261. Mommy Dearest: The Murder of Jerry Heimann

Our True Crime Podcast

In April 2001, Jerry Heimann's son, Greg, had come to Washington State to visit his father. When his father didn't pick him up from the airport, he grew concerned. When he arrived at his father's home, and there was no answer, he broke into the house. Jerry wasn't there, and neither were most of Jerry's belongings. As he made his way into the dining room, he found an 89-year-old grandmother, Evelyn, and an Alzheimer's patient slumped in her wheelchair. She had been left alone, starving. Greg called 911.
When police asked the neighbors if they had seen Jerry, they said they hadn’t seen anyone at the residence after the live-in housekeeper and elder helper, Barbara Opel, had backed a U-Haul into Jerry’s driveway, packed it full of things from Jerry’s house, and left.
Soon, police knocked on Barbara Opel's hotel room door, asking her, her children, and their friends to come down to the station to answer some questions about the whereabouts of her employer, 64-year-old Jerry Heimann.
Barbara spun a story of how Jerry was dying of terminal prostate cancer, and he was just finished with this world. He’d given her all his earthly possessions, and she had no idea where he was.
Nobody else talked to the police. They did not betray Barbara.
But eleven-year-old Derek did. When the police asked him if he knew where Jerry was, he simply said, “Yes. He’s dead.”
Join Cam and Jen as they discuss. "Mommy Dearest: The Murder of Jerry Heiman"
Thank you to YA-MAN USA for sponsoring this week's episode. To experience the future of beauty, you can visit yamanusa.com and use code TCP for a 20% discount.
Thank you to our team:
Written and researched by Lauretta Allen
Listener Discretion by Edward October from OctoberpodVHS
Executive Producer Nico Vitesse of The Inky Paw Print
Sources:
https://www.seattleweekly.com/news/little-girl-lost/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Opel
https://www.heraldnet.com/news/sentenced-to-50-years-in-everett-slaying-hell-get-out-after-21/
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/16566644/jerry_duane-heimann
https://murderpedia.org/female.O/o/opel-barbara.htm
https://www.seattleweekly.com/news/little-girl-lost/
https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B01DQ3K84A/ref=atv_dp_season_select_s2 Investigation Discovery: Deadly Sins Season 2 Episode 8; Mommy's Little Killers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4xtkBOfP84&ab_channel=DanielleKirsty
https://www.newspapers.com/image/1032029517/?match=1&terms=Barbara%20Opel
https://www.newspapers.com/image/1047870461/?match=1&terms=Heather%20Opel
https://www.newspapers.com/image/1048777719/?match=1&terms=Heather%20Opel
https://ivisontrust.org.uk/child-sexual-exploitation/what-is-trauma-bonding/#:~:text=The%20term%20'trauma%20bond'%20is,bond%20is%20damaging%20to%20them.
https://wainnocenceproject.org/marriam-oliver/
https://www.heraldnet.com/news/a-2001-killer-then-13-will-be-released-from-prison-early/
https://www.heraldnet.com/news/witness-details-teen-plot-to-kill/