podcast episode – CRIMEandSTUFF

After Joyce McLain was murdered while she was out for a run in East Millinocket, Maine, in August 1980, the investigation took awhile, but it seemed seemed like cops might’ve finally had their guy when Scott Fornier confessed in May 1981. So why did it take more than 37 years to but him behind bars? […]

Our very special guest, sister Liz, joins us to discuss some unsolved Oregon campsite cases, including the 1974 murders of the Cowden family, as well as the 1977 attack, by pickup truck and hatchet, on two young women at Cline Falls. She also gives the NNW treatment to the Discovery Plus documentary “Relentless.” Rebecca also […]

Dawn Leighton loved her dogs, her new house, and was kind and friendly – a loving sister, daughter and friend. Unfortunately she was also another Maine victim of a senseless murder by a man who thought he was entitled to her. We also do an update on Illinois’ new law that prohibits cops from lying […]

Laura Howard had gone through a messy divorce in her home state of Massachusetts, and thought Florida would be a great place to make a new start. Once in Fort Myers, she became known for her big heart, kindness and generosity. But people will always take advantage, won’t they? On May 3, 2013, police found […]

We’re taking a break for a few weeks, but we want to make sure you have something to entertain you while we’re not around, so we have recommendations for our current top podcasts, TV shows and books. And we also give the NNW treatment to the Netflix doc Sophie. Enjoy!

Frank Sandford was just another baseball-playing kid from a big rural Maine family until the spirit hit him when he was 16. Before Jonestown, before Scientology, Sandford’s self-styled religion gained followers across the globe, as well as at his massive compound in Durham, Maine. Many ultimately followed him right to their graves. Rebecca also updates […]

When Gerald Goodale was convicted of killing Geraldine Finn in 1989 in Waterville, Maine, there was something else hanging over his head. Finally, in 2021, it came back to bite him. Also, we give the HBO series “Mare of Easttown” the NNW treatment!

The brutal attack by a stranger that Sherry York suffered one night in a Portland, Maine, parking lot was compounded by the narrative that followed: her attacker was a family man and firefighter, the story went. She was a sex worker and drug user. But what was the real story? Rebecca also updates the Angel […]

We celebrate 100 episodes by counting down our favorite songs about crime. What, you were expecting a party? Well, you’ve got one!

Every murderer makes mistakes, and it only takes a couple to mess the whole thing up. Inventor Todd Howley thought he was pretty smart, but he made more than a couple when he killed Paul Maasland, a nice guy whose biggest mistake was trusting Howley with his money. Also, a special dual NNW rating of […]

When a friend asked Charlie Howard why he didn’t protect himself from harassment by acting “a little less gay,” he said told the friend he wasn’t going to be a participant in his own oppression. A few days later, three teenage boys threw Howard, 23, to his death off a Bangor, Maine, bridge. The 1984 […]

Sarah Everard was walking home from a friend’s house in south London on the night of March 3. She never got there. What happened next reopened wounds festering in the UK, and around the world, since the Yorkshire Ripper case more than 40 years before. And it once again raises the question, when is male […]

For years, Shaun Harrison, a minister and youth counselor was the go-to guy for the Boston press when they needed quotes on gang violence, youth with guns and more. That is, until, he was arrested for shooting a teenager. Maureen also does an NNW rating for the Netflix doc “Made you Look.”

Johnetta Carr was 16 and going places, but the Louisville, Kentucky, police department had other plans for her. Looking to hang a murder charge on someone, they picked her and her friends, and through a series of false statements, doctored reports, intimidation and more, they “made their case.” Now, 15 years and a wrongful conviction […]

When Sonny Grotton returned to his Belfast, Maine, home on a cold Friday night in December after working all week in Rhode Island, someone shot him dead in his dooryard. His crime would go unsolved for 17 years, until someone spoke. Three were arrested, only one was found guilty. Rebecca and Maureen also discuss the […]

Kathy Frost was lonely and looking for someone to share her life with when she answered the classified ad from a man looking for a longterm relationship. Things happened fast, but it turns out the relationship wasn’t that long-term after all… And she wasn’t the first wife of Dennis Larson to meet an “accidental death.” […]

Two totally different men in different decades think they can escape Massachusetts rape charges by taking off for Maine. Maybe it takes one decade, or maybe it takes three, but they’re gonna get ya. Also, Maureen NNW rates the podcast “Dead Eyes.”

