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The Unsolved Murders of the Evangelista Family · PNW Haunts & Homicides

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Fire Eyes Media. Today, I'm taking you back to July
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: nineteen twenty nine, to a house on Saint Aubin's Street
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: and to a mystery that's haunted generations. The Evangelista's family
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  Speaker 1: murders remains unsolved nearly a century later. What motive could
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: lie behind such brutality? Was it something a cult, something personal,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: or something more ordinary twisted into horror? Hello, and welcome
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: to another episode of Truly Twisted. As always, I'm your host,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Alicia Watson, and every Thursday, I will be bringing you
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: a story that is always victim focused and fact based.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: One thing that you all listening might not know about
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: me is that I love fall, Halloween, and pretty much
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: anything spooky. If you've come from Twisted and Uncorked, that's
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: not new news. But to anyone else, I just wanted
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: to announce that I'm doing something a little bit different
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: for the remainder of season one. I am bringing you
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: stories that have a spooky twist in some way, but
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: it'll always remain about the victims here. I just wanted
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: to be able to combine it with a season that
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: I love, and you may also be wondering, why not
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: just do the Five Thursdays in October. Well that's because
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: in my house, spooky season starts September first, So this
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: is a little happy medium. If you have any story
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: suggestions that you think would be perfect for this, please
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: send them to me at Alicia at fireeyesmedia dot com
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: and friendly reminder that if you're enjoying the show, to
• 1:54
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  Speaker 1: help me grow the show. It also makes me super
• 2:03
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  Speaker 1: Now on to the story today, I am telling you
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  Speaker 1: about what is known as the Detroit Occult murders. On
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  Speaker 1: July third, nineteen twenty nine, a summer day in Detroit,
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  Speaker 1: Michigan that should have held warmth would soon be a
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  Speaker 1: day of unspeakable tragedy. The house stood at three, five
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  Speaker 1: eight seven Saint Aubin's Street, an address now long gone
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  Speaker 1: from maps, but forever etched into the city's darker history.
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  Speaker 1: The Evangelista family lived there, Benny Evangelista, his wife Santina,
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  Speaker 1: and their four children, Angelina seven, Margaret five, and gn four.
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  Speaker 1: Mario was just eighteen months old, Benjamino Benji evangelista immigrated
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  Speaker 1: from Naples, Italy in nineteen oh four, and eventually made
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  Speaker 1: his way to Detroit. For many immigrants, moving to the
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  Speaker 1: United States was not the dream that they envisioned. Instead,
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  Speaker 1: they were met by terrible working conditions, a great deal
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  Speaker 1: of racism, poverty, and in some cases, even death. But
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  Speaker 1: Benny managed to beat all these odds. But he also
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: wasn't your average immigrant laborer. He was a mystic, a healer,
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  Speaker 1: a spiritualist. Some people believed that he could communicate with
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  Speaker 1: divine forces, offer cures, blessings, and even curses. Others dismissed
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  Speaker 1: him as a complete fraud. But still Benny managed to
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  Speaker 1: make a living offering spiritual services from the front room
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  Speaker 1: of his home. Clients came by appointment. Some left feeling
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  Speaker 1: very hopeful, while others left kind of angry. He was
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  Speaker 1: also working on a manuscript, a sprawling egocentric religious texts
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  Speaker 1: that he he claimed had been dictated to him by
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  Speaker 1: an other worldly force. He called it the Divine Evangelist Revelation.
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  Speaker 1: Benny wasn't just a mystic. He saw himself as a prophet,
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  Speaker 1: but not everyone respected him for it. Around nine am
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  Speaker 1: on the morning of July third, nineteen twenty nine, real
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  Speaker 1: estate agent Charles Wolfe, I also saw on a few
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  Speaker 1: of my sources that his name was Vincent Elias arrived
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  Speaker 1: at the Evangelista home to finalize some paperwork on a
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  Speaker 1: property that Benny was going to be purchasing. Benny had
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  Speaker 1: invested in different properties and either sold them or rented
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: them to different tenants. We all need a side hustle, right,
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  Speaker 1: But when the agent knocked, there was no answer. The
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  Speaker 1: house was far too quiet for a family of five,
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  Speaker 1: let alone with three young kids living there, and something
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  Speaker 1: was definitely wrong. The agent forced his way into the home,
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  Speaker 1: but nothing could prepare him for what he would discover.
