MURDER IN AMERICA is a true crime podcast that takes a state-by-state look at the most infamous homicides across the United States of America. Co-hosted by Courtney Shannon & Colin Browen (of "The Paranormal Files"), the two delve deep into the darkest tales of murder from each and every state, featuring a from a different state every week. Their passion for true crime, along with Colin's career in investigating paranormal activity gives the two a fresh outlook on these crimes, and allows them to gain the deepest perspectives possible when analyzing the grisly details of these horrific acts. Welcome, to Murder in America.
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On April 15th, 2013, during the annual Boston Marathon, two brothers approached the crowd and planted bombs right at the feet of innocent bystanders watching the race. Three people lost their lives, 17 people lost limbs, and hundreds of people were injured. The bombing was one of the deadliest attacks on US soil since 9/11, and in this episode, we discuss the Tsarnaev brothers - where they came from, the religion they practiced, the trial, and the possible connection to a triple homicide. This i...
Every year, the citizens of Boston, Massachusetts all get together to celebrate Patriot’s day. It was on the 15th of April when 26,839 runners all made their way to Hopkinton, Massachusetts, for the start of the 117th annual Boston Marathon. It truly is the happiest day of the year in the city. But on this day, in 2013, while everyone’s eyes are towards the finish line, no one notices the two unassuming young men walking through the crowd with backpacks on. No one knew that the most festive day ...
On a cold night in December of 1996, a night of hanging out and getting high turned into the darkest nightmare for Rita Kemper. A man named Joe Metheny, whom she had known for a few months, invited her over to his desolate trailer in South Baltimore. Rita trusted Joe but little did she know she would barely get out of his trailer alive, and that many other women had suffered a much worse fate than Rita having been murdered, dismembered, and scattered throughout Joe’s yard. This is the story of B...
The podcast uncovers the tragic 1980 murder of 16-year-old Cheryl Ferguson in Conroe, Texas, and the shocking wrongful conviction of Clarence Brandley, the high school's African-American janitor. Despite overwhelming evidence of his innocence and the presence of other suspects, Brandley spent a decade on death row due to pervasive racism and corruption among investigators, prosecutors, and judges who manipulated evidence and intimidated witnesses. The episode highlights the lasting injustice for both victims, as Cheryl's real killers remain free and Brandley received no compensation or apology for his stolen years.
In the late hours of May 23rd, 2013, paramedics in Palmdale, California, responded to a call about an 8-year-old boy who wasn't breathing. Most parents would be in hysteria if their child were put in this situation – but Gabriel’s mother, Pearl Fernandez, and her boyfriend Isauro Aguirre were both agitated, repeatedly telling the first responders that it happened when the brothers were playing instead. However, the injuries on the little boy’s body told a different story. This is the story of th...
On March 26th, 1997, the largest suicide mass on US soil was unearthed in a prestigious neighborhood of San Diego, called Rancho Santa Fe, California. To the outside, it appeared to be a mass suicide, a horrible and unfortunate event. But to the 39 people inside, it was a commencement – a graduation that their leader, Marshall Herff Applewhite, had been preaching to them for years. This is the story of The Heaven’s Gate Cult and you are listening to Murder in America. - This show is sponsored by...
Colorado is a beautiful state with incredible mountain ranges, the best sunsets, and a ton of wildlife, where many people dream of starting their own families. But Colorado also has a dark history, with the first mass school shooting in America at Columbine High School, frequent drug-related deaths, vandalism, robberies, and even murder. It seems like a coin toss on how your life could turn out after moving there. A young woman named Kelsey Berreth would soon realize this, but unfortunately, it ...
The bond between a mother and child is unlike anything in this world and protecting your child from danger is a biological characteristic that humans have experienced since the beginning of time. As a parent, you not only want to protect your children from the dangers in the world, but you also want to keep them from becoming one of those dangers. And you just have to hope that you raised them well enough to make good choices and to be a good human being. For Kimberly Hill, her son Kevin was eve...
In last week’s episode, we talked about the life of Charles Whitman, the 25-year-old ex marine and architect student at the University of Texas at Austin. After murdering his wife and mother in the early hours of August 1st, 1966, Charlie loaded his vehicle full of his weapons and supplies that he needed that day, and then he made his way over to the University of Texas at Austin. From there, he would go to the top of the UT tower, and commit one of the deadliest mass shootings in American histo...
