Stay ConnectedJoin Joseph Scott Morgan every week as he explores a world that not many have had a chance to visit, the realm of death. Jo Scott will lead listeners on a journey through the blood soaked death scenes of America and then into the autopsy room to fully understand the science behind each case. Jo Scott is one America’s leading experts on applied forensics and is regularly featured on ‘Crime Stories with Nancy Grace’, ‘The Piketon Massacre’, Court TV and more.
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Christa Pike was 18-years-old when she thought her 19-year-old job corps classmate, Colleen Slemmer, was trying to steal her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp. Pike spent over 30-minutes beating Colleen Slemmer with her hands and feet, as well as a box cutter and a meat cleaver. Slemmer tried to escape. Shipp,17, caught her so Pike could continue the beating. Pike carved a pentagram into Slemmer's chest, used the box cutter to slice her throat. When she didn't die, Pike picked up a chunk of asphalt and slammed it onto Slemmer's head. The next day Pike brought a piece of Slemmer's skull to breakfast and told classmates what she had done. Convicted of murder and sentenced to death, Christa Pike now wants a judge to vacate her death sentence. Joseph Scott Morgan and Dave Mack detail the story that Joe Scott says is the worst case he has ever seen.
Transcript Highlights
00:00:31 Joseph Scott Morgan says he has never seen a crime so vile
00:02:10 Woman on death row in Tennessee
00:05:16 Talk about dynamic between suspects and victim
00:10:09 Description of box cutter and meat cleaver
00:15:03 Discussion of pentagram carved into chest
00:20:56 Description of wounds to victim
00:25:15 Talk about how to occult and satanism factor into case
00:30:40 Description of taking piece of skull as a trophy
00:35:50 Discussion about letting murderer out of prison
00:39:15 Talk about sadistic murder
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The senseless murder of Laken Riley on the campus of the University of Georgia has the nation talking about everything from safety on a college campus to immigration.
Laken Riley didn't know the man who killed her, but she knew she was in a dire situation when they met. Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, allegedly attacked and killed the 22-year-old while she was out for a jog in Athens.
Joseph Scott Morgan will explain how the evidence in the case points to Laken Riley attempting to call 911 and Dave Mack will fill in the blanks on the timeline on this edition of Body Bags.
Transcript Highlights
00:15.71 Joseph Scott Morgan talks about college life
02:39.50 Talk about nursing school, education
05:33.55 Discussion of victim
09:56.27 Talk about timeline
14:03.73 Talk about seeing victim as an object
18:54.67 Discussion of blunt force trauma
22:13.70 Suspect arrives in USA illegally
31:20.86 Talk about apartment search
36:08.59 Discuss How suspect and victim were strangers
40:30.36 First Homicide at UGA in 30 years
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A Minnesota man claims his mistress fatally shot herself with his gun. The question of Murder or Suicide plays out in this episode of Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan. Joe will walk you through all of the forensic problems with the story being told. And when everything is said and done, you decide, was it murder, or suicide?
Transcript Highlights
00:01:20 Would a right-handed person use left hand to shoot
00:02:19 Discuss murder or suicide
00:04:15 Talk about “accidental”
00:05:51Discuss science and determination
00:11:16 How quick does a body become stiff
00:13:50 Different jurisdictions
00:18:25 Talk about the scene
00:21:40 Difference in suicide among genders
00:26:27Discuss drying blood
00:29:31Discuss ER Nurse can’t do CPR
00:33:14 Talk about short timeline
00:38:50 Discuss can you wash away evidence?
00:41:36 Talk about skin, brain, muzzle flash
00:44:14 Discuss desire to help people and achieve and throw it all away
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Audrii Cunningham leaves for the school bus stop just like every morning, but she doesn't get off the bus that afternoon. The family panics.
Police are called, and an Amber Alert goes out. Neighbors go door to door. A family friend living in a camper in the backyard of Audrii's house joins in the search.
