The murder of 43-year-old Diane Hollick in November 2001 remains a chilling case of a seemingly perfect crime. Found strangled in her upstairs bedroom, she had no signs of struggle or forced entry, leading investigators to suspect a premeditated and possibly predatory attack. The initial suspects were her fiancé, Dennis Conley, and coworker Ray Clancy, both of whom claimed a deep emotional connection to Diane and offered similar theories that she may have shown her home to a buyer, leading to a violent confrontation. However, their alibis and statements were inconsistent, and the absence of her engagement ring—a key piece of evidence—added to the mystery. The investigation shifted focus to Patrick Russo, a man with a prior history of kidnapping, assault, and choking women. Witnesses reported seeing him in the neighborhood, inquiring about homes, and his fingerprints were found at one of those homes. Further evidence revealed that Russo had a documented history of similar violent acts, including tying up and choking women. His denial and evasions were undermined by the consistency of witness accounts and the pattern of behavior. While not formally charged with Hollick’s murder, the evidence strongly suggests that Russo was the perpetrator, motivated by a dark, fetishistic obsession with controlling and harming women. The case underscores how subtle behavioral patterns, combined with physical evidence and prior criminal history, can unravel a complex mystery.
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you guys came in here and are instantly hostile why i don't know okay we're fed up well you know
okay this is my life here this is my life it is it's on the line here right now i didn't do
anything to hurt anybody else's life i didn't do anything to hurt anybody else's life i didn't do
anything to hurt anybody else's life and yes i have a reason to feel the way i feel
austin texas is known for its music its culture and its easy charm but on the gray november
morning of 2001 that charm didn't reach the travis county sheriff's office in a small
interview room
the chief detective sat across from a middle-aged woman and told her something that she could
have never imagined okay let's talk a little bit about where we're going with all this
if you notice the signs on the door i figured it was aren't we in homicide and
we're investigating a murder i'm trying to figure out why your man would be in hospital
mm-hmm we have
several witnesses that have described uh a man driving this van
the detectives told the woman that they suspected her van driving husband was a murderer she claimed
this news frightened her yet her demeanor remained unnervingly calm cold and composed
it's like i'm living in a dream right now because it's
up until i met him i just i didn't have any contact with the law other than
i guess i don't want to believe this that it's even happening but i am very scared
this interview was just one piece of a much larger investigation
one that centered on a 43 year old woman named diane hollick let's talk a little bit about diane's
work? She works for IBM. And she doesn't, did she work out of an office or did she work out of her home? She worked out of her home. Okay, and how long has Diane worked for IBM? God, 24 years. Okay. What does she do exactly for IBM? She, IBM is very specialized. They have managers for people going to the bathroom. She managed people that were reaching their second year in IBM and she was developing programs.
For them to, for career development. By 2001, Diane had spent many years working as a supervisor at IBM, helping guide new employees through their training. She took pride in her job, but her greatest joy came from something outside of the office, her two dogs.
Diane and those dogs were. That's what I heard, that they were her life. Very, very tight.
Diane lived alone with her two dogs, but she wasn't without
company. She'd never lacked attention from men. She was attractive, full of life, and she had the
kind of personality that drew people in. She'd been married twice and divorced twice as well.
I saw some wedding pictures. She was married twice before, once for, I think, four years. Again,
only for like four months to some jerk, I guess, that, you know, just totally took advantage of her.
After her second divorce, Diane signed up for a dating service. The kind where you filled out forms,
not a profile. It was the early 2000s. It was a different time. There was no Tinder and Facebook
didn't exist yet. The service eventually matched Diane with a 45-year-old man who worked in the
computer industry, a Houston business owner named Dennis Conley.
How long have you known Diane? When did you, how did you guys meet?
We met through a dating service.
It's just lunch, about 13 months ago. That's the name of the dating service?
It's just lunch. Yeah, you have to pay to join. And it's like, you know, I mean, they just,
they don't, it's not a computer thing or anything like that. They've tried to match you up.
And I can take it you guys hit it off pretty good. Yeah, we did immediately.
Diane and Dennis's relationship was a classic fool's rush in scenario. Things got serious fast.
Too fast. And before long, they were already talking about moving in together and getting
married. We met each other on the 5th of October last year. We both agreed that we would move to
Houston because we got engaged, I believe, around the, like the middle of December. You know,
we both knew it was kind of crazy, but I was just totally happy. Within two months of meeting,
Diane and Dennis were engaged.
And planning a fresh start, which included a new home in Houston and a new life together.
But it didn't take long for the cracks to show. Like many whirlwind romances,
the couple started to realize they might not be as compatible as they first thought.
Like March, everything was going pretty good. And then we ran into some rough spots. We were
like, you know, we're going to have to get back together. You know, given the fact that
we weren't getting along together very, very well. I mean, there was no fight. I mean, we
don't fight. It's just, you know, everybody carries baggage into your relationships at
this age. And, and our baggage was clashing and, and we were working on it, but we decided
not to be engaged anymore. But steadily, I mean, we've been to therapy together and I
mean, we were really, really making breakthroughs, you know, and in fact, you know, I was going
to ask her to marry me again over Thanksgiving.
While we were up with my parents, they kept trying to make it work. And eventually Diane
decided she would still move to Houston and live with Dennis. And she, when did she decide
to sell her, her home? When she started looking at places in Houston about, uh, I'm going
to say a month ago, but the plan was, is, you know, she was going to sell that and move
in with me. As Diane prepared to move, she put her house up on the market, but the
news of her move didn't sit well with another man in her life. Someone who didn't want to
see her go.
Has anybody gotten ahold of Ray? No, we're trying to figure out who Ray is. We've heard
about Ray. How old is he? He's like 30 something. He just got out of the army. He's very, very,
very smart. He's probably one of the smartest programmers that IBM has. He's very, very
smart, but he's, he's out there. He's on the edge. 30 year old Ray Clancy
worked with Diane at IBM. In fact, she had hired him and over time they had become very
close friends. Some people said you guys were pretty close. Yeah, very close. Yeah. I know
Diane probably better than most people in the town. I've watched her house for the last
couple of years, her dogs, have keys, everything she's got, garage door openers. Of course
it doesn't work right now. They have known each other since I think Diane's been here.
He's from Louisiana. What was her relationship?
Did they date at one time? No, it was a very odd relationship because what does that explain
that to me? Like in other words, the way Diane described it to me, he seemed to worship the
ground she walks on. Ray liked Diane a lot. And while Diane didn't feel the same way,
she valued his friendship. Ray often,
offered to help her with things around the house or to watch her dogs when she was away.
It wasn't romantic, but everyone who knew about their relationship thought it was a
little unusual.
I was, I fixed everything in her house that was broken. I'm a fix it man too. You can
do about anything in the house. So anytime she had a repair in the house, I did it for
her. Helped her out. Almost everything. Put new locks on the doors and all that kind of
good stuff. Cause the house came with crap.
I mean, I weren't dating.
Cause she didn't want to date you or her guy. She didn't want, cause I was six kids. She
was six kids.
Oh my Lord.
Okay.
Six kids in this day and age.
