RDAUTBMag2026

reader ’ s digest 6   may 2026 A s soon as he walked into his big white house on “mil- lionaires’ row” in Upper Montclair, New Jersey, John Cali felt that something was wrong. Every- thing seemed too quiet. Renee, John’s attractive 45-year-old wife, usually met him at the door. He called her, but got no answer. He called Leslie, his 24-year-old step- daughter. Again, no answer. Then, as he started upstairs to look for the women, the doorbell rang. Another daughter, Jonna, stood there - nearly hysterical - with two Montclair policemen. Captain Charles Cummings stepped forward. “Mr Cali, a terrible thing...!” he said. “Your wife - Jonna found her in the basement.” Cali and the two police officers ran to the cellar. Renee Cali lay on the floor, her head and shoulders sus- pended a few inches above the con- crete by a hemp rope knotted tightly around her neck. Stunned by what he saw, Cali thought almost immedi- ately of Leslie - pregnant with her first child - and ran upstairs to find her. He had hardly reached the first- floor landing before Cummings called him back. Leslie was in the basement, too - less than 10 metres away from her mother, hanged in a storage bin. John Cali required every bit of will- power that he possessed to control his emotions as he stood there on that hot evening of May 14, 1973. Yet, his ordeal had only begun. His faith in the sanity and decency of Renee and Leslie was about to be severely tested. RD CLASSICS BY Gerald Moore Police thought the deaths of his wife and daughter were a murder-suicide but he was sure they weren’t. Originally published in Reader’s Digest February 1975 readersdigest.com.au     7 RD Classics