The Downfall | Episode 4

Summary

Deep Cover: The Family Man – Episode 4: The Downfall | June 1, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode of Deep Cover plunges into the immediate raw aftermath of Keith Giamanco’s arrest—the so-called “Boonie Hat Bandit”—and the devastating fallout on his twin daughters, Elise and Marissa. As the girls navigate a storm of media attention, legal trouble, addiction, fractured family ties, and acute financial distress, Pulitzer Prize-winning host Jake Halpern threads together their voices in an intimate exploration of betrayal, survival, and the limits of family loyalty.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Media Onslaught and First Interviews

• Media frenzy following Keith's arrest: News reaches national attention; reporters swarm the Giamanco home.
• The family, especially 17-year-old twins Elise and Marissa, find themselves isolated, publicly exposed, and emotionally overwhelmed.
• Pressure from the press: Keith, from jail, suggests one major interview might ease the media pressure and garner sympathy.
  • Elise and Marissa agree to a Good Morning America interview, but producers instruct them to perform their grief.
    • [05:24] Elise Giamanco: “They told us to cry... before the tape started rolling… if you can cry or give any sort of, you know, sympathetic emotion, it would help… Tears really sell.”
• Halpern critiques the ethical discomfort of this spectacle, empathizing as a parent.

2. The Good Morning America Interview: Sympathy and Public Backlash

• On TV, the sisters present themselves as both bewildered and hurt, with Elise inadvertently framing their father as a “Robin Hood.”
  • [07:15] TV Interviewer & Elise:
    • Interviewer: “He’s my Robin Hood, you know. Take from the rich... give to his daughters’ lives. But at the same time, you know it’s wrong.”
    • Elise: “He wouldn’t do this for anybody else but us. Yeah, I can’t believe I mean that much to anybody.”
• Instead of garnering sympathy, audience reaction is harsh and judgmental, amplifying the girls’ sense of isolation.

3. Life Unravels: Teenage Parties, Addiction, and Family Discord

• Complete loss of parental structure: With their father in jail, their mother absent, and only their elderly grandmother to turn to, the twins must fend for themselves.
  • [11:36] Marissa Giamanco: “As soon as dad was out of the picture… I just kind of went buck wild because there was nobody I had to report to.”
• Elise and Marissa's relationship fractures over lifestyle choices, money disputes, and increasing substance use.
  • Notable moment: Marissa hosts a reckless party after buying a pound of low-quality marijuana, culminating in a stolen car and police incident.
    • [13:28] Marissa: “[I] bought a pound of weed... wasn’t good... just have a party and smoke a pound in one night.”
    • [16:02] Elise: “Yes, like a physical fight... because I just felt so disrespected... you’re not keeping up with the house… you’re burning the walls… slip and slide on the kitchen floor.”

4. The Mother Returns—and Falls Short

• Their mother, Becky, re-emerges after years of absence, struggling with a heroin addiction.
  • Initially, Elise clings to hope that her mother’s return will restore some normalcy.
    • [22:31] Elise: “[I] was excited, also naive. I thought, here’s a little family reunion... At least we have mom here.”
  • But quickly, Becky relapses, culminating in her stealing money from Elise’s bank account.
    • [24:44] Elise: “…He showed me the surveillance tape… and I’m like, oh, that’s my mother.”
  • Elise must ask her mother to leave, casting her out despite her pleas.

5. Loss, Isolation, and Survival

• The girls’ last familial support, Grandma Margie, dies, leaving them truly alone. In a further blow, their family therapist dies unexpectedly.
  • [30:36] Elise: “She was really the only ally in our corner in our family… almost unbearable. And my therapist died.”
• Sisters drift apart; Elise begins sleeping at her boyfriend’s, preparing to leave for college; Marissa remains in the abandoned house, now without electricity or water, her drug use escalating.
  • [32:06] Marissa: “Me and my sister… ended up going to live with her boyfriend and I ended up being in this house with no electric and no water.”
  • [33:53] Keith Giamanco (from jail): “She told me, ‘I’m addicted to heroin… I can’t kick this.’ And… I was just absolutely helpless.”

