Stay ConnectedA crime journalism podcast series focused on unusual horrors in the hills and hollers of Appalachia. Created and hosted by Kendall Perkinson and Sarah James McLaughlin.
Season 1 – Mared & Karen: The WVU Coed Murders
Season 2 – Big Savage: The Death Of Alexander Stevens
Season 3 – Outlandish
Season 4 – Listener Suggestions
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Arthur's phone is tracked down, and we listen to audio of a Morgantown detective interviewing three students who headed out on the town with Arthur the night he died.
Sarah & Geoff's book about the WVU Coed Murders
(available on Amazon)
Kendall's Appalachian Motorcycling Travel Channel
(@motoappalachiadiscovery on YouTube)
This two-part special introduces the life and death of Arthur Bagenda, an international student at WVU who drowned in a ditch within sight of the Morgantown Police station.
In this first episode, we visit the Walnut Street bridge, where a long-time local explains her problems with hard drug users at the site of Arthur's death. We review forensic photographs from the scene, hear from Arthur’s mother about the 19-year-old son she lost, and explain the first 72 hours following the discovery of his body.
Over the course of two episodes, Unattended Death will examine police reports, drone footage, forensic photographs, surveillance video, audio of police questioning, and interviews with those involved to craft a previously-untold West Virginia story. This is the third Morgantown-centered story produced by Appalachian Mysteria
Sarah & Geoff's book about the WVU Coed Murders
(available on Amazon)
Kendall's Appalachian Motorcycling Travel Channel
(@motoappalachiadiscovery on YouTube)
A child's grave explodes after 63 years underground. As Morgantown police and reporters gather around the coffin, they are shocked to find that his corpse is strangely well-preserved.
Cradle Will Rock is the story of the life, death, and disinterment of four-year-old Harry Spitz and his family, as uncovered by co-producer Jordan Carter. This stand-alone episode has been missing from our podcast catalog for two years, and we're finally making it available again.
Sarah & Geoff's book about the WVU Coed Murders
(available on Amazon)
Kendall's Appalachian Motorcycling Travel Channel
(@motoappalachiadiscovery on YouTube)
In this episode, we take a step back in time to the week Cathy Thomas and Becky Dowski were murdered in the first of several Colonial Parkway murders.
As the crime scene tape still hangs from Becky Dowski’s doorway at William & Mary College, another headline hits the student paper: Three men are being charged in the campus gang rape of another student. Our guest for this episode was directly involved in that incident, and she helps us use it as a lens through which we can examine some failures of response to sexual assault -- some of which are still problems today.
We also examine an astounding survey of college students published the year before the incidents at William & Mary, which suggested more than 25% of college women have experience rape or attempted rape since the age of 14.
To best understand the context of this episode, be sure to listen to Season 3 Episode 4, Exploring Substantial Similarities. In that episode, we speak with Bill Thomas, leading authority on the Colonial Parkway murders and brother of Cathy Thomas. If you decide to go down the Colonial Parkway rabbit hole, make sure to check out Bill's podcast covering every aspect of the cases, Mind Over Murder.
You can also check out the Oxygen series titled "The Lover's Lane Murders", for which Bill served as a consulting producer.If you're interested in learning more about sexual assault on campus, you can check out the RAINN statistics page on campus sexual violence. The website also has an anonymous live chat and a help line number if you need to talk with someone.
Sarah & Geoff's book about the WVU Coed Murders
(available on Amazon)
Kendall's Appalachian Motorcycling Travel Channel
(@motoappalachiadiscovery on YouTube)
As Appalachian Mysteria finished covering the story of Julie and Lollie, author Kathryn Miles completed her own book about the murders. In this episode, Kathryn uses her total access to Dierdre Enright's evidence to bring to light new information — including how we've been wrong about a key piece of evidence.
Resources:
Trailed: One Woman’s Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders — Purchase Kathryn’s book here.
