The murder of an airport worker may be connected to a stolen credit card ring among employees.
Su Taraskiewicz
Her body was found in the trunk of her car
CASE DETAILS
Anonymous graffiti targeted Su repeatedly
Twenty-four year-old Su Taraskiewicz was a trailblazer. She was a woman working in a man’s world, on the tarmac of Boston’s Logan Airport. Her mother, Marlene Taraskiewicz, said Su loved her job:
“Sometimes she’d come home and say, “I lifted a million bags today and they were 200 pounds each.” She’d make a joke out of it. But she never complained about the job. She loved it.”
Su was the second woman to ever work for Northwest Airlines as a ground service employee. She worked her way up from cleaning the interiors of jets. After three years, she was promoted to ramp supervisor, the first woman to ever hold that position.
On the morning of September 14, 1992, Su’s car was discovered at an auto body shop not far from the airport. In the trunk was Su’s body. She had been beaten and then stabbed multiple times. There was no sign of robbery or rape, so her family assumed that she was the victim of a random crime.
Su’s diary described the harassment
For more than a year, Su’s family grieved. Then, at Christmastime 1993, Marlene Taraskiewicz finally went into her daughter’s room for the first time since the murder. What she found there was shocking:
“I tried many times to go in Su’s room. You know, you’ve got to do this. It’s a year. You know you should. Let me get something that was special to her and we’ll just put it out. And I started going into her closet and I saw a briefcase there.”
Inside Su’s briefcase was a diary. In vivid detail, she described the sexual harassment that she had endured on the job. They were ugly incidents she had never mentioned to her family. The journal included examples of the graffiti — insulting, demeaning, and lurid — that had been etched in the men’s rooms at the airport, and even in the cargo holds of jets. Su’s mother knew it had something to do with her murder:
“What I read, the filth that somebody would write about my Susan. And I thought, is this why she was murdered? And we thought, this is it. We have solved Susan’s murder.”
The indicted workers were named in the diary
In page after page, Su described acts of hostility. In one incident, she wrote of a co-worker named Bobby who purposefully dropped her radio on the floor. Su’s boyfriend, who also worked at the airport, spoke to Bobby and demanded that he replace the radio. Then, later that day, Su confronted Bobby herself. Bobby blew off the incident and made a threat about beating up and killing her boyfriend.
Su filed many formal complaints with the management of Northwest Airlines and her union, but little was done to stop the harassment. In fact, according to Laura Brown, a reporter for the Boston Herald, it increased, often in the form of nasty graffiti:
“It wasn’t apparently just one or two pieces of graffiti that made their way up and then were washed away. It was repeated cases of graffiti of varying kinds. In some cases, it amounted to death threats against other workers who were supporting Su. Su also talks in her diary about getting anonymous phone calls at all hours of the night. She recorded some of the times the phone calls happened. She also had instances where her car was vandalized. Her boyfriend’s car was vandalized. Friends who were supporting her had their cars vandalized.”
Despite the abuse, Su’s career hadn’t slowed down. In February 1992, she was promoted to ramp supervisor and put in charge of the employees that she had once worked with on the tarmac. Initially, Su was passed over for the promotion. A man in her union had illegally bid for the job, so Su filed a grievance and won. But the victory made some of her co-workers uncomfortable. One of Su’s co-workers, Joseph Snow, said it had to do with the fact that Su was female:
“A lot of them felt that they didn’t want any females being their boss, that that should be a man’s job. It didn’t stop her from coming to work. It didn’t stop her from standing up to things that she thought was wrong.”
A few months after Su’s promotion, the graffiti became more sinister. She once found a coffin scrawled inside her personal locker.
On September 12, 1992, during a graveyard shift, Su volunteered to go pick up sandwiches for her crew. She never returned and no one reported her missing for a day and a half. Authorities now believe that Su’s death may have been connected to a federal investigation of Northwest Airlines that took place that summer.
Some baggage handlers were operating a stolen credit card ring. When shipments of new cards were transported by Northwest jets, a group of workers was stealing them, using them, and then selling them. The scam netted over $7 million. Eventually, ten Northwest employees were indicted and convicted. To Su’s mother Marlene, some of the names were very familiar:
“There were names of people that were in Su’s diary, that had sexually harassed her from day one. I believe that Susan was set up by her coworkers, that for whatever reason, they were afraid that Susan was going to squeal on something.”
