S2 Ep24: The Murder of Phil Hartman
When news spread that a high-profile comedian was killed in a murder-suicide in 1998, the response was disbelief: Phil Hartman wasn't just famous for being funny. He was even better known for being a good-hearted guy. The shocking story behind the deaths of Hartman and his wife, Brynn, not only made international headlines, but it shook the entertainment industry and changed how people talked a...
37m Jul 11, 2022
37m
S2 Ep23: The Easter Sunday Massacre
On Easter Sunday 1937, Ethel Gedeon discovered her sister Veronica and mother Mary murdered in their New York City apartment alongside a third victim, a man who was residing in the apartment as a boarder. As police began to investigate the crime, Veronica's career as a popular artist's model led to a manhunt for one suspect whose bizarre path to the murder highlighted deadly shortcomings in the...
40m Jun 27, 2022
40m
S2 Ep22: The Notorious Case Against Dr. Sam Sheppard
When the county coroner arrived at Sam Sheppard's house in July of 1954, the pathologist was certain the case was open-and-shut: Sheppard, a headlines-courting doctor and serial philanderer, clearly had murdered his 31-year-old wife, Marilyn. Sheppard faced not one but two trials of the century in a case that reached the U.S. Supreme Court and continues to stir controversy to this day. "Crimes...
38m Jun 20, 2022
38m
S2 Ep21: The Heartbreaking Slayings of Nancy, Melissa, and Angela Newman
When three members of the Newman family were discovered slain in 1987, residents of Anchorage, Alaska, flew into a panic. Though murders weren't rare there, the slayings were brutal and the potential suspect list uncomfortably long. The case marked the first time that an FBI profiler was allowed to testify to help explain how law enforcers narrowed the suspect pool to a member of the victims' o...
35m Jun 13, 2022
35m
S2 Ep20: Arthur Fried and the 'Kidnap Years'
The Great Depression sparked a desperation in people that led to an epidemic of kidnappings nationwide, including the 1937 abduction of Arthur Fried, a married father of one whose father owned a sand-and-gravel company. As crime writer Sarah Weinman helps explain, Fried's unusual case ultimately led to the state of New York executing two men for the first time on charges other than first-degree...
36m Jun 06, 2022
36m
Rebecca Schaeffer: The Slaying of a Starlet
We're taking a break for the holiday, so we wanted to feature an episode from our first season you may not have heard yet.  We'll be back with a new episode next week! As actress Rebecca Schaeffer rushed around her apartment to ready for the biggest audition of her career, a disturbed young man was pacing the street below, armed with a gun. Schaeffer's senseless death in 1989 would not only sh...
40m May 30, 2022
40m
S2 Ep19: The Reid Technique and the Wrongful Conviction of Darrel Parker
You've probably heard of the controversial Reid interrogation technique designed to extract confessions from suspects, but did you know that the case that put that technique on the map actually elicited a wrongful confession? Rabia Chaudry, co-host of the true crime podcast Undisclosed, helps tell the story of Darrel Parker's 1956 conviction in the murder of his wife, Nancy. "Crimes of the Cen...
38m May 23, 2022
38m
S2 Ep18: Patty Cannon's Murderous Gang: Selling People for Profit
With the issue of slavery dividing America in the early 1800s, Patty Cannon told neighbors curious about the Black people they spotted secreted across her property that she was helping them escape into freedom. In reality, she was leader of a gang that kidnapped free Black people -- often children -- from the streets, forged ownership papers and sold them to plantation owners in the south. And ...
36m May 16, 2022
36m
S2 Ep17: George Remus: Lawyer, Bootlegger, Killer Pt. 2
Pharmacist-turned lawyer-turned bootlegger George Remus had been making headlines for years as one of the richest men in America thanks to his illegal booze-selling operation during the start of Prohibition. Come 1927, however, his legacy was threatened with another title: cold-blooded killer. "Crimes of the Centuries (https://www.centuriespod.com/) " is a podcast from Grab Bag Collab (https:/...
39m May 09, 2022
39m
S2 Ep16: George Remus: Lawyer, Bootlegger, Killer Pt. 1
Defense lawyer George Remus started to notice a new kind of client in 1919 and 1920: the bootlegger. He also noticed that those bootleggers always paid handsomely in cash. Remus, who had a background in pharmaceuticals, decided he wanted in, and within a year, he owned 35% of America's alcohol. The federal government moved quickly to shut down this so-called King of the Bootleggers. "Crimes of...
