Nightmare In Napa

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Adriane Insogna, left, with her friend, Lily Prudhomme. (CBS/Arlene Allen)

It wasn't long before all of America knew what had happened in the house on Dorset Street, including Adriane and Leslie's heartbroken friends.

"I assumed it was an accident but they told me no, that's it's worse than that. She had been killed, murdered," remembers Lily.

Half a world away, in Australia, Adriane's mom Arlene heard the news. "And I completely lost it as you can imagine," she recalls.

Leslie's mother Cathy was in her Michigan home, all alone, when she got the news. "I just have a broken heart. It's hard for me to understand how anybody could get to the point of rage that they would murder these two young women, my beautiful daughter," she says.

Who was the mysterious intruder and why did he kill Adriane and Leslie?

Over the years, Amy Brown, who had grown up with Leslie Mazzara, had met a lot of Leslie's boyfriends. But none seemed like a killer.

"I try to think of everybody that she's ever known and there's too many people," says Amy. "I can't narrow it down to anybody. I don't know who would do this to Leslie and Adriane."

That was the job of the Napa police. Because the killer seemed to know where he was going and who he was after, investigators concluded that this was not a random attack. Police released very little information but it didn't matter – the guessing game had begun.

"The kinds of rumors right away were: number one, Leslie was the target and that Adriane had come to her aid," says Adriane's mother Arlene.

Arlene based her feelings on what she had seen. "Leslie, being new to the area, was really wanting to meet new people so she was being set up on a lot of blind dates," she says. "I saw a number of young men over several months be there at the house with her."

Napa Detective Dan Lonergan says the killer most likely entered Leslie's bedroom first.

Asked if Leslie was aware of what was happening in her final moments, Lonergan says, "I would think that she probably died very soon after the attack. She was possibly attacked while she was sleeping; Adriane probably did wake up and heard what was going on."

And then, the intruder entered Adriane's room. The two struggled mightily. During that vicious fight, the killer was injured says Napa Detective Todd Shulman.

Asked if the killer left any fingerprints or other physical evidence when he entered the house through the window, Shulman tells Lagattuta, "We did find some blood evidence on the blinds. There was blood on the blinds as he was leaving."

Now the police had the killer's DNA, and there was yet another important clue found at the house: "We located several cigarette butts outside the residence and these were cigarettes that had been smoked down to the filter," says Det. Shulman. "It could be someone who's nervous, trying to work up the courage to go inside and do this or again, it could be someone who's very deliberate who is thinking through this thoughts and through his plans that he's already made in his mind of what he's gonna be doing when he gets into the house."

The cigarette brand was Camel Turkish Gold, a new and unique brand. But police chose not to reveal that information to the public. Instead, they sent the cigarettes to a crime lab to determine if DNA matched the DNA from the blood found at the house.

Police started their investigation with those close to the victims, and in Leslie's case, that meant her many admirers.

One was Brian West, a college boyfriend. Leslie's friend Amy says West bought Leslie a car, after they had just been dating for a few months. "That's just what guys could do for Leslie," she says.

After the breakup, Brian built a Web page tribute to Leslie.

"Does that strike you as normal? You break up with a woman and you're not happy about it and then you make a website about her?" Lagattuta asks Amy.

"No, that's not normal but I think because I know Brian, it's kind of normal to me. I just know that he idolized her," says Amy.

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by jiniscool November 13, 2011 9:53 PM EST: I dont buy the motive that psycho gave. I think his motive was rape the beauty queen..; Reply to this comment


by sanfran1 October 25, 2011 12:13 PM EDT: Wow - so the best friend Lily had a fight with her husband the very night of the murder, where he's gone a good part of the night? and like the other commentor said, the best friend didn't notice some bon fire of clothes and shoes? I would know if some shoes were missing of my husband's from the closet...and this friend supposedly didn't have a clue? There were probably plenty of red flags that this guy was unhinged and pathologically jealous. I do think Lily's public announcement in the court how she still loved him and he was such a great guy was not appropriate - she could said that privately to him, and not in front of the victims' families. Very, very strange.

I really feel for the victims' families, and how awful to have someone/family/friend/acquaintance introduce some psycho into your circle and wreak destruction.; Reply to this comment


by boriqua84 October 6, 2011 7:18 PM EDT: WHERE WAS THE BEST FRIEND LILY WHEN HER HUSBAND WAS "BURNING" HIS CLOTHES? DID SHE NOT SEE ANYTHING DIFFERENT IN THE WAY HER HUSBAND ACTED AFTER THE MURDERS? I THINK SHE MAY HAVE HAD AN INKLING BUT WAS AFRAID TO SAY ANYTHING BECAUSE SHE WAS IN DENIAL. IT'S A DAMN SHAME THAT THIS PSYCHO, OBSESSED MAN KILLED TWO INNOCENT WOMAN. HE STILL LOST A THE END. HE LOST THE WOMAN HE DID NOT WANT TO LOSE AND HE LOST HIS FREEDOM. WHAT AN IDIOT!; Reply to this comment