Bless This Mess: A Southern True Crime Podcast

In December 1900, three lighthouse keepers vanished from a remote island off the coast of Scotland. When the relief crew arrived at Eilean Mòr, the lighthouse was empty, the fire was cold, the beds were unmade, and one raincoat still hung by the door.

This week on A Little Less Mess, Cara heads across the ocean to explore the eerie disappearance at the Flannan Isles Lighthouse—and the ghost stories that have followed those three missing men for more than a century.

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Music courtesy of Blanche

Sources

National Lighthouse Board
National Records of Scotland
BBC

Grab your mason jars and pull up a rocker as Cara and Stew head to South Florida to unpack the wild true story behind the 1997 movie Mother Knows Best. When Lauderhill retiree Lee Goldsmith secretly placed a classified ad to find her daughter a wealthy bachelor, she never imagined her daughter would fall for David Brownstein, a hardworking, blue-collar air-conditioning repairman. Consumed by spite and years of family estrangement, Lee took matters into her own hands by trying to hire a hitman straight from her living room—sparking an undercover Broward County Sheriff’s sting inside a luxury Cadillac and a sensational trial that stunned the nation.

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Music courtesy of Blanche

Sources

Tampa Bay Times Archives (1990): "Murder-for-hire case opens: Woman accused of trying to have son-in-law killed" (Jan 23, 1990).South Florida Sun Sentinel Archives (1989–1995): "The Old Lady and the Hit Man" (May 1990); "Grandma in Murder Plot to Be Freed" (June 1995); trial coverage by regional correspondents.Orlando Sentinel Archives (1990–1993): "Lee Goldsmith, In Jail for Hiring a Hit Man" (Jan 1993); "Shoot My Son-In-Law, Please!" (July 1990).Broward County Circuit Court Records (1989–1990): State of Florida v. Lee Goldsmith, Case No. 89-003661CF10A (Solicitation to Commit First-Degree Murder).

On a freezing December evening in 1957, seven-year-old Maria Ridulph was playing under the streetlights of Sycamore, Illinois, when a friendly young man offering piggyback rides vanished with her into the winter dark. The disappearance triggered an unprecedented nationwide manhunt that drew personal attention from J. Edgar Hoover and President Dwight D. Eisenhower, only to end months later when Maria’s remains were discovered deep in a rural wooded ravine.

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Music courtesy of Blanche

Sources

The National Registry of Exonerations: Jack McCullough Case Summary & Exoneration Record
The Innocence Project: llinois Prosecutor Seeks Justice Amid Decades-Old Wrongful Conviction (DeKalb County Review)
CNN Special Investigative Series: Taken: Coldest Case Ever Solved (Reporting by David Fitzpatrick & Drew Griffin)
The Chicago Tribune / Associated Press Archives: Sycamore Community Coverage, 1957 Abduction Searches, and 2012 Trial Records
DeKalb County Circuit Court: State of Illinois v. Jack McCullough (2016 Conviction Vacatur & 2017 Certificate of Innocence Filings)

Grab your mason jars and pull up a rocker as Cara and Stew unpack one of the most chilling multi-generational tragedies in Southern history. What began as a contentious custody battle between a prominent Winston-Salem socialite and her dentist ex-husband spiraled into an apocalyptic nightmare when she fell under the spell of her first cousin—a survivalist masquerading as a CIA operative and medical doctor.

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Music courtesy of Blanche

Sources

Bledsoe, Jerry. Bitter Blood: A True Story of Southern Family Pride, Madness, and Multiple Murder (Onyx / Dutton, 1988)
North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, Historical Crime Archives: The Bizarre "Bitter Blood" Murders
Greensboro News & Record, Investigative Archives & Highway 150 Incident Reports (1984–1985) Winston-Salem Journal, Valley Road Homicide Files & SBI Case Summaries
Kentucky State Police, Oldham County / Prospect Double Homicide Investigative Files

Grab your mason jars and pull up a rocker as Cara steps outside the South for a solo trip back to the autumn of 1922. In an overgrown lovers’ lane outside New Brunswick, New Jersey, the bodies of an aristocratic Episcopal priest and his married choir leader were found staged beneath a crabapple tree, surrounded by their torn-up secret love letters and a grotesque calling card.

What followed became the country's first true media circus. From a high-society widow with millions on the line to an eccentric witness known as the "Pig Woman" testifying from a hospital bed wheeled into the courtroom, this century-old double homicide remains one of the most scandalous, theatrical, and baffling unsolved mysteries in American history. 

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Music courtesy of Blanche

Sources 
- The Hall-Mills Murder Case (Historical Trial Transcripts & New Jersey State Police Archives)
- The New York Times, Contemporary Investigative Archives (1922–1926)
- New York Daily Mirror, Grand Jury & Somerville Court Coverage
- William Kunstler, *The Minister and the Choir Singer: The Hall-Mills Murder Case (William Morrow & Co.)

In July 2018, prominent 58-year-old corporate attorney Gary Farris vanished from his family’s ten-acre farm on Purcell Lane in Cherokee County, Georgia. Days later, his charred remains were discovered in an outdoor burn pile near the house. While initial explanations suggested Gary had suffered a dizzy spell and accidentally collapsed into the flames, the case turned into a homicide investigation when pathologists discovered a .38-caliber bullet lodged inside his rib.

