When British nurse Lucy Letby went on trial in 2023, the case against her seemed overwhelming. She was charged with 22 murders and attempted murders in the neonatal unit where she worked at Countess of Chester Hospital. The case centered on an abnormally high number of deaths between June 2015 and June 2016. Although no one ever saw Lucy harming a baby and the coroner did not find foul play in any of their deaths, thousands of pieces of evidence were gathered to convict her. In August of 2023, Lucy was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.

Join us at the quiet end for Lucy Letby: The Common Denominator, Part One. At her sentencing, the judge said that Lucy had committed a cruel, calculated, and cynical campaign of child murder involving the smallest and most vulnerable of children. A public inquiry was ordered to discern how Lucy Letby was able to commit her crimes and how the hospital failed to protect babies. But she maintains that she is innocent and there are questions about the statistical evidence used to convict her and the working conditions on the unit. Is Lucy Letby the cruel, calculated killer that the jury found her to be, or could she be the victim of a false conviction?

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A British Nurse Was Found Guilty of Killing Seven Babies, Did She Do It? The New Yorker, Rachel Aviv, 5/13/2024.

Countess of Chester Hospital: Woman held in baby deaths probe, BBC News, 7/3/2018.

Lucy Letby: how did a nurse commit such unthinkable murders? The Guardian, 8/18/2023.

Lucy Letby: The Complete Story by Katherine Smith, 2023.

Lucy Letby whistleblower says babies would have lived if hospital had acted sooner, The Guardian, Josh Halliday, 8/18/2023.

The King v. Lucy Letby, Sentencing Remarks, Honorable Mr. Justice Goss Kt., 8/21/2023.

Panorama, Lucy Letby: The Nurse Who Killed, BBC One TV documentary, 8/21/2023.

Revealed: the files that show how Lucy Letby was treated as a victim, The Times, Shaun Lintern & David Collins, 8/20/2023.

Sudden unexpected neonatal death in the first week of life: Autopsy findings from a specialist centre, The Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine, Martin A. Weber, Michael T. Ashworth, Anthony R. Risdon, Ivan Brooke, Marian Malone, Neil J. Sebire, 2009.

What I learned about Lucy Letby after 10 months in court, BBC News, Judith Moritz, 8/24/2023.

What is the evidence against Lucy Letby? Five key points that convicted baby killer, YorkshireLive, Sophie Corcoran, 8/24/2023.

The van Breda family enjoyed wealth, travel, and the love of friends and family. They travelled together, had apparently enviable relationships, and the children were educated at some of the best schools from around the world. All five family members were living what seemed like a dream life in a high-security, luxury estate just outside Stellenbosch, South Africa. But everything changed for them overnight in late January of 2015.

Join us at the quiet end for What Marli Forgot: The van Breda Axe Murders. The gruesome murders of patriarch Martin, his wife Teresa, and their adult son Rudi shocked South Africa. A bloody axe, identified as coming from the van Breda residence, was recovered at the scene. But there was no indication of forced entry or an outside assailant. Could it have been that a member of the family was responsible for the violence that night? The youngest child, 16-year-old Marli, had no recollection of what happened that night. But her 20-year-old brother, Henri, who remembered details from that night, had a story to tell.

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As it happened: Henri van Breda pre-trial postponed, News24, 9/9/2016, retrieved 10/19/2024

The De Zalze Murders: The Story Behind the Brutal Axe Attack by Julian Jansen

Henri van Breda guilty of triple axe murders, News24, 5/21/2018, retrieved 10/20/2024

THE HIGH COURT OF SOUTH AFRICA (WESTERN CAPE DIVISION, CAPE TOWN) Case No: SS17/16 THE STATE v HENRI CHRISTO VAN BREDA, retrieved 10/24/2024

The Killer Within: Why Did Henri van Breda Murder His Family? 60 Minutes Australia, 2018, retrieved 10/25/2024 

Murder-Accused van Breda Claims He Saw Axe-Wielding Attacker Kill His Dad, Huffington Post, 4/24/2017, retrieved 10/22/2024

Listen to the emergency call: Henri van Breda call

When 15-year-old Holly Harvey’s grandparents forbade her from spending time with her 16-year-old lover, Sandy, both Holly and Sandy grew bitter and antagonistic. Carl and Sarah Collier loved their out-of-control granddaughter, who they were raising while her mother was in prison. Carl and Sarah did not give up on Holly, but then they began to fear her.

