The Murder of Cheryl Perveler | Morbid | Podcast | Forensic Files

hey weirdos I'm Ash and I'm Elena and this is [Music] morbid this is morbid it's morbid in the
morning it is how are you over there gel I'm good you swell I'm swell you have a
nice sweater on today I do I have a sweater on I have plaid pants on Sweater Weather Sweater Weather Sweater Weather
it's nice sweater weather over here it's nice sweater weather I know we're hitting that nice November Chilly Willy
air yes it's the time of year when my uniform is leggings high socks and a big old crew neck it's the best time of year
it's the most wonderful time seem to be comfy precisely that's how the song goes
yeah I feel moderately unhinged today I like that yeah I think we all do who doesn't amongst us honestly if you don't
there's the door Shannon bador just kidding I love Shannon bador um we have some exciting news to share with all of
you guys we are doing another culture fly box if you remember um I believe it was last year that we did the last one
and you guys loved those so we said honey let's do another honey honey why don't we do another one of those so this
one is very cool it's available for pre-order right now on the Wonder shop um there is a t-shirt there is a little
pop socket there's a little speaker there the speaker is so cute the speaker is adorable I love it there's like
little um ear pods and there's an LED candle so that's exciting you can change the colors of it it's a little it's like
Cathedral looking it's very cool the the aesthetic aesthetic yeah yes so that is
available for pre-order right now on the wry shop um and I think they're starting
to ship out on December 6th so yeah go which is the best month because cuz you Bor that month and we got Christmas on a
but my birthday and Hanukkah my birthday and your birthday number one number one yay he
was number one you won't get that because you don't watch SpongeBob um yeah so I think that's all the bit
nasty we got you got anything to talk about um no I well this is just like a little side note uh John and I watched
trap the other night for fun and how was that guys watch trap just for the fun and how just it's I did I wasn't
thinking everybody was being like totally truthful when they said that it was just a concert but they were it's a
concert it's a concert it's a concert it's like the um it's ight Shaman's daughter who is like the oh here's the
thing she's great good voice she she's beautiful amazing voice she plays instruments and [ __ ] like she's very
talented [ __ ] Trifecta um didn't sign up to watch her whole concert though so didn't buy tickets to a concert to your
knowledge it is a Wy movie John and I were like it was that a fever dream I've heard some interesting reviews it goes
crazy yeah my cousin went to see it in theater he's my cousin your nephew and um he came back with not quite a rave
review yeah I was shocked it was not a good movie uh but it was but it was one of those like that you just can laugh
the whole time what's going on remember the village that's the thing he he Nails
it a lot but this was not one of those times no uh and that's okay we can't all you know about a thousand I them all but
I will say Josh hartnet in it oh honey Josh Harnet he is a snack would have play if had he been given an actual
character to play he would have played it flawlessly like he I could see like when he had little moments of being able
to play this like scary serial killer yeah you were like oh you would en nailed that like he would have eaten it
up okay but he didn't get a lot he didn't get that I just whenever I think of him I think of him in 30 Days of
Night yeah he's great in that I love him in 30 Days of Night oh the end of that movie will literally make me SOB that oh
that movie that's a great movie that movie we covered it on scream like probably a few months ago at this point
maybe last year I don't really yeah it was my pick right yeah it had to have been last year at this point cuz I think
it was cold out when we covered it was it really yeah whoa uh but yeah that's a great [ __ ] movie Josh hartnet is
great um trap is not great but go watch it watch it anyway um but uh yeah and we
and we just covered a good movie on screen good mov if you're looking for something to listen to that's just kind
of like light-hearted and fun uh we covered fresh on scream it was Ash's pick that movie is so good it came out
in 2022 it only came out on Hulu I feel like that movie should have had like a box office release I feel like it should
have a re-release to be quite honest I feel like it needs a theatrical release that movie is [ __ ] great especially
right now I'm like damn you should release that let's can we can we like get to it's one of those movies I was
shocked by how much I like this movie yeah I made John watch it and he loved it too I know I was happy that to hear
that he also I had a feeling he would love it but I'm telling you if you guys have slept on Fresh wake up go watch
fresh and let's get it I I feel like it needs way more attention Sebastian Stan in that movie holy [ __ ] um Daisy is it
edgers Edgar Jones Edgar Jones um she [ __ ] phenomenal like and I think it's Mimi cave who directed it cave I was
like holy [ __ ] Mimi cave it was her directorial debut yeah my mind yeah crazy BW my damn mind so that's just
that's my um go watch one for fun and one because it's a [ __ ] Kickass movie oh and then just really quickly I don't
I think maybe I mentioned it briefly but go listen to or not listen to go watch um woman of the hour it was an
Kendrick's directorial debut and I thought that movie was really good it's gotten great
reviews people didn't quite enjoy it but I really really loveed it really I haven't watched it yet so I won't tell
you if I like it or not but yeah go watch it I'm interested tell you that much yeah all right but yeah that's just
a little uh recommendation recommendation Corner yeah I love that I love movies yeah even when they're not
great oh my God wait hold on oh my god did I finally get this hold up I think remember this morning I walked into you
and I said do you ever get one of those tiny little eyelashes in your eye and you can't find it and it just is
stabbing you I I think I might have just got it look at you oh wow that was a relief W you can see clearly now the
Lash is gone is she hold on what the [ __ ] I oh it wasn't even it's on my fingernail now it was like a little tiny
piece of hair the tiniest little piece sorry everybody that was really bothering
me so let's get into it that was like OG like yeah just trailing off OG Trail off it really was leave it in let's get
on with it though we've got a story to talk about today I found this case really
interesting um and I think you will too I'm excited is this is unfortunately a murder it is the murder of Cheryl piler
but lots of moving pieces in this case and it starts uh a little before midnight on April 20th
1968 a man named John Miller and his wife got home to the castian apartments in Burbank California parked their car
they were just going to walk you know from the car inside finish their night but as they were walking to their
apartment they noticed their neighbor 22-year-old Cheryl praver sitting in her car with the engine running and the
headlights still on so they were like what's going on with her over there h so they approached the car to go check on
Cheryl who they found sitting in the front seat barely conscious eyes closed gasping for air and bleeding heavily
