Latest / Crime and Horror / Cali beachfront restaurant held the key to her murder - MrBallen

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Cali beachfront restaurant held the key to her murder - MrBallen · Crime and Horror

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: On June 20, 2004, a restaurant manager stood at the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: host stand of a seafood spot in Orange County, California.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: It was the dinner rush, and he was on takeout duty.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: So, when a fairly frantic customer came in asking about
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: their to-go order, the manager quickly hurried off to grab it.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: He found the order, and he carried it back, and
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: as he rang this customer up, he could tell this
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: customer was in a huge hurry. They kept looking over
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: their shoulder and tapping their fingers on the counter. And
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: after everything was done, the customer basically took the food
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: and literally ran out. Now, the manager definitely thought this
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: customer was acting really strange. He had never seen anybody
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: sprint out of the restaurant before. But quickly, he got
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: distracted with another order and kind of forgot about the
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: whole thing. That is, until a few days later, when
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: police showed up, asking the manager to tell them everything
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: they could remember about that strange customer. But before we
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: get into today's story, if you're a fan of the strange, dark,
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: and mysterious delivered in story format, then you've come to
• 0:59
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• 1:02
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  Speaker 1: that's of interest to you, the next time the like
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: button has a blinding headache, offer them some aspirin. But
• 1:10
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• 1:20
  Speaker 1: let's get into today's story. On Monday, June 21st, 2004,
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: 72-year-old Jane Thompson drove her car down a road through
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: the city of Laguna.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: Niguel, California.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: She was on her way home from a weekend trip
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: through Los Angeles, which was about 50 miles north of
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: Laguna Niguel. And because LA was so chaotic and full
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: of activity and constant stimulation, Jane actually really appreciated this
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: commute back home, you know, this 50-mile drive. It was
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: a time to be by herself and sort of decompress
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: from being in the city. So Jane used to live
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: in Los Angeles, where she had worked for decades in
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: the film industry. But she had retired and moved to
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: Laguna Niguel seven years earlier. And this move had been
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: like a total lifestyle change for Jane, because her career
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: in LA had been fast-paced and exciting. You know, she'd
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: been an assistant to some really important people in Hollywood,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: and then also she was an award-winning producer, and then
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: a decorator for various Hollywood celebrities. I mean, it was
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: sort of very glamorous what she was doing. So even
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: though Jane was generally a pretty quiet person who appreciated
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: her alone time, like driving in the car right now,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: it still had actually been really hard to completely transition
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: to the slow pace of life outside the glitz and
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: glamour of Hollywood, especially because her girlfriend, Marion Reese, still
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: lived in LA. Jane had known Marion for decades at
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: this point. They'd started out as co-workers because Marion owned
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: a production company and Jane had produced a lot of
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: projects for her. Then at some point years ago, their
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: relationship turned from a, you know, working friendship into a
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: full-blown romance. And they'd been involved ever since. And even
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: though now they lived over an hour's drive apart, they
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: still spent a lot of time together. Jane was actually
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: going back to LA again on Friday because they had
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: tickets to the opera. And then also Marion was going
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: to be joining Jane on a cruise to Europe the
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: following week. But for right now, Jane just kind of
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: looked out her window as she drove by a cluster
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: of houses. And she noticed outside one of those houses,
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: she saw her friend, Mary Larkin, gardening in her front yard.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: Jane had known Mary for years, and she was really
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Jane's closest friend in town. They'd spent countless nights talking
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: and drinking wine together, sometimes with Mary's other next-door neighbor, Karen,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: who had also become a close friend. So, naturally, Jane
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: slowed down in her car, and she rolled down her window,
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: and she called out to Mary to say hello. And
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: to remind her that they were due for a wine
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: night sometime soon... you know, before she left for her cruise.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: And Mary, after hearing this, you know, nodded enthusiastically and
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: said she would for sure give Jane a call. After that,
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: the two women said their goodbyes, and then Jane kept
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: on driving. And a few minutes later, Jane saw her
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: condo complex's entrance up ahead, and so she threw on
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: her blinker and turned in.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: And pretty soon, she was surrounded by mostly.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: Identical units with orange-tiled roofs that were all packed really
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: close together.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: But Jane loved her neighborhood.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: It was on this quiet hillside and less than four
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: miles from the ocean, and she just felt completely comfortable there.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: It was the kind of place where people left their
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: doors unlocked and everybody seemed so warm and welcoming. And
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: this meant a lot to Jane because she didn't have
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: any kids or living relatives. She was kind of on
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: her own. So it was nice to feel like her
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: neighbors were all looking out for her. As Jane pulled
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: her car into the garage and got out, she looked
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: across the street and saw her teenage neighbor, Sam Nelson,
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: playing basketball in his driveway. Jane tried to get his
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: attention and waved to him just to say hi, but
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: when he looked over and saw her doing that, he
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: kind of put his head down and quickly rushed inside
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: his home.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: And Jane, you know, she understood why. Clearly, he was embarrassed.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: So Sam was kind of a troubled kid. He had
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: actually broken into Jane's house just this past Friday while
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: she was out, and he took some of her jewelry.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: But he wasn't as clever as he thought he was,
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: and Jane had quickly figured out it was him. So
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: before leaving for her recent L.A.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: Trip, She'd confronted him about it and told him to
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: never do it again.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: And he was obviously mortified. But she had also told
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: Sam that, you know, she was not going to call.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: The police here.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: After all, Sam was 15 years old and he had
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: just made a really dumb mistake. And in Jane's mind,
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: you know, Sam was a part of her beloved community.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: And so even though he had done something bad to her,
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: she still wanted to look out for him.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: Plus, really, he hadn't.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: Taken anything that was particularly valuable or anything she really
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: cared about. So She felt like she was just giving
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: him a second chance and this was no big deal. Now,
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: Sam was obviously very appreciative at the time after realizing
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: he was, you know, not going to get in any
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: real trouble here. But it was also clear now that
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: he really didn't want anything to do with Jane. I mean,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: he was just embarrassed at the sight of her waving
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: to him. But, you know, for Jane, she figured maybe
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: that was just as well. And so after seeing Sam
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: disappear into his house, Jane just shrugged, turned around and
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: headed inside her own house. Jane spent the next few
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: days doing things around town, volunteering at the library and
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: taking walks with her weekly walking group. And before she
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: knew it, it was almost time to head back to LA.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: On Thursday evening, June 24th, so the night before she
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: was set to go to LA, Jane stood in her
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: kitchen making some pasta and thinking about what outfit she
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: was going to wear for the opera in LA the
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: next night. And then after she cooked and ate her dinner,
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: she laid on the couch to watch some TV. Now,
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: she had planned to only watch a little bit and
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: then get some packing done, But pretty quickly, she felt
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: her eyelids get heavy, and soon she was fast asleep.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: Three days later, on Sunday afternoon, Jane's friend and neighbor,
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: Mary Larkin, the woman she had seen when she was
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: driving home from L.A., drove up to Jane's house with
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: their other friend, Karen Hamara, and they jumped right out
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: of the car. Mary had an undeniable knot in her stomach.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: which had only been getting tighter by the minute ever
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: since Jane's girlfriend, Marianne Reese, had called earlier to say
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: that Jane had never showed up in LA for their
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: trip to the opera, and now she was not answering
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: her phone. And when she heard this, Mary immediately became
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: very worried because, you know, Jane just didn't flake on
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: people without calling. And so given Jane's age, it seemed
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: entirely possible that maybe she had an accident or medical
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: emergency at home and needed help, and.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: That's why nobody could get in touch with her.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: So after she herself tried calling Jane a few times
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: but with no luck, Mary had gone over to her
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: neighbor Karen's house and asked her if she would come
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: with her to go to Jane's house just to make
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: sure Jane was okay. And on their drive over, Mary
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: had convinced herself, despite that feeling in her gut, that,
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: you know, everything would be okay. But now, as she
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: went up Jane's driveway, she could see there were a
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: few newspapers piled up at the end of it. which
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: made her even more anxious that something was wrong here.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: And so Mary hurried right up the driveway, went to
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: the front door and began knocking. But as she and
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: Karen stood there, you know, they couldn't hear anything inside
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: the house.
