August 22, 2025 • 10 mins
Four women, discovered in a drainage ditch behind the Golden Key Motel in Atlantic City in 2006—faces down, heads pointed east, shoes and socks missing. Kim Raffo, Barbara Breidor, Tracy Ann Roberts, and Molly Dilts—each with their own struggles, dreams, and families—whose lives were stolen in a night that would haunt the city for years. Investigators chased leads, questioned suspects from motel workers to known criminals, and even explored connections to other serial cases, but nearly two decades later, the Eastbound Strangler remains unidentified. Their families are left with heartbreak, unanswered questions, and a relentless hope for justice. This is their story—and the chilling mystery that still grips Atlantic City today.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Beyond the silence, the Eastbound Strangler. Atlantic City murders today
were heading to the outskirts of Atlantic City, New Jersey,
back to the fall of two thousand and six, a
time when the city's neon lights couldn't hide the darkness
lurking just beyond the boardwalk. On November twentieth, two women
(00:20):
were walking behind the old Golden Key Motel. What they
stumbled upon would haunt the city for years to come. There,
in a drainage ditch, they found the body of Kim Raffo,
face down in shallow, grimy water. The police arrived, and
within hours three more bodies were discovered, Barbara Braidor, Molly
(00:42):
Dilts and Tracy Ann Roberts, four women, all found in
a row, all laid face down, their heads pointed east
toward the city. It was a scene that would earn
the unknown killer a chilling nickname. The Eastbound Strangler welcomed
beyond the silence whispers across America. I'm Sammy, your host,
(01:07):
driven to shine light on the dark corners of forgotten cases,
demand justice, and keep alive the voices the world has
tried to silence. To day, we step into the chilling
mystery of the east Bound Strangler, the Atlantic City murders. Now,
I gotta say the details here are just they stick
(01:27):
with you. All four women were fully clothed, but their
shoes and socks were missing. They were spaced out about
sixty feet apart, and the way they were positioned, arms
stretched out, heads facing east, it's almost ritualistic. The killer,
whoever they are, took their time. They tried to keep
(01:48):
the bodies hidden, anchoring them to the side of the ditch,
hoping the water and the elements would erase the evidence.
But as we know, secrets like this don't stay buried forever.
The city was in shock. Atlantic City's always had it shadows,
but this was something else, a serial killer right in
(02:08):
their backyard. Let's talk about the women whose lives were stolen.
These weren't just names in a headline. They were daughters, mothers, friends.
Kim Raffo was thirty five, originally from Brooklyn. She moved
to Atlantic City with her boyfriend in two thousand and
three looking for a fresh start. She had two kids,
(02:30):
and at one point she was even part of the
PTA down in Florida, but life got tough. She struggled
with substance abuse, and like so many, she was just
trying to get her life back on track. Her friend
John Peshe said she was trying to get her life together,
but she couldn't get away. That just hits you, doesn't it.
(02:50):
Then there's Barbara Braider forty two. She worked as a
cocktail waitress at the casinos, helped her mom with her
clothing store, and was known for being there for her family.
But she was also a victim of domestic violence, and
after her father died, she started self medicating with drugs.
Her sister Francine told forty eight Hours she ended up
(03:12):
self medicating herself with drugs. At the time of her death.
Barbara had a nine year old daughter. That's a whole
life left behind. Tracy Ann Roberts was just twenty three.
She grew up in Delaware, trained to be a medical assistant,
and had only recently moved to Atlantic City. Like the others,
(03:33):
she struggled with addiction. She was described as a really nice,
pretty young person that had her whole future ahead of her.
Her murder left her daughter without a mother. I mean,
it's just heartbreaking. And then there's Molly Dilts, the youngest
at twenty. She grew up in black Lick, Pennsylvania, a
(03:54):
blue collar mining town. Her uncle, Steve Taylor, said she
was a warm and loving care kid. She had a
lot of good to spread to the world, and it's
just a shame that she won't be able to do that.