36m May 02, 2022
36m
S2 Ep15: The Great Train Robbery: A Brilliant Success or Sloppy Failure?
One of the biggest crimes of the 20th century was the type of heist we usually associate with the 1800s: a train robbery. In August 1963, at least 16 people managed to steal more than $7 million from a train in England. And some of them actually got away with it. "Crimes of the Centuries (https://www.centuriespod.com/) " is a podcast from Grab Bag Collab (https://www.patreon.com/grabbagcollab)...
38m Apr 25, 2022
38m
S2 Ep14: The Murder of "Diamond Bessie"
When the body of a beautiful and well-dressed woman was discovered in 1877 outside of Jefferson, Texas, residents recognized her immediately -- even though they didn't know her real name. She'd been christened through gossip as "Diamond Bessie" thanks to the jewels she wore, and she'd come to town with a mysterious man who'd promptly disappeared. "Crimes of the Centuries (https://www.centuries...
38m Apr 18, 2022
38m
S2 Ep13: Don't Say His Name: A Serial Killer Out for Notoriety
It's because of revisionist history that Paul John Knowles might be better known to some listeners at the Casanova Killer, but don't be fooled: This serial killer deserves no romanticization. Knowles went on a murder spree in 1974 that's been tied to the deaths of at least 20 people -- and he apparently did it just to get famous. "Crimes of the Centuries (https://www.centuriespod.com/) " is a ...
37m Apr 11, 2022
37m
S2: What Lurks Inside the Walls: Hidden Rooms (From "Strange & Unexplained”)
Hey, fam!! Season 2 of the Obsessed Network Original Podcast "Strange & Unexplained With Daisy Eagan" launches today!   In case you aren't familiar, “Strange & Unexplained” is a podcast about all the things that make us wonder. Each week host Daisy Eagan tells the tale of something strange–sometimes it’s paranormal like a haunting or alien encounter, other times it Earthly like an unexplained ...
30m Apr 07, 2022
30m
S2 Ep12: Mary McKnight: Surrounded by Death
After her niece Ruth died in her care, Mary McKnight -- herself a grieving mother -- worried that the shock would kill her sister-in-law, so she gave her something to calm her nerves. But Gertrude died within the hour, and her husband, John, within two weeks. What could have caused the three mysterious deaths in 1903 Michigan? "Crimes of the Centuries (https://www.centuriespod.com/) " is a pod...
36m Apr 04, 2022
36m
S2 Ep11: Buck v. Bell: When the Courts Decided Who Could Have Kids
A young woman named Carrie Buck was not only deemed too unfit to raise her daughter in 1927, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared she was too stupid to procreate, period. And that decision, sparked by the so-called eugenics movement, paved the way for hundreds of thousands of people to be sterilized through the 1970s. "Crimes of the Centuries (https://www.centuriespod.com/) " is a podcast from ...
40m Mar 28, 2022
40m
S2 Ep10: Terror at the Tewksbury Almshouse
Almshouses in the 19th and early 20th centuries were meant to help society's most vulnerable, but in the 1880s, one in Tewksbury, Massachusetts was accused of such shocking treatment that the governor ordered a months-long investigation that dominated headlines nationwide. Among the claims: that the skin of patients who died was tanned and turned into curiosities for sale. "Crimes of the Centu...
42m Mar 14, 2022
42m
S2 Ep9: Ken McElroy: Murder in the Town Square
Ken McElroy was killed outside, in broad daylight, with some 60 witnesses watching -- and yet no one copped to having seen a thing. McElroy, who'd long been known as a town bully in Skidmore, Missouri, was shot dead in 1981 after terrorizing his neighbors, two of whom he shot. When the system seemed to fail at holding McElroy accountable, townsfolk took matters into their own hands. "Crimes of...
39m Mar 07, 2022
39m
S2 Ep8: The Mobster and the Movie Star: The Murder of Johnny Stompanato
The Roberts murder discussed in last week's episode wasn't the only murder tied to "Peyton Place," the fictional town depicted in Grace Metallious' 1956 book. Just after Hollywood legend Lana Turner earned an Oscar nomination for her role in the film version of the tale, her mobster boyfriend turned up dead. "Crimes of the Centuries (https://www.centuriespod.com/) " is a podcast from Grab Bag ...
