Latest / Crime and Horror / Louisiana buried treasure rumor turned DEADLY... - MrBallen

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Louisiana buried treasure rumor turned DEADLY... - MrBallen · Crime and Horror

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  Speaker 1: In the early morning hours of September 21st, 2009, a
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  Speaker 1: man woke up in his bed and he could hear
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  Speaker 1: there was this strange metal clinking sound coming from the
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  Speaker 1: dark corner of his bedroom. The man's heart began to
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  Speaker 1: race as he turned and looked in the direction of
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  Speaker 1: the sound. And when he saw what was there, he
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  Speaker 1: gasped because there was someone standing in the corner staring
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  Speaker 1: right at him. And then the figure began moving toward
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  Speaker 1: the man. And with each step, that clinking sound got louder.
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  Speaker 1: But before we get into today's story, if you're a
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  Speaker 1: any of our uploads. Okay, let's get into today's story.
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  Speaker 1: In the early afternoon on April 13th, 1985, 60-year-old Dorothy
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  Speaker 1: Thompson walked into a bank in St.
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  Speaker 2: Bernard, Louisiana. Her hip was really bothering her, so she
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  Speaker 2: was moving slowly.
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  Speaker 1: But at the same time, she was also trying extra
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  Speaker 1: hard not to limp or seem unsteady. She knew the
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  Speaker 1: people in her small town liked to gossip about her,
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  Speaker 1: and so she didn't want to give them anything new
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  Speaker 1: to talk about. But as expected, you know, despite her
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  Speaker 1: best efforts to conceal her slower sort of limpy movement,
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  Speaker 1: When she got into the lobby, the handful of tellers
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  Speaker 1: and customers that were inside looked towards her, took stock
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  Speaker 1: of her, and began whispering.
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  Speaker 2: So the little town of St.
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  Speaker 1: Bernard was about five miles outside of New Orleans. And
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  Speaker 1: it was the kind of place where people were generally
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  Speaker 1: pretty friendly and everyone seemed to know everyone. But this
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  Speaker 1: smallness made it pretty easy for rumors to spread. And
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  Speaker 1: most of those rumors in this town seemed to be
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  Speaker 1: about Dorothy. Dorothy did have to admit, though, that she
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  Speaker 1: had given people a lot to talk about. Dorothy, who
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  Speaker 1: had lived in this town for 39 years, was the
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  Speaker 1: owner of the town's pet cemetery. Now, this pet cemetery
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  Speaker 1: was actually a true business. Dorothy made her income from
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  Speaker 1: pet owners, you know, buying plots of land in the cemetery.
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  Speaker 1: But that wasn't really the thing that made, you know,
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  Speaker 1: Dorothy stand out as the centerpiece of gossip. It was
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  Speaker 1: the fact that she not only owned this pet cemetery,
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  Speaker 1: but she lived on the cemetery by herself. And considering
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  Speaker 1: the fact that the cemetery also had a rumor of
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  Speaker 1: being haunted, it just seemed like, how could anybody do that?
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  Speaker 1: How could she live there full time? And these ghost stories,
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  Speaker 1: you know, surrounding this pet cemetery were not just, you know,
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  Speaker 1: to do with animals that have been buried there, but
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  Speaker 1: they were about people. Because people had died on this property,
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  Speaker 1: including both of Dorothy's husbands. The first husband was a
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  Speaker 1: very heavy drinker who regularly abused Dorothy. And it got
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  Speaker 1: so bad at a certain point that she eventually just
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  Speaker 1: shot him in self-defense and killed him. So that's how
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  Speaker 1: he died. And then her second husband had died from suicide.
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  Speaker 1: And Dorothy was the one who actually found his body
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  Speaker 1: on the porch. And so these deaths had led to
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  Speaker 1: more stories about Dorothy and how she was some kind
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  Speaker 1: of husband killer. But what people didn't see was how
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  Speaker 1: much all this death really weighed on her. And when
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  Speaker 1: her mother died about six years ago, it had almost
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  Speaker 1: broken Dorothy completely. Dorothy and her mother were incredibly close,
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  Speaker 1: and after she died, Dorothy got so depressed that she
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  Speaker 1: had to be admitted to the hospital for quite a while.
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  Speaker 1: She was doing better now, but some days were still
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  Speaker 1: really hard. And so now, at the bank, Dorothy ignored
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  Speaker 1: the look she got as she approached the teller. She
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  Speaker 1: needed to get cash out to pay her handyman, Kenny Pommier,
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  Speaker 1: who had done some work at the cemetery that morning.
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  Speaker 2: And because Dorothy.
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  Speaker 1: Didn't actually drive, Kenny was also her chauffeur for the day,
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  Speaker 1: and he was outside right now waiting to take her
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  Speaker 1: on a few more errands. So Dorothy told the teller
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  Speaker 1: how much money she needed, and then after they counted
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  Speaker 1: it out and handed it to her, Dorothy took the cash,
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  Speaker 1: turned around, and headed back outside. A couple hours later,
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  Speaker 1: around 4 p.m., Dorothy sat in the passenger seat of
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  Speaker 1: Kenny's car as he drove down a highway. They had
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  Speaker 1: just wrapped up at the grocery store, and now he
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  Speaker 1: was taking her back home. As they drove, the two
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  Speaker 1: made some small talk, mostly about the weather and also
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  Speaker 1: the work that Kenny had done that morning on the grounds.
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  Speaker 1: The truth was, Dorothy didn't really know Kenny at all.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, she had just hired him the day before.
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  Speaker 1: But he seemed nice enough, and she was hoping he
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  Speaker 1: would stick around for a while. After all, she had
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  Speaker 1: had a pretty high turnover rate amongst her handymen over
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  Speaker 1: the last year, and so she was hoping now for
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  Speaker 1: some consistency. So both the pet cemetery itself and Dorothy's house,
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  Speaker 1: which again was on the cemetery grounds, required a lot
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  Speaker 1: of upkeep that Dorothy was just not physically capable of doing.
