Whispers in the dark, phenomenon that slipped past the logic, legends that refuse to die. When the unknown stirs, its trail leads to our podcast, So Supernatural. I'm Yvette Gentile. And I'm her sister, Rasha Pecoraro. Together, we explore all of the world's most bizarre mysteries. Listen to So Supernatural every Friday, wherever you get your podcasts. Before she vanished, April Grisanti was a young woman trying to find her footing. Then, over the course of one winter night in 1985, she disappeared in plain sight. Witnesses saw her struggle. Police heard her voice asking for help. And yet April was never seen again. What followed has never felt like justice. No murder charge, no body, no answers. This is a story about incomplete justice. about a family left carrying questions the investigation has never fully resolved. Over four decades later, the question still hangs in the air. Where is she? I'm Kylie Lowe, and this is the case of April Grisanti on Dark Down East. It was just before noon on February 1st, 1985, when the phone rang inside a modest apartment at the Colonial Village Complex in Norwalk, Connecticut. Mary Lou Grisanti answered it, expecting nothing out of the ordinary. Instead, she heard the voice of her daughter's co-worker calling from Binky's Cafe on Van Zandt Street in East Norwalk. 20-year-old April Grisanti was scheduled to work that day, but she hadn't shown up. According to reporting by Barbara A. Hines for The Daily Advocate, the last time Mary Lou had seen her daughter April was the day before, January 31st. April was asleep when Mary Lou left for work that day. It wasn't like April to not come home. So by 12.30 p.m. with no word from April and no explanation for her absence, Mary Lou reported her missing. As frightening as it was that April hadn't come home and hadn't gone to work, what Mary Lou would soon learn about the previous night made the situation feel urgent in a way no parent ever wants to experience. According to witnesses, around 9.30 p.m. on January 31st, April was at Binky's when she was confronted by a man she knew, 33-year-old James Aaron Jr., known by the nickname Purple. Sarah Siegel reports for the Norwalk Hour that April was trying to leave the bar with a friend when James grabbed her and forced her into his car. Sometime later, James reportedly drove April to Anthony's Bar at 174 Main Street in Norwalk. Inside the bar, people noticed immediately that something was wrong. An employee later said April had a silver dollar-sized mark on her neck. She was crying. She appeared frightened. Around 11.30 p.m., April used the phone at Anthony's to call the police. Her voice was strained and emotional as she left a message for a specific officer. I want to leave a message for Brian Liddy. Tell him I'm at Anthony's, please. This is April. I need a restraining order to get someone away from me. He knows the problem. I had my car stolen and I think my ex-boyfriend did it. He tried to choke me and tried to force me into sex. I want Brian. I need a restraining order. End quote. Three officers responded to the scene and spoke with April. They noticed that one of her fingers was bleeding. April told them she had been abducted and assaulted earlier that night, but she did not want James to be arrested. Eventually, the officers left. According to witnesses, things escalated after police departed. April's sister, Gina Grisanti, told me that April was in the bathroom with friends trying to figure out what to do next when James came inside and caused a scene. April, trying to defuse the situation, went outside with him. April was able to reach a public payphone near the Derry King across the street from the bar. Sources say she made a call or tried to make a call, possibly trying to get a ride home or called for help in some way, but James attacked her again. A witness later testified that he saw April struggling with James. He heard April yell for help. Then James grabbed her, pushed her head down, and forced her into his car. As the car pulled away, April was kicking and screaming. That witness, who saw James abduct April from the payphone, later said he believed he was just seeing a couple fighting, something domestic, something not his place to interrupt. And so he just went back inside the bar. Mark Marcelli reports for the Connecticut Post that sometime after midnight, a woman who witnessed the earlier attack on April called police to report a kidnapping and assault. Four minutes later, she called again. Police did not respond to either call. April was last seen outside Anthony's bar at approximately 12.15 a.m. on February 1, 1985, being forced into James Aaron Jr.'s car. Witnesses saw the light blue 1975 Cadillac El Dorado drive north on Main Street before turning left onto New Canaan Avenue. April was wearing blue jeans, a black fur coat, white sneakers, a gray purse, and silver rings. She stood 5'4", weighed about 120 pounds, and had brown eyes and brown curly hair. April has not been seen since. But her sister believes she knows exactly where April is today. If only she could finally bring her home. April's mother, Mary Lou, described her as a classy girl and a responsible kid, the kind of young woman who tried to do the right thing and didn't look for trouble. April's sister Gina remembers her as deeply trusting, almost painfully so. She says April was naive in a way that came from believing people were generally good. She didn't like to assume the