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: Nobody was coming to the door.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: And so finally they left the porch and went around
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: to the back of Jane's house to try her back door.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: And when the two women got into Jane's backyard, Mary
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: froze because she could see the sliding glass door that
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: led into Jane's living room was clearly wide open. And
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: so Mary and Karen, from right there in the yard,
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: just began yelling through the open door for Jane, but
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: there was no answer. Eventually, Karen began to walk towards
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: the open door like she was going to go inside,
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: but Mary instinctively grabbed her and just said, don't. You know,
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: she was shaking and could barely think straight, but Mary
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: felt like they just should not go in there, that
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: it was not safe. And so instead, the two women
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: ultimately backed away and went to go call the police.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: A few minutes later, Mary and Karen stood out on
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: the street in front of Jane's house, watching as a
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: police cruiser pulled up. The women immediately went over to
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: the two deputies that got.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: Out, and they tried to explain the situation.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: You know, that their friend was not responding to phone calls,
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: and that their back door was wide open, which just
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: seemed really strange, and.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: Nobody knows what's going on.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: And so the officers asked Mary and Karen to take
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: them to the back of the house where this open
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: door was, and so They walked around the side yard.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: They went back there. And when they got there.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: Mary watched as one of the officers just walked up
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: to the open door and stuck his head inside.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: And began to look around.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: And as soon as he did that, Mary could see
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: his body began to tense up like he had seen
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: something inside.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: Mary blurted out like, hey, what's going on? What's wrong?
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: But the officer looking in the home, he didn't respond. Instead,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: he turned to his partner and told him to secure
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: the scene and call for backup. There was someone inside
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: and he could already tell they were deceased.
• 10:12
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• 11:20
  Speaker 2: Just about an hour later, at around 6 p.m.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: On June 27, 2004, Detective Daniel Salcedo stopped his cruiser
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: in front of a condo in Laguna Niguel, California. Dispatch
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: hadn't told him much, just that an older woman had
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: been found dead in her condo. When Salcedo got out
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: of his car, he could see that there was police
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: tape all over the condo's front door and the driveway.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: And just inside the perimeter, there was an officer speaking
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: to two women who were crying and seemed.
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: Very visibly upset.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: Dozens of other officers and crime scene technicians were also
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: scattered around the area collecting evidence. And one deputy saw
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: Salcedo and hurried over to give him an update. So
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: the deceased woman had been identified as the owner of
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: the condo, 72-year-old Jane Thompson. And at first glance, it
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: very much appeared like she had been attacked.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: She had been murdered.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: Her two friends, the two women who were very upset
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: talking to police, had called the police for a wellness check.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: And the officers who responded had found Jane lying in
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: the living room. They've been able to get through her
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: sliding back door because the door was already open. Salcedo
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: glanced back over at the two women in the driveway
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: who were still talking to the police. And Salcedo told
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: the deputy to make sure they stuck around, because after
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: he took a look inside, he wanted to speak to
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: them as well. As the deputy hurried off to do
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: what he was told, Salcedo walked around to the back
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: of the house.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: And when he got there, he saw that not.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: Only was the sliding door open, but there really weren't
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: any signs of forced entry around it, which could mean
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: that it had been left unlocked, or that maybe Jane
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: knew her attacker and let them in. And so Salcedo
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: stepped inside the condo. And right away, he saw there
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: were all these technicians all over the place working hard
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: to gather evidence and.
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: Process the scene. And also what he saw was blood
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: spatter all over the walls and all over the furniture.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: And then when he looked down at the floor, he
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: saw Jane's body. She was lying face down between her
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: couch and coffee table with a large pool of blood
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: around her head. Salcedo crouched down next to her to
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: get a better look, and he saw her wounds were
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: just brutal.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: Her head had been so badly pulverized... that Salcedo could
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: not only see her skull, the actual bone, but he
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: could actually see the breaks in her skull. Her skull
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: was shattered.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: Now, Salcedo would have to wait for the autopsy to
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: be sure, but to Salcedo, it was very clear that
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: somebody must have beaten this woman with some kind of
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: heavy object over and over and over again. A couple
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: of minutes later, Salcedo stood back up. Based on the
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: extent of Jane's wounds, it seemed pretty obvious to him
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: that This was a frenzied, rage-filled attack, and that it
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: likely had happened really quickly. Or maybe, you know, the
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: attack happened in such a way that Jane was completely
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: caught off guard.
