The views and opinions expressed in Cold and Missing are exclusively those of the hosts.
All parties mentioned are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Cold and Missing also contains adult themes and languages.
Listener discretion is advised.
I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin-Sulkowski.
And I'm your co-host, Eli Sulkowski.
And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover cold cases and missing person cases.
Hello everyone and welcome back to Cold and Missing.
I'm your host, Ali.
And I'm your co-host, Eli
Welcome back, everyone.
Thank you so much for your patience with us.
I know we took an unexpected episode off last week.
I think last week was just like the accumulation of everything that is December.
Eli was sick and I had to kind of coordinate my office holiday party, so it was just like
all the things and I was just getting really strapped for time.
Yeah, as most of our listeners know, but you know, if you're here maybe for the first time,
Allie and I are a two-person team with, I would say, about 90% of the work done by my
lovely intelligent wife.
So yeah, you know, it's just us on our end.
Life happens and we have to just roll with the punches sometimes.
But we thank you for coming back.
We thank you for being here for the first time, if you are.
This week I was able to devote the time that I like to devote to the podcast in my research
and for editing.
So here we are ready to bring you a new episode, episode 112.
All right, let's get into it.
Today we are talking about the cold case of Bruce Cucchiara and this takes place in April
of 2012 in New Orleans.
But first a little bit about Bruce.
Bruce is 57 years old in 2012.
In researching this case, I really got to see Bruce grow up through newspaper articles.
There were Christmas parties, kindergarten graduations, little league baseball games,
high school graduations, all the way up to him starting and becoming the first president
of Resource Bank.
Bruce would eventually leave this position.
He was issued a penalty by the FDIC and was actually prohibited from holding a banking
position for a number of years.
Bruce shifted his focus to another business venture of his, which was Southeastern Louisiana
Water and Sewage, or SEALA for short.
Bruce also coached little league baseball for years and would even write about baseball
in the local paper.
Bruce was loved by those in his circles.
His best friend said, quote, he was a family man.
He loved life.
He loved sports.
Bruce was one of the funniest people I know.
He would just light up a room and he loved coming in a room telling a joke.
End quote.
Bruce had two adult children from his first marriage and had recently gotten remarried
to a woman who had been a single mom for a number of years, just a few months before
his murder.
And now a timeline of events.
On Tuesday, April 24th, 2012, that day started like any other day for Bruce.
Bruce arrived at his office around 8 a.m. that morning and by 8.09 he had already replied
to an email from his son.
Bruce continued to receive and make calls that morning, but by 9.20 his cell phone pings
began to show that he was no longer at his office, but in route to visit an apartment
complex.
It's said again and again that Bruce was visiting that apartment complex as a potential
investment property.
But this wasn't typical of Bruce's day to day job description.
And nobody that worked with Bruce seemed to know that he was headed out there that day.
At around 10.05 a.m., Bruce arrives at the apartment complex in New Orleans East, which
is about an hour southeast of where Bruce lived.
The apartment complex was called Mark 7, with the 7 being in Roman numerals.
The address for the complex is 4508 Papina Drive.
Bruce pulls into the parking lot, parks, gets out of his truck, and looks around.
This isn't quite right.
Bruce had been given an address and a description of the apartment complex, but the actual address
didn't exist.
The numbers didn't match up.
Bruce headed inside the apartment complex office to ask the office manager a few questions.
She hadn't been expecting Bruce and wasn't sure exactly what he was talking about.
Bruce was only inside the office for about 5 to 9 minutes.
Bruce told the office manager that he was going to go back to his truck, make a phone
call and check his fax.
He left the office with his keys in his hand.
Within moments of Bruce leaving the office, a gunshot is heard.
Within minutes of that gunshot, police are on the scene at 10.14 a.m.
Remember, Bruce had only arrived to the apartment complex about 9 minutes before this.
The officer arrives and she finds Bruce on his back next to a black pickup truck.
He was struggling to breathe when police arrived, and when fire and EMS showed up to the scene
just a few minutes later, they immediately made the choice to put Bruce on a stretcher
and try to get him to a hospital.
Bruce is rushed to the closest trauma center, but he ultimately succumbs to the wound.
Police send his body for an autopsy, and while Bruce is at the hospital, police are still
at the parking lot processing the scene.
Nothing is really out of place at the scene.
What is more noticeable is what is not there.
Police are unable to find a shell casing to the gun.
