Murderess Podcast

🚨 Encore Presentation — Originally released March 2021, this episode remains one of the most discussed on Murderess Podcast. Dive back into the story of Dorothea Puente. 

Hey listeners — Sidney here.

This week, I’m pulling one from deep in the archives. Back when Murderess Podcast was still finding its voice, I was co-hosting with Jamie Camire, and we were experimenting with structure, tone… even titles.

So yes — it’s different. But it’s also one of the earliest stories that started shaping the way I tell them today.

Dorothea Puente wasn’t just a killer. She was a con artist, a caretaker, and a woman who turned her Sacramento boarding house into a house of horrors.

So if you’ve never heard this one — or just want to hear where it all began — here’s your chance.

And yes… that title? Still wild.

🎧 Murderess Replay: Dorothea Puente — “The Jetsons Was Some White Man’s Fantasy”
Available now.

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 88: Veronica Orderud — “The Silence at the Farmhouse Door”
Standalone Episode

She didn’t shoot.
She didn’t confess.
But she went to prison… along with three others.

This week, we go inside one of Norway’s most haunting and divisive murder cases — the 1999 triple homicide that tore apart the Orderud family.
At the center: Veronica Orderud. Educated. Married. Respected by many.
But behind that calm exterior, prosecutors said, was a woman motivated by land, legacy… and cold calculation.

No one confessed.
No one told the full story.
But someone opened that farmhouse door.
And someone never left.

📍 Location: Sørum, Norway
📅 Date of Crimes: May 22–23, 1999
👥 Victims: Kristian Magnus Orderud, Marie Orderud, Anne Orderud Paust
⚖️ Conviction: Complicity in premeditated murder
🔒 Sentence: 21 years (Veronica & Per); 18 years (Lars); 16 years (Kristin)

📚 Sources

• NRK archives
• Oslo District Court documents
• Interviews with Kristin Kirkemo and Lars Grønnerød
• TV2 post-release features (2020)
• Dagbladet & VG reports from 1999–2002
• Legal commentary by Øystein Milli and Anders Giæver
• Norwegian criminal justice case summaries

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

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

Support the show

🚨 Encore Presentation — Originally released April 17, 2025, this episode remains one of the most discussed on Murderess Podcast. Dive back into the story of Susan Smith, the mother who shocked a nation. 

Hey listeners — Sidney here. My voice is a little worn out this week from performances and a packed schedule, so while I rest it up just a bit, I’m replaying one of the most downloaded episodes from the archive: Susan Smith — 'The Mother Who Pulled the Trigger.'

If you missed this one the first time around, now’s the time.

I’m also going to do my best to get you a fresh episode as soon as I can — stay tuned

🎙 Episode 77: “Susan Smith: The Lie That Sank Everything”
Part of the Mothers Who Kill Arc

For nine days, Susan Smith was America’s grieving mother—crying on camera, pleading for the return of her two young sons. But behind her carefully rehearsed story was a truth far more horrifying.

In this episode, we explore Susan's fractured childhood, her toxic relationships, the unraveling of her marriage, and the night she drove into the darkness and let go. We examine the calculated lie that captivated the country, the trial that shocked it, and the betrayal no one saw coming—until it was too late.

📍 Location: Union, South Carolina
📅 Date of Crime: October 25, 1994
👥 Victims: Michael Daniel Smith (3) and Alexander Tyler Smith (14 months)
⚖️ Sentence: Life in prison with possibility of parole after 30 years
🗓 Parole Status: As of March 2025, she is eligible, but no decision has been made public

📚 Sources:

• South Carolina v. Susan Smith, 1995 – Trial Transcripts
• The State and CNN – Contemporary coverage
• South Carolina Department of Corrections – Parole status and inmate records
• Interviews with Union County officials and archival press footage

🎧 Murderess Podcast is written and hosted by Sidney Smith.
🎙 Music, editing, and production by Laugh Local Studios.
🔪 This is a Laugh Local Network production.
📅 New episodes released weekly.

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 87: “Karla Faye Tucker — The Woman With the Pickaxe Smile”
 Standalone Episode
She didn’t scream.
 She didn’t panic.
 She just smiled—and kept swinging.

