Crime&Stuff

Helen Jewett was smart, attractive, savvy and ambitious. Unfortunately, it was the 1830s and, born Dorcas Doyon and raised as an orphan servant girl in Augusta, Maine, she didn’t have a lot of options. And the lack of options all came crashing down when she was murdered in her bed in New York City in 1836. While it happened nearly two centuries ago, as the story plays out, it could’ve easily been yesterday.

We also have the latest on the Breonna Taylor case, including what the grand jury heard.

And Maureen goes off the NNW charts on a documentary that… just didn’t live up to her standards.

We’ve wicked had it with people looking at some accomplished white guy and saying “a guy like that wouldn’t kill his wife (or family).” No, this isn’t about Jeffrey MacDonald, though Mo does give an impassioned defense of Joe McGinnis and “Fatal Vision,” and then, yes, we look at another case where a guy “who couldn’t have done something like that,” roared right through a lot of red flags, and another beautiful and loving woman is dead.

We have another quick Breonna Taylor update (Episode 77), and we also update the Aela Mansmann “school bullying” case (Episode 71).

In our NNW ratings, Rebecca takes on “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark,” the documentary (though she hasn’t finished watching it…)

It’s easy to blame the internet for teenager Bianca Devins’ murder in Utica, N.Y. in 2019. After all, like most kids her age, she was all over it — on social media, on gaming sites. Meeting people, many of them predatory. But what it really comes down to is good old-fashioned toxic masculinity, misogyny and people around her and her killer not seeing the huge red flags hitting them in the face.

We also update Episode 77 with the Breonna Taylor settlement, and Mo takes on the documentary “Outcry” in our NNW ratings.

On December 19, 1959, the Walker family — dad Cliff, mom Christine, 4-year-old Jimmy and 2-year-old Debbie — were found murdered in their remote Osprey, Florida, house. Some 61 years later, no one has been charged. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some very interesting suspects…

Also, we update the Breonna Taylor case (Episode 77) and Rebecca does an NNW rated of the book she read for her Episode 82 topic. Taking away a point…

Mark Hoffman seemed like a nice guy, and as a collector of, and dealer in, historic documents, particularly those relating to the LDS church, he really had a knack for finding just the right pieces. Then the bombings started…

We also look at domestic violence stats and myths in a Maine-ish mini, and Mo shreds, um reviews, “Blood Runs Cold.”

That’s right, listeners! Time for one of our classic summer update episodes. We catch you up on the Yoga Twins, our Episode 1 stars, all the way through Ghislaine Maxwell, with lots in between including some impassioned rants, as always.

And check out our new logo!

Susan Taraskiewicz was working at her dream job, one she had to fight to get, as ramp crew supervisor at Boston’s Logan Airport. But there were other people who weren’t so happy about it. Then one night, she left to get sandwiches for the crew and never came back. Her beaten and stabbed body was found the next morning in the trunk of her car. That was 1992 and now, 28 years later, her killer still hasn’t been brought to justice.

And in our Negative Nellies reviews, Rebecca takes on “I Know This Much is True,” and Maureen tries to grapple with why she’s hate-reading a mystery series.

When Steven Fortin attacked Maine State Trooper Vicki Gardner on a lonely stretch of Interstate 95, he couldn’t have known that it would lead him being convicted for the murder of Melissa Padilla, in New Jersey.

Also, the new “Unsolved Mysteries.” How does it stack up to the old one? We give it the NNW rating treatment.

Maybe the world is shocked that socialite predator fugitive Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested in New Hampshire, but we’re not. Not even a little bit. The Granite State has a long history of real-life fugitives heading thinking they can hide there. So while the world says, “Why New Hampshire?” we say, “How coul dit not have been?”

We also update Noah Gaston’s prison sentence and have the latest on Breonna Taylor.

And Rebecca reviews a show that Maureen would rather stick white-hot pokers through her eyes than watch. Fun!

From Breonna Taylor to Atatiana Jefferson to Eleanor Bumpurs and more, the number of Black women killed by police is mind-blowing, particularly those killed in their own homes. It’s all for no good reason. We try to at least take a look at the tip of the iceburg and shine a ittle light on it.

Our Negative Nellie Reviews this epiosde continue the conversation, about race, white privilege and what really happens when the police burst into someone’s home, with the documentaries “The Rachel Divide,” and “Peace Officer.”