Murderer Mayor - Pembroke, New York

Summary

Small Town Murder – "Murderer Mayor - Pembroke, New York"
Podcast Hosts: James Pietragallo & Jimmie Whisman
Episode Air Date: March 21, 2026

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Episode Overview

This week, James and Jimmy travel to Pembroke, New York, a small rural town with midwestern vibes, not far from Buffalo. The episode centers around the bizarre and grim case of Scott Dahl: a beloved correctional officer, volunteer firefighter, owner of a used car lot, and, as fate would have it, the leading Republican candidate for mayor of a neighboring village—until he was arrested for the brutal bludgeoning murder of his business partner.

The duo provides their trademark darkly comedic commentary while piecing together a tale full of small-town quirks, police procedure follies, a puzzling crime scene, and a defendant whose alibi is almost as suspicious as the blood covering him on the night of the murder.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Introducing Pembroke & Corfu, NY (04:41 - 13:43)

• Location and Demographics: Pembroke is a rural, tight-knit Western New York town (~4,200 people), not far from Buffalo, featuring a lot of open space, low crime, and cheap houses.
• Small-Town Flavor: The hosts riff on local festivals, band names (“Public Water Supply,” “The Floyd Concept”), and clubs (the mysterious Kiwanis Club).
• Local Review Humor: James reads odd and amusing town reviews—one reviewer raves about how much “country” there is, another claims their heaven would be composed of Pembroke's people (09:28).

Scott Dahl: Model Citizen or Model Defendant? (14:17 - 22:45)

• Background: By 2009, Scott is 46, a corrections officer for 25 years, local volunteer firefighter, and longtime church member. “He's a real Mr. Corfu. Everybody knows who he is, what he's going to do, where he goes on Sunday.” (15:05, James)
• Busy & Broke: Despite his successful careers, he’s $28,000 in debt, mostly due to a divorce.
• Side Business: Dahl runs SF Enterprises, flipping used cars with retired corrections officer Joseph Bennequist (20:59).

Setting the Crime Scene: Broken Jacks & Failed Auctions (23:07 - 27:24)

• Sequence of Events: Bennequist purchases a used Pontiac G6. On February 16, 2009, he and Josh Dahl (Scott’s son) are scheduled to take the vehicle to an auction, but things get derailed by a flat tire and a broken jack.
• Scott’s Role: Scott borrows his mom’s Ford Windstar to try and find Bennequist and Josh when they don’t show up at the auction.

Suspicious Night Walk & Arrest (29:41 - 36:18)

• The 911 Call: At 8:41 pm, a passing firefighter reports a man in full camouflage and a white hood, carrying a lug wrench, jack, and screwdriver—with “wet blood stains on his knees, thighs, hands, and shoes” (32:43).

• Police Blunders: Despite all the red flags, and after flashing his corrections officer ID, Scott gets a nonchalant police escort back to his blood-spattered van. Only when a witness confirms he’s the suspicious person do police finally detain him (36:16).

  “He pulled out his New York State Corrections Officer card, which kind of helps him a little bit. So the cop now treats him differently because he’s one of the crew there.” (34:17, James)

Discovery of the Crime & Botched Forensics (40:23 - 48:20)

• Body Found: At 1:30 am, police discover Bennequist dead in his driveway—barely visible between two parked cars, skull caved in, hands cut defending himself, frozen over.

• Key Details: The attack was frenzied and bloody; medical experts say Bennequist might have suffered for up to four hours before dying (42:06).

• Forensic Mishaps: Police fail to test likely murder weapons (flashlight, chunk of wood, lug wrench), and crucial forensic steps—like DNA under fingernails—aren’t completed or recorded (47:58).

  “They did as thorough a search as they could in the dark…” (42:46, James)

• Motives Considered: Disputes about a missing $10,000 car payment, and forged or missing vehicle paperwork surface during the investigation.

The Mayoral Race…While In Jail (51:27 - 51:47)

• Scott’s Political Run: In a classic “only in a small town” moment, Scott remains on the mayoral ballot for Corfu while awaiting trial for murder. He loses, but still gets votes (“He does not get shut out…He gets votes!” 52:19, James).

Scott Dahl’s Defense: “I Only Held Him As He Died!” (53:05 - 55:24)

• Alibi: Scott claims he found Bennequist already dying and only knelt beside him as he expired, acquiring blood “the honest way.”

• Throwing Son Under Bus: He alleges Bennequist’s dying words implicated Scott’s own son, Josh, as perpetrator.

• Implausibility: No 911 call, no CPR attempt, and the type of blood spatter on Scott’s clothing is more consistent with that found on an assailant, not a bystander.

  “The blood on his clothing…is impact spatter…That’s evidence that the spatter is on the person doing the hitting.” (55:24, James)

The Trial: Shaky Forensics, Shakier Alibi (60:31 - 70:00)

• Prosecution’s Case: Blood evidence, motivation (financial disputes), and Scott’s suspicious conduct.

• Defense’s Angle: Challenges the certainty of blood spatter analysis, points to absent evidence (e.g., a sliver of silver material, note with another man’s name/number, possible third-party DNA).

• Scott Testifies: He repeats his story, shedding tears and continuing to suggest his son’s guilt when pressed on the stand.

• Jury Verdict: Guilty of second-degree murder.

  “His story is dogshit.” (69:36, Jimmie)
  “He is found guilty of second degree murder…There’s women sobbing and running out of the room.” (70:00, James)

Aftermath – Appeals, DNA Mystery, and Parole Denial (73:02 - 80:35)

• Sentence: 15 years to life in protective custody.

• Legal Impact: Court upholds that the “emergency doctrine” justified questioning Scott without Miranda rights—a precedent-setting decision in NY (73:15).

• Post-Conviction Motions: New DNA evidence on the scene doesn’t match either party, but the absence of nail scrapings and some mysterious evidence items prevent exoneration.

• Parole Hearing: Scott maintains his innocence, claiming he’s a victim, but the board finds his lack of remorse and attempts to blame others disturbing. Parole is denied.

  “Your release at this time would trivialize the tragic loss of life you caused and…undermine the respect for law.” (80:35, Parole Board via James)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Police Inaction:

  “Somehow the cop didn’t put together that they called…Someone called about a guy in this outfit, crouching, being suspicious. He showed up, found the guy and said, must have been somebody else that was suspicious…Not the guy covered in blood.” (35:54, James)

• On Scott’s Defense:

  “I showed up and held him because he’s kind of covered in his blood. He can’t hide that…just I panicked and walked away because I thought, my son…That’s what he said.” (55:24, James)

• On Small Town Elections:

  “He is the Republican candidate for mayor of Corfu…He does not get shut out. He gets votes!” (52:19, James)

• On the Murder Scene:

  “His face was scraped in places and there were at least six large gashes on his head, including a large one across his forehead…He was struck at least seven or eight times.” (45:24, James)

• On Motive:

  “They think Scott might have been scamming him…I think is what they’re thinking.” (50:55, James)

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Key Timestamps

• Pembroke/Corfu town intro & local color: 04:41–13:43
• Background on Scott Dahl and Joseph Bennequist: 14:17–22:45
• Timeline to murder night: 23:07–27:24
• Suspicious “camouflage walk,” arrest, and blood evidence: 29:41–36:18
• Joseph Bennequist found dead; shambolic forensics: 40:23–48:20
• Electoral farce: mayoral race from jail: 51:27–51:47
• Scott’s story; blaming his son: 53:05–55:24
• Trial play-by-play: 60:31–70:00
• Conviction, appeals, and parole denial: 73:02–80:51

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Conclusion: The Murderer Mayor That (Thankfully) Wasn’t

The episode serves up everything Small Town Murder does best: a grisly killing where “everyone knew everyone,” a comically botched investigation, small-town idiosyncrasies (and elections!), and the deeply dark tragedy drawn into a comedic frame by James and Jimmy’s relentless riffing. Whether justice was done is debated—especially given late DNA questions—but “Murderer Mayor” is a portrait of a once-respected community figure whose lies and contradictions were too egregious for a jury (or podcast hosts) to buy.

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For more crime, comedy, and small-town weirdness, visit ShutUpAndGiveMeMurder.com and join the Patreon for bonus content.

Transcript

[James Petregallo]

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[James Petregallo]

Hello everybody and welcome back to Small Town Murder Express.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yay. And choo choo.

[James Petregallo]

Oh, yay indeed. Jimmy, you. Yay indeed. My name is James Petregallo. I'm here with my co host.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I'm Jimmy Whisman.

[James Petregallo]

Thank you folks so much for joining us today on another wild, crazy adventure that we like to call Small Town Murder Express. Ten pounds of murder in a two pound bag is how we like to put it because it is a lot. And we're going to cram it into an hour. And we have a wild story for you this week. As always, before we get to that, definitely head over to shutupandgivemerder.com and get your tickets for live shows. Also, merch is all over the place too. Everything from coffee cups to skateboards. You definitely want to get your tickets. Let's see, May 1, Salt Lake City, that's sold out, but Denver May 2, tickets left for that one still. And Buffalo on May 29, also sold out, but Royal Oak, Michigan on May 30, you can do that. So. And we're going to drive just outside of Detroit. Yeah. Even if you're in Buffalo. And you want to go and it's sold out. Go to Detroit. We're driving it. We'll caravan it. Let's go.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Get in the trunk.

[James Petregallo]

Get in the trunk. We got back space or backseat room, so do that and come see us. That is. Shut up and give me murder. Definitely get yourself some Patreon. That's the thing here. Patreon.com CrimeInSports is where you get all of the bonus material and there's a lot of it. As soon as you subscribe, you're going to get hundreds of back bonus episodes you've never heard before. So that's a whole thing to binge on its own. Then you get new ones every other week. One crime and sports, one small town murder, and you get it. How much do they get?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Every damn bit of it.

[James Petregallo]

All of it. That's right. So this week, what you're going to get for crime and sports, we're going to talk about the craziest names in sports history. Which sounds weird, but it's gonna be fun too.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Legal names.