In this episode, we go inside the brutal 1983 murders of Jerry Dean and Deborah Thornton—and follow the path of Karla Faye Tucker, a woman who became as infamous for her confession as she did for her conversion.

Tucker wasn’t just a killer—she became a symbol.
 Of remorse.
 Of redemption.
 Of the collision between faith and justice inside a Texas death chamber.

From her wild-eyed confession to her final words before lethal injection, this is the story of a woman who turned a pickaxe into a weapon… and later, her own story into a national debate.

Because when the killer finds God… does the state still pull the trigger?

📚 Sources:

• State of Texas v. Karla Faye Tucker – trial transcripts and sentencing files
• Karla Faye Tucker’s taped confession (Texas Department of Criminal Justice)
• Interviews: CBS News, 60 Minutes, Larry King Live
• Official execution records – Huntsville Unit, Texas
• Reporting by The Houston Chronicle, Texas Monthly, and BBC News
• Clemency statements from Governor George W. Bush and Texas Board of Pardons

••Public records and testimonies from victims’ families and spiritual advisors

📍 Location: Houston, Texas
📅 Date of Crimes: June 13, 1983
👥 Victims: Jerry Lynn Dean, Deborah Thornton
⚖️ Conviction: Two counts of capital murder
🔒 Sentence: Death by lethal injection (executed February 3, 1998)

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 86: “Jasmine Richardson — The Girl Who Smiled Through the Blood”
 Standalone Episode

She was 12 years old.
 He was 23.
 And together, they planned the brutal murder of her entire family.

In this episode, we trace the chilling case of Jasmine Richardson—a middle school girl who fell under the spell of Jeremy Steinke, a man who claimed to be a 300-year-old werewolf. What began as gothic roleplay online quickly evolved into obsession, violence, and a triple homicide that left a town shattered and a country stunned.

From the calm inside the crime scene to the messages too disturbing for court, this is the story of a child who chose destruction—and what the justice system does when the killer is still a kid.

Because some crimes don’t start with rage.
 They start with whispers.
 And end with silence.

📍 Location: Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada
📅 Date of Crimes: April 23, 2006
👥 Victims: Marc Richardson, Debra Richardson, Jacob Richardson (8)
⚖️ Conviction: Three counts of first-degree murder (both Jasmine and Jeremy)
🔒 Sentence:
Jasmine – 10 years under the Youth Criminal Justice Act
Jeremy – Three life sentences (parole eligibility after 25 years)

📚 Sources:

• R. v. J.R., Youth Court of Alberta
• CBC, Global News, The Globe and Mail (2006–2008)
• Trial records and psychiatric reports
• Archived messages and profiles from VampireFreaks.com
• Interviews with law enforcement and legal experts
• Public court transcripts and sentencing memoranda

🎧 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 released weekly.

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

Support the show

This week’s full episode is almost ready—but needed one more night to breathe. The story drops Thursday morning. Thank you for holding space, and for listening.

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 85: “Michelle Knotek — The House That Hurt People”
Standalone Episode

Michelle Knotek didn’t kill with knives or rage.
She used manipulation, isolation, and slow, invisible cruelty.
She took in the vulnerable—friends, family, boarders—and offered them safety. What she delivered instead was psychological torture, starvation, humiliation… and, eventually, death.

In this episode, we walk through the haunted halls of her home, where kindness was a weapon, silence was a sentence, and escape was never an option.
From Kathy Loreno to Ronald Woodworth to her own nephew, Shane Watson—Michelle didn't just erase people… she made them feel like they erased themselves.

This is not a story about a violent explosion of rage.
This is the story of a woman who took her time.

📍 Location: Raymond, Washington
📅 Date of Crimes: 1991–2003
👥 Victims: Kathy Loreno, Ronald Woodworth, Shane Watson
⚖️ Conviction: Two counts of second-degree murder, one count of manslaughter, multiple counts of assault and criminal mistreatment
🔒 Sentence: 22 years in prison (released in 2022)

📚 Sources:
Washington State v. Michelle Knotek, court transcripts and plea documents
Testimony from Nikki Knotek
CBS News, The Seattle Times, The Daily Chronicle
Department of Corrections records
Forensic evidence and investigative reports
Recorded interviews with law enforcement and family members

🎧 Murderess Podcast is written and hosted by Sidney Smith.
🎙 In conjunction with Sidney Smith Cre8tiv, LLC, this is a You Hear Good Things production.
📅 New episodes released weekly.

