True Crime Campfire

Latest Episodes:

Blind Love: The Murder of Linda Curry Feb 11, 2022

Show notes

I always loved the old “Twilight Zone” series. In most of the stories, ordinary people would wake up one morning and find themselves in a world that had changed in some crucial, baffling way. Everybody else would be in on the change, going around like nothing had happened, and the hero would have to figure out how to navigate this scary new reality. It’s fun to watch, when it’s fiction. But what if you woke up one morning and realized you were living your own version of that story? That all the trappings of your comfortable life were as flimsy as a sheet of painted canvas, hiding a nightmare underneath? What if the person you loved and trusted most had been in on the joke all along…and the joke is on you? Join us for the story of Paul Curry, a Mensa member and two-time Jeopardy champ whose charms were only skin deep.
Sources:
https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/timeline-investigating-the-death-of-linda-curry/11/
https://www.grunge.com/493987/the-truth-about-the-jeopardy-winner-who-murdered-his-wife/
https://www.leagle.com/decision/incaco20170629061
CBS's "48 Hours," episode "To Catch a Genius"
CNBC's "American Greed," episode "Recipe for Murder"
Investigation Discovery's "Charmed to Death," episode "A Life in Jeopardy"
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Patreon (join to get all episodes ad-free, at least a day early, an extra episode a month, and a free sticker!): https://patreon.com/TrueCrimeCampfire
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Twitter: @TCCampfire https://twitter.com/TCCampfire
Email: truecrimecampfirepod@gmail.com
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When Nerds Attack: The Bellevue Murders Feb 04, 2022

Show notes

We’ve said it before on True Crime Campfire: We’re nerds. And so are most of our friends. Nerds can be the very best people. All most of us want to do is to read our comics or cosplay our favorite characters from Final Fantasy VII, or learn to speak Klingon. We’re harmless. Most of us. But every category of person has its dark element. And for some people, fantasy is anything but harmless. For them, it can fuel a sense of superiority and separateness from ordinary life—provide a sort of storyline for them to follow, where they become the dark hero of their own little movie. When two such nerds come together, it can make for some toxic dynamics. Especially since human beings tend to do things in groups that they might NEVER have the nerve to do alone. Join us for the story of one of the Seattle area's most horrifying multiple murders--the 1997 slaughter of the entire Wilson family, by a pair of teenage killers who just...kinda wanted to see what it felt like.
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Every Breath You Take: The Stalking of Dr. Brennan Jan 28, 2022

Show notes

Love, hate and obsession have always been pretty close relatives. Anybody who’s ever picked up a Harlequin romance novel or watched a ridiculous rom-com knows that we don’t really get the best guidance from society on how to manage our love lives. Some of us just kinda wing it until we figure it out. Some of us go from train wreck to train wreck, and some decide we’d rather skip the whole thing and focus on hobbies and pets and learning how to keep indoor plants alive. But then there are the ones who—so desperate to latch on to another person that they feel empty without it—weave an elaborate fantasy of the Perfect Love. And when they meet someone who seems to match the dream, they latch on. Even if it turns out that the object of their desire doesn’t want to be latched anymore. The more the dream-partner pulls away, the more feverish the fantasy becomes. And things can get dangerous, fast. Join us for the strange true story of Diane Schaefer, a woman whose obsession with a famous cancer doctor took over her life, and the lives of many others.
Sources:
Marie Brenner, "Erotomania: The Haunting of Dr. Brennan," Vanity Fair, Sept. 1991
The Village Voice: "Stalking the Stalkers" https://www.villagevoice.com/2001/07/03/stalking-the-stalkers/
Investigation Discovery's "Tabloid," episode "Love You to Death"
Lifetime, "Obsessed," 2002
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Patreon (join to get all episodes ad-free, at least a day early, an extra episode a month, and a free sticker!): https://patreon.com/TrueCrimeCampfire
Facebook: True Crime Campfire
Instagram: https://gramha.net/profile/truecrimecampfire/19093397079
Twitter: @TCCampfire https://twitter.com/TCCampfire
Email: truecrimecampfirepod@gmail.com
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Stranger Than Fiction: Vol. 2 Jan 21, 2022

