A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

[0] True crime is a genre that is full of sad and upsetting stories.

[1] But there have been a few true crime stories that we've covered on this channel and elsewhere that have really upset me more than normal, and they will likely stay with me for a long time.

[2] And today's story about Jesse Blodgett and her family is one of those kinds of stories.

[3] Be sure to stick around to the end as we have an important What Are They Up to Now segment.

[4] Today's story is the remastered audio from The Monster in Her Bedroom, was real, which is a very popular video on our main YouTube channel.

[5] The link to that video is in the description.

[6] But before we get into that story, if you're a fan of the strange, dark, and mysterious delivered in story format, and you've come to the right podcast because that's all we do, and we upload twice a week, once on Monday and once on Thursday.

[7] So, if that's of interest to you, please ask the five -star review button to help you move out of your apartment and offer them beer and pizza as payment.

[8] But once they accept, and the move is complete, Only serve them odules and anchovy pizza.

[9] Also, please subscribe to the Mr. Ballin podcast wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss any of our weekly uploads.

[10] Okay, let's get into today's story.

[11] I'm Dan Tibersky.

[12] In 2011, something strange began to happen at a high school in upstate New York.

[13] A mystery illness, bizarre symptoms, and spreading fast.

[14] What's the answer?

[15] And what do you do if they tell you it's all in your head?

[16] Hysterical.

[17] A new podcast from Wondry and Pineapple Street Studios.

[18] Binge all episodes of hysterical early and ad -free on Wondery Plus.

[19] Located in the middle of America is a little town called Hartford, Wisconsin.

[20] Downtown, they have the biggest automobile museum in all of Wisconsin.

[21] They also have a bowling alley called Dave's Lanes, which sells cheap beer and the best frozen pizza in town.

[22] Around the corner from the museum and Dave's Lanes are two other very popular local spots.

[23] One is called Scoop DeVille, which is an ice cream parlor that's themed like it's the 1950s, and they specialize in Raspberry Sundays.

[24] And the other popular spot is called the Mineshaft, and it's this big family -friendly restaurant that offers comfort food and arcade games.

[25] On warmer days, you can find residents of Hartford out on the many walking trails of Woodlawn and Willowbrook, which are two big, very well -maintained parks that are right outside of the downtown area.

[26] And on virtually any day, whether it's warm or cold, you can find Hartford residents packed into the Shower Arts Center, which is a local theater, to watch the local theater troupe perform.

[27] But none of these attractions are why anybody knows about Hartford, Wisconsin.

[28] The reason we know about Hartford, Wisconsin, is because of Jesse Blodgett.

[29] Jesse Blodgett was a miracle.

[30] She was born just outside of Atlanta, Georgia, in 1994, to her loving parents, Buck and Joy Blodgett, and Buck and Joy, for the longest time, they couldn't have kids.

[31] In fact, they were kind of adjusting to their reality that they would not be able to have biological children when Joy discovered she was pregnant.

[32] The couple couldn't believe it.

[33] It was like the most incredible thing that either of them had ever experienced.

[34] Joy would give birth to Jesse at home with no drugs, no doctors, just Buck, his mom, and a midwife.

[35] And when little Jesse poked her head into the world for the first time, Buck and Joy fell instantly in love with her.

[36] after Jesse's birth, the Blodget family would leave Atlanta, Georgia, and move to Hartford, Wisconsin.

[37] And it was there inside of their modest two -story home, about five minutes drive from the downtown, that Jesse would grow up.

[38] And it was also inside of that modest two -story home, where many years later, Jesse would come face to face with a monster.

[39] Jesse was always someone the other kids looked up to.

[40] She was a brilliant musician who could sing and she could play the piano and the violin.

[41] One of her very close friends growing up, a girl named Jacqueline Knights, said that whenever she went over to Jessie's house, she would walk in and have to yell at the top of her lungs just to get Jesse's attention because Jesse was permanently playing the piano.

[42] But Jesse's musical talents were not the only reason people were attracted to her.

[43] From a young age, Jesse became outraged by bullying and unfairness of any kind, and so very quickly, she developed a very strong moral compass.

[44] She became a fierce offender of animal rights, environmentalism, sustainability, social justice, and ultimately ending violence against women.

[45] By the time she graduated from high school in 2012, Jessie had become very popular amongst her peers and also amongst teachers and parents.

