MISSING: Dawn Mozino

The gist

In May 1989, Dawn Mozino vanished after her shift at Bryn Mawr Hospital in southeastern Pennsylvania. Police quickly zeroed in on Tom Hawkins Jr., a twice-convicted murderer who knew her, after a witness reported seeing her talking to a Black man near the hospital. However, a diary discovered decades later reveals Dawn was romantically involved with a man named Nick Catona while cheating on her boyfriend Dan Kolb—and was also deeply involved in a drama where she exposed her best friend Carol's affair with a married man named Hampton. Despite having this diary from the beginning, police never thoroughly investigated these alternative leads, and the case remains unsolved 36 years later.

Key takeaways

• Tom Hawkins Jr. had murdered a 15-year-old in 1980 (serving only six years), killed his niece Andrea Thomas in 1989 shortly after being interviewed about Dawn, and was sentenced to death for that murder—but has never confessed to anything involving Dawn despite being offered a deal to avoid execution
• Nick Catona dominated Dawn's diary entries from March through May 1989, repeatedly stood her up, took her to hotels, and strung her along; he died by suicide in September 2011, but his family claimed he never mentioned knowing anyone named Dawn
• Hampton, a Black man living near Dan's apartment, was having an affair with Carol (Dawn's best friend); Hampton's wife was actively seeking information from Dawn about the affair just five days before her disappearance in the final diary entry
• Maurice Beal, who worked at the Kmart where Dawn socialized, had convictions for assault, false imprisonment, drug conspiracy, and was charged with sexually abusing an 8-year-old girl and stabbing her sister (mistrial declared)
• Police interviewed Nick only once under unknown circumstances and have spoken to Carol and Hampton multiple times but say they are "not looking into" Hampton further while declining to formally rule anyone out
• A remote viewer in recent years identified a specific park between Dan's and Hampton's apartments as potentially significant; the park sits on the route Dawn would take from the bus stop
• Detective Brian Bell is the new investigator attempting to explore previously ignored leads and move past historical biases in the investigation

Notable quotes

"If Bennett takes authorities to the body, then I will publicly apologize to Tommy Hawkins for indicating that I think he's the killer of Don Muzino." — Prosecutor Bruce Castor, responding to a false confession

"These few days have been hell with Carole and Hamp. They're getting more in trouble, plus his wife is asking for things I know, which really isn't that much." — From Dawn's final diary entry, May 17, 1989

Worth a full listen?

Listen if you appreciate cases where critical evidence was available from the start but overlooked due to tunnel vision, or if you're interested in how a diary can reframe a cold case decades later.