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  Speaker 1: What he discovered was beyond all expectations. Inside Benny's study,
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  Speaker 1: Benny himself was seated behind his desk, his hands folded
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  Speaker 1: in his lap, almost in a prayer like position, and
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  Speaker 1: his head was laying at his feet, having been cleanly
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  Speaker 1: cut from his body and posed in a virtualistic and
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  Speaker 1: grotesque manner. There was no blood on the walls or
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  Speaker 1: the floor, which indicated to police that he had been
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  Speaker 1: posed there purposely. What the agent would discover upstairs was
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  Speaker 1: somehow much worse. Santina was found in her bed holding
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  Speaker 1: little Mario. She too had been decapitated, and her infant child,
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  Speaker 1: lying in her arms, had had his skull crushed by
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  Speaker 1: what was likely the blunt end of an axe. Across
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  Speaker 1: the hall, the other children, Angelina, Margaret and Jeanne, were
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: found laying in their beds. They had died in the
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  Speaker 1: same way, seemingly as they slept. The scene was unthinkable.
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  Speaker 1: The Detroit Police noted that there was no signs of
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  Speaker 1: forced entry, no obvious external break in points. Doors seemed
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  Speaker 1: to be locked and undisturbed. Neighbors reported seeing nothing out
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  Speaker 1: of the ordinary in the days leading up to the
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  Speaker 1: massacre and hearing nothing strange the night of it. There
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: were no strange visitors, no loud arguments, and a murder
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  Speaker 1: weapon was never found. There was also no fingerprints to
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  Speaker 1: go off of, except for one bloody fingerprint on the
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  Speaker 1: front door handle. Benji Evangelista's work and the occult definitely
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: added a new layer and an extremely wide suspect pull
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  Speaker 1: to go through. The brutality of these murders seemed to
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  Speaker 1: be carried out in a rage. It had to be
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  Speaker 1: personal who would do this to anybody, let alone four
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: young children. Forensics in nineteen twenty nine was still in
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  Speaker 1: its infancy, and despite their best efforts, police hit a
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  Speaker 1: standstill before the trail went cold altogether. Over the decades,
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  Speaker 1: several theories had been floated, some more plausible than others,
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  Speaker 1: some more sensational. Benny's line of work definitely added a
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  Speaker 1: new layer and became the likely only motive for the
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  Speaker 1: murders in Philadelphia. Before moving to Detroit, Benny had claimed
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  Speaker 1: to have received a divine vision that changed his life.
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  Speaker 1: He became consumed by mysticism and began developing his own cosmology,
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  Speaker 1: his own spiritual system. By the time he had arrived
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  Speaker 1: in Detroit, he had widely been known as a divine healer,
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  Speaker 1: and people frequently paid him for protection, charms, love spells,
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  Speaker 1: dream interpretations, and even curses for their enemies. Some say
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  Speaker 1: he had a following, others believed that he was as
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  Speaker 1: feared as much as he was revered. His Divine Book,
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  Speaker 1: the manuscript found at the crime scene, read more like
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  Speaker 1: a prophecy than a scripture. It was full of biblical
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  Speaker 1: sounding passages, cosmic war, and visions of divine justice. The
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  Speaker 1: book portrayed Benny as a kind of chosen messenger, so
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  Speaker 1: it was a little grandiose, to say the least. In
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  Speaker 1: a deeply Catholic and superstitious community, such boldness might have
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  Speaker 1: been seen as blasphemous or even dangerous, so that became
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  Speaker 1: the motive for the murders. The funerals for the family
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  Speaker 1: members took place on July sixth, nineteen twenty nine, and
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  Speaker 1: over three thousand people attended. Some were clients of Benny's,
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  Speaker 1: others believed he was a fraud, but overall everyone was
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  Speaker 1: shocked and horrified by the end that came to him,
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  Speaker 1: his wife, and their four children. Police were on site
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  Speaker 1: for the funerals all day to ensure that the scenes
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  Speaker 1: stayed peaceful, but also to see if anyone suspicious showed up.
