Duperrault Family Massacre | What Happened Aboard the "Bluebelle?"

hello this is dr grande today's question is can i analyze the massacre of the dupuro family that occurred in 1961 on a yacht named the blue bell just a reminder i'm not diagnosing anybody in this video only speculating about what could be happening in a situation like this if you enjoyed this video please like it subscribe to my channel consider supporting me on patreon and check out my podcast bellagrande media i will put the irrelevant links to those items in the description for this video so first i'll start with the background of a man named julian harvey it is believed he was responsible for the massacre i'll move to the timeline of the crime then offer my analysis julian harvey was born in 1917 in new york his parents divorced when he was only one he lived alone with his mother until she remarried when he was age six julian had a problem with stammering when he was young it went away for a while but returned later in life his stepfather was wealthy he gave him his own sailboat however when the depression hit his parents were devastated financially they sent him to live with his wealthy aunt and uncle in scarsdale new york when he was 13 this couple took good care of julian julian married when he was in high school the relationship was over within a year the marriage was annulled he graduated from high school in 1937 and started working as a door-to-door salesperson but he was too nervous to do the job when someone answered the first door he knocked on he ran away it's easy to see how this would impede sales performance he went to college and studied engineering but two years later the united states entered world war ii julian didn't wait to be drafted rather he joined the army air corps which would later become the air force at some point around this time julian married again and had a son the couple divorced in 1945. julian harvey flew airplanes like the b-24 bomber in world war ii and the f-86 sabre in the korean war he had received both the distinguished flying cross and the air metal for action although he also had a reputation for crashing aircraft he married for a third time sometime around 1948 the couple had a son named lance in 1949 julian was in a suspicious car accident where he drove over a bridge into the water julian escaped but his wife and mother-in-law drown he said that he jumped out of the vehicle when it was still in the air yet the divers reported that all the doors were closed and the driver's side window was rolled down regardless of the condition of the doors it's almost impossible to believe that somebody could exit a vehicle while was driving off of a bridge into a body of water if he was somehow able to do that he would have had to known he was driving off that bridge a few weeks after this incident julian was living with another woman so it doesn't seem as though he was too broken up about his wife dying still in the air force julian was transferred to texas in 1950 there he married his fourth wife although she believed she was the second they divorced in 1953 after julian told her he didn't love her anymore julian married again this was number five the couple bought a yacht together within a year julian ran aground on a wreck of a navy battleship in the chesapeake bay so he destroyed his yacht this was likely insurance fraud witnesses say that the wreck was well marked and that julian kept moving the vessel near it when there was no need to julian bought another boat not long after this julian was given a medical discharge from the air force in 1958 he had been injured a few times and had severe anxiety that same year his fifth wife filed for divorce citing extreme mental cruelty while the divorce was still pending julian took his vessel out to cuba a fire broke out which consumed it he was rescued and once again collected the insurance money he then bought another vessel in 1959 his divorce finalized and he sold the vessel he had purchased not long before around this time julian moved to florida first to miami then to fort lauderdale in fort lauderdale 44 year old julian harvey did not have difficulty attracting women he was quite popular he met a 34 year old woman named mary dean this couple would marry in july of 1961. so this was his sixth wife as this was going on in florida we moved over to green bay wisconsin the home of the duperrault family it comprised five members forty-year-old arthur his 38 year old wife jean and their three children brian terry joe and renee ages 14 11 and 7. arthur had served as a medic in the navy during world war ii he worked as an optometrist after being discharged he had a dream of taking his family on a year-long sailing adventure around the world this was ambitious and he wasn't sure how the family would tolerate it especially the children so he decided to take a practice run he was going to take the family on a week-long cruise from the florida keys to the bahamas in november of 1961 the family arrived in fort lauderdale florida and arthur paid 515 dollars to charter a sailboat called the blue bell this vessel was a catch it had two masts the main mast was toward the bow it was 60 feet tall and the other was toward the stern it was 45 feet tall the vessel was 60 feet long arthur also hired julian harvey for 100 a day julian was going to function as the captain this was the first time julian had ever taken a charter like this julian's wife mary dean was also going to work on the vessel she was going to function as the cook the blue bell departed on wednesday november 8 in the early afternoon the vessel traveled to several destinations in the bahamas the family engaged in a number of activities like snorkeling spearfishing and buying souvenirs while visiting sandy point on november 12th arthur told a commissioner there that the trip had been a once-in-a-lifetime vacation and he and his family had thoroughly enjoyed it the vessel continued sailing in the bahamas and returned to sandy point at this point the vessel departed ostensibly headed back to florida so this was going to be the last leg of the journey the next day november 13 at about 12 35 pm an oil tanker called the gulf lion came within visual distance of a dinghy drifting in the ocean one of the crew members saw julian harvey waving his arms frantically and shouting help i have a dead baby on board the crew