Just The Tip-Sters: True Crime Podcast

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.

The holiday season was in full bloom in the small North Carolina town of Benson on Thursday December 14, 1972 when 33 year old Bonnie Neighbors was planning to pick up her oldest son Ken from school, taking her three-month old baby boy Glenn along with her. A witness even saw Bonnie’s car leave her driveway that afternoon – although, strangely, she seemed to be driving erratically and at a high rate of speed – and in the opposite direction of Ken’s school. When Bonnie’s husband (Ken, Senior) got a call from young Ken’s school telling him that no one had come to pick up the young Ken, and when it was later discovered that both Bonnie and baby Glen were missing – and that Bonnie had obviously packed diapers and baby formula – and that her favorite green pantsuit was missing from the closet – an intense search began that got the entire community involved. v First found was Bonnie’s station wagon – parked near her home – virtually untouched. Then, three days after she and the baby disappeared, Bonnie’s body was found lying on a cot inside the concrete walls of an abandoned migrant labor camp in nearby Meadow Township. She had suffered a severe blow to the back of the head and had been shot twice, through her coat and her pantsuit. She was fully-clothed and there was no evidence of sexual assault. There was no blood anywhere, indicating that she had been killed elsewhere and then moved. Next to Bonnie’s body, crying and cold, was baby Glen. Nearby were several dirty diapers, leading investigators to believe that Bonnie had been alive and taking care of her baby for at least a short while before she was murdered. Glen was rushed to the hospital, where he fully recovered. A single bullet casing and a number of cigarette butts were on the floor near a bench next to the cot. That was the extent of evidence of the existence of a perpetrator – and all that police had to work with. Until 2019 – when the absolutely heroic foresight of the investigating officers 47 years earlier who had preserved those cigarette butts and bullet casing long before DNA testing was even dreamed of – yielded enough of the perpetrator’s DNA to finally arrest one Larry Scott, a drifter with a small-time police record who was 18 years old at the time of Bonnie Neighbors’ disappearance and who was living in Bradenton Florida. After initially fighting extradition, Scott finally agreed and was indicted back in North Carolina in May 2019. But here’s where the story gets odd – and where Tip-Sters everywhere can dig in and help out: After the 2019 arraignment, Melissa has not been able to find out what happened to Scott – she hasn’t found evidence of a trial – or of Scott’s death – or his connection, if any, to Bonnie Neighbors – or anything at all. Get ready for Melissa’s rendering of an engrossing tale of awful and seemingly illogical murder – and the mystery still surrounding the outcome of this seemingly never-ending case. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This week Melissa brings forth another unnerving “unsolved” murder – this one from May of 1997 - that really isn’t unsolved at all; a case where the search for justice has been unrelenting for nearly a quarter of a century. And despite the fact that the culprit is alive and in plain sight of God and everybody – no arrests have ever been made. The victim – then 44 year-old Monika Luise Rizzo (nee McKinney) – had by all accounts grown up happy, well-adjusted and well-taken care of by her adoptive parents, dad Bill McKinney and mom (also named) Monika McKinney. Because Bill was a career US Army officer, the family moved around a lot when Monika was young. But no matter where she lived, Monika Luise was always known to be enterprising, hard-working and honest to a fault. And Monika Luise maintained those traits for the remainder of her life, even though that life was never easy after she met Leonard “Lenny” Rizzo on a Honolulu beach in 1970 when she was just 17 and a senior in high school. A beach bum, motorcycle enthusiast and overall ne’er-do-well, Lenny convinced Monika Luise to marry him as soon as she turned 18, which is exactly what happened – over the strong objections of the McKinneys and the strong warnings of others familiar with Lenny and his family. And for 26 years, they stayed married. Had two kids – both boys. All seemed reasonably well…except that Lenny never really could hold down a job, drank, used drugs, belonged to a motorcycle gang and even ended up in jail on a narcotics charge for a couple of years. Through all of it, Monika Luise held down the fort, earned the family income and was always known as the most reliable employee wherever she worked. Throughout the marriage, there were signs that domestic violence may have been occurring – a black eye here, a burn or severe scratch there – but no one ever did anything, and Monika Luise never implicated Lenny in any of her injuries. But by Christmastime 1996 and moving into early 1997, the signs were getting unmistakable. Now living in San Antonio Texas, near her parents’ home where Bill McKinney had retired, Monika Luise had become one of the highest-regarded employees at the Texas Dept. of Human Resources – but trouble was obviously afoot. Between January and May 1997, she began to show signs of distraction and lack of personal care – and she lost so much weight that by some accounts she was down to 85 pounds by May 5…when, in the middle of the work day, Lenny Rizzo made an urgent call to Monika Luise at the office. And after she took that call, her coworkers saw her get up from her desk and – leaving all of her personal belongings behind – walk out of the room, never to be seen by them again. To this day no one knows what that conversation was about. But what is known is that completely shredded bone shards and skin and human body fluids found in Lenny Rizzo’s back yard were proven by DNA testing to be that of Moniika Luise McKinney Rizzo. And Lenny? Oh, he spent another few years in the joint for attempted murder of his new girlfriend – but he’s out now and the local DA still unbelievably claim that not enough evidence exists to indict him for the killing of Monika Luise. Prepare yourself for a detailed look into the life and death of a remarkable young woman for whom justice seems to have been permanently denied. That is, of course, unless YOU, brave Tip-Ster, know something that might close the door and result in an indictment – and if you do, call the San Antonio Police Department at (210) 207-7273. Also – recommended reading is The Raw Truth! Bill McKinney’s compelling re-telling of his daughter Monika’s story. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Penelope Edwards had all but put her life back together in March 2012. After years of struggling with addiction and psychological problems – so bad that she had turned temporary custody of her two children over to her sister Gloria – Penelope was now sober, working through therapy, had her children back and even had a new boyfriend – Troy Dunn. By all accounts, Penelope, Troy and the two kids were living a happy life in Prescott Valley Arizona. But on March 16, 2012, evil visited that happy home – when Kenneth Thompson, the husband of Penelope’s sister Gloria – after driving 25 miles from his home in Missouri, took a hatchet to both Penelope and Troy in an attempt to “rescue” Penelope’s children from what Thompson believed to be a dangerous environment. Dangerous how? Well. It seems that Penelope not only had herself in therapy – her daughter was also seeing a therapist and her young son, who had been suffering with a severe psychological disorder, was under both therapeutic and medical treatment. And all of that was working – and contributing to the healing and happiness in the Edwardsd/Dunn household. Um. Again: Dangerous how? Turns out it was dangerous solely in the mind of Ken Thompson – who decided on his own that because the niece and nephew of his wife were being exposed to psychiatry and psychotherapy, they were being, effectively, brainwashed and damaged. Because that was Thompson’s interpretation of his religion’s belief. And his religion was The Church of Scientology. Fortunately, both of Penelope’s kids were away from the house when Ken Thompson made his deadly visit, but her murder, and that of Troy Dunn – who had vowed to raise Penelope’s children as his own, changed those kids’ lives forever. Join Melissa as she traverses this difficult case of an evil man fraudulently using his religion as a defense against the horrible act he himself committed – and an examination of Melissa’s own experience as a friend of a Scientologist and the question of religious freedom versus religious advocacy. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This time around we have what a 1980s television marketing whiz would call a “Very Special Episode” of the podcast. And that’s because what is normally the intro is actually half the show – and there’s an important reason why. It’s because Melissa has had some things she’s been wanting to say for a while about kindness – being nice – and those things came to the fore this past week in the form of vaccine side effects and a particularly icky email she received from a clearly unhappy person. So in addition to the usual than-yous (and a dynamite discussion on one of America’s longest-operating travel-stop businesses), during the first half of this episode Melissa holds forth on an important fact of life – that kindness is the fuel of any well-lived life. And how much the kindness of you Tip-Sters means to her and Producer Mark. The second half – this week’s case – is about the tragedy of three friends – two of whom were murdered only because they happened to be friends with the third. Gail Moody and Lori Arrowood were both raped, strangled to death and tossed into the woods, three years apart, in two separate but nearby towns in Souhern Georgia. Gail’s body has never been found. But three years later, when Lori was murdered, her body was found. And it didn’t take long for law enforcement to focus on, and arrest, a former corrections officer named Ken Lumpkin, who confessed, was convicted of Lori’s murder and sentenced to Life Without Parole. And during the Lori Arrowood murder investigation, an unexpected connection to Gail Moody’s death was revealed. Turns out that Ken Lumpkin had a wife – Shelly. And Shelly had been friends with both Gail and Lori. And unknown to Shelly, her friendship with the two women cost them their lives – at the hands of a man she never imagined to be a killer. Get ready for a fast-paced, engrossing and downright stirring visit with Melissa as she not only shares some of her most dearly-held thoughts – but relates the ultimate story of a very bad man being very Not Nice. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Matthew Chase was just like a lot of young artists who move to Los Angeles to seek out their creative development and success. Back in 1988, then 22 year-old Matthew and his friends, brother-and-sister Steve and Teresa Dahl, were living together after all moving from their childhood homes near Medford Oregon. And – again, like so many other young transplants to Southern California, Matthew, Steve and Teresa moved into one of the grittier parts of Los Angeles, in the heart of the big city, not fully aware of just how “gritty” gritty really meant. As in: At the time, Los Angeles was plagued by one of the worst gang wars ever to hit an American city. And the area where Matthew Chase and his companions lived was one of that gang war’s hot spots. It was nowhere to be out after dark. And yet, as often happens, Matthew and the Dahl siblings’ youthful sense of invincibility left them largely unaware of the risks all around them. So it was unsurprising that on June 8, 1988, at 11:45 pm, Matthew decided to deposit his paycheck at a local bank ATM. Matthew was going to walk to the bank, but Teresa Dahl lent Matthew her car to run the errand – and to pick up some cat food on the way back. Matt took the car keys, taking with him only his paycheck and his ATM card – leaving his wallet, with his driver’s license in it, behind. After all, it was just a quick trip. Right? Except that was the last time Teresa or Steve Dahl or any of Matthew’s other friends ever saw him alive again. And this is truly a story about the love of friends. Because it was Matthew’s friends – with pretty much no help from the authorities – that finally brought their friend’s case to its uneasy conclusion. As it happens, in 1988 the Los Angeles Police Department was buried under a wave that not only included the impossible task of battling the gangs – but also experiencing its first growing pangs of moving away from a nearly century-long history of abuse, racism and overall corruption. Public attention was finally exposing the LAPD’s bad secrets to the light of day, but in 1988 many of those bad elements remained. And one of those bad elements was the LAPD Rampart Division’s total disinterest in the disappearance of a young artist living in a “bad” part of town – one detective in particular, whose brazen, arrogant and homophobic ignorance prevented a missing person’s report to be filed. It was only after more than a week following Matthew’s disappearance that Teresa Dahl was forced to file a report alleging that Matthew stole her car – which she knew he didn’t do – that finally got LAPD to do anything. Shortly thereafter, Teresa’s abandoned car was found near the bank0 where Matthew had been headed. Through the efforts of Matthew’s friends (not the LAPD), it was discovered that Matthew had attempted to make several large withdrawals at multiple ATMs the night of his disappearance. One of those ATMs had a camera that caught extremely fuzzy footage of – it is believed - the person assumed to be Matthew’s abductor – a gang member who – coincidentally? – was executed by gang members on a Hollywood street corner just two days after Matthew Chase disappeared. In the meantime, a body with two bullet holes in the back of the head, found in a ravine in nearby Pasadena three months after Matthew’s disappearance, sat in the County Morgue unidentified for another six months until dental records finally proved that it belonged to young Matthew Chase. In this episode, Melissa unravels this tragic story with great detail – and in celebration of the love and commitments of friends who would not let their friend be forgotten – and as a question to anyone who was around at the time – was the gang member assumed to be Matthew’s abductor and executioner actually the one responsible for his death? And were there others involved? If anyone knows, call Melissa on the TIP-STER Hotline at (832) 847-7837 or send an email to [email protected]. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

January 2, 1999 was an average day in sleepy suburban Mesa Arizona when, as dusk was falling, 11 year-old Mikelle Biggs and her sister Kimber thought they heard the sound of an ice cream truck coming up the street as they were playing outside their house. Mikelle ran into the house and convinced her mother – who was just starting dinner, to give her some quarters so she and Kimber could buy a treat. Racing back outside, Mikelle borrowed Kimber’s brand new pink bicycle – which Kimber had just gotten for Christmas only 8 days prior. Seeing her sister riding up the street on her bike, Kimber decided to go back into the house to get a jacket. It took her all of 90 seconds to return to the front yard where she would run to catch up with Mikelle. But instead of seeing her sister riding farther up the street, what Kimber saw instead was her empty bike, lying on its side in the middle of the street, pointed back in the direction of their house – the front wheel still spinning. In 90 seconds – Mikelle Biggs went from a bright, beautiful young girl riding to catch an ice cream truck in the fading winter light – to a memory. She has never been seen again. While there is a likely culprit who has been identified – now in prison for a different, horrific crime - he has never been charged and has denied having anything to do with Mikelle’s disappearance. In this moving episode, Melissa describes the police investigation, the family’s exhausting quest for answers, the haunting image of that gleaming new pink bicycle lying still, its front wheel still turning from the impetus of Mikelle’s force – and how all these years later, those 90 seconds live forever in the heart and soul of a little sister who wonders – what if she had not gone to get that jacket? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In March 2012, the quiet town of Urbana Ohio (about 50 miles west of Columbus) was rocked to its core when a local murder became national news – not just because of the horrendous nature of the crime, but the affiliation of the perpetrators with a loose-knit “family” whose insistence on loyalty turned twisted beyond belief. The victim, 21 year-old Jessica Rae Sacco, was found by her landlord, dead in the bathtub of the Urbana duplex she shared with her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Matthew Puccio. Jessica had been suffocated to death, her body partially dismembered and left behind in the bathtub. And it was the partial dismemberment of the body – and the story behind it – that made this case so horrifying – both in its cruelty and its evil, unforgivable, incomprehensible stupidity. Jessica had fallen in with Puccio, who she met online and was four years her senior, shortly after the young woman – who was bipolar and on medication – had moved in to the duplex on Light Street in Urbana. Puccio moved in, convinced Jessica to go off her meds, and quickly invited his friends Andrew and Kandis Forney to live with them in the small duplex. Jessica and the Forneys did not get along from the beginning – and, now off her medication, life became miserable for Jessica. She and Puccio fought often, and on that fateful March day in 2012, after another fight (the background of which is disputed), Puccio first stabbed, and then suffocated, Jessica. But here’s where the story turns bizarre and into pure evil. It turns out that Puccio, the Forneys and – hard to believe it’s true – the other couple Puccio texted for help after he’d stabbed Jessica – Sharon Cook and Christopher Wright – were all part of a minor cult who call themselves “Juggalos,” fans of the hip hop/metal band Insane Clown Posse. The Juggalo culture, while mostly harmless, projects an ominous and foreboding front – and its secretive, loyalty-based sense of “family” has produced more than its share of criminal activity over the years. In the case of what happened to Jessica Sacco, that loyalty went beyond mere criminality and over the cliff into unimaginable depravity. Suffice it to say that the five friends hung out together for FIVE HOURS with Jessica wounded by a stab wound before Puccio finally suffocated her – and then the parts of Jessica’s body that weren’t found in her bathtub were scattered by Puccio and his Juggalo brethren in various locations for reasons that, given the fact that they left most of the body to be found in the duplex, make sense only to the deranged. Join Melissa as she goes over the details of this truly disturbing murder – and the fate of each of the perpetrators – only one of which ended up with a life sentence – and decide for yourself whether justice has been served. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Sometimes it’s so crystal clear that a crime was committed, who did the crime, why the crime was committed and where to go find the bad guy – it’ll drive you nuts. And that is pretty much the story of the disappearance of 23 year-old Austin “Jay” Smith exactly 28 years ago on March 23, 1993. when he left his home in the suburbs of Southern California's San Gabriel Valley and never returned. It’s enough to make a sane person go mad. Dig it: We know Jay went to an appointment that evening, meeting a former employer who was renting audio-video equipment at a local high school – despite the fact that said former employer was furious with Jay for reporting him to the school for pocketing rental money for himself. We know that when he didn’t return at the expected time, Jay’s girlfriend drove to the auditorium where she saw Jay’s truck and the former employer’s camper parked, and that when she banged on the auditorium door, the disheveled former employer opened briefly, only to slam the door in the girlfriend’s face. We know that shortly thereafter, when the girlfriend drove back around to the auditorium, Jay’s truck was gone but the former employer’s camper was still there – and that Jay’s truck was found the next day just a few blocks from the auditorium – and that a witness states he gave the former employer a ride back to the auditorium late on the night of the 23rd when he saw him walking near where Jay’s truck was found – and that a barrel large enough to hold someone of Jay’s size was found to be missing the day after Jay’s disappearance… …oh – and then there’s the fact that after initially being interviewed by the police, the former employer left town for TWO WEEKS without letting anyone know where he went. In his camper. Which had plenty of room to carry a barrel. And 28 years later, the former employer has never been arrested. See – Jay’s body has never been found. And until recently, the Los Angeles County DA’s office simply didn’t prosecute “no body” cases. That has changed – and for the past 8 years a dedicated detective named Richard Lopez of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau has been doggedly pursuing answers – looking for that one shred of evidence or witness to put Jay Smith’s case over the top so he can make the arrest so many have been expecting for so long. Listen in as Melissa relates this agonizingly simple-yet-impossibly-difficult story – and urges anyone who knows anything about what happened to Jay to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500. 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 focus on a murder from December 1993 that occurred literally less than a five-minute drive from the Homestead Studios – although long before Melissa and Producer Mark moved there. The victim was a beautiful and accomplished 29 year-old martial arts instructor and black belt named Veronica Estrada, who left the studio where she was an instructor and, having had an argument with her boyfriend, decided to walk home instead of having him pick her up. The next morning, after no one had heard from Veronica, the owner of the studio, Ken Lewis, and another instructor at the studio named Stuart Milburn, began walking the street that Veronica would have traveled, and eventually, Lewis spotted the young woman’s body off the side of the road and had Milburn run to a business across the street to call police. Both Lewis and the police suspected strange things about Stuart Milburn from the very beginning – but wait – we’ll let the man who was there tell you the story himself – because Ken Lewis is Melissa’s guest this week! Take a listen as Ken tells Melissa about the early days of the case, the arrest and prosecution of Stuart Milburn – and how, after two mistrials that have resulted in Stuart Milburn’ s continued freedom to this day - even the trial judge told prosecutors that Milburn is probably guilty, they shouldn’t bring a third trial unless better evidence emerges. That’s where YOU come in, Tip-Sters. After listening to Ken Lewis’ firsthand account of the events surrounding Veronica Estrada’s murder, maybe something will spark in YOUR memory that could help solve the case. If that happens, please call the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This week Melissa’s special guest is the engaging (and really nice guy) Detective Matt Wharton from the Sweetwater County Wyoming Sheriff’s Office. It’s definitely Big Country in Wyoming, and Sweetwater County is big indeed – the 8th largest county by land in the United States – with miles and miles of rugged beauty – and winters that are not advisable to take on alone unless you know what you’re doing and know your bearings. And even then, you can get lost…which is exactly what appears to have happened to 74 year-old Terry Meador one cold day in October 2018, when he went looking for a place to hunt but never returned. His pickup truck, abandoned and stuck in a rut, was found on an access road several days after his disappearance. But as of today, no one knows what actually happened to Terry Meador, or where he (or his remains) might be found. Melissa and Detective Wharton cover all the bases in this detailed interview, including a couple of side-tracks that may or may not mean anything at all…but might just trigger someone’s memory. If you can help Detective Wharton solve this mystery and bring some peace to the friends and family of Terry Meador, give him a call at (307) 922-5345. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey Tip-Sters! Surprise!!! We have a special between-regular-episodes MURDERTIZER (an appetizer of murder)! Last week Melissa appeared as a guest on a terrific podcast – the Don’t Assume Podcast hosted by Dave Kimball – a truly interesting and interesting guy who hosts people from all over the country from a wide array of professions and backgrounds and challenges his listeners to not assume they know what they think they know about those backgrounds and professions. Naturally, who better for Dave to discuss true crime podcasts with than our own Melissa? Enjoy this wonderful chat where you’ll have a chance to hear Melissa as the interviewee rather than the interviewer – and learn a few things you may not know about her! Thanks to Dave Kimball – we highly recommend you check out the Don’t Assume Podcast for yourself! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This week’s episode involves a twisted web of convictions (perhaps wrongful), acquittals (also possibly wrongful), the murder of a young woman and the disappearance and probable murder of a second young woman – all wrapped around two potentially really bad guys and one no-doubt-about-it nasty scumbag. The story unfolds in tony Putnam County, an affluent New York City suburb north of Manhattan in southern upstate New York, where in October 1994 12 year-old Josette Wright disappeared. Just over 13 months later, Josette’s remains were discovered. Two young men – Anthony DiPippo and Andrew Krivak – were charged and, in 1997, convicted of Josette’s murder – in separate trials. DiPippo has always maintained his innocence. Krivak confessed. Seems simple. Except…well, a couple of things. It turns out that Krivak has claimed, almost from the moment he accepted his sentence, that his confession was coerced, and there’s evidence to indicate the investigator who questioned Krivak used tactics that may have led to a false confession. And Anthony DiPippo? Well. He has been granted three separate trials – convicted the first two times and finally acquitted in the third. So how can two men convicted of the same crime have been dealt such different outcomes? It all revolves around our certified scumbag in this matter – one Howard Gombert, who is currently serving a 30-year sentence for the sexual assault of an 8-year-old girl in Connecticut in 2000 – and who is also the prime suspect in the disappearance of 17 year-old Robin Murphy in April of 1995. Women’s underwear with Robin’s DNA on it was found in a trunk of what can only be described as “trophies” in the home of Gombert’s girlfriend – but with Robin’s body having never turned up, prosecutors have been unable to arrest Gombert for her murder. And then there’s this: there are ties between Robin Murphy, Josette Wright and Howard Gombert that make Gombert a more than reasonable suspect in both cases. Add to all of this the fact that Anthony DiPippo’s original trial attorney had also represented…wait for it…Howard Gombert! Join Melissa as she unravels the tangled facts and seeks to get to the bottom of who killed whom – and if you know anything about either case, please call the Putnam County New York Sheriff’s Office at (845) 225-4300. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On the night before Valentine’s Day 2000 (which, like this year, was also part of a three-day Presidents Day weekend), a beautiful 9 year-old girl named Asha Degree and her ten year-old brother O’Bryant went to bed in their Shelby North Carolina home. Sometime around 2:30 am, O’Bryant heard his sister go to the bathroom and return to bed – but when he was awakened in the morning by his frantic mother, he found out what the rest of the nation was about to learn – young Asha had disappeared. And what made the whole thing baffling is that every indication was that Asha had left of her own free will. There were no signs of a break-in nor anything else that would indicate anyone took her from the home. Her backpack and some clothes were missing, indicating she had planned to leave. Even more baffling was the fact that it was heavily raining the night/early morning when Asha disappeared. A witness claimed to have seen her walking in the downpour, but when offered a ride she ran into nearby woods. Would a nine year-old child really strike out on her own on a cold and rainy early morning? If so, where was she going? Did she plan on meeting someone? If so, who…and where…and…why? And why has Asha Degree never been found? Or her remains – after all these years? Melissa delves into the nooks and crannies of this disturbing unsolved disappearance – and as always – encourages anyone who knows anything about what happened to young Asha Degree on Presidents Day Weekend 2000, please call the FBI’s Charlotte North Carolina field office at (704) 672-6100. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Sometimes when researching a case, Melissa discovers threads that lead her in multiple directions. Every once in a while one of those threads leads to a clue in the case she’s investigating. But other times, they lead to cases clearly unrelated – but eerily similar – to the matter at hand. This week’s episode brings together two such cases. The cold case Melissa started researching involves the mysterious – actually downright strange – 2007 death of 78 year-old Louise Paciarello, a retired nurse’s aide who was a beloved neighbor and friend in her Yonkers, New York building and surrounding neighborhood. Tiny, frail and lovely, Louise by all accounts had no enemies. Yet for some time before her apartment was set fire by someone who had first strangled her, she had told friends some very troubling – and weird – stories. She showed several friends a note, written on a napkin, from someone who wrote they’d been in the apartment while she slept – and even though she wouldn’t say who the note was from, expressed terrible concern that the writer knew where she kept her money. She also claimed, just days prior to her murder, that she’d heard someone jiggling the doorknob of her newly re-keyed front door. Spooky business – and no one has been arrested, whole thing got Melissa to wondering – who would do this to an elderly lady? How does one earn the trust of someone like Louise Paciarello? And that bit of wondering led Melissa 28 miles south of Yonkers to the Brooklyn New York neighborhood of Brownsville, where just last month (January 2021) the arrest of one Kevin Gavin was announced by the NYPD. Gavin has been charged in the murder of Juanita (“Jenny”) Caballero on January 15, 2021 – but subsequently confessed to two other murders, in 2015 and 2019. All three victims were female, all elderly and all residents of the same New York City Housing Authority apartment building. Turns out Gavin did odd jobs for all three of his victims – which is why they likely trusted him enough to let him into their apartments. He claims he killed all three women because of disputes over money. But that doesn’t seem reasonable when one considers that each of Gavin’s victims were murdered in very different ways – all of which speak “serial killer” more than they do “where’s my money?” Listen in as Melissa puzzles over these two places in such close proximity, focuses on the similarities of how four innocent elderly women were murdered and ponders the nature of those who would take advantage of the weakest and most kindhearted among us. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

One day in March 1980, a member of the U.S. Army (her rank still not clear) named Tamara Tigard, who was living (or was she stationed?) in Las Vegas, went for a walk. And then vanished. One month later, 1,200 miles away near the small town of Jones, Oklahoma – on Tamara’s 21st birthday, as it happens – the unclothed body of a young woman was found in a shallow grave on the banks of the North Canadian River. The body had been covered with “wet” lime, which, intentionally or not, had acted to preserve the body to a remarkable degree. Even so, authorities could not identify the body – and no reported missing persons reports matched the dead woman’s description, so “The Lime Lady,” as she came to be known, was buried in an unmarked grave there in Central Oklahoma, leaving law enforcement with a mystery that would last for the next four decades. Almost exactly four decades, as it turns out. Because in 2020, through the unending determination of the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office, in particular Captain Bob Green, familial DNA technology through assistance of The DNA Doe Project finally identified the “Lime Lady” as none other than Tamara Tigard, who had disappeared 40 years before in Las Vegas. But with that mystery solved, an entire universe of new questions arose. How did this young soldier get from Las Vegas to Oklahoma? Was she dead or alive when she arrived in Oklahoma? Obvious suspects (such as Tamara’s ex-husband, who had a long rap sheet, have been vetted with no success. There’s also the conundrum of Tamara’s manner of death – forensics experts have determined that she was not only shot with a .45 caliber handgun – she died with her clothes on – her shooter was actually walking toward, or charging, her as he (or she) was shooting. So why was she buried with no clothes? And just what was a member of the Army doing living in Las Vegas, when no army base is located there? And how come the Army continued to show Tamara as being on active duty even after she disappeared, never reporting her as AWOL or otherwise discharged? And how about that “Tamara Tigard” living in Ohio who evidently stole Tamara’s identity – has that ever been looked into? These are all mystifying questions that Melissa explores in this episode – and even though the crime happened 40 years ago, those questions even today leave the mind to wander from the mostly plausible to the possibly conspiratorial. And of course, as is usually the case – even all these decades later, there must be someone still alive who knows the true story behind Tamara Tigard’s untimely death. If you think you might know who that person is – or if you are that person, call Captain Bob Green of the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Department at (405) 713-1000. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This week’s sad and (like most unsolved cases) totally frustrating case was discovered when Producer Mark read a bio of Academy Award and Emmy-winning actress Cloris Leachman upon her recent passing. In the article, a fascinating side note about the show “Phyllis,” a spinoff of the “Mary Tyler Moore Show” (which starred Leachman as the title character) mentioned that the spinoff lasted only two seasons, and part of the reason it didn’t continue was because of the deaths of three of its cast members, one of which, Barbara Colby, was murdered after only three episodes of the show had been filmed. Naturally, this piqued Melissa’s interest – and so she delved into the case, and discovered that Colby and a fellow actor were not only gunned down for what appears to be no particular reason one July night in 1975 in Venice California – but that the case is still unsolved to this day. Colby – only three weeks past her 36th birthday at the time of her death – had already worked her way into a solid career in television with a reputation as a versatile and creative actor, gaining guest-starring roles in such series as “Columbo,” “The Odd Couple” and “Medical Center.” Colby’s big break came when she was cast as “Sherry,” a savvy “lady of the night” sharing a jail cell with the hilariously naïve Mary Richards in a now-classic episode of the “Mary Tyler Moore” show. Reaction was so positive that she was invited back the following season to reprise her role. Those performances resulted in Moore’s production company handing Colby the role of Julie, Phyllis’ boss on the “Phyllis” sitcom. But after only three episodes were in the can, Colby and her companion James Kiernan were walking to their car after teaching an acting class when they were suddenly approached by still-unidentified assailants who shot them both, fleeing the scene having stolen nothing and without any explanation of any kind. Colby was killed at the scene; Kiernan lived long enough to describe the incident to police, but died that same night. Listen in as Melissa describes the tragedy and some of the weird facts lurking in the background – and maybe, if you hear something that strikes a chord – you, dear Tip-Ster, can help solve this truly tragic and senseless crime. If you think you can, please contact the Los Angeles Police Department through Crime Stoppers USA at (800) 222-TIPS. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On October 10 1996, a 65 year-old retired eyeglass maker named Otha Young, Jr., who had been admitted to a hospital in his hometown of Louisville Kentucky for a medical episode related to his Alzheimer’s - against the advice of the attending physicians and staff – checked himself out of the hospital, got in his car and headed north on Interstate 75. Along the way he was stopped by law enforcement and issued a traffic citation, and because he was driving without a license, the car was left on the side of the road and Young checked in to a Best Western hotel near the Northern Kentucky town of Florence later that day. And that was the last documented evidence of Otha Young’s existence. He disappeared without a trace. His car was found very quickly by his daughter the next day – where it had been abandoned in an emergency lane along the highway. But no Otha Young. And no evidence of any kind as to what happened to him – it didn’t take long for the case to go cold. Then eight years later, in November 2004, skeletal remains, clothing, a hotel key card and some other non-identifying personal items were found by city workers cleaning a storm drain about 30 feet from the highway. It took the better part of a year before some excellent police work determined that the remains belonged to Otha Young Jr. – and that he had been murdered. The case has been in active investigation mode ever since, with some fascinating clues emerging along the way – but it’s still more of a mystery than it is anywhere near close to solved. Enter Virginia Braden, a Kentucky-based private investigator who has taken an interest in several cold cases over the years and has made it her mission to bring some comfort to families and loved ones of missing persons and unsolved murder victims. Of all her cases, Braden has made the Otha Young Jr. murder investigation her greatest cause. And there are some fascinating facts that have emerged along the way – as she describes it, it’s like a jigsaw puzzle, and there are scattered pieces just waiting for their companion pieces to be found, to fill in and solve it. Join Melissa for her fascinating discussion with fascinating Virginia Braden – Melissa’s special guest this week – whose personal story is as compelling as any of the cases she follows. In addition to her work as a P.I., she is also the author of multiple books, including “Life is Hard…Here’s Some Help,” which Melissa discusses (and raves about) on this edition of the podcast. A detailed look into the Otha Young disappearance and murder – and a look into the work of a truly inspired and inspirational woman. If you have any information on the disappearance and/or murder of Otha Young Jr., call Detective Walt Cooley of the Florence Kentucky Police Dept. at (859) 647-5420. Virginia Braden’s website and blog are located at www.bradeninvestigations.com. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This week Melissa jumps into the Tip-Ster Wayback machine and journeys to the rough-and tumble era of 1950s Los Angeles, where corruption ran rampant, the mob still held sway, mean jamokes with ill intent lurked in the shadows –and where Hollywood influenced everything from clothing to language to the very news being home-delivered every day. And right near the outset of that turbulent era – on March 9, 1953 – one of the decade’s most sensationalized murders took place on a quiet street in a tidy bungalow in suburban Burbank. There, in the shadow of the recently relocated Warner Bros and Walt Disney film studios, a former Vaudeville and Tent Show diva – 69 year-old widow Mabel Monohan – was brutally beaten and left for dead by a gang of five robbers who believed she was hiding a large stash of money in a safe, neither of which existed. Beaten and bloody, bound with a pillow case over her head, Mrs. Monohan died of her injuries – her body not found until two days after the botched robbery. After a couple of confessions (and after the burglars killed one of their own who squealed to the cops) – three of the five were eventually put to death in California’s gas chamber. Simple enough, right? Well no, not at all. That’s because one of the three capital murder defendants was a woman – a beautiful 29 year-old, thrice-married sex worker and heroin addict named Barbara Graham, who, with four male co-conspirators, plotted to steal $100,000 they believed Mrs. Monohan kept in a safe, as a favor to her gambler ex-son-in-law. So Graham and her four cohorts made a plan to invade the home, tie up Mrs. Monohan, crack the safe, take the money and run. It was Graham, posing as a young woman asking for help, who convinced Mrs. Monohan to open the door to the house. The plan – obviously – went awry very quickly. Mrs. Monohan was pistol-whipped and, when the would-be thieves fled after they realized no money was to be found, she was left on the floor, still bound, suffering from mortal wounds. By the time arrests were made, the local press had successfully turned the allegations against Barbara Graham into an international cause celebre, making the beautiful young woman’s story into a plea for leniency and an end to the death penalty. After Graham and the two other conspirators were executed, Hollywood picked up Graham’s story and turned it into a motion picture that won its star, Susan Hayward, an Oscar for Best Actress. Join Melissa as she covers the full gamut of this timeless case of murder, sex, sexism and the relevance of the death penalty – especially against women – and how those issues from 67 years ago haven’t really changed all that much. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Melissa opens Season 4 with a vexing case out of Soutwest Ohio – the town of Kettering, where on February 7, 1999, nine year-old Erica Baker took her aunt’s dog for a walk and never returned. The dog, with leash still attached, was found just an hour after Erica left the house. And this disappearance is not just frustrating and sad (as all cold or missing person cases are). It is also weird. Because even though someone was arrested and convicted of being involved in young Erica’s death, it really…wasn’t…solved. It seems that witness accounts indicated that Erica may have been struck by a van near the recreation center where the dog was found. A crack addict by the name of Christian John Gabriel who with two others had been fleeing in a van after stealing from the local Meijer store, eventually confessed that he may have hit a girl while driving the van and that he and his accomplices buried the body at a local state park. But then he changed the story – claiming one of the others – on Jan Marie Franks (now deceased) – was actually driving the van. Today he claims that all of his confessions were untrue and that he wasn’t involved at all in Erica’s disappearance. Police have spent innumerable hours and dollars looking for Erica’s remains based on Gabriel’s various confessions, but have never found anything. Eventually Gabriel and his cohorts were convicted of the Meijer robbery – and Gabriel was convicted in 2005 of gross abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence. Gabriel served six years in prison and has been free since 2011. And through all of this, no one has actually been convicted of killing Erica Baker – and neither she, her remains nor any sign of her whatsoever has emerged. If you know anything that may lead to the truth about what happened to her – or where her remains might be found, please call the Kettering Police Department at (937) 296-2555. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

As a between-season special, we thought we’d pass along this delightful interview with Melissa from last week when she visited the YouTube Live channel for The Incognito Society and its host, Elizabeth. In the interview, Melissa shares a lot about herself, her podcast, the relationship between podcasts and law enforcement, as well as a number of cases, including the vexing Delphi Murders out of Indiana, where Elizabeth and her channel are based, and upon which The Incognito Society and its followers focus much of their time searching for clues. We want to thank Elizabeth for allowing us to share this interview with our Tip-Sters, and we invite all of you to take a look and a listen to The Incognito Society’s YouTube channel. Melissa will be back next week with the Season 4 premiere of “JTT.” Until then, we hope your new year is off to a great start! Remember, if you have a tip of any kind that can help solve a crime or any mystery whatsoever, you can call Melissa on the TIP-STER HOTLINE at (832) TIP-STER (832-847-7837) or send an email to [email protected]. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Melissa wraps up Season 3 of the podcast with the tale of an horrific “family annihilator” mass murder from 2002 and the mysterious 18 year delay it took to bring a suspect to justice...mysterious because, right from the very beginning, all signs pointed – with big bright shiny, glowing arrows – to Jason Michael Walker, who was finally arrested on December 2, 2020 after nearly two decades following the murders in question. And those murders were as grotesque and incomprehensible as they come. On March 22, 2002, at approximately 3 a.m. local time, authorities were called to a burning house in the tiny town of Rebecca, Georgia. Inside the rubble of the decimated structure, firefighters discovered the bodies of the Wideman family - Tommy John Wideman, Tommy’s wife Deborah, the couple’s 20 year-old daughter Melissa – and the 8-1/2 month-old fetus Melissa had been carrying – which had been cut out of Melissa’s womb and placed by the family’s dead bodies. Tommy Joe, Deborah and Melissa were all determined to have been killed prior to the ignition of the fire. For the next 18 years the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), together with local authorities, worked to no avail to solve the grizzly multiple homicide. Then suddenly, in late 2020 a grand jury was convened to present evidence against Jason Walker, including recent eyewitness testimony from someone who saw someone fleeing from the burning house – and the fact that Walker, who had been known to date young Melissa Wideman, had been confirmed through DNA testing to be the father of the fetus found at the scene. The grand jury – at long last – handed down indictments on December 1, and Walker was arrested shortly thereafter. How does a case like this go so long without being solved? That is the troubling question asked by Melissa in this compelling episode. THANK YOU TIP-STERS for supporting Just The Tip-Sters! It’s amazing to realize we’ve now completed three full seasons – and we owe YOU everything! Melissa’s taking a brief one-week break between seasons – and the podcast will return on Tuesday January 12, 2021 with a brand new season of more fascinating cases, enlightening guests and YOUR TIPS (oh and of course more cowbell)! In the meantime, Happy New Year to one and all! Remember, if you have a tip of any kind that can help solve a crime or any mystery whatsoever, you can call Melissa on the TIP-STER HOTLINE at (832) TIP-STER (832-847-7837) or send an email to [email protected] Please consider SUBSCRIBING to Just The Tip-Sters over at Apple Podcasts, then RATE and give us that five-star REVIEW! You can also listen and subscribe at Spotify, IHeartRadio, Stitcher, TuneIn, YouTube, the Radio.com app and wherever you find your favorite podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On this special episode, Melissa explores the phenomenon of outlier religious or alternative followings – otherwise known as cults. At the center of this fascinating discussion, Melissa focuses on the still-operating community known as Buddhafield – currently situated in Hawaii. The cult is the subject of the 2016 documentary “Holy Hell,” which was made by former cult member Will Allen, with footage taken mostly from his years as the Buddahfield’s official documentarian. Started in the 1980s by an out-of-work actor named Jaime Gomez (who soon thereafter changed his name to “Michel, Andreas, The Teacher or Reyji”) as a sort of hybrid of Eastern and Western new age philosophies, Buddhafield attracted kindred souls in the often-vacuous and lonely landscape of West Hollywood. Gomez’ followers tended to be young and beautiful – encouraged to wear as little clothing as possible (the leader himself was known for years to wear nothing but a speedo) and to remain celibate. Which, it turns out, is a difficult thing to hold onto if you’re half-naked, young and beautiful and surrounded by nothing but other half-naked young and beautiful people. So ridiculous was the hypocrisy that cult members began to refer Buddhafield as “Bootiefield.” But there were darker aspects to life within the cult – as his cult grew, Gomez gradually began to consider himself God incarnate. His followers became servants – opening every door, carrying chairs on their backs so he could sit whenever he pleased. But even darker were the allegations from former members of emotional and sexual abuse by “The Teacher,” allegations which were consistently denied by Gomez and remaining cult members alike. In the meantime, the lighthearted, freewheeling spirit that had attracted so many to him began to drain from the cult leader as he became more of a shadow of a person and only a shell of a man. As she discusses the incredibly compelling history of Buddhafield, its move from California to Texas and then finally to Hawaii (where it still exists as a much smaller, but still devoted, cult), Melissa explores her own relationships with current and former members of alternative spiritual compulsions (i.e. cults) as well as age-old questions as to what attracts (almost always) educated, intelligent and creative people to the prison of cult life. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On October 19, 1971, ten year-old Cheryll Spegall was last seen running to catch the bus to school near her home in Highland Heights, Kentucky. No one saw her after that. No one, that is, except her murderer. Whoever that person is (or was), he has never been caught. Not yet, that is. Cheryll’s lifeless body was found nearly two weeks later, buried under a pile of rocks in a remote area in neighboring Pendleton County, by a milk truck driver who just happened to pull over at that particular spot on the way to his last stop. While Cheryll’s family and friends have never stopped searching for Cheryll’s killer all these years later, it has really been over the past three years that the case has taken on a new life – a spark that has ignited a fire of interest by law enforcement as well as a wide range of people who never knew the young girl – many who weren’t even born yet when the murder occurred. The catalyst for this sudden and dramatic interest in a 49 year-old unsolved homicide? One person – namely, Melissa’s guest on this episode. Her name is Beth Rowland, one of the most dedicated and whip-smart amateur sleuths we’ve ever met. A music teacher by day, Beth’s interest was ignited years ago when, on a date with her then-boyfriend (now husband), she learned of a mysterious “man on the porch,” an older gentleman who liked to watch passersby from his front stoop that the locals all told themselves to stay away from because rumor had it that he had “killed a girl” back in ’71. Fast forward to three years ago, when at a family dinner, Beth’s curiosity about the case compelled her to ask her mother-in-law, who lived near the Spegal family home at the time, what she knew about it. The answers only increased Beth’s interest, and soon she started a blog, “Gone in the Fog,” which now has nearly fifty chapters, both in text and in audio, about her personal journey and her investigation into the murder – and how in the process she has compiled as much or more investigative data as the police themselves. Take a listen to Melissa’s fascinating hour-plus interview with Beth Rowland and prepare to want to get involved yourself! If you have any information about the disappearance and murder of Cheryll Spegal, please call the Kentucky State Police Post 6 at (859) 428-1212. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ever since the mid-1980s, when Sir Alec Jeffreys first developed “genetic fingerprinting” which soon came to be known of DNA profiling, forensic science has not only become more important in crime-solving than in the previous several hundred years combined, its potential for making it almost impossible to commit a crime in the first place seems to grow exponentially with each passing day. To be able to decode the secrets of DNA – which exists in the cells of virtually all living organisms and is for all practical purposes unique to each, and then break down that information into a practical form that can be used to definitively mark one individual over anyone else with certainties, the odds against which run into numbers that exceed the world population many times over, still seems like a miracle. Even more miraculous has been the latest extrapolation of DNA profiling, forensic genealogy, which can take even trace samples of human DNA and, utilizing DNA data from public websites (most notably GEDMatch) designed to link branches of family trees for ancestry research, to find previously unidentified perpetrators and victims of crimes. In this episode Melissa discusses the remarkable successes of forensic genealogy and struggles with the privacy issues companies like GEDMatch, Ancestry.com and 23andMe are facing – and the balance society is still trying to find between its desire to bring criminals to justice and simultaneously protect the rights of the individual. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Murderers are evil – and yes they’re evil because they take the lives of innocents – but also because of the lives and futures they affect for those left behind. Sometimes the murder itself is so disturbing or maddening that it’s easy to forget that the friends and colleagues – and particularly family – who are left to pick up the pieces of a murdered or disappeared loved on are often victimized themselves. Broken marriages, depression – even suicide – can all rear their heads in the residue of a killer’s actions. Especially when you don’t know where the victim is – and you can’t prove who it was who did the killing. But sometimes the loved ones of the victim overcome the temptation to give up and simply decide to find answers – whether they’re helped by the police or not. Such is the story of the three living sisters of one Edward (“Eddie”) Nichols of Gallatin County, Kentucky, who went hunting with a friend (or should we say “friend”?) on December 3, 1974 at a place called Shady Nook Bottoms in neighboring Boone County – and hasn’t been seen or heard from since. Since that time – for 46 years now – Eddie’s family has refused to give up the search to bring him home. And to their credit, the Boone County authorities, after initially dropping the ball, have not let go of the case either. On this episode, Melissa interviews returning guest Detective Coy Cox of the Boone County Sheriff’s Department, who currently leads the Nichols investigation, to go over the known facts of the case and to suss out some possible answers to this most perplexing disappearance – and the persistence of three loving sisters who won’t let their brother’s memory fade for even a moment. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This Thanksgiving week Melissa updates a couple of unsolved missing person cases – one we’ve not yet covered but which has been covered extensively and one we’ve covered extensively and almost no one else has…and as with all unsolved cases, it’s a mixed bag. The first update has to do with the 2015 disappearance of Crystal Rogers, the then 35 year-old mother of five from Bardstown Kentucky who went missing during the Independence Day holiday. The last person to see Crystal was her live-in boyfriend, Brooks Houck, who claims that Crystal was playing video games on her phone when he went to bed on the evening of July 2, 2015, only to find Crystal and her car gone the next morning. Two days later, Crystal’s Chevrolet was found with a flat tire, abandoned off the side of the Bluegrass Parkway – its keys in the ignition and her purse and phone left behind. The case has been analyzed in detail by several podcasts, most notably the serial Bardstown. In this episode of JUST THE TIP-STERS, Melissa updates the Rogers case and the recent news stories regarding remains found in July 2020 near where Crystal’s car was found, and the FBI investigation into those remains. The other update concerns the case that most significantly caused Melissa to start this podcast – the 2017 disappearance of Will Cierzan here in Melissa’s current home town of Santa Clarita, California. Melissa has covered the case and its progress in Episodes 4, 64, 120 and 149. Will’s wife Linda Cierzan came home from work on the evening of January 26, 2017 to find the chicken Will had made for dinner out of the oven; his car keys, cell phone and wallet on the kitchen counter – and Will gone. In a case so frustrating as to be unbelievable, the police investigation took more than three-and-a-half years to arrest the only obvious suspect in the case, Will’s nephew Daniel. Daniel had admitted to being at his uncle’s house early in the day to watch a golf tournament on TV, but claimed to have left for home by 1:30 pm (a claim backed by Daniel’s dad – Will’s brother Chuck Cierzan. Father and son were both proven to be lying when a neighbor’s time-stamped security camera caught Daniel leaving Will’s house, then backing his SUV into Will’s driveway right around 5 pm, loading something into the back of the vehicle and then driving off in the opposite direction from his home. Both Daniel and Chuck have been under suspicion ever since, but not until August of 2020 did police believe they had enough evidence – and then against only one of the two – Daniel. Chuck is still a free man. On this episode’s update of the Will Cierzan case, Melissa describes her attendance at a recent preliminary hearing in Daniel Cierzan’s murder trial, her introduction to the kick-butt Assistant District Attorney who will be prosecuting the case, and the new hope that is floating in the air that we may be closer to a conclusion to this matter and some relief to Linda Cierzan and the rest of Will’s family, who only want to know where he is so he can come home. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You wanna hear a really creepy ghost story? Well…actually…a really creepy satanic possession story…or something? Try this on for size: Guy gets really good at his job. So good that he’s given a cameo doing his job in one of the biggest horror movies of the century. A movie whose set became legendary for weird accidents, injuries, fires – even deaths! – during its making…and a few years later, same guy gets arrested for knocking his gay hook-up over the head with a frying pan and then stabbing him to death…and to top it off, same guy seems to be pretty much the person who killed at least six other unidentified men, dismembering them, then packing them into garbage bags that get thrown into the Hudson River. Not very believable. Except that it’s a true story. It’s the story of Paul Bateson, the alcoholic radiological technologist whose delicate, caring manner in performing the cerebral angiography procedure on children at New York University Medical Center caught the eye of film director William Friedkin, who cast Bateson as the technologist performing the procedure on the character of young Regan MacNeil, the possessed girl at the center of Friedkin’s film adaptation of William Peter Blatty’s “The Exorcist.” Seems like quite the feather in Mr. Bateson’s cap – something to build a highly successful career on. Right? Unfortunately, no. Troubled from youth and battling alcoholism his entire life, Bateson fell deeply into his addiction in the years following the release of the movie, and ended up losing is job at NYUMC. Now working odd jobs and trying to find a way to get back to working in radiology, Bateson fell off the wagon again in 1977 and, in one weird, wild night, he met, hung out with, drank with, went home with, and then murdered renowned Variety film journalist Addison Verrill in Verrill’s New York City Apartment. The circumstances around Bateson’s capture and arrest are fascinating, and Melissa recounts the twists and turns in that case – including Bateson’s release on Parole and his subsequent fade-away into obscurity, where even though someone using his name and Social Security Number was certified as deceased in 2018, it can’t be proven to be the same person. Weird. But wait, there’s more – a lot more. You see, it turns out that during the 1970s prior to Bateson’s arrest, there had been a string of murders of young men in New York – six altogether – each of whom had been murdered and mutilated, their cut-up bodies placed in garbage bags and tossed into the Hudson River. To this day, tragically, not even one of these men has been identified by anyone. And no one has ever been arrested in their murders. But even more compelling is the fact that all of the garbage bags all six of those young men’s bodies were found in bore the mark of the place they came from: New York University Medical Center. Follow Melissa into this dark hole of mystery, creepy movie sets – and even a side trip into Melissa’s and Producer Mark’s own personal adventures into telekinesis! – on this most fascinating episode. Remember, if you have a tip of any kind that can help solve a crime or any mystery whatsoever, you can call Melissa on the TIP-STER HOTLINE at (832) TIP-STER (832-847-7837) or send an email to [email protected]. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Diane Louise Augat did not have an easy life. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder in her early 30s, she lost her marriage and custody of her children as she was forcibly institutionalized 32 times between 1990 and 1998. Living the best life she could, protected and watched over by family who cared for her, Diane was living with her sister in Odessa, a tiny town located in Pasco County, just north of Tampa, Florida when, on April 10, 1998, the sister left the house briefly and returned to find Diane gone. At least one witness reported seeing Diane wandering on U.S. Highway 19 the following day, April 11. On April 13, Diane’s mother received a telephone call from Diane in which it sounded like her daughter was in a struggle for the phone and pleading for help – and then quickly hanging up. Then, two days after that, on April 15, a stranger on her way home along Route 19 spotted what looked like a dismembered finger on the side of the road – and fingerprinting confirmed it had belonged to Diane. But no blood. No other body part. Nothing but the tip of a finger. Then things get really weird. Two weeks after the disappearance, a bag containing some of Diane’s neatly-folded clothing was discovered in an outdoor freezer behind a convenience store where Diane’s sister worked. But wait. Get this: TWO YEARS LATER, a local newspaper ran a story on the continuing search for Diane – and the VERY NEXT DAY after that article was published, Diane’s brother walked into a completely random convenience store in Pasco County and there, on the counter next to the lottery tickets, with zero explanation, sat a plastic bag with the name “Diane” written on it – and inside the bag were a container of black eyeliner, a bottle of Taboo perfume, a tube of bright pink lipstick, and a tube of generic toothpaste – all things Diane’s mother said she would have been carrying. Are you the person who can unravel this wild mystery and provide the clue that will finally lead to the truth about what happened to Diane Augat? If so, send an email to [email protected] or call the Pasco County Sheriff’s office at (800) 854-2862, ext. 7723. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

There is absolutely no doubt that a new era in crime-solving was introduced with the bombshell announcement in the spring of 2018 that the four decades-long search for the infamous and evil Golden State Killer had been solved utilizing publicly available DNA data and applying the science of genetic genealogy. In the two-and-a-half years since Joseph James DeAngelo was brought to justice, more than 120 cases have been solved using genetic genealogy techniques and committed, hard-working law enforcement professionals. Oh. And scientists. Let’s not forget the scientists. People like Paul Holes (a biochemist who became a police investigator to solve crime) or Barbara Rae-Venter, a genealogist and attorney who – in retirement – became one of the leading experts in the field of genetic genealogy…and then there are the new pioneers – those scientists who are now taking crime-busting through the use of DNA to previously inconceivable new levels. One of those new pioneers is David Mittelman, the CEO of Othram Labs, which is based in suburban Houston, Texas. Mittelman and his team at Othram are breakthrough experts in the science of genomics, and they have created the first non-government, private lab designed specifically for the recovery and analysis of human DNA from even some of the most partial, degraded or contaminated specimens. Othram works solely with law enforcement – and in its short history has already solved a raft of some very difficult cold cases, including at least one that is more than one hundred years old. Most recently, the rapist/killer of five year-old Siobhan McGuinness 46 years ago in Missoula Montana was identified using Othram’s technology. As Dr. Mittelman explains in this episode’s fascinating interview with Melissa, the technology available today can digitize – and therefore preserve forever – even the most degraded (and otherwise degrading) DNA data. Combine that fact with the application of genetic genealogy, and there is virtually no limit to the possibilities of solving crime. If an offender leaves any sort of DNA evidence behind, it is now more likely than ever before that he will be caught. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This episode takes us back to the Tri-State area (the Cincinnati Metro Area), where Episode 147 took us in an overview of the Bill and Peggy Stephenson murder investigation out of Kenton County Kentucky. The Stephensons were murdered in their townhome on a quiet suburban street over Memorial Day weekend in 2011 under strange circumstances. Across the other side of the Ohio River, to the northwest and about half an hour’s drive from the Stephenson residence, sits Hidden Valley Indiana, where in 2018, 73 year-old Tom Biedenharn (known to friends and neighbors as “Big Tom” because of his imposing physical size at 6-feet-7-inches and his oversized, smiling, gregarious personality) was living in happy, active retirement. A former basketball star in his high school and college playing days, Big Tom was spending his golden years in service to his community. Ever on the move, Tom not only his money donating to help those in need – even more impressively, he spent hours and hours of his time volunteering, and counseling ex-convicts and other forgotten souls through life coaching and personal interaction. By all accounts, Tom Biedenharn was beloved. Which is what makes what happened on Memorial Day weekend 2018 – exactly seven years after the Stephenson murders – so puzzling. After speaking with a family member on the morning of the Saturday before Memorial Day, Tom was not heard from again. But this was not unusual, as he was often out of contact due to his busy schedule – and he had another place in the country where he and his girlfriend often got away. The neighbor next door had voluntarily closed Tom’s open garage door on that Saturday, seeing it had been open and figuring Tom had left without closing it. But when Memorial Day itself came around with no sign of Tom, the neighbor called a family member to report his concern. And when the family member arrived, it was noted that the door from the garage to the house was completely locked – something Tom never did – making it impossible to get inside without breaking in. Then when the family member walked around and looked through the back sliding glass door, Tom could be seen, lying on his back, on the floor inside the home. Since Tom had recently undergone minor surgery, the family member assumed Tom had passed out and needed medical attention – and called 911. But when the door from the garage was finally broken down, it became clear that Tom was no longer alive. Evidence soon indicated that he had been murdered, and that more than one person had been involved. Melissa is joined on this episode by Detective Sgt. Tom Baxter and Detective Brian Earls of the Indiana State Police’s District 42, both of whom have been involved with Big Tom’s case from the very beginning. Listen in as Melissa and Dets. Baxter and Earls go over the facts of the case, as well as the puzzling questions…does the Memorial Day coincidental date (as well as several other similarities) somehow tie Big Tom’s murder to the Stephenson murders seven years previous? Could Tom have known his attacker(s)? Did Tom’s work with former convicts somehow bring unwanted trouble into his world? And how could ANYONE want to harm such a loving, caring soul, whose only mission in life was to help others? If you have any information on the Biedenharn case, you can call (877) 477-1847; the Indiana State Police at (812) 689-5000; or CrimeStoppers at (513) 352-3040. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This week’s episode updates two podcasts from the first season of JTT – Episode 16, which focused on the weird death of Vicki Morgan, who had been a sort of paid mistress to Alfred Bloomingdale and (sometimes) his high powered friends – and Episode 19, which told the tale of Grade A Asshole Scott Peterson – who may or may not have murdered his wife Laci and the couple’s unborn son back in 2002. The Vicki Morgan case took a fascinating turn over the course of this year when photographer, writer and blogger Brandon Stanton began filling the pages of his Humans of New York blog with stories of one Stephanie Johnson, who in her younger days as a burlesque dancer in New York was known simply as Tanqueray. Stanton’s publication of Tanqueray’s stories have made her a social media star at 76 – and her fans have raised over $2.5 million dollars through crowd sourcing to make sure her rent and medical bills will never be a worry, But it’s those stories – and those stories of stories – that brings Tanqueray to the Vicki Morgan murder. Let’s just say that the rumors of Alfred Bloomingdale’s powerful friends being given “access” to Vicki have just gotten a lot more credibility – turns out Vicki and Tanqueray were good friends back in the day – and what Melissa’s found out about one of those powerful men is…well…you’ll just have to listen… Scott Peterson’s case, on the other hand, is filled with about as much subtlety as a knock on the door with a bulldozer. A total douchebag, Mr. Peterson behaved so badly in the aftermath of Laci’s disappearance, a lot of people (including Melissa) think he’d have been convicted if a video had surfaced showing someone else killing Laci. Yeah, the jury hated him and just assumed he was guilty. And probably, he was – but looking at this almost 100% circumstantial case, it’s hard to say with a straight face that he was convicted on anything. In August of this year, the California Supreme Court vacated Peterson’s death sentence – and now, just this past week, that same High Court ordered a re-examination of Peterson’s conviction itself – signaling the possibility of a new trial and possible acquittal. Like. Wow. Melissa takes a look at some of the reasons this may have happened – including the shocking revelation that one of the jurors at Peterson’s trial may not have been the most upstanding citizen. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This week’s episode is the third in a row wherein Melissa looks at a case revolving around a state of emergency – the first two are still technically unsolved – this one is solved but every bit as fascinating. Dana Marie Surette Pastori, who was known as "Polly" to her friends and to her customers at the Bourbon Street restaurant in New Orleans where she last worked in 2002, had lived a turbulent life. Divorced from her first husband and estranged from her two daughters by the courts after she had taken them to Puerto Rico to spare them from poor treatment at the hands of the girls’ new stepmother, Dana was also not particularly connected to her own parents. Dana had recently taken up with a delivery driver at the restaurant, one John Henry Morgan – and the two were living together in New Orleans in 2002 – the last time anyone was sure they’d seen her. Because she was heard from so rarely by her parents, it hadn’t seemed strange to Dana’s father – a police officer in nearby South Carolina – that his daughter hadn’t been in contact with him at all for three years when – in August 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the Big Easy with a vengeance. At that point, Dana’s dad figured he’d better check in with his daughter to make sure she and John Morgan – whom he presumed Dana still lived with – were okay. What turned up was a mystery. Dad found Morgan – but Morgan said that when he and Dana had received their Katrina relief checks from FEMA, Dana had taken off for Europe. And at first, this seemed entirely plausible. Dana, you see, was constantly on the move – restless and always itching to live somewhere new. She routinely told friends that she longed to move to Europe to become a writer. So her dad, at first, figured that Morgan’s story made sense. But after a while, his law enforcement instincts compelled him to check a little further. When he learned that Dana hadn’t filled a prescription for her medical condition since 2002 – and that she hadn’t worked at the restaurant since that time either, suspicions grew. But there was nothing he could point to that could garner an arrest of anyone. That’s when John Morgan’s former landlord got involved. And a cheap, old fiberboard trunk that Morgan had been moving with him for years was opened. And the horrific truth of what happened to Dana “Polly” Pastori was finally revealed. Listen in as Melissa digs in to the details of a tragic story of a scattered life turned into a life ended far too soon by one of the most callous (and callously stupid) murderers to ever slime his way through the streets of New Orleans – and the pain and loss experienced by her youngest daughter, who never had a chance to really know her mom – left only with a raft of journals Dana had written during her short life that can never be enough to fill the void of a lost childhood. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Last week’s episode concerning the disappearance of Sneha Philip right on the cusp of the World Trade Center attacks on 9/11/2001 got Melissa to thinking about other cases revolving around major national emergency events. And so this week’s episode is about someone else whose disappearance – this one occurring just the day after 9/11 – is still a mystery and whose killer has never been convicted – although the authorities thought for sure they had identified that person…and arrested him…and tried him…FOUR TIMES… Michele Harris was splitting with her husband, Calvin (“Cal”) Harris, and the split was not going well. Both living together in separate wings of the Harris estate in rural upstate New York pending a drawn out finalization of their divorce, things had gotten nasty between Michele and Cal by the time the summer of 2001 had rolled around. The main issue appeared to be money – how much of a settlement would Michele accept from her multimillionaire soon-to-be-ex husband? If you asked Cal, he’d say way too much. If you asked Michele, she’d say all she wanted was an appraisal of all of Cal’s holdings so that she could walk away with a fair amount. Turns out the issue never had to be resolved. That’s because the morning after the WTC attacks, Michele was nowhere to be found anywhere in the house. Cal, who had to leave for work, called the babysitter to come over to take care of the kids until Michele got home. It’s when the babysitter showed up that things got strange. Driving into the property, she saw Michele’s minivan parked at th end of the long driveway, keys still in the ignition. It was when the police showed up to investigate that Cal Harris began to engage in a series of behaviors that led the authorities to make him the prime suspect. Which got him arrested. Which resulted in one tossed indictment, three mistrials and finally an acquittal – fourteen years after Michele’s disappearance. The problem with Cal, you see – setting aside the question of whether he was responsible for Michele’s ultimate fate or not – is that he can’t seem to stop himself from being a giant jerk. He never seemed concerned about Michele; sold her stuff just weeks after she disappeared, took up with an old flame not long after that and just generally acted like a dee eye see kay, if y’know what we’re saying. So was Cal Harris righteously accused of Michele Harris’ murder? Or is he an innocent man wrongfully brought to trial simply because he was such an unpleasant dude (oh, almost forgot, as soon as he was acquitted he sued the County and every single witness who testified against him – nice!)? Melissa goes over the details – and you can decide for yourselves, Tip-Sters. Plus – if there are any of you out there who might have an alternate theory of what might have happened to Michele Harris, let us know. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The recent anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City on September 11, 2001 was once again a moment to pause and reflect on the awful events of that day, and the heroism of so many people from all walks of life who helped remind us all of the humanity we all share. So many souls were lost that day – the official count is nearly 3,000 – and even after all this time there are so many missing who have never been physically identified – only presumed – as victims of the attack. In this episode, Melissa tells the story of one of those presumed, but never proven, to have died as a result of the 9/11 attacks – and the mystery and intrigue that still surrounds her disappearance. Sneha Anne Philip was a physician, living with her husband Ron Lieberman (also a practicing physician) in lower Manhattan just a few blocks away from what came to be known on Ground Zero. On the day before the attacks – Monday September 10, 2001 – Ron left for work and left Sneha – who had the day off – at the apartment, where she planned to contact her mother in India for a chat and then run errands around town. That was the last Ron saw of her. Sneha was later seen that day – September 10 – caught on security video shopping at a clothing and home goods store. Credit card records later revealed she bought a set of sheets, three pairs of shoes and some lingerie. None of those items have ever turned up. The mystery deepens when the details of Sneha’s personal life (both known and supposed) become clearer. Was she killed sometime on the 10th? Did she spend the night somewhere unknown with an unknown friend or lover? Did she witness the attack on the WTC on her way home on the morning of the 11th and run to help people and lose her life doing so? Here’s a case so filled with questions that you, our beloved Tip-Sters, may well feel compelled to do some research on your own. You won’t soon forget this story – and you will definitely be hooked on the mystery. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Earlier this year, in Episode 130, Melissa retold the story of a terrible and terribly unsolved murder out of Fort Worth Texas – the tragic 1974 abduction and killing oif 17 year-old Carla Jan Walker. Carla and her boyfriend had just attended the Valentine’s dance at Carla’s high school and were doing what young lovers do in the front seat of the boyfriend’s car, in the parking lot of a local bowling alley that was popular with teenagers. Suddenly, the passenger side door opened and an unidentified man grabbed Carla and pistol-whipped her boyfriend into unconsciousness. The last words he heard Carla say before he passed out were “go get daddy!” Just three days later, Carla’s body was found in a culvert close to nearby Lake Benbrook. She had been violently sexually assaulted and strangled. For more than 46 years, the case remained unsolved – there were guesses and solid leads, but all of them fell apart. All that ended this week when a total stranger to Carla’s life – a 77 year-old churchgoer with a spotless record, a family and a secret he was able to keep until he was finally nabbed by DNA technology and an immensely dedicated team of law enforcement professionals who, through several groups of detectives through nearly five decades, never gave up and finally caught their man. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