from her head and chest oh jeez so the Millers ran inside to call the police who arrived a short time later and as
they waited for the paramedics uh Mr Miller looked at his watch and it was exactly 11:30 p.m. it turned out that
Cheryl had been shot twice in the head just above her left ear and she also had one large wound across her chest which
the coroner would later suspect happened when she actually tried to push the barrel of the gun away as it was fired
there were also 7/2 inch gashes on her forehead and on the top of her head that were made by by a blunt object possibly
like the butt of a pistol so somebody was like beating her and had shot her multiple times Jes her face and her head
were absolutely covered with blood which had also pulled in the driver's seat and
on the floor of the car so paramedics arrived to the scene they rushed Cheryl to the Burbank hospital but the
attention that she needed went Way Beyond the capabilities of Burbank hospital so they ended up having to
transfer her to the Los Angeles County hospital but she unfor unfortunately died as she was being prepped for
surgery she almost lived holy [ __ ] which I so I wish she had anyways but I so wish that she had because there is some
unanswered questions when it comes to this case interesting but by the time detective Lieutenant Dave McIntyre
arrived to the Castilian Apartments the other residents of the building had all assembled into the parking lot to say
like what the [ __ ] was going on to see what was happening upon his first surveying of the scene he noticed a 32
caliber automatic pistol lying on the passenger seat that didn't appear to have been fired and inscribed on one
side of the barrel was the word love and the other Paul so love Paul which was a
reference to Cheryl's husband of only 7even weeks Paul periler the gun was loaded with five rounds all Al on the
front seat was Cheryl's purse which had $35 in it which today would be a little more than $300 which is [ __ ] insane
yeah to think that $35 back then is worth 300 today but on the floor of the driver's
seat investigators also discovered two uh 25 caliber shells and outside the car toward the right the rear right tire
they found two unfired 25 caliber rounds as well now this struck them as particularly strange because Cheryl had
been shot from the left side of of the vehicle meaning that at some point her killer had stood by the other side of
the car probably reloading or loading the gun which is just kind of strange yeah as far as McIntyre could tell if
this had been a robbery or like even an attempted car jacking it had obviously gone terribly wrong the shooter had not
only left a ton of money in the car but had also left the car itself which was a
really nice car it was a 1968 so new yellow Jaguar worth obviously a lot of money yeah and the other thing was the
attack would have been really violent for an attempted robbery like if the killer was only trying to get away any
one of Cheryl's wounds that she sustained would have given them a sufficient opportunity to dip and like
run out of the scene so mag Andy and several other investigators fanned out across the lot to interview neighbors
and they started with John Miller and John Miller was a part of the couple who had first found her mhm he explained
that he and his wife had just got home you know walking to their apartment and they saw Char's car with the engine
running the radio playing and the lights on and actually at first they didn't think anybody was even in the car they I
think they just heard the music and saw that the car was on and the closer they got he realized that Cheryl was in the
front seat and he was like she was sitting in a really strange position and then he said he could hear a quote
terrible sound a low guttural moan oh cuz she's like I'm pretty sure like choking on her own blood oh that's awful
so after calling for help he ran to another neighbor Larry uh I think it's buard his apartment and said come and
help the girl in 17 has been beaten up real bad and to his surprise that neighbor responded by saying you mean
she's been shot which just like I'm sorry what what why would you assume that well when they questioned the other
neighbors investigators were quite surprised to learn that multiple neighbors heard gunshots but not one of
them called the police what the [ __ ] not one of them we see this so often it's
crazy Larry Bard explained that he'd been in his home uh in his living room a little after 11: p.m. when he heard what
he thought was a gunshot and then a few moments passed and he heard two more cuz
remember she was shot three times you hear three gunshots uh detectives presumed that the
first shot caused the wound to Cheryl's chest and the other two gunshots were to
her head one of the neighbors looked out his window after hearing the shots as well and he said what he uh described as
a man of average height and weight wearing a wh- hooded sweatshirt but he never got a look at the person's face
otherwise no one had seen anything in the crime was not really offering much up for clu what the [ __ ] so they were
like what where do we start here what is going on so while officers continued to
speak with the residents of the castian apartments which I guess you would never
want to live amongst any of them can you imagine yeah all of your neighbors are just like well I guess that was gunshots
right uh so while they did that lieutenants Ernest Vander gri and Warren King went to the prevailer apartment
where they found Charles's husband Paul who would come home after getting a message from Mrs Miller the
investigators found him to be in a State of Shock or at least stun silence as you
know you would kind of expect in that situation yeah Paul said he actually gave his wife $50 that morning to go
grocery shopping and then he left for work and he said later that night about an hour before she was killed Cheryl
actually stopped into his bar in Sunderland where he was working and they had a drink together they finished their
drink he said he walked her out to the car and then he went back inside and that was the last time he had seen her
at wow alive now these facts were confirmed with the other staff at the bar that evening
and when they asked whether there was anybody who might want his wife dead Paul said yes that German fellow
referring to a man that Cheryl had dated before she and Paul got married but he said other than that he couldn't think
of anybody else just one ex-boyfriend so a quick background check on charl revealed really nothing indicating that
her life would be cut so tragically short she was born in Brooklyn New York in 1945 and she'd always been a strong
willed and determined Girl by all accounts everybody loved Cheryl like not she didn't have an enemy on this Earth
she was always a Physically Active Child she had a really strong interest in sports from an early age and she
actually carried that into adulthood and when she graduated from high school she
wanted to move out to Los Angeles hoping to break into the film industry so at first when she moved out there she tried
her hand on an office job but it just didn't hold her interest for long and so she moved on and she answered an ad uh
for a job as an aerobics instructor at the aristocratic Spa damn what a name I know I was like the aristocrat Spa we're
all aristocratic up in here so she loved her job at the spa she was also really really good at it she quickly got
promoted first to assistant manager and then manager of another location and a short time after moving to La she ended
