Crime of the Truest Kind
Massachusetts and New England true crime, local history, advocacy-focused podcast - the things that happen here. Created and hosted by Boston radio personality, Anngelle Wood (WFNX, WBCN, WZLX); each episode walks you through a local crime story and the people and places involved.
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Crime of the Truest Kind
Bonus: Q+A from North Shore Crime Cases Live Show
North Shore Crime Cases was recorded live on October 10, 2024 at Off Cabot in Beverly, Mass. This bonus episode features questions from our audience in an open Q+A setting. Nothing was off limits.
Episode: https://www.crimeofthetruestkind.com/post/ep74northshorecases
Join us for a captivating journey through some of the North Shore of Massachusetts' most perplexing crime cases like that of Susan Taraskiewicz's unsolved murder and the person who found her body, the true gift that Colleen Ritzer, a dedicated math teacher at Danvers High, was to every student she touched, what stories have been told about missing Lynn boy Jesus de la Cruz, the impact of The Station Nightclub Fire, Wenham dermotologist, Richard Sharpe's history of family violence, the disappearance of Maura Murray 20 years ago and how searching for missing people has changed during that time, the tragic fate of Beryl Atherton, and the disturbing story of 16-year-old Lee Manuel Viloria-Paulino, who was found dismembered along the Merrimack River in November 2016. A classmate from Lawrence High School was convicted in his case.
We emphasize the essential role of community involvement in keeping these people and their stories alive, to push for justice for others like them by taking action to shed light on unresolved crimes and to advocate of the missing and murdered.
The true crime genre carries with it a weighty responsibility and consideration must be paid to the families of crime victims. The converstation does not shy away from the ethical considerations involved, touching on the importance of compassion and respect when recounting real lives with the mission of empathetic storytelling. Host Anngelle Wood reaffirms her commitment to treating these stories with empathy and care. We invite you to join our community in advocating for justice, ensuring that these voices continue to be heard.
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For show notes & source information at CrimeoftheTruestKind.com
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This podcast has minimal profanity but from time to time you get one or some curse words. This isn't for kids.
Music included in episodes from Joe "onlyone" Kowalski, Dug McCormack's Math Ghosts and Shredding by Andrew King
Well, hello, my name is Angelle Wood and this is Crime of the Truest Kind. Hey, everybody, this is part two, the second segment from the live show recorded October 10th at Off Cabot in Beverly, massachusetts. It's a live show. There won't be anything perfect about it, but it is pretty incredible the information that you share when you show up at these shows. If you haven't listened to episode 74, the live show presentation portion, do that. Go back and listen. And this is the bonus Q&A North Shore Crime Cases recorded live at Off Cabot, beverly, massachusetts. Thanks for listening.
Speaker 1:I would ask that, if you have questions, I'm happy to talk about whatever you want. I would love to get it on mic because we are recording. You can identify yourself if you want. You don't have to, that's not a requirement, but I would like to get it on mic if you have a question and Stacy is here with a. Is this it, stace? Thanks, chris, chris, everybody, everybody, my set designer, you win a prize tonight because you have been very active I'm not crazy about a mic, but um the kristin crowley case.
Speaker 2:I, I think I remember that wasn that? Wasn't her apartment behind like Oriental Jade and Peabody, I think it was? I do remember that, yeah, and I just started listening to your podcast and I do love it.
Speaker 4:I love it and I really do, and.
Speaker 2:I'm really glad. I hope you will come back.
Speaker 1:I will. I'd love to come back these. I find these to be, despite the subject matter, I do feel like it's I don't know. I just feel like we kind of have a moment where we're talking about stuff that you know these people shouldn't be forgotten. Some of these people are gone for a long, long, long time and when I do research for folks and some people, there's no, there's like no digital existence or footprint for these people, and it really bothers me that somebody lived and loved and they don't exist anymore.
Speaker 2:no, no, my name's Kelly, by the way, and I am actually from Beverly, but Mara Murray is a case that I'm hoping will be solved by before I die.
Speaker 1:I just, I really do have you heard the podcast that her sister, julie, did?
Speaker 2:I've been listening to that one as well. Yes, I have been. I do that one as well. Yes, I have been, I do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's quite well done and you know the good news is, as a result of that podcast coming out, they have gotten new leads on the case.
Speaker 2:Oh, and it's Fred. Fred, I love Fred.
Speaker 1:He's amazing, he's great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:We we often make because I'm a Massachusetts. You know, I'm proud to be a New Englander. I'm proud to be from Massachusetts. We joke with each other about being mass holes because he has an extraordinary Boston accent.
