Murder With My Husband - 132. Peter Fabiano - The Trick-or-Treat Murder

Episode Date: October 3, 2022

On this episode of MWMH, Payton and Garrett discuss the Halloween murder of Peter Fabiano and all the twists and turns that come along with it. LIVE ONLINE SHOW TICKETS HERE! https://www.moment.co/murderwithmyhusband Case Sources: Nydailynews.com, “The Trick or Treat Murder,” May 25, 2008 Truecrimeedition.com, “The Trick-or-Treat Murder of Peter Fabiano,” October 27, 2021 Derangedlacrimes.com, “The Trick or Treat Murder,” posted on October 31, 2018 Calisphere.org (Universit of California), “Image/Widow of victim recalls phone talk with slayer” Calisphere.org (University of California), “Testify at hearing,” November 25, 1957 Thricecursedpod.com, “The Cursed Tale of the Halloween Murder of Peter Fabiano,” by Rebekkah Rosewood, April 29, 2021 Thevintagewomanmagazine.com, “Trick-or-Treat Terror: a Mid-Century Halloween Murder,” by Paris Brown, no date provided Historichorrors.com, “Tag: Goldyne Pizer, A Murder on Halloween” Youtube.com, “The Trick-or-Treat Murder of Peter Fabiano,” October 29, 2021 thedepartmentstoremuseum.org tasteofhome.com, “You’ve Probably Never Heard Of It, But This Coffee Trend From the ‘50s is Still Thriving Today,” by Emily Racette Parulski, December 6, 2019 googlemaps.com redfin.com ancestry.com Hyaenagallery.tumblr.com, “Hyaena Gallery,” October 31, 2015 Assisted research and writing by Diane Birnholz Links: https://mwmh.contactin.bio/ https://linktr.ee/murderwithmyhusband Ads: Butcher Box: www.butcherbox.com/HUSBAND and use code BONUS100 Simpli Safe: https://simplisafe.com/mwmh Fetch: download Fetch and use code HUSBAND Masterclass: www.masterclass.com/HUSBAND Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Yes, you energy, energy for everything. Cast the banner now to learn more. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to our podcast. This is murder with my husband. I'm Bayon Moreland. I'm Garrett Moreland. And he's a husband. I'm husband.

All right, you guys. We are so excited to announce that we are dropping our Halloween October spooky merch this week. So stay tuned. We designed it. It has everything to do with Halloween And you need to get it now so that you can wear it all of October. It'll be live at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, October 4th. We're super excited for the Halloween merch you can match our set and other than that, we don't really have any other announcements. Well besides the fact that we totally skipped over, it's October. Oh, it is October.

The best month of the whole freaking year. We just did a Patreon episode. So I got confused. Yeah, so we decorated our set. If you're on YouTube, you can see it's all spooked out now. This is literally my favorite month. So Payton's family was in town and we went to, I don't know what you call them,

like it took a little outdoor mall kind of we had just eaten at this cafe and My I don't know I have stomach issues my stomach is just always hurting and so we were walking around We were shopping everything was fine and you know how to go to the bathroom took care of business Yada yada yada no big deal happens and Then we were in where where were we going? I think like Adidas or Under Armour. Under Armour, we were in Under Armour.

My daddy was getting some socks. Painted out was getting socks, painting was there, and then I, you know, just sometimes it just hits you and you gotta go, you gotta go, so I like, did this not like, you know, the fool on run but the like fast walk, I like fast walk out of there, and butt clenched had to go to the bathroom So I ran out took off to the bathroom again and you can tell the rest because well right as he was taking off

The people who were standing behind us in line his name was Nick and he Listen to the podcast and so Garrett went running and he was wanted to say hi to Garrett But Garrett was like running out with the diarrhea and to the podcast. So Garrett went running and he was wanting to say hi to Garrett, but Garrett was like running out with the diarrhea. And so what is that? Okay. And so Nick's like, oh, I listen to your podcast. So we talked for a bit. And then he, I could tell he was bummed that you were gone, but I didn't want to tell him like, oh, well, sorry, his, he's got go to the bathroom. Yeah, his stomach's rooting. So Nick, if you're listening to this, Garrett says hello. So if you ever say hi to us somewhere, first of all, always come say hi to us. And second of all, if you ever see me running away when you're trying to say hi to us,