worst. She refused to see the bad in people, even when it was right in front of her. That trust wasn't accidental. Gina says April had been bullied as a child and as a teenager, and those experiences took a toll on her self-esteem. April wanted to be accepted. it she wanted to be liked, and she often gave people the benefit of the doubt, even when they hadn't earned it. When April got older, Mary Lou hoped she could help her daughter find her footing. She helped April get a job at Binky's, which was owned at the time by a family friend. Mary Lou believed the job might help April build confidence and give her independence and structure and a sense of belonging. Gina sees that decision very differently now. Looking back, she says April getting that job turned out to be a very bad idea, because it was at Binky's that April's life would become entangled with someone who she believes recognized her sister's trust not as strength, but as something to exploit. According to Gina, James Aaron Jr. was a regular at Binky's bar. She also learned that despite being in his 30s, he often surrounded himself with teenagers. By the time April disappeared, she had known James for roughly three years. Now, in most reporting on the case, James is described as April's boyfriend or ex-boyfriend. And some sources indicate that they had lived together for about a year prior to her disappearance. But Gina says that leaves out critical context and misrepresents what was really happening. She alleges that James preyed on April when she was still a teenager and groomed her, shaping a relationship built on an uneven power dynamic out of April's control. Gina also wants to clear up that April never lived with James. April's relationship with her family suffered while she was involved with James. Looking back now, Gina feels it's likely that James isolated her from those who loved her most. Still, there were signs she was trying to find her way back. At one point, she sent her mother a rose at work with a handwritten note attached. It read, Mom, I love you. Friends later said that April had been trying to distance herself from James in the weeks before she disappeared. But breaking away completely wasn't simple, nor was it safe for her. About a week or two before April vanished, her car, a bright red 1975 Chevy Malibu Classic, was stolen. April had reason to believe James was responsible. possible retaliation for her trying to get away from him. The car was still missing when she disappeared. James had a criminal record as of 1985 According to reporting by Ed Silverstein and Mary McGee for the Norwalk Hour in 1978 James was arrested in Norwalk after a fight involving roughly 20 people inside the Playpen restaurant. He was charged with disorderly conduct, pleaded guilty in Stanford Superior Court, and was sentenced to a $25 fine. In March of 1981, a woman said she met James at a bar but tried to leave because she feared he was going to become violent. She reported that James followed her to the back of the restaurant, pushed her into a corner, and began hitting her. She sustained a swollen eye and was kicked in the legs and back. The woman told police that James threatened to kill her if she reported the assault. James later turned himself in and claimed he had been provoked, alleging that the woman had been harassing him at work with repeated phone calls and racial slurs over the course of a month. He was arrested on charges of third-degree assault, breach of peace, and threatening. That incident, by the way, occurred at Anthony's, the same bar where April would be last seen years later. James ultimately pleaded guilty to third-degree assaults. The remaining charges were not prosecuted. He was sentenced to one year of probation and ordered to stay away from the victim. But for April's mother, it wasn't just James' record that caused concern. Mary Lou had long been uneasy about her daughter's association with him for another reason, one she couldn't shake. Just a few years earlier, James's former wife had disappeared and was later found dead. Years before April Grisanti disappeared, another young woman connected to James Aaron Jr. vanished under eerily similar circumstances. 19-year-old Mary Aaron, maiden name Mary Fratelloni, was last seen by her mother on July 3, 1981. That day, Mary told her mother she was heading to the home of her estranged husband to pick up a dress she planned to wear to a wedding the following day. Mary never showed up for the wedding. Days passed, then weeks, and on July 14, 1981, she was officially reported missing. Just over two weeks later, on July 31, a passing motorist made a grim discovery. Mary's badly decomposed body was found down an embankment in a wooded area off New Canaan Avenue, near exit 38 by a Merritt Parkway commuter lot in Norwalk. An autopsy was unable to determine a cause of death or identify clear signs of foul play. Even still, investigators treated her death as a homicide. Mary had been married to James Purple Aaron for about a year at the time of her death. Mary was just 18 years old when she married James, and he was 29. Their relationship was described as on again, off again, but they had lived together in the greater New Haven area until Mary moved back in with her mother sometime before her disappearance. She was reportedly dating someone new, and according to Mary's mother, Mary wanted a divorce, but James wouldn't allow it. She said he was violent and had hit