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If you love chilling mysteries, unsolved cases,

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and a touch of mom-style humor, Moms

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and Mysteries is the podcast you've been

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searching for. Hey guys, I'm Mandi. And

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I'm Melissa. Join us every Tuesday

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for Moms and Mysteries, your gateway to

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gripping, well-researched, true crime stories. Each

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week, we deep dive into a variety

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motherly touch. Subscribe now to Moms and

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Mysteries wherever you get your podcasts. So

0:30

Mike Little and Vince Merak, frustrated

0:32

family members of cold-case murder victims,

0:35

teamed up and came up with a great idea. In

0:38

December 2007, the two obtained prime billboard

0:40

space on Route 30 west of Fruitville

0:42

Pike near the Route 283 split. Many,

0:46

many daily travelers would see it for the

0:48

two months the billboard was up. And

0:51

on the giant billboard were photos of Kristi

0:53

and Lindy's faces, sort of floating

0:56

and ethereal looking. Under Lindy's

0:58

photo were the words, I know who

1:00

my murderer is and he knows who I was.

1:02

This was not a random act. And

1:05

the billboard was emblazoned with, do you know who

1:07

murdered us? The billboard requested

1:09

tips to be submitted to a new website,

1:12

lindyandkristi.com. In

1:14

two months, the billboard generated 10,000 hits, people

1:17

messaged Mike Little with tips he passed on

1:19

to the DA's office, and the police received

1:21

a lot of tips as well. Explaining

1:24

the reasons for the billboard, Mike Little

1:27

told journalist Janet Kelly, quote, I feel

1:29

that the murderer is still alive and

1:31

well in Lancaster, and I feel that

1:33

the murder is solvable, but they're

1:35

no nearer to solving this case than they were

1:37

on the night of December 5th, 1975. By

1:42

now, Detective Joe Giese, who had worked the Lindy

1:44

Sue Beekler case since 1992, was retired.

1:48

He told the intelligence or journal that he

1:51

was always bothered by the unsolved Beekler and

1:53

Merak cases. He said, quote, I

1:55

don't know which is worse, to know who did it and not

1:57

be able to prove it or to have the

2:00

physical evidence to prove a case, but not know who did

2:02

it. Ten

2:05

years later, there was big news in

2:07

Lancaster. On June 26, 2018,

2:09

the DA's office solved

2:11

the Christie-Morak case using forensic

2:14

genealogy and arrested 49-year-old

2:16

Raymond D.J. Freeze Roe for

2:18

her rape and murder. The

2:21

resolution of Christie's case, one of the

2:23

first genealogy cases resulting in an arrest,

2:26

caused renewed interest in Lindy's. S.

2:29

Billett Bechler told L.N.P. Lancaster, Roe's

2:31

arrest gives me a little hope. He

2:34

wondered whether the same technology, forensic

2:36

genealogy, could be used to solve

2:38

Lindy's case. But

2:40

Detective Sergeant Tricia Mazur of the Manor

2:42

Township Police told L.N.P. Lancaster

2:45

that the DNA evidence in Lindy's case

2:47

wasn't as strong as it was in Christie's. The

2:50

DNA had last been analyzed ten years

2:52

earlier, and Sergeant Mazur admitted

2:54

that there hadn't been a fresh lead in

2:56

Lindy's case in years. She

2:59

regretted that Manor Township detectives just didn't

3:01

have the time they needed to work

3:03

actively on the decades-old case. Well

3:06

that would soon change. In

3:08

the wake of the successful arrest and prosecution

3:10

of the giant douchebag that is Raymond

3:12

Roe for the murder of Christie-Morak, DA

3:15

Craig Steadman's office prioritized Lindy's

3:17

case. In January

3:19

2019, the DA's office cold case

3:22

unit detectives Chris Erb and Larry

3:24

Martin, assisted by Manor Township

3:26

detectives Tricia Mazur and Matthew Wolf and

3:29

ADA Christine Wilson, picked up

3:31

the case and ran with it. On

3:34

March 19, they sent the DNA

3:36

from Lindy's underwear to DNA Labs

3:38

International. That lab

3:40

retested the right side area of

3:42

Lindy's underwear and obtained sufficient DNA

3:45

to create a SNP profile. DNA

3:48

from the tea towel wrapped around the

3:50

knife was also obtained, and it shared

3:52

enough similarities with the DNA profile from

3:55

the underwear that investigators believed they were

3:57

sourced from the same person. Profile

4:00

was provided to pair of on with instructions

4:02

to create a see those profile of the

4:04

unknown zone are of the Dna. Parabens.

4:08

Reports dated. July, Twenty third,

4:10

Twenty nineteen. Detailed. The suspects

4:12

heritage and appearance. He. Was a

4:14

fair skinned white male would dark hair

4:16

and hazel eyes. And. Has you

4:18

know much ancestry? So about forty

4:21

percent of his dna was

4:23

Middle Eastern. I eat Turkish,

4:25

Azerbaijani, Armenia, Cyprus, Iran's Iraq,

4:28

Kurdistan. The. Other sixty

4:30

percent was Southern European Italy,

4:33

Greece, Sardinia, Tuscany, This.

4:35

Is consistent with southern Italian

4:37

heritage. This. Information

4:39

and to images showing the suspected

4:41

he twenty five and sixty five.

4:44

Were. Released to the public. In. A press conference,

4:46

On. September fifth, twenty nineteen along with

4:49

a request for tips. The.

4:51

Lancaster authorities announced that they had the

4:53

killers dna from scene and left at

4:55

the scene. And from something he touched,

4:57

this was the towel. They. Also

5:00

announced a website. Www.who Killed

5:02

Lindy Beagle or.com. Intended

5:05

to serve as a tip sharing

5:07

forums and information resource. District.

5:09

Attorney Crag Steadman said this case has

5:12

never drifted from the minds of the

5:14

investigators committed to catch England Is Killer.

5:17

Linda's. Family including her husband. Have

5:20

grieved for decades without an answer to who

5:22

took their loved one. This. Investigation

5:24

is active and there is no

5:26

guarantee it will ultimately be solved.

5:28

We do, however. Source: We're doing

5:31

everything. We can, and that includes the

5:33

use of cutting edge technology. So.

5:36

Steadman swore. They were doing everything they

5:38

could use in cutting as technology. So what

5:40

about genealogy? Why. Weren't they doing that? Well.

5:44

Between them iraq case solve and this

5:46

point in time Dead Mats had amended

5:48

it's privacy. Rules and automatically opted

5:50

out. All and it's users who

5:52

hadn't opted in to law enforcement

5:54

searching. This. Drastic. An

5:56

abrupt change, according to the Da's

5:58

office, dramatically reduce the number of

6:00

available Dna profiles. Search a bull

6:03

in the database. It. Was

6:05

a crippling blow to law enforcement in

6:07

the nation and victims' families. Steadman said.

6:10

Consequently, And upload of Lindsey's

6:12

killers. Snip profile to dead match

6:14

have yielded no matches. So.

6:17

They had leads. They were working the

6:19

case. There were using all available resources.

6:21

But. Deciders her knees Steadman warned against

6:24

public expectations that the same result would

6:26

be obtained and Linda's case as in

6:28

fifties. Needed. Case with a lot older.

6:31

It someplace seventeen years before Kitties.

