Killer Means Awesome

Harrison Okene, a crew member on the Jascon-4 tugboat, was using the bathroom in the middle of the night when the boat -- and his whole life -- turned upside down. A rogue wave flipped the Jascon-4 and sent it to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, 20 miles off the coast of Nigeria. All crew members except the 29-year-old Okene died. How he managed to survive for the next three days is one of the mo...

In 1900, a Greek sponge diver surfaced in a panic, describing rotting bodies and horses on the seafloor. His captain thought he was hallucinating, so he went down himself. He came back up holding a 2,000-year-old bronze arm. The Antikythera wreck holds the world's oldest known computer, a weapon pulled straight from ancient mythology, and a statue engineered to move on its own. What this sing...

The Spanish Armada of 1588 was supposed to be invincible. But its ships fared poorly in battles in the English Channel and then began to suffer catastrophic losses while attempting a dangerous escape north around Scotland and Ireland. Among the 28 ships lost by Spain was the mighty Girona, with 1,300 men aboard and a small fortune in gold and silver. Where did it sink? An Irish chieftain in a clif...

In 1622, a Spanish galleon loaded with half a billion dollars in gold, silver, and Colombian emeralds sank in a hurricane off the Florida Keys, taking 260 lives with it. Spain spent 60 years searching for the valuable wreck and never found it. More than three centuries later, a treasure hunter named Mel Fisher picked up the search. Every morning he told his crew: "Today's the day."...

Few 18th century pirates had more success than Sam Bellamy. In one remarkable year, he seized or looted no fewer than 53 ships in the Atlantic Ocean. But then in 1717 Bellamy and his crew died in a nighttime shipwreck off the coast of Cape Cod, spilling a massive haul of treasure into the ocean and beyond the reach of salvagers for more than 260 years. Only in 1984, thanks to the dogged efforts of...

In 1120, a drunken midnight party aboard a brand-new luxury ship killed nearly 300 of England's young nobility, including the only legitimate male heir to the throne. What followed was two decades of brutal civil war, the rise of an entirely new dynasty, and a lesson in how one submerged rock can reshape the course of a nation for centuries. Listen to the first four seasons of Killer Means Aw...

It was one of the worst maritime disasters in US military history, and naval historians would spend decades studying what went wrong. But the sinking of the USS Indianapolis also led to acts of extraordinary courage and selflessness. In 2017 -- 62 years after it sank -- the crumpled remains of the warship were finally located 18,000 feet deep in the Pacific Ocean. Listen to the first four seasons...

In 1911, a handyman hid in a Louvre closet overnight, then simply walked out the next morning with the Mona Lisa under his apron—pulling off the most famous art theft in history. Before this audacious crime, Leonardo's masterpiece was just another Renaissance painting; it returned as the world's most iconic artwork. Listen to the first three seasons of Killer Means Awesome to hear incred...

As horrifying as the crash of Air India flight 171 was, investigators soon shocked the world again. They said the plane was likely intentionally crashed by a suicidal pilot, killing 260 people. How could this be? How could a pilot entrusted with hundreds of lives have evaded mental health screening meant to prevent such tragedies? In Episode 11 we look at the troubling history of intentional crash...

In the late 1860s, George Leslie walked among New York's elite as a respected architect, all while planning the most audacious bank robberies in American history. Using revolutionary techniques and meticulous planning, he became the criminal mastermind behind 80% of all bank heists nationwide—until jealousy, murder, and betrayal brought down the King of Bank Robbers. Listen to the first three...

An avid surfer and fisherman, San Diego native Garret Rodriguez dreamed of building a home for himself on a small piece of land which his father had bought for him along the coast of Mexico. But first Garret needed to make money -- serious money. So the 27-year-old headed north to the Emerald Triangle, a remote, heavily forested area in Northern California where up to 50% of all cannabis grown in...

In 1969, twenty-year-old Ted Conrad walked out of a bank in Ohio with the equivalent of two million dollars and vanished completely—cutting off all contact with family and friends. It wasn't until fifty-two years later that the incredible mystery of what happened to Ted Conrad was finally revealed. Listen to the first three seasons of Killer Means Awesome to hear incredible true stories. Seas...

