Latest / The conspiracy / This IMPOSSIBLE Cold Case Was Solved By A Teenager _ Marise Chiverella

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This IMPOSSIBLE Cold Case Was Solved By A Teenager _ Marise Chiverella · The conspiracy

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: In twenty twenty, a college student named Eric Schubert was
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: scrolling through cold case files when he stumbled upon a
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: story of a nine year old girl who had been
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: murdered in nineteen sixty four. What he discovered would not
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: only change his life, but would finally bring closure to
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: a family that had been waiting fifty six years for answers.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: This is a story of how a twenty year old
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  Speaker 1: genealogy enthusiast accomplished what generations of seasoned investigators couldn't, solving
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: one of Pennsylvania's oldest cold cases. Crime, conspiracy, cults, serial killers,
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: and murder, all things that I love to consume, and
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: I know you did too. He's sick, twisted, beautiful, intellectually minded.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Sounded like a haunted mosquito, didn't it anyway? Uh, today
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: we are talking about a crazy case that I came across.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: It is absolutely mind blowing. So without further ado, let's
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: unbuggle our seatbelts, go mock five in the highway, slam
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: of the ranks, and bust through this windshield into this
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: solved cold case. Together. Maurice and Shivarella entered the world
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: on Thanksgiving Day, November twenty fifth, nineteen fifty four in Waterloo,
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  Speaker 1: New York, born to Carmen and Mary Schivarella. She was
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  Speaker 1: the second of five children who would grow up to
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  Speaker 1: embody the tight knit values of a working class Italian
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  Speaker 1: American family and her father, Carmen, originally from Wilkes Bar,
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: had met her mother, Mary, a Hazelton native, and after
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: spending a few years in New York, the family made
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: the decision to return to Mary's hometown. In Hazleton or Hazelton,
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  Speaker 1: Pennsylvania in the early nineteen sixties was a community still
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: deeply rooted in and its coal mining heritage, and the
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: city sat in the heart of the Anthracite region, where
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: generations of families had built their lives around the rhythms
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: of the mines, and though the industry was beginning its decline,
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  Speaker 1: the culture still remained a place where families knew their neighbors,
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  Speaker 1: where children walked to school without any sort of fear,
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  Speaker 1: and where the Catholic Church served as a backbone of
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: community life. So the Shivarella family settled into the northwest
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  Speaker 1: section of Hazleton, where Carmen operated the Little Market, a
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  Speaker 1: neighborhood grocery store that sat right next to their home,
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  Speaker 1: and it was very demanding work, and Carmen would rise
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  Speaker 1: early to pick up supplies ten to customers from ten
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  Speaker 1: am to ten pm, seven days a week, and handle
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: the bookkeeping late into the night. Meanwhile, Mary worked at
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  Speaker 1: one of the downtown knitting mills, contributing to the family's
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  Speaker 1: income in an economy that was slowly transitioning away from
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  Speaker 1: its industrial roots. But despite the long hours that their
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: parents worked, the Chivarella children experienced a childhood rich with
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: love and tradition, and Sundays were sacred in their households.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: Carmen would close the store for exactly one hour around lunchtime,
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: and Mary would prepare a special meal, the only time
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  Speaker 1: during the week when the entire family could sit together
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: around the table. So Sunday mornings began at mass. I'd
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: either Saint Joseph's or Most Precious Blood Church, reinforcing the
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  Speaker 1: deep Catholic faith that guided their family values. And for
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: little Marie, faith wasn't just a family obligation, it was
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: a calling to her. And the little girl with the
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: bright blue eyes and dark hair was known for her
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  Speaker 1: gentle soul and caring nature, and she would often tell
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  Speaker 1: family that she wanted to become a nun when she
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  Speaker 1: grew up, a dream that seemed to fit perfectly with
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  Speaker 1: her character, and she was the type of child that
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: just put others before herself. She was extremely selfless, and
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: she found joy in just simple pleasures, like playing school
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  Speaker 1: with her siblings or tinkering on an organ her parents
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  Speaker 1: had bought her at Sears, and in the evening, Maurice
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  Speaker 1: would sit at the organ composing songs with her big
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: brother Ron, and their voices just filled the house with music.
