She Was Only 11: The Murder of Jeralee Underwood | Murdered at First Sight | Forensic Files

JEFF UNDERWOOD: You, with the tongue out, you got to say your name. Jeralee. JEFF UNDERWOOD: Jeralee what?
Jeralee nothing. JEFF UNDERWOOD: Jeralee Nothing Underwood, right? [LAUGHTER] [MUSIC PLAYING]
JOYCE UNDERWOOD (VOICEOVER): Jeralee was born January 9, 1982. She was the second child to us.
And she came five weeks early. I wonder sometimes if she maybe knew her time here would be short.
And so she was anxious to get here. JEFF UNDERWOOD (VOICEOVER): Jeralee was always happy and always had a smile on her face.
I want to go for a ride. The last time I saw Jeralee was at the evening meal. I probably told her I love her and that I'd
see her in a little bit. And that's the last time we saw her. Joyce and I were outside doing stuff.
Somebody had tried to get a hold of us. She saw Jeralee get in a car. We immediately called the police.
JAMES BENHAM: We dispatched a patrol officer. We realized that we were dealing with an abduction.
At least two witnesses say they saw a man jump out of the car, grab Jeralee, shove her back in the car,
and took off. As time went on, the hours and days went on, we became more concerned
that this would be not just an abduction, but probably a murder. The police never really told me they
were looking for a stranger. JEFF UNDERWOOD: He saw how Jeralee carried herself,
how confident Jeralee was. And he took that total stranger. KIRK NELSON: He used his handgun and shot
her twice in the head, which caused her to die almost instantly. He was a sexual psychopath, a sadistic rapist,
and a murderer. [MUSIC PLAYING] Jeralee was very loving, loved to take care of people
and be kind. Yeah, she took care of her siblings really well. Always had a smile on her face.
Jeralee. I remember her doing that. JOYCE UNDERWOOD: It was summertime, so Jeralee was out of school.
She was 11 years old. Jeralee and her brother, Jamen, started a newspaper route in September of '92.
The route was real close to our home, so her and her brother could walk. We talked a lot about safety and not talking to strangers.
And we knew a lot of the people in the neighborhood. A lot of their customers, we knew who they were.
JEFF UNDERWOOD: Earlier that day, we had a little bit of a rain. But at 5:30 in the evening, it was clear.
The sun was shining, nice and warm, just a beautiful day. [MUSIC PLAYING] She had an orthodontist appointment and then
after that appointment, came home, and got ready to deliver their papers. They'd roll them and then put an elastic band around them,
put them in their newspaper bags. She expressed that she wanted to take her bike.
I had a flat tire, so I went outside to fix her tire, so that she could take her bike.
And when I came back in to tell her it was ready, she had already left to go deliver her papers.
Our neighbor came over. We were outside working in the garden, and so she couldn't call us.
So she came over to our house and told us that Jeralee had gotten into a car with somebody.
Well, at first, we thought that Jeralee maybe had gotten a ride home because there was another neighbor
that would give her a ride. JOYCE UNDERWOOD (VOICEOVER): Since she wasn't home, we went looking for her, went around trying
to find out where she had been, which houses she'd been to. When we found out that she had been pushed into the car,
that's when we became really, really concerned that, OK, well, if she got pushed in the car,
then somebody's taken her. Immediately, we called the police. [MUSIC PLAYING] We sent out two detectives to respond
to the call because it was called in, not as my kids missing. It was, we believe we've had an abduction of a young girl.
I was assigned as a lieutenant in the detective division. I was immediately very concerned.
My heart sank. It put me into panic mode, basically, because I wondered if this is real.
This doesn't sound good. We've got in touch with the chief of police, Jim Benham,
and explained what was going on. We got the location where Jeralee was allegedly abducted from, which
was on the west side of town. It's a residential area. As a parent, I was always praying
that I could be guided and directed where I needed to go to try to find Jeralee.
I had no idea of what to do. KIRK NELSON: We had an elderly lady that lived on the corner that had just paid Jeralee
for her newspaper subscription. And as she moved about the inside of her house, she happened to look out the window to the side of her home.
She observed the male from the car suddenly grab Jeralee and force her into the driver's side of the car, to the passenger side.
Then he then quickly jumped in the car and sped from the area. The detectives obtained the description of the vehicle
and the partial description of the individual, a white male approximately 5' 7" to 5 foot 8 wearing
a plaid shirt and a cap. KIRK NELSON: The detectives found the information in the dispatch.
And that's what we put out to the patrol units and immediately dispatched it to area units.
We got a description from the parents of what she was wearing and that she had her newspaper bag,
a canvas newspaper bag that fits over the shoulders, and a little bag that she carried her money in.
JOYCE UNDERWOOD: Jeff went looking for her. I stayed at home. I expected her to just come around the corner anytime
and say, hey, mom. Look what tip I got. Look how much tip I got today or whatever.
I just kind of stood out the front window just kind of waiting or waiting for a phone call,
hoping that she'd be home quickly. [MUSIC PLAYING] KIRT HOWARD: I was at a Boy Scout camp.
And I was contacted by one of my counselors. I was horrified. I knew the Underwoods.
I Knew Jeralee. And my first thoughts were, what can we do to help? We knew that the sooner that we could
get the word out, the better. Everyone on that department was looking in every corner we could find, trying to find a car,
trying to find anything that looked unusual, anybody or a car that was out of place.
I mean, there were 80 sets of eyes looking everywhere. KIRK NELSON: A few hours later, we
ended up getting a modified description from another witness. This gentleman was pretty sure it was a General Motors
product, five or 10 years old, medium-sized Sedan with a darker roof and a yellowish,
or light beige, or cream-colored body. And a typical abduction, if it's a young girl that's involved,
usually, the perpetrator, they're thinking something devious involving the young lady.
And usually, they want to go somewhere fairly close, but remote to do any kind of a sexual attack
or anything like that. We covered those areas outside of town 10 miles Southeast and West of Pocatello
to see if we could find anything. We didn't see any vehicles anywhere near close
to matching that description that we could stop and investigate further. We had no luck.
[MUSIC PLAYING] JEFF UNDERWOOD: That first night was just so hard. Joyce and I held each other crying, tears in our eyes.
It was just really, really hard. We worked through the night strategizing and trying to come up with a game plan
of what we were going to do and how we were going to find her as quickly as we could.
Time was of the essence. JAMES BENHAM: The decision to assign the investigation to Scott Shaw was made by myself, Captain Lynn Harris,
and Lieutenant Kirk Nelson. KIRK NELSON: The department had sent him to a number of specialized training schools
dealing with violent crimes. And he took a great interest in that. So it was decided that he was to be the lead on this.
Over the years, we've learned that, unfortunately, one of the first things you always look at
is family. KIRK NELSON: Statistically, nationwide, abductions in this manner, the perpetrator knows the victim.
And you always want to look closely at the family dynamic and see if anything sticks out there that we need
to pay additional attention to. That was really disheartening to think that, you know,
that we would be the ones that would try and hurt her or do something to her. It's not a pleasant experience.
You are very special. So may I say, have a truly wonderful happy birthday. [MUSIC PLAYING]
JAMES BENHAM: Everybody knew that Jeff and Joyce Underwood were very, very involved in their church.
Members of the church began to appear from nowhere to assist them. It becomes fairly obvious that they're pretty well respected.
We kept looking. We interviewed neighbors. We interviewed everybody we could find that knew anything about the family,
what the relationship was. And a decision was made that the family was not involved.
JOYCE UNDERWOOD: The police had to rule out that she didn't have a boyfriend or that she
hadn't run away from home because of trouble here at home. Jeralee didn't have a boyfriend.
She was 11 years old. You know, not many 11-year-olds have boyfriends, so that was not even a possibility.
School, church, and home. OK. And in each of them [INAUDIBLE].. OK. Which one is probably the most important of the three?
