Southern Fried True Crime

In 1973, a horrific fire killed 32 people in the gay bar, the Upstairs Lounge in New Orleans. When city and state officials and the churches turned their backs on the victims and survivors of the tragedy, the gay community rallied together. Today it is known as the beginning of the Gay Rights Movement in New Orleans. Sources: https://www.southernfriedtruecrime.com/55-the-upstairs-lounge-fire Sugge...

Barbara Ford Stager is known as the Black Widow of North Carolina. She shot two husbands, ten years apart, as they lay sleeping in their marital beds. Her trial was an international sensation, with the media capitalizing on her femme fatale, man eating image. But is that all there is to Barbara’s story? Sources: https://www.southernfriedtruecrime.com/54-barbara-stager Suggested Reading: Before He...

In 1999, a seventeen year old girl named Jessica Dishon was abducted out of her driveway in Shepherdsville, Kentucky as she was leaving for school. Though a rookie sheriff’s deputy tried to sound the alarm, a senior detective refused to come to the scene, dismissing her as a runaway. That mistake would kick off an egregious mishandling of the case, that included accusing an innocent neighbor with...

In 1948, a Delta Mississippi socialite named Ruth Thompson Dickins, hacked her mother to death with gardening shears. She blamed the murder on a “negro” man she claimed attacked her as well. But a jury of 12 white men didn’t believe her, in Mississippi, in 1949. That fact alone is incredible. But with her prominent family, wealthy and aggressive “cotton man” husband and the backing of the elite wh...

In August of 2008, the small town of Springfield, Georgia was shaken by a double murder in one of the town’s most prominent families. Soon, the full story would come out. That one brother was sleeping with another brother’s wife, causing a family tragedy of almost Biblical proportions. Sources: https://www.southernfriedtruecrime.com/51the-heidt-double-murder Written, hosted, produced by Erica Kell...

In June of 2013, a 21 year old Vanderbilt student was gang raped in a dorm room by four football players. She was an unofficial hostess, one of the pretty girls coaches use to “assist” in player recruiting. She had no memory of the event, but her attackers had filmed and photographed it on their cell phones. They were also caught on security footage carrying her unconscious body into the dorm. The...

In June of 1985, residents of the Midland area of South Carolina were frozen in fear. Two girls were kidnapped and murdered and the sadistic man responsible relished in making phone calls to one of the families. This is part two of the case of serial killer Larry Gene Bell, covering the abduction and murder of nine year old Debra May Helmick and the investigation into both murders. I also discuss...

In June of 1985, residents of the Midland area of South Carolina were frozen in fear. Two girls were kidnapped and murdered and the sadistic man responsible relished in making phone calls to one of the families. This is part one of two episodes on the crimes of Larry Gene Bell. Sources: https://www.southernfriedtruecrime.com/48-49-larry-gene-bell-part-1-2 Special thanks to author and former SLED L...

In December of 2004, a beautiful young graduate student was brutally stabbed in her apartment. Her roommate was also attacked. He ran to a convenience store and called 911. Johnia Berry crawled, bleeding from her own apartment, and knocked on the five neighbor’s doors around her. No one answered. Paramedics got there while she was still alive but she died at the hospital. Unknown DNA was found at...

My fault is past. But, O, what form of prayer Can serve my turn? Forgive me my foul murder? These words, from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, spurred a confession from a teenage murderess. Sixteen year old Marie Robards, of Fort Worth Texas, poisoned her own father, because she preferred to live with her beloved mother. Sources: https://www.southernfriedtruecrime.com/46-patricide-thy-name-is-marie Suggested...

On New Year’s day of 2012, 38 year old Shelby Wilkie went missing. She left behind her three month old daughter. Shelby had been planning to leave her abusive husband. Michael Wilkie eventually admitted to burning Shelby’s body, though he insisted he didn’t kill her. He claimed that she committed suicide due to post partum depression. But the blood evidence in their home told a very different stor...

From 1994 to 2008, a serial predator terrorized the Greater Nashville area. The Wooded Rapist moved like a ghost, through rainy nights, under the cover of trees, assaulting at least fourteen women before he was finally brought to justice. Sources: https://www.southernfriedtruecrime.com/44-the-wooded-rapist-robert-jason-burdick Written, hosted, produced by Erica Kelley Researched by Erica Kelley Or...

In 2003, a domestic violence case ended in a hostage stand-off at a Bi-Lo grocery store in Greenville, South Carolina. A young mother lost her life and a cognitively impaired young man was sentenced to death. US National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233 UK Domestic Abuse Hotline: 0808 2000 247 Australia Rape & Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-737-732 Canada: http://thelifelinecanada.ca ./help...

In the year 2000, Tracy Fortson was the first female deputy at the Oglethorpe County Sheriff’s Department in Georgia. She filed a sexual harassment claim against the department and then her boyfriend went missing. His body was found, Tracy was charged, but to this day she says she was framed. Sources: https://www.southernfriedtruecrime.com/42-the-deputy-the-body-builder Suggested Reading: M. Willi...

Just before Christmas of 1985, a Corpus Christi couple was brutally slain with a hatchet and knife as they slept in their home. A local policeman was charged with the murders. The DA dropped the charges almost two years later due to lack of evidence, though it was a very strong circumstantial case. 34 years later and no other persons of interest have been investigated. #justice4Gillette If you hav...

Known as the “Bitter Blood Murders,” in 1985, first cousins and lovers, Susie Newsom Lynch and Fritz Klenner led police and SBI on a chase that ended in an explosion that killed them and Susie’s two young sons. It was the culmination of a bloody feud that had already left five dead, decimating two prominent families in a Southern Gothic tragedy of Shakespearean proportions. Sources: https://www.so...

In a tiny town in Tennessee, a young couple are brutally shot, execution style in their home. Their infant son was still cradled in his dead mother’s arms. Initially police were baffled by the crime, until they uncovered a web of lies and manipulation so bizarre it would catapult the small town into the national spotlight. Sources: https://www.southernfriedtruecrime.com/39-catfishing-in-mountain-c...

In 1999, a dedicated rookie police officer on the luxury island of Bald Head, North Carolina, is shot in the back of the head while on duty. Emergency officials destroyed the crime scene and all evidence and the DA quickly closed the case, ruling it a suicide. Her family sued in civil court to get the ruling changed to homicide and the case is still open to this day. Sources: https://www.southernf...

A young mother goes on a personal journey and leaves her deadbeat husband. He couldn’t let that happen. And the press disgustingly blamed her for it. US National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233 UK Domestic Abuse Hotline: 0808 2000 247 Australia Rape & Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-737-732 Canada: http://thelifelinecanada.ca ./help/call/ Sources: https://www.southernfriedtruecrime.com/37-h...

Cyntoia Brown was granted clemency by Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam today. To hear Cyntoia's story, check out episode 9 #freeCyntoiaBrown: A Minor Facing Life in Prison. Sources for the original episode on Cyntoia's case and today's update: https://www.southernfriedtruecrime.com/9-free-cyntoia-brown Written, hosted, produced by Erica Kelley Researched by Erica Kelley Original Graphic Art by Coley...

The Christmas Eve murder of a beloved bartender and manager of a gay nightclub in Houma, Louisiana. Hate crime or robbery? Or maybe both. Sources: https://www.southernfriedtruecrime.com/36-the-murder-of-robert-lecompte Special Thanks to this episode’s Patreon Producer, Lynn Cummings! Written, hosted, produced by Erica Kelley Researched by Erica Kelley Original Graphic Art by Coley Horner Original...

In 1997, in the tiny town of Santa Claus, Georgia, a former foster child returned to the loving family who had taken him in. Jerry Scott Heidler destroyed their family and almost destroyed the “town who loves children.” Sources: https://www.southernfriedtruecrime.com/35-santa-claus-georgia Suggested Reading: Fear Came to Town: The Santa Claus, Georgia Murders Special Thanks to this episode’s Patre...

In 1992, A young mother in Atlanta was in a loveless marriage. Her husband was a criminal. She wanted to leave, but he had too many legal connections and kept complete control of their money. When she decided to prove what he was, he had her shot to death in front of their two little boys. Sources: https://www.southernfriedtruecrime.com/34-the-execution-of-sara-ambrusko-tokars Special Thanks to li...

In 1974, a feisty, outspoken woman in St. Augustine, FL became embroiled in a ridiculous feud with her neighbors, one that went public and turned most of the old city against her. Then she was brutally murdered with a machete on her own front porch, in broad daylight. And her murderer was set free. Sources: https://www.southernfriedtruecrime.com/33-an-inconvenient-woman If you're interested in rea...

Corpsewood Manor in Northern Georgia is an infamous haunted tourist attraction. And many believe it is cursed. Either by the ghosts of the men murdered there, or by a more mysterious and evil entity. Sources: https://www.southernfriedtruecrime.com/32-the-corpsewood-manor-murders Reading recommendation: The Corpsewood Manor Murders of North Georgia by Amy Petulla Written, hosted, produced by Erica...