On the morning of 5 July 1995, gunshots shattered the calm at 1 Snoopy Place in Santa Rosa, California, the office complex of Charles M. Schulz, creator of Peanuts. Instead of gentle beagle wisdom and existential children, the lawn outside the studio became a crime scene when Ronald “Ron” Nelson, Schulz’s long-time business manager and licensing powerhouse, was shot by his wife of nearly three decades, Shirley Ann Nelson. What unfolded was not just an act of shocking workplace violence, but the spectacular implosion of a marriage, an affair with a younger colleague, and a very 90s courtroom battle over whether this was calculated attempted murder or a tragic “crime of the heart” .

The case left lingering questions: how much should emotional devastation mitigate attempted murder? How much weight should victim forgiveness carry? And why did the narrative of a “broken-hearted” older wife resonate so strongly with jurors? We explore the bizarre collision of cartoon innocence and adult catastrophe - proof that even at Snoopy HQ, life is rarely black and white… even if the comic strip is .

• Ramon G. McLeod, “Charles Schulz’s Manager Shot,” San Francisco Chronicle (July 6, 1995)

• “Shooting suspect arraigned at hospital,” San Francisco Chronicle (July 1995)

• “Wife free on bail in alleged murder try,” News-Times / SF Examiner wire (Nov 10, 1995)

• “Mistrial called in ‘Peanuts’ manager’s shooting,” San Francisco Chronicle (May 30, 1996)

• “Plea Bargain in ‘Peanuts’ Shooting Case,” San Francisco Chronicle (Feb 19, 1997)

• “Woman Who Shot Spouse Is Sentenced,” San Francisco Chronicle (Apr 17, 1997)

• Press Democrat archives (Aug 1995 onwards)

• Jake Rossen, “The Attempted Murder at Peanuts Headquarters,” Mental Floss (2016)

• “Shirley Ann Nelson’s Peanuts Murder-Suicide Attempt,” Oxygen Crime News (2022)

Sources

On a spring night in 1987, private investigator Daniel Morgan was murdered in the car park of a South London pub. What followed wasn’t just a homicide investigation, it became a decades-long saga involving five police inquiries, collapsed trials, allegations of corruption, and one of the most damning independent reports ever published about the Metropolitan Police . 

As detectives chased suspects, arrested associates, and built cases that repeatedly fell apart, something more troubling began to emerge. The story widened beyond one violent crime into uncomfortable questions about police integrity, tabloid journalism, and institutional self-protection . 

This episode isn’t just about what happened in a pub car park, it’s about what happens when institutions close ranks. It’s gripping, frustrating, and at moments so chaotic it almost defies belief. Almost.

• Daniel Morgan Independent Panel Report (2021)

• The Guardian – “Daniel Morgan murder: inquiry brands Met police ‘institutionally corrupt’”

• The Guardian – “Daniel Morgan: a timeline of key events”

• The Guardian – “Jonathan Rees: private investigator who ran empire of tabloid corruption”

• The Guardian – “Murder trial collapse exposes News of the World links to police corruption”

• The Guardian – “Daniel Morgan: Met to reportedly pay family £2m over ‘corrupt’ investigation”

• The Independent – “Daniel Morgan murder: What happened in the case of the murdered private detective?”

Sources

We head to Melbourne for one of Australia’s strangest and most disturbing true crime cases - the murder of millionaire Peter Shellard.

Shellard was wealthy, eccentric, litigious, and openly antagonistic toward almost everyone around him. He lived in a sprawling heritage mansion, feuded endlessly with neighbours, and seemed to enjoy pushing boundaries just to watch things burn - sometimes literally.

But his death wasn’t the result of one of his many vendettas.

It came from much closer to home.

Sources 

• ABC News (2007) – Partner found guilty of murdering millionaire

• ABC News (2007) – 18 years jail for car dealer murder

• ABC News (2010) – Court overturns murder conviction

• Brisbane Times (2007) – De facto wife of millionaire jailed for his murder

• NZ Herald / News.com.au (2017) – Greed, vengeance and death in Australian millionaire’s mansion

• 9Honey / Nine News (2017) – The bondage-loving millionaire murdered for his fortune

• Deadly Women (2011), Season 5, Episode: “Love to Death”

• Casefile Podcast

• https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/jun/21/spite-buildings-when-human-grudges-get-architectural-in-pictures

Dee takes Isla on a truly bonkers journey into wartime espionage, where the British government decided the best way to win a major strategic battle was to weaponise a dead body - with the enthusiastic help of history’s most famous forensic pathologist.

