EPISODE 483: Joseph "Joe Lupo" Rulli Part 1 - A Marked Man

On April 20, 1971, 39-year-old Joseph Rulli, also known as Joe Lupo, mysteriously disappeared from Closter, New Jersey. That day, Joe was hosting a party when he stepped out briefly for an errand but never returned, prompting his wife to report him missing. Days later, Joe's car was discovered in Jersey City, riddled with bullet holes and stained with blood. Initially, investigators assumed Joe had been murdered. However, testing revealed a shocking twist: the blood inside the vehicle wasn't human; it was animal blood. This revelation only deepened the mystery: Had Joe staged his own death and disappeared, intentionally leaving behind a gruesome scene to mislead investigators? Or had someone else murdered him?

Joe Lupo had once been a promising boxer, a local hero with a bright future, but an illness altered the course of his life. When he vanished, he left behind a wife and a young son, also named Joe, who has spent decades determined to uncover the truth about his father’s disappearance. As he grew up, he combed through the memories of family members who were adults at the time, sifted through old newspaper articles, and meticulously examined archival materials in search of any clues that might finally shed light on what happened to his father that fateful day in April 1971.

If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Joseph "Joe Lupo" Rulli, please contact the New Jersey State Police Missing Persons Unit at (609) 882-2000 ext. 2554 or email missingpinformation@njsp.gov. You can also reach out to Joe directly at lupo144@aol.com.

EPISODE 482: Cynthia Robison

In September 2007, 38-year-old Cynthia Robison left Stockton, California, in the company of a truck driver. The two traveled to Florida, and it’s documented that they were there in early to mid-October. On October 15, Cynthia called her mother, Carolyn, from Connecticut, sounding frantic. She claimed to have witnessed the truck driver shoot someone. Before Carolyn could fully understand what was happening, Cynthia abruptly hung up. Carolyn never heard from her daughter again.

Cynthia’s family was left in a state of confusion and desperation. They didn’t know where she was exactly or where she might be headed. When they reported her missing, they faced significant roadblocks due to jurisdictional issues. Cynthia had lived in California; her disappearance likely occurred thousands of miles away on the opposite coast. The Stockton Police Department in California opened a missing persons case, but jurisdictional challenges have severely limited their ability to conduct a thorough investigation. Nearly eighteen years later, the search for Cynthia continues, with her family and law enforcement still hoping for answers that might finally lead to Cynthia.

If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Cynthia Robison, please call the Stockton Police Department at (209) 937-8377.

EPISODE 481: Nicholas Marion Part 2 - Breaking Point

Last week, we shared Part 1 of Nicholas Marion’s story, where we took you through his early life in Orlando, Florida, and his eventual move to British Columbia after marrying a woman from the area. After relocating, the physical distance between Nick and his loved ones in the U.S. seemed to deepen, and in hindsight, Nick began to appear more isolated and increasingly dependent on his wife.

Before his disappearance, Nick had experienced the profound loss of his mother. Though he held it together for those around him, the emotional toll of that grief gradually began to take its toll. In June 2024, Nick and his wife attended the Laketown Shakedown Festival in Youbou, British Columbia, staying at a property owned by one of her friends. His wife later described Nick as struggling during the weekend and noted that he didn’t even want to go. On the morning of Sunday, June 30th, she said Nick left for a walk but never returned, prompting her to report him missing later that day.

Nick’s family quickly traveled to Canada, determined to help with the search efforts. But as they began to question the details surrounding his disappearance, unsettling doubts emerged. Were the circumstances really as they had been told, or was there more to Nick's vanishing than anyone initially realized?

If you have any information about Nicholas Marion’s disappearance, please contact the Lake Cowichan RCMP Detachment at 250-749-6668 and reference file number 2024-1151.