Murder With My Husband - 183. The Ransom Gone Wrong

Episode Date: September 25, 2023

In this episode, Payton discusses the tragic kidnapping of Sidney Reso and how his kidnappers led police on a chase to find Sidney before it's too late. https://linktr.ee/murderwithmyhusband Sources: “Mystery, Millions and Murder in North Jersey: The Tragic Kidnapping of Exxon’s Sidney Reso” by John E. O’Rourke History.com - https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/exxon-executive-is-murdered NY Daily News - https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/ransom-bad-exxon-oil-executive-sidney-reso-killed-kidnap-arthur-irene-seale-article-1.448931 LA Times - https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-06-29-mn-919-story.html The Federalist - https://thefederalist.com/2021/04/16/the-terrifying-true-story-behind-one-of-the-fbis-biggest-kidnapping-cases/ The New York Times - https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/01/nyregion/twisted-tale-of-a-kidnapping-and-of-dreams-gone-wrong.html, https://archive.nytimes.com/query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage-9F0CE1DA143DF93BA15755C0A964958260.html FBIStudies.com - https://fbistudies.com/2018/09/11/sydney-reso-kidnapping/ NJ.com - https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2020/07/you-will-die-in-captivity-they-told-notorious-exxon-kidnapper-at-risk-of-covid-hes-asking-to-get-out.html Seattle Times - https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19920522&slug=1493196 Texas Obituary Project - https://www.texasobituaryproject.org/040387reso.html Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Seale Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to an O-No Media podcast. Hey everybody welcome back to our podcast. This is Murder with My Husband. I'm Peyton Moreland. And I'm Gare Moreland. And he says Ben. And the husband. I don't even know what to say about our upcoming live show.

Other than Tickets or Sold Out. Yeah. I don't know. I wasn't expecting that. Are you shocked? Pretty insane. I'm like shocked. So yeah, um, tickets are sold out.

Sorry. I don't even know what to say. Tickets are sold out. Sorry to everyone who wanted to go. We just, we've never done a live show. We figured, hey, let's, let's do a live episode. Let's see how it goes. Yeah.

Hopefully we do more in the future. We're not sure yet, but we just wanted to do one. It was close to Halloween. Hopefully we do more in the future. We're not sure yet, but we just wanted to do one. It was close to Halloween. We thought it would be a fun kind of special event. At the same time, just thanks to everyone who supports us. And I'm sorry to everyone who wanted to come, but can't and thank you to everyone who is coming.

It's gonna be a great night. For those who are patrons and paid Apple subscribers, we are going to be posting the video and audio on there. We're not sure exactly how close after the live or whatnot, but we are going to be posting it on there. So we just wanted to update everyone on that. Again, thank you so much. We hope we can do another one of these live shows soon

Um, it seems like everyone wants to Yeah, like there's an appetite. Yeah, it seems like people want to go I mean, I would want to go before I hop into my 10 seconds just reminder we got apple subscriptions patreon bonus content add free I'm always plugging because we did just do a bonus episode that is out now, as this is coming out, on Susan Powell. Garrett thought it should have been a regular episode because he doesn't know the Susan Powell case, and he was good.

Yeah. But, Peyton had a good point. She said that, I guess it's been covered a million times. So, we figure we make it a bonus episode. So, if you want access to that, just go sign up on our Patreon or Apple subscriptions. Well, jumping into my own 10 seconds here, I will say for everyone who has listened

to some of the earlier episodes, I bought a truck a while ago, and that truck is now sold, it is gone. It was a little sad because I did quite a bit of work to it Not work as I'm fixing it up Just you know making it look cool did some stuff to it out of the bumper Some lights a wrap some wheels new tires tint, you know, just just your basic car stuff Anyways, that truck is now gone. I think Peyton is happy

Actually, I feel like you're a little sad. I'm sad for you I'm a little sad. I love that truck, but you know time to move on Sold it and I might cry for the first time in our marriage ever did you guys know that? I've never seen Garrett cry. It's true. I've never I've never cried when is the last time you cried? I don't know. Maybe I'm a psychopath. When is the last time you cried? I don't know maybe I'm a psychopath When is the last time you cried? I don't know I remember the last time I cried 18 I don't know. I don't know. I would say probably like maybe 13 14. Oh, that's unhealthy It's all just held in there What day she's gonna explode? Yeah, and I'm gonna be here like you're probably gonna have the ugliest cry face. Oh man. That's about my 10 second for this week. I don't

have a truck anymore. One more thing for my 10 seconds. This is a long one, but this one's good. You're gonna want to listen to this. So in our laundry room, we have a little cabinet next to our washer and dryer, is cabinet the right word? Yeah. Countertop. Countertop, thank you all. There's no countertop. Yes.

That we have some cabinets, and there's no countertop. And we have some extra... Like literally, it's unfinished. It's just a slab of unfinished wood. Yeah, on top. But the cabinets are done. So we have some extra tiles, some extra slabs basically in our garage.

