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MFM Minisode 473

February 02, 2026 /

This episode of My Favorite Murder features stories about near encounters with John Wayne Gacy, chaotic neighborhood incidents, and heartwarming family moments.

Kristen Murphy shares a chilling tale about her father almost becoming John Wayne Gacy's first victim in 1972. While hitchhiking to a Cheech and Chong concert, her father accepted a ride from a man who turned out to be Gacy, leading to a tense moment when he had to escape the car.

Another listener recounts a series of violent incidents in their San Francisco neighborhood, including a fire and drive-by shooting. Their brother heroically called 911 to prevent a fire from spreading, while the family dealt with a neighbor's harassment.

A heartwarming story from a listener reveals how they announced their pregnancy to family members using whiskey bottles, leading to their father adopting the name "Pappy" for his future grandchild.

Lastly, a listener shares a humorous tale about a "reverse kidnapping" of a greyhound named Dimitri, who they ended up adopting after fostering him for months.

TLDR

Listeners share chilling and heartwarming stories, including a near encounter with John Wayne Gacy and a humorous dog adoption tale.

Episode

23:34
00:00:00
This is exactly right. Isn't some far off concept? It's already here. Next starts now.
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00:01:36
Hello and welcome to My Favorite Murder. That's Georgia Hart, the mini-sode. That's right.
00:01:49
God damn it. Ten years of this. That's right. God, you want me to go first? Okay.
00:01:56
The subject line of this email is, my dad was almost John Wayne Gacy's first murder victim.
00:02:02
Holy shit. We covered John Wayne Gacy when we did the Chicago Podcast Festival way back in November of 2016.
00:02:10
So if you want to hear that, you can. Hello, all. There was only one way to tell this story, and that's to get straight to the point.
00:02:17
By the way, my name is Kristen Murphy. Feel free to use my name. My father told me this vague story of him in the 70s about his incident with a sketchy hitchhiker, because that's what they did in the 70s.
00:02:28
I finally asked him the whole story now that I'm older, and he told me everything.
00:02:32
It was such an intense experience for him that he remembers it in grave detail to this day.
00:02:37
It was the fall of 1972, and my dad was 18, trying to find a ride to the Cheech and Chong concert.
00:02:44
Oh, my God. That's such a time and place. I can smell it. Those guys doing comedy to probably a huge, you know, a huge stoned audience somewhere.
00:02:54
I would love to know. Oh, wait, I'll just finish reading it. Mind you, John Wayne Gacy's first murder was in 1972.
00:03:02
He said it happened September 22nd, 1972 on Interstate 94. My dad, Jeff, was standing on the side of the interstate when he finally found a car that pulled over and came to a stop.
00:03:13
The man driving asked my dad where he was headed and offered him a ride. And my dad accepted.
00:03:19
He described the guy as being smaller and stockier. The car ride was normal at first, talking about partying and nightlife.
00:03:26
The driver asked my dad if he liked to party at night. My dad didn't fully understand what he meant, but my hippie dad was like, yeah, I like to party.
00:03:35
Sure. Yeah, man. Want to start out? Okay. The next moment, the man put his hand on my dad's thigh and asked him if he wanted to party tonight.
00:03:45
My dad panicked, knocked his arm off, and yelled at him to pull the car over immediately, or he would grab the wheel and wreck the car.
00:03:53
The driver tried to calm him down and ended up pulling over and letting my dad out of the car.
00:03:59
A few years later, when John Wayne Gacy's picture was released on the news, my father knew 100% he was the man who picked him up back in the fall of 1972, the year Gacy committed his first murder.
00:04:11
Jesus. Yes. SSDGM, Fuck Politeness, Kristen Murphy. Wow. I've been reading a lot about Gacy lately just because there's been some books that have been written.
00:04:22
There's one where the daughter of the girl who put the photograph receipt in the pocket of the last victim at the pharmacy they worked at together.
00:04:35
Yes. That led to Gacy being finally caught, last victim. her daughter wrote a book about Gacy and about that her mother and everything that was involved
00:04:45
in the boy that was killed it's just fucking crazy it's called post-mortem by Courtney Lund O'Neill
00:04:51
wow and it's really incredible I want to read that yeah anyway Gacy because I never really
00:04:55
knew about Gacy like I never cared that much he was kind of one of my entrees in yeah and it's
00:05:00
just it fascinated me so much but then he did it for so long and there's like a lot of people in
00:05:07
the Chicago area that have those kinds of 70s stories of like, because the hitchhiking and all
00:05:11
that stuff. He was a drunk and he didn't make a secret of like picking people up and doing that.
00:05:18
The Boys Under the House is an incredible book about it as well. Okay. Mine's called,
00:05:23
I'm not going to tell you what it's called. Hi ladies, long time listener, first time writer.
00:05:28
I just finished listening to Minisode 462, which is full of bad neighbors and kids home alone. And