Mary more than once. On at least one occasion, when Mary tried to retrieve her belongings and leave his home, she and her mother felt it was necessary to have police escort them. James Aaron has long been considered a suspect in Mary's death. Her case remains classified as a homicide and is under investigation by the Connecticut State Police Cold Case Unit. Just like April's, her murder is still unsolved to this day. As the investigation refocused on April's final hours, police brought James Aaron Jr. in for questioning. When asked about the night April was last seen alive, James told investigators that she got out of his car at a stoplight just a few blocks away from Anthony's bar. He claimed that was the last time he saw her. But police were unable to find any witnesses or corroborating evidence to support that account. No one reported seeing April on foot in the area, and nothing placed her there after she was forced into James' car. Investigators seized James' vehicle as potential evidence. According to a story by Mark Santia for NBC New York, police found something inside that car that immediately raised new questions. A tollbooth ticket from Interstate 95 in New Rochelle, New York, dated February 1st. Pat Tomlinson reports for the Connecticut Post that police learned James was known to hang out at bars in the Hunts Point terminal area of the Bronx. At the time, investigators said it was possible to drive from Norwalk, Connecticut to Hunts Point and back within a two-and-a-half-hour window. That time frame aligned with the toll receipt found in his car and the time he drove off from Anthony's with April kicking and screaming in his vehicle. Within days, authorities were no longer treating April's disappearance as a missing persons case. It was now considered a kidnapping, and the FBI was notified. On February 8th, police made another critical discovery. That afternoon, April's bright red 1975 Chevy Malibu Classic was recovered from approximately six feet of water in the Norwalk River near Ann Street. Investigators had decided to search that area after pieces of information gathered during the investigation, pointed them to the general location. Police stated that they did not recover any direct evidence related to April's disappearance from inside the vehicle, but what they did find was unsettling. Inside the car was a cinder block that appeared to have been wedged onto the gas pedal, apparently to force the vehicle into the river from a platform along Ann Street. Also inside were a cream-colored blouse and a gift box containing a present April had intended to return. April had reported the car stolen weeks earlier on January 15th. She told police that James had forced her to hand over the keys. Witnesses had seen the whole thing play out between James and April on the night she was last seen alive, and that eyewitness testimony left little denial that James had done something to her before she seemingly vanished. So with that, on February 10th, 1985, police arrested James on two counts of first-degree kidnapping. He was also charged with first-degree larceny in connection with the theft of April's car. James was held on $250,000 bond pending arraignment. April Grisanti, however, was still missing. After the arrest, investigators searched James's room at his family home on Stewart Avenue in Norwalk and seized several items, including a set of keys. However, police later said that none of the items recovered directly implicated James in April's kidnapping. As detectives worked to reconstruct the night April disappeared, they learned new details about James's movements in the early morning hours of February 1st. A friend of both James and April, who had heard about the fight at the bar, became concerned and went looking for him. That friend reportedly drove past James's house multiple times and noticed that James' blue Cadillac was not there as late as 2.15 a.m. One source indicates that the car was seen back in James' driveway around 3 a.m. Meanwhile, in court, James' attorney argued that the kidnapping charges could not stand because there was no victim. April was still missing. Prosecutors pushed back, noting that a judge could allow the case to proceed without a victim present if there was sufficient evidence to support the charges. And in this case, the judge decided just that. James pleaded not guilty to the kidnapping and larceny charges. His bail was lowered to $125,000, despite objections from the state's attorney. Prosecutors argued that bail should remain high because the case could, quote, very well be a homicide down the road, end quote. By the final week of February 1985, the active search for April was scaled back. Investigators were running out of leads, and without new information, the search effort slowly dwindled. Then, on Monday, March 4th, 1985, a new discovery briefly shifted the investigation. Construction workers clearing Brush on Philostrate in Norwalk found a brown leather wallet laying on the ground. There was no cash inside, but several forms of identification remained. a license, credit cards, and birth certificate, allowing police to quickly confirm it belonged to April Grisanti. Inside the wallet, investigators found something else, too. Police reports documenting prior incidents involving James that April herself had reported. It was unclear how long the wallet had been there No other evidence was found in the area But the location is significant