9-year old Omaree Varela’s lifeless, bruised, and tattered body was recovered at the base of toy bouncy horse just two days after Christmas in 2013. His mother and stepfather claimed his death was the result of a freak accident while playing with his younger sibling. However, the marks on Omaree’s body and a horrifying 22 minute 911 call just six months earlier paint a much more sinister picture of what really happened.

Episode 128

Sword and Scale is a true crime podcast covering the dark underworld of crime and the criminal justice system’s response to it. The first episode launched January 1st, 2014 and feature stories of murder, abduction, rape, and even more bizarre forms of crime. It’s the purest form of true-crime where the raw uncensored audio tells the story. Everything from 911 calls to court testimony, interviews with victims and sometimes with perpetrators give listeners a 360 degree look at the seedy underbelly of human nature and so-called civilized society. Told from an everyman's point of view, Sword and Scale goes beyond the news clips and the sensationalist headlines to hold up a mirror to the audience and ask, "Is it us versus them? Or are we just like 'them' too?" Sword and scale proves that the worst monsters are real.

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65-year-old Marilyn Gandert worked for the U.S. Postal Service for over 30 years. She was a solitary woman who lived alone and was getting ready to sell her house and retire. Tragically, Marilyn was never able to enjoy her retirement. In January of 2018, her mangled and charred remains were found on a backroad in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. Someone had brutally beaten and stabbed Marilyn to death, covered her in gasoline, and burned her body.

Episode 261

A group of kids playing with a mysterious app called Randonautica follow its directions to Alki Beach in West Seattle. There they find a strange black suitcase on the rocks below the pier. Intrigued, they open the case to reveal a putrid smell. Responding officers would find other bags and reveal the suitcase was filled with the dismembered body parts of two people, Jessica Lewis and Austin Wenner. Seattle would be gripped in fear until their killer was caught.

Episode 260

When Jessica Lynn Reale was 13-years-old, she was timid and untrusting. In early October of 1997, she mustered the courage to approach her 8th grade math teacher, a woman she’d only known for a number of weeks, to tell her a huge secret she had been keeping. Jessica told her teacher that she couldn’t go back home because someone had poured bleach all over her. This situation warranted a CPS report, but the involvement of the FBI or Sacramento County Law Enforcement was unexpected.

Episode 259

Micheal Redlick was a high-powered sports executive in his mid-sixties living with his kids and much younger wife, Danielle. To onlookers, the Redlick family seemed to have it all, but inside their gorgeous multi-million dollar home, misery had been brewing for decades and it all imploded on January 11, 2018.

Episode 258

Sue Taynor was worried about her 21-year-old daughter, Jessica Sacco. She was bipolar, depressed, and vulnerable, having just gotten out of a bad relationship. When Jessica moved into a one-bedroom apartment in Urbana, Ohio, she began to open her home up to people who were a negative influence on her. Soon enough, there were six people living in the small unit. By the end of March, 2012, there would only be five.

Episode 128

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