If you listen to the podcast, you know a thing or two about crime. You may like the following questions: Why did they do it? How did they do it? Why this victim and not someone else? No matter why you listen, I bet you can remember a case from childhood that left a mark, changed how you looked at humanity, or made you lose your innocence. For me, this is that story. I had just turned 11 years old and I still remember the look of shock on my mother’s face when she was talking about this. The call...
May 28, 2025•55 min
On December 6th, 1989, a gunman walked into an engineering classroom in Montreal's École Polytechnique and opened fire. Within twenty minutes, fourteen women were dead. Killed only because they were women. Join Jen and Cam as we discuss what happened in the twenty minutes of Canada's deadliest mass shooting. ***Jen tried her best to pronounce the victim's names correctly. *Come join Jen and Cam in Italy 2026* We are touring Italy in 2026, and would love for you to come along! Come see Venice, Fl...
May 21, 2025•51 min
Lawrencia Bembenek’s beauty was both a blessing and a curse. To some, it was a key that unlocked doors. But to others, it was the perfect tool for shaping a narrative—a narrative that framed her as a modern-day femme fatale. The press depicted her as “a former Playboy bunny,” yet Laurie had worked only three weeks as a waitress at the Lake Geneva Playboy Club and never posed for the magazine in her birthday suit. The closest she came to being a centerfold was fully clothed in a Schlitz beer cale...
May 14, 2025•1 hr 4 min
Fern Cowen Rodgers was a wealthy socialite living in the quiet town of Searcy, Arkansas. But in September 1974, her life came to a shocking end when she was found shot to death in her home. The murder stunned the people of Arkansas. As police searched for answers, they uncovered a story full of secrets: a rocky marriage, past affairs, and a husband who had more to hide than anyone expected. Fern's murder rocked a small town and led to one of Arkansas’s most talked-about trials. Join Cam and Jen ...
May 07, 2025•55 min
Somewhere the sun shines, somewhere the birds sing the glories of a new dawn. Somewhere … it's Spring again! But HERE … every day is Halloween! Rogue Transmissions, an uncanny anthology of exceptional indie podcasts, presents the Halfway to Halloween Hullabaloo! Your horror host Edward October is scanning the dial for lost broadcasts, campfire tales, and weird nostalgia to bring you a hell-raising halfway to Halloween party that will chase away the springtime blues. First up: Vintage Halloween g...
May 04, 2025•2 hr 2 min
The night was bitter that October night, but then came the fire. An all-consuming inferno that lit up the quiet streets of Prairie Village. In minutes, the Farrar home — the suburban dream home belonging to two respected doctors, Michael Farrar and Deborah Green, and their three children, Timothy, Kate, and Kelly — was consumed by flames. The firefighters arrived and battled the blaze, but it was too little, too late. Two people made it out. The rest… didn’t. What was left behind wasn’t just a b...
Apr 30, 2025•1 hr
*****Warning***** This episode contains discussions of child abduction, abuse, and violence that may be distressing for some listeners. Listener discretion is advised. In just three minutes, a quiet bus stop in Queensland became the site of one of Australia’s most haunting crimes. This episode unpacks the disappearance of Daniel Morcombe — the boy in the red shirt — and the years-long investigation that followed. Through silence, sorrow, and relentless pursuit of justice, Daniel’s story became a...
Apr 23, 2025•58 min
The Pulitzer Prize-winning podcast returns for its second season! Seven years after his release from prison, former juvenile lifer Luis "Suave" Gonzalez seems to be thriving. His career has taken off, he’s in a committed relationship and he’s received public recognition after telling his story on the podcast. Suave always thought once he was out of prison and found stability in his new life, he would finally feel truly free. But freedom, it turns out, is more complicated than it seems. "Suave" i...
Apr 17, 2025•4 min
For years, Robert Brashers had managed to evade justice, slipping through the cracks repeatedly. But on January 13, 1999, his luck finally ran out in a modest motel room in Kennett, Missouri. What began as a routine police search quickly escalated into a tense, life-or-death standoff that would forever change the lives of those involved. Who was Robert Brashers? A man who his wife and children loved. What could have driven him to such a tragic end? The entire truth would remain hidden for years,...
