From asking celebrities to be their dates on social media to renting luxury cars, there is no limit of what teenagers will do to make their proms memorable. Did one teen go too far for his senior dance? In 1989, detectives said Jeff Pelley was willing to kill his whole family to make his prom perfect.
On April 30, 1989, Reverend Robert Pelley, his wife Dawn, and their daughters Janel and Jolene were found dead in their Indiana home. All signs pointed to their son Jeff as the killer, but almost 33 years later, new information has led people to believe he might not have been responsible.
A Night to Remember
April 1989 was a spring like any other. Lakeville, Indiana seniors prepared for the prom, and the air felt festive as the dance approached. 17-year-old Jeff Pelley, a minister’s son, was excited to take his first love, Darla Adams, to the dance. On the night of the prom, everything seemed to be going great.
Jeff drove them to prom, and then they went to Great America, an amusement park in Illinois. While the couple and their friends were hanging out, Jeff suddenly had a bad feeling inside. He told Adams that he had a strange feeling something bad had happened at home.
Fighting Before Prom
Just hours earlier, Jeff was home with his family preparing for the school dance. He wanted to drive himself to the prom and post-prom activities, but his father, Reverend Robert “Bob” Pelley, said no. They argued because his dad wanted to drive them to the dance and didn’t want him to attend the after-prom.
After the argument, Jeff took his 1984 Mustang, picked up his date, and headed to the dance. It is unclear what made his father change his mind, but everyone has a feeling his father didn’t have much of a choice in letting his son go.
Something Wasn’t Right
April 30, 1989 seemed like a typical Sunday. The residents started their day by getting ready for church, but something felt off in the air. At the Olive Branch Church, across from the Pelley house, members arrived, waiting for the service to begin, but Rev. Bob didn’t show up.
Will Tisdale, a church elder, walked to the Pelley home and tried to look in the windows. All of the shades were uncharacteristically drawn, and the doors were locked. Tisdale started to worry, so he used his spare key to enter through the side door. What he found was devastating.
A Gruesome Discovery
As Tisdale entered the Pelley house, he discovered Bob shot dead on the floor. He immediately called 911. He started to panic while waiting for the police to arrive and searched for other family members. Tisdale then found two of the Pelley children at the foot of the stairs.
Once he saw the children, Tisdale didn’t go any further. He said, “That was enough for me… It was a bloody mess.” The scene was gruesome, and Tisdale started to wonder who could have done this to a family that was so well-liked by the community. He walked outside and collapsed on the ground.
Nothing a Human Should See
Detective Mark Senter and John Botich were among the first to arrive at the Pelley home. Senter was horrified, stating, “No human being should’ve ever seen what we saw that morning.” Investigators said Bob was shot twice at close range with a shotgun.
In the basement, the detectives found the reverend’s wife, Dawn, and her two daughters, eight-year-old Janel and six-year-old Jolene, also shot at close range. They immediately started questioning family and friends, but they had few leads to follow, no witnesses, and no murder weapon.
The Investigators Had Nothing to Go On
As soon as the investigation began, the police hit a dead end. There were no signs of burglary or robbery, and the house was still locked when they arrived. Senter determined that someone from the inside was responsible, so they investigated the family.
On the night of the murders, Jeff was at his prom, nine-year-old Jessie was at a friend’s house for a sleepover, and 14-year-old Jacque was visiting a friend at a local college. When they came home the next day, they learned that the rest of their family had been massacred.
They Looked Like the Brady Bunch
The Pelleys were a blended family. Both Bob and Dawn were widowers when they met each other. Dawn had three girls, Jessie, Janel, and Jolene, while Bob had two kids, Jeff and Jacque. They seemed like the perfect family from the outside, like the Brady Bunch.
Bob and Dawn were pillars of the community and the church. He welcomed everyone into his congregation with open arms, and his family was sitting in the front row every Sunday. There was no reason to believe that something like this could happen to them.
Behind Closed Doors
While they looked like the Brady Bunch, the surviving Pelley children told a very different story. Jacque said she and Jeff didn’t always get along with Dawn or see eye-to-eye with her. They didn’t like how Dawn raised her daughters.
There was tension between the two families. Jessie recalled harsh memories of her stepdad. She said it was hard to be a preacher’s daughter because there were so many rules, and they had to “act perfect.” It was a divided house, and the aftermath was messy.
The Day After
Because three of the Pelley children weren’t home when their family was killed, the police had to notify them about what had happened. They found Jeff with his friends at the Great American Theme Park, north of Chicago, where they gave him the news.
