True Crime Historian

The Indiantown Creek Insurance Murder Plot Jump To The Ad-Free Safe House Edition! Episode 390 explores what was reported to be the first murder case in the English-speaking world where six men receive a guilty verdict on one indictment, the result of a plot to murder a man in order to receive the benefits of a bunch of insurance policies. It doesn’t really end well for anyone. Hear More Stories A...

Murder In The Attic With Pipe, Gun, and Knife Jump To Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 389 details one of the clumsiest murder plots we’ve yet to encounter, and is jam-packed with some of our favorite tropes: A love triangle gone awry and a trunk murder, to name a couple, with a large dose of crowded courtroom hijinx, including a highly inappropriate kiss between defendants. Hear More Stories Ab...

Domestic Scandal In Sioux Falls Jump To AD-FREE Safe House Edition Episode 388 is not a classic trunk murder, per se, but one of the most dramatic scenes in the narrative comes when the prosecutor opens up a dead girl’s trunk in front of witnesses to speculate on the abuses its contents portend. Two families are ripped apart in this gripping drama where evidence is thin but accusations are as abun...

The Repudiated Confessions Of Richard Ivens Jump To The Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 398 explores the tragic murder of a Chicago housewife and the subsequent confession of the simple minded young man who found the body in a refuse pile. Listen To More BAD CONFESSIONS Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support . You can pay more...

A Hung Jury For Hazel Combs Jump To The AD-FREE Safe House Edition Episode 387 starts out conventionally enough: A woman murders her husband to collect the double indemnity insurance policy. But when after she cheats the hangman at the  end of Act II, the story doesn’t stop there. Because of the legal technicalities of the insurance she took out, a jury still has to determine whether or not she co...

The Slippery Scoundrel Gerald Chapman Jump To The Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 384 tells the story of a so-called gentleman thief who fearlessly went for the big scores, even while the object of a nation-wide man-hunt. This is another action-packed episode loaded with gunfights, jailbreaks, courtroom breakdowns, and all kinds of shenanigans. Act III starts with a rather odd, melodramatic fea...

The Vermont Desperado Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 386 tells the epic story of one of New England’s most persistent scoundrels. It’s the kind of story I delight in finding, that in another context would make a great Elmore Leonard or Carl Hiaasen novel, this one about a slippery but dim-witted thief, that would almost be comic if there wasn’t a tragic loss of life in Act II, and even when he...

Our long international nightmare is over! True Crime Historian is coming off hiatus with a block of brand new episodes. The first new release comes October 1 with "A Bloody Scream In The Night: The Axe Murder Of Alice Mallett. Episode 450 begins with a scream in the night as the beautiful Miss Alice Mallett, her body brutally defiled, found in a bloody pool. The town of Jackson, Michigan, reels, a...

The Murderous Journeys Of Frederick Deeming Jump To The AD-FREE Safe House Edition Episode 383 is another request from a listener Down Under, the story of a man who brutally murdered his wife and buried the body inside the house, then disappeared. Although they capture him at the end of Act II, Act III reveals an even more gruesome murder on the opposite side of the globe. He’s a slippery one, but...

The Court Martial Of Pvt. Eddie Leonski Jump To The AD-FREE Safe House Edition Episode 382 is dedicated to the Australian scoundrel Philip Quinn, a dedicated listener from Down Under who wanted to hear more about the case of Eddie Leonski, an American soldier who terrorized of Melbourne with a murder spree while the city was under mandated “brown-outs,” reductions in the use of lighting to make it...

An Incident In The Blacksmith’s Shop Jump To The AD-FREE Safe House Edition Episode 380 tells the story of a violent rampage and its aftermath, when a jealous man shoots a rival down in cold blood and then bashes his head with a hammer. There are enough witnesses that there’s no question his guilt, and the third act details the extremes he will take to avoid a date in the electric chair. Hear Abou...

The Implication Of Fred Wheeler Jump to Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 379 tells the scandalous and tragic story of a young business school student who enters into an unfortunate relationship with her sponsor, a wealthy cattle dealer 30 years her senior. He’s on the scene when she turns up dead with a mysterious gunshot wound in her head, and the resulting trial is a textbook example of a judi...

Face-To-Face With Pretty Boy Floyd Ad-Free Safe House Edition The centerpiece of Episode 378 is a quest for an interview with the infamous bank robber and murderer Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd by Oklahoma reporter Vivian Brown. Although her reporting verges on glorifying Floyd’s celebrity, something we try to avoid, her six-part series published in the days between Floyd’s death in Ohio and his home...

