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508 - Live at Paramount Theatre (Oakland Night 2)

November 27, 2025 /

This episode features a live performance by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, hosts of My Favorite Murder. They discuss the disappearance and suspicious death of Edith Irene Wolfskill, a wealthy heiress who vanished in 1929. The episode also includes humorous anecdotes from their day in the Bay Area, including vintage shopping and local pubs.

During the live show, Karen and Georgia recount their experiences in San Francisco, including visits to vintage shops and a pub called Mad Dog in the Fog. They share funny moments, such as Georgia's gum-chewing trick and their plans to move to San Francisco.

The main story focuses on Edith Irene Wolfskill, who was known for her eccentric behavior and wealthy background. After her disappearance, a search ensued, leading to the discovery of her body weeks later in a creek bed, raising questions about foul play.

Key sources for the story include local news reports from the San Francisco Chronicle and the Oakland Tribune. The hosts discuss the mystery surrounding Edith's death, including the strange circumstances of her body being found in an area that had been previously searched.

Throughout the episode, the hosts engage with the audience, sharing laughs and personal stories, making for an entertaining and informative live podcast experience.

TLDR

Karen and Georgia discuss the mysterious death of heiress Edith Wolfskill during a live show in the Bay Area.

Episode

1:34:13
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Music Music Music Music Music Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
00:02:27
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. What's up, Oakland? Wow. Yeah. Hell yes.
00:03:07
That was the most. That was the most. You guys won. Yeah. Holy shit. Yeah. Someone has a sign that said,
00:03:15
I washed my bangs in the sink for this. Thank you. Oh, my God. Honored. Good job.
00:03:21
Good job. Thank you, this side of the audience, for letting me yell at you. What a way to start.
00:03:28
What a way to start. Oh, it's foggy in here. We definitely are going to have serious ear canal damage after this tour.
00:03:36
It's so funny. We really appreciate it. We do. We do. We love clapping and screaming.
00:03:42
At us. Did you just put your gum out right before we started? I had it still in my mouth.
00:03:48
That's my old trick. It's my old show business trick. We were about to come out and Karen was like, oh, fuck, I should probably get this gum out of my mouth.
00:03:55
I was like fully chewing gum right on the edge of the stage. Very unprofessional.
00:04:02
Georgia, what did you do today in the Bay Area? Okay. Thank you. Yes. I went vintage shopping.
00:04:09
Yes. Of course. Hate. Upper hate. Is that right? Is the place to be. I went to a place called Relic.
00:04:17
That was amazing. And I walked in there, and I don't dress like this in my day-to-day.
00:04:24
No? So I walk in, and they're like, oh, let's not let this girl try anything on.
00:04:28
And someone followed right behind you the whole time you shopped? Yes. Good. But then, you know, it went fine when I was, like, I was, I don't know, normal, I guess.
00:04:37
Yeah, you acted normal. I acted normal. Good, good. So that place was amazing. We went to a couple other places.
00:04:41
We went to a pub. Do you remember the name? It was, Vince, what was it? It was something funky.
00:04:54
Mad Dog. Mad Dog? Mad Dog. It was called Mad Dog. Oh, the Mad Dog in the Fog. The Mad Dog in the Fog.
00:05:01
Yes. I've fallen down there many a time. Yes. And they were doing the best thing because, you know, like, when you scroll all day and
00:05:10
you hear, you know snippets of songs, like five seconds of songs by heart, and then suddenly
00:05:15
the real like song starts playing you're like holy shit and they were just kept playing fucking
00:05:20
like instagram songs with the whole thing and i was singing along and like mouthing them to vince and being really annoying yes yeah at the mad dog in the fog yeah and then
00:05:31
we on the ride home we decided we're gonna move to san francisco uh-huh yes but she does this a lot she does this a lot it was sunny and we were day drunk so
00:05:44
I mean, the life in this town. Truly. The life in this town. What'd you do today?
00:05:49
Well, I'm shocked that the upper, I just am trying to still process the upper hate
00:05:54
coming all the way around let see I left in 94 So it back baby It fucking cool now you guys It is It only took 35 years or whatever
00:06:06
It was a little gnarly when I lived here, for sure. Yeah. But it's hit. It's the place to be.
00:06:12
Yeah. And is there a banana republic? That shit's gone. I didn't see any of that shit.
00:06:19
Capitalism. Are the rich kids from Marin still pretending they're punks and sitting on the street asking
00:06:24
you for money, which literally was like so. Karen's inciting a ride. I don't give a shit, man.
00:06:33
I had two full-time jobs when I lived in the Upper Haight. I had to pay for that broom closet of a room I lived in.
00:06:40
And those kids would be like, hey, can I have a dollar? And I'd be like, no. And they'd get up and get into a sob and drive away and just be like, shit.
00:06:49
Must be nice. Look at you now. Look at me having the last laugh. Thank you. There's one person sitting in the audience crying.
00:06:59
That was me. I'm from Marin. This deeply hurts me and my rich feelings. And what did you do today?
00:07:11
Well, we went into the ferry building. That's right. And we looked around. All I wanted was a turkey sandwich.
00:07:17
You cannot get one there. You can't. You can have a muffalada muffalada if you want to.
00:07:23
You can have your own whole charcuterie board built custom. Wow. But they won't serve turkey.
00:07:30
They just refuse. You can't just get a fucking, can a bitch get a fucking turkey sandwich?
00:07:35
Can a bitch get a turkey sandwich. But we did, there's a really good store with some new things and some old things.
00:07:45
Oh. Right? Oh. That's for the people who don't want to go thrift store shopping.
00:07:50
You do it for me. You got me some Kit Kats from Japan. Oh, I did. There was a candy store because if there is a candy store that in any way has set up some
00:08:02
plexiglass containers with scoops, I'm in there with my plastic bag. It's as if I think I have to support this mom and pop business.
00:08:11
I don't care if it's full on a corporation. I don't care. But I was going in there like, you don't need that.
00:08:18
You don't need that. And then they had this little bag that said assorted Kit Kats from Japan.
00:08:23
And I was like, well, I have to get that for Georgia. Yeah. So I did. I didn't get you anything.
00:08:29
It's okay. I'm sorry. But you know what I did get? What? Okay. So you know how I have a nervous nose and I'm just constantly blowing my nose.
00:08:36
Like there's tissue back here for me. It's really embarrassing. And today when I was at Relic, they had these for sale.
00:08:43
And I'm like, that looks way classier than a fucking nasty ass tissue. that and a monocle and you're all set
00:08:50
what I was going to say is you can have it no thank you no thank you oh and okay so when we got back to the hotel
00:08:59
after drinking during the day we saw these people getting out of like a cab clearly from the airport
00:09:05
and they were like unloading their bags and this chick had a fucking cooler for her room
00:09:10
and I was like that's the most insanely brilliant thing I've ever seen yeah I love her
00:09:15
and then she goes Georgia like a push her murderino you're like yep Kendra where's Kendra
00:09:21
yes Kendra fucking right in front yes Kendra thank you for your service appreciate you
00:09:32
she's like I'm so shit faced I don't know where I am right now I hope this is good but it won't matter
00:09:38
because I'll be asleep in 15 minutes me too speaking of this is my favorite murder of the podcast
00:09:47
that's right that's Georgia Hartstark that's Karen Kilgariff and you Oakland are here for us once again
00:10:00
thank you so much for waiting six years for us we genuinely appreciate it it's very exciting to be here with you again
00:10:08
I was in my 30s last time we toured and now I'm having hot flashes on stage. So, it's cool.
00:10:15
The last time we played here, my niece Nora did a little cartwheel on stage. You may have been here and saw it.
00:10:22
She was nine. I thought it would be funny if she came and did it again. She did it, she did it, she didn't.
00:10:28
Because she just started college. So think about how much closer to death you are now.
00:10:38
That's what I'm thinking about. how did that time pass that like that no time it's just flat time no no it's a circle it's a
00:10:47
circle it's a circle that's right yeah I always forget which way that goes it's a flat circle
00:10:52
yes like a pizza um what else should we sit oh no what are you wearing oh um wait did you do your
00:11:01
walk or you just talked about it no I just talked about going vintage shopping oh okay so you go
00:11:07
I'll go because I don't have pockets and look, I'm really sorry. I know. You can leave now if you want to.
00:11:14
Or someone should take that person out because it means too much to you. I got this dress in Spain.
00:11:23
That's right. I've been to Europe, Kendra. I've been to Europe. No brag. No brag.
00:11:31
I forgot that there's ushers here that are like, what the fuck is this? I always forget that.
00:11:37
I'm so sorry. Why are they screaming about pockets? It doesn't make sense. They're literally mad.
00:11:42
There's no pockets. And do you want to give your dress a little spin? OK, last night I realized that this is my...
00:11:47
Karen just did this beautiful walk, this model walk. Just now? Yeah, my pose of like, look what I'm wearing is this.
00:11:57
Because I don know what to do but anyways T T but tonight I remembered my bra last night I did not remember my bra so it a it a win yeah for every you guys are getting the full
00:12:10
foundation garment show this is going to be incredible watch the difference if you were
00:12:15
here last night spot the difference tonight it's going to change full cup size it's so crazy your
00:12:21
performance is going to be incredible. It's going to be real perky. Yeah. Oh, can we talk about this
00:12:28
backstage slippers? Yes. So we've been, we have this like new tour manager who's not my husband.
