CRIMEandSTUFF

Episode 89: Paul Dwyer and the Paris, Maine, murders

Posted on December 6, 2020 by maureenmilliken

Paul Dwyer, of Paris, Maine, was 18 when he was found asleep in a car with Maine plates that didn’t belong to him, in Arlington, N.J., on an October day in 1937. Dwyer wasn’t alone in the car — there were also the murdered bodies of Dr. James Littlefield and his wife, Lydia. What followed was a twisted tale that took decades to resolve.

Maureen also does her NNW rating on the HBO Max documentary “The Mystery of DB Cooper.”

Happy fourth anniversary of this show! We appreciate all the listeners who’ve stuck with us for this long, as well as the new ones who’ve found us along the way.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:32:49 — 50.9MB)

Episode 88: Sex, lies and the topless coffee shop Part 2

Posted on November 22, 2020 by maureenmilliken

The sordid tale of sex, lies, arson, toplessness and more in central Maine continues with the trial.

We also update Maura Murray (Episode 8) and the NNW rating is a duo stab at the doc “An American Murder: The Family Next Door.”

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:45:49 — 59.6MB)

Episode 87: Sex, lies and the topless coffee shop Part 1

Posted on November 8, 2020 by maureenmilliken

When a topless coffee shop — yup, exactly what it sounds like — opened in Vassalboro, Maine, in February 2009, it caused international titters. But four months later, when it burned down, things got serious.

We also update Martha Moxley (Episode 17), Breonna Taylor (Episode 77), Ghislaine Maxwell (Episode 78), and, of course, the Massachusetts Drug Lab Scandal (Episode 29).

Rebecca also rates the documentary “Class Action Park.”

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:26:26 — 48.7MB)

Episode 86: No justice for Helen Jewett

Posted on October 26, 2020 by maureenmilliken

Helen Jewett was smart, attractive, savvy and ambitious. Unfortunately, it was the 1830s and, born Dorcas Doyon and raised as an orphan servant girl in Augusta, Maine, she didn’t have a lot of options. And the lack of options all came crashing down when she was murdered in her bed in New York City in 1836. While it happened nearly two centuries ago, as the story plays out, it could’ve easily been yesterday.

We also have the latest on the Breonna Taylor case, including what the grand jury heard.

And Maureen goes off the NNW charts on a documentary that… just didn’t live up to her standards.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:03:14 — 55.1MB)

Episode 85: Kathleen McLean, the surgeon and diagnosis murder

Posted on October 12, 2020 by maureenmilliken

We’ve wicked had it with people looking at some accomplished white guy and saying “a guy like that wouldn’t kill his wife (or family).” No, this isn’t about Jeffrey MacDonald, though Mo does give an impassioned defense of Joe McGinnis and “Fatal Vision,” and then, yes, we look at another case where a guy “who couldn’t have done something like that,” roared right through a lot of red flags, and another beautiful and loving woman is dead.

We have another quick Breonna Taylor update (Episode 77), and we also update the Aela Mansmann “school bullying” case (Episode 71).

In our NNW ratings, Rebecca takes on “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark,” the documentary (though she hasn’t finished watching it…)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:25:33 — 40.4MB)

Episode 84: Bianca Devins wasn’t murdered by the internet

Posted on September 28, 2020 by maureenmilliken

It’s easy to blame the internet for teenager Bianca Devins’ murder in Utica, N.Y. in 2019. After all, like most kids her age, she was all over it — on social media, on gaming sites. Meeting people, many of them predatory. But what it really comes down to is good old-fashioned toxic masculinity, misogyny and people around her and her killer not seeing the huge red flags hitting them in the face.

