Tuesday, Jan 4, 2022 • 36min
New Year's Day (Mary Greco)
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An 82-year-old nun was found dead inside her home on New Year’s Day. Did her faith play into motive, was it personal, or was this a truly random attack? An innocuous clue leads investigators to the truth.
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(4)
Scott Weinberger
Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
Eric Clifford
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Transcript
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Eric Clifford
00:00
We were just stunned. We were stunned. We were trying to figure out how the blanket got on her, why she was there like she was. Who in our community would do this?
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Scott Weinberger
00:22
I'm Scott Weinberger, Investigative Journalist and former Deputy sheriff.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
00:27
I'm Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi, former New York City
Homicide
prosecutor and host of Investigation Discovery's True Conviction.Share
Scott Weinberger
00:34
And this is "Anatomy Of Murder."
Share
00:39
This is our first episode of 2022. And we hope each and every one of you had a joyous holiday season and spend some quality time with family and friends. I know that we both did.
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Speaker 4
00:54
The
New Year
is so often a time of renewal of positivity getting ready with those New Year's
resolutions for the upcoming year. But sometimes those feelings of hope or plans for the future can be cut short. And that's what happened in today's story.Share
Scott Weinberger
01:13
Today's case is about a well loved gentlewoman of deep faith. But on
New Year's
Day in 2013 she was found dead. And to help us tell the story, we spoke to Schenectady
as Chief of Police, Eric Clifford who at the time was a Detective Lieutenant.Share
Eric Clifford
01:31
There was a really heavy snowstorm a few days before and it was
New Year's
Day. It's generally a day for everybody to relax after New Year's
Eve
wishing in the New Year
. It's a day that you could either relax yourself and catch up on a lot of desk work or you can go out into the field and get a lot of work done there.Share
Scott Weinberger
01:52
You know, I remember my days in uniform working on
New Year's
Day and they were always very quiet and I'm sure it's that way at police agencies all over the country, including in Schenectady
New York
.Share
Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
02:03
But this
New Year's
Day was going to be anything but quiet for Eric.Share
Eric Clifford
02:07
We had been working on a another
Homicide
case that happened the previous fall when we heard the call come in.Share
Scott Weinberger
02:17
The 911 caller would come from a man who said he hadn't seen his tenant for awhile, which to him was really unusual and while her car was also missing, he decided to head up to her apartment to check on her and to his shock, it looked like a murder scene.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
02:34
So, as soon as that call comes in, officers obviously race over to that scene.
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Scott Weinberger
02:38
It was a modest two family home on a quiet street and if you walk up to the house, the door on the left would lead to the main level where the landlord of the house lived. The door on the right would lead upstairs to an apartment.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
02:51
There was nothing obvious in general as far as things being out of place, but it didn't take long before something indeed caught their eye. There was no sign of forced entry.
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Scott Weinberger
03:04
The fact that the door didn't have any evidence of being pried open or kicked open. The first thing that comes to mind to me is potentially the killer may have been known to the victim and simply let in.
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Eric Clifford
03:16
I remember walking upstairs into her home and her home was very clean.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
03:21
There was not much furniture inside.
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Eric Clifford
03:24
I remember seeing that she had some things neatly stacked on the floor in a very organized manner.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
03:31
Often when you have an apartment that is still pristine, it generally says to me this is not going to be a very prolonged interaction. Whatever it was this crime, it wasn't like it took hours, there wasn't a fight or a scuffle or an attack that went from room to room because then you would have things generally out of place.
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Scott Weinberger
03:51
I've seen this in a number of
Crime Scenes
when you have a spotless in this case, a house, it's much easier for things that don't seem like they belong to stick out. You know one quick example of that is the case that we covered for our TV show True Conviction where the victim's apartment was completely spotless and when investigators noticed an open orange juice container left on the kitchen counter, it was absolutely out of place. And as it turns out, they located fingerprints on that orange juice container and that's how the suspect was caught.Share
Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
04:21
And while the scene may have been clean, the crime was indeed gruesome. As officers went from the living room now to the dining room they made a grim discovery.
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Eric Clifford
04:33
She was laying on the ground. She was visibly deceased. I believe she was wrapped up in a blanket. We were trying to figure out how the blanket got on her, why she was there, like she was.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
04:46
Scott, when you hear about a blanket covering the person, what does that say to you?
