Dead Before Deadline

Your host, Robin Yocum, released his latest novel, The Last Hitman, in December. New York Times bestselling author C.J. Box said of the novel, "The Last Hitman is a rollicking tale of mob violence, betrayal, attitude, and homicidal psychos that I thoroughly fell for. A terrific read." Publishers Weekly called it "electrifying." Jaclynn interviews her dad on the novel, its origins, and the differen...

On the afternoon of Dec. 30, 1983, the bodies of Joyce McFadden and Patricia Matix were found in a research laboratory at Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus. They had been stabbed to death. The case would frustrate detectives for years as every lead turned cold. That was until April 11, 1986, when William Matix, Patricia's husband at the time of her murder, and his partner-in-crime, Michael...

Michael Swango is believed to have been one of the most prolific serial killers in history. Some estimates put his body count at 60 in the United States and Africa. There were telltale signs that the brilliant medical student had a dark side when he ignored his medical school studies to work on an ambulance crew where several patients under his care coded on the way to the hospital. Classmates nic...

The vice president of security at Bank One called Mark David Huffman "a trusted employee." That was until he stole $409,000 of the bank's cash. Huffman was one of the few employees at the bank entrusted with restocking the ATMs. On the Saturday before Christmas of 1980, bank officials were scratching their heads, wondering why the ATMs were running out of money. "Has anyone seen Huffman?" they ask...

Twenty-three-year-old Lynn Vest and her 18-month-old nephew, Jeremy Pickens, left the house on Nov. 12, 1980, to go to the bank and run a few errands. They never returned. Late that night, their bodies were found in the back of Lynn's car. She had been strangled, and Jeremy had been smothered. Lynn was the daughter of Columbus Burglary Detective Don Hochuli; Jeremy was his grandson. The Columbus P...

For nearly 40 years, the Belle in the Well was a mystery in Lawrence County, Ohio. In 1981, two girls playing in the woods near their house lifted the cap on a cistern and discovered the body of a woman. She had been strangled and dumped in the cistern. Her body was too badly decomposed to make an identification. The decades-long efforts of Bill Nenni, an investigator for the coroner's office, cam...

Donette Crawford went out for a night of fun with a friend and never came home. She was just twenty and a young mother when she disappeared. Police searched for weeks, but had few clues and no suspects. Things changed when a criminal named John Glenn Roe was arrested breaking into a Radio Shack in Dayton, Ohio. He said he had information on Donette's disappearance, which he was willing to trade fo...

Randy Walker was destined to become the chief of police in Columbus, Ohio. Anyone who knew him would validate that claim. Then, on July 23, 1975, an assailant's bullet slipped through an opening in his bulletproof vest, paralyzing him from the chest down. It was during his next career as a civilian polygraph expert that Randy made his biggest contribution to law enforcement. Florida officials were...

Legends exist in opposite ends of Ohio – northwest and southeast – about the hidden loot of two of America's most notorious gangsters, John Dillinger and "Pretty Boy" Floyd. Dillinger supposedly buried his loot on a Leipsic, Ohio, farm owned by the family of his wingman, Harry Pierpont. Floyd reportedly buried his loot on a farm in the unincorporated coal-mining community of Rush Run, near the Ohi...

Catherine Wanner was a freshman accounting major at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. She was carrying a 3.56 GPA. On Feb. 22, 1982, she was found shot to death in a Columbus apartment. She was 75 miles from her dormitory, but less than a mile from her parents' home. How did a beautiful 18-year-old end up dead in the apartment of Roy Sage, an unemployed carpenter nearly 30 years her senior? Sage ha...

Welcome back to Dead Before Deadline! Host Robin Yocum and cohost Jaclynn Yocum Wilson are back for Season 4 of DBD! We are excited to have you here. Get ready for some wild stories that host Robin Yocum covered while being on the crime beat in Columbus, OH! This first one starts out with a bang...buckle up! William Wickline was nightmare fuel. He didn't get his nickname, The Butcher, because of t...

There were few times when my interactions on the crime beat ended in friendships. Many of the people I interviewed associated me with the worst days of their lives. There were, however, a few exceptions. Jaclynn and I discuss some of the stories that had a personal impact on me.  

