Beyond the silence, the eastbound strangler,
Atlantic City murders. Today, we're heading to
the outskirts of Atlantic City, New Jersey, back
to the fall of 2006, a time when the city's neon
lights couldn't hide the darkness lurking just
beyond the boardwalk. On November 20th, two women
were walking behind the old Golden Key Motel.
What they stumbled upon would haunt the city
for years to come. There, in a drainage ditch,
they found the body of Kim Raffo, face down,
in shallow, grimy water. The police arrived and
within hours, three more bodies were discovered.
Barbara Brador, Molly Diltz, and Tracy Ann Roberts.
Four women, all found in a row, all laid face
down, their heads pointed east toward the city.
It was a scene that would earn the unknown killer
a chilling nickname. The Eastbound Strangler.
Welcome to Beyond the Silence, Whispers Across
America. I'm Sammy, your host, driven to shine
light on the dark corners of forgotten cases,
demand justice, and keep alive the voices the
world has tried to silence. Today we step into
the chilling mystery of the Eastbound Strangler,
the Atlantic City Murders. Now, I gotta say,
the details here are just, they stick with you.
All four women were fully clothed, but their
shoes and socks were missing. They were spaced
out about 60 feet apart, and the way they were
positioned, arms stretched out, heads facing
east. It's almost ritualistic. The killer, whoever
they are, took their time. They tried to keep
the bodies hidden, anchoring them to the side
of the ditch. hoping the water and the elements
would erase the evidence. But as we know, secrets
like this don't stay buried forever. The city
was in shock. Atlantic cities always had its
shadows, but this was something else, a serial
killer, right in their backyard. Let's talk about
the women whose lives were stolen. These weren't
just names in a headline. They were daughters,
mothers, friends. Kim Raffo was 35, originally
from Brooklyn. She moved to Atlantic City with
her boyfriend in 2003, looking for a fresh start.
She had two kids, and at one point she was even
part of the PTA down in Florida. But life got
tough. She struggled with substance abuse, and
like so many, she was just trying to get her
life back on track. Her friend John Pesci said,
She was trying to get her life together, but
she couldn't get away. That just hits you, doesn't
it? Then there's Barbara Brader, 42. She worked
as a cocktail waitress at the casinos, helped
her mom with her clothing store, and was known
for being there for her family. But she was also
a victim of domestic violence. And after her
father died, she started self -medicating with
drugs. Her sister Francine told 48 Hours. She
ended up self -medicating herself with drugs.
At the time of her death, Barbara had a 9 -year
-old daughter. That's a whole life left behind.
Tracy Ann Roberts was just 23. She grew up in
Delaware, trained to be a medical assistant,
and had only recently moved to Atlantic City.
Like the others, she struggled with addiction.
She was described as a really nice, pretty, young
person that had her whole future ahead of her.
Her murder left her daughter without a mother.
I mean, it's just heartbreaking. And then there's
Molly Diltz, the youngest at 20. She grew up
in Blacklick, Pennsylvania, a blue -collar mining
town. Her uncle, Steve Taylor, said she was a
warm and loving, caring kid. She had a lot of
good to spread to the world, and it's just a
shame that she won't be able to do that. Molly's
mother had died young, and her brother had also
passed away before her. She had a tattoo of an
English bulldog, which is how investigators identified
her. For everything she'd been through, her uncle
said she came out pretty damned well. That's
the thing. These women had stories, struggles,
and people who loved them. They deserved better.
So let's dig into the crime scene itself, because
this is where things get really strange. All
four women were found in that drainage ditch
behind the Golden Key Motel, right off the Black
Horse Pike. The killer didn't just dump the bodies,
he arranged them. Each woman was placed face
down, heads pointed east, arms stretched out
and spaced apart. Their feet were bare and their
shoes and socks were missing. It's almost like
the killer wanted to send a message, or maybe
it was just part of his ritual. I mean, I'm not
a profiler, but that kind of detail? It's not
random. The autopsies showed that two of the
women, Roberts and Raffo, died from asphyxiation,
likely strangulation. But for Diltz and Brydor...
Their bodies were so badly decomposed that the
cause of death couldn't be determined. They'd
been there the longest. The killer used the water
to his advantage. Trying to wash away evidence,
and the longer the bodies stayed hidden, the
harder it was for investigators to piece things
together. It's frustrating, honestly. The police
believed the killer lured these women from the
city's red -light district out to Egg Harbor,
where he killed and disposed of them. And the
way the bodies were anchored, it's like he wanted
to keep them out of sight for as long as possible.
There's also the question of why these women.
Most of them were sex workers, and as grim as
it is, that made them more vulnerable. They were
easy to approach, easy to get into a car, and
if they went missing, sometimes no one reported
it right away. That's a pattern we see in so
many serial cases, and it's just, it's infuriating.
These women mattered, and their lives shouldn't
have been seen as disposable. Now, you might
be wondering, did the police have any suspects?
Well, they did, but nothing ever stuck. There
was Terry Olson, a repairman who was staying
at the Golden Key Motel for free in exchange
for doing repairs. His girlfriend implicated
him during a domestic dispute. and police found
cameras and some pretty disturbing images in
his room. But, and this is important, there was
no DNA evidence linking him to the murders, and
he was never officially named a suspect. Then
there was Eldred Raymond Burchell, who called
himself the River Man. Maybe a nod to the Green
River Killer? He apparently confessed to another
sex worker that he'd killed people, but again
nothing concrete tied him to the case. There
were a couple of other guys, Charles Coles, a
drug dealer and friend of one of the victims,
and Mark Hesse, who knew two of the women. Both
were questioned and released, so basically a
lot of leads, but no answers. And then there's
the theory that maybe this was connected to the
Gilgo Beach murders in Long Island. Both cases
involved sex workers, both had victims found
in remote, watery areas, and both had bodies
arranged in a certain way. But after a lot of
back and forth, law enforcement has said there's
no official link. Even after the arrest of Rex
Hoyerman in the Gilgo Beach case, police in New
Jersey and New York compared notes, timelines,
and methods. And they just couldn't make the
connection. All the initial suspects in Atlantic
City have been ruled out, and the Gilgo Beach
Killer would have had to travel over 150 miles
to commit these murders. So, as of now, the Eastbound
Strangler remains a ghost. Nearly two decades
later, the Eastbound Strangler case is still
cold. There's a $25 ,000 reward out there for
information, but no one's come forward. The police
aren't talking, the leads have dried up, and
the families are left with nothing but questions.
Investigators have said they believe the killer
knew Atlantic City well. Maybe someone who was
trafficking the victims, or someone who moved
in those circles. But without new evidence, it's
all just speculation. What really gets me is
how the city itself has changed. The Golden Key
Motel is gone. Demolished years ago. But the
memory of what happened there lingers. The sex
worker community in Atlantic City still faces
the same dangers, and the women who were lost
in 2006 are still waiting for justice. Their
families, their friends, they deserve answers.
And honestly, so does the city. This isn't just
a story about a serial killer. It's about the
people left behind, the lives interrupted, and
the silence that follows when justice isn't served.
So that's where we are. Four women, one killer,
and a city still searching for the truth. If
you know something, anything, about this case,
there's still a reward, and there are still people
hoping for closure. That's it for today's episode.
The questions remain, and the search continues,
because every lost soul deserves answers, and
every story deserves to be heard. What are your
thoughts? What do you believe happened? Share
your voice, because sometimes the smallest detail
can spark the biggest breakthrough. I'm Sammy,
and this is Beyond the Silence Whispers Across
America. Thank you for listening, stay safe,
and I'll see you next time.