Doe ID 'Singer Island Jane Doe' Susan Poole

Summary

DNA: ID – Doe ID ‘Singer Island Jane Doe’ Susan Poole

Podcast: DNA: ID
Host: Jessica Bettencourt (AbJack Entertainment)
Episode Date: May 5, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode of DNA: ID explores the tragic mystery and eventual identification of "Singer Island Jane Doe," a teenager whose remains were discovered in the mangroves of South Florida in 1974 and remained unidentified for almost 50 years. Using the powerful tools of investigative genetic genealogy, authorities finally solved her identity: Susan Gayle Poole, a 15-year-old from Broward County who vanished in December 1972. The episode unfolds the painstaking investigation, the breakthroughs in DNA technology, Susan’s story, and the dark shadow of serial killer Gerard John Schaefer—who is strongly suspected in her death.

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Discovery of Singer Island Jane Doe (01:10–07:45)

• Discovery
  On June 16, 1974, a man and his sons searching for fishing lures on Singer Island, Florida, stumbled upon a human skull near Lake Worth Lagoon. The site was a dense, swampy mangrove area—making the search for more remains extremely difficult.
• Condition of Remains
  Mostly skeletal remains, scattered and stripped of flesh (likely by wildlife), were found. Clues included strawberry blonde hair and a petite frame (approx. 4'11"–5'2", 83–120 lbs).
  • “She was tied up in the mangroves with wire to a tree. She was skeletal remains, totally nothing left of her except bones.” – Detective William Springer (03:04)
• Scene Evidence
  • Black-coated wire fastened around a tree, suggesting the victim was tied up.
  • Partial clothing: Daisy Duke-style jean shorts, yellow metallic-striped underwear, and a distinctive black-and-gray sweater with mysterious holes (ultimately deemed the result of environmental exposure, not gunshots).
  • No jewelry, shoes, or other identifiers.

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Efforts to Identify Jane Doe (07:45–12:00)

• Initial Investigative Challenges
  --No fingerprints; dental records were circulated but no matches found.

  • Authorities briefly suspected connections to missing girls in Michigan and a serial confessor in custody, but dental comparisons ruled them out.
  • Lack of personal effects and a “needle in a haystack” setting delayed progress.
  • “If we came up with an identification of this skeleton, it’ll be a stroke of luck… this girl could have come from anywhere in the country.” – Sheriff William Heidman (07:41)

• Lost & Recovered Evidence
  Over the years, the remains were misplaced or forgotten. Bone fragments made the rounds to various anthropologists for analysis.

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Advancements through DNA Technology (12:04–15:45)

• Modern DNA Efforts

  • In 2015, DNA was extracted and entered into CODIS as an unidentified human remains profile, but no hits occurred.
  • In 2017, Jane Doe was entered into NamUs as UP16314, and over five years, ruled out as 11 different missing women.
  • In 2019, forensic artist Autumn Crick reconstructed Jane Doe’s face, but no leads emerged.

• Breakthrough via Investigative Genetic Genealogy

  • In December 2021, Othram Labs contacted Detective Springer to offer advanced genealogical testing.
  • By March 2022, Othram provided a possible match. Detective Springer called a potential sibling, who confirmed: “Yes… My sister has been missing since 1972.” DNA from their elderly mother clinched the identification.

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The Real Identity: Susan Gayle Poole (15:45–18:28)

• Background on Susan
  • Born February 12, 1957. She was 15 when she vanished in December 1972.
  • Described as a “hippie,” social, and happy, Susan loved rock-and-roll and alternative fashion—she also hitchhiked, common among teens in the 70s.
  • Lived in the Pan American trailer park with family, sometimes staying with friends in Wilton Manors.
  • “She was beautiful. She had a beautiful smile.” – Patti Poole, Susan’s sister (16:45)
• Disappearance
  • Susan’s purse was left behind, causing concern among friends and family.
  • Seen last in Wilton Manors, just before Christmas. There may not have ever been a formal missing persons report—authorities dismissed her as a runaway, and no connection to the remains discovered 18 months later was ever made.

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Investigative Theory: The Suspect – Gerard John Schaefer (18:28–27:41)

Background of Gerard Schaefer

• Early Life & Escalating Criminal Behavior
  • Born 1946, raised in Wisconsin and Florida, troubled family background, early paraphilias including bondage and voyeurism.
  • History of cruelty to animals and peeping tom behavior.
• Law Enforcement Aspirations & Jobs
  • Brief stints in local police and Sheriff’s departments—but fired for disturbing conduct involving young women.
• Progression to Violence
  • Known “doubling” MO—abducting and torturing pairs of women/girls.
  • Notorious case: Abduction of Pamela Sue Wells and Nancy Ellen Trotter in 1972. They narrowly escaped being murdered by Shaefer.
  • Upon arrest, Shaefer was later released on bail, during which time further murders likely occurred.

Key Quote & Notoriety

• “He was the most sexually deviant person I had ever seen. He made Ted Bundy look like a boy scout.” – Prosecutor Robert Stone (19:35)

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Schaefer’s Trail of Victims & Evidence (27:25–35:36)

• Known Victims

  • Georgia Jessup (16) and Susan Place (17), picked up under the pretense of a beach trip, found dead, tied to trees, and horribly mutilated (27:30–29:30).
  • Several others, with possessions (“trophies”) found in Schaefer’s homes: purses, jewelry, licenses, diary entries, and more.

