Murder Most Foul

Provocative title?

In the early morning hours of January 29, 2022, Boston Police Department Officer John O'Keefe was found dead outside the home of fellow Boston Police Officer, Brian Albert, in Canton, Massachusetts. O'Keefe had been dropped off the night before by his girlfriend, Karen Read, to join a party hosted by Brian Albert and Jennifer McCabe. Upon being discovered, he was transported to a local hospital where cause of death was listed as blunt force trauma and hypothermia.

Three days later, Read was arrested and charged with manslaughter, motor vehicle homicide, and leaving the scene of a deadly crash.

But was Karen Read guilty of anything? As defense attorneys will, Read’s "Dream Team" came up with an alternate theory of the crime, that O’Keefe was badly beaten, or maybe attacked by a dog, or both, inside the Fairview Road residence after Read dropped him off, and then he was dumped outside and left to die.

On its face, this might sound preposterous to you, but, Oh, we are just getting started. This strange tale turned the so called “Boyfriend Cop Murder Trial” into a national, nay international sensation. Newspaper accounts, electronic media, magazine spreads, podcasts (here and abroad) sprung up like poison ivy.

Join me and Youtuber, Kevin Lenihan, as we navigate the maze that is the Karen Read Case.

Was “What's My Line?” TV Star, media icon, and crack investigative reporter and journalist Dorothy Kilgallen murdered for writing a tell-all book about the JFK assassination? If so, is the main suspect in her death still at large?

These questions and more are answered in former CNN, ESPN, and USA Today legal analyst Mark Shaw in his book, “The Reporter Who Knew Too Much.”

 Shaw unfolds a "whodunit" murder mystery featuring suspects including Frank Sinatra, J. Edgar Hoover, Mafia Don Carlos Marcello and a "Mystery Man" who may have silenced Kilgallen. All the while presenting through Kilgallen's eyes the most compelling evidence about the JFK assassination since the House Select Committee on Assassinations investigation in the 1970s.

Author Mark Shaw joins me today on Murder Most Foul.

Melissa Ramirez, Claudine Anne Luera, Guiselda Hernandez, and Janelle Ortiz were four marginalized women striving to make ends meet as sex workers. They looked out for one another. But they would soon share a connection that none of them could have imagined. When Melissa was found dead, the other three women were on edge but assumed they were safe. Twelve days later, they too were dead and police had detained an unlikely suspect--Juan David Ortiz, a ten-year veteran of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, where he carried a badge, a service revolver, and was entrusted to protect the community in which he eventually killed.

From September 3rd through September 15th, 2018, Ortiz, a husband and doting father to three children, lured his victims into his white Dodge truck and drove them to the outskirts of town where he violently executed them, leaving them dead or dying on the sides of dark, rural roads.

“The Devil Behind the Badge” is a fast-paced, electrifying book by Pulitzer Prize-winning USA TODAY journalist Rick Jervis. It tells the gripping story of the four murders that shook the small border town of Laredo, and the quest to unmask a cold, calculated killer who was hiding in plain sight. “The Devil Behind the Badge” is also a deeply human portrait of the four lives lost and an attempt to uncover what motivated Ortiz's descent into darkness. Along the way, it raises serious questions about the border crisis, the abuse of law enforcement, and the challenges of a federal agency to police its own ranks.

My guest today is the author of “The Devil Behind the Badge,” Rick Jervis.

Who Killed Seth Rich? If you guessed Hilary Clinton, you’d be wrong, but not alone. It’s been said that we all love a good conspiracy story. In the midst, of the political convulsions that surrounded the 2016 Presidential Election, a young man by the name of Seth Rich was gunned down and killed on “W” street in Washington, D.C. He was presumably the victim of a botched robbery attempt.

Seth had not been long laid to rest when the internet exploded with the claims that not the Russians, but Seth Rich, an entry-level employee of the DNC, was Julian Assange’s source for Hilary Clinton’s infamous emails, which were published by WikiLeaks.

"A Death on W Street" is a gripping account of, madness, and political chicanery. It tells the story of an idealistic political staffer who became a tragic victim of the age of conspiracy, and how his family fought to defend his name against the likes of Sean Hannity, Alex Jones and others and expose the deceptions surrounding his death.

 My guest today is Andy Kroll, author of “A Death on W Street."

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WARNING: CONTAINS POLITICAL CONTENT!

Can two brilliant minds outsmart the law?  In 1924 Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, two wealthy University of Chicago students, sought to commit the perfect crime simply for the thrill of it.  They meticulously planned the kidnapping and murder of 14-year-old Bobby Franks, a distant relative of Loeb.  Despite their careful plotting, a pair of eyeglasses left at the crime scene linked them to the murder.  Their trial captivated the nation, especially with the famous defense attorney Clarence Darrow arguing against the death penalty.  The chilling lack of remorse and intellectual arrogance displayed by Leopold and Loeb turned this case into one of the most notorious in American history!

Two of my passions are True Crime and the stage. In this segment of Murder Most Foul, I have been able to combine them into one podcast. Lizzie Borden can boast numerous plays, an Opera and a Ballet choreographed by the legendary Agnes DeMille inspired by her crimes. My guest today, Stephen Dolginoff, turned the story of thrill-killers Leopold and Loeb into theatrical musical, entitled appropriately “Thrill Me,” which is still thrilling audiences today. He also recently wrote a fascinating book on the 30-year odyssey of taking his vision from first draft to the stage and beyond.

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The musical interludes throughout the podcast are from the Original Cast Recording starring Stephen Dolginoff as Leopold and Doug Kreeger as Loeb.

Teach me to kill. That’s exactly what Media Instructor, Pamela Smart, did for 3 of her teenage students in 1990, in Derry, New Hampshire. Smart seduced and slept with Billy Flynn, the trigger man, and encouraged his friends to participate in the plot that she created, to kill her husband, Greg.

After 34 years, Pam, serving life without the possibility of parole, wants out of prison. Although she admits to the affair, she maintains that she had no knowledge of the murder plot.

Join me today, as I speak with Stephen Sawicki, who wrote an in-depth piece for PEOPLE magazine at the time and later the book TEACH ME TO KILL with details you will see nowhere else. Then you can decide if Pam Smart should be granted her freedom.

Steve DeMocker was a narcissist, a philander and all-around cad, but was he a cold-blooded killer? In 2008, in Prescott, Carol Kennedy, his newly minted ex-wife, was found bludgeoned to death in her home. It wasn’t long until the police focused on Steve as the main suspect. One might suppose this became a run-of-the mill murder case. Au contraire, mon frere! Returning Murder Most Foul guest author, Caitlin Rother, found that writing her book, THEN NO ONE CAN HAVE HER about the investigation and trial was truly a challenge.

In the forward to her book Ms. Rother writes: the ethical allegations flying in every direction, the voice in the vent, the insurance money transfers, the judge with the brain tumor and the judge from the “sweat lodge” case, the Docugate scandal and the bombshell e-mail that got thrown out on this roller coaster ride to justice, suffice it to say I came to empathize with the attorneys in this case because there was so much information it became a challenge to decide what to include and what to leave out.

Join me today as we try to untangle this mess with our guide author Caitlin Rother.

On September 13, 2016, Shawn Grate was arrested in the small city of Ashland, Ohio for the abduction and rape of a young woman. Miraculously the victim actually guided her rescuers to her location using the perp’s cell phone as he slept.

But her rescue was only the beginning! Police Detective, Kim Mager – a cross between Clarice Starling from “Silence of the Lambs” and Olivia Benson from Law & Order, SVU – was assigned to question Grate. It wasn’t long before she suspected that this event wasn’t a “one-off.” After almost 30 hours of interrogation, she got Grate to confess to multiple assaults, 5 homicides and led her to 3 bodies.

Go inside that interrogation room with Detective Mager and take a seat as she recounts, minute by minute, her experience, including more than one moment where her life was at risk bringing a serial killer to justice. The book is HUNGER TO KILL, and my guest is Retired Detective Kim Mager.

MISSISSIPPI BURNING is the name of a motion picture, released in 1988, starring Gene Hackman and Willem DaFoe, loosely based on the murders of 3 Civil Rights workers in Mississippi, during the “Freedom Summer” of 1964.  James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were lured to Philadelphia, Mississippi, and executed by the Ku Klux Klan. No one was ever convicted of their murders, until over 40 years later when Jerry Mitchell, an investigative reporter with The Charion-Ledger, in Jackson, Mississippi, convinced authorities to reopen more than one cold murder case from the Civil Rights Era, prompting one colleague to call him "the South's "Simon Wiesenthal."  In 2009, he received a "genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation.

