Hitched 2 Homicide

On the afternoon of November 24, 1971, a nondescript man in a dark suit and black clip-on tie walked up to the Northwest Orient Airlines counter at Portland International Airport and bought a one-way ticket on Flight 305 to Seattle. He gave his name as Dan Cooper. Shortly after takeoff on the Boeing 727, he handed flight attendant Florence Schaffner a note claiming he had a bomb in his briefcase. He demanded $200,000 in twenty-dollar bills and four parachutes.

When the plane landed in Seattle, he released the 36 passengers in exchange for the ransom and parachutes, kept several crew members, and ordered the aircraft to fly toward Mexico City at low altitude with the landing gear down. Somewhere between Seattle and Reno, he lowered the rear airstair and parachuted into a stormy night over the forests of southwest Washington with the money. He was never seen again.

This is the only unsolved commercial airline hijacking in American history. The FBI codenamed the case NORJAK (Northwest Hijacking) and pursued it for 45 years, considering more than 800 suspects. In 1980, a boy found $5,800 of the marked ransom bills on the banks of the Columbia River (the Tena/Tina Bar discovery). The black clip-on tie Cooper left behind later yielded a DNA sample. In 2016, the FBI officially suspended its active investigation.

In this episode of Hitched 2 Homicide, Kris and Rob break down the full timeline of the hijacking, the physical evidence, the flight path and jump zone, the money that washed up years later, the most credible suspects, and the enduring questions: Did D.B. Cooper survive the jump? Was the bomb real? And why has this case captured the public imagination for more than 50 years?

Subscribe to Hitched 2 Homicide for more true crime deep dives. Visit hitched2homicide.com for episode notes, and follow us on Instagram @hitched2homicide.

#DBCooper #DanCooper #TrueCrime #UnsolvedMystery #Hijacking1971 #NORJAK #Flight305 #NorthwestOrient #TrueCrimePodcast #Hitched2Homicide #ColdCase #UnsolvedHijacking #ParachuteJump #RansomMoney #Hitched2Homicide

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Toni Jo Henry, born Annie Beatrice McQuiston near Shreveport in 1916, lived a hard life of addiction and work in Louisiana and Texas brothels. In the fall of 1939 she met Claude “Cowboy” Henry, a down-on-his-luck prize fighter. He helped her get off drugs. They married on November 25, 1939, and honeymooned briefly in California.

Weeks later, Cowboy was convicted of murdering a former police officer in a Texas bar fight and sentenced to 50 years at Huntsville. Toni Jo vowed to free him. On Valentine’s Day 1940, she and accomplice Harold “Arkie” Burks were hitchhiking when salesman Joseph P. Calloway offered them a ride in the new Ford V8 Coupe he was delivering. They robbed him at gunpoint, locked him in the trunk, drove to a remote rice field between Lake Charles and Jennings, made him strip (she wanted the clothes for Cowboy’s escape), and shot him in the head with a .32.

The plan was to use the car to rob a bank in Arkansas and fund a prison break. Arkie eventually fled with the car; Toni Jo confessed and led police to the body. She was tried three times, each time convicted and sentenced to death. While awaiting execution she was baptized Catholic by Father Wayne Richard.

On November 28, 1942, she became the only woman ever executed in Louisiana’s electric chair (the state’s portable chair, sometimes called Gruesome Gertie), in the basement of the Calcasieu Parish jail in Lake Charles. Days earlier, Cowboy had briefly escaped from a Texas prison farm in a futile attempt to help her.

In this episode of Hitched 2 Homicide, Kris and Rob examine the relationship that drove the crime, the Valentine’s Day murder, the three trials, the execution details, and why Toni Jo’s story remains one of Louisiana’s most infamous true-crime cases.

#ToniJoHenry #CowboyHenry #ClaudeHenry #TrueCrime #LouisianaTrueCrime #ElectricChair #Hitched2Homicide #TrueCrimePodcast #ValentineDayMurder #JosephCalloway #ArkieBurks #GruesomeGertie #FemaleExecution

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Salem Witch Trials of 1692: Witch Hunts, Executions, and Salem's Haunted History Part 2

The Salem Witch Trials remain one of the most disturbing cases of mass hysteria, false accusations, and judicial injustice in American history.

