True Crime Campfire

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Wicked Web: The Tennessee Facebook Murders Dec 17, 2021

Show notes

There’s a Danish proverb that says, “If envy were a fever, then the whole world would be ill.” It’s probably true. I mean, everybody feels that poisonous little pang now and then. We all occasionally want something that somebody else has, maybe even resent them a little for having it. We learn to get past it, focus on the good in our own lives instead of obsessing about everyone else. But sometimes, envy can take over—spread through the soul like a kudzu vine, smothering and strangling and covering everything else. You can get trapped in it. And you can convince yourself that the only way out is destruction. Join us for a Southern gothic tale for the social media age: a story about love, family, betrayal, envy and manipulation.
Sources:
Too Pretty to Live: The Catfishing Murders of East Tennessee by Dennis Brooks
Medium: https://medium.com/serial-napper/jenelle-potter-the-killer-catfish-51c0626cec7
ABC's 20/20, Episode "Unfriended"
Investigation Discovery special, "Too Pretty To Live"
https://www.timesnews.net/one-of-three-facebook-murder-convictions-overturned-mother-granted-new-trial/article_4aea9524-0618-11ec-a093-8b71991a842d.html
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Twitter: @TCCampfire https://twitter.com/TCCampfire
Email: truecrimecampfirepod@gmail.com
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Succubus: Killer Con-Woman Dena Thompson Dec 10, 2021

Show notes

We all think of charm and good looks as a good thing, right? Something we all wish we had goin’ on. But for some people, a silver tongue and a knockout bod are nothing more than tools to help them hurt and manipulate. Tools that make it easier for them to wreak six kinds of havoc on the lives of everyone they meet. Some people are just forces of destruction, determined to take everything they can get their hands on and not worried about who they destroy in the process. We’ve covered some bad bitches on this show before—Dante Sutorius, Tracey Richter—and we think this li’l English rose we’re about to tell you about could hold her own with the worst of them. Join us for a twisting tale of fraud, outrageous deception, greed, attempted murder and murder, all at the hands of one of our worst "bad bitches" yet: Dena Thompson.
Sources:
BBC Channel 4 documentary "Black Widow"
The Argus: https://web.archive.org/web/20140907164935/http://www.theargus.co.uk/archive/2003/12/16/5099453.Black_Widow__Inside_the_mind_of_a_predator/
https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/5060737.interpol-hunt-for-missing-lover-of-sussexs-black-widow/
Guy Toyn: https://web.archive.org/web/20140704134021/http://www.courtnewsuk.co.uk/c_murderers/a_dena_thompson/crime_vaults/
Daily Mail: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1257751/Black-Widow-new-probe-vanished-lover.html
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Twitter: @TCCampfire https://twitter.com/TCCampfire
Email: truecrimecampfirepod@gmail.com
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Introducing: The Vanished Dec 06, 2021

Show notes

Few things are more devastating than a loved one going missing. On The Vanished podcast from Wondery, host Marissa Jones tells stories of missing persons that have gone overlooked by mainstream media. In a recent episode, Marissa looks into the disappearance of James Foster Chance. The 48-year-old man from Texas went missing in March of 2021. Devastated and without any leads, James’ family began searching for him. But in their search they began uncovering clues that James was not the man they thought he was. And worse -- that he may have disappeared on purpose. Listen to The Vanished at wondery.fm/TV_truecrimecampfire
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'Til Death: A Grab Bag of Newlywed Murders, with Nina Jones from Twisted Mirror Dec 03, 2021

