Cold and Missing: Bruce Cucchiara

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The views and opinions expressed in Cold and Missing are exclusively those of the hosts.

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All parties mentioned are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

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Cold and Missing also contains adult themes and languages.

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Listener discretion is advised.

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I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin-Sulkowski.

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And I'm your co-host, Eli Sulkowski.

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And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover cold cases and missing person cases.

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Hello everyone and welcome back to Cold and Missing.

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I'm your host, Ali.

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And I'm your co-host, Eli

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Welcome back, everyone.

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Thank you so much for your patience with us.

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I know we took an unexpected episode off last week.

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I think last week was just like the accumulation of everything that is December.

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Eli was sick and I had to kind of coordinate my office holiday party, so it was just like

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all the things and I was just getting really strapped for time.

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Yeah, as most of our listeners know, but you know, if you're here maybe for the first time,

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Allie and I are a two-person team with, I would say, about 90% of the work done by my

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lovely intelligent wife.

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So yeah, you know, it's just us on our end.

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Life happens and we have to just roll with the punches sometimes.

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But we thank you for coming back.

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We thank you for being here for the first time, if you are.

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This week I was able to devote the time that I like to devote to the podcast in my research

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and for editing.

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So here we are ready to bring you a new episode, episode 112.

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All right, let's get into it.

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Today we are talking about the cold case of Bruce Cucchiara and this takes place in April

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of 2012 in New Orleans.

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But first a little bit about Bruce.

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Bruce is 57 years old in 2012.

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In researching this case, I really got to see Bruce grow up through newspaper articles.

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There were Christmas parties, kindergarten graduations, little league baseball games,

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high school graduations, all the way up to him starting and becoming the first president

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of Resource Bank.

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Bruce would eventually leave this position.

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He was issued a penalty by the FDIC and was actually prohibited from holding a banking

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position for a number of years.

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Bruce shifted his focus to another business venture of his, which was Southeastern Louisiana

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Water and Sewage, or SEALA for short.

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Bruce also coached little league baseball for years and would even write about baseball

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in the local paper.

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Bruce was loved by those in his circles.

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His best friend said, quote, he was a family man.

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He loved life.

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He loved sports.

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Bruce was one of the funniest people I know.

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He would just light up a room and he loved coming in a room telling a joke.

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End quote.

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Bruce had two adult children from his first marriage and had recently gotten remarried

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to a woman who had been a single mom for a number of years, just a few months before

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his murder.

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And now a timeline of events.

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On Tuesday, April 24th, 2012, that day started like any other day for Bruce.

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Bruce arrived at his office around 8 a.m. that morning and by 8.09 he had already replied

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to an email from his son.

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Bruce continued to receive and make calls that morning, but by 9.20 his cell phone pings

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began to show that he was no longer at his office, but in route to visit an apartment

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complex.

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It's said again and again that Bruce was visiting that apartment complex as a potential

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investment property.

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But this wasn't typical of Bruce's day to day job description.

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And nobody that worked with Bruce seemed to know that he was headed out there that day.

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At around 10.05 a.m., Bruce arrives at the apartment complex in New Orleans East, which

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is about an hour southeast of where Bruce lived.

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The apartment complex was called Mark 7, with the 7 being in Roman numerals.

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The address for the complex is 4508 Papina Drive.

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Bruce pulls into the parking lot, parks, gets out of his truck, and looks around.

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This isn't quite right.

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Bruce had been given an address and a description of the apartment complex, but the actual address

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didn't exist.

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The numbers didn't match up.

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Bruce headed inside the apartment complex office to ask the office manager a few questions.

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She hadn't been expecting Bruce and wasn't sure exactly what he was talking about.

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Bruce was only inside the office for about 5 to 9 minutes.

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Bruce told the office manager that he was going to go back to his truck, make a phone

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call and check his fax.

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He left the office with his keys in his hand.

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Within moments of Bruce leaving the office, a gunshot is heard.

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Within minutes of that gunshot, police are on the scene at 10.14 a.m.

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Remember, Bruce had only arrived to the apartment complex about 9 minutes before this.

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The officer arrives and she finds Bruce on his back next to a black pickup truck.

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He was struggling to breathe when police arrived, and when fire and EMS showed up to the scene

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just a few minutes later, they immediately made the choice to put Bruce on a stretcher

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and try to get him to a hospital.

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Bruce is rushed to the closest trauma center, but he ultimately succumbs to the wound.

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Police send his body for an autopsy, and while Bruce is at the hospital, police are still

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at the parking lot processing the scene.

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Nothing is really out of place at the scene.

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What is more noticeable is what is not there.

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Police are unable to find a shell casing to the gun.