00:12:36
And for the past couple, like, like he's not for the past couple cities, I've been like, oh my God,
00:12:43
slippers in our, in our dressing rooms. I've been so excited. I love slippers. I can't go
00:12:47
barefoot I hate shoes slippers yay but then last night Karen was like oh those slippers are cute
00:12:52
and I'm like well you have a pair too and I just thought someone was leaving their shoes in my
00:12:57
dressing room so I was like oh that's creepy oh no someone whoever was here before I guess that's
00:13:04
just what they're doing I mean is it weird that I automatically was like these are mine now
00:13:09
but then you were saying we were We were in Boston. Just take your time. We were saying that they filmed us when we were in Boston.
00:13:22
Yeah, we were doing a secret filming thing that we can't really talk about, but it's very exciting.
00:13:27
You'll see, or you won't. Or you won't. You know how show business is. It could not happen.
00:13:32
But Georgia's had her slippers on, not realizing it. So she's like, she had a pair of slippers that said, let's go, girls.
00:13:38
with like a happy face with a cowgirl hat on. And it said, let's go girls. And I realized that the filming people were filming my slippers
00:13:45
as if I picked them out and that's my personality. It is her personality. It is her personality.
00:13:50
Are you fucking kidding me? Hold on a second. Okay, what? I just need, and I hope I'm right about this.
00:13:56
I think I just spotted a hot dog on a stick employee in the audience. What? Could you stand up, please?
00:14:04
Oh my God, stand your ass. Would you please? Yeah. Yeah, girl. Yes Hold on please
00:14:12
Karen never says nice things about people in the audience So this is like Huge Now I will because
00:14:19
Is that a real uniform from Hot Dog on a Stick? It is Did you work there? She worked at Saramani Hillsdale
00:14:29
And fucking Stones Town Do you understand? I'm sorry Are you a regional manager of Hot Dog on a Stick?
00:14:37
Like, you must be good if they're sending you around to different malls. Say again.
00:14:45
Desperate. They were desperate. Do you know that, and sorry to waylay this, but my first seven minutes of stand-up comedy was about the girls that work at Hot Dog on a Stick.
00:14:57
Did you know that? And how you guys used to have to squeeze the lemonade in your hot pants with your erectile hats.
00:15:07
Does it? It's still good, right? I mean, she had to have stolen that outfit, right?
00:15:13
Hell yes. Because you don't get to go home with that. You didn't have to pay them 75 bucks for that, did you?
00:15:19
No, you just straight up stole it. Worth it. What's your name? Gina. Gina, welcome to this show.
00:15:26
Thank you so much. You've done it. Gina's done it. I love that. I love that your eyes were just like, you can't see anything, but then you were like,
00:15:35
hot dog on a... Excuse me. Someone from my old bit is here. I need to interview her.
00:15:43
I think I saw you do that bit in like 2001. No! At Largo, yes. No. I swear to God.
00:15:49
Isn't that crazy? Little baby Georgia was in the audience? Look at us now. I was up there like, I'm on speed and I have points to make.
00:15:59
Should we? Yeah, let's stop doing this. Let's stop doing this. Okay. Last night my feet were weird and I was just really aware of where my feet were the whole time.
00:16:13
Where'd you put them? I don't know. This was in the way and so I couldn't do it like that.
00:16:19
I also just realized I forgot to put lotion on my legs so I'm really chalky and gross.
00:16:23
So that's fine. If anyone has lotion, you please pass it up. That'd be great. If it was self-tanner, that'd be even better.
00:16:31
For a nice kind of a nylon look. Still need the... You gotta have them. I actually am doing kind of a, in my seat, I was doing kind of a side saddle, lady chatterly kind of thing over here.
00:16:42
I was just like, because it's so, you know, uncomfortable. I laughed, but I don't know what that means.
00:16:48
It's a literary reference about a dirty old book. Ew, I don't even read. Oh, really?
00:16:57
Oh, want to tell them why they're here? What they're doing? I know. What's fucking happening?
00:17:02
This is My Favorite Murder. It's a true crime comedy podcast. Thank you. Some people don't like that combination.
00:17:12
We understand. So to explain, we like to say that Georgia and I cope with our lifelong trauma through the use of humor.
00:17:21
That's how a lot of us like to do it. We do not think murder is funny. We just think we're funny.
00:17:26
And so we also became obsessed with true crime at a much too young of an age. And so when we met each other, all of those things collided and we're like, we got to talk about this.
00:17:38
And I've never done this part before. No, I love it. Keep going. Do it. Go, go, man.
00:17:45
I fucking love it. Here's our two-woman show. I'm writing it as we speak. Anyhow, let's see.
00:17:54
Where my line We think we funny We think we funny Oh and there a lot of people that get dragged to this show against their will by their partners That guy has a drag shirt on Oh he actually has merch to say He a drag
00:18:07
People don't know what the inside jokes are, and they don't care, and they don't like it,
00:18:11
but they love their partner, and that's a beautiful thing. So anyway, if you find that you don't like anything that's going on tonight,
00:18:19
we invite you to get the fuck out. Fun. Except for the security guards. Except for, please don't go.
00:18:28
Please don't leave. Please don't go. It's real weird here. We'll try to, we'll work on it.
00:18:32
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Restrictions apply. See the website for full terms and conditions. You're first.
00:20:37
I'm first. It's really scary. Last night, I told a story about a ghost blimp. And that was like the easiest story I've ever told in my life.
00:20:46
It was like, this has no stakes. Right. I mean, except for that they disappeared.
00:20:50
But tonight is not that. Right. You're going to get serious. They like it. Okay.
00:20:56
Well, Marcus, our tour manager who took Vince's place, wrote G-Dog on my script.
00:21:05
So I know it's mine. Thank you, Marcus. Okay. All right. Well, listen. Today's story is about the eerie disappearance and suspicious death of a wealthy but troubled
00:21:19
heiress who went out for a morning walk in 1929 and never made it home. Ooh. This is a story of the disappearance of Edith Irene Wolfskill.
00:21:30
Okay. Thank you. Is she your great auntie? Thank you. You just said that, like, thank you so much.
00:21:41
No one's clapping. The main sources I used for this story are local news reports by Bay Area publications such as the San Francisco Chronicle.
00:21:53
Hooray. You love it. The Oakland Tribune. Hey. And the Sacramento Bee. I think Sacramento's like represented.
00:22:05
Yeah. Hey. After all I've done to you, what a beautiful thing. Thank you so much.
00:22:14
I'm getting hot. Okay. The rest of the sources can be found someday in our show notes.
00:22:21
In the future show notes. If they ever exist. This might be one of those shows that just never sees the light of day.
00:22:27
Yeah. Like, what would happen? Like, what could happen that it would never be? It all becomes word of mouth.
00:22:33
Okay. So to understand this woman, Edith Irene Wolfskill, you have to know that she comes from one of California's wealthiest families.
00:22:42
Her grandfather and his brother had been from the Midwest, and they were among the earliest white settlers in California, first near L.A. and then in the Sacramento Valley.
00:22:53
And Edith's grandfather, Mathis, not Mateus, Mathis. Mathis? Yeah. Let me see. Yeah.
00:23:02
Yep. They did the thing where, like, you know, there are all these, like, people who are like, I'm going to hit gold in California.
00:23:10
Gold miners? Yep. Yeah. And, like, those people, like, it didn't go great. But then other people were like, I'm going to sell shit to the people trying to find gold.
00:23:19
And they got fucking wealthy. Like, that's what happened to them. So they basically became ranchers, cattles, like, crops, all this stuff.
00:23:28
And ultimately, they wind up richer than most of the miners. Can I? Yeah. Just one thing. It's cattle.
00:23:35
What did I say? Cattles. Cattles. I did. Last night was Chia Pino. Just a little crab Chia Pino for everybody.
00:23:50
It sounds right. I really don't want to do it, but I know it's sometimes fun and you do enjoy it.
00:23:56
I love it. I don't care. Okay, okay. If I cared, I wouldn't have... Be on stage in front of a bunch of fucking people.
00:24:02
We can do this. It's going to happen. I do love that the plural of cattle is cattle.
00:24:06
You said cattle? Yeah. Wow. We just threw a little S on there for spice. So Mathis' brother, Eva's great uncle, William, becomes even wealthier.
00:24:16
He gets into grapes and then wine, and his massive ranch will become the ritzy neighborhood
00:24:22
of Holmby Hills, Westwood, and Bel Air over in our neck of the woods. between you can feel that they're withholding booze yeah we're we're moving here so it's fine
00:24:36
yeah you're fine i'm from here um so basically they end up getting enough land to stretch over
00:24:41
thousands of acres of vineyards vineyards orch or orchards sorry you know what orchards yeah you
00:24:51
got it you nailed it just don't overthink it i i know put too much of a spotlight i'm really like
00:24:57
It's like, can you get a hot flash by getting, like, bring on your own hot flash?
00:25:02
Sure. Okay. Yeah. That's Munchausen's wife hot flash. So stupid. So basically that makes them two of the wealthiest men in the state.
00:25:14
So congratulations to them. To those guys. Yeah. So by the time Edith is born in San Francisco in 1872, she already has two older brothers.