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  Speaker 1: Besides her bad hip, She also took medication for her
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  Speaker 1: depression that made her weak and sometimes very disoriented. Now,
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  Speaker 1: sometimes Dorothy would ask her neighbors for help, but generally speaking,
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  Speaker 1: she preferred to just hire people to do the work because,
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  Speaker 1: you know, people needed steady work. She could give that
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  Speaker 1: to them and she appreciated the help. However, the problem
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  Speaker 1: with hiring these handymen was that unfortunately, a few of
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  Speaker 1: her former handymen had turned out to be criminals. Last fall,
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  Speaker 1: her handyman at the time, this guy named Elkin Childress,
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  Speaker 1: had lived with her and worked on the grounds. But
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  Speaker 1: Elkin was always just sort of wandering around and exploring
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  Speaker 1: the property instead of taking care of it. Then she
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  Speaker 1: had found out he'd been arrested for robbery. So she
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  Speaker 1: guessed that what he was really doing when he was
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  Speaker 1: walking around was casing the place, you know, looking for
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  Speaker 1: ways to break in or to steal something. Luckily for her,
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  Speaker 1: he actually quit before she had to fire him. And
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  Speaker 1: the guy before Elkin was even worse. His name was
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  Speaker 1: Brandon Nodier. Brandon was a total loudmouth who had started
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  Speaker 1: working for Dorothy right after her mother had died. He
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  Speaker 1: and his wife Bonnie had moved in with Dorothy so
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  Speaker 1: Brandon could keep up with the repairs while Bonnie drove
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  Speaker 1: Dorothy around. But just like Elkin, the issue she ran
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  Speaker 1: into with the Nodiers was theft. The previous spring, Dorothy
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  Speaker 1: had had this really intense depressive episode and was taking
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  Speaker 1: a lot of medication for it. And while she was all,
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  Speaker 1: you know, medicated and groggy, the Nodiers convinced her to
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  Speaker 1: sell them her land for basically nothing. But when Dorothy
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  Speaker 1: realized what had happened, she made the Nodiers move out
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  Speaker 1: and then got a lawyer to overturn the deal that
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  Speaker 1: she had signed. And so since last year, Dorothy, along
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  Speaker 1: with the Nodiers, had been in this horrible legal fight
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  Speaker 1: over this land. And she knew, you know, the Nodiers,
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  Speaker 1: Brandon and Bonnie, were furious at her. And on top
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  Speaker 1: of that, Brandon, who was this huge loudmouth, just would
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  Speaker 1: not stop talking about this dispute. Not only was he
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  Speaker 1: talking about it in public, but he also kept contacting
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  Speaker 1: Dorothy to sort of talk her into dropping the suit altogether.
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  Speaker 1: But Dorothy was not about to drop this issue. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: this cemetery and the land had belonged to her mother,
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  Speaker 1: and now it was hers. Like, it mattered to her.
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  Speaker 2: She's not just going to give it up.
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  Speaker 1: And so now, sitting in the passenger seat of the car,
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  Speaker 1: Dorothy watched as Kenny turned off the highway and eventually
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  Speaker 1: pulled into her driveway and which was quite long and
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  Speaker 1: wound through some thick woods, because remember, she lives on
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  Speaker 1: the cemetery. It's sort of secluded from society. And as
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  Speaker 1: the pair drove along this driveway and got closer and
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  Speaker 1: closer to her home, eventually she could finally see some
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  Speaker 1: of the tombstones up ahead. This cemetery was enormous, and
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  Speaker 1: basically any kind of animal you could imagine was buried here.
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  Speaker 1: Some of the graves were just engraved stone slabs, but
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  Speaker 1: others were pretty extravagant, including one human-sized Buddhist statue of
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  Speaker 1: somebody's pet cat, Kenny finally pulled up in front of
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  Speaker 1: the house and got out to help Dorothy carry in
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  Speaker 1: the groceries. And when he was done, Dorothy handed over
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  Speaker 1: the cash that she owed him and said she would
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  Speaker 1: call him when she had more work. And she watched
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  Speaker 1: as Kenny got back in his car and drove off
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  Speaker 1: back down the driveway.
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  Speaker 2: Around 9 p.m.
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  Speaker 1: That night, Dorothy poured herself a healthy glass of wine
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  Speaker 1: and went to her bedroom to turn on the TV.
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  Speaker 1: She'd spent the evening going through some bills and taking
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  Speaker 1: calls from cemetery clients, so by now she was exhausted.
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  Speaker 1: But as soon as she got into bed, she heard
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  Speaker 1: a phone ring on the other side of the house.
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  Speaker 1: Dorothy groaned and took her wine with her as she
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  Speaker 1: shuffled down the hallway to the kitchen to answer the call.
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  Speaker 1: And when she answered it, she heard her friend's voice,
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  Speaker 1: a woman named Patricia Newman. So Patricia was about half
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  Speaker 1: Dorothy's age, and the two of them had been introduced
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  Speaker 1: by a mutual friend three years earlier. Patricia had started
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  Speaker 1: out as more of a caretaker for Dorothy, since Patricia
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  Speaker 1: had experience working with the elderly. But they'd gotten along
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  Speaker 1: really well and became quite close, to the point where
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  Speaker 1: they had sort of a mother-daughter type of relationship. And
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  Speaker 1: since Patricia only lived about 10 minutes away, Dorothy did
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  Speaker 1: depend on her pretty much daily for things like supervising
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  Speaker 1: her medication and driving her to appointments. In many ways,
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  Speaker 1: you know, Patricia was like the one person outside of
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  Speaker 1: the hired help that she did spend a lot of
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  Speaker 1: time with. And so that's actually why Patricia was calling now.
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  Speaker 1: She wanted to know if Dorothy still needed a ride
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  Speaker 1: to the pharmacy the following day. And Dorothy said that
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  Speaker 1: she did and said thank you. And then the two
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  Speaker 1: talked for a bit longer before ultimately saying goodnight. After that,
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  Speaker 1: Dorothy hung up the phone and then poured herself a
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  Speaker 1: bit more wine. And then she just kind of stood
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  Speaker 1: in the kitchen for a bit, listening to the crickets outside.
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  Speaker 1: And then when she was about to finally leave and
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  Speaker 1: go back to bed, she heard something. It was the
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  Speaker 1: sound of a car making their way slowly up her
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  Speaker 1: long driveway. The following morning, a little after 1 p.m.,
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  Speaker 1: the friend, Patricia Newman, pulled up outside of Dorothy's house
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  Speaker 1: and threw her car into park. Patricia had called Dorothy.
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  Speaker 2: Around 9 a.m.
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  Speaker 1: That morning to tell her she was going to be
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  Speaker 1: late getting her, but Dorothy hadn't answered. Patricia had tried
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  Speaker 1: calling a few more times, but Dorothy never answered, which
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  Speaker 1: ultimately made Patricia pretty nervous. Dorothy was a heavy drinker
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  Speaker 1: in her 60s and was on a lot of medication.
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  Speaker 1: So deep down, Patricia knew it was possible Dorothy wasn't
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  Speaker 1: answering because she'd had some kind of accident or medical emergency.
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  Speaker 1: So she was at Dorothy's now, not so much to
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  Speaker 1: take her on her errands for the day, but just
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  Speaker 1: to make sure she was okay.
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  Speaker 2: Patricia got out of her car and hurried up to
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  Speaker 2: Dorothy's front door. But when she knocked, there was no answer.