most likely just because I'm going to the bathroom, not because I don't want to talk to you. I promise this will not be the last time that this happens. So on that note, let's get into a case. All right, so our case sources are New York Daily News.com, TrueCrim Edition.com, deranged LA Crimes.com, Callosphere.org, theCursedPod.com, TheVintageWomenMagazine.com, HistoricHors.com, TaseFhome.com, Google Maps, Redfin, Ancestry.com, and that's it. So as we were talking about, it is October, which means big things for murder with my husband. Last year, we incorporated listener submitted spooky stories

into our typical content, but this year, we want to add another fun change. For the month of October, leading up to Halloween, murder with my husband will be releasing all Halloween murder cases. These cases will have taken place on or be centered around Halloween. And then, the last week of October, we are tackling a case that has interested me since I could remember.

It is all things Halloween, and I really think you guys are going to love it. So sit back and relax as we do a serious Halloween dive for the next couple of weeks. I don't know about you guys, but I'm not going to be relaxing. Our first Halloween case actually takes place on Halloween back on October 31, 1957. We are in Sun Valley, California, which is north of Los Angeles and north of Hollywood. I'm sure back in the late 50s, this part of California probably looked pretty different than it does today. Sun Valley is a suburb of Los Angeles and close to Burbank, and in this neighborhood, in California, families are spending

Halloween evening, trick-or-treating, passing out candy, and attending costume parties. And it was no different for Peter and Betty Fabiano, a married couple in their mid-30s in the area. According to Redfin, the Fabiano couple lived in a four-bedroom, two-bathroom, one-story house. And if you look at Google Maps, you can see that the house is on a corner-law in the quiet neighborhood. Now, Peter and Betty spent Halloween night handing out candy to the trick-or-treaters

in their Sun Valley neighborhood. Slowly, the nox grow farther and farther apart as children made their way off the streets and into their respective homes to examine their earnings. I miss so bad laying all of my candy out after Halloween and picking through the ones I want to keep and while I throw away, it's such a fun tradition. I know I can't do it anymore. People just think I'm weird if I go ask them for candy now, you know? Well, I'm pretty sure now we can just buy our own candy. Yeah but there's nothing like just getting candy for free.

Well actually I do need to say my mom bought us a skeleton candy bowl and fill it up with a bunch of sour candies for Garrett. Sure. So Garrett's been eating this sour candy that's sitting in our front door that was intended for Halloween for the last two weeks. Yeah, I ain't no kids getting candy for me. We already need a roof over it. I mean, all of it.

So after a while, Peter and Betty locked the front door, turned down the house, and headed up to bed. Betty's daughter from a previous marriage named Judy is also asleep in the house at this point. Peter and Betty were home with Betty's two teenage children from a previous marriage, but this is the only time I've seen that mentioned in one of the sources.

So I know for sure it's Judy, either way there's at least one child in the home with Peter and Betty on the spooky night. Now around 11 p.m., hours after the Fabianos last trick or treater had come by, there was either a ring or a knock at the front door. Peter's eyes snapped open in their bedroom and questioned if he had really heard someone at the door. But then again, another knock or ring came.

And this annoyed both Peter and Betty. I mean, I think the cardinal rule is that once a house is turned off the lights in the home, the front porch lights, that means they are closed for business. There is no more trick or treating. So they're kind of like, what the heck? It's 11 p.m. Why is someone now coming trick or treating? But Peter reluctantly climbs out of bed and makes his way to the front door. Once there, he flips on the light, grabs the bowl of candy, and opens the door. From upstairs, Betty can hear all of this. She listens as Peter answers yes as he opens the door. Realizing it was another trick or treater, Betty hears Peter ask Sinaka, isn't it a

little late for this as he goes to hand them the candy? Betty listens as whoever is at the front door answers Peter, but she couldn't quite make out what they said. All she knows is that the voice was awfully strange. Almost like someone trying to disguise their voice, or considering it's Halloween maybe talking in character, but it was after this response that Betty heard a series of noises that startled her. Any sleepiness that had been lingering was immediately washed away.

