Investigation Discovery, a multinational television network that presents true crime documentaries, will air a show this week featuring the Craig Rideout murder case.
The sixty minutes long episode, titled “The Devil’s Bathtub,” will explore the circumstances that led a mother and her son to commit the murder of someone close to them.
Synopsis of the episode states, “In 2016, father Craig Rideout is reported missing after a strange home intrusion; within hours, police find a body matching Craig’s description fifty miles away; using surveillance footage and forensics, detectives unravel an unbelievable plot.”
Craig Rideout’s story will be a part of Investigation Discovery’s show ‘See No Evil’s’ 11th season.
It is a fact-based crime show that predominantly highlights the role of surveillance cameras in crime-solving.
The episode will cover all the aspects of the murder case and include interviews with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, who were the lead investigators, among others.
What happened to Craig Rideout?
Craig Rideout was reported missing on the morning of July 20th, 2016. His disappearance alerted the authorities way more than usual because he wasn’t the one to vanish in thin air.
Before Craig went missing, he was living a normal life and had no apparent mental health issues. So the authorities didn’t once suspect that he had gotten off the radar of his own will.
The deceased was an IT specialist and father-of-seven from Rochester, New York.
Sadly, right before the police were about to begin their investigation, they stumbled upon Craig’s body on the roadside of a forested area in Yates County.
His bloody and dismembered body was wrapped in a tarp and dumped in the forest.
According to the preliminary investigation, Craig Rideout was strangled to death, and his external features, such as his face and fingernails, were completely burned off.
In the initial days, the body was beyond recognition, and it took the authorities a few days to rightly identify that it was Craig’s body.
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The identification process was completed with the help of dental records since all other parts of the victim’s body were unusable and unidentifiable.
Who was the culprit of Craig Rideout murder case?
After it had become clear that Craig had died, the police began investigating the Craig Rideout murder case.
From day one, the authorities suspected the involvement of Craig’s estranged wife, Laura, in his brutal murder.
Moreover, their suspicion strengthened when they received a frantic 911 call from Craig’s sister stating that she’d seen Laura in his Penfield townhouse cleaning and removing garbage bags.
One of the basic steps of investigating a murder case is to find the suspect’s motive for doing something as terrifying as murdering someone.
In this case, the police’s top suspect, Laura, had a convincing motive to kill her former husband.
The victim and the suspect were in the middle of a divorce and custody battle over their two youngest children at the time of his death.
Legal proceedings were hampering Laura and her boyfriend Paul’s plan to move to North Carolina.
Shocking details unfolded in the upcoming days. On the day after Craig’s body was discovered, the police found two of Craig and Laura’s sons at Devil’s Bathtub Pond in Mendon Ponds Park.
A bag full of bloody clothing was sitting, waiting to be disposed of, in the trunk of the two boys’ car.
Furthermore, a bag of crucial evidence had already been thrown in the pond and was luckily floating on top of it when the authorities arrived at the location.
The same day, the police charged and arrested Colin and Alexander Rideout on account of disposing of incriminating evidence.
After arresting the victim’s sons, the police were able to connect the dots that linked Laura to her estranged husband’s murder.
On the basis of DNA evidence, surveillance footage, and bloody garments, Laura, her boyfriend, Paul Tucci, and her two sons were arrested.
The authorities built a strong case against them within months and were ready to charge them with second-degree murder.
Moreover, in the trial, Walmart surveillance footage showed the defendants shopping at the store just hours before the murder.
The items purchased were later used in the botched attempt to hide Craig Rideout’s disfigured body. Bloody clothing also tied each of the defendants to the crime.
Despite the availability of incriminating evidence, the defendants did not plead guilty to the horrible crime they’d committed.
A thorough investigation on the police’s and court’s part ended up acquitting Laura’s boyfriend, Paul Tucci, of all charges.
The jury convicted Colin Rideout, the elder of the two sons involved in the murder, and Laura Rideout of murder and tampering charges.
Colin was charged on the basis that his jeans were completely covered with the victim’s blood.
Alex Rideout, the younger one, was convicted of meddling with evidence for helping clean up the crime scene and attempting to get rid of crucial evidence.
His sweatpants seemingly did not have that much blood on them, raising reasonable doubt regarding his role in the crime.
A map of cell tower pings obtained from Craig Rideout’s phone proved to be crucial in establishing the timeline of the homicide.
Last but not least, surveillance footage from six different businesses showed a pair of cars, including Rideout’s minivan and Paul Tucci’s car, traveling the same path.
They were seen on security tape on their journey to and from the area where the mutilated corpse was found.
‘See No Evil’ will dive deep into the horrid details of Craig Rideout murder case.
What happened to Laura and her sons?
Since Alex Rideout was only charged with evidence tampering and cleaning up the crime scene, he exited prison in 2021 after serving a three and a half years sentence.
On the other hand, Colin and Laura Rideout both remain incarcerated in maximum-security prisons.
Colin, now 29, in Attica Correctional Facility in Wyoming County, and Laura, now 51, in Bedford Hill Correctional Facility in Westchester County.
The eldest child of the victim, Colin, is not eligible for parole until 2043, and his former wife, Laura, until 2056.