Speaker 2:He's got a his accent, you know he's a great accent. Thank you so much for coming, thank you. Thank you for the question.
Speaker 6:I actually just finished listening on my way home from work tonight to that second episode of the young lady in Somerville.
Speaker 7:Charlene.
Speaker 6:It just blew my mind. I cannot wrap my head around any of what happened there. That was crazy. But I have a question.
Speaker 6:I lived in Lawrence for several years and probably I don't know a year or two into me living, there was a young man, actually a boy, who was found on the merrimack river beheaded. He was 16 years old and it was obviously a huge. I mean it's lawrence, so you know shit happens there, but not not beheadings typically. Yeah, um and I don't know. A few weeks into it they arrested another young man 15, and charged him with a crime and I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that a 15-year-old boy could do that to another person.
Speaker 6:Clearly, some of the stories you've told, that is a possibility, but I've heard a lot of other. I mean, I overhe some, some stories at a bar in mithuan one night about what might potentially have happened. You know, as, as the years went on, but I've never really heard what happened after this kid was um, was arrested. I don't know really what the uh, what the result was, what, what actually happened, but there was so much, there was so much more potentially to this than this other teenager I had heard that he had potentially lured this kid into the woods, for the people that actually did kill him.
Speaker 1:I'm not entirely sure what the status is of that case. Is that Lee Manuel?
Speaker 6:Could be. Yeah, yeah, how do you find?
Speaker 1:out about that sort of stuff.
Speaker 1:Sometimes we don't actually sometimes it it gets lost. Sometimes, for example, the the nayeli nieves story that I talked about from last year, there is zero updates about her case from last year. I have family members asking me if I know anything and I said I will try to find out the best I can, but I do not have any information and that's a that's another conversation where, much like Charlene Rosemond's case, families don't often get information. They don't always know that they're able to ask questions. They don't always know that advocates are available to help them.
Speaker 6:Yeah, the way they were treated too by the police department is horrible.
Speaker 1:Everett Police Department would not even talk to them. They're like she's 23. She's an adult. Maybe she wanted to leave.
Speaker 6:Yeah, that's crazy. I mean I know that parking lot. Somebody was in a car dead for six days.
Speaker 1:I can't imagine it. I couldn't even imagine. I mean, I live in a pretty small town now and I couldn't imagine that happening in my small town, like cops doing you know just doing their regular drive-by, cops doing you know just doing their regular drive-by, their drive-arounds, I don't know what they're called.
Speaker 6:Oh, they hide behind trees. I mean there's probably three parking enforcement officials for every citizen of Somerville. They are everywhere, seriously, and that apartment building that faces that parking lot, yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 1:And they found out. I mean rose, her sister rose, didn't know this, but she learned that they knew this area, that charlene and some of her friends were familiar with that area.
Speaker 1:Sometimes they'd meet up there yeah and the people, the the rosemont family, believe that they know exactly who's. Rose was very careful not to name people and I respectfully just let her I didn't press her on things because it's not my job to be like who is it, who is it? Name them. I wouldn't release it on the podcast anyway if they were not arrested. And actual suspects. She was very careful about any of that. They were not arrested. And actual suspects she was very careful about any of that.
Speaker 6:But she was very sure she knew.
Speaker 1:But they know. They know who did it and someone was charged with perjury in relationship to the case. It's confounding to me that someone was arrested for perjury in an investigation into her murder but nothing came from it after that.
Speaker 6:And for giving and for supplying an alibi, a false alibi for somebody. Why did they not go for that? It's crazy.
Speaker 1:So where are the other people you know? If you know he was lying about them, how come you haven't gone after the other people? And that's the problem that the family has. They like we don't understand. It's been 15 years. Why is her murder not solved?
Speaker 6:yeah, that's nuts. That's crazy. It's like that. Um girl from saugus too, that's. Uh, there's just so many people that know what happened oh, susan, from susan uh gosh.
Speaker 1:What's her last name? Taraskowitz. Everybody knows that story, did you? Oh my gosh? Can we thank you, stacy, can you just say?
Speaker 4:that again, my dad's the one that found Susan Taraskowitz's body oh my yeah, I wasn't born.
Speaker 1:I'm so sorry. Yeah, that's traumatic. I mean, don't forget that what your husband found two dead bodies. Oh my gosh, found someone in a dumpster. Oh, very sorry, he's not related to the case. He just found her and just had to report it.
