Speaker 1: It's always good news when a cold case gets solved.
Speaker 1: With the advancements and technology over the past several decades,
Speaker 1: it has given investigators the edge they need to finally
Speaker 1: bring many individuals to justice. Today we discuss a case
Speaker 1: that was cold without any leads for over fifty years,
Speaker 1: until finally genetic genealogy gave investigators the information they needed
Speaker 1: to identify the attacker who took a woman's life in
Speaker 1: cold blood all those years ago. This is the story
Speaker 1: of Nancy Marie Benelac.
Speaker 2: My name's Ben, I'm Nicole, and you're listening to Wicked
Speaker 2: and Grim, a true crime podcast.
Speaker 1: The following podcast material intended for your audience listener discretion.
Speaker 1: Is it just me or did that feel like a
Speaker 1: weird intro coming off of Halloween Week?
Speaker 2: It did a little. It was almost I don't know
Speaker 2: what would be that, like, I'm climactic, really.
Speaker 1: I guess because Jacko during Halloween week certainly has a flare.
Speaker 1: I don't so, I don't know how to say it.
Speaker 2: Yes, you do, well, thank you. You're wearing your Jacko
Speaker 2: shirt though, Hey, I am you're feeling you're feeling kind
Speaker 2: of in the blues or whatever that Jacko wasn't here,
Speaker 2: so you're representing only your shirt.
Speaker 1: I'm just still in the Halloween spirit through and through
Speaker 1: Jacko vibes, Halloween Week, vibes, Halloween, just all of it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a good week. It was really good.
Speaker 1: It was. Honestly though, we're driving around town yesterday, we
Speaker 1: were already see Christmas lights up.
Speaker 2: Yeah you even saw a Christmas tree? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I did. In someone's window in their house was a
Speaker 1: fucking Christmas tree. And that was just like a couple
Speaker 1: days after Halloween. That was That would have been November.
Speaker 1: I think it was November second, actually, not the third.
Speaker 1: I think it was the second I saw the Christmas tree,
Speaker 1: which is nuts.
Speaker 2: Well, I don't know I did, oh man. Someone shared
Speaker 2: something I can't remember exactly what it was, but it
Speaker 2: was like put your down tree up, like the world's
Speaker 2: weird enough anyway, or something like just like do what
Speaker 2: you want kind.
Speaker 1: Of oha, no fair enough, go for it, celebrate. But
Speaker 1: for me, it's like, who the fuck has the time
Speaker 1: to get that shit done? Only that like in that
Speaker 1: short of window. Afterwards, well maybe they even had it
Speaker 1: up before.
Speaker 2: But also I feel like I personally would get sick
Speaker 2: of Christmas to core up that long. I would too,
Speaker 2: Like I think usually even if we put it up
Speaker 2: in December, like by you know, Christmas, I'm like, okay,
Speaker 2: I'm done with like this extra clutter and stuff everywhere.
Speaker 1: Me too. And then you like put all the stuff
Speaker 1: away and your house seems like so empty and lean,
Speaker 1: and it's like whoa. Yeah, No, I don't judge those
Speaker 1: who put their decorations up, but wow, wow, I just
Speaker 1: hit Pubert. Did you hear that I did? Yeah? But
Speaker 1: for me, it's like an internal scream because it's just
Speaker 1: like I could never. It's not that I judge you,
Speaker 1: it's just if I were you, I could never.
Speaker 2: You know, Well, maybe they are as obsessed with Christmas
Speaker 2: as you are with Halloween.
Speaker 1: Yeah, fly at it right. Like I said, I don't
Speaker 1: um be. But we do want to talk about one
Speaker 1: more thing about Halloween Week before we move on. We
Speaker 1: actually had a record breaking twenty four hours.
Speaker 2: We did, yes.
Speaker 1: So we talked about it a little bit over on Patreon.
Speaker 1: But leading up to Halloween Week, I think our record
Speaker 1: was somewhere around like it was almost eight thousand downloads
Speaker 1: in a twenty four hour period. Then Halloween Week came
Speaker 1: around and it was nine thousand downloads in a twenty
Speaker 1: four hour period, and then finally the climactic Halloween Week
Speaker 1: moment came and we reached over ten thousand downloads in
Speaker 1: a twenty four hour period. Wild So thank you guys
Speaker 1: so much for tuning in to all the new listeners,
Speaker 1: all the people binging you guys are amazing. Thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you, thank.
Speaker 2: You seriously, like you just keep blowing us away, you do.
Speaker 1: And we also have to thank our patrons as well
Speaker 1: over on Patreon. So we haven't thanked anyone for the
Speaker 1: last weeks. We got a few to thank here, So
Speaker 1: thank you to Emily Beth Melville, Katrina Jones, Bethany Tarnowski,
Speaker 1: Holly i'se sorry, I got a list of scrolling through here,
Speaker 1: Leanne Bednard's and Aaron McCook and Pat Slick. Thank you
Speaker 1: very much for signing up over in Patreon.
