Cascadia Crime & Cryptids

Part 3 of Sara's Bundy series brings us to Florida, and the horrific crimes Bundy committed there.  More importantly, this final episode of the Bundy series finally sees Bundy charged with murder, and his time finally runs out.   The series Caro mentions when discussing bite mark evidence is called "The Innocence Files" and is available to stream on Netflix. Sources https://www.britannica.com/biog...

Part 2 of Sara's Bundy series takes us out of the PNW and into Idaho, Utah, and Colorado where Ted continues his murder spree, makes headlines, and winds up behind bars - more than once.  Sources https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ted-Bundy https://www.biography.com/news/ted-bundy-timeline-murders https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a27179474/ted-bundy-girlfriend-elizabeth-kendall-kloep...

Our first episode of 2023 needs little explanation: Sara takes us into the Pacific Northwest chapter of serial killer Ted Bundy's horrific murder spree throughout the 1970s for part 1 of her Bundy series.   Thanks so much for your patience with our end-of-the-year break, we are so glad you're still with us.   Sources https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ted-Bundy https://www.biography.com/news/ted...

Our last episode of 2022 is a cryptid episode!  Lumberjacks in the 19th and early 20th century had quite a few tales of unique critters from the forests of the Pacific Northwest, so today we bring you not one, but two of them.  First, the cougar's fierce cousin, the Ball-Tailed Cat - said to wield a multipurpose bony sphere at the end of its tail.  Then, the Gumberoo - a combustible hairless bear...

This week, Sara brings us a cold case from Eugene, Oregon in 1969 - Janet Lynn Shanahan never made it home after a family birthday celebration, and her body was found the next day in the trunk of her own car.  Investigators have their suspicions, but Janet's murder remains unsolved to this day.   If you have any information regarding Janet's case, please contact the Eugene Cold Case Squad at 541-6...

Our first case for December takes us to the foggy beachside city of Pacifica, CA, which was rocked by a senseless murder in the early morning hours of October 17th, 2012 - the city's first murder in 12 years at that time.  Keith Coffey was just 24 years old, friendly and vibrant, when a monster took his life.  Special thanks to Savannah Kirby for helping us tell Keith's story authentically and pur...

Esther Castellani died under mysterious circumstances at just 40 years old in 1965.  If not for the suspicion and tenacity of a hospital physician, her killer may have gotten away with murder.   Thank you again to Eve Lazarus for her coverage and research of this case! Sources https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/bizarre-murders-bc-history https://montecristomagazine.com/community/heartwrenching-clue-c...

Jimmy and Lily Ming were kidnapped from their home shortly after a family wedding in January of 1985 in the Strathcona neighborhood of Vancouver, BC.  The Ming family received a ransom note the next day with an impossible sum, but tried their best to not only raise the ransom money but reason with the kidnappers.  7 weeks later, the kidnapping would come to a tragic end, but investigators could on...

Alyssa Angelique McLemore has been missing under (in our opinion) extremely suspicious and dangerous circumstances for over THIRTEEN YEARS.  Sara takes us to Kent, WA to dive into the minimal information available about Alyssa and her case.  What happened to Alyssa McLemore?   If you have any information regarding Alyssa's case, please contact either of the below authorities: Washington State Patr...

As promised, another spooky episode (because it was supposed to be released on Halloween, sorry about that!) from Caro this time, focusing on just a few instances of "witchy" happenings in Oregon from the 1800s up to modern day! Sources https://www.thetravel.com/how-to-get-to-witchs-castle-oregon/ https://puzzleboxhorror.com/urban-legends-the-gypsy-curse-of-lafayette-or/?amp https://portlandghosts...

Today's minisode takes us to Portland, Oregon for a spooky story: a tragic, real murder that became a local ghostly tale, and a reminder that ghosts were people too, at some point.  This is the sad story of the tragic murder of Thelma Taylor. Sources https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Thelma_Taylor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cause_c%C3%A9l%C3%A8bre https://archive.ph/qCo1R https://www.find...

As promised, Sara brings us a sampling of spooky from around Washington and Oregon's hiking trails!  Have you hiked any of these trails?  Seen or felt anything creepy, eerie, or was it just spooky enough to send a shiver down your spine?   Sources https://www.wta.org/go-outside/seasonal-hikes/fall-destinations/haunted-hikes https://www.travelchannel.com/interests/haunted/photos/scariest-haunted-hi...