Church or home. Home. Everything that you're going to be when you get older is in the home.
Yeah. She had no grief with the family, no discipline issues, had done well in the school year.
She was excited about going on this family picnic that they were going to go on that weekend.
There was just nothing that led us to believe that it was anything other than probably a stranger abduction
or an extended acquaintance. BRYANNA FOX: They were really looking for a needle in a haystack.
Particularly with a child, every single minute that passes, the odds of the police safely finding them
go down. So within a few hours, they could be local or still within the state. Within a day, they could be anywhere within the country.
And within two or three days, they could be anywhere in the world. So it makes searching for that young person that much harder.
We thought, oh, she'll be back, whoever took her will let her go and let her come back home.
We still had hope that she would come back home. [MUSIC PLAYING] I want to hold him.
Can I hold him? Let's let Jeralee hold him for a few minutes. Whoa. Whoa. Don't sneeze on him.
Is he heavy? Whoa. Don't cough on him, OK? Look at that [INAUDIBLE]. I always wanted a large family so that when we went places,
we could always have somebody to be with. There wasn't somebody left out. So I wanted even number of children.
So that's why we had six children. Jeff wanted 12. And six was enough. [LAUGHS] [MUSIC PLAYING]
She was so little. JEFF UNDERWOOD: What was it, 4 pounds, 9 ounces? JOYCE UNDERWOOD: 4 pounds, 12 ounces.
Oh, look. [INAUDIBLE] the day we brought her home. Jeralee was born five weeks early
and so ended up spending nine days or 10 days in the hospital. JOYCE UNDERWOOD: Because she came early, she is very small.
But she caught up really quick when she was probably three and her brother was four.
[MUSIC PLAYING] Jeralee really loved to dance. She developed the talent of clogging.
She loved to read, and just loved being outdoors and very active, and just being with her friends.
She was never-- could stay mad for very long, always had a great smile. Every picture you see, there was a big smile on her face.
[MUSIC PLAYING] We've always had a strong belief in God. And we've taught our children that.
You know, we always continued being an example to them, the importance of having faith.
[MUSIC PLAYING] (SINGING) This is my day, my baptism day. Life in God's kingdom begins in this way.
Father, I'm honored to walk in thy ways on this, my baptism day. On the 30, we, as a department,
including the investigators, all felt that we were still looking for a live victim,
that Jeralee was still alive. At the beginning of this investigation, the biggest thing that Scott Shaw was wanting to push
was media attention because he felt with enough media attention on this situation, that somebody
would come forward. The media plays a critical role in getting the word out and being an amplifier for what
police are doing, what the family of the missing person is doing. And if the media is not sufficiently covering a case,
it actually has a lower likelihood of being successfully resolved where that child
is found and found safely. [MUSIC PLAYING] Within just about a day, we had as many of our people
going door to door, particularly on the newspaper route that Jeralee had and other neighboring newspaper routes
to see if there had been any potential witnesses or sightings of suspicious persons or the vehicle.
JAMES BENHAM: The city of Pocatello had, at that time, roughly speaking, 80 trained police personnel that were available to do searches.
We needed three times that many. So we took advantage of what was offered to us by the community.
[MUSIC PLAYING] JOYCE UNDERWOOD: The police organized a search. A lot of people got involved.
People met at the church and then were given assignments of where to go look. When we gathered at the church house,
Shaw looked over the parking lot of the vehicles of people that showed up in the event that our suspect may show
up with the suspect vehicle. This is something that a lot of narcissistic killers
love to see. When they show up at a scene, whether it's a funeral, a search party--
and they're thinking, all of these people are here because of me. And they feel the sense of pride.
For them, seeing newspaper reports, people coming out-- and they think in their minds, it's because of their work.
We looked to people over very closely that were helping us with the search. And we didn't really see anybody that matched
the description or profile. And we didn't see any vehicles that matched closely.
[MUSIC PLAYING] JAMES BENHAM: We received information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation stating this
is the individual that you're probably looking for. The FBI believed he would plan his steps and his moves,
and he was an organized offender. As it turned out, Sergeant Shaw did not agree with that.
