Nancy Eagleson /// Murder Investigation /// 610 | Forensic Files

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through an old newspaper article we won't go through every word every sentence every paragraph however this I
find to be by far the best article ever written about the Nancy eagleson unsolved homicide case
the article is titled girl Slayer remains at large polding crime still unsolved and this is from five years
after the murder took place and it's written by a Lima News staff writer by the name of Jean Rockwell who did
gangbusters work on this article because again I believe it to be the best and most thorough and it's rather updated as
well as you will see as we go through this article and it reads somewhere a man walks the streets outwardly as
inconspicuous as anyone but with the burden of knowing five years ago he molested and murdered a young Paulding
High School girl subjected her little sister to a lasting emotional shock and blemished the family
this man more horrible than any fictional monster Shot 14 year old Nancy Lee eagleson to death following a
criminal assault on the evening of November 13 1960. perhaps in such a twisted personality there is no capacity
for regret or remorse or perhaps his waking and sleeping hours are haunted by the memory of what he has done the
history of such crime reveals many motives for the slang of a rape victim usually the victim is slain to prevent
future identification of the attacker sometimes the force of the attack itself is sufficient to cause death Nancy was
brutally shot in the head by her unknown assailant no clues to the murderer have
turned up after five years of Investigation by the Paulding County Sheriff's department at 7 40 PM that
Sunday Nancy and her sister Cheryl then five were we're walking along Jackson Street in Northeast Paulding on their
way home from a movie their father Don operated a bowling alley in Paulding on the weekends and during the week he was
employed at International Harvester in Fort Wayne he was at the bowling alley that night
their mother Betty also worked and instead of waiting for their father the girls decided to walk home from the
movie since Mrs eagleson would be home at that time Mrs eagleson was asked last week
about the crime and about the failure of police to solve it Mrs eagleson said Cheryl now 10 years
old is still terrified by the memory of that never to be forgotten night quote I can talk about it now Mrs
eagleson said but Dawn doesn't say very much about it it really broke him up they say a woman can adjust to something
like Nancy's death better than a man or can cover their feelings more or something maybe that's the way it is
with me I hide the hurt keep it inside Mrs eagleson said Cheryl has deep emotional scars from the events of that
night Cheryl loved Nancy the mother noted they were inseparable but Cheryl has changed
now she isn't a loving child anymore she's afraid to get close to anyone emotionally for fear she might lose them
as she lost Nancy Nancy would have been 19 now her mother said and in college the bereaved mother
said she does not bling police or the sheriff's department for their failure to solve the crime I believe they did
the best they could do she said she thinks the Slayer is from Paulding or immediate area
he has to be she declared he knew his way around too well however her husband believes the killer was a
hunter not from the area probably staying in a motel and committed the crime on the spur of the
moment melting back into his home region when it was over Mrs eagleson still gets
a lot of calls mostly from cranks saying they know the identity of the Slayer none of them have proven authentic Mrs
eagleson's Theory the crime is that the girls were seen by the killer as they were sipping Cokes in a local restaurant
on their way home from the matinee movie along Jackson Street Cheryl said the man
slowed the car and ask the girls if they wanted to ride she said Nancy replied no we're only a
few doors away from home Cheryl said the man stopped the car and asked Nancy directions he got out of the
auto Cheryl recalled and came around the front in the full glare of the headlights he
grabbed Nancy by the arm and during the ensuing struggle pushed his victim to the ground Cheryl said she tried to grab
the man by the shoulders but he struck her in the stomach knocking her to the ground
she said she did not see the man strike Nancy but he placed her inside the car opposite the driver's seat the man got
in and drove away as Cheryl screamed Mrs eagleson said Cheryl told her the man smelled like he had been drinking but
