In the 1990s, Horry, Georgetown, and Marion counties experienced a rise in bank robberies. According to the Sun News, 16 bank robberies occurred in the area in 1997. Only about 18 percent of money was able to be recovered, and investigators found it thanks to dye packs that had been thrown into the bags of cash. The FBI stated that the robberies seemed to be spur-of-the-moment jobs for quick cash, noting that bank robbery is a very high-risk...
In this podcast, we cover a lot of dark topics around missing people and other true crime. For this week, I wanted to do something a little more lighthearted. It still centers around a disappearance in the Carolinas, but in this case it was the disappearance of money, and a lot of it. In 2016, a movie called “Masterminds,” which was based on the famous Loomis Fargo Robbery in Charlotte, was released. The movie is a comedy, starring several...
A few years ago, I was meeting with a few likeminded people in my community to discuss the details of Lue Cree Overcash Westmoreland’s still-unsolved murder from 1937. One of those people was Shellie Taylor, who works with the Iredell County Public Library. Of course we immediately began chatting about a few other mysterious stories she had uncovered as part of her work as an archivist. I knew she would be the perfect guest for the podcast,...
In 1986, 28-year-old Mary Kathryn Ennis and her husband were separated, and she was living alone with her 7-year-old son, Andy in Hillsborough. Many of her neighbors described her as being a devoted and caring mother. Her neighbor two doors down, James W. Jones, said that he had “never seen a woman more devoted to her son” than Mary. Her landlord described her as “a nice, sweet person with a pleasant attitude” and said that he loved...
In 1999, fresh out of Harvard University, Helen Zuman began seeking out a place where she could practice communal living and learn more about organic farming and homesteading. The place turned out to be Zendik Farm in Western North Carolina. When she left five years later, she slowly realized the leader had been operating the farm as a cult. Listen to episode here. Learn more about Helen Zuman Check out Helen's memoir, Mating in...
On July 9, 1988, 30-year-old High Point, North Carolina resident Sandra Coulthard passed away at Duke University Medical Center. She’d been sick for about six months with vomiting, diarrhea, vomiting, and numbness of her feet and fingers. Doctors had diagnosed her with Guillain-Barre (Ghee-yan Bah-ray) syndrome and had been treating her for it, but her symptoms never improved. Guillain-Barre syndrome is a rare neurological disorder that...
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 1 in 5 people experience mental illness each year. Their website states: A mental health condition isn’t the result of one event. Research suggests multiple, linking causes. Genetics, environment, and lifestyle influence whether someone develops a mental health condition. A stressful job or home life makes some people more susceptible, as do traumatic life events. Biochemical processes and...
I have one of those journals I got as a gift with a positive affirmation stamped on the front cover in cursive. It tells me how beautiful, smart, and talented I am and says I am going to do amazing things. But if you open the notebook, you might be surprised at what you find scribbled on the pages. This journal has become my true crime notebook. The first page has a Post-it note where I’ve written “NC/SC John and Jane Does,” a...
In 1968, the town of Gaffney was much smaller, quieter, in the midst of integrating black students into schools that had been predominantly white up until that point. Lyndon B. Johnson was the president of the United States and daily headlines reported on the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. People in the community thought nothing of leaving their doors unlocked or traveling by foot to get from one place to another. In fact, many people...
The case of Jock and Jane Doe was featured on “Unsolved Mysteries” on January 20, 1995. The couple was discovered in August of 1976 in Sumter, South Carolina on a rural road by a trucker passing through. They had both been shot multiple times. They both appeared to be in their 20s, with the man measuring six feet tall and the woman about five feet five inches. The man had extensive dental work and was wearing an expensive watch and a ring...
