In this episode we talk about the second inspiration behind True Detective Season. 4, which is the mysterious case of the Mary Celeste Crew. When the Del Gratia came upon a ship that appeared to be sailing haphazardly, the captain put out a signal but heard nothing back. He told two of his men to go investigate, and what they found was bizarre. The entire crew was missing, but there didn't seem to be any clear indication as to why they left or what may have happened.

Sources:

sharda. “The Mystery of the Mary Celeste Ghost Ship.” Marine Insight, 4 Dec. 2018, www.marineinsight.com/maritime-history/the-mystery-of-the-mary-celeste-ghost-ship/.

Tikkanen, Amy. “Mary Celeste | Ship.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 22 Aug. 2017, www.britannica.com/topic/Mary-Celeste.

Wikipedia Contributors. “Mary Celeste.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 1 Feb. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Celeste.

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This is a bonus episode that covers current events. In it we cover the sentencing of 8 Passenger's Ruby Franke and her "mentor" jodi Hildebrandt, the murder of Audrii Cunningham, and the series "Who TF Did I Marry?" by Reesa Teesa on TikTok.

Sources:

Audrey Conklin, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten. “Texas Girl Audrii Cunningham Found Dead in River as Officials Eye Capital Murder Charge for Suspect.” Fox News, 20 Feb. 2024, www.foxnews.com/us/texas-girl-audrii-cunningham-found-dead-river-officials-eye-capital-murder-charge-suspect. Accessed 25 Feb. 2024.

Bansinath, Bindu. “What We Know about the Mommy Vlogger Accused of Child Abuse.” The Cut, 20 Feb. 2024, www.thecut.com/article/ruby-franke-utah-mommy-vlogger-pleads-guilty-to-child-abuse.html.

Miller, jordan. “Ruby Franke, Jodi Hildebrandt Sentenced to Prison in Utah Child Abuse Case.” The Salt Lake Tribune, 20 Feb. 2024, www.sltrib.com/news/2024/02/20/ruby-franke-jodi-hildebrandt-be/. Accessed 25 Feb. 2024.

Reesa Teesa on TikTok

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True Detective Season 4's show runner, Issa Lopez, said that this season was inspired by some real-life mysteries- the Dyatlov Pass incident and the Mary Celeste are the two that she named directly. In this episode we dive into the 1959 Dyatlov Pass incident, an expedition that ended with the deaths of all nine hikers involved. The hikers had clearly left their tent in a hurry, forced to cut themselves out from they inside and subsequently died throughout the wilderness of the Ural Mountains. Many of the circumstances were so strange that it created many questions that haven't been fully answered. In 2021 researchers believed they solved the mystery, so we discuss their theory alongside several other popular theories.

Sources:

Gaume, Johan, and Alexander M. Puzrin. “Mechanisms of Slab Avalanche Release and Impact in the Dyatlov Pass Incident in 1959.” Communications Earth & Environment, vol. 2, no. 1, 28 Jan. 2021, pp. 1–11, www.nature.com/articles/s43247-020-00081-8#ref-CR1, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-020-00081-8.

Mead, Derek. “Russia’s Dyatlov Pass Incident, the Strangest Unsolved Mystery of the Last Century.” Www.vice.com, 5 Sept. 2017, www.vice.com/en/article/wjj9yb/russias-dyatlov-pass-incident-the-strangest-unsolved-mystery-of-the-last-century.

Ouellette, Jennifer. “Confirmed: Avalanche Is Likeliest Explanation for Tragic Dyatlov Pass Incident.” Ars Technica, 31 Mar. 2022, arstechnica.com/science/2022/03/confirmed-avalanche-is-likeliest-explanation-for-tragic-dyatlov-pass-incident/.

Wikipedia Contributors. “Dyatlov Pass Incident.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Nov. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyatlov_Pass_incident.

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This is part 2 on the case of the Sexton family. Headed by Eddie Lee Sexton and Stella Sexton, the twelve children were forced to live like a violent cult. They had to follow their father's every command, and they were routinely abused - physically, mentally, and sexually. We covered the lead-up to part of the family going on the run together in part one, and we finish the case in this episode. Unfortunately, things turn fatal in this episode,

Sources:

Cauffiel, Lowell. House of Secrets. Kensington Publishing Corp., 1 Apr. 2014.

