Anne Marie Sinead Fahey
"In Our Hearts Forever.
Te Queremous
God Bless"
-Anne's tombstone
She was a beautiful, vivacious and loving person.
Anne was born on January 27th, 1966 in Wilmington, New Castle County, Delaware to Robert and Kathleen Fahey. Her mother died of cancer when she was 9 years old, and her father turned to alcohol to deal with his problems. Anne was the youngest of six siblings and who were all very close and took care of her. There was a time when Anne would live with different family members. Anne was a private and proud person. Most of her childhood, her friends had no idea how terrible things were for her. They were clueless to the fact that her father would spend his social security on liquor instead of food or preventing the gas and electricity from being shut off. This turmoil in her life created an eating disorder that she tried to fight.
When Anne was 12, her father remarried. His new wife had a son and a daughter from her previous marriage. Anne was really happy to have someone who would cook and clean. It seemed like things were looking up. Sadly, this happiness only lasted a few months. Anne's dad had allegedly lied to his new bride and she left with her two kids.
Anne was 14 when her house was foreclosed on. She went to live with a family that she'd babysit for while her father moved into a small apartment. She was treated well, but felt like she was intruding on the family.
When Anne was a senior in high school her brothers, Kevin and Robert, had bought a house together. They invited Anne to come stay with them. She moved in with them and was finally happy.
In 1984, Anne got accepted to Wesley College in Dover. She had some students loans to help out, but she still had to work to pay her way through college.
In 1994, 28-year-old Anne worked as a scheduling secretary for Tom Carper, who was the governor of Delaware. That year Anne met Thomas Capano, a bond lawyer and former chief counsel to a previous governor, through the political circles they both traveled. They flirted and then a romantic relationship blossomed. Soon they even were talking about marriage. There was only one problem, Capano was a married father of four. Capano had also been in a 10 year long affair with a colleagues wife.
In September of 1995, Capano separated from his wife and he rented a home, but Anne wasn’t comfortable with that. She didn’t want to be the person who ruined his marriage, so eventually Anne decided to end the relationship. This didn't set well with Capano. He threatened her, he broke into her apartment and tore apart gifts he had given her. Capano's obsession for Anne grew all consuming.
In late 1995, her boss, Gov. Tom Carper, fixed Anne up with Michael Scanlan, an executive with MBNA. They began dating, and soon, each was meeting the other's families. Anne told her family that she could see herself marrying Michael.
During this time, Capano threatened to take back all his gifts he had given to Anne and would call her just about every half hour. She told her friends that he was basically stalking her.
After meeting Michael, Anne felt more empowered to finally break up with Tom.
"I have finally brought closure to Tom Capano. What a controlling, manipulative, insecure, jealous maniac. Now that I look back on that aspect of my life -- I realize just how vulnerable I had become. It hurts me when I think about that year. For one whole year I allowed someone to take control of every decision in my life ..." a 1996 journal entry from Anne's diary.
On Thursday, June 26th, 1996, Anne met with Tom one last time to tell him the relationship was over. They went to the stylish Ristorante Panorama in Philadelphia. Anne wore a flower-print dress.A waitress at the restaurant said that they barely talked and seemed very unhappy. They were seen leaving the restaurant about 9:30 p.m.
On June 29th, 1996, Anne never showed up for the Fahey family planned a dinner. Anne was always punctual, so this was very out of character for her. Her boyfriend, Mike, had tried to call her several times that day, but she kept getting her answering machine. She never called him back and didn't meet with him for drinks later either. Mike called Anne's sister, Kathleen, and they went to Anne's apartment at 1718 Washington St. in Wilmington. They saw that her house was a mess and her conditioner was left on. This was very unlike Anne, she was frugal and a neat freak. Anne's answering machine had 12 unanswered messages, and her wallet and credit cards were still in the house, but Anne was nowhere to be found. They also found love letters from Capano in her dresser as well as her diary where they read about how controlling and obsessed that he was. They then called the police and reported Anne as missing.
On June 30th, 1996, Police went to Capano’s home at 2302 Grant Ave. in Wilmington about 3:30 a.m. and again at 2:30 p.m. to question him and look through his house and Jeep Grand Cherokee. Capano claimed he took Anne to his house after dinner June 27, then to her apartment, where he inspected her faulty air conditioner and left about 10 p.m. He claimed that after he left Anne's he went stopped by Getty service station.
Later in the investigation, Steve Wright, a clerk at the Getty service station on Lovering Avenue in Wilmington, told the FBI the store closes at 9:30 p.m.
Police labeled Anne’s disappearance a missing-person case.
On July 2nd, 1996, Anne’s hairdresser, Lisa D’Amico, called detectives and said that Anne told her Capano stalked her after she began dating Michael and feared Capano might harm her.
