Teresita Basa: She Solved Her Own Murder From Beyond the Grave

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[00:02:32] Hey, everyone. My name is Nikki young and this is serial napper the true crime podcast for naps

[00:02:58] I'm back with another true crime story to lull you to sleep or perhaps to give you nightmares

[00:03:04] One early morning in February of 1977 the Chicago fire department responded to a call

[00:03:10] Reporting billowing smoke coming from one of the units at the Pine Grove Avenue apartments

[00:03:16] After putting out the flames they discovered that this was much more than a simple fire

[00:03:21] It was a murder scene

[00:03:24] Inside the smoky apartment

[00:03:26] They found the body of Teresita Bassa a middle-aged health care worker originally from the Philippines

[00:03:33] She had been stabbed to death and still had the butcher knife lodged in her chest

[00:03:38] When police searched the apartment for any clues as to who may have done this to Teresita

[00:03:43] They found only one a note that read get theater tickets for AS

[00:03:49] Beyond that there wasn't really any evidence left behind and her murder went unsolved for months

[00:03:56] That is until they received a phone call from a man who claimed to know the name of the killer

[00:04:01] How did he know?

[00:04:03] He said that his wife had gone into a trance while taking a nap

[00:04:08] And she began to speak in a strange voice

[00:04:11] Identifying herself as the victim Teresita and naming her killer a man named Alan Showery

[00:04:18] As you can imagine initially the police were a bit skeptical

[00:04:22] But when they began to investigate Alan Teresita's killer things began to line up

[00:04:28] So did Teresita Bassa solve her own murder from beyond the grave?

[00:04:33] We're gonna talk about everything so let's jump right in

[00:04:37] Teresita Bassa was born in the Philippines in

[00:04:40] 1929 and moved to the US in the 60s for better opportunities and she certainly found them at first

[00:04:47] She had planned to go into the music industry

[00:04:50] She had been passionate about music from a very early age

[00:04:53] But launching a successful music career proved difficult

[00:04:58] So she decided to change paths and go into the health care field

[00:05:02] She was able to go to school to become a respiratory therapist and was hired to work at Edgewater Hospital in Chicago, Illinois

[00:05:10] She loved her job because she was able to help people

[00:05:14] But she couldn't shake her passion for music

[00:05:17] So while she spent most days working at the hospital

[00:05:20] She spent her evenings working on a PhD in music

[00:05:24] Teresita was also known to teach neighborhood children how to play the piano

[00:05:28] For free just because she enjoyed it so much when she wasn't working or playing music

[00:05:35] Teresita enjoyed a quiet life with her husband Joe. That is until February 21st

[00:05:42] 1977 that day she worked her usual shift at the hospital and nothing really seemed out of the ordinary

[00:05:49] She left work to return home at around 5 30 p.m

[00:05:53] Then Teresita chatted on the phone with one of her longtime friends Ruth Loeb

[00:05:59] The conversation lasted around half an hour and Ruth would later recall how Teresita talked about a friend coming by

[00:06:07] To visit later that day

[00:06:09] About an hour after that phone conversation a neighbor who lived in the same apartment building called the fire department

[00:06:16] After they smelled something burning and saw a thick black smoke coming from Teresita's unit

[00:06:22] Just after 10 p.m

[00:06:24] The Chicago fire department responded to the Pine Grove Avenue apartments to put out the flames

[00:06:30] When they entered her unit, they discovered a fire burning in her living room

[00:06:36] Thankfully it hadn't managed to spread to any of the other rooms or any of the units in the apartment building as

[00:06:43] The flames went out they discovered it was actually a mattress on the floor that had been set on fire

[00:06:50] But there was something large hidden underneath the mattress a body

[00:06:56] When the police attended the scene, they were pretty quickly able to identify this body as belonging to 48 year old

[00:07:03] Teresita Bassa

[00:07:04] She was naked. She had been stabbed and most shockingly she still had a butcher knife lodged in her chest

[00:07:12] Her clothing was found sitting in a pile beside her

[00:07:16] At first because she was found naked the police believed that the crime may have been sexually motivated

[00:07:22] But when an autopsy was conducted there were no signs that she was sexually assaulted

[00:07:28] Her death was as a result of a deep stab wound to the chest

[00:07:33] The fire was of course obviously used to cover up any evidence that may have been left behind

[00:07:39] As well as to possibly get rid of the body

[00:07:42] Beyond the butcher knife recovered from the scene

[00:07:45] Investigators had a really difficult time finding any evidence or any clues in Teresita's apartment

[00:07:51] There wasn't any DNA left behind no fingerprints

[00:07:55] Nothing

[00:07:56] However, they did find something interesting that they thought could have a connection to the killer a note

[00:08:02] That appeared to be Teresita's handwriting which read get theater tickets for AS

[00:08:08] But who was AS?