6. The Impact of Their Father’s Crime—and the Looming Consequences

• Both girls express anger and heartbreak at Keith’s actions, which he claims were for them, but which destroyed the foundation of their lives.
• Keith, now focused on legal survival, considers his daughters’ pain and his responsibility for it.
  • [35:45] Keith (about Elise): “There were times when Elise flat out told me, ‘What about me? What about what I’m going through?’”
• The episode closes by previewing the upcoming trial and the pivotal choices Keith faces about his future and theirs.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [05:24] Elise Giamanco:

  “They told us to cry... before the tape started rolling… if you can cry or give any sort of, you know, sympathetic emotion, it would help… Tears really sell."

• [07:15] TV Interviewer & Elise:

  TV Interviewer: “He’s my Robin Hood, you know... But at the same time, you know it’s wrong.”
  Elise: “He wouldn’t do this for anybody else but us. Yeah, I can’t believe I mean that much to anybody.”

• [11:36] Marissa Giamanco:

  “As soon as dad was out of the picture… I kind of went buck wild because there was nobody I had to report to.”

• [16:02] Elise Giamanco:

  "Yes, like a physical fight. And because I just felt so disrespected, I felt like you aren’t keeping up with the house, you’re graffitiing the walls, you’re burning the walls. You’re doing a slip and slide on the kitchen floor. Fine, cool party. But every day the reason the house isn’t being taken care of is because you are not doing it."

• [24:44] Elise Giamanco:

  "And he showed me the surveillance tape and he’s like, do you recognize this person? And I’m like, oh, that’s my mother."

• [30:36] Elise Giamanco:

  “She was really the only ally in our corner in our family. And to have that also go away in such a finite period of time was almost unbearable. And my therapist died.”

---

Important Segment Timestamps

• [03:22-04:49] Media descends on Giamanco home; sisters overwhelmed.
• [05:15-07:42] Good Morning America interview—tears, pressure, “Robin Hood” framing.
• [11:36-16:57] Marissa’s partying; escalation into physical sibling conflict.
• [22:14-25:39] Mother returns, relapse, theft, expulsion.
• [30:13-32:50] Loss of grandmother and therapist, deepening isolation.
• [32:06-34:16] Marissa’s drug addiction and living conditions.
• [35:16-36:01] Keith’s reflections on daughters’ pain, acknowledgment of their struggles.
• [37:12] Prelude to the trial and legal crossroads.

---

Tone and Language

The episode is heavy, reflective, emotionally raw, and driven by direct, heartfelt testimony from Elise, Marissa, and their father Keith. Halpern’s narration adds a layer of empathy and investigative insight, with a consistent focus on the complex dynamics of trauma, family, and survival.

---

For listeners interested in true stories of double lives, familial deception, and resilience in the face of public scandal, this episode is both gripping and sobering.

Transcript

[Podcast Host]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Apple Card Advertiser]

Guaranteed Human this message is a paid partnership with Apple Card. There's something interesting about how seamlessly certain tools fit into daily life. Apple Card is one of those things it can be applied for right in the Wallet app on iPhone and approval can happen in minutes, so it's ready to use immediately with Apple Pay. I'm so glad the days of finding my wallet, fishing out the credit card, using it, putting it back in my wallet, or oops, maybe I use cash. Where's the atm Enough. The first time I used Apple Pay on my phone with my Apple Card I was like this is the future. There's no going back. With Apple Card purchases earn daily cash up to 3% with no points to track and no waiting for rewards. It's simply daily cash back that I earn on every purchase. There's even an option to open a high yield savings account through Apple Card and while I haven't done it yet, if I do, my daily cash can grow automatically over time without any extra effort. Because Apple Card lives in the Wallet app, it's always accessible on iPhone and can be used with Apple Pay at over 85% of merchants in the US and the security of Face ID and Touch ID provider prevents unauthorized purchases. Whether using iPhone or Apple Watch to explore it yourself. You can apply for Apple Card in the Wallet app on your iPhone subject to credit approval. Savings is available to Apple Card owners subject to eligibility Savings in Apple Card by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Branch Member FDIC terms and [e-mail]

[Odoo Advertiser]

when you buy business software from lots of vendors, the costs add up and it gets complicated and confusing. Odoo solves this. It's a single company that sells a suite of enterprise apps that handles everything from accounting to inventory to sales. Odoo is all connected on a single platform in a simple and affordable way you can save money without missing out on the features you need. Check out Odoo at o d o o.com that's o d o o.com based

