Original subtitles

Narrator:

Narrator: In 2007, a construction worker

made a gruesome discovery...

that uncovered a 30-year-old mystery.

Molly Shen: It was a smaller town

where neighbors know each other,

not a place where bodies get found buried

in the backyard.

Ben Benson: The body had completely decomposed,

and there was nothing left but some clothes and dirt.

Shen: You just immediately started to wonder,

Who was it? How long has that body been there?

Narrator: To get to the truth,

investigators set out to expose

a family's darkest secrets.

He was hounding her.

He was always trying to get her into bed.

Gypsy Tarricone: I know who killed him.

I just couldn't prove it...

yet.

Once you kill one person, it's easy to kill another one.

There's people that have no regard for human life.

The more you learned, the more sickening it became.

Reporting live in Tacoma,

Molly Shen, KOMO 4 News.

Narrator: As a veteran crime reporter,

Molly Shen thought she'd seen everything,

until June 4th, 2007.

Shen: It started off as a typical day.

Then the call came.

We needed to stop everything that we were doing

and get down to Puyallup.

Narrator: Molly soon found herself on the scene in Puyallup,

a small, sleepy town 30 miles south of Seattle.

A construction worker had discovered something unusual

while leveling a house

on a secluded street called Canyon Road.

He was out there digging up the land

and scooped something up,

and instead of just dirt and rock

he saw what looked like a bag or something there.

So he got out of the excavator,

went over to check it out...

and opened it up...

and saw bones.

It was human bones.

No one expects to find something like that,

and I'd say he was pretty freaked out,

and so he got out of there and called 911.

Narrator: After talking to the stunned construction worker,

Molly had what she needed

to begin reporting on the gruesome discovery.

Shen: For decades, there was a single house on this property.

For decades, there was a gruesome secret

buried between the house and garage.

Narrator: Homicide Detective Ben Benson

set upon the grisly task

of examining the remains.

The bones had definitely appeared to be

in the ground for a long period of time.

There was no flesh.

The body had completely decomposed,

and there was nothing left

but some remnants of some clothes and dirt.

Dawn Farina: We could see a vertebrae inside the bag,

as well as a pelvis, a shoulder bone,

and some other bones that clearly it was a human bones

as opposed to an animal.

Shen: You just immediately started to wonder,

Who was it? How long have those remains been there?

How long has that body been there?

Narrator: As details about the unearthed bag of bones seeped

into this quiet suburban neighborhood,

rattled community members

began gathering at the property

wanting to know,

who was the victim found buried in the backyard?

Could it be someone they knew?

Shen: It was a spectacle for that neighborhood.

Everybody was coming by, asking, "What's going on?

What's happening back here?

Why are there so many police cars here?"

We also had a number of people stop by

desperate for information about other missing people.

Can't give up hope that my dad's body is gonna be found.

And I know a lot of other people are missing people, too,

but I still have the hope that it's him.

Shen: That was sort of surreal, too,

just knowing that there were people in the area

who were missing loved ones

and almost had this, you know,

sort of awful hope

that it was the person they knew and loved

because that person was missing.

At this point this is a who-is-it, not a whodunit.

You know, we'll figure that out later,

but right now we wanna figure out who this is.

Narrator: A forensic team began the painstaking task

of searching the yard for additional bones.

After nine hours of digging,

51 were located,

all belonging to the same individual.

When the forensic anthropologist laid the bones out,

she told us that the bones were from a male,

and she was able to determine

that it was someone in their mid-50s.

Narrator: Because no flesh remained on the bones,

cause of death couldn't be accurately determined,

but all signs pointed to homicide.

Det. Benson: The body had been dismembered.

She could see that there were clean cuts

across the bone...

and that a chainsaw was used

to cut up the body.

Farina: The shoulder had been cut in two

with a-- approximately quarter-inch blade,

which again was consistent with a chainsaw.

Shen: It was pretty horrifying

to realize what had happened there.

The more you learned, the more sickening it became.

Narrator: For investigators, this brutally challenging case

was about to get even more difficult.

The forensic anthropologist was able to determine

that, based on the condition of the bones,

they were buried for about 30 years.

