Forensic Tales

#017 - Three suitcases are discovered floating in the Chesapeake Bay in May 2004. The first suitcase contained 2 human legs that were severed from the rest of the body. The second contained the torso. And the third suitcase held the rest of the body. The discovery of the suitcases take police investigators on a wild ride . From gambling addictions, to a steamy love affair with a coworker. But the...

Your Sustainability Questions, Answered Many listeners write to me with compliments and criticisms; occasionally, listeners reach out with questions, too. I collected some of the most pressing queries from both personal messages and public ones in the show’s closed Facebook group. On this week’s episode I answer 5 of the most common sustainability questions you listeners have asked me. Here’s a pr...

#016 - A family from Ohio goes missing after taking a sunset boat cruise in Tampa Bay, Florida while on vacation. A few days later, the bodies of 3 women are discovered floating in the bay, their bodies attached to 30-pound concrete blocks. They are half naked, mouths gagged, and their eyes left wide open. Police have several suspects in the murders. Was is the husband and father who stayed behind...

  Los Angeles boasts clear, smog-free skies. Passerby on New York City’s busiest avenues enjoy the sounds of chirping birds. And in Venice? Fish are visible in the city’s once-murky canals. In some ways, the COVID-19 pandemic has done wonders for the health of our planet. But in others? For many of us, sticking to our zero waste lifestyle goals feels nearly impossible. The reason is twofold. First...

#015 - This week on Forensic Tales, I tell you the complete story, the facts, the theories and the forensic science of the case. And YOU decide what you think really happened. Rebecca Zahau was found hanging from a second floor balcony in an apparent suicide in 2011. She was completely nude, her wrists and ankles bound, and her mouth gagged. This all happened after her boyfriend's son, Max, was in...

What’s a menstrual cup? (And other zero-waste period queries)   Ever find yourself wondering what a menstrual cup is, exactly? Want to zero-wastify your monthly cycle but don’t know how? The average woman uses 22 disposable tampons or pads per cycle, or 264 products per year. Assuming a woman menstruates for 35 years, she will throw away a whopping 9,240 single-use menstrual products in  her lifet...

#014 - Karina Vetrano went missing on August 2, 2016 after leaving the house to go out jogging in Spring Creek Park, New York. Her brutally murdered body was discovered along the running path a few hours later. The NYPD and the Vetrano family are desperate to find the person responsible for murdering the beautiful, smart, 30-year old Karina. Medical examiners recovered a DNA profile underneath Kar...

Slow Homes, Climate Change, and Coronavirus   Cornoavirus has forced one in four people worldwide into social isolation; indeed, slow homes have replaced on-the-go living for weeks to come. But what are the implications of forced slowness on reluctant mothers, and how is social isolation impacting the planet? On this week’s episode we examine Coronavirus’s implications by considering long-term eff...

#013 - Sharon "Shari" Faye Smith was abducted from her own driveway in May 1985. For days, her abductor tortured her family by making phone calls promising she was alive and well. He tells Shari's parents that they will receive a letter in the mail with details regarding their daughter. On one of these phone calls between the abductor and Shari's parents, the caller provided directions t...

Why is it so hard to find clean beauty products?   Got clean beauty? If you’re like most American women, the answer is (probably) no. Each day, the average woman slathers on twelve beauty products (or over 100 unregulated chemicals!). Beauty brands use the term “clean” to highlight products without controversial ingredients. But without regulation, virtually any product can label itself clean with...

#012 - Peter and Joan Porco were brutally attacked inside their Albany, New York home with a 3 foot axe in November 2004. Joan survives the savage attack, but her husband, Peter, does not. Immediately after the attack, Joan identified their attacker as their son, Christopher Porco. Christopher denied involvement in the attack on his parents. But DNA evidence and surveillance footage tell an entire...

  Tackle Family Clutter with Heat Maps   Many tidying techniques promise to keep down family clutter. One of the simplest and most creative of these techniques is heat mapping, which identifies problem areas within the home. A heat map represents values with colors, and heat mapping for clutter works because the practice yields data. If you were to heat map your living space, which rooms would be...

