The Murder of Anthony LoConte | Morbid | Podcast | Forensic Files

Hey weirdos. I'm Elina. I'm Ash. And this is [Music] Morbid. It's morbid in the morning. Um,
so hey, it's more of it in the morning. Oh, did you just hear my jaw crack? Yeah, your jaw is needs to be taken care
of. No, I have a reckless jaw. I think it's honestly jaw. Somebody should probably like wire it shut for a little
bit. My whole jaw is talking and it just wouldn't work out. It's rough. It It's like snaps a lot. Yeah, I was just like
just doing a little stretch and it was like You should hear it when I eat a bagel. It's even crazier. Oh, damn. It's
nuts. Well, you have heard it, but I have. That's true. You listener out there. You may not have, I don't know
your life. I don't know your life. I don't know your life, but I do know a candy store that you should go to in
Salem. Yeah. This is And it's not an ad. No. Um it's just uh we like to pass on stuff to you. Uh we went to Salem the
other day. We got to hang out with our with our our twin flame Ryan Lil Washington. Go download Ryan's music. Go
buy Ryan's books. Go give him a high five. He's a lovely, lovely, magical, enchanting human being. It's the best.
And so is his husband. Yes. Um we love them both. We had a wonderful time in Salem with And they're friends. Yeah.
And their friends are great. Like it was a great It was a great day. We had a whole day and we met a lot of listeners.
So if we met you, what's up? Yeah. While we were in We hope you had a great day in Salem. We met somebody who's it was
their first time in Salem. I hope you had the best time. Yeah. Hell yeah. Hell [ __ ] yeah. And we also met Marne. We
met Marne. And Marne um is the owner of the Curly Girl Candy Shop in Salem, which we always pass by there. It's
right near like House Witch, right near like Essex Street. It's like right off of Essex Street. And I always I'm like,
"Oo, we should pop in there. Like, I want to get some candy." And we were going to this last time cuz we ran into
Marne. She introduced herself and we were planning 100% on going into the candy store, but then we had kids stuff
pop up. Yeah. I had I had to get to after school activities and the we had timed it so that I could get home for
that so I could drive them to after school stuff and uh the traffic shifted and suddenly it was going to be like a
2hour drive home and we were like holy [ __ ] we got to leave. That's one thing about Salem. I love going to Salem so
much but like traffic man from 2 to 3 the traffic shift is nuts. Yeah. You either have to leave there very early or
very or later. Yeah. There's this one stretch of time where you're going to be in trouble. Yeah, but Marne, we will be
back and we will come. Yeah, we love the [ __ ] out of some of your candy. Love,
Marne. Go to the Curly Girl candy shop because it looks so [ __ ] cool. And we're definitely going when we come
back. Yes. Um and bop into House Witch and get your Aura Red because we did that with Ryan and his husband and the
two of us and it was very fun. Very insightful. Very like Yeah, it was very insightful is is
definitely the best way to describe it. Uh, we also stopped into Nocturn, which is one of my favorite stores. Oh. Um,
and we met Cody Cody Cwley, who has, she's, you might know her on like Tik Tok. Um, I think her Tik Tok and like
Instagram is under spirit bored. Um, bored, but b o r e d. Her name's Cody. She's also an author. She wrote her
debut novel was um, uh, here lies a vengeful [ __ ] Amazing. I just got it. I'm so excited to start. Amazing. So,
she's a great follow. She's awesome. So definitely if you're looking for some fun follows, she gives you a lot of
information about Salem, too. Uh on her Tik Tok, she gives you like historical information, touristy information, the
best kind of like little hidden gems. That's the best. She gives you like spooky little stories. She's very
entertaining. She's got the vibes of Tai from Clueless. Yes, very much like a spooky tie. Literally a spooky tie. I
think she's so fun. So yeah, it was really cool. We met a lot of cool people. Yeah, good vibes all around. We
needed it. We needed a little like um hookie day. Yeah, a little hookie day. It was our day off anyway. We didn't
actually really play hookie from anything. But no, we can't. We're actually not allowed.
But with all that being said, that's all that's all the business we had, right? Yeah, it was just good business. It was
good business. But we have um kind of a pressing case today. And this case um is, you know, it hits close to home. I
had this [ __ ] phenomenal mentor when I was in like my very early hair days when I had just started at like this
main salon. Yeah. Um I had this mentor Timmy and he took such good care of me and unfortunately his uncle was killed
years and years and years ago and now his uncle's killer is possibly going to be up for probation which is pretty
scary when that's always not great. Yeah, it's pretty scary too when you hear the details of this case. Ooh. So,
let's get into it. Um, this is a pressing matter. When we get to the end, there's like some petitions going on and
stuff that just trying to get some ears. Yeah, we want to get some ears, some attention on this. Timmy's family is
really trying to do whatever they can to keep their loved ones killer behind bars. And I don't blame them. Yeah. So,
let's get into it. In the spring of 1988, 19-year-old Robert Morganti was living in Brockton, which is a suburb
about an hour outside of Boston. And at the time, he was supporting himself as kind of a low-level cocaine dealer. Mhm.
At the time, a lot of the product that he was selling came from Jeffrey Tessier, who was one of his runners,
quote unquote, who basically helped him break up large amounts of cocaine into smaller packages and then they would go
distribute it. Okay. On May 10th, 1988, Robert Morganti had actually run out of cocaine. So, he called Jeffrey in order
to get some more, but Jeffree told him he too was dry, didn't have any, but Jeffree said he did have a source that
he was willing to connect Morandi with in order to resupply. Uh Jeffrey's connection would have completely solved
