A lifelong friendship rekindled through tragedy

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For 20 years, Stephanie Fagan grieved not lone for the nonaccomplishment of the murdered Pelley family, but besides for the nonaccomplishment of her person Jessica Pelley.

"After the Pelleys were gone and aft they were buried, determination was nary much laughing. There was nary much running. There was nary much playing. There was conscionable nary much of anything," Stephanie recalled.

On April 30, 1989, constabulary responded to a quadruple execution successful a Lakeville, Indiana home. Reverend Robert Pelley, his woman Dawn, and Dawn's daughters Janel and Jolene were changeable astatine adjacent scope with a shotgun. Parishioners discovered the 4 bodies erstwhile Bob Pelley and his household did not amusement up for services that morning. Stephanie Fagan was astatine the religion erstwhile the Pelley's were recovered murdered adjacent door, and ever since past her beingness was ne'er the same.

Jessica past 9, was distant astatine a sleepover the nighttime of the murders and survived. But not agelong aft the murders, she says she went to unrecorded successful Michigan with relatives who chopped disconnected each interaction from friends successful Indiana, including Stephanie.

"They conscionable wanted maine to hide and determination on," Jessi said. "It's similar they wanted maine to beryllium successful this bubble to support me, but it wasn't truly protecting me. It was isolating maine and hurting me."

It was besides achy for Fagan, who said she ne'er stopped trying to interaction her friend. "I had sent letters and I was told not to nonstop immoderate much letters. I conscionable would beryllium astatine nighttime and deliberation to myself, I can't ideate what she's going done … I couldn't fig retired wherefore they wouldn't conscionable fto maine you cognize support successful interaction with her."

As soon arsenic she got her driver's license, Fagan would spell to the cemetery to cleanable the Pelley household gravestones, scrubbing them with a bucket of h2o and a toothbrush.

"I would conscionable beryllium and speech to them," Fagan said. "It was a immense mode to header with the loss." Fagan ever hoped that 1 time she mightiness find Jessica astatine the cemetery during a visit. "Every clip I came out, I was ever thinking, 'I'll tally into her someday, if I conscionable travel retired present capable she'll beryllium here.'"

Jessica says she yet ran distant from her relative's location and entered foster care, ne'er knowing her aged person was searching for her. "I did not recognize anybody was retired determination looking for me," she recalled. "I beauteous overmuch thought everybody forgot astir maine and had moved connected with their lives due to the fact that it wasn't their household that they lost."

Jessica's older stepbrother Jeff Pelley was the main fishy for the execution of his household for years. Investigators believed Jeff killed his begetter successful an statement implicit prom and past had to get escaped of the surviving witnesses. But with nary forensic evidence, nary confession, nary limb and nary eyewitnesses implicating Jeff, prosecutors declined to complaint him for the murders until 2002, 13 years aft the murders.

In 2006, erstwhile Jeff Pelley went to proceedings for the murders, Fagan made an other effort to cleanable the graves and to spot integrative orchids astatine the site.

Because some women were witnesses astatine the trial, Fagan was not allowed to attack Jessi. The 2 women, however, conscionable missed each different astatine the cemetery. Jessi said she visited her family's graves for the archetypal clip during that trial. "There were 2 baskets of fake flowers, 1 connected Janel's sedate and 1 connected Jolene's, and I usually would not bash this, but I took them location as, like, keepsakes."

A fewer days later, aft a assemblage convicted Jeff Pelley for the murders of Bob, Dawn Janel and Jolene Pelley, Fagan went to the cemetery again, lone to find immoderate of the flowers missing. "Bob and Dawn's was there, but Janel and Jolene's were gone. I was beauteous mad. I was beauteous mad," she recalled.

For Fagan, it was a tiny enigma connected to a larger tragedy, the lawsuit of the stolen flowers.

Then, successful 2009, the women yet reunited aft 20 years when, done immoderate Facebook sleuthing, Fagan discovered Jessica Pelley was present Jessi Toronjo. Years earlier, Jessica decided to alteration her sanction to "Jessi," and erstwhile she married, her past sanction became Toronjo. Fagan said she sent Jessi a connection immediately. "I conscionable told her I'd been looking for you my full life. And I told her I took attraction of your parent's graves, and I've thought astir you, and I've talked to you successful my sleep. I've talked to you erstwhile I aftermath up."

When she opened the message, Jessi was stunned. "I'm bawling arsenic I'm speechmaking it and conscionable crying hysterically. And the feeling I got was idiosyncratic reached retired to maine and has been looking for maine this full clip and wants to get to cognize maine again and wants to beryllium astir maine and remembers everything."

Fagan and Jessi became accelerated friends, and present telephone each different "sister." Later successful 2009, erstwhile Fagan made her archetypal travel northbound to Jessi's Michigan home, different enigma was solved. Fagan said she walked successful the door, "and connected each broadside of her TV were these beauteous flowers that looked highly familiar." They were the aforesaid flowers Fagan bought 3 years earlier during the trial.

Jessi says the 2 women inactive laughter astatine the coincidence, the missed connection, and the lifelong relationship they present person aft 20 years apart. "She thought idiosyncratic had conscionable stolen them. And I said, 'Well, idiosyncratic did. It was me.'"

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