• Trophy Collection

  • “A treasure trove of evidence… masturbatory aids that helped him relive the fantasy of sexually abusing and killing his victims.” (30:25)
  • Evidence pointed to many more victims, including several other missing teens from the area and era—often hitchhikers or girls from trailer parks, like Susan Poole.

• Schaefer’s Fantasies and Confessions

  • Writings describing bondage, torture, and necrophilia were discovered.
  • Letters suggest a possible link to unsolved murders, including the cannibalization of two young girls (Peggy Ron and Wendy Stevenson).

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The Fate of Gerard Schaefer (37:41–39:54)

• Conviction and Incarceration
  • Convicted and sentenced to two concurrent (later consecutive) life sentences for the murders of Place and Jessup.
  • “At the time of his conviction, the death penalty was not available in Florida.” (37:44)
  • His earliest parole hearing would have been 2017, but he was murdered in prison in 1995 by another inmate—stabbed 47 times, his eyes gouged out.
• Attempt to Connect Adam Walsh Case
  • Attempted to leverage prison relationships with other notorious murderers for information.
• Posthumous Confirmation
  • Many authorities, including Detective Springer, are convinced he killed Susan Poole, even in the absence of concrete, direct evidence.

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The Aftermath: Family & Investigation Reflections (39:54–43:45)

• Family’s Reaction
  • Susan’s sister, Patti, described mixed feelings: “We were hoping she would come home... Every time I saw someone with long blonde hair in jeans like she wore, I would wonder if it was her.” (41:10)
• Closure at Last
  • Patti planned to have a memorial, finally able to lay her sister to rest.
  • “It’s devastating, but relief... bring her home.” – Patti Poole (42:08)
• Technological Impact
  • Detective Springer at the press conference: “Detectives did their job, but they didn’t have any of this new technology. Then he revealed that thanks to an IGG investigation done by Othram, Singer Island Jane Doe had been identified as Susan Gayle Poole.” (40:40)
• Ongoing Suspicions
  • Circumstantial evidence and victimology (timing, place, MO) align with Schaefer, though no concrete link like a trophy. Detective Springer notifies: “I believe 100% that Schaefer killed Susan.” (43:15)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the discovery:
  “Looking for tiny bones in this area was comparable to the infamous needle haystack situation.” (04:03)
• On police limitations:
  “If we came up with an identification of this skeleton, it’ll be a stroke of luck…” – Sheriff William Heidman (07:41)
• On closure:
  “It’s devastating, but relief, she said of learning that the remains were identified as her sister. Put her to rest. Bring her home, she said of her next steps.” – Patti Poole (42:08)
• On advances in technology:
  “Detectives did their job, but they didn’t have any of this new technology… thanks to an IGG investigation done by Othram, Singer Island Jane Doe had been identified…” – Detective Springer (40:40)
• On persistent suspicion:
  “Like any responsible investigator who has only circumstantial evidence to rely on, Detective Springer is careful not to assert publicly that Schaeffer was definitely Susan’s killer. But he told me he believes 100% that Schaeffer killed Susan.” (43:15)

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Key Timestamps

• [01:10] Discovery of remains and investigation begins
• [07:41] Major quote on difficulty of identification
• [12:04] DNA testing and entry into CODIS
• [16:45] Patti Poole describes her sister Susan
• [18:28] Introduction of serial killer Gerard Schaefer
• [27:25] Schaefer’s known victims and the evidence
• [37:41] Schaefer’s conviction, prison life, and death
• [39:54] Press conference and family’s feelings on identification
• [43:15] Detective Springer’s belief in Schaefer's guilt

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Conclusion

This case illustrates the transformative power of genetic genealogy in solving cold cases and bringing answers to families, even after decades of pain and uncertainty. While Susan Poole’s killer has never been definitively proven, the investigation’s attention to forensic evidence, patterns of criminal behavior, and the emotional toll on families is sensitively detailed throughout the episode. The story serves as a poignant reminder of how far forensic science and investigative diligence can go in seeking justice for the forgotten.