their problems, but a few hours later, Morganti called to say that this connection was also out of cocaine. So
sensing an opportunity to make some quick cash and uh thinking very interestingly interesting thought
pattern here, Jeffrey Tessier devised a scheme where he would quote trick Morganti into paying him for what
Morganti would mistakenly believe was one quarter kg of cocaine. Oh no, that's a terrible [ __ ] idea. Yeah, that's
not a good idea. He's obviously not the first person to ever rip off a drug dealer, but it does remain unclear how
or why he thought Morganti would readily accept a lookalike powder and would then
distribute that lookalike powder without verifying its legitimacy at all. Confusing. Like that's never going to
happen. No. But for whatever reason, he returned Morganti's call that evening and told him he found another hookup and
that they could go to the new supplier's house that night, pick up the drugs for
what would uh end up being about $10,500 at that time and what would be almost $29,000 today. Okay. Based on
court records and just like human logic, it's pretty reasonable to assume Jeffrey
had not fully thought out this plan. No, this was very This was very impulsive. Yeah. Um, and he was very much operating
on the fly. So, because of that, it is very plausible to believe that Anthony Lond was just roped into all of this at
the very last very dire minute. But either way, that night, Jeffrey Tessier, uh, Robert Moranti, and one of their
associates, Brian Madden, drove to Locant's house. And when they arrived, Tessier told the two men to wait in the
car while he went inside to pick up the drugs, which were not drugs. So because Anthony Lukant was ultimately killed
that night, we only have Jeffrey Tessier's testimony to rely on to fill in the gaps of what happened next.
According to him, he went into Anony's house and explained that he was what what he was attempting to do. And again,
according to him, Lant didn't object to playing a part in this ruse. Jeffree then quickly scanned the house for
anything that he could pass off as fake cocaine and ultimately gathered a random
collection of just household items, including an old spice container. And he placed the hastily assembled package in
a brown paper bag and went back out to the car. Okay. Once he was out there, he handed that that package and uh over to
Moranti. Morganti gave him the $10,500 fully believing that he was purchasing a kilo of cocaine rather than
a bag of garbage. And with the deal done, Morganti and Madden pulled away from the house, leaving Jeffrey there
behind with Antthony Anthony Lacant, who Jeffrey said received $2,000 for his participation in the scam. Again,
Jeffrey's words. Yeah. Not surprisingly, uh, a seasoned drug dealer, Robert Marganti, wasn't fooled by getting a bag
of deodorant. Yeah, that's not shocking. And was pretty pissed that he had just paid over $10,000 for a bag of garbage.
So within five minutes, Morganti and Matted were back at Lukant's house pounding on the back door, which by the
way, he lived with his mother. This is horrifying. And he, this was a very last minute thing. He got roped into. We
don't know what he knew and anything like that. We only have Jeffrey to rely on.
So now Morganti and Madden are banging on the door and like very [ __ ] angry drug dealers. I can like feel the
anxiety right now. Yeah. So absolutely terrified by these men at the door, Anthony goes running out the front door
because they're pounding on the back door. And he attempted to get away from the situation that he got roped into
last minute. But according to his mother, Rachel, the two men chased him down in the driveway and managed to
force him into Madden's car after beating him. What happened next is not exactly clear,
but the evidence collected during the investigation does provide some insight. According to the medical exam examiner,
excuse me, Anthony Lant was sitting in the passenger seat of the Monte Carlo with Madden driving and Morganti sitting
in the back right behind Anthony. At one point during their drive after having severely beaten him, investigators
believe that Morganti shot 24 year old Locant in the back of his head with a 380 caliber handgun, sending a bullet
through the back of his skull behind his left ear, and that then exited through his right eye. Oh yeah, that's awesome.
They executed him. That is brutal. Based on the technician's analysis of the evidence in the car, the gun was fired
less than 6 in from the victim's head. Holy [ __ ] It was so close that it caused burns around the edge of the
wound. And finally, it was determined based on Anony's injuries and the trajectory of the bullet that the
gunshot could have only been fired from the back seat. Okay. Where Morganti was believed to have been sitting. A little
past 11 p.m. that night, Brockton resident Michael Geler looked out the window of uh his Howard Street residence
and saw a blue Mont Bonte Car Carlos slowed to a stop across from his home where it sat briefly before pulling
away. After the car left, he saw what he described as what looked like a trash bag sitting on the side of the road. And
assuming that the driver had just dumped trash, he went back to what he was doing. Didn't really think anything
about it until a short time later, he heard screams coming from outside. By that time, a passing driver had also
seen what they thought was an object on the side of the road, but they stopped to investigate. And that's when they
found Anthony Locant unconscious and badly bleeding. Oh [ __ ] They just dumped him on the side of the road and
he was only unconscious. He had not died yet. Oh my god. So Geler called for an ambulance and emergency responders
arrived a few minutes later. At first they couldn't tell because he was so badly beaten and you know you're
unrecognizable after that kind of gunshot wound. Emergency responders believed that he actually Anthony had
been the victim of a hit and run accident. Holy [ __ ] Since he was covered in blood and the exit wound
above his eye wasn't recognizable. I think probably because due to swelling, he was still actually breathing and did
