Whether you’re planning on spending the evening trick-or-treating or watching scary
films, we can all agree that Halloween is one of the best days of the year.
Whilst the scariest stories are usually reserved for films, sometimes they can seep through
into real life.
5 - Peter Fabiano There are some really scary things that have
happened on Halloween and on Halloween evening in 1957 the community of Sun Valley, California
were rocked by what has become know as “The Trick or Treat Murder”.
At around 11 pm the doorbell to the Fabiano household rang, prompting 35-year-old Peter
Fabiano to get out of bed and answer the door.
As he approached the door he said “It’s a little late for this, isn’t it?” thinking
that on the other side of the door were mischievous children looking for sweets.
To Peter’s surprise, a deep adult voice replied “No” before holding up a paper
bag that concealed a gun and shooting Richard once.
His wife, Betty, heard the commotion and ran downstairs to find her husband lying at the
front door with a single gunshot wound but the perpetrator was nowhere to be found.
Betty immediately called the police, however, Richard succumbed to his injuries.
Police immediately launched their investigation and as the news broke about the horrific crime,
newspapers ran with the headline “A murder as fantastic as the spirirts of Halloween.”
The community were shocked, crimes like this just didn’t happen here and they believed
they were living in a safe neighbourhood.
For two weeks the residents of Sun Valley waited for any update in the case, wondering
if they would be the mysterious perpetrator’s next victims.
Residents took extra precautions and stopped answering their doors at night.
Then in November 1957 detectives found something suspicious in a storage locker in Bullock’s,
downtown Los Angeles.
Stashed inside the locker they found a gun that matched the calibre of the weapon used
on Halloween evening just a few miles away.
They managed to track down Goldyne Pizer who had rented the storage locker and when she
was approached by detectives she was more than happy to tell them everything they wanted
to know about the “Trick or Treat Murder”.
According to Goldyne, she had been put up to the job by a woman named Joan Rabel who
she had met earlier that year.
Peter Fabiano owned a hair salon in downtown Los Angeles where both his wife Betty and
Joan worked.
According to Joan, over the course of a few months, she and Betty became close with Betty
confiding in her that Peter was abusive towards her.
This angered Joan and after meeting Goldyne, she convinced her to become a hitwoman and
‘take care’ of Betty’s problem once and for all.
Joan and Goldyne are believed to have been in a relationship at the time of the murders,
something that would have been heavily frowned upon.
When Goldyne told detectives everything, both she and Joan were taken into custody and charged
with the murder of 35-year-old Peter Fabiano.
Goldyne pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity but it appears that this plea was ignored.
Both women were sentenced to 5 years to life, however, there is no clear indication of how
long they both spent
in prison.
4 - Leslie Mazzara and Adriane Insogna In early 2004, Lauren Meanza and Leslie Mazzara
decided to rent a house together in Napa, California after being friends for a short
while.
The two women were both in their early 20s and working towards kick-starting their careers
after finishing their respective degrees.
Things went great for the two housemates, they would return home after a long day at
work and share each other's company whilst cooking and relaxing.
Then a few months later, Leslie met Adriane Insogna who was originally from South Carolina
but was now working in Napa as a public relations specialist.
Adriane’s friends and family described her as “lively and bubbly” and she quickly
became the best of friends with Lauren and Leslie.
The friendship was so strong that in the summer of 2004, Leslie and Lauren asked Adriane to
move in with them and be their roommate.
Adriane was over the moon and accepted and quickly settled into life with the two young
women.
Things didn’t stay perfect forever and on October 28th 2004, Lauren and Leslie were
kept awake all night by Adriane and her boyfriend.
In an ABC News article, Lauren recalled that this was the first time a member of the opposite
sex had ever stayed at the house saying “I didn’t put much thought into it.
But I just figured in the back of my head that -- yes, people would be coming over.”
The three roommates came to an agreement about having guests over and after that, the matter
appeared to have been resolved.
On October 31st 2004, Lauren was awoken between 1:30 am and 2 am by her dog barking and the
security light flashing.
She also heard someone walking up the stairs but brushed it off as it being Adriane and
her boyfriend again.
That was until she heard a blood-curdling scream followed by Adriane shouting “Oh
my god, please help.
Please help.”
Lauren ran upstairs but it was too late, an unknown intruder had gotten into the house
and taken Leslie’s life and left Adriane on the drink of death.
She frantically called 911 and tried to tend to Adriane’s wounds, however, she too passed
as a result.
During the investigation, Napa police recovered over 266 items of evidence including cigarette
butts and a bloodstain left behind by the perpetrator in the kitchen.
DNA was obtained from the cigarette end and it was confirmed to match the DNA found in
the blood in the kitchen, the only question was, who did it belong to?
That’s when it hit Lauren, months earlier when Adriane had moved into the house a friend
by the name of Eric Copple had helped her move in and had stayed for a few celebratory
drinks afterwards.
After speaking to the detectives assigned to the case, Lauren learned that the brand
of cigarette ends left at the crime scene was Camel Turkish Gold, the exact brand that
Eric was known to smoke.
This exact brand of cigarettes had only been available for around 4 months at the time
of the crimes, allowing investigators to narrow down their suspect pool even further.
Once this information was released to the public, more people began turning their suspicions
towards Eric Copple and within a few days, Eric had turned himself into police.
Eric never truly gave a motive for actions, however, in court he did say that he was “a
broken man” and had suffered from depression and anxiety all his life.
Eric also mentioned that during the time of the crime, his fiance, Lily had broken off
their engagement.