6:34

The. Investigation is nearly entering it's six

6:36

decades. The as Edmunds said that as

6:38

a lot of space. In between

6:40

fresh memories and recollections of events

6:42

surrounding this tragic death. Individuals

6:45

would potentially pertinent information and

6:47

evenly killer might have passed

6:49

away by now. But.

6:51

He said solving the case would still

6:53

bring comfort to lend his loved ones

6:55

quote who have suffered long enough. Lend

6:57

his family including her husband have grieve

6:59

for decades without an answer. As

7:01

to do who took their loved one there isn't. Any

7:03

reason to wait? It's been. Far too long.

7:06

Steadman. Took pains to make it clear

7:08

that Dna testing had cleared, sell It Be

7:10

Color and his wife's death. Okay,

7:14

so now let's get to the genealogy. As.

7:16

Soon as this is attorneys, Edmunds saw results.

7:18

In the Chrissy Moran case, he was all

7:20

in on using the same technique to sell

7:23

indies. He. Said. Each. Victim as

7:25

important as I contracted with Pair of On

7:27

on Pickler right after Morocco and budgeted for

7:29

pair bond for my success or knowing there

7:31

was more to do. Sediments.

7:34

Was succeeded as District Attorney by Heather Adams,

7:36

but she was just as interested in solving

7:38

the Be Clear case. And someone

7:41

elses interested to see see more. Cc

7:44

learned about Lindsey's unsolved case while working

7:46

them Iraq case when she came across

7:49

an article about the Joint billboard. See

7:51

told Lmp Lancaster. Quote: I always

7:53

considered it a package deal. I.

7:55

Really felt like my work in Lancaster wasn't

7:58

finished. She. Told and. Lancaster

8:00

Online that she developed a near obsession

8:02

with solving Lindy's case and was desperate

8:04

to advance it in some way. The

8:07

GEDmatch opt-out situation was a serious

8:09

impediment though, and it wasn't

8:11

just GEDmatch. When the suspect's raw DNA

8:13

data file was uploaded to FTDNA, that

8:16

database also yielded no significant

8:18

DNA relatives. Cece said

8:21

her top match shared only about 30 centimorgans

8:23

of DNA with the suspect. As

8:25

she explained it to Lancaster Online, this was

8:28

a DNA relative who was so related to

8:30

the suspect from a common ancestor way

8:32

back in the 1600s or 1700s. The

8:36

DNA relative was likely a tenth cousin. Cece

8:39

explained, quote, typically to be able

8:41

to identify a person of interest. We're

8:44

hoping for someone that shares at least one percent

8:46

of the DNA, and then you're hoping to have

8:48

at least a dozen other matches that are around

8:50

that level, end quote. In

8:52

this case, the highest level of shared DNA was

8:54

0.3%. Cece

8:58

had to go back to the DA's office

9:00

with a level five assessment. The case was

9:02

not promising and recommend against

9:04

undertaking a forensic genealogy analysis.

9:09

In the low-level matches she had, Cece

9:12

observed that the DNA relatives all shared

9:14

a certain heritage. There were

9:16

many recent immigrants to the small city of

9:18

Lancaster from the province of Canton Zaro in

9:21

the Calabria Province in southern Italy. Historical

9:25

data showed that the majority of these were from

9:27

the small town of Gasparina in that

9:29

province. There

9:31

was a discernible immigration pattern and the suspect

9:33

was part of it. The

9:35

suspect and his distant relatives on both sides

9:37

of his tree had all descended from

9:39

persons with direct connections to Canton Zaro.

9:43

Remember that the suspect's phenotype data

9:45

indicated he likely had primarily southern

9:47

Italian heritage. Cece

9:50

told me that she decided on her own time

9:52

to undertake a novel approach to solving this

9:54

case. She did not tell

9:57

the Lancaster authorities what she was doing because

9:59

she wasn't sure would work, and she didn't want

10:01

to give them false hope. But there

10:03

was a chance in a case like this where

10:05

the suspect and DNA relatives in

10:07

his tree had both deep roots

10:10

in Lancaster and traceable heritage

10:12

to a small, specific Italian

10:14

region that she could

10:16

conduct a survey of geographic and

10:18

immigration patterns and surnames to figure

10:20

out who he was. She

10:23

said it took her about a year of

10:25

on-again, off-again work to begin to see results.

10:29

Cece made use of the membership

10:32

cards and immigration records fortuitously maintained

10:34

by the Lancaster chapter of the

10:36

Order of Sons of Italy in

10:38

America. There were about 2,300 residents

10:41

in Lancaster of Gasparinan ancestry

10:43

when Lindy was murdered. And through

10:46

the documents maintained by this group, Cece

10:48

could gather the names and birth dates of

10:50

every one of them who had listed their

10:52

birthplace as Gasparina and immigrated to

10:54

Lancaster. She made lists

10:57

of those surnames and started building family trees,

10:59

trying to connect them all back to their

11:01

roots in Gasparina. She

11:03

told ABC News, quote, I

11:05

knew this person, meaning the suspect, had

11:07

to be fully Italian from Gasparina or close

11:10

by. I worked through each and

11:12

every one of those families that had migrated from

11:14

that very specific town. She

11:17

told Lancaster online, I knew the suspect's

11:19

full family tree would come from Gasparina

11:21

or nearby. So I eliminated folks

11:23

who had kids with someone with ancestors

11:25

from anywhere else. Then

11:29

Cece went on and eliminated women and anyone who

11:31

was too young or too old in 1975 to be the killer. Because

11:35

she had only a tiny concentrated

11:37

pool of people to work with, they weren't

11:39

scattered around the US and they

11:41

hadn't diluted the DNA by intermarrying.

11:44

And she knew the suspect was a

11:46

young male from this specific population. She

11:48

could figure out who he might

11:50

be. At that point, she

11:52

informed the Lancaster authorities about what she

11:54

was doing and requested permission to proceed.

11:57

And Then with the list of names of men she had, The

12:00

Left see his newspaper archives

12:02

draft cards. Immigration and Census

12:05

data and publicly available family

12:07

lineage information on sites like

12:09

Ancestry. To. Narrow down the list

12:11

to men in their twenties and nineteen

12:13

seventy five who had all for grandparents

12:15

born in Calabria, Italy, And.

12:18

See hit pay dirt. In

12:20

researching one of the gasp arena descended

12:22

Lancaster man who in nineteen seventy five

12:25

had been in his twenties. Cc

12:27

found something that would break the case wide open.

12:30

It was a newspaper engagement announcement for

12:32

this young man who in nineteen seventy

12:34

four. Listed. His address.

12:37

as the spring manner apartments at

12:39

one of for closers. Lindy.

12:41

Spending. It

12:44

was a breathtaking moment. This man suddenly

12:46

became a very compelling candidates to be

12:48

lent his killer. And when Cc

12:50

looked him up on social media, she became

12:52

even more certain of our conclusion. Remember.

12:55

That Athena type for lend his killer

12:57

based on his dna indicated he had

12:59

fair skin and hazel eyes. Cc.

13:01

Knew that this combination was somewhat. Unusual for

13:04

someone of southern Italian heritage. And.

13:06

Her suspects photos on Facebook showed that

13:08

he a fair skin and light brown

13:10

of his eyes. Cc.