[46] Jesse just came off as someone who was wise beyond her years.

[47] Jesse always talked about wanting to change the world, and after high school, she kind of figured out how she was going to do that.

[48] She decided she would study to become a choir director for either a university or a high school, because through that role, she would be able to teach and mentor upwards of 100 young lives every single year.

[49] So in the fall of 2012, Jesse would leave Hartford and head off to the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, which is about an hour southeast of Hartford, and there she would enroll in their musical education program.

[50] And during that first year at the school, Jessie did so well in that program that she was offered a talent scholarship for the following year.

[51] After wrapping up her incredibly successful freshman year in college, Jesse came back to Hartford, Wisconsin to live with her parents for the summer.

[52] Now, unlike other college kids that were back home for the summer, Jesse was not treating this break like it was a vacation.

[53] Instead, she decided she would just jump right into her musical education career.

[54] And so as soon as she got home, she started her own business, teaching voice and piano and violin, two kids in Hartford.

[55] And within weeks of starting this brand new business, she had over 25 kids signed up.

[56] When Jesse wasn't teaching that summer, she was often writing original music with her friend Dan Bartelt, who was also a very talented local musician.

[57] Or when she wasn't doing that, she was rehearsing at the Shower Arts Center where that summer she had auditioned for and landed a central role in that summer's musical, the fiddler on the roof.

[58] Jesse was the fiddler, and she was very excited about this.

[59] The musical opened to a packed house on Friday, July 12th at 7 .30 p .m., and Jesse and the rest of her cast were incredible.

[60] And then the next night, July 13th, Saturday, they had another big performance at 7 .30 as well.

[61] well, and then on Sunday, July 14th, they had a matinee performance at 2 p .m. After that matinee, Jesse and the rest of her castmates headed off to another cast member's house who had a pool, and they had a big pool party to celebrate the end of their opening weekend.

[62] And during this party, Jesse spent half of her time sitting around the pool with her castmates, and the other half of the time she spent petting llamas that were in a nearby field.

[63] Jesse would finally leave the party and get back to her parents' house sometime after midnight, and when she went inside, her mother, Joy, was still awake.

[64] And so when Joy heard her daughter, she came out to the front of the house, and she was getting ready to ask Jesse, you know, how was the party, when she noticed right away that something was off about Jesse.

[65] She looked upset about something.

[66] And so Joy asked her, you know, are you okay?

[67] And so Jesse looked like she was about to maybe go into a lengthy explanation about why she was feeling the way she was feeling, but ultimately, Jesse just kind of stopped herself and in a tone that was less upset and more just annoyed, she would tell her mom, you know, the guys in the cast, you know, there are these two older guys that were kind of hitting on me, and, you know, those are my friends, and I felt like they were crossing the line, and it was just totally uncomfortable.

[68] And so Joy began asking some follow -up questions to get a sense of, you know, how serious this was, and it just seemed like it wasn't that serious, and pretty quickly the two women said good night to each other, and they both retired to their rooms to go to bed.

[69] The next morning, Buck and Joy got up fairly early around 7 a .m., and Jessie, she stayed in bed because her only commitment that day was a lesson she was teaching one of her students at around noon, and they'd be coming by the house for that lesson.

[70] And so her parents knew she was sleeping in, and so Buck and Joy, they're kind of going about their morning routine.

[71] Buck left ahead of Joy, probably around 7 or 7 .30, and then at 8 a .m., Joy, right before she was, she left the house, she brought some laundry up to Jesse's room.

[72] And so she opens Jesse's door, she goes inside, Jesse's asleep, and Joy, she puts the laundry down, and she considers going over and waking her daughter up just to say good morning and maybe goodbye.

[73] But she thought to herself, you know, Jessie never gets a chance to sleep in.

[74] She's always got something going on, and so I'll let her sleep.

[75] And so Joy just quietly left the room, she shut the door behind her, and she headed off to work.

[76] At around noon, Joy would leave her office and head back home for her lunch break.

[77] And so when she walked into her home, she was expecting to see Jessie awake, because Jessie had one of her students arriving any time.

[78] But when she walked inside, the house was silent.

[79] Jesse was not downstairs.

[80] She apparently was not awake.

[81] And Joy had seen her car out in the driveway, so she knew she hadn't left.

[82] And so kind of annoyed, Joy walked to the foot of the stairs, and she yelled upstairs for Jesse to wake up.

