WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.799 Welcome back to Beyond the Silence Whispers Across 00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:06.519 America. I'm Sammy, and tonight we're heading 00:00:06.519 --> 00:00:09.640 back to Paulding, Ohio, a place I always picture 00:00:09.640 --> 00:00:12.580 as one of those postcard towns where just about 00:00:12.580 --> 00:00:17.160 everybody knows everybody. In 1960, Paulding 00:00:17.160 --> 00:00:19.699 wasn't just small, it was insulated. It was a 00:00:19.699 --> 00:00:22.839 place where doors were left unlocked, neighborly 00:00:22.839 --> 00:00:25.679 trust was absolute, and a child could walk three 00:00:25.679 --> 00:00:29.199 blocks home. from the picture show After Dark 00:00:29.199 --> 00:00:32.939 without a second thought. This insulation wasn't 00:00:32.939 --> 00:00:36.420 just physical, it was psychological. The residents 00:00:36.420 --> 00:00:38.600 believed they were immune to the violence that 00:00:38.600 --> 00:00:42.179 plagued larger cities. Quiet streets, kids riding 00:00:42.179 --> 00:00:45.420 their bikes to the local theater. Community life 00:00:45.420 --> 00:00:48.299 centered on the church and the town square, and 00:00:48.299 --> 00:00:51.939 honestly, we often forget how rare a true, inexplicable 00:00:51.939 --> 00:00:55.789 tragedy felt in places like that. The innocence 00:00:55.789 --> 00:00:58.670 of a whole community was about to be obliterated. 00:01:00.030 --> 00:01:02.789 At the heart of this story is Nancy Eagleson. 00:01:02.869 --> 00:01:05.569 She was the oldest child in the Eagleson family, 00:01:05.810 --> 00:01:08.750 14 years old, a middle schooler at Paulding Junior 00:01:08.750 --> 00:01:13.430 High, and truly full of life. Nancy loved helping 00:01:13.430 --> 00:01:16.510 out at school and church, was a popular member 00:01:16.510 --> 00:01:18.890 of her class, and she had this handwritten joke 00:01:18.890 --> 00:01:22.569 book, a simple youthful artifact that now feels 00:01:22.569 --> 00:01:26.750 impossibly poignant. Her parents, Don and Betty, 00:01:26.849 --> 00:01:29.769 both worked hard. Don was a local auto mechanic, 00:01:29.930 --> 00:01:33.409 and Betty was an active homemaker, creating a 00:01:33.409 --> 00:01:37.390 stable, loving environment. I remember my first 00:01:37.390 --> 00:01:40.609 local tragedy. I saw how people locked their 00:01:40.609 --> 00:01:43.930 doors for the first time, how a dark cloud would 00:01:43.930 --> 00:01:47.629 settle over the friendliest streets. That's what 00:01:47.629 --> 00:01:50.969 happened in Paulding after November 13, 1960. 00:01:52.200 --> 00:01:55.420 That feeling of absolute safety vanished overnight. 00:01:56.019 --> 00:01:58.780 Replaced by the crushing realization that evil 00:01:58.780 --> 00:02:00.980 wasn't just something you saw in the movies, 00:02:01.219 --> 00:02:03.640 it could be waiting on your very own street corner. 00:02:04.099 --> 00:02:07.140 The lights on the square seemed dimmer, and every 00:02:07.140 --> 00:02:10.180 unfamiliar car became a source of immediate terror. 00:02:12.280 --> 00:02:16.639 Sunday morning, November the 13th. The Eaglesons 00:02:16.639 --> 00:02:19.080 went to the First Christian Church, following 00:02:19.080 --> 00:02:22.729 their fixed weekly routine. After lunch, Nancy, 00:02:22.969 --> 00:02:24.969 full of the excitement only a young teenager 00:02:24.969 --> 00:02:28.530 can possess, and her five -year -old sister Cheryl 00:02:28.530 --> 00:02:31.909 set off. They were headed to see a double feature, 00:02:32.090 --> 00:02:35.330 likely the crowded sky and college confidential, 00:02:35.710 --> 00:02:39.169 at the local Paradise Theater, just a few blocks 00:02:39.169 --> 00:02:42.830 from their home on Jackson Street. But there's 00:02:42.830 --> 00:02:45.810 this detail I can't ever shake, one that highlights 00:02:45.810 --> 00:02:49.069 Nancy's transition from girlhood to young womanhood. 