Criminology - Lindy Sue Biechler

Episode Date: August 2, 2020

In 1975, 19-year-old Lindy Sue Biechler was starting her life in full. She had a job that she loved and she had recently married the man of her dreams. But, on December 5, 1975, Lindy pulled out of the parking lot of her job at the same time as her friend, ran a few errands, and then headed home to her apartment. Lindy's aunt and uncle came to the apartment for a visit and found Lindy dead inside before 9:00 PM. Join Mike and Morf as they discuss the life and death of Lindy Sue Biechler. Investigators were baffled as to who would want to kill this young woman. There was no sign of a robbery and the initial reports said that she had not been sexually assaulted. Police followed up leads and tips but were not able to find her killer. A year after her murder, her headstone was vandalized. Then, a year after that, the police received a bizarre taunting letter. Was it sent by Lindy's killer? You can help support the show at patreon.com/criminology An Emash Digital Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Criminology is a true crime podcast that may contain discussion about violent or disturbing topics. Listener discretion is advised. Hello, everyone, and welcome to episode 121 of the Criminology podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson. And this is Mike Morford. Mr. Morford, how are you today? I'm doing good. How about you? I'm doing great. As good as I can be doing, man. Yeah, dodging some thunderstorms trying to get some recording in here, but hopefully we'll get it done.

We'll get it done. We always do. we've had some really good response from last week's episode on Vanessa Gien and some other Fort Hood murders. Yeah, that's making a lot of headlines for all the wrong reasons. And there's actually been just a day or two ago, there was a third Fort Hood soldier found dead near that base. So that's I think the third that they found dead in a month. It's scary. Yeah, I mean, we talked about a number of deaths and murders. but most of the majority of them were kind of spread out.

I mean, you're three in a month. What is going on? And I think that's the question we asked, you know, at the end of last week's episode. What's going on at Fort Hood? Yeah, hopefully they get to the bottom of that and get that straightened out so they're safe there. We had some new Patreon support. So let's give some shoutouts to Catherine Hindmarsh, Dana B, Nadine Azubco, and Renita Longoria. So a lot of great support. Thank you all very much.

Yeah, that support really goes along the way and we can't say it enough. We appreciate it. And if there's anyone out there that wants to support the show on Patreon, they can do so by going to patreon.com slash criminology. Don't forget about Stitcher Premium. That's where you'll find all of our older episodes. Any episode older than six months is out on Stitcher Premium. And they have a free 30-day trial. So there's really nothing to lose.

There's a lot of great content out there. All right, buddy, it's time to jump into this week's case. And it's an older case. It goes back to 1975. That's when a beautiful young woman named Lindy Sue Beechler was brutally murdered in her Lancaster County, Pennsylvania apartment. Following her murder, her grave was vandalized. And then later, a bizarre and taunting handwritten note was sent to police.

Nearly 45 years later, the case of Lindy Sue Beakler remains unsolved. Lindy Sue Little was born on January 31st, 1956, to Wayne and Eleanor Little. Her parents divorced when she was four years old and both remarried to other people. Lindy went to live with her mother in the 400 block of South Ann Street in Lancaster. She spent holidays, vacations and alternating weekends with her father and his new wife Thelma. Wayne Little described his daughter, Lindy, as Big Bone, and very strong. He once joked about how when Lindy punched him in the arm, it hurt a lot. Lindy had a good sense of humor, but growing up, she was not a very confident child and rarely

continued on with activities she started, such as Girl Scouts and Baton twirling. She attended Edward Hand Junior High School in Lancaster, PA, a small town located about 80 miles slightly northwest of Philadelphia. Lindy showed a little bit of a rebellious streak in high school when she and a friend ran away to New York City. Now, they returned home the following day, but because of this, it was determined that it was best for Lindy to move in with her father and stepmother in East Lampeter Township. At one time, Lindy told her father, Wayne, that she wanted to quit high school, but the littles informed her that she was most definitely going to finish and took measures to see that she did. When Lindy received the bad grade in history, her father grounded her, which angered Lindy.