Speaker 4:Look it, I'll talk for you. He's a mechanic.
Speaker 3:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 4:So the I mean I wasn't born.
Speaker 1:I think the car was dropped off at the auto body shop and my dad opened the trunk so the car that she was found in was brought there. Like a tow truck found it, I think no a car was dropped off.
Speaker 8:He thought that was one of the vehicles. Oh, I see.
Speaker 2:But it was he, I think you know, oh my gosh, actually her Colleen Ritzer was her teacher.
Speaker 1:Oh see, there are too many connections. See how it affects us. Yeah, see how we all, unfortunately, have a connection. I wish that was never Talk about Colleen for a minute, because she was extraordinary.
Speaker 4:Now I'll cry, but she really was. She passed my junior year of high school, um, but I had her sophomore year and I actually was like a wicked math geek, um, and she was just truly. It's so funny because I'm 28 and I think she was only 24 and I'm like it's bananas that I thought in high school she was so much older, but she was like, truly, so kind, so sweet. One of my favorite teachers, um, yeah, she was.
Speaker 1:She was a good, a good human she loved math, and I don't know anybody who loves math, maybe two people. Yeah, you love math. All I was really bad at it.
Speaker 4:I actually was at school that day and witnessed her dad asking where she was. So we had a cheering. Did you know the perpetrator? Also, I was a junior, he was a freshman, but I remember on Twitter everyone was like oh no, Philip Chisholm's missing and all the tweets were like oh no, like yeah.
Speaker 1:They thought there were two crimes, right? No?
Speaker 4:they didn't know that night and it was just oh no, this boy didn't come home from soccer practice, what's going on? And it was all like oh, when people hashtag Like yeah, yeah, yeah on and it was all like oh, when people hashtag like yeah, yeah, hashtag, like I remember that where is he find him? And then the next morning we found out school was canceled because that bathroom was blocked off.
Speaker 1:No one could ever go in there again, right, no?
Speaker 4:that bathroom actually opened up probably, like I would say probably like a month later. I personally have never been in that bathroom like after the fact, but it did eventually open up.
Speaker 1:But I know like a lot of people did not use it. I would imagine that would have two different schools, right. Like schools, two different approaches, right? People would go in it for like a morbid, macabre kind of thing, and then other people like I don't want any part of that. Yeah, I get it.
Speaker 4:I think like I feel like people as our class graduated in the last class, to have her graduated. Then it was more so like uh, oh my god, this happened in the bathroom, but for us it was all like nobody's going in the bathroom you're crushed because you lost somebody who truly cared about who truly she truly cared about her students.
Speaker 1:This 100, there's no doubt in my mind that she truly loved what she did and loved her kids I used to like laugh all the time and she'd be like tiana. I'm sorry and for people who aren't aware of a lot of Colleen's story is she wanted to help him. The person that took her, the person who killed her, she wanted to help, she tried to help him.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And whatever happened after that. I can't speak to what happened inside that boy's head, but she truly was there to help him.
Speaker 4:But she was a good person. I'm glad to have known her and had her as a teacher.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you for that. I relish the opportunities to talk to people who actually knew these people because they're made into characters, but we need to make sure people remember that Colleen was a girl who a woman. She was a woman she loved. She was a math geek and damn proud of it and wanted other people, particularly her students, to have the same enthusiasm about it that she had. Yeah, yeah, it's amazing. Thank you, what a really interesting connection you two have.
Speaker 3:Wow.
Speaker 9:Hi, my name is Connie and I live in Swampskskate and I'm very familiar with Henry Bedard Jr. He was a 15-year-old boy that was murdered next to the railroad tracks in 1974. And the only reason I'm so familiar with it was because I graduated from high school in 1974. He was in high school in the next town over I was in.
Speaker 9:Marblehead. He was in Sw school in the next town over. I was in Marblehead, he was in Swampskate and we had a really playful town-to-town football rivalry, which still goes on. He was beaten to death with a baseball bat. He was 15 years old and there are a group of people in swamps get that swear to god. They know who did it, but they are so afraid to speak up and one by one these people are dying. They are getting way up there in age now and there's only one or two people left from a particular family, says they know who did it.