00:02:49.739 --> 00:02:52.099 Nancy was wearing her very first pair of high 00:02:52.099 --> 00:02:55.620 heels that day. She'd begged her mom, Betty, 00:02:55.819 --> 00:02:59.259 for months, perhaps saving her own allowance, 00:02:59.500 --> 00:03:02.240 to finally make that purchase just so she could 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:05.259 feel a little more grown up, a little more independent. 00:03:06.060 --> 00:03:09.460 Those new heels, intended as a marker of burgeoning 00:03:09.460 --> 00:03:12.460 adulthood and a personal step toward her future, 00:03:12.520 --> 00:03:15.879 instead became the final heart -wrenching accessory 00:03:15.879 --> 00:03:19.310 in the crime. They represented the life she was 00:03:19.310 --> 00:03:22.009 reaching for, a life that would never progress 00:03:22.009 --> 00:03:27.009 beyond that single tragic Sunday. When the movie 00:03:27.009 --> 00:03:30.389 let out, it was getting dark around 5 .30 p .m., 00:03:30.389 --> 00:03:32.629 but there was still that little time where the 00:03:32.629 --> 00:03:36.069 familiar streets felt safe. The girl stopped 00:03:36.069 --> 00:03:38.770 for a soda at the Fountain Cafe, just blocks 00:03:38.770 --> 00:03:41.689 from home. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, 00:03:41.870 --> 00:03:45.460 except maybe this. Nancy told a friend the day 00:03:45.460 --> 00:03:48.719 it was her unlucky day because they'd missed 00:03:48.719 --> 00:03:52.900 their ride earlier and had to walk. In hindsight, 00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:55.879 that small throwaway comment just hits different. 00:03:56.199 --> 00:03:59.520 The walk home should have been a simple ten minutes. 00:03:59.580 --> 00:04:02.780 It was a route Nancy had taken countless times, 00:04:02.939 --> 00:04:07.379 a path of total familiarity, where the only danger 00:04:07.379 --> 00:04:11.939 was tripping over a crack in the pavement. But 00:04:11.939 --> 00:04:14.199 once they crossed over the iron bridge on Jackson 00:04:14.199 --> 00:04:16.600 Street, which spanned the murky Auglaize River, 00:04:16.860 --> 00:04:19.920 the girls noticed a car on their tail, a dark 00:04:19.920 --> 00:04:23.519 sedan, described by Cheryl as being big, old, 00:04:23.620 --> 00:04:27.319 and shiny. Near the intersection of Jackson and 00:04:27.319 --> 00:04:29.620 3rd Street, the car pulled up alongside them. 00:04:30.040 --> 00:04:33.279 The driver, a white man, wearing what Cheryl 00:04:33.279 --> 00:04:36.519 distinctly recalled as church clothes, a dark 00:04:36.519 --> 00:04:40.069 overcoat, Dark horn -rimmed glasses and a fedora 00:04:40.069 --> 00:04:43.230 offered them a ride. The driver's calculated 00:04:43.230 --> 00:04:45.850 choice of attire was a terrifying psychological 00:04:45.850 --> 00:04:49.290 tool, meant to project an immediate sense of 00:04:49.290 --> 00:04:53.009 trustworthiness, respectability, or even professional 00:04:53.009 --> 00:04:56.290 authority. Designed to bypass a child's natural 00:04:56.290 --> 00:04:59.769 caution, he persisted, making the girls uncomfortable, 00:05:00.170 --> 00:05:03.930 until Nancy firmly declined, holding on to Cheryl. 00:05:05.579 --> 00:05:08.399 The car zipped ahead, turned the corner, and 00:05:08.399 --> 00:05:10.860 then menacingly came back for a second crucial 00:05:10.860 --> 00:05:14.319 pass, eliminating any pretense of neighborly 00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:18.379 kindness. This time, the driver didn't bother 00:05:18.379 --> 00:05:21.300 with conversation. He got out of the car with 00:05:21.300 --> 00:05:23.759 frightening speed, moved toward them, grabbed 00:05:23.759 --> 00:05:27.060 Nancy violently by the arm, shoved the tiny five 00:05:27.060 --> 00:05:29.579 -year -old Cheryl aside, and forced Nancy into 00:05:29.579 --> 00:05:33.399 the