FBI pursues leads in decade-old case

Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA

Investigators said they have promising leads in the case of a couple who vanished from a Philadelphia bar a decade ago, but officials marked the mystery’s 10th anniversary Thursday by again pleading with the public for help.

The FBI believes Danielle Imbo and Richard Petrone Jr. were the victims of foul play, likely in a scheme orchestrated by more than one person, Assistant Special Agent in Charge Christian Zajac said at a news conference.

Imbo, of Mount Laurel, N.J., and Petrone, of Philadelphia, had been dating and were last seen leaving a South Street nightclub Feb. 19, 2005. Petrone’s pickup truck hasn’t turned up, and their bank accounts weren’t touched.

“A 3,000-pound truck and two individuals do not simply disappear without a trace,” Zajac said. “We are confident there is someone out there who knows what happened to Danielle and Richard.”

Law-enforcement agencies in Pennsylvania and New Jersey have been “aggressively pursuing” leads developed over the past two years, Zajac said, though he declined to be specific. No one has been ruled out as a suspect, he said.

Petrone’s mother, Marge Petrone, made a tearful plea at the news conference for more information.

“Nobody did this by themselves,” she said afterward. “Maybe after 10 years, we’re hoping loyalties have changed.”

Imbo was 34 when she went missing. The mother of a year-old son, she was estranged from her husband. He has since moved out of the region, according to investigators.

Officials said members of Imbo’s family were unable to attend the news conference. They did not immediately return calls for comment.

Petrone was a 35-year-old father of a teenager when he disappeared. He worked at his parents’ bakery in Ardmore, just outside Philadelphia.

“It doesn’t get easier, it gets harder,” his mother said. “He is missed every single day.”

The Citizens Crime Commission is offering a $50,000 reward.