At approximately 11:35 am on August 1, 1966, Charles Whitman arrived at the University of Texas at Austin campus where he posed as a research assistant and told a security guard he was there to deliver equipment. He climbed twenty-eight floors of the UT tower and emerged on the observation deck where for ninety-six minutes he opened fire on innocent people below. In those ninety-six minutes, Whitman killed sixteen people, and injured thirty-one. The incident, which became known as the "UT Tower ...
The biggest interstate in America is called the I-5, which is 1,381 miles and stretches down the west coast from Canada to Mexico. Millions of people take this road every single day, and it’s also the main road used to haul drugs into the United States. But in the 1980s, Interstate-5 was known for something else: a series of burglaries on the west coast and a man who quickly became known as the I-5 bandit. And after awhile this man’s crimes started to escalate - first to sexual assaults, then fi...
On December 19th, 2001, the body of a small child, wearing nothing but underwear, was found in the Alesa River in the Oregon town of Waldport. Little did anyone know at the time that the little boy’s death was not the result of an accident, nor that the rest of little Zachary’s family would be found in the dark Oregon waters as well - and a family’s secrets would be revealed. This is the story of the Family Annihilator, Christian Longo, and you are listening to Murder in America. - Try Audible f...
Throughout his life, Drew Peterson was known as a womanizer, a fact that would eventually lead to the divorce from his third wife, Kathleen Savio, after his affair with 17-year-old Stacy Cales came to light. During Drew and Kathleen’s tumultuous divorce, and coincidentally right before an important court date, Kathleen was found dead in her bathtub. Initially ruled as an accidental drowning, it wouldn't be until Drew’s fourth wife - the same Stacy Cales he had an affair with - went missing that ...
Have you ever heard the phrase ‘once a cheater, always a cheater’ and wondered whether that phrase might apply to other things…..like murder? Drew Peterson had been married four different times and had cheated on nearly every woman he had ever dated. His third wife had died under suspicious circumstances, and when his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, mysteriously disappeared in October 2007 it opened up a murder investigation that would eventually expose an awful and tragic truth. This is the story ...
In our last episode, we ended with John Wayne Gacy’s execution - but the story does not end there. There has long been speculation that Gacy did not act alone, and after spending weeks researching this case we’ve learned a lot of things that are just too crazy to ignore, like one of Gacy’s PDM employees becoming a cannibalistic serial killer and another being connected to one of America’s largest pedophile rings. In this episode, we’re diving into the largely unknown conspiracy behind the killer...
With a victim count totalling 32 in the summer of 1978, there was one more life that John Wayne Gacy would take before his rein of terror would come to an end. When Robert Piest, a beloved honors student, went missing in December 1978 the police would soon zero in on the man responsible for the missing boys around Chicago - and what they would find in the unassuming suburban Chicago home would shock not only America, but the entire world. And that discovery would soon earn Gacy the title of the ...
It was the height of the 1970s and dozens of young men from the Chicago area started going missing. 33 young men, to be exact. By 1978, 29 of the 33 missing young men would be found, dead, in the small home on Summerdale Avenue in the Chicago suburbs. Some were buried in the backyard, others in a concrete slab in the garage, but most would be found in the cold, wet, and crowded crawlspace beneath the home. It would not be long before the entire world knew the name of the man responsible - this i...
It was the 1970s, and young men who had their whole lives in front of them started going missing around the greater Chicago area. While some disappeared while looking for a job in the city, or hanging out near the Greyhound bus station, or walking along the roads outside of Chicago, the one thing all 33 missing young men had in common was that they were manipulated and murdered by a man named John Wayne Gacy, with many of their bodies being left to decompose within the crawlspace of his suburban...
It’s the year 1892, and everyone in the town of Fall River, Massachusetts is going about their morning as usual - except for one family. Inside the home at 92 Second Street, Abby and Andrew Borden had been brutally murdered. It wouldn’t be long before their daughter, Lizzie Borden, was accused of their murders, sparking one of the most infamous trials in American history. Follow us as we take you through one of the biggest names in true crime and a verdict that is still debated to this very day....