Narrator: Investigators were now looking

at trying to solve a crime

three decades old.

Their primary question:

who lived in this quaint little house

on Canyon Road long ago

and attempted to hide a body

so it would never be found?

Shen: It could be someone has gone this long

believing they got away with murder.

Narrator: Detective Benson began his investigation

by talking to the homeowners.

Understandably,

they were utterly distraught and shocked

that a body had been found on their property.

Farina: The owners of the property

had lived in the house until 1973.

In 1974,

they began renting the property out

to other individuals.

Narrator: Because the owners hadn't lived there in decades,

they were ruled out as suspects,

but that meant detectives

would have to investigate each of the renters

who lived in the house

between the late 1970s

and the early 1980s,

a daunting task...

until they caught a lucky break.

Farina: The owner told the police

that he remembered a woman

coming by many years before

looking for her father.

She had explained

that he had last been seen

at a house on the property

where the bones were found.

Det. Benson: She actually got permission

to walk around the property

and look to see if she could see anything unusual.

She thought maybe he had disappeared

and something had happened to him there.

Narrator: This new lead, while promising,

only raised more questions.

Who was the woman who came

looking for her father all those years ago?

Was the mystery victim actually her father?

And if it was, who was responsible

for dismembering his body?

Det. Benson: I ran a background check.

He had done time in prison

for killing a person.

Gypsy Tarricone: She was young, beautiful.

I said, "She's only using you for your money."

Once you kill one person,

it's easy to kill another one.

Narrator:

Narrator: When the bones

Narrator: When the bones of a dismembered man

were found buried in a back yard in Puyallup, Washington,

detectives had very few clues

as to who he was

or who could've committed the murder.

Their most promising lead

was a report from the property owner

about a young woman who had come to the house years earlier

looking for her missing father.

So, the property owner thought that he potentially was the person

that was buried in the back yard.

Narrator: But investigators knew that even if it was true,

finding additional information

about the anonymous man or his daughter

could prove to be an impossible task.

But then, fate intervened.

Shen: For decades, there was a single house on this property.

For decades, there was a gruesome secret buried

between the house and garage.

Farina: A woman who worked in the King County Sheriff's office

as the missing persons coordinator

had heard about the discovery of the bones on TV,

and the address of where the remains were found,

off of Canyon Road,

it triggered something in her mind.

Benson: About this point in time,

I'm contacted by Jan Rhodes

from the King County Sheriff's Department.

And she tells me that they have a missing person case

where the person that is listed as missing

is a man by the name of Joseph Tarricone.

Farina: The family had last spoken to Mr. Tarricone

in September of 1978.

This was consistent

with what the forensic anthropologist determined

were the age of the bones

that were recovered

on the site.

Det. Benson: The missing person report

links me to Joe's daughter,

Gypsy Tarricone.

I was able to contact her,

and she came down to my office,

and we started talking about her father.

Tarricone: Detective Benson said,

"Do you remember this house on Canyon Road?"

And when he started that "Canyon Road,"

I was, like, kinda like going into shock

'cause the last time anyone saw my dad

was at that house.

Narrator: Suddenly everything clicked.

Gypsy Tarricone was the same woman

who had come to the house looking for her father years earlier,

but police still needed to determine

if the found remains

belonged to Joe Tarricone.

To find out, they got a DNA sample from Gypsy,

and three weeks later,

the results came back.

The bones did indeed belong to Gypsy's dad.

I was in shock. And I just said, "I knew it.

I knew it. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. I knew it."

Narrator: But who wanted Joe dead?

Detectives needed Gypsy's help

in retracing his final steps

three decades ago.

Gypsy: My father was a meat distributor.

He was just like a traveling salesman, selling meat.

He would go to the bars at night,

sell to the bars and the lounges,

sausage, steaks,

and eventually he decided,

"Hey, I'm gonna go to Alaska and open up my own shop."

And he did,

and he was quite successful up there.

Narrator: Joe's new business in Anchorage was thriving,

but being so far from his family took its toll.

Joe's marriage to Gypsy's mom

ended in 1976.

Gypsy: Family was really important to my dad,

and after my parents' divorce,

I think he was really lost in the world.