Mollie's mother had died young and her brother had also
passed away before her. She had a tattoo of an
English bulldog, which is how investigators identified her. For everything
(04:17):
she'd been through, her uncle said, she came out pretty damned. Well,
that's the thing. These women had stories, struggles and people
who love them. They deserved better. So let's dig into
the crime scene itself, because this is where things get
really strange. All four women were found in that drainage
(04:38):
ditch behind the Golden Chemotel, right off the Black Horse Pike.
The killer didn't just dump the bodies, he arranged them.
Each woman was placed face down, heads pointed east, arms
stretched out and spaced apart. Their feet were bare, and
their shoes and socks were missing. It's almost like the
killer wanted to send a message, or maybe it was
(05:00):
just part of his ritual. I mean, I'm not a profiler,
but that kind of detail, it's not random. The autopsies
showed that two of the women, Roberts and Raffo, died
from asphyxiation, likely strangulation, but for Dilts and Brideer, their
bodies were so badly decomposed that the cause of death
couldn't be determined. They'd been there the longest. The killer
(05:23):
used the water to his advantage, trying to wash away evidence,
and the longer the bodies stayed hidden, the harder it
was for investigators to piece things together. It's frustrating, honestly.
The police believed the killer lured these women from the
city's red light district out to Egg Harbor, where he
killed and disposed of them, and the way the bodies
(05:46):
were anchored, it's like he wanted to keep them out
of sight for as long as possible. There's also the
question of why these women. Most of them were sex workers,
and as grim as it is, that made them more vulnerable.
They were easy to approach, easy to get into a car,
and if they went missing, sometimes no one reported it
(06:06):
right away. That's a pattern we see in so many
serial cases, and it's just it's infuriating. These women mattered
and their lives shouldn't have been seen as disposable. Now
you might be wondering did the police have any suspects. Well,
they did, but nothing ever stuck. There was Terry Olsen,
(06:28):
a repairman who was staying at the Golden Key Motel
for free in exchange for doing repairs. His girlfriend implicated
him during a domestic dispute and police found cameras and
some pretty disturbing images in his room. But and this
is important, there was no DNA evidence linking him to
(06:49):
the murders, and he was never officially named a suspect.
Then there was Eldred Raymond Burchell, who called himself the Riverman,
maybe a nod to the Green River Killer. He apparently
confessed to another sex worker that he'd killed people, but again,
nothing concrete tied him to the case. There were a
(07:10):
couple of other guys, Charles Coles, a drug dealer and
friend of one of the victims, and Mark Hesse, who
knew two of the women. Both were questioned and released.
So basically a lot of leads but no answers. And
then there's the theory that maybe this was connected to
the Gilgo Beach murders in Long Island. Both cases involved
(07:32):
sex workers, both had victims found in remote watery areas,
and both had bodies arranged in a certain way, But
after a lot of back and forth, law enforcement has
said there's no official link. Even after the arrest of
Rex Heyerman in the Gilgo Beach case, police in New
Jersey and New York compared notes, timelines, and methods and
(07:54):
they just couldn't make the connection. All the initial suspects
in Atlantic City have been ruled out, and the Gilgo
Beach killer would have had to travel over one hundred
and fifty miles to commit these murders. So as of now,
the Eastbound Strangler remains a ghost. Nearly two decades later,
(08:14):
the Eastbound Strangler case is still cold. There's a twenty
five thousand dollars reward out there for information, but no
one's come forward. The police aren't talking, the leads have
dried up, and the families are left with nothing but questions.
Investigators have said they believe the killer knew Atlantic City, well,
maybe someone who was trafficking the victims or someone who
(08:36):
moved in those circles, but without new evidence, it's all
just speculation. What really gets me is how the city
itself has changed. The Golden Key Motel is gone, demolished
years ago, but the memory of what happened there lingers.
The sex worker community in Atlantic City still faces the
(08:58):
same dangers, and the women who were lost in two
thousand and six are still waiting for justice. Their families,
their friends. They deserve answers, and honestly, so does the city.
This isn't just a story about a serial killer. It's
about the people left behind, the lives interrupted, and the
silence that follows when justice isn't served. So that's where
(09:21):
we are, four women, one killer, and a city still
searching for the truth. If you know something anything about
this case, there's still a reward and there are still
people hoping for closure. That's it for today's episode. The
questions remain and the search continues, because every lost soul
(09:43):
deserves answers, and every story deserves to be heard. What
are your thoughts, what do you believe happened? Share your voice,
because sometimes the smallest detail can spark the biggest breakthrough.
