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Carter Roy
Hi listeners, it's Carter Roy. Real quick. Before today's episode of Murder True Crime Stories, I want to tell you about another show from Crime House that I know you'll love. America's Most Infamous Crimes. Hosted by Katie Ring. Each week, Katie takes on one of the most notorious criminal cases in American history. Serial killers who terrorized cities, unsolved mysteries that keep detectives up at night, and investigations that change the way we think about justice. Listen to and follow America's most infamous crimes Tuesday through Thursday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you listen to podcasts. This his crime house. In the early 1970s, America was consumed by thoughts of the occult, stories of secret rituals and hidden symbols of dark forces operating out of sight. For some, it was entertainment. For others, it felt very real and very terrifying. In August 1972, 16 year old Jeanette De Palma went missing in New Jersey. Six weeks later, she was found dead under mysterious circumstances at a location known as Devil's Teeth Cliff. The crime scene was strange. It looked like two sticks had been placed above her head in the shape of a cross. There were also stones arranged around her in a semicircle, almost like a halo. Because of those details, many people, including some members of law enforcement, believe Jeanette was a victim of the occult. Suddenly, the name Devil's Teeth had taken on a whole new meaning. But more than five decades later, we're still not sure what actually happened to Jeannette. Which begs the question, were all those people onto something? Or did the satanic panic stop the authorities from looking in the right places? People's lives are like a story. There's a beginning, a middle and an end. But you don't always know which part you're on. Sometimes the final chapter arrives far too soon and we don't always get to know the real ending. I'm Carter Roy and this is True Crime Stories, a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. New episodes come out every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, with Friday's episodes covering the cases that deserve a deeper look. Thank you for being part of the Crime House community. Please rate, review and follow the show and for ad free access to every episode. Subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. This is the second of two episodes on the murder of 16 year old Jeanette De Palma in Springfield, New Jersey. Last time I told you about Jeanette's disappearance, the discovery of her body on Devil's Teeth Cliff, and the early signs that something about her case didn't add up. Today I'll continue the investigation into Jeannette's murder and explain how rumors of the occults impacted the search for her killer. Eventually, detectives narrowed in on a potential killer, one who may have had multiple victims. But even then, justice was hard to find. And more than five decades later, Jeannette's story still doesn't have a clear ending. All that and more coming up. You know that moment in spring when you open your closet and you think, do I really need all this? I do. Lately, I've been trying to keep fewer pieces, but ones that actually feel special and wear well every day. And that is why I keep coming back to Quints. Their linen pants and shirts are lightweight, breathable and comfortable. I literally have one on right now. The kind of pieces that make spring mornings effortless. And their Flowknit activewear. Oh soft moisture wicking anti odor. Honestly, I want to live in it. The best part is the value. Quince works directly with ethical factories and cuts out the middlemen. So you're getting premium quality at prices 50 to 60% lower than similar brands. Everything is made to last and simplifies getting dressed. Refresh your wardrobe with quince. Go to quints.com crimehouse for free shipping and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. Go to Q U I n c e.com crimehouse for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com crimehouse we all belong outside.
