Survivor continues to heal decades after her family's prom night murder
CBSN
This story previously aired on July 3, 2021. It was updated on June 17, 2025. NEWS REPORTS: The brutal murder of the Pelley family … Shot to death in their home Sunday morning … It thrust a small town into the national spotlight ... DET. BOTICH [ interrogation]: So. do you know who killed your mother and father, or your father and stepmother? DET. BOTICH [interrogation]: Did you have anything to do with it? NEWS REPORT: Tuesday lawyers laid out their cases to the jury in opening statements. NEWS REPORT: After calling more than 50 witnesses, prosecutors say all the facts point to Jeff Pelley. NEWS REPORT: The prosecutor started his closing argument letting the jury know it was his burden to prove the case. NEWS REPORT: But now the burden of deciding Jeff Pelley's fate is theirs. NEWS REPORT: One of Pelley's lawyers says his client is under a lot of stress now that the jury has the case.
Jessi Toronjo was just 9 years old when she returned from a sleepover at a friend's house to find out her mother, stepfather and two sisters were murdered in their Lakeville, Indiana, home. Police immediately suspected Jessica's stepbrother Jeff Pelley, but it would take 13 years to arrest him. The motive? Prosecutors say the then-17-year-old Pelley wiped out his family in anger at not being able to drive to his prom. Pelley was ultimately convicted, but the case continues to wind its way through the courts. JEFF PELLEY: No, I really don't. I don't know who would want to. JEFF PELLEY: No, I didn't. Me and my father didn't get along sometimes and sometimes I'd be really upset with him, but we always worked things out
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