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Scott Weinberger
04:53
It is a telltale sign of a killer who does not want to look at the results of their actions, somebody who potentially knows the victim.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
05:02
I also look at it that in addition to that, it sometimes talks about someone who is almost sloppily trying to cover up their crime and while obviously this doesn't cover up a body laying on the ground in the living room, it at least is that cursory attempt to make it seem like they're doing something to hide what they have done.
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Scott Weinberger
05:21
The landlord told officers that the victim had not been seen for two days and that seemed to be backed up by their observations of the condition of her body.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
05:29
At first look at their victims, she appeared to be a woman approximately in her'80s, she was fully dressed and she had been
Stabbed
. There was a Knife
actually still sticking out from her neck.Share
Scott Weinberger
05:44
Stabbing someone through the neck, you know, there's little chance of survival. It's very definitive and really depending on the wound, it's possible in this case that the suspect and the victim could have been eye to eye, which if true, supports the theory that this attack was personal.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
06:01
In addition to that she had suffered extensive defensive wounds.
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Scott Weinberger
06:06
But what's incredibly surprising is who the victim was.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
06:12
Her name was Mary Greco, she was eighty-two years old. She lived alone and when police learned of her profession, they were shocked.
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Eric Clifford
06:20
She was a retired Nun. We were just stunned that number one, that this would happen to her. But the type of violence that Mary succumbed to is is not common in our community. It was a pretty
Violent Crime
. It was a personal crime. Who in our community would do this?Share
Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
06:38
Scott, just hearing that. Tell me your reaction when you heard that fact about Mary's life.
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Scott Weinberger
06:44
You know, we've seen these in homicides where the victims or children or a random victim of a
Homicide
who really didn't ever have a chance to defend themselves. It leaves you thinking that if they would take a life of an eighty-two year old Nun, no one is safe.Share
07:01
Someone like Chief Clifford who even at this point in 2013 had a lot of police experience. You'd imagine it would be hard to surprise him about anything. While this crime scene did both as a Detective and as a member of the
Schenectady
community. As he began working on the case. Chief Clifford even uncovered a personal connection to Mary Greco.Share
Eric Clifford
07:26
Some people that I knew growing up were relatives of her and one was a friend of mine who lived a couple doors down from me and Mary had helped him in his life as he became estranged from his parents. And then there was another person that I knew from school, she was a family friend of Mary's and her mom was still friends with Mary.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
07:46
You have to wonder, you know you have to do the job the same way whether you know the person or not and it can certainly never impact you in any way. But I've got to think that there's a different level of something pulling at you or tugging at you when you have that personal thread that you want to make sure you not only get it right, but that you get the job done and justice for all involved.
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Eric Clifford
08:09
We were all really shocked to know that there was a killer in our community who did this to her.
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Scott Weinberger
08:16
And just to give you a sense of how much this
Homicide
rocked the community. Here's what Chief Clifford heard from one of Mary's other elder neighbors.Share
Eric Clifford
08:25
I remember that she was certainly retired. She was an older German lady and we went over and interviewed her because she was alone and she asked me to speak to her son on the phone which I did. And I had a long conversation with him and he offered to put up five thousand dollars as a reward to help find the killer.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
08:46
Think for a moment how scary this situation must be not even just for neighbors in the community, But now someone who is similarly situated, and while again someone being in their 70s or 80s and I certainly can say my parents are not going to want to hear that they are weak or not capable of taking care of themselves, but that does add a different level of vulnerability, especially when there aren't loved ones nearby.
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Scott Weinberger
09:11
You know, I'd be asking if someone is targeting the elderly in that neighborhood, there is a killer on the loose and you have to look at everyone in the community, are they safe?
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Eric Clifford
09:22
You know, typically the first things that go through our head our and been desperate enough to do this and then think twice about it and then you say, okay well you know before I leave I got to take care of her and wrap her up.
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Scott Weinberger
09:34
As difficult as it is to imagine who would want to kill a Nun. You also have to look at the fact of how many people they may come in contact with on a daily basis.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
09:44
This is what she did with her day to day, she was all about helping others. So, she certainly was in contact with many people in the regular course of her days. So, in this case based on who she was, it really left the field wide open.