Apr 16, 2025•34 min
On the evening of Saturday, July 21st, 1984, the local Catholic residents of the tiny town of Ronan, Montana, all gathered at 5:30 p.m. to celebrate mass with their new priest, Father John Kerrigan, who had just been assigned to their parish. He never showed. He didn’t show up Sunday morning either. Days later, his bloodstained clothes were discovered along a highway, but his body has never been found. Father Kerrigan’s case has many similarities to the disappearances and murders of three other ...
Apr 09, 2025•48 min
In the early hours of July 17, 1997, Denise Wolff, 39, had just finished her overnight shift as a card dealer at the President Casino on the Admiral. It had been a good night, and Denise, feeling optimistic, climbed into her brand-new Chrysler Cirrus LX. She had a new job, a new car, and even a new man in her life. Things were finally looking up for her. On her way home, Denise stopped at a drive-thru on Hampton Avenue to grab a bite before returning to her house on Bancroft Avenue. The streets ...
Apr 02, 2025•40 min
Thank you Katie for requesting this case! On the evening of November 17th, 1973, five teenage friends decided to head to the Gitchie Manitou State Preserve located in the far northwestern corner of Iowa. Most of the parents of those teenagers knew where the kids were going that night and didn’t think much about it. It was a pretty standard hang-out spot. As the kids were sitting around a campfire enjoying the cold evening, three figures came out of the darkness and opened fire. Five teenagers we...
Mar 26, 2025•44 min
Today, we are going back in time; let’s rewind the clock to 1969, the year the world got slightly brighter—because Jen and I came into being. But hold on tight because we’re about to dive into the scene's heart. A place where the music’s alive, the air’s thick with good vibes, and the soul just flows. We’re talking about The Scene, man. Now we meet Steve Paul, the cool cat that operates The Scene, and let me tell ya, this joint on West 46th Street in the Big Apple is where at. Every night, you’l...
Mar 19, 2025•47 min
Episode requested by Anthony W. Thank you, Anthony! Welcome to OTCP's 300th regular episode! ******Content Warning: Sexual assault and death of children********* In this episode, we dive into Canada's most notorious serial killer, Clifford Olson Jr. Olson’s disturbing story is filled with horrific crimes. To be honest, I thought I knew about everything there was to know. I was wrong! Camille and I will take you from his early life of crime to his eventual capture and conviction for the rapes mur...
Mar 12, 2025•1 hr 35 min
It is November 6th, 1990. The air was crisp, the Belt Parkway humming with the usual New York traffic. Among the cars was Eddie Lino—an old-school Gambino enforcer, a man whose name carried weight in the city's underworld. He’d spent years dodging the law. But this time, the flashing red and blue lights in his rearview weren’t just another routine hassle. As the unmarked car closed in, Lino must’ve felt it—something was off. Before he could react, gunfire rang out. The ambush was clean and profe...
Mar 05, 2025•58 min
Thank you to Charity, who requested the episode! In the quiet town of Georgetown, Indiana, former state trooper David Camm’s life was torn apart when he came home and found his wife, Kim, and their two children, Brad and Jill, shot to death in the garage. The investigation that follows is fraught with errors and David Camm is convicted of murdering his family. But is he truly guilty? Join Cam and Jen as they discuss ‘The Journey To Justice: The Camm Family Murder.’ Thank you to our team: Written...
Feb 26, 2025•51 min
The night of April 19, 1997, was like any other Saturday at Tony’s Pizza in Hardyston, New Jersey. The dinner rush had come and gone, and as the clock neared 10:45 p.m., Jeremy Giordano, 22, and Giorgio Gallara, 25, prepared to call it a night. But first, there was one last order to deliver—two pizzas bound for 196 Scott Road. A routine run. A simple transaction. They had no idea they were driving straight into an ambush. As Giordano pulled up to the curb, a car sat waiting in the darkness. Gall...
Feb 19, 2025•35 min
15-year-old Rachel Barber. a bright and promising teenager from Melbourne, Australia, disappeared after leaving class in 1999. Rachel's boyfriend told the Barbers his cryptic conversation he had with Rachel earlier in the day about her having a job lined up for that evening and how now she could buy some shoes she had wanted. Another friend mentioned that Rachel had planned to “meet up” with an unnamed female friend. When the Barbers reported their daughter missing to the police, they got the sp...
