It is day 3 of our 12 Nightmares Before Christmas. In December 1995, 19-year-old Conan Wade Hale and his accomplice, Jon Susbauer, unleashed a wave of terror in Oregon. It began on December 4, when they ransacked a woman’s home, stealing valuables worth thousands and slashing furniture before fleeing. Days later, on December 16, they drove a stolen silver Chevrolet Suburban through Eugene and encountered two teenagers, Kara Krause and Jesse Jarvis, parked on a desolate road. After Susbauer posed as a property owner to engage the couple, a masked figure armed with a machete emerged from the darkness, forcing the teens to strip before sexually assaulting Kara. Both survived and later identified Susbauer as the "property owner," though only Jesse tentatively linked Hale to the attack. The duo escalated their spree on December 19, burglarizing another home to steal valuables, including a rabbit-fur jacket and a .38-caliber revolver, leaving behind more vandalism. By December 20, cruising the streets in the stolen Suburban, they crossed paths with Hale's 15-year-old ex-girlfriend Kristal Bendele and her friends. These young teens would not be as fortunate as those before. 

Join Jen and Cam of Our True Crime Podcast on this episode entitled “The Killer, the Confession and the Magazine Spread: Conan Hale.”

Listener Discretion is courtesy of @octoberpodVHSAll music is courtesy of our editor and executive producer @theinkypawprint

Sources:
https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19980516/2750951/man-guilty-of-triple-murder

https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=474

https://www.lmtribune.com/northwest/priest-involved-in-jailhouse-confession-is-leaving-town02e73f9c/

https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2020/05/whos-on-oregons-death-row-27-men-2-others-held-elsewhere.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1996/05/11/taping-of-jailhouse-confession-to-priest-creates-furor-in-oregon/fdc77ccb-fc07-4c85-850d-90e08855b90a/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1996/05/12/violating-the-confessional/e333b7df-bb5f-460b-b48c-af7a1c9f51be/

https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/news-of-the-weird-6361362

https://www.statesmanjournal.com/picture-gallery/news/crime/2016/11/14/oregon-death-row-inmates/93826530/https://casetext.com/case/hale-v-belleque-4

https://murderpedia.org/male.H/h/hale-conan-wayne.htm

https://nypost.com/2000/02/18/united-victims-of-benetton-families-speak-out-against-ads-that-honor-their-loved-ones-killers/