The wallet was discovered near utility lines roughly two miles from where April was last seen and about a half a mile from James's home. Sources say police either considered sending the wallet to the FBI lab for processing or did send it there, but whatever testing may have been done and what the results were remains unclear. The wallet has since been returned to April's family. As the months passed, the legal pressure on James eased. He was released on bond in mid-April while awaiting trial. In November of 1985, after the trial was delayed, his bond was reduced again, this time to $75,000. He finally faced trial in early January of 1986. Four witnesses testified about the events of January 31st and February 1st, 1985. According to reporting by H.S. Folsom for the Bridgeport Telegram, One man told the court that he had watched James force April into his car while she struggled to get away. Under cross-examination, James' attorney attempted to minimize what the witness had seen, characterizing it as nothing more than a quote-unquote boyfriend-girlfriend spat. Another witness, a friend of James, testified that James and April had been in the process of breaking up. According to him, James was unhappy that April had begun seeing someone new. The friend also told the court that when he saw James' car the following day, after everything played out at Binky's and Anthony's, something seemed off. There was mud inside the vehicle that hadn't been there before, and the dashboard was split. But before the trial could progress much further, the case took a turn. James changed his plea as part of a deal with prosecutors. He pleaded guilty under the Alford Doctrine to reduced charges, two counts of second-degree kidnapping, and one count of unlawful restraint. By that point, the larceny charge related to April's car had already been dropped. Under the Alford Doctrine, James did not admit guilt. Instead, he acknowledged that the evidence against him was strong enough that a conviction was likely if the case went to verdict. According to reporting by Steve Malkowitz for The Daily Advocate, at James' sentencing hearing in March, the assistant state's attorney played a recording for the judge. It was April's voice, her call to police on the night she was last seen alive. The same call where she asked for Officer Brian Liddy. The same call where she said she needed a restraining order to get someone away from her. April's pleas in what very well could have been the final hours of her life were heartbreaking and devastating to hear. But the defense was quick to point out that James could not be sentenced based on a theory. He could not be sentenced more harshly because the woman he was convicted of kidnapping and restraining unlawfully had yet to return. He could not face a punishment greater than the proven offense. James was sentenced to 10 years for kidnapping and 5 years for unlawful restraint to be served consecutively. The sentence was suspended after 10 years, followed by 5 years of probation. He would be eligible for release after serving roughly two-thirds of his sentence. April Grisanti, whose voice echoed through the courtroom on the day of the sentencing, was still missing. Even as the kidnapping case against James Aaron Jr. reached a conclusion, April's family was forced to confront another reality. They felt the systems meant to protect her had failed, and those failures had yet to be addressed in a courtroom. In early 1987, April's mother, Mary Lou Grisanti, filed a negligence lawsuit against the Norwalk Police Department. The suit alleged that the department's policies surrounding domestic disputes left April unprotected. In the complaint, Mary Lou pointed directly to what she believed was a critical breakdown on the night April disappeared. The apparent failure of police to respond to two distress calls made by a woman who had reported the assault and kidnapping. By that point, two civilian dispatchers had already been suspended without pay in May of 1985 for mishandling a distress call related to April's disappearance. The initial suspension was 10 days. However, after the internal investigation was challenged, the punishment was reduced. Anthony P. Spinelli reports for the Connecticut Post that the Norwalk Municipal Employees Association represented the dispatchers before a city grievance committee, which ultimately concluded that what had been described as mishandling was instead a misunderstanding of standard operating procedures. Mary Lou's complaint did not stop at individual actions. It alleged a broader systemic problem, stating, quote, the city has maintained a policy and practice of ignoring complaints of domestic abuse and violence, and in particular, complaints of domestic violence by unmarried women, end quote. The lawsuit came amid a shift in Connecticut law. In 1986, the state passed legislation requiring police to make arrests in domestic violence cases when there was evidence that a law had been broken, and to file reports in all domestic violence incidents, not only those that resulted in arrests. The law was one year shy of April's disappearance. Important to note, while the negligence suit was still pending, one of the same dispatchers involved in April's case was suspended again. According to reporting by Gary Lebo, this time it was for failing to properly communicate information about a fatal shooting. The lapse reportedly caused police to arrive hours late. That