Just The Tip-Sters: True Crime Podcast

In part 2 of the interview with Nicole DeLamora hear how she not only survived being shot by a serial killer but thrived in her life. Her survival and recovery are nothing short of a miracle. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It all started with Joshua sent Melissa a meme. And a discussion ensued. Why do YOU think women consume true crime? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Its a rare opportunity to get to speak to the survivor of a serial killer. Nicole Delamora foiled the plans of The Sylmar Serial Killer by surviving. She has not just survived-she has thrived and will continue to do so. Listen to her story here in part one of our interview. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Jarret Kobek wrote a book. He actually wrote TWO books on the Zodiac. And his explosive new information is profiled in the October 2022 issue of Los Angeles Magazine in an article by Aaron Gell. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Have you heard of Juliet Hulme? Probably not. But you may have heard of Anne Perry, true crime fiction writer who was born Juliet Hulme and changed her name to Anne Perry after helping her best friend kill her mother. And we are proud to be in a partnership with Manscaped! Hear Joshua's review and if you have a man in your life who could use some 'scaping, use JUSTTHETIP for 20% off and free worldwide shipping! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Serial killer Henry Louis Wallace killed 11 women from 1990-1994 in the Charlotte, NC area. He was questioned after the first woman was murdered. The victim's family members believe if someone, anyone had put together the connections surrounding him, many if not all of the remaining victims could still be alive. Was it racial bias that kept their murders from being solved or connected until 11 women had been killed? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Deputy Jonathan Aujay, K-9 handler for the LA Sheriffs Department was a no non-sense guy. But when he never returned from a run in the Antelope Valley area of LA County he left behind many more questions, theories and conspiracies than anyone could have imagined. What happened to Jonathan Aujay? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Hello Beloveds. Just a short message to explain the delays. We will be back on track SOON. Like NOW. Thank you for your patience. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Tip-Sters have an opportunity to help with this episode. The Attorney General of Texas is asking for our help. 42 years after her parents were murdered and left in a forest in Texas after moving there from Florida, Baby Holly has been found living in Oklahoma. She was adopted after being left at a fire station and thanks to genetic genealogy her family was located and she knows who her biological parents were. Their story is layered and there are definitely people who know what happened and maybe even who is responsible for the murder of her parents. If you have any information about the murders of Harold Dean Clouse and Tina Gail Clouse in late 1980 or early 1981 please contact the Texas Attorney General's Cold Case and Missing Persons Unit at [email protected] or at (512) 936-0742 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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The Long Island Serial Killer has preyed on victims for too many decades. Someone probably knows something they may not think is important. IF you know, suspect, think, intuit ANYTHING, please let the task force know. www.gilgonews.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Melissa Lucio's death penalty conviction has been given a stay of execution pending a lower court review. We aren't done yet, though. There are ways we can all help at the end of this episode. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Update on the Will Cierzan case from 2017 and the indictment of his nephew Daniel Cierzan for his murder. Will's case has been previously covered in Episodes #4, 120, 164 and other murdertizer updates. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Over the course of these first three-and-a-half seasons of this podcast, Melissa has been presented with a wide array of missing persons cases from Tip-Sters from around the world. Melissa has followed up, done her research, and presented many of them as episodes. The inspiration for “Just The Tip-Sters” itself was inspired by Melissa’s deep devotion to solving the 2017 disappearance of Will Cierzan – an ongoing mission that could be culminating soon with the trial of Will’s nephew Daniel. But hovering over every such case are questions – about the nature of the case itself – and how to actually help when help is needed. What makes one missing persons case more compelling or worthy of attention than another? How can one tell if a reported vanishing is evidence of wrongdoing or someone walking away from their life or a hoax? And if one is motivated to help the family and friends of a missing person, how does one do so without getting in the way or actually hindering the investigation? And what, in fact, are one’s motivations to help in the first place? In this episode Melissa touches on all of the above by focusing on three recent missing persons cases – two of which are now closed (with the missing persons in question now known to be alive and well) and one of which is still open (with the missing person still missing and actively being sought)… Dane Elkins, a 23-time world champion professional racquetball player, disappeared in mid-December 2020 after visiting friends in