The Real-Life Laura Palmer: The Unsolved Murder of Hazel Drew

Sep 16

On a warm summer night in 1908, 19-year-old Hazel Drew disappeared from Troy, New York. Her body was found days later, and the brutal details of the crime sparked a century-old mystery.

Join us as we explore the unsolved murder that inspired the fictional character of Laura Palmer from the cult classic TV series, Twin Peaks. We dive into the bizarre clues, conflicting timelines, and a tangled web of suspects that left investigators with more questions than answers. From the mysterious letters found in her trunk to her complicated secret life, this true crime case has all the elements of a classic whodunit.

Listen now to uncover the real-life mystery behind the case and decide for yourself who killed Hazel Drew.

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Mandy: [00:00:00] On a warm summer night in July of 1908, a young woman disappeared from the streets of Troy, New York, and a few days later, her body turned up in a pond miles away. Her skull was crushed and her throat was wrapped with a string from a corset, the woman's hat, and one of her gloves rested on the water's edge. According to the police, this was a cold-blooded murder, and the newspapers reported that the woman fought for her life. This is the story of Hazel. Irene Drew, a case that has left more questions than answers and inspired decades of speculation.

Marker

Mandy: Hey guys, and welcome to the Moms and Mysteries podcast, a True Crime podcast featuring myself, Mandy, and my dear friend Melissa.

Hi, Melissa.

Melissa: Hi Mandy. How are you?

Mandy: I am doing well. I am enjoying the very slight change of temperature we got here in central Florida.

Melissa: Yes. Um, my husband sent me a screenshot of the weather and tomorrow morning, like it starts at 70 or something, the cool or whatever, and I was like, this is so Florida, to be like, [00:01:00] can you believe the temperature drop in here? But yeah, I, I welcome it with open arms. This is the first time I've been able to record, not in a closet, in like a month, two months, because it's not actively raining outside.

So I'm

Mandy: It's beautiful. Yeah,

I know. And you know, um, some people listening, they're probably like, oh, they're talking about the weather again. I

want you guys to know it is not just us. I feel like a lot of people in Florida are fascinated by the weather and get very excited when things start changing. You know,

when seasons start changing. I, um, literally last night before I went to bed, I was just browsing Facebook scrolling and I scrolled past a post from our local community group and it was literally just a person that was like, everyone go outside right now. The weather just changed. So like, I mean, these are, these, this is a very

exciting topic of conversation, uh, for those of us that are down here and are. Used to experiencing sweltering heat. So

Melissa: it's a big W for us. Yeah. And there is like a tropical something going on, but like, [00:02:00] we haven't had anything this year. Knock on

Mandy: Knock on all the wood.

Melissa: why would I say that? Stupid idiot. Um, but anyway, so I'm like, wow, what a great, like, we still have some time, but like, I'm very excited that, uh, so far, so good.

Mandy: Yeah, me too. Me too. So we'll get into the story for this week. This one is another story. I like to call it a vintage case just because it's from a time long, long ago. Uh, and those are always fun to to hear

about just because I feel like the way they investigate cases was so different back then.

Melissa: Oh, absolutely. And the quotes from back then are incredible.

Mandy: yes, absolutely. So Hazel, Irene Drew was born on June 3rd, 1888 on a farm in New York. She was the second child to John and Julia Drew, and she was their first daughter. She had an older brother named Joseph, and three younger siblings named Carrie, William and Emma. Sadly, there were two other siblings named Emery and Thomas, who both died [00:03:00] in childhood, which was not unusual for the time, but of course it still definitely shaped their family life. By 1908, Hazel's oldest brother Joseph was 22 and already married, and he was working as a baker in Troy. Hazel was 19 and entering that very exciting stage of life where you're old enough to really chase your independence, but you're young enough to still be full of youthful energy, which you need to chase your independence for sure.

Melissa: Absolutely.

Mandy: Hazel was described as being a head turner. She was very pretty smart and really popular with a bubbly disposition. She made friends easily and was known for being very well dressed. One newspaper said that her weakness was her fondness for dress, which no

one will ever

Melissa: one of those quotes I know are sweatpants. Is that what we're

Mandy: right,

Melissa: if so, I got a girl.

Mandy: right. Hazel had left the family farm a few years earlier to also find work in Troy, and she started out as a domestic servant for Captain [00:04:00] John Tuppers family. She must have charmed the household because Mrs.