her theory is that the girl smelled chloroform or some similar substance which accounted for Nancy's submission
after the Frantic struggle Mrs eagleson theorizes her daughter was not killed where the body was found but
elsewhere then was left by the Slayer where she was discovered by the hunters Paulding County Sheriff John Keeler was
asked last week if the case is closed he said certainly not these cases are never
closed every now and then we get a lead in a possible suspect we check out these
leads thoroughly but so far no luck at all Keeler said he was convinced the Slayer was not from the Paulding area
the man is sick the sheriff observed he can't help himself he would have killed again we would have had another slaying
on our hands if he were a local man Cheryl described the man who killed her sister as about five feet eight inches
tall heavy with a belly like Santa Claus he wore horn rimmed glasses possibly with thick lenses that made his eyes
appear larger than normal she stated she believed he was crippled a man who broke out of Michigan City
Indiana prison a month before Nancy was killed and who subsequently was executed
in Tulsa Arizona for a similar crime was checked and cleared of the Paulding slang another man from the Paulding area
charged with rape in Napoleon and acquitted was consequently convicted of a rape sling in Detroit Michigan his
method of operation was similar to the mans who killed Nancy but he also was investigated and cleared so the man who
slew Nancy Lee eagleson is still at large free to commit another crime police officials believe he will or has
that he acted under a compulsion a mental illness it could not help himself officers stress this certainly does not
excuse the man but points to the dire necessity of his apprehension well there's so much there
to unpack so let's do some of that if you don't mind what's your theories on if this man is
local or not here's the thing if the two things that the family has told us and this is things that have been
told To Us by people outside of the family as well if the phone lines were cut to the eagleson home that night
if in fact somebody did try to abduct Cheryl weeks after Nancy's murder I think those
not just point to but for me seal the deal that this was a local guy everything outside of that
tells me that this was somebody that was looking for a victim and may have traveled to this area and found the
victim there that night unfortunately right we we could have an individual that has to travel here for work
and so that they would be back in the area multiple times to me it's too Brazen you're going to leave an
eyewitness that sees you that possibly like I said in church school somewhere is able to identify you the other thing
that's tricky too because it no longer exists to this day but back in 1960 it's my understanding that there was a
hospital in the area and I've been told that it may have been between the abduction
location and where Nancy eagleson's body was eventually found which is very weird to me again that
drive felt very quick to me it almost felt like somebody abducted her and either had to stop at this location or
stopped at this location for some reason right would have passed the hospital and again I believe that it was on Route
111. so could somebody have been in the area for work because they were working at that
hospital or could they have been visiting a loved one or a friend or somebody that they knew that was in the
hospital now I don't know if law enforcement did this but I'm I'm guessing no because
within two days they're saying we're out of stand still I'm going to the restaurant and just asking it was any
was there any single male eating alone that possibly saw them go into the restaurant and then oh they're leaving
I'm gonna follow them out or look for locals um local hotels or motels and see if there
was any single men staying in the area that would give me at least some kind of lead to to go on the other thing that is
bizarre here too Captain is that you could have a situation where somebody spotted the girls walking alone or
spotted the girls as the mother suspects sipping sodas at the restaurant and decides then and there hey I'm going
to take one of these girls right and the reason why I say that that seems to be likely
is that according to Cheryl's accounts and it was key to me to read that article because we see how Cheryl's
accounts kind of I don't want to use the word change but she seems to be able to fill in some
of the blanks later as she got older she was 10 at the time of that article it was 1965.
