On March 11th, 2018, 15-year-old Kyle Bancroft and his younger brother invited two teenage friends to a sleepover at their home in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. By about 1:30 AM the following morning, everyone had gone to bed, but nobody would get a f
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Introducing Sword and Scale Nightmares! True Crime for Bedtime. Your nightmare begins now... The first three episodes will drop on 3.2.23 at 3:23pm EDT. In the meantime, please take a moment to subscribe on your preferred podcast listening platform.
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A young pregnant mother goes missing in the chill of an Arkansas December night. The small town of Rison and surrounding communities are well known fishing and hunting areas, but they also hold some sinister secrets. Cherrish Allbright wasnt t
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In 2018, 25-year-old Amelia Bissoon worked as a personal banker in Florida. In July of that year, Orlando detectives questioned Amelia about 50,000 dollars that she had stolen from one of her banking clients, but as the police continued interviewing
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Philosopher John Locke believed that we have no innate ideas; our minds are blank slates upon which experience writes. Modern geneticists argue that we are nothing but the stage on which a play written by our genes is performed. The nature versus nur
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When the body of 17-year-old high school student Kendrick Johnson was found in his own Lowndes County gym back in January of 2013, the whole nation took notice. The case was odd, the investigation seemed to have major holes, and Kendricks fami
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The world can be a scary place when youre young. After her husband moved to a nursing home Barb Olson thought the scariest times were behind her. At 78 she still had an active lifestyle. Between church, driving friends to their appointments, a
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Every mothers worst nightmare came true for the Joughin family on July 19th, 2016, when their daughter Sierah never came home from her bike ride. As minutes turned into hours and hours into days, the investigation led the FBI to the quaint, qu
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In June of 2012, the dismembered body parts of 23-year-old Jaren Lockhart began washing ashore on various beaches in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. In tracing Jarens last known whereabouts, the police learned that she was last seen leaving work w
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When 6-year-old James Hutchinson went missing from his family home in the early morning hours of February 28th, 2021, police immediately began compiling a list of oddities. This family was not normal. When detectives in Middletown, Ohio finally disco
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Bad things can happen in good places. On January 31st, 2011, Johnny Clarke and his girlfriend, Lisa Straub, were house-sitting for Lisas parents in the affluent suburbs of Holland, Ohio. That night, authorities were called to the residence whe
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It took nearly a year to solve the murder of Alexis Robinault. After her nude body was found a few miles from home on the side of the road her status as a newly successful social media influencer slowed the progress of detectives with the Houston PD.
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Throughout the year of 2017, the police in Strongsville, Ohio were called to the home of The Pleskovic family several times. For months, this kind-hearted and well-liked family had seemingly been victims of repeated thefts, harassment, vandalism, and
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Ashley yearned to grow up, move out, and live by her own rules. She was so sure she was mature enough to be on her own she began sneaking around and dating the much older Sam Shelton. But when Ashley went missing Sam was no help to the police even th
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First looks can lead you astray. That was the case for young Ryan Waller when he was mistaken as the killer of his girlfriend rather than another victim. After being accused of murder a years-long fight in and out of the courtroom begins. The family
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Indiana University was rocked when 22-year-old Hannah Wilson was found murdered. The bubbly, popular senior had mysteriously gone missing from her bedroom after a night out of celebrating with friends. The next day she was found dead in a field. Whil
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In July of 2015, the bloody and lifeless body of 47-year-old Robert Noce Jr. was found stuffed inside a 55-gallon barrel. His hands were bound behind his back, a thick leather belt was wrapped tightly around his neck, and he had been stabbed fourteen
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When the body of 27-year-old Mennonite woman Sasha Krause was discovered near Sunset Crater National Monument in Arizona, detectives were picking up where New Mexicos authorities had left off. Sasha was reported missing a month before, and the
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A mothers unconditional love is put to the test when Steven Kelsey returns from basic training to spend the holidays with his family. What starts as a loving family reunion ends in a manhunt through the Michigan forests and a mother questionin
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When Wisconsinites Bart and Krista Halderson were reported missing over the Fourth of July weekend in 2021, the case unfolded more quickly than detectives could keep up with. What started as a simple missing persons case quickly turned into a murder
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Anthony Templet lived his whole life in a cage. One morning he decided to take his life into his own hands and set himself free. The only setback was he had to kill his father to gain his freedom. Trapped and abused by his father he shot his father t
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On March 6th, 2015, the body of 85-year-old Anthony Tomaselli was discovered two weeks after the death of his long-time partner. According to his adult daughters, Mary Beth and Linda, their family was relieved. His daughters claimed that Anthony&rsqu
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What would you do if you worked your whole life to achieve the American dream and then you perceived that someone was on the cusp of taking it all away? How far would you go and what would you be willing to do to stop them? On a beautiful summer morn
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The town of Groton, Mass had never witnessed such a tragedy. A tragedy that would test the love and loyalty of one family. The bond between family can never be broken but the love and loyalty between can sometimes be tried so hard that its sev
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Thanksgiving of 2012 started off very poorly for the Redwine Family. When one member of their clan, 13-year-old Dylan Redwine vanished on November 18th, an expensive and lengthy search of the Colorado Mountains ensued. What they found over the course
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It wasnt an easy life for Ashley Biggs, a young woman from Ohio. Raised by her single mother and her grandmother, she suffered abuse in school for her sexual orientation. The ridicule only escalated when she became pregnant. Ashley quit school
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In Oshkosh, Wisconsin, the city known for making overalls, tension was mounting between two Marine veterans over the repair of a vehicle. Both were highly trained with weapons and both were trained to shoot to kill. On August 4th, the c
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In 2010, Indiana sentenced the third minor in the state's history to life in prison without parole. This is the story of a small town boy without a criminal history who by nature saw the world through a different lens and whose nurture led to preoccu
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When Patricia Velazquez left her 12-year-old daughter Yhoanna home alone for a few hours on August 10th, 2017, she expected to return home to a living, breathing child. Yhoanna was a good kid who followed all of her mothers rules, so Patricia
