Southern Fried True Crime

In Part 2 of The Cullen and Priscilla Davis Saga, We dive into the FOUR trials Cullen faced. Not just for the mansion murders, but later, murder for hire. They say money can’t buy you everything. But in Cullen’s case, it damn sure can buy you freedom. Written, hosted and produced by Erica Kelley Researched by Erica Kelley Original Graphic Art by Coley Horner Edited by: Chaes Gray Original Music by...

In 1976, a “mysterious man in black” would break into the home of Priscilla Davis. A huge mansion, ostentatious by all standards and still owned by her estranged oil tycoon husband, Cullen Davis. What happened that night, would be the talk of Forth Worth. D Magazine dubbed the biggest goddamn thing to happen to Fort Worth since the railroad. But it is a tragedy, cloaked in scandal and salacious go...

In the summer of 1975, a scandalous romance between a 37 year old woman and 20 year old college student would not only shock the town of Jackson, Mississippi. But it would ruin so many lives when the jilted young man could not handle her rejection. This episode is dedicated to my mother, Lisa. Sources: https://www.southernfriedtruecrime.com/79-heres-to-you-mrs-robinson Written, hosted and produced...

On Thanksgiving night of 2017, a youth minister in Chester, Virginia did the unthinkable. After heavy drinking and arguments, he shot his family to death. Friends, family and the entire community were shocked. They seemed so happy. Every Facebook post showed a close knit family, laughing and seemingly normal. But Christopher Gattis wore a mask. A mask that slipped in an alcohol induced rage that d...

In the summer of 1980, an eighteen year old college freshman went out for a night of dancing but never made it home. Gina Renee Hall was a beloved daughter and sister and member of a small town community that has never stopped grieving for her and looking for her remains. Gina’s case was the first “no body” conviction in the state of Virginia, but even forty years later, there is an open file and...

In November of 2016, a 16 year old girl from Knoxville, Tennessee was murdered by her ex-boyfriend. Emma Jane Walker had been a victim of coercive control for two years before he killed her. Emma’s parents saw the signs and did everything right. The United States needs to follow the lead of many UK countries who have passed coercive control laws. Coercive control is the cornerstone of intimate par...

In 1985, a nineteen year old girl was picked up on a deserted road, handcuffed, shackled and ghostly pale. The story she told her rescuer and law enforcement was unbelievable. She had been held captive and repeatedly raped by a sexual sadist. But he didn’t just violate her sexually, he drained her blood. And drank it in front of her. Sources: https://www.southernfriedtruecrime.com/75-the-vampire-r...

One of Charleston’s most enduring legends and ghost stories is that of Lavinia Fisher. Her ghost is said to haunt the grounds of the Old City Jail, where she was imprisoned for a year, before being hanged with her husband from the gallows, for highway robbery. She also carries the dubious title of America’s first female serial killer. But it’s not true. Much of what is known about Lavinia Fisher i...

In 2004, a man named John Paul Chapman was arrested for the brutal rape and murder of Lisa Marie Nichols, in Mobile, Alabama. Authorities soon realized that the man they had in custody was not the real John Chapman, who was incarcerated in Missouri. They had Jeremy Bryan Jones, a drifter from Oklahoma, who they would soon find out was a serial rapist and murderer. The failure of the FBI’s fingerpr...

In 1984, a vicious sexual sadist was terrorizing the Tampa Bay Area of Florida. He preyed on sex workers, and other vulnerable women, murdering at least ten young women before he was caught. He oddly let one girl go in November and she would be the break law enforcement needed to unmask the Tampa Bay Serial Killer. Police didn’t realize when they arrested Bobby Joe Long that was he was also a brut...

The public is fascinated by love triangles. Add in betrayal and murder and you’ve got the plot to a novel, a movie or a soap opera. People cannot get enough of the romantic notion of a beautiful woman, torn between her love of two men. In 1999, Dr. Michelle Theer had been leading a secret life on the internet. She was married to Air Force Captain Marty Theer, who had no idea his wife was posting a...

In 2010, a Georgia Glynn County police officer, Lieutenant Cory Sasser, was involved in the shooting of an unarmed woman. Though he was cleared of wrong doing by a grand jury, the decision was controversial and the bad press followed him for years. In 2018, his wife Katie Sasser, could no longer deal with his mental health issues. When she left him, he became suicidal and then full of rage. His co...

