Forensic Transmissions

Latest Episodes:

Episode 163: Three 911 Calls Jul 10, 2021

(1) In November, 2009, Jiverly Wong, 41, walked into the American Civic Association, where he had recently taken an English class with other immigrants, and shot 13 former classmates and association employees and wounded four others, firing 98 shots from two handguns in about a minute, before taking his own life. Wong was apparently angry after being laid off from his job at a vacuum cleaner plant, and his broken English made it difficult for him to apply for unemployment benefits. This 911 call reveals the confusion at the scene.

(2) In February 2009, Susana De Jesus and Karen Jackson left work in Pearland, Texas and Susana was forced into a car at gunpoint and driven away. Karen was too frightened to call the police. Two hours later, she called her brother in Canada, who called 911 to report what his sister had seen. Susana's car was found within hours but her body was not found for a month, when it was discovered in an abandoned trailer at an office park. Nicholas-Michael Edward Jean confessed to killing Susana for her 2008 Cadillac.

(3) Ryan Emmons, 31, of Montcalm County, called 911 just after 2 a.m. on April 17 2009 to say that his wife was giving birth in the family bathtub. Apparently, neither Ryan nor his wife Carri, 27, had any idea that Carri was pregnant, even though they'd had three previous children. Ryan thought his wife had just put on a little extra weight after she quit smoking. Dispatch operator Angie Adams did a great job helping Ryan with the delivery, even though she was only three days out of training.

Listen to the episode here.

Episode 162: Neil Entwistle Trial Testimony Jun 30, 2021

On 22 January 2006, the bodies of 27-year-old Rachel and 9-month-old Lillian Entwistle were found shot to death in the master bedroom of their family home in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. The immediate suspect was Rachel's husband Neil, 28, a British citizen, who bought a one-way ticket to London and left the country hours after the murders. Back home, Neil met up with some of his old college friends, Ben Prior and Dashiel Munding, and told them he'd come home to find his wife and daughter dead. The friends went drinking, went to see a movie, and talked about helping Neil to find a place to live. Entwhistle later told police he had fled to England to be with his family because he was so distraught over the death of his wife and daughter. Police suspected a failed murder-suicide pact. Neil had told Rachel that he had an income of $10,000 a month from an "offshore account" and ran his own consulting business. In fact, he was broke and had been unemployed for 6 months. He had over $30,000 in credit card debt, had been spending money on escort services, and was under investigation for fraudulent eBay transactions. He was extradited from the U.K. and tried for double murder in June 2008. Found guilty, he was sentenced to life without parole, and is currently in a medium-security prison in Bridgewater, Mass. His parents continue to insist that their son is innocent of the murders, that Rachel was the true killer and that he will eventually be cleared and released from prison. This episode contains the testimony of Ben Prior and Dashiel Munding about their time with Neil in London after the murders. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 161: Death of Ted Binion Jun 21, 2021

Ted Binion was a wealthy American gambling executive and one of the sons of Vegas casino magnate Benny Binion, owner of the Horseshoe Casino. Ted, a multi-millionaire, loved the high life and ran the Horseshoe for a while, hosting the casino's poker tournaments. But in 1998, Ted, 55, was having problems. Due to his heroin addiction and associations with known criminals, he'd recently lost his gaming license and his ties to the casino. His wife Doris had moved out, taking the couple's daughter, Bonnie, after learning of Ted's affair with a topless dancer named Sandra Murphy. Just before his death, he discovered that Sandra was cheating on him with a man named Rick Tabish. On September 17, 1998, Ted was found dead from a combination of Xanax, heroin, and Valium. He'd recently bought 12 pieces of tar heroin from a street drug dealer, and had a Xanax prescription from his next-door neighbor, a doctor. Police believed the scene was staged by Sandra Murphy and Rick Tabish, who wanted Ted's money (after losing his gaming license, Ted had taken all his gold out of the Horseshoe safe and buried it in a 12 foot deep underground vault in Pahrump, Nevada). In 1999, Sandra and Rick were found guilty of murder, but the verdict was overturned, and after a second trial, they were acquitted. This episode contains testimony from the second trial, in May 2005, featuring a line-up of memorable Las Vegas characters. On the stand in this segment are Jan Jones, Ted's friend and mayor of Las Vegas, followed by Laura Brown, longtime friend and the wife of Ted's attorney. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 160: Interview with a Vampire Jun 07, 2021

Roderick Ferrell and Heather Wendorf were best friends at school in Eustis, Florida before Rod moved with his mother to Murray, Kentucky. In Kentucky, he began dressing in black and talking about vampires. When he visited his friends in Eustis over Thanksgiving of 1996, he said he'd formed a vampire cult and got four of them to leave home and join him: Heather Wendorf, Scott Anderson, Charity Keese, and Dana Cooper, all teenagers. But Rod's car was too cramped to fit all five, and they needed money, so before they left, on November 25, 1996, Rod and Scott broke into Heather's parents' house, intending to steal their 1993 Ford Explorer and some cash. Richard Wendorf, 49, was lying on the couch watching television. Rod tells the detective how he attacked Mr. Wendorf with a crowbar and "smacked the fuck out of him until he finally quit breathing so yes, I'm admitting to murder.... it took him about twenty fucking minutes to stop breathing, I swear, I thought he was immortal or something." When Ruth Wendorf, 54, emerged from the shower, Rod says he was going to let her live, but "she clawed me, clawed me, spilled fucking scolding hot coffee on me, pissed me off" so he killed her, too. "I just took the bottom of the crowbar, and kept stabbing it through her skull and whenever she fell down I just continually beat her until I saw her brains falling on the floor." After four days of driving through four states, the teenage vampires ran out of cash, so Charity Keese called her grandmother and asked her to wire money. Her grandmother called the cops, who tracked down the teenagers and arrested them in the parking lot of a Howard Johnson's in Baton Rouge. Ferrell, 17, pleaded guilty and was, for a while, the youngest person in the United States on Death Row. His penalty was later reduced to life without parole.

Listen to the episode here.

Episode 159: Betty Broderick Trial May 30, 2021

During her 17-year marriage, Betty Broderick worked and raised four children while her husband, Daniel T. Broderick III, went through medical school and law school. When Dan finally qualified, he was in high demand as an attorney in medical malpractice cases. The family moved to a lavish house in San Diego, and Betty no longer needed to work. Not long after the move, however, Dan, unhappy that Betty had aged and put on weight, began an affair with his 28-year-old secretary, Linda, who many said looked like a younger version of Betty. Eventually, he divorced Betty and married Linda. Betty, 41, angry at being cast aside, became obsessed with Dan and Linda. Finally, on November 5, 1989, she broke into their home and shot them both to death. She said she had been driven over the edge by years of physical and psychological abuse. Her first trial, in 1990, ended in a hung jury. At her second trial on December 11, 1991, she was convicted of two counts of second degree murder and later sentenced to 32-years-to-life in prison. The case received extensive media attention. Middle-aged women in particular sympathized with Betty's ordeal. She is now 73 years old, and incarcerated at the California Institute for Women in Corona. This episode contains the testimony of Betty's boyfriend after her divorce, businessman Bradley T. Wright, who describes how he found the bodies and called 911; L.A.Times reporter Amy Wallace, and Betty's friend Helen Pickard. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 158: Testimony of Vanessa Bulls May 19, 2021

On April 7, 2006, Kari Baker, an elementary school teacher, was found dead in the family home near Waco, Texas. Her husband Matt, a Baptist minister, said that Kari had been depressed and suicidal since the death of the couple's young daughter Cassidy some years earlier. However, Kari's family and friends did not believe she was suicidal, and suspected Matt was responsible for her death. In January 2010, Matt Baker was tried for the murder of his wife. Critical testimony came from Vanessa Bulls, 27, his former mistress, who told the jury that Matt had drugged his wife, handcuffed her to the bed under the guise of spicing up their marriage, then smothered her with a pillow until she died. Vanessa said Matt had talked about killing his wife and making it look like a suicide. She said she didn't help Matt plan the murder or participate in it, but she never reported it to authorities because she was afraid of exposing the affair that she said began about two months before Kari’s death. Vanessa also said she was afraid of being arrested for knowing about Baker’s plans but not stopping him. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 157: Phil Spector Trial May 07, 2021

Melissa Pileggi Grosvenor said she met Phil Spector in New York in 1991 when she was a waitress, found him "very charming, quick-witted," and was in a platonic relationship with him for a year and a half. She testified that after a dinner in Beverly Hills she went back to his house, but when she told Spector around 2 a.m. that she was tired and wanted to go, he left the room and returned with a gun, which he holstered and "started walking back and forth, cursing and talking crazy." She said after she returned to New York he started asking her out. She said when she declined he left such messages as, "I've got machine guns and I know where you live." May 10, 2007, Melissa Grosvenor testified at the trial of Phil Spector in Los Angeles. Later in the trial, Melissa's estranged sister's Angela Pileggi-Silverstein takes to stand to describe how her sister once stole a plaque in Georgia and boasted about being in Court TV. However, this did nothing to refute Melissa's testimony. Many other women testified that Spector also pulled a gun and threatened them when drunk. Two years after testifying in the Spector trial, Angela Pileggi died from a drug overdose on a Caribbean cruise in December 2009, aged 45. On April 13 of that year, the jury found Phil Spector guilty of murdering actress Lana Clarkson. On May 29, 2009, he was sentenced to nineteen years to life in state prison. He died in prison in 2021. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 156: The Ice Cream Vigilante Apr 22, 2021

In this episode, Norma Jean Towers, of South Tampa, Florida, tells the jury that she was a regular at a met karaoke bar, where, in 2009, she met Michael Keetley, 49, a quiet, charming ice cream man. In 2010, she learned that Keetley had been shot four times and his ice cream truck robbed. He was left permanently disabled, and his injuries required surgery and therapy. He was forced to move back in with his parents and slept in a hospital bed in the dining room. He told a detective that “he wished every day that the people who did this would be brought to justice.” When he was well enough to leave the house, he and Norma Jean began dating, but according to Norma Jean, when the case languished and nobody was arrested, Keetley became intent on vigilante justice. She describes how Keetley once took her near the scene where he was shot and asked her to write down vehicle license plate numbers and descriptions. She was afraid, she said, she asked him not to do that again. She said they watched a television marathon of old movies by Charles Bronson on vigilante justice, like Death Wish. One day that fall, they went to a gun show, and he purchased a .45-caliber handgun. Finally, on Thanksgiving Day 2010, Keetley was out for revenge. He fired at a group of men sitting on a stoop, killing brothers Juan and Sergio Guitron and injuring four others. But they were the wrong men. Keetley, 49, was tried on two counts of first-degree murder and four counts of attempted murder. The case ended in a mistrial. A retrial is set for July 2021.

Listen to the episode here.

Episode 155: Michael Colucci Trial Apr 13, 2021

Michael and Sara Lynn Colucci had been through some ups and downs in their marriage. Sara, apparently had never fully recovered from the suicide of her first husband. She was smart, quick-witted, and impulsive, but also prone to depression. At first, she seemed to have been happy in her marriage to South Carolina jeweler Michael Colucci, but due to some bad business decisions, money had become tight and the couple were facing significant financial losses. On the way back from a difficult discussion money issues with their attorney on May 20, 2015, Sara apparently asked Michael to pull up outside a warehouse they owned so she could slip through the fence and use the bathroom, as she had done many times before. When she didn't return, Michael went to investigate, and found that Sara had hung herself with a garden hose. However, evidence collected at the scene did not support Michael Colucci’s version of what happened, and indicated there was a fight or struggle. In April 2017, while Michael Colucci was awaiting trial, his father Ivo Colucci, owner of Colucci's Jeweler's in Summerville, S.C., shot and killed his wife Doris in the family jewelry store. He was determined unfit to stand trial because he suffered from dementia; he was prone to violent outbursts. Ivo Colucci died in 2018, aged 84. In December 2018, a mistrial was declared in the Michael Colucci case, and he remains in prison, awaiting retrial. This episode contains the testimony of the Coluccis' neighbor of seven years, Dorothy Montijo. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 154: Testimony of Myron Levin Apr 01, 2021

In this episode, Myron "Pepi" Levin takes the witness stand in the murder trials of Cherry Hill Rabbi Fred J. Neulander. The rabbi's wife, Carol Neulander, was murdered in the family home in 1994. The two men responsible for the murder, Len Janoff and Paul Daniels, said they were paid by Fred Neulander, who was in love with a wealthy widow. Mr. Levin, who went to prison during the 1980s after being convicted in a food-stamp-theft scam, was Neulander's racquetball partner and also testified in the rabbi's second trial when the first was declared a mistrial. Levin said that Neulander asked him for help in finding a hit man months before Carol Neulander's murder, but didn't disclose the information to investigators until 1997 after he learned Neulander had cheated him in the purchase of a Torah. Fred Neulander received a life sentence for his wife's murder, while Len Jenoff and Paul Daniels, who admitted beating Mrs. Neulander to death, were both given 23-year prison terms. Pepi Levin died in January 2007, at the age of 84. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 153: Sanel Saint-Simon Mar 22, 2021

On July 28, 2014, Alexandria Chery, 16, an Olympia, Florida High School student, told her mother she was feeling well and wanted to stay home from school. Her mother, Haitian immigrant Rosalie Joseph, agreed. She tried to call Alex at various times during the day, but her daughter didn't pick up. When Joseph got him, her daughter was missing. She found blood in Alex's bedroom, along with bleach that appeared to be used to cover up the blood splatter. Police investigators learned that Alex had told her friends and her older brother Fanzo that her stepfather Sanel Saint Simon, who had raised Alex since she was 5, had begun touching her inappropriately. Fanzo tried to be sure his stepfather was never alone with his sister. However, Saint Simon began entering Alex's room at night, when everyone was asleep. Her body was found near the Osceola-Polk county line a few days later with stab founds and skull fractures, and Saint-Simon was ultimately charged with first-degree murder. During the trial, Saint-Simon and Joseph testified through a court translator. Saint-Simon was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. In this episode, Alexandria's friends Alia Garrett and Dana Saint Clair describe how, during a FaceTime chat with Alex and their mutual friend Dana St. Clair, Sanel Saint Simon knocked on the door of Alex's room, and she asked them to stay on the line because she was afraid. After he left the room, Alex told her friends that her stepfather had "tried to touch my boob." Defense attorney Peter Schmer tries to ask Alia whether her stepfather had an erection, but Alia, confused and embarrassed, does not know what an erection is. Her honest response foils the attorney's line of questioning by showing that Alex and her friends are sexually innocent.

Listen to the episode here

Episode 152: Four 911 Calls Mar 12, 2021

(1) In August 2009, Lynea Hambrice, 36, jumped to her death from the 12th-story balcony of the Coeur D’Alene Resort in Idaho. Her boyfriend Ian James, 38, called 911 to report what happened. The couple were visiting the area from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Ian told police that Lynea threw herself off the balcony during an argument. When an autopsy showed she had a blood alcohol content of .23 (and Ian passed a polygraph), the death was ruled a tragic accident. (2) In Oct. 2009 several people who had paid more than $9,000 to attend a motivational retreat in Sedona, Arizona, fell unconscious while taking part in a 2-hour “sweat lodge” session. After one man fell onto the burning rocks, panic broke out and people tried to get out of the lodge. An on-scene nurse attended to the victims and then dialed 911 for help. When dispatchers arrived, more than 50 people needed medical assistance, many of whom were lying on the ground, unable to move. Two participants, James Shore and Kirby Brown, died, and eighteen others were hospitalized after suffering burns, dehydration, breathing problems, kidney failure, and elevated body temperature. Liz Neuman, another attendee, died on October 17 after being comatose for a week. Guru James Arthur Ray was convicted of two negligent homicides and spent 20 months in prison, before being released in 2013. (3) In Feb. 2007, shoppers at the Trolley Square shopping center in Salt Lake City, Utah, called 911 to report gunfire inside. Police responded and tracked down Sulejman Talović, 18, who was armed with a shotgun and handgun. For an unknown reason, Talović shot and killed five persons, injured another four, and was killed by police. Police radio audio follows 911 calls from shoppers. (4) In August 2009, police in Glynn County, Georgia responded to the New Hope mobile home park in response to 911 calls, and found the bodies of seven dead people. Two other persons were injured, including 19-year-old Michael Toler, who died the following day. Later that day, police arrested Guy Heinze, Jr., 20. On October 25, 2013, Heinze was convicted of all eight murders and sentenced to life without parole. Drugs and money were apparently the motive. The first call is Heinz's neighbor, who hands the phone to Heinze and later the to the trailer park maintenance man. The second call is from the trailer park manager, who had been called by the maintenance man. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 151: Pastor Lewis Clemons Deposition Feb 27, 2021

This deposition features another sinful apostle (see episode 106). In this case, Apostle Lewis Clemons, of the Church of God in Christ in Columbus, Georgia. Clemons was deposed reluctantly by attorneys for Lakisha Smith, a member of Clemons’ church from 2011-2016, who describes three occasions where the pastor acted inappropriately, on one occasion "anointing her body with oil" as he had been taught to do by "an older pastor." When Lakisha Smith filed a civil suit against Clemons, another woman came forward with similar accusations. Lequita Jackson, who started attending pastor Lewis Clemons’ church when she was 14 and did not leave it until last month, alleges that Clemons led her into “inappropriate sexual contact.” Jackson, now 30, said Clemons used his position of leadership in the church to make her “do what he wanted and to justify his actions.” She said the married "apostle" twice paid for abortions after getting her pregnant, once when she was 16 and he was 40. The women's civil suit in was filed Muscogee County Superior Court in July 2017, seeking financial damages and to have Clemons banned from serving as a pastor. The outcome of the case has not been made public. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 150: Len Kachinsky Stalking Trial Part 2 Feb 21, 2021

This episode presents the December 2018 defense case in the trial of Wisconsin lawyer and former Fox Crossing municipal judge Len Kachinsky, who was accused of stalking his court manager Mandy Bartel, as featured in episode 140. Kachinsky was one of the lawyers defending Brendan Dassey in the Making a Murderer series on Netflix. The stalking charge was punishable by up to 5 years in prison.

His clerk, Mandy Bartelt, said she started feeling uncomfortable with Kachinsky's behavior. She said he harassed her and retaliated against her when she tried to take their relationship from a friendship to one that was solely professional. In his defense, Kachinsky explains that the two developed a friendship when she started her job and he was hospitalized for a serious illness. The judge says he was confused when Mandy went abruptly from socializing with him and exchanging playful messages to wanting significantly limited contact with Kachinsky, whose quirky behavior was usually considered endearing, according to his attorney.

Kachinsky said he felt the situation was essentially a personality conflict that the prosecution tried to make into a sexual harassment case. Kachinsky was acquitted of the stalking charges. However, the Wisconsin Supreme Court suspended him from the bench after he was booked into the Winnebago County Jail before formal charges were filed, and a court order limited his communications with Bartelt to business matters. However, in September 2019 he was convicted of violating the order, and has not been reinstated as a judge. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 149: Sean Foley Case Feb 14, 2021

Sean Foley, 26, didn't like the fact that his girlfriend, Miranda Goddard, 25, was very close to her stepdad, Jimmy Shelton, who had--as Shelton had admitted--abused and molested her when she was a child. Miranda's response to the abuse was complicated. From the time she turned 18, she began asking her stepdad for money in exchange for sexual favors. Miranda had got used to using her body to make a living--she worked as a stripper and also appeared in home-made porn. Sean didn't believe the sex between them was fully consensual. On August 28, 2018, after a day of drinking, smoking pot and hanging out at the family home in Blount County, Tennessee, Miranda got Jimmy to apologize for raping and molesting her when she was a child. Sean, overhearing the conversation, began to record it on his cell phone. Later that evening, Sean noticed that Jimmy was sitting on the porch with Miranda, and they were talking about how Jimmy wanted to pay to watch Miranda having sex with other people, and if she let him, he'd buy her a car. At one point, Jimmy grabbed Miranda and pulled him on to his lap. Sean said Miranda looked very uncomfortable but Jimmy wouldn't let her go. He loaded a gun, but waited 20 minutes before confronting Jimmy with a gun. On tape, Sean says, “You fuck with her again, and I will fucking drop you.” He then said that Jimmy came towards him, and in response, Sean shot him multiple times. Sean Foley was found not guilty of murder and sentenced to five years and six months in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter, a Class C felony. This episode contains trial testimony from Miranda Goddard, followed by the testimony of Sean Foley. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 148: Bob Ward Trial Testimony Feb 07, 2021

In June 2018, millionaire real estate mogul Bob Ward, 65, shot and killed his wife Diane, 54, in the master bedroom of the couple's ritzy home in Isleworth, Florida. For some time, Bob's company had been suffering financial losses due to the collapse of the real estate market, and the couple's cars had been repossessed. They had to sell their home in Altanta, where Diane had friends and was happy, and move to Florida full-time. Bob Ward claims the shooting was a tragic accident. He said his wife had been severely depressed. He said she had a gun, and when he tried to get it away from her, it went off, shooting her in the head. He told the 911 operator that Diane's death was an accident. Other members of the family agreed that Diane was depressed, erratic and suicidal, and she drank at least a bottle of red wine every day. Her sister Paula testified that Bob could stay at her home if he was released, and she would even put up her house as collateral for his bond, as he is now broke. Here, Diane Ward's best friend Christina Steinhaus testifies that Diane was unstable, in a highly volatile mental and emotional state, and thinking and acting in an erratic and life-threatening manner.

The jury opted found him guilty of manslaughter with a firearm, and he was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Listen to the episode here.

Episode 147: My Lai Massacre Testimony Jan 28, 2021

In March 1968, Lieutenant William Calley ordered his troops to rape and murder a village of Vietnamese civilians in a search-and-destroy mission performed on a Viet Cong stronghold known as “Pinkville.” At least 109 civilians were killed, including unarmed woman and children. On September 6, 1969, Calley was formally charged with six specifications of mass murder just a few days before he was due to be released from active service. He was cleared of all charges. Audio in this episode is extracted from Four Hours in My Lai directed by Kevin Sim, a 1989 television documentary made by Yorkshire Television. Testimony in the episode is from members of Charlie Company, in the following order: Fred Widmer, Radio Officer; Private First Class Varnardo Simpson (committed suicide 1997); Rev Carl Creswell, Chaplain; Sergeant Kenneth Hodges; Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson; Sergeant Ronald Haeberle; Helicopter Gunner Lawrence Colburn; Machine Gunner Harry Stanley; Door Gunner Ronald Ridenhour; Captain Ernest L. Medina; General Kenneth Hudson; Lieutenant William Calley.

Listen to the episode here.