Yeah. He watches the dogs. So it's great to have somebody to watch the dogs and
and he did. The dogs were crazy about him, and he did take good care of him, and he did lots of
stuff around the house for her. You know, he fixed her garage door like innumerable times,
and my whole thing was, hey, he seems like a nice guy, Diane. Geez, he's watching your dogs,
and he's fixing your stuff. He seems pretty harmless, so why don't you just lighten up on
him, and for a long time up until that last falling out, that appeared to be the case.
For all his effort, Diane had firmly planted Ray in the friend zone, and everyone seemed to know
it except him. Eventually, he and Diane had a falling out. He stopped returning her calls as
quickly and became less eager to help with the little things. Then a few weeks later,
Diane missed an important employee meeting at IBM. Diane had not made an appointment or done
whatever business she was supposed to do.
Friday, that's when she became concerned, and that's when she called the police department.
After Diane missed this meeting, one of her co-workers requested a police welfare check.
When officers arrived at her home, no one answered the door.
They went inside and eventually found Diane's lifeless body.
Did they know where they found her? Listen, did they let her in the bedroom?
Yeah, she was in the upstairs bedroom with a, where the, um. She never goes upstairs, ever.
Diane was found on the floor of the upstairs bedroom. She was fully clothed and had been
brutally strangled to death. There were no signs of what led up to it. No argument, no forced entry,
no warning at all. And no sign of how the killer had managed to disappear without a trace.
Um, I can tell you that it was ruled a homicide, uh, by a strangulation, okay? And I won't give you
any of the other details.
Um, right now, I just can't imagine why anybody would do that to her.
Dennis claimed that he couldn't understand why anyone would want to hurt Diane.
But detectives weren't so sure he was being honest. Not just about Diane's murder, but
about their relationship in general. Much of what he'd told them about how they got along
screamed of minimization. At the same time, detectives were equally puzzled by Diane's
friend, Ray Clancy. A man who seemed to orbit her life long after she'd made it clear she
wasn't interested. His behavior, his access to her home, and his attitude after her death
all raised red flags. Between the two of them, detectives couldn't shake the feeling that
one was hiding something. The challenge was figuring out where the truth stopped and where
the lie started.
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On November 15, 2001, 43-year-old Diane Hollick was at her Northwest Austin home preparing for a move that would mark the next chapter of her life.
But by the following morning, she was dead, found strangled in an upstairs bedroom of her home.
In the days that followed, she was dead.
Detectives started piecing together the timeline of her final hours.
They processed her house and collected evidence.
We have the house sealed for right now, and we're going to keep it that way until we, you know, gather a lot more information.
Trying to focus in on the things that are important.
Obviously, we've done a lot of the forensic, most of the forensic stuff.
The crime scene was strange and ominous.
Not because of what was found, but because of what wasn't.
Diane was discovered face down on the floor of an upstairs bedroom.
She was fully dressed, with marks on her wrists consistent with being bound, and deep ligature marks around her neck.
There were no signs of forced entry, no struggle, and nothing to suggest sexual assault.
The scene was eerily clean.
So clean, in fact, that even Diane's own fingerprints were missing from places police expected to find them.
Was she raped?
Doesn't appear so.
We won't know, obviously, until all the test results come back.
But doesn't appear.
She was fully clothed.
As for suspects, detectives quickly focused on two men.
Her fiancé, Dennis Conley, and a co-worker who, by all accounts, wished he was Diane's fiancé.
His name was Ray Clancy.
When questioned, both men offered nearly identical statements about Diane
and her background.
They told police that Diane had no enemies.
That everyone who knew her, loved her.
Can you think of anybody that wouldn't want to hurt Diane?
No.
Everybody loved her.
Everybody that met her.
Diane had no enemies, nobody that didn't like her.
No anybody who didn't like Diane.
Her personality was fantastic.
She was a gorgeous human person.
Initially, investigators turned their attention to Dennis.
But he looked clean.
At least on paper.
He had no criminal record and no history of violence.
This is the first time I've ever been in a police station.
Other than when I was a legal officer in the Marine Corps and I took people there myself.
According to Dennis, his last contact with Diane was on the afternoon of her death.
They exchanged messages online during the workday.
And Diane mentioned she may have found someone interested in buying her house.
Diane said she was really super interested in buying her house on a Thursday afternoon.
She said she would keep her fingers crossed.
She doesn't usually say that unless somebody is really interested.
One of the questions that I have for you, and you don't have to answer this, but I think may fit into this as well, is did she still have her engagement ring on?
Because if she didn't, then that's what I think might have happened.
Somebody came in.
Yeah, we need to talk about. All her jewelry.
I mean, there's going to be things. Yeah, just. So go ahead and fire away.
And that's why I needed you to really come down here and I don't want to have to talk to you in front of all those people.
I'm just upset.
I understand that.
One thing that stood out about Diane's interview was how eager he seemed to offer up theories.
Any theory.
About what might have happened to Diane.
Maybe it was genuine speculation or maybe it was a way to steer attention away from himself.
One theory he floated. One theory he floated was that Diane could have been showing her home to a potential buyer who noticed her engagement ring and decided to rob her.
Maybe she fought back and things turned violent.
Maybe this murder was a robbery gone wrong.
Or maybe Dennis just wanted to make it look that way.
Do you have a photograph of the ring or any information on that ring?
I can get it.
Okay.
We're probably going to need it because we can't find the ring.
My understanding was from Mrs. Brown was that she always wore that ring.
Yeah, she did.
And I told her, you know, I told her, I said, you know, when you go down to the park or whatever, you ought to not, you know, be flashing that thing around.
It's a diamond?
It was a $20,000, you know, I mean, it was a beautiful ring.
Did you buy it for her?
Yes, I did.
Okay.
She's so goddamn stubborn though.
If they were trying to take the ring, I'll bet she fought tooth and nail for that.
You know, and certainly robbery is a motive.
There's no doubt.
I will tell you, she would have had that ring on.
There's no doubt in my mind.
Well, it's missing right now.
Yeah.
Like Dennis, Ray also confirmed that Diane always wore her engagement ring.
The obvious assumption was that whoever committed the murder had taken it.
The ring.
Three carat or something like that?
It's a big one.
Okay.
I've never seen her without wearing it.
I always meant to ask her, if you were breaking up, why aren't you wearing a ring?
But I never would.
That's kind of insulting.
I've never seen her take it off before.
Even whenever they were split apart and fighting, she never took it off.
As for Dennis, if he was the killer, investigators had to consider possible motives.
He'd admitted that his relationship with Diane wasn't perfect, but the problems he described seemed pretty mild.
Especially for a couple that had recently called off their engagement.
Perhaps things with Dennis and Diane were much worse than he was letting on.
Yeah, we had our ups and downs, no question.
But.
But they weren't, you know, it wasn't like.
No physical fights?
Nothing.
Never.
Okay.
Never.
Never even angry or loud words.
What were your big issues?
Money?
No.
No.
Other people in the relationship?
It was just, uh, it's stupid, you know.
That's one of the things I think I'll learn out of this deal is the little things aren't really that important.
That's where I was getting to, too.
But.
According to Dennis, a major point of tension in their relationship was what he saw as Diane's obsession with her dogs.
