Southern Fried True Crime

Everyone who frequented Barley’s Taproom & Pizzeria in Knoxville, Tennessee, knew bartender and waitress Carrie Daugherty. She was a friendly 24-year-old woman who had a quick wit and a sweet smile. But, on March 19, 2008, Carrie’s body was discovered on her own front lawn. She’d been brutally murdered. Those who knew Carrie were shocked. This was a woman with no enemies. When the murderer was...

27-year-old Dorothy “Dolly” Hearn and 33-year-old Jennifer Corbin never met—but the two women had a lot in common. Both were intelligent young women in Georgia who had their whole lives ahead of them, and both of them died under mysterious circumstances that were shockingly similar. When an unexpected phone call revealed that both women had been romantically involved with the same man, a Georgia d...

One of my most requested cases for Spooky Season: The Legs Murder Scandal On a rainy and cold January day in 1935, a rabbit hunter came across a sugar sack on a rural road in Laurel, Mississippi. He opened it up and found a pair of legs and part of a lower torso of a white female. On that same day, 57-year-old Daisy Keeton went missing. She was something of a small town celebrity with her and her...

On June 12th of 1983, 27-year-old Jerry Lynn Dean and 32-year-old Deborah Ruth Thornton met at a pool party. Right away, their chemistry was apparent—even though their budding relationship was doomed from the start. Jerry had recently separated from his wife, and Deborah was still married. Regardless, Jerry and Deborah decided to have a harmless one-night stand. But that night would turn out to be...

In August and September of 1969, one man killed five people in the span of 29 days in Memphis, Tennessee. These violent crimes shook the city of Memphis to its very core. Lock sales skyrocketed. Families adopted large dogs. People refused to leave their house after sunset. It felt like no one was safe. The police searched day and night for this elusive serial killer. They doubled—then tripled—thei...

From August 13th to September 11th of 1969, five innocent people died at the hands of a serial killer in Memphis, Tennessee. 58-year-old Roy Dumas and his wife, 47-year-old Bernalyn Dumas; 82-year-old Leila Jackson; 21-year-old Glenda Sue Harden; and 59-year-old Mary Christine Pickens. For 29 days, the Memphis police diligently searched for the cold-blooded killer responsible for these horrific mu...

Here’s a preview of a new podcast I think you’ll enjoy. Amid the nuclear threat of the Cold War, America's prized secrets were falling into the hands of its sworn enemy, the Kremlin. The FBI's hunt for the leak led to an astonishing discovery—the mole was one of its own, special agent Robert Hanssen. For two decades, Hanssen masqueraded as a devoted patriot while ruthlessly selling out his country...

One of television's most popular true-crime series is now adapted for your ears with the “48 Hours” podcast. Every week, award-winning CBS News correspondents investigate the most intriguing crime and justice cases. Here’s a preview of a new “48 Hours” episode, “The Night of the Idaho Student Murders”. "48 Hours" correspondent Peter Van Sant sits down with family members of Kaylee Goncalves and Xa...

When 54-year-old Judi Beunoano was executed by the State of Florida on March 30th of 1998, she was widely known as Florida’s Black Widow. And that’s because, over the course of 12 years, Judi had made attempts on the lives of these four innocent men: James Edgar Goodyear, Bobby Joe Morris, Michael Arthur Goodyear, and John Wesley Gentry II. Two husbands, one fiancé, and one son. No one was safe fr...

In 1987, a circuit court judge and his wife, a former city council woman, who wanted to be mayor, were murdered in their home in Biloxi, Mississippi. It was obviously a professional hit. Vincent Sherry was a former criminal defense attorney who had defended members of the Dixie Mafia. Now, he was putting criminals away. Margaret Sherry was a fiery republican in a public slap fight with the current...

By the 1960s, organized crime gangs were well and truly already becoming a presence across the north of the United States, as underworld figures fought for sole control over highly lucrative gambling, illegal alcohol, and prostitution rings. Down south, things were done a slightly different way. But even though one criminal network in particular didn’t have a strict code, this didn’t make them any...

Thursday, October 13th of 1994 was a big day for New Orleans. On one side of town, their new police superintendent, Richard Pennington, was being sworn into office. On the other side of town, a beloved mother of three was being murdered. This mother was 32-year-old Kim Marie Groves. As a result of Kim’s unfortunate death at the hands of dirty police officers, the New Orleans Police Department’s ra...