have a weak pulse, but a short time later he did pass away at the hospital. And later that day when the autopsy was
conducted, that's when they discovered the bullet wound over his eye and in the back of his head. And his death at that
point was obviously deemed a homicide. This was devastating to his family. Anthony Lacant was born in
December of 1963 to Coast Guardsman Albi. Albby and line worker and former model Rachel Locant. They are a
beautiful couple. They're obsessed with them. My friend Timmy's grandparents and
he sent all these old pictures of them on like their wedding day and everything. They had all these children
together. They're a beautiful family. Anthony was the fourth of their fifth children and he was absolutely adored by
all of his siblings and even his extended family. Growing up, he loved to watch Batman and Robin with his brother
Alan. He loved to dress up and they would pretend to fly around the house like superheroes. Him and his sister
Marie would do that. And he also loved the cartoon Go Speed Racer Go. He loved race cars, motorcycles, anything like
that. He and his brother Allan would go to concerts all the time. Allan said they went to AC/DC, Fog Hat, Blue Oyster
Cult. Oh my god. And they would sneak up to the front rows together whenever they
could. I love that. They had a great time together. And music definitely played a big part in the whole family's
lives. All of Anony's siblings remember dancing around with him. They remember just spending days hanging out in their
rooms listening to new records. He gave one of his sisters um a cassette or like
a 45 of um uh uh Prince's Purple Rain. Oh my gosh. And she still has it to this day. She won't part with it, of course.
But one thing that every family member recalls, and I just think this is such a sweet memory, the family went on a
cruise to the Bahamas together, and Tony was only about seven or eight at the time, but he got up on stage on the
cruise, and they all said that he performed Frank Sinatra's You Make Me Feel So Young with the ship's band. Shut
up. Just like got up there and sang for everybody. And the crowd gave him a standing ovation. Of course they will.
And everybody has that memory of him. Oh, I love that. It's really sweet. Anony's sister Susan told us, "What I
want people to know about Anthony was that he was a kind and loving brother who didn't have much but shared what he
did have. He would always put others before himself. He was an advocate or big brother to many kids in the
neighborhood. He always loved the holidays. He would go to the neighbors houses and celebrate their traditions
and eat with them. He loved playing with the children and would stick up for others that were being bullied. Just the
other day, while getting an oil change, a man came up to me and asked me if I was a loant. He told me the story of him
being bullied and how Anthony stepped in and told the other kids to leave him alone and they never bullied him again.
So few people are like that. Yeah. So to like lose somebody that's like that in such a horrific way is like
heartbreaking, devastating, tragic. Like you you don't find people like that. No.
To to just go out of their way and probably for somebody he like knew Yeah. just likeanded or just whatever. Like a
lot of people won't stick up for people. They won't put their own nose, you know,
like it's a lot of people will just kind of walk away and let somebody else deal
with it. But look at how significant it is when you actually do go out of your way and stick up for
somebody. Went up to his sister however many years later, like 40 years later, and still remembered that. That's the
thing. People will remember just like the smallest acts of kindness that you will do or just going out of your way to
like make them happy or make something better for them. And people remember the other way. Oh, absolutely. And which way
would you rather be known for? Being the bully and being the person that made someone's life awful or being the person
that stepped in and like made things better. And it's easy. It's not easy. It doesn't take too much. Yeah. You know,
just do it. But everybody has fond memories of Anthony. Sounds like it. His niece Amy also has the fond memories,
especially about going to visit him while he lived with her grandmother when she was young. She said, "My uncle Tony,
he had old Hollywood movie star looks. He I was just about to say he is incredibly handsome." He does. He
actually Have Did you meet Timmy when I was working at the salon? I think I briefly met him. I'm pretty sure. Timmy
looks like his uncles. Actually, I was going to say they are very similar. Like Timmy is very Yeah, Timmy's very
Hollywood star looking. Very like striking. Very striking. Yeah. And he looks like he could be in like one of
those cool old movies. Like you could see him in like a full suit. Yes. Absolutely. All like dappered out. Like
driving a fast car, you know? She said he was absolutely stunning. Agreed. Yeah. He was over 6 feet tall with dark
hair and dark eyes. The ladies loved him, but he only had eyes for a couple ladies. And the number one lady was his
mom. Oh my god. He was a mama's boy, a fearless brother, and the coolest uncle any little girl could ever dream up. Oh,
she also remembered, of course, how devastating the loss of her uncle was for not only herself, but especially for
his mom, Amy's grandmother. She said, "They had the most beautiful relationship. She broke when he was
assassinated. I lost them both when he was murdered. She just got so quiet and so sad. I remember when I was going to
give birth to my firstborn son. I came to Nanny and I asked her if I could name him Anthony. And she said she didn't
think that was a good idea because it wasn't a good name for her son. So, did I think it would be a good idea for
him?" Oh, like she was so not that she didn't love the name or anything, but she was like, "Look what his fate was,
right?" Yeah. Oh, that breaks my heart. It does. She's beautiful as well. Yes. Nanny. Nanny. Oh, Nanny's wedding
pictures. Nanny was a star. Yeah. And Al Nanny and Albi. Yes. Damn. Gorge. What a
couple. Gorge. Like, wow. Yeah. Timmy your family. Timmy your family. Holy [ __ ] But on a more serious note, going