We also update Episode 77 with the Breonna Taylor settlement, and Mo takes on the documentary “Outcry” in our NNW ratings.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:49:43 — 40.1MB)

Episode 83: The blood cold Walker family murders

Posted on September 13, 2020 by maureenmilliken

On December 19, 1959, the Walker family — dad Cliff, mom Christine, 4-year-old Jimmy and 2-year-old Debbie — were found murdered in their remote Osprey, Florida, house. Some 61 years later, no one has been charged. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some very interesting suspects…

Also, we update the Breonna Taylor case (Episode 77) and Rebecca does an NNW rated of the book she read for her Episode 82 topic. Taking away a point…

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:21:11 — 55.5MB)

Episode 82: Mark Hoffman, forging murder

Posted on September 1, 2020 by maureenmilliken

Mark Hoffman seemed like a nice guy, and as a collector of, and dealer in, historic documents, particularly those relating to the LDS church, he really had a knack for finding just the right pieces. Then the bombings started…

We also look at domestic violence stats and myths in a Maine-ish mini, and Mo shreds, um reviews, “Blood Runs Cold.”

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:53:56 — 40.3MB)

Episode 81: From Yoga Twins to Ghislaine, we’ve got updates

Posted on August 17, 2020 by maureenmilliken

That’s right, listeners! Time for one of our classic summer update episodes. We catch you up on the Yoga Twins, our Episode 1 stars, all the way through Ghislaine Maxwell, with lots in between including some impassioned rants, as always.

And check out our new logo!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:06:44 — 40.2MB)

Episode 80: Susan Taraskiewicz, murdered by the glass ceiling

Posted on August 3, 2020August 3, 2020 by maureenmilliken

Susan Taraskiewicz was working at her dream job, one she had to fight to get, as ramp crew supervisor at Boston’s Logan Airport. But there were other people who weren’t so happy about it. Then one night, she left to get sandwiches for the crew and never came back. Her beaten and stabbed body was found the next morning in the trunk of her car. That was 1992 and now, 28 years later, her killer still hasn’t been brought to justice.

And in our Negative Nellies reviews, Rebecca takes on “I Know This Much is True,” and Maureen tries to grapple with why she’s hate-reading a mystery series.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:44:34 — 67.6MB)

Episode 79: Don’t mess with Maine State Trooper Vicki Gardner

Posted on July 20, 2020 by maureenmilliken

When Steven Fortin attacked Maine State Trooper Vicki Gardner on a lonely stretch of Interstate 95, he couldn’t have known that it would lead him being convicted for the murder of Melissa Padilla, in New Jersey.

Also, the new “Unsolved Mysteries.” How does it stack up to the old one? We give it the NNW rating treatment.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 50:25 — 31.6MB)

Episode 78: Ghislaine Maxwell, why NOT New Hampshire?

Posted on July 8, 2020 by maureenmilliken

Maybe the world is shocked that socialite predator fugitive Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested in New Hampshire, but we’re not. Not even a little bit. The Granite State has a long history of real-life fugitives heading thinking they can hide there. So while the world says, “Why New Hampshire?” we say, “How coul dit not have been?”

We also update Noah Gaston’s prison sentence and have the latest on Breonna Taylor.

And Rebecca reviews a show that Maureen would rather stick white-hot pokers through her eyes than watch. Fun!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:12:25 — 46.0MB)

Episode 77: Say her name – the police war on Black women

Posted on June 20, 2020 by maureenmilliken

From Breonna Taylor to Atatiana Jefferson to Eleanor Bumpurs and more, the number of Black women killed by police is mind-blowing, particularly those killed in their own homes. It’s all for no good reason. We try to at least take a look at the tip of the iceburg and shine a ittle light on it.

Our Negative Nellie Reviews this epiosde continue the conversation, about race, white privilege and what really happens when the police burst into someone’s home, with the documentaries “The Rachel Divide,” and “Peace Officer.”

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:42:58 — 64.6MB)

Episode 76: Norman Horton couldn’t help himself

Posted on June 6, 2020 by maureenmilliken

It was the 1950s, Norman Horton was gay, couldn’t tell anyone, he lived in small-town upstate New York, wasn’t doing well his first year at college and his father wouldn’t get off his back. So there was only one thing he could do about it…

Also, we update the case of Nancy Crampton Brophy (Episode 55, you remember, she wrote a blog post about how to murder your husband, and a few years later, her husband ends up murdered). The Negative Nellies Watching review “Trial by Media” and “Obsessed With Abducted in Plain Sight.”

