The Coroner’s Report

Decades later, survivors, historians, and advocates still fight to keep Wrightsville’s story alive. In this closing episode, Dr. Brian Mitchell and Judge Steve Teske join Tracey Carrington and Steve Nawojczyk to examine the lasting legacy of the fire—how segregation, neglect, and silence shaped generations. Marlon Weems reflects on how these boys’ deaths mirror modern inequities, while fire expert...

When the flames died, the spin began. Governor Orval Faubus tried to shift blame while reporters and investigators searched for answers. Deputy State Fire Marshal Bill Struebing examined the ashes, Dr. Howard A. Dishongh, Pulaski County coroner, signed the death certificates, and survivor Roy Davis kept telling the truth about what really happened. With commentary from Marlon Weems and historical...

March 5, 1959—sixty-nine boys were locked inside a wooden dormitory as flames tore through the building. Twenty-one never made it out. Survivors Roy Davis, Archie Ray Poole, and Otis Sidney describe the terror of waking to smoke and locked exits, while fire investigators Jim Hawley and Keith Hulse, both retired New York City firefighters, explain how panic and bad design turned the dorm into a fur...

It began as a promise and it ended in betrayal. In 1936, Arkansas built the Negro Boys’ Industrial School in Wrightsville, calling it a place for “wayward youth.” What they created was a prison farm for children. In this first episode, Tracey Carrington and Steve Nawojczyk uncover how decades of racism, neglect, and forced labor turned a so-called reform school into a deathtrap. With historian Dr....

In the final part of our three-part series on Ruth Sumlin, The Coroner’s Report follows the case from the discovery of J.Y. “Shorty” Cooper’s mutilated body along a logging road, through Ruth’s shocking confessions, and into the courtroom battles that sealed her fate. We trace how investigators, including retired Arkansas State Police investigator David Hendershott, pieced together evidence linkin...

In Part Two of Ruth Sumlin-For the Love of a Good Woman, The Coroner’s Report presents a story that turns darker and more violent. What began as whispered plans between husband and wife explodes on Thanksgiving night, 1977. Before Ruth can even step inside the Columbia County jail, she lures Shorty Cooper into the woods—where liquor, sex, and violence end in his brutal murder and mutilation. With...

In this first installment of Ruth Sumlin-For the Love of a Good Woman, The Coroner’s Report uncovers the beginnings of one of Arkansas’s strangest true crimes. Before the gunfire and the castration, there was Ruth Brewer—a bright college student from small southern town with a promising future. That future began to unravel the night she met Warren Sumlin, a 44-year-old career criminal with a viole...

Join former coroner and Arkansas State Crime Lab Director Steve Nawojczyk and his partner, Tracey Carrington as they wrap up their dive into serial killing, black widow, Nannie Doss. With original records and an interview with one of Nannie's living descendants, we learn the true story of what happened. In Episode 6 Part 4 of The Coroner's Report Podcast, we learn the fate of Nannie and how she li...

Join former coroner and Arkansas State Crime Lab Director Steve Nawojczyk and his partner, Tracey Carrington as they dive back into the story of Nannie Doss who killed four of her five husbands and countless family members. Yet, her story was almost lost to time. With original records and an interview with one of Nannie's living descendants, we learn the true story of what happened. But, that body...

Join former coroner and state crime lab director Steve Nawojczyk and his partner, Tracey Carrington as they dive back into the story of Nannie Doss who killed four of her five husbands and countless family members. Yet, her story was almost lost to time. With original records and an interview with one of Nannie's living descendants, we learn the true story of what happened. But, that body count? W...

In Episode 6 Part 1 of The Coroner's Report Podcast, we explore another female serial killer, the infamous "Giggling Grannie" Nannie Doss. As one of the most prolific and successful female serial killers, this black widow falls into her own brand of murderer. Join us as we unravel the secrets she held, and uncover the reasons she killed so many.

Join us for the conclusion of Darla Harper and Pam Page, When the Cousins Went Missing.       