back to the night of the murder, according to court documents, sometime around midnight, Robert Morganti called
his friend Travis Merritt and told him that he had quote gotten ripped off, something went wrong, and he had shot
somebody. So Travis agreed to help his friend, and a short time later, Robert Morganti showed up to his apartment with
blood still all over his face and all over his clothing. My god. During their conversation, Morganti repeated the
story of what happened earlier that night, saying he didn't know the identity of the man that he'd shot, only
that he thought he was involved for in ripping him off for $10,500. And Morganti told Travis he had
thrown the gun out of the car somewhere along Harrison Boulevard on his way back
to the apartment. And he said his only priority in that moment was finding Jeffrey Tessier and getting his money
back. Which is like, your priorities are [ __ ] up. You just killed a man. Took a
man's life. A short time later, the two men went to the home of another acquaintance, Gary
Gaml, where they believed they'd find Jeffrey. At the house, Morganti apparently told Gaml, "I just want my
money. I killed the wrong person." Holy [ __ ] So, Anthony Lukant was just wrapped up in all of this. I just killed
the wrong person. In a case of mistaken identity, it very much seems like Morganti thought he was going after
Jeffrey or thought he was going after this like big deal cocaine dealer and that that was not Anthony. Holy [ __ ]
That's horrifying. And he knew it. He knew how badly he had [ __ ] up that he just killed somebody who wasn't involved
in all of this. Wow. So, as the men were talking, Jeffree pulled up outside, and Morganti actually
moved toward the door to confront him, but was stopped by Gaml, who insisted that he would go out and get the money
back. I'm sure he was like, "You've gotten yourself in enough [ __ ] tonight." A few minutes later, Gaml returned and
handed Morganti $7,500, which obviously he noted was a few thousand short, but he accepted it
at that point. Probably just ready to be done with the whole ordeal. Yeah. and they left Gaml's house in a cab and the
cab then dropped Moranti at the home of another associate, Joseph Valente. Morganti then explained to Valente that
he had been ripped off and had shot and killed one of the men he thought was responsible, but that he had killed the
wrong man. And now he needed help in getting in contact with an associate in California because he was planning to
flee the state. Wow. Which means he fully knew that he was in a whole bunch of 100%. He had the full wherewithal to
know that he needed to get the [ __ ] out of dodge because what he did was wrong
and he was going to face some kind of trouble for it. Yeah. So while he was tracking down Jeffrey Tessier to get his
missing money, Brian Madden was having a crisis of his own. Madden, remember, was
driving the car that night. He hadn't been necessarily responsible for Anthony Lukan's murder and obviously didn't know
it was going to happen. And it happened very quickly, but like I said, he had been driving the car when Anthony was
shot and he also helped with dumping Anony's body on the side of the road. He's an accomplice to murder. Yeah. So,
he's freaking out. And he calls his brother Mark Madden a little after midnight that night and briefly
explained what happened and asked Mark if he could come over. After hearing the story, Mark did the right thing and
encouraged his brother to report the shooting to the police, which uh Brian did end up doing shortly after hanging
out hanging up with Mark. When Mark arrived to his brother's apartment, he saw the Monte Carlo parked out front and
could still see a large amount of blood in the front seat of the car. Inside, Brian was already speaking with
detectives who had come to the apartment. A short time after placing that call, state and local investigators
arrived at Brian Madden's apartment and they started processing the car for evidence, noting that there was a quote
great deal of blood on the front passenger seat. They also collected several bloodcovered CDs from the front
seat and an old spice container, which remember was used to rip off Morgante. Yeah. Inside the apartment,
investigators also collected several more blood spattered CDs from Brian Madden's kitchen, and subsequent testing
of the blood found in the car, on the floor mats, and the blood on the CDs in the kitchen. All a match for Anthony
Lant. No surprise there. Wow. During their investigation with Brian Madden and processing the evidence collected
from the car, investigators with Brockton and Massachusetts State Police established that Brian Madden had been
driving the car at the time of the shooting. And forensic testing recreations of the shooting confirmed,
quote, "It would have been difficult to have fired a shot from the driver's seat
at the angle indicated by the entrance and exit wounds." So, they were able to rule him out as the shooter. Okay. And
like I said, the evidence did indicate that the shot had been fired from the back seat where we know Robert Morganti
was sitting, making him the primary suspect for the murder. Based on the statements taken from Brian Madden,
Jeffrey Tessier, Tessier, excuse me, and Joseph Valente, a warrant was issued for
Robert Moranti's arrest on the afternoon of May 11th, 1988 for the murder of Anthony Locant. But the problem was at
that point, by the time investigators managed to put all the pieces together, Morganti had already fled the state. He
was gone. In the years that followed, investigators followed leads and tips from the public that brought them to
Florida, Michigan, and New York in search of Robert Morganti. But it would be more than a decade before he was
ultimately captured and put on trial for Anthony Locant's murder. Damn. Yes. More
than a decade. In the early morning hours of March 16th, 2000, now the year 2000, this all
started, remember, in 1988. Now, March 16th, 2000, a California Highway Patrol officer
stopped a car uh stopped a driver for speeding along Highway 132 in Modesto. The driver identified himself as Rodri
