‘New York Homicide’: Cops Craft a Plan to Catch a Woman’s Killer [Exclusive Clip]
When Talina Bryant went missing in September 2000, police immediately suspected foul play. But it wasn’t until years after she vanished that investigators were able to close the book on the crime, thanks to an informant and a clever sting operation, as seen in the April 12 episode of Oxygen True Crime’s New York Homicide.
An informant agrees to help police nab NYC woman’s killer
When Bryant disappeared, evidence in her Bronx apartment suggested that the 21-year-old college student had been murdered. But without a body, the case stalled.
When Bryant’s remains were finally discovered, police were one step closer to bringing her murderer to justice. With the help of an informant who knew David Mundo, the man believed to be responsible for the crime, they developed a plan that would allow them to zero in on her suspected killer and perhaps put him away for good.
“This is one of those cases where you have to think outside the box,” retired NYPD detective Nicholas Caristo says in a clip from the upcoming episode of New York Homicide. “And I asked the informant, would you introduce two undercovers? I’ll have them pose as drug dealers needing a hit done in Brooklyn.”
The informant agreed to make the introduction to Mundo. All Caristo needed was a couple of undercover officers to participate in the operation.
Two detectives go undercover to catch a murderer
Enter Detective Richie Gonzalez. Caristo was confident Gonzalez could get Mundo to admit to his role in the crime.
“Richie is very charismatic,” Caristo says. “He can talk anything out of anybody.”
It didn’t take much to convince Gonzalez to join the investigation.
“They told me the girl was missing, and they had someone who would introduce [us] to the possible killer,” Gonzalez recalls. “And as soon as he said that, I said, ‘I’m in. I’ll do it.’”
For help nabbing the suspect, Gonzalez turned to his partner, Detective Jimmy Rivera.
“Me and Richie worked together for a long time. We were basically investigating robberies in Brooklyn,” Rivera says. “I agreed. I said, ‘Let’s do it.’ The guy was a bad guy, so we wanted to get him off the street.”
Will Gonzalez and Rivera get the evidence they need to pin Bryant’s murder on Mundo? Find out when the next episode of New York Homicide airs Saturday, April 12, at 9 p.m. ET on Oxygen True Crime.
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