Tupper gave Hazel a personalized brooch with her initials on it as a gift. By the summer of 1908, Hazel was working as a governess for Professor ER Carey. The head of a local polytechnic institute. And while being a governess might sound like something fancy, it was essentially just being a nanny who also tutored and trained the children in their own home. The pay wasn't exactly life changing, but Hazel lived in the carry home and she earned a modest income, which she funneled most of into her wardrobe. It goes back to that whole best dressed

thing. She was someone who really believed that appearances mattered, and she played the part very well. But in early July of 1908, Hazel's story took a turn when she was reported missing on July 7th, Hazel told the carries she was going to see some friends in water fleet and she never returned. Things got even murkier when Hazel's [00:05:00] Aunt Minnie swore that she saw Hazel on July 6th. Allegedly on that day, Hazel had a suitcase with her and she said she was moving outta the carry home and going to water fleet. The problem was these friends that she supposedly went to see there said that they hadn't seen her in over a month. Meanwhile, other people in town swore they saw Hazel in town. That same day. One person said they saw her on Congress Street, and another person reported that she visited a friend's house. So either Hazel had the busiest day of her life, or the timeline is a little sketchy. Four days later, a milkman spotted something unusual floating in Teal Pond, and his curiosity got the best of him. He had seen what he described as a bundle in the water a few days before, but on the 11th, he finally decided to fish it from the pond. And when he pulled this bundle from the water, he realized it was the body of Hazel Drew. Another report states that Hazel's body was actually found by a group of teenage boys who then [00:06:00] alerted Gilbert Miller, who remembered seeing the bundle before, but not doing anything about it the first time

Melissa: Hazel's skull had been crushed by a heavy blow, and her throat was wrapped tightly with a corset string. Her body showed signs of a struggle and her hat glasses and one black glove were found on the bank. The scene was brutal and haunting, but it was even stranger that Hazel was a vibrant and beloved woman in town who would really want her dead.

And why. Hazel's death shocked the town of Troy, and people at first wondered if she had taken her own life, but the autopsy put that speculation to rest. There was no water in her lungs so she hadn't drowned. It was determined that she was dead before her body was placed in the pond. Nearby.

Investigators did find what appeared to be a murder weapon. It was an oak club that was about 20 inches long and weighed nearly four pounds. One doctor described it as half round, half flat with bark, still clinging to it. [00:07:00] This doctor also said that the dent in the wood was consistent with the kind of blow that caused a clot at the base of Hazel's brain.

It wasn't a jagged wound like you'd expect from a rock, but instead it was a blunt, clean strike, and it wasn't just the blow to the head. The corset string wrapped several times around her neck was knotted so tight, tight that it sank into her skin. There were multiple signs that she had fought back, including numerous defensive wounds bruising that pointed towards a struggle as newspapers put it, she bravely fought to defend her honor, which is a very 19 hundreds phrasing for that poor woman fought for her life. After her body was recovered, Hazel was identified by her family as well as the gold badge on her dress with her initials.

A hatin marked with a letter H. Hazel's father and other relatives confirmed it was her, but it was a very difficult and gruesome thing to do as her body had already begun. Decomposing the whispers around town turned [00:08:00] into rumors that Hazel may have run off to elope with one of her many admirers.

Police had discovered a trunk full of over a hundred letters and postcards, including six very intense notes from someone who signed with the initials CES one of these notes read your mer smile and twinkling eyes torture me. Your face haunts me. Why can't I be contented again?

You have stolen my liberty. Please don't forget a promise to write when I reach Albany again. I will meet you at the tavern. I must see you soon or I'll die of starvation.

I was like, when did food become part of this? Why are you going to not eat until that's, that's something I would never do for another person.

Mandy: I just do, yeah, I, um, I don't know, I guess love letters like this. Um. I don't know. Maybe I'm just not a romantic like that. 'cause I feel like I wouldn't blame Hazel if she got the ick from reading this.

Melissa: I got a little of the ick. I got quite a bit of the ick [00:09:00] from that one. Yeah. But the letters were postmarked from New York City and Boston, and they lined up with Hazel's recent trips. Hazel's employer, Mr. Carey, told investigators that she had taken multiple short trips Out of Troy two to New York City, one to Boston and one to Providence, all in the months leading up to her death for a 19-year-old governess.

That's a lot of travel, and it hinted that Hazel may have had a more complicated life than people realized, and we still have more to get into after a quick break to hear a word from this week's

Marker

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Melissa: And now back to the episode.

