Human Wreckage True Crime
Disturbing True Crime Stories, These include, murderers, kidnappings, serial killers. Solved and unsolved.
Human Wreckage True Crime
The Dark Side of Teenage Minds
How could three teenage boys commit such a heinous act against an innocent 15-year-old girl? Join us as we unravel the horrifying case of Elyse Pahler , who was tragically murdered in Arroyo Grande, California, in 1995. Elyse's murder, driven by a twisted belief in a satanic pact, shocked the community and sparked a legal battle against the band Slayer, whose lyrics were alleged to have influenced the killers. We'll explore the gruesome details of the crime, the perpetrators' disturbing motivations, and the enduring pain faced by Elyse's family.
Hear about the legal aftermath, including the lawsuit against Slayer and the sentences given to the three teenage murderers. We also reflect on the parole hearing of Royce Casey, who expressed remorse but was ultimately denied parole. This episode not only delves into the tragic events but also grapples with the broader question of how society can comprehend and seek justice for such unfathomable acts. Stay tuned as we transition to our next chilling case, that of Michelle Kalina, and invite you to subscribe for more thought-provoking discussions.
It was 1995 when 15-year-old Elise Pollard was lured from her home in Arroyo Grande, california. Unbeknownst to Elise, three teenage boys believed they had made a pact with Satan. Welcome to this episode of Human Wreckage True Crime Podcast. We are going to cover two different cases. The first case was the brutal slaying of 15-year-old Elise Pollard. This case is horrific and heartbreaking. Let's get into it. On the 22nd of July 1995, 15-year-old Elise Pollard was reported missing from her home in Arroyo Grande, california. Elise was a freshman at Arroyo Grande High School when she vanished without a trace. The case would go cold for eight months, but in 1996, somebody came forward with a confession. 17-year-old Royce Casey contacted police and led them to Elise's body. Her partially mummified remains were splayed out in a South Eucalyptus Grove located around a quarter of a mile from her home. Elise had been strangled and stabbed to death. She had been stabbed a total of 12 times, but none of the stab wounds were fatal. She died by slowly bleeding to death. In addition to Casey, two other teenagers, 16-year-old Jacob DeLashmut and 15-year-old Joseph Fiorella, were arrested and charged with murder, gang involvement, rape, torture and conspiracy. Following the arrest, prosecutors would reveal that the three teenagers had formed a musical group to glorify Satan and earn a ticket to hell. They were accused of killing Elise to commit the ultimate sin against God by sacrificing a virgin. They believed that in killing Elise, the success of their band named Hatred would improve. The murder plot had been concocted by Fiorella and DeLashma. According to Casey, they picked Elise in particular for their victim because she was a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, reputed virgin. They thought that these specific characteristics would make her murder the ultimate sin against God.
Speaker 1:Over the course of the weeks leading up to Elise's disappearance, delashmut, fiorella and Casey had stalked Elise. On the night of her murder, they lured Elise out to the Eucalyptus Grove on the Nipomo Mesa under the promise of giving her drugs. Here the foursome smoked some marijuana before DeLashmut put a belt around Elise's neck. She was raped and tortured by the trio. Delashmut strangled Elise with the belt, while Fiorella stabbed her in the neck with a hunting knife they had brought along. Afterwards, delashmut and Casey took turns stabbing her. As Elise was being murdered, she begged for help. She called out to her mother and to Jesus. Her pleas fell on empty ears. As she lay, bleeding to death, the trio beat and kicked her. Casey admitted to police that Elise was on the ground, praying to God and calling for her mom. Police believed that they then raped the corpse of Elise. They determined this by the disposition of her body. Fiorella's mother had told police that he had told her DeLashmut and Casey had committed necrophilia, while one of DeLashmut's friends told police that he had boasted of returning to Elise's body to have sex with it.
Speaker 1:In the aftermath of the murder, elise's family would file a lawsuit against the band Slayer, alleging that their lyrics had incited the teenagers to murder Elise. They were seeking monetary damages as well as a halt to the practice of marketing violent music towards juveniles. Ultimately, the lawsuit would be thrown out. Slayer lyrics are repulsive and profane, but they do not direct or instruct listeners to commit the acts that resulted I the vicious torture murder of Elise. Poller wrote Judge Burke. Fiorello would reach a plea agreement in which he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in exchange for a sentence of life in prison with a minimum of 26 years. At the sentencing phase, elise's father, david Poller, said Joseph, it's a parent's worst fear and lifetime pain to outlive their child. It's even worse knowing she was murdered, tortured and raped as a virgin sacrificed on the altar of Satan so that you can earn a ticket to hell. Casey pleaded no contest to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum of 21 years. Delashmut also pleaded no contest to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum of 26 years. In 2021, casey had a shot at parole.
Speaker 1:Some members of Elisa's family, including her father, said that they did not oppose the release. Casey was said to express sincere remorse over the murder and had been the one to confess and lead police to her body In prison. He had a 20-year record of model behavior and had participated in a number of rehabilitation programs, earned his JED and was working towards a bachelor's degree in psychology and sociology. During his parole hearing, he described Elise as a truly wonderful person. He said that while behind bars he had learned self-acceptance and that when he was a teenager, he had a desire to portray an image of being violent. He stated that when he thinks of Elise, he thinks how immense the suffering is that I caused, that Elise doesn't have her life anymore because of me. He added she had to feel so much pain while I was murdering her. Casey would be granted parole by the California Parole Board. However, san Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow wrote a letter to the governor opposing the release. In the letter, he wrote that Casey has never adequately explained why he participated in such a sadistic and heinous crime. Ultimately, governor Gavin Newsom would deny the grant of parole, reversing the Parole Board decision. All three men remain incarcerated.
Speaker 1:It has been reported that the murder of Elise Pollard inspired the 29 movie Jennifer's Body. Our next case is about Michelle Kalina. She committed horrible acts. Let's get into it. In July of 2010, a young woman opened her mother's closet and came across a gruesome discovery the remains of five babies. It was July of 2010 when police in Reading, georgia, received an extremely disturbing phone call from a young woman. She said that she had found what she believed were human remains in her mother's closet. Police arrived at the home and said they did not believe that the remains were human and said she was free to throw them out, which she did. The following day, however, the young woman called back to say she had found additional items. Police came back to the home and this time they determined that the remains were indeed human. The remains had been found concealed in coolers. One set was also found filled with cured cement.
Speaker 1:The woman's mother, michelle Kalina, was arrested and charged with abuse of a corpse. Investigators now had the task of trying to determine what had taken place. They would discover that Kalina had hid six pregnancies from her husband and longtime boyfriend. Kalina had been having an extramarital affair and had killed at least four of her newborn babies. Dna testing would show that the remains had come from five separate bodies, four of whom had been born alive. The boyfriend was the father of three of the victims possibly four and tests on the fifth had come back inconclusive. It would be determined that the babies were killed with asphyxia, poisoning or neglect. With the new, grim discovery, Kalina's charges were elevated and she was charged with homicide.
Speaker 1:Kalina and her husband, jeffrey, had a 19-year-old daughter and a 13-year-old son with cerebral palsy, who died back in 2000. Kalina had also given birth in 2003 to a daughter who was the product of Kalina and the man she had been having a long-standing affair with. She had given this baby up for adoption. According to Jeffrey, he had suspected at least once that his wife could have been pregnant. The boyfriend, who was never identified, claimed he had no idea that Kalina had ever been pregnant, although he added that at one point he had noticed her abdomen was growing. Kalina had claimed that she had cysts on her fallopian tubes that she needed to have drained at hospital. These alleged cysts returned several times throughout their relationship. He said the affair had been conducted between the years of 1996 and 2010 and investigators believed that the murders had been carried out simply so that Kalina could hide the affair from her husband. I think she was hiding them because they were from the boyfriend, said Assistant District Attorney M Teresa Johnson. After Kalina's arrest, she said that she had forbidden her disabled husband and daughter from going near the closet.
Speaker 1:When the family moved to a high-rise apartment, kalina brought the remains with her. She had been able to conceal the pregnancies not only from Jeffrey and her boyfriend, but to her co-workers as well. She had held the same job for 15 years, looking after elderly patients. While she earned praise at her place of employment, she said to investigators that she had been an alcoholic for years and often suffered from blackouts. The case was perplexing not only to the community, but even experts. Typically, when women kill newborns, they are usually young, first-time mothers who are afraid to reveal their pregnancies. According to Jeffrey R McKee, a forensic psychologist at the University of South Carolina, more often the death is designed to avoid being detected as pregnant.
Speaker 1:In December, kalina appeared in court where she pleaded not guilty. Early the next year, however, it was reported in the media that Kalina had negotiated a plea. As details of the plea were being arranged, it was postponed. When Kaline's public defender raised mental health issues, the judge ordered that Kalina undergo independent psychiatric testing to determine whether she was competent. It would be determined that Kalina was mentally competent and in August of 2011, she pleaded guilty to murder in five counts each of abuse of a corpse and concealing a child's death.
Speaker 1:During the hearing, it was disclosed that Kalina had secretly given birth to the five babies in her bathtub. She had told a psychiatrist that she wrapped each baby up and then stored it in a tub or container, which she then put in the locked closet. According to Dr Jerem Gottlieb, kalina told him she thought that four of the babies were essentially stillborn and denied that she had done anything malicious. After several conversations with Dr Gottlieb, kalina acknowledged that the third baby may have moved. He stated she said she might have wrapped the baby too tightly. Kalina acknowledged that the third baby may have moved. He stated she said she might have wrapped the baby too tightly with a towel so that the baby couldn't breathe. This baby was found encased in cement. He went on to describe Kalina as an alcoholic who was drunk during the births and could not recall exactly what had taken place. He additionally said that she suffered from severe depression and other mental health issues.
Speaker 1:Kalina's defense lawyer had sought leniency on grounds that Kalina learned to deny reality as a victim of childhood sexual abuse. Dr Gottlieb suggested that Kalina had put memories of the babies in a psychological closet. The judge, however, did not agree with the defense. She said that Kalina had put the five babies in tubs and containers like garbage and lamented the fact that she did this five times. Not once did she seek out help.
Speaker 1:Kalina would testify during the sentencing phase. She broke down into tears as she recollected how she had nightmares about the five babies, telling the judge I cry for the babies and nothing I can do can bring them back. I am very upset and ashamed about what happened. She would state that her boyfriend had refused her request to wear condoms throughout their affair, while he had been asked to testify during the sentencing phase, he refused. Jeffrey would also testify, telling the judge that he would have helped raise the babies, despite the fact they were not his Sure, of course. Day one, moment one, he said. He said that he and Kalina had not been intimate for the past 18 years and he had not seen her naked. She was always slim, he said. He said that once in 2003, he suspected she could have been pregnant, but when he spoke with their daughter she rejected the idea. Michelle Kalina would ultimately be sentenced to 20 to 40 years in prison.
Speaker 1:Thanks for joining me again. It's hard to comprehend how people can commit such horrible crimes. It never feels like justice is fully served. Definitely heartbreaking, and our prayers go out to the families. If you like what we do, please hit the subscribe button. See you next time. Please take care of yourselves.