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Carter Roy
On August 7, 1972, 16 year old Jeannette DePalma told her parents she had a shift at her part time job. In reality, she had other plans. She was going to visit her cousin Gail Donahue and meet up with some boys the two of them were interested in. But Jeanette never made it to Gail's house. And when she didn't return home later that night or the next morning, her parents went to the police to report her missing. At first, authorities in Springfield, New Jersey assumed she was a runaway. Jeanette's own cousin Lisa had just recently run away, and not for the first time. So while Jeanette spent, parents were worried. They believed she would come Back sooner rather than later. But days turned into weeks and August slipped into September. When Jeannette still didn't resurface. Florence and Salvatore De Palma started to wonder if something awful had happened to their daughter. Six weeks after Dannette was last seen on September 19, 1970, their worst fears were confirmed. That day. Police found her body on a cliff known as the Devil's Teeth. It was located inside the Hudai Quarry, which was owned and operated by the Hudai Construction Materials Company. Jeannette had been exposed to the elements for so long that her remains had decayed beyond recognition. But eventually, Jeannette's dentist was able to confirm her identity through dental records. Jeanette's loved ones were all impacted by the news of her death. But her cousin Gail was probably the most upset. She was in the bathroom blow drying her hair when she heard her dad shouting at her to come to the living room. Kale switched off the dryer and hurried down the stairs. Her dad told her to take a seat on the couch. Then he said the police had found Jeanette's body. Gael immediately felt dizzy. The whole room was spinning and she could hardly process what he was saying. Even in her worst nightmares, she had never imagined Jeanette dying. Questions started pouring out of her. What happened? Where did they find her? Who did this? But her father didn't have those answers. So he suggested they go to the De Palma house where they could hear directly from her parents. When Gail and her dad arrived there the next day, they found Florence and Salvatore sitting together in the TV room. Gail quickly asked what had happened to Jeannette, but Florence was evasive. She told Gail that they were at peace and that the Lord had prepared them to find Jeanette like this. Gail stared at her aunt and daughter. Disbelief. Then her uncle. Then back to Florence again. They seemed strangely accepting. It didn't make sense to Gail. This was their daughter. Why weren't they more upset? But Florence and Salvatore weren't just putting on a brave face for their niece. They said similar things to others as well. And just two days after Jeannette was found, Florence told a local newspaper that she had resigned herself to her daughter's death weeks earlier. She said the Lord had given her peace. On Saturday, September 23, four days after Jeanette was discovered, her family's church held a memorial service followed by a closed casket funeral. Over 500 people showed up to mourn the teenager, who was taken too soon. Meanwhile, the Springfield Police Department was trying to figure out where to even begin. The medical examiner, Dr. Ehrenberg, wasn't able to determine an official cause of death. There were no bullet wounds, no stab wounds, no broken bones, and no obvious blunt force injuries. His best guess was that she had been strangled. But even that he couldn't say for sure. And the autopsy revealed another strange finding. There were unusually high levels of lead in Jeannette's body. Dr. Ehrenberg couldn't explain where those had come from. Unfortunately, the conditions of her remains made further testing almost impossible. Too much time had passed and the body was too decomposed for a reliable toxicology screen. Which meant investigators couldn't definitively rule in or rule out the presence of other substances. Additional forensic testing found no evidence of sexual assault. But again, any possible biological evidence on the outside of her clothing. Blood, semen or other fluids had deteriorated too badly to analyze. This was all incredibly frustrating for 33 year old Detective Sergeant Sam Calabrese. He had no cause of death, no known witnesses, no murder weapon. And no idea how Jeannette had ended up on the Devil's Teeth cliff. Or how her body had gone undetected for weeks. Then came another problem. The public. Initially, people wondered if this was some tragic accident. Maybe Jeanette was partying with friends at the quarry when something went wrong. They panicked and took off, leaving Jeannette behind. But then information started leaking to the press. Soon, newspapers were reporting that the medical examiner believed Jeanette had been strangled. This new detail shook the citizens of Springfield. Now they had to face the very real possibility that this wasn't an accident. It was a murder. And that meant there was a killer on the loose in their own backyards. What they did to your family. You're lucky to make it out alive.
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Carter Roy
Put a bullet in her head.
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Carter Roy
Execution style killing. It's rare for the Keys. Any leads on who they might have been running for?
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Carter Roy
I'm gonna kill them. All of them.
