Murder, She Told

1806 - Bowdoinham, Maine.

On a hot July night in 1806, in a frontier town near Augusta, Maine (before the state had its name), Captain James Scales Purrington took an axe and a straight edge razor, and murdered his wife and 7 of their children before killing himself.

This horrifying act shocked the town. What kind of man would slaughter his children? Did James Purrington have a psychotic break? Or did something more sinister happen?

This is the story of the original family annihilator, James Purrington, and the Purrington family massacre.

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1965 - Bangor, Maine.

In March of 1965, 54-year-old Effie MacDonald went to her job as a chambermaid at the Bangor House Hotel, a prominent luxury hotel in downtown Bangor, Maine.

At 1:15pm, she was seen speaking with a man in the hotel's corridor, and she wasn't seen again... until 2:45pm, when her body was found in a vacant 3rd floor room. She'd been strangled, beaten, and raped.

Around this time, the Boston Strangler had been terrorizing Massachusetts with a string of unsolved murders. Could Effie be the victim of a copycat serial killer?

To this day, Effie's case is one of Maine's oldest unsolved cases. Effie had no enemies. She lived a modest and quiet life. Who would brutally murder such a respectable Maine woman?

This is the story of Effie Terrill MacDonald.

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1980 - East Millinocket, Maine.

In 1980, 16-year-old Joyce McLain went out for a jog one hot summer day and never came back. Two days later, her body was behind her East Millinocket high school bludgeoned to death.

Who would do this to such a well loved young woman? Over the years her mother fought like hell to keep this case in the interest of the public, and even successfully petitioned Unsolved Mysteries to cover it. But despite the national attention, Joyce's case sat unsolved for nearly four decades... until one day, a new team takes over the case and realizes the killer may be a lot closer to home than they thought.

This is the story of one of Maine's longest homicide investigations and one of its most recently solved cold cases, the murder of Joyce McLain.

SIGN DANIELLE'S PETITION

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2014 - Fortuna, California.

In 2014, Danielle Bertolini went missing in Humboldt County, California. She was a childhood friend of mine from Maine, and her case has never been solved. But there is a person of interest... and Danielle isn't the only woman who was last seen alive with him.

Joining me this week is Detective Brian Taylor of the Fortuna Police Department to talk about his involvement on the case, and The Murder Squad's Billy Jensen, who wrote about Danielle in his book, Chase Darkness With Me.

(July 2022 update: Please note this episode was recorded and released over a year prior to any allegations about Jensen coming to light. While I work on making updated edits, this episode will remain as originally recorded and edited because some of the insight is still important to moving the case forward.)

This is Murder Moutain, Part Two: The Danielle Bertolini Investigation.

SIGN THE PETITION – I am asking the Humboldt County DA to prioritize this case. You can help us make this happen. Please listen to Danielle's story and share this petition. 

Detailed sources can be found on murdershetold.com

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2014 - Fortuna, California.

In 2014, a childhood friend of mine from Maine went missing in Fortuna, California. Her name is Danielle Bertolini, and she’s one of the Humboldt County Missing Five. One year later, her skull was found at the mouth of a river. Her killer hasn't yet been brought to justice.

For years I felt her family’s pain through updates online, and when I asked Billie Jo if she would want to talk to me about Danielle, she agreed. We sat down at my dining room table and had a surprisingly intimate and heartbreaking conversation.

This is the story of Danielle Bertolini, and her mother, Billie Jo’s fight for justice.

SIGN THE PETITION – We are asking the Humboldt County DA to prioritize this case. You can help us make this happen. Please listen to her story and share this petition. change.org/danielleandsheila

Detailed sources can be found on murdershetold.com

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1984 - Dallas, Texas.

In 1984, Angela Samota was brutally murdered in her home in Dallas, Texas, and for over twenty years her case remained unsolved... until Sheila Wysocki took action and solved the case.

This week Murder, She Told welcomes a very special guest, Sheila Wysocki, to the show to talk about the journey to justice on her best friend's cold case, what it's like as a female private investigator in a world that's dominated by men, DNA test kits, and what made her keep going after solving Angie's case.

Special thanks to Sheila Wysocki for participating in this interview. Check out her podcast, Without Warning.

Detailed sources can be found on murdershetold.com

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1999 - Biddeford, Maine.

In March of 1999, the talk of the town in the Saco, Maine area was who killed 15-year-old Ashley Ouellette. And one day, while watching a news segment on her murder, Angel Torres, who went by Tony, said to his parents that he knew who killed her in a way his father later said left no room for doubt.

Two months later, while attending a party in Biddeford, Tony Torres disappeared... and hasn't been seen for almost 22 years.

Was Tony Torres silenced so a killer could continue to walk free?

This is the story of disappearance of Angel Antonio Torres.

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If you have any information about the murder of Angel Torres, please leave a tip with the Maine Major Crimes Unit South.

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1999 - Scarborough, Maine.

Ashley Erin Ouellette was murdered.

Her body was still warm when a passerby discovered her—perfectly placed in the middle of the road on a cold February night in Scarborough, Maine.

“We turned around and there was this girl lying face down in the road. She was blue, and she had blood around her mouth. My initial thought was somebody had been hit by a car. But she was just placed so perfectly. Her hands were right by her side, legs straight, toes pointing down.”

Ashley was only 15 and had her whole life ahead of her. Today, over 2 decades later, police are still trying to answer the one question that could crack this case wide open: what happened between the hours of 12:30 and 4:00am on February 10th, 1999?

This is the unsolved murder of Ashley Erin Ouellette.

Detailed sources can be found on murdershetold.com

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If you have any information about the murder of Ashley Ouellette, please leave a tip with the Maine Major Crimes Unit South.

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1980- Manchester, New Hampshire.

The hallway was unusually dark as Judith Rahn stepped inside her apartment building in Manchester, New Hampshire. It was around 1am, and she was returning home to her 14-year-old daughter, Laureen, after a night out.

Immediately, she knew something was wrong. Laureen wasn’t home. In fact, the young teen had just... vanished.

Little did Judith know, she was about to be thrust into an agonizing journey of unexplained phone calls, and rumors of cults, pornography, and sex hotlines to find her missing daughter—a journey that would span over 40 years and counting.

This is the bizarre 1980 disappearance of Lauren Rahn, and a mother's endless quest for answers.

Detailed sources can be found on murdershetold.com

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1966 - Biddeford, Maine.

When Armand Brochu served his wife, Monique, a vodka cocktail one November night at their home in Biddeford, Maine in 1966, he had no idea that just a few days later she would be dead.

The autopsy showed she’d died of methyl alcohol poisoning, a liquid chemical similar to the alcohol we drink, except deadly. What was methyl doing in Monique’s system?

But somebody saw more than they should. Armand’s 12-year-old daughter, Nancy. And Nancy decides to go to the Police to tell them what she saw. Less than three hours later, Armand Brochu is placed under arrest for the murder of his wife

Did Armand Brochu murder his wife? You decide.

Detailed sources can be found on murdershetold.com

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