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This leads police to believe that either the murderer used a revolver, which wouldn't

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eject a shell casing, or the person pulling the trigger was able to pick up the shell

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casing before fleeing the area.

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Also missing from Bruce was his wallet and his phone.

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Neither was found at the scene, and neither was on his body at the hospital.

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But an hour and a half after his murder, an email pops up in Bruce's inbox that says

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that someone was trying to reset his Apple ID password.

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In Bruce's truck, police do end up finding a piece of paper that had Bruce's handwriting

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on it.

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On the piece of paper was written instructions from one of the major roadways giving turn-by-turn

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directions to the apartment complex.

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It did not seem like an accident that Bruce ended up at that parking lot that day.

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The next day, April 25th, Bruce's autopsy is conducted.

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In the report, it says that Bruce had been shot from close range at the left upper eyelid.

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He was only shot once.

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The bullet went through Bruce's brain but did not kill him instantly.

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Police are able to retrieve the bullet from Bruce's body.

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Police have never officially confirmed the type of bullet, the official caliber of the

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bullet, but this bullet, along with the missing shell case, tells police that they're looking

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for a revolver as the murder weapon, and this is something that the police have repeated

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again and again.

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Besides the gunshot wound, there were no other marks on Bruce's body.

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No defensive wounds, cuts, scrapes, or bruises.

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His toxicology report comes back clean, ultimately.

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Police begin to canvas the neighborhood looking for witnesses, but people around this neighborhood

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don't trust the police and they don't want to talk to them.

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But lots of people were likely out and about when Bruce was shot.

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It was the middle of the day and there was a store nearby that people like to hang out

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in front of.

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Police are able to talk to a few people and they generate a sketch of the young black

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man that was seen leaving the area on a bike just shortly after the gunshots were heard.

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This police sketch, without a doubt, is one of the most generic composite sketches that

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I personally have ever seen.

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The next day, August 26th, so it's been two days since Bruce's murder, and police

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release the sketch along with the description of the person that they're trying to talk

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to.

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The person is a young man in his mid-20s.

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He is black with a lighter complexion, between 5'9 to 6' with a slim build.

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He was wearing all black and had on a black beanie.

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It doesn't appear that police are ever able to track down the person on the bike.

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Over the coming weeks, while police continue to work the case, it comes to light that Bruce

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had about $5 million in life insurance between four different policies.

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Three life insurance policies were for $1 million each and they named Bruce's business

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partner, Jared Riecke , the beneficiary.

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The other policy was for $2 million.

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The beneficiary of the $2 million policy was Southern Louisiana Water and Sewage, a company

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that Bruce and Jared owned together at this point in 2012.

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This altogether is not strange, but the insurance company refused to pay out for nearly a year

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because Jared was not cleared in the police investigation.

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Jared will bring a lawsuit to the insurance company in 2013 and ultimately the insurance

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company will decide to pay out rather than go to court.

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It was revealed by the Counter Clock podcast that in June of 2012, just over two months

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since Bruce's murder, Ann, that's Bruce's widow at that time, receives a text from

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a woman named Joyce Whitfield and Joyce was texting using Bruce's phone.

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Over the years, Bruce's story will remain in the media around the anniversary of his

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murder and his children will work hard to keep his case in the media and to bring in

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new leads.

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But the next real big update comes in November of 2021.

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So at this point, it's been almost 10 years since Bruce has been murdered when the New

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Orleans Police Department announced that they're trying to locate two people for questioning

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in Bruce's murder.

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The two people are Richard Chambers and Joyce Whitfield.

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Police name the two as people of interest in the case and say that they are believed

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to be in the Baton Rouge area as of 2021.

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Police stress that they're not wanted on criminal charges, but police do believe that these

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two may have more knowledge about Bruce's murder and it could be vital to the investigation.

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But that is really all that we know about Bruce's murder.

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So if you know anything about the murder of Bruce Cucchiara in April of 2012, please call

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Detective Ryan Aucoin at 504-658-5300 or you can leave an anonymous tip with Crimestoppers

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of Greater New Orleans at 504-822-1111.

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So that is the cold case of Bruce Cucchiara.

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Something that I really appreciated hearing about Bruce immediately was that he just kind

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of existed as a light in a lot of people's lives.

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And I know you do this on our podcast when we are approaching these cases, but I again

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so appreciate how much detail you are able to pull from these people's stories just so

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we really get a sense of who they are.

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And Bruce honestly just kind of reminded me of my dad.

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Just a business guy trying to, you know, build out his life.

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Yeah, it seems like everyone who really knew Bruce like always mentioned his humor and

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like how he entered the room like telling jokes and making everybody laughed, which

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I really appreciate when people do that.