Feb 12, 2025•54 min
Nestled in the small, unassuming town of Stella, Missouri, in the heart of the Ozarks, nine-year-old Rowan Ford lived a life like any kid would. She shared a modest home in Newton County with her mother, Colleen Munson, and her stepfather, David Spears. 25-year-old David Spears had a long-standing friendship with 32-year-old Christopher Collings, a man who wasn’t family by blood but had become close to the family over the years. Collings moved into the Spears household during the summer of 2007,...
Feb 05, 2025•40 min
In the early hours of December 11, 2017, the small, tight-knit community of Walkden, Salford, was thrust into the heart of a nightmare that would forever scar its residents. It was just after 5 a.m. when Michelle Pearson, a single mother of five, dialed emergency services. Desperate and trembling, her voice cut through the static as fire and rescue teams scrambled to the scene, racing against time. Flames already consumed the house. Neighbors watched helplessly as the fire raged. Inside, Michell...
Jan 29, 2025•28 min
Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them. -Margaret Atwood Shana Grice was a bubbly teenager who worked as an office receptionist in Portslade in the summer of 2015. At the time, she was just 18, bright-eyed and full of promise. She was excited to be able to save money for the wedding she planned with her boyfriend of two years, Ashley. Shana's co-worker Michael Lane, a 26-year-old mechanic was instantly smitten with Shana. Lane was eight years older...
Jan 22, 2025•45 min
It was a cold November evening on the 26th, 2004, in Van Buren, Missouri, when the events that would soon unravel in the small, unsuspecting town began to take shape. Two men, Lance Shockley and his sister-in-law’s fiancé, Jeffrey Bayless, embarked on an innocent enough drive in Bayless' truck. But as they made their way, something went wrong. Under Shockley’s control, the vehicle careened off the road, plunging into a ditch. But it wasn’t the crash that would raise the most questions—it was wha...
Jan 15, 2025•38 min
Sam and Margaret Kastanis met while playing in a band and were married in 1987. When the children came along, they quit the band to focus on family. Margaret said that even after a decade of marriage, she still often had butterflies in her stomach when she looked at her husband. The couple had three beautiful children: Melissa, 11, Clinton, 9, and Christine, 6. The neighbors described the family as idyllic. Margaret became severely ill with the Epstein-Barr virus and had been out of commission f...
Jan 08, 2025•56 min
Listener warning: this case is extremely disturbing. It is our final day of the 12 Nightmares Before Christmas. In May 1981, on the outskirts of Chicago, a hotel maid went to work like she did every day. For the most part, the day was uneventful, except when she noticed a horrible smell. The Moonlit Hotel wasn’t exactly a five-star place to stay. It was known as a place for drug deals and quick sex. Even so, the maid had never noticed a smell like this before. This was something new. And all day...
Dec 24, 2024•47 min
Here is day 11 of the 12 Nightmares Before Christmas. After the American Civil War, the U.S. government decided it would be delightful to shuffle the Osage Indians from Labette County, Kansas, to what would soon be the state of Oklahoma—because who doesn’t love a good game of human chess? As they cleared the land, they rolled out the red carpet for homesteaders, luring them in with shiny promises of opportunity. By October 1870, five families of spiritualists—because obviously, that’s who you wa...
Dec 23, 2024•36 min
We are on day ten of the 12 Nightmares Before Christmas. On a freezing cold night in December of 1977, two women in their mid-thirties were leaving the Forker’s Café at 64 Union Street in Newark, Ohio. At 2:30 a.m., Joyce Vermillion, a barmaid at the café, and Karen Dodrill (dod-rill), a patron and friend of Joyce’s, were preparing to call it a night. Karen had been out celebrating her birthday and had offered to give her friend Joyce a ride home. Since it was minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit, Karen w...
Dec 22, 2024•37 min
It is day 9 of our 12 Nightmares Before Christmas. On a sweltering June 26, 1957, Margaret Harold, a vibrant young woman, and her boyfriend, a U.S. Army sergeant, were enjoying a rare weekend getaway. As they were making their way, a green Chrysler came barreling toward them. Without warning, the car swerved, forcing them off the road. The driver, a tall, dark-haired man, stepped out with a sinister calmness. He approached their vehicle with a wicked look in his eyes. The stranger demanded that ...
Dec 21, 2024•41 min
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 a...
Dec 20, 2024•37 min
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...
Dec 19, 2024•34 min
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 d...
Dec 18, 2024•33 min
