MGM executives manipulated the crime scene before police arrived, so it was no surprise that investigators ruled Paul Bern's death a suicide. But the more that reporters dug in, the more evident it became that Bern was not alone the night he died. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
He spent the 1920s becoming one of Hollywood's most sought-after filmmakers. His professional success and love for his wife, actress Jean Harlow, were everything he ever wanted. So when Paul Bern was found dead in his home with a suicide note nearby, friends wondered if there was more to his story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Investigators needed to close the case, so they charged a 27-year-old sailor named John Williams who had loose connections to both murder sites. But when it was time for his trial, Williams didn't show up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On a December morning in 1811, Londoners awoke to news of a massacre at a local linen shop. Twelve days later, another gruesome murder occurred just down the road. With no viable suspects and public pressure increasing, police were desperate to arrest anybody they could build a case around. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Over fifty years after Maria Ridulph was kidnapped and murdered, a suspect was put on trial. Jack McCullough faced charges in September 2012, in the oldest cold case trial in American history. His conviction seemingly laid the question of Maria’s killer to rest. But one attorney wasn’t so sure. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Two young girls play in their snowy Chicago suburb in December 1957. Only one of them comes home. Even with the FBI on the case, the leads run cold — until a deathbed confession nearly forty years later changes everything. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On Christmas Eve nearly seventy years ago, Dorothy Martin and the Seekers stood outside in Chicago and sang carols. They were waiting for a spacecraft that would shepherd them away from Earth — and the impending apocalypse. In this Christmas Special from Cults, join us for a look into a doomsday cult awaiting deliverance. And if you like this episode, follow Cults — a Spotify Original from Parcast — for more chilling insights every week! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com...
In late December 1920, six people in southern Africa sat down for lunch. Only five left alive. Swiss missionary and gifted linguist Édouard Jacottet was murdered — and he knew exactly what killed him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
When the head of a business empire is found dead in Miami, investigators zero in on his wife Candy and her young nephew. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
After a young Welsh reporter exposed the atrocities of the Soviet Union’s Great Famine to the world, he died suddenly and mysteriously. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In 1979, a Seattle psychic who studied psychedelics went missing. Her brother suspected she’d been kidnapped by a cult, but other theories leaned toward the more mystical. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
By 1973, the Boston Strangler was behind bars — but the killing wasn't over. The notorious murderer became the victim of a jailhouse homicide that has yet to be solved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Between 1962 and 1964, Massachusetts was terrorized by a serial killer known as the Boston Strangler. Officers raced to discover his true identity and put an end to his murder spree. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
As babysitters became horror movie tropes, the real-life terror didn't slow down. In 1981, 15-year-old babysitter Kelly Cook was murdered by a man who called himself "Bill Christensen." To this day, his true identity remains a mystery. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In 1953, 15-year-old Evelyn Hartley left to babysit a neighbor's child – but she never came home. Following a trail of bloodstains and clothing scraps, police led a fruitless search for her killer. Today, some believe Evelyn might've been the victim of one of the most terrifying serial killers in American history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A 1950 crime in Missouri may have inspired the urban legend about the babysitter and the man upstairs. When the Romacks returned from a night out, they found their 13-year-old babysitter, Janett Christman, dead in their living room — and police had reason to believe it was an “inside job.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
After a beachcomber discovered Starr’s body, it took two autopsies to determine foul play. Was Starr’s childhood abuser — and former mayor of Boston — behind her death? Did Starr decide to take her own life that night on the water, as some of her private letters suggested? Or did she get wrapped up with a notorious gangster in a blackmail scheme gone wrong? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In 1931, the body of a young woman washed up on the shores of Long Island. Starr Faithfull had spent the Roaring Twenties chasing glamor, partying in speakeasies and sneaking aboard cruise ships. Her mysterious death became a tabloid sensation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
After more than a decade of setbacks and hurdles, researcher Silvia Pettem was finally able to confirm Jane Doe's identity, and it happened in the most mysterious of ways. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In 1954, two college freshmen found the body of a young woman in a creek near Boulder, Colorado. Unable to identify her, police simply referred to her as Jane Doe. Over 50 years later, authorities were still unable to track down her name… or her killer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
With the coroner’s inquiry underway, damning evidence reveals the nature of Diana Yeates and Dr. Eric Hedberg’s relationship — but it’s not enough to secure a conviction. The police’s prime suspect walks away, leaving more than one mysterious death in his wake. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On an early September morning in 1960, surgeon Jim Yeates was found dead in the garage with a pool of blood around his head. The well-respected doctor had no known enemies, so police were left with few suspects. But when the coroner's report came in, a different cause of death was determined — and it would shift the entire investigation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Diamond didn’t make many friends as a bootlegger and racketeer. Anybody could have been responsible for his death… including the police themselves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
During the 1920s and ‘30s, his rap sheet had everything from robbery, to bootlegging, to drugs. Jack “Legs” Diamond was wanted by law enforcement and wanted dead by other gangsters. After surviving four assassination attempts, he wouldn’t survive the fifth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In 1908, a young domestic servant was found murdered in upstate New York. Almost a century later, Hazel Drew’s mysterious death — and secret double life — inspired David Lynch and Mark Frost’s “Twin Peaks” television series. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
When Peter Reilly became the main suspect in his mother’s murder, his Connecticut hometown rallied around him. Police pursued him relentlessly, but further investigation would reveal how little they actually knew about Barbara Gibbons’ death. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On September 28th, 1973, 51-year-old Barbara Gibbons was discovered dead in her home by her teenage son. He reported her death to the police, but the police soon became convinced that he had killed his own mother. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
As police find — and lose — leads in the Casanova card player’s murder investigation, a housekeeper hides evidence, a countess provides an alibi, and a business partner changes his story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The most famous bridge player in the world rubbed elbows with New York’s elite and tutored the likes of King Edward VII and Harold Vanderbilt before he was fatally shot in his Manhattan brownstone. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
When a fading porn star became desperate enough to help the Wonderland Gang steal from a Hollywood mogul, revenge and murder followed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
