Murderess Podcast

📚 SHOW NOTES
🎙 Episode 114: Sarah Boone - “That’s What You Get”
A Murderess Podcast investigation

February 23, 2020.
Winter Park, Florida.

Sarah Boone zipped her boyfriend Jorge Torres Jr. inside a suitcase during what she initially described as a drunken game of hide-and-seek.

The next day, Jorge was dead.

Four years later, the story seemed to be a bit more complicated...or was it?

📍 Location: Winter Park, Florida → Orange County criminal court proceedings, Orlando, Florida → Florida Department of Corrections

📅 Key Dates: February 23, 2020 Sarah and Jorge spend the day drinking, doing puzzles, painting and later playing hide-and-seek; Jorge gets inside a suitcase and Sarah zips it closed → late February 23 Sarah records videos of Jorge inside the suitcase asking to be released and saying he cannot breathe → February 24, 2020 Sarah finds Jorge unresponsive, contacts ex-husband Brian Boone and eventually calls 911 → February 25, 2020 Jorge’s autopsy reveals injuries and Sarah returns voluntarily to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office for questioning; detectives confront her with the videos and she is arrested for second-degree murder → June 7, 2024 Sarah delivers a 58-page letter to the judge complaining about attorney Patricia Cashman and the handling of her case → June 28, 2024 Judge Michael Kraynick rules Sarah has forfeited her right to continued court-appointed counsel through her conduct → August 30, 2024 attorney James Owens enters the case after Sarah briefly represents herself → October 7, 2024 Sarah rejects a plea agreement that would have allowed her to plead guilty to manslaughter and receive a 15-year sentence → October 14, 2024 jury selection resumes after Hurricane Milton delays proceedings → October 18, 2024 opening statements begin → October 22, 2024 Sarah takes the stand and testifies that she shook the suitcase and used a baseball bat when Jorge tried to get his hand out because she feared what he would do if he escaped → October 25, 2024 jury finds Sarah guilty of second-degree murder after roughly 90 minutes of deliberation → December 2, 2024 Judge Kraynick sentences Sarah to life in the Florida Department of Corrections → December 2024 Sarah sends the judge another lengthy letter accusing him of bias and declaring, “I am not a murderer. I am a survivor” → November 26, 2025 Florida’s Sixth District Court of Appeal confirms David Maldonado as Sarah’s appellate counsel → February 5, 2026 Sixth District Court of Appeal grants an additional 60 days for the initial appellate brief in Sarah Boone v. State of Florida, Case No. 6D2025-0206.

👥 Central Figures: Sarah Boone, Jorge Torres Jr., Brian Boone, defense attorney James Owens, Judge Michael Kraynick, prosecutor William Jay, Orange County Sheriff’s Detective Chelsey Koepsell, medical examiner Dr. Sara Zydowicz, psychologist Dr. Julie Harper, psychologist Dr. Michael Brannon, former defense attorneys Frank Bankowitz and Patricia Cashman, Jorge’s mother Blanca Torres, sister Victoria Torres, daughters Ana Victoria and Ava, and appellate attorney David Maldonado

🧠 Themes: intimate-partner violence, battered-spouse syndrome, self-defense, fear and control, alcohol abuse, power reversal, punishment, suffocation, blunt-force injuries, cellphone video evidence, shifting narratives, credibility, memory, post-crime behavior, delayed emergency response, forensic pathology, attorney-client conflict, self-representation, courtroom strategy, rejected plea agreements, victim impact, remorse, self-perception, life sentencing, and the question of how prior abuse should be weighed when the person feared is physically trapped and unable to reach the other person

🎧 Murderess Podcast is written and hosted by Sidney Smith
🎙 Produced in partnership with Sidney Smith Cre8tiv, LLC and the You Hear Good Things podcast network
📅 New episodes every Thursday
🔗 Find past episodes, merch, and tour dates:
https://www.sidneysmithcre8tiv.com
🎧 Listen on your favorite platform:
Spotify | Apple Podcasts | iHeartRadio
📱 Follow Sidney:
Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | Facebook | Twitter → @sidneysmithcre8tiv

Official Sources Used:

– Ninth Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office — October 25, 2024 conviction announcement: official prosecution account of the February 23, 2020 events; Sarah’s initial hide-and-seek explanation; Jorge asking to be released and saying he could not breathe in videos recorded on Sarah’s phone; Sarah’s trial claim of self-defense; and the Orange County jury’s guilty verdict for second-degree murder.

– Orange County Sheriff’s Office arrest affidavit and recorded February 25, 2020 interrogation: Sarah’s initial description of the day as one of the better days in the relationship; her repeated denial that she physically harmed Jorge that night; her descriptions of prior violence in the relationship; her statements that she loved Jorge and had repeatedly tried to help him; investigators’ confrontation with the cellphone recordings; Sarah’s claim that she did not remember recording the videos; her belief that Jorge could get himself out; the “boy who cried wolf” explanation; detectives repeatedly asking why she did not release him; and Sarah saying the situation had “backfired” on her.

– Orange County Medical Examiner / Dr. Sara Zydowicz trial testimony and medical-examiner reporting:Jorge’s cause of death as positional asphyxia with environmental suffocation caused by prolonged confinement; homicide classification; injuries including blunt-force trauma, abrasions, bruising and cuts; and medical testimony concerning how confinement inside the suitcase caused his death.

– FOX 35 Orlando — February 2020 domestic-violence history reporting: prior arrests involving both Sarah and Jorge; Sarah’s July 2018 arrest for alleged battery by strangulation; her allegation that Jorge dragged her and kicked her in the eye; investigators’ inability in that incident to determine the primary aggressor; Jorge’s multiple 2019 battery arrests involving Sarah; and the temporary protection order that existed during part of their relationship.