Speaker 2: Nice.
Speaker 1: They got an additional like three episodes in a row
Speaker 1: after Halloween, Yeah, which is amazing.
Speaker 2: It went on a little longer for them.
Speaker 1: Speaking of going on, I think we've gone on long enough.
Speaker 1: Are you ready for this case?
Speaker 2: I think so?
Speaker 1: Thanks?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I love it. I love it when
Speaker 2: like cases get solved like this. Well, so it would
Speaker 2: be so awesome if it didn't take fifty years. But
Speaker 2: still it's just like.
Speaker 1: Yes, well, it's like one of those situations where people
Speaker 1: almost give up hope that it's ever going to be solved. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and then something comes to light and it's just incredible.
Speaker 1: It makes it all that much sweeter that justice has served,
Speaker 1: you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because the because like the person was that close
Speaker 2: to getting away with it really.
Speaker 1: Exactly, and they probably thought they had gotten away with it.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: But anyways, we got a story to talk about today,
Speaker 1: and this is a story of Nancy Marie benelec So.
Speaker 1: Nancy was a smart, hard working woman who brought energy
Speaker 1: and warmth wherever she went. She was born in nineteen
Speaker 1: forty two and she grew up living in Grass Valley, California.
Speaker 1: She attended Hennessy School and later Nevada Union High School.
Speaker 1: Nancy was driven and stood out from a young age.
Speaker 1: She had a full life with full of active activities
Speaker 1: in her young years, marked by a range of interests
Speaker 1: and talents and all across the board, really just experiencing
Speaker 1: everything she could. In her younger years, she was an
Speaker 1: avid athlete who shined in both softball and was a
Speaker 1: song leader, showcasing her energy and team spirit. Not only
Speaker 1: that she was quite a slim, slim girl, but she
Speaker 1: also could out eat a lot of people.
Speaker 2: Apparently.
Speaker 1: Yeah, just like devouring tacos. Apparently like out eating her
Speaker 1: dad and stuff. Oh yeah. She also loved time, spending
Speaker 1: time bowling at the Gold Bowl in Grass Valley, where
Speaker 1: she had a fun, competing and socializing atmosphere to go
Speaker 1: along with it. Now, according to her sister, despite her frame,
Speaker 1: oh sorry, I already mentioned this part, I got it
Speaker 1: to it early that she had quite the appetite.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: After high school, Nancy pursued her passion for beauty and
Speaker 1: style and attended beauty school. She spent a couple of
Speaker 1: years working in the Beauty Corral, a popular spot located
Speaker 1: at the intersection of Neil and South Auburn Street, but
Speaker 1: where she built Sorry, this is where she built connections
Speaker 1: with clients and honed her skills. But her sense of
Speaker 1: adventure led her to a trip to Hawaii with a friend,
Speaker 1: where she worked as a hairstylist and embraced the island life,
Speaker 1: before eventually returning to California to continue her journey. So
Speaker 1: she's doing her thing, you know, with all this like
Speaker 1: styling and beauty and all that, takes it abroad, still
Speaker 1: doing great with it, and then returns home. But eventually
Speaker 1: her career path would take a turning point. She turned
Speaker 1: away from the beauty industry and her new job was
Speaker 1: now as a court reporter, and it was a perfect
Speaker 1: fit for her sharp mind and attention to detail. Nancy
Speaker 1: was really good at what she did and was respected
Speaker 1: by everyone she worked with. So, to put it lightly,
Speaker 1: Nancy was pretty much good at anything she did.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it kind of sounds like that, so she's like.
Speaker 1: You, Wow, I know, I'm not like that.
Speaker 2: I feel like you're pretty much good at anything you
Speaker 2: do as well.
Speaker 1: I'm all right, I'm a jack of all trades type.
Speaker 1: I can be good ish, decent ish at most things.
Speaker 1: But I think she was like good at it all.
Speaker 2: So that's yeah. I mean, yeah, that impresses me because
Speaker 2: I feel like I'm the opposite. So well done.
Speaker 1: It's difficult to be someone like that, but she Yeah. Now,
Speaker 1: Outside of work, Nancy was known for being friendly and
Speaker 1: full of life. She loved being around people and made
Speaker 1: friends quite easily. Her laughter and stories always made social
Speaker 1: gatherings more fun, and her friends loved how she could
Speaker 1: make any moment feel special. To put it simply, if
Speaker 1: you were to sum up Nancy as a person, she
Speaker 1: was proud and had a way of making those around
Speaker 1: her feel comfortable and appreciate it. Nancy's life was going perfect.