I like to paint it and I said, you know what? I'm not calling anyone to do that. I'm going to do it. So my project and my goal for the next, I would say a couple days, but it might take a couple weeks, because I don't know what I'm doing. For the next couple weeks is I'm going to put the tile slab, whatever you want to call it, on the cabinet to myself. I'm going to document weeks is I'm going to put the tile Slab whatever you want to call it on the camera to myself. I'm gonna document it. I'm gonna take pictures I'm gonna cut everything. I'm gonna glue everything and it's gonna be amazing and I hope everyone follows along Because I'm gonna do it and that is my goal Everyone hold me accountable and I will keep everyone updated and Payton's really excited about it. This is a touchy subject in our marriage

It's so this is a touchy subject and I was gonna hire someone to do it, but I said you know what? No, I'm gonna do it. I'm Dating laundry countertop. I am committed to doing it I'm gonna do it all myself, and it's to be the best freaking countertop anyone's ever seen. Okay, let's get into the story. Let's do it. Our sources for this episode are mystery millions and murder in North Jersey by John E. O'Rourke. History.com, New York Daily News, LA Times, the Federalists, the New York Times, FBI Studies.com, NJ.com, Seattle Times, Texas Obituary Project, and Wikipedia.

Okay, there's something comforting about living by a routine. You wake up, you have breakfast, read the paper, head to work, come home, dinner, maybe some TV, a few hours of scrolling, TikTok, repeat. Every day, knowing how things are going to play out, avoiding any of life's big surprises. And the smaller the town, the easier it is to sort of keep up with these patterns, right, like these just everyday routine patterns. At least that's what Sydney Riso thought, living in Morristown, New Jersey, back in 1992. He was a simple family man with a simple routine, but maybe Sydney shouldn't have gotten so comfortable. As a high profile executive for Exxon, Sydney's life may have been

ordinary, but from the outside looking in, he was anything but. He was valuable, critical to the company's operations, a target. So when Sydney re-so pulled out of his driveway on April 29, 1992, his simple routine would not only get him kidnapped, it would also cost him his life. So the most people 57-year-old Sydney and his wife Patricia were an unassuming couple kind down to earth neighbors well off yet not overtly extravagant, modest, humble. The type of family who'd been offered a chauffeur through Sydney's work, but chose to keep their Volkswagen instead.

Who went to church every Sunday, who made gracious donations to those in need, the Norman Rockwell family with now five grown children, and two happily married parents eager to cross the finish line into retirement. Sydney Riso's path to success was one he'd worked hard at, and his ability to forecast the economy also worked in his favor. While at Louisiana State University back in his 20s, Sydney chose to pursue a blossoming area of study known as petroleum engineering. Only a few were accepted into the program and its curriculum wasn't an easy one.

Horses in Geoscience, Biology, Chemistry, and Agricultural monopolized Sydney's time during college. All the while, he met Pat, got married, they had their first child, and Sydney still graduated in the top 20% of his class back in 1957. Sidney made, having it all, look easy. And after graduation, he climbed the ladder at Humble Oil and Refining, which in due time would become the iconic gas company known as Exxon. Interesting, okay. Come the mid 1970s, Sydney's work had taken the family overseas to London, where Sydney took on the role as vice president of Exxon for all of Europe.

But by the 1980s, the company wanted him back state side. Exxon had a new, more important role for him to play. Vice president of production for all of the US. He's making bang, that's all I know. Oh for sure. You've got that oil money for sure. Of course, Sydney and Patricia would miss the bustling city life of London, but they were excited to settle down and enter a quieter period of their lives. So about three miles from Exxon's office in Floreham Park, New Jersey, the RISOs found the perfect home in a tiny donut hole of Morris Township, New Jersey, called

Morris Town. Morris Town was a 45-minute drive west of New York City, a sleepy little suburb with many affluent families who were willing to make the daily commute into the city. So long as they got to come home at night to the safe, quiet, respite they were promised. The Riso's found a beautiful five-bedroom, six-bath French colonial-style home set about 200 feet back from the road. The five acres of land was more than enough for the Riso's to have their peace from the neighbors, a place where they could loudly play their classical music with the windows open and still have it be little problem. But life in their picturesque new home couldn't be perfect forever. Over the years, their children moved out and on with their lives. Then in 1987, the couple faced a major tragedy when they lost their 27-year-old son Gregory

in his battle against AIDS. In 1989, Sydney struggled with his own health and survived a heart attack. But the challenges life through at Sydney and Patricia only brought them closer. It made them fall more in love. And they found comfort in simple daily routines. The evening of April 28, 1992 was the perfect example of that. Sydney and Patricia had climbed into bed at around

10 p.m. like clockwork. They spent an hour or so reading or watching TV before turning off the lights on their nightstand, giving each other a kiss, and planting their heads on the pillow. But outside their home, a white van sat watching unbeknownst to them. Come on man. Waiting for those lights to shut off. And as soon as they did, they drove away with a plan to return tomorrow. So interrupting real quick, just because I was watching a TikTok video yesterday, and this Vivian camera caught it, and it's literally this lady's girl,

she looked like she was mid-20s-ish, walking out of her house out of the garage, as this white van, it was in, I think it was in Texas, I can't remember, but this white van pulls up and just stops in front of her driveway, and she just instantly walks back, walks back into house, closes the garage, and I was just sitting there thinking, like, it's just insane that people do this

in broad daylight. And just why always a white van? Yeah, that's, hey, why always a white van? Like, no offense if you drive a white van, but in my house growing up, they were known as scary man vans. Yeah, I think I'd call them the rapist fans growing up. Yeah.