According to NewarkDailyNews.com, quote, there was a pop, then a thump, then a screech, as a car sped off into the night. Betty jumps out of bed and rushes towards the front door where she finds her husband Peter on the ground and bleeding profusely from a wound. Whoever had been standing on the front porch was now long gone. Betty quickly realizes at this point that the unknown tricker treater was probably not a trick or treater at all. Honestly, probably not even a child. Someone had obviously used the traditions of Halloween as a ruse, showed up in a costume

successfully tricking Peter to open the door to a masked individual and then shot him in the chest as he handed them candy. Oh my gosh. Peter was now lying on his back just inside of the front door, unconscious and bleeding out. Why? Unbeknownst to Betty at the time, Peter had a bullet lodged inside his chest right near his heart.

Now Betty's daughter, Judy, also heard the gunshot and had run to the front door as well. Betty remembers that just two doors down lives a neighbor named Bud Alper, who was a police officer with the LAPD. So she quickly sends her daughter Judy running over there for help. When Judy relates to Bud Alper what was going on, he calls the Valley Division of the LAPD and officers arrive to the Fabiano home fairly quickly. Peter is rushed by ambulance to Sun Valley Hospital, but despite the efforts of everyone around,

the wound had just been too severe. The bullet penetrating just right. Peter Fabiano is pronounced dead from blood loss at the hospital. That is insane. As everyone is trying to figure out what the freak had just happened, Betty Fabiano is in shock.

Her husband went from laying in bed with her one minute to dying on their doorstep the next. Who had rang the doorbell that night? Who had shot her husband in the chest and took off? And why? Police are also wondering all of these same things, and so they have to begin their investigation by discovering who Betty and Peter Fabiano are, and if anyone in their life would have reasoned to do this.

Peter Fabiano was only 35 years old at the time of his murder that Halloween night. I thought they were like 60-70. I don't know why I thought they were older. Mid-30s. He was born in 1922 and had served in the US Marines in World War II. In 1948, nine years before his murder, Peter had gotten into some trouble with the law just once. It was a charge related to bookmarking, but since then he had a clean record. Bookmarking. So I did look it up, and according to LACriminalDefense.com,

California criminal attorneys explain bookmarking and wagering laws under penal code 337a, including related crimes of gambling fraud and prostitution. Okay. So they don't specify bookmarking. It's interesting. I've never heard it. I mean, either. I'm sure that's the correct term for it, but I'd never heard that before.

I'm also going to assume maybe it's a little outdated. Yeah. After this run in with the law, Peter had continued on with life and become a successful business owner. Peter was a hairstylist back in the 1950s. He owned and operated two successful beauty salons in the San Fernando Valley. He eventually met Betty in the 1940s, and after getting married in New York in 1955, they moved to Los Angeles and into their son-valley home in 1956, and lived comfortably together

with her child or children from a previous marriage. Now Betty was 36 years old at the time of her husband's murder in 1957. She had two children from a previous marriage. There isn't much information about her, but she may have helped with her husband's salon business and it is noted that she had reddish hair.

I will say, back in the 1950s, it's probably common that a married mother would likely stay at home. So I'm not too surprised that you know nothing much was listed besides her career as a mother. I couldn't find much information about her previous marriage or her children, you know, maybe how they split time between them and their father. Again, the kids nor their father are pertinent to Peter's murder, so that's probably why there's not information, as well as this murder happened in the 1950s.

So again, it's just kind of harder to find information. So back to the day after the murder. Police search for witnesses to the attack, but can only find one, a 15 year old teenage boy who witnessed a car speeding away from the neighborhood the night before around 11pm. But even his story didn't help police much when it came to finding a suspect. They searched the front porch, the only known place the killer was that night, and discovered a

disturbingly little amount of evidence. All the way down to the fact that there were no spent shell casings at the scene, which means the killer took them. The single-shot execution made police question whether this could possibly be a gang style hit. The police follow up on this idea by investigating Peter Fabiano and his background, but it turns out to be a dead end theory. I'm actually surprised that he was only shot once. Right. And it killed him.

Especially if that person was going there on the attempt to kill someone or to kill him. Which is what it seems like. And he just shoots once. That's, and that seems pretty risky. I mean, obviously the whole thing was risky, but I don't know, one shot is interesting. I agree. All police could find on Peter was the one prior brush with the law that we talked about. He didn't have any ties to organized crime or criminal organizations.