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  Speaker 1: And after looking in a few windows, she didn't see
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  Speaker 1: Dorothy or any kind of movement inside. It just seemed
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  Speaker 1: very quiet and still. Patricia went back to the front
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  Speaker 1: door and tried it, but she found it was locked.
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  Speaker 1: So she just kept on knocking for a while. And
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  Speaker 1: after a few more minutes of Dorothy not answering and
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  Speaker 1: not hearing or seeing any sign of life in there,
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  Speaker 1: Patricia felt worried enough that she left the front door
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  Speaker 1: and went to go call the police. Not long after that,
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  Speaker 1: Patricia was back at Dorothy's house, this time watching anxiously
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  Speaker 1: as two police officers forced Dorothy's back door open. The
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  Speaker 1: officers had gotten there just a few minutes ago and
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  Speaker 1: Patricia had explained to them how Dorothy, you know, could
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  Speaker 1: be inside and very likely was hurt or something was
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  Speaker 1: wrong here. And so the officers kind of fanned out
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  Speaker 1: and began searching around the house looking for a way
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  Speaker 1: in and they.
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  Speaker 2: Found the back door was not locked.
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  Speaker 1: It was just jammed. So now they were in the
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  Speaker 1: process of getting it unjammed. And so finally, after a
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  Speaker 1: few swift kicks to this door, it finally gave way
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  Speaker 1: and it swung open, and the two officers, along with Patricia,
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  Speaker 1: went inside. Patricia immediately began yelling out Dorothy's name and
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  Speaker 1: going room to room looking for her, and what she
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: quickly realized is she could hear the sound of a
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  Speaker 1: television that was on, and it was coming from Dorothy's bedroom.
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  Speaker 1: But when she went to the bedroom and looked inside,
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  Speaker 1: Dorothy wasn't in there. In fact, after searching the whole house,
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  Speaker 1: there was no sign of Dorothy anywhere. And there wasn't
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  Speaker 1: any sign of any kind of problem in the house.
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  Speaker 1: Like there was no disturbance anywhere, no struggle, no like
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  Speaker 1: accident where somebody fell over. It was just like Dorothy
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  Speaker 1: was gone and that was it. Now for the two officers,
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  Speaker 1: they didn't really know what to make of this because
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  Speaker 1: to them, you know, it didn't appear like anything horrible
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: had happened. You know, there was no active emergency here.
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  Speaker 1: It's just that, you know, this person has left their
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  Speaker 1: TV on and they're not here when they should be.
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  Speaker 1: And that was concerning but not enough to warrant like
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  Speaker 1: a big reaction from authorities.
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  Speaker 2: But Patricia, she knew, you know, based on what.
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  Speaker 1: She was seeing that this was so uncharacteristic of Dorothy
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  Speaker 1: that something.
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  Speaker 2: Definitely had gone wrong here.
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  Speaker 1: But even though Patricia really adamantly communicated that concern to
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: the two officers, they just told her that, you know what?
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  Speaker 1: Let's wait, give it a few days and give Dorothy
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  Speaker 1: another couple of calls. And if she doesn't show up
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  Speaker 1: in the next few days, come talk to us. And
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  Speaker 1: so after the police left, you know, despite Patricia having
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  Speaker 1: this sense that something's off here, she did what she
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: was told. You know, she went home, she continued trying Dorothy,
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: but never got an answer. She called around town to
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  Speaker 1: see if anybody had seen her or heard from her,
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: but no, nobody knew where she was. And so finally,
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: after four days, Patricia put in another call to the St.
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  Speaker 1: Bernard Sheriff's Office. This time, she absolutely begged them to
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  Speaker 1: do something because Dorothy Thompson was still missing and now
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  Speaker 1: Patricia was 100% certain that something bad.
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  Speaker 2: Had to have happened to her. At around 10.30 a.m.
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  Speaker 1: On the same day that Patricia has made this plea
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  Speaker 1: for help four days after Dorothy had inexplicably gone missing,
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  Speaker 1: Detective Brian Vallelongo drove his cruiser through Dorothy Thompson's pet cemetery,
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  Speaker 1: along with Sergeant Terrence Strada. Both men worked for the St.
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  Speaker 1: Bernard Sheriff's Office, and they had been tasked to look
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: into Dorothy's disappearance. Vallelongo hadn't even gotten to the scene yet,
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: but he was already uneasy as he drove past the
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: animal tombstones and gravesites. This place had always creeped him out. Finally,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: the officer's cruiser made their way all the way to
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: the end of the driveway, and they reached Dorothy's home.
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  Speaker 1: And right away, Vallelongo could see there was a woman,
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: maybe in her 30s, who he guessed was Patricia, who
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: was standing by the front door. She seemed visibly anxious
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: and impatient as she stood there waiting for Vallelongo and
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: Strada to get out of their car. And when they
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: did get out and walked over to her, she got
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: straight to the point. She said the last officers had
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: not actually done a real search of the place, just
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: a sort of basic welfare check. And so now she
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: needed them to do a full search of Dorothy's house
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: and her grounds and to make sure Dorothy really wasn't
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: somewhere on this property. Vallelongo and Strada assured her that
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: they would do that. But first, they needed her to
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: start from the beginning and tell them about the last time.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: She saw or spoke to Dorothy.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: Patricia seemed pretty irritated by this and said she had
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: already told the officers everything she had known, both on
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: the phone call and then previously with those other officers
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  Speaker 1: who had done the welfare check, like, can we please
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: just get into the search? But Vallelongo insisted and said, look,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: I don't fully know the whole story, so please, like,
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: give me some information. And so begrudgingly, she would tell
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: Vallelonga what she knew. Basically that she had called her
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: friend on the 13th at night to ask if Dorothy
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: would need a ride to the pharmacy the next day.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: She had said yes. And then the next day comes
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: around and Patricia calls her friend to confirm she's going
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: to swing by and pick her up that morning. But
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: Dorothy doesn't answer. And so eventually Patricia goes to the house.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: Dorothy apparently isn't there. She knocks on the door. Dorothy
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: doesn't come out.
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  Speaker 2: It just seemed off. And so Patricia calls the police.
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  Speaker 2: They show up.
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  Speaker 1: They find the back door is unlocked but jammed. They
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  Speaker 1: force it open. They go inside. And, you know, nothing's disturbed.
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  Speaker 1: And Dorothy is just missing. And there was no rhyme
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: or reason to it. And so now Patricia was convinced
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: that something bad had happened to Dorothy. And she really
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: was hoping that they could help her. Falolongo nodded and
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: then asked Patricia if maybe Dorothy had friends or family
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: that she might have just gone to stay with. But
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: Patricia immediately shook her head and said no. Dorothy was
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: pretty much alone in the world and almost never left
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: her house. And she didn't have a car because she
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: didn't drive. Also, Patricia said she had already called around
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: and nobody had seen her. Friends, family, no one. And
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: then at this point, Patricia was very clear. She told
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  Speaker 1: the officers that she believed the only reason Dorothy would
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: have left her house that day or that night before
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: was if somebody else had forced her to.