[00:08:11] Investigators asked her husband her friends her neighbors, but no one knew who this AS person was

[00:08:17] Could it have been the mystery visitor that Teresita told Ruth she was going to be having that evening?

[00:08:22] The police interviewed her husband her friends coworkers

[00:08:26] No one knew of anyone who might have had an issue with Teresita

[00:08:29] She was well liked and she generally lived a quiet life outside of working and providing music lessons

[00:08:36] Without any leads to go on the murder investigation went cold for nearly six months

[00:08:42] But then in August of that year about four months after Teresita's body had been found

[00:08:48] The police received a phone call from a doctor who worked at the same hospital as Teresita

[00:08:54] His name was Jose Chua and he claimed to have a tip about who the killer was

[00:08:59] He said that his wife

[00:09:01] 38 year old Remy had on at least three separate occasions gone into a trance like state where

[00:09:08] Teresita's spirit began speaking through her body

[00:09:11] Remy had also worked at the same hospital as Teresita and she had been emotionally devastated by her murder

[00:09:19] But now she claimed that Teresita was visiting her in her dreams showing her visions of the murder and

[00:09:27] Taking over her body to actually speak about the killer

[00:09:31] Just like Teresita Remy had immigrated to America from the Philippines and she found a better life working in healthcare

[00:09:38] The first time Jose reported his wife had an other worldly visit from Teresita

[00:09:43] Happened shortly after the murder but he was afraid to go to the police because he figured they would just assume he was crazy

[00:09:51] Jose described how one evening his wife Remy was taking a nap at their home when suddenly she began speaking

[00:09:58] But it wasn't her voice

[00:10:01] The voice sounded exactly like Teresita's

[00:10:05] Having worked with her before he recognized it right away

[00:10:10] Speaking in Tagalog the national language of the Philippines and in Teresita's voice

[00:10:15] His wife begged for him to go to the police and even named the killer a man named Alan showery

[00:10:22] Who was an orderly at the same hospital?

[00:10:25] Jose would later say quote. I was really surprised and scared when I asked her name and she answered

[00:10:31] I am Teresita Bassa, but she told me I had nothing to be scared of

[00:10:36] She was really pleading for me to help solve her murder

[00:10:40] When Remy woke up

[00:10:41] She had no memory of what she had said during the trance

[00:10:44] So Jose brushed it off at first believing that his wife probably was just dreaming and was in the process of grieving

[00:10:52] Which I mean, I'm not sure that I would personally brush this off

[00:10:56] If my husband was suddenly acting like they were possessed by someone that they worked with who just so happened to have been murdered

[00:11:03] But Jose ignored it

[00:11:06] However, the visions and voices did not stop

[00:11:10] During another one of these episodes when Teresita appeared to be possessing Remy

[00:11:14] She said that on the night of the murder Alan showery visited her apartment in order to fix a broken TV

[00:11:21] But she caught him trying to steal a pearl ring

[00:11:25] This ring was very expensive and it was special to Teresita

[00:11:30] Because it had been passed down to her by her mother who was no longer alive

[00:11:34] When she confronted Alan he killed her

[00:11:38] She asked, Doctor, why have you not gone to the police? I told you who my killer is

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[00:15:33] Jose and remi felt that these trances and visits by terraceda spirit would probably continue unless they went to the police

[00:15:41] So they decided it was time

[00:15:44] It was a funny situation

[00:15:46] Being a policeman you can tell when somebody's sincere and when they firmly believe

[00:15:51] They're giving you good information. I could tell it that uh, he believed what he was telling me was the truth

[00:15:57] Dr. Bordel said he asked her if she was all right and he said her voice was different

[00:16:03] He said the first session only lasted about 30 minutes and then at the end his wife woke up

[00:16:09] He asked her if she knew what happened. She said she didn't and then he sort of put it in the back of his

[00:16:15] mind and didn't uh act on it

[00:16:19] He said then there was a second

[00:16:23] Session where the voice again

[00:16:25] possessed his wife and at this time the voice became more insistent

[00:16:30] First thought that came into mind is how can I put this on an official police report?