This leads police to believe that either the murderer used a revolver, which wouldn't
eject a shell casing, or the person pulling the trigger was able to pick up the shell
casing before fleeing the area.
Also missing from Bruce was his wallet and his phone.
Neither was found at the scene, and neither was on his body at the hospital.
But an hour and a half after his murder, an email pops up in Bruce's inbox that says
that someone was trying to reset his Apple ID password.
In Bruce's truck, police do end up finding a piece of paper that had Bruce's handwriting
on it.
On the piece of paper was written instructions from one of the major roadways giving turn-by-turn
directions to the apartment complex.
It did not seem like an accident that Bruce ended up at that parking lot that day.
The next day, April 25th, Bruce's autopsy is conducted.
In the report, it says that Bruce had been shot from close range at the left upper eyelid.
He was only shot once.
The bullet went through Bruce's brain but did not kill him instantly.
Police are able to retrieve the bullet from Bruce's body.
Police have never officially confirmed the type of bullet, the official caliber of the
bullet, but this bullet, along with the missing shell case, tells police that they're looking
for a revolver as the murder weapon, and this is something that the police have repeated
again and again.
Besides the gunshot wound, there were no other marks on Bruce's body.
No defensive wounds, cuts, scrapes, or bruises.
His toxicology report comes back clean, ultimately.
Police begin to canvas the neighborhood looking for witnesses, but people around this neighborhood
don't trust the police and they don't want to talk to them.
But lots of people were likely out and about when Bruce was shot.
It was the middle of the day and there was a store nearby that people like to hang out
in front of.
Police are able to talk to a few people and they generate a sketch of the young black
man that was seen leaving the area on a bike just shortly after the gunshots were heard.
This police sketch, without a doubt, is one of the most generic composite sketches that
I personally have ever seen.
The next day, August 26th, so it's been two days since Bruce's murder, and police
release the sketch along with the description of the person that they're trying to talk
to.
The person is a young man in his mid-20s.
He is black with a lighter complexion, between 5'9 to 6' with a slim build.
He was wearing all black and had on a black beanie.
It doesn't appear that police are ever able to track down the person on the bike.
Over the coming weeks, while police continue to work the case, it comes to light that Bruce
had about $5 million in life insurance between four different policies.
Three life insurance policies were for $1 million each and they named Bruce's business
partner, Jared Riecke , the beneficiary.
The other policy was for $2 million.
The beneficiary of the $2 million policy was Southern Louisiana Water and Sewage, a company
that Bruce and Jared owned together at this point in 2012.
This altogether is not strange, but the insurance company refused to pay out for nearly a year
because Jared was not cleared in the police investigation.
Jared will bring a lawsuit to the insurance company in 2013 and ultimately the insurance
company will decide to pay out rather than go to court.
It was revealed by the Counter Clock podcast that in June of 2012, just over two months
since Bruce's murder, Ann, that's Bruce's widow at that time, receives a text from
a woman named Joyce Whitfield and Joyce was texting using Bruce's phone.
Over the years, Bruce's story will remain in the media around the anniversary of his
murder and his children will work hard to keep his case in the media and to bring in
new leads.
But the next real big update comes in November of 2021.
So at this point, it's been almost 10 years since Bruce has been murdered when the New
Orleans Police Department announced that they're trying to locate two people for questioning
in Bruce's murder.
The two people are Richard Chambers and Joyce Whitfield.
Police name the two as people of interest in the case and say that they are believed
to be in the Baton Rouge area as of 2021.
Police stress that they're not wanted on criminal charges, but police do believe that these
two may have more knowledge about Bruce's murder and it could be vital to the investigation.
But that is really all that we know about Bruce's murder.
So if you know anything about the murder of Bruce Cucchiara in April of 2012, please call
Detective Ryan Aucoin at 504-658-5300 or you can leave an anonymous tip with Crimestoppers
of Greater New Orleans at 504-822-1111.
So that is the cold case of Bruce Cucchiara.
Something that I really appreciated hearing about Bruce immediately was that he just kind
of existed as a light in a lot of people's lives.
And I know you do this on our podcast when we are approaching these cases, but I again
so appreciate how much detail you are able to pull from these people's stories just so
we really get a sense of who they are.
And Bruce honestly just kind of reminded me of my dad.
Just a business guy trying to, you know, build out his life.
Yeah, it seems like everyone who really knew Bruce like always mentioned his humor and
like how he entered the room like telling jokes and making everybody laughed, which
I really appreciate when people do that.
Like I like those types of people in my life so it was interesting to hear him described
as that way.