Episode 146: Pamela Smart Trial Testimony Jan 12, 2021

This episode contains testimony from the March 1991 trial of Pamela Smart for conspiracy to commit the murder of her husband, Gregg. This was one of the first trials in the U.S. to allow TV cameras in the courtroom, and Pamela believes this played a significant role in her conviction. In 1990, at age 22, Pamela began working as a media lab coordinator at a high school in Hampton, New Hampshire. She also joined Project Self-Esteem, a local drug awareness program at the school. Here, she met 15-year-old sophomore Billy Flynn, who was also a volunteer. She also met and became close to her intern, 15-year-old Cecelia Pierce. Here, Cecilia testifies that she noticed that at some point she noticed a change in Pamela and Billy 's relationship. She testifies that Pamela told her she "loved Bill," and that Billy was a virgin before he had sex with Pamela. Rather than getting a divorce, Pamela allegedly conspired with Billy and three of his friends to kill her 24-year-old husband Greg. She was convicted of conspiracy to commit first degree murder, and was sentenced to life in prison. Billy Flynn and his three friends were released from prison on parole in 2015, but Pamela remains behind bars. This episode contains testimony from Cecilia Pierce and Pamela Smart. Listen to the episode here

Episode 145: Luis Toledo Family Murder Trial Jan 11, 2021

Kevin Dredden and Yessenia Suarez both worked at American K9 in Lake Mary, Florida, a military dog-training company. Although both were married with children, both were having marital problems and in early 2013, began to confide in each other. When they were both scheduled to go on a business trip to Alabama in October 2013, Kevin and Yessenia, 28, began an affair. When they returned to Deltona, they planned to get together at a hotel along the I-4 corridor but Kevin called off the meeting because he was worried his wife would notice the money for the hotel room missing from their account. Meanwhile, Yessenia's husband, Luis Toledo, 38, was suspicious that his wife was having an affair when she started talking about divorce. He installed spyware on her phone, saw the messages from Dredden, and showed up at American K9 on Oct. 22, 2013, and started yelling at Suarez. Kevin said it seemed things were getting out of hand, so he walked over to try and calm things, but this made Luis, a high-ranking member of the Latin Kings, even angrier, so Kevin left. He called Yessenia later that night to see if she was alright, and he said she sounded stressed and her speech was slurred. He got a text from Yessenia's phone about six hours later, but police claim the text was sent by Luis Toledo after killing his wife and their two children, Thalia, 9, and Michael, 8. Their bodies have never been found. The jury trial took place in St. Augustine, Florida in November 2018 in front of Judge Raul Zambrano. This episode features the state's attorney questioning Kevin Dredden about his affair with Yessenia. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 144: Jessica Chambers Case Dec 31, 2020

This horrible crime took place in Courtland, Mississippi, on December 6, 2014, when, as firefighters Daniel Cole, Brandy Davis, and Shane Mills testify here, cheerleader Jessica Chambers, 19, was found burning next to her car which was also on fire. She had burns on all of her body. A flammable liquid had been poured all over her, down her throat, and up her nose. Early the next morning, she died as a result of her injuries. Before she died, she was able to tell the firefighters that the person who did this to her was named "Eric" or "Derrick." Jessica had spent the morning with two friends, then went to her mother's house where she took a nap. Later in the afternoon, she left after receiving a text from someone. She told her mother that she was going to get something to eat and clean out her car. At around 5:30PM, she went to a gas station about a mile-and-a-half from where her body was found. This was the last time she was seen alive. No-one named "Eric" or "Derrick" was ever found, but texts on Jessica's phone suggested she had told a friend, Quinton Tellis, that she was unable to meet him that night for sex. Tellis was tried twice for the crime, and both times mistrials were declared. (This audio is from the first trial, in 2017). However, in July 2015, Tellis was arrested in Louisiana for the sadistic murder of a different young lady, a Taiwanese exchange student named Ming-Chen Hsiao. He is currently in custody at the Ouachita Correctional Center in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 143: Joel Guy Jr. Trial Testimony Dec 23, 2020

This episode contains the testimony of Joel Michael Guy Jr's three half-sisters, Angela Crane, Chandise Fink, and Rene Charles, and his two sisters, Michelle Tyler and Robin White. Everything seemed fine when the Guy family sat down together for 2016 Thanksgiving dinner at their home in Knoxville, Tennessee. However, one week later, the family's reclusive 28-year-old son Joel Jr. apparently stabbed and dismembered his parents, 61-year old Joel Guy Sr. and 55-year old Lisa Guy. He had planned to dissolve their remains in acid, but was injured during the murder of his father, and left the partially dissolved remains in the house as he left to take care of his injury. Before he got back, however, police performed a welfare check (since Lisa had failed to show up for work). In the family's home, they found a notebook detailing the plot in a backpack, along with two torsos and various dismembered limbs dissolving in plastic bins (described by prosecutors as a "diabolical stew of human remains") as well as the father's severed hands on the floor, and the mother's head in a pot on the stove. Both parents were about to retire and to stop providing money to their son, who had never worked, and he would receive a $500,000 life insurance policy if both parents were dead or missing. The perpetrator had planned to frame his father for the crime. Guy was convicted Oct. 2 of two counts of first-degree premeditated murder and given five life sentences. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 142: Erin Andrews Stalking Trial Dec 18, 2020

In 2016, the TV sports journalist Erin Andrews brought a $75 million lawsuit against a stalker, Michael David Barrett, and the managing company of the Nashville Marriot, where she stayed in 2009. Erin, who at the time was a college football reporter for ESPN, was followed by Michael Barrett, who asked hotel staff what room Erin was staying in, and asked to be put in the room next to hers. In a taped deposition, Barrett said, "I heard the door slam close next to me and saw it was her leaving her room. I took [her door’s] peephole out, altered it, put it back in and left shortly after. I used a hacksaw to cut off the threads, so it was basically a plug, and put it back in. I went back to the room, and, unfortunately for both of us, I could hear that the shower was on in her room when I walked by. I waited until the shower went off. Then I pulled out the plug [on her door] and waited for the opportunity. I waited for a matter of 10 seconds. I waited for her to be visible." Barrett was sentenced to more than two years in prison for the offense. Here, Erin tearfully explains that for the last seven years she's been forced to relive the memory daily. She said that many people believed it was a publicity stunt that enhanced her career, rather than damaging it. The civil trial took place in Nashville, Tennessee, and the jury unanimously awarded Erin $55 million dollars in compensation for her suffering. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 141: Jeffrey Willis / Rebecca Bletsch Murder Trial Dec 11, 2020

This episode contains the testimony of Jeffrey Willis in October 2017 during his trial for the murder of Rebekah Bletsch, who was shot and killed on June 29, 2014 as she was jogging in rural Muskegon County, Michigan. He is also questions about the disappearance of Jessica Heeringa, who vanished from an Exxon gas station where she was working the late shift in Norton Shores, Michigan, on April 26, 2013. Willis denies knowing either Rebecca Bletsch or Jessica Heeringa. Nonetheless, he was found guilty of the murder of Rebecca Bletsch, and received life without parole. After Willis's conviction, his cousin, Kevin Blum, pleaded guilty to lying to detectives during the Rebecca Bletsch investigation. He also admitted to having been an accessory after the fact by helping Willis dispose of Jessica Heeringa's body; for this, he was sentenced on January 9, 2018 to time served plus five years' probation. Willis was found guilty of Jessica's murder in May, 2018, and sentenced to another life term. He was also charged with the attempted kidnapping of a 16-year-old girl in 2016, as well as making child pornography by filming his neighbor's unsuspecting 14-year-old daughters. Willis comes out with all kinds of excuses for his behavior, but he is clearly lying--and doing a very bad job. He comes across as deceptive, narcissistic, self-involved and unsympathetic. His defense attorney tries to make him look like an ordinary guy with a difficult marriage and an interest in porn, but it's too much of a stretch, and no-one found it credible. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 140: Len Kachinsky Stalking Hearing Nov 29, 2020

This episode contains the testimony of Mandy Bartelt in a court hearing against Len Kachinsky, best-known as Brandon Dassey's attorney in the Making a Murderer Netflix docuseries. Kachinsky served for 21 years as the municipal judge of Fox Crossing before being accused of a felony stalking charge based on his treatment of Mandy Bartelt, his court manager. Kachinsky was acquitted of the felony stalking charges, but suspended from his position by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in an opinion released on July 9, 2019. The court found that his behavior towards Mandy violated judicial ethics rules. Kachinsky had hired Mandy in spring 2016, and the two were on good terms at the beginning of her employment. Occasionally, they talked about their personal lives and even went running together a few times. He then grew closer and closer to her and became decidedly creepy, according to Mandy's testimony. She told Kachinsky that she wanted to keep their relationship work-related, but he continued to send emails inviting her to go running with him and referring to himself as “both the boss and a close friend.” Mandy describes some very unsettling incidents, including: Kachinsky staring at her for 45 minutes "while tapping a pencil and making cat noises," telling her s story about a dog being raped and repeating it a second time, mailing things to her mother, asking her to “hit the reset button” on their relationship, expressing disappointment that she had "unfriended" him on Facebook, inviting her to a “beer or wine summit … to discuss the relationship issue,” and lunging at her desk and asking, “Are you afraid of me now? Listen to the episode here.

Episode 139: Eichmann Trial Testimony Nov 22, 2020

This episode contains testimony from Auschwitz survivor Vera Alexander during the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Israel in 1961. Alexander begins by giving an account of her arrest and deportation to Auschwitz as well as her arrival at the camp and the block to which she was assigned. The judge questions her about her work detail at Auschwitz and Alexander explains how she used her position to help other prisoners and describes her placement in the hospital block when she fell ill. She describes Dr. Mengele's experimentation on twins as well as the arrival of Hungarian Jews and the orders she received not to tell them about their fate. She also describes an incident in which a woman with a child came into her block and when the child was taken away the woman committed suicide by electrocuting herself on the electrified barbed wire fence. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 138: Sammy “The Bull” Gravano Testifies Nov 15, 2020

Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano used to be John Gotti’s right-hand man, in October 1991, after learning Gotti had bad-mouthed him on government wiretaps inside their Little Italy headquarters, the Ravenite Social Club, he turned himself over to the feds. As a federal prisoner and government informant, Gravano, 47, testified before the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations about the mob's connections with boxing, in addition to many other investigations. In exchange for turning himself in to the government, Sammy got a sweetheart deal -- a mere five years in prison for 19 homicides and a key role in other illicit businesses. After his release, he entered the federal witness protection program, but was convicted in 2001 for dealing ecstasy and served two more decades behind bars. He was released in 2017. His testimony is notable for his many references to potential deals with Donald Trump, and for his articulate, intelligent and nostalgic testimony. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 137: Rayne Perrywinkle Testimony Nov 10, 2020

This episode contains the testimony of Rayne Perrywinkle during the trial of Donald James Smith. On June 21, 2013, Rayne, 45, was out shopping with her 3 daughters at a Dollar General in Jacksonville. Walmart on June 21, when she got into conversation with man named Donald James Smith, who offered to take the family to buy clothes at a nearby Walmart. She said she and her daughters got into his van and rode with him to the store. When the girls started getting hungry, Smith offered to get them food at the McDonald's inside the Walmart. He took Rayne's youngest daughter, Cherish, 8, with her. Video surveillance showed Smith and Cherish Perrywinkle walking out of the Walmart. No-one saw Cherish again.

Smith, a 56-year-old sex offender, raped and strangled Cherish Perrywinkle, who was found dead in a creek behind the Highland Baptist Church in Jacksonville. Smith was sentenced to death in 2018. Rayne Perrywinkle's two surviving daughters have been adopted by a family who have since moved to Australia.

Listen to the episode here.

Episode 136: Jacob Cayer Trial Testimony Aug 14, 2020

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On June 7, 2016, in Green Bay, Wisconsin, after a fight with his dad, Jacob Cayer, 30, broke into the home of his ex-girlfriend, Sabrina Teague, 25, hid in the bathroom, then stabbed Sabrina's mother, Heesun “Sunny” Teague, 63. He then lay in wait for Sabrina to return home with her new boyfriend, Joel Kennedy. When they returned, Cayer stabbed Sabrina then chased Joel to the garage, where he was stabbed. Joel then hit Cayer in the head with a shovel, ran back in the house and called 911 from a bedroom. Joel Kennedy survived; Sabrina and Sunny did not.

A police dog found Cayer hiding in the tall grass near the Teague home, and police found a backpack with zip ties, knives, rope, duct tape, gloves and a hammer near a bicycle in the yard. The motive for the killings was unclear, and Cayer's mental health was called into question. In fact, it was four more years before he was found competent to stand trial. Last November, a judge ordered Cayer to a mental health institution and to take medication against his objections. During that hearing, a forensic psychiatrist testified that she didn't believe Cayer understood the seriousness of the case since he seemed “gleeful” when he talked about it. In a recorded confession to investigators following the murders, Cayer admitted to being in a "wave of hell" before attacking Sabrina in her home. He said she was blackmailing his family. During direct questioning on the stand, he seems rambling and barely coherent. A jury found Cayer guilty but not criminally responsible due to mental illness (formerly "not guilty by reason of insanity"). He was sent to a forensic psychiatric hospital "until competency is restored." Listen to the episode here.

Episode 135: Cindy Blitzer Testimony Jul 01, 2020

When Craig Blitzer became district attorney of Rockingham County in North Carolina, he was worried about taking a pay cut because his wife Cindy had got the couple into a lot of debt. But he was reassured when he realized he could employ her as his assistant. After all, that's what his friend Wallace Bradsher, district attorney of neighboring Person and Caswell counties, had done with his wife, putting her on salary as an assistant. When both district attorneys learned from the state ethics commission that they weren't allowed to hire relatives, they made a deal to swap wives. Cindy Blitzer went to work for Wallace Bradsher, and Pam Bradsher went to work for Craig Blitzer. Only Cindy Blitzer was also attending nursing school full-time, which meant she did little to no work for Brasher. In this episode, Wallace Bradsher acts as his own attorney and questions Cindy Blitzer about how much she knew (or claimed to know) about the $48,000 she received in unearned pay. Cindy Blitzer avoided criminal charges because her husband made a plea deal with the state on a misdemeanor charge (he also had to pay back the $48,000). Wallace Bradsher was sentenced to four months in prison and stripped of his law license. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 134: Brent Wolgamott Testimony Jun 12, 2020

This episode contains the testimony of college student and former male escort Brent Wolgamott in the trial of author Michael Peterson for the alleged murder of his wife Kathleen (the case featured in Jean-Xavier de Lestrade's excellent documentary miniseries The Staircase), whom, he claimed, had fallen down a staircase in the couple's home. The prosecution brought in Wolgamott ("Brad from Raleigh") to testify in the belief that his testimony would support their argument that the Petersons' marriage was far from happy, and that Kathleen had discovered Michael's alleged secret "gay life" and wanted a divorce. Wolgamott testifies that he never met Peterson, and in their emails, he had praised his wife and his marriage. Peterson was convicted of the murder in 2003, and after eight years in prison, was granted a new trial. On February 24, 2017, Peterson submitted an Alford plea to the reduced charge of manslaughter. He was sentenced to time already served and freed. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 133: three 911 calls May 30, 2020

The first call was placed in January 7, 2007 by Dylon Peterson, 25, who tells the dispatcher that he has just killed two people. Peterson, who is drunk, seems incoherent, has a bizarre affect, and gives no explanation for his act. He was homeless at the time, and had been staying with a friend, Nick Nagle, whom he'd met at a culinary arts class in Vancouver. While Nick and his father were out of town, Dylon stabbed to death Nick's younger brother Mathew, 15, and his mother Sandra Torell, 45. He was sentenced to 57 years for murder. His motive remains unclear. The second set of calls relate to a crime that took place in Irving, Texas, on New Year's Day, 2008. Taxi driver Yaser Abdel Said, 58, felt that his daughters Amina and Sarah had dishonored his family by refusing to adhere to the standards of traditional Egyptian cultural behavior. That day, he lured them into his taxi cab on the pretense of taking them out to eat, and fatally shot them in the cab. Before she died, Sarah Said made a brief, desperate call to 911 asking for help. By the time the police located the cab, the sisters were dead, and Yaser Said had disappeared, along with his handgun and all of his savings. He has not been found. The third pair of calls relate to an attempted kidnapping that took place in Simi Valley, California, in March 2007. A 9-year-old girl was playing alone outside her home when she was grabbed by the hair and forced into a vehicle. Two neighbors saw the incident, describing the kidnapper as a middle-aged Latino man. He drove the girl around the city, trying unsuccessfully to molest her, then dropped her off about a block from her family’s apartment. The girl suffered minor scratches and bruises but was not seriously injured. The man was never identified. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 132: Darryl La Ray Johnson Sentencing Hearing May 20, 2020

Darryl La Ray Johnson, 32, of Great Falls, Idaho, pleaded guilty on March 1 2017 to possession of marijuana. In May, he went to court for a sentencing hearing after spending five months in jail. At the beginning of the hearing, he fires his attorney at the hearing and asked to represent himself. He goes on to argue that an Idaho judge has no jurisdiction over him because he's a "Moorish American national." Johnson is referring to a religious sect formed in the 1920s on the belief that African-Americans came to America from Morocco and they're related to the ancient Canaanites and Moabites of the Bible. Adherents claim Moors were America’s indigenous inhabitants and are thereby entitled to self-governance. This claim (lack of jurisdiction) has been used numerous times by different groups under what is known as the “sovereign citizen movement.” According to this claim, indigenous individuals are not subject to government statute. However, the legal arguments claiming individuals are “sovereign” have been rejected by the courts. Judge Pickett threatens to place Johnson in contempt of court after he continually interrupts Pickett and the prosecutor. The judge comes close to losing his temper two or three times, but overall remains admirably cool and calm, given Johnson's refusal to abide by the courtroom rules. He gives Johnson more than one chance to request the services of an attorney or go on probation. But Johnson never quits, and ends up with a prison term. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 131: Cross Examination of Erik Sackett May 09, 2020

In October 2017, Erik Sackett, 39, of Vernon County, Wisconsin, began dating single mom Erin Somvilai, who had a history of depression, drug use, and mental illness (she'd already attempted suicide three times). Erin was in love with Erik, but he was mainly interested in sex, and in February 2018, he got involved with another woman. He tried to distance himself from Erin, even though he continued to have sex with her. Erin was distraught, and her life began to spiral downwards. On June 3 2018, Erin visited Erik and left him a bottle of brandy, a photo and a note. She returned again later that day, only to find Erik in bed with his new girlfriend. Upset, she left and began texting Erik and threatening to kill herself. Erik went to find her and took her to Runge Hollow Lake to calm her down, and the two of them went swimming. After Erik left her, Erin went missing, and police began searching the area. Erin's body was found in her car in Runge Hollow Lake in Vernon County, Wisconsin, near his Erik's cabin. Erik Sackett was the main suspect in Erin's death but his attorney Christopher Zachar raised the possibility that Erin committed suicide (the doctor who performed the autopsy said he couldn't it rule out). Zachar also told jurors of another suspect looked at by police--Dr. David Onsrud, a physician who employed Erin to take care of his son. Onsrud admitted that he paid roughly $15,000 for Erin to tie him up as part of a fetish. Sackett was acquitted of the crime. Erin Somvilai's death remains undetermined. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 130: Deposition of Cleal Watts III Apr 28, 2020

This episode contains just over an hour's audio from the six-hour deposition of Cleal Watts III (CV No. 13-2578) in the Western District of Tennessee in August 2015. Watts told investors he was an experienced importer of gold dust, that he owned a refinery in Dallas, Texas, and that their funds would be used to purchase and refine gold dust from Africa in order to generate substantial returns in the United States. When no returns came in, Watts would delay by telling investors grandiose stories about hijackings, theft, customs issues and storage challenges, enabling him to coerce more money out of them. In the end, Watts defrauded his clients out of $5.3 million, which he spent on himself. It took three years of litigation to get answers out of Watts--and even in this deposition, his answers are vague, circuitous, and redundant, often skirting the point. To defend himself, Watts uses the claim that he's a dyslexic with memory problems, and he never puts anything in writing. He claims that he's a wealthy gold merchant, but refers to bullion as "bouillon" (and keeps referring to "monies"). The straight-shooting attorney in this deposition is Anthony Pietrangelo of Pietrangelo Cook, PLC in Dallas, Texas. The lawsuit resulted in a $22 million judgement against Watts. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 129: Interrogation of Rocky Rambo Wei Nam Kam Apr 19, 2020

This episode contains part of the interrogation of Rocky Rambo Wei Nam Kam, a 25 year old man Chinese accused of killing Vancouver couple Richard Jones, 68, and his wife, Dianna Mah-Jones, 64, in their home on Sept. 26, 2017. Rocky does not confess to the murder--in fact, while he's happy to engage in a little small talk, he says nothing at all related to the crime. His interrogator is Sgt. Leah Terpsma, who uses a gentle, sympathetic, motherly approach, bringing Rocky a chicken sandwich and eating her lunch with him. But it doesn't work. All Rocky wants is to be given his phone so he can play video games while he waits to be taken to jail. When the case went to trial in January 2020, Rocky's attorney argued that his mental state was impaired due to an addiction to video games and he didn’t have the intent to commit murder. In fact, he argued that Rocky thought he was in a video game when he murdered the couple. No other motive has come to light. Sentencing has been delayed due to COVID quarantine. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 128: Edwin Lara Crime Spree Tapes Apr 10, 2020

On July 24, 2016, Edwin Lara, a public safety officer at Central Oregon Community College, beat 23-year-old Kaylee Sawyer to death during his work shift. The following day, he found a second victim. 19-year-old Aundreah Elizabeth Maes, 19, was sitting in her car in the parking lot of a Ross store, when Lara pointed his gun at her, opened the passenger door, got into the back seat and demanded she drive him to California.

He ordered Maes to stop at a hotel at 11:39 p.m that night, where he took a room, handcuffed Maes to the bathroom door, took a shower and then forced her into bed. He made her swallow two sleeping pills and crawled in beside her. Maes prevented him from raping her by lying that she had a sexually transmitted disease.

Lara forced Maes back into the car at 1:26 a.m., and they drove around until 5 a.m., when they stopped at a Super 8 motel in Yreka. Outside the motel, Lara walked with Maes toward a 73-year-old motorist sitting in a parked car and shot him in the abdomen when he wouldn’t give up his vehicle. He then took his victim to a nearby gas station, where he stole a car from a 76-year-old woman and her two teenage grandsons.

At 6:40 a.m. on July 26, 2016, he called 911 and said he was wanted for murder. He was arrested a short time later, armed and wearing a bulletproof vest. This episode contains audio of: Lara's 911 call turning himself in, a police interview with his wife while he was on the run, and his police interrogation after the arrest.

Listen to the episode here.

Episode 127: Manuel Vela Prison Interview Apr 01, 2020

In December 2017, Manuel Vela, 28, was arrested in east Bakersfield, California after "socking and choking" his pregnant girlfriend to death, carving her unborn child out of her body, and "cutting it up" by the side of a road next to a homeless shelter. Vela had faced three previous domestic violence charges, including a previous conviction against his victim, Kristina Rivera, 30. This interview was conducted shortly after Vela's arrest by two reporters from KBAK-TV in Bakersfield. Vela had not been evaluated by a psychiatrist when this interview took place, but he is clearly incompetent to stand trial. At first he expresses concerned about possibly incriminating himself, but right away describes him crime in graphic detail. Vela is obviously schizophrenic. He is paranoid and delusional, calls himself "the Antichrist," claims his "Father" told him to kill his girlfriend and her baby, describes hallucinations, hearing voices, receiving commands from outer space, and other bizarre tangents. In January 2018, Vela was found unresponsive in his cell and pronounced dead. The official cause of death was suicide by hanging. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 126: Confession of Robert Gladden, Jr. Mar 20, 2020

On Monday August 27, 2012, the first day of the a school year, 15-year old Robert Gladden Jr. pulled a gun from his pants and opened fire in the cafeteria of Perry Hall High School in Perry Hall, Maryland. He was quickly tackled and brought to the ground by a teacher, but not before shooting and seriously injuring another student, Daniel Borowy, who survived his injuries. After his arrest, Gladden was interviewed by Baltimore County police. In this interview, Gladden has a flat affect, mumbling and rambling in a voice whose depth belies his childish appearance. He is obviously in a state of severe depression, and has been for some time. Gladden admits to being bullied and says the shooting was an attempt to commit suicide by cop. He tells his questioners that he hoped this would be the last day of his life, and expresses admiration for the Columbine shooters. He says he took 21 shells with him to school that day because “I figured if I’m going to do it, I might as well kill a lot.” He confesses that he's been struggling with unhappiness for years. “The first time I thought about killing myself, I was in fourth grade but I was so young, I figured I’d wait,” he says, adding that he hopes to get the death penalty "so I can just die." The death penalty has been abolished in Maryland, but Gladden was charged as an adult, and Baltimore County Circuit Judge Robert E. Cahill Jr. went beyond state sentencing guidelines and gave him 35 years in prison. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 125: Michelle Martinko Cold Case Mar 13, 2020

On December 20, 1979, 18-year-old Michelle Marie Martinko was found stabbed to death in the family's 1972 tan Buick in the parking lot of a Cedar Rapids mall. The high school senior had driven to the mall after her school choir banquet to shop for a new winter coat. Police found no weapon or fingerprints to identify; Michelle hadn't been robbed or raped, and she had no enemies. However, the perpetrator cut himself during the stabbing, leaving blood on Michelle's clothes and the gear shift knob. This blood was preserved in the police laboratory. Forty years later, using new technology, Cedar Rapids police created profiles based on the DNA in the blood sample, then used genetic genealogical research to narrow the profile down to a small pool of suspects. One of them was a man named Jerry Burns, whose wife died by suicide in 2008, and whose cousin vanished on Dec. 19, 2013. A Cedar Rapids police officer, following Burns, retrieved a straw he used to drink a can of soda, and used it to retrieve DNA . This, it turned out, matched the DNA in the blood found on Martinko's dress. Jerry Burns, 65, was arrested in December 2018. On February 24, 2020, he was found guilty of first degree murder.

This episode contains audio from Day 1 of the trial in February 2020. Testifying are four of Michelle Martinko's school friends, now in their late 50s: Jane Hansen, Jeff White, Martin Miller, and Tracy Price. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 124: Murder of Rosemarie Essa Mar 01, 2020

On February 24, 2005, Rosemarie Essa, driving to meet a friend, collapsed behind the wheel of her car, and hit in a passing van. She later died at the hospital, even though she had no apparent injuries. After Rosemarie's death, her doctor husband Yazeed hired two nannies, Marguerita Montenaz and Michele Madeline. When the cause of Rosie's death was determined to be cyanide poisoning, Yazeed fled to Lebanon. Police discovered that he had a string of girlfriends and mistresses, including Michele Madeline (whom he had infected with herpes, as he did his wife Rosie), and family friend Marguerita Montenaz, who testifies here. The prosecution tried to paint Marguerita as an obsessed stalker who wanted to marry Yazeed and who had the motive and opportunity to poison his wife, but the argument was weak, and quickly overturned. Yazeed Essa was arrested in Cyprus in October, 2006, and after a lengthy extradition process, he was returned to the US to stand trial. Yazeed Essa was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 20 years in March 2010. Listen to the testimony here.

Episode 123: Ezra McCandless Case Feb 02, 2020

Ezra McCandless (born Monica Carlson), 20, chose a new "gender neutral" name because she sometimes identified as a boy. At the time of the crime, she had three suitors: on/off boyfriend Jason Mengel, 35; Alex Woodworth, who called her his "boy," and John Hansen, who (according to McCandless) sexually assaulted her. When the crime occurred, Ezra had moved out of Jason Mengel's home in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and their relationship had ended--partly because Jason had learned Ezra was having a sexual relationship with Alex Woodworth, whom (she said) liked to be aggressive and choke her during sex. Ezra wanted to get back with Jason. On March 22, 2018, she broke up with Alex, and he reacted badly. They went for a drive to "continue the discussion in a public place." The car got stuck on a muddy road, and after trying to free themselves, the two got into a fight. Ezra claims Alex tried to sexually assault her. She stabbed him 16 times, then carved the word "boy" into her arm and went to a nearby farmhouse to get help. The prosecution claimed the attack was "an attempt to recaputure the relationship she wanted with Jason Mengel." During the trial, McCandless changed her plea from ‘not guilty by reason of mental disease’ to a ‘not guilty’ plea. She was found guilty of first-degree intentional homicide. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 122: Nicole Nachtman Trial Jan 18, 2020

Nicole Nachtman was, by all accounts, a disappointment to her mother, Myriam, and stepfather Bob. The defense argued that Nicole's mother had inflicted years of psychological, verbal and physical abuse on her daughter, including forcing her to get liposuction and Lasik surgery. Nicole was emotionally stunted and lived in fear, taking refuge in online games and animated cartoons. Her mother punished Nicole for the slightest infraction, so Nicole was naturally terrified when she realized she was too late to get housing at FSU when returning to college for her second year.