up meeting Paul who like I said owned two bars in the city he was Charming he was attentive and it wasn't long before
they fell in love and they actually got married pretty quickly and then just seven months later Cheryl was dead damn
so given that nothing appeared to be missing from the car and Cheryl was still wearing all her expensive jewelry
investigators ruled out robbery pretty much immediately yeah but if it wasn't robbery then that meant somebody had
literally gone to the apartments that night just to kill shery yeah and like she doesn't have any enemies so what the
[ __ ] so who would that be and by the look of things her killer was not a professional the brutality and the
attack implied something personal and the killer didn't stop until he was pretty certain that she wouldn't live so
as a matter of practice investigators also ran a simple background check on Paul and what came back was pretty
[ __ ] surprising Paul had only purchased his two bars within the last two years and
before that he had worked for a short time at an insurance industry um selling life insurance which is interesting and
before that he actually spent a number of years as an officer with the LAPD so he was previously one of them oh yeah it
turned out that just a few years into his tenure with LAPD Paul was discharged from his position after he helped a
friend's roommate obtain an abortion which was illegal at the time yeah so although he wasn't disciplined for the
illegal activity he was let go from the position because they didn't want any kind of Scandal or bad press so his work
history was pretty surprising to detectives but even more surprising was his involvement in other crimes serious
crimes including murder oh yeah that's a serious crime the one of the most serious I would say on December 11th
1966 the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to a call about a house fire in the neighborhood of El Sereno um and
when firefighters arrived the back of the house was completely engulfed in flames so they immediately began
searching the house for survivors and found in the front room the body of 27-year-old Marlon Cromwell the owner of
the house now initially firefighters assumed that he had either passed out or died from smoke inhalation but when they
got closer to his body they discovered that he had actually been shot three times in the head and two times in the
chest so shot five times and then his house is on fire beside the body seems suspicious seems pretty [ __ ]
suspicious beside the body they also discovered a towel with a ring of blood on it which investigators would later
theorize had been used kind of as like an informal silencer damn for the gun yeah holy [ __ ] now according to fire
officials there was no reason to believe that his death was a suicide cuz you're
not going to shoot your own self five times no and the case was being invested as a homicide but there was very little
evidence at the scene to develop any leads from so investigators theorized that the killer obviously set the fire
to destroy any evidence of murder but they had set the fire in the back room which gave firefighters enough time to
reach cromwell's body before it was affected by the Flames damn and autopsy showed that he'd been shot three times
in the head at close range killing him and then it seemed as though this the killer must have stood several feet away
and fired two more rounds into his chest to make sure he was completely expired this is so chaotic it is immediately
like this I just realized how many times I've been like damn and I'm like it's just like shocking but rightfully so the
the dams are the dams just keep on coming but I'm like wow it's the only thing I'm like this is so you know what
they're not going to stop coming so holy [ __ ] just live in a place of damn you're
a beaver now yeah I you're you be Beaver you Beaver so like Cheryl everybody who knew
Marlin Cromwell insisted he didn't have any enemies in life everybody loved him what the [ __ ] is going on yeah he was
just a pretty regular dude he worked as a stock clerk at a local grocery store which he'd done since graduating high
school um and otherwise he was a really shy quiet guy that's sad yeah at the time of his death he was married to
Christina Cromwell and they had one child together but on the day of the fire Christina and their son were uh
visiting Christina's mother like 150 miles away luckily oh yeah I mean I'm glad they weren't there me toly so she
seemed like an unlikely suspect you know but they weren't willing to rule her out
entirely cuz they said huh that's crazy said that's suspicious he said interesting now there were things about
Marlin and Christina's relationship that also struck investigators as particularly odd for one thing they had
been married for a number of years but they got divorced and then remarried just a few months before the
fire oh yeah and and just as interesting two months before Marlin was killed Christina had taken out a life insurance
policy in his name in the amount of $75,000 you know damn damn damn like wow yeah yeah just damn just damn wow okay
so a quick check of Christina's background revealed that she and Paul periler just so happened to have been
working together at the same insurance company at the time oh no I see where this is going yeah Paul and
Christina's workplace Behavior led many of their co-workers to assume that they were carrying on a spicy Affair oh no
then go the [ __ ] away yeah just just leave go away run away together it's shitty but it's much less shitty than
killing people because everyone will be fine without you but just move on well while interviewing those co-workers
detectives learned that not too long ago Christina had undergone a pretty serious
makeover during which she lost 75 pounds dyed her hair blonde got contact lenses
and capped her teeth geez so she like the [ __ ] she went for it yeah it was like a makeover scene
in Clueless holy [ __ ] yeah the remarkable transformation they insisted had been quote unquote coached by Paul
who seemed to have quite a lot of control over Christina ew yeah Paul's an [ __ ] e detectives interviewed [ __ ]
Paul who admitted that he had gone on a few dates with Christina but he claimed there was really nothing more to their
relationship than that never really serious but like but she capped her teeth for you and also like you guys are
married yeah like he's just sitting there being like yeah we went on a few dates who whoa whoa whoa wait no no no
they're not married I thought they were married Christina and Paul no no I mean married to other people yeah oh they're
married to other people that's what I mean like she's she's sitting there I'm like why is this not hitting you the way
it's hitting me I was like wait no they're not married I thought you thought they were married to each other
they are married to other people and he is like we went on a few dates like that's something you do when you're
married to other people and it's like no no babe you're there's spouses the spouses you're you can't you can't just
go on a date like he's like it's very much against the rul a spouse blowing past the whole like just yeah we went on
a few dates but like was serious I'm not even worried about if it's serious or not you went on a date yeah what the
[ __ ] everyone's so [ __ ] everyone's so Cavalier they really are well also soam damn I told you you are a
beaver so detectives couldn't help feeling that uh Paul was not telling the entire truth they were like interesting