but according to Cheryl's account the vehicle there was a vehicle parked at that P locks the old abandoned gas
station no longer in operation on the corner that they passed before the vehicle approached them I am of the
belief that that may be the same vehicle that the person saw the girls walking they walked past him he pulls up in the
vehicle alongside of them following them he's he would have been following them very shortly after they walked past
p-locks right now one could have spotted these girls and then decided to position themselves
at P locks to intercept them before they get home to do that if that was in fact the
Killer's plan to intercept them before they got home well then that means he already knew
where the girls lived and so therefore he likely would be a local man or at least somebody that knew Nancy in some
form or fashion or knew her family well and might know that the husband is not going to be there the the husband the
father is going to be working at the bowling alley during this time selling person that's going to be home is the
mother but again I know where you live so I'm going to intercept you now I think she made a great point because she
brings up chloroform and what we were saying before is if you're taking your victim we're not talking about like a
very small victim or a very young victim it is a child but she's 14. so she's going to have the capability of putting
up a fight so the mom brings up a good point is it possible that this murderer grabbed her
and then um was able to subdue her with chloroform and it could be a combination of both
because she says well but I think my daughter was smelling the the eyewitness Cheryl
the alcohol or chloroform it could be a combination of both this guy might have been heavily
intoxicated and then started driving around looking for a victim a lot of times these types will ingest things
like alcohol or drugs to build them up to a situation so that they don't chicken out or they don't
they want to build themselves up to carry through with whatever it is their sick fantasy or plan is and then if it
is in fact chloroform we're talking about a whole different level of premeditation one
but two possible criminal sophistication as well this to me if it was in fact chloroform
and we don't we simply don't know and until the case is solved we will not know but if it was chloroform then that
tells me this guy has either done something like this before or he had been studying up on doing
something like this and thought about it for a good deal of time studying doing research planning
yeah I mean this is uh got an email the other day saying stop calling these murderers animals because
that's not fair to animals that's probably not fair this is fair to the hyenas yeah this guy's a hyena I
mean this guy's a real piece of [ __ ] and again I I I I lean towards the idea that
the person was from that area originally but not anymore did not live in that area maybe a rental car that's a other
thing rental car is it possible that this person had a rental car and then and that would be another thing that people
could uh spend some time investigating the chloroform would also go along with the thought that maybe some portion of
this man's clothing or the glasses were in fact some type of Disguise what's really weird to me is under hypnosis
Cheryl says that the man was skinny but in this news article it's saying that she believed that he
was a heavy man with a belly like Santa Claus so those are two very different things but we also know that it's not
unterably uncommon for criminals to layer their clothing or to wear larger clothing than necessary to give the
appearance a different physical appearance right and that's that's the tough thing too
when you look at the composite sketch to me that not not the one where you're looking at him
um you know face to face but the one where you're looking to him uh where he's on from the side to me it looks
like he was almost like slicking back his hair again is that the way he wears his hair or is that a ruse this to me
the composite sketch to me looks like one of two things or it could be a combo of both I guess it looks to me like
somebody that is dressed to potentially go visit somebody at the hospital or to work there or it's a man
that was still wearing his Sunday church attire and just remained in that attire
throughout the day of Sunday and maybe went into town and went out to a restaurant right or you know and then
spotted the girls somewhere as they walked it'd be interesting to know and it's too much to ask Cheryl to recall
something like this there's no way that she would be able to recall this but it would be interesting to know if they
were talking about walking home like if they were openly talking about that at any point in their evening and and the
wrong person heard them caught wind that oh they might be by themselves and then
you think about the idea that the phone lines were cut at the eagleson home if in fact that were true to me that makes
me think well maybe the killer thought that they would end up Home Alone and thought of abducting Nancy there
right then it makes me want to question the family was the mother supposed to be
somewhere and not that's a very good question and here here's my thought on that I can't answer for the family but
here's my suspicions so we know that the Father Don was working at the bowling alley which he
regularly did on the weekends and what I've been told by everybody that knew Don they said that he worked at the
bowling alley probably for a little extra money but it was also like that was his number one
hobby it's fun right he likes the bowl he likes to hang out at the bowling alley probably got free bowling right
