Investigation Discovery’s ‘Betrayed: Motel Hell’ narrates the horrifying story of a 22-year-old school scholar Janet Chandler and the way her job as an evening clerk in an area motel in the end led to her demise in February 1979 in Holland, Michigan. It follows the story of how a documentary on Janet compelled the police to re-open the chilly case about 20 years later, and the investigators lastly had been capable of nab the perpetrators. So let’s discover out extra in regards to the case then, lets?
How Did Janet Chandler Die?
Janet Marie Chandler was born in Muskegon County, Michigan, on May 29, 1956, to Jim and Glenna Chandler. She was a deeply non secular lady, a religious Christian, and a member of the native church choir. Janet launched into evangelical missions and labored as a part-time worker in a daycare middle whereas attending center faculty. Soon, she embraced singing, and enrolled within the music vocal schooling division of Hope College in Holland, Michigan, to get a bachelor’s diploma. She deliberate to get a grasp’s diploma and aspired to be a trainer in a non-public Christian faculty alongside working in opera.
At school, Janet took up a job as an evening clerk on the Blue Mill Inn whereas shifting into an off-campus condominium together with her supervisor at work, Laurie Ann Swank. But Janet’s dad and mom didn’t approve of her job as they thought the place was stuffed with shady prospects. They didn’t assume it to be very secure, and in the end their worry got here true. Early on January 31, 1979, one of many prospects referred to as 911 to report a theft on the Blue Mill Inn after listening to an intruder barging into Janet’s workplace whereas on the telephone together with her.
The police arrived on the scene to seek out $510 lacking from the secure of the motel’s workplace, with witnesses additional including that that they had seen Janet being frisked away in an car. The officers registered a case of theft and abduction, however it quickly modified to murder. On February 2, 1979, a snowplow driver discovered the bare physique of Janet within the woods simply south of South Haven, on Interstate 196, at round 1:30 am.
Janet’s post-mortem report revealed that she had been strangled, with the reason for loss of life being decided as asphyxiation. The medical officer additionally reported that her physique confirmed indicators of sexual activity that had occurred not lengthy earlier than her loss of life. Unfortunately, the heavy snowfall had coated up a lot of the tracks of the person who had dumped her there.
Who Killed Janet Chandler?
The episode confirmed how the city of Holland witnessed one of the crucial violent strikes by the employees of Holland’s Chemetron paint plant. In return, the house owners introduced in employed guards from the Wackenhut safety firm, and most of those guards used to remain on the Blue Mill Inn. The Holland police investigators interrogated the guards staying on the lodge, interviewed a number of of Janet’s associates and coworkers, and combed by means of the neighborhoods in the hunt for suspects and solutions. They compiled notes comprising hundreds of pages, however the case turned chilly for almost 2 a long time.
In September 2003, affiliate professor David Schock of Janet’s alma mater determined to make a documentary on her alongside together with his class. With the documentary premiering in January 2004, it rekindled the investigation, as a brand new set of investigators pored over each doc of the 2-decade outdated case. They questioned each suspect the investigators had interrogated in 1979, tracing again to Janet’s supervisor and roommate, Laurie. She claimed that Janet wasn’t as pious as she claimed to be, she had affairs with the guards.
The police additionally discovered the guard who had positioned the decision that fateful night time – Robert Michael Lynch. The investigators continued to pursue the 65-year-old who was closely drunk on a regular basis, and by June 2005, he began to open up slowly. The police realized how a number of the feminine employees, together with Laurie, despised Janet for sleeping with their boyfriends and love pursuits. When she had a fling with Arthur “Carl” Paiva, the lead Wackenhut guard and the love curiosity of Janet’s roommate, Laurie determined to take revenge by telling Carl how Janet slept with the opposite guards.
Carl determined to plot revenge and deliberate together with his colleagues to take Janet to his room close to the Chemetron web site and “pass [Janet] around to teach her a lesson.” On the night time of January 31, 1979, the guards tricked Janet by promising to throw her a celebration, blindfolded her, and took her there. On the way in which out, one of many guards additionally took the cash from the secure, and Robert positioned the phony 911 name. Robert didn’t observe the opposite guards however as a substitute went to work the following day, after which confirmed up at Carl’s place.
Robert went on to relate how the lads tied a belt round Janet’s neck, yanking it as they took turns in raping her. Laurie was additionally current the entire time, hurling expletives at her. Even Robert had taken half within the rape. Since first-degree homicide costs had no statute of limitations and Robert appeared suicidal, riddled with guilt, he was charged and brought into custody in February 2006. The authorities additionally filed first-degree homicide costs in September 2006 in opposition to Laurie, Carl, and three different Wackenhut guards, named Anthony Williams, Freddie Parker, and James Cleophas Nelson. They had been additionally allegedly current through the gang rape and homicide.
Where are Laurie Swank and Robert Lynch Today?
In December 2006, Robert took a plea deal in change for totally confessing to the crime, which additionally included him admitting that he disposed of Janet’s physique. He was charged with second-degree homicide, and sentenced to 25 to 40 years in jail. As per official court docket data, he’s presently incarcerated in a cell on the G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility in Jackson County, Michigan. His inmate data present that his earliest launch date may be June 21, 2026, whereas his most discharge date is January 25, 2030.
Laurie additionally pleaded responsible to second-degree homicide in January 2007. She agreed to change into the state witness within the trials in opposition to the opposite alleged perpetrators in change for a jail sentence of 10 to twenty years. She was discharged from jail in 2016 and was residing in Pennsylvania on parole. However, as of 2018, the Michigan Department of Correction data present that she is now not underneath supervision.
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