Northwest Airlines declined Unsolved Mysteries’ request to be interviewed for this story. But they have settled a sexual discrimination lawsuit brought against them by Su’s family. It was one of the largest discrimination settlements ever granted in the state of Massachusetts.
Authorities still consider Su’s case open and active. Her family is offering a $250,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of their daughter’s killer.
Watch this case now on Amazon Prime in season eight with Robert Stack and in season four with Dennis Farina. Also available on YouTube with Dennis Farina. Various seasons available now on Hulu.
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Anonymous
I think her friends killed her. It was too late in the evening for her to be making wedding plans with them. The way she left them frustrated is an interesting detail of voluntary information. (You don’t see that often.)
Donna
This is just so sad after all this time, investigators can’t find more with all the dna testing that has come more available
I just thought of her and her poor Mother/family,..not knowing after all this time
I hope they get justice for such a strong and determined young lady
Sammy
Who was her car mechanic?
Charles
In 1992, sexual harassment was commonly dismissed or ignored. The guy who smashed her radio is most likely the killer.
Anonymous
She was an historical female presence. It is very difficult to ignore that. But playing loud music was normal for a night crew in the 90s. Changing that music would have been very annoying. They didn’t have energy drinks back then. I worked graveyard jobs in the 90s.
Stephanie
I feel like the guy who broke her radio could be the one who killed her. I blame Northwest airline for not doing there best to stop the sexual and harassment. How did they not do anything about the harassment I feel HR didn’t care and don’t do anything about it. I do believe who boyfriend was scared of the guys who harassed his girlfriend. And feel the police did not do there best in look into this deeply.
Anonymous
The police was over zealous in wanting to solve they really flew past key details. I mean the first thing they did was take notes. They interviewed wedding planners that were so urgent they kept Su until it was time for her to go to work. But after the disappearance they became blank. Su’s sister had to call them and everyone else. That is quite a contrast of wanting to talk late night hours, to they never noticed her. I only go by notes the police took. The diary is very perilous. But it misses ground zero. The guy who broke the radio was wrong. I’m sure he felt very regretful later on in his life.
b
I do hope they are able to close the case and give closure to the remaining surviving family members. R.I.P Su
Brian V Pfeifer
Joe Ferrara did this.
Red
How do you know this?
interested
paul /tom?
Chanita Jackson
Su was harassed by some men she was murdered this is a devestating time for her family
Kenny
Seriously, it is amazing how far a case like this can travel. I’m danish and I discovered this through Twitter. As mentioned by others, this case doesn’t seem to have been investigated properly from the beginning. I’m just thinking if this case can be heard halfway across the globe, how in the world is it possible for this killer to be walking free so many years later… I dearly hope this psychopath gets caught and gets the highest punishment!
Rip young lady 🙁
Anonymous
Absolutely. Denmark would have solved it. When police go to a homicide, they question people and take notes. A supervisor has people of interest questioned further. They got sidetracked and went through a diary of 5 years worth of suspects. It went from a timeline of three hours to five years. She was promoted because of her skills and experience. She was of good service and respected. Those private obstacles were not motives for a homicide. I hope her family finds peace.
Fran Doherty
I believe this goes deeper, some group in law enforcement maybe or union that was brutal, if I went for sandwiches for my crew and she didn’t come back after few hours,I would of called 911..Plenty cameras at airports! Shame! Maybe Cold Case should investigate!
Anonymous
The police chief should have had a different agency investigate. He knew the victims family and may have possibly overlooked crucial evidence. I think she may have replaced someone involving that wedding. Why else would they talk about a wedding that late in the evening?
thinkingoutloud
i don’t think the credit card scam is totally to blame for her death. her union / coworkers were having problems with her being promoted from day one. they took their opportunity when they knew she was going to be alone during the night and attacked.
there’s no way Su was the only coworker who knew about the credit card scam, i’m sure a handful of others did too. they targeted Su because they didn’t want her in power. why didn’t they attack the BF since he was dating Su? wouldn’t they be afraid he was aware of it too? I feel like the boyfriend needed to be questioned more. Su was constantly harassed on the daily and it seems like he did the bare minimum to stop it. also she went missing for a day and a half and no one reported anything? did the BF even try locating her or contacting her? it seems like he was more afraid about being hurt more than he loved Su, doesn’t seem like he supported her at all.
