Case 343: John Zera
On February 28 1976, the suburban community of Hales Corners, Wisconsin, was rocked when the body of missing schoolboy, 14-year-old John Zera, was discovered in a local park. The teenager hadn't been seen for over a week, having gone missing in the middle of the school day without so much as a word.
Over the next few years, the investigation into John’s brutal murder was plagued by mistakes and misconduct before eventually going cold. Thirty years later, the case was resurrected after police discovered a chilling scene.
Team:
Anonymous Host - narration
Brianne Jaskulski - research, writing
Mike Migas - production, music
Anthony Telfer - audio editing
Comments (18)
Man. Having a teenage son the same age as Jon, this episode hit so hard. My heart broke for the Zera family. On another note - Every other true crime podcast seems to measure itself against Casefile, and after this episode it’s easy to see why. As an Aussie, I’m so proud that the best in the business is homegrown. What you and the team have created is genuinely world class!!!
Agreed. Having a teenage son as well it’s scary to think about the horrible people in this world. I can’t begin to imagine the continuous pain John’s family has felt since that day.
Very frustrating case 😞
Great episode, really gripping. The forensic lady was something else.
Really great episode, well done Casefile team. So many WTF moments. Really hope John gets justice so he can finally rest in peace
What a great episode, thank you team
I don't really think it was acker. He has no other history of killing anyone.
This should not have taken this long to solve. His need to involve himself in this case repeatedly should have been enough, let alone the false story he fed to that disabled man. Abhorrent police work.
What a tragic case. I really feel for the family, I can’t imagine how I would feel if my child was murdered and then the investigation was bungled by everyone who touched it for decades.
awesome episode
Fantastic narrative of an extremely upsetting case
I've never seen a case so mangled from literally every person involved. *Hell* would be reserved for the family, and any detective who came afterwards who tried to solve the case. Great episode/music, work and reporting, but this might have to be one of the most frustrating cases yet... RIP John
Hi Casefile ... You didn't include your usual warning at the start of the show of crimes against children. Not sure if that was deliberate or an oversight.
Why would that be a deliberate oversight?
Casefile doing original reporting! \o/
what a case. it's so frustrating they seem to have zero DNA evidence to work with. maybe they'll find something somewhere. excellent ep!
Hi team, I'm enjoying the episode so far! I wanted to point out a minor editing mistake at 1h 03:32. The word Milwauke seems to be cut off a bit too early before continuing on to the next sentence. Maybe it can be still fixed before posting on the main feed next week! If I find more in the rest of the episode I will post it under this comment!
Superb narrative as always 👏 👌