Post by hi224 on Oct 3, 2019 13:02:56 GMT
Shortly after midnight on January 24, 1987, 35-year old Charlie Anderson, a veteran deputy with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, returned to his suburban home in Burbank, California with his wife, Beth, and their two sons: five-year old Michael and eleven-month old Richard. Since Beth was suffering from a back injury, she said that Charlie offered to go inside and put Michael to bed while she waited in the car with Richard. However, Beth would soon hear gunshots from the house and when she walked inside, she discovered that Charlie had been shot to death in the upstairs hallway. Michael had been tucked into bed and was unharmed, so Beth took her children and ran to a neighbour’s house to call for help.
When police arrived, they initially suspected that Charlie had been shot after walking in on a burglary. The only fingerprints found inside the residence belonged to the Anderson family and some drawers were partially open which had an item or two removed. But while some items from the home were carefully placed together, investigators found it odd that other items of greater value were just lying around in plain sight and had not been touched. The day after the murder, the Burbank Police Department received an anonymous phone call from a man who claimed to know who Charlie Anderson’s killer was. The man said he did not want the call to be traced or recorded, so the lead detective gave him his office number, but after hanging up, the caller never phoned back. Investigators have since leaned toward the burglary at the Anderson residence being staged and suspect he was murdered by someone he knew. When Charlie was found, he had a shocked, wide-eyed on his face to suggest he had been surprised or betrayed by someone. In 1999, a case against a potential suspect was presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, who said there was insufficient evidence to file charges. While Beth Anderson has never been named as a suspect, she aroused suspicion by not allowing police to re-interview her in order to clarify details about the night of the murder. Beth passed away in January 2019.
On March 31, 1988, 43-year old Carol Montecalvo was shot to death inside her home located only four blocks away from the Anderson residence. Her 46-year old husband, Dan Montecalvo, was shot in the lower back, but survived and claimed that he and Carol were attacked by intruders in an apparent burglary gone wrong. Investigators initially believed that the crime might be connected to the Anderson murder, but soon came to suspect that Dan staged the attack by murdering his wife and inflicting a gunshot wound on himself. Dan was an ex-con who originally met Carol while serving time in prison for bank robbery, owed $67,000 in gambling debts to various casinos, and stood to collect $600,000 in life insurance from Carol’s death. One police officer friend of Dan’s claimed that after Charlie Anderson’s murder took place, Dan kept asking him questions and pressing for details about the crime, creating speculation that Dan used it as inspiration to murder his own wife and make it look like both crimes were committed by the same perpetrators. Investigators gradually built a case against Dan and while the murder weapon was never found, they eventually found a hollowed-out book Dan owned with a secret compartment which they suspected he used to hide the gun after shooting Carol. Dan was charged and convicted of his wife's murder in 1990.
However, a neighbour named Suzan Brown came forward and confessed to being responsible for the crime. Brown claimed that she and a male accomplice were burglarizing the Montecalvo residence to search for money to buy drugs, but were surprised when the couple arrived home. But Brown’s story kept changing and the district attorney’s office did not consider her to be credible, so they dismissed the confession and Dan died in prison in 2013. But interestingly enough, Brown also confessed to being present for Charlie Anderson’s murder and mentioned that her accomplice left a jacket behind at the scene. In fact, a green windbreaker had been found next to a fence in the backyard of the Anderson residence, a detail which was never released publicly. In spite of this, the Burbank P.D. also dismissed her story and does not believe she was involved in Charlie’s murder.
