Casefile True Crime - Case 38: The Pikuls

Episode Date: November 13, 2016

Indiana born Diane Whitmore always dreamed of making it big in New York City. When she met Wall Street securities analyst Joseph Pikul, she thought she was on the way to the perfect life. But her marriage to Joseph Pikul wasn’t perfect. In fact, it was far from it... --- Victoria Dieffenbacher researched and co-wrote this episode. For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/the-pikuls

Come and see us. You will love to play in our course. The children will get excited. And there is always a more notable class. The New Brunswick, always inviting. Visit tourismnewbrunswick.ca New York is a hub for business, finance, fashion, technology, entertainment, art, and is commonly recognised as the city that never sleeps. Diane Whitmore always dreamed of making it in New York.

And when she met Wall Street stockbroker Joseph Pikele, she thought she was on the way to the perfect life she had always dreamed. But her marriage to Joe wasn't perfect. Far from it. Diane Whitmore was born in the small city of South Bend, Indiana, on the 20th of May 1943. Her parents were Don Whitmore and Jane Whitmore. From a young age Diane suffered from asthma and was restricted to bed a lot. So she read a lot of books.

Her favourite novels were the Nancy Drew collection in which a teenage girl would solve crimes. What attracted Diane the most to Nancy Drew was that her character was strong, sophisticated and a prodigy in many aspects. At the age of 12, Diane moved with her parents to Birmingham, a suburb of Detroit. They spent two years there during which Diane felt extremely uncomfortable, as if she didn't belong. It was a miserable time of her childhood. In 57, the family moved to North Plainfield, New Jersey. Diane fit right in there and was much happier. She finished school as one of the top students in her class.

Diane transferred to University Mary Washington in Virginia, before transferring to Mount Holly Oak College in Massachusetts, where she studied English. She met Doug Johnston in 1964 who was a student from Yale. They quickly became engaged, but Diane broke it off the following year. That same year she finished college and went to work at a bank in San Francisco for the summer, before moving to New York, where she had always dreamed of living. Diane graduated from college with recommendations, so had no problem in getting a job as the secretary to Eleanor Graves, one of the editors at Life Magazine.

Diane first lived in an apartment in Upper East Side, with three other women she'd met through a roommate service. In 1967, Diane became a hippie and started dating a string of wrong men. They included a drug dealer, a gang leader and a married man. In 69, Diane left New York and went on tour with her cousin Tommy, who had a band called Tommy James and the Shondles. She travelled to many different places and took odd jobs, before ending up back in New York in 1970. In 71, Diane got a job at the New York Parks Department as an administrative assistant to the commissioner. That same year she entered into a relationship with Ralph Schachenberg, a photojournalist she'd met while working at Life Magazine. Diane also started to drink alcohol heavily.

The relationship with Ralph was turbulent. In 75, Diane sent Ralph a letter where she expressed she wanted them both dead. This scared Ralph, however, he still decided to marry her. Their marriage occurred on the 29th of June, 1975. One week into the marriage, Ralph saw Diane opening letters addressed to him. Ralph said, If you do that again, I'll push you out the window. Diane was terrified. She called her father Don in Tears, who sent her money to get an annulment. In early 78, Diane decided to do something about her drinking problem. She started Alcoholics Anonymous, and that's where she met Joseph Pichle. Joseph Pichle was born in Ware, a small town in the Hampshire County of Massachusetts in 1934. His family was both very poor and very religious.

It's said they had so few toys for Joseph and his sister, Janice, that they had to play with buttons from their mother's sewing box. Joe's father was an alcoholic and used Joe as his personal punching bag. He was also allegedly a Nazi follower. After finishing school, Joe took two jobs. He was a construction worker by day and a grave digger by night. After one year and with the help of a scholarship, he was able to pay his way into Northeastern University in Boston, where he shared an apartment with a friend, Henry Sawoska. At the age of 20, he had a blind date with a girl named Sandra Jarvenan. Sandra said Joe was very driven, had three jobs at the time, and won her over by being funny, charming and smart. She knew he was going to be successful. They started a relationship and had a lot of fun together. However, when Sandra organized a holiday with her friends, Joe made a scene. He showcased possessive, controlling behavior. Sandra's parents didn't like him.

They thought he was someone who always got his own way and considered him to be somewhat of a dreamer. He had big plans of financial success, which Sandra's parents thought were unrealistic. In 1959, Joe graduated second in his university class and got a scholarship offer for the MBA programs at Columbia and Wharton universities. Joe rejected the scholarships and paid his own way into Harvard. During the summer, he married Sandra at a Catholic church in Boston. It was a small ceremony. Sandra's parents didn't attend. They had a short honeymoon in Quebec, Canada, and returned soon after so Joe could start his classes at Harvard. One year later, Joe suffered a bad knee injury and his doctor recommended taking one year off, so Joe had to leave Harvard. He found a job managing high-risk funds and started to drink heavily.

Joe and Sandra then opened their own security analysis firm called Argent. They traveled all over the country looking for potential clients, and in the late 60s, they were handling $80 million in assets. They received a commission of 10%. With that success, they were able to start living comfortably. They rented a duplex penthouse in Greenwich Village, New York, and bought a country house in Monterrey, Massachusetts. Their financial partnership was flourishing. However, their actual relationship was crumbling. When Joe drank, he had a tendency for violence and would damage property. The next day, he'd buy Sandra flowers and act sweet like nothing had happened. In the beginning, these violent outbursts weren't targeted at Sandra. However, over time, Joe started to throw things at her and then threatened to kill her.

Sandra spent a weekend at the country house they owned in Monterrey. She returned home early and walked in on Joe having sex with another woman. When Sandra had a gullet Joe about his affair, he hit her in the back of her head with a sculpture. Sandra fell to the floor, bleeding. Joe left her there and went back to sleep as if nothing had happened. Sandra lost consciousness, and when she woke up, she drove to her parents' house. She had to stop several times along the way to throw up. When she was seen by a doctor, he didn't believe Joe had hit her. The doctor said, Come on, you fell off a horse, didn't you?

By 1970, Sandra couldn't take any more and moved out. She rented a house in Massachusetts. She told Joe she wanted a divorce, which resulted in her trying to get a restraining order due to his threats to kill her. Joe's state was getting worse and worse. He was now doing cocaine and amphetamines, kept several guns in his office, and continued to repeatedly threaten Sandra's life. Joe had several limousine drivers who shared stories with each other. One of them said Joe had asked to be driven to a desolate area, and once there, he pinned a picture of Sandra against a tree and shot at it until there wasn't anything left. Another driver said Joe got into his limo with Sandra. They got driven to a desolate area, and once there, Joe dug a grave and told Sandra that's where he'd put her. A third driver said he picked Joe up from his office one night. When Joe got in the limo, he pointed a gun at the driver and accused him of having an affair with Sandra. He forced him to write a letter stating he had been having an affair and was now ready to commit suicide.

The driver managed to escape this ordeal and needed to go to hospital as Joe had whacked him over the head with his gun repeatedly. He made a complaint to the police, however the charges were later dropped as he refused to testify. The divorce between Joe and Sandra became final on the 2nd of January, 1974. Few months later, Joe was arrested for DUI. Drugs and a shotgun were also found in his car. After their divorce, Joe and Sandra's company Argent was closed down. Joe started to heavily abuse alcohol and by the end of 1975, he had lost it all. He had no money and was practically living homeless. He decided he needed help and entered Alcoholics Anonymous. He also got an entry level job at a Wall Street research firm, Argus. A primary rule for AA members is not to form any new romances or make any major life decisions in the first year of sobriety.

