Naman Shrestha
Investigation Discovery’s ‘A Body in the Basement: Disappearing Act’ chronicles the tragic 1983 murder case of Willis Casteel in rural Pennsylvania. In 1999, when the Galet family decided to dig the basement of their house in Penn Township for remodeling, they were shocked when the skeletal remains of Willis surfaced. A homicide investigation was launched that revealed years of family secrets that led the detectives straight to the perpetrator/s.
Willis Casteel’s Remains Were Discovered in His Basement Years Later
On March 21, 1922, in the city of Hazleton in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, Willis Leroy Casteel was born to Alva Roy and Margaret Ellen Baugh Casteel. He grew up alongside his siblings — brothers Junior, Earl, Everett, Ralph, and Stan Casteel, as well as a loving sister, Beulah I. Lindsey. Over the decades, he had built a fulfilling life for himself by working hard. By the time the 1980s rolled around, he had retired from his profession as a mechanic. Prior to embracing retirement, he worked at Consolidation Freight Company, likely fixing vehicles and machines. An active member of Webb Chapel in Hazelton, Willis lived life on his own terms.
On the personal front, Willis tied the knot not once but five times. When his marriage to his first wife, Bertha Ellen Detrick Casteel, didn’t work out, he kept his heart open. Later, he went on to marry Eleanor, but they eventually separated as well. His marriage to his third wife, Gloria, lasted for two decades before they decided to part ways. Willis got married for the fourth time when he reportedly fell in love with Nikki. From his five marriages, he welcomed eight kids. He was a father to four daughters — Mary, Connie, Patricia, and Dorothy Roberts — and four sons — Roger, Larry, William, and Thomas Casteel. In 1981, he was seeking a companion, so he posted an advertisement in The Enquirer, eager to find a single woman whose vibe matched his own.
Patricia Sloan responded to Willis’ ad in The Enquirer. Eager to meet her, Willis took his car all the way to Michigan a couple of days later, and they began dating. She relocated to Pennsylvania, and they began sharing the same roof in Penn Township. One thing led to another, and the two realized they wanted to take things to the next level. The pair tied the knot in the same year, and Willis fully welcomed Patricia’s daughter, Bonnie, into his life. In the Spring of 1984, everything changed suddenly when the family vanished into thin air. No one heard from Willis ever again. According to reports, the remains of the 60/61-year-old were discovered in the basement of his own home on August 9, 1999, by the new residents.
Willis Casteel’s Killers Blamed Each Other for the Murder in Court
Although Willis Casteel had not been heard of since 1984, nobody had reported him missing. It was only after Bob Galet and his family came across his remains that a homicide investigation was launched. In order to learn more about Willis and his family life, the detectives talked to a few neighbors in Penn Township who alleged that he was not only mean and overbearing but also controlling of his wife and his stepdaughter. As per his family members, when he failed to show up at his mother’s funeral in August 1988, they suspected that something might be wrong. Thus, Willis’ family hired a private investigator, who tracked down Patricia to ask her about his whereabouts. She told the investigator that he had run off with another woman. However, when a couple of his siblings took a trip down to Patricia’s house, they noticed that his car, El Camino, was parked in the driveway.
Armed with all these pieces of information, on August 16, 1999, the detectives went to Altoona, where Bonnie had been leading a married life with her high school sweetheart, Ralph Neely, and their two kids, and interviewed her. She told them that there was a power struggle between Willis and Patricia and that the latter had gotten tired of his wanting control over everything. Bonnie claimed that when her mother reached her breaking point, she decided to kill him and forced her to help her. According to her, the initial plan was to make his death appear as a drug overdose by mixing a lethal amount of amphetamines with Willis’ heart medication. When that plan didn’t work out, Patricia allegedly planned to kill him, dismember his remains, and feed them to the pigs.
Bonnie claimed that in the end, her mother stabbed him multiple times and buried his remains in the basement. After the questioning, Bonnie was arrested for murder, and the detectives headed to her mother’s house in New Brighton, Pennsylvania, with an arrest warrant. On August 17, the investigators questioned her, and she claimed that she hadn’t seen him since their alleged divorce in 1985. However, when she realized that they already knew details of the crime, she began painting Willis as an abusive husband and father, whom she killed to protect herself and Bonnie. After she confessed to stabbing and shooting him to death, the police arrested her and charged both Patricia and Bonnie with first-degree murder. Investigators theorized that in October 1983, the mother and daughter stabbed Willis dozens of times in the chest, shoulder, and back, before Patricia shot him twice.
Patricia is Currently Incarcerated at a Pennsylvania Prison, While Bonnie Stays Away From the Limelight
In late 2000, the murder trial of Patricia and Bonnie Sloan commenced after the former pleaded not guilty and continued to maintain her innocence. Although she had confessed to killing Willis earlier, Patricia changed her story and shifted the blame to her daughter during the trial, claiming that she only assisted Bonnie. Meanwhile, Bonnie told the jurors that the murder plot was hatched by her mother and that she herself had only stabbed Willis twice in the shoulder because she was scared of Patricia. “If she was willing to do this to him, what was to keep her from doing it to me? I stabbed him to get enough blood on my hands…She was in a blind, vicious rage. She definitely would have killed me, too,” she added. Bonnie also claimed that while Willis harassed her verbally, Patricia allegedly used to abuse her physically.
By the end of the trial, in December 2000, the jury deliberated and found Patricia guilty of first-degree murder. A couple of days later, Bonnie reportedly pleaded guilty to third-degree murder. In February 2001, the mother was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Meanwhile, the daughter received a seven-to-14-year imprisonment sentence for her involvement in the crime. As of today, 78-year-old Patricia is serving her term at the State Correctional Institution – Muncy in Muncy, Pennsylvania. On the other hand, Bonnie was reportedly released from prison after serving seven years of her sentence. However, her then-husband filed for divorce and didn’t let her get in touch with their children. Not much is known about her current whereabouts as she prefers to lead a private life.
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