# 5 True Crime Mysteries Explained

An episode of [Lazy Chill True Crime](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1815534472), 6 Dec 2025, 41 min.

Audio: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/APO5354690316.mp3

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## Transcript

[0:02] Hey friends, it's Jimmy with another episode in my Unsolved
[0:04] Mysteries series. As usual, get down there in the
[0:07] comments and let me know where you're listening from or what
[0:10] you're doing right now. In June 1989, Joanne Rozelle
[0:16] spent an evening at the Meridian Lanes bowling alley in Oklahoma
[0:20] City with her ex-husband and children.
[0:24] After a heated argument with her ex inside, the 29 year old
[0:28] stepped outside around 11:30 to cool off, and she never came
[0:33] back. Joanne left behind her car and
[0:36] even her shoes. She walked out barefoot, wearing
[0:40] an orange blouse with a bow on the back and blue jeans.
[0:44] Her family launched an immediate search for her, and when she
[0:47] didn't turn up, her grandmother reported her missing four days
[0:50] later. At the time, some locals
[0:54] wondered if she had left to start a new life or been held
[0:57] against her will by someone, but no answers emerged.
[1:02] Police circulated her description and appealed for
[1:04] tips, yet they had few leads and no evidence to explain her
[1:09] sudden disappearance. Over six months later, on
[1:15] January 5th, 1990, a survey crew discovered a human skull in a
[1:20] Creek bed near the town of Geary in Canadian County, a rural area
[1:25] West of Oklahoma City. Investigators searched the scene
[1:29] and recovered roughly half of a human skeleton scattered near
[1:32] the Creek. They also found some women's
[1:35] clothing and a gold ring with a heart-shaped design near the
[1:38] remains. Forensic examination determined
[1:41] the victim was a white female, likely in her 20s or 30s, and
[1:47] that she had died from blunt force trauma to the head.
[1:51] Investigators now had a brutal slaying on their hands, but they
[1:55] still didn't know the victim's name.
[1:58] The clothing at the scene couldn't be conclusively linked
[2:00] to any known missing person. Curiously, some items didn't
[2:05] match what Rozelle had been wearing when she vanished.
[2:09] Authorities even commissioned A forensic artist to create a clay
[2:13] reconstruction of the Jane Doe's face in hopes of recognition,
[2:18] but no identification followed. And as usual with these clay
[2:23] reconstructions, they're absolutely awful and look like
[2:27] something out of a low budget horror movie.
[2:30] The unknown woman was dubbed the Canadian County Jane Doe.
[2:34] Detectives chased numerous leads, but none yielded a name
[2:37] for the victim. With no breakthroughs, Joanne
[2:42] Rozelle's missing person case went cold in 2003.
[2:46] Her son had her declared legally dead in absentia, not knowing
[2:50] his mother's remains had actually been found years
[2:52] before. Meanwhile, the Canadian County
[2:55] Jane Doe investigation also stalled for decades.
[2:59] Early DNA testing attempts on the remains in the 1990s were
[3:03] unsuccessful, and hundreds of tips over the years brought no
[3:07] answers. The unidentified victims details
[3:11] were entered into national databases, but no match was
[3:14] made. IN2024A breakthrough finally
[3:20] arrived. Cold case investigators from
[3:23] Canadian County teamed up with a private forensic DNA laboratory.
[3:28] Using forensic genetic genealogy, they were able to tie
[3:32] the Canadian County Jane Doe to Joanne Rozelle in November 2025.
[3:39] Joanne's case has now been reopened as an active
[3:42] investigation after sitting virtually completely dormant for
[3:45] decades. The Canadian County Sheriff's
[3:48] Office has informed her family of the discovery and is actively
[3:52] pursuing new leads to find who was responsible for her death.
[3:57] Investigators noted that someone likely transported Joanne's body
[4:01] from Oklahoma City to that remote Creek, indicating A
[4:04] deliberate effort to hide the crime.
[4:07] They're re examining people in her life from 1989, including
[4:11] the ex-husband who was with her that night, for any possible
[4:15] involvement. Although investigators are
[4:19] naturally revisiting Joanne's ex-husband due to the argument
[4:23] at the bowling alley, there are legitimate reasons to question
[4:27] his involvement. His whereabouts that night were
[4:30] known and verified, and there's no evidence he left the area or
[4:34] traveled to the remote Creek bed in Canadian County where Joanne
[4:37] was ultimately found. The location of the remains
[4:41] suggests someone had both opportunity and mobility to
[4:45] transport a body more than an hour away.
