
In the summer of 1997, the quiet Adirondack town of Lake Placid was shattered when a 39-year-old woman went missing. Later that day, her SUV was discovered submerged at the bottom of a nearby lake, her body in the passenger seat. What seemed at first like a tragic accident became horrifyingly clear: this was a homicide. Investigators would come to uncover a dark tale of betrayal, planning, and multiple people with chilling motives… This is the murder of Jeannine Glanda.
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Daphne (Going West Co-host)
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Daphne (Going West Co-host)
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Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Foreign.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
What is going on True crime fans? I'm your host he and I'm your host Daphne and you're listening to Going West.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Hello everybody. Thank you so much for tuning in today. Big shout out to Becca for recommending today's case. This is a 90s upstate New York like approaching fall case that we have for you guys today. We were Hoping there would be an update in the Celeste Rivas episode to cover today to do an update, but absolutely nothing has come out. So we are waiting like you guys.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Are still waiting to see if somebody's going to be arrested.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Yeah. And if that happens, we will be right on it with an update episode. If you haven't listened to our last episode, the one that came out this past Tuesday on Celeste Rivas, listen, it's crazy. It's happening now and I don't think it has enough attention. You know, I feel like a lot of people know about it, but this is a crazy frickin story. So check it out. Thank you for tuning into this case today as well. Do you have something to report?
Heath (Going West Co-host)
I don't have anything to report. Yeah, I guess just plug in socials if you guys want to go give us a follow on our Instagram. We're there at GoingWest Podcast. We're also on Facebook and we're on TikTok as well. So check it out. Give us a follow. And with that, let's get into today's case.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
It's an interesting one for us to do today because today is our two year wedding anniversary that we're recording. Not when it comes out.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
It is today. Two years Daphne and I have been married and to many, many more. To.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
We're gonna go see Rear Window tonight and go to a really cute diner and get burgers.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Yeah, we're gonna eat burgers and pie and then go see a movie.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
But first, let us dive into today's case.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
All right guys, this is episode 541 of Going West. So let's.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
In August of 1997, the quiet Adirondack town of Lake Park Placid was shattered when a 39 year old woman went missing. Later that same day, her SUV was discovered submerged at the bottom of a nearby lake, her body in the passenger seat. What seemed at first like a tragic accident became a horrifyingly clear homicide, with investigators uncovering a dark tale of betrayal, plotting and multiple people with chilling motives. This is the murder of Janine Glanda, also known as the Lake Placid murder. Janine Ratliff was born on January 14, 1958 in Alexandria, Virginia to parents Mary and James Ratliff. Now, Janine was always considered intelligent, caring and just overall a joy to be around. I mean, she got along with everybody and even in high school she was super career oriented. So she decided that she wanted to be in the medical field. More specifically, she wanted to become a pharmacist. So Jeanine left the state of Virginia and headed off to Albany College of Pharmacy in Albany, New York. And after years of hard work, she graduated and moved about two and a half hours north, settling in upstate New York. Actually, she moved to the charming Adirondack community of Elizabethtown, landing a job at a pharmacy in Tupper Lake. So about an hour away. And this happened in 1982. At 24 years old, Janine found her place behind the counter of a bustling pharmacy, which was a great job for her because she had this deep care for every patient, you know, whether she was just seeing them all the time as she worked behind the counter or when she saw them, because sometimes she did make prescription deliveries, like to people's houses. So there were a lot of people who really looked forward to seeing Janine because of her sweet nature and her bubbly personality. And one patient in particular, a guy named Jeffrey Glanda, was struck by her each and every time that he went in for his prescription. Now, Jeffrey, who went by Jeff, was born in 1950, making him roughly eight years older than Jeanine. And he grew up right there in Tupper Lake. To Jeanine, he was this kind of tall, dark and handsome guy. He was very well dressed. He often showed up in tailored suits. You know, not only did he physically present himself well, but he was known to be very charming and magnetic. So she was quickly smitten by him. And 32 year old Jeff was equally as interested in Janine. So one day while she was working, he asked Janine on a date and she said yes. The first date led to another and then another, and suddenly they were madly in love. Over a year later, In October of 1983, Janine Ratliff became Janine Galanda when she married Jeff. Now, Jeff had been married once before, and he had a young daughter, actually named Tenille, who was present at their wedding. And the family blended well together. I mean, Janine was a very loving and present stepmother. But by the mid-1980s, she and Jeff were ready to have some kids of their own. So they were ecstatic when they welcomed a son named Tyler in 1988, followed by the birth of their daughter Jordan a few years later in 1989. Now, Jeff worked as a court stenographer, also known as a court reporter. This is going to be a little bit relevant to the case, actually. But yeah, he, he basically worked quite long, arduous hours to help support the family, reportedly making a pretty good living. But the spending in the household, specifically by Jeff, was quite frivolous. I mean, Jeff Always wanted the best of the best. He wore flashy jewelry, expensive watches, like I said, nice suits, which is, you know, fair. If he's making money and he wants to spend it. Okay, sure, yeah, do your thing. But, you know, this. This, I think, plays a lot into his personality and his kind of need.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
To show off a little bit.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Yeah. Need to show off and show people the best side of him. As in, like, oh, see, I'm the perfect person. And I think that really plays into that manipulation angle as we're going to get into, of, like, he has to show people that he's better than them by owning nice things and having a beautiful house and a nice car. Sure. I think it's all a ploy.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Yeah, probably. And it's. And it's also possibly a little bit of his own insecurities. Maybe he, you know, there's some insecurities that are deep down and maybe some just really bad stuff about Jeff that he's trying to cover up and mask so that society doesn't see the true Jeff. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
No, you're 100% correct. Agree with all of that. Well, let's talk about the house that they lived in, because in the late 1980s, after having a couple kids, the family settled out or settled down in Lake Placid, New York, which I'm sure most everybody knows. Lake Placid. If only. If only just the alligator movies.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Yeah. Did you. Did you know that I was going to talk about that?