Joe had already been in AA for two years when he met Diane Whitmore. It was her first meeting. He was 43, she was 34. Their first date was in early 78. They had their first argument on their second date. Joe spat on Diane during this argument. Even though she considered him crazy, Diane was fascinated by Joe. She thought he was someone who had endless potential and she continued to see him. A few months into their relationship, Diane felt pregnant. Her friends thought it wasn't such a good idea to have a baby with the man she had just met. But Diane didn't take their advice. She started making marriage plans. They rented an apartment in Greenwich Village for $600 a month. At this time, Joe was making $50,000 a year and Diane was still working at the New York Parks Department. Joe didn't like Diane working though and he asked her to quit. She did and in June when Joe met Diane's father Don for the first time, he told him, Your daughter won't have to work anymore. I'll be able to take care of her.

Don liked Joe for that. Both he and Diane not only believed Joe, they also thought it wouldn't be long until he was extremely successful. Joe and Diane married on the 14th of July 1978. Soon after, Joe went into a rage and smashed all of the china that belonged to Diane's mother, who had since passed away. He also accused her of cheating on him throughout her entire pregnancy. Their baby daughter Claudia was born on the 1st of February 1979. After her birth, Joe left his job at Argus for a better-paying one at a Wall Street investment bank and fund management company. In October 1979, Diane sent a letter to a friend, which said she was thinking about leaving Joe because of his tantrums. The next month, she sent another letter to the same friend saying, forget what she had said. Things were getting better. By 1980, both of them had dropped out of AA and rumors started that Joe was beating Diane.

At various times, Joe would wake Diane up in the middle of the night, tell her she was a piece of shit and that she'd never be anything. Sometimes he also threatened to lock her in the bathroom for the entire night. In the winter of 1981, Diane's father, Don, visited them. During this visit, Diane said, Joe's always buying up at me. He insults me. He mistreats me. I don't think it's ever going to get any better. I'm thinking of leaving him. Don responded, Diane, stick with it if you can. You've got a young child. You don't just run and get a divorce at the spur of the moment. Besides, he's beginning to make money. That'll probably make him treat you better. In the summer of 1981, they bought a weekend house in Amaganset in the Hamptons, Long Island. By 82, Joe was starting to have increasing success on Wall Street by seeing the potential in small Scandinavian stocks.

Joe and Diane returned to AA and Joe became the Treasurer. He also became the sponsor to several new starters. Joe was thought to be a nice person and Diane was viewed as elegant and strong. Nobody knew what happened behind closed doors. In the summer of 1982, Diane fell pregnant again. Just like the previous pregnancy, Joe became extremely jealous and accused Diane of cheating on him. On one occasion, the husband of one of Diane's friends visited Diane to return a book. Joe called home while he was there and heard his voice in the background. Joe later turned up at his apartment and threatened him with a gun. He only left when they said they were calling the police. After that incident, Diane's friends backed off and kept their distance. When Diane was seven months pregnant, her and Joe got into an argument. Joe ended up pushing Diane out of the car and then sped off.

Diane hid in a hotel for three days but eventually told Joe where she was. He came for her, bought her presents and they pretended like nothing happened. Their second child was born on the 28th of December, 1982. They had a son, Blake. To help out with the children, Diane hired a nanny. The first one didn't last long and warned the second nanny to watch out for Joe. The second nanny, Karina, said she never saw Joe hit Diane but they did argue a lot. Most of the arguing was caused by Joe's bad temper but sometimes Diane would provoke him. Karina also said, quote, I noticed right away that Joe and Diane had a strange relationship. I think they really loved each other but I never saw them kiss or hold hands or hug each other and I never saw them sit down and talk.

Maybe they did it in bed before they went to sleep. The worst fight Karina witnessed was on a trip to Boston in the spring of 83. Joe and Diane were shopping. Everything was calm but suddenly an argument broke out and they hit each other with umbrellas. It was around this time that Joe started going through a perfectionist phase. He would do things like make Diane iron his clothes repeatedly as he was never happy. He always found some small fault. He also hired a boy to appear at 4am and clean up any garbage that appeared around his front door so he wouldn't have to see it. By the mid 80s Joe was making $800,000 a year.

He told Diane almost every day that if she left him she'd have nothing. Diane stayed both for her kids and for the fear of losing everything she had. In 1985 she wanted to get a job. Her passion was writing. She consulted different friends who wrote for her living and asked what it was like. Diane was very insecure about her own writing and she didn't want Joe to ever see anything she wrote because he tear her down. When Diane told Joe she wanted to get a job he destroyed her contact lenses by stepping on them furiously. In the spring of 86 Diane was going through Joe's briefcase and found a pair of woman stockings.

They were extremely large and she couldn't really imagine any woman wearing them. Curious she went into the attic where she was banned. Only Joe was allowed in the attic. Diane found pictures and videotapes of Joe wearing women's underwear dancing and touching himself. For the 4th of July weekend 86 they went to the Hamptons and spent the night on the beach watching the fireworks with other friends. It was one of the rare times when it had been a memorable night for a good reason. Days later one of Diane's friends told her Joe is so great. Diane responded you don't know him.

A few weeks later Diane told another friend I want to divorce Joe but I can't leave him because if I do he will kill me. Diane wrote to another friend in Vale Colorado and asked her if the children could stay with her if needed. She also specified that all communication had to be made via letter so Joe couldn't trace any phone bills. Diane then got three suitcases ready and took them to another friend's house. But Diane had almost no money to leave. The joint account she had with Joe was almost always left empty on purpose. Two days later their housekeeper quit because Joe had mistaken her for Diane and was extremely verbally abusive towards her. The next week Joe and Diane had another huge fight.

Diane couldn't take it any longer and called a divorce lawyer Rayall Felder. She first met with Felder in August 86. Felder proposed getting an order of protection which essentially was a restraining order with the addition of a private detective to bodyguard her. Diane wanted to know if this would really protect her from Joe. Felder said it was only a piece of paper but if Joe was a rational man it would be enough to keep him away. Diane thought Joe was anything but rational so she didn't get it. She gave Felder the pictures and the videotapes of Joe dressed in women's underwear. Diane's friends were relieved she was finally leaving.

However when Joe got the initial divorce papers he showered Diane with flowers and apologies and made promises to change. They started couples counselling and Diane told Felder she had changed her mind. She didn't want the divorce anymore. Diane retrieved the three suitcases she'd left at a friend's house. She also mentioned she had to do a physical exam because Joe wanted to take out a $1 million life insurance on her. Diane's friends didn't think this was a good thing. In September 86 their nanny Karina and a friend moved in to Joe and Diane's apartment to take care of the children while they went on an overseas business trip. They visited Amsterdam, Oslo, Tokyo and other places.

Diane wrote letters saying she couldn't believe she now had this life and that it couldn't get any better than this. When they returned in October Diane began actively looking for a job. In February 87 she enrolled in a writing workshop at the University School of Continuing Education in New York. But Diane was becoming increasingly pessimistic. She told a friend, what difference does it make if I find a great job and become a writer and leave Joe? I'll just end up with another man like him. I don't know how to break this cycle. In April 87 Diane got a job as an assistant to the publisher at Harper's magazine.

