Transcript of Texas realtor murder case. Arson and fratricide trial in New Jersey. Plus, Martha Moxley podcast.

Good morning. It's the start of another workday for the Dateland team.

Busy weekend Dateland.

So let's go ahead and jump in. Our producers are swapping tips and story ideas. You see first responders trying to revive her. It was quite a scene in the court. Was there a cause of death? Welcome to Dateland True Crime Weekly. I'm Andrea Canning. It's January 22nd, and here's what's on our docket. In central New Jersey, it's week two in the trial of a businessman accused of murdering four of his relatives, including his own brother. The prosecutor played audio of the brothers arguing just hours before the murders.

I need it.

I need it.

Give me the phone, please, Paul.

In Dateline Roundup, the prosecution rests in the murder trial of former IRS agent, Brenda Banfield. And new details in the arrest of Luigi Mangioni will play you the 911 call. Is this individual still there?

Yes.

He's still in the back of our lobby by the our firm. Plus, the reporting team behind an all-new podcast series on the murder of Connecticut teenager Martha Moxley. They tell us about their exclusive interviews with Michael Skakel, the Kennedy cousin, whose conviction for the murder was tossed out after he spent 11 years in prison.

I had no idea when Martha was killed. I had no idea what happened.

I was a good fall guy.

But before all that, we're off to a wealthy suburb of San Antonio, Texas, for the in the case of murdered mom and realtor Suzanne Simpson. On October seventh, 2024, Texas realtor Suzanne Simpson did not show up to school to pick up her young daughter. A few hours later, Her friend called the police to report her missing. Clear alert has been activated for a missing mom out of almost parked. If you see her, you're asked to call police right away or 911. Tips began pouring in, including one from a neighbor who told law enforcement he'd seen Suzanne and her husband, Brad, arguing the night before she disappeared, and that he heard screams coming from the woods near the couple's home. Two days after Suzanne went missing, Brad Simpson was arrested on family violence charges. A few weeks later, even though her body has never been found, Brad was charged with murder.

This obviously is not the development that Suzanne's loved ones and community wanted to hear Brad Simpson- And Brad wasn't the only man arrested in connection with the alleged crime.

His colleague, a man by the name of James Cotter, was charged with helping him hide a weapon. Neither of the men has entered a plea. Brad Simpson appeared in court this week, and my next guest, Jordan Elder, from our affiliate, W-O-A-I, San Antonio, was there. She joins us now to tell us what she's learned about the case. Welcome to the podcast, Jordan.

Thank you for having me.

What can you tell us about Suzanne and Brad Simpson and their story, their relationship?

Brad and Suzanne were very well known in San Antonio. She was a very well known realtor, and Brad had a couple of different business ventures going on, but they had four children, the youngest of which who was about five at the time.

Yeah, and so she's 51, and she has these four children between the ages of 5 and 20, something I know well. I'm between 6 and 16, and I'm 53 years old. So it hits close to home when you look at those details. Take us back to October 6. That's the day before Suzanne missed school pickup. This is when the neighbor told police he saw the couple fighting. What were Brad and Suzanne doing that night, and what does the neighbor say that he saw?

Before any of this happened, We know that Brad and Suzanne were at this very exclusive club in Alamo Heights called the Argyll Club, and they were seen arguing inside that club. And then they left. After they got home, that's when the neighbor reported not only hearing Suzanne yelling, but watching Brad put his hands on her. She was resisting him. And he apparently saw Suzanne walk toward the woods. He was hearing yelling. He reported that at some point that night, he knew that Brad's truck left and then came back, but he didn't see Suzanne again.

Jordan, over those first few weeks, investigators conducted extensive searches in that wooded area near the Simpson's home. They also searched a local landfill but never found her body. What evidence do they say they have that a murder even took place? How did they know Suzanne didn't just up and leave?

In the indictment documents, it talks about this motorized saw that people use in construction. They found DNA on that motorized saw, and when they ran it, it ended up being Suzanne's. They used that to show the grand jury and to show the judge, We They don't believe that she is alive because of this.