Speaker 9:His girlfriend in high school did a Facebook page. She has never been the same and she every year on the anniversary of his death or his birthday would put something up to remind people what happened. The Swampskate Police, the Lynn Police, the Marblehead Police, the state police in Massachusetts all lied there was a baseball bat with a particular carving that someone did by hand on the tip of the baseball bat. It would almost be like what they call tagging today, like a gang. That's how these people know whose baseball bat that was. It was snowing that night. He left it behind. He was just walking home with Christmas presents for his family. His girlfriend says she now knows who did it and she has had I don't know what you call it anymore. They used to call it a nervous breakdown. I think she's taken it down because she can't get anywhere. No one will listen to her. She can't get the families to speak. They're afraid for their lives.
Speaker 1:So this person is still in actively in the area they are actively in the area.
Speaker 9:They believe they were also high school students, but a little older, and they also think that somebody kind of hinted around that one of the perpetrators passed away already. Wow.
Speaker 1:So more than one person involved in this murder.
Speaker 9:That's what they, these people are. Most of this family has moved. They're so afraid I don't know anything about who these people are that did it or what their family connection is. They're everyone so afraid of them. Of course you think of the mob or something like that. I'm really glad to see that you have that up there, because this is a crime that can be solved. People are still trying and the police gave up decades ago.
Speaker 1:Unfortunately, your story is so similar to so many other stories in that cases are languishing, unsolved and family members and people associated. People who have knowledge of the case often know who the perpetrators are but for whatever reason, they don't do anything, they don't move past knowing or having a little bit. That's why we need to keep shaking the tree. We need to keep shaking the tree so people don't. First, don't forget that these people were alive and lived and loved and had dreams. But secondly, we need to try to get people to talk, because what happens is, you know, we always talk about well, there'll be a deathbed confession, not necessarily. But relationships change, right People who were keeping somebody secret. Relationships change, marriages break up, people get upset with one another, whatever scenario that looks like. But things shift and we need to get people.
Speaker 1:So the Charlene Roseman case that we were talking about in Somerville. Somebody posted on a message board I know who is involved. Should I snitch or should I mind my own business? Nothing has come of that sense. But people are sitting on information. For whatever reason, they're not talking. So many years have gone by since this crime by now. We need to get those people to talk about it, to connect those dots. There could be things that authorities already know. A little bit information could add to that, could connect the dots. You know, make a, make a connection, however you want to term it. But I don't think any information is not a big deal. I think any information is something.
Speaker 9:And also I see you have the Burl Atherton case in Marblehead. Did you read the book? I did not. I just finished the book.
Speaker 3:What did you think?
Speaker 9:Unbelievably fascinating.
Speaker 3:Wow.
Speaker 9:They didn't come to any conclusions, but it's got a little bit of tongue-in-cheek to it also, it was either. Three men were seen going into her house that day. Oh my gosh, remember I guess before I was born, I think they used to deliver ice and the milkman delivered milk so there was an ice man, a milkman and a fish man and the fish man I think it was that was bringing fish over.
Speaker 1:This was like like early Uber Eats folks.
Speaker 9:He found her body supposedly oh my gosh and called the police. But those are the three suspects Fish, ice and milk. So, but get the book if you can. Yeah, it's fantastic. I forget the man's name who wrote it, but he's an old marbleheader. He remembers all of it. It's called I don't know. I'll look. Yeah, we'll find it. I'm trying to even think of his name, but thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you for that information. Those are things that I don't know, so if anything we can take away from tonight is we all got to hang out, we all got to meet, we got to talk, I got to cry, I got to drink wine. You guys had, I hope, a good time and I learned a little bit more information about that case that I had not known. Oh, is there a Facebook? Is there still a Facebook page about his case, henry? Yeah, we'll try to find it yeah, yeah it's still with her.
Speaker 1:She just doesn't really know how she wants to process it all these years later one heavy than one.
Speaker 5:Light your coverage on the station nightclub. I was in college then in a lot of very sketchy buildings seeing concerts and took my kids to their first show this summer and realized the first thing that I do, and my friends now, is we look, and not just one. You know what I mean. And I was at Lana Del Rey with my daughter and I'm like, okay, look, look over there, look over there If they go high. Okay, look Look over there, look over there. If they go high, you go low.
Speaker 3:That's right.
Speaker 5:So, unfortunately, but it changed the culture surrounding attending events for so many of us in a good way.
Speaker 1:Yeah it changed? It really did. I mean, look, chris introduced us and said here's how you get out.
Speaker 5:That's because of the station fire and it's terrible when they still do pyrotechnics even at Fenway Park. But either way, On a lighter note, I'm sure many of us listen to a lot of podcasts surrounding this sort of genre. It is so lovely to hear you say people's names Puglisi, Noons, all these Massachusetts names and words. You hear other podcasters and they really try, but it's really hard to say Worcester. They don't get it. They always apologize. It's really nice to hear it and be like okay, great, we don't have to explain to you what it is you're actually trying to say.