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Scott Weinberger
10:00
While the killer could be anyone police do know this, the killer had access to the apartment and would have been someone in Mary's circle.
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Eric Clifford
10:11
One of the first things that we started doing was started looking at Mary and anybody that's close to her that might want to do this.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
10:18
And while nothing was sticking out to them, that was so obvious, they did go to the first person that at least was obvious for them to talk to potentially, to focus on. And that was someone that did know Mary. They had access, they actually live not only close by but in the same building and it's the same person who reported the crime. Her landlord.
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10:52
It was clear to law enforcement this case was going to be challenging for them.
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Scott Weinberger
10:57
The way the scene was described was enough to bring several officers to the scene that day, including Daryl Mallard who was a Sergeant and Supervisor on duty that day.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
11:06
And certainly for this patrol supervisor, it was actually a first for him.
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Daryl Mallard
11:11
It was probably one of my first and only real stranger
Homicide
that we really had no known suspects. We spoke to the landlord to confirm his presence within the house, what he did.Share
Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
11:26
The landlord actually lived in the same building as his tenant, the deceased.
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Scott Weinberger
11:31
At this point you may be asking, is it reasonable at all to suspect the landlord? And the answer is yes. He found the body. He reported the crime and had access. So, he's certainly someone that I would want to talk to. But you need to get information before really moving the investigation with him any further.
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Daryl Mallard
11:51
I definitely kind of put that in my head. Did he cover her? Or you know, did the killer cover her? I wanted to ask him if he had disturbed the crime scene in any way. Obviously that's going to be very important.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
12:04
And again, when we say, does it make sense to look at him? Everyone is potentially a suspect that could at least fit some of the generalities. So, while there is nothing else pegging him as a killer in this case and by all accounts they had a very friendly relationship. It is going to be the obvious starting point because at that point at least that's all they had.
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Daryl Mallard
12:25
We talked to the landlord and his wife. They said that they had attended a
New Year's
Eve party so they weren't home really. Nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.Share
Scott Weinberger
12:35
With what appeared to be a pretty solid alibi. The landlord gives them a potential lead. Someone that Mary had been seen with days before her body was discovered.
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Daryl Mallard
12:44
He told us that there was a young black male that had been doing some snow shoveling. He had dug out her car for her.
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Scott Weinberger
12:53
In 2012 in to January of 2013. Two big storms have hit the area, one at the end of December and one in January. So, the snow was really piling up. It was not unusual for people to walk up and down the street in
Schenectady
to offer shoveling snow for residents, especially to women. What about an eighty-two year old Nun? Absolutely, that would make sense. But being a snow shoveler doesn't mean you're a killer.Share
Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
13:20
And what makes this a good lead is just because it is a lead. There's no one obvious that's sticking out to them. There's no one that had a motive or a problem with Mary Greco. And so while vague, it certainly is something for them to go on.
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Daryl Mallard
13:36
He gave us a clothing description. He explained what kind of shovel he was using. So, that was basically it as far as, you know, a suspect description.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
13:46
But again, let's flip it around for a moment because there's always also the possibility that the landlord is telling police something maybe to throw them off his trail.
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Daryl Mallard
13:58
At that point. You know, it was a fairly large storm. So, there was a lot of people out offering assistance. So, it wasn't uncommon thing to see around that time is people going around shoveling driveways.
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Scott Weinberger
14:09
Both the landlord and his wife were separated and interviewed by investigators who quickly determined that both of their stories were lining up, which is a pretty good indication that they were telling the truth.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
14:20
So, now police are starting to try to speak to people that actually knew Mary to see where that would lead.
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Daryl Mallard
14:26
It really didn't generate, you know, a lot of intelligence for us, and there wasn't really anything valuable that came out of the neighborhood canvass.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
14:35
Here's something interesting while this investigation is going to be challenging, police and
Schenectady
, do have a crime fighting tool that many cities don't and certainly didn't then.Share
Eric Clifford
14:47
One of the things we pride ourselves here in the city of
Schenectady
is a camera project that we partnered with our district attorney.Share
Scott Weinberger
14:55
Schenectady
is one of a handful of urban cities in the U. S that has an extensive network of street cameras.Share
Eric Clifford
15:01
The system just grew over four hundred cameras.