Speaker 1: In fact, she had recently even gotten engaged to her
Speaker 1: boyfriend by the name of Ferris Salome, and their relationship
Speaker 1: was filled with excitement and plans for the future as well. Now,
Speaker 1: Ferris was a County Chief's assistant public defender, and it
Speaker 1: would have been through their paths crossing at work that
Speaker 1: they would have met. And just like I mentioned, she
Speaker 1: had no problems making friends and making those around her
Speaker 1: feel appreciated. I'm sure it was quick and easy seduction
Speaker 1: that she got Ferris, you know.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah. And of course they were probably planning their
Speaker 2: wedding right most.
Speaker 1: Likely will being engaged and really were now, Nancy looked
Speaker 1: forward to this new chapter with joy and hope, balancing
Speaker 1: her work life and her personal life with enthusiasm basically,
Speaker 1: But one day, Nancy and Ferris had plans to quote
Speaker 1: that evening, they're going out for dinner. Like many other times,
Speaker 1: they had before. It was October twenty fifth, nineteen seventy
Speaker 1: when when she would return sorry to her apartment, and
Speaker 1: this is where she lived alone. It was at the
Speaker 1: Tahitan Apartments located on Bell Street. Now, Nancy's apartment reflected
Speaker 1: who she was. Was organized, it was welcoming and filled
Speaker 1: with little touches that showcased her personality. And after an
Speaker 1: amazing evening with her fiance, Nancy crawled into bed and
Speaker 1: went to sleep approximately at eleven thirty pm, which I mean,
Speaker 1: props to her for having a night out like this,
Speaker 1: because she did work the next morning. Oh yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: the kind of person where I'm like, I want to
Speaker 1: be in bed at nine o'clock if I need to
Speaker 1: work tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Oh man, well depends, I guess. Well, she probably had
Speaker 2: early starts too, writ so she.
Speaker 1: Probably did, but in this case, it wasn't too early,
Speaker 1: So I mean, I can understand a bit. She was
Speaker 1: scheduled to be at work by nine am.
Speaker 2: Well, and she's young, Ben, you don't have that anymore.
Speaker 1: That's true. Youth is not on my side anymore. Although
Speaker 1: I did get id buying alcohol.
Speaker 2: The other day, You did, you were pretty pumped. I
Speaker 2: what did I say, did they look at you?
Speaker 1: Yes, which, thanks for that.
Speaker 2: Well, just mean because of your beard and stuff like.
Speaker 2: You don't get id'd very often, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: It was on Halloween and I was wearing a skeleton Onzie. Yes,
Speaker 1: so I probably looked pretty juvenile.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that made sense to me. After you explain that,
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, okay, okay.
Speaker 1: Still made me feel good. But yeah. Nancy was scheduled
Speaker 1: to work at nine am, but she she never showed.
Speaker 1: The clock ticked away, the minutes passed, and Nancy was
Speaker 1: nowhere to be seen. It was extremely unlike her to
Speaker 1: be late for work like this, and she never missed
Speaker 1: a court date. A coworker and friend by the name
Speaker 1: of Jolene Moncrief was looking to find out what was
Speaker 1: going on, and she called Nancy's house but there was
Speaker 1: no answer. Puzzled and concerned, Jolene phoned her son, Jack Moncreef,
Speaker 1: to see if she could swing by Nancy's place to
Speaker 1: check on her. Right. Like I mentioned, Joel and Nancy
Speaker 1: were already kind of like friends as well as coworkers,
Speaker 1: so I'm pretty sure Jack was already acquainted with who
Speaker 1: Nancy was because of that. Yeah, So Jack agreed and
Speaker 1: he made his way over. He approached the door and
Speaker 1: rang her buzzer on the apartment, but there was no answer.
Speaker 1: He rang it again, still no answer. Unsure of what
Speaker 1: to do, Jack managed to find the apartment manager by
Speaker 1: the name of Lyndon Anderson, and with his help, over
Speaker 1: the concern of Nancy's safety, he grabbed a key and
Speaker 1: they opened the apartment door.
Speaker 2: Okay they did, Hey, they did.
Speaker 1: Inside the silent apartment, they discovered a brutal and bloody scene.
Speaker 1: She was found laying on the floor in her underwear
Speaker 1: with blood everywhere.
Speaker 2: Shit.
Speaker 1: It was clear immediately that sometime in the night Nancy
Speaker 1: was murdered.
Speaker 2: What the hell because she was like tucked into bed. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so how does that even happen?
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. Also, that poor mom sending her son, Hey, yeah,
Speaker 2: didn't realize. I'm sure what she was sending her son
Speaker 2: to witness in just terrible.
Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks to the PTSD mom, so the situation.
Speaker 2: My goodness. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Now, the police were of course called immediately to the scene,
Speaker 1: and the Sacramento Sheriff Department began their investigation. Among the
Speaker 1: horrific scene was as it was being processed, Nancy's autopsy
Speaker 1: found that she had been violently attacked and she was
Speaker 1: stabbed over thirty.
Speaker 2: Times, So someone probably that knew her intentially non okay, Well.
