Joan Webster // 551

Summary

Detailed Summary of Going West: True Crime, Episode 551 – Joan Webster (November 4, 2025)

Episode Overview

In this episode, hosts Daphne Woolsoncroft and Heath Merryman take a deep dive into the mysterious case of Joan Webster—a 25-year-old Harvard graduate student who vanished after arriving at Boston's Logan Airport in November 1981. Tracing Joan’s steps, the investigation ran cold for years until her remains were found nearly a decade later, raising even more questions. The episode explores various theories, a controversial suspect, possible cover-ups, and the passionate efforts of Joan’s family to bring answers to light.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Joan Webster’s Background

[03:37 – 07:53]

• Joan Lucinda Webster, born August 19, 1956, in Ohio, youngest of three children.
• Family settled in Glen Ridge, NJ; Joan developed a reputation for warmth and intelligence.
• Attended Syracuse University (interior design), later worked at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill in NYC.
• Moved to Cambridge to study architecture at Harvard in September 1980.
• Family and friends described her as patient, artistic, academically accomplished, and well-loved.
  • Quote (Joan’s sister-in-law Eve Carson, 07:53):

    “Joan was a wonderful person. She was very level headed and as sweet as could be with this infectious giggle. People loved being around her.”

2. Timeline of Disappearance

[08:27 – 18:59]

• Joan flew home to NJ for Thanksgiving (Nov 26, 1981) and returned to Boston on Nov 28.
• Last seen around 10:30pm at Logan Airport, heading to the taxi line with a man—described as middle-aged, white, dark curly hair, glasses, bearded, average build, under 6 ft, 160 lbs—after an apparent altercation involving a cab driver (Fenton Allen Moore).
  • Quote (Heath, about the potential ruse, 11:21):

    “If he created an argument about the bags, this unknown man, so that he could get her into a different specific car as like a ruse...”

• Joan never made it to her dorm or a Sunday morning study session.
• Missing person investigation began Dec 1 after a friend alerted her family.

3. Initial Investigation & Key Evidence

[15:25 – 19:37]

• Hundreds of interviews and intensive searches, but no leads.
• Four days post-disappearance, Joan’s pocketbook and wallet (with cash missing) were found dumped on Route 107 near the Pines River—suspicious as the location was miles away from campus and airport.
• Attempts at extorting the family with ransom calls went nowhere.
  • Quote (Sgt. Neil Meehan, 14:30):

    “From her parents and friends, we have found that she is not the type of person who would disappear or go off by herself without telling them.”

• Later, Joan’s suitcase is found in a Boston bus station locker (Jan 29, 1982).

4. The Leonard Paradiso Angle: Jailhouse Informant & Suspect

[19:37 – 32:53]

• In 1983, jailed murderer Robert Bond alleged fellow inmate Leonard Paradiso had confessed to Joan’s murder and that of local woman Marie Iannuzi.
• Bond’s story: Leonard lured Joan to his boat, made a pass, struck her with a whiskey bottle when she refused, then dumped her in Boston Harbor.
  • Quote (Robert Bond, quoted, 23:20):

    “I bent that bitch ass all over the boat. She gave up because I had hit her with a whiskey bottle.”

• Police raised and searched Paradiso’s sunken boat. No evidence was found, and it had sunk months before Joan disappeared.
• Despite these doubts, ADA Timothy Burke focused on Paradiso as the prime suspect for both Joan and Marie’s murders.
• Paradiso’s criminal history: prior sexual assault, attempted rape, and alleged pattern of picking up women, consistent with how Joan went missing.
• Physical descriptions and composite sketches failed to match Leonard.
• Circumstantial connections: Both the area where Joan’s belongings and Marie’s body were found (Revere/Saugus) were near Paradiso’s fishing contacts.

5. Questionable Confession & Cover-Up Theories

[32:53 – 35:08]

• Skepticism arose: Informant Bond could have fabricated the confession for self-gain; Paradiso insisted on his innocence; evidence against him was shaky.
  • Quote (Leonard Paradiso, 31:02):

    “I can look at you in the eye and tell you I didn’t kill Maria Iannuzi...”

• Leonard was convicted of Marie’s murder but maintained innocence for both murders until his death.
• Joan’s sister-in-law, Eve Carson, published research suggesting a police cover-up and wrongful conviction, notably disagreeing with Joan’s immediate family and law enforcement.

6. Discovery of Joan’s Remains & Forensic Evidence

[48:49 – 51:35]

• In April 1990, Joan’s remains were accidentally found in a wooded area near Hamilton, MA—30 miles from the airport.
• Cause: severe blow to the head (hole 2"x4" on her skull); body wrapped in plastic, covered with logs, showing the perpetrator revisited the site.
  • Quote (Daphne, about forensic oddity, 48:49):

    “...I don’t know if hitting somebody in the head with a glass bottle could possibly create a hole in their head. A 2x4 hole in their head. It feels like maybe kind of hard to believe, but I don’t know.”

• Discovery on land contradicted Bond’s story about disposal at sea.

7. Alternate Theories, Family Divisions, and Lasting Mystery

[52:49 – 57:56]

• Eve Carson believes there’s a broader police/FBI cover-up, even hinting at possible abuse within Joan’s family tied to their alleged CIA backgrounds.
  • Quote (Eve Carson, 52:49):

    “I believe Joan knew secrets that resulted in her loss. As painful as learning the facts has been... state and federal authorities are still covering up this crime.”

• Eve has become estranged from Joan’s family due to sharp disagreements and her own theory.
  • Quote (Daphne, 56:45):

    “...we are, as the public, are missing too many pieces to believe what she's saying fully.”