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Scott Weinberger
15:05
It's not only beneficial and potentially capturing a crime in progress. It's also useful when determining how suspects travel to and from a crime scene.
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Eric Clifford
15:14
The cameras are a combination of 360° cameras, fixed cameras, PTZ cameras which are ones that just rotate on a timer.
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Scott Weinberger
15:24
It could capture a vehicle's description, a license tag.
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Eric Clifford
15:27
It's one of the best crime fighting tools that we have.
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Scott Weinberger
15:30
It's become an effective piece of evidence in the prosecution of the case. The reason it's pretty obvious jurors react to photographic and video evidence. It can be powerful.
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Eric Clifford
15:42
Now the camera systems are very helpful to us both with solving crimes and exonerating certain people from crimes where they may become a suspect.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
15:52
When I think about what it was like when I started prosecuting which was in 1995 up until the time that I stopped in 2017. When I think about the difference in evidence and what you started to get from those photographs, one the absence of anything could lead you somewhere. But also it's the what it wasn't only just the who. It might show you a car, it might show a scenario, might help piece together a timeline.
Share
16:17
There's so many different ways that these cameras provide useful that it really changed the game for us as far as law enforcement and coming out of a city that had cameras on many, many street corners. By the time that I left, just hearing that that's what's
Schenectady
had certainly gave them a boost in moving forward hopefully in this investigation.Share
Scott Weinberger
16:36
But there was an issue where Mary lived wasn't in a high crime area.
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Eric Clifford
16:42
It just so happened to be that in this part of the city, we didn't have a lot of cameras in that area.
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Scott Weinberger
16:48
And the extensive network of street cameras had no coverage on her street.
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Eric Clifford
16:52
Closest camera was a ways away. So, it was not really going to help us.
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Scott Weinberger
16:57
Investigators did however, track down her car.
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Daryl Mallard
17:01
One of our detectives found it in a church parking lot were able to track its movement through the city.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
17:08
But it really didn't get them that far because one thing about video surveillance, there's all different types of quality and the cameras and this one whether it's because of the equipment or when it captured these images, it was grainy and what they got was vague. They could really only telling piece together that it was indeed her car and that the person who driving it was a male.
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Scott Weinberger
17:28
The question many in the community had was if someone was willing to murder an eighty-two year old Nun, what else would they be willing to do?
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Eric Clifford
17:36
The murder of a Nun in a nice neighborhood? It had everybody on edge at that time.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
17:40
And nobody had any clue who had done it. That person is still out there in the community on the loose.
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Scott Weinberger
17:48
But a razor sharp observation from Darryl while walking through the crime scene is going to lead investigators to the killer. As Darryl was doing his walk through the house, not much looked at first out of place but there was a few things that stood out was the television that was unplugged and appeared to have been moved.
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Daryl Mallard
18:08
The suspect was probably doing something with her T. V. Maybe you know trying to remove it or unplug it or something like that.
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Scott Weinberger
18:16
Next on the floor in the kitchen was a box of pastries that had been overturned.
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Daryl Mallard
18:21
What I was thinking is that she was making him a little mixture of treats you know, thanking him for doing her driveway.
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Scott Weinberger
18:28
But further into the house, Darryl made the most surprising Discovery of all.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
18:43
So, as Darryl walked from room to room looking at this pristine apartment. Something caught his eye.
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Daryl Mallard
18:52
So, when I went to check the bathroom and the toilet seat was up. That was something that really stood out to me. I knew she lived here by herself and it's not typical for a female to leave the toilet seat up.
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Scott Weinberger
19:05
As a male. It's a habit you develop when you're young, it becomes second nature, you lift up the seat. So, to Darryl, the observation meant that the last person to use her bathroom was likely a man and it could be the killer.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
19:19
And not to make light, but I have to for a moment because while it certainly is a habit that many men develop being a woman, it's also a pet peeve when they don't learn to put it down. But here it was exactly that thing. It was that small something that caught this investigator's eye that let them zero in to help catch the killer.
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Scott Weinberger
19:40
We all know in order to lift up a toilet seat. Most people use their hands. So, now the question is what forensic evidence could have been left on that seat. Perhaps a fingerprint of our killer.