In 1927, a young woman met a violent end in a Chattanooga hotel. Reports on how she came to her death are mixed, but the legend of her gruesome story persists almost 100 years later, and for good reason. The tragic young woman’s spirit is said, along with the ghosts of many others, some from the Civil War era, to haunt not only the room where she died but the entire establishment where she spent h...

In January of 1999, 30 year old Belinda Temple, who was eight months pregnant, was found shot to death in her closet in Katy, Texas. Her husband, David Temple, was tried and convicted twice for the murder of his pregnant wife. But when the jury at his second trial in 2019 became deadlocked in the punishment phase, a mistrial was declared. David appealed, and the long wait for resentencing began. T...

In January of 1999, 30 year old Belinda Temple, who was eight months pregnant, was found shot to death in her closet in Katy, Texas. Her husband, David Temple, was the obvious first suspect. But there wasn’t much evidence to connect him to the murder and he was seen on store cameras during the suspected time of the murder. But he had the oldest motive in the world. And Harris County DA’s Office wo...

After the brutal murder of Belinda Temple, an 8 month pregnant school teacher in 1999, the Harris County DA’s office took five years to finally charge her husband, David, with murder. They had an ace in the hole. They had star prosecutor Kelley Siegler. But David Temple’s family hired Dick DeGuerin, the guy who got Robert Durst off after he dismembered his landlord. The trial had the promised fire...

When Mike Williams vanishes on a hunting trip, the authorities suspect he was eaten by alligators but the true predators who took Mike may lurk much closer to home. The mystery of Mike’s disappearance might have faded from memory, if it wasn’t for one woman’s tireless crusade. From Wondery, comes a new season of Over My Dead Body; a story about an obsessive love affair, a scandalous secret and a m...

In the spring of 1988, Liz and Charles Sennett were pillars of the Colbert County, Alabama, community. 45-year-old Liz was a mother, grandmother, and homemaker. Charles was a local pastor. They were beloved and respected. On March 18th, Charles discovered Liz's lifeless body in their home. It was a gruesome scene. Liz had been brutally beaten and stabbed to death. Initially, the authorities believ...

21-year-old Denise Amber Lee was a happily married stay-at-home mom when her life was abruptly snatched away from her. On January 17, 2008, she was abducted from her home. Her two young sons were left sleeping in a crib together. An hour later, Denise’s husband Nate returned home and immediately reported her missing and then called his father-in-law, who was a local police sergeant. He made sure D...

Monday, February 4, 1991 started out as a normal day. 40 year old Priscilla Matula was rushing out the door for work. She owned and operated a car dealership with her husband, Nick. It soon became one of those days…where everything seems to go wrong and irritation bubbles to the surface. And making matters worse, by mid-morning, she had not heard from her mother, Margaret Abernathy, which was high...

This is a short bonus episode for July. It's about the controversial Lindsey Lowe case, so I hope you find it interesting. I had a defense attorney reach out and give me the judge's signed ruling early and also give me some inside baseball about the case. If you want to listen to the original episode first, it's #119. Hosted and produced by Erica Kelley Researched and written by Gemma Harris Addit...

In September of 2017, 30-year-old Janae Carroll was preparing to end her longterm relationship with her boyfriend—who was also her abuser. After years of suffering, Janae had gathered the strength and the courage to leave him. But when an argument about the breakup escalated to an all-out fight between Janae and her abuser, she did what she had to, to protect herself and her children. Thus began h...

Leon Benson spent 24 years in an Indiana state prison for the 1998 murder of a young man named Kasey Schoen. His conviction hinged on the testimony of two eyewitnesses – but what if their memories turned out to be wrong? And what if the people who knew what really happened had never been allowed to speak? Suspect Season 3: Five Shots in the Dark is the story of two victims: one murdered, one sente...

When 31-year-old Lindsey Lee didn’t show up for work bright and early one Tuesday morning, her coworkers at the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department were immediately worried. Their fears were confirmed when the deputy who performed a wellness check at Lindsey’s home discovered her body. At first, investigators didn’t have any suspects for Lindsey’s murderer. Everyone liked her. Lindsey was so inc...

In 1971, Sundays in Savannah, Tennessee were for two things: church and family. That was especially true for the Stricklin family. One Sunday, 66-year-old Mollie and her husband, 81-year-old William, invited their son and his wife to their new home for a midday meal. Mollie made the food. Her daughter-in-law served the tea. Afterward, they all went for a nice drive in the city. The get-together se...