#011 - The Black Dahlia is one of the most infamous unsolved cases in America's history. In January 1947, the body of a young woman was found on a Los Angeles sidewalk. Her body had been completely cut in half and drained of all her blood. Her killer sent anonymous letters to the media but has never been identified or arrested. Who killed Elizabeth Short, and why? We may never get an answer. Suppo...

When Overspending on Luxury Backfires   Many financially-able consumers commit to overspending on designer purchases. Because luxury goods by nature are both pricey and in high-demand, such possessions communicate status and prestige. Then there’s our biology: evolution reinforces comparing and competing. In the age of social media we post fancy photos of ourselves doing fancy things as a way to p...

#010 - Missy Bevers was a beautiful, 45-year-old fitness instructor, wife, and mother of three. She was brutally murdered in April 2016 while preparing for an early morning boot camp class at a local church. Her killer was caught on surveillance video breaking into the church shortly before Missy arrived. The mystery person is dressed head-to-toe in SWAT police gear. There's been no arrests made i...

Have you ever wondered what seasoned minimalists do on the weekend? Here’s a top-secret minimalist tip: It isn’t all rest and relaxation. While minimalists believe simplicity is important – and while Sunday is indeed *the* day to rest – minimalists also know it’s prudent to spend weekends quietly preparing for the upcoming week. On this week’s show I’m thrilled to offer 8 minimalist tips that miti...

#009 - The body of 16-year old school girl Leanne Tiernan was discovered on August 20, 2001. At her autopsy, valuable forensic evidence was collected from her body, including several dog hairs. The murder of Leanne Tiernan became known as the first British murder investigation that used dog DNA profiling to catch a savage killer. How were police able to link dog hairs found on Leanne's body to her...

Microplastic Pollution: Everything you Need to Know   These days, microplastic pollution is everywhere. It isn’t hyperbole: Scientists find plastic everywhere they look for it. Microplastics pollute our oceans; they reside in the bellies of animals, too. And plastics are also in humans: A 2019 study concluded that we consume a credit card’s-worth of plastic each week, on average. When we examine t...

008 - The Hillside Strangler terrorized the city of Los Angeles between October 1977 and February 1978, killing 12 innocent women throughout the sunny California south land. Police quickly realized they might not just be searching for one serial killer, but two killers working together. Support My Work If you love the show, the easiest way to show your support is by leaving us a positive rating wi...

5 Tricks to Help You Buy Less Stuff   If you often make impulse purchases you end up regretting later, you can thank The Itch. The Itch is that feeling that blinds our better judgement when we see an item we really, really want. The Itch is cunning: It goads us into throwing caution to the wind and buying whatever the fancy item may be. Despite all we know about conscious consumerism, it’s natural...

#007 - Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman were best friends from a small town in England. They went missing from a family barbecue on August 4, 2002 and were never seen alive again. A forensic botanist was called in to examine the crime scene and the prime suspect's car. Who murdered Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells, two young girls who had their entire lives ahead of them, and how could investigators...

Tips on Decluttering 6 Oft-Forgotten Areas You decluttered. You’ve tidied. You organized what’s left, and now you’re exhausted. But still – to your chagrin! – you realize the work’s not *quite* complete. It happens to the best of us: In the throes of decluttering, we overlook specific spaces that demand our attention. My guest this week is blogger, YouTuber, and decluttering expert Shannon Torrens...

#006 - In December 1995, a bloodied and broken body of a teenage girl was found along Utah's Provo River. Completely naked. Her body was so badly beaten by the river’s sharp rocks that investigators almost couldn’t make out her face. At the same time this teenager’s life was cut so short, her killer would go on for years completely undetected by police. And after 18 excruciating years… it seemed l...

In order to make fabric, you need thread. And to make thread? You need fibers. But what are eco friendly fibers, exactly, and why are they important? Textile corporations intentionally shadow their manufacturing processes from the public; they obscure their garment labels with hard-to-understand terms, too. I believe this obfuscation is intentional: Because we consumers are confused, we give up on...

#005 - The List Family consisted of John Emil List, his wife Helen and their 3 young children: Patricia, John List Jr., and Frederick. John's mother, Alma, shared the List family's 19-room Victorian mansion in Westfield, New Jersey.   On November 9, 1971 John List murdered his wife, mother, and 3 children. It wasn't until one month later that their bodies were discovered in the ballroom of the man...