Shaw believed that the fact that it was in the middle of the afternoon, broad daylight,
busy street, people out in their yards, and so forth, that was more likely a stranger abduction
than someone that knew her. Both of our witnesses have observed Jeralee interacting
with the man near the car indicated that she appeared to be comfortable, not on edge, or scared
or anything like that. That was a little confusing to us. Shaw was able to come up with the hypothesis
that maybe it was someone that she briefly knew or had briefly met. That was why she appeared so calm.
At this point, we were looking more likely towards this being a stranger and that somehow,
this individual had tricked her into feeling like she wasn't in immediate danger
when he was talking to her. We came to the conclusion that this was a member of our own community.
[MUSIC PLAYING] November of '92 on the opposite end of town, we had a stranger abduction of a young lady, a middle-aged teen,
where she was taken from a restaurant parking lot by a stranger and was taken up into the outskirts
on the west side of town and sexually assaulted. She was released. And she got a good look at the individual.
And she gave us a good description that allowed us to get what's called a Compusketch of what
the individual would look like. Shaw began to see some similarities and the possibility that this crime and the abduction
of Jeralee Underwood could possibly have been done by the same individual. KERRY DAYNES: All offenses are pre-planned to some degree.
They are rehearsed in somebody's mind. They are fantasized about. But nevertheless, somebody needs to have
an opportunity to offend. They need to have access to a victim. And they can either plan to do this.
So you can lure a victim to you. Or you can be very opportunistic. And you can see an opportunity, such as a little girl
on a paper round and seize it. And the people who are more likely to do that are far more impulsive.
And also, they are far more likely to be people who have done it in the past. [MUSIC PLAYING]
[PHONE RINGING] It's just so happened that about the third day after the abduction, we got a call from an individual who
indicated that we needed to look more closely at someone she knew. She indicated he was a relative.
He closely matched the description. She also indicated that he looked quite similar to the Compusketch image that we
had obtained from the young lady that had been abducted. She believed that he drove a vehicle that closely matched
the description that we'd put out through the media and in the flyers, that it was possible that he also had
some friends that he spent time with down on the south main area in the same block
that Jeralee had come up missing from three days earlier. [MUSIC PLAYING] They relative [INAUDIBLE] this man as James or Jimmy Wood.
[MUSIC PLAYING] JAMES BENHAM: Three days in the disappearance of 11-year-old Jeralee Underwood, an individual made
a phone call and gave the department some information, which we considered to be critical.
An individual named James Wood, he was staying with relatives at that point. He and this relative, sometime between the third
and the fifth day after Jeralee disappeared, went on a camping trip. She believed that the vehicle that we may be looking for that
was owned and driven by this individual would have possibly been out on the property,
which is in a rural area, several miles north of Pocatello. We were able to send a couple of people out
and looked over the property. And they were able to find a vehicle that closely matched the description
that we were looking for. We got a hold of our witness and showed it to him. And he indicated that looked very close,
but he couldn't give us an exact definite, yes, this is the vehicle. By that Monday, we were contacted at the police station
by the man who was a relative of James and had been putting him up in his basement
for the previous eight months roughly, came to the department and indicated he wanted to report what information he had,
the fact that he was suspicious because James didn't come home that night of the abduction, that he had shaved
his mustache, that he no longer wore any of the clothing that he was wearing when he came back that morning of the 30
of June. He also knew that James owned a handgun. He knew that he was a convicted felon,
had served time in prison. When this information was received, it was determined that it was credible from the standpoint of
there were specifics involved. He came extremely close to matching the profile that Sergeant Shaw had developed.