• Another wild, though widely dismissed, theory: the Zodiac killer connection, based on a cryptic card received by Joan’s parents.
• Both the official and alternate theories have gaps; evidence is mostly circumstantial or speculative.
• Paradiso died in 2018 without confessing; ADA Burke still believed him responsible for multiple Boston murders, while Eve insisted on his innocence.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On police bias and error:

  “You also can’t just railroad the situation to work for you. You have to achieve accuracy, actual justice here.”
  (Heath, 26:22)

• On skepticism of witness reliability:

  “It’s always really hard when we’re working or we’re talking about an informant, because usually the informant will get something out of it...”
  (Daphne, 31:02)

• On the conflicting perspectives within the family:

  “I mean, that to me really means nothing, because it means nothing to me either. I mean, he was a criminal, and it's not like he was a murderer. And oftentimes, these guys don't confess to things on their deathbeds because they don't give a fuck.”
  (Heath, 57:50)

• On the unresolved nature of the case:

  “So who is correct?...they have very different points of view.”
  (Heath and Daphne, 59:40)

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Important Segments & Timestamps

• Joan’s Background & Life: [03:37–08:27]
• Timeline of Disappearance: [08:27–15:25]
• Evidence & Early Investigation Developments: [15:25–19:37]
• The Jailhouse Informant & Paradiso Connection: [19:37–32:53]
• Skepticism and Alternative Theories: [32:53–35:08]
• Joan’s Remains Found: [48:49–51:35]
• Family Tensions and Eve Carson’s Theory: [52:49–57:56]
• Closing Reflections by Hosts: [59:28–60:38]

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Summary Tone & Final Thoughts

The hosts keep a conversational, thoughtful, and sometimes irreverent tone, weighing evidence and expressing skepticism and empathy. They acknowledge the limited answers, the pain for Joan’s family, and how conflicting narratives obscure the truth. Listeners are encouraged to keep an open mind and share their theories.

“Based on everything that you guys now know about today’s case, let us know your thoughts, let us know what you think happened.” (Heath, 60:12)

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For those unfamiliar with the Joan Webster case or following her story over the years, this episode offers a comprehensive, accessible rundown of facts, theories, and enduring questions—while delicately highlighting the shadowy areas where justice remains elusive.

Transcript

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[Heath]

What is going on? True crime fans, I'm your host he.

[Daphne]

And I'm your host Daphne.

[Heath]

And you're listening to Going West.

[Daphne]

Hello everybody. Thank you so much for tuning in. If you're listening when this episode comes out, hope you had a very safe and fun Halloween. Keith and I are so ready to like settle into the cozy season. So today we have a very suspicious autumn case for you guys with a potential cover up. There's a lot of mystery associated with this one. Yeah.

[Heath]

And this case takes place right around Thanksgiving, so we figured that this would be the perfect time to cover it. So put your sleuthing caps on for this wild episode of Going West.

[Daphne]

Should we make a sleuthing cap merch?

[Heath]

I think we should. We need. We need like a. Like a hat that just says sleuthing.

[Daphne]

This is my sleuthing cap. Yeah, actually we. I don't know if we've said this yet. We posted on socials. I did like a try on video with a bunch of merch that we're coming out with soon. No hats. But maybe. Yeah, this idea.

[Heath]

Maybe sometime soon. But we'll keep you guys posted when we do have those items up for sale.

[Daphne]

Yeah, hopefully very soon. Okay, so without further ado, let us.

[Heath]

Oh, you almost.

[Daphne]

I never know what to say.

[Heath]

All right, guys, this is episode 551 of Going West. So let's get into it.

[Daphne]

SA in November of 1981, a 25 year old graduate student at Harvard vanished after arriving at Boston's Logan Airport. After being with family for Thanksgiving for years, investigators chased down connections to an alleged serial killer. And yet no answers emerged. When her remains were finally discovered nearly a decade later in a secluded, polluted Massachusetts wood, the mystery only deepened with two completely different disturbing ideas as to what happened to her. This is the murder of Joan Webster. Joan. Lucinda Webster, sometimes known as Joanie, though we will call her Joan today, was born on August 19, 1956, in Dayton, Ohio, to parents Terry and George. She was the youngest sibling to a brother named George Jr. Who actually went by Steve. So we're gonna call him Steve today.

[Heath]

Okay. All right. George, who is also Ste.

[Daphne]

Yeah, and actually her mom's name was Barbara, but she goes by Terry. So a lot of like, this is my name, but this is what I go by in this case. And then her sister is named Ann. So we have Terry and George. And then Joan has siblings Steve and Anne.

[Heath]

Yeah, but they call her Martha now. They don't. Sorry. They just call her Ann.

[Daphne]

Wouldn't be shocked, but they actually did not stay in Ohio long because just a year after Joan was born, the family relocated to New Jersey, settling in the quaint and safe suburb of Glen Ridge, which is about 20 miles or 32 kilometers outside of Manhattan. As a teen, Joan worked as a beloved camp counselor and babysitter. Love that. She was known for her patience and her warmth. So two great traits for those gigs. And Joan attended Glen Ridge High school, graduating in 1974, before heading on to Syracuse University in Upstate New York, where she studied interior design with dreams of becoming an architect. She really always had a flair for the art. She loved poetry, Broadway and music, especially Joni Mitchell. I wonder if that's why sometimes she went by Joni, even though obviously her name is Joan, so it makes sense anyway. But while in college, Joan excelled in academics and she was placed on the Dean's list. So she was smart and artistic and naturally then the chairman of her major glowingly recalled that she was one of the finest and most sensitive students that we have ever had in this department. After graduating from college, Joan moved back home for a period of time to look for work and eventually landed a job at renowned architecture and design firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill in New York City. So she was obviously pretty close to work while she was living at her parents house in New Jersey. But eventually she moved into Manhattan with two of her girlfriends and just loved taking advantage of everything the city had to offer. She had a ton of fun in New York, but wanting to advance her career even further, Joan began the process of applying to graduate schools and was thrilled when she was admitted into her top choice, I think anybody's top choice, Harvard.

[Heath]

Yep.

[Daphne]

So she left New York for Massachusetts, moving into Perkins hall, which is a dorm on the Cambridge campus of Harvard, obviously, and began her studies in September of 1980, according to her sister in law, Eve Carson. We're going to be talking a lot about Eve Carson today. She was actually married to Joan's brother Steve. She said, quote, Joan was a wonderful person. She was very level headed and as sweet as could be with this infectious giggle. People loved being around her.

