October 4, 2025 • 37 mins
On a quiet Sunday morning after prom night in 1989, four members of the Pelly family were found brutally murdered inside their parsonage home in Lakeville, Indiana. Reverend Robert Pelly, his wife Dawn, and two young stepdaughters were killed. Suspicion quickly fell on 17-year-old Jeff Pelly, who had gone to prom that night and seemed carefree. With missing murder weapons, conflicting witness statements, and a questionable investigation, the case remains one of the most controversial in Indiana’s history.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Lakeville, Indiana, a tiny town with fewer than nine hundred people.
Jeff and his family weren't ordinary folks in this town.
They were well known and played a significant role in
the community. But Jeff and his family didn't start their
story there. Jeff, whose full name is Robert Jeffrey Pelly,
was born on December tenth, nineteen seventy one, in Florence, Kentucky,
(00:24):
to his parents, Robert and Eva Pelly. As his name suggests,
Jeff was named after his father. A few years later,
Jeff became an older brother when the family welcomed a
second child, a daughter named Jacques. In nineteen eighty, when
Jeff was nine years old, the Pelly family packed their
bags and moved to Cape Coral, Florida. The reason for
(00:44):
the move was a new job opportunity for Bob, Jeff's father,
who had secured a position in computer programming at Landmark Bank. Now.
Jeff and Jacques were raised in a religious household where
going to church was a non negotiable part of life. Bob,
their father, was deeply committed to his faith and strict
when it came to discipline. Crying wasn't allowed, as Bob
(01:06):
believed it was a sign of weakness, a lesson he
carried over from his own upbringing. However, the kids found
comfort in their mother, Eva, who provided them with a
space to show their emotions. But life took a heartbreaking
turn in February nineteen eighty five when Eva passed away
from skin cancer. She had refused treatment and her health
(01:27):
rapidly declined, eventually leaving her in a coma. For Jeff
and Jacques, losing their mother was devastating and their family's
dynamic was forever changed. This was evident just a few
months after Eva's death when Bob met a twenty seven
year old woman named Don Huber. Don had also experienced loss,
having recently lost her significant other. The two were introduced
(01:50):
through Bob's cousin, Katie, who was also Don's best friend.
Their connection was quick, and within nine months of Eva's passing,
Bob and married in a small church ceremony in Ohio. However,
this union wasn't exactly a happy occasion for everyone. Jeff
and Jack weren't even invited to the wedding, although Down's
(02:12):
three daughters, five year old Jessica, four year old Janelle,
and two year old Jolene were present, By nineteen eighty six,
the newly blended family made a fresh start in the
tiny town of Lakeville, Indiana. Bob believed he had been
called to ministry and accepted a position at the Olive
Branch United Brethren Church. This was no mega church. It
(02:35):
was a humble congregation of just forty to fifty members.
The job offered a modest salary of thirteen hundred dollars
a month, which, when adjusted for inflation, would be about
three thousand, seven hundred to four thousand dollars per month
in today's money. What made the deal sweeter was the
free housing, a parsonage provided by the church, situated conveniently
(02:58):
right across the street. After moving, Jeff began attending Laville
Junior Senior High School, where he quickly became well liked
by his peers. He also got a part time job
at mc donald's, further cementing his place in the community.
Around this time, he started dating a girl named Darla,
and from the outside, it seemed like life was finally
(03:20):
settling down for the Pellies in their new town. However,
just like any true crime story, life has also a
way of taking a shocking turn when you least expected.
A few years later, something unimaginable happened that would forever
change the Pelly family story. On Sunday, April thirtieth, nineteen
(03:41):
eighty nine, Dave, a member of the Olive Branch United
Brethren Church, was responsible for making sure everyone showed up
for the service on time. At around nine fifteen in
the morning, he noticed something unusual. Pastor Bob and his
family were nowhere to be found. Bob, who ran the church,
(04:02):
was always there before nine. This was highly out of
character for him. Around the same time, an eleven year
old girl named Stephanie, who was friends with the Pelly children,
went over to the family's parsonage. This was a regular
Sunday routine for her, but when she got to the
back door of the garage, she was surprised to find
(04:23):
it locked. Thinking something was odd, she tried the sliding
glass door at the back, but that was locked too. Confused,
Stephanie ran back to the church, thinking she had simply
missed them. She told her father Henry, about what happened,
and together with Dave, they started wondering if the Pelly
family might have just overslept. By nine thirty, Dave asked
(04:47):
a young church member to step in and lead the
service while he tried to figure out where Pastor Bob was.
He walked over to the Pelly's parsonage and knocked on
both the front and back doors, but there was no answer.
All the blinds were drawn and the curtains were shut tight,
leaving Dave unable to see anything inside. Feeling uneasy, he
(05:09):
returned to the church and sat in the back row,
but something didn't sit right with him. Minutes later, he
and another church member decided to try a spare key
to gain access to the house. Unfortunately, the key didn't fit.
Just then, Lydia easterday, another church member saw them struggling
and offered them another key, one belonging to her husband,
(05:32):
a staff member of the church. Dave tried the back
door first, but it didn't work. He then moved to
the front door, and, to his relief, the key turned.
And what he saw in that hallway would haunt him forever.
The first thing he noticed was Bob's eyeglasses lying on
the carpet. As he stepped closer to the glasses, he
(05:53):
looked to his left and froze. There on the floor
was Bob, face down in a pool of blood. Panic
set in. Dave rushed to the back door, letting the
other church members inside. He told them to call nine
one one immediately. As he continued to survey the house,
he spotted the stairs leading down to the basement. He
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peered down and saw two small feet clad in white socks.
His heart sank. He knew it was one of the children.
The dim lighting made it hard to see, but the
unmistakable feeling of dread overtook him. Soon paramedics arrived, Dave
quickly told them not to touch anything, as he suspected
a murder had taken place. They turned on the light
(06:36):
and the scene would soon reveal a chilling truth.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
The Sunday after prom night in April nineteen eighty nine,
parishioners with Lakeville's Alive Branch Church found their minister and
his family dead on the floor of the church parsonage.
Reverend Robert Pelly was found with two bullet holes in
his body. His wife, Dawn was found entwined with the
bodies of her two young daughters, Janelle eight and Jolene's.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
This tragedy was truly horrific, and as you might recall,
there were seven members of the Pelly family so with
four of them found dead, the search for the remaining
three children was on. It turns out, though, that three
of the children weren't even home that morning. Jessica, the
nine year old daughter of Dawn, had spent the night
at a friend's house. When her friend's mother drove her
(07:23):
back to the parsonage that morning, they arrived to see
yellow caution tape surrounding their home. Jessica immediately sensed something
was terribly wrong, and her worst fears were confirmed when
she learned what had happened to her family. But there
was still the question of where Pastor Bob's other two
children were. Jacques, aged fourteen, was about an hour and
(07:47):
a half away at Huntington College, visiting friends from a
church camp. The situation surrounding Jacques's return was strange. A
bishop from their church came to pick her up, but
he didn't tell her anything about the tragedy that had
just unfolded at home. Jacques was completely blindsided when she
arrived home and learned of the devastating news. Jeff, the
(08:10):
seventeen year old son of Pastor Bob, was also nowhere
to be found. Detectives later learned he had been at
six Flags Great America, a theme park in Gurney, Illinois.
They pieced this together from Jessica, who mentioned it during
the investigation. Now, tracking Jeff down wasn't as difficult as
it seemed, though. He and his girlfriend Darla, along with
(08:33):
a group of friends, had spent the day at the park.
While standing in line for a ride, Jeff started to
feel something wasn't quite right. It was a nagging sensation,
one that he couldn't explain, but he couldn't shake it.
He turned to Darla and confided in her, saying he
thought something bad had happened, though he couldn't quite put
his finger on it. Darla tried to dismiss his concerns,
(08:56):
but Jeff's uneasy feeling only grew stronger. Before long, the
police arrived at Six Flags, and they separated Jeff and
Darla from their friends. They began to interview everyone about
Jeff's whereabouts the night before, trying to piece together his movements.
