← Going West: True Crime
Going West: True Crime
Janet Chandler // 575
00:52:04
In January of 1979, a 22-year-old college senior living in Holland, Michigan, disappeared while working at a local hotel. A day later, she was found on the side of the highway in a snowbank, her body revealing a level of violence that stunned investigators. For decades, her case was cold, with rumors, fear, and coerced silence haunting those who had known her. It would take nearly 30 years for the truth to surface. This is the murder of Janet Chandler.
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What is going on? True crime fans? I'm your host, Teeth.
- [01:43]
B
And I'm your host, Daphne.
- [01:44]
C
And you're listening to Going West.
- [01:47]
B
Hello, everybody. Thank you for tuning in. Thank you to Anita, who recommended today's case. This story is so disturbing and frustrating, though it does have resolution. But get ready, if you're anything like Heath and I, to be filled with rage.
- [02:04]
C
Oh, yeah. We will not be holding back our feelings today, guys, because there are some huge pieces of shit in today's episode.
- [02:12]
B
Yeah, you already know what Heath is gonna be saying.
- [02:15]
C
Exactly. So without further ado, this is episode 575 of Going West. So let's get into it.
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B
In January of 1979, a 22 year old college senior living in Holland, Michigan disappeared while working at a local inn. A day later, she was found on the side of a highway in a snow bank, her body revealing a level of violence that stunned investigators for decades. Her case was cold, with rumors, fear and coerced silence haunting those who had known her. It would take nearly 30 years for the truth to surface. But when it did, it proved far more despicable than investigators imagined. This is the murder of Janet Chandler. Janet Chandler was born on May 29, 1956 in Muskegon County, Michigan, to parents Glenna and James, and was raised alongside siblings James Jr. And Dennis. Growing up, she was described as sweet, sensitive, and kind, possibly to a fault. Her family was deeply religious, and her faith became equally important to her as well. So she dutifully attended her Baptist church and also helped out in the Sunday school. She actually sang in the church choir because she really loved to sing so much that she hoped to eventually make a career out of it. Her memorial describes her as a, quote, beautiful college student who wanted to use her voice to praise God. Driven by youth, music, and her faith, Janet Chandler has dreams and aspirations of a life much larger than the small Midwestern town where she grew up. So, yeah, she had a lot of goals, mostly revolving around a singing career. So when Janet graduated from Fruitport high school in 1974, she hoped to eventually move to New York City to pursue a career in opera. Or if that didn't work out, she wanted to teach music at a Christian school. But first, she started off locally, as many do, at Muskegon Community College, and then transferred to Hope College, which is a Christian liberal arts school. And she did that in 1976. Now, Hope College is located in adorable Holland, Michigan, which is only about 45 minutes south of her family in Muskegon.
- [05:58]
C
Yeah, I was looking up Holland, Michigan, to see kind of what it looks, what it looked like, and it's so charming. It's right there on Lake Michigan. There's a cute little downtown. There's a lot of shops. It kind of feels like, I want to say, like a Danish city or something.
- [06:14]
B
Yeah. Probably wanted to live up to their name.
- [06:17]
C
Yeah, exactly.
- [06:18]
B
Very cute architecture. Tulip field. They have, like, a tulip festival.
- [06:22]
C
Right.
- [06:22]
B
So now you guys know what to picture. This town is freaking adorable. So, like I said, it was only 45 minutes, or it is only 45 minutes away from her hometown. So, although she wasn't going very far, Janet felt like she was finally gaining some independence. When she went away to school, she was described by friends and peers as, this is actually kind of mean, naive, a people pleaser, and a bit sheltered. And she hadn't started dating yet, so that all sounds really judgmental, but like I said earlier, her family described her as kind to a fault. So it seemed like a lot of people just felt like she was a bit sheltered, but she was so nice, you know, she was. People almost thought she was too nice and worried that that would affect her life. And it actually seems like maybe it did.
- [07:09]
C
Right. She grew up in this Kind of conservative Christian household. And now she's finally getting this opportunity to kind of expand, get into college, meet new people, experience new things. So, yeah, she's, she's transitioning here, but.
- [07:24]
B
It'S terrible because of course, naturally, as any young woman or young person would, she became very curious about a different lifestyle, about dating, about exploring young adulthood. And it seemed to be what cost Janet her life. A couple years into her time at Hope College in 1978, 22 year old Janet was a senior vocal music major who was living with her best friend Laurie Swank, and in an apartment just north of the nice quaint city of Holland. She was set to graduate from college in May of 1979 and to kind of offset school expenses. In August of her senior year, again in 1978, she was hired by Lori, who was working as the night manager of a small local hotel called the Blue Mill Inn. Now, her parents later recalled having some reservations about this because they were a bit uncomfortable with the idea of Janet spending nights alone in the hotel lobby. Obviously, as a night manager, she would likely be working by herself. She's dealing with guests. If a guest has a problem, she has to go to their room by herself. It's kind of a vulnerable position for a young woman, honestly.