He started dating these younger women.

Narrator: One of those younger women

was a receptionist at Joe's company

named Renee Curtiss.

Joe was instantly smitten.

Gypsy: She was young, beautiful, in his eyes.

I think how the relationship started

is probably my dad showed an interest in her,

and she knew, you know, he made a lot of money,

and he was a likeable man.

I mean, I'm sure she liked him.

He bought her jewelry, clothes. whatever she wanted.

You know, her wish was... his command.

He just talked about Renee, Renee, Renee.

Renee, Renee, Renee.

And I looked at my dad,

and I said, "Dad, please, come on.

She's only using you for your money."

He just could not see that.

He wasn't hearing anything anyone said by this time.

He was probably lonely and lost,

and so he wanted some companionship.

Narrator: Although Joe didn't have a problem

being with a woman half his age,

Renee had some doubts.

After just a couple of months of dating,

Renee decided to leave Anchorage

and relocate to the Seattle area

to move in with her mother, Geraldine Hesse,

in the small yellow house on Canyon Road.

Her mother made it clear she wasn't crazy

about Renee's relationship with Joe.

But back in Anchorage,

Joe was still in love with Renee

and believed he could make things work.

He wasn't ready to give up.

Farina: He would fly to the Seattle area

twice a month to see Renee Curtiss.

When he was here,

he would also see his daughter Gina.

My dad came down for a visit to see Renee,

and he saw me at the same time

towards the end of July.

Narrator: The last time Gina remembers seeing her father

was after one of those visits,

in July of 1978.

Gina: After that visit, I tried to call him,

and it would just ring and ring and ring,

and then I was getting more concerned

as the weeks were going by,

still no answer.

That really alarmed me

because that was not my father.

Narrator: Gina and Gypsy didn't believe their dad

would just abandon his family like that.

My dad loved his kids. You had three younger ones still at home.

Narrator: So after six weeks without hearing from Joe,

his daughters finally decided to get law enforcement involved.

I'm thinking that I just better go down

and put in a missing persons report.

Narrator: In August of 1978,

local authorities paid a visit to the house on Canyon Road,

the last place Joe had been seen.

They were greeted by Renee and Geraldine,

who told police they hadn't seen Joe for several weeks.

They also mentioned his last visit hadn't ended very well.

Gypsy: Renee said my dad came to their house

with tickets to go to Rome,

to ask Renee to get married,

and that they were going to go off to Rome together.

She said no.

Renee told the detective

he was in a mad fury,

threw the tickets down,

and stomped away.

Narrator: Police found no evidence of foul play,

and the case stalled.

But the story didn't add up for Joe's daughters,

who decided to take matters into their own hands.

( phone ringing )

Gina: I finally decided to call Renee,

and her mother Geraldine picked up.

Gypsy: Geraldine went on to say,

"Well, I haven't seen your father in a while,

but you know your dad.

Don't worry. You'll hear from him again."

And then we never heard from him again.

Narrator: Weeks passed, then months,

and still there was no word from Joe.

It was--

as time went on, it was hard.

I mean, you know, you get busy with your life.

I had four kids, so I was a very busy mom.

We put in a missing report,

and periodically we would check in with the King County police

where the report was taken.

You know, next year, the year after.

And eventually, years later,

I went to my brothers and sisters and said,

"Either we're going to find out what happened to him,

or we're gonna get him declared dead."

Narrator: Twelve years after Joe's disappearance,

Gypsy still hadn't given up hope

of finding her father.

In 1990,

she decided to pay a visit

to the house on Canyon Road.

By then, Renee and Geraldine had moved out,

and it was occupied by new tenants.

Gypsy: I introduced myself,

and I said, you know, my father was missing,

and years ago his girlfriend lived there,

and could you give me any information, whatever she had.

And she said no, she didn't have any information.

Narrator: The woman did allow Gypsy to inspect the property.

She didn't find anything suspicious,

but she couldn't shake the feeling

that Renee Curtiss and Geraldine Hesse

had something to do with her father's death.

Det. Benson: At this point in time,

Renee is being identified

as a possible suspect

by Gypsy, the daughter of our victim.

