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[Transcript: “The Coldest Boy in Maryland: The Case of the Missing Wesninski’s.” Episode One: One Day, Ten Years Ago. Podcast. Uploaded March 31, 2015.]
March 19, 2005. After months of covert investigation and significant setbacks, forty-nine year old Nathan Wesninski is arrested in his home of Baltimore, Maryland. Wesninski, known to many as the infamous “Butcher of Baltimore”, had been tied to more than thirty known cases of first-degree murder, as well as a series of gang-related felonies. On the day of arrest, police report his wife and son missing. In 2005, Mary Hatford would have been thirty-eight, and Nathaniel Wesninski would have been seventeen.
Mary Hatford and Nathaniel Wesninski, however, had been missing since January of 1998. The mother and son’s disappearance had not been reported for seven years.
To this day, Nathan Wesninski maintains his wife and son were not among his many victims.
And the crazy part is… I believe him.
[musical interlude - introduction song]
It’s strange that, in an age where true crime podcasts have become so popular, people never remember the victims. Masses descend upon the latest violent crimes, devouring information and regurgitating it into hatred, revile, the name-and-shame. We know the killers - the Bundy’s and the Dahmer’s and the Wesninski’s. We frame it as awareness, when fans wear their knowledge of some of the worst murders in history as a badge of honour. We know the killers - but what does this do, other than make them famous? Do they deserve to be household names? What about the victims - the ones who might still be alive, out there somewhere, confronted constantly by their attacker’s face on billboards.
My name is Andrew Minyard, and I’ve spent every day for the last six months trying to figure out whether or not a mother and son left their house on a random day in 1998. Most days this has felt like a fruitless search, full of dead ends and false leads. Since 2005 - since I saw the police report on the news, on a bar screen television when I was barely eighteen, I’ve needed to know: did Nathaniel make it out alive?
This is not an investigative podcast. I am not trying to find anyone. I am not delusional enough to believe that a decades-long cold case could be cracked by a case worker in South Carolina. I do not even believe Nathaniel and Mary wish to be found. By putting this out into the world, I’m only hoping to find evidence - that he was alive, that he’s still surviving. Just like I am.
Before we start, here are some hard truths. I am not going to talk about Nathan Wesninski. I am not going to talk about his childhood, his past, why he did the things he did, beyond how they affect his victims. Nathan Wesninski does not deserve a legacy.
Let’s start in 2005, March 19th. The day of arrest.
3:17 a.m. Baltimore PD receives a call from a resident reporting gunshots and other distressing noises in their cul-de-sac. Dispatch initially sends two officers - Officers Wilson and Henricks - to investigate the potential noise pollution. Within the six minutes it takes dispatch to arrive at the scene, three more homes in the cul-de-sac have called Baltimore PD and Emergency services with complaints about the noise, ranging from homemade fireworks to an outright gun fight. Upon reaching the location at 3:23 a.m., Officers Wilson and Henricks call for backup: what they’ve walked into is a firefight. It takes ten armed officers to diffuse the fight on location. Four of the perpetrators are taken to the hospital in critical condition, and six others are taken into police custody for holding. Among those arrested are forty-nine year old Nathan Wesninski and his associate, Patrick DiMaccio.
This is where the details get a little… vague. The events of the next hour or so happen relatively rapidly. The firefight is suspected by police to be gang-related activity. Of the six men arrested, only three had a licence to carry. The firefight itself had occurred in and around the property of Nathan Wesninski himself, leading police to quickly obtain a search warrant. Early investigation of the household revealed dozens of illegal weapons and evidence of illegal arms dealing. Initial questioning of Wesninski’s neighbours similarly revealed this kind of disturbing behaviour was not out of the ordinary for their cul-de-sac.
R: You’re saying this isn’t the first time it happened? The neighbours hadn’t complained before?
This is Renee Walker, my coworker and confidanté. She’s here to bring the empathy many people have stated I lack.
A: The properties were massive. Rich people behaviour.
R: Still, you think they would’ve heard something over a decade.
A: They did. They reported this one.
R: You know that’s not what I meant.
