On a cold snowy March 28th in 2006 Albert and Joan Musalo, both in their 70s, were found dead from gunshot wounds in their home located in Montreux, a gated community with fencing and security located off the Mount Rose Highway.
It’s one of the areas most perplexing cold cases, with no apparent motive.
Their daughter hadn’t heard from them for a few days, and after getting no answer over the phone, or from a security guard, made the ghastly discovery after opening the locked door and seeing mud tracks leading to their master bedroom. Footprints were seen out the back near a fence separating the home from a hiking trail.
Her parents who had been married over 50 years, had grown up in Brooklyn during the Great Depression.
They had moved to the new Montreux community two years prior to their deaths to be closer to their daughter’s family. Albert Musalo had made his money mostly as a flight engineer for Pan American Airlines and with a range of investments. They had lived on both coasts and in Europe.
They had three other children, and were described as friendly, frugal and quiet, spending time skiing and playing tennis. They had been planning a trip to New York.
There were no signs of forced entry, nothing of value was taken but their phone lines were cut.
A detective working on the case said their last known contact was with a furniture salesman on March 27th around noon. One computer showed Internet activity into the night.
Left behind DNA indicated there was an unknown male in the house.
On the Washoe County Sheriff’s website it’s indicated the family is offering a $35,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible.
Our Town Reno reporting, March 2025