“Eddie Lee Sexton.” Wikipedia, 15 Sept. 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Lee_Sexton. Accessed 7 Feb. 2024.

Kozelek, Mark. Richard Ramirez Died Today of Natural Causes. 2014.

nowayalrightokay. “Songs about True Crime?” Reddit.com, 30 Aug. 2023,

www.reddit.com/r/TrueCrimePodcasts/comments/165pg2r/songs_about_true_crime/. Accessed 26 Jan. 2024.

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Sun Kil Moon wrote the song Richard Ramirez Died Today of Natural Causes. While the song repeatedly mentions Richard Ramirez and his crimes, it also mentions many other cases. One of them being the case of the Sexton family. The patriarch of the family was a man named Eddie Lee Sexton. He ran his family like a cult - forcing them to take part in bizarre satanic rituals and sexually assaulting all of his twelve children. His wife Stella went along with all of it. She sexually assaulted some of her children even without her husband present. When one of their children spoke out, DHS put the underage children in foster homes while they began investigating the parents. This set off a series of events that lead to Eddie Lee Sexton getting some of the kids back, then holding them hostage and taking them on the run throughout the country. Chaos and crime followed the family everywhere they went, and eventually innocent lives were lost. 

Sources:

Cauffiel, Lowell. House of Secrets. Kensington Publishing Corp., 1 Apr. 2014.

Kozelek, Mark. Richard Ramirez Died Today of Natural Causes. 2014.

nowayalrightokay. “Songs about True Crime?” Reddit.com, 30 Aug. 2023, www.reddit.com/r/TrueCrimePodcasts/comments/165pg2r/songs_about_true_crime/. Accessed 26 Jan. 2024.

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The movie Black Christmas, a cult classic, was inspired in part by a murderer dubbed The Lipstick Killer (because of a message the killer wrote in lipstick on a wall at the crime scene). The Lipstick Killer ended up being blamed for three murders, one of which was very different than the others. And a boy named William Heirens would be accused of being the Lipstick Killer, despite any evidence that pointed to his guilt. William Heirens was a troubled young boy, who started committing burglaries and thefts at a young age. He was institutionalized at two different boys schools because of his crimes at thirteen years old, which seemed to have a positive impact on his grades and life trajectory. His grades were good enough for him to get accepted to the University of Chicago when he was only seventeen, but he really struggled to shake his bad habits. Little did he know, his crimes would land him smack dab in the middle of the multiple-murder investigation. Many people, including experts in forensics and lawyers, believe Heirens is innocent of the murders.

Sources:

Crime: Bill and George. Time Magazine, 29 July 1946, web.archive.org/web/20091208035126/www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,776927-2,00.html.

Kennedy, Foster, et al. “Psychiatric Study of William Heirens Part of the Criminal Law Commons, Criminology Commons, and the Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons Recommended Citation.” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, vol. 38, no. Four, 1948, p. 1948, scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3496&context=jclc.

Presnell, Riley. “The Chilling True Story That Inspired “Black Christmas.”” Collider, 5 Dec. 2022, collider.com/black-christmas-true-story/#:~:text=The%201974%20cult%20classic%20Black. Accessed 4 Jan. 2024.

“Wayback Machine.” Web.archive.org, Apr. 2002, web.archive.org/web/20040618085916/www.law.northwestern.edu/depts/clinic/wrongful/documents/Heirenspetition.pdf.

“William Heirens.” Wikipedia, 16 Feb. 2022, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Heirens.

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On this episode we talk about three cases that made headlines over the past year. This includes deaths of over 400 people in the Shakahola Forest Massacre in Kenya, the completion of the trial for a woman who killed her friend with eye drops in order to steal more money from her, and the tragic disappearance of Nancy Ng in Guatemala during a yoga retreat.

Sources:

Gordon, Anna. “Kenyan Doomsday Cult Survivors Refuse to Eat: Latest Updates.” Time, 15 June 2023, time.com/6287440/kenya-shakahola-mackenzie-death-cult/.

