Bad Acts: A True Crime Podcast

Send us Fan Mail In October 2023, Richard “Scott” MacFarland invited a friend of his to live with him. Meghan Macklin had fallen on hard times, and she needed a place to crash. Scott was a widower who liked to help people, but he should never have trusted Meghan Macklin.  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/badactspod PodMoth: https://podmoth.network/ Ad: Brutal, Bizarre, and Boozy https://open.spoti...

Send us Fan Mail In 2024, Nadia Vitels was finally getting a chance to focus on herself after years of caregiving. She planned to move into a luxury NYC apartment she inherited from her mother. Unbeknownst to her, two squatters were already living in the apartment, and they had no intention of leaving peacefully.  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/badactspod  PodMoth: https://podmoth.network/  Ad:...

Send us Fan Mail In 1974, 26-year-old Margaret Sweeney was expecting her fourth baby. When she met Winifred Ransom, she thought she’d made a new friend. But Ransom was a devil in disguise, whose unbelievable crime shocked everyone.  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/badactspod PodMoth: https://podmoth.network/ Ad: Thick Thighs and Creepy Vibes — https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thick-thighs-an...

Send us Fan Mail In 2008, firefighters responded to a fire at the Bolduc home to find three family members murdered, including parents, Carol and Christopher Bolduc, and son, Josh Bolduc. When police tracked down elder son Matthew Cushing, investigators immediately noticed a bunch of red flags.  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/badactspod PodMoth: https://podmoth.network/ Ad: The ODDentity Podcast...

Send us Fan Mail 31-year-old Mel Cotton helped her friend escape a violent relationship. About two weeks later, her sister arrived to babysit Mel’s son to find the boy injured and Mel dead. Her murder was an escalation that anyone could see coming, and her attacker shouldn’t have been free to kill her.    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/badactspod PodMoth: https://podmoth.network/ Ad: Brutal, Biz...

Send us Fan Mail Unlike most female serial killers, 20-year-old Piroska Jancsó-Ladányi was a lust killer who targeted young girls. She committed five murders before anyone suspected her because no one thinks the bogey man is going to be a small young woman with a Mona Lisa smile.  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/badactspod PodMoth: https://podmoth.network/ Ad:  Rowan & Pine — https://podcasts...

Send us Fan Mail (Audio is pretty good!) In February 2025, 32-year-old Margaux Whittemore traveled to Maine with her husband, Samuel, to visit her mother-in-law. She wouldn’t make it back home. Investigators soon learned that Samuel Whittemore was having a strange conversation with an AI chatbot, which led him to attack his wife and mother.  Episode Source List: https://www.maine.gov/dps/msp/taxon...

Send us Fan Mail This week, we talk about the true story of Tony & Frances Toto, whose story hit the big screen in 1990 after Frances tried to murder Tony 5 times with the help of a few hitmen, all of whom were very bad at murder. The dark comedy based on their “rough patch” is called I Love You to Death.  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/badactspod PodMoth: https://podmoth.network/ Ad: Brutal...

Send us Fan Mail Over an 8-day period in April 2002, 28-year-old Ray McArthur Freeney preyed on sex workers on Houston, TX’s infamous Bissonnet Strip. He murdered 15-year-old Kirshalynne Jones and 36-year-old Vicky Dean, but they weren’t his only victims. In fact, police caught their killer as he was negotiating prices with his next would-be victim.  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/badactspod Pod...

Send us Fan Mail On February 14, 1987, Michelle Shadbolt’s stepmother found her brutally murdered in her living room. Everyone suspected Michelle’s estranged husband, but investigators didn’t have enough evidence to arrest him. That’s because he wasn’t their killer…but someone very close to Michelle was hiding a terrible secret. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/badactspod PodMoth: https://podmoth....

Send us Fan Mail In 2011, Amelia Espinoza was raising her son, 18-year-old Moises Meraz-Espinoza, in Los Angeles. This time, Satan really was waiting in the wings… Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/badactspod PodMoth: https://podmoth.network/ Ad: The ODDentity Podcast — https://linktr.ee/oddentitypod  Wishbone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjjRlr-kmVY  Episode Source List: https://docs.justia.co...

Send us Fan Mail In 1997, 16-year-old Luke Woodham murdered three people and wounded seven in a short crime spree that began at home and ended at Pearl High School in Pearl, Mississippi. His small Mississippi town soon found itself in the grip of the Satanic Panic. It wasn’t long before rumors were flying about Woodham’s friend, 18-year-old Grant Boyette and his supposed satanic cult, The Kroth. ...

Send us Fan Mail In 1997, 16-year-old Luke Woodham murdered three people and wounded seven in a short crime spree that began at home and ended at Pearl High School in Pearl, Mississippi. His small Mississippi town soon found itself in the grip of the Satanic Panic. It wasn’t long before rumors were flying about Woodham’s friend, 18-year-old Grant Boyette and his supposed satanic cult, The Kroth. ...

