Criminal

People have faked death to escape criminal convictions, debts, and their spouses. In 2007, a man named Amir Vehabovic faked his death just to see who showed up at the funeral (answer: only his mom). It's an appealing soap-opera fantasy, but actually disappearing requires an incredible amount of planning. How do you obtain a death certificate, a believable new identity, or enough money to start a new life? Today -- the answers to those questions, stories of fake death gone wrong, and a man who spends his life bringing back the dead.

 

Playing Dead: A Journey Through the World of Death Fraud, by Elizabeth Greenwood

 

 

Steven Rambam's Investigative Agency, Pallorium, Inc.

 

 

Criminal is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

 

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Artwork by Julienne Alexander.

In 2005, Teri Knight drove 650 miles on midwestern roads through Ohio, Indiana, Iowa and Illinois, pleading with the public to help her do what the police and the FBI had not been able to: find the remains of her children Sarah and Philip Gehring. An Ohio woman read about Teri Knight's search in her local paper, and decided she would try to help.

 

Criminal is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

If you haven't already, please review us on iTunes! It's an important way to help new listeners discover the show: iTunes.com/CriminalShow.

Say hello on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Sign up for The Accomplice.

If you'd like to introduce friends or family members to podcasts, we created a How to Listen guide based on frequently asked questions.

Artwork by Julienne Alexander.

In 1849, abolitionist and attorney Wendell Phillips wrote: "We should look in vain through the most trying times of our revolutionary history for an incident of courage and noble daring to equal that of the escape of William and Ellen Craft; and future historians and poets would tell this story as one of the most thrilling in the nation's annals, and millions would read it, with admiration of the hero and heroine of the story." Unfortunately, almost 170 years later, William and Ellen Craft aren't well known anymore. Today, we have the story of this couple's incredible escape. 

 

Read the Craft's book: Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/585

Barbara McCaskill wrote about William and Ellen Craft in Love, Liberation, and Escaping SlaveryWilliam and Ellen Craft in Cultural Memory
http://www.ugapress.org/index.php/books/loveliberationescaping_slavery

 

Criminal is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

If you haven't already, please review us on iTunes! It's an important way to help new listeners discover the show: iTunes.com/CriminalShow.

Say hello on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Sign up for The Accomplice.

If you'd like to introduce friends or family members to podcasts, we created a How to Listen guide based on frequently asked questions.

Artwork by Julienne Alexander.

In 2010, Michael McIntosh's son was incarcerated at the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility in the small town of Walnut Grove, Mississippi. One Sunday, McIntosh went to visit his son and was turned away because, he was told, prison officials "did not know" where his son was. He spent the next six weeks searching for his son, only to find him in the hospital   with severe injuries. And McIntosh's son wasn't the only one who had been hurt at the facility. Walnut Grove was such a violent prison that one Federal Judge called it "a cesspool of unconstitutional and inhuman acts." Today, we have the story of an especially troubled youth prison, the for-profit corporations that managed it, and the small town that relied on it. 

 

 

The U.S. Department of Justice Investigation of the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility

 

 

The Southern Poverty Law Center Lawsuit

 

 

The U.S. Department of Justice Memo Re: Reducing the Use of Private Prisons

 

 

Criminal is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

If you haven't already, please review us on iTunes! It's an important way to help new listeners discover the show: iTunes.com/CriminalShow.

Say hello on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Sign up for The Accomplice.

If you'd like to introduce friends or family members to podcasts, we created a How to Listen guide based on frequently asked questions.

Artwork by Julienne Alexander.

To close out 2016, we're bringing you two lighter stories of people exhibiting everyday genius under. . . unusual circumstances. Comedian Dave Holmes' story begins with an upsetting phone call from the IRS. Then we meet a Baton Rouge attorney with a story of wild resourcefulness at Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as Angola.

A word of caution, this episode contains language that may not be suitable for everyone.

