Female Criminals

In addition to new episodes of Female Criminals each week, you’ll now also hear Crime Bites every Friday. Each Crime Bites episode gives you a deeper, yet brief look into true-crime topics covered at Parcast. Today we're taking a look at what some of the most infamous criminals in history have in common: a brutal childhood. As we dive into clips from shows across the Parcast Network, we'll explore...

After discovering her husband’s affair in 1983, Betty Broderick’s perfect world came crashing down. During their protracted divorce, Betty’s behavior became increasingly short and violent—until she ultimately decided to take matters into her own hands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In addition to new episodes of Female Criminals each week, you’ll now also hear Crime Bites every Friday. Each Crime Bites episode gives you a deeper, yet brief look into true-crime topics covered at Parcast. Today we explore the unique and shocking cases when elders we expect to respect defy society and commit crimes in their old age. We'll dive into clips from shows across the Parcast Network, a...

In 1911, Dr. Linda Burfield Hazzard took her cruel alternative medicine practices to a new level by opening her infamous sanitarium in Washington—which locals would dub "Starvation Heights.” There, Linda continued her abuse and fraud by financially exploiting and starving wealthy British heiresses, Dora and Claire Williamson.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In addition to new episodes of Female Criminals each week, you’ll now also hear Crime Bites every Friday. Each Crime Bites episode gives you a deeper, yet brief look into true-crime topics covered at Parcast. Today we're exploring those rare and hopeful instances where victims managed to break out of their captors' clutches and flee to freedom. We'll dive into clips from shows across the Parcast N...

She was a turn-of-the-20th century medical practitioner who preached starvation as a method of curing disease. But it was Dr. Linda Burfield Hazzard’s childhood exposure to fad remedies that shaped her interest in alternative medicine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the last Sunday of every month, Parcast Rewind replays a classic episode of Female Criminals that you might have missed!  Anne Bonny and her lover Calico Jack Rackham tore through the Caribbean together from 1718 to 1720, plundering loot from smaller ships. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In addition to new episodes of Female Criminals each week, you’ll now also hear Crime Bites every Friday. Each Crime Bites episode gives you a deeper, yet brief look into true-crime topics covered at Parcast. Today we're taking a closer look at women who subverted their maternal expectations to lead a life of crime. We'll analyze these instances with clips from shows across the Parcast Network, an...

She never wanted to grow up. Treva Throneberry did everything she could to delay adulthood, even going as far as traveling from town to town throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s posing as a teenage runaway—pretending, lying, and stealing to cover her tracks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In addition to new episodes of Female Criminals each week, you’ll now also hear Crime Bites every Friday. Each Crime Bites episode gives you a deeper, yet brief look into true-crime topics covered at Parcast. Today we explore the idea of Psychological Manipulation—the tactics criminals use to deceive, coerce, and exert control over their victims. We'll dive into clips from shows across the Parcast...

By the winter of 1924, Celia Cooney had robbed 10 stores with her husband across Brooklyn. "The Bobbed-Haired Bandit" eventually ran out of luck, only to find that her capture and trial made her a nationwide star. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Also known as the “Bobbed-Haired Bandit,” Celia Cooney and her husband became a media sensation during the winter of 1924 when they pulled off ten robberies in just under three months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here’s one of our listeners’ most requested episodes of 2019: Stories of her exploits on Rum Row in the early 1920s made Gertrude Lythgoe a tabloid darling. As books and article series were published, America was captivated by the “Queen of the Bootleggers.” Unfortunately for her, so was the United States Government. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here’s one of our listeners’ most requested episodes of 2019: During Prohibition, while most young women were focused on getting married and having a family, Gertrude Lythgoe was busy running her wholesale liquor empire in the Bahamas. She started as a quiet secretary, but found herself venturing into the dangerous waters of Rum Row. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Up until 2001, Ana Montes led a double life as a Cuban spy and a high-ranking analyst in the U.S. intelligence community. A nationally recognized expert, she was nicknamed the "Queen of Cuba," until top-secret information provided by her own sister led to her arrest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ana Belen Montes was a smart, ambitious Puerto-Rican American with a passion for defending the sovereignty of Latin American nations. In 1985, her drive for social justice found an outlet when she was recruited as a spy for Cuban Intelligence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By the late 1960s, Valerie Solanas tried to start an underground feminist movement using Andy Warhol to publicize her vision for a new world. But she became consumed with paranoia and rage. She was convinced that Warhol planned to steal her ideas and pawn them off as his own. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A radical feminist writer who overcame a childhood of poverty and sexual abuse to put herself through college. Valerie Solanas became obsessed with overthrowing the patriarchy — by any means necessary. But an undiagnosed mental disorder inspired increasingly erratic behavior, which soon took a criminal turn. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1726, Mary Toft seemed to birth a series of strange creatures: rabbits, cats, and never-before-seen hybrid animals. She quickly became a national sensation. But how did an ordinary English wife and mother deceive the most accomplished doctors of the day? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By 1997, Mary Kay Letourneau's affair with her 13-year-old student seemed doomed to be exposed when she found herself pregnant with his baby. But even as she faced arrest and imprisonment, she continued to maintain that they were in love. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After a troubled childhood, Mary Kay Letourneau always thought she had to be perfect: the perfect daughter, the perfect wife, the perfect mother. But when she found herself falling for 13-year-old Vili Fualaau at her Washington elementary school, she was ready to throw everything away. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The trials continue: Tituba’s devilish confession sends chills through the town of Salem. And more men and women are tortured, imprisoned and executed as a result of the 1693 proceedings.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Massachusetts 1692-1693: Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne—the three women at the center of the Salem Witch Trials. Discover the three key factors that combined to create their witch hunt, as well as the months of moral panic and finger-pointing that followed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With a not-so-promising future in Victorian England, Mary Ann Cotton embarks on a journey of seducing, marrying, and killing her spouses and children to collect her insurance policies. Once she was caught in 1873, she learned just how unforgiving society could be to those who transgressed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A career gold-digger with a penchant for arsenic, and a trail of murders that would make headlines. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices