Small Town Murder - Murderer Mayor - Pembroke, New York

Episode Date: March 21, 2026

This week, in Pembroke, New York, a man is found walking the streets, covered in blood, wearing all camoflauge, with a white hood. He's also carrying a large lug wrench & other odd objects, but he ref...uses to tell police why is so bloody. This man also happens to be a major party's candidate for the upcoming mayoral election. This all leads to finding another man is found in frozen pools of blood, in his own driveway... who happens to be the possible future mayor's business partner. Some strange evidence leads to a crazy court case, and even crazier election!!   Along the way, we find out that corrections officers can be as crime ridden as criminals, that when you're covered in blood, in public, you should probably have an excuse ready to go, and that before you vote for a mayor, you should really do a deep dive on whether, or not he's a murderer!!   New episodes, every Wednesday & Friday nights!! Check us out on VIDEO Wednesday and Friday evenings on Netflix! www.netflix.com/smalltownmurder Donate at patreon.com/crimeinsports or at paypal.com and use our email: crimeinsports@gmail.com Go to shutupandgivememurder.com for all things Small Town Murder, Crime In Sports & Your Stupid Opinions!   Follow us on... instagram.com/smalltownmurder facebook.com/smalltownpod   Also, check out James & Jimmie's other shows, Crime In Sports & Your Stupid Opinions on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts!!

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:01 Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Small Town Murder Express. Yay! And Choo! Oh, yay, indeed, Jimmy. Yay, indeed. My name is James Petrogalo. I'm here with my co-host. I'm Jimmy Wiseman.
Starting point is 00:00:29 Thank you folks so much for joining us today on another wild, crazy adventure that we like to call Small Town Murder Express. 10 pounds of murder and a two-pound bag is how we like to put it. It's a lot and we're going to cram it into an hour and we have a wild story for you this week. as always. Before we get to that, definitely head over to shut up and give me murder.com and get your tickets for live shows. Also, merch is all over the place, too. Everything from coffee cups to skateboards. But you definitely want to get your tickets. Let's see, May 1st, Salt Lake City. That's sold out. But Denver, May 2nd, tickets left for that one still. And Buffalo on May 29th also sold out. But Royal Oak, Michigan on May 30th, you can do that. So, and we're going to drive it.
Starting point is 00:01:10 Just outside of Detroit. Yeah, even if you're in Buffalo and you want to go and it's sold out. Go to Detroit. We're driving it. We'll caravan it. Let's go. Get in the trunk. Get in the trunk. We got backspace or backseat room. So do that and come see us. That is shut up and give me murder.com. Definitely get yourself some
Starting point is 00:01:27 Patreon. That's the thing here. Patreon.com slash crime in sports is where you get all of the bonus material and there's a lot of it. As soon as you subscribe, you're going to get hundreds of back bonus episodes you've never heard before. So that's a whole thing to binge on its own.
Starting point is 00:01:43 Then you get new ones every other week, one crime and sports, one small town murder, and you get it. How much do they get? Every damn bit of it. All of it, that's right. So this week, which you're going to get for crime and sports, we're going to talk about the craziest names in sports history. Yeah. Which sounds weird, but it's going to be fun. Legal names.
Starting point is 00:02:00 Or whatever they're called, yeah, and not just a nickname, but yeah, something that's weird names and things like that, little bios. It's going to be fun. And then for small town murder, we're going to talk about Stockholm syndrome, not the actual syndrome, which is, you know, you start to identify with your captors if you're held hostage or something. But the incident that made the term, Stockholm syndrome, it's the craziest story ever. So can't wait to get into that. So that is patreon.com slash crime in sports. So get in there. You also get everything that we put out, all the shows, all ad free with your Patreon as well. Crime and Sports, your stupid opinions, both small-town murders. And you get a shout out at the end of the regular show, too.
Starting point is 00:02:41 Jimmy will mess your name all up for you. Don't you worry that. Don't you worry about that one bit. That said, I think it's time, everybody. What do you say? I think it's time to sit back. What do you do? Let's clear the lungs here.
Starting point is 00:02:54 Arms to the sky. And let's all shout. Shut up and give me murder. Let's do this, everybody. Let's go on a trip, shall we? I'm over here punching my mic, doing a good job with that. I got a little carried away with the shut up. and give me murder. I got carried away.
Starting point is 00:03:13 You know, I get into it, man. Let's go on a trip. It's part of it, yeah. Let's go to New York, everybody. Let's do it. We're going way out in western New York here. This is Pembroke, Pembroke, Pembroke, Pembroke. Pembroke, New York. Or Pembroke? Way out in a, I don't think it's Pembroke.
Starting point is 00:03:33 Yeah. No, this isn't West Virginia. They're like, just forget, make that O-N-I. We're not doing that. It's Pembroke. I'm sure. Pembroke. Pembroke and Pembroke. and Pembroke and Pembroke. I'm sure there's...
Starting point is 00:03:43 Who gives the shit? All over the place. This is in Western New York. It's about 35 minutes outside of Buffalo. About two hours to Syracuse, if you want to be like hip deep in snow. And then eight hours to our last New York episode. God damn. Pretty much as far as you can get.
Starting point is 00:03:59 It was in East Hampton, which is at the long, far end of Long Island. And this is Western New York. So an eight hour drive to East Hampton, New York, episode 643, the electrician executioner, which was a bunch of dead people in that one. That was a crazy episode. I remember that. That was a full length and it was wild. This is in Genesee County.
Starting point is 00:04:17 Area code 585 population here, not a big place, 4,261. So pretty small town there. Near the river then, yeah? Near the river. Genesee River? I'm sure there's so much water up here because you're outside of Lake Erie. There's a lot of lakes and a lot of rivers and streams. Genesee, there's a lot of Genesee stuff.
Starting point is 00:04:38 person, right? Yeah, I think so. But that's, um, Pennsylvania has a lot of Genesee stuff, too. There's that Genesee or beer. Yeah, it's that. That area is where the person was at. Probably. Probably. It's had to be. Had there's probably worked for the railroad as we find out as most of the time. The median household income here, $73,917. So it's just above the national average. But the median home cost very low. People always, people think of New York and they think of the whole place is New York City. And it's, that's very, basically from, there's from me down, and then there is the rest of New York, which is enormous.
Starting point is 00:05:18 Yeah. And what you just said, it's eight hours from this place to Long Island. It's a big state. And there's still further west to go through New York. Yeah. New York is a very big state. People don't know it. It's a big state.
Starting point is 00:05:30 Median home cost here, $193,800 bucks. So people think of New York is expensive and all that, not in the middle of nowhere. It's not. You can go to like central New York. You can get a mansion for 200 grand. My aunt has a home near the Canadian border in New York. She has acres upon acres of land. And it's not worth $300,000.
Starting point is 00:05:49 No, that's what I mean. And there's a house on it. Yeah, that's how it is. It's up there. There's a lot of land to go. Forever. History of this town, Pembroke. It was known as O'Age, O'Age, which means on the road.
Starting point is 00:06:02 That's what the Indians called it, apparently. It was settled in 1804 by David Goss. Okay. It was established originally as part of the town of Batavia, which has been separated from them. It was set off from the town in 1812 and it was like part in the town of Darien and part in the town of Alabama, which they have the town of Alabama up here and the town of Oakland. They really need to come up with some new. A little more unique. Maybe it's just the west and south got to get more unique. It's probably here first, right? Maybe. I'm not sure. But either way, once there's a state, we go, come on. What are we doing here? Yeah. So there's a bunch of little towns here, and that's kind of how it works.
Starting point is 00:06:45 I got reviews of this town because we've never been here. I don't know anything about this place. So here's four stars, or it has four stars total on niche. That's its rating. Here's a five star. I love how much country there is. Right. I don't know if they mean around here or just in general.
Starting point is 00:07:00 Music. Sounds like Borat came here and saw a wide open space and goes, I love how much country there is. Look, it's beautiful. All the country. Look at the beautiful country. There's a lot of open fields for riding wheelers and snowmobiles. Get your wheelers out, everybody. Hell yeah.
Starting point is 00:07:16 Get your wheelers. Man after my own heart. Let's go Hillville. Having some fun. Yeah, it's in the snow, though, usually. Yeah. I'd love to snowmobile. That sounds awesome.
Starting point is 00:07:25 Oh, it's fun, fun shit. Yeah. Snow is fun to fuck around now. Everyone in town knows you, and you're always welcomed by the people in the town. I like how small the school is because there's more one-on-one between teachers. and students. That's not good these days. That's going to be... We need more... We need 30 kids in the classroom as witnesses for, you know what I mean? More eyes. In case something happens. More eyes makes the trial easier. Yeah, it's much easier with more witnesses. Of course, this is a plea bargain. Yeah,
Starting point is 00:07:54 you figure 20 of the kids will be on their phones. They're not going to see any diddling going on. So, you know, maybe five, six and we'll pay attention. 20 more eyes. You never know. Here's four stars. When I choose my heaven, my hometown would be the place with all the people I met and lived with there. What the fuck? They are happy now. They could die happy and as long as they could stay here. That's wild.
Starting point is 00:08:18 If I could choose my heaven, this is it? This is it. The coffee shop, the same assholes I went to high school with. That's my heaven. Wow. Okay. Here's three stars. Well, there isn't much crime in violence.
Starting point is 00:08:31 I think he means Anne probably. And violence in my area, such as the occasional DUI and speeding tickets. That's not really much crime. However, there was a man who shot at firefighters responding to a house fire, but that was probably the worst crime that was committed that I can recall at the moment. That's a pretty horrific crime. That sounds terrible. Yeah, they come to, you start shooting at them. You start shooting at them. That's awful. I mean, that's the worst. Yeah, that is the worst. That's terrible. It's pretty bad. It's pretty goddamn bad. Shooting at first responders, Jesus Christ. Did you set the fire, too, to draw them in? That's even
Starting point is 00:09:06 better if you did that. It makes it worse. Was it to kill the fireman or to stop them from discovering what you've lit a fire? Yeah. Is there a corpse in there? A meth lab or something? Things to do, the Kwanis Club Car Cruise and Fall Festival. Yeah. In all my
Starting point is 00:09:22 45 years, I still haven't figured out what the fuck the Kwanis Club. I have no idea. I just remember Hunter Thompson used to joke about him all the time and people would say like, are you this or you that? He'd go, hey man, don't look at me. I'm Kwanis. And they'd go, oh, because no one knows what that is. Nobody has a fucking clue. Yeah, people would say all this stuff.
Starting point is 00:09:38 He'd go, don't play me, man. I'm Kwanis. And people go, okay, and then they'd stop talking to him. Leave him alone. The man's Kwanis. He's Kwanis. He's crazy. Not a lot going on there.
Starting point is 00:09:48 Last year, we had a little over 500 vehicles and filled 96 vendor spaces. It's $100. Rain or Shine, by the way. Take your car out there. Then there's the Oakland Labor Days, D-A-Z-E, of course. $100 to enter your car or to participate? Food vendor. Food vendors.
Starting point is 00:10:05 The boots are, and then there's boots for $25. The Oakland Labor Days is a family-friendly music festival with many fun-filled alcohol-free events. Oh, that sounds awful. How do the adults have fun? Jesus Christ. They got a, well, that's why. They have live music, food vendors, children's activities, community worship, community worship service. Yeah, 5K race, car cruise, parade, fireworks, show.
Starting point is 00:10:35 So let's see what we have here. We have a band called the Skycats will be there. Skycats, like, I think this is a Christian thing. Hazard County will be there. I wonder what they play. Oh, boy. Shocking there. The Dave Veteran Music Group, the Christian Music Hour at 9 a.m.
Starting point is 00:10:54 Imagine being woken up and dragged to a.m. To listen to Christian music at 9 a.m. That sounds fucking like a nightmare. The songbirds, the Russ Peters group, which sounds like a. investment business. Invest with the Russ Peters group. Solid investments for your future. Give us something, Peters, right?
Starting point is 00:11:12 I don't know. And then there's Russell Peters, the comedian, of course. Dark Horse Run. Nerds Gone Wild will be there. Yeah. Yeah. Ripped it up. That's where they'll show you their trombone.
Starting point is 00:11:24 Oh. I'm going to show you my slide. Yeah. The Batavia swing band, the public water supply. What? That's a band name? That's a band name because they play both nights. Public water supply.
Starting point is 00:11:39 I was like, what do they have? Like a speech from the water guy and then they're back to the next night. No, it's just the utility guys that all work together. And they have like put together a band. And they have like a two-hour set. So I'm like, that's got to be music. And then the Floyd concept basket and rattle. The Floyd concept, that's a, that's, I assume, a pink Floyd cover band.
Starting point is 00:11:56 And then a basket and raffle drawings when I had the work running together. Floyd Experience Basket Raffle. That's what you're doing. That's a great band. band. It's my favorite band. But you know what? With a small town festival, you never know. Who knows? It might be the fled concept basket and raffle drawing band. That's, we've heard we're hearing. That's the thing. Oh, man, that's hilarious. So that said, let's talk about some murder. What do you say here? We got some wild stuff. Okay. Got to give credit, by the way,
Starting point is 00:12:28 to the Batavia Daily News, which is obviously a newspaper online deal there, because they covered this very, very well. Nice. Which is understandable why they would want to, because it's crazy stuff, man. Okay. Let's start out and talk about a guy here. All right. We're going to start out in 2009, so not too far back here.
Starting point is 00:12:48 You know, basically everything's the same except you don't have Instagram. That's about it. That's what we got. Yeah, I guess we didn't, did we? No, still got an iPhone in your hand still or whatever, an Android still, you know, same shit. Scott Franklin Doll. We're going to talk about, D-O-L-L-D-L-L. Oh.
Starting point is 00:13:05 He's 46 years old in 2009. He grew up in the, and lived in the village of Corfu, C-O-R-F-U, which I've never heard of. C-O-R-F-U, bitch. No, F-U. That definitely sounds like a code. Yeah. Shit. It's a really small place, less than a thousand people, all that kind of shit.
Starting point is 00:13:25 Okay. His family has run a grocery store there for 40 years. Nice. So everybody knows them. They're the town grocery store in a town of less than. and a thousand people. That's called the Dahl's Super Dooper. That's what it's called, the grocery store.
Starting point is 00:13:40 He's a volunteer firefighter when he grows up. He attends the same church's entire life. Everybody says he is reliable. He's a real... Mr. Corfu. Everybody knows who he is, what he's going to do, where he goes. On Sunday, you can look over. Scott Dahl's going to be over.
Starting point is 00:13:58 That's his spot. He's there every damn week. You know what I mean? There's a fire. he's going to have his little uniform on there putting it out. He becomes a corrections officer. And a lot of these western and central and all over New York towns, that's the only work around there. That's the big work.
Starting point is 00:14:18 That's the work is, yeah, if you want to make anything, I mean, you know, 40 grand a year back in the day or whatever and have benefits and stuff, that's the job. It's either that or who knows around there. Run your parents' grocery store. It's difficult. And the way the system works, too, some of the people that, like, are up there, then they get, like, stationed somewhere else. Oh, they get transferred, huh? Yeah, you don't necessarily, when you become a prison guard in New York or whatever corrections officer, you don't necessarily, you don't work where you are. You can be moved.
Starting point is 00:14:49 They'll just send you around like you're in the Army, which is crazy. And you have no choice. They just say, you're going to go to Pennsylvania. You're going to sink. Well, no, New York. You're going to Sing Sing now. So you could be, you know, going seven hours away from where you live, which is brutal. It's only New York.
Starting point is 00:15:03 It's, I don't know. I think it's by state. I'm sure other states have a similar way, but I'm not sure. Because in New York, the corrections officers are technically like, technically the same as police officers. Oh, government. Okay. Government employee. Yeah, like off duty, they can make arrests and shit, you know, if they really want to.
Starting point is 00:15:19 Yeah. Oh. Interesting. They're supposed to carry a gun and all that crap. Sworn and everything, huh? Yeah. It's kind of, I think California's like that, too, because you've got to be a prison guard before you become a sheriff. You have to be a CEO before you're a sheriff.
Starting point is 00:15:31 That's how it works. To be able to be a cop, you have to go through that, which just makes you think everyone's a criminal since you were in a place where everyone's a criminal. Then you get out on the street and treat everybody like you did in prison. Really not the best plan, I don't think. It's a fascinating plan. It's a weird plan. So way off of that, he becomes a corrections officer and he does that for almost 25 years, as we'll talk about here. Imagine you just want to give speeding tickets and then you get shanked in the fucking throat.
Starting point is 00:15:57 Yeah. That's fucked up, man. To do that, you've got to do that, I guess. It seems odd. Those seem like very separate skill sets. It's a weird through line. Dealing with people on the outside and dealing with people who are in there already is definitely way different. So he was the supervisor in the special needs unit at the Wendy Correctional Facility in Erie County, which is a maximum security prison that houses inmates with IQs of 90 or below.
Starting point is 00:16:23 Oh, boy. So I just saw Jimmy doing math and going, Jesus, that's not good. I'm real close to that. Because you're always saying it. It's the only reason why I brought it up. It's not great. You just went, oh, shit, that's bad. I don't want to be in special needs prison.
Starting point is 00:16:40 Well, the professors dealing with a bunch of me that can't read all day. Jesus Christ. It's bad enough to be in prison. It's like, not only can you not be in society, but even in prison, you need a little extra help. You need a little extra help in prison. Amongst a smaller group of people. That's tough. That you can carry on conversations.
Starting point is 00:17:02 That's tough, man. That's a tough road for a criminal. Tough road to hoe, babe. Yeah, it is. So by 2009, he's earned in 75,000 a year in salary from the New York State Department of Corrections. He's also doing the volunteer firefighting, and he also started a business where him and a partner buy cars at auction and sell them. We'll use car business as well. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:17:26 Oh, cash on the side. So early 2009, he is three months away from his 25th anniversary in service with the corrections department there, which makes him eligible for full retirement benefits at that point. Dude, started at 21. That's incredible. So he's 46 now and he's ready to do that. He's also in a shitload of debt. Well, not a shitload, but a shitload for him. I mean, compared to some people, but he's in about $28,000 of debt.
Starting point is 00:17:54 That's great. Which isn't bad. But in 2009, and if you're making $75,000 a year, that's still, you're chipping away at that. That's not, can't just pay that off. Unsecured, though, is not easy. No, and a lot of it's from his divorce, too. He's got, like, debts from the divorce and shit like that.
Starting point is 00:18:10 So, you know, that doesn't make him happy. No. His side business is called S-F Enterprises, Enterprises with a Z, of course. Hell yeah. It's 2009. We're down, man. It's 2009, but he thinks it's 95. So he's like, yeah, with a Z, man.
Starting point is 00:18:26 We'll make. Still wearing lugs with a Z. So they know we got an edge. You know what I'm saying? That's what it is. So they operate that out of three Corfu Plaza. That's the business address there. They purchase used cars at the Adessa, Adisa, whatever it is, Adessa auction in Clarence.
Starting point is 00:18:43 And then they fix them up and they sell them locally. His friend that he runs it with is an old friend from the Wyoming Correctional Facility, which is in New York, obviously. A guy named... Obviously. A guy named Joseph Benequist is his business partner. And he's 66 in 2009, 20 years older, but they've known each other through work. He's a corrections officer, too. He's retired now, Benequist, but that's what he did.
Starting point is 00:19:12 So he retired from the work. They both were at the Wyoming Correctional Facility when they became friends in the mid-90s, you know, when Z's were cool. And they worked the same shift. So they became buddies and they, you know, had coffee in the morning and ate lunch together and, you know, talked as they walked out at the end of their shift and all that kind of shit. You know, work friends. Pals, yeah. Pals.
Starting point is 00:19:36 Now, Joseph lives Benequist here. He kind of lives out kind of in the middle of nowhere a little bit. Yeah, it's on a place on a road called Nap Road. And it is, his nearest neighbor is at least 100 yards away. Nice. So, I mean, not middle of nowhere, middle of nowhere. middle of nowhere, but definitely not, you're not hearing shit from your neighbors. Deep.
Starting point is 00:19:58 That's a football field away. It's a pretty good distance. Now, he has many kids. Let's see, one, two, three, four kids. Looks like three daughters and a son. He's got a couple of, yeah, Beniquist does. He's got a couple of stepfathers. He's got nine grandchildren by 2009.
Starting point is 00:20:16 Wow. So, yeah, he's pumping him out here. Now, January 26, 2009 is the Corfu. Republican caucus. Now, trust me, there's nothing to do with politics here. It's just that's what happens. Not a contentious one up there in Corfu. I mean, we're talking about very few people. This is 2009. This was so... Well, this is the caucus for mayor, not for anything national. Right, right. Yeah. So this is the mayoral. The local caucus. The local caucus, the mayoral caucus. And they endorse Scott Dahl to run for mayor. How about that? He's a
Starting point is 00:20:54 Yeah, he's a firefighter corrections officer. His family's well-known. Everyone in town knows him since he was a little kid because his family runs the public service. So he's, yeah, he's doing, he's a well-known guy around the village, so he's got a good shot here. He has no prior government experience and had recently moved back to the village from other places. No prior. He was it.
Starting point is 00:21:16 He's the guy, though. Take the top dog job as your first foray and all right. In a town of 800 people. I guess that sounds so bad. Yeah, it's not bad. I mean, people run, not very. I mean, people run like eBay businesses that are bigger than that. You know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:21:31 It's not that difficult. So early 2009, Joseph Benequist buys a car here. He buys a Pontiac G6. Oh, yeah. Have you ever seen that? Yeah, that's a good car. Whoa, not this one. No?
Starting point is 00:21:48 No, look up a 2006 Pontiac G6. It's not good. Is it different from, I mean, they don't make it anymore. There's a good reason. The Pontiac G6 was like the, like the, they don't make Pontiacs anymore. Did Pontiac quit? Like 15 years ago. Yeah, they've been gone a long time, long time.
Starting point is 00:22:08 The G6 was like the answer to the GTO. No, I guess it's not. It's a little shit box. I guess it's the small GTO. Yeah, it's not cool. Oh, the G8 is the cool one. Yeah, G6, not good. All right, the G6, yeah, it's just, I mean, it's like a, it's like a Mazda
Starting point is 00:22:22 six, it's just a little family car. It's a little car. It's probably good on gas. Yeah, yeah. So, Joseph buys this at the Adessa auction for personal use. Not to sell. He pays $10,000 toward a $13,300 purchase price. Now, the way it works is it's from the company that he's paying the money because they have the account to pay the thing.
Starting point is 00:22:47 Right. So that's what he's supposed to do. But apparently, Scott Dahl never forwarded the $10,000. to the financing company like he's supposed to. Okay. So it just didn't go there for some reason. We're not sure why he didn't do that, but he didn't pay them for it, which is odd because that's a place, that's where they run their, you know, that's where they get all their
Starting point is 00:23:07 cars. So they have to stay on good terms with those people. Right. So it's strange. Now, February 16th, 2009, Bennequist here, now he's fixing this car up a bit, too, so he's put some money into it. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's got a flat tire on the old G6 that night.
Starting point is 00:23:25 Oh, boy. Not good. So apparently there's a, he has a bunch of cars in his driveway, Benekwist. There's a Nissan Ultima also. So he goes home to get the jack from the Nissan Ultima to fix his, to change the tire. The G6 doesn't have a jack in it. Doesn't have a jack or he doesn't have one either. Right.
Starting point is 00:23:46 So apparently he, Joseph Benequist and Josh Dahl, who is Scott's son, take the G6 They were going to take the G6 to the Adessa auction that night. I don't know if he was going to sell it or what or if he was going to buy more driving it. I think he's just driving it there.
Starting point is 00:24:03 But the jack that he went to get from the Ultima turned out to be broken. God damn it, what a night. All these cars broken to Jack and flat tire. Very annoying. So late afternoon, early evening, Josh Dahl and Benequist
Starting point is 00:24:19 don't end up at the auction as they were supposed to. They were supposed to go there. Scott Dahl says he was trying to reach them but couldn't get a hold of them also to see what was going on. So apparently what he says, Scott Dahl's driving his mother's Ford Windstar minivan, hot ride.
Starting point is 00:24:40 It keeps getting worse. If you buy and sell cars, you can't have a better car than that line around you could drive. You've got to borrow Mom's Windstar. His flea is shit. Gotta be honest. A G6, a Winstar, an Ultima. An Ultima that has a bad jack.
Starting point is 00:24:56 This is a shit, yeah. This is a terrible group of cars, these people have. If the jack's broken, think about the rest of the fucking automotive reliability of this thing. No, shit, man. He's driving a wind star. They don't make that either anymore. Probably not. They don't.
Starting point is 00:25:13 I wouldn't think so. I don't see a lot of minivans out there. They have crossovers now. No, the minivan market really shit the bad, didn't it? Just changed into the crossovers. That's all. Well, I mean, you've got the odyses and the sienas of the Toyotas and the Hondas. SUVs of various size.
Starting point is 00:25:29 I think the Quest is what did it. That Nissan Quest shit. Fuck the whole market. Well, they became a punchline for so long. Yeah. And they tried to make it cool with that dumb, dumb commercial with the swagger wagon shit. Oh, yeah, yeah. And being a dad is not fucking cool.
Starting point is 00:25:47 I think the Pontiac Aztec killed. Maybe so. Kills the Vanns. They just said, okay, this is the best idea. We were out of ideas
Starting point is 00:25:55 at the minivan. Scratch it. That's the start of the crossovers. Everybody saw that and were like, oh, we could certainly do better than that, right?
Starting point is 00:26:02 God awful. God awful. So apparently he is, Scott Dahl says he was going to head over to look for Joseph Benequist and Josh Dahl is what he's doing that night. That's what's going on in the early evening. Now,
Starting point is 00:26:19 that sets the tape. as far as we don't really know where Joseph and Josh are. They're supposed to be at an auction, but they're not. Flat tire, broken jack, Scott Dolls out in the Windstar looking for him. Okay. Hey, everybody, Jess. We're going to take a quick break from the show to tell you a much better way to get your meats with Goodchop. Goodshop.com.
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Starting point is 00:28:20 This is on North Lake Road in Pembroke, the Genesee County Sheriff's Dispatch receives a call reporting a suspicious person walking along North Lake Road. Yeah. Okay. The caller is a firefighter who just happened to be passing by. Luckily, no one was shooting at him. That's good. Yeah. He noticed as a guy and then watches the man who, by the way, is dressed entirely in camouflage and wearing a white hood.
Starting point is 00:28:47 I don't know what that is. A Klansman who blends into the, yeah. The white hood also kind of takes away from the camouflage. Look at that. I don't see anything. Wow, there's just a strange white head sitting floating above that group of bushes. Otherwise, it's just a very recognizable person floating. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:29:07 You don't want that either. No, it's all you see. If you're wearing camouflage, the idea is to be disappeared. I would think so. No, I don't know if this is a hoodie that he's wearing under the camouflage and has the hood on, or he's got a clan hood. I'm not sure exactly how this works. But apparently, the firefighter watched this guy duck out of the road, turn away and crouch
Starting point is 00:29:25 between two parked cars to hide when this firefighter slowed down and take a look at him. And camouflage in a white hood. You couldn't be wearing a more suspicious outfit probably also. And then behave suspiciously on top of it. You're drawing attention to yourself. Yeah. If you just put on, you just put on like a pair of docker's. a polo shirt and walk down the street normal.
Starting point is 00:29:48 The guy wouldn't have looked at you twice. He wouldn't even slowed down. It wouldn't even have noticed you. It would have just blended into the side. You would have been, you would have looked like a fire hydrant at that point. But instead, you're like, let me get the most conspicuous outfit ever
Starting point is 00:30:00 and then act real weird when anybody sees me. That'll get it. Wouldn't have even noticed a dude. No. And on top of that, he was carrying a lug wrench and a large screwdriver and a carjack. I mean, it's got a bunch of equipment.
Starting point is 00:30:15 And car breaking into equipment. Heavy metal things he's carrying around with him, dressed like that, which is odd. So about 9 p.m. that night on North Lake Road, the cops arrive. This is Deputy James Deal responds to the dispatch call and finds it's Scott Dahl in the camouflage in the hood. That's what he's doing right now. So they're like, okay, he said, quote, he was wearing a camouflage hunting outfit and a white hood. He dropped a metal object when approached. He pulled a lug wrench from his pocket.
Starting point is 00:30:47 He had what appeared to be wet blood stains on his knees, thighs, hands, and shoes. Knees, thighs, hands, and shoes. I just figured out how you could look more suspicious than wearing that outfit. Also be covered from head to toe and blood, or from like your waist down in blood. From hand to toe. Yeah. Hand to toe and blood. Now, he tells the deputy, oh, I'm wearing my deer butchering clothes because they're warm.
Starting point is 00:31:12 That's why I'm, because this is February and. Yeah. Way upstate New York. I usually butcher with tire jacks and... Well, yeah. Well, when I'm going out to do things, I guess his excuse is it's cold, so I wore my warmest outfit. Okay. It happens to be covered in blood.
Starting point is 00:31:27 Right. While I'm doing what I'm doing, which is still... Last time I wore it was dough season. I was chopping some shit up. Yeah. So he apparently, so he said, yeah, I wore my deer butchering clothes to keep warm. And they go, well, what are you doing out here? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:31:42 And he said, I'm out walking to live. lower my blood pressure. I'm keeping warm. And I have to keep warm. Why would you bring all your tools to take a walk? Maybe he's weighing himself down. He doesn't have any of those little. I didn't have a weighted vest. Yeah, or those little like two-pounders. Women used to do with aerobics in the 80s, none of those. He says I have a doctor's appointment in the morning. So, you know, I'm going to get my, I'm working on my blood pressure now. Now. The night before. Because it's probably going to spike 6 a.m. That's how it goes. So the guy, the cop says, you know, what's all the blood? homie, like what you got going on there?
Starting point is 00:32:16 And he just says, it's my deer-butchering outfit. He goes, yeah, but it's wet and fresh. That's wet blood. And he goes, I don't know. He just has no response to that whatsoever. I don't know. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:32:27 They're like, okay. He's described by the cop and his report as evasive this whole time. All he would say is, you know, I'm out walking. I have a blood pressure thing and I don't want to go to the doctor with high blood pressure. Well, for me in November.
Starting point is 00:32:40 By the way, it's not the right town. Different town. Otherwise, we're going to get to that. You jumped it, but that's fine. Totally fine. So when he's asked for ID, he pulls out his New York State Corrections Officer identification card. Okay. Which kind of, you know, helps him a little bit.
Starting point is 00:32:58 So the cop now treats him differently because he's one of the crew there. So at about 9 to 930 here, this cop agrees to give Scott Dahl a ride to his van. You, okay. Yes. You be wearing a camouflage outfit covered in fresh blood and a white hood and have a bunch of weird tools on you at night in a small town and have a cop come up to you and at the end of it, have an end with him giving you a ride to your car. Do you think that's going to happen without an ID? Without the corrections officer ID? This cop is a dummy. Who goes for a drive to go for a walk? That's the thing. Well, yeah, I just parked my car and... What? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:33:42 So Dahl says he parked his car, or his Windstar van, at a gas station on the corner of North Lake Road and Route 5. At this point, the firefighter who placed the original 911 call comes to the scene. He's probably got a scanner. He comes to the scene and tells the deputy, this is the guy I saw crouching between two cars to hide. Right. Somehow the cop didn't put together that they called, someone called about a guy in this outfit, crouching, being suspicious. Being suspicious.
Starting point is 00:34:12 He showed up, found the guy and said, it must have been somebody else that was suspicious. There must have been enough. Keep your eyes out, Mr. Dahl. There's a suspicious man out here. In camouflage, a hood and fucking bloodstains. He can't be the suspicious guy they were talking about. Carrying wild shit.
Starting point is 00:34:26 It's not you. I know that. So at this point, finally, the deputy detains Dahl. It took this much to do it. Handcuffs him. Places him in the patrol car. He's initially charged with trespassing for parking his van. the gas station.
Starting point is 00:34:40 That's just to hang on to him for a minute. Okay. To find out what's going on. So the cop then, with Scott in the car, drives to the van. Yeah? We're at the van now. Okay. Now, when they get to the van, there's blood all over the fucking van everywhere.
Starting point is 00:34:59 Inside and out, or just inside? The outside is covered in blood. There's blood stains. There's spatter on it. The inside of it, bloody is shit. Just covered in blood. What the fuck. Really crazy.
Starting point is 00:35:10 And there's also a pair of bloody gloves found nearby. Yeah. Right by the van. Just a pair of latex gloves covered in blood. The jack is missing from the van. It's the same jack that he's carrying. It fits right in the spot there. The van is parked approximately a 17 minutes walking from where we're going to talk about in a minute here, as we'll get to.
Starting point is 00:35:32 Now, nine o'clock to the 130 area. This is about 9.30. That's all going on. Now until 1.30 in the morning, the investigators basically they believe doll is covered in human blood. They're like, it's not a deer because you would have said, I just butchered a deer and you didn't. Right. So they believe, yeah, they believe based on how much blood there is, both on him and all over the van, that somewhere somebody could be injured in need of help. Someone's got a problem, obviously.
Starting point is 00:36:03 You're not supposed to lose that much blood. Yeah. So they don't read him as Miranda writes, but they don't read him as Miranda writes. they question him. Now, this also falls under something legal that's going to happen later called the emergency doctrine. This is the, this is like the, you know, basically someone's, there's a bomb that's going to go off. So we're going to work this guy over till he tells us where it is, that kind of shit.
Starting point is 00:36:26 Like exigent circumstances, but if you're trying to find somebody and trying to save a life, you don't have time to do all the, all the other shit. And that's okay at that point. Okay. So because there's so much blood and somebody could be in dire need of help, we'll skip those few sentences in the interim. We'll get to it later. You show up and there's a guy in the front lawn with a knife and it's got blood all over it and, you know, there's a trail of blood coming from the house. You don't have to read that guy his rights before you say, is there a victim in the house? You know what I mean? That we can possibly save. So I think that's the general deal, how that works. So they start calling Scott Dahl's family members and acquaintances, which is the weirdest investigative measure I've ever heard in my life. Who's your wife? I'm calling.
Starting point is 00:37:14 Yeah. They got like his phone. They're just calling people to find out why he might be there and who he might have been with. Where's the blood? Because Scott won't say shit. So he refuses to answer questions while the police are searching all around. They're just driving around. And all Scott will say is that he can't talk about.
Starting point is 00:37:32 what's happened. I can't talk about it. I can't talk about what's happened. Nothing happened. I can't talk about what's happened. So for four hours, he's in the car with this deputy while he drives around the area trying to get... He calls Scott's phone. Trying to get information out of him while calling his relatives while he's in the back seat. Wow. Which is wild at that point. Eventually, they end up on Nap Road at Joseph Benequist's house. Okay. Okay. Which is, by the way, a 17 minute walk from where Scott was originally found. Okay. Okay. Police had called all of Scott's relatives to ask why he might be in Pembroke since he doesn't live there. And they said, well, his business partner, the Benequist guy, he lives that way. He lives out in Pembroke. Maybe he's visiting him. So they gave
Starting point is 00:38:21 the cop the address and the police end up pulling up to Joseph Pembroke's house here. This is about 130 or Benequist. Yeah, Pembroke is the town. Yeah. You keep it straight. I'm going to do my best here. God damn it. I'm too dumb for this shit. So about 1.30 a.m. This is when this happens. They show up at Benequist's house on Nap Road.
Starting point is 00:38:44 There's a sergeant Steve Mullen. He approaches the driveway and uses a flashlight to see Joseph Benekwist on the ground between two vehicles. Oh, no. He's frozen, by the way. He's been here a bit. Yeah. He's frozen over. He has frost on his eyebrows.
Starting point is 00:39:00 He's like the end of the shining, it looks like. Yeah. There's a large pool of blood around him, and his skull is noticeably damaged from blunt force trauma is what it looks like. He's lying on the ground between two parked vehicles, the Pontiac G6 with a flat rear tire and the Ultima with a broken jack behind its front passenger wheel. So that's what we got. The sergeant observed what he describes as a large pool of blood and visible damage to the skull. He has to call for an ambulance anyway. That's protocol here.
Starting point is 00:39:32 So they have to get confirmation of the death from a city of Batavia unit. So he cordons off the scene with yellow crime scene tape, and that's that. Joseph also has defense wounds on his hands, Beniquist, as well. So it looks like he was attacked, beaten with a blunt object, and just left to die and freeze in his driveway, essentially. It looks like he's been hit a lot, though. He's been pummeled here pretty good. Now, they said that the medical examiner after they, you know, check him out, says that his ability to talk or move would have deteriorated rapidly from the attack, but he could have lived from one to four hours. Oh, Jesus.
Starting point is 00:40:18 Laying there suffering, lying on it, just bleeding out. Yeah, just bleeding. They said, as he was being beaten, he tried to save himself. He put his hands up to, you know, block his head. but they said the injuries to his hands were consistent with getting beaten with a blunt object also. Oh, boy. So they call for the deputy chief here and another investigator. They call for whoever's in charge, basically.
Starting point is 00:40:43 Yeah. And they said, we did as thorough a search as we could in the dark, which does not instill confidence. No. I mean, we did, I think we got out. I don't know. We had flashlights. You don't understand. It was dark.
Starting point is 00:40:56 Yeah. We didn't bring in the, you know, the 5Ks or anything. We didn't bring in like, you know, lights. The generator trailer with the lights on it. We just didn't have that. This was done by mag light. This is the maglight investigation. So, I mean, if you might find some extra shit in the morning, let us know if you see anything.
Starting point is 00:41:13 So in his pocket, in Benequist's pocket, in the watch pocket, the small pocket of your jeans, there the fifth pocket. He's got black jeans on. In there is a piece of paper with the name Dave and a phone number in there. Yeah. So they find that. So they're like, okay, maybe that's a clue. Now, they question the neighbors, but they all live far away. The closest ones 100 yards away.
Starting point is 00:41:36 Nobody heard shit. Right. Nobody heard anything. So 3.30 a.m. We're at the Genesee County Sheriff's Office. And there is a lady there named Teresa. Wow, Zalaskawicks, I think. Oh.
Starting point is 00:41:51 It's got so many Zs and Ks and S's in and it's wild. All sorts of shit. Yeah, there's one of those. One of those in there. She's a retired corrections officer and a friend of Scott Dahl. She got a text from Scott Dahl's girlfriend. So she drives over here. She drives to pick up Scott Dahl's girlfriend in Corfu and then drive to the sheriff's office with his girlfriend.
Starting point is 00:42:16 So now he's got an old work friend and his girlfriend are also at the sheriff's department where Scott's coming to. She talks to Dahl. She wants to talk to Dahl. The Teresa, not the girlfriend. the ex-courker. They say no. She asks again, saying, come on, it's a professional courtesy. I'm a corrections officer.
Starting point is 00:42:36 He's a corrections officer. Let me talk. And they go, okay, and they let her in. They're doing a bang-up job so far. The investigator in there sits in the room and takes notes while she does this, by the way. She wasn't asked by the cops to do this. This is her idea. Okay.
Starting point is 00:42:53 So now Scott's talking to his friend. the corrections officer, not the detective. He's not under interrogation because she's talking to him, but the investigator sitting there taking notes on whatever he says. Anything you say is certainly going to be used against you. Yeah. Now, he says, Scott says to his friend, because his friend was saying, is that deer blood all over you?
Starting point is 00:43:17 What's going on? He says, the case did not involve an animal. He said that I was there, but I didn't do anything. And then he said, the case is open and shut. and I'll be going to jail and probably I'll get what I deserve. That's what he said. So that's an odd statement to make. Sounds pretty incriminating.
Starting point is 00:43:34 Yeah, it doesn't help you. No, not at all. So let's find out what Joseph Benequist would happen to him, his injuries. There's a minor abrasion in the middle of his back and more abrasions on his right shoulder. His face was scraped in places and there were at least six large gashes on his head, including a large one across his forehead. And the medical examiner said any one of those injuries could potentially lead to a person's death. Wow. They're all brutal.
Starting point is 00:44:02 They said his hands were obviously defensive wounds. There's gashes on the inside of one hand and one finger cut down to the tendon, which is rough and cuts on the outside of the other hand. The internal trauma consisted of two skull fractures, multiple bruises on his swollen brain and blood pooling inside the skull cavity. Oh, brain hemorrhaging. They said he was struck at least seven or eight times. They said he might have had seizures. He might have been not able to move or speak somewhere in between his attack. Wow. Really bad attack.
Starting point is 00:44:36 Just fucked his brain up. Just absolutely, you know, hard-boiled egged his brain. Just beat that fucking shell right off of it. Then here, they go and they notice some things. They had taken photographs. They go back and take some photos again the next morning, and they had photos from the night before, and then photos from when there's more light.
Starting point is 00:44:59 They found the G6 is in the driveway with the flat tire. The Ultima's got the non-functional jack. A large flashlight is visible in the photograph, which nobody tested, by the way. What? This is the thing. I don't know if maybe cops got it confused and thought it was another cop's flashlight or something.
Starting point is 00:45:18 Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because it's dark, and these guys don't seem like the most crack squad of homicide detectives in this little time? Probably everybody's got one out there? Not sure. So either way, nobody ever tested that. And there was a chunk of wood in front of the tire that appeared in one photograph, but then wasn't there.
Starting point is 00:45:36 There was never one where he had an evidence marker. So it never got, somebody moved it and it never got put into evidence. Somebody, like, kicked it aside or something, possibly. No weapons ever recovered. They conclude from the nature of the skull trauma that a blunt, object had been used, which they never identified what that object was or where it went. I'd start with the lug wrench in his pocket probably. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:45:59 And go from there. And then work back to that chunk of wood in the driveway. To the tire jack that he was carrying in a chunk of wood. I'd check the flashlight. Anything heavy, really. There's a lot of blunt things here. You would think. The fingernails of Joseph were photographed in plastic bags, which is standard procedure.
Starting point is 00:46:17 A lot of places they use paper because they say plastic can get moisture built up in there. This is to preserve DNA from under the nails, but the forensic testing on the hands were never requested and never done. Oh, my word. So he's obviously fighting and might have something under there, but they don't ever test that. He's got lacerations on
Starting point is 00:46:35 him. Jesus. So the next morning, the Genesee County Sheriff has a press conference and announces that, you know, they've having custody, Scott Dahl from Corfu, a charge of second degree murder, and you know, we're holding him there and they're colleagues and business partners and
Starting point is 00:46:50 the, you know, the home was an isolated place, and he just gives us kind of the thing. The Department of Corrections has to make a statement also, because it's one of theirs. Oh, it's one of ours. This is the statement, we don't know what triggered this. We're still trying to piece this together. They don't understand it. We don't know. We're not positive.
Starting point is 00:47:11 They said that doll has been suspended without pay pending the outcome of the case, though. Oh, wow, without pay. Without pay, wow. So that's what it takes to get suspended without pay. without that how about so much for due process right due process he's on fucking he's up on a murder charge if you worked at like state farm insurance agency and you're up on a murder charge they would fire you immediately you're done they're like well I don't know we'll see what happens uh you know what no pay how's that I'm sorry I thought we lived in America
Starting point is 00:47:50 it's not a private. It was a private company. They'd shake at him immediately. Oh, for now. Yeah. Because it's a government job, they're probably, that's why they're doing that. They're giving him a break. Just suspended. If he comes, if he comes back and quitted, come on back to work. Oh, you get acquitted on a Friday. Your Monday morning shift is waiting for you. You bet. Let's do it. So February 20. And you're back in line for overtime. Yeah. You're up on the top of the seniority list still. February 20th, 2009, they search Scott's home. I don't know why. It took them three days, four days to do that, but they searched Scott's home on Main Street in Corfu, East Main Street. They find paperwork from the SF Enterprises car business, no book of registry. They find two MV50 books used for DMV vehicle transfers, all the business crap. They don't find paperwork establishing a 2000 van as belonging to Benequist when it was supposed to.
Starting point is 00:48:47 So they find paperwork that, like, basically, Joseph was supposed to have things that he didn't have. Scott, they think Scott might have been scamming him, I think, is what they're thinking. Like, yeah, there's a van that's supposed to be titled in his name, but it's actually not titled in Benicles' name. He was supposed to pay that $10,000 to the auction house,
Starting point is 00:49:06 but didn't. Never did. All that kind of shit. So they said that this is what they're looking over, that maybe it was a disputed car deal. Maybe Dahl was, you know, embezzling or something, and, you know, they're trying to look into that. March 18th, 2009.
Starting point is 00:49:21 It's election day, everybody. Yeah. It's election day. He's sitting in jail for fucking second-degree murder, but he's still on the ballot. He is the Republican candidate for mayor of Corfu. There's Republican Democrat independent. He's a murdering candidate allegedly at this moment. That's amazing.
Starting point is 00:49:43 Wow. The Sandy Thomas, who's the Corfu Village Clothes. said that you don't know how many phone calls I've had with people asking about that. Yeah. I love when dead guys win. That's my fucking favorite thing ever. That's so funny. I can't get enough of that.
Starting point is 00:49:58 And you just get his wife is what they do usually. Is that what they do? When the dead guy wins, yeah. Because there's got to be somebody else. It's so strange when a dead guy wins. That's so awesome, though. He's waiting on it. He loses.
Starting point is 00:50:10 He does get votes, though. He does not get shut out. That's the thing. He gets votes. Did they just not know? It's got 800 people. You figure maybe what? 500 of them can vote.
Starting point is 00:50:21 He did not lose 500 to nothing. He didn't. They have to know. It's a small town. The fucking guy running for mayor is sitting in a jail cell for murder. I think it's a... Fuck. Yes.
Starting point is 00:50:31 Yeah. That sounds good. I didn't like that guy anyway. Maybe they didn't like Benequist. Who knows? It's crazy. Talk of... It's ridiculous.
Starting point is 00:50:39 Yeah. That Benequist cut me off one time. Fuck him. I don't know. That's wild. So he loses and... Mayor Todd Skeet wins. Todd Skeet.
Starting point is 00:50:50 That was a bad name for politics. Oh, my. There he is. Todd Jizz. Todd Jizz, that's right. Todd. Todd makes it worse for Skeet. It does, yeah.
Starting point is 00:50:59 For summary, I don't know why, but Todd really ups the ante for some of why. So now, Scott, he's got a version of events of what happened. He said he arrived at Joseph's house on Nap Road and found Benequist already wounded. Oh. He said, I don't know.
Starting point is 00:51:17 what happened? I showed up and he was like that. They said, well, how'd you get covered in blood? He said, well, I knelt beside him and held him as he died. He did like in a movie where he's like, you know, man, the chopper's on the way. Hang on for one more minute. He's like, no, man, I'm a daughter. I want to go home. Just tell my mom I loved her. You know, that's what's going on. That's what's going to go. No, man, you're going to make it. And then he just, hold on, Benekwist. We're going to skip all this car sales. We're going to be shrimp boat captain. That's what we're going to do. You can make it, Benekwist. You could make it.
Starting point is 00:51:45 that's what's going on here. So he said, I held him as he died, and he said his last words, Beniquist's last words as he laid dying in his arms were, the boy, the boy, the boy. That's what he said. The boy, I guess that's who did it. Now, Dahl interpreted this as meaning his son Josh was the one who killed him. Oh. So this guy's sitting in jail trying to throw his son under the bus for murder. His own or Beniquist?
Starting point is 00:52:17 No, his own. Josh Dahl. That's who he's saying. He said, Beniquist said the boy, the boy. And he said, I think he means Josh. My kid. My kid. He said so at that point, he panicked.
Starting point is 00:52:31 He didn't call 911, didn't even attempt CPR, even though he's a corrections officer and very much trained in emergency procedures. We have to do that quite often. He said he just walked away. Who is he? OJ? OJ's story wasn't I came upon the murder scene Yeah He held Nicole in my arms
Starting point is 00:52:52 And then said fuck it and left That wasn't his story His story was I was flying in Chicago I was chipping on the On my green This is a terrible story This is a terrible story is the point It's a bad excuse
Starting point is 00:53:08 How are you It's not good And he just thinks That's the end of this and he's just going to go home and... He thought he was going to win the mayoral race for Christ's sake. Never mind any of this. He thinks he's a delusional man.
Starting point is 00:53:20 His job, yeah, he's very delusional. But, I mean, he... His story is, I showed up and held, because he's got his covered in his blood. He can't hide that. So he has to say how the blood got there. That's how he got there. And just, I panicked and walked away because I thought my son did it. It was probably my own son.
Starting point is 00:53:36 That's what he said. So, you know, I didn't want to get him in trouble. Problem is the blood on his clothing. A lot of it is impact spatter. It's not like dripping and pooling. Contact. It's impact. Exactly, which is that's evidence that usually that spatter is on the person doing the hitting is the thing.
Starting point is 00:53:53 Right. The blood splashed from the body onto you rather than touching you. Yeah. And I mean, and there's been lots of debate on the science of blood spatter. But in general, the impact of it and the movement of it, you can get a pretty good idea here. And you don't want that as your only evidence of to confront somebody. because that's a real precarious situation. No, that's like bite marks.
Starting point is 00:54:17 It's like, yeah, they can be read. You don't want that as your only evidence. No, they can be read different, but they always get convictions on it. They try so hard. They always win. They always get convictions on bite. You bring a guy up there going, nope, they match up. People don't say, well, maybe that they just, well, that's a science guy.
Starting point is 00:54:31 And he said yes. Well, they don't do it, right, because of it. People still do it. They still do it. They try to rest a whole case on that shit. They will. That's crazy. It's crazy, but they will.
Starting point is 00:54:41 They'll try to do it. So they said the blood stains on the Pontiac G6, which has been parked in the driveway, were all transfer stains, the blood on one object transferring into another, like he got hit and fell into it and bled on it. The puddle of blood found underneath the Nissan Ultima, which was also parked in the driveway. They said that blood could have gotten there as a result of another person moving the body to that area. Okay. Which it would have to be because his car has covered him. The minivans covered in blood. So something happened here.
Starting point is 00:55:12 Like he, did he start beating him in the van and then dump him in the driveway? Started to run. That's, I mean, we don't know, threw him in there, decided to take him somewhere, then said, no, fuck it, just leave him in the driveway. I'm not sure. They said the blood found on Dahl's overalls and on the Windstar van were a result of being in close proximity with Benequist during the assault. So either way. Around the car, one way or another. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:55:38 Now, Scott's story here is that Joseph Benequist and Josh Dahl were supposed to bring the G6 to the auction that evening. When they failed to show, Scott drove out to the house to check on the situation. He arrived to find Benequist already pummeled and dying and knelt down beside him and just walked away. So that's the story he's got. Bad story. It doesn't seem good. I'm not buying it. It's not bad plausible.
Starting point is 00:56:04 It really isn't. So the trial comes up and Dahl seeks to suppress the incriminating statements he made in front of police to his friend. Oh. The one where he said, yeah, it's not an animal and I'll probably be going to jail, which I deserve. That's what I deserve. Yeah. And they judge denies it and lets it in, though. So that's going to be let in, which is real precarious.
Starting point is 00:56:27 Yeah. Now, the Joseph's son here, Joseph Benequist's son, Michael Benequist, takes the witness stand here. They have a series of his checks written from the key bank here. The son agreed that all of his father's signatures on the checks were valid and had been signed by his father. However, the contract for the title of a 2006 Chevy Malibu, he said that is not my father's signature on that one. So they're trying to say that Dahl was forging Benequist signature so he could steal some shit here. So then they show Benequist's son three videos from the Odessa auction camera. In the third video, the son was asked to observe a gentleman wearing a plaid jacket,
Starting point is 00:57:13 and the video revealed the man speaking and standing next to another man, and the second man was recorded wearing a tan jacket and a baseball cap. They said they asked if the individual in plaid was your father, and he said that he wasn't completely sure, but it might be. The other two videos showed the man in the tan jacket wearing a baseball cap at the auction as well. They agreed that in two of the videos, his father's 2006 Chevy Malibu was passing by the camera. However, he testified that he couldn't recognize who the other man was wearing the tan jacket. They were trying to say that was dull.
Starting point is 00:57:45 The medical examiner said they asked them, this is the defense attorney. They said, could the injuries have been caused, or I'm sorry, the prosecution was asking this, setting it up. Could the injuries have been caused by a car jack fall, a car falling off a jack and onto him? And then bouncing eight times, crushing a skull. Obviously, that happens. Those tires are over again. They're so bouncy. They're so bouncy.
Starting point is 00:58:08 Yeah. And then you oftentimes get defensive wounds trying to fight the car off. You do that. But it eventually overpowers you and just keeps pummeling your head. That's what happens. Especially the 2006 Malibu. That's why they recalled it. Well, I hear the Ultima was really famous.
Starting point is 00:58:25 for that. So they stopped making Pontiacs. Yeah, that's what happened. Very aggressive cars. One too many bodies on those things. They couldn't take it anymore. So they said, are the abrasions consistent with the body being dragged across a hard surface? They said, even though the victim was fully clothed and had a jacket on, and they said, yes, it is. So he was dragged to this spot. Probably in between the car, so he couldn't be seen so easily. So you can't be seen. Right. So you can bleed out. Yeah. So cross-examination, the defense attorney asked if one could distinguish between injuries on the hand stemming from striking against
Starting point is 00:58:58 something or being struck by something. So could you tell if Joseph hit something or was hit with his hand injuries? Okay. And the medical examiner said no, but when the injury occurs at or below the second knuckle, it's consistent with defensive actions. Which one's the second knuckle? I think in the middle, because that would be one on each side. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:59:21 The middle. It would be above that or below? Which ones? That or below? I don't know. That's crazy. That's a confusing ass statement. It's a very confusing statement.
Starting point is 00:59:33 I'm very confused. So they asked if the abrasion's on his back were the result of being dragged. We have that. And they said also could they be the result of being dragged along or they're the result of him lying on his back and trying to fend off an attacker? Oh. And the medical examiner said there's no way. to make that distinction. They're basically trying to say, you don't know what happened.
Starting point is 00:59:55 That's what their defense is. All I know is that if you have injuries on the backs of your hands that are big gashes, 100% that's defensive. Yeah, or even on the palms of your hands because you're doing this. Yeah. That stab wounds are usually palms of the hands. Yeah. But you got, you don't do things with the back to your hand.
Starting point is 01:00:17 No. You do nothing with them. Nope, not at all. unless you're covering up and getting it. Oh, James, that's what he did. Covering up his skull. Nice work right there. Okay.
Starting point is 01:00:31 That's exactly what he did. I think that's what he did. It seems to make sense. A hundred percent. Cover up. And then, yeah, if you've got wounds here, if you punch someone, it's not going to get on the back of your hand. It's never there. Yeah, it's never the backs of your hands.
Starting point is 01:00:42 Nope. So they also said under cross-examination that it's difficult to make certain. Dang, that was great. We did it. We figured it out. You just cracked the case. We cracked the case. Jimmy, we're on it.
Starting point is 01:00:54 They said that they asked how much Beniquist body could have been moved or whether he was able to speak or for how long. And they said they don't know. The attorney also asked if a murder victim's nails and matter underneath them typically undergoes forensic testing. The guy said yes. He said that was done in this case too. And the data was submitted to the DA's office. But they said the DA apparently opted not to include them in the case files. which is you have to include that kind of shit in the case files.
Starting point is 01:01:24 That's something the defense can use. If you're doing it, yeah. Yeah. They asked if there was a piece of paper with the name Dave on it and a phone number inside his pocket. And he said, yes, that was also submitted. There was also a sliver of silver-like material embedded found near one of the victim's wrists. They said that those two submissions also didn't make it into the case file. So the Dave, this is not good.
Starting point is 01:01:48 No. It looks like you're hiding shit when you do that. Yeah, that's bad. Especially when it's a man's name and phone number. Exactly. Who was that? Why was he supposed to be in contact with him? Was he selling?
Starting point is 01:01:59 Yeah, was that guy supposed to come and look at a car and then this guy decided to kill him and rob him instead? Who knows? Private sales of cars historically have a terrible connotation for safety. I'm not selling anybody's shit. You can fuck off. I am not doing that. I throw it in the trash or donate it. Either I'll keep it or give it away to somebody.
Starting point is 01:02:19 I'm not going to get stabbed in the face for $60 somewhere. I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it for an autumn. Nope. They bring in a blood spatter expert. And he agreed with the defense attorney that from looking at the autopsy report, there were a number of large cuts on the head. The cause of the blood spatter onto doll's shoes overalls in the outside of the wind star,
Starting point is 01:02:43 they're trying to put that into question. So the defense attorney says, is it safe to say that if enough blood came down Ben and, It could have sprayed onto other individuals nearby. How would it spray? If you hit it? If you, maybe aspiration, if you, yeah. Or if the blood came down and you hit the puddle, that splashes.
Starting point is 01:03:03 Maybe, yeah, that's a good point. They said, which is called expiration, and it's blowing off of blood, blowing blood off from the nose, mouth, or wound pushed by an air source. Yeah, if you've got blood in your mouth, they go like that and it sprays everywhere. So this guy agreed. then testified that that was possible. So he's saying so maybe while he was holding him, he was going from spitting blood. Okay.
Starting point is 01:03:26 So you said expiration? Aspiration is when you breathe it in. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Expiration is out. So they said that the impact spatter of blood from a beating can have the same size and range as blood as from coughing blood.
Starting point is 01:03:41 So they, he said though, but expirated, spattered blood can appear similar to impact blood by size and range. He said, though, this is what he had on his clothing and vehicle were completely consistent with impact spatter and that we notice in our case studies and experiments. So then the defense has a spatter expert who's saying, you know, this is, what are we talking about? This is blood getting breathed out, obviously, here. So what are we talking about? So then Scott testifies. Got to. He's got it at this point.
Starting point is 01:04:15 He's going to tell a story. He said Joseph Benequist was my friend. When he's asked by his attorney if he's ever seen anyone die before, he said, yes, a family member. Then he began to tear up. And then Joseph Benequist. He was very sensitive. He fought back tears. And they said, did you kill Joseph Benequist?
Starting point is 01:04:34 And he said, no, I did not. While he was crying, I did not. He said that he was with him when he died and that he interpreted the boy to mean his son, Josh, had been involved. So he even threw him under the bus and coined. verdict comes in here so this could go either way could it yeah I mean based on what the
Starting point is 01:04:56 what they've done with the investigation for Shoreses they look terrible the prosecution but the problem is his story is dog shit dog shit his story of I showed up saw him dying held him for a minute and then just shrugged and walked away and didn't call mine
Starting point is 01:05:13 it was fucking wild I'm sorry I nurtured him like a good dad would because I didn't for my son who murdered this man. He's going to say, like a good dad because I'm not a good dad. That's why my son's a murderer. Anyway, which is crazy. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:05:28 So he has found guilty of second-degree murder. Okay. That's what he was charged with. Sure. People on the defense side, his friends and family, there's women sobbing and running out of the room. So he's got a big supporter section here. Now, he's wearing his nice pressed suit and everything like that.
Starting point is 01:05:47 They escort him to a holding up. cell and then they have to process him into the jail. When he's processed into the Genesee County Jail following the conviction, they discover that he's got a green balloon where containing a, they don't say where. You can only guess. Yeah. If it's in a balloon, it's only in a balloon for one reason. Because that shit's going to be in your colon, I feel like.
Starting point is 01:06:16 He's got to protect it from being of zol. Totally. So he found a balloon full of a white powdery substance. He was going to smuggle that in, huh? Yep. So that was sent to the lab for testing. He was charged with promoting prison contraband in the second degree. Promoting it.
Starting point is 01:06:34 Promoting it. Yeah, he's like, hey, man, this contraband's the best shit. It's so cool. Followers totally hit up this contraband. Smash that like button. Yeah, at contraband. June 10, 2010. Then his trial for contraband comes up.
Starting point is 01:06:51 They said that his attorney said this on the drive to Batavia is only the sixth time he's seen daylight since being incarcerated because he's been transferred five separate times between prisons. Now they end up acquitting him of the charge in five minutes, the jury. Wow. He had a balloon full of shit. I don't get where the disconnect comes from, but I don't know if they felt bad for him or what, but whatever. June 22nd, 2010, Dawn Doll. This is Scott's sister. She's 53.
Starting point is 01:07:24 She's charged with a Class A misdemeanor after she sent a Father's Day card to a member of the sheriff's office. Now, in this Father's Day card, she wrote, it's not from anybody, but she doesn't put a from. This is like, she's trying to throw like the investigation off is what they're saying, I think, anyway. That's the accusation. It says in the card, oh, no, she sent a. father's day card to the guy and then told a state trooper later on I should have never done it if I could
Starting point is 01:07:54 take it back I would So they get it. Why does she know the guy? I don't know. She sent a card. I think it was something sarcastic of you know whatever. His son won't get to see him. Something like that I think is the implication. Thanks a lot. Since you took my father away, I'm going to send these to you kind of thing. The sister, sister. This is a sister. But yeah,
Starting point is 01:08:12 he has kids too and who fuck knows what they're thinking. Either way, there's a no contact daughter. now on her. July 2nd, 2010, murder sentencing. Here we go, baby. You, sir, may fuck off 15 years to life
Starting point is 01:08:29 is what he gets. Wow. 15 years to life. And that's going to be in protective custody because he's a fucking CEO. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's going to be not great.
Starting point is 01:08:37 So he's going to do 15 before the opportunity, but does he have to do 60% of that or does he have to do all 15? We'll find out. All right. October 13th, 2013, Court of Appeals, and the whole court of appeals is whether the emergency doctrine justified the warrantless detention and questioning of him. The court rules that it does warrant that.
Starting point is 01:08:58 They said that law enforcement's response to a serious and ongoing exigent situation under the emergency, under the emergency doctrine was reasonable. This ruling becomes a landmark case in New York for this, for the emergency doctrine cases. So this is like the standard of it, apparently. Somebody's covered in blood. You should be able to, I think, right? They're covered in blood and they won't tell you where it came from. Right. Yeah, I mean, even... And they're not cut.
Starting point is 01:09:27 Exactly. I get the other side of it as they're using that as an excuse to question you without your rights and all that shit. But it's also a good excuse to be able to say, we're trying to save somebody's life. Yeah. I mean, I think you're both being disingenuous saying, you know, I don't understand I shouldn't talk to you unless I get read my right. and you saying, I'm sure there's someone still alive, even though you have four people's entire bodies worth of blood on you. I'm sure there's living people out there I need to save.
Starting point is 01:09:55 Also, all of this blood on me when I talk to them is certainly not going to be used against me. That's a crazy thought to have. Exactly. 2016, a single DNA sample obtained at the scene where Benequist was found does not match the DNA profile of Benequist and may not match Scott Dahls, they said. What? So they want to check that out. But, I mean, that just means someone else was in the driveway at some point.
Starting point is 01:10:21 So that's not. It depends on where the DNA was at and where it came from. Yeah, they said the minor component of the DNA profile is insufficient to support an inclusion or exclusion and is therefore not suitable for comparisons. So that's that, apparently, on those. Andrew Dahl here said, quote, I feel there is something more than what's on the surface. There seems to be a lot more loose ends that need to be looked at. For the sake of both families, I hope we can get some kind of conclusion. Dude, he said his story's terrible.
Starting point is 01:10:54 I'm sorry. If he didn't have that story, maybe you could believe him. But when you come up with a story like that, you're getting convicted of murder. Sorry. It's crazy. So then they're talking about new DNA testing because there's a motion in 2016 to vacate evidence or to vacate the conviction. who's made on the discovery that no finger nail scrapings were taken from Benequist. They never took the fingernail scrapings in the beginning,
Starting point is 01:11:21 even though the medical examiner said they did and sent it to the DA, which is not good. New testing of the blood spattered clothing from the crime scene was also ordered. That led to the discovery of DNA that apparently matches neither Dahl nor Benequist. What the hell? So whose fucking blood is that? So the jury didn't know that there was no fingernail scrapings. taken from Benequist and they didn't know about the possibility of third party DNA at the crime scene. So they have a motion to vacate based on that.
Starting point is 01:11:52 So anyway, they say it's not as clear cut as deal asserts as there was a third party blood on Benequist's boot. They said they want a hearing so they can figure it out. We'll find out what happens here. They end up getting nothing out of that. He's still in jail on the 23rd, in 2003, still in jail. he appeals again. Trying to get out. October,
Starting point is 01:12:16 24, he has a parole hearing. Yeah. Well, the parole hearings in June, but the decision comes and comes then. This is what Dahl said in the parole hearing. He said he's been a member of the same church's whole life. He hopes the board would see him as a good person. He said,
Starting point is 01:12:31 my whole life, I've tried to be a good man. And for me to be accused of this, it's still, it's a deep scar with me, deep scar. He said, every day I walk around,
Starting point is 01:12:39 I have officers who look at me, you know, him just treat me like dirt sometimes. I always tried to be fair to everybody. I always lent a helping hand, even in here. I've helped people. I've paid mortgages for people that I've never even met. I just want to help people and that's just my nature and that's the way I've lived my life. Whether it's in the fire department, whether it's through the church or community, I've always stepped up and volunteered for everything. I didn't do it. So he said, when asked about losing his friend, he said, I've been through a lot of emotions. I feel crushed because of the fact that I'm
Starting point is 01:13:10 sitting here and that I've not been cleared of this and that I've been accused of killing my friend. I'm devastated. He's devastated. He said, I'm a victim. I'm a victim. He said, I find it hard to believe in a system that can let somebody manipulate it, you know, like it was done. And that's, you know, the changing reports was the only part of it, meaning the changing reports there of statements and things like that. He then says he was laying in a pool of blood. I knelt by him. And I was with him when he took his last breath. I didn't know what to do. And I didn't, And I didn't act right because I thought maybe somebody was close to me that was involved in it. And I lawyered up and basically took, they basically took it from there and they convicted me by manipulating the system basically.
Starting point is 01:13:53 So blaming other people. This is not how you do a parole hearing, by the way. And sticking to your own story and putting yourself at the scene of the crime at the time of the death. But blaming your son. claim innocence and then that you're railroaded and that you're a victim. This is crazy. He said that he suspected his son could have done it because they never got along, so he's blaming him here.
Starting point is 01:14:18 His son was cleared because he had gone to the Home Depot that evening and security footage cameras saw him there. So wasn't him. He said, I just couldn't think of anybody else who would have done it. That's why he thought his son did it. He said he didn't render aid. He didn't attempt CPR. He said, I didn't have a destination in mind when I walked away that I could think
Starting point is 01:14:36 of at the time. I was just walking, trying to get my head around everything that transpired. They said, well, you should express some remorse. Do you have any remorse? And he said, I do. I do feel remorse. And I do feel sorry because, again, there is things that I should have done. I'm not blameless.
Starting point is 01:14:50 And this is as far as I should have done. I should have come forward and said, this is what I think happened, but I didn't. I let them run with the investigation. And, you know, I guess I don't feel 100% blameless in this. Oh, boy. So the board said, this panel was disturbed when you stated that you knew. Joseph Benequist for many years and did not express any remorse for the loss of his life
Starting point is 01:15:11 or the pain and suffering his family sustained. They said that you need to continue your rehabilitation so you can understand the harm you caused and develop empathy for your victim's family. They said that his actions that night were an aggravating factor in their findings. They said you watched
Starting point is 01:15:27 your victim die without attempting to render him any medical assistance. You stated that you left and just started walking. In doing so, you thought of yourself and acted in your own self-interest at the expense of your victim's humanity. Your release at this time would trivialize the tragic loss of life you caused and wound, therefore, and would therefore deprecate the serious nature of this crime as to undermine the respect for law. They said, you did do nice in prison. You haven't fucked up. You got your
Starting point is 01:15:55 you helped inmates get their GEDs. You completed a horticulture training program, which is growing produce for the food pantry program. Yeah. Congratulations, FFA. Fuck off. You're still a scum. You're still a scumbag. Eat dicks. Go on. So he's out. He's still in prison, apparently, here. Still appealing the shit out of it.
Starting point is 01:16:13 And he's got some good legal points. But he's got a better chance there than he does with the parole board, I feel like. Probably true. Yeah, to turn for an overturn, or at least a new trial. Something. So there you go, everybody. That is Pembroke, New York. Wild, goddamn.
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