Send us Fan Mail In 1997, 16-year-old Luke Woodham murdered three people and wounded seven in a short crime spree that began at home and ended at Pearl High School in Pearl, Mississippi. His small Mississippi town soon found itself in the grip of the Satanic Panic. It wasn’t long before rumors were flying about Woodham’s friend, 18-year-old Grant Boyette and his supposed satanic cult, The Kroth. ...

Send us Fan Mail In July 2020, 18-year-old Paycin Kritlow was celebrating his high school graduation with his lifelong friends when he died at the hands of someone he’d never have expected. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/badactspod PodMoth: https://podmoth.network/ Ad: Thick Thighs and Creepy Vibes — https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thick-thighs-and-creepy-vibes/id1736179086  Episode Source...

Send us Fan Mail Over 14 years, a depraved madman preyed on the women of Baiyin, China. After 11 murders, the killer suddenly stopped, and investigators feared that they’d never find him. But science is always advancing, and genetic genealogy would break the case wide open. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/badactspod  PodMoth: https://podmoth.network/  Ad: The ODDentity Podcast — https://linktr.ee...

Send us Fan Mail In October 2020, Cynthia Capps and her husband Jorge Gonzalez were renting out their extra rooms to make ends meet during the pandemic. One evening, Cindy seemingly disappeared while Jorge was in the shower. When Jorge found a blood spot on their kitchen floor, he feared the worst.  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/badactspod PodMoth: https://podmoth.network/ Ad: Rowan & Pine...

Send us Fan Mail 16-year-old Britney Ujlaky was a cowgirl with big goals for her future. She seemed unstoppable, but one of her most trusted friends was a snake in the grass.   Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/badactspod PodMoth: https://podmoth.network/ Ad: Brutal, Bizarre, and Boozy — https://open.spotify.com/show/44Z9VDxjEVGpbPBkYzQorh?si=0556a1a9b65048bd&nd=1&dlsi=7e42cb75c47e4fc4    E...

Send us Fan Mail *The most bananas case I’ve covered* In 1999, the tiny town of Butler, Alabama, made national headlines when three intellectually disabled defendants were accused of killing a baby that never existed. What started out as a lie told by Victoria Banks to get a lower bail quickly spiraled, landing her estranged husband, Medell Banks, Jr., and her sister, Diane Tucker, in handcuffs al...

Send us Fan Mail In 1877, German immigrants John and Gretchen Kintzler lived in a messy log cabin in Troxelville, Pennsylvania. On Sundays, John told fortunes at their kitchen table, so the couple had more money than their humble home suggested. Then, on December 8, 1877, a fire erupted in the Kintzler cabin, and the townsfolk soon realized that they had a brutal murder to solve.  Patreon: https:/...

Send us Fan Mail In 2012 Barbara Latiolas hired a local teenager to mow her lawn. That decision led to a pair of killers hiding in her crawl space, waiting for the perfect time to strike.  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/badactspod PodMoth: https://podmoth.network/ Ad: The ODDentity Podcast — https://linktr.ee/oddentitypod  Episode Source List: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/ca-court-of-appeal...

Send us Fan Mail In November 2024, 21-year-old Phoenix Spencer-Horn was just starting what should have been a long life. She was living with her boyfriend, Ewan Methven, and working in a restaurant in Scotland. Her life seemed to be on the right track, but there was darkness lingering beneath the surface.   Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/badactspod PodMoth: https://podmoth.network/ Ad: Rowan &am...

Send us Fan Mail In 1840, Lucretia Thompson left for her job as a housekeeper and never returned. Two days later, searchers found her bloody body near a wooded area, partially consumed by hogs. She’d been beaten to death with a roughly made club, which remained with her body.  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/badactspod PodMoth: https://podmoth.network/ Ad: Brutal, Bizarre, and Boozy — https://ope...

Send us Fan Mail In March 2003, 17-year-old Jonathan “Jonnie” Moyer disappeared. Around that same time, two of his best friends, 16-year-old Steva Hagelgans and 18-year-old Felina Billetdeaux were dealing with a strangely terrible smell in the home they shared.  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/badactspod PodMoth: https://podmoth.network/ Ad: Getting Down & Wordy Podcast  — https://linktr.ee/g...

Send us Fan Mail In October 2006, a man named Charles Roberts IV invaded a one-room Amish school house and took ten female students hostage. However, he underestimated the heroics of two Amish women who ran for help before he could carry out all of his terrible plans. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/badactspod PodMoth: https://podmoth.network/ Ad: The Ugly Radio — https://podcasts.apple.com/us/po...