Alma Sipple, a single mother in Tennessee, could not afford medical care for her ten-month-old daughter Irma when a knock on the door changed her life: there stood a woman with close-cropped grey hair, round wireless glasses and a broad, stern face.
The older woman exuded authority as she explained she was the director of a local orphanage. She had come to help. Alma was relieved and excitedly rushed to show the lady her sickly child.
Examining the baby, the woman offered to pass her off as her own at the local hospital in order to obtain free treatment. She warned Alma not to accompany her, explaining: "If the nurses know you're the mother, they'll charge you."
Lifting the child from her bed, the woman turned and disappeared. Two days later, Alma was told her baby had died.
In reality, Irma had been flown to an adoptive home in Ohio. Alma would not see her daughter again for 45 years.
Far from being the kind savior that Alma thought she was, the woman who had taken Irma was a baby thief.
For 30 years, Georgia Tann made millions of dollars selling children. A network of scouts, corrupt judges and politicians helped her steal babies. She targeted youngsters on their way home from school, promising them ice cream and tempting them away from their homes. Legal papers would be signed saying they were abandoned - most would never see their families again.
Come with us to the quiet end as we discuss the cruelty suffered by children and families at the hands a woman considered by many to have been the most prolific child abuser and killer in a century.
This is Part 3 in our series on the murders of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman.
If you haven’t heard Part 1, Prelude to Murder, and Part 2, Murders in Brentwood, we recommend that you go back and listen to the episodes in order.
We begin this episode after OJ Simpson has been arrested for the murder of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown. He had his motorcade. Robert Shapiro and Robert Kardashian are on his side. The entire country has heard the 911 domestic violence calls made by Nicole. Now, because the prosecution had released these 911 calls to the public, they were not able to get a grand jury together who hadn’t heard these tapes. The grand jury was dismissed on the grounds that the grand jury could not be objective. So, in place of a grand jury, the court ordered a preliminary hearing. In the preliminary hearing, a judge would review the evidence and decide if the case should go to trial. This worked against the prosecution because they had to put out their case before they were ready. This was a tactical victory for the defense because they had access to all of the prosecution’s evidence early on.
Join us at the quiet end as we discuss legal techniques, clashes, and the verdict that rocked the nation.
How well do we really know the people in our daily lives? Our co-workers, our boss, the clerk at the grocery store, our neighbors, our friends, or even our spouse? Many people thought they knew Colonel David Russell Williams. He was a decorated air force pilot and commander at the Canadian Forces Base (CFB) at Trenton, Ontario, and a respected member of his community when he was arrested in 2010, and charged with the murders of two women, and numerous other sexually related crimes. The realization that he was a sexual predator and a murderer shocked the military and the country and quickly became an international story.
What were the signs that this was a truly deviant individual? There had to be some. There had to be moments in his professional or personal life where the cracks showed. Many people, quite reasonably, believe that his wife must have known.
Join us at the quiet end today as we go back to the childhood of Russell Williams, through his college years and the escalation of his abhorrent behavior from stealing panties to sexual assault to murder. Also, his victims shouldn’t be ignored. These crimes left many people traumatized and took two young women from the people who loved them, snuffing out their bright and boundless futures.
We remember the victims and examine the secret life of a predator in this episode of True Crime Brewery:
An Officer and a Psychopath
Of all the pain and struggles that are left in the aftermath of a murder, it may be the senselessness that haunts us the most. On February 9th, 2010, 17-year-old Mackenzie Cowell said she’d only be gone for 15 minutes when she left the Academy of Hair Design in Wenatchee, Washington. Four days later, police discovered Mackenzie dead and mutilated along the banks of the Columbia River. She still wore her beauty school uniform.
Mackenzie was a happy girl with a bright future ahead of her. Losing her was devastating to her family and friends. The viscous nature of her death was almost more than they could bear.
Chris Wilson, a classmate of Mackenzie, is in prison now after taking a plea deal in her murder. Mackenzie’s family feels like he got off easy while supporters of Chris Wilson say he is innocent and should not be in prison at all. Everyone agrees that her death was senseless.
Join us at the quiet end today as we review the last day of Mackenzie’s life and the investigation which led to Chris Wilson’s conviction in this episode of True Crime Brewery: The Beauty Shop Murder.
Dick shares Fremont Brewing's The Rusty Nail
At what age are we responsible for our actions? Laws and opinions differ, but there are certain acts that seem to transcend age in their brutality and lack of conscience. When 12-year old Jasmine Richardson attacked and participated in the murder of her entire family, a community and those of us looking on were shocked. Was she innately vicious or was she influenced and led into these crimes by her emotionally disturbed adult boyfriend?
An interesting outshoot of this is the impossible position Jasmine’s parents found themselves in as their daughter rebelled and moved into a world of drugs, underage sex, and depravity. Their options were somewhat limited. Also, there was no way for them to predict the horror that happened back in 2006.
Join us at the quiet end of the bar today as we tell the story of Jasmine Richardson’s family and discuss the issues involved in the prosecution of a child for a crime so outrageous that experienced detectives were traumatized by the crime scene. in this episode of True Crime Brewery: Runaway Devil
People do crazy things for love. Some people kill for love. Sometimes people die for love and their loved ones are left to somehow go on without them. To ponder the whys and what ifs. When Rusty Sneiderman was shot dead after dropping his 3-year-old son at daycare on November 18, 2010, police speculated that it was a professional hit. He had been executed with multiple gunshot wounds by an unknown assailant who fled the scene in a rented minivan.
But this was no professional hit. This was a calculated but passion-fueled act, a strategy to allow Rusty's wife Andrea the freedom to spend the rest of her life with another man and inherit millions of dollars.
At the quiet end today, we're telling you about a crime of passion and insanity, a family's loss, and a woman who may have gotten away with murder. You can be the judge in this episode of True Crime Brewery: Crazy Love.