Hanley , Erik. “Jessy Kurczewski Found Guilty on All Three Charges in Waukesha Eye Drops Homicide Trial.” Journal Sentinel, 14 Nov. 2023, www.jsonline.com/story/communities/west/2023/11/14/eye-drops-verdict-jury-finds-kurczewski-guilty-of-homicide-theft/71580120007/. Accessed 10 Dec. 2023.

Hilyard, Hannah. ““That’s a Disgusting Thing to Lie About”: Eye Drop Homicide Suspect’s Ex-Boyfriend Takes Stand.” WISN, 31 Oct. 2023, www.wisn.com/article/thats-a-disgusting-thing-to-lie-about-eye-drop-homicide-suspects-ex-boyfriend-takes-the-stand/45689159. Accessed 10 Dec. 2023.

“Kenya Court Jails Cult Leader Mackenzie for One and Half Years.” The East African, 1 Dec. 2023, www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/news/east-africa/court-jails-mackenzie-for-year-and-a-half-without-fine-4451120. Accessed 10 Dec. 2023.

Miriri, Duncan. “Inside a Kenyan Starvation Cult and Its Tragic End in a Forest of Death.” Reuters, 4 May 2023, www.reuters.com/world/africa/inside-kenyan-starvation-cult-its-tragic-end-forest-death-2023-05-04/.

Neath, amelia. “Nancy Ng Went Missing on a Guatemala Yoga Retreat. Could a Key Witness Help Find Her?” The Independent, 29 Nov. 2023, www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/nancy-ng-guatemala-missing-b2455781.html. Accessed 10 Dec. 2023.

“Paul Mackenzie Found Guilty and Jailed for One Year.” Www.youtube.com, www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbDA-D4_dhg. Accessed 10 Dec. 2023.

“Shakahola Forest Incident.” Wikipedia, 17 Nov. 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakahola_Forest_incident. Accessed 10 Dec. 2023.

Thiong’o, Josphat. “Kindiki: Makenzi Hired Armed Gangs to Kill Followers Who Backed out of Starving Plan or Took Too Long to Die.” The Standard, www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001473797/kindiki-makenzi-hired-armed-gangs-to-kill-followers-who-took-too-long-to-die. Accessed 10 Dec. 2023.

“What Happened to Missing California Woman Nancy Ng?” Inside Edition, 28 Nov. 2023, www.insideedition.com/what-happened-to-nancy-ng-the-california-woman-who-went-missing-while-kayaking-in-guatemala-84693. Accessed 10 Dec. 2023.

Yam, Kimmy. “Family of Woman Missing on Yoga Retreat Responds to Witness Who Broke Silence after Weeks.” NBC News, 21 Nov. 2023, www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/nancy-ng-missing-witness-yoga-retreat-rcna126262. Accessed 10 Dec. 2023.

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Lindsay Hawker was a beautiful, ambitious young woman working as an English teacher in Tokyo when she caught the eye of a deranged individual who lived in the area. He asked her to give him an English lesson, which she apprehensively agreed to. After telling her roommates she was leaving to meet him at public cafe, she vanished. She had left his name and address on a note for her roommates so police tracked him down after being called. Unfortunately the suspect was able to slip away and go on the run. He remained missing for years and when he was found, his face looked completely different. Hoping to avoid detection he had undergone multiple plastic surgeries, and even operated on himself. 

Sources:

Bill Hawker: Where Is My Daughter’s Killer? The Sunday Times, 16 Nov. 2008,

archive.ph/20081120070202/www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5139609.ece#selection-479.0-479.43. Accessed 22 Dec. 2023.

Crimes, Chilling. “Lindsay Ann Hawker.” Chilling Crimes, 19 Oct. 2021, www.chillingcrimes.com/blogs/news/lindsay-ann-hawker. Accessed 22 Dec. 2023.

McCurry, Justin. “Lindsay Hawker’s Killer, Tatsuya Ichihashi, Jailed for Life.” The Guardian, 21 July 2011, www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jul/21/lindsay-hawker-killer-jailed-life.

“Murder of Lindsay Hawker.” Wikipedia, 9 Sept. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Lindsay_Hawker.

Perry, richard Lloyd. “Asia Exile - Times Online - WBLG: Japanese Police Struggle to Find Lindsay’s Killer.” Web.archive.org, 28 Apr. 2007, web.archive.org/web/20070428174436/timesonline.typepad.com/times_tokyo_weblog/2007/03/japanse_police_.html. Accessed 22 Dec. 2023.