- [08:38]
C
Right. So her parents are thinking, you know, she's a 22 year old young female, maybe this isn't the best thing, thing for her to be doing. But she did it anyway because she needed that money to help pay for college.
- [08:53]
B
Absolutely. And I think especially because of the way that her parents raised her and because she was a little bit sheltered, maybe they felt like she wasn't ready for this type of job.
- [09:02]
C
Sure.
- [09:02]
B
But she's 22 years old, girl can do whatever she wants to do and needs to do, and she needs a job and her best friend works there. So it seems like a good gig. Well, in the months before Janet's disappearance, the inn had a bunch of new guests, security guards who were in town for short term work contracts. And not for the Blue Mill Inn. That's just where they were staying. They had actually been hired by a nearby manufacturing plant called Chemtron Pigments, which produced printing ink in order to keep the plant safe while the employees were on strike.
- [09:38]
C
Right. So there was a bunch of employees that were on strike at this, this ink creating plant. And these security guards are there just to make sure that the windows aren't getting busted out. Nobody's, you know, causing a ruckus.
- [09:49]
B
Yeah. And there was a ton of them. So they kind of like filled out the Blue Mill Inn for, you know, during that duration that they were, were working there.
- [09:58]
C
Well, one of these guards was 26 year old Arthur Carlton Paiva, who went by Carl. Now Laurie, who was much more experienced in dating and life than Janet was, started seeing Carl casually. You know, she's also working at the hotel, or I should say the motel, and that's how she meets Carl.
- [10:19]
B
It was almost impossible to avoid this happening. There's all these men and young men staying at this hotel. These girls are running the front desk at night. So naturally they're gonna see a lot of each other. Actually when my mom had like a higher up position at a hotel and she was in charge of VIP guests, this big group came in kind of like this. And it actually, it was security for a big military guy. And that is how she met her now husband and my stepdad. So it's like when you're working closely with a big group of people for a while, you know, it's a way to meet somebody.
- [10:54]
C
Right. And as you guys are going to see, they, they really do make a connection. Not just Laurie and Carl, but all the security guys and all the girls that are working there as well. But to Laurie's dismay, Janet actually liked Carl as well, which makes sense. You know, they're both charmed by this guy. He was only a few years older than them, but he was undeterred by their friendship and decided to ignore the issues it could cause their friendship by beginning to see them both romantically as the security foreman. He was being put up in a lake house nearby and was able to host parties for the guards and their dates. Of course, he was also known to entertain multiple women at the same time. So at first he was just kinda casually dating Janet and Laurie, among others, not taking any of it seriously. But Carl had competition because multiple other security guards there were very interested in Janet as well. And this freaked him out a bit when he developed genuine feelings for Janet. So he grew kind of jealous of the other men paying attention to her. And as imagined this caused friction between Janet and Laurie. Especially because Laurie was jealous of all the male attention and adoration her friend was receiving.
- [12:11]
B
Even though Janet had never dated before. Like let, let your friend date somebody. She's never done this. Let her have it.
- [12:18]
C
Yeah, I think it really just comes down to Carl, the fact that Carl was like, oh, you know your friend Janet over there. And Laur, Laurie was really into Carl, you know, but not only was she jealous of Janet, Laurie, she was also jealous of Carl. And the other men for how much of Janet's time he was getting. Because now Laurie isn't getting love attention, nor friend attention, But Laurie was getting male attention. Because multiple connections formed between the men staying at the hotel and the women that were working there, including Janet, Laurie, and two other female employees of the inn, Cheryl Ruiz and Diane Marsman. So that winter brought in a constant cycle of hurt feelings and jealousy among the two groups of friends and co workers.
- [13:04]
B
It's probably like a reality TV show over there.
- [13:07]
C
I mean, you can only imagine there's. There's this group of guys, there's this group of girls. They're all kind of intermittently seeing each other, dating each other, forming friendships. And it's not like one of those happy things, because this could have been such a positive thing, like, oh, this is how we met our future best friends, you know, like.
- [13:24]
B
But it's also. It's not like these are the only guys in town. These are just the new guys in town who are only there temporarily.
- [13:31]
C
Sure.
- [13:31]
B
And there's only like four women that are working there in this group that we're talking about, and a bunch of men.
- [13:38]
C
Yeah.
- [13:39]
B
So it's like, you know, there's. There's room for everybody.
- [13:42]
C
There is, yeah. And the dudes that are staying at that hotel, they're all going after these four women because they. They're from out of town. They're only gonna be in this area for a short period of time. So now you guys kinda have an idea of what Janet's life was like leading up to her murder. But you guys are in for a horrific surprise. So on the evening of January 30, 1979, Janet was working the night shift as usual. But what happened that night came to be known as the most depraved case that Holland's detectives had ever seen. So early the next morning, during Janet's shift, a strange 911 call reported a possible robbery at the hotel. Now, Robert lynch, who was one of the security guards, was the one to make this call, Identifying himself only as the Blue Mill Inn. And then telling the operator, I have reason to believe that there might be a robbery in progress down in the office. Now, he didn't sound very urgent in this call, Just more so like he was reporting information. But in his own words, he didn't seem to know what was going on. Police arrived soon after this to find the front desk empty and cash missing from behind the front desk, which turned out to be about $500. Once they continued investigating.
