Police thought they solved Dawn Mozino’s 1989 disappearance when they found out she knew a convicted serial killer. But in her diary, Dawn wrote of not one, but two love triangles that might actually lead police to different suspects.
Duration
46m
Broadcast on
08 Sep 2025
Audio Format
other
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Police thought they solved Dawn Mozino’s 1989 disappearance when they found out she knew a convicted serial killer. But in her diary, Dawn wrote of not one, but two love triangles that might actually lead police to different suspects.
If you have any information on the disappearance of Dawn Mozino on May 22, 1989, please contact the Radnor Township Police at 610-688-5600.
And if you have any relevant information on Nick Katona, who lived in Coatesville, PA, in 1989, please email [email protected].
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Hi, crime junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers, and I'm Britt. And the story I have for you today is the truly mysterious disappearance of a 23-year-old woman from southeastern Pennsylvania. And if you just skimmed the headlines, you would think that police have had a strong suspect in this case for decades, a twice-convicted killer who actually knew our victim. However, we got our hands on this woman's diary, and she wrote of not one but two love triangles that might actually lead to a break in the case. This is the story of Don Mosino. One day in June 1989, a woman in the Philly suburbs in Cathy sees a report of a missing young woman. And Cathy studies the picture of a girl with curly brown hair, and something about her is so familiar. Her name is Don Mosino, and apparently, I've heard this report she's been missing since May 22. Don's last known to have clocked out of her shift at Bryn Mawr Hospital, where she serves food to patients, and it would have been sometime at around 3 or 4 p.m. that day. And Cathy can't believe what she's seeing, because never in a million years does anyone expect that they might have information on a case, right? She doesn't know Don at all, but she does remember seeing a girl who looked just like her at a bus stop near the hospital a few weeks ago. At the time, she was driving her two boys home from school, and one of them actually pointed to this group of women waiting for the bus, who were all dressed the same. Gray skirts, maroon vests, and a black bow tie. And that is actually one of the hospital's uniforms. And here is the kicker. She specifically remembers seeing Don in that group of young women. But, Don wasn't talking to the other women. She was talking to a man standing nearby. Now Cathy isn't a hundred percent positive of the date that she saw Don, because the days can totally like bleed together if you have the same routine, like picking up your boys from school and driving them home. But she doesn't want to risk not giving the information to police, especially if it could be valuable. And she definitely does know it was at least around May 22. So she tells police about seeing Don, gives them the vague description of a guy that she thinks she was talking to, this black man, maybe in his thirties. Detective Luther Layton, who everyone calls Lucky, is the lead on Don's case. And so he wants to ask Cathy if she'll identify him in a photo lineup, and she's like, "Absolutely. How? Well, because a couple of weeks after Don had gone missing, police already had someone on their radar. Through their investigation, they came to realize that in Don's address book, there was an entry that said Tom Hawkins, with a number beside it. Now his full name was Thomas Hawkins Jr., and Thomas Hawkins Jr. is a convicted murderer. Nine years before, he sexually assaulted, stabbed, and strangled a 15-year-old girl named Karen Stubbs. This was in 1980, and Brett, he only served six years for that. Six? I know. It seems like prosecutors couldn't prove premeditation for first-degree murder.
Transcription truncated.
Police thought they solved Dawn Mozino’s 1989 disappearance when they found out she knew a convicted serial killer. But in her diary, Dawn wrote of not one, but two love triangles that might actually lead police to different suspects.