Speaker 1: Her body was in such bad shape. The stab wounds
Speaker 1: left her head barely holding on to her body, leaving
Speaker 1: itly decapitated.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that seems like that person just like hated her.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Almost seems like there's anger or something. Yeah. Now,
Speaker 1: they also found a significant amount of defensive wounds on Nancy,
Speaker 1: as her hands and arms had significant cuts and lacerations
Speaker 1: all across them.
Speaker 2: So she fought back.
Speaker 1: She fought back. In fact, honestly, police believed that the
Speaker 1: killer may have seriously underestimated Nancy because it's even not
Speaker 1: only did she did this massive struggle occur and she
Speaker 1: fought back, dealing these defensive wounds, but it seemed like
Speaker 1: at one point Nancy was able to turn the knife
Speaker 1: on the assailant on the attacker while fighting back because
Speaker 1: there was a significant amount of blood everywhere, but the
Speaker 1: attacker's blood was also everywhere.
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, okay, so Nancy she had she had some
Speaker 2: game here.
Speaker 1: Then she did. She was not letting it go good.
Speaker 1: But also like heartbreaking, it is now the investigation into
Speaker 1: her murder. Put, of course, Nancy's fiance at the time,
Speaker 1: Ferris Somali. I sorry, for whatever reason, autocorrect has it
Speaker 1: here as Slammy. That's not right. Oh no, but Ferris
Speaker 1: put Ferris in the hot seat as suspect number one.
Speaker 1: Of course, as we all know from any other cases
Speaker 1: at this point, as you're just saying, of course, a
Speaker 1: significant other or family members are always the first to
Speaker 1: be suspected. Now, upon questioning Ferris, he told them of
Speaker 1: their evening out together. He said that the two of
Speaker 1: them had gone out for dinner and he had dropped
Speaker 1: her off at her apartment, but he did stay there
Speaker 1: for a bit before leaving at around eleven thirty at
Speaker 1: night to go back to his own apartment. So Nancy,
Speaker 1: last we know, was headed to bed at eleven thirty. This,
Speaker 1: of course made Ferris the last one to see Nancy
Speaker 1: alive before the attack. Now he was able to give
Speaker 1: them some insight on how the attacker could have gained
Speaker 1: entry into her apartment. So apparently it wasn't unusual for
Speaker 1: Nancy to leave her back glass sliding door open on
Speaker 1: the apartment balcony. No, no, no, you hate.
Speaker 2: This, I do because it's just like, frick.
Speaker 1: Well, I think you have PTSD from that bedroom strangler case,
Speaker 1: don't you.
Speaker 2: I do. It's just like so simple, just like lock
Speaker 2: your door.
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, this is the seventies, there's a lot
Speaker 1: more trusted in the public at the time, and she
Speaker 1: generally did so leaving the glass door open, not just
Speaker 1: willy nilly for airfloor or whatever. She did so for
Speaker 1: her cat, so it could come and go outside as
Speaker 1: it pleased.
Speaker 2: Okay, I know, like back then, I don't think people
Speaker 2: would have probably thought twice about that night.
Speaker 1: And she did live on the second floor of the
Speaker 1: story of that party. So yeah, Now, while the investigation
Speaker 1: already pointed towards this door as a means of access
Speaker 1: because there was a bloody trail heading out there leading
Speaker 1: into the apartment parking lot from the assailant, it was
Speaker 1: still useful information to know that it was you know,
Speaker 1: normal for her to leave the door open. But despite this, yeah,
Speaker 1: like I said, helpful information. Now, in the seventies, DNA
Speaker 1: analysis was not a thing yet. We have a lot
Speaker 1: of the assailant's blood, but DNA analysis wouldn't be a
Speaker 1: thing into the late eighties. So for now, all the
Speaker 1: law enforcement could do with that blood was get a
Speaker 1: blood type. Though it wasn't much, it was useful enough
Speaker 1: to help rule out some individuals as suspects, like Nancy's fiance,
Speaker 1: Okrris Good Good, so he is in the clear now.
Speaker 1: Police tried to find other means of evidence as well.
Speaker 1: They dusted the door that he would have went through
Speaker 1: or gained access however you want to say it, and
Speaker 1: many other areas in the apartment for fingerprints, but unfortunately,
Speaker 1: they were not able to get anything. What they did find, though,
Speaker 1: was a piece of tape left behind at the scene.
Speaker 1: It appeared as this this was used to wrap the
Speaker 1: attacker's fingertips, which means they were likely trying to prevent
Speaker 1: finger prints being left behind at the scene, so they
Speaker 1: took tape and wrapped up their fingertips before entering.
Speaker 2: Hey, that's new, feel like I've ever heard that before.
Speaker 1: No, it's definitely an improv sort of thing, but it
Speaker 1: does show premeditation because they knew they were going to
Speaker 1: be breaking in and don't want to leave fingerprints, they
Speaker 1: took measures before entering. Right now, one of Nancy's neighbors
Speaker 1: named Alice Silva had reported hearing screams at around one
Speaker 1: point thirty am, though it was said not to have
Speaker 1: lasted long and almost sound like that of a baby scream.
