Crime, Conspiracy, Cults and Murder

Quote · Crime, Conspiracy, Cults and Murder

Ep. 117 | Mysterious Missing Children Cold Cases

Explore episode Jul 1, 2026

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Penny's Admission and the Phone Call From Albuquerque

At 44:00 · chapter starts 39:50

The case never sat right with investigators, and over the years their focus turned increasingly toward Penny herself. Her account shifted between interviews: first she said she woke at 7 AM to find Antoinette's bed empty; in a 1994 FBI interview she said she heard the knock herself around 3:30–4:30 AM and told Antoinette to answer it, then waited 30 minutes until her daughter never came back. In that same 1994 session, she admitted to FBI agents that she knew who was coming and that she and a man she named as Emo — Emiliano Gardella — had discussed a plan beforehand. Gardella had given the 9-year-old flowers three times in the days before she vanished. Penny failed an FBI polygraph. Detective Marty Escobedo said years later he was confident Penny knew who had taken Antoinette. Yet the FBI, despite believing she was involved, never charged her. In April 1987 — about a year after Antoinette disappeared — a 40-second call reached the Gallup Police Department from a girl claiming to be Antoinette; an angry male voice cut in demanding to know who said she could use the phone, the girl screamed, and the line went dead. It was caught on tape and never confirmed. Penny listened to it on repeat and said: 'A mother knows, and I know that was her.' Penny died in 1999 without ever seeing her daughter found.

True Crime
Penny Cayedito's Confession — and the Call That May Have Been Antoinette

Ep. 117 | Mysterious Missing Children Cold Cases · Jul 1, 2026 True Crime

In a 1994 FBI interview, Penny Cayedito admitted she knew who was coming for her daughter and that she had discussed a plan with a man named Emiliano Gardella beforehand. A year after Antoinette vanished, a 40-second call to police featured a girl claiming to be Antoinette — then an angry man cut the line. Penny listened to it on repeat and said: that was my daughter.

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