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  Speaker 1: No one in attendance caught their attention, and the funeral
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  Speaker 1: went on uninterrupted. A thousand dollars reward was collected for
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  Speaker 1: any information that may lead to the identity of a
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  Speaker 1: person responsible, but no new leads were ever generated, and
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: this would be about sixteen thousand dollars today. As time
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: went on, the home sat empty, left to decay before
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  Speaker 1: eventually being torn down altogether. When you search that address
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  Speaker 1: as of twenty twenty three, the lot is still fenced
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  Speaker 1: in and completely empty. So what do we think happened here?
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  Speaker 1: What are our theories? Dary one a jealous client or
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  Speaker 1: former follower, someone close, perhaps a client who felt cheated,
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  Speaker 1: or a follower who believed that Benny had misled them
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  Speaker 1: or worse, betrayed their faith. In such a mindset, rage
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  Speaker 1: could become lethal. And if someone believed that their spiritual
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  Speaker 1: or economic well being depended on Benny, then anger, humiliation,
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  Speaker 1: or betrayal could provoke unthinkable violence, as we see in
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  Speaker 1: this case Theory two personal or family conflict. It's possible
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  Speaker 1: that this was not about the occult at all, but
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  Speaker 1: something personal, either a love affair, a betrayal, some sort
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  Speaker 1: of personal debt. Some sources mentioned that Benny was selling
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  Speaker 1: love charms or love potions, and this was a transaction
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  Speaker 1: of cost, expectation, and sometimes deception. Could somebody have believed
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  Speaker 1: that they were simply swindled. Could there have been a
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  Speaker 1: secret scandal involving this family. Way one really knows for sure.
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  Speaker 1: Another possibility is that it was simply somebody that was
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  Speaker 1: unwell and in the wrong place at the wrong time
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  Speaker 1: and took opportunity to cause harm on this family. But
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  Speaker 1: the acts are so brutal and so intimate that they
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  Speaker 1: to me suggest something more than robbery or just a
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  Speaker 1: happened opportunity. The next theory could be a tenant or
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  Speaker 1: a real estate customer. The night before the murders, a
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  Speaker 1: man named Umberto Tequino visited the Evangelista home to make
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  Speaker 1: a final payment on the house that Bennie had sold him. He,
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  Speaker 1: along with a friend named Angelo d'poli, had a couple
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  Speaker 1: of drinks with Benny before leaving the home. They remain
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  Speaker 1: adamant that they knew nothing about the murders. However, when
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  Speaker 1: police visited his home for questioning, they found an axe,
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  Speaker 1: a banana knife, and a pair of suspiciously cleaned work
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  Speaker 1: boots in the barn. Accounts mentioned that just three months
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  Speaker 1: prior to the massacre, Umberto had knifed his brother in
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  Speaker 1: law to death during an argument, and how he escaped
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  Speaker 1: any prosecution for that is unclear, but it certainly gave
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  Speaker 1: investigators a reason to make him a prime suspect. However,
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  Speaker 1: there was no physical evidence and no confession, so Umberto
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  Speaker 1: was eventually let go, and he died a few years
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  Speaker 1: later in nineteen thirty four. Other reports indicate that Benny
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  Speaker 1: was suspecting a lumber shipment to be coming. In strangely enough, though,
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  Speaker 1: the delivery man never arrived and there was no cash
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  Speaker 1: ever found in the home for Benny to have made
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  Speaker 1: said purchase. Was the person involved and did they know
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  Speaker 1: that there was going to be no need to make
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  Speaker 1: this delivery because the family was brutally murdered? Who knows.