[Podcast Host]

on the best selling novel from Carly Fortune. The new prime original series every Year after follows Sam and Perc six summers as they take a second chance at a love that never really let go. It's the kind of story that brings you back to a summer crush you never fully got over, or a friendship that almost turned into something more with slow burn tension, lakeside nostalgia, and that lingering what if? It's the kind of show people say they couldn't stop watching and were a little emotionally destroyed by in the Best way watch every year after seeing streaming June 10th only on Prime.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

Pushkin. Previously on Deep Cover was an all

[Detective John Bradley]

out onslaught of police cars, helicopters, cars in front of me, cars behind me blocked in, weapons drawn. And I knew that it was over.

[Keith Giamanco]

This is Detective John Bradley, DSN 3181 of the St. Louis County Police Department, Bureau of Crimes against Persons. The person being interviewed is Donald Keith Giamanco. I know it was wrong and I'm very sorry for it. And I'm really sorry for anybody that I scared or thought I might do harm too.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

In the days after Keith Giamanco's arrest, news of the boonie hat bandit spread. The story got picked up by the local media and soon it became national news. Keith's daughters, Elise and Marissa, they had no idea how to handle all of this. They had no lawyer, no publicist. Their grandma Margie was still around, but she was only able to help so much. They were essentially just two 17 year old kids on their own. Reporters began arriving at the Giamanco's small ranch house in Florissant, Missouri, and a small crowd of them gathered out front. Marissa says this was the last thing that she needed.

[Marissa Giamanco]

It was a mess. I was just like, why do they want to talk to me? Talking isn't going to help the situation that I'm in right now. This lasted for days, to the point where one of my friends came out and was like, you guys need to leave.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

In a phone call with their dad, they talked about this. Keith told them that he'd been approached by Good Morning America. He suggested that they do one high profile interview to appease the press and maybe engender some sympathy, put a human face on the whole thing. But he told the girls, in the end, it was up to them. Here's how Elise remembers all this.

[Elise Giamanco]

We agreed to do the interview and they set up two cameras in the

[Marissa Giamanco]

house and

[Elise Giamanco]

they told us to cry. I remember that. I remember that more vividly than anything is before the tapes started rolling. Both times they were like, if you can cry or give any sort of, you know, sympathetic emotion, it would help, you know, the audience be more sympathetic with you. And tears really sell.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

I've thought about this moment a lot. I myself am a father with a 17 year old son and I've tried to imagine a situation where my wife and I are out of the picture and my son is alone in our house in a rather desperate situation with no one to advocate for him and some TV producer is telling him that the best thing he can do for Our family is to engender sympathy, is to cry for the cameras. And I gotta tell you, the thought of this leaves me deeply unsettled. I've watched the Good Morning America interview. In it you can see Marissa and Elise sitting side by side in their living room. Marissa is in this dark long sleeve shirt. She looks uncomfortable, like she doesn't really want to be there. Elise is dressed up for the occasion, doing her best to look all grown up in a gray turtleneck and a blue jumper style dress. The reporter asked the twins to talk about Keith. Here's part of what Elise said.

[TV Interviewer]

One of the loves of his life, he took the role of mom and dad. You know, he was working, but he was also doing our laundry.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

She's then asked how she feels about what her father did.

[TV Interviewer]

He's my Robin Hood, you know. You know, take from the rich. These banks are greedy and give to better, the betterment of their daughter, his daughter's lives. But at the same time, you know it's wrong.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

That's the TV reporter there telling the girls that they must know that what their father did was wrong. Elise responds, hmm, he wouldn't do this

[TV Interviewer]

for anybody else but us. Yeah, I can't believe I mean that much to anybody.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

I kind of winced when I heard Elise's comments about Keith being like Robin Hood. But then I reminded myself, these girls, they were just 17 years old, under extreme pressure to answer for their dad's choices. In this same segment, the reporter also interviewed Keith in jail with a glass partition between them.

[Keith Giamanco]

Life was pretty normal. Suburban life, we went to baseball games, family vacations.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

Keith comes off as much more composed than in his confession, but his explanation is pretty much the same. He was in financial trouble and he did this for his girls.

