Just The Tip-Sters: True Crime Podcast

In the early morning of May 13, 2013, 33 year-old Bardstown Kentucky police officer Jason Ellis , just weeks away from his seventh anniversary on the job, was heading home after a late night of arrests and subsequent paperwork.  Ellis took Exit 34 off the Bluegrass Parkway , headed for his home in nearby Bloomfield, when he encountered tree limbs blocking the exit ramp.  He turned his car to block...

This episode brings the first of what will be two updates on the ever-growingly infamous Randy Sellers case out of Kenton County Kentucky.  It was at the County Fair in 1980 when 17 year-old Randy Sellers, after some rowdy behavior, was ostensibly driven home by Kenton County Police, who claimed they dropped Sellers off close to his home – only to have him go missing…forever.  Melissa and the podc...

On the morning of December 1, 1994, Melissa Witt (her friends and family called her “Missy”) had a small tiff with her mom over money.  The 19 year-old college student, who was studying to become a dental hygienist at a local college, was out of cash, and she wouldn’t get paid at her part-time job until the next day.  When she asked her mom for a loan, mom – in a lesson to her daughter about money...

December 7, 1991 was the 50th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor – but while America was busy commemorating that momentous date in history, another day that should live in infamy was unfolding in the woods of the town of Sorrento in Lake County, Florida.  It was there that a hiker discovered the brutally beaten body of a woman who has become known as the “Sorrento Jane Doe,” who had been to...

November 29, 1992 was the very last day of Hunting Season in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where 35 year-old Judy Moilanen, her husband Bruce and young daughter Elise were visiting Judy’s parents in the small town of Ontonagon, right on the banks of Lake Superior.  Seeing it was the last day of the season to do so, Bruce, along with a larger hunting party, headed out looking for deer to hunt. Judy d...

One unseasonably cool (as opposed to freezing) late winter morning on March 10, 1997, at a small  travel stop gas station and convenience store right off Interstate 80 in Cozad, a tiny farming community in the heart of Nebraska, a late model Pontiac Grand Am pulled into the parking lot and up to the pumps.  Inside the store, 41 year-old Leah Rowlands was behind the counter on her very first day in...

On February 24, 1986, John Ruetten came home from work to the condominium in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles that he shared with his bride of three months, Sherri Rasmussen.  What he found inside the condo changed his life forever – and it also changed a lot of people’s perception of the Los Angeles Police Department.  On the living room floor, still wearing the robe and underwear she had w...

When 18 year-old Christina Carnes and her 20 year-old Vernon Cade went out on January 20, 1994 for a night of fun with friends, neither of them could possibly have known what would befall them just a few hours later.  Arriving at a gathering in their hometown of Fairfield Ohio that night, they were paged by a friend who needed a ride, and left the party early so they could respond.  Later that nig...

If you look up the March 3, 2014 death of 50 year-old interior designer Dana Jones in the official records of the Long Beach, California Police Department, you’ll see that the case is considered closed, and Jones’ death listed as accidental – a contention backed up by the coroner.  According to Dana Jones’ husband, Cain Finn “Huck” Jones, he took the dog out for a walk on the morning of March 3, a...

This week we take another small diversion from murder and mayhem and enter the lighter side of the world of law enforcement with retired New York City detective Vic Ferrari – who makes his second visit to “JTT” – this time to talk about his new book, NYPD: Law and Disorder – Ferrari’s latest batch of true, hilarious stories from his days on the Force.  Listen in as Vic regales Melissa with some of...

On January 15, 1988 in a semi-residential pocket in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley, 25 year-old Catherine Braley – just recently relocated to Southern California from Iowa – was walking home from her job at a local specialty retail outlet when she decided to drop in to a local bar called The Hunter.  There she encountered three L.A. County Sheriff’s detectives – off-duty and out of their jurisdi...

By all accounts Cyle VanKomen was more than just a good kid.  He was the kind of young man that drew others to him.  Kind, friendly and generous to a fault, the 24 year-old lived with his older brother and several other young men in what was known as a “party house” in a quiet neighborhood in South Ogden Utah.  Neither Cyle, his brother nor anyone else in the house had any known enemies or connect...