members of the oil tanker rescued julian harvey they also retrieved the body of renee dupuro julian had misidentified renee as terry joe causing some confusion initially here's the story that julian told the crew members of the oil tanker on the day before at 8 30 pm the blue bell was hit by a squall out of nowhere the vessel keeled over the main mass snapped and penetrated the hull it slammed straight down like a nail being struck by a hammer in the process the mast severed a gas line several on board the vessel were injured because the mast had broken it was loose rigging on the deck julian and arthur were separated from the other people on board the vessel julian tried to reach a pair of wire cutters that were in the cabin so he could cut through the rigging but a fire broke out because of that broken gas line julian tried to put out the fire with two different fire extinguishers but he was not successful he was forced to climb into a dinghy and escape he failed to rescue any of the people on board but he was able to rescue a lot of supplies and a raft that he towed behind the dinghy he retrieved renee's body as it floated by he tried to save her but she was already dead he kept the body in the dinghy out of respect julian was transported to nassau which is the capital of the bahamas investigators asked him a number of questions they found a few circumstances of a story to be suspicious the dinghy was well stocked with survival supplies julian was calm and relaxed there was a lighthouse near where the incident allegedly occurred they were not aware of any sea squall that night and did not see any fires once in the dinghy harvey did not direct it to the nearest island which was only a few miles away julian never attempted to use the flares that he had in an emergency kit in the raft he said he never even thought of them julian said that arthur was steering the vessel during the incident and directed it into the wind this of course would only fan the flames of the fire and would have been an unusual move for arthur who was also an experienced sailor ultimately the authorities could not prove that julian was lying although they strongly suspected he was they sent him to miami to meet with the united states coast guard now moving to november 16 this is three days after julian was rescued a greek freighter that went by the name captain theo was sailing in the northwest providence channel when its second officer spotted terry joe floating on a small raft initially he thought it was a fishing vessel but soon realized that it was a young girl the crew of the captain theo rescued terry jo she had difficulty identifying herself because her voice was hoarse but she was able to do it she told the crew members of the vessel she was on sank and she had been floating for several days terry jo had severe sunburn dehydration and exposure she slipped into unconsciousness the crew members of the captain theo called the coast guard for a rescue a helicopter was dispatched and transported terry joe to a hospital in miami on november 17 julian harvey was in the middle of an interview with the u.s coast guard investigators told him that terry jo had been rescued the day before and that she would survive julian said isn't that wonderful julian told investigators that he was tired and needed to talk to his wife's family they allowed him to leave julian drove to the sandman motel on biscayne boulevard and checked in using the name john monroe he paid cash for a room he wrote a two-page note before bringing into his life using a razor blade a maid found his body about two hours later the note was addressed to a friend from his time in the military julian requested that his 14 year old son be taken care of and he requested that he be buried at sea this occurred a few days later terry joe had recovered enough by november 20 to provide investigators a detailed version of events here's what terry joe told them the blue bell started its return trip to fort lauderdale late on november 12th at about 9 00 pm terry jo walked to the lower cabin to go to sleep so we see the vessel was being sailed at night everyone else was on the deck later in the evening she heard her brother screaming and yelling for her father she also heard thumping noises terry jo walked back up to the deck to find the bodies of her mother and brother lying in a pool of blood in a main cabin near the galley continuing toward the deck she saw julian harvey carrying a bucket it may have actually been a gas can julian pushed her below deck screaming quote get back down there unquote she was back in her cabin for about 15 minutes when she noticed oil and water coming in on the floor julian entered her cabin carrying a rifle later it was determined this was a 22 caliber rifle that he had taken on board he looked right at her but turned around and walked back to the deck terry joe said that she heard some type of hammering sound she walked up to the deck to investigate and found the dinghy floating on the port side of the vessel julian was standing on the deck she asked julian if the boat was sinking he replied yes julian asked her if the dinghy was loose she said she didn't know he told her to hold the rope that was attached to the dinghy which she did he went to get something but by the time he returned the rope had slipped through terry joe's fingers julian jumped overboard and swam out to the dinghy terry joe remembered that there was a small raft lashed to the deck as the blue bell started to sink she untied it and threw it overboard for a moment a piece of rope attached to that raft was caught on the blue bell and started to pull the raft underwater terry joe managed to get it free and of course the raft floated back to the surface terry joe climbed into the raft she had no supplies with her according to terry jo when she was floating away the blue bluebell was not on fire the mast was not broken and the sea was calm she would remain on that raft without water or food for three and a half days terry jo returned to wisconsin she would eventually marry and have three children during an interview 49 years after the murders terry jo said that when people reflect on what happened to her she hopes they'll think to themselves that she has gone with her life as opposed to feeling sorry for her now moving to my analysis because julian died he was never charged in connection