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*This episode deals with the subject of domestic violence. Listener discretion is advised. If you or someone you know need help, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-SAFE  (800-799-7233).

A Texas mother of four, Suzanne Simpson, disappears after an alleged domestic dispute—and prosecutors later charge her husband, Brad Simpson, with murder in a case that has drawn intense scrutiny because it’s being pursued as a no-body homicide. 

In this episode, we break down what’s publicly known so far: the reported timeline around Oct. 6, 2024, the early arrests and allegations, the murder charge filed on Nov. 7, 2024, and the pretrial fight over evidence and discovery. We also explain why prosecutors can move forward without recovered remains, what kinds of circumstantial proof typically become pivotal, and what to watch as the court calendar shifts following reports of a new wave of evidence. 

We also cover the connected case involving Brad Simpson’s longtime business partner, James Cotter, who has faced charges reported as tampering with evidence and prohibited-weapon allegations tied to the investigation. 

Episode topics:

·       Suzanne Simpson missing: what we know

·       Brad Simpson murder charge + indictment

·       Bexar County hearings, discovery deadlines, and delays 

·       The James "Val" Cotter case and alleged evidence issues

·       How no-body murder cases are prosecuted

Listener note: This episode discusses alleged domestic violence, disappearance, and homicide. Brad Simpson is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. 

If someone has information about Suzanne Simpson’s whereabouts, call:

• Call the Olmos Park Police Department (tip line / dispatch): (210) 822-2000. 
• Call the Texas Department of Public Safety Missing Persons Clearinghouse:
  • Phone: (512) 424-5074
  • Helpline: (800) 346-3243 

sources used for this podcast: https://www.hitched2homicide.com/post/suzanne-simpson-brad-simpson-murder-trial-timeline

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In July 2007, 33-year-old Joey Lynn Offutt disappeared from Sykesville, Pennsylvania. Days later, her home caught fire—investigators believe the blaze was intentionally set. In the aftermath, Joey’s infant son was found deceased in a bathtub inside the burned home. Joey was not there, and she has never been found.

In this episode, we lay out the known timeline, what investigators have said publicly, and the key unanswered questions that continue to fuel this disturbing Pennsylvania cold case.

If you have information about Joey Lynn Offutt:
Pennsylvania State Police (PSP Punxsutawney): 814-371-4652
Anonymous tip line: 1-800-4PA-TIPS (1-800-472-8477)

*This episode contains discussion of an infant death, arson, and a missing person case. Some details may be disturbing. Listener discretion is advised.

Sources used for this podcast can be found here

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In April 2006, Kari Baker—a 31-year-old teacher and mother of two—was found dead inside her home in Hewitt, Texas, just outside Waco. The scene was initially treated as a suicide. But almost immediately, questions surfaced: the timeline, the circumstances, and whether what looked like self-harm was actually a staged scene meant to conceal a homicide.

In this episode, we unpack the full true crime story of Kari Baker’s death and the investigation that ultimately led to the conviction of her husband, Matt Baker, a Baptist minister whose public image didn’t match what prosecutors later argued was happening behind closed doors. We walk through the murder-or-suicide debate, the turning points that shifted the case from suspicion to charges, and the courtroom narrative that ended with a murder conviction and a 65-year sentence.

In This Episode

• Who Kari Baker and Matt Baker were in the Hewitt/Waco community
• What happened the night Kari was found—and what raised red flags
• How the case evolved from suicide to a homicide investigation
• The prosecution’s theory, key evidence themes, and trial outcome
• Why this case remains a defining example of staged death investigations, coercive control, and intimate partner violence

Content Warning

This episode includes discussion of domestic violence, coercive control, and homicide. Listener discretion is advised.

If you or someone you know needs help: National Domestic Violence Hotline (U.S.) 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788.

Kari Baker, Matt Baker, Hewitt Texas murder, Waco Texas true crime, Kari Baker case, murder or suicide, staged suicide, minister convicted of murder, Texas true crime podcast, domestic violence true crime, coercive control, McLennan County, 2006 Texas murder, ABC 20/20 Kari Baker, 48 Hours Matt Baker.

Subscribe for more victim-focused, timeline-driven true crime with clear case context and respectful reporting.