This saw, was it from the home owned by Brad?

They haven't specified, but that's the implication, is that it belonged to him.

Also, investigators say Brad bought cleaning supplies in the days after the fight?

Cleaning supplies, concrete, surveillance video showed trash bags in the back of his car, and there was a large object under a tarp with some things over it, holding it in place. From the way investigators talk about it, that is not typically in his truck.

Okay, so there were also some technical things. Suzanne hasn't used her phone or credit cards. Then there's the classic She's a mom before. She would never leave her kids behind.

That's been a big detail in this case, too. Suzanne was always the one to take their youngest daughter to school, always the one to pick her up. The day after Suzanne is last seen, The fact that it was Brad on surveillance video dropping their child off at school, raised a lot of red flags. In the arrest affidavit, we know that their child went to school and mentioned to her teachers, I saw my dad hitting my mom. That was their first clue that maybe something worse had happened.

We mentioned a name off the top, James Cotter. He's the second man charged in connection with the disappearance of Suzanne. What do prosecutors say his role was in all of this?

They believe that James Cotter, who goes by Val, helped Brad hide evidence. They identified some text messages between Brad Simpson and Val Cotter saying things like, make sure and leave all of that stuff in the pump house, especially the gun. So that was the red flag for investigators talking about potentially hiding a gun. So they went and did a search of Cotter's house. They did end up finding an illegally modified weapon It was hidden behind a false wall, somewhere where it was clear that he didn't want people to find it. When they were able to finally find that weapon, they did confirm that it was Brad's gun.

Prosecutors allege that all the evidence we just talked about proves that Brad murdered Suzanne and then disposed of the body. How is the defense planning to defend him?

We got a glimpse into that strategy in court this week. The defense did a really, really long filing, and they talk about how the Almost Park Police Chief, which is the agency that was originally handling this investigation, at one point in time, let the mayor of the city review all of the evidence. So they're saying this is something that was supposed to be secure. We need to do an audit of this evidence because what if it has been tampered with? What if it's been changed? And they also said in this filing that some of the key investigators involved in this case had not disclosed some of their past infractions. The strategy that we see emerging right now is, is this evidence still pristine, and are the people presenting it going to be able to do so correctly?

Jordan, you mentioned Brad was in court. It was Tuesday. He was in court for a pre-trial hearing. Did he say anything? Did he do anything?

Especially in Bexar County, there's always a very stark contrast between the people who are in jail awaiting murder trial and other trials. The people who are waiting for murder trials are always dressed in red. So he came in, he was in his red jumpsuit and was shackled at the wrists and at the ankles. You don't typically see a lot of emotion for him, and it was the same in court this week. The other thing that has stayed really consistent is the people there to support Suzanne. It was two full rows, and they all wear pink and purple bandanas around their neck or pink and purple clothes to signify that they're with her because those were her favorite colors.

His trial, Brad's, was scheduled for February, but that changed during the hearing.

They have pushed it back. Essentially, the state said that they keep getting new waves of evidence that they need to go through. So they requested a continuance. The defense wasn't majorly excited about that. I think they really want to get this to trial, but the judge ended up granting it.

All right, we will wait a trial date. Jordan, thank you so much for this update. We'll come back to you as the trial gets underway.

Thank you so much for having me.

Coming up, a New Jersey man on trial for allegedly killing four family members. Prosecutors describe a brother's rift. For our next story, we're returning to a New Jersey courtroom and the murder trial of Paul Canaro. He's the businessman charged with the Unthinkable, the 2018 murder of his own brother and business partner, Keith, along with Keith's wife and their two small children. Prosecutors say Paul also set their home on fire, and then his own, while his wife and children were inside in an attempt to cover his tracks. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him. The prosecution has painted a portrait of a man driven to kill by greed and desperation, whose lavish lifestyle was spiraling out of control. The star witness, Keith Canero himself. Just hours before his death, Keith's voice was captured on home security video. You can hear him confronting Paul over money he suspected he stole from him.

