2:00 p.m., Wednesday, April 8th, 1992. Indianapolis, Indiana. Lucretia Gullet, who works at the Speedway Gas Station, picks up the phone at the station. On the other end is the district manager of Payless Shoes. He tells her that he’s worried – he’s been calling the Payless shop next door at 7325 Pendleton Pike for over 45 minutes — no one’s answering. When Lucretia goes over to check, she is alarmed. No one is in sight at the store and the cash register drawer is open and empty. She runs back t...
May 08, 2020•1 hr 26 min
5:30 pm, Friday, October 1st, 1909. Swope Mansion, 406 South Pleasant Street, Independence, Missouri James Moss Hunton dines alone in the huge dining room of the cavernous Swope mansion. Although Cousin Moss — as he is known to the family — has felt unwell for several days, he is not one to let an upset stomach overcome his natural friendliness and good manners. So, when Pearl Kellar, a private nurse to his cousin, multimillionaire developer, Thomas Hunton Swope, passes by the dining room, he po...
Apr 13, 2020•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 29
5:30 pm, Friday, October 1st, 1909. Swope Mansion, 406 South Pleasant Street, Independence, Missouri James Moss Hunton dines alone in the huge dining room of the cavernous Swope mansion. Although Cousin Moss — as he is known to the family — has felt unwell for several days, he is not one to let an upset stomach overcome his natural friendliness and good manners. So, when Pearl Kellar, a private nurse to his cousin, multimillionaire developer, Thomas Hunton Swope, passes by the dining room, he po...
Apr 13, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 29
8:00 pm, Wednesday, September 4th, 2002. Great Bend, Kansas. A truck driver makes his nightly delivery at the Dolly Madison Cases Discount Bakery Store. When he goes to the small office in the building to finish up his paperwork, he makes a grisly discovery: the bodies of two women lie face on the floor in pools of blood. http://www.karadahproject.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMsSXxLTFJ0 Sources http://www.kansas.gov/kbi/mostwanted/mw_gbdollymadison.shtml https://www.gbtribune.com/news/l...
Mar 21, 2020•1 hr 26 min
Atchison Daily Champion Newpaper Dateline: Thursday, July 9th, 1885. Atchison, Kansas. The community was shocked shortly after the supper hour last night, by the announcement that Miss Mary Baldwin had been found cruelly and brutally murdered in her bed, and the circumstances which have developed make it the most shocking and atrocious homicide that has ever occurred in our midst. Want to help change the world? Check out the Karadah Project International at https://www.karadahproject.com Thanks ...
Mar 01, 2020•1 hr 23 min
Midnight, Zero Hundred Hours, July 10th, 1945. Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. This night, 5 men await execution in their cells on death row at the United State central military prison. One by one, each is marched to the gallows — recently constructed over an elevator shaft at the prison salvage warehouse. All in attendance are called to attention by the prison commander, Colonel William Eley, who reads the sentence “to be hanged by the neck until dead.” Each condemned man is permitted to make a final...
Feb 16, 2020•1 hr 19 min
March 10th, 1873. Southeastern Kansas. In 1873, there are many ways to die on the road between Independence, Kansas, and Fort Scott, Kansas. The Osage Trail is a dangerous one. Never mind natural dangers – unforgiving terrain, tornados, blizzards, rattlesnakes — this area has a well-earned reputation for harboring outlaws and raiders from nearby Indian Territory. Lately, settlers are especially jumpy. For the past couple of years, a surprising number of people have disappeared while traveling th...
Feb 06, 2020•52 min
March 10th, 1873. Southeastern Kansas. In 1873, there are many ways to die on the road between Independence, Kansas, and Fort Scott, Kansas. The Osage Trail is a dangerous one. Never mind natural dangers – unforgiving terrain, tornados, blizzards, rattlesnakes — this area has a well-earned reputation for harboring outlaws and raiders from nearby Indian Territory. Lately, settlers are especially jumpy. For the past couple of years, a surprising number of people have disappeared while traveling th...