Transcript

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You're listening to DNAID brought to you by ABJEC Entertainment. Be sure to check out some of the other great true crime podcasts from this network, including the Murder in My Family, Missing Persons, Scene of the Crime, Zodiac Speaking Beyond Bizarre True Crime, Citizen Detective, and Campus Killings. All of these podcasts are available for you to binge on right now. Wherever you listen to podcasts. Subscribe where you're listening to this podcast so you don't miss an episode. In late morning on Sunday, June 16, 1974, a Lake park man and his two teenage sons were walking around Singer island, which is not an island but a peninsula off South Florida in North Palm Beach. It features parks, recreation areas and five miles of pristine beaches. The trio was looking for driftwood and fishing lures in a dense mangrove forest in an area known as Burnt Bridges, west of the two lane A1A highway bridge, when they found something quite different and, shall I say, unexpected. One of the boys found a human skull lying near the edge of the Lake Worth Lagoon. Palm Beach County Sheriff's officials were summoned to the scene and observed the following very disturbing a human skull that included all but one tooth, which had either been removed or had fallen out due to decay and been lost, lay on the ground. A lower jawbone and other human bones were scattered throughout the area and were believed to have been stripped of flesh by land crabs and birds. I have to explain here that looking for tiny bones in this area was comparable to the infamous needle haystack situation. The area was densely overgrown, swampy and thick. The bones were scattered in a wide area. As a result, only a partial skeleton was eventually recovered and it was completely devoid of flesh. But some hairs were found that indicated that the person had likely been a long haired strawberry blonde. Close examination of the scene revealed something else, something very unsettling. A black coated wire was fastened around a nearby tree. Palm Beach County Sheriff's Detective William Springer later said she was tied up in the mangroves with wire to a tree. She was skeletal remains totally nothing left of her except bones. Analysis of the bones by both a pathologist and a forensic anthropologist determined that they belonged to a white teenage girl in the range of 13 to 19 years old. She was petite at between 4 foot 11 and 5 foot 2 inches tall and estimated to be pretty thin, between 83 and 120 pounds. Given the state of the scant remains, it was impossible to determine her date of death. The forensic anthropologist posited that she could have been there for a year and a half or more. And her bones betrayed nothing about her cause of death. But of course the fact that the victim had possibly been tied to a tree pointed to a violent end. However, some other evidence was located that could provide some clues. Lying on the ground near the bones and suspected to be related to the victim were the tattered remains of some clothing. Blue denim material that was believed to have been a pair of Daisy Duke style jean shorts lay in scraps. A pair of size 5 yellow women's underwear with yellow metallic stripes was also found. And a sweater lay on the ground as well. This from the Palm Beach Post quote. The sweater is black, trimmed at the bottom with a wide band of gray. Full length gray sleeves protrude from the sweater capped sleeves giving the sweater the appearance of being a two piece garment. While police say there is no apparent evidence of foul play, there reportedly are holes in the back of the sweater that could have been made by bullets. We haven't been able to determine if they are bullet holes. Sheriff Heidman said they could be, but we haven't found any lead bullets at the scene yet. End quote. I'd like to state here that there is zero evidence the holes in this sweater were made by bullets. Modern investigators do not think so. There were likely holes made by insects or rodents as the sweater lay out in the elements for 18 months or more. Nothing else was found. No jewelry, shoes or other distinguishing items. Police did not know at the time that Singer Island Jane Doe's killer loved his trophies. Identifying Singer Island Jane Doe was going to be an uphill battle. Police did not have a lot to go on. Yes, they had the skeletons, statistics and strawberry blonde hair, but no fingerprints were available. The sweater was distinctive, but the lack of any identifying marks or accessories made things difficult. The investigators were limited to the dental scans they were able to obtain since both parts of Jane Doe's jaw and mandible were located. Singer Island Jane Doe was noted to have overlapping front teeth and a bit of an overbite. She had had dental care with some filled teeth, but she also had three decayed teeth that needed fillings. According to a June 18, 1974 article in the Palm Beach Post, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Department provided her dental scans to Broward county authorities, knowing that several girls had gone missing from that county in the past two years, but Singer Island Jane Doe did not match any of them. Florida Department of Law Enforcement fliers with Jane Doe's dental records were sent around to area agencies, but nothing ever came back. If we came up with an identification of this skeleton, it'll be a stroke of luck, sheriff William Heidman told the Palm Beach Post. The way young girls are hitchhiking today, this girl could have come from anywhere in the country. There was one early lead, though, that seemed promising. Teletypes about the unknown remains found on Singer island reached authorities in Michigan who were looking for a missing teen from their state. According to an article in the Palm Beach Post, Palm Beach County Sheriff's Detective Sergeant Emilio Diamantes flew with Singer Island Jane Doe's skull to Roseville, Michigan to compare to the dental charts of a missing girl from that state named Bonnie Robinson. Detroit police believed Bonnie had been killed by 17 year old suspect Terry Wayne Walker, who had confessed that he had killed a girl in Florida. He said he met a 14 or 15 year old girl on the beach in Daytona. They stayed together for a couple of weeks doing coke and hitchhiking around, finding themselves in West Palm Beach. He and the girl had an argument and Walker hit her. He knocked her down, kicked her in the throat until she was unconscious and dragged her into a swamp. This was somewhat near where Singer Island Jane Doe was found. Although it was vague, dental records confirmed that Singer Island Jane Doe was not the missing teenage girl from Michigan. Bonnie. But Walker's description of the area and the remains convinced Palm beach authorities that he had killed Singer Island Jane Doe, whoever she was. They sought an arrest warrant for first degree murder