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: Vallelongo shot Strada a look.
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  Speaker 1: He didn't doubt that Patricia was worried about her friend,
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  Speaker 1: but they need to look around before they jump to
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: any conclusions here. So he asked Patricia if she could
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: show them the unlocked door and they would begin their investigation.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: Moments later, Vallelongo stepped into the home through that back entrance,
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: followed by Strada and Patricia. As he walked around the house,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: he saw that, like Patricia had said, you know, it
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: was very neat and tidy. There really was no sign
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: of anything that had gone wrong inside the house. No
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: sign of a struggle or anything. a fall of some kind.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: It was just like the house was left exactly as is.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: That sort of contradicted Patricia's theory that, you know, the
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: only way Dorothy would have left the house was if
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: she had been forced, suggesting some form of a struggle.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: But at the same time, you know, what Patricia was
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: saying about Dorothy is that she was kind of frail.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: And so Vallelongo thought, you know, okay, maybe it's possible
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: that she was forced and, you know, she didn't put
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: up any kind of a fight. And that's why we
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: don't see any disturbance. He didn't know, but it just
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: seemed odd that that nothing had been displaced if we're
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: talking about some form of an abduction. Also, as Vallelongo
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: continued his walk around the house, he could see that
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: items of value like Dorothy's TV were still there.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: So it didn't seem like this had been a robbery.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: But unlike the first officers who had done that initial
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: welfare check with Patricia a few days earlier, Vallelongo did
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: agree that something wasn't right here. Because as he continued
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: to walk around, he kept seeing signs that Dorothy had
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: clearly not planned to leave her home or had left
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: in a hurry. For example, there was a half-empty glass
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: of wine in the kitchen and the television in the
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: bedroom was still on. And so those are things that
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: simply would not be if somebody was planning to leave
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: for any extended period of time. And also, based on
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: what Patricia had told them, he could rule out a
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: family emergency suddenly taking Dorothy out of town or any
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: kind of last-minute trip. because Patricia had called around and
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: that stuff hadn't happened. At a certain point, Vallelongo stopped
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: walking around the home and just asked Patricia, you know,
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: how was Dorothy's mental state? And Patricia clearly hesitated for
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: a second before she admitted to Vallelongo that, you know,
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: Dorothy was on a whole bunch of medication, and sometimes
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: it did make her mental state kind of foggy. And
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: so Vallelongo naturally thought, okay, you know, maybe it's possible
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: that in a sort of foggy mental state, maybe for
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: whatever reason, she wandered out of the house on her own.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: And then once she was outside, something happened to her,
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: whether it was, you know, an animal, a person, a fall,
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: like anything could have happened. He knew the back door
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: had been unlocked during that initial police welfare check. And
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: even though he knew the door apparently had been jammed,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: you know, it clearly had not been jammed so much
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: that it prevented them from getting inside. And so maybe
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: that door just always got stuck, you know, and maybe
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: that's all that happened. She walked out the back door
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: and When she shut it, it got jammed, and that
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: was normal. And so, Vallelongo turned to his partner and
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: sort of exclaimed, to him his theory around Dorothy maybe
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: wandering out on her own and then something else happened
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: once she was outside and said, hey, you know, she's
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: clearly not here. Let's go out there and search the
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: grounds and see if we can find her. Fifteen days later,
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: a little past 7 a.m. on May 3rd, 1985, Vallelongo
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: stepped into Strada's office to give him an update on
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: the case. At this point, Vallelongo thought it was extremely
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: likely that foul play was involved here, because they had
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: searched Dorothy's house and her property a few times at
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: this point, and they had not found Dorothy anywhere or
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: any evidence to explain what had happened to her. Patricia
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: had mentioned that Dorothy had a tattoo of a cross
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: on her left index finger. So, Vallelongo had spent the
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: last couple of weeks calling around to local hospitals and
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: morgues to see if any women had been brought in
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: with that marking. Vallelongo also interviewed Dorothy's neighbors and the
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: tellers at that bank that she had gone to shortly
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: before she vanished, and also he had interviewed some people
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: in town who just knew who she was. He'd also
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: tracked down Dorothy's new handyman, Kenny Pommier, who the bank
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: had said was with Dorothy on the day she vanished.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: He apparently was driving her around. But none of these.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: People had heard from Dorothy since she vanished 20 days earlier.
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: Same as Patricia.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: Even though nobody knew where Dorothy was and really couldn't
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: offer all that much information to help the investigation, it
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: was like everybody Vallelongo spoke to had a pretty strong
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: negative opinion of Dorothy. Like that she was this recluse
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: and that she was kind of crazy and, you know,
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: people thought she had murdered her husbands and buried their
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: bodies in the Pet Sematary and also her house and
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: her land were haunted. But, you know, none of these
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: rumors were going to do anything to advance the case.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: But it was interesting to Vallelongo that people felt this
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: way about her. The only real lead that Vallelongo got
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: was something he got from speaking to Dorothy's lawyer a
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: few days ago, who had mentioned that Dorothy was in
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: the middle of this very contentious lawsuit over the rights
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: to her property with a pair of former employees named
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: Bonnie and Brandon Nodier. And since Dorothy's case was looking
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: more and more like an abduction or even homicide, the
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: fact that there was this active lawsuit that Dorothy was
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: embroiled in was a big red flag. So Vallelongo naturally
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: knew he had to speak to Bonnie and Brandon. But
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: as Vallelongo sat across from Strada at his desk and
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: filled him in on all this, Strada's phone rang. Strada
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: picked it up and listened to the person on the
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: other end, and immediately there was this look of shock
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: that came over his face. Strada thanked the caller and
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: then hung up and then told Vallelongo that a body
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: had been found in the Mississippi River the day before,
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: about 40 miles downriver from here, and they thought it
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: could be Dorothy. Just a few hours later, Vallelongo and
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: Strada stood with Patricia Newman inside of an exam room
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: at the coroner's office. In front of them was a
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: long metal table, and lying on this table was the
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: body of the woman who had been found inside the river.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: Patricia had been asked to come in here and see
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: if this was Dorothy. But as Vallelongo looked at the body,
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: he didn't see how Patricia was going to be able
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: to do that, because the body was already incredibly decomposed
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: and very bloated. The medical examiner had said this woman
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: had likely been in the water for weeks, and they
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: hadn't done an autopsy yet, but any findings would probably
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: just be a guess because of how badly damaged and
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: decomposed the body was. The only thing they did know
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: for sure was that this definitely was a homicide.
