The Voice from the Grave: The Teresita Basa Murder

On the evening of February 21, 1977, the Chicago fire department was called to put out a blaze in a high-rise apartment building on the North Side. Two firefighters crawled into Apartment 15B through black smoke and saw that the fire was in the bedroom. A mattress lying at the foot of the bed was blazing. Within minutes, the firemen had put the blaze out and opened the windows to let out the smoke. When they lifted the waterlogged mattress, they found the naked body of a woman, with her legs spread apart and a knife sticking out of her chest.

 

The victim was identified later as forty-eight-year-old Teresita Basa, a physical therapist working at Edgewater Hospital in Chicago, Illinois.

 

Several months after the murder, Teresita's coworker, Remibias "Remy" Chua started having dreams  in which she sees Teresita's ghost begging her to go to the police and tell them what happened to her. With the help of her husband Joe, Remy gave Detective Joe Stachula enough information to implicate Alan Showery, a healing facility precise, who had gone to her home to fix her TV. He murdered her and took some of her jewelry to give to his girlfriend.

 

In his sworn statement, Showery believed that Teresita was rich and that robbing her would solve all his financial problems. But after killing her, he found that her purse contained only thirty dollars. In order to make the murder look like a sex crime he had undressed her and spread her legs apart. Then he had stabbed her with the butcher knife and set the mattress on fire, hoping that the fire would destroy any clues he might have left behind.

 

Showery came to trial on 21 January 1979, before Judge Frank W. Barbero. But the story of the “possession” of Remy Chua was so astounding that the jury was unable to agree on a verdict. The defense also objected that the evidence of a ghost was not admissible in a court of law.

 

Five days later, a mistrial was declared. But on 23 February 1979, Allan Showery acknowledged that he was guilty of the murder of Teresita Basa. He was sentenced to fourteen years for murder and to four years each on charges of armed robbery and arson.


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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

John Paraiso is a blogger, author and book lover. He also organizes a weekly debate at Luneta Park in Manila every Sunday 8:00 p.m. to 12:00 m.n. You'll find the Debating Area near the Chess Plaza. Please visit his websites:

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