A young mother has a fight with her husband and is later found dead in her car In the spring of 1984, the life of 28-year-old Caucasian female, Kathy Nicastro Luongo, a vibrant mother from Warwick, Rhode Island, came to a tragic and mysterious end. On the evening of May 18th, she enjoyed dinner with friends after a gym session, appearing to be her usual self. Later that night, she returned to her Warwick home and, according to her husband David, had an argument with him after he declined to go back out with her.
This would be the last time she was seen alive by her family.
The following day, Saturday, May 19th, Kathy missed two appointments, a speaking engagement for Weight Watchers and a tanning salon visit, raising concern among those who knew her. Her distinctive blue 1976 Toyota Celica with "LUONGO" vanity plates was reportedly seen being driven by a large man on Post Road near City Hall that evening. The next day, on Sunday, May 20, 1984, at 12:22 pm, her car was discovered in a parking lot behind Warwick City Hall, near a baseball field. Inside the locked car, in the back seat, lay Kathy's body. Her keys were found on the floor.
Initially, her death was considered a possible overdose, but the subsequent autopsy revealed a more sinister cause: manual strangulation. The investigation into her murder began, and detectives soon focused on her husband, David Luongo. He reported to police that he had been searching for his wife, but a neighbor contradicted his statement, claiming David's car was parked in front of his house the entire day Kathy was missing. Despite being considered the prime suspect in his wife's murder, David Luongo was never arrested, and no other suspects have been publicly named.
For decades, Kathy's case grew cold, a lingering mystery in the community. However, in recent years, two amateur detectives, real estate agents with a family connection to the case, took it upon themselves to reignite the investigation. Their persistent efforts, which included conducting numerous interviews and creating a Facebook page dedicated to the case, have successfully brought renewed attention to the nearly 40-year-old homicide. Their work has prompted the Rhode Island Attorney General's newly formed cold case unit to take a fresh look at the evidence, offering a glimmer of hope that the person responsible for Kathy Nicastro Luongo's death may one day be brought to justice. The case remains officially unsolved.