and you know what's great about bowling alleys too they often sell beer we like beer and pretzels the thing here is
don't forget the pretzels from my understanding is that it was very common for Dawn and his wife Betty the the two
Eagles and adults the two Eagles and parents to go to the bowling alley and hang out together
was this a night like you said captain that maybe Mrs eagleson was supposed to be at the bowling alley with her husband
Don but for whatever reason it fell through or at the last minute she decided not to go if that's true if
that is true and obviously somebody in the family could answer that to me I'd put a higher uh way higher
percentage at this point that they know this individual if that was the case I mean it could be
happenstance that here's this person in town sees these girls walking and they're they are walking because their
father is working their mother is going to visit the father at work so that does put you in that happen
stance but it starts at that point it would start leaning towards this idea that they
might know this kidnapper they might know this murderer this murderer might be somebody
uh family friend that maybe Cheryl just has not been able to maybe some of that doesn't come around
as often anymore but again how much of what they were wearing and how they were doing their hair and
all that stuff how much was that their identity and how much of it foreign [Music]
all right we are back cheers to everybody cheers to you Colonel cheers to you Captain all right
well we have praised the sheriff John Keeler for his efforts and for his wisdom and for his work ethic yes and
for reaching out to others jurisdictions thinking outside of the box if you will
that was something that wasn't done back then so we praised him for that we criticized him in his investigation for
not being able to recover tire tracks at either the abduction scene or where Nancy was eventually found right we also
criticized but said that maybe the newspaper is to blame for the weird statement of well the case is pretty
much at a standstill just days into the investigation I did criticize him for saying that we
don't know he's kind of discounting Cheryl's account that the man was wearing glasses which I think is a big
misstep by the sheriff but here is a huge misstep and I don't know if Sheriff Keeler is to blame or who is to blame
but somebody was certainly at fault here because in 1985 that's right we're jumping ahead 20 years in the timeline
from 65 to 85 and why are we pointing to 1985 well that's because in 1985 Nancy's
family discovered that the physical evidence that was collected at the scene where
she was found was lost or misplaced or discarded the sheriff's office in Paulding County
no longer had any evidence in Nancy's case now there were several persons or several agencies that were involved in
the chain of custody of this evidence so it may not fall on the sheriff's department but
who do you think's going to get the blame when evidence is missing it's going to be the investigating agency
they are the ones that are charged with securing that evidence no matter who had
it at what point yes they're going to get the blame but come on law enforcement do your job
you're here to Serve and Protect and you're not protecting or serving by losing this evidence so where we are
today and we're going to jump back here in a second but I want to focus on this now while we are talking about missing
evidence because it will make sense we are trying to exhume Nancy eagleson that is for the purpose of collecting
additional evidence right we mentioned that the lack of nail clippings we mentioned the lack of
semen samples and we don't know if those are things that we are even going to be able to get
once we exhume her it would seem unlikely but there's a possibility given its you
know it's unlikely because it's been 62 years and things get lost to to time and
decay but the other idea here Captain is could some of these items because this evidence was personal items these were
personal items in nature compared to uh with our victim here could some of these
items be have been buried with her it's certainly a possibility it's something that we're very hopeful
that that that that possibility remains and it's pot again this is not maybe something that the family would know and
so can be hopeful of because Cheryl again was five at the time so she's not gonna just there's no way she's going to
remember every single detail and you know mom lived a very long life unfortunately Betty is no longer with us
but keep in mind these are things that parents could forget or be unaware of at the time
there's a lot going on they just lost a child unexpectedly so again it's something that we're hopeful for and
that's why somebody like porchlight that's why we are jumping in we are getting involved
you know we can't save Nancy eagleson we can't help Nancy this isn't Quantum Leap
where we can go back in time and right a wrong or protect somebody or save someone
what we can do is try to help and save the sisters that are still alive to this day Cheryl can
you imagine she's the level of victim that she is how victimized she has been and traumatized she has been all of
these years if we can find some form of justice for the Eagles and family it will be a big win not for porchlight
it will be a big win for Paulding County and this community and the Eagles and family yeah big win
and but so much frustration still to the state this Captain will bring us to December 1st 2010 and this is reporting
from the local newspaper which is called the Paulding County Progress and they're
doing a ongoing story of continuing to cover the Nancy eagleson case and investigation and they're doing this