In Episode 14, Robin and Jaclynn shift gears and discuss the real-life characters he met on the crime beat that have been inspirations in his fiction writing.  Be sure to pre-order Robin's latest book, "The Last Hitman" - Here

In Episode 13, we delve further into the lives of attorney and physician Dr. David Ucker and Dr. Donald Plotnick and their bizarre lives of crime. Also, we'll introduce a new character, Linda Lee Walden, who is accused of murdering her former boyfriend to conceal the fact she had been dating a black man. Who ends up defending her and, ultimately, marrying her? Tune in to see. Pre-Order "The Last H...

In Episode 12 of season three, we conclude our story of two of the most notorious doctors in Columbus, Ohio.   This episode takes a bizarre twist when accused killer Dr. David Ucker ends up marrying a woman who is both a patient and a convicted murderer. 

Doctors take an oath to care for people. But some of them forget their oath. Dr. David Ucker was accused of hiring a hitman to kill his mistress' former lover. Dr. Donald Plotnick was illegally selling machine guns and set a guy on fire over a drug debt. Part one of this tangled story weaves together a tale of murder and mayhem centered on the Columbus medical community.  

In this gripping episode of Dead Before Deadline , Robin Yocum and Jaclynn Wilson unravel one of the most haunting and personal stories Robin ever covered — the murder of 25-year-old Jean Schrader. What began as a tragic homicide with no charges filed turned into a relentless pursuit of justice led not by law enforcement, but by Jean's heartbroken father, Dale Wolford. From tracking down a key wit...

The body of a beautiful young woman and a rising star at an accounting firm in Columbus, Ohio, is found in the stairwell of a downtown parking garage, the life strangled from her. In this episode of Dead Before Deadline, Robin and Jaclynn discuss his first big story at the Columbus Dispatch –  the murder of Jean Shrader.  

We are back with part 2 of the Arthur Shapiro case. This one is full of wild twists and turns. Barry Kessler, a Tax Accountant in Columbus was not okay with Shapiro testifying about some questionable tax activity that was happening. Listen in to hear how far this guy went to keep his criminal ways under wraps and how Arthur Shapiro was only part of the story! 

Arthur Shapiro was a respected Columbus, Ohio, attorney, who counted billionaire and L Brands founder Lex Wexner among his clients. So why was Shapiro killed execution-style in 1985 on the west side of town? Shapiro was under investigation for tax fraud and failing to file income tax for seven years, and was about to implicate someone with a suspected history of murder. Listen to the fascinating t...

Part two of the John Barry Simonis story. Dubbed the Ski Mask Rapist, Simonis gained infamy as one of the country's most prolific serial rapists. He was eventually captured and charged in Louisiana, but not before he brought his reign of terror to Central Ohio and another man paid for those crimes. Find out what happened to that wrongfully convicted man and Simonis in this episode of Dead Before D...

Jon Barry Simonis, dubbed the Ski Mask Rapist, gained infamy as one of the country's most prolific serial rapists. He was eventually captured and charged in Louisiana in 1981, but not before he brought his reign of terror to Central Ohio and another man paid the price for those crimes. Listen to part one of the Jon Barry Simonis story.

Investigators are stumped in th e  1946 disappearance of 24-year-old school teacher, Lola Celli. In part two of the story, investigators are flooded with information on the whereabouts of Lola. Are any of the tips valid?  It's a wild ride as the police try to separate fact from fiction in the conclusion  of this fascinating story on Dead Before Deadline.  

In 1946, 24-year-old Lola Celli was a home economics teacher in West Liberty, Ohio. In February of that year, she made the 55-mile train trip from West Liberty to the home of her parents in Grandview Heights, a suburb of Columbus, for Washington's Birthday weekend. On Saturday morning, Lola called upstairs to her mother, stating that she was walking to the bus stop and planned go shopping in downt...

In 1987, George Mosko was living in Loveland, Colorado, and working as an industrial chemical salesman. His brother, John, was starting a business in Lima, New York, and wanted George to come work for him. According to friends, George did not want to leave Colorado, but felt duty-bound to help his brother.  The route between Loveland and Lima does not go through Central Ohio, but that's where Geor...