December, Mary Lou filed another civil suit, this one against James Aaron Jr. himself. She sought monetary damages in excess of $15,000 along with punitive damages, alleging that James had, quote, viciously assaulted and battered April Grisanti, end quote, restrained her against her will and caused her severe personal injuries, pain, and anguish. The suit also claimed that James had stolen and completely destroyed April's car, rendering it worthless. As civil litigation slowly unfolded, James remained incarcerated. However, in late November of 1990, he was scheduled to appear before the parole board in an effort to secure early release. His release date was already set for June of the following year, but parole could have shortened his sentence by as much as three months. Mary Lou's attorney requested access to James's file and asked to speak at the parole hearing. That request raised a legal question. Could a victim's interests be represented at a parole hearing if the victim had not been legally declared deceased. The issue was referred to the Attorney General's office, which delayed James' parole hearing indefinitely. The Connecticut Board of Pardons and Paroles told me that James never actually appeared before the board. But James was ultimately released on December 9, 1991, after serving six years. DOC records show he earned early release for good behavior while incarcerated. Mary Lou's civil case against James was resolved the following year. The family had hoped that James' testimony in a civil trial might help move the investigation forward, but in the end, exhausted by years of proceedings, they chose to settle. Records indicate she was awarded $50,000 in damages shortly before the case was scheduled to go to trial. Gina tells me the amount was closer to $30,000. Under Connecticut law at the time, a missing person could be legally declared dead after seven years. Seven years after April disappeared, with the negligence case against Norwalk police still pending, Mary Lou sought to amend that lawsuit into a wrongful death claim. Christine Dempsey reports for the Hartford Courant that the civil case against the Norwalk Police Department reached an unspecified settlement in 1994. April may have been declared legally dead but James did not face any additional criminal charges by then nearly a decade had passed since April Grisanti was last seen and it seemed that investigators were no closer to finding her either when the primary suspect the only person ever publicly named a suspect took any answers he might have held to his grave James Aaron Jr. died on October 10, 2016. For April's family, his death brought a complicated mix of emotions. There was no relief, only the hope that, without James to fear, someone who had kept quiet for decades might finally speak. Investigators had long been aware that James traveled to New York in the hours after April disappearance And so over the years law enforcement compared April dental records against those of unidentified Jane Doe found along possible routes between Norwalk and New York City Despite those efforts, April's remains have not yet been located. In 2022, April's sister Gina brought what she believed was a critical lead to the Norwalk Police Department. It was a screenshot of a conversation between two unidentified individuals. The message reads in part, quote, They said they knew I murdered April, and it was just a matter of time until they found the body. The only two people who know are you and my brother. They won't find her body unless you said something, and you know what's up if I find out you did. End quote. Gina alleges that the conversation took place between James and a witness, or an accomplice in April's presumed murder. She says she believed it could finally explain what happened to her sister and who else might know the truth. But according to Gina, Norwalk police did not act on the information. The department, however, has since stated that the lead was reviewed and determined not to be credible. Still, Gina strongly disputes that conclusion. She alleges that police waited passively for a body instead of aggressively pursuing evidence. and that once James was convicted and imprisoned for kidnapping rather than murder, the urgency to investigate April's disappearance faded. The family maintains that the evidence against James was overwhelming and that prosecution could have and should have occurred even without April's body. Gina says, quote, many other victims lucky to not have been killed were willing to testify, end quote, but authorities failed to move forward. She alleges that certain officials knowingly allowed a violent offender to live freely for decades, despite widespread awareness of his behavior. Today, April Grisanti's case remains officially unsolved. No remains, no final answers, just a young woman who vanished and a family that has never stopped asking where she is. after more than four decades without answers april grisanti's sister believes the truth is closer than anyone wants to admit gina grisanti tells me she has gained additional insight into the hours before april disappeared based on information she's gathered gina says that after james forcibly removed april from binkies he took her and another person to bridgeport where he beat April before bringing her to Anthony's bar. She says this account adds yet another layer to a night that was already spiraling out of control. Gina also says she