“Police Capture Japanese Master of Disguise Wanted for English Teacher’s 2007 Murder.” The Guardian, 10 Nov. 2009, www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/10/japan-murder-plastic-surgery-hawker.

“Wanted Man’s Self-Administered Plastic Surgery Story.” Stuff, 26 Jan. 2011, www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/books/4587607/Wanted-mans-self-administered-plastic-surgery-story. Accessed 22 Dec. 2023.

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When Alice Crimmins children went missing from their hoe in NYC, she thought her husband may have kidnapped them to spite her. He denied taking the children and offered to come help her find them, before the pair called police. Unfortunately a lack of leads and a lot of misogyny made the police focus on in on Alice almost immediately. Unfortunately, the children’s bodies would be found in different parts of the city later on and Alice would eventually have to fight for her innocence in the courtroom. This case inspired the book Little Deaths by Emma Flint, but there’s still not much known about what actually happened to the children in real life. We dive into all of it and more on this episode! 

Sources

“Alicia Crimmins | Murderpedia, the Encyclopedia of Murderers.”

Murderpedia.org, murderpedia.org/female.C/c/crimmins-alice.htm. Accessed 24 Nov. 2023.

“Little Deaths.” Goodreads, www.goodreads.com/book/show/27845924-little-deaths. Accessed 24 Nov. 2023.

WallabyGlittering634. Alice Crimmins-I Just Watched This on Investigation Discovery Give Your Opinion,I Am Gonna Put the Story in the Comments. 24 Aug. 2023,

www.reddit.com/r/TrueCrimeDiscussion/comments/160fvcx/alice_crimminsi_just_watched_this_on/. Accessed 24 Nov. 2023.

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Alisha Allen rushed over to her friend, Tynisha Ysais’, house after hearing she may have been assaulted earlier in the day. As she approached the complex she noticed a man walking around completely naked and covered in blood. Thankfully she was able to flag down a passing police officer to alert him to the strange man. Officers approached the man, who clearly had a meaty substance stuck to his facial hair, and arrested him without incident. Meanwhile Alisha continued towards her friends apartment. When she walked in she found her friend dead on her bedroom floor - she had been completely brutalized. One of her lungs and part of her intestines were pulled out of her body and piled on top of her body, and it looked as though her murderer had taken bites out of parts of her body. Tynisha was a mother of two who hoped to become a model and she was only twenty-one. 

The man police arrested was her roommate, an up and coming horror core rapper named Big Lurch. Many of his songs contained lyrics about murdering and cannibalizing people, but how much does someones art say about them? 

Sources:

Archives, L. A. Times. “Attorney Is Ordered to Pay $1.2 Million in Malpractice Suit.” Los Angeles Times, 1 June 2004, www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-jun-01-me-grimes1-story.html. Accessed 10 Nov. 2023.

“Big Lurch.” Wikipedia, 24 Apr. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Lurch.

“Big Lurch – I Did It to You!” Genius.com, genius.com/Big-lurch-i-did-it-to-you-lyrics. Accessed 10 Nov. 2023.

“BIG LURCH: “I WAS SET-up by MY LAWYER MILTON GRIMES & GANG-BANGERS.”” A 3XL ORIGINAL, 15 May 2017, 3xloriginals.wordpress.com/2017/05/15/big-lurch-i-was-set-up-by-my-lawyer-milton-grimes-gang-bangers/. Accessed 10 Nov. 2023.

Kelleher, Jennifer Sinco. “Aspiring Texas Rapper to Stand Trial in Death of L.A. Woman.” Los Angeles Times, 30 May 2002, www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-may-30-me-teeth30-story.html. Accessed 10 Nov. 2023.

“Lawsuit: “Gangsta” Image Prompted Woman’s Murder.” Chicago Tribune, 14 Apr. 2003, www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2003-04-14-0304140242-story.html. Accessed 10 Nov. 2023.

Malnic, Eric. “Man Gets Life for Woman’s Murder.” Los Angeles Times, 8 Nov.

2003, www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-nov-08-me-rapper8-story.html. Accessed 10 Nov. 2023.

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