It started as a high-society secret and ended as Delaware's most notorious murder.
If you lived in Wilmington in the mid-90s, the names Thomas Capano and Anne Marie Fahey were everywhere. He was the ultimate power broker—a wealthy, charismatic lawyer who advised governors. She was the 30-year-old scheduling secretary for then-Governor Tom Carper, a woman described by everyone who knew her as vibrant, kind, and deeply loved.
Then, on a humid Thursday night in June 1996, she vanished.
No body was ever found. No murder weapon was ever recovered. Yet, Thomas Capano eventually went to prison for life. Honestly, the case still haunts the region because it pulls back the curtain on a specific kind of "gentlemanly" monster—the type who uses his status as a shield while unraveling behind closed doors.
The Secret Life of Anne Marie Fahey
Anne Marie didn't have the easy life people assumed. She was the youngest of six in a tight-knit Irish Catholic family, but she’d lost both parents by her early twenties. By 1996, she was making her own way, working in the highest halls of state power.
But she had a secret.
For three years, she was entangled with Thomas Capano. He was 17 years older, married with four daughters, and possessed a "controlling, manipulative" streak that would later be immortalized in Anne Marie’s own handwriting.
You've probably heard about the diary. Investigators found it in her apartment after she went missing. It wasn't some romantic gushing; it was a roadmap of a woman trying to escape. In one of her final entries, dated April 7, 1996, she wrote:
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"I have finally brought closure to Tom Capano. What a controlling, manipulative, insecure, jealous maniac."
The problem was that Capano didn't do "closure." He did obsession. When Anne Marie started dating a guy named Michael Scanlan, Capano’s jealousy hit a fever pitch. He started taking back gifts. He’d show up unannounced. He basically made her life a living hell while pretending to be the supportive friend.
The Night Everything Stopped
On June 27, 1996, Capano took Anne Marie to dinner at Ristorante Panorama in Philadelphia. It’s a posh spot. They sat there for a $154 meal, but witnesses later said it was anything but romantic.
The server noted that they barely spoke. Anne Marie looked "haggard and gaunt." She wasn't eating. She looked like someone who just wanted the night to be over.
Capano claimed he drove her home, watched her walk into her apartment, and never saw her again. But the scene inside her apartment told a different story. Groceries were left out on the counter. Her bed wasn't made. For someone as meticulous as Anne Marie, this was a massive red flag.
Why the Case Almost Stalled
For over a year, there was nothing. No body. No forensic "smoking gun." Capano was a lawyer; he knew how to play the system. He called Anne Marie "airheaded" and suggested she’d just run away.
But then, the family dynamic that protected him began to rot from the inside.
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The Cooler and the "Mako Alley" Disposal
The real break didn't come from a lab; it came from Thomas’s own brother, Gerard.
Basically, the FBI put the squeeze on Gerard Capano over some unrelated drug and gun charges. Facing serious time, Gerard finally spilled. He told a story that sounded like a low-rent mob movie.
On the morning of June 28, Thomas showed up at Gerard’s house. He needed a boat. He claimed someone was extorting him and he’d "taken care" of it.
The brothers drove a 25-foot fishing boat 60 miles out into the Atlantic, to a deep-water area known as "mako alley." Thomas had brought a massive marine cooler—the kind used for big catches.
Here is the part that still turns stomachs:
When they tried to dump the cooler overboard, it wouldn't sink. It just bobbed there. In a panic, Thomas allegedly took a shotgun and fired holes into the plastic, but it still stayed afloat. Eventually, he had to take the body out, wrap it in anchor chains, and drop it into the abyss.
A fisherman actually found that empty cooler on July 4, 1996. He didn't think much of it at first—he even took it home and patched the bullet holes to use it. It wasn't until Capano’s arrest a year later that he realized he was holding a piece of a murder trial.
A Trial Delaware Will Never Forget
When the trial finally started in 1998, it was a circus.
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Capano took the stand himself. Bad move. He tried to claim that another mistress, Deborah MacIntyre, had accidentally shot Anne Marie while trying to kill herself in a jealous rage. He said he only disposed of the body to protect Deborah.
The jury didn't buy a second of it.
He was convicted of first-degree murder. It was the first time in Delaware history someone was sent away for murder without a body or a weapon ever being found.
What happened to Thomas Capano?
He was initially sentenced to death, but after a decade of appeals and a change in Delaware law regarding unanimous jury decisions for capital punishment, his sentence was commuted to life.
He died in 1911—not from a needle, but from a heart attack in his cell at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center. He was 61. He never expressed remorse. He never told the Fahey family where Anne Marie’s remains were.
Lessons from the Capano Case
Looking back, the disappearance of Anne Marie Fahey serves as a grim case study in domestic obsession. It’s a reminder that "status" is often a mask for volatility.
If you are researching this case or others like it, there are a few actionable takeaways to keep in mind regarding safety and the legal system:
- Document everything: Anne Marie’s diary was the single most important piece of evidence. It gave her a voice when she couldn't speak for herself. If you or someone you know is dealing with a controlling partner, keep a record in a secure, external location.
- The "No Body" Myth: Many people think you can't be convicted if a body isn't found. This is 100% false. Circumstantial evidence—like the purchase of a cooler, bloodstains found under a rug (which investigators found in Capano’s home), and witness testimony—is more than enough for a life sentence.
- Trust the red flags: Friends and family noticed Anne Marie was "frightened" and "nervous" months before she died. She’d even jumped out of his car once during an argument. Those "small" incidents are rarely isolated.
The legacy of Anne Marie Fahey lives on in Delaware through a park dedicated to her memory in Wilmington. It's a quiet place, far removed from the "controlling maniac" who tried to erase her.
To dig deeper into the legal nuances of this case, you can look up the official Delaware Supreme Court ruling in Capano v. State, which details the extensive circumstantial evidence used to secure his conviction.