Nicole apparently returned home in August 2015 when Myriam, 56, was out of town on a work-related trip and shot her 67-year-old stepfather in the back of the head. She then dragged his body into a bedroom and locked the door. She cleaned up her stepfather's blood, but left droplets and smudges throughout the house, along with her own thumbprint stamped in blood on a wall. When Myriam returned home, Nicole was lying in wait, and shot her mother three times. A next-door neighbor testified he heard the gunshots and a scream, then saw a shadowy figure dashing between their homes.

Nicole then returned to FSU (she had, as she later found out, been given overflow housing) and asked her roommates to say she'd been there for two days. She was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder, rejecting defense arguments that she was insane at the time of the crimes, and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. This episode contains the testimony of Nicole's half-brother, Joseph Carey; neighbor Alaina Roe; her father Ronald Nachtman, and her only friend, Laura Hessemer. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 121: Robert Durst Arrest and Interview Jan 04, 2020

On March 14, 2015 (the day after the final installment of the six-part documentary series The Jinx aired on HBO), Robert Durst, 73, was arrested by the FBI in connection with the murder of his former girlfriend, the writer Susan Berman. He was staying in a hotel in New Orleans and found to be in possession of a false Texas ID, stacks of $100 bills, bags of marijuana, a .38-caliber revolver, a map folded to show Louisiana and Cuba, a latex mask, and a wig. In his interview with Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney John Lewin, Durst confesses that he took meth during his interviews on The Jinx, and says he has smoked pot almost every day of his life. Lewin asks Durst about the disappearance of his wife Kathy Durst in New York in 1982, his acquittal on murder charges in the 2001 dismemberment killing of a neighbor Galveston, Texas, and the killing of Susan Berman in Los Angeles as she was about to speak with prosecutors investigating Kathy's death. During the interview, Lewin talks a lot. He gushes over Durst, telling him he's brilliant and the most interesting suspect he’s ever investigated. He coaxes and flatters, quoting Durst's lines from The Jinx, even doing impressions of him. It's sometimes difficult to tell whether his flattery and enthusiasm is an attempt to get Durst to trust him, or whether it's genuine. Either way, it gets him nowhere. Durst is cordial and receptive, but never lowers his guard. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 120: Kellen Winslow Jane Doe 1 Dec 21, 2019

This episode contains the testimony of Jane Doe 1 in the rape trial of Kellen Winslow Jr., a former NFL tight end, in San Diego County Superior Court in early November. Jane Doe, who remained nameless and was not shown on camera, was a 54-year-old homeless woman from Encinitas, California. Walking by the 101 highway one day, she was picked up by a large black man with tattoos who drove a black Hummer and identified himself as "Dominique." She testifies that he drove her to a parking lot close to a shopping center and raped her violently, causing extra pain due to his "gigantic penis."

However, Jane Doe 1 is not the best witness. She seems disturbed and moody, and her testimony is full of contradictions and misstatements. She often answers the same question in opposite ways while on the stand. She isn't consistent with her testimony from the pretrial hearing. At one point she claims she hasn’t had a drink in 30 years. The defense soon points to a lengthy list of arrests for public intoxication. But the prosecution charged Winslow with raping not just Doe No. 1, but also a 59-year-old homeless woman, as well as a then-17-year-old at a 2003 party. Winslow was 19 at the time. There are also indecent acts where he allegedly exposed himself to an elderly female neighbor who was in her yard gardening and a 77-year-old in a health club hot tub while Winslow was out on bail and awaiting trial.

With incontrovertible evidence accumulating against him, Winslow finally accepted a plea deal that spared him from the possibility of a life prison sentence. He pleaded guilty to raping an unconscious teen in 2003 and to the sexual battery of Jane Doe 1, while the San Diego County Superior Court agreed to dismiss other felony charges including kidnapping, sodomy, forced oral copulation and two charges of forcible rape.

Listen to the episode here.

Episode 119: Granville Ritchie Case Dec 12, 2019

This episode contains the testimony of Eboni Wiley in the trial of Granville Ritchie, 40, for the rape and murder of Wiley's neighbor, 9-year-old Felecia Williams, in Tampa, Florida. Ms. Wiley previously testified that Mr. Ritchie, who said his name was "Trevor," had picked her up in the street a few days earlier. Since then, the two had done drugs and had sex together a few times, and Ms. Wiley had put his number in her phone, referring to him as "my husband." Ms. Wiley was friends with the Williams family, her neighbors, whose 9-year-old daughter Felecia was known as "Sugar Plum." On May 16, 2014, Ritchie picked up Ms. Wiley, who had Sugar Plum with her. The three traveled to Ritchie's home, where Ms. Wiley and Ritchie did drugs. At around 4:50 pm, Ms. Wiley left the apartment to get food for Sugar Plum, returning an hour later to be met at the door Ritchie, who was shirtless, sweating, and upset. He told Ms. Wiley that Sugar Plum had run away, and to conceal their negligence, they should tell police that they were having sex in the shower at the time, and that Ritchie's mother was in the apartment with them. Ritchie concealed the body in a suitcase and dragged out of the residence later that night. Sugar Plum's body was found and nude, floating face-down in the water. She had been fatally strangled, and had received blunt force trauma to the head before death, authorities said. She had also been sexually assaulted. Wiley was charged with providing false information to law enforcement during a missing person investigation. Ritchie was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 118: Wendi Adelson Police Interview Nov 29, 2019

This episode contains three hours of the eight hours with attorney Wendi Adelson spent with Tallahassee police immediately after the death of her husband, FSU law professor Dan Markel (see episode 113). After being informed of her husband's death, Wendi spoke with law enforcement officers for almost eight hours (without asking for counsel). The police have not charged her with anything, but she admits that she feels as if she's being treated as a suspect. As noted in episode 113, Sigfredo Garcia, whose girlfriend dated Wendi's sister Charlie Adelson, has since been convicted of Dan Markel's murder, which, according to the prosecution, Markel’s murder resulted from the “desperate desire” of the Adelson family to relocate Wendi Adelson and her two sons from Tallahassee, where Markel lived, to South Florida, where the Adelsons live. Over the course of questioning, Ms. Adelson appears shocked, distressed, heartbroken, and confused. At times, she is also chatty and relaxed. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 117: Corn Rake Murder Trial Nov 24, 2019

This episode contains the testimony of Todd Mullis, 43, on the stand during his trial for the murder of his wife Amy, 39. Mullis, an Iowa hog farmer, testifies that he was doing chores with his wife in the hog barn when Amy, who'd recently had surgery, seemed dizzy and weak. She left the hog barn on an errand, and an hour later, noticing she hadn't returned, Todd sent his 13-year-old son Trystan to find out if she was okay. Trystan discovered his mother crouched over on her hands and knees in the doorway of the barn with a corn rake sticking out of her back. It first it seemed like a freak accident--Amy appeared to have got dizzy and fallen on the rake while she was changing a light bulb. But an autopsy showed that Amy’s body had at least six stab wounds from the rake. Todd testifies that Amy had cheated on him in the past, but they had been to therapy and got over it. However, it seemed as though around the time of her death, Todd had discovered she his wife was having an affair with the Jerry Frasher, his field manager. The two would have sex during the day by the side of the road, or in hog pens. Frasher claimed that Amy was “scared to death” of Todd, and that the hog farmer would “kill her” if he discovered their secret relationship, rather than lose his children and the farm in a divorce.

Listen to the episode here.

Episode 116: Incel Uprising: Elliot Rodger/ Alek Minassian Nov 18, 2019

The first piece of audio in this episode is "Elliot Rodger's Retribution," posted online by the 22-year-old before his Isla Vista rampage on May 23, 2014. Roger explains that he is angry about being unable to get a girlfriend ever though he is obviously "gorgeous," "magnificent," and a "supreme gentleman." This is followed by audio from the police interrogation of software development student Alek Minassian after he drove a van into a Toronto crowd, killing 10 and injuring 16. In the police interview, Minassian, who has Asperber's syndrome, identifies himself as an "incel" and, describes his mass rampage as part of the "incel uprising" (confused Detective Rob Thomas keeps referring "incels" as "celebs"). Speaking in a monotone, emotionless voice, Minassian describes how he drew inspiration from other incels on 4Chan who used violence as a form of retribution for “being unable to get laid." In a Facebook post the day of his rampage, Minassian wrote, "All hail the Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger!" Minassian tells Thomas about a Halloween party in 2013, where he tried to speak with young women, but was often ignored or laughed at. “I consider myself a supreme gentleman,” he said, adding: “I was angry that they would give their love and affection to obnoxious brutes.” Listen to the episode here.

Episode 115: Murder of Florida Physician Teresa Sievers Nov 15, 2019

This episode contains audio of Curtis Wayne Wright, Jr. testifying at the trial of co-conspirator Jimmy Ray Rogers about his part in the murder of Dr. Teresa Sievers at her home in Bonita Springs, Florida in June 2015. Dr. Sievers, 46, was a popular and charismatic holistic health care doctor, married with two children. She was beaten to death in her kitchen with a hammer. The plot to murder Dr. Sievers was hatched at the Missouri wedding of Wright, 51. Wright was a boyhood friend (and lookalike) of Teresa's husband, Mark Sievers, also 51, and a longtime felon. On the way to his own wedding, Curtis left some hot dogs in a freezer and returned to pick them up. His buddy Mark Sievers went with him, and during the trip, Mark told Curtis that his wife was going to leave him and take their two daughters, and he wanted to have her killed. Wright promised he would take care of it for a share of the life insurance payment. To assist him in the murder, Wright called on his old friend Jimmy "the Hammer" Rogers, but the two hitmen made a mess of things and were soon tracked by the FBI. Wright pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, and struck a deal for 25 years in prison. In exchange, he agreed to tell jurors about what happened to the victim. Wright says he approached Dr. Sievers from behind, intending to choke her, but accidentally kicked a dog bowl, creating a sound like a gong. At this point he hit her with a hammer, and Sievers fought back. Then Rodgers, who also had a hammer, came out of nowhere, and went berserk, hitting her until she fell down dead on the floor. Wright took a deal for 25 years. Rogers was convicted of second degree murder and is awaiting sentencing. Mark Sievers has yet to be tried. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 114: Amber Guyger Cop Shooting Case Oct 30, 2019

Amber Guyger, 31, was charged with the murder of 26-year-old Botham Jean, a Dallas accountant and native of St. Lucia. On the stand, she breaks down in tears several times as she gives her version of what happened on Sept. 6, 2018. Her attorneys argue that Guyger fired in self-defense after mistaking Jean for a burglar and contend the shooting was a tragic mistake. They say Guyger returned home exhausted after a long shift, got off the elevator on the wrong floor of her apartment complex, and went to the wrong apartment. The door was open and the apartment was dark. When the shadowy person inside began approaching her at a "fast-paced" walk, she said she called out, "Let me see your hands! Let me see your hands!" then fired her gun. Witness Joshua Brown, 28, said he watched a sobbing Guyger pace back and forth in front of Jean's door while on the phone, telling the person on the other end of the call that she had mistaken the apartment for her own. Guyger was found guilty and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Joshua Brown was found shot to death just days after giving testimony in the case. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 113: FSU Law Professor Murder Oct 20, 2019

FSU law professor Dan Markel was shot and killed in his car outside his home in Tallahassee on July 19, 2014. Markel had been involved in a bitter dispute with his ex-wife Wendi Adelson, also a law professor at FSU, about the custody of their two sons. Suspicion fell on Wendi's brother Charlie Adelson, a playboy dentist who had a lot of friends on the shady side of the law. Three of these friends--Charlie's ex-girlfriend Katie Magbanua, Katie's ex-boyfriend Sigfredo Garcia, and henchman Luis Rivera--were tried for involvement in the murder. Rivera turned State's Evidence and confessed to the trio's role in the crime. Garcia was found guilty of first-degree murder, but Magbanua’s case was declared a mistrial. This episode includes audio of Wendi Adelson, who testified under a grant of immunity that she was not involved in the plot to kill her ex-husband. Her testimony is followed by that of her ex-boyfriend Jeff Lacasse, who said that Wendi told him that Charlie was looking into hiring a hit man to kill Dan. Listen to the episode here

Episode 112: Manson follower Brooks Poston police interview Oct 09, 2019

Brooks Poston was a member of the Manson family who testified for the prosecution during the Tate/Labianca murder trial. This recording was made on 3 October 1969, after Manson's arrest for the Tate/LaBianca murders, when Poston was interviewed by the Inyo County police. As Poston explains, he was a devout follower who believed in Manson's magic powers. When he was first introduced to Manson, at Dennis Wilson's Sunset Boulevard home, Charlie walked up to Poston and kissed his feet. Poston, who'd just taken some LSD, was deeply affected by the meeting. For a while, he believed Manson was Jesus Chris, and took his teachings literally. In his interview, Poston describes life with the Manson family at the Spahn ranch, and the family's beliefs, including the idea of Helter Skelter. After the trial, he formed a band called Desert Sun, which recorded two of Manson's songs. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 111: Letalvis Cobbins Confession Sep 30, 2019

On Saturday, January 6, 2007, in Knoxville, Tennessee, Channon Christian, 21, and Christopher Newsom, 23, went out on a date for dinner a restaurant in Knoxville, Tennessee. On the way home, when they pulled off the road to kiss, they were hijacked, bound and blindfolded by three males, and driven to a rundown rental house. When the couple didn't arrive home, the police were called and a search began. On Monday, Channon's car was found two blocks away from the rental house. On Tuesday January 9, Christopher Newsom's body was found dumped by a railroad track. He had been raped, short, and his body partially burned. When police entered the rental house, they found Channon Christian's body in a trash can in the kitchen. She'd been raped, beaten, choked, and left to suffocate. The perpetrators were Eric D. Boyd, Letalvis D. Cobbins, his brother Lemaricus Davidson, George Thomas, and Vanessa Coleman. All had multiple prior felony convictions, and none of them cooperated with prosecutors, with each claiming their own innocence. After six years of legal wrangling, trial, Davidson was convicted and sentenced to death by lethal injection. Cobbins was convicted and sentenced to life without parole. Thomas got 35 years, and Eric Boyd got 18 years. Vanessa Coleman, Cobbins's girlfriend, got a sentence of 35 years for facilitating the crimes. Since the victims were white and middle class, and the defendants poor and black, some accused the national media of reverse discrimination by failing to give the case the same attention paid to white-on-black hate crimes. However, no evidence demonstrated the race of the victims was a motivation in their killing. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 110: Brooke Skylar Richardson Trial Testimony Sep 24, 2019

When Brooke Skylar Richardson, 18, discovered she was pregnant, she was afraid to tell either her parents, who would have been shocked and disappointed, or her boyfriend Brandon Saylor, Richardson is charged with aggravated murder, involuntary manslaughter, endangering children, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse for the incident that occurred in May 2017. Brandon Saylor, Richardson’s boyfriend in the winter and spring of 2017. The 21-year-old said he did not know Richardson was pregnant when they went to prom in May 2017. He only learned about it about on television when the remains were recovered. In the hours after the birth, well before he or anyone knew there was a birth, she texted Saylor: “Ill tell you all about it later but last night was like the worst ever and I didn’t go to sleep till 5:30 but I feel soooooo much better this morning I’m happy.” The prosecution also showed a series of text messages between Richardson and her mother just before and after the baby was born, talking about getting birth control and weight loss. The jury was again shown a photo of Richardson working out that the gym on the night after giving birth in which she was tracking her weight loss. Skylar was found not guilty of aggravated murder and involuntary manslaughter, but will spend three years on probation for "gross abuse of a corpse." This episode contains excerpts from the trial: Brandon Saylor on direct, and Detective Christopher Wong (cellphone expert) on direct, reading texts between Skylar and her mom, Kim Richardson. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 109: Pensacola CSI Love Triangle Murder Sep 12, 2019

Pensacola private investigator and former police officer Taylor Wright, 33, was last seen on September 7, 2017. Taylor had been going through a difficult divorce and had taken money that the court had ordered her to pay to her ex-husband, Jeff, who'd been given custody of their young son, Drake. When she went missing, gun-loving Taylor had been living with a woman, P.E. teacher Cassandra Waller, but this couple, too, were at odds. Cassandra had just discovered that Taylor was cheating on her with Ashley McArthur, 42, a former crime scene technician for the Sheriff’s Office. Taylor had asked Ashley to keep $34,000 in her safety deposit box so she wouldn't have to pay it to Jeff. Now, she was having problems getting the money back from Ashley. Investigators learned that Ashley, who was married, had many lovers, including Brandon Beatty, owner of Stix billiard hall, and Audrey Warner, who tended bar there. Her phone and bank records showed that on August 16, 2017, a cashier’s check for $34,000 had been deposited into her account and had since been spent. Taylor's body was discovered on October 19 buried under concrete and potting soil on a property neighboring Ashley's aunt's horse farm in north Escambia County. The jury found Ashley McArthur guilty of first-degree premeditated murder with a firearm. This episode contains excerpts from Jeff Wright on direct, Cassandra Waller on direct and cross, Audrey Warner on direct and cross, and Zachary McArthur on direct. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 108: Jerrod Murray Confession Sep 01, 2019

In December 2012, Jerrod Murray, 18, a freshman at East Central University, Oklahoma, asked fellow student Generro Sanchez, also 18, for ride to Wal-Mart in exchange for $20. Once inside the vehicle, Murray pulled out a gun and forced Sanchez to drive five miles north of Asher, Murray’s hometown. While driving, Sanchez began begging Murray […]

Episode 107: Scott Nelson Takes the Stand Aug 24, 2019

At 11.30am on Sept. 27, 2017, housekeeper and nanny Jennifer Fulford received a FedEx package from the “Bacon of the Month Club” at the home of her employer in Winter Park, Florida, Reid Berman. Shortly after that, she was supposed to pick up Reid Berman’s son Oliver from school. She didn’t show up. Her body […]

Episode 106: Deposition of “The Apostle” Aug 10, 2019

This episode contains highlights from the 2015 deposition of David E. "The Apostle" Taylor, of J.M.M.I Ministries in St. Louis, Missouri. Taylor is being questioned by attorney Colleen Ronayne as part of a divorce suit filed by Ricky Frazier, the ex-husband of one of Taylor's "volunteers" Deborah Frazier, who has donated over a million dollars to the ministry. Ronayne questions Taylor about his claims to have been visited personally by Jesus, and to have cured people of blindness and AIDS. She also asks about his cars (a BMW, Mercedes, Bentley, and a Range Rover), and his clothing bills ($6,000 at Louis Vuitton, $3,500 at Versace, $1,700 at Monsieur Clothing, and other designer items totaling $30,000 over a two-year period). It's sometimes painful to listen to Taylor's fumbling, inarticulate responses. Visibly nervous and biting his bottom lip, Taylor makes pitiful excuses for his frivolous purchases (he has to buy his belts at high-end stores because “they have a better TV appearance"). Interestingly, like Pastor Timothy Omotoso (whose case was featured in Episode 74), Taylor has a particular fondness for garish military jackets. He claims to know almost nothing about his own finances, repeatedly telling Ronanye that she should ask Michelle Brannon, his fellow board member. He claims not to know his own office address, or the purpose of a $2.8 million dollar property in St. Louis that is listed as an asset on J.M.M.I.’s tax forms, or even the identity of one of his dependents. Every time he's trapped in a contradiction or a lie, his response is the same: "ask Michelle." Listen to the episode here.

Episode 105: Timothy Jones Jr. Police Confession Jul 27, 2019

This child murder took place on August 28, 2014 in Lexington, SC, and this time, there were multiple victims. When interviewed by FBI agent David Mackey and Lexington County sheriff’s Detective Adam Creech, Jones, a divorced dad who had sole custody of the kids, explained that his oldest child, 6-year-old Nahtahn, deliberately blew out four […]

Episode 104: Brendt Christensen FBI interview Jul 19, 2019

On the afternoon of June 9, 2017, Ms. Yingying Zhang, 26, a Chinese student at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, went missing after she was offered a ride while waiting at a bus stop. She was last seen on a surveillance tape, around 2.30pm, getting into a black Saturn Astra. Police traced the Astra to Brendt Christensen, 28, a former physics grad student who was, at the time, unemployed after dropping out of a PhD program.

This episode contains part of the FBI interview with Brendt Christensen that took place on June 15, six days after Ms. Yingying's disappearance. This is his second interview. After some pressing, he admits that he gave an Asian female a ride the previous weekend, but said he dropped her off after only a few blocks when a wrong turn caused her to panic. He also explained that he was married, that he and his wife were in an open relationship with another couple, and that she had been out of town with her boyfriend the day Ms. Yingying went missing. After this questioning, the FBI agents took possession of Christensen's computers and cellphone, and placed him under continuous surveillance. They also asked his girlfriend, Terra Bullis, to wear a wire. On June 29, Christensen attended a memorial walk for Ms. Yingying with his girlfriend. Later, he confessed to Terra that he had picked up Ms. Yingying, brought her back to his apartment, and held her there against her will. Christensen's trial took place in June 2019. He had no had no prior criminal record and no record of disciplinary problems at the university. The FBI report on his cellphone noted that in April, he used his cellphone to access the sexual fetish website Fetlife, and visited the forum "Abduction 101." At the trial, it was revealed that Christensen admitted he had raped, assaulted, and decapitated Ms. Yingying. Her body has still not been found. Christensen is about to be sentenced, and the prosecution is pushing for the death penalty. Warning: audio ends abruptly. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 103: John Jonchuck Trial Testimony Jul 14, 2019

This episode contains the testimony of Father Bill Swengros of St. Paul's Catholic Church, Tampa, Florida, in the trial of John Jonchuck Jr. for the murder of his 5-year-old daughter, Phoebe. Jonchuck and his wife were engaged in a custody battle over Phoebe when Jonchuck went to see his attorney and began to make bizarre statements. He claimed he was God and the creator. He then wanted her to read him the Bible in Swedish. When she refused, Jonchuck said he was going to find a minister. He called Father Bill Swengros for an appointment, then arrived at St. Paul's and said he wanted to join the church and be baptized. Phoebe was with him; Swengros said she seemed "bright, amiable, and self confident." He said Jonchuck did not appear to be mentally ill.

Shortly after midnight that same evening, Jonchuck drove to the Tampa Bay bridge and threw Phoebe over the edge. Despite his claims of insanity, Jonchuck was found guilty of first degree murder, and sentenced to life in prison.

Listen to the episode here.

Episode 102: Dallas Dentist Love Triangle Jul 04, 2019

Dr. Kendra Hatcher, 35, a Dallas pediatric dentist, was fatally shot in the head by an unknown assailant in the parking garage of her Dallas apartment building Sept. 2, 2015. Dr. Hatcher was about to leave for Mexico for a vacation with her new boyfriend, Dr. Ricardo Paniaguia, a dermatologist. Kendra was a step up […]

Episode 101: Deposition of Father Jerome Kern Jun 24, 2019

On April 15, 2014, Father Jerome Kern, a priest in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, was deposed as part of a sexual abuse lawsuit filed in Minnesota While Kern does not admit to sexually abusing children in the deposition, he does admit to “horsing around” with young boys, and doing something he calls […]

Episode 100: Alex Zaldivar murder trial Jun 14, 2019

In May 2013, Bessman Okafor and Nolan Bernard broke into a home in a quiet suburb of Ococee, Florida, after misidentifying it as a “drug house.” When it was clear they had the wrong place, the men tied up the house’s four young roommates: included Alex Zaldivar, 19, and Brienna Campos, 20, and their […]

Episode 99: Bob Bashara’s Daughter Testifies Jun 05, 2019

On January 25, 2012, in the wealthy suburb of Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan, successful marketing executive Jane Bashara, 56, was found strangled to death in a Mercedes-Benz SUV in a Detroit alleyway. In March 2012, a mentally impaired handyman named Joe Gentz was arrested and charged with first degree murder after telling police that Jane's husband, Bob Bashara, 57, had paid him $2,000 and an old Cadillac to murder Jane. Investigators also discovered that Mr. Bashara owned an underground sex dungeon in the basement behind a building he owned, where he took women for S&M sex games, and where he was known as "Master Bob." In September 2015, Bob Bashara was tried for the murder of his wife. His daughter Jessica, 23, testified that she was unaware of any problems between her parents, who had been married for 26 years, although she knew her father thought her mother was too critical of him. She also mentioned catching her father using a pornographic S&M website. "He told me that he was on pornographic websites because he had been experiencing erectile dysfunction and he wanted to know if the problem was with him or my mother," says Jessica. Bob Bashara was sentenced to life without parole. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 98: Claudia Hoerig Trial Testimony May 24, 2019

In March 2007, the body of Air Force Reserve Major Karl Hoerig was found in his home in Ohio, with two gunshot wounds in his back, and another in his head. His wife of two years, Claudia Hoerig, had fled to Brazil. For various reasons, she wasn't extradited until January 2018, at which point she confessed to the murder, but said it was an act of self-defense, and the marriage had been abusive. She said she got a gun to kill herself, and Karl told her to do it in the basement so she wouldn’t make a mess. At that point, said Claudia, she decided to shoot him instead. During a discussion of the Hoerigs' relationship prior to Karl’s death, Claudia Hoerig’s attorney directed the conversation to the couple’s sexual habits. Ms. Hoerig claims that her husband "was not able to perform without Viagra or without bondage, or without something weird or me pretending to be dead.” She says that it wasn’t until after they were married that Karl revealed his fetishes. Claudia Hoerig was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 97: Robert Mondrian Powell Police Interrogation May 10, 2019

When telling lies, people are apparently either overly vague, or too specific. In his responses during this interrogation, Robert Mondrian-Powell, 59, is both extremely indirect and annoyingly particular. This polite and well-spoken gentleman explains that he was homeless when he met Elvira Segura, 67, a retired librarian whose decomposed body was found by police in […]

Episode 96: Tara Grinstead Trial Testimony Apr 25, 2019

Tara Grinstead was a south Georgia beauty queen and high school history teacher who disappeared from her home in Ocilla in Irwin County, Georgia, in 2005. This episode includes testimony from the second day of the trial of Bo Dukes, who stands accused of helping to cover up the crime. The man accused of murdering […]

Episode 95: Six Mayday Calls Apr 16, 2019

(1) The Northern Belle was a 75-foot fishing vessel that went down in the Gulf of Alaska on April 20 2010. Three of her four crew were rescued alive; her captain, Robert Royer, who placed the Mayday call, tried to jump overboard but wasn't able to get clear of the tangle of gear, hit his head on a large metal pump, and didn't re-surface. Some time later, his body was seen floating face-up. The captain's cocker spaniel, Baxter, also went down with the vessel.