Author John Grisham wrote of Mr. Mitchell: “For almost two decades, investigative journalist Jerry Mitchell doggedly pursued the Klansmen responsible for some of the most notorious murders of the civil rights movement. His book, “Race Against Time,” is his amazing story. Thanks to him, and to courageous prosecutors, witnesses, and FBI agents, justice finally prevailed.”

It is my honor to welcome Jerry Mitchell to Murder Most Foul today.

On New Year’s Eve 1989, 11-year-old Collier Landry wakes up to a loud thud coming from his parents' bedroom, and it becomes the night his mother Noreen Boyle disappears forever.

All his family has no doubts that she ran away after a fight with her husband. But Collier knows that his mom would never leave him behind. As Dr John Boyle refuses to discuss his wife’s disappearance, Detective David Messmore builds a secret bond with Collier who insists his mom was murdered.

Together, they discover Dr. Boyle’s hidden girlfriend and an astonishing secret buried under a slab in the basement of the doctor’s new mansion.

Many years later, Collier Landry helped produce a documentary chronicling his ordeal as a child of parental murder, entitled MURDER IN MANSFIELD. Collier joins me now to talk about the case and confronting his father in prison, which is depicted in the film.

In the spring of 2016, as immigration debates rocked the United States, three men in a militia group known as the Crusaders grew aggravated over one Kansas town’s growing Somali community. They decided that complaining about their new neighbors and threatening them directly wasn’t enough.

The men plotted to bomb a mosque, aiming to kill hundreds and inspire other attacks against Muslims in America. But they would wait until after the Presidential Election so that their actions wouldn’t hurt Donald Trump’s chances of winning.
An FBI informant befriended the three men, acting as law enforcement’s eyes and ears for eight months. His secretly taped conversations with the militia were pivotal in obstructing their plans and were a linchpin in the resulting trial and convictions for conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction.
White Hot Hate,written by Dick Lehr, tells the riveting true story of an averted case of domestic terrorism in one of the most remote towns in the U.S., not far from the infamous town where Capote’s In Cold Blood was set. In the gripping details of this foiled scheme, the chilling, immediate threat of domestic terrorism—and racist anxiety in America— is writ large.

Today Murder Most Foul takes a slight departure from True Crime to discuss the above titled novel by author Joanna Wallace. Critics call it, “Refreshingly original and laugh-out-loud funny.” This comic thriller follows the trials and tribulations of Claire, a part-time serial killer, who is keen to keep her favorite hobby a secret—despite the efforts of a determined blackmailer.

Please join me in welcoming Joanna Wallace to Murder Most Foul

In 1990, Jens Soering, a German honors student at the University of Virginia, was sentenced to life after a spectacular televised trial for the 1985 murders of his lover’s Elizabeth’s parents, Derek and Nancy Haysom. In a classic example of “he said/she said,” at their trials the star-crossed lovers each pointed the finger at the other as the actual murderer. Were Jens and Elizabeth Romeo and Juliet or Macbeth and Lady Macbeth?  From his Virginia prison cell, Soering deployed his charm to create his own personal innocence project, recruiting celebrities such as Martin Sheen, John Grisham, Amanda Knox and even Angela Merkel.

Soering was paroled and deported to Germany in 2019. Soering sold the rights to his story and launched a media campaign which portrayed him as a victim of America’s cruel and arbitrary courts. Yet skeptics have questioned Soering’s claims, and he is now locked in a pitched battle to define his place in history.
A chief skeptic in the matter is Andrew Hammel, a bilingual German/English criminal lawyer and investigative journalist. Mr. Hammel traces the entire story, beginning with the bizarre romance which led to two gruesome killings. Drawing on five years of research and confidential sources with fresh revelations, Hammel takes the reader behind the scenes of one of the most extraordinary true-crime cases in modern history – and its equally gripping aftermath.

In 1990, Jens Soering, a German honors student at the University of Virginia, was sentenced to life after a spectacular televised trial for the 1985 murders of his lover’s Elizabeth’s parents, Derek and Nancy Haysom. In a classic example of “he said/she said,” at their trials the star-crossed lovers each pointed the finger at the other as the actual murderer. Were Jens and Elizabeth Romeo and Juliet or Macbeth and Lady Macbeth?  From his Virginia prison cell,Soering deployed his charm to create his own personal innocence project, recruiting celebrities such as Martin Sheen, John Grisham, Amanda Knox and even Angela Merkel.

Soering was paroled and deported to Germany in 2019. Soering sold the rights to his story and launched a media campaign which portrayed him as a victim of America’s cruel and arbitrary courts. Yet skeptics have questioned Soering’s claims, and he is now locked in a pitched battle to define his place in history.

A chief skeptic in the matter is Andrew Hammel, a bilingual German/English criminal lawyer and investigative journalist. Mr. Hammel traces the entire story, beginning with the bizarre romance which led to two gruesome killings. Drawing on five years of research and confidential sources with fresh revelations, Hammel takes the reader behind the scenes of one of the most extraordinary true-crime cases in modern history – and its equally gripping aftermath.

Crime movies, documentaries and literature come in several genres: True Crime (just the facts, Ma’am), “Non-Fiction Novel,” (made famous by Truman Capote with his masterpiece, In Cold Blood) and pure fiction. But even with fictitious crime novels, there are hybrid approaches. Some are “based on a true story,” or “inspired by a true story,” or “drawn from today’s headlines.”

 Mapping the Night by David Bethel, falls comfortably into that last category. Drawn from an actual murder case that took place in New York City, it is meticulously researched, authentic, with just the right amount of humor, arising from the interaction of the participants.

It is my pleasure to welcome author David Bethel to Murder Most Foul.

To all who knew him, Robert Hansen was a typical hardworking businessman, husband, and father. But hidden beneath the veneer of mild respectability was a monster whose depraved appetites could not be sated. From 1971 to 1983, Hansen was a human predator, stalking women on the edges of Anchorage society—women whose disappearances would cause scant outcry, but whose gruesome fates would shock the nation. After his arrest, Hansen confessed to seventeen brutal murders, though authorities suspect there were more than thirty victims.

There are countless books, documentaries and movies about the monster who came to be known as the “Butcher Baker.” But the book, by late Alaska State Trooper Walter Gilmour and author Leland E. Hale, is arguably the most complete and most compelling work to date. “Butcher Baker” tells the story of the most prolific serial killer in Alaskan history, from the dark urges that drove his madness, to the women who died at his hand, and finally, to the authorities who captured and convicted him.

My guest today is Leland E. Hale author of "Butcher Baker."

On May 31,1985, two days before her high school graduation, Shari Faye Smith was abducted from the driveway of her family home in South Carolina.

For several days after the abduction, the kidnapper called and sent letters to the family, taunting them with details of abduction and murder of Shari. Ultimately, he revealed the location of Shari’s body on a phone call to Shari’s older sister, Dawn.

But he wasn’t finished. Two weeks to the day of Shari’s abduction, the murderer snatched another victim, 9-year-old Debra May Helmick, who came to a similar fate. The authorities realized they were dealing with a sadistic, narcissistic serial killer of young women.

WHEN A KILLER CALLS is the haunting story of Murder, Criminal Profiling and Justice in a small town, written by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker. John and Mark have written 7 previous books, including Mindhunter,the number one New York Times bestseller that was the basis for the hit Netflix series of the same name.

Mark drew the short straw, and he joins me today on Murder Most Foul.

I saw her standin' on her front lawn
Just a twirlin' her baton
Me and her went for a ride, sir
And ten innocent people died

From the town of Lincoln, Nebraska With a sawed off .410 on my lap
Through to the badlands of Wyoming
I killed everything in my path

I can't say that I'm sorry
For the things that we done
At least for a little while, sir
Me and her we had us some fun

Now the jury brought in a guilty verdict
And the judge he sentenced me to death
Midnight in the prison storeroom
With leather straps across my chest

Sheriff, when the man pulls that switch, sir
And snaps my poor head back
You make sure my pretty baby
Is sittin' right there on my lap

They declared me unfit to live
Said into that great void my soul'd be hurled
They want to know why I did what I did
Sir, I guess there's just a meanness in this world

Those are the lyrics of the song, “Nebraska,” written by Bruce Springsteen in 1982 immortalizing the killing spree of Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate in Lincoln, Nebraska and nearby Wyoming in 1958. Were Charlie and Caril Ann a new breed of Bonnie and Clyde? Was 14-year-old Caril Ann, a willing and equal participant in 10 ruthless and gruesome murders, or was she a hostage? Books, movies, and endless documentaries have tried to answer that question.

Harry N. Maclean has an “inside track” on the story having grown up at the time in Lincoln contemporaneously with Starkweather and Fugate. Today on MURDER MOST FOUL, Mr. Maclean shares his recollection of the period and what it was like to return to Lincoln to research his book, “STARKWEATHER: The Untold Story of the Killing Spree that Changed America.”

“A Murder in Hollywood” - the dark story behind the bright lights of Tinseltown.

Before there was Jodie Foster and Brooke Sheilds, there was Judy Turner. You may know her by her stage name, Lana Turner.  Discovered at a malt shop in LA in her early teens and thrust before the cameras, she seemed to have it all―a thriving film career and the kind of fame and fortune that most people could only dream of. But she was soon physically abused by directors and studio honchos and sexually preyed upon by the matinee idols of the era, including Errol Flynn, Fernando Lamas and even Ronald Reagan. But that wasn’t enough.

When Lana began dating mobster Johnny Stompanato, thug for the infamous west coast mob boss Mickey Cohen, her personal life became violent and unpredictable.  Eventually, the physical and emotional abuse became too much to bear, and Lana attempted to break it off with Johnny―with disastrous consequences - Stompanato ending up dead on Lana's bedroom floor, with her young daughter, Cheryl, claiming to have plunged a knife into him in an attempt to protect her mother. The subsequent murder trial made for the biggest headlines of the year, its drama eclipsing every Hollywood movie.

New York Times bestselling author Casey Sherman pulls back Tinseltown's velvet curtain to reveal the dark underbelly of celebrity, rife with toxic masculinity and casual violence against women which took place in Hollywood in the 40s and 50s, long before modern day’s MeToo Movement.

A Murder in Hollywood transports us back to the golden age of film and illuminates one of the 20th century's most notorious true crime tales.  Return guest, Casey Sherman, joins me now on Murder Most Foul.

It’s every mother and father’s worst nightmare to discover your daughter has vanished after a night on the town. Finding Amy is the story of just such a nightmare, written by Detective LT, Joseph K. Loughlin, who led the investigation into 25-year-old Amy St. Laurent’s disappearance and his co-author, Kate Clark Flora. The story is especially compelling because of the personal accounts of Lieutenant Loughlin--- his thoughts, emotions, and reactions as the investigation unfolded in 2001. Unlike Law & Order or CSI, there were no quick solutions that wrapped-up the case in a conveniently short time. What does take place is the passionate belief of the dedicated team of detectives, and police that they will find Amy, bring her abductor to justice, and give closure to her family and the people of Maine. It is my pleasure to welcome Lieutenant Joseph Loughlin to MURDER MOST FOUL.

In the early 1970’s, F.B.I agent, John E. Douglas, created and managed the FBI's Criminal Profiling Program, now called the Behavioral Analysis Unit. Agent Douglas became the inspiration for the character Jack Crawford in “The Silence of the Lambs,” played by actor Scott Glenn.

Douglas has interviewed numerous serial killers and other violent sex offenders at various prisons, including David Berkowitz, John Wayne Gacy, Charles Manson and others.

In the late 1990’s he formed a partnership with author and documentary producer, Mark Olshaker, called MINDHUNTER, INC. Together they wrote numerous True Crime books, based on John’s experiences in the field. One of their books, Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unitwas the basis for the popular Netflix series, of the same name.

Author and Mindhunter, Mark Olshaker, joins me today on Murder Most Foul.

In the winter of 1982 in Brighton, New York, a bedroom suburb of Rochester, Jim Krauseneck came home from work to discover his wife, Kathleen, lying in bed, dead, with an ax lodged in her head. Their 3-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Sarah, was unharmed alone in the dark, cold house. She had attempted to dress herself and make herself breakfast, which was evident by the cereal strewn all over the kitchen floor.

For over 30 years, no one was charged with Cathy's murder, until the Brighton Police Department collaborated with the FBI to reopen the case in 2015 with their sights set on her husband, Jim Krauseneck, as the primary suspect. It wasn’t until 2022, after Covid loosened its grip on the city, did a trial ensue and justice finally prevailed.

Dennis O’Brien was a local TV news producer at the time of the brutal murder who not only covered the case until it quickly got cold but remained committed to it for over 40 years hoping to see a just resolution.

It is hard to imagine that there is anyone out there who doesn’t know the name Scott Peterson, the man convicted in 2004 of the murder of his young wife who at the time was 8 months pregnant with their child they had named Connor.

Peterson was initially sentenced to death, but in 2020 that sentence was overturned and commuted to life without the possibility of parole. Most thought that this was the end of this tragic tale. Not quite. In January of this year (2024), Peterson’s attorneys, with the help of the Innocence Project of L.A., filed yet another appeal trying to get him a new trial.

In 2020, Murder Most Foul covered the case with the help of Stanley Goldman: attorney, professor and, at the time of the of the trial in 2004, a legal analyst for FOX NEWS. Mr. Goldman spent many hours inside the courtroom and had unique access to both the lead prosecutor and Peterson’s lead defense attorney, Mark Geragos. Afterall, they had both been students of his.

Mr. Goldman was gracious enough to come back and discuss this new twist in the case. As a primer on the case, we begin with a replay of that 2020 interview entitled: “Laci’s Missing.”

1969: The Age of Aquarius - Peace, love and understanding! Nowhere was this more evident than in Helltown, also known as Provincetown, Massachusetts. And Tony Costa was at the center of it all. Like Charles Manson on the left coast, Tony had a group of loyal followers, mostly smitten women who called him Sire. Tony was the undisputed leader of their counter-culture movement, the charming man who speaks eloquently and hands out hallucinogenic drugs like candy.

But beneath his benign persona lurked a twisted and uncontrollable rage that threatens to break loose at any moment. Tony Costa is the most dangerous man on Cape Cod, and no one who crosses his path is safe.

When young women begin to disappear, Costa's natural charisma and good looks initially protect him from suspicion. But as the bodies are discovered, the police close in on him as the key suspect. Meanwhile, local writers Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. and Norman Mailer are locked in a desperate race to secure their legacies as great literary icons. 

Helltown written by New York Times bestselling author Casey Sherman, is a landmark true crime narrative that transports us back to the turbulent late 1960s.  And Mr. Sherman joins me now.

Doppelganger: “A person who looks or acts the same way you do – a twin.” Many of us have been told that we look exactly like a celebrity. Sometimes you might walk up to someone in the supermarket and start talking to them as if they are someone you know, only to be fooled because they are not. Harmless fun? Yes, except for poor Pamela Hutchinson, who was murdered by her doppelganger. To tell us this unusual story is Rod Kackley, a return guest to MURDER MOST FOUL and the author of The Murder of Pamela Hutchinson.

Elliot Ness and the American Demon. Almost sounds like a Nancy Drew Mystery. I wish the story were that benign. In the mid 1930’s, just after Prohibition ended, Cleveland played host to a killer whose grizzly murders rivaled that of London’s Jack the Ripper. The victims were all beheaded and often their limbs were also removed earning this sadist the moniker: Torso Killer!

My guest today is New York Times bestselling author, Daniel Stashower, who’s here to share the story of Elliot Ness and the hunt for America’s Jack the Ripper.

If you’ve ever been at a criminal trial or, like me, have never missed an episode of Law & Order on TV, you are aware that certain evidence and witness testimony is not allowed by our current judicial system. But in 1673, in Colonial Portsmouth, Rhode Island, it was not that restrictive. Thomas Cornell, Jr., was charged with killing his mother, Rebecca, by burning her alive. Evidence at the trial included testimony from the spirit of the deceased who appeared to a relative, stating “see how I was burnt with fire.” This form of unusual evidence was called “spectral evidence” and held weight at the trial, which had no direct evidence against Thomas. He was subsequently convicted and hung on the gallows. On a positive note, he was given leniency and was not “drawn” first.