Gren, a resident of Stannislaus County, and he acknowledged to the officer that he had been drinking. Oh. The officer
obviously asked the man to step out of the vehicle and immediately placed him under arrest for DUI. And during a
routine search of the vehicle, the CHP officer also discovered about a half pound of marijuana and Gan's vehicle as
well as a box that quote unquote contained uh marijuana residue. Jeez. So, he contacted the county Drug
Enforcement Agency and obviously the vehicle was impounded. The drug evidence found in this man's vehicle was
obviously enough for law enforcement agents to get a warrant for his home. now where they found 70 lbs of
marijuana. Jesus. That's a whole [ __ ] ton of marijuana. Um, all of which had been divided into smaller packages
clearly for sale. Wow. So, we're not we're not evolving here. No. $21,000 in cash which was wrapped in bed sheets as
well was found in the apartment. And the evidence strongly indicated that this man was probably a drug dealer. Yeah.
Yeah. Lieutenant Raul DeLeon told reporters, "It was obvious this guy was supporting himself by selling
marijuana." But what was even more unusual and more unexpected was that along with the drugs and the money,
investigators also found multiple forms of identification, all with different names, indicating that this Brick Ganj
probably wasn't who he claimed to be. That's spooky. Among the various forms of identification found in the home was
one for John Sam Brown, another name entirely. Okay. And John Sam Brown was from Almeida County. So investigators in
Modesto called their counterparts in Almeida and learned that John Sam Brown had been arrested and convicted on a
previous charge and was currently on probation. Oh. In the meantime, another detective ran through Rodri's uh
fingerprints and they ran them through the nationwide database and got a hit not for Rodri, but for Robert Morganti.
Oh. Who, as we know, had a warrant out in Brockton, Massachusetts for the murder of Anthony Lant in 1988. Yep. On
March 17th, authorities in California called the state police in Massachusetts and let them know that they had arrested
their suspect that many years later. And the following day, a detective from the
state police boarded the first plane for Modesto. After a dozen years of waiting
and hoping, the news of Moranti's arrest obviously came as a surprise, but a relief to Anony's family. Lukant's
brother, Allan, told reporters, "I never gave up hope. I was always hoping he would be found." That must have been
unreal. The relief they must have felt. And then like in hand with the relief also just now we're going to have to go
through a whole trial and this is all going to get brought back up again. All the emotions that you've been dealing
with for years and years and years are like right at the root again. Yeah. Absolutely. So while the family waited
on word from local authorities regarding Moranti's extradition to Massachusetts,
the suspect was held on $1 million bail on the drug charges. When Massachusetts State Police Sergeant Leonard Coppenrath
finally sat down with Mganti the following day, he continued to refer to himself as Roger Ganjage and insisted
that he was not from Brockton, but that he had come to California from New York.
WTF? He's like, "What's Brockton even? What even is that?" But when the detective filled out the Miranda form
using the suspect's real name, Morganti realized he had been found out and just looked at him and said, "Now what?"
Damn. So, that is so casual. So casual. Holy [ __ ] Now what? Uh, now you're going to face trial for murder. So,
how's that? Throughout their interview, Robert Marganti was evasive and really never
offered a confession. But that said, at one point, he was allowed to make a phone call to his son. It was the boy's
birthday. And when his son's mother asked what she should tell their son, Morganti said she should explain to
their son that daddy did a bad thing. Wow. Oh. So, while he didn't confess, he he did kind of did. Yeah. At various
points, he also wondered out loud whether it was wise for him to speak to the to detectives on the record, but he
had already agreed to speak with them without an attorney, and he never directly recanted that approval or
directly asked for an attorney. Yeah. So, if you don't ask directly, they're not going to give you one. No, you got
to ask. You got to ask. Banti told the detectives that he hadn't seen or spoken to anybody from Brockton since he left
in 1988, including his family. And although he knew many of the people involved in the lowc murder case, he
denied being responsible for Anony's death. It wasn't him. No, he said. He said I'm like, let's make that clear.
Rather than press for a confession though, Copenrath began offering various scenarios in which Morganti might have
found himself in that ultimately led to Anony's death, but that tactic failed to
elicit a confession. Still, a few days later, Robert Morganti was extradited back to Massachusetts to finally stand
trial for the murder. Ultimately, he and Anony's family would have to wait more than 3 years before the case was finally
heard. But finally, in the summer of 2003, his trial did begin in Brockton Superior Court. At that time, he was
charged with one count of first-degree murder with special circumstances attached for what the prosecutor
described as deliberate premeditation and the uh extreme atrocity or cruelty, which Yeah, I would say. So, you shoot
somebody in the back of the head after beating them. Yeah, that is that is extreme cruelty. Yeah. And banging down
their mother's door. Yeah, I'd say so. Over the course of the trial, the jury was shown a large number of photographs
of Anony's body, which his sister Marie described as unrecognizable after Moranti had beaten him, shot him, and
left him for dead on the side of the road. That's so sad. They also, the jury, also viewed Madden's Monte Carlo
and were shown a recreation of the shooting to see where the parties were sitting when it occurred. Other evidence
presented in court included the fingerprint evidence taken from the car on the night of the murder as well as
the fingerprint evidence that was collected when Moranti was arrested in Modesto and um when they were able to