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 84: “Debora Green — The Doctor Who Prescribed Her Own Destruction” (Part of the Mothers Who Kill Arc)

Deborah Green was a brilliant physician, a mother, and a woman seemingly in control—until everything around her began to collapse.
Beneath the facade of success and stability, resentment, betrayal, and emotional unraveling festered.
In this episode, we peel back the layers of a woman who burned down her own world—both figuratively and literally.

When arson and poisoning collide with a crumbling marriage, the result is a tragedy that devastates an entire family—and exposes how slow, calculated destruction can hide in plain sight.

📍 Location: Prairie Village, Kansas
📅 Date of Crime: October 23, 1995
👥 Victims: Timothy Green (13 years old) and Kelly Green (6 years old)
⚖️ Conviction: Two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder, one count of aggravated arson
🔒 Sentence: Two consecutive 40-year sentences (no parole eligibility for 40 years)

📚 Sources:

• Bitter Harvest by Ann Rule (primary nonfiction account)
• Court records and trial transcripts from Johnson County, Kansas
• Coverage by The Kansas City Star and The New York Times
• Fire investigation reports and forensic toxicology reports

🎬 CREDITS

🎧 Murderess Podcast is written and hosted by Sidney Smith.
🎙 Music, editing, and production by Laugh Local Studios.
🔪 This is a Laugh Local Network production.
📅 New episodes released weekly.

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 83: “Lacey Spears — The Mother Who Needed to Be Watched”
Part of the Mothers Who Kill Arc

Lacey Spears was the face of a modern-day “supermom”—blogging her sick child’s journey, documenting his struggles, and building a following around strength and faith.
But none of it was real.

In this episode, we unravel how one woman used the internet to curate a perfect lie—how she poisoned her son slowly, intentionally, and publicly.
Through feeding tubes, social media posts, and fake diagnoses, Lacey Spears created the very illness that would take her child’s life… and used the world’s sympathy to mask it.

📍 Location: Chestnut Ridge & Westchester County, New York
📅 Date of Crime: January 23, 2014
👥 Victim: Garnett Spears (5 years old)
⚖️ Conviction: Second-degree murder
🔒 Sentence: 20 years to life in prison

📚 Sources:

• The People vs. Lacey Spears, Westchester County Trial Transcripts (2015)
• Coverage by NBC News, LoHud / The Journal News, and CBS New York
• Forensic insights from Dr. Marc Feldman, Munchausen by Proxy specialist
• Public archives of Lacey Spears’ blog and Facebook posts
• Medical records and statements from Westchester Medical Center

🎧 Murderess Podcast is written and hosted by Sidney Smith.
🎙 Music, editing, and production by Laugh Local Studios.
🔪 This is a Laugh Local Network production.
📅 New episodes released weekly.

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 82: Diane Downs — The Mother Who Pulled the Trigger
Part of the “Mothers Who Kill” arc

Diane Downs said a stranger shot her children. She blamed a man in the trees, her ex-husband, even her daughter. But the truth was far more chilling: Diane did it herself—then drove to the hospital and played the part of the grieving mother.

In this episode, we explore her fractured childhood, her obsession with a man who didn’t want her kids, the night she turned her fantasy into a crime scene—and the little girl who stood up in court and told the truth.

📍 Location: Springfield, Oregon
📅 Date of Crime: May 19, 1983
👥 Victims: Cheryl Downs (deceased), Christie and Danny Downs (survivors)
⚖️ Sentence: Life + 50 years
🗓 Parole Status: Denied in 2008, 2010, and 2021. Eligible again in 2025.

🎬 CREDITS

🎧 Murderess Podcast is written and hosted by Sidney Smith.
🎼 Music, editing, and production by Laugh Local Studios.
🔪 This is a Laugh Local Network production.
📅 New episodes every week.

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

Support the show