True Crime Reporter

By Robert RiggsTrue Crime Government History

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True Crime Reporter episodes

February 21, 2022 How Genetic Genealogy Solved The 1974 Murder Of Carla Walker
Fort Worth Cold Case detectives solved the murder of 17-year old Carla Walker after it had gone cold for nearly five decades.
They analyzed old evidence using genetic genealogy and new DNA extraction technology pioneered by Othram, a forensic genealogy lab in the Woodlands a suburb of Houston.
Othram matched the DNA to a test submitted to a genealogy site by a member of the killer’s family tree. Othram did not disclose the relative’s name.
Cold case investigators Jeff Bennett and Leah Wagner identified 78-year old Glen McCurley who was among the original suspects. McCurley confessed to them when confronted with the DNA evidence.
Genetic genealogy was used in the Golden State Killer case, but this was the first time the technology make it to a courtroom.
McCurley pleaded guilty after two days of testimony in his capital murder trial in August of 2021.
More than 1,000 cases remain unsolved in Fort Worth alone. Paying for expensive DNA tests as well as travel expenses for investigators makes the task even more difficult.
In the wake of the Walker case, Detective Jeff Bennett created the FWPD Cold Case Support Group, a nonprofit foundation to accept tax-deductible donations to help solve Fort Worth’s unsolved murders.
In this episode of True Crime Reporter™ Confidential Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs takes listeners inside the crime scene tape with Detective Jeff Bennett who reopened the case in 2019.
Make An Online Donation with a note that you heard about this on True Crime Reporter™ Podcast or mail a check to:
FWPD Cold Case Support Group
PO Box 185052
Fort Worth, TX 76181-0052, US
The seven members of the FWPD Cold Case Support Group Board of Directors are: Detective Jeff Bennett, Detective Leah Wagner, Jim Walker (brother of Carla Walker), Emily Dixon (Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office), Detective John Galloway, former Sgt. David Thornton (who started the cold case unit in the 2000s), and Adam Palmer (founder of the oil and gas company Resource Sense LLC.)
We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.
Join our true crime community and follow us here.
True Crime Reporter™ is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
36 min
February 21, 2022 How Det Jeff Bennett Used Genetic Genealogy To Solve The 47-Year Old Murder Of Carla Walker
Fort Worth Cold Case detectives solved the murder of 17-year-old Carla Walker after it had gone cold for nearly five decades.
They analyzed old evidence using genetic genealogy and new DNA extraction technology pioneered by Othram, a forensic genealogy lab in the Woodlands, a suburb of Houston.
17-Year Old Carla Walker Abducted in August of 1974
Othram matched the DNA to a test submitted to a genealogy site by a member of the killer’s family tree. Othram did not disclose the relative’s name.
Cold case investigators Jeff Bennett and Leah Wagner identified 78-year-old Glen McCurley, who was among the original suspects. McCurley confessed to them when confronted with the DNA evidence.
Genetic genealogy was used in the Golden State Killer case, but this was the first time the technology made it to a courtroom.
Glen McCurley Sentenced To Life In Prison Under McDuff Capital Murder Law
McCurley pleaded guilty after two days of testimony in his capital murder trial in August of 2021.
More than 1,000 cases remain unsolved in Fort Worth alone. Paying for expensive DNA tests and travel expenses for investigators makes the task even more difficult.
Detective Jeff Bennett created the FWPD Cold Case Support Group in the wake of the Walker case. This nonprofit foundation accepts tax-deductible donations to help solve Fort Worth’s unsolved murders.
Make An Online Donation with a note that you heard about this on True Crime Reporter™ Podcast or mail a check to:
FWPD Cold Case Support Group
PO Box 185052
Fort Worth, TX 76181-0052, US
The seven members of the FWPD Cold Case Support Group Board of Directors are: Detective Jeff Bennett, Detective Leah Wagner, Jim Walker (brother of Carla Walker), Emily Dixon (Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office), Detective John Galloway, former Sgt. David Thornton (who started the cold case unit in the 2000s), and Adam Palmer (founder of the oil and gas company Resource Sense LLC.)
41 min
February 17, 2022 After Hitmen Failed To Kill Her Husband She Pulled The Trigger
This is a story about two botched murder attempts by hired hitmen.
And what happened when 65-year-old Joyce Sturdivant took matters into her own hands?
One of the most common forms of homicide is when one half of a couple kills the other.
Women are usually the victims of this form of homicide.
Only one percent of male victims are killed by a partner.
Joyce Sturdivant 76-years old - TDCJ Inmate #01783322
But in this case, 65-year-old Joyce Sturdivant knocked off her husband after the hitmen she hired failed to kill Big Joe Sturdivant, a burly stock car racer in Central Texas.