Little more harsh than the scary man, but, you know, is what it is. So April 29th was a Wednesday morning, which meant a work day for Sydney. That morning, he got dressed and came down to the kitchen where Patricia had already prepared his full breakfast per usual. The two caught up on the morning news, talked about their plans for the day, maybe debated about what Patricia would make for dinner, then she handed Sydney his briefcase, gave him a kiss, and sent him off on his 10 minute commute to the office. Meanwhile, outside of the Riso's home, a fit, middle-aged blonde was jogging through the neighborhood. That morning she stopped right in front

of their property. Spotting the resource newspaper just in front of the driveway, the jogger kicked the paper, sending it a bit further away than Sydney was used to. After that jogger continued down the block and got into the same white van that had been parked outside the home the night before. So this wasn't some accidental kick of the newspaper as she's jogging by. This was on purpose. At around 7.30am, Sydney's Volkswagen came down the driveway and made a stop just like every morning. But today, with his paper farther away than usual, Sydney couldn't just open his door, grab it, and go. He had to put the car in park and get out to retrieve the paper. And that's when the white van moved in.

They blocked Sydney's car, and when Sydney looked up, a man in a black ski mask was leaping from the van's passenger seat. He pointed a gun in Sydney's face, and demanded he get in the back of their van. But when the assailant threw those back doors open, Sydney refused to comply. He could see a wooden box, what looked like a coffin waiting for him in the van. Oh, that's insane.

And so that's when Sydney decided to try and fight back. He attempted to break free from his captors grip, but that only made things worse. The man in the ski mask punched Sydney in the mouth, shaking some of his teeth loose. Then he shot man in the ski mask punched Sydney in the mouth, shaking some of his teeth loose. Then he shot Sydney in the arm before binding his hands together, gagging him and dragging him to the van and stuffing him in that wooden box. The van took off with the female jogger now in the driver's seat. But in all the chaos, the kidnappers forgot

to leave their ransom note behind. Seconds later, all that was left sitting in front of 15 Jonathan Smith Road was Sydney's Volkswagen with the engines still running the driver's side door wide open and Sydney obviously gone. Because the bottom of the Riso's driveway was about 200 feet away from the house, the car stayed like that for nearly an hour without anyone noticing. But around 8.45 am, a neighbor named Mrs. Reynolds, whose husband worked in the HR department at Exxon with Sydney, decided to take a stroll over to the RISOS. She wanted to say hi to Patricia, she hadn't seen her in a while, and that's when she spotted Sydney's car still running in the driveway. And I assume there's a blood on the driveway as well.

Correct? Is it say anything about that? Not that I saw. Okay. I would imagine it all happened so fast and because it was just a shot to the arm, it would probably just be drops if so. Yeah, yeah. At Public Mobile, we do things differently.

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fruity taste of the future. Search Coca-Cola Y3000 to learn more. So Mrs. Reynolds sees that Sydney is nowhere inside and that his car is like suspiciously sitting at the end of the driveway still running. But she didn't want to alarm Patricia just yet. Mrs. Reynolds went home and called her husband instead. Perhaps Sydney had gotten a ride to work and he just accidentally left his car on. But when her husband called Sydney's office and his secretary said he hadn't made it into work that morning, Mrs. Reynolds figured, okay,

something is obviously very wrong. So Sydney's secretary then made the call to the Riso household. And when Patricia answered and confirmed that no, Sidney had not come back into the house that morning after he left for work, well, Panic started to just set in for everyone. Patricia ran to the end of the driveway where she found Sidney's car still running with his briefcase and coat still in the back seat.