[4:48] This is a window of time that doesn't clearly align with his
[4:51] confirmed timeline, assuming the details we know are correct.
[4:56] That said, of course this doesn't necessarily rule out his
[4:59] involvement since more than one person can be in on a crime.
[5:06] I have to question whether Joanne was dating anyone at the
[5:08] time this occurred, and my reasoning for this is based on a
[5:12] piece of confirmed evidence she was wearing different clothing.
[5:16] To me, this suggests that she may have gone to a boyfriend's
[5:19] house, got changed, and something may have happened
[5:23] there. That said, this is purely
[5:27] speculative since we don't even have evidence to indicate she
[5:31] was dating someone at the time. At any rate, I hope to have an
[5:35] update on this case at some point in the near future, given
[5:38] that this major break in the case was recent.
[5:44] Imagine a killer so notorious, so feared, that the state, upon
[5:48] his death, decided not just to bury him, but to disassemble
[5:53] him. Maddie Hapoya, Finland's most
[5:57] infamous serial predator of the 19th century, was confirmed to
[6:01] have killed only three people during his decades long rampage.
[6:05] Yet reasonable historical estimates suggest his true
[6:08] victim count could soar as high as 30.
[6:11] In 1895, after a life marked with brutal violence, he claimed
[6:16] his final victim inside a prison cell in Turku, Finland.
[6:20] But the story doesn't end there. In a chilling demonstration of
[6:23] state power attempting to finally contain his defiance,
[6:27] his remains became institutional property.
[6:30] His physical relics, including patches of his skin, were
[6:34] collected for the Prison Administration Museum, turning
[6:37] the notorious villain into an enduring, macabre cultural
[6:41] artifact. This unusual act solidified his
[6:45] status. Papoya was never just a
[6:47] criminal, he was a symbol whose myth had to be literally
[6:51] contained and displayed. Also, I know I have more than a
[6:55] few Finnish viewers so I apologize for my pronunciations,
[6:59] but your language is literally impossible for me to pronounce.
[7:05] Maddie Hipoya was born in 1845 in Isoquiro, located in the
[7:10] tumultuous region of Southern Ostrobothnia, and grew up in the
[7:14] nearby area of Listaro. He was the son of a farmer.
[7:19] His early life unfolded within a unique and violent social
[7:22] environment known as the Puko Yunkarit, or knife fighters.
[7:28] This phenomenon, which peaked between the 1820s and 1880s, was
[7:33] characterized by widespread brawling, theft, and antagonism
[7:38] toward authority. Criminologists have long
[7:41] understood that this violence stemmed from deep seated social
[7:45] frustration. Economic conditions in
[7:48] Ostrobothnia meant that land could not be endlessly
[7:52] distributed, creating a large population of younger, landless
[7:56] men who couldn't inherit their own farms.
[8:01] This frustration was often expressed through aggression,
[8:04] particularly at large alcohol fueled social gatherings like
[8:08] weddings. Apoya quickly embraced the
[8:11] subculture, beginning his criminal trajectory as a brawler
[8:15] and notorious horse thief. Records show he non fatally
[8:21] wounded at least six men in knife fights.
[8:24] For Hepoya, violent acts weren't just opportunistic crimes, they
[8:29] were markers of identity and power in the community of knife
[8:34] fighters. The ultimate status symbol was
[8:37] to kill or wound another respected fighter.
[8:41] He openly sought recognition within this anti establishment
[8:44] framework, reportedly declaring himself the king of all these
[8:48] gangs. His first known homicide
[8:52] occurred on December 6th, 1867 when he fatally stabbed his
[8:56] drinking partner, Farmer Heike Impoten, during a drunken
[9:00] altercation. For this slaying, Apoya received
[9:05] a 12 year sentence to hard labor at the Turku Penitentiary.
[9:09] The sentence began a cycle of imprisonment and defiance that
[9:12] defined the rest of his life. From eighteen O 9 to 1917,
[9:18] Finland was controlled by the Russian Empire in a semi
[9:21] autonomous personal union known as the Grand Dutchie of Finland.
[9:26] The Grand Duke of Finland was the Russian Czar, but the
[9:30] day-to-day governing of the country was largely left to the
[9:33] populace of Sweden rather than being dictated from Russia.
[9:38] The repressive penal environment of 19th century Finland was
[9:42] inherited from the Russian authoritarian model.
[9:46] This was characterized by prisoners having virtually no
[9:49] rights and being worked to death in prison.
[9:53] This system would prove insufficient to contain Hepoya.
[9:57] Following his initial conviction, his defiance of
[10:00] authority only intensified over the subsequent decade.
[10:05] Apoya became notorious for repeatedly escaping the Turku
[10:08] prison. He broke out four times and
[10:11] spent significant periods at large on each occasion.
[10:14] These continuous escapes were a direct, dramatic challenge to
[10:17] the rigid state structure. Weirdly, considering the crimes
[10:22] he committed, he became something of a folk hero in his
[10:25] own lifetime, with his opposition to authority seen as
[10:29] an expression of Finnish nationalism.
[10:33] Of course, his actions, while free, clearly showed that he was
[10:36] no freedom fighter standing up against the Russian behemoth.
[10:40] His exploits were heavily reported and sensationalized by
[10:43] the contemporary press. In August 1876, a Finnish farmer
[10:48] caught him robbing his lands, and Hepoya beat him up and then
[10:52] shot him in the face. Later in January 1879, Apoya
[10:57] stabbed a farmer who attempted to place him under something
[11:00] like a citizen's arrest. His growing notoriety served as
[11:06] a psychological shield. The continuous cycle of
[11:09] escaping, committing new offenses, and evading capture
[11:13] generated widespread fear. The perception that Hapoya was
[11:17] unstoppable was so strong that even local populations often
[11:21] didn't dare report his wrongdoings to the authorities.
[11:25] People were afraid that if they turned him in that he'd simply
[11:28] escape and exact his revenge. Media coverage didn't help, as
[11:34] they portrayed Maddie Hapoya as something akin to a force of
[11:37] nature who couldn't be stopped. Hapoya's consistent failure to
[11:43] conform resulted in his eventual exile to Siberia for forced
[11:48] labor in the Imperial Russian version of a gulag.
[11:51] This period in the late 1880s marks the most obscure, yet
[11:55] likely the most prolific phase of his killing career, a phase
[11:59] that stretched his violence across the Russian imperial
[12:02] frontier. During his time in the Russian
[12:05] penal colonies, Hapoya is linked to a chilling cluster of
[12:09] killings. These victims include an
[12:12] unidentified man in 1886, a Finnish convict known as Yaako
[12:17] in 1888, and two men killed in the Siberian city of Tomsk in
[12:21] 1889. Speaking of 1889, that was a
[12:27] really prolific year for Hepoya. In that year, he was seen
[12:31] hanging out with a Baltic German convict named Gustav Sep.
[12:35] After going for a walk with Hepoya, Sep was never seen
[12:39] again. However, since Sepoya never
[12:42] claimed to have killed him, some speculate that he helped Sep
[12:45] escape the prison in Finland. He generally was only violent to
[12:51] other knife fighters or to people he was trying to rob.
[12:55] Some have noted that the killings in Siberia appear to be
[12:58] more predatory, targeting other convicts and opportunistic
[13:03] victims in remote locations. These attacks in Siberia appear
[13:07] to have been done purely for the thrill of violence rather than
[13:11] for any other reason. This transition indicates a move
[13:14] toward calculated serial violence, exploiting the
[13:18] complete chaos and systemic lack of oversight inherent in the
[13:22] distant Russian penal colonies. Because of the vastness of the
[13:27] empire and extremely poor documentation, finding out the
[13:31] true number of victims during this time is considered an
[13:34] impossible task for historians. Papoya eventually found his way
[13:41] back to Finland, but his violent habits hadn't diminished.
[13:45] In October 1890, he committed what became arguably his most
[13:50] infamous documented crime, the strangulation of Maria Jemina
[13:54] Salo. This is his first known slaying
[13:58] of a woman, which many believe indicates that he had been
[14:01] committing these acts before and simply had never been caught.
[14:06] The Salo slaying immediately dominated the national press,
[14:10] and he was held in captivity pending trial.
[14:14] Driven by a hunger for sensational content and
[14:17] capitalizing on global anxieties about urban crime, journalists
[14:21] quickly equated Hepoya to Jack the Ripper.
[14:25] Apoya's final acts of violence occurred within the walls of the
[14:28] state institutions he had spent his life fighting.
[14:32] On October 10th, 1894, his criminal span concluded with a
[14:37] fatal attack on prison guard Yuho Rosted, whom Apoya stabbed
[14:41] to death in 1895. Just as he was about to be
[14:47] sentenced to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole,
[14:51] he decided to end it all. Some have interpreted this as a
[14:54] last defiant snub to the authority of the court.
[15:00] Maddie Hapoya was ultimately found guilty of only three
[15:02] slayings spanning the years from 1867 to 1894.
