True Crime Campfire

Most of us have ordinary lives, with all its joys and heartbreaks, and that’s more than enough…but not for everyone. There will always be some people who want a brighter spotlight than their life has provided for them, but who ideally would like to avoid any hard work involved in earning it themselves. The kind of person who cares so much about how they’re perceived is also often the kind of person who finds it hard to care at all about the welfare of others. This can lead to some very dangerous decisions. Join us for a story of stolen valor, fraud, and murder.

Sources:

NBC's Dateline, S25E5, “Secrets in the Smoky Mountains”

https://law.justia.com/cases/tennessee/court-of-criminal-appeals/2019/e2018-00295-cca-r3-cd.html

https://tbinewsroom.com/2013/09/16/federal-prisoner-pleads-guilty-in-2006-monroe-county-murder/

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There are few crueler ways to harm someone than through poison. It turns your own body against you, making you a prisoner in a failing shell. Being poisoned can be terrifying, agonizing, drawn out for weeks or months…or it can push you out of consciousness and falling towards death as quickly and easily as turning off a light switch.

Sources:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/feb/10/curry-poisoner-guilty-murder

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/feb/11/poison-curry-killer-sentenced

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/jan/06/poison-curry-murder-trial

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna25855779

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13424532/

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/nurse-faces-extradition-for-us-murder-1.1022408

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/nurse-wanted-for-murder-in-us-now-living-in-dublin-1.1040566

Forensic

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In last week’s episode, we met John Smith, a lying, manipulative weirdo who almost certainly had killed his missing second wife, Fran. Towards the end of that episode, we learned that John had been married before, to a young woman named Janice Hartman—and that Janice, just like Fran, had gone missing, never to be seen again. We started that episode with a grim discovery six years after Janice’s disappearance—the skeleton of a young woman in a plywood box beside a country road in western Indiana, her legs cut off below the knees. This week, it all comes together.

Ka'Chava:

NBC's Dateline, S32E37, “Chameleon”

https://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/rod/docs/pdf/9/2002/2002-Ohio-4402.pdf

https://legalclarity.org/betty-fran-smith-case-from-disappearance-to-dropped-charges

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2004/oct/03/handler-hailed-for-her-search-dogs-sent-to-prison

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If there’s one old folktale that finds a frequent echo in true crime stories, it has to be ‘Bluebeard,’ about a man who marries and then murders a series of wives. It’s a pattern we’ve seen time and again, with both killer husbands and lethal wives, most often driven by greed. That, at least, is something comprehensible—there are some killers driven by urges so cold and petty that it’s hard to even recognize them as human.

Join us for the chilling true story of a serial husband whose entire life was a lie.

Sources:

The Stranger in My Bed, Michael Fleeman

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All of us have some tensions and frustrations with our families, and that’s fine. It’s just normal human nature. But for some people, these rough edges to everyday family interactions become absolutely unbearable, an insult to their overinflated sense of importance. And those resentments can seep like poison through every particle of their being until it's all they can think of.

Visit crimewaveatsea.com/campfire to join us on the CrimeWave cruise in February!

Sources:

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jan-16-me-63999-story.html

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-jan-30-me-13611-story.html

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-12-12-me-13181-story.html

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-01-02-mn-15646-story.html

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Do you think people will still be talking about Scott Peterson or Chris Watts in a hundred years? How about five-hundred? Probably not, right? But there are some acts of cruelty and depravity that echo down the centuries, becoming entwined with myth and legend. This week, we’re going to take a look at two of these famous perpetrators.

Sources:

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/transactions-of-the-royal-historical-society/article/counting-the-stakes-a-reassessment-of-vlad-iii-draculas-practice-of-collective-impalements-in-fifteenthcentury-southeastern-europe/F1B68C737C004D494BBE3B8B9B5E0FF7

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vlad-the-Impaler

MJ Trow, Vlad the Impaler

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Death is not always the end. We’re not stepping into any kind of spiritual territory here, though, we’re talking about the very earthly fact that just because someone appears to be dead, it doesn’t necessarily mean that that is the case. Maybe someone needs to escape an upcoming personal disaster, maybe they need the insurance money, maybe they’ve tied their life into such a knot that it’s easier to just quit and start again. Faking your own death has an age-old history, and it almost always causes pain and damage all around.

Tickets are on sale now for CrimeWave 2.0! Visit

Forensic Files, S8E31, “Past Lives”

https://mycolumbiasc.wordpress.com/2007/04/27/what-do-you-want-on-your-tombstone/

Forensic Files, S14E5, “A Squire’s Riches”

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-mar-16-adna-fakedeath16-story.html

https://www.dailyherald.com/20080306/news/police-lake-barrington-man-committed-murder-to-fake-own-death/

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Reddit is an endless archive of humanity’s most disturbing, bizarre, and deeply human stories. If you love going down internet rabbit holes, you are going to love CRIMES OF REDDIT with Alexis Linkletter and Sabrina Deana-Roga. 

Every Tuesday, one host brings a set of true-crime stories while the other reacts in real time with no prep, no spoilers asking the questions on everyone’s mind. They pull at every thread until the whole twisted picture comes into view. It’s dark, it’s messy, and the scariest part is simple: THESE ARE STORIES POSTED BY REAL PEOPLE. 

Follow CRIMES OF REDDIT for a new episode every Tuesday. https://pod.link/1838511303 

CRIMES OF REDDIT is a Crime House original powered by PAVE Studios. 

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Last week, we introduced you to Krystyna Skarbek, a daring resistance agent who smuggled valuable intelligence and thousands of refugees out of Nazi-occupied Poland. When we left off last week, she and her lover Andrzej had just fled Hungary, one step ahead of the Gestapo, and enjoyed a brief moment of peace in Belgrade. That wasn’t going to last for long. Join us for the finale of this incredible true story.

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Clare Mulley, The Spy Who Loved

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James Belushi once wrote, “Heroes aren’t born, they’re cornered.” It’s often extraordinary, and sometimes horrifying, circumstance that compels a person into actions they’d never have imagined previously. This week’s story is about a woman who was faced with horrors and discovered she had the courage to fight them.

Join us live at Wet Hot Bad Magic Summer Camp in Equinunk, PA, September 10-13th! Visit ⁠badmagicproductions.com⁠ for more info and to buy tickets.

Tickets are on sale now for CrimeWave 2.0! Visit

Sources:

The Spy Who Loved, Clare Mulley

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Patreon (join to get all episodes ad-free, at least a day early, an extra episode a month, and a free sticker!): https://patreon.com/TrueCrimeCampfire
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