Show notes

“Stranger than fiction” is one of our guiding forces here at True Crime Campfire. We always try to find the kind of stories that will live rent-free in your head for the rest of your life. But of all the weird stories we’ve encountered in our decades of true crime obsession, there are a few that stand out far above the crowd. In our first case, a quirky professor known for his unorthodox views on fast food comes home from a conference and walks into a nightmare. A day later, detectives walk in on the weirdest, most brutal crime scene they’ve ever seen. And in the second, a teenage boy is forced to confront a kind of betrayal worse than he ever could have imagined—and investigators will have to puzzle through a maze of bizarre clues to work out what happened.
Sources:
https://archives.law.virginia.edu/dengrove/writeup/appledorf
https://www.gainesville.com/story/news/education/campus/2018/04/04/35-years-after-murder-appledorfs-memory-lives-on-in-popular-uf-course/12823197007/
Investigation Discovery's "Tabloid," episodes "Deadly D-List" and "Devils in Disguise"
https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/22/us/2-sentenced-in-slaying-of-professor-in-florida.html
http://truecrimediscussions.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-assault-of-charles-hardeman.html
https://www.actionnews5.com/story/17590194/teen-recovering-after-surviving-fire-car-crash-and-attempted-drowning/
https://wreg.com/news/sister-of-kidnapping-victim-arrested-in-case/
Follow us, campers!
Patreon (join to get all episodes ad-free, at least a day early, an extra episode a month, and a free sticker!): https://patreon.com/TrueCrimeCampfire
Facebook: True Crime Campfire
Instagram: https://gramha.net/profile/truecrimecampfire/19093397079
Twitter: @TCCampfire https://twitter.com/TCCampfire
Email: truecrimecampfirepod@gmail.com
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Do No Harm: The Story of the Creighton Killer, Pt 2 Jan 14, 2022

Show notes

When we left you at the end of part 1, Omaha homicide detectives had just put a new suspect on their radar for the brutal murders of Tom Hunter, Shirlee Sherman, and Roger and Mary Brumback: Dr. Anthony Garcia, a former resident in the pathology department at Creighton University Hospital. Garcia had been terminated from his residency after a series of bad evaluations. Now, years later, the doctors who fired him were in the crosshairs, and investigators were desperate to find him before he struck again. Join us now for part 2 of this bizarre true story.
Sources:
Pathological by Cordes and Cooper
Various articles: https://murderpedia.org/male.G/g/garcia-anthony.htm
CBS' "48 Hours," https://www.cbsnews.com/news/anthony-garcia-case-was-revenge-motive-behind-omaha-double-murders/
NBC's "Dateline," episode "Haunted"
Follow us, campers!
Patreon (join to get all episodes ad-free, at least a day early, an extra episode a month, and a free sticker!): https://patreon.com/TrueCrimeCampfire
Facebook: True Crime Campfire
Instagram: https://gramha.net/profile/truecrimecampfire/19093397079
Twitter: @TCCampfire https://twitter.com/TCCampfire
Email: truecrimecampfirepod@gmail.com
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Do No Harm: The Story of the Creighton Killer, Pt 1 Jan 07, 2022

Show notes

In 2008, a tranquil neighborhood in Omaha, Nebraska was stunned by the vicious double murder of an eleven year old boy—the son of two prominent local doctors—and their much-beloved housekeeper. No one could imagine who was behind the killings, and the case went colder and colder…until the same thing happened again, five years later, and the motive became clear. Join us for a classic whodunnit, the story of a desperate race to uncover the secrets behind these brutal and seemingly senseless murders.
Sources:
Pathological by Cordes and Cooper
Various articles: https://murderpedia.org/male.G/g/garcia-anthony.htm
CBS' "48 Hours," https://www.cbsnews.com/news/anthony-garcia-case-was-revenge-motive-behind-omaha-double-murders/
NBC's "Dateline," episode "Haunted"
Follow us, campers!
Patreon (join to get all episodes ad-free, at least a day early, an extra episode a month, and a free sticker!): https://patreon.com/TrueCrimeCampfire
Facebook: True Crime Campfire
Instagram: https://gramha.net/profile/truecrimecampfire/19093397079
Twitter: @TCCampfire https://twitter.com/TCCampfire
Email: truecrimecampfirepod@gmail.com
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Introducing Families Who Kill: The Donut Shop Murders Jan 04, 2022

