How a Student’s Murder Inspired Her Friend to Become a Private Investigator
How a Student’s Murder Inspired Her Friend to Become a Private Investigator
Do you ever wonder why someone chooses the life of PI? This is a STORY about how a student’s murder inspired her friend to become a private investigator. In the case of Sheila Wysocki, a private investigator now in Nashville, it was an unsolved crime story.
Wysocki was a student in college when her friend’s murder went unsolved. The friend, Angela Samota, was found sexually assaulted and fatally stabbed inside her apartment after a night out in October 1984.
The case went cold. Some twenty years later, Wysocki decided to look into it herself and turned her family’s study into a “war room” while calling Dallas police hundreds of times to beg them to reopen the case. She became licensed as a private investigator to keep pushing for answers.
The case reached a turning point when Dallas police eventually tested DNA from the scene and, in 2008, linked it to a man out on parole for a prior rape conviction at the time of Samota’s murder. Due to Wysocki’s tireless work, Donald Bess was convicted in Samota’s killing at age 62 and remains on death row.
So Wysocki decided to keep her PI license after seeing how many other families need help. She’s appeared in People magazine, the BBC and the podcast “Criminal.”
“These families at least deserve a phone call, something I did not have,” Wysocki tells Axios.
Not every investigator has this type of an origin story, but the pursuit of the truth and getting to all of the information is something most of them have in common. As we often see, legal investigations done well can lead to BIG victories in the courtroom or more favorable settlements. We know that success or failure in the courtroom or during the settlement process depends on having the very best, most detailed information about a case. That’s why great attorneys and law firms across the country work with the worldwide team of Santoni Investigations who will make sure you know everything to maximize the settlement process or win your case in court!