– Court TV — FL v. Sarah Boone: Suitcase Murder Trial daily trial coverage: Brian Boone’s testimony about Sarah’s late-night call and his repeated instructions that she call 911; Sarah’s 911 call; body-camera evidence; presentation of the suitcase; Sarah’s interrogation; the cellphone videos; Sarah’s October 22 testimony; her admission that she shook the suitcase and used a baseball bat while Jorge tried to escape; evidence concerning previous domestic violence; battered-spouse testimony; Sarah’s cross-examination; closing arguments; verdict; motion for a new trial; and sentencing.

– Court TV — Sarah Boone trial testimony coverage: Sarah’s account that Jorge voluntarily climbed inside the suitcase during hide-and-seek; her testimony that they initially laughed; her claim that the situation changed when Jorge became angry and attempted to get out; her testimony that she shook the suitcase and used a baseball bat to force his hand back inside; her claim that she feared Jorge would severely injure or kill her if he escaped; and her admission that she did nothing to help him escape after she zipped him inside.

– Court TV / FOX 35 Orlando — battered-spouse expert testimony: Dr. Julie Harper’s evaluation of Sarah; testimony concerning trauma and intimate-partner violence; narciss

Tell me what stayed with you—I read every message. Your thoughts might even shape what the Quiet Jury hears next.

Support the show

📚 SHOW NOTES
🎙 Murderess Replay: Dena Schlosser - "The Mother Who Said God Told Her To"
A Murderess Podcast investigation

She was a stay-at-home mom in the suburbs of Texas.
 But on a quiet Monday morning in 2004, Dena Schlosser placed a 911 call that would haunt the nation - telling dispatchers she’d cut off her infant daughter’s arms “because God told her to.”

📍 Location: Plano, Texas
📅 Date of Crime: November 22, 2004
👶 Victim: Margaret Elizabeth Schlosser (11 months old)
⚖️ Verdict: Not guilty by reason of insanity
🏥 Sentence: Committed to psychiatric care; released under outpatient supervision

🎧 Murderess Podcast is written and hosted by Sidney Smith
🎙 Produced in partnership with Sidney Smith Cre8tiv, LLC and the You Hear Good Things podcast network
📅 New episodes every Thursday
🔗 Find past episodes, merch, and tour dates:
https://www.sidneysmithcre8tiv.com
🎧 Listen on your favorite platform:
Spotify | Apple Podcasts | iHeartRadio
📱 Follow Sidney:
Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | Facebook | Twitter → @sidneysmithcre8tiv

Official Sources Used:
– Texas court transcripts: State of Texas v. Dena Schlosser
– Collin County DA’s office & public statements
 – 911 audio, police records, and psychiatric evaluations
 – News reporting from WFAA, NBC Dallas-Fort Worth, CBS Texas, Fox News, The Boston Globe, Associated Press

Tell me what stayed with you—I read every message. Your thoughts might even shape what the Quiet Jury hears next.

Support the show

📚 SHOW NOTES
🎙 Episode 113: Christa Pike — “One Hour From Death”
A Murderess Podcast investigation

September 30, 2026.
Nashville, Tennessee.

By nine o’clock Wednesday morning, Christa Pike was supposed to have about one hour left to live.

The governor had denied clemency. The U.S. Supreme Court had refused to stop her execution. Tennessee was preparing to execute its first woman in more than 200 years.

Then the reporters arriving at Riverbend started getting turned away.

📍 Location: Tennessee death row → Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, Nashville, Tennessee → U.S. Supreme Court → U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

📅 Key Dates: January 12, 1995 Colleen Slemmer is murdered → March 1996 Christa is convicted and sentenced to death → September 2, 2026 attorneys seek clemency → September 28 Governor Bill Lee declines to intervene → September 29 U.S. Supreme Court denies Christa’s stay application and certiorari petition → September 30 Tennessee prepares for a 10 a.m. execution → roughly one hour before the scheduled execution, the Sixth Circuit issues a stay “until further order of this court.” Death Penalty Information Center

👥 Central Figures: Christa Pike, Colleen Slemmer, Colleen’s mother May Martinez, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, Rev. Mikey Noechel, Christa’s attorneys, and the federal and state courts considering her final appeals

🧠 Themes: finality, capital punishment, clemency, childhood trauma, mitigation, PTSD, federal habeas review, execution protocols, victim-family grief, last-minute appeals, justice, punishment, and what happens when an execution expected to be final suddenly stops

🎧 Murderess Podcast is written and hosted by Sidney Smith
🎙 Produced in partnership with Sidney Smith Cre8tiv, LLC and the You Hear Good Things podcast network
📅 New episodes every Thursday

🔗 Find past episodes, merch, and tour dates:
https://www.sidneysmithcre8tiv.com

🎧 Listen on your favorite platform:
Spotify | Apple Podcasts | iHeartRadio
📱 Follow Sidney:
Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | Facebook | Twitter → @sidneysmithcre8tiv

Official Sources Used:
– U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit - September 30, 2026 stay order: last-minute order staying Christa’s execution “until further order of this court” while the court considers litigation involving her attempt to reopen prior federal habeas proceedings.

– U.S. Supreme Court - Christa Gail Pike v. Tennessee, Nos. 26-5696 / 26A414, September 29, 2026: denial of Christa’s application for a stay of execution and denial of her petition for writ of certiorari. Supreme Court

– Tennessee Department of Correction - 2026 execution advisories: scheduled 10:00 a.m. CDT execution at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, media procedures, witnesses, and preparations for September 30. Home Building

– Governor Bill Lee / Death Penalty Information Center - September 28–29, 2026: Lee’s decision not to grant clemency and to allow Tennessee’s death sentence to stand. Death Penalty Information Center

– Christa Pike clemency petition - September 2026: request for commutation to life without parole; Christa’s age at the crime; childhood sexual abuse and neglect; later mental-health diagnoses; neurological evidence; and mitigation arguments.