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Music courtesy of Blanche

Sources:- Cherokee County District Attorney's Office (Case Records & Conviction Release, November 2024)  - Cherokee County Sheriff's Office Incident & Investigation Files  - Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) Forensic Ballistics & Crime Lab Reports  - Court TV: GA v. Melody Walker Farris (Full 18-Day Trial Coverage, Testimony & Exhibits)  - CBS News 48 Hours: Investigative Coverage on the Gary Farris Case

Beginning in 1977, anonymous letters terrorized Circleville, Ohio, accusing residents of affairs, crimes, and private secrets. School-bus driver Mary Gillispie and her family became the main targets. After her husband died in a mysterious crash, the threats escalated—and a booby-trapped sign with a loaded gun led to her brother-in-law’s conviction. But the letters continued after he went to prison. In this A Little Less Mess minisode, Cara follows one of America’s strangest unsolved anonymous-letter mysteries.

Support the show

Listen to our Monday minisode A Little Less Mess right here on the main feed. 
Hang out with us on Patreon for The Weekly Pour on the Porch and Sittin’, Sippin’, & Bullshittin’.
Please rate and review, subscribe, and follow us on social media for case updates, what's in our mason jars, true crime documentary recommendations, and Southern suppers.
Search @blessthismesspodcast on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

Sources:
CBS News 48 Hours: The Circleville Letters: You’ve Got Hate Mail
48 Hours: The Circleville Letters reporting and document-analysis coverage

In August 1998, beloved teacher Charlotte Waites was found brutally murdered inside her Lanett, Alabama home, with the crime scene staged to look like a robbery gone wrong. Her husband, the town’s interim mayor, claimed to be devastated—but behind closed doors lay a dark trail of secret debts, control, and betrayal. Nearly a decade passed before the couple’s own daughters came forward to help finally bring their father to justice. 

Support the show

Listen to our Monday minisode A Little Less Mess right here on the main feed.   
Hang out with us on Patreon for The Weekly Pour on the Porch and Sittin’, Sippin’, & Bullshittin’.
Please rate and review, subscribe, and follow us on social media for case updates, what's in our mason jars, true crime documentary recommendations, and Southern suppers. Search @blessthismesspodcast on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

Sources

Oxygen True Crime: “An Unexpected Killer: Inside the Murder Case of Charlotte Waites” (Season 2, Episode 12)
WSFA 12 News (Alabama): “Jury Finds Former Lanett City Councilman Guilty of Murder” (November 20, 2006)
NBC News / Associated Press Archives: “Visions of Victim Inspire Murder Accusation in Lanett Case” (February 10, 2006)
Chambers County District Attorney’s Office: Trial Transcripts, Evidence Filings, and Sentencing Records: State of Alabama v. Barry Waites (2006)
The Valley Times-News (Lanett, AL): Local reporting and archives on the 1998 investigation and 2006 conviction of Barry Waites

In this week's Monday minisode of A Little Less Mess, Cara travels outside the South to the upscale community of Shaker Heights, Ohio.

In September 1990, sixteen-year-old Lisa Pruett left home to meet her boyfriend in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Minutes later, she was attacked and killed in a yard just steps from his house. A classmate, Kevin Young, was charged after two people said he confessed while in psychiatric treatment, but no physical evidence tied him to the crime. He was acquitted in 1993, and Lisa’s murder remains unsolved.

Support the show

• Listen to our Monday minisode A Little Less Mess right here on the main feed.   
• Hang out with us on Patreon for The Weekly Pour on the Porch and Sittin’, Sippin’, & Bullshittin’.
• Please rate and review, subscribe, and follow us on social media for case updates, what's in our mason jars, true crime documentary recommendations, and Southern suppers. Search @blessthismesspodcast on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

Sources for this episode

• Cleveland.com, “Kevin Young, accused in 1990 fatal stabbing of Shaker Heights teen, dies at 44”
• Cleveland Scene, “I See the Truth,” a long-form review of the Lisa Pruett investigation and Kevin Young trial
• Shaker Heights Police / Cuyahoga County court reporting and contemporaneous local coverage

Grab your mason jar and pull up a rocking chair—this week on Bless This Mess, Cara and Stew are heading down to Katy, Texas. 

On a January evening in 1999, thirty-year-old special education teacher Belinda Temple—eight months pregnant with her second child—was found shot execution-style inside her master bedroom closet. Her husband, David Temple, a prominent local high school football coach and hometown gridiron star, claimed he was running errands with their young son during a staged home invasion. But when famed prosecutor Kelly Siegler took over the case, a secret affair and a grocery store alibi timed down to the exact second unraveled a facade of suburban perfection into one of the most contentious legal battles in Texas history.

Support the show

• Listen to our Monday minisode A Little Less Mess right here on the main feed.   
• Hang out with us on Patreon for The Weekly Pour on the Porch and Sittin’, Sippin’, & Bullshittin’.
• Please rate and review, subscribe, and follow us on social media for case updates, what's in our mason jars, true crime documentary recommendations, and Southern suppers. Search @blessthismesspodcast on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

Sources for this episode

• CBS News (48 Hours): The Guessing Game: The Murder of Belinda Temple (2010).
• ABC News (20/20): Shattered Love: The Trials of David Temple (2019).
• Oxygen / NBC Universal: Prosecuting Evil with Kelly Siegler: The Belinda Temple Case.
• Harris County District Court Records: The State of Texas v. David Temple (2007, 2019, 2023).
• Texas Court of Criminal Appeals: David Temple Appeals & Overturned Proceedings (2016, 2025).
• The Houston Chronicle & Katy Magazine: Archival investigative reporting and trial transcripts (1999–2025).