On July 5th, 1996, President Bill Clinton called Governor Carper that all federal resources were at his disposal to help locate Ann. Police returned to Anne’s apartment to search for more clues. Three hundred family members, friends, and political colleagues joined together and searched for her.
On July 9th, 1996, Capano left a message on the answering machine of Robert Fahey, Anne's brother.
"I don't know what to say, um, ah, I really, ah, I really do want to talk to you, I, I, I. If you would consider that, please call me. ... I have some things I want to tell you. Um, I care for Anne Marie a great deal, Robert. ... Um. And I know I'm babbling because I'm out of my freaking mind with uh, everything... I have told the police I will talk to them as many times as they want. But I am not gonna talk about ancient history. Anne Marie has a right to privacy and I have a right to privacy and I am not going to tell them details of things we did a year ago or eight months ago or all this incredible personal stuff they want to know from me, OK? ... I mean, do you and Kathleen [Anne Marie's sister] want to read stuff in the newspaper? ... I wanted to come see you all at that apartment but I know that Kathleen would just frankly gouge my eyes out. Ah ... I'll stop. Please call me, Robert."
On July 11th, 1996, investigators said that when they went to speak to Capano again, he wasn’t cooperating.
On July 25th, 1996, Capano offered to talk further with investigators about Anne, but wouldn't answer when ask about personal matters unrelated to her.
On July 26th, 1996, the FBI learned that according to his financial records, Capano bought a new Oriental carpet on June 29th at Air Base Carpet Mart near New Castle. This was just a day and a half after Anne was seen alive.
Sometime later in July, 1996, Capano’s maid, Ruth Boylan, told police that when she cleaned the house July 22, she noticed that a loveseat and carpet had been replaced.
At this point, investigators believed Capano must have finally snapped when Anne broke up with him. They came up with the idea that Capano probably had help from one of his brothers. Police took a closer look at youngest brother, Gerard J. Capano and found out that early in the month he sold a fishing boat without an anchor.
It was now believed that Anne was killed, put on the boat, taken out to sea, attached to the anchor and thrown overboard.
Police found out that Gerry used drugs and arranged an undercover sting that eventually led them to getting a search warrant on his home. On October 8th, 1997, the police found drugs in his house and car, along with 21 firearms. Children were in the house, and family and child services were called in. Gerry was afraid of going to jail, and losing custody of his children so he called Capano and asked him to turn himself in. However, Capano refused.
When police brought Gerry in for questioning, he told them on June 28th, 1996, he woke up at 6 am, and saw Capano sitting in a jeep outside his home. When he approached Capano, Gerry said, "Did you did it?" Capano replied yes and that he needed his help. Gerry then went with Capano to his house. In the garage was a large white Igloo ice chest. Capano said they needed to put it on Gerry’s boat because they needed to get rid of it in the ocean.
They went out into the ocean and Capano threw the cooler overboard. They expected the cooler to sink to the ocean floor, but it just floated away from them on the top of the water. Gerry shot the cooler with his shotgun in hopes to sink it, but that didn't work. They then went over to the cooler and got it back on the boat. When Capano got the cooler back on the boat, he took Anne’s body out and wrapped the anchor around it. He then threw Anne's body into the water and the two brother's watched as she sank into the ocean. They then dismantled the cooler and tossed the pieces into the water. After that they disposed of the blood-soaked carpet and furniture by throwing them into dumpsters owned by their brother Louis Capano.
On July 4th, 1996, the cooler was found by a local fisherman named Jay Chubb. On November 13th, 2017, Jay came forward and told investigators about the cooler he found. He told investigators the cooler didn’t have a lid and had two shotgun holes in it. He turned it into authorities, With the barcode still on the cooler, the police were able to prove that Capano did buy the cooler.
Shaw Taylor, a project manager for developer Louis J. Capano Jr., told FBI agents that on July 1st, 1996, Louis asked to have a half-filled trash bin emptied from a Concord Pike construction site.
Agents discovered that Capano used his credit card at Happy Harry’s drug store in Trolley Square in Wilmington on June 30th, 1996. A store manager told agents a man resembling Capano inquired about blood remover that day.
On July 29th, 1996, Anne’s psychologist, Michelle Sullivan, told police that Anne was frightened of Capano and doubts she would have gone to his home willingly.
The police believed they had enough evidence to get a search warrant for Capano’s home. On July 31st, 1996, during an 11-hour search of Capano’s home, Jeep and his wife’s Suburban investigators blood in his house on a baseboard, a radiator, and the door to the laundry room. The FBI confirmed that the blood from Capano’s house belonged to Anne. The FBI previously learned Capano surprised his estranged wife, by borrowing her Chevrolet Suburban at 7 a.m. on June 28th.