13:13

Reporters his name to the Lancaster Authorities

13:15

on December. Twenty Second. Twenty Twenty. She.

13:19

Told me in an email quote. I held

13:21

at briefing with them to review my hypothesis

13:23

and explain my approach. I imagine. They were

13:26

very surprised it was a hail Mary in

13:28

a sense because I was unable to document

13:30

a genie, a logical connection between any of

13:32

the matches on the suspects tree. But.

13:35

The circumstantial evidence was extremely compelling.

13:37

It. Was nerve wracking waiting for confirmation

13:39

and quote. For. Suspect's

13:42

name was David. Vincent said no billie.

13:44

Hysterical characteristics match those predicted

13:47

by Parabens phenotypes. And. He

13:49

was a grandfather living in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

13:55

If. You left selling mysteries unsolved

13:58

cases as such as months. The

14:00

Humour Mom and Mysteries is a podcast

14:02

you've been searching for. He dies. I'm

14:04

Mandy and I'm Melissa to in his

14:06

every Tuesday for months and mislead The

14:09

gateway to getting well research to find

14:11

stories each week. Repeat Delve into a

14:13

variety of mind boggling cases as he

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said by on everything from faith issue

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then it for your go to podcast

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the Mysteries with the motherly touch subscribe

14:22

now to Month Industries where ever you

14:24

get your podcast. Investigators

14:28

dug into Sono Billie. They confirmed that

14:31

he and indeed lived. At one of

14:33

four costs rise in upstairs apartment d.

14:36

It was unclear when he had moved out,

14:38

but he definitely live there as of February

14:40

nineteen Seventy Four and continue to live there.

14:42

When Philip and Lindy moved in after getting

14:44

married in the fall of Nineteen Seventy Four,

14:47

But. There was more Davidson oh, bully had

14:49

almost certainly no and Lindy as a teenager.

14:51

They. Attended the same school. Their. Photos

14:54

both appear in the Nineteen Seventy to

14:56

Nineteen Seventy One Mccaskill High School Yearbook.

14:59

She was a sophomore and home room to o two.

15:01

He was a senior in room Two Two one. Four.

15:04

Years later, she would be dead. So

15:08

Noble is still lived a Lancaster County and

15:10

the investigators started looking into him and gathering

15:12

all the information they could. They. Watched

15:14

him for months hoping to grab a surreptitious

15:16

dna sample from outside his home or when

15:19

he left the house. But. This

15:21

was during cove it and the noblest stayed home

15:23

a lot. Trash polls they executed

15:25

failed to gather anything with sufficient dna

15:27

on it. The even wants his

15:29

relatives homes hoping to obtain samples. This

15:32

went on for several months, which must have been

15:34

very frustrating. Then they received a

15:36

tip. that's a noble. He had purchased a plane

15:38

ticket to leave the country. He. Was

15:41

scheduled to leave. The U S. on February

15:43

Eleven, Twenty Twenty Two. Who. Was

15:45

flying out of Philly International Airport with his

15:47

wife and another couple. It was

15:49

time to move. This.

15:52

Is taken directly from the probable cause

15:54

affidavit quote. On. February Eleventh, Twenty

15:56

twenty two at approximately five forty

15:58

five hours detected. Larry Martin and

16:01

other investigators arrived at the Philadelphia

16:03

International Airport. While at

16:05

the airport, Detective Martin was able to

16:07

observe Sonopoli, his wife, and another

16:09

couple at the La Colombé coffee shop. Detective

16:13

Martin observed them from the lounge area located

16:15

across from the coffee shop in Terminal A

16:17

near Gate A-7." So

16:21

Sonopoli was leaving on vacation in Aruba. With

16:24

plenty of time before the international flight, he

16:27

was sitting at a coffee shop table with his wife

16:29

and their travel companions. When

16:31

Detective Martin, dressed like your average traveler,

16:33

got an eye on the quartet, Sonopoli's

16:35

wife and the two friends all had coffee cups in

16:37

front of them on the table. Sonopoli

16:40

didn't, but he did have a brown paper bag

16:42

in front of him. As

16:44

the detective observed at 6.29 a.m., Sonopoli

16:46

started to clean up, placing some napkins

16:48

inside the bag in front of him

16:50

and then adding his wife's coffee cup

16:52

on top. He then neatly folded

16:54

the top of the bag down. Sonopoli

16:57

then got up from the table and put the

16:59

bag in a trash bin 10 feet from where

17:01

the detective was standing. The other

17:03

couple at the table placed their garbage into a

17:05

different trash bin, and the four boarded

17:07

their plane. Needless

17:10

to say, Detective Martin kept an eagle eye

17:12

on that trash receptacle. He observed

17:14

the folded-over bag sitting on top of the other

17:16

trash in the bin. It was

17:18

the only brown paper bag in the receptacle.

17:21

As soon as Sonopoli walked away, Detective Martin reached

17:23

into the trash bin and snagged it into the

17:25

brown paper bag and popped it into his suitcase,

17:28

which I imagine was a duffel bag

17:30

or briefcase type rather than a hard-shell

17:32

Samsonite situation. I was thinking how

17:34

lucky it was that Philly Airport didn't feature those

17:36

trash bins that you have to pull open the

17:39

handle and place the trash in the mouth of the

17:41

container like a mailbox. Anyway, it

17:43

was 6.34 a.m., and the whole thing went

17:45

down in just moments in time. Detective

17:50

Martin scurried to a secure area, strapped on

17:52

some gloves, and opened the bag tucked into

17:54

his suitcase. He took out the wife's

17:56

coffee cup on top, and he took out the napkins.

18:00

behold at the bottom of the bag was the holy

18:02

grail, the coffee cup presumably

18:04

used by David Sinopoli. On

18:07

February 16, 2022, the coffee

18:09

cup was packaged and sent to DNA

18:12

Labs International for DNA testing. On April 1,

18:15

the DNA Labs International report indicated there

18:17

was a DNA mixture found on the

18:19

coffee cup with one of the contributors

18:21

being a male. The

18:23

electronic data files for these mixtures were

18:26

sent to a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania company called

18:28

Cybergenetics. I hadn't heard of them so I

18:30

looked them up. According to their

18:32

website, their TrueAlleal software interprets

18:34

inconclusive DNA and is able

18:37

to separate DNA mixture data

18:39

into genotypes. Analyst

18:41

Aaron Eustis used the proprietary

18:44

software to compare the cutting from

18:46

Lindy's underwear to the male DNA

18:48

separated from the mixture on the coffee cup. This

18:51

is a quote from the probable cause, Avadadid. Cybergenetics'

18:54

TrueAlleal computer analysis of the data

18:56

identified the DNA of an unknown

18:58

male present on both items. The

19:01

computer determined that the DNA matched statistic

19:04

between a contributor to the victim's underwear

19:06

and an unknown male who left their DNA

19:08

on the coffee cup was a matched

19:10

statistic of approximately 10 trillion.

19:15

On July 16, a sealed complaint

19:17

accusing David Sinopoli of criminal homicide

19:19

was filed with the Magisterial Court

19:21

in Pennsylvania. 68-year-old

19:26

Sinopoli was arrested on July 17, 2022.

19:29

I hope he had fun in Aruba. Police

19:31

showed up at his home at 7 a.m. on a Sunday.