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: The woman was found with.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: A plastic bag tied over her head, and she was
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: wrapped in a lot of very heavy chains, probably to
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: weigh her down so her body would not float up
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: and be found. And so Vallelongo looked over at Patricia,
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: who looked visibly anxious as she stared at this body.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: You know, she seemed kind of overwhelmed by the moment.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: You know, she was shaking and she was just staring,
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: sort of shocked. But eventually, you know, after looking at
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: the body, she spoke. And she actually said that she
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: didn't think this was Dorothy. And for a second, Vallelongo
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: was actually disappointed, not because he was hoping Dorothy was dead,
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: but for the sake of the case, you know, to
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: figure out where she had gone. But then he remembered something.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: He stepped up to the body, he put on a glove,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: and gently.
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: Examined the woman's left hand.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: And there, just visible on her index finger, was a
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: tattoo of a cross.
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: This was Dorothy.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: Dorothy. Four days later, on May 7th, Belalungo got to
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: his office and sat down at his desk to start
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: the day. And he had a lot to do, because
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: he was now in the middle of a homicide case.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: The medical examiner who had done the autopsy on Dorothy
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: didn't find any water in her lungs. So as a result,
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: they had decided the cause of death was most likely
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: asphyxia from strangulation or suffocation, not drowning. Now, Vallelongo had
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: known all along that it was possible somebody had abducted
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: Dorothy from her home and killed her.
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: But now that it was.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: Official, he was sort of reviewing the case notes from
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: the beginning to see if anything had been overlooked, while
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: this was still basically considered a missing persons case. And
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: he started with the place Dorothy was last known to be,
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: her house. Dorothy's home was incredibly neat and undisturbed, so
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: it was possible Dorothy was lured from her home and
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: killed somewhere else... But Vallelongo knew from talking to her
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: neighbors and Patricia that Dorothy was, you know, naturally pretty
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: reclusive and did not leave her house easily. So it
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: sort of made the most sense to him that Dorothy
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: must have actually been killed in her home. And the
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: reason the crime scene was so pristine was that Dorothy
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: was overpowered really quickly. Now, originally, Vallelongo had considered Dorothy's
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: current handyman, Kenny Pommier, to be a suspect. since he
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: was the last one to see her alive because he
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: was the one who dropped her off at her home
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: at 4 p.m. around the time she went missing. But
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: Vallelongo had revisited Kenny and found that he had an alibi.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: But even if he didn't have an alibi, Vallelongo wasn't
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: really sure what Kenny's motive would even have been. I mean,
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: there'd been no sign of a robbery inside of her house.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: And on top of that, it just didn't seem like
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: Dorothy had much money to begin with, like she wasn't wealthy.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: And also the way she died, you know, strangulation or suffocation,
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: you know, that's so personal. And so whoever would have
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: done that would have had to have a reason for it.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: But so far, Vallelongo had not spoken to anyone who
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: really had a serious issue with Dorothy. I mean, people
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: definitely had opinions about Dorothy, but it was almost like
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: people said, stay away from her. You know, she lives
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: on haunted land and she's killed her husbands, but it
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: just seemed like rumor mill. There didn't seem to be
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: somebody who really had a targeted issue with her. There
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: was that outstanding lawsuit with the Enodies, the two people
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: who were, you know, battling over the rights to her property.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: But it wasn't clear to Vallelongo if in the middle
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: of this lawsuit was like real hatred between the parties.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: You know, he had yet to see that. And so
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: at this point, Vallelongo felt like his biggest problem was
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: that he really had no real evidence. There were no witnesses.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: And they'd searched Dorothy's house repeatedly at this point, and
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: they hadn't found anything useful. And there were no forensics
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: on Dorothy's body. Since her body had been in the
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: water for so long, all the forensics had been washed away.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: But just then, there was a knock on the door.
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: And an officer poked his head in and told Vallelongo
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: that he had something that he might want to come see.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: And so Vallelongo got up and he walked over. And
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: the officer said that they had just brought this guy
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: in for writing bad checks. And it turns out his
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: former employer was Dorothy Thompson. Vallelongo was immediately interested and
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: asked for more information. And the officer told him that
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: this man's name was Elkin Childress, and he had been
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: the live-in caretaker for Dorothy for two months last fall.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: And Elkin had told the officers who had arrested him
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: that the reason he had wanted to work there at
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: the pet cemetery for Dorothy was to find the treasure. Apparently,
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: along with all the other rumors about Dorothy, there was
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: another rumor that hundreds of thousands of dollars were buried
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: somewhere on Dorothy's property, and Elkin had become obsessed with
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: finding it, but he said he never did. When Vallelongo
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: heard this, he felt his pulse pick up. He'd never
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: heard this treasure rumor, but it wasn't any crazier than
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: any of the other rumors he had heard about Dorothy.
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: And if Elkin was that serious about finding said treasure...
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: Maybe he'd gone to Dorothy and tried to force her
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: to tell him where it was. But before he could
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: say or do anything, the officer told Vallelongo not to
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: get too excited because Elkin had an alibi for the
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: night Dorothy went missing and it checked out. However, the
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: officer said that Elkin had mentioned something else that could
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: help with the investigation. According to Elkin, there was somebody
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: in Dorothy's life who befriended her for the sole purpose
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: of trying to inherit.
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: Everything she owned. And that person... was Patricia Newman.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: And as soon as the officer said that, Vallelongo's gears
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: in his head began to turn and he thought, why
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: didn't I see this before? After all, it was Patricia
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: who called the authorities. She's also the one who aggressively
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: pushed this investigation in the early days, which Vallelongo had
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: assumed was just because she was worried about her friend.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: But now he was starting to wonder if maybe she
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: was trying to make herself look innocent. It's not unusual
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: for killers to try and insert themselves into investigations to
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: seem cooperative or to cast suspicion on other people. Patricia
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: had also entered Dorothy's house multiple times before Dorothy's body
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: was found, which certainly gave her an opportunity to interact
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: with the scene and potentially hide evidence. And so Vallelongo
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: turned and ran to go find Strada. They needed to
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: speak to Patricia immediately. And this time it would be
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: as a suspect. On May 8th, So six days after
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: Dorothy was found in the river, Vallelongo once again met
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: with Dorothy's close friend, Patricia Newman. But this time, the
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: meeting was inside of a police interrogation room. And as
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: Vallelongo sat at the interrogation table looking at Patricia, he
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: was watching her very carefully.
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: She did seem.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: Somewhat annoyed that she had been called in for this,
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: but she also seemed very nervous. In particular, she kept
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: fidgeting with her hands. Now, Vallelongo had really considered his
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: approach here. Since Patricia could have been lying to him
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: this whole time, his plan was to start off pleasant
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: and kind of lull her into a false sense of
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: security that he believed everything she had said was true
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: so far. And then at some point he would surprise
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: her with a sharp left turn and see how she reacted.