(2) On April 7, 1994, a FedEx employee named Auburn Calloway tried to hi-jack Federal Express Flight 705 from Memphis to San Jose. Calloway, who was about to be fired, boarded the flight with several hammers and a speargun concealed in a guitar case. He planned to crash the aircraft hoping that he would appear to be an employee killed in an accident, so his family could collect his life insurance. But the crew fought back, subdued Calloway, and landed safely.

(3) Betty Ong was a flight attendant on American Airlines Flight 11, the first airplane to be hijacked during the September 11 attacks. Shortly after the hijacking, Ong notified ground crew of the hijacking. She reported that none of the crew could contact the cockpit nor open its door, a passenger and two flight attendants had been stabbed, and someone had sprayed mace in the business class cabin. (4) On August 10, 2018, a Horizon Air Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 was stolen from Sea–Tac airport in Washington, by 29-year-old Richard Russell, a Horizon Air ground service agent with no piloting experience. Friends described him as "a quiet guy" who was "well liked by the other workers". Around one hour and 15 minutes after takeoff, Russell committed suicide by intentionally crashing the aircraft on a lightly-populated island in Puget Sound. No explanation for the incident was found. (5) On September 27, 2018, crew member Franklin Freddy Meave Vazquez, 27, went berserk on the fishing vessel Billy Haver when about 55 miles off Nantucket, Mass. He assaulted a crew member with a knife in one hand and a hammer in the other, Vazquez then struck a third colleague before he was chased up the mast in an attempt to avoid capture, He was charged with murder and attempted murder. No-one knows what sparked the attacks.

(6) Not actually a Mayday call.... on the taxiway, a German Lufthansa pilot is annoyed that maintenance have left the gas tank door open on his plane. Rather than wait for the ground control crew to come and close it, he gets out of the cockpit to do it himself.

Listen to the episode here.

Episode 94: James Scandirito Jr. Trial Testimony Apr 07, 2019

In 2000, the Honorable James “Skip” Scandirito, a Michigan county court judge, had his judge’s license revoked in 2002 after sexual misconduct allegations. Women had accused him of offering leniency for their charges in return for sexual favors. In the case of a 22-year-old female defendant charged with drunk driving, for example, the judge […]

Episode 93: Cory Batey Rape Trial Mar 31, 2019

On August 9, 2013, four Vanderbilt University football players--Brandon Vandenburg, Cory Batey, Brandon Banks and Jaborian McKenzie--were caught on video carrying an unconscious girl to Vandenberg's dorm room. Here, they took it in turns to rape and abuse her, as testified by images captured on cellphone cameras. The prosecution pointed out that the girl, 21, a friend of Brandon Vandenburg, had been drinking heavily; she had consensual sex with Vandenberg the next morning, and she didn’t know she’d been raped. When her roommates pointed out the vomit in her hair and missing shoes, she was initially reluctant to get a medical exam, and when she learned she'd been raped, she didn’t want to believe her date had been involved. Th football players were dismissed from football team on June 29, 2013 and banned from campus during the six-week investigation that followed. In this excerpt from the trial of Corey Batey, 24, who--according to prosecutors--urinated on the girl, made a racial slur at the end of the attack, and referred to her as a "bitch" in e-mails, Batey explains that his initial story was a fabrication devised by the team's coach in order to be sure the players all had their story straight. Batey, who claims he blacked out and has no memory of the incident, received the minimum 15-year sentence, and has requested a new trial. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 92: Austin Harrouff Parents Police Interview Mar 25, 2019

On August 15, 2016, Mina Harrouff of Stuart, Florida, noticed her son Austin drinking cooking oil mixed with Parmesan cheese. Austin had been acting strangely for a while. He told his parents he needed to guard them, as he felt an evil presence in the house. He also said he'd "hypnotized himself" and was unable to sleep. Some time that day, Austin asked Google the unusual question, “What’s the weakest thing about a centaur?”. Then, after an argument with his father during dinner, the muscular college student stormed out of the family home. He then walked four miles across town, wearing only his underwear, and attacked a married couple John Stevens, 59, and Michelle Mishcon, 53, who were sitting out on their porch. He stabbed the pair to death with a knife, and, while growling like a dog, got down on all fours and began eating John Stevens's face. When police arrived, he told them, "Help me, I ate something bad." When asked what he had eaten, Harrouff replied, "Humans," and spat out a piece of flesh.

According an FBI toxicology report, the teenager had no detectable hallucinogenic drugs in his system. He has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and other charges. The case will go to trial in November 2019. This episode contains the police interview with Austin's shocked and puzzled parents, Mina and Wade Harrouff, the night of his arrest,

Listen to the episode here.

Episode 91: Chris Watts Prison Interview Part 2 Mar 14, 2019

Listen to the episode here (warning: poor sound quality).

Episode 90: Chris Watts Prison Interview Part 1 Mar 14, 2019

On February 18, 2019, Chris Watts, 33, was visited in Dodge Correctional Institution, Waupun, Wisconsin, by FBI Special Agent Graham Coder, Frederick Police Department Detective Dave Baumhover, and CBI Agent Tammy Lee, who conducted the original polygraph that Watts failed. Watts was amenable to the interview, which lasted for almost five hours. In response to […]

Episode 89: Sabrina Limon Trial Testimony Mar 10, 2019

After eight years together, blonde housewife Sabrina Limon and her railroad worker husband Robert decided to make suburban life in San Bernadino County more exciting. They "opened up" their marriage, joining the local swingers' scene, hosting raucous parties taking "adult" vacations. Then, while working at Costco offering free samples to shoppers, Sabrina, 38, met Jonathan Hearn, 27, a firefighter with an impressive vocabulary. Hearn was a devout Christian, but that didn't stop him from pursuing the older woman, and after a torrid affair, the pair fell seriously in love. Believing Robert would never countenance a divorce, Sabrina and Jonathan decided God's purpose was for them to be together, and, as Hearn said on the stand, "Bob had to go." The couple's first plan involved poisoning Robert with arsenic laced banana pudding. In July 2104, Hearn tested out the poison by feeding a “pretty obnoxious” neighborhood dog a piece of arsenic-spiked salmon. The dog became quiet, but Sabrina lost her nerve. Instead, a month later, Hearn shot Robert at the railroad in Tehachapi, where he worked. Suspicions were raised when Jonathan moved in with the Sabrina shortly thereafter; a police wiretap uncovered the murder. Hearn took a plea deal, testifying against Limon and pleading guilty to manslaughter to avoid a life sentence. He received 25 years and four months in prison. Sabrina Limon was convicted of murder and several other charges, and received a similar sentence. This episode contains audio from Day 13 of Limon's trial, which took place in September 2017. Sabrina is on the stand. Even on direct examination, she isn't a convincing witness. She's nervous and hesitant; her responses are short and vague, and she has little to offer in her own defense. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 88: James Holmes Psychiatric Interview Mar 01, 2019

Last month, in response to demands from the press, the psychiatric interviews and evaluations of mass murderer James Holmes were released. In 2012, Holmes walked into a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado and opened fire during a midnight screening of Batman Returns. A dozen people were killed and 58 others wounded. In this excerpt from 25 hours of interviews, court-appointed psychiatrist Dr. William Reid questions Holmes about his motives and his experiences after his arrest. Holmes is laconic and taciturn, giving nothing away. He doesn't reveal a motive for the crime. He seems bored by the questions, and repeats that he feels nothing, and has nothing to say. He expresses no regret, admitting that he replays the shooting in his head from time to time--apparently as a way to stave off boredom. Holmes was a grad student at the time of the shooting. We learn that he expressed hostility towards his campus psychiatrist, Dr. Lynne Fenton, sending her half-burned dollar bills when she raised her fees and mistakenly wrote the wrong last name on his prescription, but he made no threats and had no history of violence. Holmes pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, and Dr. Reid's evaluation was intended to help determine whether or not he was competent to stand trial. He was convicted of murder, and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 87: OJ Simpson Parole Hearing Feb 24, 2019

In 2008, former NFL running back O.J. Simpson was convicted on 10 counts of robbery for his role in an armed heist to retrieve some items of his memorabilia that had been put up for sale. In July 2017, after serving nine years of his 33 year sentence, Simpson appeared before the Nevada Parole Board by video link from Lovelock Correctional Institute in Lovelock, Nevada. He was accompanied by his attorney, Malcolm LaVergne, and seemed to be in good spirits. At 70, Simpson looks healthy and seems to have lost some weight. His voice is deep and resonant. He is not especially remorseful or apologetic--"I've done my time," he repeats-- and when asked about the robbery, he goes into unnecessary detail, holding forth for more than 10 minutes. He becomes slightly heated when one of the commissioners presses him on his belief that the memorabilia items were actually his property, but mostly he is relaxed and confident. The Parole Board does confirm that Simpson's 1994 double murder case, of which he was acquitted, would not be considered to be a factor in their decision. After their interview with Simpson, the parole board interviewed his daughter Arnelle as well as Bruce Fromong, one of the victims in the case, before deciding that Simpson deserved to be paroled. He was released in October 2017. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 86: Nichol Kessinger Police Interview Feb 18, 2019

Nichol Kessinger, 30, was hired as a contract employee at Andarko Petroleum in Platteville, Colorado, where she worked in Health and Safety. In either May or June 2017, she met and got to know Chris Watts (see episode 85), who also worked at Andarko. The two began a heavy affair that lasted for ten months. […]

Episode 85: Cameron Rogers murder confession Feb 11, 2019

This confession was recorded on Nov. 29, 2016 by Ottawa police homicide investigator Detective Theresa Kelm, the Mary Poppins of police interrogators. Her remarkably gentle, sympathetic and understanding manner is appropriate, since her subject, 22-year-old Cameron Rogers, who suffers from autism, appears edgy and unstable. His conversation is tangential at times; at other times he […]

Episode 84: Stacey Castor Trial Testimony Feb 03, 2019

This episode contains audio from the 2009 trial of Stacey Castor, 41, for the murder of her husband David, 48, in Onondaga County, New York State. In the face of cross examination by prosecutor Bill Fitzpatrick, Mrs. Castor remains calm and collected on the stand, and her testimony is meticulous in its detail--both of which may have counted against her in the minds of the jury. Mrs. Castor claims that David, her second husband, had been despondent over health and business worries, and after a long and heated argument, he locked himself in the marital bedroom, drank whiskey for hours, then killed himself by drinking automotive antifreeze, which has no smell and a sweet taste, allowing it to be mixed undetected into beverages like coffee or iced tea. Mrs. Castor's first husband, Michael Wallace, died in 2000, also under suspicious circumstances. Police investigators, who smelt a rat, spent two years collecting evidence against her. In 2007, when the widow realized the net was closing in, she panicked, and wrote a "suicide note" on her computer in which her daughter Ashley "confesses" to poisoning both her father and stepfather. Mrs. Castor then invited Ashley, 20, to "get drunk" with her, and over the course of the evening, attempted to poison her daughter with crushed pills mixed with vodka, orange juice, and Sprite. The jury found Stacey Castor guilty of the second-degree murder of David, and guilty of the attempted second-degree murder of Ashley. In June 2016, Castor was found dead of a heart attack in her prison cell. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 83: Chris Watts FBI Interview Jan 13, 2019

In the early morning of August 13, 2018, Christopher Lee Watts, 33, murdered his pregnant wife Shanann Watts, 34, and their daughters Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3, in their home in Frederick, Colorado. Christopher and Shannann Watts had been married for six years and lived in a five-bedroom home in Frederick, Colorado, purchased in 2013. […]

Episode 82: Dr. Conrad Murray Trial Testimony Jan 08, 2019

This episode contains the testimony of Nicole Alvarez at the trial of Michael Jackson’s personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, in September 2011. Prosecutors allege that, during Michael Jackson’s final hours of life, Murray was preoccupied by phone conversations with his four girlfriends. In addition to Alvarez, Sade Anding, Michelle Bella and Bridgette Morgan also testified […]

Episode 81: Denise Williams Love Triangle Part 2 Dec 22, 2018

This episode contains testimony from days 2 and 3 of the Denise Williams trial at the Leon County Courthouse in Tallahassee, Florida. This tight-knit group of Florida couples--all former high school buddies--were entangled together in a complex web of sex and secrets. First up is Nick Williams, Mike's brother, who talks about the emotional toll the case has taken on the family. He's followed by his mother, Cheryl Williams, who's wheeled into the courtroom in a wheelchair, her gray hair in pigtails. She talks about the eighteen-year search for her missing son, and her quest to keep his case in the news. Realtor Angela Stafford describes how she went back with Brian Winchester to his house one night, although both were married with children. She says that while she and Brian were having sex, Denise Williams walked into the room, then turned and fled. Brian, pulling on his pants, abandoned Angela and ran after her. Later, he told Angela that the women who interrupted them was his wife, Kathy, but Ms. Stafford testifies that she got a clear look at Denise, and didn't believe him. Finally, Brian Winchester’s ex-wife Kathy Thomas takes the stand. She says that she always suspected her husband and Denise Williams were having an affair. She says Brian was a selfish husband who often made her feel excluded. Early in 2018, Ms. Thomas became an informant for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and recorded several calls with Denise Williams. During one of those calls, played for the jury, Kathy refers to her current husband, Rocky. "He's good and honest," she tells Denise. "He’s not like us." Listen to the episode here.

Episode 80: Denise Williams Love Triangle Trial Testimony Dec 16, 2018

On December 16, 2000, hard-working property appraiser Michael Williams, 31, left his home in Tallahassee, Florida, to go duck hunting. He never returned. Investigators concluded he’d drowned in Lake Seminole, and his body had been eaten by alligators. His widow, accountant Denise Williams, who had avoided media attention during the search for her husband, eventually […]

Episode 79: Sandra Melgar Police Interview Nov 25, 2018

On December 23, 2012, family members arrived at the home of Sandra and Jaime Melgar’s home, in Houston, Texas, to celebrate the couple’s 32nd wedding anniversary. They expected to find the couple preparing for dinner; instead, they found Jaime, 52, in a bedroom closet, dead from 31 stab wounds, and Sandra, 57, tied up in the bathroom. The police were summoned, and Sandra was interviewed at the Harris County Sheriff's department at 9.45pm the same evening. Earlier that evening, Sandra, a Jehovah's Witness who owned a medical billing and coding business, tells police officers that she and Jaime, a computer programmer, had taken a long soak together in the Jacuzzi, drinking wine and eating strawberries. Jaime had got out of the tub, left the room, and hadn't come back. When she went to look for him, Sandra ways, she believes she was hit over the head, as she had a seizure and passed out. She believes that she and Jaime were victims of a home invasion. But as the police point out, nothing was taken from the house, and the couple's dogs did not deter the attacker. During Sandra Melgar's trial, the prosecutor argued that her motive was financial: Jamie had a $250,000 life insurance policy, and Jehovah’s Witnesses are not allowed to divorce unless the spouse has committed adultery. The prosecutor made the case that Sandra stabbed her husband to death with a kitchen knife and then tied herself up. Yet it would be very difficult to murder someone then tie yourself up so tightly that two separate people are unable to release you. In the interview, Sandra Melgar seems exhausted, but doesn't seem to be prevaricating. She maintains eye contact with the detectives, and although she appears shaken, but not melodramatic. There are long pauses; sometimes she even sits in silence for a while. Sandra Melgar was found guilty of murder, and sentenced to 27 years in prison. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 78: Todd Courser Audiotape Nov 21, 2018

In this audio recording, secretly taped by his aide Ben Graham on May 19 2015, Republican senator Todd Courser is a desperate man, rapidly drowning but still fighting for air. Courser admits he's been having an extramarital affair with Republican senator Cindy Gamrat (at the time, both politicians were married with children). The affair has been discovered by an anonymous blackmailer (later revealed to be Gamrat's husband), and Courser outlines to his dumbfounded aide a harebrained scheme to detract attention from the scandal. He plans to send out a "false flag e-mail" from a fake address alleging that he is a drug user, child molester, "bi-sexual porn addicted sex deviant", and "gun-toting, Bible-thumping, cock-sucking freak" who has been caught having "male on male paid sex behind a Lansing nightclub”. Courser agrees that the e-mail is "over-the-top", but tells his doubtful aide that it will “inoculate the herd” because the "real" scandal will be hidden in the ramblings of the anonymous message. Courser is clearly at the end of his tether, but his refusal to resign makes it difficult to sympathize with him: the man's egotism is obviously about to take him down. And it did. Both Michigan lawmakers resigned after it was revealed they had been cheating on their spouses and then using taxpayer-funded offices and staff to cover it up. Listen to the episode here. Police Report on Extortion Texts House of Michigan Representatives Report on the Courser Gamrat Affair

Episode 77: Richard Kirk Police Interview Nov 14, 2018

On the evening of April 14, 2014, Richard Kirk, 48, purchased and consumed an unknown amount of “Karma Kandy Orange Ginger” (marijuana-infused candy), began to hallucinate, became delusional, then turned violent. His wife Kristine called 911 and pleaded for help, telling the operator that her husband was ranting about the end of the world and […]

Episode 76: Gypsy Blanchard Testifies Nov 14, 2018

This episode presents the testimony of Gypsy Blanchard in the trial of her former boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, for the murder of her mother, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard. In June 2016, Gypsy pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for her own part in the crime, and was given a 10-year sentence. As Gypsy explains, she met Godejohn […]

Episode 75: William Kennedy Smith Rape Trial Nov 01, 2018

On Dec 11 1991, William Kennedy Smith was acquitted of rape after a trial in Palm Beach, Florida. Smith was represented by defense attorney Roy Black, who pulled no punches in his questioning of the accuser, Patricia Bowman, and her friend Ann Mercer. The incident began on the evening of March 29, 1991, when Smith, 30 years old, went to the Au Bar in Palm Beach, Florida, with his uncle, Senator Ted Kennedy, and his cousin Patrick J. Kennedy. Smith met Patricia Bowman, a 29, and her friend Anne Mercer at the bar. The five then went to a nearby house owned by the Kennedy family. When Smith and Bowman went outside for a walk along the beach, Bowman alleged that Smith raped her; Smith testified that they had consensual sex. In the first excerpt, prosecutor Moira Lasch asks Patricia Bowman to describe the alleged rape. Bowman is then cross-examined by Roy Black. The second excerpt is from Black's cross-examination of Anne Mercer. In the third clip, Black questions Senator Ted Kennedy. The final clip is Moira Lasch cross-examining William Kennedy Smith. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 74: Pastor Timothy Omotoso Trial Oct 25, 2018

Pastor Timothy Omotoso is currently on trial in the High Court in Port Elizabeth, South Africa (though proceedings are on hold until December). Omotoso is a charismatic Nigerian televangelist with a taste for garish jackets who, until his recent arrest, led the popular Jesus Dominion International congregation. Omotoso, 60, along his two co-defendants, Lusanda Sulani‚ 36‚ and Zukiswa Sitho‚ 28‚ is facing a string of charges including rape, racketeering and sexual assault. Testifying here against Omotoso is Cheryl Zondi, 22, who describes how Omotoso began sexually abusing her when she was 14, and a member of his "Grace Galaxy" singing group. Zondi spent a grueling 3 days on the stand facing intensive cross-examination from Omotoso's defense lawyer, Peter Daubermann. She is asked the kinds of intimate and probing questions that would be considered inappropriate if asked in a U.S. courtroom. For example, Daubermann repeatedly asks Zondi whether Omotoso pushed his penis against her vaginal lips, or whether it actually penetrated her vagina- and, if so, by how many centimeters? Under the circumstances, Miss Zondi is remarkably brave, composed, and articulate. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 73: Bernhard Goetz Confession Oct 25, 2018

On December 22, 1984, Bernhard Goetz was riding a New York City Subway when he was confronted by four teenagers who asked him for money. Rather than being robbed and "beaten to a pulp," Goetz pulled out a gun he was carrying and shot the boys. All four were seriously wounded. After the shooting, Goetz jumped out of the train on to the tracks, ran south through a subway tunnel, and went home to gather some belongings. He then rented a car and drove north to Bennington, Vermont, where he burned his blue jacket and dismantled the revolver, scattering the pieces in the woods north of town. He drove around New England for several days, registering at motels under various names and paying in cash. Nine days later, Goetz returned to New York and turned himself in to the police. During a two-hour interview Goetz was charged with attempted murder, assault, reckless endangerment, and several firearms offenses. At the trial which followed, Goetz's confession was used by the prosecution in the case against him. In his confession, Goetz comes across as confused, angry, defensive, and distraught. He justifies his actions by describing an incident in which he was mugged in the past; he was injured, and the assailant went unpunished. His diatribe against the legal system and the City of New York City is eloquent and passionate, and won him many supporters in court. Goetz calls the justice system a "joke, a sham, and a disgrace." He says he has no desire to be seen as a hero or a vigilante, but at the same time, he's unapologetic about his actions, telling police that, "my intention was to murder them, to hurt them, to make them suffer as much as possible... If I had more bullets, I would have shot 'em all again and again. My problem was I ran out of bullets." Goetz's defense team described the electronics engineer as a nebbishy weakling who turned on the bullies, refusing to have sand kicked in his face. The strategy worked. The jury found Goetz not guilty of all charges except for one count of carrying an unlicensed firearm, for which he served eight months of a one-year sentence. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 72: Lee Rodarte Police Interview Oct 20, 2018

On the evening of August 2, 2017, waitress Savannah Gold, 21, failed to show up for her shift at the Bonefish Grill in Jacksonville, Florida. Her unlocked car with a flat tire was found in the restaurant parking lot, her purse untouched inside. Her family received text messages from her phone, saying she had met someone and was running away with him. But the texts sounded uncharacteristic of Savannah, and police began to look closely at chef Lee Rodarte, 28, who had unexplained cuts on his body. When questioned, Rodarte admitted that he had a sexual relationship with Savannah, though he broke it off because she was using drugs heavily, and because his girlfriend discovered the affair. When police pulled the security surveillance video from the parking lot of the shopping center in which the Bonefish Grill is located, they saw an apparent struggle between Rodarte and Gold inside his car the night she disappeared. On the video, Rodarte's car was seen shaking, and the rear door opening and closing. After a few minutes, Rodarte walked over to Savannah's car, took an object out of it and put it in his. He then returned to her car and punctured the front left tire of her vehicle. He returned to his vehicle and after a few minutes, he drove away, with Savannah still in the car. After the police finished interrogating Rodarte, who denied any knowledge of Savannah's whereabouts, they left the room. Once alone, Rodarte was caught on tape sobbing and saying "I'm sorry, Savannah." Later, he confessed to the murder, and told investigators that he had thrown the waitress's body in a nearby lake. Despite his confession, Lee Rodarte has pleaded not guilty. His trial will begin in February 2019. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 71: Ted Bundy Phone Call Oct 06, 2018

This is audio from a phone call made by Ted Bundy to prison psychologist Dr. Al Carlisle before Bundy was known to be a serial killer. Bundy was in Utah State Prison after his 1975 arrest for the kidnap and attempted murder of Carol DaRonch (he soon became a suspect in a progressively longer list of unsolved homicides - or "transactions", as Bundy refers to them here - in multiple states). Dr. Carlisle spent about 20 hours evaluating Bundy to determine whether he posed a danger for future violence. Carlisle concluded that Bundy was hard to get to know, precise, objective and somewhat impersonal when discussing himself. He lied easily, compartmentalized, and had a lot of anger. Carlisle concluded that Bundy had the capacity to commit serious crimes. Bundy left Utah when Colorado authorities charged him with the murder of Caryn Campbell, and he was transferred to Aspen in January 1977. On June 7, he was taken to the courthouse for a preliminary hearing, and since he was representing himself, he wasn't required to wear handcuffs or leg shackles. During a recess, he asked to visit the courthouse's law library to research his case. While there, he opened a window and jumped from the second story. He was arrested again six days later. Despite his negative evaluation, Carlisle clearly established a rapport with Bundy, who, in this call, seems casual and friendly but evasive and impersonal. On Dec 30 1977, Bundy escaped again and committed further assaults, including three murders, before his ultimate recapture in Florida in 1978. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 70: Jake Evans 911 Call Sep 28, 2018

On October 4, 2012, 17-year-old Jake Evans called 911 from his home in Aledo, Texas, and informed the operator that he'd just shot and killed his sister and mother. She asks if he's sure they're dead. The boy replies, "Yes... It’s weird, I wasn’t even really angry with them. It just kind of happened. I’ve been kind of planning on killing for a while now… This is probably selfish of me to say, but to me, I felt like they were suffocating me in a way. Obviously, you know, I’m pretty – I guess – evil." Other than the fact that his mother and sister were "suffocating" him, Evans has no explanation for the murders, which he committed when his father was out of town and his two older sisters were out. The home-schooled Jake, who was apparently a shy, quiet boy, reloaded his revolver at least once during the shootings. His family lived on two acres in a gated community and his mother was a public school teacher. In a written confession, he wrote that he intended to kill not only his mom and younger sister, but also his older sisters and grandparents. In April 2015, Evans was sentenced to 45 years in prison. Listen to the 911 call here. Transcript of the 911 call

Episode 69: Leon Jacob Sentencing Hearing Sep 15, 2018

In 2017, failed doctor Leon Jacob, 40, and his veterinarian girlfriend, Valerie Daniels, 48, were convicted of planning the double murder of their ex-partners. But the "hit man" whom Jacob hired was in fact an undercover officer working for the Houston Police Department. The "hit man" was paid after showing the Jacob gruesome, staged photos of Verikas bound and gagged, and Mack McDaniel, covered in fake blood, pictured as a slain corpse. A short time after her arrest, Valerie McDaniel killed herself by jumping off the balcony of her apartment. The trial revealed that Leon Jacob had an extensive history of obsessive behavior and violence towards women. He was shown to have stalked and abused numerous women, including his ex-wife Annie. He was sentenced to life in prison for two counts of solicitation of capital murder. In this extract from the penalty hearing, Megan Verikas describes the lasting effects of Jacob's abusive behavior. Jacob is represented by the "legendary" Houston defense attorney George Parnham, 78, who defended both Andrea Yates and Clara Harris. He is slow, hard of hearing, out of touch, and deeply annoying. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 68: Steven Fishman Scientology Interview Sep 05, 2018

This episode contains parts 1, 2, and 6 of a seven-part interview conducted with Steven Fishman in November 1988 by false memory expert Richard Ofshe, and attorney Marc Nurik. Fishman was currently facing several criminal charges relating to a mail fraud scheme he'd set up when he was working as a financial planner for the Church of Scientology. In the interview, Fishman reveals various aspects of Scientology doctrine, his own Scientology involvement, and the church's response to his arrest. He claims that church staff had ordered him to murder his psychologist, Uwe Geertz, and then to commit suicide. The interviewers, Ofshe and Nurik, are smart, open minded, and speak to Fishman in his own language. They present as affable and non-threatening, asking lots of questions and appearing to follow Fishman's lines of thought. They don't interrupt, contradict, or interject. For his part, Fishman appears to have a fascinatingly complex, detailed and coherent worldview, yet it is completely off the wall. He describes how he became the true father of Jesus Christ, and how he eats his soups in alphabetical order "because I don't believe in randomity."

