Episode 353: Melissa Lamesch

In the spring of 2006, 27-year-old Ohio State medical student Brian Shaffer walked into a popular Columbus bar called the Ugly Tuna Saloona, and was never seen again. Surveillance footage captured him entering the bar around 1:55 a.m., but he never appeared on camera leaving. No signs of a struggle. No phone activity. No trace. Nearly two decades later, Brian’s disappearance remains one of the most haunting and confounding cold cases in modern true crime history. In episode 361, Jac and Lex unravel the night Brian disappeared, the theories that won’t die, and the question that haunts everyone who’s ever heard his story: how does someone vanish into thin air? 🎟 Catch up to FOUR bonus episodes per month plus full video episodes over on Patreon: patreon.com/thefirstdegree 📸 Instagram: instagram.com/thefirstdegree 🕺 TikTok: tiktok.com/@thefirstdegreee 👤 Facebook: facebook.com/thefirstdegree   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

23 Jul 202553min

This week we literally cannot get over the gaslighting that’s happening with Jeffrey Epstein. Tin foil hats are staying on until further notice. We also dive into the Annabelle doll haunting (and…murder??), a man begging to be cursed by satanists and witches, a Christmas present that ended up being a severed toe, and a TikTok cult growing in real time. Like we said…tin foil hats ON.  🎟 Catch up to FOUR bonus episodes per month plus full video episodes over on Patreon: patreon.com/thefirstdegree 📸 Instagram: instagram.com/thefirstdegree 🕺 TikTok: tiktok.com/@thefirstdegreee 👤 Facebook: facebook.com/thefirstdegree   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

17 Jul 202542min

On June 6, 1986, a single mom of three awakes to find her 4-year-old daughter has been abducted from her bed near Lexington, South Carolina. The family is desperate to find her. The girl’s sister tells law enforcement she saw a man in a ‘magic hat’ carry her sister out the window. However, there is no sign of the youngster. The days, weeks, months, and years pass without answers as the missing girl’s mother battles racism, corruption, and a bungled police investigation that ignores key evidence. Finally, decades after the abduction, and with the involvement of a private investigator, an arrest is made. The young girl’s family is entirely unsurprised at the perpetrator’s identity - it was someone they suspected all along. In episode 360, Jac and Alexis detail the heartbreaking abduction and murder of Jessica Gutierrez at the hands of Thomas Eric McDowell, and the importance of law enforcement listening to families, instead of stonewalling them. 🎟 Catch up to FOUR bonus episodes per month plus full video episodes over on Patreon: patreon.com/thefirstdegree 📸 Instagram: instagram.com/thefirstdegree 🕺 TikTok: tiktok.com/@thefirstdegreee 👤 Facebook: facebook.com/thefirstdegree   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

16 Jul 202554min

This week we’re diving into the absolute joke of the justice department declaring that “Jeffree Epstein DID in fact kill himself in prison and there is no ‘client list’”  Yeah, sure Jan.  We also chat about inmate immaculate conception, toothbrushes getting stuck in small intestines, fake Disneyland weddings, smuggling hundreds of tortillas on airplanes, and who the hell is Jacky Jhaj??? 🎟 Catch up to FOUR bonus episodes per month plus full video episodes over on Patreon: patreon.com/thefirstdegree 📸 Instagram: instagram.com/thefirstdegree 🕺 TikTok: tiktok.com/@thefirstdegreee 👤 Facebook: facebook.com/thefirstdegree   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

10 Jul 202541min

In February 2025, a college freshman is reported missing from her dorm at CU Boulder. Days later, her body is discovered in a canyon miles from campus, an area her family says she never would have gone alone. She is bruised and battered, missing one shoe, and both her phone and purse are gone. When those belongings later turn up in the possession of strangers, Megan’s family braces for answers. But what they get instead is a ruling of suicide, leaving them reeling and desperate for answers. In episode 359, Jac and Alexis examine the mysterious death of Megan Trussell, and the relentless fight her parents are waging to get her case reopened. 🎟 Catch up to FOUR bonus episodes per month plus full video episodes over on Patreon: patreon.com/thefirstdegree 📸 Instagram: instagram.com/thefirstdegree 🕺 TikTok: tiktok.com/@thefirstdegreee 👤 Facebook: facebook.com/thefirstdegree   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

9 Jul 202546min

It’s been a terrible, horrible, no good very bad week, and we’re here to talk through all of the BS: Diddy being found not guilty of his most serious crimes (literally…HOW???), Bryan Kohberger pleads guilty to escape the death penalty, and we absolutely shit on the tacky and hypocritical mess that was Jeff Bezos & Lauren Sanchez’s wedding (and what’s realllyyy happening behind the scenes). 🎟 Catch up to FOUR bonus episodes per month plus full video episodes over on Patreon: patreon.com/thefirstdegree 📸 Instagram: instagram.com/thefirstdegree 🕺 TikTok: tiktok.com/@thefirstdegreee 👤 Facebook: facebook.com/thefirstdegree   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

3 Jul 202544min

When a woman made the life-changing decision to anonymously donate her kidney, she did it out of pure compassion for a total stranger. But what happens when that stranger doesn’t stay anonymous? When the recipient of your organ begins threatening your safety, and turning your act of selflessness into a nightmare? In episode  358, Jac and Lex delve into the harrowing story of one woman’s gift, and how it came back to haunt her. In a legal system unprepared for a case like this, she found herself caught in a web of fear, confusion, and emotional devastation. What do you do when the lines between medical ethics, personal safety, and criminal law blur? When the very act that saved someone’s life puts your own in danger? And in the end… could she ever make it stop? 🎟 Catch up to FOUR bonus episodes per month plus full video episodes over on Patreon: patreon.com/thefirstdegree 📸 Instagram: instagram.com/thefirstdegree 🕺 TikTok: tiktok.com/@thefirstdegreee 👤 Facebook: facebook.com/thefirstdegree   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

2 Jul 202542min

You’ve been asking us to deep dive The Yellow Deli (and the Twelve Tribes cult) for months now, and the day has finally come.  We’re diving into their “communal living” and “child discipline”, bizarre Sabbath gatherings, and disgusting beliefs.  Don’t be fooled by the friendly workers and delicious sandwiches…the Yellow Deli is a CULT.  Also, we touch on Shiloh Hill and the dark web blood cowboy boots and the latest headlines of the week. 🎟 Catch up to FOUR bonus episodes per month plus full video episodes over on Patreon: patreon.com/thefirstdegree 📸 Instagram: instagram.com/thefirstdegree 🕺 TikTok: tiktok.com/@thefirstdegreee 👤 Facebook: facebook.com/thefirstdegree   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

26 Jun 202550min