"I know I'll never see my son again. I know that. I know somebody took him against his will, and he's gone," said Richard Petrone Sr.
Petrone and his wife talked to us at their Main Line bakery nearly three years to the day since Richard, Jr. vanished along with his girlfriend, Danielle Imbo.
The two were last seen leaving Abilene's on South Street just before midnight on February 19, 2005. Gone too was Petrone's Dakota pickup truck. For Philadelphia police and the FBI, the trail is cold.
"I need closure. I want to bury my son," said a weeping Marge Petrone.
"We have the feeling in our conversation with law enforcement that they are relatively certain that this was not a random act of violence. They did not leave voluntarily and take off somewhere," said Richard Petrone.
Both Petrone and Imbo were devoted parents of young children. Petrone's daughter is now 17.
Abilene's Bar and Restaurant is history now, but three years later the 100-thousand dollars in reward money for information leading to arrest and conviction in this case still stands. In fact, eligibility has been expanded. It now includes anyone who provides information leading to the discovery of Petrone and Imbo's whereabouts.
"To not knowing has to be the worst thing for a mother. Not knowing what happened to your child, you know, it's a nightmare that does not go away. I know somebody out there knows something," said Marge.
The Petrone's continue to operate the top shelf bakery their son used to run for them hoping someone will soon make an anonymous phone call to the Citizen's Crime Commission at 215-546-TIPS.