Police even interview people connected to the Fabianos, but that comes up with no leads as well. It seems like the only way police were going to find any clues in the investigation was to interview Betty and ask if she knew of anyone who would want to hurt her husband. And surprisingly, she did. According to TrueCrimadition.com, Betty tells police that, quote, Peter had one enemy and only one person

who would want to hurt him. One of Betty's former friends, a woman, named Joan Rebell. Based on this information, Joan is brought in and questioned by police in the murder of Peter Fabiano. According to reports, Joan is a bit of a mystery, but here's what we could gather. Some reports say she was born in 1917 in Philadelphia, while others say she was originally born in Lithuania and later came to the United States. How is there a discrepancy there? Because it's so, I mean, 1917.

Yeah, I guess. it is so long ago Okay, you guys we are getting into an ad I know you guys have both heard the story about how Garrett and I were both paying separately for peacock And then we used rocket money and realized how dumb we are and are so happy rocket money helped us stop doing that Rocket money is a personal finance app that finds and cancels your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending and helps you lower your bills all in one place. And like Payton said, I'm always on it checking things out, seeing what's going on, seeing how many Amazon packages Payton or by now. Is that how you find out about my Amazon packages? No, I just get emails. My email on your account.

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writer and or photographer. She traveled to Hawaii to take classes and also went on selling trips where she would take photos as a freelance photographer. This is pretty crazy for the 40, like the 50s, the 40s and 50s. Joan had been married and divorced and was around 40 years old at the time of the murder.

Joan started working at one of Peter Fabiano's Beauty Salons as a receptionist, reportedly in early 1957, right around the time when she got divorced. Through Peter, Joan met and quickly became close friends with his wife Betty. And she was almost immediately welcomed and included into the Fabiano family.

But around this time when she entered into Betty and Peter's life, the Fabiano's were reportedly having trouble in their marriage. Betty had confided in Joan that Peter was abusive and controlling. And it's almost like the new friendship with Joan was turning into a place for Betty to escape from her marriage. She started spending a lot of time with Joan complaining about Peter and filling the void

through Joan that she was missing from her own husband. Because of this, Joan and Betty's friendship began to become its own rock in the Fabiano's marriage. Peter, feeling like Joan was pulling Betty away from him and encouraging all of her fears about their marriage. So I think two girlfriends, he starts to not like the girlfriend because he feels like she's pulling him away from her. When she says, oh, I don't like him, the girlfriend says, yeah, neither do I. Type thing.

So how was Betty right now? Is she devastated that her husband's dead? Yes. Okay. Yes. I mean, based on what police are saying, she's acting like a grieving man. She's actually grieving. Okay.

I didn't know if she was not grieving or happy whatever, maybe. It was an early 1957 that Joan persuaded Betty to leave her husband, take some time away, and just move in with her for the time being. Things have gotten so bad that Betty was going to leave and move in with Joan. Now according to the older sources, the relationship of Betty and Joan at this time was then described as, quote, abnormal, which many believe was code for homosexual. It was pretty known that despite the fact

that Joan was constantly agreeing with Betty that her marriage to Peter was crap, they were also becoming romantically involved together. So essentially, Betty had started an affair with Peter's front desk receptionist, Joan, and had now moved out of their house and into hers. But it was short-lived. According to friends, Betty eventually decided that although she had fun with Jonas, it was time to return home to her husband, Peter, and continue on with life. Betty told her girlfriend, Joan, that not only was their relationship over, she believed

in her marriage to Peter and that it was worth saving, and she was going to move back home and continue in with it. The couple reconciled and Betty agreed not to see Joan again, but for Peter it needed to be even more than that. He demanded that not only would Betty never see Joan again, she was never to even speak her name again. So Betty is forced to cut Joan off entirely and Joan is also fired from working at Peter Salon. I mean, it's fine.

Get it. But I just not sure at what point speaking the name now becomes like so important. You know what I'm saying? Why don't you call Jake here rolling and say that about Lord Voldemort. Yeah, true. Good point. So Joan's whole entire life is basically turned upside down because she now has her friend turned girlfriend breaking up with her.