[TV Interviewer]

Why did you feel the need to go this far to support them,

[Keith Giamanco]

basically to afford them the lifestyle that they've always had to send them to the school that I was sending them to, to so they could wear the clothes that they always wore.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

The public reaction to all of this was swift and brutal. Online viewers of Good Morning America made posts just fuming. One wrote, I hope the silver spoon he's been feeding these spoiled brats with chokes, him and his daughters. Keith and his daughters were effectively vilified. Keith claimed that he had robbed these banks for his daughters, for their benefit. But his actions had precisely the opposite effect, upending their lives. And in some ways, his explanation only made it worse because in the moment, it robbed them of what they needed most, the sympathy of others. Back when Elise and Marissa were kids. They had what seemed like a storybook childhood. As the girls grew older and their parents started to fight, they realized maybe things weren't perfect. But at least at that point, they still had parents. Parents who paid the bills and set curfews and. And came to school events. But now that was history. The two sisters were suddenly on their own. And soon they'd face some very tough choices. Choices that would drive them apart, leaving one of them in the darkened shell of their house, all alone. I'm jake halpern, and this is deep cover the family man. Episode 4 the downfall. In the days and weeks after his arrest, Keith was held without bail at the local St. Louis County Jail. He began looking for a lawyer to represent him. Because his story had garnered so much attention, some lawyers actually reached out directly to him, eager to grab a chance to make a name for themselves. Because whatever the outcome, Keith's case was bound to make headlines for Marissa, the more rebellious sister. Keith's arrest was traumatic, of course, but in a strange way, it was also liberating. Before the arrest, Marissa had experimented with drugs. But suddenly there was no one left to rein in her impulses.

[Marissa Giamanco]

As soon as dad was out of the picture, like, I kind of went buck wild because there was nobody that I had to report to. Basically, you know, dad was the person that was like, nah, you're not gonna go out with those people. No, you're not gonna do that. Like, so without having somebody to put me in my place, I went pretty crazy, you know?

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

Her sister Elise remembers this as the time that their relationship really started to pull apart.

[Elise Giamanco]

At the time of my dad's arrest, Marissa and I were hanging out with different friend groups, and we had been arguing quite a bit, which, we're twins. We're siblings. That's normal, you know, I was starting to sense that she didn't really like me as a person. Like, we were just incompatible as friends.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

And part of it was this. Their friendship, it was under real strain. They were worrying about their dad, their future, and the sudden pileup of financial problems they'd inherited. Another tension was that the two sisters, they split any of the money that they got from donations. And their priorities on how to spend this money were quite different.

[Elise Giamanco]

Marissa was starting to get into drinking, and she's smoking cigarettes and, you know, experimenting. And I was off put by that. I was so nerdy. Like, I literally told people I was waiting to smoke marijuana so that my frontal lobe could develop, like, until I was, like, 25 or whenever all of

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

this came To a head when Marissa made a purchase that her sister most definitely would not have endorsed.

[Marissa Giamanco]

I had bought a pound of weed and I was pissed off because it wasn't really good. Like it was way less quality than I thought it was going to be. And so I was like, you know what, screw it, let's just have a party and smoke a pound in one night. So I invited everybody I knew and had a rolling contest and was like, who can roll the fattest blunt?

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

Needless to say, a pound of weed, even substandard weed will really do a number on your frontal lobe. And this was kind of the goal. The party got off to a rollicking start. They had the PlayStation set up in the living room, everything plugged in around the big screen. Tv, record player going, music blasting, someone singing into the microphone. A slip and slide in the kitchen. Yes, a slip and slide. Everyone's smoking weed. Like imagine if Costco sold oversized blunts and someone had bought a 36 pack.

[Marissa Giamanco]

You could see the smoke rolling out from underneath the door. That's what one of my friends came up and was like, hey, you can literally see smoke coming out of this house. Just to let you know. And I was one of those people that's like, bring the police, what else do I have to lose right now? Type of thing. But the police didn't show up until later. But cause somebody crashed a car, this guy, you know, everybody's, you know, irresponsible.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

One person has to ruin it for everyone. You can still hear the 17 year old and her blaming the whole bust up on the one irresponsible guy who just took it a step too far.