Yes, this episode is about Operation Mincemeat - the WWII intelligence plot so unhinged it involved:

• A corpse with a fake life

• Love letters, overdraft notices, and an engagement ring receipt

• A submarine

• A mildly disappointed dad

• And Bernard Spilsbury, applying forensic science not to solve a crime… but to commit the perfect lie

If you’ve listened to the podcast before, you already know Spilsbury - Dr Crippen, Brides in the Bath, forensic icon, and occasional menace.

Here, Spilsbury was asked one key question:

“Bernard, could we make a poisoned corpse look like it drowned… convincingly enough to fool the Nazis?”

Reader, he said yes.

He used forensic science, not to catch a killer, but to gaslight an entire enemy state.

Sources 

• Hektoen International – “Forensic Medicine and Sir Bernard Spilsbury” 

• NPR: Operation Mincemeat film review The National Archives 

• Imperial War Museums

• MI5

• Commonwealth War Graves Commission

• BBC History 

• History Today 

• Smithsonian Magazine 

In the early hours of 6 June 2020, sisters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman were brutally murdered in Fryent Country Park, north-west London.

What followed was not only one of the most shocking crimes in recent British history, but a cascade of failures that compounded the violence: a delayed police response, a family forced to search for their loved ones themselves, grotesque misconduct by officers tasked with guarding the crime scene, and a wider reckoning with racism, misogyny, and institutional rot within the Metropolitan Police.

On the evening of 5 June 2020 - as the UK tentatively emerged from its first COVID lockdown - Bibaa held a socially distanced birthday picnic in the park. Fairy lights hung from trees. Music played. Friends laughed. For a brief moment, life felt light again.

By midnight, most guests had gone home. Bibaa and Nicole stayed, dancing together under the lights.

What happened next was an act of extreme violence driven by a disturbing mix of misogyny, far-right ideology, and occult delusion.

But the horror did not end there.

This is a case about far more than one killer.

It is about whose lives are treated as urgent, whose suffering is dismissed, and what happens when institutions meant to protect instead betray.

❤️ Donation in honour of our listeners

To mark the start of Season 6, we have made a £100 donation to Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) on behalf of our listeners.

SOURCES

https://www.theguardian.com/books/article/2024/jul/28/a-better-tomorrow-by-mina-smallman-review-powerful-life-lessons-in-hope-and-strength

https://www.itv.com/news/london/2020-06-19/devastated-family-pay-tribute-to-sisters-fatally-stabbed-in-london-park

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-57679755

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-57377414

https://news.sky.com/story/wembley-park-stabbings-danyal-hussein-19-jailed-for-at-least-35-years-for-murdering-two-sisters-after-pact-with-demon-12446316

https://www.thejournal.ie/satanism-court-case-uk-5585734-Oct2021/

https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/R-v-Hussein-Sentencing-Remarks.pdf

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-57722035

https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/mina-smallman-viewpoint

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/oct/25/metropolitan-police-to-apologise-to-family-of-murdered-sisters

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/bibaa-henry-nicole-smallman-sarah-everard-race-police-b1822752.html

https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/R-v-Jaffer-Lewis-sentencing-061221.pdf

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/dec/06/two-met-police-officers-jailed-photos-murdered-sisters-deniz-jaffer-jamie-lewis-nicole-smallman-bibaa-henry

https://www.itv.com/news/london/2022-05-11/met-police-officers-jailed-over-taking-pictures-of-murdered-sisters-to-appeal

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/jul/20/i-have-not-forgiven-met-officers-who-photographed-dead-daughters-bibaa-henry-nicole-smallman-mother-mina-smallman

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/may/22/anti-terrorism-programme-must-keep-focus-on-far-right-say-experts

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-53906392

https://www.sky.com/watch/bibaa-and-nicole-murder-in-the-park

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/may/11/tv-tonight-the-horrific-murders-of-bibaa-henry-and-nicole-smallman-explored

Photos from the Metropolitan Police and the family of Bibaa Henry and Nichole Smallman

Before CSI, before DNA, before forensic teams filled our screens - there was Sir Bernard Spilsbury.

The man who made science the star witness and turned the pathologist into a courtroom celebrity.

In this Dee-Brief, Dee revisits the life and legacy of the 'People’s Pathologist' - a brilliant, controversial figure whose work helped convict murderers like Dr Crippen and George Joseph Smith (the 'Brides in the Bath' killer).

A story of genius, ego, and the price of infallibility - from the man who taught Britain how to read the dead.

💀 About Dee-Brief:Your weekly bite-size dose of dark history and true crime from Switchblade Sisters Social Club - smaller stories, same creepy-cute energy.

🛍️ Merch:Creepy-cute fits on RedBubble. Treat yourself and support the show.

🔪 Listen & Subscribe:Find Switchblade Sisters Social Club and Dee-Brief on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and everywhere you listen.