He became our primary suspect. [MUSIC PLAYING] We were trying to determine more accurately who he was
and what his past involved to see if he had any kind of possible alibi. We went out and did some more interviews with the people that
lived on the route where Jeralee had been just moments before she was abducted. And we learned that Wood had actually been at the house
at the time Jeralee had come to collect for the newspaper. He left the home almost immediately
after Jeralee walked out of the house, and had indicated he was going to the store to buy beer,
and that he would be back shortly, and that he never came back. [MUSIC PLAYING] On July 6, James Wood was arrested by the Pocatello
Police Department. When we knocked on the door, we advised him that we had a warrant for his arrest
for first-degree kidnapping and to turn around and place his hands behind his back, which was hesitant to do,
which means I placed him on the ground, and we handcuffed him and removed him from the residence.
And there was a degree of psychology involved in the arrest. Shaw suggested that we have a number of personnel there
that would look him in the eye and file past him as he was sitting in the police car handcuffed.
It was carefully staged. Shaw wanted to use the psychology of the community, this very tight-knit community, against him and show that there
were so many people that were disappointed and so upset at what James would have done, that one of the only ways he
could find redemption was by telling the truth and letting the community know what really happened,
so they could find some peace. KIRK NELSON: Once he got into the police station,
Shaw took Wood into his office and closed the door. He didn't want any other personnel in there
with him as a distraction. We just didn't know at the time where Jeralee was. And he needed to establish a connection with Wood
to convince him to tell us what had happened with her, where he'd taken her. [MUSIC PLAYING]
He told Shaw that he had driven her down towards the Utah-Idaho border after abducting her.
And they had slept the night in the car. He'd attempted to sexually assault her.
But Jeralee chastised him for that, told him to knock it off, and so he claimed he did.
After they slept the night in the car, he led her out outside of the town. We didn't believe that, so Shaw kept working on him.
And within an hour or two, Wood finally said, there's more to the story. I lied to you.
He driven back through Pocatello and decided to take her to Idaho Falls about 40 miles north of Pocatello.
Eventually, Wood described to Sergeant Shaw how he had told Jeralee she could go to some bushes
to go to the bathroom. Then he walked up and shot her in the back of the head. Wood dismembered her and threw the remains
into the Snake River. James Wood confessed. And he didn't need to confess at that time
because there was very little evidence at that point in the inquiry to link him.
But yet, he told them everything. And I think that offenders do this because sometimes it's
a relief. It feels like an unburdening. But for other people, it's about bragging
about what they've done. Or even it's about reliving what they've done. Pretty much as soon as I opened the door,
I knew what the news was, that the person in custody had admitted to killing Jeralee, that she was no longer with us.
[MUSIC PLAYING] It was very hard to hear that our daughter had been killed. I just remember Joyce and I--
just the tears rolling down on our face, knowing that we would never see Jeralee
again, that she would not be here with us in this life anymore. We were grateful to know that--
finally have an answer and know what had happened instead of wondering all our lives where she was
or if she was still alive because I cannot even imagine not knowing. As hard as it was to know that she was killed,
the not knowing would have been so much harder. Tears and the sobs from our children
when we brought them here in this room and told them that they would never see their sister again because her life
had been taken by James Wood. [INAUDIBLE] JAMES BENHAM: We felt that it was necessary for them
to understand the totality of what happened to their daughter. And we did in fact go back to them
and tell them that she had been shot, and that she'd been dismembered, and that the body had been
thrown in the river, and that we were going to do our darndest to get her back. [MUSIC PLAYING]
KIRK NELSON: We're at the north end of Idaho Falls on the west bank of Snake River where James
Wood brought Jeralee Underwood. Once we learned this was the scene of the murder,
we notified the sheriff's office and the Idaho Falls Police Department because it
then became their crime scene. And they brought in a dive team with the intention
of trying to recover her remains and any evidence. He showed us where he had killed her.
And he showed us where he had cut her up with a hatchet and a knife. We were able to see what appeared
to be remnants of blood in the tamped down grass. BRYANNA FOX: There's a lot of reasons why offenders will
sometimes bring police to the scene of a crime when it was otherwise not known. And in this case, it could be that this
was one of the last chances he would ever have to relive the crime he committed.