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  Speaker 1: And she would also share a bedroom with her younger sister,
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  Speaker 1: Carmen Marie, and the two girls would brush each other's
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  Speaker 1: hair at night while looking up at the nineteen seventies
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  Speaker 1: heart throbs David Cassidy and Ricky Nelson, whose photographs covered
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: their walls. So it was an innocent time when a
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  Speaker 1: little girl's biggest concerns were learning to play the organ
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  Speaker 1: and helping her family, and the family's daily routine was
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  Speaker 1: predictable and comforting. Carmen would be at the store before dawn,
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  Speaker 1: preparing for another long day of serving their neighbors, and
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  Speaker 1: Mary would head to the knitting mill, working alongside other
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  Speaker 1: women who formed the backbone of Hazleton's changing economy, and
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  Speaker 1: the children would walk to Saint Joseph's parochial school, where
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  Speaker 1: nuns in traditional habits provided education infused with Catholic values.
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  Speaker 1: So it was a community where everyone knew everyone, where
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  Speaker 1: children were safe once again, and where the most shocking
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  Speaker 1: news might be about someone's garden not producing tomatoes, or
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: the latest church fundraiser. It was a very peaceful community
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: until it wasn't because beneath this veneer of small town safety,
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  Speaker 1: darkness was lurking, And in nineteen sixty four, the concept
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  Speaker 1: of stranger danger barely existed, and children walked alone to school,
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  Speaker 1: played outside unsupervised, and parents felt secure in their tight
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  Speaker 1: knit communities. And the innocence of that era, which allowed
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: children like Maurice to roam freely, would soon be shattered
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  Speaker 1: by an act of evil that would change not just
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  Speaker 1: one family, but an entire community's understanding of safety. So Wednesday,
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  Speaker 1: March eighteenth, nineteen sixty four, began like any other day
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  Speaker 1: in the Shivarrilla household. At four thirty am, the alarm
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  Speaker 1: clock shattered the early morning silence, and Maurice would roll
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  Speaker 1: over in the bed she shared with her sister, Carmen
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  Speaker 1: Marie whispering quote close your eyes Dune, which was her
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  Speaker 1: nickname that she gave her little sister. And she also said,
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to turn on the light to get my clothes.
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  Speaker 1: And it was just this small act of consideration that
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: would become one of Carmen Marie's most precious memories. Meanwhile,
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: Maurice would carefully select her outfit for the day, a
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  Speaker 1: dark jacket and skirt with black leotards and a multicolored scarf.
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  Speaker 1: She would put on her earrings, slip her silver ring
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  Speaker 1: with a small diamond onto her finger, and fasten her
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  Speaker 1: yellow gold necklace with this one inch cross around her neck.
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  Speaker 1: And as she prepared to leave for school, Maurice had
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: a special mission that morning because her teacher, one of
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  Speaker 1: the nuns at Saint Joseph's parochial school, was celebrating a
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  Speaker 1: feast day and Maurice wanted to honor her with a gift. Again,
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  Speaker 1: She's just so selfless and sweet and caring, and she
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  Speaker 1: would carefully select two cans of fruit from her father's
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  Speaker 1: grocery store, a gesture that perfectly captured her thoughtful nature.
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  Speaker 1: But this act of kindness would change everything because Instead
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: of walking to school with her siblings as she normally did,
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  Speaker 1: Maurice decided to leave early so she could drop off
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  Speaker 1: the canned goods at her classroom before attending daily mass.
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  Speaker 1: And it was an uncharacteristic decision for a girl who
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  Speaker 1: typically enjoyed the company of her brothers and sisters on
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  Speaker 1: their six block walk to school. So at approximately eight
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  Speaker 1: ten am, Maurice stepped out of her family's home and
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  Speaker 1: began walking alone down the familiar streets of Hazelton as
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  Speaker 1: she told Carmen Marie she loved her as she walked
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  Speaker 1: down the steps and turned off the light, and Carmen Marie,
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: still sleepy, told her sister she loved her too. But
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: neither girl could have ever imagined these would be their
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  Speaker 1: final words to each other. So the route to Saint
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  Speaker 1: Joseph's Parochial School was one Maurice had walked countless times,
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  Speaker 1: six blocks through the northwest section of Hazelton, past houses
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  Speaker 1: where she knew the families, and along the streets where
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  Speaker 1: neighbors would wave and say good morning. In the early march,
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  Speaker 1: air was crisp, and she pulled her windbreaker close as
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  Speaker 1: she walked, and the two cans of fruit secured in
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  Speaker 1: her school bank. But what would happen next would remain
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  Speaker 1: a mystery for nearly six decades, because somewhere along those
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: six familiar blocks between her house and the school where
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: she was expected to arrive for daily mass, Maurice encountered
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  Speaker 1: someone who would change her life and end it forever.
