From Unsolved Mysteries to Hollywood: The Jeepers Creepers Murder Case

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Easter Sunday, 1990, a couple playing license plate games on a back-roading Michigan, an

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aggressive driver in a beat-up van, and a bloody sheet at an abandoned schoolhouse.

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What Ray and Marie Thornton saw that day would help solve a murder, launch a nationwide

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manhunt, and eventually inspire one of the two thousand's biggest horror films.

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But the woman at the center of this story deserves to be remembered for more than just

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an inspiration for a monster movie.

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Ray and Marie Thornton had a Sunday ritual.

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Every week they'd take a drive through a quiet back road of Southern Michigan, close

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to the Indiana border.

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It was their way of decompressing, getting away from work, stress, and the chaos of raising

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kids.

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They played little road trip games to pass the time, like trying to make words out of license

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plates.

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Totally wholesome, totally normal, especially in a time before we all had the internet.

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April 15, 1990 started out like any other Sunday.

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They were cruising down Snow Prairie Road, about 12 miles outside of Cold Water Michigan.

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Not much traffic, just them in the open road.

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Then suddenly this van comes roaring up behind them.

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Some sources say it was brown, others say green, but what everyone agrees on is that the

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driver was aggressive as hell.

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The van got right up on their bumper, then swirved into the oncoming lane and flew right

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past them.

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Marie called the letters "GZ" on the license plate as it went by and made a joke.

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"GZ, he's in a hurry."

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They laughed it off.

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Some jerk in a rush, right?

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We've all seen that driver.

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Sometimes we've been that driver.

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Within a few miles down the road, they passed an old abandoned schoolhouse, and there was

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that same van parked right there.

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The driver was outside.

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And what Ray and Marie saw made their blood run cold.

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The guy was carrying something wrapped in a white sheet, and the sheet was stained with

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what looked like blood.

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Now they're freaked out.

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It gets worse though.

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Two or three miles past the schoolhouse, guess who shows up in their rearview mirror again?

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Van guy, and this time he doesn't pass.

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He stays right there on their tail, dangerously close for miles.

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This was intimidation.

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This was a man making sure they knew he'd seen them seeing him.

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The thorns did what any of us would do.

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They got the hell out of there and decided to report the license plate to the police.

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As they crossed into Indiana, they saw the van one last time, pulled over on the side of

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the road.

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The driver was crouched behind it, actively changing the license plate.

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And when they drove past, Marie could see directly into the open passenger door.

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There was blood inside.

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What Ray and Marie didn't know yet was that they'd just witnessed a man trying to cover

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up the murder of his ex-wife.

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Five hours before the thorns saw that van, something terrible happened at a house in Cold

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Water, Michigan.

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Dennis and Marilyn DePue had been married for 17 years.

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They had three teenage kids.

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He was a property assessor for the state.

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She was a guidance counselor at Cold Water High School, the kind of person that students

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trusted and respected.

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Inside that marriage, things were dark.

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Dennis was controlling in paranoid.

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He isolated himself from the family and constantly accused Marilyn of turning their kids against

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him.

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He blamed her for everything.

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In his mind, nothing was ever his fault.

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When Marilyn finally filed for divorce in 1989, it was her way of saying enough is enough.

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She was done being controlled.

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For Dennis, losing that control was unforgivable.

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On Easter morning, Dennis showed up at Marilyn's house for a court ordered visit with the kids.

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When the kids didn't want to go with him, he and Marilyn got into a heated argument, right?

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In front of their children, Dennis attacked her.

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Shove her down a flight of basement stairs.

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She was badly hurt, possibly unconscious.

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Then Dennis told his kids that he was taking their mom to the hospital.

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He carried her to his van and drove away.

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That was the last time those kids ever saw their mother alive.

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Four hours later, one of the deputies' daughters called the police.

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She was worried sick.

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Her dad said he was taking her mom to the hospital, but nobody had heard anything since then.

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Police checked.

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Marilyn had never been admitted anywhere.

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The next day, a highway worker found Marilyn's body on a deserted road between her house and

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that abandoned schoolhouse where the Thornton said seen Dennis.