Join me today as we probe this interesting case with, genealogist Alicia Bertrand, who discovered this story while researching her own family tree and found that, not only is she is descended from the Cornells, but also a certain Fall River Axe Murderess.

Sixty years ago this year, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. Not quite two weeks after the tragedy, The Warren Commission, established by President Johnson, was launched to investigate the incident and report its findings to the American people.

The Committee stated in publishing its findings that “the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy was a cruel and shocking act. This report endeavors to appraise this tragedy by the light of reason… to present to the American people an objective report of the facts.”

Simply put, did they succeed? Join me today as we attempt to answer that question by going inside the Warren Commission with William VanDerKloot, writer and director of the film by the same title, available this month on your local PBS station.

Look! Up in the sky, it’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman! For us “baby-boomers” there is only one Superman. And that is as portrayed actor, George Reeves. Reeves version of the Man of Steel was beamed into our living rooms as The Adventures of Superman. The serial aired from 1952-1958, first in black white and then in color, during the birth of the Golden Age of Television. Mr. Reeves did not get rich from the show and sadly, arguably. due to typecasting, could never shake the role.

In 1959, he was discovered in his bedroom, dead from what was deemed by authorities to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. But was it indeed suicide or something more sinister?

In 2006 the film HOLLYWOODLAND was released and pondered this exact question. The movie also offers us a look into the life and times of one of the first T.V. super-heroes.  

The Writer and Producer of HOLLYWOODLAND, Paul Bernbaum, joins me today on Murder Most Foul.

You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. 

 If you have watched any cop show after 1965, from Dragnet to Law and Order, you recognize those words, often printed on a small, crumpled card pulled out of a detective’s pocket. Miranda Rights. But who is Miranda?

Ernesto Arturo Miranda was an American criminal and laborer whose conviction on the kidnapping and rape of an 18 year-old young woman was set aside in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case: Miranda v. Arizona

The movie MIRANDA'S VICTIM tells the true story of a brave victim of rape and her ordeal to put a serial rapist behind bars..twice and, in so doing, found her voice.

My guest today is Michelle Danner, director of MIRANDA’S VICTIM.

The biggest, the fastest, the longest of anything intrigues us. Many aspire to have their feats, no matter how trivial, immortalized in The Guiness Book of World the Records. The record of “Most Murders by a Serial Killer” is no exception. And that honor goes to Sam McDowell Little.

Starting in 1971 and continuing for 20 years, the FBI confirmed Little's involvement in at least 63 of the 93 confessed murders - the largest number of confirmed victims for any serial killer in United States history.

 My guest today is Jillian Lauren, author and journalist, who entered a modern version of the movie “Silence of the Lambs” to BEHOLD THE MONSTER. Come along with me as she tells her unique story of gathering confessions and details of scores of unsolved murders from the mouth of the monster himself.

In 1954, two college students were hiking along a creek outside of Boulder, Colorado, when they stumbled upon the body of a murdered young woman. Who was this woman? What had happened to her? The initial investigation turned up nothing, and the girl was buried in a local cemetery with a gravestone that read, "Jane Doe, April 1954, Age About 20 Years." Decades later, historian Silvia Pettem formed a partnership with law enforcement and forensic experts and set in motion the events that led to Jane Doe's exhumation and eventual identification, as well as the identity of her probable killer. The new Kindle version includes an Epilogue––with updated information on how the mystery finally was solved.

September 2nd, 1945 - World War II is over! A time for celebration and rejoicing, except in the small town of Campbell, California. Like most towns at the time, the folks were happy that the war was over, and life was slowly returning to normal. That is, tragically except for one poor family in Campbell. It was Friday night, November 2nd. The high school was the site of a fall tradition, an interschool football game. Thora Chamberlain, just shy of her 15th birthday, was supposed to be at the game with her friends but she didn’t arrive at the game and never came home afterwards.

Please welcome a retuning guest to Murder Most Foul, Rod Kackley, as he recounts the twisted tale of THE MURDER OF THORA CHAMBERLAIN.

“Elementary, my dear Watson.” I hazard a guess that you are all familiar with that phrase uttered in almost every film portrayal of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s literary creation, Sherlock Holmes. More about that utterance later. What some folks don’t know about Sir Arthur, is that he was in every sense the alter ego of his creation, Sherlock Holmes. Conan Doyle was not only a brilliant spinner of mystery tales, but he was also an accomplished medical doctor and scientist. He was an expert in deductive and inductive reasoning, and in a time without high-tech scientific tools, not even fingerprint analysis, he often helped Scotland Yard solve baffling crimes. But in the case of Oscar Slater, he was on the other side of the authorities, advocating for the release of an innocent man. Why? Elementary! It was the right thing to do!

 My guest today is Margarlit Fox, author of, “Conan Doyle for the Defense.” Prior to writing this book, and others, she worked writing Obits for the New York Times of the famous and infamous alike.

 A perfect guest for Murder Most Foul. Wouldn’t you say?

With 50-year-old cold murder cases there is rarely the opportunity to bring the perpetrator, even if identified, to justice. Odds are that he, or she, is long deceased. But not so in the case of 8-year-old Gretchen Harrington of Marple, PA, a quiet suburb of Philadelphia. In 1975 she was abducted on her way to Bible Camp, brutally murdered and her naked body dumped in Ridley State Park.

In 2022, authors Joanna Falcone Sullivan and Mike Mathis, who grew up in Marple and were childhood contemporaries of Gretchen, decided to write a book about the crime, its effect on the family of Gretchen and, for that matter, the entire town.  They interviewed both state and town authorities and were even given access to investigation files.  They sat down with Gretchen’s family and friends and unwittingly the murderer and his family as well.

Many folks credit the authors with revitalizing the investigation after 5 decades and, in no small part helping identify the murderer and bring him to justice.  

Joanna Falcone Sullivan, one of the authors of Marple’s Gretchen Harrington Tragedy: Kidnapping, Murder and Innocence Lost in Suburban Philadelphia, joins us today on MURDER MOST FOUL.

As a father, I cannot think of anything more horrifying than discovering that your 4-year-old daughter has been abducted from her bed, in the middle of the night, while your family is vacationing in a foreign country. But that is exactly what happened to the parents of Madeleine McCann. The cold case, which is over 15 years old, is as controversial as it is disturbing.

What better person to take us through it than author Robbyn Swan who, with her husband Anthony Summers, has written more than one controversial book. She joins us now to discuss their current book, Looking for Madeleine.

Why do folks like True Crime stories in all their manifestations? I have been told it’s not the gore or even the unravelling of the mystery. In the end, it comes down to one thing: the “perp” getting his or her just desserts and going prison or being executed. But what if that resolution relied on JUNK SCIENCE to obtain that outcome. Those of us addicted to Law and Order or CSI love our forensic experts. But what if all, or most, of their work has little or no basis in actual verifiable science? Voice prints, bite marks, hair analysis, garbage bag creases, blood spatter, burn path, fingerprints, face recognition, ballistics, footprints, handwriting analysis, and hypnosis, are just a few. Yes, even fingerprint analysis is far from perfect. To explain it all to us is Innocence Project attorney and author M. Chris Fabricant.

(Graphic by Gabriele Wilson)

No topic, save maybe abortion, engenders more debate than that of Execution in our penal system. The arguments on both sides are intense, but I think it’s safe to say that both sides do not want an innocent man or woman to fall victim to the “Final Judgement.”

As they say on LAW AND ORDER, “the case at bar” is that of Richard Eugene Glossip of Oklahoma. Mr. Glossip has been on death row for over 26 years for a murder he did not commit. In that time, he has had his execution date stayed 3 times, once when he was actually strapped to the gurney.

Here's the twist. He’s innocent! Now you don’t have to take my word for it. The various prosecuting authorities that have had a hand in this case say he is innocent to the degree that some were behind the latest stay, that was just granted by the Supreme Court as they head out of town at the end of the session.

Is this a miscarriage of justice or just how the “system” works?

My guest today is Republican Oklahoma State Representative, and death penalty proponent, Kevin McDugle. For the last 4 years, he has been an ardent advocate for Mr. Glossip in his fight for his life.

The Gilded Agein America was a time of great political corruption, wealth inequality and loosening of Victorian Age morals in the late 1800s.  