00:25:22
following in Grandpa Mathis' footsteps, Edith's father, John Wolfskill, is a prominent rancher,
00:25:30
and he's training his sons, Matthew and Ney, to follow suit. Ney, like what the horse says?
00:25:36
N-E-Y. Ney. That's rude. Ney. Yeah. Here's a picture of the grandfather. Oh. Or the father.
00:25:46
That's the father, Edith's father. Got it? John Wolfskill. Pioneer. Pioneer of the Sacramento Valley.
00:25:52
If anyone here can do anything about bringing those sideburns back, it would be great.
00:25:59
I'd really appreciate it. You know what I love about this? Like, he's younger than us in this photo.
00:26:04
Like, that's absolutely younger than us. He has no idea that Korean skincare is coming down the pipe for all of us.
00:26:12
He's out in the sun, baking his face. Okay. So that's him. But then they have a girl.
00:26:20
Her name is Edith. and she's highly privileged. She's sent away from the home immediately
00:26:25
as soon as she's old enough to attend finishing school in Europe. As you do. In Paris, France, Europe?
00:26:34
The sole daughter of John and his wife, Susan Wolfskill, Edith is described as beautiful with brown hair.
00:26:42
And okay, I don't think this fucking exists in real life. I only ever see this in fiction.
00:26:48
Cool gray eyes. Grey, have you ever seen a person with grey eyes before? That's not a fucking thing.
00:26:55
Like, go to the doctor. Something's wrong. That's when your eyes are about to fail.
00:27:01
Exactly. It's the last colour before your eyes go off. I don't buy it. Completely.
00:27:06
Let me shut off. I don't buy that scam. Okay, they're grey, your grey eyes. Sure.
00:27:13
Congratulations. Being a society girl, She's written about in the papers as, quote, one of California's prized beauties, her delicate pink white skin and wide eyes, her long rich brown hair and fascinating form, a.k.a. she's stacked.
00:27:32
Yeah, baby. Fascinating. Made her the darling of the state's aristocracy. God damn it.
00:27:41
That was a good one. Say it. Aristocracy? Thank you. I had this backstage. No, you practiced so many times.
00:27:49
I was trying to hit that stacked line joke. Yeah, you got it. And I did. Then everything else went to shit.
00:28:00
I think we have a picture of her. Let's take a look. Well, there's a vague... Fascinating.
00:28:06
There's a vague thing of her. No wonder. They're just like, okay, can you turn around?
00:28:16
We just need to get that ass. No, no, you're not going to look over here. She had a big zit on that side of her face.
00:28:22
I've been there. She's like, it's a new thing. I'm going to look at the back wall.
00:28:27
Concentrate on my ass. It's fascinating. But as lovely and wealthy as she may be,
00:28:35
Edith is different when she returns to California from Europe in the late 1800s.
00:28:40
So what the fuck? Beret smoking. Fake accent. that let's pretend she's starting back peculiar and it's worrying her family
00:28:49
unfortunately religious is one of those things yeah not you know what i mean um don't be mad at me i don't think they're here
00:28:59
but you guys should have seen we were in salt lake city like they woohooed at mormonism like
00:29:06
really fucking a lot of people were like really okay the cool mormonism yeah they get botox
00:29:14
That's right. They have their own Real Housewives series. They're solid. It's all anyone wants.
00:29:21
It seems that Edith becomes so obsessed with religion that she kneels in the streets of San Francisco
00:29:27
and prays loudly. Dirty. Yeah. She means the street, not Edith. Oh, yeah. So dirty.
00:29:36
Shouting scripture at her neighbors out of nowhere. Rich people love that. That's right.
00:29:43
I love it. She frequently announces herself to be the empress of the world, which, fucking amen.
00:29:49
I mean, I love it. In a world... By her late 20s Edith doesn seem to have any suitors or marriage prospects but it seems like her family great because she very wealthy and they don want to just marry her off to someone who will take advantage of her
00:30:07
Right, because she's the empress of the world. Right. That's hard to match. Yeah.
00:30:12
Excuse me. God damn it. You can't be perfect. You have to have one thing wrong with you sometimes.
00:30:20
You can't have great feet like these and fucking not... You know? This is why we podcast.
00:30:29
He had to leave. Yeah. Okay. He's like, I can't do this anymore. I don't want to do this anymore.
00:30:36
Okay. So her family is so rich and involved that everyone knows it's the wolf skill heiress
00:30:42
who's freaking out in public, essentially. So, like, you know, they're very protective of her, it seems like.
00:30:49
And they commit her to California General Hospital in hopes that she can be, quote, fixed.
00:30:54
those are my quotes they didn't say that okay um by dr william chapman ralston jr who i bet your
00:31:02
mom has talked about yeah every night at dinner story after story of dr william ralston jr wow
00:31:09
so on two occasions occasions she wanders from inpatient facilities in belmont belmont in san
00:31:17
francisco and just kind of like wanders away but luckily both times she's found unharmed
00:31:21
At the hospital, she's medicated and supervised until she's allowed to return home to the family ranch in Fairfield.
00:31:29
Nobody. No one likes the nut tree? Okay. You're fools. Which is about 50 miles away, in case you needed directions.
00:31:43
And out in the country, she likes to take daily hikes through the hilly trails. It's not a bunch of suburban little boxes at the time.
00:31:50
It's like beautiful and nice. Edith lives in a white farmhouse with gingerbread trim and a wraparound porch.
00:31:57
It's idyllic. It's nestled among her family's vineyards and peach orchards. God damn it.
00:32:02
Why can't I do that one? You've always been orchard. Orchard. Yeah. Although a peach orchard would be gorgeous.
00:32:10
I'm actively trying to not kill an orchard right now at home. So that might be the problem.
00:32:16
Don't overwater it. Okay. I'm not going to tell you what I saw on Instagram and how to make it work.
00:32:21
That you take it all apart and pull the roots out? Yeah, don't do that. I did it.
00:32:27
Did it work? It's fucking working. No. For the first time in my life, I've seen an orchid bud.
00:32:33
I've never seen a bud before. They always just die. No, thank you. No, you're right.
00:32:38
Thank you. You guys will fucking clap for anything. That's crazy. A plant bloomed and she gets credit.
00:32:46
I don't think so. I didn't kill a plant. Yay! But actually, it is amazing because I watched someone do that also on TikTok.
00:32:55
Did you see that video? And I was like, should I? Because I also have an orchid that I'm trying not to kill.
00:32:59
And I was like, I'm going to do this. I can't risk it. And it was like a whole thing.
00:33:02
And I was like, I wouldn't risk it. It's going to die anyways. No, it's not. All right.
00:33:10
Well, at least you get those little hair clips out of it. You know? To make this into a positive.
00:33:16
Yeah. Those cute little 90s. They go right into the hair. Butterfly clips. That's right.
00:33:21
Okay. So she's living this nice life with peaches, and she loves to go on long walks in the countryside,
00:33:29
and she becomes kind of famous around town for these wandering walks because a woman wandering on her own, oh, my God.
00:33:35
What the fuck? She must be wealthy. She must be the empress of the world. Yeah. And a Fresno Bee reporter writes that Edith is known by locals.
00:33:45
Hey. Yeah. to be a, quote, powerful hiker, and her tall, wiry figure was frequently seen swinging down the hill trails.
00:33:55
What are you... swinging? I don't know. Is that Bigfoot? Look at that large person.
00:34:01
It's, like, kind of insulting. Neighbors view Edith as a little unpredictable, but ultimately harmless,
00:34:08
and she might mutter to herself a lot, but they mostly see her standing on hilltops,
00:34:12
cupping her hands around her face to see into the distance better. I don't know.
00:34:19
Like a where's Waldo kind of thing. I wonder what she was looking for. She sounds cool.
00:34:29
She sounds like she'd be here if it was now. Yeah, for real, first of all. But also it's like, what was the problem?
00:34:36
She went to Europe. She got the Lord. She tried to talk about it. and everyone's like you're insane go to a sanitarium and then her family's like you don't
00:34:47
have to do that because we're rich here's a little house and you're out by yourself in a field i could
00:34:52
have you could have just done my whole story i'm so sorry but i'm yes you're right yes okay yeah
00:34:57
because it seems it's like leave her alone how about she doesn't have to wear 16 layers of silk
00:35:02
everywhere she goes and she won't mutter to herself all the time saying i'm so fucking hot
00:35:08
Oh my God. Jesus. This fucking bra. I need to get 14 ribs removed to put this corset on.
00:35:16
She's like, where are my rights? I can't even vote. Right? I was thinking of that the whole time.
00:35:25
That was great. I just killed two minutes so I could think of that joke. Okay. So things take a turn when Edith's father dies in 1913.
00:35:35
Edith is in her early 40s. and she and her brothers split his estate of $1.6 million in...
00:35:44
No, but that's in 1913 dollars. So, today... In today's money, $1.3 million would be somewhere...
00:35:51
6, 1.6. You're like, it's gonna matter. No no no I telling you It 1 not 1 Oh Yeah you still got this Oh I thought you okay You didn give it away Is it million No Is it close No
00:36:05
You want to go one more time? Sure. Higher or lower? Higher. Someone said higher.