So I run a background check on Renee Curtis,

and I figure out that she is currently residing in Seattle,

but I didn't see any huge red flags

that jumped out at us regarding Renee.

My next step was to run a background check on Geraldine Hesse,

and I found out that she had died several years earlier.

Narrator: Initially, nothing seemed suspicious

about Renee or her mother,

but then a closer look at family records

revealed some new information.

Renee had an adopted sibling

named Nick Notaro.

Det. Benson: So I ran a background check on Renee Curtis's brother,

and it was revealed that he had done time in prison

for killing a person up in Alaska back in the '70s.

I do believe that once you kill one person,

it's easy to kill another one.

And the fact that he had committed a murder in Alaska,

it lent more credence to the fact

that he could've committed a murder in Washington.

Narrator:

Narrator: In 2007, Seattle detectives

ramped up their investigation

into the murder of Joe Tarricone,

whose buried remains

were found next to a house on Canyon Road.

They discovered a connection

between two of the home's former residents:

Geraldine Hesse and her daughter, Renee Curtiss.

They also learned that Geraldine's adopted son Nick

had a murderous past.

Det. Benson: When I learned that Nick

had been convicted of manslaughter in Alaska,

I immediately requested a copy of their case file

from that investigation.

When I investigate Nick's murder conviction,

I find that he had murdered his wife in 1978

up in the area of Fairbanks, Alaska.

While they were driving back to Anchorage,

he pulled off the road

into a kind of a gravel pit area...

( woman screams )

...and shot and killed her.

She was shot at a distance in the back of the head...

...and then shot at close range

on the left side of her head.

Narrator: In March of 2008,

Nicholas Notaro was arrested

and charged with first degree murder.

Det. Benson: He served eight years in prison for killing his wife.

I thought that was a little light,

but back in the '70s,

there was a lot of people being murdered up in Alaska

and that if somebody was willing to take a deal, they gave it to him.

And that's how Nick got lucky on that case.

Narrator: After serving his eight-year sentence,

Nick Notaro was released on parole.

He moved from Alaska to Washington State,

where instead of turning over a new leaf,

he found himself the target

of another murder investigation.

Det. Benson: Reading through the case file, I learned

that there was a period of time from when he killed his wife

until he was arrested.

In the case file they had the paper reports,

and they had some photocopies of some things.

One of the things was a plane ticket.

Nick had purchased an airline ticket

in August of 1978

to fly to Washington State.

It put him in our area

around the same time that Joseph Tarricone

was murdered, dismembered,

and buried in the back yard.

Narrator: Detective Benson suspected that Nick Notaro

might have killed Joe Tarricone

the last time Joe showed up

to visit Nick's sister Renee,

the woman he was still in love with.

But what could have been his motive?

There was only one way to find out.

Det. Benson: I tracked down Nicholas,

and learned that he was nearing the end of his probation

and he only had a couple more meetings

where he had to come in and meet with her

before his probation would be over.

Narrator: In July of 2007,

at a probation office

outside Seattle,

Detective Benson finally got his chance

to question Nick Notaro.

Det. Benson: Nicholas, you told us that you'd been arrested

for involuntary manslaughter.

Was that the charge?

What was the initial charge you were arrested for?

Okay, and that-- just briefly tell me

the circumstances regarding that charge

or what caused you to get arrested for that.

Okay, and where did that occur at?

At that point in time you believed that your wife

was fooling around on you. Is that right?

And why did you believe that?

Narrator: Nick Notaro talked openly

about the murder of his wife,

so Detective Benson

steered the conversation

toward the case at hand.

Det. Benson: How did you end up getting the job up there in Healy?

What was his name?

Joe. Okay.

Can you remember Joe's last name?

He was Italian? Okay.

What else do you remember about Joe?

He was Italian.

Narrator: Notaro claimed his memories of Joe were fuzzy,

but his body language told detectives otherwise,

so they kept pressing him.

We've now got him talking about Joe.

We've got him talking about Joe getting him a job

up in Alaska.

We've got him talking about Joe being Renee's boyfriend.

And every time he would mention Joe's name,

he would scoot back a little bit in his chair.

