Latest / Wicked and Grim: A True Crime Podcast / Nancy Marie Bennallack - Solved Cold Case
Transcript
- 0:07Speaker 1: It's always good news when a cold case gets solved.
- 0:10Speaker 1: With the advancements and technology over the past several decades,
- 0:14Speaker 1: it has given investigators the edge they need to finally
- 0:17Speaker 1: bring many individuals to justice. Today we discuss a case
- 0:22Speaker 1: that was cold without any leads for over fifty years,
- 0:27Speaker 1: until finally genetic genealogy gave investigators the information they needed
- 0:32Speaker 1: to identify the attacker who took a woman's life in
- 0:35Speaker 1: cold blood all those years ago. This is the story
- 0:39Speaker 1: of Nancy Marie Benelac.
- 0:43Speaker 2: My name's Ben, I'm Nicole, and you're listening to Wicked
- 0:46Speaker 2: and Grim, a true crime podcast.
- 0:51Speaker 1: The following podcast material intended for your audience listener discretion.
- 1:18Speaker 1: Is it just me or did that feel like a
- 1:20Speaker 1: weird intro coming off of Halloween Week?
- 1:22Speaker 2: It did a little. It was almost I don't know
- 1:25Speaker 2: what would be that, like, I'm climactic, really.
- 1:28Speaker 1: I guess because Jacko during Halloween week certainly has a flare.
- 1:33Speaker 1: I don't so, I don't know how to say it.
- 1:36Speaker 2: Yes, you do, well, thank you. You're wearing your Jacko
- 1:40Speaker 2: shirt though, Hey, I am you're feeling you're feeling kind
- 1:43Speaker 2: of in the blues or whatever that Jacko wasn't here,
- 1:46Speaker 2: so you're representing only your shirt.
- 1:48Speaker 1: I'm just still in the Halloween spirit through and through
- 1:50Speaker 1: Jacko vibes, Halloween Week, vibes, Halloween, just all of it.
- 1:54Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a good week. It was really good.
- 1:56Speaker 1: It was. Honestly though, we're driving around town yesterday, we
- 2:00Speaker 1: were already see Christmas lights up.
- 2:01Speaker 2: Yeah you even saw a Christmas tree? Yeah?
- 2:04Speaker 1: I did. In someone's window in their house was a
- 2:06Speaker 1: fucking Christmas tree. And that was just like a couple
- 2:09Speaker 1: days after Halloween. That was That would have been November.
- 2:12Speaker 1: I think it was November second, actually, not the third.
- 2:15Speaker 1: I think it was the second I saw the Christmas tree,
- 2:17Speaker 1: which is nuts.
- 2:18Speaker 2: Well, I don't know I did, oh man. Someone shared
- 2:21Speaker 2: something I can't remember exactly what it was, but it
- 2:23Speaker 2: was like put your down tree up, like the world's
- 2:25Speaker 2: weird enough anyway, or something like just like do what
- 2:28Speaker 2: you want kind.
- 2:29Speaker 1: Of oha, no fair enough, go for it, celebrate. But
- 2:31Speaker 1: for me, it's like, who the fuck has the time
- 2:34Speaker 1: to get that shit done? Only that like in that
- 2:37Speaker 1: short of window. Afterwards, well maybe they even had it
- 2:40Speaker 1: up before.
- 2:41Speaker 2: But also I feel like I personally would get sick
- 2:44Speaker 2: of Christmas to core up that long. I would too,
- 2:47Speaker 2: Like I think usually even if we put it up
- 2:50Speaker 2: in December, like by you know, Christmas, I'm like, okay,
- 2:53Speaker 2: I'm done with like this extra clutter and stuff everywhere.
- 2:56Speaker 1: Me too. And then you like put all the stuff
- 2:57Speaker 1: away and your house seems like so empty and lean,
- 3:00Speaker 1: and it's like whoa. Yeah, No, I don't judge those
- 3:04Speaker 1: who put their decorations up, but wow, wow, I just
- 3:07Speaker 1: hit Pubert. Did you hear that I did? Yeah? But
- 3:11Speaker 1: for me, it's like an internal scream because it's just
- 3:13Speaker 1: like I could never. It's not that I judge you,
- 3:17Speaker 1: it's just if I were you, I could never.
- 3:21Speaker 2: You know, Well, maybe they are as obsessed with Christmas
- 3:26Speaker 2: as you are with Halloween.
- 3:28Speaker 1: Yeah, fly at it right. Like I said, I don't
- 3:30Speaker 1: um be. But we do want to talk about one
- 3:32Speaker 1: more thing about Halloween Week before we move on. We
- 3:35Speaker 1: actually had a record breaking twenty four hours.
- 3:40Speaker 2: We did, yes.
- 3:41Speaker 1: So we talked about it a little bit over on Patreon.
- 3:44Speaker 1: But leading up to Halloween Week, I think our record
- 3:48Speaker 1: was somewhere around like it was almost eight thousand downloads
- 3:52Speaker 1: in a twenty four hour period. Then Halloween Week came
- 3:55Speaker 1: around and it was nine thousand downloads in a twenty
- 3:57Speaker 1: four hour period, and then finally the climactic Halloween Week
- 4:02Speaker 1: moment came and we reached over ten thousand downloads in
- 4:05Speaker 1: a twenty four hour period. Wild So thank you guys
- 4:09Speaker 1: so much for tuning in to all the new listeners,
- 4:11Speaker 1: all the people binging you guys are amazing. Thank you,
- 4:15Speaker 1: thank you, thank.
- 4:16Speaker 2: You seriously, like you just keep blowing us away, you do.
- 4:20Speaker 1: And we also have to thank our patrons as well
- 4:22Speaker 1: over on Patreon. So we haven't thanked anyone for the
- 4:25Speaker 1: last weeks. We got a few to thank here, So
- 4:27Speaker 1: thank you to Emily Beth Melville, Katrina Jones, Bethany Tarnowski,
- 4:34Speaker 1: Holly i'se sorry, I got a list of scrolling through here,
- 4:39Speaker 1: Leanne Bednard's and Aaron McCook and Pat Slick. Thank you
- 4:45Speaker 1: very much for signing up over in Patreon.