[15:08] However, the shadow cast by his exploits suggests that the
[15:11] official tally represents only a fraction of his true toll.
[15:16] A figure often repeated in folklore and historical
[15:19] accounts. Claims that Hapoya confessed to
[15:21] 18 killings. Critically, there are no
[15:25] documented details concerning this supposed confession,
[15:28] leading experts to regard the figure as unreliable.
[15:33] But here's the thing. Based upon a review of the
[15:36] limited records we have from his time in Siberia, many historians
[15:40] think that this number, made-up to sound high, is actually too
[15:45] low. Despite the lack of firm
[15:48] evidence for the confession, the most credible historical
[15:51] estimates place his overall victim count much higher than
[15:55] the confirmed three. Many believe that he may have
[15:59] killed between 20 to 30 people over the course of his life.
[16:03] This broad estimate acknowledges the likelihood that unreported
[16:06] attacks, especially from his Siberian period, is extremely
[16:11] high. Anyway, to the surprise of no
[16:15] one, I'm not fluent in Finnish and I had to rely on translation
[16:19] software when looking at sources since there isn't much out there
[16:22] in English. It seems to me that Hapoya,
[16:25] despite his disturbing crimes, has a folkloric status, kind of
[16:31] like someone like Billy the Kid for us.
[16:34] If you're finish, it would be great if you could confirm or
[16:36] deny this since the language barrier and limited English
[16:40] sources made it difficult for me to figure this out.
[16:47] Hey everyone, Jimmy here with a quick reminder to check out the
[16:50] Patreon or the YouTube membership you can support
[16:53] directly for as little as a buck a month.
[16:56] Also remember to check out my other YouTube channels by
[16:59] clicking the links in the description.
[17:05] It's nearly impossible to imagine a lethal, state
[17:08] sponsored geopolitical conflict erupting in the tranquil
[17:11] academic environment of Japan. Yet that's precisely what
[17:16] happened 37 miles northeast of Tokyo in the summer of 1991.
[17:22] The setting was the University of Tsukuba campus, and the
[17:26] victim was Professor Hitoshi Igarashi.
[17:30] The professor's death was a deliberate, violent consequence
[17:33] of a clash that originated thousands of miles away.
[17:37] It transformed an academic dispute over literature into an
[17:40] international incident of assassination.
[17:44] Igarashi, a professor of Islamic culture, had committed the
[17:48] singular fatal act of translating Salman Rushdie's
[17:51] profoundly controversial novel The Satanic Verses into
[17:56] Japanese. His killing, carried out on July
[17:59] 11th, 1991, starkly demonstrated that the religious decree or
[18:05] fatwa issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran two
[18:10] years earlier was very real. The decree explicitly called for
[18:15] the death of the author and anyone quote involved in its
[18:18] publication. Igarashi's assassination proved
[18:22] that the lethal contract was global and extended to countries
[18:26] which possessed relative geopolitical distance from the
[18:29] epicenter of the controversy. If a scholar in a secure,
[18:33] culturally distinct democracy could be targeted, the message
[18:37] to every publisher, bookseller and translator across the world
[18:41] was unmistakable. To this day, the person
[18:45] responsible for the slaying of Professor Igarashi still remains
[18:49] at large. And given Japan's statute of
[18:52] limitations as it then existed, the crime can't be prosecuted.
[18:58] Hitoshi Igarashi, born in 1947, was no casual observer of
[19:04] Islamic civilization. He was an internationally
[19:07] acclaimed expert in Arabic and Persian literature and history.
[19:12] His entire career was dedicated to bridging cultural
[19:15] understanding and intellectual dialogue between Japan and the
[19:18] Islamic world. His rigorous academic background
[19:22] included completing his doctoral program in Islamic art at the
[19:26] University of Tokyo. This was followed by service as
[19:30] a Research Fellow at the Royal Academy of Iran, a position he
[19:34] held until the Iranian Revolution in 1979.
[19:38] As an associate professor at Sukuba University, his
[19:42] scholarship resulted in insightful books on Islamic
[19:44] history alongside significant translation projects.
[19:50] The decision to translate The Satanic Verses was 1.
[19:53] Taken with full knowledge of the profound risks, it's reported
[19:58] that five other translators had already refused the task,
[20:01] demonstrating the immediate fear the fatwa had instilled in the
[20:05] Japanese literary community. Igarashi, however, stepped
[20:09] forward, transforming the purely academic act of translation into
[20:14] an explicit defense of freedom of thought.