they were like damn I said damn Paul so they actually assigned an officer to track Paul and Christina's movements and
two days later when Christina got the first payout for Marlin's Insurance the detail followed them to Las Vegas where
they checked into an expensive hotel together racked up a very large bill and in the six weeks that followed
Christina received $25,000 from the life insurance company and transferred all of
that money to Paul in a series of seven transfers even though their relationship
wasn't super serious there's a lot of lying happening here and bad lying yeah going to get caught Cheryl is still
alive and guess what everybody Paul doesn't even know Cheryl at this point Paul's married to another woman at this
point cuz correct he is married sorry I should have said that when you brought that point up I'm shook if he is married
but not to Cheryl just to another woman yeah we'll get there so he's been he's been at it for a long time oh Paul Paul
stays at it but yeah so seven months later Paul used that money to purchase his first bar in Burbank which he named
the grand Dutch now based on their investigation detectives in the Cromwell case theorized that following her
makeover Christina divorced Marlin and started her relationship with Paul only to remarry Mr Cromwell less than a year
later in order to arrange for his murder and to cash out on that life insurance policy cool is it cash out or cash in I
feel like do both work I think you can use both yeah I would say both is fine thanks well unfortunately all the
evidence they had was circumstantial and there was really no way for them to prove that either Christina or Paul was
involved in the death it just kind of looked like it yeah according to author Ken herwitz it appeared to the district
attorney that even though they were likely they were the likely ones to commit this murder it was best to wait
and hope that more evidence would arrive yeah and boy did it because remember it's just best to wait just best to wait
they probably did it but like let's let's say wait for more evidence I'm like yeah it's guess okay now after
learning of Paul prevailer connection to the death of Marlon Cromwell detectives
who were investigating Cheryl's death looked for an insurance policy taken out in Cheryl's name and they found that
just a few months before her death Paul started a policy with a $25,000 payout EK and this policy also had a double
indemnity clause meaning it would pay double in the unlikely event of an accidental death or murder oh no I feel
like insurance companies need to not advertise this and just have it be a happy surprise in the midst of a tragedy
that's what I think it's like a you know like it's really sad everybody's upset we're going through grief and oh here's
a little silver lining guess what you get more you got the good but you didn't know that ahead of time so we can be
sure that you didn't take that into consideration when all this was going on exactly well while investigators
continued to pursue the insurance angle two detectives paid a visit to Paul's first wife Leila hoping to learn what
kind of husband Paul had been to her any anything interesting about his past oh come on Leila on us had never met Cheryl
and actually didn't even know she existed oh when the detectives informed her of her death
and when they told Leila that Cheryl had been killed she started trembling and quote could not get her hands to Be
steady she was like freaking out oh she told the Burbank detectives that her marriage to Paul had started out like
most marriages do he was romantic attentive they seemed genuinely happy to be married he seemed happy they did have
money trouble from the early days former girlfriend Morgan St James said money had always been important to Paul he
wanted things that were uh that were far beyond his reach and according to ilila
it was important to Paul that people see him as successful which he defined in financial terms okay he even made it a
point to inform everybody that uh everybody he met that his cousin Stanley cubrick was a wildly successful film
director hoping they would associate him with cubrick success I'm sorry what wait
wait wait you got to say it damn what I told you I told you this is quite an interesting case idea Stanley curi was
going to make an appearance here I don't think Stanley curi did either I didn't know that yeah I don't think he had any
intention of making I think Stanley said keep me out of this he said I'm going to
go make an art film by yeah that what yeah wow however Paul was nothing like his cousin we it doesn't sound like it
it doesn't sound like it in fact after being fired from the LAPD he seemed to just move from one scheme to the other
just blowing his and lela's money along the way on like frivolous [ __ ] shortly
after their wedding that was when Lila noticed a big shift in Paul's personality she said he became volatile
and Moody he would just ignore her instead he would choose to stay up late watching old movies and clean his guns
like instead of interacting with her at all it's a no for me yeah his indifference to ilila soon turned to
anger and violence and I just want to give a trigger warning for like um domestic abuse here this is a pretty
rough one in fact Lila reacted so physically to the news of Cheryl's death basically because there were so many
occasions where she believed that Paul was actually going to kill her oh that's awful yeah one afternoon just about a
year into their marriage she went out for a few hours and when she got home she found that Paul was extremely drunk
and he was pissed about something like enraged before she could even open the driver's side door Paul yanked the door
open and was on top of her punching her in the face over and over and screaming at her I'm going to kill you whoa he
then dragged her out of the car and started beating her head against the side of the car car to the point where
she lost Consciousness and he only stopped when he saw another car approaching she ended up being
hospitalized for several days with very very severe injuries to her head and face but she declined to press charges
because she was afraid of Paul still obviously so he never faced any kind of consequences for the assault wow yeah
that's horrifying horrifying now his attack on Lila seemed to come out of absolutely nowhere but it was just the
beginning of a series of events that caused her to be absolutely terrified of her husband a month or so after the
attack in the car Leila suffered two serious hit and runs like one after the other that left her really badly injured
but luckily still alive in one of the incidents she recalled the driver stopping after he hit her car and
looking at her in the rear view mirror but she could only see his eyes so she couldn't identify him what the [ __ ] now
despite not seeing the driver either time she believed the hit- and run incidents had definitely been
orchestrated by Paul in an effort to get rid of her and in each case there was also an insurance policy that paid out
$5,000 after each incident so they got $10,000 or I really should say Paul did yeah when asked why if she believed he
was trying to kill her did she stay with Paul for so long she explained that she
believed if she tried to leave he would kill her at that point yeah it must be terrifying yeah of course and as we know
that is the most dangerous time to live an abusive partner mhm and in the end it
turned out that the fear that made her stay was actually also so the thing that finally convinced her to leave Paul good
