Cold Case Files - Beauty Queen Killer

Episode Date: August 13, 2024

In 1978, beauty queen Tana Woolley moves into her first apartment alone. Not long after her move, Tana is found murdered and everyone in her apartment building becomes a suspect. Apartments.com: To find whatever you’re searching for and more visit apartments.com the place to find a place. Progressive: Progressive.com  ZocDoc: Check out Zocdoc.com/CCF and download the Zocdoc app for free! 

From A&E, this is Cold Case Files, the podcast. It's October 25th, 1978. Deep in the Mojave Desert, Route 14 rambles south into the one stoplight town of Rosamond, California. Here, every face is familiar. And everyone knows Tana Woolley, a 20-year-old beauty queen, A student, and quintessential girl next door. On a Wednesday morning, Tana's mother, Helen, takes a call about her daughter.

It was between, I think, 9.30 and 10. And her boss, Patty April, called me and said that Tana had not come to work. Helen Woolley is a mother who knows her daughter and knows, even as she hangs up the phone, that something is very wrong. Helen gets into her car and heads over to Tana's apartment. When I pulled up, her car was there. I opened the door and the first thing I saw was her and I didn't go any further. Tana Woolley's body hangs over the side of her bed. She is naked from the waist down, has one blue sock on her foot and the other wrapped around her neck. Detectives bag the victim's clothes and bedding and send the body to the local morgue. There, the cause of death is officially determined to be strangulation. Seaman is recovered, confirming initial suspicions of a

sexual assault. In 1978, however, nothing further can be done with the forensic evidence. Meanwhile, a father waits for someone to explain to him what happened to his daughter. Do you have any idea who it is? And when they're saying, no, we don't, then they are wondering, well, where are you going to go with this if there's no witnesses, there's no real suspects? All you're looking for is to find the guy that would do something like this. Days slip by and the small town of Rosamond speculates about who might want Tana Woolley dead. Meanwhile, a family buries their daughter and waits for an answer. Two weeks after their daughter's murder, the Woolley family believes the investigation has already gone sideways. Kern County detectives are stretched thin and leads are as dry as the desert air.

The detective that came to the house was just so overloaded that we felt like it was never going to go anywhere. We didn't feel that he was going to be able to put all of his effort into Tana's case. So that's when I told Helen we need to get some help here. Help comes in the form of a private eye named Lou McNatt, who promises the Woolley family he will take a second look at their daughter's murder. McNatt starts with a visit to Tana Woolley's apartment complex. I started from each of the apartments, interviewing the people who resided at the apartments, attempting to find out if they heard anything in the first place,

if they did, what they heard, and then go on further and tell me what they've seen prior to the time of the murder. 30 apartments in all. McNatt knocks on each door and chats up the residents. The private investigator is looking for someone who stands out. A loner, perhaps, who had the opportunity

to stalk Tana Woolley, pick his moment, and make his move. Several residents finger one person in particular, a neighbor named Larry Haslett. The 31-year-old is known in the complex as the local creep. Even better for McNatt, Larry Haslett lives in apartment number five,

just 10 feet away from Tana Woolie's bedroom window. His front door faced the other way from her apartment. But the window was right there. It was a big window, so he could sit there and watch by the hour. And he has a lot of time to spend and look. You see, that's the bad part. And since she was such a beautiful girl, this to him was probably a pinnacle for him. And so I think that's why he watched her so much. McNatt's theory gained some traction when Tana's boyfriend, Ricky Rush, discloses

that Tana had expressed some concerns about the man in apartment number five. She had mentioned to Rick, you know, that this guy would be staring at her and she felt kind of uneasy. Tana was very concerned because they watched her all the time when she took the garbage out, when she went out of the apartment. Anywhere she went, there was always somebody watching her. So she became quite concerned. The pieces are beginning to fit, a theory of murder sharpening into focus. It's a theory that begins at home with a young woman and ends with her neighbor just a few doors away.

It was like a funnel situation. We have all these people here talking and giving me bits of information. And as it funnels down, somebody comes out down here at the bottom of the funnel, and it happened to be him. Five months after Tana Woolie's death, Larry Haslett slips quietly out of town, out of the reach of police,

and out of the reach of Lou McNadd. I developed a lot of people who gave me information during my period of time in the investigation. And so I asked them, you know, I'd go around and I'd say, well, have you seen Hazlitt now? When was the last time you saw him? Oh, maybe two weeks ago, maybe a month ago. And the synopsis was that he just wasn't there. He was gone. And once he's gone, there's nothing else to do. The private investigator feels he has identified Tana Woolley's killer, but is powerless to do anything about it. It's always frustrating when you can't pin down, especially a murderer, and especially of somebody that you thought a great deal of, it's difficult.

The worst part of McNath's job, trying to explain the hard truth of things to the victim's family. He told us, you know, from about the fifth or sixth day, who it was, or he was pretty sure who it was, but there was no evidence. They could not get any evidence on him. In time, the investigation into Tana Woolie's murder finds its way into the cold files. Her death forgotten by all but a precious few. I never lost hope. There was times when I'd think, oh my gosh, it's not going anywhere. But I always felt like someday, I just knew someday it would.

As long as everybody believes that there is hope, then you can press on. If we had anybody that was negative, then it would probably have discouraged all of us. But we never got to that point. For the Woolley family, the wait is a long one. More than 20 years until a new generation of detectives opens up an old file and finds the clue that everyone missed. I think that was when the light bulb came on, the eureka moment. This is my guy.

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In the fall of 1978, Tana Woolley is found raped and strangled with her own sock inside her apartment. The killer leaves semen behind, but no other clues as to his identity. Tana Woolley's family hires a private investigator named Lou McNatt, who suspects a neighbor named Larry Haslett. With no hard evidence and no witnesses, however, the case goes cold. For 20 years, Helen and Bill Woolley wait for police to reopen the case and find their daughter's killer. Helen would call, I know, on the average of once a month and talk to either one of the detectives or they'd stop by. The problem that we had is there was a turnover of detectives on this case.

So each new detective that was given the case would have to start off from square one. In 1999, the torch is passed to a new generation and Tana's sister, Taryn, begins to call police. Like her parents, Taryn is polite but insistent that detectives take up Tana's case and begin to work it again. I didn't feel like that they should have to go through this all over again, being the parents. So I took it, I just said, I have to do this.

Every month I'll call until they tell me, you know, we can do no more. For three months, Tarynaryn calls until finally she gets a sergeant named Chris Spear on the other end of the line. The investigator promises to take a look into Tana's file. I looked through it and unfortunately the 1970s the documentation about how an investigator got from point A to point B wasn't as thorough as we currently do so there are some scraps of information in the case file that you know I considered clues or potential clues left me by the prior investigator. Among the pieces of evidence is a request for fingerprints from a man named Larry Haslett. The same Larry Haslett developed as a suspect by the Woolley family's private investigator

20 years earlier. Spear is not sure why the original investigators wanted Hazlitt's prints and decides to run a background check. What he gets back is a 20-year rap sheet, including four arrests for rape. I think that was when the light bulb came on, the eureka moment, this is my guy, or at least he's as good as any that I got right now. Hazlitt is a registered sex offender living in Sacramento. Spear pulls his address and heads into the city for a sit down with his suspect. Larry Haslett lives a quiet life on a quiet street. His neighbors never suspecting Haslett is also a convicted sex offender. On October 5th, Sergeant Speer knocks on Haslett's front door, armed with a search warrant for his DNA.

He voluntarily surrendered the samples and just said, here you go, didn't know her, be glad to help you in the future, goodbye. Spear can only assume one of two things, either Larry Haslett is entirely innocent, or he has gotten away with so much crime in his life that he thinks he cannot be caught. This worked 20 years ago, be somewhat cooperative and just deny it, and they'll leave me alone for another 20 years. Speer returns to Bakersfield with samples in hand. Hopeful science can tell him if Larry Haslett

is an ex-con gone straight, or a rapist and a killer. In 2000, at the Kearns County Forensic Lab, analyst Brenda Smith sifts through evidence more than 20 years old. She begins with semen pulled from Tana Woolie's body. Unfortunately, it is too degraded for DNA testing. Smith then turns to bags of clothing and bedding collected at the crime scene. Using an alternate light source, Smith scans the items for stains that might indicate bodily fluids.

I found some small circular stains, kind of yellowish looking stains towards the top of the bedspread. I did screen portions of a couple of those areas and they did screen positive for semen. I just kind of got excited and had a gut feeling about those stains from the very beginning. Smith isolates the stains, extracts a genetic profile, and compares it to the DNA signature of Larry Hazlitt. It ended up matching Hazlitt. I've never been more excited, probably on any of the other cases that I've looked at in the time that I've been doing DNA. I think I almost hyperventilated on that one. The match is as good as it gets, with an occurrence frequency of 1 in 126 billion.

Smith puts a call in to Kern County Homicide. The Tana Woolie case is in play, with a suspect waiting to be arrested. Detectives Joe Hicks and Scott Jelitich are given the job of arresting and interrogating Larry Haslett. Despite the DNA match, the two quickly realize the case against Haslett is far from certain. We were concerned that a defense of his could be his claim that it was consensual. And that was why his semen would be on her bedspread. Our intent to obtain a statement from him is to, for court purposes,

lock him into what does he have to say happened there. Whatever he could possibly use as a defense later in a court trial, we wanted to establish at that interview. At a little after 2 p.m., the detectives slow to a stop in front of Hazlitt's home. Once again, Hazlitt appears eager to talk and to cooperate. Detectives sit down at his kitchen table, cue up the tape recorder, and begin to ask about Tana Woolie's rape and murder. Are you a person that would be capable of doing that to someone else? Heavens no. Absolutely else? Heavens no.

Absolutely not? Heavens no. And you absolutely, in looking at this female, can tell me, have you ever had sexual relations with this female? Of any type? No, sir. Oral copulation? Intercourse? No, no, no, no.

You were never even in the apartment. No. The detectives have what they came for, a statement from Hazlitt they can prove to be a lie. Hicks then takes the next step, confronting Hazlitt with the DNA match. Would it change your story if I told you that in the original crime scene from the Kern County District Attorney's Crime Lab that they found biological evidence of you being present. That's a damn lie. Is it a lie? It's a damn lie. You're certain?

That's a damn lie. It wouldn't change anything you've told us? That's a damn lie, and at this juncture, if you're going to start saying something like that, I want a lawyer right now. My first reaction, Mr. Hazlett's quite a large man, was that I wanted to calm him down and get him sat back down at the table because I didn't want to have some altercation inside of his house. Hazlett is arrested and charged with first-degree murder. At the same time, a mother gets the call she has been waiting 24 years to receive. It was really ironic. I was at the cemetery. And when I got the call, I was just putting the flowers.

And I just told her all the little angels could dance. Dance in heaven. Helen Woolley believes the nightmare has come to an end. Turns out, she is wrong. As Larry Haslett enters a plea of innocent, and when I'm feeling under the weather, all I want is to be looked after and use minimal energy to get the care I need. That's why I love ZocDoc, the place where you can find and book tens of thousands of top-tier doctors, all with verified patient reviews. With ZocDoc, you've got more options than you know. ZocDoc is a free app and website where you can search and compare highly rated in-network

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I'll definitely be using it again the next time I'm feeling rough. Go to ZocDoc.com slash CCF and download the ZocDoc app for free. Then find and book a top-rated doctor today. That's Z-O-C-D-O-C.com slash CCF. ZocDoc.com slash CCF. Cold Case Files is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping.

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join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $744 by new customers surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations. In the fall of 1978, Tana Woolley was found raped and murdered inside her apartment. 24 years later, bodily fluids are discovered on the bedsheets found at the crime scene, and a DNA profile is developed. That profile is then matched to Tana Woolie's next-door neighbor, a convicted sex offender named Larry Haslett. Haslett claims the DNA evidence against him is a plant, an arrest warrant is issued, and a date set for trial. Ed Jekylls has been prosecuting cases for almost three decades.

In December of 2002, he takes up the Haslitt case and immediately identifies a problem. The defendant could claim that he had an affair with the victim, which they were keeping quiet for various reasons, and that he had certainly seen her, but the last time he'd seen her, she was fine and he had certainly seen her, but the last time he'd seen her, she was fine and he had no idea what happened subsequently. Jiggles feels he needs more evidence before proceeding to trial and enlists the help of investigator Trent Sprouls. Together, the two start digging into Larry Haslett's past. He was an unbelievably lucky serial rapist. We found four instances in which he had committed rape,

three of them prior to this incident and one subsequent. He got out of every one of them. We had to actually go back 31 years and retrace where they moved, where they lived, what their names were. One was married four different times, so she had four prior names. Over a period of months, Trent Sprouls tracks each of the women. None of them had ever met each other. Each, however, tells the same story about Larry Haslett. He would come across very polite, very friendly. And then when he had them alone, it was like a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde effect. One of the women he bit so severely, she still has the scars on her to show.

All four of the women had reported the attack at the time it happened and never got their day in court. Three decades later, they are, at first, reluctant to come forward. Well, most of them at first didn't want to discuss it, which I understood. But once they understood the severity of the case and that this man had actually murdered someone, a young female, then there was some guilt involved where they thought if they would have continued with their case back 30-some years ago and prosecuted this man, then maybe this young

woman may not have died. All four finally agree to testify. Each will provide details that will paint Larry Haslett as a serial rapist. Ed Jagles, however, isn't done. In preparing for trial, he has paid a visit to the Kern County Forensic Lab to talk about a young girl's blue sock. DNA analyst Brenda Smith knows the Tana Woolley case well. She has already isolated bodily fluid stains on the victim's bedspread and linked them to Larry Haslett. Now, Ed Jagles asks her to examine the sock used to strangle the victim. Because it was a ligature, it would have had to have been held pretty tightly and for a little bit of a lengthy time. There was at least a potential that some skin cells from the individual's hands could have sloughed off onto the sock. Using a single-edge razor,

Smith scrapes the topmost layer of material off Tana Woolie's sock. The bits of fuzz are then placed into a test tube and tested. Small amounts of human DNA are determined to be present. Smith isolates the genetic strands and develops a partial profile. I was pretty excited that I got anything off the sock, you know, at all. I just, you know, it's a 50-50 proposition in my mind. The partial profile is consistent with Larry Haslett. Not a full genetic match, but enough to undermine any contention

that Haslett's DNA, also found on the victim's bed sheet, was the result of a consensual sexual relationship. With the addition of this piece of evidence, which was the DNA extracted from the ligature, from the actual sock that was used to strangle her, that story wouldn't hold any water anymore. On June 10th, Ed Jagles presents his case to a jury. After a week of testimony and an hour and a half of deliberation, the panel returns a verdict. Larry Haslett is found guilty of murder.

A month later, he is sentenced. You hereby determine that the penalty shall be death. Yes. Helen Woolley watches as the man who raped and killed her daughter is taken away to await his own death by lethal injection.

I just wanted to tell him what he robbed me of. I probably would have said he was a monster, you know. And just his cockiness when he left court just irritated me. You know, he just gave us that look and threw his shoulders at us like,

are you happy now? And yeah, we were very happy. While no death sentence will bring Tana back, the Woolley family takes some comfort in knowing their phone calls kept this case alive and that persistence sometimes has its own rewards. Things that we we hope that other people that are watching your program won't realize that whatever they do they can't give up. They've got to keep pressing the law enforcement which my family did And it paid off. And I knew down deep in my heart that justice would prevail. Cold Case Files is hosted by Marissa Pinson, produced by Jeff DeRay, and distributed by Podcast One.

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