32 min
February 14, 2022 After Hitmen Failed To Kill Her Husband She Pulled The Trigger
This is a story about two botched murder attempts by hired hitmen.
And what happened when 65-year old Joyce Sturdivant took matters into her own hands.
One of the most common forms of homicide is when one half of a couple kills the other.
Women are usually the victims of this form of homicide.
Only one percent of male victims are killed by a partner.
But in this case, 65-year old Joyce Sturdivant knocked off her husband after the hitmen she hired failed to kill Big Joe Sturdivant, a burly stock car racer in Central Texas.
In this True Crime Reporter™, Confidential Robert Riggs reveals that Joyce got away with murder for two years until his cohost former U.S. prosecutor Bill Johnston got on her case.
We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.
Join our true crime community and follow us here.
True Crime Reporter™ is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
27 min
February 07, 2022 Real Stories Of The Texas Highway Patrol
The men and women of the Texas Highway Patrol work alone, often at night, on remote stretches of highway.
They drive distinctive black and white cruisers and SUVs with bright gold emblems in the shape of Texas on the side doors.
Help might be a hundred miles away if a traffic stop turns bad.
For example, in 2021, Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Chad Walker was killed in an ambush.
Walker stopped to help a driver in a disabled vehicle.
The driver jumped out of the car armed with a handgun and unloaded rounds into the windshield of the Trooper’s vehicle, striking Walker in the head and abdomen.
Honoring Fallen Trooper Chad Walker Courtesy Fairfield Recorder Newspaper
His wife and four children survived the 38-year-old trooper.
The suspect fled and later killed himself when surrounded.
These are the dangers faced by Texas Troopers.
Senior Texas Trooper Johnny Williams Ret'd
In this episode of True Crime Reporter Extra, we feature real stories of the Texas Highway Patrol from retired Senior Trooper Johnny Williams, a Vietnam Veteran of Paris, Texas.
By the way, people travel from miles around to see the Paris, Texas version of the Eiffel Tower.
19 min
February 01, 2022 How Mexican Cartel Hit Men Got Away With Murdering A U.S. Agent
The Los Zetas drug cartel ambushed two Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on a dangerous stretch of highway on February 15, 2011.
Special Agent Victor Avila was severely wounded. His partner, Jaime Zapata, was killed.
Zapata was the first U.S. enforcement officer killed in the line of duty in Mexico since the murder of DEA agent Enrique “KiKi” Camarena.
The ICE agents had been dispatched from Mexico City to Monterrey to pick up supplies without proper training or protection.
Warnings had been issued by the U.S. Embassy that the stretch of Highway 57 was a no man’s land controlled by the Los Zetas.
The Zetas had apparently been tipped off and unleashed a barrage of bullets from their assault rifles into their armored vehicle which could not stop the withering fire.
The armored SUV was clearly marked with U.S. State Department diplomatic license plates.
Murder charges against eight of the hitmen were later dismissed because of a loophole in federal law.
Victor Avila, a native of El Paso has written a book about the incident titled Agent Under Fire - A Murder and a Manifesto.
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53 min
January 31, 2022 How Mexican Cartel Hit Men Got Away With Murdering A U.S. Agent
The Los Zetas drug cartel ambushed two Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on a dangerous stretch of highway on February 15, 2011.
Special Agent Victor Avila was severely wounded. His partner, Jaime Zapata, was killed.
Zapata was the first U.S. enforcement officer killed in the line of duty in Mexico since the murder of DEA agent Enrique “KiKi” Camarena.
The ICE agents had been dispatched from Mexico City to Monterrey to pick up supplies without proper training or protection.
Warnings had been issued by the U.S. Embassy that the stretch of Highway 57 was a no man’s land controlled by the Los Zetas.
The Zetas had apparently been tipped off and unleashed a barrage of bullets from their assault rifles into their armored vehicle which could not stop the withering fire.
The armored SUV was clearly marked with U.S. State Department diplomatic license plates.
Murder charges against eight of the hitmen were later dismissed because of a loophole in federal law.
Victor Avila, a native of El Paso has written a book about the incident titled Agent Under Fire - A Murder and a Manifesto.
In this episode of True Crime Reporter, we talk to Victor Avila about his crusade to find justice for his slain partner.
We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.
Join our true crime community and follow us here.
True Crime Reporter™ is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
51 min
January 25, 2022 Inside The Making Of Hollywood’s Greatest Crime Movies
Former NYPD Detective Randy Jurgensen walked a beat in Harlem all the way into Hollywood’s greatest crime dramas of all time.
