The Heidi Allen Case: Central New York’s Most Enduring Mystery
This series explores the disappearance of Heidi Allen. It’s a case that began decades ago, but has left the residents of central New York with many unanswered questions. As “The Heidi Allen Case” continues, you’ll hear from different people whose lives were changed permanently as a result of Heidi’s kidnapping — starting from the beginning. You can listen online, on any WRVO or NPR app, and on iTunes. Ryan Zalduondo, a senior at SUNY Oswego, is your host. Zalduondo only learned about the Heidi Allen case a year and a half ago, on a trip to the North Country with a fellow student. As they passed the site of the gas station where Heidi was abducted 25 years ago, Zalduondo became interested in learning more about the events and their impact on the region. This series is the result.
Episode 4: That's All We Can Do For Now
Apr 24, 2019
(Ryan Zalduondo / WRVO Public Media)
As the hearings that would determine whether or not Gary Thibodeau would receive a new trial or not got underway, there was plenty of new information pertaining to potential new developments regarding the Heidi Allen kidnapping case.
Leads about potential suspects were followed up on by Thibodeau’s legal team and the local Oswego County law enforcement as the two sides got to work in the courtroom.
The backgrounds of the newly accused men -- James Steen, Roger Breckenridge, and Michael Bohrer -- were analyzed. Multiple people testified with information that was damaging toward these men as well.
Throughout the years-long process of trying to get Gary Thibodeau a new trial, there were a few things that remained constant. First, Heidi Allen was still missing. Second, Gary Thibodeau remained in prison serving out his sentence. Next, Thibodeau remained very sick and there was a race against his health to get him released.
After years of deliberation, it was decided in the summer of 2018 that Gary Thibodeau was not going to receive a new trial. Thibodeau died in August 2018.
“I’m not sure what the result of a new trial would have been,” Oswego County District Attorney Greg Oakes said. “Certainly, potentially it could have ended in an acquittal. But, it also could have ended in a conviction. There was strong and compelling evidence against Gary Thibodeau, even though we didn’t have direct forensic evidence, there was compelling information.”
Following Gary’s death, reflection was the only option left for the other people who became a part of this story.
More on where the case left off and much more this week on the final episode of "The Heidi Allen Case: Central New York’s Most Enduring Mystery." You can listen here, via the player above, on iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Episode 3: New Life
Apr 17, 2019
(Ryan Zalduondo / WRVO)
Gary Thibodeau was convicted of kidnapping Heidi Allen in 1995, and his appeals ran out in 1999. Things appeared bleak for all parties involved as time moved forward into the 2000’s. But new light was shed on the case in 2013 when a woman came forward to say she had information about who may have kidnapped Allen in 1994.
The new accusations, combined with new evidence, led to evidentiary hearings taking place with the purpose of determining whether Gary Thibodeau should receive a new trial.
With this, many more people became involved as the legal proceedings moved forward. This included the Oswego County District Attorney Greg Oakes and Federal Public Defender Lisa Peebles, who began working against each other in the courtroom.
"I joined the office in 2001 and really during the time I was an assistant DA, I didn’t really have any involvement with the Gary Thibodeau or Heidi Allen case." Oakes said. "From a legal perspective, there were a couple of occasions where information came about regarding potential locations they believed Heidi may have been located but unfortunately we were never able to find her at those spots."
The evidence in this case continued to build up, and there was a growing public sentiment that things were different than once thought.
Next week on "The Heidi Allen Case: Central New York's Most Enduring Mystery," we wrap up the series with Gary's final chances for an appeal in the case. Listen online, on iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Episode 2: The Trials
Apr 10, 2019
(Ryan Zalduondo / WRVO)
Richard Thibodeau’s arrest on May 25, 1994 for kidnapping Heidi Allen changed a lot of things in New Haven, New York.
[You can catch up on last week's episode, if you missed it. We cover Allen's disappearance and the initial arrests of Richard and Gary.]
Richard, who maintained his innocence from the moment he was arrested, had to start getting prepared for his trial that was set to begin during the summer of 1995.
A few months later, Richard’s younger brother Gary had to get ready for a trial of his own, following a July arrest for kidnapping Heidi Allen with Richard. Gary was arrested because of two jailhouse informants who claimed Gary had a hand in the kidnapping. Gary was in jail for a drug charge in Massachusetts on May 25, 1994.
“When he got back here, they put him in jail here in Oswego County, and so was I,” Richard Thibodeau said. “I was too. They got these two inmates to come up from Massachusetts and at the time Donald Dodd, the DA, was preparing them for court. For trial ... Setting them up to testify against my brother.”
Evidence was gathered against both brothers. Gary went on trial first and was convicted for the first degree kidnapping of Heidi Allen based on statements from the jailhouse informants.
Richard went next, with a different jury. With the lack of jailhouse informants against him, he got acquitted.
With Heidi still missing, there was no physical evidence to use at trial. The Thibodeau brothers maintaining their innocence and the different results of the trials raised more questions.
Next week on "The Heidi Allen Case: Central New York's Most Enduring Mystery," more information gives new life to the case. Listen online, on iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Editor's note: We have been alerted to a few inaccuracies in this episode. As a result, host Ryan Zalduondo, and editors Catherine Loper and Jason Smith would like to make the following clarifications.