But he told her that if she could improve on her history work, he would let her off. After that warning, Lindy's grades improved dramatically. Lindy's stepmom Thelma encouraged her in high school bookkeeping, shorthand, and typing courses. Her stepmother also taught her ceramics, crocheting, and needlepoint. All of Lindy's hard work paid off well, and in 1973, she graduated from Conestoga Valley High School in Lancaster and briefly worked at RCA. In early 1974, Lindy's half-sister, Eileen Martin, and her husband, Gary, were painting their kitchen, and they had invited Lindy to help. They also asked a young man to help paint, 23-year-old Philip Beakler. Philip was on top of the refrigerator, painting the wall,

when Lindy painted her way up the wall and the next thing you know, the pair were face to face. Philip later said it really was love at first sight. The pair hit it off and they started dating. By this time, Lindy had become much more confident. She had blossomed into an attractive and extremely confident young woman. It wasn't long after they were dating that Phil Beakler asked Lindy to marry him, and she said yes. The young couple married on October 19, 1974. Phil's grandfather, Reverend William Beakler, officiated the ceremony. Phil, like Lindy, grew up in Lancaster County. He attended Penn Manor when he was young. When his father, who later passed away in 1969, moved to Ardmore, Pennsylvania, for work-related reasons, Phil transferred to schools there.

He graduated from Lower Marion High School and then studied for a year at Montgomery County Community College. where he was top half of his class. He returned to Lancaster County in 1972 and found employment, first with an auto parts business and then with Hurch-Renna car. In June 1975, Lundy took a secretarial job working for a local florist named Bob Amant at his new business called Landis Flowering Giff Shop, located at 28 Cottage Avenue in Lancaster. Philip enrolled as an art student at Miller's

State College and continued to work part time, it hurts rent a car. Lindy was the very first person. Amant hired for his shop and she excelled in her job. Lindy was much more than a secretary. She did just about a little bit of everything. After working in the flower shop for several weeks, Lindy told family members that it was the best job she had ever had. And nobody could ever get her to leave.

it. The Beaklers lived in Apartment A in the Springs Manor Complex, located at 104 Clause Drive in Lancaster. Their apartment was located on the first floor. The pair was deeply in love and they were enjoying their newlywed life. Lindy's mother later said, if any two kids could get together and make it, it was those two. But their happy time together as newlyweds was interrupted in the fall of 1975. Lindy's normally happy go lucky personality was off. She was on edge. She started telling friends and family that she felt as though someone was watching her. And she didn't want to be alone in her apartment while Phil was at work.

She often went to visit her family and wouldn't return home until Phil's shift was over. It was during one of these visits to her family's home that a mirror fell over and Shattered. Lindy was terrified, and she insisted that her younger half-brother Michael go check out the entire house. On Friday, December 5, 1975, Lindy reported for work at 8 a.m. to work a regular 8 to 5 shift. She spent the morning preparing bills intending the small business task. A good part of the day, she tied large satin ribbons to newly arrived Ponsetia plants. It was a very ordinary day. By mid-afternoon, Lindy grew tired of many. making the ribbons. Bob Amit noticed that and suggested Lindy try her hand at making a Christmas

wreath, which she did. Bob later told Lindy she had done a great job, and it seemed to lift her mood. After she finished making the wreath, Lindy cleaned up the snippings and the rest of the shop, she was almost finished when Diane Hershey, a designer at the store and one of Lindy's friends noticed that it was past closing time. So together, the women put things away and at precisely 5.15 p.m., they walked out the door. It was dark, it was cold outside. So the women spent a few minutes allowing their cars to warm up. Between 5.20 p.m. and 5.25 p.m. Both vehicles pulled out of the parking lot and Diane and Lindy waved goodbye to each other. It was the last time Diane saw her friend and co-worker Lindy a lot.

After leaving work, Lindy drove to Hertz in the 200 block of North Queen Street in Lancaster's historic district to pick up Phil's paycheck so that she could get groceries. She arrived shortly after 5.30 p.m. Lindy left Hertz a few minutes later and drove three miles to Millersville to catch the check. Afterward, she went to John Hur's market and spent $46 on groceries. She then loaded the four bags of groceries into her car. The shopping trip took between 20 and 30 minutes. She left around 6.30 p.m. and drove to her and Phil's apartment, a short distance west of the

Columbia Pike. Lindy pulled her turquoise 1968 Chevy and Powell in front of her apartment building and started to unload the groceries. The time was a little before 7 p.m. Later that night, at around 8.40 p.m., Lindy's aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Merle Little returned from a high school basketball game and they decided to visit Lindy. Merle stayed in the car while Mrs. Little went inside the building. Upon arriving at Lindy's door, her aunt noticed it was a jar.