confirm his identity. Okay. And you know all that. Yeah. So by far the most compelling aspect of the trial was the
testimony from various individuals who had contact with Robert Marganti and Anthony Lant on the night of the
shooting. That included testimony from Travis Merritt, who told the jury that he had seen Robert Morganti with the
same caliber gun that was used in the shooting and Jeffrey Tessier, who claimed that he also had seen Morganti
with the same caliber of weapon in fact on the day of the shooting. Oh, so that's something. Yeah. Similarly,
Joseph Valente testified that Morgante had come to him in needing his help to flee to California. There was also a
large number of witnesses who testified they heard Moranti say he had killed somebody. Oh. Most damning, however, was
Brian Madden who testified that he had been driving the car on the night of the shooting and in the courtroom identified
Robert Moranti as the shooter. Oh [ __ ] Yeah. So he this piles and piles of evidence against a lot of evidence. On
June 13th, 2003, after a brief deliberation, the jury returned a verdict finding Robert Marganti guilty
for the murder of Anthony Locant. Following his conviction, he was sentenced to life imprisonment
imprisonment without the possibility of parole. And when the sentence was passed, Anony's father, Elby, openly
wept in the courtroom, relieved that his son had finally received justice over after more than a decade, over a decade.
But unfortunately, that relief would not last. In 2009, Robert Moranti's lawyer, Donald
Harwood, filed an appeal on Moranti's behalf, alleging, among other things, that investigators had violated his
rights. One, by admitting into evidence statements that were given more than 6 hours after his arrest, and two, not
stopping the interview after Morandi suggested he should contact a lawyer. It doesn't work like that. Yeah, you got to
Yeah. And I'll explain that. With regard to the first point, the statements made
more than six hours after his arrest that were entered into evidence, Harwood is referring to what's known as the safe
harbor rule, which provides, quote, that in the absence of exceptional circumstances, a statement made by a
defendant more than 6 hours after his arrest shall not be admitted into evidence unless the defendant waves his
right to a prompt arraignment. This provision was established to prevent law enforcement officials from delaying
interviews for long periods of time to try to get a confession. Oh, yeah. But in this case, the delay was a result of
Sergeant Copenrath having to travel across the country. Yeah. And even under those circumstances, the court found
that the safe harbor rule had not been violated in this case. So that's good. As for the second claim that his request
for a lawyer had been denied, the court also ruled against Morante. In their summary opinion, the justices noted that
to invoke the right to counsel, the suspect must unambiguously request counsel and must articulate his desire
to have counsel present sufficiently clearly that a reasonable police officer in the circumstances would understand
the statement to be a request for an attorney. You can't say like maybe I should have a lawyer or should I talk to
you guys? Should I talk to you guys? Maybe I shouldn't talk to you guys. It has to be like I want a lawyer and I'm
not speaking until I have one. Yeah. Black and white. Boom. You can't just be like you you can't speak in
hypotheticals. Yeah, you got to be clear. So, in Moranti's case, the justices concluded that it was perfectly
reasonable for the interviewing officers to assumed that assume that he wasn't requesting an attorney. Quote, thinking
out loud that he might need a lawyer and might want to stop questioning until he
spoke to a lawyer, which is not a sufficient invocation of his rights. No. No. So, those attempts failed. Several
years later, in late 2013, he appealed a second time. this time arguing that his
rights had been violated during the jury selection process when the courtroom was
briefly cleared of public spectators. The sixth amendment of the US Constitution guarantees, as we know, a
right to a speedy and public trial, which Borganti was now arguing had been denied when the courtroom was briefly
cleared. In their finding, the court determined that quote during jury impanelment, the court officers closed
the courtroom to all members of the public as was custom practice at that time in court and the defendant did not
object to the courtroom closure. So they also concluded that quote all three attorneys were aware of their client's
sixth amendment right to a public trial. Yet none of them objected until 2007 when the issue began to emerge in cases
tried outside of Plymouth County. So they saw it starting to come up and they're like other places. Yeah. So the
justices upheld the conviction on the grounds that the defendant had not sustained his burden of establishing his
claim. With those two appeals or three appeals denied at that point, it appeared that Robert Moranti would
indeed be spending the rest of his life in jail. However, just about a month or so ago, in April of 2025, the Locant
family's world was completely upended when Anony's now 92year-old father received a letter from the Massachusetts
Parole Board indicating that due to a recent state Supreme Court ruling, Robert Moranti could become eligible for
parole in the very near future. And we've come across this before. The ruling in question was the outcome of
Commonwealth versus Mattis, a January 2024 state Supreme Court ruling concluding that life sentences without
the possibility of parole for offenders between 18 and 20 years old accounted to
cruel and unusual punishment. We've talked about that before. Yeah. So now, and we've talked about it in other
states. Now it's happening in Massachusetts. And now the state of Massachusetts has started evaluating
cases where the offenders were between those ages at the time that the crimes were committed and considering certain
inmates for parole. In her press release following the ruling, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell said