[83] You know, hey, your student's going to be here any minute.

[84] And then Joy left the foot of the stairs and walked into the kitchen and made herself something to eat.

[85] After a little while, as she's finishing making her lunch, Joy hears a knock on the front door.

[86] And now at this point, Joy is really annoyed because Jesse has still not made a sound, she has not come downstairs.

[87] And so Joy, she goes over to the front door, she opens it up, and sure enough, it's Jesse's student.

[88] She asked the student to come inside and wait for a minute.

[89] and then Joy hustles up the stairs.

[90] She goes right over to Jessie's bedroom.

[91] She opens the door up.

[92] Jesse's still in bed.

[93] And so Joy runs over to her to jostle her awake.

[94] But as soon as she is standing right above the bed, right over her daughter, and she has a clear look down at her daughter's face, she freezes.

[95] Moments later, she would call 911.

[96] Joy would gently pull her daughter out of the bed and lay her down on the ground.

[97] She would put a pillow underneath her head, and then she would begin doing chest compressions to try to save her daughter's life.

[98] But it was already too late.

[99] When police and paramedics arrived moments later, they came into the bedroom and they quickly determined that Jesse was deceased.

[100] When police looked at Jesse's body, they too saw the marks on her neck that her mother had referenced on the 911 call, and they also saw the same ligature marks on her left wrist and also on her ankles.

[101] As a result of these findings, the police on scene quickly concluded that this was not a naturally occurring death, this was not a suicide, this was a homicide.

[102] And so as gently as they could, the police ushered Joy out of her daughter's bedroom and led her downstairs because at this point her daughter's bedroom was a crime scene and they needed to keep it pristine so they could find evidence to figure out who did this.

[103] Once downstairs, Joy was reunited with her very distraught husband, Buck, who had just come home as well, and the two of them, I mean, their life is destroyed.

[104] Their beautiful baby girl, their only child, is now suddenly gone and it didn't make any sense.

[105] During the search of Jesse's bedroom and then also the Blodget House at large, the police were not able to find any cord or rope or ligatures that could have been used to strangle Jesse to death.

[106] The police also noted that there was no sign of forced entry anywhere in the house and it appeared nothing in the house was stolen.

[107] And so quickly, the lead Hartford police detective named Richard Thicken's began operating under the assumption that the killer knew Jesse and targeted Jesse, that they would have known where she was in the house, they knew how to get in the house, and they went straight for her, they killed her, and they left.

[108] When Detective Thicken's spoke with Buck and Joy just hours after they had discovered their daughter dead, he asked them if they had any idea who would want to hurt their daughter.

[109] And at first the parents said, no, we don't know anyone.

[110] But after some more prodding, Buck would say, well, you know, recently there were some tree limb cutters that were cutting limbs right outside of Jesse's bedroom window.

[111] And so maybe they looked in and they saw a teenage girl who was all alone and they came in and they attacked her.

[112] And then Buck also said that in addition to teaching music that summer, Jesse had picked up a few hours working at a restaurant down the road.

[113] And recently, she had come into conflict.

[114] with one of her coworkers who began acting very inappropriately with her.

[115] He basically would walk past Jesse and intentionally bump into her and rub into her and just get inside of her personal space.

[116] And this coworker was aware of the fact that Jesse was really upset and had already told her family.

[117] And so perhaps this coworker was disgruntled and was seeking revenge.

[118] Also, Joy would point out to the detective that the night before when Jesse came home, she had seemed really upset about something.

[119] She had said it was about these two guys that were hitting on her at the party and it made her uncomfortable, but Joy and Jesse didn't really get into it.

[120] So there was something obviously on her mind the night that she was killed.

[121] Following this discussion, Detective Thicken's would go out and track down those tree tremors.

[122] He would also track down the co -worker at the restaurant, and he discovered that they had rock -solid alibis and they were ruled out as suspects.

[123] As for the two older guys, the cast members from the pool party that had made Jesse uncomfortable, Detective Thicken's found them, and he very quickly ruled out one of them, but he was not able to rule out the other.

[124] His name was Randy Talley.

[125] When Detective Thickens spoke to Randy on July 15th, the day that Jesse was found, Randy would deny having anything to do with Jesse's death.

[126] When Detective Thickens asked him, you know, where were you the night before after the cast party?

[127] where'd you go, and then where were you this morning?