just a few weeks after that second hit and run Paul convinced Ila to join him for a day in the mountains and he said
you know we'll do some target shooting so she reluctantly agreed to go with him I know she reluctantly agreed to go but
when they got into the woods Paul just paced around for a while and never fired a shut a shot excuse me and then decided
it was time to go home justly no I don't like that at all so at was that sounds like he had intent and he lost his nerve
100% and that's exactly what Lea thought she said she she knew she believed that
he fully intended to kill her that day that's horrifying and she knew that if she didn't leave him it would just be a
matter of days before he did get the confidence to do it so it was also around this time that she learned of
Paul's relationship with Christina Cromwell which the courts would have deemed a justifiable reason to disolve
the marriage so she took that opportunity and she divorced Paul damn but also another thing think about here
is she had to have a reason to divor like a justifiable reason she couldn't just feel like I don't want to be in
this relationship anymore yeah like what dumb so hearing Lila's descriptions of the abuse she suffered at the hands of
her ex-husband Paul was as far as the detectives were concerned only further evidence of a pattern of behavior that
had probably led to the death of his current wife Cheryl but the problem was they couldn't prove that he had anything
to do with Cheryl's death according to Ken herwitz Paul walked Cheryl prevailer out to the car on the night of the Mur
murder but his employees had never said that he left the bar for enough time to physically get to the apartment commit
the murder and get back so he hadn't done this Jesus physical evidence of Paul's involvement was obviously hard to
come by but the circumstantial evidence was just piling yeah 10 days after Cheryl's murder investigator sat down
with Paul's cooworker and pretty much the closest thing he had to a friend a guy named Alan Halverson they had
actually worked together at the insurance company and Halverson was drawn to Paul's Charisma and exciting
lifestyle but the more time he spent with Paul the more he started to see a side of Paul that few others had ever
seen save for his ex-wife Lila at first Allan was evasive and pretty much seemed
to be protecting Paul telling investigators that he just knew how much Paul loved Cheryl and how he would never
do anything to hurt her but the detective specifically one detective named detective King could tell that
Halverson was an empathetic person and didn't seem accustomed to lying so he just kept p in until Halverson finally
caved after taking a deep breath he looked at the detectives and said he was afraid of Paul after everything he had
seen and heard oh man according to him Paul wasn't just involved in the inm attempted murders of Lila but also
several local robberies and the death of Marlon Cromwell and he knew this all for
fact holy [ __ ] Halverson said the two men had been out at a bar drinking together and had become quite drunk and
Paul confessed that he'd killed Marlon Cromwell Halverson said he made made the remark that quote I killed her husband
referring to Christina cromwell's husband wow so the detectives could tell there was more than just fear motivating
alen Halverson's silence like Leila Allan also believed that Paul would kill him if he ever said anything about the
murder confession or his knowledge of the other crimes but at the same time he was embarrassed and ashamed for not
giving the the police this information sooner yeah he told detective King don't ask me why I continued working for him I
can't give you a logical explanation of why I did it so at 6:45 p.m. four Los Angeles police officers armed with
shotguns entered the Grand Duke bar and announced that they were placing Paul under arrest for the murders of marlin
Cromwell and Cheryl periler wow and the attempted murder of his ex-wife Lea praver oh [ __ ] and as they placed Paul
in handcuffs and escorted him out of the car he said don't you guys ever give up
that he was just like GH like he's just like oh my God like wow wow shortly after midnight a second team of officers
caught up with Christina Cromwell at the apartment she shared with her sister and
placed her under arrest for the murder of her husband wow now the evidence against Paul and Christina was pretty
much almost entirely circumstantial but there was a lot of it and the prosecutor
from the District Attorney's Office Vincent biglo uh bugliosi excuse me decided to take a chance of that what
evidence they did have would be compelling enough for a jury when the news hit the papers the next day the
Press couldn't help but draw comparisons to the popular film Double Indemnity where a wealthy woman seduces an
insurance agent and convinces him to kill her husband oh [ __ ] it's very similar I love when they're like we
can't help but look at this and say it's the same it is what it is it's a movie yeah the United Press International
described the case as The Late Show come to life Wow saying that the prevailer case quote does Double Indemnity one
better like okay guys people died here this isting wild yeah it's like this is literal this is real people it's not a
movie script these are not actors but the other aspects of the case were too good too salacious to be ignored as far
as the Press was involved Paul's previous employment as an LAPD officer rumors of illegal abortions and of
course his ongoing affair with Christina Cromwell which had motivated most of the
crimes I'm like I don't really know if it was his affair so much as it was the money but yeah it was of it all right so
on May 2nd Paul and Christina were both formally charged and arraigned a short time later in District Court the judge
Joan dempley Clan uh denied bail for both of them and remanded them to the custody of the county pending a
preliminary hearing on May 14th bugliosi took the case to the grand jury with a simple case like we said built on
circumstantial evidence the prosecutor alleged that Paul praver and Christina Cromwell had been carrying on an
extramarital affair for years and that they had conspired to kill Leila prevailer in order to cash in on her
life insurance policy and when that plan failed they devised a new strategy this
time targeting Marlon Cromwell and when those Insurance funds were beginning to run out they targeted Paul's new wife
Cheryl prevailer I like imagine being this ruthless of a human being when you sit there and you
wonder like did he just plan to kill her all along because they were married for
seven months that's the thing and it's like so he's dating Christina but and at the same time is he just hunting for a
woman to kill to marry and kill yeah that's the thing was there ever any love there like did he pick her specifically
because he was like oh I can kill her like and who killed her that's yeah who did it actually like who pulled the
trigger holy [ __ ] now buglio like we just said couldn't connect either of the accused to the murders directly but the
circumstantial evidence more than 30 witness statements and multiple Bank transfers were compelling enough for the
grand jury to return indictments on all charges it was actually really unusual for a jury to indict without knowing the
identity of the actual killer but Boo's strategy emphasized that quote those responsible for the murder stood to