[Heath]

Well, a year into her college career in the fall of 1981, 25 year old Joan headed home to New Jersey to visit her family for the Thanksgiving holiday, which was Thursday, November 26th of that year. So just a couple of days later, she flew back up north to Boston after being dropped off at the airport by her family. And she arrived back in Massachusetts after Thanksgiving on Eastern Airlines Flight 960. Now she was last seen on the chilly evening of Saturday, November 28, 1981 after deplaning at Boston's Logan Airport, sorry, Boston's Logan Airport, where she was headed to baggage claim to retrieve her suitcase. And by the way, it only would have been about a 20 minute ride back to her dorm in Harvard. So she was so close to home. Now, witnesses and airport employees alike recalled seeing her chatting with an unidentified man at the baggage claim and remarked that she seemed relaxed and even happy. Joan, even spotted some fellow Harvard peers at the airport in Boston. So she said hi to them as well. She was last seen heading to the taxi line with her purse, a tote bag and a dark blue suitcase, ready to take that short drive home. But officially this is where the eyewitness sightings of her end. However, Joan's sister in law, again Eve Carson, who later took on the investigative efforts herself, claims that a more detailed account given by cab driver Fenton Allen Moore was suppressed by law enforcement. So basically that story goes. In a December 1981 police report, a cab driver named Fenton Allen Moore shared with police that he had almost picked Joan up from the Boston airport on that fateful night and that she was not alone. According to Fenton, Joan had approached him with her suitcase which he had put in the trunk for her, asking for a ride to Cambridge. Again, that's where Harvard is. But the man that was with Joan apparently grew irritated with how Fenton was kinda handling their bags. So he got into a tiff with this cab driver and ultimately decided that he and Joan would get a ride somewhere else. So the unknown man removed the bags from the trunk and according to cab driver Fenton, he and Joan headed towards a blue car that was also in this cab line.

[Daphne]

I want to mention something now that's probably premature, but I didn't think about this before when we were researching this, so help me put a pin in this. If he created an argument about the bags, this unknown man, so that he could get her into a different specific car as like a ruse.

[Heath]

Right?

[Daphne]

We'll talk about that later maybe.

[Heath]

Yeah, we can get into that.

[Daphne]

Never thought about that.

[Heath]

I mean I definitely think that that's a very valid idea or thought so.

[Daphne]

Fenton described Jones companion, this guy that we're talking about, as a middle aged white man with dark curly hair, wireframe glasses like eyeglasses and a heavy beard. The man had an average build, was under 6ft tall and weighed around 160 pounds. And we will go ahead and post that on our socials. So you guys can see because there's a composite sketch and I think you and I agree he, he kind of looks like a hippie. I don't know how else to describe him.

[Heath]

Yeah, I mean it's you know, 1981, so that look was kind of popular back then. But yeah, he looks like maybe like a studious hippie.

[Daphne]

Yeah, but he is middle aged. This is the guy that she's trying to get into a cab with. And you know, this isn't someone that she seems to know but like Witnesses said they were seen speaking at baggage claim and she seemed happy and content. Did they meet on the plane? You know, we're going to talk about all that stuff here in a bit, but also keep in mind, it was night at this point. Joan was last seen at around 10.30pm but she never made it back to her dorm. The next day, Sunday, November 29, 1981, Joan was noticeably absent from a morning study session at her school, which she had flown back specifically to attend. So there is no reason that she would have purposefully missed this or I'm sure she would have preferred to have an extra day with her family in New Jersey.

[Heath]

Oh, yeah, absolutely. If this is the reason why you're heading back home, you're not going to miss that class.

[Daphne]

Exactly. So by the day after this, December 1, 1981, which was Monday, a concerned friend of hers named David Duncan, whom Joan had dated casually called her family to let them know that she had not returned home to Harvard and that he was worried about her. So obviously, Terry and George, her parents, are very alarmed by this. They literally dropped her off at the airport. She was supposed to be a 20 minute ride from home after arriving at Boston Logan Airport. So they're like, how, what do you mean? Like, how did she not. So they reported their 25 year old daughter missing and then headed up to Boston to help in the investigation. This is how worried they were and how out of character this was. And even though she was in her mid-20s, the FBI actually sensed an abduction very quickly. So they became involved almost immediately now between December 4th and 7th of 1981. So within that first week of her disappearance, investigators apparently conducted hundreds of interviews with airport employees and passengers. Like the manifest of the flight that she returned to Boston on was poured over, as were the passenger lists of any flights that landed around the same time, because they were suspicious of the man she had been with and wondered if he had been on her flight and that's how they had met. Had they sat next to each other on the plane?

[Heath]

Yeah. Had he said, hey, you want to share a cab? I'm actually headed back to that area like you.

[Daphne]

Exactly. Meanwhile, friends, family and peers of Jones distributed flyers all over the city of Boston to no avail. Nobody knew where Joan was, nobody had seen her. She was described in the press as brilliant, street wise and emotionally stable. And no one believed that she had taken off of her own volition, especially since she never got back to her dorm. You know, it felt clear that she had been abducted while leaving the airport. Or you Know, after leaving the airport, Sergeant Neil Meehan, who worked on the case, announced in the Harvard Crimson newspaper, quote from her parents and friends, we have found that she is not the type of person who would disappear or go off by herself without telling them.

[Heath]

The first major development in the case came four days after she was last seen on December 2, 1981, when a man from Revere, Massachusetts, named Anthony Belamonte found a pocketbook and a wallet belonging to Joan. And suspiciously, they were discarded along Route 107 on the banks of the Pines River. Which is really suspicious and strange. Cause the 107 doesn't cross Boston. It starts just north of Boston in Revere and ends about 12 miles northeast in Salem.

[Daphne]

Yeah, so pretty short route. You know, this isn't like a major highway that spans across. But also, it's just crazy that it. It's almost like somebody just kind of threw it out of a car.

[Heath]

Right out of the car window.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

Like somebody's clearly trying to dispose of her pocketbook and her wallet.