39m Feb 28, 2022
39m
S2 Ep7: The Peyton Place Murder
When the groundbreaking book "Peyton Place" hit bookshelves in 1956, the murder tale at its center was so scandalous that many stores banned it outright. But the truth is that author Grace Metallious ripped that tale from the headlines -- and even softened its edges a bit. The real-life story centered on Sylvester Roberts, who was killed in 1946 by the daughter he had raped. "Crimes of the Cen...
37m Feb 21, 2022
37m
S2 Ep6: Carl Panzram: Forgotten Monster
Carl Panzram had a rough life growing up, so he decided to make life hell for everyone around him -- especially innocent young boys. When Panzram finally owned up to his crimes, his confession was so outlandish that authorities thought he was full of it. But then one grisly story was confirmed after another, and soon Panzram earned a reputation as a butcher of humanity. "Crimes of the Centurie...
37m Feb 14, 2022
37m
S2 Ep5: The Bludgeoning of Edwin Burdick
The most popular motives for murder are money and sex. That's as true today as it was in 1903 when Edwin Burdick was found brutally bludgeoned in the den of his home. Soon, the nation would learn that Burdick was an unwilling participant of a love triangle that surely got him killed. But who did it? Was it Burdick's cheating wife or her adoring lover? "Crimes of the Centuries (https://www.cent...
34m Feb 07, 2022
34m
S2 Ep4: Too Scandalous for the Papers: The Hix-Snook Case
Theora Hix was an enigma to those who knew her. She was witty, intelligent, and ambitious, but fiercely secretive. So when she turned up dead in the summer of 1926, investigators at first had no idea who might have been responsible. Within hours, however, Hix's sex life became national news as two of her lovers were arrested on suspicion of murder -- including James H. Snooks, an Olympic gold m...
40m Jan 31, 2022
40m
S2 Ep3: Murder at Road Hill House
When a beloved 3-year-old boy went missing, only to be discovered soon after in an outhouse with his throat slit, suspicion at first settled on the child's nursemaid in a London-area town in 1860. After local police failed to find any evidence, a brilliant detective was dispatched from the Metropolitan Police. Jonathan Whicher turned his attention away from the lower-class servants living in th...
41m Jan 24, 2022
41m
S2 Ep2: The Galvanizing Murder of Emmett Till
A fun-loving Chicago teenager convinced his mom to let him visit relatives in Mississippi over the summer of 1955. Three days after his arrival, 14-year-old Emmett Till was viciously murdered. Because his mother insisted that the world see the violence inflicted upon her son, the case made international news and galvanized the civil rights movement in the United States. "Crimes of the Centurie...
43m Jan 17, 2022
43m
S2 Ep1: The Cleveland Torso Murders
On a crisp fall morning in 1935, two young boys made a grisly discovery in Kingsbury Run, an area in southeast Cleveland, Ohio. The boys, ages 16 and 12, had been playing catch but lost control of the ball. To retrieve it, they ran down a hill affectionally called Jackass Hill, and were stopped in their tracks by the sight of a man’s headless body. When police arrived, they'd find another emasc...
43m Jan 10, 2022
43m
S1 Ep42: The Osage Nation Murders
When members of the incredibly wealthy Osage Nation started dropping dead of mysterious ailments in 1920s Oklahoma, few people in state power paid it much mind. After all, many of those who could do something about it were benefiting from the deaths. Eventually, with the help of a still-evolving agency called the FBI, federal authorities uncovered an unthinkable conspiracy known today as the Re...
39m Oct 04, 2021
39m
S1 Ep41: Richard Biegenwald: The Jersey Shore Thrill Killer
It's possible no one would have known that Richard Biegenwald was a serial killer if he hadn't shown a dead woman's body to a friend he wanted to enlist as a murderous protege. Once police started digging into Richard Biegenwald, they uncovered decades of horrific crimes -- many of which he said he committed just for the thrill of it. "Crimes of the Centuries (https://www.centuriespod.com/) " ...
37m Sep 27, 2021
37m
S1 Ep40: Danny Rolling: The Gainesville Ripper
When five college students in Florida were brutally slain in a four-day span in 1990, it sent shockwaves across the nation as newscasters made comparisons to serial killer Ted Bundy. Police frantically worked to stop this new madman before his body count got any higher. "Crimes of the Centuries (https://www.centuriespod.com/) " is a podcast from Grab Bag Collab (https://www.patreon.com/grabbag...
41m Sep 20, 2021
41m
S1 Ep39: The Theft of the Mona Lisa
As soon as Leonardo da Vinci unveiled the Mona Lisa in the early 1500s, the art world recognized it as a masterpiece. But it wasn't until centuries later that her face became one of the most famous in the world -- thanks to one of the most brazen art heists in history. This crime of the century crosses the pond. "Crimes of the Centuries (https://www.centuriespod.com/) " is a podcast from Grab ...
37m Sep 13, 2021
37m
S1: The Death of Kendrick Johnson (from "Strange and Unexplained")
Hey, COTC listeners! We're taking a break for the holiday this week, but we wanted to share an episode from another Obsessed Network show with you.  From "Strange and Unexplained with Daisy Eagan," this episode looks at the tragic death of Kendrick Johnson.  On January 11, 2013, the body of the 17-year-old high school student was found inside a vertical rolled up mat in the gymnasium. Was Kendr...
36m Sep 06, 2021
36m
S1 Ep38: Susan Smith: More than a Monster
A distraught young mother pounded on the door of a stranger's house and told a story that riveted the nation: She'd been carjacked while driving an empty stretch of road, and the man who'd held her at gunpoint took not only her car, but her two young sons strapped into the car seats. As Susan Smith publicly pleaded for her boys to be returned unharmed, she hid a terrible secret that would shock...
37m Aug 30, 2021
37m
S1 Ep37: Cold War Espionage: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
To outsiders, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg seemed like a typical, if not downright boring, American couple. But then the U.S. government got a tip that the parents of two young boys had provided top-secret information about the nation's efforts to develop the first atomic weapon. Soon, the couple would face trial in one of the highest-profile espionage cases in the country's history. "Crimes of ...
41m Aug 23, 2021
41m
S1 Ep36: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
People enjoying a warm, sunny Saturday in New York City first noticed smoke arising from a building at about 4:40 p.m. and rushed to gather at the base of a 10-story building that was quickly engulfed in flames. The scene greeting them was horrific: Dozens of workers were trapped on the building's ninth floor. With the flames closing in, some chose to jump to their deaths. More than 100 years ...
39m Aug 16, 2021
39m
S1 Ep35: The Massacre at Taliesin
For years, famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright had made headlines for his personal life. After all, he'd left his wife and six children for a married woman during the Victorian era, and made no apologies for the two "living in sin" in a home he built on family land in Wisconsin. Then, on a hot August day in 1914, Wright's whole world came crashing down: A murderer had attacked his so-called Love...
44m Aug 02, 2021
44m
S1 Ep34: Satanic Panic and the McMartin Preschool Case
Judy Johnson was horrified when her 3-year-old son told her he'd been abused by a teacher at his preschool. So, too, was her community. Soon, hundreds of parents throughout Manhattan Beach, California, heard horrifying tales from their children describing sexual abuse, animal torture and even murder in a case that epitomizes what came to be known as the "Satanic Panic" of the 1980s. "Crimes of...
40m Jul 26, 2021
40m
S1 Ep33: The Murder of William Guldensuppe: The Headless Torso that Sparked a Media Furor
When a group of kids cooling off along New York City's East River spotted a parcel in the water, they figured a passing freighter had dropped some goods. When they opened the package, however, they discovered a human torso, its arms still attached. So began a murder mystery that helped ignite a news war and forever altered how journalists covered crime in America. "Crimes of the Centuries (htt...
40m Jul 19, 2021
40m
S1 Ep32: The Bath Massacre
Andrew Kehoe really didn't like the new property taxes being leveled to pay for his community's fancy new school. This was well known throughout his hometown of Bath Township, Michigan. What residents didn't know was that his displeasure would turn to murderous rage that culminated on May 18, 1927. To date, the horror unleashed by Kehoe that day remains the deadliest school attack in American ...
37m Jul 12, 2021
37m
S1: Roanoke: That Time 100 People Vanished for No Reason (from "Strange and Unexplained")
Hey, COTC listeners! We're taking a break for the holiday this week, but we wanted to share an episode from another Obsessed Network show with you.  From "Strange and Unexplained with Daisy Eagan," this episode tells the tale of the vanishing colony of Roanoke, who came to America in the 16th century and then mysteriously disappeared. Daisy explores all the bizarre elements of the story, but as...
33m Jul 05, 2021
33m
S1 Ep31: Doris Duke's Dark Secret
Tobacco heiress Doris Duke got upsetting news on Oct. 7, 1966. Her longtime friend and art curator, Eduardo Tirella wanted to end their work relationship. Within hours, Tirella was dead, having been hit by a car driven by Duke. Though the crash was quickly dismissed by police as an accident, Tirella's family always believed that the volatile billionaire had killed Tirella on purpose. If so, Du...