Pretty soon Detective Wood and I are sitting at this table in this room,

and we looked and Nicholas is across the room,

and I asked him, I said,

"Nicholas, where are you going?"

And he kinda had a moment, and he looked around,

and brought it back over at the table,

and we can continue with the interview.

Did you ever see Joe down here

after Renee came down here,

and she was living in Alaska for a while,

and then you said she and your mom moved down to Washington?

And that's where you came and visited them?

- Yes. - After you killed Vickie?

And was Joe hanging around down here then

or was he up-- did he come down here with Renee?

Narrator: Detectives then revealed

the real reason for their visit.

Det. Benson: I told Nicholas

that we were in fact investigating

the murder of Joseph Tarricone

and that human remains had been found on the property

where his mother had lived in Puyallup back in 1978,

so then we just asked him to tell us

what happened to Joe.

He just came right out with it,

and he told us that his mother Geraldine

had shot and killed Joseph Tarricone.

Narrator: But what possible motive would Geraldine have

to commit murder?

Detectives had the feeling the chilling truth

was only beginning to unravel.

Narrator:

Narrator: In 2007, 30 years after

Narrator: In 2007, 30 years after Joe Tarricone disappeared

and just a few months after his bones were discovered

behind the house on Canyon Road,

detectives finally had a break in the case.

Nick Notaro, the son of one of the home's former residents,

said his mother, Geraldine Hesse,

was responsible for Joe's killing.

( gun fires )

When we asked Nicholas why this happened,

he said that Joseph would not leave Renee alone.

He wanted a relationship with Renee,

and he wasn't taking no for an answer.

He was hounding her.

He was always trying to get her into bed.

So Geraldine, according to Nicholas,

took it upon herself

to solve the problem.

His mother, Geraldine, had shot and killed Joseph Tarricone,

and she put him in the freezer

in the basement at her house in Puyallup,

chopped him up with a chainsaw,

and buried him in the back yard.

Narrator: Something about Nick Notaro's blunt revelation

seemed suspicious to investigators,

and because his mother Geraldine

had passed away years earlier,

there was no way it could be proven.

Det. Benson: The story that he gave made no sense.

Joseph would've been too heavy for Geraldine

to pick up by herself and put in the freezer.

And we told him that we didn't believe his story.

I told Nicholas that I believed that he and his sister

had something to do with killing Joseph Tarricone,

and his reaction was,

"My sister had nothing to do with this whatsoever."

That was basically all it took,

and he said, "Yeah,"

that he was the one that shot Joe.

Narrator: Detective Benson had a hunch

that Nick Notaro didn't act alone,

so he asked Nick to explain exactly

how the murder took place.

Det. Benson: Nicholas said that they were upstairs in the house,

and he told Joseph that they were having a problem

with the washing machine.

And he asked him to come downstairs

to take a look at the washing machine

to see if he could determine what was wrong.

Then when they got to the basement

and Joe leaned over the washing machine...

Nicholas came up behind him and shot him in the head.

Narrator: Notaro went on to explain

how he used a chainsaw to dismember Joe,

but Detective Benson,

who was carefully listening to every word,

found a flaw in Notaro's story.

Det. Benson: He said that "we" went to the store

to buy the chainsaw.

I said, "You said, 'We went to buy the chainsaw.'

Who went with you to buy the chainsaw?"

Asked him who the "we" was.

And he said, "I don't remember."

He didn't say, "It was my mom." He said, "I can't remember."

That was the significant piece right there,

that told us that there was somebody else there

besides Geraldine.

But he stuck to his story

that Renee had nothing to do with it.

He said that she was living in Hawaii at the time

and that after he had done this,

he and his mother

were the two that dismembered

Joe in the basement...

and that he then buried him in the back yard.

Narrator: Detective Benson had all he needed

to arrest Nick Notaro for the murder of Joseph Tarricone.

Det. Benson: There wasn't much of a reaction from him.

He stood up and was cooperative,

and we handcuffed him and walked him out of the building

and handed him over to some patrol deputies,

and they transported him to jail.

Gypsy: My thought on Nick's story, that he did this on his own,

I certainly don't believe that.