Speaker 1: Police do believe that these were most likely the screams
Speaker 1: of Nancy in her final moments. While great information, it
Speaker 1: once again did not provide authorities with any leads. So
Speaker 1: with no real suspect to hand, investigators had to take
Speaker 1: a step back and really try to follow the evidence
Speaker 1: that they had. The murder weapon was nowhere to be found,
Speaker 1: which wasn't helpful, but the belongings and valuables of Nancy
Speaker 1: hadn't been touched. They were still in the apartment. Her
Speaker 1: engagement ring, for example, was still in her finger, so
Speaker 1: it clearly wasn't a robbery gone wrong, otherwise there would
Speaker 1: be something on miss right. Absolutely, yeah, it was likely targeted,
Speaker 1: and if this was a premeditated attack, then there should
Speaker 1: be a connection somewhere. They began to look at Nancy's
Speaker 1: life to try and draw any sort of lines between
Speaker 1: her and a potential suspect. They thought maybe it could
Speaker 1: be a retaliation from an individual or disgruntled person from court,
Speaker 1: taking out their anger from either from her or from
Speaker 1: Ferris onto her, right, right. She didn't really have any
Speaker 1: personal connections in court, but being a defendant, Ferris might right, so,
Speaker 1: and then to get to him, they may have gone
Speaker 1: to her. So they began making lists and names of suspects,
Speaker 1: and they had interviewed over five hundred potential suspects within
Speaker 1: the first month alone.
Speaker 2: Holy shit.
Speaker 1: However, nothing came of any of them.
Speaker 2: Oh man, that is so much time, hey, that they're
Speaker 2: spending on that.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, they invested a lot into this case.
Speaker 2: But I also know, like, I'm just like, who the
Speaker 2: hell would do this to Nancy? Because she just sounded
Speaker 2: such like he's just such an awesome person.
Speaker 1: You're not wrong she was.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So at first I was like, oh, man, the fiance,
Speaker 2: But I'm thinking, you know, he got ruled out. But
Speaker 2: if it was him, they would have probably been able
Speaker 2: to figure it.
Speaker 1: Out, most likely, but they definitely ruled him out. Now.
Speaker 1: November seventh, police released a sketch to the public. Along
Speaker 1: with the sketch was a written description that read quote.
Speaker 1: The department described a man as five feet nine inches
Speaker 1: tall and weighing about one hundred and seventy pounds. He
Speaker 1: has about twenty five years old and has dark brown
Speaker 1: hair worn in what is described as a Glen Campbell cut.
Speaker 1: Residents of the area said they had seen a man
Speaker 1: answering this description prowling in the neighborhood. He was in
Speaker 1: a dark green Volkswagen and wore a long sleeved yellow
Speaker 1: shirt and yellow slacks. And to go along with that description,
Speaker 1: as I mentioned, there was a police sketch.
Speaker 2: I almost was wondering if it was a female because
Speaker 2: just because of the struggle, right, and then thinking that
Speaker 2: Nancy maybe wasn't as strong as she was, and I'm like, well,
Speaker 2: maybe she would have an easier time taking on another female, right,
Speaker 2: But it was a male for sure.
Speaker 1: Well we'll touch on male female later. I don't want
Speaker 1: to give sh it away just yet.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, Okay, this is just they don't know for sure,
Speaker 2: but this is just who they're thinking.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, so this individual people have seen prowling the neighborhood.
Speaker 2: Okay, Yeah.
Speaker 1: Now, this sketch and description would be the foundation for
Speaker 1: the public to go on regarding this case and would
Speaker 1: ultimately be used for years to come, but like every
Speaker 1: other detail they have, would not play a factor in
Speaker 1: any leads at all. Now, there were some other murders
Speaker 1: that had occurred in the area recently, with two victims
Speaker 1: being Judith Hakari and Carol Beth Hillburn. This left investigation.
Speaker 1: The investigation opened to the possibility of links between these cases,
Speaker 1: meaning that they had a serial killer on the loose.
Speaker 1: Whatever the scenario was, investigators were hard at work trying
Speaker 1: to put all the pieces of the mystery together, and
Speaker 1: despite their efforts, years would pass by with no breakthrough
Speaker 1: in the case. It wouldn't be until two thousand and
Speaker 1: four when the next significant moment in the case would occur.
Speaker 1: See In two thousand and four, investigators decided to input
Speaker 1: that blood DNA that they collected that evidence from the
Speaker 1: crime scene into codis the Combined DNA Index system. That's
Speaker 1: you know where they put all the found criminals and stuff, right.
Speaker 1: We often talk about the DNA database, and that's that database.