article and it's a rather lengthy one but it's featuring a man named Don rodenhouse now Don rodenhouse says that
he was a Witness to the abduction and this is very strange to me this is something that I'm incredibly curious
about so Don rodenhouse says that he pulls up and he sees two people in a vehicle that
look like they are fighting and he says his sister is with him and the sister who's riding shotgun
tells Don hey that's you know that doesn't look like two adults that looks like a little girl right because I think
Dawn thought maybe it was just a some kind of domestic right situation yeah boyfriend girlfriend two adults fighting
what have you but then little sis points out no that doesn't appear to be a grown-up that appears to be a little
girl and Don says it's the flailing arms that he and his sister saw Nancy eagleson
fighting this man back he's holding her by like the hair or the the head and trying to push her down maybe to conceal
her from any passerbys or people in the area as he's fleeing from the abduction scene right
but he says that while he the abductor is trying to push Nancy down Nancy is trying to throw
smacks or punches at the attacker and this would be kind of like a a sidearm I guess you will it's like a
swimming motion almost and he says that they the vehicle was was speeding quite heavily which makes
sense that the man would have been fleeing from the abduction scene with the victim in his car
and Don says that they gave Chase they tried to follow the vehicle but at some point the vehicle lost them
now he says that the following morning he reported this to the authorities saying that when he woke up the next day
he learned that of the murder remember Nancy was found overnight and when he learned of the murder and
where they found Nancy's body he knows where he was driving he says he was driving on Route 111 where Nancy was
abducted from he contacts the police and says tells them the story that we just told you and he says
to throw a little shade here on the Sheriff's Department back in 1960 he says that he doesn't
believe that they they may not have taken him seriously because he says at no point did they ever follow up with
him that he reported the information and they never approached him again to ask him to tell his story again and he says
that back in 1960 he believed that he could have described the vehicle in great detail
now why he didn't describe it in great detail when he spoke to the sheriff on the day when he reported it I don't know
but his words make it sound like either he wasn't prompted to do so or decided not to do so because he thought that
they would follow up here becomes the problem we a lot of problems we were privy to
some some Insider information in this case and the portion of the Sheriff's Office file on Nancy eagleson's case
does not reveal that Don rodenhouse reported this the day after Nancy was killed now he
very very well may have but there's nothing indicating that he did this other than this newspaper
article his own words so when I hear a story like this I go this is very problematic for me
one his story is problematic but it's problematic for me as a Storyteller here in the garage
I don't know how to take this Captain is this simply a guy that's tried to do a good deed try to help somebody out back
in 1960 and has come forward all these years later and is still trying to help out is this just a good guy
or we've seen this before it wouldn't be the first time and if it is the case it won't be the last time it
could be the case that this man just injected himself into the investigation he wants to know what law enforcement
knows yeah he's a local so he'd know the area but the thing that he has gone for
him is his sister was with him so isn't that a pretty solid Alibi for the time of the crime it would be if he
in fact did report this back in 1960 right if we could find proof positive that he didn't report it back then or if
we could find proof positive that she didn't back his story in 1960 or nobody else backed the story in 1960
when we want to know why 50 years later he's telling this story it the other problem too
is the details inside the story itself where Cheryl she states that she didn't see her she
sees her sister looking back right but also the suspicion that maybe she was chloroform so she was she would have
been knocked out she would have been out there wouldn't be somebody with flailing
arms in the back seat yeah if that is if that's what happened right now could she
have come to woke up and tried to fight off her attacker yes that's a possibility the other problem though is
he says he chases after the vehicle and the vehicle loses him a problem with that Captain is if in
fact the attacker went from abduction site to where Nancy was eventually found we already talked about that's pretty
much a straight shot you go around two curves and boom it's a straight shot it's difficult to lose somebody on a
straight shot yeah many pieces of his story just don't add up but you want to kind of give them the
benefit of the doubt because it's a traumatic situation it's a stressful situation but also the time Gap there's
been a lot of time that has passed right and so things that would point to Don roenhouse his statement being
questionable his statement being suspicious would be this for me is he concocting the story so that there
is a reason why somebody would have seen his vehicle at that location that night
in the abduct in the area of the abduction the night that the abduction took place
his story explains it away and his sister and I'm putting that in air quotes being
there with him would also give him an alibi as to yeah I wasn't the bad guy in this story I'm