Northern California. His brand-new car – with four flat tires and his wallet and cell phone inside – was found abandoned near a rural exit off Interstate 5 between Bakersfield and Los Angeles. All indications are that the then-21 year-old had become delusional and paranoid for reasons that are still unclear. His family believes he has gone “off the grid” and is slowly working his way up to Oregon – and is seeking help from anyone who thinks they’ve spotted him. John Stivers is the owner of an RV campground and marina in Jamestown, California in tiny Tuolumne County. On August 2, 2021 Stivers left his wife and daughter to run some errands and did not return. His van was found abandoned on a nearby road. Local residents, friends and family rushed to social media to find him – and started a GoFundMe account that raised nearly $20,000 to help the family conduct the search. On September 4, 2021, just over one month since his disappearance, the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office issued a statement that Stivers was located; that he has been removed from the missing person database; that foul play was not indicated; and that all other information will remain confidential. As word has spread, outrage by some of the volunteers who helped search for him has grown – many believing that the entire case was a fraud, and that they are owed payback for the time they devoted in the search. Others – Melissa being one – believe that sometimes people just walk away from their lives – for whatever reason – and that if one volunteers to help find someone before anything else is known, that should be the end of the discussion – that volunteering means letting go of pride or any sense of being “owed.” Ron Brown, a 62 year-old resident of the small mountain community of Sierra Madre in Southern California, is a part-time golf instructor and longtime server at a well-known high end restaurant in next-door Pasadena. He went missing on August 9, 2021 after his car was found – engine running – in the parking lot of a Pasadena fast-food restaurant. Melissa relates her personal investment in getting involved in the search for Brown – the frustration of a day in the field – and the joy she felt when she learned, just after arriving home from the field trip, that Brown had been found alive and well. All three of these cases demonstrate the varying but equally important considerations that must be taken when getting involved in missing persons cases. Melissa doesn’t hold back on her opinions – and she also offers kudos to those who are helping find the missing – and some helpful hints from her own experience on how to be prepared when going into the field to help search. During her search for Ron Brown, Melissa discovered the AWARE Foundation – a Virginia-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit made up completely of volunteers dedicated to locating those who have gone missing, wherever their help is needed. AWARE can be contacted by phone at (540) 357-5135. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode Melissa tackles the complex moral, ethical and practical aspects of sentencing reform – in particular the parole of those who have committed heinous murders – and the answers aren’t easy to come by. The focus begins with the murder of three innocent workers in Northern Kentucky in January 1980, when then 24 year-old Paul Kordenbrock and his accomplice Michael Kruse entered a Western Auto store in the town of Florence, stole a cache of firearms, then Kordenbrock shot Stanley Allen and store owner William Thompson in their heads while they laid on the floor. Allen died and Allen survived. Just 15 hours prior, in neighboring Kenton County, Kordenbrock (who was also accompanied by Kruse) shot and killed two service station workers, Rick Allen Jones and Timothy Mains. While the fate of Kruse is foggy, Kordenbrock - the trigger man in both crimes – was sentenced to death in the Western Auto murder – then later had that sentence reduced to life in prison after he admitted to the service station killings. Today at age 66, Kordenbrock claims to be a changed man, having found religion and new meaning in his life – and is working as a “prison advocate” for death row inmates and the elimination of capital punishment. Whether this “new persona” is really just a ploy to get released or not, no one can ever know…which brings Melissa to discuss the August 27, 2021 ruling of a California parole board to recommend parole for Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of New York Senator and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. At age 77, after 53 years in a correctional facility, Sirhan convinced the board that he is fully repentant and that he will never again be the man he was in his youth. What makes the Sirhan parole recommendation so interesting is that two of the late senator’s nine surviving children, Robert, Jr. and Douglas, actively petitioned for the release of their father’s killer, expressing not only forgiveness – but love – toward the assassin. The murders committed by Kordenbrock and Sirhan, and the subsequent handling of their sentences, sparks some fascinating reflections from Melissa (and Producer Mark) in this week’s compelling episode. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In the early morning of May 13, 2013, 33 year-old Bardstown Kentucky police officer Jason Ellis, just weeks away from his seventh anniversary on the job, was heading home after a late night of arrests and subsequent paperwork. Ellis took Exit 34 off the Bluegrass Parkway, headed for his home in nearby Bloomfield, when he encountered tree limbs blocking the exit ramp. He turned his car to block the ramp to prevent other drivers from hitting the debris, and suddenly, with an armful of the limbs in his arms, he was shot four times – in the side, neck, arm and head – with what authorities later determined to be 12-gauge shotgun rounds. He died at the scene. Ellis was probably the most beloved officer in the Bardstown PD – he left behind a wife and two young sons. Primarily assigned to the K-9 unit, Ellis’ K-9 partner – a German Shepard named Figo – was not with him as he drove home that night. It was a photograph of Figo putting his paw on his partner’s casket at Jason Ellis’ funeral that captured the attention of the nation and the world. But neither Ellis’ family or Figo (who died in 2017) – or anyone – has yet to see justice. For the snipers who clearly staged this assassination have never been caught. Join Melissa as she goes through all the facts and theories surrounding this mysterious unsolved killing – including rumors and suspicions that Ellis’ murder was connected to five other murders in the Bardstown area in the years before and after his death – including an alleged connection to something called the “Cornbread Mafia” – we kid you not. Listen and find out if you might be able to provide a clue that leads to the answer in this tragic murder. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This episode brings the first of what will be two updates on the ever-growingly infamous Randy Sellers case out of Kenton County Kentucky. It was at the County Fair in 1980 when 17 year-old Randy Sellers, after some rowdy behavior, was ostensibly driven home by Kenton County Police, who claimed they dropped Sellers off close to his home – only to have him go missing…forever. Melissa and the podcast have developed a keen interest in this case , and Melissa’s saga with the case, involving everything from misinformation, a possibly corrupt police agency and even a phone call with the FBI. If you haven’t been following along, listen to Episodes 69, 121 and 151 (in order). You’ll be drawn in too. One of the most fascinating characters Melissa has met in her investigation of the Sellers case is the owner of a farm that was once part of a larger farm where rumors have had it for years that Randy Sellers’ body is buried. That concerned citizen – who we’re calling “Jeremy” in this episode, has spent innumerable hours and a lot of his own money searching for the facts – and has found more information than 41 years’ worth of investigators. Jeremy recently introduced Melissa to Fred Scroggins, a retired Kentucky State Police detective who’s spent more than 20 years – both on and off the job – trying to solve the Sellers disappearance. Jeremy and Detective Scrogins were going to do a joint interview for this episode – but as you’ll hear, Fred Scroggins had an unexpected medical issue (wait until you hear about THAT), but is recovering and will join Melissa for Part 2 of this update very soon. For now, take a listen as Melissa and Jeremy go over what’s known, what’s not known, and what the likeliest scenario is surrounding the vanishing of Randy Sellers. PLUS – Melissa has a few choice words for police who hand off personal information without asking first. A most enjoyable episode, if we do say so ourselves! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On the morning of December 1, 1994, Melissa Witt (her friends and family called her “Missy”) had a small tiff with her mom over money. The 19 year-old college student, who was studying to become a dental hygienist at a local college, was out of cash, and she wouldn’t get paid at her part-time job until the next day. When she asked her mom for a loan, mom – in a lesson to her daughter about money management – told her no. And young Missy was not happy. She left to start her day in a huff. When Missy got home later in the day, she found a conciliatory note from her mom – with an invitation to meet at a local bowling alley later in the evening – where mom would buy dinner. And Melissa Witt drove to the bowling alley. But she never made it out of the parking lot. From there the details get skimpy. All we know for certain is that Melissa Witt’s keys were found in the parking lot, as were two pools of blood in two parking spaces, with a blood trail leading from one parking space to the other. And that her decomposing body was found a month later, 60 miles away from the bowling alley – strangled to death by a murderer who has, as of now, some 27 years later, never been identified. That’s where this episode’s guest comes in – and a very special person she is. LaDonna Humphrey is a dedicated wife and mother of seven children (five of whom are adopted). She is Executive Director of Oasis of Northwest Arkansas, a nonprofit organization that provides housing and a safe space for women in recovery and their kids. And those two things right there would be more than enough to handle for anyone. But not for LaDonna. Back in 2015, while searching for a case to be the focus of a documentary on missing women, LaDonna came across Melissa Witt’s story – and solving the mystery of the young woman’s murder became more than an interest – it became a mission. The documentary – “Uneven Ground: The Melissa Witt Story” (which LaDonna is Executive Producing) – is nearing completion and will be making the rounds on the film festival circuit this coming year. LaDonna has created a website and a Facebook page dedicated to the Witt investigation. And she has written a book about the case, “The Girl I Never Knew,” which will publish in the spring of 2022. Join host Melissa Morgan for an intensive, and intense, interview with LaDonna Humphrey – we guarantee that you will be moved and inspired. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