Speaker 1:They try hard. I appreciate it because, much like all of you in this room, I listen to all. I listen to so many podcasts and I do chuckle. I mean because that's what being a new englander is. By the way, we're in on the joke, we know. I mean that's why we get called all kinds of things by you know the outsiders, because we're like get the fuck out of the way. It's a rotary, come on, just go. You know all of the things. We are who we are, but like you know what you said, it's like we can pronounce. We can say Gloucester, we can say Haverhill. Yeah, danvis, it's Danvis forever. For me, even though there is an R in it, it's Danvis forever. No, but thank you for that, because I love being a New Englander. I love being a mass hole. I have a Massachusetts necklace. For God's sake, I love us. You know I love us.
Speaker 3:You know I love us. Do you think you'll ever do a podcast on the Dr Richard Sharp case?
Speaker 1:Oh, that's a good one, wenham, wenham, do you live?
Speaker 3:in Wenham. Do you know the area I live in Gloucester? He was my doctor.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, tell me about that. Richard Sharp was a dermatologist based out of Wenham, I think, but he had offices in other places right, he had a Gloucester office.
Speaker 3:I don't know where else, but I saw him in the Gloucester office.
Speaker 1:And what kind of? Was he a good doctor?
Speaker 3:I think he really knew his stuff, but he was a weirdo and everyone said he was a weirdo. Yeah, every patient his stuff but he was a weirdo and everyone said he was a weirdo.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so people who are not may not be aware of the the Richard Sharp case. Dr Richard Sharp, he was a dermatologist. He I think he was really one of the first doctors that started doing like laser treatments and things and he was going through a divorce and he correct me at any point if I'm wrong. He went to his soon-to-be ex-wife's house. She opened the door and he shot her, killed her and then what we now know as transgender I believe he was called like a cross-dresser or something like that. So he was going through transitions and there was a divorce and a pending divorce and children and all sorts of traumatic things going on and he decided that he was they. They were going to murder their wife to take care of the problem, right? Didn't really work.
Speaker 5:They painted the picture of him in People Magazine and all around. Oh well, that's because he was a cross-dresser, we knew he wasn't really right, and this was like the late 90s. While to a lot of us small town people that may have been shocking. That really masked the whole story of many years of how he had mistreated his wife and then how he had shot her point blank.
Speaker 1:You know, at their home again, another case of what I've been saying all night. Somebody decided for her what was going to happen.
Speaker 3:I don't accept that, but it is the reality but the story goes on and he runs away to new hampshire and they find him in a hotel room and he goes through trial and is convicted and then he commits suicide in prison.
Speaker 1:So it's a really interesting story so he excuse my language, he pussied out yeah, yeah he, he wimped out, he, he couldn't even. He put so many other people through so much pain, but he couldn't handle it himself.
Speaker 3:It was said that he stuck a fork in his wife's forehead in the earlier days.
Speaker 1:What a monster. He abused her for a long time for this and she finally took the steps.
Speaker 3:He was a millionaire. That's probably why because he thought she was going to take all his money.
Speaker 1:And were you a patient of his leading up to this? Yes, yeah, but you didn't really know any better. You didn't know what was going on.
Speaker 3:You had no idea. Oh, no, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, on the North Shore, we know what it's like to sit. My mother is from, my mother was from she's still alive. My mother was from Salem and she talks about. Oh yeah, we went to the Willows and we put baby oil all over us. I was like, which I did when I was a teenager, but I got smart SPF every single day, no matter what. We slathered ourselves in baby oil too. We do need good dermatologists. Just while he's out, if you would like me to, sure, sure, I think it's on my.
Speaker 1:I have a spreadsheet that has probably hundreds of cases of varying knowledge. Some are no one's ever heard of and there's not a lot of information versus ones that have are covered a lot. I started when I started doing the podcast. I started with cases that really resonated with me, like Kimberly Cates in Montford in New Hampshire and you know Whitey Bulger was because I read a great book that friends of mine wrote. David Wedge is one of my friends and Casey Sherman. They wrote that that book about hunting Whitey.