After seven years DNA from a man who tried to assault a 10-year-old girl matches that found on Jodi Parrack. And it’s not Ray McCann’s, who police have been after for seven years. So that’s the end of it, right? Wrong. Pard 2 of this troubling story. Also, an update on Episode 77 that looks […]

Police said only a monster could have killed 11-year-old Jodi Parrack, and they were going to find him. In a relentless investigation that spanned seven years, they kept telling the public the tips were piling up, the DNA would reveal the killer, new technology was going to make happen. But when they made an arrest, […]

Paul Dwyer, of Paris, Maine, was 18 when he was found asleep in a car with Maine plates that didn’t belong to him, in Arlington, N.J., on an October day in 1937. Dwyer wasn’t alone in the car — there were also the murdered bodies of Dr. James Littlefield and his wife, Lydia. What followed […]

The sordid tale of sex, lies, arson, toplessness and more in central Maine continues with the trial. We also update Maura Murray (Episode 8) and the NNW rating is a duo stab at the doc “An American Murder: The Family Next Door.”

When a topless coffee shop — yup, exactly what it sounds like — opened in Vassalboro, Maine, in February 2009, it caused international titters. But four months later, when it burned down, things got serious. We also update Martha Moxley (Episode 17), Breonna Taylor (Episode 77), Ghislaine Maxwell (Episode 78), and, of course, the Massachusetts […]

Helen Jewett was smart, attractive, savvy and ambitious. Unfortunately, it was the 1830s and, born Dorcas Doyon and raised as an orphan servant girl in Augusta, Maine, she didn’t have a lot of options. And the lack of options all came crashing down when she was murdered in her bed in New York City in […]

We’ve wicked had it with people looking at some accomplished white guy and saying “a guy like that wouldn’t kill his wife (or family).” No, this isn’t about Jeffrey MacDonald, though Mo does give an impassioned defense of Joe McGinnis and “Fatal Vision,” and then, yes, we look at another case where a guy “who […]

It’s easy to blame the internet for teenager Bianca Devins’ murder in Utica, N.Y. in 2019. After all, like most kids her age, she was all over it — on social media, on gaming sites. Meeting people, many of them predatory. But what it really comes down to is good old-fashioned toxic masculinity, misogyny and […]

On December 19, 1959, the Walker family — dad Cliff, mom Christine, 4-year-old Jimmy and 2-year-old Debbie — were found murdered in their remote Osprey, Florida, house. Some 61 years later, no one has been charged. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some very interesting suspects… Also, we update the Breonna Taylor case (Episode 77) […]

Mark Hoffman seemed like a nice guy, and as a collector of, and dealer in, historic documents, particularly those relating to the LDS church, he really had a knack for finding just the right pieces. Then the bombings started… We also look at domestic violence stats and myths in a Maine-ish mini, and Mo shreds, […]

That’s right, listeners! Time for one of our classic summer update episodes. We catch you up on the Yoga Twins, our Episode 1 stars, all the way through Ghislaine Maxwell, with lots in between including some impassioned rants, as always. And check out our new logo!

Susan Taraskiewicz was working at her dream job, one she had to fight to get, as ramp crew supervisor at Boston’s Logan Airport. But there were other people who weren’t so happy about it. Then one night, she left to get sandwiches for the crew and never came back. Her beaten and stabbed body was […]

When Steven Fortin attacked Maine State Trooper Vicki Gardner on a lonely stretch of Interstate 95, he couldn’t have known that it would lead him being convicted for the murder of Melissa Padilla, in New Jersey. Also, the new “Unsolved Mysteries.” How does it stack up to the old one? We give it the NNW […]

Maybe the world is shocked that socialite predator fugitive Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested in New Hampshire, but we’re not. Not even a little bit. The Granite State has a long history of real-life fugitives heading thinking they can hide there. So while the world says, “Why New Hampshire?” we say, “How coul dit not have […]