Show notes

In the era of some of the most heinous serial killers of all time, one murderous family went curiously unnoticed: The McCrarys. Led by a psychopathic patriarch and his cunning son-in-law, this Texas clan roamed the country robbing, kidnapping, and killing up to 20 people, most of them taken from donut shops. “Families Who Kill: The Donut Shop Murders” recounts the wild and deeply disturbing story of an unhinged American family and the terrible brutality they unleashed. The podcast features the taped confessions of one of the killers, given when he was serving a life term in Colorado.
Listen Here: wondery.fm/DSM_TCCampfirePod
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Can't Buy Me Love: Master Con Man Steven J. Russell Dec 31, 2021

Show notes

In every great love story, there’s some degree of risk. We risk our hearts, at the very least. We risk getting hurt. But one thing we DON’T usually risk is prison time. This is the story of one of America’s tricksiest con men. An ingenious thief, a master impersonator, and the most prolific prison escapee in U.S. history. One of the fascinating things about him is the motivation behind his many crimes and escapes. Not so much money…but love. Or so he claims. Join us for a made-for-Hollywood tale of obsessive love and intricate fraud--the subject of the movie "I Love You, Phillip Morris" with Jim Carrey and Ewan MacGregor.
Sources:
I Love You, Phillip Morris by Steve McVicker
Esquire Magazine, The Great Escapee by Alex Hannaford
The Guardian, Elizabeth Day: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/sep/06/steven-russell-elizabeth-day-jim-carrey
TodayIFoundOut.com, Karl Smallwood: King Con: The Con Man Who Simply Walked Out of Prison Four Times
Follow us, campers!
Patreon (join to get all episodes ad-free, at least a day early, an extra episode a month, and a free sticker!): https://patreon.com/TrueCrimeCampfire
Facebook: True Crime Campfire
Instagram: https://gramha.net/profile/truecrimecampfire/19093397079
Twitter: @TCCampfire https://twitter.com/TCCampfire
Email: truecrimecampfirepod@gmail.com
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Patreon Upcycle: Con College Dec 24, 2021

Show notes

Since it's the holidays and we both have family to see and things to bake, we decided to give everybody another peek at one of our past Patreon-exclusive episodes. Sometimes these patron-exclusives are just regular TCC episodes—extra cases. But sometimes we like to mix things up and do something a little different. In this episode, we decided to walk our patrons through some of the most common, most classic cons and scams—we’ll give you a little history on each, tell you how they work, and how to avoid them. Just about anybody can get got, so this is good info to have. So put on your pjs, grab your snacks, and let’s hang out and talk about griftin’.
Follow us, campers!
Patreon (join to get all episodes ad-free, at least a day early, an extra episode a month, and a free sticker!): https://patreon.com/TrueCrimeCampfire
Facebook: True Crime Campfire
Instagram: https://gramha.net/profile/truecrimecampfire/19093397079
Twitter: @TCCampfire https://twitter.com/TCCampfire
Email: truecrimecampfirepod@gmail.com
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Introducing: American Scandal Dec 20, 2021

Show notes

American Scandal is a podcast from Wondery that explores the darker stories that have shaped the United States. From the Unabomber to Bernie Madoff, these are stories that reveal the underbelly of America: ruthless, secretive, and power-hungry. The new season of American Scandal looks at the controversial decision made by a young government official named Daniel Ellsburg to leak the Pentagon Papers, the documents that led Americans to demand an end to the catastrophic Vietnam War. Once Ellsburg realized this terrible truth, he made the bold decision to leak the documents, and the consequences altered the course of American history. This is just a preview of American Scandal, but you can listen to the full episode at wondery.fm/AS_TCCampfire
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