He wasn't thrilled about the idea of buying a new house together, only to have the two large dogs tear it up.
But for Diane, her dogs were her family.
She referred to them as her kids.
And they weren't negotiable.
Mostly it was the dogs, to be honest.
Right.
He hates, I wouldn't say he hates the dogs, but he didn't like the doggy person.
Mm-hmm.
And she, in her mind, it was important for him to like the dogs.
If he didn't like them, that was too good and bad.
He wouldn't get to find somebody else.
Dennis told detectives that he did eventually come around.
He realized that his issue with the dogs wasn't worth losing Diane.
The thing that got me back and really, really cemented it was that, you know, she's, I remember her saying, you know, that she would, she loved me and that she would jump at the chance to be in a relationship and marry me.
And, you know, no matter how long it took.
And that really just settled down.
It settled in my heart.
And I just said, you know, I'm not going to ever find anybody that loves me as much as she does.
Dennis's version of the relationship was that he and Diane had worked through their rough patches.
The engagement might have been called off, but he said things were improving and that he planned to propose to her again.
Did you guys, did you guys set a wedding date?
No, but we talked about it last, last weekend we were together here.
We had a great weekend, no issues.
You know, she goes, so when are we getting married?
And I said, I'm thinking, you know, October, but, you know, next year, but we might move that off, you know, depending on how things go.
Okay.
So, yeah, I mean, we had not set a date, but then again, I hadn't officially asked her to marry me again.
And I was going to say that for, you know, around the same time that I asked her last year, just kind of as a special thing.
While keeping a close eye on Dennis, investigators also focused their attention on another man.
In Diane's life, her friend and coworker and someone who clearly had feelings for her, Ray Clancy.
And Ray, what's the deal with Ray?
Okay.
So Ray is a very dysfunctional person from my standpoint in the fact that he seems to be attracted to women that are not attracted to him.
Ray freely admitted that he had romantic feelings for Diane.
But he denied that his wife.
And his willingness to help her, watching her dogs, fixing things around her house, had anything to do with that.
He said he was simply trying to repay her for bending a few rules at IBM to help get him hired.
People say you might have had a little crush on her.
Diane? Oh, hell yeah.
I've always had a crush on Diane, since I can remember.
She hired me when IBM wouldn't hire me.
I'd have a high end of GPA.
And they refused to hire me at IBM.
So she broke the rules and she hired me.
I've been all over the world, 20 countries.
I've made a lot of money at IBM.
There are all kinds of stuff.
So if I could do anything with a computer, because she broke the rules for me.
So I had a, I'm caging.
We have a real sense of obligation to people that we like, our family, our friends.
And so I always had this obligation to take care of her and watch her house and take care of her kids.
Because she disobeyed me that nobody else would ever do.
It was no secret that Ray had a thing for Diane.
And it was also no secret that she just didn't feel the same way about him.
Even Ray admitted as much, insisting that he just accepted it.
And Diane didn't reciprocate your feelings?
No, no.
She's just friends.
How come?
I don't know.
Just never had any clean or none of that kind of stuff.
Just friends.
Always have been.
Did that ever cause problems between you?
No, never.
No?
In the beginning.
Arguments and stuff?
No, in the beginning I always wanted to, I always pampered her and took care of her and bought her flowers and all that kind of good stuff.
It used to make her nervous, uncomfortable because she didn't like guys pampering her.
Have you ever had a relationship with her?
No, she asked me that too.
No, I never did.
No sexual relationship at all?
Nope, never even kissed her.
Never even.
Did you want to?
Always wanted to, never did.
Naturally, the investigators had to consider the possibility that Ray hadn't accepted being just Diane's friend.
Maybe he was tired of helping her and getting nothing in return.
Maybe he just felt like she owed him.
Maybe he tried to make a move and when she turned him down, things got violent.
Well, one thing that you said and then you kind of took it back.
You thought she was a good looking.
I did.
Getting that body.
She did.
You said you didn't want to have sex with her.
And then you said earlier on, you said, yeah, you did, but it just never.
Did you or not?
It was full of friendship if we did.
It always did.
It was full of friendship if we did something like that.
Both of us knew it.
It's just something we understood.
Anytime you sleep with a lady, it changes everything.
You get the feeling from the lady that.
You made a pass at her and she said no.
No, I didn't make a pass at her.
I don't make passes at her.
You didn't?
No, I don't.
I didn't.
You don't make a pass at her because it's kind of insulting.
Because she said no, then you get no friendship anymore.
Oh, yeah, you do.
No, you don't.
Because Diane's really sensitive to that kind of stuff.
You don't.
I didn't want to spoil the friendship with her.
So I didn't.
I didn't push her.
I didn't make a pass at her.
All that kind of stuff.
Just stuff I didn't really do.
Did you love her?
Did I love her?
I guess.
Like a friend.
Did you ever tell anybody you loved her?
Well, I love how?
Like I love dogs?
I love dogs, too.
Did you tell anybody you loved her?
I don't think I would have said that, no.
The bizarre thing about Ray was that he came off as a genuinely nice guy.
Yet if he had killed Diane, it wouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone.
So you think he pretty much is obsessed with her?
I wouldn't even.
I don't want to go there.
I just want to say that.
What was there falling out about?
Let me ask you that.
Do you know?
I don't know.
It's Ray's presses.
He presses like, you know, he's always wanting validation.
And honestly, if I was a woman, he would give me the creeps.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
And again, it seems like the worse women treat him, you know, the more he gravitates toward it.
It's a very unhealthy situation.
For many of Diane's friends, there was something unsettling about Ray.
Something they couldn't quite put their finger on.
Yet somehow, he mostly came across as friendly and harmless.
So the big question just loomed.
Was Ray just a hopeless romantic with an unreturned crush, let's say?
Or was he something. darker?
Was he a man willing to take what he wanted by force?
By violence?
By murder?
Was Ray a monster?
Did she ever tell you about anything inappropriate that he did that made her feel awkward?
Well, yes.
Then this was before we started dating.
Uh-huh.
You would press her on.
Just, like, things that were not appropriate for friends to press on.
And it wasn't sexual.
It was just a lot of neediness.
And apparently, I do remember now that that's what the last conversation was about.
I guess he was pressing on something and either she hung up on him or he hung up on her.
She just had no patience with that.
Do you think he's capable of doing something bad?
Have you ever seen him lose his temper?
Has she ever told you about anything where she was afraid of him?
I do not specifically ever remember anything like that, no.
With both Dennis and Ray looking like plausible suspects,
investigators turned their focus to the evidence.
Maybe the crime scene could point to which man had killed Diane.
There were no signs of forced entry, meaning whoever did it was either invited inside or they had a key.
Did you know that she has a key to that house?
I may have.
There was one in my car that I. I do not have a key on my keychain
because I never had the need to
Do you know if Ray has a key?
He has a key to our house too
If you need copies of them
you can make prints of them
To your house?
No, I'm going to take those keys
She's deceased and there's really no need
for you to be in the house anymore
Both Dennis and Ray
had keys to Diane's house
That detail, unfortunately
didn't help narrow things down
So investigators shifted
their focus to each man's alibi
and when they
each last saw or spoke
with Diane
When was the last time you saw her?
