have been murdered what what was your reaction to that I was shocked started crying I mean it it's stunned me I didn't know how it could happen I don't know why it would happen that's exactly how 17-year-old Jeff reacted when he discovered that four members of his family were brutally murdered on the night of his prom this case is one of those that'll have you second guessing everything seriously everything from the cops to the detectives the prosecution team and even the judge to this day many people still can't believe he's guilty and by the time you finish this video you might just be left asking the same question that's haunted everyone who's followed this story what really happened Lakeville Indiana a tiny town with fewer than 900 people Jeff and his family weren't ordinary folks in this town they were well known and played a significant role in the community but Jeff and his family didn't start their story there Jeff whose full name is Robert Jeffrey P was born on December 10th 1971 in Florence Kentucky to his parents Robert and Eva Pell as his name suggests Jeff was named after his father a few years later Jeff became an older brother when the family welcomed a second child a daughter named jacqu in 1980 when Jeff was 9 years old the P family packed their bags and moved to Cape Coral Florida the reason for the move was a new job opportunity for Bob Jeff's father who had secured a position in computer programming at Landmark Bank now Jeff and jacqu were raised in a religious household where going to church was a non-negotiable part of life Bob their father was deeply committed to his faith and strict when it came to discipline crying wasn't allowed as Bob believed it was a sign of weakness a lesson he carried over from his own upbringing however the kids found comfort in their mother Eva Who provided them with a space to show their emotions but life took a heartbreaking turn in February 1985 when Eva passed away from skin cancer she had refused treatment and her health rapidly declined eventually leaving her in a coma for Jeff and jacqu losing their mother was devastating and their family's Dynamic was forever changed this was evident just a few months after Eva's death when Bob met a 27-year-old woman named Don Huber Don had also experienced loss having recently lost her significant other the two were introduced through Bob's cousin Katie who was also Don's best friend their connection was quick and within N9 months of Eva's passing Bob and Don married in a small Church ceremony in Ohio however this Union wasn't exactly a happy occasion for every everyone Jeff and jacqu weren't even invited to the wedding although Dawn's three daughters 5-year-old Jessica 4-year-old Janelle and 2-year-old Jolene were present by 1986 the newly blended family made a fresh start in the Tiny Town of Lakeville Indiana Bob believed he had been called to Ministry and accepted a position at the Olive Branch United Brethren Church this was no mega church it was a humble Congregation of just 40 to 50 members the job offered a modest salary of $1,300 a month which when adjusted for inflation would be about $3,700 to $4,000 per month in today's money what made the deal sweeter was the Free Housing a parsonage provided by the church situated conveniently right across the street after moving Jeff began attending laville Junior Senior High School where he quickly became well-liked by his peers he also got a part-time job at McDonald's further cementing his place in the community around this time he started dating a girl named Darla and from the outside it seemed like life was finally settling down for the pelly in their new town however just like any True Crime Story life has also a way of taking a shocking turn when you least expect it a few years later something unimaginable happened that would forever change the P family's story on Sunday April 30th 1989 Dave a member of the Olive Branch United Brethren Church was responsible for making sure everyone showed up for the service on time at around 9:15 in the morning he noticed something unusual Pastor Bob and his family were nowhere to be found Bob who ran the church was always there before 9: this was highly out of character for him around the same time an 11-year-old girl named Stephanie who was friends with the p children went over to the family's parsonage this was a regular Sunday routine for her but when she got to the back door of the garage she was surprised to find it locked thinking something was odd she tried the sliding glass door at the back but that was locked too confused Stephanie ran back to the church thinking she had simply missed them she told father Henry about what happened and together with Dave they started wondering if the P family might have just overslept by 9:30 Dave asked a young church member to step in and lead the service while he tried to figure out where Pastor Bob was he walked over to the P's parsonage and knocked on both the front and back doors but there was no answer all the blinds were drawn and the curtains were shut tight leaving Dave unable to see anything inside feeling uneasy he returned to the church and sat in the back row but something didn't sit right with him minutes later he and another church member decided to try a spare key to gain access to the house unfortunately the key didn't fit just then Lydia easterday another church member saw them struggling and offered them another key one belonging to her husband a staff member of the church Dave tried the back door first but it didn't work he then moved to the front door and to his relief the key turned and what he saw in that hallway would haunt him forever the first thing he noticed was Bob's eyeglasses lying on the carpet as he stepped closer to the glasses he looked to his left and froze there on the floor was Bob face down