[128] Randy would tell him that after the party, he went back to his apartment, and that is where he has been the entire time until right then.

[129] When Detective Thickens asked him if there was anyone that could corroborate his story, Randy said, no, he was alone in his apartment the entire time.

[130] Shortly after speaking with Randy, the police were still searching Jesse's bedroom for evidence, and they discovered her diary.

[131] And her final entry in this diary, only made Randy seem more suspicious.

[132] Despite downplaying the incident that Jesse had had with these two older cast members at the pool party, after Jesse had spoken with her mom briefly when she got back from the party, she had gone up to her room and then made this final diary entry.

[133] And in it, she talks about being really upset about what these two guys had done to her.

[134] She said that these two guys were corrupting her, and that they were taking what should be platonic love and perverting it into a competition.

[135] Her closing lines seemed to indicate that she might have been expecting some sort of future confrontation with these two guys.

[136] The lines read, I am not helpless.

[137] I will recognize problems and confront them without fear.

[138] God be with me. Between Randy's lack of an alibi and then Jesse's kind of ominous final message that seemed to be talking about Randy, Randy quickly became the primary suspect in this murder investigation.

[139] But Randy's cell phone records indicated that he had not had any interaction, no calls, no text messages, with Jesse leading up to her death, and around the time in the morning of July 15th when she would have been killed, Randy's cell phone was in his apartment, far away from Jesse's house.

[140] And so while this didn't definitively mean that Randy could not have killed Jesse because he could have just left his cell phone at his apartment when he carried out the attack.

[141] What it did mean was there wasn't any real evidence to support the idea that Randy killed Jesse.

[142] And so the Hartford police had to go back to the drawing board and try to find new leads to chase down.

[143] And on July 16th, just 24 hours after Jesse was discovered, the police would get a huge lead.

[144] She struck him with her motor vehicle.

[145] She had been under the influence and she left him there.

[146] In January 2022, local woman Karen Reid was implicated in the mysterious death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O 'Keefe.

[147] It was alleged that after an innocent night out for drinks with friends, Karen and John got into a lover's quarrel en route to the next location.

[148] What happens next?

[149] Depends on who you ask.

[150] Was it a crime of passion?

[151] If you believe the prosecution, it's because the evidence.

[152] evidence was so compelling.

[153] This was clearly an intentional act.

[154] And his cause of death was blunt force trauma with hypothermia.

[155] Or a corrupt police cover -up.

[156] If you believe the defense theory, however, this was all a cover -up to prevent one of their own from going down.

[157] Everyone had an opinion.

[158] And after the 10 -week trial, the jury could not come to a unanimous decision.

[159] To end in a mistrial, it's just a confirmation of just how complicated this case is.

[160] Law and Crime presents the most in -depth analysis to date of the sensational case in Karen.

[161] You can listen to Karen exclusively with Wondry Plus.

[162] Join Wondry Plus in the Wondry app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

[163] If you're listening to this podcast, then chances are good.

[164] You are a fan of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious.

[165] And if that's the case, then I've got some good news.

[166] We just launched a brand new Strange Dark and Mysterious podcast called Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries.

[167] And as the name suggests, it's a show about medical mysteries, a genre that many fans have been asking us to dive into for years, and we finally decided to take the plunge and the show is awesome.

[168] In this free, weekly show, we explore bizarre, unheard of diseases, strange medical mishaps, unexplainable deaths, and everything in between.

[169] Each story is totally true and totally terrifying.

[170] Go follow Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries wherever you get your podcasts, and if you're a prime member, you can listen early and add free.

[171] on Amazon Music.

[172] Three days before Jesse was killed, a young woman about the same age as Jesse named Melissa Richards decided to take her dog for a walk in a park in Richfield, Wisconsin, which is a small town about 10 miles southeast of Hartford.

[173] When Melissa pulled her car into the dirt parking lot that connected to the walking trail she intended to go on, she noticed there was only one other car parked in this lot.

[174] and it was immediately on her left pointed nose away from the entrance.

[175] It was this blue minivan.

[176] And so as she's driving in, she looked over at it, and she noticed the driver had their legs poking out of the driver's side window, as if they were laying down across the front seats.

[177] And so this didn't really matter to Melissa, but she definitely took note of this person in this van.

[178] And so she drives past the blue van on her left.

[179] She drives all the way across to the other side of the dirt lot.