Jeff was interrogated right after this with his grandparents, and
there's actually a clip of him being questioned, was.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
There anybody in that family you really didn't get along with?
Speaker 1 (09:22):
How about your stepmother?
Speaker 3 (09:24):
We didn't get along real well. I mean we talked
high by type thing, but we never really talked to
each other or anything. I mean I didn't I didn't
hate her anything, but we just we we tolerated each other.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
And how about your stepsisters.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Which once, uh all three of 'em? What about him? Oh,
I get along with the girls grade. I just love
the girls. Did you and your dad get in any
arguments Saturday? No, we had a real good day Saturday.
We got along real well. What do you mean you
dead a real good day Saturday? We didn't argue at all.
He was really He said that I'd been doing a
(10:07):
pretty good job of shaping up and everything. So do
you know who killed your mother, father or your father?
And no, I really don't. I don't know who would
want to.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Did you have anything to do with it?
Speaker 3 (10:23):
No? I didn't. No, I didn't. I me and my
father didn't get in love. Sometimes sometimes I'd be really
upset with him, but we always work things out.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
As you can tell from the clip, the tension in
the air was palpable right from the start. The police
were cautious around Jeff, and their suspicion was undeniable. It
was clear to them that something wasn't adding up, and
they began to focus their attention on him. The reason
for their suspicion, according to the investigators, Jeff's relationship with
(10:58):
his family was anything but simple. By the way, I
post true crime and new cases here every week, So
if that sounds like your kind of thing, please consider subscribing.
It helps a lot, as it turns out. When Bob
and Dawn married, Bob had hoped that Jeff and Jacques,
his children from his first marriage, would accept Don as
(11:20):
their new mother, but that was a lot to ask,
especially since their real mother had passed away less than
a year earlier. For Jeff and Jacques, moving on from
their mother was impossible. They couldn't just forget her, and
that resistance created a rift in the family that would
only deepen over time. To make matters worse, Jeff and
(11:41):
Jacques didn't agree with the way Dawn was raising her daughters.
The differences in parenting styles caused friction at home, and
Jeff in particular, was growing more distant from his father
and the new family dynamics. According to their neighbors, Jeff
had become something of an outcast within his own family.
He didn't fit in and it seemed like he was
(12:02):
always on the outside looking in, but that wasn't all.
Six weeks before the tragic events, Jeff found himself in
serious trouble. He was arrested for stealing CDs and cash
from a neighbor named John. The crime itself was bad enough,
but the aftermath was even more telling. John chose not
(12:23):
to press charges, but instead they worked out a deal. This, however,
didn't sit well with Bob. His anger was palpable, and
as a form of punishment, Bob decided that Jeff wouldn't
be allowed to attend prom. That was a big deal
for a seventeen year old, and it was a blow
to Jeff's social life. Bob didn't stop there. He openly
(12:45):
shared Jeff's behavior problems with others at church, further isolating
Jeff from the rest of the community. It was clear
that Bob was frustrated with his son, and this tension
only seemed to escalate. To add insult to injury, Bob
even took matters into his own hands by removing some
of Jeff's belongings from his car, including his car keys.
(13:06):
The car in question was a nineteen eighty four silver
Ford Mustang, a flashy, attention grabbing vehicle that was hard
to miss. By taking the keys, Bob essentially grounded Jeff,
restricting his freedom even more. With all these factors at play,
the police's suspicion of Jeff only grew stronger. They couldn't
help but wonder if his frustration and anger had led
(13:28):
him to do something unforgivable, and after that tense interview,
they began to focus their attention entirely on him, trying
to find any clue that would tie him to the crime.
But here's where things start to get tricky. There are
a lot of discrepancies and oddities in this case that
really make you question whether Jeff was actually involved. Let's
(13:49):
start with the first major contradiction. Jeff wasn't originally allowed
to attend prom a decision Bob had made as punishment
for his previous transgressions, But then, surprisingly, Bob had a
change of heart and allowed Jeff to go. According to
both Jeff and his sister Jock, Bob could be harsh
when doling out punishments. However, once Bob had cooled down,
(14:12):
he would often reduce the severity of his punishments, and
this instance was no different. Jeff's prom night was not
a typical rebellious teenagers outing, though, and that's where things
began to get murky. At the crime scene, detectives discovered
some curious items. Among the usual evidence things like carpet fibers, walls,
and bullet fragments, was something far more intriguing. A set
(14:37):
of keys was found in a trash barrel outside the house.
But it wasn't just any set of keys. Attached to
them was a heart shaped locket, and inside the locket
was a photo of a man and a woman. Strangely,
the investigators paid little attention to this, and they didn't
even photograph the item for evidence. What could this locket mean?
(14:59):
Who were the people in the photo? These questions were
left unanswered, adding to the growing list of oddities. Other
peculiarities emerged as well. On Jeff's bed, they discovered a
photo book filled with pictures of his life from the
first seven years. At first, this seemed like a normal
childhood album, but as time went on it became an
(15:22):
odd clue. It was as though Jeff had been looking
back on his early memories, particularly when his mom was
still alive and his dad wasn't remarried. Could this have
stirred up intense emotions that led to the violence. The
police also found a load of laundry in the house,
freshly washed that same day, and it only contained Jeff's clothes.
(15:45):
This raised suspicions was Jeff trying to cover up something.
Some speculated that he might have been revisiting his memories
when he lost control, perhaps in a fit of rage,
and murdered his family before quickly cleaning up. But there
was something much more puzzling that wasn't found at the
crime scene. Despite the brutal killings, there was no sign
(16:07):
of the weapon that caused all the destruction. There was
no twenty gage shotgun, no shell casings, and no indication
of where the weapon had gone. The Pelly family had
indeed owned a Mossburg five hundred twenty gage shotgun, which
Bob had purchased in December nineteen eighty seven. Bob traded
a forty four caliber handgun and ninety dollars to acquire
(16:29):
the gun, which he had planned to give Jeff as
a Christmas gift, but by the time the authorities arrived
at the scene, the shotgun was missing. Even more strange
was the fact that it wasn't included in the list
of evidence, and no one could explain where it had gone.
Keep this in mind because this missing gun would become
a key detail in the mystery later on. And to
(16:51):
understand the timeline better, let's rewind to the day before
the murders, on April twenty ninth, nineteen eighty nine. At first,
everything seemed ordinary. Jeff worked a morning shift at McDonald's,
and later that day his father, Bob, stopped by a
gun store owned by Steve Diller. Bob didn't buy anything,
(17:13):
but he spent some time talking with the owner. Afterward,
he picked Jeff up from work and they headed home
to the parsonage. It was well known that Bob had
recently picked up a hobby photography. On that particular day,
he had scheduled a photo session with several couples, a
task he was excited about. Eyewitness accounts would later place
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Bob at the parsonage before the tragic events unfolded. The
window of time in which the family was likely killed
was incredibly short, only about fifteen minutes between five ten
and five twenty five in the evening. A couple, Kim
and David, were some of the last people to see
the family alive. They had just finished taking photos with
(17:58):
Bob and were leaving the house around five o'clock. Another man,
Matt Miller, drove by the parsonage at five point fifteen
and noticed Jeff's Mustang still parked in the driveway. However,
when Kim and David passed by again at five thirty,
the scene had dramatically changed. Jeff's car was gone and
the family was nowhere to be seen. Meanwhile, another couple,
(18:22):
Cristel and her date, had a scheduled photo session with
Bob and his daughters at Cristel's house, but when Bob
and the girls didn't show up at the agreed time,
Cristel grew concerned. She decided to go over to the
parsonage herself. When she arrived with her date, they knocked
on the doors, but no one answered. All the cars
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were parked in the driveway except for Jeff's Mustang, which
was missing. Based on these accounts, it seemed clear that
Jeff's car was gone by five thirty PM, which would
have been after the murders had occurred. However, some eyewitness
accounts didn't quite match. Kurt Schaeffer, a friend of Jeff's
and his cousin Ken saw Jeff leave the parsonage between
(19:07):
four forty five and five o'clock. Kurt even recognized the
distinct sound of Jeff's Mustang. Lewis, another neighbor, also saw
Bob around five o'clock talking to a man in a
black pickup truck. Bob was holding a shovel, and although
Lewis waved at him, he seemed distracted. Who was this
(19:27):
man in the black truck. No one knew, but perhaps
the most crucial sighting came from Dennis, a gas station clerk.