I'm Sammy and this is beyond the silence with spurs
across America. Thank you for listening, Stay safe, and I'll
(10:04):
see you next time.
Beyond the silence, the Eastbound Strangler. Atlantic City murders today
were heading to the outskirts of Atlantic City, New Jersey,
back to the fall of two thousand and six, a
time when the city's neon lights couldn't hide the darkness
lurking just beyond the boardwalk. On November twentieth, two women
(00:20):
were walking behind the old Golden Key Motel. What they
stumbled upon would haunt the city for years to come. There,
in a drainage ditch, they found the body of Kim Raffo,
face down in shallow, grimy water. The police arrived, and
within hours three more bodies were discovered, Barbara Braidor, Molly
(00:42):
Dilts and Tracy Ann Roberts, four women, all found in
a row, all laid face down, their heads pointed east
toward the city. It was a scene that would earn
the unknown killer a chilling nickname. The Eastbound Strangler welcomed
beyond the silence whispers across America. I'm Sammy, your host,
(01:07):
driven to shine light on the dark corners of forgotten cases,
demand justice, and keep alive the voices the world has
tried to silence. To day, we step into the chilling
mystery of the east Bound Strangler, the Atlantic City murders. Now,
I gotta say the details here are just they stick
(01:27):
with you. All four women were fully clothed, but their
shoes and socks were missing. They were spaced out about
sixty feet apart, and the way they were positioned, arms
stretched out, heads facing east, it's almost ritualistic. The killer,
whoever they are, took their time. They tried to keep
(01:48):
the bodies hidden, anchoring them to the side of the ditch,
hoping the water and the elements would erase the evidence.
But as we know, secrets like this don't stay buried forever.
The city was in shock. Atlantic City's always had it shadows,
but this was something else, a serial killer right in
(02:08):
their backyard. Let's talk about the women whose lives were stolen.
These weren't just names in a headline. They were daughters, mothers, friends.
Kim Raffo was thirty five, originally from Brooklyn. She moved
to Atlantic City with her boyfriend in two thousand and
three looking for a fresh start. She had two kids,
(02:30):
and at one point she was even part of the
PTA down in Florida, but life got tough. She struggled
with substance abuse, and like so many, she was just
trying to get her life back on track. Her friend
John Peshe said she was trying to get her life together,
but she couldn't get away. That just hits you, doesn't it.
(02:50):
Then there's Barbara Braider forty two. She worked as a
cocktail waitress at the casinos, helped her mom with her
clothing store, and was known for being there for her family.
But she was also a victim of domestic violence, and
after her father died, she started self medicating with drugs.
Her sister Francine told forty eight Hours she ended up
(03:12):
self medicating herself with drugs. At the time of her death.
Barbara had a nine year old daughter. That's a whole
life left behind. Tracy Ann Roberts was just twenty three.
She grew up in Delaware, trained to be a medical assistant,
and had only recently moved to Atlantic City. Like the others,
(03:33):
she struggled with addiction. She was described as a really nice,
pretty young person that had her whole future ahead of her.
Her murder left her daughter without a mother. I mean,
it's just heartbreaking. And then there's Molly Dilts, the youngest
at twenty. She grew up in black Lick, Pennsylvania, a
(03:54):
blue collar mining town. Her uncle, Steve Taylor, said she
was a warm and loving care kid. She had a
lot of good to spread to the world, and it's
just a shame that she won't be able to do that.
Mollie's mother had died young and her brother had also
passed away before her. She had a tattoo of an
English bulldog, which is how investigators identified her. For everything
(04:17):
she'd been through, her uncle said, she came out pretty damned. Well,
that's the thing. These women had stories, struggles and people
who love them. They deserved better. So let's dig into
the crime scene itself, because this is where things get
really strange. All four women were found in that drainage
(04:38):
ditch behind the Golden Chemotel, right off the Black Horse Pike.
The killer didn't just dump the bodies, he arranged them.
Each woman was placed face down, heads pointed east, arms
stretched out and spaced apart. Their feet were bare, and
their shoes and socks were missing. It's almost like the
killer wanted to send a message, or maybe it was
(05:00):
just part of his ritual. I mean, I'm not a profiler,
but that kind of detail, it's not random. The autopsies
showed that two of the women, Roberts and Raffo, died
from asphyxiation, likely strangulation, but for Dilts and Brideer, their
bodies were so badly decomposed that the cause of death
couldn't be determined. They'd been there the longest. The killer
(05:23):
used the water to his advantage, trying to wash away evidence,
and the longer the bodies stayed hidden, the harder it
was for investigators to piece things together. It's frustrating, honestly.
The police believed the killer lured these women from the
city's red light district out to Egg Harbor, where he
killed and disposed of them, and the way the bodies
(05:46):
were anchored, it's like he wanted to keep them out
of sight for as long as possible. There's also the
question of why these women. Most of them were sex workers,
and as grim as it is, that made them more vulnerable.
They were easy to approach, easy to get into a car,
and if they went missing, sometimes no one reported it
(06:06):
right away. That's a pattern we see in so many
serial cases, and it's just it's infuriating. These women mattered
and their lives shouldn't have been seen as disposable. Now
you might be wondering did the police have any suspects. Well,
they did, but nothing ever stuck. There was Terry Olsen,
(06:28):
a repairman who was staying at the Golden Key Motel
for free in exchange for doing repairs. His girlfriend implicated
him during a domestic dispute and police found cameras and
some pretty disturbing images in his room. But and this
is important, there was no DNA evidence linking him to
(06:49):
the murders, and he was never officially named a suspect.
Then there was Eldred Raymond Burchell, who called himself the Riverman,
maybe a nod to the Green River Killer. He apparently
confessed to another sex worker that he'd killed people, but again,
nothing concrete tied him to the case. There were a
(07:10):
couple of other guys, Charles Coles, a drug dealer and
friend of one of the victims, and Mark Hesse, who
knew two of the women. Both were questioned and released.
So basically a lot of leads but no answers. And
then there's the theory that maybe this was connected to
the Gilgo Beach murders in Long Island. Both cases involved
(07:32):
sex workers, both had victims found in remote watery areas,
and both had bodies arranged in a certain way, But
after a lot of back and forth, law enforcement has
said there's no official link. Even after the arrest of
Rex Heyerman in the Gilgo Beach case, police in New
Jersey and New York compared notes, timelines, and methods and
(07:54):
they just couldn't make the connection. All the initial suspects
in Atlantic City have been ruled out, and the Gilgo
Beach killer would have had to travel over one hundred
and fifty miles to commit these murders. So as of now,
the Eastbound Strangler remains a ghost. Nearly two decades later,
(08:14):
the Eastbound Strangler case is still cold. There's a twenty
five thousand dollars reward out there for information, but no
one's come forward. The police aren't talking, the leads have
dried up, and the families are left with nothing but questions.
Investigators have said they believe the killer knew Atlantic City, well,
maybe someone who was trafficking the victims or someone who
(08:36):
moved in those circles, but without new evidence, it's all
just speculation. What really gets me is how the city
itself has changed. The Golden Key Motel is gone, demolished
years ago, but the memory of what happened there lingers.
The sex worker community in Atlantic City still faces the
(08:58):
same dangers, and the women who were lost in two
thousand and six are still waiting for justice. Their families,
their friends. They deserve answers, and honestly, so does the city.
This isn't just a story about a serial killer. It's
about the people left behind, the lives interrupted, and the
silence that follows when justice isn't served. So that's where
(09:21):
we are, four women, one killer, and a city still
searching for the truth. If you know something anything about
this case, there's still a reward and there are still
people hoping for closure. That's it for today's episode. The
questions remain and the search continues, because every lost soul
(09:43):
deserves answers, and every story deserves to be heard. What
are your thoughts, what do you believe happened? Share your voice,
because sometimes the smallest detail can spark the biggest breakthrough.
I'm Sammy and this is beyond the silence with spurs
across America. Thank you for listening, Stay safe, and I'll
(10:04):
see you next time.
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