She's been fired from her job and she's been cut out of the Fabiano's life completely. This is all pretty soon after she just got divorced. So if this doesn't scream some type of motive, then I don't know what does. We have a love triangle. We have a split. The person picks the other person. I mean, this is pretty common for the cases we cover. Now, despite everything I just told you about Joan, when she was brought in by police after Peter's murder,

she mentions none of this and exclaims her innocence. I just feel like usually in love triangles, there's like, usually some sort of pact. For example, Betty and Joan would have a pact like, oh, if we kill him, then we're gonna be together still. Right, but here, I mean, if she's actually grieving, like you said, so it doesn't seem like there's a pact going on. So, okay, so there's two options, right?

There's the Betty and Joan have made a pact to kill Betty's husband and run off together. That's a common love triangle. Or she just killed them. Or Joan is so mad and upset that Betty broke up with her and went back to Peter that she killed him on her own. So Joan tells police that her and the Fabiano's are dear friends that she's heartbroken by the news and claims she has an alibi for the night of the murder. She tells police that she was home all night on Halloween and points to the fact that her car sat outside in her driveway the whole evening. Just go ask her neighbors.

She's already lying. She's not dear friends with the Fabianos. Correct. They hate her. Right. And now she's saying, oh, no, I was home all evening. My car sat in the driveway, go ask my neighbors and police are like, But we will go ask her. Yeah, yeah, and they do and every single neighbor explains to police that Jonas telling the truth anyone who happened to glance at Jones house on Halloween notice the lights were on and her car was in the driveway

It did not move so about to give up on this pretty good theory police interview one last person in Jones life So about to give up on this pretty good theory, police interview one last person in Jones' life. This somehow ignites the fire of her involvement once again. Her name is Margaret Barrett. When police ask the routine questions to Margaret about Jones, they get the same answers as everyone else, except one minor thing. Margaret tells police that, yeah, Jones Jones car did stay in her driveway the entire evening on Halloween, but that wasn't because she was home. Jones car didn't move from her own driveway the night Peter was murdered because Joan had asked to borrow Margaret's car for the night. Okay, here we go. So police are like, what? Joan claimed her car was

her alibi. And now Margaret has busted that alibi wide open. Margaret explains that Joan asked her if she could borrow her car for a trip to the grocery store on Halloween. And although Margaret was kind of confused, like Joan has her own car, she agreed. I mean, what do you do for a friend? You know, according to historichors.com, Margaret tells police that Joan put 37 miles on her car Halloween night, which she thought was weird. That's a lot. It's like a lot.

A lot, all of this, after she told police she never left her house. So police realized that there are way closer grocery stores to Joan's house than 37 miles away. But you know whose house was roughly 12 to 14 miles away from Jones? The Fabianos house, making that round trip if she would have driven there and back roughly 28 miles with maybe a stop or two in between. So locked and loaded with this new information that just put a gaping hole in Jones already shaky story, police confront her with the news. When this happens, Jones realizes she's been caught in her lie,

and she confesses to police. All right, all right. So I did borrow my neighbor Margaret's car, but it really was just to go to the grocery store. Police are like, it took you 37 miles to get to the grocery store, and Joan says, well, yeah, I went to my favorite one. Okay, if this is true, why not take your own car and why lie to us about it?

Joan does not have a sensible answer. Police at this point are like, be for real, Joan. Come on, like, be for real, this doesn't make sense. Your story isn't making sense, and we believe because of the past history you have with Peter and Betty, your bitterness and anger led you to the Fabiano's House that night where you dressed up unrecognizable, taking advantage of a very good holiday, and shot Peter your enemy in the chest. But Joan will not fold. She claims, no, none of this is true. I didn't have a problem with Peter.

I had nothing to do with his murder. I did not pull the trigger and I do not know who did. And although police do not believe her for one second, they have no physical or forensic evidence to prove Joan was the one who killed Peter. So sadly, they have to let her go. And time begins to pass with nothing else surfacing in the case. Again, it's a situation where police truly believe they have the right suspect,

but they can't do anything about it. Especially in the 50s. Right. I mean, technology has it. Especially in the 50s. Right. I mean, technology has advanced so much since the 50s. I feel like it would be really hard to catch someone if you don't have any of that stuff. Right. It's been about a month since Peter was tragically murdered by an intruder on the front doorstep of his own home.