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She'd been shot once in the back of the head.

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Dennis obviously was immediately the prime suspect.

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The Thornton's eyewitness testimony was crucial.

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Dick evidence, including tire tracks at the schoolhouse, matched his van.

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But Dennis was gone.

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He'd become a fugitive.

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For almost a year, he managed to stay hidden.

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During that time, he sent 17 letters to friends and family from all over the country.

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Virginia, Iowa, Oklahoma.

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Dennis used them to justify what he'd done, ranting about Marilyn's supposed lies and tricks,

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painting himself as the real victim.

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Classic narcissist.

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He'd lost his wife and kids, his home.

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He couldn't stop trying to control the narrative even on the run.

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Then in March 1991, producers at Unsoft Mysteries got interested in the case.

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If you're too young to remember Unsoft Mysteries, it was basically the true crime podcast of its

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time, except it wasn't a podcast at all because those didn't exist.

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It was on NBC.

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It was hosted by Robert Stack, wearing a trench coat.

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It was a whole thing and it was fantastic.

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The show would do dramatic reenactments of Unsoft cases and fugitive hunts.

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And then asked viewers to call in tips.

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It was wildly effective.

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On March 20, 1991, the Dennis DePue segment aired.

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They did a full reenactment of what the Thornton's witnessed on Snow Prairie Road.

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They showed his photo.

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They asked America to help find him.

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And by the way, you really do need to see a photo of this guy.

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Go to 10minuteMurder.com, click on the Murder Blog.

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And before you look, imagine what you think this guy looks like.

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And he looks exactly like that.

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It's extremely creepy and unsettling.

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The night that episode of Unsoft Mystery aired, a woman in Dallas was watching TV.

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As the DePue segment played, she realized something horrifying.

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The fugitive on her screen was her boyfriend.

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She knew the man as Hank Queen.

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Dennis saw the episode too.

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He knew it was over.

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He made up some story about his mom being sick.

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Ask his girlfriend to make him sandwiches for the road to keep her busy in the kitchen.

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Grabbed his stuff and bolted.

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Out the sandwiches.

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The show had already done its job.

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Tips were flooding in.

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Police in Louisiana spotted his van and a high-speed chase began.

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It tore across state lines into Mississippi where local cops were ready and waiting.

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Warren County Sheriff Paul Barrett was one of the officers involved.

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He later told the Associated Press something that perfectly captures how surreal this was.

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Quote, "My wife and I watched the TV program about him and the next morning I am with other

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officers firing into his van.

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I'd say that's not going to happen every day."

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Less than 12 hours after that unsolved mysteries episode began, it was over.

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Dennis DePue's van was stopped in Vicksburg, Mississippi around 4 a.m. on March 21, 1991.

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They had been a shootout.

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When deputies approached the vehicle, they found Dennis slumped behind the wheel.

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A gun still in his hand.

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He'd shot himself.

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The bullet entered through his mouth and exited the back of his head.

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Ten years later, something weird happened.

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The 2001 horror movie Jeepers Creepers came out and became a massive hit.

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The opening scene shows a brother and sister driving down a desolate road, playing a licensed

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plate game.

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A creepy old truck tailgates them aggressively, then speeds past.

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Later they see the same truck parked by an abandoned church.

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The driver is dumping what looks like bodies wrapped in bloody sheets.

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Then the truck chases them.

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And familiar, director Victor Salva has never officially confirmed that the Dennis DePue

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case inspired the film's opening.

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He only said it was based on a true story that I was told about an elderly couple.

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The parallels are too specific to be coincidence.

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A licensed plate game, the aggressive tailgating, the abandoned building, the bloody sheets, the

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second, chase, it's all there.

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When you learn about the connection between Jeepers Creepers and the Dennis DePue case,

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it changes how you see that opening scene.

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Things aren't just fictional characters being chased down a scary road.

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That sequence is based on what Marie and Ray Thorden actually experienced, what they actually

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saw.

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Marilyn DePue was 43 years old when she died.

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She spent years working as a guidance counselor at Coldwater High School.

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The kind of person who actually gave a damn about kids and wanted to help them figure

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out their futures.