Speaker 1: So this database is used to link and identify suspects
Speaker 1: between as based on genetic profiles. The decision to revisit
Speaker 1: the evidence was part of a broader push to solve
Speaker 1: the cold case during this advancements in forensic science, because,
Speaker 1: as I mentioned in the seventies, this didn't exist at all,
Speaker 1: and I believe it wouldn't be until nineteen eighty six
Speaker 1: when DNA profiling actually became a thing, and it would
Speaker 1: be in its infancy for like another decade, even into
Speaker 1: the nineties. You're like looking at barely being able to
Speaker 1: do much, right, But now into two thousands, they're creating
Speaker 1: this database.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: So when the DNA profile from Nancy's case was entered
Speaker 1: into CODIS, the hope was that it would match an
Speaker 1: existing profile in this database, either linking it to a
Speaker 1: known offender or matching it to DNA from other unsolved cases,
Speaker 1: and they could actually link up different murders even though
Speaker 1: they don't have a suspect yet.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: However, when they did this, there was nothing.
Speaker 2: Oh here, I was like shit, Yeah.
Speaker 1: Nope, there was nothing. There was no match. There was
Speaker 1: nothing found in the system, which means the suspects profile
Speaker 1: did not correspond to any individual already recorded in CODIS. Okay,
Speaker 1: so they had a completely new DNA profile yeah put in.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: It was disappointing. However, it still gave investigators hope because
Speaker 1: it ensured that if the perpetrator's DNA profile were to
Speaker 1: be added to the database later, it would be matched
Speaker 1: automatically reoffended, or if they found DNA evidence linking them
Speaker 1: some other way and it gets put in from another
Speaker 1: case boom.
Speaker 2: So it's still very helpful that it is getting put in.
Speaker 1: There, one hundred percent. But it would be a year later,
Speaker 1: in two thousand and five, that homicide detective Mickey Linx
Speaker 1: joined the investigation team and began her search for Nancy's killer.
Speaker 1: And this is a significant moment because a number of
Speaker 1: years would pass once again and before any new developments occurred,
Speaker 1: but Detective Links would retire. However, she had developed a
Speaker 1: personal connection with this case and continued to closely follow it,
Speaker 1: even to the point of helping investigate it on a
Speaker 1: volunteer basis. In twenty nineteen, she's retired, but she's like, no,
Speaker 1: I'm solving this fucking case. And the reason this is
Speaker 1: so fucking important is because people did not let this go.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no kidding.
Speaker 1: You have people like Detective Links who are still pushing
Speaker 1: all the way up into their retirement to still solve
Speaker 1: this case.
Speaker 2: Well, it seems like a lot of detectives and police
Speaker 2: officers they have like that one case. You know, yes,
Speaker 2: for sure, they just can't. It just is on their mind, right,
Speaker 2: and so I think for her especially, this was one
Speaker 2: of them.
Speaker 1: Yeah. No, she was one hundred percent probably like that
Speaker 1: and determined to help the family seek answers and figure
Speaker 1: out what happened to Nancy. And if it weren't for
Speaker 1: detectives and officers like detective Link, the connection probably never
Speaker 1: would have been made. Yeah, okay, because by now, well
Speaker 1: sorry this is a little bit off topic, but by
Speaker 1: now Nancy's fiance, Ferris, had passed away in twenty fourteen
Speaker 1: of leukemia at the age of eighty four. He unfortunately
Speaker 1: would never learn who was responsible for Nancy's death. However,
Speaker 1: because of these investigators pushing and pushing, the truth would
Speaker 1: come to light. Now in twenty nineteen, the team working
Speaker 1: to try and find the killer all these years later
Speaker 1: decided they did not want to wait around any longer
Speaker 1: for the DNA of the killer to suddenly find a
Speaker 1: match in the system, for the system to do the work. Right,
Speaker 1: We're not doing that, which is why this is so
Speaker 1: important these individuals, because they made that last push. They
Speaker 1: figured if they hadn't had the match by now in
Speaker 1: the system, the chances were it.
Speaker 2: Was never going to happen, right, Because the person could
Speaker 2: be like deceased or whatever.
Speaker 1: Yes, we're too old or disabled to even do it,
Speaker 1: like you know. Yeah, so if it hadn't happened by now,
Speaker 1: it's not going to. So they decided they're going to
Speaker 1: do a genetic genealogy test. So, if you're unaware, genetic
Speaker 1: genealogy involves using DNA from crime scenes and comparing it
Speaker 1: to publicly available genetic information in genealogical databases. Now, these
Speaker 1: databases are often used by individuals seeking to learn more
Speaker 1: about their ancestry or connect with distant relatives. So basically
Speaker 1: it links family DNA through heritage.
Speaker 2: Oh shit, so when you go on.
Speaker 1: Something like ancestry dot.
Speaker 2: Rum, Yeah, I was just going to say that it's
Speaker 2: one of them.
Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, that's the same information that police are accessing.