[Heath]

Exactly. Well, concerningly, her ID and credit cards were still in her wallet, though there was some cash missing. Now, even at this site, other than these crucial belongings, there remained no sign of Joan. But obviously, this was a pretty clear indication of foul play. So her father, again George Webster, made a recording of himself describing his daughter and begging the public for information and assistance, which was distributed to local television and radio stations, just hoping to generate some sort of lead. And this either stirred a real ransom or a horrible prank, because on both December 9 and December 18, there were calls made to her parents at their home asking for money in exchange for information about their daughter's whereabouts. The latter of these extortion attempts demanded $20,000. But neither of these leads actually panned out, and they could not track down either of these callers. And although the police maintained that they were in constant contact with Joan's family, on Christmas Eve of 1981, they admitted that they were pessimistic about Joan's fate because they really didn't have any idea where she was. And every clue that they did have pointed to her being gone. Police Inspector Howard Long announced to the press, quote, not a clue has been found since. We've checked out dozens of phone calls by people claiming to have seen her. We've gone to bars, hotels, restaurants, where people claim to have seen her either working or as a customer. And we've met a lot of young women who look something like Joan Webster during this investigation. But what we still need is luck. And then rumors swirled on campus that Joan was killed while attending a fraternity party while she was on campus on the very evening that she returned home, making police kinda wonder if students had seen her arrive back to campus after all. But there was really no evidence to substantiate these claims or prove that anybody had. Well, sadly, the December holidays came and went. The New Year arrived, and then on January 29th of 1982, a second development came when her suitcase was located in a locker inside of a Boston bus station. Now, nothing appeared to be missing from the suitcase, but there was no indication as to Joan's whereabouts. And just the fact that it was found inside a Boston bus station locker added to the theory that someone was tossing her belongings after they abducted her.

[Daphne]

Oh, 100%.

[Heath]

Now, from the onset of the investigation, her family was very active in the search efforts and remained in constant contact with law enforcement. As I mentioned, her sister in law, Eve Carson, eventually became Joan's loudest activist with her research and investigatory efforts, culminating in a book that she called Simple Safe and the 1981 murder of Joan L. Webster. But even the best intentions of the Boston Police Department and the grassroots efforts of her family couldn't prevent this case from growing cold in early 1982.

[Daphne]

Well, then about a year later, in 1983, a surprising break came about in the form of a jailhouse informant. And we're about to get to the whole other portion of this story, because though this informant's claims were unsubstantiated, as we will very much go into, and Joan's body had yet to be found at this point, this tip brought about the only publicly known suspect in the murder of Joan Webster, a man named Leonard Paradiso, on January 5, 1983. So obviously, a little over a year after she went missing, Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Timothy Burke received a letter from convicted murderer Robert Bond addressing himself as a jailhouse informant. Now, Robert had a lengthy criminal history of his own, including the assault of two former romantic partners. This was not a good guy. This is, as Heath would say, piece of shit. Yeah, because in 1971, he stabbed and killed his girlfriend, Barbara Mitchell. Now, somehow, he managed to finagle a manslaughter charge and later, disgustingly, parole. And that just gave him the opportunity in 1981, just 123 days after he was paroled for Barbara's murder, to kill his newest girlfriend, beloved social worker and activist Mary Foreman, shooting her in the head. But, of course, he claimed that the gun discharged by accident. So now he's back in prison. And while he's detained for this crime. He met Leonard Paradiso, who was also imprisoned for murder. And then Robert penned a tell all letter to Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy Burke describing the circumstances of Joan Webster's murder and that Leonard had admitted to it. Though Leonard, a fisherman from Revere, Massachusetts, which, remember, is where Joan's wallet and pocketbook was found along Route 107, did not possess as long of a rap sheet as Robert did. As far as the police knew at this point, he also had a criminal history involving murder. Hence why he was being imprisoned when this alleged confession went down. In fact, at the time of his first alleged murder, he was out on parole following a sexual assault conviction. So this is the kind of guy he is. But get this. On September 28, 1973, eight years before Joan disappeared, Leonard had offered a ride to a young Boston woman. But instead of taking her to her destination, he pulled over the car and attacked her on a secluded dirt road, attempting to rape her while threatening to kill her.

[Heath]

I mean, just the fact that we're talking about how Joan probably got into this unknown car, is it possible that this was kind of his M.O.

[Daphne]

Well, yeah, I completely agree. That's why this is, like, kind of weird. Like an interesting connection already kind of.

[Heath]

Peaking your interest a little bit.

[Daphne]

Totally. So, by Robert's recollection, Robert is the informant who's also a murderer and a loser.

[Heath]

Yeah, and a piece of. Yeah, a piece of.

[Daphne]

Leonard confided, according to Robert, that on the night of Joan's disappearance, he brought her onto his boat to show her around. He then made them drinks, but claims that she didn't want one. He admitted that he made a pass at her, but that she turned him down.

[Heath]

I believe that.

[Daphne]

Right. So a fight broke out, and Robert recalled Leonard telling him, I bent that bitch ass all over the boat. She gave up because I had hit her with a whiskey bottle. After he sexually assaults her, he allegedly cleaned up the blood left behind from attacking her with the bottle, and he dumped her body in the water. Leonard apparently added that he had never told anybody this other than Robert. And Robert maintained that Leonard had also bragged about the murder of another woman, Marie Iannuzi, whose case was unsolved at this point. This is another local woman. So Robert accused Leonard of bragging about taking Marie's life, too, and how he enjoyed watching as she shook, like she had hiccups as he strangled her.

[Heath]

So, of course, law enforcement looks into this, and they found that Leonard did, in fact, own a boat, which he actually called the Mala. Femina, which means evil woman or bad woman in Italian. He docked the boat at fish pier in Boston harbor, which is where Robert claimed that Leonard had discarded of Joan's body. Now, by this point, his boat had actually since sunk, but was raised from the depths of Boston harbor on September 27, 1983. And it was tested for remnants of blood the following day.

[Daphne]

Yeah, because police are hearing Robert's story and they're like, if this is true, we gotta search this boat.

[Heath]

Yeah, we gotta figure out where this boat is. But there was no evidence found to support the theory that Joan had died aboard that boat. In fact, it was determined that Leonard himself had sunk this boat deliberately on July 26th of 1981, four months before Joan disappeared due to the boat having sustained a broken rudder.

[Daphne]

Yeah, that's a good idea. Just sink it.

[Heath]

Yeah. What I was thinking is it's probably one of those things where he thought he was gonna get some sort of insurance for it. He's like, oh my, you know, my boat had sunk and.

[Daphne]

Well, yeah, because he actually reported his boat stolen. So I bet that is why he did that. He sunk it so that it couldn't be found, so that he could maybe collect some money. Because he's a criminal.

[Heath]

Yep. Scheming little bastard. Well, according to Jones sister in law Eve, State Trooper Andrew Palumbo and District Attorney Timothy Burke became so laser focused on having an answer in the crime that they ignored the fact that there was reasonable doubt to support this conclusion and instead leaned full tilt into the explanation that she had disappeared on Leonard's boat.

[Daphne]

Yeah, so they didn't find evidence on the boat, but they're just. I, I think they, I mean, it does make sense that they were desperate and they were like, well, this guy's saying that he did it and he gave details, so maybe it is him. Like, you should look all the way, but it's also like you have nothing.

[Heath]

Yeah. You also can't just railroad the situation to work for you. Like, you have to achieve accuracy, actual justice here.

[Daphne]

Yeah. Just because you want to close the case.

[Heath]

Well, at the time that Robert tipped off the district Attorney's office, Leonard was awaiting trial for the murder of 20 year old Marie Iannuzi, who was found murdered after an evening spent celebrating at a wedding. So basically, on the evening of August 11, 1979, Marie attended a wedding reception with her boyfriend, David Doyle. Now, after the wedding, Marie and David started arguing and fighting and. And David went home while Marie wanted to keep the night going. So she headed to a party at the home of the groom's family, and then to a bar in East Boston with a few other wedding attendees. Leonard Paradiso was there as well, having attended this same wedding with his girlfriend at the time, a woman named Candy. Multiple witnesses claimed to have seen Marie chatting with him on and off, you know, basically throughout the night before eventually leaving together. However, others recall seeing her leaving before Leonard did and that they had already separated for the night. So it really is kind of tough to pinpoint. I'm sure there was a lot of people drinking. You know, this is after a wedding, so it's kind of hard to figure out what the real details are here.

[Daphne]

But interesting that Robert is saying that he murdered Marie, telling the police this like he's an informant. Oh, he told me this, you know, while we're both locked up. And he was at this wedding.

[Heath]

Right.

[Daphne]

Marie as well. Like, that feels like. Is that a coincidence?

[Ryan Murph/Announcer]

I don't know.

[Heath]

Yeah, that feels like. Kind of at that point, it feels like Robert may be telling the truth.

[Daphne]

Yeah. So this is, like, maybe part of the reason why police are, like, kind of believing him a little bit.

[Heath]

Sure. Well, David was also considered a person of interest and notably had significant scratches on his arms in the days following Marie's murder. Again, that's David Doyle, Marie's boyfriend.

[Daphne]

I hate that, you know, but that also could have just been from them fighting, but also worth looking into.

[Heath]

I mean. Yeah, in most of these cases that we cover, it's usually the significant other or the partner that's responsible. So, yeah, I think police needed to do their due diligence here. Well, the day after the wedding, August 12, 1979, Marie's body was found in Marshland in Saugus, Massachusetts, only about 20 minutes northeast of Boston. Marie had been raped, beaten, and strangled with a black scarf that she wore to the wedding the night prior. Strangely, her body was found in the same vicinity within a few hundred feet of where Joan's purse was found discarded two years later. And that just feels like too, too close to home.

[Daphne]

I completely agree.

[Heath]

Well, it's also very suspicious here because these discoveries were also close to a lobster pound, where lobsters are kept in tanks and then they're sold. And Leonard was known to have ties for his fishing business, so that's also a little weird. Based on circumstantial evidence, Leonard Paradiso was indicted for murder by a grand jury in Marie's case and arrested on July 6, 1982. Despite this, Leonard maintained. I'm not a hitman. I don't Hate women. I don't kill them and chop up their bodies and dump them out to sea.

[Daphne]

And to answer the question many of you probably have right now, no, Leonard really didn't match the composite sketch that we talked about earlier of the man that Joan was seen with at the airport. Again, Heath and I would describe the composite to look like a bearded hippie kind of guy who was middle aged and around the same age, honestly, as Leonard. But Leonard, we will post photos, is clean shaven. In all available photographs, like in and out of court, I could only find two. And although he was kind of had like slightly curly hair, which would sort.

[Heath]

Of match the composite, I guess.

[Daphne]

Yeah, it was like not the same type of hair as the composite and he didn't wear glasses. So if you put him next to the composite, even though composites are not typically super accurate because they're just based.

[Heath]

On memory, you'd say that's not the guy.

[Daphne]

You would say that's not the guy. But obviously it. Again, it's pretty weird that Robert is making these claims. And then there's the potential connections with Marie's crime scene and the scene of Joan's wallet and her pocketbook. Like there, there are some things that you're like, huh?

[Heath]

Yeah, certain things are kind of lining up a little bit.

[Daphne]

However, according to Leonard, Robert was able to glean the details about Joan's murder from news coverage in order to create the narrative that he posed to the district Attorney's office. And it's always really hard when we're working or we're talking about an informant, because usually the informant will get something out of it, like maybe a lesser sentence or they'll be transferred to a better prison or something. Like they'll get something out of it, right. So they have all the motivation to lie. So that's why it's hard to even know if we can trust honestly either of these guys because they're both piece of shit murdering sexual offenders. But Leonard also accused Robert Bond of rifling through the court documents from his grand jury indictment to gather adequate information to frame him for the murder of Maria Iannuzzi, which he also claimed to be innocent of throughout his trial. In an interview In November of 1984, he said, I can look at you in the eye and tell you I didn't kill Maria Iannuzi. First of all, there's guys in here for murder. A lot of them, at least 300 guys for murder. Some of them will talk openly about their crime. They say, yeah, I copped out on it. I'm doing manslaughter. I blew the guy away. But they don't go into detail like, I shot him and he went flying over the counter with brains flying, or when I choked my partner, he was spitting blood. They don't do that. They say I killed a guy. But you see how Bond's doing. The hiccup, that's to dramatize. Even Eve Carson believed that Leonard was the scapegoat for a larger cover up by the police in conjunction with the FBI, and that he was unlikely to be responsible for either the murder of Joan or Marie.

[Heath]

I mean, that's. That's very interesting. It feels a little far fetched that the FBI is going to be involved with the local Boston police to cover up the murder of a 25 year old college student. Yeah, I don't know.

[Daphne]

She. She does have some reason to believe this. And. And we will tell you what we know.