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Carter Roy
After 16 year old Jeannette De Palma was found dead in September 1972, the people of Springfield, New Jersey were terrified. Someone had told the press that Jeanette was strangled. The entire town was worried that her killer would come after them next. But before long, the public was scared for another reason. Patrolman Donald Schwert was the officer who'd found Jeanette on the Devil's Teeth cliff. As he'd looked over the scene, something had struck him as strange. There were sticks and stones arranged around her body. And according to Schwert, the stones appeared to form a kind of halo around Jeannette's head. Above that, he saw what looked like a cross made out of sticks. Some of Schwertz's fellow officers thought the sticks and stones were just there randomly, but he was convinced the placement was meaningful. And he believed the key to solving the whole case rested on figuring out who had put those symbols there and why. But that was complicated by another detail. Jeannette reportedly always wore a cross necklace. There was no sign of it when she was found. So someone took her cross necklace, but then put a cross above her head. Now, not everyone agreed with Schwertz's account of the crime scene. Some officers confirmed his account, but most disagreed with him. Yes, it was possible there were sticks and stones around her, but it may have been purely coincidental, just a bunch of debris in the forest. Still, once the idea surfaced, it took hold. On September 29, ten days after Jeanette's body was found, a local newspaper ran a headline that read, girls sacrificed in Witch Right. The article claimed authorities were investigating possible ties to black witchcraft and Satan worship. Crime scene photographs, which were not published at the time, supposedly suggested the teenager had been part of some kind of ritual sacrifice. According to one unnamed source quoted in the piece, wooden logs had also been arranged around the body in a way that resembled a coffin. It was the first time Jeannette's death had been publicly connected to the occult. But it certainly wouldn't be the last. And while many residents assumed it was the media sensationalizing the case, plenty of others started locking their doors at night, just in case. At that point in 1972, what would later be known as the Satanic Panic hadn't fully taken hold yet. But the groundwork was starting to spread across the country. Stories about satanic cults were popping up more often, and the occult had already become a topic of fascination and and fear across the country. In 1966, the Church of Satan was founded in San Francisco. And just the year before jeannette disappeared in 1971, members of the Manson Family were convicted for the infamous Manson Family murders. To many Americans, the idea of hidden cults performing dark Rituals no longer felt like pure fiction. So when rumors started circulating in Springfield, people were ready to believe them. Even the pastor at the DePalma Families Church leaned into that explanation. He reportedly became convinced that Jeanette had been sacrificed as part of a witchcraft ritual. He was so convincing that Jeanette's own family believed it, too. Investigators tried to calm people down, pointing out that Jeannette had been found in a dense wooded area. Filled with fallen branches, scattered rocks and debris from the quarry. The formations, if there were any, were nothing more than natural clutter. There was nothing occult or satanic about the crime scene. The men who found her had simply seen what they wanted to see. A pattern, an explanation. But ultimately, they were trying to add meaning to something utterly meaningless. For weeks, detectives struggled to come up with alternative theories that made more sense. Then, sometime in October, a few weeks after Jeannette's body was found, they got a break when a 21 year old man named Terry Rickle showed up at police headquarters. He was, he claimed to have information about Jeannette's death. According to him, there was a man living in the woods near the Huday quarry. He was unhoused and occasionally worked as a caddie at the prestigious Baltasrol Golf Club in town. Locals knew the caddy by his nickname, Red. Red had reportedly been in the area for about three years. And the campsite where he lived was extremely close to the Devil's teeth cliff, about 50 yards away. For the first time, investigators had a potential suspect. Police immediately headed out to the quarry to look for him. They eventually located Red's campsite beside a creek. There he had built a crude shelter out of scraps of tin sheeting. A makeshift shack about 8ft long and only 3ft high. Inside, officers found a blanket, a few cooking pots and several cans of food. One pot still contained cooked rice that had rotted like whoever had been there had left in a hurry. But Red himself, he was nowhere to be found. It took detectives some time to track him down. But later, in the fall of 1970, they managed to locate him. It's not clear how they found him or where he was. But they quickly brought him back to the county prosecutor's office for questioning. Detective Sergeant Sam Calabrese made sure to be there for the interrogation. If this man had anything to do with Jeannette's death, Calabrese wanted to hear it for himself. Unfortunately for the detective, the interview led nowhere. After hours of questioning, Red was cleared and no charges were filed. Reportedly, investigators believe the differences in age and lifestyle between Red and Jeanette made him an unlikely suspect. Once he was released, Red vanished again. Some people thought he left the region entirely. Others thought he simply moved to another nearby town, finding work as a golf caddy somewhere else. Either way, he disappeared from the investigation. After Red, other possible suspects surfaced. One of them was a man named Tony Rillo, who was in his late 20s or early 30s and worked as a guard at the quarry. Tommy was described by locals as having a mental disability, someone with the mind of a teenager in the body of a grown man. But he was also known for being friendly and dependable. His job was to keep watch over the quarry's equipment and lock the gates each night. Authorities wondered how Tommy could have missed Jeanette's body during the several weeks it must have been lying on the Devil's Teeth cliff. But the answer turned out to be simple. Tommy had no reason to go up there. There were no buildings on the cliff and therefore nothing to guard. And after questioning him, detectives quickly ruled him out, too. After getting sent back to square one, the police changed their focus. One of the officers had spotted a red Ford Falcon near the base of the hill leading to the Devil's Teeth cliff around the time Jeannette visited vanished. So the department began searching for that vehicle and its driver. Jeanette's sister believes she knew someone who might fit that description. A high schooler named Mike. According to her, Mike spent a lot of time around Jeanette, and he drove a similar red car. Later, another girl who knew Jeanette told investigators that Mike had been obsessed with her. But Jeanette didn't feel the same way. That girl also described Mike as deeply interested in the occult. She claimed he believed he was a warlock. And she said he gave her a strange, unsettling feeling, the kind that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She was convinced he was responsible. Ultimately, that lead didn't pan out, and neither did any others. The detectives on the case were getting increasingly frustrated. The investigation had barely begun, and it was already growing cold. But there was something they didn't realize. Jeanette wasn't the only young person to go missing in the area that fall, then turn up dead. And if the authorities wanted to solve either murder, they needed to start looking at them as a pair.
