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We Would Be Dead

A weekly true crime podcast that finds humanity in the darkness, humor in the history and the devil in the details.
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Episodes

The Boogeyman (Albert Fish)

*Graphic Content Warning* This one is not for the feint of heart or weak of stomach. On June 3rd 1928, ten year old Grace Budd left her family home in Manhattan with a friendly old man who had promised her mother he was taking her to a birthday party. The old man had offered Grace's brother a job on his farm in Farmingdale the week before. His name was Mr. Howard, and his soft voice, generosity and grandfatherly manner made it easy for little Grace to trust him. Unfortunately Grace would never r...

Jul 21, 20211 hr 41 minEp. 74

Blinded by the Light (Britney Spears)

This episode examines curious case of the rise, fall, and inexplicable captivity of Britney Spears. We talk about who Britney is, where she came from, what she has accomplished and how she got to be in such an impossibly binding conservatorship. We delve into the #FreeBritney movement and explain what a conservatorship is and how it should be used. If you or someone you know is being abused by a guardian, please follow the link below to the National Association to stop Guardian Abuse. It's Britn...

Jul 14, 20212 hr 22 minEp. 73

Thicker Than Water (The Papin Sisters)

On Thursday February 2, 1933, retired solicitor René Lancelin returned home from a dinner party to find his house had locked from the inside. He had been waiting for his wife Léonie and daughter Genevieve to join him at the party, and became concerned when they never arrived. The house, it seemed, had also been plunged into complete darkness. The only glimmer of light visible was the flicker of a candle glowing from the window of the maid's quarters. After calling the police and fighting their w...

Jul 06, 20211 hr 16 minEp. 72

Just A Girl (Gwen Amber Rose Araujo)

On October 3rd, 2002, Gwen Amber Rose Araujo was at home in Newark California, getting ready to attend a party. She put on her brand new skirt, borrowed a floaty peasant blouse from her mother, and said goodbye to her family. Little did anyone know, this would be the last time Gwen ever saw her family alive. Later that night she would be brutally murdered by 4 men who claimed to have gone into a panic after discovering she was trans. Gwen Araujo's landmark case would go on to change the laws in ...

Jun 29, 20211 hr 25 minEp. 71

Twist and Shout (MarineSniper and Brian Barrett & Angela Diaz and Michelle Hadley )

This week we bring you two stories, with a twist! These are the cases from our live show on June 19th. We initially wanted to release live audio, but the recording was not up to our standards, so please enjoy the full podcast treatment! Leslie brings you the story of "TalHotBlond" which takes catfishing as we know it to the next level. Holly brings you "Prince Charming" The story of a supposed love triangle that turns into something far more sinister. Stick around after the credits for a clip of...

Jun 23, 20211 hr 35 minEp. 70

Is Dorothy Home? (Dorothy Jane Scott)

Fiends! It’s a Lesliesode!!!! On May 28, 1980, Dorothy Jane Scott disappeared. The next day they found her car on fire. The search continued for 4 years until they found her body buried underneath animal bones, just miles from where she was last seen. Prior to her disappearance Dorothy received phone calls from a mysterious man confessing feelings of love, hate, and violence. Who was Dorothy’s stalker? Holly may have figured it out… Click to learn more Crime Clipping from Santa Ana Orange County...

Jun 15, 20211 hr 10 minEp. 69

Dirty Little Secret (Ed Kemper)

On April 25th 1973 the Santa Cruz California police department received a strange call from a phone booth in the little town of Pueblo Colorado. Ge claimed to have killed his mother and her best friend, and then gone on the run, but that was just the beginning of it. Edmund Kemper, also known as (shudder) the coed killer, is the most notorious serial killer you may have never heard of. Ed brutally murdered eleven women and one man, but he didn't just kill them, oh no, he had a particular interes...

Jun 09, 20211 hr 42 minEp. 68

Mother May I? (Love Has Won Cult)

On April 28th 2021, Miguel Lamboy walked into the Saguache county police department and told officers that he had returned from spending a night out of town to discover a dead body in his home. The body was on and bed, it appeared to have been dead for quite some time, it was wrapped in sleeping bags and Christmas lights and covered in glitter. Miguel said that he expected the body was that of a 45 year old woman named Lia Carlson, also known as Amy Carlson, but better known as Mother God, the l...