Show notes

Marriage. It might not be for everybody, but for a lot of us, it’s great stuff. You get to join up with your best friend, the love of your life, somebody you can just be you around, somebody who feels like home. And of course most of us begin that journey with a wedding: a beautiful ceremony where you pledge to hang together for better or worse, then throw down and join your best buds for some cake. Most of the time, the worst case scenario with all this stuff is divorce. But in the stories we’re about to tell you, that would have been a walk in the park. First, a startling case from Brazil in which a brand-new groom murders his bride and best man during the wedding reception--then the story of a new bride who pushed her husband off a cliff just eight days after they wed.
Sources:
Daily Beast: https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-brazil-groom-who-killed-his-wedding-party
CBS News: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rogerio-damascena-shoots-his-bride-best-man-then-self-at-brazilian-wedding-after-announcing-surprise/
NPR News
University of Sao Paolo
Flathead Beacon, Justin Franz: https://justinfranz.com/writing/a-murder-in-glacier-park/
Oxygen's "Snapped," episode "Jordan Graham"
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
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Twitter: @TCCampfire https://twitter.com/TCCampfire
Email: truecrimecampfirepod@gmail.com
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Nina's podcast, "Twisted Mirror:"
https://www.twistedmirrorpodcast.com
Facebook @twistedmirrorpod
IG: Twistedmirrorpodcast
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Patreon Upcycle: Red Hand - The Murder of Jennifer Levin Nov 26, 2021

Show notes

Since it's Thanksgiving, we're giving you a sneak peek at one of our Patreon subscriber exclusive episodes this week! This one is the story of one of New York City's most notorious murders: A beautiful, privileged young woman brutally strangled in Central Park after a night out with friends. The crime initially looked to be sexually motivated, but the experienced detectives felt something was amiss--the scene was almost a caricature of a sex crime, as though the killer had staged it to look that way. What was this murder really about? Join us for a story of envy, greed, revenge and ego--one that illustrates the way media narrative can shape a murder case, for better or for worse.
Sources:
https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/news/a7587/jennifer-levin-robert-chambers-preppy-killer/#:~:text=Thirty%20years%20ago%20today%2C%20on,Central%20Park%20by%20Robert%20Chambers.&text=They'd%20walked%20into%20Central,marks%20of%20a%20violent%20struggle.
https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/entertainment/a29712185/robert-chambers-preppy-murder-central-park/
https://www.oxygen.com/true-crime-buzz/the-preppy-murder-how-robert-chambers-defense-victim-blamed-jennifer-levin
Documentary: "The Preppy Murder: Death in Central Park"
CBS "48 Hours," "The Preppy Killer"
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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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Introducing: The Shrink Next Door Nov 22, 2021

Show notes

Veteran journalist Joe Nocera’s neighbor in the Hamptons was a therapist named Ike. Ike counted celebrities and Manhattan elites as his patients. He’d host star-studded parties at his eccentric vacation house. But one summer, Joe discovered that Ike was gone and everything he’d thought he’d known about his neighbor -- and the house next door -- was wrong. From Wondery, the company behind Dirty John and Dr. Death, and Bloomberg, “The Shrink Next Door” is a story about power, control and turning to the wrong person for help for three decades. Written and hosted by Joe Nocera, a columnist for Bloomberg. The Shrink Next Door is now an Apple Original series, starring Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd. Watch now only on Apple TV+.
Listen to the Shrink Next Door now! https://link.chtbl.com/shrink_next_door?sid=Audio-Shrink_Next_Door_2021-True_Crime_Campfire
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Bad Sport: A Grab Bag of Parents From Hell Nov 19, 2021

Show notes

Parenthood, or so we hear, is full of a kind of transcendent joy, the kind you can only experience by watching your offspring learn and grow. That is, when they’re not making you want to hop in the car and keep driving until you run out of road. There are some ups and downs, for sure. But you’ll hardly ever find a parent who wouldn’t do almost anything for their kids. Notice we said “almost” anything. Because there have to be limits, right? Well…for the parents in today’s story, not so much. First we have Texas mom Wanda Holloway, who in 1990 tried to hire a hit man to take out her daughter's cheerleading rivals. Then we have French dad Christophe Fauviau, who dosed his kids' tennis opponents to make sure his little angels won every match.
Sources:
Texas Monthly, Mimi Swartz: https://www.texasmonthly.com/arts-entertainment/the-cheerleader-murder-plot/
ABC News: https://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=1680047&page=1
https://www.wistv.com/story/4609148/eight-years-in-prison-for-dad-who-drugged-his-kids-tennis-rivals/
The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/mar/01/france.mainsection
Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2006/03/04/for-french-tennis-dad-deadly-obsession-to-win/2b80701d-a3fe-442c-a72d-08f858f9eee5/
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Twitter: @TCCampfire https://twitter.com/TCCampfire
Email: truecrimecampfirepod@gmail.com
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Pygmalion: Dr. Anthony Pignataro Nov 12, 2021