December 7, 1991 was the 50th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor – but while America was busy commemorating that momentous date in history, another day that should live in infamy was unfolding in the woods of the town of Sorrento in Lake County, Florida. It was there that a hiker discovered the brutally beaten body of a woman who has become known as the “Sorrento Jane Doe,” who had been tortured, raped, beaten and strangled to death. Many – many – lucky breaks eventually helped law enforcement find and convict the serial rapist responsible for the crime – including a DNA hit at a time when DNA technology was at its infancy and there were only 10,000 DNA samples in Florida’s criminal DNA database. By an incredible stroke of luck, Joseph Rolle’s DNA was in that database, and he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Strangely, that life sentence was not for the murder of Sorrento Jane Doe. Rather, Rolle was convicted solely on the charge of sexual battery. He has denied murdering the victim and to this day denies knowing her identity. So Sorrento Jane Doe remains anonymous – unknown – and buried in an obscure cemetery in the Ocala National Forest, waiting for someone to identify her. The good news? Forensic artist Carl Koppelman – whose almost psychic reconstructions of unidentified murder victims have helped solve so many John and Jane Doe mysteries – recreated a picture of Sorrento Jane Doe that should make it possible for anyone who knew her to identify her. The sad news? As of mid 2021 – nearly 30 years after her death – no one has claimed her. This despite the fact that her autopsy revealed she likely had at least one child – and possibly two. In this episode, Melissa relates not only the story of this awful murder, but implores Tip-Sters everywhere to search their memories and their hearts – Do you recognize her? Do you know anyone who lived in, or was visiting, Lake County Florida in December 1991 who might recognize her? Put on your thinking caps and listen in. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

November 29, 1992 was the very last day of Hunting Season in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where 35 year-old Judy Moilanen, her husband Bruce and young daughter Elise were visiting Judy’s parents in the small town of Ontonagon, right on the banks of Lake Superior. Seeing it was the last day of the season to do so, Bruce, along with a larger hunting party, headed out looking for deer to hunt. Judy decided to walk the five dogs currently in the house – her four Springer spaniels and her parents’ one. Once the hunting party reassembled and got back to the house, Judy was nowhere to be found. When Judy’s parents’ dog returned without Judy and her four dogs, concern grew. As the afternoon grew late, the friends broke into small groups to go look for Judy – and her mother, Mary Ann, and a friend soon discovered the four missing dogs at the edge of the woods – and quickly thereafter, Judy’s body, shot once in what appeared to be a hunting accident. A bullet had passed right through her somewhere into the surrounding ground that law enforcement could not initially locate – but even with the missing bullet, the initial assumption was that a terrible accident had occurred. But some things about the incident seemed out of place – and while the initial consensus was that Judy was accidentally shot by a deer hunter because she was not wearing appropriately colored clothing to alert hunters of her presence, a very attentive coroner and some inquisitive, unstoppable Sheriff’s detectives saw some big inconsistencies – not the least of which was the fact that the wooded area was too close to residential houses for hunters to be present. And then forensic evidence – the most important of which was found by a civilian who became obsessed with finding the missing bulletand who eventually located it in the most unusual way – started pointing directly at Bruce Moilanen. And it was Bruce himself, with a series of some of the most boneheaded moves in the history of murder suspects, who seemed to insist upon pointing the finger at himself. He almost immediately began pursuing local women with tactics as clumsy as they were preposterous. And when he finally confessed, his reasons were both hilariously stupid – and mind-numbingly, tragically horrid. Join Melissa as she uncovers some of the lesser known facts of this often-recounted case – and marvel at the callousness and outright bumbling, unthinking arrogance that so needlessly ended a life and orphaned a little girl – all for nothing. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

One unseasonably cool (as opposed to freezing) late winter morning on March 10, 1997, at a small travel stop gas station and convenience store right off Interstate 80 in Cozad, a tiny farming community in the heart of Nebraska, a late model Pontiac Grand Am pulled into the parking lot and up to the pumps. Inside the store, 41 year-old Leah Rowlands was behind the counter on her very first day in her new role as manager – her hard work and happy attitude had earned her that position after just a few months. The divorced mother of two was finally getting her life back in order after a tough breakup with a new town, a new boyfriend and a future that appeared nothing but bright. Back at the gas pumps, a large man wearing a hoodie under a leather jacket, sweat pants rolled up to his knees and wearing no shoes got out of the Pontiac, filled the tank and headed into the store. Once inside he grabbed a canned soft drink out of the cooler, opened it and started drinking from it while he waited for a mother and her young son to complete their transaction at the counter and leave. He then went up to Leah at the counter, told her to empty the cash register and get down on the floor. Once she was face down on the floor, he calmly pulled a 9mm semiautomatic handgun from his right pocket, reached over the counter and calmly shot Leah Rowlands to death. After just three minutes after walking into the store, the killer nonchalantly walked out, carrying his soda, a pack of cigarettes and $150 in cash. He got back into the Grand Am and drove off. Never to be seen again. Right up to this moment, no one knows who the big man in the hoodie is. There has never been an arrest. And here’s the truly weird and truly awful – and awfully amazing – thing about all of this: The convenience store was completely wired with surveillance cameras. The entire event was caught on videotape, from several angles. The killer stared straight into one of the cameras as he waited for the store to clear out. His unshielded face – while mildly blurry – is clearly visible on the footage from behind the counter, where the murder is recorded in horrifying detail. And no one – no one – has ever identified him. A California license plate on the rear of the Grand Am is illegible. And even though authorities have searched the for that car, it’s never been found. The calmness of the killer’s demeanor – his seeming complete lack of concern that his face, his body features, his clothing were being recorded – makes the entire episode not just tragic – but haunting…to Leah’s family and loved ones and especially to law enforcement. Every available agency, from local police to state authorities to the FBI, continues to work on this case – but until that one person who recognizes her killer comes forward, the case is at a standstill. Take a chilling ride with Melissa back to that Nebraska morning 24 years ago and imagine that you or someone you know can be the one link to bring justice to Leah Rowlands. ALSO - this week Melissa has an update on the Will Cierzan case - a new development that could finally bring justice to Will's family. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On February 24, 1986, John Ruetten came home from work to the condominium in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles that he shared with his bride of three months, Sherri Rasmussen. What he found inside the condo changed his life forever – and it also changed a lot of people’s perception of the Los Angeles Police Department. On the living room floor, still wearing the robe and underwear she had worn to bed the previous night, was the body of Sherri – her face beaten beyond all recognition, and the three bullets that finally ended her life. Little did John know then that it would take 23 years and a determined, unafraid LAPD detective to both solve the murder and expose a rotten corner of the department’s inner culture. It turns out that for several years Sherri Rasmussen had been stalked and terrorized by one of LAPD’s young superstars – then still a uniformed officer named Stephanie Lazarus. Lazarus had been friends with Ruetten when they first met in college and the two had been occasional sexual partners for a while after school ended. Problem was, Stephanie Lazarus was crazy in love with John and thought he belonged to her – and John had no such feelings for Stephanie. Instead, John fell in love with Sherri Rasmussen. And when Stephanie learned that John and Sherri were engaged, Stephanie lost it – and began stalking and threatening Sherri at home and at work. Unfortunately, Sherri and John never reported these events to the police – the only people who knew other than themselves were Sherri’s parents. So it was only natural for Sherri’s father, Nels, reported the stalking incidents and that his strong feeling was that Stephanie Lazarus had to be a prime suspect. To which the police promptly ignored any suggestion that Lazarus could have anything to do with the murder. And refused to even explore the possibility even when all other suspects were cleared. And this went on for over two decades, until a couple of reform-oriented new police Chiefs for LAPD, over the period of several years, a mysterious (and still unknown) whistle blower and a dedicated detective who would not cover up any misdoings finally put all the pieces together and finally put Stephanie on trial – and eventually behind bars for 20-to-Life. Join Melissa on her 200th episode as she retells this sad but enlightening story of jealous homicide, possible police cover-up and, ultimately, the strength of the family of a murder victim who would not sit down or shut up, but kept Sherri Rasmussen’s flame burning brightly. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