the justice system should give young people the opportunity to turn their lives around and fulfill their
potential. Which, yeah, sure, in certain cases that's absolutely valid. Robert Moranti was 19 years old when he killed
Anthony Lacant and then he was able to live for another 12 more years on the run and didn't turn his life around. I
think that's that's the difference here cuz like I'm all for taking a look at cases and seeing if some some changes
have happened all that stuff for sure. That's the whole point of imprisonment. It's supposed to be that like you know
you the rehabilitation to become a productive member of society, right? But you got to look at each one. It's a case
by case scenario. It's a case by case because some of them are just not going to fit that mold. No. And I don't think
I don't think he does really because during the time that he was on the run, he had warrants, multiple war warrants
in other states. He was still selling large amounts of drugs when he got arrested for a DUI. I was going to say
which can kill someone. I literally go I wrote in my notes he's arrested for DUI,
still endangering the lives of others. Endangering people. He had the opportunity to turn his life around and
he hadn't. Mhm. And on top of that, Marie Lant said he showed no remorse when he was arrested and he was he was
an adult. He was in his 30s when he was arrested. He never reached out to us. It
would have given given us some healing if he had. Mhm. So that all matters. Yeah. Absolutely. And while the state
may see the ruling as extending young offenders the opportunity to turn their lives around, the Locant family, just in
this case, does not agree when it comes to Robert Moranti. Yeah. Anony's younger
sister, Marie, told a reporter for the Enterprise, "My heart breaks for my father. It breaks for us all. I'm so
angry. We We don't want to go through this again. I don't blame them. And she told us, "Loing Anthony shattered our
hearts. His death didn't just affect us. It changed us. It's something we carry every day. A pain that does not fade. We
miss his voice, his laughter, his energy, and the way he made us all feel safe and loved. Anthony Lacant was more
than just a brother or a son. He was a light in our lives. And though that light was taken from us far too soon,
its warmth remains. We love you forever, Anthony. You are missed beyond words. That just gave me so many chills and I
got a giant bump of cry in my throat. I know. I can't imagine losing someone that mean that way and someone like
Anthony. No, I can't. Like I really can't like I feel for this family so much. He just seemed like such a like I
there were so there were countless stories that Timmy was able to share from all his family members and I could
never share them all. We would it would take like years and years because there were so many great stories of who he was
and he and a great thing to point out is he got to live 24 years. He Robert Moranti hasn't even been in
jail as long as as Anthony Lant got to live. Yeah. Like come on. Yeah. And again, he had the opportunity to turn
his life around and he didn't. Well, that's Yeah. He was I think he was 34 by the time he got arrested. for them to
have to go through all this again and to open up all the wounds to have that relief and then have it kind of ripped
off before it was able to even scab over, you know, like that kind of pain. I can't even imagine. I can't. And for
his father to be 92 having to deal with this 92 in poor health, just finally got
to see justice and then it could possibly be reversed. Yeah. It's like that's I can't It's tough. I feel for
what they're going through. Very complex and very upsetting. Yeah. So, as of now,
Morganti is one of 209 inmates in Massachusetts who do possibly have a chance at parole. Oh, wow. Though,
members of the Locant family are committed to doing whatever they can to make this not happen to prevent this
from happening. The family has picketed at the state house and they are doing whatever they can to bring an awareness
to what's going on with Anony's case. Uh they also currently have a petition on change.org. There's almost 150
signatures. If you feel so inclined, more. We could definitely get them some more. You guys go [ __ ] crazy over
petitions. Yeah, you guys really bang it out with petitions. Sign this petition if you feel so inclined. We're going to
include it in the show notes and post on social. Yeah. And just do what you can,
you know. I always think like if the if the victim's family is this committed to
it, that's who I take my cues from. That's who I stand with. Yeah. That's who I take my cues from. Absolutely. Uh,
as of now, the Massachusetts Parole Board has yet to schedule a hearing for Robert Moranti, but one is expected to
be announced in the coming months. So, let's get those signatures going before that happens because those signatures
make a difference. This family going and picketing outside the state house makes
a difference. And the fact that they are still working this hard for Anthony tells you who Anthony was and how much
they care, you know, like it should like for them to be still I mean again his father's 92 years old, right? Like come
on. Yeah. And his siblings, his siblings all have their own children. Their children are having their own children.
They are still fighting for their brother. Still fighting for this. Yeah. Damn. It's just it's a heartbreaking
case. I just want to hug the Lacant family. I want to hug all of them. I know. And just the fact that Morganti
himself at one point allegedly said like, "I killed the wrong guy." Yeah. This was all a mistake. This all should
have never happened. Yeah. It never should have happened. And it's gut-wrenching that this family is still
dealing with something that just never should have happened in the first place. Absolutely. So, we'll share that in the
show notes. And, uh, with that being said, thank you for listening. We hope you keep listening. And we hope you keep
it weird. weird, but not so weird that you don't go rock that petition's world. Rock it. Sign it. Put your Herby Hancock
on the petition. On the petition. On the petition. [Music] [Music] [Music]