Marker

Mandy: Before the break, we introduced you to Hazel Drew, a 19-year-old governess from Troy, New York, who was described as pretty stylish and well liked. In July of 1908, she left her job and told family she was going to visit friends, but she never returned. Days later, her body was found floating in Teal Pond. After Hazel was pulled from the pond, investigators descended on the area and tried to piece together her final movements, but right from the start, the timeline was just a tangled mess. Hazel's aunt swore she left her house on July 6th with a suitcase and saying that she was going to water fleet, and she remembered Hazel stopping by with her belongings after deciding to move out of the Carey house. But when police contacted those friends in water fleet, they said they hadn't seen Hazel in weeks. So either Hazel lied to her aunt about her plans or someone else out there [00:13:00] intercepted her before she could make it. Multiple people came forward saying they had seen Hazel on July 6th. A man named Lawrence said he saw her between 11 and 12 that morning, and then by 1:00 PM she was spotted at the Westcott Express Company office, arranging to have her belongings moved from the care home. So in a matter of a few hours. Hazel was supposedly packing up her life, visiting family, being spotted by multiple acquaintances and coordinating movers, and then all of a sudden she just vanished.

Melissa: This is one of those stories where there are so many sightings and all of them contradict each other. Like there's not even really two things that are the same, which makes you wonder like, are people just lying to lie or are they wanting to be part of the story or are they purposely trying to, yeah, I'm like.

We hear how gorgeous she is and how beautiful she is. So I guess she does stand out, but she couldn't have stood out in this many

Mandy: Right,

Melissa: about town.

Mandy: [00:14:00] right. So everyone did think it was weird and the rumors began to fly. When that trunk of

letters was found, it only added fuel to the fire that Hazel had maybe eloped with one of her admirers. But the police also had real physical evidence to consider. They had the club, the corset string, and hazel's hat glasses, and one single glove that were found at the scene.

And these things pointed towards a violent attack by someone who wanted Hazel dead. Dr. Fairweather examined Hazel's body and gave a vivid breakdown of the weapon used. He said that if a stone had been used, Hazel scalp would've been lacerated, but instead they found a clean bruise and a blood clot under her skull. He described the Oak Club as being 20 inches long, about four pounds, and dented in just the right way to match Hazel's injury. Whoever attacked Hazel had overpowered her completely. Investigators wondered whether the admirer who said Hazel Smile tortured him and begged [00:15:00] to meet her in Albany, had anything to do with this. All they knew about this person was that his initials were CES, but they wondered if he was more than just some lovesick pen pal.

Melissa: Also so many initials, so much monogramming in this story. They're just, everyone's like you need,

it really was. And I feel like we went through this stage, when our boys were, our youngest boys were young. Do you remember? Like everything was monogrammed all the time. So I guess it just comes back around.

Mandy: It does, even the styles from the early 19 hundreds will come back to get us.

Melissa: You're never safe. But meanwhile, teal Pond itself became a character. In the case newspapers described it as being surrounded by dense woods with an almost impenetrable undergrowth. It was the kind of place you'd stumble upon by accident, Soon enough witnesses started coming forward with stories that made the case even more bizarre. Hotel owner, Chris Karp said that on the night of July [00:16:00] 4th, he saw a car creeping down the road to Teal Pond with its headlights off. There were two men and two women inside the vehicle, and he thought the woman in the back backseat looked to be either asleep or unconscious leaning on the man in the backseat beside her.

People would later speculate that this unconscious woman was Hazel. An hour later, the car came back, but this time there was only one man and one woman inside. Chris said he thought nothing of it at the time, and assumed that maybe the sleeping woman was just lying down in the car. but when Hazel's body turned up in the pond, suddenly things seemed less innocent.

Investigators found tire tracks leading right through the woods and up to the ledge of the pond as if someone drove there to dump her body. But this clash with what doctors were saying, which was that Hazel was actually killed at the pond. They believed this because the Oak Club, they believed was used was found right there on the shore.

Others insisted that Hazel's body was brought to [00:17:00] the pond after her death. But honestly, both theories kind of made sense, which only added to the confusion. Police also pointed to details like Hazel's hat, which was found on the bank, and they suggested that her body was dragged along the ground before being tossed into the water.

The killer or killers were in such a hurry that they didn't even think to remove the gold badge with Hazel's initials from her dress. Investigators had the pond drained in hopes of finding Hazel's suitcase, her purse or the weapon, but what they mostly got was just a swampy mess. On the day of Hazel's funeral, another odd detail emerged, A postcard addressed to her arrived in Troy, and it was signed by the name Carrie Weaver in New Carlisle, Ohio. The message read quote have been out riding, Having a lovely time in Wish you were along.

Police tracked to carry down and learned that she was a friend of Hazel's who had spent seven months working in Troy. She and Hazel had just gone to New York City together [00:18:00] that May, so this postcard wasn't sinister at all. It was just unfortunately timed.

