Dead Before Deadline

There were few times when my interactions on the crime beat ended in friendships. Many of the people I interviewed associated me with the worst days of their lives. There were, however, a few exceptions. Jaclynn and I discuss some of the stories that had a personal impact on me.  

In Episode 14, Robin and Jaclynn shift gears and discuss the real-life characters he met on the crime beat that have been inspirations in his fiction writing.  Be sure to pre-order Robin's latest book, "The Last Hitman" - Here

In Episode 13, we delve further into the lives of attorney and physician Dr. David Ucker and Dr. Donald Plotnick and their bizarre lives of crime. Also, we'll introduce a new character, Linda Lee Walden, who is accused of murdering her former boyfriend to conceal the fact she had been dating a black man. Who ends up defending her and, ultimately, marrying her? Tune in to see. Pre-Order "The Last H...

In Episode 12 of season three, we conclude our story of two of the most notorious doctors in Columbus, Ohio.   This episode takes a bizarre twist when accused killer Dr. David Ucker ends up marrying a woman who is both a patient and a convicted murderer. 

Doctors take an oath to care for people. But some of them forget their oath. Dr. David Ucker was accused of hiring a hitman to kill his mistress' former lover. Dr. Donald Plotnick was illegally selling machine guns and set a guy on fire over a drug debt. Part one of this tangled story weaves together a tale of murder and mayhem centered on the Columbus medical community.  

In this gripping episode of Dead Before Deadline , Robin Yocum and Jaclynn Wilson unravel one of the most haunting and personal stories Robin ever covered — the murder of 25-year-old Jean Schrader. What began as a tragic homicide with no charges filed turned into a relentless pursuit of justice led not by law enforcement, but by Jean's heartbroken father, Dale Wolford. From tracking down a key wit...

The body of a beautiful young woman and a rising star at an accounting firm in Columbus, Ohio, is found in the stairwell of a downtown parking garage, the life strangled from her. In this episode of Dead Before Deadline, Robin and Jaclynn discuss his first big story at the Columbus Dispatch –  the murder of Jean Shrader.  

We are back with part 2 of the Arthur Shapiro case. This one is full of wild twists and turns. Barry Kessler, a Tax Accountant in Columbus was not okay with Shapiro testifying about some questionable tax activity that was happening. Listen in to hear how far this guy went to keep his criminal ways under wraps and how Arthur Shapiro was only part of the story! 

Arthur Shapiro was a respected Columbus, Ohio, attorney, who counted billionaire and L Brands founder Lex Wexner among his clients. So why was Shapiro killed execution-style in 1985 on the west side of town? Shapiro was under investigation for tax fraud and failing to file income tax for seven years, and was about to implicate someone with a suspected history of murder. Listen to the fascinating t...

Part two of the John Barry Simonis story. Dubbed the Ski Mask Rapist, Simonis gained infamy as one of the country's most prolific serial rapists. He was eventually captured and charged in Louisiana, but not before he brought his reign of terror to Central Ohio and another man paid for those crimes. Find out what happened to that wrongfully convicted man and Simonis in this episode of Dead Before D...

Jon Barry Simonis, dubbed the Ski Mask Rapist, gained infamy as one of the country's most prolific serial rapists. He was eventually captured and charged in Louisiana in 1981, but not before he brought his reign of terror to Central Ohio and another man paid the price for those crimes. Listen to part one of the Jon Barry Simonis story.

Investigators are stumped in th e  1946 disappearance of 24-year-old school teacher, Lola Celli. In part two of the story, investigators are flooded with information on the whereabouts of Lola. Are any of the tips valid?  It's a wild ride as the police try to separate fact from fiction in the conclusion  of this fascinating story on Dead Before Deadline.  

In 1946, 24-year-old Lola Celli was a home economics teacher in West Liberty, Ohio. In February of that year, she made the 55-mile train trip from West Liberty to the home of her parents in Grandview Heights, a suburb of Columbus, for Washington's Birthday weekend. On Saturday morning, Lola called upstairs to her mother, stating that she was walking to the bus stop and planned go shopping in downt...

