The mother of a 15-year-old girl who was murdered as part of a satanic ritual has revealed her fury that two of her daughter’s killers have been freed from prison.

Elyse Pahler was killed on July 22, 1995 by her high school classmates Royce Casey, Jacob Delashmutt and Joseph Fiorella as part of a sacrifice to the devil.

The trio lured Elyse to a field to smoke marijuana and then choked, kicked and stabbed her more than a dozen times, before abandoning her body in the woods. 

The teenage killers pleaded no contest to first-degree murder and were sentenced to 25 years to life in California state prison. Fiorella, who was hit with an additional charge of being armed with a deadly weapon, was sentenced 26 years to life.

But Delashmutt and Casey have now been granted parole 30 years after the brutal slaying – a decision that has left Elyse’s family feeling ‘very upset’.

‘They’re baby killers — that’s what people call them, and they’re the worst,’ the victim’s mother Lisanne Pahler told Daily Mail. 

Lisanne and her husband David fought for the killers to stay behind bars and urged the parole board not grant their release until they showed remorse.

‘My husband chewed out Casey and he finally showed remorse, so did Jacob,’ she said, adding that despite their release she knows, ‘God will get them’.

‘We’re Christians. The bottom line is the Golden Rule – treat others the way you want to be treated and I don’t who’s going to keep them safe [after their release]. Someone will try to take them out.’

Lisanne Pahler (right) has revealed her fury after two of the men who brutally murdered her daughter Elyse (left) were released from prison

Two of her killers – Royce Casey (left) and Jacob Delashmutt (right) – have been granted parole

Lisanne told Daily Mail Delashmutt and Casey’s parole has been hard on the whole family, especially her youngest daughter and daughter-in-law who are ‘very upset about anyone getting out’. 

But the grieving mother says that despite their release, Elyse’s killers will continue to pay for their crimes.

She alleges Delashmutt and Casey will be forced to pay their family a large sum in restitution – and although she didn’t disclose the exact amount, said ‘they will be paying for life’.

Lisanne admitted that for decades she was ‘never really been able to grieve or have anger’, but now – after years of medical and behavior health treatments – ‘I am finally able to process grief’.

‘I taught my children, even the person who did the worst thing to you — they taught you a lesson,’ she added.

Delashmutt, who was 17 at the time of the murder, was released from prison in July after being granted parole in May.

After his release was confirmed, Lisanne took to Facebook to blast the parole board’s decision. 

Lisanne Pahler has branded her daughter’s murderers as ‘baby killers’ and says ‘they’re the worst’ kind of criminal

Delashmutt and Casey’s parole has been hard on the whole family, Lisanne told Daily Mail. She is pictured with her husband David and their daughter Elyse as an infant

She detailed how she spent three decades working with doctors to combat the effects of her complex post-traumatic stress disorder and the lasting trauma from Elyse’s murder. 

‘Jacob got out of prison today and I’m sure all three murderers of our dear Elyse Marie have had no problem sleeping all these years,’ her post reads, in part.

‘No going back – pray I find the right trauma counselor with David – who has also be victimized!!!’

When Delashmutt was arrested, the then-teen blamed his friends for orchestrating the killing and claimed they recruited him to participate.

But at his parole hearing this year, he admitted to being the ‘ringleader’ in Elyse’s brutal slaying and ‘the most responsible for the crime’.

‘I had every opportunity to put a stop to it, and I didn’t. I was involved in the planning from the beginning and I made this crime happen,’ Delashmutt, now 47, told the hearing, according to The Los Angeles Times.

‘I want to acknowledge all of the pain and the trauma that I’ve caused,’ he added, noting that would be ‘impossible’ for him to understand the impact that his actions had on the Pahler family.

Delashmutt was previously denied parole in 2017 and 2022. The board granted him parole in 2023, but the ruling was overturned by Gov. Gavin Newsom. 

Elyse Pahler (pictured) was killed on July 22, 1995, by her high school classmates Royce Casey, Jacob Delashmutt, and Joseph Fiorella. She was stabbed more than a dozen times, choked, kicked and left to bleed to death as part of the boys’ sacrifice to the devil

Lisanne Pahler shared a photo of shrine with her late daughter’s belongings to her Facebook page in July 2025 – the same month Delashmutt was released

Casey, who was 17 at the time of the killing, was granted parole twice before but Newsom overturned both decisions.

‘Mr. Casey must better understand the internal processes that led him to commit the crime and hone the skills he will need to manage them beyond the controlled environment of prison,’ the governor wrote last year in a letter to the District Attorney’s Office, The Tribune reported. 

Newsom further argued that Casey would pose an ‘unreasonable danger to society’ if released.