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She had three teenagers of her own who needed her.

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She'd finally gotten encouraged to leave an abusive marriage and was building a new life.

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The week before Easter 1990, Marilyn was probably thinking about normal stuff.

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Maybe she was planning what to make for dinner.

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Maybe she was helping one of her kids with homework or college applications.

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Maybe she was looking forward to having a quiet holiday weekend.

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She had no idea that the man she'd been married to for 17 years was capable of what came

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next.

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Dennis DePue killed her because he couldn't accept that she'd moved on.

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That's what it came down to.

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Control.

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She lost it.

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He took everything from her.

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Her future, her chance to see her kids graduate, her chance to help more students.

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All of it gone because one man decided his feelings mattered more than her life.

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Ray and Marie were just two people on a Sunday drive who happened to be in the wrong place

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at the right time.

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Their testimony helped law enforcement piece together what happened.

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That unsolved mysteries episode brought Dennis' timeline as a fugitive to an end within

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hours.

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Anya, a decade later, their experience became part of a movie that a lot of people love.

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Stories travel in weird ways.

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Sometimes they move through true crime TV shows.

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Sometimes they end up in horror movies.

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Sometimes they get told in podcasts like this one.

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What matters is that we remember Marilyn DePue was a real person.

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She mattered to her kids.

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She mattered to her students.

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She mattered.

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Period.

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She deserved to live a long, peaceful life far away from the man who killed her.

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Thanks for listening to 10 Minute Murder, Bingeable True Crime Stories.

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I'm Joe, I'm the host, and if you are a new listener, hit subscribe right now.

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Wait, but only if you enjoy the podcast.

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If you think it kind of sucks, then don't subscribe.

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And I get it, this show isn't for everyone.

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It's not meant to be for everyone, but if you do enjoy the podcast, please do subscribe.

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It helps you and it helps me.

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So it's a mutually beneficial relationship we've got going on.

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Also, you can go to 10minutemurder.com.

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Lots of stuff to do there.

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Check out the murder blog that I mentioned earlier in the episode where you can see a picture

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of Dennis DePue that you really do need to see.

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Imagine kind of a creepier Herman Munster.

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And that's him.

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Also, on the website, you can subscribe to the newsletter that's there.

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I've just started sending out newsletters now.

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I know that I've been collecting these email addresses for a while and you haven't been getting

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anything.

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That's because I haven't sent anything out until recently.

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But I do need to let you know that if you have subscribed and you haven't seen a newsletter

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email from me, it's probably in your spam.

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I put myself on the list, the newsletter list, and I didn't see it.

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I was like, where the heck is this thing?

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It was in my spam.

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So if you haven't seen it, go check your spam folder.

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It's probably living in there.

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On the website, you can also email me, which is where this one comes from, subject accidental

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detective tendencies.

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Hey Joe, your podcast has officially ruined me.

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I now analyze every weird thing I see like I'm auditioning to be a detective.

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Strange car parked, long on my streets, case file.

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Neighbors trash can at a weird angle.

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Suspicious.

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Have you noticed that true crime fans pick up those little, I could solve the case if I

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needed to, habits?

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Or is it just me losing my grip on reality?

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Devon in Louisville.

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Devon, let me tell you, you're probably just losing your grip on reality.

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No JK, I think that in order to be someone that a connoisseur of true crime, you have to

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have that part of your brain that works that way.

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You trust people, but not totally.

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You're always wondering what people's ulterior motives are.

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You see a piece of paper on the ground and it has like this reddish smudge on it, you

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think, oh, that's blood.

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That's potential evidence right there.

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I do that and I'm sure 90% of the people listening to this right now do that same thing.

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I think it's within our brains.

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We consume all this true crime and we just assume it's out there in the world, which by

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the way it is.

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That's not a conspiracy theory, there are murderers all around us.

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Not to try to scare you or anything, but you listen to the podcast, you hear these people,

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they're normal people, especially like the BTK killer.

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Devon, again, thank you for your email.

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That's going to do it.

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That is your episode for today.

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Thank you again for listening to 10 Minute Murder.

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See you next time.

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