Give me the login, Paul, so I could see where the money went.

That is Keith demanding the login information for his family's trust and an explanation for where the money went. Instead of giving it to him, prosecutors say Paul killed Keith and his family. Paul's defense team says the alleged motive is absurd, that the money in dispute was small change for the brothers, and that prosecutors have the wrong man behind bars. Here to bring us the latest from Inside the Courtroom is nj. Com reporter Kevin Shay. Kevin, thank you for joining us.

Thanks for having me.

So, Evan, this is one of the biggest cases in New Jersey in recent years. What has it been like in that courtroom?

The courtroom has been a mix of very steady, almost standard testimonies. There have also There have been several moments of high drama and heartbreak, 911 calls, body cams, some very dramatic footage and audio in the courtroom.

Okay, so we talked about opening statements on the show last week. Can you remind our listeners how the prosecution and defense set the stage for jurors in this quite complicated case? Sure.

The prosecution painted a picture that Paul was struggling financially in over his head with an expensive lifestyle, learned his business partner, brother Keith, had plans of not only off his salary, but moving on professionally. Keith then discovered that Paul was stealing from him, specifically from a life insurance trust fund. Now, authorities allege that Paul knew that he would benefit from this life insurance policy only if Keith and his entire family were dead. The defense has floated the theory that the third Canaro brother, Cory Canaro, also would benefit if Keith had died, and that Cory was actually in worse financial situation than Paul. They're definitely throwing some doubt out there that the authorities not only have the wrong brother, but didn't even investigate Cory.

The prosecution talked about the brother's relationship being in trouble, that there was this growing rift. To help them make this point, they called on a close friend of Keith by the name of Ben Palucci.

Yeah, Ben testified by the last time he spoke with Keith. They last were together Saturday before the murders. Ben worked at Amazon and was referring Keith to all sorts of positions the company. If Keith was applying to roles at Amazon, it certainly suggests that he had intentions of closing the family business with Paul and leaving him without income. During the testimony, Ben also talked about how he was trying to give Keith some advice.

Kevin, we actually have a clip of Ben talking about that to the prosecutor in court. Let's take a listen to that.

I told Keith he needed to start worrying about himself and his family, stop supporting everybody else.

When you said everybody else, do you recall whether or not you mentioned Paul It was Paul, specifically, yeah. Sometime after that, the prosecution called a forensic accounting expert, Detective Deborah Bassender to the stand, and she really spoke to the heart of the state's case against Paul about this financial trouble that she says he was in.

That's right. The detective examined Paul's bank statements in the years leading up to the murders and learned that his living expenses totaled more than $700,000. He had lease payments on three Porschas, He had mortgage payments, credit card debt. He also made payments for an Audi and an apartment for another woman. Now, this woman Paul was allegedly supporting was described in prior pretrial testimony as a woman that he was having an affair with.

This expert, the detective, also talked about what Paul did to try to make up the difference because at the time of the murders, he was in the negative with his bank accounts?

Correct. The main financial crux as she testified is that Paul stole money from the Keith Knero Insurance Trust fund.

This is the missing money Keith confronted Paul over in the hours before the murders?

Correct. They played Two calls that Keith made to Paul. We're not regular phone calls. They were actually calls that you could hear and see Keith from inside his home. He had a security system that recorded the calls. You can actually see Keith at one point calling Paul and asking for answers, and he demands a password and information from Paul, and it's very dramatic.

Paul, I'm telling you, I need it.

I need it.

I need it.

Give me the money to call him Paul, so I could see where the money went.

He needs to wake the fuck up, Paul.

It is very haunting to hear Keith's voice so close to his death. How did the defense handle this on cross-examination? Sure.

I mean, the defense says it's absurd that Paul would kill Keith and his Keith's wife and his niece and nephew. He loved those kids. He loved the family. These financial differences, the defense says, in no way means that Paul would drive over and kill Keith and wipe out his family.

The prosecution called the woman you talked about. Her name is Yizelle Restrepo, and she had a translator with her. Let's take a listen. How did you learn about the fire at Paul Canaro's house?