19:33

I don't have details about

19:35

how the arrest went down, but I

19:37

absolutely relish thinking about Sinopoli's sinking feeling

19:39

when he opened the door in his robe

19:41

and slippers to see a bunch of armed police

19:44

officers standing there. He

19:46

didn't resist arrest. He was

19:48

held on no bail at the Lancaster County

19:50

Jail and lawyered up immediately, so investigators were

19:52

unable to interview him. But

19:55

the DNA said it all. A buckleswab

19:57

was collected from him upon his arrest and the

19:59

sample was sent to DNA Labs

20:01

International for comparison against the DNA sample

20:03

and evidence. Christina

20:05

Servideo, an analyst, ran

20:07

the test and compared the sample from Sonopoli

20:10

against the semen stain on the right side

20:12

crotch of Lindy's underwear. The results

20:14

were definitive. The

20:16

DNA profile from the underwear was 3.9 quadrillion

20:19

times more likely to have originated

20:22

from David Sonopoli and

20:24

two unknown persons than from three unknown

20:26

persons. A

20:28

highly anticipated press conference was held announcing

20:30

an arrest in the oldest cold case

20:33

in Lancaster County. Lancaster

20:35

County District Attorney Heather Adams said, Lindy

20:38

Sue Beecher was 19 when her life

20:40

was brutally taken away from her 46 years

20:43

ago in the sanctity of her own home. This

20:46

arrest marks the beginning of the court process

20:49

and we hope that it brings some sense of

20:51

relief to the victim's loved ones and to

20:53

community members who for the last 46 years

20:55

had no answers. She

20:58

continued saying, quote, our heart goes

21:00

out to her family and loved ones. Police

21:04

Chief Todd Graves said, quote, this case has

21:06

been very emotional for many of our officers.

21:08

They have shed tears and had sleepless nights.

21:12

He credited the dedication and commitment of

21:14

scores of investigators over the years for the

21:16

arrest of Sonopoli. Speaking

21:18

of dedicated investigators, after the arrest,

21:21

Lancaster Online interviewed Susan Giese.

21:23

This from the article, quote, Susan

21:26

Giese said her late father-in-law Joseph

21:28

Giese, the career lawman who worked

21:30

both cases as a county detective

21:33

would be very, very happy to

21:35

know that an arrest has been made in Beecher's death.

21:38

His dying wishes were that Christy Morax and

21:40

Lindy Sue Beecher's killers would be found, Giese

21:42

said. Joseph Giese died June 26,

21:45

2018, the

21:47

day before police arrested Raymond Rowe

21:49

in Morax murder. On

21:53

September 22nd, 2022, a

21:56

preliminary hearing was held before Millersville

21:58

Magisterial District Judge Joshua Keller. to

22:00

determine whether there was sufficient evidence against Sonopoli

22:02

to bind him over for trial. Rather

22:06

than presenting a detailed case

22:08

against Sonopoli, the common-wealth attorneys

22:10

got Alam Sadomsky, Sonopoli's attorney,

22:12

to agree to certain stipulations of fact.

22:15

This obviated the need to present testimony

22:17

about these facts. The written

22:19

stipulations read aloud into the court

22:21

record, provided that the criminal

22:23

complaint and affidavit of probable cause

22:25

had established a prima facie case

22:28

of homicide. In other words, the

22:30

allegations and evidence thereof set out in

22:32

the document satisfied every element

22:34

of criminal homicide under Pennsylvania law.

22:38

The affidavit laid out the case in detail,

22:40

including the evidence against Sonopoli. This

22:43

was basically just a shortcut to say the affidavit says

22:45

it all, we don't need to reinvent the wheel here

22:47

in court. But in

22:49

addition, the stipulations provided that

22:52

DA's investigator, Detective Chris Erb, was

22:54

prepared to testify to the DNA evidence,

22:56

which was the STR sample, nabbed

22:58

from the coffee cup matching the sample and evidence

23:01

in Lindy's case, and matching the

23:03

blood droplets, which I'll address in a moment.

23:06

Further, lab analyst Aaron Eustace's report

23:08

determined that a match between the DNA on

23:11

the cutting from the underwear and the

23:13

buccal swab DNA of David Sonopoli was 130

23:16

octillion times more probable than

23:18

a coincidental match to an unrelated Caucasian

23:20

person. She also ran a

23:22

comparison of the coffee cup DNA and

23:24

Sonopoli's buccal swab DNA and found that

23:26

the match was 5.2 trillion times more

23:29

probable than a coincidental match to

23:31

an unrelated Caucasian person. That

23:34

wasn't all. While all the lab

23:36

work was being done, on May 18,

23:38

the DA's office consulted a blood pattern

23:40

analysis expert, Detective Scott Eelman of East

23:42

Lampeder Township Police Department. The

23:44

district attorney explained that investigators had

23:47

long suspected that Lindy's killer had

23:49

cut himself during the attack. Eelman

23:51

reviewed the crime scene documentation and

23:53

photographs and observed that Lindy's

23:55

genes were unzipped post-mortem, exposing

23:58

her pantyhose, and that

24:00

the ex- exposed pantyhose contained two spots

24:02

of suspected blood. Eilman

24:04

recommended that the pantyhose be sent to

24:07

DNA Labs International for further analysis on

24:09

the theory that the blood drops

24:11

could belong to the killer. Incredibly,

24:13

the pantyhose were still in evidence at

24:15

the Manor Township Police Department. On

24:18

May 31, DA detectives Chris

24:20

Erb and Larry Martin collected the pantyhose

24:22

and FedEx them to DNA Labs International.

24:26

On June 16, DNA Labs

24:28

International's report stated that blood was

24:30

found on two stains on the pantyhose. A

24:33

male DNA profile was obtained from

24:35

each blood droplet and that profile

24:37

was consistent from droplet to droplet.