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Like I like those types of people in my life so it was interesting to hear him described

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as that way.

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And just before we get too into this, I did just want to give like a little bit of a shout

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out to Counter Clock Podcast.

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Season five completely covers Bruce's case.

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It's the only case they cover that season and they're able to work with the family and

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with detectives on this case.

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So if you're interested in learning more about Bruce himself and this case and kind of getting

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into some of the more really really nitty gritty details, like as far as like LLCs and

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all of that jazz, I would really recommend listening to it.

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I myself have not listened to the podcast all of season five on this case.

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I try not to listen to podcasts that cover cases that we're going to cover just so that

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way I'm able to kind of come to my own opinion and thoughts on the case without influence

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of others as much as possible.

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I also think it's important, especially as true crime podcasts and you know, true crime

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investigators, investigative journalists continue to research these cases that there are multiple

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clear views and recorded timelines that tend to repeat each other.

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I think an echoed timeline and finding the same thing over and over again.

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Yes, while it's frustrating, it's a good thing because it continues to repeat the case and

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bring attention to the person that is no longer here.

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Something that immediately tipped me off that this was not necessarily an odd day for Bruce,

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but just slightly off was that he didn't mention that he was going to see the investment real

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estate.

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I think that usually people who are trying to make those kinds of investments, one they

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have partners that they would at least run it by and say, Hey, I'm going to look at this

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address.

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And then again, just for safety reasons, if you are by yourself, it is, I think pretty

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run of the mill to run that information by your team and to just get it out there.

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It read as an immediate red flag to me.

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Like he was absolutely there on purpose, but not for the reason that he thought he was

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there for, if that makes sense.

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Yeah.

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Bruce coming to the apartment complex is really like at the heart of everything, right?

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Like it's, it almost feels like you get to the bottom of like, who told him about this

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apartment complex?

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You kind of get to the bottom of this case.

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At least for me, that's what it feels like.

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Cause he had the wrong address, but while the address didn't exist, it wasn't, you know,

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on any of the buildings and the apartment complex was even in addresses and the number

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he had was an odd address and would have technically been kind of across the street.

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But again, there was nothing there.

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Everything was at that address.

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And on his piece of paper with the directions was also like kind of a description of the

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apartment with like, you know, X amount of single bedrooms, X amount of double bedrooms.

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So like he was going to that apartment complex.

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Somebody gave him directions there.

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With your narrative storytelling, it was pretty easy for me to fill in the blank of what potentially

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this apartment complex maybe looked like.

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And I know we, we try to be factual, especially when we are talking about the details of what

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happened to someone, especially in a cold case.

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So I'm only going to touch on this for a moment, but it was very, it was very easy for me to,

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to picture him there and that his last moments were probably so terrifying and painful.

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And I don't know, it's such a sad, cold way for someone to leave this earth.

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And I, I'm heartbroken that that memory must live on in his loved ones.

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While this apartment complex didn't have like a reputation for like danger or anything like

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that, like it wasn't known as like a dangerous apartment complex, the overall area of like

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New Orleans East like does have, tend to have higher crime rates than other areas of New

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Orleans.

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So the neighborhood might be like a little bit tougher.

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And so initially police, you know, in the days that follow the murder, they put out

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that this was a robbery gone wrong, you know, since his cell phone is missing, his wallet

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was missing.

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While that is a possibility that that could be what happened, his family tends to lean

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that, you know, he was brought to that place specifically as we had kind of mentioned.

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And nobody since his murder has come out to say like, oh, I told him to go to those apartments,

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you know, like to clear that up.

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And I gave him the wrong address, but I showed up X amount of time later, you know, like

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that's, that's never happened.

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Nobody's come forward to say like, I told him about this.

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And then if it was a robbery gone wrong, there were some other smaller items as well in his

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truck that had value like, you know, designer sunglasses, small things like that, that you

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think would also be taken in this incident, or even just his truck in general, but his

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truck was left as well.

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And if I'm not mistaken, his bank cards were never accessed or never tried to access by

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anybody.

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So it seems like they just took the phone.

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Yeah, again, what that tells me is that there was potentially a lot of I mean, everyone

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puts everything in their phone.

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We all that's kind of the new tech standard for the average person.

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And they got exactly what they wanted.

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His phone, the information on it, and maybe some other personal identifiers, like what

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was in his wallet, whether or not they wanted to use the cards.

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I don't think that that was the point, but maybe just to have the ID.

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It does seem like the phone was kind of the target, especially with the Apple ID requests

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coming in about an hour and a half after Bruce's murder, like whoever had the phone was actively

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trying to do that kind of immediately after the crime.

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So something about the phone definitely, I think, holds some answers.

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Not that this I needed to agree with this information because it is factual.