My mom still They sent me a very short text letting me know that there was a fire at his house.

Prosecutors characterized this relationship between Yizelle and Paul as a friendship for the jurors, so not as the other woman, which is how they described her in pretrial hearings. Can you clear that up for us?

I'm not really sure where the change came from, but it was Yizelle herself who said under direct questioning that she was friends with Paul. When she She got on the stand, she said she paid her own rent and she generally supported herself. Paul did lease her an Audi, she said, and twice they traveled to her native Columbia. She said they were friends, and then under cross-examination said best friends.

Prosecutors went on to ask Yuzelle if she had any idea that Paul was in debt. Was there ever a point in time in 2018 when Paul talked to you about any financial difficulty that he was having.

No, don't go.

No, never. How is she helping the prosecution paint this portrait of a man under financial stress?

I'm not totally sure about that. We're very early into this prosecution, clearly, who might take six weeks to fully lay out their case.

We'll have to see where they go with this. Thank you so much for bringing this to us.

Yeah, thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

Up next, it's time for Dateline Roundup, the latest in the trial of a man accused of masterminding a double murder so he could run off with a family au pair, and excerpts from the 911 call in the Luigi Mangioni case. Plus, a new podcast series on the murder of Martha Moxley, the Greenwich, Connecticut teen found beaten to death with a golf club 50 years ago. Welcome back. Joining me for this week's Roundup is Dateline producer, Veronica Mzezeca. Welcome, Veronica.

Thanks for having me.

Veronica, we're starting off this week in Fairfax County, Virginia, with a trial in a case we've talked a lot about. This is the trial of former IRS agent, Brenda Banfield, who prosecutors say murdered two people so he could be with his lover, the family Au pair. He has pleaded not guilty. The prosecution's theory involves one of the most elaborate murder plots we've come across, Veronica. Just remind us of what that plot entailed.

So prosecutors say Brendan wanted out of his marriage with Christine so he could start a life over with the family Au pair who looked after their daughter. She was a young Brazilian woman by the name of Juliana Perez Magales. And prosecutors say that, Brendan and Juliana lured Joe Ryan, who was a complete stranger, to the Banfield's home by posing as Christine on a fetish website and setting up a sexual encounter. When Ryan came to the house for that encounter, the prosecution says that Brenda shot him, stabbed Christine, and then staged the scene to make it look like Ryan had attacked his wife, and he had shot Ryan to try and stop the attack. So, yeah, definitely very complicated.

Last week, Veronica, we talked about the bombshell testimony of the au pairre Giuliana, Brandon's lover and alleged partner in crime. She flipped on him before trial and agreed to testify against in return for reduced charges. She has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection to the death of Joe Ryan, the man they allegedly lured to the house. We were all a bit surprised that the prosecution put Giuliana on the stand, the au pair, so quickly on day one of testimony. What else did we see after that from the prosecution?

Yeah, so the prosecution's case has been much more technical since then. They've called a series of timeline witnesses to try and corroborate Giuliana's story, like the manager of the gun range where she said, Brenda took her shooting. Otherwise, it's been mostly forensic experts testifying about the crime scene. Possibly the idea here is that the jury might wonder about Giuliana's credibility, but physical evidence can't be explained away.

How did the defense counter these findings?

Brenda's attorney tried to paint a picture of a messy investigation, pressing all of the prosecution's expert witnesses on what was tested and what was not and the integrity of the crime scene. The defense strategy here is to create doubt for the jury.

Okay, so the defense started calling its first witnesses on Wednesday, including police officers and a digital forensics expert. We'll report back on what they have to say and be on the lookout for closing statements and a verdict. For our next story, Veronica, we're heading to South Georgia, where a verdict has been reached in the Susan Embert trial. This is the case we told you about a few weeks ago involving a woman who was accused of fatally shooting her husband, Jake, and she's accused of staging Jake's death to look like a suicide. Veronica, this has been a long journey for everyone in this case.

Yes. This is the third time that Susan Embert has stood trial for the death of her husband.