Sources 

• Andrew Rose, Lethal Witness: Sir Bernard Spilsbury – The Truth Behind a Hundred Years of Solved Crimes (2007)
  

• Colin Evans, The Father of Forensics (2014)
  

• Ben Macintyre, Operation Mincemeat (2010)
  

• The Times (1910–1947) – contemporary case reporting
  

• The Lancet – obituary, December 1947
  

#SwitchbladeSistersSocialClub #DeeBrief #TrueCrimePodcast #BernardSpilsbury #ForensicHistory #Pathology #OperationMincemeat #DarkHistory #DrCrippen #BridesInTheBath #TrueCrimeCommunity #BritishHistory #PodcastShowNotes

This week, Dee turns the piano up to eleven for a wild ride through the life of Jerry Lee Lewis - the rock’n’roll prodigy known as The Killer.

A piano-pounding genius who inspired Elvis and scandalised the world, Jerry Lee’s story is one of gospel and guilt, sin and salvation - and enough scandal to fill a dozen tabloid front pages.

We trace his meteoric rise from the cotton fields of Louisiana to Sun Records, the hits that shook the 1950s ('Great Balls of Fire' and 'Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On'), and the personal chaos that almost destroyed him.

Was Jerry Lee Lewis a rock’n’roll pioneer or a walking cautionary tale? As he once said himself, 'There’s a difference between a sinner and a criminal. I might be both.'

💀 About Dee-Brief:Your weekly bite-size dose of dark history and true crime from Switchblade Sisters Social Club - smaller stories, same creepy-cute energy.

🛍️ Merch:Creepy-cute fits on RedBubble. Treat yourself and support the show.

🔪 Listen & Subscribe:Find Switchblade Sisters Social Club and Dee-Brief on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and everywhere you listen.

📚 Sources

• Los Angeles Times – 'Jerry Lee Lewis Dies at 87' (2022)
  

• The Guardian – 'Jerry Lee Lewis: A Life of Sin, Salvation, and Scandal' (2022)
  

• Rolling Stone – 'The Untold Story of Jerry Lee Lewis’s Fifth Wife’s Mysterious Death' (2014)
  

• Rick Bragg, Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story (HarperCollins, 2014)
  

• BBC News – 'Jerry Lee Lewis – Rock’n’Roll’s Wildest Star' (Obituary, 2022)
  

• New York Times Archive – 'Singer’s Teenage Wife Rocks Britain' (1958)
  

• People Magazine – 'The Killer’s Trail of Tragedy' (1984)
  

#SwitchbladeSistersSocialClub #DeeBrief #TrueCrimePodcast #JerryLeeLewis #RocknRollHistory #DarkHistory #MusicScandal #TheKiller #GreatBallsOfFire #50sMusic #TrueCrimeCommunity #PodcastShowNotes

Just before Christmas 1988, 22-year-old photographer Lorraine Benson vanished after leaving her work party in South London. The next morning, her body was found near Raynes Park station - beaten and strangled.

As police raced to catch a killer, they uncovered chilling links to a string of sexual assaults along the same commuter line. What followed would make history: Lorraine’s murder became the first ever solved by DNA profiling in the Metropolitan Police.

In this Dee-Brief, Dee revisits the case that changed forensic science forever - from the night Lorraine disappeared to the evidence that finally trapped her killer, 17-year-old John Dunne.

We explore the investigation, the impact on Lorraine’s family, and how one brutal crime reshaped policing in Britain.

💀 About Dee-Brief:Your weekly bite-size dose of dark history and true crime from Switchblade Sisters Social Club - smaller stories, same creepy-cute energy.

🛍️ Merch:Creepy-cute fits on RedBubble. Treat yourself and support the show.

🔪 Listen & Subscribe:Find Switchblade Sisters Social Club and Dee-Brief on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and everywhere you listen.

📚 Sources

• The Times (Feb 1989): Full text via Archive.org
  

• Mirror Online – Devastated dad of murdered photographer warns her killer will strike again if he is moved to open prison https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/devastated-dad-murdered-photographer-warns-8528418
  

• Office of Justice Programs – Murder in South London: A Novel Use of DNA Profiling https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/murder-south-london-novel-use-dna-profiling
  

• They Walk Among Us podcast (2023): Season 8, Episode 34
  

• Crime+Investigation UK – When Missing Turns to Murder https://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/videos/devastating-moment-they-realised-their-daughter-was-dead-when-missing-turns-murder
  

• History by the Yard – DNA https://www.historybytheyard.co.uk/dna.htm
  

#SwitchbladeSistersSocialClub #DeeBrief #TrueCrimePodcast #LorraineBenson #ForensicHistory #ColdCaseUK #SouthLondonCrime #RaynesPark #DNAProfiling #DarkHistory #WomenInCrime #TrueCrimeCommunity #PodcastShowNotes

Ramon Abbas - better known as Hushpuppi - was one of Instagram’s flashiest influencers. Private jets, designer clothes, luxury cars... but behind all that Gucci was a global network of cybercrime.

