Appalachian Mysteria

As murders and abductions haunt Lignum, Rt 29, and Shenandoah National Park, three children are taken from their front yards less than 30 miles away. 

The girls are the first known victims of a serial killer who will become an important part of our story.

Resources and links: 

Into the Water — Diane Fanning’s true crime book about the serial killer responsible for the deaths of Sofia Silva and the Lisk sisters 

Interviewees: 

Diane Fanning — Author of 15 true crime books and 11 novels

Sarah & Geoff's book about the WVU Coed Murders
(available on Amazon)

Kendall's Appalachian Motorcycling Travel Channel
(@motoappalachiadiscovery on YouTube)

Kromatic Media

We investigate claims that the Park Service has a history of transferring troubled rangers. An NPS whistleblower explains a coverup culture within the agency, and shares the story of a ranger who investigated both the Shenandoah and Colonial Parkway murders.

Resources and Links: 

The Case of the Indian Trader — The book in which Paul Berkowitz extensively documents his investigation at Hubbell Trading Post. Recommended for fans of police procedurals. 

Culture of Sexual Harassment — Washington Post, 2016 

Big Problem with Sexual Harrassment — The Atlantic, 2016 

Hubbell Trading Post — Official site 

Bill Malone Trading — Billy Malone’s current site for trading, Gallup, NM 

Interviewees: 

Paul Berkowitz — NPS Special Agent who took over the investigation of Clyde Yee at Hubbell Trading Post

Sarah & Geoff's book about the WVU Coed Murders
(available on Amazon)

Kendall's Appalachian Motorcycling Travel Channel
(@motoappalachiadiscovery on YouTube)

Kromatic Media

Eight Years Earlier: The Navy undertakes “purges” of lesbians from its ranks. The first of Virginia’s Colonial Parkway murders looks eerily familiar. A southern con-man helps find the killer — and defrauds the victims’ families. 

Resources and links: 

The Lover’s Lane Murders — Oxygen Network show about the Colonial Parkway murders, for which guest Bill Thomas served as consulting producer. 

Mind Over Murder — Entire podcast covering all the details of the Colonial Parkway Murders. Hosted by our guest Bill Thomas and Kristen Dilley.

Interviewees: 

Bill Thomas — Brother of Cathy Thomas, who was killed with her girlfriend Rebecca Dowski in the first of the Colonial Parkway Murders.

Sarah & Geoff's book about the WVU Coed Murders
(available on Amazon)

Kendall's Appalachian Motorcycling Travel Channel
(@motoappalachiadiscovery on YouTube)

Kromatic Media

Someone is pulling over dozens of women on a road just 15 miles from Skyline Drive. Alicia Reynolds disappears. At least three bodies turn up in a small hamlet nearby. The Innocence Project fights to free a man convicted of murder.

Resources and links: 

Rt 29 Stalker Unsolved Mysteries Wiki

Twenty Years Later — Article by Scott Shenk on the 20th anniversary of the murder of Alicia Showalter Reynolds

Interviewees: 

Scott Shenk — Reporter with the Fredericksburg Freelance-Star.

Sarah & Geoff's book about the WVU Coed Murders
(available on Amazon)

Kendall's Appalachian Motorcycling Travel Channel
(@motoappalachiadiscovery on YouTube)

Kromatic Media

A massive hunt for Julie & Lollie's killer begins. Some demand a hate crime investigation, drawing parallels to the attack of another lesbian couple hiking the Appalachian Trail. A lesbian defense lawyer finds herself arguing for the prosecution.

Resources and links: 

"Panic Defense" — Podcast episode from Criminal with Phoebe Judge explaining the fascinating history of the gay/trans panic defense.

"In the Hollow" — 15-minute documentary/short film featuring Claudia Brenner returning to the scene of Rebecca Wight's murder for the first time in decades. Supplemented with scene reenactments. 