The court found Fishman to be sane, and he made a plea bargain, serving three years of a five-year sentence for wire fraud and money laundering. In October 2009, in connection with another fraud scheme, Fishman was sentenced to another 21 years in prison.

Listen to the episode here.

Episode 67: Broken Arrow Murder confession Aug 26, 2018

This episode contains an interview conducted by Detective Eric Bentz with Michael Bever, 16, who, along with his older brother Robert, killed five members of their family on the night of July 22–23, 2015. Michael tells detective Bentz that the familicide was Robert's idea, since he was "against society" and "wanted to kill as many people as possible" so the brothers could get their own Wikipedia page. Robert had been plotting the killings for months, according to Michael, and wanted to strike that night because he was expecting the delivery of a combined 2,250 rounds of ammunition the following day, and he didn’t his parents to know about it. Using knives, the two home-schooled brothers killed their father, David, 52, and mother April, 44 ("mom was okay but dad was a bit too much," says Michael), younger brothers Daniel, 12, and Christopher, 7, and little sister Victoria, 5. Another sister, Crystal, 13, was critically injured but survived, and baby Autumn Bever, 2, was unhurt. After killing their family, the Bever boys were planning to go on a cross-country killing spree to become the most notorious mass murderers in history. However, aware that Daniel had managed to call 911 before his death, the two fled to a wooded area behind their house, where they ultimately were arrested after being discovered by a police dog. Detective Bentz is remarkably calm and even-keeled in the face of Michael's confessions. He holds back all emotion as he tries to get Michael to feel at ease. The boy, who has a slight speech impediment and seems impressed by the detective's authority, at first claims he didn't kill anyone, but eventually admits he was supposed to kill his dad, Victoria, and Crystal, and confesses to stabbing his little brother and his mother. Of Robert, he says, "I did want to do it with him because he was going to do it no matter what." Their plan was very specific, says Michael, but everything went wrong ("I didn't like it the minute it started"). Robert Bever and Michael Bever were both charged with five counts of first-degree murder and one count of assault and battery with intent to kill. Both were tried as adults, and both received life without parole. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 66: Dahmer Trial Testimony Excerpts Aug 15, 2018

In Dahmer's defense, Fred Berlin testified that the defendant was unable to conform his conduct at the time that he committed the crimes because he was suffering from necrophilia. Dr. Judith Becker, a professor of Psychiatry and Psychology, also diagnosed Dahmer with necrophilia. The final defense expert to testify, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Carl Wahlstrom, diagnosed Dahmer with borderline personality disorder, schizotypal personality disorder, necrophilia, alcohol dependence, and psychotic disorder not otherwise specified. For the prosecution, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Phillip Resnick testified that Dahmer didn't suffer from primary necrophilia because he preferred live sexual partners. Dr. Fred Fosdel testified that Dahmer was without mental disease or defect at the time he committed the murders, and able to differentiate between right and wrong. Dr. Park Dietz testified that he did not believe Dahmer to be suffering from any mental disease or defect at the time that he committed the crimes, stating: "Dahmer went to great lengths to be alone with his victim and to have no witnesses," adding that that there was ample evidence that Dahmer prepared in advance for each murder. Each attorney was allowed to speak for two hours. For the defense, Gerald Boyle argued that Dahmer's compulsive killings were the result of a sickness he couldn't control. Prosecutor Michael McCann, on the other hand, described Dahmer as sane and in full control of his actions. The jury agreed that Dahmer was sane and not suffering from a mental disorder at the time of each of the 15 murders for which he was tried. There was no death penalty in Wisconsin, so Dahmer was sentenced to life without parole. He was bludgeoned to death by a fellow inmate on November 28, 1994,

Episode 65: Alligator Attack 911 Compilation Aug 12, 2018

1. On June 10 2012, Kaleb Langdale, 17, was swimming with friends in a river by the Gulf Coast of Florida, near Fort Myers, when a 10-foot alligator chomped down on one of his arms, then dragged him into a death roll. Kaleb knew he was about to die, so he put his foot on the gator's mouth and tugged until his arm ripped off under the elbow, then made his way to the bank as the gator swam off with his arm. When he reached the bank, his friends called 911. The alligator was later shot and killed. 2. In August 2015, Rachael Lilienthal, 37, was swimming away from a crowded beach area near Wekiva Island, Florida, when an alligator clamped its jaws on her right arm and thrashed her around. A couple in a canoe hit the gator with their oars, and it swam off, but when they helped Rachael into their canoe, they saw that her arm had been bitten off just above the elbow. The alligator was shot and killed. 3. On June 2, 2018, Jordan Broderick, 15, was floating on a raft in a river in Florida's Ocala Forest when a 9-foot alligator began stalking her. Jordan made her way to the shore, but the gator followed her, where it was joined by others. The terrified girl took refuge up a tree while her mother called 911. When the police arrived, they shot and killed the main alligator, and helped the girl, who was unhurt, to safety. 4. On June 8, 2018, at the Silver Lakes Rotary Nature Park, a man called 911 after two loose, anxious pit bulls ran into the parking lot. He recognized them as two of the three dogs belonging to "an oriental lady" he'd seen earlier. The pit bulls led him to the back of the park, where he saw the third dog barking and bleeding, with a large gash in its side, and a 12-foot alligator lurking nearby. "I think an alligator got this lady," said the caller. He was right. Shizuka Matsuki, 47, who may have been trying to save her dog, had been dragged off by the gator. When it was shot and cut open, Matzuki's arm was found in its stomach. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 64: Kevin Underwood confession Aug 04, 2018

On April 12, 2006, a ten-year-old girl named Jamie Bolin went missing from her home in an apartment complex in Purcell, Oklahoma. Five days later, her naked and mutilated body was found in a plastic storage container in the apartment of her downstairs neighbor, 29-year-old Kevin Ray Underwood. After his arrest, Underwood was interviewed by two Oklahoma FBI agents. His confession is disturbing not only for its bizarre content, but for the nonchalant way in which he recounts the crime. "It started off with cannibalism-the thought of eating someone was appealing to me. It kept evolving from there," he admits, going on to explain in considerable detail how he attempted to carry out this plan on Jamie Bolin, whom he had decided was a convenient victim. The FBI interrogators do a fine job of remaining unperturbed while drawing Underwood out and encouraging him to make it clear that he was in his right mind when he committed the crime--he knew right from wrong, and was thinking about how to avoid detection. But, as his confession reveals, his plan went wrong from the first, and his confession belies his claim that he "didn't, believe in violence, or hurting anyone." His plan was to abduct a child, and "while they were still alive and gagged, I was going to drape them over the bathtub and cut off their head, and then hang them and let the body all drain out. I was gonna keep the body around for a couple of days, I was going to set the head on my desk so it could watch me, and keep the corpse in my bed, sleeping with it, having sex with it for a day or two, and then I was going to start butchering them and cooking them." When asked whether he bought any special equipment for the job, Underwood replies, "Just the barbeque skewers, some meat tenderizer, and a hacksaw to cut open the head to get to the brain, because I wanted to eat the brain and the heart and some of the organs." The confession is notable for Underwood's robotic delivery (he was later diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome), his lack of remorse and empathy, his admission that he took a break from mutilating the corpse to chat with a girl online, and, finally, his loud fit of vomiting. On February 29, 2008, Underwood was found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to death. He is currently on Oklahoma's Death Row. Listen to the episode here. Interview Transcript. Transcript of online chats

Episode 63: Raghunandan Yandamuri Confession Jul 27, 2018

On October 22, 2012, 61-year-old Satyavathi Venna was found stabbed to death in her apartment just outside Philadelphia. Three days later, the body of her 10-month old granddaughter, Saanvi, was found in a bag in the steam room of the apartment complex gym. On October 25, Raghunandan Yandamuri, 29, an information technology worker who knew the Venna family and lived in the same building, was arrested in connection with the murders. Two days before the crime, Yandamuri and his wife had attended a party at the Venna family apartment. They had met Chenchu and Venkata Venna, Saanvi's parents, who mentioned that, since they both work during the day, their daughter would be staying with her grandmother. Yandamuri held the baby during the party and discussed the gold jewelry she was wearing. On October 26, he was interrogated by police for several hours, and eventually confessed to the murders. Yandamuri says he went to the family’s apartment with the intention of kidnapping Saanvi for a $50,000 ransom, since he believed the family to be wealthy. He fatally stabbed 61-year-old Satyavathi Venna when she confronted him. He claims that he didn't intend to kill the grandmother, but when he had Saanvi in his arms, Satyavathi lunged at him and he fell backward, cutting her throat with his knife. Yandamuri says he planned on taking good care of the baby, but also on holding her until her parents paid him. On October 8, 2014, Yandamuri was found guilty of the murders, and sentenced to death. However, on February 13, 2015, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced a moratorium on executions in the state. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 62: Dellen Millard Police Interview Jul 20, 2018

In November 2012, wealthy businessman Wayne Millard, 71, was found shot dead in his Ontario home. His son, Dellen, 30, a fun-loving party guy who inherited his father's multi-million dollar aviation business, was interviewed by the police about the incident. Although he seemed unusually emotionless during the interview, the death was ruled a suicide. On May 6, 2013, Dellen Millard and his friend Mark Smich answered an ad placed by a man named Tim Bosma, 32, who wanted to sell his pickup truck. The three men went for a drive, and Bosma never returned. When his remains were found on an incinerator on Millard's farm. Millard and Smich were arrested, and on June 17, 2016, they were sentenced to life in prison. In 2017, the two men were also convicted of the murder of Laura Babcock, Dellen Millard's ex-girlfriend, who went missing in July 2012. Her body was never found. Two years after Wayne Millard's death was ruled a suicide, Dellen Millard was charged with his father's murder. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 61: Loyta Sloley 911 calls Jul 12, 2018

At 8:15 a.m. on January 27, 2009, Loyta Sloley, 34, an Orlando hospital technician, calls in sick. Speaking quietly and in an odd tone of voice, she tells her supervisor that she's dropping off her son at school. Her supervisor knows Ms. Sloley is having trouble with her ex-boyfriend, James Clayton, and she calls 911 to say Sloley may have been kidnapped. The 911 dispatcher, Alan Ballard, does not enter the call into the system for 23 minutes, and when he does, it is as a "suspicious incident" rather than a kidnapping. Around 8.45am, Ballard calls Ms. Sloley's father, who first says nothing is wrong. He then calls back to say Clayton was drunk that weekend and threatened to "kill them all." About 9:45 a.m., the dispatcher manages to reach Loyta Sloley, who confirms she's being held against her will. Ballard pressures her to give her location by saying the search is "taking up police resources." He adds, "You're going to be in some serious trouble if you don't cooperate." Sloley tells him she doesn't need help. Clayton then comes to the phone, and is chastised by Ballard. Then the line goes dead. By 11:30 a.m., police had traced signals from Ms. Sloley's phone to a Marriott hotel, and learn that she and Clayton had checked in 2 1/2 hours earlier. When they knocked down the door to their room, they find Ms. Sloley dead from four gunshot wounds to the body, and Clayton dead from a single shot to the head. The 911 dispatcher, Alan Ballard, was dismissed from his job. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 60: Larry Nassar Police Interview Jul 08, 2018

In the years leading up to his indictment for criminal sexual conduct and federal child pornography charges, sports medicine physician Larry Nassar fell under increasing suspicion. As the doctor for the USA Gymnastics team, Nassar had always been known as a well-connected and talented physician, but there had also been rumors about his unusual medical "procedures."

In 2014, Michigan State University launched a Title IX investigation into Nassar after a recent graduate reported that she had visited his clinic for hip pain, and he had massaged her breasts and vaginal area and had a visible erection. Nassar was interviewed for over two hours by campus police, who wanted to press charges, but the prosecutor denied the request, and the university closed the investigation in July 2014 after three months. It dismissed the woman’s claim, concluding that she hadn’t understood the “nuanced difference” between sexual assault and an appropriate medical procedure.

In September 2015, Nassar abruptly "retired" from USA Gymnastics. This episode contains his next interview with campus police, in August 2016. "Has there been another complaint?" Nassar asks the detective, who confirms that another complaint has indeed been filed. Nassar, who swings between bravado and fits of nerves, is an unimpressive figure. He admits that patients have questioned his "special technique," but he's brought his laptop with him, to show the detective his lectures on his "procedures". He says, "this is how I make my living, this is what I do. I have helped scores of people", but also says he's sorry that he missed signs that patients were uncomfortable. He fails to explain why he might have had an erection during his medical "procedures", other than to say, "If there was arousal it's, it's, it's you know what I mean? It would be because of, whatever, I don't know." "Well, what do you mean, 'whatever'?" asks the detective. "When you're a guy sometimes you get an erection," is all Nassar can say in reply. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 59: Tex McIver Trial Testimony Jul 06, 2018

Atlanta attorney Claud “Tex” McIver shot and killed his wife, businesswoman Diane McIver, in September 2017, as they were driving with a friend from their ranch to their condo in Buckhead, Atlanta. The friend, Dani Jo Carter, was at the wheel, Diana McIver in the passenger seat, and Tex in the back. He has maintained the shooting was an accident. Prosecutors claimed he had been arguing with his wife, who had recently changed her will. In terms of income, Tex McIver was apparently worth a lot less than Diane. This excerpt includes the testimony of family friend and publicity expert Bill Crane. In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, according to Crane Tex McIver allegedly asked him, acting as a family spokesman to retract a statement made to the media on McIver’s behalf. Crane told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in September that Tex pulled out his gun because he was worried about unrest surrounding possible Black Lives Matter protests in the area where they had pulled off the interstate. McIver’s attorney would later step away from the claim that the couple was worried about Black Lives Matter, but Crane told McIver that he could not lie on his friend's behalf. McIver was found guilt of murder, and sentenced to life without parole. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 58: Jack McCullough Polygraph Jul 01, 2018

On the evening of December 3, 1957, in Chicago, 11-year-old Maria Ridulph begged to be allowed to go outside as it had started to snow. She never came back. It was reported that she'd been approached by a man named "Johnny" who wanted to give her a piggyback ride. Almost six months later, in April 26, 1958, Maria Ridulph's partially clothed body was discovered by mushroom hunters in a wooded area in northwestern Illinois. The case was closely investigated but unsolved, and eventually closed. It was reopened in 2009, with a neighbor of the Ridulph family was arrested as a suspect in the murder. He was a 72-year-old man named Jack McCullough, formerly known as John Tessier. McCullough was arrested after a tip from his sister, who related a deathbed conversation with her mother in which her mother implicated Jack in Maria’s murder. On June 29, 2011, McCullough was arrested, and interrogated. He agreed to take a polygraph--even though he'd already taken and passed one in 1957-- as long as it related to Maria, but quits when he realizes the examiner intends to ask him about his relationship with his sister, and other matters unrelated to the Ridulph murder. In March 2016, the DeKalb County State's Attorney announced that a post-conviction review of available evidence showed McCullough could not have been present at the place and time of Maria Ridulph's likely abduction. McCullough was released from prison on April 15, 2016 and the charges against him were dismissed on April 22, 2016. The following year, McCullough was declared actually innocent of the crime by the DeKalb County Circuit Court. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 57: Four Mayday Calls Jun 25, 2018

(1) On December 20, 2010, rescue crews were called in to search for Casey Speed, 28, who fell off a sailboat when drunk into the San Francisco Bay. The search was suspended after eight hours. The water was 50 degrees and Mr. Speed was not wearing a life jacket. (2) On May 9, 1980, the southbound span of the Skyway Summit bridge over Tampa Bay, Florida was destroyed when the freighter Summit Venture collided with a pier during a thunderstorm. The collision caused six cars, a truck, and a Greyhound bus to fall 150 feet into the water, killing 35 people. The pilot of the ship was cleared of wrongdoing by both a grand jury and a Coast Guard investigation. (3) On August 14, 2013, UPS flight 1354, crashed upon landing at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport, in Alabama. The captain and first officer were killed and the airplane was destroyed. The accident was caused by the flight crew's failure to monitor the aircraft's altitude during landing. (4) January 31, 2000, Alaska Airlines 261 crashed into the Pacific Ocean about 2.7 miles north of Anacapa Island, California. The accident was caused by faulty mechanical equipment. The 2 pilots, 3 cabin crew members, and 83 passengers on board were killed, and the airplane was destroyed. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 56: Shawn Grate 911 call and trial testimony Jun 14, 2018

On September 13 2016, a 911 dispatch operator in Ashland, Ohio received a call from a woman who had being held captive and sexually assaulted for three days by a male acquaintance. The woman, Laurie Scihlik, 38, whispered that Shawn Grate, 40, had tied her up and would not let her leave the room. She is still partially tied up, and calling on Grate's phone. The recording is punctuated by periods of silence, as Scihlik is terrified of waking up her abductor. A little over a year later, on the fourth day of testimony in Grate's capital murder trial, Scihlik testified about her ordeal for almost two hours, most of it on direct examination from Ashland County Prosecutor Chris Tunnell. Dressed in a blue blouse and dark, loose-fitting pants, she never looked in the direction of the defendant, who sat impassively at the defense table. During her testimony, Tunnell stood only a few feet from Scihlik as if to reassure her. Both here and in the 911 call, Scihlik maintains her composure admirably.

Scihlik said she was reading Bible passages while Grate went to the kitchen of his house at 363 Covert Court. She said his demeanor changed when he returned."He started pulling the Bible out of my hand," she said. "I looked up at him, and that's when he said, 'You're not going anywhere.'"

She says she looked on Grate as an "older brother," believed him to be "kind," and thought he shared her interest in reading the Bible. Grate claims he did not plan to kill Scihlik, and that they were going to get married. He pleaded insanity, a grand jury indicted him on two counts of aggravated murder in the deaths of two women, and he is believed to be responsible for the deaths of at least three others. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 55: Antoinette Tuff 911 Call Jun 09, 2018

On Monday Aug. 20, 2013, a young man with a AK47 and close to 500 rounds of ammunition briefly took control of the Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy just east of Atlanta. Michael Hill had not been taking his medication and was not mentally stable.

The students were evacuated and the school went into lockdown mode. When police arrived, Hill repeatedly fired shots at them. The intermediary between Hill and the police was a school bookkeeper named Antoinette Tuff, who was left alone in the front office with the shooter. In between negotiating with the police on Hill's behalf, Tuff told him about her life struggles, including the collapse of her marriage after 30 years, and her struggles with opening her own business. She eventually convinced Hill to surrender, put his weapons aside, and allow the police come in to take him to the hospital.

“I just want you to know that I love you, though, O.K.?” she tells him as he prepares to give himself up. “And I’m proud of you.” Ms. Tuff sounds completely calm, poised, articulate and in control all the way through the call, maintaining a good rapport with both Hill (whom she refers to, before she knows his name, as "the gentleman," and then "Michael"), and the 911 operator. Yet when the police finally arrive to arrest Hill, she breaks down in relief

Listen to the episode here.

Episode 54: Jodi Arias Police Phone Calls May 30, 2018

These are recordings of phone calls made between Jodi Arias and Arizona Police Detective Esteban Flores on June 10 and June 25, 2008. When handsome young Mormon salesman Travis Alexander was found brutally murdered in his home in Mesa, Arizona on June 9,, his friends all told Flores he should investigate Travis's "stalker" ex-girlfriend, Jodi Arias. "I talked to a number of people about you," Flores tells Jodi, "and I hate to say this, I don't mean to make you feel bad, but they didn't have the best things to say about you." Arias called to speak with Detective Flores the night Alexander's body was discovered, but he didn't return her call until the following day, after Jodi had called him again and left another message. She tells Flores that she wants to offer him her assistance, presenting herself as a devoted and heartbroken ex-girlfriend. In fact, she tells Flores that she was the one who broke up with Travis due to his infidelity, and they were both trying to "move on." Flores said he suspected Arias right from the start, and it's pretty clear why. In these conversations, her show of grief and concern give way very quickly to oddly flirtatious reminiscences, boasting about Travis's "soft, Egyptian cotton linen" sheets and his "Intelligel bed," asking Flores for discretion while at the same time spilling her soul. Her verbosity makes it easy for Flores to back her into a corner and confront her about when and from where she last accessed Travis's e-mail and social media accounts. On April 13, 2015, Jodi Arias was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 52: Dylann Roof FBI Interview May 13, 2018

This is an abbreviated version of Dylann Storm Roof's two-hour FBI interview in which he confesses to killing nine people at a South Carolina church Bible study in June 2015. The interview was recorded the day after the shooting. Roof appears child-like and baby faced, unsure of himself, both uncannily relaxed and, at the same time, intimidated by the FBI. He is obviously anxious, and struggles to conceal his confusion about what he's done. He laughs nervously a few times, and has trouble explaining why he committed the massacre, other than that he has become "racially aware" after reading about black-on-white crime on the internet. One woman in the church reported that Roof told her he wasn't going to kill her because he wanted to leave at least one person alive to tell his story. When an FBI officer asks him if this was true, he says, "Yeah, but there isn't really a story to tell." He says he originally considered shooting drug dealers, but realized they might shoot back, he said. Instead, he picked the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church because the black people there wouldn't fight back. "I knew that would be a place to get a small amount of black people in one area," Roof says, later adding, "They're in church. They weren't criminals or anything." Roof's confession shows the 21-year-old to be less inscrutable than simply naive and immature. Online, he called himself "The Last Rhodesian," but seems ignorant of African history and racial politics general. Nevertheless, he meticulously prepared for the shootings. He carried eight magazines that could each hold 13 rounds, but loaded only 11 each so that he could shoot 88 times. He explains that 88 stands for "Heil Hitler" because H is the eighth letter of the alphabet. At one point, an FBI agent asked if Roof had thought about killing more blacks. "Oh, no. I was worn out," says Roof. He says he left bullets in a magazine so that he could kill himself after the slayings, but changed his mind when he didn't immediately see any police. He believed he'd killed maybe one or two people. About 45 minutes into his interview with the FBI, an agent decided to tell him that nine people were dead. "Are you lying to me?" asks Roof, incredulously. "There wasn't even that many people in there!" At trial, Roof's defense attorney offered a plea of guilt if the state took the death penalty off the table. Prosecutors refused, and in January 2017, Dylann Roof was sentenced to death by lethal injection. In April 2017, now aged 23, he was transferred to death row at Terre Haute Federal Prison in Indiana. Listen to the interview here.

