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During crisp winters in January 2004, Jerry Palensky, a Czech immigrant working as a ranch hand in Elko, Nevada, was found dead in the frozen Jordan River near Salt Lake City. An autopsy revealed that Palensky died of blunt force trauma and had been dead for days before his body was discovered.
An Elko couple, John and Linda Fields, who owned the ranch where Palensky worked, were later found guilty of his murder. Authorities alleged that the Fields' motive was to claim the $300,000 life insurance policy in Palensky's name.
ID's Calls From the Inside will revisit Jerry Palensky's case in an upcoming episode, Murdered by Manipulation, this Tuesday, February 21, 2023. The official synopsis states:
"When a ranch hand is found dead in a river outside of Salt Lake City, investigators across two states must work together to catch the killer; searching for the truth uncovers a trail of fraud, deception and adultery, shocking a small town in Nevada."
Murdered by Manipulation will air on the channel at 9:00 pm ET.
Ranch hand Jerry Palensky was dead for over a week when his body was found in Utah's Jordan River
On January 14, 2004, the body, which was later identified as 61-year-old Jerry Palensky, was found submerged in a minimum accessible area of the snow-filled, frigid Jordan River about 15 miles outside of Salt Lake City. Police found the body in a rarely accessible river area filled with snow. The victim was not wearing boots, was fully clothed, and had been dead for over a week.
Palensky's head was brutally crushed, and a few of his belongings, including his wallet, were missing. Most reports indicate that the Czech immigrant was last seen alive at John and Linda Fields' ranch, located east of Elko, Nevada. He had worked at the couple's ranch since his release from a DUI-related prison sentence in October 2003.
An autopsy revealed that the victim suffered multiple skull fractures, indicating that he was bludgeoned on the back and front of the head. A combination of four blows to the back of his head inflicted by a blunt instrument, which was never found, caused his death. Given the cold temperatures, the coroner also established that his body was likely submerged in the river for up to 24 days.
Ranch owners John and Linda Fields were found guilty in connection to Jerry Palensky's 2004 murder
According to reports, Jerry Palensky had been living in a trailer on the Fields' ranch and working for them as a ranch hand for nearly six weeks before he went missing. He was an alleged alcoholic convicted in 2002 of DUI, receiving an 18-month prison term.
However, since Palensky had given Linda Fields the general power of attorney owing to his flimsy hold over the English language, she sold all his Utah properties to pay up his gambling debts and loans. At the same time, he was in prison per an agreement. She used money from his savings account to settle further debts, pay the utility bills for his trailer space, and have his trailer moved to the ranch.
After Palensky was released from prison in October 2003, he returned to the ranch and worked there until his disappearance in December of that year. The Fields claimed they last saw the ranch hand on the 18th of that month, but they sent him back to his trailer after realizing he was too drunk to work.
Detectives alleged that the motive behind Jerry Palensky's killing was the hefty life insurance policy taken out of his name
At the time, detectives suspected the couple after finding that Palensky had removed an accidental death policy covering homicides up to $300,000. Linda was his beneficiary. The case went cold for a few years due to insufficient evidence.
In September 2006, the case was re-opened after detectives received an unexpected tip from Linda Fields' brother and sister-in-law, who claimed that she confessed to the murder, telling them how she struck Palensky in the head with a pipe when she caught him molesting their two-year-old son.
According to The Las Vegas Review-Journal, Jerry Palensky was murdered somewhere on the Fields' ranch, after which they loaded his body into a Toyota pickup truck, drove to Utah, and disposed of the body in the Jordan River. They claimed that Linda Fields took out a hefty insurance policy in the victim's name and named herself the beneficiary.
The all-new Calls From the Inside episode airs on Tuesday, February 21, 2023, on ID.