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Of course.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
I mean, such a great movie from.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
The sci fi, right?
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Yeah, it was a sci fi or sci fi. You mean on the Sci Fi Network?
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not like a side. Well, I guess it is sci fi, too. Well, kind of about a giant.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Yeah.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Crocodile or alligator?
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Alligator that does not exist, actually.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Like the jaws of. Of crocodiles, maybe. I'm thinking sci fi because that's how I watched it as a kid. Maybe it was just like on tv.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Yeah, it was usually on like, USA Network or Sci Fi Network, but. Yeah, I remember renting it from the video store.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Oh, yeah, I'm sure you did. I think it was like a major movie. Actually. It came out a couple years after this case even happened, so. So Lake Placid may not have been quite as well known, but for those who still don't know what it is, it's basically just a really beautiful, picturesque village nestled in New York's Adirondack mountains. So very beautiful area. Of course, there's a lake. There's actually a ton of bodies of water in this area. Like, if you look at it on a map, there's just tons of like, small bodies of water, larger. Lots of lakes, creeks, lots of nature.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Upstate New York is just gorgeous, like. Yeah, undoubtedly.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Outdoor wonderland. So there in Lake Placid, the Glanda's bought a large spacious home filled, of course, with beautiful things. And they had this great swimming pool in the backyard and they would play games in the yard. And in their sprawling driveway sat Jeff's Mercedes and Janine's SUV. And then in the 90s, she got a Ford Explorer, which is going to come up a little bit later as well. And Jeff really had no problem buying gifts for himself and his family. He would often shower Janine with expensive gifts. There are some home videos online where he's just kind of like, you know, it's him buying gifts for all these people and they're opening them and he's kind of like mansplaining the gift. You know, he very much was like, I. You know, that's kind of his personality.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Right, that's what I was gonna say. Yeah, his personality is very much like, I need to. I need to be right about things and I need to show you that I know about shit. I don't know.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
I know what you mean.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
You know what I mean? That was a really stupid, stupid way of explaining it, but we get it.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
You're good.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
You're good.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
So the kids were very close with their stepsister Tenille. And even though she did not live full time with her dad and her stepmom and her step siblings, they would often spend weekends together and all enjoy family vacations as a whole as well. Now, for holidays and special occasions, the Glandas always went big. Of course, you know, these big lavish birthday parties were always celebrated at their house, joined by tons of friends and family. They would have the best food, all these drinks and endless laughter. So things looked quite perfect from the outside, as they typically do in situations like this. In cases like this one, I mean.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
I'd say so, yeah. I mean, everything looks great. Well, Jeff was, you know, proud of this life that he had built for himself and his family. And Janine was an incredible mother. She always put her kids first and she just poured love into them constantly. Their daughter Jordan described Janine as, quote, an ideal mom who wanted to be involved in everything and wanted to see us be successful and always made sure to show her affection. So back when Janine met Jeff, he seemed like this real life Prince Charming, but really he could be closer compared to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. On one side of the coin, Jeff was this fun guy who worked hard so that he could indulge his family in the high life. But on the other side, he would use the generosity as a control tactic. He was constantly trying to impress others with his appearance, of course, you know, going to tanning salons, staying in shape. But he held the same intense standards for Janine. Like, if she ever gained a few pounds, he would make sure to let her know that she had to do something about it. He would even weigh her.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
I mean, talk about control.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Talk about psychopath. And I know that this sounds horrible already, but things would get so much worse. One evening, Jeff arrived home after a long day out. Janine had been home with the kids, and she noticed something peculiar. Her husband smelled dirty. Different. He smelled like perfume. And there was visible lipstick on his collar.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Such a cliche as well.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Oh, my God. Yeah, it's just like you. You could see this coming from a mile away. So Janine confronted Jeff about this, and he denied the cheating accusation, telling Janine that she was crazy.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
So he's a gaslighter.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Yep, a gaslighter Manipulator. But as time went on, it was clear that Jeff was having an affair, though he continued to deny this. Eventually it became so apparent, though, that the two separated. But since their home was on this massive piece of land surrounded by lush property, and there was a cottage on this property, Janine decided that she was going to move in there. That way she'd still be close to the kids while she and Jeff decided what they were going to do about this separation and potential divorce. So she's basically living in this charming little cottage that's on the same property, while Jeff and the kids stayed in the main house. Then about a month after Janine moved out of the main house, Jeff decided that he needed a secretary. So he hired a young woman named Sherry. And in a shocking twist, Jeff then let Sherri move in to the fully equipped apartment in the main house's basement. Now, while Jeff and Janine had been separated, they were not yet divorced. So having this unknown woman move into the home where the kids lived was really upsetting to Janine. And it became clear that Jeff was attracted to this new live in secretary. Jeff and Cherry both denied anything romantic, but it was hard to believe that nothing was going on between the two of them. Cause here Jeff is treating Sherry like this new toy, buying her expensive presents, and even giving her his Mercedes and buying himself a new one.