Eric and Ann Miller were two attractive, intelligent, successful people who met at Purdue University and married in 1993. In December, 2000, Eric died of arsenic poisoning. Over the next 4 years, investigators would find out that Ann wasn't who she seemed. To the astonishment of everyone who knew the couple, Eric was murdered through a viscous plot developed by his wife, Ann.
The details of this case are fascinating, from the psychosocial aspects of love and infidelity to the forensics of arsenic levels from hair samples.
Join us at the quiet end with Wicked Weed's Dark Age RIS
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On May 1, 1990, Pamela Smart came home from a work meeting to find her condominium ransacked and her husband, Gregg, dead and bleeding on the floor. Police initially said that the crime scene looked like an interrupted burglary. Later, it was determined that Pamela Smart seduced 15-year-old Billy Flynn and threatened to stop having sex with him unless he killed her husband. Flynn killed Gregg with the help of his friends Pete Randall, J.R. Lattime, and Raymond Fowler. Billy shot Greggory Smart as Randall held him down, while Lattime, the driver, waited in the getaway car outside with Fowler.
During the investigation, J.R. Lattime's father brought his .38 caliber pistol he had found freshly cleaned in his house to the police, believing it might have been the murder weapon. An anonymous tip also indicated that a teenager named Cecilia Pierce was aware of the murder plot.
That was 26 years ago. Join us as we go over the horrible crime, the sensational trial, and what has happened in the years since Pam's conviction.
Dick shares a Smuttynose Baltic Porter (at the quiet end, of course)
Body Heat is a dramatic film noir set in the hot atmosphere of Miranda Beach, Florida. The alluring, crafty, and sultry femme fatale "Matty Walker" (Kathleen Turner) seduces corruptible, dim-witted and incompetent attorney Ned Racine (William Hurt), to convince him to kill her husband Edmund (Richard Crenna). Matty uses everything as an instrument of seduction, including incredibly sweaty and sexy love-making and lewd suggestive dialogue, to manipulate his emotions so that he will help plot the murder.
So this is the perfect send off for our Killer Wives series. Dick brings in some Jai Alai for his review and our refreshment!
It was a crime that made national headlines. A Texas man was found dead and the only person who knew what happened was his wife.
At his home in an upscale gated community, Greg Williams was shot in the head. Police took their only witness, his wife Michele Williams, to the police station, where she told them an intruder in black clothing hit her and shot her husband. But soon after arriving at the home, police became suspicious.
Confronted by police, Michele Williams changed her story. She then said her husband committed suicide. Police released Michele Williams, but she was later arrested and then indicted by a grand jury in the murder of her husband.
Michele accepted a plea deal in which she pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence and deadly conduct in her husband’s shooting. But before the deal went through it was revoked. Was it her desire for the limelight that did her in?
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Kelsie Jean Schelling lived in Larimer Square in Denver, Colorado. On February 4, 2013, when she was 21 years old, she went to Pueblo to meet her boyfriend and was never heard from again.
Kelsie had just learned she was 8 weeks pregnant with her boyfriend Donthe Lucus' child the day before. On February 4th, Donthe lured her to his hometown of Pueblo, telling her he had a surprise for her which would "put her in a better mood."
When Donthe first heard that Kelsie was pregnant he was angry with her. When Kelsie disappeared from Pueblo and her car was found abandoned in a hospital parking lot, Donthe was seen on camera using Kelsie's ATM card to withdraw $400 from her account. The police did not find his telling of the events to be truthful.
Jill and Dick will discuss the facts in Kelsie's disappearance along with widespread concerns that Kelsie has not been found and no arrests have been made.
Yeti Imperial Stout is uncorked!
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Six-year-old Timmothy lived with his parents, James Pitzen and Amy Fry-Pitzen, in Aurora, Illinois at the time of his disappearance. He is their only child.
Without telling anyone of her plans, Amy removed Timmothy from his kindergarten class at Greenman Elementary School on the morning of May 11, 2011.After checking him out of school, she drove to an auto repair shop and dropped off her blue 2004 Ford Expedition SUV at 10:00 a.m.
One of the repair shop employees drove Amy and Timmothy to the Brookfield Zoo. At 3:00 p.m., Amy came to pick up her repaired vehicle and drove with Timmothy to the KeyLime Cove Resort in Gurnee, Illinois, where they spent the night.
