Part 1: On Dec 27th, 2011, the nightmare began for Russell Faria on returning to his Troy, Missouri home after his weekly game night with friends, finding an unthinkable, grisly scene: His wife, Betsy, lay dead, a knife still lodged in her neck. His horror would only intensify when Russ was arrested for Betsy Faria’s murder. Defense attorney, Joel Schwartz would begin the fight of his life to see justice done and the real killer identified. Bone Deep tells the story recently featured on the NBC ...
May 19, 2022•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 49
Part 4: From CrimeCon 2022 Las Vegas, Jill sits down with investigative journalist and author of featured book, Unsolved: The JonBenet Ramsey Case 25 Years later, Paula Woodward, to discuss the myths and misinformation about the murder of JonBenét Ramsey Dec 26, 1996. The women examine the facts that counter the myths, the role Boulder PD played in spreading information, and how to raise our voices to move the DNA portion of the case ahead—Please sign the petition at www.change.org/JusticeforJBR...
May 05, 2022•29 min•Ep. 48
In Pt 3, Paula Woodward’s continues to shatter the myths that have grown up around the JonBenét Ramsey case, exposing the truth. New interviews with John Andrew Ramsey, half-brother of JonBenét, provide us with an update on where the case stands 25 years later. Jill presents her profile of the killer, while delving into another Crime of the Century, the Lindbergh Kidnapping of 1932. The comparison of two terrible crimes committed against two children, who were just beginning their lives is stagg...
Apr 27, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 47
Part 2: Continuing the deep dive into the Ramsey case evidence, taken from police reports and consultations with experts, Jill tells Paula Woodward’s story of the serious divisions between the investigators, and where the –actual-- evidence leads when misinformation leaked by law enforcement is removed from the equation. The staggering truth is revealed and will alter everything you thought you knew about the murder of a 6-year-old girl the day after Christmas, 1996. PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION TO ...
Apr 14, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 46
Part 1: Everything we think we know about this case is wrong! Not just another podcast on the JonBenét Ramsey’s murder, award winning journalist Paula Woodward has compared never seen before law enforcement records with the news report of the day—to a devastating conclusion. Starting on Dec 25, 1996, in Boulder, CO, Paula reveals the horrifying truth, from the botched police investigation to the role of the child beauty pageants and sets the record straight. It left Jill shaken to her core! This...
Mar 31, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 45
In Pt 3-The rapist turned serial killer was back, leaving a path of death and devastation. The Bike Path Killer Task Force focuses on a suspect, local metal worker, Altemio Sanchez. Gathering enough evidence to successfully prosecute remains elusive, however. Investigators wrack their brains leaving no stone unturned in their quest for more evidence linking Sanchez to the crimes. Would it be enough to tip the scales and have a jury convict him? And what of the man jailed for 2 rapes? Was he inno...
Mar 17, 2022•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 44
In Pt. 2, the rapist turned serial killer was back, leaving a path of death, grief and devastation. The Bike Path Killer Task Force Investigators would pool their resources, reinterview survivors, and dig through the massive number of tips coming in. They only need "the" one to break the case. Could they find the killer? Would they? Source material, photographs, show notes and food and drink recommendations are found on Jill's blog at www.murdershelfbookclub.com Feb. 2022. ANNOUNCEMENT- JAN 2025...
Mar 02, 2022•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 43
Part 1: This true crime book begins with the 2006 brutal murder of Joan Diver of Clarence, N.Y., and escalates at a frightening pace. The complex investigation meanders but it soon becomes apparent that the 12-year hiatus of the Bike Path Rapist turned killer is over- he’s back. Join Jill as she tells the tale of a serial rapist turned serial killer who haunted the Buffalo, NY area for three decades, leaving a trail of victims and bodies. Source material, recipe and snack information is found on...
Feb 17, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 42
For 3 decades, the Buffalo, NY area was terrorized by a serial rapist, leaving a trail of victims, and then- bodies. A serial killer was living among them, but where? Who was he? Could he be caught? Coming soon! ANNOUNCEMENT- JAN 2025: My new Murder Shelf Book Club Podcast MERCH SHOP has launched! Please go explore! I appreciate you supporting my true crime book club podcast! Share your thoughts with me at jill@murdershelfbookclub.com , on X , Facebook, Instagram or YouTube . OR, join Jill on PA...
Feb 16, 2022•35 sec•Ep. 41
This is Part 4: ~FOR SOME BIZARRE UNKNOWN REASON, EP 32 is located between Episodes 87 and 88. No idea! LOL! ~ Bringing her theories to the table, Jill sits down with author, Gary Sosniecki, and probes the investigation into his great-grandmother, Cecilia Ludwig's, murder, asking the hard questions, while digging into the whys of the case. Source material for The Potato Masher Murder series is found at www.murdershelfbookclub.com, Dec. 2021. ANNOUNCEMENT- JAN 2025: My new Murder Shelf Book Club ...