Feb 06, 2020•53 min
11:00 am, September 28th, 1953. Kansas City, Missouri. A taxi pulls up to the French Institute at Notre Dame de Sion, an exclusive private elementary school, located in the fashionable Hyde Park section of Kansas City. A respectable-looking 40-ish woman steps out of the cab, asks the driver to wait, and rings the bell at the front door of the school. The French nun in charge of welcoming visitors, Sister Morand, is a kind soul who immediately senses the uneasiness in the woman and lets her in th...
Jan 25, 2020•41 min
11:00 am, September 28th, 1953. Kansas City, Missouri. A taxi pulls up to the French Institute at Notre Dame de Sion, an exclusive private elementary school, located in the fashionable Hyde Park section of Kansas City. A respectable-looking 40-ish woman steps out of the cab, asks the driver to wait, and rings the bell at the front door of the school. The French nun in charge of welcoming visitors, Sister Morand, is a kind soul who immediately senses the uneasiness in the woman and lets her in th...
Jan 24, 2020•1 hr 10 min
Listeners, I checked the audio on all the platforms I could think of. So... I think everything is ok now. Sorry about that. (I guess I'll have to dock my pay:)) Thanks for your patience. 9:15 pm, November 15, 2013. Valley Center, Kansas. A 911 call comes into Sedgewick County Emergency Communications from the quiet Wichita, Kansas, suburb of Valley Center. The caller is the 16-year-old son of Melissa and Roger Bluml. He reports that he parked behind his parents’ pickup truck in the driveway of t...
Jan 15, 2020•1 hr 3 min
Around Midnight, Saturday, June 29th, 1974. Rural Gray County, Western, Kansas. Gray County Sheriff Marvin Kramer, nicknamed “Squirt,” is out on patrol when he hears a call for the Ensign, Kansas, volunteer fire department to respond to a fire at the farm of Richard and Clara Ann Anton. Sheriff Kramer rushes to the scene. By 12:40 a. m., Sunday morning, the Anton farmhouse is engulfed in flames. When the blaze is extinguished, the home is burned to the ground. In the ashes of the basement, two b...
Jan 07, 2020•1 hr 12 min
8:45 am, June 22nd, 1900. Merchant Street, El Dorado, Kansas. Report from the Butler County Democrat newspaper: Mrs. Emma Spangler and Mrs. Betty Mobberly … hear screams from the home of Olin and Clara Castle. They run to the front door of the house, but the screen door is locked. They hear to sounds of a struggle inside. They run to the back of the house, but that door is also locked. As they run back to the front of the house, they see through a window that Mrs. Castle is on the floor with a w...
Dec 17, 2019•1 hr 17 min
9:30 am, Saturday, September 20st, 1980. Olathe, Kansas. A huge blast at 901 Van Mar Drive tears through the home of Robert Post, 51, and his wife Norma Jean Post, 47. A neighbor runs outside to find a body blown into his back yard and body parts littering the rubble of the two-story ranch-style house. Only a chimney and part of the living room remain standing. The explosion is felt for blocks in the quiet-middle class neighborhood. Dead at the scene are Robert, Norma Jean, daughters Diane and S...
Dec 05, 2019•1 hr 8 min
DATELINE: Monday, September 30th, 1929. Kansas City Star, Kansas City, Missouri. Police statement of Mrs. Mayme Hofman: Before I knew what was happening I heard the shot … and I jumped out the door and ran upstairs. While I was running up the stairs I heard a second shot. Mr. Bill Reed lives down the stairs from us and I knocked on his door and the Reeds were entertaining guests. Mr. Reed opened the door, and then he went downstairs with me. When we got into the Bennetts’ apartment, Mr. Bennett ...