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Who killed Carla Walker? In February of 1974, 17-year-old Carla Walker was abducted after attending a Valentine's Day dance with her boyfriend. Three days later, her body was found inside a cold, dark culvert near Benbrook Lake in Tarrant County, Tex
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Weeks go by in the search for missing jogger Mollie Tibbetts. An interagency taskforce has searched to no avail. Finally, a break in the case leads authorities to a dairy farm outside of the small Iowa town of Brooklyn and to a person of interest. Af
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9-year-old Jessica Marie Lunsford was an especially shy and polite young girl that lived with her grandparents and her single dad in Homosassa, Florida. On a morning in late February of 2005, Jessicas father opened his daughters bedroom
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On January 8th, 2007, the home of Liz Collier-Sweet was set ablaze by an unknown firebug. Little did the investigators know, finding the arsonist would be the least of law enforcements worries. When Liz failed to return home after the fire, La
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When 19-year-old Colorado resident Lea Porter went missing from Westminster on June 3rd, 2014, her family and friends went on a mission to solve the case on their own. Police didnt move as quickly as theyd hoped, so they put their heads
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An early morning car accident would send the Boise PD reeling for answers. With two dead on the scene they still had to explain an unrelated homicide. The frightening sight was the culmination of years of abuse in the name of love. A history of domes
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In late October of 2017, two deer hunters discovered a naked and rotting human corpse in the Bruneau Desert near Grand View, Idaho. An autopsy later confirmed that the human remains were that of an 18 to 20-year-old male and that he had been shot to
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What do you get when you cross a sheltered and immature young adult with the trials and tribulations of navigating adult relationships? You get Andrew Jondle and the precarious situation he found himself in after being seduced and manipulated by his
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Raised in Pittsburgh, home of the Steelers, Andrea Curry Demus should have had a great life in a city rated most livable; but Andrea didnt have a lot of money and she wasnt very smart. All she wanted was a family and child
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Deep in the hills of Ohio, where people keep to themselves - hunting, fishing, and partying around the fire pit, sometimes the predator becomes the prey. When Jim Whitaker of Hocking Hills, Ohio, turns up missing, his family naturally becomes concern
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In October of 2014, 53-year-old Chris Regan was reported missing in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The investigation that followed spanned many years across numerous states, resulting in an extraordinary game of cat and mouse between a veteran dete
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We all want whats best for our kids, but sometimes we need to let our children make their own mistakes. After a lifetime of being told what to do, Nicole Nachtman's family will learn that even the quietest people have their breaking points. S
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29-year-old Daryne Gailey lost his freedom when his 65-year old mother, Sylvia Majewska, was granted guardianship and conservatorship over him. With the #FREEBRITNEY movement exploding globally, what a better time to expose the abusive aspects of gua
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19-year-old Lizzi Marriott was especially kind-hearted, always beaming with positivity, and dreamed of becoming a marine biologist. She was working hard toward that dream by attending classes at the University of New Hampshire, but Lizzi didnt
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Loving parents Jason and Julie live on the California coast with their three young children and have the dream life, or so it seems. Jason is a respected and loved teacher and coach while Julie earned a Harvard degree. But Julie is a hoarder who has
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Each family has its own unique strengths and weaknesses, but what happens when the family dynamic begins to enter into the realm of depravity? In early 2019, when 30-year-old Amanda McClure and her fianc were suddenly reunited with Amanda&rsq
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In February of 2017, 28-year-old Kayla Crocker was found bound, bloody, and unresponsive in the nursery of her Florida home. After she was rushed to a nearby hospital, county police called upon several other law enforcement agencies to assist with th
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When personal assistant Jennifer Fulford mysteriously disappeared from her wealthy employers house, everyone was puzzled by the strange trail of strange clues left in her absence. Had Jennifer run away? Had she been hurt? The truth behind her
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What happened to Lee Paulino? He disappeared days before Thanksgiving and the police just considered him a runaway in spite of his family's pleas that he would never do that. When a gruesome discovery is made two weeks later it calls into question co
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Residents of the Marpole neighborhood in Vancouver, British Columbia suddenly found themselves double-checking their deadbolts when an unidentified killer senselessly murdered two valuable members of the community. 64-year-old Dianna Mah-Jones, and h
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On New Year's Day 2008, 24-year-old Meredith Emerson went missing after setting out on a hike up Blood Mountain in Union County, Georgia. Search teams combed Blood Mountain for days in an effort to find the missing hiker, but they never did. Meredith
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21-year-old Alisha Bromfield had it all. She had a supportive friend group, a family who loved her, a nearly completed bachelors degree, and a baby on the way. When she didnt arrive home from an out-of-state wedding on Sunday, August 19
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In October of 2005, empty nesters Dennis and Norma Woodruff were found shot and stabbed to death in their Texas home. With a lack of physical evidence and leads, police fixated on the couples 19-year-old son Brandon as their killer when they f
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Were back to bring you the conclusion of the mysterious staged death of Natasha Waalen. In order to get the full story, we encourage you to go back and listen to part 1 before diving into this episode. When we left off, Natashas former
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When 29-year-old Natasha Waalen was found dead next to her dirt bike, police assumed it had been a terrible accident. They were wrong. Natasha had been murdered and her death was sloppily covered up to look like a motorcycle crash. Who would want thi
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We sometimes get things wrong. In this exclusive interview with Kim Dixon, sister to Zachary Penna's victim from Episode 181, she joins us to tell us why. If you have not heard that episode, you may want to listen to that first for context.&nb
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On Sunday June 28th, 2015, Dr. Teresa Sievers returned home early from a family vacation only to find she was not alone in the house. In the aftermath of a brutal murder, it appeared on the surface to be a robberybut no valuables were taken, a
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In December of 2000, 31-year-old real estate appraiser Mike Williams went missing while duck hunting on Lake Seminole in Jackson County, Florida. The initial belief was that Mike had drowned and that alligators had eaten his body. Seventeen years wou
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Zachary Penna was having a horrible day. He left work early to pick up his car but the auto shop said it wasnt ready which ruined his evening plans. He had to walk home in the South Florida heat and when he got there he was locked out. It&rsqu
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An unreal crime scene with a dead fortune teller, her dead daughter, and an otherworldly tone has police in Westminster, CA grasping at straws trying to solve the case. They consulted Warlocks, cult experts and were even approached by a dog psychic.