 No one person embodied all that the Gilded Age promised more than Evelyn Nesbit, a willowy, copper-haired beauty from Philadelphia. Arguably, she was the world’s first ever supermodel. Before she was out of her teens, Evelyn was the most sought-after artist and fashion model in NYC.

She was the original “it” girl, the model for the Gibson Girl and her haunting face graced the packaging of almost every commercial product of the age.

She rubbed elbows with the rich and famous and even had time to have a tryst with John Barrymore. Her life was turbulent and eventful, but her fame peaked when she became embroiled in a murder.

To share the incredible story of the Girl in the Velvet Swing is author of AMERICAN EVE, Paula Uruburu

“The Trial of Lizzie Borden: a true story.” Yeah, I know, everyone says that, but trust me this is NOT just another Podcast about Lizzie Borden. It's not “Lizzie in the drawing room with a hatchet” offering. We won't try to convince you that Lizzie was pregnant, or sleeping with Bridget, or even did the deed naked. My guest today, lawyer and author Cara Robertson, instead covers in detail the legal proceedings, of which there were many, in the infamous murder trial and acquittal of Lizzie Borden. There is also a little treat in store. You will get to hear Ms. Robertson's portrayal of Emma Borden in a Mock Trial presided over by Supreme Court Justices William Rehnquist and Sarah Day O'Connor. How's that? Without further ado, please welcome to Murder Most Foul, Cara Robertson.

Depending on your age and demographic, many of you might remember the female “buddy” movie, “Thelma and Louise.” Today, I am pleased to introduce Jennifer and Stephanie. Jennifer Marshall is a Navy veteran, private detective and host of the popular documentary series MYSTERIES DECODED seen on The CW Network. Stephanie Bingham is an author, historian, and spiritual psychic.

Jennifer and Stephanie took a road trip to Fall River, Massachusetts, to film an episode on Lizzie Borden. The pair were given unfettered access, not only to the Second Street house where the gruesome murders of Andrew and Abby Borden took place, but also Maplecroft, the elegant mansion where Lisbeth lived out her remaining years after her acquittal of the crime. Did the pair experience any communications with the principals of this popular, macabre historical event? Let’s ask.

In a span of just over two years starting in 2018 in a small area of suburban Dallas, Texas, in a cluster of retirement facilities, 26 senior citizen’s died, of “natural causes.” At least that was the finding of the police authorities. Oddly in all cases there was clearly a robbery involved of expensive jewelry (including wedding rings taken off the deceased), and in two cases a safe was purloined.

In almost every case, investigators failed to collect fingerprints or DNA evidence, order autopsies, or photograph crime scenes - all standard death-investigation practices, particularly when paired with a theft or burglary report, as was the case with nearly every homicide in this grim procession.

Join me as I discuss this troubling case with journalist and AARP Magazine contributor Lise Olsen as she shares her story of UNNATURAL CAUSES.

In early 1980, Jackie Schut and her husband Harold (Lee) Schut embarked on a multi-state, baby-snatching enterprise that involved killing the mothers of the infants. One of those infants was Amanda Bell. Although Jackie and Lee were implicated in Amanda’s abduction and the murder of her mother, they were never prosecuted. In 2020, the documentary DIABOLICAL: “Hands that Rob the Cradle” first aired. The basis for the episode was the book by the late Ann Rule entitled: “Lying in Wait.”

Today on Murder Most Foul you will hear the tortured tale in Amanda Bell’s own words as she is my guest.

On January 23rd 2023, Alex Murdaugh - disgraced and disbarred attorney, scion of the influential Murdaugh family and South Carolina “good ol’ boy” - went on trial for the double-homicide of his wife, Maggie and their teenage son, Paul. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. Aside from the financial fraud and swindling of law partners and vulnerable clients, there are at least 3 other deaths connected to Alex and his family. Join me today as I try to sort out this case that has more head-spinning twists and turns than a ride at Disney with the help of my guest, Rebecca F. Pittman who has just finished her book on the case, Countdown to Murder: Alex Murdaugh: Money, Murder & Deception in South Carolina.

On June 18th 1984, Denver radio talk show host, Alan Berg was assassinated in front of his house, his bullet-riddled corpse found in his driveway in a pool of his own blood.

Berg was an acerbic, gonzo personality who was an equal opportunity annoyer. Christian or Jew. Liberal or Conservative. White or Black. NAACP or KKK. All were fodder for his popular radio show. He could be described as a cross between Groucho Marx and Tom Hanks’ character in the film: “A man called Otto.” A colleague once said of him: “Meeting Alan for the first time was like seeing an 8-piece band come through the door playing out of tune.”

A truly one-of-a-kind individual, he never shied away from a debate no matter how serious or mundane the subject was. On one program he would spend an hour berating an antisemite caller or challenging a priest on the topic of “Sex without Pleasure.” The next day he would open the floor for a discussion on which way to roll your toilet paper- over or under. Callers would respond for hours some got so angry they hung up!

So who assassinated Alan Berg? Was it as simple as an irate listener or was it something much more sinister.

To help us answer that question, I turned to author and journalist, Stephen Singular. His book on Alan Berg, TALKED TO DEATH, was used as background for the Oliver Stone movie, TALK RADIO, written by and starring Eric Begosian.

Join me as I visit with prolific True Crime author, and all-around fun guy, Rod Kackley. Listen in as we talk about his encounter in high school in an elevator with Jane Fonda and hear about his ancestor who provided medical treatment for a member of Butch Cassidy’s Gang. Oh, we’ll talk murder, too! Like the case of the Uber driver who killed fares because, like Flip Wilson said, “The devil made him do it!” Not to be undone by the woman who killed her husband and sought advice from the helpful folks at her local hardware store on how to saw up the body and encase the body parts in cement.

Do you? Join me as I welcome renowned author and Ghosthunter, Leslie Rule to the show.  In this segment, we examine paranormal activities associated with murders as well as suspicious unsolved disappearances. You do not have to believe in ghosts to be entertained by the stories in Leslie’s most recent book: “Haunted in America.”

The movie’s horrific rape scene is grueling to watch. In a car, a terrified prostitute is bound at the wrists and tied to one of the door handles. Already bloodied and beaten, she is viciously sodomized by the man who picked her up by the side of the highway. Somehow, she breaks free and, wild with rage, bravely turns the tables on her attacker. She grabs a gun from her bag and fires bullet after bullet into his chest. The audience, watching breathlessly, feels a rush of sympathy for her. The only problem is, it’s not true.

The movie is MONSTER, which chronicles the one year killing spree by America’s first female serial killer, Aileen Warnous. Actress Charlize Theron won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Warnous

“With the movie’s sympathetic take, Hollywood has put its boot print on a piece of history. I find the movie’s distortions disturbing.”

Those words come from Sue Russell, Aileen’s biographer, and author of the book “Lethal Intent.”  Ms. Russell joins me now on Murder Most Foul.

Jason Derek Brown was a small time petty con man who spent most of his life one step ahead of the law or the mob, depending on the day of the week. That was until November 29th, 2004, when this charismatic drifter decided to pull off one last big score and vanish into thin air. He carefully planned and executed the robbery of an armored car outside a movie theater and killed the guard in cold blood. He soon was placed on the F.B.I.’s 10 Most Wanted List, where he remained until September of this year when he was removed to make room for another fugitive. At the time of this taping, Mr. Brown is still at large.

Matthew Gentile wrote and directed the chilling film, AMERICAN MURDERER, which follows Mr. Brown’s exploits. The film opens in theaters on October 21st in advance of streaming nationwide. Matthew is my guest today.

Before there were the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, QAnon and Donald Trump, there was Timothy McVeigh. A decorated war veteran, who decided he, too, didn’t trust the federal government. He decided to release his anger and frustration upon over 800 innocents by bringing down the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

This largest act of domestic terror in the history of the United States, took the lives of 168 souls, 19 of whom were children, and injured 680 others.

Was McVeigh’s wanton act an inspiration for the attack on the capitol on January 6th? I asked my guest today just that question. Stanley Goldman is a lawyer and teacher of law and, at the time of McVeigh’s trial, was present in the courtroom as a legal reporter and analyst for Fox News.

