Dark and Devious

It's a story of ambition, jealousy, and bad 90s mustaches; the story of Tonya Harding's triumphs and devastating fall from grace is a fascinating one. In the early 90s Tonya Harding had proved herself to be a powerhouse in competitive figure skating, but when it came to the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championship, Nancy Kerrigan stood in the way of the pursuit for first place. The day before the com...

The 1992 film Candyman is nothing short of a modern horror classic. A legendary ghost, wielding a hook as a murder weapon, comes through unsuspecting victim's mirrors after they repeat his name is quite the tale for a horror flick.  However, what seems to be be pure Hollywood entertainment actually has a real life backstory. With the new adaptation of Candyman coming soon in August 2021, we'l...

Everyone gets only one shot at their own last words. Sometimes they're brilliant, sometimes ironic, and other times funny. On this episode we explore the circumstances behind four different figures with totally different types of last words. Caligula's were outspoken and bold, Marie Antoinette's were polite, General John Sedgewick's were ironic, and mafioso Arnold Rothstein kept his mouth shut. Li...

Paul Bernardo seemed like your average 'boy next door'. He was charming and good looking.  He and his wife, Karla Homolka, who was a blonde  bombshell, seemed like a regular couple pursuing the 'Dream'.  No one in their private lives expected the evil that was masked by their smiles. Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka were actually nicknamed the 'Ken and Barbie' Killers after...

Harvey Phillip Spector was an American record producer, musician, and songwriter known for his innovative recording practices and entrepreneurship in the 1960s and into the 1970s.  However, behind his fame boosting persona laid a dark side. A complicated and layered childhood upbringing influenced his broken and tumultuous relationships, and exacerbated his disturbing personal and professiona...

Nearly 60 years after her death, Marilyn Monroe still has one of the most recognizable faces in Hollywood, if not the world. The actress and model has been immortalized in artworks, song lyrics, iconic images, and limitless consumer goods. But the same image that made her popular saw her being dismissed by the serious actors and public figures she wanted to impress. She struggled to find lasting l...

World War II was an era full of secret plots and top secret projects, so it's no wonder there are tons of stories of the unexplained or just plain weird associated with this time. This episode will touch on several devious, suspicious, and shocking events including an attempted assassination of General Charles de Gaulle, the unexplained death of Joseph Kennedy Jr, an abandoned ship in the Bermuda...

Slender Man is a terrifying creature that lurks in the periphery as he looks to capture or kill his targets. Or at least, this is what two Wisconsin girls thought in mid-2014. Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser lured their friend, Payton Leutner into the woods with the intent to sacrifice her to Slender Man so they could live in his mythical mansion hidden away elsewhere in the state. What unfolded in...

Before the Pulse Nightclub shooting in 2016 became the worst attack on the LGBT community, there was another disaster that had previously held that infamous place in history, and it had been kept largely quiet for 40-some years. In 1973, the New Orleans gay bar called the Up Stairs Lounge was set on fire, killing 32 people. As the month of June draws to a close, when many of us are celebrating LGB...

In 2014, Jennifer Laude, a transgender woman from the Philippines, was on the verge of making a life for herself. She was engaged and she was well known for her beauty and her generosity toward her friends and family. But all of that came crashing down the night she encountered an American Marine at a bar in October of that year. Her death, and the following investigation and trial would not only...

In the mid-2000s Bryan Kocis was building a gay porn empire from his home in quiet Dallas Township, Pennsylvania. His discovery and promotion of performer Brent Corrigan made his company, Cobra Video, a lot of money. But, wherever there is money to be made there are bound to be those that want a piece of the action. A legal battle over the name Brent Corrigan led to a series of events that would c...

June is LGBT Pride month and today we are looking at one of the most devastating attacks on the community of all time. In June of 2016, a man entered the celebrated Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida and murdered 49 patrons. The shooting serves as an important reminder of the progress that is still being fought for and the hearts that still need to be won. We hope you will listen with pride and h...