00:05:33
I figured it was time to write in. I grew up in San Francisco in the 2000s and 2010s in a quiet
00:05:39
neighborhood near Golden Gate Park. My younger brother was about 15 years old, the first time
00:05:44
my parents left him home alone overnight. This was around 2017, so parenting style was more
00:05:50
helicopter than trash As always my dad parting words of wisdom were don burn down the house Everything went fine until early the next morning when my brother started to smell smoke from the garage He ran downstairs threw open the door and saw flames creeping up our garage door
00:06:07
He immediately called 911, and the firefighters were able to put the fire out quickly.
00:06:12
Luckily, the damage was limited to the garage door, and my brother saved the whole house from burning down.
00:06:17
When the police investigated the fire, they found traces of fuel where the fire began
00:06:22
and realized that it was started intentionally. Unfortunately, this was only one nefarious incident among several others on our quiet San Francisco block.
00:06:31
One of our neighbors had been the victim of a drive-by shooting just days earlier,
00:06:35
where thankfully nobody was injured by the bullets that smashed through their living room windows.
00:06:41
Another house had a Molotov cocktail thrown into the front of their house. Again, luckily nobody was physically hurt.
00:06:47
A neighbor on our block had been recently imprisoned for fraud, And soon after these incidents, a group of guys had been arrested with a list of addresses in the glove compartment of their car that included the homes that had been threatened.
00:07:00
From prison, our neighbor hired these guys to attack homes on our street. I don't know.
00:07:06
I recently asked my parents for clarification on some of these details because my brothers and I were teens when it's all played out and they tried to protect us from the full story.
00:07:16
My mother then told me that in addition to these horrible acts of violence, yet another neighbor had been swatting our house for years, which is prank calling the police on our house.
00:07:26
The worst incident had happened one night when the neighbor called the police and falsely told them that there was an armed intruder in our house.
00:07:33
The police broke into our house and came inside. My mom opened their bedroom door to a police officer pointing a gun directly at her.
00:07:41
My parents were able to deescalate the situation and my brothers and I slept for the entire event.
00:07:46
Thank God. I know. My dad went full murderino and collected all of the 911 calls from the neighbor and hired a lawyer to get the neighbor to stop swatting our house.
00:07:55
My parents both struggled to recount the story when I asked them about it recently because it had been so terrifying and infuriating for them.
00:08:02
Thank you so much for all you do. You are both inspirations. Stay sexy and don't burn the house down.
00:08:07
m god that's like so violent and then like it happening over and over like now this is on fire
00:08:15
now there's cops in your house like horrifying i know it makes me like you know that neighbor's
00:08:20
dog barking all the time isn't such a bad thing yeah just it could be so like bad neighbors just
00:08:25
ruin your life earplugs yeah and then i think about when we lived because we kind of lived near
00:08:29
the park we were in the upper haight yeah and oh yeah yeah the volume with which we did every
00:08:34
single thing all day and night. Oh my God. You were the problem neighbor. We were all,
00:08:39
we've always been the problem neighbor. Always. At some point in our lives. I mean,
00:08:42
just standard volume alone is not great, but yeah, God, horrible. While the world watches the stars at the FIFA World Cup this summer,
00:08:54
Hyundai has its eyes on the next generation of talent. The future soccer stars who are already
00:08:59
turning heads at age 14. Making plays that end up on everyone's feed, scoring from angles that
00:09:04
don't make sense, rewriting record books that barely had time to gather dust. Because Next doesn't wait for an invitation, and Hyundai doesn't either.
00:09:11
Hyundai has always moved the future within reach. Hyundai did it by making advanced safety standard on every vehicle.
00:09:17
Hyundai did it by engineering EVs with ultra-fast charging capability. And Hyundai continues doing it every day.
00:09:23
From robotics that change how people live to young athletes changing the game, the future isn't some far-off concept.
00:09:29
It's already here. Next starts now. Hyundai, an official partner of FIFA. Goodbye.
00:09:35
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00:10:01
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00:10:05
If it's a raccoon or if it's a person looking through my windows, like you have to get this level of safety if you want to feel as safe as possible.
00:10:14
So you know what's going on. So I just feel safer with actually having something like SimpliSafe around.
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00:10:24
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00:10:36
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00:11:11
So go to justfoodfordogs.com and get 50% off your first order. Goodbye. Okay. Subject line of this email is Mafia Banjo.
00:11:22
