Star-Crossed: The Tucson Developer Murder

Josh Mankiewicz Correspondent • Profile

In the foothills of Tucson’s Santa Catalina Mountains lies a mystery – and just maybe the answer is in the stars. Gary Triano was born a Scorpio; passionate, fiery, a big man in a growing city.

Lupita Murillo: His personality fit his stature.

Lupita Murillo has covered Tucson for NBC affiliate KVOA for more than 30 years, and she says Triano, a real estate developer, was simply magnetic. 

Lupita Murillo: He was bigger than life. He would walk into a room and everybody would immediately look at him, and just gravitate to him.

One of those people was a huge believer in how the stars can explain life and point the way to happiness.  But not even astrology could have predicted the tragedy that would unfold.

Gary Triano didn't look to the zodiac for guidance; he knew only one way to live life. 

Gary Triano (singing):  I did it my way…

Forceful and determined, Gary liked doing things his way, riding the wave of Tucson’s real estate boom.

Ron Janoff: He was an operator.  He was always looking for the deal, not for the edge so much, but he liked the chase of the deal.

Ron and Kola Janoff considered him a friend.

Kola Janoff: Gary was one of those types of people that could be friends with a ditch digger or the president of the United States.

And Gary, who was twice divorced, always seemed to have an attractive woman at his side. But that never got in the way of his kids. 

Heather Triano: He was a fun dad. 

Triano’s oldest children from his first marriage, Heather and Brian, say that despite his busy social life and never-ending business deals, Gary was always around for them.

Heather Triano: He was definitely someone who would make you laugh and hang out with your all of your friends. My father would sit right in the middle of the room and say, "So, what's up guys?  Tell me, tell me what's going on."

Josh Mankiewicz, NBC News Correspondent: Sounds like you guys were pretty close?

Brian Triano: Yeah.

Heather Triano: Very close, yes.

He was also generous with his money – serving on the board of several charities and performing random acts of kindness. 

Heather Triano: Like my brother said, one time we were at New Year's Eve party…

Brian Triano: And he bought…

Heather Triano: He bought the staff drinks.

Heather Triano: I mean, most people don't do things like that.

Lupita Murillo: I remember talking to someone who said that he would tip him $100 to go get his car. When he was living large, he was living large.

And then came November 1, 1996, just days away from Gary’s 53rd birthday. The planets all seemed to be aligned.

But Gary’s horoscope for that day told him that "you could lose something important."

And this time, at least, the stars were right. 

Gary had just played a round of golf at a top-tier Tucson country club called La Paloma, and was headed to meet Ron and Kola Janoff at a local bar.  

Ron Janoff: We had planned a surprise party for Gary for his birthday. As a ruse, we told him we'd meet him at this bar and take him out for dinner. 

Gary's friends had already gathered at his house, already pouring the Beaujolais, ready to surprise the life of every party. 

Kola Janoff: We were supposed to get him and take him up to his house.

They waited, but Gary didn't arrive – a TV bulletin made it clear why.

It was a very powerful bomb, a very powerful explosion. 

Ron and Kola Janoff headed straight to the country club, filled with equal parts hope and dread.

Kola: The place was just a madhouse.                   

Ron: Must've been 200 cars, police, FBI, sheriff…

Kola: It was awful.

Heather was on her way to her father's birthday party when she got a call from her mother, Gary Triano's first wife. 

Heather Triano: I said, "I'm late, I'm going to Dad's surprise party. I cannot go there, I will come after."  She said, "Listen to me, come home right now."

At their mother's house, Heather and her brother Brian were told the horrible truth.

Heather Triano:  She told me and I said “what? why?  What happened?”

Their father was dead, killed by an explosion inside his Lincoln Continental – a blast that was now all over the news.

Reporter Lupita Murillo was on the scene that night and put Ron and Kola on the air. 

Kola Janoff, 1996 KVOA package: See you tonight, and, you know, we're not letting him know that we had a big party planned for him.                             

Lupita Murillo: So…

Ron Janoff, 1996 KVOA package: It's just shocking to think that today he was there, and now he's not.

If it was hard for them to understand, it was impossible for Heather and Brian.

Heather Triano: I was just baffled. What makes a car do that? 

Brian Triano: We thought maybe some random explosion, we didn't know.

Josh Mankiewicz, NBC News Correspondent: You were thinking accident, not homicide?

Brian Triano: Yeah.

Heather Triano: Oh, yeah.

But to the Pima County sheriff's investigators dispatched to the scene, it was clear that the blast was no accident.

Sheriff Clarence Dupnik: It would appear from preliminary observation that we have an assassination here in the parking lot here at the country club.     

Lt. Michael O'Connor, Pima County sheriff's detective: It became clear quickly that this was something that was intentionally done.

The gold Movado watch around Gary’s wrist stopped dead at 5:38 p.m.; in that moment, the stars went out in Tucson.

Lupita Murillo: I can't remember a bigger story that has ever come to Tucson like this, that has impacted the community the way this did. I think partly because he was so well-known, and also because the manner in which he was murdered.

But why would anyone want to kill the life of the party?  Investigators quickly determined that the bomb was triggered by remote control but whose finger was it on the button?

The answer wouldn't come from the heavens. It was right here on Earth.

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