[00:16:35] It's one of those bizarre

[00:16:37] incidents that

[00:16:39] you don't know is

[00:16:41] true or

[00:16:43] Not true

[00:16:44] The lead detective working on the case was a man named joseph statuola and when he heard their story

[00:16:50] He was skeptical

[00:16:52] But it was an interesting tip

[00:16:54] Especially because the person that they alleged killed teresita was named alan showry

[00:17:00] The same initials as written on that note that was found in the apartment

[00:17:05] That couldn't just be a coincidence could it they didn't have much else to go on at this point

[00:17:10] So investigators decided that it wouldn't hurt to take a closer look at this alan showry

[00:17:17] The first thing that they did was to run a background check on alan and they discovered that he did have a criminal history

[00:17:24] And he did have past convictions of robbery

[00:17:27] He happened to live nearby teresita and co-workers at the hospital confirmed that they had heard the two of them discussing him

[00:17:34] Going to her apartment to fix the tv just prior to the murder

[00:17:39] Investigators decided to ask him to come to the station for an interview so he can answer some questions

[00:17:45] And he voluntarily agreed to

[00:17:47] alan confirmed that yep

[00:17:49] He had gone to teresita's apartment that evening to fix her broken tv

[00:17:53] But when he examined the television, he realized that he didn't have the proper tools to do it at the time

[00:17:59] So he left he went home

[00:18:02] The police decided to interview alan's girlfriend and they asked her if her boyfriend had recently bought any jewelry for her

[00:18:09] She said yes in february. He had given her a few items

[00:18:13] Including a ring and a necklace

[00:18:16] This was the same month that teresita was murdered

[00:18:20] So they asked her if she could see this jewelry that had been given to her

[00:18:24] One of the items happened to be an expensive looking pearl ring

[00:18:29] When investigators showed these items to teresita's family, they confirmed that the jewelry was hers

[00:18:36] Now when presented with this stolen jewelry alan showry broke down and he confessed to murdering teresita bessa

[00:18:44] According to his version of events

[00:18:46] He did in fact go to her apartment to fix this broken tv

[00:18:50] But when he noticed some of her expensive jewelry that had been lying around

[00:18:55] He kind of made a plan. He saw an opportunity

[00:18:58] When he couldn't fix the tv, he left but he had decided that he was going to come back later to rob her

[00:19:06] Teresita was very trusting and she let him into her apartment a second time when he had come back

[00:19:12] But as soon as he walked in he turned on her

[00:19:15] He grabbed her and attacked her with the butcher knife

[00:19:19] Then in an effort to make it look like a sexual crime

[00:19:22] He removed all of her clothing and he took her mattress off her bed placed it on top of her and set it on fire

[00:19:30] 32 year old alan showry was arrested and charged with armed robbery arson and murder

[00:19:37] At a pretrial hearing the prosecution had to lay out exactly how they came to identify him as the suspect

[00:19:45] Meaning they had to retell this story about hose and remitua

[00:19:50] And how they believed teresita spoke through her from beyond the grave

[00:19:55] identifying her own killer

[00:19:57] alan had been assigned a public defender to represent him in court

[00:20:01] And he attempted to have the murder charge dismissed based upon the grounds that the police

[00:20:06] Didn't have any other reason to suspect alan other than that strange story told by hose and remi

[00:20:14] He argued that alan's arrest was illegal and that the chuas they were making up a story about these trances and

[00:20:21] Teresita speaking to hose by possessing remi's body

[00:20:24] And i guess fair enough it is a wild story

[00:20:28] But the judge denied the defense's motion to dismiss saying quote

[00:20:32] I see no reason to restrict the investigatory power of the police

[00:20:36] Whether they believe the voices or not. They had to check it out

[00:20:40] The first attempt to convict alan resulted in a mistrial

[00:20:44] However, during his second trial in february 1979

[00:20:48] He decided to plead guilty this time

[00:20:51] He was sentenced to 14 years in prison

[00:20:54] But he was released after only serving five because he was granted parole

[00:20:59] Five years for murdering a woman in her home and then setting her body on fire

[00:21:05] Sometimes the justice system gets it right and sometimes the punishment does not fit the crime

[00:21:10] His sentence

[00:21:11] I have to assume likely has something to do with the fact that he pled guilty this time

[00:21:16] And they didn't want the sensationalism around this paranormal aspect of the case to continue spreading like wildfire