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Carter Roy
In the fall of 1972, detectives in Springfield, New Jersey still couldn't answer the most basic questions about 16 year old Jeannette De Palma's death. But Jeannette wasn't the only young woman to disappear that August. Just one township over in Union, 24 year old Joan Kramer vanished after reportedly hitchhiking home home. Twelve days later, on August 28, her body was found in a park. She was nude and lying face down. She and Jeanette had gone missing just eight days apart, and their bodies were found approximately six miles away from one another. There were other similarities too. Both were discovered in wooded areas, both appeared to have been strangled. And like Jeannette, Joan was missing a necklace she was known to wear regularly. The parallels were hard to ignore, and once both victims were found, the county prosecutor's office opened up a tip line that was dedicated to their two cases. They figured any leads for one would help the other. Unfortunately, nothing that came in led to a break. Still, investigators Kept digging. Several union residents reported hearing a woman screaming while running from a car. And a few witnesses claimed they had actually seen Joan on the night she disappeared. Detective Sergeant George Homma followed up on those leads. A 50 year old woman named Mary Collado told him she had seen a young woman get into a car at the intersection of of South Orange Avenue and Sloan street the night Joan disappeared. She was convinced it was Joan and she'd gotten a good look at the driver too. Detective Homa grilled Mary for three hours. By the end, she had provided enough detail about the driver for police to create a composite sketch. The department released it to the public and the local media picked it up immediately. Almost as soon as it began circulating, people started calling in. Several residents recognized the face. And the same name kept coming up over and over again. Otto Nilsen. Otto was a 37 year old father of five. He'd served in the military before settling down in Union with his wife Carol. On the surface, they look like a typical suburban family. Otto worked as an accountant while Carol stayed home with the kids. When they first moved to the area, neighbors liked them. Otto was friendly and outgoing. The kind of person who made a great first impression. But around 1970, something changed. Friends and family said both Otto and Carol began drinking heavily and things quickly spiraled from there. Their alcoholism became so severe that they started neglecting their children and their home. At one point, the house was condemned and their kids were hospitalized to be treated for fleas. Even worse, as the situation deteriorated, Otto became increasingly violent, especially toward his family. Eventually, Carol reached her breaking point. By the summer of 1972, when Joan and Jeannette went missing, she had filed for divorce and gotten a restraining order against him. Otto was forced out of the house and had to move back in with his mother who lived nearby. The separation only seemed to push Otto further toward the edge. Over the next couple of years, he grew bitter and unstable. Then one night In July of 1974, things came to a head. Otto showed up at Carol's home in a rage. But. But when he got there, the house was empty. His family was gone. He thought Carol had stolen the kids from him. In reality, they were just on vacation. But Otto didn't know that and convinced himself that the neighbors across the street were somehow responsible. So he broke into their home and attacked them, Throwing punches and hurling chairs at the father and son son until finally police arrived and arrested Otto. He was charged with assault and ordered to undergo a 15 day psychiatric evaluation. Afterward, he received a two year suspended sentence. The family he attacked was outraged. They couldn't understand how he'd been allowed to walk free. Authorities explained that Otto was un under suspicion for another crime and they were just waiting for enough evidence to charge him. They didn't say which crime, but presumably it was Joan Kramer's murder, which had taken place almost two years earlier. Well, that couldn't have made the family feel any better. The police knew he was dangerous, but they were letting him back onto the streets. Then, just days after his release, two more girls disappeared in Bergen county, about 20 miles away from Springfield and Union. As the sun rose over Bergen, a 59 year old woman left her apartment at the Ridgemount Gardens complex and headed to her car in the parking lot. As she approached, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. In a wooded area just off to the side, no more than 10ft away from her car, were two nude bodies lying face down. They were badly discolored and they each had a rope tied around their necks. The authorities eventually identified the girls as 17 year old Mary Ann Pryor and 16 year old Lorraine Kelly. They were best friends. It seemed plausible that the same person who murdered Jeanette De Palma and Joan Kramer had also killed Marianne and Lorraine. There were differences, yes, but the similarities were striking. They were all young girls and women between 16 and 24 who were found in wooded areas. All were believed to have been been strangled and most had reportedly been last seen hitchhiking. It sure seemed like a pattern. But here's the kicker. At the time, the cases weren't being connected at all. The Bergen County Prosecutor's office had no idea about the similarities to Jeanette or Joan's murders. Just 20 miles away, law enforcement agencies simply weren't sharing information the way they