Speaker 1: So if your cousin is a fucking murderer and they
Speaker 1: have his DNA but he thinks he gets away with it,
Speaker 1: and you go on ancestry dot com and put your
Speaker 1: DNA in, they may be able to link that DNA
Speaker 1: through you and find that that your cousin the fucking murderer.
Speaker 2: Wow. Hey yeah, see I've never been too keen on
Speaker 2: those things, but I like I'm pretty sure my sister
Speaker 2: has done it. So I'm like, well, I'm just doomed.
Speaker 1: My don't murder anyone.
Speaker 2: My stuff is already kind of in their stuff.
Speaker 1: So the detectives constructed a family tree based on those
Speaker 1: matches and narrowed down individuals who could be possible suspects.
Speaker 1: Through this method of identifying distant relatives, they were able
Speaker 1: to identify several relatives related and it took a couple
Speaker 1: of years to do all this, but they finally in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two had confirmed a match on the DNA.
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, the.
Speaker 1: Match belonged to a Richard John Davis. Now, Richard was
Speaker 1: a longtime Sacramento resident and would have been twenty seven
Speaker 1: years old at the time of Nancy's murder. But the
Speaker 1: thing was in nineteen seventy, the year Nancy was murdered.
Speaker 1: Richard lived in the apartment building right across the street
Speaker 1: from Nancy and would have had a complete and unobstructed
Speaker 1: view into her apartment through her balcony.
Speaker 2: Oh gosh, okay, yeah, did they know each other or
Speaker 2: just that just that? Oh man, Okay, that makes it
Speaker 2: like worse. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Investigators believe Richard may have been watching Nancy for a
Speaker 1: while and potentially stalking her as well.
Speaker 2: Holy, So it wasn't that someone just hated her.
Speaker 1: Oh gosh, we had someone obsessed with her?
Speaker 2: Yes, Oh okay, I was not expecting that.
Speaker 1: No, which almost makes it worse.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Now, Richard didn't have a violent criminal history, but did
Speaker 1: have several DUIs, which is common with individuals who suffered
Speaker 1: from alcoholism, and Richard certainly did because though this case
Speaker 1: was now solved, Richard had died in nineteen ninety seven
Speaker 1: at the age of fifty four from complications of alcoholism.
Speaker 2: Well, I imagine too, what he did to Nancy would just
Speaker 2: haunt him, you would think, for the rest of his life.
Speaker 1: Hopefully that's hope anyway, anyone with a fucking conscience, yes,
Speaker 1: but an individual who's capable of doing this probably doesn't
Speaker 1: have one and probably doesn't care anyways.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm just wondering if he did this to other people,
Speaker 2: If it was just Nancy though, and he's like, oh
Speaker 2: I fucked up. Maybe that made him drink more.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's possible. But I mean, as far as the
Speaker 1: DNA profiling and everything goes, I don't believe his His
Speaker 1: DNA's been linked to any other crimes, not to say
Speaker 1: he hasn't committed and not left behind the DNA, right,
Speaker 1: but as far as I'm aware, this is the only
Speaker 1: crime he has been linked to, of course, out other
Speaker 1: than his DUIs. Yeah, which is a crime. It's just
Speaker 1: not a fucking murder, you know.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, yeah it's not. It's bad, but not quite
Speaker 2: to think it's not this bad. Yeah, it can kill
Speaker 2: people still though, right, definitely it can.
Speaker 1: Now fifty two years after Richard had killed Nancy in
Speaker 1: her apartment, the case was finally closed. It was solved.
Speaker 1: They knew who did it. However, what we will never
Speaker 1: know is what exactly happened on that fateful night in
Speaker 1: Nancy's apartment. Investigators believe that, as I mentioned, Richard was
Speaker 1: watching her through her balcony in her apartment. In doing so,
Speaker 1: he would have been familiar with her habit of leaving
Speaker 1: the sliding door open slightly for her cat to come
Speaker 1: and go freely. One night, for whatever reason, he decided
Speaker 1: he was going to take advantage of this and make
Speaker 1: his way into her apartment. Under the cover of darkness,
Speaker 1: Richard climbed up to the second floor balcony where Nancy
Speaker 1: lived and silently entered as she slept and after Ferris
Speaker 1: had left for the night. From there, the attack ensued.
Speaker 1: Police never released whether Nancy was sexually assaulted, but it's
Speaker 1: likely she was sleeping in her underwear when the attack occurred,
Speaker 1: which is why that's how she was dressed. From there,
Speaker 1: she was able to put up enough of a fight
Speaker 1: that Richard fled the scene after killing her in order
Speaker 1: to care for his own wounds. If you ask me,
Speaker 1: he intended to sexually assault her one hundred percent, But
Speaker 1: Nancy put up a fight and never gave him the
Speaker 1: fucking chance to.
Speaker 2: So, Okay, so you're almost thinking he didn't even necessarily
Speaker 2: intend to or intend to kill her.