[James Petregallo]

Legal or whatever they're called. Yeah. And not just a nickname, but. Yeah, something that's weird. Names and things like that. Little bios. It's gonna be fun. And then for small town murder, we're gonna talk about Stockholm syndrome. Not the actual syndrome, which is you start to identify with your captors if you're held hostage or something, but the incident that made the term Stockholm syndrome. It's the craziest story ever. So can't wait to get into that. So that is patreon.com crimeinsports so get in there. You also get everything that we put out, all the shows, all ad free with your Patreon as well. Crime and sports, your stupid opinions, both small town murders. And you get a shout out at the end of the regular show too. Jimmy will mess your name all up for you. Don't you worry that. Don't you worry about that one bit. That said, I think it's time, everybody. What do you say? I think it's time to sit back. What do you do? Let's clear the lungs here. Arms to the sky and let's all shout. Shut up. Give me murder. Let's do this, everybody.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Okay.

[James Petregallo]

Let's go on a trip, shall we? I'm over here punching my mic, doing a good job with that. I got a little carried away with the. Shut up and give me murder. I got carried away, you know. Get into it, man. Let's go on a trip.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's part of it.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah, let's go to New York. Everybody, let's do it. We're going way out in western New York here. This is Pembroke, New York. P E M B R O K E. Pembroke, New York, or Pembroke. Way out in. I don't think it's. It's Pembroke. Yeah, yeah. No, this isn't West Virginia where they're like, just forget. Make that O and I. We're not doing that. It's Pembroke. They do Pembroke. I'm sure.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Pembroke. Pembroke and Pembroke. And Pembroke.

[James Petregallo]

I'm sure there's.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Who gives a shit?

[James Petregallo]

All over the place. This is in western New York. It's about 35 minutes outside of Buffalo. Buffalo. About two hours to Syracuse if you want to be like hip deep in snow. And then eight hours to our last New York episode.

[Jimmy Whisman]

God damn.

[James Petregallo]

Pretty much as far as you can get. It was in East Hampton, which is at the far end of Long Island. And this is western New York. So an eight hour drive to East Hampton, New York. Episode 643, the Electrician Executioner which was. There was a bunch of dead people in that one. That was a crazy episode. I remember that. That was a full length and it was wild. This is in Genesee county. Area code 585 population here. Not a big place. 4261. So pretty small town there.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Near the river then.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah, near the river of the Genesee River.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petregallo]

I'm sure there's so much water up here because you're outside of Lake Erie. There's a lot of lakes and a lot of rivers and streams. Genesee. There's a lot of Genesee stuff.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's a person, right? It's gotta be.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah, I think so. But that's Pennsylvania has a lot of Genesee stuff too. There's that Geneseo beer.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, that area is where the person was at.

[James Petregallo]

Probably. It had to be.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Probably a mayor.

[James Petregallo]

Probably worked for the railroad, as we find out. As most of the time the median household income here, $73,917. So it's just above the national average. But the median home cost very low. People think of New York and they think of the whole place as New York City. And it's. That's. Oh, no, no, no. Very basically, there's from me down. And then there is the rest of New York, which is enormous.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And what you just said, eight hours from this place to Long Island.

[James Petregallo]

It's a big state.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And there's still further west to go through New York. Yeah, New York is a very big state. People don't Know it?

[James Petregallo]

It's a big state. Median home cost here, 193,800 bucks. So people think of New York as expensive and all that. Not in the middle of nowhere, it's not. You can go to, like, central New York. You can get a mansion for 200 grand.

[Jimmy Whisman]

My aunt has a home near the Canadian border in New York. She has acres upon acres of land, and it's not worth $300,000.

[James Petregallo]

That's what I mean.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And there's a house on it.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah, that's how it is. It's up there. There's a lot of land to go forever. History of this town, Pembroke. It was known as Oaghe. Oaghe, which means on the road. That's what the Indians called it. Apparently. It was settled in 1804 by David Gosse. Okay. It was established originally as part of the town of Batavia, which is then separated from them. It was set off from the town in 1812 and it was like, part in the town of Darien and part in the town of Alabama, which they have the town of Alabama up here and the town of Oakland. They really need to come up with some new.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Get a little more unique. Maybe it's just the west and South. Gotta get more unique, something. It's probably here first, right?

[James Petregallo]

Maybe. I'm not sure. But either way, once there's a state, we go, come on, what are we doing here? Yeah. So there's a bunch of little towns here, and that's kind of how it works. I got reviews of this town because we've never been here. We don't know anything about this place. So here's four stars or it has four stars total on niche. That's its rating. Here's a five star. I love how much country there is. Right. I don't know if they mean around here or just in general music or. Sounds like Borat came here and saw a wide open space and goes, I love how much country there is. Look, it's. Look at the beautiful country. There's a lot of open fields for riding wheelers and snowmobiles. Oh, get your wheelers out, everybody.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Hell yeah, man. After my own heart. Let's go. Hillville.

[James Petregallo]

Having some fun. Yeah. It's in the snow, though, usually. I don't know. I'd love to snowmobile.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That sounds awesome.

[James Petregallo]

Oh, it's fun. Fun. Shit, yeah. Snow is fun to fuck around on. Everyone in town knows you and you're always welcomed by the people in the town. I like how small the school is because there's more One on one between teachers and students. That's not good these days. That's gonna be. We need 30 kids in the classroom as witnesses for. You know what I mean? In case something happens.

[Jimmy Whisman]

More eyes. Makes the trial easier.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah, it's much easier with more witnesses.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Horses of plea bargain.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah. You figure 20 of the kids will be on their phones. They're not gonna see any diddling going on. So, you know, maybe five, six of us pay attention. Still at least 20 more eyes. You never know. Here's four stars.

[Jimmy Whisman]

One.

[James Petregallo]

When I choose my heaven My hometown would be the place with all the people I met and lived with there.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What the fuck?

[James Petregallo]

They are happy now. They could die happy. And as long as they could stay here. That's wild.

[Jimmy Whisman]

If I could choose my heaven. This is it.

[James Petregallo]

This is it. The coffee shop. The same assholes I went to high school with. That's my heaven. Wow. Okay. Here's three stars. Well, there isn't much crime in violence. I think he means Ann, probably. And violence in my area, such as the occasional DUI and speeding tickets, that's not really much crime. However, there was a man who shot at firefighters responding to a house fire. But that was probably the worst crime that was committed that I can recall at the moment.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's a pretty horrific crime.

[James Petregallo]

That sounds terrible. Yeah. They come to you, start shooting at them. That's awful. I mean, that's the worst. Yeah, that is the worst. That's terrible.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's pretty bad.

[James Petregallo]

It's pretty goddamn bad.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Shooting at first responders. Jesus Christ.

[James Petregallo]

Did you set the fire, too, to draw them in? That's even better. If you did that, it makes it worse.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Was it to kill the firemen or to stop them from discovering what. You've lit a fire.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah. Is there a corpse in there? A meth lab or something? Things to do. The Kiwanis Club Car Cruise and Fall Festival.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah. In all my 45 years, I still haven't figured out what the fuck the Kiwanis Club does.

[James Petregallo]

I have no idea. I just remember Hunter Thompson used to joke about him all the time. And people would say, like, are you this? Are you. Hey, man, don't look at me. I'm Kiwanis. And they'd go, oh. Cause no one knows what that is. That's exactly. Nobody has a fucking clue. Yeah. People would say all this stuff. You go, don't blame me, man. I'm Kiwanis. And people go, okay. And then they'd stop talking to him. That's a good one.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Leave him alone. The man's Kiwanis.

[James Petregallo]

He's Kiwanis. I don't know. He's crazy. Not a lot going on there. Last year we had a little over 500 vehicles and filled 96 vendor spaces. It's 100 bucks, rain or shine, by the way. Take your car out there. Then there's the Oakland Labor Dayz. D A Z e, of course.

[Jimmy Whisman]

$100 to enter your car or to food vendor.

[James Petregallo]

Food vendor space. And then there's booths for $25. The Oakland Labor Days is a family friendly music festival with many fun filled alcohol free events. Oh, that sounds awesome.

[Jimmy Whisman]

How do you have fun?

[James Petregallo]

How do the adults have fun? Jesus Christ. They got a. Well, that's why they have live music, food vendors, children's activities, community workshop, community worship service. Yeah. 5K race car cruise parade, firework show. Let's see what we have here. We have a band called the Sky Cats will be there. Sky Cats. I think this is a Christian thing. Hazard county will be there. Wonder what they play.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, boy.

[James Petregallo]

Shocking. There. The Dave Veteran music group. The Christian music hour at 9am Imagine being woken up and dragged to a park to listen to christian music at 9:00am no, that sounds fucking like a nightmare. The Songbirds. The Russ Peters Group, which sounds like an investment business. Invest with the Russ Peters Group. Solid investment for your future.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It was something Peters, right?

[James Petregallo]

I don't know. And then there's Russell Peters, the comedian. Of course. Dark Horse Run. Nerds Gone Wild will be there.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's where they show you their trombone.

[James Petregallo]

Oh, gonna show you my slide.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petregallo]

The Batavia Swing Band. The Public Water Supply.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What? That's a band name.

[James Petregallo]

That's a band name because they play both nights. Public Water Supply. I was like, what do they have like a speech from the water guy and then they're back to the.

[Jimmy Whisman]

No, it's just the utility guys that all work together and they have put

[James Petregallo]

together a band and they have like a two hour set. So I'm like, that's gotta be music. And then the Floyd Concept. Basket and the Floyd concept. That's I assume a Pink Floyd cover band. And many basket and raffle drawings when I had the words running together.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Floyd experience, basket, raffle.