do today. Which meant something critical could have been missed. Even more tragic, there was one more case that seemed like it may have been connected. One that went back even further. In 1966, six years before Jeannette's murder, the body of 17 year old Carol Ann Farino was found in a driveway in Maplewood, less than three miles from Springfield. She'd been strangled with her own stocking. Like Joan, she was found with no shoes on. Like Jeannette, she was discovered near a golf course. Five young girls and women, all killed between 1966 and 1972, all under eerily similar circumstances. And there were several reasons to look at Otto Nilsen. For every one of them. Many Union residents became convinced that Otto was responsible for Joan Kramer's death. At the very least, even Otto's own family, including his ex wife and one of his sons thought he might be the killer. The authorities were convinced too. On January 10, 1975, 40 year old Otto was finally arrested for the murder of Joan Kramer. The case hinged largely on one main piece of evidence. Mary Collado's eyewitness identification. So seven months later, when Otto's trial began, the defense narrowed in on Mary's testimony. They questioned how reliable, viable her recollection really was. Could someone truly remember a stranger's face accurately three years later? In the end, the jury had doubts. After just one week, they reached a verdict. Not guilty. The prosecutor couldn't believe it. He was positive Otto was the killer. But because double jeopardy laws prevented him from bringing charges against Otto again, the prosecutor's office unofficially closed the case. As far as they were concerned, Otto was the right man. They just hadn't been able to prove it. But while Otto may have been free for the moment, he still wasn't in the clear. And he certainly wasn't stable. Just over a year later, in September 1976, Otto, 41 year old Otto walked into a hospital carrying a high powered rifle. He took two doctors hostage as he ranted about a conspiracy that was preventing him from seeing his children. The FBI was called in. For four hours, negotiators tried to talk him down until eventually Otto surrendered. He was taken into custody and charged with an eight count federal indictment. At trial the following year, doctors testified that he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. He was declared legally insane and committed to a psychiatric hospital. Decades later, in 2015, authors Jesse P. Pollock and Mark Morin published a definitive book on Jeannette De Palma's case called Death on the Devil's Teeth. It was instrumental to our research on this case. That book was the first time that all five murders. Jeanette, Joan, Carol, Marianne and Lorraine were examined together in a single investigation. And the authors were clear that they believed that Otto was responsible for Jeannette and Joan's death, if not all five. But Otto would never be able to respond to those accusations. He died in the psychiatric hospital in 1992 at the age of 57. Even then, Pollock and Morin kept digging for years. They tracked down missing records, files that some Springfield officials believed had been destroyed in a 1999 flood. Finally, in February 2021, they got access to the bulk of the case file, along with the crime scene photos. After reviewing it all, they reached one firm conclusion. There was absolutely nothing occult about Jeannette's death. No ritual, no sacrifice. No symbols with hidden meaning. Just a teenage girl who never made it home. And a case that spiraled out of control in the wrong direction. Because while people were searching for something supernatural, a very real killer may have been walking free. More than 50 years later, Jeannette De Palma's murder remains unsolved. And whoever put her on that cliff, whether it was Otto Nielsen or someone else, has never been officially identified. That uncertainty has left the door open for people to come up with their own theories. Her case has become a mystery, filled with rumors, conspiracies, and speculation told over and over again as Internet sleuths obsess over all the tiny details. But at the center of it all is still Jeanette. She had just turned 16 when she went missing. She had plans that day, people she was going to see, a life that was still in its very first chapters. Somewhere along the way, that simple truth got buried under all the headlines and hysteria. But strip all that away, and what's left is this. A teenage girl left her house one summer day in 1972, and she never made it home. And more than a half a century later, no one has ever been held accountable for what happened to her. Thanks so much for listening. I'm Carter Roy and this is True Crime Stories. Come back next time for the story of a new murder and all the people it affected. Murder True Crime Stories is a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. Here at Crime House, we want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard today, reach out on social media, rimehouse on TikTok and Instagram. Don't forget to rate, review and follow Murder True Crime Stories wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly makes a difference. And to enhance your Murder True Crime Stories listening experience, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get every episode ad free. We'll be back on Friday. True Crime Stories is hosted by me, Carter Roy and is a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. This episode was brought to life by the Murder True Crime Stories team. Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benedon, Natalie Pertofsky, Sarah Camp, Alex Burns, Cassidy Dillon and Russell Nash. Thank you for listening.
