St. Patrick Cold Case of Rachel Hurley

Happy St. Patrick guys I thought I would surprise you guys with a little special ed]episode of this prominent 35 year old cold case of this poor girl. Who murdered Rachel Hurley?

Let’s pull back the shadows that have kept these cold cases in the dark for far too long. Piece by piece, we’ll work to rebuild the truth not just for the story, but for the victims and the families still waiting for answers. The puzzle isn’t complete yet, but together, we’re getting closer.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Hey guys, good morning. I'm your host Sarah and welcome to Shadows Uncovered. Surprise guys, happy St. Patrick's Day! As we know, this is about a true man, St. Patrick, but yet the celebrations are due. Just please be careful if you are gonna drink, do not drive. There's Uber, there's Lyft, because everybody out there is someone's family member, and I want us all to be safe. But guys, this is the surprise I wanted to surprise you guys with. On St. Patrick's Day, there is a very active, very prominent cold case. Let's dive into it. March 17th of 1990, in Jupiter, Florida, Saint Patrick's Day isn't just about parades. It's about the water. The sun is out, the Atlantic is a perfect turquoise, and fourteen year old Rachel Hurley is exactly where an eighth grader should be, on a boat with her friends at the Jupiter inlet. Rachel is the heart of her group at Jupiter Middle School. They call her Miss Sassy Pants. She's smart, she's a star softball player, and she got a personality that pulls people in. But there's a shadow over this day. A few weeks earlier, Rachel and her friends playing with a Ouija board. It told them something terrifying that Rachel would be the first of them to die. Two by two forty five PM Rachel is checking her watch. She's supposed to meet her mother, Andrea, at the Carlin Park lot at 3 PM sharp. Her friends want to hit the restroom first, but Rachel is a rule follower. She doesn't want to be late. She tells them she'll just walk. It's only a mile. She's spinning on her heels, a detail her friends would recount for decades, and sprint down the beach park down path down towards the park. Now three o'clock comes and goes. Andrea Hurley is waiting in her car watching the path. No Rachel. Andrea thinks maybe she caught a ride with a friend's parent. She drives home. The house is silent. She drives back to the park. The silence there is even louder. By five PM, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office is on the scene. By sunset, it's a full scale manhunt. Over a hundred deputies, helicopters with searching lights, and canine units are scouring the scrub brush of Carlin Park. eight fifteen PM, the search ends in a scream. Rachel's body is found in a wooded area partially clothed. She was only three hundred yards from where her mother had been sitting in the car waiting for her. The autopsy confirms the nightmare, sexual assault and strangulation. The shortcut Rachel took through the woods became a trap. In the weeks that followed, the town of Jupiter changed. The small town safety was gone. Detectives started sweating suspects. There was Billy Fanigan, a friend with a record. There were local predators that were even a t-shirt found in a burned barrel years later linked to a man named Doug Gross. But here is the frustration of this Hurley case. Police have a DNA profile of the killer. Since nineteen ninety, lead detectives William Springer had tested the DNA of a hundred and twenty seven different men. Friends, suspects, strangers, a hundred and twenty seven no's. In twenty twenty five, on the thirty fifth anniversary, the Palm Beach South O released a new documentary, desperate for the hundred and twenty eighth name to be the Yes. Rachel's father passed away without even knowing who took his daughter. But in Carlin Park, there's a soft field softball field named after her. A reminder that will while the killer is still out there, Rachel Hurley is still home. If you were in Carlin Park on Saint Patrick's Day in nineteen ninety, if you saw someone coming out of those woods or hanging around the Dew Boys Park Path, it's not too late. I'm gonna give you their information. If you have any information, please call the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office. Their number is five six one six eight eight four zero one three. I'm also gonna give you the crime stoppers of Palm Beach County 1-800-458-8477. This is a 35-year-old cold case. And perfect, like I stated on St. Patrick's Day. But this poor eighth grader took a shortcut to go meet her mom because she was abiding by rules. You know, her mom's at three, and she didn't want to be late because her friends went to go use the restroom. She tried to take a shortcut and it cost her life. How do they have the DNA of somebody, but they can't match anybody because obviously the DNA that they have is not in CODIS. But a hundred and twenty seven suspects and no matches. So I urge you guys, if you know anybody, know anybody or if you were there March 17th of 1990, and you know anything about this case, please use the resources I mentioned. Well, guys, that wraps that up. I hope I surprised you. Happy St. Patrick's Day, everybody. From one Irish girl to another. Alright, guys. Be safe, be responsible, and have a good day. Bye.