00:36:09
Oh my God, I love this game show. Okay, then I'm going to say $17 million. Fuck, man.
00:36:16
$4.9.4 million. Wait, no. $49.4. $49.4. I'm so hot it's so hot up here how long did you stay
00:36:30
at Mad Dog in the Fog? I took a nap I swear to God I took a nap that's all that matters
00:36:37
49 million dollars yeah Jesus Christ so that's their the estate and the brothers
00:36:44
Matt and they no shock to anyone fucking hate each other like of course they do they're like fighting over
00:36:51
50 million fucking dollars Just like succession. That's right. And they're put in charge of their sister's care,
00:36:59
which of course is hard because they hate each other, but they actually really love their sister
00:37:03
and want to take care of her, so they're not total dicks. Good. And Matt and Nay clash violently
00:37:11
over control of the profits of that money and management of their ranch, particularly the orchards.
00:37:20
Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. I need it. I just need applause for anything. We all do.
00:37:30
Janet really withheld from me. Do what? That's why we're here, girl. That's why we're here.
00:37:37
We worked very hard to get applauded for the word orchard. You deserve it. But they basically put their differences apart long enough to make sure that their sister is safe
00:37:47
and under the supervision of a live-in nurse as her caretaker. and at the family ranch at least she can be taken care of and you know contained but also it seems
00:37:56
like they care about her here's a picture of something i don't remember what let's see
00:38:01
whatever it is put anything up you want you pick oh jesus christ okay that's i didn't mean to do
00:38:10
that okay don't worry about it million dollar mystery of the mad heiress thank you good looking
00:38:17
Was it too soon? No, but it also was too huge and it doesn't matter. I liked how big it was.
00:38:23
It felt like modern art, kind of. Like, do you see up close what you see far away?
00:38:29
Yeah. It's a dolphin. So on July 14th, 1929, a 57-year-old now, Edith, leaves the house around 7 a.m. for her regular morning walk.
00:38:41
It's a cool summer day, so she wears a light dress, maybe not all her silks. Yeah.
00:38:47
And her housekeeper plans to see her return in time for lunch. Remember, she's like famous for her strolls.
00:38:53
That's insulting. Walks. You know? Stroll. Hikes. Oh, you can't bring a stroll? Oh, she can only stroll.
00:39:00
Yeah. Oh, she's fucking walking. Like, let her live. Let her stride, even. But Edith isn't back by lunch, and she's nowhere to be found on the trails or in town.
00:39:11
And because her family is so prominent, the response to the nurse's call to the sheriff is, you know,
00:39:16
they're a friend of the family, it's pretty quick. And knowing that Evelyn's eccentric appearance may have attractive attention,
00:39:23
remember she's not wearing all her skirts. Oh, that's right. The sheriff suspects that someone who knew she was both vulnerable
00:39:29
and from a rich family might have kidnapped her. So the deputy is assigned to stay at the house
00:39:35
and keep watch for anyone who might drop off a ransom note. Like, that's her immediate suspicion.
00:39:40
But nobody ever comes with a ransom note. Hundreds of people descend on the ranch and case the grounds,
00:39:46
Edith was seen every single day. And there's just eerily no sign of her whatsoever.
00:39:53
Not on the ranch grounds. Man, Allie just really wanted to fuck with me by putting Orchard.
00:39:58
She really just keeps putting it in there. I'm not going to say that anymore. Did you ever go to Orchard Supply Hardware?
00:40:06
That could help you. Just think of that. Okay, thank you. I'll get you a nomadic aid that fixes this problem
00:40:14
by the time this story's over. Appreciate you. Yeah. So basically they look everywhere.
00:40:19
They can't find her. Neighbors and local townspeople join the search. Dogs, horses,
00:40:24
everyone is looking for her because this is fair. What? Dogs and horses? Hey, man.
00:40:29
This way, Rusty. After you, lady. Like on their own accord. Yeah. This is weird.
00:40:36
Yeah. Nay. Remember Nay? Nay. Nay is out there. There's some joke there. the Los Angeles bank
00:40:45
where most of you this money is kept puts up a thousand dollar reward for information
00:40:49
leading to her being found do you want to or should we just fifty eight thousand dollars
00:40:53
eighteen it's fucking this is it's never satisfying it's never right and it's never satisfying
00:41:00
anyway I like it that's we saw the photo it's a big whole thing and this is this is the time
00:41:12
where Georgia kind of doesn't want to do her story anymore. You know, you saw that.
00:41:17
I don't like going first. I don't know why. It's tough. It is. You just got power through it.
00:41:30
What's really funny is you can always tell because my glass is always empty by the end of the show
00:41:34
and Karen's isn't. Like who gets nervous and who doesn't? Am I okay? All right. Thank you.
00:41:40
Thank you. So there's some tips. Someone says they spotted Edith in the town of Red Bluff,
00:41:48
which is more than 100 miles, nope, nobody, north of Edith's home. They trying to rep Red Bluff back there We love it in Red Bluff But like there always like wild goose shades tips and nothing comes to fruition And so basically with Edith having been missing a
00:42:09
whole week, the weather gets much hotter. It's the middle of summer. And the concern is that
00:42:14
Edith could not survive in such conditions without food or water. And, you know, at night,
00:42:19
we know it gets really cold as well. And she wasn't wearing a lot of layers. So meanwhile,
00:42:23
her brother's matinee are forced into close proximity over the course of the investigation,
00:42:28
which they don't like to do. And they have screaming matches in the sheriff's office
00:42:33
in front of newspapers. Like these dudes, they're like the Gallagher brothers, like Oasis,
00:42:39
which is like can't even, you know. Nolan, Liam are in with the sheriffs. I like that the journalists are there where it's like,
00:42:47
if everyone could meet while my brother and I fight, that would be great. I hate you so much that I can't not yell at you in front of a place that's going to tell everyone we're yelling at each other.
00:42:56
They immediately turn around. Yeah, word for word. And so basically, Nay blames his brother for hiring the nurse that Edith ran away from,
00:43:05
saying it's the nurse's fault that she ran, and it's his brother's fault for hiring him.
00:43:09
And Matt, on the other hand, believes that Edith has been kidnapped, and so they're just arguing about what happened to her, and neither of them know.
00:43:17
And it's not cool. so basically despite all the sightings and efforts put into finding edith she's still not found by
00:43:26
the end of summer and people begin moving on from what has become a harrowing and really strenuous
00:43:31
weeks-long search effort until september 19th a little more than two months after edith disappears
00:43:39
the 18 year old son of a neighboring rancher is walking along a dried up creek bed yeah looking for
00:43:47
a stick to knock fruit off the trees. It sounds illegal. Yeah, that's what we like to do out in the country.
00:43:55
It's stick time, we say to each other. And then we search and search in the creek bed.
00:44:03
And then this part is why they hate us. Yes. When he finds Edith's body. Oh, shit, sorry.
00:44:07
That's why everyone hates us. I was about to say, shouldn't do a character right before you're about to kick this.
00:44:13
Sorry, I could have. That's on me. it's badly decomposed and this leads Sheriff to wonder if Edith's body
00:44:20
could have possibly been in this one spot since she died but the creek bed is about a mile and a half
00:44:26
from Edith's house and has been searched many many times since Edith's disappearance two months prior
00:44:33
so it seems that the only possible explanation is that Edith's body had been brought there
00:44:38
sometime after her death right like they couldn't have just not seen it right Since the most thorough searching was done in the week after her disappearance,
00:44:48
another theory is that maybe she was alive for a week and wandering and then died in the spot, either at someone's hand or of natural causes.
00:44:58
And at the same time, a deputy sheriff says that that spot had been searched at least 50 times.
00:45:03
Oh, wow. Yeah, so it's very mysterious. But in many weeks after her disappearance and by different parties every time.
00:45:11
So, yeah, it seems like that there's a disagreement on, like, when people actually search that area.
00:45:19
But it's enough times to be like, it's not two times, it's 50 times. Right. That's math.
00:45:26
That is simple math. So it's possible that Eva died in the spot of natural causes,
00:45:33
but she would have to have been somewhere else during the roughly two-week period
00:45:37
when the highest number of people were looking for her. But basically, okay, so Edith's cousin, Reed Wolfskill, recalls looking in that exact spot almost two weeks after Edith's disappearance.
00:45:53
And Reed, along with another cousin, is the one to identify her body via clothes and shoes found near her.
00:46:00
And so at this point, Edith's brother, Ney, who had thought Edith had wandered away and it was the housekeeper's fault, he changes his mind and agrees with his estranged brother.
00:46:11
because it just doesn't make any sense that no one would have found her. He thinks foul play is involved, and basically, it's very strange.
00:46:22
And, you know, they think someone had been trying to keep her hidden until she was found.
00:46:26
Yeah. And strangely, Edith is not wearing the shirt and skirt she left home in. Instead, she's wearing brown men's overalls, described as the kind mostly worn by carpenters.
00:46:38
And there's a handwritten note in her pocket. So basically they have to do a chemical process to find out what it actually says because it's so worn.
00:46:46
But it says, quote, do not give anything dot dot dot. Do not show sympathy dot dot dot.
00:46:53
Do not speak to any nurse dot dot dot. Do not speak magic. Walk out. Sleep only in the daytime and drink water.
