Danielle Imbo and Richard Petrone had spent the evening of February 19th 2005 having a few drinks and enjoying some music at Abilene’s bar on South Street, Philadelphia. The night wound up just before midnight, and the pair headed to Richard’s truck to begin their journeys home. Neither Danielle or Richard has ever been seen again.
The pair had known each other since high school, and had been in an on-again, off-again relationship in the midst of Danielle’s separation with her husband. She had recently cooled things off between her and Richard, wanting to focus her energy on her transition to single motherhood, but the two had met up by chance that evening and by all accounts seemed to be having a good time.
Alarm bells went off when Danielle was not home the next day for the drop-off of her 18-month-old son. Police, family and volunteers took to the streets of Philadelphia, trying to find any shred of evidence as to what happened to Danielle and Richard. But there was absolutely nothing to be found.
Even Richard’s black Dodge Dakota truck has never been recovered, and reviews of multiple surveillance tapes indicate that the pair never made it over to New Jersey, where Richard was dropping Danielle back home. With Danielle’s young son, and Richard a single father to a 14-year-old-girl, it seems highly unlikely that this was a planned disappearance, and no bank or cellphone activity has been detected from either person ever since.
In 2008, the FBI announced that due to the meticulous planning required to completely cover up the disappearance, they were treating the case as a murder-for-hire. They are currently offering a reward of up to $15,000 for information leading to an arrest.