- [15:07]
B
As we know 22 year old Janet was supposed to be working, leaving behind only her coat and a lit cigarette. So obviously with the cigarette still alight, they knew she hadn't been gone for too long. And by the way, this call came in at around 2am well, strangely, the office door, obviously she works inside the office, had been left unlocked, leading detectives to believe that Janet had possibly known whomever came to see her that morning, whomever had taken that money, and presumably her, because generally she was diligent about locking the office behind her if she had to go help a guest or use the restroom, what have you. Since she usually worked by herself, so obviously leaving the door unlocked, that gives somebody the opportunity to sneak in and steal money, and she just wasn't known to do that. According to the guy that made the phone call again, Robert lynch, he had been in his hotel room down the hall when he heard Janet say, don't take it all, sir. So alarmed, he called the authorities, assuming that maybe a robbery was taking place. Though admittedly he didn't go down and check for himself and opted to let the police handle it if Janet was.
- [16:21]
C
In danger, which I find obviously very odd, the fact that he just heard, oh, don't take it all, sir, and then just kind of assumed that that was gonna be a robbery.
- [16:31]
B
Like maybe that's why on the call, in police's eyes, he didn't see, seem urgent or afraid or worried because he barely heard anything.
- [16:41]
C
But also urgent enough to call 911.
- [16:44]
B
Right, and not check for himself. But aside from Robert and this brief exchange, nobody at the hotel, which again was filled to the brim with people who were all supposedly up late partying, nobody else had seen or heard a thing. So no one could help figure out what happened to Janet because not even Robert had claimed to see her. So right away, police knew that somebody marched Janet out of the lobby and into the parking lot without enough of a struggle for anybody to see or hear anything. Well, when Janet's parents got word, they obviously were in a full panic and they raced down to Holland to assist in the frantic search for her. But a day's worth of recovery efforts turned up no sign of her.
- [17:33]
C
And it's kind of interesting because you would imagine if she was being abducted against her will, that somebody may have heard some noises, some screams, or saw something. But that did not appear to be.
- [17:45]
B
The case here, which is why police are wondering if it was somebody she knew. But then it's like, why would somebody she knew take her away from her job in the Middle of her shift.
- [17:54]
C
Right. Or did she happen to leave willingly? Because obviously the police don't know her character, her friends and her family do and know that she would never do anything like that.
- [18:03]
B
But they're telling that to the police and saying she's not going to leave work. So they're. But absolutely, they're trying to figure out, well, what's the truth? Did she leave work anyway? Like, they have to look at this from all sides. Well, it wasn't until the following day, very, very early on February 1, 1979, that Janet would be found. But tragically, it would be too late to save her. About 24 hours after that 911 call came in. At 1:30am that morning, a snowplow driver was out combating the snowfall of this frigid Michigan winter when he noticed something discarded on the side of the road just south of south haven, Michigan. About 30 minutes south of Holland, on the side of the I196 highway, there was a fresh set of footprints in the snow leading away from the road. So due to the heavy snowfall that night, while he's out plowing, the driver just knew that somebody had to have been walking along the road that morning, which was pretty worrisome because of how heavy the snowfall was. So the driver was concerned, and he got out to investigate these footprints further. And that's when he came upon Janet's nude body, just discarded out in the snow. And with absolutely no attempts at hiding her by the way, she was just placed there.
- [19:29]
C
I mean, it's absolutely wild to think that this guy just happened to see some footprints in the snow and decided to investigate randomly. Like, he could have easily just been like, well, somebody, I guess was here, But I'm just gonna keep going and.
- [19:45]
B
Doing my job as they can be. So. So, I mean, really amazing that he decided to take a look.
- [19:51]
C
Well, a medical examiner quickly determined that Janet had been strangled and was then brought to that spot beyond the highway and left naked in the cold. Her toxicology report revealed no drugs or alcohol in her system at the time of her death. And the report of sexual assault was inconclusive. Now, because she had been left out in the elements even briefly, there was very little evidence that was able to be gleaned from that scene. So at this point, they had those footprints, they had Janet's body and the knowledge that she had been taken quietly from her desk at the inn. And actually, what's really crazy here is that the police surmised that the driver who found her had missed her attacker. Dumping her body by a matter of minutes, and yet there still wasn't enough evidence available. So it's. It's really wild. I keep saying that it's really wild that, that, you know, he. This person dumped Janet's body, and then a few minutes later, that snowplow came by.
- [20:56]
B
So you're like, oh, my God. So great that he found her as early as he did, but weirdly, I.
