Episode 5 - Bible John

School shootings are now tragically commonplace in the US. But in 1979, when Brenda Spencer opened fire on Cleveland Elementary School, it took everyone by surprise. Killing two adults and injuring nine children – allegedly just because she didn’t like Mondays – Brenda has lived on in infamy as one of America’s first school shooters, immortalised by Bob Geldof and The Boomtown Rats.Follow us on social media:InstagramTwitterVisit our website:WebsiteSources available on redhandedpodcast.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

10 Aug 202357min

At 2am, on the 3rd of May last year – inmates at Mangaung prison in Bloemfontein, South Africa, were woken up by an explosion. Word spread that Thabo Bester, the infamous “Facebook Rapist”, had set himself and his cell on fire. And all that remained after the dramatic blaze were a lighter, and a body, burnt beyond recognition. But that’s far from the end of the story. With daily revelations from the trial still hitting headlines, expect a farcical morgue-robbing scheme, a massive-scale web of fraud conducted from inside a prison cell, and a glamorous celebrity doctor who’s not quite what she seems.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

3 Aug 202349min

Graphic Sonic fanfiction, a botched DIY sex change, incest and relentless psychosexual trolling are just some of the hallmarks of Christine Weston Chandler's story. As one of the most documented people in history – with 2,500 Wiki articles covering everything from school reports to her parents’ friends – her almost biblical tale leaves little to the imagination. Yet most people have never heard of her. Despite decades of online abuse, manipulation, and even extortion, the majority of those who do know about the infamous ‘Chis Chan’ see her as little more than an internet joke. Yet her real life is one of the most saddening and downright bizarre we are ever likely to cover.Follow us on social media:InstagramTwitterVisit our website:WebsiteSources available on redhandedpodcast.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

27 Jul 202341min

Last week, we looked at the formation of the ultra-obedient, bigamist Mormon cult, the FLDS – in which plural marriage to pregnant preteen girls is just the tip of the fundamentalist iceberg. In this second part, we look at how its new prophet, Warren Jeffs, took his so-called religion to ever stricter and more terrifying depths. With followers so beaten down that they were banned from even laughing; the prophet on the lam, living it up at Disneyland; and a team of ex-faithfuls and dogged investigators closing in – something had to give. But not before the full extent of his evil was laid bare in front of a stunned courtroom.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

20 Jul 202346min

According to Warren Jeffs’ thousands of followers, he was the leader of a secretive but devoted religion – their prophet, and the representative of God on Earth. But according to US law, he was a dangerous, totalitarian, child-molesting horror with over 80 wives – some married off as young as 12. Still, according to the church, Earthly laws are no match for the voice of God.In this episode, we explore the story behind the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints: how the visions of a charismatic, seventeen-year-old farmhand grew to become a major world religion; how plural marriage caused a major rift in the church; and how its teachings were warped into a systematic cult of child abuse, underage sex, and absolute power.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

13 Jul 20231h 3min

In 2009, the horror film ‘Orphan’ told the tale of a couple who unwittingly adopted a 9-year-old girl, who (spoilers) turned out to be a murderous, adult woman.Sometimes though, reality is stranger than fiction. A year after the film’s release, the Barnetts, a wealthy picture-perfect American family, adopted 6-year-old Natalia Grace from Ukraine. But within just 3 years, they’d abandoned her and fled to Canada. Why? According to the Barnetts, Natalia – who had a rare form of dwarfism – wasn’t a little girl at all. She was actually a 22-year-old woman who was trying to murder their whole family. In this bizarre case, everything most definitely isn’t as it seems…See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

6 Jul 20231h 17min

Violently stabbed to death in their own home, the bodies of Debra and Marc Richardson showed the signs of an almighty struggle.The body of their eight-year-old son Tyler Jacob was upstairs, and their twelve-year-old daughter Jasmine was missing. It all suggested a brutal home invasion, with Jasmine’s abduction as the motive. Yet the narrative the police unwound was more confusing, disturbing – and downright cringe-worthy – than anything they could have imagined. This was the ‘love story’ of a ‘rawr’cous, side-fringed, goth girl and her three-hundred-year-old werewolf boyfriend. Follow us on social media:InstagramTwitterVisit our website:WebsiteSources available on redhandedpodcast.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

29 Jun 20231h 6min

How did an orphan from Bogotá, Colombia, become one of the most audacious white-collar criminals in the US during early 2000s? Starting his con career in Michigan at the age of just 12, Anthony Gignac transformed himself into a Saudi prince and spent three decades conning society’s elite out of millions – until one day his royal façade cracked, when he ordered the wrong entrée at a restaurant…See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

22 Jun 202349min