– NBC News - September 28, 2026: Christa’s statement that she was “at peace” but nervous about the execution process; reporting on her final days, spiritual adviser, trauma history, and May Martinez’s plans to witness the execution while holding Colleen’s photograph.

– Associated Press - September 30, 2026: breaking coverage of the Sixth Circuit stay roughly an hour before the scheduled execution, the legal issues under review, and the fact that Christa’s conviction and death sentence remained intact. AP News

– WKRN / WREG - September 29–30, 2026: local reporting on Christa declining a special last meal, Riverbend preparations, reporters being turned away Wednesday morning, and the Sixth Circuit’s last-minute stay.

– Tennessee Supreme Court - State v. Christa Gail Pike (1998): primary appellate record of Colleen’s murder, Christa’s confession, trial evidence, conviction, aggravating circumstances, and original death sentence.

Tell me what stayed with you—I read every message. Your thoughts might even shape what the Quiet Jury hears next.

Support the show

📚 SHOW NOTES
🎙 Episode 113: Christa Pike — “One Hour From Death”
A Murderess Podcast investigation

September 30, 2026.
Nashville, Tennessee.

By nine o’clock Wednesday morning, Christa Pike was supposed to have about one hour left to live.
The governor had denied clemency. The U.S. Supreme Court had refused to stop her execution. Tennessee was preparing to execute its first woman in more than 200 years.
Then the reporters arriving at Riverbend started getting turned away.

📍 Location: Tennessee death row → Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, Nashville, Tennessee → U.S. Supreme Court → U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

📅 Key Dates: January 12, 1995 Colleen Slemmer is murdered → March 1996 Christa is convicted and sentenced to death → September 2, 2026 attorneys seek clemency → September 28 Governor Bill Lee declines to intervene → September 29 U.S. Supreme Court denies Christa’s stay application and certiorari petition → September 30 Tennessee prepares for a 10 a.m. execution → roughly one hour before the scheduled execution, the Sixth Circuit issues a stay “until further order of this court.” Death Penalty Information Center

👥 Central Figures: Christa Pike, Colleen Slemmer, Colleen’s mother May Martinez, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, Rev. Mikey Noechel, Christa’s attorneys, and the federal and state courts considering her final appeals

🧠 Themes: finality, capital punishment, clemency, childhood trauma, mitigation, PTSD, federal habeas review, execution protocols, victim-family grief, last-minute appeals, justice, punishment, and what happens when an execution expected to be final suddenly stops
🎧 Murderess Podcast is written and hosted by Sidney Smith
🎙 Produced in partnership with Sidney Smith Cre8tiv, LLC and the You Hear Good Things podcast network
📅 New episodes every Thursday
🔗 Find past episodes, merch, and tour dates:
https://www.sidneysmithcre8tiv.com
🎧 Listen on your favorite platform:
Spotify | Apple Podcasts | iHeartRadio
📱 Follow Sidney:
Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | Facebook | Twitter → @sidneysmithcre8tiv

Official Sources Used:

– U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit — September 30, 2026 stay order: last-minute order staying Christa’s execution “until further order of this court” while the court considers litigation involving her attempt to reopen prior federal habeas proceedings.

– U.S. Supreme Court — Christa Gail Pike v. Tennessee, Nos. 26-5696 / 26A414, September 29, 2026: denial of Christa’s application for a stay of execution and denial of her petition for writ of certiorari. Supreme Court

– Tennessee Department of Correction — 2026 execution advisories: scheduled 10:00 a.m. CDT execution at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, media procedures, witnesses, and preparations for September 30. Home Building

– Governor Bill Lee / Death Penalty Information Center — September 28–29, 2026: Lee’s decision not to grant clemency and to allow Tennessee’s death sentence to stand. Death Penalty Information Center

– Christa Pike clemency petition — September 2026: request for commutation to life without parole; Christa’s age at the crime; childhood sexual abuse and neglect; later mental-health diagnoses; neurological evidence; and mitigation arguments.

Tell me what stayed with you—I read every message. Your thoughts might even shape what the Quiet Jury hears next.

Support the show

📚 SHOW NOTES
🎙 Episode 112: Christa Pike — “It’s Harder to Hurt Somebody When They’re Talking to You”
A Murderess Podcast investigation

Nineteen-year-old Colleen Slemmer left Job Corps with Christa Pike and two other students. She never came back.

Christa told police it was “harder to hurt somebody when they’re talking to you.”

📍 Location: Knoxville Job Corps Center → University of Tennessee agricultural campus → Knox County Criminal Court → Tennessee prison system

📅 Key Dates: January 11, 1995 Christa tells Kim Iloilo she intends to kill Colleen → January 12, 1995 Colleen is murdered → January 13 her body is discovered → January 14 Christa confesses → March 1996 Christa is convicted and sentenced to death → 2001 prison attack on Patricia Jones → 2002 execution date is set, then halted as appeals resume → 2012 escape plot uncovered → September 30, 2025 Tennessee Supreme Court sets a new execution date → September 30, 2026 scheduled execution

👥 Central Figures: Christa Pike, Colleen Slemmer, Tadaryl Shipp, Shadolla Peterson, Kim Iloilo, Stephanie Wilson, Dr. Sandra Elkins, Dr. Murray Marks, Dr. Eric Engum, Dr. William Bernet, and Governor Bill Lee

🧠 Themes: jealousy, premeditation, torture, victim resistance, dehumanization, confession, forensic evidence, mental illness, childhood trauma, prison violence, capital punishment, clemency, and how later evidence can change the picture surrounding an established crime

🎧 Murderess Podcast is written and hosted by Sidney Smith
🎙 Produced in partnership with Sidney Smith Cre8tiv, LLC and the You Hear Good Things podcast network
📅 New episodes every Thursday
🔗 Past episodes, merch, and tour dates:
https://www.sidneysmithcre8tiv.com
🎧 Spotify | Apple Podcasts | iHeartRadio
📱 Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | Facebook | Twitter → @sidneysmithcre8tiv

Official Sources Used:

– Tennessee Supreme Court, State v. Christa Gail Pike (1998): primary account of the murder, Christa’s confession, Colleen’s escape attempts, forensic evidence, psychological testimony, conviction, aggravating circumstances, and death sentence.

– Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, Christa Gail Pike v. State (2011): later post-conviction litigation and expert testimony concerning bipolar disorder, childhood trauma, neurological evidence, and alleged brain impairment.

– Tennessee Supreme Court, Christa Gail Pike v. State (2005): Christa’s effort to abandon her appeals, the 2002 execution date, her subsequent change of mind, and reinstatement of post-conviction proceedings.

– Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, Christa Gail Pike v. State (2013): Christa’s attempted first-degree murder conviction for the prison attack on Patricia Jones.

– Tennessee Bureau of Investigation / Department of Correction, March 2012: official account of the disrupted prison escape plot involving Christa, former correctional officer Justin Heflin, and Donald Kohut.

– Knoxville News Sentinel trial archives, March 1996: contemporaneous coverage of Christa’s conviction, sentencing, courtroom proceedings, and death sentence.

– Tennessee Supreme Court, September 30, 2025 execution order: official order scheduling Christa’s execution for September 30, 2026 unless another court or appropriate authority intervenes.

– Tennessee Department of Correction, 2026 execution advisories: official information concerning the scheduled execution at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution.

– Christa Pike clemency petition, filed September 2026: childhood sexual abuse, trauma history, later diagnoses, neurological evidence, age at the offense, co-defendant sentencing differences, and request for commutation to life without parole.

– Death Penalty Information Center, 2026 Christa Pike coverage: reporting on the clemency petition, trauma-expert filings, lethal-injection litigation, sentencing history, and the historical significance of Tennessee’s scheduled execution of a woman for the first time in more than 200 years.

Tell me what stayed with you—I read every message. Your thoughts might even shape what the Quiet Jury hears next.

Support the show

📚 SHOW NOTES

🎙 Episode 111: Susan Wright - “I Couldn’t Stop”
A Murderess Podcast investigation

January 13, 2003.
Northwest Harris County, Texas.

Susan Wright stabbed her husband 193 times. She never denied it.

She said years of abuse ended in a desperate fight for her life. Prosecutors said the truth was much darker, and the evidence inside the Wright bedroom told a very different story.

📍 Location: Northwest Harris County, Texas 

📅 Key Dates: January 13, 2003 Susan kills Jeff Wright inside their northwest Harris County home → January 18, 2003 attorney Neal Davis alerts prosecutors to a body at the Wright residence and investigators recover Jeff from the backyard → January 24, 2003 Susan turns herself in → March 3, 2004 jury finds Susan guilty of murder → March 2004 Susan receives a 25-year prison sentence → November 17, 2005 Texas Fourteenth Court of Appeals affirms the conviction → October 28, 2009 Texas Court of Criminal Appeals finds ineffective assistance during the punishment phase and grants a new punishment trial → November 2, 2010 new jury sentences Susan to 20 years → July 2020 Susan is approved for parole → December 30, 2020 Susan is released after serving more than sixteen years. 

👥 Central Figures: Susan Wright, Jeffrey “Jeff” Wright, Bradley Wright, Kailey Wright, prosecutor Kelly Siegler, defense attorney Neal Davis, homicide detective Mark Reynolds, medical examiner Dr. Dwayne Wolf, Susan’s mother Sue Wyche, Susan’s sister Cindy Stewart, friend Jamie Darr-Hall, Jeff’s mother Kay Wright, Jeff’s brother Ron Wright Jr., former fiancée Misty McMichael, prosecutor Paul Doyle, Jeff’s coworker Kevin Conboy, and toxicologist Dr. Ashraf Mozayani

🧠 Themes: intimate-partner violence, self-defense, battered-woman dynamics, fear and rage, extreme violence, overkill, restraint evidence, forensic interpretation, cocaine and toxicology, psychological dissociation, post-crime behavior, concealment, credibility, life-insurance motive, courtroom theatrics, competing narratives, ineffective assistance of counsel, sudden passion, punishment, parole, and how the same physical evidence can tell two radically different stories

🎧 Murderess Podcast is written and hosted by Sidney Smith

🎙 Produced in partnership with Sidney Smith Cre8tiv, LLC and the You Hear Good Things podcast network

📅 New episodes every Thursday

🔗 Find past episodes, merch, and tour dates:
https://www.sidneysmithcre8tiv.com

🎧 Listen on your favorite platform:
Spotify | Apple Podcasts | iHeartRadio

📱 Follow Sidney:
Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | Facebook | Twitter → @sidneysmithcre8tiv

Official Sources Used:

– Texas Fourteenth Court of Appeals — Wright v. State**, No. 14-04-00244-CR, opinion issued November 17, 2005:** authoritative appellate account of the crime scene; Jeff Wright’s wound distribution; ligatures; candle wax; bloodstained mattress; Susan’s self-defense account; the State’s seduction-and-restraint theory; the prosecution’s courtroom demonstration using the Wrights’ actual bed; trial objections; guilty verdict; 25-year sentence; and the appellate court’s decision upholding the conviction and finding the demonstration sufficiently grounded in the evidence. 