24:40

Further, the DNA profile was consistent

24:42

with that obtained from the cuttings from the

24:44

underwear. And finally, the

24:47

DNA profile was consistent with the male

24:49

DNA on the coffee cup obtained from

24:51

David Sinopoli. Christina

24:53

Servideo, the analyst, ran the test and

24:55

compared the sample from Sinopoli against both

24:58

blood stains. The DNA

25:00

profiles from the blood stains were respectively 31 trillion

25:02

and 110 trillion times

25:05

more likely to have originated from

25:07

David Sinopoli and two unknown persons

25:09

than from three unknown persons. Now

25:12

this blood drop evidence was crucially important

25:15

because the samples did not contain a

25:17

mixture and the area on which they

25:19

were found on Lindy's exposed pantyhose had

25:22

been exposed during the commission of the crime. There

25:24

was no way Sinopoli could argue that his blood

25:27

had gotten there randomly. Needless

25:29

to say, Judge Keller ruled that there was

25:31

sufficient evidence against Sinopoli to try him for

25:33

murder. The case would be moved to

25:36

the court of common pleas for trial. Sinopoli

25:38

was denied bail. This

25:41

from Lancaster Online, quote, Philip Beekler,

25:43

Lindy's husband at the time of the murder,

25:45

attended the hearing with several other people. He

25:48

declined comment. He left the courtroom

25:50

silently as a person with him held an arm around

25:52

his shoulders. Around 20

25:54

family members and friends waited for

25:56

Sinopoli outside the courtroom. They

25:59

waved and shouted. that we love you, David,

26:01

while taking pictures and videos with their

26:03

phones, as Sinoboli was escorted to a

26:05

vehicle." There

26:08

was a lot of behind-the-scenes pretrial stuff, but

26:10

as is common, on October 17, 2022, Sinoboli

26:14

waived his formal arraignment and pleaded not guilty

26:16

to the charges of homicide, burglary,

26:18

and aggravated assault. In

26:21

September 2023, a trial date was

26:23

set for November 27. It

26:25

was expected to last for five days. If

26:31

you love chilling mysteries, unsolved cases, and

26:33

a touch of mom-style humor, Moms and

26:36

Mysteries is the podcast you've been searching

26:38

for. Hey guys, I'm Mandi. And I'm

26:40

Melissa. Join us every Tuesday for Moms

26:43

and Mysteries, your gateway to gripping, well-researched,

26:45

true crime stories. Each week,

26:47

we deep dive into a variety of

26:50

mind-boggling cases as we shed light on

26:52

everything from heights to whodunit. We're your

26:54

go-to podcasts for mysteries with a motherly

26:56

touch. Subscribe now to Moms and Mysteries

26:58

wherever you get your podcasts. Hey

27:01

Billy, why don't we tell them what

27:03

it'll be about, man? So we're here

27:05

to welcome you to the Madhouse Chronicles.

27:07

It's a talk show with myself, Billy

27:09

Morrison and the Ozzy Osbourne. This man,

27:12

Prince of Darkness, and we watch and

27:14

react to the maddest internet clips. What

27:16

do we discuss, Ozzy? Drugs, rock and

27:18

roll, aliens, all that kind of shit.

27:20

Drugs, rock and roll, aliens, and all

27:23

that kinds of shit. Come and join

27:25

Ozzy and myself, visit ospornmediahouse.com to get

27:27

special access to- Come on! What do

27:29

you say? Do you think

27:31

it's the wildest show on the internet? But

27:37

the trial didn't happen. Somewhat surprisingly,

27:39

given Sinopoli's lack of cooperation, a

27:42

deal was negotiated between the common-law's

27:44

attorney and the defense. Sinopoli

27:46

would plead guilty to third-degree murder, burglary,

27:49

and aggravated assault, and enter

27:51

the plea at a hearing scheduled for October 19th. The

27:55

plea agreement dated October 19th, 2023 documents that David-

28:00

Vincent Sinopoli, was voluntarily pleading guilty

28:02

to murder in the third degree,

28:04

aggravated assault and burglary, which is unlawful

28:06

entry with the intent to commit a

28:09

crime inside. At

28:11

the plea hearing, ADA Christine Wilson addressed

28:13

the court, laying out the essential facts

28:15

of the case. She had

28:17

a blown up photo of Lindy propped on an

28:19

easel in the courtroom for everyone, including Sinopoli,

28:21

to gaze upon. She

28:24

told the judge Sinopoli's crime was,

28:26

quote, cold-blooded, brutal, and just pure

28:28

evil. She addressed

28:30

Sinopoli directly, demanding that he look at Lindy.

28:33

She said, quote, look at her, look at the precious

28:35

life you stole in 1975. According

28:39

to the Lancaster DA's website, Sinopoli showed

28:41

no reaction to the photo. Wilson

28:43

continued, pointing out to the judge that Lindy was a

28:45

teenager, just 19 years old, and

28:48

Sinopoli had delivered one stab for every

28:50

year of her life. She

28:53

said, quote, these cases are never forgotten.

28:55

Lindy's sue will never be forgotten. While

28:58

the defendant was able to carry on with his

29:00

life, Lindy was extinguished by him. The

29:02

defendant thought he'd gotten away with this horrific murder

29:04

while he carried on with his life for 48 years.

29:08

However, we never forgot about Lindy's

29:10

sue Beekler and the hard work of many involved

29:12

in trying to solve this case for years, and

29:15

the advancement of DNA technology that caught up

29:17

with him. Because of

29:19

the dedication of many law enforcement officers from

29:21

multiple agencies over the years, justice

29:24

was finally obtained for Lindy's sue Beekler. The

29:27

DNA evidence obtained in the case and

29:29

analyzed by Parabon revealed exactly who Lindy's

29:31

killer was, and the sentence imposed today

29:33

by the court will serve as a

29:35

much deserved life sentence for the

29:38

69-year-old defendant. Several

29:42

of Lindy's family members spoke during this hearing. They

29:44

had acquiesced to the plea agreement and were permitted

29:46

to weigh in on the proposed sentence. Mike

29:49

Little asked the DA to read a statement on

29:51

his behalf. Here are some excerpts. I

29:54

first would like to thank the hundreds, possibly

29:57

thousands, of people who have in some small

29:59

or large contributed to what has brought

30:01

us all here today together to ensure

30:03

that a murder is held accountable. It

30:06

was a massive 40-year collaborative effort that got

30:09

us here today on behalf of Lindy and

30:11

my family. Thank you. I

30:13

have an overwhelming sense of pride of being

30:15

from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania today. Hard

30:18

work, resolve, commitment, and values

30:20

on the part of our public

30:22

servants underpin this collective effort, along

30:24

with time and resources. And

30:27

I hope that the citizens of this county,

30:29

especially those with unsolved murders, have

30:31

a renewed faith in those who put their lives

30:33

on the line and those who serve to bring

30:35

us justice. On the

30:37

evening of December 5th, 1975, David Sinopoli brutally

30:41

killed Lindy Sue Beecher and today, 48

30:43

years later, he has been brought to

30:46

justice and held accountable for his actions. May

30:48

God bless Lindy and my family members to

30:50

reside with her in eternal peace. Beth

30:55

Clark, Philip Beecher's sister, spoke as well.

30:57

She said in part, quote,

30:59

I have many photographs etched into my memory

31:01

from the night Lindy was murdered 48

31:03

years ago. I have a memory of

31:05

my brother Phil sitting in a chair sobbing while

31:07

my brother Jack and I tried to comfort him.

31:10

I have a memory of my brother crying for three

31:12

days. Of the somber moment my mother

31:14

and him went to see Lindy at the funeral home.

31:17

I have a memory of telling my little sister what has

31:19

happened, of calling my aunts and cousins

31:21

and hearing their screams and crying. I

31:24

have a memory of the hearse driving down

31:26

Orange Street en route to the gravesite. People

31:28

lined the streets bowing their heads, making the

31:30

sign of the cross and putting their hands

31:32

on their hearts. I have a

31:35

memory of my brother opening the wrapped

31:37

Christmas gifts that Lindy was keeping under their

31:39

bed for him. I

31:41

continued to be scared for many years. Even

31:43

after I married and had children, I always

31:45

had a fear that something bad could happen

31:47

because it was bad. When my husband

31:49

traveled, I didn't like being alone at night. It

31:52

was easy for that memory to invade my thoughts. To

31:55

this day, every time I see a butcher knife in the

31:57

kitchen, it is a reminder. Years

32:00

during the initial investigation and subsequently were

32:02

tough. There were always questions surrounding

32:04

people we knew. For my brother, there

32:06

was always a shadow looming over him casting doubt

32:08

on his innocence. While you,

32:11

David Sinoppoli, continued to live your life,

32:13

Lindy did not. You married and

32:15

had children and grandchildren. Lindy did

32:17

not. You had a job

32:19

and house, went on vacations and celebrated

32:21

birthdays and holidays. Lindy did

32:23

not. You took away a

32:25

beautiful woman's life in what must have been a terrifying

32:28

moment for her. You devastated

32:30

two families and now your own. You

32:32

deserve to be in prison for the rest of your life and

32:34

you will someday have to answer to a judge far

32:36

greater than the one in this court. Philip

32:40

Beecher laid out the impact Lindy's murder had on

32:42

him. He said, after

32:45

our first date, it seemed like love at first sight.