00:47:02
Bathe before I dress. Use gifts. Shun all change. Right? Like there's no way you're decoding that.
00:47:09
Or she's writing a song. But hold on. Do you think there's a possibility this is like a list to herself
00:47:17
and she like went out in disguise? It seems like, yeah, maybe she's trying to escape.
00:47:21
Like maybe there's more to her captivity than just keeping her at home, right? Maybe they're actually keeping her captive.
00:47:30
And so there's not a lot about the handwriting and whether it was hers or not written,
00:47:34
but about a day later investigators discovered that signs that someone has been living in a shack on the ranch
00:47:41
bordering the Wolfskill property. The owner of the property had thought that the cabin
00:47:46
had been abandoned for years, but on the stove there are eggshells and other food scraps
00:47:52
as if someone had been living there. We haven't seen scrambled eggs here in 25 years.
00:48:00
right thank you i had to do it you did and i appreciate you the bed looks like it had been
00:48:06
recently slept in and on the walls various phrases have been scrawled and they look like religious
00:48:12
words and phrases that edith often wrote um on on her walks on like fences and stuff another
00:48:19
neighboring rancher i mean this is so stupid says that on july 17th three days after her
00:48:25
disappearance when everyone is looking for her he heard a woman's screams coming from the cabin
00:48:29
and just didn't do anything about it. Just nothing. So the mystery of whether Edith was living in the cabin,
00:48:38
which seems likely, and whether she was alone or held there, we don't know. But prior to her disappearance in recent years,
00:48:46
she had always returned home from her hike. So it's not like she was totally held captive.
00:48:51
She was allowed to roam as much as she wanted. So three surgeons examined Edith's body
00:48:56
and at least one of them, Dr. A. A. Berger, your best friend. My best. Bestie. He disagrees with the theory that there's foul play involved
00:49:06
because none of her bones are broken, and she hasn't ingested any poison, and both he and a pathologist named A. M. Moody, what's with all these?
00:49:17
It was all initials back then. Actually find a blood clot in her brain. Oh. Right. So they say she could have died of natural causes, but it doesn't explain how she got to the spot where she was found after they had already looked there.
00:49:32
And but any evidence from the overalls is inconclusive. I mean, it's the they're not doing hardcore science on those overalls back then.
00:49:41
No, they're like, shake them out. Nothing. Great. Yeah. That's that's forensic files back then. Yeah. Shake them out and then read the runes of the dust on the ground.
00:49:50
Exactly. So basically, a couple months later, the Solano County coroner concludes an inquest into the cause of death.
00:50:00
And Solano, you guys like Solano? They're literally doing it to every city and county.
00:50:08
But I want it. I want the cheers. I know. And the verdict is death from cause unknown.
00:50:14
I think there's another photo. Let's take a look at this picture. If there is. There, that's her.
00:50:20
That was her then. That was her. I'm telling you, I'm older than her. Yeah. There's like...
00:50:24
She's 38. Yeah, exactly. It's all Botox and filler. Over here. So, yeah. Do we think that the blood clot in her brain had something to do with her behavior?
00:50:39
That would be my, like, stupid random guess. Yeah. You know? Yeah, for sure. It would be my very educated guess.
00:50:47
I bet, right? I bet. I mean, it'd be interesting. to know. I got that from an episode of Law & Order.
00:50:53
Someone's behavior changes. It'd be really interesting to know. Unfortunately, I'm telling this story for my favorite murder, which means we don't
00:51:00
fucking know. Yeah, that's right. And then by the time that her verdict, her cause of death is released,
00:51:08
Eva's brothers seem to be ready to just let go. They don't make any public contest to the findings. Nay and his wife
00:51:16
accompany Eve's body to Los Angeles where she's buried in a plot next to her parents and the
00:51:22
brothers battle it out over how to manage Eve's estate because she did have a chunk of that and
00:51:27
they were looked into and they didn't need her her portion of the estate and it seems like they
00:51:33
hated each other but cared about her so after a month they agree to put a trust company in charge
00:51:40
of what she left behind, which is somewhere between, in today's money, $9 and $18 million.
00:51:46
I know. And because she was worth so much, some speculate that it was her brother's, but it doesn't
00:51:53
seem, I just said that, it doesn't seem like it. And that's the story of the unexplained disappearance and death of Edith Irene Wolfskill, the Empress
00:52:01
of the World. The Empress of the World. Thank you. Crazy. Just slam it down. That was great.
00:52:16
Thank you. Am I okay? Everything's great. Okay. Now, where do you... Kendall. Where do you...
00:52:24
Kendra? Kendra. Where do you... If you were going to go apple picking, what would you walk through to do that?
00:52:30
A field. Of trees. A copse of trees. Oh, someone reads books. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile,
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Savings compared to renewal price void in Florida. All right, let's get through my story real quick and get out of here.
00:54:47
We're all busy. My story starts in the late 1980s. when I was at my prime. Oh, what's this?
00:54:57
Let's take a look. Oh, my God. That's right. Oh! Karen! Billy Iwish could never.
00:55:16
I called her the wrong name. Wow. Meanwhile, in Orange County... I don't know what she's gonna do.
00:55:23
That's so funny. Today she texted me and she's like, is it okay if I have Vince send a photo of you?
00:55:36
And you're not gonna know what it is, but I'm gonna put it up. Do you trust me, basically?
00:55:41
Vince was like, I don't know what to do. No, no, go back. I want to see Little Georgia.
00:55:46
He nailed it. Yeah, he was like, I don't want to embarrass you or anything. I think that's perfect.
00:55:54
Oh, my God. It says Mammoth right there, I think. Yeah, you're in Mammoth wearing a mammoth sweatshirt.
00:56:01
I'm trying to seriously graduate from high school with all my eyebrows intact. Oh, my God.
00:56:07
That makes me want to cry. I don't know why. I just thought I'd really ground us and center us at the top of this story.
00:56:13
I love it. Okay, thank you. So this does start, we make our way back to the Bay Area, but it starts at Princeton University
00:56:23
in New Jersey, if you've ever heard of it. Admissions officials receive an application that they take note of.
00:56:30
It's less a formal application and more of a glorified note sent by a 17-year-old student
00:56:35
named Alexi Santana. And in it, Alexi paints a romantic picture of his life in Utah, herding cattle by day
00:56:43
and reading Plato by Campfire at night, sleeping outside under the stars with his horse named Good Enough by his side.
00:56:52
Ouch. Right? Good Enough? Good Enough. This sounds like the beginning of Legally Blonde.
00:56:58
We'll see. What if I just read you the script of Legally Blonde? I'm like, and good night.
00:57:04
So there's no teacher recommendations or list of extracurricular activities that are included in this.
00:57:11
Apparently that's what you do when you submit for college. Good to know. Good to know.
00:57:14
There's not even a high school transcript, but Alexi does include a newspaper clipping
00:57:20
from a track meet that he's won. And then Alexi explains that his difficult life circumstances, an absent father and a
00:57:28
deathly ill mother who needs his constant care, have kept him from traditional schooling.
00:57:33
He actually claims that he's never once set foot in a school and that he's entirely self-taught.
00:57:39
And yet he has higher than average SAT scores and a clear athletic talent. The Princeton officials are amazed.
00:57:48
And in the end, Alexei is not only admitted to Princeton, but he's given a $20,000 athletic scholarship.
00:57:55
But he has to defer for a year because of his sick mother. But in the fall of 1989, he finally arrives on the Princeton campus.
00:58:04
But what no one at Princeton knows is that this brilliant, philosophical, athletic young cowboy named Alexi Santana does not exist.
00:58:14
And the Alexi who shows up on campus to begin matriculation, I just threw that in there.
00:58:20
I just threw it in. That's good. Is actually a 29-year-old drifter with a criminal rap sheet and a history of this same con that he's already pulled right here in the Bay Area.
00:58:31
This is the story of the college con man, James Hogue. Whoa. Love a con man. Love a con man story.
00:58:41
Yeah. So some of the main sources used in this one are David Samuel's deep dive article for the New Yorker entitled The Runner, which ran.
00:58:50
Thank you for getting all the way down on the ground. She also ran. You were saying The Runner, which is pretty cool.
00:58:56
That is The Runner right there. David Samuel's deep dive article, The Runner, which ran in The New Yorker in 2001,
00:59:03
a New York Times article by James Barron and M.A. Farber, and a Denver Post article entitled The Con Artist Next Door by Nancy Lofholm.
00:59:14
So, James Hogue is born in 1959 in a working-class neighborhood in Kansas City, Kansas.
00:59:20
And from the beginning, sure, two things are pretty clear. James is smart and he's obsessed with running.
00:59:32
He's very good at it, so much so that he sees running as his ticket to a higher income bracket.
00:59:39
His dream is to parlay his incredible athletic skills into a scholarship to a top tier college,
00:59:45
which will then lay the foundation for his future success. One childhood friend named Keith Mark will later,
00:59:52
the two first names my least favorite thing in the world will later describe James as quote one of the smartest kids that I ever known A very good polite kid never in any trouble trained all the time had a tremendous
01:00:06
gift to run, literally the best runner. He could have been Olympic class. He had big time talent
01:00:12
is what he had, end quote, is what he had. But Keith actually, the full end of the, the end of
01:00:22
the full quote includes this important line, quote, but when we were in high school, James was
01:00:29
very much an individualist and he did not like to be told what to do. No shit. I mean, hey.