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But I also agreed with law enforcement that it was definitely a revolver or some type

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of smaller handgun.

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Another kind of interesting thing about the gun that police have kind of revealed over

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the years is that they've never been they've never had like another match in any other

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crime in New Orleans with the same gun, so no ballistic tests have ever matched in any

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other crime in New Orleans since this one, which does seem to surprise police a little

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bit.

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They would kind of expect to see the gun pop up again in a crime, but it doesn't seem to

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be the case here.

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I think it's worth noting that a couple months after this, Hurricane Isaac arrived in New

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Orleans, wreaking havoc on that part of the nation.

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And as we know, hurricanes, they wreak havoc.

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And I think it makes it even easier if you are committing a crime in that area where

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there are national disasters to get rid of a gun that was used in a murder.

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Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm sure it is easier to get rid of it.

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So we know that the gun either isn't used again or hasn't been found.

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But who is the person holding the gun?

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And while we are pivoting to that, I have to echo again what you said about the suspect

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sketch.

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It is a very unfortunate suspect sketch.

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At its best, it is a bad suspect sketch.

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At its worst, it does a disservice to the investigation because it is so general.

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And I think it can make it easier to target people in a general way when you're trying

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to figure out, does so and so look like this very generic suspect sketch?

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Yeah, it's no surprise to me that police never were able to find this person and talk to

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them.

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Again, this person was seen riding a bike kind of away from the general area of the

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crime just a little bit after the gunshots were heard.

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So with the very vague suspect sketch and the very vague description, it's like no shocker

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to me at all that police could never find this person because it's everybody.

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It's everybody and nobody.

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This is just one of those cases.

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It's like whenever you pick up a lead and you try to like start to follow it, it kind

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of gets all tangled up into like a huge knot.

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You can't just take one from the other because it's you start chasing one and you're like,

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this makes sense, this makes sense, and then it doesn't.

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And then you start chasing another one and you're like, yes, this makes sense, this makes

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sense, and then it doesn't.

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I think though, given how recent it is and how much information is out there, that hopefully

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we will get answers in this case.

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My last question for you is, was his business partner Jared an actual suspect?

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From my understanding, Jared was never named a suspect, was never named a person of interest

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officially by police, but the life insurance dragged their feet because he was never officially

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cleared either.

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They hadn't ruled him out completely.

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So it was kind of this gray area of like one foot in, one foot out.

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But eventually the insurance company did end up paying rather than like go to court and

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try to fight it.

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Yeah, that and that makes sense to me.

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Again, like you said, when you follow a small detail in a case like this where it seems

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like a significant amount of the pieces of the puzzle are there, but the big enough pieces

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with the most significant detail are just not there.

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So it's very easy in those hollowed out spaces to get lost in the details.

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When did this man wrong?

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I think at least for me, I think more planning went into it happening than it just being

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someone who walked by and saw an opportunity and killed him for his phone.

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I agree with you too.

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While it's always a possibility that wrong place, wrong time, it does seem that Bruce

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was brought there that day.

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So I tend to agree with you.

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And from my understanding, that's kind of the family's thoughts too, that somebody brought

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Bruce there that day.

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Yeah, we have been we've been saying the word brought, but really it seemed like he was

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lured there, which makes that all the more scarier.

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I do think there is more here and I'm just very curious to garner some more information

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for myself to learn about him and his very unfortunate ending.

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But again, if you know anything about the murder of Bruce Cucchiara in 2012, please call

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Detective Ryan Aucoin at 504-658-5300 or you can leave an anonymous tip with Crime

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Stoppers of Greater New Orleans at 504-822-1111.

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And we will have pictures of Bruce on our Instagram as well as the composite sketch,

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the very generic one that we talked about, as well as Richard and Joyce.

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These are the two people that police are interested in talking to a little bit more about Bruce's

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death.

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They are not people of interest or suspects in the case, but police do believe that these

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two have more information.

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And thank you so much if you've rated and reviewed us over the last few weeks.

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I've been seeing them come in and it's always such a joy, especially around this holiday

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season.

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It feels like such a gift.

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So if you haven't, if you could leave us a review wherever you're listening to this podcast,

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it is greatly appreciated.

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And if you need a transcript to follow along to the podcast and there isn't one on your

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podcast player, our official transcript can be found at www.coldandmissing.com.

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That one always has correct spellings of everything and is the one that I myself go in and edit.

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So that one is always correct and not AI generated as it is on some apps.

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So that is there if you need it.

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But that is all I have for you this week.

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Thank you so much for listening to Cold and Missing.

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I'm your host, Ali

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And I'm your co-host, Eli.

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Have a good week and stay safe, y'all.

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Stay safe, y'all.