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Rachel Siani was a 21-year-old girl, from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, whose dead body was found under a bridge in Burlington County, New Jersey on April 1, 2000. Initially, the event was considered to be a case of suicide. However, upon close investigation, the authorities discovered that Rachel Siani had been murdered.
Finally, when her autopsy reports arrived, it left the investigators in shock. All the events surrounding the death of Rachel Siani are documented in Philly Homicide season 1 episode 10. The episode titled Dancing for the Devil made its release on January 4, 2025, at 9 pm EST on Oxygen. The official synopsis of the episode reads:
"When a college student and exotic dancer is found dead, detectives investigate her double life."
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What is the story of Rachel Siani?
Rachel Siani led a dual life. Along with studying psychology at a community college, she worked as an exotic dancer in a local club known as Divas International Gentleman's Club. As per an NJ.com article (published on July 19, 2019), Rachel Siani used the stage name Foxy Roxy and danced at the club to pay for her college fees.
Though her family did not agree with the job, she had to do it temporarily to pay for her expenses. It was on April 1, 2000, when a passerby found the dead body of Rachel Siani under a Turnpike bridge in Burlington County, New Jersey.
Her body was found lying face down, fully clothed. In spite of falling from such a great height, the body did not have too much blood, except for some on the neck and back.
A crucial piece of evidence was found in her two broken fingernails, which showed signs of resistance and fighting back. When medical examiners revealed her autopsy reports, the investigators found that Rachel Siani died of strangulation and blunt force trauma.
She had hemorrhages and multiple fractures throughout her body, that showed grave signs of internal bleeding. This ruled the case to be a murder rather than a suicide.
As per Cinemaholic (published September 2021), Investigators found fibers of Siani's sweater on the bridge, and little traces of blood on the outside wall of the bridge. The body of Rachel Siani was identified by her butterfly necklace, which was recognized by her ex-boyfriend.
She was wearing a sweater and jeans, however, despite falling from such a great height into rubble, her socks were completely clean. It looked as if someone had carried her into the scene before being thrown. The investigators contacted Siani's friends and family members, but couldn't find any concrete evidence. However, after interrogating the workers in the club, they found two prime clues.
The boss of Divas International Gentleman's Club revealed that Rachel Siani was last seen on the night of March 28, 2000. Other workers mentioned that a man named Jason was kicked out from the job, the previous month because he was making moves towards her. However, he was soon excluded from the suspicion, but one of Siani's friends provided another crucial intel.
She said that one night, she was talking to Siani and was informed of a drunk man, who returned to the club and started banging the doors. The drunk man was John Denofa, a regular customer of the club. As per NJ.com John was a married man who ran his family's magnetic sign business, living in the tony suburb of Buckingham, in central Bucks County.
John was a regular visitor of the club, especially on Thursdays, when he would often stay in a nearby motel. Rachel Siani was his favorite dancer, and he would often pay money just to meet her and have a conversation.
It was on the night of March 28, 2000, when Siani decided to accompany John to his motel. The motel clerk reported that he saw the duo checking into Room 223, she was not seen after that.
Jack Denofa became the prime suspect in Rachel Siani's murder case
The investigators brought Jack Denofa for questioning, who said that he last saw Siani in the early morning of March 29, 2000. The investigators attained a search warrant for the motel room where Jack was staying. It had been 4 days since Jack had checked out of the room, which had been cleaned several times.
However, the detectives still managed to retrieve some traces of blood from the shower, and broken strands of fiber. However, the fiber didn't match Rachel Siani, and the blood sample was too small to collect a DNA sample.
However, outside the room, they found a large bloodstain on the sidewalk, which matched Saini's DNA. From the Motel registration card, investigators found that Jack Denofa owned a 1996 red Dodge truck.
From the surveillance footage retrieved from a toll booth between Pennsylvania and New Jersey, they discovered that Jack's pickup truck had the body of a woman in its bed.
As per NJ.com, they found a grainy video of his truck on the way to Turnpike, which was empty while he drove back to Pennsylvania. When the truck was retrieved, officers found some fragments of hair and blood on the truck's back, which matched Rachel Siani. It was revealed that on the night of March 28, 2000, both Siani and John went to the motel.
At some point, John Denofa tried to make se*ual advances towards Siani, which she detested and a debate took place between them. John was completely drunk, and in rage, he choked Siani after which he threw her body out of the window.
One of the guests in the motel revealed that he had listened to a loud stump on the ground. To clear any traces of the murder, John dragged the body on the back of his drive and drove all the way to the bridge before dumping it.
John Denofa was charged with the murder of Rachel Siani
John was put on trial, and as per NJ.com, Burlington County Prosecutor Robert Bernardi headed the case. It was in November 2002, when John Denofa was found guilty of the murder of Rachel Siani. He was sentenced to life in prison, without any chance of parole for the next 30 years.
John Denofa is currently spending his time behind bars, incarcerated in the South Woods State Prison in Bridgeton, New Jersey. He will be able to appeal for his next parole in August 2032.
To know more about the murder and its investigation, watch the documentary Philly Homicide season 1 episode 10 on Oxygen.