[James Petregallo]

That's what you're doing. That's a great band. It's my favorite band. But you know what? With a small town festival, you never know. Who knows? Yeah, it might be the Floyd concept Basket and Raffle Drawing Band. We've heard weirder names. That's the thing.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petregallo]

Oh man, that's hilarious. So that said, let's talk about some murder. What do you say here? No, we got some wild stuff. Okay. Gotta give credit, by the way, to the Batavia Daily News, which is obviously a newspaper online deal there, because they covered this very, very well, which is understandable why they would want to, because it's crazy stuff, man. Okay, let's start out and talk about a guy here. All right. We're gonna start out in 2009, so not too far back here. You know, basically everything's the same. Except you don't have Instagram. That's about it. That's what we got.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, I guess. Yeah. We didn't. Did we?

[James Petregallo]

No. Still. Got an iPhone in your hand still. Or whatever. An Android still. You know, Same shit. Scott Franklin doll, we're going to talk about D O L L doll. Oh, he's 46 years old in 2009. He grew up in the. And lived in the village of Corfu. C O R F U, which I've never heard of. C O R F U, please. No. Fu. That definitely sounds like a code.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petregallo]

Shit. It's a really small place. Less than a thousand people. All that kind of shit. His family has run a grocery store there for 40 years. So everybody knows them. They're the town grocery store in a town of less than a thousand people. That's called the Dahl's Super Duper. That's what it's called, the grocery store. He's a volunteer firefighter when he grows up, he attends the same church his entire life. Everybody says he is reliable. He's a real Mr. Corfu. Everybody knows who he is, what he's going to do, where he goes on Sunday. You can look over. Scott Dahl's going to be over and that's his spot. He's there every damn week. You know what I mean? He's. There's a fire, he's going to have his little uniform on there. Putting it out. He becomes a corrections officer. Really a lot of these Western and Central and all over New York towns. That's the only work around there.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's the big work, huh?

[James Petregallo]

That's the work is. Yeah. If you want to make anything, I mean, you know, 40 grand a year back in the day or whatever and have benefits and stuff. That's the job. It's either that or who knows around there, run your parents grocery store. It's difficult. And the way the system works too. Some of the people that like, are up there then they get like stationed somewhere else.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, they get transferred, huh?

[James Petregallo]

Yeah. You don't necessarily. When you become a prison guard in New York or whatever, Corrections officer, you don't necessarily. You don't work where you are. You can be moved that you can be moved. They'll just send you around like you're in the army, which is.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And you got no choice. They just say you're gonna.

[James Petregallo]

You're gonna go to Pennsylvania, you're going to sing. Well, no, no, New York. You're going to Sing Sing now. So you could be, you know, going seven hours away from where you live, which is brutal.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's only New York.

[James Petregallo]

It's. I. I don't know. I think it's by state. I'm sure other states have a similar way, but I'm not sure because in New York, the corrections officers are technically, like, technically the same as police officers.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, govern. Okay. Government people either.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah. Like off duty. They, you know, if they really wanted to. Oh, yeah. Oh, interesting. They're supposed to carry a gun and all that crap.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Sworn and everything, huh?

[James Petregallo]

Yeah, it's kind of. I think California's like that too. Cause you gotta be a prison guard before you become a sheriff. You have to be a CO before you're a sheriff. That's how it works.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's wild.

[James Petregallo]

To be able to be a cop, you have to go through that. Which just makes you think everyone's a criminal. Since you were in a place where everyone's a criminal, then you get out on the street and treat everybody like you did in prison. Really not the best plan.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I don't think it's a fascinating plan.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah, it's a weird plan. So way off of that, he becomes a corrections. A corrections officer. And he does that for almost 25 years. As we'll talk about here.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Imagine you just want to give speeding tickets and then you get shanked in the fucking throat. Yeah, that's fucked up, man.

[James Petregallo]

To do that, you got to do that. I guess it seems odd, but those seem like very separate skill sets.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's a weird through line.

[James Petregallo]

Dealing with people on the outside and dealing with people who are in there already is definitely way different. So he was the supervisor in the special needs unit at the Wendy Correctional Facility in Erie county, which is a maximum security prison that houses inmates with IQs of 90 or below.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, boy.

[James Petregallo]

So I just saw Jimmy doing math and going, jesus, that's not good. I'm real close to that because you're always saying it. It's the only reason why I brought it up.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's not great.

[James Petregallo]

You just went, oh, shit. That's bad. I don't want to be in special

[Jimmy Whisman]

dinner dealing with a bunch of me that can't read all day.

[James Petregallo]

Jesus Christ. It's bad enough to be in prison. Not only can you not be in society, but even in prison, you need a little extra help. You need a little extra help in

[Jimmy Whisman]

prison amongst a smaller group of people.

[James Petregallo]

That's tough.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That you can carry on conversations with.

[James Petregallo]

That's tough, man. That's a tough road for a criminal.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Tough road to hoe, babe.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah, it is. So by 2009, he's earning 75,000 a year in salary from the New York State Department of Corrections. He's also doing the volunteer firefighting, and he also started a business where him and a partner buy cars at auction and sell them. Little used car business as well. Yeah. Little cash on the side. So early 2009, he is three months away from his 25th anniversary in service with the Corrections Department there, which makes him eligible for full retirement benefits at that point.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Dude started at 21. That's incredible.

[James Petregallo]

So he's 46 now, and he's ready to do that. He's also in a shitload of debt. Well, not a shitload, but a shitload for him. I mean, compared to some people. But he's in about $28,000 of debt.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's great.

[James Petregallo]

Which isn't bad. But in 2009. And if you're making 75 grand a year, that's still. You're chipping away at that. Can't just pay that off.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Unsecured, though, is not easy.

[James Petregallo]

No, and a lot of it's from his divorce, too. He's got debts from the divorce and shit like that, so that doesn't make him happy. His side business is called SF Enterprises. Enterprises with a Z, of course. Hell, yeah, it's 2009. It's 2009, but he thinks it's 95. So he's like, yeah, with a Z, man.

[Jimmy Whisman]

We'll make still wearing lugs with a

[James Petregallo]

Z, so they know we got an edge. You know what I'm saying? That's what it is. So. So they operate that out of three Corfu Plaza. That's the business address there. They purchase used cars at the Odessa Adisa, whatever it is, ADESA Auction in Clarence. And then they fix them up and they sell them locally. His friend that he runs it with is an old friend from the Wyoming Correctional Facility, which is in New York. Obviously, a guy named. Obviously, you know. A guy named Joseph Bennequist is his business partner, and he's 66 in 2009. 20 years older, but they've known each other through work. He's a corrections officer, too. He's retired now, Bennequist, but that's what he did. So he retired from the work. They both were at the Wyoming Correctional Facility when they became friends in the mid-90s, you know, when Z's were cool and they worked the same shift. So they became buddies and they had coffee in the morning and ate lunch together and, you know, talked as they walked out at the end of their shift and all that kind of shit. You know, work, friends.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Pals.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah, pals. Now, Joseph lives Bennequist here. He kind of lives out kind of in the middle of nowhere a little bit. Yeah. On a road called Knap Road. And it is. His nearest neighbor is at least 100 yards away.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Nice.

[James Petregallo]

So I mean, not middle of nowhere. Middle of nowhere, but definitely not. You're not hearing shit from your neighbors. 100 degrees, that's a football field away. It's a pretty good distance. Now, he has many kids. Let's see, one, two, three, four kids. Looks like three daughters and a son. He's got a couple of. Yeah, Bennequist does. He's got a couple of stepfathers. He's got nine grandchildren by 2009.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Wow.

[James Petregallo]

So, yeah, he's pumping them out here now. January 26th, 2009 is the Corfu Republican caucus. Trust me, there's nothing to do with politics here. It's just. That's what happens.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Not a contentious one up there in Corfu, James.

[James Petregallo]

That's what I mean. We're talking about very few people.

[Jimmy Whisman]

This isn't 2009. This was so.

[James Petregallo]

Well, this is the caucus for mayor, not for anything national. Yeah. So this is the mayoral caucus, the local caucus. The mayoral caucus. And they endorse Scott Dahl to run for mayor.

[Jimmy Whisman]

How about that?

[James Petregallo]

Yeah, he's a firefighter, corrections officer. His family's well known. Everyone in town knows him since he was a little kid because his family.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Public servant his whole life, James.

[James Petregallo]

So he's. Yeah, he's doing. He's a well known guy around the village, so he's got a good shot here. He has no prior government experience and had recently moved back to the village from other places. But no prior. He was it. He's the guy, though.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Take the top dog job as the first foray. All right.

[James Petregallo]

In a town of 800 people, I

[Jimmy Whisman]

guess that's not so much.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah, it's not bad. Not very. I mean, people run like ebay businesses that are Bigger than that. You know what I mean? It's not that difficult. So early 2009, Joseph Bennequist buys a car here. He buys a Pontiac G6.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, yeah.

[James Petregallo]

Have you ever seen that?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, That's a good car.

[James Petregallo]

Whoa. Not this one. No. Look up a 2006 Pontiac G6. It's not good.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Is it different from. I mean, I don't. They don't make it anymore.

[James Petregallo]

There's a good reason.

[Jimmy Whisman]

The Pontiac G6 was like the.

[James Petregallo]

They don't make Pontiacs anymore. Did Pontiac quit, like, 15 years ago? Yeah, it does. A long time. Long time.

[Jimmy Whisman]

The G6 was, like, the answer to the. To the GTO. No, I guess it's not.

[James Petregallo]

No, it's a little shit.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's the small GTO.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah. It doesn't. It's not cool.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, the G8 is the cool one.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah. G6. Not.

[Jimmy Whisman]

All right, the G6. Yeah, it's just. I mean, it's like a. It's like a Mazda 6. It's just a little family car.

[James Petregallo]

It's a little car. It's probably good on gas. Yeah.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petregallo]

Joseph buys this at the Odessa auction for personal use, not to sell. He pays $10,000 toward a $13,300 purchase price. Now, the way it works is it's from the company that he's paying the money because they have the account to pay the thing, right? So that's what he's supposed to do. But apparently, Scott Dahl never forwarded the $10,000 to the financing company like he's supposed to.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Okay.