I cover this case on this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold” podcast:
trailwentcold.com/2019/10/02/the-trail-went-cold-episode-143-charlie-anderson-and-carol-montecalvo/
Sources:
unsolved.com/gallery/charlie-anderson/
www.dailynews.com/2007/01/29/probe-ongoing-in-cops-slaying/
articles.burbankleader.com/2002-01-26/news/export11305_1_burbank-police-off-duty-police-officer-tim-stehr
articles.latimes.com/1988-04-02/news/mn-524_1_hearing-shots
unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Dan_Montecalvo
books.google.ca/books?id=GnVGDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT8&dq=carol+montecalvo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiSvvrfh_rkAhUKTd8KHR6nC9EQ6AEIKjAA#v=onepage&q=carol%20montecalvo&f=false
When police arrived, they initially suspected that Charlie had been shot after walking in on a burglary. The only fingerprints found inside the residence belonged to the Anderson family and some drawers were partially open which had an item or two removed. But while some items from the home were carefully placed together, investigators found it odd that other items of greater value were just lying around in plain sight and had not been touched. The day after the murder, the Burbank Police Department received an anonymous phone call from a man who claimed to know who Charlie Anderson’s killer was. The man said he did not want the call to be traced or recorded, so the lead detective gave him his office number, but after hanging up, the caller never phoned back. Investigators have since leaned toward the burglary at the Anderson residence being staged and suspect he was murdered by someone he knew. When Charlie was found, he had a shocked, wide-eyed on his face to suggest he had been surprised or betrayed by someone. In 1999, a case against a potential suspect was presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, who said there was insufficient evidence to file charges. While Beth Anderson has never been named as a suspect, she aroused suspicion by not allowing police to re-interview her in order to clarify details about the night of the murder. Beth passed away in January 2019.
On March 31, 1988, 43-year old Carol Montecalvo was shot to death inside her home located only four blocks away from the Anderson residence. Her 46-year old husband, Dan Montecalvo, was shot in the lower back, but survived and claimed that he and Carol were attacked by intruders in an apparent burglary gone wrong. Investigators initially believed that the crime might be connected to the Anderson murder, but soon came to suspect that Dan staged the attack by murdering his wife and inflicting a gunshot wound on himself. Dan was an ex-con who originally met Carol while serving time in prison for bank robbery, owed $67,000 in gambling debts to various casinos, and stood to collect $600,000 in life insurance from Carol’s death. One police officer friend of Dan’s claimed that after Charlie Anderson’s murder took place, Dan kept asking him questions and pressing for details about the crime, creating speculation that Dan used it as inspiration to murder his own wife and make it look like both crimes were committed by the same perpetrators. Investigators gradually built a case against Dan and while the murder weapon was never found, they eventually found a hollowed-out book Dan owned with a secret compartment which they suspected he used to hide the gun after shooting Carol. Dan was charged and convicted of his wife's murder in 1990.
However, a neighbour named Suzan Brown came forward and confessed to being responsible for the crime. Brown claimed that she and a male accomplice were burglarizing the Montecalvo residence to search for money to buy drugs, but were surprised when the couple arrived home. But Brown’s story kept changing and the district attorney’s office did not consider her to be credible, so they dismissed the confession and Dan died in prison in 2013. But interestingly enough, Brown also confessed to being present for Charlie Anderson’s murder and mentioned that her accomplice left a jacket behind at the scene. In fact, a green windbreaker had been found next to a fence in the backyard of the Anderson residence, a detail which was never released publicly. In spite of this, the Burbank P.D. also dismissed her story and does not believe she was involved in Charlie’s murder.
I cover this case on this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold” podcast:
trailwentcold.com/2019/10/02/the-trail-went-cold-episode-143-charlie-anderson-and-carol-montecalvo/
Sources:
unsolved.com/gallery/charlie-anderson/
www.dailynews.com/2007/01/29/probe-ongoing-in-cops-slaying/
articles.burbankleader.com/2002-01-26/news/export11305_1_burbank-police-off-duty-police-officer-tim-stehr
articles.latimes.com/1988-04-02/news/mn-524_1_hearing-shots
unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Dan_Montecalvo
books.google.ca/books?id=GnVGDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT8&dq=carol+montecalvo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiSvvrfh_rkAhUKTd8KHR6nC9EQ6AEIKjAA#v=onepage&q=carol%20montecalvo&f=false