Sharing this replay of part of of my converastion with Steve Demoura on the 25th anniversary of her disappearance. Is Debra Melo in Taunton? So many of you are interested in Debra's story. Debra Melo is missing. TODAY marks 25 years that she disappeared. This is an important story to tell. She did not just leave. There was no reason to walk away from her family, her daughter, her son. This is part two of Debra’s story, with Steve Demoura, Debra's brother-in-law and dedicated advocate to get just...
Jun 20, 2025•54 min
Originally released in December 2024, I take a closer look at the unsettling case of 30-year-old Debra Melo , who vanished on June 20, 2000, under deeply suspicious circumstances. Debra had been trying to leave a controlling relationship with her husband, Luis Melo. According to him, they argued on the way home from her doctor’s appointment in Weymouth, Massachusetts, and she asked to be let out of the car on busy Route 18. He claimed he returned to find her gone—but Debra’s pocketbook, wallet, ...
Jun 20, 2025•51 min
This month marks the 25th anniversary of two unsovled cases, Debra Melo and Molly Bish, who disappeared 7 days apart in 2000; a gathering for Debra is this Fri 6/20 in Taunton, MA, Molly's family gathers on 6/28 in Warren. New England Serial Killer History Series | What makes a serial killer? Why are we interested in knowing? We cannot predict whether someone will become a psychopath, but when someone is discovered to be a psychopathic killer, you can often trace it back to their childhood. The ...
Jun 13, 2025•44 min•Season 4Ep. 88
Jolly Jane Toppin, a nurse in late 19th century Lowell, Massachusetts, became one of New England's most prolific serial killers, confessing to 31 murders and claiming responsibility for 100 deaths. Her story reveals how she used her position as a trusted caregiver to poison patients and family members while deriving sexual pleasure from watching them die. The haunting legacy of "Jolly Jane" Toppin still echoes through Massachusetts more than a century after her crimes. Born Honora Kelley to stru...
May 30, 2025•40 min•Season 4Ep. 87
Veteran crime reporter Bob Ward of Boston 25 News joins me for a candid conversation about the recent online hysteria surrounding a New England serial killer after 12 people have been recovered around Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Drawing from his nearly three decades as host of "New England's Unsolved," Bob shares the profound impact of covering cases like Theresa Corley's 1978 murder—a young woman he personally knew before her death. This intimate connection frames a deeper discussion about ...
May 09, 2025•1 hr 14 min•Season 4Ep. 86
What do Auntie Em, Dropkick Murphys, Mr. Ballen, and HoJos have in common? We roll into Quincy for a look and a story. A Missing Mom Mystery. Sandra Crispo vanished from her Hanson, Massachusetts home on August 7, 2019. She left her beloved dog, Clarance, behind without food or water and her home unlocked with lights and air conditioning running. She was living her best life in her new home and spending quality hours with her young grandsons. Six years later, her case remains unsolved despite ev...
Apr 25, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Season 4Ep. 85
Justice is coming for Charline at last! News broke this week in her 16-year-old murder case. The first real hope for justice for Charline and her family. On Thursday, April 10, Middlesex County District Attorney Marion Ryan announced the arrest of Heinsky Anacreon, age 38, of Malden, Mass, who was indicted by a Middlesex County grand jury on charges of murder, willfully misleading a police officer and willfully misleading an attorney, charging him with first-degree murder in this cold case that ...
Apr 11, 2025•16 min•Season 4Ep. 84
More from our sold out live in March. We have decades worth of unsolved mysteries and forgotten tragedies in our own backyards. In this continuation of our show at Off Cabot in Beverly, Mass, in March, we plunge into the case of Beryl Atherton—a 47-year-old schoolteacher brutally murdered in her Marblehead home during a 1950 Nor'easter, her throat cut in the sign of a cross. Decades later, her killer remains unidentified and her story largely untold. Beyond the details of these chilling cases li...
Apr 04, 2025•39 min
The North Shore presents a postcard-perfect façade of historic towns and scenic coastline, beneath this charming exterior lies a darker history of unsolved mysteries that have haunted local communities for decades. During a sold-out live show at Off Cabot in Beverly, Massachusetts, we pulled back the curtain on cold cases that continue to echo through North Shore communites, revealing how justice finally arrived for Claire Gravel, a Salem State sophomore murdered in 1986, when DNA evidence ident...
Apr 04, 2025•1 hr 15 min•Season 4Ep. 82
Elizabeth Short grew up in Medford, Massachusetts. Her story has the most brutal of endings. Elizabeth's death has been twisted and exploited for nearly eight decades, transforming a young woman searching for her place in the world into the infamous "Black Dahlia." Beyond the gruesome headlines lies a more poignant truth – Elizabeth was simply searching for belonging in post-war America when her life was brutally cut short in January 1947. Elizabeth's story begins with abandonment during the Gre...