And just before we get too into this, I did just want to give like a little bit of a shout
out to Counter Clock Podcast.
Season five completely covers Bruce's case.
It's the only case they cover that season and they're able to work with the family and
with detectives on this case.
So if you're interested in learning more about Bruce himself and this case and kind of getting
into some of the more really really nitty gritty details, like as far as like LLCs and
all of that jazz, I would really recommend listening to it.
I myself have not listened to the podcast all of season five on this case.
I try not to listen to podcasts that cover cases that we're going to cover just so that
way I'm able to kind of come to my own opinion and thoughts on the case without influence
of others as much as possible.
I also think it's important, especially as true crime podcasts and you know, true crime
investigators, investigative journalists continue to research these cases that there are multiple
clear views and recorded timelines that tend to repeat each other.
I think an echoed timeline and finding the same thing over and over again.
Yes, while it's frustrating, it's a good thing because it continues to repeat the case and
bring attention to the person that is no longer here.
Something that immediately tipped me off that this was not necessarily an odd day for Bruce,
but just slightly off was that he didn't mention that he was going to see the investment real
estate.
I think that usually people who are trying to make those kinds of investments, one they
have partners that they would at least run it by and say, Hey, I'm going to look at this
address.
And then again, just for safety reasons, if you are by yourself, it is, I think pretty
run of the mill to run that information by your team and to just get it out there.
It read as an immediate red flag to me.
Like he was absolutely there on purpose, but not for the reason that he thought he was
there for, if that makes sense.
Yeah.
Bruce coming to the apartment complex is really like at the heart of everything, right?
Like it's, it almost feels like you get to the bottom of like, who told him about this
apartment complex?
You kind of get to the bottom of this case.
At least for me, that's what it feels like.
Cause he had the wrong address, but while the address didn't exist, it wasn't, you know,
on any of the buildings and the apartment complex was even in addresses and the number
he had was an odd address and would have technically been kind of across the street.
But again, there was nothing there.
Everything was at that address.
And on his piece of paper with the directions was also like kind of a description of the
apartment with like, you know, X amount of single bedrooms, X amount of double bedrooms.
So like he was going to that apartment complex.
Somebody gave him directions there.
With your narrative storytelling, it was pretty easy for me to fill in the blank of what potentially
this apartment complex maybe looked like.
And I know we, we try to be factual, especially when we are talking about the details of what
happened to someone, especially in a cold case.
So I'm only going to touch on this for a moment, but it was very, it was very easy for me to,
to picture him there and that his last moments were probably so terrifying and painful.
And I don't know, it's such a sad, cold way for someone to leave this earth.
And I, I'm heartbroken that that memory must live on in his loved ones.
While this apartment complex didn't have like a reputation for like danger or anything like
that, like it wasn't known as like a dangerous apartment complex, the overall area of like
New Orleans East like does have, tend to have higher crime rates than other areas of New
Orleans.
So the neighborhood might be like a little bit tougher.
And so initially police, you know, in the days that follow the murder, they put out
that this was a robbery gone wrong, you know, since his cell phone is missing, his wallet
was missing.
While that is a possibility that that could be what happened, his family tends to lean
that, you know, he was brought to that place specifically as we had kind of mentioned.
And nobody since his murder has come out to say like, oh, I told him to go to those apartments,
you know, like to clear that up.
And I gave him the wrong address, but I showed up X amount of time later, you know, like
that's, that's never happened.
Nobody's come forward to say like, I told him about this.
And then if it was a robbery gone wrong, there were some other smaller items as well in his
truck that had value like, you know, designer sunglasses, small things like that, that you
think would also be taken in this incident, or even just his truck in general, but his
truck was left as well.
And if I'm not mistaken, his bank cards were never accessed or never tried to access by
anybody.
So it seems like they just took the phone.
Yeah, again, what that tells me is that there was potentially a lot of I mean, everyone
puts everything in their phone.
We all that's kind of the new tech standard for the average person.
And they got exactly what they wanted.
His phone, the information on it, and maybe some other personal identifiers, like what
was in his wallet, whether or not they wanted to use the cards.
I don't think that that was the point, but maybe just to have the ID.
It does seem like the phone was kind of the target, especially with the Apple ID requests
coming in about an hour and a half after Bruce's murder, like whoever had the phone was actively
trying to do that kind of immediately after the crime.
So something about the phone definitely, I think, holds some answers.
Not that this I needed to agree with this information because it is factual.