in a pool of blood Panic set in Dave rushed to the back door letting the other church members inside he told them to call 911 immed immediately as he continued to survey the house he spotted the stairs leading down to the basement he peered down and saw two small feet clad in white socks his heart sank he knew it was one of the children the dim lighting made it hard to see but the unmistakable feeling of dread overtook him soon paramedics arrived Dave quickly told them not to touch anything as he suspected a murder had taken place they turned on the light and the scene would soon reveal a chilling truth the Sunday after prom night in April 1989 parishioners with Lakeville Olive Branch Church found their Minister and his family dead on the floor of the church parsonage Reverend Robert py was found with two bullet holes in his body his wife Dawn was found entwined with the bodies of her two young daughters Janelle 8 and Jolene six this tragedy was truly horrific and as you might recall there were seven members of the P family so with four of them found dead the search for the remaining three children was on it turns out though that three of the children weren't even home that morning Jessica the 9-year-old daughter of dawn had spent the night at a friend's house when her friend's mother drove her back to the parsonage that morning they arrived to see yellow caution tape surrounding their home Jessica immediately sensed something was terribly wrong and her worst fears were confirmed when she learned what had happened to her family but there was still the question of where Pastor Bob's other two children were jacqu aged 14 was about an hour and a half away at Huntington College visiting friends from a church camp the situation surrounding jacques's return was strange a bishop from their Church came to pick her up but he didn't tell her anything about the tragedy that had just unfolded at home jacqu was completely blindsided when she arrived home and learned of the devastating news Jeff the 17-year-old son of Pastor Bob was also nowhere to be found detectives later learned he had been at Six Flags Great America a theme park in gurnie Illinois they pieced This Together from Jessica who mentioned it during the investigation Now tracking Jeff down wasn't as difficult as it seemed though he and his girlfriend Darla along with a group of friends had spent the day at the park while standing in line for a ride Jeff started to feel something wasn't quite right it was a nagging sensation one that he couldn't explain but he couldn't shake it he turned to Darla and confided in her saying he thought something bad had happened though he couldn't quite put his finger on it Darla tried to dismiss his concerns but Jeff's uneasy feeling only grew stronger before long the police arrived at Six Flags and they separated Jeff and Darla from their friends they began to interview everyone about Jeff's whereabouts the night before trying to piece together his movements Jeff was interrogated right after this with his grandparents and there's actually a clip of him being questioned was there anybody in the family you really didn't get along with how about your stepmother we didn't get along real well I we talked High by type thing but we never really talk to each other or anything I mean I didn't I didn't hate or anything but we just we we tolerated each other and how about your step sisters which ones uh all three of them what about them did you get along with them oh I get along with the girls great I just love the girls did you and your dad getting any arguments uh Saturday no we had a real good day Saturday we got along real well what do you mean you you and your dad had a real good day Saturday we didn't argue at all um it he was really he he said that I'd been doing a pretty good job of shaping up and everything so do you know who killed your mother and father or your father and no I I really don't I I don't know who would want to did you have anything to do with it no I didn't no I didn't I me and my father didn't get along sometimes and sometimes I'd be really upset with him but we always work things out as you can tell from the clip the tension in the air was palpable right from the start the police were cautious around Jeff and their suspicion was undeniable it was clear to them that something wasn't adding up and they began to focus their attention on him the reason for their suspicion according to the investigators Jeff's relationship with his family was anything but simple by the way I post True Crime and new cases here every week so if that sounds like your kind of thing please consider subscribing it helps a lot as it turns out when Bob and da married Bob had hoped that Jeff and jacqu his children from his first marriage would accept Dawn as their new mother but that was a lot to ask especially since their real mother had passed away less than a year earlier for Jeff and jacqu moving on from their mother was impossible they couldn't just forget her and that resistance created a r in the family that would only deepen over time to make matters worse Jeff and jacqu didn't agree with the way Dawn was Raising her daughters the differences in parenting Styles caused friction at home and Jeff in particular was growing more distant from his father and the new family Dynamics according to their neighbors Jeff had become something of an outcast within his own family he didn't fit in and it seemed like he was always on the outside looking in but that wasn't all 6 weeks before the tragic events Jeff found himself in serious trouble he was arrested for stealing CDs and cash from a neighbor named JN the crime itself was bad enough but the aftermath was even more telling JN chose not to press charges but instead they worked out a deal this however didn't sit well with Bob his anger was palpable and as a form of punishment Bob decided that Jeff wouldn't be allowed to attend prom that was a big deal for a 17-year-old and it was a blow to Jeff's social life Bob didn't stop there he openly shared Jeff's behavior problems with others at church further isolating Jeff from the rest of the community it was clear that Bob was frustrated with his son and this tension only seemed to escalate to add insult to injury Bob even took matters into his own hands by removing some of Jeff's belongings from his car including his car keys the car in question was a 1984 silver Ford Mustang a flashy attention grabbing vehicle that was hard to miss by taking the keys Bob essentially grounded Jeff restricting his freedom even more with all these factors at play the police's suspicion of Jeff only grew stronger they couldn't help but wonder if his frustration and anger had led him to do something unforgivable and after that tense interview they began to focus their attention entirely on him trying to to find any clue that would tie him to the crime but here's where things start to get tricky there are a lot of discrepancies and Oddities in this case that really make you question whether Jeff was actually involved let's start with the first major contradiction Jeff wasn't originally allowed to attend prom a decision Bob had made as punishment for his previous transgressions but then surprisingly Bob had a change of heart and allowed Jeff to go according to both Jeff and his sister jock Bob could be harsh when Doling out punishments however once Bob had cooled down he would often reduce the severity of his punishments and this instance was no different Jeff's prom Knight was not a typical rebellious teenagers outing though and that's where things began to get murky at the crime scene detectives discovered some Curious items among the usual evidence things like carpet fibers walls and bullet fragments was something far more intriguing a set of keys was found in a trash barrel outside the house but it wasn't just any set of keys attached to them was a heart-shaped locket and inside the locket was a photo of a man and a woman strangely the investigators paid little attention to this and they didn't even photograph the item for evidence what could this locket mean who were the people in the photo these questions were left unanswered adding to the growing list of Oddities other peculiarities emerged as well on Jeff's bed they discovered a photo book filled with pictures of his life from the first seven years at first this seemed like a normal childhood album But as time went on it became an odd clue it was as though Jeff had been looking back on his early memories particularly when his mom was still alive and his dad wasn't remarried could this have stirred up intense emotions that led to the violence the police also found a load of laundry in the house freshly washed that same day and it only contained Jeff's clothes this raised suspicions was Jeff trying to cover up something some speculated that he might have been revisiting his memories when he lost control perhaps in a fit of rage and murdered his family before quickly cleaning up but there was something much more puzzling that wasn't found at the crime scene despite the brutal killings there was no sign of the weapon that caused all the destruction there was no 20 gauge shotgun no shell casings and no indication of where the weapon had gone the P family had indeed owned a Mossberg 520 gauge shotgun which Bob had purchased in December 1987 Bob traded a 44 caliber handgun and $90 to acquire the gun which he had planned to give Jeff as a Christmas gift but by the time the authorities arrived at the scene the shotgun was missing even more strange was the fact that it wasn't included in the list of evidence and no one could explain where it had gone keep this in mind because this missing gun would become a key detail in the mystery later on and to understand the timeline better let's rewind to the day before the murders on April 29th 1989 at first everything seemed ordinary Jeff worked a morning shift at McDonald's and L later that day his father Bob stopped by a gun store owned by Steve Diller Bob didn't buy anything but he spent some time talking with the owner afterward he picked Jeff up from work and they headed home to the parsonage it was well known that Bob had recently picked up a hobby photography on that particular day he had scheduled a photo session with several couples a task he was excited about eyewitness accounts would later place Bob at the parsonage before the tragic events unfolded the window of time in which the family was likely killed was incredibly short only about 15 minutes between 510 and 5:25 in the evening a couple Kim and David were some of the last people to see the family alive they had just finished taking photos with Bob and were leaving the house around 5:00 another man Matt Miller drove by the parsonage at 5:15 and noticed Jeff's Mustang still parked in the driveway however when Kim and David passed by again at 5:30 the scene had dramatically changed Jeff's car was gone and the family was nowhere to be seen meanwhile another couple Crystal and her date had a scheduled photo session with Bob and his daughters at Crystal's house but when Bob and the girls didn't show up at the agreed time Crystal grew concerned she decided to go over over to the parsonage herself when she arrived with her date they knocked on the doors but no one answered all the cars were parked in the driveway except for Jeff's Mustang which was missing based on these accounts it seemed clear that Jeff's car was gone by 5:30 p. m. which would have been after the murders had occurred however some eyewitness accounts didn't quite match up Kurt schaer a friend of Jeff's and his cousin Ken saw Jeff leave the parsonage between 4:45 and 5:00 Kurt even recognized the distinct sound of Jeff's Mustang Lewis another neighbor also saw Bob around 5:00 talking to a man in a black pickup truck Bob was holding a shovel and although Lewis waved at him he seemed distracted who was this man in the black truck no one knew but perhaps the most crucial sighting came from Dennis a gas station Clerk Dennis was working at an amoko station just 6 minutes from the parsonage at 5:17 in the evening he saw Jeff pull in with his Mustang Jeff was under the hood of his car wearing a black Hawaiian shirt and blue jeans Dennis remembered the time clearly because his shift was supposed to end at 5: but his replacement was late at 5:20 Jeff entered the store and used the phone to call his girlfriend Darla he told her his car was idling too hot and that he was running late after the call Jeff returned outside to continue working on the car by 537 Jeff left the gas station and Dennis clocked out for the day from these accounts if the P family was indeed murdered between 510 and 5:25 p.
m. it seemed clear that Jeff had no involvement moving on Jeff later went to his friend Lynette Greer's house around 5:45 p. m.
a visit confirmed by his girlfriend Darla the two along with Lynette and her date went to the Emporium restaurant at 6:15 p. m. to meet more friends at the restaurant everyone said Jeff appeared perfectly normal chatting laughing and enjoying the evening like any teenager later that night Jeff attended prom and afterward went bowling Witnesses at both events described him as calm and collected seemingly unaffected by the horrific events that had occurred just hours before if he were indeed involved he spent the night at a friend's house and went to Six Flags the next morning carrying on as though nothing had happened the police questioned everyone who had been with him that day but no evidence connected him to the murders his whereabouts were accounted for and no clues tied him to the crime as a result the case went cold and attention shifted away from Jeff over the years the surviving children children including Jeff grew up he and his girlfriend went off to college while his sisters went to live with their grandparents and in foster care unfortunately Jeff's relationship didn't work out and he eventually moved back to Lakeville however his return to his hometown was anything but easy since the murders most people still viewed him with suspicion pointing fingers at him as the prime suspect the constant Whispers And judgment weighed heavily on him and as a result Jeff decided to leave Lakeville behind for a fresh start seeking A New Beginning Jeff relocated to Fort Myers Florida where he started working in the Credit Bureau Business owned by a longtime family friend Philip Holly the Holly family welcomed him as one of their own and Jeff eventually married Philip's niece Kim it seemed like life was moving forward for Jeff and for a while things appeared to settle down however the shadow of the past was never far behind years after the tragic deaths of his family Jeff and his sisters were each left inheritance money from their parents estate Jeff was set to inherit $48,000 while his sisters would receive $65,000 each but there was a catch they couldn't access the funds until they turned 23 desperate for the money Jeff became fixated on getting his hands on it sooner and he came up with a plan he told a story about having skin cancer and needing surgery to make it seem real he even forged medical papers but his plan didn't work the names on the documents didn't match the hospital staff and it became clear he was lying the FBI who had been investigating the P family case got involved they tracked Jeff down for trying to deceive them in the end Jeff was charged with wire fraud he didn't go to prison but he was sentenced to probation the charge was a lighter one but it still made his reputation even worse after all the trouble with the fraud charges Jeff shifted his Focus to something else computers he managed to land a job as an international consultant for the well-known company IBM things seemed to take a turn for the better he and his wife Kim had a son and moved to Dade City Florida they bought a beautiful house that was worth around $500,000 for a while it seemed like Jeff was finally rebuilding his life however things weren't as perfect as they appeared on the surface in 1997 Jeff and Kim filed for divorce though they later reconciled and got back together despite all this the shadow of the P family murders still followed Jeff wherever he went leaving him with a tarnished reputation that wouldn't go away by the year 2000 the county process prosecutor in Lakeville had changed a new prosecutor named Chris Toth took over he was determined to reopen cold cases hoping to bring Justice to victims like the P family he put together a fresh team of investigators and assigned detective Craig Whitfield to take charge of the case Craig's first step was to track down Jeff's two surviving sisters Jack and Jessica Jessica the only surviving child of dawn who now goes by the name Jess had been disconnected from the rest of the family for years she had spent a lot of time in foster care and struggled with substance abuse by the time Craig interviewed her Jesse had two children of her own and she wasn't really in touch with her siblings anymore during their conversation Jesse revealed something shocking she had once believed her father Bob was responsible for the murders but as she got older she found out that Jeff was actually being looked at as the prime suspect Jesse remembered an unsettling conversation she had with Jeff when she was just 15 years old 6 years after the murders Jeff invited her to visit him and his new wife in Florida and while she was there he asked her who do you think did it Jesse still thinking it was their father replied your dad to her surprise Jeff simply said okay at the time Jesse didn't think much of it but looking back she realized that Jeff might have asked that question because he was worried she might suspect him after that Craig interviewed Jack but she came with a lawyer by her side worried that her words might be twisted or misinterpreted jacqu was becoming more convinced that Jeff was the only possible suspect the detectives were desperate to find solid proof to link him to the murders so they started focusing on the laundry found at the crime scene according to Craig Whitfield the lead investigator on the case he explained that a dark and pink striped shirt a pair of blue jeans and two white socks were found packed inside an Anis Finer Foods bag inside one of the pockets of the jeans the FBI discovered 34 coins and a dollar which added up to a total of $1.
50 along with a receipt from Anna's grocery store Craig believed that the jeans being found in the washer was suspicious and could be probable cause to arrest Jeff he thought that Jeff had likely left the money and receed in the jeans because he was distracted and in a rush to take them off forgetting they were there however a pair of blue jeans was never found in the washing machine only a shirt and socks in fact not a single detective or officer involved in the case ever said they personally handled a pair of blue jeans Jeff was wearing blue jeans when he went to lynnette's house before for prom so it was strange that they weren't found another issue raised was that no officer ever went to Anna's grocery to confirm whether Jeff had been there no one came forward to say they had personally seen him there it seemed likely that the jeans were never washed and were not found in the washing machine with the shirt and socks instead Jeff's clothes that were found in the back of his Mustang including a Hawaiian shirt may have been mixed with the other evidence Craig then wrote up a probable cause statement for Jeff's arrest and the newly elected prosecutor approved the warrant on August 10th of 2002 13 years after Jeff's family was brutally taken from this world he was arrested on four counts of first-degree murder Craig accompanied by a SWAT team went to surround Jeff's house but he wasn't home Jeff now 30 years old was in Los Angeles after returning from a work trip to Australia while at the Airport Customs detained him because a warrant for his arrest had been issued Jeff was now going to fight a battle in court and his apparent motive was that he wasn't allowed to go to prom Jeff's sister jacqu and his wife Kim found a defense attorney named Allan B Allen had never heard of the case before but he agreed to take on Jeff's defense his first move was to try to get Jeff bonded but this wasn't successful because Jeff was considered a Flight Risk from 2003 to 2006 there were multiple delays in the trial Allan kept trying to get the case thrown out arguing that Jeff's right to a speedy trial had been violated Jeff was eventually released on bond for most of 2005 in 2006 it was finally time for the trial the lead prosecutor Frank schaer argued that Jeff was responsible for the murders even though there was almost no concrete evidence linking him to the crime Allan on the other hand argued that the police investigation had been flawed and they had focused too much on Jeff without considering other possibilities both of Jeff's remaining siblings jacqu and Jesse took the stand and they had different things to say Jesse testified that she had seen the 20 gauge shotgun hanging in her parents' bedroom before she left for her sleepover but jock said that the shotgun had been removed the year before along with all other firearms in the house Jeff had mentioned this during his police interrogation as well explaining that their father Bob decided to get rid of the firearms in the house because he didn't think Jeff was safe around them Bob had given the guns to a man named Thomas Keb Thomas had stored a bag containing the shotgun a rifle and a pistol at his in-laws house in their basement the strange part was that investigators never spoke to Thomas or asked for the guns Allen the defense attorney chose not to use Thomas as a witness because he believed that Jeff's mental state during that time might have influenced the jury's decision on the other hand the prosecution didn't want to call Thomas because they feared it would weaken their case against Jeff additionally Jesse testified that her mom told her Jeff was going to Six Flags Great America which Allan believed could raise doubts about Jeff's involvement as it seemed like he had permission to go to prom so why would he kill his family additionally remember Dave the man who first discovered the crime scene initially he said the blood at the scene was still wet implying the deaths had happened not long before but when Dave testified in 2006 he switched his story saying the blood was actually dry there were also wet washcloths found nearby and Allan Jeff's lawyer brought in an expert to show that washcloths would have been dry after about 12 hours however because the experiments were conducted in Arizona the court didn't accept the results even more suspicious no blood traces were found on Jeff's jeans and Allan argued that Jeff wouldn't have had enough time to carry out the crime in under 15 minutes after all Jeff was just 17 years old at the time Most teens wouldn't have been able to clean up a crime scene that quickly especially since according to everyone who knew him Jeff didn't act strangely after those minutes another piece of strange evidence came from Bob's stomach where they found popcorn kernels jacqu Jeff's biological sister testified that Bob had a habit of eating popcorn every night between 7 and 8:00 p. m.