Joe hated the fact that Diane now had a job and he sent out private investigators to follow her. Diane entered a second writing workshop and laughed off Joe's reaction at first. But then a man who was following her started to really unnerve her and she had suspicions that the calls at the house were now being monitored. She relayed these concerns to her lawyer Felder and he sent a private detective to check the house out. It turned out the calls were being recorded by Joe from the attic. Diane told the private detective not to remove the recording device and to leave everything exactly as it was because she was terrified of how Joe would react. Diane decided that she now had to leave Joe and when she brought the divorce up again with him he said he wanted to do further couples counseling. But Diane refused.

Joe moved his things to another apartment. In August 87 Joe called from overseas hotels while away on business and threatened Diane. After every call he'd stay on the line just so that Diane couldn't make any other calls. Once a friend of Diane's wanted to use the phone but when she picked it up all she could hear was heavy breathing on the other side. In September 87 Felder requested a statement of Joe's net worth but Joe refused to comply. Joe said Diane could have the children but no money. Felder wanted to use the tapes and pictures of Joe dressed in women's underwear to make him comply but Diane refused. She only wanted to use those as a last resort.

On Saturday the 17th of October 87 Diane wrote a five page memo to Felder saying it was time to end it once and for all. She could no longer take Joe's mood swings or his violent erratic behaviour. She wrote, I find my plans continually sabotaged along with my peace of mind. After not being in the workplace for nearly 10 years with the history of alcoholism myself and asthma. I am struggling to build a career, go to school and raise normal happy children in a confusing environment in which the threat of abuse and violence of one kind or another is constant. The closing lines of Diane's memo were, please help me to resolve this horrible situation as quickly as possible for all of our sakes. It is now time I fear for the World War 3 you promised me we would have if necessary. On Monday the 19th of October 87 Diane entered the office at Harper's magazine and sought out her closest friend there, Linda McNamara.

Linda knew about all of the issues and offered to help Diane pack. Diane said she thought she would probably take Linda up on her offer. Diane told her that Joe had proposed to go to their house in Amagansa that Friday to spend the last weekend together as a family and also to divide the furniture up and prepare the house for sale. Diane was tempted to go, not for the weekend as a family but for the prospect of actually getting the house ready to sell and sorting the property out. Later that morning Diane made an appointment with a realtor to look at a house available for rent. She used her maiden name Diane Whitmore to make the appointment. On Tuesday the 20th Diane called their nanny Karina and asked her to go to Amagansa with the family that weekend.

Karina said she'd think about it. On Wednesday the 21st Diane spoke to Anne Stern, the assistant editor of Harper's magazine. Diane started sobbing while talking about the divorce. She said, it's so hard, I'm so tired, I don't know if I can do it. Anne had come out of a nasty divorce herself and responded, you can. Before leaving Diane said, I just want to be alone with my children in the country. That's the only time I feel peaceful. Karina received a message on her answering machine from Joe.

He asked her to join them on their weekend trip to Amagansa, which she thought was really strange. Joe had never ever asked her to join them before. On Thursday the 22nd Sandra Jarvanan, Joe's ex-wife, arrived in New York. They had been divorced for 13 years and Sandra was still requesting that Joe pay her outstanding alimony. $28,000 plus $10,000 in interest and illegal fees. Joe had invited Sandra to New York for lunch. During their meeting he promised he'd settle the alimony. He also asked her to sign that she'd become the legal guardian of Claudia and Blake in the event of his and Diane's death.

Sandra found that proposal to be ridiculous and refused. Joe had to return to work but he sent Sandra out with his driver to do some shopping with his money. Sandra couldn't believe she was being treated so well by her ex-husband. This would have been unthinkable when they were married. Later that evening, Joe introduced Sandra to Claudia and Blake. Sandra left New York shortly after this meeting and Joe again requested that she would sign to become Claudia and Blake's legal guardian if he and Diane were to die. Sandra told him it was a bad idea. That same day, Karina called Diane to tell her she wouldn't be able to make it on the weekend trip away.

On Friday the 23rd, Joe left for Amagansett early. He took Claudia and Blake with him. Diane had decided she wasn't going but then later changed her mind. She didn't want to leave the kids alone with Joe all weekend. Diane didn't leave for Amagansett until after 10pm. She arrived in the early hours of Saturday morning the 24th of October 1987. When Claudia woke up early that morning she found her dad asleep on the lounge. She wanted to know where her mummy was.

Joe told her that Diane had run out of the house after they had an argument. Blake woke up soon after and Joe put both kids in the babysitters room to watch TV. He told them he had to get some things ready to take to the dump. They left the house at 9.30am. They drove in Diane's station wagon to the dump. Joe then drove to a hardware store where he bought a shovel, wheelbarrow, plastic lawn bags, fishing gloves, a flashlight and a rope. He charged it all to his credit card. Joe then bought 12 bags of ice.

He drove back to the house and made a series of calls. First he called his security service and changed the house's alarm security codes. Second he called the local dentist for an emergency appointment. There was no answer so he left a message on the answering machine. He got a call back from the dental office manager soon after. Joe told her that his wife Diane had walked out on him after he confronted her about finding another man's condom under their bed. Third he called Henry Sawoska, his old roommate from Northeastern University. They hadn't spoken in nine years and Joe launched into a rant about finding another man's condoms under his bed and Diane walking out on him when he confronted her.

Joe also said he was dying. He asked Henry if he could drive to his house and leave Claudia and Blake with him for the weekend. Henry agreed and invited the three of them for dinner. Henry lived about a four hour drive away. At 11.45am Joe received a call. It was from Marshall Onegarden. Marshall and his wife Barbara were friends with Joe and Diane. Diane and Barbara had made plans to have story out that day at the library with the children. Marshall was calling to confirm.

Joe told Marshall it wouldn't be possible because Diane had disappeared. He said Diane arrived at the house about 1am. When he asked her why she arrived so late she got mad and stormed off and she still hadn't returned. Marshall asked if Diane had taken her car. Joe said she hadn't. Marshall found this odd since it wasn't easy getting anywhere without a car in that area. Joe then told Marshall the story of the condoms, only this time he said he'd found them in the living room, not in the bedroom. Marshall wasn't too fazed by the condom story. He suggested that they could have belonged to the boyfriend of one of the babysitters. Joe was fast to say no and it had to be because Diane was cheating on him.

He added that he had just gotten an awful diagnosis from his doctor and everything was falling apart for him. So he was taking the children upstate to a friend's house. Marshall said Joe and the kids were welcome at his place. Joe was grateful and said he would get back to him. Barbara wasn't home during this call but when she did arrive home Marshall instantly told her about it. He said he was worried because when talking about Diane Joe had used the word disappeared. But Barbara shrugged it off and said Diane always used that word to describe Joe. Joe disappeared with the kids and so on. So she thought Joe probably just picked it up from her.

After lunch Joe left Claudia and Blake in front of the TV again and told them he had to duck out but he would be right back. When he arrived home he packed clothes, a shotgun, a knife and a toys for the kids. He left for Henry's house between 4.30 and 5pm. On the way Joe stopped and made a call from a phone booth to his ex-wife Sandra Jovenin. He told her he had something to hide and asked if he could hide it at her house. Sandra said yes. Joe and the kids arrived to Henry's house at 9.30pm. Joe left the kids with Henry and was back on the road at 10.20pm driving to Norwell, Massachusetts where Sandra lived. At 3.30am he called Sandra asking for directions to her house.