The news of his parents’ murders stunned him. Jeff loved his father and had no idea who would want to kill them. Although he admittedly didn’t get along with his stepmom, he didn’t hate her. Jeff said they tolerated each other. The information was heartbreaking.
A Confusing Detail
From the first day of questioning, the police suspected Jeff might have been involved. They focused on him because he was late to meet his girlfriend, Darla, on prom night. She told police she was surprised Jeff’s dad let him go to the dance because he had been in trouble.
Jeff claimed his father had a last-minute change of heart and permitted him to participate in the weekend’s activities. However, this puzzled investigators because everyone else said Bob was adamant about not letting Jeff drive to prom.
Why Was Jeff in Trouble?
According to family friends, Bob had grounded Jeff because he had been caught stealing CDs and money from a nearby home. Bob agreed to let him attend the prom, but nothing more. He said he would drive Jeff and his date to and from the dance.
Bob also prohibited Jeff from attending the dinner beforehand as well as the events afterward as part of his punishment. Therefore, it made everyone even more confused when Jeff said his father went back on his word and allowed him to do what he wanted.
One and Only Suspect
It seemed that Jeff was lying. Tisdale said Bob “took stuff out of the car, where it wouldn’t run,” so Jeff couldn’t drive regardless. The conflict gave police something to work with because they had no physical evidence.
The only motive they could think of was that Jeff wanted to go to the prom and save face in front of his high school sweetheart. But the case against him was so weak that two district attorneys refused to prosecute. They couldn’t arrest him.
The Case Went Cold
With no physical evidence and just an assumed motive, the Pelley murder case went cold. Meanwhile, Jeff moved to Florida and started a new life. He married and had a child, who had nothing to do with Lakeville, Indiana. He tried to put the past behind him.
Jeff built a lively tech business working as a computer consultant. He taught Sunday school at his church and tried to heal from the loss of his family. Although it had been almost a decade since the murders, the police were still suspicious.
The Police Never Gave Up
Detectives continued to work on the investigation, putting together a detailed timeline of Jeff’s whereabouts that put him alone at the murder scene. The police were determined to nail him down as the killer because they had no other leads. They didn’t want to give up.
The investigators’ timeline focused on 45 minutes, from when they were last seen alive to when someone tried to contact them and got no response. They found witnesses who put Jeff at the murder scene during that period. It wasn’t exactly concrete evidence.
The Cold Case Reopens
In 2002, 13 years after his family was killed, Jeff was back in the hot seat. A cold case team reopened the Pelley murders and decided to move forward with charges. A warrant was issued for Jeff’s arrest on four counts of homicide, despite no new evidence.
On his way home from a business trip, Pelley was arrested in a Los Angeles airport. He was confused and angry because they hadn’t found anything new. He wondered why they hadn’t arrested him years ago if they had any evidence.
A Weak Case
With no murder weapon or forensic evidence, the entire case hinged on the motive proposed by the initial investigators: Jeff was angry that he couldn’t drive to prom, so he shot his family. The theory was supported by the events on the day of the murders.
Jacque blamed local politics for her brother’s arrest and the police for a sloppy and empty investigation. She said her brother couldn’t have pulled the trigger, and she believed he was innocent. Unfortunately, her belief in him couldn’t stop the law.
An Unusual Trial
Jeff’s trial was unusual because it was limited to circumstantial evidence. Jeff’s attorney, Alan Baum, brought in experts to examine the prosecution’s timeline and the time of death. Baum didn’t understand how their timeline made sense or how they had drawn conclusions.
Meanwhile, the prosecution relied on witness testimonies from neighbors and church members who visited the home earlier in the day. People had come over to take pictures and show off their prom outfits to the well-loved minister. It was a busy household before the murders.
An Impossible Situation
Prosecutors told the jury that the murders occurred between 5 and 5:20 p.m., and Jeff left at 5:30 p.m. This alleged timeline would have only left him ten minutes to get ready for prom and join his friends at the dance he so “desperately” wanted to attend.
To put it into perspective, in 20 minutes, Jeff would have had to accomplish the following: commit the murders, remove his bloody clothes, load the washing machine, take a shower, find and remove the shell casings, close all the blinds, lock the doors, and get rid of the gun and casings.
It Was a Reach
The defense said it was absurd to think a 17-year-old could murder his entire family and continue on with the evening as if nothing had happened. Jeff’s attorneys pointed to witnesses who were with him that evening who said he was just one of the group.
His friends and date told investigators that Jeff was talking, laughing, and having a good time. None of them felt there was something different about his behavior. Unless he is a psychopath, there was no way he wouldn’t have been acting strange.