[James Petregallo]

So it just didn't go there for some reason. We're not sure why he didn't do that, but he didn't pay them for it, which is odd because that's a place. That's where they run their bit. You know, that's where they get all their cars. So they have to stay on good terms with those people. So it's strange. Now, February 16, 2009, Bennequist here, now, he's fixing this car up a bit, too. So he's put some money into it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, yeah?

[James Petregallo]

Yeah. He's got a flat tire on the old G6 that night.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, boy.

[James Petregallo]

Not good. So apparently there's. He has a bunch of cars in his driveway. Beniquist. There's a Nissan Altima also. So he goes home to get the jack from the Nissan Altima to. To change the tire.

[Jimmy Whisman]

The G6 doesn't have a jack in it.

[James Petregallo]

Doesn't have a jack, or he doesn't have one. Either way. So apparently He, Joseph Bennequist and Josh Dahl, who is Scott's son, take the G6. They were going to take the G6 to the Odessa auction that night. I don't know if he was going to sell it or what or if he was going to drive it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Buy more. Driving it. Yeah.

[James Petregallo]

I think he's just driving it there. But the jack that he went to get from the Altima turned out to be broken. So now he's got.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Damn it.

[James Petregallo]

What a night to all these cars. Broken jack, flat tire, very annoying. So late afternoon, early evening. Josh Dahl and Bennequist don't end up at the auction as they were supposed to. They were supposed to go there. Scott Dahl says he was trying to reach them but couldn't get a hold of them. Also to see what was going on. So apparently what he says, Scott Dahl's driving his mother's Ford Windstar minivan. Hot ride.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It keeps getting worse.

[James Petregallo]

That's right. If you buy and sell cars, you can't have a better car than that lying around. You could drive. You got to borrow Mom's Windstar.

[Jimmy Whisman]

They gotta be honest.

[James Petregallo]

A G6, a Windstar, an Altima.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Altima that has a bad jack.

[James Petregallo]

This is a shit. Yeah. This is a terrible group of cars. These people have.

[Jimmy Whisman]

The jack's broken. Think about the rest of the automotive reliability. This.

[James Petregallo]

No shit, man. He's driving a Windstar.

[Jimmy Whisman]

They don't make that either anymore.

[James Petregallo]

Probably not.

[Jimmy Whisman]

They don't.

[James Petregallo]

I wouldn't think so. I don't see a lot of minivans out there. They have no.

[Jimmy Whisman]

The minivan market really shit the bed didn't.

[James Petregallo]

It just changed into the crossovers, that's all.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Well, I mean, you've got the Odysseys and the Siennas of the Toyotas and the Hondas, but SUVs of various size. I think the Quest is what did it. That Nissan Quest. The whole market.

[James Petregallo]

Well, they became a punchline for so long.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petregallo]

Minivans.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And they tried to make it cool with that dumb dub commercial with the Swagger wagon. It's. And it being a dad is not cool.

[James Petregallo]

I think the Pontiac Aztec killed, maybe so killed minivans. They just said, okay, this is the best idea. We were out of ideas with the minivan. Scratch it. I'll get it off the plane.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's the start of the crossovers.

[James Petregallo]

They.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Everybody saw that. And we're like, oh, we could certainly do better than that. Right?

[James Petregallo]

God awful. God awful. So apparently he is. Scott Dahl says he was going to head over to look for Joseph Bennequist and Josh Dahl is what he's doing that night. That's what's going on in the early evening. Now that sets the table as far as we don't really know where Joseph and Josh are. They're supposed to be at an auction, but they're not. Flat tire broken. Jack, Scott Dahl's out in the windstar looking for him. Okay. Hey everybody. Just going to take a quick break from the show to tell you a much better way to get your meats with good chop.

[Jimmy Whisman]

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[James Petregallo]

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[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh those Duroc chops are incredible.

[James Petregallo]

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[Jimmy Whisman]

now back to the show.

[James Petregallo]

Small Town Murder is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible financial geniuses. Monetary Mag. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. But potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations. So 8:41pm this night, February 16, 2009. This is at. On North Lake Road in Pembroke. The Genesee County Sheriff's dispatch receives a call reporting a suspicious person walking along North Lake Road. Yeah. Okay. The caller is a firefighter who just happened to be passing by. Luckily, no one was shooting at him. That's good. Yeah. He notices a guy and then watches the man, who, by the way, is dressed entirely in camouflage and wearing a white hood. I don't know what that is. A Klansman who blends into the.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petregallo]

The white hood also kind of takes away from the camouflage. Look at that. I don't see anything. Wow. There's just a strange white head sitting floating above that group of bushes.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Otherwise, it's just a very recognizable person. Floating. You don't want that either.

[James Petregallo]

No. It's all you see.

[Jimmy Whisman]

If you're wearing camouflage, the idea is to be disappeared.

[James Petregallo]

I would think so. Now, I don't know if this is a hoodie that he's wearing under the camouflage and has the hood on or he's got a clan hood. I'm not sure exactly how this works, but apparently the firefighter watched this guy duck out of the road, turn away, and crouch between two parked cars to hide when this firefighter slowed down to take a look at him. And camouflage in a white hood, you couldn't be wearing a more suspicious outfit. Probably also.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And then behave suspiciously on top of it.

[James Petregallo]

You're drawing attention to yourself.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petregallo]

If you just put on. You just put on like, a pair of Dockers and a polo shirt and walk down the street. Normal, the guy wouldn't have looked at you twice.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He wouldn't have even slowed down.

[James Petregallo]

Wouldn't even have noticed you. He would have just blended into the side. You would have looked like a fire hydrant at that point. But instead you're like, let me get the most conspicuous outfit ever. And then act real weird when anybody sees me. That'll get me.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Wouldn't have even noticed a dude.

[James Petregallo]

No. And on top of that, he was carrying a lug wrench and a large screwdriver and a carjack.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I mean, he's got a bunch of equipment and car breaking into equipment, heavy

[James Petregallo]

metal things he's carrying around with him, dressed like that, which is odd. So about 9pm that night on North Lake Road, the cops arrive. This is Deputy James Deal. Responds to the dispatch call and finds it's Scott Dahl in the camouflage in the hood. That's what he's doing right now. So they're like, okay. He said he was wearing a Camouflage hunting outfit and a white hood. He dropped a metal object. When approached, he pulled a lug wrench from his pocket. He had what appeared to be wet blood stains on his knees, thighs, hands, and shoes.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Knees, thighs, hands, and shoes.

[James Petregallo]

I just figured out how you could look more suspicious than wearing that outfit. Also be covered from head to toe in blood or from, like, your waist

[Jimmy Whisman]

down in blood from hand to toe.

[James Petregallo]

Hand to toe in blood. Now he tells the deputy, oh, I'm wearing my deer butchering clothes because they're warm. That's why I'm. Because this is February. And, yeah, I used to butcher way upstate New York.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I usually butcher with tire jacks and.

[James Petregallo]

Well, yeah, well, when I'm going out to do things, I guess his excuse is it's cold. So I wore my warmest outfit. It happens to be covered in blood while I'm doing what I'm doing, Which is still.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Last time I wore it was doe season.

[James Petregallo]

I was chopping some shit up. Yeah. So he apparently. So he said, yeah, I wore my deer butchering clothes to keep warm. And they go, well, what are you doing out here? Yeah, and he said, I'm out walking to lower my blood pressure. I'm keeping warm and I have to keep warm. Why would you bring all your tools to take a walk? Maybe he's weighing himself down. He doesn't have any of those little.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I didn't have a weighted vest.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah, or those little, like, two pounders that women used to do with aerobics in the 80s, you know, none of those. He says, I have a doctor's appointment in the morning, so, you know, gonna get my. I'm working on my blood pressure now. Now the night before.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Cause it's probably gonna spike 6am that's how it goes.

[James Petregallo]

So the guy, the cop says, what's all the blood, homie? Like, what you got going on there? And he just says, it's my deer butchering outfit. He goes, yeah, but it's wet and fresh. That's wet blood. And he goes, I don't know. He just has no response to that whatsoever.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I don't know.

[James Petregallo]

I don't know. They're like, okay. He's described by the cop in his report as evasive. This whole time, all he would say is, I'm out. I have a blood pressure thing and I don't want to go to the doctor with high blood pressure. Vote for me in November, by the way. It's not the right town. Different town. Otherwise we're gonna get to that. You jumped it. But that's fine. Totally fine. So when he's asked for id, he pulls out his New York State Corrections Officer identification card, which kind of helps him a little bit. So the cop now treats him differently because he's one of the crew there. So at about 9 to 9:30 here, this cop agrees to give Scott Dahl a ride to his van. You okay? Yes. You be wearing a camouflage outfit, covered in fresh blood and a white hood, and have a bunch of weird tools on you at night in a small town, and have a cop come up to you and at the end of it, have it end with him giving you a ride to your car? Do you think that's going to happen without an idiot? Without the corrections officer, ID is a

[Jimmy Whisman]

dummy who goes for a drive to go for a walk.

[James Petregallo]

That's the thing. Well, yeah, I parked my car. And what? Yeah. So Dahl says he parked his car or his Windstar van at a gas station on the corner of North Lake road and Route 5. At this point, the firefighter who placed the original 911 call comes to the scene. He's probably got a scanner. He comes to the scene and tells the deputy, this is the guy I saw crouching between two cars to hide.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Right.

[James Petregallo]

Somehow the cop didn't put together that they called. Someone called about a guy in this outfit, crouching, being suspicious, being suspicious. He showed up, found the guy and said, must have been somebody else that was suspicious. Not the guy.

[Jimmy Whisman]

There must have been another. Keep your eyes out, Mr. Dahl. There's a suspicious man out here in

[James Petregallo]

camouflage, a hood, and fucking blood stains. He can't be the suspicious guy. They were talking about sharing wild shit.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's not you. I know that.

