Unsolved: The Golden Years Murders with Brew Crime

It is day eight of our 12 Nightmares Before Christmas. At 5:45 a.m. on May 12, 2005, Michael Ross woke up and got out of bed as usual. It was a partly cloudy morning in Somers, Connecticut, and the day would be warm and pleasant. At 6:00 a.m., Michael had oatmeal for breakfast, then watched television and read the newspaper. After reading for a while, he received communion from a Catholic priest. The day was going well—pretty typical for him, actually. He visited with family and friends in the afternoon for a few hours. The only thing unusual about Michael’s dinner of turkey a la king, rice, fruit, mixed vegetables, and white bread was that it would be his last because, a few hours later, Michael Ross was executed by the state of Connecticut. It was the first execution in the state of Connecticut since Joseph “Mad Dog” Taborsky was electrocuted in 1960. Join Jen and Cam of Our True Crime Podcast on this episode entitled 'The Roadside Strangler: Michael Bruce Ross.'Thank you to our team:Written and researched by Lauretta AllenListener Discretion by Edward October from Octoberpod AMExecutive Producer Nico Vitesse of The Inky PawprintSources:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mAMXqN0Eaw (If you watch or listen to one thing on Michael Ross, watch this one. It's the one Jen spoke about.)https://murderpedia.org/male.R/r1/ross-michael.htmhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Bruce_Rosshttps://www.newspapers.com/image/972592729/?match=1&terms=1.%09Dzung%20Ngoc%20Tu%20https://www.newspapers.com/image/254927798/?match=1&terms=1.%09Dzung%20Ngoc%20Tu%20https://web.archive.org/web/20050616003937/http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/06/14/rossexecution.letter.ap/index.htmlhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7144278/https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/175726038/dzung-ngoc-tuhttps://magazine.nd.edu/stories/my-name-is-michael-ross/ (in his own words)https://www.newspapers.com/image/490184513/?match=1&terms=%22Paula%20Perrera%22 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

20 Dec 202436min

As we start this episode, it is day seven of our 12 Nightmares Before Christmas. On Sunday, February 16, 1997, around 9:45 to 10:00 a.m., an employee arrived at Captain D’s restaurant on Lebanon Road in Donelson, Tennessee, ready to start another routine day. But as he approached the establishment, an unsettling sight greeted him: the doors were firmly locked, which should not have been the case since two other employees were scheduled to open earlier.  He went to a neighboring restaurant to call Captain D’s, and when he received a busy signal, he felt relief. After a few minutes, he tried again, but the phone continued to ring this time. He knew something was wrong. Concerned for his colleagues, he contacted another employee whose father served as a Metro police officer. When the employee’s father arrived at the scene, they entered the restaurant between 11 a.m. and noon. What they found was shocking.  In an instant, the routine of a Sunday morning was replaced by an unspeakable tragedy, and the community would soon grapple with the aftermath of this horrific crime. Sadly, this was just the beginning. Join Cam and Jen of Our True Crime Podcast on the episode “The Fast Food Murders: Paul Reid.”Listener discretion by @octoberpodVHSAll music is by our editor and executive producer @theinkypawprintSources:https://law.justia.com/cases/tennessee/court-of-criminal-appeals/2001/m1999-00803-cca-r3-dd.htmlhttps://www.yahoo.com/news/paul-dennis-reid-never-confessed-230942209.htmlhttps://www.reddit.com/r/serialkillers/comments/s8rviv/does_anyone_on_here_know_about_paul_dennis_reid/https://www.tba.org/journal/the-murders-of-paul-dennis-reid-jrhttps://web.archive.org/web/20060616222357/http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=3867https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/nashville-serial-killer-paul-dennis-reidhttps://web.archive.org/web/20070127141638/http://chattanoogan.com/articles/article_98859.asphttps://www.nashvillescene.com/news/convicted-mass-murderer-paul-dennis-reid-pronounced-dead/article_782aac80-7223-594f-b2ac-be4105f56968.htmlhttps://tubitv.com/tv-shows/320079/s02-e05-the-fast-food-killerhttps://web.archive.org/web/20110527105333/http://www.kwtx.com/news/headlines/4809806.htmlhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY22n_y5Msghttps://www.wbir.com/article/news/tennessee-mass-murderer-paul-dennis-reid-dead/51-95431900 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