It began when two young girls in Salem Village exhibited strange behavior that frightened their families. Soon, accusations of witchcraft spread like wildfire. Enslaved woman Tituba, impoverished Sarah Good, and elderly Sarah Osborne became the first targets of a terrifying investigation.

Before it was over, more than 150 people had been imprisoned. Nineteen men and women were hanged, and 81-year-old Giles Corey was crushed to death beneath heavy stones after refusing to enter a plea.

In this episode of Hitched 2 Homicide, we take a deep dive into the true crime history behind the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, exploring the role of Puritan religious beliefs, the mysterious behavior of the afflicted girls, the devastating testimony of Ann Putnam Jr., and the use of spectral evidence that made defending yourself nearly impossible.

We'll uncover the heartbreaking stories of Rebecca Nurse, John and Elizabeth Proctor, George Burroughs, and Giles Corey. We'll examine how the courts allowed fear to replace facts and why it took centuries for some victims to receive justice.

And because Salem's story didn't end with the executions, we'll explore the city's haunted reputation, including the ghost of Giles Corey, the legends surrounding the Witch House, the historic cemeteries, and the actual execution site at Proctor's Ledge.

Were the Salem Witch Trials simply the result of religious extremism and mass hysteria? Did personal grudges help fuel the accusations? And why, more than 300 years later, does Salem remain one of America's most famous haunted destinations?

Join us for a chilling journey into colonial America's darkest witch hunt—where being accused could be a death sentence, innocence offered little protection, and the truth was buried beneath fear.

Listen to Hitched 2 Homicide as we investigate the history, victims, executions, and haunting legacy of the Salem Witch Trials.

Sources used for this podcast

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Salem Witch Trials of 1692: Witch Hunts, Executions, and Salem's Haunted History

The Salem Witch Trials remain one of the most disturbing cases of mass hysteria, false accusations, and judicial injustice in American history.

It began when two young girls in Salem Village exhibited strange behavior that frightened their families. Soon, accusations of witchcraft spread like wildfire. Enslaved woman Tituba, impoverished Sarah Good, and elderly Sarah Osborne became the first targets of a terrifying investigation.

Before it was over, more than 150 people had been imprisoned. Nineteen men and women were hanged, and 81-year-old Giles Corey was crushed to death beneath heavy stones after refusing to enter a plea.

In this episode of Hitched 2 Homicide, we take a deep dive into the true crime history behind the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, exploring the role of Puritan religious beliefs, the mysterious behavior of the afflicted girls, the devastating testimony of Ann Putnam Jr., and the use of spectral evidence that made defending yourself nearly impossible.

We'll uncover the heartbreaking stories of Rebecca Nurse, John and Elizabeth Proctor, George Burroughs, and Giles Corey. We'll examine how the courts allowed fear to replace facts and why it took centuries for some victims to receive justice.

And because Salem's story didn't end with the executions, we'll explore the city's haunted reputation, including the ghost of Giles Corey, the legends surrounding the Witch House, the historic cemeteries, and the actual execution site at Proctor's Ledge.

Were the Salem Witch Trials simply the result of religious extremism and mass hysteria? Did personal grudges help fuel the accusations? And why, more than 300 years later, does Salem remain one of America's most famous haunted destinations?

Join us for a chilling journey into colonial America's darkest witch hunt—where being accused could be a death sentence, innocence offered little protection, and the truth was buried beneath fear.

The witches weren't the danger. The witch hunt was.

Listen to Hitched 2 Homicide as we investigate the history, victims, executions, and haunting legacy of the Salem Witch Trials.

Sources used for this podcast

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Villisca Axe Murders of 1912: Eight Victims, One Axe, and a Killer Who Was Never Caught

On a quiet Sunday evening in June 1912, the Moore family attended a children's church program in the small, close-knit community of Villisca, Iowa. Afterward, Josiah and Sarah Moore returned home with their four children and two young sisters, Lena and Ina Stillinger, who had been invited for a sleepover.