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Yeah, it's painting a Certain picture. So Janine decided that it was time to move on herself. And she began talking to a man named Randy Hume, who she had actually known for many years because they dated back in high school. Long of course, before Janine met Jeff. Randy had a job at a gas station in Elizabethtown. So about 30ish minutes away from where Janine lived in Lake Placid. And Randy was pretty much everything that Jeff wasn't. He was kind, caring, and he would make sure that Janine knew how incredible she was. He really seemed to cherish her. Whereas Jeff was a liar and a cheater. Yeah, he was just not appreciative of her. So this of course made Janine so happy in return, like she was kind of getting back to her old self. And especially after years of a totally toxic marriage to a self centered man, Janine finally felt real love again. But this made Jeff furious.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Oh, I'm sure that it did. I mean this guy like just knowing who Jeff is and the fact that he always has to have the best of the best, and then the fact that his, you know, separated wife is now dating this gas station attendant. He's probably like, I'm sure he was talking a whole lot of shit.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Well, he, you know, he was unfaithful for or not even first it's like she's not being unfaithful, they're not together. But he's the one who cheated on her and.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
But it's caused all this.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
But she's not allowed to move on, you know, to him it's like, oh, well, I can do whatever I want, but you're, you're moving on from me. No.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
And that's part of that controlling behavior.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
And you know, here he is though, dating his secretary Sherry, which by the way, they did officially begin dating. And Janine being with somebody else just means that he's losing control. So in the spring of 1995, 37 year old Janine left their property in Lake Placid for a day trip. It's believed that she was with Randy that day, you know, something totally normal and harmless. But Jeff couldn't handle it. So he frantically called Janine's family and a bunch of her friends to find out where she was. And this wasn't like, oh, there's something going on with the kids, I need to know where their mother is. It was, this is just like, he just didn't like that she was gone for the day and didn't like that he wasn't privy to that information. Even though he's Not.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Yeah.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
So basically Janine's family is kind of concerned about this. They're, they're, they think it's weird that he was, was curious about this and, and that he was so distraught over the fact that she was with Randy. Like, this was just unacceptable. And her family is looking at this more than it just being a little weird. They think this is scary. And actually Janine's sister in law had this impression that Jeff had broken into Janine's house and was lurking inside, preparing to retaliate in a jealous rage. That is what she was getting from these phone calls. Like they were actually so worried about this that her family even called the police to check on her house. And to their surprise, Janine had actually just recently gotten home when they arrived. So police entered Janine's cottage and they asked if she knew where Jeff was, but she hadn't seen him. Though they did suspect that he might have stopped in before she arrived home. And, and they want to be safe. They want to make sure that she's gonna be safe and that he's not in the house and that she's not any danger. Of course, before they leave, they gotta make sure she's all good.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Yeah.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
And then Janine noticed on the countertop a liquor bottle and an empty glass which she knew she did not put there. So now police are like, okay, so he was in your house?
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Yeah. This feels like it's set up to be a complete mess because you've got two people who are separated, they're both each dating somebody new, and they're living on the same property. Maybe not in the same house, but on the same property.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Yeah. Which at first it seemed like a good idea for, like, ease of their relationship. And let's be fair, if this was a normal relationship with two, you know, mentally fit people, like, if it was two Janines, there wouldn't be a problem. It would be fine, you know, but because it's Jeff we're talking about, it's a different situation. So police are checking around her cottage, and there, inside a dark room that Janine had not yet entered upon her arrival, was Jeff in his boxers, holding a different drink, and sitting atop the TV next to him was a knife. So Jeff, of course, was immediately handcuffed and actually arrested for burglary.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
That's crazy. That's crazy.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Yeah. And just for anybody wondering, like, yes, he did own this property, but even so, you can be charged with burglary if you're entering your own premises, that you are not, you know, entitled or Allowed to enter. Like, exactly the case. If you're renting a house out to somebody, just because you own that house does not mean you're allowed to just walk into it.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Right, that makes sense.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
So this is kind of that type of situation where he was not inhabiting that cottage on the property. Janine was. So. So even though he technically had ownership over it, the law saw her as the. The lawful occupant of the cottage, which would make him an intruder.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
And how weird is it that Jeff is just, like, sitting in this dark room in his boxers, drinking, and there's a knife nearby? Like, it's very clear that there. It seemed like there was some intention there.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Yeah. It's incredibly foreboding and predatory, and it's not. It's not.
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Daphne (Going West Co-host)
It's incredibly suspicious. And like I said, it is very, very, very foreboding. But still, Janine decided not to press charges. And I think this is because Jeff was literally screaming at her not to press charges so that he wouldn't lose his job because he's like, no, you can't have me arrested. And so she said no. And she's probably just trying to avoid any trauma for the kids.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
You know, she doesn't want to create any more problems.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Yeah. Which is so sad because she's not creating any problem. She's just trying to live in her cottage, and she can't do that without this creep lurking around inside near a knife, you know? So Jeff headed back over to the main house off the hook.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
And at first, Janine actually left the house with the kids. You know, they all stayed away from Jeff for a few days, with everyone in Jeanine's family essentially begging her not to go back to that property. But she thought that she was safe enough and she just wanted to be near her kids.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Yeah, she was honestly under the impression that she was not in harm's way. Like, she thought, he's not actually gonna do something. Like, we share kids together. He's not gonna really do something. Like, she genuinely believed that she was not in actual physical danger.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