32:47

We were a young couple with our first apartment

32:49

and we were full of expectations for our life

32:51

together. My family adored her and

32:53

she loved them. We wanted to

32:56

have a family someday and grow old together, the

32:58

fairy tale marriage. After

33:00

Lindy's death, I fell apart. I was

33:02

totally lost in grief and sorrow. I

33:04

built walls around myself to shield me from my

33:06

own emotions. I learned that people

33:09

are reluctant to talk to you about a murder. It is

33:11

an ugly word. For years,

33:13

as the investigation dragged on, there could be

33:15

tension and constant discussion of who had committed

33:17

the crime. At times, I

33:19

felt that I had not been completely absolved. Today

33:22

I still worry about the safety of my wife

33:24

and my daughter and her family. Addressing

33:29

directly the man who had in just a few moments

33:31

destroyed the life of promise that Philip had ahead of

33:33

him in December 1975, Philip

33:36

said, David Sinopoli, you

33:38

took a huge part of my life from me and caused

33:40

an extraordinary amount of pain and suffering for

33:42

so many people. While others had

33:45

to live their life with the terrible consequences of the

33:47

murder you committed, you got to live your life out.

33:50

So I have to ask, why did you do this? While

33:53

I forgive you because my God tells me to, you

33:55

need to pay for your actions. Then

33:59

it was Sinopoli's turn. He had several

34:01

family members in the courtroom who looked on

34:03

quietly, sorrow and anguish on their faces. His

34:06

attorney, Alum Sadonsky, told the court that Sonopoli's

34:08

family, too, was a victim in all this.

34:11

He said that the Sonopoli family had no

34:13

inkling that their beloved patriarch had killed someone

34:15

a lifetime ago. Quote, He

34:18

is married to somebody for thirty-six years. He

34:20

has three children. He has nine grandchildren, said

34:22

Sadonsky. You can imagine what they'll do when

34:24

they wake up tomorrow and read everything you will

34:26

write and say. These are human beings,

34:29

too. Sadonsky said

34:31

that Lindy's slaying was, quote, a nightmare

34:33

that Sonopoli has lived with, and

34:35

he referred to the plea deal as a most

34:37

appropriate resolution. When

34:40

given the opportunity to speak by the judge,

34:42

Sonopoli said, I'd just like

34:44

to apologize to everyone, including my wife. According

34:47

to a Lancaster online reporter in the courtroom,

34:49

he dabbed his eyes with a tissue. Besides

34:52

that, he responded yes, sir, and no,

34:54

sir, to the judge's questions about whether he

34:56

understood the plea agreement and was willingly pleading

34:58

guilty and so on. The

35:01

judge accepted Sonopoli's guilty plea, but

35:03

he didn't pull any punches when addressing the

35:05

defendant. The judge told Sonopoli

35:07

he, quote, chose to viciously stab Lindy

35:09

Sue Beecher nineteen times and then defile

35:12

her to satisfy your own selfish

35:14

sexual desires. The depravity

35:16

of your actions cannot be overstated. The

35:19

enormity of the pain, suffering, and damage

35:21

you have caused is incomprehensible. Make

35:23

no mistake. You did not suddenly

35:26

develop a pang of conscience. Come forward and

35:28

take responsibility for your actions. You

35:30

are not standing here today because you wanted to

35:32

provide closure from his Beecher's family and friends. I

35:35

have seen nothing in your conduct or

35:37

your words to suggest that you are

35:39

truly remorseful for what you've done. With

35:43

that, the judge pronounced sentence. The sentence was the

35:45

maximum permissible under the laws in effect in 1975

35:47

and was agreed upon

35:49

by the parties. They called for an

35:51

aggregate prison term of 25 to 50 years

35:54

in a state correctional facility plus costs

35:57

for lab expenses totaling 25,000. As

36:03

I said before, I do get a kick out of

36:06

these guys having to pay back the lab fees incurred

36:08

in identifying them. And at age

36:10

69, it is very likely Sinopoli will die

36:12

in prison. Finally,

36:14

finally, after too long, justice has

36:16

finally been served, the judge concluded. After

36:20

it was all over, PennLive interviewed

36:22

Sinopoli's defense attorney, who basically said,

36:24

this is a very sad day for everybody.

36:26

No good ever comes of these horrible proceedings.

36:29

If the Beecher family has closure, then maybe that's

36:31

some good that came of it. The

36:33

Sinopoli family is dealing with closure as well.

36:36

They are suffering greatly. Sadamski

36:39

said the plea agreement was difficult to negotiate,

36:42

but that this was a very fair

36:44

resolution and a very difficult, horrific situation.

36:47

Contrary to what was said in court, he is remorseful,

36:49

he said of his client. He's been

36:51

dealing with this for 48 years as well. And

36:54

now with a lengthy prison sentence, he'll be dealing with it

36:56

for the rest of his life. The

37:00

district attorney of Lancaster County, Heather Adams,

37:02

also made some comments. Quote,

37:04

this case was solved with the use

37:06

of DNA and specifically DNA genealogy. And

37:08

quite honestly, without that, I don't know

37:10

that we would have ever solved it.

37:13

She said justice was finally obtained for Lindy

37:15

Sue Beecher. The DNA evidence obtained

37:18

in the case and analyzed by Parabon

37:20

revealed exactly who Lindy's killer was. And

37:23

the sentence imposed today by the court will

37:25

serve as a much deserved life sentence for

37:27

the 69 year old defendant. Kristy

37:30

Wilson, who actually prosecuted the case, said,

37:32

quote, I'm honored to be part of obtaining

37:34

long overdue justice for Lindy Sue Beecher and

37:37

her family. After 48 years,

37:39

the defendant has finally been held accountable for this

37:41

brutal murder. Only a

37:43

small percentage of cold case homicides ever

37:45

result in a conviction. They

37:47

are some of the most challenging cases for prosecutors.

37:50

However, the dedication of cold case

37:52

units and also the continuing advancements

37:54

in DNA technology have increased

37:57

these statistics. The

38:01

former DA, Craig Steadman, who arranged for

38:03

the parabon analysis in this case, said,

38:06

quote, There is something fundamentally

38:08

disheartening, that the killer was free for

38:10

longer than the victim lived. But

38:13

there is some measure of justice and accounting in

38:15

a case many believe would never be solved. If

38:21

you love chilling mysteries, unsolved cases, and

38:23

a touch of mom-style humor, Moms and

38:25

Mysteries is the podcast you've been searching

38:28

for. Hey guys, I'm Mandi. And I'm

38:30

Melissa. Join us every Tuesday for Moms

38:32

and Mysteries, your gateway to gripping, well-researched,

38:35

true crime stories. Each week

38:37

we deep dive into a variety of

38:39

mind-boggling cases as we shed light on

38:41

everything from heights to who done it.

