By Jim Kenyon
Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 5:09 p.m.
Read more: Local, Crime, "Monson, " "Schillagi, " "Budelmann, " "Cayuga County, " "Cold Case, "
28 years after the disappearance and murder of Julie Monson, an Auburn man continues to prod authorities to solve the cold case.
Bob Schillagi, who's been called an amateur sleuth, has been researching the Monson murder for more than a decade. Schillagi recently posted an on-line letter to Cayuga County District Attorney Jon Budelmann which calls for dna testing of hairs which could reveal the murderer. http://www.murders.8m.com/
On September 28th 1981, 18 year old Julie Monson was last seen walking along Prospect Street after partying with friends. Two years after her disappearance, Monson's remains were discovered in a remote part of the Montezuma Wildlife Refuge. Thomas Bianco was convicted of her murder and sent off to prison in 1986. Seven years later, Bianco was freed after a judge determined prosecutors withheld evidence pointing to another suspect. Judge Patrick Monserrate accused Cayuga County authorities of prosecutorial misconduct.
After Bianco was set free, then Cayuga County D.A. Jim Vargason named John Grossman as the prime suspect. An eyewitness told police he saw Grossman with Monson the morning she disappeared. Grossman is serving a long sentence for an unrelated rape and hasn't been charged with the Monson murder.
Schillagi tells Action News that "all the elements of a cover-up are there." He points to a "pattern" in which he compares Bianco's wrongful conviction with the wrongful conviction of Roy Brown for the 1991 murder of Sabina Kulakowski, which also occurred in Cayuga County. "In both cases information that pointed to the real killer was withheld from the defense and the trial judge." Schillagi said. But when asked the purpose of a "cover-up", Schillagi said he does not have an answer.
District Attorney Jon Budelmann has not returned our call. In reaction to a similar story last December, Budelmann issued a statement saying "This is an open homicide investigation...this important matter has not been forgotten."
Had she lived, Julie Monson would be 46 years old.