It should have been an ordinary summer night.

Instead, it would become one of the most horrifying chapters in American true crime history.

Sometime during the night of June 9 and the early morning hours of June 10, an unknown killer entered the Moore home and brutally murdered all eight people with an axe. Six of the victims were children, the youngest just five years old.

When the bodies were discovered the following morning, the scene was almost beyond comprehension. Mirrors had been covered, the murder weapon was left inside the house, and the investigation quickly became a spectacle. Curious townspeople flooded the property, potential evidence was compromised, and accusations began flying.

Was the killer a traveling stranger? A respected local businessman with a grudge? Or a minister whose suspicious behavior would place him at the center of one of Iowa's most sensational murder trials?

Despite multiple suspects, investigations, and courtroom battles, nobody was ever convicted.

More than 114 years later, the Villisca Axe Murder House still stands, attracting historians, paranormal investigators, and true crime enthusiasts. But behind the ghost stories and chilling legends is the very real tragedy of eight innocent lives stolen in their sleep.

In this episode of Hitched 2 Homicide, we examine the victims, the crime scene, the suspects, the investigation, and the enduring mystery of the 1912 Villisca Axe Murders.

Who entered that house in the darkness? And how did a killer responsible for eight deaths escape justice?

Listen as we revisit one of America's most infamous unsolved mass murders.

0:00 Opening

Sources used for this podcast

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

They believed Nelson Rehmeyer had cursed them. Their solution was murder.

Blymire and his accomplices, John Curry and Wilbert Hess, sought Rehmeyer’s copy of The Long Lost Friend or a lock of his hair, believing these could help break the alleged curse. Their quest ended in a fatal attack and an attempt to burn the evidence.

In this episode of Hitched 2 Homicide, Kris and Rob explore Nelson Rehmeyer’s murder, the beliefs behind the crime, and the trials that brought national attention to Pennsylvania’s powwow tradition. We examine how a healing practice became entangled with accusations of witchcraft—and how one man paid for those accusations with his life.

Listen to the story behind Hex Hollow, where the fear of a curse became a reason to kill.

Timestamps:

00:00-05:19 Welcome

#HexHollow #NelsonRehmeyer #Hitched2Homicide #SpookyTrueCrime #Powwow

DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY

Copyright & Ownership

Do not copy, reproduce, or distribute any part of this content without express written permission.For licensing, press inquiries, or collaboration requests, contact: [email protected]For more true crime episodes, visit: www.Hitched2Homicide.com Thanks for listening and remember… Southern charm won’t save you from true crime.

THIS PODCAST IS FILMED AT RP STUDIOS, INC. 2025 RP MUSIC, INC. FOR HITCHED 2 HOMICIDE

Follow H2H Join H2H In-laws and Outlaws: https://www.facebook.com/groups/h2hinlawsandoutlaws

Follow and Read Books by Kris Calvert: https://www.kriscalvert.com

Follow and Listen to Music by Rob Pottorf

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Greenbrier Ghost is the name given to Elva Zona Heaster Shue, a young bride murdered in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, in January 1897.

After only a few months of marriage to blacksmith Edward “Trout” Shue, Zona was found dead in their home. A local doctor called it heart disease. She was buried the next day at what is now Soule Chapel Methodist Cemetery near Smoot. Her husband had dressed the body, packed her neck in a high collar and scarf, and discouraged a full examination.

Zona’s mother, Mary Jane Heaster, refused that story. She later testified that her daughter’s spirit came to her bedside four nights in a row and described how Trout Shue had flown into a rage and broken her neck. Mary Jane took that account to the prosecutor. Zona was exhumed. The autopsy found the neck dislocated between the first and second vertebrae, the windpipe crushed, and finger marks on the throat.