[Marissa Giamanco]

So this guy decided to steal my friend's car while she was sleeping and then wrap it around a pole down the street. So at five in the morning, the cops are at my door and they're like, hey, do you know anything about this? And I was like, oh my God, that's Tatum's car.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

Tatum is not happy about this. But you know who else is not thrilled? Take a guess. Uh huh. Elise.

[Marissa Giamanco]

I believe that she stopped by at some point in that night and was fairly disappointed. She was not happy.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

She most certainly wasn't. Here's Elise.

[Elise Giamanco]

I remember going over there to get some of my stuff while the party was going on and we got into a fight.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

Like a physical fight?

[Elise Giamanco]

Yes, like a physical fight. And because I just felt so disrespected, I felt like you aren't keeping up with the house, you're graffiti ing the walls, you're burning the walls. You're doing a slip and slide on the kitchen floor. Fine, cool party. But every day the reason the house isn't being taken care of is because you are not doing it.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

Elise says that even though the night ended badly and she was upset, sure. Beyond that, she really worried about her sister and was doing her best to keep things under control.

[Elise Giamanco]

For me, my main priority with Marissa was to keep her safe, even though maybe she didn't see it that way because I can be a little bossy, maybe a little. Maybe she sees it as controlling. But for me, my main priority was to keep us housed and to keep us safe.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

Marissa says she gets why her sister was frustrated.

[Marissa Giamanco]

I feel like she had my back, but I don't think she felt like I had hers. And I think that's a very valid feeling that she had. I feel like I was very lost. Where she had more of a head on her shoulders at that point, she honestly probably felt like a mother figure to me.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

But the truth was, they already had a mother. She'd been absent from their lives for years. She'd moved out when the girls were 12 and they'd rarely seen her since, except for strange moments like the night she showed up and asked them to pass the vacuum cleaner out the window. But then, in the middle of this tumultuous senior year of high school, as the girls were struggling to hold everything together, their mom returned.

[Apple Card Advertiser]

This message is a Paid Partnership with Apple Card there's something interesting about how seamlessly certain tools fit into daily life. Apple Card is one of those things it can be applied for right in the wallet app on iPhone and approval can happen in minutes, so it's ready to use immediately with Apple Pay. I'm so glad the days of finding my wallet, fishing out the credit card, using it, putting it back in my wallet, or oops, maybe I use cash. Where's the atm? Enough. The first time I used Apple Pay on my phone with my Apple Card, I was like, this is the future. There's no going back. With Apple Card purchases earn daily cash up to 3% with no points to track and no waiting for rewards. It's simply daily cash back that I earn on every purchase. There's even an option to open a high yield savings account through Apple Card. And while I haven't done it yet, if I do, my daily cash can grow automatically over time without any extra effort. Because Apple Card lives in the Wallet app, it's always accessible on iPhone and can be used with Apple Pay at over 85% of merchants in the US and the security of Face ID and Touch ID prevents unauthorized purchases. Whether using iPhone or Apple Watch to exploit yourself. You can apply for Apple Card in the Wallet app or on your iPhone. Subject to credit approval. Savings is available to Apple Card owners subject to eligibility. Savings in Apple Card by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Branch Member FDIC terms and [e-mail] this is Martha

[Martha Stewart]

Stewart from the Martha Stewart Podcast. Ever wonder how to make hosting look effortless? Here's a secret when prepping for cooking and baking, get ahead of the mess with new Reynolds Kitchens countertop prep paper. Just lightly wet the counter so the paper grips, lay it down and drips and spills stay on the paper, not on your counter. Cleanup is as simple as lifting it away to reveal clean counters. Effortless it is thanks to Reynolds Kitchen's countertop prep paper. Wet it, set it, prep it, done. Available in the Reynolds Wrap aisle at Walmart, Target, Amazon and Costco.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same Premium Wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to [e-mail]

[Mint Mobile Announcer]

Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per required intro rate. First 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full [e-mail]

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

Becky Giamanco that was Elise and Marissa's mother when the girls were little. Becky had been active in the pta, a leader at their church. She kept an immaculate house, made gourmet meals, was always there for the girls. Then around the time the girls were 10, all of this started to change. Becky and Keith began to argue. Seemed like all the time. And Becky started going out at night to the local bowling alley and to other places as well, though the girls didn't know exactly where. Eventually the girls came to understand that their mother was struggling with drug addiction. She moved out of the house when the girls were 12. There were visits for a while, special times set up for them to see Mom. Becky got an apartment where they visited her, but then she lost that apartment. There was no place for the girls to have these visits and their mother kind of slipped away. They didn't see much of her again until late 2008 when after their dad's arrest.