– Texas Court of Criminal Appeals — Ex parte Susan Lucille Wright**, No. AP-76,245, opinion issued October 28, 2009:** Susan’s post-conviction ineffective-assistance claim; the court’s finding that her attorneys rendered ineffective assistance during the punishment phase; preservation of the murder conviction; and the order granting Susan a new punishment trial. 

– CBS News / 48 Hours — “Right or Wrong?” 2004–2005 coverage: Susan’s account of meeting Jeff and their early marriage; her allegations of escalating control, physical abuse and forced sex; statements from Susan’s family, friends and Jeff’s family; Jeff’s drug use; the events Susan said preceded the stabbing; Bradley knocking on the bedroom door during the attack; Susan returning to continue stabbing; her claimed psychological state afterward; the backyard burial; the bloody-bed demonstration; Susan’s testimony; Kelly Siegler’s cross-examination; the guilty verdict; and the original 25-year sentence. 

– KTRK / ABC13 Houston — 2010 Susan Wright resentencing archive: extensive contemporaneous coverage of the new punishment trial; testimony concerning Susan’s abuse allegations; photographs of her injuries; Jeff’s drug history; the $200,000 life-insurance policy; Kevin Conboy’s testimony about Susan questioning Jeff over the insurance paperwork; prosecution and defense interpretations of Susan’s behavior after the killing; and the legal argument over sudden passion. 

– KTRK / ABC13 Houston — October 2010 toxicology testimony: cocaine and alcohol detected in Jeff’s body; 33 milligrams of GHB; Chief Toxicologist Dr. Ashraf Mozayani’s testimony that GHB can also occur naturally during decomposition; and her assessment that the evidence left roughly a 50-50 possibility between ingestion and postmortem production, preventing the toxicology from definitively establishing that Jeff had been drugged before the killing. 

– KTRK / ABC13 Houston — Misty McMichael resentencing testimony, October 25, 2010: testimony from Jeff’s former fiancée describing physical and emotional violence during her own relationship with him; the role her evidence played in Susan’s post-conviction litigation; and the prosecution’s challenge to her credibility during the new punishment proceeding. 

– KTRK / ABC13 Houston — Susan Wright’s mother and domestic-abuse testimony, October 26, 2010: Sue Wyche’s description of Susan living “on eggshells”; bruises she said she observed during the marriage; fear of Jeff’s temper; and the defense effort to provide the second jury with a fuller account of the alleged abuse than the original punishment jury received. 

– Houston Chronicle — November 2–3, 2010 resentencing coverage: the second jury’s punishment deliberations; rejection of Susan’s sudden-passion claim; prosecution request for 45 years; defense request for probation; reduction of Susan’s sentence from 25 years to 20 years; credit for time already served; Susan’s apology to Jeff’s family; and victim-impact statements from the Wright family. 

– KTRK / ABC13 Houston — Wright family reaction to resentencing: Jeff’s family’s response to the 20-year sentence; their account of the impact of having to relive the case; Susan’s first courtroom apology during the resentencing proceeding; and the family’s continuing rejection of Susan’s portrayal of Jeff. 

– KTRK / ABC13 Houston — December 30–31, 2020 release coverage: Susan’s July 2020 parole approval; her December 30 release from the Lane Murray Unit in Gatesville after more than sixteen years in prison; parole conditions; the fact that Bradley and Kailey had been raised by Jeff’s family; and Susan’s request for privacy upon returning to the Houston area. 

– Houston Chronicle — December 30, 2020: Susan’s release on parole after more than sixteen years; retrospective reporting on the March 2004 conviction and 25-year sentence; the jury’s rejection of self-defense; the later reduction to a 20-year sentence; and the case’s continuing notoriety in Houston. 

– Court TV trial coverage and archived case reporting: the prosecution and defense presentations during the 2004 trial; descriptions of Jeff and Susan’s marriage; physical evidence surrounding the restraints and wound pattern; Susan’s testimony; Kelly Siegler’s courtroom reconstruction; cross-examination surrounding the 193 wounds; and the competing prosecution and self-defense theories that defined the trial. The research record also documents that the nationally televised proceeding became one of the most widely recognized Houston murder trials of its era. 

Tell me what stayed with you—I read every message. Your thoughts might even shape what the Quiet Jury hears next.

Support the show

🎙 Episode 110: Taylor Parker, Part Two — “She Needed a Baby”

A Murderess Podcast investigation

October 9, 2020.

New Boston, Texas.

Taylor Parker’s impossible pregnancy has finally reached the day it is supposed to become real. For nearly ten months, every contradiction had been answered with another lie. On October 9, Taylor reached the one problem a lie could no longer solve.

📍 Location: New Boston and De Kalb, Bowie County, Texas → McCurtain Memorial Hospital, Idabel, Oklahoma → Bowie County court proceedings, Texas

📅 Key Dates: October 9, 2020 Taylor Parker arrives at Reagan Hancock’s home, Reagan is murdered, Braxlynn is traumatically extracted, Taylor is stopped near De Kalb and taken to an Oklahoma hospital → October 16, 2020 Taylor returned to Texas and booked into Bi-State Detention Center → December 11, 2020 Bowie County grand jury indicts Taylor for capital murder and kidnapping → September 12, 2022 capital-murder trial begins → October 3, 2022 guilty verdict → November 9, 2022 death sentence → November 6, 2025 Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirms conviction and sentence → May 18, 2026 U.S. Supreme Court declines review

👥 Central Figures: Taylor Rene Parker, Reagan Simmons-Hancock, Braxlynn Sage Hancock, Kynlee Hancock, Homer Hancock, Jessica Brookes, Wade Griffin, Dr. Melinda Flores, Dr. Stephen Hastings, Dr. Christopher Mason, Idabel Police Detective Johnny Voss, flight paramedic Elton Crossland, prosecutors Kelley Crisp and Lauren Richards, Judge John Tidwell