Mar 28, 2025•45 min•Season 4Ep. 81
Elizabeth Short in life, The Black Dahlia in death. What do people really understand about the woman before she became the poster girl for true crime curiousities? Most know her as the Black Dahlia, but few know Elizabeth Short was a young woman whose life was marked by tragedy long before her brutal 1947 murder made headlines across America. In part one, we separate fact from fiction in the life of Elizabeth Short, who was born and raised in Medford, Massachusetts. Her tragic story has been sen...
Mar 07, 2025•27 min•Season 4Ep. 80
Reina Carolina Morales Rojas was last seen on Saturday, November 26, 2022 when she left her apartment in her East Boston neighborhood. She was seen getting into a vehicle that was headed to Somerville - reportedly to a friend's house. She is believed to have entered that building on Alston St. That is the extent of what we know. But we didn't know it until she was missing for 45 days. The Boston Police Department would eventually acknowledge their obvious negligence in notifying the public. Ther...
Feb 21, 2025•56 min•Season 4Ep. 79
This is about the abuse of children by those who should be trusted figures. Listen with care. Episode 78, part two of my conversation with Melanie Perkins McLaughlin, host of Open Investigation , the 9-part investigative podcast, and documentary filmmaker of " Have You Seen Andy ?", we explore classism, child exploitation, and the vital role of advocacy in creating safer communities for all children and adult survivors of CSA, revealing dark realities and how society was largely silent or ignora...
Feb 03, 2025•1 hr 27 min•Season 4Ep. 78
This is about missing and murdered children. Listen with care. In episode 77, Melanie Perkins McLaughlin, creator and host of Open Investigation , the 8-part investigative podcast, and documentary filmmaker of " Have You Seen Andy ?" shares her story of her missing childhood friend, Andy Puglisi, and the new discoveries in his almost 50-year-old unsolved case. Melanie recounts meeting Andy - the cute older boy - their blossoming friendship, and the last day she spent with him. Within hours of he...
Jan 24, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Season 4Ep. 77
This is about abuse, missing, and murdered children. Listen with care. In preparation for Friday's new episode with Melanie Perkins McLaughlin, a replay of Andy Puglisi's case first released in June 2023, in two parts. There are many updates to this story, despite it being a decades-long mystery. Explore the haunting case of Andy Puglisi, a young boy who vanished from a public pool in 1976, spotlighting the societal attitudes towards missing children during that time. There was no system in plac...
Jan 22, 2025•1 hr 3 min
This is about abuse, missing, and murdered children. Listen with care. In preparation for Friday's new episode with Melanie Perkins McLaughlin, a replay of Andy Puglisi's case first released in June 2023, in two parts. There are many updates to this story, despite the decades-long mystery. In part one, we explore the haunting case of 10-year-old Andy Puglisi, the boy who vanished from his neighborhood, spotlighting the societal attitudes towards missing children during that time. The discussion ...
Jan 22, 2025•49 min
In episode 76, I revisit the Attiin Shaw case in Washburn, Maine (I did an episode earlier this year with Brandie of Evaporate the Missing). I dug deeper into her story and those of two other Northern Maine missing people who've been in the news very recently - Stephanie Damron (New Sweden) and Erik Foote (Washburn). It's not good. It never is. Missing in Maine, three stories, and one town's involvement in a tragic outcome that did not have to be. This episode examines the circumstances surround...
Dec 11, 2024•53 min•Season 4Ep. 76
EP 75: The Vanishing of Tammy Belanger: A Dark Anniversary This month marks the 40th anniversary of the disappearance of 8-year-old Tammy Belanger from Exeter, New Hampshire. Tammy’s story is one that many in Southern New Hampshire know all too well, but the dark truth behind her abduction is still haunting. In this episode, we explore the mystery of what happened to Tammy after she was last seen crossing the street on her usual walk to school on November 13, 1984. Tammy’s case is eerily linked ...
Nov 22, 2024•55 min•Season 4Ep. 75
North Shore Crime Cases was recorded live on October 10, 2024 at Off Cabot in Beverly, Mass. This bonus episode features questions from our audience in an open Q+A setting. Nothing was off limits. Episode: https://www.crimeofthetruestkind.com/post/ep74northshorecases Join us for a captivating journey through some of the North Shore of Massachusetts' most perplexing crime cases like that of Susan Taraskiewicz's unsolved murder and the person who found her body, the true gift that Colleen Ritzer, ...
Nov 07, 2024•51 min
Our live shows have become something special. We have enjoyed hosting them and plan many more in the year ahead because it is important to share empathetic storytelling, to keep these stories alive as time passes and victims of these stories are being forgotten about. Special thanks to Sean and Stephanie and the Brodie family. Episode page: https://www.crimeofthetruestkind.com/post/ep74northshorecases Join us for a captivating journey as we navigate true crime with some of the North Shore of Mas...