I don't think he has the mental capability to do it.

I believe he would do it on order of his sister.

Det. Benson: Nicholas didn't have a reason to kill Joseph Tarricone

unless Renee put him up to it.

Narrator: But was Renee Curtiss,

a pretty 25-year-old

with no police record

really an accomplice to murder?

Detective Benson was determined to find out.

So now our next step is to go talk to Renee.

Narrator:

Narrator: In 2007, Nicholas Notaro

was arrested for killing Joe Tarricone

30 years earlier,

but Detective Ben Benson

was convinced Notaro didn't act alone.

He shifted his focus to Nick's sister Renee.

Det. Benson: Fairly early on in the investigation,

I learned that Renee

was married to a bail bondsman up in Seattle,

and that they had this bail bond company,

so I went to the bail bonds place,

and I sat right across the desk from Renee,

and we started off by telling Renee

that her brother has gotten into some trouble

and we want to talk to her about that.

We told Renee that we were investigating the murder

of somebody from Alaska,

and I asked her if she knew who I was talking about.

And she says, "Well, I believe so."

She says, "My brother killed his wife

up in Alaska back in 1978."

And I told her, "I'm aware of that,

but we're investigating the murder of somebody else."

It is my belief that Renee is culpable in this murder

and that she was involved in asking her brother

to do this or helping her brother do this.

Gypsy: I believe Renee manipulated Nick

into doing her dirty work

because he loved his sister,

wanted to protect her,

and would do anything for her.

Det. Benson: Nicholas adamantly denied that

and said that she was in Hawaii at the time

and that it was just him and his mother

that were there at the time.

But I believe that Renee was there,

and we're now going into an interview

where the only way we're going to learn that

is if she tells us that.

( on recording ) Okay, Renee, we are conducting an investigation

into the death of Joseph Tarricone.

We have your brother Nicholas in custody

for killing Joseph.

She just gasped.

She sat frozen for probably 30 seconds.

Then she turned beet red,

and you can see her heart thumping in her neck,

and she eventually said,

"I know Joseph Tarricone."

And then I told Renee that Nicholas had told us everything,

everything that had happened at her mom's house.

Det. Benson: So did you come home right away?

Tell me what happened when you got home.

Narrator: Without knowing it,

Renee Curtiss had contradicted her brother's story

that she was not at her mother's house

on the night Joe was murdered.

She said, "Well, this is obviously a serious matter.

Do I need to talk to an attorney?"

We said, "That is definitely your right,

and if you want to talk to an attorney,

you should do that,

but let me just say this:

rendering criminal assistance,

which is what we believe you probably did,

has a statute of limitations on it,

and that expired a long time ago.

We can't arrest you for what you did

to help Nicholas after he killed Joseph,

but we still want to know what happened.

Narrator: Detectives were setting a very subtle trap.

What we told her at the initial part of the interview was entirely true.

We could not arrest her for rendering criminal assistance.

We could not arrest her for helping chop up the body.

Narrator: However, detectives could still arrest her

if she admitted to ordering Joe's murder.

That would indicate that Renee was an active participant

in the killing, making her an accomplice to murder.

For that, there is no statute of limitations.

Unaware, Renee continued to disclose details to Detective Benson.

Det. Benson: Describe for me what Joe looked liked

when you looked in there and saw him.

Okay, so what happened

after they took you down and showed you Joe?

And who was in on that conversation?

Tell me about the conversation

with your mom and Nick about what had happened.

And what did you talk about regarding that?

Okay, and where did you decide to bury him?

Who dug the holes in the back yard?

Prior to that,

you and Nicolas went somewhere together,

and where did you and Nicholas go together?

Do you remember what kind of saw it was?

What did you do after you got the chainsaw?

Okay, and what specifically was the chainsaw used for?

Okay, specifically what part of the body was dismembered?

Did you cut his head off as well?

( whispering )

How much of a mess did this make

when you guys were cutting him up?

Narrator: The longer Renee spoke to detectives,

the more comfortable she became.

She freely admitted to helping her brother

cover up the murder he committed,

but would she be as forthcoming about who put him up to it?

