Criminology

In this episode of Criminology, we are discussing the Reinert family murders. Susan Reinert was a 36-year-old English teacher near Philadelphia, PA, and mother to an 11-year-old girl named Karen and a 10-year-old boy named Michael. Karen was found brutally murdered and stuffed into the trunk of a car in 1979. Her two children have never been found. This is a case with many different players and se...

Almost 20 years ago, just before Memorial Day weekend in 1999, Dale Williams went missing. Dale was a devoted father and husband who vanished from his hometown of Nucla, Colorado. Dale owned an auto body repair shop and apparently received a call to help a stranded motorist. He has not been seen since. An unlikely suspect emerged in Dale's case but only served to frustrate both the authorities and...

This our second and final part of the story of the Green River Killer. Gary Ridgway rocked the United States and the world when it was announced that he was the Green River Killer. He was initially arrested for a small number of murders, but after confessing to over 40 murders the news went global. But there was a lot of work that went into the identification and arrest of Ridgway. There were also...

For many years, beginning in the early 1980s, Washington state had a serial killer on its hands. Sex workers went missing at an alarming rate, most of them were picked up around Pacific Highway South and found later, dumped, in the Green River. This is how the serial killer got his moniker as the Green River Killer. It would be many years later that authorities figured out it was Gary Ridgway. Joi...

It's hard to believe but it has been a year since the arrest of Joseph J. DeAngelo as the suspected EAR/GSK. It occurred during our long second season of Criminology when we took a deep dive into this case. In this episode, we talk about what has happened in the past year. But, we do so with the help of our friends, some of the people that made Season 2 so great through their interviews. You'll he...

John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr of the Beatles took the world by storm. They became one of the most popular and influential bands of all time. Nothing in Mark David Chapman's life seemed to work out as he wanted it to. He listened to the Beatles all the time. But Chapman's life was spiraling out of control in the late 1980s. He was obsessed with John Lennon of the Bea...

In 2004, Jason Allen and Lindsay Cutshall were a free-spirited couple who had their whole lives ahead of them. They had so much in common. They came from very religious families and their religion played a huge part in their lives. They had both graduated from a bible college which is where they met. They loved life and were extremely adventurous, choosing to hike, camp, and go white water rafting...

Between 1978 and 1983, four teenage girls disappeared from Pocatello, Idaho. All four were later found deceased. There were similarities between the victims aside from their ages and gender. They all attended the same school. All went missing during the summer months, and three of the girls were either babysitting or due to babysitting at the time they disappeared. Was this the work of a serial ki...

Three girls disappeared, each in a different year, in different states, and under different circumstances. Deborah Ann Quimby vanished in 1977, Colleen Orsborn in 1984, and Alicia Markovich in 1987. There was nothing to connect the disappearances of the 3 girls. That was until an apparent connection was seen in an anonymous letter writer. In each case, someone had written at least one letter relat...

In 1985, 81-year-old Ed Maurin and his wife 83-year-old Minnie Maurin were shot to death in Washington State. Their murders shocked and saddened the small community where they lived. Residents were asking themselves who would want to kill this friendly and well-liked couple. The police began to investigate the murders but couldn't put anything concrete together. For almost 27 years, the murders of...

In 1980, Roger Atkison and Rose Burkert were brutally murdered inside an Amana Holiday Inn room in Williamsburg, Iowa. As the details emerged, police realized that Roger and Rose were hundreds of miles from their homes. Not only that but Roger was married and the meeting between Roger and Rose was a romantic tryst. This was a bizarre and baffling case from the very start and remains the same to th...

On this 50th episode of Criminology, we are talking about the Mary Morris murders. Two women, both named Mary Morris, were murdered in Houston, TX in 2000 just a few days apart. Their killers have never been caught. But this case has fueled speculation among the online sleuth community. Was this the act of a hitman who killed the wrong woman and then corrected his mistake days later? Or was this a...

n the summer of 1964, three civil rights workers went missing in Mississippi. They were in the state working to help African Americans get registered to vote. Their station wagon was found burned and then their bodies were found after a 44-day search. The murders sparked a national outcry for justice and led to the first successful federal prosecution in a Mississippi civil rights case. There was...