When 18 year-old Christina Carnes and her 20 year-old Vernon Cade went out on January 20, 1994 for a night of fun with friends, neither of them could possibly have known what would befall them just a few hours later. Arriving at a gathering in their hometown of Fairfield Ohio that night, they were paged by a friend who needed a ride, and left the party early so they could respond. Later that night, a call to authorities reported an apparently overheated car parked in a parking lot in front of what was then a children’s day care center on Mack Road in Fairfield. When police arrived, they found a horror scene. It was Christina Carnes’ car – and Christina was slumped on the driver’s side of the front seat - dead, shot in the back of the head by someone who had been in the back seat. Vernon had been shot in the face – still alive. Vernon was rushed to the hospital and eventually saved. He is still alive today, but with permanent brain injuries that to this day prevent him from remembering anything that happened that night. It’s been 27 years since Christina’s mother Gail buried her daughter – and no arrest has been made in this awful case. Law enforcement insists that all leads have been followed – and all have led to dead ends. And as you might expect, the police in Fairfield have issued statements begging for anyone to come forward with any new lead. Which is a little weird. Because it appears the Fairfield Police Department doesn’t seem to want to accept help all that much. In this episode, Melissa not only details the tragic details of Christina’s murder, but her frustrations in getting the police to talk to the press or the large social media platform available to spread the word. Also included in this episode is an update on recent events in the Terry Brisk murder investigation previously covered in Episode 118 – a preview of an upcoming interview with Morrison County, MN Sheriff Shawn Larsen, coming up later this month. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

If you look up the March 3, 2014 death of 50 year-old interior designer Dana Jones in the official records of the Long Beach, California Police Department, you’ll see that the case is considered closed, and Jones’ death listed as accidental – a contention backed up by the coroner. According to Dana Jones’ husband, Cain Finn “Huck” Jones, he took the dog out for a walk on the morning of March 3, and when he returned from the walk he discovered Dana, crumpled on the floor from an injury to the back of the head after slipping during a headstand while practicing yoga. Dana was rushed to the hospital in a coma but never regained consciousness before passing away. The problem is, Huck’s story seemed a bit out of whack to Dana’s friends and family – particularly Dana’s sister, Lisa – who has remained Dana’s champion and advocate for justice ever since. For one thing, Dana was an experienced yoga practitioner who knew what she was doing. And even a miscue during a headstand should never have caused the severity of the wound to the back of Dana’s head – or any wound in the location it was positioned. Moreover, Dana’s husband Huck had filled the house with cameras (for security, he claimed, although there were plenty of Dana’s friends who believed Huck had them installed to keep an eye on her). And the room where the “accident” took place was one of the very few rooms without a camera. Plus there were inconsistencies with the timeline, the placemen and many questions about trouble within Dana and Huck’s marriage. Devotees of the True Crime genre know what happens next: Homicide detectives go first to the people closest to the victim – in this case, Huck – and hammer down on every single possibility that he may be the primary suspect. Long hours of questioning. A search warrant that focuses on every speck of dust in the house. And never clear the husband until every single lead has been run down. Except. Well… A detective showed up all right. A detective with a drinking problem and an attitude of not wanting to do the necessary work. A detective who decided within a few short hours that Huck was completely innocent simply because the presence of cameras would have prevented him from even trying. Wait. What? The subsequent “investigation” was light on detail and Dana’s death was ruled accidental in relatively short order. That’s when Lisa Jones, Dana’s sister, took charge. In the seven years since Dana’s death, Lisa has taken on one of the most detailed investigations of any murder anyone has ever seen. She has been unrelenting in forcing law enforcement, the press and anyone else who will listen to pay attention. Her 2019 memoir, “Blunt Force Yoga,” makes a compelling argument for reopening the investigation into Dana’s death. As Melissa points out in this episode, there is no statute of limitations for the crime of murder. And someone, somewhere, likely knows something – even a little speck of information – that might bring justice and finality to this horribly botched investigation. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This week we take another small diversion from murder and mayhem and enter the lighter side of the world of law enforcement with retired New York City detective Vic Ferrari – who makes his second visit to “JTT” – this time to talk about his new book, NYPD: Law and Disorder – Ferrari’s latest batch of true, hilarious stories from his days on the Force. Listen in as Vic regales Melissa with some of the more colorful misadventures as a New York cop – including rookie mistakes, hijinks involving his colleagues at the station house and what challenges he’s faced with in turning his experiences into the written word. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On January 15, 1988 in a semi-residential pocket in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley, 25 year-old Catherine Braley – just recently relocated to Southern California from Iowa – was walking home from her job at a local specialty retail outlet when she decided to drop in to a local bar called The Hunter. There she encountered three L.A. County Sheriff’s detectives – off-duty and out of their jurisdiction (this was LAPD territory) after attending a memorial service for a fallen colleague nearby. After several hours of what all witnesses agreed was heavy drinking, Catherine and the three detectives departed the bar at around 11 pm. Employees at the bar who peered through the windows at the foursome saw Catherine sitting in puddle in the parking lot, laughing. Soon thereafter, the witnesses saw two of the detectives leave, leaving Catherine alone with one man – Detective Robert Mallen of the LA County Sheriff’s Department. That was the last time anyone saw Catherine Braley alive. Her battered body was found the next morning in the parking lot of an apartment complex just blocks from The Hunter. Her head had apparently been crushed with a hammer and/or a cement block found next to the body. Detective Mallen, who had left town with his wife for a camping trip in Arizona that very same morning Catherine’s body was found, was tracked down by LAPD investigators at the campground – and Mallen’s story was yes, he had met Catherine at The Hunter and yes. he had left with her in his car, where they had consensual sex, and that mid-way through a second round of intercourse, she broke it off, got out of the car and said she would walk home. Despite this rather incredulous tale, and problems with the timeline provided, case went cold – quickly – and remains unsolved to this day. A lawsuit brought by Catherine’s family resulted in a hung jury. And there appears to be no interest in the law enforcement community to attempt to solve the case. Worst of all is the fact that the LAPD detective most qualified to investigate Catherine’s murder – the one brave cop with the guts to have solved a 20 year-old murder committed by a fellow officer (and thereby violating the silent “blue code” that holds that cops don’t rat on cops) was handed Catherine’s case and had it taken away from him just as he was starting to investigate. Join Melissa as she asks the tough questions – could it be that the LAPD is preventing the investigation of Catherine Braley’s murder to save the skin of a law enforcement colleague? Is the “blue wall” stifling justice? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

By all accounts Cyle VanKomen was more than just a good kid. He was the kind of young man that drew others to him. Kind, friendly and generous to a fault, the 24 year-old lived with his older brother and several other young men in what was known as a “party house” in a quiet neighborhood in South Ogden Utah. Neither Cyle, his brother nor anyone else in the house had any known enemies or connection to any criminal activity. He and his roommates lived simply – none of them were wealthy or had much in the way of valuable belonging – least of all Cyle. So it defies belief that on the night of December 9, 2016 – when Cyle’s brother and another roommate left the house to buy some snacks to take with them to go bowling – that one of the most bizarre home invasions ever committed took place – leaving Cyle and his neighbor Kevin Nelson dead and a third remaining victim critically wounded. And it all happened in the span of ten minutes – the time it took for Cyle’s brother and his friend to walk to the store and back But it all gets weirder and worse. And that’s because the other murder victim – next door neighbor Kevin Nelson – who just happened to be the wrong place at the wrong time – had security cameras installed on the side of his house. And those cameras caught and recorded – for more than an hour before the assault – three masked, armed men surrounding the perimeter of the VanKomen house…peering in windows…jumping fences…running what looked like paramilitary drills. Ski masks cover their faces, but the body images of all three attackers – including one very tall man – are clearly visible in the video footage. So why hasn’t this case been solved? With Kevin Nelson’s security camera video now available for public viewing, is it really possible that no one can identify even one of the perpetrators of this horrific crime? Listen as Melissa details the known facts of this tragically unsolved case, and wonders aloud why some law enforcement agencies that continually ask the public for help don’t actually seem to want it even when it’s offered up on a silver platter… Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ten years is a long time no matter how you look at it. But for the Stephenson family of Northern Kentucky, ten years is just simply too long. Because that’s how long it’s been since their family patriarch and matriarch Bill and Peggy Stephenson were murdered – brutally – in their Florence Kentucky townhome on Memorial Day weekend in 2011. And the devoted minister and his wife – both beloved members of the community known for their kindness and generosity – were killed in a most unusual – evil way. The killer (or killers) murdered the Stephensons late at night – and took their time. They not only completely re-arranged the murder scene – they staged the bodies in different rooms of the condo – and staged the rest of the home as well, leaving seeming clues everywhere that to this day no one has deciphered. Melissa covered this devastating unsolved double murder in Episode 147 of Just The Tip-Sters, when she interviewed lead case detective Coy Cox of the Boone County Kentucky Sheriff’s Department. Det. Cox has been on this case since Day 1, and he, his partner and the entire department have never converted it to “cold” status. It is, and always will be until the murders are solved, an active investigation. Since Episode 147 aired last year, some important tips have come in to Det. Cox’s team. Melissa thought it might be a good idea to have him back to provide an update on the Stephenson murder investigation and to continue to encourage anyone who might even provide a sliver of a clue to speak up. Join Melissa as she gets that update, and also asks Det. Cox some questions she and many of our listeners have asked about the case. And take the time to really listen to a man whose life is the very definition of a great police officer – smart, savvy, dedicated – and caring about his job and his duty to bring justice to these victims and their family. If you know ANYTHING or ANYONE that might help solve this case – even if you think it’s not important – contact Det. Cox and his team via email at [email protected] or call (859) 334-8496d or toll-free at (844) 210-1111. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