At 4am he called again saying he couldn't find it. She went out to look for him and when she found him Joe followed her back to her house but he remained at a distance. They arrived at Sandra's at 4.30am. When Joe walked inside he said, where can I bury it? Sandra hadn't asked what it was Joe wanted to hide up until this point so she replied, bury what? Joe just repeated himself, where can I bury it? Sandra thought that it must have had something to do with some financial deal that had gone bad. They continued having further conversation after which Sandra told Joe her property wasn't a good place.

But she made some other suggestions like a nearby park and another property where they used to spend weekends when they were still together. She also offered to put Joe in touch with Vinnie Federico, a lawyer. At 5.30am Joe left Sandra's house. Sandra remained sitting in the same spot for an hour in shock. She then got dressed and drove to the police station but turned around and drove home because she realized she really didn't have anything to tell. Joe called Sandra several times throughout that next day wanting to know if she had gotten in touch with the lawyer Federico. Sandra then left her house to visit her mother. She had two messages from Joe on her answering machine when she arrived home. In the first one he said he was in where his hometown and he couldn't leave the package there because it was too close to the road. In the second message he said he was in a different town but he couldn't do anything there because it was hunting season and people were walking around.

Sandra erased the both messages. At 9.30am on Monday the 26th of October Joe called Harper's magazine and told the receptionist in a stuttering voice that Diane had disappeared over the weekend. The receptionist knew about Diane's situation and suspected the worst. A few minutes later Joe called again. As the call ended Diane's friend Linda McNamara walked into the office. The receptionist told her about the strange calls from Diane's husband. When the editor's assistant Anne Stern arrived at 10am they decided to call the police. They called two police departments. The East Hampton department where Diane's weekend house was located and the New York City police department where Joe and Diane usually resided. Anne Stern was the one who made the calls and said it wasn't like Diane to just not show up to work without any notice and that she wouldn't walk out on her children.

Both departments said there was nothing they could do. A later rival to work didn't classify as a missing person case. Joe kept calling Harper's every 20 minutes changing his story. At first he was asking where is she? Then he was saying she had run off with a boyfriend. Then that progressed to we had a fight and it got out of hand. Then he made a reference that alarmed Linda. He said something about Diane rolling over. Linda and Anne wanted to know where Blake and Claudia were. They called all of Diane's friends. All of them suspected straight away that Diane had been murdered. When they got in touch with Karina, their nanny, she thought that Joe might have locked Diane in the basement of the Amagansett house. Karina tried to call their friends in the Hamptons to go and check but nobody answered. Karina tried calling Joe's office to find out where Claudia and Blake were but all she was told was that Joe wasn't in.

In the meantime, Joe stopped at Stuart Auto Car Wash in Newborough to have the station wagon cleaned. As soon as he gave the keys to the manager, he started talking about his wife running off with another man and how he found his condoms under the bed. The manager thought this was a very random and weird conversation. Joe made a point of asking for the trunk to be thoroughly cleaned as it was very sandy. Joe then walked over to a nearby dumpster and started throwing out a number of different items. Two young men who worked at the car wash thought this was strange. Joe then took out the shotgun from the car. He offered it to the manager for $25. The manager thought this was a bargain so he bought it.

Before leaving the car wash, Joe called Sandra and left a message on her answering machine. The package is down. As the manager went into the nearby woods to test out the shotgun, the two young men who'd seen Joe throwing things into the dumpster went to see what was in there. They found credit cards in the names of Diane Pikele and Diane Whitmore as well as a knife and a large rubber gloves. They informed the manager's wife who was the cashier and she told her husband. He inspected the items and the two young men told him there was also women's clothes in the dumpster. At 3pm that afternoon, Joe arrived home with Claudia and Blake. On the way he'd called Federico who agreed to represent him and they'd arranged for the lawyer to come to New York, stay in a hotel at Joe's expense and discuss the case.

As Joe and the kids entered home, one of Diane's friends called. Joe said he couldn't talk right now but he'd call her right back. He went back outside to move his car and while he was outside, Claudia grabbed the phone and called Harper's. Diane's boss, Randy Warner, answered and Claudia asked, do you know where my mummy is? Randy told her, where are your friends and we're trying to find your mummy. Diane's father Don suspected the worst. Don's new wife Gretchen called Joe and asked where Diane was. Joe said he couldn't talk right now.

Don then called Joe himself. Joe said, what business of yours is it where my wife went? Don called the East Hampton police and said, look, I've got a hunch he killed her out by the side of the house in the shed where they keep the bikes. You've got to go to that shed. An officer visited the house but the shed was padlocked and they weren't legally able to remove it. At 3.30pm, Karina finally got in touch with Joe. Joe was aware she had been calling his office all day and wanted to know why. Karina said she was simply worried for the kids and she asked him if he knew where Diane was.

Joe repeated the story of the boyfriend and the condoms. Karina didn't believe it. She asked if he'd like her to make dinner for the kids and put them to bed. He said no. Later that afternoon, Marshall and Barbara, along with another couple from the Hamptons, called Joe to offer their support. Joe told them, you're the only people who are being nice to me and who aren't accusing me of anything. At 5.30pm, Karina called Joe again and this time he said she could come and see the children. In Newberg, a police officer stopped by the auto car wash. The officer was friends with the manager, so the manager gave him the credit cards, the knife and the gloves. The officer also went to the dumpster to check out the women's clothes.

He immediately called two other officers to help. The three of them found women's clothes, jewellery, shoes and underwear. One of the officers made the comment, there has got to be a body that goes with this. They took everything they found to the station and counted a total of 55 items. They eliminated the possibility of a robbery since the credit cards tended to be discarded separately. They searched the owner of the cards on the police system and learnt that Diane was of a smaller build. But the clothes they found seemed to be from an extremely large woman. The clothes also appeared to be really cheap, but they found cards in the dumpster for very expensive upmarket fashion stores. The bras were all of different cup sizes and the shoes were extremely large.

They also found small wallet sized pictures of a blonde boy in pyjamas. They couldn't understand why anyone would throw these pictures out. None of it made a lot of sense to them. They alerted their sergeant who alerted detectives. Meanwhile, Anne Stern who had been calling the police all day finally got to talk to a detective, Detective Bill Glyn. He tried to calm Anne down and explained to her that there were a lot of possible scenarios that didn't involve Diane being murdered. But Anne insisted so much that Glyn started to take her claim seriously. Back at the Newberg Police Department, Detective John Smith called Joe. He posed as a regular citizen, gave a fake name and said he had just found a whole heap of credit cards belonging to Diane.

Joe panicked and dropped the phone. When Smith heard this he thought something was definitely wrong so he quickly made a signal to have the conversation recorded. Joe picked the phone back up and said he would send his driver to collect the cards and also hand over a cash reward. They agreed to meet at the Auto Car Wash at 9.30pm. Joe then decided to call the police himself. He called the New York City Police and got Detective Glyn who had just been speaking to Anne Stern. Joe said, my name is Joseph Pikele and I want to report my wife missing. I got your name from someone at Harper's Magazine.

