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Son arrested in family slayings
By BRADY DENNIS, Times Staff Writer DADE CITY -- Thirteen years after an Indiana minister, his wife and two daughters were killed by shotgun blasts to their heads, authorities this weekend arrested the man they suspected all along: the preacher's son, who now lives in Dade City. Jeff Pelley, 30, of 27650 Johnston Road faces four counts of murder in the 1989 slayings. He was arrested by customs agents during the weekend at Los Angeles International Airport after arriving from a business trip to Australia. Pelley had been the central suspect in the slayings for years, but prosecutors never charged him, saying they didn't have enough evidence for a conviction. The case went cold. But St. Joseph County Prosecutor Christopher Toth turned up the heat in April 2000 when he created a Special Crimes Team in that Indiana county. Toth said Monday that there was enough evidence to charge Pelley all along, that all investigators had to do was "put the pieces of the puzzle together and make them fit," he said. "When there's a quadruple murder case, you just don't let it rest, especially when there are two little girls involved. We owed it to them to go back and look at these cases," Toth said. "We feel we have a good case. I feel we're honoring the memory of the victims." According to the arrest affidavit, Jeff Pelley was an angry 17-year-old high school student in Lakeville, Ind., a miss-it-if-you-blink stop off U.S. 31 with a couple of bars and no grocery store. Family and friends said Pelley was upset with his father, a pastor at Olive Branch United Brethren Church, for remarrying after Pelley's biological mother died of cancer. They said Pelley was resentful of his stepmother and her children. Adding to his ire was the fact that his father wasn't going to let him attend after-prom festivities that night, April 29. Robert Pelley, 37, told his son that he would take him to the prom with his date and pick him up afterward. That's when Jeff Pelley killed his family, according to investigators. They said he grabbed a shotgun from his father's bedroom and shot the minister in the chest, knocking him to the ground. He then shot his father a second time in the face, killing him, the affidavit states. Authorities believe Pelley then chased his stepmother, Dawn, into the basement, where she ran "to protect the little girls." Janel, 8, and Jolene, 6, were found alongside their mother, shot in the head at close range, their bodies "huddled together, with one daughter on each side of their mother, as if they had taken cover together from the shooter," the affidavit states. His other stepsister and his biological sister were away from the home, one at church camp and the other spending the night with a friend. Investigators claim that after the shootings, Pelley put his bloody clothes in the washer, took a shower, grabbed his tuxedo and headed to his prom. He went to the dance, went bowling and the next morning left with his girlfriend and others for Great America, an amusement park north of Chicago. When the minister and his family failed to show up for church Sunday morning, congregation members came looking. One of them, David Hathaway, found the slain family. There were no signs of forced entry. Authorities ruled out burglary, theft or murder-suicide. But they never could tie the slayings to Jeff Pelley, who told them he had left the home well before the killings happened. The weapon, a shotgun, never has been found. 'Kept to themselves'Pelley stayed out of the spotlight until 1994, when, at 23, he was convicted of wire fraud in connection with with a scheme to access a $48,000 trust fund set up for him by his father and stepmother before they were slain. He served six months of home detention. Learning about Jeff Pelley the man is a tough task. State records show he was issued a Florida driver's license issued in 1991 and a marriage license in 1993. He and his wife, Kim, divorced in 1997 but remarried in 1999. They have a young son. Jeff Pelley began college after the slayings and moved to Florida, friends and family said. They described him as an intelligent, computer-savvy person who worked for IBM prior to last weekend's arrest. Records show the Pelleys used to live in Odessa, but sold that home in October and moved to a rural patch of land northwest of Dade City. They own more than 27 acres worth $220,000 and a house worth $57,000, according to Pasco County records. Their home sits at the end of a bumpy dirt road, guarded by a locked gate on which several signs hang: "Beware Bad Dog" and "Private Property, No Trespassing." As former Odessa neighbor Christie Davie said Monday: "They kind of kept to themselves. I couldn't even tell you what they look like." Prosecutors to seek lifeWhoever Pelley really is, Lt. James Clark is glad authorities have him in custody. "In a small community like that, these things never go away," said Clark, supervisor of the St. Joseph County Special Crimes Unit. "With there being four deaths involved, this was always a priority. If we can bring it to rest, that'll bring us satisfaction." Pelley remained in Los Angeles Monday. A decision has not been made on when he might be extradited to Indiana. Toth said prosecutors agreed the case met all the criteria to warrant the death penalty. But since July 1, Indiana state law mandates that the state cannot seek the death penalty on anyone under 18. Pelley was 17 when the crimes occurred, so Toth said he will seek life in prison without possibility of parole. He said he hoped the arrest -- and a conviction -- would ease the minds of residents in Lakeville, the same ones who filed into a small church more than 13 years ago to sing Amazing Grace and What a Friend We Have in Jesus before laying their pastor, his wife and two little girls into the earth. "It's one of those cases that clearly left a scar on the psyche of the community, especially the fact that there hasn't been any closure," Toth said. "It can't help but have a haunting effect on the community. "Hopefully, through this case, we can heal those scars." -- Times researcher Kitty Bennett and staff writer Cary Davis contributed to this report, which included information from the Associated Press and the South Bend Tribune.
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