In 1979, Brenda Spencer, a seemingly average teenage girl living in a nice suburban neighborhood, made and executed plans that would place her in infamy and set a violent and terrifying national precedent. She received a rifle from her father for Christmas, and a month later, opened fire on the elementary school across the street, killing the principal and a custodian and wounding 8 students and a police officer.

The event is forever glorified by the song “I Don’t Like Mondays” by The Boomtown Rats and marks the bloody beginning of the American phenomenon of school shootings. Long before Columbine and Sandy Hook, there was Brenda Spencer.

REDEMPTION. Not a word one would associate with Charles Manson, Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer. But what about an 11-year-old boy who, in 1889 in rural Iowa, murdered his abusive parents as they slept, sparing his one-year-old sister who was sleeping in the same bed?

“THE PLEA: The true story of Young Wesley Elkins and his struggle for Redemption,” might help you answer that question. Authors Patricia L. Bryan and Thomas Wolf join me now on this edition of Murder Most Foul.

On July 20, 2012, James Holmes walked into the midnight showing of THE DARK KNIGHT RISES in Aurora, Colorado and opened fire on the theater patrons, methodically killing 12 people and injuring 70 others. Like the mass shootings which preceded that night, and those which have occurred since, the public response was swift and predictable. Stricter gun control, Red Flag Laws and more money for mental health. Politicians searched for any benefit that could be gained from the tragedy. The surprise was that, in this case, the perpetrator was, in fact, in the care of a mental health professional at the time of the massacre.

In the book AURORA, psychiatrist Dr. Lynne Fenton tells her story of treating James Holmes to True Crime author and attorney Kerrie Droban. Through Dr. Fenton’s session notes and her conversations with Ms. Droban, we get to peer into the mind of Holmes as he was meticulously planning the massacre. After listening to this Podcast, you can decide, was Holmes insane or just plain evil.

In 1930, Eva Dugan became the first woman ever executed in the State of Arizona and the last person to face the gallows in that state. Author Rod Kackley tells us the twisted tale that I’m calling “Eva and the Hangman.”

A parent’s worst nightmare…their child vanishes on the way to catch the bus to school. Did they run away? Were they abducted by a stranger or were they taken by someone they knew and trusted. In 2002, 13-year-old classmates, Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis both vanished on their way to school, two months apart. Soon a task force of over 40 police and F.B.I. agents and the entire community of Oregon City were frantically searching for the missing girls.

Jim Redden and Janine Robben reporters for the newly established Portland Tribune reported on the case and worked tirelessly to help solve the crime. I’m going to let them tell you the story of what I call BURIED IN PLAIN SIGHT.

WHEN THE MOON TURNS TO BLOOD digs deeply into the horrific tale of the murder and mutilation of two innocent children by their Doomsday Mother, Lori Vallow and her husband, Chad Daybell. Was it simply a love affair gone wrong, a story of sexual lust so intense it drove two people to kill? Or was it something far more sinister? Join me as I interview author and journalist Leah Sottile who in her book explains the who, what, when, where and how of this yet unsettled case. The why... is up to you.

The Petersons seemed the ideal couple, well-respected, prosperous, and happy. All that came crashing down in December of 2001, when Kathleen apparently fell to her death in their secluded home in an exclusive area of Durham, North Carolina. But blood-spatter evidence and a missing fireplace poker suggested calculated, cold-blooded murder. Her trusted husband, Michael, stood accused. To bolster their case, prosecutors introduced evidence at trial that sixteen years earlier, Peterson was the last person to see his neighbor alive before she was found dead at the bottom of a staircase in her home in Germany.

Attending the trial and having intimate access to the families and trial exhibits, award-winning journalist Diane Fanning'sWritten in Blood spins a heart-wrenching true crime tale that's been the subject of an acclaimed HBO TV documentary, "The Staircase." Hear information not revealed in any recreation.

Babbling brooks, breathtaking mountain views, the endless sounds of nature. That’s what comes to mind for most of us when we think about National Parks like the Grand Canyon and Acadia National Park in Maine. But these wonderful and pristine escapes have a dark side as well. They are perfect places to commit a murder. Join me as I speak with nature writer, and friend, Randi Minetor as we delve into her series of books on death in National Parks…many by murder!

In the criminal justice system, the People are represented by two important groups: the police who investigate crime and the District Attorneys who prosecute the offenders.

I think it’s safe to say that most of you are familiar with that opening to the successful TV show LAW AND ORDER. But the Defense Attorney is an equally essential party in our Criminal Justice System. It’s funny. When we are accused of a crime, rightly or wrongly, we want an attorney to protect our rights. But what about a serial killer? What are their rights? Do they have any? One attorney who believed a serial killer has an equal right to counsel is Jim Potts, who chronicled his moral and ethical conflict in his book “Defending a Serial Killer” and joins us now on MURDER MOST FOUL.

“Beyond suspicion” and “hiding in plain sight” are two phrases that have been used to describe countless serial murders, that is… before they are caught. Many have led mundane lives that allow them to remain under the radar throughout their reigns of terror. But not Russell Williams, who was by night a rapist and killer, but his day job was that of Colonel in the Canadian Airforce, tasked with flying World dignitaries around Canada, including Queen Elizabeth II and President Clinton. Listen in as I interview author Alan R. Warren and we try to unravel this fascinating case of deception and depravity.

As the ad goes: “You’re in good hands with ALLSTATE,” but not if you are Betsy Faria. The brutal murder of Betsy Faria, on December 27, 2011, set off a maelstrom of events that resulted in an innocent man's imprisonment and another man's death. It would take a decade to unravel all the misdirection in the Faria murder case, the misconduct of the prosecution team, and the insidious mind of a murderer that St. Charles County Prosecutor Tim Lohmar called "The Worst of the Worst!" Betsy Faria was stabbed over 55 times. The murder scene was staged in an effort to frame the victim's husband Russell Faria. Through an investigative trial filled with perjury, tainted evidence, and misdirection, Russell was found guilty and spent 3 1/2 years in prison before his tenacious lawyer won him a second chance. It was during that second trial that the shadows fell away and the real murderer, Pam Hupp, was revealed. But, before they could bring her to justice, several people would be stalked as potential victims, and one man would eventually lose his life in her effort to deflect suspicion from herself. Along the way, her mother mysteriously plunged from her third-floor balcony and died. And at the bottom of it all…pure greed!

Rebecca Pittman has written a book more comprehensive and riveting than any documentary or made for T.V. movie and she joins me now on Murder Most Foul to share with us COUNTDOWN TO MURDER: PAM HUPP (Death Insured).

“Lizzie Borden took an ax.” Nine years later in a rural town in Iowa, Margaret Hossack, mother to 10 children, raised an ax and butchered her husband, John, as he slept in their bed. Or did she? Come along as we investigate this fascinating case that has more than one parallel to the Lizzie Borden murders. Our guides are husband and wife team, Patricia Bryan and Thomas Wolfe. Their book: MIDNIGHT ASSASSIN.

On June 25, 1973, a seven-year-old girl went missing from the Montana campground where her family was vacationing. Somebody had slit open the back of their tent and snatched her from under their noses. None of them saw or heard anything. Susie Jaeger had vanished into thin air, plucked by a shadow.

“ShadowMan,” by Ron Franscell, is a pulse-pounding account of the first time in history that the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit created a psychological profile to catch a serial killer. Ron Franscell joins me on Murder Most Foul.

QUESTION: What is better than an exciting True Crime Story? How about 13 such stories in one book. Award winning author Michael Benson has penned just such a book, DARK ROSES and joins me today on Murder Most Foul.

The ancient and oft quoted Hippocratic oath exhorts all doctors “to do no harm.” Technically the exact words are: “I will abstain from all intentional wrongdoing and harm.” It also states that “Neither will I administer poison to anybody.” One Victorian gentleman in England, who did not get the memo, was Dr. William Palmer, who, in the mid-19th century, although tried for only one murder, is purported to have poisoned several individuals. Among his alleged victims: his wife, his mother-in-law, his brother, and four of his own children andanyone he managed to take out a life insurance policy on with himself as the beneficiary.

Journalist and author Stephen Bates wrote a book on the man Queen Victoria called “a black leg” in her diary, entitled THE POISONER and he joins us on Murder Most Foul.