Mandy: Then the police got one of their more intriguing leads. A local man named Rudolph or Rodie claimed that he saw Hazel on the evening of July 7th, walking near her uncle William Taylor's farm. Teal Pond was only a third of a mile away from that farm according to Rodie. He and a 17-year-old named Frank Smith were driving when they passed Hazel on the road and Frank recognized her and even called her by name. Hazel greeted him as well, and then continued up the hill toward her uncle's property. But this is where things start to get kind of a little sketchy. Hazel's Uncle William wasn't exactly Mr. Rogers. He had inherited the farm from Hazel's father, and there were reports that the families weren't on good terms. Neighbors describe Taylor as moody and even feared. And he had allegedly attempted suicide twice. Rodie gave a statement to newspapers that he [00:19:00] saw Hazel going up the hill towards the farm, carrying her hat in her hand. Then Rodie and Frank went onto Avril Park where they stopped at a saloon for drinks At first, both men pretty much had the same story, though Roddy's version was a lot more polished and clean. But Frank, who did have some developmental delays, gave a little bit more of an inconsistent account about what happened. Frank told the police that after he saw Hazel, he actually left Rodie and went with her to a hotel where the two of them had several drinks together, which apparently was news to Rodie because his version never included anything about Frank wandering off with Hazel by themselves. When Frank was pressed about it further and asked bluntly whether he'd hit Hazel on the head and thrown her in the pond, he replied, no, sir, I didn't.

Why? I wouldn't do anything like that to a dog. I had nothing to do with such a thing, but still, the suspicion only grew. Hazel had met Frank the previous winter while she was staying at her uncle's farm, and it was rumored that Frank did have a [00:20:00] crush on her. After July 7th, he was asking around town where Hazel was, but he told the police that he had just wanted to call on her. Then other witnesses said they had seen Frank at Avril Park running up to the local pharmacy in a panic, but then bolting away without ever going inside. Two men who were on the porch at the post office thought there might have been some kind of medical emergency, but when they asked Frank about it, he just brushed them off. But Frank never mentioned this pharmacy incident to the police. But the hotel owner, Chris Karp, that's the same man who saw the car driving with no headlights toward the pond later said that there was nothing unusual about Frank at all, and that Frank had simply lost a bet and was trying to prove that he could run to the drugstore and buy a postcard in under 15 minutes. But apparently he failed by one minute.

Melissa: What on Earth is that excuse that is, I know that this was like a century ago, but I can't imagine being like, Mandy, bet you're gonna run all the way to Publix. [00:21:00] Grab a piece of cake for me and come back and let's see if you can do it in under

Mandy: I mean, I can see doing silly. I mean, let's be honest, I've been at my own house and have tried to see how many tasks I can finish before the microwave

Melissa: Okay. You know

what?

Mandy: this is,

I can definitely see this being a good point, but like also, I guess I just forget how small towns were like back then because like everyone's, everyone know, everyone saw Frank doing this, right?

Like the

guys on the porch at the post office saw it. The hotel owner was like, no, I saw it. But it wasn't even that weird. He was just. Doing a bet. I'm like, how does everyone know what everyone's doing?

Melissa: I know in this detail, but like I would almost think it was so crazy that it's unbelievable, but in this story it's like, no, that's exactly what happened. That's what he was doing. But. Every time Frank did talk, his story did shift, and sometimes he said that Hazel was alone. Sometimes they were together.

Sometimes he's running for postcards, and other times he was hiding something darker. And since Frank was [00:22:00] considered to be simple-minded, those aren't our words. That's literally a quote. The police couldn't decide he was a confused witness or a confused suspect.

Meanwhile, the timeline was getting even muddier. if Rodie and Frank were telling the truth about seeing Hazel on the seventh. Then that left a 35 hour gap between when she told her aunt she was going to water fleet and when she was seen by the two men. So where had she been during that time?

Another couple. The Romans came forward about a week later and reported that they saw a girl who looked just like Hazel on the night of July 6th. The woman was on the same road where Rodie and Frank claimed to have seen her, and she was picking berries by the side of the road. Mrs. Roman commented to her husband that the girl was having quote, such a good time with those berries, but this isn't a good time of night for such a pretty girl to be out alone and quote, So now investigators wondered whether Hazel had been out there two nights in a row, or whether someone was [00:23:00] mistaken. Either way, the case grew more complicated and confusing by the day. By mid-July, investigators had heard numerous conflicting accounts and DA Jarvis O'Brien laid out a theory that seemed the most probable to him.

He said it seems most likely that Hazel was attacked. Assaulted and murdered while walking along the lonely road. Then her hat and gloves were placed on the shore in hopes that her death would look like a suicide before she was dumped in the pond. A major breakthrough came when detectives found Hazel's missing suitcase.

