48 Hours on ID: What happened to Rachael DelTondo?

The upcoming episode of 48 Hours, the popular true-crime show, is ready to return with the case of Rachael DelTondo's mysterious murder on November 21, 2022, with the rerun of an episode from season 17. The case dates back to 2018, when the 33-year-old teacher was gunned down in the parking lot of her parents' house after taking a trip to a nearby ice-cream parlor with her friends.

The synopsis for the upcoming rerun episode of 48 Hours, titled Who Killed Rachael DelTondo?, reads:

"Rachael DelTondo is gunned down on Mother's Day 2018 in her parents' driveway; the murder investigation takes twists and turns, including multiple suspects, secret romantic relationships and allegations of corruption."

Years later, there continues to be only speculations of what "might" have happened to Rachael and no real insight into what actually transpired. This was the ninth unsolved murder in a city with an already high crime rate and grossly underfunded police services that have led to the piling up of multiple unsolved cases.

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Who was Rachael DelTondo and what happened to her?

Rachael DelTondo was a 33-year-old teacher at Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School. She was sacked from the school shortly before her murder due to an allegation of being involved with a 17-year-old football player and student. Rachael was quite close to her parents and continued to live with them even when she could have moved out.

At the time of her murder, Rachael DelTondo was allegedly cooperating with authorities in an investigation against the state police. Her mother revealed this information after her death and also claimed that Rachael was very afraid of the police at the time. In fact, her mother also claimed that she wouldn't be surprised if her daughter's murder was linked to this investigation.

On May 13, 2018, Rachael went out to get ice cream with her friends, Lauren Watkins and Tyrie Jeter. About four minutes after Lauren dropped Rachael outside her parent's home that night, the young teacher was gunned down in her driveway. Authorities alleged that she was killed by someone she knew, but going by the pattern of the murder, they failed to discover who pulled the trigger.

Frank Catroppa, her once-fiance, was an immediate suspect. The police allegedly looked into his profile in detail, but Frank was not connected to the crime in any way. He also had an airtight alibi and multiple pieces of evidence that showed he was far away from the crime scene at the time of the murder.

The only other suspicious person in Rachael's life was the 17-year-old footballer with whom she was allegedly having an affair. The youngster was Sheldon Jeter Jr., a student at Aliquippa High School in Pennsylvania. It was only after another murder in 2020 implicated Sheldon Jeter that the authorities tried to look into this link.

Despite the obvious motive, nothing tied Sheldon Jeter to Rachael DelTondo's murder. Authorities assume that Sheldon killed Rachael, but there is little evidence tying him to the case, leaving Rachael DelTondo's murder a mystery.

The upcoming episode of 48 Hours will look into this case in greater detail when it airs on Monday, November 21, 2022.