Police find out McDougal was the last person to see Audrii, when he was supposed to take her to the bus stop. Audrii never got on the bus. Joseph Scott Morgan and Dave Mack will break down the story of the search and ultimate discovery of 11-year-old Audrii Cunningham, found tied to a rock and thrown in the Trinity River in this edition of Body Bags.
Transcription highlights
00:20.72 Introduction of the case of Audrii Cunningham
01:54.67 Audrii's body tied to rock
03:57.40 Suspect was supposed to drive Audrii to bus stop05:50.16 Audrii was found in general area where her backpack was found
08:31.50 Officials had to ask for river flow to be reduced
12:08.84 Different groups have to share credit in finding Audrii
15:55.43 How will they figure out what McDougal did?
20:14.33 Investigators have not told us the condition of Audrii's body
24:14.42 Discussion of what may have happened to Audrii
28:09.19 Discussion of the company we keep, did her dad know what kind of criminal McDougal is
33:50.15 Talk about how her body may been like a kite on a string
38:07.95 Discussion about DNA under fingernails of Audrii
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Annabel Meenan was only 21, but she had been romantically involved with 33-year-old Leroy Brahm since she was in high school.
Their relationship was filled with abuse but on the final night of her life, video cameras placed around the home recorded every hit with a fist and kick with a foot. Joseph Scott Morgan and Dave Mack will break down what happened when Leroy Brahm beat his girlfriend unconscious, dropped a couch on top of her, then laid down on the couch and went to sleep as the weight slowly crushed Annabel.
Transcript Highlights
00:01:42 Discussion of age
00:03:00 Talk about Annabel
00:06:07 Victim had sofa dropped on her
00:09:24 Talk about cameras recorded every punch
00:13:38 Discuss the cameras everywhere
00:18:51 Talk about contusions
00:21:36 Discuss injuries suffered by the attacker
00:23:54 Talk about evidence all over the house
00:28:38 Discussion of ruling death a heart attack
00:32:23 Surveillance cameras record everything
00:35:37 Discuss domestic abuser calls 911
00:37:23 Talk about Annabel is gone too young
00:38:50 Domestic Abuse Hotline
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Lacey Fletcher was on the volleyball team when she is in 9th grade, and she looks like any other healthy teen. But her parents say she is "on the spectrum" and take her out of school and take her home. For the next 20 years, they don't take their daughter to the doctor, they don't do anything with her until she becomes totally non-verbal. For the last 12 years of her life she didn't move from her spot on the couch, she slept in her spot, she ate in her spot, she went to the bathroom in her spot, and it was rarely cleaned. Lacey Fletcher dies at 36, after withstanding years of pain and suffering. Joseph Scott Morgan and Dave Mack take a look behind the sofa to answer the questions about the woman who melted into the couch.
Transcript Highlights
00:02:40Talking about melting
00:06:22 Talk about smell of urine, feces, nothing cleaned
00:09:46 Talk about staying in same spot for years
00:12:46 Discussion of healthy and active to dead on the couch
00:15:14 Talk about Lacey Fletcher on the couch 20 years
00:19:25 Discuss bed sores joining with other bed sores
00:23:15 Talk about chronic bone infection
00:27:17 Describing her condition at 36-years-old
00:31:10 Discussion of weight as Lacey Fletcher weighed 96 pounds
00:34:53 Talk about maggots in her body
00:38:56 How did Lacey Fletcher get covid?
00:42:01 Discussion – she is non-verbal, always in pain, and trapped
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Harmony Montgomery was missing for two years before anyone looked for her. Police began looking for a 7-year-old girl and soon realized they might really be looking for remains of a 5-year-old girl. She is still among the missing but presumed dead. Her father is on trial for her murder. Join Joseph Scott Morgan and Dave Mack as they investigate the heartbreaking story of a little girl who never had a chance, and the forensics that just might get justice for her yet.