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: Because, aside from the awful trauma to Jane's head.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: Jane didn't appear to have really any other wounds. So
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: it didn't seem like she tried to fight back or
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: defend herself. And, aside from the blood spatter, the room
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: around her didn't show any signs of a struggle.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: It's like she just got destroyed right here and blood
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: went everywhere.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: Salcedo left Jane's body and searched the rest of her condo.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: He went in her bedroom, searched her closets, went in
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: the office, went in her kitchen, but there were no
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: signs of anybody ransacking the condo. There was no obvious
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: theft that had taken place, at least at first glance.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: There were expensive electronics that were still out and not claimed.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: So to Salcedo, at least right now, he was pretty
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: sure this was not a robbery gone wrong. As he
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: wrapped up his initial walkthrough of the condo, an officer
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: called Salcedo back into the kitchen. And when Salcedo went over,
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: he saw the officer was standing by the landline's answering machine.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: The officer told Salcedo there were a bunch of new
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: messages on there, and they started the morning of Friday,
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: June 25th. Now, Salcedo was very excited to hear that
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: because that gave them something of a timeline to work
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: off of. Because if Jane had stopped answering her phone by,
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: you know, Friday morning, then that means she could have
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: died maybe overnight on that Thursday the 24th or maybe
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: even in the morning before that first message came through
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: on the 25th.
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: At least that would be the latest she could have
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: died based on the message.
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: So Salcedo told the officer to be sure to log
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: the tape into evidence. Then Salcedo went back to the
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: living room where Jane's body was and all the texts were,
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: and he just stood there with his arms crossed thinking about,
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: you know, what's he going to do next? Considering the
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: attack had all the signs of being highly emotional, Salcedo
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: felt confident that Jane's killer was someone who knew her,
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: and was deeply angry with her. So the first people
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: he wanted to speak to were those that Jane was
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: closest to, like family, friends, or maybe even romantic partners.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: Jane appeared to live alone, so he hoped other people
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: in the neighborhood, or maybe those two women who called
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: the police, could tell him more about Jane's personal life, her.
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: Relationships, and give him a place to start.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: So Salcedo grabbed a few officers, and they headed outside
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: to begin asking some questions. When he got outside, Salcedo
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: could see there was now an audience of people, a
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: crowd of who Salcedo assumed were residents of this complex
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: that were gathered at the edge of the police perimeter.
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: And Salcedo understood why.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: Brutal homicides like this one rarely happened in this area,
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: if ever. There was probably going to be a lot
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: of panic and rumors in this community because of it.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: And based on the literal layout of this complex, the
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: fact that all these condos are basically on top of
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: each other, he knew that, you know, those.
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: Rumors would likely spread really quickly.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: But also, you know, the fact these condos were tightly
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: packed together gave Salcedo an advantage. You know, very likely
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: because people are living on top of each other, somebody
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: might have heard or seen something that could help break
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: this case wide open. Just then, another police cruiser pulled
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: up in front of the house and a detective named
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: Brian Sutton stepped out of the car. and when Salcedo
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: saw who it was, he immediately felt relieved. Salcedo worked
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: extremely well with Detective Sutton, and interviews were sort of
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: like their specialty. As a duo, they had an instinct
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: for asking the right questions that got people talking. So
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: Salcedo hurried over to Sutton and quickly told him everything
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: he'd learned so far. And once Sutton was up to speed,
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: they went right over to the two women who had
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: called 911. Salcedo was eager to interview them as witnesses,
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: but he also was not ruling out the idea that
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: they could also be suspects. He was sure this had
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: to be a personal crime, and they clearly had some
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: kind of relationship with Jane since they'd come over to
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: check on her. When Salcedo reached the women, he could
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: tell they had calmed down quite a bit from when
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: he had first seen them when he first arrived. And
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: the women, you know, they were composed enough to tell
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: him their names, Mary and Karen. They then explained that
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: they were good friends with Jane, and they'd come over
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: to check on her. Because recently, Mary had gotten a
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: call from Jane's girlfriend, Marion Reese, who lived in L.A.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: And Marion had been worried because Jane had not shown
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: up in L.A. for plans they had. And so she
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: was trying to find out where she was.