the good guy in this story so there's there are some questionable things here but again it's it really
truly is either one or the other he's just a good guy that tried to do a good thing and help somebody
and the bad guy won or he's the bad guy it's very tricky very tricky and I know that there are people in Paulding to
this day that are very suspicious of Don's story and of Don himself well I'm sure there's tons of people teachers
school bus drivers people that have never got married that live in the town alone there's probably a whole list
of people that people are suspect of because you have this crime that happened to such a young
beautiful girl and there's no answers so but this brings us up to 2011. yes it does in our timeline but I do want to
speak to what you just said there Captain nope I think that that's a very astute and insightful statement that you
just gave because to this day the suspicions of the locals the people that have been around since 1960 the people
that knew Nancy people that went to school with her right were people that knew her parents
this is a small town this is a small town murder it affected the whole Community the
community is not healed nor moved past the murder of Nancy eagleson and they shouldn't because it's unresolved
there's no justice here and if the killer was a local man he could still be local to this day he
could still be alive there are many people that have been suspected by the public throughout the years that are
still alive and still in the town or near Paulding Ohio now you said that it could be a teacher a
school bus driver you know the mechanic anybody you could look at all these people and raise an eyebrow and go well
maybe it was him maybe it was that guy maybe it was a local all along and that certainly has been the case for 62 years
in Paulding Ohio where the list of suspects per the public man it runs the entire
town of Paulding nobody is safe from suspicion the sheriff John Keeler right has been suspected by people to this day
as possibly either have committed the crimes or covered up the crimes because it was committed by somebody he may may
know now yeah and they go well look it's not soft it should be soft there's a reason
it's not solved oh the reason is you're covering for somebody the reason is you're covering for yourself this is
what happens these are how these rumors uh Build and Grow throughout the years so I'll give you a few examples one
example is Virgil Johnson that we talked about the restaurant owner one thing that people have pointed out
that isn't really something of evidence we talked about the blood earlier but one thing that was pointed out about
Virgil was there's a story that says that he he had a daughter that was roughly Nancy's age
but he was on the phone with Nancy a week maybe two weeks before she was killed inviting her to go skating roller
skating with his daughter and when she said no she couldn't go because she had a previous engagement or something that
was already planned or maybe Mom and Dad just wouldn't let her go for whatever reason
he he became angry with her and angry at the situation that she would not go skating
he was going to take his daughter and several of her friends skating and to me that's a very bizarre if that's true
that's a very weird scenario one for a grown man to call his daughter's friend two to be angry that she wouldn't go I'm
40 years old I do not care if a 14 year old goes skating or not it affects me zero right I'm not going to be angry I'm
not going to be happy I'm not going to be sad no matter how it shakes out another interesting story is that you're
not 40. is it either a day before or a week before her death Nancy babysat for the bowling alley
owner this was somebody that was well known obviously to Nancy's family she babysat their child
she tells her parents after the experience I'm never doing that again I'm never going over there again
but doesn't give any further explanation as to why it could be something as simple as maybe the father shortchanged
her or maybe it was an unpleasant experience because the kid that she babysat sucked
really bad or could it be that she went over there to babysit and learned that uh the dad's
a creep yeah he pulled out his pee pee it's an interesting story pulled a Louis CK could it have anything to do with
this case difficult to say showed his turtle head another situation and this is directly related to the Sheriff John
Keeler at the time was that it's been reported that when he was out looking for Nancy now keep in mind the coroner
would list Nancy's approximate time of death as 9 pm November 13 1960. at approximately 8 30 that night we have
Nancy's parents who are in a car with their friends they are driving around frantically looking for their daughter
or the vehicle that took their daughter they go out Route 111 as anybody would because that's the direction that we are
told that the vehicle was traveling that took Nancy so you go out that way and when they got out that way they get to
the intersection where you have to make a left to continue on Route 111 or you can go straight and now you are on
Paulding County Road 176. her body was found off of that road this is approximately 8 30. the coroner says
that she died at approximately 9 pm that night there's reason to believe it's certainly possible that the Killer
and the victim could have been at that location at that time but also at that location is Sheriff
John Keeler who tells the eagle sons and their friends who are out looking for Nancy
go look elsewhere because I already checked back here there's nothing back here many people have wondered
did he find something and was he covering for somebody or was he covering for himself and trying to direct people