Nov 07, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 4Ep. 74
A true crime collaboration with the insightful and kind, Nina Innsted , creator and host of the Already Gone podcast. Together we explore the intricate world of missing persons cases, the truth about the rise of disturbing social media scams exploiting missing persons, grim realities faced by families of missing and murdered loved ones, and the critical need to strengthen resources and data to tell the whole story. Nina covers The Great Lakes region on Already Gone so, as I do, I learned a bit a...
Oct 23, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Season 4Ep. 73
Bonus episode! A transcontinental true crime collaboration. And it's a real whodunit. Centuries later, the most notorious murder case in Massachusetts history is explored with our friends across the pond, Nicky and Lisa, hosts of The Red Rabbit Hole podcast. In part one of two, we unravel the infamous case of the Borden murders in Fall River, Massachusetts and the main - and only - suspect, the daughter, 32-year-old Lizzie Borden. She was called many things, spinster, old maid, “bachelor girl” a...
Oct 17, 2024•39 min
In part two, we continue our conversation with Charline's sister, Rose, as we look closely at the events surrounding her 2009 murder in Somerville, Mass, and the suspicion among people known to her. We look at whether there was a plot to lure Charline to a familiar location under the guise of a great deal on a nice car, and rob her of the money she had for the purchase. Anyone with information about Charline Rosemond’s murder, please call the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office at 781-897-6600....
Oct 09, 2024•41 min•Season 4Ep. 72
Charline Rosemond, a vibrant 23-year-old woman who dreamed big and lived bigger. With help from her younger sister, Rose, we tell the story of Charline’s life and unravel the details of her tragic death in April 2009, and get to understand what families like the Rosemonds face as they seek justice for her murder through their grief and frustration. We explore the emotional landscape of Charline’s case, painting a picture of her life, her dreams, her plans, against the unknowing, then the unbeara...
Oct 02, 2024•53 min•Season 4Ep. 71
Episode 70 | This week is a bonus! The show will continue on a biweekly release schedule. This is a special episode continuing my conversation with Susanne Cleveland of Justice for Sandra Birchmore. There is a lot that needs to be said and there is much more to come in the weeks ahead for her case and the man who has been arrested and charged in her murder. Subjects discussed include sexual abuse, coercive control, self harm, homicide, police misconduct. Sometimes I swear. Listen with care. Sand...
Sep 18, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Season 4Ep. 70
Episode 69 | Justice For Sandra Birchmore (part one) Subjects include sexual abuse, miscarriage, coercive control, self harm, suicide, homicide, police misconduct and WAP by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion. Sometimes I swear. Listen with care. *Episode updated to reflect additional information provided by Sandra's family members Sandra's case has been languishing for over 3 years (minus a decade of abuse). In August 2024, Matthew Farwell, a former Stoughton, Massachusetts police officer was arre...
Sep 11, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Season 4Ep. 69
In remembrance of Holly, on the 31st anniversary of her disappearance. Holly's abduction and murder remain unresolved. .. .. .. Thirty years ago today, 10-year-old Holly Piirainen was enjoying a lazy summer day with her family at their vacation cottage in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. What should have been an innocent visit with a litter of puppies nearby turned into a decades-long nightmare for her family. Holly disappeared. The only trace of her was one red sneaker. She would be found two and a h...
Aug 05, 2024•1 hr 4 min
Coming September 2024, the nine-part investigative podcast that picks up where the Emmy Award-winning documentary, Have You Seen Andy? , leaves off. Hosted by Melanie Perkins McLaughlin, whose decades-long investigation about her missing childhood friend, Andy Puglisi, who went missing in 1976 from the public pool in Lawrence, Massachusetts, includes hundreds of interviews, multiple searches, and many unanswered questions. Open Investigation Podcast Support the show Follow Instagram | Facebook |...
Jul 17, 2024•1 min
In this bonus episode, recorded live at Faces Brewing Co. in Malden, Mass, we explore local cold cases. With journalist Emily Sweeney, we uncover the intricate details behind some of the state's most perplexing unsolved crimes. We mark the anniversary of Debra Melo's mysterious disappearance. The case of 30-year-old Taunton mother who went missing in 2000 continues to pose questions about the people closest to her. We call for the public's involvement to keep her memory alive and push for answer...
Jul 05, 2024•1 hr 21 min
Late Release! Coming in hot with the history on this one with the Corpse Flower, The Tot Finder, a Nine-Alarm Fire, and The Wizard of Oz/Darkside of The Moon, The Beaneaters, and the Great Molasses Flood of 1919. The Molassacre. A Molasstrophe. That's what happens when 2 million gallons of molasses explodes onto the narrow streets of the North End, in a bizarre and unbelievable story of Boston's dark wave of history. On January 15, 1919, a 26 million pound dark wave of stickiness surged through ...
Jun 29, 2024•44 min