Join us at the quiet end for To-Do List. Holly and Sandy plotted against her grandparents. They asked around for a gun, made a to-do list, and told their friends about their horrific plans. Then, one hot summer night, the two teens put their plans into action. There was nothing spontaneous about the horrors they unleashed that night. In fact, their cold-blooded acts even shocked the most seasoned detectives on the case.

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Harvey v. Georgia, Georgia Case Law, 2021, https://law.justia.com/cases/georgia/supreme-court/2021/s21a0871.html

If You Really Loved Me by Kevin McMurray, 2006

Just three years after Thomas Keir told everyone that his first wife Jean left him and their young son behind to be with another man, his second wife Rosalina was found dead and severely burned on her bed. Keir’s claims to be unlucky and grief-stricken were questioned by investigators as well as family, friends, and members of the media. Could the suspicious deaths of two wives be bad luck or a strange coincidence?

Join us at the quiet end for The Two Wives of Thomas Keir. Thomas Kier was a man so jealous that he had hated for even his own child to touch his wife, Jean. His possessiveness was expressed with threats that he would cut her up and feed her to the dogs if she ever left him. Police finally found seven small fragments of Jean’s bones buried under the same house in which Rosalina died. This is the story of two wives, two murders, and a long, difficult fight to get justice for them and their families.

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Convicted wife-killer’s ‘acts of concern’ after 22-year incarceration, 9news.com.au, 5/8/2020

Seven Bones, Two Wives, Two Violent Murders, A Fight for Justice by Peter Seymour & Jason K. Foster, 2011

Two wives murdered: husband convicted of one, The Sydney Morning Herald, 12/14/2004, retrieved 9/28/2024

Wife Killer Gets 22 Years Behind Bars, ABC News, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2004-12-13/wife-killer-gets-22-years-behind-bars/602088, 12/12/2004, retrieved 9/28/2024

On the afternoon of June 26, 2010, a Pennsylvania State Trooper witnessed a car driving erratically. It sped past him and crashed into a tree. Stopping to help, he found the driver alive and covered in blood. When asked what happened, the man answered: “I just killed everybody.”

Join us at the quiet end for Evil Out on Parole. Not far from the accident, police found a gruesome massacre. Then they learned that the man responsible had already been convicted of murder before and had been out on parole for just two months. Now, convicted killer Michael Ballard had used his freedom to murder four more innocent people, including an ex-girlfriend who had become his obsession.

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Death Penalty 101: Why it’s (almost) impossible to execute someone in Pennsylvania, and what’s next, Billy Penn, 1/15/2015

Fatal Jealousy by Colin McEvoy

Man Who Stabbed 4 People Should Have Been in Prison: DA says four people would still be alive if suspect served a full sentence, NBCPhiladelphia.com, Teresa Masterson, 6/27/2010

Northampton DA pushes to set execution date for death row inmate Michael Ballard, Lehighvalleylive.com, Kurt Bresswein, 6/24/2015

Northampton Killer Sentenced to Die: Jury sentences Michael Ballard to die for quadruple killing, Patch.com, Josh Popichak, 5/17/2011

Back in the winter of 1985, two friends from Detroit set out on a hunting trip in rural Michigan. Brian Ognjan and David Tyll, both 27-years-old, had been looking forward to this trip and had planned it for weeks. But somewhere along the way, the hunters became the hunted. They vanished somewhere in the bitter cold, leaving behind a legacy of grief and confusion.

Join us at the quiet end for Into the Cold. On November 22, Brian and David headed out for David’s family cabin in White Cloud. David picked up Brian, Brian cashed a check, and they left. They thought that they might stop to visit a friend along the way. But they never arrived at the cabin or the friend’s home. In fact, they were never seen again. And David’s vehicle, a 1980 black Ford Bronco, has never been found either.

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2 Michigan brothers are charged in hunters’ disappearance 18 years ago, Deseret News, 5/16/2003

Darker Than Night by Tom Henderson

Two Hunters Murdered Near Mio, Michigan Chopped Up and Fed to Pigs, WGRD, Tom Carroll, 8/8/2022

Two Sentenced for Murder of Detroit Hunters, The Michigan Daily, 10/30/2003

July 27th, 1996. Atlanta, Georgia. During a free concert at Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park, security guard Richard Jewell spotted an abandoned backpack. Authorities soon discovered that it contained a live bomb. The bomb detonated minutes later, but Jewell’s actions saved countless lives. Days later, he became the main suspect in the bombing. The public would immediately associate him with the bombing and some would continue to believe he was responsible even after the actual perpetrator confessed.

Listen to Generation Why: The Olympic Park Bombing on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts. Start your free trial by visiting http://wondery.fm/GW_TCB now.

Back in the summer of 1973, the Houston Police were called to a home where a 33-year-old man named Dean Corll had been shot to death. This crime scene led them to search a shed he had been renting and a wooded area nearby. Finally, the community would learn what had happened to their missing boys. And the details would haunt them for the rest of their lives.

Join us at the quiet end for The Candy Man Killer and the Lost Boys of Houston Heights. In December 1970, two teenaged boys disappeared from the Heights neighborhood in Houston. Then more went missing, one after another. As the number of missing kids grew, people had no idea that a sadistic serial killer and his teenage accomplices were living among them. The police had been telling parents not to worry—their sons had simply run away to join a commune or find work. But the truth was heartbreaking, and the impact is still felt today.

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Sources

Effort Continues to Identify Last Known Victim in Killing Spree, Houston Chronicle, Monica Rohr, 2014. 

Filmmakers May have Discovered New Victim of 1970s Mass Murders, ABC13 News, Ted Oberg, 2012. 

The Lost Boys, Texas Monthly, Skip Hollandsworth, 2011. 

The Man with Candy by Jack Olsen

Carol Montecalvo was a devoted Christian who married her prison pen pal. Once he was released, they seemed happy. But on the evening of March 31, 1988, Carol and her husband Dan were shot. Dan survived. Carol was killed. After Carol’s death, Dan told police that, on the night of the shooting, he and Carol went for a walk together around the neighborhood. When they returned to the house, Carol was shot to death by an intruder. Dan suffered a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.  

Join us at the quiet end for Death of a Prison Bride. Dan claimed that he found his wife bleeding on the floor of their home that night. And evidence in the Montecalvo home seemed to support a burglary gone wrong— until it didn’t. Investigators became suspicious of Dan when they learned of his extensive criminal past, his large gambling debts, and the $600,000 in life insurance he held on Carol’s life. So, did Dan find God or did Carol just find herself an evil man? 

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Burbank Man Guilty of Murdering Wife: Jury decides that ex-convict killed his spouse to collect her insurance, Los Angeles Times, Jesse Katz, 11/6/1990

Final Vows by Karen Kingsbury, 2013

The Perfect Murder, Murder by the Book, S3 E9, 7/27/2016

Tardy Confession: Woman Says Convicted Man Didn’t Kill His Wife, Los Angeles Times, Victor Merina, 1/6/1991

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Emile Cilliers tried to murder his wife Victoria by sabotaging her parachute, but that was not his first attempt to kill her. Emile had a long history of lying, stealing, and having extramarital affairs. He also had a temper. Victoria knew that her husband was often dishonest and emotionally closed off, but she desperately wanted to keep her family together for the sake of their children. She could not even imagine that the father of her children would want her dead.

Join us at the quiet end for The Parachute Murder Plot. Things were far from ideal in the Cilliers marriage, but Victoria was in love and unaware of much of what was going on behind her back. Emile liked to spend money on anonymous sex, frivolous luxuries, and vacations with his girlfriend. He took out high interest payday loans and skimmed money from Victoria’s bank account, all the while gaslighting her into thinking she was emotionally unstable. But as Victoria worried about her troubled marriage, Emile gave her bits of hope. He used her love for her family as a weapon against her and set her up for a terrifying death.

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Sources

Chute to Kill: Jealous Belgian Skydiver Convicted of Murder, Time, Leo Cendrowicz, 11/30/2019

Els Clottemans, Belgian Skydiver Who Doctored Parachute of Love Rival Gets 30 Years, The Huffington Post, Robert Wielaard, 10/21/2010

The Fall: Skydive Murder Plot, Channel4UK, 5/28/2024

How Often do Parachutes Fail? Skydive Monroe, https://skydivemonroe.com/blog/parachute-fails-to-open-when-skydiving/, 8/23/2023

Inside the world of parachute murder plotter who was jailed for life for trying to kill his wife, https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/parachute-murder-channel-4-documentary-victoria-cilliers-emile-skydive-the-fall/, 6/11/2024

I Survived by Victoria Cilliers 2020

The Parachute Murder Plot, All3Media, with Fiona, 2018 

Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma related to gravitational challenge: systematic review of randomised controlled trials. BMJ, GC Smith & JP Pell, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC300808/, 12/20/2003

Sex, lies and payday loans: The parachute murder plot, BBC.com, Bethen Bell, 6/15/2028