[Heath]

Yeah, we'll touch on it a little bit.

[Daphne]

But like, I do. I do hear what you're saying. It feels a little bit far fetched. No disrespect to Eve, but this is what she said. Evidence in the Iannuzi case supports this was a wrongful conviction and probably used as a smokescreen to implicate Paradiso in Joan's murder. Boston at that time had a dysfunctional and corrupt legal and law enforcement system. It wasn't a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I believe that Joan was the intended target. One of my favorite things about fall is all the seasonal food. You know, we've got our pumpkin stuff, our fun Halloween candy. We get to experiment with all these cozy new recipes. Even yesterday, Heath, you can attest, I ordered a bunch of Halloween candy on Instacart, including caramel apple candy corn, by the way.

[Heath]

Oh, yes, you did.

[Daphne]

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[Heath]

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[Daphne]

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[Heath]

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[Daphne]

Offer valid for a limited time. Excludes restaurants. Additional terms apply when you finally take a break from diving into some of these intense cases. There's nothing better than relaxing with a glass of wine that you can count on. That's why we want to share Riva de la Rosa, an Italian white wine brand that's elegant, refreshing and easy to enjoy.

[Heath]

Each glass of Riva de la Rosa feels like being transported to Italy. Bright, refreshing and completely effortless.

[Daphne]

They have two standout wines that we think you guys will Vermentino, which is crisp, vibrant and smooth, and Gavi, which is bright, kind of flirty and just the right touch of elegance.

[Heath]

And the best part is that every bottle has a screw cap, so it's easy to open anywhere, anytime, no corkscrew required.

[Daphne]

Enjoy quality wine that pairs perfectly with a quiet dinner this fall or winter time with friends or simply winding down after a long day. Which is exactly what Heath and I did this weekend with a bottle of Vermentino. We made this beautiful fall fettuccine. It paired so well. It was so delicious. We had the whole bottle over dinner and we had just great conversation. You guys would love this wine.

[Heath]

Bring a little taste of Italy to your next wine night. Check out rivadellarosawine.com to find a bottle near you.

[Daphne]

Disclaimer must be 21 plus. Please drink responsibly.

[Jeffrey]

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[Dana]

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[Jeffrey]

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[Dana]

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[Jeffrey]

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[Heath]

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[Daphne]

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[Heath]

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[Daphne]

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[Heath]

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[Daphne]

Do you love true crime but find yourself wanting every single detail? From the social media rabbit holes to the red flags and details the headlines never tell you? Then you need to check out Serial Lessly with Annie Elise.

[Heath]

Whether it's everything that's been going on with the Idaho four case, now that more documents have been unsealed, or a deep dive into a case that you've never even heard of that's packed with love triangles, red flags and drama. I mean, Annie has it all.

[Daphne]

Topping the charts with over 1 million weekly downloads, Annie gives you the full story the way that you'd actually want to hear it. Like your best friend is filling you in on everything with every single detail sleuthed out.

[Heath]

So if you've been looking for someone to chat all things true crime with, and a community just as obsessed as you are, this is where you need to be.

[Daphne]

Listen to all new episodes of Serial Less Li every Monday and Thursday. Wherever you get your podcasts, this show is sponsored by Better Help.

[Heath]

As the seasons change, shorter days don't have to weigh you down. I'm one of those people where come winter time, I'm just feeling a little bit blue because the days are getting a little bit shorter. There's less sunshine. But this season, better Help encourages you to reach out, check in on your friends, reconnect with loved ones and remind them that you're there.

[Daphne]

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[Heath]

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[Heath]

The potential corruption that Daphne was just telling us about before that quick break is something that we are going to discuss a little bit later. But first, In February of 1983, the month after Robert Bond's tip came in, Assistant District Attorney Timothy Burke began investigating the claims and came to the conclusion that he agreed with Robert's allegation that Leonard Paradiso had raped Joan before striking her over the head and then tossing her into the Boston Harbor.

[Daphne]

But also remember this, that Robert is claiming that Leonard said he hit her over the head.

[Heath]

Yes, because that is going to come up, too. Now, already building a case against Leonard for Marie's murder, Timothy came to the staunch belief that Leonard was responsible for Joan's disappearance as well, believing that he was operating an unmarked, unlicensed cab and that he was the one who picked Joan up that evening from the airport in that blue car that the other cabby, Fenton, had apparently seen that night.

[Daphne]

Which is an interesting theory and could work in tandem with that woman that he gave a ride to and assaulted almost a decade earlier.

[Heath]

Yes, when I was talking about how that might have been a potential M.O. for Leonard.

[Daphne]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Heath]

However, Eve Carson has since poked holes in this theory after beginning her research on the case. Just based on the fact that Leonard was both taller and much heavier than the man described to have been seen leaving the airport with Joan.

[Daphne]

We can all agree he doesn't look like the composite, it's just not him. But I will say the person that she was seen leaving the airport with wasn't driving the car that they apparently got into. Unfortunately, it's not like Fenton saw them for sure getting into this car, in the car, driving away. He didn't even see who the driver was. Also. So Eve saying that he doesn't look like the composite. Yeah. If he was driving the blue car that Fenton says they were approaching after getting out of his car, that would.

[Heath]

Look a lot more suspicious.

[Daphne]

Well, right, but that doesn't. We don't know who the driver. Like nobody saw the driver of that car or saw them drive away. So. Yes, you know, not to go against Eve. I know that she has looked into this case a ton. It is a family member of hers, you know, her sister in law. So she's super clued in. But if we consider that if Leonard is responsible, he still could have been driving an unmarked cab, could have picked up Joan and this unknown man dropped the unknown man off. And that unknown composite man isn't even who's responsible, but that Leonard or even whoever the driver could have been was responsible after Joan and this other man potentially parted ways.

[Heath]

Yeah, I mean, it just, it doesn't mean that because they got into the same car that they were headed to the same. Same location.

[Daphne]

Yeah, maybe it was like, oh, like you said, let's get a cab together, I'm going out that direction, it can drop me off on the way or something. Like, I always think it's very suspicious when there is somebody in a case who has a composite sketch after them and they haven't come forward. But there's always the possibility that they're uninvolved and afraid to come forward. Or they're uninvolved and unaware that they're being looked for.

[Heath]

Yeah. Like potentially they didn't ever see the news report or just really didn't hear about it, which, I mean, it feels like that would be hard to believe just based on how big this investigation was, but it is very much possible.

[Daphne]

Yeah. Because even though I'm sure, like you're saying, this was more publicized in the area, something that the police have gotten hit with a lot in this case is that they didn't publicize it early enough. So who knows, maybe this guy was a drifter, maybe he was visiting a friend and he left the area and really didn't hear about it. And. Because have you ever heard of the disappearance and murder of Joan Webster? Most people haven't. You know, this isn't like a big name case, so it's very possible this guy is just like, oh my God, I have no idea I'm being looked for and I don't even know that woman. Even though either way, he would be a very important person to talk to. Because if the driver was responsible, whether it was Leonard or not, the guy she was with would have seen who they were.

[Heath]

There's also the potential that Joan ended up getting in the blue cab and this other guy did. Didn't.

[Daphne]

So true.

[Heath]

You know what I mean?

[Daphne]

It's so true.

[Heath]

It's like he could have just decided, you know what? I think I'll take my own cab.

[Daphne]

But also, coming back from that pin I put in earlier, was this guy involved, too? Was this a two man job? Was Leonard saying or. Sorry, not Leonard. Was this unknown hippie guy saying, oh, I don't like the way you're handling my bag, man. Hey, Joan, let's get a different car. Let's get out of. Let's get out of here. Let's go over there.

[Heath]

Yeah, like ushering her to a different car as part of a ruse.

[Daphne]

Yeah, because this guy hangs out at airport terminals to abduct women as part of a sex trafficking ring or something. Or like, you know what I mean? That could make so much sense.

[Heath]

I mean, obviously this is a lot of wild speculation and we don't know, but it's just like this is where your brain goes to. You think of all different scenarios and things that could potentially have happened. Because really, at this point, nobody knows.

[Daphne]

Right. But sure as well, again, nobody saw what car Joan got into, who exactly she was or wasn't with, when she got into that vehicle, where the vehicle went and who was driving it. So Leonard or somebody else absolutely could have been responsible.

[Heath]

Yeah. Really, the only word that we have is from that other cab driver, Fenton. And he really didn't have the most detailed eyewitness account of what happened.

[Daphne]

Yeah, because he's probably like, oh, this guy's a dick. Let me find somebody else to give a ride and go on with my day and get some money out of this.

[Heath]

Well, still, Leonard could not be connected to Joan's case, despite the reasonable doubt that existed in Marie's. Leonard went to trial for Marie's murder. And on July 21st of 1984, he was actually found guilty of second degree murder. And he was sentenced to life in prison without the opportunity for parole for the first 33 years of his sentence. One of the women who testified against Leonard Paradiso was Charlene Bullerwell, an FBI informant and former, on and off again, girlfriend of Leonard's. And according to the FBI, she was pictured in a bracelet that appeared to be one of Joan's missing pieces of jewelry. Now, although she later admitted that she felt pressured into her testimony, she told the FBI in her line of questioning on October 4, 1983, that Leonard had boasted about murdering people, Disposing of them in the ocean, and working closely with the mafia. Ultimately, these claims were unsubstantiated, and the allegation that she was in possession of Joan's missing bracelet was never proven. But it's just another potential reason to think that Leonard isn't really innocent here. Leonard's sentence was later inflated for fraudulently declaring bankruptcy, and he was also charged with an additional attempted rape of an East Boston woman in 1980. So the year before Joan's disappearance.

[Daphne]

Though Leonard's involvement in Joan's disappearance remains shrouded in mystery even to this day, her whereabouts were eventually discovered in April of 1990, finally bringing some semblance of closure to her family. So on April 18, 1990, a woman named Karen Wolf was out walking her dog near Shabacco Road. So, 30 miles, or 48 kilometers northeast of Boston Logan Airport, where Joan disappeared from. And noticing the distinct look of a human skull in a drainage ditch, Karen called the police. Exactly a week later, on April 25, 1990, the rest of Joan's remains were found nearby in a damp and shallow grave in the woods of Hamilton, Massachusetts. Joan had been stripped of her clothing, and the only items belonging to her that remained on her body were a ring and a necklace. A blow to her head had been so severe that it left a hole that measured 2 inches by 4 inches on the right side of her skull. And this is why I said it was interesting that Robert is claiming that Leonard hit her in the head really hard with a whiskey bottle, because this is how it appears. Joan was murdered ultimately. And I don't know if hitting somebody in the head with a glass bottle could possibly create a hole in their head. A 2x4 hole in their head. It feels like. Yeah, it feels like maybe kind of hard to believe, but I don't know. I'm just putting that out there. But she had also been wrapped in a black plastic trash bag and left in the marshy, secluded area where she was eventually found, proving very much so that she had been murdered. The local power company regularly trimmed back this wooded area, actually, that surrounded her grave. And Joan's murderer had used the discarded logs to cover her back up. So this means he returned to her grave to cover up with another layer of logs. At a later date in hopes that she would remain concealed, which she did, as we know, for almost a decade.

[Heath]

I mean, that's pretty ballsy to go back to the site where you had left your victim just to cover her up again without anybody seeing. I mean, I guess this is kind of a wooded area, so maybe there wasn't anybody around, but still.

[Daphne]

But this also tells us this person is a local. They live in the area. And at least immediately after her murder, at least in those months, this person was also free and not imprisoned. So could have been Leonard.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

Well, though law enforcement and most of Joan's family maintain that Leonard was the one who was responsible for the murder, the discovery of her remains on land did kind of poke a hole in the story that Robert Bond offered up about Joan being dropped off at Leonard's boat, since Robert said that she had been put in Boston Harbor. Although I will say, if he hit her over the head, he could have thrown her body in the water for her to ultimately drown. And then he took her out of the water and moved her. It's. I'm not saying that's what happened. That seems kind of like a lot.

[Heath]

Or Robert got the details wrong and that's just not how it went down.