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  Speaker 1: So at school, the nuns noticed when Maurice didn't arrive
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  Speaker 1: for daily mass. It was unlike her to miss such
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  Speaker 1: an important part of her day, especially when she specifically
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: mentioned wanting to give her teacher the canned goods. So
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: when lunchtime came and went without Maurice returning home, her
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  Speaker 1: absence became impossible to ignore, and Carmen, her father was
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: at the grocery store serving customers, and her mother, Mary
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: was at the knitting mel working, and the other Chivrilla
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  Speaker 1: children were at school unaware that their sister was missing.
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  Speaker 1: So it was just a normal day at Hazelton, with
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  Speaker 1: people going about their normal routines, completely unaware that evil
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  Speaker 1: had visited their quiet community. So when the school contacted
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  Speaker 1: the family about Maurice's absence, concern quickly turned to alarm
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  Speaker 1: because this wasn't like Maurice She was responsible, devout, and reliable.
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  Speaker 1: She didn't run away or skip school. She was the
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  Speaker 1: type of child who followed rules and honored commitments. So
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  Speaker 1: the realization that something was terribly wrong began to settle
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  Speaker 1: over the family like a dark cloud, and Carmen closed
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  Speaker 1: a store and began searching around the Saint Joseph Church area,
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  Speaker 1: desperately hoping to find some sign of his daughter. And
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: police were contacted and the search would began through the
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  Speaker 1: streets of Hazelton, and neighbors would join in, understanding that
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: when a child goes missing in a small community, everyone
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  Speaker 1: becomes part of the effort to bring them home. But
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: as the afternoon wore on and no trace of Maurice
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  Speaker 1: was found, a terrible truth was about to be discovered,
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  Speaker 1: as a little girl who had left home that morning
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  Speaker 1: was such love in her heart and kindness in her
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  Speaker 1: intentions would never be coming home again. Because about two
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  Speaker 1: to three miles south of Hazelton, in a section of
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  Speaker 1: hazel Township known as Millsville, an entirely different kind of
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  Speaker 1: routine was taking place, and a man decided to give
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: his sixteen year old nephe driving lessons. Choosing the quiet
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  Speaker 1: back roads where a nervous teenager could practice without the
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  Speaker 1: pressure of heavy traffic, and the area they selected was
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  Speaker 1: far from picturesque because the landscape was scarred by decades
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  Speaker 1: of coal mining, dotted with strip mines that had been
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: abandoned when the coal was exhausted. So these defunct mining
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: pits had become informal dumping grounds where locals would dispose
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: of garbage, so it was essentially just a giant garbage dump.
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  Speaker 1: And it was just after one pm when the uncle
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  Speaker 1: and nephew were making their way along those back roads,
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  Speaker 1: and the teenager was concentrating on his driving hands gripping
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  Speaker 1: the wheel as he navigated the unfamiliar terrain. But that's
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: when something caught their attention in one of the old
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  Speaker 1: strip mining pits, and at first glance, it looked like
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: a large doll had been discarded among the refuse, and
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  Speaker 1: the splash of blue fabric against the dark earth seemed
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  Speaker 1: almost innocent, perhaps a child's toy that had been thrown away.
