Betty Elias was murdered by Dennis Eagle who escaped justice for 37 years: On The Case With Paula Zahn investigates

On The Case With Paula Zahn travels to Oakland, California to investigate a cold case that lasted a staggering 37 years. Dennis Eagle brutally murdered Betty Elias in her apartment and managed to evade retribution for nearly four decades until the law finally caught up to him.

When officers were called to an apartment on Oakland’s San Pablo Avenue on October 29, 1979, they found a scene of utter devastation. Betty Elias, 45, was lying dead on her bed; she’d been raped and murdered.

Her clothes had been ripped off of her, and her head had been bashed repeatedly against a wall, and her throat had been slashed. Betty had then been strangled to death.

The apartment had been thoroughly ransacked, and there was blood all over the floors and walls.

Tragically, the case lay cold for nearly 40-years. Initially, suspicion fell on her ex-boyfriend, who had seemingly vanished without a trace.

However, the first significant breakthrough in the case came 37 years later when in 2015, DNA and fingerprint evidence connected Dennis Eagle to the crime. Eagle’s fingerprint was placed on a shower curtain rail, and his sperm was found in Betty’s vagina. He was only 18 years old when he committed this dreadful crime.

Sexual predator Dennis Eagle was already serving time

Eagle was on the national DNA database because he was already serving time in a federal prison for a sexual assault he committed in 2010 on the Fort Peck Indian reservation in Montana.

He also had convictions for assault with serious bodily injury in 1987 and another sexual assault in 1995; both crimes had also been committed in Montana.

Eagle was a long time resident of Montana, and it’s unclear how exactly he and Betty came into contact. It has been theorized that Betty had been inebriated (a high level of alcohol was discovered in her system), and perhaps Eagle followed her home as she’d stumbled home along San Pablo Avenue late that night.

Eagle was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of Betty Elias. He won’t begin serving this sentence until he finishes serving his sentence for his previous sex crime, which is due to end in 2022.

More from On The Case With Paula Zahn

Follow the links to read about more crimes investigated by Paula Zahn.

Last week Paula Zahn examined the shocking case of sexual predator Randy May, who, while posing as a police officer, persuaded two teenage girls to get into his car. He raped and murdered Mary Jones; he also raped Mitzi Sizemore before tying her to a tree and leaving her to die.

In 1987 Susan Woods was discovered submerged in her bathtub; she’d been either strangled or drowned. The case lay cold for 20 years until DNA evidence pointed to Joseph Hatley, who was someone the police had never even suspected.

On The Case With Paula Zahn airs Sundays at 10/9c on Investigation Discovery.