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: So he started with some background questions about Patricia's relationship
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: with Dorothy and nodded appreciatively as Patricia explained how she
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: and Dorothy were good friends and Patricia also took.
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: Care of her. But then.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: Kind of out of nowhere, Vallelongo asked her about Dorothy's
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: estate and if it was valuable or not. She did
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: say that Dorothy owned the house and the land it
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: was on outright, so no mortgages or anything. So it
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: had to be worth something, but she didn't know how
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: much it was worth. Vallelongo responded to this by saying, okay,
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: you know, forget the financial worth of the property. Is
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: the property worth something to you, Patricia? At that point,
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: Vallelongo could clearly see, you know, Patricia realizing what was
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: happening here. She had this alarmed look on her face,
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: like she was starting to see that she was not
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: being treated like a witness, but rather a suspect. And
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: so Patricia quickly said, no, you know, the property was
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: not worth anything to her. She didn't want it, not
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: at all. But she kind of turned it around on
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: Vallelongo and said, look, if you're looking for someone who
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: does want that property, well, you ought to speak to
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: the Nodiers. Now, Vallelongo knew who she was referencing. These
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: were the folks who were embroiled in that lawsuit with
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: Dorothy before she went missing and was found dead. But
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: Vallelongo didn't say anything. He just sort of gave Patricia
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: a look like, oh, explain what you mean. And so
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: Patricia took the cue and told him that the Nodiers
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: had been Dorothy's live-in employees for years.
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: And they were complete monsters.
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: She said that Brandon had been verbally abusive towards Dorothy
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: while they worked for her. And also, he was one
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: of the main people spreading all these rumors about Dorothy
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: in town. about how he thought she killed her husbands
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: and how her land was haunted and she was crazy.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: But she said that wasn't even the worst of it.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: She said Brandon was also a thief. She said the
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: year before, when Dorothy was on a lot of medication
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: for depression, like more than normal, and she was not
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: of sound mind as a result of it, she said
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: that Brandon and his wife Bonnie had convinced her to
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: sign over her property to them for basically nothing. And
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: that's when it hit Vallelongo. Like he was aware that
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: there had been this lawsuit over the land, but he
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: didn't really have all the details about it.
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: He just knew there was some dispute.
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: And he also knew that Dorothy's lawyer had mentioned the
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: Nodier's days ago, but that was also right before Dorothy's
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: body had turned up and things had been sort of hectic.
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: And so Vallelongo had not followed up with her lawyers yet.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: And so he didn't really have the context of, you know,
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: how nasty this legal fight really was. Patricia said she
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: had convinced Dorothy to get a lawyer and to fight this,
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: that it was not right they were doing this to her.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: And Dorothy had done that. She'd gotten a lawyer. And
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: in fact, her and the Nodier's court date had happened
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: just 10 days before Dorothy went missing. As Vallelonga was listening,
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: it was like he couldn't believe it. This was so
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: obvious and it was right in front of him the
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: whole time. the Nodiers would clearly benefit from Dorothy's disappearance.
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: And pretty clearly, there was real beef between the parties.
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: So at this point, Vallelongo kind of shifted tactics and
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: was less interested in looking at Patricia as a suspect
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: and instead assured her that, you know what, he would
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: speak to them. Now, Vallelongo did speak to Patricia for
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: a bit longer. I mean, she was still a suspect.
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: She was very close to Dorothy.
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: Who was this older woman with no obvious heirs.
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: And Vallelongo had not seen Dorothy's will yet, but, you know,
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: he wouldn't be that surprised if Patricia was in there.
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: And if she was, that would prove she would have
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: also benefited from Dorothy's demise, just like the Nodiers would.
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: But regardless, Vallelongo knew he was well overdue for a
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: conversation with the Nodiers.
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: So they were going to be his next call.
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: Three days later, in the afternoon on May 10th, Vallelongo
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: found himself back in the precinct's interrogation room, But this time,
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: it was a bit more crowded. He'd managed to track
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: down 31-year-old Brandon Nodier for an interview. And while Brandon
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: had agreed to talk to Vallelongo, he had also insisted
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: on having his lawyer present as well, which immediately signaled
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: to Vallelongo that Brandon likely had something to hide here.
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: Vallelongo had looked into Brandon's background since speaking to Patricia,
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: and he found out that Brandon had a criminal record,
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: which included assault. Vallelongo also spoke to a few people
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: in town about Brandon, and he had been told that
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: Brandon apparently had a very hard time.
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: Keeping his mouth shut.
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: He apparently consistently seemed to threaten or go off on
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: people whenever he got even marginally upset.
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: He was a hothead and a loudmouth.
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: So given all this, Vallelongo expected Brandon to be at
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: least somewhat antagonistic or defensive in this interview. But when
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: Vallelongo asked him about this highly contentious lawsuit with Dorothy,
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: Brandon didn't seem like an angry loudmouth at all. Instead,
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: he just seemed confused. He explained the whole thing really
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: was just a big misunderstanding. Brandon said he and his
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: wife had known Dorothy for six years and actually lived
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: with her for part of the time. And from his
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: point of view, he thought, you know, Dorothy viewed them
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: as sort of like family. And that's also why he
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: said he believed she was selling them her land at such.
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: A low rate.
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: It was like a family discount. He said it just
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: sort of seemed like she really wanted them to have
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: her property. And it was actually Brandon and his wife
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: that had sort of insisted on paying for it. Brandon said,
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: you know, everything about this transaction had really been fine
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: and above board until Patricia Newman got involved. Brandon seemed
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: very frustrated as he began to explain how he didn't
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: really know what had happened. But Patricia somehow got into
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: Dorothy's head and convinced her.
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: That he and his.
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: Wife Bonnie had somehow taken advantage of Dorothy. And Brandon's saying, like,
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: that didn't happen. That's not how this went. Brandon said,
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: you know, as far as he was concerned, it actually
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: seemed like Patricia was the one who was taking advantage
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: of Dorothy. And then he said there were actually all
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: these times when apparently Patricia was staying with Dorothy. And
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: at some point, they would get into some kind of
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: fight and like Patricia would get mad at Dorothy. And
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: Dorothy would flee her own house and run to the
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: Nodier's house like for protection, for safe haven. They said
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: that was fairly common. Like Patricia was this awful person that,
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: you know, Dorothy had to flee from. As Vallelongo heard this,
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: he kind of didn't know what to think. I mean,
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: you know, Brandon could be lying to him. But truthfully,
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: Brandon seemed very convincing. And also, you know, Brandon just
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: didn't really seem smart enough to be a master manipulator here.