Episode 51: Andrew Watson Police Interrogation May 04, 2018

Lise Fredette, 74, was last seen on Nov. 12, 2014 after leaving her shift at a Walmart in Peterborough, Quebec, where she worked as the store’s jewellery department manager. Ten days later, when the grandmother-of-two still hadn't been found, her ex-boyfriend, Andrew Watson, 78, was arrested and questioned by Ontario Provincial Police Staff Sgt. Scott Johnston. Fredette broke up with the elderly Scotsman in April 2014 after they had dating on and off for three years. When she left him, he had threatened her with violence and sent her angry letters. Watson tells Johnston that he's spoken with a lawyer before the interview, who told him not to say anything. But he's annoyed by the way he's been treated by the police, and wants to vent his complaints. "You should see the mess in my house," he tells Johnston. He asks multiple times what will be happening to him next, and asks if he can get a pillow and blanket for his cell. He also asked to be released and he'd just "sit and wait" at home ("You could let me stay at home where at least I'd be comfortable"). Finally, Johnston begins asking questions about Fredette. Watson says he last saw her the Saturday before she went missing, when they were both at a dance, but he didn't speak to her, he said, as he'd got a second warning from police a few days earlier, telling him to leave Fredette alone. Watson tells Johnston there's nothing going on in his life and he spends 95 per cent of his time in his house alone, "so no matter what crime would be committed in Peterborough, I could not give the police an alibi." When Johnston asks Watson what he thinks happened to Fredette, he says, "I don't know." When asked, for the sake of Fredette's loved ones, to tell them where her body is, he says, "I'll tell you, no one is missing her more than I'm missing her." When asked where he was the night Fredette went missing, he replies, "I'm not supposed to be speaking to you." When asked about blood that was found in his house and his Subaru, he says, "Well, there'll be blood all over my house ... because I'm always bleeding." The constant clicking sound you can hear is the sound of Watson attempting to light and re-light his cigarettes, cadged from Johnston, who doesn't smoke. On April 20, 2017, Watson was convicted of the first-degree murder of Fredette, even though her body had still not been found. "Mr. Watson, the road is now over for you," said the Judge. "If you have a heart, sir, I would strongly suggest you speak … to put closure to this, so this family can lay this very kind, compassionate woman to her proper rest." "No thanks," the unrepentant Scotsman replied. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 50: Stephen Duxbury Trial Testimony Apr 23, 2018

This episode presents audio from Nov 14, 2017 in the trial of Stephen Duxbury, 35, who was charged with the first-degree murder, sexual battery and burglary of Sasha Samudean. The 27-year-old was found dead on Saturday, Oct. 17, inside her apartment on Orange Avenue in Orlando, Florida, where Duxbury worked as a security guard. According to the prosecution, Duxbury followed Samsudean into her apartment, raped her, strangled her, then rolled her body in her comforter and covered it in bleach. It was, according to the prosecutor, "a crime of opportunity." On the stand is Anthony Roper, 30, a mechanical engineer, a close friend of Sasha Samsudean. Roper recounts the evening he spend with Sasha, the bars they went to, and the amount they drank. Roper admits Sasha had been drinking a lot, but says she did not intend to see anyone after she went home. In fact, he says it was uncharacteristic of her to bring a stranger home. "She never explicitly took a guy home from the bar in front of me," he says. "She never did that." Anthony explains that he tried to reach Sasha the morning after their night out in Orlando but she didn't pick up. He testifies that he messaged and called her all day before going to her apartment. When she didn’t answer her door, Roper called Orlando police to file a missing person’s report between 7 and 8 p.m. Duxbury was found guilty of murder, and given life without parole. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 49: Jonathan Broyhill Trial Testimony Apr 09, 2018

This audio is from Day 7 (March 12, 2015) of the trial of Jonathan Broyhill, 31, for assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill after he stabbed young Democratic strategist Jamie Kirk Hahn and her husband, Nation, 27, at their North Raleigh residence in Raleigh, North Carolina in April 2013. Jamie, 29, sustained fatal stab wounds to her abdomen; Nation recovered. On the stand, Nation Hahn is being cross-examined about the day of the murder by defense attorney Joseph Arbour. We learn that Broyhill was known as a longtime friend of the couple. He and Nation Hahn grew up in the same town and Broyhill was the best man at the Hahns’ wedding in 2009. Since at least 2010, Broyhill worked for Jamie’s policy firm, Sky Blue Strategies. Brad Miller (D-NC) had worked with both Jamie and Broyhill through Sky Blue Strategies in 2012 on his reelection campaign, which he ultimately abandoned. Miller's campaign had been independently investigating Broyhill for alleged campaign-finance irregularities. We learn that Broyhill had been lying about the fact that he had cancer, and stealing money from the Miller campaign. The attack on the Hahns, we learn, came from a confrontation about the money. Nation Hahn maintains his composure on the stand, although Arbour's chummy tone clearly grates on his nerves. He responds to most questions with a "yes, sir," "no, sir," or "I can't recall, sir," remaining dignified even when being questioned about taking his iPad to the bathroom with him, or whether or not his pants were down or up when he heard Jamie scream. His poise and self-possession make Arbour sound like a chump. Broyhill was convicted, and is serving a life sentence in prison. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 48: Denise Amber Lee 911 calls Apr 03, 2018

Plumber Nathan Lee was at work on Thursday, January 17, 2008; his wife, Denise Lee, was at home with their young children. She called him at 11:21 a.m.. They discussed the nice weather: the couple decided that the windows should be opened at their home. Denise said she had already opened them. Nathan Lee arrived home around 3:30 p.m. to find the windows closed, his wife missing and the children home alone in the same crib. This prompted him to call 9-1-1. During the afternoon, Denise Lee was abducted from her home by an unemployed man named Michael King. He drove her around, tied up in his vehicle, for quite some time; several people witnessed the journey. Around 6:30 p.m., a witness, Jane Kowalski, heard screaming from a car next to hers at a stoplight. Kowalski called 9-1-1 to report what she believed to be a child abduction. Later that evening, King raped and murdered Lee and buried her in a shallow grave. Her body was found on January 19, 2008. King was later found guilty of kidnapping, sexual battery and first degree murder; he was sentenced to death and is presently detained awaiting execution. This episode contains two of the 9-1-1 calls. This first is Denise Lee, in the car with King, trying to convey information about her situation to the dispatcher without alerting her abductor. The second is the call from Jane Kowalski. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 47: Larry Nassar Victim Impact Statements Mar 25, 2018

This episode contains audio from Day 2 Part 1 of the Sentencing Hearing of Larry Nassar, the 54-year-old USA Gymnastics team osteopathic physician and convicted child molester. This testimony, from January 17 2018, includes impact statements from the following gymnast-victims: Gina Nichols (on behalf of her daughter, Maggie Nichols); Tiffany Thomas-Lopez; Jeanette Antolin; Amanda Thomashow; Gwen Anderson; Amanda Barterian; Jamie Doski; Janelle Moul, and Madeline Jones.

In handing down Nassar’s punishment, Judge Rosemarie Aquilina said, “Our Constitution does not allow for cruel and unusual punishment. If it did, I have to say, I might allow what he did to all of these beautiful souls — these young women in their childhood — I would allow someone or many people to do to him what he did to others.” Nassar was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison. See an article in Time magazine by By Anne E. Gowen January 26, 2018, on How Larry Nassar Judge Rosemarie Aqualina Undermined Justice. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 46: Ed Kemper Prison Interview Mar 15, 2018

Edward Emil Kemper, after a horribly abusive upbringing, murdered both of his grandparents at age 15, and was sent to the criminally insane unit of the Atascadero State Hospital, where he was held until he was 21. At this point, he convinced psychiatrists he was reformed and well enough to be released. From May 1972 to April 1973, Kemper kidnapped and killed at least eight more people. Six were female college students hitch-hiking , his abusive mother, and his mother’s friend — dismembering and defiling their bodies in ways too horrible to mention here. At 6''9 and 350lbs, Kemper comes across as personable and articulate (he reportedly has an IQ of 145). He was ultimately convicted for eight counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment in the California Medical Facility. As of 2015, Kemper remains among the general population in prison and is considered a model prisoner. He is in charge of scheduling other inmates' appointments with psychiatrists. He is an accomplished craftsman of ceramic cups and a prolific reader of books on tape for the blind. This audio is taken from an interview with Kemper by FBI profiler John E. Douglas, who described Kemper as "among the brightest prison inmates" he ever interviewed and capable of "rare insight for a violent criminal. In the interview, Kemper is very forthcoming about the nature of his crimes and appears to express regret, though he also blames his mother for her "emasculating" cruelty. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 45: 911 Call and Court Testimony, Michelle Wilkins case Mar 05, 2018

This episode presents the court testimony and 911 call of Michelle Wilkins, 26, who went to the home of Dynel Lane, 35, in Longmont, Colorado, in response to a Craiglist ad for free baby clothes for her unborn baby. Lane stabbed and choked Michelle, who was heavily pregnant, until she lost consciousness. She then cut Michelle's baby from her womb and left her to die in the basement. She had told her husband that she was pregnant with a baby boy, and on the day of the attack told him she herself had suffered a miscarriage. The baby died, and Michelle, who managed to recover and call 911, spent 5 days in the ICU. Lane was convicted of the unlawful termination of a pregnancy, and four counts of felony assault. Because the baby was still a fetus when it had been removed from Michelle's womb, she could not be charged with murder. She was found guilty of all charges, and sentenced to 100 years in prison. Listen to the episode here

Episode 44: Scott Peterson & Amber Frey Phone Conversation Feb 27, 2018

This is a phone conversation between fertilizer salesman Scott Peterson, 31, and masseuse Amber Frey that took place on Jan 12th, 2003, at 6:04PM. The two had been introduced by a friend the previous November, and had begun a romantic relationship. Scott told Amber he was single. Later, on December 9, 2002, he told her he had "lost his wife." In fact, his wife Laci was seven months pregnant at the time.

On December 24, 2002, Scott Peterson reported his wife Laci missing from their home in Modesto, California. When Amber read the news, she went to the police, who asked her to continue her relationship with Scott in the hopes of getting him to Laci's murder. Calls between Scott and Amber at this time were recorded in the hope that they would provide evidence of Scott's guilt. However, he did not confess.

On April 13, 2003, the remains of a late term male fetus were found on the shoreline of San Francisco Bay, where Peterson had been boating the day of Laci's disappearance. The next day, Laci's torso was found in the same area, missing its hands, feet, and head. In this call, it's obvious that Amber has been blinded by Scott's charm. She clearly ignored the fact that he simply took her on a few dates and had sex with her. He didn't introduce her to his friends or parents, didn't take her home, didn't tell her anything about his personal life. While she knows the police are listening in, and is trying to get information out of Scott, Amber is also clearly speaking from the heart. She is miserable, but her self-righteousness makes it difficult to sympathize with her. She weeps, bewails her lot, reads poems, and recites Bible verses, believing all this will appeal to Scott, despite his evidence of bad character. In 2004, Scott Peterson was convicted of the first degree murder of his pregnant wife, and the second degree murder of their unborn son. He was sentenced to death by lethal injection. His case is currently undergoing appeal. Listen to the episode here

Episode 43: Michael McCarthy Police Interrogation Feb 16, 2018

On June 25, 2015, a woman walking her dog on the shore of Deer Island in Winthrop, Massachusetts, discovered the remains of a 3 year old child in a plastic garbage bag. After widespread media publicity, the child was identified three months later as Bella Bond. Her mother, Rachelle Bond, and her mother's boyfriend, Michael McCarthy, were arrested, and authorities confirmed that Bella had been murdered. Rachelle Bond, 40, was charged with "accessory after the fact" in regards to her daughter's murder, and pleaded guilty as the result of a plea deal, testified against McCarthy in his trial. She alleged that McCarthy had punched Bella in the stomach multiple times after claiming Bella was a "demon." She said he was the sole perpetrator of the murder. Rachelle, a heroin addict and former prostitute, also admitted to concealing Bella's death. She was in the car with McCarthy when he dumped her daughter's body, but says she does not remember this happening, as she went on a drug binge immediately afterwards. When people asked Rachelle where Bella had gone, she claimed the child had been removed by the Department of Family Services. This was a plausible excuse, as two previous children had been taken away in the past. In June 2017, Michael McCarthy was convicted of murder in the second degree and sentenced to life with possibility of parole. Listen to the episode here. More information about the Bella Bond case.

Episode 42: The Iceman Speaks Feb 07, 2018

This episode contains excerpts from an interview conducted by the forensic psychiatrist Park Dietz with "The Iceman," Richard Kuklinski (1935–2006) in Trenton Maximum Security State Prison, New Jersey, in 2002. Kuklinski was a mafia contract killer who was convicted for five murders, although to Dietz, he claims to have been responsible for the deaths of between 100 and 250 people. Kuklinski was given the nickname "Iceman" for his method of freezing a victim after the murder in order to mask the time of death. At 6'5" and 270 pounds, the Iceman had a fearsome reputation among the mafia, but his wife and children in the suburb of Dumont, New Jersey apparently believed he was a successful businessman. In fact, by the early 1980s, Kuklinski was involved in narcotics, pornography, arms dealing, money laundering, and hijacking; he also worked as a contract killer for Newark's DeCavalcante crime family. By the mid-1980s, he began to make mistakes and get sloppy about disposing of his victims. Kuklinski was arrested in 1986 and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1988. After his conviction, Kuklinski took part in a number of interviews during which he confessed to many violent and disturbing crimes. Though some have expressed skepticism about the extent of Kuklinski's alleged murders, police believe he killed at least several dozen people both at the behest of organized crime bosses and on his own initiative. Listen to the episode here. Watch the documentary on Youtube here.

Episode 41: Phillip Chism Trial Testimony Jan 29, 2018

This episode contains an excerpt from the morning of day 2 in the in the November 2015 murder trial of Phillip Chism, 16, who is accused of killing his Danvers High School math teacher, Colleen Ritzer, 24. Chism is being tried as an adult in the Salem Superior Court. First a fellow math teacher, Todd Butterworth, describes the search for Colleen when she didn't come home after school on October 23, 2013. Her car was found in the high school parking lot. Butterworth explains how, during a search of the school grounds, he found Colleen’s large, distinctive school bag, that contained a pink calculator, wedged between some rocks near the woods. Near the bag, Butterworth said he also saw a pair of white gloves with blood on them and splatters of blood on nearby leaves. Next, Stephanie Wennerberg, a police officer, described how she found several pieces of blood-stained evidence were found in the woods by the school. She also found a bloody hand print during a search of the second-floor girls’ room. Finally, a canine officer, Justin Ellenton, describes how the he and his dog, Falco, searched for Miss Ritzer, and how Falco found a gray sneaker and a large green recycling bin with blood inside. Later in the trial, the jury learned that, after his math class, Philip Chism pulled a hood over his head, put on a pair of gloves and followed Miss Ritzer into a second-floor girls bathroom, where he strangled her, cut her 16 times with a wire cutter, and raped her. He then rolled a large green recycling bin into the bathroom, put Colleen's body inside it, then dragged it into the nearby woods. His motives remain unclear. Listen to the testimony here. Learn more about the case here.

Episode 40: Travis Walton UFO Abduction Audio Jan 18, 2018

This episode contains the first interview given by UFO abductee Travis Walton after his apparent abduction from the Apache-Seagreaves National Park, Arizona, in November 1975. Walton is being interviewed by KOOL-TV reporter Jim Ryerson for the show Face the State on 11.11.1975. This is one of very few UFO abduction cases that has been supported by multiple eyewitnesses. Travis Walton was one of a small crew of loggers clearing trees and brush when a UFO descended on them. Walton's co-workers say that Travis was struck and seemingly wounded by a beam of light that emerged from the strange aircraft. His co-workers drove away in a panic. Later, they returned with search and rescue personnel, but Travis had vanished. He did not re-appear for five days. When he returned, Walton had an incredible story to tell. As he explains in this interview, he was taken on board the UFO and subjected to a number of unusual encounters and experiments. Back in Arizona, he thought only a few hours had passed. At the time, the case gained widespread publicity. At first, when Travis was missing, police suspected the UFO story was a cover-up for a logging accident. When he returned, he was given a polygraph exam, which he failed. He gives the reasons for this in the interview, along with commentary by a polygraph examiner. Travis Walton and his coworkers have continued to insist their story is true. Listen to the interview here Interview Transcript (pdf) More about the case

Episode 39: Paul Bernardo Police Interview Jan 09, 2018

In June 2007, when he was 43, Paul Bernardo was interviewed by the Toronto Police Services Sex Crimes Unit about a number of unsolved crimes, including the disappearance of Elizabeth Bain. The crimes took place during the period in which Bernardo, along with his then-wife Karla Homolka, committed a series of sexual assaults, tortures, and murders in the Canadian city of Scarborough. Homolka signed a plea bargain for a 12 years sentence in exchange for her testimony against Bernardo (here, Bernardo complains that Homolka lied about her role in the killings and she was never polygraphed). Before the police can get to their questions about the Bain case, they listen to Bernardo's complaints about the way they have handled his case. The detectives are timid, tiptoeing around the subject, always polite, always trying to answer Bernardo's concerns. He's upset that police have said he claimed responsibility for crimes he never committed. Bernardo is agitated and rarely makes eye contact with the detectives. He speaks quickly, in a high-pitched voice, sometimes laughing incredulously, sometimes responding with sarcastic comments. He rolls his eyes when police speak, grimacing openly when they say his complaints are out of the jurisdiction of the Toronto police service. Often, he shakes his head in disbelief and laughs incredulously. Bernardo has never been charged in the crime and Bain's disappearance remains unsolved. As usual, the sound quality is not great. Listen to the interview here. Read the transcript here. Watch the interview on YouTube here.

Episode 38: Justin Ross Harris Trial Testimony Jan 02, 2018

This episode contains the testimony of 21-year-old Jaynie Meadows during the trial of Harris, known as Ross, for the death of his 22-month-old son Cooper. On June 18 2014, 24-year old Harris took his son to a fast food restaurant to get breakfast, then drove to his office at Home Depot, leaving Cooper strapped into a rear-facing child seat in the back of his car instead of taking him to daycare. It was a very hot day. Around noon, Harris went to lunch with some colleagues, then picked up some light bulbs and put them in his car. Video surveillance footage shows that he did not look in the back of the SUV. Seven hours later, when he was driving home from work, he discovered Cooper's dead body in the back of his car. Child "hot car deaths" are not uncommon, and are generally considered to be tragic accidents--acts of negligence or, at worst, involuntary manslaughter. What made Harris's case different was the prosecution's argument that he killed his child deliberately because he wanted to live a carefree life. The State argued Harris was a sex addict who was visiting prostitutes and having affairs with multiple women. Harris's numerous girlfriends and lovers testified to this fact in court, and police witnesses showed that, on the day of Cooper's death, Harris had been sexting with at least six women, some of whom were under the age of consent. One of these women was Jaynie Meadows. Jaynie is poised and confident as she recounts the course of her relationship with the persistent Harris, which took place mostly via text, phone, and chat apps. She testifies that she was an 18-year-old college student in 2013, when she first began engaging in online chats with Harris. Eventually, she says, she fell in love with him. “He told me he loved me every day,” she says. The prosecutor asks her to read aloud a text from Harris: “If Cooper wasn’t in the picture, I probably would have left my wife by now." Under cross-examination, Meadows begins to lose her poise and grows increasingly impatient with the prolonged questioning, often glaring at the defense attorney. Harris was found guilty malice murder and felony murder charges, as well as sending sexual text messages to a teenage girl and sending her nude photos. Listen to the testimony here Learn more about the case here

Episode 37: Julie Schenecker Police Interview Dec 25, 2017

Colonel Parker Schenecker met in his wife Julie in Germany during the 1980s, where she was working as a Russian linguist. They had two children, and moved to Florida, where Julie became depressed and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. On January 27, 2011, when Parker Schenecker was overseas, daughter Calyx, 16, and son Beau, 13, were found dead by police at their home in Tampa. Julie was found drugged and semi-conscious after a suicide attempt. She was arrested on suspicion of their murder after an alleged confession. In 2014, 53-year-old Julie Schenecker went on trial for the murder of her two children. She pled not guilty by reason of insanity to two counts of first-degree murder. On the third day of the trial, jurors were played to an audio recording of Julie Schenecker's interview with Tampa police in which she describes how she shot her children to death. For the first time they were able to hear Ms. Schenecker, in her own words, describe how she killed her two children. The detective interviewing her is thoughtful and compassionate; and it's very clear that Ms. Schenecker is seriously disturbed, and still under the influence of alcohol and drugs. She admits that she has been planning to kill her children for many years, but she also asks if they're coming to the police station. She was found guilty of first-degree murder and was sentenced to two concurrent life terms in prison on May 15, 2014. Listen to the interview here. Find out more about the case here.

Episode 36: Hulk Hogan vs. Gawker Trial Testimony Dec 10, 2017

This is testimony from Day 6 (March 14, 2016) of the Hulk Hogan trial, in which former wrestling star Hulk Hogan sued the gossip website Gawker and its founder Nick Denton for publishing a sex tape of him with his best friend's wife, Heather Clem. On the stand, being slowly eviscerated by Hogan's attorney Douglas Mirell, is 41-year-old Gawker's editor in chief A. J. Daulerio. Despite his smart jacket and tie, Daulerio looks sleep-deprived and bored, and occasionally comes across as arrogant and supercilious. At the beginning of the proceedings, Mirell refers to testimony from a deposition in which Daulerio admits that he “enjoyed watching the video... because I found it very amusing,” and he was “proud” to have published it. When Mirell asks if he can imagine a situation in which a celebrity sex tape would not be newsworthy, Daulerio replies, "If they were a child.” “Under what age?” asks Mirell. “Four,” Daulerio answers. “No 4-year-old sex tapes, OK,” Mirell says. Daulerio later contends that he was being sarcastic. But the Florida jury was not amused, and after a two week trial, they awarded Hogan $140 million in damages over the tape, and ordered Dauleria to pay a $100,000 personal fine for posting the tape on the internet. The trial led to Gawker's downfall, and Daulerio's bankruptcy. Listen to the trial testimony here. Watch the clip on Youtube.

Episode 35: Casey Anthony Police Interview Dec 01, 2017

Casey Anthony's interview with an Orange County sheriff's sergeant and two detectives was conducted on July 16, 2008, in a conference room at Universal Studios. The interview concerns Casey's infant daughter, Caylee, who was last seen June 16, 2008, but was not reported missing until a month later. Casey claimed she worked at Universal Studios and led the officers there, only to eventually confess that she had not, in fact, worked there for some time. Casey claimed that Caylee had been kidnapped by her nanny, the fictional Zenaida Fernandez Gonzales, but the detectives do not believe her. They plead with Anthony to tell the truth about what happened to Caylee. "None of us are sitting here believing what you're saying because everything that's coming out of your mouth is a lie," Detective Yuri Melich tells Anthony. "Everything. And unless we start getting the truth, we're going to announce two possibilities with Caylee: Either you gave Caylee to someone that you don't want anyone to find out because you think you're a bad mom. Or something happened to Caylee and Caylee's buried somewhere or in a trash can somewhere, and you had something to do with it. Either way, right now it's not a very pretty picture to be painting." Asked later whether Fernandez Gonzales accepted money, Anthony says, "I would not have sold my daughter. If I wanted to really just get rid of her, I would have left her with my parents and I would've left. I would've moved out. I would've given my mom custody." When asked what Anthony wants her mother to give the media as a message to Caylee, Anthony breaks down as she says to tell her daughter "that Mommy loves her very much, and she's the most important thing in this entire world to me, and to be brave. I truly, truly love that little girl, and miss her so much." Later that day, after authorities failed to find Zenaida Fernandez Gonzales in a database of Florida driver's licenses, Casey Anthony was arrested on suspicion of giving police false information, obstructing an investigation and child neglect. The skeletal remains of Caylee Anthony were found in December 2008, not far from the Anthony home. Casey was charged with seven counts in Caylee's death, including first-degree murder. She could have faced the death penalty, but was found not guilty, and released. Listen to the interview here. Read the transcript here.

Episode 34: Charles Manson Parole Hearing Nov 20, 2017

This morning, Charles Manson's existential parole finally ran out. In 1971, Charles Manson was found guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder for the deaths of seven people – including the actress Sharon Tate – all of which were carried out by members of the group at his instruction. Manson also received first-degree murder convictions for two other deaths. He was originally sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment when California invalidated the state's death penalty statute in 1972. His sentence was commuted to life. From Vacaville, he was transferred to California State Prison in Corcoran, where this hearing took place. Manson was 62 at this 1997 parole hearing, the last one he attended. He stopped showing up because he knew the hearings were a charade, and he would never be released. His paranoid rant is eloquently phrased, but the phrases are disconnected and make sense only to him. Like the sermon of a hypocritical preacher, his rhythms are hypnotic but they have no foundation. "You can't get into the real estate," he says and one point, "because Pasadena is a submarine that's run by Gerry Hoover, who's over in the chapel, who comes from Columbia with the drug cartel saying he got money with two girls and he's taking that pussy..." The Parole Commissioner, Steve Baker, reads sections of a report from a psychiatrist who interviewed Manson, Dr. Wayne O. Evans, who wrote, "As usual, inmate Manson spoke in metaphor and allegory,and on occasion had to be reminded to be more linear and concrete. He has a clinical history of exercising control, manipulation, and power over his associates and followers, fueled by narcissistic rage for real or imagined slights ... he exhibits some signs of schizoaffective personality disorder; once in a while he does revert to magical thinking and flights of fancy, but more in allegory and metaphor than in a delusional system. ... He has considerable artistic ability, and should be encouraged to pursue such controlled outlets for this expression." Manson responds, "Whoever did that did a really good job, didn't he? Yeah, that was a real nice report. I thought the guy had a lot of good things down there, pretty much. I'm a lot of those things. He's making me look a little better than I really am, but whatever it takes is where I have to roll." R.I.P, Charlie. Listen to the parole hearing here. More information about the Manson case here

Episode 33: Paige Birgfeld Murder Trial Nov 17, 2017

When Paige Birgfeld went missing from her home in Grand Valley, Colorado on June 28 2007, police were faced with a baffling number of suspects. The 34-year-old twice-divorced mother-of-three was also known as "Carrie." She had worked as a stripper in Las Vegas in the past, and currently owned an escort agency called Models, Inc. She advertised on Craigslist, among other locations, sometimes answering her business cellphone pretending to be a secretary in an attempt to convince men she had several women available. Sometimes she did, but often it was just Paige. It took police seven years to comb through the alibis of the various suspects in the case, on of whom was her neighbor, Joseph Carruth, who testifies here. Carruth explains that he met Birgfeld at a pool party that she had for her son's soccer team, on which Carruth's son also played. Carruth admits that he was attracted to Birgfeld and called her that night and asked for a date, but she politely turned him down. A couple of months later, Carruth called an escort service for a massage, and recognized Birgfeld when "Carrie" arrived. Birgfeld later told her ex-husband, with whom she was in the process of reuniting, that she didn’t recognize Carruth at first, but he recognized her. Carruth told investigators she asked him to consider “dancing for her at bachelorette parties,” and he said he would think about it. The two played phone-tag the following day, which was the day Birgfeld disappeared. Eventually, another of her clients, 63-year-old Lester Jones, was convicted of her murder. Listen to the calm, placid, polite voice of the judge in the case, Brian Flynn. Also of note is Kara Smith, Lester Jones's young defense attorney who tries to make Carruth into a viable suspect, and, in his defense, the unruffled D.A., Dan Rubinstein. Listen to Carruth's testimony here. Learn more about the case here.