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Markeith Loyd was not there for his first two children, but Sade Dixon gave him another chance at being a father. With Gods guidance, Markeith believed that there was no way he could mess it up this time around. That was until his visions from
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Holly Colinos descent into madness took a long time. A series of unfortunate life events painted her paranoid delusions in a shade of green envy. Everywhere she looked were women that wanted to be her so badly that they would copy everything a
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Spawned from a long line of vicious criminals, Nikko Jenkins struck terror into Nebraskans when he callously slayed four innocent citizens in his murderous ten-day spree. It was a family adventure when his sister, cousin, and uncle all played roles i
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Were all looking forward to retirement, when we can finally cash out all of our hard-earned savings and live off of it until we die. Thats the hope, at least. Joel Guy Senior and his wife Lisa Guy had just sold their house in Knoxville
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Clark Fredericks was born with a hole in his heart. 46 years later, he was arrested for repeatedly stabbing and killing a retired police lieutenant in the small town of Stillwater, New Jersey. What led Clark to commit such a violent act, and why woul
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Trouble in the Amato household began brewing in the summer of 2018, when Grant Amato, the youngest son, developed an addiction to one particular webcam model. Her name is Ady Sweet. Day and night, Grant was watching the live shows Ady streamed. These
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We move people who commit crimes far away from our society so they dont harm anyone else but many of those criminals will eventually serve their sentences and return to civilian life. Who is worthy of our grace and mercy? And what happ
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Child abuse can take many forms and most of the time isnt obvious. In rare cases it is near impossible to detect. In the special case of Olivia Gant and her mother, Kelly Turner, the signs were there but Kelly was adept at hiding them or convi
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We all know by now that there are good cops, and there are very bad cops. On December 29th, 2009, Kevin Gregson and Eric Czapnik showed the world exactly which roles they filled. Both men wanted so desperately to become members of the Royal Canadian
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The world had a conniption when news headlines announced Kevin Bacon-Murdered! just before the new year. As more details came out, it was clear that the victim of this murder was not the actor known for the Six Degrees of Kevin B
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We take a break from the standard Sword and Scale format to chat about the current state of law enforcement with ex-police officer and judge Charles Adams from The Truth with Charles Adams on KPRC 950 AM and iHeartRadio. SOURCES Reid Technique Ex
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We often think of true-crime from the perspective of law enforcement trying valiantly to pursue the perpetrator and make them face the justice system. Have you ever considered what it would be like if you were in the hot seat? What if you were the su
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The lives of Kevin and Marina Krim were forever changed on October 25th, 2012. All of New York City was suddenly rethinking their caregivers. Is the person taking care of mom, dad, the dog, or the baby actually safe? What are the chances we co
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July of 2016 was a bad month in Bend, Oregon. Isabel Ponce Lara woke up one morning to her husband, Edwin Lara, acting very strangely. The events that would follow over the next 2 days changed her life forever. Isabels life would not be the on
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Freedom of speech and religion are two foundational parts of what this nation has to offer. Theyre important to us and when we feel theyre being infringed upon, Americans speak up. What happens when freedom of religion directly causes h
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Orange County California has seen its fair share of bizarre crimes. When Sam Herr, a decorated combat veteran is nowhere to be found and his best friend Julie Kibuishi is discovered dead in Sams apartment, police are quick to begin a manhunt.
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8-year-old Isabella Cipriano woke up in the middle of the night in April of 2012 to find that her father, mother, and brother were being attacked in the family home in Farmington Hills, Michigan. On the surface, this seemed to be a random home invasi
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Ryan Lawrence appeared to be a caring and dutiful father, taking his 21-month-old daughter Maddox with him as he delivered pastries throughout Syracuse, New York, and holding her hand through a rare form of cancer she was diagnosed with before her fi
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On May 6th, 2013, Sharlene Bosma watched as her husband Tim pulled away from their house on a test drive with two strange men, never to return again. Finding the mysterious kidnappers will only be part of the struggle. Finding out what happened to Ti
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Never before have so many of us been forcibly cooped up in our houses for this length of time. COVID-19 has shaken up our routines and our state of mind. During this quarantine, weve seen an increase in drug and alcohol consumption, in stress-
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The quiet seclusion of rural Maine gives many people a feeling of solace but sometimes the isolation can fracture a persons psyche. The rural town of Winthrop, Maine had never seen a murder case like the one on Halloween 2016. Andrew Balcer, a
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Citizens of Bakersfield California were in for a crazy day on December 10, 2016. The public events of this day would result in a police chase, and two deaths, eventually a third. Manuel Vela was no stranger to dealing with the law, and resisting arr
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Who do we blame when an innocent 8-year-old boy is brutally murdered in a strangers kitchen? In this particular case, fingers are pointed in every direction. The cut-and-dry cases of random abduction and murder are terrible and tragic, yet sim
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The United States has experienced a slew of mass murders in recent years, but the two mass shootings that occurred within 14 hours of each other in August of 2019 have made a big impact on a society that is becoming more complacent by the day. The 24
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Were back with the riveting conclusion to the tale of Ezra McCandless and her claims of repeated sexual victimization. To understand the many facets of this case, you absolutely must go back and listen to part 1 before you listen to this episo
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Ezra McCandless wove a web of complicated relationships for herself, getting involved romantically with many of the men in her coffee-shop clique in a hipster Wisconsin college town. Things were going well for her until they werent, and one pe
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A neighbor dispute turns deadly after a brain damaged war vet with PTSD finally snaps on Labor Day 2012. Did Billy Woodward plan his military style assault, or did he have no choice but to Stand His Ground? SOURCES William Woodward Trial: Day 1,
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This is the exciting conclusion of the Sheilla Davalloo Story. If you havent listened to part one go back one episode and start there. The leads in Anna Lisa Raymundos murder investigation were dead ends that is until Sheila Da
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This is the riveting first part of a two-part story that will leave you wondering how well do I know my significant other. Sheila Davalloo is educated and from an affluent family. She lives among the well-to-do and works for the powers
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Around 1 A.M. on October 15th, 2018, Barron County Sheriffs Department receives a 911 call. What sounds to be a struggle and screaming on the other end of the line triggers deputies to drive to the home which the number was registered to. Upon
