Inside Those Walls

On June 22, 1973 Nancy Feusi’s body was found dumped on the side of a river road in Sutter County. She was 23 years old and the mother of five children. Signs showed that she had been sexually assaulted and stabbed 29 times. Investigators were convinced that the murder was an evil and brutal attack, committed by someone with a personal motive against Nancy. But after months of investigating, the investigation had reached its climax. When it was all over, the police department took the easiest way out in declaring their theory; they linked her murder with other murders in the area. Nancy Feusi was just another victim of the Zodiac killer. All other suspects were dropped, and the case was closed.
So many people questioned that theory. The way Nancy was murdered was quite different than the typical shootings the Zodiac killer was known for. And with the devastation that the family would endure, many wondered what would happen to those five kids. Although they had been temporarily placed in the foster care system, the case was now closed. Would they remain in the system or be released to their family? Unfortunately for them, they would be handed over to the number one suspect of the case, their own father.
Nancy Feusi is my mom. By the time I was 18 months old, I was living with my three brothers, my sister, and the man that had possibly killed my mother. As time went on, my childhood would get much worse. The abuse that we would deal with, would dramatically affect us all for the rest of our lives. But in 2009, my sister pleaded guilty to torturing and maliciously killing her fifteen-year-old daughter. As much as my mom’s death had affected me, it had obviously condemned my sister to a lifetime of hell. My sister Angela would become the first woman in Oregon history, to be convicted of first-degree murder, and sentenced to death.