Nancy Guthrie’s kidnapping has unsurprisingly led to renewed focus on Early Black, a post-punk band from Tucson founded in 2007. That’s because the 84-year-old’s son-in-law Tommaso Cioni played in the band.
Early black band members included Tommaso Cioni, Dominic Evans, and Walter Goncalves. (X/@Piper_truth1)Cioney was reported to be the last person Guthrie saw before she disappeared. According to the New York Times, she had dinner with her daughter Annie, who reportedly lives nearby, and Annie’s husband Sioni dropped her off at home. Authorities believe Guthrie was reported missing and abducted from her residence near Tucson, Arizona, sometime the next morning.
Now, new footage has been released by the FBI showing a possible suspect at the door of Guthrie’s residence. Wearing a ski mask, and wearing gloves, not much is known about the identity of the man in the video.
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However, that didn’t stop the speculation surrounding Cioney with a lot of hype, since he was probably the last person before Guthrie was taken. Sioni was also reported as a suspect by former News Nation journalist Ashley Banfield, although police dismissed her claims. Since then, there has been a steady interest in Sioni’s personal life and by extension his collaborators, including Dominic Evans, a fellow band member with a rap sheet. Walter Goncalves, who was in the band with them, was not spared.
“Tommaso Cioni and his bandmates Dominic Evans and Walter Goncalves should be investigated. Evans has a prior criminal record including theft and embezzlement,” one person wrote on X. Another asked, “What about Walter Goncalves? Same facial features as the masked man?”
Amidst this interest, an old interview with Goncalves has resurfaced. Goncalves spoke to Tucson Weekly in 2012, two years after its release released a positive review of their album Life: Love :: Love:Murder, which has drawn public attention amid the Guthrie case.
What did Walter Goncalves say?Goncalves’ interview was mostly about his taste in music. He talked about how he saw The Ramones’ first concert when he was 15 years old. Goncalves also shared his guilty pleasures when it came to music. “I don’t feel guilty about any of my musical pleasures, but maybe listening too much to Aphex Twin’s ambient selections when I was 13 … a little too pretentious.”
Goncalves also delved into his personality during the interview, listing Joy Division’s Atmosphere as the song he wanted to play at his funeral and adding that The Cure changed his approach to music.
However, Goncalves hasn’t opened up much about bandmates Cioni and Evans.
Early Black’s description states, “Early Black was born in April 2007, when Dominic Evans (drums) and Tommaso Cioccioni (bass, vocals) met Walter I. Gonsalves, Jr. (guitar, vocals) in a series of online and newspaper ads (Evans responded to Cioccioni with a post. Weekly posting).”
Despite the massive public interest in Sioni, his band and its members, the new footage released by the FBI has nothing to tie them to. The Bureau and the Pima County Sheriff’s Department have yet to identify any suspects or persons of interest in the alleged kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie.