against Walker, who had also confessed to a murder in Indiana. I don't know what eventually ruled him out, but Walker was eventually convicted of two murders and Singer Island Jane does was not one of them. It's very unclear what happened with Singer Island Jane Doe over the ensuing years. Reading between the lines of what I was told, it seems that her skull was sent around to various anthropologists. The additional bones were possibly misplaced and and she was forgotten about for a while. Detective William Springer had been a homicide sergeant at the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office until 2010 when he retired and he was aware of the Singer Island Jane Doe case. He returned to the agency as a cold case detective in 2013 and started to determine what cold cases they had on the books and what evidence they had. Singer Island Jane Doe's case was one of them. I don't have any details, but for a time it was unclear where Singer Island Jane Doe's remains were located. But then her skull and mandible were found in a box still labeled with the medical examiner's case number. And now with advancements in DNA technology, they had the opportunity to try to obtain DNA for Singer Island Jane Doe. They did so in 2015, and her STR DNA profile was entered into CODIS's unidentified human remains database. No matches were made there. Let's talk about why you should be giving a Masterclass subscription for the upcoming Mother's Day. The mom in your life will love receiving a gift that she can get a lifetime of learning from. You'll recall I gave my sister in law a Masterclass subscription for Christmas last year. She told me she loves it. 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Now that they had DNA for Singer Island Jane Doe One of the first orders of business was to compare her remains and DNA to that of Debbie Lowe, a missing 13 year old from Pompano who vanished in February 1972. Debbie's sister posted on websleuths that authorities contacted her family in 2014 to see if Singer Island Jane Doe could be Debbie. After DNA comparison to family members of Debbie, she was ruled out as being the girl found on Singer island in 1974. Debbie has never been found. Singer Island Jane Doe was entered into Namus as up 16,314 in August of 2017. Over the next five years she was ruled out as being 11 different missing women Charlotte Loomis, Victoria Bowers, Rosemary Buck, Brenda Davidson, Diane Gilchrist, Helen Allison, Deborah Lowe, Peggy Reed, Gail Joyner, Cheryl Tillinghast and Judy Davis. In 2019, a reconstruction of singer island Jane Doe's face was done by Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office forensic artist Autumn Crick. Using her skull as a template, this image was added to NAMUS and publicized, but it did not bring about any helpful tips as to who Singer Island Jane Doe could be. In December of 2021, Othram Labs contacted Detective Springer about performing genealogy testing on cold cases with degraded DNA. Singer Island Jane Doe's case remained unsolved, so the Palm beach county authorities decided to proceed. Othram's scientists were able to develop a SNP profile from Jane Doe's teeth and the genealogy did not take long at all. I don't know what level relatives were identified in the open source databases, but In March of 2022, Othram provided Detective Springer with the possible name of the victim and her likely mother and siblings. Detective Springer picked up the phone, called up one of the brothers and said, any chance you have A missing sister? Yes, the man said, my sister has been missing since 1972. DNA testing of his mother, who was well into her 90s, confirmed it. Singer Island Jane Doe was Susan Gayle Poole. Susan was born on February 12, 1957, to father Richard Norman Poole and mother Gail Waterman poole. She was 15 when she disappeared in December of 1972. Most of what we know about Susan has been revealed by her sister, Patti Poole, just one year younger. Patti has given numerous interviews, telling WPBF of her sister, quote, she was beautiful. She had a beautiful smile. Patti described Susan to the Palm Beach Post, saying, quote, she was a hippie, she was happy and had a lot of friends. Susan, like many teens in the 70s, loved rock and roll, wore alternative clothing and was known to hitchhike. This from the Washington Post. Quote, When Poole went missing in 1972, she was living in the Pan American trailer park off Andrews Boulevard with her mom, dad and several brothers in Broward county and staying sometimes at a friend's house in Wilton Manors. End quote. Susan had dropped out of high school and was couch surfing and hanging out with a core group of friends from the trailer park she lived in. And then she vanished. Susan's family had no idea what had happened to her. Patti told WPLG that she remembered the day her sister disappeared. Quote, I knew something was wrong when I saw her purse on the couch of a friend of hers, she told the station. As I said, Susan had been staying with a friend in Wilton Manors, a small suburb of Fort Lauderdale, and had disappeared right before Christmas 1972. She left her clothes and purse behind and her family soon reported her missing to their local agency. Sadly, even though Susan had left without her things, it seems likely she was dismissed as a runaway. She had run away before, so it's likely police did not take the family's report too seriously and chalked Susan up to a flighty hippie type who just took off. Detective Springer has been unable to locate a missing persons report for Susan, so it's totally possible that the police didn't even fill one out. So although the family says they met with police and reported Susan's going missing, no one followed up in the absence of a formal missing persons report. When Susan's remains were found 18 months later an hour away in Palm beach county, no one put together that Singer Island Jane Doe was Susan. Information sharing was very different back in the 70s. Reportedly when singer Island Jane Doe was found, Palm beach authorities shared the deceased girl's dental information with Broward county law enforcement to See if it matched any missing girls there. Still, tragically, no one identified Susan. In the absence of a missing persons report, Susan was forgotten about. So Susan was identified and returned to her family. But the obvious question is, who killed Susan? Investigators have a strong theory. They believe Susan was a victim of serial killer Gerard John Schaefer. I was very surprised that I had not heard of Schaeffer because it seems he was a very nasty piece of work who just is suspected of killing as many as 28 women and girls in South Florida and perhaps in other states as well. He was convicted of only two murders, but as we will hear, killed many more women than that. Robert Stone, who prosecuted Shaffer, said of the predator, quote, he was the most sexually deviant person I had ever