Dennis was working at an Amocho station just six minutes
from the parsonage. At five seventeen in the evening, he
saw Jeff pull in with his Mustang. Jeff was under
the hood of his car, wearing a black Hawaiian shirt
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and blue jeans. Dennis remembered the time clearly because his
shift was supposed to end at five, but his replacement
was late. At five point twenty, Jeff entered the store
and used the phone to call his girlfriend, Darla. He
told her his car was idling too high and that
he was running late. After the call, Jeff returned outside
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to continue working. On the car. By five thirty seven,
Jeff left the gas station and Dennis clocked out for
the day. From these accounts, if the Pelly family was
indeed murdered between five ten and five twenty five pm,
it seemed clear that Jeff had no involvement. Moving on,
(20:31):
Jeff later went to his friend Lynette Grier's house around
five forty five pm, a visit confirmed by his girlfriend Darla.
The two, along with Lynette and her date, went to
the Emporium restaurant at six fifteen pm to meet more friends.
At the restaurant, everyone said Jeff appeared perfectly normal, chatting, laughing,
(20:53):
and enjoying the evening like any teenager. Later that night,
Jeff attended prom and afterward went bowling. Witnesses at both
events described him as calm and collected, seemingly unaffected by
the horrific events that had occurred just hours before. If
he were indeed involved, he spent the night at a
friend's house and went to Six Flags the next morning,
(21:15):
carrying on as though nothing had happened. The police questioned
everyone who had been with him that day, but no
evidence connected him to the murders. His whereabouts were accounted
for and no clues tied him to the crime. As
a result, the case went cold and attention shifted away
from Jeff. Over the years, the surviving children, including Jeff,
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grew up. He and his girlfriend went off to college,
while his sisters went to live with their grandparents and
in foster care. Unfortunately, Jeff's relationship didn't work out, and
he eventually moved back to Lakeville. However, his return to
his home town was anything but easy. Since the murders,
most people still viewed him with suspicion, pointing fingers at
(22:00):
him as the prime suspect. The constant whispers and judgment
weighed heavily on him, and as a result, Jeff decided
to leave Lakeville behind for a fresh start. Seeking a
new beginning, Jeff relocated to Fort Myers, Florida, where he
started working in the credit bureau business owned by a
longtime family friend, Philip Hawley. The Hawley family welcomed him
(22:22):
as one of their own, and Jeff eventually married Philip's niece, Kim.
It seemed like life was moving forward for Jeff, and
for a while, things appeared to settle down. However, the
shadow of the past was never far behind. Years after
the tragic deaths of his family, Jeff and his sisters
were each left inheritance money from their parents estate. Jeff
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was set to inherit forty eight thousand dollars, while his
sisters would receive sixty five thousand dollars each, but there
was a catch. They couldn't access the funds until they
turned twenty three. Desperate for the money, Jeff became fixated
on getting his hands on it sooner, and he came
up with a plan. He told a story about having
skin cancer and needing surgery to make it seem real.
(23:09):
He even forged medical papers, but his plan didn't work.
The names on the documents didn't match the hospital staff,
and it became clear he was lying. The FBI, who
had been investigating the Pelly family case, got involved. They
tracked Jeff down for trying to deceive them. In the end,
Jeff was charged with wire fraud. He didn't go to prison,
(23:33):
but he was sentenced to probation. The charge was a
lighter one, but it still made his reputation even worse.
After all the trouble with the fraud charges, Jeff shifted
his focus to something else, computers. He managed to land
a job as an international consultant for the well known
company IBM. Things seemed to take a turn for the better.
(23:57):
He and his wife, Kim, had a son and moved
to Dade City, Florida. They bought a beautiful house that
was worth around five hundred thousand dollars. For a while,
it seemed like Jeff was finally rebuilding his life. However,
things weren't as perfect as they appeared on the surface.
In nineteen ninety seven, Jeff and Kim filed for divorce,
(24:20):
though they later reconciled and got back together. Despite all this,
the shadow of the Pelly family murders still followed Jeff
wherever he went, leaving him with a tarnished reputation that
wouldn't go away. By the year two thousand, the county
prosecutor in Lakeville had changed. A new prosecutor named Chris
Toth took over. He was determined to reopen cold cases,
(24:44):
hoping to bring justice to victims like the Pelly family.
He put together a fresh team of investigators and assigned
Detective Craig Whitfield to take charge of the case. Craig's
first step was to track down Jeff's two surviving sisters,
Jack and Jessica. Jessica, the only surviving child of Dawn,
who now goes by the name Jesse, had been disconnected
(25:07):
from the rest of the family for years. She had
spent a lot of time in foster care and struggled
with substance abuse. By the time Craig interviewed her, Jesse
had two children of her own, and she wasn't really
in touch with her siblings anymore. During their conversation, Jesse
revealed something shocking. She had once believed her father, Bob,
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was responsible for the murders, but as she got older,
she found out that Jeff was actually being looked at
as the prime suspect. Jesse remembered an unsettling conversation she
had with Jeff when she was just fifteen years old,
six years after the murders. Jeff invited her to visit
him and his new wife in Florida, and while she
(25:51):
was there, he asked her who do you think did it. Jesse,
still thinking it was their father, replied, your dad. To
her surprise, Jeff simply said okay. At the time, Jesse
didn't think much of it, but looking back, she realized
that Jeff might have asked that question because he was
worried she might suspect him. After that, Craig interviewed Jacques,
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but she came with a lawyer by her side, worried
that her words might be twisted or misinterpreted. Jacques was
becoming more convinced that Jeff was the only possible suspect.
The detectives were desperate to find solid proof to link
him to the murders, so they started focusing on the
laundry found at the crime scene. According to Craig Whitfield,
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the lead investigator on the case, he explained that a
dark and pink striped shirt, a pair of blue jeans,
and two white socks were found packed inside an Anni's
Finer Foods bag. Inside one of the pockets of the Jenes,
the FBI discovered thirty four coins and a dollar, which
added up to a total of one dollar and fifty cents,
(26:59):
along with the receipt from Anna's grocery store. Craig believed
that the jenes being found in the washer was suspicious
and could be probable cause to arrest Jeff. He thought
that Jeff had likely left the money and received in
the jeans because he was distracted and in a rush
to take them off forgetting they were there. However, a
pair of blue jeans was never found in the washing machine,
(27:22):
only a shirt and socks. In fact, not a single
detective or officer involved in the case ever said they
personally handled a pair of blue jeans. Jeff was wearing
blue jeans when he went to Lynette's house before prom
so it was strange that they weren't found. Another issue
raised was that no officer ever went to Anna's grocery
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to confirm whether Jeff had been there. No one came
forward to say they had personally seen him there. It
seemed likely that the jeans were never washed and were
not found in the washing machine with the shirt and socks. Instead,
Jeff's clothes that were found in the back of his Mustang,
including a Hawaiian shirt, may have been mixed with the
other evidence. Craig then wrote up a probable cause statement
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for Jeff's arrest, and the newly elected prosecutor approved the warrant.