Chirs
Su had a large part in the bust that went down for the credit card scam. She had reported the theft to the company and it went ignored. She then reported this to the Postal Service and a sting happened resulting in several arrests and convictions. The fellow IAM Union employees sent her out to get the food. They knew what was going to happen. They didn’t report her absence when she didn’t return.
Patrizia Dragonetti
In the mid-, Ottis Toole and Henry Lee Lucas made headlines with their horrifying list of murders and assaults. They also made headlines for their false confessions for as many as 3,000 murders. Toole and Lucas were convicted for six and 11 homicides, respectively. But one person believes that their grandmother’s death was incorrectly attributed to the murderous pair. Mollie Schlesinger was murdered on October 23, 1979, along with her husband at the time, Harry. The descendant turned to Reddit for help discovering what really happened to the couple. Will you be the one to crack the case?
Alexander
Together we will find #justiceforSU
Sara
We are creating and producing a crowd-sourcing PodCast for Su and her family. Enough is enough. To: “Anonymous” posters….leave a comment for me, Sara, and I’ll give you a private and anonymous way to reach me.
#JusticeforSu #BostonStrongCrowdSourcing
Derron
Interested in su’s podcast
Hilary
https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/trace-evidence/136-the-murder-of-susan-SK8DcOE43Ag/
This is just one of the many podcasts on what happened to Susan.
interested
interested please
Justin Collins
They finally caught her killer
Hilary
No they haven’t.. they still have not found her murderer/murderers..
Anonymous
Anonymous is correct when she mentions look at Brooks and Nuzzo. I was based at Boston as a flight crew member. A friend on the ramp mentioned Susan faced graffiti left in the planes, threats in her locker, and verbal harassment. I was never aware of the cc scam.
Lots of theft went on in the cargo area. He said Susan was sent out to get food on purpose. She was sent out on purpose.
Anonymous
male, short broad face, thick hair, bowl haircut. Try that…..yes, job related.
Anonymous
The police didn’t go into her room after her murder to look for evidence or clues? Did I miss something? Su deserved better,
thinkingoutloud
her family thought she died from a random crime so it seems like no one cared enough to look into it more at the time. i agree she deserved better
Anonymous
She talked to persistent wedding planners until she went to work. She left frustrated and unfinished with the conversation. I could see that conversation extending into her break less than 3 hours later.
Susan
The only person she would have been in the car comfortably with, whether at work or met at the sandwich shop is her boyfriend. Hair, DNA, cameras at the airport and the sandwich shop, where did the blanket or tarp that covered her body come from? This doesn’t sound like it was investigated very well…union thugs have a tendency to threaten others.
Anonymous
What would the boyfriend have to talk to her about? I mean they could have questioned him and found out his last conversation. But he seemed out of her life.
Anonymous
Look at Joe Nuzzo
Lefefe
Do not give up!!! Soon you will find peace! the investigators/police/fbi should pressure everyone that was mentioned in her diary one of them knew something one of them or all of them had something to do with her murder!! hope whoever did it will burn in hell!
Anonymous
Look at Bobby Brooks
Johnny
Su deserved a better fate. In 2016, Su would have more avenues with social media to tell her story and receive assistance. This boyfriend must have known about the harassment since he worked there. Where was he? It was definitely a conspiracy to kill Su. Once she left for the sandwiches, the plan was set in motion. The Su stabbing was a very personal, up-close type of crime and then her body stuffed in the trunk. They waited a day and half to say SU was missing. Why such a delay? Probably to erase any incriminating info in the crime and to move the car. The workers didn’t realize SU had written the harassment in her diary. One of the worst harassment cases I’ve read…SU had to be a strong woman. The $250,000 award is a large one. 24 years later now. Hope someone’s conscious is bothering them. They need to turn themselves in to police.
Anonymous
john Joyce knows who did it
Anonymous
I work with jhon joyce…. any advice
Caitie
I find it hard to believe that no one has come forward, someone has to know something.I feel badly for Su’s family.