seen. He made Ted Bundy look like a boy Scout. A lot of the information I'm about to give you I got from an episode of Descent of a serial killer devoted to Gerard John Shaffer. Gerard John Schaefer Jr. Was born on March 25, 1946 in Wisconsin to Gerard and Doris Shaffer. He was the oldest of three. For someone who would devolve into a sadistic killer, he had a remarkably normal early life. His father was a successful traveling salesman and his mother was a homemaker. The family relocated from Wisconsin to Tennessee and then to Atlanta where young Shaffer attended Catholic Marist Academy. They moved for the last time when Shaffer was a young teen, settling in Fort Lauderdale, Florida where the Shaffers were members of various yacht and country clubs. But the Shaffers marriage was strained and Shaffer Sr. Was an alcoholic and philanderer. Young Shaffer felt he could never live up to his parents exacting expectations and perceived them both as critical and cold. He felt they would have loved him more had he been a girl and he started experimenting with wearing women's underwear. At age 12 he learned that he received sexual gratification from tying himself up. So he would tie himself to trees and masturbate and sometimes with self harm. He loved to hunt in the Everglades and enjoyed killing small animals for fun. On the normal end of the spectrum, he was a very good golfer and played football at Thomas Aquinas High School for his sophomore and junior years. Although his classmates don't recall him ever taking the field. He also had relationships with girls who described him as polite and and a gentleman. But then his high school girlfriend left him because he wanted her to act out his rape fantasies. He was described by teens who knew him as someone who was obsessed with trying to look up girls skirts. From there, he progressed to being a peeping Tom, watching his attractive neighbor Lee and other women through their windows. And he started stealing women's underwear. He moved on from killing small animals for sport to mutilating cattle. According to author Patrick Kendrick, who knew Shaffer personally and wrote a book about him. I'm not going to get into Shaffer's whole history, his two marriages, his failed attempts at becoming a teacher. In summary, after graduating from high school in June 1964 and dropping out of Broward Community College, he matriculated at Florida Atlantic University. He worked as a security guard at Florida Light and Power to pay his tuition. Schaeffer graduated in August 1971 with a Bachelor's degree in geography. I guess this was how he knew so many places where his victims would never be found. But Schaefer didn't want to be a geographer. He wanted to be a cop. On September 3, 1971, Shaffer was hired by the Wilton Manors police department. He attended cop school and then hit the streets as a patrol officer. But he didn't last long and after several months was let go for stopping young female drivers and asking them out, writing too many tickets when warnings were called for, and and other infractions. He next applied for a job at the Broward County Sheriff's Office, but failed the psych exam and was denied. On June 30, 1972, Shaffer was hired as a sheriff's deputy in Martin county based on a letter of recommendation he had forged. He lasted one month. During his short tenure there, Shaffer left a negative impression on his colleagues by talking in very explicit terms about having anal and oral sex with his wife. Shaffer really did not fit in socially. Pat Brown, the famous profiler, said he was perceived as egotistical and obnoxious, and no one liked him. Eventually, Schaeffer was diagnosed as a depressive and paranoid schizophrenic, to use the language of the day. But that was not the half of it. Schaeffer had developed some disturbing paraphilias and was a sexual sadist. He learned he obtained sexual pleasure from inflicting pain on his victims, and he was turned on by dead or dying bodies evacuating their bladders and bowels. At some point, Schaeffer seems to have begun differentiating between types of women and girls. The good ones, like his mom and his girlfriends and wives, and the bad ones like hippies, hitchhikers and bimbalinas, as he called them. They deserved nothing but punishment, and Schaeffer began fantasizing about killing them and then began carrying out his fantasies. It's unknown exactly when he killed his first victim, but he soon decided to step up the thrill and started doing doubles, as he called it. He hunted girls who were in pairs, abducting them, restraining them, and torturing and abusing them while the other watched. Taking turns and taking his time. He liked hanging his victims and watching them die. His downfall came when he picked up 18 year old Pamela Sue Wells and 17 year old Nancy Ellen Trotter. The girls were hitchhiking in Stuart, Florida in July 1972 when the 26 year old Martin county sheriff's deputy pulled over in his cruiser. He told the teens that hitchhiking was illegal, which was a lie, and took them back to the hostel where they were staying. They made a plan for him to pick them up the next day and drive them to the beach. But he did not take them to the beach. He drove them to Hutchinson island where he told them there was a cool Spanish fort that they should see. But when they got there, he pulled a gun on them and told them he was going to sell them into sexual slavery. He cuffed and gagged them and molested them at knife and gunpoint. But in the midst of all this, he got a call on the radio that he was needed at work. So he put nooses around their necks and strung the nooses up from a large tree. The nooses were tightened so that the girls had to stand on tree roots so as not to choke. If they teetered off the roots, the ropes would tighten around their necks. Then he left them there, saying he would return. But when he got back, Pamela and Nancy had managed to get out of the nooses and gags by wiggling around and using their teeth. Both of them ran separately. Pamela got a ride with a truck driver and made it to the police station. Nancy, still handcuffed, managed to swim across the river away from the scene. Shaffer discovered them gone and called his boss, Martin county sheriff Crowder, and said, I was trying to teach them a lesson about the dangers of hitchhiking, but I screwed up. Crowder drove to the area and found Nancy still cuffed and gagged on the side of the road. Shaffer was fired from his deputy position immediately and was arrested for false imprisonment and aggravated assault. Unbelievably, he was released on $15,000 bond. In December 1972, he pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated assault. He was sentenced to six months in jail, but was allowed to spend the holidays at home before starting his jail term. On January 15, 1973. What no one knew was that while he was still out, he continued to commit abductions and even murders.