I don't really know why I'm calling. I've never done this before. I'll explain the situation and you can guide me from there. Joe then told Glyn the story about Diane running off with a boyfriend and the condoms. Glyn believed it checked out for the most part with what Anne had told him. He made an appointment to see Joe at 11pm that night at Joe's apartment. He would then make an official report. As Glyn hung up the phone, Detective John Smith from the Newberg Police Department called. He wanted to know if they had anything on Joseph Pikele.

The officer who answered this call started taking notes. This officer just happened to be sitting next to Detective Glyn. When the officer left the table to go and check the police system, Glyn looked over and saw she had written Joe's name on a notepad. He picked up the phone and spoke to Smith to find out what was going on. Smith explained the items they had found in the dumpster and the meeting they had made with Joe's driver for 9.30 that night. Glyn explained his side and said he had arranged the meeting with Joe at 11pm.

They both came to the same conclusion. It was time to include the Long Island police in the investigation since the Amaganset house where Diane was last seen was located in their jurisdiction. They got in touch with Long Island's most senior investigator from the major case unit, Donald Delaney. It was decided that Delaney would join Detective Glyn on the 11pm interview with Joe. At 7.30 that night, Karina got to the Pikele's home. She saw Joe looked nervous and was constantly making calls.

Karina asked Claudia how the week ended being and she simply said she had a good time. This seemed odd to Karina as 8 year old Claudia was usually extremely talkative. Claudia's hair looked very dirty and when Karina asked her about her mummy, Claudia just shrugged her shoulders. Karina noticed that Joe was missing a tooth. Joe told her it had become loose and he had accidentally swallowed it. In the middle of the dinner, Joe said he was leaving with his driver and that he'd be disconnecting the phone.

He instructed Karina not to reconnect it. Karina put the kids to bed. Blake said his father had told him he'd take them away if mummy left. Karina told Blake she'll come back although she didn't really believe it. Joe had been ringing the Newberg police repeatedly. He didn't know it was the Newberg police. He thought it was the citizen who had rung him up about finding Diane's cards. Detective John Smith sat by the phone.

He didn't answer it but he noticed a pattern. Joe would ring 10 times, hang up, wait 40 seconds, then ring again. It was constant. When he left the apartment, Joe was driven to meet Federico for the first time. He paid the lawyer $5,000. After dropping Joe off with Federico, the driver continued on to Newberg to meet the citizen who supposedly had Diane's credit cards.

He got to the auto wash at 9.40pm. An officer was posing as the cashier. The plan was for no one to meet with the driver. They just wanted to follow him. The driver approached the cashier and asked if anyone else was there. The cashier said there was a man who had been waiting around for a while but he had just left. The driver sat in his car to wait for a further half an hour.

The cashier called Detective Smith who arrived in an unmarked car to wait and see the driver's next move. The driver walked over to a hotel across the road which had a phone booth. He then sprinted back and forth between the hotel and the car while making calls to Joe. He then returned to the auto wash to continue waiting. At 10.50pm, the cashier approached him and said he could stay parked if he wanted

but they were closing and it would get really dark. The driver decided to leave and Smith followed him. He got up to the New York State throughway south entrance but then stopped. Fight tough headache and migraine pain two ways. Introducing new Advil Plus Acetaminophen. It combines two of the most trusted pain fighting ingredients into one convenient tablet.

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At 11.00pm Detective Glyn, Detective Delaney and a third officer arrived at Joe's house. They were invited inside and sat down and started with small talk about stocks to relax Joe. Then they asked him to walk them through the disappearance of Diane. Joe said he had an argument after Diane arrived at 1.30am. Then he went to sleep and the next morning while he was taking a shower, she left.

A bit later he changed this version and said Diane had stormed out during the night. The detectives asked him if a car had come to pick her up and he said no, she walked. However, he changed his version again and said he wasn't sure if Diane had walked. Maybe she had been driven. They asked him about her supposed lover

but Joe said he didn't really know anything about the man. They asked for permission to search the Amagans at house and Joe signed to allow it. When they asked for a photo of Diane, he suddenly got jittery. They requested an article of her clothing. Joe went to the bedroom and came out with a pair of her panties saying she wore them jogging and they haven't been washed. The dogs will get a good scent of her.

The detectives left the apartment and as they were walking out, each one made a different remark. Glyn highlighted how many times Joe had changed his story. The other officer present said he was surprised that Joe didn't seem to give a shit at all about finding Diane. Delaney said Diane was dead and Joe was the killer. At 3 a.m. Joe got another knock at the door. Two other officers from the New York City Police Department

had been briefed about the 11 p.m. interview and they wanted to take Joe in for questioning. Joe requested to reschedule for later that day but there was a fear that Joe would leave the city and possibly even try to leave the country so they insisted that he go with them now. Joe finally agreed. Joe began this new interview

by saying he knew the man who called him about finding Diane's cards had been a police officer. He also said he had spent the weekend travelling between Massachusetts and New York but in the 11 p.m. interview he had told detectives he had just stayed at Henry Sawoska's house after leaving Amagansett. Eventually he mentioned having a second apartment

where he'd moved when he and Diane had split up. The detectives asked if they could see it. Joe replied, Don't be surprised by what you find there. What they found was women's clothes which Joe admitted having a liking for. Joe added that Diane knew about this. She had videotaped him and then tried the blackmailing.

After the check of the second apartment the detectives took Joe out for breakfast and dropped him back home. At 8.30 a.m. that morning Delaney went with a Long Island team to search the Amagansett house. They immediately found red stains on the kitchen floor which they believed to be blood.

Delaney put a stock to the search, left an officer at the house to guard it and applied for a search warrant that enabled them to test for blood, hairs and fibres. This delayed the search until 6 p.m. When they returned a forensic scientist cut out the piece of floor where the stains were and conducted a test for blood.

The test was positive. Then they found a set of knives. The knife that had been found in the dumpster at Newburgh matched this set. On top of the bedroom dresser they found Joe's missing tooth. Delaney concluded Parker was standing over Diane trying to kill her.

In an effort to free herself she stuck an elbow or a blunt object into his face and broke his tooth. They also found the condoms which were indeed under the bed like Joe had said. But Delaney knew that Joe was conducting market research in Scandinavia

on this particular brand. He believed Joe had planted them there. In a Mazda car that was parked at the house they found the back seat full of sand. Under the car there was mud, beech grass and more sand. Tire tracks appeared in a nearby potato field but they didn't match with the car.

They used police dogs to go through the area but they didn't come up with anything. There was a cemetery next to the house and in it they found a freshly dug grave. But the permit to dig up the grave would take too long to get so Delaney considered it only as a last option. He kept the house secured

in case they needed further evidence for trial. He then left. While this search was happening Glyn and his partner called Joe's driver. They told him they had information that he'd been upstate trying to retrieve property belonging to Diane Pichle. The driver confirmed this

but said no one had showed up to the meeting. Glyn asked him to come into the station. The driver showed up and when asked about Diane he said he believed she left like Joe had told him. They allowed the driver to leave but they arranged for a detective to follow him.