Episode 32: Michael Dunn Police Interview Nov 06, 2017

Around 7:30 p.m. on Nov 23 2012, Michael Dunn, 47, and his girlfriend Rhonda Rauer, stopped a gas station in Jacksonville, Florida, on their way back from Dunn's son's wedding. They had left early (they had left their new puppy in a crate in their hotel room) and stopped to pick up a bottle of wine and a bag of chips. They pulled up next to an SUV containing four teenage boys who were playing rap music at high volume. Dunn asked the boys to turn their music down, and one of them lowered the volume, but than another boy, Jordan Davis, turned it up again to a level which Dunn would later describe in court as "ridiculously loud." Dunn objected and Jordan Davis cursed at him and, according to Dunn, threatened to kill him. As Dunn describes in this police interview, Davis opened his car door and pointed what appeared to be a shotgun at him. Dunn, who had a concealed weapons permit, said he feared for his life. He took a handgun out of his glove compartment and started firing at Davis. As the SUV backed up to evade his gunshots, Dunn opened his car door and continued firing at the SUV. When Rhonda Rauer returned to the car, Dunn put his foot on the gas and sped away. The couple drove back to their hotel, where they walked the dog and ordered pizza. The next morning, Rouer saw a news report about the shooting including the fact that Jordan Davis had died. The couple still did not call the police, but canceled their plans and drove home. In this interview, Dunn claims he called a neighbor who works in law enforcement to arrange to speak to him about the shooting. However, records showed that the neighbor actually called him, and Rouer later testified in court that the shooting was never mentioned during the call. When Dunn arrived home, police were waiting for him, and he was arrested--and eye witness at the garage had made a note of his license place. Here, Dunn claims that he mentioned to Rouer several times that he men had a shotgun, but in court, Rouer testified that Dunn never mentioned a shotgun either that night or the next day. No weapons were found in the SUV. After an initial mistrial, Dunn was found guilty of first degree murder on October 1, 2014, and sentenced to life in prison without parole plus 90 years. Listen to the interview here. More information about the case.

Episode 31: UFO hotline phone call Oct 24, 2017

On December 12, 1987, a man in Climax Springs, Missouri called the 24-hour hotline of the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC)to describe his encounter with a UFO and its occupants, who were staring at him "like a zebra in a zoo." His call is taken by Robert Gribble, founder of the National UFO reporting center, who interviews him about the encounter for half an hour. Gribble operated NUFORC for twenty years, gaining credible UFO reports from all over the world until 1994, when a fellow researcher took over the data collection responsibility. According to Robert Barrow, a member of the NUFORC team who reviewed the recordings, "There's something about the recorded voice, disembodied from a visualized talking head. Often the raw, unadulterated self-narrative of one's UFO experience reinforces the incident's integrity, and frequently voice inflections and choice of words can betray a hoax or delusion. But make no mistake, sounds hold our attention as we use our minds in an attempt to comprehend the unseen, if not the unknown." Listen to the recording here More information about the NUFORC recordings

Episode 30: Barney Hill Hypnosis Tape Oct 15, 2017

On September 19, 1961, Betty and Barney Hill, along with dachshund Delsey, were returning home to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, traveling south on US Route 3. At approximately 10:15 pm they noted a “bright star” which appeared to move erratically. They continued to watch it as it apparently paced them and got closer and closer. Barney stopped the car, and the couple looked at the object through binoculars. They saw a spinning, flattened circular disk with multicolored lights on the rim. About two miles north of North Woodstock, the object descended and hovered about 100 feet in the air in front of the Hill's car. A blue-white fluorescent glow shone through its windows. Barney stopped the car and got out. He could see several uniformed, human-like figures and grew frightened, jumping in the car, and driving down the road. Suddenly, the Hills both heard an irregular beeping sound, felt a tingling sensation and became drowsy. The next thing they remembered was a second series of beeps, and they were driving through Plymouth, New Hampshire. It was two hours later, and they had no memory of what had happened to them. However, they both reported feeling clammy and dirty. Betty and Barney Hill came to believe they had been abducted by aliens. Around two years after the incident, they began to visit Dr. Benjamin Simon, a Boston psychiatrist and hypnotherapist. Dr. Simon began hypnotizing the Hills on January 4, 1964. He hypnotized Betty, 41, and Barney, 39, several times each, and the sessions lasted until June 6, 1964 (over 9 hours of recordings were made). Simon conducted the sessions separately, so Betty and Barney could not overhear one another's recollections, which turned out to be remarkably similar. At the end of each session he reinstated amnesia. Dr. Simon admitted privately, in correspondence, that he did not not believe the Hills were abducted. Instead, he felt that they were re-living a dream that Betty had experienced right after the incident, and which she had discussed with her husband. He believed the dream had been transferred to Barney, an example of folie à deux whereby a delusion or hallucination is transmitted from one person to another. When Barney first describes the aliens he saw inside the UFO, he says, “One person looks friendly to me. … And he’s smiling.” And when the doctor asks, “What was his face like?” Barney replies, "It was round. I think of—I think of—a red-headed Irishman. … I think I know why. Because Irish are usually hostile to Negroes. And when I see a friendly Irish person, I react to him by thinking—I will be friendly. And I think this one that is looking over his shoulder is friendly... He looks like a German Nazi. He’s a Nazi … a black scarf around his neck, dangling over his left shoulder." Dr. Simon felt that the abduction narrative reflected the Hills' anxiety as the result of being in a very early interracial marriage in a predominantly white part of the country. He thought Barney may have suffered from a persecution complex. He said, "my interest in UFOs was almost entirely on the phenomena of Barney's developing racial paranoia which seemed to me to have been the best representation on the matter I had seen." Listen to the hypnosis session here. More about the case.

Episode 29: Byron Smith audiotape Oct 10, 2017

Byron David Smith, 64, was a retired State Department security engineering officer whose home in Little Falls, Minnesota had been broken into multiple times at least half a dozen times during 2012. The thieves had stolen thousands of dollars in cash, the watch his father had received after spending nearly a year as a POW in World War II, medals and ribbons Smith had earned in Vietnam, several firearms, and jewelry. Smith, who was angry that local police had not been able to prevent the break-ins, began wearing a holster with a loaded gun inside his home. On Thanksgiving, 2012, Smith was at home when he heard people casing his property outside. He took his gun and went to sit in his basement, waiting for six hours to shoot the intruders. He turned on an audio recorder to tape the incident, intending to show he was attacked inside his home (defending your home against intruders is permitted under the state's "Castle law"). However, the audio tape also picked up Smith's bitter curses and angry mutterings, including him rehearsing what he was planning to say to police and attorneys after he had killed the burglars ("I realize I don't have an appointment, but I would like to see one of the lawyers here," he says at one point). The intruders were two local teenagers, Haile Kifer, 18, and her cousin, Nicholas Brady, 17, who were being investigated for prior burglaries, including those at Smith's house. When Brady appears at the top of the basement stairs, we can hear Smith shoot him twice, then we hear Brady fall downstairs and Smith firing again, shooting him in the face and killing him. Minutes later, we hear Kifer entering the basemen. Smith shoots her at the top of the stairs. She cries out, "Oh my god!" and falls down the stairs. Smith goes to shoot her again, but his rifle jams. He picks up his revolver and fires many times into her chest, then dragged her across the floor and put her body next to that of her cousin, and killed her instantly with a shot to the head. Following the shootings, he mutters, "I am not a bleeding heart liberal. I felt like I was cleaning up a mess - not like spilled food, not like vomit, not even like…not even like diarrhea - the worst mess possible. And I was stuck with it…in some tiny little respect…in some tiny little respect. I was doing my civic duty. If the law enforcement system couldn't handle it, I had to do it. I had to do it. The law system couldn't handle her and if it fell into my lap and she dropped her problem in my lap…and she threw her own problem in my face. And I had to clean it up." Smith waited until the following day to have a neighbor call police, saying that he did not want to bother law enforcement on Thanksgiving. When interviewed by police, he acknowledged "firing more shots than I needed to," and and described firing "a good clean finishing shot" into Kifer's head. This use of excessive force, coupled with the fact that Smith had clearly been lying in wait for the teens, led to his conviction for two counts of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison, and his appeal denied. Listen to the audio here. Learn more about the case here.

Episode 28: Fiona Wais testimony, Steven Capobianco Trial Sep 30, 2017

This episode features testimony in the trial of Steven Capobianco, 30, for the murder in Hawaii of Carly "Charli" Scott, his 27-year-old ex-girlfriend who was five months pregnant with their child when she went missing in February of 2014. Capobianco pleaded not guilty to the charges in the trial, which took place in July of 2014. Charli met Steven Capobianco in 2009. She fell in love, and Steven invited her to live with him, but during the two years the couple lived together, according to the prosecution, “the defendant would tell his friends that they were just roommates and he did not like to take pictures with her." After Steven broke up with her, Charli continued to love him, even though she knew he didn’t care about her. It was after they had broken up, and when Steven had a new girlfriend, that he got Charli pregnant. Charli's mother testified that on Monday, Feb. 10, 2014, she went to check on her daughter at her home in Makawao, Hawaii, and noticed that one of Charli’s dogs was in the home and had urinated and defecated inside. Charli’s other dog, Nala, was missing. Charli had three sisters, Brooke, Fiona, and Phaedra, who all testified in the trial. Her two younger sisters, Fiona and Phaedra often stayed at the home Charli shared with Steven to spend more time with their sister. When Charli went missing, Fiona was 16 and Phaedra 13. The girls found evidence of her remains in a nearby forest, along with the burned-out shell of her car. In her trial testimony, Fiona relates how Charli announced her pregnancy to her family, how Steven had insisted that she get an abortion, and Charli's refusal to do so. After learning that her sister was pregnant, Fiona says that she contacted Capobianco to ask him questions. He replied by saying that, "I thought she took care of it." Fiona told him that Charli was having the baby. Fiona also said that Charli did not get along with their stepfather, and at the time of her disappearance, she was not allowed at her mother and stepfather's home. Later, when Charli went missing, Fiona told the jury that Steven had said, "I have a hypothesis that Charli could have picked up a hitchhiker," adding, “It didn’t make sense to me, because the story that I had heard repeatedly was that Steven's car was having problems, and when they were last seen, he was driving down the road in front of Charli to make sure that his vehicle didn’t break down again.” Listen to Fiona's testimony here.

Episode 27: Gypsy Willis Testimony, Martin MacNeill Trial Sep 20, 2017

From the outside, the MacNeills were the ideal Mormon family. They lived in a gated community in Pleasant Grove, Utah. Martin MacNeill was a doctor, lawyer, and Mormon Bishop; his homemaker wife Michele was a former fashion model and beauty queen. The couple had four natural children: Rachel, Vanessa, Alexis and Damian, and four girls adopted from the Ukraine: Giselle, Elle, Sabrina, and Ada. But in private, Martin MacNeill was not happy with Michele, talked about wanting a divorce, watched pornography and had extramarital affairs. When, after 30 years of marriage, Michele, 50, died while at home recovering from a facelift, her family was suspicious. Their suspicious increased when MacNeill began openly dating his children's nanny, Gypsy Willis. During her testimony at Martin MacNeill's murder trial in 2013, Gypsy calmly describes meeting the doctor at a dating site in 2005, when she was a nursing student. They went to lunch, and MacNeill seemed reserved. He told her he was married and had a great life, but he was looking for extramarital excitement, she says, "and that is what I was. It was very passionate and very sexual. It was so fun—this beautiful, handsome doctor taking time out of his life for me." After the lunch, they stayed in touch; instant messaging progressed to texting, their relationship eventually shifting from lunch dates to lovers around January 2006. She claims to have been genuinely shocked when Michele MacNeill died, but went along with Martin's plan to move her into his family's life gradually, as nanny to the younger children. Gypsy says Martin proposed to her just three months after his wife's death, although they were never married. She also read excerpts from letters she and MacNeill exchanged while both were in prison on identity-theft charges. These charges were just one of the dark secrets that emerged during the trial. MacNeill had stolen his 16-year-old adopted daughter Giselle's identity documents and given them to Gypsy. He was also found guilty of sexually molesting Alexis on two occasions. It also turned out that MacNeill had falsified university transcripts to enter medical school, and that the couple's youngest adopted daughter Ada was, in fact, the child of their daughter Vanessa, who was a heroin addict. In 2010, their 24-year old son Damian committed suicide. Gypsy Willis was sentenced to three years of probation. Martin MacNeill was sentenced to life without parole, and committed suicide in Utah State Prison in April 2017, at the age of 60. Listen to Gypsy's testimony here

Episode 26: interview with Jens Soring Sep 15, 2017

This is an interview by Noreen Turyn of WSET-TV in Lynchburg, Virginia with Jens Söring on March 26, 2011. Söring came to the U.S. from Germany as a child. When a student at the University of Virginia, he fell in love with a fellow student, a beautiful but troubled girl named Elizabeth Heysom. On the morning of March 30, 1985, the bodies of Elizabeth's parents Derek and Nancy Haysom, were found brutally slashed, stabbed, and almost decapitated in their home in Bedford County, Virginia. When police supected Elizabeth and Jens of involvement, they fled the country, spending almost a year traveling around the world until they ran out of money. Eventually, they were arrested in London on charges of check fraud. At first, Söring confessed to committing the murders, but when he learned he would not be extradited to Germany, as he had assumed, but would remain in the U.S., he recanted his story. According to Söring, Elizabeth admitted to him that she had killed her parents and was terrified of being executed for the crime. Jens says he promised her that, if they were ever arrested, he would take responsibility for the crime, since he believed he would be extradited to Germany, where there is no death penalty. Since his recantation, Söring has insisted on his innocence; he has many supporters, and has written books about his case. This interview took place at Buckingham Correctional Center, in Virginia. Elizabeth Haysom is currently also serving a 90-year prison sentence for two counts of accessory to murder. Listen to the interview here.

Episode 25: Squeaky Fromme Competency Hearing Sep 03, 2017

Lynette Alice "Squeaky" Fromme was a member of the Manson family. On the morning of September 5, 1975, Fromme went to Sacramento's Capitol Park, where President Gerald Ford would be speaking, dressed in a red robe and armed with a semi-automatic pistol that she pointed at the President. The pistol's magazine was loaded with four rounds, but there was no cartridge in the chamber. She was immediately restrained by a Secret Service agent, and arrested. On the afternoon of Sunday, September 21, 1975 Fromme was interviewed on tape at the Sacramento County Jail by Dr. James Richmond to evaluate if she was mentally competent to give up counsel and represent herself at trial. Dr. Richmond’s determination read: Miss Fromme acknowledged having experimented with LSD and marijuana in prior years. She said that newspaper accounts of how heavily she had used drugs were patently false. She estimated that she had used LSD approximately 30 or less times, and she stated that she had never experienced any severe psychiatric disturbance from such use. She said that she had used marijuana lightly, perhaps one joint per week, in no steady pattern. She said that the effects from it were even lighter than from the LSD. She denied any residual memory or intellectual deficit from the use of either ... As the examination continued she loosened up emotionally, showing a range of emotional expression in keeping with the present situation. She smiled appropriately periodically. She displayed no overt anxiety or depression, and there were no signs of a psychotic thought disorder. She was attentive, comprehended my questions without difficulty except for occasional words with which she was not familiar, and her responses were quick, pertinent, and appeared candid. Her statements were consistently rational. She appeared to be a most sensitive and intuitive person, acutely tuned in to social issues ... Fromme was not allowed to represent herself in court, and, as a result, she refused to cooperate with her own defense. After a lengthy trial, she was sentenced to life imprisonment, and released on parole on August 14, 2009, after serving nearly 34 years. Listen to the psychiatric evaluation here.

Episode 24: Dalia Dippolito Police Interview Aug 30, 2017

On July 31 2009, Mohammed Shihadeh notified police in Boynton Beach, Florida, that we was concerned that his ex-girlfriend, 26-year-old former escort Dalia Dippolito, was plotting to kill her husband of six months, 38-year-old Michael Dippolito. Shihadeh was enlisted by police as a confidential informant, and instructed to put Dalia in touch with a "Mexican hitman" who asked for $5000 to kill Mike Dippolito. The hit went ahead the following day, and Dalia returned home from the gym to find police tape surrounding her house. She was informed that her husband had been shot and killed, and she burst into tears, appearing inconsolable. Listen to the police interview with Dalia Dippolito about the "murder" of her husband. She's asked who she believes might be responsible, and comes up with a number of plausible suggestions related to Mike's criminal conviction for fraud. However, at the end of the interview, the police reveal to Dalia that the "Mexican hitman" was actually an undercover police officer, Widy Jean, and that Dalia's meetings with him were taped by police. Listen also to the police interview with Michael Dippolito about the bizarre things that he'd experienced since being married to Dalia, such as an attempted poisoning with antifreeze. Dalia Dippolito, who denied the charges, claiming she thought she was practicing for a reality TV show, had three trials. In her first trial, deliberations lasted for about three hours before a guilty verdict was returned. This verdict was later overturned due to a sleeping juror. In her second trial, a jury of four women and two men deliberated for a total of about nine hours before a mistrial was declared. In her third and final trial, in July 2017, she was found guilty and sentenced to 16 years in prison. Listen to the interview with Dalia Dippolito here

Episode 23: Elizabeth Wettlaufer Confession, Part 3 Aug 23, 2017

In the final hour of her confession, Wettlaufer talks about how she felt after the murders were over. She says she would laugh afterwards, "which was really, it was like a cackling from the pit of hell." Wettlaufer tells the detective that she feels both guilt and shame about what she has done, which is why she has been finally driven to confess. When asked by the detective what she might say to her victims' families, she exhales. "What can you say to them that would matter? 'I'm sorry' isn't enough," she says. "I should have gotten help sooner. I took something from you that was precious and was taken too soon." She makes apologies to the families of specific victims, although not to those of "mean" patients like Maureen Pickering. Wettlaufer also tells the detective that she had confessed her crimes to others over the years, including a priest, and a close female friend, yet none of them reported her to the police. The detective asks her why she thinks that is. "Maybe they didn't believe me," says Wettlaufer. "I don't know. Maybe they just thought I was doing something that the patient wanted." Perhaps this was a case of bystander apathy, or perhaps others felt Elizabeth was simply exaggerating. Perhaps they felt they, too, would get in trouble if they spoke up. Were it not for her confession, Wettlaufer's crimes would have gone undiscovered. Eight people in nine years is not a large number in a nursing home for the elderly, where no-one returns home, where patients die all the time, and where sudden deaths are not unusual. Elizabeth Wettlaufer was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole eligibility for 25 years. Listen to the final hour of the confession here.

Episode 22: Elizabeth Wettlaufer Confession, Part 2 Aug 23, 2017

In the second hour of Wettlaufer's confession, she goes into more detail about her crimes. Elizabeth, who has been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, says she would hear a voice telling her to kill - not in her head, but in her heart. At first she thought it was either God or the Devil. After a while, she realized it was part of her, and this was a just a way to get out her stress and anger with her patients, and with the world. “It seems so stupid now,” she says. Every so often, she clambers to her feet and tries to clear her head. Sometimes she slurs a little; she has taken two Vicodin given to her by her doctor, but claims she is clear headed and knows what she is saying and doing. She describes the urge to kill that came on during her nursing shifts like a “red surge” of pressure in her chest, a compulsion that went away only when she’d injected someone with an overdose of insulin. “I thought this was something God, or whoever, wanted me to do,” she tells the detective. As a nurse, Wettlaufer must have know that an insulin overdose is a grueling, painful way to die. She admits she knew what she was doing. She also admits that she picked some of her victims because they were "mean" and difficult to look after, and she did not like them. She notes which patients seemed peaceful and who fought the injection. And she speaks for longer whenever the victim is one she found frustrating to care for. She complains, of the male patients she killed, that they were "grabby," reaching for her breasts and butt. And of Maureen Pickering, a 79-year-old woman with dementia, Wettlaufer says, "She was a handful. She just got harder and harder to look after and, one night, when I had to look after her … I was starting to get the feeling, that surge again. I thought, I don't want her to die, but if I could somehow give her enough … to give her a coma or change her brainwaves, maybe make her less mobile, less hard to handle." Listen to the second hour of the confession here.

Episode 21: Elizabeth Wettlaufer Confession, Part 1 Aug 21, 2017

Elizabeth Wettlaufer has been brought for an interview with a police detective after she revealed incriminating information while under the care of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto. Wettlaufer had been a registered nurse until September, 2016, and was in rehab, as she tells the detective in this interview, for an addiction to Dilaudid (a concentrated opiate-based pain medication). She eventually confesses to killing eight patients over a period of nine years. Wettlaufer, 49, is an ordinary-looking woman, significantly overweight, in a red T-shirt and comfortable slacks. At the beginning of the interview, she sits quietly with her hands on her thighs and a pink purse on the table beside her as she waits to make her confession. “Sorry about that,” says the detective, when he finally joins her. “Too many people moving and shaking around here, and you can’t really keep track of who’s doing what … ”. In this first hour of the interview, the detective is friendly and encouraging, and Elizabeth responds openly, appearing grateful to finally get the chance to tell her story. She first trained as a religious counselor, she explains, but went into nursing when she found it difficult to get work in the field. She was married for a while with no children. After her marriage failed, she met a woman online who moved to Ontario to be with her, and they moved in together. Eventually, this relationship also failed, leaving Wettlaufer alone with her cats. Wettlaufer tells the detective that when she began working as a night nurse, she would steal doses of the Dilaudid from her patients. “I was always putting this pressure on myself to be a really good nurse and do everything perfectly,” she says. After taking half a pill, “that pressure was gone.” She began killing patients in 2007 and stopped in the fall of 2015; she killed three men and five women, ranging in age from 75 to 96. She returned to rehab in 2016 after having been assigned to work with diabetic children. “I was afraid that I might get that feeling of wanting to give them insulin overdoses,” she tells the detective. Faced with her breaking point—“I panicked; those were just kids”—she quit her nursing job and checked into Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, which is where she finally made the statements that led to her eventual discovery by the police. “I needed help with whatever this was,” she says. “I didn’t want this to keep going on.” Listen to the part one of the confession here.

Episode 20: Joshua Komisarjevsky Confession Aug 14, 2017

On Sunday, July 22, 2007, 48-year-old Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her 11-year-old daughter Michaela went to a local grocery store near their home in Cheshire, Connecticut, to pick up food for a pre-birthday that Michaela planned to prepare for her mother. During their trip to the grocery store, the two women attracted the attention of 27-year-old Joshua Komisarjevsky, who, along with 44-year-old Stephen Hayes, was looking for someone to rob. Komisarjevky followed the women home, then gave their address to Hayes, who joined him in robbing the house. As Komisarjevky states in his confession, they originally planned to tie up the inhabitants and take their money. Things went wrong, as Komisarjevky explains, when Hayes unexpectedly encountered Dr. William Petit asleep on the front porch, at which point Komisarjevky hit him on the head with a baseball bat and tied him up at gunpoint in the basement. They then tied up Jennifer, Michaela, and 18-year-old Hayley. When they could only find $10 in the house, they waited until the bank was open, then made Jennifer go and get more money. She asked the bank teller for help, and the teller called 911, but police were unsure of the nature of the crime taking place, and lamentably slow in surrounding the house. They gave Hayes time to go and fill up cans with gasoline, and both men to escalated the nature of their crimes. As Komisarjevsky admits in his confession, he raped the 11-year-old Michaela (whom her refers to here, the the discomfort of the intervieer, as "Kay Kay", after hearing her mother refer to her this way; he also calls Jennifer and William Petit "mom" and "dad"). He also photographs the assault on his phone. This provokes Hayes into raping Jennifer. When the men realize William Petit has escaped from the basement, they tie Jennifer up and douse the house with gasoline. The two daughters were tied to their beds and Jennifer tied up downstairs as the house burned down. Both men blamed on another for the murders. In 2010, Hayes was convicted of the murders and sentenced to death. Komisarjevsky, was found guilty on October 13, 2011, and sentenced to death on January 27, 2012. However, in August 2015, Connecticut abolished the death penalty, and all death sentences were commuted. Hayes and Komisarjevky are both serving life sentences without the possibility of parole. Listen to the confession here.

Episode 19: Hemy Neuman Trial Aug 03, 2017

In November 2009, 49-year-old business executive Hemy Neuman shot and killed father-of-two Rusty Sneiderman outside a Dunwoody day care facility where he had just dropped off his young son. Neuman pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. He had been obsessed with Rusty's 34-year-old wife Andrea, his colleague at General Electric, whom he had hired in May. Andrea testified that she had “no choice” but to put up with the unwanted advances from Neuman, for the sake of her career. She said she had shied away from her boss, who had asked her to marry him twice. However, police believed the two were having an affair, and initially charged Andrea with involvement in her husband's murder. In this episode, the witness is a friend of Hemy Neuman's, a realtor named Melanie White, who sold Neuman his home in 2006. She testifies about meeting with Hemy in the summer of 2010 to discuss possibly short-selling his home due to his financial and marital troubles. Hemy told Melanie that he had left his wife for a younger woman who had two young children, but that she was reluctant to leave her husband because she was worried about losing her family. Melanie explains how she advised Hemy to go back to his wife and forget about the other woman, who, she thought, seemed to be stringing him along, but in a later meeting in October 2010, he said he was now even closer to the new woman, Andrea. He discussed their upcoming work trip to London. "That he and Andrea go closer. I believe that is when, I believe that was the time that he said that he and Andrea had decided that they were soul mates. He also told me that Andrea was adamant that she would not leave her husband and her two kids. And he continually asked me what I thought he should do," White said. She also testifies that Hemy confided that he and Andrea shared a bed in London. Melanie said she told Hemy that “Andrea has you on a yo-yo emotionally. She keeps lifting you up, then knocking you down.” We are left with two questions: (1) Was Hemy telling Melanie the truth about his relationship with Andrea, or was he fantasizing (or boasting, or delusional)? (2) If he was telling the truth, was Andrea's frustrating behavior responsible for Hemy's emotional breakdown? Listen to the trial testimony here.