- 4:47Speaker 2: Nice.
- 4:47Speaker 1: They got an additional like three episodes in a row
- 4:49Speaker 1: after Halloween, Yeah, which is amazing.
- 4:51Speaker 2: It went on a little longer for them.
- 4:54Speaker 1: Speaking of going on, I think we've gone on long enough.
- 4:57Speaker 1: Are you ready for this case?
- 4:58Speaker 2: I think so?
- 4:59Speaker 1: Thanks?
- 5:00Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I love it. I love it when
- 5:02Speaker 2: like cases get solved like this. Well, so it would
- 5:05Speaker 2: be so awesome if it didn't take fifty years. But
- 5:08Speaker 2: still it's just like.
- 5:09Speaker 1: Yes, well, it's like one of those situations where people
- 5:12Speaker 1: almost give up hope that it's ever going to be solved. Yeah,
- 5:16Speaker 1: and then something comes to light and it's just incredible.
- 5:20Speaker 1: It makes it all that much sweeter that justice has served,
- 5:23Speaker 1: you know.
- 5:23Speaker 2: Yeah, because the because like the person was that close
- 5:26Speaker 2: to getting away with it really.
- 5:27Speaker 1: Exactly, and they probably thought they had gotten away with it.
- 5:30Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 5:30Speaker 1: But anyways, we got a story to talk about today,
- 5:32Speaker 1: and this is a story of Nancy Marie benelec So.
- 5:36Speaker 1: Nancy was a smart, hard working woman who brought energy
- 5:39Speaker 1: and warmth wherever she went. She was born in nineteen
- 5:42Speaker 1: forty two and she grew up living in Grass Valley, California.
- 5:46Speaker 1: She attended Hennessy School and later Nevada Union High School.
- 5:50Speaker 1: Nancy was driven and stood out from a young age.
- 5:53Speaker 1: She had a full life with full of active activities
- 5:57Speaker 1: in her young years, marked by a range of interests
- 6:00Speaker 1: and talents and all across the board, really just experiencing
- 6:03Speaker 1: everything she could. In her younger years, she was an
- 6:06Speaker 1: avid athlete who shined in both softball and was a
- 6:11Speaker 1: song leader, showcasing her energy and team spirit. Not only
- 6:14Speaker 1: that she was quite a slim, slim girl, but she
- 6:17Speaker 1: also could out eat a lot of people.
- 6:19Speaker 2: Apparently.
- 6:20Speaker 1: Yeah, just like devouring tacos. Apparently like out eating her
- 6:23Speaker 1: dad and stuff. Oh yeah. She also loved time, spending
- 6:29Speaker 1: time bowling at the Gold Bowl in Grass Valley, where
- 6:32Speaker 1: she had a fun, competing and socializing atmosphere to go
- 6:35Speaker 1: along with it. Now, according to her sister, despite her frame,
- 6:39Speaker 1: oh sorry, I already mentioned this part, I got it
- 6:40Speaker 1: to it early that she had quite the appetite.
- 6:44Speaker 2: Now.
- 6:44Speaker 1: After high school, Nancy pursued her passion for beauty and
- 6:47Speaker 1: style and attended beauty school. She spent a couple of
- 6:50Speaker 1: years working in the Beauty Corral, a popular spot located
- 6:54Speaker 1: at the intersection of Neil and South Auburn Street, but
- 6:57Speaker 1: where she built Sorry, this is where she built connections
- 6:59Speaker 1: with clients and honed her skills. But her sense of
- 7:03Speaker 1: adventure led her to a trip to Hawaii with a friend,
- 7:06Speaker 1: where she worked as a hairstylist and embraced the island life,
- 7:09Speaker 1: before eventually returning to California to continue her journey. So
- 7:13Speaker 1: she's doing her thing, you know, with all this like
- 7:16Speaker 1: styling and beauty and all that, takes it abroad, still
- 7:19Speaker 1: doing great with it, and then returns home. But eventually
- 7:22Speaker 1: her career path would take a turning point. She turned
- 7:25Speaker 1: away from the beauty industry and her new job was
- 7:28Speaker 1: now as a court reporter, and it was a perfect
- 7:31Speaker 1: fit for her sharp mind and attention to detail. Nancy
- 7:36Speaker 1: was really good at what she did and was respected
- 7:38Speaker 1: by everyone she worked with. So, to put it lightly,
- 7:42Speaker 1: Nancy was pretty much good at anything she did.
- 7:45Speaker 2: Yeah, it kind of sounds like that, so she's like.
- 7:48Speaker 1: You, Wow, I know, I'm not like that.
- 7:50Speaker 2: I feel like you're pretty much good at anything you
- 7:52Speaker 2: do as well.
- 7:53Speaker 1: I'm all right, I'm a jack of all trades type.
- 7:55Speaker 1: I can be good ish, decent ish at most things.
- 8:00Speaker 1: But I think she was like good at it all.
- 8:03Speaker 2: So that's yeah. I mean, yeah, that impresses me because
- 8:06Speaker 2: I feel like I'm the opposite. So well done.
- 8:09Speaker 1: It's difficult to be someone like that, but she Yeah. Now,
- 8:13Speaker 1: Outside of work, Nancy was known for being friendly and
- 8:15Speaker 1: full of life. She loved being around people and made
- 8:18Speaker 1: friends quite easily. Her laughter and stories always made social
- 8:21Speaker 1: gatherings more fun, and her friends loved how she could
- 8:24Speaker 1: make any moment feel special. To put it simply, if
- 8:27Speaker 1: you were to sum up Nancy as a person, she
- 8:29Speaker 1: was proud and had a way of making those around
- 8:31Speaker 1: her feel comfortable and appreciate it. Nancy's life was going perfect.