Ten years is a long time no matter how you look at it.  But for the Stephenson family of Northern Kentucky, ten years is just simply too long.  Because that’s how long it’s been since their family patriarch and matriarch Bill and Peggy Stephenson were murdered – brutally – in their Florence Kentucky townhome on Memorial Day weekend in 2011.  And the devoted minister and his wife – both beloved mem...

For the second time this month we feature the troubling, tragic, SAD murder of a young girl during the Christmas holiday season a long time ago.  This one is incredibly tragic because it’s pretty clear who the killer is and he was never arrested.  On December 26, 1980 six year-old Avery "Peaches" Shorts left her home in Knoxville, Tennessee with 58 cents in her pocket, bundled up by her mother Haz...

Ten year-old Judith Barsi was a bona fide, in-demand child actor in the 1980s.  Between her fifth and tenth birthdays she appeared in 72 commercials and dozens of television movies and series.  And her acting abilities and professional demeanor, even at such a young age, made it clear to everyone who worked with her that young Judith was destined for even greater things as she grew up.  Sadly, Jud...

The holiday season was in full bloom in the small North Carolina town of Benson on Thursday December 14, 1972 when 33 year old Bonnie Neighbors was planning to pick up her oldest son Ken from school, taking her three-month old baby boy Glenn along with her.  A witness even saw Bonnie’s car leave her driveway that afternoon – although, strangely, she seemed to be driving erratically and at a high r...

This week Melissa brings forth another unnerving “unsolved” murder – this one from May of 1997 - that really isn’t unsolved at all; a case where the search for justice has been unrelenting for nearly a quarter of a century.  And despite the fact that the culprit is alive and in plain sight of God and everybody – no arrests have ever been made.   The victim – then 44 year-old Monika Luise Rizzo (ne...

Penelope Edwards had all but put her life back together in March 2012.  After years of struggling with addiction and psychological problems – so bad that she had turned temporary custody of her two children over to her sister Gloria – Penelope was now sober, working  through therapy, had her children back and even had a new boyfriend – Troy Dunn.  By all accounts, Penelope, Troy and the two kids w...

This time around we have what a 1980s television marketing whiz would call a “Very Special Episode” of the podcast.  And that’s because what is normally the intro is actually half the show – and there’s an important reason why. It’s because Melissa has had some things she’s been wanting to say for a while about kindness – being nice – and those things came to the fore this past week in the form of...

Matthew Chase was just like a lot of young artists who move to Los Angeles to seek out their creative development and success.  Back in 1988, then 22 year-old Matthew and his friends, brother-and-sister Steve and Teresa Dahl, were living together after all moving from their childhood homes near Medford Oregon.  And – again, like so many other young transplants to Southern California, Matthew, Stev...

January 2, 1999 was an average day in sleepy suburban Mesa Arizona when, as dusk was falling, 11 year-old Mikelle Biggs and her sister Kimber thought they heard the sound of an ice cream truck coming up the street as they were playing outside their house.  Mikelle ran into the house and convinced her mother – who was just starting dinner, to give her some quarters so she and Kimber could buy a tre...

In March 2012, the quiet town of Urbana Ohio (about 50 miles west of Columbus) was rocked to its core when a local murder became national news – not just because of the horrendous nature of the crime, but the affiliation of the perpetrators with a loose-knit “family” whose insistence on loyalty turned twisted beyond belief.  The victim, 21 year-old Jessica Rae Sacco , was found by her landlord, de...

Sometimes it’s so crystal clear that a crime was committed, who did the crime, why the crime was committed and where to go find the bad guy – it’ll drive you nuts.  And that is pretty much the story of the disappearance of 23 year-old Austin “Jay” Smith exactly 28 years ago on March 23, 1993. when he left his home in the suburbs of Southern California's San Gabriel Valley and never returned.  It’s...

This week we focus on a murder from December 1993 that occurred literally less than a five-minute drive from the Homestead Studios – although long before Melissa and Producer Mark moved there.  The victim was a beautiful and accomplished 29 year-old martial arts instructor and black belt named Veronica Estrada, who left the studio where she was an instructor and, having had an argument with her bo...

This week Melissa’s special guest is the engaging (and really nice guy) Detective Matt Wharton from the Sweetwater County Wyoming Sheriff’s Office .  It’s definitely Big Country in Wyoming, and Sweetwater County is big indeed – the 8th largest county by land in the United States – with miles and miles of rugged beauty – and winters that are not advisable to take on alone unless you know what you’r...