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The Dateline episode titled After the Storm explores the story of Diane Holik, a 43-year-old woman who was found dead in the upstairs bedroom of her Austin residence on November 16, 2001.
Just a day earlier, she had found a buyer for her house. The Dateline subject, Diane Holik, was recently engaged and planning to move to Houston, where her fiancé lived. She had listed her house for sale and was waiting for a buyer.
When the police reached the crime scene, they discovered ligature marks on Diane's body. Dateline's After the Storm explores the complete investigation into uncovering her killer. The episode premiered on June 21, 2025, on NBC. Viewers can stream all Dateline episodes on Peacock.
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What is the story of Dateline subject Diane Holik?
As reported by Oxygen, Diane Holik was working at IBM. On November 15, 2001, she had a phone conversation with her coworker Cynthia Barajas, during which she mentioned that a man had agreed to buy the house. According to court records, Cynthia warned her not to let a stranger into the house while she was alone.
On November 16, 2001, a storm hit the area, and Diane's friends tried calling to check on her. However, she could not be reached. As reported by Oxygen, Diane missed a work meeting the next day, which raised concern. That's when she was reported missing. Officials went to check on her property, led by her neighbor Lakki Brown, and found the Dateline subject Diane Holik dead in the guest bedroom.
Diana was reportedly discovered with ligature marks on her neck and wrists. This indicated that she was tied with zip ties and choked, and the killer took out the ties. Forensic examination then revealed that the Dateline victim died of strangulation. However, there were no signs of sexual assault. Only the victim's $17,500 engagement ring was missing from her finger.
Investigation into the murder of the Dateline subject Diane Holik
As reported by Oxygen, when authorities began interrogating the victim's fiancé, Dennis, he admitted to facing recent issues in their relationship.
“I mean, we don’t fight, it’s just you know everybody carries baggage into your relationships at this age. And our baggage was clashing, and we were working on it,” Dennis said, as Oxygen reported.
However, Dennis provided an alibi and claimed he had no part in the murder. During the interrogation, one of Diane's neighbors reported seeing a gold or brown van parked in the driveway, which they believed belonged to a potential house buyer.
Authorities found Patrick Russo as the prime suspect behind Diane Holik's murder
During the investigation, authorities from the Austin Police Department received the descriptions of a man who had shown interest in buying properties. As per the witnesses, they claimed he planned to live with his wife and wanted to pay cash for the apartment.
As reported by Oxygen, one eyewitness helped authorities create a sketch, which was eventually shared with the local media. Soon, more people, including real estate agents, began to come forward and share their encounters. The man was described as being interested only in empty properties.
Subsequently, a real estate agent named Melody Blount said the man seemed more focused on looking out of the windows than at the rooms inside.
This behavior raised suspicions among house sellers. As reported by Oxygen, when the man visited a house two times, the owner noted down the license plate number of his car. This information was provided to the investigators, and they traced its golden van vehicle to be owned by a man named Patrick "Tony" Russo.
As reported by Oxygen, the Dateline episode's suspect, Russo, was a singer in a Christian rock band and worked part-time as a music minister at a local church. When authorities began to research Russo's past, they discovered he was an ex-convict with multiple cases of attacks on women.
When questioned about the Dateline subject Diane Holik, Russo denied knowing her or even going on a house hunt. However, authorities managed to retrieve Russo's DNA sample from a flyer he had touched during one of the house visits.
As reported by Oxygen, authorities also managed to find DNA samples belonging to the Dateline episode's culprit from some hair strands in Diane Holik's residence. Additionally, DNA analysis from Diane's finger, where the engagement ring was placed, showed both the DNA samples of the victim and Patrick Russo.
As reported by FindLaw, in February 2004, the Dateline culprit, Patrick Anthony, was convicted of the capital murder of Diane Holik by the Travis County trial court. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and is currently incarcerated at a Texas Department of Criminal Justice facility.
Check out our other articles to learn more details about other cases on Dateline.