Feb 03, 2022•50 min•Ep. 40
Part 2: In this second installment of The Potato Masher Murder, the 1906 murder of Cecilia Ludwig saw the arrest and trial of her husband, Albin Ludwig. The Defense presented a scenario sharply countered by the Prosecution. But would it be enough to convict Albin? Death penalty on the table, jurors would hear the shocking story of suspicion, obsession, a deteriorating marriage, conflict, and abuse that reach a deadly flashpoint. Join Jill as she tells the story of Albin’s trial and the factors t...
Jan 07, 2022•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 38
Part 1: September 25, 1906, Mishawaka, Indiana, brought a shocking truth; horrified family and neighbors learned that 30-year-old Cecilia Ludwig had been murdered by her husband, Albin Ludwig, and in the most gruesome manner. Who was Cecilia? What drove Albin? How had the marriage deteriorated? Who played a role? Would the prosecution find evidence enough to convict him with early 20th century technology? Join Jill in this deep dive on a family tragedy, hushed up for a century. Written by author...
Dec 24, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 37
In the Lost Girls trilogy, we learned how the Suffolk County police department on Long Island struggled to investigation the Long Island serial killer case, falling victim to internal scandal and administrative hijinks by the top echelon of law enforcement. Arrests, prosecutions, and convictions of the former police chief, district attorney and anti-corruption bureau chief (seriously, I KNOW) in 2016 and 2019 followed. However, former DA Thomas Spot and former bureau chief Christopher McParland ...
Sep 27, 2021•19 min•Ep. 36
Part 3: The trial of serial killer Roger Reece Kibbe begins, with trace evidence on trial as well and much riding on the testimony of a shaky key witness. Karma comes around for the Roger Kibbe, as Jill updates the Kibbe case, leading to several other homicide investigations. And as in done in 2ndCast, Jill pulls the threads alluded to in the story, that of the poisoned beauty queen and others murdered by serial killer, David Allen Rundle, that spilled into the I-5 investigation. Brace yourself,...
Sep 21, 2021•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 35
Part 2: The frustrated detectives hunker down to work what little evidence they have from the bodies of the young women slain by the I-5 strangler. Working closely with the criminalists who provide the forensic science, more bodies are discovered that exhibit the ‘non-functional cutting” ritual unique to this serial killer. Once the killer is identified, how do they get enough evidence to arrest him before he kills again? Join Jill as she tells the story of Detectives Kay Maulsby, Vito Bertocchi...
Sep 02, 2021•1 hr 42 min•Ep. 34
Part 1: A gut-twisting behind the scenes police investigation story of the missing women, that triggers a realization that a serial killer is at work. With twists and turns, law enforcement hunts for the elusive killer, who shows no signs of stopping. How many will die, as Lt Ray Biondi, Vito Bertocchini, Pete Rosenquist, Stan Reed, Harry Machen, Bob Bell, and Jim Streeter begin to gather the evidence and work through the suspect list of hundreds? This is Jill’s favorite true crime book—and that...
Aug 19, 2021•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 33
Part 3: Another terrible murder sends out shockwaves of horror, rocking a family already mourning. Victim advocacy, competing autopsies, and new evidence creates more questions. Arrests, trials, and a search for answers and justice are pursued as the Suffolk County Police Department comes under investigation for corruption. What does this mean for the Long Island serial killer case? Join Jill and find out the latest in this deep dive into sex, drugs, corruption, betrayal, and scandal. Our source...
Jul 30, 2021•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 32
Part 2 Mystery Deepens! With the discovery of 4 bodies on Gilgo Beach, the existence of a serial killer is realized, and the fate of the missing women is known. The families respond very differently, most of all, that of Mari Gilbert, whose daughter, Shannan, is not found with the others, Maureen, Melissa, Megan and Amber. The torturous waiting begins as law enforcement belatedly begins to investigate the murders, as families cope with grief and disappointment, anger, and misunderstandings. Join...
Jul 04, 2021•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 31
From 2007-2010, five young women vanished, Maureen, Melissa, Megan, Amber and Shannan. And, except for their families, law enforcement and society did not care what had happened to them. Jill tells the stories of these women, the people they loved, the dreams that drove them, and the hard choices they felt they had to make. Who were these young women, forever united by their deaths, but each unique and special in their own right. And how did they wind up buried on a beach or lost in the swamp of...
Jun 20, 2021•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 30
Part 5: From the pinnacle of judicial success, DOJ prosecutor James L Blackburn successfully prosecuted the Jeff MacDonald case, (See Episodes 21, 22, and 23, plus later Said Update), sending Green Beret doctor to jail for life for murdering his wife and two little girls. Now a celebrity judicial hero, Blackburn was on top of the world. For years, he succeeded in all aspects his life, until he utterly blew it up one January 1993 morning. Arrested for embezzlement, forgery, and fraud, the former ...
