True Crime in the 50

Michelle Castillo was 43 years old and lived in Ashburn, Virginia in a 10,000 square foot mansion with her four young children. Michelle had recently been estranged from her husband, Braulio Castillo and had obtained a restraining order against him. She was enjoying her newfound freedom, and had just found out she had acheieved a dream of hers: to participate in the Boston Marathon in 2014. 
But little did she know that Braulio, who had moved just a few doors down from Michelle, was tracking her every move and stalking her. And then he escalated. On the night of March 19, 2014, he snuck into the house where he used to live with his family and committed the most heinous of crimes, leaving his five children without a mother and a murderer for a father. 

Show Notes:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15545452/

George Peacock, 76, and his wife, Catherine, 73 were creatures of habit. So much so, that when George did not show up at a local convenience store one morning in his hometown of Danbury, Vermont to get the paper, the clerk noticed. He also did not show up for his part time job at the Rutland Travel Lodge on Sunday, September 17, 1989. Friends of the couple were asked to go check their home. 
What they saw there shocked them. Both George and Catherine were dead, and both had been stabbed multiple times. There was no forced entry into the home so it must have been someone they knew. The couple's three daughters and their husbands were interviewed, and their middle daughter, Penny, had a husband named Michael Luis whose story kept changing for the day of the murders. It would take over 30 years and modern science to finally solve the case of the senseless killings.

Show Notes:

https://darkdowneast.com/georgecatherinepeacock/

Lauren McCluskey was an excellent 21-year-old athlete who competed on the track at field team at the University of Utah. At the beginning of Lauren's senior year there, in 2018, she met a man named Sean Fields while out at a club. Sean was 28 years old and went to the local community college. Sean and Lauren started dating for a few weeks in September and October and things were going great...or so Lauren thought.
It turned out that Sean Fields was actually 37-year-old Melvin Shawn Roland and he was a criminal. Roland had been arrested many times throughout his troubled life. Once Lauren found out about his past, and the fact that he had lied to her about his age and his name, she broke it off with him.
But Melvin was not done with her. He stalked, extorted, blackmailed and harrassed Lauren so much so that Lauren went to the campus police and the local police. But no one would listen and no one would take her claims seriously. Until one night, in October of 2018, the unthinkable happened.

Show Notes: 

https://www.espnfrontrow.com/2023/03/directors-statement-nicole-noren/

Mary Lou Morris and Mary McGinnis Morris were two middle-aged women with short, dark curly hair and brown eyes. Mary Lou Morris was a bank loan officer and lived in Baytown, Texas. Mary McGinnis Morris was a healthcare medical director and lived in Sugarland, Texas. Mary Lou Morris was murdered by being burned alive in her car on a country road on October 12, 2000. Mary McGinnis Morris was murdered by being shot in the head on October 16, 2000. The two women were killed in towns that were only 30 miles apart.
The Texas police considered the women's deaths to be coincidences, since the two did not know each other and had never met. But many believe that two women with the same name, same look and who lived in neighboring towns were killed because of a case of mistaken identity. But who wanted one or both of them dead?

Show Notes:

https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/death-x-southwest/double-trouble-the-murders-tKFoaXqphvO/

Please call The Harris County Sherrif's Department Homicide Hotline at 713-967-5810 with any information.

Correction: Tune in in two weeks on Monday, August 26th for another Crazy True Crime Episode from The Great State of Utah.

Blair Adams was from Surrey British Columbia, Canada, was 31 years old and had a good job as a construction site manager. He had struggled with drugs and alcohol at one point in his life, but, at the time of his death, had been sober for two years. On Friday, July 5th, 1996, Blair went to the bank and drained his checking and savings accounts. He then tried to get over the Canadian border to Seattle, Washington by ferry. He was turned away because of the large amounts of cash and gold coins he had with him. On Monday, July 8th, Blair, without warning, quit his job at the construction site and left for the airport to buy a $1700 ticket to Germany. But, instead of going to Germany, he purchased another round-trip ticket to Washington D.C. and made it to the nation's capital. From there, he rented a car and drove south.

And this is where Blair Adams' story gets even stranger. From "losing" the keys to the rental car, to driving to Knoxville, Tennessee, to loitering in the lobby of a hotel for an hour, to being found dead in the parking lot of another hotel under construction on the morning of July 11, Blair Adams' mystery death gets even creepier. Was he murdered in cold blood, and, if so, for what reason? Or was his death simply a tragic accident?