They learned that the bag had actually been checked at Union Station in Troy at 1:49 PM on July 6th. Inside the suitcase, they found a black purse with all of Hazel's money inside except for 5 cents. Interestingly enough, a 5 cent piece was later found, tucked into one of the fingers of the glove that was found on the bank of the pond.

How did they know that? It was all but 5 cents.

Mandy: That's what I was wondering. Also, like, I don't know. I [00:24:00] mean, I don't know how anyone would know exactly how much money she had. That's

Melissa: That's weird, right?

Mandy: Yeah.

Melissa: They asked the trolley conductors if anyone had seen Hazel going towards the direction of Avril Park, but no one remembered her. Then new witnesses popped up and threw a wrench into the whole timeline. Again, several unnamed parties claim to have seen Hazel at Union Station on the morning of July 6th, which finally, at least we have a confirmed where she would've been and people that saw her in that place.

But they said she had her suitcase with her and told people she was going down the river. around that same time a southbound Albany train was called, but nobody could say whether she boarded it or not.

Mandy: Another witness named Peter, claimed he may have seen Hazel on the trolley on July 7th. He said the girl he saw looked like Hazel and she was with a young man and was showing him a piece of paper. But this witness said he only got a side view from behind, and he said that he did think that it could be Hazel. [00:25:00] However, he did not really get a clear view yet. Another witness named Mary Robinson told police she saw Hazel on a train on July 6th and even spoke to her. Hazel allegedly told the woman she was going to New York, which supported the theory that Hazel may have gone to Albany for the night and then returned the next day. But if Mary really did see Hazel on that train, the timing clashed with the Romans report of seeing her picking berries on the side of the road that very same evening. She obviously could not have been in two places at once, but despite all of this confusing information, detectives lean toward the idea that Hazel never actually left Troy before she was killed. which made the suitcase, the one that had actually been checked into the station, feel almost like it may have been a piece of intentional misdirection, more than a sign that she actually took a trip somewhere. And as for what was inside the suitcase, well, there wasn't really much. There was a little bit of money, but not a lot. And one peculiar item they did find [00:26:00] inside was a clipping from an October, 1907 newspaper that had the headline. Edward Levy has departed from Chattanooga, Tennessee where he will remain for the winter,

Melissa: I love how simple the news was back then.

Mandy: and then everybody was just like, I'm gonna be, I'm heading out. I'm gonna post about it in the

Melissa: I know it's, it's very much like humble bragging that you're going outta town for the winter, but it is it, I wonder what the tipping point was. Actually. I would love to know that the tipping point where people stopped putting like, you know, this family's gonna be outta

Mandy: right.

Melissa: weeks. If you want to break in their house, this would, you know, be a great time.

I wonder what stopped that, because it's just wild.

Mandy: Yeah, so of course just the fact that Hazel had this clipping in her suitcase made the police wonder, you know, who on earth is Edward Levie and why is Hazel holding onto this newspaper clipping? By July 15th, the case was becoming so sensational that the county put money on the line and announced a [00:27:00] $1,000 reward, which would be about $35,000 in today's money for the arrest and conviction of Hazel's Killer, which honestly, in today's money, like that seems a like a lot, like,

I feel like the, for the county to put up, um, $35,000 today would be. Unheard of. Yeah.

absolutely. So the new bounty though, made sure that every amateur sleuth in town perked up and tried to help, which probably was all of

them. It sounds like this was a very small town and people like to talk. So Hazel's own brother Joseph spoke out in the Buffalo commercial. He admitted that his sister was a complex person, but said he did not believe the police would find any motive for the crime by investigating her past.

Which kind of like, I get it. Like I get why the brother's like you. Yeah. But also I'm like, are you just trying to divert the police from

looking into her past? Like, 'cause that seems like a weird thing to say, right? Like, kind of like a look. Don't look over here. Look over there

thing. Um, he also did acknowledge that Frank Smith, who's the man that police said had some learning disabilities. Um, he said [00:28:00] this man was infatuated with his sister. So Joseph said that Hazel was pretty popular and had admirers, but she did not have a steady boyfriend. He, in fact, he said that Hazel seemed to enjoy the company of women more than men. And he did say also that she had a close relationship with their Uncle William. Despite all the gossip about Uncle Williams's, maybe not so great reputation. And we have more to get into after one last break to hear a word from this week's sponsors.

Marker

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Marker

Melissa: So before the break, we walk through the Confusing Mess investigators faced after Hazel's Body was pulled from Teal Pond, the timeline of her last day was full of contradictions. Her aunt swore she left with a suitcase for water leak, [00:30:00] but then her friends there said they hadn't seen her in weeks. And of course, multiple people swore They spotted Hazel around town and then she just vanished.