with the incident aboard the bluebell many people of course believed that he was guilty of multiple homicides there's no way to know for certain but the evidence against him is convincing let's take a look at it there is no plausible alternate theory for what happened julian's story about what happened during the incident did not make any sense terry joe's account strongly points to homicide julian bringing an end to his life suddenly after hearing terry joe was alive looks more than a little suspicious the loss of the blue bell was actually the third time in six years that julian lost a ship not long before the murders he took out a 20 000 life insurance policy on mary dean's life again this was his sixth wife it had a double indemnity cause for accidental death the distance that julian traveled in the dinghy suggests he had propulsion he probably dropped the engine in the ocean and sank the gas cans not long before being rescued the crew members of the gulf line remembered julian sinking a gas can right before they rescued him considering the evidence was julian harvey guilty i think he was guilty of murdering his wife and the dupro family in addition to the attempted murder of terry joe dupero the most probable theory is that he only intended to kill his wife so that was probably his plan like he was going to stab her or strangle her and throw her overboard to collect the insurance he figured the family members would be his witnesses like mary just went missing sometime in the night no one killed her no one knew what happened it was just an accident therefore the double indemnity would kick in and julian would receive forty thousand dollars something went wrong in his plan and he decided to take out all the witnesses he didn't kill terry jo because she let go of the rope he had to dive into the water and swim out to the dinghy or risk not being able to reach it at all he probably didn't come back to finish her off because he figured she would drown when the blue bell sank he vastly underestimated his victim what about personality factors in this case like many people who are outwardly successful and then commit murder the adjectives used to describe julian fell into two disparate groups on the one side people found him to be charismatic well-mannered likable handsome sophisticated heroic ideal and dashing on the other side people thought he was a sociopath immoral he had no empathy he was self-centered entitled envious arrogant anxious and creepy what i find interesting about julian is that in some ways he seemed like a typical grandiose narcissist dominating sensation-seeking and assertive but at other times he appeared to be more like a vulnerable narcissist anxious and fearful not what somebody would expect for a individual who flew fighters and bombers when he would get anxious his stammering would return he would exhibit facial tics and his self-confidence would decrease when he was in the air force people would often make fun of him including his subordinates there were times in his service with the air force when he was heroic and courageous but other times he would find problems with aircraft so that he could miss dangerous missions like he had a lot of mysterious occurrences for example in korea he had a phenomenal number of mysterious engine failures that required him to return to base without engaging in combat in addition to narcissism and psychopathy harvey appeared to have a lack of insight he kept committing obvious crimes like insurance fraud assuming that his reputation as a war hero and his attractiveness would discourage any investigation largely he was correct with this in mind here's a potential personality profile for julian harvey when i conceptualize personality i often use the five factor model i remember the five factors to the acronym ocean openness to experience conscientiousness extroversion agreeableness and neuroticism julian appeared to be mid-range and openness to experience he wasn't particularly creative or invested in fantasy we see mid-range conscientiousness he had some impulsivity but those other times when he could demonstrate a good work ethic we see a high level of extroversion he was assertive and sensation seeking low agreeableness he did not have a lot of trust for people he valued competition over cooperation and we see high neuroticism he was angry and anxious but he was able to present as being low in eroticism so people viewed him as quite calm and stable emotionally from julian harvey's perspective the lives of other people did not matter he was willing to kill everybody on board the blue bell in order to collect insurance money it seems likely that julian would have committed more crimes in the future perhaps other homicides terry joe's amazing journey of survival not only saved her life it prevented julian from continuing on his trail of destruction one of the themes i see with julian harvey is how every one and everything he came in contact with was destroyed he was married six times two of those wives he probably murdered the other ones were not happy because of his abusive behavior when he flew in the air force he destroyed a number of aircraft not necessarily enemy aircraft but his aircraft we see with boats he destroyed three of those it's likely that all three of those destructions were intentional and of course we see that he wiped out the dupero family so really through julian's life he just destroyed people and objects one after the other with no regard for how his behavior affected other people he was a versatile criminal willing to commit murder willing to commit insurance fraud willing to harm people in other ways he was really like a wrecking ball that just moved throughout these different people's lives for much of the time he was able to stay disguised as an ideal romantic partner a war hero a competent ship captain people just couldn't see what he was like they couldn't understand his true nature until it was too late those are my thoughts on the case of the dupuro family massacre please put any opinions and thoughts in the comments section they always generate an interesting dialogue as always i hope you found my analysis of this topic to be informative thanks for watching

Channel: Dr. Todd Grande

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Length: 21min 1sec (1261 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 09 2021