Saturday, two weeks ago
Saturday night in Dallas
She was with a young lady
I don't really know her name
But I haven't heard from her since then
No word, no phone contact, nothing for about two weeks
Ray said that the last time he saw Diane
was weeks before the murder
Dennis told police that
his last contact with her was
through an online chat
while he was at work
When investigators checked on this
both stories appeared to hold up
which raised a new question
Were they looking at the wrong men altogether?
Maybe Dennis and Ray
were both innocent
What do you think happened?
From what she told me
since she never went upstairs
and her house is on the market
and you said she was trying to know what time
I would guess that she was showing somebody the house
Interestingly
when Ray was asked
what he thought might have happened to Diane
his answer
was almost identical
to the answer that Dennis had given
Both men suggested that Diane
could have been showing the house
to a potential buyer
and then things turned violent
With no sign of forced entry
they reasoned that Diane
must have let someone inside
and maybe
that someone killed her
Investigators soon discovered
that this theory wasn't far-fetched at all
While canvassing Diane's neighborhood
they learned that several residents
had been approached by a strange man
Someone going door to door
claiming to be a rancher
and asking about homes for sale
Not only that
but they later confirmed
that Diane herself
had been approached by this man
In the afternoon
on the same day
that she was killed
This man comes
and claims that he's a rancher
and claims that
he's going
that he can pay cash for the house
But he's not
he needs to get with his wife
and that he was going to come back
the following day
with his wife
to see the house
We don't know if he has anything to do with it
I don't know
We're looking into it
It seems suspicious
We're going to try to get a composite
an older man
apparently he went to an older man's house
Thursday
probably around noon
Yeah because that's when Diane said
that she thought she had sold the house
That was like about 3 o'clock in the afternoon
on Thursday
And I guess she had
talked to her friend Tina
that this guy had come to the house
but he didn't have a real estate agent with him
he came by himself
and you know
I think she thought it was odd
but
I don't know
apparently she let him in to the house
Jesus
but he left
For several days
investigators tried to untangle
the stories of two men
a fiance who might have been angry
about a failed engagement
and a co-worker
who might have been angry
that Diane didn't love him back
But as the investigation moved forward
something much darker
started to surface
something beyond jealousy
or heartbreak
In a
disturbing twist
the evidence pointed to
a different kind of motive altogether
one rooted
not in love
but in
perversion
and it suggested that
whoever killed Diane Hollick
hadn't come to win her heart
he'd come
to feed
a fetish.
But that was the end of the story
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In the days after Diane Hollick's murder
investigators pulled at every thread
Jealousy
Rejection
Heartbreak
Trying to figure out
who could have killed her
and why
But none of it fit
When they circled back
to the most obvious suspect
her
Beyonce
Dennis
He gave them an alibi
that couldn't be broken
Okay, so the last time
you actually spent time
with Diane
was last weekend
Okay
And you drove back to Houston
And did you work all week?
Yeah
I got a friend staying with me
So you can vouch for me
if it comes to that
No, I just
You know we gotta do it
I understand
I understand
I understand
I understand you're not going to do it again
I understand you're not going to do it again
a van registered to a Patrick Anthony Russo.
Patrick Russo, right?
Correct.
Okay.
And how old are you?
38.
38.
38-year-old Patrick, who sometimes went by his middle name Tony, lived in Elgin, Texas,
about 25 miles east of Austin.
Patrick was a born-again Christian who worked part-time at his local church.
What's the name of that church?
New Life in Christ.
New Life in Christ?
Yes, ma'am.
Okay.
And what do you do for that?
I'm the music minister there.
You said, and you're married.
Your wife's name?
Janet.
Janet.
Okay.
And the two boys are yours?
Yes.
Patrick lived with his second wife, Janet.
They had two children from a previous marriage, though they didn't live with them.
On the morning of November 21, 2001,
Texas deputies arrived at Patrick's home and asked both him and Janet to come down to the station for interviews.
They agreed.
You're not under arrest, okay?
I am curious, though.
I saw one be knocking on my door this early in the morning.
This has to do with an incident that happened here in Austin, in northwest Austin.
Some things are missing.
I brought a calendar of November.
If you can tell us. If you could start, maybe the 12th, and go through and tell us what you remember, where you were and what you did.
Before revealing why they brought him to the station for questioning,
investigators asked Patrick about his whereabouts during the week of Diane's murder.
They quickly focused on the actual day she was killed, which was a Thursday.
That day, a massive thunderstorm had swept through Austin.
That was a big storm.
It was a big storm day, wasn't it?
That is not a problem.
Thursday, I spent some time at the church again.
I went to go to K&LE here in Austin.
What time was that?
I think it was about, let's see, I talked to my wife.
I was pulling in the parking lot, so that would have been about 4 o'clock, I believe.
Investigators said on the day Diane was killed, he'd driven into Austin to visit a local radio station.
He said he was supposed to meet someone there who was helping him set up a website for his Christian rock band.
We have a website that we've been trying to get up for about four months,
and I have spent so much time with them trying to get it up,
so I went up there to try to see about getting that up since we got all the information that they needed.
And when no one came to the door, I went ahead,
and left.
Who did you talk to over at K&LE?
Actually, I didn't talk to anybody because nobody answered the door.
So you made the trip up there for nothing, basically?
Pretty much.
I mean, you didn't call ahead and say you were coming?
Patrick told investigators that his trip to the radio station had been spontaneous.
He hadn't made an appointment or even called ahead.
When he arrived, no one was there to meet him.
No one at the radio station remembered ever seeing him,
which meant Patrick had no alibi.
After leaving the station, the storm rolled in.
The heavy rain and low visibility caused Patrick to get lost.
At least, that's what he said had happened.
I made a right-hand turn and made an illegal U-turn.
It was the only way you could get around everybody.
And then I went back out and got on the highway going back towards Bath,
probably took me about another 50 minutes to get home.
Normally, it was a little bit quicker than that.
So what time did you get home?
5.30, I guess, or 6, somewhere.
I'm not really sure exactly the time frame.
Patrick told investigators he got home around 6 o'clock in the evening.
But his wife, Janet, gave a different time.
When we got to the station, there wasn't anybody there that was doing the website.
So he was coming home.
I know we were on the phone an hour because he was coming through all that storm.
So we were on the phone probably from 6 to 7.
What time did he get home?
Should have been shortly after 7.
Probably between 7 and 7.15, I'm thinking.
The couple's timelines were off by an hour.
In a lot of cases, that kind of discrepancy might not mean much.
But in America. In a murder investigation, one hour can change everything.
It can be the difference between being miles away from a crime scene or standing inside it.
Did you ever stop to get out to talk to anybody?
I believe I knocked on someone's door asking for directions.
When you say someone's door, was that a residential door or was that a business door?
No, it was a. It was a residential door.
Do you remember what that person looked like?
No, I have no clue.
Imagine this.
Just a few days ago, you're driving home when a brutal thunderstorm rolls in.
The rain's coming down in sheets.
Visibility's gone.
And you take a wrong turn into a neighborhood you've never seen before.