[180] She parks her car, she hops out, she gets her little dog Remy out of the car, and then she walks away from the parking lot and heads onto the walking trail into the woods.

[181] The trail that she was walking on was basically a big loop that ended at the entrance to the dirt parking lot.

[182] And so when she was done with her walk, she would be walking directly across the entire parking lot, which would mean she would be walking on foot past that blue minivan if it was still there when she was done.

[183] And so Melissa does a 30 -minute loop.

[184] She gets all the way around and she reaches the entrance to the parking lot and she sees the blue minivan is still parked where it was, except the driver no longer has their feet poking out of the window.

[185] Now she can't see if there's anybody in the van at all.

[186] And so Melissa, again, she's not really thinking about this.

[187] It's crossing her mind, but she's not on edge about this van.

[188] And so she lets go of the leash of Remy and Remy starts running to the car and Melissa pulls out her key fob and she opens up the trunk to the car and so Remy runs over, he leaps into the car, and then Melissa just continues to walk across the lot towards her vehicle.

[189] And when Melissa walks just far enough that she is past the blue minivan, she turns to look at it and she sees the person who had been sticking their legs out of the window, the driver, is now sitting in the passenger seat of the blue minivan, the door is open, and this person is sitting there staring at Melissa.

[190] And so Melissa, she makes quick eye contact with this person, and immediately averts her gaze.

[191] She doesn't want to be rude, and she just keeps on walking towards her vehicle.

[192] But again, she's not worried about what's happening with this fan.

[193] She's just aware of this person and this fan.

[194] But after averting her gaze, she hears the sound of someone running towards her from behind.

[195] And so she whips her head around and she sees the same person who was sitting in the passenger seat, the driver of this van, has run up to her.

[196] And as soon as she turned around to face this person, they came to a complete stop, and they were just staring directly at Melissa.

[197] They were only about 10 feet apart.

[198] And Melissa kind of reflexively said, Oh, you scared me. And then Melissa just turned her back on this person and continued walking towards her vehicle.

[199] And after taking only a couple of steps, once again, she heard the sound of this person behind her, start running towards her.

[200] And immediately she whips her head around again and again.

[201] This person comes to an abrupt stop as soon as Melissa is looking at them.

[202] Except now Melissa knows something's not right.

[203] And, worst of all, she looks down and in this person's right hand by their hip is a knife.

[204] A split second later, this person charges Melissa, they tackle Melissa to the ground, Melissa smashes down onto her stomach, and she's pinned on her stomach.

[205] And this person, they attempt to stab Melissa, but Melissa fights back like mad.

[206] She turns over and she grabs the blade of the knife, and she wrestles it away from her attacker, and she pulls the knife under her body, and she puts it under all of her weight.

[207] And the attacker is so surprised that this has happened.

[208] They actually stopped for a second before kind of reaching down and trying to yank the knife out from underneath Melissa, but Melissa is not letting it go.

[209] And so finally, the attacker just kind of sits up on her back and says, can I just go?

[210] And Melissa says, no. But at that exact moment, the attacker leapt up and started running back towards the blue minivan.

[211] And so Melissa, she's not waiting around to see what they're going to do.

[212] And so she jumps up.

[213] She's still got the knife in her hand.

[214] Her hands are completely ruined.

[215] Melissa runs to her car.

[216] She leaps inside.

[217] She throws the bloody knife onto the floorboard of the passenger seat.

[218] After making sure Remy is in the car with her, she shuts the back hatch, she locks the doors, and then she turns around, and she sees her attacker in the van peeling out of the lot driving away.

[219] And so Melissa is relieved, but she also just wants to get the heck away from where she is right now.

[220] She's totally alone.

[221] And so she fires up her car and she drives to the hospital.

[222] After getting 15 stitches to repair the three very deep cuts in her hands, Melissa was transferred to a recovery room where a man named Joel Klossing, who was a detective with the Washington County Sheriff Department, he came into the room and he took down Melissa's statement.

[223] Now, Melissa was very shaken up about what had just happened.

[224] She had no idea who this person was, why they attacked her, But despite being shaken up, Melissa had the most incredible memory of the event.

[225] She knew exactly what her attacker looked like, all the little details, and she knew everything about the vehicle, to include the fact that she knew it was a Dodge Caravan minivan.

[226] So she knew the exact type of car, and she guessed it was probably from the years 2000 to 2002.