- [21:02]
C
Mean, I'm sure just missed the perpetrator.
- [21:04]
B
Yeah. Maybe if she had been covered up, she wouldn't have been found till later. So obviously it's good she was found when she did, but it's crazy that despite that, there's still very little evidence on her body.
- [21:15]
C
Yeah. But still, investigators did comb the wooded area in the vicinity of the discovery for any of Janet's discarded clothing or any other evidence that they could find that would possibly implicate her killer. They even marched scent dogs through the scene, but they couldn't find a single shred of evidence. Janet's funeral was held at the church where she loved to worship and to sing, and she even performed at her own memorial when a recording of one of her worship songs was played for the audience of mourners. But her parents recall that they could never bring themselves to listen to her recordings again, just because of the pain that it brought them, which is completely understandable. All the men staying at the inn at the time were questioned, as was Laurie, who hadn't been working that night. In an interview years later, Lori said tearfully, it made me physically ill. What could she have done to deserve to have this happen to her? But the security guards, about 20 of them, all offered up the same story, that they had been up talking and drinking beers until around 3 o' clock that morning. And like Daphne said, they were all partying and they hadn't heard or seen anything. However, multiple people tipped police off that Janet and Carl had been seeing each other and in the months before her murder, and that maybe he had done something after coming in from the lake house that he was staying at that night.
- [22:45]
B
Yeah. And detectives claimed that they actually zeroed in on multiple persons of interest, including Carl, but never compiled enough evidence about any of them to be able to make an arrest. And then, to their frustration, the strike at Chemtron concluded just two weeks after Janet's murder. They were only there for a few weeks, these guys, which meant that the security guards, many of whom, in the police's opinions, could have held key pieces of evidence in the investigation, were laid off and left town. You Know they're all given assignments to fulfill in other parts of the country. They scattered across the map.
- [23:24]
C
Yeah. So the police are like, shit. Now all these guys that might actually have something, some little piece of information that could lead us to Janet's killer, they're all fucking gone now.
- [23:35]
B
So imagine 20 guys scatter to different cities, different states, and you are now tasked with finding them.
- [23:44]
C
Yeah, you gotta go track them down.
- [23:46]
B
And then getting in touch with the local police departments to work with them. It's like, oh, my God, you just want to, like, throw your hands up. But of course they want to solve this thing. They only had two weeks with this case. That's not a lot of time, obviously. And this included, by the way, Carl Paiva, who, according to his interview, had been with a different woman on the night Janet was killed. So Carl says, yeah, I didn't see Janet. I was with a different gal. And bye, bye, I'm moving now. Carl even claimed that he hadn't been seeing Janet romantically since November, so a couple months earlier. And that he had been with his new girlfriend, Patty Ward, on the night that Janet disappeared. In the months after Janet's murder, Laurie quit her job and moved away from Holland as well. Because, remember, she and Janet were set to graduate that spring and then go on with their lives. So she was doing that. I'm sure Janet would have tried at least to move to New York City or work on her own thing. So now they're done with college. Lori gets out of there. So with their key potential witnesses having fled the area, police were just at a loss because no one saw or heard anything, despite the inn being right on the highway, by the way. And because they didn't have evidence it could have been anyone who was responsible for this crime. They just didn't know who it was. Thus, the investigation stalled, and eventually it totally ground to a halt. Tips stopped coming in, and months turned to years. And to the dismay of her parents and brothers, 25 years passed before her case would get a true chance to be solved.
- [25:39]
A
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- [29:30]
C
In 1990, around the 11 year anniversary of her murder, a frustrated Holland police detective Jim Fairbanks said in the press, all we have on this case is an ear witness to the crime. No one saw anything or anyone. We never recovered any of her personal items, clothes, watch, shoes, anything. Her body was found in that turnaround, but we have no idea where she was killed. It was apparent that she had been tied or taped up, but neither tape nor rope or anything was found on her body. Now though it had been 11 years and the Holland police had teamed up with the Michigan State Police, he admitted, we just have no good leads. We check this case nationally every chance we get. It's compared to all of the serial murder cases that come up anywhere.
- [30:24]
B
Cause of course they have to wonder if in the quiet of night, while beautiful young Janet was at the front desk alone, some serial killer or ill intentioned random man that she didn't know had like blown through town looking for a room right on the highway and got Janet instead.
- [30:41]
C
And we also know that typically with cold cases, sometimes we see them being connected back to a serial killer that wasn't proper previously connected. You know, it's like years and years later actually that just happened where a case from, I think it was the 70s or possibly 80s, was connected to a serial killer. Finally in 2025, they're, they're looking at everything exactly like. The theories were endless pretty much. But then a development came from an unexpected source, the current students at Janet's alma mater. In the fall of 2003, Professor David Schock, who taught a documentary film class, became fixated on the idea of making a full length true crime documentary about Janet's case. And this documentary, entitled simply who Killed Janet Chandler is now credited with the formation of a cold case team and the revival of the investigation into Janet's case. So this was all done because of David Schock. David would later recall matter of factly, I asked them if they wanted to work on a film with me. They all signed on. Who Killed Janet Chandler? Premiered on January 28, 2004 at a theater downtown. And as you can guess, this got a lot of interest from locals who wanted to see the case resolved, and also justice for Janet's family. A few days later, on February 1, it would air on public television 25 years to the hour that her body was found.
- [32:19]
B
And the documentary sparked renewed interest in the case when this entirely new generation of hope college students and Holland residents became curious for answers as well. Largely due to the public interest in the case. Spurred by the film, like Heath said, the Holland police department formed a brand new cold case division with four full time detectives devoted to hunting down answers for Janet and her family.
- [32:46]
C
It's so interesting that they didn't do this beforehand. It really did take public pressure for them to form this cold case unit. And it was because of these students and the people who lived in this town.
- [32:59]
B
But so true. It's not like we suddenly got a ton of funding. It's like you could have done that the whole frickin time.
- [33:04]
C
Yeah, you should have done that like 25 years ago.
- [33:07]
B
But at least there is all this interest and yeah, so it's almost like, oh, now there's pressure, so you feel like you have to do it or whatever.
- [33:14]
C
Right.
- [33:15]
B
Well, this search, characterized by unrelenting determination on behalf of the detectives who really did of course care, led them to 18 different states and included over 300 interviews.
- [33:29]
C
So like Daphne said earlier, with all of those security guards and all of the potential witnesses being spread out all across the United States, they had to go to 18 frickin states.
- [33:41]
B
It was not an easy feat, but luckily they did it and it would make all the difference. Now the investigators really wanted to focus attention on the security guards, of course, who had been working for the company Wacken hut during the strike. You know, it just seemed like their best bet to focus on the people inside the hotel and the people who Janet had been close to before she went missing. Well, one of the men who had settled in Minnesota after leaving Holland, Michigan, Was able to provide pictures from his stay at the Blue mill inn and also suggested that investigators speak to Robert lynch, who likely had information to share.
- [34:19]
C
Remember, Robert lynch is the guy who made that 911 call saying, oh, I think there's a robbery going on at the Blue Mill Inn.
- [34:26]
B
So now they're like, oh, you want us to talk to Robert? You think Robert might know something? We know who Robert is, which of course they're doing. Anyway. They also tracked down Laurie Swank, who by then was living in Pennsylvania and working as a nursing assistant at a hospital. She also actually suggested that they speak with Robert lynch and that he may hold the key to the conclusion to Janet's case. She also reiterated her story from decades earlier that Janet had been romantically and sexually involved with a few different men at one time, just like she herself had done, and that her liaisons likely had something to do with her untimely demise. This is from Laurie's mouth. She is saying, I think one of those guys could have been behind this. Now, obviously, police had already spoken to Robert since he had called 911 about the robbery, but that was actually the only time they spoke to him. So they tried to see if time would somehow bring more out of this guy.
- [35:26]
C
So for about three months, detectives met with Robert nearly 20 times, chipping away at him and digging to get to the bottom of the story, knowing that there was more to tell. Now, thankfully, he was amenable to this, but law enforcement felt certain that there was just more that he wasn't willing to tell whether he was involved or was covering for one of his buddies. After over a decade dozen interviews, they struck Robert's soft spot, mentioning his daughter, who at the time was about the age that Janet was when she was murdered. Robert was eventually so broken down by his guilt that he consented to sharing what had really happened that night. And it was worse than detectives were ever prepared for. So by Robert's account, it started as a party that had gone haywire, but no one was supposed to get hurt. So get this. According to Robert, he, Laurie, Carl, and three other men, including Freddie Parker, Anthony Williams, and James Bubba Nelson, staged a robbery at the Blue Mill Inn on the night that Janet was abducted. Under the guise of a robbery gone wrong, they would abduct her and teach her a lesson for what Carl felt was leading him on and breaking his heart. Though Carl was the ringleader, Laurie, it was actually Laurie, Janet's best friend and roommate, who was quick to join forces with him based on her resentment and jealousy about the men who were interested in Janet, especially the object of her desires, Carl Paiva. So Robert and Bubba headed to the front desk where Janet was working that night. They blindfolded her calmly and told her that they had a surprise for her, all in good faith and good spirit.
- [37:24]
B
I wonder what they told her, though, because it's kind of hard for me to believe that she knew they were gonna take her away from work just because we know that she was very responsible. So I can't imagine that she was like, okay, I'm just gonna leave work maybe. They said, we have a surprise for you, and then hustled her out to the parking lot and then actually put her in a car. And that's when she realized, like, I just wonder what was going through her mind.
