On a routine excursion, the Benders are ambushed. Guns are drawn. Is it a robbery, or something far more sinister? The couple are certain they’re about to be kidnapped. In the aftermath, they ramp up security at their jungle compound, hiring a former police chief to protect them. Fearing for their safety, the couple retreat further and further from the outside world.

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Dark forces gather as the Benders’ presence grows more controversial. The couple’s jungle fortress stands apart from everything around it - lavish, secretive and utterly out of place. Neighbours speculate. Resentments stir. Mystics speak of a curse. Behind the gates, the atmosphere shifts as the couple’s physical and mental health start to decline.

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A jungle compound. A midnight emergency call. The mystery begins. At the centre of it all: John and Ann Bender. Young, brilliant and impossibly rich, they set out to build a vast mansion and wildlife sanctuary in the Costa Rican rainforest. But something is off. Not everything in paradise is what it seems.

Hell in Heaven is a production of Exactly Right Media and iHeart Podcasts, produced by Blanchard House.

From Blanchard House

Hosted, Written and Produced by: Becky Milligan

Co-Writer and Producer: Poppy Damon

Original Music: Daniel Lloyd Evans, Louis Nanke-Mannell and Toby Matimong

Sound Recordist, and Head of Sound and Music: Daniel Lloyd-Evans

Lead Sound Designer: Volkan Kiziltug

Managing Producer: Amica Sciortino Nowlan

Creative Director: Rosie Pye

Executive Producer and Head of Content: Laurence Grissell

From Exactly Right

Artwork: Vanessa Lilak

Executive Producers: Karen Kilgariff, Georgia Hardstark and Danielle Kramer

Consulting Producer: Lily Ladewig

Associate Producer: Jay Elias

From iHeart Podcasts

Executive Producers: Katrina Norvell, Anna Stumpf and Nikki Ettore

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John and Ann Bender had hundreds of millions of dollars and one dream: to build a glittering glass mansion deep in the Costa Rican jungle. But paradise soon gave way to paranoia — with abduction plots, armed guards and a bedroom blazing with hundreds of Tiffany lamps. And then one night, it all ended in blood.

Hosted by award-winning journalist Becky Milligan, Hell in Heaven is an eight-part limited series from Blanchard House, Exactly Right Media and iHeart Podcasts.

Premieres Thursday, October 9. Follow Hell in Heaven wherever you get your podcasts — and see rare photos from the story at @exactlyright on Instagram.

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Host Becky Milligan hears about the king’s last supper and wonders if revenge really is a dish best served cold. She learns what happened to the royal children when they returned from exile and realizes nothing is ever quite what it seems. It’s time to reveal the whole truth. Can she finally lay King Boris III’s mystery to rest?

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When host Becky Milligan receives a surprise call from a crucial witness, she realizes she must revisit King Boris III’s autopsy. Shocking new evidence about his death comes tantalizingly close to solving the mystery, but time is not on anyone’s side. When an old friend turns up with a killer suggestion, it leaves a bad taste in Becky’s mouth.

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Accusations fly like bullets as host Becky Milligan discovers that King Boris III has been a hunted man for most of his life and has dodged more assassination attempts than James Bond. Did he ignore the one crucial message that could have saved his life? Becky feels the net closing in on the identity of the Butterfly King’s killer.

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It’s 1946, three years after King Boris III’s death and a heavy Iron Curtain has fallen over Bulgaria. What dark secrets does it conceal? Host Becky Milligan learns some disturbing facts about the Soviet secret services and why they couldn’t let sleeping kings lie. And we hear a haunting tale from the royal children as they meet their father again – three years after they buried him…

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We’re back at the Vrana Palace in Sofia, Bulgaria, where King Simeon II and Princess Maria Luisa tell host Becky Milligan about their narrow escape from targeted Allied bombings after their father’s death. As more secrets emerge from the pages of a British diplomat’s private diary, Becky is forced to consider an ugly possibility. But as she follows the trail of poison, a brand new suspect slithers into the frame.

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Can you trust anyone in wartime? Host Becky Milligan meets a man in Sofia, Bulgaria, who shows her a side of King Boris III that makes her question whether he’s really the hero of this story. As Becky picks her way through the viper’s nest of conflicted history, she must confront the royal children with some uncomfortable truths.

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