This is like a vacation for us. We love to look at photo albums and think about it again,
go through our cell phone, pictures, and relive happy times. And in the mind of James Wood, going back to the crime scene,
even though it was horrific, for him, it was a happy moment. He received a lot of pleasure out of it.
And so while he was able to get something out of it, obviously, the police gained a lot more.
[MUSIC PLAYING] Some of her remains were not located until close to a week later.
A couple of miles downstream, some city workers located her torso near a power plant.
[MUSIC PLAYING] Because of circumstances of Jeralee's murder, we weren't able to view her after her death.
And that was very difficult. And I wondered many times, OK, is that really her? How do you know it was her?
They had dental records that were able to identify her, and so there's no question.
But it still was hard not seeing her to know in my heart that that really was her.
Maybe more-- because as her mother, I wanted a different outcome. You know? I wanted her to come home.
I wanted her to be with me. So it was hard to accept. (SINGING) Happy birthday, dear Jeralee.
We love you. We do. [MUSIC PLAYING] I can tell you that in 48 years of law enforcement,
I have never seen another case of a absolute stranger abduction and murder as the one of Jeralee Underwood.
When we interviewed the people who were potential witnesses, we got two sides of James Wood, one
that we treat him like a relative, and the other one, he's kind of a leech. These are notes to myself.
This was details of other crimes that had been committed that Mr. Wood would admit to, everything
from first-degree murder to kidnapping, two counts of rape, two counts of crimes against nature, one aggravated assault,
two counts of robbery, one of attempted robbery. James Wood had a long history of other types
of interpersonal and violent offenses. These were escalating gradually, but really hit a crescendo
right before he committed the abduction and murder of Jeralee Underwood. This is something that was not initially known.
But through this investigation, police found out that he was responsible for these other
types of offenses that were so similar to what he had done to Jeralee. As far back as the late 1960s, he
had befriended a couple of ladies that he thought had cheated him or caused his car to be stolen.
And he ended up cutting their throats and then raping one of the women, thinking he had killed them both, but they both survived.
And then later on in the '70s, he admitted he approached a woman that was gassing her car up
near a grocery store, grabbed her, stuck a gun in her ribs, sexually assaulted her, and shot her
in the head matter of factly, leaving her for dead. But she ended up surviving. In early fall of 1992, he had molested
his 14 or 15-year-old stepdaughter with his second wife and raped her. He was afraid after doing this because it was probably
an impulsive act because that's the kind of person he was and that the law would be looking for him.
So he stole his wife's credit card and one of her handguns, which ended up being, we believe,
the same handgun that he used to threaten or other rape victim and to kill Jeralee.
I think that violence towards women had become such an ingrained pattern in James Wood,
so he knew that he would never be safe around women. He gave an interview. And he said, if you let me out of prison, I will kill again.
It's a guarantee. He knew that he had this very, very strong compulsion, that he didn't
have the willpower to fight. And the number of offenses that he's committed are huge.
This is a part of his life now, a part of his life that he can't imagine living without.
[MUSIC PLAYING] Jeralee's funeral was a very spiritual experience. As I walked into the chapel that day, it was completely full.
Kurt Howard, the comments that he made-- just amazing at how many people were there.
It brought us a lot of comfort. The name Jeralee has been a byword, a rallying word,
a word, a name that has stirred emotions within the whole of us. And today, we come to reverence her name
and express our love and respect for her one more time. Many of us from the department,
we wanted to attend the service to show support to the Underwoods and express our grief
and condolences to them for what they'd have to undergo. It was tough on the whole department.
We all needed some closure. The details of what had happened and then the details of other things they had done earlier
in his life that were similarly heinous kind of sticks with you. And we all needed some closure.
And that service helped-- helped me, at least. This past week, we've seen a mom and a dad.
They have taught us so much about love, compassion, understanding, and forgiving.
[MUSIC PLAYING] KIRK NELSON: Wood negotiated through his attorney a plea agreement where he would plead to the abduction,
rape, and murder of Jeralee. The other charges, the court agreed to dismiss them
without prejudice, which meant they could, at a later time, file those charges. But there was an agreement that they would not
do so if he pled to those charges related to Jeralee Underwood. JOYCE UNDERWOOD: We didn't go to the initial hearings.