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In April 2018, Boca Raton Police Department were alerted of a missing person. James Scandirito II was calling to report that his father, 74-year-old James Skip Scandirito was missing from his home and that he had not heard from his fath
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Were taking a deep dive into the world of YouTube rant channels in the early 2000s. Tony48219 loved to sit in his computer chair and shout at the camera about evolution, geocentrism, women, and atheists. Most of his abrasive opinions were met
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Sexual child abuse is so widespread that the numbers are astounding. We seem to forget that the threat is omnipresent and can come in the form of another troubled child with little to no parental supervision. Girls are typically more pret
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Domestic violence happens every day. It happens so often that as a society were numb to it. When Brandon Clark stabbed Bianca Devins in the throat it was just another case of domestic violence. But when Brandon posted the gory photo online tau
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The afternoon of January 13th, 2010, a Conyers Georgia police officer encounters an exasperated 16-year-old Tasmiyah Whitehead approaching his squad car in a gated community. The girl claims she and her identical twin arrived home from school to find
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When Megan Wants A Millionaire is suspended from airing after only three episodes, a former Reality TV star rises to infamy after a brutal murder, and international manhunt. SOURCES Friends of Murdered Model, Jasmine F
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Most of the time, accidents are simply just that. Accidents. Sometimes though, collisions are made with precise decision making, with little to no care in terms of the safety of human beings. Were going to examine a few cases of wrong wa
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On July 17th, 2016, former United State Marine Gavin Long went into Baton Rouge, Louisiana to wage an all out war on the police. Many thought it was in retaliation for the tragic death of Alton Sterling in the weeks prior, but not everything is as it
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When 23 year old Bonnie Haim goes missing in January of 1993, abandoning her husband and 3 year old son, all fingers point toward her husband, Michael Haim. With no body, no DNA evidence, and no proof, police couldnt make an arrest, and couldn
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During the early morning hours of May 5th, 2012, Mark Duenas was awoken by what sounded like a catfight outside of his family home. He got up from his recliner and began checking the outside of the home. Walking down the hallway, he noticed the light
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Andrew Urdiales, a serial killer with military training, attacks and tortures women across three states for ten years. Only one woman lives to the tell her harrowing tale; but with no evidence left behind, how many years will pass until justice is se
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The process of vetting those we allow into our lives is a precarious one. When young, prospective college student Brandy Rosine met Jade Olmstead online, it seemed to be love at first Skype. Things were going smoothly for the couple, they began livin
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On October 10th, 2008, 38-year-old Johnny Altinger made his way to South Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He had set up a date with a mysterious woman on the website Plenty of Fish. He emailed friends and family about his big date, even forwarding the dire
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Serious psychological issues can develop, fester, and become toxic in the cover of darkness when not addressed and treated properly. None of us are immune to the dangers or pitfalls of mental illness or where dark thoughts could lead us. On February
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16-year-old Emma Walker broke up with her boyfriend, 18-year-old Riley Gaul because she realized it wasnt a healthy relationship and was tired of his controlling and abusive behavior. But when she needed help after a series of strange and frig
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Sticks and stones will break my bones... a child's nursery rhyme which contains a universal truth that is all but lost in today's day and age of safe spaces and mass censorship of "hurtful words." Respect is not only demanded in this brave new world,
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Three vicious murders in rural Northeastern Maine stun the small city of Amitys 238 residents. A missing truck, three innocent victims killed with surgical precision, and a crime scene just a few miles West of the US/Canadian border leave dete
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On July 17th, 2016, Cara Beckerle went up to the bedroom of her 19-year-old daughter, Aleah, to check on her. When she opened the door, the bed was empty, and Aleahs wheelchair was sitting next to it. Aleah could not have left of her own free
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Chris Watts is arrested and charged with murder on August 15th, 2018 in the disappearance of his pregnant wife Shanann and their two children, daughters Bella and Celeste. The caring father and husband was the envy of those who followed their success
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On August 13th, 2018, expectant mother Shanann Watts and her daughters Bella and Celeste were reported missing from their home in Frederick, Colorado. As if vanishing into thin air, her vehicle was left locked in the family garage, her purse and wall
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All you need, is love. The lyrics etched on the consciousness of an entire generation. But what happens when all you need, is lost? 36-year old former child actor Aaron Wulf details nearly thirty years of violent physical and sexual abuse in his near
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9-year old Omaree Varelas lifeless, bruised, and tattered body was recovered at the base of toy bouncy horse just two days after Christmas in 2013. His mother and stepfather claimed his death was the result of a freak accident while playing wi
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In 2008, Adam Baker and his daughter, Zahra, moved to the United States from Queensland, Australia with the hopes of having the perfect new life. Adam had just married his new bride, Elisa, whom Zahra was quite fond of. What they soon began to learn
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On Tuesday September 13th, 2016 a 911 call police responded to 363 Covert Court Ashland, Ohio, an abandoned house near a laundromat. Minutes earlier, a frantic 911 call had been placed, from this location, by a woman who claimed she was being held ca
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Chris and Cameron Ervin felt neglected and under-loved. In a life of increasing pressures, they numbed their minds with recreational drugs and shucked all responsibility in spite of being provided every opportunity to lead a successful life. When lif
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In 1997, Shannon McCrossan moved with her two daughters, 8-year-old Kirsten Hatfield and 3-year-old Faith to a home on Jet Drive in Midwest City, OK. At the time, life seemed to be okay. The neighbors were friendly and there were children for the gir
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In the early morning hours of February 5th, 2015, a man wearing a mask and black tactical gear burst into the bedroom of Lisa Trubnikova. Eventually, he took the mask off to reveal a familiar face. He wanted the women to know who he was and why he wa
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51-year-old Ruth Pyne is found beaten and stabbed to death in the garage of her home in Highland Township, Michigan. Her immediate family members become the focus of the investigation, and one of them has a questionable alibi. Indirect evidence begin
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On July 21st, 2006, an entire family seemingly disappeared from their home in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. When police searched the residence, there were no signs of a break-in. Nothing was disturbed, and nothing of value appeared to be missing. But the