Okay. Greetings and hello to Karen, Georgia, Exactly Right Media, and furry unpaid interns.
00:11:28
I am a professional banjo player who specializes in the four-string banjo, which is not the style that everybody is most familiar with.
00:11:36
All of my banjos are well over 100 years old. Some of them have really interesting stories, while the others have stories that have been lost to time.
00:11:44
As well as playing the banjo, I also restore and set up banjos for people who want theirs to be like how they were when they left the factory.
00:11:51
That means that quite often I have older people come to me and share that they inherited their father or grandfather banjo And would love to hear it play again Some of these instruments come with a mix of fascinating stories sad stories or no story at all
00:12:06
One of my favorite moments happened about three years ago when a woman reached out to my friend about inheriting a banjo.
00:12:12
My friend told me about it, and I got in contact with the woman. She sent me pictures of the banjo, and it was an incredibly nice 1928 Bacon and Day Silver Bell Ney Plus Ultra 9 tenor banjo.
00:12:26
To those who don't know what that is, it's basically like the Rolls Royce of banjos.
00:12:31
Fancy engravings, gemstones, and rhinestones all over the instrument. Gold plating, and to top it off, an elephant head carving with real ivory tusks at the heel of the neck.
00:12:42
Wow. Its original cost was $900. Holy shit. Which today... 1929. 28. 28. $900 would be $150,000.
00:12:52
$17,000. Damn it. But all those gems and things, you know, make sense. To make it even better, it was common to request your name or initials to be engraved onto the banjo when you ordered the instrument.
00:13:05
The original owner's name was engraved on the back, Sammy Musmano. One of my favorite things to do is research the original owner of any antique instrument, especially banjos.
00:13:15
I asked the woman if she knew anything about Sammy, and she said he was her husband's great uncle and played banjo in various bands and orchestras around the Chicago area.
00:13:25
This was a great lead, and I decided to do some digging. I found out more basic info, where, when he was born, where he lived, where, when he died.
00:13:33
He played all over the world on banjo, mandolin, guitar, and even harp. I was itching to know more, so I asked if she could send me more pictures, like what was inside the case and such.
00:13:44
Apart from some pics and a couple of small wrenches, there was a picture of Sammy with a man in a long coat, a snappy hat, and a cigar in his mouth.
00:13:52
I said, wow, that looks a lot like Al Capone. I was thinking that. Oh, my God. It was.
00:13:58
Oh, my God. Apparently, Sammy Musmano had quite the career. He was involved with the Chicago Mafia and played with orchestras hired by Al Capone for his parties.
00:14:07
Al and Sammy were very good friends. Sammy taught Al Capone how to play the banjo in his free time until Al went to prison. Sammy's brother, Michael Musmano, was a defense attorney and judge in the 1920s and early 30s.
00:14:32
Al made sure to stay on Sammy's good side. One time after a gig, a rival gang mugged Sammy and stole his gig money from that night.
00:14:41
The woman who told me about the banjo also told me that Al Capone supposedly bought the banjo for Sammy, which I have yet to confirm.
00:14:48
In the 1930s, Sammy continued to teach and play on the radio until retiring from music in the 1940s.
00:14:54
He escaped from the mafia and had a calm rest of his life raising his children. I have attached a couple of images of the banjo and Sammy.
00:15:03
Apologies that some are blurry. They are the ones the woman sent me. I have so many more crazy stories that I've collected from these instruments.
00:15:10
And the more I learn about these stories, the closer I feel to the era and the instruments themselves.
00:15:15
It's an honor to be a part of these instruments history. And I'm so glad I can take care of them and let them ring for another hundred years.
00:15:22
My girlfriend introduced me to this podcast during a long road trip from Northern California down to Los Angeles about two years ago.
00:15:29
I was instantly hooked and I've been listening every weekend during my weekly commute back and forth from New York City to Rochester, New York.
00:15:36
And for that, I thank you more than I can express in one email. Stay sexy and ask your elderly acquaintances if they have a banjo in their attic.
00:15:45
Gavin and Anna, Queens, New York. That is so cool. Like, that's such a cool hobby.
00:15:50
Yes. It's such a cool email. I know everything about it. Hear me out. Check this out. That's a podcast. Oh, absolutely. That's a podcast. Yeah. Of like stories about your instrument. Cause check this out as episode one. We'll put it on our socials. My favorite murder photographs. I didn't know banjos could be that gorgeous. I know. And look at Sam swarthy as fuck.
00:16:12
Also, it's like quite a thing to be able to play an instrument, especially professionally. So like that idea that like professional musicians are always like one of 10 guys in a band, but it's like, but they're, they all have stories like this.
00:16:26
Wow. I love that. Send us your instrument history stories. Only if it's a Rolls Royce of your instrument.
00:16:32
