# Rachel Begley Rachel Begley is an American amateur investigator who, beginning around 2007, reopened a cold case at the heart of the Cabazon node of [[The Octopus]] story -- the 1981 murder of her father, Ralph Boger. Her work reconnected threads [[Danny Casolaro]] had chased decades earlier and is featured in the 2024 Netflix series on the case. ## The Cabazon murders On July 1, 1981, three people were shot execution-style in Rancho Mirage, California: Cabazon tribal vice-chairman Fred Alvarez, Patricia Castro, and Begley's father, Ralph Boger. Begley was 13. Alvarez had reportedly intended to expose a Cabazon Band-[[Wackenhut]] arms venture -- the same operation where [[Michael Riconosciuto]] later claimed [[PROMIS]] was given its back door. Using the handle "desertfae," Begley gathered documents and pressed authorities until a detective took over the cold case in late 2007. ## Outcome In 2008 she confronted former Cabazon security chief James "Jimmy" Hughes, a self-described "bagman," on hidden camera; Hughes was arrested in 2009. All charges were dropped in July 2010, over her objection, when prosecutors said they had lost confidence they could proceed. ## Epistemic status The murders, the cold-case reopening, the Hughes arrest, and the dropped charges are documented. The underlying Cabazon-Wackenhut business relationship is established, but the broader claims tying it to a weapons-and-PROMIS conspiracy rest largely on [[Michael Riconosciuto]] and remain disputed. ## See also - [[The Octopus]] - [[Danny Casolaro]] - [[Wackenhut]] - [[Michael Riconosciuto]]