Crime&Stuff

Laura Howard had gone through a messy divorce in her home state of Massachusetts, and thought Florida would be a great place to make a new start. Once in Fort Myers, she became known for her big heart, kindness and generosity. But people will always take advantage, won’t they? On May 3, 2013, police found her dead in her bathtub, and her lodger, Simon Storm, was nowhere to be found. Eight years later, police are still looking for Simon, who’s actually Robert Kuehn, a Florida “chamelon con man” with a history of preying on women.

And, in our NNW rating, Rebecca discusses Tana French’s novel “In the Woods,” audio book version.

We’re taking a break for a few weeks, but we want to make sure you have something to entertain you while we’re not around, so we have recommendations for our current top podcasts, TV shows and books. And we also give the NNW treatment to the Netflix doc Sophie. Enjoy!

Frank Sandford was just another baseball-playing kid from a big rural Maine family until the spirit hit him when he was 16. Before Jonestown, before Scientology, Sandford’s self-styled religion gained followers across the globe, as well as at his massive compound in Durham, Maine. Many ultimately followed him right to their graves.

Rebecca also updates the honey-bee murder, Maureen has some rants and she also gives the NNW treatment to the Netflix miniseries “Harlan Coben’s The Stranger.”

When Gerald Goodale was convicted of killing Geraldine Finn in 1989 in Waterville, Maine, there was something else hanging over his head. Finally, in 2021, it came back to bite him.

Also, we give the HBO series “Mare of Easttown” the NNW treatment!

The brutal attack by a stranger that Sherry York suffered one night in  a Portland, Maine, parking lot was compounded by the narrative that followed: her attacker was a family man and firefighter, the story went. She was a sex worker and drug user. But what was the real story?

Rebecca also updates the Angel Torres disappearance.

We celebrate 100 episodes by counting down our favorite songs about crime. What, you were expecting a party? Well, you’ve got one!

Every murderer makes mistakes, and it only takes a couple to mess the whole thing up. Inventor Todd Howley thought he was pretty smart, but he made more than a couple when he killed Paul Maasland, a nice guy whose biggest mistake was trusting Howley with his money.

Also, a special dual NNW rating of the Netlfix docuseries “This is a Robbery.”

Enjoy!

When a friend asked Charlie Howard why he didn’t protect himself from harassment by acting “a little less gay,” he said told the friend he wasn’t going to be a participant in his own oppression. A few days later, three teenage boys threw Howard, 23, to his death off a Bangor, Maine, bridge. The 1984 killing of a man, just because he was gay, still resonates today.

Also, a Maine mini on the death of Rhonda Pattelena, a domestic violence attack that happened in front of dozens of witnesses on York Beach, Maine; updates on Ghislaine Maxwell, and, wait for it… the never-going-away Episode 29, Wicked Bad Chemistry.

Sarah Everard was walking home from a friend’s house in south London on the night of March 3. She never got there. What happened next reopened wounds festering in the UK, and around the world, since the Yorkshire Ripper case more than 40 years before. And it once again raises the question, when is male violence against women going to become a men problem instead of a women problem?

Also, Maureen talks about the latest Acadia National Park fatal hiking trip and Rebecca gives an update on Maine wife-killer Noah Gaston, as well as an NNW rating to the HBO docuseries “Murder in Middle Beach”