Andrea Cincotta, a 52-year-old local librarian, was found strangled to death in August 1988. Her body was found in the closet of her home in Arlington, Virginia, which she shared with her fiance James Christopher Johnson, who was the first person to find her body.
Reports state that Johnson, who was considered a primary suspect, confessed to the murder initially, but the events did not add up. A maintenance worker named Bobby Joe Leonard was also considered a suspect at one point. In the years that followed, he was convicted in an unrelated r*pe and attempted murder case.
In 2018, Leonard confessed to the murder while serving time in prison, alleging that he was hired to commit the crime by a white man who spoke to him over call and sounded like Johnson. Both men were charged in 2021. The convicted r*pist pleaded guilty, while the latter was found not guilty in a trial.
An all-new NBC Dateline episode, titled Behind the Closet Door, is scheduled to revisit Andrea Cincotta twisted and mysterious murder case. The official synopsis of the episode states:
"After Andrea Cincotta is found murdered in her Virginia home, her son embarks on a 20-year quest for justice that leads him down a dark and twisted path. Josh Mankiewicz reports."The upcoming episode airs on the channel this Friday, June 23, at 9 pm ET.
Andrea Cincotta's car and coins, among other items, were reported missing from the house after her murder
On August 22, 1998, Andrea Cincotta, a single mother-of-one, was found dead in the closet by her fiance, James Christopher Johnson, who resided in the same home with her. The 52-year-old worked as a librarian at the time and had been strangled to death.
First responders arrived at the crime scene after receiving a distressed call from Johnson, who told them that the victim was "cold to touch" when he found her slouched on the closet floor in the early morning hours. He also informed detectives that coins, bags, and her hatchback Honda Civic were missing from the house. Johnson was named the primary suspect and was interrogated for nearly 28 hours in the first three days of the investigation following the discovery he made in the closet of the home they shared.
At first, James Christopher Johnson confessed to the murder of Andrea Cincotta, but detectives learned that his version of the events were inconsistent with the latter's cause of death. Johnson had alleged that they got into an argument, which escalated into a physical altercation when he pushed Cincotta, knocking her into a bedroom desk. But the victim did not sustain blunt force injuries.
A second suspect, maintenance worker Bobby Joe Leonard, was also named during the early stages of the investigation because he had worked at their apartment complex prior to the murder. Moreover, the victim's son, Kevin Cincotta, and the fiance even informed authorities that the 52-year-old had given Leonard an old computer just four weeks before she was murdered. He was cleared of all suspicion by December of that same year. Following this, the case went cold.
A convicted r*pist and former maintenance worker eventually pleaded guilty in Andrea Cincotta's cold case
In 2000, Bobby Joe Leonard was convicted of r*pe, abduction, and attempted murder in an unrelated case of a 13-year-old Fairfax County girl. He was serving a lengthy sentence in prison when Andrea Cincotta's case was re-opened in 2013.
Regardless, Leonard maintained his innocence in the years that followed until 2018, when he made a shocking confession, claiming that he murdered Cincotta all those years ago. He claimed that he received a call from an unidentified white man who sounded a lot like the victim's fiance, James Christopher Johnson.
As per the confession, the caller offered Leonard $5,000 to kill Cincotta and gave him a detailed schedule of how to complete the task. The convicted r*pist and Johnson were then charged in the case. The former pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, receiving a life sentence, while Johnson was found not guilty in a trial.
Learn more about the case on NBC Dateline's upcoming episode this Friday at 9 pm ET.
More from Sportskeeda
" modalPopup.closeOnEsc = false; modalPopup.setHeader("Why did you not like this content?"); modalPopup.setContentText(modalText); modalPopup.addCancelOkButton("Submit", resetRatingAndFeedbackForm, sendRating); modalPopup.removeCloseModalIcon(); modalPopup.disableDismissPopup(); modalPopup.open(); } else { sendRating(index); } } function sendRating() { var requestPayload = { "post_id": 1559862, "rating_value": ratingValue } if (ratingValue > 3) { requestPayload.rating_feedback_type = null; requestPayload.rating_feedback = null; } else { if (!$('input[name="drone"]:checked') || !$('input[name="drone"]:checked').value) { showErrorMessage('option'); return; } if (!$(".post-rating-feedback-note textarea") || !$(".post-rating-feedback-note textarea").value) { showErrorMessage('note'); return; } var selectedOption = $('input[name="drone"]:checked').value; var feedbackNote = $(".post-rating-feedback-note textarea").value; requestPayload.rating_feedback_type = selectedOption; requestPayload.rating_feedback = feedbackNote; } pureJSAjaxPost(addratingAPI, requestPayload, onsaveRatingSuccess, onsaveRatingFail, function() {}, true); } function resetRatingAndFeedbackForm() { var activeStars = Array.from($all('.rating span.rating-star.active')); for (var i=0; i < activeStars.length; i++) { activeStars[i].classList.remove("active"); } if ($('input[name="drone"]:checked')) { $('input[name="drone"]:checked').checked = false; } var userNote = document.querySelector(".post-rating-feedback-note textarea"); userNote.value = ''; modalPopup.close(); } function onsaveRatingSuccess() { modalPopup.close(); savePostIdInUserRatedPostsCookie(); $("#post-rating-layout").classList.add("hidden"); $("#post-rating-message").classList.remove("hidden"); window.setInterval(function showMessage() { $("#post-rating-widget").classList.add("hidden"); }, 3000); } function onsaveRatingFail() { console.error('Saving post rating failed!'); modalPopup.close(); } function savePostIdInUserRatedPostsCookie() { userRatedPostIds.push(1559862); var expiryTime = new Date(); expiryTime.setMonth(expiryTime.getMonth() + 12); // Expiry after 1 year setCookie("user_rated_post_ids", JSON.stringify(userRatedPostIds), expiryTime); } function isPostRatedByUser() { var userRatedPostIds = getCookie('user_rated_post_ids'); if (userRatedPostIds) { try { userRatedPostIds = JSON.parse(userRatedPostIds); } catch (err) { console.error(err); return false; } } else { return false; } if(userRatedPostIds.indexOf(1559862) >= 0) { return true; } else { return false; } } function getRatingCountByPostId(postId) { return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) { pureJSAjaxGet( getRatingCountBaseURL + postId + '/rating/count', function(data) { try { data = JSON.parse(data); if (data.meta_value) { resolve(data.meta_value); } reject("Failed to fetch rating count for the post:" + postId); } catch (err) { reject("Failed to fetch rating count for the post:" + postId); } }, function(err) { reject("Failed to fetch rating count for the post:" + postId); }, true); }); } function showErrorMessage(messageType) { var messageContainerId = '#' + messageType + '-error'; $(messageContainerId).classList.remove('hidden'); window.setInterval(function () { $(messageContainerId).classList.add("hidden"); }, 5000); } (function() { var callFired = false; function lazyLoadPostRating() { if (callFired) return; callFired = true; if (!isPostRatedByUser()) { getRatingCountByPostId(1559862) .then(function(ratingCount) { if (ratingCount < 10) { $("#post-rating-widget").classList.remove("hidden"); } }) .catch(function(err){ console.error(err); }); } } document.addEventListener("scroll", lazyLoadPostRating, { passive: true, once: true }); document.addEventListener("mousemove", lazyLoadPostRating, { passive: true, once: true }); document.addEventListener("touchmove", lazyLoadPostRating, { passive: true, once: true }); })();ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tLzOq6uso5WasaJ6wqikaKifpXqkwcutrKudX6OvpHnDmquepJmjsm7Dx5qrZqCRpb2musSdZJqmlKeyonnCoqWcp6Sprg%3D%3D