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Carter Roy
Thanks for listening to today's episode of Murder True Crime Stories. Not sure what to listen to next? Check out America's Most Infamous Crimes, hosted by Katie Ring. From serial killers to unsolved mysteries and game changing investigations, each week Katie takes on a notorious criminal case in American history. Listen to and follow America's Most Infamous Crimes now. Wherever you listen to podcasts.
Host: Carter Roy
Date: May 7, 2026
Podcast Network: Crime House / PAVE Studios
In the second and final installment on the murder of Jeannette DePalma, host Carter Roy reexamines the 1972 Springfield, New Jersey case shrouded by occult rumors and media sensationalism. With fresh scrutiny, Roy explores the ongoing investigation’s turns, its links to other local murders, and possible suspects—most notably Otto Nilsen. The episode emphasizes how moral panic and rumor may have hindered justice, leaving Jeannette’s family and community without answers after more than fifty years.
[06:04 – 09:30]
“The Lord had given her peace.” – Florence DePalma [09:23]
[09:30 – 11:40]
[13:35 – 16:30]
“Girls Sacrificed in Witch Rite.” [15:00]
[16:30 – 22:00]
“The detectives on the case were getting increasingly frustrated. The investigation had barely begun, and it was already growing cold.” [22:50]
[25:42 – 34:30]
[34:30 – 35:40]
[35:40 – 37:55]
[37:55 – 41:00]
“There was absolutely nothing occult about Jeannette’s death. No ritual, no sacrifice. No symbols with hidden meaning. Just a teenage girl who never made it home. And a case that spiraled out of control in the wrong direction.” —Carter Roy [40:30]
“While people were searching for something supernatural, a very real killer may have been walking free.” —Carter Roy [40:40]
On grief and faith:
“The Lord had given her peace.” – Florence DePalma [09:23]
On the crime scene:
“He saw what looked like a cross made out of sticks. Some... thought the sticks and stones were just there randomly, but he was convinced the placement was meaningful.” – Carter Roy [13:35]
On the effect of occult rumors:
“But ultimately, they were trying to add meaning to something utterly meaningless.” – Carter Roy [16:10]
On police frustration:
“The investigation had barely begun, and it was already growing cold.” – Carter Roy [22:53]
Casting doubts on official narrative:
“There was absolutely nothing occult about Jeannette’s death ... Just a teenage girl who never made it home.” – Carter Roy [40:30]
On loss at the heart of the case:
“She had plans that day, people she was going to see, a life that was still in its very first chapters. Somewhere along the way, that simple truth got buried under all the headlines and hysteria.” – Carter Roy [40:55]
Carter Roy carries the episode with respect for victims, empathy for the families, and a determined skepticism about accepted narratives. The podcast addresses true crime fans and thoughtful listeners, warning against sensationalism and urging a return to hard evidence: compassionately, clearly, and critically.
Over fifty years later, the murder of Jeannette DePalma remains unsolved, her case forever twisted by rumor, fear, and media speculation. Despite grim similarities to other local unsolved murders, and a likely suspect in Otto Nilsen, no one has ever been charged in Jeannette’s death. The episode closes by reminding listeners that, above all, this was the story of a bright sixteen-year-old girl whose story deserves clarity, not confusion.
For further research:
– Death on the Devil’s Teeth by Jesse P. Pollock and Mark Morin
– Crime House Instagram: @crimehouse