'Haunting in the Heartland': The chilling story of Lillelid murders and how a family was killed by six youths
The latest episode of Steve Shippy's 'Haunting in the Heartland' takes him to Greenville, Tennessee, where a family was being brutally haunted by a supernatural presence, so much so that the family believes their daughter died because of it.
Diane Gross' seeks out Steve's help after her family experiences some strange things at their home. From the basement door being banged threateningly to lights going off on their own and shadows flitting through the halls, the family is terrified and unable to understand what is happening in their house. The mother also believes that Nicole Gross, her daughter who died in a mysterious car crash years ago, was being troubled by the same spirit.
Shippy's investigation leads him to an unspeakable tragedy in the town where three members of a family, including a child, were killed in a sacrificial fashion. The Lillelid murders shook the town of Greenville in 1997.
Vidar Lillelid, 34, wife Delfina, 28, their daughter Tabitha, 6, and son Peter, 2, were shot on a deserted rural road near Greeneville during a carjacking committed by a group of youths.
Vidar and Delfina were found dead at the scene, while Tabitha died after being transported to the hospital. Peter survived but was left with disabilities. What was strange about this brutal act was the crime scene. They had all been lined up on their backs near a ditch.
Vidar had been shot six times, one to the right side of his head and five to his chest. Three gunshots on his chest were fired in the shape of a perfect equilateral triangle. As for Delfina, she was shot eight times, with a triangular pattern deliberately formed on her torso as well. Similarly, six-year-old Tabitha was shot once in the head and also had a similar triangular gunshot pattern. According to the sheriff who worked in the case, it was ritualistic.
The six killers — the oldest among them 20 and youngest 14 — were arrested and convicted of the murders. District Attorney Berkeley Bell, at the time, considered the Satanic angle a distraction but later went to say that it was evil, whatever it was. He claimed that one could feel it in the room when they were around. They were rumored to be involved in occultism and Satanism. However, no evidence was presented. They were rumored to have met at a motel room and self-mutilated drank each other's blood among other things.
All of them received three life sentences and an additional 25 years each for the attempted murder of Peter. According to the believers, the murders unleashed something terrible in town that brought its powers to the witchcraft and occult community.
Coming back to Nicole, she was said to be disturbed by the eerie incidents in the house right from the beginning, but no one could figure out why. The mental unrest had begun after Nicole had seen a ritual being performed by her friend and the friend's mother during a sleepover. On the day she died, she was scared and had stolen a stranger's car in frenzy and crashed it on a lonely road. However, no one was reportedly following her.
Catch 'Haunting in the Heartland' every Friday at 10 pm on Travel Channel.