[227] And so Melissa gives this incredible statement, and Detective Klossing, he goes back and he has a composite sketch made of the attacker and then on this sheet that showed the attacker there was a description of the vehicle and where it was located and some details of the case.

[228] And so Detective Clossing releases this sketch and the information to the media and he puts it around town and he's expecting someone in town to know who this person is because the description is so, so good.

[229] And someone would come forward.

[230] On July 16th, so one day after Jesse had been killed, a day, a deputy from the Washington County Sheriff Department, he came forward and said, hey, I saw your flyer and I read the description Melissa gave about the type of vehicle this person was using, and I have seen that vehicle parked in the exact same spot in that park.

[231] I was there a couple of weeks ago.

[232] I saw it there.

[233] There was something weird about it.

[234] The driver was acting strange.

[235] And so I actually ran the license plates to see if there was some outstanding warrants or something going on with this person.

[236] but after I ran the plates, nothing came up, and so I kind of just forgot about it.

[237] But now I've read this description, and I'm pretty convinced it's the same exact vehicle.

[238] And so I can pull those plates that I ran, and we can see who owned that vehicle, and, you know, maybe it's a match.

[239] And so the deputy, he pulls up the information that he had pulled from the license plates of the van he had seen a couple of weeks earlier, and when they looked at the owner of that minivan, there was just no way they matched the description that Melissa gave.

[240] It just could not be the same person.

[241] And so briefly, Detective Clossing and the deputy believed that, okay, it was just some big coincidence that a very similar blue minivan was parked in the exact same spot a couple of weeks apart.

[242] But when Detective Clossing looked a little bit deeper into who the owner of that vehicle was, he would discover they had a relative that matched exactly the description that Melissa gave of her attacker.

[243] And so on the afternoon of July 16th, So one day after Jesse has been killed, Detective Klossing tracks down the phone number of the relative, who looks exactly like the attacker, and he punches that number into his cell phone, and he put the phone to his ear.

[244] At the same time, 10 miles to the northwest, Buck and Joy Blodgett were hosting a vigil for their daughter in their home.

[245] And so all of Jesse's very close friends and family, they were all there in the living room, and they were sitting around in a big circle, crying together, grieving together.

[246] and then also sharing their favorite memories of Jesse.

[247] And so while they're all doing that, a phone starts to ring inside of the circle.

[248] And the owner of that phone, 19 -year -old Daniel Bartelt, who was a very close friend of Jesse's, and who had spent much of that summer coming over to the Blodgett household to make original music with Jesse.

[249] He stands up and he walks quietly away from the group and then he answers the phone and it's Detective Klossing, asking Daniel to come into the station to talk about Melissa Richards.

[250] Daniel would make his way to the police station that afternoon, and he would be interviewed by Detective Clossing and another detective.

[251] And even though they had brought Daniel in to talk to him about Melissa Richards, it was not lost on these detectives how strange it was that Daniel is at the home of a recently murdered young woman, where that case is unsolved, and he is now the suspect of another attack on another young woman that happened only a couple of days earlier and only a couple of miles away.

[252] And so as soon as Daniel sits down, Detective Klossing kind of casually asks him, hey, why were you at Jesse Blodgett's house when I called you?

[253] And Daniel would say, well, you know, I'm very close with Jesse, and so we were there as part of her vigil because she was killed yesterday.

[254] And so the detective kind of did gradually shift to Melissa Richards, which Daniel would say he had nothing to do with.

[255] But as they began asking him questions about Melissa, Detective Clossing and the other detective noticed that there were cuts on Daniel's hands.

[256] And so they kind of cut them off and they asked Daniel, you know, how did you get these cuts on your hands?

[257] And Daniel was very quick to say, well, you know, I got them at work.

[258] A screw kind of jutted out and cut my hands.

[259] I move inventory around in a back room of an engineering company.

[260] That's my job.

[261] And, you know, I just cut my hand at work.

[262] And so at that point, the police began to do.

[263] really asking very pointed questions about exactly how he heard his hands and what exactly did he do at his job.

[264] And at some point, when it just seemed like there was something off about his story about how he heard himself, one of the detectives just says to Daniel, if I were to call your employer, this engineering company, would they say you, Daniel, are currently employed with them?

[265] And Daniel, he kind of paused for a minute and then said, no, I actually lost my job several weeks ago.