But sadly, that was not actually the case. The break in was only the beginning of Jeff terrorizing Jeanine. In the two years following the break in, Jeff constantly lied to the kids, telling them that Janine was the reason that the family was fractured so that they would betray her. All while Sherry officially became his live in girlfriend. Now, horrifically, Jeff had even started stalking Janine. He tapped her phone line and recorded all of her phone calls. And then he would take the audio tapes and replay Them to the kids who were all still under the age of 10. I mean, that's just, that's just crazy. Then after their son Tyler was forced to listen to the tapes, many times he told his mother what his father had been doing, which completely shocked Janine. Of course. She's like, this guy is like keeping tabs on me constantly and telling my kids everything that I'm doing. So on August 7th of 1997, she met with an attorney to finally start the divorce proceedings. Even though she and Jeff had been separated for a couple of years by this point, she was still living in the cottage on their Lake Placid property. Though I will say family members tried to encourage her to move off of this property just for her safety. But again, she just didn't feel right moving because she wanted to be near the kids. On Tuesday, Aug. 19, 1997, less than two weeks after she began the divorce process, it was around 8am and her son Tyler was waiting for his mom for a scheduled pickup at the house. After a while, when Janine didn't show, he dialed the number down to her cottage. But it just rang and rang. So wondering if maybe she went to work, Tyler called the pharmacy that she worked at. But she wasn't there either. In fact, she was late. Thinking that maybe his grandmother knew where Janine was, he called her next. When Tyler's grandmother Mary answered the phone, Tyler explained that he hadn't been able to get a hold of his mom. And based on the nature of she and Jeff's relationship, Mary knew immediately that something was wrong. Especially knowing that she had an obligation with Tyler. Like she would have never missed or skipped this pickup. So she called the police and reported her 39 year old daughter, Janine Glanda.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Missing at around 1pm that same day. So hours later, a man was driving on the long stretch of road tracing Lower Cascade Lake, which is located in Essex County, New York. That is the same county that Lake Placid is in. Like this lake is actually only about a few 15ish minute drive from the Glandis property. Like we said, this area is littered in lakes and other bodies of water as well as hiking trails and campgrounds. It's a super rural, beautiful area, so lots of lakes. Now, right at the edge of this glistening bluish green water of Lower Cascade Lake, the man pulled over to park his car because he noticed something off on the side of the road. It's probably going to be a little bit easier if you guys go to our socials and you look at the photos, if you Want a visual? Basically, right next to the road, there's like a little grass patch that goes down a hill, like an embankment that leads directly into the water right below. And there is kind of like a rocky shoreline a little bit, if you're in the exact right spot. Otherwise, it's more of like a drop off directly into the water. But on this grassy hill area right next to the road, I want to say it's only a few feet between the water and the road, so it's really close. And there is a railing on part of it.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
So if you're driving, you would probably be able to notice something immediately.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Yeah, if you're. And if you're driving by it, you want to be careful because one wrong turn and you're in the lake, which is exactly where this story is going right now. So. But on that grass, on the little hill that leads down into the water, this driver saw a slew of personal items strewn about. Essentially, it looked kind of like a handbag had been emptied out. He saw the black handbag itself, but then also a wallet, a cosmetics bag, a checkbook, a set of keys, and various pieces of paper, all of which had the name Janine Glanda on them. And it's a really weird scene, though. Again, we will post photos, but all these items were quite neatly displayed as well. It didn't really look like somebody dumped a purse upside down. It looked like somebody had emptied the contents of a purse.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Like maybe it was slightly staged.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Yeah, well, exactly, yes. So it. Because every item was like, the keys are here, the wallet's right here, this is here. It's like it all looked just like laid out, which is. Is really kind of weird why that would be the case, especially with what's to come. But I'll touch on that later. Now, this man did not know Janine. He didn't know that she was missing, but he actually called the police. That is how odd this scene was to him. But everything was about to get a lot more suspicious because as police assessed this scene, they noticed that a tree on the hill that led down to the water, that little hill right there was snapped, like maybe somebody had driven through it. This led them to more intently search the waters of Cascade Lake, where they quickly uncovered a floating car part. So divers were called to the area to search the water, with police feeling confident that a car would potentially be sitting at the bottom of this lake. And lo and behold, a green Ford Explorer was. Now that vehicle was pulled out, and horrifically inside was the body of a woman. Because Janine had been reported missing hours earlier. They were very quickly making this connection to her. Plus of course this is her vehicle. So there in the otherwise serene and beautiful Adirondack Mountains, only seven miles from her home, Janine was pronounced dead at the scene of what looked like an accident. At approximately 6pm the same evening that 39 year old Janine was even reported missing, her family received the devastating call from police that Janine was dead.
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Heath (Going West Co-host)
With true crime, we're often playing the detective, but have you ever felt the need to investigate your own thoughts? Maybe you've wondered, did I accidentally say something offensive at the party and forget what if I'm secretly capable of doing something terrible or violent? Why did I think that weird thought? Believe it or not, that's what OCD can be like. Distressing, unwanted thoughts followed by desperate behaviors to try to ease the discomfort.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Yeah, I mean, OCD needs a type of specialized therapy called Exposure and Response Prevention, or erp. And that's where NOCD comes in. NOCD is the world's leading provider of specialized OCD treatment, offering virtual therapy with licensed therapists trained in ERP and ocd.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
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Daphne (Going West Co-host)
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Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Let's go.