A: …I have to assume Wesninski had connections within the Baltimore Police Department that let minor noise reports fly under the radar. That or the rest of the houses in the area knew and didn’t want to be involved. Regardless, the properties were big, and his killing room was soundproof. This incident was different.
R: Oh?
Statements from Wesninski’s neighbours, who will remain nameless, reported that noise disturbances from the Wesninski household were not unusual. Typically, despite the distance between homes, neighbours often heard the sound of gunshots - Nathan Wesninski had a shooting range out back. There were often other noise disturbances - loud voices, arguing, et cetera - that neighbours passed off as innocuous. Wesninski, they reported, was a charming man; at almost fifty, he still regularly exercised and engaged in high-impact exercise. They didn’t suspect anything out of the ordinary until that night.
By 5:43, the Federal Bureau of Investigation had caught wind of Wesninski’s arrest. Interviews say FBI Special Agents had been waiting for an opportunity to arrest Wesninsk, whom they suspected of being involved in a notorious criminal organisation. Until now, Wesninski had managed to evade arrest. The Feds rapidly took over the investigation, beginning a search of Wesninski’s house the morning of the 19th. Within hours, the Feds had found enough evidence to detain Wesninski on four counts of murder of the first degree, with more to come.
R: [sharp breath] Wow. That much- wow.
A: It’s a lot to find in such a small amount of time.
R: What did they find? Is there a record?
A: Not quite. A lot of information on this case was available for public access, but Nathan was of peak interest in true crime communities for a while, so I had to wade through… a lot of misinformation.
Here are the raw details of what Federal Bureau found in Wesninski’s home that morning. Upon entering the home, police found the whole estate was bugged with security cameras and various anti-theft measures. In several rooms, police found safes filled with millions of dollars’ worth of cash. Then, almost painstakingly concealed, police found Nathan’s basement.
Netizens have many, many nicknames for Nathan Wesninski’s basement - “Murder Room”, “The Slaughterhouse”, “Butcher’s Playroom”. I dislike most of these. Let’s call this room what it was - a basement. Wesninski’s basement was fully soundproofed, with steel tables and a wall holding various sharp weaponry. Reports from officers on the scene say the hatch had already been half open, indicating Wesninski had been interrupted by the onset of the firefight at his front door. In that basement, police found one dismembered, and one partially dismembered, corpse, as well as the clothes and belongings of at least two other individuals reported missing.
R: So you’re saying he was-
A: Mid-chop, yeah.
R: If the neighbours had called earlier, do you think-
A: It’s useless to speculate. The truth is there are no documented reports leading up to that day. Whether the neighbours had noticed anything… they hadn’t said anything about it. People are cruel.
R: Self-centred, maybe. Wilfully oblivious. Not everyone is cruel.
A: Let me finish my recount and see if you still think that way after.
For the next few weeks, the FBI would lock down Wesninski’s property and continue to search for evidence. Just from this, they were able to link Wesninski to almost thirty missing person’s cases. It is speculated that Wesninski’s crime ring was involved in… enforcing. Allegedly, Wesninski’s ring was notorious for producing hitmen and various other criminals for hire. I should specify, of course, that this is alleged . Wesninski himself is known to be extremely charming and equally evasive; very little information about his crime ring has come to light over the years of his imprisonment. The only people involved known to the public, at the time of this podcast airing, are the two arrested - Wesninski himself, and Patrick DiMaccio.
This is what police found. What is more important to this podcast, however, is what police didn’t find.
In the raid of Wesninski’s house, police reported entering and searching the bedroom of Wesninski’s only son - Nathaniel. Early reports described the room as being almost untouched - it looked like the normal room of any child, filled with toys and books and clothes. One thing, however, was out of the ordinary. Everything in the room seemed to be for a young child; Nathaniel Wesninski, by 2005, should have been seventeen years old.
R: [soft gasp]
A: Can you do that louder for the podcast?
R: [louder, exaggerated gasp]
A: Wow. I can’t believe you’d make fun of such a serious situation. Shame on you. What would your god say?
R: [laughs] You- you set me up!