Speaker 1:There's a case that I don't know anybody I covered very early on that. I don't know if anybody's ever heard. It's about two teenage girls in Salem, new Hampshire, leanne Milius and Kim Farah. They were murdered and left in Hedgehog Pond by Rockingham Mall. I don't know that anybody ever covered their case and that was really impactful for me because I did an episode about that case and I was a little snarky in it and I'm really proud of the work that I've done. But there's definitely things that I've learned along the way. But one of the girl's parents emailed me after they heard it and it was really incredible to hear they're like thank you for what you said about our girls. It was amazing.
Speaker 2:All right, what about you?
Speaker 1:Stacey's a true crime or two. Okay, do you mind being on the mic so I can pick you up?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 7:So I'm a true crime, love it. I watch 2020s Dateline.
Speaker 1:Me too.
Speaker 7:Netflix, all of it. I don't listen to podcasts. I'm going to start with yours, but it sounds like your cases sometimes are solved. You bring the story out, you tell their story of the victim Sorry about your sister, I think it's you Very sorry about that, but your unsolved case. Do your podcasts ever bring anything to justice, like anything come of that?
Speaker 1:Well, people reach out to me and say some really strange things, sometimes Solving a case no. But help Putting new attention on the case.
Speaker 7:Some of these lame cases, like Cases de la Cruz, these girls know I'm dying to bring that one to light. There's a lot of rumors that go around Lynn of what happened.
Speaker 1:What have you heard?
Speaker 7:That he was sold that you know all those things. I think he was kidnapped, so I would love to see more light on that and to bring more facts and emotions and rumors to it. So I was wondering if your podcast, besides Solve Cases, bring in light.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because we need to continue to talk about it. We need to continue to talk about it and put it in the public forum, so to speak, and if more people like myself and people who do what I do continue to talk about it, I really want them to get it right or do the best they can to use the facts. That's the most important thing, because there's always conjecture and speculation and that hurts a case. There are a lot of cases that are really famous. Somebody pointed out the Maura. I have to say Maura Murray, because Julie's like her name isn't Maura, it's Maura. I'm like what's the difference? Ok, maura, I know Julie and she's a very good person. She's a very good person and in Maura's case, she was the OG true crime case, and when I say that, I mean she was one of the cases that was happening as social media was really blooming and taking off and it changed the way her family could look for her right. So she went missing.
Speaker 1:They have really no information and at the advent of like Facebook and social media, it made things so much easier. Imagine losing someone your loved one goes missing, your sister goes missing, and pre-internet, you had to do we still do flyers. But you had to do everything like old school DIY. You had to print flyers, you had to knock on doors, you had to go and ask questions DIY you had to print flyers, you had to knock on doors, you had to go and ask questions, which people still do. But social media helps spread the word on a much larger scale.
Speaker 1:We talk about with missing people. Right, a child goes missing. I don't care if that kid is called a runaway, I don't care if that person has a drug problem. They're somebody's kid kid and they need attention. I don't care if that person has warrants. We'll deal with the warrants later. They're missing, find them, because if there's foul play, we need to stop whomever that person is. That's hurting somebody else, because people don't stop at one. Generally speaking speaking, everything that we've learned about true crime and we I I say it, I don't want to be a sanctimonious asshole I watch the menendez brothers thing, I watch monster by ryan murphy, who is a little bit exploitative, and the families of those people will tell you, but I I watch that shit. It helps spread the word. A kid is missing. We need to find them. I don't care if they ran away. Why do they run away. They're just being a kid and they were a shit. Okay, possibly, but they might be in danger. So social media has really helped in that regard. It's been an extraordinary help, particularly in a case like Maura's, who's it's 20 years old. You said that they have to leave now. Yeah, oh good, mm-hmm, if you're on TikTok, julie has or go to their website missingmauramurrayorg.
Speaker 1:Julie has a TikTok where she'll answer questions. She gets many questions where she'll say you know the season that Julie did, it's called Meteor Pressure, the premiere season. There will be subsequent seasons but it'll be different families talking about their missing loved one. I know there's a Molly Bish one in the works. For those of you who are aware, molly Bish is a teenage girl who went missing in Warren, sort of like the central mass area. I believe her sister's been working on a case, sorry, working on a podcast about Molly, about her disappearance. But Julie will say I get a lot of questions and somebody said, after media pressure came out, after the first season came out, have you gotten any information? And she's like yeah, we've gotten a lot of tips.
Speaker 1:You know the nature of this stuff is you have to be careful because some people want to inject themselves into the case. We know that happens. We know that people want to put themselves in it for whatever. Who knows why they're unstable. They want to say we've seen it in all kinds of cases. John Benet Ramsey is a great example of that.