[Daphne]

Right. Maybe Leonard is responsible for her murder and just discarded of her in a different manner. But. But Eve believes that the story that was offered up to the public is not the story that her research uncovered. She explained, I began researching this case back in 2006 because the former prosecutor announced that he was writing a book about this case. Having understood the case from the beginning, I understood that what he wrote was similar to the story that was promoted through the media. However, it did not match up with documents that I was able to recover.

[Heath]

Officially, Joan's murder remains unsolved, though her family seems satisfied with the belief that Leonard Paradiso was responsible. But Eve Carson is pretty sure that they have the wrong culprit and feels that Leonard, while clearly a criminal, was not guilty of the murder of either Joan Webster or Marie Iannuzi. Joan, she maintains, was killed by a member of the police department and that Marie was killed by her live in boyfriend, David Doyle. Eve alleges that the family went along with the COVID up to protect their own image and to shield themselves from the public revelation of their own shady dealings, including possible allegations of abuse from Joan herself. She views Leonard as merely a convenient fall guy for the police department and maintains, I believe Joan knew secrets that resulted in her loss. As painful as learning the facts has been if there is something that I have yet to learn about Joan, I would not be in denial to ignore it. State and federal authorities are still covering up this crime. What fate befell Joan that night remains very much up for debate. One of the wilder theories brought forth in connection to her murder is the involvement of the Zodiac killer, despite the fact that he had no known victims outside of California. But the reason for this is towards the end of January of 1982, Joan's parents actually received a Christmas card From a Ridgewood, NJ address with a message inside that read, please, where can I write you? Believing this to be a Zodiac cipher, Internet sleuth and Zodiac enthusiast Gareth Penn drew a connection between the two, though it has not been deemed noteworthy by law enforcement. Terri Webster, Joan's mother, passed away in 2010, and then her father George followed in 2018.

[Daphne]

But Eve has continued to attempt to raise awareness about Joan's disappearance in her parents absence. However, Eve and her husband Steve split up in 2004, so like two years before she really started investigating the case for real. And she has since become estranged from the rest of Joan's family, probably because she actually thinks they're suspicious and she doesn't agree with what they agree. So there aren't totally different wavelengths. Yeah, wavelengths, different pages. Like she has even suggested that Joan's parents were involved in the COVID up of their daughter's murder, which she believes that they would be more than capable of due to their apparent past careers working for the CIA. So that's kind of wild. Eve even has a website about this, and on that website she claims that she uncovered journal entries of Jones that she of course, had written before she died, alleging sexual abuse within the family. So she hasn't exactly explained in full detail why she thinks they or the police would have had Joan killed. I have not read her book, but. Which I'm gonna tell you about in a sec. But I just find this really interesting.

[Heath]

I mean, I find it interesting that Joan was already home for Thanksgiving for the Thanksgiving holiday, and then, you know, was clearly murdered when she got back to Boston, you know, and her family lived in New Jersey. So I just don't really know how well this lines up.

[Daphne]

It's just hard because we don't. Again, it's. It's not like Eve is out here on her website saying this is what really happened. She's just saying, well, I'm suspicious about this because of this, and I'm suspicious about this because of this, and I found this. But we, we. I just feel like we are, as the public, are missing too many pieces to, to believe what she's saying fully.

[Heath]

Yeah. Or to make the connections that she's making.

[Daphne]

Yeah. I, I, in my, in my opinion, from what we have, which, to be fair, is not a lot at all, I feel like it would make more sense for her to have gotten into a creep's car and for him to have done something to her or for this guy, this hippie guy that she met at the baggage claim to have lured her away and done something to her.

[Heath]

Then, I mean, that feels like the most plausible.

[Daphne]

Yeah, but, but I'm certainly very curious about. I mean, especially because Eve has looked into this so deeply and has access to documents we don't have access to. I'm very fascinated by her side of the, the coin here. I just wish we had a little more. So in 2018, Leonard Paradiso died of cancer while still in prison at 65 years old. After the news of his death broke, his brother Michael told the press, quote, my brother maintained his innocence right up to the last second of his life. If people were looking for a last minute confession, nothing happened.

[Heath]

I mean, that to me really means nothing, because it means nothing to me either. I mean, he was a criminal, and.

[Daphne]

It'S not like he was a murderer.

[Heath]

Yeah. And oftentimes these guys don't confess to things on their deathbeds because they don't give, they don't give a fuck.

[Daphne]

No. They don't have remorse. They don't want to be held responsible, even in death.

[Jeffrey]

Death.

[Daphne]

We rarely see a deathbed confession. That's like a thing of the movies.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

So the full breadth of Leonard Paradiso's crimes is still unknown. But Timothy claims that he is to blame for the murders of at least five other women in the Boston area between 1974 and 1981. But that he's, quote, taken a lot of secrets to his grave. And I'm sure he has. Timothy published a book about Leonard's possible crimes entitled the Paradiso, Boston's Unknown Serial Killer. Though Eve has accused him of printing multiple lies and inconsistencies in his book, she penned two of her own books about her experience researching Joan's case and uncovering what she believes is corruption and corroboration between the Boston Police Department and Joan's family. If you have any information about the murder of Joan Webster, please call Boston Crime Stoppers at 1-800-494-8477. Thank you so much, so much, everybody, for listening to this episode of Going West.

[Heath]

Yes. Thank you guys so much for listening. I, I really think it's very interesting that we have two different people who have written books about this case and they both believe that the other person is lying. You know. Yeah.

[Daphne]

They have very different points of view.

[Heath]

So who is correct?

[Daphne]

It's hard to say. Again, I wish we had, I wish we knew a little bit more or had a. Or knew that the claims that Eve is making were more substantiated. But it's really hard in general, I will say when you go against the police because the police are obviously going to say she's crazy, what she's saying is a lie. And it's really hard to go around what they say because they have the official account and they're the frickin police.

[Heath]

Yeah. Well, based on everything that you guys now know about today's case, let us know your thoughts, Let us know what you think happened. Make sure you give us a follow on our socials. We're on Instagram oingwestpodcast. We also have a discussion group on Facebook where we talk about these different cases. So you can comment there and let us know.

[Daphne]

Yeah, please do. Thank you guys so much for tuning in to this episode and we will see you on Friday.

[Heath]

All right, guys, so for everybody out.

[Daphne]

There in the world, don't be a stranger.

[Jeffrey]

Sam.

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