Edward Shue was tried in Lewisburg in the summer of 1897. The jury convicted him of first-degree murder. He was sent to the West Virginia Penitentiary at Moundsville and died there in 1900. A state historic marker still stands near I-64: the only widely cited American case in which a spirit’s reported words helped open a murder investigation that ended in a conviction.

On this episode of Hitched 2 Homicide, Kris and Rob go through the marriage, the scene, the inquest, the courtroom, and the folklore that grew up around it — without losing Zona Heaster Shue inside the ghost story.

Content note: intimate partner homicide and historical autopsy detail.

CHAPTERS

Sources used for this podcast

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In March 1954, 25-year-old Constance Fisher was living with her husband, Carl, and their three young children in Waterville, Maine. In part one of this case, we look into Constance's struggle with severe mental illness following childbirth. Following a voice she believed was God's, she drowned her three children–Richard, 6, Daniel, 4, and baby Deborah in the family home before attempting to take her own life. She was committed to Augusta State Hospital, where doctors treated her for serious psychiatric illness.

Five years later, Constance was released and returned to her husband. The couple rebuilt their life and had more children. Then, on June 30, 1966, history repeated itself.

Constance again drowned her three children: six-year-old Kathleen, four-year-old Michael Jon, and nine-month-old Natalie Rose.

She was sent back to the Augusta State Mental Hospital to live out the rest of her life. But in 1973, with no hope of ever leaving the hospital, Constance wandered off the grounds of the hospital and into the Kennebec River where she drowned herself.

Her husband, Carl, never remarried and buried his wife next to the bodies of their six children.

This episode of Hitched to Homicide discusses suicide, postpartum depression, severe mental illness, and the deaths of children. Some listeners may find these topics distressing. Please take care of yourself and consider skipping this episode if you are feeling vulnerable.

If you or someone you know is in immediate danger or may act on thoughts of self-harm, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room. In the United States, you can call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, available 24 hours a day. For pregnancy and postpartum mental-health support, call or text the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline at 1-833-TLC-MAMA—that’s 1-833-852-6262—for free, confidential support.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In March 1954, 25-year-old Constance Fisher was living with her husband, Carl, and their three young children in Waterville, Maine. In part one of this case, we look into Constance's struggle with severe mental illness following childbirth. Following a voice she believed was God's, she drowned her three children–Richard, 6, Daniel, 4, and baby Deborah in the family home before attempting to take her own life. She was committed to Augusta State Hospital, where doctors treated her for serious psychiatric illness.

Five years later, Constance was released and returned to her husband. The couple rebuilt their life and had more children. Then, on June 30, 1966, history repeated itself.

This episode of Hitched to Homicide discusses suicide, postpartum depression, severe mental illness, and the deaths of children. Some listeners may find these topics distressing. Please take care of yourself and consider skipping this episode if you are feeling vulnerable.

If you or someone you know is in immediate danger or may act on thoughts of self-harm, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room. In the United States, you can call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, available 24 hours a day. For pregnancy and postpartum mental-health support, call or text the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline at 1-833-TLC-MAMA—that’s 1-833-852-6262—for free, confidential support.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Helen Golay and Olga Rutterschmidt looked more like retirees than ruthless killers, but prosecutors said the two women spent years building an elaborate life insurance murder scheme in Los Angeles.

Their victims, Paul Vados and Kenneth McDavid, were vulnerable men living on the margins when Golay and Rutterschmidt entered their lives with offers of food, housing, and help. Behind that apparent generosity, the women secured multiple life insurance policies, fabricated personal and financial relationships, and waited for the policies to mature.

Then both men died in separate apparent hit-and-run incidents.

What first looked like two unrelated tragedies eventually unraveled into a chilling case of fraud, greed, and murder. Insurance records, surveillance footage, towing records, forensic evidence, and DNA beneath a Mercury Sable helped investigators connect the women to both deaths and expose a scheme worth millions.

Known as The Black Widows of L.A., Helen Golay and Olga Rutterschmidt were ultimately convicted of murdering Paul Vados and Kenneth McDavid and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Sources used for this podcast

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.