Sidney wouldn't have gone anywhere without those two items, so Patricia knew it was time to get the police involved. Shortly after the officers arrived at the RISO home, they learned about Sydney's recent health issues and the heart attack he'd had just a few years prior. To them, this had to be treated like a missing person's case for now, and the best theory they had was, perhaps Sydney had some sort of medical emergency. Maybe he lost his wits and wandered off into the woods around the home. At this point, they hadn't really considered Sydney's high profile position with Exxon, especially because the kidnappers didn't leave any sort of note

behind. And it's like a grown man. So kidnapping isn't really the first thing you would think of. It's also interesting because Ransom's never work. Never. They don't. I feel like every... All these people try them and they don't work. Like they just don't work. I'm... I'm maybe they do. I don't know. Maybe there's... Crazy like... Hidden CIA stuff. I don't know about where Ransom's work, but I just feel like they never work

because if you give them what you want, you're still gonna kill them. You know, basically what I'm trying to say is if you ever get kidnapped and they leave a ransom note, I don't think I'll pay it. Okay, good to know. Would you pay it? No, I would go to the police. Yeah, at least from the same page. So police at this point aren't imagining that this has anything to do with his money or his job at this point. Instead, they call in the K-9 team to track Sydney's scent and put that medical theory to the test. But the dogs obviously don't pick up on Sydney's smell beyond the front of the car, and

search teams don't find any evidence of Sydney in the woods beyond his home. So they move on to the woods beyond his home. So they move on to the next most likely theory. Maybe Sydney re-so faked his disappearance or ran away with a lover. But it only takes a little bit of digging to rule these possibilities out as well. How is that more likely than getting kidnapped? Well, he's a grown man. I think they're like one may need.

I guess so. He has a love affair. They can't find any reason or motive. Sydney might have to disappear. He had no debts, no inappropriate business dealings, certainly no mistress or secret lover. If there was a break in Sydney's routine, Patricia would have noticed. But that's one police realized. Maybe this was a crime scene. Maybe Sydney had been kidnapped, and his predictable routine was exactly why he was targeted. Now, because this was such a high profile case, I mean, one of the oil industries of biggest executives had just been taken from his home,

the FBI was also brought in by the end of the day to help out. OK, interesting. And they actually set up a command center inside the RISO's basement. I'm not clear on why this was the best location for something like this. Maybe they figured they'd have easy access to phone lines

in case the kidnapper called or showed up back at home, but this kidnapping theory. Well, it's actually confirmed to them the following day because on April 30, Exxon officials received a message from an anonymous caller. The female voice kept the instructions short and sweet," she said, quote, "'Information regarding Sydney,

Riso can be found at the Livingston Mall.'" So the FBI dispatched some of their agents to the massive shopping center, but finding said information would be like finding a needle in a haystack, especially because the instructions were so vague. Yet, shockingly, while scanning one of the parking lots, a few agents spotted a telephone pole with a white envelope taped to the outside.

That's so random. The envelope was addressed to Mr. Lawrence Rawl, a chairperson for Exxon. And inside was a letter, along with Sydney Riso's Exxon credit card. So they brought the letter back to the command center, aka the Riso's basement, and opened it carefully there so as to not destroy any forensic evidence the letter might contain. Now the letter is pretty long-winded so I'm just going to give you a couple of lines from it but I think it will get the point across.

It starts off, quote, The major industrial entities continue their thoughtless programs which are destroying the earth and harming countless forms of life. Destruction of the land, sea, and air continues at unprecedented rates. World organizations and governmental bodies have so far proven States has been in a very serious way to make the decision-making decision-making decisions that have been made in the United States. The United States has been

in a very serious way to make the decision-making decision-making decisions. The United States has been in a very serious way to make the decision-making decisions. The United States has been in a very serious way to make

the decision-making decisions. The United States has been in a very serious way to make the decision-making decisions. The United States has been in a very serious way to make the decision-making decisions. The United States has been in a very serious way to make the decision-making decisions.

The United States has been in a very serious way to make the decision-making decisions. The United States has been in a very serious way to make demand 18.5 million dollars from Exxon to help pay for this mission. It also said they will soon deliver further instructions. It's so dumb to think that Exxon is going to pay this. I could so dumb with these people like kidnapped and to think that Exxon's one that Exxon is going to pay this and two that this was the way to go about this. Well and also their reasoning is because you're hurting the Earth. But is that worth kidnapping somebody and holding them ransom for $18 million that you're not even sure is going to go to this mission of saving the Earth?

$18 million, that's a lot of money. Yeah. And the note specified that Mr. Risa will be held captive without food or water until the ransom is paid. And it's signed by an organization known as, quote, warriors of the rainbow. Oh, so they were like a group, a group of people. So investigators are like, okay, this is obviously some sort of environmental activist group. They're targeting one of the biggest oil companies in the world. This obviously makes sense. After all,

Exxon had a massive oil spill off the Prince William's sound in Alaska three years prior. Which to this day remains the second largest oil spill in US territory. Is the first one, the one that BP did, when I think I was in, well, I don't know how long ago that was, but I remember it. I actually just looked it up.