[20:18] He understood the potential danger, acknowledging that he
[20:21] was indeed one of the targets identified by the Fatwa's
[20:25] chilling logic. Despite this awareness, he
[20:29] declined the offer of security protection extended by the
[20:32] police. Adhering to an almost stoic
[20:35] conviction, he even publicly remarked that scholars shouldn't
[20:39] be preoccupied with the potential negative outcomes of
[20:42] their work. The origins of the violence lay
[20:47] in the February 14th, 1989 decree issued by Iran's then
[20:51] Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini.
[20:55] This legal order condemned Salman Rushdie and anyone
[20:58] responsible for the publication or distribution of his book.
[21:04] Crucially, the threat evolved from a general indictment into a
[21:07] monetized, systematic campaign of violence.
[21:11] While the original fatwa didn't explicitly name translators, a
[21:15] state sponsored Iranian foundation promised financial
[21:19] support for anyone who acted on it.
[21:22] Igarashi's slaying on July 11th, 1991 occurred just eight days
[21:27] after a separate attack across the world.
[21:30] Ettore Capriolo, the novel's Italian translator, had been
[21:35] stabbed and seriously wounded in his apartment in Milan on July
[21:39] 3rd, 1991. These sequential near
[21:43] simultaneous attacks on 2 academic targets on separate
[21:47] continents confirmed that the Iranian decree had dramatically
[21:50] expanded its operational scope. It had moved beyond the high
[21:54] profile author into the logistical chain of publishing
[21:58] and translation. Professor Igarashi's body was
[22:03] discovered on the morning of July 12th, 1991, in a building
[22:08] on the University of Tsukuba's campus, lying near the staircase
[22:12] in the hallway outside his office.
[22:14] The autopsy determined that the fatal attack had occurred late
[22:18] the previous night, sometime after 10 on July 11th.
[22:23] The nature of the assault was particularly brutal.
[22:26] The professor had been stabbed repeatedly in the face and arms
[22:29] by an unknown assailant. These defensive wounds and the
[22:33] targeting of the face suggests an attack intended not just to
[22:36] kill, but to viciously silence and perhaps even disfigure the
[22:40] victim. The immediate investigation by
[22:45] Japanese authorities found no clear clues and failed to
[22:48] apprehend the perpetrator. However, a remarkable piece of
[22:52] evidence was found on Igarashi's office desk.
[22:55] It was a quick poem that disturbingly said that he would
[22:59] be assassinated and that his body would be found near the
[23:02] staircase. Despite the immediate worldwide
[23:07] notoriety of the case and the clear link to the geopolitical
[23:10] controversy, Igarashi's slaying remains officially unsolved.
[23:15] The Japanese police were unable to identify, charge or convict
[23:20] the individual responsible for the fatal stabbing, allowing the
[23:23] perpetrator to remain at large for years.
[23:27] The failure of the domestic legal process was sealed in 2006
[23:32] when, 15 years after the crime, the statute of limitations for
[23:36] the stabbing expired. Under Japanese law, this
[23:41] formally terminated the possibility of domestic
[23:44] prosecution for the attack. Some have speculated that Iran's
[23:49] Revolutionary Guard may have targeted Igarashi directly,
[23:53] though there's no direct evidence that this is the case.
[23:56] Others have speculated that it was someone either motivated by
[24:00] fanaticism or perhaps by Iran's promise to provide payment and
[24:04] support for anyone who committed such an attack.
[24:08] Still others have speculated that the translation may not
[24:11] have been the cause of the attack at all, but rather a
[24:14] smokescreen used by someone with a personal grudge against him.
[24:19] Igarashi had been publicly attacked previously over the
[24:22] translation, and it does remain a possibility that someone with
[24:26] an axe to grind saw this as the ideal opportunity to make a
[24:30] move. If this was the case, it worked,
[24:34] since the Japanese police dedicated all their resources
[24:37] into the theory that this was the result of the fatwa.