Episode 18: Heaven’s Gate Exit Statements Jul 22, 2017

"The media will tell all kinds of lies about us, describe us as a crazy UFO cult. We know that. We know the kind of things they'll say about us. That we're all brainwashed by some kind of guru," says one of the members of Heaven's Gate in his exit statement. He knew what we were going to say, and he didn't care. He knew he was going to the evolutionary level beyond human - and why should we disbelieve him?

These happy and heartfelt exit statements explain the class members' beliefs and reasons for going to the next level with their beloved leader, Do. Many have been in the class (and yes, they refer to Heaven's Gate as a "class," not a religion, or a church, or a even a belief system) for over thirty years; most have belonged for ten years or more. Surprisingly, many state that they left the class at some point, then, disillusioned with the world, returned to the class, professing regret for their defection and nothing but deep love, respect, and admiration for their leaders from the evolutionary level beyond human, Do and Ti.

Interesting details are revealed, including the fact that some of the male members of the class, including Do, had elected to have their "vehicles neutered" (and felt so much the better for it). The class left behind a document called "The Routine," outlining the process by which their exit would occur. It took place over the course of three days. A group of 15 exited on Sunday March 23rd 1997, assisted by eight others. A second group of 15 exited the following day, also assisted by eight people. 39 bodies were found on Wednesday March 26th 1997, so that would have left a final group of nine to exit the previous day. Do's was a late death, but he was not the last to die. The means of death was a combination of phenobarbital and hydrocodone, probably consumed with apple sauce or pudding, chased down with vodka. The members, who were dressed in new white Nikes, dark, collarless shirts with closely cropped hair, then put plastic bags over their heads and suffocated, after which they were covered in purple shrouds. Each member had a roll of quarters and a five dollar bill in their pocket, and a duffle bag beside them. At least one cult member had blood flowing from their nose or mouth, in reaction to the suicide drugs. Do lay on a large bed; his followers lay on bunks. An illustration of an extraterrestrial stood nearby. The bodies were clad in all-black outfits bearing a triangular patch specially made for the group. It read: "Heaven's Gate Away Team." (audio edited and compressed) Listen to the exit statements here

Episode 17: Jonestown Mass Suicide Jul 15, 2017

The Peoples Temple was an American Communist Evangelical church led by the charismatic preacher Jim Jones. Due to the persecution of communists, the church had left the U.S. and built a compound in northwestern Guyana, Africa, known as Jonestown. Relatives worried about their family members in the church had written to their Congressman, Leo Ryan, asking him to investigate the group. Ryan and a group of other concerned parties flew to Jonestown and visited the compound in November 1978. When they left, on November 18, a few members of the church requested to go with them. On the airstrip, as Ryan's plane was about to leave, a cult member who had infiltrated the group began shooting, killing Ryan and five others. "How very much I’ve tried my best to give you the good life," begins Jim Jones in the recording. Jones realized the murders meant his church had come to an end, and that evening he instructed his followers to commit mass suicide, an act that had been rehearsed a number of times previously in what the church called its "White Nights." Cyanide and phenobarbitol was mixed in vats with Kool-Aid, and everyone drank from the vats. A total of 909 individuals died in Jonestown; a third of the victims were children. On the tape, which captures the first 45 minutes of the event, Jones, in great despair, refers to "revolutionary suicide." Although young children can be heard crying in the background, most of the adults express pleasure that they are finally entering the kingdom of heaven, and they exhort one another to be brave and to die with dignity and without fear. One woman who suggests they try to get airlifted to the Soviet Union is soon argued down, and she comes to realize the folly of her idea. Jones, who is addressed as "Dad" by his followers, speaks with a lisp, sounding tired and defeated. The distortion towards the end of the tape adds an additionally creepy element to the recording. Listen to the recording here. Transcript of the recording Collection of articles about the Jonestown tape by Josef Dieckman

Episode 16: Adam Frasch Trial Jul 11, 2017

On Feb. 22, 2014, the gardener at a private home in the swanky Tallahassee gated community of Golden Eagle called 911 to report that there was a body in the swimming pool. The body was that of the 38-year-old Madagascan-born Samira Frasch, a former model and singer and the 3rd wife of Dr. Adam Frasch. According to her autopsy report, Samira Frasch died as the result of drowning and blunt head trauma. Adam Frasch, 49, was a jet-setting foot doctor with a suspiciously lucrative practice in Thomasville, Georgia, - suspicious enough that the federal government raided his office, suspecting him of Medicare fraud - and a penchant for exotic dancers, tall black women, travel, luxury cars (at one time he owned 81), and designer sunglasses. He met Samira, 38, in the summer of 2006 during fashion week in Paris, while he was separated from his second wife. They married in 2009. The following year, she moved to Florida to live with her husband, and discovered that he had fathered a child with another woman in the meantime. Over the next few years, the couple had two little girls, Hynah and Skynah; Samira was grooming Hynah to be a celebrity child. According to those who knew them, the Frasches had a violent, tempestuous relationship. There was a great deal of physical and verbal abuse. Finally Samira, tired of her husband's infidelity, filed for divorce and won custody of the Golden Eagle house and their two young girls. Frasch's cellmate says Dr. Frasch told him that, the night before her death, Samira discovered evidence of a yet another affair, this time with a stripper in Panama city, and attacked him in the middle of the night. Frasch apparently said he hit her on the head with a golf club, threw her body in the swimming pool, and tried to flee the country. Dr. Frasch has steadfastly maintained his innocence. He claims he left the house the next morning while Samira was sleeping, taking the two girls at her request so his wife could rest. He was arrested at his home in Panama City Beach hours after her body was discovered, and in January 2017 he was found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to life without parole. In this except from the trial, Frasch's girlfriend Martha Moore, the mother of the child he fathered while engaged to Samira, testifies in court. Her testimony is followed by that of Dr. Frasch's cellmate. Listen to the trial testimony here.

Episode 15: Jeffrey Dahmer Trial Part 4 Jul 11, 2017

Later in the trial, other expert witnesses for the defense diagnosed Dahmer with necrophilia, as well as with borderline personality disorder, schizotypal personality disorder, and a psychotic disorder. Nonetheless, forensic psychiatrist Park Dietz, testifying for the prosecution on February 12, said he did not believe Dahmer to be suffering from any mental disease or defect at the time that he committed the crimes. Dietz interviewed Dahmer for a total of 18 hours. He says he found the killer personable, pleasant to talk to, and thoroughly cooperative; some of their conversations were a sort of expert-to-expert exchange about things like strangulation. Dietz read hundreds of pages of police reports; transcripts of interviews with Dahmer's family, friends, and co-workers; and medical reports. He went to the apartment building where Dahmer committed his last string of murders. He observed the places where Dahmer had cruised for victims. Samuel Friedman, an independent psychologist (testifying for neither prosecution nor defense), described Dahmer as, "amiable, pleasant to be with, courteous, with a sense of humor, conventionally handsome, and charming in manner. He was, and still is, a bright young man." Jeffrey Dahmer was found to be legally sane at his trial. Listen to Dr. Berlin's final day of testimony here.

Episode 14: Jeffrey Dahmer Trial Part 3 Jul 01, 2017

In the following day of testimony, Dr. Berlin is attacked by prosecutor Michael McCann, and criticized on a number of counts, including the amount of time he spent with Jeffrey Dahmer. McCann tries to argue that Dahmer did not suffer from primary necrophilia because it was clear that he preferred live sexual partners to dead ones, as evidenced by his efforts to create unresistant, submissive, "zombie" sexual partners devoid of rational thought and to whose needs he did not have to cater. McCann argues that Dahmer was without mental disease or defect at the time he committed the murders, and simply had a preference for inert partners--a preference that he was perfectly able to control. McCann suggests that Dahmer is a calculating and cunning individual, able to differentiate between right and wrong, with the ability to control his actions. Dr. Berlin gets angry at McCann's implication that he is inexperienced, and is acting as a hired gun for the defense. Listen to the testimony here. Criminal Complaint against Jeffrey Dahmer Watch the testimony on Youtube

Episode 13: Jeffrey Dahmer Trial Part 2 Jun 30, 2017

The difficult task of defending Dahmer was laid chiefly in the lap of expert Dr. Fred Berlin, founder and director of the Johns Hopkins Sexual Disorders Clinic from 1980 to 1992, and then founder and director of the National Institute for the Study, Prevention and Treatment of Sexual Trauma in Baltimore. In the first day of his testimony, Dr. Berlin makes the case that Dahmer was insane due to his necrophilic drive (his compulsion to have sexual encounters with corpses), a rare type of paraphilia. The main question Dr. Berlin needs to answer is whether Dahmer was able to prevent himself from killing or not. He argues that Dahmer tried many times to stop himself, only to give in when an opportunity arose. Finally, in November 1987, when Dahmer was living with his grandmother, he believed he had finally overcome his urges. One night that month, he met 25-year old Steven Tuomi at a bar and persuaded him to return to the Ambassador Hotel, where Dahmer had rented a room. The following morning, Dahmer said he awoke to find Tuomi lying beneath him on the bed, his chest "crushed in" and blood seeping from his mouth, with bruises on Dahmer's own fists and one forearm; he stated he had absolutely no memory of having killed Tuomi, and later informed investigators that he simply "could not believe this had happened." When he realized he was going to kill even despite himself, when he had no memory of it, he decided there was not point trying to stop, and he began instead to actively seek out victims. There's also an explanation of what the paraphilias are, with particular emphasis on necrophilia. Listen to Dr. Berlin's testimony here. Watch the testimony on Youtube

Episode 12: Jeffrey Dahmer Trial Part 1 Jun 30, 2017

The trial of Jeffrey Dahmer, 31, began in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on January 30, 1992. After his arrest on July 23, 1991, Dahmer had been questioned by police about the evidence found at his apartment. Over the following two weeks, Dahmer spent over 60 hours confessing his crimes, waiving his right to a lawyer, adding he wished to confess all as he had done as "I created this horror and it only makes sense I do everything to put an end to it." He readily admitted to having murdered 17 young men since 1987. Of these victims, 12 were killed in his North 25th Street apartment in Milwaukee. Three further victims were murdered and dismembered at his grandmother's West Allis residence, with his first and second victims being murdered at his parents' home in Bath, Ohio and at the Ambassador Hotel in Wisconsin respectively. He was tried in Milwaukee for the 15 counts of murder before Judge Laurence Gram, pleading guilty to the charges brought against him, although he did not testify at trial. The issue debated by opposing counsels at Dahmer's trial was to determine whether he suffered from either a mental or a personality disorder: the prosecution claiming that any disorders did not deprive Dahmer of the ability to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to deprive him of the ability to resist his impulses; the defense arguing that Dahmer suffered from a mental disease and was driven by obsessions and impulses he was unable to control. Convicted of fifteen murders, Dahmer was sentenced to fifteen terms of life imprisonment on February 15, 1992. He did not testify in the trial, but read out a statement after his conviction. "I never wanted freedom. Frankly, I wanted death for myself. I knew I was sick or evil or both. Doctors have told me about my sickness and now I have some peace. I know how much harm I have caused. I feel so bad for what I did to those poor families." Jeffrey Dahmer was murdered in prison by a fellow inmate on the morning of November 28, 1994. Listen to the trial proceedings here. Jeffrey Dahmer Criminal Confession Watch the trial on Youtube

Episode 11: Pascagoula UFO abduction Jun 26, 2017

On the night of October 11, 1973, Charles Hickson, forty-two, was fishing from an old pier on the Pascagoula River with a friend, nineteen-year-old Calvin Parker Jr., when both men heard a “zipping” sound and encountered a glowing, elongated UFO hovering above the ground. Three aliens emerged from the craft and took the men on board. The encounter made national headlines, and the two men were interviewed separately by James Harder of the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, and the astronomer, professor and UFO researcher J. Allen Hynek. Both Hickson and Parker gave almost identical accounts of their experience, although Parker admits he passed out for a time from fear. The aliens were described as humanoids just over five feet tall with no neck, slits for eyes and mouth, a pointed nose and pointed ears, claw-like hands, and joined, pedestal-like feet. After numerous interviews, including one under hypnosis, Harder concluded that Hickson and Parker “experienced an extraterrestrial phenomenon," and Hynek concurred that the two men had “a very real, frightening experience." Due to the age of the recording, audio quality is very poor. Listen to the interview here.

Episode 10: Saratoga Springs 911 Call Jun 25, 2017

In February 2010, a woman called 911 in Saratoga Springs, Utah. She'd gone to get cigarettes with a man she knew, and they drank vodka together in the parking lot of the convenience store.Shortly afterward, she said she began to feel "extremely tired." She says she passed out, and when she came round, she says she was naked and the man was on top of her. She asked him to take her home, but he said he had to run some errands, and began driving down the highway away from town. The woman told her abductor that she had to call her sister, because if she didn't return home, her sister would call the police. She then called 911. Taking in the situation with great instincts, the dispatcher uses yes-or-no questions to learn that the caller is being held against her will. During the conversation, you can hear her whisper, "Help me!" It isn't clear whether the woman's abductor is not paying much attention or is simply clueless; she asks him about the road they're on, the speed they're traveling and the color of the vehicle they're riding in--questions that would seem to suggest that the woman is not talking to her sister, or that her sister is strangely inquisitive. But she gets away with it, and manages to alert the police to the whereabouts of the truck. They are able to pull GPS information from her phone, so she needs to stay on the line until she's rescued. Finally, officers find the truck and pull it over. The caller then becomes very emotional, and starts sobbing. She was still naked, and the man was partially undressed. Although he had a number of previous convictions, the man was not charged in this case because, as in so many rape cases, the woman decided she didn't want to co-operate. Listen to the 911 call here.

Episode 9: Ted Bundy Confession Jun 18, 2017

Five days before his execution for the murders of two sorority girls and a 12 year old girl, Ted Bundy said he wanted to speak with detectives from Washington, Colorado, and Utah to talk about the women he had killed there in those states. This is the confession he made to the officer from Utah. Bundy sounds exhausted, possibly even drugged. He's been through two previous two confessions and has had very little sleep. He will be executed in five days. The officer has "five missing girls" he's especially interested in talking about. Bundy asks for a map of Utah to direct the detective to the girls' remains because, "it's so much easier for me to try to locate the bodies than it is to talk about the actual thing," he says. They begin by discussing 17-year-old Debby Kent, whom Bundy admits to abducting from her high school parking lot. He admits he killed her between leaving the school and arriving at the burial site, but answers only "yes" or "no" to questions about the murder itself. On the other hand, he goes into great detail about the topography of the state, its small towns, the territory, details of the highways, and even the people. One of the places on the map in Utah is where Brigham Young had his summer home, the cop tells Bundy, which leads to a light exchange about Mormons. "They're always at your door," laughs Ted. "Knock knock knock. Freshly scrubbed faces. Good people, though. No question that they're wonderful people. Absolutely the best. That's what makes the place so nice. Even if you're not of that persuasion." "How about Nancy Wilcox?" asks the detective. "Are they all down in the same area?" "Let's do one at a time," says Bundy. "Let's focus on this one." He says he's "just about ready to collapse" and "this is the one that I have the clearest recollection of." He speaks about the murder very passively. "She was restrained and placed in the car then taken to my apartment," he says, claiming he was "not very conscious of what was going on." He complains that he finds the murders difficult to think about: "What's hard to appreciate is that the reality is that when I talk about kind of this stuff, it just drains me in a way that's hard to disguise. I have not thought of these kinds of things for years. To attempt to re-live them vividly and to have to describe them, especially to the point if locating remains, my mind is just tied in knots right now, and I'm having a hard time. I'm having a hard time." Using Bundy's directions searchers later found one small kneecap bone belonging to a young woman believed to be Debby Kent. Listen to the confession here.

Episode 8: Stephanie Lazarus Interrogation Jun 15, 2017

51-year-old Stephanie Lazarus was a respected 26-year veteran of the L.A.P.D. who had worked her way up from an ordinary police officer to a specialist in high-profile art theft. On June 5, 2009, she was taken aside by two colleagues and led downstairs into an interrogation room, where she was told she was needed to interrogate a suspect. But once in the room, the tables turned, and it was Stephanie Lazarus who was interrogated - about her part in a long-ago murder. Unbeknownst to her, Lazarus had been identified from a bite mark as the murderer of nurse Sherrie Rae Rasmussen 23 years ago. Rasmussen had been married for only three months to John Ruetten, an old boyfriend of Stephanie's with whom she was very much in love. Listen to the way the interrogator eases Lazarus gradually along towards discussing the case. In March 2012, Stephanie Lazarus was convicted of the murder of Sherri Rasmussen. She was sentenced to 27 years. Listen to the interrogation here (1 hour 12 minutes) Interview Transcript Stephanie Lazarus Appeal Opening Brief Court's Response to Stephanie Lazarus Appeal Watch the interrogation on Youtube

Episode 7: BTK Court Confession Jun 14, 2017

Dennis Rader, better known as the BTK (bind, torture, kill) serial killer, stalked and murdered ten people in Kansas, wrote taunting letters to the police and newspapers, and collected items from each murder scene. He was married with children, a member of Christ Lutheran Church, a cub scout leader, and had been elected president of the church council. In this recording from his trial on June 27 2005, Rader described his murders in detail and offers no apology. In January 1974, he killed a family of four; in April 1974 he killed a 21-year old woman. Two more women were killed in 1977. There were no further killings for eight years, then one in 1985, another in 1986, and a third in 1991, all women between the ages of 24 and 62. As in the Bundy confession, Rader's description of his crimes is notable for the speaker's flat affect, emotionless tone, and the way he glosses over the most important details of the crimes (emphasizing how he made his victims comfortable, brought them water or cushions before "putting them down") yet has a semi-autistic memory for insignificant details--numbers of houses, the places he parked his car). He also uses a lot of police report terminology and often explains the way "serial killers" think, and the stages of their operation, as if he were describing someone other than himself. Listen for his mispronunciation of "ruse" as "russ," which he quickly corrects, and the judge's confusion between "trolling" and "patrolling." Listen to the confession here.

Episode 6: Philip Markoff Police Interrogation Jun 14, 2017

Philip Markoff was a well-bred medical student at Boston University with no criminal record when he was arrested by police, who had evidence that he was the "Craigslist Killer." In this interview, police present Markoff with security camera footage, cell phone activity, and email accounts as evidence that he committed the armed robbery and kidnapping of two escorts in hotel rooms on April 10, and the murder of a third on April 14. Markoff always claimed to be innocent, and on August 15, 2010, one year and one day after the date his wedding was to have taken place, he committed suicide in his prison cell by cutting his major arteries with a primitive scalpel, and swallowing toilet paper to be sure he would not be revived. In this interview which led to his arrest, Markoff, who has just been pulled over on his way to Foxwoods Casino with his fiancee Megan McAllister, is initially friendly, denies all knowledge of the crimes, gradually becomes suspicious and hesitant, then clams up and asks to speak to a lawyer. He continued to claim innocence of the crimes. Listen to the police interrogation here. Suffolk District Attorney's Press Release on Markoff's Suicide

Episode 5: Megan McAllister Police Interview Jun 13, 2017

Megan McAllister was the fiancee of Philip Markoff, sometimes known as the "Craigslist Killer," who who was charged with the armed robbery and murder of Julissa Brisman in a Boston hotel room on April 14, 2009, as well as other armed robberies of escorts he met on Craiglist. Megan met Markoff when they were both hospital volunteers. Markoff was in Boston University Medical School, and the couple had planned their wedding planned for August 14, 2009. Markoff and McAllister were arrested on April 20 2009 on their way home from to Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut. McAllister had no idea of Markoff's secret life, and continued to believe in his innocence until she broke off their relationship after a prison visit in June 2009. Listen to the police interview here.

Episode 4: Bear Attack 911 Call Jun 13, 2017

In June 2008, Petra Davis, 15, was 13 hours into a 24-hour trail-bike race in Far North Bicentennial Park in Anchorage, Alaska, when she was attacked by a grizzly bear. She survived the attack and crawled back to the trail, where she was found by her friend and coach Peter Bassinger, who called 911 and stopped other cyclists in the race as they passed. The bear punctured a lung, broke eight ribs, mauled her right leg and nicked Petra's carotid artery. Despite these injuries, she recovered quickly and reports that she has almost no memory of the attack. Listen to the 911 call here.

Episode 3: Russell Williams Interrogation Jun 12, 2017

Russell Williams was a 47-year -old married Colonel in the Royal Canadian Air Force whose sex crimes has increased in severity from peeping through windows, to stealing underwear, to forcible restraint, to sexual assault and murder. By February 7, 2010, when this interrogation took place, the Ontario police had enough evidence to place him at the scene of the home of Jessica Lloyd, a 22-year-old woman who had recently gone missing. The interrogation took place over 10 hours. In the interrogation, Detective Sergeant Jim Smyth uses what's known as "the Reid technique," which involves bonding and forming a relationship with the person being interrogated, finding their weak points and pressing on them very subtly. In this first hour, Smyth treats Williams with respect and deference, but slowly begins to present a series of increasingly damning connections between Williams and the death of Jessica Lloyd. Williams, too, remains relaxed at first. He begins the interview by blithely noting that the previous officer who came to interview him was also named Russ, and appears eager to co-operate, but his nervous quick responses make him sound very much like Norman Bates being interrogated by Arbogast in Hitchcock's Psycho. He clearly grows increasingly agitated, his answers getting shorter and shorter, until at last he clams up entirely, giving nothing away (at times, he is silent for almost five minutes). Finally, Smyth hits the right button. He says that even as they speak, officers are tearing apart Williams's wife's new "dream home." This is Williams's fatal weakness. He agrees to co-operate to "minimize" the effects of his crimes upon his wife. In the second stage of the Reid interrogation technique, the goal is to make the suspect progressively more and more comfortable with acknowledging the truth about what they’ve done. Williams remains in denial at first, unable to believe the situation he's found himself in, but as soon as he says, "Call me Russ," Smyth knows he has broken through the Colonel's terrible wall of silence. In this part hour of the interrogation, Smyth is most urgently interested in finding the body of Jessica Lloyd as soon as possible. Once he has the location of her body, he sends out officers to find it, then he moves on to talk to Williams about her murder and the other crimes he's suspected of (the murder of Marie-France Comeau and the sexual abuse of two other women, whom he tied up and photographed). Although Williams's responses are shocking and Smyth is clearly disturbed by them, he continued to remain composed, understanding, patient, and non-demeaning. As in similar criminal confessions (such as those of Ted Bundy and Dennis Rader), Williams is monosyllabic when it comes to the most important details, which have to be forced from him by Smyth, but is happy to talk about related issues such as the number of kilometers) he drove from Jessica Lloyd's home (he's obsessed with numbers, as well as underwear). Once Williams has confessed to Jessica Lloyd's murder, Smyth goes on to ask Williams about the murder of Corporal Marie-France Comeau. By now, Detective Smyth has developed a rapport with Williams, using friendly and understanding conversation to create a non-threatening atmosphere. In the final section of the interrogation, Smyth asks Williams for details about other crimes he sexually-related offenses he’s committed, and continues to ask him where to find evidence of the crimes. Smyth tries to remain impartial and non-judgemental even when Williams tells him where to find videos of his crimes, as well as chests full of stolen lingerie, and even photographs of himself wearing it. Listen to the episode here

Episode 2: George Huguely Police Interrogation Jun 12, 2017

On May 3, 2010 22-year-old UVA student Yeardley Love was found unresponsive in her dormitory bedroom. She had been dating fellow student and lacrosse player George Huguely over the course of the last two years, but the couple had recently broken up. Huguely, who had been drinking, was the last person to see Love. That night, he was taken to the Charlottesville police station, where he waived his Miranda rights and talked about an argument he had with Love earlier that evening that became physical. Whatever you may think of Huguely's responses to the officer's questions and his minimizing of the relationship's violent breakdown, it is clear that he is telling the truth about what happened, or as much of it as he can recall (he admits to being very drunk). There's no question that he is genuinely horrified, even disbelieving, when he's told that Yeardley Love is dead. Listen to the episode here.

Episode 1: Trapped in the Ice Cave Jun 12, 2017

In August 2008, two families were hiking along a mountain creek southwest of Bellevue, Washington when a shelf of thick snow collapsed on two teenage boys. The boys' mothers called 911 and the dispatcher stayed on the line with them for over an hour, until help arrived. Both boys had serious injuries, but survived. The two mothers, Joni and Chrissie, seem to take it in turns to panic. Both of them seem to go from hysterical to uncannily calm in a heartbeat. Listen carefully to the dispatcher. Her calm and determined sympathy comes across in every word she says. Although the two women sometimes become impatient and yell at her, she stays with them throughout the whole terrible hour-long ordeal, helping them to remain focused. She takes care to continually ask which woman she's speaking to, so she can address them by name, as they hand the phone to one another in their panic. She prevents Joni from fainting with fear by making her think about her young daughter, who's present at the scene. Listen to the episode here.

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