Naman Shrestha
In the episode titled ‘Explosive Secrets’ of ABC’s ’20/20,’ the focus is on the tragic and unexpected demise of Gary Triano, a well-established real estate developer in Tuscon, Arizona. When he lost his life in a bomb explosion in 1996, many thought that it was a mob hit, but when the detectives scratched the surface, they learned that it was a conspiracy led by the victim’s second and former wife, Pamela Phillips. In order to collect the life insurance money, she paid Ronald Young to do the killing for her. Although several years late, justice was eventually served as both the conspirators were apprehended.
Ronald Young Was Offered a Huge Sum For Killing Gary Triano
When love between the married couple — Gary Triano and Pamela Phillips — disappeared, they got divorced in 1993. In the following year, the latter moved from Tuscon, Arizona, to Aspen, Colorado, along with their two children. While continuing her career in commercial real estate, she met with her neighbor, Ronald Young, who also served as her business consultant and developed a website for her. As time went by, the two reportedly began an intimate relationship. In April 1996, Ronald was accused of defrauding a couple of businessmen. As the police obtained an arrest warrant for him, he fled the state and assumed a fake name to stay at a hotel near Gary Triano’s home in Tuscon, Arizona. By then, he had been hired by Pamela to kill her former husband, Gary, for $400,000.
In the summer of 1996, Ronald reportedly rented a van, which was reported stolen by the rental company when he failed to return it. In October, the rented van was found in California, and inside it was a series of suspicious items, including a Tucson map, a sawed-off shotgun and ammunition, paperwork with Ronald’s name on it, an Arizona license plate, and a detailed list of Gary’s friends and family. The following month, on November 1, Ronald managed to place a 17-inch pipe bomb filled with 1 pound of smokeless gunpowder inside Gary’s car parked right outside La Paloma Country Club in Tuscon, Arizona. When the real estate developer returned to the car, Ronald detonated the bomb by remote control, killing him.
After the murder, the Aspen police transferred the items found in his rented van to the Pima County Sheriff’s Office for investigation. Several years later, in November 2005, Ronald was finally arrested in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for the fraud charges against him. Soon, the investigators tied him to the brutal murder of Gary in 1996 after finding records of phone conversations between him and Pamela as they talked about killing the latter’s ex-husband. Since there was enough evidence against both of them, in October 2008, they were officially indicted for the crime. On October 17, Ronald was arrested in California and held on a $5 million bond.
Ronald Young is Incarcerated at an Arizona Prison Facility Today
As he pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, Ronald Young was taken to court for the killing of Gary Triano. In his trial, which started in 2010, the prosecutors presented the jury and the judge with evidence of the $400,000 that was offered by Pamela Phillips to the defendant for carrying out the murder. The recorded phone conversations, emails, and other documents were also submitted as evidence by the prosecution, as they all served as proof of the murder conspiracy.
Meanwhile, the defense argued that the prosecution only had proof of Ronald blackmailing Pamela and did not prove his involvement in the murder. Despite their best attempts, on March 31, 2010, the jury found him guilty and convicted him of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and first-degree murder. More than a month later, on May 4, Ronald Young was sentenced to two life prison terms without the possibility of parole. Currently, the former Aspen resident is serving his sentence behind bars at Arizona State Prison Complex- Tucson, specifically in the Manzanita unit.
Read More: Gary Triano: How Did He Die? Who Killed Him?
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