Murder of Elyse Pahler
Elyse Pahler was a murder victim whose parents sued the heavy metal band Slayer claiming that their music contributed to their daughter's death.
The murder
15 year old Elsye Pahler's body was discovered near her home in San Luis Obispo, California, in March 1996. She had been brutally raped and murdered there eight months earlier by acquaintances Jacob Delashmutt, Joseph Fiorella and Royce Casey. The body was located after Casey confessed to the crime following a religious conversion to Christianity. All three eventually pleaded no contest to her murder and are now imprisoned and serving 25 years to life.[ http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5932134/judge_throws_out_slayer_suit] The trio had lured Elyse from her house with the stated intention of killing her as part of a satanic ritual, although the crime bears many of the hallmarks of similiar sexually motivated murders. In their defence, the defandants said they had needed to commit a "sacrifice to the devil" in order to give their heavy metal band Hatred, the "craziness" to "go professional". The trio choked and stabbed Elyse to death, later returning to have sex with her corpse.
The Legal Case
David and Lisanne Pahler claimed that the Slayer songs Post Mortem and Dead Skin Mask gave the three killers detailed instructions to "stalk, rape, torture, murder and commit acts of necrophilia" on their daughter. The lawsuit was originally filed in 1996 but delayed until 2000 until the killer's trial was concluded. The initial case was originally thrown out, the judge stating "There's not a legal position that could be taken that would make Slayer responsible for the girls death. Where do you draw the line? You might as well start looking through the library at every book on the shelf."[1].
Undeterred the Pahler's launched a second lawsuit claiming that Slayer "knowingly distributed harmful material to minors"[2]. This case too was dismissed Judge E. Jeffrey Burke stating "I do not consider Slayer's music obscene, indecent or harmful to minors."[3]
Jacob Delashmutt himself stated in a Washington Post interview that "The music is destructive (but) that's not why Elyse was murdered. She was murdered because Joe (Fiorella) was obsessed with her, and obsessed with killing her."[4]