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Everyone loves the idea of having the perfect family and keeping everyone close together. Go to work, come home, play with the kids, eat dinner together. Unfortunately, that isnt always how things go. In 2015, the Bever family was the perfect
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We all love to talk about all of the things were going to do to better ourselves all of the changes we want to make. Maybe wed like to focus more on our families, start a business, or go back to school. Whatever the case, these
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When you have a problem, you hire someone to fix it. That's what you do. Sometimes you don't have the benefit of Yelp reviews though... SOURCES SENTENCING - Ex wife Annie (Part 7) TRIAL - "Hitman" Javier (Audio/Video Surveillance) (DAY 2 - Part
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During the early morning hours of September 22nd, 2010, 13-year-old Alexis Mitchell awoke to the sight of her father looming over her and wearing a Halloween mask. His hands were around her neck, but he let up after she elbowed and bit him. Either ha
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On Sunday, October 4th 2009, Milford Police Sgt. Kevin Furlong was dispatched by 911 to 4 Trow Road in Mont Vernon. There had been a home invasion. Inside he found Jaimie Cates with multiple stab wounds and injuries and the body of her mom Kimberly C
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31-year-old Nicole VanderHeyden was substitute teacher and mother of three. She lived with her boyfriend and father of her infant son, Doug Detrie, in Bellevue, Brown County, WI. The Green Bay metro area. Her body was found naked and strangled in a f
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Some crimes are so extreme that they defy the laws of nature. Ending the life of your very own mother, for example, is so unfathomable to most that it may be the most vile crime imaginable. The story about Kevin Davisgoes well beyond that. Stra
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This will be, BY FAR, the most frustrating podcast you listen to (perhaps ever). We here at Sword and Scale have had some pretty frustrating interactions with emergency operators, but nothing can prepare you for this audio gem. We also tangentially c
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Some tales of human depravity are just unimaginable. Are they the actions of a monster, or simply a monstrous act? Sometimes the lines are not quite so clear, and perhaps monsters are not only real, but existing all around us, and hidden in plain sit
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What exactly is "God's Plan?" Do you know? Some people think they do. Jonathan Hearn and Sabrina Limon thought "God's Plan" included having an illicit affair and killing Sabrina's husband. BOOK SOURCES TRIAL DAY 1: Sabrina Limon opening statem
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Part 2 of the Natalie Bollinger Murder... SOURCES Natalie Bollinger Case Discussion Justice for Natalie Bollinger True Crime Case Talk UNCENSORED Natalie Bollinger Unfiltered and Open Discussion Natalie Bollinger/Tim Beason Texts GoFundMe Acc
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A teenage girl is stalked by a homeless man and suddenly goes missing two weeks later. WARNING: This is part one of a two-part episode. Part two will be available on 3/18 on the regular feed or you can get it now for just $5 on Patreon.com/SwordAndSc
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When Jane Bashara was found strangled to death in the back of her SUV nobody knew what to make of it. Things like this simply didn't happen in Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan, a wealthy community of million-dollar homes. The Bashara's, now empty nesters
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The human mind can go to such depths of depravity that, for the average well-adjusted person, it's hard to even imagine. Kevin Ray Underwood's mind was so far gone that his sexual fantasies started to include cannibalism. When 10-year-old Jamie Rose
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So many leaves... It doesn't happen often, but the intersection of Psychosis and Psychopathy is a scary place. A place where all things that are good, break down and all that's left is pure darkness. Matthew Hoffman lived in such a place... SOURCES
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"CENTAUR... you have awoken. Don't let them kill you." The bath salts epidemic has reached new proportions in the state of Florida, as more and more shocking cases make their way to the front pages of local papers, before capturing International atte
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Love is often expressed with gifts such as flowers and chocolates, but those same gifts can be used to manipulate, control and threaten in the hands of a stalker. That is a lesson that Alice Ruggles learned the hard way from her obsessed ex-boyfriend
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Nothing quite says fear like a machete. In this episode we bring you to distinct stories of some of the most barbaric and utterly inexplicable attacks with a blade to poor souls who did nothing to deserve such brutality. The first story comes from Ap
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The death of a little girl named Jodi Parrack send a small town into a spiral of shock and disbelief. Everyone goes looking, but when a reserve police officer named Raymond McCann suggests looking in the cemetery all eyes turn on him as the primary s
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We conclude with Part 2 of the Scrivo Murder Case, a story which deals with elements of mental illness, grief and the relationship between a mother and a son. SOURCES Donna Scrivo Press Conference Bags of body parts found along highway Women wh
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For our landmark hundredth episode we cover a story that has all the elements our listeners love to hear. A graphic and gory case of body parts being found scattered across a roadway, and the unbelievable tale of how the case then unfolds from there
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Underreported and under-discussed, male sexual child abuse is a topic that is often brushed under the rug due to social norms and the child's fears of being labelled a homosexual or future perpetrator. Data from various studies indicates that the pro
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"We lock our doors at night to keep the outside world, to keep evil out, right? ...but what happens when evil has a key?" Those were the words spoken by Nation Hahn, a man who knows first hand how evil can deceptively find its way into your home with
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Becoming a parent can be one of the most joy-filled experiences in one's life. It has been a long-standing tradition for friends, family and neighbors to all gather to celebrate this special experience with a baby shower. In the last decade or so, a
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There's a lot that can go wrong in this organ we call the human brain, which we don't fully understand. It's important for all of us to be much more aware of the red flags so that we can prevent tragedies like this one from happening. We examine this
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Escapism is something most of us are guilty of. We retire to our TV shows, video games, podcasts... One would not assume that even the most esoteric escapes could be dangerous, but for two gay men in the mid 80's living in rural Northern Georgia, tha
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Randy Stair secretly identified as a female for years. She ditched her given name for the pseudonym Andrew Blaze and also ditched the YouTube channel she had worked on for a large part of her life to pursue animation. The cartoons she created were da
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The highly polarized political climate we're living in colors our view of the world in one way or another. Sometimes it's hard to see the big picture and true underlying human tragedy when we're too busy judging the beliefs of others. This is a story
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The love of a mother is something many of us take for granted, but when it's not present during the early formative years the results can be disastrous. This is what Edmund Kemper suggests happened to him. A serial killer who enjoyed murdering coeds
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We kick off this week's episode with some much needed updates about what's been going on behind the scenes, first of which is Sword and Scale Rewind, hosted by Lynette Carolla and Stefanie Wilder-Taylor, which launches on June 14th. It's the after-sh
