Crime Scholar

Bonnie Parker Thornton and Blanche Caldwell Callaway were two despondent flappers at the close of the 1920s. In fact, the popular 1929 song "Am I Blue?" could have been written for them. But in 1930, at the start of the U.S.'s Great Depression, they met two brothers, Clyde and Buck, who were known as the 'Barrow Gang.' Somehow, these two petty criminals and ex-cons won the hearts of Bonnie and Blanche to the extent that neither woman would desert them, even when the Barrow brothers' violent deaths were inevitable and their own lives were in danger. This episode presents the details of their hardscrabble lives before, during, and--in Blanche's case--after voluntarily becoming road-mates with the men who eventually became murderers and the subjects of one of the largest manhunts of the 1930s. Bonnie and Blanche were at once tough and vulnerable, glamorous and unsophisticated, self-centered and utterly devoted to others.

If you like this episode, please subscribe and rate us with 5 stars on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher.

Host: Paris Brown

Produced, written, & edited by: Paris Brown

Music by: Dr. Frankenstein. "Theme for 'The Mad Thinker'" from The Cursed Tapes: Stolen Songs from Dr. Frankenstein's Lab, 2005

and by Haunted Corpse. "Haunted House" from Dirges for the Undead, 2014.

Podcast artwork by: Nathalie Rattner ([email protected])

Logo lettering by: St. Anchor Graphics

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

YouTube

Reddit discussion group

SOURCES AND RECOMMENDED READING:

Barrow, Blanche Caldwell. My Life with Bonnie and Clyde. Edited by John Neal Phillips. U of Oklahoma P, 2012.

Guinn, Jeff. Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde. Simon and Schuster, 2009.

Hail, Marshall. “E.P. Author Writes about Bonnie, Clyde.” El Paso Herald-Post. 10 May 1968, p. 9.

Hughes, Clair. Hats. Bloomsbury, 2017.

Knight, James R. and Jonathan Davis. Bonnie and Clyde: A Twenty-First Century Update. Eakin P, 2014.

Remembering Bonnie and Clyde. Produced by Tim Leone. Turquoise Film/Video Productions, 2007.

Youngblood, Gordon and Ken Youngblood. “Cement City School: Bonnie Parker’s Classmate.” Texashideout.tripod.com/Youngblood.html.

It was the '80s: big hair, gold lamé, car phones, greed, Satanic Panic...and a young borderland woman who had a hand in helping to create that panic. When Sara Aldrete met cult leader Adolfo Constanzo, her goal of becoming a state college transfer and P.E. instructor changed to dark dreams of becoming a black magic high priestess. Before police caught up with what was later dubbed the "Matomoros Murder Cult," 23 people were brutally murdered, including a young college student named Mark Kilroy, whose disappearance helped bring publicity to the case. Sara was desperately infatuated with Adolfo--but was she culpable for these crimes?

If you like this episode, please subscribe and rate us with 5 stars on iTunes or wherever you access podcasts.

Host: Paris Brown

Produced, written, & edited by: Paris Brown

Music by: Dr. Frankenstein. “Theme for ‘The Mad Thinker'” from The Cursed Tapes: Stolen Songs from Dr. Frankenstein’s Lab, 2005 and by Haunted Corpse. “Haunted House” from Dirges for the Undead, 2014. Creative Commons attribution license.

Podcast artwork by: Nathalie Rattner ([email protected])

Logo lettering by: St. Anchor Graphics (IG: st.anchor)

Website: classafelons.wordpress.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/classafelonsbfilmsccups/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/classafelons_bfilms_cups/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClassAFelons

Reddit discussion group: https://www.reddit.com/r/ClassAFelons/

SOURCES AND RECOMMENDED READING:

“Alleged Cult Priestess Gets Literature Prize in Prison.” El Paso Times. 21 Oct. 2004, p.12.

Homes, Edward. Buried Secrets: A True Story of Serial Murder, Black Magic, and Drug-Running on the U.S. Border. Penguin, 1991.

