True crime has always been a popular genre in nonfiction books, and with the rise of independent presses and self-publishing options, the publication of true crime books has only risen in recent years. Throw in a murder trial that riveted people nationwide, whether they were familiar with the region or not, and you’ll find more ways to read about a case than you know what to do with. This is exactly what has happened in the case of Alex...
Well, if you’re like me you no longer no what day it is during this holiday season. This past year has been a hectic one, and due to a lot of different factors, I decided to take a break from producing new episodes after Thanksgiving to regroup and give myself a break to spend time with my family. I did still want to create an end-of-year wrap up for the podcast, so this will close out 2024. This episode is beneficial because it helps me take...
On Nov. 1, 1933, around 10 p.m., the city of Charleston, S.C. was stunned when two passersby discovered a 64-year-old woman named Mary Ravenel gravely injured on Meeting Street, just north of Water Street near her home. Mary was on her way home from eating dinner at the Fort Sumter Hotel with friends. Thinking the woman had been the victim of a hit-and-run accident, the two young woman who discovered her hailed a man driving by so they could...
On the afternoon of Nov. 2 2015, Amy Vilardi left her home on Refuge Road in Pendleton, South Carolina and went to visit her mom and stepfather, Cathy and Mike Scott, who lived next door with their two elderly mothers. The Scotts lived in a double wide mobile home and Amy and her husband Ross lived on the same property in a single-wide. Amy entered the home to find a horrifying scene. 58-year-old Mike Scott, 60-year-old Cathy Scott, 80-year-old...
October is the designated month for bringing awareness to Domestic Violence, but it is a topic I believe we should be talking about year round, as it still remains a prevalent issue in our society. I’ve discussed several cases tied to domestic violence in this podcast, including Nancy Cooper, from Episode 18, Missing runners in North Carolina, Patty Jo Pulley from Episode 45, Across State Lines, Maryann and Elaine Boczkowski in Episode 48,...
On April 4, 2015, 28-year-old Ashley Pegram, who was the mother of three small children, went missing after making plans to spend the evening with a man she’d met on a dating app, specifically on one called “Meet Me.” Pegram had been devastated after losing her boyfriend in a car accident a few months earlier, and was lonely and looking for someone to talk to online. She’d begun corresponding with a man named Edward Bonilla a few weeks...
In the 1980s, an evangelical couple named Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker were literally everywhere, preaching the gospel through their own broadcasting network, living a lavish lifestyle, and building a grandiose Christian-theme park and accompanying on-site hotel in Ft. Mill, South Carolina. It didn’t matter what faith was, there was no way you didn’t know who Jim and Tammy Faye were. Today, we’ll take a look at how they Faye met and were led...
The murder of Rachel Crook is one of the oldest cold cases in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, if not the oldest. Rachel was a 71-year old-woman who originated from Alabama, and the daughter of Rev. Davey Crockett Crook, a confederate general. She was well-educated, having attended Vanderbilt University. She worked as a teacher in high schools and at Lucy Cobb College. She went on to get a master’s degree in mathematics from the Alabama...
A young man shows signs of violence against women at a young age and is sent to a detention center. There he charms an employee who does not realize how dangerous he will later become. This man will eventually murder four women in three different states, and that may not be the full extent of his victims. What was it about this man that was so charming that his victims never realized the depths of his depravity until it was too late? He was...
When I was researching upcoming book releases on NetGalley this past summer, I noticed Mandy Matney had a memoir coming out about her involvement with the Alex Murdaugh case. I immediately requested the book and was excited to get an advance copy of it. I had listened to her show, “The Murdaugh Murders Podcast” and knew that she had worked in the local media around South Carolina. I wanted to get her take on how she first found out about...