Same Crime, Different Time: A Historical True Crime Podcast With Jen Chambers

This is the bonus paid subscribers’ episode for this week. Thank you for being a paid subscriber and keeping me in coffee this month! On a windswept cliff above the Pacific, Heceta Head Lighthouse still casts its light 21 miles out to sea. But for more than a century, locals have whispered that it’s more than a beacon—it’s a haunting. Meet “Rue,” the Gray Lady. She’s said to drift through the keep...

Note: I had planned an episode on the infamous killers Jeanace Freeman/Gertrude Jackson. I wrote the episode, recorded it, and realized it was just not what I wanted to amplify. I think deeply about the things I share, and the horror of that one got to me. In replacement, a seasonal ghostly episode for you instead. In Portland’s Oaks Amusement Park, the laughter never really stops—even after closi...

In August 1985, the tiny town of Mineral, Washington, nestled in the shadow of Mount Rainier, was jolted awake by a murder that has never been solved. First one member of the household was found dead. It would take months to find the other half of the couple, who were slain with no obvious motive. Just horror, silence, and a community left in fear. The police searched. No clues bore fruit. Then an...

A special bonus episode for subscribers! In February of 1946, a gruesome discovery broke the silence of the Willamette River near Oak Grove, Oregon. A fisherman found what he first thought was a bundle of clothes — until he realized it was a woman’s dismembered body, wrapped and weighted down. For decades, she has been known only as the Oak Grove Jane Doe. Her killer never found. This week on Same...

Oregon and Washington are among the top 10 most dangerous states in the U.S. That’s the headline. But the story behind it is even darker. In this week’s Same Crime, Different Time , we look beyond the numbers to ask: * Why did the Pacific Northwest see such a high concentration of serial killers in the ’70s and ’80s? * Did pollution from smelters poison a generation, as Caroline Fraser argues in M...

In the shadows of the West Coast sea ports, men (and women) vanished from saloons and sidewalks…only to wake up halfway across the ocean. This week on Same Crime, Different Time, we uncover the brutal trade of crimping—and the reign of Joseph “Bunco” Kelly, Maxwell Levy, and James Kelly, who all called themselves the King of the Crimpers. We’ll discuss: * What it meant to be “shanghaied” * How sai...

In the damp woods of Olalla, Washington, a woman named Linda Hazzard built a sanitarium that promised health, purity, and healing. Her method? Fasting. Extreme fasting. By the time newspapers branded her clinic Starvation Heights , it was too late for many of her patients. Wealthy heiresses wasted away to skeletons, wills were altered, and the line between healer and killer blurred. In this week’s...

When people think of terrifying figures in Oregon’s true crime history, Randall Woodfield, once called the Band-aid Bandit, now better known as the I-5 Killer —is near the top of the list. A one-time promising athlete with NFL dreams, Woodfield’s path took a dark and violent turn in the late 1970s and early 1980s. His spree of robberies, assaults, and murders spread across the I-5 corridor, leavin...

When you think of Portland’s Roseland Theater, you might picture sweaty concerts, packed crowds, and legendary musicians on stage. But behind the amps and bright lights lies a darker story—one of murder, scandal, and a ghost who refuses to be silenced. In 1990, 21-year-old publicist Tim Moreau uncovered a ticket scam at the venue—then called Starry Night . Days later, he vanished. His boss, owner...

What happens when a spiritual movement grows into a 95-acre empire and then collapses under scandal? This week on Same Crime, Different Time , we’re diving into a bonus episode! In an encore for some of you, a new tale for others, from the previous incarnation of this show, this is the story of Mary Morrissey and the Living Enrichment Center in Wilsonville, Oregon. Once the largest New Thought chu...

In December 1958, the Martin family vanished during a holiday outing near Hood River, Oregon. Two daughters’ bodies were found five months later. But the rest of the family, and their station wagon—disappeared into legend… Until now. This week’s episode explores: - Their final journey through the Columbia Gorge - Theories from tragic accident to possible foul play - New evidence found at the botto...

