How a Crime Family Was Caught | Police to Solve Missing Teen Case

On October 17 1982, when 13-year-old Michele Basel's phone rang, she was at home and her sister Kim, who was 19 years old, was on the other end of the line.

Kim Basel just stated that she had to go back home since she was in trouble. She was standing in the shower so that no one would know she was on the phone. The family of Kim Basel has not heard from her in a few days. Kim cuts the discussion off before Michele can ask her why.

Kim Basel

Kim was being viciously beaten, Michele Basel said, after someone discovered she was on the phone and entered the room. Yet even though the phone fell, it did not disconnect. They then began to burn her with cigarettes. She could hear Michele telling them to stop burning her. She simply listened for as long as she could until the call was finally disconnected.

Michele tells her mother about the phone call and about Kim when she was just beginning to enter adolescence and was really terrified.

Carol Basel

When Kim's mother Carol Basel contacted the police, they advised her that she would need to wait two weeks before reporting Kim missing. They viewed Kim as a runaway. Up until they got evidence that she had vanished, she was considered an adult. Really, there wasn't much inquiry.

A victim of murder or a runaway, Kim Basel really vanished and is still missing a year later. when a neighborhood drug bust results in an arrest and a subsequent informant.

On October 25, 1983, Detective Joe Goodale of the Portland Police Bureau reported that someone had heard that Kim had been killed and went on to say that Esther Benita Kahut and John Santmyer were two of the people who were engaged in killing Kim. The elder members of the organization they're talking about were always planning crimes with younger Detective Joe Goodale

people so that if someone was caught, it wouldn't result in their arrest. They excelled at it, too. Since the first day, Detective Goodale joined the police department in the late 1960s, this family has been notorious. For them, it's simply a way of life.

At the time of her disappearance, Goodale's informant said that Kim Basel, Danny Longoria's girlfriend, had been a victim of the family's extensive shoplifting fraud.

Goodale also said that he believes the retailer told him at some point during the investigation that they thought they might have lost up to a quarter million dollars worth of goods before they realized this. With the help of video surveillance, they set up a surveillance and recorded this.

Kim Basel was looking at potential jail time when she was captured on security cameras, and the informant claims that she requested the Longoria family for protection. Kim Basel warned them that if they don't assist her, she would go to the police and report their cocaine trafficking, safe-breaking, and thefts from Fred Meyer. The police were aware that she was with some extremely bad people who were also young, impressionable, and possibly in over their heads.

Goodale thinks the family opted to get rid of Kim Basel because they saw her as a potential informant. He meets with Linda Estes, a detective from nearby Clackamas County, and a woman who is acquainted with the Longoria family in November 1983. Estes and Goodale made the decision to approach Danny Longoria in an effort to persuade him to go with his ally John or his cousin Esther. The Longoria family is well known for it. Goodale claimed that they like taping other criminals and using the recordings as leverage in the event of an arrest. And they want to trade something rather than go to jail.

Danny Longoria

Denny Longoria delivers as promised. Longoria immediately declares his innocence when he hears the name Kim Basel, and in the next breath, he consents to a police wiretap. He consented to make several tape-recorded phone calls to the case's suspects and any potential informants among the witnesses.

First, Longoria contacts Esther Kahut. He said to Esther that she told the police he killed Kim and they believed her. Esther, though, claimed that it was merely a made-up tale. Even to her cousin Danny, Esther is silent. Then, more rumors involving Kim Basel and a woodchipper start to circulate.

Goodale claimed that they conducted more research after hearing claims that her body had been put through a wood chipper. They claimed to have inspected the property and spoken with the owner of the wood chipper. And they might imagine discovering body bits that have passed through a chipper off in the distance. Thankfully, they never did.

The Great Northwest never gets to see "Fargo revisited" on stage.

Goodale and Estes, however, produce exactly zero ideas. Nobody, no supporting documentation, and nobody in the family is willing to speak at this time. On a chilly afternoon, John Santmyer, a purported member of the Longoria criminal family who is currently incarcerated for violating his probation, sits across from Detective Gary Muncey. Santmyer requested the meeting and wants to discuss the 1982 murder of Kim Basel, who was 19 years old.

The foundation of this group of people may be weakening, according to Detective Gary Muncey. John Santmeyer was privy to this and wanted to speak out first, possibly for his own gain. Santmeyer claimed that he only has a single memory of being awakened by Esther.

