Going West: True Crime - Rachael DelTondo // 211

Episode Date: June 22, 2022

In May of 2018, a well-liked teacher was shot to death in her parent’s Pennsylvania driveway. Not only is she believed to have had a relationship with a teenage student, but she also allegedly had dirt on the local Police Department. Between a broken engagement and a young man potentially behind her murder, this case takes many unexpected turns. This is the story of Rachael DelTondo. BONUS EPISODES patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES 1. Heavy.com: https://heavy.com/news/2018/05/rachael-deltondo/ 2. Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/191694341/rachael-elena-deltondo 3. How They Play: https://howtheyplay.com/team-sports/Aliquippa-NFL-Training-Camp 4. CBS News: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rachel-deltondo-tyric-pugh-ice-cream-alquippa-pennsylvania-murders/ 5. 48 Hours Episode: https://www.paramountplus.com/shows/video/muQPrrhshid5ZRZh6CYmyPqSW16aDNjo/ 6. Daily Mail: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5746349/amp/Murdered-teacher-relationship-brother-teen-caught-with.html?usqp=mq331AQA&fbclid=IwAR0gmDJuPHytYnUF7eobz2RyO-P64befL4GfuO1mQSB0TwtgDTuABv9b1M4 7. CBS News: https://www.cbsnews.com/video/friend-details-murder-victim-rachael-deltondos-last-moments/?fbclid=IwAR2XtcgkjSQiRocTLs6GkHl0VMrlhrwPwDepScHxuxi0Rq3RdgIXdCo-52Q#x 8. Beaver Countian: https://beavercountian.com/content/daily/timeline-the-murder-of-rachael-deltondo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on to crime fans? I'm your host Tien. And I'm your host Daphne. And you're listening to Going West. Howdy listeners! Thank you so much for tuning in to yet another episode of going West. Howdy, howdy. This case today was recommended to us by Loriana. So thank you so much Loriana for bringing this case to our attention. I had not heard of it previously, but it's only a few years old,

so I don't know how I didn't know about it. Yeah, I had heard of the name, but I didn't know the details, so I'm really glad that we got to dive into this one. Yeah, it is a crazy one, and if you're not already following us on social media, you should do so, so that you can let us know your thoughts about this case and everyone, every other one that we cover,

on Instagram, we are at Going West Podcast, Twitter, at Going West Pod, and on Facebook, we have this super fun discussion group called Going West Discussion Group, where Heath and I jump in there a lot and talk to you guys so go join that. Also I know some of you guys don't listen to the end of our episodes but I wanted to say quickly thank you to everybody who has left us a nice review or who has shared the show it means a lot to us and it really helps us out.

It does. So without further ado this is episode 211 of Going West, so let's get into it. In May of 2018, a well-liked teacher was shot to death in her parents' Pennsylvania driveway. Not only is she believed to have had a relationship with a teenage student, but she also allegedly had dirt on the local police department. Between a broken engagement and a young man potentially behind her murder, this case takes many unexpected turns. This is the story of Rachel Deltondo. Rachel Elena Del Tondo was born on December 31, 1984, so she was a New Year's Eve baby, to Lisa and Joe Del Tondo in Alec Quippa, Pennsylvania. They were an extremely tight-knit family, so long after Rachel graduated from

Alec Quibba High School in 2004, she remained living at her parents' house, and was even living there up until the age of 33. Her mom, Lisa, said they were best friends that Rachel told her everything and that they would have a full debriefing of their days in Lisa's room every night. According to Rachel's social media, she was passionate about fashion and loved getting dressed up. Rachel worked as a substitute teacher

for an online elementary school called the Pennsylvania Cybercharter School, which is based in the very small town of Midland, just 20 minutes from Aliquipa. Great with kids Rachel is remembered by friends as having a huge heart and she was definitely considered the cool teacher that all the students like to be around. A neighbor described Rachel as quote, a beautiful lady, friendly, new everybody, talked to everybody.

For a little background on where our story takes place, Alec Quippa, where Rachel grew up and lived her whole life, it's a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and just about a 35-minute drive northwest of that city itself. Situated in Beaver County, it's very close to the Ohio border, and hosts just below 9,000 residents. A little fun fact, I guess. Aliquipa was a steel mill town up until the 1980s, but it's now known for the high number

of professional football players who hail from this area. That's kind of interesting that a lot of football players came from such a small town or small area. No, I know. I mean, the three current NFL players and more than a dozen coaches and former NFL stars grew up there and attended Al Equipa High School just like Rachel did, which is very funny.

And it's been called a pro football factory. So yeah, I don't know why that is. But after the local economy tanked, Al Equipa reportedly fell on hard times, causing this once thriving downtown to waste away a bit and the crime rate rose. This seemed to still inspire young players, though, with young men showing athletic promise seeing football as like a way out of a quote, dying town. There words not mine.

In an article detailing the phenomenon, a local man and former Al equipment by high school football star said, quote, kids in Alec Quipa aren't playing football just for fun. They're playing for their lives, for a way out. Quip is a tough place to grow up. You learn early on to stand your ground and to protect what is yours, or it will be taken away from you. These kids don't have a lot.

Most have nothing to look forward to, but football. According to the most recent statistics, the probability of becoming a victim of a violent crime in aloequipa is one in 243, and a victim of property crime is one in 91. And for a town of not even 9,000 people, that seems pretty high. Yes, it does. So I of course do want to say, he then I've never been to Aliquipa,

so this isn't to talk shit about a town we don't personally come from. This is just what we found other people saying about it. And it does play a part in Rachel's story since, you know, her story takes place there. So good to know what's going down. Exactly. Let's get back to Rachel for a second. Rachel had a long term on and off-again relationship with a man named Frank Catropa. Though Frank is four years older than Rachel, they had grown up together, but once they reached their 20s, they realized that there was something more between them. Both had been seeing other people at the time, Rachel had a boyfriend and Frank was engaged,

but the alert was so strong that they ended their respective relationships and started dating each other. Frank was a trucking, cable, and energy magnate and was even dubbed the Wolf of Aliquipa by a local online publication due to him being the CEO of a multi-million dollar company. That same publication from yourbeavercounty.com goes on to state, quote, �Frank Katropa isn't your typical CEO.

He's down to earth, friendly, polite, and soft spoken. But when it comes to business, he's more Jordan Belford than he is Bill Gates. Ketrope can be looked at as the new standard bearer for the young, progressive, entrepreneurial, beaver county and the Pittsburgh region as a whole. Not too long after they began dating, with Rachel approaching her 30s, she was ready to settle down, get married, and start a family, but Frank was kind of resistant. In turn, Rachel wouldn't move out of her parents' house until they were engaged, citing her

traditional family values and Italian roots. She was worried that it would disappoint her father if she didn't do things the right way. So she's obviously very, very traditional here. Frank Catropa says that he was given an ultimatum at least three times. And finally, after five years together in June of 2015, when Rachel was 30 years old, and Frank was about 34, Frank finally proposed in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. They spent the week in Paris in Monte Carlo posing for pictures together looking very happy

and in love. The trip also included a tour of the Palace of Versailles which Rachel said was her favorite place, and she made sure to do plenty of designer shopping. As soon as they were back home in Pennsylvania, the wedding planning commenced because both Rachel and her mother Lisa were eager to get the ball rolling. So her mom was pretty involved. They even ordered a $10,000 custom gown from Anne Gregory Bridal in nearby Dormont, Pennsylvania, which was going to be designed for Rachel in New York City.

Rachel's mom Lisa says she also bought $3,000 crystal-studded Christian Lubaton heels for the occasion. But due to Frank's successful career, he decided to ask Rachel to sign a pre-nuptial agreement, which Rachel originally agreed to, thinking it was no big deal, but with some time to think about it, she told him that she refused. Frank says that he thinks that was all her mother leases influence, you know, not to sign the prenup because again, it seemed like her mom was honestly pretty controlling of a lot of situations and maybe maybe like overly involved. Yeah, like Rachel's probably like, oh yeah, I'm going to sign a prenup and she was like, no, you're not. So with the

prenup in their way, the wedding planning stalled and formal plans came to a pause, like a full pause, in October of 2015, so just a few months after they got engaged. While they were seen around town just going out and spending time together as usual, they didn't seem to be actively planning the wedding or even committed to getting married anymore. It was while they were in this awkward middle ground that one night changed everything, and may have even ultimately led to Rachel's death. In February of 2016, Frank and some friends left Pennsylvania and attended the Super Bowl

in Santa Clara, California to watch the Carolina Panthers verse the Denver Broncos. With Coldplay, Beyonce, and Bruno Mars' The halftime show, it promised to be an amazing night. But when Rachel found out that there was also women in the group, she was upset at Frank, and, according to him, felt betrayed and was blowing up his cell phone all night. That same night, back in Aliquipa, one of Rachel's former students, 17-year-old Sheldon Jeeter Jr. had reached out to her on Facebook, asking for help and support. Now Rachel explained later that she had known him since he was in elementary school, and

now a senior at Aliquipa High School saw her as a friend and a trusted adult. Sheldon reached out to Rachel on Facebook Messenger the night of February 7, 2016, coincidentally, the same night that Frank was, you know, off-party with friends at the Super Bowl. Sheldon told her that he was going through some personal and family struggles and had either run away from home or was considering it, and she offered to meet up with him late that night to talk things out. When Frank returned home to Aliquipa after the super bowl debacle, he claims that Rachel started to pull away from him a bit and that she would lie to her friends and family about her whereabouts when they did spend time together.

So Frank began to wonder if maybe her family wanted Rachel to leave him and move on, which is why she didn't say ham with Frank. It was also in the aftermath of the Super Bowl that Rachel went to her childhood best friend, Jen Glovin, and told her that she had a secret. Jen recalls Rachel coming to her very distraught, hysterically crying and shaking, and telling her that she had been involved in an incident with a local aliquipa high school football star named you guessed it, Sheldon Geter Jr. Jen remembers Rachel telling her that they had been chatting on Facebook, saying he needed

someone to talk to, and that she offered to meet up with him between 11 p.m. and 12 a.m. that night, which again was the night of the Super Bowl. Rachel said they met in the parking lot of a local Circle K convenience store, and that Sheldon had gotten into her car and talked for a bit before a police officer came to Rachel's window on the driver's side to check and make sure they were okay. Rachel claims that she had told the officer that they were fine and that they were just talking and that the officer had moved on without filing a report.

Jen then said, quote, you're my best friend. I'm going to have to ask you two questions. Please don't lie to me. She asked Rachel if they had been doing drugs together, which Rachel fiercely denied. And then she asked if they had done anything physical or sexual with which Rachel also denied. But Jen said later in an interview that she knew in her gut and in her heart that Rachel was lying to her. Well it's kind of an interesting thought here

because if you come to your best friend and you say, like, and you're distraught and you say something happened, there's an incident that happened, I don't think you're gonna be that upset about just talking to someone in a car. That's a good point because you're right. She did say that she had been involved in an incident. So, that doesn't an

incident doesn't sound so innocent yeah and of course with the crying and shaking and just acting hysterical something must have happened that you regret or that you're afraid you're going to get in trouble for so it's like not a good sign yeah that's my thought so Jen and Rachel didn't see each other for a few months, and things seemed relatively normal between Rachel and Frank. They were still dating but had no plans for a wedding. Jen and her boyfriend Matt then attended Frank's birthday party in downtown Aliquipa one night, but Jen was shocked when she finally saw Rachel again.

Now according to Jen, Rachel looked quote, different, like something was wrong with her, almost like she had been doing drugs. Jen said that she hardly recognized her. There's no evidence that supports this claim and her parents denied Jen's speculation, saying that they would have noticed as they still shared a house together, but Jen worried about her childhood friend, so she confronted Rachel at the party and asked what was wrong and what she had been doing. By her account, Rachel became extremely offended and agitated and wound up hitting Jen in the face.

When Frank rushed over to see what was going on, Jen told Frank that he needed to ask Rachel about the night in the car with Sheldon before leaving the bar with her boyfriend Matt. This fight was so bad that Jen and Rachel didn't speak for a year after that night. According to Frank, Rachel insisted that the night in the car with Sheldon was innocent and was convinced that Jen and Matt were lying and spreading rumors around town about her. That see she'd had him for a while, but soon after the party, Frank pressed her again and

wanted to know what had happened that night. But Rachel stuck to her story, though Frank was suspicious that there was more that she wasn't telling him. The same feeling that Jen had. Meanwhile, again with wedding arrangements on an indefinite hold, Lisa Del Tondo, again Rachel's mother, was upset at the money that she lost on the dress, shoes, and other non-refundable deposits. She decided to contact a local consumer affairs reporter named Marty Griffin, who has a

show on Pittsburgh Public Radio Station KDKA and has had it for over two decades and it's called Get Marty. His logline reads, quote, For more than two decades, Marty Griffin has been fighting for the little guy, standing up to injustice and working to make a difference in the community. Marty enlists the community to join him on his mission to make a difference together. Lisa had paid a $4,000 deposit on Rachel's $10,000 wedding dress, which the shop owner, Greg Cherico, refused to refund. Lisa claims that she thought they would

recoup the loss by selling the dress, but that it never arrived nor did they receive a refund. So it was this whole mess and Lisa even tried to like take the designer to small claims court, but when he didn't appear for the hearing, they contacted Get Marty for help. The Del Tondo's did eventually receive their deposit back, but at a much higher cost than $4,000. It was now public knowledge that, regardless of whether or not Rachel and Frank were seen out and about together, they were no longer engaged. I'm sure this was just Karei's A for the town. Frank said that he lost a significant amount of money on deposits as well, but chose not to make a spectacle out of it like Lisa chose to.

However, now that things between the former couple were dwindling even more and their future together looked like a slim possibility, Frank, of course, still bothered by the secret incident in the car with Sheldon, pursued the story looking for answers. And he actually went to the police regarding the incident report, even though Rachel had claimed there was no report.

As he put it, although they weren't engaged, they were still spending time together and he didn't want to look stupid. Now this feels like a good time to mention two things. That Frank is the son of a retired local police officer, and again that Rachel was wrong about they're not having been a police report from the night in the car. Although it was written a year after the incident, assistant police chief Joe Percival found the circumstances that night fishy and wanted a record of the event, but there hadn't been one, so he wrote up a report. And remember, Rachel was 31 years old and Sheldon was 17 and they were sitting in a car

together late at night with no one around. Joe didn't initially want to give the report over to Frank because police reports require an official documented request and for an approval to be granted before they're issued. But Joe claims that police chief Don Couch told Joe to just give it to him because it was quote, Frankie, it's just Frankie, which is obviously not okay. Yeah, no. But when questioned later, Don claimed that he said that Frank could only see it after proper procedures were followed.

Well, of course they had to say that. I'm sure that didn't happen though. Yeah, I don't think so. Either way, Frank Reddit, and according to the responding officer, Officer Conkel, Rachel's white Mercedes was seen in an abandoned field near the old Aliquipa hospital and reported for being a suspicious vehicle. That is quite the remote spot. Yeah, pretty remote.

So Officer Conkel approached the car and noticed that the windows were steamed up and that there appeared to be movement happening inside. He knocked on the window and Rachel, seated in the driver's seat, rolled down the driver's side window. Now, Sheldon was seated in the passenger's seat beside her, fully reclined like the seat was all the way back. It was 1.52am, not 11pm, as Rachel had previously told Jen and Frank. The pair were also obviously not in the Circle K parking lot, as Rachel had told Jen, and had instead been in a secluded field that other speculated was used, quote, when you

didn't want to be found. So obviously this does not look good. It was written in the report that Rachel had told the officer that you didn't want to be found. So obviously this does not look good. It was written in the report that Rachel had told the officer that she didn't want Frank to find out about it. She had been asked to vacate the vehicle and was questioned separately from Sheldon, and she apparently pleaded with Officer Conkel not to write up a report about this incident. Now after reading the report, Frank left the station hurt and confused, especially considering that this had happened well over a year prior, and he didn't know the details.

Then just a few days later, shit really hit the fan. Someone anonymously emailed the police report to the school where Rachel was teaching at the time, along with the school board, a local reporter, and even the mayor. Before that quick break, Heath told us that someone anonymously emailed the police report to the school board where Rachel was teaching at the time, along with a local reporter and even the mayor. So news of the leak of this report spread very quickly in small aliquipa in the fall of 2017.

Jen also received a copy, texted to her from a number she didn't recognize, which is very suspicious that it came in a text from an unknown number, like someone was really trying to get this out to people in Rachel's life and just destroy her. What's interesting, what I would wanna know is, it's gotta be somebody that's close to Jen as well,

or close to maybe both Jen and Rachel to be able to get Jen's number. Well, right, and we would assume that Frank and Jen had each other's numbers. So if this was Frank, did he buy a different phone just to send this? Like, why would you do that? Why not just make an fake email?

Sure. And I guess where I'm getting at with this is that I don't know if a 17 year old would get somebody's number and then text in this like incriminating evidence or whatever. Also, it's like how would he didn't see the report? The only person we know of that saw the report was Frank, but then also guess who else has the report the police? Yeah, so Rachel's parents are convinced to this day that the source was Frank, you know, like seeking revenge for what he suspected she had done.

But Frank maintains that he did not and would not have done this to Rachel. And especially because the city is so small, like this would have been a bit embarrassing for him, but not only that, even if it proved Rachel had cheated on him, this would have kind of ruined her life, especially considering Sheldon was just 17, but the age of consent in Pennsylvania is 16. So would Frank want to hurt her like this? I mean, this was a woman that he had been dating seriously for years, so that could make a person quite angry and vengeful.

So the day after the report went out, in November of 2017, Rachel was placed on administrative suspension with pay from her substitute teaching job at Pennsylvania Cybercharter School while an investigation pended. Assistant Police Chief Joe Percival believes that if it wasn't Frank himself, it was someone Frank showed the report to. As you can probably guess, Rachel fell into a severe depression after this report came out. Her parent said she couldn't sleep or eat, and actually wound up spending three days in an impatient psychiatric facility because of this event. They maintain that she was just trying to help a struggling student and that nothing sexual or physical happened between them. Lisa says she is sure that Rachel would have told her if something

had happened between her and Sheldon. That Rachel told her everything, even if it was something other mothers may deem inappropriate coming from their daughters. They were just that close. But I mean, doesn't mean that, you know, I mean, like just because she didn't tell you, doesn't mean that didn't happen. True, yeah. And I'm sure as her mother, you want to say no, she would have told me, but maybe she wouldn't have.

Lisa thinks that instead, Sheldon mistook Rachel's kindness for affection and became obsessed with her, even driving by their house once while drunk to come and see her. I'm not doubting this either, but you know, who knows. Lisa also thought, despite the official end of their relationship, that Frank was obsessed with Rachel. Rachel, however, assumed Frank was behind the release of the police report and wanted nothing to do with him after that. You know what's weird, though, is that Lisa is saying, oh, well, Sheldon was probably just obsessed with my daughter. And oh, Frank was probably just obsessed with my daughter. I think you're obsessed with your daughter. I do agree. I do agree. And this is a bit hard to discuss since Rachel is the victim of the story. But the fact that she had driven to a

secluded area with a high school boy and they were in a steamy car at 2 a.m. with the seat down and apparent movement in the vehicle is pretty weird. I mean, sure, they could have just been talking, but that still seems pretty inappropriate to me considering the location and time assuming the police report is completely truthful because it was filed a year later. But like, I know he had apparently been like, I ran away or I'm going to ran away,

I run away, I need help now. But like, why not me at a local public diner or wait until daytime and meet at a park or a coffee shop? Yeah, I mean, obviously, I think that would be very much more appropriate. I do think it's weird, however, that the police report was filed a year later. That that to me strikes me as very odd. Right. So that's red flag. That's why it's kind of tough because all we have regarding that evening is based on this police report because Rachel never confessed anything She just said look

me and Sheldon were talking in in my car and The police came up to us, but still so you and I already speculated on how her behavior may have been weird for just a simple Conversation right, but yeah, this police report was filed a year later, as we will discuss there was apparent police corruption. So it's kind of like, what is the truth here? Yeah. And obviously we don't want to jump to any conclusions because we do not know the actual truth in this case. Right. So, but my one opinion is that, of course, it does feel inappropriate. The circumstances. Yeah. I mean, if you look online, like if you go on Reddit or something, everybody calls her a sexual predator, but you know, we're trying to be very careful here again, because she

is a victim, but obviously if that is the case, that is not right. But the problem is we only have this report to go off of, and it still doesn't say very much. So what is the truth? And of course, I'm not trying to talk shit about Lisa. No, I know. But it's like, but it's like, at some point you have to realize that your child, your child isn't perfect. Yeah, your child may not be perfect. And you know, people do things wrong and it's okay to admit when you do something wrong.

Absolutely. So while Rachel was humiliated and isolating herself, dealing with the fallout in her small community, her mother Lisa was infuriated. So much so that she called the local tip line to report corruption within the police. Just like with Rachel's dress, Lisa stepped in and played mama bear, getting in contact with a journalist and CBS news consultant named John Paul. And something that kind of strikes me here is that, you know, she's saying, oh, there's corruption. And maybe that's not true.

And maybe Lisa is just trying to look out for her daughter and assuming corruption when there's no corruption. But I do want to say I actually did read a bunch of different comments in forums from people who live in aliquipa who say the same thing. So for anybody who's like, oh, of course she's saying this, it seems like it actually might be true. Right. So this consultant, John Paul, he interviewed Rachel about her experience over the phone,

and she told him that she had received death threats, including a text that said that she wouldn't live to see the end of 2018. Rachel believed the corruption within the police ran deep in Aliquipa, and that certain people were being paid for their silence about the report. She even grew paranoid that she was being followed by police, suspicions that were not without probability, seeing that Frank's father was a former cop. Frank claimed that these allegations were completely unfounded, and that he was never following her or had anyone follow her and that she was overreacting.

But Rachel and Lisa continued their crusade and reported the possible corruption to the state police, hoping to bring awareness to this issue. I'm sure all of you guys have opinions on on Rachel and what happened with Sheldon. So just based on whatever you guys are thinking, you know, we do have to kind of remember that just in the eyes of the law, Rachel didn't do anything wrong because Sheldon was of legal age, you know, he was 17, consent is 16. So if something did happen, which again, we don't know, legally she didn't do anything wrong and she wasn't being charged with a crime. So this being leaked, it shouldn't have happened.

But of course, all of us have our opinions on what we think of the incident and how appropriate our inappropriate it was. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the fact that there's no physical proof that anything did happen leads us to believe. And obviously, again, she was not charged with anything. So, technically, there's no crime here. Yeah, we're just trying to be careful here. Yeah, it's so hard. We really don't know.

You have to walk a fine line and try not to like offend anyone. Right, exactly. This is kind of a tough one. So, in December of 2017, weeks after Rachel was suspended from her job, she started speaking as a confidential source with the Beaver Countaine, which is a new source in Beaver County. She told them that she was cooperating with state police, as well as the organized crime section of the state attorney general's officer, and she believed there was a major local corruption and she was determined to stop it.

At this same time, Rachel was spending time with one of Sheldon's half-brothers, Rashon Bolton, who was just a couple years younger than her, who was about 30 years old, and whom she claims she felt safe with, and the two actually started quietly dating. And I think, you know, obviously with all of the the whole situation that's going on, maybe removing yourself from that connection might be a better idea, but yeah, I mean everything that I'm about to tell you guys is it has that same feeling, oh maybe that's not a great idea. And allegedly, Sheldon hated their budding relationship and was jealous and angry. So perhaps distancing herself from her own circle of friends that she may have felt alienated

from. 32-year-old Rachel also started spending a lot of time with a new friend. Another 17-year-old former student named Lauren Watkins. Lauren said that Rachel was like a big sister to her, helping her with college applications and sharing gossip. Now Rachel's mother, Lisa, said that she and Jill actually disapproved of this new friendship, and that Rachel's therapist had even told her to distance herself from

Lauren, but Rachel was apparently scared of hurting her new friends' feelings. So it seems like she's a very sweet person, but obviously it doesn't look like she's making great decisions. Right. It doesn't look good, especially in the small community of people who are already judging her. Maybe she should have taken some time away or hung out with people in her group again. Well, if Lisa is saying that she should distance herself, maybe it's a lot.

Yeah, it does. So on the evening of Sunday, May 13, 2018, Mother's Day, Lauren and Rachel went out for ice cream. Now after Lauren picked up Rachel, she pointed out that they passed Sheldon in a car with a bunch of his friends going in the opposite direction. Lauren claimed that he messaged her on Facebook afterward, asking if that had been her and Rachel. On the 15-minute drive, they stopped to pick up yet another half-brother of Sheldon's 25-year-old Tyree Jeeter.

While the three were at Hank's frozen custard and Mexican food in New Brighton, Sheldon texted Tyree multiple times asking where he was, what he was doing, and who he was with. After the three of them closed Hank's down, they got back into Lauren's car and headed to Rachel's house. A search of Lauren's phone later revealed that outside of Rachel's parents' house, and while Rachel was still in the car, Lauren had texted her, Go for a walk, I'll come pick you up later.

That's kind of a weird text to send. Yeah, a little eerie. So Lauren explained that the girls were harmlessly trying to get rid of Tyree to have some girl time, but wanted to kind of do it covertly to spare his feelings. The plan was to wait for Tyree to head back to his house, then Lauren would circle back to Rachel and pick her up again so that they could hang out one on one. Now Lauren also said that she would always wait for her friends to get inside before she would leave their houses.

So at 10.44pm that night, she saw Rachel reach the side door to the Deltondo's house, and, upon seeing that Rachel had opened it, left to drive around the block. Rachel's parents claim that this is impossible, however, because Joe had been sitting just inside the side door and would have heard her start to open it, but either way, less than four minutes later, Rachel was gone. At 10.48 pm from inside their house, her parents heard 10 to 12 gunshots and ran outside to find their daughter shot dead at the end of their driveway. And I mean, how horrifying that they were inside the house and heard all this happen and know just to

know that she was just on the other side of the door. She was just moments away from entering the home to where they would have been able to see her and spend time with her as they always did. And Rachel may have, her life may have been spared if she had made it inside the door. Right, but then that's weird knowing that she had been dropped off. And here's Lauren saying, oh yeah, I saw her entering the house,

but if you saw her entering the house, then you would have seen whoever killed her, right? So it's like, Lauren's story off the bat doesn't really make sense. But let's go to the investigation. So police headed for the deltando's immediately, but given the distrust that ran deep in their household, this was of little comfort to Rachel's parents. Just hours after Rachel was killed, police showed up at the home of Sheldon's uncle, Michael

Moreland, where Sheldon was living at the time to question him. He was asleep when they arrived, and his uncle claimed that he had been home at the time of her murder, although he himself had not been home, so not sure how he would have been able to confirm such a thing. They asked Sheldon for the clothes that he had been wearing that day, and he handed over a pile, but they turned out to be other dirty clothes that had been discarded on the floor. Now the attorney that Sheldon laid or hired Michael Santa Cola, denies that this was done

on purpose and claimed that Sheldon was just tired and disoriented and showed them a pile of the clothes thinking that they were what he had been wearing that day and that it wasn't his fault that police took the wrong ones. They collected and tested a pair of khaki pants, a windbreaker, a hat, and a pair of shoes, but it was later confirmed via security camera footage at a Wendy's and a Walmart that Sheldon had been to on the day of the murder that he had actually been wearing a gray or light-colored hooded sweatshirt. By then, police were already suspicious as Sheldon had apparently shown no signs of emotion after they told him the news of the slaying,

despite him previously feeling as though Rachel was a friend of his. But his attorney claims that he was just in shock and that's why he didn't show emotion. So Lauren Watkins said later in an interview that she didn't think Sheldon was capable of murder. But as we'll get into, that is not true. Contradicting what Lisa thought, Lauren also said that she never knew him to be obsessed with Rachel. Lauren agreed with Lisa's claim that she didn't think the two ever have engaged in a romantic or physical relationship. Thirty-year-old Rashan Bolton, Rachel's new boyfriend and Sheldon's brother, was also

questioned. And he remembered a night, a few months before Rachel's death, when Sheldon pulled up behind Rashan and Rachel in his silver Nissan, yelled at her for apparently lying about who she was with, not wanting him to know she'd actually been with Rashon and called her a bitch. I mean, this is kind of extreme too, because this would make it sound like Rachel is still talking to Sheldon, you know? And that Sheldon clearly has like a crush on her or something and doesn't want her to be with his brother.

Yeah. So Rashon also remembered that Sheldon said, quote, if my brother wasn't here, I'd fuck you up. Wow, that's really aggressive. But Sheldon's attorney Michael argued that the brothers were on good terms and that Rashon had not spoken out against Sheldon.

So it's kind of like the police are saying one thing, Sheldon's attorney is saying another. Is Sheldon's attorney just saying this to kind of make Sheldon seem like he's not guilty or are the police lying to make Sheldon look guilty. Right, and Rashon is clearly not saying anything. Publicly. Publicly, and it appears that,

it appears that the anger that Sheldon may have had was directed at Rachel, but not at Roshan at all. No, I know, but that's what I mean is if this anger that we know of, it sounds like it's just coming from the police. You know, police are only saying this, but at the same time, as we know, he had contacted Rachel that day and or contacted Lauren, sorry, and said, oh, was that you guys? So it seems like Sheldon and Rachel still

were somewhat speaking. Yeah. So Michael, who again is Sheldon's attorney, also admitted that according to Sheldon, Rachel and Sheldon did in fact have a physical relationship despite the age difference and the fact that she used to be a teacher at his school. But again, the age of consent and Pennsylvania is 16. So Michael didn't think that there was necessarily anything wrong with this. Frank was also in the spotlight of suspicion,

but he had a video security footage of him entering his home earlier on the evening of May 13th and not leaving. So this would prove that he was home when Rachel was killed. He had been home all night with his girlfriend as well and she did confirm this. So he did, however, get in hot water later on in the investigation for being photographed wearing a t-shirt that said fake alibi while out with his girlfriend. Although he claims it was a poorly timed joke and an unfortunate coincidence.

Yeah, that's definitely not a good look. Yeah, so at this point, police would neither confirm nor deny whether Frank was still a person of interest in Rachel's murder, but it didn't appear that he was. And the trouble within the police department still ran deep after Rachel's death and throughout the subsequent investigation. Most police officers were working part-time and many held positions in offices of other nearby cities as well as Alequipa, sometimes as many as four different positions at a time. This isn't so good because at one point in the investigation, three different police

chiefs held office in one week, so this is like a messed up all over the place. Don Kouch who granted the documents about Rachel's alleged infraction to Frank was fired for undisclosed reasons. Joe Percival, assistant police chief, was then promoted to police chief and fired within the same week after he was arrested for sending and obscene text to a familiar teenager, Rachel's friend Lauren Watkins. Wow. Oh my god. My mind is blown right now.

Yeah, this is weird because he reportedly sent a video of a woman urinating while on a swing set, but he sent it to a group chat that contained both Lauren and her parents. What? So, according to Lauren, Jill was like an uncle to her and it was an honest mistake. So the charges were eventually dropped. But that's why I mean, there's so much, so many people have a police officer or chief

as like an uncle or a dad or whatever. And they're all like connected in this and everyone's getting fired and arrested and it's like such a disaster. I also want to know what is the reason for sending a photo of someone pissing. I just don't understand that. Or was it a video? Or was it a video?

It was a video. Just why, Joe? Either way, I mean, it's not a good look, but I mean, I don't know why he would have done that on purpose. You know, especially to our parents as well. So it must have been an accident, but who were you trying to send that to just Lauren or somebody else? But also still weird content. Oh, well, yeah, of course. So, um, the third police chief promoted to the role did nothing with Rachel's case, but passed it along to detectives.

And there is also speculation that the crime scene was contaminated after an off-duty officer with close ties to the case showed up and began his own investigation, later accused of tampering with evidence and corrupting the crime scene. And this officer just happened to be Lauren Watkins' father. So what is going on here? It's such a mess. So conspiracy theories are still floating around on both internet discussion forums

and in the small town of Aliquipa itself. That Rachel was potentially silenced for the question she was raising against this very disastrous local police force for lack of a better term, because I think I just said disaster. So there are also rumors that Frank had her killed and even that it was shelled in with the help of their shared friends.

Now in May of 2019, so one year after Rachel's murder, shelled in Jeter Jr. was found unconscious on the side of a road in Aliquipa. At around 4am, he was seen alongside an intersection in town and someone called 911 to report this as well as information regarding a blue truck that was seen leaving this intersection. Emergency responders revived him and when he came to he was swearing at officers in confusion and he appeared to be very agitated. His attorney pushed that as a football player, he did not use drugs at all, so this wasn't an overdose, though he did drink alcohol. But please believe that how his body responded to the Naloxone injection was allegedly consistent with someone who had been revived from a heroin overdose,

though this was never confirmed to be the case. While Rachel's case is still officially unsolved, new interest emerged when on May 15th of 2020, almost two years to the day after Rachel was killed, Sheldon Jeter Jr. shot a different friend after a different trip to an ice cream shop. Sheldon and his uncle Michael, along with a friend of the family, Tyreek Pugh, not to be confused with Tyre Jeter, who was out for ice cream with Lauren and Rachel the night Rachel was killed. So Tyreek Pugh was also living in Michael's house at the time and went for ice cream

at Brewstersters Real Ice Cream in Alequipa with Sheldon. Sheldon claimed that he didn't see Tyreek that evening, but Surveillance footage showed them leaving their house together and Sheldon returning alone. A motorist found Tyreek's body discarded on the side of the road, and it was found that he had been shot multiple times just like Rachel. A search of Sheldon's uncle's property turned up a gun whose bullets matched those found in Tyreeks body hidden under Sheldon's mattress. In June of 2021, Sheldon Jeter Jr. was convicted of the murder of his friend Tyreek Pugh and sentenced to life in prison.

And I guess for whatever reason, maybe because of the contamination in Rachel's crime scene, they were not able to cross-reference to evidence between Tyreeks, Crime Scene and Rachel, so that would have helped us maybe determine if Sheldon was Rachel's killer after all But they couldn't do it. Yeah, that seriously sucks because it could have helped Rachel's case a lot and You know, we know that Sheldon was very jealous of who Rachel was with in the months and years since their Super Bowl night So it's likely that he did like I said have some sort of crush on Rachel and the fact that he murdered his friend by shooting them multiple times, just like how Rachel died, is crazy. We know he's capable of murder, so he seems like the most probable suspect to me for Rachel's killing as well, because I really don't think that Frank had a motive to kill Rachel.

Ruined her life with sending the report, sure, but murder? Yeah, especially considering that he had a girlfriend and had seemingly moved on from ruined her life with sending the report, sure, but murder? Yeah, especially considering that, you know, he had a girlfriend and had seemingly moved on from Rachel at this time. Yeah, that's a really good point. And again, there is evidence of him going into his house via video. Could he have snuck out the back door maybe, but I don't know, I just don't buy that. And also, you know, I think the police corruption angle could definitely make sense knowing

that she was working with a reporter as a confidential source, but I would be shocked if it wasn't Sheldon considering what we know now. Though, like I said, many locals do point out that police corruption is a big deal in this area, and they would have wanted to shut Rachel up, so it's tough. Yeah, and Rachel wasn't the only one who was going in on this corruption angle. It was so it's tough. Yeah, and Rachel wasn't the only one who was, you know, going in on this corruption angle.

It was also Rachel's mom. Right. Who is alive and well today. Yeah, true. So I don't know. I just feel like if Sheldon had not murdered Tyreek Pew, maybe I would have said, oh, this kid killing her why, but now I'm like, okay, he's literally a murderer.

Yeah. So after Rachel's murder, reporter John Paul, who she spoke with shortly before her death, said quite bluntly that he believed that the choices she made in her personal life led to her murder. Meanwhile, Lisa claims that she knew when it happened that it was going to turn into a cold case

and blames the corruption within the police force. It has now been four years with no answers. In a town as small as Aliquipa, the police department now has nine unsolved murders. That's insane. That's a lot. The mayor of Aliquipa, Dwan Walker, told local news station WPXI, quote, Ms. Del Tondo was a bright light. She didn't bother anyone.

She didn't hurt anyone. Lisa, who was always her biggest fan and greatest champion, said, quote, our lives will never be the same. I'm a different person. My heart is gone. My soul is shot. I don't even believe in God anymore. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West.

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