Crime&Stuff

A final treat before our summer break: Updates to several episodes, including the latest on the Michael Gaine murder in Ireland, what Uber’s doing for women, another Eliot Cutler rant and more. We dive into fan favorite “Am I the Asshole?” And we each take the other’s NNW challenge. To check out Maureen’s Maine-based Bernadette “Bernie” O’Dea mystery novel...

Judi Therianos and Missy Bevers had nothing in common except for the fact they were both beloved women and mothers who were murdered, senselessly, in 2016. Their murders didn’t have much in common, either. One got the usual local coverage, the other was an internet sleuth sensation. One was solved fairly quickly, the other, 10 years later, is still as much of a mystery as it was in 2016. But...

At first no one in central-eastern Ohio connected the killings — they were hunters, outdoorsmen, a jogger — all shot by someone who left no trace between 1989 and 1992. When they finally arrested Thomas Dillon for five murders, law enforcement was happy to leave it at that. But it was clear that Dillon’s carnage stretched far beyond the rural counties of that area of Ohio. Mauree...

When we featured Alice Hawkes’ 1987 homicide in Episode 191 as one of our Maine Cold Cases of the 1980s, Maureen declared that it would never be “solved,” though there was s definite suspect. Well, she was wrong! Maine State Police announced an arrest May 8. We revisit the case with many of our questions from February answered and some new information. Rebecca gives the Netflix s...

Mary Ellen Tanner had planned to go to Massachusetts for the weekend to attend the funeral of her boyfriend’s brother the weekend of July 7, 1978. It wasn’t until two days later that anyone knew she’d never left her hometown in Maine — when her beaten body was found in a remote field in Lyman, Maine. Over the decades, questions about the last hours of her life still haunt h...

Dominique Dunne was 22 and a rising star in in Hollywood in 1982 — she had everything going for her, except when it came to her ex-boyfriend, Ma Maison head chef John Sweeney. She’d broken up with him after several severe beatings and nearly a year of coercive control, but he still wouldn’t leave her alone. When she tried to get the message across, he killed her. That was just th...

Mary Theresa Simpson was 12 when she disappeared while walking home in Elmira, New York, on March 15, 1964. When her body was found four days later, buried under heavy rocks, no one could predict that it would take more than six decades before there were answers to that city’s only unsolved murder. Rebecca presents. Also, Maureen gives an NNW review to the documentary “Earnhardt.&#8221...

It’s March. It’s cold [where we live], it’s ugly. We’re tired of it. So, to lighten the mood a little before we get back to our usual content, we have a cabin fever reliever! Updates on the Maine woman who buried her friend in the backyard and is now facing charges, Maine man Michael Colin Patrick Kelley finally arrested on charges her murdered Irish farmer Michael Gaine, M...

Maine had 21 homicides in 2025, and we take a look at them. Guns and domestic violence continue to be the dominant themes, with mental health issues also a troubling contributing factor. From people who know each other all too well, to the bizarre seemingly random shooting of a guy on his motorcycle, there are 21 stories of lives lost that may resonate with you, no matter where you live. We also t...

We wrap up our three-episode look at the Maine State Police Unsolved Homicide list, diving into the 1990s and beyond, looking at the cases of Lorna Brackett and Vincent White, Susan Hannah, Joseph Savitch and Louis Alexander, and Neil Salisbury, the most recent unsolved homicide on the list. We also look at the introduction of DNA as an investigative tool, how the Maine Unsolved Homicide List was...

We continue our look at Maine’s cold cases with a dive into the 1980s: Beverly Polchies, Theresa Duran, Vincent LaVopa, Brian Kowalczyk and Alice Hawkes. Would they have been solved if they happened today? Should they have been solved four decades ago? We discuss. If you’re interested in checking out Maureen’s Maine-based Bernadette “Bernie” O’Dea mystery novels, including...

While we wait for the state of Maine to release the 2025 homicide list, we’re taking a look at another list: Maine’s Unsolved Homicides. In this first part of a three-part series, we dive into the Maine cold cases of the 1970s (and one from the 1960s), and discuss the still-unsolved cases of Effie MacDonald, Mary Olenchuk, Judith Hand, Joyce Tannarillo, Robert McKee, Ellen Choate, and...