[Elise Giamanco]

So she calls like she needs to Come and comfort us and be with us. And then we, we see her in person. And then she ends up eventually moving in for a little while.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

That's right, their mother moves back in with them.

[Elise Giamanco]

I was excited, also naive. I thought, here's. Here's a little family reunion. Mom can come back in. We have a provider. At least some comfort. Even if I still have to be like the provider, caretaker or whatever. At least we have mom here.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

Elise was holding on to a fragile hope, but she was also clear eyed about her mother's condition.

[Elise Giamanco]

Mom was in the throes of her addiction. She was on heroin. During this time. She was definitely unwell.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

And.

[Elise Giamanco]

And I knew that, but I also know that no one heals in isolation. And so I'm here, like, maybe this is what she needs to get her shit together, is her daughters need her during this time. Right now. This is her moment to step up and shine.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

And it started off promisingly enough. They had Thanksgiving together. Their mom invited a friend, a guy dealing with homelessness who she knew from the streets. He took a shower, cleaned up, and then the familiar choreography of the day made things feel almost normal. They set the table, turned on the oven. The scent of roasting turkey filled the air. Their dog Lucky poked about. And for a moment, the small magic of the holiday smoothed over all the cracks. But that didn't last. According to Elise, their mom was soon using heroin in their bathroom regularly. Meanwhile, Elise is playing the role of the provider, working at Banana Republic, paying the bills. And then one morning, Elise swings by her bank to make a withdrawal.

[Elise Giamanco]

And lo and behold, my bank account is overdrawn and I did not get out any money.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

She goes into the bank, meets with the bank manager, and he confirms that someone made withdrawals from her account and offers to pull up the videos so they can see who it was.

[Elise Giamanco]

And he showed me the surveillance tape and he's like, do you recognize this person? And I'm like, oh, that's my mother.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

It doesn't take long for Elise to figure out what had happened.

[Elise Giamanco]

She took my bank card out of my purse, knew my pin number, and took all of my money out of my bank account, overdrew me, and then went back to my house and acted like nothing had occurred.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

At this point, Elise knew what she had to do.

[Elise Giamanco]

I went back to my house and I told my mother to come outside and I told her that she had to leave and that she was never welcome back there ever again until she figures her stuff out.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

Elise says that right there on the front lawn her mother begged for another chance, but Elise was resolute. As she watched her mom go, the wild, outlandish tragedy of the situation started to dawn on Elise. Her parents were both thieves. Her father had robbed a dozen banks. Her mother had stolen from her when she was already stretched thin. And now, in the wake of these thefts, Elise had lost both of them. Foreign.

[Martha Stewart]

This is Martha Stewart from the Martha Stewart Podcast. Ever wonder how to make hosting look effortless? Here's a secret Getting ahead of the mess with new Reynolds Kitchens Countertop prep Paper Just lightly wet the counter beforehand so the paper grips and stays in place. Then lay down the Reynolds Kitchen's countertop prep paper so drips and spills stay on the paper, not all over your kitchen counter. You can roll out dough, prep a party spread, or cook alongside family when you're done. Cleanup is as simple as lifting the paper and revealing that clean counter underneath. Effortless. You can use it for cooking and baking, prep and even crafting, especially when you need extra working space. Because when the mess is already handled, you can focus on what matters the food, the people, and the moment. It may look effortless, but now you know. It's Reynolds Kitchens countertop prep paper. Take a tip from me. Wet it, set it, prep it. Done. Make it easy. Make it with Reynolds Kitchens Countertop prep paper, available now in the Reynolds wrap aisle in Walmart, Target, Amazon, and Costco.

[LifeLock Advertiser]

Lots of places can accidentally expose you to identity theft. Doctor's offices, online retailers, insurance companies. The list goes on. Thankfully, LifeLock monitors hundreds of millions of data points a second for threats to your identity, which is way more than anyone can do on their own. LifeLok keeps an eye on your personal information credit applications, finances, and more. And if they find anything suspicious, like new loans or changes to your financial accounts, they alert you right away, all through text, phone, email, or the LifeLock app. Even better, alerts are automatically activated the moment you become a Lifelock member. No extra work on your part. Get the alerts that could make all the difference. Don't wait. Join LifeLock now. Visit lifelock.com iheart and save up to 30% your first year. That's lifelock.com iheart for 30% off. Terms apply.

[Apple Card Advertiser]

Running a small business means every hire matters. A bad hire can cost you time, money, and momentum. A good hire? They can help grow your business. But finding great talent isn't easy, especially when you don't have the time or resources to sift through piles of resumes to find the right fit. That's why LinkedIn built Hiring Pro, your new hiring partner that screens candidates for you. So instead of sorting through applications, you spend your time talking to candidates who are actually a good fit. You know what? This makes me think of my beloved Boston Celtics. Three years ago, they chose a new coach, Joe Mazzulla, who was like the third or fourth assistant off the bench. Never had any NBA coaching experience. Everyone was expecting him to fail. And you know what? Turns out he was one of the best coaches in the game. And without him, there's no way the team would have made the playoffs this year, let alone be contenders for the finals. Sometimes the right hire makes all the difference. With Hiring Pro, you can hire with confidence, knowing you're getting the best talent for your business. In fact, Those hiring with LinkedIn are 24% less likely to need to reopen a role within 12 months compared to the leading competitor. Join the 2.7 million small businesses using LinkedIn to hire. Get started by posting your job for [e-mail] Pushkin terms and conditions apply.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

When the twins were growing up, the person they counted on and went to when their parents were fighting was Keith's mother, Grandma Margie. She lived close by. Elise told me she was like their guardian angel. But during this same tumultuous fall, as all of this crazy shit was going on, Grandma Margie died.

[Elise Giamanco]

She was really the only ally in our corner in our family. And to have that also go away in such a finite period of time was so almost unbearable. And my therapist died.

[Keith Giamanco]

What?

[Elise Giamanco]

Yeah, our family therapist had a heart attack after my dad got arrested. So, yes, I definitely felt like I had bad luck. I felt like everything that I touched was cursed. And that's an icky feeling. I was trying to do everything white and nothing was going right.

[Apple Card Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

Not to make light of it, but if I saw you get on my plane, I think I would exit.

[Elise Giamanco]

Yeah. Yes. No, that's. So I would tell you to.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

Eventually, Marissa and Elise went their separate ways. Not for lack of love. They just couldn't keep living under the same roof. Elise started spending most nights with her boyfriend, and she began firming up plans to attend a small liberal arts college in Wisconsin. Marissa stayed behind, alone in the family's little shoebox house with no one keeping track of what needed to get done. The bills went unpaid, and soon the house lost water and then power.

[Marissa Giamanco]

So it all got shut off, you know, and me and my sister, our relationship ended up being strained because of my drug use and partying, and she ended up going to live with her boyfriend and I ended up being in this house with no electric and no water.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

How long were you in this house with no electric and no water?

[Marissa Giamanco]

Man, it felt like a long time. It was probably like three or four months, but.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

Three or four months with no water and electricity, yeah. She says a neighbor let her use their shower, charge her phone, and fill buckets with water so she could go back to her home and manually flush her own toilet.

[Marissa Giamanco]

I tried to have multiple buckets so I didn't have to walk over there during different times of the day, so I didn't have to, like, disturb everybody.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

She laughs now. But at the time, it got pretty grim, especially because at this point, Marissa was using drugs pretty heavily, including heroin. Living in this shell of a house became untenable. Marissa needed a place to live, and eventually she reached out to one of the few people who might truly understand her predicament. Her mother. During this time, Keith Giamanco was still in the county jail awaiting trial. He stayed in touch with his daughters, usually by phone, and he tried to be there for them as best he could. One day, he was on the phone with Marisa, and she just leveled with him about what was going on in her life.

[Detective John Bradley]

She basically spilled the whole thing to me. She told me, I'm addicted to heroin. She was like, I'm in trouble. I'm addicted. I can't kick this. And that particular moment, of course, I was just absolutely helpless.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

I have to imagine, as a dad, that's a devastating moment.

