The Case of Jeanette Maples

In keeping up with Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, Drewby and Yergy delve into the case of Robert Budd Dwyer, an American politician who served as the 30th State Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He served from 1965 to 1971 as a Republican member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and from 1971 to 1981 as a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate representing the state's 50th district. Dwyer then served as the 30th Treasurer of Pennsylvania from January 20, 1981, to January 22, 1987, when he died due to committing suicide during a live press conference. In the early 1980s, Pennsylvania discovered its state workers had overpaid federal taxes due to errors in state withholding prior to Dwyer's administration. A multi-million-dollar recovery contract was required to determine the compensation to be given to each employee. In 1986, Dwyer was convicted for accepting a bribe from the California firm that won the contract. He was found guilty on 11 counts of conspiracy, mail fraud, perjury, and interstate transportation in aid of racketeering, and was scheduled to be sentenced on January 23, 1987. On January 22, Dwyer called a news conference in the Pennsylvania state capital of Harrisburg where he fatally shot himself with a .357 Magnum revolver in front of reporters. Dwyer's suicide  was broadcast later that day to a wide television audience across Pennsylvania, including children that were home from school due to a severe snowstorm. Throughout Dwyer's trial and after his conviction, Dwyer maintained that he was not guilty of the charges for which he was convicted, and that his conviction resulted from political persecution. Former U.S. Attorney James West, who prosecuted Dwyer, affirmed Dwyer's guilt, stating that "the evidence against Dwyer was overwhelming and indisputable". All posthumous appeals made by Dwyer's lawyers on Dwyer's behalf were denied, and his convictions were upheld. In 2010, Honest Man: The Life of R. Budd Dwyer, a feature documentary about R. Budd Dwyer’s life and the tragedy of his suicide, premiered at the Carmel Art and Film Festival in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, with the Dwyer family in attendance. In the documentary, William T. Smith, a former chairman of the Dauphin County Republican Committee and one of the key trial witnesses in Dwyer’s conviction, admits that he lied under oath at his own trial about never offering Dwyer a bribe in hopes of reducing his own sentence and to spare his wife from being prosecuted for her role in the conspiracy. He expressed his regret for lying and the role it played in R. Budd Dwyer’s public suicide. Although these revelations suggest that Dwyer may not have gotten justice, he did at least secure his family’s future. Since Dwyer died while still in office, his widow, Joanne, was able to collect full survivor benefits that totaled more than $1.28 million. Many close to Dwyer feel that he may have committed suicide to preserve the state-provided pension for his family, whose finances had been ruined by legal defense costs. Suicide Hotlines Worldwide: http://www.suicide.org/international-suicide-hotlines.html LGBTQ+ Lifeline: https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/help-yourself/lgbtq/ Veterans Crisis Line: https://www.veteranscrisisline.net/ Join Our Facebook Group to Request a Topic: https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1 Support Our Patreon For More Unreleased Content: https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachine PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachine Instagram: miserymachinepodcast Twitter: misery_podcast Discord: https://discord.gg/kCCzjZM #podcast #documentary #truecrime #suicideawareness #suicideawarenessmonth #mentalhealth Source Material: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Budd_Dwyer https://allthatsinteresting.com/r-budd-dwyer https://www.amazon.com/Honest-Man-Life-R-Budd-Dwyer/dp/B006I9PO2G

21 Sep 202033min

September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. In light of this very important month, Drewby and Yergy discuss the tragic death of Ronnie McNutt, and young veteran from Mississippi, who took his own life on August 31, 2020 while on a Facebook livestream that was not taken down for many hours, despite many reports from people watching. Unfortunately, the footage got into the hands of internet trolls who decided to splice the footage into innocent videos and post them to TikTok, with the intent on traumatizing children, which is TikTok's largest demographic. We discuss the death of Mitchell Henderson, who became the target of 4chan trolls after taking his own life in 2006, Nikki Catsouras, whose accident photos went viral after unscrupulous police officers leaked them online, and the victim who was likely impersonated and made the topic of the "Sh*t Was So Cash" meme who died in a car accident. In all these cases, the victims families were subject of harassment after dealing with the loss of their loved one.  Suicide and loved ones who have struggled with mental health issues are both things that have affected both our lives very deeply. You are more than welcome to reach out to us if you feel you have nowhere else to turn. Email, Instagram DMs, our Discord, whatever medium you prefer. Please don't go through this alone. We are unfortunately living in a time where mental health issues are not only stigmatized, but people who die by suicide are either ridiculed, exploited, or lavished with comforting reassurance that could have easily been brought their way when they were alive and struggling.  This is a multi-faceted problem that will be very difficult to overcome, but the first step in tackling it is being more willing to reach out and be there for people in our lives who are suffering. Right now, there are arguably more people affected than ever before due to COVID-19. Let us all work together to be better to our loved ones. It's the only way our society will have a chance. Link to Ronnie's Funeral Fundraiser: https://celebrationchurchms.churchcenter.com/giving/to/ronnie-s-funeral-fund?fbclid=IwAR2On_sPyZjj5C0pdfTqo-HkB3axBqmrAqOwoVsfRNuSVJtl4ZfLlqD-GHs Suicide Hotlines Worldwide: http://www.suicide.org/international-suicide-hotlines.html LGBTQ+ Lifeline: https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/help-yourself/lgbtq/ Veterans Crisis Line: https://www.veteranscrisisline.net/   Join Our Facebook Group to Request a Topic: https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1 Support Our Patreon For More Unreleased Content: https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachine PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachine Instagram: miserymachinepodcast Twitter: misery_podcast Discord: https://discord.gg/kCCzjZM #podcast #documentary #truecrime #suicideawareness #suicideawarenessmonth #mentalhealth Links about suicide during COVID-19: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/media-spotlight/202006/are-we-facing-post-covid-19-suicide-epidemic?fbclid=IwAR2On_sPyZjj5C0pdfTqo-HkB3axBqmrAqOwoVsfRNuSVJtl4ZfLlqD-GHs https://www.psycom.net/covid-19-suicide-rates?fbclid=IwAR2On_sPyZjj5C0pdfTqo-HkB3axBqmrAqOwoVsfRNuSVJtl4ZfLlqD-GHs

13 Sep 202038min

Happy Labor Day! This week, Drewby and Yergy take another trip across the pond and delve into the horrors of Dennis Nilsen, whose crimes bear striking similarities to that of our own Jeffrey Dahmer. We also discuss the upcoming 3 part miniseries "Des," starring David Tennant as Dennis Nilsen - which we are very excited for. Dennis Andrew Nilsen was a Scottish serial killer and necrophile who murdered at least twelve young men and boys between 1978 and 1983 in London, England. Convicted of six counts of murder and two of attempted murder, Nilsen was sentenced to life imprisonment on November 4th, 1983, with a recommendation that he serve a minimum of 25 years.  All of Nilsen's murders were committed in the two North London addresses in which he resided between 1978 and 1983. His victims would be lured to these addresses and killed by strangulation, sometimes accompanied by drowning. Following each murder, Nilsen would observe a ritual in which he bathed and dressed the victim's body, which he retained for extended periods of time, before dissecting and disposing of the remains by burning on a bonfire or flushing down the toilet. He died in prison on May 12, 2018 of a pulmonary embolism and retro-peritoneal hemorrhage. Join Our Facebook Group to Request a Topic: https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1 Support Our Patreon For More Unreleased Content: https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachine PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachine Instagram: miserymachinepodcast Twitter: misery_podcast Discord: https://discord.gg/kCCzjZM #podcast #documentary #truecrime  Source Material: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Nilsen https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/david-tennant-on-playing-dennis-nilsen-the-making-of-a-murderer-0mh8bwz2b https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/dennis-nilsen https://murderpedia.org/male.N/n/nilsen-dennis.htm

7 Sep 202030min

This week, Drewby and Yergy review the mysterious case of Gloria Ramirez, a cervical cancer victim, whose brief but dramatic emergency room stay  in Riverside, California and untimely death baffled the medical community in the mid 90's due to medical workers falling very ill just by being in the presence of her and her body, prompting concern that her body had turned into a chemical weapon, and this was further highlighted as a possibility due to her alleged self-administration of Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). Later the county health department attempted to make the claim that the whole thing was simply a case of mass hysteria, as many of the workers who fell ill were women. The case was further complicated due to multiple autopsies with the majority done after her body had already badly decomposed. Several conspiracy theories have since arisen. We also discuss the need for continued funding to clinics that specialize in reproductive health in order to detect, treat, and eradicate diseases such as cervical cancer and HPV, the leading cause of this fairly preventable disease.  Join Our Facebook Group to Request a Topic: https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1 Support Our Patreon For More Unreleased Content: https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachine PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachine Instagram: miserymachinepodcast Twitter: misery_podcast Discord: https://discord.gg/kCCzjZM #podcast #documentary #truecrime  Source Material: https://www.rxlist.com/dmso_dimethylsulfoxide/supplements.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheyne-Stokes_respiration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Gloria_Ramirez https://www.discovermagazine.com/health/analysis-of-a-toxic-death

31 Aug 202031min

Due popular demand by our viewers, we recount the tragic death of Kelly Anne Bates - an English teenager who was murdered in Manchester, England at the age of 17 by her abuser and live in partner, James Patterson Smith, who was roughly 30 years her senior. She was tortured by him over a period of four weeks, including having her eyes gouged from their sockets up to three weeks before her death, before being bludgeoned over the head and drowned in a bathtub. The murder inquiry was headed by Detective Sergeant Joseph Monaghan of Greater Manchester Police, who said: "I have been in the police force for 15 years and have never seen a case as horrific as this." William Lawler, the pathologist who examined Bates' body, described her injuries as the worst he had seen on a murder victim.  Smith, with a history of violence and torture against former partners, denied murdering Bates but was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment on 19 November 1997. This case has been compared to the Junko Furuta and Sylvia Likens case, and once again highlights the topic of bystander apathy. Join Our Facebook Group to Request a Topic: https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1 Support Our Patreon For More Unreleased Content: https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachine PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachine Instagram: miserymachinepodcast Twitter: misery_podcast Discord: https://discord.gg/kCCzjZM #podcast #documentary #truecrime  Source Material: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kelly_Anne_Bates https://www.manchestersfinest.com/articles/manchesters-vilest-murder-kelly-anne-bates/ https://allthatsinteresting.com/kelly-anne-bates-james-patterson-smith https://murderpedia.org/male.S/s/smith-james-patterson.htm

24 Aug 202024min

This week, Drewby and Yergy discuss the tragic death of Kendrick Johnson, conspiracy theories related to his untimely death, the gross mishandling of his case at the hands of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and how the legal system has yet again failed a person of color. On January 11, 2013, the body of Kendrick Johnson  was discovered inside a vertical, rolled-up mat in the gymnasium of Lowndes High School in Valdosta, GA where he was a student. KJ, as he was known by family and friends, was described him as a sweet and quiet boy. He was a three-sport athlete and dreamed of one day playing professional football. A preliminary investigation and autopsy concluded that his death was accidental, and was classified as "positional asphyxia" or that he suffocated as a result of being stuck upside-down in an enclosed space for an extended period of time. Johnson's family had a private pathologist conduct a second autopsy (and years later, a third) which concluded that Johnson died from blunt force trauma, which was allegedly inflicted by means of a 45lb weight or dumbbell, according to many accounts. Also discovered during the second autopsy was the fact that Kendrick's body lacked internal organs, and that his body cavity had been stuffed with newspapers during the embalming process. The absence of his organs raised questions pointing at a cover up at the hands of the coroner that handled the initial autopsy, and sparked conspiracy theories regarding organ harvesting and trafficking. Kendrick's family sued the funeral home, but the case was subsequently dropped as nothing technically illegal had occurred.  On October 31, 2013, the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia announced that his office would open a formal review into Johnson's death. On June 20, 2016, the US Department of Justice announced that it would not be filing any criminal charges related to Johnson's death. Kendrick Johnson's family filed a $100 million civil lawsuit against 38 individuals. The lawsuit alleged that Johnson's death was a murder and accused the respondents of a conspiracy to cover up the homicide, which involved two sons of an FBI agent. Johnson’s father, however, admitted that he had no hard evidence to back up any of these claims and the Johnsons had to drop the suit. They were sued for more than $850,000 in attorney fees and more than one million in defamation charges. They were ultimately ordered by a judge to pay close to $300,000 worth of lawyers’ fees to those they had accused with no evidence. Some people have compared KJ's death to the Emmett Till case. Drewby and Yergy also touch on the racial elements of this case, and discuss whether or not the case would have been handled differently if Kendrick would have been a white student. Black Lives Matter Links to the Petitions To Reopen the Case: https://www.change.org/p/united-states-supreme-court-justice-for-kendrick-johnson, https://www.change.org/p/gbi-justice-for-kendrick-johnson & https://sign.moveon.org/petitions/kendrick-johnson-petition Join Our Facebook Group to Request a Topic: https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1 Support Our Patreon For More Unreleased Content: https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachine PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachine Instagram: miserymachinepodcast Twitter: misery_podcast Discord: https://discord.gg/kCCzjZM #podcast #documentary #truecrime #justice4kendrick #blm Source Material: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Kendrick_Johnson https://allthatsinteresting.com/kendrick-johnson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9_n9vXz_LM&t

17 Aug 202036min

As we've talked about in previous episodes, the treatment of Indigenous and First Nations people, specifically women, in Canada is unacceptable. Today we're sharing a case with you courtesy of our friends at Occultae Veritatis Podcast. If you have any information, please utilize the links below.   Tipline Email: shorturl.at/pHKMX Saskatchewan Crime Stoppers: 1-800-222-8477 https://www.p3tips.com/tipform.aspx?ID=206# https://www.facebook.com/bringashleymorinhome/ https://saskatoon.ctvnews.ca/timeline-a-look-at-the-tiki-laverdiere-homicide-investigation-1.4543609

5 Aug 202030min

This week, Yergy and Drewby report on Maine's first shark related death that took place on July 27th in the town of Harpswell, on the quaint Bailey Island - a place Yergy and Drewby both grew up visiting. 63-year-old Julie Dimperio Holowach, a New York native who, while staying at her summer home in Harpswell, was tragically killed by a great white shark while she was swimming in the ocean. We cover the facts of the case as made public by the media, and give our own tips as locals on how to stay safe in the ocean this summer.    This week's episode is sponsored by Podcorn: https://podcorn.com/ Join Our Facebook Group to Request a Topic: https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1 Support Our Patreon For More Unreleased Content: https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachine PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachine Instagram: miserymachinepodcast Twitter: misery_podcast Discord: https://discord.gg/kCCzjZM #podcast #documentary #truecrime

3 Aug 202025min