- 8:36Speaker 1: In fact, she had recently even gotten engaged to her
- 8:38Speaker 1: boyfriend by the name of Ferris Salome, and their relationship
- 8:43Speaker 1: was filled with excitement and plans for the future as well. Now,
- 8:46Speaker 1: Ferris was a County Chief's assistant public defender, and it
- 8:50Speaker 1: would have been through their paths crossing at work that
- 8:52Speaker 1: they would have met. And just like I mentioned, she
- 8:55Speaker 1: had no problems making friends and making those around her
- 8:58Speaker 1: feel appreciated. I'm sure it was quick and easy seduction
- 9:02Speaker 1: that she got Ferris, you know.
- 9:03Speaker 2: Oh yeah. And of course they were probably planning their
- 9:06Speaker 2: wedding right most.
- 9:07Speaker 1: Likely will being engaged and really were now, Nancy looked
- 9:11Speaker 1: forward to this new chapter with joy and hope, balancing
- 9:14Speaker 1: her work life and her personal life with enthusiasm basically,
- 9:19Speaker 1: But one day, Nancy and Ferris had plans to quote
- 9:21Speaker 1: that evening, they're going out for dinner. Like many other times,
- 9:24Speaker 1: they had before. It was October twenty fifth, nineteen seventy
- 9:28Speaker 1: when when she would return sorry to her apartment, and
- 9:32Speaker 1: this is where she lived alone. It was at the
- 9:35Speaker 1: Tahitan Apartments located on Bell Street. Now, Nancy's apartment reflected
- 9:40Speaker 1: who she was. Was organized, it was welcoming and filled
- 9:44Speaker 1: with little touches that showcased her personality. And after an
- 9:47Speaker 1: amazing evening with her fiance, Nancy crawled into bed and
- 9:51Speaker 1: went to sleep approximately at eleven thirty pm, which I mean,
- 9:55Speaker 1: props to her for having a night out like this,
- 9:58Speaker 1: because she did work the next morning. Oh yeah, I'm
- 10:01Speaker 1: the kind of person where I'm like, I want to
- 10:03Speaker 1: be in bed at nine o'clock if I need to
- 10:04Speaker 1: work tomorrow.
- 10:06Speaker 2: Oh man, well depends, I guess. Well, she probably had
- 10:09Speaker 2: early starts too, writ so she.
- 10:10Speaker 1: Probably did, but in this case, it wasn't too early,
- 10:13Speaker 1: So I mean, I can understand a bit. She was
- 10:14Speaker 1: scheduled to be at work by nine am.
- 10:17Speaker 2: Well, and she's young, Ben, you don't have that anymore.
- 10:19Speaker 1: That's true. Youth is not on my side anymore. Although
- 10:21Speaker 1: I did get id buying alcohol.
- 10:23Speaker 2: The other day, You did, you were pretty pumped. I
- 10:26Speaker 2: what did I say, did they look at you?
- 10:28Speaker 1: Yes, which, thanks for that.
- 10:30Speaker 2: Well, just mean because of your beard and stuff like.
- 10:33Speaker 2: You don't get id'd very often, that's for sure.
- 10:35Speaker 1: It was on Halloween and I was wearing a skeleton Onzie. Yes,
- 10:40Speaker 1: so I probably looked pretty juvenile.
- 10:42Speaker 2: Yeah, that made sense to me. After you explain that,
- 10:44Speaker 2: I was like, oh, okay, okay.
- 10:45Speaker 1: Still made me feel good. But yeah. Nancy was scheduled
- 10:48Speaker 1: to work at nine am, but she she never showed.
- 10:51Speaker 1: The clock ticked away, the minutes passed, and Nancy was
- 10:54Speaker 1: nowhere to be seen. It was extremely unlike her to
- 10:57Speaker 1: be late for work like this, and she never missed
- 10:59Speaker 1: a court date. A coworker and friend by the name
- 11:02Speaker 1: of Jolene Moncrief was looking to find out what was
- 11:05Speaker 1: going on, and she called Nancy's house but there was
- 11:08Speaker 1: no answer. Puzzled and concerned, Jolene phoned her son, Jack Moncreef,
- 11:13Speaker 1: to see if she could swing by Nancy's place to
- 11:15Speaker 1: check on her. Right. Like I mentioned, Joel and Nancy
- 11:20Speaker 1: were already kind of like friends as well as coworkers,
- 11:22Speaker 1: so I'm pretty sure Jack was already acquainted with who
- 11:25Speaker 1: Nancy was because of that. Yeah, So Jack agreed and
- 11:29Speaker 1: he made his way over. He approached the door and
- 11:31Speaker 1: rang her buzzer on the apartment, but there was no answer.
- 11:34Speaker 1: He rang it again, still no answer. Unsure of what
- 11:39Speaker 1: to do, Jack managed to find the apartment manager by
- 11:42Speaker 1: the name of Lyndon Anderson, and with his help, over
- 11:45Speaker 1: the concern of Nancy's safety, he grabbed a key and
- 11:48Speaker 1: they opened the apartment door.
- 11:50Speaker 2: Okay they did, Hey, they did.
- 11:53Speaker 1: Inside the silent apartment, they discovered a brutal and bloody scene.
- 12:00Speaker 1: She was found laying on the floor in her underwear
- 12:02Speaker 1: with blood everywhere.
- 12:04Speaker 2: Shit.
- 12:04Speaker 1: It was clear immediately that sometime in the night Nancy
- 12:08Speaker 1: was murdered.
- 12:09Speaker 2: What the hell because she was like tucked into bed. Yeah,
- 12:13Speaker 2: so how does that even happen?
- 12:14Speaker 1: I don't know.
- 12:15Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. Also, that poor mom sending her son, Hey, yeah,
- 12:22Speaker 2: didn't realize. I'm sure what she was sending her son
- 12:24Speaker 2: to witness in just terrible.
- 12:26Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks to the PTSD mom, so the situation.
- 12:29Speaker 2: My goodness. Yeah.
- 12:31Speaker 1: Now, the police were of course called immediately to the scene,
- 12:34Speaker 1: and the Sacramento Sheriff Department began their investigation. Among the
- 12:38Speaker 1: horrific scene was as it was being processed, Nancy's autopsy
- 12:42Speaker 1: found that she had been violently attacked and she was
- 12:44Speaker 1: stabbed over thirty.