But investigators kept pulling at threads In sometime around July 17th, Hazel's Aunt Minnie found herself in the hot seat. Papers reported that she and Hazel had taken a car ride with two men just days before the murder. But when Minnie was asked about it, she said, quote, it's nobody's business.

The naming of any of Hazel's friends would throw no light on her death. I will not talk Minnie.

Mandy: Again, kind of like the brother saying like, you're not gonna find anything out by looking into her past, like, don't do that. And now Aunt Minnie is like, I'm not talking because yeah, it's not gonna throw any light on her death. Like how do you know Aunt Minnie?

Melissa: How does Aunt Minnie know what's happening? The fact that she's just like, no, uh, I, yeah, I rode in a car with her. How many times do you ride in a car with somebody and you could just say, I rode in a car with them. [00:31:00] unless I went to Burger King and got a giant meal and didn't wanna share it, I'd have no problem saying, I went to, you know, rode in a car with somebody.

Why does this matter so much to her?

Mandy: I don't know. And why would you, as her aunt and family member not want to

work with the police to figure out what happened to her? Like that's the part that blows me away. I am like, okay. even her family, I don't

know. It

Melissa: you gotta bark up another tree. This is, Yeah. So weird. So a few days later, it came out that Minnie did reveal the names of those two men, two investigators, but those names were never made public.

Meanwhile, more stories about Hazel's romantic life surfaced, or better yet.

Her lack of romantic life. And at one point Hazel had been engaged, though her father wouldn't name the man and he had since married someone else. What's going on guys? Just,

and everyone's got their freaking initials everywhere, so like they'll figure it out.

Like you can just give the initials, Hazel's mom, Julia told reporters that her daughter [00:32:00] hadn't dated anyone in more than a year. And When Julia asked her about it and asked if there was anyone special in her life, Hazel said, no, I don't care for one, if I got one, some other girl would cut me out.

I know one of Hazel's friends named Mina told police that a local dentist had proposed a Hazel. At one point, investigators tracked down this dentist who was over twice her age and married with kids, and he denied any romantic involvement with Hazel.

Mandy: of course he did.

Melissa: Yeah, but I mean, I would think he wouldn't propose to her, but

maybe that's, maybe

that's, me giving him too much credit. That is very true. however, among those torn up letters and notes from Admirers was one note from a dentist. so another letter was from a train man named John Magner, who worked the mail line between New York and Lake George Police found him in New York City, but he denied ever knowing Hazel. But then Aunt Minnie chimed in again. She told the Buffalo [00:33:00] Courier that she heard Hazel talk about John Magner, and specifically that Hazel was greatly disappointed when John had to cut a visit short.

According to Aunt Minnie, Hazel loved this man, and just when things couldn't get any more confusing. Another postcard turned up, and this one signed WCH, which was traced to a man named William c Hogart, who had been friends with Hazel Around this time, Mina Jones came forward with yet another disturbing revelation.

She claimed that Hazel had been the victim of attempted assault twice by the same man. The first time Hazel allegedly escaped by hitting him with her umbrella, and the second time the man showed up at the carry home and tried again. But Hazel fought him off. Mina said this man was either Italian or Armenian, and that he had continued to write Hazel even though he bothered her.

Mandy: So it seems as though Hazel was really just fending off men left and right, and and Aunt Minnie may have known more than she was letting on too, because Mina [00:34:00] said that Aunt Minnie had asked her to destroy Hazel's personal letters because they were just too personal for investigators. I definitely understand why people think that. There was some secret to be hidden going on here that there was something that the family didn't want out there because it seems

so bizarre that anytime the police wanna know actually more about Hazel and who she was and what her background was, her family is like, no, there's no reason to look into that.

Melissa: And I've, I'm sure there is like in this time, quote unquote defending her honor if she was doing things that maybe were considered spicy at the time that they would want to do that. But like we know in this day and age, like you gotta let it all hang out because that's the only way they can figure anything out.

Mandy: right. So as the days dragged by with no arrests, the Hazel Drew case grew stranger by the hour. Newspapers filled their columns with every possible lead, no matter how bizarre they even sounded. And suddenly, Hazel seemed to have been seen everywhere in the days before her [00:35:00] death. The evening world reported that an insurance man from Troy was frequently spotted driving near Teal Pond with a pretty blonde girl That summer and after Hazel's body was found, that man mysteriously left town. Then came rumors from campers who claimed to have heard a woman screaming near Teal Pond on the night of July 6th or seventh. The police did follow up on that tip, but it led nowhere. A couple that lived three miles from the pond. The Hoffey said that when they were on the way home on July 7th, they saw something chilling near the pond.