profit from insurance policies on the victim's lives and thus they should be held equally as responsible as whoever
did commit the murders yeah on all counts Paul and Christina pleaded not guilty lies yeah now a trial date was
set for November and in the meantime lawyers for Paul and Christina started petitioning the court to have the trial
separated arguing that it would be pre prejudicial for Christina to be tried with Paul quote because the greater
number of counts against him uh Superior judge Pierce young listened to both sides but ultimately denied that motion
to sever the trials he said nope he locked those two in as codefendants and to make matters worse for them after
judge Young's decision the prosecutor's office announced that they'd be seeking the death penalty I mean honestly if and
and again we've are we've gone if you've listen to this you know our stances on the whole thing yeah we're gray like
super gray but I lean more towards being against it if there's if there's a case
where you it makes sense that they're going for it this makes sense like I can see why they were going for it here yeah
same so Paul and Christina's trial began on November 18th 1968 which is weird because today is November 19th which is
the very next day but we were actually originally slated to record this yesterday that is weird and that happens
a lot that's the thing it's something that happens so often but so yes uh years later prosecutor Vincent buio
would make a name for himself as the prosecutor in the case against the Manson family say it say it say it say
it damn that's crazy though yeah and subsequently as an author like yourself oh my God there's some big players in
this I know but at the time because this all happened before that he was young and pretty relatively inexperienced as a
prosecutor far green he was green so those two facts left many people wondering if he was the right person for
the job people were like I don't know if this case is going to go like we want it
to but when it came time for those opening arguments everybody was about to have egg on their face a big
disgrace yes I don't know the rest of the words something all over the place but years later something all over the
place right kicking your can all over the place is it kicking your can you got mud on your face you big disgrace
kicking your all over the place why does that feel wrong I don't know I guess your can is your butt yeah I'm looking
it up I like that yeah we right okay I second guessed myself I need to stop doing that I second guessed myself too
well years later buio himself would write I sometimes wave an opening statement feeling that it takes the edge
off my witness's testimony when the jury has already heard the story from me but
in this case he understood that the timeline was long and pretty complicated the evidence was not always explicit in
its importance and the killer was still unknown so he decided to take some time to clarify these finer points of the
case and told the jury that the deaths of Marlon Cromwell and Cheryl praver had quote all the earmarks of planned
executions he continued saying we intend to prove by very strong circumstantial evidence that Paul praver was
responsible for the murder of his wife Cheryl emphasizing the word responsible to mean it was him who set things in
motion not necessarily pulled the trigger yes but he is responsible here interesting so lawyers for the defense
on the other hand they actually chose to wave their opening statements which I didn't know was an option I also didn't
actually maybe I did yeah I feel like it's it's not something that really pops up in our cases I think I knew that it
was a thing it just it really doesn't pop up in our cases a lot yeah I didn't know even think of one to be honest but
with more than a hundred Witnesses called and a large amount of complicated evidence the trial dragged on for almost
3 months so during this time most of the Public's attention was focused on Paul and Christina's behavior in the
courtroom which many people found to be in poor taste Paul's former girlfriend Morgan St James said Paul was flirting
and winking with the court reporter and Christina showed up in a mini skirt what
yeah not really either things you want to be doing while you're on trial for murder probably not but despite the
distractions buosi stayed mostly focused on what evidence he could show to the jury to convince them of Paul's guilt he
wasn't able to prove Paul pulled the trigger in either case obviously but he was able to show the bank transfers that
happened shortly after each murder occurred and the policy started paying oh and it was the timing of the murders
and the transfers more than anything else that really seemed to get through to the jury cuz that's hard to argue it
is like you got numbers in front of you yeah but regardless of who actually committed the murders the quick transfer
of funds seven in total was according to booly OC evidence that neither murder uh
would have occurred without Paul's orchestration exactly now if his strategy was focused and simple intended
to make sense to anybody on the jury the defense had different ideas about how how they should proceed rather than
attempt to you know refute the prosecution's evidence and witness statements or anything like that lawyers
for Paul and Christina attempted to place blame on each other because they each had their own set of lawyers ah
there it is I was waiting for that yeah Paul's lawyer Mel album argued that Christina had orchestrated both murders
in order to have Paul all to herself oh and her lawyer argued that Christina was
just another victim who'd been manipulated by Paul which is kind of believable yeah absolutely now in
February 15th buosi gave his closing remarks he summarized the case for the jury as just a simple matter of murder
for profit and criticized the defense for quote throwing up a smoke screen around the facts of the case in order to
escape into the darkness of Reasonable Doubt which is poetic yeah and correct Escape into the darkness yeah I love it
if you listened to the rewatcher it made me immediately think of into the dark into the darkos go listen to the
rewatcher go listen to that show it's great Mel Alba meanwhile tried to place blame on the prosecution's main witness
you might remember one Alan Halverson oh I do AR and he argued that it was actually Halverson who had killed Sherl
oh not true but after closing statements were given the jur given the jury retired for deliberation on February
18th after 3 days of deliberation they returned to announce that they found Paul praver guilty on two counts of
first-degree murder wow and guilty on one count of attempted murder wow yeah so they found him guilty across the
board damn and they found Christina Cromwell guilty of one count of first-degree murder as well Vincent bu
Leo's case had been very complicated as we know very circumstantial but in the end he was able to convince that jury
that each defendant had played essential roles in the deaths of their spous spouses even if they didn't do the
killing themselves that's very very interesting yeah and as a green prosecutor at the time that's the thing
like that's very fascinating and I mean he must have been very persuasive with such a circumstantial case yep to be for
Beyond A Reasonable Doubt I think I think those damn we should just name this episode damn I think those
transfers really spoke for themselves and the fact that they there are you know two deaths here and there's some