13-year-old Abby Williams and 14-year-old Libby German went missing on February 13, 2017. The two friends were out hiking and their families became worried when they didn't show to be picked up. After an extensive search, their bodies were found the very next day. Police recovered evidence from Libby's cell phone and released an image and small snippet of audio that they believe to be the suspect....

In our part 2 episode on the disappearance of Maura Murray, we talk with Tim and Lance from The Missing Maura Murray podcast. They give us additional insight into the case using the information they have learned over their years of covering this case. There is also breaking news in the case that just came out this week that we'll talk about as well. You can help support the show at patreon.com/cri...

Maura Murray was a 21-year-old nursing student at the University of Massachusetts. On February 9th, 2004, she crashed her car on a secluded road in New Hampshire and has not been seen or heard from since. The events surrounding the night of her disappearance and the things that transpired in the days leading up to it have caused much speculation and a lot of rumors over the years. Was Maura Murray...

On October 15, 2018, in Barron Wisconsin, the unthinkable happened. An armed intruder entered the home of James and Denise Closs. He murdered James and Denise and kidnapped their daughter, 13-year-old Jayme. The story made headlines around the world. Police led an all-out search for Jayme and the person that abducted her and killed her parents. But, they came up empty. On January 10, 2019, Jayme e...

In this episode, we're discussing the murders of Reverend Carol Daniels and Terri "Missy" Bevers. Daniels was brutally murdered inside the church where she preached each Sunday. Terri "Missy" Bevers, a fitness instructor, was murdered inside a church where she gave early morning fitness lessons. Both murderers were likely caught on tape. In the Bevers murder, the video surveillance shows someone d...

In May of 1983, Tommy Vickery and Teresa Lynn Cronic were found shot to death in Tommy's McDonough, GA home. This was a small town back then with a population of around 3,000 people. Tommy Vickery got involved in the drug trade and consorted with unsavory people. The murders baffled police. There are so many questions surrounding this case. Why were Tommy and Teresa together? Who would have wanted...

In this first episode of 2019, we're discussing the disappearance of 11-year-old Mikelle Biggs. Mikelle disappeared near her home in Mesa, Arizona 20 years ago. Mikelle's sister Kimber was outside with her that day that she vanished. We'll hear from Kimber in this episode about Mikelle's disappearance and how it affected their entire family. This is a story of bad things that can happen in the bli...

In this final episode of season 4, we discuss the 1992 murder of 25-year-old school teacher Christy Mirack in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. We also examine the investigation and the genetic genealogy that, years later, would help identify her killer. We wrap up the episode by talking about a few other cases that were solved in 2018 using this incredible new technology. You can help support the show by...

In this episode, we are profiling more cases solved in 2018 through the use of DNA and genetic genealogy. We discuss the 2009 murder of 22-year-old Holly Cassano in Mahomet, IL. We also discuss two cases somewhat connected in Tacoma Washington. 12-year-old Michella Welch was murdered in March of 1986. 5 months later, 13-year-old Jennifer Bastian was murdered. The murders of Holly Cassano and Miche...

In this episode of Criminology, we discuss 3 different cases where identities were matched after many years using genetic genealogy. The cases of Joseph Newton Chandler, Lyle Stevik, and Buckskin girl prove that DNA and genetic genealogy are being used to identify more than just killers. All 3 of these matches occurred in 2018. You can help support the show by going to patreon.com/criminology An E...

Robert Eugene Brashers began murdering in 1985 as he drifted from state to state. Police had his DNA but he never made their radar since he wasn't in any database. His murderous ways ended in 1999 when he died in a stand-off with police. But it wasn't until 2018 that Brashers was tied to his murders through the use of Genetic Genealogy. You can support the show at patreon.com/criminology An Emash...

In 1988, 8-year-old April Marie Tinsley was abducted and murdered in her hometown of Fort Wayne Indiana. The senseless murder rocked the entire town of Fort Wayne. Investigators struggled to find April's killer even though he left DNA behind. Her killer would terrorize the town through the years through his writings, some of which he put in the bicycle baskets of little girls. It would be 30 years...