Join the Coroner’s Report Podcast with Steve Nawojczyk and Tracey Carrington as they continue the search for two missing cousins in two different states. Episode 5-Part 3 moves this double case from Arkansas to Peoria, Arizona, where Pam Frisby Page went missing just three years after her cousin, Darla. The circumstances were the same. Was this just a coincidence? Did lightning strike this family...

Join the Coroner’s Report Podcast with Steve Nawojczyk and Tracey Carrington as they dive into the case of two missing cousins. Part 2 focuses on the Darla Harper case. Listen as the investigators and family members discuss what they remember about the case.  Of course, Darla wasn't the only missing family member. What happened?  Did the husbands do it, or was something more sinister at play? Now...

Join the Coroner’s Report Podcast with Steve Nawojczyk and Tracey Carrington as they dive into the case of two missing cousins. The first case takes place in Arkansas in 1986 when Darla Harper, a young single mother, vanishes from her apartment in the middle of the night, leaving almost no clues. Then, three years later, in Arizona, Darla’s first cousin, Pam Page, also disappears. Were the cases s...

Imagine living a long life struggling with a handicap, only to die and lose your name. Even more…imagine becoming more famous in death than you were in life…yet still have no name.  Join the Coroner’s Report Podcast as we dive into the mystery over 110 years in the making. Just who was Old Mike, and how did his body end up mummified and on display at an Arkansas funeral home for over 60 years?  Un...

We have reached the conclusion of the sixth and final installment of the Miss Maybelline, the Pied Piper, and a Clown Named Hobby series. Experts have proven that the fire at the Maybelline manor was intentionally set. We have also discussed the three likely persons of interest. We will follow the aftermath of the tragic death of the Maybelline Queen and the impact that her demise had on those who...

Miss Maybelline, Evelyn Williams, heiress to the Maybelline cosmetic fortune, is dead. Her body was discovered in the hallway of her charred lakefront home. No, the doorknob wasn’t in her hand, and she didn’t struggle to get out of the house. There were no signs of any struggle at all. Our fire experts have determined that the fire was not accidental, with evidence of multiple ignition sources. Th...

In Episode 3, Part 3 of this 6-part series, Our story continues after Evelyn Williams divorces her grifting husband, Hobby Derrick. She settles into her new life in Hot Springs, Arkansas, but Hobby's Skating Rink is a financial drain. Miss Maybelline decided to flip the skating rink into a dinner theatre with the help of trusty wigmaker, Danny King. Sadly, Evelyn died in a house fire the day after...

In Episode 2 of this 6-part series, our story continues featuring Evelyn Williams who married into the family who founded the cosmetic company, Maybelline. Episode 2 picks up in the 1960s in California as Evelyn inherits her fortune and starts looking for love in all the wrong places, unveiling a tangled web of jealousy, deception, and intrigue that ultimately leads to her tragic demise in Arkansa...

In Episode 1 of this 6-part series, we delve into the enigmatic life of Evelyn Williams and the web of intrigue that surrounded her. Discover what led her to Arkansas, and the influential figures who would play pivotal roles in the unfolding drama. As we piece together the events leading up to that fateful day in 1978, questions arise: Who stood to gain from her demise, and what secrets did Evelyn...

Evelyn Williams, an heiress to the Maybelline fortune, was dead. She died in a house fire in 1978 in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The questions began immediately. Join us in this six part series asking questions. Was the fire accidental or was it arson? Was she live in the burning house attempting to escape out the front door only to have the handle come off in her hand? What really happened? We round u...

Black female serial killers are the rarest form of serial killers and between 1974 and 1982, one woman in Little Rock, Arkansas managed to kill four of her own children. The murders were attributed at first to SIDS but an eagle eye coroner and a local doctor noticed something was wrong…something was very wrong with Debra Sue Tuggle. This isn’t just a story of homicide but it’s a story about mental...

This episode of the Coroner’s Report, retired coroner, Steve Nawojczyk  dives deep into the story of family annihilator, John Markle. In 1987, Markle, who was facing financial ruin, chose to brutally murder his wife and two young daughters while wearing a hideous Halloween mask. While we all know who did the crime, the question for years has been why? John left clues in a 12 page letter he had wri...