TWO of the three men convicted of killing a 15-year-old girl in a so-called “satanic ritual” have been freed from prison.
The case of Elyse Pahler still haunts her family after the young girl had snuck out of her house one night in 1995 to meet up with a boy and smoke marijuana in a field.
Elyse Pahler was only 15 at the time of her death[/caption]
Royce Casey has now been freed after decades in prison[/caption]
Jacob Delashmutt, another one of the freed convicts, had said that they were inspired by heavy metal music.[/caption]
Pahler, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl, was then brutally murdered after meeting up with three teenagers that night: Jacob Delashmutt, 15, Joseph Fiorella, 14, and Royce Casey, 16.
She had simply turned around to the sound of a car passing by when she was choked with a belt as the group then took turns stabbing her, according to Delashmutt, who is now 45.
Elyse’s case remained unsolved until eight months later, when Casey admitted the murder to a priest.
Now, three decades after her killing, two of those convicted for her murder have been released.
Delashmutt, who has called himself the “ringleader” of the violent attack, was released in July after multiple parole denials.
“I know that I am the most responsible for this crime. I had every opportunity to put a stop to it, and I didn’t. I was involved in the planning from the beginning and I made this crime happen,” Delashmutt said to the parole board.
“Elyse Pahler was safe in her home that night when she received a phone call from me.”
Casey was released in August to transitional housing, according to the Los Angeles Times.
At the parole hearings, David Pahler, Elyse’s father, would bring a photo of her to remind them whose life had been lost.
“Something that I remember hearing over time when Elyse’s dad has come, is that she has a face,” Casey said.
“I try to remember every day, whatever decision I’m making or whatever I do, that the ongoing impact of what I did is present all the time.”
Both have apologized for the crime.
The family has been fighting for years to keep the convicted killers behind bars.
“They’re baby killers — that’s what people call them, and they’re the worst,” Elyse’s mother, Lisanne, told the Daily Mail.
“We’re Christians. The bottom line is the Golden Rule – treat others the way you want to be treated and I don’t who’s going to keep them safe.”
“Someone will try to take them out.”
Both Casey, 47, and Delashmutt have faced the parole board multiple times since their sentencing, receiving denials and even approvals that were overturned by California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Casey had told the parole board that they were influenced by heavy metal, including the band Slayer, which has one song detailing a sacrifice of a blonde virgin with blue-eyes.
“That music, especially Slayer, was all about suicide, murder, sacrifice,” Casey said to the parole board.
“So, I started learning a specific way to express those things.”
The group had their own band, too, entitled: Hatred.
The third convict, Fiorella, has not participated openly in a parole board hearing as of yet, The LA Times reported.
In his latest hearing in 2023, he did not speak or answer questions at the recommendation of his lawyer.
Fiorella has tried to overturn his conviction on grounds of intellectual disability and claims that his defense attorney did not do his due diligence during his plea deal.
In 2023, a district attorney representative Lisa Dunn called Fiorella a “dangerous individual,” according to the outlet.
“He’s been dangerous since he was 15, and there’s no evidence to support a finding that he’s less dangerous now.”
He is eligible for another parole board hearing in 2026.