If you’ve never experienced small town life, it’ll be almost impossible to comprehend the now-infamous tale of tiny Skidmore Missouri and the day nearly forty years ago that forever changed it. That day – July 10, 1981 – was the day 47 year-old Ken Rex McElroy was gunned down in cold blood, in a hail of gunfire, in broad daylight while sitting in his truck alongside his wife, on Skidmore’s Main Street, with several dozen of its citizens surrounding the truck. And yet, almost four decades after the fact, not a soul has admitted to seeing what happened. How does this happen? How does an entire town close ranks and keep a secret of such an unbelievably deadly act for so long? The truth hides in the cracks of a story so wild it begs credulity. It is a story of the sort of raw brutality and menace usually only found in cheap novels and overly broad morality plays. It turns out that Bad Guys who are Bad Guys just for the sake of being Bad Guys do exist in this world. And maybe the worst of the worst was the victim in this story – Ken Rex McElroy himself. “Town Bully” is the name usually tagged on McElroy – but he was so much more than that. An amazing force of dark nature, his subsistence – in fact, his entire existence - consisted of appropriation of that which he did not own, rape, intimidation, destruction of property and the use of a shotgun against people he decided, at his whim, were his enemies. Those enemies included not just the law, but parents of the 12 year-old girl he declared belonged to him, when those parents objected to his announced plans to marry their daughter. Or the owner of the local general store, whose wife had asked the simple question “have you paid for that?” when she saw one of McElroy’s children with a piece of candy from the candy counter. Add to all of this the complete absence of any police, and a County Sheriff’s office that was so intimidated by McElroy it completely abandoned the town of Skidmore to an ever-present sense of dread, waiting for the bully’s next outrage. Join Melissa as she recounts McElroy’s life and the years and the days leading up to that incredible moment on an otherwise peaceful summer day on Main Street, when an entire community seems to have decided to revert to 19th Century wild-west justice and end the dread of its own volition – and the ramifications of that decision on the soul of Skidmore that will last forever. You can learn more about the McElroy case in two excellent books Melissa refers to in this episode: In Broad Daylight by Harry N. MacLean (which was also made into a film starring Brian Dennehy); and Judgement Day by Bob Lancaster. Melissa also recommends the six-part documentary series No One Saw a Thing, now available on Amazon Prime. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What makes a prolific serial killer like Randy Kraft – who authorities say brutalized, sexually assaulted and mutilated at least 61 (and almost certainly more unknown) young men in Southern California, Oregon and Michigan in the 1970s and early 1908s – prolific? How is it possible for such a large number of victims to fall prey to someone who is inarguably a monster? The answer appears to be that the best monsters know how to transform their image so that they appear as the exact opposite – as genuine, good people. And that is a terrifying thing to realize. In this, the second of two parts focusing on Kraft – the so-called “Scorecard Killer” because he had a list of nicknames of all of this victims – Melissa takes a closer look not just at the trial and interminably delayed prosecution in this horrific case, but at the question that most of us ask after serial killers are discovered: How could so many get tricked into Randy Kraft’s trap? In the stories of the only two survivors known to experience the darker side of Kraft and survive, Melissa presents us with a chilling reality: The most accomplished sociopathic killers make their victims want to go along with them, and don’t have a clue as to the monster’s real intent until it’s far too late. If you have any information that you think might help law enforcement identify any unidentified victims of Randy Kraft, you can contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau at (323) 267-4800. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

For more than a dozen years, from the early 1970s through the early 1980s, Randy Kraft, a callous and truly sinister serial killer, terrorized young men and boys throughout Soutern California. His crimes, which included several in other states as well, were some of the most horrific and brutal ever seen by law enforcement. Kraft was convicted of 16 murders – which involved everything from torture, sodomy, emasculation and other unspeakable acts – and is suspected of killing as many as 67 in total. A book found in the trunk of his car on the night he was arrested included “code” names of 61 suspected victims – all having something to do with where and how he found or killed them. Police have, since the time Kraft was arrested, tied 45 of those names (including the 16 he was convicted of killing) to victims whose mutilated bodies were found thrown on freeway offramps, parking lots and even in the middle of the road over his long run of evil. That sinister book of code names has led to Kraft being dubbed “The Scorecard Killer.” In the first of a somber two part series about Kraft, Melissa discusses each and every one of the victims he was convicted of killing, describes all of the “code” names on Kraft’s deplorable “scorecard” and finally focuses in on the 16 names in that book who remain unnamed and unclaimed – and will always remain that way unless someone out there recognizes a clue and offers help – because to this day, Kraft (who has remained on California’s Death Row since his conviction in 1989) denies having killed anyone and refuses to talk. Listen – and say a prayer for the victims and their loved ones – but above all, listen for clues in any of Kraft’s bizarre code names that might provide help to law enforcement. If you have any information at all that you think might help, you can contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau at (323) 267-4800. NOTE: There are a variety of Southern California freeway names (as opposed to route numbers) mentioned in this episode. If you are interested in mapping them, you can find information on all of the mentioned freeways at Wikipedia’s page on SoCal freeways here. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It’s the big Tuesday after the Big Thursday of last week, when our gal got her first taste of TV fame in her home town of Cincinnati – and it’s time to get back to the business at hand with a brand new episode...In June of 1978 the body of a young man – aged 15 to 19 years old – was discovered face down on a back street/alley/parking lot in Long Beach, California. He was well dressed. His body appeared to be healthy – there were no drugs found in his system. There were no signs of sexual assault. He had been strangled to death. There was nothing on his person to identify him other than a stamp on his wrist that indicated he had been to a bar or a club or a sporting event – or some other venue where he had paid for admission. While the crime scene was very near a popular gay bar, it was impossible to determine whether the stamp came from that establishment or somewhere else. Who could this young man – a child, really - this “Long Beach John Doe” - be? He was clearly well-taken care of; someone somewhere must have missed him. But no one has ever sought or claimed him. It is these cases that haunt and vex and form the reason Melissa started this podcast – to shed light on the forgotten deceased – to find their loved ones – to bring them home – and to seek justice for their untimely end. And therein begins the quest to determine if Long Beach John Doe could have been the victim of one of the country’s most evil serial killers – Long Beach native Randy Kraft (also known as the “Scorecard Killer,” the “Southern California Strangler” and the “Freeway Killer”). Kraft was convicted in 1989 of the rape and murder of 16 young boys and men between 1972 and 1983 – and is suspected of the murders of up to 53 others. Melissa will be focusing on Kraft and his horrific exploits starting with our next episode - and be prepared - it's disturbing stuff. Kraft was known for keeping a private “scorecard” of his victims – giving each of them nicknames. One of the nicknames in his book – the only one that could not be verified – is “Parking Lot.” Could that be the young man found in 1978? Kraft isn’t talking. But in this episode Melissa is pleading for Tip-Sters to review the case, look at this young man’s face and search their memory banks – could he be someone you remember going missing all those years ago? If so, PLEASE call the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office at (323) 343-0512 or the Long Beach California Police Department at (562) 570-5703. ***** ***** And a REMINDER: If you have not yet listened to Episode 147 of “Just The Tip-Sters,” please take the time to listen to Melissa’s interview with Detective Coy Cox of the Boone County Kentucky Sheriff’s Department on the Bill and Peggy Stephenson murder investigation. The family has offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the killer or killers – and your tip may be the final piece of the puzzle. If you have information please call (859) 334-8496 or send an email to [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Even though Nicole Croom (originally from Stockton California) and Jordan Taylor (originally from Waterbury Connecticut) grew up 3,000 miles apart from each other, both of the two young women found themselves fascinated with pathology – specifically forensic pathology – you know: the science of cutting into dead bodies to see what’s what. As it happens both Nicole and Jordan found themselves first year pathology residents at the University of California at San Francisco – where, at a mixer held for all pathology interns, they discovered they had even more in common than just their love of forensic pathology and became fast friends. Both huge fans of true crime podcasts, Nicole and Jordan began to become frustrated with the lack of scientific knowledge imparted – particularly with regard to their chosen field - during all those stories of murder and mayhem. Nicole began to (at first) joke with Jordan that they should start a podcast to focus on the stories of forensic pathology imbedded in some of true crime’s most fascinating cases. And then…suddenly…a website was built…recording equipment was acquired and…voila! Dead Men Do Tell Tales – starring Drs. Nicole Croom and Jordan Taylor – was born! Now more than a year after starting their podcast, Nicole and Jordan have developed a loyal following of medical professionals and a lot of folks who just love learning about the human body (including Melissa Morgan!) in a straightforward, intelligent and completely accessible format. Jordan and Nicole join Melissa on this episode from San Francisco to talk about their podcast, their lives and the devotion to, and love of, their work. A terrific, immersive conversation with two incredible, smart, fun and important scientists. If you have a show idea or just a question for the Dead Men Do Tell Tales podcast, you can send an email to Jordan and Nicole at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

40 years ago this past weekend, on August 16, 1980, 17 year-old Randy Sellers went to the Kenton County, Kentucky Fair to meet with friends and hang out. Sometime during the evening, he had too much to drink, got into a fight, took a swing at one of the policemen who responded to the scene and was eventually taken away in a squad car. He has not been seen or heard from since. In early 2019, on Episode 69 of Just The Tip-Sters, Melissa interviewed the detective then assigned to the case. Then earlier this year on Episode 121, Melissa revealed the wild series of events that occurred after she visited Kenton County to poke around the case in the autumn of 2019. Suffice it to say that if you haven't listened to those past episodes, now is the time. In this episode, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Randy's disappearance, Melissa recaps the case, focusing on the story told by admitted serial killer Donald Leroy Evans, who led law enforcement on a protracted and needless wild goose chase claiming he was the killer - the more likely scenario of what really happened that night at the County Fair, and reinforcing the fact that this case is completely solvable - right now - and that if anyone knows anything about the disappearance of Randy Sellers, the Kentucky State Police want to hear from you - and you can call them at (859) 428-1212. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