From Breonna Taylor to Atatiana Jefferson to Eleanor Bumpurs and more, the number of Black women killed by police is mind-blowing, particularly those killed in their own homes. It’s all for no good reason. We try to at least take a look at the tip of the iceburg and shine a ittle light on it. […]

It was the 1950s, Norman Horton was gay, couldn’t tell anyone, he lived in small-town upstate New York, wasn’t doing well his first year at college and his father wouldn’t get off his back. So there was only one thing he could do about it… Also, we update the case of Nancy Crampton Brophy (Episode […]

Louise Chaput planned to spend a November long weekend hiking in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. She’d barely gotten out of her car when she was dead, brutally murdered in the woods off a lonely trail. Nearly two decades later, the crime is still unsolved. We also update Jans Soering (belatedly), from Episode 48; Dan Gellers, […]

No one in their Maine town was very fond of Jack, but they liked his wife, Jackie, who owned a popular waterfront restaurant in the beautiful coastal town. Then Jack was killed. And Jackie did it… We also give a brief update to the case of Nancy Crampton Brophy [Episode 55] and inflict our NNW […]

Our special guest Dr. Elizabeth Milliken (aka sister Liz) explores one of Oregon’s enduring unsolved crimes. Sourcing and other information will be available at crimeandstuffonline.com as of Feb. 4.

On Nov. 28, 1942, the Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire in Boston killed 492 people. Those deaths were preventable. You’d think people would learn, right? But flash forward to Warwick, R.I., February 2003…

For our third anniversary episode we dip into the Maine well and come up with … well, you can probably guess. Can you believe it’s been three years?  

Shele Danishefsky was fed up with her unemployed (except for those professional backgammon tournaments), abusive husband. Unfortunately, two days before she was going to make sure he didn’t get access to her $5 million in assets in their divorce, she had an accident in the bathtub… Funny how many women with bad husbands that happens […]

It could probably only happen in Maine: a couple beekeepers, a couple lobstermen, a family feud, a $6,000 load of honey, and someone ends up dead. Was Leon Kelley’s murder in self defense? We discuss.

It’s a little scary, isn’t it, how many guys would’ve gotten way with how many murders if DNA testing hadn’t come along. Roy Melanson is one of them. Also, on our Negative Nellies Watching ratings, we take a big step back and say “Whoa, we were wrong!” I know!

Updates, we have updates. Wondering about Todd Koehlhepp, Ayla, murders on the Appalachian Trail, Maine’s domestic violence murders, bad bad Uber drivers, little Frankie the dog, the romance writer turned murder suspect, and more? We’ve got it all for you right here.

Constance Fisher, a young Waterville, Maine, mother, was found not guilty by reason of insanity after she killed her three children in 1954. Eventually she was well enough to go home to her husband, Carl, where they started a new family…

Helen Bailey was a successful author, but suffering from the sudden death of her husband. Then Ian Stewart came along, and thing started looking up. Until Helen, and her little dog Boris, disappeared…

In Part II of our loosely related celebrity slaying series, we look at the life and death of Bonny Lee Bakley, whose final of her many marriages, to actor Robert Blake, turned out to be the one that killed her.  

Our latest episode is Part 1 of a two-part look at two loosely connected celebrity homicides. In this one, we discuss the shooting death of Dag Drollet by Christian Brando, Marlon Brando’s son. It’s a sad story of celebrity privilege, some really bad handling of mental health issues and more. Sorry we’re so late with […]

Janet Baxter was killed on a cold November night in Maine in 1976 during a quick trip to the A&P to get some cold medicine. When her murder was finally solved 22 years later, the man who did it shouldn’t have been much of a surprise. It turns out Baxter was just one of five […]

Madalyn Murray O’Hair, founder of American Atheists, pissed a lot of people off. And when she, her son John and her grandaughter Robin disappeared from San Antonio, Texas, in 1995, no one made a big effort to find them. When small-time crook Danny Frye vanished around the same time, no one bothered to look for […]

Our special Oregon correspondent, our sister Liz, joins us once again, this time to talk about Oregon serial killer John Ackroyd, who fatally stalked Route 20 for decades. The topic is inspired by The Oregonian’s comprehensive coverage of the case, The Ghosts of Highway 20.