Nov 27, 2019•57 min
DATELINE: Monday, September 30th, 1929. Kansas City Star, Kansas City, Missouri. Police statement of Mrs. Mayme Hofman: Before I knew what was happening I heard the shot … and I jumped out the door and ran upstairs. While I was running up the stairs I heard a second shot. Mr. Bill Reed lives down the stairs from us and I knocked on his door and the Reeds were entertaining guests. Mr. Reed opened the door, and then he went downstairs with me. When we got into the Bennetts’ apartment, Mr. Bennett ...
Nov 26, 2019•51 min
Tuesday morning, July 20th, 1909. The Quarters of Capt Charles Murphy, Grant Avenue, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Mrs. Murphy recounts the fateful events of that morning: “Minnie and I were standing just inside the door. Lieut. Hand was standing just outside with his left arm raised and his hand resting against the door. Without speaking O’Neal drew a revolver and fired four times under Lieut. Hand’s arms. Minnie fell and died instantly. My dress was burned by the powder.” Officer's Quarters at For...
Nov 19, 2019•1 hr 10 min
About 2 o’clock in the morning, Thursday, July 8, 1965. Kansas City, Missouri. Dorothy Reynolds, who manages the Great Plains Motor Hotel off US Highway 71 near the airport in Kansas City, Missouri, responds to the night buzzer in the lobby. She lets a young man in to register for a room. He pulls a gun and announces that he’s there to commit a robbery. He takes $256 from the cash drawer and marches Dorothy back to the managers’ apartment. They pass her sleeping granddaughter. The bandit gags an...
Nov 13, 2019•1 hr 12 min
April 20th, 2004. Jackson County Courthouse, Kansas City, Missouri. Lorenzo J. Gilyard, Jr., is charged with 12 counts of first-degree murder in the strangling deaths of 12 Kansas City women. The dates of the killings range from 1977 through 1993. The prosecutor announces he will seek the death penalty. Gilyard is held at the county jail without bond. Victims: Age Date found murdered Stacie Swofford 17 04/17/1977 Gwendolyn Kizine 15 01/23/1980 Margaret Miller 17 05/09/1982 Catherine Barry 34 03/...
Nov 05, 2019•1 hr 10 min
June 24th, 1983. 2639 Park Avenue East, Kansas City, Missouri. At about 5:45 p.m., 16-year-old Terri Allen leaves her house to run an errand. When she doesn’t return home, her worried mother starts calling her friends. The next morning, her lifeless body is found in a brushy area a few blocks from her home. She has been strangled. Source Citation "U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012"; School Name: East High School; Year: 1982 Source Information Ancestry.com. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1999 [data...
Oct 29, 2019•58 min
November 2nd, 1870. North of Abilene, Kansas. Respected lawman T J Smith, nicknamed "Bear River Smith," is brutally murdered while serving an arrest warrant for murder. The desperados responsible, Andrew McConnell and Moses Miles, flee on horseback. Thomas J. Smith, Police Chief, Abilene, Kansas image from Kansas Memory site -- Kansas State Historical Society https://www.kansasmemory.org/ This is a wonderful site with hundreds of images related to Kansas history. Great pictures of the Old West. ...
Oct 13, 2019•1 hr 6 min
June 15th, 1929. Fort Riley, Kansas. Mrs. Zenana Shepard, wife of Army doctor Major Charles A. Shepard, lies severely ill at the Army Hospital. Her life cannot be saved. Unsure of the cause of death, doctors at the hospital ask for Dr. Shepard’s consent to do an autopsy. He refuses, saying that his wife would not want to be mutilated. The commanding general at Fort Riley intervenes. Zenana’s organs and fluids are preserved for analysis. Sources: https://denverpost.newsbank.com/ https://www.star-...
