On a balmy evening in July, Elyse, a vibrant and athletic adolescent, received a phone call on her family’s landline. Despite not engaging much in the conversation, she informed her parents she was retiring to bed afterward.
Unknown to her family, she clandestinely left home to rendezvous with three boys at a nearby eucalyptus grove, intending to partake in smoking marijuana. Little did she know the horrors that awaited her.
Having served 30 years in prison for the brutal murder, two of the men involved have been granted parole, while their accomplice remains incarcerated. The trio, who were members of the death metal band Hatred, confessed that their actions were greatly influenced by the band Slayer, known for their songs depicting Satanic rituals and necrophilia.
Royce Casey and Jacob Delashmutt, teenagers at the time, carried out a chilling “Satanic ritual” with Joseph Fiorella on their 15-year-old classmate, Elyse Pahler.
That fateful night in 1995, accompanied by Delashmutt, who had called her, Elyse walked to the grove near her home with the boys. They smoked marijuana, and as Delashmutt feigned a need to relieve himself, he prepared for the attack they had been planning for months. Their obsession with the plan escalated after selecting Elyse as their target.
Seizing an opportunity when a car passed by and distracted Elyse, the boys initiated the assault. Delashmutt strangled her with a belt, while Casey restrained her, and Fiorella repeatedly stabbed her in the neck with a hunting knife.
Subsequently, Delashmutt also attacked her with the knife, and Casey joined in, inflicting further wounds. As Elyse called out for her mother and Jesus, Casey silenced her by stomping on her neck.
Though the boys had intended further desecration after her murder, they claimed they refrained, concealing her body in a secluded part of the woods before fleeing while boasting about their actions.
Delashmutt’s father, unaware of the heinous act, picked up the boys and drove them home. The following day, Elyse’s parents reported her missing, but authorities initially suspected she had run away.
Casey, in a parole board statement in 2021, acknowledged their actions and detailed his efforts toward rehabilitation in prison. He revealed that they glorified their deeds and believed they would be rewarded by the Devil.
Realizing the magnitude of his guilt over time, Casey eventually confided in a pastor about the crime, leading to the discovery of Elyse’s body near her home. Casey and Delashmutt pleaded no contest to the crime and received lengthy prison sentences, while Fiorella, still imprisoned, has attempted to appeal his conviction.
Elyse’s parents, traumatized by the loss, struggled for years, with her father expressing profound regret and sorrow over the tragic incident. Despite the sentences, the family continues to grapple with the enduring pain of their daughter’s brutal demise.
Casey and Delashmutt have reflected on their actions and expressed remorse for the anguish inflicted on the Pahler family. Fiorella, deemed dangerous, remains incarcerated, with authorities citing his history of violence since adolescence as a reason for his continued detention.