[00:21:24] Because as you can imagine, this was a huge story in the news

[00:21:28] People were talking about it

[00:21:30] Speculating whether this couple who alleged they were being possessed by this ghost were actually credible or if they were just loonies

[00:21:38] Apparently alan is now living in new york city and enjoying a quiet life

[00:21:43] Where hopefully he has some time to reflect on what he did and just be a better person

[00:21:48] As for hose and remi chua, they went on to write a book about their experience called a voice from the grave

[00:21:56] Interestingly enough remi said that she never experienced any other psychic or paranormal events

[00:22:03] After being possessed by teresita

[00:22:06] There are many people who just don't believe their story around how they came to identify alan showery as a suspect

[00:22:13] Some believe that because they both did work at the same hospital where the victim and perpetrator worked

[00:22:19] They already knew this information about the plan to fix the tv

[00:22:24] Other people who worked at the hospital confirmed that they were aware that alan had planned to fix her tv

[00:22:30] So it's not surprising that hose or remi would know too

[00:22:34] Maybe they suspected alan of being the killer, but they didn't want to be the ones to actually accuse him

[00:22:41] I first heard about this case while watching a really old episode of unsolved mysteries

[00:22:46] And in that episode they were given fake names because they wanted to remain anonymous

[00:22:51] So maybe they were uncomfortable with being in the limelight and they just wanted to keep out of everything

[00:22:59] But that doesn't explain how they knew about the jewelry that had been stolen

[00:23:04] These specific details were never publicized by the police

[00:23:08] Unless alan had gone to work and was caught maybe bragging about it, but that doesn't seem to be the case here

[00:23:15] Teresita bassa's murder isn't the only one that has allegedly been solved due to a psychic or paranormal experience

[00:23:22] There are more stories like this than you think

[00:23:26] One example being the murder of 20 year old ashley howley from columbus, ohio

[00:23:32] She went missing in 2004

[00:23:34] And the police suspected that her boyfriend had something to do with it because she had previously called 911 after he assaulted her

[00:23:42] So there was a history of domestic violence

[00:23:44] But there wasn't enough evidence to charge him with anything

[00:23:48] Especially because they had trouble finding ashley's body. She was just a missing person at this point

[00:23:55] The case went cold for a while until a psychic medium named christie robinay reached out to the police

[00:24:02] Allerging ashley's ghost was visiting her in her dreams

[00:24:05] She said it was the ex-boyfriend who killed her

[00:24:08] She was even able to describe the clothing that ashley was last seen wearing before she disappeared

[00:24:14] Christy alleged that ashley continued to visit her in her dreams providing her with a little more information each time

[00:24:22] including a description

[00:24:24] of where the police could find her body

[00:24:27] Investigators were able to pinpoint the location

[00:24:30] But unfortunately there was a setback this location was on private property

[00:24:35] So they weren't allowed to search it. They weren't given a warrant because there just wasn't enough evidence

[00:24:39] but eventually

[00:24:40] They were able to get permission to dig in this spot because the suspect had been convicted of two other murders

[00:24:47] And in 2008 ashley's body was recovered from the exact location that the psychic had pointed out

[00:24:55] And there are others so many that I should probably do an entire episode of these kinds of cases because

[00:25:01] They're really interesting

[00:25:03] So now I turn it over to you. What do you think?

[00:25:06] Is it possible that terra cita spoke from beyond the grave naming her killer?

[00:25:12] Or do you think the doctor and his wife just made up this story in order to pass along some facts that they knew

[00:25:18] Without you know giving their name and maybe pointing things back at themselves

[00:25:24] Let me know what you think

[00:25:25] That's it for me tonight. If you want to reach out you can find me on facebook at serial napper

[00:25:30] I also have a serial napper true crime discussion group over on facebook

[00:25:34] It's called serial society and I'll have the link in my show notes

[00:25:38] I love to chat with you about this case and all of the cases that I cover plus anything else is going on in

[00:25:42] True crime

[00:25:43] You can find my audio on apple or spotify or a review list into podcasts

[00:25:48] Post all of my episodes in video format over on youtube so go check it out

[00:25:53] And if you are watching on youtube, I love if you can give me a thumbs up and subscribe because every little bit helps

[00:25:59] I'm over on x formally known as twitter at serial underscore napper and I post things on tiktok serial napper nick

[00:26:06] And that's all one word

[00:26:08] Until next time

[00:26:10] Sweet dreams stay kind

[00:26:12] Especially in the comments

[00:26:15] Bye

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