It was the one in Deepwater Horizon, which I think is, I think there's a movie based off of that. Have you seen it? No, I'm pretty sure there is. I think it's the movie I'm thinking about. Well, either way, this makes sense. The Exxon would be the target. But for Patricia, it didn't matter who had her husband or what they wanted. Time was of the essence. Like, this is a real person. This is her husband. With Sydney's recent health complications, she worried about his high blood pressure and the stress of the situation leading to another heart attack. But for now, they were at the beck and call of Sydney's kidnappers. And every second without further instructions

must have felt like an eternity for Patricia Riso. It wasn't until 9.30 pm, the following day, May 1st, that the phone in the RISO's basement command center rang again. This time, it was a male's voice who said, go to the entrance of the Lewis Morris Park to pick up instructions. The police traced the call back to a phone booth in Bedminster, New Jersey about 18 miles from the RISO home. But by the time local police were dispatched to the phone booth the caller was long gone. Yeah, for sure. Meanwhile agents on Sydney's case followed the instructions over to Lewis Morris Park where they discovered another message. This letter read, delivery of money in 10 Eddie Bauer large sport duffle bags to be delivered by Mrs. Reese's and children

using the family's station wagon. Come on, they're not gonna give you $18.5 million in cash. In 10 Eddie Bauer bags. That shit. It's so, yeah, what? Yeah. What is that about? I don't know.

Why Eddie Bauer? Well, I think they're oddly specific about how the money should be transported, but not when or whether Sydney Riso was even still alive. So again, it's just your typical ransom. It would have been like in 10 Gucci bags, you know, would have up there a little bit. A little bit more. Yeah.

Still the following day, the money was loaded into the command center courtesy of Exxon. The Duffle bags had been purchased and the divided cash fit into them evenly and perfectly, almost as if the kidnappers had tried something like this before. On Sunday, May 3rd, at around 10pm, the command center's phone rang again. This time, the caller told them to respond to the phone booth at the Villa restaurant in Summit, New Jersey to await for their contact. This was about 15 miles away. After tracing the call, detectives realized that had ironically come from a phone booth

at an Exxon station right across the street from the restaurant. So they dispatched police and helicopters to watch the area. There was no sign of the kidnappers, but the team felt this was it. They loaded the resource family car with the Eddie Bauer bag full of cash and carted them over to the location. Parked between the Exxon station and the Villa restaurant, the officers sat for hours waiting for the next call to come through that phone booth in the restaurant parking lot. But there was nothing.

They took down every license plate that passed through the area, scanning them to see if they belonged to anyone of interest. Still nothing. As the sun came up, the police decided to leave with the cash. Maybe the kidnappers had noticed the helicopters and the other officers waiting in the wings and just chickened out. After that, almost a week went by with no sign of Sydney's captors. Oh, that's weird. Okay. The Morris County prosecutor publicly begged the kidnappers for a photograph or voice recording of Sydney to prove that he was still alive.

But with each passing day, the hope fled further. Then on May 10th, a landscaper outside the Villa Restaurant found a letter tucked into the bushes. It said there would be more instructions at the Summit train station, although it was unclear how long that letter had been sitting in the brush for. When police arrived at the train station, they did find another clue. This time an audio tape was stuck under a phone booth's shelf. Police brought the tape back to Patricia and listened to it over and over. It was a man's voice saying, I want to come home. But Patricia was certain it wasn't Sidney's.

It was someone pretending to be her husband, which only made her heart sink deeper. If Sidney was alive, he should have been able to record the message himself. Yeah. I don't even know if one is worse than the other, but like, would you rather be kidnapped and just not here? Or would you rather be kidnapped and getting all these ransom notes? Like chasing, not knowing. Chasing your tell, basically. Yeah. Ch chasing your tell, not knowing if he's alive. Like, I mean, they're both horrible, but I feel like to an extent, the whole ransom,

things like torture. Yeah. It's like slow torture for those who are your loved ones. Yeah. Yeah. So on May 12, Exxon headquarters in Irving, Texas receive another note. This one claiming that because the officers had felt to deliver the ransom money, Sydney Reesow had been moved out of the country, which

was strange because the police were there that night at the restaurant. They had all the money ready to go. The Eddie Bauer bags like they were there. No one showed up. Also, I would assume the FBI put a, I don't even know if these lists existed back then, but a no fly list as well. But we might be at a point when that wasn't really possible. I'm not sure. So it was the kidnappers that never gave them further instruction or showed up to retrieve the cash.

So needless to say, the police are a bit baffled by this new message from the kidnappers. Especially because they aren't even sure if Sydney is still alive. So on May 15th, a member of the FBI goes to the press and basically says, look, whoever is holding Sydney Riso for ransom has to prove that they still have him. We need a live telephone call, Sydney holding up the day's newspaper, something definitive. Well, later that day, a security officer at a nearby mall gets a phone call. And again, it says information about Sydney Riso can be found on a signpost in their parking lot. This time when the police retrieve it, the letter essentially says,

too bad, we already gave you Sydney's credit card and recording of his voice, which if you remember Patricia said wasn't him. But they're like, look, this is all you're getting for now. If you want more, have Patricia Reesau go live on television to say she received our demands and that the plan will be met. So Patricia does, because what other option do they really have? A television crew came to the Riso home and mic'd up Patricia and put the begging wife live on TV for the entire nation to hear her please. She just wanted her husband returned home safely. She didn't care what it took. By this point, it's nearly three weeks into the investigation, and the search for Sydney Riso had become one of the largest nationwide manhunts since the kidnapping of the 19-year-old