[24:41] At any rate, if the person responsible wants to come forth
[24:45] and admit to the crime now, they're free to do so with no
[24:49] criminal repercussions due to Japan's statute of limitation
[24:53] laws. It was an ordinary day in May
[24:59] 1989 when construction workers in Bullhead City, AZ, made a
[25:04] chilling discovery. As they dug A trench for utility
[25:08] lines on a vacant lot, their backhoe struck something
[25:11] unexpected, A shallow grave containing human skeletal
[25:15] remains. They had unknowingly stumbled
[25:19] upon a decades old mystery that still haunts the community, the
[25:22] unsolved slaying of a young woman dubbed Castleberry Cate by
[25:26] investigators. Investigators soon determined
[25:32] the skeletal remains belong to a female around 17 to 19 years
[25:36] old. The body had been concealed on
[25:39] an undeveloped stretch of Castleberry Lane, near the
[25:42] intersection with Riverside Drive, in a then remote part of
[25:46] the city. Based on the condition of the
[25:49] bones, forensic experts estimated she had been killed
[25:53] sometime between 1979 and 1987. The cause of death was
[25:59] officially ruled A homicide, though the details of why
[26:02] investigators came to this conclusion aren't publicly
[26:06] available. At that time, Bullhead City was
[26:10] expanding rapidly, but the Castleberry Lane lot was still
[26:14] empty desert on the outskirts of town.
[26:17] This isolation meant that whoever buried the victim likely
[26:20] did so without any neighbors around to notice.
[26:24] After years exposed to the elements.
[26:26] Any other evidence, such as footprints or tire tracks, had
[26:30] long since been erased. With no identification on the
[26:34] remains and no immediate clues at the scene, the mystery of who
[26:38] this young woman was and who cut her life short was just
[26:43] beginning. Authorities determined the
[26:47] victim was likely a white female between 17 and 19 years old,
[26:52] standing about 5 feet 7 inches tall.
[26:55] Her hair was dark to medium brown and approximately 12
[26:58] inches long, with evidence that she had bleached it at some
[27:02] point. Due to the remains being
[27:04] skeletal, eye color and weight could not be determined, though
[27:09] from the skeleton it was clear that she was never severely
[27:11] overweight nor severely underweight.
[27:15] Forensic artists even created a facial reconstruction to
[27:19] illustrate how Castleberry Kate might have looked in life.
[27:23] The hope was that someone would recognize her face and come
[27:27] forward with a name or a clue. The nickname itself was inspired
[27:33] by the street name of the discovery site, and it quickly
[27:36] became how investigators and locals referred to this unknown
[27:40] girl. Personally, I think these sort
[27:42] of nicknames do a lot to humanize a Jane or John Doe
[27:45] case, and I think this is a practice that should be adopted
[27:48] more widely. One striking detail was the
[27:53] extensive dental work she had undergone.
[27:56] Two of the young woman's upper teeth were missing prior to her
[27:59] death, replaced by a partial denture plate.
[28:03] This is an unusual feature for a teenager that might be a key to
[28:06] identifying her. This suggests she had access to
[28:10] good dental care in life, and indeed her dental records were
[28:13] catalogued so authorities could compare them against those of
[28:17] missing persons. But back to that first point, it
[28:21] also seemingly paradoxically suggests that at some point in
[28:26] her life, she may have had very poor dental care.
[28:30] While I haven't seen anything to confirm this, perhaps she
[28:33] suffered neglect at the hands of her biological parents and then
[28:37] others stepped in. Investigators also noted the
[28:42] personal items found with the remains, though most of these
[28:45] haven't been disclosed. That said, it's recorded that
[28:48] there were women's clothing and very importantly a purse, though
[28:53] the contents again haven't been revealed.
[28:56] Notably, one thing which was revealed is that she wore a
[29:01] distinctive owl shaped earring. Unfortunately, I can't show you
[29:06] this since there's no image of it in the databases.
[29:12] From the start, local authorities gave this case
[29:14] significant attention, but progress was painfully slow.
[29:19] No witnesses came forward, which isn't surprising given that the
[29:23] lot was isolated desert scrubland back then.
[29:26] And given the passage of time, detectives checked missing
[29:30] persons reports in Arizona and across the country, looking for
[29:34] anyone who matched Castleberry Kate's description and
[29:36] distinctive dental profile. Over the years, at least 20
[29:41] potential matches were compared and ruled out, including several
[29:45] teenagers who vanished in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
[29:50] For example, Tara Calico from New Mexico was considered a
[29:54] possible match, but investigators concluded she
[29:57] wasn't Castleberry Kate. In the decades since the
[30:02] discovery, forensic technology has advanced dramatically.
[30:06] Early DNA testing on the skeletal remains was attempted,
[30:10] but the degraded samples did not initially yield a usable
[30:13] profile. For years, investigators had
[30:16] only dental records and physical clues to work with.
[30:20] Recently, however, there was a breakthrough.
[30:23] ADNA profile was finally generated from the remains,
[30:27] offering a new Ave. to pursue by 2025.
[30:32] The case was taken on by a nonprofit organization that uses
[30:36] genetic genealogy to identify unknown victims.