On August tenth of two thousand and two, thirteen years
after Jeff's family was brutally taken from this world, he
was arrested on four counts of first degree murder. Craig
accompanied by a SWAT team, went to surround Jeff's house,
but he wasn't home. Jeff, now thirty years old, was
(28:29):
in Los Angeles after returning from a work trip to Australia.
While at the airport, customs detained him because a warrant
for his arrest had been issued. Jeff was now going
to fight a battle in court, and his apparent motive
was that he wasn't allowed to go to prom Jeff's sister, Jacques,
and his wife Kim found a defense attorney named Alan Baum.
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Allan had never heard of the case before, but he
agreed to take on Jeff's defense. His first move was
to try to get Jeff bond, but this wasn't successful
because as Jeff was considered a flight risk. From two
thousand and three to two thousand and six, there were
multiple delays in the trial. Allan kept trying to get
the case thrown out, arguing that Jeff's right to a
(29:12):
speedy trial had been violated. Jeff was eventually released on
bond for most of two thousand and five. In two
thousand and six, it was finally time for the trial.
The lead prosecutor, Frank Schaeffer, argued that Jeff was responsible
for the murders, even though there was almost no concrete
evidence linking him to the crime. Alan, on the other hand,
(29:35):
argued that the police investigation had been flawed and they
had focused too much on Jeff without considering other possibilities.
Both of Jeff's remaining siblings, Jacques and Jesse, took the stand,
and they had different things to say. Jesse testified that
she had seen the twenty gage shotgun hanging in her
parents' bedroom before she left for her sleepover, but Jack
(29:59):
said that the shotg had been removed the year before,
along with all other firearms in the house. Jeff had
mentioned this during his police interrogation as well, explaining that
their father, Bob, decided to get rid of the firearms
in the house because he didn't think Jeff was safe
around them. Bob had given the guns to a man
(30:20):
named Thomas Kebb. Thomas had stored a bag containing the shotgun,
a rifle, and a pistol at his in law's house
in their basement. The strange part was that investigators never
spoke to Thomas or asked for the guns. Allen, the
defense attorney, chose not to use Thomas as a witness
(30:40):
because he believed that Jeff's mental state during that time
might have influenced the jury's decision. On the other hand,
the prosecution didn't want to call Thomas because they feared
it would weaken their case against Jeff. Additionally, Jesse testified
that her mom told her Jeff was going to Six
Flags Great America, which Ellen believed could raise doubts about
(31:01):
Jeff's involvement, as it seemed like he had permission to
go to prom, so why would he kill his family. Additionally,
remember Dave, the man who first discovered the crime scene. Initially,
he said the blood at the scene was still wet,
implying the deaths had happened not long before. But when
Dave testified in two thousand and six, he switched his story,
(31:25):
saying the blood was actually dry. There were also wet
washcloths found nearby, and Alan, Jeff's lawyer, brought in an
expert to show that washcloths would have been dry after
about twelve hours. However, because the experiments were conducted in Arizona,
the court didn't accept the results. Even more suspicious, no
(31:45):
blood traces were found on Jeff's genes, and Alan argued
that Jeff wouldn't have had enough time to carry out
the crime in under fifteen minutes. After all, Jeff was
just seventeen years old at the time. Most teens wouldn't
have been able to clean up a crime scene that quickly,
especially since, according to everyone who knew him, Jeff didn't
act strangely after those minutes. Another piece of strange evidence
(32:08):
came from Bob's stomach, where they found popcorn kernels. Jacques,
Jeff's biological sister, testified that Bob had a habit of
eating popcorn every night between seven and eight pm, usually
after he put the girls to bed. In fact, a
bowl of popcorn was found on Bob's desk, suggesting he
had time to make and eat it before the crime
(32:30):
took place. There were also two different types of shotgun
shells found at the scene, plastic in paper, leading Alan
to suggest that either two shooters or two different shotguns
were involved. On top of that, the Mossburg five hundred
shotgun found in the Pelley house could only hold five rounds,
but six shots were fired, casting more doubt on Jeff
(32:53):
being the sole perpetrator. Now, Jeff never took the stand
in his defense, as his lawyers believed it would be
too risky. On July twenty second, two thousand and six,
he was convicted on all charges, and on October seventeenth,
he was sentenced to one hundred and sixty years in prison.
Some like Jeff's stepsister Jesse, felt relieved by the conviction,
(33:16):
but the story didn't end there. A new lawyer, Francis Watson,
has been tirelessly working to prove that Jeff was wrongfully convicted.
Watson has uncovered evidence that Jeff's original lawyer, Allan, didn't
do his job properly during the trial. He believes the
prosecution lied about the Jenes, claiming they had been washed
when they weren't, and that the lack of blood on
(33:38):
Jeff supports his innocence. Watson also argues that Jeff's right
to a speedy trial was violated, adding another layer to
the case. A major new twist in the case involves
Bob's connection to a man named Philip Hawley, who also
had ties to Jeff when he left Lakeville. In fact,
Philip maybe the reason Bob and his family were tragedy killed.
(34:01):
Bob worked at Landmark Bank in Florida and had a
close working relationship with Philip, who was Bob's supervisor. Philip
was deeply involved in handling large financial transactions at the bank,
and it turns out Bob discovered some serious financial fraud
happening among his closest friends. This revelation left Bob terrified
(34:22):
for his life. Pastor Michael Ross testified that Bob sought
him out for advice about his fears, telling him he
was worried for the safety of his family. Jacques Pelly,
Bob's daughter, also remembered how her father's paranoia grew during
this time. Things took a strange turn when a woman
named Tony Beeler, who worked at United Church Directories, came forward.
(34:46):
She reported that Bob had confided in her, expressing fears
that people were after him. Sadly, this crucial testimony was
never shared in the trial because, incredibly, the recordings of
her interview with investigators were mysteriously lost. Adding to the intrigue,
a man named Eric Dawson, who was connected to the
(35:07):
same bank in financial dealings, was murdered in a manner
very similar to Bob's. Eric had become friends with Philip Hawley,
and after his disappearance, it was discovered that Philip had
forged documents and engaged in various fraudulent activities, including misrepresenting
financial transactions. Eric's body was found months after his disappearance,
(35:29):
and authorities eventually uncovered a complex web of financial crimes
tied to Philip and his family. Despite an extensive investigation,
Philip was only convicted of forgery and theft, while his
family members received little to no punishment. Even more suspicious
was the fact that Philip Hawley was the beneficiary of
(35:50):
a life insurance policy linked to a man named Harry Stewart,
who was later exposed as a non existent person. Pelly
had worked with Philip during this time, which raises serious
questions about why phil would have been the beneficiary of
such a policy. This case is filled with many unanswered questions.
(36:11):
Why were the guns never found, Why was Jeff not
allowed to testify in his own defense, could there have
been multiple people involved in the crime, and why are
their inconsistencies in the evidence, such as the claims about
the washed genes and missing shotguns. The new lawyer working
on Jeff's case has uncovered significant flaws in the original investigation,
(36:33):
suggesting that Jeff might have been wrongfully convicted. In twenty
twenty four, despite all this new evidence and a push
for a new trial, Jeff was denied for the fourth time.
Saint Joseph County Judge Stephanie Steele ruled that Jeff did
not meet the burden of proof needed for a new trial.
Speaker 4 (36:52):
Judge has denied Jeff Pelly's petition for a retrial. Pelly
was convicted of killing his father, stepmother, and two stepsisters
in Lakeville in nineteen eighty nine so he could attend
prime related activities. A three day hearing was held in
March of twenty twenty two to give Pelly's legal team
a chance to present new evidence in the case.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
When you think about it, if Jeff really were the killer,
he would have to be one seriously skilled assassin. Imagine
the level of expertise required for a seventeen year old
boy to take out two adults and two children, clean up,
and still have time to act like nothing happened, all
within fifteen minutes. And to top it off, he went
(37:32):
to prom that evening, laughing and having fun with friends.
The next morning, he was back at the park, seemingly unaffected.