- 12:46Speaker 2: Times, So someone probably that knew her intentially non okay, Well.
- 12:53Speaker 1: Her body was in such bad shape. The stab wounds
- 12:56Speaker 1: left her head barely holding on to her body, leaving
- 12:59Speaker 1: itly decapitated.
- 13:01Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that seems like that person just like hated her.
- 13:05Speaker 1: Yeah. Almost seems like there's anger or something. Yeah. Now,
- 13:08Speaker 1: they also found a significant amount of defensive wounds on Nancy,
- 13:12Speaker 1: as her hands and arms had significant cuts and lacerations
- 13:15Speaker 1: all across them.
- 13:16Speaker 2: So she fought back.
- 13:17Speaker 1: She fought back. In fact, honestly, police believed that the
- 13:21Speaker 1: killer may have seriously underestimated Nancy because it's even not
- 13:24Speaker 1: only did she did this massive struggle occur and she
- 13:26Speaker 1: fought back, dealing these defensive wounds, but it seemed like
- 13:29Speaker 1: at one point Nancy was able to turn the knife
- 13:32Speaker 1: on the assailant on the attacker while fighting back because
- 13:36Speaker 1: there was a significant amount of blood everywhere, but the
- 13:40Speaker 1: attacker's blood was also everywhere.
- 13:42Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, okay, so Nancy she had she had some
- 13:47Speaker 2: game here.
- 13:48Speaker 1: Then she did. She was not letting it go good.
- 13:51Speaker 1: But also like heartbreaking, it is now the investigation into
- 13:56Speaker 1: her murder. Put, of course, Nancy's fiance at the time,
- 14:00Speaker 1: Ferris Somali. I sorry, for whatever reason, autocorrect has it
- 14:06Speaker 1: here as Slammy. That's not right. Oh no, but Ferris
- 14:11Speaker 1: put Ferris in the hot seat as suspect number one.
- 14:14Speaker 1: Of course, as we all know from any other cases
- 14:17Speaker 1: at this point, as you're just saying, of course, a
- 14:19Speaker 1: significant other or family members are always the first to
- 14:22Speaker 1: be suspected. Now, upon questioning Ferris, he told them of
- 14:26Speaker 1: their evening out together. He said that the two of
- 14:28Speaker 1: them had gone out for dinner and he had dropped
- 14:31Speaker 1: her off at her apartment, but he did stay there
- 14:34Speaker 1: for a bit before leaving at around eleven thirty at
- 14:37Speaker 1: night to go back to his own apartment. So Nancy,
- 14:40Speaker 1: last we know, was headed to bed at eleven thirty. This,
- 14:45Speaker 1: of course made Ferris the last one to see Nancy
- 14:48Speaker 1: alive before the attack. Now he was able to give
- 14:51Speaker 1: them some insight on how the attacker could have gained
- 14:54Speaker 1: entry into her apartment. So apparently it wasn't unusual for
- 14:59Speaker 1: Nancy to leave her back glass sliding door open on
- 15:02Speaker 1: the apartment balcony. No, no, no, you hate.
- 15:07Speaker 2: This, I do because it's just like, frick.
- 15:10Speaker 1: Well, I think you have PTSD from that bedroom strangler case,
- 15:13Speaker 1: don't you.
- 15:13Speaker 2: I do. It's just like so simple, just like lock
- 15:16Speaker 2: your door.
- 15:17Speaker 1: Well, I mean, this is the seventies, there's a lot
- 15:19Speaker 1: more trusted in the public at the time, and she
- 15:22Speaker 1: generally did so leaving the glass door open, not just
- 15:26Speaker 1: willy nilly for airfloor or whatever. She did so for
- 15:28Speaker 1: her cat, so it could come and go outside as
- 15:30Speaker 1: it pleased.
- 15:31Speaker 2: Okay, I know, like back then, I don't think people
- 15:34Speaker 2: would have probably thought twice about that night.
- 15:37Speaker 1: And she did live on the second floor of the
- 15:39Speaker 1: story of that party. So yeah, Now, while the investigation
- 15:42Speaker 1: already pointed towards this door as a means of access
- 15:46Speaker 1: because there was a bloody trail heading out there leading
- 15:48Speaker 1: into the apartment parking lot from the assailant, it was
- 15:53Speaker 1: still useful information to know that it was you know,
- 15:56Speaker 1: normal for her to leave the door open. But despite this, yeah,
- 16:01Speaker 1: like I said, helpful information. Now, in the seventies, DNA
- 16:04Speaker 1: analysis was not a thing yet. We have a lot
- 16:06Speaker 1: of the assailant's blood, but DNA analysis wouldn't be a
- 16:10Speaker 1: thing into the late eighties. So for now, all the
- 16:12Speaker 1: law enforcement could do with that blood was get a
- 16:14Speaker 1: blood type. Though it wasn't much, it was useful enough
- 16:18Speaker 1: to help rule out some individuals as suspects, like Nancy's fiance,
- 16:21Speaker 1: Okrris Good Good, so he is in the clear now.
- 16:26Speaker 1: Police tried to find other means of evidence as well.
- 16:30Speaker 1: They dusted the door that he would have went through
- 16:32Speaker 1: or gained access however you want to say it, and
- 16:35Speaker 1: many other areas in the apartment for fingerprints, but unfortunately,
- 16:39Speaker 1: they were not able to get anything. What they did find, though,
- 16:42Speaker 1: was a piece of tape left behind at the scene.
- 16:45Speaker 1: It appeared as this this was used to wrap the
- 16:48Speaker 1: attacker's fingertips, which means they were likely trying to prevent
- 16:53Speaker 1: finger prints being left behind at the scene, so they
- 16:56Speaker 1: took tape and wrapped up their fingertips before entering.
- 16:59Speaker 2: Hey, that's new, feel like I've ever heard that before.