Lily was also friends with Leslie and Adriane and it has been speculated that Eric felt
that the 3 housemates were responsible for her decision to call off the wedding.
In court, Eric pled guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and was subsequently given
life in prison without the possibility of parole.
His plea deal allowed him to escape capital punishment and now he will spend the rest
of his life behind bars.
3 - Ronald Sisman and Elizabeth Platzman 20-year-old Elizabeth Platzman, a college
student at the exclusive ‘Smith College and 39-year-old photographer Ronald Sisman
shared an apartment at 207 West 22nd Street in Chelsea, Manhattan.
Not much is known about the couple apart from the fact that Elizabeth attended college and
Ronald ran two private photography businesses from his apartment and by all accounts, their
lives seemed rather ordinary.
In 1977 New York was finally beginning to recover from the bizarre and inexplicable
crimes committed by the .44 calibre killer, also known as “The Son of Sam.”
For over a year, David Berkowitz had plunged New York into a state of panic and fear and
it wasn’t until August 1977 that he was finally captured and residents could rest
easy, or so they thought.
On Halloween evening of 1981, Ronald and Elizabeth spent the evening in their Chelsea apartment
before heading to bed.
At some point during the night, an intruder broke in and attacked the couple, leaving
them both deceased.
The intruder had also turned the apartment upside down leading investigators to believe
that they were looking for something specific.
The only thing of note that was missing from the apartment however was Elizabeth’s and
Ron’s identifications and a .25 calibre handgun.
Investigators were left perplexed, they were unable to figure out an exact motive for this
horrific crime and quickly found themselves at a dead end with their investigation.
Then in an unusual twist, a shocking piece of information came to light.
A prison informant claimed that none other than David Berkowitz, the Son of Sam had predicted
the crime in the weeks before it took place.
Berkowitz explained how he had been involved in a Satanic cult that was behind all of the
Son of Sam crimes and that had received information that they were going to target a home in Chelsea,
Manhattan on Halloween 1981.
Berkowitz was unable to give investigators any more information and the case has remained
cold ever since.
If you have any information you are asked to contact the New York City Police Department’s
10th Precinct on (212) 741-8211.
2 - Maria Adams On Halloween evening of 2011, 49-year-old
Maria Adams was found unresponsive in her Chicago, Illinois home by paramedics.
Police and paramedics were called to the scene after neighbours reported hearing an argument,
followed by shouting and pleas for help.
When they arrived at the scene, they found 55-year-old Ledell Peoples unharmed and Maria
unresponsive.
Court documents show that Maria was transported to the hospital where doctors worked tirelessly
to stabilise her, however despite their best efforts, she passed away on November 5th 2011.
The doctor who attended to Maria upon her admittance testified that she had suffered
from at least 20 stab wounds and significant blood loss.
At first, Ledell was charged with assault, however after Maria passed as a result of
her injuries, his charges were upgraded to first-degree murder and aggravated domestic
battery.
When asked, Ledell calmly explained that he had flown into a fit of rage after he discovered
a bag of Halloween sweets were missing.
He accused Maria of stealing them and the two got into an argument with Maria throwing
a plate at his head.
Following this, Ledell claims that he ‘snapped’ and that he suffered from schizoaffective
disorder, paranoid schizophrenia and a cognitive disorder that impaired his judgements at the
time.
Ledell was found guilty on two counts of first-degree murder and aggravated domestic battery.
However, in February 2020, Ledell filed an appeal against the 30-year sentence he was
handed.
It appears that the appeal is still ongoing and for the time being, Ledell will remain
in prison.
1 - Orange Socks Jane Doe On October 31st 1979 a motorist driving down
I-35 in Georgetown, Texas came across the nude body of a woman lying face down in a
drainage ditch.
At first, the person who discovered her believed that she was a mannequin that had been placed
there as a Halloween prank, however, when they got closer they realised that they were
very wrong.
In a panic, the motorist called 911 and within minutes police arrived at the scene and declared
it an active crime scene and found that the woman's cause of death was strangulation.
The woman was estimated to be between 18 and 30 years old with long reddish/brown hair
and hazel eyes.
The coroner also noted that the unknown woman had some very distinctive features such as
long toes and ‘unique earlobes, she also had a scar on her chin and two missing teeth.
Despite this description, no one came forward to claim the woman and she became known as
“The Orange Socks Jane Doe” in reference to the orange socks she was found wearing.
Her description was broadcast across Georgetown, however, police were still left with few leads
as to who the woman could be.
Numerous families nervously called the police station wondering if it was their missing
daughter but no match could be made.
In 1982, Henry Lee Lucas confessed to having been responsible for her murder, although
we now know that Lucas’ is not the most reliable when it comes to confessions.
Investigators have pointed out that there is no physical evidence to link Lucas to the
crime.
Amazingly in 2019, The Orange Socks Jane Doe was formally identified as Debra Jackson who
was last seen in 1977 in Abilene, Texas.
After seeing new reconstruction photos of the Jane Doe, Debra’s sister contacted the
DNA Doe Project and sent in a DNA sample which confirmed Orange Socks’ identity.
According to her sister, Debra was never reported missing by her family as they had no idea
she was missing.
In their eyes, Debra had moved away to start a new life and hadn’t contacted them because
she didn’t want to.
Whilst we now know the identity of the Orange Socks Jane Doe all these years later, we are
still left without the identity of the person who is responsible for her passing.
In 2016, fingernail scrapings were reanalysed and brought back two male DNA profiles.
Debra’s case is still open and the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office is asking for your
help.
If you have any information please contact Sergeant John Pokorny of the Williamson County
Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Unit on 737-240-0559.