BONUS: The Twin Peaks Murder
This bonus episode comes from the North Bend Film Fest and while the case I’m covering isn’t technically local to Washington state, it does have a connection to our area. Hope you like it!
Sources for this episode include: Washington Post, YouTube, and HazelDrew.com
“Red Curtains” Music by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Transcript-
Ashley: There’s an unsolved murder that took place almost 3,000 miles away from Washington state and yet it remains linked to this part of the country because of a cult TV show from the 90s. This special episode of Washed Away for the North Bend Film Festival is all about Hazel Drew, the woman whose mysterious death was used as inspiration for Twin Peaks.
If you’re not familiar with Twin Peaks, it’s a popular television series that originally ran from 1990 to 1991 when it was cancelled, but the show was eventually brought back in 2017. The show follows an FBI agent, Dale Cooper, as he and the local authorities in the fictional town of Twin Peaks investigate the murder of homecoming queen Laura Palmer. The show was primarily filmed in small towns around North Bend, Washington where co-creators David Lynch and Mark Frost were surprised to find the exact locations that they had written into their pilot episode. That would include the Salish Lodge & Spa, which is known as the Great Northern Hotel in the show as well as the famous Twede’s Cafe AKA the Double R Diner. North Bend is a unique and beautiful place, only about 30 miles away from the big city of Seattle and a quick google search will prove that the area has certainly seen its fair share of crime… but Hazel Irene Drew didn’t grow up in North Bend or Snoqualmie or anywhere else in Washington. She lived across the country in a place called Troy, New York.
Hazel was a known beauty in her town, she had blonde pompadoured hair and bright blue eyes, but she didn’t come from a wealthy family. Instead, she worked for them - as a domestic servant. She was born on June 3rd, 1888 to John and Julia Drew and was 1 of 7 children. She was described as kind and hard working, independent and well liked. She was only 20 years old in July of 1908 when she found herself in a small resort community in Upstate New York called Sand Lake. It isn’t known for sure why Hazel had travelled there, but her little brother Willie was staying at a family friends house nearby so it’s possible she was going to visit him at the Sowalsky’s. On July 7th, Hazel was seen walking alone at night by two men driving a horse drawn wagon: their names were Frank Smith and Rudolph Gundrum. They remembered her because it was unusual for a woman to be out alone at night and because they recognized her, or at least Frank did. Sadly, that was the last time anyone saw Hazel alive. Four days later her body would be found by a group of boys, laying face down in Teal’s Pond. Her cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma to the head by an unknown weapon. Because she was in the water for a few days and it was summertime… Hazel had already decomposed beyond immediate recognition… but she was still able to be identified thanks to her clothing and the gold fillings in her teeth. During her autopsy, no water was found in her lungs indicating that Hazel had been murdered on land and then placed in the water.
When the investigation into Hazel’s murder began, it was discovered that Hazel had just quit her job and had been living beyond her means for some time before then, spending more money than she was making. Taking trips and shopping and getting her clothes tailored, which was considered a luxury at the time. She would also dine at fancy restaurants… but how was she affording all of this? Hazel never told her friends or family about anyone that she was dating. Or if she did confide in them, they refused to tell authorities. And for such a beautiful woman, she was never seen out with a man. Meaning she had no official callers or dates. But dozens of postcards and letters between Hazel and mysterious acquaintances were found locked inside of her travel trunk. The writers of these notes were only identified by their initials which made them difficult to track down. Several letters were from someone with the initials C.E.S. who once wrote: “Your merry smile and twinkling eyes torture me. Your face haunts me. Why can’t I be contented again? You have stolen my liberty, please don’t forget a promise to write. When I reach Albany again, I will meet you at the tavern. I must see you soon, or I’ll die of starvation.” C.E.S sent letters from both New York and Boston, places that Hazel had been known to visit… but again… none of her family and friends knew who this person could be and C.E.S. never came forward.
Despite having no actual names of known admirers or boyfriends to look into, the suspect list for Hazel’s murder was quite long. Frank Smith, a farmhand who saw Hazel shortly before her death was the first to be considered. He reportedly gave contradictory statements to the police. And was one of the boys who found her body in the pond. Yeah, that means he was one of the last people to see her alive and one of the first people to find her body. Very suspicious, but he had several alibis that seemed to clear his name. Then there was Hazel’s estranged uncle, William Taylor, who had a farm only a mile away from Teal’s Pond where she was found. There was a dentist who had proposed to Hazel at some point, a train conductor who she was rumored to be secretly dating, and a creepy millionaire who ran a nearby resort that caused a lot of town gossip. Remember the family friends that Hazel’s little brother was staying with? The Sowalsky’s? They had a son named Michael… who was big for his age and known for hurting animals on their farm. He became a suspect as well… though he apparently had an alibi stating he was at the farm all night on the 7th and couldn’t have possibly killed Hazel. Not sure if his mom was his alibi or what, but there are rumors that he met up with Frank Smith that night. Yes, Frank comes again. The Frank that was a farmhand and had an alibi… just like Michael. Did he and Frank kill Hazel together? We may never know.
The investigation was big news at the time, reports of Hazel’s murder were in the papers and the tabloids… there was a lot of attention, but sadly not much progress on the case. And the public didn’t have much sympathy for her at the time. Theories and rumors about what happened to Hazel involve a possible suicide, secret abortions, and powerful men looking to silence their mistress… but because there’s no evidence and no confession… her murder remains unsolved to this day. She became a cautionary tale… like look, this is what happens to women who walk alone at night… or women who are promiscuous. You know, the same victim blame-y stuff that we hear today. I’m sad to say the discourse hasn’t come that far since 1908… and Hazel Drew’s murder became a ghost story to locals that grew up in that area of New York. One of those locals just so happened to be Betty Calhoun, the grandmother of Twin Peaks co-creator Mark Frost. While working on the show Twin Peaks, he remembered something his grandma had told him about when he spent summers at her house as a kid… a story about a murdered girl found in a lake or haunting a lake… something like that. And after some digging, he rediscovered Hazel Drew’s case. It was the perfect setup for what would become the central plot line of Twin Peaks: Who killed Laura Palmer?
Here’s a quote from Mark’s 2017 interview with the Washington Post: quote “It was the notion of this girl’s body being found on the edge of the water, the mystery remaining unsolved, the multiple suspects, and the kind of cross-cultural and different social classes of people she interacted with… it really struck my fancy.” End quote. Laura and Hazel do seem to have a lot in common… both beautiful, young, blond girls living secret double lives in small towns… until they’re met with untimely deaths and the truth slowly starts to come out. But this Hazel inspiration wasn’t known until long after the show had been off the air. Mark Frost and David Lynch were notoriously mysterious and secret about their process on the show and the story itself so this important detail was like a brand new mystery for fans to solve. Twin Peaks fanatics have taken on Hazel’s cold case in recent years to try and figure out who took her young life. There have been documentaries, books, YouTube videos, and of course… podcast episodes… all about the unsolved murder of Hazel Drew. But as far as I know… no one’s managed to crack the case yet.
Washed Away is a Cosmic Bigfoot production. I’m Ashley Smith, the host and producer, and I cover cold cases, missing persons, and unsolved crimes from Washington State. For sources, photos, and more - visit the episode show notes at washedawaypodcast.com Follow the show on Twitter and Instagram @washedawaypod and send case suggestions to washedawaypodcast@gmail.com If you’re a fan of the show, please remember to leave a 5 star rating or review wherever you listen and big thanks to North Bend Film Festival for having Washed Away in your 2021 fest.
