Why Kill Betty Jane?

[TheCars1986]

The newest UM podcast episode is about the murder of 72 year old Betty Jane McClellan on March 22nd, 2009. She lived in a mobile home in a rural area of Graysville, PA with her second husband, Jacob McClellan. You can see how isolated the property is here.

At 9:50 p.m. on March 22nd, Jake heard a knock at their door. He answered and saw a "unshaven" white male with shoulder length brown hair pulled back in a ponytail standing there asking if he could help him with a flat tire. Jake tells the man to wait outside and he would come help him, and when Jake went to retrieve a jacket, the man barged his way into the residence, gun in hand, and the two began to struggle. Jake was shot twice, once in his cheek, and once in the neck, and falls to the ground. Betty screams, and Jake hears another gunshot coming from the rear of their mobile home. Jake panics and runs outside and hides between two parked cars in the front yard. While he's laying on the ground he sees a white van approaching his property at approximately 5 mph and it continues up a hill at that slow pace. The vehicle stops, turns around and comes back down the hill (at the same slow pace) towards their residence before Jake sees the shooter run out of the house holding a bag or a pillow case. The shooter approaches the driver of the van and they talk for about 10 seconds before the shooter gets into the van and the van speeds off down the road. Jake manages to flag another vehicle down to call 911 and when police arrive they find Betty dead in the mobile home. Jake is airlifted to a local hospital and survives.

It should be noted that Betty's family was not fond of Jake, and believed that he was abusive (physically and verbally) to her. Jake was a junk yard dealer and dealt primarily in cash. He also had several guns in their mobile home.
The police could never determine how much money was missing from the house, but all of the guns were located and accounted for. They did say that a metal lock box (with up to $10,000 in it) which sat next to the bed in the master bedroom was missing. Jake was also cheating on her with multiple women at the time of the murder. Jake quickly moved in with one of the women shortly after Betty's funeral. The police also found that Jake did have a life insurance policy taken out on Betty and that he collected on that policy.

But there was a second witness who confirmed that a white van almost drove him off of the road on the night of the murder. This witness was the vehicle that Jake flagged down to call 911. There was also the fact that Jake was shot twice in the face, and the shot to his neck caused him to lose a lot of blood. He almost died at the hospital. There was also a very similar murder committed just a few months prior to Betty's murder 15 miles east from where Betty and Jake lived. Noble Wine, was an 81 year old man, who was also a junk yard owner, was found dead in a house fire on November 21st, 2008. When the autopsy was performed, they found that he had been shot twice in the head with a small caliber pistol. The same type of weapon used in Betty's murder and the shooting of Jake.

Betty's family believed that Jake knows more than what he is telling them, because when they brought up the missing lock box to him, he acted as if he had no idea what they were talking about and that it never existed. There was also the insurance policy and the way he acted during and after Betty's murder that made them suspicious. They also thought it was odd that the gunman, who demanded money and guns, would not have stolen any of the guns which were easily accessible in the mobile home.

The police however, do not think Jake was involved, and they believe that the white van is the key to solving Betty's murder. They also believe that the killer/s targeted both Jake and Nobile Wine because they were junk yard owners who dealt primarily in cash. There was also a homicide from 2011 that police believe may be linked to Betty's and Noble Wine's murders, but the police are not releasing any information publicly about that one.

So what do you think? Home invasion turned murder? Or potential setup by Jake to collect on the life insurance policy?

[mphs95]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

The newest UM podcast episode is about the murder of 72 year old Betty Jane McClellan on March 22nd, 2009. She lived in a mobile home in a rural area of Graysville, PA with her second husband, Jacob McClellan. You can see how isolated the property is here.