19 Dec 202434min

It is day six of our 12 Nightmares Before Christmas, and we are headed to Germany. After World War II, Germany was divided into four Allied occupation zones, with the Soviet Union controlling East Germany and East Berlin, while the United States, France, and the U.K. managed Western Germany and West Berlin. By 1949, Europe had transformed dramatically, symbolized by the creation of two Germanies. Initially, movement between the two regions was unrestricted, but as East Germans fled westward in droves, the border was sealed in 1961, culminating in the Berlin Wall, a defining emblem of the Cold War.  In Plauen, East Germany, young Volker Eckert grew up in a Communist city near the Czech border. As a child, Volker developed a fixation on hair, playing with his sister’s dolls and mother’s wigs, which sparked sexual fantasies he kept secret. By age 14, his obsession with hair escalated into violence. On May 7, 1974, he strangled his classmate Sylvia Unterdörfel in her home under the pretense of needing help with homework, driven by an uncontrollable urge to feel her hair. Fearing exposure, he killed her and staged her death as a suicide. Sadly, Sylvia would not be his only victim. In fact, there would be many more. Join Jen and Cam of Our True Crime Podcast on this episode entitled ‘The Polaroid Killer: Volker Eckert.’A huge thank you to Sleep Creme for sponsoring this episode. Order your bottle today at sleepcreme.com. Use the code OTCPODCAST at checkout to save twenty bucks on the first order! Thank you to our team:Written and researched by Lauretta AllenListener Discretion by Edward October from Octoberpod AMExecutive Producer Nico Vitesse of The Inky PawprintSources:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8BLkEZ7zk0&ab_channel=Mia%27sRealityChannelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volker_Eckerthttps://murderpedia.org/male.E/e/eckert-volker.htmhttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jun/07/crimehttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/dec/01/germany.gilestremletthttps://web.archive.org/web/20120103001441/http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_11264.shtml#ixzz5TG24bAlwhttps://www.novinite.com/articles/73211/Bulgarian+Victim+of+German+Sex+Killer+was+Pregnanthttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/nov/23/germany.gilestremletthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Wall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

18 Dec 202432min

For the fifth day of our 12 Nightmares Before Christmas, we are headed north to Anchorage, Alaska, where we meet 52-year-old Mindy Schloss. Mindy had moved to Anchorage back in the 1980s by accident. Mindy came for a visit and never left. Mindy worked as a nurse practitioner in Fairbanks' psychiatric department. The commute from Anchorage to Fairbanks was a long one-hour flight, but Mindy had to make the trip twice a month. Her good friend Gerri would care for her cat Willy while she was gone working.  The friends would meet up before Mindy left for work, so when Gerri didn’t hear from Mindy, she called and left a message with Mindy checking in, but Mindy did not return the call, which was unlike Mindy. “Maybe she is just busy’ her friend thought. Mindy’s other friend, Bob Conway, her on-again and off-again boyfriend, reached out to Mindy as well, and when he could not leave a voicemail due to a full mailbox, he knew something was wrong. Bob called Gerri to inquire if she had heard from Mindy. When Gerri said no, they both felt something was wrong. Join Cam and Jen of Our True Crime Podcast on the episode “Cold Blooded Killer: Joshua Wade.”Listener Discretion is by @octoberpodVHSAll music is courtesy of our executive producer @theinkypawprintSources:https://alaskapublic.org/2024/06/21/alaska-serial-killer-joshua-wade-dies-in-indiana-prison/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Wadehttps://apnews.com/article/alaska-serial-killer-dies-prison-2e292616a49b5cd49eabb2f3256fd412https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/anchorage/news/convicted-killer-joshua-wade-claims-responsibilty-for-additional-murdershttps://www.oxygen.com/fatal-frontier-evil-in-alaska/crime-news/serial-killer-joshua-wade-is-found-dead-prisonhttps://archive.today/20220506153526/https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-alaska-man-sentenced-to-99-years-in-nurses-murder-2010feb17-story.htmlhttps://archive.today/20210625194748/https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/article/authorities-joshua-wade-admits-3-additional-killings-0/2014/06/20/https://archive.ph/20220506153526/https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-alaska-man-sentenced-to-99-years-in-nurses-murder-2010feb17-story.html#selection-2173.1-2201.114https://archive.ph/20210625194748/https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/article/authorities-Joshuaua-wade-admits-3-additional-killings-0/2014/06/20/https://archive.ph/20161127222923/https://www.adn.com/alaska-life/we-alaskans/2016/11/27/exceptional-account-traces-path-of-alaska-serial-killer-Joshuaua-wade/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

