Episode 288

We live in a world where pregnant women have to fear going about their daily lives as they normally would because of the very real possibility that the unthinkable could happen to them at any time. It did to Michelle Wilkins, a mom who was trying to get some inexpensive baby clothes for her unborn daughter Aurora. Instead, what she got was a nightmare which unfolded on a beautiful Wednesday afternoon in Longmont, Colorado. The person who perpetrated this heinous act wasn't a serial killer, drug addict, or psycho, it was another mom named Dynel Lane. Dynel was so desperate to have another child that she would resort to lying to her friends and family and, eventually, unspeakable acts to secure whatever benefit she perceived from motherhood. In this episode we examine this crime and others like it, and try to answer the fundamentally basic question of what makes a mom a monster.Get instant access to all episodes, including premium unreleased episodes, commercial-free at swordandscale.com

4 Mai 20151h 2min

When Rodney Reed turned himself in to Bastrop Police, on what he though was a gun charge, little did he know he would be spending the next 17 years on Death Row for a crime he did not commit. However, that seems to be exactly what happened. He was charged, convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Stacey Stites who he was having an affair with at the time. Unfortunately for Rodney, Stites was engaged to a Bastrop police officer named Jimmy Fennel who allegedly didn't take to kindly to his future wife sleeping with a black man. While Reed rotted away in a Texas jail cell, Jimmy Fennel and other cops who were allegedly involved in the coverup went on with their lives. Until an event in 2007, washing over Fennell like a Karmic wave, exposed the truth behind his real character. Despite this, appeal after appeal has failed and Rodney Reed's fate now lies in the hands of a few powerful people and listeners like you who have the power to change the course of events by standing up and demanding true justice.Get instant access to all episodes, including premium unreleased episodes, commercial-free at swordandscale.com

19 Apr 20151h 13min

The idea of ultimate justice is appealing to those of us who have strong empathy for victims in vicious and unspeakable crimes. However, the cost of implementing such an unyielding and unrepairable finality as taking someone's life, is that from time to time we'll make a mistake and get it wrong. The end result of a mistake like this is the execution of an innocent man. As a society are we so hungry for "justice" or perhaps "vengeance" that we are willing to accept the collateral damage that an imperfect system of justice will continue to provide? In this first part of a two-part story, we examine the curious case of Rodney Reed, a man who is currently on death row awaiting his execution. Meanwhile practically everyone who has closely examined this case believes he is not guilty of the crime he is about to be killed for. Not only that, but there's some pretty good evidence we know exactly who is, and the answer may reveal a shady criminal conspiracy by law enforcement officials.Get instant access to all episodes, including premium unreleased episodes, commercial-free at swordandscale.com

12 Apr 201559min

Luckily there aren't very many examples of the perfect storm occurring in a community where a dysfunctional family, a broken child-protection agency, and a community that makes a series of unlucky decisions end with the death of a beautiful, happy and loving 5-year-old little girl. Episode 41, however, isn't one of them. On January 8th, 2015, Phoebe Jonchuck was thrown 62 feet off the Dick Misener Bridge in Tampa, Florida. As a result, she died at the hands of her father. Her mother, on the other hand, was absent. After the child's death, revelations about her would be made public that would show how little Phoebe Jonchuck never had a chance. Of course, had the Florida Department of Children and Families done its job, this story would have never had to have been told. But they didn't, of course, and the list of other actors in this story that could have stepped in and didn't is too long to list. Nobody cared enough about this 5 year old girl to take action beyond the bare minimum other than attorney Genevieve Torres whose calls and cries were ignored and dismissed. When you have a system so broken that an attorney insisting that a 5 year old is in danger goes ignored, then what good is it?Get instant access to all episodes, including premium unreleased episodes, commercial-free at swordandscale.com

29 Mar 201557min

When asked to imagine the perfect place to perform serial murder most imagine something dark and creepy, but the truth of the matter is that the perfect place to kill is actually the same place in which most of us are born and die: a hospital. This is a place where death is not only common, but expected. Many of the victims are already incapacited and there's a steady stream of them coming in each day. Not to mention the fact that the tools for killing are readily available in the form of various dangerous drugs. Combine that with a hospital's reluctance to report any activity which may cost them a lawsuit and it's no wonder that Charles Cullen was able to get away with killing more than 40 patients over the course of 16 years at nine different institutions. In this episode we speak with Charles Graeber, author of The Good Nurse, and recount the terrifying story of a serial killer nurse and the broken system around him which facilitated and possibly covered up his killing spree.Get instant access to all episodes, including premium unreleased episodes, commercial-free at swordandscale.com

15 Mar 20151h 29min

Some things are hard to fathom, like why a young boy with his entire life ahead of him would choose to destroy it by an act of unspeakable violence towards the people that love and care for him most in the world: his parents. Yet, time after time, we see these angst ridden youth lose control of their developing minds and act out in a way that cannot be taken back and will not easily be forgiven or forgotten. In this episode of Sword and Scale we cover two cases in the form of two shocking 911 calls, each of which will leave you with a dropped jaw. Alex Crain woke up one morning and killed his mom and dad for seemingly no reason, and Jake Evans killed his mother and sister one night because he liked a horror movie and wanted to see what it was like to commit murder. Both teenage boys handle the aftermath very differently, yet they both seem to fully realize what they've done very shortly after the act and call 911 in a panic. These senseless and inexplicable murders prove that monsters are everywhere, sometimes in our very own homes.Get instant access to all episodes, including premium unreleased episodes, commercial-free at swordandscale.com

1 Mar 20151h 2min

In 2013 an independent documentary began making its way through various film festivals. It was received with harsh criticism, outrage and even death threats by various groups, each of which was repulsed by the subject matter and the way it was presented. The name of this film was Are All Men Pedophiles? and once we heard about it we knew we had to speak to the creator of the film Jan-Willem Breure. Early on though we figured we'd need some serious help telling this story properly and responsibly, so we solicited the expertise of Dr. Michelle Elliott, founder of the UK non-profit Kidscape, who has been in the business of protecting children for over 25 years. We also contacted clinical psychologist and research scientist Dr. James Cantor, for his controversial and fascinating research on the mind of a pedophile (or peadophile). The combination of all of these ideas and points of view makes for an amazingly honest insight into a topic most would be happy to shy away from.Get instant access to all episodes, including premium unreleased episodes, commercial-free at swordandscale.com

14 Feb 20151h

We finally have the pleasure of speaking to Diane Fanning, author of 13 true crime books and counting. She tells us the tragic story of Wesley and Jocelyn Earnest, a tale that serves as a fable to any young woman who has recently been separated from her spouse. This couple had such a good life ahead of them, but somehow it all fell apart due to the lust, greed and hatred of one man. It seems inconceivable to most, and the tragic tale is further highlighted and enhanced once you realize what a sweet and wonderful person the victim actually was, and what a monster her husband was. A man who was willing to do anything to achieve a certain status in the eyes of others, and in doing so he destroyed everything around him; a man who thought he was smarter than everyone else; a man who thought he could get away with anything, even murder.Get instant access to all episodes, including premium unreleased episodes, commercial-free at swordandscale.com

8 Feb 201559min