[James Petregallo]

So at this point, finally, the deputy detains Dahl. It took this much to do. It handcuffs him, places him in the patrol car. He's initially charged with trespassing for parking his van at the gas station. That's just to hang on to him for a minute to find out what's going on. So the cop, then, with Scott in the car, drives to the van. Yeah, we're at the van now. Okay. Now when they get to the van, there's blood all over the fucking van.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Everywhere, Inside and out or just inside.

[James Petregallo]

The outside is covered in blood. There's blood stains, there's spatter on it. The inside of it, bloody as shit, just covered in blood.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What the fuck?

[James Petregallo]

Really crazy. And there's also a pair of bloody gloves found nearby, right by the van. Just a pair of latex gloves covered in blood. The jack is missing. From the van, it's the same jack that he's carrying. Fits right in the spot there. The van is parked approximately 17 minutes walking from where we're gonna talk about in a minute here as we'll get to now, 9 o' clock to the 1:30 area. So it's about 9:30. That's all going on now till 1:30 in the morning. The investigators, basically, they believe Dahl is covered in human blood. They're like, this is not a deer. Because you would have said, I just butchered a deer. And you didn't. Right inside the van. And. Yeah, they believe based on how much blood there is both on him and all over the van, that somewhere somebody could be injured and in need of help. Someone's got a problem. Obviously, you're not supposed to lose that much blood. So they don't read him his Miranda rights, but they question him. Now, this also falls under something legal that's gonna happen later called the emergency doctrine. This is the. This is like the. You know, basically someone's. There's a bomb that's gonna go off. So we're gonna work this guy over till he tells us where it is. That kind of shit, like exigent circumstances where if you're trying to find somebody and trying to save a life, you don't have time to do all this, all the other shit. And that's okay at that point.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Okay, so because there's so much blood and somebody could be in dire need of help, we'll skip those few sentences in the interim and we'll get to it later.

[James Petregallo]

You show up and there's a guy in the front lawn with a knife and it's got blood all over it, and there's a trail of blood coming from the house. You don't have to read that guy his rights before you say, is there a victim in the house? You know what I mean, that we can possibly save? So I think that's the general deal, how that works. So they start calling Scott Dahl's family members and acquaintances, which is the weirdest investigative measure I've ever heard in my life.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Who's your wife? I'm calling who's your wife?

[James Petregallo]

They look kind of like his phone. They're just calling people to find out why he might be there and who he might have been with.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Where's the blood?

[James Petregallo]

Where's the blood? Because Scott won't say shit. So he refuses to answer questions. While the police are searching all around. They're just driving around. And all Scott will say is that he can't talk about what's happened. I can't talk about it. I can't talk about what. Can't talk about what's happened. Nothing happened. I can't talk about what's happened. So for four hours he's in the car with this deputy while he drives around the area trying to get. Trying to get information out of him while calling his relatives while he's in the backseat.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Wow.

[James Petregallo]

Which is wild at that point.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petregallo]

Eventually they end up on Knapp Road at Joseph Bennequist's house. Okay. Okay. Which is, by the way, a 17 minute walk from where Scott was originally found. Okay, okay. Police had called all of Scott's relatives to ask why he might be in Pembroke since he doesn't live there. And they said, well, his business partner, the Bennequist guy, he lives that way. He lives out in Pembroke. Maybe he's visiting him. So they gave the cop the address, and the police end up pulling up to Joseph Pembroke's house here. This is about 1:30 or Bennequist. Yeah. Pembroke is the town. Yeah. You keep it straight.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I'm gonna do my best here. God damn it. I'm too dumb for this shit.

[James Petregallo]

So about 1:30am this is when this happens. They show up at Bennequist's house on Knapp Road. There's a sergeant, Steve Mullen. He approaches the driveway and uses a flashlight to see Joseph Bennequist on the ground between two vehicles.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, no.

[James Petregallo]

He's frozen, by the way. He's been here a bit. Yeah, he's frozen over. He has frost on his eyebrows. He's like the end of the Shining. It looks like there's a large pool of blood around him and his skull is noticeably damaged from blunt force trauma is what it looks like. He's lying on the ground between two parked vehicles. The Pontiac G6 with a flat rear tire and the Altima with a broken jack behind its front passenger wheel. So that's what we got. The sergeant observed what he describes as a large pool of blood and visible damage to the skull. He has to call for an ambulance anyway, that's protocol here. So they have to get confirmation of the death from a city of Batavia unit. So he cordons off the scene with yellow crime scene tape and that's that. Joseph also has defense wounds on his hands. Beniquist as well. So he was attacked. It looks like he was attacked, beaten with a blunt object, and just left to die and freeze in his driveway, essentially. It looks like he's been hit a lot, though. He's Been pummeled here pretty good. Now, they said that the medical examiner, after they check him out, says that his ability to talk or move would have deteriorated rapidly from the attack, but he could have lived from one to four hours.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, Jesus.

[James Petregallo]

Laying there, suffering, lying on. Just bleeding out. Yeah, just bleeding. They said as he was being beaten, he tried to save himself. He put his hands up to block his head. But they said the injuries to his hands were consistent with getting beaten with a blunt object also.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, boy.

[James Petregallo]

So they call for the deputy chief here and another investigator. They call for whoever's in charge, basically. And they said, we did as thorough a search as we could in the dark. Which does not instill confidence. No, I mean, we did. I think we got out. I don't know. We had flashlights. Yeah.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Stand. It was dark.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah. We didn't bring in the, you know, the 5Ks or anything. We didn't bring in, like, you know, lights.

[Jimmy Whisman]

The generator trailer with the lights on it. We just didn't have that. But this was. This was done by Maglite. This is the Maglite investigation.

[James Petregallo]

So, I mean, if you might find some extra shit in the morning, let us know if you see anything. So in his pocket, in Bennequist's pocket, in the watch pocket, the small pocket of your jeans there, the fifth pocket, he's got black jeans on. In there is a piece of paper with the name Dave and a phone number in there. So they find that. So, like, okay, maybe that's a clue. Now, they question the neighbors, but they all live far away. The closest one's 100 yards away. Nobody heard shit. Nobody heard anything. So 3:30am, we're at the Genesee County Sheriff's Office, and there is a lady there named Teresa. Wow. Zalaskowicz, I think. It's got so many Z's and K's and S's in it. It's wild W's and shit. All sorts of shit. Yeah, there's one of those. One of those in there. She's a retired corrections officer and a friend of Scott Dahlia. She got a text from Scott Dahl's girlfriend. So she drives over here. She drives to pick up Scott Dahl's girlfriend in Corfu and then drive to the sheriff's office with his girlfriend. So now he's got an old work friend and his girlfriend are also at the Sheriff's department, where Scott's coming to. She talks to Doll. She wants to talk to Doll. The Teresa. Not the girlfriend, the ex, the CO worker. They don't let. They say no. She asks again, saying, come on, it's a professional courtesy. I'm a corrections officer. He's a corrections officer. Let me talk. And they go, okay. And they let her in. They're doing a bang up job so far. The investigator in there sits in the room and takes notes while she does this. By the way, she wasn't asked by the cops to do this. This is her idea.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Okay.

[James Petregallo]

So now Scott's talking to his friend, Corrections officer, not the detective. He's not under interrogation because she's talking to him. But the investigator sitting there taking notes on whatever he says.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Anything you say is certainly gonna be used against you.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah. Now he says, Scott says to his friend, because his friend was saying, is that deer blood all over you? What's going on? He says, the case did not involve an animal. He said that I was there, but I didn't do anything. And then he said, the case is open and shut and I'll be going to jail and probably I'll get what I deserve. That's what he said. So that's an odd statement to make. Sounds pretty incriminating.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah. It doesn't help you?

[James Petregallo]

No, not at all. So let's find out with Joseph Bennequist. What happened to him, his injuries. There's a minor abrasion in the middle of his back and more abrasions on his right shoulder. His. His face was scraped in places and there were at least six large gashes on his head, including a large one across his forehead. And the medical examiner said any one of those injuries could potentially lead to a person's death. Wow. They were all brutal. They said his hands were obviously defensive wounds. There's gashes on the inside of one hand and one finger cut down to the tendon, which is rough, and cuts on the outside of the other hand. The internal trauma consisted of two skull fractures, multiple bruises on his swollen brain and blood pooling inside the skull cavity.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Brain hemorrhaging.

[James Petregallo]

They said he was struck at least seven or eight times. They said he might have had seizures. He might have been not able to move or speak. Somewhere in between his attack, really bad attack, just fucked his brain up. Just absolutely so much brain damage. Hard boiled egged his brain. Just beat that fucking shell right off of it. Then here they go and they notice some things. They had taken photographs. They go back and take some photos again the next morning, and they had photos from the night before and then photos from when there's more light. They found the G6 is in the driveway with the flat tire. The Altima's got the non functional jack. A large flashlight is visible in the photograph. Which nobody tested, by the way.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What?

[James Petregallo]

This is the thing. I don't know if maybe cops got confused and thought it was another cop's flashlight or something. Oh, yeah, because it's dark and these guys don't seem like the most crack squad of homicide detectives in this little town.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, probably everybody's got one out there.

[James Petregallo]

Not sure. So either way, nobody ever tested that. And there was a chunk of wood in front of the tire that appeared in one photograph, but then wasn't there. There was never a. There was never one where he had an evidence marker. So it never got. Somebody moved it and it never got put into evidence. Somebody kicked it aside or something, possibly. No weapons ever recovered. They conclude from the nature of the skull trauma that a blunt object had been used, which they never identified what that object was or where it went. I'd start with the lug wrench in his pocket probably, and go from there

[Jimmy Whisman]

and then work back to that chunk of wood in the driveway to the

[James Petregallo]

tire jack that he was carrying. And a chunk of wood, the flashlight, anything heavy.

[Jimmy Whisman]

There's a lot of blunt things here.

[James Petregallo]

You would think the fingernails of Joseph were photographed in plastic bags, which is standard procedure. A lot of places they use paper because they say plastic can get moisture built up in there. This is to preserve DNA from under the nails. But the forensic testing on the hands were never requested and never done.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, my word.