That's right. We don't want any fucking, what is a bad car? I don't know. Saturn's.
00:16:38
Yeah. Pinto. Pinto. Okay. Sister-fueled terror plot. Okay. Brought to you by Anxiety. Hi, MFM crew. I love you silly ladies and the fantastic work you do. Please keep it up.
00:16:51
Okay. Not if you call his name. I mean, Jesus. Once upon an episode, you requested stories about things you can never live down. And in another episode, you requested stories that got vetoed from wedding speeches.
00:17:03
is. My story involves both of those topics. My sister, therapy, yay, and a thwarted terrorist
00:17:10
attack, question mark. My older sister has battled bravely with mental health challenges
00:17:15
since we were kids. She's done a wonderful job at it. And today she is a happy mother of two who
00:17:20
is completing her MBA at night. So hard. She's the coolest. Because of her mental health challenges,
00:17:26
is she has done almost every type of therapy known to womankind. Hi. Hi. When we were in our mid-20s, she tried out a type of therapy that required her to keep
00:17:36
a worst-case scenario diary. She had to write out diary entries as if her worst fears had come true that day.
00:17:43
Yeah. I fucking love that. I've never heard that. Put it on the page because it really does work it out of your brain.
00:17:49
Because your brain doesn't know the difference between real trauma and just imagined trauma.
00:17:54
Yeah. Right? Yeah So smart My brother and I used to do dramatic readings of the entries in the living room which often ended in all three of us crying with laughter So cool Topics included grandma died
00:18:05
today. The big one happened. We live in Vancouver. This referred to the pending mega earthquake and
00:18:11
our dog went missing forever. I constantly think about that constantly. I'm always like,
00:18:19
where's Mo? And Vince the other day was like, he didn't get out. Like I'm always convinced that Mo
00:18:23
got out. I don't know why. Also, you know this well, but having Frank, a 17 year old dog walking
00:18:28
around the house, I'm just like constantly processing. I'm just like, and the grief will
00:18:32
be hard and it will be whatever. And it's after a while, you're just like, all right, let's wrap
00:18:38
this up. I did with Elvis, like it did help me. Like I always, my heart was like someday I'm not
00:18:42
have to live without him. And I just always thought about it. And so when it finally came,
00:18:46
it was like not a surprise. I had asked him for 16 years and he gave me 16 years.
00:18:51
And you're grateful. It makes you grateful. Yeah. The Jewish people like to say, may their memory be a blessing. So that's all you can do.
00:18:59
Anyway, one day, my dad generously gave us two tickets to go see the Vancouver Canucks.
00:19:04
It says, it's hockey, Georgia. Play at Rogers Arena downtown. I met my sister at the game and
00:19:11
she pulled out her therapy journal. She wanted to show me the topic of the day. This one was
00:19:15
a terrorist attack at Rogers Arena. She included detailed diagrams, maps, and of course, her
00:19:21
dramatic plan of how the terrorist attack would unfold. I totally get this. We chuckled at it,
00:19:26
and she tucked it away as the game started. The game was pretty uneventful, but in the second
00:19:31
period, things took a turn for the worse. My sister patted down her pockets, looked at me,
00:19:35
and said, ha, okay, give it back. I didn't know what she was talking about. She said,
00:19:39
not funny, give me back my journal. Unfortunately, I hadn't taken her journal. In that moment,
00:19:45
time stood still as we quickly realized three things. She lost her journal somewhere in the
00:19:50
stadium. She lost her journal containing all caps, detailed diagrams, maps, and the plan of
00:19:56
a terrorist attack on a stadium inside of that stadium. And three, her journal had her full name
00:20:02
on it. You got to use initials. I mean, that's we immediately got up, left the hockey game that
00:20:10
was still going on and proceeded to silent cry slash laugh our way home. I don't think we've
00:20:16
ever laughed so hard. This story sadly got vetoed when I was asked to speak at my sister's wedding.
00:20:21
Yeah, but I'm happy to be sharing it here. She hasn't been banned for life from the stadium.
00:20:26
So it seems that her journal went unread. Stay sexy and don't lose your therapy journal.
00:20:31
A. I mean, thank God those other stories were in there. So by the time they get to that story,
00:20:36
they're like, oh, wait, hold on. It's fine. It's fine. It's fine. It's just somebody trying to
00:20:40
work through some stuff. Or we're like, they're like, this person's a psychotic murderer or something who loses their dog constantly. I really wanted it to be that it
00:20:49
was like somebody gets hit in the head with a puck and then they get hit in the head with a puck.
00:20:53
But that's going to go in my journal. Yeah, that's yours. Yeah, that's for yours. And then
00:20:59
we'll do a dramatic reading. That's right. While the world watches the stars at the FIFA World Cup
00:21:05
this summer, Hyundai has its eyes on the next generation of talent. The future soccer stars
00:21:09
who are already turning heads at age 14. Making plays that end up on everyone's feed, scoring
00:21:14
from angles that don't make sense, rewriting record books that barely had time to gather dust.