Meanwhile, James had reported Timmothy & Amy missing after he went to pick up Timmothy from kindergarten and found out his mother had taken him. He called her cellular phone numerous times but got no answer. Two days later, Amy was found dead and no one knew where to find Timmothy.
Wisconson's Pipers Scotch Style Ale from Sprecher Brewing is poured at the quiet end.
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In 1989, Carol and Charles Stuart were expecting their first child. After a childbirth education class at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston, the couple was driving home when, according to Charles Stuart, a black gunman with a raspy voice forced his way into their car, robbed them and shot Charles in the stomach and Carol in the head. Carol Stuart died just hours after the shooting and her premature son, delivered by emergency C-section, died 17 days later. The nearby African-American community was targeted by police in an urgent search for the assailant. It wasn't until Charles Stuart's brother came forward as an accomplice after the fact that police sought out Charles Stuart as a suspect. After Stuart fled and committed suicide, police released the African-American suspect they had in custody. Evidence led to the conclusion that Charles Stuart had, in fact, plotted and killed Carol Stuart, shooting himself to avoid suspicion. The events surrounding this case left a negative mark on race relations in the city of Boston, a legacy still not wholly forgotten.
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Drew Peterson is a suspect in the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, who has been missing since 2007. Stacy's disappearance led police to reopen the Kathleen Savio case. On September 6, 2012, Drew Peterson was found guilty of the premeditated murder of Kathleen Savio, his third wife. Jurors admitted that the most compelling evidence was based on the hearsay statements allowed under "Drew's Law." On February 21, 2013, Judge Edward Burmila refused to grant Peterson a new trial. On February 9, 2015, the Illinois Attorney General announced that Peterson would be charged with two felonies, solicitation of murder and solicitation of murder for hire, for attempting to have Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow killed. He was convicted on May 31, 2016, and sentenced to an additional 40 years on July 29, 2016. Drew Peterson had 4 wives. He murdered one and another is missing. How did this happen and how were investigators finally able to put him away?
The beer? Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Barleywine Ale!
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At the age of 7, Kyron Horman went missing from his elementary school. He was reported absent from his first class, but it wasn't until after school that anyone realized he was gone. This is a strange and complicated case that turned family members against each other and revealed dark secrets. Kyron has not been found and those who love him are holding out hope that he is still alive. At the quiet end of the bar this week we will discuss all aspects of Kyron's case, compare notes and exchange ideas.
Obsidian Stout from Deschutes Brewery in Oregon is Dick's pick.
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When 8 months pregnant Laci Peterson disappeared from her Modesto, California home on Christmas eve 2002, police didn't take long to turn their suspicions toward Laci's husband, Scott. He made it easy as we all learned of his incredible alibi, his mistress, and his overall lack of concern for his missing wife and unborn son. In this episode, we discuss the case, the conviction, and Scott Peterson's life on death row including recent appeals and online supporters.
The beer of choice is Stone Citracado IPA!
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A chemical engineer with his own legal firm and a professor at the local college, Donnie Rudd was at the top of his game. He had everyone fooled by his public persona as an eccentric, charming, and successful attorney and family man.
Deorr Kunz Jr., 2 years old at the time, was reported missing by his parents on July 10, 2015. The toddler's parents, Jessica Mitchell and DeOrr Kunz, Sr., told authorities they believed DeOrr's great-grandfather was watching him at the Timber Creek Campgrounds outside remote Leadore, Idaho, while his great-grandfather believed the boy was down by the creek with his parents and the fourth adult on the trip, a friend of the great-grandfather.
The parents' separate 911 calls triggered an investigation that's left more questions than answers. Discrepancies quickly emerged in the accounts of the circumstances under which Deorr vanished. Inconsistencies in statements from the tot's parents became public; officials say both have failed multiple polygraph tests. Both Mitchell and Deorr Sr. were named suspects in the case in January.
The whereabouts of little DeOrr are a true mystery. Although a team of private investigators has pointed the finger of blame at the parents, an arrest has not been made. Join Dick and Jill at the quiet end of the bar for a thorough look at the events leading up to and following DeOrr's disappearance.
On May 6, 2013, Tim Bosma left his wife and young child to take two men on a test drive in his truck. He never returned. Days later, his charred remains were found in a livestock incinerator. Who would do this to this friendly, hard-working young father? What was the motive? Was it a car-jacking gone wrong?