away from where Nancy was eventually found the other possibility though is he was
just a good man out trying to do a good thing and trying to help Nancy and help the situation and for whatever reason
didn't see a car or didn't see Nancy and moved past and did in fact do as he said I just searched back here there's
nothing here well and that's not where this story ends there's more to the story
possibly and who knows if this is related to all of that portion well I should say probably more to the rumors
yes yeah because what we have that that takes place is many years later John keeler's son John Keeler Jr his wife
goes and tells police that Junior killed Nancy and was responsible now Junior would have been
of driving age he would have been a little bit older than Nancy a handful of years older so it's certainly a
possibility the thing though that I keep going back to though is the statement of
Cheryl saying that she doesn't know how old the man was but she believed off of that short
experience that the man was older than her father or appeared to be older than her father right and so Junior would not
fall into that category wouldn't fall anywhere close to being in that category the other thing too that I have a
problem with and I'm not saying that we should discount the sheriff and say he's
perfectly innocent or the the son is innocent or the sheriff didn't cover for somebody
I just I simply don't know but what my gut tells me is that no that the sheriff probably was not covering for somebody
because look at what he did we can learn we can learn from the actions of his investigation well you
gotta go with your gut your nut and your butt that he was trying to solve this case right he was contacting other
agencies other law enforcement agencies if he was trying to cover up something he did
or something that he knew the person that did it and was trying to cover for them right he wouldn't be reaching out
to other agencies that just brings that could bring somebody into the area that is an expert and come in and see it for
what it is and go nope the sheriff did this or nope the sheriff knows who did this yeah not to Kaka poo poo all over
your idea but maybe you'd only do that if you're able to control the outside entity you know oh well I can yeah bring
them on board but I'm going to do so so that I can see what they're going to investigate see what leads they they
generate and then that I can kind of steer the direction because even though you bring outside uh bring in outside
sources you're still the lead in command the other thing too If he if he were to cover for somebody
another thing that presents the idea and points to me that he was not covering for anybody would be the fact that he
had several opportunities to have a scapegoat for this crime yeah good point Robert Lee Stovall was arrested
and suspected immediately in both murders and yet he investigates Stovall and basically says it wasn't stovable Virgil
Johnson was investigated and even suspected to the point of the public that they were ready to string this man
up and kill him and yet he steps in intervenes and says it wasn't Virgil Johnson
Thomas ball convicted of similar crimes Keeler says didn't do it clears him yeah
it doesn't sound like a guy that is trying to cover up a crime or cover for somebody he had multiple opportunities
to blame this on somebody that the public very likely would have accepted right as the perpetrator of this murder
and he didn't do that he investigated them and decided that they did not do it leaving it open for
whoever actually did it whether he's covering for them or not to be charged and convicted of this crime now I
presented that argument to the people that think that there that there were some misdealings by the sheriff's office
and said look this is why the sheriff didn't do it this is why he wasn't covering for somebody and I
think it's a valid argument but then they present the flip side of that coin to me and they say was that
happenstance or was that done on purpose Well normally the older cases don't they
don't get to me like the newer cases or the the more recent cases but this one it seems like there's a couple missteps
but there doesn't seem like there's a blatant you know [ __ ] in law enforcement you know
it just seems like maybe a couple missteps or maybe just where they just didn't have information on certain
things but this seems like it's definitely solvable well and that was my personal opinion as well when reviewing
this case was I actually thought that the sheriff worked it pretty well for 1960 again not perfect on the
investigation but I thought that that Keeler did some good work on this case and I know that the current Sheriff
Jason Landers he has strong feelings about this case as well and he too believes that it possibly could be still
solved to this day and that's why porchlight and other people are getting involved that's why the garage is
reminding people about this old case because it's not been solved and we need to figure out what happened here now
previous sheriffs and I want to be clear here the current Sheriff spoke at length
with us about this case and so he deserves plenty of kudos for that he went out of his way giving up
his valuable time to speak with us about Nancy's unsolved case he does not fully
agree with this but he passed this along to me he said that previous sheriffs believe that a man named Mark Hodges
committed this murder now Mark Hodges looks really good for something like this something like
Nancy's attack and her murder because he was believed to be driving around the area
of Northwest Ohio back in the day in the 60s committing very similar crimes and I say believed because Hodges is a