01:00:35
Join us. Join us, James. So from a young age, James resists and rebels against any authority
01:00:43
and he seems to have a bit of an ego as well. So now it's 1977. James enrolls at the University of
01:00:50
Wyoming. No one. Nobody lives there. That's right. So he's made it on the varsity cross country team
01:01:01
as a freshman. It's his dream come true. And actually the University of Wyoming has been
01:01:07
investing in its track program and recruiting the best young runners from around the world.
01:01:12
come live in Wyoming run run away so for the first time in his life James is actually struggling to
01:01:22
keep up the other recruits are way faster than him he starts practicing harder he pushes his body
01:01:29
to the point of injury and his friends can tell that it's all getting to him because he seems to
01:01:35
get really down on himself but they also notice that he suddenly got a bunch of stuff like medals
01:01:41
and bicycles and stereos that he never had before. And it is at the very least suspicious.
01:01:48
So now James is around 20 years old. He's in his sophomore year of college, doing very well in classes.
01:01:55
You did great, no one noticed. But he's still struggling on the track. He competes in a regional track meet.
01:02:03
He finishes, this one's a heartbreaker, 226 out of 250 runners. You just don't even want to compete.
01:02:12
No. You know, at that point. And he takes his running very seriously, so obviously this is devastating.
01:02:18
This is that kind of thing where, like, you're in high school and you're like, God, I'm so good at this thing.
01:02:22
And then you step one foot out into the real world and you're like, I'm fucking terrible at everything.
01:02:28
That's what Los Angeles is full of. It's really hot people from their hometown who come to L.A.
01:02:34
And then it's, like, the most beautiful people you ever see in your fucking life.
01:02:37
Yeah. And you're just cute. Yeah. that's right you're the neighbor you become the neighbor in the sitcom you're i don't know you're
01:02:44
cute and you're like maybe you can tap dance a little and other than that everyone's a super
01:02:49
model and they're like a quadruple triple threat that's right yeah listen we'll explain hollywood
01:02:55
to you and just give us a second so now i said that and he's doing okay so out of 250 he comes
01:03:05
in 226. Right. Not long after this, James drops out of school completely. And then he resurfaces
01:03:13
down in Austin, Texas, where he enrolls at the University of Texas. Nope. With a major,
01:03:18
with a major in chemical engineering. Wait, he can do chemical engineering and he's like
01:03:24
mad at running? Yes. Like I can do neither of those things. And he's still depressed.
01:03:30
Dude. We've got to look on the bright side, guys. Who are you, Karen? So he also joins the track team, and he's getting excellent grades,
01:03:41
but he is not doing well at track. UT's head recruiter, James Blackwood, will remember, quote,
01:03:47
he wasn't a bad college runner, probably better than average, decent, but I think he thought he was better than a lot of guys on the Texas team.
01:03:55
Then he got out there with them, and they ran him into the ground. End quote. So in 1982, James's five-year eligibility to compete in NCAA events expires, effectively ending his college running career.
01:04:14
But instead of focusing his energy on getting his degree in chemical engineering, which was what he was doing and apparently good at,
01:04:21
he gets really depressed, and the next year he's caught stealing equipment from a local bike shop.
01:04:28
So he's arrested. And this is his first documented run in with the law, but it is not his last.
01:04:34
So he drops out of UT with only a couple credits left for him to graduate. And then he just disappears. How many credits do you still need to graduate?
01:04:47
I almost have my associates in very many, many things. So I was like, no, I don't want to do that.
01:04:55
I'm going to switch it. Hold on. What about cooking? Okay, so about two years after this, in late 1985, James is now around 25 years old, and he resurfaces.
01:05:06
This time it's at the enrollment office of Palo Alto High School, also known as Pally.
01:05:15
And James is now claiming to be 17 years old. Oh, shit. He tells them that he is an orphan named J. Mitchell Huntsman, and he has an incredible story.
01:05:27
He claims he was born in San Diego, but raised on a Nevada commune and, right, all of it.
01:05:34
And he says he's entirely self-educated. This is going to sound familiar. And just a disciplined athlete who runs upwards of 60 miles a week.
01:05:43
That part might actually be true. He also claims both of his parents have recently died in a car accident, but he still wants
01:05:50
to work towards his diploma while putting his running skills to use on the school track team He plans to hopefully get admitted to Stanford University in a couple years which happens to be right across the street from Palo Alto High School
01:06:07
Oh. So he was just like, you know what? Let me start over. Yes. Let me start over. In high school.
01:06:13
Yeah. In high school. So he can't let the track dream go. Sure. Obviously. Me neither.
01:06:22
Right? You'll do it someday. But so, and it's kind of weird because he could have had a degree from college in chemical
01:06:31
engineering, but he's going back to basics. Buck those knees up. That's right. So the good news is James's scheme totally works and people buy this story.
01:06:42
Even though he looks a bit older than he claims to be, his classmates and teachers just shrug
01:06:48
it off. One faculty member actually tells reporters later, quote, as a teacher, I thought it
01:06:54
it was rude for me to even think that he was older, even though he was very thin,
01:06:59
and you could see the shadow of his beard. Okay, now this is that Drew Barrymore movie,
01:07:04
where she goes back to, right? Exactly. Same. If she loved jogging. Okay. So what's important is that 25-year-old James
01:07:13
is now running high school track again, and this time he is killing it, of course.
01:07:19
He got his second chance as Jay Huntsman. He crushes the first competitive cross-country race that he is enrolled in, so much so that he gets write-ups in a local newspaper about it.
01:07:30
Ooh, don't do that. Yeah. No. But one sports reporter from a newspaper called the Peninsula Times Tribune, which doesn't exist anymore, that journalist named Jason Cole is there that day, and he's a little skeptical.
01:07:45
He has this nagging feeling about this very mature-looking student, so he decides to do some digging.
01:07:52
to the point where he actually requests a copy of Jay Huntsman's birth certificate
01:07:56
from the city of San Diego. And that's when Jason learns the real Jay Huntsman died in infancy more than a decade earlier.
01:08:06
So although he can't explain the why here, Jason is positive that Pally's newest track star is actually a grown man.
01:08:14
God, how creepy would that be? It's the best. I love it so much. it's the kind of thing where like I it would be like a weird dream slash nightmare I would have
01:08:24
where it's like I'd be in high school and people like hey going to the dance I'm like I'm 42 what
01:08:29
are you guys doing I can't I shouldn't be here where are my pants so while journalist Jason Cole
01:08:37
works on this expose James is living life as an orphaned high school track star and the Pali
01:08:44
community just embraces and supports him. In October of 1985, he wins the Stanford Invitational
01:08:51
High School Cross-Country Race. See, if you want, you can't win, you know, you have to keep a low
01:08:56
profile. You got like fourth place, you know? Not old 225th place. He's going to win every single
01:09:03
chance he gets. Shit. And this is actually described by one reporter as, quote, the most
01:09:09
prestigious high school race in the country. For an adult. For an old man. But only days after that victory comes Jason Cole's byline.
01:09:24
Man, got a snitch. In the Peninsula Times Tribune. And it says... Uh-oh. Oh. It's pretty close.
01:09:33
Mystery Runner. Mystery Runner's History. Oh, that's a snappy title. Yeah. Is there any way we can get these pictures from a little further back at all?
01:09:42
We may have, we made it, that could have been us uploading them that way for sure.
01:09:47
Okay, so basically that says the mystery runner's history, and it exposes James, and it posits that he stole Jay Huntsman's identity
01:09:55
after seeing the birth and death dates on the headstone. One of James' old friends from Wyoming is interviewed in this article,
01:10:04
and he describes James as, quote, mischievous. before adding, quote, but I thought he would have grown out of it by now.
01:10:13
So what do you mean he's only a junior? Ouch. So before they have a chance to expel him, James drops out of Pali,
01:10:22
and he's like, no, no, I'll see myself out. And in the end, authorities decide not to press charges.
01:10:29
White. But the community he leaves behind is stunned. An article in Pali's Verde magazine,
01:10:37
This is a high school so rich they have their own magazine. What? And they report, quote, his teammates all liked him.
01:10:46
They were pretty upset that he pulled their chain when he left. It wasn't like they hated him from then on.
01:10:52
They were just really disappointed that he wasn't what he said he was and that they had been bamboozled.
01:10:59
That was Karen's voice, for sure. She's like, I'm a journalist from Pally's magazine, Verde.
01:11:05
and we're pissed about Jay Huntsman being not real. Just to give you a sense, this is what Jay Huntsman James looked like
01:11:20
claiming to be a 17-year-old. Yes, please. We should have put that up earlier. It's going to be close, I bet.
01:11:26
Oh, what? No. Hey. Hey, Darcy. Hey, Darcy, do you have your homework? Can I borrow your homework?
01:11:35
But he looks like James Spader. And he does look like an 80s teenager, like movie teenager.
01:11:44
You know what I mean? He does have a little Vince Averill in him, too. Oh, my God.
01:11:51
Doesn't he? He totally does. He's got an 80s Vince old school style. And Vince would wear that shirt.
01:11:58
Hey, do you guys want to meet in the quads? for lunch. No, dad, get away from us. I mean, they probably just thought he was a narc, right?