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  Speaker 1: I also saw in some sources that Umberto and this
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  Speaker 1: lumber delivery person were possibly the same person. So again,
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  Speaker 1: do with these theories what you will. It is the
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  Speaker 1: nineteen twenties of it all, and unfortunately some records do
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  Speaker 1: get lost. Or theory six. An old friend, Benny's old friend,
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  Speaker 1: Aurelius Angelino, murdered two of his children in nineteen twenty three,
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  Speaker 1: and prior to the murders of the Evangelista family, he
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  Speaker 1: had been housed in a Pennsylvania prison for the criminally insane,
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  Speaker 1: but somehow he managed to escape and he was never
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  Speaker 1: seen again or apprehended by police. Had Angelino somehow made
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  Speaker 1: his way to Detroit, But then again, what's the motive here?
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  Speaker 1: What did Benny do to this man that would have
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  Speaker 1: provoked such violence, even if that violence was just within him.
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  Speaker 1: How would he get from Pennsylvania to Detroit and commit
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: these crimes with no one knowing anything. I will also
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: say that I couldn't find any historical evidence of this
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: said friend or the murders that he allegedly committed, So
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: do with that theory what you will. But again, like
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: I said, some records can get lost. If you have
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: any tips or old family stories, archives, newspaper clippings, if
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: you lived in Detroit or your family talked about the
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: Saint Aubun's Street massacre, I would encourage that you reach out.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: You may have the peace that's needed to solve this
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  Speaker 1: horrific murder. Nearly a century later. And at the end
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  Speaker 1: of the day, no matter what Benny did for a living,
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  Speaker 1: his family deserved to sleep safely in their home. They
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: didn't deserve to be murdered in such a horrific way.
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  Speaker 1: And in the cases of these children taken way too soon,
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  Speaker 1: it's heartbreaking to picture these kids sleeping in their beds
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  Speaker 1: and having been found that way. Of Santina holding her
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: baby infant in her arms, it makes you wonder what
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: the feelings and thoughts were of this family in their
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: last moments. And I do wonder who did this personally,
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: My theory is that, yes, it could be somebody involved
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: in Benny's side hustle, so to speak, where maybe it
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: was a property deal gone wrong, or maybe somebody wanted
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: to take advantage of him and you know, purchase this
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: property without actually having to give him the money, and
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: by taking out his entire family, they could take the
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: money back and still have the property document signed over
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: to them. Or maybe it was somebody on his main
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: hustle where they did feel wronged or cheated, or like
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: the work that Benny was doing was somehow evil or wrong,
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: or maybe he had made them believe that something was
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: gonna work and it didn't and they did feel cheated.
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  Speaker 1: I can't ever imagine feeling so angry towards one person
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  Speaker 1: that I would take it out on four others on
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: top of it, or five others on top of it.
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  Speaker 1: But that's just me. We're the people telling the stories, thankfully,
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  Speaker 1: and I do hope that you enjoyed this occulty spooky
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  Speaker 1: kind of twist in an old timey murder, But at
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  Speaker 1: the end of the day, people still lost their lives,
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: and that's important to highlight. If you look at the
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: oldnewspapers dot com articles for these murders. It's interesting to
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: see the language that's chosen in headlines and how distasteful
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: they can be at times. I have a few of
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  Speaker 1: them linked in my show notes below if you choose
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: to look at it. But for example, divine prophet wife,
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: four children hacked to death. That's really really disturbing language.
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  Speaker 1: So I hope that I told the story well and tastefully.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: And again, if you like the show, please leave me
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: five stars wherever you are listening now. I will see
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: you next week for another episode with a spooky twist.
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  Speaker 1: And in the meantime, remember you are wanted, you are loved,
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: and you deserve to be here, and I will see
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: you next week. Truly Twisted is a proud production of
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: Fireeyes Media, a woman owned and operated network. This show
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: is hosted, researched, and edited by me Alicia Watson, and
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: I would love if you would email me any case,
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  Speaker 1: suggestions or comments you may have at Alicia Atfireeyesmedia dot com.
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  Speaker 1: Fireeyes Media