Oct 07, 2019•1 hr 17 min
Just the show notes. Audio to be posted Monday. Pacific Stars and Stripes Newspaper: Dateline: Camp Zama, Japan. November 22nd, 1953. Susan Rothschild, 9, daughter of Col and Mrs. Jacquard H. Rothschild, Chicago, Armed Forces Far East chemical officer, was found unconscious in an empty drainage moat near here yesterday and was pronounced dead on arrival at the 8169th Army Hospital a few minutes later. The child was found by her father in an earthen moat, about two or three feet deep but empty, b...
Sep 28, 2019•1 hr 6 min
Early morning, February 28th, 1982. Olathe, Kansas. Young Johnson County, Kansas, Assistant District Attorney Paul Morrison is called by police to a duplex at 1000 West Sheridan in Olathe, Kansas. The bedroom is a bloody crime scene. David Harmon, a 25-year-old banker, lies brutally bludgeoned to death in his bed. Years later Morrison vividly recalls the shocking sight of the body: “You couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman, 10 years old or 80.” Sources A Cold-Blooded Business author Marek Fu...
Sep 24, 2019•1 hr 29 min
Noon, Monday, May 6, 2013. Ottawa, Kansas. None of his family or friends talk with Andrew Stout, age 30, for several days. Three of his friends decide to stop by his rural Kansas home to check on him. One of them peers into the detached garage near the house, recoils, and says “Is that teeth?” They have discovered a human body partly covered with a tarp. The smell of death hangs heavy over the property. Just after noon that day, they call 911. Sources https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/articl...
Sep 17, 2019•1 hr 19 min
February 5, 1979. Kansas City, Missouri. The marriage of Wanda Conkling and William Cadwalader is abusive: he beats her--she leaves him--he apologizes--they make up—he beats her… and on and on … In early 1979, they are in one of the “let’s make up” phases. They plan a short vacation. They pack their bags and get ready to head out for the airport. Tragically, they open their front door to a murderer. Sources: This episode is based on a series of newspaper articles from the Kansas City Star (Octob...
Sep 09, 2019•1 hr 9 min
Saturday Morning, June 17th, 1933. Union Station, Kansas City, Missouri. Notorious bank robber Frank Nash, on the run after escaping from Leavenworth Federal Prison, is nabbed in Hot Springs, Arkansas, by two FBI agents and the McAlester, Oklahoma, police chief. After arriving at Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri, the four disembark from the train to make the dangerous journey by car up to Leavenworth, Kansas. Two more FBI agents and two Kansas City, Missouri, police officers, form a phalan...
Sep 01, 2019•47 min
Saturday Morning, June 17th, 1933. Union Station, Kansas City, Missouri. Notorious bank robber Frank Nash, on the run after escaping from Leavenworth Federal Prison, is nabbed in Hot Springs, Arkansas, by two FBI agents and the McAlester, Oklahoma, police chief. After arriving at Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri, the four disembark from the train to make the dangerous journey by car up to Leavenworth, Kansas. Two more FBI agents and two Kansas City, Missouri, police officers, form a phalan...
Sep 01, 2019•1 hr 1 min
Late Friday night, the day after Thanksgiving, November 28th, 1958. Wolcott, Kansas. 18-year-old University of Kansas sophomore, Lowell Lee Andrews, calls the Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Office. He reports that there has been a burglary at his family’s farmhouse near the tiny Wolcott neighborhood of Kansas City, Kansas. In the house, he has found his mother, father, and sister--all dead. I’d appreciate it if you would subscribe to Prison City Murders and write a review. Even critical feedback is ...
Aug 24, 2019•1 hr 8 min
Saturday, May 3rd, 1980. Miami County, Kansas. Mark and Barry, ages 17 and 14, decide to go fishing near Bull Creek in Miami County, Kansas, maybe an hour’s drive south of Kansas City. The area is deserted countryside—soon to be underwater when a Marais des Cygnes Reservoir Project is completed. After they tire of fishing, they go off to explore the nearby woods and fields. When Barry sees a fresh mound of dirt near the creek, the two teens walk over to look more closely. Ominously, the mound is...
Aug 18, 2019•45 min