In 1987, George Mosko was living in Loveland, Colorado, and working as an industrial chemical salesman. His brother, John, was starting a business in Lima, New York, and wanted George to come work for him. According to friends, George did not want to leave Colorado, but felt duty-bound to help his brother.  The route between Loveland and Lima does not go through Central Ohio, but that's where Geor...

Mary Ann Blake was the most notorious teenage prostitute in Columbus, Ohio, having been arrested more than 100 times before her 18th birthday. Shortly after turning 18, Mary Ann stole $200 and a ring from Gary Moore, a man who identified himself as her boyfriend. In the aftermath of the theft, Moore murdered three members of Mary Ann's family, including her 22-month-old nephew. Mary Ann escaped un...

What happened to the central figures in the Just Sweats case? Robin and Jaclynn will cover that in the final episode of Season 2 of Dead Before Deadline. They will also discuss some of the unusual, and sometimes humorous, events that occurred during the years that Robin and colleague Cathy Candisky covered the case, including the events that led to his leaving the newspaper.

The chaos continues as Dr. Boggs heads to trial for murder. Hawkins has been extradited from Italy. He and Hanson are set to go on trial together. All three men will be convicted. In a subsequent interview, Hanson said that he and Hawkins concocted the murder-for insurance plan during what he called a late-night brainstorming session. He also said, "It was a foolish thing to do." Okay, how about e...

The reporters have a little fun with a Glendale detective who sent a spy to determine if Robin and Cathy had secret missives from John Hawkins. At this point, Hanson and Dr. Boggs are in jail, but Hawkins is still on the run. It's an upset lover in the Netherlands and an episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show that puts authorities on the trail of John Hawkins. And, it's an unusual birthmark that seals...

Now, everyone is interested in the Just Sweats case. Authorities from California and Ohio converge on Fort Worth in hopes of getting custody of Gene Hanson. On Feb. 2, 1989, John Hawkins, Gene Hanson and Dr. Richard Boggs are charged with murder for financial gain with death penalty specifications. The fly in the ointment is that the death of Ellis Henry Greene had been ruled "natural causes." An...

It's January of 1989 and Columbus Dispatch reporters Robin Yocum and Cathy Candisky have a pretty clear picture of how the multi-million-dollar scam was supposed to work. What they don't know is the whereabouts of co-conspirators John Hawkins and Gene Hanson. Until . . . At 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 29, 1989, American Airlines Flight 150 from Acapulco lands at the Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport. As the...

Even though the insurance companies know that Dr. Boggs misidentified a corpse, the police in Glendale, California, are sitting on their thumbs. They arrogantly tell Robin's colleague, Cathy Candisky, "This may be a big deal in Columbus, Ohio, but this is L.A." In this episode, Katherine Lawley, Gene Hanson's mother, shows up in the newsroom of the Columbus Dispatch in a search for answers about h...

Where's Gene Hanson? If the Just Sweats co-founder isn't dead, then where did he go? This episode follows Hanson to Florida and tracks his bizarre and often hilarious miscues as he tries to stay one step ahead of the authorities. He has plastic surgery and tries to pass himself off as a German National. Ultimately, Hanson wears out his welcome in Florida and runs to Mexico to hide.

John Hawkins has collected $1 million from the Farmers New World Life Insurance Company upon the reported death of his business partner, Gene Hanson. But there's a problem. When he attempts to collect on other policies, he's told that authorities are now questioning the identity of the corpse originally identified by Dr. Boggs. The thumb-print taken by the funeral home that cremated the "dead" Han...

Ellis Henry Greene was a lost soul. He was gay and had moved to Los Angeles in search of some kind of identity. He was an alcoholic, had held a variety of jobs, had no home and no clear path in his life. Ellis was the kind of guy who could disappear and not be missed. This made him the perfect victim to be the "dead" Hanson. At 7 a.m. on April 16, 1988, a 9-1-1 operator in Glendale, California, re...

John Hawkins is in a panic. By this point in their scheme, Dr. Boggs was to have killed a man to be the "dead" Hanson, and Hawkins could begin collecting on the $7 million in life insurance that Hanson carried and to which Hawkins was the beneficiary. With his business partner technically dead, Hawkins would have no way to collect the $2 million Hanson had taken from the company, but Boggs had not...