When she entered, she found Lindy dead on the floor in a pool of blood with a butcher's knife still lodged in her neck. Terrified, she ran out to tell Merle what she had found and the Littles immediately called the police. When investigators arrived, they found Lindy lying face up on the living room floor, clothed in a knit shirt and blue jeans. Her body was just inside the apartment door. There were no obvious signs of sexual assault,

but police would later say that the attack was sexual in nature. The four grocery bags Lindy carried into her apartment were sitting neatly on the kitchen table, but there was noticeable blood spatter on the walls and floor. There was also blood on the outside door leading into the narrow hallway and on the hall floor. there were no signs of forced entry. The only indication that a struggle had taken place was a broken lamp on the end table and an overturned lamp in the hallway inside the apartment.

Further examination revealed that the knife in Lindy's neck had come from her own kitchen. But police also believed that a second knife, a knife that the killer brought to the scene with them, was used. The knife wasn't found. Lindy's car was still parked in front of the building. It was locked and a pair of red mittens an umbrella and a yellow window scraper were found in the back seat.

Police fanned out to question neighbors. The occupants of a second floor apartment across from the becklers were not home when Lindy was viciously attacked and killed. They likely would have had the best view of Lindy's apartment and her arrival home. Other neighbors that authorities talked to couldn't really add anything of value to the investigation. While the investigation was just getting started, police made their way to the car rental agency to inform Phil Beechler that his young bride was dead. Police interviewed Bob Amin and Diane Hershey shortly after the murder. They recalled Lindy

telling them she was going to take her disabled uncle, Merle, to a football banquet either the last night they saw her or on the following night. Lindy also planned to take him Christmas shopping on December 13th. They also added Lindy had recently attended four funerals of various family members and seemed a bit down. But other than that, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Diane told the police that the beeklers were planning to move to Willow Street. The Spring Manor Complex primarily housed young couples and singles. The main reason the couple wanted to move was so that Lindy could have a dog, and Phil could have more space for his art studio. For Christmas, Lindy was going to give Phil a ceramic palette for his oil paint that she had

made herself. Phil was going to provide her with a Norwegian Elkhound, the dog she wanted. Sadly, the couple would never achieve any of those goals together. Dr. Clyde Musselman, a deputy coroner from Millersville, performed the autopsy the day after Lindy's murder. He determined that Lindy had been stabbed 11 times, mostly in the neck, chest, and abdomen. The cause of death was a four-inch deep wound on the left side of her neck, which severed the carotid artery. The murder weapon was an eight-inch butcher knife that had been hanging on a wall in the kitchen. There was no mention of the second knife used in the attack, so it's unclear exactly why police

believed the killer brought a second knife to the scene. Musselman initially estimated time of death to have occurred within an hour before the Littles arrived at the apartment. That meant Lindy was murdered sometime between 7.40 and 8.40 p.m. Since she had arrived home just before 7, the killer had a window of between somewhere around 45 minutes to an hour and 45 minutes to murder Lindy and make his escape. Two investigators were signed to the case, Lieutenant Harvey West and Sergeant James Reaver from the Manor Township Police. The morning after Lindy's murder, the Lancaster State Police, Police Criminal Division Bureau assigned two troopers to the case, Sarah Ulrich and Robert Swartwood.

Phil and Lindy's apartment was sealed to outsiders. On the front door to the apartment, a sign stated do not enter a crime scene. Further questioning of neighbors and people that knew Lindy revealed to investigators that she was a very cautious person. It would not open the apartment door to a stranger. Her aunt and uncle told police that Lindy believed someone had been watching her in the weeks before her murder. And of course, that caught the attention of investigators. Lindy's father, Wayne, later said to people that Lindy did not die without a fight. He recalled how strong she used to be with him. No one said a bad thing about the Beeklers.

Friends said that they didn't know of any domestic disputes between Philip and Lindy. Investigators found no signs of any drug use in the apartment. By all accounts, Lindy and Phil were a happy young couple who were obviously in love. Detectives ruled out Phil as a suspect after verifying that he was at work at the time of his wife's murder. His boss, Roger Bruce, the manager of Hertz, said Phil was in the office when he got word his wife had been killed and that Phil was absolutely devastated. While police knew that Phil didn't murder Lindy, they did believe it was very possible that Lindy might have known her killer. One theory put forth is that the killer waited for Lindy to come home from work,

and knowing no one else would be in the apartment, knocked on the door. A second theory was that Lindy surprised a burglar on her apartment when she returned home after grocery shopping. A third theory suggested the killer lingered in the hallway while Lindy retrieved her groceries from the car, and while her back was turned, he slipped into her apartment. The Beakler's apartment was one of two apartments that opened into a small-tiled hallway. Stairs in front of their apartment led to two more apartments on the second level. It would have provided some level of cover for any attacker. The one thing missing was the motive. Police couldn't figure out why someone would have wanted to kill Lindy. They ruled out burglary or robbery because her purse

was still there and nothing had been taken from it. Also, none of her jewelry was missing. And as we mentioned earlier, according to the early reports, authorities, authorities, said that the autopsy showed no signs that Lindy was sexually assaulted. So investigators ruled out that kind of motive. But many years later, in 2018, police changed their position and began stating that Lindy was sexually assaulted. And they also said that she had suffered 19 stab wounds instead of 11. So definitely these are two major discrepancies. from what was reported early on. The problem is we have no idea why they vary so greatly.

But if the sexual assault did occur, it would provide a possible motive. Also, if the number of stab wounds were 19 instead of 11, then it might show that there was a personal connection between Lindy and her killer. And this could indicate a crime of passion. Three days after the murder on December 8, 1975, the Lancaster New Era reported that police found a large footprint, possibly a size 10, in the blood on the apartment floor. And from that, they determined that the killer was likely a large male. Police checked the shoes of about a dozen people who had entered the apartment on the night of the murder to eliminate them as being the source of the shoe print. It was only after the elimination of those people that authorities believed that the shoe print belonged to the killer.

The newspaper also reported that the police had found a small kitchen towel wrapped around the butcher's knife handle, which did not have any fingerprints on it. On December 9th, the police issued a public appeal for information about the driver of a car seen double parked parallel to the sidewalk near the Spring Manor Apartments between 7 and 8.40 p.m. on the night of the murder. The car's high beams were on, as were its interior lights. The vehicle was dark in color, standard size, an American made. Typically, vehicles parked facing the curb. So this car would have blocked other cars in and would have been facing north towards West Fairway Drive.

The Intelligencer Journal noted that other motorists had to drive around the car's the car because it was parked out in the traveling lane. The police also appealed to anyone who might have seen or heard about someone with blood on their clothing on the night of the murder. I think more if this is one thing that the police knew for sure. Whoever killed Lindy must have been covered in blood. Within days of the investigation starting, detectives had interviewed almost 100 people. They checked parole and prison records for anyone who had history of violence.

crimes, particularly those who committed them using knives. They also checked with neighboring counties to see if they had any similar killings, but found nothing. Investigators interviewed Lindy's friends and family further, desperate to find anything that may point to a suspect. They performed an apartment to apartment check and a block-by-block check of each apartment building, searching for clues or anyone who might have seen something on the night of the murder. On December 16, 1975, the Lancaster County District Attorney decided to step up the investigation by adding additional state police personnel. In the suburbs of D.C., a woman fails to show up for work and is found brutally murdered. Number one, which emergency? We just walked in the door and there's blood in the

foyer. For the next two decades, the case remained unsolved until new technology allowed investigators to do what had once been impossible. A new series from ABC, B.C. Audio in 2020. Blood and water. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts. Lindy's brutal murder struck fear in the residents of the Spring Manor apartment complex. They were frightened. They were also reluctant to speak with the local press. Those who did talk refused to give their names. All of them said that they didn't really know the beeklers. One resident said she was going to start locking her apartment. at all times. Another one said that the murder was almost enough to make him go out and buy a gun

for protection. While residents feared for their safety, Lindy's family laid her to rest in Lancaster County. It wasn't until after the new year in mid-January of 1976 that police thought they had a strong suspect. That's when 18-year-old Mark Dominic Capalupo was charged with sexual attacks on four Lancaster County women. Investigators in Lindy's case look closely into the possibility that he had murdered her. Police arrested Capilupo after he had followed a woman to her home in Eden Manor. He tried to get her attention while they were driving, but frightened after hearing about Lindy's murder. The woman parked her car and raced into her home. She refused to open the door after the suspect Capalupo rang her doorbell. Instead, she closed. She closed. She closed. She

police. When he was arrested near the woman's apartment, he claimed he tried to pull her over because her car's taillights weren't working. Police later checked the taillights and found them to be in perfect working order. Investigators were excited that they might have caught Lindy's killer, but their hopes were soon dashed. Mark Capilupa was cleared in the Beechler murder probe when investigators confirmed he had been working at a Hardy's restaurant from 5 p.m. to 1.30 a.m. on the night of the murder. Later, Capilupo was shot and killed by the police. a guard during an escape attempt at Lancaster County Prison. By early February 1976, investigators had questioned between 250 and 300 people and believed that Lindy's

killer was still in the Lancaster area hiding in their midst. Around this time, police were so desperate. They considered bringing in a psychic, but then decided against it. On March 5th, 1976, 43-year-old Mary Shenzhenzing was stabbed to death in her Columbia, Pennsylvania home. Investigators noticed similarities between her murder and Lindy Sue Beakler's killing. Mary was stabbed numerous times in her one-bedroom apartment at 23 South 8th Street in Columbia. Like Lindy, Mary was a secretary. She was employed at the ITT-Grenel Corporation. On the day of her murder, Mary, Elva Freeland, and Charles Keperling hopped into Keperling station wagon at 4.45 p.m.

The three worked together, and Mary and Elva regularly carpooled with Keperling. The first one to be dropped off was Mary. She had multiple sclerosis and was almost paralyzed from the hips down. Elva helped Mary open her apartment door and made sure she, reached her walker, located just inside the door. Mary shut the door and locked it. Before Elva left, she even made sure the door was locked by trying it from the outside. At around 5.30 p.m., one of Mary's relatives arrived at her apartment to bring her supper. She then took Mary's paycheck to the American bank branch in Columbia to cash it for Mary, something she did each payday.

Mary was fine when this relative left. At 7.40 p.m., that relative's husband came back to Mary's apartment with Mary's paycheck money and knocked on the door. When there was no answer, he tried to open the door, but it was locked. He assumed Mary was away or in bed, so he took the money home intending to deliver it the next morning. At 9.30 a.m. the following morning, the man's wife took the money to Mary's. The door was still locked, but she used her key to get inside. That's when she found Mary's body and called police. The police were reluctant to release information to the public on Mary's murder. Prosecutors felt too much information had been released to the media concerning Lindy's

murder investigation, and that may have aided the killer in some way. Almost two weeks after Mary's murder, police arrested a 33-year-old man named Kenneth Dale Arndt, who lived in Columbia, aren't worked as a handyman for the Nicholas Company in Columbia. after his arrest, the Lancaster New Era was informed by several area residents of rumors circulating that a Nicholas truck had made a delivery at Spring Manor Apartments shortly before Lindy was killed. But the authorities checked all delivery slips from the Nicholas Company. They found that there was a delivery made by this firm to the general area of the Beekler's apartment. apartment complex, it was made some time in 1975, but well before Lindy was murdered. Officials could not confirm if Arnt was on the truck at the time of the delivery. Police later announced that there was

no indication. Arndt was connected to the murder of Lindy Sue Beekler. It's just another letdown for police. On December 26, 1976, a little over a year after Lindy Sue Beakler's murder, her family visited her grave and found that it had been vandalized. Someone had sprayed it with red paint and chipped the headstone. Lindy's family called police and detectives learned that the damage was done sometime between November and December 26, 1976, when Lindy's family discovered it. No other grave in the cemetery had been damaged or vandalized. On January 18, 1984, the Intelligencer Journal reported that in 81 or 82, the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office paid $2,000 for two California-based psychics, one man, one woman, to evaluate Lindy's murder as well as the 1980 murder of 14-year-old

Evelyn Fisher. Police were desperate after so many years without an arrest in Lindy's case, a photo of Lindy was sent to the psychics. The pair of psychics claimed that Lindy's killer had a tattoo on his arm and dark or olive skin and dark or brown eyes. County detective Paul Wagner noted that the psychics might have been describing Mark Capalupa who had been charged with sexual attacks in 1975, but investigators had ruled him out in Lindy's killing. On April 6, 1984, nearly eight years after Lindy's murder, Wagner and a state trooper traveled out of state to interview an individual with possible

links to the case. They went there hoping to make an arrest. The individual was not in any type of police custody or detention, and he hadn't been charged with any crime. The interview that they did didn't lead to anything, and the investigators never released that individual's name, or why they thought he was a suspect. Five years later, in early April 1989, investigators tried to use new technology called DNA fingerprinting to help solve Lindy's murder. You know, back then, this was a new way of identifying people through the analysis of virtually unique patterns in the genetic material in blood, hair, semen, and skin cells. DNA fingerprints were said to be as unique as actual fingerprints. Of course, we know.

a lot about DNA science today. Back then, it was in its infancy. And because the technology was so new, labs were really limited with what they could do. Police revealed that they had collected a dry drop of blood that they thought belonged to Lindy's killer. And they hoped DNA would point the way to unmasking this killer. Unfortunately, because of the limitations,

with what scientists could do, the dried blood didn't lead anywhere. In June 1992, 56-year-old captain of detectives Joseph P. Gesey accepted a position as county detective to concentrate on unsolved murders, and the Beakler murder was first on his list. Giesie served 34 years as a Lancaster police officer before he accepted his new position, which he started on July 12, 1992. Lieutenant Harvey West, who headed the original Beakler and murder of investigation, died in April 1991, but his notes were still intact, and Gesey carefully examined them. He dug into Lindy's case exploring new angles to investigate, but he didn't make any progress. It wasn't until almost a decade later that investigators

in Lindy's case would decide to release something that they had been holding back for years, a mysterious letter. In December 2000, authorities decided to release a letter that they had received over 23 years earlier. On January 5th, 1977, this was about a year or so after Lindy's gravestone was vandalized. The two-page letter was addressed to Chief Donald Sheeler and marked Urgent. It was written as if the author was Lindy's killer and the person who vandalized her gravesite.

The handwritten letter appeared to have been written by two different people, the killer and a friend of the killer. It was filled with numerous misspellings and odd capitalizations. The writer taunted Sheeler at the beginning of the letter writing, quote, just eats up your heart, knowing you haven't caught me yet. The writer describes how he vandalized Lindy's headstone in the same manner that he stabbed her. He wrote, The scratch and nit marks represent the knife stabs.

Count them. The writer referenced another murder that happened around the same time in Mountville. saying there was no connection to Lindy's murder. Police later arrested another person for that crime, and they didn't believe that murder was connected to Lindy's. At one point in the letter, the writer referred to Sheeler as Chief Pig and gave clues to his identity.

He wrote, busted once for drugs a few years back and lived in West End of Lancaster suburbs. The writer said he was 5'10, 205 pounds, fat and beautiful, well-educated man in the community, single and had a good job. The writer instructed Sheeler to print the letter in the paper to verify that Sheeler had received it. There was a PS at the end of the letter that appeared to be from a different author. It was signed from a Janice Crum.

Part of this author's message was, my friend has confirmed. to the killing of Lindy Sue Beechler. As God is my witness, do as he asks, print this letter on the front page. Sheeler never had the letter printed in the newspaper and instead held onto it as evidence. Perhaps had he published the letter, a dialogue between the author and police might have been opened, and maybe that could have led to a break in Lindy's case. An FBI behavioral specialist examined the letter and said that it was unlikely that the killer wrote the letter. The FBI Specialist suggested the writer might have been a female because the writer mentioned being beautiful, which is not a word a man would use to describe himself typically. That profiler also believed

that the writer might have had an indirect or secondary role in the murder. Investigators believe that the letter was written to throw them off the killer's trail. Officially, police were never able to track down anyone named Janice Crum, the name mentioned in the letter in the Lancaster area. But there actually is a woman in that area by that name. and it's not clear if police have ever questioned her. In addition to the letter failing to yield any new clues in Lindy's murder, as if to add insult injury, the original letter was lost by the crime lab that was handling it.

In September 2005, someone broke into the home of Philip Beechler's mother, Doris. While she was away on vacation, the burglar made off with Doris's car and a small safe. The safe contained Lindy's deser's death. certificate and a few pieces of jewelry, including an amethyst and diamond ring, which was a Christmas gift to Doris from Phillips' father, who died in 1969. About two weeks later, authorities

arrested a 37-year-old man named Jose Orlando Alicia. Doris's home was one of about 30 that Alicia had robbed during his seven-month crime spree. Police recovered Doris's car and jewelry, as well as Lindy's death certificate when they arrested Alicia? On June 16, 2006, Lancaster County detectives presented Lindy Sue Beakler's murder case to the Vydok Society for examination, established in 1990 by three forensic experts. The Vodak Society is a group of 50 crime specialists that meets monthly at the Union League in Philadelphia to hear unsolved cases and offer insight to law enforcement. Unfortunately, nothing came from the group's efforts in trying to try to.

to solve the Beakler murder. In 2007, as the 32nd anniversary of Lindy Sue Beakler's killing approach, her half-brother, Mike Little, teamed up with Vince Merak, who was the brother of a woman named Christy Marack, who was also murdered in Lancaster County. Together, Mike and Vince put up a billboard in Lancaster, pleading for help in their sister's murders. The billboard contained the words, do you know who? who murdered us with a picture of each victim.

Christy and Lindy were both murdered in December. Christy in 1992, Lindy in 1975. In every December, their families marked another year that the cases went unsolved. Along with the billboard, they started a website where people could provide tips or information about either of the two unsolved cases. But after a period of time, the billboard, was removed and the website was taken down. Ears went by without any progress in either Lindy's or Christie's murders until June 25, 2018,

when Lancaster County Police arrested 49-year-old Raymond Rowe, who went by DJ Freeze, they charged him with Christy Marac's murder. Police used new technology known as genetic genealogy, which uses an unknown suspect's DNA to trace his or her family tree. Of course, it's the same technology used to catch the infamous Golden State killer Joseph James DeAngelo earlier that year. We discussed Christie's case in depth in season four of criminology. Rose arrest led Philip Beechler to wonder if the same DNA technology could solve his late wife's murder. Former county detective Joseph Gesey, who passed away in June of 2018,

said in an interview months before his death that investigators back in 1975 had screwed up the Beakler investigation from the very beginning. However, he declined to elaborate, saying only that there were a lot of things that were done wrong. But he did add that Lindy's case, despite all of the mistakes, was solvable back then. And it was still very solvable in 2018. In 2019, the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office and Manor Township Police hired Parabon nanolabs to create snapshot composites, also known as phenotypes, of Lindy's killer based on his DNA profile. That profile might reveal what the killer looked like. One showed how he may have looked in 1975, and one showed what he may look like over 40 years later. The results were two

separate composites of the suspect. The younger version is shown with fair skin, brown eyes, and dark hair, while the older version has white hair. The police were unsure of Lindy's killer's age in 1975, and of course the killer may be deceased now. But it's safe to say that based on the success authorities had in Lancaster with Christy Marac's case using genetic genealogy, that they were in the midst of trying the same method in Lindy's case. Unfortunately, four investigators in May 2019,

Jedmatch.com changed its privacy policy so that users had to opt in for their DNA to be available for law enforcement searches. Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman called the policy reversal a blow to progress in Lindy's case because the database went from having about a million or maybe even more profiles for police to search to about a tenth of that. Investigators did run Lindy's killers' DNA. profile through jedmatch.com, but reportedly found nothing. They subsequently sent it to another database, which led to a few leads, according to the Lancaster County District Attorney Christine Wilson. Information was released that it wasn't the blood droplet that they had used years earlier.

The DNA of the suspect came from semen found in Lindy's underwear. Now, what is unclear is whether this seaman was found in the early stages of the investigation or it was found years later. That part, we couldn't tell. For now, it's a waiting game for the family of Lindy Sue Beechler. As of this airing, the case remains unsolved. But hopefully, the DNA and genealogy tools will at some point lead directly to the killer. Philip Beakler remarried in 1990 and currently resides in Millersville, Pennsylvania. Lindy's father, Wayne Little, passed away in 2000, followed by her mother, Eleanor Gesey, in July 2007. Her half-brother Michael lives overseas and is still waiting for the day when he gets the

news that Lindy's killer has finally been identified. Maybe some of you heard Eleanor's last named Gisi and thought of investigator Joe Gesey. They are related, but we're not sure how. So there's a lot to this case, Morph. I mean, obviously, first and foremost, a young woman lost her life, really just as it was starting. She had married the love of her life. And, you know, who knows where that life would have gone. Her family never got to find out because someone took that away from them, took her life. I think one of the things that really jumped out at me was the vandalism of the grave and then the taunting letter. I mean, to me, there's two options, right? This is her killer messing around wanting to taunt police in a zodiac style way. Or this is not the killer,

somebody completely random who decided to either vandalize her grave site or learned about that and then wrote the letter. Yeah, there's definitely a lot of strength. things going on this case, and we cover a lot of different kinds of cases, and one thing that's common, short of Zodiac and a few different people, most criminals don't write letters asking to be published and drawing attention to themselves. So for one, I'm a little bit upset that they didn't take the writer up on his offer and publish the letter, because I think that could have opened up a dialogue with that person, and then maybe that would have led to finding a fingerprint or something where he slipped up and they identified him and then they would know for sure whether

he was the killer or not. They could rule him out properly. Yeah, I mean, in the movie, right, that would definitely happen. That would be a big plot in a movie. You get communication from the killer. Okay, now you're setting up a cat and mouse game where hopefully you're going to trip the killer up and catch him. I don't know what the thinking was. I mean, I get, maybe not wanting to give this guy press if he was the killer. Maybe they just thought, you know what, this is a hoax. There's no reason to even print it. But I kind of agree with you in saying there's an opportunity missed there, I think.

And it's an opportunity that you can't really get back, right? You can't resurrect that years later. To make matters worse, that original letter's gone. So there's no chance to test it for any kind of DNA or, missed prints or anything that might be on there that might lead to that personal. They have her photographs of the letter at this point. And then I think the other thing that jumps out at me about this case is you and I have done so many cases that have been solved using some of this new DNA technology.

Heck, we did a whole season on them. We're kind of getting to the point where I don't want to say it's becoming commonplace, but obviously a lot more common than it used to be, and there's hope in many of these older unsolved cases, especially where there's DNA, that it can be useful so many years later. I do think that the policy change and the privacy setting of people not allowing their DNA information to be searched by law enforcement, there's no doubt that it hurts their ability to solve. some of these cases. Now, I get it. There are people that want their privacy and they don't, they don't want to open themselves up to being searched or possibly linked to something or maybe

something they didn't do. I get that. But there's no doubt that it hurts. And hopefully as more and more people authorize their DNA profiles to be searched by law enforcement, they eventually come across the right profile that links to a family member of this killer and then they can track them from there. and hopefully the case is the same outcome as Christy Marax. Yeah, I think you and I are an agreement there, right? We always want to see these cases solved. Morphal pose a question to you, do you think there are people that, you know, aside from themselves being linked, don't want to take the chance that a family member is even linked

to, you know, a very old unsolved crime because then that would cast a, a negative shadow on their family. And by the flip side to that argument, there's a lot of people that I've heard say, hey, if there's a third cousin of mine someplace out there that is a serial killer or rapist or something like that, shame on them. I don't care. I'm going to put my DNA in there. Yeah, I'm sure there are people on both sides of the fence. I guess I was just posing the question because it just occurred to me that, you know, there might be a number of people out there that they don't think there's a killer in their family, but they don't want to take the chance that one gets discovered because, you know, that's, it's kind of a life-changing event to have someone

like a Joseph DiAngelo discovered to be a killer in your family. Thanks, gives up to Debbie Buck at truecrime diva.com for writing and research assistants in this episode. As always, if you love the show and you haven't done so yet, take a minute, go out, give us a star rating. You can leave us a review if you want, but keep spreading the word of mouth on criminology. You know you have friends who are into true crime. Don't be shy. Make sure you're telling them about the podcast. If you want to find us on social media, we're always happy to hear from you. You can reach out to us on Twitter. Our handle is at Criminology Pod. You can also find us on Facebook by searching for Criminology Podcast or by joining our Facebook discussion group,

which is criminology podcast discussion and fans. All right. That is it for another episode of criminology. But Morph and I will be back with all of you next Saturday night. So until then for Mike and Morph. We'll talk to you next week. Take care, everyone.