The group started cold-calling family members, interviewing retired detectives, and scouring police files.
A Mother’s Instinct Becomes a Superpower
“Their ability as women to get people to trust and confide in them — was their superpower,” Hogan writes. “Motherhood no longer defined them — it was one of many hats they wore.”
Their work uncovered startling clues: overheard arguments, fraudulent invoices, and a suspicious company shutdown within a week of the couple’s disappearance. The victim’s daughter — the only family member seeking justice — gave the team her parents’ cell phones for analysis.
Danger and Discovery
The deeper they dug, the more dangerous it became. “Our main suspect called my cell phone when I was making a PB&J sandwich for my kids and asked why I was digging into him. I felt the blood drain out of my body,” Pianko told The New York Post.
Ultimately, the moms uncovered evidence pointing to a mob hit tied to organized crime’s takeover of the family business. Their findings helped reopen the case and identify two mobsters implicated in the fraud and killings.
What’s Next for The Carpool Detectives
The women are now investigating another cold case — the murders of roughly 20 women in the 1970s and 1980s, possibly by a serial killer. As Pianko told MSN, the new case feels safer because it’s further removed in time: “Our first case was sometimes too close for comfort.”