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Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds unless options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI it all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year. You can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors, llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete Disclosures available at public.comdisclosures I am from the future and all of this goes horribly wrong. Critics are calling good luck. Have fun. Don't die. Absolute chaotic perfection.

[C]

AI.

[B]

Isn't that a thing already? It gets a lot worse, honey.

[A]

Sam Rockwell is electric.

[B]

Who's joining me?

[A]

Who's ready to save the future? Five stars.

[B]

This is real. Pretty much, yeah. It's gonna be okay. Or it's not. I don't know.

[A]

Only in theaters February 13th. Tickets on sale now.

[B]

In September 1972, Schaefer was seen picking up 16 year old Georgia Jessup and 17 year old Susan place to head to the beach. Susan's parents later said their daughter and her friend left with an older guy named Jerry Shepard. They got into his blue Datsun and drove off. Susan's mom, Lucille, was unsettled by the whole thing and wrote down the license plate of the car. When her daughter failed to come home, Lucille filed a police report and handed over the license plate number. But somehow one of the numbers got transcribed wrong, so the plate number led nowhere. But after a few months, Lucille learned through the media about Gerard Shaffer, now in jail for kidnapping two teen girls in that very county. She drove by his home and saw the same car that had picked up her daughter and Georgia. And photos in the paper showed that Gerard Shaffer looked just like the Jerry shepherd who had driven away with her. Her daughter Lucille pushed the Oakland park police to investigate Gerard Shaffer. But with Susan and Georgia missing, there was not much they could do. On March 25, 1973, Lucille was allowed to go to the Martin County Jail with a photo of Susan. But Schaeffer denied having anything to do with her disappearance. But his bubble would soon burst. The girl's remains bones were found on April 1, 1973, near Blind Creek on Hutchinson island by men looking for scrap metal. The girls were identified by dental records. On April 5, Susan had died after being shot in the jaw. But the crime scene indicated that both girls had been tied to a tree and unspeakable violence done to them. They were both decapitated and the tops of their skulls never Found teeth had been forcibly removed. Georgia had been cut in half at the waist. Each was missing an arm through mutilation. Susan's mom was right. Gerri shepherd was Gerard Shaffer. And he had killed her daughter and her friend in the most horrific manner imaginable. Schaeffer never again saw the light of day. Pursuant to his search warrant, police searched the apartment Schaefer rented in Stuart, the home he shared with his wife, and the room Shaffer had lived in at his mother Doris house before he had remarried. Among his possessions there was found a treasure trove of evidence, including Susan Place's purse. But also found were trophies from women who had vanished off the face of the earth, never to be seen again. These items were identified by the families of missing or murdered women as belonging to their loved ones. A profiler who analyzed Shaffer's case believed these items were masturbatory aids that helped him relive the fantasy of sexually abusing and killing his victims. For example, found in Shaffer's room was a locket belonging to Lee Bonadees, who had gone missing in in September 1969. She had known Shaffer as she was his neighbor when he was a teenager. He had stalked her, watching her through windows and masturbating. He told his girlfriend that Lee was a dirty girl for leaving the curtains open. In August 1969, Lee was married. But in September her husband came home to a note saying she had gone to Miami. She never returned. Oddly, Schaefer told Lee's family that she had called him and asked for a ride to the airport, but she'd never shown for the pickup. Lee's body was finally found in 1978 but not identified until 2004. She is believed to be one of Schaeffer's early victims. Also found in Shaffer's things were two gold filled teeth and a distinctive shamrock shaped pin belonging to cocktail waitress Carmen Halleck, who disappeared in December 1969. She told her sister in law over lunch on the day she vanished that she had a date that night with the teacher who who had promised her a job. This was certainly Schaeffer. Her bathtub was found full, her car and dog abandoned. Her body has never been found. Her murder too is attributed to Schaeffer. Police found an address book of Belinda Hutchins, a young mother who had last been seen climbing into a baby blue Datsun sedan with a dark haired male driver in January 1972. Her husband later identified Schaeffer's baby blue Datsun as the one he had seen her get. Into her body has never been found. They found items of jewelry from 14 year old Mary Alice Briscolina, missing since October 26, 1972. She had gone missing along with her 13 year old friend Elsie Lena Farmer, who lived in the same trailer park as Susan Poole. Elsie's family reported her missing on October 24 and Mary Alice Briscolina's family reported her missing a week later. Their skeletal remains were found on January 17, 1973 at a construction site off Sunrise Boulevard in Plantation. Both had been bludgeoned to death. The girl's friends told police that Mary Alice's boyfriend's older sister had a friend named Gary Shepard who had been a Wilton Manors cop. This Gary Shepard was later identified as Shaffer. Also found were a passport and diary from 19 year old Colette Goodenough who vanished in January 1973. Colette and her friend Barbara Wilcox, whose driver's license was also found in Shaffer's room, had disappeared after hitchhiking from Sioux City, Iowa to Florida. Their skeletal remains were found by hog hunters in Port St. Lucie in January 1977. The teens had been bound together by baling wire. This from TCPalm.com's Their hacked remains were scattered around a large tree that, according to investigators, reports showed signs one or both girls had been hung from. An orange crate was set to the side as if it served as a spectator's seat, end quote Schaeffer, who was just days away from reporting to jail for his six month sentence for the abduction of Nancy and Pamela, had made a long distance phone call from Cedar Rapids, Iowa to his Florida home around the same time police assume he met up with hitchhiking Colette and Barbara en route back to Florida. Other items found in Shaffer's stash at his mom's were 11 guns he was a collector, 13 knives, photos of Gerard in women's underwear and writings and sketches detailing his fantasies about torturing and slaying. The fantasies focused on bondage, hanging, sexual torture and necrophilia. In later stories written by Shaffer that he claimed were fiction, he addressed his crimes in excruciating details, addressing the exciting challenge of doing doubles and using his skinning knife on his victims as the other watched. There are other suspected victims of Shaffer that authorities have publicly stated are attributable to him, even though no trophies linked to them were found in his stash. Two of these were nine year old Peggy Ron and eight year old Wendy Stevenson who vanished from Pompano beach on December 29, 1970. A man had been seen buying ice cream for two girls who met Shaffer's description. He denied killing the two, but in a 1989 letter he said, quote, peggy and Wendy came along just as I was curious about cannibal Albert Fish's craving for young girls flesh. I assure you these girls were not molested sexually. I found both of them very satisfactory with sauteed onions and peppers. End quote According to the Charlie Project, it is possible that two women who vanished in 1966 were in fact Schaeffer's first victim. Nancy Leichner and her friend Pam Nader were Last seen on October 2, 1966 at the Alexander Springs Recreation Area of the Ocala National Forest in Altoona, Florida. They went for a hike in the woods and have never been seen again. Their cases are officially closed as authorities believe that Shaffer was responsible for their murders. The Charlie Project states that investigators linked Shaffer to their disappearances through witness testimony and a jailhouse confession. Finally, the family of 13 year old Deborah Lowe, missing since she was last seen walking to school in Pompano beach in February 1972, believes that Schaefer killed Deborah as well. Experts who have studied Schaeffer's life, victims MO and writings theorize that he suffered from lifelong rejection by his parents, by girls, by the Catholic Church, by the administration at the school he taught at, by the police agencies where he worked. He desperately strove to attain power and control and obtained pleasure from exerting his dominance over his victims.