A Surprising Decision
The trial lasted for just six days and included about 40 witnesses. It took the jury 34 hours and three votes to come to a unanimous decision. They found Jeff guilty on all four counts of homicide. He received 160 years (four consecutive sentences of 40 years) in prison.
Jeff and his defense team were shocked because everything presented was circumstantial. Even though the prosecution presented an impossible timeline, he still received a sentence that would put him behind bars well past the end of his life.
The Jurors’ Deciding Factor
When the jury discussed the case, it wasn’t the police timeline that brought them to a conclusion. It was actually one of the crime scene photos. One juror said a picture of Bob lying in the house led her to believe the shooter came from Jeff’s bedroom.
Another juror said there was a picture of a gun rack in the parent’s bedroom that didn’t have a gun in it. They combined that with Jessie’s testimony stating a bow and gun were in the rack on Friday night to decide that Jeff was guilty.
It Wasn’t Over
It seemed that a murder spree that took four lives was finally solved without high-tech CSI or forensic evidence. But in 2008, an appeals court reversed the conviction. Unfortunately, the Indiana Supreme Court denied the appeal in 2009, and Jeff remained in jail.
That wasn’t the end, though. The Indiana University Wrongful Conviction Clinic picked up Jeff’s case. He has always maintained his innocence, and his new lawyer from Indiana University, Frances Watson, went to court to ask the judge to grant a new evidentiary hearing.
There Was Missing Evidence
With Watson as his new lawyer, Jeff is still trying to get a new trial. Watson has asked prosecutors for the evidence found at the crime scene in 1989 that was not given to Jeff’s original attorney. She specifically wanted them to turn over Bob’s camera.
Watson believes the camera contains photos from prom night. Another piece of evidence never presented to the jury was a credible witness statement. In 2003, Toni Beehler went to the police stating Bob told her he was scared for his safety and that of his family due to his past actions in Florida.
A Podcaster Cracked the Case Open
While Jeff sits in jail, people are still fighting for his innocence. In particular, Delia D’Ambra has been investigating the case for her podcast “CounterClock.” Her podcast reignited national interest in the case, and she made some valid points to help Jeff.
D’Ambra spent a year researching and reporting on the case, which included diving into Bob’s past in southwest Florida. She went through thousands of public records and documents while comparing notes with Watson and law students from the Wrongful Conviction Clinic. She uncovered more than the initial investigation.
Bob Pelley Had a Sketchy Past
Before he was known as the wholesome preacher, Bob worked in information technology for the entire Landmark financial institution network that federal officials investigated for money laundering. The Florida banks were notorious for being involved with trafficking cocaine from South America.
Because Bob was in the central processing hub that connected these banking institutions, many believe he moved to Indiana to remove himself from the situation because he knew something he shouldn’t have known. He only moved one year before he was murdered, and there might have been a victim before him.
His Friend Was Killed
Besides his ties to the sketchy banking system, Bob was also part of a church in Florida. He was just a parishioner at the time, but he made many friends and connections through the congregation. In particular, he was friends with real estate developer Eric Dawson.
In 1988, Dawson was murdered execution-style. The case is still unsolved, but it could be connected to the Pelley family murders because Dawson did most of his business through Landmark bank, where Bob worked. None of this was investigated after Bob and his family were killed.
The Investigation and Trial Were Botched
D’Ambra believes Jeff’s trial was botched because evidence and information from Bob’s past was never presented to the jury or investigated. Additionally, the police failed to even fingerprint the crime scene. These two things are basic steps for detectives that they didn’t do.
Instead, the police and prosecutors were too focused on pinning the crime on Jeff with useless evidence that was all hearsay. They didn’t even look into other possible suspects. Jessie and Jacque also testified that their father gave Jeff permission to go to prom.
Everything Wrong With the Case
First and foremost, the prosecution’s case lacked any physical evidence tying Jeff to the murders. The only attempt at physical evidence were the jeans Jeff wore the day before prom. They believed he wore them when he killed his family and then washed them after.
However, the case file shows no police report finding the jeans in the washer. The 2006 FBI lab results found the jeans had no blood on them and were soiled and unwashed. Coins and legible receipts were also discovered in the pockets.
His Attorney Didn’t Handle the Case Well
D’Ambra faults Jeff’s original lawyer, Baum, for not pointing out that the pants were not evidence of anything to the jury. Baum said, “If we look back on how I handled it, I guess we would have to conclude that I didn’t make that factual connection and argument.”
Baum understands that he should have questioned the blue jean issue more but said he can’t change history. It’s a good thing Jeff got a new lawyer because Baum doesn’t seem to care that a possibly innocent man is sitting in prison.