For the second time this month we feature the troubling, tragic, SAD murder of a young girl during the Christmas holiday season a long time ago. This one is incredibly tragic because it’s pretty clear who the killer is and he was never arrested. On December 26, 1980 six year-old Avery "Peaches" Shorts left her home in Knoxville, Tennessee with 58 cents in her pocket, bundled up by her mother Hazel, who asked her youngest daughter to walk to the local store to buy her a bottle of Coke. It was a fifteen-minute round trip. Little Peaches never returned. When 50 minutes had passed with no sign of her daughter, Hazel called the police – and immediately – before the night was through – dozens of law enforcement personnel were searching for Peaches. And in the coming months the number of police and private citizens searching for her grew into the hundreds. No success. It wasn’t until 13 months later, in January 1982, that the body of Peaches Shorts was found – by hunters on an old farm buried under a cattle chute. Her neck had been broken. A wire was wrapped around her neck. Her body was mostly decomposed, but her hair remained – still in pigtails with the ribbons Hazel had placed in it before she left the house still in a bow. She still wore her jacket, buttoned to the top, just as it was when the little girl left to buy her mom a soft drink. No evidence of sexual assault was present. Peaches had simply been brutally strangled – with no evident motive. No motive, that is, other than pure anger and spite. And the police had a perfect suspect to fill that bill – a longtime drifter and con man named Mitchell Reed. Seems Reed, who was more than twice the age of Hazel, had been dating Peaches’ mom (along with at least two other local women), and had been nagging Hazel to let him move in with Hazel and her three kids. Hazel didn’t want that, and had continually put Reed off. On the day of Peaches’ disappearance, Reed had yet again visited Hazel and had yet again pressured her to let him moved in – and once again Hazel had told Reed she’d “think about it.” That did not sit well with Reed, who left in a rage. A witness saw Reed in the local store where Peaches was buying her mom’s Coke. Reed later denied ever seeing her there. And through all the questioning, all the investigations – no matter what the police did to break him, Mitchell Reed never did – he simply lit another cigarette and flashed a smile. And there has never been enough evidence to arrest him or conclusively peg him as the murderer. Could someone be so cold and selfish as to brutally kill a beautiful young girl for no reason other than revenge at her mother for refusing his selfish request? Join Melissa as she tells this horrific tale of justice denied, possibly forever, and the toll it’s taken on the family and the law enforcement personnel who, even to this day, can’t – and won’t – let it go. If you think you may be able to help provide conclusive evidence of Mitchell Reed’s (or anyone else’s) involvement in the murder of Peaches Shorts, please contact Knoxville Police at (865) 215-7317. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ten year-old Judith Barsi was a bona fide, in-demand child actor in the 1980s. Between her fifth and tenth birthdays she appeared in 72 commercials and dozens of television movies and series. And her acting abilities and professional demeanor, even at such a young age, made it clear to everyone who worked with her that young Judith was destined for even greater things as she grew up. Sadly, Judith’s life ended not even one month past her tenth birthday. And the circumstances were nothing short of tragic. The only child of Maria and Joseph – immigrant parents who came to the United States from Hungary – Judith’s talents were noticed by Maria early on. Joseph, who worked as a plumbing contractor, never encouraged Judith’s career the way Maria did, even though by 1988 it had been Judith’s income that had enabled the family to purchase – for cash – a lovely home in the San Fernando Valley suburbs of Los Angeles. And by that time Joseph’s non-support had turned dark. He was now drinking heavily, and had begun verbally and emotionally abusing Maria and Judith. The more successful Judith became, it seemed, the more twisted and verbally violent her father became. It all ended on July 25, 1988 when Joseph became one of a tragically long line of family annihilators – shooting young Judith in the head as she slept, then Maria as she rushed in to see what was going on. He then lit the house on fire, walked into the garage, where he shot and killed himself. And all of that is awful enough – but what really fueled Melissa’s ire about this case is what happened 29 years after Joseph Barsi’s murder/suicide rampage: A 2017 article in, of all places, a home design magazine. Listen in as Melissa details the short lives and crushing deaths of two beautiful souls – a mother and daughter who did not deserve their fate – and the strange era in which we live that somehow diminishes everything to the level of kitsch. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.