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An IT specialist and father-of-seven from Rochester, New York, Craig Rideout's disfigured body was found wrapped in a tarp on the roadside of a forested area in Yates County in July 2016. Rideout was strangled to death, and his face and fingernails had been completely burned off. It took authorities a couple of days to successfully identify the body, which was beyond recognition, using dental records.
Authorities suspected the involvement of Rideout's estranged wife Laura who was found cleaning the kitchen at his house the day after the discovery was made. The victim was also embroiled in a contentious divorce and custody battle with her at the time. Moreover, that same day, the couple's sons Colin and Alexander were arrested while disposing of incriminating evidence.
Laura's boyfriend Paul "PJ" Tucci, along with the mother and her two sons, was implicated in the murder using DNA evidence, bloody clothes, and surveillance footage. All, except Pucci who was acquitted of all charges, were found guilty in the crime on separate charges.
ID's See No Evil will revisit Craig Rideout's gruesome murder in an episode titled The Devil's Bathtub, which is scheduled to air on the channel this Wednesday, May 24, at 9:00 pm ET. The synopsis for the upcoming 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."
Details from Craig Rideout's murder investigation helped arrest the perpetrators within a short span of time
Craig Rideout's murder case captivated the Rochester community after the 50-year-old's mutilated body was found near a rural roadside in Yates County on July 20, 2016. His body was wrapped in a tarp, and his face and hands were disfigured by some sort of caustic chemical in an apparent effort to mask his identity. The father-of-seven was strangled to death and was ultimately identified using dental records.
The following July, Rideout's estranged wife Laura and their eldest son, Colin, were convicted of second-degree murder, while another son, Alex, was found guilty on two counts of tampering with evidence for his involvement in the bungled cover-up. Paul Tucci, Laura's boyfriend at the time, was found not guilty of murder and tampering charges.
According to Democrat and Chronicle, Craig Rideout and his estranged wife were embroiled in a contentious custody over their two youngest children, which was likely the motive behind the killing since it was impeding Laura and Tucci's intentions to relocate to North Carolina.
The report further mentioned that blood spatter found in Craig Rideout's basement and bloody clothes recovered from the trunk of a car Colin and Alex Rideout drove to Mendon Ponds Park, were the key evidence used to find the defendants guilty of committing the murder.
Colin's jeans were soaked with blood, which suggested that he was a principle actor in the attack, while Laura's clothes also had a significant amount of blood on them. However, Alex's sweatpants had a much smaller quantity of blood, which raised reasonable doubt about whether he was present for the murder or had just helped with the botched cover-up.
A map of cell tower pings obtained from Craig Rideout's phone proved to be crucial in establishing the timeline of the homicide. The pings showed the victim and his phone leave his Penfield home at 3:15 am on July 20, 2016, and following a route to a Yates County roadside where his mutilated corpse was discovered shortly before daybreak.
Furthermore, surveillance footage from six separate 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 corpse was found.
See No Evil on ID will further delve into Craig Rideout's 2016 murder this Wednesday at 9 pm ET.