[A]

Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI it all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year. You can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com disclosures volatility is hitting retirement accounts and savings across the country. More Americans are exploring physical gold and silver for added diversification during unprecedented, unpredictable economic periods. Preserve Gold offers straightforward education on how precious metals can be included in an IRA. Text IHEART to 50505 for your free wealth Protection Guide, and with a qualified purchase, you could receive up to $15,000 in free gold or silver. I am from the future, and all of this goes horribly wrong. Critics are calling good luck. Have fun, don't die. Absolute, absolute chaotic. Perfection.

[B]

AI Isn't that a thing already? It gets a lot worse, honey.

[A]

Sam Rockwell is electric.

[B]

Who's joining me?

[A]

Who's ready to save the future? Five stars.

[B]

This is real? Pretty much, yeah. It's gonna be okay. Or it's not. I don't know.

[A]

Only in theaters February 13th. Tickets on sale now.

[B]

Okay, so what happened to Schaeffer once he was caught in the wake of police identifying Susan Place and Georgia Jessup, he was charged with two counts of murder. Schaefer admitted that he was sick, but he would not take a polygraph exam and fought his prosecution the whole way. He submitted to mental evaluations from four psychiatrists who all concluded that he knew right from wrong and was mentally fit to stand trial. At that trial, his abduction and sexual assault victims, Nancy and Pamela, testified, and Susan's mom, Lucille, testified about him leaving with Susan in Georgia. He was convicted of their murders on September 27, 1973, and sentenced to two concurrent life terms, which was changed to consecutive life terms. At the time of his conviction, the death penalty was not available in Florida. His earliest parole hearing would have been 2017. In prison, Shaffer met serial killers Ted Bundy, Ottis Toole and Danny Rollins, ever trying to be seen as powerful and in charge. Schaeffer had approached investigators about trying to get information on Adam Walsh from Toole. I don't know what happened with that, But Schaeffer didn't make it to his parole hearing. He was stabbed to death in December 1995 by a fellow inmate at the maximum security Florida State Prison. According to Patrick Kendrick, the author of American the Enigma of America's Serial Killer Cop, schaeffer was stabbed 47 times and his eyes gouged out and thrown in the wreck yard at the prison. He was 49 years old. a press conference announcing the identification of Singer Island Jane Doe, Cold Case detective William Springer outlined the details of her case and how the original Investigators were unable to identify her. As he put it, quote, detectives did their job, but they didn't have any of this new technology. Then he revealed that thanks to an IGG investigation done by Othram, Singer Island Jane Doe had been identified as Susan Gayle Poole. He went on to say that his interviews with Susan's family and the friends he had been able to locate said that Susan had just disappeared one day, seemingly into thin air. This from the Palm Beach Post. After her sister was identified, Patty Pool, who still lives in Broward county, described having a range of emotions upon finally learning what happened to her sister after so many years. She said she felt sad, relieved, and angry. We were hoping that she would come home, she said. Every time I saw somebody with long blonde hair dressed like she did, in jeans, I would wonder if it was her. And this from the Orlando Sentinel. Patty Poole plans to have a memorial service for her sister. She wants to take her sister's ashes to her old favorite bar and play the song Scars in Heaven by casting crowns at her sister's service. It's devastating, but relief, she said of learning that the remains were identified as her sister put her to rest. Bring her home, she said of her next steps. End quote. Susan and Patty's mom was still alive to see the announcement. As Detective Springer said, the family was happy to have answers, even if not happy with what those answers were. As Patti put it, the way her sister died was very cruel. It must be a terrible thing to find out your loved one suffered an unimaginable fate at the hands of a sadistic serial killer. Speaking of sadistic serial killers, Susan's family believes Gerard Shaffer definitely killed Susan. Does Detective Springer believe so, too? It turns out that for decades before she was identified, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office categorized Singer Island Jane Doe as a victim of Gerard Shaffer. And finding out who she was only strengthened that conviction because location and victimology were all right in Shaffer's wheelhouse. Detective Springer said at the press conference, quote, gerard Shaffer is the best suspect due to the location, the fact that she's tied up in the mangroves. He was active back then. He was a Wilton Manors police officer. When she was living there, his MO Was to pick up young girls hitchhiking. Her friends told me that she did hitchhike, so everything kind of fits that way. End quote. And remember, Susan lived in the same trailer park, in fact, on the same