- 17:01Speaker 1: No, it's definitely an improv sort of thing, but it
- 17:04Speaker 1: does show premeditation because they knew they were going to
- 17:08Speaker 1: be breaking in and don't want to leave fingerprints, they
- 17:10Speaker 1: took measures before entering. Right now, one of Nancy's neighbors
- 17:14Speaker 1: named Alice Silva had reported hearing screams at around one
- 17:19Speaker 1: point thirty am, though it was said not to have
- 17:23Speaker 1: lasted long and almost sound like that of a baby scream.
- 17:26Speaker 1: Police do believe that these were most likely the screams
- 17:29Speaker 1: of Nancy in her final moments. While great information, it
- 17:33Speaker 1: once again did not provide authorities with any leads. So
- 17:38Speaker 1: with no real suspect to hand, investigators had to take
- 17:41Speaker 1: a step back and really try to follow the evidence
- 17:43Speaker 1: that they had. The murder weapon was nowhere to be found,
- 17:46Speaker 1: which wasn't helpful, but the belongings and valuables of Nancy
- 17:50Speaker 1: hadn't been touched. They were still in the apartment. Her
- 17:53Speaker 1: engagement ring, for example, was still in her finger, so
- 17:55Speaker 1: it clearly wasn't a robbery gone wrong, otherwise there would
- 17:59Speaker 1: be something on miss right. Absolutely, yeah, it was likely targeted,
- 18:04Speaker 1: and if this was a premeditated attack, then there should
- 18:07Speaker 1: be a connection somewhere. They began to look at Nancy's
- 18:10Speaker 1: life to try and draw any sort of lines between
- 18:12Speaker 1: her and a potential suspect. They thought maybe it could
- 18:15Speaker 1: be a retaliation from an individual or disgruntled person from court,
- 18:19Speaker 1: taking out their anger from either from her or from
- 18:22Speaker 1: Ferris onto her, right, right. She didn't really have any
- 18:26Speaker 1: personal connections in court, but being a defendant, Ferris might right, so,
- 18:30Speaker 1: and then to get to him, they may have gone
- 18:32Speaker 1: to her. So they began making lists and names of suspects,
- 18:36Speaker 1: and they had interviewed over five hundred potential suspects within
- 18:40Speaker 1: the first month alone.
- 18:42Speaker 2: Holy shit.
- 18:43Speaker 1: However, nothing came of any of them.
- 18:47Speaker 2: Oh man, that is so much time, hey, that they're
- 18:50Speaker 2: spending on that.
- 18:51Speaker 1: Oh yeah, they invested a lot into this case.
- 18:53Speaker 2: But I also know, like, I'm just like, who the
- 18:55Speaker 2: hell would do this to Nancy? Because she just sounded
- 18:59Speaker 2: such like he's just such an awesome person.
- 19:01Speaker 1: You're not wrong she was.
- 19:03Speaker 2: Yeah, So at first I was like, oh, man, the fiance,
- 19:06Speaker 2: But I'm thinking, you know, he got ruled out. But
- 19:09Speaker 2: if it was him, they would have probably been able
- 19:12Speaker 2: to figure it.
- 19:12Speaker 1: Out, most likely, but they definitely ruled him out. Now.
- 19:17Speaker 1: November seventh, police released a sketch to the public. Along
- 19:20Speaker 1: with the sketch was a written description that read quote.
- 19:24Speaker 1: The department described a man as five feet nine inches
- 19:27Speaker 1: tall and weighing about one hundred and seventy pounds. He
- 19:30Speaker 1: has about twenty five years old and has dark brown
- 19:33Speaker 1: hair worn in what is described as a Glen Campbell cut.
- 19:37Speaker 1: Residents of the area said they had seen a man
- 19:39Speaker 1: answering this description prowling in the neighborhood. He was in
- 19:43Speaker 1: a dark green Volkswagen and wore a long sleeved yellow
- 19:46Speaker 1: shirt and yellow slacks. And to go along with that description,
- 19:51Speaker 1: as I mentioned, there was a police sketch.
- 19:54Speaker 2: I almost was wondering if it was a female because
- 19:57Speaker 2: just because of the struggle, right, and then thinking that
- 20:00Speaker 2: Nancy maybe wasn't as strong as she was, and I'm like, well,
- 20:02Speaker 2: maybe she would have an easier time taking on another female, right,
- 20:07Speaker 2: But it was a male for sure.
- 20:10Speaker 1: Well we'll touch on male female later. I don't want
- 20:13Speaker 1: to give sh it away just yet.
- 20:14Speaker 2: Oh yeah, Okay, this is just they don't know for sure,
- 20:17Speaker 2: but this is just who they're thinking.
- 20:19Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, so this individual people have seen prowling the neighborhood.
- 20:25Speaker 2: Okay, Yeah.
- 20:27Speaker 1: Now, this sketch and description would be the foundation for
- 20:29Speaker 1: the public to go on regarding this case and would
- 20:32Speaker 1: ultimately be used for years to come, but like every
- 20:35Speaker 1: other detail they have, would not play a factor in
- 20:39Speaker 1: any leads at all. Now, there were some other murders
- 20:43Speaker 1: that had occurred in the area recently, with two victims
- 20:46Speaker 1: being Judith Hakari and Carol Beth Hillburn. This left investigation.
- 20:51Speaker 1: The investigation opened to the possibility of links between these cases,
- 20:54Speaker 1: meaning that they had a serial killer on the loose.
- 20:57Speaker 1: Whatever the scenario was, investigators were hard at work trying
- 21:00Speaker 1: to put all the pieces of the mystery together, and
- 21:03Speaker 1: despite their efforts, years would pass by with no breakthrough
- 21:07Speaker 1: in the case. It wouldn't be until two thousand and
- 21:10Speaker 1: four when the next significant moment in the case would occur.
- 21:15Speaker 1: See In two thousand and four, investigators decided to input
- 21:18Speaker 1: that blood DNA that they collected that evidence from the
- 21:21Speaker 1: crime scene into codis the Combined DNA Index system. That's
- 21:25Speaker 1: you know where they put all the found criminals and stuff, right.
- 21:29Speaker 1: We often talk about the DNA database, and that's that database.