01:12:08
This was years before 21 Jump Street. I think, though, it's like when people are super into running, you're like, yeah, I guess that's
01:12:17
what he looks like. I don't know. Is that what it is? It's just a running son, I guess. That
01:12:22
fucking looks like my husband. Jesus Christ. We'll have to do a side by side. Okay, so a few
01:12:29
weeks after he exits himself from Pali, he gets caught writing a bad check while
01:12:35
buying contact lenses. So he pleads with the shop owner and says, I promise that I'll come and pay you
01:12:43
back. Just please don't have me arrested. Shop owner's like, you're a good kid from the track team.
01:12:52
And James skips town and never pays that shop owner back. But we're going to make a donation
01:12:57
tonight. Just kidding. So, months later, he resurfaces in Vail, Colorado with a whole new song and dance.
01:13:05
This time, he gets himself a seasonal job at a cross-training camp, the kind where rich people pay to train alongside champion athletes.
01:13:13
But this scam is not what you think it is. This time, James has sold himself as Dr. James Hogue with a PhD in bioengineering.
01:13:23
Jesus. Out of, you guessed it, Stanford University. That's right. No one notices until 1987, a couple years later,
01:13:32
when an old acquaintance of his from back in Austin learns that James is employed at this camp as a doctor and reports him.
01:13:40
Fuck that guy. You know? Like, how do you know while you were in Austin he didn't get a fucking doctorate?
01:13:46
I mean. Dick? Like, and what does it do you? Like, snitches, man. I think snitches get stitches for sure, but don't you think James, like, stole something of his?
01:13:55
Just like, there's that fucking guy that took that really good stereo I loved. Yeah.
01:14:00
Or something. Or he's a doctor. What's that thing when they pretend? Stolen Valor.
01:14:04
Thank you. That's the one. Stolen Dr. Valor. Okay. According to the camp owner, when James is confronted about this, the camp owner says,
01:14:14
quote, he didn't say much. He didn't say too much. I don't think he ever admitted he wasn't who he said he was.
01:14:21
He never apologized. It was like, hey, I got busted. I'll go somewhere else and scam them.
01:14:25
end quote. You've got to interview people like this at your newspaper. If you have the power to
01:14:32
do this, that's a good quote. Because that's just what James does. Within months, he's drifted to
01:14:40
San Diego. And in October of that year, he burglarizes the bike shop his roommate owns.
01:14:49
So he shows up in town, gets a roommate, nice to meet you. Cool, we like the same movies, whatever.
01:14:55
will you share your like frozen dinners with me? Yeah. Best friends. And he goes and burglarizes
01:15:02
his bike shop. Oh man, come on. And he steals about 20 grand in tools and bike parts.
01:15:07
Holy shit. Which is in today's money worth. What is it? 80? It's 87. 87 in today's money 20 is 249.
01:15:15
It's $56,000. Damn it. I told him. And then he skips town. And he goes to the southwestern Utah city of St. George,
01:15:28
and he starts working there as a bike mechanic with all of his roommates' stolen equipment.
01:15:33
That's so dick. Yeah. That is just... But within a year of setting up shop there,
01:15:38
another cyclist notices that some of James' tools have a different guy's name engraved on them.
01:15:45
So once again... It's not Schwinn or whatever? Hey, you didn't say your name was Schwinn.
01:15:50
so he gets narked on as well and when officers search James' home they find a lot
01:15:59
of stolen property as well as evidence that he's been applying to Ivy League schools again this time
01:16:05
under the name Alexis Santana so now we're back at the beginning like how did he get that name
01:16:11
he picked it out of a like birth month favorite band yes whatever I wanted that to sound like smooth, but it didn't.
01:16:24
We can't clear it anyway. Alexi Santana. That's the name you come up with when you are stoned.
01:16:32
So the good news is Alexi has been accepted to both Princeton and Brown. Wow. But he's decided to go to Princeton.
01:16:39
He actually got in. Jesus. So these plans are put on hold. Remember back at the beginning, because his very deathly ill mother was sick.
01:16:48
and so Alexi had to defer for a year. I remember that. This was when James was arrested and convicted
01:16:53
on possession of stolen property charges and sentenced to five years in prison. Oh, my sick mom.
01:16:59
Yep. Oops. My sick mom in prison. Dude. Here's the good news. He's paroled after 10 months.
01:17:05
Of course. So you'd think a prison sentence would derail the whole Ivy League fantasy league plan,
01:17:13
but Alexi Santana has his explanation ready to go, so it's all fine. Princeton buys it and allows James to quietly complete his prison sentence.
01:17:24
They don't realize they're doing that. So then in the fall of 1989, 29-year-old James arrives
01:17:30
in New Jersey campus as freshman Alexi Santana, ready for the 89-90 school year,
01:17:37
but traveling across state lines as a violation of his parole, and this violation triggers a warrant
01:17:44
for his arrest unfortunately utah authorities have no idea how to find him so on princeton's
01:17:52
campus freshman alexi santana he shy he a little awkward but there something about him oh god we would totally have dated this would absolutely be like i don know he just so old looking
01:18:06
he's so mysterious and old looking old looking so his classmates mostly like him they just kind of can't follow his life story
01:18:18
the new york times reports that um alexi quote seemed so unflappable that hardly any of his
01:18:24
classmates asked about his apparent discrepancies in the stories he told about himself. He told some
01:18:30
students that he was an orphan, others that his mother was dying, end quote. But hey, let's not
01:18:36
get bogged down in details. What's important here is that Alexi maintains a loaded class schedule,
01:18:42
gets great grades, and gets invited to join some of the most exclusive university clubs,
01:18:47
because he's a man. But most importantly... It was like Bob Dylan is here to boo Alexi Santana.
01:19:01
Thank you. Most importantly, Alexi has quickly become one of the most talked about athletes on the Princeton track team.
01:19:10
He's back, baby. So in February of 1991, Alexi participates in the Harvard-Yale-Princeton track meet in New Haven, Connecticut.
01:19:19
What kind of snacks are at that? I mean, it's little finger sandwiches with no crusts.
01:19:25
Finally, all of his track-based reality-denying underage dreams are coming true, I wrote.
01:19:31
But there's a snag. A runner from one of the other schools is a poly graduate, and they recognize...
01:19:39
Alexi! Alexi! Why aren't you talking to me, Alexi? oh his name wasn't Alexi at that other school they recognize this new Alexi Santana as the old
01:19:50
Jay whatever his name was that's really James Hogue and she immediately calls reporter Jason
01:19:57
Cole who reaches out to Princeton the old guy from the back that's right the old journalist
01:20:02
it's like I don't know about that beard that you have he breaks the news the weird news to Princeton
01:20:10
so in the middle of class the cops walk into his lecture hall and dramatically arrest James
01:20:19
and take him away in handcuffs you're not young someone's running for re-election that year
01:20:29
yeah that's right you go make an example of that super weird old guy he's charged with violating parole
01:20:37
forgery, wrongful impersonation and falsifying records. And he is able to post bail incredibly.
01:20:43
He's sold some of his stolen stuff. While awaiting trial, he is allowed to relocate to Cambridge, Massachusetts,
01:20:50
where he starts taking classes at Harvard Extension. He won't stop. It's funny how hard I tried to get away from college
01:21:00
and this fucking guy can't stay away. He's like, assign me something long and difficult.
01:21:08
Okay. At one point, he's hired to catalog precious minerals and gems for the college.
01:21:14
And these people are supposed to be fucking smart. While he's working there, about 50 grand worth of gems go missing from Harvard.
01:21:24
Worth around... 50 grand, you said? But 930. 120,000. Fuck! You go too high, and you're stupid.
01:21:35
You go too low, and you're fucking wrong. Right? This is, it's a humbling practice.
01:21:41
Uh-huh. This podcast? This podcast, this whole situation. And life. They're also an expensive microscope and a chair with the Harvard seal imprinted on it go missing.
01:21:54
Oh, yeah. Can I just sell this at a pawn shop? Right. No, dude. But actually, the police find all of these items in James' room.
01:22:01
Okay. So he's again arrested. He's charged with even more crimes. he's found guilty on four counts back in Princeton.
01:22:07
So he's found guilty on those charges. Now he's found guilty for these thefts at Harvard.
01:22:12
For all these crimes, he serves somewhere around two years. Put up the picture of big white head again.
01:22:21
And then a couple years after getting out of prison in 1996, James is back in the news for going back to Princeton
01:22:29
and posing as a geology student named Jim MacArthur. guy he's like hold on this time i'm gonna wear my sweater a little bit a little bit tighter
01:22:40
collar up british accent um he is arrested for trespassing uh although uh it does seem like
01:22:49
those charges were dropped in 1997 the following year he lands in telluride colorado by now
01:22:55
So, nuh-uh. By now, he's in his late 30s, working as a carpenter and a contractor, courting the very ritzy clientele that lives there.
01:23:06
His passion is still running now, can't get rid of that jogger in him. He becomes known for always, literally, running around town.
01:23:17
So even though he is trying to live a lower-profile life, his story has actually become widely circulated at this point.
01:23:23
and he's actually kind of famous. In 2001, writer David Samuels pens a deep dive on James for The New Yorker.