Interviewees:
Kathryn Miles — Kathryn Miles is an award-winning journalist and science writer. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Saint Louis University and took both her Master of Arts and Doctorate in English from the University of Delaware. Miles is the author of five books: Adventures with Ari, All Standing, Superstorm, Quakeland, and Trailed: One Woman’s Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders. Her essays and articles have appeared in publications including Audubon, Best American Essays, The Boston Globe, Down East, Ecotone, History, The New York Times, Outside, Pacific Standard, Politico, Popular Mechanics, and Time.
Sarah & Geoff's book about the WVU Coed Murders
(available on Amazon)
Kendall's Appalachian Motorcycling Travel Channel
(@motoappalachiadiscovery on YouTube)
Darrell Rice is released from prison, but the publicity of his indictments makes a normal life elusive. The FBI plans a summit to examine other possible murders by Evonitz, but it falls by the wayside.
Two decades later, we give it a shot.
Resources:
The Pamela Gould Special — We’re hosting this 24-page special investigation from the Fredericksburg Freelance-Star until it is made available elsewhere. If you want to dive deep on the comparisons of Rice, Evonitz, and forensic evidence, this is where to start.
29 Sketches — Images of all six sketches, plus photos of Rice and Evonitz
The FBI should use DNA, not posters, to solve a cold-case murder — Dierdre Enright’s 2021 appeal in the Washington Post to check Evonitz DNA in the slayings of Julie & Lollie
Innocence Project says answers to cold-case Shenandoah murders may sit buried in FBI evidence locker — A report by WUSA9, including interviews with Julie’s father, the parents of Alicia Showalter Reynolds, and Dierdre Enright
Sarah & Geoff's book about the WVU Coed Murders
(available on Amazon)
Kendall's Appalachian Motorcycling Travel Channel
(@motoappalachiadiscovery on YouTube)
Forensic evidence throws the upcoming trial of Darrell Rice into upheaval, and an unexpected conclusion leads to yet another indictment. Several of our guests openly disagree on the final results.
Resources:
Witness Points Out Suspect as Abductor — Washington Post article on the Shomo trial
Sarah & Geoff's book about the WVU Coed Murders
(available on Amazon)
Kendall's Appalachian Motorcycling Travel Channel
(@motoappalachiadiscovery on YouTube)
We examine key evidence in the pre-trial hearings of Darrell Rice: jailhouse informants, the audio recording that gave rise to hate crime charges, a shifting timeline, and a phone call that Rice’s defense attorney calls “a bizarre piece of evidence”.
Interviewees:
Jerry (Gerald) Zerkin: One of Rice’s defense attorneys in the double-homicide of Julie & Lollie
Sarah & Geoff's book about the WVU Coed Murders
(available on Amazon)
Kendall's Appalachian Motorcycling Travel Channel
(@motoappalachiadiscovery on YouTube)
Kara Robinson makes an escape, putting all the information she memorized to good use. Evonitz goes on the run. Kara talks to us about the complex ethics of telling stories like hers in the true crime genre, and explains what “trauma-informed” media looks like.
Resources and Links:
Escaping Captivity — Oxygen Network documentary made with the involvement of Kara Robinson
Interviewees:
Kara Robinson Chamberlain — The survivor who ended the career of serial killer Richard Marc Evonitz
Sarah & Geoff's book about the WVU Coed Murders
(available on Amazon)
Kendall's Appalachian Motorcycling Travel Channel
(@motoappalachiadiscovery on YouTube)
The Attorney General of the United States announces the indictment of Darrell Rice. We review the life story of the serial killer responsible for the deaths of Sofia Silva and the Lisk sisters, and interview his final victim about her abduction.
Resources and links:
Into the Water — Diane Fanning’s true crime book about the serial killer responsible for the deaths of Sofia Silva and the Lisk sisters
Escaping Captivity — Oxygen Network documentary made with the involvement of Kara Robinson
Interviewees: Diane Fanning — Author of 15 true crime books and 11 novels
Kara Robinson Chamberlain — The survivor who ended the career of serial killer Richard Marc Evonitz
Sarah & Geoff's book about the WVU Coed Murders
(available on Amazon)
Kendall's Appalachian Motorcycling Travel Channel
(@motoappalachiadiscovery on YouTube)
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