- 21:33Speaker 1: So this database is used to link and identify suspects
- 21:37Speaker 1: between as based on genetic profiles. The decision to revisit
- 21:42Speaker 1: the evidence was part of a broader push to solve
- 21:44Speaker 1: the cold case during this advancements in forensic science, because,
- 21:48Speaker 1: as I mentioned in the seventies, this didn't exist at all,
- 21:51Speaker 1: and I believe it wouldn't be until nineteen eighty six
- 21:54Speaker 1: when DNA profiling actually became a thing, and it would
- 21:58Speaker 1: be in its infancy for like another decade, even into
- 22:00Speaker 1: the nineties. You're like looking at barely being able to
- 22:03Speaker 1: do much, right, But now into two thousands, they're creating
- 22:07Speaker 1: this database.
- 22:08Speaker 2: Okay.
- 22:10Speaker 1: So when the DNA profile from Nancy's case was entered
- 22:13Speaker 1: into CODIS, the hope was that it would match an
- 22:16Speaker 1: existing profile in this database, either linking it to a
- 22:19Speaker 1: known offender or matching it to DNA from other unsolved cases,
- 22:23Speaker 1: and they could actually link up different murders even though
- 22:25Speaker 1: they don't have a suspect yet.
- 22:27Speaker 2: Right.
- 22:28Speaker 1: However, when they did this, there was nothing.
- 22:31Speaker 2: Oh here, I was like shit, Yeah.
- 22:33Speaker 1: Nope, there was nothing. There was no match. There was
- 22:35Speaker 1: nothing found in the system, which means the suspects profile
- 22:38Speaker 1: did not correspond to any individual already recorded in CODIS. Okay,
- 22:43Speaker 1: so they had a completely new DNA profile yeah put in.
- 22:48Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 22:49Speaker 1: It was disappointing. However, it still gave investigators hope because
- 22:53Speaker 1: it ensured that if the perpetrator's DNA profile were to
- 22:55Speaker 1: be added to the database later, it would be matched
- 22:58Speaker 1: automatically reoffended, or if they found DNA evidence linking them
- 23:03Speaker 1: some other way and it gets put in from another
- 23:05Speaker 1: case boom.
- 23:07Speaker 2: So it's still very helpful that it is getting put in.
- 23:09Speaker 1: There, one hundred percent. But it would be a year later,
- 23:13Speaker 1: in two thousand and five, that homicide detective Mickey Linx
- 23:16Speaker 1: joined the investigation team and began her search for Nancy's killer.
- 23:20Speaker 1: And this is a significant moment because a number of
- 23:22Speaker 1: years would pass once again and before any new developments occurred,
- 23:27Speaker 1: but Detective Links would retire. However, she had developed a
- 23:32Speaker 1: personal connection with this case and continued to closely follow it,
- 23:36Speaker 1: even to the point of helping investigate it on a
- 23:38Speaker 1: volunteer basis. In twenty nineteen, she's retired, but she's like, no,
- 23:42Speaker 1: I'm solving this fucking case. And the reason this is
- 23:45Speaker 1: so fucking important is because people did not let this go.
- 23:49Speaker 2: Yeah, no kidding.
- 23:50Speaker 1: You have people like Detective Links who are still pushing
- 23:54Speaker 1: all the way up into their retirement to still solve
- 23:57Speaker 1: this case.
- 23:58Speaker 2: Well, it seems like a lot of detectives and police
- 24:01Speaker 2: officers they have like that one case. You know, yes,
- 24:04Speaker 2: for sure, they just can't. It just is on their mind, right,
- 24:07Speaker 2: and so I think for her especially, this was one
- 24:10Speaker 2: of them.
- 24:10Speaker 1: Yeah. No, she was one hundred percent probably like that
- 24:12Speaker 1: and determined to help the family seek answers and figure
- 24:15Speaker 1: out what happened to Nancy. And if it weren't for
- 24:18Speaker 1: detectives and officers like detective Link, the connection probably never
- 24:23Speaker 1: would have been made. Yeah, okay, because by now, well
- 24:27Speaker 1: sorry this is a little bit off topic, but by
- 24:29Speaker 1: now Nancy's fiance, Ferris, had passed away in twenty fourteen
- 24:33Speaker 1: of leukemia at the age of eighty four. He unfortunately
- 24:36Speaker 1: would never learn who was responsible for Nancy's death. However,
- 24:41Speaker 1: because of these investigators pushing and pushing, the truth would
- 24:45Speaker 1: come to light. Now in twenty nineteen, the team working
- 24:49Speaker 1: to try and find the killer all these years later
- 24:51Speaker 1: decided they did not want to wait around any longer
- 24:54Speaker 1: for the DNA of the killer to suddenly find a
- 24:56Speaker 1: match in the system, for the system to do the work. Right,
- 25:00Speaker 1: We're not doing that, which is why this is so
- 25:02Speaker 1: important these individuals, because they made that last push. They
- 25:06Speaker 1: figured if they hadn't had the match by now in
- 25:09Speaker 1: the system, the chances were it.
- 25:11Speaker 2: Was never going to happen, right, Because the person could
- 25:14Speaker 2: be like deceased or whatever.
- 25:16Speaker 1: Yes, we're too old or disabled to even do it,
- 25:18Speaker 1: like you know. Yeah, so if it hadn't happened by now,
- 25:20Speaker 1: it's not going to. So they decided they're going to
- 25:22Speaker 1: do a genetic genealogy test. So, if you're unaware, genetic
- 25:27Speaker 1: genealogy involves using DNA from crime scenes and comparing it
- 25:30Speaker 1: to publicly available genetic information in genealogical databases. Now, these
- 25:36Speaker 1: databases are often used by individuals seeking to learn more
- 25:38Speaker 1: about their ancestry or connect with distant relatives. So basically
- 25:42Speaker 1: it links family DNA through heritage.
- 25:45Speaker 2: Oh shit, so when you go on.
- 25:47Speaker 1: Something like ancestry dot.
- 25:48Speaker 2: Rum, Yeah, I was just going to say that it's
- 25:50Speaker 2: one of them.
- 25:51Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, that's the same information that police are accessing.