But I also agreed with law enforcement that it was definitely a revolver or some type
of smaller handgun.
Another kind of interesting thing about the gun that police have kind of revealed over
the years is that they've never been they've never had like another match in any other
crime in New Orleans with the same gun, so no ballistic tests have ever matched in any
other crime in New Orleans since this one, which does seem to surprise police a little
bit.
They would kind of expect to see the gun pop up again in a crime, but it doesn't seem to
be the case here.
I think it's worth noting that a couple months after this, Hurricane Isaac arrived in New
Orleans, wreaking havoc on that part of the nation.
And as we know, hurricanes, they wreak havoc.
And I think it makes it even easier if you are committing a crime in that area where
there are national disasters to get rid of a gun that was used in a murder.
Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm sure it is easier to get rid of it.
So we know that the gun either isn't used again or hasn't been found.
But who is the person holding the gun?
And while we are pivoting to that, I have to echo again what you said about the suspect
sketch.
It is a very unfortunate suspect sketch.
At its best, it is a bad suspect sketch.
At its worst, it does a disservice to the investigation because it is so general.
And I think it can make it easier to target people in a general way when you're trying
to figure out, does so and so look like this very generic suspect sketch?
Yeah, it's no surprise to me that police never were able to find this person and talk to
them.
Again, this person was seen riding a bike kind of away from the general area of the
crime just a little bit after the gunshots were heard.
So with the very vague suspect sketch and the very vague description, it's like no shocker
to me at all that police could never find this person because it's everybody.
It's everybody and nobody.
This is just one of those cases.
It's like whenever you pick up a lead and you try to like start to follow it, it kind
of gets all tangled up into like a huge knot.
You can't just take one from the other because it's you start chasing one and you're like,
this makes sense, this makes sense, and then it doesn't.
And then you start chasing another one and you're like, yes, this makes sense, this makes
sense, and then it doesn't.
I think though, given how recent it is and how much information is out there, that hopefully
we will get answers in this case.
My last question for you is, was his business partner Jared an actual suspect?
From my understanding, Jared was never named a suspect, was never named a person of interest
officially by police, but the life insurance dragged their feet because he was never officially
cleared either.
They hadn't ruled him out completely.
So it was kind of this gray area of like one foot in, one foot out.
But eventually the insurance company did end up paying rather than like go to court and
try to fight it.
Yeah, that and that makes sense to me.
Again, like you said, when you follow a small detail in a case like this where it seems
like a significant amount of the pieces of the puzzle are there, but the big enough pieces
with the most significant detail are just not there.
So it's very easy in those hollowed out spaces to get lost in the details.
When did this man wrong?
I think at least for me, I think more planning went into it happening than it just being
someone who walked by and saw an opportunity and killed him for his phone.
I agree with you too.
While it's always a possibility that wrong place, wrong time, it does seem that Bruce
was brought there that day.
So I tend to agree with you.
And from my understanding, that's kind of the family's thoughts too, that somebody brought
Bruce there that day.
Yeah, we have been we've been saying the word brought, but really it seemed like he was
lured there, which makes that all the more scarier.
I do think there is more here and I'm just very curious to garner some more information
for myself to learn about him and his very unfortunate ending.
But again, if you know anything about the murder of Bruce Cucchiara in 2012, please call
Detective Ryan Aucoin at 504-658-5300 or you can leave an anonymous tip with Crime
Stoppers of Greater New Orleans at 504-822-1111.
And we will have pictures of Bruce on our Instagram as well as the composite sketch,
the very generic one that we talked about, as well as Richard and Joyce.
These are the two people that police are interested in talking to a little bit more about Bruce's
death.
They are not people of interest or suspects in the case, but police do believe that these
two have more information.
And thank you so much if you've rated and reviewed us over the last few weeks.
I've been seeing them come in and it's always such a joy, especially around this holiday
season.
It feels like such a gift.
So if you haven't, if you could leave us a review wherever you're listening to this podcast,
it is greatly appreciated.
And if you need a transcript to follow along to the podcast and there isn't one on your
podcast player, our official transcript can be found at www.coldandmissing.com.
That one always has correct spellings of everything and is the one that I myself go in and edit.
So that one is always correct and not AI generated as it is on some apps.
So that is there if you need it.
But that is all I have for you this week.
Thank you so much for listening to Cold and Missing.
I'm your host, Ali
And I'm your co-host, Eli.
Have a good week and stay safe, y'all.
Stay safe, y'all.