You're so disoriented that you stop at a random house,
knock on the door,
and ask a stranger for directions.
Wouldn't you, I don't know, remember that?
Wouldn't that whole encounter kind of, oh, I don't know, stick in your mind a little bit?
Don't you think?
Apparently for Patrick, meh.
I want to ask you a little bit more about Thursday.
You know, you just talked about going to K&LE.
And no one was there to tell us that you were there.
Okay?
Okay.
And then you talk about driving around and getting back on 183,
and now you're telling us about maybe stopping at a residential area
and talking to a gray-haired man.
Is there any other places that you stopped while you were in this neighborhood?
No.
You didn't stop to talk to anybody else?
No.
I'm not lying to you if that's what you're asking me.
That's what I'm asking you.
I'm not lying to you.
Plain and simple, you only stopped at one house.
Correct.
You talked to one man, an older man.
And the gist of the conversation was you needed directions to get back to one of these.
Correct.
Needless to say, investigators didn't buy Patrick's story.
They were convinced that the house he stopped at wasn't random
and that the person who answered the door was their murder victim, Diane Hollick.
So you're saying you've never seen this woman, never been to her house,
never been to her doorstep, never been inside her house, never been invited?
Never been to her house, never been invited to look around.
There would be no reason for anything to come back to say that you were in her house.
No, sir.
If she's saying that I've stolen something from her, then I'm sorry.
I don't know what to say.
Interestingly, one investigator showed Patrick a photo of Diane.
He not only denied ever being in her house, but also spoke about her as if she were still alive.
He seemed to believe or wanted Detective. to think he believed that this was all about a simple burglary or break-in
and not a homicide investigation.
Of course, investigators weren't fooled by this performance
and they had more than a few reasons to suspect that Patrick was their man.
This wasn't his first brush with the law.
Patrick was on parole at the time
and had already spent eight nights in prison for kidnapping a woman and tying her up.
I had a nervous breakdown while on the job.
I was trying to seek out a new life, which wasn't really going all that great.
It ended up where I had a nervous breakdown
and I ended up holding the receptionist against her will
and basically I broke down crying and just telling her all my problems and then I left.
How did you hold her?
How did you. I tied her up.
I just needed someone to talk to.
I didn't. I didn't feel like I had anybody and I forced her to.
I forced her to listen to my problems and you'll see what it says in the case.
Did you hurt her?
I believe that anybody that ties anybody up does some damage.
Physical damage, no, I didn't hurt her.
Emotionally, I probably ruined her life.
Patrick claimed that prison had changed him.
He said that after his conviction, he found God,
embraced faith,
and left his old criminal life behind.
He supposedly transformed himself into a humble Christian man.
I'm going to tell you what I've done to get my life in order, okay?
I spent my entire eight years in prison,
doing nothing but engulfing myself in a better life.
I got my GED.
I went to college.
I studied for theology to become a minister.
I took every kind of anger management program.
because that was
My big problem back then was I went through the drug rehabs because I had an old drug habit that
really took a toll on me. After his release from prison, Patrick wrote a book, joined a ministry,
and even started a Christian rock band. All of this, he claimed, was part of his mission to help
others find faith. When I got out, I've done everything from put a book out to try to help
inmates and other people get their life in order through Christ. I have been a music minister. I
have a ministry that I go into prisons with. Unfortunately for Patrick, the investigators
weren't convinced by his supposed moral awakening. To them, this new Patrick looked a lot like the
old one, a man with a history of violence and a record that included not just kidnapping,
but also burglary.
And of course, Patrick had an excuse for that as well.
What about the burglaries?
All my offenses have to do with just anger.
Was there somebody in the house when you did the burglary?
Yes. Well, I didn't burglarize the house.
I assaulted someone through their doorway.
And so I got a burglary of a habitation with intent to commit bodily harm
when the burglary had nothing to do with it because it wasn't a burglary.
I was actually looking for a friend of mine.
I was looking for a drug fix.
When investigators pressed Patrick about his criminal past, he grew uneasy.
But detectives didn't let up.
They hadn't brought him in to rehash his old crimes.
Their focus was on the murder of Diane Hollick.
I'm trying to stay relaxed about this whole thing,
but y'all are starting to grill me pretty hard for stuffing.
I don't even have the slightest clue what's going on,
but I do know that, you know, I'm trying to be as honest as I can with you guys.
Are you? I mean, are you really?
Yes, I am.
Are you in the market to buy a house?
No.
No?
Is there any reason why you'd be in a neighborhood looking for a house?
No.
Do you think it's a little coincidental that several people said that they saw you in a neighborhood?
I think it's, well, it has to be coincidental because I haven't been in any neighborhood.
Patrick insisted that everything leading police to his doorstep was just one big coincidence.
The witnesses who'd seen him in his van cruising through their neighborhood,
asking about homes for sale, they were all mistaken.
It was just a case of bad luck and bad timing.
Good luck convincing the investigators, or a jury for that matter, of any of that.
Tony, what's happened?
Okay, Thursday, more than three different people identified you as coming to their place,
inquiring about purchasing a residence.
Well, they're mistaken.
You want me to tell you how serious this is?
I would appreciate it because I feel like I'm getting pretty banged here and I don't even know what it's for.
She's dead.
I don't know if you noticed when you walked in here, this is the homicide unit.
Well, okay, wow.
I'm sitting here thinking we're talking about burglary and we're talking about a murderer.
As badly as I feel for this woman here, I'm sorry, but you guys are barking up the wrong tree
and I don't care how hard you dig, you're not going to find me committing any crime like that.
His lies, his evasions, the statements and the evidence,
all of it made one thing clear.
They were sitting across from a man who had strangled a woman to death.
We can sit here and say, well, it might be somebody that resembles you or looks at, they picked you out.
Not, not a friend, not somebody that looks like they picked you out.
They had a conversation with you.
A lady took your license plate number down after you came in and started asking some really,
uh, what she, what did she call it?
Some unsettling conversation that she had with you.
Yeah.
Yeah.
With you and she said she would never forget your face again.
And she didn't five different people who live in five different areas who all pick you out.
I'm not, you know, you're being there, your van got your license plate.
I mean that I'm not disputing whether someone thinks they've seen me.
Okay.
But I'm telling you, well, I can't explain that.
I can't explain it.
You know, that may be coincidental, but there's a whole lot.
Coincidence is in life.
I can't do nothing about that.
I don't think that's a coincidence.
Okay.
I mean, I just don't, you know, too many people, you know, if it was one person, maybe, but
three, four, five, well, not just this particular day, but another day that was a month ago.
For weeks or probably much longer, Patrick had been cruising the streets of Austin in his van,
playing the part of the classic.
Predator.
He wasn't looking for a house to buy.
It was hunting for a victim.
And tragically, he found one in Diane Hullock.
I don't know what all you have that you're dealing with.
Well, I'm dealing with a woman that's dead and I'm dealing with a neighborhood that's in a panic because a man came to several of their houses that same day.
Some people spent quite a bit of time with that man.
What am I supposed to say?
Okay.
Y'all want me to say that?
I did something I didn't do.
That's what you want.
I don't know.
I just want you to tell the truth.
That's all.