1. In Episode 2, Zalduondo said that Richard Thibodeau's van "was searched April 9th, and we already know they found nothing. Seriously, they found nothing. There was no DNA. Not Heidi’s, not Richard’s, not Gary’s, nobody’s. That’s something that’s hard to grasp. Law enforcement claims when they searched the van, they found no DNA at all."
Oswego County District Attorney Greg Oakes indicated that no DNA was found in the van. But, the FBI did find material in the van, including hairs and fibers. But none of the material found contained any DNA from Heidi Allen and the hairs found in the van were determined to not be from Heidi.
2. In the episode, it was reported that Nancy Fabian "recalled seeing a van following closely behind her car at approximately 7:45 that morning at the intersection the gas station is on. She said the van was driving erratically, as if the driver was struggling with something inside."
Fabian spotted a van behind her at the intersection of Route 104 and Route 3, which is in the village of Mexico, not at the intersection where the D&W convenience store is located.
3. In the episode, Zalduondo said "the two jailhouse informants [Robert Baldasaro and James McDonald] also claimed that Gary said he killed Heidi Allen with a military style shovel, and discarded her body in a place it would never be found by law enforcement."
To clarify, Baldasaro and McDonald testified that Gary said that Heidi was killed with his shovel and law enforcement would never find her, not that Gary said he killed Heidi.
We apologize for any incorrect information presented. Again, it is not our intention to solve the case, or present anyone as guilty or innocent. This is simply a retelling of the story as it unfolded. The audio from this episode has been updated to reflect the clarifications noted above.
Episode 1: The Disappearance
Apr 03, 2019
(Ryan Zalduondo / WRVO)
The Easter Sunday disappearance of 18-year-year old Heidi Allen from a gas station convenience store gripped the central New York community and has continued to do so to this day.
The crime took place in the quiet small town of New Haven, leading to an immediate fallout that was unlike anything it had ever seen.
Allen’s kidnapping created lots of questions and the fallout provided few answers about the circumstances and motive surrounding the crime.
Allen’s older sister Lisa Buske found out about her sisters kidnapping through an answering machine message.
Richard Thibodeau was the last known customer in the store before Allen was kidnapped, and he joined New Haven in the search for Heidi with his family and friends.
Richard said he had begun to notice he was having strange experiences with local law enforcement after he had notified police the morning of the kidnapping to say he was there.
While this was going on, Richard’s younger brother Gary Thibodeau was traveling to Massachusetts with his girlfriend on that same Easter Sunday. What they did on their trip is up for debate, but Gary did not stick around Oswego County to see the fallout of Allen’s kidnapping.
Fifty-four days later on May 25, 1994, Richard Thibodeau was arrested in a wild scene for the kidnapping of Allen.
“On May 25th, they arrested me for kidnapping Heidi Allen. I says you guys are crazy. I didn’t kidnap nobody ya dumbasses,” Richard Thibodeau said.
On the same day, Gary Thibodeau was arrested for drug charges and jailed in Massachusetts.
Richard Thibodeau and Lisa Buske share more on the fallout of Allen's kidnapping. Use the player above to hear the full episode.
Heidi Allen podcast coming to WRVO this April
Mar 20, 2019
(Ryan Zalduondo / WRVO)
As the 25th anniversary of Heidi Allen's kidnapping approaches on April 3, 2019, WRVO is bringing you a special series on the story that has transfixed residents of Central and Northern New York for decades. Your host is Ryan Zalduondo, a senior at SUNY Oswego. Here's more from Ryan:
I only learned about Heidi Allen's story about a year and a half ago, in December of 2017.
A friend and I were on our way up to Potsdam to cover one of our school’s hockey games for the student newspaper, when we passed a Valero gas station pretty early in the trip.
I can’t remember exactly what he said, but it was something along the lines of...
I've been fascinated by it ever since.
I went on to learn that the Valero station we passed was formerly the D&W Convenience Store, and the girl who got kidnapped 20-something years ago was Heidi Allen, who was only 18 years old at the time.
(www.co.oswego.ny.us)
Even though I’m not from the area or anywhere near it, because I only came to Oswego for school four years ago, I still managed to hear about the story of Heidi Allen. And if my friend, who grew up closer to New Haven than I did, told me, that lead me to think if he knew, other people our age must know about it too.
For context, Heidi was kidnapped over three years before I was born, so why was it still being talked about nearly 25 years later?
I wanted to know, so I started to do a lot of digging in my spare time, and what I found went far beyond a typical kidnapping case. The fall out of Heidi’s kidnapping has created different groups of people that believe different theories about what happened that morning at the D&W. And these different theories divide the community to this day.
The thing that drew me in about this case, and has kept me hooked on it, is the fact that there are still so many unanswered questions.
Over the course of this series you’ll hear plenty from the people whose lives were changed because of the events, including Heidi’s sister, lawyers, law enforcement, and many more.
I want to make it clear that my goal with this project is not to solve the crime, but instead explore why this kidnapping has become Central New York’s most enduring mystery. Episode one will be released on the 25th anniversary of Heidi’s kidnapping -- April 3.
Be on the lookout for subsequent episodes, which will be published weekly on Wednesdays.
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