a private investigator, and has even generated what she believes are credible leads. One of Those leads is why Gina believes her sister can still be found. Based on information she has gathered and pieced together over decades, she believes April is buried in someone else's plot in a Norwalk cemetery near James former home. A plot in a secluded, unfenced area of the cemetery that, according to her own investigation, was freshly dug and awaiting a burial the morning after April was last seen alive. Gina says that police did not take this tip seriously, so she wants to pursue it on her own. But she needs permission from the family whose loved one was laid to rest on February 1, 1985, and the resources to do such a search. Gina is willing to be proven wrong. No matter how confident she is that her sister will be found in that cemetery, she'll accept if that's not where April is located. What she won't accept is an entire lifetime of wondering without fully ruling that theory out. Despite James death, April's family insists the truth did not die with him. Gina repeatedly states that many, many people know where she is. She believes some witnessed what happened, some helped dispose of April's body, and others were later told the truth. Gina says she knows who some of these people are and claims that some have even, quote, confessed in writing, end quote. As part of my reporting for this case, I reached out to several of the individuals Gina believes hold the key to finding April. No one has responded to my request for comment or an interview as of this episode's original recording. Throughout every statement, the family is clear about one thing. This is not about revenge, punishment, or prosecution. They don't care what role these witnesses may have played in the night April disappeared. Their only goal is to recover April's remains and allow her to rest in peace with a proper Catholic burial. The family promises that anyone who helps them do that will be remembered not as an accomplice, but as a hero. Because after all these years, the question remains the same. Where is April? More than four decades after she disappeared, April Grisanti is still too often spoken about in the past tense as a victim, a case, and a question mark. But to the people who loved her, April is vividly and unmistakably alive. She was thoughtful and outgoing and beautiful, but so much more than that. April was kind to a fault, forgiving and deeply empathetic. She believed in people even when they didn't deserve it. She checked in on her great grandmother bringing her pizza just to make sure she wasn't alone. When friends struggled financially, April bought things for their children because she felt bad and wanted to help. That was who she was A friend remembers April as the most kind hearted person she has ever known. Someone with an almost unexplainable emotional connection. The kind you don't replace. April's sister Gina, was just starting to befriend her sister. They were beyond the years of sibling rivalry and they were starting to connect. She was robbed of a growing relationship with her sister. Now her family isn't asking for a mystery to be solved or a villain to be named. They're asking for something far simpler and far more human. Bring April home. If you have information relating to the unsolved disappearance of April Grisanti in 1985, there are several ways to share that information with investigators. Please contact the Norwalk Police Department Cold case unit at 203-854-3028. You can call the anonymous tip line at 203-854-3111 or text Crimes and NPD with your tip in the body of the text message. I'll also link the Norwalk Police Department tip submission form in the show notes of this episode.

C (37:05)

Thank you for listening to Dark Down East. You can find all source material for this case@darkdowneast.com Be sure to follow the show on Instagram arkdowneast. This platform is for the families and friends who have lost their loved ones and for those who are still searching for answers.

A (37:23)

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