They encouraged us not to just because of all the graphic things that would be brought up.
And that was really-- it would be hard for us to hear. At the end, he was sentenced to the death
penalty in the state of Idaho. When we do something wrong, we need to pay for that.
There needs to be a restitution made. I don't know-- in this case-- I mean, nothing can bring Jeralee back.
I felt like a death sentence was appropriate since he murdered our daughter. I did know if it never really happened because it seems
like with the system, it takes a long time for that to be carried out. But I knew that once he died, that he
would receive his just reward. JAMES BENHAM: The judge sentenced Wood to be put to death by lethal injection.
Since that time, he had been in the penitentiary and in 2004, died of natural causes.
And my understanding is it was a heart attack. He wasn't an organized perpetrator at all.
Almost all of his crimes weren't really thought out or planned out in advance. He was impulsive.
He was compulsive. He made snap decisions, and he was good enough at what he did that he had more or less
a false sense of confidence that he could get away with it. Wood didn't know Jeralee prior to her coming
to collect at the house of the friend that he was at that evening for dinner, but that he took an interest in her.
He conversed with her a little bit. And he hatched this scheme to assault her and then ultimately
end her life violently. BRYANNA FOX: He is at the worst of the worst end of the spectrum in terms of dangerousness.
This is a man that is both sadistic, impulsive, reckless, has low empathy for others and very little
remorse for the actions that he commits. He probably would have committed more offenses
and just would have kept on the commission of violence that he was going on if he did not get stopped by police.
JOYCE UNDERWOOD: The area where Jeralee was taken is the path to go anywhere into town,
and so we pass that daily. Now I don't think about it near as much. But sometimes I'd drive by it, and I just would scream.
It was hard to pass by at first. JEFF UNDERWOOD: Most of our memories of Jeralee
is here in our home. Once in a while, we'll go over to the cemetery because there's a nice headstone on her grave.
There's a plaque in front of the church by a tree that was planted in her memory.
She just was this soulful energy and just wanted to accomplish so much. We'll have lots of cake for everyone.
And when it's over, you will say, gee, I had a happy day. [MUSIC PLAYING] Jeralee's faith was very important to her, always
teaching other people about Christ and how to forgive, and to be kind, to be honest.
Now I can't stop crying. I'd just like to say to Jeralee, I love you, and I miss you.
[PIANO PLAYING] [INTERPOSING VOICES] [MUSIC PLAYING]

EPISODE 1 – JERALEE UNDERWOOD

In June 1993, 11-year-old Jeralee Underwood leaves home on her local newspaper route in Pocatello, Idaho. It's dusk when her parents become worried. Soon, a neighbor confirms their worst fears: she's been abducted. What unfolds is a heartbreaking tale and a story that is every parents waking nightmare. For more tales similar to Jeralee’s, be sure to like, comment and subscribe. Murdered At First Sight is a true crime documentary series that tells the first-hand stories of the most complex and hard-to-solve homicide cases: murders committed by strangers.

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Brief Summary

The episode recounts the abduction and murder of Jeralee Underwood, detailing the investigation and emotional aftermath for her family and community.

Key points

Jeralee's Early Arrival. Jeralee was born five weeks early, sparking reflections on her life.
The Last Meal. The last time Jeff saw Jeralee was at the evening meal, a poignant moment.
The Abduction. Witnesses report seeing a man abduct Jeralee, raising alarms for her family.
The Search Begins. The community rallies to search for Jeralee after her abduction.
A Suspect Emerges. Information leads police to James Wood, a key suspect in Jeralee's case.
The Arrest of James Wood. James Wood is arrested for first-degree kidnapping, leading to a tense confrontation.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I wonder sometimes if she maybe knew her time here would be short.

Joyce Underwood reflects on Jeralee's early arrival.

0:38WatchNov 11, 2022

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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