[Detective John Bradley]

Totally devastating. It was devastating to know that you can't be there to help. And I heard all of the. Well, she would have did it. Whether you were in here or out of here. That doesn't matter when you're a dad, because you think that being there, there would at least be a shot at you helping, no matter what the issue is that they're having. Maybe I couldn't have stopped her from doing drugs, but if she was falling down a hole, I could have reached out and grabbed her hand and saved

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

her from falling to the bottom. Keith told me that he was also worried about Elise and how she was managing without him.

[Detective John Bradley]

It was devastating to see the other child working her tail off to do the best that she possibly can for herself and proving herself that she can survive anything.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

Keith says that this would come up sometimes when he was on the phone with Elise.

[Detective John Bradley]

There were times when Elise flat out told me, what about me? What about what I'm going through? What about all the things that I'm working so hard at and succeeding at? And nobody seems to notice.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

For Keith, all of this reinforced his sense of urgency that he needed to map out a plan, a legal strategy, a way to serve his time and walk away with the lightest sentence the system would allow so he could get released and be there for his daughters. As prosecutors began to prepare their case against Keith, it became clear that there was a mountain of evidence against him and Keith. He would soon face a pivotal choice about his freedom and his future, and in the end, he would make one last gamble. Coming up on Deep Cover at that

[Detective John Bradley]

point, I'm thinking, okay, I tell the truth and this may not turn out too bad.

[Elise Giamanco]

I remember waiting outside the courtroom full of insistence, anticipation and tension and anxiety that comes with being in a sort of purgatory.

[Narrator (Jake Halpern)]

Can't put that many people in that much fear and not expect to pay a heavy price for it. Deep Cover the Family man is is produced by Isaac Carter and Amy Gaines McQuaid. Our show is edited by Karen Shakurji. Our executive producer is Jacob Smith. Sound design by Jake Gorski. Original scoring and our theme were composed by Luis Guerra. Our show art was designed by Sean Carney. Fact checking by Annika Robbins. Our story consultant was James Foreman, Jr. Special thanks to Daphne Chen, Sonia Gerwitt, Morgan Ratner, Kyra Posey, Jake Flanagan, Corinne Gilliard Fisher, Eric Sandler, Christina Sullivan, and Greta Cohn. I'm Jake Halpern. Sam. Hear episodes of Deep Cover the Family man early and ad free by subscribing to Pushkin Plus. Sign up on the show page on Apple Podcasts or at Pushkin FM +Pushkin subscribers can access ad free episodes, full audiobooks and exclusive binges of other true crime podcasts throughout the year.

[Martha Stewart]

Ever wonder how to make hosting look effortless? Here's a secret. When prepping for cooking and baking, get ahead of the mess with new Reynolds Kitchens countertop prep paper. Just lightly wet the counter so the paper grips. Lay it down and drips and spills stay on the paper, not on your counter. Cleanup is as simple as lifting it away to reveal clean counters. Effortless it is thanks to Reynolds Kitchens Countertop Prep Paper. Wet it, set it, prep it done. Available in the Reynolds wrap aisle at Walmart, Target, Amazon, and Costco.

[LifeLock Advertiser]

Lots of places can expose you to identity theft. That's why LifeLock monitors hundreds of millions of data points a second for threats to your identity, which is way more than anyone can do on their own. If we find anything suspicious, like new loans or changes to your financial accounts, we alert you right away all through text, phone, email or the LifeLock app. Save up to 30% your first first year. Visit lifelock.com iheart Terms apply this is

[Bethenny Frankel]

Bethenny Frankel from Just Be with Bethenny Frankel. Biggie and Smalls are my little soulmates and I love them in that ridiculous way only pet people understand. That is why I am so excited to try Chewy. They have over a hundred thousand products, all the food, treats, toys, supplements my boys could ever need. Everything ships fast, which is huge. Chewy also handles the serious stuff, prescriptions, pet insurance, telehealth, vet visits, and they're even opening vet clinics across the country. Brilliant. And their 247 customer service feels like talking to people who truly get it. The kind of people who understand why you would buy insane dog costumes and not get judged for it. Plus the one year satisfaction guarantee means if my boys turn their noses up at something, I can return it with no stress. So excited for how Chewy helps me take care of Biggie and Smalls so I can focus on loving them the way I do for life with pets. The answer is chewy. Save 20 on your first order with free shipping at chew panions chewy. Com justbe this is an iHeart podcast.

[Podcast Host]

Guaranteed human.