Murder In America

Mom comes home to find a human head and hands in her sons bedroom… The Antiquarium of Documented Atrocities Case A005 - The Reading Man Murder Narrated by Stephen Knowles Produced and Engineered by Trevor and Lauren Shand Spotify Show Link: https://open.spotify.com/show/12H7pSoEJ3zETh2739CZUC?si=8d1664511a554389 Apple Podcast Link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-antiquarium-of-documente...

In 2016, the Pulse massacre was the most violent mass shooting to ever take place on American soil. 49 innocent people were dead. Dozens more were wounded and traumatized. But many made it their mission to ensure those people did not die in vain. In our final part of this 4-part series, we will look at the helpers in the aftermath of the shooting. Those who are fighting for love, tolerance, and ac...

By 5 am on June 12th, 2016, news that there had been a shooting at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando was everywhere. Family members gathered outside the club, at hospitals, and at victims' centers, desperate to find out if their loved ones had survived. When the shooting came to an end, the horror of what people endured was really just beginning. For the entire day, victims' loved ones searched the city...

It was just after 2 am. Over 200 people were enjoying the freedom that Pulse, an LGBTQ nightclub, offered. They were dancing. Connecting. Singing. Embracing the beauty of being alive and being understood. But in an instant, the night changed entirely. Within just a few minutes, dozens would be dead. And over the next few hours, those who did survive would be forced to fight for their lives as they...

On June 12th, 2016, Omar Mateen committed one of the most violent mass shootings in American history when he attacked Pulse Nightclub in Orlando. It was an attack that was 29 years in the making. Throughout Omar’s life, there were signs that things weren’t right. Expulsions from school. Being fired from the police academy. And even an investigation by the FBI. In Part 1 of our 4-part series, we’re...

When firefighters rushed to a hotel room in December of 1979, they had no idea they were stumbling into the den of a serial killer. On the bed, they discovered the bodies of two women — their heads and hands cut off, and their torsos set on fire and left on display for first responders to find. It was the first glimpse into the madness of Richard Cottingham, the Torso Killer. Little did first resp...

When firefighters rushed to a hotel room in December of 1979, they had no idea they were stumbling into the den of a serial killer. On the bed, they discovered the bodies of two women — their heads and hands cut off, and their torsos set on fire and left on display for first responders to find. It was the first glimpse into the madness of Richard Cottingham, the Torso Killer. Little did first resp...

"Are you a kidnapper?" Those are some of the last words that Athena Strand ever said. She was just 7 years old, standing in the back of a FedEx van, where an adult had told her she was safe, that things would be okay. But things would never be okay again. The man driving the van was not only a predator... but a killer. And his plans for Athena would be captured on camera, leading to one of the mos...

No one thought a 13-year-old boy was capable of such evil. But when 5-year-old Tara Sue Huffman was discovered bludgeoned to death, all the evidence pointed to neighbor, middle-schooler Timothy Buss, being her killer. After just 12 years of incarceration, Timothy returned to his hometown a reformed man. But not long after his release, another child disappeared. And this time, no one doubted what h...

Elizabeth Peña and Jennifer Ertman were just two teens enjoying a walk home on a hot summer night on June 24th, 1993. When they took a shortcut home, they stumbled upon the aftermath of the unthinkable: A violent gang initiation. What happened to them afterward is the stuff of nightmares.  - Sources:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eTYeCoYyxm58DXXdoFbHQyWHlWbcH9iKGIefFcQToW4/edit?tab=t.y2yayotx...

Part 2 of this series brings us to the unmasking of the Baseline Killer, a man who terrorized Phoenix for over a year. His name was Mark Goudeau. A father. A husband. A hardworking member of the community. But beneath it all, he was the monster stalking the streets. As 2005 turned to 2006, his thirst for murder and violence only grew, and police knew they had to stop him before it was too late.  -...

They were known as the Summers of Terror. From 2005 to 2006, Phoenix, Arizona, lived in a state of permanent dread. People and pets were being shot in the streets at random. Women and children were pulled into dark alleys and assaulted. In part 1 of this 2-part series, we’ll dive into the attacks that kicked off a year of chaos, violence, and mystery, which left the police department scrambling fo...

There were signs that things were not right at home for 12-year-old Lori Paige. Not just tiny ones: blazing red flags that followed her all her life. She came to school without shoes. She was hit with a belt in front of her classmates. She cried to friends and teachers, saying she couldn’t take the abuse any longer. And then… she vanished. What followed was an investigation that came far too late—...