- 25:55Speaker 1: So if your cousin is a fucking murderer and they
- 26:00Speaker 1: have his DNA but he thinks he gets away with it,
- 26:02Speaker 1: and you go on ancestry dot com and put your
- 26:05Speaker 1: DNA in, they may be able to link that DNA
- 26:08Speaker 1: through you and find that that your cousin the fucking murderer.
- 26:11Speaker 2: Wow. Hey yeah, see I've never been too keen on
- 26:14Speaker 2: those things, but I like I'm pretty sure my sister
- 26:18Speaker 2: has done it. So I'm like, well, I'm just doomed.
- 26:20Speaker 1: My don't murder anyone.
- 26:22Speaker 2: My stuff is already kind of in their stuff.
- 26:25Speaker 1: So the detectives constructed a family tree based on those
- 26:28Speaker 1: matches and narrowed down individuals who could be possible suspects.
- 26:32Speaker 1: Through this method of identifying distant relatives, they were able
- 26:35Speaker 1: to identify several relatives related and it took a couple
- 26:39Speaker 1: of years to do all this, but they finally in
- 26:41Speaker 1: twenty twenty two had confirmed a match on the DNA.
- 26:46Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, the.
- 26:47Speaker 1: Match belonged to a Richard John Davis. Now, Richard was
- 26:52Speaker 1: a longtime Sacramento resident and would have been twenty seven
- 26:57Speaker 1: years old at the time of Nancy's murder. But the
- 26:59Speaker 1: thing was in nineteen seventy, the year Nancy was murdered.
- 27:04Speaker 1: Richard lived in the apartment building right across the street
- 27:07Speaker 1: from Nancy and would have had a complete and unobstructed
- 27:12Speaker 1: view into her apartment through her balcony.
- 27:15Speaker 2: Oh gosh, okay, yeah, did they know each other or
- 27:20Speaker 2: just that just that? Oh man, Okay, that makes it
- 27:24Speaker 2: like worse. Yeah.
- 27:25Speaker 1: Investigators believe Richard may have been watching Nancy for a
- 27:28Speaker 1: while and potentially stalking her as well.
- 27:32Speaker 2: Holy, So it wasn't that someone just hated her.
- 27:36Speaker 1: Oh gosh, we had someone obsessed with her?
- 27:39Speaker 2: Yes, Oh okay, I was not expecting that.
- 27:43Speaker 1: No, which almost makes it worse.
- 27:45Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 27:46Speaker 1: Now, Richard didn't have a violent criminal history, but did
- 27:50Speaker 1: have several DUIs, which is common with individuals who suffered
- 27:53Speaker 1: from alcoholism, and Richard certainly did because though this case
- 27:57Speaker 1: was now solved, Richard had died in nineteen ninety seven
- 28:02Speaker 1: at the age of fifty four from complications of alcoholism.
- 28:06Speaker 2: Well, I imagine too, what he did to Nancy would just
- 28:09Speaker 2: haunt him, you would think, for the rest of his life.
- 28:12Speaker 1: Hopefully that's hope anyway, anyone with a fucking conscience, yes,
- 28:15Speaker 1: but an individual who's capable of doing this probably doesn't
- 28:18Speaker 1: have one and probably doesn't care anyways.
- 28:20Speaker 2: Well, I'm just wondering if he did this to other people,
- 28:23Speaker 2: If it was just Nancy though, and he's like, oh
- 28:25Speaker 2: I fucked up. Maybe that made him drink more.
- 28:27Speaker 1: Maybe it's possible. But I mean, as far as the
- 28:31Speaker 1: DNA profiling and everything goes, I don't believe his His
- 28:34Speaker 1: DNA's been linked to any other crimes, not to say
- 28:37Speaker 1: he hasn't committed and not left behind the DNA, right,
- 28:40Speaker 1: but as far as I'm aware, this is the only
- 28:42Speaker 1: crime he has been linked to, of course, out other
- 28:46Speaker 1: than his DUIs. Yeah, which is a crime. It's just
- 28:49Speaker 1: not a fucking murder, you know.
- 28:50Speaker 2: Well, yeah, yeah it's not. It's bad, but not quite
- 28:53Speaker 2: to think it's not this bad. Yeah, it can kill
- 28:55Speaker 2: people still though, right, definitely it can.
- 28:59Speaker 1: Now fifty two years after Richard had killed Nancy in
- 29:01Speaker 1: her apartment, the case was finally closed. It was solved.
- 29:05Speaker 1: They knew who did it. However, what we will never
- 29:07Speaker 1: know is what exactly happened on that fateful night in
- 29:10Speaker 1: Nancy's apartment. Investigators believe that, as I mentioned, Richard was
- 29:15Speaker 1: watching her through her balcony in her apartment. In doing so,
- 29:19Speaker 1: he would have been familiar with her habit of leaving
- 29:21Speaker 1: the sliding door open slightly for her cat to come
- 29:23Speaker 1: and go freely. One night, for whatever reason, he decided
- 29:28Speaker 1: he was going to take advantage of this and make
- 29:30Speaker 1: his way into her apartment. Under the cover of darkness,
- 29:33Speaker 1: Richard climbed up to the second floor balcony where Nancy
- 29:36Speaker 1: lived and silently entered as she slept and after Ferris
- 29:40Speaker 1: had left for the night. From there, the attack ensued.
- 29:44Speaker 1: Police never released whether Nancy was sexually assaulted, but it's
- 29:48Speaker 1: likely she was sleeping in her underwear when the attack occurred,
- 29:50Speaker 1: which is why that's how she was dressed. From there,
- 29:54Speaker 1: she was able to put up enough of a fight
- 29:56Speaker 1: that Richard fled the scene after killing her in order
- 30:00Speaker 1: to care for his own wounds. If you ask me,
- 30:04Speaker 1: he intended to sexually assault her one hundred percent, But
- 30:07Speaker 1: Nancy put up a fight and never gave him the
- 30:09Speaker 1: fucking chance to.
- 30:11Speaker 2: So, Okay, so you're almost thinking he didn't even necessarily
- 30:14Speaker 2: intend to or intend to kill her.