In this Dee-Brief mini-episode, Dee traces Hushpuppi’s astonishing rise from poverty in Lagos to superstardom in Dubai - and his spectacular fall, when U.S. investigators and Dubai police uncovered that his fortune came from massive international fraud and money-laundering schemes.

By the time the 'Billionaire Gucci Master' was sentenced to 11 years in prison, his downfall had become a cautionary tale about greed, image, and the blurred lines between online fantasy and real-world crime.

Sources:

• U.S. Department of Justice (Central District of California), Nigerian Man Sentenced to Over 11 Years in Federal Prison for Conspiring to Launder Tens of Millions of Dollars from Online Scams  justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/nigerian-man-sentenced-over-11-years-federal-prison-conspiring-launder-tens-millions

• U.S. Department of Justice (Central District of California), Nigerian National Brought to U.S. to Face Charges of Conspiring to Launder Hundreds of Millions of Dollars from Cybercrime Schemes  justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/nigerian-national-brought-us-face-charges-conspiring-launder-hundreds-millions-dollars
  

• Al Jazeera, Nigerian Influencer ‘Hushpuppi’ Jailed in US for Money Laundering  aljazeera.com/news/2022/11/8/hushpuppi-gets-prison-term-for-money-laundering-conspiracy
  

• Business Insider, The Instagram-Fueled Rise and Fall of Nigerian Influencer Hushpuppi businessinsider.com/hushpuppi-instagram-rise-fall-nigerian-influencer-cyber-crime-ramon-abbas-2022-12
  

• VICE, ‘He Got Burnt’: How One of Instagram’s Biggest Fraudsters Was Brought Down  vice.com/en/article/hushpuppi-ramon-abbas-jailed
  

• BET News, Nigerian Influencer ‘Ray Hushpuppi’ Gets 11 Years In Prison For Money Laundering  bet.com/article/4etxi2/nigerian-influencer-ramon-abbas-gets-prison-sentence-money-laundering

💀 About Dee-Brief:Your weekly bite-size dose of dark history and true crime from Switchblade Sisters Social Club - smaller stories, same creepy-cute energy.

🛍️ Merch:Creepy-cute fits on RedBubble. Treat yourself and support the show.

🔪 Listen & Subscribe:Find Switchblade Sisters Social Club and Dee-Brief on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and everywhere you listen.

A Christmas bonus mini! Dee revisits the real-life riddle that once gripped Britain: Agatha Christie’s 11-day disappearance in December 1926. We trace Christie’s early life and rise to 'Queen of Mystery', the personal crises that preceded her vanishing, the nationwide manhunt (with Arthur Conan Doyle and Dorothy L. Sayers in the mix), her reappearance at Harrogate’s Swan Hydropathic Hotel under the name 'Mrs. Teresa Neele'… and the theories that still swirl: amnesia, nervous collapse, publicity stunt, or something else?

💀 About Dee-Brief:Your weekly bite-size dose of dark history and true crime from Switchblade Sisters Social Club - smaller stories, same creepy-cute energy.

🛍️ Merch:Creepy-cute fits on RedBubble. Treat yourself and support the show.

🔪 Listen & Subscribe:Find Switchblade Sisters Social Club and Dee-Brief on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and everywhere you listen.

• Robert New - 'The Disappearance of the Best-Ever Selling Author' (2021): https://robertsnew.com/2021/11/11/the-disappearance-of-the-best-ever-selling-author/
  

• Historic UK - 'The Curious Disappearance of Agatha Christie': https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/The-Curious-Disappearance-of-Agatha-Christie/
  

• Wikipedia - The Mysterious Affair at Styles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mysterious_Affair_at_Styles
  

• Wikipedia - The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Murder_of_Roger_Ackroyd
  

• National Geographic - 'Why did Agatha Christie go missing? Four theories': https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/agatha-christie-mystery-disappearance-theories
  

• Old Swan Hotel - 'The Agatha Christie Connection': https://theoldswanhotel.co.uk/the-agatha-christie-connection/
  

• HistoryExtra - 'The Mysterious Disappearance of Agatha Christie': https://www.historyextra.com/period/20th-century/agatha-christie-disappearance-mystery-facts-poirot-miss-marple-detective/
  

• AgathaChristie.com - 'Book of the Month: Murder on the Orient Express': https://www.agathachristie.com/news/2017/book-of-the-month-murder-on-the-orient-express
  

#SwitchbladeSistersSocialClub #DeeBrief #TrueCrimePodcast #AgathaChristie #Harrogate #OldSwanHotel #NewlandsCorner #MysteryHistory #DarkHistory #WomenInPublishing #CrimeFiction #PodcastShowNotes

📚 Sources