In October of 1997, in a quiet town in Texas, Julie Rae awoke in the middle of the night to an intruder in her house. She struggled with the man and chased him outside. She raced back into the house to check on her 10-year-old son, Joel. At quick glance, she did not see him in his bed. Fearing the intruder might have had an accomplice and Joel had been kidnapped, she enlisted help from the neighbors. Sadly, Joel was found between his bed and the wall in his bedroom, butchered with a knife. Ultimately, Julie was convicted of the unthinkable crime and sentenced to a long prison term.

In March 2002, award-winning crime writer and friend of the podcast, Diane Fanning, was writing her first book, Through the Window. Because of that book, Julie was granted a new trial where she was not only found not guilty, but officially declared innocent by the state. In the fall of 2021, Diane was a featured guest on a 20/20 episode on the Julie Rae case entitled GOODNIGHT, MOTHER and joins us now to share her amazing story.

It seemed like the perfect romantic afternoon: a kayaking trip for two on the Hudson River. But it ended in tragedy when the beautiful, blonde Angelika Griswald called 911 to report her fiancé had fallen into the choppy, frigid waters. The authorities assumed it was an accident. But when the bereft bride-to-be posted videos of herself doing cartwheels on social media, shortly before Vincent’s body was found, suspicions of Angelika’s role rose to the surface.

WATCH ME DIE, by Dr. Bill Kimberlin.  Provocative title? Provocative subject. In researching his book, Dr. Kimberlin not only spent time interviewing death row inmates, but also ate meals with them and, in some cases, was the last person to speak with them before they were executed. From the moment they are placed on suicide watch until the moment they are pronounced dead right in front of him, Kimberlin walks you through the twisted and complex execution process in the state of Ohio.

Their writings, their artwork, and their own words puts the reader in the room with these dangerous killers. Nothing is off-limits and there is nothing to shield Kimberlin from the same hands that have taken countless lives, leaving Kimberlin himself asking, “Will this be my last trip to death row?”

Dr. Bill Kimberlin joins us now on Murder Most Foul.

“Bachelor #1 is a professional photographer. In his spare time, he likes skydiving, riding his motorcycle and killing women and young girls. Please welcome to the Dating Game….Rodney, Alcala.”

Serial killer Rodney James Alcala murdered at least nine women and girls across the United States in the 1970s, though his true death toll could number more than 100. He spent time in prison for sexual assault and other crimes in the 1970s but continued to rape and kill when he was released. Autopsies of some Alcala’s victims revealed that he would strangle women, then wait for them to regain consciousness before the final kill. Alcala also sometimes arranged the corpses of women he'd murdered in poses.

Although sentenced to death, 3 times, he died of natural causes in July of 2021 before he could be executed. During his reign of terror, he managed to appear as a bachelor contestant on the then hit T.V. show, the Dating Game.

It was the roaring 20’s, the Golden Age of Jazz, Prohibition, bathtub gin, Eliot Ness, speakeasies, flappers and newly found sexual freedom.  Fritzie Mann was a young, beautiful club dancer with everything to live for. In 1923, her scantily clad body was found on a San Diego beach, up the road from the Blue Sea Cottage. Was it suicide or murder staged to look like Fritzie took her own life?

Author James Stewart joins us here today on Murder Most Foul to help unravel the MYSTERY AT THE BLUE SEA COTTAGE.

GOLDEN BOY is the tragic tale of privilege, mental disease and murder. My guest today on Murder Most Foul is Journalist John Glatt whose book “Golden Boy: A Murder Among the Manhattan Elite” takes an in-depth look at the devastating crime that rocked Manhattan’s upper class. With exclusive access to sources close to Thomas Gilbert, Jr., including his own mother, Glatt constructs the agonizing spiral of mental illness that led him to the ultimate unspeakable act of patricide!

For many of us, that vintage bit from SEINELD is all we know of Joel David Rifkin, who between 1989 and 1993 terrorized NYC and its environs. Rifkin was sentenced to 203 years in prison for the murders of nine women during that time, though he is believed to have killed up to 17 victims in all.

Former heavyweight boxer and decorated NYPD cop, Robert Mladinich, joins me today to discuss serial killer Joel Rifkin who he first met when they were college students together at Brockport State College in Upstate New York.

Some men think the phrase “til death do us part,” is a prescription on how to end a marriage or failing relationship. One such loser is Grant Hayes. When his relationship to Laura Ackerson, the mother of his two boys, was deteriorating, due to his drug abuse and philandering AND she was seeking custody of the boys, he decided butchering her was the obvious solution. In this episode, we delve into this heart-wrenching case of domestic violence taken to its all-too-often final conclusion.

On January 15th, 1947, the body of a beautiful young woman, that of 22-year-old Elizabeth Short, was found by the side of the road in a quiet neighborhood of L.A. The body had been bisected, washed clean and the upper torso posed in an unusual way. This was the beginning of a case that captured the imagination of the world. Ms. Short was soon given the moniker “Black Dahlia” by the press. Her killer has never brought to justice. The Black Dahlia case remains L.A.’s oldest open, but unsolved murder. That is until now! Steve Hodel, author of the book “Black Dahlia Avenger,” believes he knows who killed the Black Dahlia and he joins me today. You’re gonna want to hang around for this one!

The Twilight Zone, an icon of the early days of television, that, thanks to streaming services and YouTube, lives on. It was such a popular small screen show that in 1983 it made it to the big screen. Twilight Zone: The Movie traded on the successful format of the TV show. Hey, if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it. The movie was divided into 4 free-standing vignettes about the same time length as a TV episode (without the commercials) 3 of the segments were based on stories from earlier incarnation. The 4th was written and directed by John Landis, who previously was known for movies such as The Blues Brothers, Trading PlacesandComing To America. During the filming of a stunt for his segment, something went horribly wrong, and 3 actors died, including 2 children working illegally on the movie. Tragic accident or homicide? You decide.

Kelsey was a young beautiful pilot, accomplished to the point that she trained pilots for the Air Force. Patrick Frazee, a charismatic cattle rancher. They met on Tinder and two years Later they had a beautiful daughter and were planning a wedding. The beginning of a storybook life together. That is until Thanksgiving 2018 when something went horribly wrong.

Rod Kackley chronicles the heartbreaking story in his book… The Murder of Kelsey Berreth and joins me today on Murder Most Foul.

One..Two…Three! Go!

It started out as a joke. But on July 6th 2012 high school friends Shelia Eddy and Rachel Shoaf lured another friend, Skylar Neese, to an isolated area near Morgantown, West Virginia and savagely stabbed her to death. Skylar’s last words? “Why? Why? Why?”

In 1958 19-year-old Charles Starkweather went on a two- week murder spree that paralyzed a nation. Ten innocent lives were lost including that of a two-year-old girl, who was the half-sister of his companion 14-year-old Caril Ann Fugate. A question remains. Was Caril Ann a willing accomplice or a hostage?

In the late 1970’s, four young women went missing around the Michigan State University campus, in East Lansing. All four women subsequently were found dead. Were the brutal murders connected? Was there a serial killer on the loose in Lansing Michigan? 40 years later, retired Police Sergeant Rod Sadler answers that question for us, as he discusses the case, which is the subject of his latest book, “Killing Women.” And he offers a chilling warning.

Satanic worship, animal sacrifice, ritual ceremonies all part of the rise of Satanic Cults in the late 60’s and early 70’s. This phenomenon created a “Satanic Panic.”

The murders of 3 young women involved in the sex trade in Fall River, Massachusetts came to be part of this “Satanic Panic” and became the most sensational criminal case to come out of the Spindle City since Lizzie Borden.

On June 13th 2011, a young woman was found hanging from the balcony of an historic mansion. She was naked, her feet were bound, her hands tied behind her back and a gag in her mouth. Suicide, perhaps. Murder staged to look like a suicide, maybe. To help us sort out the mystery is award winning journalist and author of DEATH ON OCEAN BOULEVARD, Caitlin Rother who joined me for this episode of Murder Most Foul.

-Graphic from "Death at the Mansion"

The first line of Charles Dickens beloved Christmas Carol reads: “Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that.”

Make no mistake, O.J. Simson murdered his ex-wife and a virtual stranger in 1994 and was acquitted of the crime by a jury of his peers. If you disagree, you probably won’t want to stick around, although I hope you will.