[30:41] Experts are now analyzing Castleberry Cates DNA, comparing
[30:46] it against genealogy databases to trace her family lineage in
[30:50] hopes of uncovering her real name.
[30:53] This cutting edge effort has given investigators renewed hope
[30:56] that after nearly 36 years, they might soon learn who Castleberry
[31:01] Kate truly was. What strikes me most about the
[31:06] case of Castleberry Kate isn't just the isolation of the grave,
[31:10] but the poignant contradictions in the evidence left behind.
[31:14] As I noted earlier, the moniker itself does heavy lifting here.
[31:19] Giving her a name, even a temporary one derived from a
[31:22] street sign, forces us to see the teenager, not just the case
[31:27] number. She was found in Mojave County,
[31:31] and there's an alternative reality out there where she's
[31:34] simply catalogued as Mojave Jane Doe.
[31:38] In an era where these victims rely on a compelling story to
[31:41] generate interest, so a nonprofit will jump in and
[31:44] identify the person, the Castleberry Kate name is huge.
[31:49] Anyway, I'm rambling a bit there, but I think it needs to
[31:52] be said. The dental evidence also
[31:55] presents a heartbreaking paradox that I can't shake.
[31:59] To have multiple upper teeth missing by age 19 suggests a
[32:03] history of trauma, malnutrition, or severe neglect.
[32:09] Yet the existence of a partial denture proves that at some
[32:13] later point, someone cared enough and had the funds to fix
[32:18] it. It paints a picture of a life
[32:21] that was perhaps turning a corner, possibly thanks to the
[32:24] intervention of guardians or grandparents, before it was
[32:27] cruelly interrupted. Then there's the owl earring.
[32:32] It's deeply frustrating that we can't see the design, as that
[32:36] specific piece of jewelry could have triggered a memory.
[32:40] For instance, maybe a jeweler would have recognized it, or
[32:43] maybe someone would have said, oh hey, that's my friend's owl
[32:46] earring. Haven't heard from her in a
[32:47] number of years. There's also a clear potential
[32:51] pitfall here in relation to genetic genealogy.
[32:55] And yeah, I'm fully aware many of you like to joke that I think
[32:58] that this is a magical technique, but there are
[33:01] limitations. If she was adopted, this would
[33:04] create a significant extra hurdle since her genetic
[33:08] relatives would likely have no knowledge of her whereabouts.
[33:12] It's also possible she could have been a traveller from
[33:14] Europe, where they have different privacy laws
[33:17] concerning this sort of thing. Anyway, hopefully science can
[33:21] finally give her name back and finish the story that this cruel
[33:25] perpetrator tried to use the desert to erase.
[33:32] In the quiet rolling hills of upstate New York, a young couple
[33:36] named Juanetta and Tim Hoyt we're living through an
[33:39] unimaginable nightmare. Between 1965 and 1971, they
[33:45] buried five of their children. First came Eric, then James and
[33:50] Julie, followed by Molly and Noah.
[33:53] One by one they were laid to rest, each death a fresh wave of
[33:58] grief that left their small community heartbroken.
[34:01] For more than 20 years, their story was a medical tragedy, a
[34:06] case study in the cruel randomness of a newly understood
[34:10] condition. But a single decades old medical
[34:13] paper held a clue to a different, more horrifying
[34:17] truth. This truth that would eventually
[34:20] reveal their story wasn't one of a tragic medical mystery at all.
[34:27] The pattern of death in the Hoyt household was as relentless as
[34:30] it was heartbreaking. It began in January 1965 when
[34:35] their first born, Eric, died at just three months old.
[34:39] Two more children followed, James born in 1966 and Julie,
[34:45] born in 1968. In September 1968 tragedy struck
[34:51] twice in three weeks. First 48 day old Julie died and
[34:56] then 28 month old James followed. 2 more children.
[35:00] Molly and Noah were born in 1970 and 1971 respectively.
[35:07] Both also died within a few months of their birth.
[35:10] In each case, the cause of death was listed as SIDS, a diagnosis
[35:15] that at the time was shrouded in mystery and fear.
[35:20] Hoyt's crimes unfolded during a unique moment in medical
[35:23] history. The term was only formally
[35:26] introduced in 1969, following years of varied and often
[35:31] incorrect theories about why seemingly healthy infants
[35:34] perished in their sleep. It was a diagnosis of exclusion,
[35:39] applied when a thorough investigation and autopsy could
[35:42] find no other explanation. This lack of definitive
[35:46] knowledge created a diagnostic fog for grieving parents.