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: Was she okay? And so Mary and Karen had gone
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: to see if she was okay.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: This made Salcedo immediately perk up. And he asked Mary
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: for Marion's information. As he jotted down Marion's phone number,
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: Sutton asked the two women where they were on the
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: night of the 24th. or early morning of the 25th.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: So that was two nights ago and then also yesterday morning.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: And both of them said they had alibis. Now, the
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: detectives would have to confirm their alibis because anybody can
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: make up an alibi. But for right now, Salcedo was
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: comfortable ruling Mary and Karen out as suspects. They both
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: seemed genuinely stunned by Jane's murder. And while it did
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: seem like they were good friends with Jane, he wasn't
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: sure they had the kind of intense closeness that might
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: have led to such a vicious attack. So he told
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: the two women they could go home. And then Salcedo
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: nodded to Sutton, and the two of them left the
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: women and headed towards the crowd of neighbors to ask
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: some more questions. The next morning, Monday, June 28th, and
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: Salcedo was behind the wheel of his cruiser with Sutton
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: in the passenger seat. They were almost at the end
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: of their long drive up to Los Angeles to interview
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: Jane's girlfriend, Marianne Reese. Salcedo was eager to get her statement.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: because right now they didn't have that many other leads.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: The forensics team hadn't found any DNA or fingerprints at
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: the scene to test against future suspects. And the canvas
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: of Jane's condo complex the night before really hadn't yielded
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: much either. They'd learned that no one had seen Jane
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: since Thursday, which backed up the timeline they'd already gotten
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: from the answering machine. But none of the neighbors heard
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: or saw anything strange on that Thursday night. And according
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: to her neighbors, Jane did not have any obvious tension
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: with anybody in the community. She generally kept to herself
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: and but was really well liked by everyone who met her.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: But Salcedo, you know, again, from what he had just
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: seen at the crime scene, felt sure that someone out
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: there had to have had a problem with Jane. He'd
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: seen the autopsy that morning, and it confirmed that Jane, unsurprisingly,
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: had died from the wounds to her head. But it
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: also told him something else. She'd been hit more than
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: a dozen times. It was complete overkill. And to Salcedo,
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: it meant the killer had to have been driven by
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: some kind of intense emotion, like rage or maybe greed,
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: which was why they were now making this drive out
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: to LA to speak with Marion, who Salcedo felt, you know,
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: based on her relationship to Jane, she was the strongest
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: suspect they had, because romance can make you do crazy things. Also,
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: Salcedo had done some digging into Jane's finances the night before,
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: and he found out she had a life insurance policy
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: worth $ 100, 000.
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: And Marion Reese was the sole beneficiary.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: Which meant Marion definitely had something to gain, financially at least,
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: from Jane's death. So as they pulled up to Marion's house,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: Salcedo was thinking, you know, maybe, maybe we found our killer.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: A few minutes later, the detective sat on a couch
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: in Marion Reese's living room.
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: The home was on the small side, even by L.A. standards,
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: but it was very tastefully decorated.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: Marion sat down across from them in an armchair, and
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: when they looked at her, they could see her eyes
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: were very red and puffy, like she'd been crying. She
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: also had a glass of water in her hand that
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: she kept lifting up like she was going to take
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: a sip, but then she would just place it back
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: down again without taking a sip.
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: It was like she didn't know what she was doing.
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: Marianne had clearly already heard about.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: Jane's death and to Salcedo, she really was showing every
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: sign of genuinely being in shock. So he wanted to
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: be very careful with his line of questions and make sure,
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: you know, he didn't overwhelm her. If she just shut down,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: he might not get the information that he really needed.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: So after a minute, Salcedo began by just asking Marion
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: how she knew Jane. And Marion, she took a deep breath,
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: and then with a very shaky voice, she explained that
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: they had known each other for.
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: Almost 50 years. They used to work together.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: Jane had done a lot of producing for Marion's production company.
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: As Marion went on to describe more about how they
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: met each other and how it kind of transitioned from
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: working together to, you know, romance, Salcedo could sense that
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: Marion was kind of calming down. And she was calming
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: down to the point where He felt like now he
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: could introduce the tough stuff. So he turned and he
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: nodded to Sutton. And at that point, Sutton asked Marion
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: if she knew that Jane had named her, Marion, as
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: the sole beneficiary on her life insurance policy. And Marion
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: immediately gasped. And she said she had no idea Jane
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: had done that. But she also said it did sort
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: of make sense. She said that Jane really didn't have
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: any family. And in some ways, Marion was her family,
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: or at least was her closest relationship. Now, Salcedo felt
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: like Marian's reaction to this was very earnest, but he
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: couldn't be sure. So he pressed her some more and
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: he asked her where she was last Thursday night when presumably,
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: you know.