Provost, Gary. Across the Border: The True Story of Satanic Cult Killings in Matamoros, Mexico. Crossroad, 2014.

Schiller, Dane. “‘Devil Ranch’ Priestess Confronts Chance of Dying Behind Bars.” Santa Cruz Sentinel. 25 Mar. 2004, p. 25.

Williams, Joel. “Ballad about Slayings Hitting Radio Airwaves in South Texas.” Associated Press. 16 May 1989.

This is a story local to us, and we've never heard it discussed on any other podcast.

In 1959, a glamorous, well-to-do doctor's wife named Barbara Jean Finch was gunned down one night in front of her mid-century modern West Covina, California home. A witness, her young au pair, saw the murderer with her own eyes. It was Barbara's estranged husband, Bernard "Bernie" Finch. But what the au pair didn't notice was Bernie's lover, Carole Tregoff, hiding in the bushes on the property. Even after Bernie fled the scene, she stayed there all night. Why was Carole there, and was she part of a plot to get rid of Barbara so that she and Bernie could marry? Join us to find out and, along the way, travel to Las Vegas and back, meet an accused gigolo hitman, and muse over why celebrities were so enamored with Bernie Finch. This is the third episode in the podcast's first season, "Accessories to Murder."

If you like this episode, please subscribe and rate us with 5 stars on iTunes or wherever you access podcasts, and consider supporting us at Patreon.

Hosts: Paris Brown and Desi Robba

Produced, written, & edited by: Paris Brown

Edited by: Paris Brown

Music by: Dr. Frankenstein. "Theme for 'The Mad Thinker'" from The Cursed Tapes: Stolen Songs from Dr. Frankenstein's Lab, 2005

and by Lobo Loco. "Town Searching Murder" from Headcrash, 2018.

Podcast artwork by Nathalie Rattner ([email protected])

Logo lettering by St. Anchor Graphics (IG: st.anchor)

Website

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

SOURCES AND RECOMMENDED READING:

Closer, Gary. The Many Faces of Carole Tregoff Pappa.

Jones, James Linder. A Murder in West Covina: Chronicle of the Finch-Tregoff Case. Chaparral, 1992.

Mikulan, Steven. “Murder in Black and White.” Los Angeles Magazine. 23 Apr. 2013.

“People.” The Morning Call. 29 Jun. 1977.

Tregoff, Carole. “Carole Tells Her Own Story.” Los Angeles Mirror. 12 Apr. 1961.

1955, rural, Jim Crow-era Mississippi. Emmett Till, just 14 years old, met a horrific death after being accused of whistling at and putting his arm around 21-year-old Carolyn Bryant. Over 60 years later, her account of their fateful encounter changed. Just who is Carolyn, and what forces propelled her toward the center of a murder that would become a turning point in the Civil Rights Movement? This is the second episode in the podcast's first season, "Accessories to Murder."

If you like this episode, please subscribe and rate us with 5 stars on iTunes or wherever you access podcasts.

Hosts: Paris Brown and Desi Robba

Produced & written by: Paris Brown

Edited by: Paris Brown

Music by: Dr. Frankenstein. "Theme for 'The Mad Thinker'" from The Cursed Tapes: Stolen Songs from Dr. Frankenstein's Lab, 2005

and by Lobo Loco. "Town Searching Murder" from Headcrash, 2018.

Podcast artwork by: Nathalie Rattner ([email protected])

Logo lettering by: St. Anchor Graphics (IG: st.anchor)

Website: classafelons.wordpress.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/classafelonsbfilmsccups/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/classafelons_bfilms_cups/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClassAFelons

Reddit discussion group: https://www.reddit.com/r/ClassAFelons/

SOURCES AND RECOMMENDED READING:

Huie, William Bradford. “The Shocking Story of Approved Killing in Mississippi.” Look. Jan. 1956.