May 29, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 29
UPDATE! Part 4: For 12 years the family of Patricia Owens waited for the first wave of justice for her daughters, Amina and Sarah Said. It took that long to capture the girls’ alleged murderer, their father, Yaser Abdel Said. The story doesn’t stop there. Jill takes you through the investigative twists and turns that shattered a family seeking justice in this Episode 23 update (A Wilderness of Errors trilogy!). Source material for A Wilderness of Family Annihilators episodes is on Jill's blog at...
May 14, 2021•13 min•Ep. 28
Part 3: Tara and Jill take the plunge into the terror and pure evil of the family annihilator, those men who slaughter their wives, partners, children, even the pets and often, themselves. Mixing the latest psychology with stories pulled from the news reel, they explore the “WHY” of these cases, focusing Chris Watts, John List, Yasser Said, Mesac Damas and others. Did we mention baseball trivia? Source material for the Wilderness of Error trilogy is on Jill’s blog www.murdershelfbookclub.com, Fe...
May 03, 2021•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 27
Convicted of murdering his wife Colette and daughters Kimberly and Kristen, Jeffrey MacDonald begins serving his life sentence in 1979. This is only beginning, however, as defense attorneys file appeal after appeal, going to bat repeatedly as they doggedly pursue justice. Hidden evidence, disputed forensics, missing jewelry, disbarred prosecutors, join Tara and Jill as they wind through the twists and turns over 40 years of legal maneuvering, affidavits, surprise recollections, shocking revelati...
Apr 17, 2021•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 26
Part 1: February 16, 1970 Ft. Bragg, NC: Jerked awake from sleep, Capt. Jeff MacDonald is seized upon by murderous hippies, only to find his wife, Collette and daughters, Kimberly 5, and Kristen 2, viciously murdered. Or had he? Evidence would convince some that Jeffrey MacDonald murdered his family after a terrible argument went horribly wrong. Convicted, Jill and Tara revisit the evidence, both presented in court and suppressed, in Errol Morris’s book, A Wilderness of Error. In Part 1, we meet...
Feb 16, 2021•1 hr 38 min•Ep. 25
Part 4: Jill and Tara peer into the bleakest blackest corners of the history of the infamous haunted Cecil Hotel of Los Angeles, CA., telling the stories of the strange beginnings, odd endings, Dahlias, dark forces, and the serial killers who called it home, Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker and Jack Unterweger, the Austrian Ghoul. Who is the Night Stalker, whose rising body count had all of L.A. utterly terrified? Five years later, European imported killer, Jack Unterweger arrives at the Cecil...
Jan 20, 2021•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 24
Part 3: Happy Birthday Murder Shelf Book Club! *Bonus Episode* A year ago, Tara and Jill launched the first episode of the Murder Shelf Book Club! Please enjoy this special bonus episode as we celebrate this milestone! Tara and Jill sit down with Jake Anderson, author of Gone at Midnight, the Mysterious Death of Elisa Lam to discuss delving into body language, backlog of processing rape kits in the USA, botched law enforcement investigations, Jake's motivation, the dire importance of normalizing...
Jan 08, 2021•40 min•Ep. 23
Part 2--“Paranormpiracy” The mystery deepens as the conspiracy theories about Elisa Lam’s death spring forth full throttle, as Tara and Jill contend with creepy security guards, altered videos, police corruption, business investments turned malignant, medication cartels, dark entities, demonic influences … Which ones seem the most viable? And, Jake Anderson, suffering his own serious mental health crisis, mirroring Elisa’s own, as he investigates the myriads of possibilities. Listen in Murder Bo...
Jan 02, 2021•1 hr 39 min•Ep. 22
Part 1: True crime sleuths recall the last images of Elisa Lam alive in the elevator of Los Angeles' haunted Cecil Hotel, triggering this baffling case from 2013 of the Canadian tourist, found dead days later in the water tanks on top of the building. What happened? Murder? Suicide? Accident? Supernatural interference? The investigation created more questions than it answered as did the autopsy. Diving deep into the story is author Jake Anderson, who left no stone unturned, as he fought his own ...
Nov 16, 2020•1 hr 46 min•Ep. 21
Part 3: Still in Oklahoma in this Killers of the Flower Moon trilogy, Tara and Jill delve into a 'missing and presumed dead' case from May 25, 2018. Indigenous woman, Kristyn Sue Richerson, 51 years old, from Muskogee, Oklahoma, known as Krash by many, disappeared after attending the Rocklahoma concert with her roommate in Memorial Day weekend. Or did she? What happened to Kristyn? Who were the last to see her? What evidence exists? Who are the suspects? How do we get a killer off the streets? C...
Sep 29, 2020•1 hr 37 min•Ep. 20
Part 2: Twenty-four Osage Indians have died under mysterious circumstances, casting a shadow across all daily existence in Oklahoma. Terror is commonplace, the fear is all too real. FBI Agent Tom White enters the scene with his team to root out those behind the conspiracy of death. Following the trail of bodies, what he uncovers is deviousness and calculating betrayal. Undercover agents, informants, murderous spouses, explosive experts—the story twists and turns speeding toward its conclusion! S...
Jul 09, 2020•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 19