A buggy was pulled to the side of the road, and inside of this buggy was a young, slender man who looked like he had no idea how to even handle a horse. He was clutching the res. He had his elbows on his knees, and he was just staring toward the water. They said he was wearing a light brown cape, a suit, a stiff collar, and a bow tie. Meanwhile, in the bushes near the pond, the Hoffey saw another man bent over, rummaging around as though he was [00:36:00] searching for something. And this man, they described as wearing a checkered shirt, dark trousers, and a straw hat. Police searched stables in both Troy and Albany trying to connect the horse and buggy to someone. Eventually, a photo in Hazel's belongings led them to a man named FW Shlain, who was a livery worker. He admitted to knowing Hazel and said he met her three years earlier at a skating rink, but he said he hadn't seen her in two years. He said that his rig was definitely rented on July 6th, but no one could prove who rented it or if it was one of the men the Hoffey saw at the pond. Things heated up even more. When a farmer named Charles Rankin came forward and said that he had seen a man loitering around the pond in the weeks before Hazel's death. He saw the man two times and the description he gave matched the description of the man. The Hoffey saw.

Melissa: Desperate for answers. Hazel's mother hired a psychic who told her that she believed Hazel was killed down the road in a place where the bushes were the thickest and then [00:37:00] brought to the pond after she was killed. Investigators also chased down rumors that Hazel had visited a religious camp in Albany, but that turned up nothing useful.

Finally on July 23rd, nearly three weeks after Hazel's body was found, it was announced that there would be a formal inquest into her death. Da O'Brien, detective K and the autopsy doctors met, to decide whether Hazel's body should be exhumed for another examination.

The doctors were firm in their belief that Hazel had not died by suicide. Her skull was crushed, her throat was bound, and there was no reason to disturb her grave again. In the days leading up to the inquest, police questioned anyone they thought might be connected, but in the end, they had no new answers.

By late July, both the investigators and the public were desperate for answers. The first to testify in the inquest was the men who found her body, Horace Grober, George White and Gilbert Miller. Then 17-year-old Frank Smith told his story about encountering Hazel. On [00:38:00] July 7th, the three doctors who performed Hazel's autopsy all took the stand and confirmed that Hazel died from a violent blow to the head.

But then another doctor was set to testify that Hazel's death was a suicide. Apparently just ignoring the whole corset string that was around her neck. Meanwhile, William Hoffey told the same story about seeing two mystery men near the pond the night that Hazel died, and Hazel's Uncle William Taylor insisted He had not seen his niece that night at all, but Taylor's alibi did have some holes in it. The Richards who lived on his farm Testified that when they were returning home that evening, Taylor's bedroom door was open, but he was nowhere to be found.

Mandy: At some point in all of this, Hazel's mom, Julie gave an interview where she told the Associated Press that she believed Hazel had been hypnotized before she was killed. She said in part, I believe it was someone who was well to do and who had Hazel in his control. he mesmerized, or what you call hypnotized my [00:39:00] hazel.

And she did whatever he asked of her. He took her out there while she was under his influence and murdered her. And while this might sound completely insane to us, in 2025, hypnosis was very much a hot topic at this time. People truly believe that another person could be put under someone else's control.

And to Julia, it was a perfectly reasonable explanation for why her daughter would've been out in the woods to begin with. On July 29th, Hazel's younger brother, Willie, took the stand. He was just eight years old at the time, and he told the jury he believed Hazel was on her way to see him the night she was killed. He said he knew his sister would never go away without telling him goodbye, which,

Oh, my gosh, so sad.

Melissa: it is.

Mandy: Hazel's friend Carey also testified and made Hazel out to be a careful and modest woman, but then new individuals who were connected to what was only referred to as a camp situation near the mill Pond also testified. So this camp was allegedly a place where prominent men from Albany would host [00:40:00] peculiar entertainments. Again, this is how it's described in the research.

Melissa: love a thesaurus back in the

Mandy: They truly, so this testimony didn't exactly tie Hazel to the camp, but it implied that she might have been somehow lured into the woods by people who were at this camp. Finally, the inquest ended on July 31st and the coroner delivered his official finding. He found that Hazel was murdered by a blow to the head from a blunt instrument.

Melissa: Even after the inquest was closed, Hazel's name refused to fade from the headlines. In 1909, the Asbury Park Press reported that in just four years, four young women had been murdered in the Troy area. Among them were Mamie Killen Anna Mitchell, Caroline Gorgan, and Hazel Drew. just two months after Hazel's body was pulled from Teal Pond, a 17-year-old girl named Nelly Green was found murdered in Yonkers, New York.