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  Speaker 1: But as they looked more closely, the horrible truth because
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: came clear. This wasn't a doll at all, and the
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  Speaker 1: man immediately stopped the car and approached the pit with
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  Speaker 1: growing dread, and what he discovered would haunt him for
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  Speaker 1: the rest of his life because there among the garbage
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  Speaker 1: and debris that filled the abandoned coal stripping pit lay
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  Speaker 1: the body of a small child, and the child would
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  Speaker 1: be a deceased Maurice, and the scene was horrific. Maurice's
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  Speaker 1: body was still warm to the touch when they went
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  Speaker 1: to check on her, indicating that she had been killed
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  Speaker 1: only hours before, if not sooner, And she had been
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  Speaker 1: bound and gepped and also physically essayed, and the cause
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  Speaker 1: of death looked to be that she was excated with
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  Speaker 1: her own shoelaces. You'd think the more I do these
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: it gets easier. Read it just really doesn't. It just
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  Speaker 1: breaks my heart. And the two cans of fruit she
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: had selected so carefully for her teacher were found right
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  Speaker 1: beside her body, just a heartbreaking reminder of the innocent
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  Speaker 1: mist that had led to her death. And the discovery
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: was immediately reported to police, who arrived at the scene
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: within minutes, and the strip mining pit, located in the
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  Speaker 1: Milnsville section of Hazel Township, became a crime scene unlike
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: anything the local authorities had ever encountered. This wasn't just
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  Speaker 1: a murder. It was an act of unspeakable evil committed
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  Speaker 1: against a child whose only crime had been her desire
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  Speaker 1: to honor her teacher with a simple gift. So word
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  Speaker 1: of the discovery spread quickly through Hazelton, and a community
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  Speaker 1: where everyone knew everyone else. News traveled very fast, and
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  Speaker 1: Carmen Schivarella was still searching around Saint Joseph's Church when
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: a passer buyer, unaware of the devastating news they were delivering,
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: casually mentioned that they had found quote the Shivarella girl debt.
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  Speaker 1: I just can't even imagine a mother or a father
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  Speaker 1: hearing in a conversation off to the side that their
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  Speaker 1: child is gone, Like it's uh, it's just all so
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: hard to comprehend. And yeah, I feel for the family.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: But the words would hit Carmen like a physical blow,
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  Speaker 1: and the father, who had been desperately hoping to find
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: his daughter safe, was now facing every parent's worst nightmare.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: The little girl who had kissed him goodbye that morning,
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: who had been looking forward to giving her teacher a gift,
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: was never coming home. And back at the knitting meal,
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: Mary Shivarella was experiencing something that could only be described
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: as a mother's intuition. Even before she received the devastating news,
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: she was overcome with a horrible sense of anxiety and
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: something was wrong, terribly, terribly wrong, and she knew it
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: in her bones before anyone even said anything to her.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: So the discovery of Maurice's body didn't just end one
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: family's agonizing search, It just shattered the innocence of the
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: entire community. And like I said before, Hazelton in nineteen
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: sixty four was a place where children could play outside,
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: you could leave your doors unlocked, and were the most
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: serious crimes were minor thefts and domestic disputes. But now
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: it held the brutal murder of a nine year old girl.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: It was just incomprehensible to everyone around. So as news
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: of the discovery spread throughout the town, parents began calling
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: their children home early from school because the unthinkable had happened.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: A child had been murdered in their safe, quiet community,
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: and the streets that had seemed so familiar and secure
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: just hours before now felt different and dangerous and filled
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: with shadows and possibilities that no one had previously imagined.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: So the initial investigation was thorough and immediate, and Pennsylvania
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: State Police descended on the scene with every available resource,
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: understanding that in cases involving child murder, the first forty
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: eight hours are crucial, so they carefully documented the crime
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: scene and collected evidence and began that the painstaking process
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: of trying to understand what had happened to Maurice. It
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: was both extensive and haunting because the killer had been careless,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: leaving behind crucial clues that would prove important decades later.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: And DNA evidence was collected from Maurice's clothing, and that
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: key evidence was sea stains and care that were found
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: on Maurice's clothing just so disgusting and vile, But in
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: nineteen sixty four, DNA analysis was still decades away from
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: being invented, so these pieces of evidence were carefully preserved
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: without anyone understanding their future significance. The investigation expanded rapidly
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: throughout Hazelton and the surrounding area, and police interviewed hundreds
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: of people, following up on every single lead, every suggestion,
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: in every possibility. They would speak to neighbors, they would
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: speak to teachers, they would speak to store owners, and
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: just anyone who might have seen Maurice on her final
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: walk to school. And the community response was overwhelming and
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: everyone wanted to help find the monster who had killed
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: an child, and State Police Corporal Mark Bern would say,
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: quote what happened to her ushered in a change in
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: this community. Whether you like it or not, the way