The Claudia Brenner Papers — Tons of resources on the Brenner/Wight story from the Cornell University Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections 

Interviewees: Abbe Smith — Director of the Criminal Defense and Prisoner Advocacy Clinic, Co-Director of the E. Barrett Prettyman Fellowship Program, and Professor of Law at Georgetown University. (Importantly for our story, she was also the personal lawyer for Claudia Brenner during the prosecution of Stephen Roy Carr.)

Sarah & Geoff's book about the WVU Coed Murders
(available on Amazon)

Kendall's Appalachian Motorcycling Travel Channel
(@motoappalachiadiscovery on YouTube)

Kromatic Media

The unsolved murder of a young couple in Shenandoah National Park shakes the gay and lesbian communities. One year later, a bicyclist is assaulted in the same area, and authorities begin to suspect him of serial murder.

Resources and Links: 

"Murder on the Mountain" (1996) — Barry Yeoman's article quoted and discussed in this episode. 

Trail map of Shenandoah National Park — Julie and Lollie were killed just off the Skyland / Big Meadows Horse Trail, not far from Skyline Drive.

Interviewees: Yvonne Malbasha — A Canadian paramedic and cyclist, enjoying a ride along picturesque Skyline Drive in Virginia's Shenandoah National Park. Yvonne does not realize she is being stalked by a man named Darrell Rice, who eventually tries to abduct her. Yvonne tells a harrowing story about the man who will soon become a suspect in multiple homicides. 

Barry Yeoman — A journalist teaching at Duke and Wake Forest universities. Barry wrote the best existing article on the lives of Julie Williams and Lollie Winans, the lesbian couple whose murder this whole season revolves around. 

Barbara Nordin — A former reporter for The Hook who covered the Shenandoah murders and their aftermath, as well as Malbasha’s case against Rice.

Sarah & Geoff's book about the WVU Coed Murders
(available on Amazon)

Kendall's Appalachian Motorcycling Travel Channel
(@motoappalachiadiscovery on YouTube)

Kromatic Media

A lesbian couple is found brutally murdered near the Appalachian Trail. As authorities build the first federal hate crime prosecution in the nation's history, a web of horrific crimes creeps down the Blue Ridge mountains into the heart of Virginia. A special agent who has been on the case for twenty five years details his own recollections. 

Season 3 of Appalachian Mysteria explores the terrifying characters and narratives that weave through these stories, culminating in the violent death of a serial killer -- just not the one we started with.

Sarah & Geoff's book about the WVU Coed Murders
(available on Amazon)

Kendall's Appalachian Motorcycling Travel Channel
(@motoappalachiadiscovery on YouTube)

Kromatic Media

The conviction of Glen Woodall begins to look suspicious as a rookie lawyer ushers West Virginia into a new era of DNA testing. Prosecutors fight the new forensic method tooth and nail, but the results will uncover a trail of crime unprecedented in U.S. history.

Sarah & Geoff's book about the WVU Coed Murders
(available on Amazon)

Kendall's Appalachian Motorcycling Travel Channel
(@motoappalachiadiscovery on YouTube)

Kromatic Media

As ice storms sweep over Huntington, WV, a masked rapist is stalking the mall. After two abductions, suspicion falls on a nearby grave-digger with a checkered past. As evidence begins piling up, a forensic science superstar helps set the stage for a court case that will echo through West Virginia history more than anyone can possibly know.  (This episode does not contain graphic details of sexual assault, but the topic matter is mature. Listener discretion advised.) 

Sarah & Geoff's book about the WVU Coed Murders
(available on Amazon)

Kendall's Appalachian Motorcycling Travel Channel
(@motoappalachiadiscovery on YouTube)

Kromatic Media

Sarah & Geoff's book about the WVU Coed Murders
(available on Amazon)

Kendall's Appalachian Motorcycling Travel Channel
(@motoappalachiadiscovery on YouTube)

Kromatic Media