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: In fact, if anything, Brandon seemed kind of dense. And
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: it was hard to believe he could engineer this murder
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: without leaving behind any evidence or witnesses and then also
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: concoct this sort of brilliant story about how Patricia really
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: was the one behind this whole thing. But Brandon's wife, Bonnie,
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: was a suspect too. And it was possible that, you know,
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: she was the ringleader too. and Brandon had just sort
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: of followed along. They were divorced now, but if they
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: were wrapped up in this lawsuit with Dorothy together, it
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: was possible they could have, you know, come together and
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: join forces to take care of the problem, i.e.
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: Get rid of Dorothy.
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: All that's to say, Vallelonga was not going to eliminate
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: Brandon as a suspect just yet, but he needed more
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: evidence before he could connect him to the crime. So ultimately,
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: he told Brandon he could leave and that he would
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: be in touch. And then Vallelongo watched as Brandon and
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: his lawyer stood up and filed out of the room.
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: It was sort of funny in a dark way that
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: just a few days ago, Vallelongo couldn't see any reason
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: why anybody would want to kill Dorothy. And now it
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: was like everybody in Dorothy's life, Elkin, Patricia, and now
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: the Nodiers, wanted Dorothy's money and so really would benefit
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: if she went away. And so now he just had
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: to figure out who wanted Dorothy gone the most. About
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: five months later, in October of 1985, Vallelongo stood in
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: the middle of Dorothy's Pet Cemetery, along with Sergeant Strada,
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: in total disbelief. Because all around them, almost every single
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: tombstone had been completely smashed. Now, Vallelongo had no idea
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: who had done this, but it was sort of oddly fitting.
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: Because just like this cemetery, Vallelongo's homicide case was a
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: complete and total mess. Since May, Vallelongo and some other
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: investigators had questioned both Patricia and Brandon Nodier multiple times.
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: But all they ever did was point the finger at
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: the other one. And now, the two primary suspects in
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: Dorothy's murder were essentially at war over her property. After
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: Dorothy's will was read, it would turn out that Patricia
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: Newman had inherited a huge chunk of her estate, including
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: whatever proceeds came from the cemetery business. But the Nodiers
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: were saying that no, you cannot just give that to
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: Patricia because the property is theirs and so the business
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: is theirs because Dorothy had signed it all over to them.
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: And the lawsuit to overturn that sale, despite it being
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: very contentious, it had not been resolved yet. So you
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: can't just shuffle it over to Patricia. And on top
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: of that, Bonnie Nodier, Brandon's ex-wife, had literally moved into
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: Dorothy's house, making it even more complicated.
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: And so that was why the St.
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: Bernard Sheriff's Department and the state police were at the
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: Pet Sematary right now. Patricia was there and trying to
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: get access to the house since she needed to get
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: some of Dorothy's things. And Bonnie wouldn't let her in. Now,
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: the uniformed officers had just gone there to make sure
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: everybody played nice. But Vallelongo and Strada had tagged along
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: specifically to try to ask Bonnie a few questions. Now,
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: Bonnie was still very much a suspect in Dorothy's murder.
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: But so far, investigators had actually not been able to
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: interview her. And Vallelongo had hoped that maybe this was
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: their chance. However, when they arrived, Bonnie was extremely angry
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: and she refused to speak to anyone and told all
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: the officers and Patricia to get off her property.
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: And even though the.
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: Officers, along with Patricia, had eventually gotten inside and Patricia
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: took what she needed, the officers had not been able
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: to get Bonnie to say anything to them.
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: She refused.
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: And so now, Vallelongo and Strada walked back to their cruiser,
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: past all these shattered tombstones, feeling very frustrated that they
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: had multiple suspects here and no way to eliminate any
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: of them. Brandon Nodier would directly benefit from Dorothy's death,
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: because if she was dead, then the lawsuit he was
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: embroiled in would get dropped and he would by default
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: take control of Dorothy's land. He also had a criminal
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: record and, according to Patricia, had been horrible to Dorothy
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: when they lived together. Brandon's ex-wife, Bonnie, could have helped
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: him do it, too, since after all, she was named
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: in that lawsuit as well. And she had taken full
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: control of Dorothy's house after she died, so clearly she
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: was intent on living there. But Patricia also could have
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: been highly motivated to get Dorothy out of the picture,
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: since she was named in the will. And she'd seemed
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: really controlling of Dorothy and had repeatedly inserted herself into
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: the investigation. And then there was the handyman, Elkin Childress,
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: who had been eliminated through his alibi. But Vallelongo felt
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: like he deserved another look. He had admitted that he
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: was obsessed with finding treasure on Dorothy's property. And now
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: all the gravestones were mysteriously smashed, which could indicate that
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: maybe he had come back. And this was, you know,
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: part of his attempt to find the treasure. You know,
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: maybe they were inside the gravestones. Then again, if they're
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: going to treat Elkin like a suspect, well, then Anybody
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: who had heard rumors about the treasure on Dorothy's land
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: was also a suspect. And considering how the residents of St.
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: Bernard clearly gossiped a lot about Dorothy, it seemed like
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: that would mean basically everyone in town was a suspect.
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: But without any forensic evidence or witnesses, Vallelongo didn't see
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: how they would ever be able to connect anybody to
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: this crime. Still, he and Strada got back in the
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: cruiser and headed back to the station to keep at it.
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: The investigative team kept working this case diligently for weeks
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: and then months, interviewing and re-interviewing suspects and speaking to
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: people who knew Dorothy. They even met with a psychic
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: who claimed she knew who the killer was. And some
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: people even called in with tips that they had seen
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: Dorothy's ghost in the area and they would even go
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: follow up in case maybe Dorothy was there.
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: But none of that went anywhere.
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: None of it amounted to any new meaningful evidence that
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: the police could actually use to bring somebody to court.
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: And as time went on, Dorothy's case changed hands multiple
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: times before finally going cold. 24 years later, on a
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: Thursday afternoon in late September of 2009... Detective John Duran
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: sat at his desk in the St. Bernard's Police Precinct
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: doing some paperwork. And he just put his pen down
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: and leaned back in his chair to take a break
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: when another detective poked his head in and told Duran, hey,
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: the caller was on the phone. And Duran knew exactly
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: who he was talking about. A few days ago, an
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: anonymous caller had put in a tip to say he
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: had information about an old cold case from 1985, the
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: murder of the lady who owned that pet cemetery. And
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: Duran had known immediately that the caller was talking about
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: Dorothy Thompson. Duran had actually used to cut the grass
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: at the Pet Sematary when he was 15 years old.
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: And so he and his friends knew all about Dorothy.