back seat of the sedan. Cheryl, just five 00:05:33.399 --> 00:05:37.079 years old, tried to fight back, desperately clinging 00:05:37.079 --> 00:05:40.300 to her big sister's coat, and was knocked hard 00:05:40.300 --> 00:05:42.660 to the ground. The force of the abduction was 00:05:42.660 --> 00:05:45.519 brutal and swift, suggesting someone who knew 00:05:45.519 --> 00:05:47.899 exactly what they were doing and was prepared 00:05:47.899 --> 00:05:51.819 to use overwhelming physical control, ensuring 00:05:51.819 --> 00:05:55.860 no struggle could be sustained. The sight of 00:05:55.860 --> 00:05:58.939 her big sister going limp and vanishing as the 00:05:58.939 --> 00:06:02.879 dark sedan Sped off into the deepening dusk is 00:06:02.879 --> 00:06:06.459 a scene of raw, primal terror that would shape 00:06:06.459 --> 00:06:10.939 Cheryl's life forever. Cheryl, abandoned on the 00:06:10.939 --> 00:06:14.319 side of the road, rushed, terrified, to the nearest 00:06:14.319 --> 00:06:17.779 house, the Hull's residence, screaming for help. 00:06:18.160 --> 00:06:21.879 The last fragments of Paulding's calm were annihilated, 00:06:22.040 --> 00:06:26.720 replaced by the wail of a terrified child. The 00:06:26.720 --> 00:06:29.560 search was immediate and frantic, involving dozens 00:06:29.560 --> 00:06:32.100 of local volunteers and law enforcement from 00:06:32.100 --> 00:06:35.420 several surrounding counties. Every available 00:06:35.420 --> 00:06:38.500 citizen with a flashlight combed the roads. Less 00:06:38.500 --> 00:06:42.439 than six hours later, around 11 .30 p .m., two 00:06:42.439 --> 00:06:46.439 men out raccoon hunting stumbled across a body 00:06:46.439 --> 00:06:49.139 in a densely wooded clearing about a mile and 00:06:49.139 --> 00:06:52.040 a half from the abduction site, a place soon 00:06:52.040 --> 00:06:56.370 known grimly as Nancy's Woods. Nancy's body was 00:06:56.370 --> 00:06:59.170 found gently laid out, still buttoned up, her 00:06:59.170 --> 00:07:02.149 coat neatly positioned, and those hard -earned 00:07:02.149 --> 00:07:05.529 high heels still on her feet. But her undergarments 00:07:05.529 --> 00:07:09.589 were found off to the side. This staging, the 00:07:09.589 --> 00:07:12.209 careful presentation of the body alongside the 00:07:12.209 --> 00:07:15.170 evidence of violence, suggested the killer was 00:07:15.170 --> 00:07:19.290 not panicked, but controlled, perhaps even deriving 00:07:19.290 --> 00:07:23.029 a sick psychological satisfaction from the final 00:07:23.029 --> 00:07:26.329 macabre arrangement. contrasting the victim's 00:07:26.329 --> 00:07:30.129 purity with the horror he inflicted. The initial 00:07:30.129 --> 00:07:33.209 autopsy found a single gunshot under her chin 00:07:33.209 --> 00:07:37.069 was the assumed cause of death, along with definitive 00:07:37.069 --> 00:07:40.670 evidence of sexual assault. There was no sign 00:07:40.670 --> 00:07:43.389 of a prolonged struggle at the disposal site, 00:07:43.649 --> 00:07:46.589 suggesting the violence was swift and potentially 00:07:46.589 --> 00:07:50.449 perpetrated elsewhere. The initial police assessment 00:07:50.449 --> 00:07:53.310 of the scene failed to secure the area adequately. 00:07:54.029 --> 00:07:56.970 allowing the critical first hours to slip away 00:07:56.970 --> 00:08:02.050 amidst chaos and community grief. The investigation 00:08:02.050 --> 00:08:04.649 that rolled out was massive for a rural place, 00:08:04.810 --> 00:08:06.850 but fundamentally flawed from its foundation. 00:08:07.569 --> 00:08:10.370 Deputies interviewed classmates, combed through 00:08:10.370 --> 00:08:12.930 rumors, and conducted dozens of polygraphs on 00:08:12.930 --> 00:08:16.170 suspects, all of whom were eventually cleared. 