But the killer was granted parole again in March after he admitted how he delivered the blow that ended Elyse’s life. 

Casey also told the hearing how she cried out for Jesus and her mother with her dying breaths.

Officers spent eight months searching for Elyse, and despite numerous reported sightings, her body wasn’t found until Casey confessed to a priest that he had taken part in her murder. 

The pastor reported the confession to police, who were then able to find her remains on March 15, 1996.

It was said that Elyse was targeted by the trio because ‘she had blonde hair and blue eyes, and because she was a virgin’

Royce Casey (pictured as a teen) told the parole board they were influenced by death metal, alleging the music taught them to channel their anger through ‘suicide, murder, and sacrifice’

When he was arrested, Jacob Delashmutt (pictured as a teen) blamed his friends for orchestrating the killing and claimed they recruited him to participate. But at his parole hearing this year, he admitted to being ‘the most responsible for the crime’

During the March hearing, Casey explained how he and his friends had been influenced by death metal, alleging the music taught them to channel their anger through ‘suicide, murder, and sacrifice’.

He also shared how David Pahler’s advocacy work has helped him acknowledge ‘all the pain and trauma’ he has caused.

‘Something that I remember hearing over time when Elyse’s dad has come, is that she has a face,’ he told the board, referencing how David would often bring a photo of his daughter to hearings.

‘I try to remember every day, whatever decision I’m making or whatever I do, that the ongoing impact of what I did is present all the time.’

The board affirmed Casey’s parole on July 23 and he was released to transitional housing in Los Angeles County in early August. 

Fiorella, who was 15 at the time of the murder, was denied parole in 2023. 

He remains in prison despite claims that he is intellectually disabled and allegations that his lawyer mishandled his defense in the 1990s. Fiorella will be eligible for another parole hearing in 2026. 

Prosecutors argued during the trio’s 1997 trial that they plotted to kill Elyse so they could ‘earn a ticket to hell’.

The District Attorney’s Office’s chief investigator, Doug Odom, testified that they chose Elyse as their victim because ‘she had blonde hair and blue eyes, and because she was a virgin, she would be a perfect sacrifice for the devil’.

Lisanne and her husband David fought for Elyse’s killers to stay behind bars and urged the parole board not grant their release until they showed remorse (Pictured: Elyse Pahler)

‘My husband chewed out Casey and he finally showed remorse, so did Jacob,’ Lisanne (pictured with David) told Daily Mail, adding that even though Delashmutt and Casey have been released she knows ‘God will get them’

Elyse was the oldest of four sisters, and she was described as an athlete, a great student, and had close friends at school. Her killers, on the other hand, were described as potheads who listened to metal music and were ‘weird.’

They were in a band called Hatred, modeled after the death metal band called Slayer. The trio reportedly believed that by sacrificing Elyse, they would be able to make better music.

Lisanne and David reported Elyse missing on July 23, 1995. The night of her murder, the family had been watching TV together, when the phone rang. Elyse picked it up, had a short chat with Delashmutt and then went to bed.

Hours later, Lisanne woke up in the middle of the night with a feeling that something was wrong, went to check on her daughter and discovered she had run off.

‘I had this moment of gnarly separational grief. I said out loud “Where’s Elyse?”,’ she recalled. ‘The words came out of my mouth “she’s gone”.’

Lisanne believes Elyse was ‘misled under false pretenses’ the night of her death after having been ‘brainwashed’ by the trio.

She believes Elyse was targeted for her beauty and apparent innocence, even suggesting that she was a conquest of one her killers.

‘Joe picked her out, you know, but he could never have her,’ she told Daily Mail.

‘We knew she was introduced to pot a couple of years before [the murder]. But really, she was into her art, music. Elyse went out to go get marijuana, but [I think] she thought her girlfriend would be there.’

Joseph Fiorella (pictured as a teen) was 15 at the time of the murder. He was denied parole in 2023 and will be eligible for another hearing in 2026

Fiorella (pictured in 2018) remains in prison despite claims that he is intellectually disabled and allegations that his lawyer mishandled his defense in the 1990s

David, during an episode of ID’s docuseries A Killer Among Friends, highlighted the trio’s peculiar behavior the night of the killing.

‘There was a phone booth that they used to call her. The next step was to walk up to the top of our driveway, and they took her away,’ he told the documentary.

‘In the confession, Royce was talking about having sold their soul to the devil and their objective here on earth is to kill 666 blue-eyed virgins as a sacrifice to Satan in order to earn a ticket to hell.’

David continued: ‘They took her to a place in the woods where a series of trees fell and took the shape of a pentagram and that’s where they built their altar and that’s where they did their sacrifice.’