In 1969, the mysterious death of a beautiful Houston socialite would captivate Texas. Soon it would become a national scandal. Joan Robinson Hill’s father, a rich and powerful oilman, would set set in motion a chain of events so incredible, it seems like fiction. All in the name of grief and revenge. Suggested Reading: Blood and Money by Thomas Thompson Sources: https://www.southernfriedtruecrime....

In May of 2010, the mistress of an Alabama County Commissioner was found shot to death in her driveway. It looked like suicide and Angel Downs did have a prior suicide attempt. But her boyfriend, Commissioner Stephen Nodine, was seen driving away from her house right after neighbors heard the shot. Sources: https://www.southernfriedtruecrime.com/68-the-politicians-mistress-angel-downs Written, hos...

In 1987, an ambitious rookie FBI agent came to Pikeville, Kentucky for his first posting out of the academy. He soon met a girl from the nearby holler who worked as an informant. Susan Daniels Smith lived a life of poverty, violence and misery. And then she met Mark Putnam and became obsessed. Major Source: Above Suspicion by Joe Sharkey Sources: https://www.southernfriedtruecrime.com/67-the-killi...

Late on a Sunday night in September of 2016, Atlanta power couple, Tex and Diane McIver, were driving back into the city and got caught in Atlanta’s notorious traffic. Diane’s best friend was driving as Diane rode in the passenger seat and her husband, Tex, sat directly behind her. When they were stopped in what they considered a dangerous part of town, Tex asked for his gun, and then fell asleep....

In the early morning hours after the 4th of July in 2004, A young couple was brutally stabbed to death on Robins Air Force Base in Georgia. There was another friend in the house who was also stabbed but escaped and miraculously survived. This vicious blitz was carried out by a fellow airman. What led to the gruesome attack after the 4th of July celebrations? Sources: https://www.southernfriedtruec...

In 1980, a sixteen year old white girl named Cheryl Dee Fergeson was raped and murdered in a high school auditorium in Conroe, Texas. Suspicion immediately fell on the only black janitor, though three other white janitors were present. A Texas Ranger looked Clarence Brandley in the face and said “One of you is gonna hang for this. Since you’re the ni**er, you’re elected”. What followed was more th...

In 2003, eighteen year old freshman, Katie Autry, was raped, beaten and set on fire in her dorm room at Western Kentucky University. Two suspects would soon emerge. One white, from a wealthy family. The other mixed race, from a poor family. The case would consume WKU, Bowling Green and the rest of Kentucky, with loyalties on both sides. To this day, many locals believe that one of those boys got a...

In July of 1999, a day trader named Mark Barton went on a killing spree in Atlanta’s financial district. He murdered 9 people that day, wounding 13 more. Two days before this massacre, he murdered his second wife and two children. But he was also suspected of murdering his first wife and her mother six years earlier. Mark Barton is a family annihilator, spree killer, mass murderer and possibly, a...

In 1982, America got their own Ken and Barbie killers a decade before the Canadian couple, Paul Bernardo and Karla Holmolka horrified the world with their depraved crimes - kidnapping, torturing and murdering young girls. Americans Alvin and Judith Neelley started out with petty crimes, dubbing themselves Boney and Claude. And then they escalated. Unlike Karla, Judith didn’t get a deal with the de...

Today is a very special cross over episode with my friends from Trashy Divorces. We are discussing the murders of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman, as well as OJ Simpson’s two trashy divorces. This is not my usual format and there is indeed the explicit language I’m always warning you about. Suggested Reading: Without a Doubt by Marcia Clark The Run of His Life by Jeffrey Toobin In Contempt by Christo...

This is the conclusion to Miami Beach Royalty: The Novack Murders. Within three months of each other, Bernice and Ben Novack Jr were brutally murdered. These were gruesome, vicious attacks and they were meticulously planned and executed. But the conspirators weren’t as smart as they thought. And after the criminal proceedings finally ended, the fight over Ben Novack Jr’s fortune became another epi...

The history of the infamous Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach is fascinating. Mobsters, movie stars and and scandal helped the brilliant and ruthless hotelier Ben Novack Sr. propel his hotel onto the world stage, where it remains today. But the brutal murders of his ex-wife Bernice and son, Ben Jr. rocked America and the squabble over the Novack fortune is still winding through the Florida probat...

In October of 1987, a beautiful Texas socialite and businesswoman was poisoned with strychnine. It was in the bottle of NyQuil she often used to help her go to sleep. Patsy Bolton Wright was a share holder in the Southwest Historical Wax Museum in Grand Prairie, Texas. Less than a year after her murder, the wax museum was burned to the ground by an arsonist. Neither crime has ever been solved. Sou...