So, Veronica, what did the jury decide?

After about three and a half hours of deliberation over two days, they came back with a guilty verdict.

How did Jake's family take that? How are they doing? I know they've been pushing for justice for him for years.

Jake's daughter, Rachel Embert, and and her in law, Katherine, both gave victim impact statements to the court. Katherine talked about how Jake's son has dealt with his death.

I want you to know what you did, what you stole, what you broke, did not leave him broken. He's since picked up those pieces that you have shattered. You see, now he is an officer of the law. The laws you broke, he now enforces. He arrests and puts away the people who do the things that you have done.

What's next for Susan? Will she appeal?

Her sentencing hearing is scheduled for January 28th, and her defense attorney He says they do plan to appeal, cite concerns of the 911 call that was played in court.

Okay, we'll keep an eye out for that. Speaking of 911 calls, for our last story, we are turning to the case of Luigi Mangioni. He is the man accused of gunning down United Health care CEO, Brian Thompson, outside a Manhattan hotel in December 2024, prompting a nationwide manhunt. Last week, local Altuna station, WTAJ, a CBS affiliate, got its hands on the 911 call leading up his arrest. First, Veronica, just set the scene for us of where this call was made and why.

The police released several surveillance images of the suspect the day after the shooting. Four days later, a McDonald's manager in Altuna, Pennsylvania, called 911 to tell them that customers were complaining about a man that looked like the suspected shooter, and the manager said she didn't know what to do.

Okay, let's take a listen to some of that 911 call.

I have a customer here that some other customers were suspicious of that he looked like the CEO shooter from New York. They're just really upset, and they're like, Coming to me, and I was like, Well, I can't approach him. No, of course not. Is this individual still there? Yes. He's still in the back of our lobby by the bathroom. But he's wearing a black, sweater jacket with a medical mask and a tan, khaki-colored beanie.

The call was over five minutes long, and the operator stayed on the phone with the manager until police arrived. That's when Mangioni was arrested. He faces both federal and state charges for murder and stalking, to which he has pleaded not guilty.

How law enforcement handled that arrest has been the subject of court hearings we've talked about on the podcast. Luigi Mangioni's defense argued that the police illegally searched his backpack without a warrant and that his Miranda rights weren't read to him before they questioned him. Veronica, what's the latest on There's another hearing scheduled for this tomorrow, Friday, to determine whether the content of Mangione's backpack could be included in the trial.

That could be a big deal because police found potentially incriminating items inside, including a loaded 3D printed handgun and a notebook with writing that was critical of insurance companies. Another quick update, we do have a possible trial date. The judge said she expects the federal trial to begin in December this year or January, if the death penalty is still on the table. If not, the trial could begin as soon as October. Either way, she expects jury selection to begin around September eighth.

Okay, we're getting closer. Thank you, Veronica, for that and for all of these updates. Much appreciated. Thank you. In 1975, the body of 15-year-old Martha Moxley was found in the backyard of her Greenwich, Connecticut home. She'd been beaten to death with a golf club. Since then, her murder has horrified and has fixed the country, in part because 25 years later, the man arrested for the crime was related to one of America's most famous families, the Kennedy's.

Kennedy nephew Michael Skakel, now 39, charged with murdering his Greenwich, Connecticut, neighbor Martha Moxley.

In 2002, a jury found Michael Skakel guilty of killing Martha. Michael always maintained his innocence, and in 2018, the Connecticut Supreme Court threw out his conviction on the grounds that he had received ineffective of assistance of counsel. Two years later, prosecutors dropped the charges against him altogether. Now, 50 years after the murder, the question still remains, will there ever be justice for Martha Moxley? For one of my next guests, reporter Andrew Goldman, that question became something of an obsession. He poured over the case file, unearthing police interviews, investigative reports, and even Martha's diary. He also persuaded people to talk about the case who had never spoken before, in including Michael Skakel himself.

I had no idea when Martha was killed. I had no idea what happened.