The Insanity (Or Not) Of Douglas Van Vlack Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 377 takes a deep plunge into the story of a troubled young couple in a flight from justice that ends in great double tragedies. The second act details a sensational and contentious trial as Douglas Van Vlack’s defense team try to keep him from the gallows by telling the story of his traumatic life. The third act tells ho...

Bullets For Sheriff Maxwell And Family Jump To AD-FREE SAFE HOUSE EDITION Episode 376 is an action-packed thriller with a jailbreak, a prison break, a couple of car chases, a bank robbery, and then some. At the center of it all is the law-enforcing family of Sheriff Hugh Maxwell of Plymouth County, Iowa, who make the ultimate sacrifice in their pursuit of justice. Listen to more stories with PRISO...

The Triple Confessions Of Willie Lee Jump To AD-FREE Safe House Edition Episode 374 tells the story of an awful family murder in Boonville, Indiana, when a lazy young man takes an axe to his parents and brother on the eve of his wedding day. What offenses the family committed to deserve such a fate seems to be all in the mind of the accused, and it takes him a few tries to get his story straight....

The Vanishing Of Clyde Armour Jump To The AD-FREE Safe House Edition Episode 373 tells the story of two young men who go on a road trip together, but only one of them makes it as far as Santa Fe, and he pretends to be the other. In the meanwhile, an Iowa family goes on a desperate hunt for their missing brother. Join In On More MANHUNTS Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/...

La Chataine Juliette And The Perverted Professor Of Magnetic Physiology Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 372 delves into the history of one of the most hideous villains to ever stalk American streets, a predator so vile that he ranks up there with Albert Fish in his depravity. Even if you don’t believe in capital punishment, I think you’ll agree that Etienne Deschamps deserved his punishment, an...

The Napavine Hatchet Murder Jump To AD-FREE SAFE HOUSE EDITION Episode 371 seems to start out as a salacious story of a seedy sexual situation gone awry, but the sleaze paves the way to a more interesting subplot of a district attorney forced to bring a half-baked case to trial in order to avoid the appearance of his own complicity in a rumored conspiracy. Explore More Murders By HATCHETS & HA...

A Band-Aid Solution To The Mystery Jump To The AD-FREE SAFE HOUSE EDITION!!!! Episode 370 tells the story of a World War II era veteran whose mental issues earned him an honorable discharge from service, but he slips through the system, wreaking havoc among the women in the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania. What does it take to get creeps like this off the street? Murder, apparently. Explore More CA...

Martha Beck’s Lonely Hearts Club Jump To AD-FREE SAFE HOUSE EDITION Episode 368 tells the tragicomic tale of a romantic and business partnership that goes awry when a woman’s jealousy overpowers her professional detachment. It’s also a love story of a passion so profound that they take their love all the way to the electric chair. Hear More BLUEBEARD Stories Become a supporter of this podcast: htt...

Struck By An Axe And Killed Jump To AD-FREE SAFE HOUSE EDITION Episode 367 is a holiday tale more bone-chilling than heart-warming. It takes place the weekend after Thanksgiving, when family and friends get together for games and good times. The cautionary part of the tale here is, be aware of what topics are best to be avoided. This tJumpime, the touchy subject is not politics, but eyewear. Becom...

The Lillian Scheib Mystery  Jump To Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 366 tells the sad story of a woman found dead in a bathtub, so decomposed that police first assume it is her husband, as she is sick and convalescing somewhere. When the truth is revealed and the husband found alive, he soon becomes a suspect as officials assume murder. Is the chauffeur a murderer, or a victim of police harassm...

The Buffalo Thanksgiving Murder Jump To Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 365 “I’ll get you a Thanksgiving dinner if I have to kill someone to get it!” the young thug promised his girlfriend. Dinner, however, was not forthcoming. Listen To More Episodes Of COURTROOM SHENANIGANS Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support . You can pay...

The Burning Love Of Elfrieda Knaak Jump To Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 364 tells an unusual story of a broken-hearted young woman found naked and fatally burnt in the basement of a police station. Her family, the police, and the general public find it hard to believe that she could have torched herself in such a horrific manner, so the hunt is on for proof of a murder. Hear About More TORCH...