Just days after the Sept. 11 terror attacks in 2001, people in Florida, New York, and Washington D.C. began to receive letters containing deadly spores of the bacteria which causes anthrax. These letters killed five people, sickened 17 others, and added new layers of fear and uncertainty in the wake of the deadly plane hijackings. Post Offices were closed down for decontamination. Work in Congress...

The United California Bank burglary took place on March 24th, 1972, in Laguna Niguel, California, The ingenuity employed by criminal mastermind Amil Dinsio and his crew is matched only by the crime's incredible backstory, which has ties to President Richard Nixon and the notorious Jimmy Hoffa.  Listen to the first three seasons of Killer Means Awesome to hear incredible true stories. Season 1...

When it occurred in 1979, the mass shooting at Grover Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego appeared to be a bizarre anomaly, a horrible act of violence with no obvious motive. But ensuing decades have revealed it to be the first in a long line of school shootings. No other nation comes close to the U.S. in the frequency and severity of this particularly terrifying, particularly American type o...

The life and crimes of Albert Johnson Walker span two continents and include a virtual laundry list of offenses: financial fraud, money laundering, embezzlement, stolen identity, incest, and murder. Despite years of being one of the world's most wanted criminals, the unassuming, church-going Walker might never have been caught if not for a bad day of fishing and a particular Rolex watch. List...

Ten years after the death of Lauren Taylor Agee, her family is still no closer to finding out how she died. In this episode, we revisit the mysterious case and explore how the investigation went off track and what could still be done to accomplish some measure of closure and justice.  Check out Kit's blog about Lauren Agee. Listen to the first three seasons of Killer Means Awesome to hear inc...

The 2003 Antwerp diamond heist, known as the "heist of the century," is considered one of the largest robberies in history with more than $100 million worth of diamonds and other jewels stolen. The true story of how a small group of colorful characters managed to circumvent the 10 layers of security of the diamond vault located in the heavily guarded Antwerp diamond district is astoundin...

Only one hijacking in the history of commercial aviation remains unsolved to this day -- the mysterious case of D.B. Cooper. After hijacking a commuter flight in the Pacific Northwest on the night before Thanksgiving in 1971, the polite, unassuming man strapped on his parachute and leapt into the cold nighttime darkness above the Columbia River in Washington state. Despite decades of investigation...

As the foundation for everything from bulletproof vests to bridge cables, Kevlar is a miracle fiber that has saved lives and transformed entire industries since its invention in the 1960s. Yet, without the wild hunch and strong will of Stephanie Kwolek—a brilliant chemist born in Pittsburgh in 1923—the world might never have been introduced to this remarkable material. Listen to the first two seas...

The last six years have seen a dramatic surge in cold cases being solved by law enforcement agencies around the U.S. One after another, police departments are resolving cases which had bedeviled detectives for decades. In Episode 11 of Killer Inventions, we examine what exactly lies behind the increase and where the field seems headed next. Some of the answers may surprise you! Listen to the first...

While you may know the board game Monopoly, you probably don't know the incredible story of the game's invention. This week's episode reveals the true story of the person responsible for inventing the game, and Parker Brothers' purposeful deceit in perpetuating the myth behind the game's origin. Do not pass GO, do not collect $200...go directly to episode 10 of Killer Inve...

Some inventions don’t look particularly clever or useful in hindsight. The ‘baby cage’ may be one of those inventions! Developed in the early 20th century in response to diseases like tuberculosis and the Spanish Flu, the baby cage was not for the faint of heart. Nor for those scared of heights. Improbably enough, the contraption continued to be used as late as the 1950s.  Tune into Episode 9 for...

Some say youth is wasted on the young, however, that is definitely not the case with the three inventors featured in this episode, each of whom was under the age of 16 when they made history. Check out these three incredible inventors and their killer inventions in Episode 8 of Killer Means Awesome! Listen to the first two seasons of Killer Means Awesome to hear more incredible true stories. Seaso...

The invention of dynamite in 1867 transformed industry, mining, railroad building, and modern warfare. It also led to the creation of the Nobel Prizes. For the full story of the brilliant, moody Swede who invented both dynamite and the Nobel Prizes, check out Episode 7 of Killer Means Awesome! Listen to the first two seasons of Killer Means Awesome to hear more incredible true stories. Season one...