This case is incredibly wild and raises more questions than answers.
It doesn't add up when you really break it down,
but I want to hear what you think. Do you
believe Jeff is innocent or do you think he's guilty
Lakeville, Indiana, a tiny town with fewer than nine hundred people.
Jeff and his family weren't ordinary folks in this town.
They were well known and played a significant role in
the community. But Jeff and his family didn't start their
story there. Jeff, whose full name is Robert Jeffrey Pelly,
was born on December tenth, nineteen seventy one, in Florence, Kentucky,
(00:24):
to his parents, Robert and Eva Pelly. As his name suggests,
Jeff was named after his father. A few years later,
Jeff became an older brother when the family welcomed a
second child, a daughter named Jacques. In nineteen eighty, when
Jeff was nine years old, the Pelly family packed their
bags and moved to Cape Coral, Florida. The reason for
(00:44):
the move was a new job opportunity for Bob, Jeff's father,
who had secured a position in computer programming at Landmark Bank. Now.
Jeff and Jacques were raised in a religious household where
going to church was a non negotiable part of life. Bob,
their father, was deeply committed to his faith and strict
when it came to discipline. Crying wasn't allowed, as Bob
(01:06):
believed it was a sign of weakness, a lesson he
carried over from his own upbringing. However, the kids found
comfort in their mother, Eva, who provided them with a
space to show their emotions. But life took a heartbreaking
turn in February nineteen eighty five when Eva passed away
from skin cancer. She had refused treatment and her health
(01:27):
rapidly declined, eventually leaving her in a coma. For Jeff
and Jacques, losing their mother was devastating and their family's
dynamic was forever changed. This was evident just a few
months after Eva's death when Bob met a twenty seven
year old woman named Don Huber. Don had also experienced loss,
having recently lost her significant other. The two were introduced
(01:50):
through Bob's cousin, Katie, who was also Don's best friend.
Their connection was quick, and within nine months of Eva's passing,
Bob and married in a small church ceremony in Ohio. However,
this union wasn't exactly a happy occasion for everyone. Jeff
and Jack weren't even invited to the wedding, although Down's
(02:12):
three daughters, five year old Jessica, four year old Janelle,
and two year old Jolene were present, By nineteen eighty six,
the newly blended family made a fresh start in the
tiny town of Lakeville, Indiana. Bob believed he had been
called to ministry and accepted a position at the Olive
Branch United Brethren Church. This was no mega church. It
(02:35):
was a humble congregation of just forty to fifty members.
The job offered a modest salary of thirteen hundred dollars
a month, which, when adjusted for inflation, would be about
three thousand, seven hundred to four thousand dollars per month
in today's money. What made the deal sweeter was the
free housing, a parsonage provided by the church, situated conveniently
(02:58):
right across the street. After moving, Jeff began attending Laville
Junior Senior High School, where he quickly became well liked
by his peers. He also got a part time job
at mc donald's, further cementing his place in the community.
Around this time, he started dating a girl named Darla,
and from the outside, it seemed like life was finally
(03:20):
settling down for the Pellies in their new town. However,
just like any true crime story, life has also a
way of taking a shocking turn when you least expected.
A few years later, something unimaginable happened that would forever
change the Pelly family story. On Sunday, April thirtieth, nineteen
(03:41):
eighty nine, Dave, a member of the Olive Branch United
Brethren Church, was responsible for making sure everyone showed up
for the service on time. At around nine fifteen in
the morning, he noticed something unusual. Pastor Bob and his
family were nowhere to be found. Bob, who ran the church,
(04:02):
was always there before nine. This was highly out of
character for him. Around the same time, an eleven year
old girl named Stephanie, who was friends with the Pelly children,
went over to the family's parsonage. This was a regular
Sunday routine for her, but when she got to the
back door of the garage, she was surprised to find
(04:23):
it locked. Thinking something was odd, she tried the sliding
glass door at the back, but that was locked too. Confused,
Stephanie ran back to the church, thinking she had simply
missed them. She told her father Henry, about what happened,
and together with Dave, they started wondering if the Pelly
family might have just overslept. By nine thirty, Dave asked
(04:47):
a young church member to step in and lead the
service while he tried to figure out where Pastor Bob was.
He walked over to the Pelly's parsonage and knocked on
both the front and back doors, but there was no answer.
All the blinds were drawn and the curtains were shut tight,
leaving Dave unable to see anything inside. Feeling uneasy, he
(05:09):
returned to the church and sat in the back row,
but something didn't sit right with him. Minutes later, he
and another church member decided to try a spare key
to gain access to the house. Unfortunately, the key didn't fit.
Just then, Lydia easterday, another church member saw them struggling
and offered them another key, one belonging to her husband,
(05:32):
a staff member of the church. Dave tried the back
door first, but it didn't work. He then moved to
the front door, and, to his relief, the key turned.
And what he saw in that hallway would haunt him forever.
The first thing he noticed was Bob's eyeglasses lying on
the carpet. As he stepped closer to the glasses, he
(05:53):
looked to his left and froze. There on the floor
was Bob, face down in a pool of blood. Panic
set in. Dave rushed to the back door, letting the
other church members inside. He told them to call nine
one one immediately. As he continued to survey the house,
he spotted the stairs leading down to the basement. He
(06:13):
peered down and saw two small feet clad in white socks.
His heart sank. He knew it was one of the children.
The dim lighting made it hard to see, but the
unmistakable feeling of dread overtook him. Soon paramedics arrived, Dave
quickly told them not to touch anything, as he suspected
a murder had taken place. They turned on the light
(06:36):
and the scene would soon reveal a chilling truth.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
The Sunday after prom night in April nineteen eighty nine,
parishioners with Lakeville's Alive Branch Church found their minister and
his family dead on the floor of the church parsonage.
Reverend Robert Pelly was found with two bullet holes in
his body. His wife, Dawn was found entwined with the
bodies of her two young daughters, Janelle eight and Jolene's.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
This tragedy was truly horrific, and as you might recall,
there were seven members of the Pelly family so with
four of them found dead, the search for the remaining
three children was on. It turns out, though, that three
of the children weren't even home that morning. Jessica, the
nine year old daughter of Dawn, had spent the night
at a friend's house. When her friend's mother drove her
(07:23):
back to the parsonage that morning, they arrived to see
yellow caution tape surrounding their home. Jessica immediately sensed something
was terribly wrong, and her worst fears were confirmed when
she learned what had happened to her family. But there
was still the question of where Pastor Bob's other two
children were. Jacques, aged fourteen, was about an hour and
(07:47):
a half away at Huntington College, visiting friends from a
church camp. The situation surrounding Jacques's return was strange. A
bishop from their church came to pick her up, but
he didn't tell her anything about the tragedy that had
just unfolded at home. Jacques was completely blindsided when she
arrived home and learned of the devastating news. Jeff, the
(08:10):
seventeen year old son of Pastor Bob, was also nowhere
to be found. Detectives later learned he had been at
six Flags Great America, a theme park in Gurney, Illinois.
They pieced this together from Jessica, who mentioned it during
the investigation. Now, tracking Jeff down wasn't as difficult as
it seemed, though. He and his girlfriend Darla, along with
(08:33):
a group of friends, had spent the day at the park.
While standing in line for a ride, Jeff started to
feel something wasn't quite right. It was a nagging sensation,
one that he couldn't explain, but he couldn't shake it.
He turned to Darla and confided in her, saying he
thought something bad had happened, though he couldn't quite put
his finger on it. Darla tried to dismiss his concerns,
(08:56):
but Jeff's uneasy feeling only grew stronger. Before long, the
police arrived at Six Flags, and they separated Jeff and
Darla from their friends. They began to interview everyone about
Jeff's whereabouts the night before, trying to piece together his movements.
Jeff was interrogated right after this with his grandparents, and
there's actually a clip of him being questioned, was.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
There anybody in that family you really didn't get along with?