Speaker 1:It's a horrible story. It's unsolved. There seems to be a great deal of evidence surrounding her case. Yet here we are all these years later, unsolved. But cuckoo birds say I did it. I mean they have to shake all that out and they come to realize that well, you didn't. But they have to be very careful and and you know what? The Murray's, they've been at this a long time. They know, you know, they, they, they can identify when something's you know a bananas thing. For the most part, I mean they're, they're, they're very smart and they're, they're, you know, they're very engaged. The family is very engaged in this.
Speaker 1:20 years later, I think there's a lot of families who may say I don't know, I'm just tired, I don't know, I don't want to keep fighting this fight. The Murrays will never stop fighting that fight. They want to know, they believe it's foul play, foul play. It's very bizarre, the situation by itself, that her family is as confounded as the public is. They don't know why. Thank you, bye, it's okay. No, no, it's okay, thank you. The family's confounded. They don't know what was going on. They don't know why she, they don't know her actions, what they've discovered. They don't know why she drove to New Hampshire. I mean, they have ideas and there's information. They know that the public doesn't know. But, like most of us, we have no idea why she was driving to New Hampshire that day, why she told her professors that there was a death in the family, that there wasn't. There wasn't a death in the family.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so there's the podcast about that that Julie did and she did an amazing job. Somebody who's not a podcaster she doesn't do any of that stuff but it meant a lot to her to do it. She did the podcast and there will be more as a result of the success that Julie had with her sister's case, and other families will get to tell their story, because let's talk about that Everybody I talk about how we borrowed these stories and we should take very good care of them. Julie got to tell her sister's story that everybody else has been telling for 20 years. That was a very powerful moment for her. I'm going to tell my sister's story. I'm going to do it Because people have stolen that story.
Speaker 1:There are books written, there are people in this true crime space that have capitalized on their grief. What do you think of? We don't say that name because of all the reasons. Yeah, it's tough, but that family are soldiers and they've had a lot of loss. The Murrays, you know they lost Amora, disappeared. Their mom passed away, their sister passed away and they are a pretty strong unit that remains. There's Julie, there's her dad, fred, there's their dad, fred. There's their brother, curtis, who's great, really great guy and he involves himself. He's come out to what we did, state house events that he's been at and, yeah, they're really, really, really focused on.
Speaker 1:I believe a lot of these other families feel like this is solvable. We just have to shake that information out of wherever it is that it's solvable. People talk. That's the thing People talk. So maybe, to address your question, talking about these things will eventually, we hope, to the gods. Talking about these things. We'll hopefully get that information, whether it's here, here, here, and we can pull all of these together and get that information. That's going to tie some of these things that can lead to what happens.
Speaker 1:I don't look at myself as I'm an investigator. I would never first knock on someone's door and be like I do a podcast, tell me about the worst thing that happened to you. I would never do that because I would expect someone to slam the door in my face. But I do feel like if we talk about it in a respectful way and if there's ever interaction with the family that they recognize. I just want to try to help figure out if I have this platform that maybe I can talk about it and that encourages another person, maybe like me, that has a platform to talk about it. Provided it's factual and empathetic, then that's the right way to go.
Speaker 1:For those of you who listen to podcasts, there's a podcast called In your Own Backyard about the Kristen Smart case in California. That is one of those podcasts where I say that cracked a case because Kristen Smart went missing and there was a lot of information about what happened to her, but they just couldn't nail it down. The host of that show not a true crime detective, not even an armchair detective, not even kind of a detective. I've seen the shirts. They said I don't know. I've got some skills. I know how to edit audio. I can work a mic. I want to help.
Speaker 1:So with the right intentions Chris is his first name. With the right intentions, he went to California. I don't remember what his direct connection was to the case. I think he just gave a shit, which is like step one, give a shit, started shaking the tree and guess what? That motherfucker is in prison. It took a long time to get that guy, but the guy that was a suspect is in prison for her murder. His father got off. The father, we believe, helped cover up the murder cover up the murder In your Own Backyard.