time between them very specific and those transfers align so perfectly with like in conjunction to that timeline you
know what I mean mhm so Paul and Christina were back in court for sentencing on February 24th 1969 and
bugio followed through on his earlier statements and asked the jury to sentence each of them to death for their
roles in the murders he told the jury to Paul praver The Taking of a human life is like taking a drink of water scary
that hits Christina's attorney David K kogus argued that his client was quote not an equal partner in the slaying of
Cromwell and that she went along with the crime only because she was under uh prevailer fali influence wow yeah
pulling out this F goly I know I had to look that up the following day February 26 the jury announced their decisions
for her role in the murder of her husband Christina Cromwell was sentenced to life in prison but she did get the
eligibility for parole after seven years oh whenever you hear life in prison and
then you're like but after seven years you can probably get out it's like what is that yeah think I that too like what
a weird conflicting statement the rest of your life unless you can reach of the board in
like wow as for Paul prer though they sentenced him to death in the guas chamber yes which is honestly you have
to think about how remarkable that is because that is remarkable everybody on that jury KN like sat there knowing that
he did not actively kill Cheryl and did not act I mean we don't know if he actively killed um but they but they
could not technically prove that he had a actual physical hand in the act itself
right but to sentence him to death even still is interesting that's the thing this is an
interesting case yeah but when asked for comment on the sentences Paul told reporters it was the sentence he'd been
hoping for he said I don't want to spend the rest of my life in prison whoa so just like one final Jack yeah it's her
being it's him being like you know what I wanted that I wanted that actually so thanks like okay you petulent [ __ ]
child but for those most affected by the trial the verdicts and sentences came as
obviously a significant relief Alan Halverson and Lila prevail the state's two most important Witnesses
actually started spending a lot of time together during the trial shut up and they eventually got married oh my gosh
cuz they had the bond over like this very unusual shared experience wow isn't that awesome I hope they had a lovely
life it sounds like they did oh good yeah you know and in 1972 as you might remember well not saying you were alive
but wow that's not what I was saying just because it's come up a lot California repealed the death penalty
and all death row inmates had their sentences commuted to life in prison which honestly is actually hilarious to
me that he was like I wanted to to go to the guest chamber and the state was like
oh psych you thought only a few years later too so this meant that Paul who had been sentenced like we just said to
die in prison was now eligible for parole though as early as 1984 forgot about that so in response to that I also
was not alive then either she wasn't just you you were you were like on your way though no I'm at the end of the next
year U I wasn't on my way I don't know how it all works they were thinking about you actually they weren't you were
surprised I was goingon to say they didn't actually you weren you were the stomach flu but in response to that
change Leila Halverson Halon now oh look at that and California assemblyman Patrick Nolan started lobbying very hard
to keep Paul who they described as a cold calculating killer in prison for the rest of his life yeah I get that
they said we're asking everyone to join us with requesting that the board of uh prison term reopen the prevailer case
and revoke his parole in light of the cold-blooded crimes committed by him yeah and it turned out that they were
not alone in their Quest they also had the support of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office in a
statement to reporters Deputy district attorney Steve saer said periler is performing on paper like a model
prisoner but he himself did not believe that Paul had genuinely reformed in any way yeah and openly supported the
Halverson's case so in 197 six Christina Cromwell was actually paroled from prison oh I knew you were going to tell
she did not spend a lot a lot of time in there in the years that followed though
she did become a key witness in the District Attorney's efforts to keep Paul Behind Bars whenever he became available
for or eligible excuse me for parole yeah and what else are he going to do at a parole Hearing in 1986 when Elena was
alive mhm Christina Cromwell testified for nearly 4 hours and during that time she told the board that in 1966
this is crazy Paul had given his parents a trip to Mexico as an anniversary party
but then tried to have his parents murdered as they traveled between Tiana and enata I'm sorry he tried to have his he
tried to kill his own parents Paul's father was shot in the face during the attack but was unable to identify the
shooter in the case went cold oh this guy's a [ __ ] monster he was going way far back his parents anniversary he was
gonna have them killed in cash in on the money [ __ ] yeah he's a he's a [ __ ] cold
blooded yeah but at the time it was also revealed that during the attack on Leila
where Paul beat her brutally Christina was in the car waiting nearby to help Paul flee the scene oh [ __ ] which I'm
like yeah yeah that's [ __ ] up yeah now all of Paul's subsequent awful it is awful all of Paul's subsequent Bots for
parole have been denied and he remains in prison to this day at Mule Creek Correctional Facility in California damn
yes that wasn't even intentional I just me damn in reflecting on the case for the Discovery Channel
executive director of the Los Angeles Police Museum it's a mouthful told producers Paul was from a moneyed family
and certainly could have found easier ways to get money oh yeah he said as these attacks went on each got more and
more violent I don't think he was killing for insurance money I think prevailer was a stone cold killer I
think exactly I think it's started off as a money thing like or what he was trying to think of as a money thing but
there's no way I think the money was an added bonus I think he liked the feeling
of power of being able to just be like that person gone and he's obviously like a monster I mean lit monster in his own
marriages like he's a monster he had his own parents attacked as an anniversary was shot in the face like are you
kidding me yeah like wild poor Leila I know like he's a monster and then to find out that the woman he was cheating
on you with was sitting in the car in the getaway car and then she's just out walking around like what that's [ __ ]
yeah scary scary [ __ ] but strange story very strange case very interesting and
who the [ __ ] killed Cheryl well that's a that's the the main takeaway here who
killed Marlin is who the [ __ ] is the person who did it we don't know they escaped into the darkness literally
which is honestly like the scariest [ __ ] I've ever heard very haunting yeah you
just wonder who he was connected to and wow that's the thing like you don't know
how far this goes D they just don't but we'll never know that's that that's the the case for you and uh we hope you keep
listening we hope you keep it Dam damn but not so weird that all you can say is damn but I've been there too
so keep it that way I can't help it bye damn damn beavers a [Music] [Music] [Music]