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: you lived changed after March eighteenth of nineteen sixty four
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: in Hazelton, and for the Shivarella family, the investigation represented
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: both hope and just pure torture, because it was hope
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: that the killer would be found and brought to justice,
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: but torture in having to relive the details of their
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: daughter's murderer over and over again. Each interview, each lead,
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: each development forced them to confront the horrible reality of
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: what happened to their little girl, and Carmen and Mary
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: Shivarella handled the tragedy with remarkable strength, though their pain
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: was evident to everyone who knew them. They would cooperate
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: fully with investigation, providing any information that might help catch
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: their daughter's killer, but they also just had to continue living,
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: which I can't even imagine just going about your day
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: after something like this happened. But they needed to work
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: and support the rest of their family because they still
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: had four surviving children to take care of four children
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: who were struggling to understand why their sister had been
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: taken from them, and the investigation revealed several disturbing details
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: about the crime. First, the killer had likely been familiar
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: with the area, knowing about the abandoned strip mining pit
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: where he could dispose of Maurice's body, and the location
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: suggested someone who understood the local geography, who knew where
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: to go to avoid any sort of detection, So this
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: led investigators to focus on local residents rather than transients
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: or outsiders. But despite months of intensive investigation, leeds began
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: to dry up, and the Pennsylvania State Police interviewed hundreds
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: of people, followed every possible clue, and pursued every theory,
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: and suspects were developed and questioned, but none proved to
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: be the killer. So the case that had seemed so
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: promising in the beginning with physical evidence and witness accounts
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: began to go stagnant, and the investigation consumed enormous resources
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: and more than two hundred and third already members of
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: the Pennsylvania State Police worked on the case at various times,
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: making it one of the largest investigations in the department's history,
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: and Detective Thomas McAndrew, who would work on the case
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: for twenty six years, became particularly invested in finding Maurice's killer,
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: But despite his dedication and the dedication of countless other investigators,
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: the case remained unsolved, and as months turned into years,
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: the investigation evolved from active case to cold case, but
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: the Pennsylvania State Police never gave up, and the case
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: was reviewed annually, with new investigators bringing fresh perspectives to evidence,
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: and new technologies were applied as they became available, and
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: the case file grew thicker with each passing year. But
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: the impact on the community was lasting, and Hazelton residents
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: never forgot about Maurice Schipperella or the monster who had
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: killed her. The case became part of the town's identity,
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: a tragic chapter that reminded everyone of the day their
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: community lost its innocence. Would continue to worry about their
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: children's safety, and the murderer remained a topic of conversation
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: decades later. But sometimes the most difficult cases require unconventional solutions,
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: and in twenty twenty, a completely different kind of investigator
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: would take an interest in the Maurice Chivarella case, someone
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: who would approach it from an entirely new angle, using
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: techniques that didn't even exist when the crime was committed.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: So Eric Schubert was just eighteen years old when he
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: first learned about the Maurice Chivarella case, but he was
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: already developing a reputation as something of a prodigy in
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: the emerging field of genetic genealogy. A history major at
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, Schubert had been fascinated by genealogy
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: since childhood, spending countless hours tracing family trees and learning
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: about the complex relationships that connect all of us to
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: our past. I was playing with my tamagachi, whereas this
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: guy was literally making history as an early teen. Just
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: extremely impressive. And what made Schubert unusual wasn't just his
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: passion for genealogy. It was his understanding of how modern
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: DNA technology could be combined with traditional genealogy research to
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: solve a crime. And by the time he was in college,
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: he had already helped other police agencies crack cold cases
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: using genetic genealogy, a technique that blends DNA testing with
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: family tree research to identify suspects and victims, Which is crazy.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: This guy's insanely impressive at such a young age. So
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: Schubert had spent years developing his skills in what was
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: then a relatively new field, and he was the proprietor
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: of Es Genealogy, his own research business, and had earned
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: a reputation for being able to solve complex genealogy puzzles
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: that stumped most experienced researchers. And in twenty twenty, Schubert
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: was looking for a new case to work on when
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: he came across the story of Maurice Schivrilla. The case
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: immediately captured his attention, not just because of the tragic circumstances,
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: but because he recognized that it might be solvable using
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: the genetic genealogy techniques He had been perfected because the
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: case had that physical evidence and also DNA profiles and
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: had been carefully preserved by investigators who understood its importance.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: It's so rare that we hear about old cases where