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: How she was, you know, this eccentric recluse who potentially
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: murdered people and who turned up dead one day. But
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: during the first call, this tipster had gotten spooked and
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: hung up without giving his name.
• 44:34
  Speaker 2: And as soon as.
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: Duran picked up the phone to speak to the caller,
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: he immediately said, whoever this is, you're not going to
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: get in any trouble here. We just want your name
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: and your location. I want to come talk to you
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: and just hear what you know. You're not going to
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: get in any trouble. Can you do that?
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: There was a pause. And then the caller reluctantly agreed.
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: Later that day, Duran and another detective sat in the
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: living room of a New Orleans home, right across from
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: a very fidgety looking older man. The man's eyes kept
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: darting all around the room and periodically he kept looking
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: over his shoulder like somebody was going to, you know,
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: jump out at him. And it occurred to Duran as
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: he was watching this guy that he didn't just seem nervous,
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: you know, about the information he was going to spill
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: to them. He actually seemed pretty genuinely terrified. But finally,
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: the man took a steadying breath and said he knew
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: who killed Dorothy and he had known for years. Now,
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: the guilt of knowing was haunting him. Literally, he told
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: the detectives that he had been seeing Dorothy's ghost covered
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: in chains and asking him to come forward. Now, at this,
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: Duran raised his eyebrows skeptically, but didn't say anything. You know,
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: this was a pretty crazy start to the story and
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: pretty hard to believe. But at the same time, it
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: didn't really matter what, you know, prompted this guy to
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: come forward. It mattered what he had to say. And so,
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: with an open mind, Duran, along with his partner, just
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: sat there and waited. And eventually, the old man, despite
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: being very scared and timid, finally did just come out
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: and say what he knew. Based on a decades-long investigation
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: and multiple confessions, here is a reconstruction of what police
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: believe happened to Dorothy Thompson on the night of April 13, 1985.
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: Sometime after 9 p.m.
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: That night, the killer was sitting behind the wheel of
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: their truck, making their way up the long, winding driveway.
• 46:37
  Speaker 2: Through the woods towards Dorothy's house.
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: And as they drove along, the killer found themselves sort
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: of looking out the window and taking in the sights,
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: you know, the tombstones, the trees, the house up ahead,
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: the whole property, you know, taking it all in. And
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: as they did that, they thought to themselves that it
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: was time to stop waiting for their fortune to arrive.
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: They needed to take it. because Dorothy did not deserve
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: to have this. In fact, the killer believed Dorothy didn't
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: deserve to live. And so the killer eventually arrived right
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: outside of Dorothy's house, and they stopped their truck, they
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: threw it in the park, and then, calm as can be,
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: they got out, and they walked around to the back
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: of the house.
• 47:21
  Speaker 2: There, they knocked.
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: And eventually, Dorothy, you know, made her way to the door,
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: and she looked out through the glass, and she saw
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: this person, the killer, And she looked confused, but it
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: didn't stop her from opening the door. And as soon
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: as she did, the killer didn't hesitate. They jumped on
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: top of her. Dorothy tried to scream, but the killer
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: immediately wrapped their hands tight around her throat and she
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: went silent. And then in silence, they strangled Dorothy until
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: she stopped moving. Then once Dorothy was crumpled lifeless on
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: the ground, the killer found some sheets and wrapped them
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: around Dorothy's body and then dragged her outside to the
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: waiting truck. Once they put Dorothy's body in the truck,
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: they drove to a section of the Mississippi River not
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: far from Dorothy's house. There, the killer got out, and
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: they grabbed Dorothy's body, and they tied her hands and
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: her feet together, and also, just in case, put a
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: plastic bag tightly over her head. Then they wrapped her
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: body in chains. And then once she was all prepped,
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: the killer, calm as can be, lifted her body up,
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: walked over to the Mississippi River, and threw her in.
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: Moments later, the killer was back inside their truck, driving along,
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: feeling better than they had in months. Because now that
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: Dorothy was gone, all their problems were solved. It would
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: turn out, Dorothy Thompson's killer was indeed Brandon Nodier. He
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: had not only tricked Dorothy into selling him her land
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: at a very cheap price, but also, when she figured
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: out he had basically conned her, she sued him at
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: Patricia's urging and And when that happened, Brandon thought, OK, well,
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: if I just kill Dorothy before this lawsuit gets dismissed
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: because they're going to figure out that this was not fair,
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: that I did con her. If I kill her now, well,
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: by default, the charges get dropped and the sale goes
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: to me.
• 49:15
  Speaker 2: The property is mine.
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: On the night of the murder, Brandon was not alone.
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: He actually asked another one of Dorothy's former handymen, a
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: guy named James Tregler, to come along with him and
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: basically just.
• 49:26
  Speaker 2: Wait in the car. And so he had done that.
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: Now, Brandon was an incredibly violent person, and he did
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: not think twice about murdering Dorothy to make sure the
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: lawsuit got dropped. But Brandon also had a famously big mouth.
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: And he told his entire friend group what he had done.
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: And so basically, all of Brandon's friends were aware of
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: this horrible crime. And they totally believed what he said
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: because they were fully capable of him being able to
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: commit extreme violence.
• 49:53
  Speaker 2: But they were scared of him.
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: And that's why none of the friends came forward.
• 49:57
  Speaker 2: To say, you know, what they knew.
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: But finally, one of these friends was so haunted by
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: their knowledge of this crime that they did eventually come forward.
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: That was the caller. who, you know, told the detectives
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: what happened. And in their rendition of what happened, they
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: said Brandon didn't act alone.
• 50:16
  Speaker 2: There was somebody else, a guy named James Tregler.
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: And so as a result of that tip, it would
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: take another four years, but they would ultimately speak to
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: James Tregler, and he would confess to having been there
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: on that night. And with that, they had enough evidence
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: to finally charge Brandon for the murder. Brandon ultimately surrendered
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: to authorities in 2012, and he would get a 10-year
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: sentence for pleading guilty to Dorothy's murder.
• 50:42
  Speaker 2: Brandon's ex-wife, Bonnie, was not involved.
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: As for James Tregler, the other handyman who drove with
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: Brandon on the night of the murder, he always maintained
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: that he didn't know the murder was going to happen,
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: and so he was given immunity from prosecution in exchange
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: for his testimony. Even though the Pet Sematary is still
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: standing today, it's now abandoned and totally overgrown. However, treasure
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: hunters continue to walk around the property with their metal detectors,
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: hoping that they'll be the ones to finally find the
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: treasure that's buried there. Thank you so much for watching.
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: Let me know what you thought of today's episode in
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: the comments. And remember, we have a whole playlist of
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: true crime episodes ready for you to binge right now.
• 51:34
  Speaker 2: So click here, and give them a watch. Alright, until
• 51:37
  Speaker 2: next time, see ya.