Murd Up Podcast

What Chris “Jerry” Hightower experienced during childhood drove him to have an entitled attitude, where he felt like he did everything right and if he failed, it was because of someone else. Jerry strived to be a Doctor but never wanted to put the time and effort into achieving the dream, especially after getting married and having children. Jerry spent his entire life chasing after the thing he wanted most: money. Eventually this path lead him to only one conclusion-murder.

At the age of 3, Betty Lou Dunevant contracted the measles and lost her the majority of her hearing due to a high fever. She taught herself how to read lips in order to communicate and decided at the age of 15 that she was over school and dropped out. That same year, 1952, she met and married her first husband. Over the next 31 years, Betty Lou married several other men and at one point, seemed to be the most unlucky woman in town, after two of her husbands disappeared mysteriously.

We celebrated our 50th episode with a Q&A and Daniel made a music mix to go along with the Bonus episode. Thank you to everyone who has supported the show!

We celebrated our 50th episode with a Q&A. It’s a two-parter because we both like to talk. Thanks for the super fun questions and we appreciate every single person who has listened and supported the show!

We celebrated our 50th episode with a Q&A. It’s a two-parter because we both like to talk. Thanks for the super fun questions and we appreciate every single person who has listened and supported the show!

Michael Platt and William Matrix met while serving in the Army around 1974. The two remained friends after being discharged a couple of years later and despite living in different parts of the country, where there for one another during tragic moments of life. But in 1986, the pair's relationship went to the next level when they went on a attempted robbery spree of different armored cars transporting funds to banks in Miami, Florida.

Ronald Gene Simmons was in both the Navy and the Air Force, and along with wife Betty, had seven children between the years of 1961-1979. Ronald was stationed in Vietnam during the 1968 Tet Offensive and received a Bronze Star for his calm and cool demeanor during his time of service.

Ronald was a stern father who worked his children from sun up to sun down, building different detergents for any possible trespassers, so that life on Mockingbird Hill, would be as perfect as possible. However, the Simmons were broke due to years of Ronald’s mismanagement, and he had recently quit his job.

Ronald felt that there was only one choice for how to move forward. This choice was not one his family would agree with.

Ronald Gene Simmons was in both the Navy and the Air Force, and along with wife Betty, had seven children between the years of 1961-1979. Ronald was stationed in Vietnam during the 1968 Tet Offensive and received a Bronze Star for his calm and cool demeanor during his time of service.

Ronald was a stern father who worked his children from sun up to sun down, building different detergents for any possible trespassers, so that life on Mockingbird Hill, would be as perfect as possible. However, the Simmons were broke due to years of Ronald’s mismanagement, and he had recently quit his job.

Ronald felt that there was only one choice for how to move forward. This choice was not one his family would agree with.

By the time Christine Falling was 10, she had been neglected by her mother and father and shuffled around between family members and foster homes. She was lacking in development skills and exhibited an antisocial behavior, including torturing of small animals (specifically cats). By 14, she was married to a man in his 20s, which didn't last very long. Then, Christine spent two years in and out of the hospital for various "injuries", with no diagnosis. By 1980, Christine was 17 and started babysitting for income. Christine seemed to be a great babysitter, until mysterious events started occurring, in almost every situation where she was left in charge of a young soul, with Christine claiming a voice told her to “kill the baby”.

Charlie Starkweather, as a child didn’t seem to care about school, despite having a high IQ and eventually dropped out in the 9th grade. Two years later, he was dating a 13 year old named Carli Ann Fugate. Carli’s parents didn’t approve of the relationship with the 18 year old Charlie, and eventually tried to keep the couple apart. But Charlie, who was a James Dean lookalike with a nihilistic attitude towards life, wasn’t about to go down without a fight. In January 1958, Charlie and Carli went on a 8 day shooting spree, killing ten people (11 total within two months), which eventually went on to inspire the movie, Natural Born Killers, as well as many others.