Speaker 1: I mean I think he did. Like I think he
Speaker 1: came into the apartment thinking he was going to sexually
Speaker 1: assault her at knife point or whatever, right, or maybe
Speaker 1: he was going to kill her, And maybe there's a
Speaker 1: necrophilia aspect to it. I don't know, But he came
Speaker 1: in to attack her with the intent of a sexual
Speaker 1: act to occur.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, if he was obsessed with her right and
Speaker 2: stopping her and stuff.
Speaker 1: Now, maybe her fighting back is what angered him, and
Speaker 1: he and her injuring him angered him even more, and
Speaker 1: that took him to take out anger on her dead body.
Speaker 1: And then he's getting tired. He's bleeding like that can
Speaker 1: cause person to black out very easily, right, and from
Speaker 1: there he can't stick around anymore, and he's got.
Speaker 2: A jet And meanwhile, the next day he's just watching,
Speaker 2: probably again from his fucking apartment, her body being found
Speaker 2: in shit.
Speaker 1: Now, Richard actually was originally interviewed within one of those
Speaker 1: within those five hundred people.
Speaker 2: Oh oh my gosh.
Speaker 1: Really yes, but there was never a connection made.
Speaker 2: Oh dang, so they even had him.
Speaker 1: Well, they were just they were interviewing like people in
Speaker 1: the apartment complex and the one next door. Did you
Speaker 1: see anything? Yeah, like it was most likely a random interview.
Speaker 2: Well yeah, exactly, but they were actually talking to the killer.
Speaker 2: They were yep, oh okay, huh wow. That's this is terrifying,
Speaker 2: I know, the fact that he just was watching her
Speaker 2: and shit, yep wow.
Speaker 1: But that's the story of Nancy Marie Benelek fifty two
Speaker 1: years later.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, thank goodness. But also it does kind
Speaker 2: of seem like a bummer too that. I mean, the
Speaker 2: attacker wasn't a lot is still not alive. And then
Speaker 2: I'm wondering how much of Nancy's family is even alive,
Speaker 2: you know. So it's it almost seems like it's quite
Speaker 2: a burden too for this fucker's family, right they now
Speaker 2: just like know that I don't know if he had
Speaker 2: kids or whatever, that he's just a fucking nasty piece
Speaker 2: of shit.
Speaker 1: I do know that Nancy had a sister and a
Speaker 1: brother in law, and they're the ones who kind of
Speaker 1: spoke a bit about who Nancy was and okay, and
Speaker 1: they were actually present during the press conference when they
Speaker 1: announced Okay, this was solved. He's been confirmed in the
Speaker 1: as the killer.
Speaker 2: Okay, Well that's good for them then that they had
Speaker 2: that right, that.
Speaker 1: They have that closure. Yeaheah for sure. So yeah, when
Speaker 1: I found this case, I was like, fuck, yeah, fifty
Speaker 1: two years. If it wasn't for those investigators who made
Speaker 1: that last push of let's not wait, let's be proactive,
Speaker 1: we still wouldn't know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean yeah, it's kind of it's interesting too
Speaker 2: that all this stuff is out there now where you
Speaker 2: can submit your own DNA and stuff, right, like we
Speaker 2: can talk about that for so long.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, No, there's there's many levels to that because
Speaker 1: people also suspect like the government being involved and monitoring.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've heard that before.
Speaker 1: There's lots of different things that people can converse about
Speaker 1: and theorize regarding it. But the one thing we do
Speaker 1: know is that whether there are negative side effects you
Speaker 1: doing it, there are positive ones, and we just we
Speaker 1: know it right here.
Speaker 2: First, Well, yeah, if you have nothing to worry about, right, Like,
Speaker 2: and I say that earlier, I was like, I'm not
Speaker 2: submitting it. I don't have anything to worry about. But
Speaker 2: I mean too, if you had a cousin that's a complete,
Speaker 2: like nasty motherfucker, you would want them to find this
Speaker 2: person too, right, Yeah, So sure, there you go. I
Speaker 2: don't know, maybe it has some benefits too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, okay, Well, thank you for being here. Hopefully
Speaker 1: enjoyed that. Hopefully you are back on track with us.
Speaker 1: After Halloween week, we want to know about specifically, are
Speaker 1: your Halloeen decorations still up?
Speaker 2: Are your Christmas decorations?
Speaker 1: Are your Christmas decorations now up? We want to know
Speaker 1: which side you're on. Are you on the team Halloween?
Speaker 1: Are you on team Christmas? I do know here in
Speaker 1: Canada we have novemberance Novemberance Day Remembrance Day here in November.
Speaker 1: So many people argue that you shouldn't put Christmas decorations
Speaker 1: up until after that to give you know, veterans that
Speaker 1: time of respect. Yeah, but regardless, we want to know
Speaker 1: where your head's at, So shoot us a message, let
Speaker 1: us know we'd love to hear it, and until next time,
Speaker 1: stay wicked,