A Deserted Desert Discovery - The Homicide of Dr. Thomas Burchard

The death of Jeffrey Epstein has been debated since the minute it was announced to the world. On this episode of Body Bags, Joseph Scott Morgan will share what it was like to be on the air with the news and notice "red flags" as certain parts of the death story didn't seem to be correct. Joseph Scott Morgan and Dave Mack will break down the death of Jeffrey Epstein. Did Jeffrey Epstein commit suicide, or was he murdered?  Transcript Highlights  00:01:17 Joe hears story about where the meanest men in America live  00:04:47 Joseph Scott Morgan talks about covering Epstein death  00:08:23 Discuss first attack/suicide attempt   00:11:45 Talk about unusual circumstances  00:14:37 Discuss conflicting statements about noose  000:17:15 Talk about Epstein allowed unmonitored phone call   00:18:23 Discuss no cellmate to attack or stop suicide  00:20:33 Talk about two nooses in the cell  00:22:42 Discussion of cell condition and contents  00:25:49 Talk about July 23rd event  00:29:25 Discuss observing body at time of death  00:32:25 Talk about putting hospital gown on Epstein  00:34:03 Mark Epstein told his brother may have been dead 2 hours or more  00:37:40 Talk about Epstein body wheeled into hospital  00:40:34 Discussion of hyoid bone  00:42:05 Discuss facts of the body at time of death  00:44:24 Discuss agreement overturned regarding suicide  00:45:14 Talk about autopsy, who was present  00:47:00 Discuss distribution of force  00:48:16 Mentions that noose wasn't collected for evidence. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

16 Jan 202448min

When a panicked husband calls 911 for help saying his wife has overdosed the first officer on the scene notices some pretty big red flags. The forensics tell the story of what killed Maria Munoz, but Joseph Scott Morgan and Dave Mack will dig deeper to find out what really happened to a Texas mom with a penchant for writing in her journal, about everything.  Transcript Highlights  00:01:29 Talk about nurses, great investigators  00:03:21 Discussion of body cam  00:04:45 Talk about scene, shadows  00:05:31 Talk about what police expect based on 911 call  00:06:55 Discussion of relationship   00:08:37 Talk about surgery, different duties  00:10:20 Talk about steroid use  00:11:08 Talk about husband being suspicious  00:12:06 Discussion of red flags  00:13:45 Talk about husband pockets pill bottle  00:15:38 Talk about medicine bottle on scene  00:21:00 Talk about medical pro letting police officer take over cpr  00:22:44 Discussion of husband talking to police  00:24:59 Discussion of Police body cam  00:27:21 Talk about how to find needle hole in arm  00:29:24 Discussion of suspect   00:31:48 Talk about scenes involving drugs  00:34:07 Discussion of home dynamics  00:35:55 Discussion of medical careers  00:40:48 Talk about tox screen   00:43:52 Discussion of toxicology report  00:45:37 Talk about how drugs were used  00:48:18 Discussion about Maria diary entries  00:49:44 Diary and Toxicology gave jury no choice   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

11 Jan 202447min

Savanah Soto, 18, and her boyfriend Matthew Guerra, 22, are reported missing the day before Savanah is to have labor induced for their baby. Their car is found, and Savanah is found dead in the front passenger seat with Matthew shot to death in the back seat.On this episode of Body Bags, Joseph Scott Morgan and Dave Mack break down the truth from fiction in the saddest story from what should be the happiest of times.        Transcript Highlights  00:01:54 Talk about having a child  00:03:23 Talk about responsibility  00:05:53 Discussion of age of victims  00:07:49 Talk about family dynamic   00:09:24 Discussion about safety  00:12:53 Talk about location of bodies in the car  00:14:33 Discussion of Matthew being drug into back seat  00:16:12 Discussion of what long hair means to crime scene  00:18:42 Talk about where victims were murdered  00:19:46 Windows in the kia are dark  00:22:01 What is being said between truck driver and kia?  00:23:48 Discussion of people traveling with body in car  00:25:52 Baby is autopsied too  00:26:59Talk about Baby birth after death  00:28:23 Talk about Matthew identified quickly  00:32:36 Kia Optima located  00:34:58 Phone Pings will help find more cameras  00:35:55 Talk about bad cameras, great picture of suspects  00:37:01 Discussion of DNA that will likely be found   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