00:08:16.829 --> 00:08:21.769 A huge reward of over $6 ,000 was raised by the 00:08:21.769 --> 00:08:25.629 grieving desperate community. But the most important 00:08:25.629 --> 00:08:29.310 asset, forensics, was severely limited to basic 00:08:29.310 --> 00:08:32.250 ballistics. And the most crucial lead was the 00:08:32.250 --> 00:08:35.330 testimony of five -year -old Cheryl, a lot of 00:08:35.330 --> 00:08:39.169 weight for one traumatized child. Investigators 00:08:39.169 --> 00:08:41.809 relied almost solely on the shaky recollections 00:08:41.809 --> 00:08:45.389 of a panicked child. focusing too heavily on 00:08:45.389 --> 00:08:48.070 the car description and the suspect's appearance, 00:08:48.429 --> 00:08:51.690 while fatally ignoring or losing the hard physical 00:08:51.690 --> 00:08:56.690 data that could have spoken for Nancy. If you 00:08:56.690 --> 00:08:59.090 asked why this case is still cold, I'll tell 00:08:59.090 --> 00:09:02.169 you. It's lost evidence, a monumental failure 00:09:02.169 --> 00:09:05.269 of chain of custody that echoes a systemic indifference. 00:09:05.690 --> 00:09:09.129 At some point, everything went missing. The original 00:09:09.129 --> 00:09:12.590 blood samples, foreign hairs, and fibers collected 00:09:12.590 --> 00:09:16.019 at the scene, Nancy's actual clothing, which 00:09:16.019 --> 00:09:18.700 could have held vital trace evidence like skin 00:09:18.700 --> 00:09:22.000 cells or unknown fibers. And most critically, 00:09:22.220 --> 00:09:25.179 the original bullet fragment recovered from the 00:09:25.179 --> 00:09:29.519 first autopsy. This loss wasn't just a simple 00:09:29.519 --> 00:09:32.980 mistake. It was a systematic eradication of the 00:09:32.980 --> 00:09:35.259 physical proof that could have solved the case 00:09:35.259 --> 00:09:38.600 decades later, using modern DNA and ballistic 00:09:38.600 --> 00:09:42.129 technology. The disappearance of the bullet rendered 00:09:42.129 --> 00:09:45.350 any potential match with a recovered firearm 00:09:45.350 --> 00:09:49.269 impossible. When evidence disappears in such 00:09:49.269 --> 00:09:52.970 a comprehensive manner, justice isn't just delayed, 00:09:53.269 --> 00:09:57.590 it's actively denied. In Paulding, the immediate 00:09:57.590 --> 00:10:00.830 fear and sorrow curdled into a corrosive suspicion 00:10:00.830 --> 00:10:03.509 that law enforcement might have been covering 00:10:03.509 --> 00:10:07.389 for someone local and powerful. a dark theory 00:10:07.389 --> 00:10:12.250 that took root and never truly left. This brings 00:10:12.250 --> 00:10:15.830 us to a name that comes up again and again. Claire 00:10:15.830 --> 00:10:20.889 Budd. Paulus. In the late 50s and 60s, he was 00:10:20.889 --> 00:10:24.029 a deputy in Pauling, working for the very department 00:10:24.029 --> 00:10:27.149 investigating the murder. Decades later, people 00:10:27.149 --> 00:10:30.570 came forward alleging that Paulus, who wore glasses 00:10:30.570 --> 00:10:34.000 and drove a dark -colored car, matching some 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:37.240 elements of Cheryl's description, abused them 00:10:37.240 --> 00:10:40.559 when they were children. Their accounts felt 00:10:40.559 --> 00:10:43.220 eerily similar to Nancy's case, including the 00:10:43.220 --> 00:10:45.980 alleged use of his official position to lure 00:10:45.980 --> 00:10:51.100 victims. Paulus died by suicide in 1987 after 00:10:51.100 --> 00:10:53.580 he was finally indicted for multiple counts of 00:10:53.580 --> 00:10:56.940 child abuse. The timing and nature of his death, 00:10:57.059 --> 00:11:00.889 combined with the subsequent allegations, provided 00:11:00.889 --> 00:11:04.169 a chilling, albeit circumstantial, shadow over 00:11:04.169 --> 00:11:08.269 the entire original investigation. As a deputy, 00:11:08.629 --> 00:11:12.269 Paulus would have had the means, access, and 00:11:12.269 --> 00:11:14.730 procedural knowledge to know what evidence was 00:11:14.730 --> 00:11:17.610 critical and, more worryingly, how to make it 00:11:17.610 --> 00:11:21.350 disappear, aligning precisely with the monumental 00:11:21.350 --> 00:11:25.450 chain of custody failures. Records concerning 00:11:25.450 --> 00:11:29.620 Paulus are sparse and some are missing. feeding 00:11:29.620 --> 00:11:32.139 the persistent unsettling theory that he was 00:11:32.139 --> 00:11:34.860 never fully investigated for Nancy's murder, 00:11:35.100 --> 00:11:38.360 or that his colleagues actively protected him 00:11:38.360 --> 00:11:41.139 due to his affiliation with the sheriff's department. 