38:43

We're your go-to podcast for mysteries with

38:45

a motherly touch. Subscribe now to Moms

38:47

and Mysteries wherever you get your podcasts.

38:53

Okay, so what do we know about Sonopoli? All

38:56

of this is taken from terrific reporting by

38:58

LNP Lancaster and Penn Life and my own

39:00

digging on ancestry and in various

39:02

newspaper databases. He has one

39:04

brother, Sonopoli was the best man in

39:06

his brother's 1974 wedding. In

39:09

his younger years, he attended JP McCasky High School

39:11

and was a member of the Civil Air

39:14

Patrol. According to LNP

39:16

Lancaster, he was a member of the JV

39:18

Baseball Club and the Aviation Club, actually piloting

39:20

Cessness out of the local airport. But

39:24

I had to shake my head at this

39:26

irony. While still in high school, Sonopoli wrote

39:28

a letter to the editor of the Lancaster

39:30

New Era complaining about people littering in the

39:32

Conestoga Creek area. It begins with, I

39:35

am concerned about our ecology. Well,

39:38

kudos to him for thinking about the environment. It

39:41

just seems a little hypocritical considering he didn't give

39:43

a second thought to stabbing a woman to death

39:45

and sexually assaulting her after she was dead. Anyway,

39:48

while at McCasky High School, Sonopoli met his

39:51

first wife, Deborah Burns. They were

39:53

both in the graduating class of 1972 and they married on February 9,

39:55

1974. They

39:59

remained married for 13 years and had two children

40:01

together. Sinopoli was just 21

40:04

years old and married when he killed Lindy.

40:08

Sinopoli and Deborah divorced in 1986 and

40:10

he remarried Marina S. on September 10,

40:12

1987. In

40:15

1993, the couple bought their current

40:17

house in East Hemfield Township, Lancaster, and

40:20

they still lived there and were still married when

40:22

Sinopoli was arrested. This

40:25

all from LNP Lancaster, quote, Deborah

40:27

Burns was flabbergasted when police told her

40:29

that her ex-husband, David Sinopoli, was charged

40:32

in the 1975 fatal stabbing

40:34

of Lindy Sue Bechler. Burns

40:36

spoke briefly with reporters Wednesday morning as

40:38

she watered her new asphalt driveway, quote,

40:40

I can't say anything because I don't

40:42

know anything, said Burns, whom police

40:45

contacted Sunday after arresting Sinopoli.

40:48

According to Burns, nothing about their life

40:50

together indicated Sinopoli had the capacity to

40:52

commit the act police have charged him

40:54

with, end quote. She said

40:56

there was no precipitating incident that resulted in their

40:58

divorce after 13 years of marriage. They

41:01

simply grew apart. We got married too young.

41:03

When you're 19 and 20, she

41:06

trailed off. Sinopoli

41:08

blending in seemed to be a common refrain.

41:11

According to PennLive, Sinopoli had worked as

41:13

a press operator for more than 40 years. He

41:16

started out at Steckle Printing, working there from 1972 to

41:18

2000, and

41:20

then he moved to Yurchak Printing, quote,

41:23

where he operated digital press equipment Monday through

41:25

Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. This

41:28

was a family owned company where everybody knew

41:30

everybody. We were all really

41:32

shocked, said John Yurchak, owner of Yurchak

41:34

Printing, where Sinopoli worked until his retirement

41:36

in January 2017. We

41:39

would have never expected this at all.

41:41

To know you worked so many years with someone

41:44

and didn't know anything about it is very shocking, he

41:46

said. He called Sinopoli part of

41:48

the family. More

41:51

from LNP Lancaster, quote, when

41:53

one of Sinopoli's co-workers, whom LNP

41:56

Lancaster online granted anonymity, first

41:58

heard news of the arrest on Monday. She

42:00

didn't believe it. She told herself it

42:02

must be a different man with the same name,

42:04

until details emerged and she could no longer deny it.

42:07

She'd been speaking with others who knew Sinopoli and

42:09

they all agreed the news was shocking. Many

42:12

thought of him as a really nice guy. Nobody

42:15

ever feared him, there was nothing to fear, she said.

42:17

It's like a nightmare. We can't get it out of

42:19

our minds. This coworker

42:21

of Sinopoli described him as friendly and

42:24

sociable, although he wasn't very outgoing. He

42:26

helped people whenever he could, offering up

42:28

rides when needed. She'd never seen

42:30

him get angry and she knew he spent a lot

42:33

of time caring for his mother before she passed. This

42:36

coworker described Sinopoli as a happy person

42:38

with a good marriage and a loving

42:40

relationship with his kids and grandchildren. I

42:43

don't understand how that Dave and this Dave

42:45

could be the same person, she said. This

42:50

from Lancaster Online, quote, people close

42:52

to Sinopoli say the crime doesn't fit the man.

42:55

Vicky Tyre, Sinopoli's step sister through

42:57

his mother's remarriage, says the whole

42:59

business is just confusing. Tyre

43:02

watched him raise his kids and sat through dozens

43:04

of holiday dinners with him. She

43:06

recently described Sinopoli as a caring man

43:08

who tended to his 92-year-old mother on

43:10

her deathbed. Julia Grossman, his

43:12

mother, died on May 3, 2022, two months before police

43:15

arrested her son

43:18

and charged him with killing Buechler. That

43:21

charge, Tyre said, is completely out of character

43:23

for her stepbrother and members of his family

43:25

are bewildered. We don't understand,

43:27

she said. That's just not him. So

43:32

as you can hear, Sinopoli came across as a

43:34

totally normal guy, a family man, a

43:37

hunter, someone who enjoyed traveling to his ancestral

43:39

hometown of Italy. He drove a pickup truck

43:41

and photos of him on his social media

43:43

show him enjoying outdoor activities, things

43:45

Lindy Buechler never got to do. Online

43:48

photos show him wearing an Italia hat. Still

43:51

did he know that his connection to Italy would prove

43:53

to be his undoing. standing

44:00

on guy David Sinopoli was, was a little

44:02

disingenuous when you consider what else he'd done.