Mitchell, Jerry. “Son of Emmett Till’s Killer in Panama Papers Scandal.” Clarion-Ledger. 9 May 2016.

Nave, R.L. “Emmett Till Murder: The Full Text Testimony of Carolyn Bryant.” Mississippi Today. 12 Jul. 2018.

Perez-Pena, Richard. “Woman Linked to 1955 Emmett Till Murder Tells Historian Her Claims were False.” The New York Times. 27 Jan. 2017.

“Three Hurt in Collision Near Here on Sunday.” The Delta Democrat-Times. 19 Nov. 1956, p. 1.

Tyson, Timothy B. The Blood of Emmett Till. Simon & Schuster, 2017.

Weller, Sheila. “The Missing Woman: How Author Timothy Tyson Found the Woman at the Center of the Emmett Till Case.” Vanity Fair. 26 Jan. 2017.

You've undoubtedly memorized the story of Charles Manson and the Tate-LaBianca murders, but how much do you know about the lives of his followers, especially before they met him? Here's the life stories of five Manson Family members, which helps to explain how they became, well, Manson Family members: Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, Leslie VanHouten, Lynette Fromme (who attempted a presidential assassination), and Dianne Lake, the youngest member of the group. This is the first episode in the podcast's first season, "Accessories to Murder."

This is the first episode in the podcast's first season, "Accessories to Murder." If you like this episode, please subscribe, rate us with 5 stars on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher, and consider supporting us at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/edit/about?ru=%2Fclassafelons.

Host: Paris Brown

Produced, written, and edited by: Paris Brown

Music by:

Dr. Frankenstein. "Theme for 'The Mad Thinker'" from *The Cursed Tapes: Stolen Songs from Dr. Frankenstein's Lab*, 2005 and by

Julie Maxwell. "Childhood Memories" from *Farther Than All the Stars*, 2016.

Podcast artwork by: Nathalie Rattner ([email protected])

Logo lettering by: St. Anchor Graphics (IG: st.anchor)

Website: classafelons.wordpress.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/classafelonsbfilmsccups/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/classafelons_bfilms_cups/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClassAFelons

Reddit discussion group: https://www.reddit.com/r/ClassAFelons/

SOURCES AND RECOMMENDED READING:

The Anniston Star. “Relative of Miss Krenwinkel Found Dead in Mobile.” 22 Jun. 1970, p. 7.

Atkins, Susan. Child of Satan, Child of God. 1977. Menelorelin Dorenay’s Publishing, 2011.

Bravin, Jess. Squeaky: The Life and Times of Lynette Alice Fromme. St. Martin’s P, 1997.

Bugliosi, Vincent. Helter Skelter. W.W. Norton, 1974.

CieloDrive.com. “Leslie Van Houton.”

—. “Patricia Krenwinkel.”

—. “Susan Atkins.”

“Jeanne F. Jett Atkins.” Find A Grave.

Kendall, John. “‘Sexy Sadie’s’ Snitching Closed Door on Family.” Los Angeles Times. 26 Jan. 1971, p. 3.

Lake, Dianne. Member of the Family: My Story of Charles Manson, Life Inside his Cult, and the Darkness that Ended the Sixties. William Morrow, 2017.

Larsen, David. “Took Up with Strange Man: Father Recalls Odd Behavior of Girl Suspect in Tate Crime.” Los Angeles Times. 2 Dec 1969.

Sanchez, Mike. “Sharon’s Wedding Dress among Items Stolen from Debra Tate’s Home.” The Sensational Sharon Tate. 7 Sept 2011.

Torgerson, Dial. “‘Susan was a Good Kid’; Then Came Sadie Glutz. Los Angeles Times. 12 Dec. 1969.

Waters, John. Role Models. Farrah, Straus, & Giroux, 2010.

Introduction to the hosts, two mid-20th-century enthusiast sisters with murder on their minds. We discuss our backgrounds and what drives our interests in true crime and vintage culture. This episode also previews the first season of the podcast, "Accessories to Murder."