The episode recounts the infamous Salem Witch Trials, beginning with Bridget Bishop's execution in 1692 and tracing the spread of paranoia fueled by Puritan beliefs and spectral evidence. It highlights the roles of figures like Reverend Parris, the afflicted girls, and Thomas Putnam, revealing how personal grudges and societal anxieties led to the wrongful conviction and death of innocent people. The narrative also delves into the brutal interrogations, the unique legal practices of the time, and the lasting legacy of this dark chapter in American history.
In 2018, a brutal crime rocked the campus of the University of Utah, when a 21-year old track star was murdered on campus. But the story of how this violence unfolded, the perpetrator and his multiple identities and the failures of the campus police continue to haunt the school to this very day. This is the story of Lauren McCluskey, and you're listening to Murder in America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
WARNING: This episode is especially gruesome. In the 1970's, a robbery gone wrong escalated into a torturous hostage situation that ended in a series of disturbing murders. The victims were random, and the location of the event? An audio store. This is the story of the Hi-Fi Murders, and you're listening to MURDER IN AMERICA. - Get your dose of MICRODOSE GUMMIES (available nationwide!) at https://www.microdose.com and use code "MIA" for FREE SHIPPING and 30% OFF your first order! _ Try HelloFres...
On February 10th, 2012, a tragedy struck a college campus in Alabama. But the shooter, the murderer, was someone who worked for the school, a professor, in fact. And it turns out that she had some serious skeletons in her closet that she had managed to hide for decades. This is the story of Amy Bishop. You're listening to MURDER IN AMERICA. - Download JUNE'S JOURNEY on the App Store today! - Try Audible now for free for 30 days at https://www.audible.com/state OR text "STATE" to 500-500! - Get y...
Audrey Marie Hilley had the perfect life from the outside... loving husband, nice home, beautiful family... but deep inside, there was a darkness brewing that would eventually explode into a shower of lies, poison and murder. This is the story of Audrey Marie Hilley, the Black Widow of Anniston, Alabama, and you're listening to MURDER IN AMERICA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Our family members are not always who we think. When Eleonore Richland exposed her father’s dark legacy, she vowed to clean up the family business – and hired her half-brother, Santino Reyes, to help her do it. But old habits die hard. In the shocking new third season, Eleonore reckons with what her father always taught her growing up: medicine is a bloody business. From Wondery, the makers of “The Shrink Next Door” and “Dr. Death,” Blood Ties stars Gillian Jacobs (Community, Love), Christian Na...
In 1996, investigators unearthed the skeletal remains of at least 11 victims on the farm of a seemingly normal father, husband and businessman named Herbert Baumeister. And the details behind the crimes, along with the other evidence (the MANNEQUINS?) is shocking. Join us, as we discuss the serial killer Herbert Baumeister, his unknown number of victims and the haunting of his former home. You're listening, to MURDER IN AMERICA! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Walt Disney World is known as "The Happiest Place On Earth"... but is it? From family annihilations to pedophiles, this theme park complex in Florida seems to be unable to escape from the darkness that it helped to create. Join us, as we explore the dark side of the "House of Mouse". You're listening, to MURDER IN AMERICA! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In 2018, a high school shooting took place on Valentine's Day in Florida that would become the deadliest high school shooting in American history. This story is sad, brutal, and important to talk about. And this episode, is dedicated to the victims of this tragic massacre. You're listening, to MURDER IN AMERICA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In 2018, a high school shooting took place on Valentine's Day in Florida that would become the deadliest high school shooting in American history. This story is sad, brutal, and important to talk about. And this episode, is dedicated to the victims of this tragic massacre. You're listening, to MURDER IN AMERICA. - Get 10% off your first month of online therapy with BETTERHELP! Just go to https://www.betterhelp.com/MIA - Get up to 16 FREE MEALS and 3 FREE GIFTS by signing up for HELLOFRESH with o...
In 1998, a shocking murder rocked the town of Jacksonville, Florida. An eight year old child had been brutally killed, and no one knew who had carried out the crime. And the perpetrator was someone that NO ONE could have EVER suspected... - Try out microdosing for yourself with MICRODOSE GUMMIES!! To get 30% off your order AND free shipping, head to https://www.microdose.com and use our promo code "MIA" at checkout!! - Boost YOUR health and try out DAILY GEM MULTIVITAMINS!!! (They're SO tasty!!)...