- [37:49]
C
Well, to this day, we don't know exactly what they said to her, but we do know that they all partied together. She knew these security guards by this point because they had been staying at the motel for weeks at this point. So there she's feeling like, you know, maybe I can trust these guys, especially because I've been romantic with Carl before. So, yeah, I'm very curious. Were they like, hey, Carl's got something for you down at the lake house, or whatever? Or it'll just be just a second, like, you'll be right back. Don't worry about it.
- [38:23]
B
Right. Maybe they. Maybe they coaxed her into it and made her feel better about leaving. Maybe they're like, oh, you know, it's just the guys at the end, like, it'll be fine. We'll be right back. Whatever.
- [38:33]
C
So as this kind of quasi abduction is taking place, the group then pocketed the $510 in cash from the front desk of the hotel and had Robert call in a false tip that a robbery had taken place. But then came the most harrowing details. Janet was taken to Carl's residence again, this lake house, where she was raped and intermittently strangled by multiple men in this group while her friends, including fucking Laurie, watched this take place.
- [39:07]
B
All these men are absolutely sick for committing these acts, but Laurie's behavior is completely deplorable for not only being a part of the plan, but watching her friend go through this and not doing a damn thing about it. Like, sick, sick person, Sick excuse of a friend, Sick excuse of a woman. And I can only wonder if at any point while it was happening, she regretted it, but the fact that she didn't try to stop it, like, there.
- [39:37]
C
Are no words, oh, she is a fucking demon. I mean, the worst of the worst for literally, you know, abandoning your best friend, like, and plotting it, crossing her, turning your back on her, plotting this whole thing. I mean, she really screw Janet over.
- [39:57]
B
I mean, beyond. And it gets so much worse. So according to witness statements, Carl wanted Janet to himself and Lori wanted Carl to herself. And they were both punishing Janet for it because they're both sad, pathetic people. Janet, meanwhile, was living her best life as a single young woman and dating other people as she had the right to do. Exploring this part of her life since, again, at 22, she had yet to do so beforehand, which just drove Carl mad because, again, he is A sick.
- [40:29]
C
Stupid, weak little man piece of shit.
- [40:33]
B
And wanting to cause a stir and throw her friend under the bus, Lori tipped Carl off about this, and he flew into a jealous rage. Lori later admitted to her callous and depraved final act of betrayal against her best friend, explaining, I was looking at Janet. I called her a B. I encouraged the activity.
- [40:58]
C
I mean, it's just beyond.
- [41:00]
B
She added, I was angry, jealous. Like, even as it was happening, Lori, I hate you.
- [41:07]
C
The worst person.
- [41:09]
B
Cause in addition to the men who were joining in on Janet's assault, beating, and strangulation, multiple people knew the horrors that Janet was being subjected to and just chose to stay silent. Like, Janet's friends and co workers, Cheryl Ruiz and Diane Marsman were present at the party as well and denied helping her.
- [41:33]
C
So you have this party going on at this lake house. There are numerous people that are in this house, and they are watching the abuse of a young woman and as well as the murder of a young woman.
- [41:46]
B
Yeah, the sexual abuse by multiple men, as they all also beat her, strangle her consistently. I mean, Cheryl, by the way, was even present at the abduction. And Carl's new girlfriend, Patty Ward, was also present and witnessed all this abuse, but chose to stay silent as well. And this really is a great lesson to speak up when something you're witnessing is wrong before it's too late. How did none of them do this? Instead, they just bit their tongues for decades. Yet when it all came out, get this. All these women said once, of course, they were caught, that they had done this out of fear for their own safety and that they had been coerced by the men into staying silent. And it's like, no, like you're. If you knew that this plan was happening, you could have run away, gotten in the car, called the police. This was a plan. They weren't holding you hostage.
- [42:42]
C
And not just that. It was 25 years, you fucking liars. It's not like, oh, like, even after these security guards left and they all went to different states and shit, you had the opportunity to do it then and say, hey, I know what happened on that night, and you didn't do it until you got caught.
- [42:59]
B
Yeah, like, all the girls could have come together and said, we need to tell. We need to tell the police. But not even that. Like, the fact that they didn't do it before the crime even occurred. And again, with Lori literally looking at Janet as this is happening to her and calling her a bitch and encouraging the men to continue what they were doing. That is not you being afraid and worried that it's gonna happen to you, you're taking it to another level it doesn't need to go to. And that is proof that you're just sick and you don't care.
- [43:31]
C
Yeah. And all it really came down to is just jealousy. Laurie was just simply jealous that Carl was interested in Janet. And for some reason. Yeah, like she just had to pay Janet back in some way.
- [43:44]
B
Stupid, stupid. Well, Diane shared that they were warned, quote, not to say anything about what happened, to keep our mouth shut or it could happen to us. Yeah, right. Cheryl added that the men, quote, told me to shut my mouth, that we're gonna do the same thing that they did to Janet, to me.
- [44:07]
C
So, of course, nobody stepped in to save Janet's life. And Janet was held for 12 hours until she succumbed to her attack.
- [44:15]
B
12 hours of these other people in the house and all these different people committing the act and not one, one person standing up.