On April 29th, 1998, Houston Police dragged Charles Victor Thompson out of his ex-girlfriend’s apartment, where he had started a fight with her new boyfriend. Charles was a jealous man, a drunk man, but the police didn’t think he was a killer. At least, not for another 3 hours. What began as a jealous feud spiraled into murder, and from there, into one of the most shocking cases in Texas history:...

Two offices. Thirteen people bleeding out on their workplace floor. And humid air full of the smell of iron, smoke, and gunfire. That’s exactly what Mark Orrin Barton wanted on the afternoon of July 29th, 1999 – and it’s just what he got. In part two of this series, we’ll walk you through the tragic, chaotic massacre that Mark Barton unleashed at his former offices. We’ll look at the victims, the...

In the 1990s, Mark Orrin Barton was aiming for the stars. He was a day trader, working in a prestigious office in Atlanta. He had a wife, kids, and a seemingly successful life. Then, in 1999, he shot it all to hell. Quite literally. You may have never heard of Mark or the Day Trading Massacre, but in part one of this two-part series, we’ll examine the man who took the lives of at least thirteen pe...

When Linda Wallace stepped into her home, she was horrified. Her drawers were ransacked. Furniture destroyed. Anything of value, stolen. But she didn’t care about that. All she wanted was to find what mattered: Her 9-year-old daughter, Autumn. When she finally did find her, all she could do was scream. Autumn lay on the bathroom floor. The investigation into who killed Autumn Wallace led to an unl...

In 2008, Gregory Green promised the parole board that he was a changed man. When he had murdered his first wife in 1991, he was a monster. Now, he was different. He was ready for another chance. Believing him, the parole board granted him his freedom, and for years it seemed the right choice. He got married. Raised kids. Got a job. Until, in 2016, he betrayed everyone’s faith in him. Police steppe...

Marvin Morales took an oath to serve and protect. The Sacramento Sheriff’s Deputy was a shining example of his department… until he wasn’t. A drug scandal. A hidden addiction. PTSD. A series of horrible decisions culminating in the end of his career, and a violent death that no one saw coming. Sources:⁠⁠https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eTYeCoYyxm58DXXdoFbHQyWHlWbcH9iKGIefFcQToW4/edit?tab=t.y2ya...

Christopher Porco was in trouble. At 21, he was drowning in debt, caught in a web of lies, and flunking out of his college fraternity. His loving parents, Peter and Joan, offered to help him figure things out. But instead, Chris did the unthinkable. In the dead of the night, he grabbed an axe, walked into his parents’ bedroom, and committed a crime so heinous that the detectives on the scene could...

In 1999, Logan Marr was kidnapped, and the state of Maine thought it was for the best. In their eyes, the toddler’s mother was too poor, too uneducated, too redneck to raise her baby girl. So, they gave her to someone who could. And then someone else. And then someone else. Until finally, in 2001, Christy Marr was finally given back her baby girl: in a casket. This isn’t our typical story. This is...

Mother of three Joleen Cummings would never miss a Mother’s Day with her children. When she vanished without a trace on May 12th, 2018, police instantly believed they knew what had happened: Her estranged husband had killed her. It was a tragic tale as old as time, a case they expected to have solved by lunchtime. But very quickly — things changed. As they unraveled the threads of Joleen’s vibrant...

Nothing could have prepared Sioux City Police for what lay in wait inside the home of mother of 5, Leticia Aguilar. When they learned she had seemingly vanished without a word, they suspected it was bad. But they hadn’t expected it to be so bad. Inside, they discovered a crime scene so senseless and traumatic that the chief of police would only allow officers he knew could handle the horror inside...

At first, police in Baraboo, Wisconsin, thought the 9-1-1 call was a prank. 13-year-old Thad Phillips claimed he had been kidnapped, tortured, and left for dead with shattered legs. This is the story of Joseph Clark, the Baraboo, they realized it wasn’t a joke at all: It was the most devious crime they had seen in their entire careers. Thad’s feet were twisted backwards, his thighs swollen to the...

Pulled over in 2005, serial killer Dennis Rader calmly admitted he knew why police were there. Over thirty hours of interrogation, he detailed ten murders with chilling precision, then pleaded guilty to avoid trial. In this episode we cover the trial, the sentencing and the aftermath of one of America’s most infamous and horrific strings of murders- the BTK Killings. - Sources:https://docs.google....