00:21:19
Because Next doesn't wait for an invitation and Hyundai doesn't either. Hyundai has always moved
00:21:23
the future within reach. Hyundai did it by making advanced safety standard on every vehicle. Hyundai
00:21:28
did it by engineering EVs with ultra-fast charging capability. And Hyundai continues doing it every
00:21:34
day. From robotics that change how people live to young athletes changing the game, the future isn't
00:21:39
some far-off concept. It's already here. Next starts now. Hyundai, an official partner of FIFA.
00:21:44
Goodbye. Peace of mind can be hard to come by. Especially at 2 a.m. when your house suddenly
00:21:50
makes a weird noise. That's why so many people trust SimpliSafe to help keep their home secure.
00:21:55
Traditional home security only alerts you after a break-in has already happened, and that's too late.
00:21:59
SimpliSafe is changing that. The system is customizable so you can build the one that fits your home and your specific needs.
00:22:06
A 24-7 professional monitoring is effective and affordable and won't lock you into a long-term contract.
00:22:12
Listen, Cookie is a really good watchdog, but she's not going to tell me what is actually going on,
00:22:16
if it's a raccoon or if it's a person looking through my windows. You have to get this level of safety if you want to feel as safe as possible.
00:22:25
So you know what's going on. So I just feel safer with actually having something like SimpliSafe around.
00:22:29
There's a whole staff at SimpliSafe that's waiting to talk to you and help you out and
00:22:33
tell you, no, you're fine. It's a raccoon. Right now, you can get 50% off your new system by visiting simplisafe.com slash MFM.
00:22:40
That's half off at simplisafe.com slash MFM. There's no safe like SimpliSafe. Goodbye.
00:22:47
If there's one thing to know about traveling with dogs, it's that they can't eat like you
00:22:51
do on vacation. Luckily, Just Food for Dogs makes it easy to feed your dog a healthy meal no matter where you are.
00:22:57
That's what makes Just Fresh from Just Food for Dogs so great. It's real fresh dog food made with human-grade ingredients,
00:23:03
but it's shelf-stable so you don't need a freezer. I only want to feed my dogs Just Food for Dogs because it's human-grade.
00:23:10
This is great for people who go out of town with their dog, but for people who go out of town without their dog, this is also just like easy.
00:23:16
You can put it in the Tupperware. They Just Feed the dog. No fuss. It's a real solution.
00:23:22
So go to justfoodfordogs.com and get 50% off your first order. Goodbye. Okay, here's my last one.
00:23:31
Hi, Karen in Georgia, my sweet, sweet angels, as I call my nearly adult age high school students daily, thanks to both of you.
00:23:39
Sweet, sweet angels. I've been a listener since I was in my master's program for teaching in 2016.
00:23:44
I'm now in my ninth year of my career as a high school teacher. you've been with me
00:23:48
through so much including starting me on the therapy journey that has so deeply improved my life
00:23:53
and engagement and wedding and now my husband and I are expecting our first baby
00:23:57
who we planned a lot ready for and are so excited about. Backstory to this story, since becoming an empty nester,
00:24:05
my dad has gotten very into whiskey. He's collected hundreds of bottles, read books about
00:24:10
the distilling process, curated tastings for his friends and for us, and generally has loved making
00:24:15
it his new hobby and thing to learn about. He's gotten our whole family involved, and because of
00:24:20
this, my husband and I decided to announce our pregnancy by getting each family member a bottle
00:24:25
For my dad, old granddad. For my mom, McLaughlin's grandma's rocking chair. For my brother, uncle nearest.
00:24:32
They were so stoked when they figured out the surprise, and it was such a fun way to share the news.
00:24:37
That's so cute. Brilliant. Before we even said we were pregnant, my mom and dad had loved to throw around ideas for their grandparent names.
00:24:45
Like they would be Nana and Papa, etc. But nothing had stuck for my dad yet. You know what's coming?
00:24:50
I'm going to cry. You should cry. Go ahead. But later that same evening, I brought up to my dad that he would like listening to your episode on the Pappy Gate bourbon heist since it was right up his alley.
00:25:01
When I said that, his eyes got huge. He looked at us so excited and said, that's it.
00:25:06
I'm going to be Pappy. Come on. Stop. We named a grandpa. Oh, my God. He has been so excited ever since, talking about how perfect it is and how he can't wait to be Pappy to his future grandkid.
00:25:20
He also wants to buy a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle's to celebrate, but I think the price tag might give my mom a conniption.
00:25:27
So thank you, MFM, for picking my dad's name for his next phase of life and for being with me through so many of mine.
00:25:33
And thank you both for always advocating for public school teachers. It's rough out here, but your work truly does.
00:25:40
Now I'm fucking crying. Oh my God, stop with this. But your work truly does make it better A She her God My nephews my sister kids call their other grandparents
00:25:54
Their nicknames are Pops and Honey. Is that the cutest? That's very cute. Or it's actually Honey and Pops is how we say it.