Speaker 1 (09:22):
How about your stepmother?
Speaker 3 (09:24):
We didn't get along real well. I mean we talked
high by type thing, but we never really talked to
each other or anything. I mean I didn't I didn't
hate her anything, but we just we we tolerated each other.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
And how about your stepsisters.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Which once, uh all three of 'em? What about him? Oh,
I get along with the girls grade. I just love
the girls. Did you and your dad get in any
arguments Saturday? No, we had a real good day Saturday.
We got along real well. What do you mean you
dead a real good day Saturday? We didn't argue at all.
He was really He said that I'd been doing a
(10:07):
pretty good job of shaping up and everything. So do
you know who killed your mother, father or your father?
And no, I really don't. I don't know who would
want to.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Did you have anything to do with it?
Speaker 3 (10:23):
No? I didn't. No, I didn't. I me and my
father didn't get in love. Sometimes sometimes I'd be really
upset with him, but we always work things out.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
As you can tell from the clip, the tension in
the air was palpable right from the start. The police
were cautious around Jeff, and their suspicion was undeniable. It
was clear to them that something wasn't adding up, and
they began to focus their attention on him. The reason
for their suspicion, according to the investigators, Jeff's relationship with
(10:58):
his family was anything but simple. By the way, I
post true crime and new cases here every week, So
if that sounds like your kind of thing, please consider subscribing.
It helps a lot, as it turns out. When Bob
and Dawn married, Bob had hoped that Jeff and Jacques,
his children from his first marriage, would accept Don as
(11:20):
their new mother, but that was a lot to ask,
especially since their real mother had passed away less than
a year earlier. For Jeff and Jacques, moving on from
their mother was impossible. They couldn't just forget her, and
that resistance created a rift in the family that would
only deepen over time. To make matters worse, Jeff and
(11:41):
Jacques didn't agree with the way Dawn was raising her daughters.
The differences in parenting styles caused friction at home, and
Jeff in particular, was growing more distant from his father
and the new family dynamics. According to their neighbors, Jeff
had become something of an outcast within his own family.
He didn't fit in and it seemed like he was
(12:02):
always on the outside looking in, but that wasn't all.
Six weeks before the tragic events, Jeff found himself in
serious trouble. He was arrested for stealing CDs and cash
from a neighbor named John. The crime itself was bad enough,
but the aftermath was even more telling. John chose not
(12:23):
to press charges, but instead they worked out a deal. This, however,
didn't sit well with Bob. His anger was palpable, and
as a form of punishment, Bob decided that Jeff wouldn't
be allowed to attend prom. That was a big deal
for a seventeen year old, and it was a blow
to Jeff's social life. Bob didn't stop there. He openly
(12:45):
shared Jeff's behavior problems with others at church, further isolating
Jeff from the rest of the community. It was clear
that Bob was frustrated with his son, and this tension
only seemed to escalate. To add insult to injury, Bob
even took matters into his own hands by removing some
of Jeff's belongings from his car, including his car keys.
(13:06):
The car in question was a nineteen eighty four silver
Ford Mustang, a flashy, attention grabbing vehicle that was hard
to miss. By taking the keys, Bob essentially grounded Jeff,
restricting his freedom even more. With all these factors at play,
the police's suspicion of Jeff only grew stronger. They couldn't
help but wonder if his frustration and anger had led
(13:28):
him to do something unforgivable, and after that tense interview,
they began to focus their attention entirely on him, trying
to find any clue that would tie him to the crime.
But here's where things start to get tricky. There are
a lot of discrepancies and oddities in this case that
really make you question whether Jeff was actually involved. Let's
(13:49):
start with the first major contradiction. Jeff wasn't originally allowed
to attend prom a decision Bob had made as punishment
for his previous transgressions, But then, surprisingly, Bob had a
change of heart and allowed Jeff to go. According to
both Jeff and his sister Jock, Bob could be harsh
when doling out punishments. However, once Bob had cooled down,
(14:12):
he would often reduce the severity of his punishments, and
this instance was no different. Jeff's prom night was not
a typical rebellious teenagers outing, though, and that's where things
began to get murky. At the crime scene, detectives discovered
some curious items. Among the usual evidence things like carpet fibers, walls,
and bullet fragments, was something far more intriguing. A set
(14:37):
of keys was found in a trash barrel outside the house.
But it wasn't just any set of keys. Attached to
them was a heart shaped locket, and inside the locket
was a photo of a man and a woman. Strangely,
the investigators paid little attention to this, and they didn't
even photograph the item for evidence. What could this locket mean?
(14:59):
Who were the people in the photo? These questions were
left unanswered, adding to the growing list of oddities. Other
peculiarities emerged as well. On Jeff's bed, they discovered a
photo book filled with pictures of his life from the
first seven years. At first, this seemed like a normal
childhood album, but as time went on it became an
(15:22):
odd clue. It was as though Jeff had been looking
back on his early memories, particularly when his mom was
still alive and his dad wasn't remarried. Could this have
stirred up intense emotions that led to the violence. The
police also found a load of laundry in the house,
freshly washed that same day, and it only contained Jeff's clothes.
(15:45):
This raised suspicions was Jeff trying to cover up something.
Some speculated that he might have been revisiting his memories
when he lost control, perhaps in a fit of rage,
and murdered his family before quickly cleaning up. But there
was something much more puzzling that wasn't found at the
crime scene. Despite the brutal killings, there was no sign
(16:07):
of the weapon that caused all the destruction. There was
no twenty gage shotgun, no shell casings, and no indication
of where the weapon had gone. The Pelly family had
indeed owned a Mossburg five hundred twenty gage shotgun, which
Bob had purchased in December nineteen eighty seven. Bob traded
a forty four caliber handgun and ninety dollars to acquire
(16:29):
the gun, which he had planned to give Jeff as
a Christmas gift, but by the time the authorities arrived
at the scene, the shotgun was missing. Even more strange
was the fact that it wasn't included in the list
of evidence, and no one could explain where it had gone.
Keep this in mind because this missing gun would become
a key detail in the mystery later on. And to
(16:51):
understand the timeline better, let's rewind to the day before
the murders, on April twenty ninth, nineteen eighty nine. At first,
everything seemed ordinary. Jeff worked a morning shift at McDonald's,
and later that day his father, Bob, stopped by a
gun store owned by Steve Diller. Bob didn't buy anything,
(17:13):
but he spent some time talking with the owner. Afterward,
he picked Jeff up from work and they headed home
to the parsonage. It was well known that Bob had
recently picked up a hobby photography. On that particular day,
he had scheduled a photo session with several couples, a
task he was excited about. Eyewitness accounts would later place
(17:36):
Bob at the parsonage before the tragic events unfolded. The
window of time in which the family was likely killed
was incredibly short, only about fifteen minutes between five ten
and five twenty five in the evening. A couple, Kim
and David, were some of the last people to see
the family alive. They had just finished taking photos with
(17:58):
Bob and were leaving the house around five o'clock. Another man,
Matt Miller, drove by the parsonage at five point fifteen
and noticed Jeff's Mustang still parked in the driveway. However,
when Kim and David passed by again at five thirty,
the scene had dramatically changed. Jeff's car was gone and
the family was nowhere to be seen. Meanwhile, another couple,
(18:22):
Cristel and her date, had a scheduled photo session with
Bob and his daughters at Cristel's house, but when Bob
and the girls didn't show up at the agreed time,
Cristel grew concerned. She decided to go over to the
parsonage herself. When she arrived with her date, they knocked
on the doors, but no one answered. All the cars
(18:44):
were parked in the driveway except for Jeff's Mustang, which
was missing. Based on these accounts, it seemed clear that
Jeff's car was gone by five thirty PM, which would
have been after the murders had occurred. However, some eyewitness
accounts didn't quite match. Kurt Schaeffer, a friend of Jeff's
and his cousin Ken saw Jeff leave the parsonage between
(19:07):
four forty five and five o'clock. Kurt even recognized the
distinct sound of Jeff's Mustang. Lewis, another neighbor, also saw
Bob around five o'clock talking to a man in a
black pickup truck. Bob was holding a shovel, and although
Lewis waved at him, he seemed distracted. Who was this
(19:27):
man in the black truck. No one knew, but perhaps
the most crucial sighting came from Dennis, a gas station clerk.