🧠 Themes: escalating deception, premeditation, fetal abduction, motherhood and performance, reality versus narrative, extreme violence, forensic evidence, maternal resistance, identity theft through motherhood, medical truth, criminal intent, capital murder, kidnapping and attempted kidnapping, born-alive law, punishment, mitigation, death penalty, victim loss, and what happens when a lie finally requires something real

🎧 Murderess Podcast is written and hosted by Sidney Smith

🎙 Produced in partnership with Sidney Smith Cre8tiv, LLC and the You Hear Good Things podcast network

📅 New episodes every Thursday

🔗 Find past episodes, merch, and tour dates:
https://www.sidneysmithcre8tiv.com

🎧 Listen on your favorite platform:
Spotify | Apple Podcasts | iHeartRadio

📱 Follow Sidney:
Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | Facebook | Twitter → @sidneysmithcre8tiv

Official Sources Used:

– Texas Court of Criminal Appeals — Parker v. State, No. AP-77,110, opinion issued November 6, 2025:authoritative appellate chronology; evidence surrounding the October 9 attack and extraction; Taylor’s fake pregnancy and motive evidence; traffic-stop and medical testimony; definition of kidnapping under Texas law; Braxlynn’s born-alive status; the alternative attempted-kidnapping theory; change-of-venue and pretrial-publicity claims; Taylor’s twenty-five appellate points; and the court’s decision affirming the capital-murder conviction and death sentence.

– Texas Department of Criminal Justice — Taylor Rene Parker Death Row Inmate Information: Parker’s official identification, Bowie County conviction, capital-murder offense information, date received on death row, sentence status and current Texas death-row record.

– United States Supreme Court — Parker v. Texas, Supreme Court docket No. 25-7025: Taylor Parker’s petition seeking federal review and the Supreme Court’s May 18, 2026 denial of certiorari, leaving the Texas conviction and death sentence intact.

– KTAL/KMSS “Taylor Parker Trial” archive — September–November 2022: extensive contemporaneous courtroom coverage of the guilt and punishment phases; Reagan Hancock’s autopsy; the 113 sharp-force and 39 blunt-force injuries; testimony concerning the violent extraction; evidence involving Reagan’s uterus and placenta; Braxlynn’s condition; testimony from medical professionals, investigators, jail employees, Taylor’s former family members and defense witnesses; victim-impact testimony; and the November 2022 death sentence. 

– KTAL/KMSS — “Taylor Parker trial testimony reveals cruel details in baby’s death,” October 27, 2022: Dr. Stephen Hastings’ testimony concerning trauma to Braxlynn’s scalp and umbilical cord; violent removal of the placenta; Reagan’s purple-glitter fingernail fragments embedded inside the placenta; the medical interpretation that Reagan was alive and attempting to protect herself and Braxlynn during the extraction; Braxlynn’s heartbeat, measurements and cause and manner of death. 

– KTAL/KMSS — testimony from Dr. Christopher Mason and Idabel Police Detective Johnny Voss: medical explanation of the difference between a legitimate C-section and the traumatic extraction performed on Reagan; condition of Reagan’s uterus; the animal tranquilizer recovered from Taylor’s purse; Braxlynn’s approximately thirty-five-week gestational age; testimony that she could ordinarily have been born healthy; faint cardiac activity at McCurtain Memorial Hospital; and the nurse who remained with Braxlynn until her death. 

– KTAL/KMSS — punishment-phase reporting concerning Taylor Parker’s medical history and jail conduct:testimony involving Taylor’s efforts to obtain an MS diagnosis, prosecution and defense interpretations of her medical history, repeated jail medical complaints, corrections testimony, unauthorized items and privileges, Taylor watching television coverage of her own trial, and witness descriptions concerning her interest in media attention. 

– USA TODAY / Associated Press, November 2022: conviction and sentencing coverage; Reagan’s age and pregnancy; Taylor’s traffic stop with Braxlynn; prosecution and defense arguments surrounding whether Braxlynn had been born alive; medical testimony concerning cardiac activity; kidnapping as the aggravating felony supporting capital murder; and Jessica Brookes’ victim-impact statement.

– KSLA, October 27, 2022: testimony concerning Braxlynn’s cardiac activity; medical efforts to stabilize her; autopsy findings; traumatic extraction; physical evidence indicating Reagan was alive during the extraction; and the significance of Reagan’s fingernail fragments recovered from the placenta.

– KTAL/KMSS appellate reporting, November 2025: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals decision; Taylor’s challenge to the kidnapping conviction and born-alive evidence; the court’s finding that jurors could reasonably conclude Braxlynn was alive; the alternative attempted-kidnapping holding; and rejection of venue and fair-trial challenges.

– Biography.com, June 2026 — Reagan Simmons-Hancock profile: Reagan’s birth and family background; her personality; work and church life; first pregnancy and daughter Kynlee; marriage to Homer Hancock; pregnancy with Braxlynn; Taylor entering Reagan’s life through engagement and wedding photography; Jessica Brookes’ discovery of the crime scene; Kynlee’s survival; and the Hancock family’s efforts to preserve Reagan’s memory.

– The Guardian, June 7, 2026: broader case chronology; Reagan and Taylor’s connection; the October 9 attack and fetal abduction; Kynlee being found unharmed; traffic stop; hospital discovery that Taylor had not given birth; capital-murder case; defense neurological evidence; appellate arguments; Texas Court of Criminal Appeals decision; Supreme Court proceedings; and Taylor’s death-row status.

– Netflix documentary Maternal Instinct (2026), directed by Jessica Dimmock, and accompanying Netflix/Tudum materials: interviews with people connected to Taylor Parker and Reagan Hancock; visual and social context surrounding the fake pregnancy and murder; Wade Griffin’s perspective; investigators’ reconstruction of the crime; family reaction; and the case’s continuing impact.