Police believe Joan is their suspect, but can't seem to find the evidence to arrest her for it. That was, until November, when an anonymous tip came into police that breaks the case. Someone calls in and claims that the gun, or murder weapon used in Peter Fabiano's murder, is hidden in a rental locker at a department store in downtown Los Angeles. Why in the world would you hide it there? What are you thinking? Reportedly, this store was called Bullix.

And according to the Vintage Woman magazine.com, this Bullix was right across the street from a well-known Clifton's cafeteria. Now, to avoid another minnard situation, I looked it up, and Bullix was just your average department store that is no longer in business. But many of their locations have been converted into Macy's department stores since. Okay.

Despite the randomness of this tip, police decide to follow up on it, and sure enough, they find the gun in the rental locker app. Oh, very nice. The gun was loaded with just one bullet still in it. The police immediately run ballistic tests on the gun and determined that it was indeed the murder weapon that fired the fatal shot into Peter Fabiano back on Halloween night. Now the police have the gun, a 38 revolver. They track records to see who the gun belonged to. They are hoping that this gun somehow can tie them back to Joan and they can close this case. Oh no. According to New York DailyNews.com, a scan of sales records of the gun shops in the area

led to the owner, a woman named Goldine Pitzer, a 40-year-old laboratory technician at Los Angeles Children's Hospital. Interesting. I thought it was going to... Okay, half-housenly, back to the husband for a second. To Peter, his own gun? I don't know. Interesting. I thought it was gonna... Okay, half-housen gonna lead back to the husband for a second. To Peter, his own gun? I don't know. Maybe. That doesn't mean something weird to like me. Well now, who is Goldine? Yeah. Also, can we just say Goldine is like a really just

cool name? Yeah. So despite not knowing who she is or how she's even connected to the case, police have solid evidence now. They go to Goldine's home in West Hollywood and arrest her and bring her in. And to their surprise, Goldine breaks down easily and literally confesses to the murder. Like the second they bring her in, she's like, yeah, yeah, I killed people. She tells police that a friend of hers, they might know her, Joan, had talked her into committing the crime for her. Wait, so then why did she leave the house?

Right. Right. We'll get there. That doesn't make any sense, okay. We'll get there. So, Goldine was reportedly 43 years old at the time of Peter's murder. She was working as a medical secretary at the Children's Hospital in Los Angeles. The daughter of a furniture store owner, she graduated

from Los Angeles High School in 1943, and apparently married a decade later, but was either divorced or widowed when she met Joan. Now Joan and Goldine lived just one mile away from each other near the sunset strip, and they had met way before Joan ever met the Fabianos a couple years before. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp.

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be your map to a better life. Is it better help.com slash husband today and get 10% off your first month. That's better help, help.com slash husband today and get 10% off your first month. That's better help h-e-l-p.com slash husband. According to TrueCrimadition.com, Goldine was also into women, but she had spent most of her life hiding or suppressing it, given the times and the danger and coming out. And although they had known each other for years, Goldine and Joan had become extremely close ever since Betty broke it off with Joan and was shot out of her life. How do you convince someone to murder someone? We'll get there. Like how's that even possible? Goldine and Joan have been friends for years in the middle of their friendship that was just purely a friendship. Joan meets the Fabianos, meets

Betty and then has the whole affair with Betty. Betty then breaks up with Joan and moves back in with Peter. After this, Joan starts hanging out with Goldine a little bit more. Their friendship becomes a little bit stronger. So this is what Goldine tells police when they arrest her, basically because her gun was involved in Peter's murder. Joan and Goldine were friends who like to spend time together having morning coffee and talking and gossiping. Goldine and Joan had a lot in common and they enjoyed their murder. Joan and Goldene were friends who liked to spend time together having morning coffee and talking and gossiping. Goldene and Joan had a lot in common and they enjoyed their coffee talks. Both had been recently divorced and both had experienced hiding their sexual identities.

Back in 1957, Bingay wasn't accepted and was even criminalized in some locations. According to the vintagewomanmagazine.com, in 1957, Joan described her relationship to the Valley Times newspaper as, quote, coffee-clatch friends. Now, a coffee-clatch is a term and activity that was very popular in the 1950s. According to TasteOfHome.com, it derives from the German word, coffee-clatch, which means coffee and gossip. Now, coffeeashes were popular like I said in the 1950s when it was common for women to stay home with the kids. Ladies would then get together with neighbors and discuss the latest updates in everyone's life

and gossip, hence coffee clatching. And this is what Goldine and Jones' relationship started as. Now one day during their morning coffee, Joan complains to Goldine about Peter, her boss at the salon. According to New York Daily News, quote, in those months, Joan's major topic of conversation was Peter Fabiano. She called him evil and vile man who was destroying everything around him and that she wanted revenge against him. Which is so interesting that she's saying her boss. Right.