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Daryl Mallard
19:52
I walked through the house with one of our evidence technicians, Detective Jeremy Pace. He shined his light around the toilet seat and on the chrome toilet seat plunger you could see a perfect print was left on the chrome handle.
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Scott Weinberger
20:11
I have to be completely honest. This is great police work, the kind that you would see in a Hollywood script.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
20:18
And it's exactly this type of thing that I love about evidence. It is something that is seemingly so ordinary, just the way that the toilet seat is, that is just that piece that might prove pivotal in an investigation.
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Daryl Mallard
20:30
Detective Pace went and he was able to lift that print.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
20:35
And here's the thing about fingerprints, there are different techniques, but very often it's something obvious to the eye. You could almost see it and then they use what's almost like picture a piece of scotch tape that almost they roll it over it lifted and now that is the thing that is examined.
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Scott Weinberger
20:50
I must admit I was not the best fingerprint lifter. I would get all that black powder all over my white uniform, but it really does take patience to be able to identify what could be lifted as a solid latent.
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Daryl Mallard
21:03
We certainly got lucky, and Jeremy Pace being able to lift that print from the seat was a huge victory for us.
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Scott Weinberger
21:10
The prints were rushed to the lab and investigators had asked them to really see if they could do it as quick as they can. And those results would only take a couple of days. And as it turns out, the lab was able to process a really good looking thumbprint. But the next challenge would be, you need to match it to someone.
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Daryl Mallard
21:30
And it came back with a positive hit. We're at the same time they gave us a name Michael Briggs.
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Scott Weinberger
21:37
The thumbprint was matched to thirty-seven year old Michael Briggs originally from
New York City
. He had just settled in the city of Schenectady
, just a few months prior to the murder.Share
Eric Clifford
21:47
Once we had that name, that was really the beginning parts of us trying to figure out, okay, we strongly believe he's a suspect because unless there's a connection explaining why his thumbprint is on the toilet seat, he had no reason to be in the house. So, we need to figure out real quick as much as we could about Michael Briggs.
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Scott Weinberger
22:06
This is the most significant piece of forensic evidence in the case so far and it is a huge leap forward in the investigation, but there's more to be done. A thumbprint puts Briggs inside her apartment, but it doesn't mean he killed Mary Greco. Investigators had to figure out was he the same man witnesses saw shoveling snow outside and standing on the sidewalk with the victim just days before her body was found. Or could it be two different people.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
22:33
So, now police had the name of whose print that was. But now they had to look into who he was. And when they looked at him, he was someone who had had multiple contacts with law enforcement in the past.
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Eric Clifford
22:45
Michael Briggs fingerprints were in the system because he was previously incarcerated.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
22:50
Here's just a couple of things about his priors. According to the prosecutor in this case, Briggs had been convicted in 1997 for a burglary on
Long Island
. Also in New York
where he had tricked a twelve year old boy into letting him inside the child's home. He then tied the child to a pole, filled a suitcase with jewelry and electronics, blindfolded the child with a T shirt And sodomized him, causing physical injuries. He was also convicted of an armed robbery in which he stole the clothing of another child thirteen years old.Share
Scott Weinberger
23:21
And while his prior criminal record did not line up perfectly with the murder of Mary Greco, investigators knew they had to find Michael Briggs and take the next step in this now fast moving investigation.
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Eric Clifford
23:33
It felt different because we were trying to wrap our heads around what could Mary Greco have done that could have put her in this position, given the killer the opportunity to take her life. We were determined to try to find that out.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
23:47
Scott, how are you going to go out and find this person or at least try to after you got that match?
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Scott Weinberger
23:52
Well, we already know that three cameras had identified several areas that Briggs was known to frequent. You know, I would find the most recent picture of him available and go to those areas and approach my contacts, informants, people that I trusted at some level, but not the general public and here's why you don't want your suspect to know he's been ID'd otherwise your prime suspect in the murder of Mary Greco could be in the wind.
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Eric Clifford
24:16
When we ran his name through our local records management system, there was a recent contact with him at a home. It was probably about a half a mile, maybe three quarters of a mile away from where Mary lived. The reason his name was in our record system was that he was present when a domestic incident occurred and the officers that came to the scene put his name down on the report as a witness to this domestic.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
24:45
This is my favorite piece of this case. One, it goes to what I am such a believer in which is document and here it is that officer documenting who else was in that home for this domestic violence incidents. But by all accounts had nothing to do with Briggs yet he was there. So, they put down his name and that was the very thing. Again, one of those innocuous things that you never know what it's going to lead to or ever be used at all. But here it was the thing that was maybe going to lead them to the person responsible for this crime.