Show Notes:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thinking-sideways-blair-adams/id679462887?i=1000364153311

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0737586/

South Dakota's cold cases include: Tammy Haas, Eugene Prins, Morgan Bauer, Pamela Dunn and Morgan Lewis

Show Notes:

Tammy Haas:
Yankton Police Department: 605-668-5210
FBI Office in Sioux Falls: 605-334-6881
tips.fbi.gov
Anonymously at Yankton CrimeStoppers: 605-665-4440

Eugene Prins:
Sanborn County Sherriff's Office: 605-796-4511
SD DCI: 605-773-3331

Morgan Bauer:
Atlanta PD: 404-546-4235
Atlanta CrimeStoppers Anonymous: 404-577-8477

Pamela Dunn:
Watertown PD: 605-882-6210
Department of Criminal Investigation:
605-773-3331

Morgan Lewis: 
Aberdeen PD: 605-626-7000
Brown County Sherriff's Office: 605-626-3500

David Smith met Susan Vaughn at the local Winn Dixie in Union, South Carolina when the two were teenagers working as cashiers. Soon, they started dating and fell in love and Susan became pregnant. The two married and started a life together. They then had a second son. 
But things were not perfect, not even close. Susan and David both had affairs and they fought over things like money constantly. Until October 25, 1994, David received a call at work. He and Susan were separated by that point. It was Susan telling him that she had been carjacked and that the man had taken off with her car and their two boys in the backseat. For nine days, a massive search effort was launched, until early November when Susan admitted the terrifying truth. She had made the whole thing up, and had drowned their two precious baby boys.

Show Notes:

https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-All-Reason-Susan-Smith/dp/0786002921

Ernest Brendel was an attorney who lived with his wife, Alice, a library assistant, and their young daugther, Emily in Barrington, Rhode Island. Through a mutual friend, Ernie met Chris Hightower, a twice-married financial advisor and the families became close. They even vacationed together in the New Hampshire moutains. But Ernie had invested $11,000 of his money with Chris and Chris lost it all. Irate, Ernie called the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission and placed a complaint against Chris Hightower. 
That enraged Chris to the point where, on September 20, 1991, Chris snapped. He purchased a crossbow at a local sporting goods store and laid in wait for Ernie Brendel in his garage. The next few days would have Chris going on the run, committing multiple murders and other criminal acts, and would involve wild tales of mob hits and buried bodies.

Show Notes:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/216550.Death_of_an_Angel

Andrew Bagby was a well-liked and gregarious guy who always knew he wanted to be a doctor. He went to medical school in Newfoundland, Canada, and that is where the 28-year-old met 40-year-old Shirley Turner. Shirley was twice divorced and had left three kids behind with three different fathers when she went to medical school.
Andrew Bagby broke things off with Shirley Turner when he started his residency in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, but Shirley did not like that much. She came back to Pennsylvania and fatally shot Andrew Bagby on November 5, 2001. Shirley would be in and out of jail, and, over the next year, birthed Andrew's baby, a boy named Zachary.
What followed was a tragic occurence that Andrew Bagby's parents tried to prevent. Shirley would soon take her own life, as well as that of her son, Zachary.

Show Notes:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1152758/

On the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, 1974, the Cowden family, which consisted of Richard Cowden, 28, Belinda, 22, David, 5, and Melissa, 5 months, made a spontaneous decision to go camping at one of their favorite spots, Carbury Creek, 40 miles to the Southwest from where they lived in White City, Oregon. They packed the truck then stopped off at the General Store in Copper, Oregon to visit Belinda's mother, Ruth Grayson. Ruth offered to have the family over for lunch the next day, Sunday. The family agreed and set off.
But when the next night rolled around and Ruth still hadn't heard from her daughter and her family, she made the mile drive to go look for them. What she found was concerning. Melissa's diaper bag and fishing poles were next to some trees. Richard's wallet and watch were on the ground, along with Belinda's cigarettes. And some milk and water had been left out on a picnic table. There was no sign of the Cowden family.
A search began that same day and lasted for months. Until finally, half a year later, the family's bodies were discovered near and inside an old mining cave. But who would do such a thing? And what sort of depraved killer would have wanted a young, innocent family dead?

Show Notes:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22138532/

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6372106-but-i-trusted-you-and-other-true-cases