[266] And so now the detectives knew he had to be lying about how he cut his hand because he's just told them that he heard it at work recently, but he wasn't employed recently.

[267] And so Detective Clossing kind of leans in and says, Daniel, so how'd you really hurt your hand?

[268] And so Daniel, he begins talking about how he cut it cooking.

[269] And Detective Clossing is like, Daniel, nobody would lie about cutting their hand cooking.

[270] So why don't you just tell us the truth.

[271] And amazingly, Daniel would.

[272] He would admit, after some serious pressure, that he hurt himself attacking Melissa Richards.

[273] He told detectives that after he lost his job a few weeks earlier, he didn't want his parents to know he had lost his job.

[274] And so he had just continued getting up early and leaving the house and coming back later in the day, kind of acting like he had been at work all day, when in reality all he was doing was driving around town and sometimes going to parks and just sitting in parking spots in parks.

[275] And so on July 12th, the day that Melissa was attacked, that's exactly what Daniel was doing.

[276] He was pretending to be at work by sitting in that parking space in that dirt lot in Richfield.

[277] And at some point, he saw Melissa and he decided he just wanted to attack her.

[278] He told detectives that recently he had become overwhelmed in college and so he had dropped out and then he lost his job.

[279] And so combined, he was just feeling kind of scared of life.

[280] That's how he described it.

[281] And so he wanted somebody else to feel scared, too.

[282] And so that was why he said he attacked Melissa.

[283] But despite admitting to this vicious, violent crime against Melissa Richards, Daniel, when asked if he had any connection to the Jesse Blodgett murder, he would say absolutely not.

[284] I love Jesse.

[285] I would never hurt her.

[286] But when Detective Klossing reached out to Detective Thickens of the Hartford police and told them, you should look at Daniel as a potential suspect in your murder case, it would quickly come to light that Daniel was lying again.

[287] Daniel was raised in a good, loving family.

[288] He was extremely smart, straight -a -student.

[289] He was an incredible musician, and he was really well -respected by his peers and even by his teachers and other instructors.

[290] I mean, this was a kid who had everything going for him.

[291] But something went wrong with Daniel, and no one knows exactly why.

[292] Shortly before he attacked Melissa, Daniel had become obsessed with killing and death and murder.

[293] His internet search history shows that he spent a lot of time looking for actual snuff videos online.

[294] Those are videos of actual murder.

[295] He also spent a lot of time looking up serial killers and spree killers, and he was especially interested in anybody who killed lots and lots of women.

[296] And then finally, right before he would attack Melissa, Daniel, based on his search history, had discovered this one particular pornographic snuff film, and it was of this woman who was all tied up and hog -tied, and after being assaulted, she was strangled.

[297] And Daniel watched this video over and over and over and over again.

[298] On that day, July 12th, as Daniel is pretending to be at work, he's sitting in his car, he looks out and he sees Melissa, she's all alone, and something clicks in his head where he decides he's going to go reenact that wretched pornographic snuff film on Melissa.

[299] And so Melissa was likely just at the wrong place at the wrong time.

[300] Recovered in that dirt parking lot after the attack was this special very strong tape that had been in Daniel's pockets during the attack.

[301] It had just fallen out.

[302] And so it's believed he was going to use that tape to subdue Melissa and then abduct her.

[303] But obviously Melissa fought back and Daniel got spooked and ran off.

[304] Three days later on July 15th, it's believed that Daniel decided he wanted to try again.

[305] He wanted to act out this pornographic snuff film but in real life.

[306] And this time, he wasn't going to leave it up to some random victim.

[307] He needed his victim to be totally helpless.

[308] He needed his victim not to fight back.

[309] And who better than 19 -year -old Jesse Blodgett, his close friend who inherently trusted him and would easily let him into her house, into her bedroom.

[310] It wouldn't matter if she was all alone, because she felt safe around him.

[311] Based on eyewitness testimony of someone who was driving through the Blodget neighborhood on the morning that Jesse was killed, it's believed Daniel arrived in the driveway of the Blodget household just a few minutes after Buck and Joy had left for work.

[312] And so he pulled into the driveway knowing that Jesse was all alone.

[313] We don't know exactly what happened inside of that house.

[314] We don't know if Jesse came down and opened the door or if she was still upstairs sleeping.

[315] But Daniel, he entered the house and when he went inside, he was prepared for what he was about to do.

[316] He literally had a bag full of supplies.