Transcript Highlights
01:34.45 Joe talks about memory
04:22.26 Discussion of years since Harmony has been seen
07:22.44 Talk about Harmony, looked nervous
10:09.25 Harmony was never enrolled in school
14:36.89 Discussion of police find Harmony's Dad
20:32.13 Talk about moment of clarity
25:22.45 Discussion of what really happened to Harmony
31:02.25 Discussion of waiting 2 years to call about child
35:18.87 Discussion about life lived in a car
38:25.26 Talk about neither adult checking on Harmony
43:49.54 Discussion of carrying Harmony
45:43.17 Finally went too far, hit too hard
50:51.68 Discussion perfect hiding spot was found
54:25.15 Discussion about how body is stored
59:33.43 Talk about using bathtub for dismemberment
59:19.23 Discussion of what might be found of Harmony
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The new owners of a house in Colorado are pleasantly surprised to find the previous owners left behind a working freezer in the garage. Pleasure turns to horror as they begin removing bags of frozen meat, and find a human head and hands! Joseph Scott Morgan and Dave Mack will explain what it will take to solve the mystery.
Transcript Highlights
00:01:27Talk about gruesome discovery
00:02:05 Discussion of yard sale
00:02:58 Talk about hoarder
00:04:10 Talk about free working freezer
00:07:36 Discussion of frozen head
00:09:23 Talk about getting more than you bargained for
00:11:21Discussion of calling 911
00:14:27Discussion about dismemberment show
00:18:17 Talk about previous homeowners
00:21:23Discussion about finding the rest of the body
00:24:28 Neighborhood people talk about coroner on site
00:27:49 Discussion about all the items that left the area
C00:30:47Discussion of wrapping the head
00:33:51Talk about investigation of body parts
00:37:43 Discussion about freezer slowing decomposition
00:39:25 We're going to need to follow up on this case.
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Jeff and Kat West are a typical American couple living just south of Birmingham Alabama. They have a 12-year-old daughter, Jeff works in security, Kat is a stay at home mom, but she has developed a very successful online business, in adult entertainment. She posts sexy photos on multiple sites and has her own pay site that provides even more adult photos. Jeff often takes the photos for his wife, and she is becoming quite popular online. Everything seems fine when Jeff and Kat go out for date night, photos of the couple in a store that evening show them lovingly touching one another. How is it possible that the next morning as the sun comes up, Kat West's lifeless body is found laying out in the front yard of her house with a bottle of absinthe placed on her broken phone right next to her posed body. Joseph Scott Morgan and Dave Mack take you through the last night in the life of Kat West.
Transcribe Highlights
00:00:05 Origin of things
00:01:46 Talk about a different kind of fairy
00:02:29 Discussion of life
00:03:16 Talk about very special drink
00:05:59 Discussion setting up a scene
00:10:54 Talk about date night
00:12:50 Discussion strong alcohol
00:16:48 Talk about Jeff and Kat playful at store
00:19:42 Discussion of intimate photos, sharing
00:22:32 Talk theory Jeff West beat his wife
00:25:32 Discussion of Stalkers
00:29:37 Talk tiny details in investigation
00:34:02 Discussion of two primary spots of blood
00:38:58 Talk about holding bottle as weapon
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
A road crew in south west Georgia finds on old console tv at an illegal dumpsite on the side of a country highway. As they try to move the tv, the workers find a suitcase inside, and it is too heavy to just be filled with clothes. As they open the suitcase they open up a mystery that will last decades. Inside the suitcase is cement, and poking out of the cement, the body of a small child. Joseph Scott Morgan and Dave Mack will help tell the story of Baby Jane Doe, the girl thrown away like garbage, and the people who spent 35-years trying to find out her name.
Transcribe Highlights
00:00:37 Trash Dump off the side of road
00:01:46 Talk about abandoned child
00:02:29 Discussion of life
00:03:16 Talk about the case, started in 1988
00:05:59 Discussion of area
00:10:54 Talk about getting body out of cement
00:13:30 Discussion of cement wouldn’t encase everything
00:16:48 Talk about mixing concrete and body
00:19:42 Evidence at scene leads to home
00:22:32 Talk about body breaking down in cement
00:25:32 Discussion of investigators
00:28:37 Talk about technology catching up
00:31:02 This case hasn’t been to trial yet
00:33:58 Talk about Genetic Genealogy
00:35:39 Discussion can there be justice
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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