Damien James Cuomo was a 27-year-old man whose disappearance at the end of 1989 concealed a murder for nearly a decade. Cuomo had become involved with Gary Charles Evans, a career burglar and thief who operated throughout upstate New York. The two men committed burglaries and robberies together, traveling beyond the Capital District in search of valuable coins, jewelry, antiques and other property that could be sold.
In March 1989, police arrested Cuomo and Evans after discovering equipment associated with planned robberies in their vehicle, reportedly including ski masks, stun guns, radio scanners and rope. Authorities lacked sufficient evidence to connect them to a specific crime, however, and both men were released.
On September 8, 1989, Cuomo accompanied Evans during a burglary at a coin and jewelry business operated by 63-year-old Douglas J. Berry in Watertown. When Berry encountered the intruders, Evans shot and killed him. The pair escaped with merchandise reportedly valued at approximately $15,000, and the killing initially remained unsolved. Cuomo's knowledge of Berry's murder eventually made him a danger to Evans, who had a history of becoming suspicious of criminal partners who knew too much about his activities.
Cuomo was last known to be alive on December 29, 1989. Investigative accounts state that Evans shot him because he feared Cuomo would reveal their crimes, particularly the Watertown robbery and Berry's murder. After killing Cuomo, Evans concealed his body near an apartment building where the two men had lived. Evans then created the appearance that Cuomo had voluntarily abandoned his life. He told Joanne Donovan, the mother of Cuomo's child, that Cuomo had deserted her and was still alive somewhere else. Evans maintained that deception for years and later began a relationship with Donovan, allowing Cuomo's family and acquaintances to believe that he had simply disappeared.
The truth emerged in 1998 after Evans became a fugitive in connection with the disappearance of another criminal associate, Timothy Rysedorph. On May 27, 1998, Evans surrendered to authorities in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. During the investigation that followed, he confessed to killing Cuomo, Rysedorph and longtime associate Michael Falco, and later admitted murdering shop owners Douglas Berry and Gregory Jouben during robberies. Evans provided information that allowed investigators to locate Cuomo's remains in June 1998, buried behind the apartment building associated with the two men. The discovery confirmed that Cuomo had not abandoned his family but had been murdered and secretly buried.
Evans was formally charged in connection with three of the killings and faced prosecution, but no trial or conviction occurred. On August 14, 1998, while being transported in custody, Evans used a small key he had concealed in his nose to remove his restraints, broke through a window of the transport vehicle and escaped onto the Troy-Menands Bridge. Cornered by officers, he climbed over the railing and jumped toward the Hudson River, suffering fatal injuries when he struck the shallow area below. His death ended the prosecution before a jury could determine his guilt. Cuomo's murder was nevertheless considered solved through Evans's detailed confession, the recovery of Cuomo's remains and the evidence linking Evans to the burial site and the broader series of killings.
