True Crime Historian

The Cuba Triple Murder Jump To The Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 363 takes place in rural Ohio, when a woman, her daughter, and her daughter’s suitor are gunned down in front of three young children. The daughter’s ex-husband says he arrived at the scene just after the shots were fired, but in her dying breath his ex-mother-in-law claims he was the culprit. The kids can’t get their story stra...

The Greenlease Kidnapping Tragedy Jump To Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 362 takes on one of the most evil crimes imaginable as told from the point of view of the perpetrator. By the time police caught up with Carl Austin Hall, he had made so many mistakes in the kidnapping and murder of a six-year-old boy that he knew the game was up, so he told the story in a coldly matter-of-fact 36-page co...

The Halfwit Gang Of Golden Gate Avenue Jump To Ad-Free Safe House Edition Although there’s nothing funny about real-life murder, if Episode 361 were fictional, you could shelve it right next to Elmore Leonard or Carl Hiaasen and the wacky characters they create who walk in the realm of dark comedy. The downfall of this gang that couldn’t shoot straight begins when one of its members decides to sur...

The Father Stood Trial Jump To Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 359 details one of the most chaotic cases I’ve yet to come across. The investigation left a lot of unanswered questions and the prosecution seems motivated by political pressure and retaliation rather than evidence. Was the youngster murdered by his father or one of his playmates? Let me know what you think. Explore More Cases of Mu...

The Terror Of All Toughs Killed By Horse Thief Jump To Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 358 is dedicated to the Safe House Scoundrel Marlene Resch who required a story from her home town of Eugene, Oregon, and we are happy to oblige. The victim in this story was the law enforcement officer in Episode 336, Murder On The McKenzie Trail, and together they sum up the history of capital punishment in...

The Trial Of Lena Clarke Jump To The AD-FREE SAFE HOUSE EDITION Episode 357 is a crazy blend of murder, embezzlement, and a ghost story. When a former post office clerk is found murdered in the hotel room of a woman who had been a co-worker, there are hints of either a connection the spirit world or madness, but still, a Florida courtroom is stunned the depths of the suspect’s mysticism as reveale...

The Senator, The Embezzler, And The Girl They Loved Jump To AD-FREE SAFE HOUSE EDITION Episode 356 takes a look at a scandalous murder and failed suicide attempt that leaves the perpetrator blind and a state senator defending not only his own honor, but that of the young lady who got the worst of the whole affair. Explore More Episodes About LOVE TRIANGLES GONE AWRY Become a supporter of this podc...

Killing Billy The Kid Jump To The AD-FREE SAFE HOUSE EDITION Episode 355 takes us back to the Old West with a profile of one of the classic rivalries of the era: The lanky Sheriff Pat Garrett v. the notorious William Bonney, aka Billy the Kid, including a narrative of their fateful last encounter as told by the sheriff himself. Explore More Episodes of WILD WESTERN True Crime Become a supporter of...

HA Debaucher Of Children Gets His Revenge Jump To The AD-FREE SAFE HOUSE EDITION Episode 354 is a real trip to the dark side as it recounts the rampage of a local beat patrolmen the result of having his ugly perverted secrets revealed. Although he was responsible for a lot of lives lost and hurt forever, there’s some satisfaction in watching him get some of what he deserves, public humiliation as...

The Murder Of Sheriff Rogers At Glencoe Jump To The Ad-Free SAFE HOUSE EDITION Episode 353 takes place in late 19th century Minnesota, but plays out like a classic Western tale. You know the one, where a pair of strangers come into town, shoot the sheriff, and incite the citizenry to take the law into their own hands. Click Here To Access More WILD WESTERN Episodes Become a supporter of this podca...

The Ladies’ Man Lawyer & The Mysterious Blonde Jump To Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 151 recalls a fatal shooting on a dark country road when a pair of unemployed thugs set out to rape and plunder unsuspecting couples looking for a quiet place to canoodle. They get more than they bargained for when their mark turns out to be a well-armed attorney.  Explore More ROBBERIES GONE AWRY Become...

The Real ‘Chicago’ Murders Episode 352 explores the two murders that inspired the hit musical “Chicago,” which was based on a play by Maurine Watkins, who did some reporting on both cases as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune. I’ll be joined by my colleague Susan Ferman, whose own podcast Catastrophic Calamities, will premiere next week on the Pulpular Media network. Susan will read about the case...