Instead of her girlfriend's husband. Yeah. Which I mean, I guess that's not that interesting because it'd be kind of weird to say my girlfriend's husband. Right. So Goldine believed her friend and grew to hate Fabiano as well. I mean, the way that Joan was describing him to Goldine made her think he was just possibly the worst man on the planet.

Joan said to Goldine that he mistreated his wife and that he was dealing in narcotics. She said that he was abusing her at home. Basically Joan convinces Goldine that this man is just not a good man. Goldine claimed hour after hour, Joan would rel about her rival's evil nature and his cruelty to his wife and children. And within two months, Goldine was certain. Peter was just a monster, one that had to be destroyed. She says, Joan and I discussed killing Peter many times.

Oh my gosh. She said we were undecided whether we should use poison, a knife or a gun. That's just insane. Well, according to Goldine, Joan used her coffee clatch time with her to develop a hatred toward Peter Fabiano and to quote groom her for murder. Goldine explains to the police that during these couple months, Joan seduced her and began a relationship with her, making her believe it was completely real. Almost like she put her under a spell. She thinks she knows now that the only reason Joan began the relationship was to convince her to kill Peter for her was to manipulate her, but she didn't know that

then. Goldine tells police that in the thick of it, she would have done anything for Joan, believing that they were really in love and soulmates. It's clear to police that Joan appears to be the dominant in the relationship and the brains behind the whole murder plan. But she was telling the truth when she told police she didn't pull the trigger because even Goldine admits she herself had done that. And because Joan didn't pull the trigger, she's not going to be nearly in trouble as a goldiness. Correct. I mean, that's what it seems like, right? That sucks. I'm okay. Doesn't suck because they both killed someone. And my eyes at least police are aware that like Goldine never would have killed Peter without Jones.

So Goldine's talking in police and she says together her and Joan had decided on a gun. In order to carry out the murder, Goldine went to a gun store in Pasadena and bought a 38 special Smith and Western revolver. She pretended that the purchase was for self defense. Joan gave Goldine the money for the gun. So it was both of them in on it. According to deranged LA crimes.com, Joan drove Goldine back to the gun. So it was both of them in on it. Okay. According to deranged LA crimes.com,

Joan drove Goldine back to the gun shot a couple of days after the purchase to actually pick it up with two bullets in it that they paid for. Joan paid for the gun like I said, and Goldine held on to it for Halloween. Why just two bullets? I don't know. I don't know why. I think that only two came with it and they just decided not to buy more ammo, which might go back to your question of why there was only one shot higher? Makes it okay. So Joan decided that Halloween would be the best time to commit the murder quote a time when a person Running around the streets and a disguise would not raise an eyebrow

Which again taking advantage of a good Holiday in order to make sure that Goldine would recognize Peter and shoot the right person. Joan actually took her to Peter's beauty salon in October to point out who he was and make sure she would kill the right person. And then on Halloween night, Joan borrowed a car from her friend Margaret Barrett. Joan used the car to drive to Goldine's house. According to deranged LA Crimes.com, quote, Joan came over to my house with some clothing, blue jeans, khaki jackets, hats, eye masks, makeup and red gloves.

We dressed up, got in the borrowed car and drove to Fabiano's home, arriving there about 9 p.m. Together at this point, Goldine and Joan now lovers, sit outside the Fabiano home waiting for the lights to go out. Both knowing what they were about to do. They sat there for two hours. They put the gun in a paper bag. This bag wouldn't alarm Peter because it was like the bags of trick or treaters carry around, but instead of candy, it held a gun. Goldine put on her mask, walk to the front door and ring the doorbell twice. Peter Fabiano annoyedly opened the door,