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: Jane was killed.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: But Marian just said she was with friends all night
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: in L.A. and she gave Salcedo all the phone numbers
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: of these friends so he and his partner could confirm it.
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: They talked for a.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: While longer as Marian went over the details of how
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: Jane missed their opera date on Friday and then stopped
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: returning her calls. and it all lined up with what
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: Jane's friend, Mary, had told them. So, eventually, Salcedo and
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: Sutton stood up to leave. Over an hour later, Detective
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: Salcedo and Sutton were back in Laguna Niguel, California, and
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: they parked their cruiser in front of Jane's condo. On
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: their drive back from Marian's house in L.A., The detectives
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: had called some of Marion's friends to confirm her alibi.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: And they all confirmed that on the night Jane was killed,
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: they were with her and she was in L.A. And
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: so now Salcedo had to admit that Marion was looking
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: less and less like a suspect. So now the detectives
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: were back at Jane's condo to look into another working
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: theory about what might have happened here. Maybe Jane's murder
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: was a hate crime.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: So remember, this was back in 2004.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: When being a homosexual was just not as widely accepted
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: as it is today. And so their theory was, you know,
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: maybe one of Jane's neighbors had seen Marion, Jane's girlfriend,
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: visiting or maybe heard about their relationship and they didn't
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: like it.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: And so they lashed out.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: And then also strengthening the idea that, you know, one
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: of the neighbors could have done this was the fact
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: that it was sort of common knowledge in this neighborhood
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: that most people left their doors unlocked. And so it
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: sort of strengthened the idea that maybe a neighbor did this,
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: you know, maybe because of their hate towards Jane and
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: her way of life. However, Sutton and Salcedo knew that
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: actually investigating this theory was going to be extremely challenging.
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: There were 144 houses in the complex.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: And so conducting a thorough investigation of every resident of
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: all those houses was just going to take a.
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: Lot of time.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: But they didn't have any other options, so the detectives
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: got to work, and they went to the first house
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: next to Jane's and knocked. A few hours later, Salcedo
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: and Sutton returned to the Orange County Sheriff's Department. They
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: had spent most of the afternoon talking to people who
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: lived in Jane's condo complex, and while they hadn't talked
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: to everyone... they already had to admit that their hate
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: crime theory was looking sort of like a wash. Most
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: people didn't even know Jane was in a relationship at all,
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: since her girlfriend, Marion, lived in a different city, so
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: they didn't see her. And also, there was just nothing
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: anybody in the neighborhood said that made the detectives think
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: that Jane was being targeted really for any reason. But
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: a few people had mentioned that recently there had been
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: some burglaries in the complex, which was completely unheard of
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: in a place like Laguna Niguel. Still, there was a
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: huge difference between somebody breaking in and stealing some stuff
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: and breaking in and.
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: Bludgeoning someone to death. But it was a lead.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: And that's what Salcedo was thinking about as he and
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: Sutton walked towards their desks. But before they got there,
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: Salcedo had this epiphany. And he just stopped in his
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: tracks and he turned to Sutton and said, turn around.
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: We have to go back to the evidence room. I
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: think everything we need to solve this case might be
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: in the building with them right now. The following day,
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: Salcedo and Sutton pulled up in front of a restaurant
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: called The Beach House. The previous afternoon, Salcedo had suggested
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: that he and Sutton go back to the evidence room
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: and listen to Jane's answering machine tapes. Now, to be clear,
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: they had already listened to the tapes before, but none
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: of the messages had.
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: Seemed particularly important.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: But now, based on what they'd learned over the course
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: of their investigation, they realized that those messages actually told
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: them a lot. And so Salcedo and Sutton had spent
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: hours re-listening to the tapes and gathering even more evidence
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: to confirm what was on it. And even though they
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: were pretty sure all this evidence they were getting told
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: them who killed Jane, they still needed one more piece
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: to fall into place. Now they had a book of
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: photos with them, and they knew for a fact that
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: one of these photographs was of their killer. And they
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: just needed somebody in this restaurant to verify it.