What About the Murder Weapon?
It didn’t take long for the police to determine the victims were killed with a 20-gauge shotgun, but they never found the weapon. Was Bob’s gun in the house before the murders? It might not have been, according to Thomas Keb.
D’Ambra spoke to Keb, a friend of Bob’s whose in-laws lived down the street from Bob’s church. He said Bob gave him a bag with three weapons and asked him to keep them for a while. The bag contained a rife, a pistol, and a shotgun.
No Guns at Home
Keb told the police and Baum about the guns Bob had given him, but that wasn’t considered in the trial. Jeff also told the police that his father removed all guns from the house after Jeff tried to commit suicide with the pistol.
The big question is, where would Jeff have gotten a gun from if they weren’t in the house, and where could he have stashed it? Police still haven’t found the murder weapon, and it doesn’t seem likely that Jeff would have had time to hide the gun that well in a short period.
What Could Have Happened?
It’s possible that Bob’s past caught up with him, and his wife and stepdaughters were collateral damage. The people involved with the drug trafficking and money laundering and the bank he used to work at might have sent someone to kill him because he knew something.
It would explain why the murder weapon was never found and why the person knew to clean up the shell casings. Although it doesn’t explain how the person got into the house and locked all the doors on their way out, stranger things have happened.
Suspicious Activity
While it is only speculation that someone from Bob’s past came to kill him, possible evidence supports this. There were suspicious cars on the Pelley’s street in the days leading up to the murders. Someone saw a white car with Florida license plates.
Jacque also said another man reportedly confessed to the crimes. The man knew details about the crime scene that were never revealed to the public. However, there hasn’t been an in-depth investigation into this alternate scenario. That wasn’t the only thing Jeff’s lawyers weren’t allowed to discuss.
Other Evidence Was Denied
During his initial trial and appeal trial, Jeff was not allowed to present certain pieces of evidence. His lawyers weren’t allowed to talk about the inconsistencies between Jacque and Jessie’s statements about the presence of the gun in their parents’ bedroom. They also couldn’t mention Bob’s past.
He was also prohibited from discussing that he did not have any bruising from firing so many shots from a shotgun. If he were the killer, he would have had some markings on him from the blowback of the gun. Despite these facts, they couldn’t help him.
Jeff Was a Target
Although the case against Jeff was weak, the prosecution was more than determined to put him away. It might have been due to the fact that the prosecution was politically motivated. It was an election year for the prosecuting attorney, and Chris Toth hoped to be re-elected.
In hopes of winning the election, Toth wanted to arrest Jeff and put him behind bars. His term was ending in 2002, which might have been why he pushed to charge Jeff after 13 years. It does seem likely because they went after Jeff without any evidence.
Jessie Thinks He’s Guilty
Jeff has received unconditional support from Jacque, but Jessie changed her opinion. Even though she testified that Bob let Jeff go to the prom and her mom told her Jeff would be at the amusement park, she has changed her stance on her stepbrother’s innocence.
Jessie felt that Jeff was guilty when he wouldn’t look at her during the trial. In her 2019 memoir, I Am Jessica: A Survivor’s Powerful Story of Healing and Hope, Jessie discussed how she thought Jeff should stay in jail. It’s sad that she turned on him.
What Are His Next Steps?
In the past few years, Jeff and the Innocence Project have been working on getting him a new trial. Since 2019, his lawyers have patiently waited for there to be movement in his case. They filed a Post-Conviction Relief petition, but it took a long time to get a court date.
In April 2021, they finally got a status hearing but didn’t walk away with court dates. Things continued to be rescheduled and delayed. Jeff, his lawyers, and Jacque hope his March 2022 evidentiary hearing will lead to a possible retrial.
Jacque Is by His Side
Throughout the entire three-decade journey, Jacque has stuck by her brother’s side. She has never questioned his innocence and has done everything to help his case. Jacque created the “Justice for Jeff” website to keep everyone updated on his case.
On the site, she made a note about people publishing books and conducting interviews about the case. She was referencing her stepsister, Jessie. Jacque wrote, “It is sad when someone publishes a book and misidentifies their own siblings in the photos. This serves as an indicator about the content of the book.”
Hope for Freedom
As everyone is doing their part to help Jeff clear his name, he is still sitting in jail. First, he lost his biological mother, then his dad, stepmom, and stepsister, and now he lost his life as a free man. It can’t be easy for him to cope with this.
However, many people stand behind him and believe in his innocence. Jeff is not alone in his battle for a retrial. With a new prosecuting attorney in office, he might have a chance to have a fresh slate and present new evidence that wasn’t allowed before.