- 30:18Speaker 1: I mean I think he did. Like I think he
- 30:23Speaker 1: came into the apartment thinking he was going to sexually
- 30:25Speaker 1: assault her at knife point or whatever, right, or maybe
- 30:29Speaker 1: he was going to kill her, And maybe there's a
- 30:30Speaker 1: necrophilia aspect to it. I don't know, But he came
- 30:33Speaker 1: in to attack her with the intent of a sexual
- 30:37Speaker 1: act to occur.
- 30:38Speaker 2: Well, yeah, if he was obsessed with her right and
- 30:40Speaker 2: stopping her and stuff.
- 30:41Speaker 1: Now, maybe her fighting back is what angered him, and
- 30:44Speaker 1: he and her injuring him angered him even more, and
- 30:47Speaker 1: that took him to take out anger on her dead body.
- 30:51Speaker 1: And then he's getting tired. He's bleeding like that can
- 30:54Speaker 1: cause person to black out very easily, right, and from
- 30:57Speaker 1: there he can't stick around anymore, and he's got.
- 30:59Speaker 2: A jet And meanwhile, the next day he's just watching,
- 31:05Speaker 2: probably again from his fucking apartment, her body being found
- 31:09Speaker 2: in shit.
- 31:09Speaker 1: Now, Richard actually was originally interviewed within one of those
- 31:12Speaker 1: within those five hundred people.
- 31:13Speaker 2: Oh oh my gosh.
- 31:16Speaker 1: Really yes, but there was never a connection made.
- 31:19Speaker 2: Oh dang, so they even had him.
- 31:22Speaker 1: Well, they were just they were interviewing like people in
- 31:24Speaker 1: the apartment complex and the one next door. Did you
- 31:27Speaker 1: see anything? Yeah, like it was most likely a random interview.
- 31:30Speaker 2: Well yeah, exactly, but they were actually talking to the killer.
- 31:34Speaker 2: They were yep, oh okay, huh wow. That's this is terrifying,
- 31:41Speaker 2: I know, the fact that he just was watching her
- 31:44Speaker 2: and shit, yep wow.
- 31:46Speaker 1: But that's the story of Nancy Marie Benelek fifty two
- 31:51Speaker 1: years later.
- 31:52Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, thank goodness. But also it does kind
- 31:55Speaker 2: of seem like a bummer too that. I mean, the
- 32:01Speaker 2: attacker wasn't a lot is still not alive. And then
- 32:05Speaker 2: I'm wondering how much of Nancy's family is even alive,
- 32:07Speaker 2: you know. So it's it almost seems like it's quite
- 32:11Speaker 2: a burden too for this fucker's family, right they now
- 32:15Speaker 2: just like know that I don't know if he had
- 32:18Speaker 2: kids or whatever, that he's just a fucking nasty piece
- 32:20Speaker 2: of shit.
- 32:22Speaker 1: I do know that Nancy had a sister and a
- 32:25Speaker 1: brother in law, and they're the ones who kind of
- 32:27Speaker 1: spoke a bit about who Nancy was and okay, and
- 32:30Speaker 1: they were actually present during the press conference when they
- 32:33Speaker 1: announced Okay, this was solved. He's been confirmed in the
- 32:38Speaker 1: as the killer.
- 32:39Speaker 2: Okay, Well that's good for them then that they had
- 32:41Speaker 2: that right, that.
- 32:42Speaker 1: They have that closure. Yeaheah for sure. So yeah, when
- 32:46Speaker 1: I found this case, I was like, fuck, yeah, fifty
- 32:49Speaker 1: two years. If it wasn't for those investigators who made
- 32:51Speaker 1: that last push of let's not wait, let's be proactive,
- 32:55Speaker 1: we still wouldn't know.
- 32:56Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean yeah, it's kind of it's interesting too
- 33:00Speaker 2: that all this stuff is out there now where you
- 33:02Speaker 2: can submit your own DNA and stuff, right, like we
- 33:05Speaker 2: can talk about that for so long.
- 33:06Speaker 1: Oh yeah, No, there's there's many levels to that because
- 33:09Speaker 1: people also suspect like the government being involved and monitoring.
- 33:12Speaker 2: Yeah, I've heard that before.
- 33:14Speaker 1: There's lots of different things that people can converse about
- 33:17Speaker 1: and theorize regarding it. But the one thing we do
- 33:19Speaker 1: know is that whether there are negative side effects you
- 33:23Speaker 1: doing it, there are positive ones, and we just we
- 33:27Speaker 1: know it right here.
- 33:28Speaker 2: First, Well, yeah, if you have nothing to worry about, right, Like,
- 33:31Speaker 2: and I say that earlier, I was like, I'm not
- 33:33Speaker 2: submitting it. I don't have anything to worry about. But
- 33:35Speaker 2: I mean too, if you had a cousin that's a complete,
- 33:38Speaker 2: like nasty motherfucker, you would want them to find this
- 33:42Speaker 2: person too, right, Yeah, So sure, there you go. I
- 33:44Speaker 2: don't know, maybe it has some benefits too.
- 33:46Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, okay, Well, thank you for being here. Hopefully
- 33:51Speaker 1: enjoyed that. Hopefully you are back on track with us.
- 33:54Speaker 1: After Halloween week, we want to know about specifically, are
- 33:58Speaker 1: your Halloeen decorations still up?
- 34:00Speaker 2: Are your Christmas decorations?
- 34:01Speaker 1: Are your Christmas decorations now up? We want to know
- 34:04Speaker 1: which side you're on. Are you on the team Halloween?
- 34:06Speaker 1: Are you on team Christmas? I do know here in
- 34:08Speaker 1: Canada we have novemberance Novemberance Day Remembrance Day here in November.
- 34:13Speaker 1: So many people argue that you shouldn't put Christmas decorations
- 34:16Speaker 1: up until after that to give you know, veterans that
- 34:21Speaker 1: time of respect. Yeah, but regardless, we want to know
- 34:24Speaker 1: where your head's at, So shoot us a message, let
- 34:27Speaker 1: us know we'd love to hear it, and until next time,
- 34:30Speaker 1: stay wicked,