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Two of Arroyo Grande teen’s murderers released from prison

August 13, 2025

Royce Casey

By KAREN VELIE

After 30 years in prison, two of the three men convicted of murdering Arroyo Grande High School freshman Elyse Pahler as part of a satanic ritual have been released.

Royce Casey and Jacob Delashumutt, who as teenagers killed 15-year-old Pahler, were granted parole and released from prison.The third killer, Joseph Fiorella, is eligible for a parole hearing in 2026.

In 1995, Royce, then 17; Jacob Delashmutt, then 16; and Joseph Fiorella, then 15; murdered Pahler. The three conspirators made plans to kill Pahler, who was their friend, and to dismember, sexually violate and cannibalize her body as part of a satanic ritual.

The teens strangled and stabbed Pahler. However, they did not carry out the planned satanic ritual. Rather, they dragged Pahler’s body and tried to hide it before fleeing.

While Pahler was on the ground crying out for her mother and for Jesus, Casey stomped on her neck and head.

Eight months later, with the murder still unsolved, Casey confessed the crime to a clergyman. He later described the murder to a district attorney investigator and led law enforcement to the body.

The court sentenced both Casey and Delashmutt to 25 years to life in prison while Fiorella was sentenced to 26 years to life in prison.

 


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So you take these 3 severely mentally ill, Evil teens. Who’ve actually gone through with a brutal murder, raise them up in prison, then release them to society? As though they are rehabilitated? By who? All they’ve known is Prison. They have only been taught how to survive in prison! They have no clue how to function in society. And if they fail in society, and someone else gets hurt? Then who do you blame? This is not a smart thing to do. The circumstances regarding her death are beyond heinous.


13

Wow. 30 years…it feels like it was yesterday. These scumbags killed her as a sacrifice so their band would be successful. I recall Slayer being blamed as an excuse for this murder…These guys should never be released…


13

This has nothing to do with our governor. It’s pretty much in line with how convicted murderers are treated across the nation. Release murders have serve an average of 15 years before they release with the average sentence length for a convicted murder being about 38 years

On average, murderers have a very low recidivism rate. One of these murderers helped solve the crime and confessed, bringing the other two to justice. These were abused children brought up in a society that accepts and promotes violence in so many ways. In fact, the entire concept of capital punishment promotes violence in our society, suggesting that under certain circumstances it’s OK for people to kill other people in vengeance. That’s a lesson that we teach children.


In the United States, the average sentence length for a convicted murderer is approximately 38.5 years. However, about 54% of murderers in state prisons are serving life sentences, and 11.8% are serving life without parole. Released murderers have served an average of 15 years before their release.


-41

Do we want these 2 (and soon to be 3) sexually violent felons as neighbors? No. Are we safer with Casey and Delashmutt free? No. I am all for rehabilitation and second chances, but some cases are so twisted and heinous that the death penalty seems most appropriate for not only punitive measures but public safety (if ever they were to be released).


Casey and Delashmutt Families- you and your sons are not welcomed to SLO County. The media will haunt you like those sad sacks Ruben and Susan Flores.


And Gavin, you did us dirty.


9

The remaining Pahler family will forever be in their “jail”. I talk frequently with them and it is so sad to still see the hurt.

These murders are out strictly for political reason.They belong in prison!


80

…..white privilege.


-62

These evil monsters should have never been released from prison. Libtard leaders in CA with their “soft on crime” stance that has been nothing but negative on our communities are to blame for this along with stories like the one about Omar Catalan Estrada.


Look at the “Omar Catalan Estrada” story that just dropped today on CCN. This scumbag illegal alien should have been deported afer he committed his first crime on Feb. 12, 2023.


But he wasn’t because of stupid liberal policies here in CA.


3

…..Liberal justice system


29

These monsters should never have been set loose. How anyone could sign off on their release and still sleep at night is a complete mystery to me.


92

Stories like this make me sick. RIP Elyse Pahler. May true justice for all involved be given in the next life. Parole for monsters should never be an option.


91

Examining the lives of these boys could yield some useful insight into modern American life. Perhaps we could learn how middle-class, public-educated sons of middle-class people could convince themselves to perform such an ugly, abhorrent murder. One has to wonder what the family of Miss. Pahler is feeling these days.


19