Sources used for this podcast: https://www.hitched2homicide.com/post/kari-baker-murdering-minister

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A “church lady” in small-town Georgia. A trusted daycare operator. A grieving wife and mother.

And five funerals.

In this episode of Hitched 2 Homicide, we dig into the chilling case of Janie Lou Gibbs—the Georgia serial killer who poisoned her own family with arsenic, including her husband, three sons, and an infant grandson, all while collecting money and playing the role of the devoted caretaker.

We’ll walk you through the timeline of deaths, the red flags that finally turned “bad luck” into a homicide investigation, and the courtroom twists—including an insanity plea that delayed justice for years.

If you think the most dangerous predator is always a stranger… this one will change your mind.

Listener Advisory: This episode includes discussion of child death and poisoning.

Janie Lou Gibbs, Georgia serial killer, Cordele Georgia, arsenic poisoning, black widow killer, family poisoner, true crime podcast, Crisp County, Gibbs v. State

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On June 25, 1906, New York City’s Gilded Age glitter cracked wide open on the Madison Square Garden rooftop theater—when millionaire heir Harry K. Thaw shot famed architect Stanford White during a performance of Mam’zelle Champagne. At the center of the scandal was Evelyn Nesbit, a teenage model and chorus girl whose fame, trauma, and private life were turned into public spectacle.

In this episode, we unpack the true story behind one of America’s earliest celebrity murder trials—often called the “Trial of the Century.” Who was Evelyn Nesbit beyond the headlines? What role did power, money, and reputation play in the world she entered? And how did Thaw’s obsession—framed as “protection” and “honor”—spiral into violence in front of hundreds of witnesses?

We break down the timeline from Nesbit’s rise in New York’s theater and modeling scene to the explosive night of the Stanford White murder, then follow the courtroom drama that reshaped true crime media forever: the “unwritten law” defense, the battle over the insanity plea, and why “not guilty” still meant confinement at Matteawan State Hospital for the Criminally Insane.

This isn’t just a story about a shooting. It’s a case study in how America learned to consume crime as entertainment—and how a woman became the battlefield for two men’s power war.

Content note: This episode discusses coercion/abuse and murder (non-graphic).

In this episode:

• Evelyn Nesbit’s rise to fame in early 1900s New York
• Stanford White’s influence and secrets in Gilded Age society
• Harry K. Thaw’s obsession, control, and motive claims
• The Madison Square Garden rooftop murder (June 25, 1906)
• Trial #1: media frenzy, the “unwritten law,” and a hung jury
• Trial #2: insanity strategy, Matteawan, and the aftermath

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In this UK true crime episode, we tell the devastating story of Sameena Imam, a 34-year-old Costco marketing manager whose “secret” relationship with Roger Cooper ended in calculated violence. Investigators and prosecutors said Cooper wanted the affair kept hidden—and when the truth threatened to surface, he and his brother David Cooper carried out a plan that led to Sameena’s death.

We follow the timeline from Christmas Eve 2014, when Sameena was last seen after leaving work, through the widening missing-person inquiry that became a murder investigation. You’ll hear how detectives pieced together movements, evidence, and communications—and how police ultimately located Sameena’s body buried at an allotment off Groby Road in Leicester. We also cover the forensic case presented at trial, including chloroform and reports of toxic elements detected during post-mortem testing, before the final chapter: the Cooper brothers’ murder convictions and life sentences.\

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On a cold December night in 1969, a woman vanished from her comfortable Wimbledon home without a trace. Within hours, the phone rang: a man calling himself “M3” claimed she’d been taken by the mafia, demanded £1 million, and insisted she would die if the police were called. What he didn’t realize was that he’d kidnapped the wrong woman.

This episode unravels the kidnapping and presumed murder of 55-year-old Muriel McKay—mistaken for Rupert Murdoch’s wife, targeted in an elaborate ransom plot, and held at a remote Hertfordshire farm by brothers Arthur and Nizamodeen Hosein. We’ll walk through the chilling ransom calls, the botched money drops, and the landmark trial that secured a murder conviction without a body. 

More than five decades later, Muriel’s family are still searching for her resting place as new leads, fresh digs, and recent court rulings keep this case painfully alive. 

Join us as we look at the planning behind the crime, the police operation that brought the kidnappers down, and the emotional toll of living without answers when there is a conviction—but no body and no grave.

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On December 26, 1907, a teenage boatman walking along the Passaic River spotted two pale feet jutting from the black water of a swamp outside Harrison, New Jersey. Dragged from the muck, the woman had no clothes, no identification, and only a torn red coat and a homemade fur muff nearby to hint at who she’d been. Within days, the tabloids were calling it the Lampblack Swamp mystery—and when the victim was finally named as 35‑year‑old Brooklyn housewife Lena Whitmore, the spotlight swung to her jealous, violent husband, Theodore.​

In this episode, we reconstruct Lena’s last days: fleeing abuse to her sister’s Bronx apartment, returning home after promises of change, and then vanishing on Christmas night. You’ll hear how anonymous letters, a suspicious “don’t expect me tonight” telegram, and prior assault charges painted Theodore as a likely killer, even as his defense insisted the state could not prove how—or even where—Lena died. We walk through the autopsy that proved she was alive when she hit the water, the circumstantial case that went to trial, and the hung jury that left her murder officially unsolved.​

*This episode of Hitched to Homicide podcast discusses the subject domestic/intimate partner violence. Viewer and listener discretion is advised.
If you are experiencing domestic or dating violence — call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), or text START to 88788. You can also chat online at TheHotline.org. 24/7.  All Calls are free and confidential.

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Thanksgiving weekend 1991, Costa Mesa, California—police respond to a tip and uncover one of the most shocking crime scenes in California history. Inside an apartment, 23-year-old Omaima Aree Nelson has killed her 56-year-old husband, William “Bill” Nelson. What makes this case unforgettable isn’t just the homicide—it’s what she did afterward: dismembering his body, attempting to dispose of it, and, according to prosecutors, cooking and even tasting parts of him.

In this episode, we break down the full timeline of the Omaima Nelson murder case—how she met Bill, the quick marriage, the alleged abuse, the brutal killing over Thanksgiving, and the sensational 1993 trial that led to her conviction for second-degree murder. We’ll talk about the cannibalism claims, the psychological factors brought up in court, and why this case still ranks among the most disturbing California true crime stories of the 1990s.

You’ll hear:

• Who Omaima Nelson was before the murder
• The relationship with Bill Nelson and the fast marriage
• What investigators found inside the Costa Mesa apartment
• Why prosecutors said she cooked her husband
• Her claim of self-defense and abuse
• The 1993 verdict: 28 years to life

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On the night before Thanksgiving, November 24th, 1971, a man in a dark suit and a sensible tie took seat 18C on Northwest Orient Flight 305—a short hop from Portland to Seattle aboard a Boeing 727. He ordered bourbon and soda, smoked his Raleighs, and handed a folded note to the flight attendant. It wasn’t a phone number. It was a promise. Inside the briefcase, he said, was a bomb. What followed would become the only unsolved hijacking in American aviation history: a case file swollen with false confessions, river drags, suspect sketches, and a handful of decaying bills that surfaced years later like a message from a ghost. 

In this true crime deep dive, we unravel the legendary 1971 hijacking of Northwest Orient Flight 305 by the man calling himself Dan Cooper—mistakenly immortalized as D.B. Cooper. Calm, well-dressed, and carrying what he said was a bomb, Cooper demanded $200,000 in cash and four parachutes, then jumped out of a Boeing 727 mid-flight over Washington State… and was never seen again.

In this episode, we break down the full timeline of the hijacking, how the FBI launched NORJAK (Northwest Hijacking), why the 727’s aft airstair mattered, the discovery of ransom money on the Columbia River years later, and the leading suspects who’ve been tied to the case—none of whom were ever charged. More than 50 years later, the D.B. Cooper case remains the only unsolved skyjacking in U.S. history.

You’ll hear:

• Who D.B. (Dan) Cooper might really have been
• How he controlled the crew and escaped in the air
• The 1970s hijacking era and airline response
• Why the FBI never closed in on a suspect
• Theories on whether Cooper survived the jump

true crime podcast, D.B. Cooper, Dan Cooper, 1971 hijacking, Northwest Orient Flight 305, unsolved hijacking, FBI NORJAK, skyjacking mystery, Columbia River money find, Pacific Northwest true crime, aviation mystery

Follow/subscribe for more unsolved true crime, infamous hijackings, and cold cases that still keep investigators guessing.

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