Dennis was working at an Amocho station just six minutes
from the parsonage. At five seventeen in the evening, he
saw Jeff pull in with his Mustang. Jeff was under
the hood of his car, wearing a black Hawaiian shirt
(19:49):
and blue jeans. Dennis remembered the time clearly because his
shift was supposed to end at five, but his replacement
was late. At five point twenty, Jeff entered the store
and used the phone to call his girlfriend, Darla. He
told her his car was idling too high and that
he was running late. After the call, Jeff returned outside
(20:11):
to continue working. On the car. By five thirty seven,
Jeff left the gas station and Dennis clocked out for
the day. From these accounts, if the Pelly family was
indeed murdered between five ten and five twenty five pm,
it seemed clear that Jeff had no involvement. Moving on,
(20:31):
Jeff later went to his friend Lynette Grier's house around
five forty five pm, a visit confirmed by his girlfriend Darla.
The two, along with Lynette and her date, went to
the Emporium restaurant at six fifteen pm to meet more friends.
At the restaurant, everyone said Jeff appeared perfectly normal, chatting, laughing,
(20:53):
and enjoying the evening like any teenager. Later that night,
Jeff attended prom and afterward went bowling. Witnesses at both
events described him as calm and collected, seemingly unaffected by
the horrific events that had occurred just hours before. If
he were indeed involved, he spent the night at a
friend's house and went to Six Flags the next morning,
(21:15):
carrying on as though nothing had happened. The police questioned
everyone who had been with him that day, but no
evidence connected him to the murders. His whereabouts were accounted
for and no clues tied him to the crime. As
a result, the case went cold and attention shifted away
from Jeff. Over the years, the surviving children, including Jeff,
(21:37):
grew up. He and his girlfriend went off to college,
while his sisters went to live with their grandparents and
in foster care. Unfortunately, Jeff's relationship didn't work out, and
he eventually moved back to Lakeville. However, his return to
his home town was anything but easy. Since the murders,
most people still viewed him with suspicion, pointing fingers at
(22:00):
him as the prime suspect. The constant whispers and judgment
weighed heavily on him, and as a result, Jeff decided
to leave Lakeville behind for a fresh start. Seeking a
new beginning, Jeff relocated to Fort Myers, Florida, where he
started working in the credit bureau business owned by a
longtime family friend, Philip Hawley. The Hawley family welcomed him
(22:22):
as one of their own, and Jeff eventually married Philip's niece, Kim.
It seemed like life was moving forward for Jeff, and
for a while, things appeared to settle down. However, the
shadow of the past was never far behind. Years after
the tragic deaths of his family, Jeff and his sisters
were each left inheritance money from their parents estate. Jeff
(22:46):
was set to inherit forty eight thousand dollars, while his
sisters would receive sixty five thousand dollars each, but there
was a catch. They couldn't access the funds until they
turned twenty three. Desperate for the money, Jeff became fixated
on getting his hands on it sooner, and he came
up with a plan. He told a story about having
skin cancer and needing surgery to make it seem real.
(23:09):
He even forged medical papers, but his plan didn't work.
The names on the documents didn't match the hospital staff,
and it became clear he was lying. The FBI, who
had been investigating the Pelly family case, got involved. They
tracked Jeff down for trying to deceive them. In the end,
Jeff was charged with wire fraud. He didn't go to prison,
(23:33):
but he was sentenced to probation. The charge was a
lighter one, but it still made his reputation even worse.
After all the trouble with the fraud charges, Jeff shifted
his focus to something else, computers. He managed to land
a job as an international consultant for the well known
company IBM. Things seemed to take a turn for the better.
(23:57):
He and his wife, Kim, had a son and moved
to Dade City, Florida. They bought a beautiful house that
was worth around five hundred thousand dollars. For a while,
it seemed like Jeff was finally rebuilding his life. However,
things weren't as perfect as they appeared on the surface.
In nineteen ninety seven, Jeff and Kim filed for divorce,
(24:20):
though they later reconciled and got back together. Despite all this,
the shadow of the Pelly family murders still followed Jeff
wherever he went, leaving him with a tarnished reputation that
wouldn't go away. By the year two thousand, the county
prosecutor in Lakeville had changed. A new prosecutor named Chris
Toth took over. He was determined to reopen cold cases,
(24:44):
hoping to bring justice to victims like the Pelly family.
He put together a fresh team of investigators and assigned
Detective Craig Whitfield to take charge of the case. Craig's
first step was to track down Jeff's two surviving sisters,
Jack and Jessica. Jessica, the only surviving child of Dawn,
who now goes by the name Jesse, had been disconnected
(25:07):
from the rest of the family for years. She had
spent a lot of time in foster care and struggled
with substance abuse. By the time Craig interviewed her, Jesse
had two children of her own, and she wasn't really
in touch with her siblings anymore. During their conversation, Jesse
revealed something shocking. She had once believed her father, Bob,
(25:30):
was responsible for the murders, but as she got older,
she found out that Jeff was actually being looked at
as the prime suspect. Jesse remembered an unsettling conversation she
had with Jeff when she was just fifteen years old,
six years after the murders. Jeff invited her to visit
him and his new wife in Florida, and while she
(25:51):
was there, he asked her who do you think did it. Jesse,
still thinking it was their father, replied, your dad. To
her surprise, Jeff simply said okay. At the time, Jesse
didn't think much of it, but looking back, she realized
that Jeff might have asked that question because he was
worried she might suspect him. After that, Craig interviewed Jacques,
(26:15):
but she came with a lawyer by her side, worried
that her words might be twisted or misinterpreted. Jacques was
becoming more convinced that Jeff was the only possible suspect.
The detectives were desperate to find solid proof to link
him to the murders, so they started focusing on the
laundry found at the crime scene. According to Craig Whitfield,
(26:38):
the lead investigator on the case, he explained that a
dark and pink striped shirt, a pair of blue jeans,
and two white socks were found packed inside an Anni's
Finer Foods bag. Inside one of the pockets of the Jenes,
the FBI discovered thirty four coins and a dollar, which
added up to a total of one dollar and fifty cents,
(26:59):
along with the receipt from Anna's grocery store. Craig believed
that the jenes being found in the washer was suspicious
and could be probable cause to arrest Jeff. He thought
that Jeff had likely left the money and received in
the jeans because he was distracted and in a rush
to take them off forgetting they were there. However, a
pair of blue jeans was never found in the washing machine,
(27:22):
only a shirt and socks. In fact, not a single
detective or officer involved in the case ever said they
personally handled a pair of blue jeans. Jeff was wearing
blue jeans when he went to Lynette's house before prom
so it was strange that they weren't found. Another issue
raised was that no officer ever went to Anna's grocery
(27:44):
to confirm whether Jeff had been there. No one came
forward to say they had personally seen him there. It
seemed likely that the jeans were never washed and were
not found in the washing machine with the shirt and socks. Instead,
Jeff's clothes that were found in the back of his Mustang,
including a Hawaiian shirt, may have been mixed with the
other evidence. Craig then wrote up a probable cause statement
(28:06):
for Jeff's arrest, and the newly elected prosecutor approved the warrant.
On August tenth of two thousand and two, thirteen years
after Jeff's family was brutally taken from this world, he
was arrested on four counts of first degree murder. Craig
accompanied by a SWAT team, went to surround Jeff's house,
but he wasn't home. Jeff, now thirty years old, was
(28:29):
in Los Angeles after returning from a work trip to Australia.