In 1970 the anti-war movement had plenty to rally against. Thousands of American troops were being killed and wounded in Vietnam and America's youth were often the ones paying the price. U.S. involvement in Vietnam had dominated foreign policy through most of the 1960s and when President Nixon announced an expansion of the theater of war to include Cambodia, many students at Kent State University...

It seemed like an easy enough case; a young woman, partying a little too hard, drinks too much and ends up dead. But the case of Kenneka Jenkins has far too many unanswered questions to have such a simple explanation be the complete truth. The Dark and Devious Duo explore several of the theories that might explain the death of the 19-year-old woman who was found in the walk-in freezer of a hotel s...

It sounds like something out of a thriller film; the public is held hostage by a killer who chooses his victims at random. In October of 2002 this was the terrifying reality for the people living in and around Washington, D.C. For the better part of a month, John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo methodically killed and wounded everyday people going about their lives. As the number of victims rose...

Austin, Texas in 1991 seemed to be an idyllic place to raise a family; a mid-size, cosmopolitan city with a relatively low crime rate. But that image was shattered when four teenage girls lives were taken under strange and suspicious circumstances. This is the unsolved case of the deaths of Jennifer Harbison, Sarah Harbison, Eliza Thomas, and Amy Ayers. If you have any information on this col...

Dru Sjodin, a vibrant 22-year-old student was attending the University  of North Dakota in the fall of 2003. She was well liked, caring,  ambitious, and above all else, responsible. On November 22, Dru didn't show up for her shift at a local bar and lounge in Grand Forks, North  Dakota, so everyone knew right away that something was wrong. She had vanished, and over the next several...

July 15, 1976, was supposed to be a perfect day for the children of Dairyland Elementary in Chowchilla, California. Twenty-six children, ages 5 to 14 were being brought back from the community pool when the bus was stopped by three armed men blocking the road. What resulted was one of the largest mass kidnappings in U.S. history. Once they were taken, it was a race against time to save the 26 chil...

In 1924, Chicago was shook by the disappearance of 14-year-old Bobby Franks from his well-to-do south side neighborhood; but what was even more shocking was who took him, what they did, and why. Bobby's cousin, Richard Loeb, and his companion, Nathan Leopold, two intellectual college boys from prominent families, kidnapped the boy and murdered him for the thrill of it. The resulting trial was a me...

On the evening of March 31, 1922 the inhabitants of the Bavarian farmstead of Hinterkaifeck were brutally struck dead. In addition, the killer seemed to have lived on the farm for several days without being detected, all while their victims lay stacked close by. The resulting investigation proved to be one of the most mysterious and puzzling crime cases in German history. 

In the 1920s the Osage Tribe in Oklahoma was one of the wealthiest groups of people in the world. They were making millions from the booming oil industry when the average worker took home about $3,200 a year.  But the extreme wealth acquired by the Osage people made them prime targets for sinister plots orchestrated by those who hoped to line their own pockets. For the better part of a decade...

Jennifer Pan had it all; a loving boyfriend, academic success, and a family that loved her and pushed her to always do her best. But beneath the veneer of perfection was a tangled web of lies. Jennifer had a secret life that slowly spiraled out of control until she felt forced to do the unthinkable. Tune in to find out just how far she was willing to go to achieve her dreams and get what she wante...

Last year, a book was released called We Keep the Dead Close by Becky Cooper. It details the 1969 murder of a promising, young woman who was studying in the anthropology department at Harvard. Her death made national headlines, but despite the high profile case, her murder went unsolved for decades. The details faded from the public's mind, but the echoes of rumors continued on to modern day. Was...

Hawaii: land of sun, sand, and... murder? In 1931 a U.S. Naval officer's wife was allegedly assaulted in a Honolulu park. Five suspects emerged and the resulting trial drove a wedge between the white and non-white communities at a time when tensions and were already high. The question on everyone's mind was, are these men guilty, or are they convenient scapegoats? The case heats up even more when...

The year is 1991 and Minneapolis is battling some of its toughest years of violent crime on record. And amidst the crime wave the LGBT community is suffering greatly at the hands of the AIDS crisis and an increase in harassment. Two murders at popular gay cruising spots shocked the community that had already been suffering for years. The stakes are high to find a possible serial killer intent on t...