9 Jan 202437min

The Idaho house where Madison Mogen , Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin were murdered has been demolished.   Prosecution and Defense were both in agreement about the resident being demolished before the trial. Join Joseph Scott Morgan and Dave Mack as they discuss what might be missed and who might be helped by the biggest pieced of evidence being destroyed.    Transcript Highlights  00:01:08 Talk about why the odd shaped home had to come down  00:02:18 Discussion about destroying house before trial  00:03:47 Compare being able to visit the home of Lizzie Borden   00:05:47 Discussion of taking down horrible crime scenes  00:08:33 Comparing evidence like knife to house, would a picture of knife be sufficient  00:09:06 Discussion of both sides in agreement in taking building down  00:11:28 Talk about how to tell if someone could hear noise from top to bottom of house  00:13:36 Discussion of first-person perspective  00:15:48 Discussion of Parkland scene  00:17:42 Talk about taking jury to crime scene  00:19:26 Discussion of house layout – would killer have to be familiar  00:20:39 Talk about moving around rooms in the dark  00:21:53 Discussion about seeing size of rooms and 'ear' witness 00:24:15 Talk about effective documentation  00:26:23 Discussion about where suspect entered home  00:27:07 Discussion about room size  00:29:51 Talk about dynamic distribution of blood, being able to see it in context  00:31:32 Discussion of Jeffrey MacDonald case, jury saw murder scene in house  00:32:4 Talk about without house, no way to know where sound would go  00:33:51 Discussion comparing Gettysburg site to a house   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

4 Jan 202434min

Timothy Ferguson's mother calls police. Her son is unresponsive. Timothy Ferguson is also 15-years-old weighing just 69 pounds when he died of malnutrition and hypothermia.  Join Joseph Scott Morgan and Dave Mack as they detail -Timothy Ferguson's painful life at the hands of his evil mother and brother. The teen lives on a diet of water and bread soaked in hot sauce,  followed by ice baths.        Transcript Highlights 00:00:00 Joseph Scott Morgan shares memories of Grandmother cooking chicken  00:04:15 Discussion of Timothy Ferguson, 15, starved to death by his mother 00:05:37 Discussion of food being used as mechanism for torture 00:06:52 Talk about Shanda Vander Ark fled Oklahoma with children 00:08:56 Explanation of how using food as a ‘kindness’  00:11:05 Talk about dark choices made by Shanda Vander Ark regarding her son  00:13:05 Discussion of Timothy’s older brother Paul being involved in the abuse 00:14:51 Joseph Scott Morgan describes “impact: injury – slapped, punched. 00:15:28 Talk about how common that one child will be chosen for abuse while other siblings abuse victim as well  00:16:14 Discussion about abuse,  malnutrition impossible to hide 00:17:15 How to determine how long Timothy was abused 00:18:35 Description - malnutrition can “stunt growth”.  00:20:40 Discussion of Shanda Vander Ark Defense, claims she had PTSD 00:21:51 Joseph Scott Morgan explains how Timothy Ferguson was digesting his own fat cells due to malnutrition  00:22:58 Timothy Ferguson’s body already compromised  00:26:41 Timothy Ferguson was given bread and water, and hot sauce for torture  00:27:56 Talk about hot sauce “Carolina Reaper” being placed on bread for Ferguson to eat  00:29:00 Discussion of Timothy Ferguson being kept in tiny room under stairs, developing bed sores  00:30:56 Description of Timothy Ferguson breathing out of his mouth like fish out of water  00:32:09 Discussion of Ice Bath’s used to punish Timothy Ferguson  00:33:28 Timothy Ferguson never recovered from last Ice Bath, cause of death – hypothermia and malnutrition  00:36:02 Discussion of food – mother chained refrigerator and cabinets in kitchen  00:38:00 Verdict - Shanda Vander Ark, guilty of murder, son Paul guilty of Child Abuse See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

2 Jan 202438min

The opioid crisis has brought death and devastation to families all over the world and fentanyl has only made things worse. On this episode of Body Bags, Joseph Scott Morgan and Dave Mack will take a close look at three very different cases involving fentanyl that all have the same end result, death. A wife allegedly uses fentanyl as a weapon to kill her husband, a 20-year-old faces second-degree murder for giving a teen girl a pill with fentanyl, and a toddler is dead when he comes into contact with fentanyl in his daycare.        Transcript Highlights  00:00:00 Discussion: To be free from pain.  00:01:44 Talk about from Tylenol to Fentanyl   00:02:53 Discussion of population desiring to be free from pain, self-medicating   00:04:43 Talk about the opioid crisis  00:07:28 Discussion about the strength of fentanyl   00:10:16 Joe points out how fentanyl can be pressed into other drugs  00:11:51 Description of what an overdose from opioid looks like  00:13:01 Discussing three fentanyl related cases today; Kouri Richins, NYC daycare, and 15-year-old dead from pill  00:14:38 Talk about murder charge in death of 15-year-old girl 00:16:46 Discussion of coroner ruling drug overdose as a “homicide”  00:18:35 Talk about California case, 15-year-old dies from fentanyl  00:22:35 Discussion of pills made in a garage rather than a laboratory  00:23:43 Talk about a 22-month-old child in a daycare exposed to fentanyl  00:26:49 Discussion of “binders” used in making the pills 00:28:48 Description of toddlers in daycare with fentanyl kept directly underneath “nap mats”  00:30:58 Fentanyl used as weapon, tasteless, odorless  00:32:36 Talk about Kouri Richins alleged attempts to poison husband  00:34:33 How to determine if drug was taken as recreation or used as weapon  00:36:01 Discussion of opioid deaths  00:38:36 Talk about tox screen  00:40:28 Discussion of Fentanyl and therapeutic levels  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