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Heath (Going West Co-host)
Now, as you guys can imagine, upon hearing the news news of Janine having driven her car into a lake, the entire family was completely beside themselves. Nobody could wrap their heads around how this happened. Janine's funeral was held the following weekend on Saturday, August 30, where loved ones mourned her sudden freak accident loss. Now at this point, Jeanine's kids Tyler and Jordan were only 12 and eight left to try to navigate a world without their mom. Left only in the hands of their father and his new girlfriend Sherry. And the same weekend of Janine's funeral, Jeff thought it would be a good idea to get out of town. So he took the kids and his girlfriend Sherry on a trip to Rhode Island. 12 year old Tyler later recalled that he cried during the entire trip saying my mother had just died. Her funeral was on Saturday. And here we are in Newport, Rhode island and my father and his girlfriend are acting like it's a celebratory vacation. And actually just for a little timeline here, the weekend of Janine's funeral and this Rhode island trip were the same weekend that Princess Diana had died in a car accident as well. And Tyler later also remembered how weird it was and how his mom and Princess Diana had some, you know, kind of similarities here. Now when the investigation into Janine's death began, they initially Believed that Janine was driving along Cascade Lake and that she lost control of the car, causing her to veer down the hill and then plunge into that lake, which, again, looking.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
At the street view of this area and the crime scene, it could happen.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Seems like it could be plausible. But as the scene was further evaluated, things just were not adding up here. Cause, get this. When Janine was discovered, her body was in the passenger seat of the vehicle. Not too weird, of course, because after hitting the water, she could have, you know, scrambled around the car or been ejected to that side of the vehicle. And I will say, you know, in the Kylie Rodney case that we covered a couple years back, that one actually did turn out to be a tragic accident. Her body was found in the back seat. So people are kind of. You know, it's like you're getting the same vibe here that maybe she had shifted during that accident.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Yeah, I know in the Kylie Rodney case, they think that she was in the back seat because, you know, the. The tip went down first. So it's like the front of the car filled with water first, and so she crawled in the back because that's unfortunately and disturbingly where the last bits of air were in the vehicle. So, yeah, they're thinking, okay, not too weird. Maybe she moved after it hit the water.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Well, there's some other things that kind of stuck out to investigators, like Janine's car being in neutral, not drive.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Which is what you'd do if you were trying to push a car into a lake.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Exactly. Well, when an autopsy was performed on Janine's body, the medical examiner found clear indications that Janine had drowned. But there were markings on her body that were not consistent with a car wreck. On Janine's neck, there was a grouping of four small red dots that were imprinted on her skin, and they actually appeared to have been left by a stun gun. Her state of dress upon discovery was also put into question because Janine was always known to leave in proper clothes, like leave the house in proper clothes. You know, she wasn't going out to the grocery store in sweats. But when she was found, she was wearing a nightgown top and jeans. And the jeans were sitting around her hips very low, like they weren't pulled up correctly. And, I mean, that's. That's all she was wearing. You know, she wasn't wearing any socks, any shoes, not even underwear.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Yeah, I mean, that's. That's really strange. This is painting, you know, this very dark scene. Like, maybe she was hit with a stun gun. Somebody else partially dressed her. They put her in the passenger seat of a car and then purposefully rolled it off a hill and into the water for her to drown, maybe. And investigators were. Were really thinking this too. They were very suspicious. So they interviewed Janine's estranged husband, Jeff Galanda, to gather his story for the day that Janine went missing and was found. And here is what he said on the morning of August 19, 1997. Again, this is a Tuesday. He left for work early, but once he learned Janine was missing, he says that he turned around and headed back home. Kind of weird, though, because instead of taking the direct route home to Lake Placid, Jeff drove north toward the town of Plattsburgh. And investigators are kind of like, why would you, like, go the long way? Like, why would you go towards Plattsburgh that's not in the direction of going.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Back to Lake Placid, Especially if you're concerned that your ex wife is missing.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Yeah. And so they're pointing this out, and he's saying. His response was really weird. He said that he thought if he went around via Plattsburgh, that he might spot Jeanine's car along the road because he thought that maybe Janine had gone off to meet her boyfriend Randy that morning. So he's saying, oh, well, I think she's probably with Randy and if she's with Randy, because at this point, all they know is that she's missing. They don't know that her car is in Cascade Lake. So he's saying, oh, yeah, I went this other way to see if I could find her myself. And there's a few reasons why this is weird. So he. He apparently worked in Elizabethtown. I was trying to figure out exactly where he was working that day. And most reports said elizabetht, which is like a straight shot east essentially of Lake Placid, he would actually pass by Cascade Lake to and from his job because it's. It's like technically on the way, but to go up to Plattsburgh, it's like an hour north. So it's like, it's not at all on the way. And it's not like her body was found in Plattsburgh. But the reason this is weird is because it just kind of proves that he could have been lying or saying he went an hour away so that he. Because really he was hiding evidence. And so he had to explain why he would have been gone for so long. You know, it's like, it's kind of. It just doesn't make sense enough to Potentially point to something suspicious about where he really was that morning.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Yeah, it just seems a little fishy.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
And then, of course, it's kind of fishy because this is his casual way of bringing Randy into the mix. Like, oh, she might have been with her boyfriend this morning. You should really look into him, by the way. And detectives, of course, did. They did their due diligence and interviewed Randy. But it was clear that he had not seen Janine that day, and he was ruled out as a suspect. At this point, Jeff just knew that the optics were not great. He was the estranged husband, after all. But to prove that he had nothing to hide, he agreed to take a polygraph test. However, the man who walked into the station that day was not the confident, flashy Jeff gland that everybody knew. This time. He was quiet, more subdued, kind of stripped of all of his usual arrogance. But in the end, Jeff did indeed pass the polygraph, and at least for the moment, he was surprisingly in the clear. But still, there were plenty of reasons to suspect Jeff had a darker hand in what happened, even with him passing the polygraph test. But investigators believe that if Jeff was responsible, that he didn't act alone. And that's when another name surfaced. Nicholas Pecorero, or Nick. He had been around the Glanda property for years. He originally was hired as a handyman. And over time, he became more than just the help. He became a friend to both Jeff and Janine. And as police learned more about him, they just had a sinking feeling that Nick might know something, maybe even that he was directly involved. So they put Nick under surveillance. Police tailed his every move, and Nick knew it. He was quickly becoming paranoid by the constant surveillance, the shadowy cars following him everywhere. Eventually, Nick tried to make a move. He hopped on a bus headed for New York City, seemingly trying to escape.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
That's probably the dumbest thing you could possibly do in that scenario, Especially because.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
He knew that police were watching him. So he's like, shit, I better go. But then they're watching him, so they're. They know where you're going. So it's kind of like you tried and you failed. You escaped.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Yeah, you can't get away at this point. You might as well just let them surveil you, you know?