Speaker 1:He actually that podcaster actually helped solve her murder. That is a sick case too. Anybody who's familiar with it I'll tell you a little bit that I remember. It's very detailed. I remember somebody who rented a house that was owned by the family of the perpetrator now who is in prison. They rented a house and they heard in the morning really early in the morning they heard this alarm go off. At the same time every day this alarm would go off, like somebody set an alarm to wake up and then eventually it stopped. They believe that she was buried on the property and her watch was going off. Her alarm was set at the same time every day, but then the battery wore out and then they did a dig on the site and they didn't find anything. The motherfuckers moved the body. They moved her somewhere else, we don't know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they did digs on the property and it sounds like I don't know for sure because I'm not a detective but it sounds like the perpetrator's parents helped cover up. Not just the dad, also the mom helped cover up the case. Could you imagine for a moment I could not. I could not imagine for a moment knowing that my son was first capable of, and murdered someone and then helping them cover it up? Absolutely not, no, no. But that makes me different than them because I would be like no, you did this, you. You have to pay for your crime and the the horrible, horrible pain that her family went through all of these years.
Speaker 1:They knew it was him. They knew they connected a lot of the dots and they needed people to talk to connect the rest of the dots. And it held up in court and he was convicted and he is in prison and he was very. He was that kind of indignant person like get off my get, get out of here, leave me alone. I didn't do anything, you're harassing me. The families actually had like lawsuits against each other because they're like you murdered my daughter, we know you murdered my daughter, get out of here, you're harassing me. We know you murdered my daughter and covered it up. And we know you, we know you. At least your dad knows. So, yeah, victory there clearly wasn't just him, it was other people involved too. He went for it. He, just he. He had conviction. He's like I'm gonna take my mic and talk to people who will talk to me. I'm sure there's tons of people he tried to talk to who wouldn't talk to him. A lot of people did. All right guys, thank you for coming.
Speaker 3:Oh.
Speaker 1:Sean.
Speaker 8:Yeah, okay, I just wanted to add one thing to the few people that have left. There is some serious underestimation to the power of social media and sharing this word. And right to your question, my sister's case happened a long time ago. Even the local news channels didn't have any footage from court, the crime scene, anything like that. They had to dig it all back up from paper newspaper. But thanks to Facebook, twitter and Angel, the shares that get out there, whether you realize it or not, put pressure on people to do the right thing. Down the road.
Speaker 8:This year we went through the parole hearing and Angel helped really put some legs back into the story. It had gone dormant for a long time. We hadn't had to worry about it. Um, it created a huge media presence, not just social media but even the news channels, and she can attest that day at the court at the parole hearing. All the major networks were there. They were all buying for time just to get the one quote they needed to get. But the people you don't realize are feeling that pressure are parole board right.
Speaker 8:I know a couple of them personally. I cannot talk to them because that would just be a mess, but they watch the news, they have social media, they read the newspapers, so that pressure gets applied. So you guys just following this information and any other podcasts or social media groups that you follow, share all that information, especially the missing children that Angel's doing. Just share it. Honor the victims, keep their names in everybody's mind. Hopefully we'll get some good out of it.
Speaker 1:Amen. Thank you, Sean.
Speaker 5:President Mop Avkabit would like to say something.
Speaker 3:No, thank you everyone for coming.
Speaker 7:Thank you, Angel, because it's just the fact that you do this from a perspective of like a victim and advocate. I think it is an amazing thing to keep these stories alive and all of you are very interested. I'm sitting here thinking how amazing this is, so thank you for being here, thank you all for coming and I hope we have you again. Thank, you. Yeah, we hope to have you back.
Speaker 1:I'd love to come back and I'd love to if there's any stories, if there are any cases you want me to look at that. Maybe I'm not, I don't know. There are a lot of things I don't know and I'm happy to say there are cases that I didn't know about, including Marsh's case at the top. Just shoot me an email and if I have questions, I'll ask you, and if you know people who have information, I'll reach out to them. I'm happy, you know. Whatever, whatever you know, if you think of something tomorrow, you know, if you think of something about the Sharp case or there's another case that comes up, or maybe a follow up to something I've already done, let me know. I'm happy to Thank you so much.
Speaker 4:Thank you again.
Speaker 7:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Thank you everyone for your amazing questions and comments and feedback and thank you to the team at off cabot for taking really good care of us and thank you, chris, for set design. My name is angel wood. This is crime of the truest kind. Massachusetts and new eng England crime stories, regional history, advocacy, focused and a little snark, because, well, that's who I am and I'm not going to change. I advocate for families. I advocate for treating these stories with care. I advocate for sharing compassion with other people and for other people. More live shows are coming. Tell me where you want me to go Crimeofthetruestkindcom. Everything is there. How to support the show on Patreon Drop a tip in the jar, listen to the show, share the show, tell your friends, share it on true crime groups. Thank you for listening. Take care of one another and lock your goddamn doors. We'll be right back you, you.
