Introducing: Zone 7 with Sheryl McCollum
Work a cold case alongside investigator Sheryl “Mac” McCollum, Director of the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute. Every week, Sheryl dives into her cold case files alongside accomplished guests to look for clues into unsolved murders, missing people, and more. This ain’t just a podcast but a war room. Sheryl opens her cold case files, her heart and her little black book! You will quickly realize Zone 7 is not a place but a lifestyle! iHeart: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/867-zone-7-with-sheryl-mccollu-106023288/ Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/zone-7-with-sheryl-mccollum/id1660041219 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/39AxkVOTQ9HjcNqykeJHX4 Stitcher/Simplecast: https://www.stitcher.com/show/1048440 Pandora: https://www.pandora.com/podcast/zone-7-with-sheryl-mccollum/PC:1001048440 Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/60846f0d-334a-4a97-8105-78c07d29aecd/zone-7-with-sheryl-mccollumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
19 Des 20223min
The Idaho College Murders Continued - Updates and Analysis
Four University of Idaho students are brutally murdered in their home in Moscow, Idaho on November 13th, 2022. Police suspect that the murders occurred between 3am-4 and their bodies were discovered by a friend that same morning around noon. Investigators believe that the murder weapon was a knife of some sort. More leads have been uncovered by police and investigators in the past weeks and the hunt is still on for a primary suspect. In this episode of Body Bags, forensics expert Joseph Scott Morgan and Jackie Howard continue discussing the details of this unfolding case, the DNA evidence that has been collected, details on a vehicle of interest, the odd state of lockdown at the scene of the crime, and more. Show Notes: 0:00 - Intro 0:55 - Reopening the details of this case 1:55 - Description of the vehicle of interest that police are looking for. 7:22 - How do you properly process a vehicle that may be connected to a crime? 10:55 - The volume of evidence collected so far will take some time to go through properly. 12:49 - Types of biological evidence, Blood and DNA, collected on site 16:39 - Other possible biological evidence at the scene 19:43 - How many tests will be run on these individual pieces of evidence? 23:13 - Will running tests on evidence destroy the sample you have collected? 26:04 - Confusion on the details of the weapon involved in the stabbings 29:12 - Joe’s experience with grieving families 31:20 - Items returned to families immediately lose their evidentiary value in most cases 34:56 - Covering your bases as a Medical Legal Death investigator when thinking about the courtroom deposition of your findings. 36:38 - The importance of contextual location 39:56 - Joe Scott’s position on the importance of doing things in the proper order 41:23 - OutroSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
12 Des 202241min
Mariticide in Ohio - The Case of Dr. Christopher Osborn
Dr. Christopher Osborn is found and pronounced dead in his home in Dublin, Ohio on July 18th, 2018, just after 7:30 a.m. He had been shot in the head three times in his sleep. His wife, Holli Osborn, drunkenly calls her father to tell him that her husband is dead. Her father calls the police and shortly thereafter they arrive at the house. After finding two guns next to the bed and seeing the state of Ms. Osborn, they take her into custody and eventually charge her with the murder of her husband. In this episode of Body Bags, forensics expert Joseph Scott Morgan and Jackie Howard discuss the state Dr. Osborn was murdered in, gunshot residue, how to assess a crime scene after its been altered, how the location of where Holli’s DNA was found eventually proved she was the perpetrator, and more. Show Notes: 0:00 - Intro 1:25 - Background and overview of the case 2:43 - Evidence from the bed 6:23 - In a case like this, what evidence do you start with first? 9:28 - Who arrived at the scene first? 12:20 - Assessing the crime scene after it's been damaged 15:40 - How to tell the difference between something that was part of the crime vs. caused by first responders when they arrived at the scene 19:40 - Does the amount of blood depend on how many times you were shot or where you were shot? 29:20 - Does Dr. Osborn’s physical state (sleeping) factor into his body’s reaction when he was shot? 34:40 - Gunshot residue 40:43 - Are all gun powders the same? 42:30 - Distribution of gunpowder 47:00 - “10 particles” 49:35 - Holli’s DNA being found on the gun and how it was proven that she was the perpetrator 50:50 - OutroSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
6 Des 202251min
A Huge Problem - Body Builder Murders Ex-Wife Katie Baunach
Katie Baunach is last seen alive on September 29th, 2022, when she tells a friend she is going to her ex-husband's home to pick up some of her belongings. She obtained a restraining order from him the previous month after allegations he had abused one of their children. When police went to investigate the house they detected “signs of a physical struggle” and upon looking further found something much more sinister. In this episode of Body Bags, forensics expert Joseph Scott Morgan and Jackie Howard discuss how luminol is used to detect blood, the difficulties of burning a body, non-specific homicidal trauma, “roid rage”, and more. Show Notes: 0:00 - Intro 1:25 - Background and overview of the case 2:58 - Moving of the car 5:40 - Using luminol to detect blood 12:13 - Who invented spraying blood with luminol to see it under a black light? 14:30 - The difficulties of burning a body 20:34 - Why did the barrel smell of decay? (check) 22:18 - Moving the body 24:10 - How do you determine the cause of death for a body that had been moved multiple times? 26:50 - Non-specific homicidal trauma 30:02 - Dealing with stress 30:33 - Police find suspicious substances 34:03 - What is “roid rage” and what causes it? 40:45 - Wrap upSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