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When Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist Claudia Rowe, author of The Spider and The Fly, decided to write to a serial killer, she wasn't prepared for how it would change her life. In her quest to understand the nature of cruelty, she ended up discove
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Matthew Hahn is bright, eloquent, friendly and just generally the kind of person you like immediately. He's the kind of person that will tell you everything about his life within seconds of meeting him, but only if you ask. He's an open book which is
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When a 14 year old boy named Philip Chism goes missing in the middle of a school day, his mother thinks the worst and calls 911. Little does she know, that her son isn't the only missing person from Danvers High School that day. A 24-year-old math te
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Over the course of a normal school day, a mystery unravels. At first there is chaos, confusion and much worry, but soon all of that anxiety melts into a river of loss and agony as friends and family members find out the truth. This first part of a tw
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The 20 year anniversary of one of the strangest tales in modern American religious history is quickly approaching. On March 26th, March 26, 1997 Marshall Herff Applewhite led a group of 39 devoted followers to their final destination. In their minds
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There are few things more horrifying than the idea that your children can be taken from their beds, from their own home, while there's an adult sleeping inside, yet that's exactly what happened on the morning of Monday, Oct. 10, 2016 in Fort Wayne, I
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There is a place that humanity has created where the rules of society mean nothing. This place is a void of laws and social norms. The scariest thing, is that there is a doorway to this dark place in every home, in some cases we carry this doorway wi
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Love can be a wonderful thing. It can make the world around you seem like a magical place. But sometimes, love can go wrong. Very wrong. In this season opener we examine several cases where love failed and darkness took over culminating in various mu
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When you dial those three numbers on your phone, you expect that someone will help you. However, as with all matters involving humans, sometimes things can go wrong. In this season-finale episode, we speak with 13-year emergency dispatch veteran Rica
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This is the PARTAY episode! People love parties. Some people love parties so much that they're willing to do just about anything to have one. Tyler Hadley loved parties this much. BOOK SOURCES Tyler Hadley's
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The stories we like to tell most here are not those of serial killers and homicidal maniacs. Those archetypes can be somewhat predictable, if not downright boring. We like to focus instead on everyday people, just like you and me, who find themselves
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You've been pulled over by a bevy of police cars and taken to an interrogation room. What happens next? In this two-part story, we'll first examine what it's like to be in the shoes of someone who has gotten themselves mixed up with the wrong end of
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Halloween is a fun time of the year when we dress up like ghosts and goblins and attempt to scare each other with haunted houses and horror films. However the scariest things don't come with candy in plastic pumpkin containers. instead, the scariest
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The idea of leaving the hustle and bustle behind, and disappearing into the woods to live off the land, can be appealing. Yet few of us would actually attempt to give this idea any more than a fleeting thought. In this episode we examine three cases
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Finally, an update episode! This one fills in the details of what has happened with the Justin Ross-Harris, Holly Bobo and Aaron Hernandez cases, with special guest Cathy Russon from CourtChatter.com. We also get schooled by a listener on crucial pie
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This is a bizarre tale. Part gruesome murder tale, part love story. Yes, you read that right.. None of of the Gainesville Ripper story makes much sense, but it made an entire university of 30,000+ students panic and leave their studies and futures be
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The border town of Brownsville, Texas is one of the poorest places in the continental United States. Wracked by crime in the form of drug-use and prostitution, this small town, in the middle of nowhere, is also the home of many historical structures.
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A subset of our audience really has an issue with episodes that feature any crimes being done to children. That's understandable, since they are the weakest and most vulnerable members of our society. But there are cases, however rare, where the "mon
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A recurring question in the criminal justice system is whether the death penalty is moral, right or just. Everyone seems to have a fairly strong opinion regarding it, but almost no one has any any first-hand experience with the process. The idea that
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Have you ever wondered why most violent crimes are committed by men? Apparently so have several criminologists, who have conducted several studies to examine this phenomenon. Today's show is the exception to the rule: two stories of women committing
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Sword and Scale isn't just a podcast. We also have a website (swordandscale.com) where we post daily stories of dark deeds done by the most evil and devious amongst us. To highlight this point, we've chosen two stories that we've previously covered i
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As a Florida resident and native, I am disgusted by the events of the past weekend in Orlando. Thus, I decided to cover the two senseless shootings and also throw in a third recent and horrifying story that proves Florida really is a terrible place t
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Cara Marie Holley from Roanoke Virginia was just 18 years old when she went missing from her home on July 7, 2010. Two days later her body was found in shallow grave several miles away. The killer was arrested almost immediately because he was using
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Something is very wrong when two children can disappear from society for two years and not a single person notices or cares. This is the tale of how violence breeds violence and the most vulnerable among us are the ones who suffer because of it. The
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When someone secretly means to do you harm, there's a good chance they will succeed. When you are a celebrity or public figure of some kind, you become much more vulnerable to attack because of the nature of public life. Your whereabouts are often tr
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Sometimes the monsters are not only in our homes, but they are the ones closest to us: our mother or father, brother or sister. To a young child living in an environment where a depraved individual lurks can be terrifying. In this episode we will exp
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After Michelle Macneill, a healthy 50-year old mother, dies mysteriously of a heart condition in the bathtub of her Pleasant Grove, Utah home, questions begin to emerge. Her husband, Martin Macneill, begins to exhibit strange behavior even on the ver
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Pleasant Grove, Utah. A picturesque gated community. A perfectly manicured lawn. A lovely brick home. The perfect family. The perfect life. A bathtub. This is the story of Martin Macneill, and his late wife Michelle. BOOK SOURCES The Trial
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A 30-year-old woman named Jenelle Potter has spent her entire life sheltered from the world. Not being allowed to get a job, drive a car, date, or even leave the house without the supervision of her mother Barbara, Jenelle turns to the Internet and s