Well, I'm trying to, but you guys don't want to hear the truth.
You want me to hear me say that I went up and. Who else would have had your van on Thursday up in that neighborhood that you've already put yourself in?
Well, you know. Lost in a rainstorm.
Who has your van?
Nobody has my van except me.
So, I mean, how do you explain that?
Well, I can't explain it.
A girl is dead in the same neighborhood that you were seen in by several other people.
Well, that's suspicious.
We'd be remiss if we weren't looking into that.
Well, and I'm not knocking you guys for that, okay?
I'm not knocking you, but if you want me to say something that isn't true. Investigators pressed harder, confronting Patrick with all kinds of evidence.
But no matter how much they threw at him, it wouldn't budge.
He doubled down, denying, deflecting, and then denying all over again.
Well, I can assure you. I can assure you this one thing.
I haven't murdered anybody.
I haven't robbed anybody.
I haven't burglarized any houses.
And no matter. I don't care how bad it looks on me, I haven't done anything to anybody.
And you can search my house and. Well, tell us what you've done.
I haven't done anything.
That's what I'm telling you.
Were you in this neighborhood?
No.
You weren't talking to any of these people?
No, I wasn't.
Okay.
Eventually, this interview ran its course, and to Patrick's surprise, the detectives didn't arrest him.
Instead, they placed him and his wife, Janet, in the same room.
The moment she walked in, Patrick broke down, sobbing and pleading with her to believe he was innocent.
I'm so sorry you're going through this.
But I promise you, I'll respond with this.
I never did anything to anybody.
And I can't explain it.
I can't.
But I can promise you, all my heart, they're wrong.
But I can promise you this.
Listen.
I promise you this one thing.
It doesn't matter what anybody says or does.
Because I'm telling you, Janet, no matter what anything looks like, I'm not guilty of anything.
After his emotional display, Patrick was allowed to leave the station.
But his freedom didn't last long.
The very next day, detectives arrested him and brought him back in.
Up to that point, Patrick had flatly denied ever cruising through Austin or. asking about homes for sale.
But now, he had a problem.
At one of those houses where witnesses had identified him,
investigators had found his fingerprints.
When police released a picture of Rousseau, another woman called saying Rousseau had said the same thing to her.
Police say fingerprints left in her home matched Rousseau's.
Even with this evidence, the police didn't charge Patrick with Diane's murder.
At least, not yet.
Instead, they booked him on a parole violation,
which was clearly a strategic move to keep a suspected killer behind bars
while they built a stronger case against him.
Part of that effort included executing a search warrant on Patrick's home.
But when they did, Diane's engagement ring was nowhere to be found.
To this day, it has never been recovered.
Nonetheless, Patrick's arrest gave investigators a chance to find Rousseau.
There's a chance to interrogate him again.
And maybe this time, get a confession.
Surely, I don't have the only Pewter Ford minivan in this entire town.
You have the only Pewter Ford minivan in this entire town,
or in the entire state of Texas, that has that license plate on it.
That's true. That is true.
I'm just saying, if someone wrote that number on my license plate down,
then they're mistaken, because it's not me.
Coincidences happen.
If they didn't, they wouldn't be called coincidences.
I'm sure of one thing that I didn't know.
murder anybody despite the arrest and despite all of the evidence patrick continued to play his
tired old game i'm a little frankly a little fed up with all this coincidence stuff it's not adding
up and you know it doesn't add up and we know it doesn't matter hey and we know it doesn't look
good but i'm telling you i didn't murder anybody okay you say you didn't murder somebody maybe you
didn't okay but you were in that neighborhood tony and you talked to several people in that
neighborhood they said that you were there at their home and it wasn't at four o'clock in the
afternoon it was earlier than that and you've been in other places in austin doing similar stuff
no sir with your van and your fingerprint being written down the license plate of that van was
written down at another time not just this past time but another time i'm telling you
that and you told me yesterday that nobody else drives your van except for you
in the short time between patrick's first interview and his arrest investigators
uncovered a few new details about them details that were deeply unsettling
it turned out that the diane hollick case wasn't the only active investigation where the name
patrick russo had come up you know what let me ask you something we called lake jackson yesterday
and we talked to several detectives who knew patrick russo really really well we had some
very interesting conversations about some cases that you were involved in that you were never
filed on for and you know those cases involved those cases involve you choking women you tying
women up and choking them you tying women up and choking them you tying women up and choking them
i find that very interesting another one of those coincidences i suppose that's a coincidence
naturally patrick had even more denials and excuses about all of these other eerily similar
investigations they have multiple women over there that were choked by patrick russo and they
all picked you out you can you admitted to the one that you knew you were busted on because you
were picked out of that lineup i admitted to every single thing that i've been in trouble with you
never said anything about choking any of those other women i got a tie in them up i i tied up
one person when i had my nervous breakdown i'm talking about the ones that you didn't talk about
i'm talking about the women that you did tie up and choke
but you didn't talk about i have not tied up anybody and choked anybody really now i have
assaulted a couple of people and i have tied up women or men they were women that's what i'm
talking about they have at least five cases they got a stack of women who said yeah that's the guy
that choked me you only told us that one because that's the one you got convicted on there's
multiple cases that they could have filed on you and why they didn't i don't know and you know what
they were like i can't believe he's out of jail there's several women that said you tied them up
you tied their hands up okay how about the one who came out of her bedroom when the other one was tied
up and then you had to tie her up too you guys are twisting things up because we're just repeating
what they told us that's what they told us you need to read the police report don't listen to
overtalk from 10 years ago because it's real easy to start confusing things you read my files and
see what was said and written in those things and then come talk to me about them as the
investigation into patrick deepened a disturbing pattern became very clear one that pointed to a
twisted fascination with choking women that dark obsession was also confirmed by statements from
his own wife he has always been fast i will say this he's always been fascinated with my neck
i guess the last is the skinny little neck i mean i will say that he does
tend to put his hand on my neck but if i say let go or i can't airway is getting restricted you know
he's he always lets go i mean he realizes you know and what would you say if i told you that your
wife told detective gilchrist that you choke her during sex what would you say to that i would say
that what i do in my sex life is nobody's business it may not be but i think it's very pertinent to
this case and what's happened here and what's happened in your past you like to choke women
that's obvious why would you choke your wife during sex
you guys after my phone call came in here and are instantly hostile why i don't know okay
this is my life here this is my life it is it's on the line here right now i didn't do
anything to hurt anybody else's life and yes i have a reason to feel the way i feel
patrick kept up his act the cooperative wrongfully accused man just trying to clear his name but it
never worked the web of so-called coincidences and mounting evidence have become far too much
for him to overcome i'm trying to cooperate with you guys you know what you're not trying to
cooperate you're trying to snow us you're trying to get over on it so they will think that you're
this high and mighty religious whatever that is so much better than your past that you've done all
that you're through with all that and nothing has ever been better than what you've done and you've
done all that you're through with all that and nothing has ever been better than what you've
done and you've done all that you're through with all that and nothing has ever been better than
all that you're through with all that and nothing has ever been better than you're innocent you
you're through with all that and nothing has ever been better than you're innocent you couldn't have been anywhere that
you're innocent you couldn't have been anywhere that we said you were
we said you were
we said you were when the facts indisputable concrete
when the facts indisputable concrete
when the facts indisputable concrete facts say different quit all this crap
facts say different quit all this crap
facts say different quit all this crap about coincidences and and no i wasn't