Jun 01, 20211 hr 39 minEp. 67

I Can't Go To Sleep (The Astonishing Survival of Mary Vincent)

On September 29th, 1978, 15 year old Mary Vincent found herself hitchhiking across California. She had run away from her parents home in Las Vegas and was looking to make her way to her Grandfather's house. Mary had made it as far as Berkeley when an older man in a blue van named Lawrence Singleton picked her up in his blue van, offering to take her all the way to Los Angeles. The shocking events that played out that night would leave Mary forever altered, but through sheer will power, she survi...

May 25, 20211 hr 10 minEp. 66

Slenderman Stabbing update (An Interview With Andrew Jarema)

This week, we have an update, and an exciting interview for you! We brought on our friendly neighborhood mental healthcare professional, Andrew Jarema, to discuss the recent possibility of Slenderman stabbing perpetrator, Anissa Weier's parole. If you are unfamiliar with the Slenderman stabbing, please refer back to episode 4 of this podcast, we'll catch you up. This is a very complex topic with no concrete answers. When a child commits a crime, everybody loses, and they lose for a long time. It...

May 18, 202147 minEp. 65

Ride or Die (Bonnie & Clyde)

"You've read the story of Jesse James Of how he lived and died; If you're still in need Of something to read, Here's the story of Bonnie and Clyde. Now Bonnie and Clyde are the Barrow gang, I'm sure you all have read How they rob and steal And those who squeal Are usually found dying or dead." - Bonnie Parker, 1934 Ok fiends it's time for a classic! In honor of Leslie's wedding this week we will be telling the ultimate story of true love and true crime. This is the story of Bonnie Parker and Cly...

May 11, 20211 hr 21 minEp. 64

I'll call you on Sunday (Kristin Smart)

On Friday May 24th 1996, Kristin Smart, a freshman at California Polytechnic State University just wanted to find a party. She went out for the night, just like so many other students had done before, and still do today, but Kristin never came back. 4 days later a missing persons report would be filed, but it would take 24 years, 3 county sheriffs, a relentlessly dedicated family, and ultimately, a clever and tenacious podcaster to uncover just what happened to Kristin that night. This is a frus...

May 05, 20211 hr 56 minEp. 63

Halfoween 2 (Asylums and Aliens)

It's that time of year again fiends! Dust off your seasonal allergies and get ready to be truly terrified because it's Halfoween! If you're new to WWBD allow us to explain: we celebrate the halfway point to the undisputed best holiday ever by having the girls try to terrify one another with stories that lean into their worst fears. This year Holly will make Leslie shrink into a little horrified ball with stories of the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, one of the most haunted locations in America....

Apr 27, 20211 hr 24 minEp. 62

Today's The Day (The Delphi Murders)

Monday February 13th, 2017 was an unseasonably beautiful day in Delphi Indiana. Best friends Liberty German and Abigail Williams had a rare day off of school and wanted to enjoy the weather, so they decided to take a walk on Monon High Bridge trail, a prime location for the kind of artful, moody social media photos that the youths are so fond of. At approximately 2 pm Liberty would post a snapchat of Abby, alone on the bridge, and that would be the last time anyone saw or heard from the girls al...

Apr 20, 20211 hr 18 minEp. 61

The Watcher House & New Orleans Trunk Murders (Best of Campfires #1)

Greetings Fiends! Last year we all entered into a strange and dark time. WWBD wanted to find a way to bring our community together and provide a lantern's worth of spooky light into your week, and so we began having Facebook live weekly campfire stories events. The plan was to do them as long as quarantine lasted, how long could it be a month? Well as we all know it just never really ended, and our campfires became a beloved institution. They are a moment for all of us to check in with one anoth...