- [44:24]
C
And guess what? It was actually Robert lynch who ultimately took her life. Meaning he did this after reporting that robbery, yet of course, he swears that it was by accident.
- [44:37]
B
Yeah. So if it was a 12 hour attack that started around 1:30 or so in the morning and he called at 2:00am, that means hours and hours and hours later, he killed her.
- [44:48]
C
Exactly. So by Robert's account, which obviously he's a liar, as he was assaulting her with a belt around her neck, another of the men exclaimed that Janet had gone limp and that they believed that she was finally dead. It was at that point that the men panicked and realized the gravity of their mistake.
- [45:07]
B
Oh, you didn't do that, like, over the last 12 hours?
- [45:10]
C
Yeah. Seriously, there was no remorse over the 12 hours that you were abusing her.
- [45:14]
B
But also, what did you think was gonna happen if you were intermittently strangling her and assaulting and beating her for that long? Did you just think it was gonna be like, okay, you know, let her go, guys, like, we're good now, literally.
- [45:26]
C
What the hell were all of these people thinking? Well, quickly after they realized that Janet was deceased, they disposed of her clothing and her personal belongings, and Robert wrapped her body in a tarp and dumped it alongside the road, where it was found mere minutes later by that driver of the snowplow. Now, somehow, this group of five men, plus multiple witnesses swore everybody to secrecy and got everybody on the same page, striking enough fear into them that they all refused to tell police in the end. Now, although Lori claimed that she feared for her life, Robert's harrowing testimony implicated her just as much as the men she surrounded herself with, he told investigators, she played the role of being Janet's best friend, but actually, I don't think she was. A series of arrests began in February of 2006, starting with Roberts on February 7th of 2006. And then, frustratingly, there were more people who should have been implicated but. Or, sorry, indicted, but never would be, including Cheryl Ruiz and Diane Marsman, who stayed silent about the murder of their former friend for, again, 25 years. Now, in addition to the women who were not charged, Cold Case detectives feel strongly that there were multiple other people inside the house on the night that Janet was murdered and that they may have been involved as well, or that at the very least, they knew what was taking place and they chose to stay quiet about it.
- [47:02]
B
That fact really disturbs me that this group of multiple people all let this happen. Like, to think this many people could come together from separate backgrounds and all be a part of something so evil, so horrifically unethical and criminal is almost shocking that not one of them wavered. Not one of those men said, oh, my God, this poor, young, innocent woman. Not one of those women said, what the fuck are we doing?
- [47:30]
C
Yeah. And it's. It's. Honestly, it's like one of those, like, pacts that these. That this group is making. Like, oh, it's like, fucking, I know what you did last summer. Like, we're not gonna tell anybody. We're not gonna tell anybody. And then, you know.
- [47:43]
B
But without the remorse.
- [47:44]
C
Yeah, but without the remorse or the, you know, Hollywood glamour, because this was actually an intentional fucking murder.
- [47:51]
B
And just knowing that there were others, but that with nearly 30 years having passed since the assault and murder of Janet, it would unfortunately be impossible to gather enough evidence to pursue charges for some of them. So luckily, many of them were. But again, like, that's what's so disturbing, is there were many other people that stayed silent and they did not face charges, and all stayed silent and were a part of it. So in her initial interrogation. Let's get back to freaking Lori. Laurie maintained her innocence, even telling police, quote, how can you live with yourself having knowledge of that? How can you live with it? I. I couldn't.
- [48:32]
C
Oh, really, Laurie? Really? Oh, I'm sure, Laurie.
- [48:37]
B
But eventually broken down by a cold case detective named Jeff Flohr, better known as the Closer, for being able to coax out confessions.
- [48:46]
C
That's kind of badass. The Closer.
- [48:47]
B
Yeah. Laurie acquiesced. Two and a half decades of guilt bubbled to the surface as Laurie sobbed and confessed. To her role in orchestrating the brutal assault and murder of her so called best friend. There were six arrests in total. Laurie Swank, Carl Paiva, Robert Lynch, James Bubba Nelson, Freddie Parker, and Anthony Williams. And these arrests culminated in two plea agreements and a trial for the remaining four defendants. Frustratingly, for their cooperation and confessions, Lori and Robert were given a plea deal which boasted much lighter sentences for her eventual honesty, even if it came after 27 years, Lori was awarded the lightest sentence of them all. Even though she was the first to stir the pot that cooked the plan. The trial for Carl Paiva, James Bubba Nelson, Freddie Parker and Anthony Williams began in October of 2007. In her testimony in court, Lori detailed watching her supposed best friend suffer. And though we read part of this quote earlier, she admitted, I was part of the cheering section. I was looking at Janet. I called her a bitch. I encouraged the activity. Part of the cheering section, There was a cheering section.
- [50:16]
C
I mean, that's just how vile this crime really was, truly.
