Details

Release year: 2001

Storyline

The true story of a woman's suspicious disappearance after ending an affair with a powerful, married attorney.

Top credits

Directors

Peter Levin

Writers

Cast

Mark Harmon — Thomas Capano
Rachel Ward — Christine Sheve
Kathryn Morris — Anne Marie Fahey
Steven Eckholdt — Colm Connolly

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Did you know

• True story based on the book by Ann Rule.

• This is Paul Michael Glaser's first on screen acting role since 1984.

• In 1994, the 44-year-old Thomas Capano was a partner at the Wilmington office of Saul Ewing LLP when he became involved with 28-year-old Anne Marie Fahey, the appointments secretary to then-Governor Tom Carper. Married with four daughters, Capano separated from his wife Kay the following year. In September 1995, while still involved with Capano, Fahey began another relationship with Michael Scanlan. Fahey was last seen alive on June 27, 1996, when she went to dinner with Capano in Philadelphia. Fahey's family reported her missing on June 30. After an extensive search, the FBI joined in the investigation in July and a federal grand jury heard evidence for over a year. Capano, the last known person to have seen Fahey alive, was the prime suspect. He was arrested for her murder in November 1997, over 16 months after her disappearance. However, Fahey's body was never found, and prosecutors were unable to establish the cause or manner of her death. Prosecutors alleged that Capano murdered Fahey at the house he rented and, with the assistance of his brother Gerry, dumped her body in the Atlantic Ocean. Gerry owned a boat and, when it was sold, its two anchors were missing. On November 8, 1997, Gerry was interviewed by detectives and told them that Capano had borrowed the boat and admitted that he had murdered someone who was attempting to extort him. They went to Stone Harbor, New Jersey, with a large cooler that contained Fahey's body, sailed 62 miles out to sea, and pushed the cooler overboard. Gerry told police that Capano shot the cooler in order to sink it, but that the cooler remained afloat in the water. Capano then retrieved the cooler, removed the body, and wrapped the anchor chains around it. He also asked Gerry to help dispose of a blood-stained sofa and carpet into a dumpster, which was managed by a third brother, Louis. Capano instructed Louis to empty the dumpsters outside of their regular schedule. The empty cooler was found on July 4, 1996, by a local fisherman. Investigators did not have a murder weapon or a body, nor any evidence that Capano had purchased a gun. However, Capano's other mistress, Debby MacIntyre, had bought a gun and admitted having supplied the weapon to Capano. The highly publicized case went to trial on October 26, 1998, and lasted 12 weeks. The defense claimed that MacIntyre had burst into Capano's room and, in a jealous rage upon seeing Capano and Fahey engaged in intimacy, had threatened to shoot herself; as Capano and MacIntyre were wrestling for the gun, it discharged and killed Fahey. On January 17, 1999, the jury convicted Capano of first-degree murder and he was sentenced to death by lethal injection. This marked the first time in Delaware state history in which a person was convicted of murder without a body or murder weapon. Some 12 years later, Capano, aged 61, was found dead in his jail cell at 12:34 p.m. on September 19, 2011, by an officer performing a routine security check at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center state prison in Smyrna, Delaware. The medical examiner determined that Capano died of sudden cardiac arrest.