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: they actually preserve the evidence. It's just like, so incredibly
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: lucky and so good on part of the Pennsylvania State
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: Police that they did that, Like it just so incredible
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: of them. But Schubert still faced a significant challenge because
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: the Pennsylvania State Police, though very thorough with keeping evidence,
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: were not fans of working with people outside of the police.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: They weren't fans of working with consultants, especially young college
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: students with no formal law enforcement training, because the idea
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: of allowing a teenager to work on one of their
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: most important cold cases seemed unlikely at best. However, Schubert
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: had something that impressed the investigators, a track record of success.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: This his work on the other cold cases had demonstrated
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: that genetic genealogy could solve cases that had stymied traditional
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: investigators for decades. So when he approached the Pennsylvania State
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: Police about working on the Shivarella case, they were surprised,
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: but willing to listen. Again just two thumbs up to
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: the Pennsylvania State Police. So the inevitable decision to work
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: with Schubert represented a significant leap of faith for the
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: Pennsylvania State Police because they had been working on the
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: case for over fifty years, applying every available technique and resource,
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: so the idea that a college student might succeed where
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: seasoned investigators had failed seemed almost impossible. So they were like,
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: go for it, kid, why not? Because they were also
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: aware that genetic genealogy was producing remarkable results in other jurisdictions,
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: and they were willing to try anything that might finally
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: solve their oldest cold case. So the partnership between Schubert
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: and the Pennsylvania State Police began in twenty twenty at
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: a time when the technique of genetic genealogy was still
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: relatively new, like we talked about, but was beginning to
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: produce impressive results across the country, such jazz the Golden
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: State Killer case in California, which I covered, which is
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: right here if you want to go watch that. It's
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: like multiple killers who were caught decades later. It's a
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: very very cool video. But the Golden State Killer case
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: just showed that even decade old cases could be solved
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: by combining DNA evidence with genealogical research. And just for
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: a little refresher, the Golden State killer just basically just
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: wanted to figure out like who his goy great grandma was,
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: and in doing that, got caught as the Golden State Killer.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: So it's a little freaky all that stuff, but also
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: clearly awesome for catching horrible criminals. But again, I have
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: a more in depth video if you want to go
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: look into that. So Schibert's approach to the Shivarella case
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: was methodical and patient, and he began by uploading the
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: DNA profile from the crime scene to public genealogy databases
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: looking for distant relatives of the killer, and the process
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: required extraordinary patience and skill as he had to work
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: backward from distant cousins to identify potential suspects who might
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: have committed the crime. So the work was painstaking and
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: often frustrating because genetic genealogy requires researchers to build extensive
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: family trees, often going back several generations to find common ancestors,
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: and then they must work forward through multiple family lines
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: identifying all the descendants who might be connected to the
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: DNA evidence. So it's a lot of like what ifs
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: and mites and all this kind of stuff. It's very,
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: very tedious. It's detective work that requires both scientific precision
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: and genealogical intuition. So for Schubert, the Shivarella case became
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: an obsession and he would spend a countless hours building
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: family trees, analyzing DNA matches, and trying to identify potential suspects,
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: and the work was emotionally demanding. As well as intellectually
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: challenging because he was dealing with the most serious crime imaginable,
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: the murder of a child, and he felt the weight
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: of the responsibility to the family and to the community.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: And Schubert would later explain, quote, the investigation that went
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: into all this work was probably the hardest genealogy task
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: that I've ever faced, continuing, this was probably the hardest
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: thing that I've ever done in my entire life, and
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: it means so much to me that I was able
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: to be on the team that could provide answers to
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: the Shivarella family. So the young genealogist dedication to the
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: case was remarkable, and he would work side by side
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: with the Pennsylvania State Police investigators, combining his expertise in
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: genealogy with their knowledge of the case details. And it
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: was just a collaboration that represented the best of both
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: traditional investigation techniques and cutting edge forensic science, because when
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: we work together, we make great things happen. So Schubert
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: worked through the complex family trees and DNA matches began
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: to narrow down the possibilities, and the process was like
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: solving a massive puzzle, with each piece of information bringing
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: him closer to identifying the killer, and at a certain
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: point he began to feel confident that he was on
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: the right track, saying, quote, I knew we were going
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: to find the assailant. So in twenty twenty, after months
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: of careful research, Schubert identified a distant cousin of the
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: perpetrator in the genealogy database. And this was the crucial