A: I would never. Let the record show that Renee Walker is making fun of a missing child.
I would like to talk, for a moment, about Nathaniel Wesninski. There are very few photographs of Nathaniel before he was declared a missing person. These photos, online, have been photoshopped and AI-generated countless times to speculate - what would he look like when, if, he grew up? Doesn’t he look just like his father? Time and time again this person - who would be twenty-seven now, if he was still alive - has been dehumanised, turned into nothing but a socially acceptable clone of Nathan to thirst for. Countless people have stepped forward, pretending to be the missing Wesninski. There have been scams, and fanclubs, and conspiracy theories.
When I was young, when I saw the missing persons for the first time, I remember thinking - with a father like that, I don’t think I’d want to be found. I don’t understand the fan-cult that has formed around this family since.
Nathaniel Wesninski is, first and foremost, a victim. If he is alive, he’s a survivor. I hope - we hope - that he’s out there somewhere, has built a life divorced from his past, and still lives in spite of it. I don’t know how anyone can look at the photos we have of Nathaniel as a child, looking as cornered and hollow as any other child of abuse, and treat him as a spectacle like so many have done.
Here’s the other thing. To name your only son Nathaniel is, in my opinion, incredibly narcissistic. It’s maybe one step below naming him Nathan Junior. For the purposes of this podcast, I’m cutting Nathan out completely; Nathaniel will furthermore be referred to as Neil.
So: the missing son. Interview transcripts with Nathan indicate he had not seen his wife and son in some time. He maintains repeatedly that Mary and Neil had left their home seven years prior - January 19th, 1998, on the night of Neil’s tenth birthday. When pressed, Nathan insists he hasn’t had contact with his wife and son since the day, and had assumed she’d left to stay with family in England. His story is corroborated by neighbours, who also reported they hadn’t seen Mary and Neil since they’d left in 1998. However when police contacted Mary’s living relatives in England - namely her brother, Stuart Hatford, - they reported that they hadn’t had any contact with the two missing people in nearly a decade.
Barely a day after Wesninski’s arrest, both Neil and Mary Hatford were declared missing persons, with police encouraging the public to speak up if they had any information.
A: You’re being quiet. Anything you want to say?
R: No, I’m just… Processing.
R: Seven years? And no one reported anything? Not even the family?
A: Apparently Mary and Neil were pretty reticent. He didn’t exactly play with the neighbourhood kids. Most of the civilian reports state they’d assumed Neil was studying abroad, or Mary had taken him and left to be with family.
R: I can’t believe… 7 years, and the first people to report them missing are the police.
A: People are cruel.
R: Are there any public tips? Were there any sightings after that?
A: A lot of false leads I won’t get into, very few real sightings. Nothing confirmed. But I don’t think the police were hoping for civilian tips.
R: …You think they wanted Neil and Mary to come forward themselves?
A: I think they thought, with Nathan in jail, they might. I think Nathan wasn’t talking, and they needed someone else to dismantle his empire.
R: God, that’s… so sad.
The biggest question to come out of the Wesninski case is both simple, yet incredibly difficult to answer: Did Mary and Neil escape? It comes with many caveats - did they survive an escape? Are they still alive now? Or did they escape, only to be killed later?
Many people believe Neil and Mary were just two more victims in a long line of dead bodies. But why would Nathan Wesninski, who was already being charged a life sentence with no parole, lie about these two? Why would police declare them missing if they thought Neil and Mary were dead?
Let’s talk about January 19th, 1998. There is extremely minimal evidence surrounding the whereabouts of Mary and Neil on this night - as I said before, I’ve spent six months trying to piece it together, to make some sense of it. Nathan himself has given a brief account of his own experiences that day. He says, very simply: during the day, they had had a small family party for his son’s birthday. At night, he went to sleep. The next morning, Neil and Mary were gone.
Needless to say, I don’t believe his account of events. Let's talk about why.
