What did Thomas Delgado do? Philadelphia man arrested for 2013 home invasion murder of bar owner

Thomas Delgado, a 50-year-old resident of Port Richmond, Philadelphia, is now in custody and has been charged with the 2013 home invasion murder of Bucks County businessman Joseph Canazaro. The arrest comes as a major breakthrough in a case that had remained unsolved for nearly a decade.

Delgado is now facing charges of homicide, r*pe, burglary, kidnapping, and conspiracy. The charges stem from his alleged involvement in the targeted attack on Canazaro's Hilltown Township home on January 18, 2013, during which Canazaro, 48 at the time, was killed and his fiancée was reportedly assaulted, according to the Inquirer.

Following his arrest on Wednesday, January 10, Delgado, who is denied bail, currently does not have legal representation.

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The 2013 Hilltown Township Home Invasion

In January 2013, Thomas Delgado, accompanied by an unidentified accomplice, broke into Joseph Canazaro's rented 4,000-square-foot home on a 10-acre plot in Hilltown Township. They used a first-floor window under the cover of darkness as their point of entry, as reported by the Inquirer.

Upon being alerted to the intrusion, Canazaro's girlfriend confronted the intruders armed with a .38-caliber revolver, only to find herself outnumbered and outgunned. The assailants, with weapons in hand, directed their focus on Canazaro, as detailed in the official affidavit.

According to the account provided by Canazaro's girlfriend to the police, Thomas Delgado, identified as the larger of the two men, revealed that he had been surveilling the house for weeks from the nearby woods. The motive became apparent when Thomas Delgado said,

"We know you have the money, just give us the money."

The situation escalated rapidly as the two assailants gained control, using zip ties and knives to bind Canazaro, his girlfriend, and his then-12-year-old son. Placing his girlfriend and son face-down on the floor, the burglars walked Canazaro through the home, demanding information about the location of his money, according to the woman's account reported to the police, as detailed by the Inquirer.

While his accomplice continued scouring Joseph Canazaro's home, Thomas Delgado reportedly took Canazaro's girlfriend into a nearby bathroom, subjecting her to a traumatizing assault, according to the official affidavit.

Following the assault, the assailants led the girlfriend and Canazaro's son into a basement room before abandoning them. The woman managed to free herself, but Canazaro was nowhere to be found. Distressed and noticing the absence of Canazaro's Lincoln Mark LT pickup truck from the driveway, she secured the home before seeking help from a neighbor, leading to the alerting of the police.

Upon arriving at the scene, officers discovered Canazaro face-down in the garage. He was declared dead, and the autopsy ruled he had been stabbed multiple times. A subsequent search of the house unveiled the extent of the burglary. According to the affidavit, the perpetrators fled with multiple weapons, a designer purse, casino chips, iPhones, laptops, and Rolex watches belonging to Canazaro and his girlfriend.

Canazaro's truck was discovered abandoned hours later in the parking lot of a Friendly's restaurant in Quakertown. Surveillance footage captured a red Nissan sedan arriving at the scene, and the driver loaded several items from the truck's bed into the sedan before departing, as reported by FOX. The truck, however, was left behind.

Subsequently, the case entered a decade-long cold spell, leaving the community in suspense. At the time of his murder, Joseph Canazaro was the owner of Finn McCool's Tavern in Ambler, Pennsylvania.

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How was Thomas Delgado caught?

At the time of the burglary, investigators found that Canazaro was grappling with significant financial woes, owing millions to creditors, including several casinos. Bankruptcy filings in 2008 showed a staggering debt of around $10 million, owed to banks, to the government, and nearly $890,000 to various casinos in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and Biloxi, Miss.

Surveillance footage from January 18, 2013, revealed the suspects unloading the trunk of Canazaro's stolen pickup truck behind a Friendly's in Quakertown. The stolen truck was later found abandoned at the restaurant, accompanied by a pair of gardening gloves near the vehicle.

A breakthrough in 2019 came during a routine evidence review when investigators discovered a black face mask tucked between the seats of the stolen truck. Subsequent DNA testing in August 2020 matched the DNA profile to Thomas Delgado, as reported by FOX. In 2022, using advanced technology, detectives revisited the evidence, linking Delgado to the face mask and a r**e kit from Canazaro's girlfriend.

The case, which had remained cold for nearly a decade, saw a significant turn with these findings.

Investigators uncovered evidence pointing to Thomas Delgado, who was still residing in the Philadelphia area, according to the affidavit. As detectives diligently gathered evidence, Canazaro's girlfriend, despite having no prior knowledge of Thomas Delgado, recently noted that he matched the physical description of the assailant who had assaulted her years ago.

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Joseph Canazaro, a well-known figure in the Lansdale community, co-owned Finn McCool’s Tavern in Ambler, operated several contracting companies, and held mortgages on various properties, including an auto garage in Lansdale. Canazaro's oldest son, Joseph, chose not to comment on Thomas Delgado's arrest.