Apr 13, 20211 hr 24 minEp. 60

Fin. (Jack The Ripper, Part 3 with special guest The Corpse Review)

In 1888, in the Whitechapel district of London, a strange and awful series of events occurred. Women began turning up dead and graphically mutilated right out in the open air. It wasn't long before these horrific murders were all linked to the same unknown man, a man in dark coat and a hat, a man who targeted female sex workers who were down on their luck, a man who would come to be known as, Jack The Ripper. This is it fiends, the granddaddy of all true crime cases and we are diving deep, but n...

Apr 06, 20212 hr 25 minEp. 59

Five Plus Six (Jack The Ripper, Part 2)

In 1888, in the Whitechapel district of London, a strange and awful series of events occurred. Women began turning up dead and graphically mutilated right out in the open air. It wasn't long before these horrific murders were all linked to the same unknown man, a man in dark coat and a hat, a man who targeted female sex workers who were down on their luck, a man who would come to be known as, Jack The Ripper. This is it fiends, the granddaddy of all true crime cases and we are diving deep, but n...

Mar 30, 20211 hr 44 minEp. 58

Left To Right (Jack The Ripper, Part 1)

In 1888, in the Whitechapel district of London, a strange and awful thing began to happen. Women began turning up dead and graphically mutilated right out in the open air. It wasn't long before these horrific murders were all linked to the same unknown man, a man in dark coat and a hat, a man who targeted female sex workers who were down on their luck, a man who would come to be known as, Jack The Ripper. This is it fiends, the granddaddy of all true crime cases and we are diving deep, but not j...

Mar 24, 20211 hr 28 minEp. 57

Boys' Club (The Jameson Cannibal Incident)

I'm sure we're all familiar with Jameson's Irish whiskey, especially at this time of year, but how much do we really know about John Jameson and his extremely large family? This week we'll dive into the story James Sligo Jameson, the member of the family that the Jameson's would rather we didn't talk about. James Sligo Jameson had a fortune at his disposal, a penchant for stomping around jungles with other rich white boys, and a dangerous obsession with cannibals. This sinister cocktail of attri...

Mar 16, 20211 hr 17 minEp. 56

Dressed for Dinner (Katherine Knight)

On the morning of March 1, 2000 Aberdeen, New South Wales police arrived at the home of Johnathon Price. They had gotten reports that Mr. Price hadn't shown up at work that morning, and coworkers expected foul play. Foul couldn't begin to describe the bloodbath police found when the broke down that door. One might expect, that at the center of this unholy nightmare, one would find the darkest, most depraved man imaginable, but that is where one would be wrong. At the center of the chaos, there w...

Mar 09, 20211 hr 41 minEp. 55

The Dollfather (Anatoly Moskvin)

The human race has a strange relationship with death, but some of us just take it to the next level. On November 2, 2011 in the town of Nizhny Novgorod Russia, police raided the home of local linguist, historian, and cemetery enthusiast, Anatoly Moskvin. For two long years Russian authorities had been searching for the person responsible for disturbing the graves of a great many local children, and they suspected they had finally found their culprit, but what they found in his apartment exceeded...

Mar 02, 20211 hr 15 minEp. 54

We Would Still Be Dead (Ted Bundy, Part 2)

Well fiends, we've made it to one whole year and you know what that means, it's time to cover Ted Bundy. This podcast came from a conversation Holly and Leslie had where they put themselves in the place of the victims of infamous crimes, namely those who died at the hands of Ted Bundy. It's so easy to say that when faced with a killer you would know better and get away, but the simple fact of the matter is that most of us wouldn't, and we would be dead. In part two we dive into the costly phenom...

Feb 23, 20211 hr 45 minEp. 53

We Would Be Dead (Ted Bundy, Part 1)

Well fiends, we've made it to one whole year and you know what that means, it's time to cover Ted Bundy. This podcast came from a conversation Holly and Leslie had where they put themselves in the place of the victims of infamous crimes, namely those who died at the hands of Ted Bundy. It's so easy to say that when faced with a killer you would know better and get away, but the simple fact of the matter is that most of us wouldn't, and we would be dead. Ted Bundy was a real man, not a mythical m...

Feb 16, 20211 hr 30 minEp. 52

Vampires Don't Sparkle (Rod Ferrell)

Fiends, Leslie is back with her 2nd episode! And this one is full of eye rolls but also very heartbreaking. On the evening of November 25, 1996, Naomi Ruth Wendrof and Richard Wendrof were senselessly beaten to death in their home in Eutis, Florida by 16 year old Rod Ferrell. Rod Ferrell was the cult leader of Vampire Clan in Murray, Kentucky. He claimed to be a 500 year old vampire named Vesago, but he just really liked playing Vampire: The Masquerade. His small group of teenage clan members we...

Feb 09, 20211 hr 45 minEp. 51

We WON'T Be Dead: 2020 and the COVID-19 Vaccine (Interviews with Dr. Stephen McBride and Dr. Lisa Di Enno)

2020 was a lot, fiends. We know that you're all overwhelmed, and that this year has taken a lot out of you. Just because a number has ticked over on the calendar doesn't mean the stress has stopped either. Now that we have a vaccine for the dreaded COVID-19, a lot of us are wondering: Is it safe? Is it effective? What about our children? Knowing who to trust when the internet is buzzing with the current of a thousand panicked butterflies can be very hard, but let us ease your mind. In this episo...

Feb 02, 20212 hr 10 minEp. 50

Witch Hunt (Meredith Kercher and Amanda Knox, Part 2)

On November 2nd 2007 Amanda Knox went home to her Italian Villa to take a shower and pack her bags before leaving on a weekend getaway with her boyfriend, but something was off. When Amanda arrived home she noticed blood spots in the bathroom sink, blood on the bath mat and her roommates were nowhere to be found. Shortly after that, the police would discover that Amanda's roommate Meredith had been brutally murdered in their home. In the series of events that followed, police would mistake Amand...

Jan 26, 20211 hr 12 minEp. 49

Witch Hunt (Meredith Kercher and Amanda Knox, part 1)

On November 2nd 2007 Amanda Knox went home to her Italian Villa to take a shower and pack her bags before leaving on a weekend getaway with her boyfriend, but something was off. When Amanda arrived home she noticed blood spots in the bathroom sink, blood on the bath mat and her roommates were nowhere to be found. Shortly after that, the police would discover that Amanda's roommate Meredith had been brutally murdered in their home. In the series of events that followed, police would mistake Amand...

Jan 19, 20211 hr 30 minEp. 48

Blood on the Guard Rail (Jaleayah Davis)

On November 19th 2011 Williamsburg West Virginia police got a series of disturbing 911 calls. There has been as terrible accident, and all that remained were a body in the middle of the road and a car idling against the guard rail 3/10 if a mile down the highway. Upon arrival authorities discovered the remains of 20 year old Jaleayah Davis, naked from the waist up, decapitated in the middle on interstate 77. Her bloodied jacket, shirt and bra were neatly hung on the guard rail, and her 2006 Silv...

Jan 12, 20211 hr 47 minEp. 47

15 minutes in The Limelight (Michael Alig)

In late March of 1996 a box containing the mutilated remains of an unidentified man washed up on the shores of Miller Field in Staten Island. Little did authorities know that this discovery was indelibly linked to the who's who of New York City Nightlife, and the king of the club kids himself, Michael Alig. Join WWBD as we take an ultra deep dive into the world in 1980's and 90's New York City night life. We trace the road to the concept of being famous for being famous and explore the rise of t...

Jan 05, 20211 hr 56 minEp. 46

Scary Ghost Stories (Victorian Christmas Tales)

Gather 'round the fire fiends and let's bring back a time honored tradition: Christmastime ghost stories. This episode is perfect for a chilly and festive evening. Holly is reading you the classic chiller The Kit Bag by Algernon Blackwood, Leslie is reading the festive hide and seek scare fest 'Smee by A.M. Burrage, and finally, Holly offers an original ghost story in the traditional style called Mrs. Grove. We hope you enjoy, and maybe if all of us get on board, we can bring this fantastic trad...

Dec 22, 20201 hr 23 minEp. 45
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