was told that a police officer passed by the commotion outside Anthony's that night. And according to Gina, had that officer understood the full extent of what was happening, he would have turned his cruiser around. Instead, the moment passed and with it, another chance to intervene. Over the years, investigators have considered that April may have been taken out of state. Because James traveled to New York in the hours after her disappearance, police explored the possibility that her remains could be somewhere along that route, including areas of the Bronx he was known to frequent. But Gina believes April never went that far at all. In recent years, Gina has conducted her own investigation. She's interviewed witnesses herself. She's hired a private investigator and has even generated what she believes are credible leads. One of those leads is why Gina believes her sister can still be found. Based on information she has gathered and pieced together over decades, she believes April is buried in someone else's plot in a Norwalk cemetery near James' former home. A plot in a secluded, unfenced area of the cemetery that, according to her own investigation, was freshly dug and awaiting a burial the morning after April was last seen alive. Gina says that police did not take this tip seriously, so she wants to pursue it on her own, but she needs permission from the family whose loved one was laid to rest on February 1st, 1985, and the resources to do such a search. Gina is willing to be proven wrong. No matter how confident she is that her sister will be found in that cemetery, she'll accept if that's not where April is located. What she won't accept is an entire lifetime of wondering without fully ruling that theory out. Despite James's death, April's family insists the truth did not die with him. Gina repeatedly states that many, many people know where she is. She believes some witnessed what happened, some helped dispose of April's body, and others were later told the truth. Gina says she knows who some of these people are and claims that some have even, quote, confessed in writing, end quote. As part of my reporting for this case, I reached out to several of the individuals Gina believes hold the key to finding April. No one has responded to my requests for comment or an interview as of this episode's original recording. Throughout every statement, the family is clear about one thing. This is not about revenge, punishment, or prosecution. They don't care what role these witnesses may have played in the night April disappeared. Their only goal is to recover April's remains and allow her to rest in peace with a proper Catholic burial. The family promises that anyone who helps them do that will be remembered not as an accomplice, but as a hero. Because after all these years, the question remains the same. Where is April? More than four decades after she disappeared, April Grisanti is still too often spoken about in the past tense as a victim, a case, and a question mark. But to the people who loved her, April is vividly and unmistakably alive. She was thoughtful and outgoing and beautiful, but so much more than that, April was kind to a fault, forgiving, and deeply empathetic. She believed in people, even when they didn't deserve it. She checked in on her great-grandmother, bringing her pizza just to make sure she wasn't alone. When friends struggled financially, April bought things for their children because she felt bad and wanted to help. That was who she was. A friend remembers April as the most kind-hearted person she has ever known. someone with an almost unexplainable emotional connection, the kind you don't replace. April's sister Gina was just starting to befriend her sister. They were beyond the years of sibling rivalry, and they were starting to connect. She was robbed of a growing relationship with her sister. Now, her family isn't asking for a mystery to be solved or a villain to be named. They're asking for something far simpler and far more human. Bring April home. If you have information relating to the unsolved disappearance of April Grisanti in 1985, there are several ways to share that information with investigators. Please contact the Norwalk Police Department Cold Case Unit at 203-854-3028. You can call the anonymous tip line at 203-854-3111 or text CRIMES and NPD with your tip in the body of the text message. I'll also link the Norwalk Police Department tip submission form in the show notes of this episode. Thank you for listening to Dark Down East. You can find all source material for this case at darkdowneast.com. Be sure to follow the show on Instagram at darkdowneast. This platform is for the families and friends who have lost their loved ones, and for those who are still searching for answers. I'm not about to let those names or their stories get lost with time. I'm Kylie Lowe, and this is Dark Down East. Dark Down East is a production of Kylie Media and Audiocheck. I think Chuck would approve. We often look to the outdoors as a reset, but sometimes our serene nature setting becomes the scene of something sinister. Every week on Park Predators, investigative journalist Delia D'Ambra shares stories of the dark secrets hidden by the world's most scenic landscapes. Just like the stories I tell here on Dark Down East, every episode of Park Predators is gripping, atmospheric, and deeply human. Listen to Park Predators today, anywhere you get your podcasts. Thank you.