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: breakthrough that would eventually lead to solving the case because
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: from this distant cousin, Schubert began building an extensive family tree,
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: or building it out more, mapping out all the possible
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: descendants who might be connected to the DNA evidence found
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: at the crime scene. And the investigation kind of became
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: a race against time in a different sense because many
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: potential suspects were elderly or had already died, making it
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: difficult to collect DNA samples for comparison. So the passage
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: of time that made the case so difficult to solve
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: was also working against the investigators as they tried to
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: verify their findings. But as Schubert's research progressed, one name
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: began to emerge as the most likely suspect. James Paul
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: Forte born in nineteen forty one. Forte was a bartender
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: and a bar supplies salesman who lived in Hazelton his
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: entire life, and he had been twenty two years old
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: at the time of Maurice's murder and lived just six
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: or seven blocks from the Shivarella family home. And the
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: genealogical evidence was compelling, but it needed to be verified
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: through traditional DNA testing, and there was one significant problem.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: James Paul Forte had died in nineteen eighty, forty two
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: years before the case was solved. He had suffered a
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: heart attack at the age of thirty eight while working
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: at a bar where he was employed, So the investigators
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: faced a crucial decision. To definitively prove that Forte was
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: the killer, they would need to obtain a DNA sample
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: from his remains, and this would require exhuming his body,
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: a dramatic and expensive step that needed to be justified
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: by the strength of evidence. But the case for exhumation
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: was very strong, and Schibbert's genealogical research had identified Forte
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: as the most likely SA suspect, and traditional investigative techniques
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: had confirmed that he had been in the right place
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: at the right time, and additionally, investigators discovered that Forte
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: had a history of violent behavior that made him a
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: plausible suspect for such crime, because in nineteen seventy four,
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: Forte had been arrested on charges of grape and SA,
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: but he had been given a plea deal for the
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: less serious conviction of aggravated assaults and was sentenced to
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: one year of probation, and in nineteen seventy eight he
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: was arrested again on charges of reckless endangerment and harassment.
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: So this pattern of behavior suggested someone capable of escalating
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: two much more serious crimes, like taking advantage of and
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: murdering a child. So the decision to exume Forte's body
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: was approved in early twenty twenty two, nearly fifty eight
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: years after Maurice's murder, and the exhumation took place under
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: carefully controlled conditions, with investigators collecting tissue samples that could
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: be used for DNA analysis, and the process was both
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: expensive and emotionally challenging for everyone involved, but it represented
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: the best chance of finally solving this cold case. So
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: the DNA analysis took several weeks to complete, and investigators
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: had to extract usable DNA from tissue samples that were
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: more than forty years old then compared to DNA evidence
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: from that crime scene, which was fifty eight years previous.
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: So the process required sophisticated forensic techniques and careful analysis
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: to ensure accurate results. So on February third, twenty twenty two,
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: the results would come back and the DNA from James
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: Paul Forte's remains was a perfect match to the DNA
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: evidence from Maurice Shiverrella's murder. So after nearly fifty eight years.
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: The case had finally been solved.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: And this breakthrough just represented a remarkable achievement for both
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: traditional investigative techniques and the cutting edge forensic science techniques.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: Because the Pennsylvania State Police had preserved the evidence for decades,
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: ensuring that when the tech technology became available, the case
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: could be solved. Just an absolute win for police, and
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: Eric Schubert had provided the genealogical expertise that made the
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: identification possible, and the combination of both approaches had finally
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: brought justice to Maurice Shivarella and her entire family. So
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: on February tenth, twenty twenty two, nearly fifty eight years
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: after Marie Shivrella's murder. Pennsylvania State Police held a press
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: conference that would finally provide answers to one of the
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: state's oldest cold cases, and the room was packed with
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: current and retired investigators and members of the Shivarella family
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: and members of the media who had followed the case
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: for decades. And State Police Corporal Mark Baron, who would
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: become the lead investigator on the case, stood at the
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: podium with obvious emotion because this was a day that
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: many people had thought would never come, and he would say, quote, today,
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: we can finally say that we know who killed Maurice Shivarella,
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: and through the combined efforts of traditional investigation and cut
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: edged genetic genealogy, we have identified James Paul Forte as
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: the person responsible for this horrific crime. And the announcement
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: was met with a mixture of relief and sadness. Relief
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: the case had finally been solved, but sadness that it
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: had taken so long, and that the perpetrator had already
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: died and couldn't be held accountable for his actions. But
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: at least we can hopefully assume he's rotting in hell.