41m Jun 28, 2021
41m
S1 Ep30: Patty Hearst: Murder, Terror, and the Taking of an Heiress
When the granddaughter of one of America's best-known publishing magnates was kidnapped in 1974, the news of course grabbed headlines. But that was nothing compared to the attention the case would receive after Patricia Hearst joined forces with her abductors. The group at the heart of the kidnapping was known as the Symbionese Liberation Army, a radical group of young adults considered to be t...
43m Jun 21, 2021
43m
S1 Ep29: John Arthur Pender: The Pardoned Killer?
The book The Man from the Train describes dozens of axe slayings in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, many of which authors Bill James and Rachel McCarthy James believe were committed by what would be the nation's most prolific serial killer. But a 1911 double homicide near Scappoose, Oregon, doesn't fit the mold. On Sept. 3, 1911, someone entered a cabin and fatally shot Daisy Wehrman a...
37m Jun 14, 2021
37m
S1 Ep28: The Villisca Murders
The Moore house seemed awfully quiet one June morning in 1912, prompting neighbors to investigate. Inside, they discovered a horrific scene: All eight people who'd been inside -- a mother, father, their four children and two young guests -- had been brutally slain in their sleep. The case that followed would be one of the highest-profile, longest-lasting mysteries in the history of the Midwest ...
44m Jun 07, 2021
44m
S1 Ep27: The Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping
Charles Lindbergh became an American and worldwide hero after becoming the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927.  But five years later, his world was upended when his toddler son was stolen from his nursery.  The ensuing investigation into the kidnapping would involved a host of characters, including an amateur detective named Jafsie and a mysterious man named Cemetery Joh...
43m May 24, 2021
43m
S1 Ep26: Did Jeffrey MacDonald Kill His Family?
The sight that greeted arriving medics in February 1970 was so upsetting that at least one had to rush from the scene to vomit. Inside of Army surgeon Jeffrey MacDonald's home were three dead bodies belonging to his two daughters and pregnant wife. MacDonald, too, was injured. But who really killed the Green Beret's family? Was it a quartet of acid-dropping hippies -- or MacDonald himself? "Cr...
41m May 17, 2021
41m
S1: Introducing "Murder in Alliance: Ep. 1 Dead in the Water"
Hey, Crimes of the Centuries listeners! We're so excited to bring you the new show from the Obsessed Network, "Murder in Alliance." We've got the first episode here for you in this feed, and two more available right now wherever you get your podcasts. Listen to the first three episodes and follow "Murder in Alliance" on your favorite podcast player HERE (https://lnk.to/98BXWuip) (https://lnk.t...
29m May 13, 2021
29m
S1 Ep25: Belle Gunness: Butcher of Men
When an Indiana home caught fire and burned to the ground in 1908, townspeople mourned the poor mother and two children believed trapped inside. But then someone started to dig on the property, they realized that the woman of the house had a sinister secret. Belle Gunness had been luring would-be suitors to her farm and brutally slaying them in a scheme that lasted years. "Crimes of the Centu...
38m May 10, 2021
38m
S1 Ep24: The Dark Tale of the Radium Girls
In the early 20th century, one of the best jobs for a young woman to land in America involved a new discovery: radium. The substance discovered by Marie Curie could be tweaked and turned into glow-in-the-dark paint. But as the women working with the paint started falling ill, their employers began a calculated coverup that landed them in court -- and changed laws nationwide regarding the duty ...
38m May 03, 2021
38m
S1 Ep23: Jane Britton's Mysterious Murder
Though 23-year-old Jane Britton had no enemies when she was violently killed in 1969, her case somehow had no shortage of suspects. Who killed the brilliant and feisty Harvard grad student — was it the brooding archeologist rumored to have had an affair with her, the bumbling professor who’d invited her to his apartment or the friend who would years later be suspected in another mysterious deat...
37m Apr 19, 2021
37m
S1 Ep22: H.H. Holmes and His Macabre "Murder Castle"
He was born Herman Webster Mudgett, a bright boy beloved by his teachers because of his kind demeanor and thirst for knowledge. Later, the world would know him as H.H. Holmes, a man so determined to murder that he designed a home in Chicago complete with torture chambers, trap doors and a crematorium. Holmes' tale not only shocked the world, but it forever tainted the legacy of Chicago's 1893 ...
53m Apr 12, 2021
53m