Forensic Transmissions

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Episode 93: Cory Batey Rape Trial Mar 31, 2019

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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.

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