Unsolved murders chill us to the bone and make us think about heavy topics like truth, finality, and justice. That’s why so many people are fascinated by tales of true crime and like to spend their free time trying to solve decades-old cold cases. Something about the pursuit of truth really appeals to many internet sleuths.
Some unsolved murders are more than just disturbing due to their lack of closure, though. The occult slaying of 16-year-old Jeannette DePalma shocked Springfield Township in 1972, and not just because of the sudden disappearance of a young girl. When the authorities found Jeannette’s remains, they suggested something terrifying and bizarre had transpired in the wilderness near the Houdaille Quarry in New Jersey.
The subsequent media coverage of the murder investigation unsettled the public and made Jeannette’s murder a spectacle. Today, we’re taking a closer look at the bizarre death of Jeannette DePalma and the ensuing media circus to try to cut through the shock journalism to find the truth behind the senseless violence. Who would have hurt the 16-year-old New Jersey native, and why? The murder remains unsolved, but some internet sleuths have put forth theories to try to make sense of the crime.
Jeannette DePalma
Jeannette DePalma was reported as being a popular and outgoing girl by her friends and family. Friends say she liked to go to church with her parents, and she was often seen wearing a cross necklace. However, some letters sent to local newspapers after her death indicated that she might have been more of a “wild child” and that her parents may have “forced” her to attend church.
Generally speaking, little is known about Jeannette’s early life. Much of the story surrounding her is wrapped up in the bizarre, occult-adjacent killing. What is known is that on the afternoon of August 7, 1972, Jeannette told her parents that she was going to visit a friend in her hometown of Springfield, New Jersey. She planned to take a train to her friend’s house and would be back later that night.
When Jeannette failed to return by that evening, her family grew worried. They called her friend and discovered that she’d never arrived there. The DePalmas reached out to the Springfield police and reported Jeanette as missing. The case went cold immediately, though, as no one had seen or heard from her following her departure from home the day she vanished.
Finding Her Remains
Six weeks after Jeannette’s disappearance, a local in Springfield made a terrible discovery. While out walking his dog, he noticed the animal carrying an odd piece of meat in its jaws. Upon investigation, the passerby realized it was a badly-decomposed human arm. He contacted the police right away, and the authorities performed a sweep of the nearby Houdaille Quarry.
What they found next has been a topic of some debate for decades. People in Springfield have described the scene of Jeannette’s body as terrifying and occult, noting that her body was found surrounded by logs in a coffin-like pattern. Others have described the area as being littered with occult symbols, like logs in the shape of crosses and various other tchotchkes. Some even reported that the scene was marked by the presence of animal corpses, giving the area a ritualistic appearance.
This led to headlines in New Jersey that blamed Jeannette’s murder on the actions of a cult of Satanists. Some letters to local newspapers directly named a cult they claimed were called “The Witches” and blamed them for the murder. For decades, the story of Jeannette DePalma’s life ended with the bizarre and occult murder that stunned a small town.
Not So Occult
If that story sounds extreme and unbelievable, that’s only because… it is. Jeannette’s body wasn’t found on a sacrificial altar that was hidden near a rugged quarry in New Jersey. Recent reporting has revealed that a series of crime-scene photos from the day Jeannette’s body was discovered show no evidence of any occult activity.
Instead, they show a sad scene. A 16-year-old girl’s badly decomposed body, which has been edited to look like a silhouette out of respect for the deceased, lies atop a pair of fallen logs. The logs do vaguely resemble a cross, but they’re clearly just a pair of fallen tree limbs that occurred naturally. There’s no evidence in these photos to suggest that a cult was responsible for Jeannette’s senseless murder.
Instead, the photos suggest that a young girl was killed, and her body was unceremoniously dumped in the woods. The police never found a suspect in the crime, and Jeannette’s case was largely forgotten in the weeks after her body was found. The only thing that lingered was the rumor that a cult was operating somewhere in New Jersey.
A Police Cover-Up?
The only mysterious and troubling thing about Jeannette’s murder scene is that the police seem to have allowed rumors to proliferate, even when hard evidence from the crime scene could have cleared things up swiftly. Rather than releasing those photos, though, the Springfield police resisted any calls to make the matter clearer to the public.
Indeed, when some reporters asked for more information regarding the case, they were met with claims that a hurricane destroyed the relevant files in 1999. When the magazine Weird NJ reached back out years later, though, they were provided all of the relevant files. Within, they learned that the crime scene was more mundane–and, thus, sadder.
Some internet sleuths have speculated that the Springfield police may have allowed the Satanic rumors to spread as a way to simply let the case disappear. Perhaps they wanted to preserve the town’s reputation by simply blaming the matter on shadowy forces beyond the control of regular police officers. Whatever the case may be, it’s caused a significant amount of confusion around Jeannette’s case.
People Want to Forget
Reporting on Jeannette’s case in the years following her murder has revealed that the people of Springfield largely silenced discussion of the incident out of a desire to not be “caught up in” something Satanic. It’s sad, but it might have been purposeful, according to some internet sleuths. A teenage girl getting murdered by a stalker is a failure of the police. A youngster being caught by cartoonishly evil cultists, though? That’s something the police have no way to stop, right?
The highlights of the case remain firmly in the memory of the townsfolk in Springfield. A 16-year-old girl disappears. Six weeks later, a dog finds her arm. Police find a gruesome crime scene. It’s unclear how the reports of occult sightings initially entered the public imagination, but newspaper reports from the week she was found include alarmist language to that effect.
Once people had it in their minds that Jeannette was some kind of “human sacrifice,” it became a media circus. Exploitative tabloids ran the story, muddying the waters and further obfuscating the truth. The saddest part is that this kind of baseless speculation does nothing to help get justice for Jeannette’s memory.
Later Developments
Journalist Mark Moran of Weird NJ started reporting on Jeannette’s death in the early 2000s after a letter from a Springfield local reignited interest in the case. Moran eventually co-authored a book on the subject, titled Death on the Devil’s Teeth, which examined the various claims of occult activity and the purported cover-up by the Springfield police. Moran and his co-author, Jesse P. Pollack, have continued to update the book as new information has come to light.
One of the most recent developments in the case came courtesy of Moran and Pollack’s own reporting. Richard Cottingham, a convicted serial killer who was active in New Jersey in the 1970s, wrote to Pollack in 2022 to confess to abducting Jeannette DePalma in 1972 while she was hitchhiking. His assertions seemed compelling to Pollack, who quickly forwarded the letters to the Union County Prosecutor’s Office for their examination.
Cottingham agreed to speak with investigators regarding the case. Given that he’s already serving multiple life sentences behind bars, he doesn’t have much reason to lie to the police. However, he also doesn’t have a compelling reason to tell the truth, either. Pollack and Moran updated later printings of Death on the Devil’s Teeth to include Cottingham’s confession, putting some degree of closure on the story.
Mysteries Linger
Still, mysteries abound in Jeannette’s case. Why would the police cover up the exact nature of her death? What caused the public to latch onto the story that she was offered up as a human sacrifice? And, if Cottingham is just toying with journalists and investigators, who really took Jeannette’s life?
Maybe the people of Springfield wanted to make some sense out of a senseless murder. Is it more comforting to believe in imaginary cultists lurking in the hills than to think that a regular-looking person could be capable of horrible violence? Jeannette DePalma’s murder remains unsolved, but investigators at least now know more about the nature of her death – and the nature of rumors in small towns.