 

Criminal is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

 

If you haven't already, please review us on iTunes! It's an important way to help new listeners discover the show: iTunes.com/CriminalShow.

 

Say hello on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Sign up for The Accomplice.

 

If you'd like to introduce friends or family members to podcasts, we created a How to Listen guide based on frequently asked questions.

 

Artwork by Julienne Alexander.  

 

The Magic Castle in Hollywood has been a private club for magicians since 1963, and its walls are lined with portraits of magicians past and present. Among them is a portrait of one of the earliest American organized crime bosses and conmen, Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith. And though it may seem strange that this "mecca of magic" honors a criminal, Soapy's legacy reveals just how blurry the line is between a delightful trick and a dirty one. 

 

Criminal is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

Congratulations to our fellow Radiotopia show The Heart, which just won first prize at the Third Coast International Audio Festival for their story Mariya, about one woman’s experience with female genital mutilation and how she broaches the subject in conversation with her family. You can listen here: http://www.theheartradio.org/solos/mariya.

Radiotopia’s flagship show is 99% Invisible, hosted by Roman Mars. 99% Invisible is ostensibly a show about design and architecture. But really it’s a show about who we are through the lens of the things we build. Because, even though we are surrounded by the stuff we’ve made, from tiny objects to massive structures, that physical matter is only 1% of the story. The rest is 99% Invisible. Go listen.

SPOILER WARNING: Please listen to Episode 53: Melinda and Judy before you listen to this one.

Melinda Dawson found out on the same day in 1998 that her adoptive mother had been killed and that her husband Clarence was being charged with the murder. Clarence was convicted in 1999 and given two life sentences. Left alone with her two sons, no money, and no experience, Melinda set out to try and prove that he was innocent. She started with a suspect list. 

 

Special thanks to David Massar, who is currently working on a film about Melinda's life story, Miss America. 

 
We are on tour! We will be in Chicago, Iowa City, Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Toronto. Find out more here. 

Criminal is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

When Melinda Dawson was seven years old, she learned that she was adopted under mysterious circumstances. As she got older and had children of her own, she tried to learn something about her biological parents. And when she went to the county courthouse and asked to see a copy of her birth certificate, she discovered that she was an unwitting participant in something much bigger and more complicated than she could have imagined. 

We are going on tour! We will be in Washington, Durham, Philadelphia, Anaheim, New York, Boston, Chicago, Iowa City, Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Toronto. Find out more here.

Criminal is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

SPOILER WARNING: Please listen to Episode 51: Money Tree before you
listen to this one. While working on our last episode, we became
curious about the nature of psychopathy -- how it is defined, and what
to do if someone close to you meets the criteria. We spoke with Dr.
Ronald Schouten, author of Almost a Psychopath, and Jon Ronson, author
of [The Psychopath Test](https://www.amazon.com/Psychopath-Test-Journey-Through-Industry/dp/1594485755/ref=sr11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1475783119&sr=1-1&keywords=psychopath+test+jon+ronson).

We are going on tour! We will be in Washington, Durham, Philadelphia, Anaheim, New York, Boston, Chicago, Iowa City, Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Toronto.  Find out more here.

Criminal is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

When Axton Betz-Hamilton was 11 years old, her parents' identities were stolen. At that time, in the early 90s, consumer protection services for identity theft victims were basically non-existent. So the family dealt with the consequences as best they could. But then when Axton got to college, she realized that her identity had been stolen as well. Her credit score was in the lowest 2%.  As she was working to restore her credit, she inadvertently discovered who had stolen the family's identity. It would change everything forever.  

View the photograph Axton describes here.  

Criminal is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

If you haven't already, please review us on Apple Podcasts! It's an important way to help new listeners discover the show: iTunes.com/CriminalShow.

Say hello on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Sign up for our newsletter, The Accomplice.

If you'd like to introduce friends or family members to podcasts, we created a How to Listen guide based on frequently asked questions.

Artwork by Julienne Alexander.