One day, TikToker Scottie (@brokeurbanfarmer) was just scrolling on his phone, minding his own business, when he came across a news article about a cold case that was finally solved. After he finished feeding his toddler, he pulled up the article again to read it.
The name of the murderer in the article seemed familiar. When he scrolled down and saw the murderer’s picture, he realized that it was his mom’s ex-boyfriend.
His mom had dated this man from when he was in elementary school all the way to high school.
The cold case was from 1997 in Huntington County, Indiana. On Sunday, December 21, 1997, a woman named Angela Saco was found deceased in Huntington County by a reservoir out in the countryside. Some hunters and their hunting dog discovered her body.
Due to technological advancements, the cold case police unit was able to reopen Angela’s case to test preserved evidence. The Indiana State Police started digging into the case again in 2024.
They conducted single-nucleotide polymorphism DNA testing and discovered who had committed the crime. Angela’s killer was Steven Schlater, who was also Scottie’s mom’s ex-boyfriend.
“This crime, once again, happened in 1997,” said Scottie. “I moved in with my mom in either late 1999, early 2000, and at that point, they had already been dating.”
Steven Schlater passed away in 2021, and Scottie’s mom passed away in 2022. Scottie doesn’t know exactly how Angela and Steven knew each other, but he assumes that they must have worked together or hung out in similar circles.
Steven was double Angela’s age. At the time of the murder, Steven was 50, and Angela was only 25. She was from Van Wert, Ohio, and lived in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She also had a two-year-old son.
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“It’s an absolutely tragic case,” said Scottie. “I am so thankful that they were able to discover it and close this case for the family of Angela. They deserve this closure, and they deserve to know who did this to their daughter.”
In the comments section, several TikTok users shared their own connections to murderers. It just goes to show that you might be closer to a killer than you think.
“Another murderer-adjacent person! My childhood babysitter’s boyfriend turned out to be a serial killer with his twin brother, allegedly. I have been in their house, rode in cars with them, had dinner with their parents. They made a movie about it,” commented one user.
“One of my mom’s high school friends lived next door to us for a while when I was a kid. Turns out her stepdad had been a black widower who murdered her mom. My mom had gotten ready for prom at their house,” wrote another.
“I still randomly talk about my mom’s ex-boyfriend from my childhood. He (and she) is long-dead. He did nothing wrong other than creep me out for no reason. I cannot imagine how many lifetimes I’d be going on about it if he actually turned out to be a murderer!” exclaimed a third.
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