[James Petregallo]

So he's obviously fighting and might have something under there, but they don't ever test that. He's got lacerations on Jesus. So the next morning, the Genesee County Sheriff has a press conference and announces that they've had in custody Scott Dahl from Corfu. A charge of second degree murder. And we're holding him there. And they were colleagues and business partners, and the home was an isolated place. And he just gives us kind of the thing. The Department of Corrections has to make a statement also. Because it's one of theirs.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's one of ours.

[James Petregallo]

This is the statement. We don't know what triggered this. We're still trying to piece this together. They don't understand it. We don't know. We're not positive. They said that Dahl has been suspended without pay, pending the outcome of the case, though.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, wow.

[James Petregallo]

Without pay, without pay. Wow. So that's what it takes to get suspended without pay, without pay.

[Jimmy Whisman]

So much for due process, right?

[James Petregallo]

Due process. He's on fucking. He's up on a murder charge. If you Worked at, like, State Farm Insurance Agency, and you're up on a murder charge, they would fire you immediately. You're done. They're like, well, I don't know. We'll see what happens. You know what? No pay. How's that?

[Jimmy Whisman]

I'm sorry. I thought we lived in America.

[James Petregallo]

That's fucking funny. Well, I guess it's because it's not a private. It was a private company. They'd shit can them immediately. Oh, for now, because it's a government job. They're probably. That's why they're doing that. They're giving them a break.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Just suspend it. If he comes back acquitted. Come on, back to work.

[James Petregallo]

Oh, you get acquitted on a Friday. Your Monday morning shift is waiting for you.

[Jimmy Whisman]

You bet.

[James Petregallo]

Let's do it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

So February, you're back in line for overtime.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah. You're up on the top of the seniority list still. February 20, 2009, they search Scott's home. I don't know why it took them three days, four days to do that, but they search Scott's home on Main street in Corfu. East Main Street. They find paperwork from the SF Enterprises car business. No book of registry. They find two MV50 books used for DMV vehicle transfers. All the business crap. They don't find paperwork establishing a 2000 van as belonging to Bennequist when it was supposed to. So they find paperwork that basically Joseph was supposed to have things that he didn't have. They think Scott might have been scamming him. I think is what they're thinking, like, yeah, there's a van that's supposed to be titled in his name, but it's actually not titled in Bennecliffe's name. He was supposed to pay that $10,000 to the auction house, but didn't. All that kind of shit. So they said that this is what they're looking over, that maybe it was a disputed car deal, maybe Dahl was embezzling or something, and they're trying to look into that. March 18, 2009. It's election day, everybody. Yeah, it's election day. He's sitting in jail for fucking second degree murder, but he's still on the ballot. He is the Republican candidate for mayor of Corfu. There's Republican, Democrat, Independent.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He's murdering candidate. Allegedly at this moment.

[James Petregallo]

That's amazing.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Wow.

[James Petregallo]

The. The Sandy Thomas, who's the Corfu village clerk, said that. You don't know how many phone calls I've had with people asking about that.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, I love when dead guys win. That's my favorite thing ever.

[James Petregallo]

That's so fun.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I can't get enough of that.

[James Petregallo]

Then you just get his wife. Is what they do usually. Is that what they do when the dead guy wins? Yeah, because there's got to be somebody else. It's so strange when a dead guy wins.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's so awesome, though.

[James Petregallo]

He's waiting on it. He loses. He does get votes, though. He does not get shut out. That's the thing. He gets votes. Do they just not know it's got 800 people? You figure maybe what, 500 of them can vote? He did not lose. 500 to nothing. He didn't. They have to know it's a small town. The fucking guy running for mayor is sitting in a jail cell for murder.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I think it's a fuck yes.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah, that sounds good. I didn't like that guy anyway. Maybe they didn't like Bennequist. Who knows? It's crazy. Talk about ridiculous that Bennequist cut me off one time. Fuck him. I don't know. That's wild. So he loses, and Mayor Todd Skeet wins. Todd Skeet. That is a bad name for politics.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, my.

[James Petregallo]

There he is.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Todd Jizz.

[James Petregallo]

Todd Jizz. That's right, Todd. Todd makes it worse for some.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It does, yeah.

[James Petregallo]

For some reason. I don't know why, but toddlers, that really ups the ante for. So now, Scott, he's got a version of events of what happened. He said he arrived at Joseph's house on Knapp Road and found Bennequist already wounded.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh.

[James Petregallo]

He said, I don't know what happened. I showed up and he was like that. They said, well, how'd you get covered in blood? He said, well, I knelt beside him and held him as he died. He did like in a movie where he's like, you know, man, the chopper's on the way. Hang on for one more minute. And he's like, nah, man, I'm a goner.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I don't want to go home.

[James Petregallo]

Just tell my mom I loved her, you know? That's what's going on. No, man, you're going to make it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And then he just, hold on, Bennequist. We're going to skip all this car sales. We're going to be shrimp boat captain.

[James Petregallo]

That's what we're going to do. You can make it, Bennequist. You can make it. That's what's going on here. So he said, I held him as he died. And he said his last words. Bennequist's last words as he laid dying in his arms were the Boy. The boy. The boy. That's what he said, the boy. I guess that's who did it. Now, Dahl interpreted this as meaning his son Josh was the one who killed him. So this guy's sitting in jail trying to throw his son under the bus for murder?

[Jimmy Whisman]

His own or beniquist?

[James Petregallo]

No, his own Josh Dahl.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's who he's saying did.

[James Petregallo]

That's. He said. He said, Bennequist said, the boy. The boy. And he said, I think he means Josh.

[Jimmy Whisman]

My kid.

[James Petregallo]

My kid, he said. So at that point, he panicked. He didn't call 911, didn't even attempt CPR, even though he's a corrections officer and very much trained in emergency procedures. You have to do that quite often, he said. He just walked away.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Who's the OJ?

[James Petregallo]

OJ's story wasn't, I came upon the murder scene, held Nicole in my arms, and then said, fuck it, and left. That wasn't his story. His story was I was flying to Chicago, I was chipping on my green. This is a terrible story.

[Jimmy Whisman]

This is a terrible story, is the point.

[James Petregallo]

It's a bad excuse.

[Jimmy Whisman]

How are you?

[James Petregallo]

It's not good.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And he just thinks that's the end of this and he's just going to

[James Petregallo]

go home and he thought he was going to win the mayoral race, for Christ's sake, never mind any of this. He thinks he's getting his job. Yeah, he's very delusional. But, I mean, his story is, I showed up and held because he's kind of covered in his blood. He can't hide that. So he has to say how the blood got there. That's how he got there. And just I panicked and walked away because I thought, my son.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He's probably my own son.

[James Petregallo]

That's what he said. So I didn't want to get him in trouble. Problem is the blood on his clothing. A lot of it is impact spatter. It's not dripping and pooling contact.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's impact.

[James Petregallo]

Exactly. Which is. That's evidence that usually that spatter is on the person doing the hitting is the thing. Right.

[Jimmy Whisman]

The blood splashed from the body onto you rather than touching you. Yeah.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah. And I mean. And there's been lots of debate on the science of blood spatter, but in general, the impact of it and the movement of it, you can get a pretty good idea here.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And you don't want that as your only evidence to convict somebody, because that's a real precarious situation.

[James Petregallo]

No, that's like bite marks. It's like they can Be read.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That is your only evidence.

[James Petregallo]

No, they can be read different. But they always get convictions on it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

They try so hard.

[James Petregallo]

They always win. They always get convictions on bite. When you bring a guy up there going, nope, they match up. People don't say, well, maybe that. They just, well, that's a science guy.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And he says, well, they don't do it anymore. Right, because of it.

[James Petregallo]

People still do it. They still do it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

They try to rest a whole case on that shit.

[James Petregallo]

They will, they will. It's crazy, but they will. They'll try to do it. So they said the blood stains on the Pontiac G6 which had been parked in the driveway were all transfer stains. The blood on one object transferring to another. Like he got hit and fell into it and bled on it. Hey everybody, just gonna take a quick break from the show to tell you about the safest sponsor we could possibly have. SimpliSafe.

[Jimmy Whisman]

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[James Petregallo]

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[Jimmy Whisman]

Now back to the show.

[James Petregallo]

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[Jimmy Whisman]

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[James Petregallo]

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[Jimmy Whisman]

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[James Petregallo]

right [e-mail] that's globalgamingleague.com in partnership with Level Up Expo. The puddle of blood found underneath the Nissan Altima which was also parked in the driveway. They said that blood could have gotten there as a result of another person moving the body to that area.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Okay.

[James Petregallo]

Which it would have to be because his car has covered him. The minivan's covered in blood. So something happened here. Like did he start beating him in the van and then dump him in the driveway?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Started to run.

[James Petregallo]

That's, I mean, we don't know. Threw him in there, decided to take him somewhere, then said, no, fuck it, just leave him in the driveway. I'm not sure. They said the blood found on Dahl's overalls and on the Windstar van were a result of of being in close proximity with Bennequist during the assault. So either way, around the car, one way or another. Yeah. Now the Scott's story here is that Joseph Bennequist and Josh Dahl were supposed to bring the G6 to the auction that evening. When they failed to show, Scott drove out to the house to check on the situation. He arrived to find Bennequist already pummeled and dying and knelt down beside him and just walked away. So that's the story he's got.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Bad story.

[James Petregallo]

It doesn't seem Good. I'm not buying it. It's not mad.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Plausible.