17 Dec 202442min

It is day four of our 12 Nightmares Before Christmas, and we are headed to the Midwest. Every city has trouble with crime. Just watch the news for an hour, and it’s pretty evident that violence occurs even in small communities, no matter how many disbelieving residents claim otherwise.  However, some cities statistically have a higher crime rate than others, and many reasons and factors contribute to that. According to the U.S. News Real Estate website, Kansas City, Kansas, located in the middle of the United States, has a slightly higher crime rate than the national average. In 2001, Kansas City had 10,909 violent crimes. Among those were 92 murders, 945 rapes, 7,449 assaults and 2,423 robberies. But, oddly enough, there was no category for “Death by Vampire Cannibal.”Join Jen and Cam of Our True Crime Podcast on this episode entitled ‘The Kansas City Vampire: Marc Sappington Day.’Thank you to our team:Written and researched by Lauretta AllenListener Discretion by Edward October from Octoberpod AMExecutive Producer Nico Vitesse of The Inky Paw PrintSources:https://youtube/Hv3ISDg811U?si=DtrujPt8oYKO-Lcwhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Sappingtonhttps://murderpedia.org/male.S/s/sappington-marc.htmhttps://www.crimelibrary.org/serial_killers/weird/sappington/1.htmlhttps://www.newspapers.com/image/686892606/?match=1&terms=%22Marc%20Sappington%22https://www.newspapers.com/image/686883369/match=1&terms=%22Marc%20Sappington%22https://www.newspapers.com/image/686887661/?match=1&terms=%22Marc%20Sappington%22https://www.newspapers.com/image/686895681/match=1&terms=%22Marc%20Sappington%22https://www.newspapers.com/image/686894452/?match=1&terms=%22Marc%20Sappington%22https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1977/06/11/schizophrenic-episodes-linked-to-the-drug-pcp/647db04d-f0c2-4a1e-aee5-2cdc458aa203/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

16 Dec 202436min

It is day 3 of our 12 Nightmares Before Christmas. In December 1995, 19-year-old Conan Wade Hale and his accomplice, Jon Susbauer, unleashed a wave of terror in Oregon. It began on December 4, when they ransacked a woman’s home, stealing valuables worth thousands and slashing furniture before fleeing. Days later, on December 16, they drove a stolen silver Chevrolet Suburban through Eugene and encountered two teenagers, Kara Krause and Jesse Jarvis, parked on a desolate road. After Susbauer posed as a property owner to engage the couple, a masked figure armed with a machete emerged from the darkness, forcing the teens to strip before sexually assaulting Kara. Both survived and later identified Susbauer as the "property owner," though only Jesse tentatively linked Hale to the attack. The duo escalated their spree on December 19, burglarizing another home to steal valuables, including a rabbit-fur jacket and a .38-caliber revolver, leaving behind more vandalism. By December 20, cruising the streets in the stolen Suburban, they crossed paths with Hale's 15-year-old ex-girlfriend Kristal Bendele and her friends. These young teens would not be as fortunate as those before. Join Jen and Cam of Our True Crime Podcast on this episode entitled “The Killer, the Confession and the Magazine Spread: Conan Hale.”Listener Discretion is courtesy of @octoberpodVHSAll music is courtesy of our editor and executive producer @theinkypawprintSources:https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19980516/2750951/man-guilty-of-triple-murderhttps://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=474https://www.lmtribune.com/northwest/priest-involved-in-jailhouse-confession-is-leaving-town02e73f9c/https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2020/05/whos-on-oregons-death-row-27-men-2-others-held-elsewhere.htmlhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1996/05/11/taping-of-jailhouse-confession-to-priest-creates-furor-in-oregon/fdc77ccb-fc07-4c85-850d-90e08855b90a/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1996/05/12/violating-the-confessional/e333b7df-bb5f-460b-b48c-af7a1c9f51be/https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/news-of-the-weird-6361362https://www.statesmanjournal.com/picture-gallery/news/crime/2016/11/14/oregon-death-row-inmates/93826530/https://casetext.com/case/hale-v-belleque-4https://murderpedia.org/male.H/h/hale-conan-wayne.htmhttps://nypost.com/2000/02/18/united-victims-of-benetton-families-speak-out-against-ads-that-honor-their-loved-ones-killers/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