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:17:26 — 43.8MB)

Episode 75: Louise’s Chaput’s short hike to death

Posted on May 4, 2020 by maureenmilliken

Louise Chaput planned to spend a November long weekend hiking in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. She’d barely gotten out of her car when she was dead, brutally murdered in the woods off a lonely trail. Nearly two decades later, the crime is still unsolved.

We also update Jans Soering (belatedly), from Episode 48; Dan Gellers, from Episode 41; and the Negative Nellies rate “How to Fix a Drug Scandal,” which was also the topic of our most. updated. episode. ever. Episode 29 (wicked bad chemistry!)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:44:34 — 40.0MB)

Episode 74: Homicide and the other Jack & Jackie

Posted on March 14, 2020March 14, 2020 by maureenmilliken

No one in their Maine town was very fond of Jack, but they liked his wife, Jackie, who owned a popular waterfront restaurant in the beautiful coastal town. Then Jack was killed. And Jackie did it…

We also give a brief update to the case of Nancy Crampton Brophy [Episode 55] and inflict our NNW rating on the book “If You Tell,”

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:13:22 — 50.8MB)

Episode 73: The Unsolved Murder of Michael Francke

Posted on February 2, 2020 by maureenmilliken

Our special guest Dr. Elizabeth Milliken (aka sister Liz) explores one of Oregon’s enduring unsolved crimes.

Sourcing and other information will be available at crimeandstuffonline.com as of Feb. 4.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:51:08 — 25.4MB)

Episode 72: Cocoanut Grove and beyond, once burned…

Posted on January 2, 2020 by maureenmilliken

On Nov. 28, 1942, the Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire in Boston killed 492 people. Those deaths were preventable. You’d think people would learn, right? But flash forward to Warwick, R.I., February 2003…

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:52:57 — 71.6MB)

Episode 71: Third anniversary special with Maine murders & more

Posted on December 1, 2019 by maureenmilliken

For our third anniversary episode we dip into the Maine well and come up with … well, you can probably guess.

Can you believe it’s been three years?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:52:48 — 13.0MB)

Episode 70: If she died in the tub, wave the red flag

Posted on October 19, 2019 by maureenmilliken

Shele Danishefsky was fed up with her unemployed (except for those professional backgammon tournaments), abusive husband. Unfortunately, two days before she was going to make sure he didn’t get access to her $5 million in assets in their divorce, she had an accident in the bathtub…

Funny how many women with bad husbands that happens to.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:49:13 — 25.1MB)

Episode 69: Catching murder with honey

Posted on September 13, 2019 by maureenmilliken

It could probably only happen in Maine: a couple beekeepers, a couple lobstermen, a family feud, a $6,000 load of honey, and someone ends up dead.

Was Leon Kelley’s murder in self defense? We discuss.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:35:17 — 21.9MB)

Episode 68: Serial killer Roy Melanson, say hello to DNA

Posted on August 14, 2019 by maureenmilliken

It’s a little scary, isn’t it, how many guys would’ve gotten way with how many murders if DNA testing hadn’t come along. Roy Melanson is one of them.

Also, on our Negative Nellies Watching ratings, we take a big step back and say “Whoa, we were wrong!” I know!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:53:19 — 26.0MB)

Episode 67: What’s the deal with all that stuff?

Posted on June 26, 2019 by maureenmilliken

Updates, we have updates. Wondering about Todd Koehlhepp, Ayla, murders on the Appalachian Trail, Maine’s domestic violence murders, bad bad Uber drivers, little Frankie the dog, the romance writer turned murder suspect, and more?

We’ve got it all for you right here.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:56:01 — 26.6MB)

Episode 66: The sad sad story of Constance Fisher

Posted on May 20, 2019 by maureenmilliken

Constance Fisher, a young Waterville, Maine, mother, was found not guilty by reason of insanity after she killed her three children in 1954. Eventually she was well enough to go home to her husband, Carl, where they started a new family…

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:54:54 — 32.9MB)

Episode 65: Helen Bailey’s fatal final chapter

Posted on April 24, 2019April 24, 2019 by maureenmilliken

Helen Bailey was a successful author, but suffering from the sudden death of her husband. Then Ian Stewart came along, and thing started looking up. Until Helen, and her little dog Boris, disappeared…

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:15:27 — 17.3MB)