[James Petregallo]

It really isn't. So the trial comes up, and Dahl seeks to suppress the incriminating statements he made in front of police to his friend. The one where he said, yeah, it's not an animal, and I'll probably be going to jail, which I deserve.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's what I deserve.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah. And the judge denies it and lets it in, though. So that's going to be let in, which is real precarious. Yeah. Now, Joseph's son here, Joseph Bennequist's son, Michael Bennequist, takes the witness stand here. They have a series of his checks written from the key bank here. The son agreed that all of his father's signatures on the checks were valid and had been signed by his father. However, the contract for the title of a 2006 Chevy Malibu, he said, that is not my father's signature on that one. So they're trying to say that Dahl was forging Bennequist's signature so he could steal some shit here. So then they show Bennequist's son three videos from the Odessa auction camera. In the third video, the son was asked to observe a gentleman wearing a plaid jacket. And the video revealed the man speaking and standing next to another man. And the second man was recorded wearing a tan jacket and a baseball cap. They said. They asked if the individual implied was your father. And he said that he wasn't completely sure, but it might be. The other two videos showed the man in the tan jacket wearing a baseball cap at the auction as well. They agreed that in two of the videos, his father's 2006 Chevy Malibu was passing by the camera. However, he testified that he couldn't recognize who the other man was wearing the tan jacket. They're trying to say that was Dahl. The medical examiner said they asked them. This is the defense attorney. They said, could the injuries have been caused or. I'm sorry, the prosecution was asking this. Setting it up. Could the injuries have been caused by a car falling off a jack and onto him and then bouncing eight times, crushing his skull? Obviously, that happens those tires over again. They're so bouncy. They're so bouncy.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Well, yeah. And then you oftentimes get defensive wounds trying to fight the car off.

[James Petregallo]

You do that, but it eventually overpowers you and just keeps pummeling get you. Yeah, that's what happens.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Especially the 2006 Malibu. That's why they recalled it.

[James Petregallo]

Well, I hear the Altima was here. The Altima was really famous for that.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That was why they stopped making Pontiacs.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah, that's what happened.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Very aggressive cars.

[James Petregallo]

One too many bodies on those things. They couldn't take it anymore. So they said, are the abrasions consistent with the body being dragged across a hard surface? They said, even though the victim was fully clothed and had a jacket on? And they said, yes, it is. So he was dragged to this spot, probably in between the cars. So he couldn't be seen so easily.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He couldn't be seen. Right. So he can bleed out.

[James Petregallo]

Right? Yeah. So cross examination, the defense attorney asked if one could distinguish between injuries on the hand stemming from striking against something or being struck by something. So could you tell if Joseph hit something or was hit with his hand injuries?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Okay.

[James Petregallo]

And the medical examiner said no, but when the injury occurs at or below the second knuckle, it's consistent with defensive actions.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Which one's the second knuckle?

[James Petregallo]

I think in the middle, because that would be one on each side. So.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petregallo]

The middle would be above.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Above that or which one?

[James Petregallo]

That or below? I don't know. That's crazy.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's a confusing ass.

[James Petregallo]

Very confusing statement. I'm very confused. So they asked if the abrasions on his back were the result of being dragged. We have that. And they said also could they be the result of being dragged along or were they the result of him lying on his back and trying to fend off an attacker? And the medical examiner said, there's no way to make that distinction. They're basically trying to say you don't know what happened. That's what their defense is.

[Jimmy Whisman]

All I know is that if you have injuries on the backs of your hands that are big gashes. 100%. That's defensive.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah. Or even on the palms of your hands.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petregallo]

That stab wounds are usually palms of

[Jimmy Whisman]

the hands, but you got wound. You don't do things with the back to your hand. You know what I mean?

[James Petregallo]

Not at all.

[Jimmy Whisman]

You do nothing with them.

[James Petregallo]

Nope, not at all. Unless you're covering up and getting.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, James. That's what he did.

[James Petregallo]

Covering up his skull.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Nice work right there.

[James Petregallo]

Okay.

[Jimmy Whisman]

That's exactly what he did.

[James Petregallo]

I think that's what he did. It seemed to make sense 100% cover up. And then. Yeah. If you got wounds here, if you punch someone, it's not going to get on the back of your hand.

[Jimmy Whisman]

It's never there. Yeah. It's never the backs of your hands.

[James Petregallo]

Nope. So they also said under cross examination that it's difficult to say.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Dang, that was great.

[James Petregallo]

We did It. We figured it out.

[Jimmy Whisman]

We just cracked the case.

[James Petregallo]

We cracked the case. Jimmy. We're on it. They said that they asked how much Bennequist's body could have been moved or whether he was able to speak or for how long, and they said they don't know. The attorney also asked if a murder victim's nails and matter underneath them typically undergoes forensic testing. The guy said yes. He said that was done in this case, too, and the data was submitted to the DA's office. But they said the DA apparently opted not to include them in the case files. Which is. You have to include that kind of shit in the case files. That's something the defense can use if you're doing it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah. They asked if there was a piece of paper with the name Dave on it and a phone number inside his pocket, and he said yes, that was also submitted. There was also a sliver of silver, like material embedded, found near one of the victim's wrists. They said that those two submissions also didn't make it into the case file. So the. Dave. This is not good. No. It looks like you're hiding shit when you do that. That's bad.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Especially when it's a man's name and phone number.

[James Petregallo]

Exactly.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Who was that? Why was he supposed to be in contact with them? That's so cool.

[James Petregallo]

Was he selling? Yeah. Was that guy supposed to come and look at a car and then this guy decided to kill him and rob him instead? Who knows?

[Jimmy Whisman]

Private sales of cars historically have a terrible connotation for sales.

[James Petregallo]

I'm not selling anybody's shit. You can fuck off. I am not doing that. Whatever.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Throw it in the trash or donate it.

[James Petregallo]

Either I'll keep it or give it away to somebody. I'm not gonna get stabbed in the face for $60 somewhere. I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it for. Nope. They bring in a blood spatter expert and he agreed with the defense attorney that from looking at the autopsy report, there were a number of large cuts on the head. The cause of the blood spatter onto doll's shoes, overalls, and the outside of the Windstar. They're trying to put that into question. So the defense attorney says, is it safe to say that if enough blood came down Bennequist's head, it could been have sprayed onto other individuals nearby? How would it spray if you hit it? Maybe aspiration, if you.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Or if the blood came down and you hit the puddle that splashes, maybe.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah, that's a good point. They said. Which is called expiration. And it's blowing blood off from the nose, mouth, or wound. Pushed by an air source. Yeah. If you've got blood in your mouth, you go like that and it sprays everywhere. So this guy agreed and testified that that was possible. So he's saying. So maybe while he was holding him, he was going. And spitting blood. And that's okay.

[Jimmy Whisman]

So you said expiration. Aspiration is when you breathe it in.

[James Petregallo]

Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Expiration is out. So they said that the impact spatter of blood from a beating can have the same size and range as from coughing blood. So he said, though. But expirated, spattered blood can appear similar to impact blood by size and range. He said, though, this is what he had on his clothing and vehicle were completely consistent with impact spatter that we notice in our case studies and experiments. So then the defense has a spatter expert who's saying, this is. What are we talking about? This is blood getting breathed out obviously here. So what are we talking about? So then Scott testifies.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Got to.

[James Petregallo]

He's got to. At this point, he's gonna tell his story. He said, joseph Bennequist was my friend. When he's asked by his attorney if he's ever seen anyone die before, he said, yes, a family member. Then he began to tear up. And then Joseph Bennequist, he's very sensitive. He fought back tears. And they said, did you kill Joseph Bennequist? And he said, no, I did not. While he was crying. I did not. He said that he was with him when he died and that he interpreted the boy to mean his son Josh had been involved. So he even threw him under the bus in court. Verdict comes in here. So this could go either way.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Could it? Yeah. I mean, based on what they've done with the investigation, for suresies, they look terrible.

[James Petregallo]

The prosecution. But the problem is his story is dog shit.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Dog shit.

[James Petregallo]

His story of I showed up, saw him dying, held him for a minute, and then just shrugged and walked away is fuck. And didn't call 9 1. It was fucking wild. I'm sorry.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I nurtured him like a good dad would, because I didn't. For my son who murdered this man.

[James Petregallo]

I was gonna say like a good dad. Because I'm not a good dad. That's why my son's a murderer anyway, which is crazy.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petregallo]

So he is found guilty of second degree murder. That's what he was charged with. People on the defense side, his friends and family. There's women sobbing and running out of the room. So he's got a Big supporter section here. Now, he's wearing his nice pressed suit and everything like that. They escort him to a holding cell, and then they have to process him into the jail. When he's processed into the Genesee County Jail following the conviction, they discover that he's got a green balloon.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Where?

[James Petregallo]

Containing a. They don't say where. You can only guess.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah.

[James Petregallo]

If it's in a balloon. Only in a balloon for one reason, because that shit's gonna be in your colon.

[Jimmy Whisman]

I feel like it's gotta protect it from being absorbed.

[James Petregallo]

Totally. So we found a balloon full of a white, powdery substance.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He was going to smuggle that in, huh?

[James Petregallo]

Yep. So that was sent to the lab for testing. He was charged with promoting prison contraband in the second degree.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Promoting it.

[James Petregallo]

Promoting it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Tweeting about it.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah. He's like, hey, man, this contraband's the best shit. So cool. Followers totally hit up this contraband. Smash that, like, button contraband. Yeah. Ontraband. June 10, 2010, his trial for contraband comes up. They said that his attorney said this on the drive to Batavia is only the sixth time he's seen daylight since being incarcerated because he's been transferred five separate times between prisons. Now they end up acquitting him of the charge in five minutes. The jury, wow, he had a balloon full of shit. I don't get where the disconnect comes from, but I don't know if they felt bad for him or what, but whatever. June 22, 2010. Dawn Dahl. This is Scott's sister. She's 53. She's charged with a class A misdemeanor after she sent a Father's Day card to a member of the sheriff's office. Now, in this Father's Day card, she wrote. It's not from anybody. She hasn't put a. From. This is like she's trying to throw, like, the investigation off is what they're saying, I think. Anyway, that's the accusation. It says in the card. Oh, no. She sent a Father's Day card to the guy and then told a state trooper later on, I should have never done it. If I could take it back, I would. So they get it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Why does she know the guy?