On the evening of May 10, 1988, a passing driver on Howard Street in Brockton, MA, stopped to investigate something unusual on the side of the road. When the driver got closer to what they thought was a bag, they realized it was actually the body of twenty-four-year-old Anthony LoConte, bleeding badly from injuries to his face and head.

Initially, investigators believed LoConte was the victim of a hit-and-run accident; however, when the coroner examined the body, he discovered a bullet hole in the back of LaConte’s head, indicating that he’d been murdered.

It took twelve years for investigators to track down LoConte’s killer, but in the winter of 2000, California Highway Patrol arrested Robert Morganti on drug charges and a quick background check connected them to a 1988 warrant for Morganti for the murder of Anthony LoConte.

Robert Morganti was extradited back to Massachusetts, where he was tried, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for LoConte’s murder. However, due to a controversial 2024 law concerning life sentences for young offenders, Robert Morganti could be granted parole in the near future.

Consider signing the petition by visiting https://www.change.org/p/help-uncle-tony-uphold-mandatory-life-sentences-in-massachusetts-bill-s942 .

Thank you to the Incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research and Writing support!

References

Boston Globe. 1988. "Police believe drugs are linked to slaying of Brockton man." Boston Globe, May 12: 35.

Boyle, Maureen. 2000. "Murder suspect caught in Calif." The Enterprise (Brockton, MA), March 21: 1.

Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Robert J. Morganti. 2009. SJC-09830 (Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Plymouth, November 25).

Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Robert J. Morganti. 2014. SJC-11281 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, February 12).

Peterson, Dave. 2000. "Murder suspect's long flght ends in Modesto." Modesto Bee, March 21: 1.

Stern, Amelia. 2025. 'No remorse': Taunton woman devastated by ruling that could free her brother's killer. April 25. Accessed May 04, 2025. https://www.tauntongazette.com/story/news/courts/2025/04/25/taunton-ma-brockton-anthony-loconte-murder-victim-sjc-robert-morganti-parole/83271252007/.

Stay in the know - wondery.fm/morbid-wondery.

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Brief Summary

Elina and Ash discuss Anthony Locant's murder and his family's fight against his killer's potential parole.

Key points

Candy Store in Salem. Elina and Ash share their love for a candy shop in Salem, owned by Marne.
The Tragic Story of Anthony Locant. The hosts recount the heartbreaking story of Anthony Locant, who was murdered.
Mistaken Identity. Morganti realizes he killed the wrong man, Anthony Lukant, instead of Jeffrey Tessier.
Morganti's Arrest. After over a decade on the run, Morganti is arrested in California.
Trial Begins. Morganti's trial for the murder of Anthony Locant begins in 2003 after years of waiting.
Life Sentence. Morganti is sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

We love the [ __ ] out of some of your candy.

Elina expresses excitement about returning to the candy shop.

2:49WatchJun 2, 2025

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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