granddaughter of the Hearst Empire Patricia Hearst. But the more police studied the letters left by the kidnappers, the more became apparent. There was a particular language being used, words like, quote, prohibited left turn, and proof of the victim that made investigators think, this person kind of sounds like a cop. Like, maybe this wasn't an activist at all. By this point, Greenpeace claimed they not only had nothing to do with whoever the warriors of the rainbow were, this is the group that had been signing the letters. Oh, so I think it's all fake. It's just all set up, basically. Yeah, they also publicly denounced the actions of the group and insisted they only took non-violent

measures. Please also realize, whoever was leaving these letters seemed local to the area. They knew where to hide things discreetly, but in very public places, something you might not be as savvy at if you weren't from that part of New Jersey. So now, please start thinking, could this be an inside job at Exxon? Maybe someone they'd fired a disgruntled employee, maybe even someone who had it out for Sydney Riso in some way, but the truth was even stranger than they could have imagined. Let's hear it. Investigators did have one thing right.

One of the people who'd taken Sydney Riso on that April morning was someone he'd probably passed by dozens of times before. His name was Arthur Seal and he was a 45-year-old former security officer at Sydney's Exxon offices. And Arthur, who'd also roped his 45-year-old wife Jackie into the scheme, wasn't doing this on behalf of the environment. They were doing it all for themselves. Those who knew Arthur and Jackie, though never would have guessed they were at the center of this scandal. From the outside looking in, the seals were well dressed, seemingly well off, good looking and social. Both grew up in Hillside, New Jersey, about a half hour drive from Morristown.

Jackie was the daughter of a prominent local businessman who owned several little stores around town. Arthur was the athletic intelligence son of a school secretary and police officer. The two married in 1967 and after, Arthur decided to follow in his father's footsteps by joining the town's police force. But while on the job, Arthur couldn't seem to stay out of trouble. The power Arthur was now wielding had since gotten to his head. He was suspended twice and find three times during his six years on the

force. Sometimes for subordination, other times for pulling out his weapon inappropriately while making arrests. Then in early 1977, Arthur was injured in the line of duty and put on disability leave for the rest of the year. Town officials who'd been looking for an opportunity to get rid of Arthur now had one. He was given a pension of $10,000 a year and later dismissed from the force for good. I'm trying to figure out why $18.5 million. Yeah, like, why don't you start with $10? Or like a million? I mean, yeah, it's the 90s.

Yeah, it's the 90s. Like, you would think that if there's a chance, they will pay it and you wouldn't get caught, 18.5 million is not the answer. Here's my thought. He worked for Exon. He knew they would pay the 18 million. They did easily.

True. I mean, they're huge. So to him, maybe, I mean, to X on is 18 million a lot, you know what I mean? Like that's probably where his train of thought is going. It's just like, gosh, having to care 18, half million dollars caring from house to house, like, in the Eddie Bauer bags, it kind of reminds me of the movie fun with Dick and Jane. I don't know if you've seen it. Well, to watch it. Obviously a lot less brutal, no one's killed, but if you've seen the movie, no one I'm talking about.

So at this point in the story Arthur just got let go on the police force and now he's decided to go work for Exxon as a security official. By 1985, however, there was a change in the security force at Exxon. Arthur wasn't happy about the two former military guys who were brought in to run it. And he began skipping out on work to take trips down to Hilton Head, South Carolina with his family. So when layoffs came around that year, Arthur was on the top of the list. He was given a severance package and let go from Exxon, and frankly, he seemed fine with

it. So you're probably wondering, okay, let go from Exxon, and frankly, he seemed fine with it. So you're probably wondering, okay, then why target Exxon seems like he got what he wanted? Well, things started to go south for the seals after they and their two teenage kids moved to Hilton Head in 1986. The family thought they could start fresh, but that also meant living well beyond their means.

Those who knew them thought they were high profile executives by the way they were spending money. They bought a 38-foot boat and opened an interior design shop for half a million dollars. They drove a Mercedes, sent their kids to private school, bought them expensive clothes. Wait, so they don't have jobs or doing all this stuff? Truth was, they were living off the bit of severance and the money they'd gotten from selling their new Jersey home. They did not have millions of dollars.

Over time, the sales racked up more and more debt as their marriage started to implode. They began fighting all the time, then one afternoon Arthur expressed his frustration by throwing a screwdriver at one of his employees. By the time the seals realized they had to sell their store and their boat, they were already hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. Come 1989, the family of four was forced to move into Arthur's parents' home in Hackett's Town, New Jersey. After the police had been called several times about domestic disputes and their children

running away from home, the seals officially reached rock bottom in 1991 when they were caught and fined for not paying their taxes over the last several years. It seemed Arthur and Jackie would spend their rest of their lives climbing over a mountain of debt. Unless, unless they came up with a plan. Like finding an old exon executive, someone who was predictable, easy to watch, and to target, someone of value they could take and hold ransom, then give back without incident while skipping town with all of the cash.