[James Petregallo]

I don't know. She sent a card. I think it was something sarcastic of, you know, whatever. His son won't get to see him. Something like that, I think.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Implication.

[James Petregallo]

Thanks a lot. Yeah.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Since you took my father away, I'm going to send these to you kind of thing.

[James Petregallo]

The sister. Sister. This is his sister. But, yeah, he has kids too. And who the fuck knows what they're thinking? Either way, there's a no contact order now on her. July 2, 2010 murder sentencing. Here we go, baby. You, sir, may fuck off. 15 years to life is what he gets.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Wow.

[James Petregallo]

15 years to life. And that's going to be in protective custody because he's a fucking co. That's going to be not great.

[Jimmy Whisman]

So he's going to do 15 before the opportunity. But does he have to do 60% of that or does he have to do all 15?

[James Petregallo]

We'll find out. October 13, 2013 Court of Appeals and the whole court of appeals is whether the emergency doctrine justified the warrantless detention and questioning of him. The court rules that it does warrant that. They said that law enforcement's response to a serious and ongoing exigent situation under the emergency. Under the emergency doctrine was reasonable. This ruling becomes a landmark case in New York for this. For the emergency doctrine cases. So this is like the standard of it.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Apparently somebody's covered in blood. You should be able to. I think. Right.

[James Petregallo]

They're covered in blood and they won't tell you where it came from. Yeah. I mean, even.

[Jimmy Whisman]

And they're not cut.

[James Petregallo]

Exactly. I get. The other side of it is they're using that as an excuse to question you without your rights and all that shit. But it's also a good excuse to be able to say, we're trying to save somebody's life. I think you're both being disingenuous, saying, I don't understand. I shouldn't talk to you unless I get read my rights. And you saying, I'm sure there's someone still alive even though you have four people's entire bodies worth of blood on you. I'm sure there's living people out there I need to save.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Also, all of this blood on me when I talk to them is certainly not going to be used against me. That's a crazy thought to have.

[James Petregallo]

Exactly. 2016. A single DNA sample obtained at the scene where Bennequist was found does not match the DNA profile of Bennequist and may not match Scott Dahl's. They said what? So they want to check that out, but, I mean, that just means someone else was in the driveway at some point. So that's.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, it depends on where the DNA was at and where it came from.

[James Petregallo]

Yeah, they said the minor component of the DNA profile is insufficient to support an inclusion or exclusive exclusion and is therefore not suitable for comparisons. So that's that. Apparently on those. Andrew Dahl here said, quote, I feel there is Something more than what's on the surface. There seems to be a lot more loose ends that need to be looked at. For the sake of both families, I hope we can get some kind of conclusion. Dude, he said his story's terrible. I'm sorry. If he didn't have that story, maybe you could believe him. But when you come up with a story like that, you're getting convicted of murder. Sorry. It's crazy. So then they're talking about new DNA testing because there's a motion in 2016 to vacate evidence to vacate the conviction. It was made on the discovery that no fingernail scrapings were taken from Bennequist. They never took the fingernail scrapings at the beginning, even though the medical examiner said they did and sent it to the da which is not good. New testing of the blood spattered clothing from the crime scene was also ordered. That led to the discovery of DNA that apparently matches neither Dahl nor Bennequist.

[Jimmy Whisman]

What the hell?

[James Petregallo]

So whose fucking blood is that? So the jury didn't know that there was no fingernail scrapings taken from Bennequist, and they didn't know about the possibility of third party DNA at the crime scene. So they have a motion to vacate based on that. So, anyway, it's not. They say it's not as clear cut as Deal asserts as there was a third party blood on Bennequist boot. They said they want a hearing so they can figure it out. We'll find out what happens here. They end up getting nothing out of that. He's still in jail on the 23rd. On 2023, still in jail, he appeals again, trying to get out. October 2024, he has a parole hearing. The parole hearing's in June, but the decision comes then. This is what Dahl said in the parole hearing. He said he's been a member of the same church his whole life. He hopes the board would see him as a good person. He said, my whole life I've tried to be a good man. And for me to be accused of this, it's still. It's a deep scar with me. Deep scar. He said, every day I walk around, I have officers who look at me, look at him, just treat me like dirt sometimes. I always tried to be fair to everybody. I always lent a helping hand, even in here. I've helped people. I've paid mortgages for people that I've never even met. I just want to help people, and that's just my nature, and that's the way I've lived my life. Whether it's in the fire department, whether it's through the church or community. I've always stepped up and volunteered for everything. I didn't do it. That's what he said. When asked about losing his friend, he said, I've been through a lot of emotions. I feel crushed because of the fact that I'm sitting here and that I've not been cleared of this and that I've been accused of killing my friend. I'm devastated. He's devastated. He said, I'm a victim. I'm a victim. He said, I find it hard to believe in a system that can let somebody manipulate it like it was done. And that's the changing reports was the only part of it, meaning the changing reports there of statements and things like that. He then says he was laying in a pool of blood. I knelt by him and I was with him when he took his last breath. I didn't know what to do and I didn't act right because I thought maybe somebody was close to me that was involved in it. And I lawyered up and they basically took it from there and they convicted me by manipulating the system, basically. So blaming other people. This is not how you do a parole hearing, by the way, and sticking

[Jimmy Whisman]

to your own story and putting yourself at the scene of the crime at the time of the death and trying to claim innocence and then that you're railroaded and that you're a victim. This is crazy.

[James Petregallo]

He said that he suspected his son could have done it cuz they never got along. So he's blaming him here. His son was cleared because he had gone to the Home Depot that evening and security footage cameras saw him there, so wasn't him. He said, I just couldn't think of anybody else who would have done it. That's why he thought his son did it. He said he didn't render aid, he didn't attempt cpr. He said, I didn't have a destination in mind when I walked away that I could think of at the time. I was just walking, trying to get my head around everything that transpired. They said, well, you should express some remorse. Do you have any remorse? And he said, I do. I do feel remorse and I do feel sorry because again, there is things that I should have done. I'm not blameless and this is as far as I should have done. I should have come forward and said this is what I think happened. But I didn't. I let them run with the investigation and you know, I guess I don't feel 100% blameless. In this.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Oh, boy.

[James Petregallo]

So the board said this panel was disturbed when you stated that you knew Joseph Bennequist for many years and did not express any remorse for the loss of his life or the pain and suffering his family sustained. They said that you need to continue your rehabilitation so you can understand the harm you caused and develop empathy for your victim's family. They said that his actions that night were an aggravating factor in their findings. They said you watched your victim die without attempting to render him any medical assistance. You stated that you left and just started walking. In doing so, you thought of yourself and acted in your own self interest at the expense of your victim's humanity. Your release at this time would trivialize the tragic loss of life you caused and wound, therefore, and would therefore deprecate the serious nature of this crime as to undermine the respect for law. They said you did do nice in prison. You haven't fucked up. You help inmates get their GEDs. You completed a horticulture training program which is growing produce for the food pantry program.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Yeah, but congratulations, ffa. Fuck off.

[James Petregallo]

You're still a scumbag. Eat dicks. Go on. So he's out. He's still in prison, apparently here, still appealing the shit out of it. And he's got some good legal points, but he's got a better chance there than he does with the parole board. I feel like.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Probably true. Yeah. To serve for an overturn or at least a new trial, something.

[James Petregallo]

So there you go, everybody. That is Pembroke, New York, wild. Goddamn. The mayor, he almost imagine if he won.

[Jimmy Whisman]

He's almost the mayor.

[James Petregallo]

Almost the mayor. There you go. If you like that show, tell everyone you know about it. Also, get on whatever app you listen to shows on or Netflix or whatever and give us five stars. It helps tremendously. Drive us up the charts. Follow us on social media. Smalltown murder on Instagram, Malltown pot on Facebook. Get yourself some tickets to live shows. Shut up andgive me murder.com. our next shows are in May. May 1, Salt Lake City, sold out. May 2, Denver, still some tickets. May 29, Buffalo, sold out. But Royal Oak, Michigan on May 30 still has some tickets. So get in there. Shut upandgivemerder.com Patreon.com CrimeInSports is where you get all of the bonus material. Anybody $5 a month or above. You get hundreds of back episodes you never heard before immediately upon subscription. New ones every other week. One crime in sports, one small town murderer, and you get them all this week. Craziest sports names that's ever existed. We're going to make fun of people's funny names from 100 years ago. It's going to be great. Then for small town murder, we are going to talk about Stockholm syndrome, where the term came from. One of the craziest things I've ever heard. This story of crime and insanity that happened there. That is patreon.com crimeinsports plus you get everything we put out ad free and you get a shout out at the end of the regular show. That said, keep coming back and hanging out with us. You want to follow us on social Media, Shutup and GiveMemurder.com is the place to go and find us. Keep coming back each week and until next week, everybody. It's been our pleasure.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Bye.

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[James Petregallo]

Hey everybody listening to small town murder out there. Hi. Good to see you out there. I'm here with Jimmy too. And this is an ad, but not an ad for a product. This is an ad for tour dates. Yes, come see a live show. The 2026 Tour. All the tickets are for sale right now. Starting out with February 21st in Nashville, March 6th in Durham, March 7th in Atlanta. Phoenix is sold out. We do have tickets, though, to your stupid opinions. On the 21st of March, Salt Lake City, sold out. Denver has tickets. Be there on May 2. May 29, Buffalo, sold out. Royal Oak, Michigan. May 30, we have September 18, Milwaukee. September 19, Minneapolis. October 3 in Dallas. October 16 in San Jose. October 17 in Sacramento. November 13 in Tarrytown. November 14 in Boston. Come see us. The live shows are spectacular. Come join all of the other STM people. You're going to meet so many people. You're going to have fun.

[Jimmy Whisman]

Make some new friends.

[James Petregallo]

Friends like crazy. And make some new friends. Come out and see us. Shut upandgivemerder.com is where you go for those tickets. Get them right now while they're hot.

[Jimmy Whisman]

See you on the road.