street as Elsie Farmer, who was murdered in the same time frame and whose death is attributed to Gerard Shaffer. Further, when Susan vanished in December 1972, Schaefer had been fired as a deputy in Martin county and was out on bond, living in Wilton Manors, where Susan was spending time at her friend's apartment. Schaefer had formerly been a cop in the town and had hung out at the 7:11 with the other officers. The same 7:11 where Susan's brother worked. He also lived right around the corner from the 711 and could have seen Susan there. Susan got around by hitchhiking, and Shaffer was known to pick up hitchhikers and teach them a lesson. Susan was found in a remote Mangrove area near A1A. Just like other known victims of Shaffer. Shaffer was known to bind his victims to trees with wire, just the way Susan was believed to have been tied up. Schaeffer also rented an apartment in Stuart, putting him near the location where Susan's body was found. Detective Springer believes Schaefer may have become familiar with remote locations in Palm beach county as he traveled routinely between Martin and Broward counties, which sandwich Palm Beach. Detective Springer worked hard to track down Susan's friends from the trailer park and Wilton Manors. He was hopeful that one of them would remember her mentioning a tall, dark haired young police officer or even just mentioning having an older boyfriend. None of the friends or Susan's family recalled anything of the sort, and Detective Springer worked with the Broward County Sheriff's Office to review all the trophies, possessions and writings of Gerard Shaffer to see if there was anything belonging to Susan or any mention of her. He even reviewed hundreds of pages of letters Schaeffer wrote to his first wife, who wrote a book about her ex husband. He has never found any concrete connection between Susan and Schaeffer. Like any responsible investigator who has only circumstantial evidence to rely on, Detective Springer is careful not to assert publicly that Schaeffer was definitely Susan's killer. But he told me he believes 100% that Schaeffer killed Susan. I was fascinated to see that one of the original newspaper articles covering the discovery of the bones that became known as Singer Island Jane Doe actually mentioned Gerard Shaffer. This is from the June 18, 1974 Palm Beach Post. Because of the destructive ability of the animals, such as dogs, raccoons and land crabs, police aren't certain where the victim died. However, they believe death may have occurred between eight weeks and eight months before the skeleton was found. But it's very possible it could have been much longer than that. A detective admitted the scattering of bones by animals created problems with Martin county authorities. Last year when they found the remains of two Broward county teenage girls in a remote wooded area on Hutchinson Island. Former Martin County Sheriff's Deputy Gerard John Shaffer was tried and convicted in the deaths of the two girls, identified as 16 year old Susan Place of Oakland park and 17 year old Georgia Jessup of Fort Lauderdale. Schaeffer, now serving a life sentence in Rayford State Prison, is appealing the case. End quote. Okay, so there it was in black and white, mention of the killer and his probable victim in the same article years before anyone put the two together. It's such a tragedy that Susan spent all those years in anonymity while her probable killer enjoyed notoriety and infamy. He is the subject of books, podcasts, TV shows, documentaries and studies, but at least he isn't alive to bask in his fame and at least Susan is finally back home and can be laid to rest in peace. That is what's important now. Recently, I let listeners know about a new benefit available to them called an ABJAC Insider Subscription that's available through Apple Podcasts. An abjak Insider Subscription will give listeners ad free access to every bit of DNA ID content published, both past episodes and future episodes. It will also give you benefits like early access and bonus content. Head over to Apple Podcasts and click on the DNAID show page or the ABJAC Entertainment channel to start a free trial. Thanks for listening to this episode of dnaid. If you'd like to listen to the show ad free and help support the show in the process, please head over to patreon.com dnaid and if you're interested in in some fun DNA ID merch, visit the store at customizegirl.coms dnaidpodcast. To contact the show, please email us at dnaidpodcastmail.com follow us on social media naidpodcast on Instagram, naidpodcast on Twitter or on Facebook @Facebookacebook.com finally, if you want to visit our website, go to DNAID podcast.com you'll be able to get all the episodes of the show, leave comments on episodes that I can respond to, and you can even leave voicemails. You'll get all the latest news about the show and important updates, find links to our social media merch and a lot more. It's really your one stop shop for everything. DNAI DNA ID is written, researched and hosted by me, Jessica Bettencourt. It's produced by me and Mike Morford of abjack Entertainment Music by Connor Bettencourt. Check out our other collaborative podcasts scene of the crime, missing persons, and beyond Bizarre. True crime.

[A]

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