Darrel Parker starts serving a life sentence. Wesley Peery is incarcerated in Ohio, doing “30 to 75 years,” which we know means he’ll be out soon. And Wesley’s gonna be Wesley. As Nebraska officials pull out all the stops across decades to keep an innocent man in prison for the rest of his life, Peery is free once again, with no one fighting against it, and does exactly wha...

It’s April 1956, and Darrel Parker is going to trial on first-degree murder charges in the murder of his wife, Nancy. The evidence? A confession wrung out of him by soon-to-be famous crimimologist John Reid, with the help of a lie detector and some very willing Lincoln, Nebraska, cops and county attorney Meanwhile, career criminal Wesley Peery continues to wreak havoc in Lincoln and the surr...

Sit back and rip the wrapping and bows off our annual holiday special. With special holiday “Am I the Asshole?” And two special holiday Negative Nellies Reviews! Enjoy! And Merry Whatever Holiday You Celebrate! If you’re interested in checking out Maureen’s Maine-based Bernadette “Bernie” O’Dea mystery novels, including the award-winning (seriously!) Dying for News, c...

In case you missed it, from January 2023: Brian Walshe’s many victims. Brian Walshe was found guilty on Dec. 15, 2025, of murdering his wife, Ana Walshe, and dismemembering her body. As promised, we’ll have an episode on it in January. But if you want the full background on Brian Walshe, check out this episode from January 2023 that looks at his long history of fraud, including ripping...

Lie detectors. The Reid Technique. You’ve been listening to us rant about them for nine years. One case, in 1955, was not only the perfect storm of both, but also launched John Reid’s interrogation method into national use, changing criminal justice methods throughout the U.S. into what is now the norm. But the funny thing about the investigation of Nancy Parker’s 1955 murder and...

Singer and songwriter Marvin Gaye made beautiful music, but what most people didn’t know until his tragic death at his father’s hand was that his life growing up with Marvin Gaye Sr. had been anything but. What led up to the Gaye’s April 1, 1984, shooting death? Rebecca tells the story. Maureen takes on iconic true crime series “Dateline” in our Negative Nellies Watch...

The cold case of an arson fire that killed one Portland, Maine, resident in 1994 and injured seven others has finally been solved. The disappearance of a New Sweden, Maine, 13-year-old a year ago hasn’t, despite many red flags. We take a look at these two Maine minis, as well as update what happened to James Dailey, who was scheduled to be executed in Florida when we last talked about him in...

Philip Willoughby goes on trial for the Dec. 3, 1983, Maine murder of Paula Roberts, but it doesn’t go smoothly. Not at all. Prosecutors never really let go of Trial 1, and justice takes a hit. But does anyone care? Maureen wraps up the Paula Roberts series. Rebecca does an NNW review of the Netflix doc “The Perfect Neighbor.” If you’re interested in checking out Maureen’s Maine-...

When David Willoughby is arrested and charged with the abduction and murder of Paula Roberts, it seemed like the beginning of the end of the case of the 21-year-old store clerk who was taken and killed during an Augusta, Maine, robbery in December 1983. But it was just the beginning. The tangled tale of the pursuit for justice in the Paula Roberts case goes from complicated to impossibly complicat...

December 3, 1983, was just a normal night in Paula Roberts’ busy life — she was working the evening shift at Summer Haven Ice Cream shop in Augusta, Maine, one of three jobs she worked to help pay her way through college. But that changed fast when two men burst into the shop, hit a customer over the head with a heavy weapon, stole money, lottery tickets and food stamps. When they left...

Tamla Horsford was a little nervous about going to the “girls night” birthday of a friend in Cumming, Georgia, in November 2018. She didn’t know many of the other women, she had a husband and five sons at home to take care of, and on top of it, she was a Black woman in a lily-white town that had a long history of racism. But she was also a fun, friendly person looking for friends...

Michael Gaine was well-known and well-loved in his town of Kenmare, as well as around County Kerry in Ireland. So when the 56-year-old farmer disappeared in the middle of a routine morning in March, the alarm was immediately raised. It wasn’t long before everyone realized it was foul play. Even before the horrific details of what happened to him were learned. What does the American drifter f...

We wrap up our summer vacation series with some more of our ever-popular Am I The Asshole advice discussion, as well as Negative Nellies Watching reviews of “Murder in Boston: Roots, Rampage and Reckoning” streaming on HBO/MAX and “Ted Bundy: Dialogue with the Devil,” streaming on Hulu. We’ll be back next week with a regular episode! If you’re interested in checking o...