When police were called to the scene of shooting at the Castillion Apartments in Los Angeles on April 20, 1968, they assumed the victim, twenty-two-year-old Cheryl Perveler, had been shot in a robbery gone wrong. However, when they began looking into her personal life, they soon realized Cheryl’s killer could have been much closer to home.

In most cases of individual murders, detectives always look at the spouse first, and in this case, there was a lot to look at. Cheryl had recently married Paul Perveler, a former Los Angeles Police officer with a checkered past and an obvious obsession with wealth and power. Yet the more they investigated Paul Perveler, the more detectives began to suspect they didn’t have just one murder on their hands, and it was starting to look like Cheryl’s death was the culmination of a larger and far more shocking conspiracy than anyone had expected.

Thank you to the Incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research and Writing support! References

Braxton, Greg. 1982. "Woman asks public to keep killer ex-husband jailed." Los Angeles Times, September 19: 529.

Bugliosi, Vincent, and Ken Hurwitz. 2004. Till Death Do Us Part: A True Murder Mystery. New York, NY: W.W. Norton and Company.

2017. A Crime to Remember. Performed by Christine Connor and Elise Graves.

Eintoss, Ron. 1969. "Death penalty asked in insurance murders." Los Angeles Times, February 25: 26.

—. 1969. "Jury asks death for Perveler, life in prison for girlfriend." Los Angeles Times, February 26: 29.

El Sereno Star. 1966. "Gun victim found in house fire." El Sereno Star, December 15: 1.

Farr, Bill. 1986. "Ex-officer in prison for killing fails in parole bid." Los Angeles Times, August 30: 2.

Haynes, Roy, and Dial Torgerson. 1968. "Murder charges filed against pair in double indemnity case." Los Angeles Times, May 3: 3.

Los Angeles Times. 1968. "Ex-officer, woman ask seperate trials." Los Angeles Times, November 15: 41.

Newton, Tom, and Dial Torgerson. 1968. "Ex-policeman, woman accused of killing mates for insuarance." Los Angeles Times, May 2: 1.

The Register. 1969. "First degree murder asked in mates case." The Register (Santa Ana, CA), February 5: 15.

United Press International. 1969. "Dual murder case goes to jury soon." Stockton Evening and Sunday Record, February 12: 11.

Valley Times. 1968. "Transcript says alleged killer told of slaying." Valley Times, May 21:

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Brief Summary

Cheryl Praver's murder leads to shocking revelations about her husband Paul and his past crimes, culminating in a dramatic trial.

Key points

Murder of Cheryl Piler. Cheryl Piler was found shot in her car, leading to a complex investigation.
Paul Piler's Shocking Past. Cheryl's husband, Paul, has a surprising history with the LAPD and serious crimes.
Suspicious House Fire. A house fire reveals a murder, leading to questions about the killer's identity.
Christina's Life Insurance Policy. Just two months before Marlin's death, Christina took out a $75,000 life insurance policy on him.
Paul's Violent Past. Leila describes her terrifying experiences with Paul, including a brutal attack.
Circumstantial Evidence Piles Up. Despite a lack of direct evidence, circumstantial evidence against Paul and Christina mounts.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

What the [ __ ]? Not one of them called the police?

Reacting to neighbors ignoring gunshots.

1:14WatchDec 5, 2024

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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