Tell me what stayed with you—I read every message. Your thoughts might even shape what the Quiet Jury hears next.

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🎙 Episode 109: Taylor Parker, Part One — “The Pregnancy That Never Existed”

A Murderess Podcast investigation

October 9, 2020.

New Boston, Texas.

East Texas. Taylor Parker tells Wade Griffin she is pregnant, even though a hysterectomy has made that impossible. Instead of backing away from the lie, Taylor builds an entire world around it: a prosthetic belly, a gender reveal, promises of land and millions of dollars and more.

📍 Location: Northeast Texas — primarily Bowie County, New Boston, Simms, Mount Pleasant, and the planned hospital destination of Idabel, Oklahoma

📅 Key Dates: 2019 Taylor Parker meets Wade Griffin → January 2020 Taylor tells Wade she is pregnant → March 2020 Shona Prior learns of the public pregnancy/gender reveal despite knowing Taylor had undergone a hysterectomy → late September 2020 Taylor's supposed due date passes → October 5, 2020 planned induction/C-section at Titus Regional Medical Center, Wade's house fire, and hospital bomb threat → October 9, 2020 Taylor claims she will deliver in Idabel, sends Wade to deliver hogs, and arrives at Reagan Hancock's home at approximately 7:30 a.m.

👥 Central Figures: Taylor Rene Parker, Wade Griffin, Shona Prior, Tommy Wacasey, Connie Griffin, Reagan Simmons-Hancock, Kynlee Hancock, Braxlynn Sage Hancock, real-estate broker Rusty Lowe, Texas DPS Special Agent Dustin Estes

🧠 Themes: deception and self-invention, fake pregnancy, financial fantasy, attachment and control, incentives to believe, denial and passivity, family knowledge, warning signs, manufactured crisis, reality versus narrative, escalating lies, approaching deadlines, premeditation, and the question of how an impossible story survives when multiple people know or suspect the truth

🎧 Murderess Podcast is written and hosted by Sidney Smith

🎙 Produced in partnership with Sidney Smith Cre8tiv, LLC and the You Hear Good Things podcast network

📅 New episodes every Thursday

🔗 Find past episodes, merch, and tour dates:
https://www.sidneysmithcre8tiv.com

🎧 Listen on your favorite platform:
Spotify | Apple Podcasts | iHeartRadio

📱 Follow Sidney:
Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | Facebook | Twitter → @sidneysmithcre8tiv

Official Sources Used:

– Texas Court of Criminal Appeals — Parker v. State, No. AP-77,110, opinion issued November 6, 2025: Taylor Parker's reproductive and relationship history; hysterectomy; prior efforts to find surrogates; relationship with Wade Griffin; prosecution evidence concerning her efforts to keep Wade in the relationship; silicone pregnancy belly; customized ultrasound; nursery; maternity photographs; gender reveal; late-September due date; October 5 planned delivery; Wade Griffin's house fire; Titus Regional Medical Center bomb threat; change to an Idabel, Oklahoma hospital; October 9 hog-delivery plan; Taylor's approximately 7:30 a.m. arrival at Reagan Hancock's home; and the factual record underlying Parker's conviction.

– Texas Department of Criminal Justice — Taylor Rene Parker Death Row Inmate Information: Parker's official TDCJ identification, Bowie County case information, date received onto death row, prior prison record, and the department's official summary of the killing of a 21-year-old pregnant woman in order to take her unborn child.

– KTAL/KMSS “Taylor Parker Trial” archive and contemporaneous 2022 courtroom reporting: testimony from Taylor's former husband and other family members; attempts to warn Wade Griffin that Taylor was not pregnant; allegations concerning Taylor's history of lying and manipulation; testimony concerning medical claims and attempts to obtain an MS diagnosis; financial problems; parenting testimony; and prosecution arguments concerning the broader pattern of deception presented during the guilt and punishment phases.
– Netflix / Tudum — Maternal Instinct official case materials and documentary reporting: Wade Griffin's account of meeting Taylor and the future she presented to him; oil and inheritance claims; expensive purchases and ranch ambitions; friends' and relatives' growing doubts; efforts by Connie Griffin and others to verify the pregnancy; the prosthetic-belly deception; Taylor's expired September due date; and publicly reported examples of her pregnancy-related internet searches.

– Netflix documentary Maternal Instinct (2026), directed by Jessica Dimmock: interviews with Wade Griffin, people from Taylor's former social circles, members of Reagan Simmons-Hancock's family, investigators and others connected to the case; social context surrounding Taylor's arrival in the community; the fake pregnancy; financial promises; warning signs; and the collapse of Taylor's constructed life as the due date approached.

– People, 2026 — reporting on Shona Prior's trial testimony and the Parker family: Shona's knowledge of Taylor's hysterectomy; her discovery of the gender-reveal announcement; her testimony that she knew Taylor could not be pregnant; her belief that Wade and others would eventually discover the truth; Taylor's family relationships; and testimony concerning the deception leading up to October 2020.

– CBS News / Associated Press trial coverage, September–November 2022: prosecution theory that the false pregnancy was intended to prevent Taylor from losing Wade Griffin; fake ultrasounds and pregnancy presentation; testimony from Texas DPS Special Agent Dustin Estes concerning extensive pregnancy and newborn research; and Taylor's viewing of material concerning an infant delivered prematurely at thirty-five weeks on the day Reagan was killed.

– Biography.com, June 2026 — Wade Griffin and Reagan Simmons-Hancock profiles: Wade's work and background; Taylor's financial promises and real-estate schemes; Wade's reliance on Taylor's claimed wealth; the progression of their relationship; and Reagan's connection to Taylor through her engagement and wedding photography.