Esther is the cousin of Danny Longoria and second-in-command of the Longoria operation, Esther Cahute. Esther and her three sons share a home with John Santmeyer.

John Santmyer

According to John Santmyer, she begged him to assist in moving the body. which she had previously contacted her son and her brother about which are Roy and John. She had shown him the body. There was a large wet stain near the lower half of the body, which would have been a growing area, leading him to believe that she had already died recently.

According to Gary Muncey, Santmeyer claimed that Esther, Roy, John, and himself had carried the dead out of the house into the back of the pickup truck while Roy and John had also left the vehicle with the body inside. They had done this while stepping over other children who were fast asleep on the floor. Santmyer claimed that after that, he had returned to his bed and that was that.

Muncy is not convinced by Santmyer's small part in the crime, but in order to bring charges, he will need more information, including a body. Detectives create a second crack in the Longoria family two weeks later. This time, attempted murder-related charges were brought against Esther Kahut's nephew, Benny Munoz. In exchange for a deal from the DA, he appears more than eager to trade his aunt.

When Benny came forward, according to Detective Michael Gates, it actually enlightened him a little bit because of what he was telling him about the land that his aunt owned and how throughout the years, he had heard reports about a young girl who had been murdered and hidden someplace on the property.

Benny Munoz

Munoz claimed that he overheard him discussing land that my mother and father once owned in friend with someone on the phone. He learned that she would be transferred up to that location from this. He was responsible for digging that hole.

Gates questioned Munoz about why he dug the hole. No, that was for an outhouse, he replied. I never imagined it would be utilized as a burial.

Munoz then drew a map of the area where he thought the body was located.

Outside of Portland, in a secluded area, sits the Land that Benny speaks of. Gates obtains a search warrant before leaving. Searching for Kim Basel's Body

According to Michael Gates, they were aware right away that Kim was in a sleeping bag and that when they slit the corner of the bag, they discovered what appeared to be a human bone. Dental records demonstrate that the body is indeed Kim's. Michael Gates is the only one who can get in touch with the victim's family and inform them of what happened to Kim 16 years later.

Michael Gates

Michael Gates further stated that many of the people they spoke with believed that if they spoke, they would wind up in a similar situation to Kim.

One of the informants, Frank, claimed that when Michael first approached him and began speaking, he had the mindset that he shouldn't interact with police officers. In any case, he is not permitted to speak. Michael Gates approaches Frank, a Longoria family cousin who has recently been released on bond.

Frank reportedly asked Frank if he could chat with his girlfriend and get back to him, according to Gates. The following day, he returned because Frank wanted to have a conversation with him and record it.

Frank claimed that while drinking with his friend John Santmeyer, he became a little tipsy and began talking about how Kim was smothered. Gates questioned how Frank recognized Kim. Frank replied, "He mentioned her name. He said that he smothered Kim while she was struggling for air on the couch at my aunt's house. He claimed to have driven her to the mountains and dumped her there."

Frank, in Michael Gates' opinion, was still another element. He passed the polygraph test in which he was asked about what John Santmyer had discussed with him.

John Santmeyer is taken into custody for the murder of Kim Basel on March 19, 2000. Yet, Gates is not satisfied. He thinks Esther Kahut, the Longoria family's second in charge, was directly involved in the crime. Gates stated that he want the imprisonment of all parties connected to this case. They were also aware that Esther was involved. They simply were unable to do so at the moment.

Investigators put John Santmyer under pressure inside the county jail. Authorities think Kim had been battered and tormented for hours by Santmyer and Cahute. Santmyer claimed that when he and Esther made the decision to kill Kim, she was restrained inside a sleeping bag.

Santmeyer claimed that Esther had approached him and suggested that they proceed in this manner. He was led inside by Esther, who then showed Kim. She is fully zipped up in the sleeping bag. Her head was the only visible portion.

According to investigator Gates, Santmeyer demonstrated to him how they held Kim down until she stopped struggling. They continued to hold it down for a few more minutes after she stopped screaming from pain in order to be sure she was dead. He also questioned Santmeyer on why Esther wanted Kim killed.

"To brag to Danny Longoria that she can do it," Santmeyer replied.

First-degree murder is the charge against Esther Cahute. She is given a 9-year sentence after entering a guilty plea to manslaughter. John Santmyer enters a guilty plea to one count of murder and is given a life sentence with a 10-year parole window.