slippery dude he's one of these guys captain that he was brought to trial multiple times for
rape multiple times for attempted murder multiple times for murder he seemed to get acquitted every single
time now I did not have the ability to review those Court proceedings or those trials
but what my gut tells me on Mark Hodges sometimes where there's smoke there is fire
and with Mark Hodges there's just too much damn smoke man he's repeatedly accused and tried
not arrested not suspected by the public tried brought to trial for similar crimes and then eventually convicted
in one of those crimes so I see a guy like Mark Hodges and I go it's not impossible it's not out of the
realm of possibility to believe he could have been there he could have been the one that abducted and killed Nancy
eagleson now we should point out that in 2011 a agency that is near and dear to our
hearts the national Center for missing and exploited children they went to Paulding Ohio they met with the
sheriff's office they collected evidence and we are not allowed to say what it is
we've been asked to not say what that evidence was but they collected evidence back then that will help lead to a
conviction if they find the right person so that is a bright spot in this investigation
and then in August of 2022 this year John demuth has filed a motion in Paulding County
Probate Court to allow the body of Nancy eagleson to be disinterred from the local Cemetery where she was buried
nearly 62 years ago a hearing is set for this September for September 20th to determine if we will be allowed to do
that and I'm begging we need to be able to do this because it's the last hope it's our last chance at Justice there
very likely could be something of strong evidentiary value found well I don't think this is going
to hurt the case and I think maybe us covering it and and this happening in the news will bring more attention and
maybe bring some more leads and and maybe we can get some actual evidence to test in
this crime but it's always a good case when you you know it's a good case when the kernel is getting
fired up in the garage so today we sit here with this case remaining unsolved since 1960. Nancy eagleson's family is
still searching for answers to her murder from more than 60 years ago this case is extensive
and time and in the materials but listen the current sheriff is passionate about this case
there will be a fundraiser that will be held this September 18th to help raise money for the exclamation of Nancy to
help further along her investigation and her case and get Justice for the people
of Paulding and for the eagle sins and for her sisters so I encourage anybody that's in the
area to go and experience that and take part in that fundraiser on September 18th in Paulding Ohio
Sheriff Jason Landers believes that this case could still be solved he's a good man he's a reasonable man
if you know something about this crime please contact the Paulding County Sheriff's Office at 419-399-3791
[Music] [Applause] [Music] oh my God thank you so much for joining us here each and every week we appreciate it we
love Whispering into your sweet earlobes Colonel do we have any recommended reading for the listeners this week we
are coming to you with an ask for a little bit of help we don't ask for help very often here at the garage but we're
asking that you take a little bit of time and go to porchlightonline.org that is the website
for the non-profit organization the porch light project which is assisting the eagleson family in hopes of exhuming
Nancy eagleson's body and then re-investigating opening up this investigation again for one last crack
at Justice for Nancy eagleson and for her family members please go to porchlightonline.org and if you wish to
make a donation that will go directly toward the Nancy eagleson case we thank you so much in advance for any help that
you are able to offer and until next week be good be kind and don't litter foreign
[Music]

Nancy Eagleson /// Murder Investigation /// 610

Part 4 of 4

www.TrueCrimeGarage.com

November 13, 1960 - Nancy Eagleson was abducted while walking home. A man driving a dark car pulled up alongside of her and asked if she would like a ride. Seconds later the car was gone and so was Nancy. Unfortunately her body was discovered a short time later and only a few miles from the abduction location. Who could do such a thing? This is a small town murder that shocked the community of Paulding, Ohio and still haunts them to this day. This week we take a hard look at the murder investigation and the suspects.

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Brief Summary

The episode covers the unsolved murder of Nancy Eagleson, examining evidence, suspects, and community reactions over the years.

Key points

Nancy Eagleson's Unsolved Homicide. Exploring the chilling details of Nancy Eagleson's murder and its lasting impact.
Theories on the Killer's Identity. Discussion on whether the murderer was local or a traveler.
Missing Evidence. In 1985, Nancy's family discovered that crucial evidence in her case was lost or discarded.
Community Suspicion. The unresolved murder of Nancy Eagleson continues to haunt the small town of Paulding.
Witness to the Abduction. Don Rodenhouse claims he witnessed Nancy's abduction but faced skepticism from authorities.
Mark Hodges: A Suspect with a Past. Mark Hodges has a troubling history that makes him a prime suspect in Nancy's murder.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Cheryl has deep emotional scars from the events of that night.

Discussion about the impact of Nancy's murder on her sister.

6:20WatchOct 15, 2022

Tension

60/ 100Some tension

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