On August 5th, 1996, Capano’s attorney’s gets a notification he is under investigation by a federal grand jury.
August 12th through the 16th, 1996, Police and FBI agents combed through trash and construction debris at two local landfills in search for a rug, sofa and other evidence but came up empty.
On August 23rd, 1996, Capano was forced to give blood and hair samples for a DNA test.
On August 29th, 1996, six people, including Louis Capano, testified before the federal grand jury.
On September 4th, 1997, the FBI charged in court papers that Capano asked someone to hurt a legal secretary who spurned his advances in the early 1980's, and agents seized email and voicemail from Capano’s offices.
On November 8th, 1997, Gerry, accompanied by his attorney, Edmund D. Lyons Jr., told prosecutors how helped dump Anne's body and along with the rug and the sofa. He also said that he tried to get Capano to come clean, but he refused.
November 10th, 1997, Louis, accompanied by his attorney, told prosecutors that he saw a sofa in his trash bin on July 1st, 1996, after Capano told him a day earlier that he had put some of Anne’s personal belongings there. Louis also said Gerry confessed to what happened the year before.
On November 12th, 1997, agents who were tailing Capano on I-95 while he was on his way to the airport. They pulled him over and charge him with first-degree murder. Louis and Gerry testified before the federal grand jury. That night, Capano was arraigned on the state murder charge and ordered held without bail at Gander Hill prison.
On December 22nd, a New Castle County grand jury indicted Capano.
On January 8th, 1998, Capano plead innocent and asks for bail. Prosecutors oppose bail. The state will seek the death penalty.
On February 3rd, 1998, Louis and Gerry Capano testified at the bail hearing. Louis said Capano told him he threw away a unfired gun few days after Anne vanished.
Police had discovered that Capano's long time mistress and a school administrator, Debbie MacIntyre, had purchased a gun one month before Anne's death. She initially claimed that she had bought it for self-protection but eventually threw it away. Investigators, though, continued to pressure her.
On February 4th, FBI Special Agent Eric J. Alpert revealed the discovery about Debby buying the gun.
Prosecutors also unveiled phone records, a bank machine photo and receipts for gasoline and a fishing cooler to show how they corroborate Gerry’s story.
On February 6th,1998, Capano was denied bail.
On February 27th, 1998, Debby signed an immunity agreement and in exchange for testimony she would be free from prosecution for lying about the gun. She claimed that Capano asked her to buy a gun, which she did. After she gave him the gun, she never saw it again.
After Capano learned that Debby testified against him, he was furious.
In March 1998, Inmate Wilfredo “Tito” Rosa, told prosecutors Capano offered him $100,000 to arrange the killings of Debby and Gerry. Another inmate, burglar Nicholas Perillo, said Capano plotted with him to have Debby’s home burglarized while she was on vacation.
In May 1998, Defense attorney Joseph A. Hurley quit Capano's legal team.
On June 18th, 1998, Anne was declared legally dead.
On June 25th, 1998, Anne's siblings sued Capano and his three brothers for wrongful death, charging them with conspiring to hide her murder.
On August 31st, 1998, Capano was charged with three counts of criminal solicitation for the alleged plots to burglarize Debby's home and kill her and Gerard Capano.
On October 26th, 1998, prosecutor Ferris Wharton said in his opening statement, "Tom Capano had determined that if Anne Marie Fahey could not be manipulated into being with him, she would be with no one else forever."
Capano's defense attorney, Joseph Oteri presented that Capano now admitted being present when Anne had died at his home and that someone else was responsible. "Anne Marie Fahey died as the result of an outrageous, horrible, tragic accident," said Oteri, adding that one other person was present at Capano's home that night and knew the whole story.
On October 27th, 1998, Psychiatrist Neil S. Kaye testified that Anne was afraid of Capano and ended their relationship.
On October 29th, 1998, Wilmington Detective Robert E. Donovan testified that Capano lied when first asked about Anne's death.
On November 2nd, 1998, Psychologist Michelle Sullivan testified that Anne didn't like hurting people and was vulnerable to Capano's manipulation.
On November 4th, 1998, Delaware State Police Cpl. Sibobahn Sullivan, a member of Governor Tom Carper's security team, testified that Anne told her Capano was stalking her but refused help.
On November 9th, 1998, Gerry testified he and Capano had dumped Anne's body and stuffed in the cooler, 60 miles off the New Jersey coast. When Gerry testified he looked at his mother who looked furious.
On November 10th, 1998, Gerry was accused by the defense of leaving messages for his mother threatening to lie to put his brother in prison for life. Gerry also admitted to drug and alcohol abuse.
On November 13th, 1998, Louis testified he tried to talk Capano into coming clean about Anne's murder, but he refused.