He is known as the cop who killed Sonny Corleone in The Godfather.
Gene Hackman pats down NYPD Detective Randy Jurgensen to learn proper police procedures to use in the filming of The French Connection
His walk of fame started when William Friedkin, the director of The French Connection, asked Jurgensen to demonstrate how to put a suspect against a wall for the “pat down.”
Friedkin hired Jurgensen as the film’s technical consultant to advise him on how to realistically show the gritty side of heroin trafficking in the 1960s.
NYPD Detective Randy Jurgensen playing a police sergeant in The French Connection
It became Jurgensen's job to turn actors Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider into narcotics detectives.
Jurgensen turned out to be a natural on camera and was given the role of an NYPD Sergeant in the film.
3rd Person Left -- NYPD Detective Randy Jurgensen Plays a police sergeant in The French Connection
He appears on the poster for The French Connection, flanking Gene Hackman.
Jurgensen had been on the periphery of an undercover narcotics investigation that netted a legendary seizure of heroin.
Robin Moore, the author of The Green Berets, wrote a book about the case titled The French Connection.
In those days, heroin flowed into New York City from Marseille, and the book was made into a movie.
A long list of credits includes Jurgensen’s work as a technical advisor on Die Hard with a Vengeance, a cop in the first Superman movie with Christopher Reeve, and a role in Frank Sinatra's first made-for-TV movie, Contract On Cherry Street .
A few days after celebrating The French Connection’s Oscars, Jurgensen became embroiled in the most notorious case in the history of NYPD.
Jurgensen’s book titled Circle of Six details his determined effort to bring to justice the murderer of Police Officer Philip Cardillo, who was killed in a Harlem Mosque in 1972.
Fasten your seatbelts!
Link to the one-man-show parody of The Godfather mentioned in the podcast: The Godfadda Workout
44 min
January 24, 2022 Inside The Making Of Hollywood's Greatest Crime Movies
Former NYPD Detective Randy Jurgensen walked a beat in Harlem all the way into Hollywood’s greatest crime dramas of all time.
His walk of fame started when William Friedkin, the director of The French Connection asked Jurgensen to demonstrate how to put a suspect against a wall for the “pat down”.
Friedkin hired Jurgensen as the film’s technical consultant to advise him on how to realistically show the gritty side of heroin trafficking in the 1960s.
It became Jurgensen's job to turn actors Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider into narcotics detectives.
Jurgensen turned out to be a natural on camera and was given the role of an NYPD Sergeant in film.
He appears on the poster for The French Connection flanking Gene Hackman.
Jurgensen had been on the periphery of an undercover narcotics investigation that netted a legendary seizure of heroin.
Robin Moore, the author of The Green Berets, wrote a book about the case, titled The French Connection.
In those days heroin flowed into New York City from Marseille and the book was made into a movie.
A long list of credits includes Jurgensen’s work as a technical advisor on Die Hard with a Vengeance, a cop in the first Superman movie with Christopher Reeve, and a role in Frank Sinatra's first made-for-TV movie, Contract On Cherry Street .
A few days after celebrating The French Connection’s Oscars, Jurgensen became embroiled in the most notorious case in the history of NYPD.
Jurgensen’s book titled, Circle of Six, details his determined effort to bring to justice
the murderer of Police Officer Philip Cardillo who was killed in a Harlem Mosque in 1972.
Fasten your seatbelts.
Jurgensen takes us inside the greatest car chase ever made in this edition of True Crime Reporter™ Confidential.
Here's the link to the one-man parody, The Godfadda Workout in which Seth Isler plays 37-characters from The Godfather.
We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.
Join our true crime community and follow us here.
True Crime Reporter™ is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
39 min
January 18, 2022 A Woman’s Head Is Found Floating In A Lake…Who Did It?
When a woman’s head bobbed to the surface on Lake Waco in Central Texas, no one had the slightest clue about who she was or how she died.
An autopsy revealed that she had been decapitated, and there was no sign of the rest of her body in the lake.
As veteran Texas Ranger John Aycock began to learn more about the woman’s life (profilers call it victimology), he declared the likely identity of the murder suspect.
Now, he just had to prove it.
They call it a “Rangers Intuition” developed from years of investigating homicides in rural Texas and questioning killers.
Former U.S. prosecutor Bill Johnston and investigative reporter Robert Riggs explain how Ranger Aycock “got his man."
FOLLOW the True Crime Reporter® Podcast
SIGN UP FOR my True Crime Newsletter
THANK YOU FOR THE FIVE-STAR REVIEWS ON APPLE Please leave one – it really helps.
TELL ME about a STORY OR SUBJECT that you want to hear more about
24 min