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Every parent's nightmare can happen in an instant. It can happen on a day just like any other in a place you would never expect and, the fact of the matter is, you will never see it coming. Such is what happened to the family of 9-year-old Connor Ver
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Alternative rock superstar, host of the reality TV-show Ink Master, actor and recent filmmaker Dave Navarro joins us to talk about his film "Mourning Son" which details the events leading up to and surrounding his mother's brutal murder when he was j
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When many of us think of true-crime, we think of cops and killers, detectives and victims. We even spend a great deal of time examining medical forensics and human decomposition. Rarely do we shift our focus to the paramedics who work tirelessly ever
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Cathy Ruson from courtchatter.com describes Facebook Killer Derek Medina as "an odd duck." That's probably the most accurate way to describe this man, who shot his wife eight times in the kitchen of their South Florida home, while she was preparing b
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It's one thing to kill someone, it's quite another to publish your handiwork on social media for all your friends and family to see like some sort of macabre trophy. That's exactly what Facebook Killer Derek Medina did after killing his wife Jennifer
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Over the course of the last year we've spoken to many different people from all walks of life. We asked them one simple question: "If there was one thing you could change about the criminal justice system, what would it be." This final episode of Sea
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The topic of abortion is a highly controversial one, with emotionally-charged opinions on either side. Regardless of how you feel about the topic, this story about abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell illustrates the workings of a man who has lost his huma
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There's something about the perceived safety of an automobile's cab that makes many of us feel like we are impervious to danger, yet danger is all around us. In this episode, we examine two cases which seemingly began with a road rage incident and en
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The stories we tell often tend to focus on the criminal act itself, rather than the investigation that follows. In this episode of Sword and Scale we'll show you how the human body often tells the tale of its final living moments in the form of foren
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It's one thing to talk about gun violence, it's quite another to see it up close on live television. In this episode of Sword and Scale we take you back to one of the first examples of a life being lost on live television: the suicide of Budd Dwyer,
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In Episode 47 we told you about the McMartin Preschool case and the Satanic Panic that overtook an entire nation under the fear that our children are not safe. This week we are joined by Keelan Balderson from WideShut to cover a case that is haunting
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On November 18, 1978, in a remote settlement of northwestern Guyana, 909 Americans lost their lives in what is considered to be the largest mass suicide of the twentieth century. This compound, informally known as Jonestown, was established by a char
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On June 15th, 2015 an ominous message appeared on Facebook which sent friends and family into a panic. Their worst fears were realized when police entered the home of Claudinnea "Dee Dee" Blancharde and her disabled daughter Gypsy, and found the moth
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In Episode 48 we revisit many of the stories we've previously covered on Sword and Scale and fill you in on what has happened with in each case. We start with alleged theater shooter Curtis Reeves who is accused of shooting and killing Chad Oulson af
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The highly technological society in which we live obscures the fact the we are still a very primitive species. One which continues to fall under the spell of magical beliefs and mass hysteria. Although we'd like to think we have evolved, this story w
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Despite being a grown man, Joseph McEnroe still exhibits the same traits he did when he was just a little boy: He bottles up his frustrations until they explode in fits of violence. He also seems to have a hint of the same Nightingale Syndrome that h
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In this first part of a two-part story, we examine the Carnation Murders. This slaughtering of an entire family, by a seriously deranged couple, took place in 2007 in Carnation, Washington, a small rural town 25 miles east of Seattle. This story is t
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We live in a world where pregnant women have to fear going about their daily lives as they normally would because of the very real possibility that the unthinkable could happen to them at any time. It did to Michelle Wilkins, a mom who was trying to
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When Rodney Reed turned himself in to Bastrop Police, on what he though was a gun charge, little did he know he would be spending the next 17 years on Death Row for a crime he did not commit. However, that seems to be exactly what happened. He was ch
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The idea of ultimate justice is appealing to those of us who have strong empathy for victims in vicious and unspeakable crimes. However, the cost of implementing such an unyielding and unrepairable finality as taking someone's life, is that from time
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Luckily there aren't very many examples of the perfect storm occurring in a community where a dysfunctional family, a broken child-protection agency, and a community that makes a series of unlucky decisions end with the death of a beautiful, happy an
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When asked to imagine the perfect place to perform serial murder most imagine something dark and creepy, but the truth of the matter is that the perfect place to kill is actually the same place in which most of us are born and die: a hospital. This i
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Some things are hard to fathom, like why a young boy with his entire life ahead of him would choose to destroy it by an act of unspeakable violence towards the people that love and care for him most in the world: his parents. Yet, time after time, we
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In 2013 an independent documentary began making its way through various film festivals. It was received with harsh criticism, outrage and even death threats by various groups, each of which was repulsed by the subject matter and the way it was presen
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We finally have the pleasure of speaking to Diane Fanning, author of 13 true crime books and counting. She tells us the tragic story of Wesley and Jocelyn Earnest, a tale that serves as a fable to any young woman who has recently been separated from
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Timothy Wesley McCorquodale had a rage in him that was uncontrollable. Like a loose cannon he could go off at any minute, unleashing mayhem an any poor unsuspecting soul that happened to cross him. The horror he would subject 17-year-old Donna Marie
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What happens when you run out of luck? You lose your job, your marriage, your home, your arms and legs, the respect of your parents, and your will to live, what happens then? If you've ever lived on planet Earth, then the answer is obvious, this is w
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Probably the most horrific murder publicly accessible though a variety of social media, the death of Lin Jun was a public execution for all to see. The culprit was a narcissistic psychopath named Luka Magnotta, and the terror he would unleash upon th
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One of the more bizarre stories of our lifetime, the story of Luka Magnotta is wrought with remorseful refrains and awkward pauses. This is a man, who was so narcissistic that there would be nothing to stand between him and what he wanted in life...