15 Dec 202427min

We are headed west on day two of our 12 Nightmares Before Christmas. It was pitch black on a gorgeous night in the middle of the Arizona desert in October 2003. There was not a cloud in the sky, but billions of stars were observable by the naked eye because Bumble Bee Road is in the middle of nowhere. In every direction, there was nothing but 90,000 acres of rolling hills dotted with Saguaro cactus spikes. Brandon Rumbaugh, age 20, a personal fitness instructor, and his girlfriend, Lisa Marie Gurrieri, a nineteen-year-old secretary for the Salt River Project, were celebrating their one-year anniversary. They had initially wanted to go to Disneyland to commemorate the occasion, but it was too expensive. The couple had been discussing marriage, so they didn’t want to spend much money.  So, instead, they thought it would be romantic to go back to the Arizona desert and do some stargazing as they did on their first date. This time, though, they decided to camp out under the stars. Lisa had never been camping before, and the couple didn’t really have camping equipment either, so they asked Lisa’s mother, Paula, if they could borrow her brand-new white F-150 truck, and they would just sleep in the back of the vehicle with some sleeping bags. Paula wasn’t thrilled about them taking the truck since it needed an oil change, but in the end, she gave them permission. Lisa also borrowed her mother’s video camera. Then, Lisa made another request; she asked her mother not to tell her Uncle Mike where they were going because she knew that he’d be upset and worried about them. The area had become known as a “party destination. Unfortunately, it would turn out that Uncle Mike had every reason to worry.Join Jen and Cam of Our True Crime Podcast on this episode entitled ‘The Bumblebee Road Murders: Brandon Rumbaugh & Lisa Marie Gurrieri.’If you have any information about this case, please contact the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office or Silent Witness at 480–948–6377.Thank you to our team:Written and researched by Lauretta AllenListener Discretion by Edward October from Octoberpod AMExecutive Producer Nico Vitesse of The Inky PawprintSources:https://www.youtube.com/watchv=Vy0TYqOo_sg&ab_channel=RachelShannonTrueCrimehttps://www.findagrave.com/memorial/22764900/lisa-marie-gurrierihttps://www.newspapers.com/image/125512144/match=1&terms=Paula%20Gurrieri%20https://www.newspapers.com/image/125512236/match=1&terms=Paula%20Gurrieri%20https://www.newspapers.com/image/125513123/match=1&terms=Paula%20Gurrieri%20https://www.newspapers.com/image/125454864/match=1&terms=Paula%20Gurrieri%20https://www.newspapers.com/image/125254509/match=1&terms=Paula%20Gurrieri%20 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

14 Dec 202432min

On the first day of our Seventh Annual "12 Nightmares Before Christmas," we are heading just north of us to Fairfield, Iowa.  On November 2, 2021, the community of Fairfield, Iowa, was devastated when beloved Spanish teacher Nohema Graber, 66, went missing. She hadn’t been heard from since she set out for her daily walk in Chautauqua Park. Just one day later, on November 3, her badly beaten body was discovered—mere hours after she was reported missing. Authorities found her remains concealed beneath a tarp, a wheelbarrow, and railroad ties. The police confirmed that Graber had suffered significant trauma to the head. This cruel act shattered the peace of a close-knit community, leaving residents not only devastated but grappling with a haunting question: what could drive someone to commit such an unthinkable act of violence? The answer would emerge just days later, but the age of the perpetrators and the motive behind their actions would leave the community speechless.Join Cam and Jen of Our True Crime Podcast to discuss “The Brutal Murder of Nohema Graber.”Special thank you to Abby Stout, who suggested this case to us. Listener Discretion by @octoberpodVHSMusic by our EP Nico @theinkypawprintSources:https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/crime/nohema-graber-jeremy-goodale-willard-mille-b2448484.htmlhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRV4LzHE71khttps://www.cbsnews.com/news/jeremy-goodale-iowa-teen-sentenced-killing-spanish-teacher-nohema-graber/https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-courts/2023/07/06/fairfield-teacher-murder-teen-gets-life-in-prison-at-sentencing/70387288007/https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/nohema-graber-why-spanish-teacher-070137251.htmlhttps://www.reddit.com/r/TrueCrimeDiscussion/comments/18vij6a/november_2021_two_teens_planned_executed_and/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66111470https://www.facebook.com/nohema.m.graber/https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-courts/2022/03/22/iowa-teens-jeremy-goodale-willard-miller-nohema-graber-bat-snapchat-court-documents/7135981001/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nohema-graber-murder-willard-miller-jeremy-goodale-killed-spanish-teacher-over-bad-grade-iowa-prosecutor-says/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

13 Dec 202437min