Glyn then went to Harper's to retrieve Diane's paperwork. Among it he found Joe's financial statement which Felder was able to eventually get for Diane. Glyn saw that Joe had hundreds of thousands of dollars hidden away in both Mexico and Switzerland. This made them even more worried that Joe might be planning to leave the country. The detective following the driver reported

that he picked someone up from the airport and then dropped that person at a hotel. They found out this person was Federico, Joe's lawyer. They sent some officers to the hotel and one of them posed as a bellboy to check if Federico was in the room on his own. He was. Carina and a friend then turned up to Joe's apartment

and offered to take Claudia and Blake out for dinner. The plan was to actually take the kids to Detective Glyn so he could question them alone. Joe allowed Carina to take them. During the dinner, Glyn questioned Claudia since Blake was too young but she closed off and he wasn't able to get anything out of her.

At 11pm, East Hampton Police found a freshly dug grave under a kiosk at the beach where Joe and Diane had spent 4th of July in 1986. What was one of the few happy memories? They dug out the grave but found nothing. That Tuesday night there was a big storm and at 2.45pm the next day, Wednesday the 28th of October a New York State through-way authority operator

was inspecting the drainage. He found Diane's body wrapped in towels and covered in plastic at a spot that was about a 5 minute drive away from the car wash at Newburgh. Officer Carhill was at the Yamagans at house when he heard about Diane's body being found. He took some towels from the house

to see if they matched the ones Diane's body was wrapped in. They did match. The towels were Brazilian imports sold only at very few stores on the East Coast. Alan Joseph, a district attorney from Orange County, New York was assigned the case to prosecute Joe. He believed that the rarity of the towels proved nobody but Joe could have wrapped Diane's body.

Joe was nowhere to be found. Claudia and Blake were at home being babysat by Joe's niece. Police did what is known as an emergency removal of the kids and took them to the station where child protection services were called. Child protection services wouldn't allow detectives to question Claudia or Blake. They said, they have nothing to say. Please leave them alone.

Detective Glenn asked for permission to keep Claudia and Blake at his house for the night. He knew child protective services were a mess and the kids would probably end up sleeping uncomfortably somewhere. Child protection refused. Claudia and Blake ended up sleeping in wooden chairs at the agency's center. Meanwhile, the forensic scientist was performing the autopsy on Diane

and he found the cause of death was strangulation. She had marks on the skin, fractures on the bones of her neck, and a buildup of fluids in her lungs. The conclusion was that the killer had used his hands and gripped for more than 30 seconds and then a cord was used for a second strangulation. She also had 10 points of impact on her head where the killer had delivered blows.

Two officers were checking all of the calls Joe had made. They found the calls that he had made to his ex-wife, Sandra, and they arranged for her to be injured. On Thursday the 29th, the main priority of the investigation was still to locate Joe. They ran checks at the airport, hotels, and with Joe's family members. At 2pm that afternoon, they questioned Joe's lawyer, Federico.

He was reluctant to give information at first, but eventually said Joe had fired him over lunch that day. Joe had hired two new lawyers and he was currently married. The officers ran there to get him. When they got to Joe's location, there were eight elevators. All of them were coming down at the same time. They decided to wait and see if Joe would emerge from one of them.

He did. He was arrested for Diane's murder. They told her they wanted to get information on Joe Pichl. They told her they wanted to get information on Joe Pichl. They told her they wanted to get information on Joe Pichl. They wanted to get information on Joe Pichl. Sandra asked if he was in trouble. They told her he was a suspect in the murder of his wife Diane.

Sandra said, I'm lucky it wasn't me. I knew that someday his temper was going to get the best of him. She spoke about their divorce, about Joe, and explained that she visited New York recently to see him about the alimony money. She left out the part where Joe asked her to be his children's guardian. Sandra said she hadn't spoken to Joe since her New York visit.

They asked her about the calls she had received from Joe since that trip. Sandra said she had missed them and that Joe had left a few messages on her machine just seeing how she was. But she had since erased those messages. Sandra then revealed she was in a relationship with Joe's lawyer, Federico, but said she didn't know Joe had been using his services. They asked her to call if she remembered anything else.

While Joe was being transported to the police station, he said he loved Claudia and Blake and that they were the best part of him. He began to cry and talk about Diane and complained she was a bad mother, extremely inattentive. Hired a different babysitter every night and suddenly he came out with, That's why I did it. She's such a bitch. She deserved it.

I never did anything wrong before in my life. Well, I can't change it now. How much will they all be? Since that outburst wasn't provoked, the officers believed that that statement could be admissible in court. When they got to the station, Joe continued talking about Diane. At one point he said, She was an evil and malicious person.

She tried to kill me, not physically, but mentally. She tried to break me down. I can't take it anymore. I don't care if you guys give me 10 or 20 years. I don't care what penalty I have to pay. I think everybody's just better off without her. An officer read in his Miranda rights, filled out an arrest report and Joe began complaining about his new lawyers.

He said he'd paid them $250,000 and the least they could do was be there with him. But then he smirked and said he'd stop the payment on the check so they wouldn't get any money anyway. Joe then said there's a hook to this case and asked where Diane was. He wanted to know if an autopsy was performed and if she had been checked for AIDS.

The bad diagnosis Joe had received from his doctor that he talked about earlier was him testing positive for AIDS. Diane suspected that he had it. He later made the comment, The only hope is to beat this thing on a technicality. I killed her for no particular reason. This began to go bad in July. He went on saying Diane had mentioned the divorce.

She tried to blackmail him and she betrayed him by telling everyone he was a cross dresser. His life was now over anyway. He then asked for someone to shoot him. At 11.15pm he requested to see Diane's body. Let's go see the stiff. They did take him to see Diane and he made a remark about her not wearing makeup.

He said she'd be very upset if she knew we were looking at her like this. At 12.30am Joe was back at the station and he started asking about his children, where they were and what would happen to them. He also wanted to know what exactly his charge was and when his arraignment would be. Joe Tropoto took this opportunity to try and question him. Tropoto asked him,

How'd you do it Joe? Joe told him he knew already. Tropoto said he didn't and after some back and forth banter, Joe took both hands to his neck and simulated a choking motion. At 2.15am the judge was in the courtroom and ready to arraign.

Tropoto told Joe to take off his clothes so they could give him new ones before entering the court. Joe begged to get changed in the bathroom in privacy but it wasn't allowed. After taking off his shirt and pants, Joe revealed a bra and pantyhose. He also had a large scratch going from his stomach around to his back.

Joe explained he'd gotten this scratch while playing with the kids. His bail was set at $350,000. Diane's murder appeared on the front page of the New York Post. One of the people to see it was Paul Curland, a corporate securities lawyer and a teacher of trial advocacy

who had met Joe once. On Sunday the 1st of November, Curland and Ronald Beckhoff went to see Joe. Beckhoff was friends with Curland and a high profile criminal lawyer who he recommended to Joe. Diane's funeral was held on the 5th of November. Afterwards Don and other members of her family

held a meeting to discuss what would happen to Claudia and Blake. Diane had mentioned two of Joe's nephews in her will as possible guardians and in addition, Diane's cousin, Kathie O'Ginn, offered to take them if neither of Joe's nephews were able. Don then called Diane's lawyer, Felder, to check if there was a retainer left from her.