Remember those security cameras I mentioned before? Nathan had these stationed at the perimeter of his house in strategic locations. They filmed the front driveway, the back entrance, and any locations someone might break in - patio, side entrance, et cetera. What they do not film, police reported, is the exit hatch from Wesninski’s basement. On the day of Neil’s tenth birthday, the family of three leave at 9:27 A.M. in a black car from their front driveway. At 4:35 P.M, the family car returns around the back of the property with two unmarked cars. They park around the back entrance - outside of the field of vision of the security cameras. It is unknown who, or how many people, entered the Wesninski house. These cars are finally seen leaving around 10:52 P.M.
R: They went in through the basement.
A: That’s what police suspect. Unfortunately all of the cars were unmarked, and none of the people besides the core Wesninski family were caught on camera. The identities of whoever else entered the house are still unknown.
R: Wow. I just-
A: Take your time.
R: He was ten. He should’ve been having a party with his friends.
A: Most of the early reports indicate Neil was a pretty quiet kid. Apparently he didn’t really have any friends.
R: That’s so much worse. No kid that age should have to go through that.
A: Kids that age go through that and worse all the time.
Activity outside the Wesninski house finally picks up again at 1:06 A.M. Footage shows Mary Hatford pulling her young son by the arm outside the back patio. Both of them are carrying duffle bags. Mary visibly shoves her young son out of frame of the security camera, and then disappears out of frame herself. The camera then turns to black. The camera remains black-screened until it’s turned back on at 8:47 A.M., the morning of the 20th. This is the evidence we have that Mary and Neil survived.
R: That’s all? Just that?
A: Compelling, no?
R: How do we know they escaped? And not the alternative?
A: There’s a bit more evidence, but not much.
The difficulty with cold cases like this are: police are searching for evidence of a disappearance seven whole years after it happened. People don’t remember if they saw a woman matching a description one day seven years ago. You see a mother and son around all the time. Sure, they were probably harried or stressed or even a little shaken up - but would you remember seeing that two days later? What about a year? What about seven?
One discrepancy, after the security camera began filming the back patio again, is the existence of one of Nathan Wesninski’s cars. Before the camera shut off, one of Nathan’s cars was visible in frame - a 1998 Subaru Forester, parked in a dirt lot in their large property. When the camera is turned back on at 8:47 A.M, the car is missing. Upon running the plates, police miraculously found the car in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
R: You’re joking. They really found it?
A: They found it.
R: Same plates and everything?
A: New plates. The new owner said he’d bought it off a woman cash-in-hand. Drove it over state lines before changing the plates a couple times, so it came up when police were searching for it. Different plates, same car.
R: Did they find anything inside it?
A: Nothing. It was a dead end.
Further investigation yielded one more small glimmer of light. On January 26th, 6:15 A.M., footage from a gas station in Newark, New Jersey, shows a mother and son that might be Mary and Neil buying food and hair dye. The mother and son duo appear skittish and attached almost at the hip. The footage is barely three minutes. Judging from the direction Mary and Neil leave, many people speculate they were heading towards the Newark Liberty International Airport.
This is the last confirmed evidence we have of Neil and Mary Hatford’s whereabouts.
[musical interlude]
At the beginning of this podcast episode, I mentioned I had been researching for evidence of Neil and Mary’s survival that night for six months. And I have. I’ve followed up on every false lead, looked into every reddit post, composed a picture based on vague photos and anecdotes. I have enough, I think, to map out a possible life on the run. I have enough to definitively say that I believe he’s still alive.
I also said that this would not be an investigative podcast.
Nathaniel Wesninski - for our purposes, Neil - went missing at age ten. He didn’t seem to have many friends, and rarely interacted with people outside of his family. He was still his own person; a kid who liked to play exy in his spare time, alone in his vast property. He was bright-eyed and active. He loved to run around his neighbourhood. Most of all, he might still be out there - alive. Surviving.
I’ve sunk months into research. I believe Neil could still be out there. It’s because I believe Neil might still be out there that I refuse to detail every second of his life on the run. Victims rarely ever get privacy; their gruesome deaths and injustices are plastered on screens and described, sometimes gleefully, by people online. Neil deserves privacy. He deserves to exist outside of what has happened to him.
I hope he’s out there, surviving.
I hope you are, too.
[outro music]