[35:52] It offered a non blaming explanation for an unbearable
[35:55] loss. For a predator like Waneta Hoyt,
[35:58] however, it provided the perfect cover.
[36:02] Her crimes coincided precisely with the period when the medical
[36:05] community had just enough knowledge to name the
[36:07] phenomenon, but not enough to distinguish it from a covert
[36:11] slaying. The Hoyt family's tragedy was so
[36:15] profound that it attracted the attention of Doctor Alfred
[36:19] Steinschneider, A pediatrician at Upstate Medical Center in
[36:22] Syracuse. The last two Hoyt babies, Molly
[36:26] and Noah, became subjects in his study.
[36:29] Juanita reported that the infant suffered from breathing
[36:31] difficulties, and they were admitted to the hospital for
[36:34] monitoring. Molly even became the first baby
[36:38] in the United States to be sent home with an apnea monitor.
[36:42] Despite this, both children perished shortly after being
[36:45] discharged. In October 1972, Doctor
[36:50] Steinschneider published his findings in the journal
[36:53] Pediatrics. The paper, which referred to the
[36:57] Hoyts only as Family H, proposed that SIDS could be caused by
[37:01] prolonged apnea and that this condition might run in families.
[37:06] The five Hoyt deaths served as the tragic proof of his
[37:10] hypothesis. The truth remained buried until
[37:14] 1985, when a prosecutor from a neighboring county, William
[37:19] Fitzpatrick, was working on an unrelated case with similar
[37:22] facts. He consulted with Doctor Linda
[37:25] Norton, a forensic pathologist from Dallas who reviewed
[37:29] Steinschneider's 1972 paper. She saw something different in
[37:34] the data, not a medical anomaly, but a pattern of a predator.
[37:39] She gave Fitzpatrick a chilling warning.
[37:42] He might have a serial perpetrator in his area.
[37:45] The warning stayed with Fitzpatrick when he was elected
[37:49] District Attorney in 1992. He used his new authority to
[37:54] track down the anonymous family H He sent the case files to
[37:59] Doctor Michael Baden, a renowned forensic pathologist with the
[38:03] New York State Police. After reviewing the medical
[38:06] records and the autopsies of the exhumed remains, the physician's
[38:11] conclusion was unequivocal. When Etta Hoyt was a monster in
[38:18] March 1994, investigators made their move.
[38:22] A state trooper who knew Juanita approached her at a post office
[38:25] and using a clever ruse, he invited her to participate in a
[38:29] quote UN quote new research project on mothers who had been
[38:33] affected by SIDS. She agreed.
[38:37] During the subsequent interrogation, the friendly
[38:40] facade dropped and under questioning when Etta Hoyt
[38:44] confessed, she admitted to everything and her motive was
[38:48] both shockingly simple and profoundly evil.
[38:52] The babies wouldn't stop crying and she wanted to silence them.
[38:57] She described her methods in chilling detail, admitting she
[39:01] had used pillows, a bath towel, and the pressure of her own
[39:05] shoulder to smother them. Almost immediately, however, she
[39:09] recanted, claiming her confession was coerced.
[39:13] The validity of that confession became the central issue of her
[39:16] trial. The defense hired A forensic
[39:19] psychologist who concluded that Hoyt's dependent and avoidant
[39:23] personality disorders made her uniquely vulnerable to
[39:26] manipulative police tactics. Then, in a stunning development,
[39:31] even the prosecution's own psychiatric expert agreed that
[39:35] she was vulnerable and the police had manipulated her.
[39:40] The 1995 trial pitted 2 eras of science against each other.
[39:45] The prosecution, led by Fitzpatrick, built its case on
[39:49] Baden's modern forensic analysis and Hoyt's detailed confession.
[39:54] The defense countered with Doctor Steinschneider, who stood
[39:57] by his original SIDS diagnosis and argued that the confession
[40:01] was worthless. Prosecutors also speculated that
[40:05] Hoyt may have been suffering from Munchausen syndrome by
[40:08] proxy. This was a then emerging
[40:11] psychological disorder in which a parent gains attention and
[40:14] sympathy through fabricated medical issues with a child.
[40:19] In April 1995, a jury found Winnetta Hoyt guilty, and she
[40:24] was sentenced to 75 years to life in prison.
[40:28] But the story had one final bizarre twist.
[40:33] In August 1998, Hoyt died of pancreatic cancer before her
[40:39] appeal could be heard under New York law.
[40:43] Because she died, with her appeal still pending, her
[40:46] conviction was formally vacated. While a jury had declared her
[40:50] guilty, her legal record was officially wiped clean.

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