Small Town Mysteries
Episodes
194 episodes
Two Women, One Axe, and Zero Convictions
In 1977, Yale students Terri Jentz and Avra Goldman were cycling across the United States when they stopped to camp at a park in Oregon. While they slept, a man drove his truck over their tent and proceeded to attack both women with an axe. Tho...
Girly Chew: The Woman Who Predicted Her Murder
The case of Girly Chew Hossencofft is a study in how “weirdness” can become a weapon. And I truly mean weird. Con men, fashion designers, UFO’s, and conspiracy theories about otherworldly aliens that secretly rule the Earth are just a few...
A Daughter’s Betrayal: The Murder of Barbara Keim
In July 2005, 41-year-old Barbara Keim was killed in her own home in an act of violence orchestrated by her daughter. Investigators eventually uncovered a planned conspiracy involving the daughter, her boyfriend, and an accomplice. ...
The French Family Annihilator
We've all heard the expression "fake it till you make it", right? Well, Jean-Claude Romand did just that for 18 years, but never truly made it. Instead, he chose to murder his entire family rather than face his own shame and lies head on.
The Unsinkable Terry Jo
It was November 1961. The waters in the Bahamas were as blue and beautiful as ever. But for Nicolaos Spachidakis, a second officer on a Greek freighter called Captain Theo, something seemed off. As he looked into the distance, he could make out...
Virginia Hall: The Limping Spy They Couldn't Catch
Today we are talking about Virginia Hall, an American Spy who was able to completely evade the Gestapo during WWII. The Gestapo labeled her as “The enemy’s most dangerous spy.” During WWII, Virginia organized agent networks, helped those who ma...
Josephine Baker: The Spy No One Suspected
Today we’re talking about Josephine Baker, the remarkable entertainer who took France by storm and used her unsuspecting identity for subterfuge in World War II - truly a badass woman!Sources: 1) https://www.newyorker.com/mag...
Elizebeth Smith Friedman – The “Mother of Cryptology”
In honor of Women's History Month, this week we are talking about Elizebeth Smith Friedman, a woman who turned her love for decrypting Shakespeare’s plays into cracking codes and ciphers during major moments in American history, all while using...
The 55 Year Old Cold Case of Joseph Mulvaney
In 1992, a Wyoming man opened a padlocked military footlocker left in his shed by a neighbor six years earlier. Inside, he found the skeletal remains of a man shot in the head, wrapped in a grocery bag. It would take decades to pass and a DNA b...
How to Get Away with Murder…Or Not
In 1999, Paul Warner Powell, a 20-year-old white supremacist, murdered 16-year-old Stacie Reed and brutally assaulted her 14-year-old sister, Kristie, in a racially motivated attack after learning Stacie had a Black boyfriend.After his init...
The Murder of Deborah Palmer
On the morning of March 26, 1997, Deborah was at home, getting ready for school. Her eleven-year-old cousin stopped by to walk her to class, but she wasn’t quite ready yet.The last words ever known to be spoken by Deborah were: “I’ll be rig...
The Curious Death of Cindy James: Part 2
Take a listen to Part 1 from last week if you want all the background info on this case!Before Cindy died, she reported about 100 incidents of various kinds of harassment/stalking to police...but police could never find any evidence of i...
The Curious Death of Cindy James: Part 1
Before Cindy died, she reported about 100 incidents of various kinds of harassment/stalking to police...but police could never find any evidence of it.Cindy first reported instances of harassment/stalking in 1982. In the 7 years leading...
The Pike County Massacre
When Bobby Jo Manley arrived at her sister’s home on April 22, 2016 in Sunfish Township, Ohio, she expected to go in, feed the pets, give them some love, and then leave – probably see her sister, as well. Socialize a bit.What Bobby Jo f...
Fowl Play: The Duck Who Found Nellie Sullivan
When a 92-year-old with dementia disappears, all clues point to her granddaughter and her granddaughter's husband. Without a body though, the case grows cold. Until, that is, an unlikely detective waddles by...Sources: 1) htt...
Forty Years Unsolved: The Murder of Ken McElroy
When one man bullies an entire town into turning a blind eye to his numerous crimes over several decades, what else can a town do but finally enact some good old vigilante justice?Sources: 1) https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/1...
The Brutal Murder of Starr Harris
Today we are traveling to Tennessee, specifically to the unincorporated community of Drummonds, Tennessee. Here, the brutal murder of 36-year-old Starr Harris shook the small, tight-knit community. Sources:1) https://caselaw....
Feline Forensics: How a Cat Cracked the Shirley Duguay Murder
Today we're going to be talking about the murder of Shirley Ann Duguay, who went missing in 1994 and was later found dead in a shallow grave. Shirley Ann Duguay was from Canada and a 32-year-old mother of five. Most reports don’t go in...
The Baffling Murder of Peter Porco
On the morning of November 15, 2004, Peter Porco woke up as usual and carried out his typical morning routine: he packed a lunch, he filled the dishwasher, and he wrote and signed a check to his son Christopher. He even locked himself out of th...
The Umbrella Assassination of Georgi Markov
On September 7, 1978, Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian defector living in London, was on his way to work. He left his car and crossed the Waterloo Bridge, which was part of his everyday routine. While waiting for the bus, Markov felt a stinging sensa...
The Isdal Woman
Today, we’re going to Norway! We’ve got another international case on our hands this week, with some parallels to The Somerton Man, which was recently covered. This one goes back to the autumn of 1970, to a place nicknamed “The Ice Valley”....
While The Cameras Kept Rolling
Did this famous Brazilian television presenter and politician really murder for more views? Let's talk about it on this new episode of Small Town Mysteries.Sources: 1) https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-10785494...
The Tragic Murder of D’Andre Green
The murder of teenager D'Andre Green remains unsolved - and someone knows who his killer is. Sources: 1) https://www.wdel.com/news/video-7-years-on-family-of-teen-killed-in-brookside-community-center-shooting-still-seeking/...