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