Pulling from the catalogue, Renee discusses the cold cases of Nancy Morgan from Madison County, Beverly Sherman and Pamela Murray from Asheville, the solved murder of Denise Durham from East Flat Rock, and the workplace shooting of Michelle Marlowe in Hickory.
In August of 1993, a woman vacationing on the Outer Banks made the fateful decision to spend an extra night at the beach. The next morning, her body was discovered in the sand within few hundred feet of her hotel room. She’d been sexually assaulted and stabbed to death. This type of murder was almost unheard of in the small coastal town of Nags Head, and when a hurricane made landfall on the island just a few days later, police feared they...
A few weeks ago, I received an e-mail from a listener named Ashley Hester. She said her father, Detective T.A. Hester, had worked for the Durham Police Department for 30 years. While Ashley’s father is now deceased, there was one case in particular he was never able to solve that really ate away at him. It was the homicide I’m bringing to you today, so many thanks to Ashley for letting me know about it. On Monday, August 21, 1989, the quiet...
In the summer of 1967, a 19-year-old young woman named Brenda Holland was excited to take a job with the Lost Colony outdoor drama on the Outer Banks. But only a month after the Western Carolina native arrived, she went missing late one night after a date with a fellow cast member. When her body was discovered in the sound six days later, investigators thought they had an open and shut case. But to this day, the murder remains unsolved. Today...
In episode 32, “Missing Teen Girls in North Carolina,” I shared the story a young woman named Sherri Lee Truesdale. Sherri’s story is another one of those cases that doesn’t have a lot of background information because she went missing such a long time ago, but family members have not given up on the idea of resolution. On June 13, 1970, 14-year-old Sherri left her home in Winston-Salem around 11:30 a.m. and took the bus to a local...
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,...
I discussed wilderness therapy camps and Trails Carolina in Lake Toxaway specifically in Episode 88. Trails Carolina was founded in 2008, with the belief that a wilderness setting enhances the benefits of therapy. It accepts children ages 10-17 on wilderness expeditions, and therapists are supposed to meet with the campers on a weekly basis. The program bills itself as helping minors with conditions such as depression, anxiety, anger management...
Over the years, there have been several different murders that have taken place involving students and staff at the University of North Carolina. In January of 1995, Wendell Williamson, a student at the UNC Law School, wounded a police officer and killed two bystanders when he opened fire on Henderson Street. In March of 2008, Student Body President Eve Carson was abducted, robbed, and murdered by two local men with extensive criminal...
When 20-year-old Lue Cree Overcash Westmoreland retired for the evening at the home of her husband’s family on Jan. 19, 1937, no one expected the young bride of only two months would be murdered by the next morning. Lue Cree’s husband, Herman Westmoreland, lived in an apartment during the week so he could be close to his job at Cascade Mills in Mooresville. Lue Cree was staying at the family home in the Amity Hill area of Iredell County....