The Murder Of Myrtle Mellus Jump To Ad Free Safe House Edition Episode 350 relates the tale of a love triangle ending in tragedy when a Hollywood socialite is found murdered after one of her regular trysts with her young lover. There’s a lot of drinking and debauchery involved in this, and we never really get all the details of this sordid liaison, but just enough to spark the imagination. Hear Ab...

The Murder Of Bessie Little Jump To The Ad-Free SAFE HOUSE edition Episode 348 takes place in Dayton, Ohio, just up the Great Miami River from my hometown. I'm trying to come up with a name for this particular narrative trope, the murder of a woman by a man whose child she is carrying -- consequently also the murder of an unborn child. There is some question in this case if Bessie Little was actua...

The Trunk In Minnie Lee Griffin’s Basement Jump To Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 347 is a cautionary tale about what can go wrong if you get too involved in the lives of your grown children. When the widow Minnie Lee Griffin thought that her son-in-law was being pursued by a beautiful neighbor, she resorted to subterfuge to save her daughters marriage, and eventually to murder. Explore More T...

Demise Of The Whittemore Gang Jump to the Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 345 follows the end of the career of the leader of  a notorious East Coast gang that terrorized Baltimore and several New York Cities in their bloody quest for money and diamonds. The exciting narrative includes descriptions of several of the gang’s violent heists. Find More Stories About Jail Breaks Become a supporter of...

The Corruption Of Lieutenant Charles Becker. Jump to Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 116 is a story about police corruption in New York’s Tenderloin District at the turn of the last century. The Tenderloin District around Broadway was so named by the police because there was a lot of graft to be made and they were able to stop eating chuck steak and started eating tenderloin. Maybe that helped...

The Brutal Murder of Gussie Pfeiffer Jump To The Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 115 is a baffling case indeed. The body of a young factory girl who had been missing for three days is found “brutalized,” as the euphemism goes, before being murdered and her body dumped near a historic tree in the Bronx. How long had she been there? How long had she been dead? With few clues to go on, police head...

The Cleveland Kaber Conspiracy By Marjorie Wilson Jump to Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 114 Back in the golden ages of newspapers, it was common for them to publish serialized novels of romance, adventure,and intrigue, but true crime serials were not quite so common. But here is a novella-length  story published in nineteen chapters in five parts by newspapers in 1921 when Eva Kaber was stand...

The Cleveland Kaber Conspiracy By Marjorie Wilson Jump to Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 114 Back in the golden ages of newspapers, it was common for them to publish serialized novels of romance, adventure,and intrigue, but true crime serials were not quite so common. But here is a novella-length  story published in nineteen chapters in five parts by newspapers in 1921 when Eva Kaber was stand...

The Scoundrel Albert Brownlee Jump To Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 344 takes place in the Pacific Northwest and follows the career of a World War I veteran who returns to a life of crime. This fellow’s a peck of trouble, and since the Huns didn’t get him, the state of Oregon will. Find More Stories About CAPITAL CRIMES Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true...

The Scoundrel Herman Kabansky Jump To Ad-Free Safe House Edition There’s a lot of action packed into Episode 343. In addition to a drunken shooting spree and a heroic policeman, the story packs in an escape from jail, an attempted suicide, and a whole lot of courtroom and jailhouse dramatics. Find More Stories About Jail Breaks Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/t...

A Bloody Riot In Birmingham Jump To The AD-FREE SAFE HOUSE EDITION Episode 342 is dedicated to listeners Paula Wellman and Marcie Braden, who along with the Historic Birmingham Facebook group suggested this case and provided me with tons of research. It is a double tragedy, a brutal family murder followed by a massacre in the city streets as a diligent sheriff flexes the strong arm of the law. Fin...

The Degradation Of Sassy Springer Jump To Commercial-Free SAFE HOUSE Edition Episode 340 tells of a double murder--one intentional, one accidental--arising out of an unusual love triangle, a married wealthy Denver socialite and two men, both of whom were her lovers, neither of them her husband. Does that make it a love quadrangle? MORE LOVE TRIANGLES GONE AWRY Become a supporter of this podcast: h...

Scandal At Reynolda Jump to the AD-FREE SAFE HOUSE EDITION Episode 338 weaves the tale of mystery surrounding the shocking death of the youngest son of the tobacco king R.J. Reynolds when he is found dead in the family’s palatial North Carolina home. Although the coroner immediately ruled it a suicide, other officials felt differently, and suspicion fell on the young man’s new bride and his best f...