Capano's divorce from his wife became final.
On November 18th, 1998, 48-year-old Debby testified she bought Capano a .22-caliber Beretta because he said he needed it as protection. She said she gave it to him and never saw it again. She also admitted lying about the case several times. She also admitted that she had sex with Keith R. Brady, Delaware's chief deputy attorney general, while Capano watched.
The prosecution claimed that Capano had been planning Anne's murder for some time.
On November 23rd, 1998, the defense accused Debby of killing Anne, which Debby denied.
On December 1st, 1998, another one of Capano's lovers, Susan Louth, testified he asked her to spread the rumor that Debby killed Anne.
On December 2nd, 1998, the prosecution ended by showing the cooler in the courtroom.
On December 8th, 1998, Wilmington detective Robert Donovan and FBI agent Eric Alpert detail Debby's conflicting stories.
On December 14th, 1998, psychiatrist Dr. Carol A. Tavani, testified for the defense, saying that Gerry suffered from "confabulation," which causes him to fabricate memories. She was attacked by prosecutors for diagnosing him without ever interviewing him.
On December 16th, 1998, against advice of his council, Capano took the stand and painted himself as a family man.
On December 17th, 1998, Capano insisted that Debbie pursued him and bought the gun for herself. He also described how he and Anne flirted from the moment they met, eventually becoming lovers.
On December 21st, 1998, Capano told the tale of what he claimed happened on June 27th, 1996. He said that he and Anne had been watching TV at his house when Debbie called and asked to come over. Explaining that he had company, Capano hung up. Later, Debbie showed up unannounced and babbling threats of suicide. Then Debbie suddenly grabbed a gun from her bag. "Debbie was off the wall. I thought, 'Oh my god, she's going to shoot herself.' "
Allegedly, as he grabbed Debbie's arm, the gun discharged, hitting Anne, who had stood up to leave. "She was motionless on the sofa. I said, 'No, this can't be possible.'" Capano then claimed that that is when he made the decision to hide Anne's body. He said that he was only doing it to protect Debbie.
On December 29th, 1998, the prosecutor accused Capano of basing Anne's slaying on a 1976 murder Capano had prosecuted when he was a deputy attorney general. Capano denies this.
On December 30th, 1998, Capano becomes flustered and quarrelsome under the prosecution's questioning.
On January 4th, 1999, the prosecution accused Capano of manipulating family members in order to back up his story. Capano flew into a rage, calling the prosecution "heartless, gutless, soulless disgrace of a human being." After the outburst, Judge Lee told the guards, "Please take Mr. Capano out of the courtroom." Capano yelled as he was hauled away.
On January 5th,1999, Capano finished testimony. Surprise witness Kimberlee Lee Johnson testified she saw a distraught Debbie stumble out of her car and rush into her home around the time Anne was killed.
On January 6th, 1999, L. Vincent Ramunno, Capano's brother-in-law, testified that Thomas Capano told him he wanted to come clean to police, but couldn't because it would involve someone else.
On January 13th, 1999, in his closing arguments, Tom Capano’s defense attorney Charles Oberly III said, “I’ve represented a lot of people in my life, Tom is probably the worst person I ever had to deal with. He is a man who had everything, and he gave it all away.”
In the prosecution's closing arguments, Colm Connolly addressed the jury.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this story is ludicrous. It defies common sense.… The defendant thought he would get away with murder. If anybody was going to be given the benefit of the doubt, it was the defendant with his political connections."
On January 17th, 1999, Capano of murder of the first degree murder.
On January 28th, 1999, Capano was handed his sentence: death by lethal injection.
On March 16th, 1999, Judge Lee upheld this sentence, stating, "The defendant fully expected to get away with it, and if not for his arrogant and controlling nature, he may have succeeded.… He is a ruthless murderer."
In October 2000, Capano appealed the conviction seeking a new trial.
In January 2001, The Fahey and Capano families settled the wrongful-death lawsuit.
In August 2001, Delaware Supreme Court upheld Capano's conviction and death sentence. Capano appealed to U.S. Supreme Court. Each appeal that Capano filed was denied and his conviction was upheld.
In November 2001, Capano was disbarred by the Delaware Supreme Court.
In 2006, since the jury's verdict for the death penalty wasn't unanimous, the state abandoned its efforts to seek capital punishment for Capano, opting to leave him imprisoned for life without parole.
On September 19th, 2011, 61 year-old Capano was found dead in his jail cell at 12:34 p.m. by an officer performing a routine security check. Capano died of sudden cardiac arrest. He also had "atherosclerotic and hypertensive cardiovascular disease, and that obesity was a contributing factor in his death".
Anne Marie's body has never been found.