44:05

To be clear, he didn't have much of a criminal record. But

44:08

there was an incident in 2003 that

44:10

shows what a total creep this guy is. His

44:13

wife owned a Mount Joy hair salon

44:15

called Sissy's Hair Boutique that

44:17

had a tanning booth or private tanning room

44:19

inside. Sinopoli was the only

44:21

employee working on July 12, 2003, when somehow he got

44:23

caught spying

44:26

on a naked female customer who was in

44:28

the tanning room. She was none

44:31

too happy about this and pressed charges. Sinopoli

44:33

ended up pleading guilty in 2004

44:36

to invasion of privacy and surprisingly

44:38

disorderly conduct. I don't

44:40

have any more details for you on what happened to

44:42

bring about that latter charge, but

44:44

Sinopoli was sentenced to one year probation and fined

44:46

$100. I

44:48

can only imagine how he explained away this lewd

44:50

peeping behavior to his wife, kids, mother, and

44:53

everyone else. He probably said

44:55

the naked customer was to blame for leaving the

44:57

door open. Anyway, him secretly spying

44:59

on this woman like the perv that he

45:01

is tells us a little bit about what

45:03

he probably did to Lindy Sue Bechler. Okay,

45:07

speaking of Lindy, hold on to your hats

45:09

because it's time for the big reveal. How

45:12

Sinopoli and Lindy crossed paths. It

45:14

started in grade school. This all

45:16

adapted from Lancaster Online. Lindy

45:19

and Sinopoli were both born at Lancaster General

45:21

Hospital about two years apart. Then,

45:24

quote, for about six years, starting when

45:26

Lindy Sue was nine and David was 11, the

45:29

two lived a mile from each other. She

45:31

was her mother and stepfather in the 400 block

45:33

of South Ann Street, and he was

45:35

his mother in the 1200 block of East

45:37

Orange Street. They

45:40

both attended Mckaskey High School. Walking

45:42

to school could have taken Lindy across Orange

45:44

Street where Sinopoli lived. According

45:46

to Lancaster Online, quote, their walks to and

45:49

from school could have overlapped by as much

45:51

as six blocks. It

45:54

is almost certain that Lindy and Sinopoli would know

45:56

who each other were. When Lindy was a

45:58

sophomore at Mckaskey, the youngest grade in the world, he was a sophomore. the

46:00

school, Sanopoli was a senior. They

46:02

could have interacted any number of

46:04

ways in any number of settings,

46:06

classes, the gym, sporting events, the

46:08

halls, assemblies, the cafeteria, homecoming. The

46:11

two overlapped for only one year. But

46:13

that wasn't all. When Sanopoli and his first

46:16

wife Deborah got married, they moved into the

46:18

upstairs apartment at 104 Clos

46:20

Drive. They lived in apartment 104 D

46:22

and the beakers lived at 104

46:24

A. The

46:27

dates during which the two shared residency in

46:29

the building are unclear. Deborah Burns has reported

46:31

that she and David lived in their apartment

46:33

at 104 D Clos Drive for

46:35

more than a year and they moved out

46:38

by August 1975. That

46:40

month, that neighbor Gloria Caracarro moved

46:42

into 104 D. Lindy

46:45

and Phil married in October 1974

46:49

and moved right into their apartment. They

46:51

could have overlapped with the Sanopolis at the

46:53

apartment complex for as long as 10 months.

46:56

As Lancaster online pointed out, quote, David

46:59

would have passed Lindy Sue's front door

47:01

hundreds of times whenever he descended the stairs

47:03

on his way to work and again when

47:05

he returned home. LNP

47:08

Lancaster interviewed Sanopoli's first wife, Deb Burns,

47:11

who lived with him in the apartment

47:13

on Clos Drive. She said her ex-husband

47:15

never mentioned anything about Lindy. She

47:18

herself knew the young newlywed just to say

47:20

hi in passing in the four unit apartment

47:22

complex. Philip Beecher

47:24

remembered Sanopoli. He said he and

47:27

Lindy didn't chat with him or his wife, but

47:29

he definitely recognized him from the building. We just

47:31

don't know whether Lindy remembered Sanopoli from

47:33

high school. So

47:38

what happened on that fateful Friday night in December 1975?

47:42

David Sanopoli had until recently been a neighbor

47:44

of Lindy's. He was obsessed with her.

47:47

Perhaps she had even rejected him or ignored

47:49

him. He was now living a short

47:51

driving distance away from Lindy having moved out

47:53

of the spring manner apartments sometime around

47:55

the summer of 1975. We don't know if as Lindy said, He

48:00

continued to watch her, but that certainly

48:03

seems likely given what we know happened. Sinopoli's

48:07

wife was not home that Friday night, December

48:10

5th, and Sinopoli knew from

48:12

observing Lindy as her neighbor and then

48:14

spying on her afterwards that Philip worked

48:16

on Friday nights. He

48:18

drove over to Lindy's apartment, parked, and

48:20

waited. Whether he knew that no

48:22

one else was home in the building or whether he just

48:24

got lucky, we don't know. By

48:27

7.05 p.m., Lindy came home with her groceries

48:29

and went into the apartment and started putting them

48:31

away. As she was doing that, a

48:33

knock came at the door. She

48:35

looked through the peephole. Oh, I

48:37

imagine she thought, it's that guy David who lived

48:39

upstairs, or oh, it's David Sinopoli from

48:41

high school who used to live upstairs. I wonder what

48:43

he wants. She opened the door.

48:46

Wouldn't you?

48:48

Lindy was immediately stabbed with a small knife the

48:50

suspect brought with him. Sprays of her

48:52

blood hit both sides of the door. She

48:55

was stabbed while upright and probably staggered back

48:57

into the apartment struggling with Sinopoli. He

49:00

continued to stab her and the lamp went down. Sinopoli

49:03

cut himself on his knife, which might have broken,

49:05

and he grabbed the large one off the wall and

49:07

wrapped the handle with a kitchen towel. He

49:09

returned to Lindy and stabbed her some more, and she

49:12

ended up dying on the living room rug. Presumably,

49:15

Sinopoli shut the door sometime during all this.

49:18

And then he unsnapped and unzipped her jeans

49:20

and masturbated, leaving semen on her underwear and

49:23

two drops of his blood on her pantyhose.

49:26

And then he left, probably covered in blood

49:28

and went home, leaving Lindy on the floor

49:30

and just enough of himself that his DNA

49:33

would identify him decades later. David

49:36

Sinopoli was never interviewed, never the subject of a

49:38

tip, never named in the case file. The

49:41

only people who arguably came close in those intervening

49:43

decades between the murder and the

49:45

genealogy identification were the psychics from

49:48

California who saw, in air quotes,

49:50

an Italian man with tattoos. Sinopoli's

49:53

family, his ex and the DA have

49:55

declined to comment on whether he has tattoos,

49:58

but it doesn't matter. It wasn't psychic

50:00

hocus pocus that identified Senopoli. It

50:03

was a genetic-based immigration pattern survey

50:05

conducted by Cece Moore. The

50:07

DNA doesn't lie. Speaking

50:10

of Cece, she spoke to Lancaster online

50:12

about the cases she worked in Lancaster,

50:14

Christy Marax, and Lindy's. Both

50:17

are examples of what Cece called a new

50:19

class of criminals, one and done

50:21

killers. She said, quote, both

50:23

of the men perpetrated one really violent,

50:25

horrible crime against a woman and then

50:27

faded back into society. Nobody

50:30

could have ever imagined they were responsible for

50:32

this type of crime, end quote. I

50:34

think David Senopoli's wife, children, and grandchildren

50:36

would agree with this statement. Philip

50:40

Beecher went through a dark period, as we heard

50:42

in his victim's impact statement after Lindy's murder. He

50:45

went on to graduate from Millersville University, went

50:47

to graduate school at the University of Delaware,

50:49

and then moved to Philly, where he worked as

50:52

a welder making spiral staircases and created his

50:54

own artwork. He eventually remarried and

50:56

said that his wife, Cindy, and their daughter

50:58

had made him whole again. It

51:01

was a long time coming, but he was

51:03

there to see David Senopoli's sentence for the

51:05

agony he put Lindy's loved ones through. Senopoli

51:08

will die in prison, hopefully only

51:10

after he has many years to contemplate exactly

51:12

what he did and how he

51:14

ruined not only the lives of Lindy's loved ones,

51:16

but his own families as well. After

51:19

47 years, Lindy's Sue Beecher's case

51:21

is closed thanks to forensic genealogy. And

51:24

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51:26

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