Greg Hart was found dead in 2010 from what has been ruled a drowning. However, his family believes he was murdered. The last place Greg was seen at was a bar owned by Providence, Rhode Island police officers.
I realize readers may be getting sick of my posts on victims near bodies of water, lol. However, this one piqued my interest because of possible police involvement, which you should know by now, I absolutely hate. So, you betcha, it’s going on this blog! 😀 Anything I can do to help this family, even if it’s just getting the case more exposure, I am going to do it!
About the Case
On March 13, 2010, at approximately 10:00 p.m., 23-year-old Gregory Hart drove his Ford Mustang from his home in Dedham, Massachusetts, to the apartment of a friend in Providence, Rhode Island. From there, Greg and friends William McClendon, Zachary Piwko, and Piwko’s girlfriend, Megan O’Keefe, took a cab to the Red Room nightclub (later called Saints and Sinners, but now closed) to celebrate Greg’s new job. He had graduated with honors in 2009 from the University of Massachusetts, which would be his first job in the real world.
At some point, a disturbance of some kind broke out at the bar, according to a police report. It is unknown what this disturbance was about.
According to phone records, Greg had an eight-minute conversation with McClendon at 1:10 a.m. Greg disappeared shortly after. It is unknown what the conversation was about or the bar’s disturbance because the trio of friends refused to speak about that night, and still do. However, they did say that Greg walked out of the bar at 1:40 a.m. without any explanation. They assumed he walked to nearby IHOP, but his brother later said he would only do that in the summer when it was warm.
Two days after Greg vanished, friends of his who were not with him that night but were searching for him found his body on a riverbank along Woonasquatucket River.
Medical examiner Dr. William Cox stated that Greg’s blood alcohol content level was .25 and ruled his death an accidental drowning. The police said that Greg was highly intoxicated and fell into the river and drowned.
Greg’s family and friends refuse to believe this was a drowning. Greg was a certified diver. Greg’s grandfather took pictures of Greg’s body before it was embalmed. Greg had a smashed eye socket, damaged nose, cuts on his left hand, and bruising on his right hip and legs. He had one small hole on each shin. The white T-shirt Greg was wearing under a buttoned-up blue shirt was completely brown and much dirtier than the blue shirt.
Greg’s family said it was improbable that Greg was intoxicated that night as he rarely had more than three drinks. Greg’s family believes this case is being covered-up by the Providence Police Department.
At the time of Greg’s disappearance, the Red Room, located at 1 Fox Place in Providence, was owned by Rebecca Carroll. Her husband is Detective Sean Carroll of the Providence Police Department. Detective Mark Sacco, also with Providence PD, owned the land the bar sat on. Sacco was the first detective investigating Greg’s case, which his family felt was a conflict of interest because he owned property where the bar sat.
There are no reports about police interviewing a single witness at the bar regarding the disturbance or Greg’s disappearance. No bouncers, bartenders, or patrons.
Then there’s Greg’s iPhone. Initially, the police report said it was found in the bar’s parking lot. Another version said it was found in Greg’s pocket.
Greg’s family received the phone in pieces. Police told them state technicians from the state crime lab were unable to retrieve any information from it because of water damage to the phone.
Greg’s family had tech experts from TechFusion inspect the phone, who said his phone was never in water. They were able to extract call logs and SMS logs and messages from that phone using a surrogate phone – a phone built with an identical phone and part of Greg’s phone. It is unknown what information the techs recovered or if any of it was helpful to the investigation.
It has been seven years since Greg died, and his parents are still fighting for justice for their son.
True Crime Diva’s Thoughts
Like the Hart family, I believe Greg was murdered. This is a police cover-up. I also have no doubt that those three friends who were with Greg that night had something to do with his murder, witnessed it, or have knowledge of it. What other reasons could they give for not speaking about that night?
The Red Room was considered an “underground” club. The owners did not advertise the club via advertising – just word of mouth. They even claimed, “you’ll only find us if you know about us.” They also claimed they maintained an upscale clientele, but it proves otherwise if you look at the video below. Fridays were Freaky Fridays, and Saturdays were Sexy Saturdays. Greg and the trio were there on a Saturday night.
Yeah, classy clientele there. 😉 It was more like a stripper/swinger’s joint. I do believe criminal activities were going on in this sleazy joint.
Something happened at The Red Room. I think that much is obvious. We know a disturbance of some sort broke out before Greg disappeared. What was the disturbance? A fight? If so, between who?
One thing that stands out to me is that McClendon, Piwko, and O’Keefe said that Greg walked out of the bar at 1:40 a.m., leaving them there. Yet, McClendon’s phone call started at 1:10 a.m. and was over at 1:18 a.m., which means Greg should have still been in the bar, according to the friends.
Where was Greg when he made the call to McClendon?
I believe the alcohol found in Greg’s body was forced into his mouth before death to make this look like he got wasted and fell into the river. No way was this kid so irresponsible that he would get completely wasted and then wander off, leaving his friends behind. I’ve been wasted before at a bar with friends, and I never walked off and left them there. I don’t think Greg did either.
I want to know WHY this happened. Why are the friends are lying and not talking? Why the cops are covering it up. Why, why, why!
I didn’t have any luck finding McClendon or O’Keefe, but I think I found Piwko. He’s lived in many places due to service in the Air Force. As of 2016, he was in Colorado.
7 comments
Diva,
You can write about water deaths of young men as long as you want. These deaths are important to get out there. They are all too common. Many people think these deaths of college age males are being covered up by the police in general.
Thank you! 💖 I agree with the police cover-up theory as well. If true, makes me wonder why. 😉
Was there something wrong with my comment for it not to have been posted?
No not at all! I’m sorry! I approve posts when I can, but I’m much busier offline the first part of the week, so sometimes it takes me a while to approve it.
I don’t follow the forced ingestion of booze. That’s very far fetched, to me. If close acquaintances and family say he wasn’t a drinker, perhaps the blood level data was fabricated as well. It looks like the red room place was about as skeevy as it gets and, being a “speakeasy” type of place, most likely all types of things get covered up. LE would cover it up because they are corrupt and patrons would cover it up because they want their little playpen to remain intact. I think this poor family is in a very uphill battle when it comes to finding out the truth. It’s a shame.
Yes, I realize it seems far-fetched, but honestly, who knows how he got alcohol in his system. Maybe the data was a big lie, which of course makes the most sense and would not surprise me at all. You’re right…this family is in an uphill battle but I just hope the truth will come out and justice will be served, for their sake.
I’ve read numerous tales of mysterious deaths in several places, including this website. Whenever “friends” of the victims refuse to talk, I have to raise my eyebrows. It often makes me question what types of people the victims became friends with, and WHY would the victims make friends with untrustworthy lowlife people? Then again, if we’re talking about a police cover-up here, it’s quite possible that the cops threatened the friends with any number of bad ends if they ever spoke up. Although I have to admit, I myself socialized with some less than reputable people during my younger days before I knew better, so perhaps that was the case with this young man. Also, if there was some type of disturbance in the bar, I have to wonder if the police were called====if so, wouldn’t there have been a police report about the incident?
One final thought: while I didn’t see the stereotypical “upscale” clientele in the video that the Red Room claimed to cater to, I do know that even the elites like to get down and dirty from time to time; perhaps the underground Red Room with the reputation of people not being allowed in unless you tell the door man that “Joe sent me” sometimes gave a secret thrill to those who would normally avoid such places, but hey, you never know.