She told us that she had conversations with Nicholas

about the problem she was having with Joe.

She asked Nicholas to come down here

to Seattle and take care of Joe.

When you're talking to somebody that you know just committed a murder,

and now you ask them to come down here and "take care of" somebody,

what are you asking them to do?

We believed that she put her brother up to that murder,

which made her an accomplice to murder.

Narrator:

Narrator: In 2008, Renee Curtiss

made a shocking confession.

She admitted to Seattle Detective Ben Benson

that in 1978,

she called her brother to come to Seattle

to kill her former boyfriend,

Joe Tarricone.

When we told Renee that she was under arrest,

for the murder of Joseph Tarricone,

she took it in stride.

Renee, is there anything else you can think of?

Renee: No.

Det. Benson: She stood up and she put her hands behind her back

and we handcuffed her and walked her out of the bail bonds office.

Narrator: It was clear that Renee

had chosen to end the relationship with Joe

by murdering him.

I knew already that she killed my father,

but I just find it amazing

that a woman would do that.

This man gave you money,

lavished you with jewelry,

paid your rent,

and this is what you do to him in the end.

She is sick.

The judge set Renee Curtiss's bail at $500,000,

and for Nicholas Notaro,

2 million, cash only.

Meantime, the Tarricone family

will watch this brother and sister

go through the court system.

Narrator: District Attorney Dawn Farina

was in charge of the prosecution

to bring justice to Joe Tarricone and his family.

Nicholas Notaro and Renee Curtiss

chose to have two separate trials.

Mr. Notaro went first,

He was willing, early on,

to plead guilty to the murder

and take the fall

if we agreed to dismiss our case

against Renee Curtiss.

That was just simply not going to happen.

Narrator: In February of 2009,

Nick Notaro stood trial for murder.

Farina: Your Honor, this is matter of the State of Washington

versus Nicholas Louis Notaro.

I was a little surprised the first time I saw Nick.

He was this old guy.

It was hard to imagine him

doing what had been done.

Narrator: After waiting 30 years

to find out the truth behind their father's disappearance,

the Tarricone family members

didn't miss a day of the trial.

It's the not knowing will, not drive you crazy,

but, you know, it's-- you don't ever get any closure,

so now we will have closure

when this is over.

Narrator: On February 24th,

the jury returned with a verdict.

Woman: We the jury find the defendant Nicholas Notaro

guilty in the crime of murder in the first degree.

Shen: Renee ended up taking the stand in her own defense

in her trial, and it didn't go well.

( reporting ) In court she constantly tried to hide from the camera,

never said she was sorry, and showed zero remorse.

This was a senseless murder.

It wasn't enough that they shot him in the back of the head,

but then she had to go get a chainsaw

and dismember him.

Miss Curtiss, along with her brother,

chopped up Mr. Tarricone's body.

Narrator: After painfully reliving the gruesome details

of her father's murder,

Gypsy Tarricone and her family

finally received justice.

Farina: Both Nicholas Notaro and Renee Curtiss

were found guilty of murder in the first degree

and sentenced 40 years to life.

They both will die in prison.

It's truly appalling,

in terms of believing that she is a human being.

( no audible dialogue )

I worked homicide investigations for over 20 years,

and you just see it over and over again.

There's people that have no regard for human life,

and these were some of those people.

Helping to cut arms and legs and a head off

of somebody that she had had a previous romantic relationship with.

I don't know how you get there,

as a human being.

I don't know how they could be so evil.

It's something when you have one family member,

but you've got a brother, a sister, and a mother?

It was probably the most interesting case of my career

and one of the most satisfying cases,

the fact that people waited 30 years to get justice,

and that people didn't give up.

They never gave up.

They wanted justice for their dad

and they weren't gonna stop thinking about that

until they got it.

I just want people to know that my dad had instilled in us

hard work, family values,

stick together, take care of each other.

I just wish he would've been there

at least to meet the grandkids

and meet our spouses, you know?

And he missed out on all that.

I've been a TV news reporter for 25 years now,

and when I look back

on cases I've covered,

this one stands out for me.

It was a 30-year-old tale of secrets and lies

buried in the backyard.