251: A Bomb & an Irish Heiress

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Barry Hornstein wasn’t sure what, exactly, was in his driveway. It looked like some sort of metal cylinder. Barry went to pick it up, but thought better of it. He gave it a kick instead. The second he did, the device exploded. Steel flew through the air, tearing through Barry’s leg. When he awoke later in the hospital, he received troubling news. He’d been the victim of a pipe bomb. But Barry had no known enemies. Who wanted him dead?

Then Kristin tells us about a con woman who, in May of 2013, went by the name Mair Smyth. She told people that she was an Irish heiress. She boasted about her famous friends – namely Jennifer Aniston and Ashley Judd. She appeared generous. When she befriended her neighbor, Jonathan Walton, she treated him to a fancy dinner. She offered to help with his campaign to win back their apartment building’s access to a local pool. Jonathan had no idea that her friendship was fake.

And now for a note about our process. For each episode, Kristin reads a bunch of articles, then spits them back out in her very limited vocabulary. Brandi copies and pastes from the best sources on the web. And sometimes Wikipedia. (No shade, Wikipedia. We love you.) We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases.

In this episode, Kristin pulled from:
“The Heiress Con” episode of The Con
“The Hollywood producer, the “heiress” and a very personal quest for justice,” by Katie Kilkenny for The Hollywood Reporter
“Queen of the Con” podcast
JonathanWalton.com/how-she-conned-me

In this episode, Brandi pulled from:
“Pipe Nightmare” episode Web of Lies
“Pipe Nightmare” by Nick Budnick, Willamette Week
“Goff Guilty: Pipe bomber cops a plea.” By Nick Budnick, Willamette Week

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