Felder uniquely said no but later called Don and said, I have good news for you. I checked and there's $10,000 left. I'll do whatever fighting I have to do to make sure that those children are taken care of properly. The children were sent to Washington

to live with one of Joe's nephews who Diane had mentioned in her will, Ed Palowski. On the 9th of November, Joe made bail by paying $180,000 of his own money and getting investor friends to meet the other $170,000. The first thing he said when he got out was,

I want to see my kids. The mother of one of Claudia's classmates heard Joe might get the children again. She was concerned and raised her concerns with the school headmaster. The headmaster responded, I've talked to Joe and he's cheerful. He's rational.

He says everything was a dreadful mistake and will be cleared up. The mother decided to turn to her friend, who is the editor of New York Magazine. They both got in contact with Manhattan's district attorney. The DA's assistant, Mary O'Donoghue worked for the child abuse unit

and she took personal care of the case. Kerlan advised Joe not to meet up with the children at home or at the Hamptons as press would be waiting. So Joe arranged to meet them at a hotel. Mary O'Donoghue found out about these plans and called the special services for child abuse hotline to report that

two children who may have witnessed their father murder their mother were now with the father. That night a Sullivan County child abuse case worker reported back to Mary. The children were with their father. They were safe and well and there was nothing they could do

because there was no evidence of neglect, abuse or immediate danger. Mary kept insisting though and at 1.30 a.m. on the 13th of November three state troopers and the case worker entered Joe's apartment to take the children into protective custody for the night. On the 15th of November there was a hearing

in the Sullivan County Family Court to decide if Joe could have the children for the weekend. The judge decided he could because there was no finding of child abuse. Ronald Beckhoff said that you could see Joe lived for his kids and it was very touching. So at this stage it was ruled

that Joe could have the kids on the weekends in New York. However during the week they would stay with his nephew Ed Pilewski in Washington. But in the first week of December Ed Pilewski said he couldn't take care of the children anymore. So he sent them back to live full-time with Joe.

On the 14th of December Diane's cousin Cathy O'Ginn and her husband Mike filed for custody of Claudia and Blake through Diane's lawyer Felder. In a statement they said We wish to God it wasn't necessary to do so. We are not seeking to pass judgment on Joseph Pichle

nor do we assert that all we have heard and read is entirely true. But because of our love for Diane our great concern for the immediate safety of the children and our genuine belief that we can provide a safe, loving and normal family environment for the children we're asking for custody.

The file mentioned that Diane's murder should be considered an extraordinary circumstance. The petitions were made to Supreme Court Judge Kristen Booth Glenn who accepted Diane's murder as an extraordinary circumstance. She scheduled the first custody hearing for the 17th of December.

Felder would be representing Cathy and Mike O'Ginn and Paul Curland would be representing Joe. During the hearing Judge Glenn had an idea. She believed that whether the children had witnessed something or not if they gave testimony then the information would be out in the open and the danger against them would disappear.

She discussed the possibility of recording a testimony by Claudia since Blake was considered too young with Alan Joseph, Orange County's DA who would prosecute Joe in the criminal trial. Alan Joseph said that it wouldn't be possible since both parties wouldn't agree to do it impartially. Judge Glenn then decided to question Claudia herself

alone in a room. Glenn came out saying miss their father and she saw them sleeping in Joe's arms. Glenn asked to have access to Joe's last therapist. Curland denied that access. Judge Glenn analysed the files that had been completed by the child abuse case workers

and concluded there was no evidence of abuse or neglect to the children. She allowed Claudia and Blake to stay with Joe for the weekend stating in some ways Diane's voice from beyond and her willingness to leave the children in that household for well over a year after retaining Mr Felder indicates to me that these children

are not in any greater danger from this man than any child is from any parent in the city at this time. Felder was outraged and threatened to contact the media but Glenn said this wouldn't be good for the children's best interest. Quote I don't think that is a good thing for the kids.

Felder didn't end up contacting the media. On Monday the 21st of December the hearing continued. Felder appeared in court with the five page memo Diane had given him in which she specified the children weren't safe with Joe. In one part she wrote after hearing the nature of our current home life

my therapist urged me to ask you to make some intervention on the basis of psychological abuse of the children. This is a situation in which their babysitters are subjected to extreme anger or dismissal. Their mother is belittled and denigrated. They have no ability to predict their schedule or whereabouts. No constancy in human relationships. Just a constant round of limousine pickups,

late hours, junk food and presents. However since Diane wasn't there to give evidence her memo wasn't admitted. Neither was a statement from her AA sponsor who described Joe as dangerous. When Joe took the stand he denied everything. He denied being violent, doing drugs or ever mistreating his children or Diane.

He was the one who insisted Diane to counselling and he said Diane verbally abused the children. The hearing was adjourned over the Christmas and New Year period. The judge ruled that Joe could keep custody of the children until the hearing recommenced on the 6th of January, 88. Diane's friends organised to protest this decision. One of them got a permit to picket in front of the Supreme Court. Many didn't join in as those who knew Joe

were afraid he'd recognise them and go after their children. Felder was scared the picketing would backfire on them since Judge Glenn didn't like press. He said it was a bad idea. Felder found it difficult to get witnesses to testify at the custody hearing because they were all scared of Joe. Two days before the custody hearing recommenced,

Monday the 4th of January, 88, Joe was indicted in Orange County for the second degree murder of Diane. When the custody hearing recommenced, the first person called to testify was a psychiatrist Glenn had appointed during the holiday break. He was asked to examine Joe and the children and to evaluate if Joe was a danger to them.

He testified what he saw was love and devotion from the kids to their father and a healthy relationship between the three of them. Felder asked him, if Mr. Pike will retain custody, do you have maybe an itty-bitty worry that something could happen to the kids? The psychiatrist replied,

yes, I think this is an open possibility. Judge Glenn then stepped in. Is it your opinion that there could be harm to the children from, number one, removing the children from his custody? And number two, does that outweigh in your view the possibility that something could happen to them

in his custody? The psychiatrist answered, indeed I do, because as far as the children are concerned, their father is innocent of any criminal charges. He is their daddy, and they love him. The psychiatrist didn't believe Joe was a flight risk. He believed suicide would be a much more likely outcome given that he had AIDS and it was believed to be terminal.

Judge Glenn asked if Joe might take Claudia and Blake's lives in his own in this event. The psychiatrist responded, he had no information to conclude that. At the end of the day, Glenn again granted Joe temporary custody. Felder ended up going to the media. The New York Post ran an article with the headline,

lawyer says judge in wife kill case is playing Russian roulette with kids' lives. There were several more days spent in court arguing the custody. One child psychologist rebutted previous testimony. She said, children love us for all kinds of ways that we have. We can be loved if we're cruel,

we can be loved if we beat them. I have known children who have begged to be returned to psychotic mothers. Children who have no trouble loving a father who whips them or whips their mother. So for a child to say I love my daddy is not something we should take at face value. Another psychologist took the view

that since Joe would most likely be going to prison for a long time, that meant he should be able to spend as much time as he could with the kids. A proposal was then put forward that Joe wouldn't lose his rights, but would share them with a family member. In this case, Joe would be sharing custody

with Kathy and Michael Ginn. Judge Glenn said she would consider this proposal. In late April, 88, Glenn returned with her decision. She said, I cannot find that petitioners have met the heavy burden which would be necessary to deprive Joseph Pichle of custody of his children.

The testimony she'd given most importance to was that of Mary Bain. Mary Bain was the mother of Jennifer, one of Claudia's classmates. Her and her husband Steven invited Joe and Claudia over for a play date. After the play date, Mary said Joe was not the horrible person the newspapers were saying.