29 Nov 202241min
Four Dead Students in Moscow, Idaho - The Search for a Killer Continues
Four University of Idaho students are brutally murdered in their home in Moscow, Idaho on November 13th, 2022. Police suspect that the murder took place between 3am-4 and their bodies are discovered by a friend that same morning around noon. Investigators believe that the murder weapon was a knife of some sort. This case is still unfolding. In this episode of Body Bags, forensics expert Joseph Scott Morgan and Jackie Howard discuss the gruesome nature of this case, the murder weapon, making sense of the chaos of the crime scene, what police are looking for in the surveillance footage, and more. Show Notes: 0:00 - Intro 1:25 - Background and overview of case 2:26 - The police not knowing what they were walking into 6:20 - Side door being the point of entry 8:30 - Signs of forced entry, the window, and how it could have been pried open 10:07 - Light sources 12:30 - Two roommates who survived, who was stabbed first, the murder weapon 18:26 - The style of weapon suggests that this was a targeted attack 21:34 - How do we tell who was stabbed first and what are we going to find on the other victims? 26:38 - Making sense of the chaos 28:05 - Co-mingling of blood, actions of the perpetrator, finding the knife 31:54 - Other injuries to expect in this case 35:38 - What exactly are the police looking for in the video surveillance footage? 40:38 - OutroSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
22 Nov 202240min
Two Linked Lives - The Heartbreaking Story of Reagan Simmons Hancock
Reagan Simmons Hancock, 21, is found dead in her New Boston home by her mother on the morning of October 9th, 2020. She was seven and a half months pregnant, had been stabbed over 100 times, strangled, and had her unborn child removed from her womb. The perpetrator is Taylor Parker, a friend of Hancock’s, who had been faking a pregnancy for over 10 months. In this episode of Body Bags, forensics expert Joseph Scott Morgan and Jackie Howard discuss the blood patterns at the crime scene, the injuries sustained by Hancock, the logistics of performing an at-home C-section, and how Parker may have gone about planning the attack. Show Notes: 0:00 - Intro 1:18 - Background and overview of case 3:14 - Blood patterns 4:42 - Two questions: 1. How much blood is in the human body? 2. With blood everywhere, how do you figure out where the murder actually occurred? 7:50 - Stab wounds/strangulation 10:40 - How Reagan’s pregnancy factored into her murder/death 13:32 - Scalpels, surgical tools, C-sections 17:25 - Langer lines 19:50 - How did the assailant perform the C-section without harming the baby? 23:11 - Finding the perpetrator: Taylor Parker 24:10 - The placenta and Parker faking the baby’s birth 27:35 - Major indicators that a woman has given birth 30:28 - What ultimately led to the death of the child? 32:30 - Wrap up and final thoughtsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
15 Nov 202236min
A Horrifying Discovery in the Woods - The Death of Cairo Jordan
On April 16th, 2022 a mushroom hunter calls 911 to tell them he’s found an abandoned suitcase in the middle of the woods. Inside the suitcase is the body of a young boy. The boy is later identified as 5-year-old Cairo Ammar Jordan from Atlanta, Georgia. He was never reported missing. In this episode of Body Bags, forensics expert Joseph Scott Morgan and Jackie Howard discuss the state of Cairo’s body when it was found, his cause of death, how police process a crime scene like this, what it’s like to discover a body, and much more. Show Notes: 0:00 - Intro 1:57 - Background and overview of the case 3:10 - How did they get Cairo into the suitcase? 7:25 - The state of Cairo’s body when found 10:45 - Discovering bodies 14:55 - How do police begin processing a scene like this? 18:15 - Joe describes the tests done on evidence found 21:30 - The inside of the suitcase 27:30 - Pulling fingerprints and finding the crime scene as the perpetrator left it 31:35 - Cairo’s cause of death 35:45 - How does an electrolyte imbalance kill you? 38:10 - Viral gastroenteritis 43:10 - Wrap up See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
8 Nov 202244min
Four Men on Bikes - A Mysterious Quadruple Homicide in Oklahoma
Four men in Okmulgee, Oklahoma leave a friend's house on bikes on the evening of October 9th, 2022. Investigators believe that these men intended to commit a crime, or series of crimes. They are soon reported missing. On October 14th, their bodies are found in Deep For River having been shot and dismembered. After looking into the case officials believe that this act was premeditated. In this episode of Body Bags, forensics expert Joseph Scott Morgan and Jackie Howard discuss the overt violence of the murder, how to track a bicycle, how you distinguish between blood types, how investigators retrieve body parts, and much more. Show Notes: 0:00 - Intro 1:12 - Background and overview of the case 3:20 - How do you track a bicycle? 9:45 - How do you calculate how far to extend your search? 12:10 - Police using tracking information to find the victims 15:30 - Bodies dumped in the river 16:15 - How is it physically possible to kill four men in a short period of time? 20:35 - What exactly is “a violent act”? 24:15 - The steps taken in an autopsy to distinguish between blood types 29:00 - What do two different blood types look like on a slide? 30:58 - Visual deception 32:10 - Would the victim's skeleton be visible by this point? 36:10 - How does the gruesome state of the victim’s bodies interfere with being able to figure out what happened to them? 39:40 - How do you retrieve body parts and keep them in the state they’re found? 46:05 - Wrap upSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
1 Nov 202246min