In 1942, America’s West Coast lived with the very real fear of enemy attack. Pearl Harbor was still fresh in memory, submarines had shelled the Ellwood oil fields near Santa Barbara, and blackouts were part of daily life. People who lived and worked in factories across the country, especially in the PNW, were worried. So the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers turned to an unlikely ally: Hollywood. Boein...

In the misty wine country of Yamhill County, Oregon, lies a town with a curse—if you believe the story. It’s got classic ghost story vibes: a man hanged for murder, a grieving, defiant mother, and a string of deadly fires. Oh also, a ghost said to laugh from behind the headstones. This is the tale of Lafayette, a town once burned by tragedy and perhaps something darker. * The Murder That Sparked t...

What happens when faith twists into fanaticism? In this week’s episode, I dive into one of Oregon’s most bizarre and haunting true crime stories—the strange saga of Edmund Creffield , the self-proclaimed messiah who led a fiery cult known as the Brides of Christ in early 1900s Corvallis. * Tar and featherings. * Women abandoning their families. * Tragedy, murder, and madness. This case has it all—...

In January 1924, Edward Nickols, Roy Wilson, and Dewey Morris were living the dangerous life of wilderness trappers near Little Lava Lake in Oregon's high desert. They had guns, they had experience, and they knew an escaped convict named Charles Kimzey was out there somewhere, looking for revenge. But on one winter night, someone convinced these armed, experienced men to leave their weapons behind...

What if the gold rush started three years earlier… and no one noticed? In 1845, a wagon train lost in the Oregon desert made a discovery that should’ve changed history—pebbles heavy and yellow enough to “fill one of these blue buckets.” But the gold was left behind, the location forgotten… and a 175-year-old legend was born. 💰 Greed. Survival. Ghost trails.🔦 Desert treasure hunts and deadly mist...

Four young women. Formerly quiet Oregon towns ripped apart by tragedy. A man with a twisted obsession that led to one of the most disturbing serial killer cases in Pacific Northwest history. This week, I’m telling the story of Jerome Brudos , also known as the Lust Killer—but more importantly, I’m sharing the stories of Linda Slawson, Jan Whitney, Karen Sprinker, and Linda Salee . Their lives matt...

🎬 INTRO & OPENING “Welcome back to Same Crime, Different Time . I’m Jen Chambers. Tonight, we remember Patricia ‘Pat’ Lowther —a rising Canadian poet cut down at 40 by the very man she trusted. Her life and voice were powerful; her death sent shockwaves through Canada’s literary world. And it still resonates.” 📚 Segment 1: Pat’s Early Life & Poetry “Born July 29, 1935, in Vancouver, Pat publishe...

Welcome to Same Crime, Different Time , the podcast where we dig into the eerie echoes of Pacific Northwest history. I’m your host, Jen Chambers—and today, we’re venturing deep into the Siskiyou Mountains for a case that has haunted Oregon for over 50 years. The Cowden family—two parents, two children—vanished without a trace during Labor Day weekend, 1974. Their fate? Unspeakable. Their killer? S...

On May 19, 1983, Diane Downs drove her wounded children to a hospital in Springfield, Oregon, claiming they were victims of a carjacking by a mysterious stranger. But as investigators dug deeper, the story twisted into something far more sinister. In this haunting episode of Same Crime, Different Time , host Jennifer Chambers revisits one of Oregon’s most infamous cases: the shocking betrayal of a...

Dive into the eerie side of Oregon's past in this episode of Same Crime, Different Time . Host Jennifer Chambers explores the lives—and lingering presences—of figures like Eliza Young, the last of the Kalapuya, and the brave Sheriff W. W. Withers. From pioneering women to unsolved murders, we uncover the haunting stories that shaped the Pacific Northwest. Thanks to writer David Lewis, who has...