FILE 432 / 14 October 2023 / 71 MIN / express

Broken Trust, Broken Skull

Elko, NevadaListen

The town

N ↑Public placePublic placePublic placeTown centre (approximate places)
Static locations; no street basemap. Places and details. OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles Data from OpenStreetMap.

So this is Elko Nevada we're doing here. Elko, Nevada. We've done Elko, the county is Elko as well. about 0:03:29

History, in brief

Town note

Elko is named for Charles Crocker, a railroad superintendent; by the legend he loved animal names for towns, loved elk and added an O to make Elko.

about 0:04:28

1925

In 1925 the Kelly Act, the airmail act, authorised the US Postal Service to contract with private airlines for feeder routes that fed the main transcontinental routes.

about 0:05:20

1926

The first commercial airmail flight in the US was on the 487-mile airmail route number five from Pasco, Washington, to Elko Regional Airport in 1926.

about 0:05:54
All 3 history facts

Town note

Elko is named for Charles Crocker, a railroad superintendent; by the legend he loved animal names for towns, loved elk and added an O to make Elko.

about 0:04:28

1925

In 1925 the Kelly Act, the airmail act, authorised the US Postal Service to contract with private airlines for feeder routes that fed the main transcontinental routes.

about 0:05:20

1926

The first commercial airmail flight in the US was on the 487-mile airmail route number five from Pasco, Washington, to Elko Regional Airport in 1926.

about 0:05:54

The figures, as told

Money

Median household income$80,148 a year
All figures and comparisons, as told in 2023

Population

"about 20,391"

No direction stated.

As told in 2023 about 0:03:40

Median household income

"$80,148 a year"

Comparison: "described as high". Direction: above.

As told in 2023 about 0:03:46

Population threshold for a Nevada county to license brothels

"less than 400,000"

Direction: below.

As told in 2023 about 0:11:34

The reviews

3.0 / 5 · average of 3

5 stars

“Elko is an amazing place; the culture, the cowboys and the friendly community make it great; restaurants such as the Star and Toki Ona are excellent; housing in Elko is expensive but much cheaper just outside town.”
about 0:06:20

3 stars

“Heard about reviewing small towns from his favourite podcast; grew up in Elko and is trying to get out; it is not the same town, the mines brought in transplants who wish they were elsewhere; the police are a joke, one applicant took the written test five times before being hired; cost of living is high, people are rude, Mormons and gambling go hand in hand; if you like the backward thinking of North Idaho, this is your place.”
about 0:06:56

1 star

“The landlord yells at his tenant, calls her a liar, makes verbal deals then negates them with threats and demands for money, and believes it is legitimate to treat a certain gender that way; if you have a family, stay away from this cess pool.”
about 0:09:04

In Nevada

Closest episodes

  1. The Brutality Of Strawberry ShortcakeWest Wendover, Nevada · 27 April 2023143 km / 89 miShow on map
  2. A Killer So InnocentWinnemucca, Nevada · 8 August 2019165 km / 103 miShow on map
  3. Murder SelfiesLucin, Utah · 22 February 2025166 km / 103 miShow on map
  4. The Pyramid KillerImlay, Nevada · 25 March 2021201 km / 125 miShow on map
  5. Murder Colors Don't RunJerome, Idaho · 5 March 2026233 km / 145 miShow on map

The story

Yaromir Polensky, known to everyone as Turkey, was born in the Czech Republic on 24 September 1942 and emigrated to the United States in 1969, aged twenty-seven. He settled in Carbonville, Utah, and from the early 1980s to the mid-1990s drifted between Utah and Nevada as a miner and ranch hand. He never married and had no children.

On 14 January 2004 a bird watcher reported a body in a rarely accessible stretch of the Jordan River about 15 miles outside Salt Lake City, Utah. It was Turkey, wearing two pairs of underwear, two pairs of socks and overalls, no shirt and no shoes. His blood alcohol was 0.07 with amphetamine in his urine. The autopsy found multiple skull fractures from blows to the front and back of the head swung like a baseball bat. Lividity on his back showed he had lain on his back for ten to twelve hours before entering the water, so he was dumped, not drowned.

Detective Adamson rang the number and drove to Elko. The case went cold.

The prosecutor said the wallet replaced neatly in the pocket and the stopped watch were her mistakes, the watch fixing the body's entry into the water at 19 December 2003, and that four blows to the back of the head showed premeditation.

The case

Murder of Yaromir 'Jerry' Polensky, known as Turkey

Victims

Yaromir 'Jerry' Polensky ('Turkey'). Czech immigrant who worked as a ranch hand for and and lived in a travel trailer on their ranch

Accused and outcomes

As told in the episode, on 14 October 2023.

Accused

Accused

Outcome

Other people

Mike Walker. brother, who lived at the ranch and told police he overheard talk about dumping the body
Michael Wilson. ranch hand and boyfriend, who testified for the prosecution
Ralph Macley. ranch employee who said told him she wanted Turkey gone and suggested running him over or dumping him in a river
Patricia Lynn Grenz. bought Polensky's travel trailer from in January 2004
Roy Mobert. co-owner of the Silver Dollar Bar; prosecutors said and plotted to have him killed
William 'Billy' Wells. associate working for Elko police who offered to kill Roy Mobert on a recorded tape
Detective Adamson. Elko detective who led the investigation
Dr. Jeff Reynolds. defence medical examiner who said multiple sclerosis left her unable to deliver the blows

The timeline

  1. September 24th, 1942 Yaromir Polensky is born in the Czech Republicabout 0:13:21
  2. 1969 Polensky immigrates to the United Statesabout 0:13:21
  3. Polensky lives in Carbonville, Utah, then drifts between Utah and Nevada from the early 1980s to the mid-1990sabout 0:14:43
  4. 1996 marriage to his first wife, Levan, ends in divorce after he has an affair with their daughter-in-lawabout 0:18:56
  5. early 2002 Polensky gives and power of attorney and signs quit claim deeds on two Utah properties over to about 0:24:43
  6. early November 2003 Two men in a pickup truck visit Polensky about a mining business proposition in Quartzsite, Arizona (Adobe Hills Ranch)about 0:28:40
  7. Polensky writes a will on a bar napkin at the Silver Dollar Bar leaving everything to and (Silver Dollar Bar)about 0:29:42
  8. December 18th, 2003 and send Polensky back to his trailer, saying he smelled of alcohol and was too drunk to work (Adobe Hills Ranch)about 0:28:47
  9. December 19th, 2003 Prosecutors later say the stopped watch narrowed the time the body went into the water to this date (Jordan River)about 1:02:56

Places and phrases

N ↑Public placePublic placePublic placeTown centre (approximate places)
Static locations; no street basemap. Places and details. OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles Data from OpenStreetMap.

Places in the story

Public places are marked on the map.

Heard in this episode