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Eric Clifford
25:17
That address happened to be a location where we did have a camera.
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Scott Weinberger
25:21
It is tremendously time consuming to go through hours and hours of surveillance tape to determine if that person walking down the street could be your suspect. But if you do hit pay dirt, the rewards of placing a potential murder suspect in custody is so worth it.
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Eric Clifford
25:38
It turned out that he was seen in the area frequenting, he was seen carrying a shovel, asking people if they wanted to have their sidewalk or driveway shoveled.
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Scott Weinberger
25:50
And then they get a break. One of our investigators through neighborhood interviews said yes, I remember that guy and he tried to sell me a crucifix.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
26:03
Now the coincidences are really starting to line up. You have Briggs fingerprint inside the apartment, you have people that say he was indeed someone who was going door to door asking people if he could shovel their driveways or their stoops. We know that Mary Greco had asked someone to shovel her driveway.
Share
26:25
She had actually made a phone call to a family member to say that the person who's going to shovel her driveway seemed nice and now you have the same person who's printed in her apartment trying to sell a crucifix. And let's not forget that Mary Greco was a Nun.
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Eric Clifford
26:42
Now that starts establishing that he was in the home most likely committed a crime there in. We started putting things together with theories, did he asked to use the bathroom? Did he attempt to steal something? Did she come upon him trying to steal something? And that's when he reacted, did he kill her in order to go through her house to see what he could take? So, these are the things that we're trying to figure out.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
27:06
Even though what is ironic and interesting to me here you have this crucifix belonging to a Nun, something that is used for her faith and in prayer. And now it is the thing that is potentially leading to her killer because of its whereabouts and who it's with after her murder. And it's also someone selling some of her most prized possessions in this case, something that she held so dear to her because it was a symbol of her faith.
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Eric Clifford
27:39
But as we confirm one thing after another, we started establishing our probable cause to say that okay, we're ready for an arrest.
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Scott Weinberger
27:47
They were able to find Michael Briggs and placed him into custody for the murder of eighty-two year old Mary Greco. And while circumstantial evidence absolutely places Michael Briggs in the victim's apartment, was that enough to convict him. Now you have him in custody and investigators want to get his side of the story. But the question was, would Michael Briggs have anything to say?
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
28:10
And there's one more piece of evidence that investigators have yet to uncover that shows who indeed killed Mary Greco.
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Scott Weinberger
28:25
While the incredible network of street cameras didn't pay off as police hoped it would, remember where Mary lived wasn't in the coverage area, but there was another camera from a neighbor that did peak the attention of investigators and pay huge dividends.
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Daryl Mallard
28:44
It was a video of someone matching the description as the landlord had described in the area on her street, on her block around the time we suspected that he encountered her offering people to shovel and we had a few different views of him.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
29:02
Now we have the when and so it is that timeline that so close in time to they believe when Mary Greco was killed, that now it is really almost too much for him to get away from.
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Scott Weinberger
29:14
I mean, you know, we both love digital forensics. I mean, it's incredible how this is advanced
Homicide
investigations and has become such a crucial part of this case. So, by putting Michael Briggs on the victim's street with a shovel in his hand, matching the description from the eyewitnesses that saw him there just days before thumbprint that Schenectady
him inside the home. As you say, the articles that were stolen from Mary's house and the direct evidence to Briggs being inside her home. The evidence to me seems so overwhelming.Share
Daryl Mallard
29:46
They gathered some more physical evidence from the scene that ultimately came back to him. The clothing that he was wearing was recovered. The shovel that he was using was recovered. So, detectives were able to put a pretty solid case together.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
29:60
So, let's put together the pieces to try to determine what exactly happened that led to her death. When you put it together, it does seem somewhat clear that she needed help clearing her driveway. This man had offered to be that person and she took him up on it and then being the person that Mary was, she offered him in probably to get him warm.
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30:24
There was two cups sitting on the table. So, whether that was for cocoa or coffee or some sort of beverage and that she had probably this tray of pastries about to feed him after he had just done this work almost as a thank you and remember what Daryl talks about that television that was on its side.