about coincidences and and no i wasn't
about coincidences and and no i wasn't here no i wasn't there and get right
here no i wasn't there and get right
here no i wasn't there and get right admit to what you did and maybe we can
admit to what you did and maybe we can
admit to what you did and maybe we can get to the forgiveness part
get to the forgiveness part
get to the forgiveness part because this is just crap it's just
because this is just crap it's just
because this is just crap it's just and you know it
and you know it
and you know it like his first interview this
like his first interview this
like his first interview this interrogation eventually ran its course
interrogation eventually ran its course
interrogation eventually ran its course and
and
and patrick held firm to his story
patrick held firm to his story
patrick held firm to his story he clung on to his lies and refused to
he clung on to his lies and refused to
he clung on to his lies and refused to confess
confess
confess i'll tell you what i am i'm in a real
i'll tell you what i am i'm in a real
i'll tell you what i am i'm in a real big daze here because i can't believe
big daze here because i can't believe
big daze here because i can't believe this is happening in my life well you
this is happening in my life well you
this is happening in my life well you better believe it and you knew it
better believe it and you knew it
better believe it and you knew it yesterday
yesterday
yesterday you knew it yesterday you know exactly
you knew it yesterday you know exactly
you knew it yesterday you know exactly what's going on patrick i know what's
what's going on patrick i know what's
what's going on patrick i know what's going on
going on
going on i can't help it if i can't believe
i can't help it if i can't believe what's happening well you know what
what's happening well you know what
what's happening well you know what we're going to prove that you did it
we're going to prove that you did it
we're going to prove that you did it and it isn't going to be that hard
and it isn't going to be that hard
and it isn't going to be that hard because you're there
because you're there
because you're there everybody saw you there you're just
everybody saw you there you're just
everybody saw you there you're just making it worse for yourself i did not
making it worse for yourself i did not
making it worse for yourself i did not kill anybody you're just making it worse
kill anybody you're just making it worse
kill anybody you're just making it worse for yourself
for yourself
for yourself while patrick sat in jail on his parole
while patrick sat in jail on his parole
while patrick sat in jail on his parole violation
violation
violation investigators kept working the case and
investigators kept working the case and
investigators kept working the case and before long they had enough to move
before long they had enough to move
before long they had enough to move forward
forward
forward formal murder charges were filed against
formal murder charges were filed against
formal murder charges were filed against them
them
them in may russo was indicted for the
in may russo was indicted for the
in may russo was indicted for the november 2001 murder of diane hollick
november 2001 murder of diane hollick
november 2001 murder of diane hollick hollick's northwest austin home was up
hollick's northwest austin home was up
hollick's northwest austin home was up for sale police think russo posed as an
for sale police think russo posed as an
for sale police think russo posed as an unaccused offender pleaded not guilty
unaccused offender pleaded not guilty
unaccused offender pleaded not guilty and what followed were months of motions
and what followed were months of motions
and what followed were months of motions hearings and
hearings and
hearings and seemingly endless days
seemingly endless days
seemingly endless days this is supposed to be a hearing where
this is supposed to be a hearing where
this is supposed to be a hearing where patrick russo's defense finds out what
patrick russo's defense finds out what
patrick russo's defense finds out what evidence the prosecution has against him
evidence the prosecution has against him
evidence the prosecution has against him but the judge decides to focus on other
but the judge decides to focus on other
but the judge decides to focus on other capital murder cases first and
capital murder cases first and
capital murder cases first and then postpones the hearing
then postpones the hearing
then postpones the hearing i'm absolutely innocent and i don't
i'm absolutely innocent and i don't
i'm absolutely innocent and i don't think that sitting around in here for
think that sitting around in here for
think that sitting around in here for two years
two years
two years my life it's a setback for russo and
my life it's a setback for russo and
my life it's a setback for russo and his family one of the things that i
his family one of the things that i
his family one of the things that i think has just really been frustrating
think has just really been frustrating
think has just really been frustrating is the fact that with all the
is the fact that with all the
is the fact that with all the postponements it doesn't seem to be
postponements it doesn't seem to be
postponements it doesn't seem to be a system that
a system that
a system that brings about justice the way that that
brings about justice the way that that
brings about justice the way that that maybe we thought it it would russo's
maybe we thought it it would russo's
maybe we thought it it would russo's family members don't want to talk about
family members don't want to talk about
family members don't want to talk about details afraid it might hurt the case
details afraid it might hurt the case
details afraid it might hurt the case but say they know russo's innocent and
but say they know russo's innocent and
but say they know russo's innocent and just want the chance to tell his side
just want the chance to tell his side
just want the chance to tell his side and get him home basically our lives are
and get him home basically our lives are
and get him home basically our lives are on hold right now until
on hold right now until
on hold right now until this situation gets resolved by 2003
this situation gets resolved by 2003
this situation gets resolved by 2003 patrick's case finally went to trial
patrick's case finally went to trial
patrick's case finally went to trial nearly two years after diane hollick's
nearly two years after diane hollick's
nearly two years after diane hollick's murder
murder
murder prosecutors laid out a chilling case
prosecutors laid out a chilling case
prosecutors laid out a chilling case they told jurors that patrick russo had
they told jurors that patrick russo had
they told jurors that patrick russo had spent months cruising neighborhoods
spent months cruising neighborhoods
spent months cruising neighborhoods around austin posing as a cash buyer
around austin posing as a cash buyer
around austin posing as a cash buyer spend stories about selling a ranch and
spend stories about selling a ranch and
spend stories about selling a ranch and insist on meeting alone
insist on meeting alone
insist on meeting alone they presented witnesses
they presented witnesses
they presented witnesses realtors and homeowners who identified
realtors and homeowners who identified
realtors and homeowners who identified patrick as the man who'd made them
patrick as the man who'd made them
patrick as the man who'd made them uncomfortable with his behavior
uncomfortable with his behavior
uncomfortable with his behavior then came the forensic evidence
then came the forensic evidence
then came the forensic evidence dna from diane's left hand that matched
dna from diane's left hand that matched
dna from diane's left hand that matched patrick
patrick
patrick and hairs found on a towel inside her
and hairs found on a towel inside her
and hairs found on a towel inside her home that couldn't exclude him
home that couldn't exclude him
home that couldn't exclude him as the source but what truly unsettled
as the source but what truly unsettled
as the source but what truly unsettled the courtroom was testimony from
the courtroom was testimony from
the courtroom was testimony from patrick's first wife
patrick's first wife
patrick's first wife she told jurors that during their
she told jurors that during their
she told jurors that during their marriage
marriage
marriage patrick had a disturbing sexual fixation
patrick had a disturbing sexual fixation
patrick had a disturbing sexual fixation that he could only climax while
that he could only climax while
that he could only climax while choking her
choking her
choking her in part that testimony helped prosecutors
in part that testimony helped prosecutors
in part that testimony helped prosecutors expose
expose
expose what they believe to be patrick's motive
what they believe to be patrick's motive
what they believe to be patrick's motive on his home computer investigators had
on his home computer investigators had
on his home computer investigators had also uncovered over a thousand images
also uncovered over a thousand images
also uncovered over a thousand images from an
from an
from an asphyxiation themed porn site called
asphyxiation themed porn site called
asphyxiation themed porn site called necrobabes
necrobabes
necrobabes dot com
dot com
dot com you're welcome weirdo
To the prosecution, this wasn't just pornography.
It was Patrick's violent fantasy, brought to life in the murder of Diane Hollick.
Why would you all even think that I would do something like that?
What motive would I have had to do something like that?
I have no idea.
Was it a burglary? Was it a robbery? Was it a rape?
I don't know.
I mean, that woman never did anything to hurt anybody.
Everybody loved that woman.
I mean, I haven't heard one person say a bad thing about this person.
I mean, it had no enemies.
There's no reason for it.
None whatsoever.
After learning that Diane had been murdered,
her family, friends, and investigators all struggled to understand why.
Why would someone tie her up and strangle her for no apparent reason?
In the end, the answer wasn't complicated, just horrifying.
Patrick Russo had a fantasy, an overwhelming compulsion to choke women.
One that overpowered reason, empathy, and even his own fear of losing his freedom.
What he did wasn't driven by rage.
It was driven by a perverse need for power and control.
Deliberate.
Prolonged.
Deliberate.
Predatory and obsessive.
This reality paints a chilling picture of Diane's final moments.
We know that Patrick went to her home,
tied her up, and strangled her to death before maliciously cleaning the scene and fleeing.
But Patrick never confessed.
The most haunting details remain unknown.
How did he gain control of Diane?
How long did he keep her restrained before. deciding to kill her?
What did he say to her?
What did she say to him?
Did she beg for her life?
Did Diane know she was going to die?
All these questions, and so many others, will likely never be answered.
Try to live my life and do what's right.
I mean, you say that, but would you really admit to it if you did?
If I did?
Would you do the Christian thing?
I mean, you. Well, I would tell you as a Christian. You wouldn't hide behind. You wouldn't hide behind this whole Christian cloak thing.
It's not a cloak thing.
It's a for-real thing.
And as a Christian, I wouldn't do something like that.
Patrick had spent years constructing a mask.
To the world, he was a man of faith.
A Christian.
A music minister.
A husband.
A family man.
But behind the facade was something else.
He was a predator.
Prowling for women and attempting to perfect his routine.
And over and over until the day he finally struck.
It's disgusting to sit here and listen to you talk about being such a devout Christian
and forgiveness and how much you've turned your life around
when this one coincidence after another,
this whole thing goes back to similarities that I'm sure are coincidental
back in 1989, 1990, 91, 92, you know?
But you're this reborn Christian?
And you're going to sit here and lie about it?
The split between. The split between the life Patrick performed and the darkness he concealed
is ultimately what defines him.
And it's what stripped away any doubt about who he truly was.
Not a man of God.
Not a misunderstood soul.
But a monster hiding in plain sight.
Tragically, the person who paid the ultimate price for this monster's desires
was an ordinary woman.
Someone simply trying to sell his life for money.
Someone simply trying to sell her home and start a new life with her fiancé.
I mean, tell me what her daily routine is, do you know?
Gets up about 8.15.
Heads right over to the computer.
Gets some tea.
Make sure the dogs are fine.
And she just starts cranking away till, you know, like noon.
And I think she usually takes a shower and gets dressed, runs errands or whatever.
And then cranks till whenever she needs to crank.
So she'll go work out or go down to the town lake.
She liked to go out to have sushi once in a while.
She wasn't a big, not as of lately, the last couple of years, a big going out person.
Mostly staying at home.
She did a lot of eating at home.
Her kids were her life.
Her dogs, sorry.
Her dogs.
We'll call them her kids.
That's what I call them too.
They were very important to her.
So she always took care of them.
She didn't leave them by themselves.
So she was, that was her, her family, I guess.
On May 9th,
2003,
a Texas jury returned a guilty verdict for Patrick Russo.
But because they couldn't reach a unanimous decision on the sentencing,
the judge imposed an automatic sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole,
sparing him the death penalty.
For investigators, this conviction was the end of a long and difficult case.
For Diane's friends and family, it was the end of something far greater.
A life that never should have been taken.
As for Patrick, he will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Remembered not for his music or his faith,
but for the false life he built and the violence that exposed it.
¶¶
¶¶
¶¶
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Podcast Summary
Key Points:
Diane Hollick was found strangled in her upstairs bedroom, with no signs of forced entry or struggle, raising suspicions of a calculated, possibly predatory crime.
Two primary suspects emerged
Both Dennis and Ray provided similar alibis and theories that Diane may have shown her house to a buyer, leading to a violent incident, suggesting a shared narrative to deflect suspicion.
A key piece of evidence—the missing engagement ring—was not found, and both suspects claimed Diane always wore it, indicating possible theft or concealment.
Patrick Russo, a man with a history of kidnapping and assault, was identified through witness accounts and fingerprints as having visited the neighborhood and inquired about homes for sale on the day of the murder.
Investigators discovered that Russo had a documented pattern of assaulting and choking women, including prior incidents not previously reported, pointing to a disturbing motive rooted in fetishistic behavior.
Despite denials, Russo's fingerprints were found at a home, and multiple women identified him as the perpetrator of similar attacks, supporting a pattern of violence.
The case ultimately revealed a tragic and disturbing homicide driven not by jealousy or heartbreak, but by a predatory obsession with women, particularly involving choking and control.
Summary:
The murder of 43-year-old Diane Hollick in November 2001 remains a chilling case of a seemingly perfect crime. Found strangled in her upstairs bedroom, she had no signs of struggle or forced entry, leading investigators to suspect a premeditated and possibly predatory attack. The initial suspects were her fiancé, Dennis Conley, and coworker Ray Clancy, both of whom claimed a deep emotional connection to Diane and offered similar theories that she may have shown her home to a buyer, leading to a violent confrontation.
However, their alibis and statements were inconsistent, and the absence of her engagement ring—a key piece of evidence—added to the mystery. The investigation shifted focus to Patrick Russo, a man with a prior history of kidnapping, assault, and choking women. Witnesses reported seeing him in the neighborhood, inquiring about homes, and his fingerprints were found at one of those homes.
Further evidence revealed that Russo had a documented history of similar violent acts, including tying up and choking women. His denial and evasions were undermined by the consistency of witness accounts and the pattern of behavior. While not formally charged with Hollick’s murder, the evidence strongly suggests that Russo was the perpetrator, motivated by a dark, fetishistic obsession with controlling and harming women.
The case underscores how subtle behavioral patterns, combined with physical evidence and prior criminal history, can unravel a complex mystery.
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Yes, the investigation pointed to Patrick Russo, who had a history of violence, including kidnapping and choking women, and was found with fingerprints at Diane’s home and seen in her neighborhood.
Patrick’s fingerprints were found at Diane’s home, multiple witnesses reported seeing him in her neighborhood asking about homes, and he had a history of assaulting women, including choking them.
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