At 9:50 p.m. on March 22nd, Jake heard a knock at their door. He answered and saw a "unshaven" white male with shoulder length brown hair pulled back in a ponytail standing there asking if he could help him with a flat tire. Jake tells the man to wait outside and he would come help him, and when Jake went to retrieve a jacket, the man barged his way into the residence, gun in hand, and the two began to struggle. Jake was shot twice, once in his cheek, and once in the neck, and falls to the ground. Betty screams, and Jake hears another gunshot coming from the rear of their mobile home. Jake panics and runs outside and hides between two parked cars in the front yard. While he's laying on the ground he sees a white van approaching his property at approximately 5 mph and it continues up a hill at that slow pace. The vehicle stops, turns around and comes back down the hill (at the same slow pace) towards their residence before Jake sees the shooter run out of the house holding a bag or a pillow case. The shooter approaches the driver of the van and they talk for about 10 seconds before the shooter gets into the van and the van speeds off down the road. Jake manages to flag another vehicle down to call 911 and when police arrive they find Betty dead in the mobile home. Jake is airlifted to a local hospital and survives.

It should be noted that Betty's family was not fond of Jake, and believed that he was abusive (physically and verbally) to her. Jake was a junk yard dealer and dealt primarily in cash. He also had several guns in their mobile home.
The police could never determine how much money was missing from the house, but all of the guns were located and accounted for. They did say that a metal lock box (with up to $10,000 in it) which sat next to the bed in the master bedroom was missing. Jake was also cheating on her with multiple women at the time of the murder. Jake quickly moved in with one of the women shortly after Betty's funeral. The police also found that Jake did have a life insurance policy taken out on Betty and that he collected on that policy.

But there was a second witness who confirmed that a white van almost drove him off of the road on the night of the murder. This witness was the vehicle that Jake flagged down to call 911. There was also the fact that Jake was shot twice in the face, and the shot to his neck caused him to lose a lot of blood. He almost died at the hospital. There was also a very similar murder committed just a few months prior to Betty's murder 15 miles east from where Betty and Jake lived. Noble Wine, was an 81 year old man, who was also a junk yard owner, was found dead in a house fire on November 21st, 2008. When the autopsy was performed, they found that he had been shot twice in the head with a small caliber pistol. The same type of weapon used in Betty's murder and the shooting of Jake.

Betty's family believed that Jake knows more than what he is telling them, because when they brought up the missing lock box to him, he acted as if he had no idea what they were talking about and that it never existed. There was also the insurance policy and the way he acted during and after Betty's murder that made them suspicious. They also thought it was odd that the gunman, who demanded money and guns, would not have stolen any of the guns which were easily accessible in the mobile home.

The police however, do not think Jake was involved, and they believe that the white van is the key to solving Betty's murder. They also believe that the killer/s targeted both Jake and Nobile Wine because they were junk yard owners who dealt primarily in cash. There was also a homicide from 2011 that police believe may be linked to Betty's and Noble Wine's murders, but the police are not releasing any information publicly about that one.

So what do you think? Home invasion turned murder? Or potential setup by Jake to collect on the life insurance policy?

I lean it towards being a contract hit out on Jake. Betty got caught in the crossfire because she was there. It's no secret that Jake pissed off folks and he may be ordered the hit on the other guy. He either didn't pay or raised the ire of someone to the point where he got a contract out on him.

If Jake is behind Betty's death, he took one hell of a risk getting himself shot or it was the killer he hired to get rid of a witness. Who knows?

[JaneError]

It's obviously not unheard of for a spouse or other perpetrator to shoot themselves (or arrange to have themselves shot) as a means of proving their noninvolvement, but usually they stay away from vital areas. It seems colossally stupid to contemplate putting bullets in your head/neck area and hope for the best.

Not that Jake is pure as the driven snow--he sounds awful, to be honest--but that seems like a massive risk.

[Labonte18]

Originally Posted by JaneError

It's obviously not unheard of for a spouse or other perpetrator to shoot themselves (or arrange to have themselves shot) as a means of proving their noninvolvement, but usually they stay away from vital areas. It seems colossally stupid to contemplate putting bullets in your head/neck area and hope for the best.

Not that Jake is pure as the driven snow--he sounds awful, to be honest--but that seems like a massive risk.

Certainly not apples to apples here, but.. The crazy case down in Charleston, SC now.. Murdaugh.

of course, that guy was planning on being killed and got shot in the head and survived.

people do dumb things. Not that I'm buying into the theory on this case, but.. Oddly, you can't dismiss it.