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Kevin Riford
The Mysterious “Kelly Marshal”
Despite multiple in-person meetings with Agent Burns — five in total at the Buffalo field office — we never heard from “Kelly Marshal” again. Our suspicions deepened: Was she really with CBP Internal Affairs? Or was she a fictitious identity being used to shield the employees we had reported?
To get answers, I submitted a FOIL request to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The response? Nothing. No confirmation of Kelly Marshal’s identity. No record of her at all.
In early 2019, my family — Christina Riford, Katie Riford, and I — reported the actions of the “private investigative firm” Peter Vito & Associates to FBI Special Agent Brian A. Burns of the Buffalo, NY field office. The firm, owned by Niagara County resident Peter M. Vito, employed two individuals — Michael Mazga and Patrick Ostrowski — whose harassing tactics had become deeply concerning.
After investigating their identities, we were shocked to discover that both Mazga and Ostrowski were actually employees of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
During a phone call with Agent Burns, he introduced us to a woman he identified as “Kelly Marshal,” claiming she worked in CBP’s Internal Affairs. That introduction made sense, given we were reporting misconduct by CBP employees.
After that initial conversation, my sister Katie attempted to follow up with Kelly to submit additional information. Agent Burns responded via email, saying Kelly was “out of the office” — yet no return call ever came. We found it strange that he never provided her direct phone number or email address.
Later, my other sister, Christina Riford Little, called Agent Burns to ask more directly about “Kelly Marshal.” He said she worked in CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility and had shown him her badge. He also described her vaguely as “like a supervisor.” That phrasing raised red flags — what does “like a supervisor” even mean?
Silence, FOIL Requests, and Dead Ends
Despite multiple in-person meetings with Agent Burns — five in total at the Buffalo field office — we never heard from “Kelly Marshal” again. Our suspicions deepened: Was she really with CBP Internal Affairs? Or was she a fictitious identity being used to shield the employees we had reported?
To get answers, I submitted a FOIL request to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The response? Nothing. No confirmation of Kelly Marshal’s identity. No record of her at all.
Though we still don’t know who “Kelly Marshal” really was, the deeper we dug, the stranger things became.
Danielle Cretacci, WIVB, and a Vanishing Story
In 2019, our family’s story was featured in a WIVB News 4 article:
Bitter custody battle sends mother, children into hiding
During the taping, my sister Christina brought up a chilling local case — the 2019 murder of Danielle Cretacci, a woman who lived just ten minutes away from her in the Town of Tonawanda.
We later discovered that back in 2010 — almost nine years before Danielle Cretacci’s death — WIVB reporter Luke Moretti visited her home regarding “personal information” that had fallen off a truck. This was detailed in a WIVB story that has since been erased from their website. Fortunately, we archived a copy, which is below.
At the time, Danielle Cretacci and another woman, Roneika Knox, were involved. Court affidavits later revealed Danielle had improperly received public assistance from November 2009 through November 2010. And there’s more: Roneika Knox — who lived with Danielle — has a relative named Joseph Knox, who was wanted by the FBI in 2010. Here’s a press release from that time:
FBI Press Release – Joseph Knox
So… Who Was “Kelly Marshal”? And Why Was That WIVB Story Erased?
Despite our best efforts, we’ve never received confirmation of who “Kelly Marshal” really was. But the web of connections — from erased news stories to unexplained identities — continues to raise serious questions.