– The Guardian, June 7, 2026: Taylor Parker's background; relationship with Wade Griffin; claims of inherited wealth; attempted multimillion-dollar real-estate purchase; employment history; fake pregnancy; and broader context surrounding the deception that preceded Reagan Simmons-Hancock's murder.

– Contemporaneous and later publicly reported portions of Wade Griffin's 2022 trial testimony: Taylor's homemaking role in their relationship; promises of land and financial security; oil-and-gas and inheritance claims; expensive purchases and debt incurred in expectation of Taylor's money; his belief in the pregnancy; growing doubts; and the events Taylor told him to carry out on October 9, 2020, while she was supposedly preparing to give birth in Oklahoma.

Tell me what stayed with you—I read every message. Your thoughts might even shape what the Quiet Jury hears next.

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📚 SHOW NOTES

🎙 Episode 108: Bernadette Protti — “The Fear of Being Weird”

A Murderess Podcast investigation

June 23, 1984. Orinda, California.

A fifteen-year-old kills another fifteen-year-old because she’s terrified people will think she’s weird, then goes back to school and lives among everyone searching for the killer. When a fake invitation, a Ford Pinto and five stab wounds finally lead investigators back to Bernadette, the question becomes bigger than who killed Kirsten.

📍 Location: Orinda and Moraga, Contra Costa County, California

📅 Key Dates: June 21, 1984 fake Bob-o-Links invitation → June 23, 1984 Kirsten Costas murdered → summer–fall 1984 six-month investigation and false suspicion of another student → December 1984 Bernadette’s confession and arrest → March 13, 1985 second-degree murder conviction → April 1, 1985 commitment to California Youth Authority → June 10, 1992 parole at age 23

👥 Central Figures: Bernadette Protti, Kirsten Marina Costas, Arthur “Art” Costas, Berit Costas, Raymond Protti, Elaine Protti, Alexander and Mary Jane Arnold, FBI investigators, prosecutor John Oda, defense attorney Charles James, Judge Edward L. Merrill

🧠 Themes: rage and humiliation, adolescent status, envy, fear of rejection, popularity and self-worth, social conformity, false accusation, premeditation vs impulse, public shame, juvenile justice, victim loss, the difference between belonging and believing you belong

🎧 Murderess Podcast is written and hosted by Sidney Smith

🎙 Produced in partnership with Sidney Smith Cre8tiv, LLC and the You Hear Good Things podcast network

📅 New episodes every Thursday

🔗 Find past episodes, merch, and tour dates:

https://www.sidneysmithcre8tiv.com

🎧 Listen on your favorite platform:

Spotify | Apple Podcasts | iHeartRadio

📱 Follow Sidney:

Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | Facebook | Twitter → @sidneysmithcre8tiv

Official Sources Used:

– Los Angeles Times archives, March 1985: trial coverage, Bernadette Protti’s taped confession, second-degree murder verdict, jealousy and humiliation evidence, and Judge Edward Merrill’s rejection of first-degree murder

– San Francisco Chronicle archives, March 1985: detailed trial reporting, prosecution and defense arguments, courtroom atmosphere, Bernadette’s confession, Kirsten Costas’ family statements, and community reaction

– San Francisco Chronicle, June 26, 1992: Bernadette Protti’s parole, California Youth Authority record, parole-board majority and dissenting opinions, and Arthur and Berit Costas’ opposition to her release

– New York Times / Associated Press archives, December 1984: Bernadette’s arrest, juvenile-court proceedings, early descriptions of both girls, Miramonte High School, and the possible rivalry motive

– TIME magazine archives, December 1984: investigation chronology, FBI behavioral-profile involvement, Bernadette’s arrest, and contemporary reporting on the social dynamics surrounding the case

– United Press International archives, March 1985: second-degree murder verdict, portions of Bernadette’s confession, testimony from Elaine and Raymond Protti, and evidence concerning cheerleading, wealth, jealousy, and social rejection

– Contemporary long-form reporting by Carol Pogash: Kirsten Costas’ family life and personality, Orinda and Miramonte social culture, the Bob-o-Links, cheerleading, Bernadette’s friendships and insecurities, the false suspicion of another student, the private investigation, confession, trial, and aftermath

– Publicly reported portions of Bernadette Protti’s recorded confession: statements concerning cheerleading, yearbook, clubs, looks, money, popularity, Kirsten’s ski comment, fear of being called “weird,” the false invitation, pursuit of Kirsten, and Bernadette’s description of the stabbing as an act of anger

– Publicly reported excerpts from Bernadette Protti’s written confession to her parents: acknowledgment that investigators suspected her, admission that they were correct, expressions of shame and fear, and her request that her parents continue to love her

– California Youth Authority / Youthful Offender Parole Board findings as reported contemporaneously by the San Francisco Chronicle: Bernadette’s educational progress while confined, 1992 parole decision, concerns regarding anger and impulse control, and release at age 23.

Tell me what stayed with you—I read every message. Your thoughts might even shape what the Quiet Jury hears next.

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Murderess Podcast is back.

I’m Sidney Smith, and the Quiet Jury is officially back in session.

The relaunch begins with four episodes covering Kouri Richins, Bernadette Protti, and a two-part investigation into Taylor Parker, a woman who spent nearly ten months faking a pregnancy before the lie demanded something real.

This next chapter of Murderess Podcast goes deeper into the people, the evidence, the contradictions, the psychology, and the choices behind women who kill.

New episodes every Thursday.

🎧 Follow Murderess Podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
🔗 Find episodes, Cre8tiv+, tour dates and more at sidneysmithcre8tiv.com
📱 @sidneysmithcre8tiv

Stay curious. Stay cautious.

Tell me what stayed with you—I read every message. Your thoughts might even shape what the Quiet Jury hears next.

Support the show