Also, it just seems like you'd be way better off doing small jobs. Kinnapping an executive and asking for 18.5 million dollars, you know, maybe they should have asked me first what I would have done. For months, they plotted the kidnapping and looked at several executives who might be ripe for the picking, but none fit the bill better than Sydney Riso. And for the next several weeks, they surveyed his every move, learning every detail of his monotonous routine until it was time to go. From mid-May to mid-June of 1992, correspondence between the seals and the FBI slowed.

The seals had returned to Hilton Head to visit their now-grown son. They had a few meals catching up with old friends. They even talked about buying a new boat. Wait, but the FBI doesn't know who it is at this point. Correct? During that time, Arthur had also applied for a rushed passport, saying he had an emergency trip planned to the Bahamas. So it was clear, the Sills were still planning their future.

Certain they were somehow going to get away with that cash that they were supposed to get weeks earlier. And come June 18th, the sales were back in New Jersey ready to take what they believed was still theirs. That day, Jackie rented an olds mobile and hacked its town so she and Arthur could split up and execute the final phase of their plan. Then at around 255 pm, Arthur called the FBI Command Center once again. In a muffled voice, he asked if the money was ready.

An agent shocked to hear from the kidnappers again and after all this time replied, yes, they just needed to know where to deliver it. Arthur replied with only one word. Shortly, then he hung up. But the FBI already had their sting operation in place. After all, they'd been waiting for this call for over a month. They've had a month to plan how to do this. The plan would be similar to the night at the villa restaurant. They'd arrive in the resource family car like initially requested.

Only this time, they weren't bringing the money. Also, they have kids. Yes. I wonder what the kids are. I mean, they obviously have no idea because they're kids. But can you imagine because I assume at the end of this they're going to get caught. That sucks. Also I just want to know where they're just going to say goodbye to their kids forever and

go to the Bahamas or were they going to kidnap their own children and take them to the Bahamas or something. They're probably just going to bring 100 kids. My mom and daddy looked at me and said hey we got $80 million. It's going to the Bahamas. I would go. I would good. The Bahamas. I would go. I would go.

I wouldn't even question it. 100%. And the reason they weren't going to bring the money this time is because the FBI was certain that Sydney Riso was no longer alive after a month. At around 908 pm, the phone in the command center ring again. Arthur told them, leave now. Go to Tingly Road at Patriots Path. Look on the ground center ring again. Arthur told them, leave now, go to Tingly Road at Patriots Path, look on the ground for an envelope. Ten minutes later, the RISO's car pulled out of the

driveway with a team of agents armed to the teeth. Once they got to the park, agents found the new note, which gave them instructions to a new site, with another note, and then another. A cat and mouse game that, according according to Jackie was meant to deplete the police's resources. Give the illusion that the kidnappers were watching help them maintain the upper hand. Eventually the police found a final note instructing Patricia Riso to go to a phone booth in town and await their final call. Only that didn't happen. Because this entire time the agents have been tracking where those calls to the command center were originating from. And those booths all had FBI agents sitting outside of them that evening.

Just before 10.40pm outside the Chester Mall, the agents noticed a man enter one of the phone booths they'd been watching. At the same time, FBI agents were receiving another call from the kidnappers. As soon as the command post said the call ended, the man they were watching also hung up, left the booth, took off a pair of rubber gloves, and threw them in a nearby trash can. Then got into the old small bill Jackie had rented earlier and drove off. But the agents had the license plate, which meant they were pretty sure they also had their guy, at least one of them. Remember Jackie's seal for some reason was making separate calls from another phone booth outside an Elk's club in Gladstone, New Jersey about 10 minutes down

the road from her husband. At around 11.16 pm, FBI agents spotted a white car pull-up and a woman get out to use the booth. At 11.21pm another call came through to the FBI with more detailed instructions. Ending with, leave the money on the east side of the railroad crossing. Less than 15 minutes later another team saw Arthur arrive at the train station and go looking for the money. But he must have sensed that someone was watching him and that the money wasn't going to make it to the drop-off point because he rushed back

to the old mobile, got in, and drove back to the rental facility in Hackett's Town to desperately try and return that vehicle. And that's where a team of agents confronted Arthur. Cornord, he tried to play dumb, said he just rented a car for the day to go out to dinner. He was waiting for a ride from his wife which that part was true because moments later Jackie also showed up at the rental car Spot to get him not expecting to also be placed in handcuffs by a team of FBI agents And it was game over for the seals and they were walking away not a penny richer. I

What is he dead is he alive? What's up with Sydney? Well, once Jackie was in police custody, she's saying like a canary about the entire scheme. Wow, okay. She told the police, yeah, Sydney Riso was dead. No, they killed him too. Well, according to her, that was never part of the plan. It was here that the police saw an opportunity. They wanted to get Sydney's body back.