28 Dec 202336min

When Camille Balla calls a coworker and says "I think I killed my mother", the coworker calls 911 on her way to Balla's mother's house. Police find a scene straight out of a horror movie as the follow a blood splatter trail leading to the body of Francisca Monteiro-Balla. Checking the body for vitals an officer notices something on a box a few feet away. It isn't something anyone expects to see, two eyeballs, sitting on a box, appearing to watch the officers as they try to save the life of Francisca Monteiro-Balla. Join Joseph Scott Morgan and Dave Mack as they take a close-up look at a case that is just as scary and strange at the beginning as it is in the end.    Transcript Highlights 00:01:26 Joseph Scott Morgan compares Lewis Powell screaming “I am Mad” to  Camille Balla screaming “I am a murderer”  00:02:50 Talk about Police arrive to scene and find woman’s eyes removed  00:04:05 Dave Mack breaks down story of Camille Balla calls co-worker and tells her “I think I killed my mother”  00:06:12 Talk about County Jail versus prison  00:08:05 Discussion about Camille Balla screaming “I’m a murderer”  00:10:08 Discussion of bloody crime scene, eyeballs removed from victim, placed on cardboard box  00:11:25 Describing difference between blood “spatter” and blood “splatter”  00:13:46 Discussion about victim’s injuries  00:16:01 Talk about the fight between mother and daughter, and eyeballs removed from victim  00:17:56 Joe describes removal of eyeball  00:20:37 Discussion of suspect removing eyes from the front  00:22:43 Talk about Camille Balla claims to have smoked marijuana laced with Flocka prior to attack on her mother  00:26:12 Discussion of charges being reduced from First-Degree Murder to Manslaughter  00:28:34 Talk about broken glass around scene, blood from perpetrator and victim co-mingled making thing forensically more complicated  00:29:06 Camille Balla pleaded guilty to manslaughter, sentenced to 15-years in prison followed by 15-years on probation.    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

26 Dec 202332min

An adult female body is found outside of Council Bluffs city limits. The body was found with bruises all over her body, a large laceration on her head, her body was  found frozen to the ground. Also, her face is missing. The body is of a woman who has been missing for 11 days, 60-year-old Ilene Gowan. Investigators will use everything at their disposal to determine how the grandmother ended up dead in a ditch without her face, and who is responsible for her death. Join Joseph Scott Morgan and Dave Mack as they breakdown a case that includes forensics of a frozen body as well as the latest video surveillance tools that creates a timeline that builds a map leading right to the killer.   Transcript Highlights  00:00:06 Joseph Scott Morgan talks about scene of crime  00:02:42 Victim 60-year-old woman, without a face  00:04:00 Talk about victim and suspect relationship  00:06:22 Brammer does not report girlfriend missing  00:07:44 Talk about remains being discarded like trash  00:09:48 Discussion about alcohol and relationships   00:11:21 Victim is missing for 11 days   00:12:49 Talk about remains still frozen at autopsy  00:16:46 Discussion of weather on decomposition   00:18:32 Talk about arriving to scene of crime  00:22:54 Discussion about Pathologist in the field   00:24:01 Victim face is missing  00:27:19 Timeline: victim last seen on 13, reported missing on 15th  00:30:37 Discussion of Post-Mortem and Anti-Mortem  00:31:36 Video evidence of Brammer in truck with victim  00:33:34 Discussion of victim cause of death  00:34:39 Talk about wounds  00:37:10 Discussion about Dr. Michael Baden brought in for second opinion  00:38:50 Brammer deposits $1,500 in his bank account day Ilene is reported missing  00:39:46 Discussion about face missing due to animal life  00:41:46 Brammer has truck crushed and shredded  00:42:08 Brammer was found guilty of second-degree murder, abuse of a corpse, and second-degree theft.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

21 Dec 202341min