While at the airport, customs detained him because a warrant
for his arrest had been issued. Jeff was now going
to fight a battle in court, and his apparent motive
was that he wasn't allowed to go to prom Jeff's sister, Jacques,
and his wife Kim found a defense attorney named Alan Baum.
(28:50):
Allan had never heard of the case before, but he
agreed to take on Jeff's defense. His first move was
to try to get Jeff bond, but this wasn't successful
because as Jeff was considered a flight risk. From two
thousand and three to two thousand and six, there were
multiple delays in the trial. Allan kept trying to get
the case thrown out, arguing that Jeff's right to a
(29:12):
speedy trial had been violated. Jeff was eventually released on
bond for most of two thousand and five. In two
thousand and six, it was finally time for the trial.
The lead prosecutor, Frank Schaeffer, argued that Jeff was responsible
for the murders, even though there was almost no concrete
evidence linking him to the crime. Alan, on the other hand,
(29:35):
argued that the police investigation had been flawed and they
had focused too much on Jeff without considering other possibilities.
Both of Jeff's remaining siblings, Jacques and Jesse, took the stand,
and they had different things to say. Jesse testified that
she had seen the twenty gage shotgun hanging in her
parents' bedroom before she left for her sleepover, but Jack
(29:59):
said that the shotg had been removed the year before,
along with all other firearms in the house. Jeff had
mentioned this during his police interrogation as well, explaining that
their father, Bob, decided to get rid of the firearms
in the house because he didn't think Jeff was safe
around them. Bob had given the guns to a man
(30:20):
named Thomas Kebb. Thomas had stored a bag containing the shotgun,
a rifle, and a pistol at his in law's house
in their basement. The strange part was that investigators never
spoke to Thomas or asked for the guns. Allen, the
defense attorney, chose not to use Thomas as a witness
(30:40):
because he believed that Jeff's mental state during that time
might have influenced the jury's decision. On the other hand,
the prosecution didn't want to call Thomas because they feared
it would weaken their case against Jeff. Additionally, Jesse testified
that her mom told her Jeff was going to Six
Flags Great America, which Ellen believed could raise doubts about
(31:01):
Jeff's involvement, as it seemed like he had permission to
go to prom, so why would he kill his family. Additionally,
remember Dave, the man who first discovered the crime scene. Initially,
he said the blood at the scene was still wet,
implying the deaths had happened not long before. But when
Dave testified in two thousand and six, he switched his story,
(31:25):
saying the blood was actually dry. There were also wet
washcloths found nearby, and Alan, Jeff's lawyer, brought in an
expert to show that washcloths would have been dry after
about twelve hours. However, because the experiments were conducted in Arizona,
the court didn't accept the results. Even more suspicious, no
(31:45):
blood traces were found on Jeff's genes, and Alan argued
that Jeff wouldn't have had enough time to carry out
the crime in under fifteen minutes. After all, Jeff was
just seventeen years old at the time. Most teens wouldn't
have been able to clean up a crime scene that quickly,
especially since, according to everyone who knew him, Jeff didn't
act strangely after those minutes. Another piece of strange evidence
(32:08):
came from Bob's stomach, where they found popcorn kernels. Jacques,
Jeff's biological sister, testified that Bob had a habit of
eating popcorn every night between seven and eight pm, usually
after he put the girls to bed. In fact, a
bowl of popcorn was found on Bob's desk, suggesting he
had time to make and eat it before the crime
(32:30):
took place. There were also two different types of shotgun
shells found at the scene, plastic in paper, leading Alan
to suggest that either two shooters or two different shotguns
were involved. On top of that, the Mossburg five hundred
shotgun found in the Pelley house could only hold five rounds,
but six shots were fired, casting more doubt on Jeff
(32:53):
being the sole perpetrator. Now, Jeff never took the stand
in his defense, as his lawyers believed it would be
too risky. On July twenty second, two thousand and six,
he was convicted on all charges, and on October seventeenth,
he was sentenced to one hundred and sixty years in prison.
Some like Jeff's stepsister Jesse, felt relieved by the conviction,
(33:16):
but the story didn't end there. A new lawyer, Francis Watson,
has been tirelessly working to prove that Jeff was wrongfully convicted.
Watson has uncovered evidence that Jeff's original lawyer, Allan, didn't
do his job properly during the trial. He believes the
prosecution lied about the Jenes, claiming they had been washed
when they weren't, and that the lack of blood on
(33:38):
Jeff supports his innocence. Watson also argues that Jeff's right
to a speedy trial was violated, adding another layer to
the case. A major new twist in the case involves
Bob's connection to a man named Philip Hawley, who also
had ties to Jeff when he left Lakeville. In fact,
Philip maybe the reason Bob and his family were tragedy killed.
(34:01):
Bob worked at Landmark Bank in Florida and had a
close working relationship with Philip, who was Bob's supervisor. Philip
was deeply involved in handling large financial transactions at the bank,
and it turns out Bob discovered some serious financial fraud
happening among his closest friends. This revelation left Bob terrified
(34:22):
for his life. Pastor Michael Ross testified that Bob sought
him out for advice about his fears, telling him he
was worried for the safety of his family. Jacques Pelly,
Bob's daughter, also remembered how her father's paranoia grew during
this time. Things took a strange turn when a woman
named Tony Beeler, who worked at United Church Directories, came forward.
(34:46):
She reported that Bob had confided in her, expressing fears
that people were after him. Sadly, this crucial testimony was
never shared in the trial because, incredibly, the recordings of
her interview with investigators were mysteriously lost. Adding to the intrigue,
a man named Eric Dawson, who was connected to the
(35:07):
same bank in financial dealings, was murdered in a manner
very similar to Bob's. Eric had become friends with Philip Hawley,
and after his disappearance, it was discovered that Philip had
forged documents and engaged in various fraudulent activities, including misrepresenting
financial transactions. Eric's body was found months after his disappearance,
(35:29):
and authorities eventually uncovered a complex web of financial crimes
tied to Philip and his family. Despite an extensive investigation,
Philip was only convicted of forgery and theft, while his
family members received little to no punishment. Even more suspicious
was the fact that Philip Hawley was the beneficiary of
(35:50):
a life insurance policy linked to a man named Harry Stewart,
who was later exposed as a non existent person. Pelly
had worked with Philip during this time, which raises serious
questions about why phil would have been the beneficiary of
such a policy. This case is filled with many unanswered questions.
(36:11):
Why were the guns never found, Why was Jeff not
allowed to testify in his own defense, could there have
been multiple people involved in the crime, and why are
their inconsistencies in the evidence, such as the claims about
the washed genes and missing shotguns. The new lawyer working
on Jeff's case has uncovered significant flaws in the original investigation,
(36:33):
suggesting that Jeff might have been wrongfully convicted. In twenty
twenty four, despite all this new evidence and a push
for a new trial, Jeff was denied for the fourth time.
Saint Joseph County Judge Stephanie Steele ruled that Jeff did
not meet the burden of proof needed for a new trial.
Speaker 4 (36:52):
Judge has denied Jeff Pelly's petition for a retrial. Pelly
was convicted of killing his father, stepmother, and two stepsisters
in Lakeville in nineteen eighty nine so he could attend
prime related activities. A three day hearing was held in
March of twenty twenty two to give Pelly's legal team
a chance to present new evidence in the case.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
When you think about it, if Jeff really were the killer,
he would have to be one seriously skilled assassin. Imagine
the level of expertise required for a seventeen year old
boy to take out two adults and two children, clean up,
and still have time to act like nothing happened, all
within fifteen minutes. And to top it off, he went
(37:32):
to prom that evening, laughing and having fun with friends.
The next morning, he was back at the park, seemingly unaffected.
This case is incredibly wild and raises more questions than answers.
It doesn't add up when you really break it down,
but I want to hear what you think. Do you
believe Jeff is innocent or do you think he's guilty
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