Show notes

In 1997, a 26 year old woman named Sarah Smith went in for a routine breast augmentation procedure. It should have been an easy, outpatient surgery for this healthy young woman, but it didn't turn out that way. Sarah went into cardiac and respiratory arrest on the operating table, slipped into a coma, and died a few days later. Investigators soon discovered that Sarah wasn't the first of cosmetic surgeon Dr. Anthony Pignataro's patients to die after routine surgery. And the more they investigated this flashy, Lamborghini-driving, safari-hunting doctor, the more skeletons they found in his closet--from a long list of butchered patients to an audacious fraud. Pignataro would face justice for Sarah Smith's death, but that wouldn't be the end of his story. There was an even darker chapter still to be written, this time much closer to home. Join us for a twisting tale reminiscent of "Dr. Death," a stark example of what happens when narcissism and recklessness meet greed.
Sources:
Ann Rule, Last Dance Last Chance
Buffalo News: https://subscribe.buffalonews.com/e/limit-reached-bn?returnURL=https://buffalonews.com/news/pignataro-a-profile-in-deceit-how-the-failed-west-seneca-surgeons-disastrous-professional-life-brought/article_3ec7b800-b1d0-5287-a981-c9790c18380f.html
WSVN News: https://wsvn.com/news/investigations/disgraced-doctor-who-poisoned-wife-spotted-on-elder-care-website/
Oxygen: https://www.oxygen.com/license-to-kill/crime-news/anthony-pignataro-surgeon-resurfacess-florida-new-name
Forensic Files Now: https://forensicfilesnow.com/index.php/tag/anthony-pignataro/
Oxygen's "License to Kill," episode "Killer Surgeon"
"Forensic Files," Episode "Bad Medicine"
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Introducing: Killer Psyche Nov 08, 2021

Show notes

Killer Psyche is a new weekly true crime podcast from Wondery that explores the minds behind infamous killers and criminals. They cover high-profile cases that have shocked the world, and host Candice Delong uses her five decades of experience as a clinical psychiatric nurse and FBI Criminal Profiler to dissect the motivations and behaviors of the most terrifying felons in history. In a recent episode, Candace examines the mind of Ed Gein, the notorious murderer who inspired the movies "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho." Candace dives deep into Gein’s mind — and how his mental illnesses led to his obsession with grave-robbing and murder. This is just a preview of Killer Psyche, but you can listen to the full episode at http://wondery.fm/KP_TCCampfire
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The Millionaire That Wasn't: The Tale of the Lottery Liar Nov 05, 2021

Show notes

In 1998, South Yorkshire residents Howard Walmsley and his wife Kathy were on top of the world. After years of financial struggle as they tried to get Howard's painting and decorating business off the ground, they finally hit a stroke of luck: Howard won the lottery. Kathy was thrilled at the thought of being able to get out from under their bills, take a lavish holiday, and spoil their friends and family. But there was one thing that plucked at the back of her mind: Howard would never be specific about how much he'd won. Why was that? Well, campers, Howard was lying through his teeth. He hadn't really won a single pound. He was about to drag his wife along on a bizarre, years-long con, a lie that got bigger and bigger by the day before finally crashing down around them. Join us for the story of one of England's most audacious scammers, a man who is currently a fugitive, wanted by the South Yorkshire police for fraud.
Sources:
Documentary film "The Lottery Liar"
https://www.lottoexposed.com/lottery-conman-john-eric-wells-continues-pursuing-the-easy-life-in-vietnam/
https://www.itv.com/thismorning/articles/i-was-conned-out-of-my-life-savings
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/10015394/lotto-faked-jackpot-hunted-conning/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7515013/Lottery-conman-accused-tricking-three-grandmothers-400-000-living-Vietnam.html
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-70362/Three-years-liar-invented-8m-lottery-win.html
https://www.lottoanalyst.com/howard-walmsley-the-man-who-faked-winning-the-lottery
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Email: truecrimecampfirepod@gmail.com
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