Trail Off Tuesdays: The Vanishing of John and Giannina

Two bright children vanish without a trace on their way to a Puerto Rican beach, leaving behind bedrooms that would remain untouched for nearly 50 years. This is the haunting mystery of John and Janina Colonna.

Someone, somewhere, knows what happened to John and Janina Colonna. If you have any information about this case, no matter how small, please come forward. After nearly 50 years, this family deserves answers.

Chapters

• 0:00 The Unsolved Disappearance Introduction
• 0:59 The Colonna Family Background
• 1:59 The Day They Disappeared
• 3:06 Suspicious Death and Ransom Theory
• 4:09 DNA Testing Reveals Family Secret
• 5:21 Case Remains Unsolved Today

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:17

Welcome back to Trail of Tuesdays, your weekly detour into the bizarre, the mysterious and the sadly true. Today's story takes us to Puerto Rico in 1974, where two siblings bright, curious and inseparable set out for a sunny afternoon at the beach. But they never made it there. What followed was decades of searching, rumors and heartbreak. This is the unsolved disappearance of John and Janina Colonna. John Sr, a French-American in his 50s, met 19-year-old Puerto Rican Noemia Ponte in the 1960s. Despite their age gap, they soon built a family and their son, john, was born in 1962. Janina followed just over a year later. The kids were incredibly close, just a year apart, speaking four languages fluently English, spanish, french and Italian. By all accounts, they were well-educated, well-loved and always together.

Speaker 1: 1:59

It was a warm Sunday in Lukilo on 5th of May 1974. A perfect beach weather. The children left home to meet a family friend who was taking them and her own kids to Lukilo Beach, a mile-long stretch of golden sand and coconut palms golden sand and coconut palms. When Noemi arrived later to pick them up, the friend told her something unthinkable the children had never shown up. Noemi called the police immediately and a large search began, with officers and volunteers combing the beach, nearby trails and roads. Even Interpol was notified, yet there were no witnesses, no belongings left behind and no signs of where they'd gone. The case quickly became a frustrating mix of urgency and silence, with police revealing almost nothing to the family or the public. Then, eight months later, a neighbor named Thomas Rodriguez died by suicide in Florida and investigators claimed he left a note saying the Colonna children had been kidnapped for ransom with help from a local businessman. But that note was never made public and no one was arrested. And rumours spread that the neighbour's death wasn't even suicide at all, that there were no fingerprints on the gun and the letter might have been planted. Some even suspected the children were taken as a warning to John Senior, who was rumoured, without proof, to have ties to organised crime. Yet no threats were ever made public.

Speaker 1: 4:01

Then, in the early 2000s, a young woman came forward convinced she was Janina. It was the first real hope in years. Noemi even agreed to have her late husband's remains exhumed for testing. She also handed over the children's baby teeth for a DNA comparison. But the result? That woman wasn't Janina. But that test revealed something no one expected John Sr was not the biological father of either child.

Speaker 1: 4:42

This discovery shifted the focus. Investigators looked again at the possibility of family members' involvement, even questioning Noemi extensively, but she passed all polygraphs and maintained her innocence. Sadly, the paternity twist distracted from the original question what happened to John and Giannina that day? John Sr died of cancer in 1982, never knowing the truth, but Noemi kept searching for decades, even as her own health declined. She even kept her children's bedrooms exactly as they were on the day. They vanished, frozen in time for nearly 50 years. Noemi passed away in April 2023, without answers. The disappearance of John and Janina is still officially unsolved. Potential evidence, like Rodriguez's alleged letter, remains to this day hidden from the public. This is a mystery where time hasn't brought clarity, only more questions. If you know anything about the disappearance of John and Janina Colon, no matter how small, please share it. Someone somewhere knows the truth. Until next time, stay safe and stay curious. ¶¶, ¶¶, thank you.