On Monday September 4th, 1989, the police in Warwick, RI were called to a home in the working-class community of Buttonwoods. Inside lay three bodies. That of Joan Heaton and her 2 daughters, Jennifer 10 and Melissa 8. The victims were stabbed a total of 63 times. The bodies were discovered by Joan’s mother and her sister.

When the detectives went in what they saw literally sickened them. There was so much blood it was difficult to tell one body from another. The killer? 15-year-old neighbor Craig Price.

We are all familiar with the term “Life imitating Art” but often Art imitates Life.

Edward Theodore Gein, also known as the “Butcher of Plainfield” or the “Ghoul of Plainfield”, was an American convicted murderer and body snatcher who has been cited as the inspiration behind Alfred Hitchcock’s seminal masterpiece, PSYCHO.

Mr. Gein is the subject of this episode of Murder Most Foul.

Today we have something a little different on Murder Most Foul. It is a murder/ghost hunting/crossover episode. In 2006, Robert Graves and his wife, Vicki, bought FOX HOLLOW FARM in rural Indiana. It had been the home and killing grounds of Herb Baumeister, who in the early 1990s killed and buried in the woods nearby at least 11 gay men.

Paranormal Investigator, Richard Estep and his team, investigated ghostly phenomenon at the farm at the invitation of the Graves Family. Their story will haunt you, in much the same way the spirits still haunt FOX HOLLOW FARM.

Serial killer, Theodore Robert Bundy, was executed in the Florida electric chair on January 24th, 1989. Over 30 years later, his infamy has not faded. Author Kevin M. Sullivan, arguably a Bundy expert, has written not just one, but six books covering every detail of this monster’s short life and the numerous families and survivors he still affects to this day.

Mr. Sullivan joined me for this episode of Murder Most Foul.

On July 10, 1981, Ken Rex McElroy was shot to death on the main street of Skidmore, Missouri. Forty-five townspeople watched. His wife, sitting next to him in the truck, identified the gunman. Despite three Grand Jury investigations and an FBI probe, no indictments were ever issued, no trial held – and the town of Skidmore has protected the killer with silence ever since.

“In Broad Daylight: A murder in Skidmore, Missouri” is an Edgar Alan Poe True Crime award winner written by Harry N. MacLean. This riveting, contemporaneously penned book takes you inside the minds and souls of the townspeople of this small midwestern town as they grapple with a monster in their midst.

Herman Webster Mudgett, better known as H. H. Holmes, the architect of The Murder Castle, was an American serial killer who hunted in Chicago in the 1890’s around the time of the World’s Fair. Holmes was a killer, con artist, and trigamist and the subject of over 50 lawsuits in Chicago alone. Holmes was executed on May 7th, 1896, nine days before his 35th birthday.

DEPRAVED is a fascinating True Crime book on the life of H. H. Holmes. The book’s author, Dr. Harold Schechter, joined me for this episode of MURDER MOST FOUL. 

In the summer of 1966, I was 15 years old and living in my hometown of Rochester New York. Every generation says “oh, it was a different time back then.”  But for me it really was.

Unfortunately, our idyllic summer of swimming at the local swimming hole was shattered when the bodies of local teens George-Ann Formicola and Kathy Bernhard were found murdered and mutilated.

Author of THE DEVIL AT GENESEE JUNCTION, Michael Benson, with the help of a mother of one of the victims and private detective, Donald Tubman, heats up the cold case, and sends the investigation in a startling new direction.

Between 1887 and 1891, a succession of horrific murders shook Victorian London. Over the period, 16 women were attacked – of whom only 3 survived. Despite the best attempts of contemporary detectives, no individual was ever charged with those crimes. Countless researchers, like my guest today, Dr. Drew Gray, have attempted to solve the 130-year-old mystery: Who was ‘Jack the Ripper’?

“Terror in Wichita,” by Paul F. Caranci is the story of two siblings who committed egregious acts of horror on innocent people in Wichita, Kansas. The story, an hour-by-hour accounting of the events, will bring you into the minds of the killers. It will bond you to the victims causing you to live and relive the horrific events in those nine days in December. It will introduce you to a woman of extraordinary courage, one who refused to become another casualty at the hands of two soulless monsters whose greed, lust and total disregard for the value of human life led to one of the most heinous and ghastly string of attacks and murders imaginable.

Ever wonder what goes on in the mind of a murderer? I have. Theories of what makes for a murderer are as numerous as the parties who write about them. I decided to pick just one to share with you, my audience.  My choice? Author and clinical psychologist Katherine Ramsland, PhD. Dr. Ramsland began her literary career in 1992 penning, “Prism of the Night: A Biography of Anne Rice.” Over her successful career, she has published 59 books and over 1000 articles, reviews and short stories on ghosts, vampires, serial killers and other dark subjects.

On New Year’s Eve 1843 in Cranston Rhode Island, wealthy Yankee Mill Owner Amasa Sprague was put upon as he walked home and brutally murdered. Irish immigrant, John Gordon was arrested, tried and convicted in arguably a rather biased trial. On Valentine’s Day 1845, Gordon was executed by hanging. He became the last Rhode Islander to be put to death. His last words: “I hope all good Christians pray for me.”

Paul F. Caranci, author of the book, “The Hanging and Redemption of John Gordon” joins me here on Murder Most Foul.

On New Year’s Day, 2008, 24-year-old Meredith Hope Emerson went hiking with her dog Ella on Blood Mountain in Georgia. She never returned. She was abducted and subsequently bludgeoned to death and decapitated by serial killer Gary Michael Hilton. By the end of the week, Hilton was identified as the killer, arrested and Meredith’s remains were recovered. Lead Investigator, Special Agent John Cagle of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation led the team that accomplished this rare quick resolution of this horrific crime.

Now retired, Mr. Cagle, author of “Those Days in January,” joins me today to share the story of this gruesome murder on Blood Mountain.

“The Alphabet Murders” (also known as the “Double Initial Murders”) are a series of unsolved child murders which occurred between 1971 and 1973 in Rochester, New York. All three victims were girls aged ten or twelve whose surname began with the same letter as her first name. Each victim was sexually assaulted, strangled and unceremoniously dumped by the side of the highway.

Join me and Crime Book author, Michael Benson as we discuss his book: “Nightmare in Rochester: The Double Initial Murders.”

So, who do YOU think murdered JFK? Lee Harvey Oswald? If so, did he have help from the F.B.I., the CIA, J. Edgar Hoover, the Warren Commission, the men's room attendant at the White House? My guest today has some strong opinions on the subject. Gerald Posner is the author of "CASE CLOSED: Lee Harvey Oswald and The Assassination of JFK." This exhaustively researched book was a New York Times bestseller and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for 1994.

In 2015 The Chicago Tribune called Posner “a merciless pit bull of an investigator. Author and journalist Gerald Posner is my guest today for this segment of MMF and joins me from an undisclosed location via ZOOM.

Joseph James DeAngelo was born on November 8, 1945. But this former cop and serial rapist and killer was known by many other names during the time he terrorized communities across southern California between 1973 and 1986.

Countless books have been written about the Golden State Killer, which was his most popular moniker. Arguably, no one spent more time and effort on covering him than author Anne Penn, whose life was directly impacted by DeAngelo. Ms. Penn has written 4 books on the Golden State Killer, her latest, END GAME and is my guest today on MURDER MOST FOUL.

For those listeners out there, who are looking for love on the Internet, you may change your mind after hearing the story of Cari Farver, a young woman who was the victim of a Cyberstalker, who eventually murdered her.  And as if that weren’t enough, terrorized everyone around her for years.

The tale is best told by my guest today, Leslie Rule, daughter of the late True Crime author Ann Rule, who wrote THE STRANGER BESIDE ME about her experience working side by side with Ted Bundy. As you will hear, the apple does not fall far from the tree. The book is TANGLED WEB and my guest is Leslie Rule.

Some murder cases never die…pun intended. One such case is the murder of Laci Peterson. Laci disappeared on Christmas Eve, 2002. Her torso and the body of unborn child, Connor, would wash up onshore 4 months later. Her husband, and father of her child, would be ultimately tried, convicted and sentenced to die for the brutal crime. Fast forward to this past fall when Scott’s appeal of the verdict and sentence comes down. The verdict standing but the penalty reversed. New York Times Bestselling author, Michael Fleeman and Law Professor and former FOX News Legal Analyst, Stanley Goldman joined me as Murder Most Foul looked into this decades old murder case once more.