After that first play date, Claudia started calling Mary every day asking to talk to Jennifer. Mary in turn got to know Joe better. She said he was gentle, funny, charming, and had charisma. By early February, Mary's husband Steven said Mary was hardly ever home anymore.

Mary testified and described Joe as a wonderful man who'd she left her own daughter with. She also offered to adopt Claudia and Blake if Joe was sent to jail. By early April, Mary had separated from her husband Steven and was in a relationship with Joe. It wasn't long before Joe was talking about marrying Mary.

His lawyer Ronald Beckhoff said to Joe, Look, you're going to trial for killing your wife in a small, close-knit, conservative community. If you tried into court with a new wife on your arm, you might antagonise people. They'll think, didn't he have the decency to wait until he was cleared of the charge? Some of them may even think she was your motive

for murdering Diane. Joe still decided to go through with it and on the 2nd of July, they married in a secret ceremony. On the 27th of July, Kathy and Michael Ginn decided to stop trying to get custody of Claudia and Blake. They'd visited them and saw the kids call Mary Mummy. They believed that if they were happy

and had a second mother now, then they didn't want to be responsible for taking that away. On the 4th of August, Mary Bain wrote a sworn statement saying she wanted custody of Claudia and Blake, no matter the outcome of the criminal trial. As added information, she wrote her parents had an unused house in Brooklyn that they could live in

and that their children could remain in the same school. When Kathy and Michael Ginn found out about this sworn statement, they decided to fight for custody again. This time it was Joe who requested a custody hearing. He wanted to block the Ogins from getting custody. The new hearing took place on the 14th of September and it started with a recap of all of the previous testimony and evidence.

Then an explosive piece of information. Mary Bain had been going to counseling as she was experiencing marital problems with Joe. They'd been married for two months. During one of these cancelling sessions, she described a violent incident that happened in front of Claudia and Blake. As the children were involved,

the terms of confidentiality didn't apply, so this information came out. Mary was called to the stand, reminded she was still under oath and was asked about this particular incident. Mary described getting home late one day. Joe was furious with her and cut the dress she was wearing with a hunting knife.

Mary ran from the house and Joe chased her. Mary hid at a neighbor's house until Joe approached the next day and said he wasn't mad any longer. Claudia and Blake witnessed this incident. Courland immediately resigned as Joe's lawyer. Joe withdrew his custody petition. Glenn gave immediate custody of Claudia and Blake to the Ogins

and placed them along with the lawyers and Mary Bain under protective custody from Joe. A request was made to hold Joe until the Ogins got the children, but Judge Glenn refused, finding it unnecessary. As soon as the Ogins went out to look for Claudia and Blake, Joe and Mary got in their car and raced to get to them first. But the police got to Claudia and Blake

and placed them in protective custody before Joe and Mary could find them. Judge Glenn allowed Joe to make a nightly phone call to his kids. Only two days later, Joe told Blake on his nightly call, I'm going to come through the window and take you away. A security guard was placed with the Ogins that night and he was told by a detective, if this maniac comes through a window, do what you gotta do

because if he has an opportunity, he'll kill you. The next day, Joe crashed his car into his house. A neighbor came out to see what had happened. Joe forced him to change his tire and then started blubbering about going to the border of Canada or Mexico. He then said his first wife had been bad, his second one was dead and the third one was good. He ended with, you can't kill them all.

The following day, the Ogins left with the children to go to a friend's house. That night, Claudia and Blake spoke to Joe on the phone. Joe asked them how long the drive was from the Ogins to where they were now and instructed them to look out for a street name and to the number of their house. They told them not to tell anyone and he'd call back the next night. Mike Ogin was listening in on this call. The Ogins told Felder and a custodial interference motion was put forward.

Felder pled for protection for the children from the homicidal lunatic. Judge Glenn suspended Joe's nightly calls as well as barring him from the area where the Ogins lived. Despite her damaging testimony, Joe stayed with Mary and they appeared on a current affair together. Mary blamed herself for losing custody of the kids saying it was her fault for getting counseling instead of giving the marriage a period of adjustment.

Orange County newspapers posted regular stories about Joe and airports and borders had his picture and profile. The psychologist who testified at the custody hearing that Joe should spend as much time as possible with the children before he goes to jail was now Blake and Claudia's therapist. He recommended that Joe should be able to have visitations. These were granted every Sunday. A security guard was always present and searched Joe before his visits. Joe pleaded not guilty to murder

and the criminal trial officially started on the 31st of January, 1989. The jury was formed by 11 men and one woman. Sandra Jarvinan was the first witness called to the stand. Her lawyer had since contacted the police informing them that she knew more information but wanted immunity from prosecution. The police agreed and placed her into protective custody. Sandra testified that Joe had confessed to killing Diane and wanted to bury her body in her yard.

She refused but admitted making suggestions of other locations where he could bury Diane. She said she only did this for her own safety and to get Joe out of her house. Next, Diane's best friend Maggie Gary was called. She identified the Brazilian tales that had been wrapped around Diane's body. Then everyone who came into contact with Joe after the murder was called. The store owner who sold him the ice, the employee at the hardware store, the dental assistant, the people at the auto wash, even Joe's friend Henry Sawoska was called. Then the detectives who worked the case.

Joe took the stand on the 27th of February, 1989. He was going with self-defense. He gave a more elaborate story of what he'd been saying since the night of the murder. He said Diane had a boyfriend that she was cheating on him with and she didn't enjoy being with the kids. Then on the night she was killed, he confronted her as she arrived to the house and said he'd win in the divorce battle. Diane became furious and charged at him with a knife, cutting him on the side.

This is how he says he really got his scratch, the one that was seen the night he took his clothes off at the police station. That night he said he got it from playing with the kids. Now he changed his story. During the attack, Joe said he couldn't control Diane and it ended up becoming a battle of life or death during which he had to kill her in order to protect himself. Joe's lawyers painted a picture of Diane running off with other men all of the time

and being a bad mother. He made it believable to at least some of the jurors, as one of them told the other, let's face it, she was nothing but a pig and a whore. But the jury didn't buy Joe's self-defense story. On the 16th of March, they returned with their verdict. Guilty. On the 18th of April, they were back in court for sentencing. It was announced that Mary Bain had found new evidence,

a tape where Joe and Diane had a fight and Diane caught him a faggot and a bully amongst other names and also threatened to stab him. Joe's lawyer asked for a postponement on the sentencing until the evidence could be presented in the form of a petition to set aside the guilty verdict and ask for a new trial. The judge agreed. On the 2nd of June, Joe was secretly transferred from the Orange County Jail to the nearby Arden Hill Hospital.

His health had been deteriorating rapidly and he died only a few hours later. He was buried in the cemetery next to the Amaganset house he murdered Diane. Six months after his death, his conviction was vacated because he died before he had the chance to appeal. So technically, he died an innocent man. In 1990, the adoption of Claudia and Blake by the Ogins became final. Years later, Cathy Ogins stated, It's not clear to us from what the children have told us

that they did not wake up that night or that they were unaware of a fight or an unusual activity. And it's clear to us that Claudia would not have revealed to anyone, including Justice Glenn, anything she might have seen or heard. Not only to protect her father, but because she knew that such a revelation would have put her security in terms of her life with her father in danger. you