Goldine claims she was trembling so hard she could barely hold the gun. After firing with dead on accuracy, Goldine ran back to the getaway car where Joan was waiting. Joan then returned the car back to Margaret's house, and that left Joan and Goldine alone again, just needing to go their separate ways. Now, Goldine claims to police, this was the first time that Joan became cold and different towards her. Joan looked at Goldine, who just murdered her enemy

for her and said, quote, forget you ever knew me, then turned around and walked away. It's hard for me not to feel bad for Goldine, but she killed someone, so I'm trying not to feel bad for her. Well, because I think it just shows that people can be easily manipulated. And I also think there's that extra thing in this case where Goldine was not able to live her true life. She was not able to love who she wanted to love because quite literally it could have

been illegal at this point. And so she finally finds a woman who she thinks can love her. She can finally have this relationship she's wanted her whole life. She's not just for it to be fake. Just for it to be fake. But again, I don't want to empathize with her because she murdered. Yeah, she killed. She murdered. She knew what she was doing. Right. It's wrong. It's a hundred percent wrong. So after hearing Goldine's confession, the police bring Joan back to the police station. Apparently, they have her listening as Goldine gives her full confession for the second time. Joan has not much to say after that. The two are indicted for murder

by a county grand jury. Goldine testifies before the grand jury and says that Joan got her to commit the murder by portraying Peter as a symbol of evil. Golden didn't even know Peter. She had never met Peter. Joan did not testify before the grand jury. On March 11th, 1958, both Joan and Golden pled guilty to second degree murder. Oh, so she got second degree murder as well? I don't know why this isn't first degree murder. I don't know what happened here.

Again, it was so long ago. It was 58. No, but I'm surprised that Joan also got second-degree murder. I thought she would have gotten like, because conspired murderers. Conspiracy, to my murder. Yeah, yeah. I think that they just figured like because Joan was the connection and not Goldine that she had a bigger part in the murder than they were. Interesting. So they are both sentenced to a term of five years to life in prison. What? So according to the New York Daily News,

that deal that they got for pleading guilty sparked a public outcry. The U.S. being too soft on a killer. But Goldine was so pathetic that it seemed unlikely a jury would send her to the gas chamber, even though she confessed to killing a stranger in cold blood. And if the killer skirted justice, it would be literally impossible to get the accomplice convicted. So the sources aren't clear as how long the two women actually served in prison, but they both did get out and continue on with life.

Like there was not much justice here. Betty Fabiano sold her late husband Salon's one source says she'd never married again while another says she remarried in 1966. Nine years after Peter was murdered. She died in 1999 in Palm Desert, California at the age of 81. There continue to be rumors and questions to this day as to exactly what the relationship was between Betty and Joan that sparked this whole murder and whether Betty had anything to do with the murder plot, but these are rumors in several sources, and I haven't found any evidence to suggest that Betty was actually involved

in the murder in any way, so I'm not gonna stay here and be like, well she might have been. The common theory is that Joan's jealousy of Peter was the motive for the crime, and that's literally what got him killed. And that is the story of Peter Fabiano, the trick or treat murder. So something I feel like I do now is whenever someone rings or knocks on the door, I always look through the little people.

Always. I used to not, I used to just open it wide open. And now because of this podcast, I am paranoid. And I think everyone's trying to kill me. So I always look through little people. Except what's one night of the year that you wouldn't check it every single time. Halloween. Halloween.

And even if you did check it, if someone was dressed up holding a bag, you would think they're trick or treat. If it was 11 o'clock at night, I do wonder if I might want to change it. Well, okay, so this is when I was thinking. I'm not blaming them. I'm just saying, if it were to happen to me now, I do wonder if I might want to change. Well, okay, so this is when I was thinking. No, I'm not blaming them. I'm just saying, if it were to happen to me now,

I do wonder how hard we act. I was thinking that, because if me and you were in bed, say we just got done passing out, can't eat in a lot, I think we would have just said, let them go to the next time. Pretend we're at home. But maybe that's, I think that's also just like a more common thing that people do.

Yeah. I think people used to be a little bit more polite in that manner. You know, they would always get up and answer their door. Now people just ignore the door. Yeah. All right, you guys, I was not kidding when I say October is a big month for murder with my husband. We have two announcements coming up. We have merch dropping next week and we have Halloween themed cases for the entire month. So stay tuned, it's going to be a good one, and we will see you guys next week with another episode. I love it.

And I hate it. Goodbye.