[317] Things like that special tape, there were ligatures, cords, ropes, there was alcohol wipes, zip ties.

[318] And so he makes his way upstairs to Jesse's bedroom.

[319] And then once he's in there, we don't know if Jesse was awake or sleeping at this time.

[320] But either way, Daniel jumped on top of her and immediately put a homemade ball gag into her mouth and then wrapped that special tape around her head to make sure the gag stayed in her mouth.

[321] And then once she couldn't make a sound, he bound her wrists and her ankles and he hog -tied her and then he viciously assaulted her.

[322] And then after he was done, he wrapped some cord around her neck and he strangled her to death.

[323] After she was deceased, Daniel attempted to clean her body with some alcohol wipes.

[324] And then after that, he kind of repositioned her in her bed with the covers up over her to give the appearance that she was still sleeping to her parents when they inevitably would find her.

[325] Then Daniel rounded up all of his murder supplies back into his bag, except he did accidentally leave one of those special rolls of tape underneath Jesse's bed, and then he slipped out of the Blodgett household, and then he drove to Woodlawn Park where he disposed of his supplies into one of the trash cans.

[326] The next day at Jesse's vigil, Daniel would attend, and according to the other people that were there, Daniel was by far the most talkative person in that circle.

[327] Daniel would ultimately be found guilty of murdering Jesse Blodgett, although he never admitted guilt.

[328] In fact, during the sentencing phase, Buck Blodgett would give this incredibly eloquent and heart -wrenching speech about what it was like to lose his only child.

[329] And toward the end of this speech, Buck turned to his right, so away from the judge who he had been addressing, and he looked directly at Daniel, and Daniel looked back at him and Buck says, Dan, I forgive you as I have every day since I found out it was you.

[330] And then a few moments later, Buck would also say to Dan, Dan, not only do I forgive you, but I love you.

[331] But when Daniel got his turn to stand up and say something on his behalf, he turned to face Buck and Joy, and looking right at them, he would tell them that he's innocent and that he doesn't have any answers for them because he didn't do it and his conscience is clear.

[332] Daniel was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, and as far as we know, he still denies having killed Jesse, despite the mountain of evidence against him.

[333] In the days following Jesse's death, Buck Blodgett walked into his daughter's bedroom, and he laid down on her bed, and looking straight up, he tried to hold his breath for as long as he possibly could.

[334] And as he began to struggle, he started to imagine what it was like for his poor daughter in her final moments as she's being murdered.

[335] And it just crushed him.

[336] He thought to himself, I wasn't there for my little girl when she needed me the most.

[337] But instead of just carrying that terrible burden around with him for the rest of his life, Buck and his family decided they had to do something to honor their daughter's memory and maybe even change the world, which was something that Jesse always talked about wanting to do.

[338] And so Buck would go on to start the Love is Greater than hate project, which is this incredible charity whose mission is designed to end male on female violence and to inspire love over hate.

[339] Buck's Charity is a recipient of a Mr. Ballin Foundation grant, and if you have been moved by the story in some way, I would highly encourage you to contribute to Buck's Charity.

[340] You can find the link to their website below where you can donate.

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[360] And before you go, please tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at wundry .com slash survey.

[361] I'm Dan Tiberski.

[362] In 2011, something strange began to happen at the high school in Leroy, New York.

[363] I was like at my locker and she came up to me and she was like stuttering super bad.

[364] I'm like, stop fucking around.

[365] She's like, I can't.

[366] A mystery illness, bizarre symptoms, and spreading fast.

[367] It's like doubling and tripling, and it's all these girls.

[368] With a diagnosis, the state tried to keep on the down low.

[369] Everybody thought I was holding something back.

[370] Well, you were holding something back.

[371] Intentionally.

[372] Yeah, well, yeah.

[373] No, it's hysteria.

[374] It's all in your head.

[375] It's not physical.

[376] Oh, my gosh, you're exaggerating.

[377] Is this the largest mass hysteria since the witches of Salem?

[378] Or is it something else entirely?

[379] Something's wrong.

[380] here.

[381] Something's not right.

[382] Leroy was the new date line and everyone was trying to solve the murder.

[383] A new limited series from Wondery and Pineapple Street Studios, Hysterical.

[384] Follow Hysterical on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[385] You can binge all episodes of Hysterical early and ad -free right now by joining Wondry Plus.