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
I mean, police actually intercepted him before he could even leave town. And to their surprise, the second they stopped him, Nick started talking.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Of course he did. Of course he did. Well, during his questioning, the weight of guilt poured out. He described his friendship with Jeff, the handyman work that he did, and the toxic dynamic that developed in front of his eyes. Nick said that Jeff spoke constantly about his hatred for Janine, painting her as a villain, even pressuring Nick to see her the same way. And over time, Jeff's manipulation turned into something a lot darker. A plan. Nick told police that before Janine's death, 47 year old Jeff came to him with a disturbing proposal. He wanted Nick's help getting rid of her and making it all look like an accident. Obviously, Nick Pecorero's confession was damning, but police still needed something bigger, something more. An admission from Jeff himself. And amazingly, Nick agreed to help. Only a month after 39 year old Janine's body was pulled from Lake Cascade, investigators set their plan in motion. Nick called Jeff and asked to meet. And Jeff agreed at first, like this was a normal meetup. But as soon as he pulled up to the meeting spot, he seemed kind of to sense that something was a little off here. And there's Nick approaching Jeff's car. And before Nick could even get close to speak with him, Jeff slammed his foot on the gas and he sped away. Now this looked very suspicious to police. So what followed was a high speed chase through the dark wood winding roads of Lake Placid. Jeff's truck barreled through the forested highway at nearly 80 miles per hour, weaving and dodging, convinced that he had shaken off the police cars behind him. But up ahead, another cruiser waited in ambush, tucked just off the road. As Jeff tore past, the officer prepared to pull out and tail him. But then there was a deafening boom. Glass shattered, metal twisted, and Jeff's truck smashed directly into the front of the parked police car. Meaning in an instant, the chase was over. Both vehicles were totaled in this wreck at that point and the officer was injured. But Jeff walked away with only minor harm and no escape. So on September 19, 1997, Jeff Glanda was taken into custody and charged with his wife's murder.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
This brings us to what really happened on the night of Monday, August 18, 1997. Because as you guys can guess, Janine Glanda didn't accidentally drive her car into Cascade Lake. She was put there. But this is actually, I think even, perhaps even darker than you guys might be imagining, because I was actually shocked at how dark this really gets.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Oh yeah, this is gonna get real twisted.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
So that Monday night, Jeff Galanda and his buddy Nick Pecorero broke into Janine's cottage on the Lake Placid property. While she was out, they let themselves in and waited. Just as Jeff had done two years earlier when she and her boyfriend Randy originally got together, crouched and hidden inside. When Janine returned home, the men stayed out of sight until the moment was right. As she walked through her house, Nick crept up behind her and knocked her to the floor, where she landed on her back. That's when Jeff pulled a black stun gun from his pocket, knelt beside her, and zapped her in the neck until she was out cold. She was still alive, but she was unconscious. And then came the most disturbing part. While she was unconscious, they began drowning her right there in her own home. It's not like they put her in the car and pushed it off, and she drowned in the lake. She didn't even drown in the lake.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Yeah, they did it right there.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
But this is crazy, because it wasn't just. It wasn't like they used bath water or, like, sink water or whatever, because, remember, like I said earlier, it'd be a little bit important. Jeff was a court reporter, Right. So he planned every single detail because he knew that autopsies could distinguish between.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Lake water and bath water.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Yeah, like different water sources. So days earlier, Jeff had gone down to Cascade Lake and filled large containers with water straight from the freaking lake. And that night, inside her home, he and Nick forced that water down Janine's throat until she drowned. Due to this, her cause of death was determined as asphyxia by compression of the neck with forced aspiration of water and submerged immersion. Afterwards, they dressed her body sloppily, as we guessed, tugging a pair of jeans halfway onto her legs, not even bothering to fully pull them up. But she was still wearing her night top that she had put on when she got home. And while this all happened, her two young children were sleeping just about 500ft away in the main house. But down there at the cottage, Jeff and Nick carried Janine's body out to her car, placed her in the passenger seat, they shut the doors, and Nick got behind the wheel. So this is Nick taking her down there because he's driving by himself with, you know, Janine dead in the passenger seat, alone, to Cascade Lake, scouting out a secluded spot. And when he found one, he put the car in neutral and tried to move Jeanine's body into the driver's seat, obviously to stage it as if she had driven herself into the water. But he couldn't manage it with her body slumped the way it was. It was just she was too heavy to pull into the other seat, so she remained in the passenger seat, where investigators would later find her. And then Nick himself pushed the car down the embankment with all of his might until it rolled into the lake with a loud splash.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Now you guys are probably thinking, what the hell is Jeff doing while Nick is at the lake? Well, Jeff stayed back at the cottage and cleaned up whatever evidence he could, then calmly walked the short distance to his own home next door, acting as though nothing had happened, even though he had just murdered his wife. Now, not long before Janine's death, Nick had been at the Glanda's Lake Placid property doing his usual handyman work cutting down trees. When he finished, Jeff and his secretary turned girlfriend, Sherry invited him inside for dinner. But they didn't have dinner upstairs in the main house. They actually ate together downstairs in Sherry's converted basement apartment, the one she had been living in before moving upstairs with Jeff. So they were kind of hidden away in what felt like a private secret location. And investigators believe that this dinner was where the plan to kill Janine was created. Because guess what? Jeff and Janine's 12 year old son Tyler overheard all of it. In an interview years later, Tyler recalled that while he was upstairs in his bedroom, he could hear voices traveling through the vents, clear as day. He says that he heard Nick, Cheri and his father discussing how they needed to, quote, get rid of the bitch and to tag onto this. Tyler has long believed that Sherry may have been involved in planning the murder as well. Especially since, of course, she was there.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
