Crimes and Consequences

In 1924, two wealthy, brilliant University of Chicago students set out to commit what they believed would be the perfect crime.Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb believed themselves intellectually superior and beyond ordinary moral restraint. Inspired (and deeply misreading) the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, they convinced themselves that rules applied to other people.It became the first true Trial of the Century. A national referendum on free will, punishment, privilege, youth, psychology, and whether the state should answer killing with killing.Were Leopold and Loeb supermen?Or were they privileged, deluded young men who mistook intelligence for immunity?🎙️ Join us as we dismantle the myth.

In 1924, two wealthy, brilliant University of Chicago students set out to commit what they believed would be the perfect crime.Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb believed themselves intellectually superior and beyond ordinary moral restraint. Inspired (and deeply misreading) the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, they convinced themselves that rules applied to other people.It became the first true Trial of the Century. A national referendum on free will, punishment, privilege, youth, psychology, and whether the state should answer killing with killing.Were Leopold and Loeb supermen?Or were they privileged, deluded young men who mistook intelligence for immunity?  Join us as we dismantle the myth.Because intelligence without empathy is not superiority. It’s danger.

On a quiet stretch of Midwestern road, just outside the small town where everyone knew everyone else, DiAnne Kiedel disappeared into the kind of mystery that only seems possible in places that feel safe. She was a mother. A neighbor. The woman who waved when she drove past. And then, suddenly, she was the center of whispered conversations, late-night searches, and a question that refused to fade: what really happened that night? In this episode, we peel back the layers of a story that starts with an ordinary evening—and spirals into something far darker than anyone in town was prepared to face.

SOURCES:
1) Old Time Crime: 1966 missing person case solved 27 years later
2) The Eternal Flame
3) The Eternal Flame Part 2
4) Memory of Slaying Kept Secret for 29 Years

On a quiet night that should have ended like any other, one violent act set off a chain of events that would fracture a community and leave more questions than answers. The murder of Trent Digiuro didn’t arrive with warning signs or a clear villain—it unfolded in the blurred space between friendship and fear, impulse and intention. In the days that followed, whispers traveled faster than facts, and investigators began pulling at threads that revealed a far more complicated story than it first appeared. What happened to Trent wasn’t just about a single moment of violence, but about the choices made before it—and the ones that followed—that would ultimately force everyone involved to reckon with the truth.

SOURCES: 
1) Man convicted of killing UK player in ‘90s back in court in another new case 
2) Dateline: The Motive
3) DiGiuros Find Closure in Wrongful Death Suit
4) Notorious 1990s slaying of UK football player featured in new true crime series
5) A Killer Among Friends: A Killer on Campus

On a quiet Oregon highway in 1983, a mother claimed a stranger stepped out of the dark and destroyed her family. It was a lie.In this episode, we examine Diane Downs, a woman who shot her three children, killed one of them, and then calmly rewrote reality in front of police, doctors, jurors, and the nation.We trace the night of the shootings, the unraveling carjacking narrative, chilling courtroom behavior, and the moment investigators realized they weren’t dealing with a grieving mother; but a remorseless architect of violence.

On a quiet February morning in 1960, one of America’s most powerful brewing dynasties collided with every parent’s worst nightmare. Adolph Coors III—heir to a beer empire, devoted father, and fixture of Colorado’s elite—vanished on his way to work, leaving behind an abandoned car, a single shoe, and a trail of unanswered questions. What followed was a tense, high-stakes drama that gripped the nation: cryptic demands, frantic negotiations, and a family forced to make impossible decisions under the glare of public attention. This is the story of a disappearance that exposed the vulnerabilities of immense wealth—and set off a chain of events no one could control.

SOURCES: 
1) A Look Back on the Coors Kidnapping
2) Coors Kidnapping Ransom Note
3) On This Day in History: Coors brewery heir kidnapped
4) Adolph Coors III
5) Joseph Corbett v. The People of the State of Colorado 6) Archivegrid: Adolph Coors III investigation collection

In this episode of Crimes & Consequences, we unravel The Death Cap Mushroom Murders. A case that begins with a homemade lunch and ends with multiple deaths, a complex investigation, and a courtroom reckoning that captivated the world. Calm on the surface. Calculated beneath.
This is a story about proximity, patience, and the terrifying power of something so ordinary it could be served for dinner.

On a quiet residential street, a family lived a life that looked ordinary from the outside—routine, familiar, unremarkable. But behind closed doors, a history already existed, one that had passed through courtrooms, parole boards, and official records, quietly waiting. When authorities were finally called to the house, they arrived expecting one kind of emergency and discovered another entirely—one that would force investigators, prosecutors, and the public to confront uncomfortable questions about warning signs, second chances, and the consequences of decisions made long before anyone thought they mattered. This is the story of Gregory Green—and the tragedy that revealed how the past never really stays buried.

SOURCES: 
1) Dearborn Heights Man Pleads Guilty In Slayings Of His 2 Kids, 2 Stepchildren
2) Man accused of killing family in Dearborn Heights pleads guilty to murder, torture charges
3) Police: Father kills 2 children, 2 teens at Dearborn Heights home
4) Man accused of killing family in Dearborn Heights arraigned on 4 counts of murder
5) ‘You Are The Devil In Disguise’: Ex-Wife To Man Who Murdered Her 4 Children
6) Popular Pastor Pushed for Parole of Daughter's Ex-Con Husband Who Killed Their 4 Children
7) Competency exam ordered for man accused of killing family in Dearborn Heights
8) Mom of 4 slain kids to killer husband: "Justice will come when you burn in hell"

Step inside the chilling world of Dr. H. H. Holmes, the suave con man, medical fraudster, and architect of America’s most infamous “Murder Castle.” In this Early Release episode, we peel back the polished veneer Holmes wore so well to expose the predator beneath. Aman who turned charm into a weapon, bodies into profit, and opportunity into terror.From his eerie medical-school schemes and corpse-insurance scams…
to the labyrinthine Englewood building designed to confuse, isolate, and kill…
to the devastating murder of Benjamin Pitezel and the cross-country hunt for his missing children…
this episode follows the full arc of a man who reinvented himself with every handshake and erased those who trusted him.Thank you to Patreon member Tiffany M. for the suggestion!!

On a warm summer morning in Calgary, a family home sat strangely still—a sense of unease settling over the quiet suburban street. Five-year-old Nathan O’Brien had spent the night at his grandparents’ house, a place that had always been a sanctuary of comfort and routine. But when his mother arrived the next day, nothing was as it should have been. What began as a welfare check quickly spiraled into one of the most haunting mysteries the city had ever faced. In this episode, we unravel the timeline, the community’s desperate search, and the unsettling trail of clues that left investigators scrambling for answers. This is the story of a night that changed everything.

SOURCES:
1) Calgary triple-murder trial hears DNA from three victims found at suspect’s farm
2) Appeal Court upholds sentence for man convicted of killing Calgary couple, grandson
3) Wikipedia Page for Murders of Nathan O'Brien, Kathryn Liknes and Alvin Liknes
4) Timeline of events in the case of the missing 5-year-old and his grandparents
5) Douglas Garland triple-murder trial: medical examiner says victims ‘may still have been alive’
6) The Nathan O'Brien Foundation
7) Family of Nathan O’Brien launches children’s foundation with $1 million donation
8) Douglas Garland killed Calgary couple and grandson over 'petty grudge,' court hears
9) ‘He neither forgave nor forgot’: Crown says Garland planned triple murder
10) How the Man Who Committed One of Canada’s Most Gruesome Murders Was Caught