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: And the press conference provided details about James that painted
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: a picture of a man who had been hiding in
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: plain sight for nearly two decades after the murder. Born
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: in nineteen forty one, James had been a twenty two
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: year old bartender living just blocks away from the Chiverella
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: household when he killed Maurice, and he had no known
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: connection to the family, making his selection of Maurice appear
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: to be a crime of opportunity rather than a targeted attack.
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: And he also had the history of situable violence and
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: criminal charges as well as we spoke about, but perhaps phaps.
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: The most disturbing was the realization that Forte had lived
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: in Hazelton for sixteen years after murdering Maurice, continuing to
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: work as a bartender and interact with community members who
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: had no idea they were dealing with a child killer.
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: And he had attended the same churches, shopped at the
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: same stores, and lived in the same neighborhoods as the
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: family he had devastated. And for the chevarreal of family,
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: the announcement brought a complex mix of emotions, and the
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: four surviving siblings, Ron, Barry, Carmen, Marie, and David were
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: present at the press conference, representing a family that had
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: waited their entire adult lives for this moment. And Ron
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: would say, quote that we know the individual. It gives
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: us a sense of closure, and continuing to say no
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: full closure will never have that, but a sense of
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: closure that we know the individual that did it, and
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: that the individual isn't out committing the same crime and
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: hurting other young girls like Maurice and Carmen Marie. Marie's sister,
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: spoke emotionally about the impact of the case on their family, saying, quote,
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: we have so many precious memories of Maurice. At the
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: same time, our family will always feel the emptiness and
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: sorrow of her absence. We will continue to ask ourselves
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: what would have been, what could have been. But the
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: family's response to the news was remarkable in its lack
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: of hatred or desire for revenge, and their parents, Carmen
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: and Mary Shivrella, had raised their children to focus on
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: love and forgiveness rather than anger and retribution, because even
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: in the face of such tragedy, the family had maintained
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: their faith and their commitment to justice rather than vengeance.
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: And Ron would say, it's never been about the hatred.
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: It's never been about punishment or revenge, only justice, But
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: the responses just demonstrated a remarkable strength of character that
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: honor Marie's memory. And the press conference also highlighted the
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: crucial role that Eric Schubert had played in solving the case,
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: because the young genealogist, now twenty years old, was recognized
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: for his extraordinary contribution to the investigation, and his work
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: had accomplished what generations of experienced investigators had been unable
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: to achieve. Saying quote, Eric's work was instrumental in solving
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: the case. His expertise in genetic genealogy, combined with his
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: dedication and persistence, made it possible to identify James Paul
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: Forte as the perpetrator. This case could not have been solved.
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: Without his contributions, which I just think is so incredibly
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: amazing for somebody to just see a case and be
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: so dedicated to it, quite literally, getting nothing in return
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: besides the fact that he brought peace to a family
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: and justice.
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: So that is Maurice's case, and Eric Schubert and everybody
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: involved absolutely an incredible job, an absolutely heartbreaking case. But
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: it's good to know that the family can finally sleep
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: at night knowing that that absolute waste of oxygen is
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: in hell burning in all sorts of ways, I hope,
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: but it doesn't back their sister or their daughter. So
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: my heart goes out to the family. And also I
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: don't mention this much, but part of the proceeds from
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: these videos do go towards victims and their families, so
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: that is extremely important to me. My goal, honestly with
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: this channel is to be able to give most, if
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: not all, of the proceeds to families, and I also
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: would like to make a charity. I'm working on that
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: right now. So I just really want to give back
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: to people because I can't even imagine what people are
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: going through. All I can do is say their stories
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: and keep your curious minds bold. So that is the
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: end of the video. Let me know other cases that
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: you want me to go over. I always read the comments.
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: That's where I get all of my ideas for these videos.
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: So I appreciate you, I love you, Stay safe, and
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: I'll see you in the next one.
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: Right