I mean, wouldn't be surprised if she at least knew.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Yeah, I mean, even if she didn't act or physically help, it does appear that she knew about the plan and could have stopped it. But still, she was never named as a suspect due to lack of evidence. Well, inside Jeanine's cottage, police would later uncover another sinister layer of Jeff's control. Hidden deep in the back of a kitchen cabinet, they found secret recording devices that Jeff had planted there. Surveillance tools that he used to spy on his estranged wife in her own home.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
It's just so wild to put all this together that he has the audacity to say that he wants to get rid of the bitch. Meanwhile, she is peacefully living her own life and he's the one planting recording devices in her house and stalking her. And I know obviously there's no rhyme or reason to it, he has some serious problems, but it is so frustrating.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Yeah, I mean, this guy is a huge piece of shit. And I mean, clearly Jeff Glanda was a deeply flawed man on top of being just a terrible husband, an absent father. Father, and now a murderer. But what was his exact motive for murdering the mother of his Children. Well, in early August of 1997, Janine finally filed for divorce, as we know. And from that moment, Jeff already basically knew that he was gonna take her life.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Yeah, I mean, it really does seem like he was obsessed with control. And the divorce threatened everything. Even though he had cheated, even though he had gotten a girlfriend before Janine started dating somebody else, he wanted it all. And after 15 years of marriage, splitting assets and negotiating custody would have been a massive financial and personal blow, especially for somebody who likes his nice things, like Jeff. But it was more than just the money loss associated with the divorce, because Jeff also knew that Janine had a life insurance policy worth about $50,000 at the time. And if she died, get this. In what looked like a single car accident. This is kind of like a, in my opinion, a weird clause to have.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Yeah, I don't even know why they would put that in there.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Because it had to be a single car accident. Specifically, the payout doubled to $100,000. So not only would he secure $100,000 payout, but he wouldn't have to lose anything to Janine in a divorce. So Jeff basically believed that he found the perfect loophole to turn a divorce into a six figure payday with a murder instead. But as we've seen, he was not nearly as clever as he thought. I mean, they always get caught.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Yeah. And it's just so crazy to me, the. The premeditation here. The fact that he went down to that lake, he gathered up that lake water.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Insane.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Because he knew, like, it's just. It's so crazy. I mean, it seems like the plot of a fucking movie.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
I mean. No, it truly does. Like, that is premeditation at its finest. That days earlier you go to the lake that, you know, you want to put her body in to gather water from it to make it seem like that is the place that she died.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Because you know that they're going to test that water.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
It's actually not. So clearly, that all explains Jeff's motive. But why, you may ask, would Nick Pecorero agree to get involved? Well, according to investigators, Jeff lured him in with many promises. A big cash reward, even a brand new truck.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Of course he did. There's gotta be some payout for Nick.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Yeah, but, you know, neither of those things ended up coming true. And looking back, I mean, at least to us, it seems unthinkable that anybody would agree to assist in murder for material possessions. Like this is. It's just not worth it, especially when you can get caught. It's like, oh, Great. What's a little payday and a new truck to the rest of your life in prison.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Yeah. And being labeled a murderer forever.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Yeah. And also, by the way, taking an innocent person's life should be at the top of the list. But Nick later explained, quote, he was very manipulating, very good at what he does. I already had all that stuff. I don't need any of that.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Which, like, so you're basically saying that you got conned because you're an idiot.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
But it's like, yes, Jeff, I'm sure, was very manipulative. But, like, you stun gunned an innocent woman and mother and then drowned her inside her house using lake water. And then you propped her body up in the car after dressing her and independently pushed the car, like, car into the lake. That is so many steps, so many moments where you can say, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on. Yeah, what am I doing? Like, you know better.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Even. Even after she had been murdered, like, he wasn't like, hey, you know, this. This is. This is all you now, Jeff. You take her to the lake. You go do all this shit. Like, Nick the dumbass decided that he was gonna do it for Jeff.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Like, what.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
What is wrong with you?
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
It's actually, like, kind of silly. But luckily, you know, at least Nick was helping investigators with a lot of these discoveries by even confessing, because we know that Jeff is not going to be honest with us. But of course, still, he was a huge part of this entire thing. So Nick pled guilty to second degree murder and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Can you even imagine the conversation that Jeff probably had with Nick when, like, he was trying to take off and leave town and then, like, was like, hey, man, like, they caught me. I kind of had to confess at this point. Like, I'm sure Jeff was just enraged because had that not happened, there's still. We might not have had closure to this case.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Yeah. Oh, you mean if Nick didn't confess?
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Yeah, exactly. Like, can you imagine how Jeff was feeling when Nick was like, hey, sorry, man, like, I fucked up.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
That's why you don't involve other people. And that's why you don't commit crimes. Like, yeah, can't do the time, don't do the crime.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Right?
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Is that the phrase?