I was a good fall guy. You can listen to all of that and more in Dead Certain: The Martha Moxley murder, an All-New 12-Part podcast from NBC News Studios. Andrew is here, along with the show's executive producer, Alexa Danner, to talk about what they found out. Thanks for joining us, Andrew and Alexa.

It's my great pleasure. Thank you so much for having us.

Happy to be here. Why both of you think that this case just received so much attention over the years?

I think, first of all, this story, obviously, it originates in this really exclusive enclave of Connecticut. Martha was an attractive female blonde, which, as you know, especially historically, the media was very interested in covering those kinds of stories. But I think the real reason is that there have just been so many milestones along the way. Like with every year that passes, there's new suspects, there's new twists in the case, there's new revelations, new characters get involved.

This is a case 50 years old, and you're doing a podcast about it. How do you go about that? A lot of people, I would imagine, have maybe died at this point. Memories fade.

A lot of people have died, but I had the advantage of becoming close to certain members of the Skakel family, and I think that gained their trust in a certain way. Michael Skakel, of course, when he was tried, did not testify. So his voice was very much a mystery. But this is a man who I for 50 years has been really, really wanting to talk about his case. And he's had very smart lawyers saying, You'd be out of your mind if you talked about this case.

Michael does have a lot to say. He didn't become a suspect in the case, a real suspect until the late '90s. But even prior to that, he had a really complex and traumatic life. You hear a lot about it, that in the podcast, what he's been through personally.

He literally kicked me from one room through the bathroom, through Nanny's room, and into the back hallway against the wall.

I remember having my hands over my head and my mother just saying, Jesus Christ, quit kicking the kid. Quit kicking the kid. You're going to kill him.

Andrew, you mentioned also you had excerpts from Martha's Diary. So what did you learn?

Well, what's interesting about Martha's Diary is actually they introduced it into evidence in the trial. But when you look at it, you find a lot of clues, none of which actually point towards Michael. I think that you meet a lot of characters and a lot of situations in her diary that would suggest that perhaps there were dangers that had never been investigated.

We use Martha's Diary in the podcast as a way to bring Martha to life. We have her entries voiced by an actor, and we were very intentional about trying to give her a voice because she cannot speak from the grave. There's no recordings, there's no tapes of her.

Martha is the only person who's never had a voice in this case. And by listening to these incredibly personal, very, very touching diaries, I I think that finally you can really get a sense of this incredibly lively, interesting young 15-year-old. You believe, Andrew, that there is certainly room to look at other suspects here? I don't think it's going to be a huge spoiler to say that I don't believe that Michael Skakel should have been in prison for this crime.

In the last episode, you have some compelling new physical evidence. I know you don't want to give too much away, but there's a mysterious blood stain that you talk about.

So it was incredibly compelling, and it was something I feel like the Greenwich police didn't properly follow up on.

Very intriguing. Okay, for our listeners and your listeners, you can binge all episodes of Dead Certain: The Martha Moxley murder, wherever you get your podcast. Asks Andrew and Alexa, thank you for joining us.

I'm so grateful for your interest.

Thanks so much, Andrea.

That's it for this episode of Dateland True Crime Weekly. To get ad-free listening for all our podcasts, subscribe to Dateland Premium. Coming up this Friday on Dateland, I've got a brand new episode for you. A suspicious house fire in Texas leaves a mother dead. But once her killer is behind bars, investigators wonder if more than one person was involved, especially after a murder for hire plot is uncovered. Something's going to happen, because that's my only way out. Watch Secrets in the Ashes, Friday at 9: 8 Central on NBC. Thanks for listening. Dateline True Crime Weekly is produced by Carson Cummins, Caroline Casey, and Keanne Reid. Our associate producers are Ellery Gladstone-Groth and Aria Young. Our senior producer is Liz Brown-Kurloff. Production and fact-checking help by Audrey Abrahams. Veronica Mzezeca is our digital producer. Rick Kwan is our sound designer. Original music by Jessie McGinty. Paul Ryan is executive producer, and Liz Cole is senior executive producer of Dateland.

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