57 years ago psychiatrist J.M. Macdonald wrote a paper published in The American Journal of Psychiatry entitled "The Threat to Kill," in which he proposed that there is a link between three childhood behaviors - persistent bed-wetting past the age of 5, an obsession with fire and fire-starting, and cruelty to animals - and violent behavior, most notably homicidal and sexually predatory behavior. This formula for criminal behavior has come to be known as The Macdonald Triad, and while the theory is still debated by criminologists and criminal psychologists to this day, statistics over time have tended to bear out its worth. This is particularly true of the characteristic of animal cruelty. Time and again studies have shown a distinct tie between those who torture and/or kill animals and behaviors of sexual deviancy, serial murder and - as discussed in this episode - terrorism. One of the leaders in the charge to convince law enforcement to take seriously the extensive data on animal cruelty as it pertains to criminal acts against humans has been John Thompson, currently the e Executive Director of the National Animal Care & Control Association. Melissa shares this incredible man's story - how a police professional who never thought of animal abuse as anything other than an "animal control" issue came to realize how the treatment of animals could help predict future behavior through his own relationship with a beloved dog he fell in love with completely by accident. Melissa then shifts to a recent story out of Kokomo Indiana, where 19 year-old Krystal Scott, who is alleged to have tortured and killed numerous dogs, cats and reptiles and posted her deeds on social media, was caught because of the diligent work of some crafty Internet crime fighters some 1,800 miles away in Boise Idaho. Listen in for a compelling discussion on the importance of stopping and apprehending animal abusers early - and how "citizen sleuths" can work as a community to aid law enforcement in making that possible. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

One of the very reasons this podcast got started nearly three years ago was that Melissa became involved with her local community in searching for a man who seemingly disappeared into thin air back in 2017. As far as Linda Cierzan knew, her husband, Will Cierzan was at home making dinner on the evening of January 26, 2017. But when she entered the house upon returning from work, a chicken was sitting out of the oven, Will’s personal belongings (including his wallet and keys) were out in the open and Will was nowhere to be found. Melissa covered this case in Episodes 4, 64 and 120 – the first, second and third anniversaries of Will’s disappearance. As covered in those episodes, while the search for Will himself is frustrating, the frustration that comes from the fact that the people who are responsible for his disappearance were still free was even more frustrating. Well some of that frustration has now been dissipated. On this MURDERTIZER, Melissa breaks the happy news that law enforcement has finally made an arrest – one that has been anticipated for a long time. There’s still a way to go – and another potential perpetrator still uncharged – but progress seems to be the word of the day in this incredibly sad story. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On this episode Melissa gets real about a couple of true crime-related issues - one about those delightful folks who use (far too) easy racism as a way to excuse or further their awful or simply stupid deeds - and the other involving the very nature of the True Crime genre itself. We start off with a silly story from a detective contact Melissa converses with from time to time - involving a car, a gun, an alleged carjacking, a bullet hole in a...er...um...very personal part of the male anatomy - and a "victim" who isn't really a victim at all. We follow that up with the story of one Hannah Potts, a 23 year-old woman living in rural Gibson County, Indiana - who, with a couple of idiot friends, perpetrated a hoax abduction in which Ms. Potts herself was the "victim," terrifying her family, friends and loved ones, and tying up law enforcement resources for days - all in the cause, evidently, of writing a novel. Right. And what do these two stories have in common? A simple, sad and unfortunately tried-and-true scapegoat - the fictional African-American male with a gun. Melissa reflects on the evil of this worn out trope - and unleashes on those who continue to use it. Then - Melissa tackles one of the most nagging criticisms arising out of the popularity of True Crime - is the genre taking advantage of the suffering of victims in the service of entertainment? Does any actual good comes from it? Well. Melissa answers the question with an unequivocal YES - and explains why. A fascinating and compelling discussion. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Just across the Ohio River and a few miles south of downtown Cincinnati lies the quiet suburban community of Florence, Kentucky. It was there, in an average condominium on a quiet residential street in the community of Oakbrook, on Memorial Day weekend, when Bill and Peggy Stephenson were brutally murdered in the early morning hours of May 29, 2011. And they were murdered for reasons - and by people - no one has yet been able to determine. Unsolved murders are, unfortunately, not a rarity - but it isn't often that an unsolved case is simultaneously so disturbing and so puzzling as are the Stephenson murders. Both 74 years old when they were killed, Bill and Peggy were beloved members of the community. Members of their local Baptist church, Peggy was the church's organist; Bill ran a ministry at a local truck stop for truckers who couldn't be home for Sunday services, and performed charitable work in his home of Boone County as other parts of Eastern Kentucky. Who would have killed such a well-respected, elderly couple is mystery enough. But the strangeness of this case runs far deeper. The Stephensons' bodies were staged at the scene after their deaths. And the perpetrator - or perpetrators - placed odd items from the condominium both on and around the bodies but also in every room of the dwelling. Detective Coy Cox of the Boone County Sheriff's Department - Melissa's guest this episode - was on the scene on the day of the murders and has been investigating the case ever since. A fiercely determined law enforcement professional from the git-go, Detective Cox has taken the Stephenson case to heart and has dedicated himself to solving their brutal murders. And here's the thing: Detective Cox believes this case is solvable - he is certain that there is just one small grain of evidence - one tiny piece of the puzzle - that someone, somewhere knows that could finally bring justice to whomever committed these heinous crimes. You can contact Det. Cox directly by phone at (859) 334--8496 - or send a tip via email to [email protected] - and of course you can always leave a message for Melissa on the TIP-STER HOTLINE at (832) TIP-STER (832-847-7837) or send Melissa an email at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Sometimes the life of a cop can be filled with danger and even terror. Sometimes with grief none but those wearing Blue can even begin to comprehend. But a police officer's day is also filled with a never-ending parade of examples of the weirdness and wonder of the human species - and oftentimes those examples can be amazing in their complexity and/or rife with outrageous (and sometimes gruesome) hilarity. So goes the second career of retired 20-year NYPD veteran Vic Ferrari, who has spent his post-police life writing books about his life in law enforcement - such tomes as "Through the Looking Glass: Stories from Inside America's Largest Police Department" or (Melissa's favorite title) "Dickheads & Debauchery and Other Ingenious Ways to Die" have made Ferrari one of the most entertaining American crime writers. In his latest book, "Grand Theft Auto: The NYPD's Auto Crime Division," Ferrari ventures into some of the most colorful, strange and downright wild stories from his years chasing after car thieves - those who work by themselves and those who work in groups using some incredibly complex schemes. In a midsummer break from murder (serial, mass, solved and unsolved), Melissa sits down for a conversational joy ride with Vic, who talks about the new book and just generally reminisces about his days on the Force. Enjoy! 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, the last of a four-part series on what came to be known as the "Baton Rouge Serial Killers," we meet Sean Vincent Gillis - the "other" of the two evil men who rained terror upon women in South Louisiana in the late 90s and early 2000s. The "original" killer, whom Melissa dubbed "The Key Collector" (because of his penchant for keeping victims' keychains as souvenirs) was Derrick Todd Lee, whose murders, arrest, conviction and death while awaiting execution were chronicled in the first three parts of the series. Gillis was arrested for the rape, murder and mutilation of three women in the Baton Rouge area in 2004, a full year after Lee was finally brought down. But Gillis, unlike Lee, once he knew his goose was cooked, became a complete chatterbox, and with little or no coercion by law enforcement, immediately admitted to five - five! - additional murders of five additional female victims over the previous decade. Gillis' crimes were in many ways even more gruesome than Lee's, as Gillis tended to keep body parts of his victims - whom he dismembered in his house- in the freezer (hence Melissa's dubbing Gillis "The Limb Collector") - all while his girlfriend - unbelievably - remained clueless until the night he was arrested. Give a listen as Melissa retells Gillis' awful story - how he was nearly set free when the police inadvertently violated his Fifth Amendment rights - and how Gillis actually kept a file on Derrick Lee, his horrific namesake, so he could compare notes. Shivers... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

When you're a veteran cop in a small town, with a deep knowledge of your community and the bad guys in it - and you're smart and everyone knows it...well...you'd think that when a serial killer is loose in your backyard and your years of experience with, and detailed documentation about, one bad guy in particular points as clearly to that bad guy as being said serial killer - you'd think the eggheads and profilers and federal law enforcement hoo-hahs in charge of the case would pay attention to your evidence and perhaps look into that bad guy to maybe, you know, prevent new murders from happening. Think again. David McDavid is one of those folks in law enforcement you want to be around when trouble starts. A veteran plainclothesman, detective and now Chief of Police in the small Baton Rouge suburb of Zachary Louisiana, Chief McDavid noticed a pattern of behavior in the murders committed by the notorious Baton Rouge Serial Killer, who terrorized South Louisiana from as early as 1992 to 2003, and a miscreant peeping Tom he'd come across for many years - one Derrick Todd Lee. McDavid long considered Lee a prime suspect in the killings, but because Lee was African-American and profilers (on the slimmest of evidence) had decided that the killer was white, no one listened. Until a solid sketch provided by a survivor of one of the attacks finally set the investigation in motion to arrest Lee. In this episode, Melissa interviews Chief McDavid about his experience with Derrick Todd Lee and the Baton Rouge Serial Killer investigation - and it's a fascinating and even educational look into the precise and steady workings of a humble, dedicated police professional who never cared who got the credit - but who simply wanted a very dangerous, very evil man off the street. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The string of murders that eventually led to the realization that a serial killer was on the loose in Baton Rouge Louisiana began on when the body of 41 year-old Gina Wilson Green was found murdered in her home near the LSU campus on September 24, 2001. But by the time Derrick Todd Lee was finally unveiled as the terror known as the "Baton Rouge Serial Killer," it became clear that his trail of rape, torture and murder almost certainly began much earlier - perhaps a decade beforehand. In Part Two of her exploration of this most fascinating serial killer, Melissa details the discovery of each of Lee's victims, going backward and forward in time to reveal a maddening series of misunderstandings and misreadings of the killer's basic identity until DNA technology - Lee's sole survivor and her son - and an outside-the-box-thinking Chief of Police in a nearby town finally spun a web around him and brought him down. Equally fascinating is how the varied methods of murder used by Lee confounded behavioral scientists for years - for the simple reason that he was simply just too stupid to try to fool the behavioral scientists! Truly instructive and truly chilling. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.