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In this season finale of Sword and Scale, we bring back many of the guests we've spoken to over the last year and ask them a fundamental question that relates to the nature of crime: "Is humanity inherently good or evil?" The answer comes from many d
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There are 2.2 million people suffering from schizophrenia in the United States. You have a one in a hundred chance of encountering one on any given day. Most are non-violent people struggling with what can sometimes be a debilitating disease, but for
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The story of Herman Webster Mudgett, otherwise known as H.H. Holmes, has been told numerous times: a brilliant man with so much potential but so inherently evil that his actions would require new words be created to describe the monster that he was.
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The term "bluebeard" conveys images of pirates sailing the high seas, but the actual meaning of this term is much darker and there are examples of it all around us. You see, a "bluebeard" is a man that murders his wife. The term is derived from a Fre
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Everyone thought Joshua Gouker was a dangerous criminal. It was easy to convict him of murdering his 14-year-old step son Trey Zwicker, especially after he suddenly changed his plea to guilty and confessed. But why would a hardened criminal mastermin
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In this special two-parter, the brutal and inexplicable murder of a 14-year-old boy exposes a dysfunctional American family's secrets and lies. This is the story of Trey Zwicker's murder, a young boy who did everything right but never really had a ch
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This is one of the most under-reported murders in the history of the North American Continent. A mutilation that took hours and mind that was so disturbed it relished in the extreme violence inflicted on the deceased, this story exposes the obvious d
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Every year more than 3 million reports of child abuse are made in the United States involving more than 6 million children. Being one of these children is nightmarish enough, but if your abuser is someone you completely trust, then the event becomes
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With just 10,000 residents, the small town of Jennings, Louisiana has one of the highest crime rates per capita of any US town. Any vice you're looking for can be found here, including prostitution, which is just one of the things that linked all 8 v
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What could be more horrifying, terrible, and heart-breaking than a mother intentionally taking the life of her own child. The fact that there's even a word in the English language that describes it it shocking in itself. The word is filicide and, eve
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A family divided, a hungry media looking for answers, and an inept police department looking for answers to explain and more importantly prove the inexplicable actions by a father of two young boys, sets a community in turmoil. Soon, the entire natio
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Historical Crime Detective Jason Morrow joins us once again to tell the tale of a mysterious killer who took on the persona of a secret agent in the Summer of 1930. One of the first documented cases of a narcissistic killer engaging the media to taun
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Ronald William Brown was a ventriloquist puppeteer on a television program called Joy Junction, a variety show on the Christian Television Network. Last year he received a 20-year sentence for child pornography charges, but the real story is much mor
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Elliot Rodger's privileged background and his family's ties to Hollywood didn't help him get accepted by those around him. Instead his awkward behavior and creepy mannerisms made girls want to ignore him and guys want to bully him. For most of his li
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How much to you trust your friends? How much do you know your friends? What would they do for you? What would you do for them? In this episode of Sword and Scale we examine a story of betrayal involving new age cults, sound healing, apocalyptic scena
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In this episode of Sword and Scale we recap the last month's most bizarre stories in the genre of true crime. Quite a few people in trouble have gotten in trouble with the law lately because of their poor choices and bizarre behavior. Although to the
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Lauren Giddings had just graduated law school and was getting ready for a new life when she suddenly disappeared from her apartment in Macon, Georgia. As her friends and family desperately tried to find her, they were surprised to see Lauren's reclus
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A deliberate murder that took 8 years of planning and plenty of hard work to accomplish. It involved a man, his truck, and an underground bunker in the Washington mountains. Peter Keller was described as a survivalist with a distrust of authority by
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Usually we find the stories we want to talk about on Sword and Scale. This week the story found us, in the form of a cry for help from the surviving sister of Kimberly Renea Mabry, whose mutilated body turned up in a Rockford Illinois creek in 1995 a
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This week we're joined by former ex-inmate Glenn Langohr, who spent 10 years behind bars at some of California's toughest level 4 prisons, before reinventing himself as a best-selling author. His latest book, Prison Riot, takes the reader through the
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When 20-year-old Morgan Ingram tragically died in 2011, the family couldn't deal with their grief. What followed was a bizarre and prolonged Internet campaign of hate which has attempted to ruin the lives of at least a dozen people. Sword and Scale f
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What happens when a family's grief slips into malice and madness, when a mother is so hell-bent on being portrayed as a victim that she begins victimizing everyone who doesn't see her as one? Welcome to the sad story of Morgan Ingram's untimely death
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Any untimely death is a tragedy, but when the victim is young, beautiful, and an all-around wonderful person, the whole thing seems to be much worse. Unfortunately, there are two high-profile cases in the news this week that fit this too-familiar mol
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If you had to choose a method of execution for yourself, which would you choose? What if you learned that what is considered the most "humane" method of execution is probably the most painful? We discuss the controversy behind lethal injections, and
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This week the true-crime media has been abuzz reporting the verdict of the Michael Dunn "Loud Music Murder Trial." On Sword and Scale we do things a little different, so we'll let you get your fill of that case from other media outlets while we break
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"White House Boy" Roger Dean Kiser tells us the story of his personal hell. To him, this world which anyone would consider a living hell was just normal everyday life. The way he describes this upbringing is so brutally honest and matter-of-fact, tha
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This is the conclusion to a two part saga involving the organized abduction and abuse of children and ritualistic murders by satanic cults allegedly headed by the top levels of government at a mysterious all-male retreat known as Bohemian Grove. We t
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Imagine a criminal conspiracy and cover-up so so massive in scale, involving the highest levels of government and industry, that it threatens the very fabric of the American system. Now imagine that the crimes of this criminal syndicate are so horrib
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On Friday, October 5th 2012, 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway disappeared on her way to school. This is the story of what happened to her and how the suburban city of Westminster coped with the aftermath, including the perpetrator's chilling confession.
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It's really true that Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. This week we examine the fascinating topic of female serial killers, including the tale of Belle Gunness - a woman who makes Ted Bundy look like an amateur. Although the town of La Porte,
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Psychopaths are all around us. Who are they? What are they? What makes them feel no empathy for other human beings, seeing them only as objects to manipulate and control? In Episode 2 of Sword and Scale, we examine these questions and hear from one o
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In this debut episode of Sword and Scale, author Janice Holly Booth tells the story of Bruce Blackman's slip into the dark depths of schizophrenia and the horrible result it caused to him and his family. This tale is based on the true events that occ
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