00:26:00
Okay. This is called The Reverse Kidnapping. The dog adoption story. So don't freak out.
00:26:04
Hello, my favorite murderinos. The story of the almost kidnapping of Axel the dog reminded me that my family has a story.
00:26:11
I think they almost stole it from their neighbors. Oh, like they thought it was a stray dog and actually they were stealing someone's dog.
00:26:18
Yes, yes. It reminded me that my family has a story of the opposite situation. We got our dog through reverse kidnapping.
00:26:25
Let me explain. There's a greyhound rescue where we have gotten all of our family dogs.
00:26:29
The founder had a knack for placing the right dog with the right family. I love that.
00:26:33
And was deeply dedicated to her rescue work. They once got a group of greyhounds rescued from a track in Guam that had been shut down.
00:26:41
Since the dogs were international, they needed to be quarantined temporarily. Our previous dog, Maggie, had died some years before, so they knew we were dogless and reached
00:26:49
out to see if we were interested in fostering a dog just for the summer until his quarantine
00:26:54
period was up. We said yes, and they sent the sweetest boy named Dimitri. And then it says, yes, I've included pictures.
00:27:01
As the summer grew to a close, my parents reached out to the rescue to ask when we should
00:27:05
bring him back. The response was something like, oh, soon for sure. We'll let you know when it's time.
00:27:11
Soon after this, my sister and I noticed Dimitri was listed as adopted on the website.
00:27:16
Strange, since he was still with us and we'd received no notification that he'd been adopted.
00:27:20
Naturally, my sister and I did not tell our parents about this new development because we loved Dimitri and were hoping to keep him.
00:27:26
Sure enough when my parents checked in with the rescue a bit later they got another oh yeah we can take him back soon just not quite yet By then I think we had him for at least six months At one point my mom was texting me about something cute he done and said I think I love him Jackpot
00:27:43
Eventually, one of my mom's friends who was looking for a dog checked the website and told her, Renee, it says he's been adopted.
00:27:49
At that point, our parents accepted that he was just our dog now. He fit in so well with the family, and we all loved him dearly, so none of us were upset about the reverse kidnapping situation.
00:28:00
I don't even think that's technically a crime. Instead of taking a family member away, the shelter gave us a new one.
00:28:06
I like to think the founder knew it was time for us to get a new four-legged friend and had the perfect guy for the role who brought us so much laughter, joy, and love.
00:28:15
Dimitri lived with us for eight years before passing away in 2020, surrounded by his family in the backyard of the animal hospital, lying in the grass in the sunshine, just like he loved to do.
00:28:26
Oh, cookie loves the sun. Dimitri. Dimitri, SSTGM, and when fate or determined rescue brings a dog into your life, accept the blessing.
00:28:36
Much love, Amanda. Dimitri, I love an Italian greyhound. Like, if you ever get a chance to own a greyhound, just do it.
00:28:44
The way they trot around. Yeah. Like, they're so supernatural. They're like a little doe.
00:28:49
Yeah. And they love to be held. They're all like, they don't want to walk or do anything.
00:28:54
No, and they want to wear sweaters. Like, what more do you want out of a pet? It is so genius of a dog dress you to be like, oh, yeah, it's almost over.
00:29:00
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Real quick. Hey, we know you have a dog right now. Can you just keep an eye?
00:29:04
Like as if anyone ever like let a dog go. I know. For six months. Nice move. Yeah.
00:29:09
All right. Send us any story you want. I mean, you guys are doing great. Yeah. Thank you for listening.
00:29:14
And stay sexy. And don't get murdered. Goodbye. Elvis, do you want a cookie? Ah.
00:29:26
This has been an Exactly Right production Our senior producer is Molly Smith and our associate producer is Tessa Hughes Our editor is Aristotle Acevedo
00:29:33
This episode was mixed by Liana Squalachi. Email your hometowns to myfavoritemurder at gmail.com.
00:29:38
Follow the show on Instagram at myfavoritemurder. Listen to My Favorite Murder on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:29:46
Goodbye! Cheap Caribbean Summer Savings Event is here. Right now, get $100 instant savings on vacation packages to Cancun, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic.
00:30:01
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00:30:11
Goodbye. This episode is brought to you in part by Vital Farms. Have you noticed that the egg section at the grocery store has gotten very complicated lately?
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But Vital Farms makes it simple. pasture-raised eggs traceable to the farm. Their hens have outdoor access year-round with fresh air
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Vital Farms, good eggs, no shortcuts. Goodbye. Bye. Hey, everyone. It's Cal Penn.
00:30:48
I'm inviting you to join the best sounding book club you've ever heard with my podcast,
00:30:52
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get your podcasts. you

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 85
    Most heartwarming
  • 80
    Most shocking
  • 75
    Most emotional
  • 75
    Most chaotic

Episode Highlights

  • My Dad's Close Call with Gacy
    Kristen shares her father's terrifying encounter with a hitchhiker who turned out to be John Wayne Gacy.
    “My dad panicked, knocked his arm off...”
    @ 03m 38s
    February 02, 2026
  • Terrorist Attack Journal Mishap
    A sister's therapy journal detailing a terrorist attack plan goes missing at a hockey game.
    “She lost her journal containing all caps, detailed diagrams...”
    @ 19m 45s
    February 02, 2026
  • Hyundai's Vision for the Future
    Hyundai makes advanced safety standard on every vehicle, bringing the future within reach.
    “The future isn't some far-off concept. It's already here.”
    @ 21m 34s
    February 02, 2026
  • SimpliSafe's Home Security Revolution
    SimpliSafe offers customizable, affordable security solutions that keep you informed and safe.
    “There's no safe like SimpliSafe.”
    @ 22m 43s
    February 02, 2026
  • A Unique Pregnancy Announcement
    A creative way to announce a pregnancy using whiskey bottles for family members.
    “We named a grandpa.”
    @ 25m 10s
    February 02, 2026
  • The Reverse Kidnapping Story
    A family's heartwarming tale of adopting a dog through a 'reverse kidnapping' situation.
    “I like to think the founder knew it was time for us to get a new four-legged friend.”
    @ 28m 06s
    February 02, 2026

Episode Quotes

  • Oh, my God.
    MFM Minisode 473
  • Wow.
    MFM Minisode 473
  • The future isn't some far-off concept. It's already here.
    MFM Minisode 473
  • There's no safe like SimpliSafe.
    MFM Minisode 473
  • That's so cute.
    MFM Minisode 473
  • We named a grandpa.
    MFM Minisode 473

Key Moments

  • Intense Encounter03:38
  • Terrorist Journal19:45
  • Future is Here21:34
  • Home Security22:43
  • Pregnancy Announcement25:10
  • Reverse Kidnapping28:06

Tension Over Time

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown