Jeff Pelley

This case was recently brought to my attention based on the fact that an episode of 48 Hours: Live to Tell was being re-aired. Now, if you know anything about this particular version of 48 Hours then you know it is often less about the crime and more about the survivors of a crime. Due to the fact that just this month was the re-air, and the fact that the person that the series focused on wrote a book that was published in 2019 it was difficult to get a lot of specifics when it came to this case and crime. I was also faced with a lot of conflicting information which is not necessarily unusual, but it did make it more difficult to sort through since there was seemingly so little information about the crime itself. This was also one of the few, but not the first, cases in which even appeal papers that I found seemed to be inconsistent not just to articles from the media but from known facts. For example in a 2009 appeal when going over the facts it stated that Jeff Pelley was convicted in 2007 when in fact he was convicted in July of 2006. This may seem like a petty thing but I have long come to rely on the fact that in general appeals will clarify any inconsistencies I may find in articles. In the same respect I should be fair in saying that the same appeal did in fact clarify a few things that had me confused.

This case is touted by those who argue against it, and in fact, was to me personally, as a “totally circumstantial case.” When people use that phrase, or just the word “circumstantial” followed by words like case or evidence it is generally stated like a “dirty word” or something is wrong with that. I always try to be clear that really, absent DNA or fingerprints, in cases in which that is relevant, almost all cases are “circumstantial.” There are only two kinds of evidence, circumstantial and direct. Direct evidence would be DNA or fingerprints or say even a video tape of a crime being committed. These things do not always happen. As far as DNA goes it obviously never happened before the late 1980's when it was discovered. Criminals have been wearing gloves at crime scenes for a long time to prevent fingerprints being left at a scene. But, in this case even those two things would not likely have made a difference since the suspect, and the person eventually convicted, Jeff Pelley, lived in the home. There are only a few things that I can think of in which DNA would have made a difference in this case but keep in mind the results of such would have been limited when the crime was committed in 1989.

There were four victims in this case, thirty-eight year old Robert “Bob” Pelley, his thirty-two year old wife Dawn and two of Dawn's daughters, eight year old Janel and six year old Jolene. First, had any unknown fingerprints or DNA been found then that would have made a difference that would have turned suspicion away from seventeen year old Jeff. There were no reports of this. However, in all fairness, I cannot say that either of these things were even looked for. It appears that investigators decided almost immediately that the crime was “an inside job” and that being said they would have known that most fingerprints and DNA would be useless. There have been a lot of reports that the investigation was “botched.” There was also never any mention or indication that any of the females had been sexually assaulted in any way. Now, when I was explaining my point to someone the other day, they asked me how I had jumped to sexual assault. While the reasons for my “madness” are not always initially clear, I do have reasons for it and my point in that was that if any of the females had been sexually assaulted if DNA had been found and it matched to Jeff Pelley, it would have made a difference because his DNA would have been somewhere that it should not have been. But again, this was not something that was reported. One other area in which DNA testing could have made a difference would not have been a result of Jeff's DNA being somewhere it should not have been but would have been a result of blood from the victims being somewhere it should not have been, hence Jeff Pelley's clothes. A witness testified seeing Jeff wearing a particular outfit that was later found in the washer at the time the bodies were discovered. Luminol testing was done on the clothing but the results were inconclusive due either to the washing itself or the fact that laundry detergents at that time used a chemical that reacted with Luminol. But, had blood been found on his clothing and it was found to belong to the victims, this would have proven he had been at the scene, something he had denied.

But, as is often the case with me I have gotten way ahead of myself. Lets go back.... way back... not just to 1989 but even further. Two sets of children were devastated in the year of 1985. First there were the Huber children, Jessica, Janel and Jolene, all three under six years old. Their twenty-seven year old father, Edward died in January of that year. It is unclear where or why Edward died. He is buried in Michigan where was apparently from, however, whether he lived there at the time of his death is not clear. The following month Jeff and Jacque Pelley who were about ten and thirteen at the time lost their thirty-five year old mother Ava to cancer. They lived in Florida. In all fairness I cannot say for a fact that these parents who died were still married to their spouses, Dawn Huber and Bob Pelley but there is nothing to necessarily indicate that they were not. On November 8, 1985 the two surviving parents merged their families together. It was a bit difficult to determine the relationship of the children at first before finding the information of when Bob and Dawn were married and even still I was left a bit confused. Oftentimes half-siblings are misrepresented in media articles as step-siblings and all of the children carried the Pelley name by 1989. This indicates that at some point between the time of the marriage in November of 1985 and the murders in April of 1989 Bob Pelley had adopted Dawn's three daughters. I found it interesting that all of the children had J names which of course is not uncommon in families, and at first I believed it was possible that the three girls were actually biological children of Bob and Dawn together, but later discovered that was not the case.

At the time of the murders on April 29, 1989 Bob was the minister at Olive Branch Church in Lakeville Indiana, just outside South Bend. It is not clear what denomination this church was at that time. A website that was designed in 2017 says that Olive Branch is a “small but growing” church that is currently associated with the United Brethren, which is considered to be a Church of Christ. Prior to becoming a minister Bob was an IT director at a bank in Florida. While dates were not specific it was said that this particular bank was known to have ties to drug dealers and at some point it had been discovered that a million dollars had been embezzled from the bank. It was said that Bob had helped catch the person responsible and soon after got a “calling” to become a minister and the family moved to Indiana where he not only became the minister at Olive Branch, he and his family lived in the parsonage next to the church. During their time in Lakeville the Pelley family apparently became well known, popular and respected by those in the community. It was said that most everyone thought the family was a normal, loving and thoughtful family to others and to each other. But, that is often said about families and no one but those who live inside know what actually goes on.

On the morning of Sunday April 30, 1989 the Pelley family were not at their usual spot at the church. A few parishioners went next door to their home and found the door locked which was unusual for the family. A key was obtained a few entered the home. They would find the body of Bob Pelley in the hallway of the home. Reports vary whether he had been shot in the head or whether he had been shot twice, once in the chest and once in the neck. It appears that the parishioners left the home, returned to the church and the authorities were called. Once law enforcement got to the scene they looked through the house. In the basement they found Dawn and two of her daughters, Jolene and Janel. According to later appeal papers Dawn had been shot in the temple; Jolene under her right eye and Janel in the forehead. Three of the children were not home. Seventeen year old Jeff was at Great America Amusement Park in Chicago as an after prom get together; fourteen year old Jacque was at a church camp for the weekend and nine year old Jessica had spent the weekend with a friend. Jessica would return home to find it surrounded by law enforcement.

The first thought was that maybe this was a murder/suicide but that was quickly ruled out when no weapon was found near any of the victims. All of the victims had been shot with a shotgun. Most reports tend to go back to the fact that a shotgun was missing from the home and presumed to be the weapon used but at least one report indicated that it was believed that it was possible that two shotguns had been used, neither of which were ever found. Investigators decided very early on that this was an inside job. They came to this decision based on their belief that the position of Bob's body indicated that he had been shot in the hallway just outside Jeff's bedroom. They also claimed that the house was completely locked up, with all of the curtains closed which was unusual for the family. They saw nothing except for the shotgun missing and did not believe a robbery was involved. As I stated earlier Jessica came home just after the bodies had been found. It is unclear when or how Jacque returned home but law enforcement actually went to Chicago to get Jeff and his girlfriend, Darla Emmons. All of the children were apparently interviewed and asked questions. Of course other friends and family were also interviewed.

Investigators almost immediately began to focus on Jeff Pelley and to be fair they had good reason for this. As I stated earlier no one in the community saw many issues with the family and believed things were fine, but it appears they were less than fine. Jessica, who was nine years old in 1989, believed for many years that it was possible that it was a murder/suicide and that Bob had killed her mother and sisters. She would not really learn until about 2002 that was not possible. However, she came to this conclusion based on her thoughts of Bob Pelley. She has stated that he was cruel to her and her sisters and while generally I would not put a whole lot of credit to the thoughts of a child there seemed to be other areas in which Bob's form of discipline seemed extreme. Jessica mentioned a lot about spankings but again I do not put a lot of stock in this because that was a common thing in that time period and while others may disagree in my opinion depending on the nature of the spanking I do not consider that to be abuse in itself. It was also discovered that the family had seemingly been in therapy for at least a year leading up to the murders, if not several years. It was said that Jeff in particular had an issue with Dawn. It seems the belief was that Jeff saw Dawn as trying to “replace” his mother. To be fair, I would not be surprised if all of the children felt the other adult was trying to replace their deceased parent considering how soon Dawn and Bob married and that within a few years the Huber children were carrying his name. Now, I am going to guess, without knowing more that Bob and Dawn thought they were doing all that they could to merge their families together and put on a united front and hoped life would be unicorns and rainbows. But, I am left to wonder how in tune they were to the feelings of their children or if all of this was not just completely forced on them and they were just expected to be okay with it without complaints.

Prosecutors would say that Jeff had a motive. A few weeks before the murders Jeff had gotten in trouble after he was “caught stealing CD's and money from a house.” It was unclear just how he was caught and if there had been legal ramifications to this. However, it was said that Bob not only grounded him but had forbidden him from going to the high school prom scheduled for April 29^th as well as all activities before and after the prom. This included taking his girlfriend to dinner before the prom, parties and sleepovers after and the following day a trip to Chicago which was only about two hours from Lakeville. Now, in my opinion this was not just a normal “grounding.” A 2009 appeal made mention to the fact that Bob had allegedly contacted the insurance company on April 12^th and there was a note placed that said the insurance on Jeff's Mustang was suspended and that he was “grounded from using this car and all vehicles in the house.” I admit that this is what made me really question Bob's disciplinary tactics. It seems highly extreme for a parent to go to the lengths of calling an insurance company and doing this.

It seems that after a bit of time, and probably a lot of begging, Bob relented a little. He agreed that Jeff could go to the prom, but nothing before or after, but there was a catch. The only way he could go is if Bob drove Jeff and his girlfriend Darla to and from the prom. Of course this would have been humiliating and horrible not just for Jeff, but for Darla. But, I think it also says a lot about Bob again. Jeff had told Darla that he was working hard to change that decision. On Friday, April 28^th, the day before the prom Jeff told Darla that he had obtained permission to attend all activities related to the prom for the weekend. He remarked to her mother on that Saturday that he had a “two-day pass from Pelley prison.” However, several witnesses would testify that in the 24 hours leading to the prom Bob was still saying that Jeff was only allowed to attend the dance, and only if he drove. He had also allegedly told people that he had removed “a part” from Jeff's car to prevent it from driving.

This brings us to Saturday April 29^th, prom day. It was said that Jeff worked that morning at his job at McDonald's. He then went home and at some point had been cleaning and detailing his car. As the day moved into the evening a few of the local teenagers had gone to the Pelley home to show the family their prom attire and have pictures taken. One of those young people described the clothes that Jeff had been wearing at the time. It was said that they were all last seen at the home by outsiders about 5:00 that evening. One young man had gone over but after realizing he had forgotten something at home and left and drove past the Pelley home around 5:15 and would say that he saw Jeff's car still in the driveway. Another young girl stated that the Pelley's were supposed to come to her home and see her prom attire at 5:30 but did not show. She says she waited about fifteen minutes and then she and her date went to the Pelley home but found it closed up, which was unusual. She would later say that she saw Jeff at prom and he had asked if his parents had gone to her home as scheduled. Now, one could argue that he may have asked this to make it appear he knew nothing about what may or may not had happened at his home but one could also argue that if he did know this time was scheduled previously and he was involved in murdering his family that there was a high possibility that it would be discovered early, maybe before all the events he wanted to attend were over.

Let us next discuss the biggest hurdle the prosecution had and the reason why the prosecutor in 1989 did not file charges. Investigators believed there was only a twenty minute window for the murders, and plenty of other things to happen if Jeff was the perpetrator. The family was last seen just before 5:00 by outsiders. Jeff had claimed that he left around the same time but a friend said he saw Jeff's car still in the drive at about 5:15. At 5:20 Jeff was seen at a local gas station. He was wearing different clothes than had been reported by a previous visitor at his home. He had called his girlfriend, Darla to tell her that he was running late and that is car seemed to be idling too fast. He planned to quickly fix it and be on his way. He was next seen at 5:30. Some reports say that he went to Darla's home, others say that he went to a friends house to get ready, either way he was not dressed for the prom at that point. The Pelley's were supposed to be at Crystal Easterday's home at 5:30 but never arrived. So prosecutors believed that in less than twenty minutes Jeff had managed to murder four people, put his clothing in the washing machine and start it, pick up shotgun shells, take a shower, get dressed, draw all the blinds in the house, lock all the doors, fix his car (remember Bob allegedly took a part off of it) and dispose of the gun and shells.

The prosecutor in 1989 did not seem to think that there was enough evidence to charge Jeff and presumably that he did not have enough time to do all of that. On top of this no one at the gas station, his companions for dinner, or the prom saw him acting strange in any way almost immediately after investigators believe he had just murdered four members of his family. Darla would say that the following day she felt he was acting funny and when she asked him she says he stated that he felt like something bad had happened. Investigators would claim that in his second interview with them, that was not taped that he allegedly asked if he told what happened if he would get the electric chair. I will get into this in just a bit but I do not put much credence in this statement. In 2002 a new prosecutor was put into office and he looked at the Pelley case.

The investigation was not necessarily re-opened as the prosecutor based his opinion on the investigation and information already gathered in 1989. Since that time Jeff had obviously grown into an adult. He had married and had a son; He was living in Florida and working as a computer consultant. At this point Jessica had apparently never discussed the case with any investigators. It appears that law enforcement visited her in 2002 and they discussed the case. They asked her who she thought committed the crime and she explained she had always believed it was a murder/suicide committed by Bob. When she was told that was not possible and asked if she was suspicious of anyone else, she said the only person she could think of was Jeff. Investigators told her basically that was exactly what they were thinking. On August 10, 2002 he was arrested at an airport in LA on his way home from a business trip. He was charged with four counts of murder.

It took until July 2006 to get him to trial between all of the legal wrangling that was working its way through the system. On July 21, 2006, after two days of deliberation the jury returned a verdict of guilty on all counts. On October 17, 2006 he was sentenced to 160 years (40 for each murder served consecutively) in prison. The jurors were quoted as saying “Well, if he didn't do it, who did?” Jeff's defense attorney argued later, at least to the media, that those comments in no way shape or form constitute proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

An appeal was filed in 2008 citing several issues. The court really only addressed one of them, the issue of his rights being violated as he was not given a speedy trial. The circuit court reversed his conviction but almost in the same breath it was as if they asked the Indiana Supreme Court to look it over, to which they did and the state Supreme Court re-instated the conviction. It appears at that point that the Indiana University McKinney Wrongful Conviction Clinic began looking at his case. It was not completely clear what sort of filing that they did in early 2020 but with COVID everything got pushed back and nothing has happened.

Before I get into my thoughts on the case, the evidence and other things I want to first talk about the other two surviving family members. First let us talk about Jacque because there is less to talk about. I did not learn where Jacque, and presumably Jeff, went after their father died but I suspect since their mother's parents came to Indiana from Kentucky and was present at one of Jeff's interviews with police that the kids went to live with them or at least maybe another family member on that side of the family. In a recent article promoting the 48 Hours episode it stated that Jacque ran a website called Justice for Jeff. I searched for this website and could not find anything. It claimed the website talks about how his conviction was a “political maneuver” for the prosecutor at the time. This is something that I saw stated more than a few times. The most interesting thing though was there was a statement made in the article quoting Jacque in which she stated that the two sisters testified in court that the prosecution theory about Jeff being grounded from prom was false and that Jeff had been allowed to go to prom and after prom activities. The reason I find this odd is the fact that much of the information I was finding was about Jessica and her life and her belief's both before and after Jeff's arrest and there was every indication that she believed him to be guilty. There was a lot that stated she had testified because many of the stories was how she was later able to connect with a childhood friend and while they had both been called to testify in 2006 they were not allowed to have contact. But, nothing was stated as to what she specifically stated in court. It seems to me there would have been ample opportunity through everything to indicate that she had testified basically that the prosecution theory was not solid. Jacque has claimed that another man has confessed to the crime, although I cannot say who that man is and she also says that Bob had received death threats in the weeks leading up to the murder.

As for Jessica, she is the one that most of the focus seems to be on in most of the information I found. After the murders of her mother and two sisters she was taken back to Michigan to live with family. She says it was there that the family cut everyone in Indiana off to her. One particular friend attempted to contact her several times only to have her letters returned and later told to stop trying by Jessica's family. Then, for decades Jessica, who was now going by Jessi, believed the crime to be a murder/suicide with Bob responsible had learned differently. All of this brought back very painful and horrible memories for her and the trial obviously did nothing to help. She has since written a book called I am Jessica (the C and A are different color on the cover to indicate identities). Jessica eventually all but ran away from home in Michigan and spent some time in foster care. When she was fifteen she had gone to Florida and visited with Jeff and his family but it was unclear how much more contact she had with him and his family. However, she has apparently firmly stated her belief that Jeff is guilty of the crimes.

So now let's look at the evidence in this case. Personally I would believe whether you believed Jeff Pelley was not just capable of committing the murders but actually doing them or not one has to wonder about that twenty minute time frame. You also have to be careful what you read because initially you will hear there was thirty minutes. Then you start researching further and the time frame just keeps getting more and more narrow. Initially, and for quite some time I was left with questions as to really how they knew when the family died for certain and in reality while I found a little more information to see how they narrowed the time a bit I never found anything as far as proof. It was believed that the Pelley's had last been seen at 5:00 and were supposed to meet with Crystal Easterday at her home at 5:30 and they failed to show. Crystal went to their home around 5:45 and the curtains were drawn, which she claimed was odd and there was no answer at the door while their vehicle was in the drive. So, investigators believe they were already dead. My argument was, how did they know that? How did they know there was not someone else in the house at the time and the family was alive but not able to communicate? I found information later that stated that when the victims were found they were still in their “everyday clothes” meaning they had not gone to bed before they were murdered. My response would be... okay.... And?? All that proved was that they had been killed before they went to bed on Saturday night. Jeff was known to be gone from the house definitely by 5:20. There were probably at least a few hours left before they would have prepared for bed.

Now, Jeff had alleged that he left before 5:00, or at least that is what investigators say he said. I cannot say if this statement was made in the interview that was recorded, or the one that was not. Regardless he was present when the last known witness saw the family together and that witness said she left at 5 so they determined he must have been lying. Then adding to that his friend had driven past the house and claimed at 5:15 his car was still there. Ok, so he was still there at 5 and apparently at 5:15. They know he was at the service station at 5:20 as he was talking to the attendant and made a call to his girlfriend. Another point was made that with all the people that had come to the Pelley house to show off their prom attire there was never a picture of Jeff with his parents in his attire. I admit that that seems a bit odd, but in the same respect he did not leave his house in his attire either. He changed at a friends house, how does anyone know that was not the plan to begin with? Maybe he did not want his picture taken. While there is a dispute as to whether he had permission to go to the prom, or at least drive on his own, at all, no one can dispute that obviously the whole event had been tension filled for the family. I mentioned earlier that investigators claim Jeff made a statement in his second interview asking if he “told what happened” if he would get the “electric chair.” The interesting thing about that is that interview was not recorded. They obviously had the ability to do so since they had recorded the first one. They also suspected him it seems from within minutes of discovering the crime so why did they not record every single interview they had with him and why is it that the most incriminating statement he allegedly made only when they did not record him?

One thing I keep going back to in my mind in this case is his car. As I stated the appeal had stated that there was allegedly a note with the insurance company saying Jeff was not to be driving the vehicle, or any vehicle in the home for that matter. On the day of the prom though it was said after working in the morning he had spent a lot of time cleaning and detailing his “prized” Mustang. As a parent who had grounded their child, not just from the car but from the prom and all the events I would think there would have been some words said that day if in fact he was not being allowed to go and there would have been even more tension than normal that would have been noticeable to those who came by the house. I would have also thought that Jeff would not have been seemingly as sociable as he was appearing to be. I would think if Bob was still insisting that if Jeff were to go to prom only if he drove him the last thing Jeff would be doing would be hanging out with and around the family. I also feel as if he planned to murder his family he surely would not have been stupid enough to detail the car in front of everyone. The other issue I have with the car is that it was said that Bob had allegedly told people he had removed a part from Jeff's car. Now, I would not think that after removing the part he had told Jeff where that part was or left it out in the open, or maybe even told him that he had done this. I think this is important because finding the part and replacing it would take time and the time frame given is already so crunched. Something just does not feel right about this.

Another thing that sticks out with me is that I never found any other indications that Jeff was ever in any more trouble in his life after the murders. Prior to the murders was the issue with the CD's being stolen but there was never anything mentioned about any kind of court date or anything so either it was not that serious of a crime or the owners refused to file charges. I think I read where Jessica talked about the fact that Jeff would seemingly be quick to anger but that was not really elaborated on. I took that with a large grain of salt. First, Jessica was nine years old in 1989 and while some of these statements that have been made have been in recent years she still looks back at that time with the eyes of a child. That does not mean that he was not quick to anger, and in fact, I believe that statement was probably true. I am just not so sure her idea of being quick to anger is the same assessment that would have been seen from an adult. But, a lot of things could have caused this anger. It is not like he had the easiest of lives between his mother dying, his father quickly remarrying and then uprooting the family. And let us not forget that he was a teenager at the time. Even Jessica talked of how strict Bob was and some of the evidence proved that. Now, do not let that lead you to believe that I condoned his behavior that involving the fact that he stole from someone. Jeff fully admitted in his first interview that he and his father sometimes had issues but stated they also worked them out. I just find it extremely odd that someone who could be allegedly angry enough to kill over half his family because “Daddy grounded” him and forbid him from going to the prom and then got away with it for over a decade seemingly had no other violent charges.

While it was not addressed in the 2008 appeal because the court overturned the verdict due to the speedy trial, another issue that was brought up was that the trial court had forbidden the defense from showing evidence of other possible suspects or motives. This is where the issue of his previous job as an IT director at a bank in Florida came into play. It is unclear exactly what the defense had intended to show or present but the courts did not allow it.

So, did Jeff Pelley kill his father, stepmother and two stepsisters? I do not know. But, in my opinion the evidence simply is not there. As I stated earlier at one point it has often been said that the investigation was botched. I would like to know if any fingerprints were taken from the home. I would like to know exactly what the coroner said about the time of death. I'm sure that dying between 5:00 and 5:20 is possibly in the range of time given but there is absolutely no way the coroner would have been able to narrow it down that precisely. It was said that Jeff's body was examined the day the bodies were found and there were no bruises or signs of trauma in any way. And what about neighbors hearing gunshots? No one reported anything yet they were able to say they could see the home easily enough from their homes to notice that there seemed to be no activity and the blinds were closed and state that was unusual. How does anyone know that someone was not watching the house and when they saw Jeff leave they saw an opportunity to enter? Convicting a man because someone did not answer the door nearly thirty minutes after he left and the victims still had “day” clothes on in my opinion is stretching it....