Heath (Going West Co-host)
That is.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
So Jeffrey Glanda, on the other hand, went to trial for Janine's murder, you know, because he was the mastermind behind all of this. At the point in which the trial started, which was January of 2000, he was about 49 years old. And despite proof of Strong motive to kill his estranged wife and his accomplice. Confessing every detail of the murder. Of course, Jeff pled not guilty.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
I mean, you just couldn't put it past a guy like Jeff.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Right, of course. And the jury saw right through him, seeing beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jeff was responsible for the plotting and execution of the murder against Janine. In 2000, Jeffrey Glanda was sentenced to life in prison. I bet he was really hoping for Y2K at that point.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Yeah, yeah.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Before. Before the trial started, he's like, please, just take us all out.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Yeah.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
But, yeah, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. And he maintained his innocence even behind bars at Greenhaven Correctional Facility in Stormville, New York, for nearly two decades until his death on August 14, 2019. According to prison records, Jeff died at the age of 69 from acute heroin intoxication.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Damn, That's. That's crazy.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Yeah. So he must have illegally obtained some heroin while he was in prison, and then he took it in the very early morning hours. So basically, the most recent check that morning by a security guard was at 4:40am and then about an hour later, at 5:46am when another security guard was doing their rounds again, they found him dead in his cell. As for Nick Pecorero, he served his full 20 year sentence for second degree murder, and he was released on parole in 2022. But as we know, the people who suffered the most were Jeanine's children. Because at just 8 and 12 years old, Jordan and Tyler lost both their parents in one day. Their mother murdered and their father arrested for that murder. So they were forced to move between relatives homes for the remainder of their childhoods. And years later, Tyler reflected on that devastation, saying, my father could have fallen off the face of the earth. And I don't think that there would have been too many people that would have even recognized it. My mother being taken from this world shattered a community, Shattered multiple communities. Thank you so much, everybody, for listening to this episode of Going West.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode. If you want to see photos from this case and all the other cases that we've covered thus far, head on over to our socials. We're on Instagram, @goingwest podcast. We're on Facebook. We have a regular page, Going West True Crime. And then we have a discussion page where we'd love to talk to you guys about cases like this because, man, what a twisted one.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Yeah. Truly. Thank you so much again to Becca for putting this case on our radar. Please, if you have a case that you want us to cover, send it over to our our email going west podcast gmail.com. that is the only place we're going to see it. We are a little bit behind. I saw a social or saw an Instagram comment the other day where this girl said that she's been sending us a case a few times. And we don't. We, you know, we just have a lot of emails.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Yeah. Just to let you know that that case is on the list. But the list is very, very long.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
It's very long. But we're always accepting new cases. We always try to, you know, prefer to prioritize newer cases or happening now cases or unsolved cases. So please, just send it over anyway and we will get to it, I promise. Thank you guys in advance for doing that. Thank you for tuning in. Heath and I are going to go have a burger and pie and watch Rear Window for our anniversary.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
Hell yes, we are.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
I hope you guys have an amazing rest of your day. Evening, whatever it is, whatever time it is. And we will see you guys on Tuesday.
Heath (Going West Co-host)
All right, guys. So for everybody out there in the.
Daphne (Going West Co-host)
World, don't be a stranger. Sam.
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Daphne (Going West Co-host)
Let's go.
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Hosts: Daphne Woolsoncroft & Heath Merryman
Release Date: September 26, 2025
In this episode, Daphne and Heath explore the chilling case of Janine Glanda, whose 1997 death in Lake Placid, New York, was initially ruled an accident but soon revealed layers of domestic abuse, manipulation, and a shocking murder plot. The episode delves deeply into Janine’s life, her tumultuous marriage to Jeff Glanda, the unraveling of their family, and the terrifying lengths taken to stage her murder as a car accident. The hosts highlight themes of control, betrayal, and the failures of perception in cases of intimate partner violence.
Quote:
“He [Jeff] planned every single detail because he knew that autopsies could distinguish between lake water and bath water. So days earlier, Jeff had gone down to Cascade Lake and filled large containers with water straight from the freaking lake.”
— Daphne, [48:55]
Quote:
“Even though he had cheated...he wanted it all. And after 15 years of marriage, splitting assets and negotiating custody would have been a massive financial and personal blow, especially for somebody who likes his nice things, like Jeff. But it was more than just the money loss...the payout doubled to $100,000.”
— Daphne, [54:36]
Quote:
“My mother being taken from this world shattered a community, shattered multiple communities.”
— Tyler, Janine’s son, [60:55]
On Jeff’s Dual Personality:
“He seemed like this real-life Prince Charming, but really, he could be closer compared to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”
— Heath, [13:22]
On the police finding Jeff in Janine's cottage:
“There, inside a dark room that Janine had not yet entered upon her arrival, was Jeff in his boxers, holding a different drink, and sitting atop the TV next to him was a knife.”
— Daphne, [20:31]
On the crime scene:
“All these items were quite neatly displayed as well...It looked like somebody had emptied the contents of a purse.”
— Daphne, [28:58]
On the methodical murder plot:
“That is premeditation at its finest. That days earlier you go to the lake that, you know, you want to put her body in to gather water from it to make it seem like that is the place that she died.”
— Daphne, [55:27]
On the investigation’s break:
“He was very manipulating, very good at what he does. I already had all that stuff. I don't need any of that.”
— Nick’s confession via Daphne, [56:46]
| Timestamp | Segment Description | |-----------|---------------------| | 04:28 | Introduction to Janine and the Glanda family’s background | | 13:19 | Description of Jeff’s controlling behavior | | 20:31 | Jeff arrested for burglary in Janine’s cottage | | 26:37 | Janine’s disappearance, belongings found by lake | | 31:38 | Discovery and autopsy questions (body in passenger seat, stun gun marks) | | 39:55 | Jeff’s odd alibi and interview | | 44:10 | Nick’s confession and the police setup | | 47:25 | Detailed breakdown of the murder and staging | | 54:36 | The motive: insurance and control | | 57:32 | Sentencing and aftermath for children | | 60:55 | Tyler’s reflection on community loss |
The hosts, Daphne and Heath, approach the case with a mix of empathy for the victim and clear-eyed suspicion toward the perpetrator, balancing factual reporting with moments of incredulity and exasperation at the cruelty and hubris of the killers. Their natural, colloquial style keeps the episode relatable and engaging.
The Lake Placid Murder episode lays bare not just the mechanics of a calculated homicide but the hidden, incremental abuses that precede tragedy. By spotlighting the manipulations and the communal fallout, the hosts drive home the importance of heeding warning signs in toxic relationships. The case of Janine Glanda is a sobering reminder of the dangers victims face behind closed doors, as well as the relentless determination required to uncover the truth after tragedy.