Like Hazel, she had [00:41:00] been strangled and left in a body of water. Some writers speculate that Hazel Drew was secretly living a double life where she was a conservative, governed by day and a party girl by night, but there's no evidence that she was ever described that way in newspapers at the time.

What we do know is that Hazel had admirers secrets and a complicated social circle that may have fueled those double life rumors. Of course, the fact that Aunt Minnie took her on that weird car ride and two mysterious men were with them really didn't help things. As the years passed, Hazel's case became a sort of folklore around town.

parents told their children the ghost story of Hazel Drew, the beautiful girl who wandered into the woods and never came home. Local historian Bob Moore has collected some of those stories. He once got a call from an Albany police officer who said he saw an apparition at a party near Hazel's grave.

The officer described a lovely woman in a long white dress when he asked his wife who this woman was, she told [00:42:00] him he was imagining things. Another woman reported driving through Avril Park one evening when she thought she hit someone on the road.

She pulled over, looked around frantically, but found nothing. She immediately connected it to Hazel and assumed it was her spirit.

Mandy: Decades later, a boy named Mark Frost heard the ghost story after it had been passed down through generations. He spent summers at the Tabor Hills and heard the story from his own grandmother. Years later, Mark Frost teamed up with David Lynch, and the two of them created the cult classic series, twin Peaks, which begins with the body of a beautiful young woman being discovered in the water. So Frost has openly said that the character of Laura Palmer was inspired by Hazel Drew. Just like Hazel, Laura Palmer was admired, rumored to live a double life and surrounded by a carousel of potential male suspects. In Twin Peaks, the male suspects were James Hurley, Leo Johnson, and Benjamin Horn. And in the Hazel [00:43:00] Drew case, the men were Frank Smith, William Taylor, the dentist, who may or may not have proposed to her and the trained man who may or may not have been in love with her. Even the shady camp near Teal Pond where those peculiar entertainments were rumored to take place was echoed in Twin Peaks at One Eye Jacks, which was the brothel, where Laura's character was tangled up in dangerous company. But more than a century later, we still don't know who killed the real Hazel Drew. Her story lives on Through the headlines that sensationalized her death, the Urban Legends that turned her murder into a ghost story and the TV series that turned her tragedy into entertainment. So although Hazel's Killer was never found, her legacy has surely outlasted them. What a crazy and very interesting story.

Melissa: Very interesting.

Mandy: you watch Twin Peaks at all?

Melissa: No, it's one of those shows that I've wanted to watch, but I know it's like a lot, I think it's like loss, like if I started loss now, it, it wouldn't mean as much to [00:44:00] me. So. Let me know if I should watch Twin Peaks, anybody that has, 'cause I know they did a reboot recently. Um, but yeah, I've, it's one that I probably should have.

Mandy: So I haven't, and I'll be

completely. No, I haven't. But I'll be completely honest. First of all, I did not know, um, even what this TV show Twin Peaks was about until I got into

researching this case and found that, and realized it was actually like a true crime kind of

thing. So my only, the only thing I ever thought of is the restaurant Twin Peaks, which is like basically Hooters.

Have you

Melissa: Okay. I did not know I wanted to go to Twin Peaks and my husband was like, do you know why it's named that? And I was like, from the show. And he's like,

Mandy: Okay. Right. So I knew of the restaurant Twin Pinks before of before I knew about the TV show. So anytime I've ever heard of the TV show, I've always just like assumed that it was going to be like some kind of

parody TV show about people working in this restaurant or something along those lines, which is like the most Mandy thing in

the

[00:45:00] world.

So anyway, so anyway, so I haven't watched it 'cause I wasn't interested, but now I might actually be interested in watching this.

Melissa: I think it's supposed to be kind of weird too, like if it's David Lynch,

so his stuff is always kind of weird. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mandy: yeah.

Melissa: it's that many seasons. I think it's only like a couple seasons. I might actually try to watch it.

Mandy: Yeah, I mean, I might as well, but yeah, very interesting story. Um, I, like I said, I love covering cases from back then because things were just so weird and different back then, even with the family saying like, this is none of your business, like about certain

things. I feel like nowadays detectives would be like, actually, that usually means it is our business, so let's keep talking.

Like, you know, they would never just let you say, I'm not gonna tell you these details, especially if they thought that it could help solve the crime.

Melissa: Right it. It was a different time for sure, but this was really interesting and I wonder if there's any way they could solve this case now. 'cause it's not like a DNA thing. Like how could they solve this? I don't know. It'd

Mandy: Yeah.

Melissa: interesting if they could

Mandy: [00:46:00] Yeah. Very interesting. Alright guys, thank you so much for listening. We will be back next week, same time, same place. News story.

Melissa: have a great week.

Mandy: Bye.

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