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30:43
So, that Briggs was probably in the process of stealing from her when she saw him and said something or told him to stop. And he answered her words with violence by taking an object that he used to stab her. And remember there were extensive defensive wounds. So, she tried to ward him off until he ultimately put that weapon into her neck and it cost her life.
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Daryl Mallard
31:10
They brought him in for an interview and ultimately, he essentially just said that he had nothing to do with it.
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Scott Weinberger
31:15
We'll probably never know what set Briggs off that day, but we do know from the people we spoke to for the podcast that she, even at eighty-two was in really good shape. She volunteered, help building houses, and so I'm sure that he was surprised about the resistance that she tried to put up the fact that she was trying to save her own life and the fact that she had so many defensive wounds on her body.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
31:44
He was charged with murder in the first degree and before he went to trial, he pled guilty and was sentenced to thirty years to life in prison.
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Scott Weinberger
31:54
During my conversation with Darryl. I was pretty straightforward in my admiration for his work in this case. His ability to see that clue and quickly make a determination that potential evidence could be located underneath that toilet seat and also staying focused throughout the confirmation of all the evidence and the statement his work did this case and this victim justice.
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Daryl Mallard
32:18
I certainly appreciate all the kind words that people said to me. I was given a letter of merit for the discovery, but at the end of the day I pointed out a thought to a Detective who's the one that actually had the skill and know how to lift the print. So, really I always defer a lot of credit to detective Jeremy Pace because you know, he was the one that actually pulled the print.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
32:43
What happened to Mary Greco is incredibly tragic and it is a case that has stayed with Chief Clifford and the
Schenectady
community for years.Share
Eric Clifford
32:53
The murder of a Nun in a nice neighborhood. Had everybody on edge at that time, the neighbor, a couple doors down, her son living in Minnesota, ultimately ended up selling her house and moving her to Minnesota to live with him.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
33:07
You know there is this push and pull that Chief Clifford talked about when someone returns back in to the community after having served their time in prison, they're often referred to as a returning citizen.
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Eric Clifford
33:21
We started asking ourselves, you know, how does something like this happen? And what can we do to better inform the community the public when people are released from prison, that might be joining our communities. And it's a sensitive topic because people that serve their time in prison and get released, they've done their time, they deserve a second chance, so, we don't want to re victimize them or re criminalize them when they released.
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33:47
But at the same time, we want to make sure that the community in which they are released upon has no fears that they're gonna go back to the ways that got them in prison in the first place.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
33:59
And I have to say Scott, you know, it is not an easy conversation, I don't think there is an easy answer, but it certainly is something that needs to be addressed both in conversations and in different forums on other days.
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Scott Weinberger
34:13
Sister Mary Greco's passion for her faith came at an early age and continued for decades, always helping others. And for many years she mission to Guatemala building homes, caring for the sick at their local hospitals. She said it was her calling and brought her a lifetime of joy in her last few minutes of life, Mary was still trying to extend that helping hand.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
34:40
I think about Mary Greco and how she was someone who chose to really just see the good in people and she helped change lives and she helped others. And one of those that she was helping after he at least according to her had helped her was Michael Briggs.
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Speaker 4
34:56
And for that he brutally took her life. But I think the best way to honor her memory is to not get jaded when we see these awful things and we talk about dark crimes just like this, but that we continue to see the good and know the good that's out there and the hope that these cases get solved in the hope that we have less of them. And I think it seems to me that that is exactly what Mary Greco would want us to do. So, at the start of this
New Year
, maybe that's the attitude, the optimism. The hope we should all strive for.Share
Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
35:43
Tune in next week for another new episode of "Anatomy of Murder."
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Scott Weinberger
35:47
"Anatomy of Murder" is an Audiochuck original.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
35:51
Produced and created by Weinberger Media and for 1st Ct Media.
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Scott Weinberger
35:54
Ashley Flowers and submit. David our Executive Producers.
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Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
35:59
This episode was researched and produced by Halle Lukashevich. So, what do you think chuck do you approve?
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🇮🇹 Made with love & passion in Italy. 🌎 Enjoyed everywhere
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Eric Clifford
Scott Weinberger
Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi
Daryl Mallard