Allow his family to bury him properly. If Jackie told them exactly what had happened to Sydney and where they could find him, they'd cut her a deal. Reduce her sentencing and Jackie agreed. And here's what she said happened after they stuffed Sydney Riso in the back of that van that April morning. Well, they shot him in the arm, so he probably blood to death.

After driving nearly an hour from Sydney's house in Morristown, the couple arrived at a self-storage facility in Washington Township, New Jersey. The seals had rented a 20 by 20 foot unit for $125 a month back in February, prepping for this very moment. Well, they've been planning this for a while. Yes, it was big enough for them to back the van into so no one could see what they were unloading.

Once inside Arthur opened the wooden box and let Sydney out. His arm was severely injured from the gunshot wound he'd suffered trying to escape their grip. He needed medical attention, but that didn't gel well with their plan. Instead, Jackie poured some peroxide on his wound and Arthur stuffed him back into the box to deal with him later. All Sydney could hear was them locking the unit and driving off. Meanwhile, the sweltering heat inside the box became overwhelming, and this is just, between that and the very small holes they'd pierced into the box, Sydney was getting weaker and weaker. By midday, he was breathing in his own carbon

dioxide. Yeah. Over the next several hours, the couple returned to give him little more than a sip of water, some orange juice and some fresh air, shockingly, Sydney survived for four more days under these conditions. On May 3rd, Jackie said she left Arthur alone with Sydney while she went to get some water and some Tylenol for the executive. And when she returned, she found Arthur doing chest compressions on the man, but it was far too little, far too late. Sydney Riso was dead, which meant collecting their ransom would be even more challenging

than expected. But for now, they had bigger problems like getting rid of Sydney's body. The couple wrapped Sydney up in plastic and returned a few days later to remove him from the storage facility. Then they drove out to an area known as the New Jersey Pine Barons, which is close to a million acres of nothing but woods. If you watched the sopranos, you probably know this was a popular dumping spot for the mafia. Once they got deep enough into the forest, the couple dragged Sydney's body about three quarters of a mile further off of a path and buried him in a tick infested grave. You would think that

after he had died, they would have just stopped everything and like figured something else out. Yeah. Because now if they found out, now if they find out that you killed someone as well, I mean, it's game over. Right. After Jackie revealed the details of their crime, she helped lead the police and a canine unit back to the site of Sydney's body. After 58 days, the search for Sydney Riso was finally over and his body was recovered on June 28, 1992.

It's also pretty crazy because they had just stopped. They'd known what a known. They probably would not have ever gotten caught. I think I definitely think that they would have gotten away with it. But they just needed $18.5 million. They were set on it. During her hearing, Jackie Sill pleaded guilty to honor her deal, but she claimed she'd been manipulated by her husband into participating in a crime that she didn't want to commit. I wonder what her

husband's thinking at this point because she totally turned on him. Oh yeah. Jackie, I don't really care because with sentence to 20 years instead of the would be 40 had she not helped the police locate Sydney's body. However, she was released back in November of 2009. Are there also pleaded guilty to extortion, conspiracy, email fraud, kidnapping, and murder charges, and he was sentenced to 95 years. In 2020, the 73-year-old Arthur actually requested compassionate release when the pandemic hit, citing a number of health issues.

He claimed he had demonstrated remorse for his decisions and a, quote, lasting attempt at atonement. However, the courts disagreed and his motion was denied. Goodness. I think it's always bugs me when they try doing that. Like now you killed someone. So sorry. Yeah, like that person doesn't get to live.

Yeah, he can't bring them back. So why are we letting you out? Arthur will continue to serve out his 95 yearyear sentence while his accomplice is out. Ironically, he will likely meet the same fate he served Sydney Riso, dying behind bars with little compassion after following the same routine day in and day out. And that is the story of Sydney Riso. So she's out and just live in life? Mm-hmm.

You think she's changed her name and everything? For sure. Yeah. For sure. Served her's changed her name and everything? For sure. Yeah. For sure. Served her time, got out and said, I'm changing my name, I'm changing everything. Maybe I can find another husband who will try to get me

$18 million. I wonder how that works. When you get out, you change your name, but obviously that's like all that's still going to go in your record. You can't just go and be like, oh, I'm going to apply for a job somewhere. I wonder if it's just like a name change

that she lives under publicly, but not officially. Does that make sense? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know it makes sense. Like in her neighborhood, she's like, oh, I'm Rebecca. Yeah. But still publicly. For her social security numbers, still Jackie. Yeah.

Interesting. That's, I was hoping that he would be alive. That sucks, that's heartbreaking. I mean they lost a dad My husband. Oh my gosh and for nothing for no reason He was just working at X on just doing this thing All right, you guys that is our story for this week remember to go check out our bonus episode that we did covering Susan Powell's murder And we will see you next time with another episode. I love it. I hate it. Goodbye.