00:11:42.820 --> 00:11:45.639 Fast forward to recent years, Nancy's family 00:11:45.639 --> 00:11:50.080 made a major final move for the truth. In 2022, 00:11:50.519 --> 00:11:53.500 after years of persistence, they successfully 00:11:53.500 --> 00:11:57.450 petitioned to have her remains exhumed. This 00:11:57.450 --> 00:11:59.610 was a direct acknowledgement that the initial 00:11:59.610 --> 00:12:03.649 1960 investigation was tragically and fundamentally 00:12:03.649 --> 00:12:07.909 inadequate. The new forensic autopsy, conducted 00:12:07.909 --> 00:12:10.610 by experts with modern technology, was stunning. 00:12:10.769 --> 00:12:13.809 It overturned the single most fundamental fact 00:12:13.809 --> 00:12:17.009 of the crime. It turns out Nancy was shot twice 00:12:17.009 --> 00:12:20.769 with a .22 caliber weapon, once under the chin 00:12:20.769 --> 00:12:25.500 and fatally a second time in the right eye. This 00:12:25.500 --> 00:12:27.899 finding fundamentally altered the understanding 00:12:27.899 --> 00:12:31.679 of the crime, changing it from a single, desperate 00:12:31.679 --> 00:12:35.899 act to a more prolonged, targeted execution that 00:12:35.899 --> 00:12:39.580 speaks to greater malice and intent. The family 00:12:39.580 --> 00:12:42.059 was forced to absorb a second wave of trauma 00:12:42.059 --> 00:12:46.940 learning this new, brutal truth. Crucially, experts 00:12:46.940 --> 00:12:50.879 also found previously overlooked evidence, fibers 00:12:50.879 --> 00:12:54.879 and animal hair. potential trace evidence from 00:12:54.879 --> 00:12:57.639 the killer's clothing or vehicle that had been 00:12:57.639 --> 00:13:01.679 missed or ignored six decades prior, a stark 00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:05.360 contrast to the sloppy scene processing of 1960. 00:13:06.759 --> 00:13:10.620 Nancy's sister, Cheryl, who now works as a victim 00:13:10.620 --> 00:13:13.659 advocate, has continued to fight creating new 00:13:13.659 --> 00:13:17.299 composite sketches with a forensic artist, hoping 00:13:17.299 --> 00:13:20.159 the clearer image refined by adult memory and 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:23.240 technology might finally jog the memory of a 00:13:23.240 --> 00:13:26.559 witness who has been silent for decades. The 00:13:26.559 --> 00:13:29.879 case is a heartbreaking testament to one family's 00:13:29.879 --> 00:13:31.879 refusal to let their loved one be forgotten. 00:13:32.679 --> 00:13:35.840 That's where we'll leave it for now. No neat 00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:38.919 answers, only the questions that refuse to stay 00:13:38.919 --> 00:13:42.580 quiet. I'm Sammy, and I'll keep telling these 00:13:42.580 --> 00:13:44.720 stories because someone out there knows something. 00:13:45.159 --> 00:13:48.019 And for people like Nancy, silence should never 00:13:48.019 --> 00:13:51.840 be the end. If a detail stood out to you, Don't 00:13:51.840 --> 00:13:54.639 let it go. Share it. Question it. Talk about 00:13:54.639 --> 00:13:58.519 it. Stay with us. This story isn't over and neither 00:13:58.519 --> 00:14:01.259 is our search for answers. For more chilling 00:14:01.259 --> 00:14:03.860 mysteries and untold stories, follow and listen 00:14:03.860 --> 00:14:07.179 to Beyond the Silence. Whispers across America 00:14:07.179 --> 00:14:09.679 on all major podcast platforms.