CW: this episode contains descriptions of cannibalism, abuse of a corpse, the murder of children, and animal cruelty; please take care when listening. The 1970s were a really rough time for Sacramento, CA - not only was the East Area Rapist (later coined the Golden State Killer) terrorizing the community, but a blitz of killings were committed from December 1977 to January 1978 that haunt the comm...

Sara takes us to the spooky side of things and details some of the origin stories of Seattle's supposedly haunted Georgetown Morgue, now a haunted house that you can visit today (if you dare).   Sources https://seattlehaunts.com/morgue-history/ https://www.dailyuw.com/features/the-georgetown-morgue-gruesome-true-story-or-fabrication/article_76fc03af-243f-5802-86bc-27e4e3ae2822.html https://www.onl...

CW: this episode contains graphic crime scene descriptions, the accidental death of a child, and the violent murder of a pregnant woman On Halloween night, 1984, police in San Jose, California responded to a scene one would later describe as a "Halloween horror show" in the front hallway of Charles and Doreen Erbert's suburban home.  In the corner of the crime scene, near the door, lay a rubber ma...

Janet Farris went missing en route to a family wedding in British Columbia, Canada in October of 1992.  Decades later, an underwater discovery on a family vacation would help finally give her family answers as to just what happened to Janet.   Sources https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/09/09/canada-teen-gopro-missing-car-years/ https://www.today.com/news/teen-gopro-camera-helps-find-body-m...

A dramatic 1940 bridge collapse, giant tentacles bursting out of the water - is the Pacific Northwest legend of Tacoma's King Octopus based in fact, or are the Seattle Kraken the only reason to "fear the deep" in Washington state's coastal waters?  It's another cryptid episode, folks. Sources https://www.knkx.org/other-news/2017-05-20/world-octopus-wrestling-championships-once-attracted-audience-o...

Puyallup Tribe member Leona Sharon Kinsey went missing on October 25, 1999 from La Grande, Oregon and still has not been found.  Leona's daughter Carolyn still holds out hope, but she is frustrated by lack of law enforcement action on her mother's case.  "John," aka Juan Pena-Llamas, likely the last person to see Leona before she disappeared, was deported to Mexico in 2006 and authorities have bee...

Apologies for the audio quality in this episode, the incorrect microphone was selected during recording.   On a May afternoon in Tacoma, WA in 1935, nine year old George Weyerhaeuser was snatched off the street in broad daylight - that night, his family received a ransom letter asking for the gigantic sum of $200,000 (~4 million dollars today!) in exchange for the safe return of their son.  Only m...

Note: Caro called this episode 36 in the recording because she got ahead of herself - this is episode 35! CW: this episode contains graphic body desciptions and instances of animal cruelty, please take care when listening. In the summer of 2020, a group of teens made the horrific discovery of human remains in a suitcase that had washed up on Alki Beach in West Seattle, Washington.  After uploading...

CW: this episode contains descriptions of dismemberment of a human body, please take care when listening.  Ingrid Lyne went on a date to Mariners' baseball opening night on April 8, 2016, but was reported missing by her mother and ex husband as of 10am the next day.  To Seattle's horror, parts of Ingrid's body were found in a recycling bin later that Saturday afternoon.  This is the appalling stor...

Teenagers Antoinette Witaker (13) and Joyce Gaunt (17) were both found murdered in the greater Seattle area, about 9 months apart, in 1977 and 1978.  Aside from their individual involvement in the foster system and some basic teenage rebellion, there aren't many obvious connections between their cases.  A 2010 Seattle Times article brought these cases to Sara's attention and naturally she brought...

In the early summer of 1887, bodies of murdered Chinese miners floated down the Snake River into Lewiston, ID.  Racism and plain lack of care + compassion kept the story of the Hells Canyon Massacre threadbare for over 100 years.  Justice was never achieved in this case, but 31 innocent Chinese men deserve to have their story told.  This is the story of the Hells Canyon Massacre and a glimpse into...

Sara takes us back to the 1800s with Oregon's first officially recorded murder case!  Nimrod O'Kelly found himself an accused liar and murderer after he admitted to shooting his neighbor, Jeremiah Mahoney, over a land dispute.  But what really happened that day, and was O'Kelly really the liar all his neighbors thought he was? Sources https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/o_kelly_nimrod_1864...

CW: This is an extremely rough case with intense crime scene and body descriptions - please take care when listening. A coworker of Dianna Mah-Jones found a horrifying scene when he stopped by her house to check on her on September 27, 2017.  Police found what would later be described as "catastrophic" and a "horror movie" inside.  A monumental effort by investigators and the community revealed an...