The answers are even more shocking than the crime. The two men who answered Tim's online ad were thrill seekers with a plan to kill. Tim, a mere afterthought.
Join Jill and Dick as we investigate this rare and horrifying phenomenon of thrill killing, reveal the histories of the killers that led to this senseless crime, and honor the life and loss of Tim Bosma, a man in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Dick has selected a beer brewed by Brassiere Dieu du Ciel! A Montreal Brewery. He is drinking Peche Mortel (Mortal Sin), a world class Imperial Stout.
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Crystal Rogers, 35, was last seen playing games on her phone on the night of July 3, claims boyfriend Brooks Houck, who said the mother to his 2-year-old son was not at home when he woke up the next morning. Houck said he wasn't concerned because the couple has had a 'stressed relationship' at times and Crystal would sometimes 'cope or deal' by spending the night at her cousin Sabrina's house.
Crystal's family immediately knew that something was wrong and blamed Brooks for Crystal's disappearance.
It's been a year and a lot has happened, but we still don't know what happened to Crystal and her children are still without a mother. To her family's relief, Brooks has finally been named a suspect by the police.
Our Kentucky beer is MacFannybaw from Against the Grain Brewery. The Dick abides! Meet us at the quiet end of the bar!
11-year old Celina Cass was reported missing from her home in West Stewartstown, New Hampshire on July 26, 2011. Her body was found wrapped in a blanket six days later in the river about a half-mile from her home.
Her former stepfather, 52 year old Wendell Noyes, was arrested on June 20th of this year for her murder. Noyes did not enter a plea and there was no bail hearing. His defense attorney said she has concerns about his competency, saying that the same judge presiding over his arraignment found Noyes to be incompetent last fall. The murder case has subsequently been put on hold as an updated competency evaluation is pending.
Police say he killed 11-year-old Celina by submerging her body in the Connecticut River five years ago. His charge carries a possible life sentence. Investigators questioned him after the murder, but he was uncooperative. Days later, he checked himself into a mental hospital. Celina’s mother, Louisa Cass, has said she wants Noyes to “rot in hell,” and that she was upset it took so long for someone to be arrested.
“Finally after five years, we’re going to get justice,” Louisa Cass said. She said that Noyes had seemed like a loving and appropriate stepfather, but his behavior after Celina went missing made her begin to suspect him.
Jill and Dick take some time at the quiet end of the bar to learn more about Celina's life and why it was tragically cut short. A New Hampshire beer from Deciduous Brewing is shared!
The mysterious case of Lauren Spierer has haunted detectives in the charming college town of Bloomington, Indiana, since June 2011, when the Indiana University sophomore disappeared after a night of partying. Despite sustained national media attention and a steady flow of tips, the investigation has yet to result in a single arrest or any evidence of her fate.
From the beginning, the Lauren Spierer story had all the makings of a made-for-TV mystery: her distraught, determined parents making public pleas for information, the group of male friends who were with her the night she disappeared quickly lawyering up when they became persons of interest, and, of course, Lauren herself: a diminutive, blue-eyed blonde from New York’s wealthy Westchester County, practically embodied the “Missing White Woman” stereotype.
Dick and Jill work to move past rumors, innuendo, and judgement as they discuss the case of missing college student Lauren Spierer. Is there something to be learned from this and similar cases that can save other young women from similar fates? Grab a pint (or a snifter) and meet us at the quiet end of the bar.
Dick reviews Zombie Dust, an amazing Indiana beer!
Dan Broderick was one of California's most successful attorneys. His wife, Betty, was a beautiful socialite. But when Betty discovered Dan's hidden life, the façade of LaJolla's golden couple was shattered. What followed was a vicious five-year battle that finally ended in a shocking double-murder. Dan was a Harvard Law School graduate who, according to Betty, manipulated the law to strip Betty of everything she loved: her home, her friends--even her children. When she frantically tried to fight back, he had her committed to a mental hospital. Consumed by hatred and thoughts of revenge, Betty's rage exploded on the night of November 5, 1989. Before the sun rose the next day, Dan Broderick and his lovely new wife were dead--their bullet-riddled bodies wrapped in the blood-soaked sheets of their bed.