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: So as soon as they got inside.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: They found the manager and explained why they were there,
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: and then they asked him, hey, would you mind looking
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: at these photos to see if you recognize anyone? The
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: manager looked a bit alarmed, but he ultimately agreed and
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: said he would. So they went into the back room,
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: they opened up their book of photos, and the manager looked,
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: and pretty much immediately he pointed to one picture. And
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: when Salcedo saw the person the manager was pointing to,
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: he knew they'd cracked the case. Based on forensic evidence
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: and also a confession, here is what investigators believe happened
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: to Jane Thompson in the early morning hours of June 25, 2004.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: The killer, clad in dark clothes and gloves and also
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: holding a hammer, stood in the darkness right outside of
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: Jane's back sliding glass doors. Now, the killer had already
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: been to Jane's house a few times that night, But
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: each time they had come earlier, they had ultimately.
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: Chickened out and left.
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: Because when they would get there, they would look in
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: the back door and they would see Jane asleep on
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: the couch in front of the TV.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: But that was a problem. They needed Jane to leave
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: the room and go to her bedroom to go sleep
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: in there. But she wasn't doing that.
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: But this time, as they stood outside the glass doors,
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: they knew they had to go in there or they
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: would never get what they wanted from Jane, even if
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: she was right there on the couch.
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: So the killer took a deep breath. and then reached
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: forward and tried to open the back door. And it
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: slid right open, just as they expected. It was unlocked.
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: Once it was open, the killer very carefully, very quietly,
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: stepped inside and made their way over to the couch
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: where Jane was.
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: They wanted to check to make sure Jane was still asleep.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: But as the killer is hovering over Jane, looking down
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: at her, she's on her back on the couch, the
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: killer practically fainted when Jane opened her eyes and looked
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: right at them. And the killer was so surprised and
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: so scared that they instinctively lifted up their hammer and
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: brought it down on Jane's head. And when the killer
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: finally stopped.
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: and.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: Kind of calmed down for a second, they just stared
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: at Jane's destroyed body in total shock. Then they backed
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: away and realized the hammer, the murder weapon was dripping
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: blood everywhere. So they grabbed the head of the hammer
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: with their gloved hand to kind of stop it from
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: dripping and then ran right back out the sliding door.
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: The killer hurried across the street outside, tossing the hammer
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: into the trash as they went. And when they finally
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: got to their home, they stripped off their clothes, balled
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: them up, and then tried to decide where to hide them.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: And as they thought about that, they looked out their
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: bedroom window at the house across the street, where they'd
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: just killed the one person who had given them a
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: second chance. It would turn out Jane was murdered by
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: a child, her 15-year-old neighbor, Sam Nelson. Sam had actually
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: broken into Jane's house more than once. He'd broken in
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: repeatedly and stolen a lot of things from her, including
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: her credit cards. That was what the phone messages had
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: been about. Jane's credit card company had called her back
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: after she had reported a series of fraudulent charges. And
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: one of those charges was at that restaurant that the
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: investigators visited with.
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: The photo lineup.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: And the manager, when he looked at the photos, recognized
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: Sam because Sam had been in there recently. The reason
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: Sam was stealing from Jane and also from other people
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: in the neighborhood was ultimately just because he was trying
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: to keep up with his appearance. He used the stolen
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: credit cards and money to buy food and items that would,
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: in his mind, impress his wealthy classmates. On the night
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: of Jane's murder, Sam did not go in there with
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: the intention of killing her. He went in there with
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: the intention of robbing her. But for whatever reason, when
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: she opened her eyes and saw him, he sort of
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: panicked and hit her once with a hammer, the blood
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: went in his mouth, his mind went blank, and then.
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: Suddenly he's beating her to death.
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: Sam was arrested and eventually sentenced to 25 years to
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: life in prison for Jane's murder and also for multiple
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: counts of burglary. His earliest eligible release date is in 2027.
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for watching.
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: Let me know what you thought of today's episode in
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: the comments. And remember, we have a whole playlist of
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: true crime episodes ready for you to binge right now.
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: So click here and give them a watch. All right,
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: until next time, see ya.