- [50:20]
B
But even after admitting this, Lori continued to play the victim as she told the court that she feared retaliation, which is why she had maintained her silence all those years. As time went on, she said that she was worried her daughter would shun her and that she wanted to protect their relationship.
- [50:39]
C
Honestly, your daughter should shun you.
- [50:41]
B
I hope she would shun you after realizing what you were happily capable of watching happen to a. Another woman and another woman you loved at that.
- [50:50]
C
Well, when asked why she had taken so long to come forward, she told the court, quote, for one reason, it's the right thing to do. Yeah, right. Shut up. Another reason is for Janet's family and for Janet. And another reason is for the community. Another reason is for me.
- [51:07]
B
And the biggest reason is because I was interrogated into a confession.
- [51:11]
C
Yeah. The biggest reason is because I got caught.
- [51:14]
B
Sorry. I have no sympathy for these people. I'm so angry.
- [51:18]
C
Yeah, it's crazy to me that she's trying to make herself somewhat of a victim here. She's like, well, I just. Or like a hero, you know, it's like, oh, I just. I felt like I really needed to do the right thing. It's like you knew that they were hot on your trail and that's why you decided to break down.
- [51:34]
B
Who else is clenching their fist?
- [51:36]
C
I mean, literally in the comment section of this post, let us know how you feel about Lori, because just all these people, because they're. They're horrible people.
- [51:44]
B
There's only one answer.
- [51:46]
C
Well, on November 1st, the men were handed a guilty verdict. Janet's parents were finally able to share the pain that they had endured over the last 28 years. James Chandler told the court, Glenn and I have been waiting for 28 years for this day. They thought that they got away with it, and for the most part, they did. They lived the last 28 years with their careers and their lives. But because of the hard work and dedication of the cold case team and others, they have finally been brought to justice. Through tears, Glenna took her turn next, telling the courtroom, I thank you for upholding the laws of our land and the jurors for seeing the true evidence and returning a verdict of guilty to the torturing and murder of our beloved daughter. We ask that the verdict be to the fullest extent of the law and that the jurors render this. This will make the streets of our city safer. And, I mean, Janet's poor parents and family having to sit and listen to.
- [52:50]
B
These horrors, I cannot imagine, like, it.
- [52:53]
C
Must have been so much worse than whatever they thought had happened to her for three whole decades.
- [52:58]
B
I agree.
- [52:59]
C
Well, none of the accused chose to respond to the victim impact statements or make statements of their own, which honest, you shouldn't get a chance to speak anyway, like, fuck off.
- [53:10]
B
Ultimately, Laurie Swank pleaded guilty to second degree murder and received a sentence of 10 to 20 years in exchange for her testimony. Robert lynch also pleaded guilty to second degree murder and was handed down a sentence of 25 to 40 years in exchange for his testimony. Carl was given the harshest sentence and was found guilty of one count of first degree murder. Bubba, Freddy and Anthony were all found guilty of one count of second degree murder. Additionally, all four of the men were convicted on charges of criminal sexual conduct and felony murder arising from a kidnapping. The men were each given a life sentence without the possibility of parole. On December 10, 2007. All four men attempted to appeal their decision, of course, but all were happily denied. In the aftermath of the trial, Janet's parents sued the security company that hired the men who brutally attacked their daughter. But the case was dismissed in January of 2010. Carl died at the age of 61 on March 13, 2013, while still in prison, passing four years before his son was arrested for a dark web drug conspiracy and sentenced to 30 months in prison. So apple doesn't fall far from the tree there, James Bubba Nelson passed away on June 8, 2020. And despite his life sentence, Freddie was actually released in 2021. But Anthony and Robert remain behind bars to the deep frustration of Janet's family. Laurie was released from prison in 2016. She was under court supervision for the first two years of her release, but this has since been waived for the time being. She settled back in Pennsylvania and Robert could be released as early as this summer in 2026, with his latest possible release date set for 2030. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West.
- [55:25]
C
Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this video. Very frustrating episode of Going West.
- [55:30]
B
I know this was a really tough one, honestly, and I'm sure you guys are just as enraged as we are. We even left out some details. We kind of like not dumbed it.
- [55:41]
C
Down a little, tone it down, slightly.
- [55:43]
B
Toned it down because it was really, really, really messed up.
- [55:48]
C
Very graphic. Yes.
- [55:49]
B
Yeah. So thank you guys so much for tuning in. Again, big thank you to Anita for recommending this horrific story. Thank you. We will be back, of course, on Friday for an all new episode. If you want to see photos or videos associated with this case, head on over to our socials. We're on Instagram @goingwest podcast. We are being very active on TikTok@goingwest podcast as well.
- [56:11]
C
So give us a follow over there.
- [56:13]
B
Please do. And we're also on Facebook.
- [56:16]
C
All right, guys. So for everybody out there in the.
- [56:18]
B
World, don't be a stranger. Sam. Save choose to show up. With the bold styling of the Mazda CX30.
- [57:22]
C
Awake up.
- [57:25]
B
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