The prosecution claimed it was a clear a case of premeditated murder. Betty claimed she had gone over to the house to talk to Dan - or maybe to commit suicide in front of him - but when someone shouted, ‘Call the police’, she got flustered and started firing.
Betty Broderick was acquitted of first degree murder in her second trial but found guilty of second degree murder.
To some, Betty Broderick is virtually the patron saint of the sanctity of marriage, executing her abusive, cheating husband and his "nineteen year old college dropout of a Polack whore" (actually Linda was twenty-eight and a professional paralegal). To others, Dan Broderick suffered his wife’s abuse of him for fourteen years of marriage, left her well provided for and then married the love of his life, only to be continually stalked for seven years, and ultimately killed.
We will try to look at both sides of this case and discuss how a marriage can go so horrible wrong. If Betty were a man, there would be no question of her guilt. Did Betty use feminism and nationwide concerns of domestic abuse to build a cause for women scorned? Or, was she just a jealous, violent woman?
Dick reviews AleSmith's Speedway Stout!
After Susan Powell's disappearance in 2009, investigators' scrutiny extended not only to Josh Powell, but also to his father, Steven. Steven Powell was said to have become romantically obsessed with Susan. Computer images seized from his house in 2009 turned up 4,500 images of Susan Powell taken without her knowledge, including close-ups of specific body parts.
Josh Powell claimed that on the night Susan Powell vanished, he took his sons, Charlie and Braden, from their home in West Valley City, Utah, on a late-night camping trip. Authorities eventually searched the central Utah desert but found nothing. Susan Powell's father said that when police went to the family home after she was reported missing, they found a wet spot in the house being dried by two fans.
As the authorities honed in on Josh Powell as a suspect in his wife's disappearance, a mentally unhinged man became even more dangerous. At a scheduled visit with his sons, Josh Powell killed them both before taking his own life.
In a case steeped in depravity and deception, a family falls into darkness, leaving only sorrow and regrets for those left behind.
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Michele Harris' empty minivan was found the morning of Sept. 12, 2001, with the keys still in the ignition at the end of her and her husband's long driveway. Prosecutors argue Calvin Harris killed his 35-year-old wife when she came home the previous night to the secluded estate they still shared with their four young children. He was wealthy from his family's car dealerships and court papers say he told people she would not get half his business as divorce loomed. Defense lawyers claim authorities overlooked likely murder suspects she met during the freewheeling life she led as her marriage broke up. Prosecutors presented evidence of blood stains in the home but relied on a largely circumstantial case to convince a jury in 2007 that he was guilty of second-degree murder. That conviction was set aside when a new witness potentially helpful to the defense came forward. A second guilty verdict in 2009 was overturned based on trial-court errors. Jurors in the third trial last year failed to reach a verdict after 11 days of deliberations. The fourth time was the charm for Cal Harris when he was recently acquitted in his fourth trial. Join Jill and Dick for a discussion of this case. What happened to Michele? There are four children missing their mom. The beer on tap is Game of Thrones Seven Kingdoms.
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On May 7, 2000, in the parking lot of the Ramada Inn in Jacksonville, Florida, 65-year-old Mary Ann Stephens is shot in the head. Ninety minutes later, 15-year-old Brenton Butler is arrested. For the investigators and the media it's just another messed-up youth throwing away his life and the life of his victim. The French documentary about the trial of a black American teenager accused of robbing and murdering an elderly white tourist follows the teen's defense team as they build a case that shows ineptitude and prejudice on the part of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.
When the case for the defense comes into the hands of Patrick McGuinness and Ann Finnell of the public defenders office, the story ceases to be quite so ordinary. The boy proclaims his innocence. He has bruises on his face and thorax. He says that the detectives beat him up and forced a confession out of him. Everyone - police, media and public opinion - is ready to sentence Brenton Butler in advance, but Patrick McGuinness Ann Finnell begin a battle to restore their client's rights and to point an accusing finger at those he considers to be the real culprits: detectives Williams, Glover and Darnell.
Dick chose this case because it exposes the fallacy of eyewitness identification and the truth of false confessions. I was moved to share a discussion after I cried at the end. Visit us at http://tiegrabber.com/index.php/true-crime-brewery/ to learn more and to subscribe for as little as $2/month. We are also on Patreon.com. All 5 star reviews received on iTunes earn a shout out on a future episode!
Jai Alai is the Florida beer of Choice!