FORGOTTEN BUSINESS. The case of Teresita Basa, this woman whose ghost solved the murder

It is one of the most mysterious cases in history. On February 21, 1977, in the suburbs of Chicago, the apartment of a certain Teresita Basa, a Filipino immigrant and respiratory therapist at Edgewater Hospital in Chicago, caught fire. Mobilized to the scene, the firefighters make a discovery that defies understanding. In the flames, Teresita’s naked body was concealed under a mattress. The handle of a knife protrudes from her heart, proof that she was murdered. The investigation opened, the police question the neighbors, but no one saw anyone entering or leaving Teresita’s apartment. Ruth Loeb, a friend of the victim, reveals having spoken with her shortly before the murder. According to her, she was expecting a visit from a friend. But she doesn’t know who it was…

For lack of testimonies and usable clues, the investigation begins to stall…until the following summer. Six months after Teresita’s murder, Dr. Jose C. Chua Jr., who worked with Teresita at Edgewater Hospital, claims his wife would have visions about her murder. Teresita herself would even speak through her wife. “Doctor, I would like to ask you for help. The man who killed me is still at large“, would have said Teresita. “I was very surprised and scared when I asked her name and she replied ‘Ako y (I am) Teresita Basa'”will testify, later, Dr. Jose C. Chua Jr, But she told me that I shouldn’t be afraid. She was just asking me for help in solving her murder.”

A precise testimony from beyond

Through Chua’s wife, Teresita’s ghost accuses Allan Showery, a former colleague, of her murder. Showery would have gone to her house to help her repair her television and would have taken the opportunity to attack her. He then allegedly set fire to the mattress and stole his jewelry to give to his wife. At first, the police struggle to take the revelations of Chua and his wife seriously. But when one day they discover Teresita’s jewelry around the neck of Showery’s wife, the investigators end up realizing the facts: Chua was telling the truth.

Arrested, Allan Showery first denies all the charges against him, believing that the evidence from “the beyond” was unusable. But to everyone’s amazement, he ends up confessing and pleading guilty. On February 23, 1979, Allan Showery was sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment for the murder of Teresita Basa. This is the first murder conviction in the United States based on the testimony of a deceased.