01:23:31
2003, filmmaker Jesse Moss makes a documentary about him called Con Man. Jesse was a student at Pali
01:23:38
while Jay Huntsman went to school there. So James, he works in Telluride for a while,
01:23:48
running around town. He's the contractor everybody wants to hire. until he caught after a woman accuses him of stealing her throw pillows That right What She like their contractor was here to give me a bid on that crack in the floorboard
01:24:05
And my nasty throw pillows are gone? And now my throw pillows are gone. So she, no joke, goes to his house to confront him.
01:24:11
No, don't do that. And at the front door of his house, she looks past and her throw pillows are on his couch.
01:24:18
Okay, that is the weirdest thing to steal. Like, what did he, shove them up his shirt?
01:24:22
I mean... Also... Here's the thing. You can do anything you want with them because they're yours now.
01:24:27
You've stolen them. All right. Fair and square. So this leads to a search of his property.
01:24:34
And per an article from the Denver Post, officers find, quote, a storage locker and a horse trailer crammed with enough fine and odd stolen items to stock a flea market.
01:24:45
Among them, moose antlers, medical books, stuffed bears, bicycles, red silk high heels.
01:24:53
Ooh. rare wood, copper pans, power saws, and chilled champagne. Hmm. All right. They would add up to nearly 7,000 items and top $100,000 in value.
01:25:07
So he's just like a klepto. Yeah. Or like, he likes to remember things. Oh. Sentimental. Oh, that's nice.
01:25:14
He's an old softie. And he loves throw pillows. Again, James is arrested and sent to jail. He's released in 2012.
01:25:22
Things are quiet for a while, but then in September of 2016, James is caught building what newspapers describe as an illegally constructed camouflaged shack on public land right on the side of a Colorado mountain.
01:25:37
Can we take a look at the shack? It's real close. Oh, man. That's some Unabomber shit right there.
01:25:44
Right? Now, listen. So when the officers show up to arrest him, he bolts out a back door.
01:25:51
There's more than one door at this shack. What? Never forget the chemical engineer inside of James.
01:25:57
That's right. He's not a dumb man. The back door of your creepy shack. Yeah. He's like, let's see, I'm going to put a door on the front.
01:26:05
We've got our side door where I can run out the next time I'm arrested. He goes on the lam for two months, and he's caught again a month later trying to build
01:26:16
another shack not far from the first shack. No. I think we can look at that second shack.
01:26:21
There it is. He started. That's less of a shack and more of a lean-to. Yeah. Well, the thing is, he was trying to figure out where to put the third door on this one.
01:26:30
And then he was like, God damn it. The cops are here. During this arrest, police fined $17,000 on his person,
01:26:40
as well as evidence proving that he'd sold around $70,000 worth of stolen goods on eBay.
01:26:46
Because now he's updated his act for the digital age. James is convicted on a handful of new charges and sentenced to six years in prison.
01:26:56
Officers working on his case will describe him as, quote, a man of brevity, only responding to the detective's questions in a few short words.
01:27:04
He didn't seem malicious, but he did paint himself as a victim of the government
01:27:08
and of social hierarchy and class structures, perhaps. Like, do you mean school class structures?
01:27:18
His long history of deception was masked by a pale, aged, and relatively small framed body.
01:27:26
And more than anything, he loved to run. That literally is the end of that quote.
01:27:31
Can we look at that picture? This is him. Oh, man. There he is. He looks like a teenager.
01:27:38
Yeah. Little talk, little Botox up here. Hey, Bobby. Do you have a date to the winter formal?
01:27:46
That's me and my crazy hair and eyebrows. and he runs runs runs away in 2019 james hoag is paroled as far as anyone knows he's living
01:27:56
somewhere in colorado um do you think he came to our denver shows shit he impersonated a murderino he pointed at people you're a drag along whatever
01:28:10
he's still on the radar of police and reporters and every so often he resurfaces in the news the
01:28:16
last big sighting seems to be in 2021 when Aspen police respond to a burglary at an apartment
01:28:22
building. But James is not the burglar. Officers incidentally catch him illegally siphoning
01:28:29
electricity with an extension cord from one building's exterior outlet into his car. Yes.
01:28:36
I didn't know that's illegal. I would do that. Yeah. It's just out there. Put a fucking lock on
01:28:42
As one of the many judges who've encountered James Hogue puts it, quote, I've heard nothing about any mental health issues or substance issues or other explanations for his pattern of behavior other than this is a lifestyle of a career criminal from what I can tell, end quote.
01:28:59
But his M.O. is certainly fascinating. James seems to be motivated by a unique combination of financial gain,
01:29:06
a deep recurring desire to reinvent himself, a misguided need to stick to the man,
01:29:12
and of course, his ultimate passion, finding the opportunity to run competitively against teenagers.
01:29:20
To some, James has almost become a mythical literary figure. Back at Pali, for example, teachers have paired the great Gatsby with the David Samuels New Yorker piece on James, which is hilarious and insane.
01:29:38
And director Jesse Moss, the Pali alum who made the documentary Con Man, has evoked this same comparison, saying, quote,
01:29:45
I love that James, like Gatsby, was able to transcend his low birth to attain this high position, but he was, like Gatsby, brought low.
01:29:54
I think that makes it an extraordinary American story and that the story of serial scammer and one Bay Area high schooler James Hood
01:30:09
Great job. Thank you. Love a scammer. Love a scammer. You can always have fun with scammers.
01:30:16
Your own scammer. Yeah. Do we have time for a hometown? Hometown, everybody. We have five minutes for a hometown.
01:30:24
Oh, here's Vince. There he is. It's James, however, ladies and gentlemen. Hi. Hi.
01:30:30
How are you? How's it going? Hi. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Two tremendous shows. Great job.
01:30:36
Thank you. I realize since we're in this neck of the woods, I just want to point out how much we
01:30:43
really love It's It ice cream sandwiches at our house. In case they want to send another box over.
01:30:51
That's right. Anyone from It's It here? Hey, the It's It people. But in the meantime, I'm going to be over under that exit sign to pick up whoever you choose.
01:30:58
Thanks, Vince. Thank you. Oops, thank you. And I guess we're out of hot dogs, so we have a fuck politeness koozie.
01:31:04
Oh, yeah. That's nice. Hey. There. Okay. Who can earn this? Tell them about it. Okay.
01:31:11
This is the part where someone tells the hometown, as we learned that first night in Denver,
01:31:16
do not come up here talking about some other city in some other state. No one wants to fucking hear that shit.
01:31:24
It should be Bay Area. Northern California. Northern California. Central Northern.
01:31:32
We had a real good Reading one last night. She did great. Don't be so drunk you can't tell your own story.
01:31:40
It needs a beginning, a middle, and end. And ultimately, just really be yourself.
01:31:45
Okay. Okay, who's got a hometown? Don't point at anyone. You fucking swear to God, you're very confident.
01:31:54
Okay, go. Go find Vince. Yeah, that was a mistake. That was a huge mistake. Look over there.
01:32:01
My Spanx are writing up. She stood up and then turned to the rest of the audience, did muscles, and squatted.
01:32:06
We're fucked right now. We're fucked. This is why. You've got to do it next time.
01:32:13
Okay. I hate it. I hate picking people. It's heartbreaking. Stupid. Also, they get real mad.
01:32:20
They get so mad at you. They get really mad. Here she comes. Here she comes. She scurried.
01:32:27
Oh, she's the scurrier. She's the... Okay, we like her. We like her. Yeah, yeah.
01:32:31
Hi. Hi, Sydney. Sydney, like Australia? Sydney. Sydney, everybody. Say hi to Sydney.
01:32:41
Hi. Hey. How's it going? Hey, great. How are you? Are you a weightlifter? I am now.
01:32:49
No, no, just because you did that pose. When you got picked, you did that pose. I'm ready.
01:32:54
Oh, shit. Yeah, you are. Where are you from, Sydney? We flew in from Phoenix, Arizona.
01:33:00
Oh, my God. We love you guys, and we're so happy you're here. We're so scared for you right now, Sydney.
01:33:06
I'm scared for myself. Yeah. Okay, so pretty local, Bay Area adjacent. Okay. Can we go Lake Tahoe?
01:33:16
Yeah, that works. That's fair. Is that cool? Yeah, absolutely. Okay. I thought so. This is my mom's story. This is a two part, awful, terrible, shitty story that happened to my mother.
01:33:28
Oh my God. Yes. Awful, terrible. So first part of this story, my mother grew up in Lake Tahoe. So she is about 17 years old, 1973, 1974, Lake Tahoe.
01:33:43
So she's walking down the street. She's going to her friend's house, walking. And then a man comes up from behind her and grabs her.
01:33:53
Grabs her, pulls her into his vehicle. She fights him. She's like, hey, fuck you, you piece of shit.
01:34:00
Gets her. She's 17. She's a baby. I'm 29. Teeny, tiny baby. I look like I'm strong.
01:34:06
She was stronger then at 17. So grabs her, pulls her into his vehicle. I don't know if it was a van, don't know if it was a car, but basically she's fighting him off
01:34:16
and then gets into his vehicle and she's like, fucking you piece of shit. Throws her in, slams the door in. She's like, all right, I'm gonna get out. She reaches for a door handle
01:34:26
and there's no door handle. And she's like, he has done this before. And she's like, cool. So now this is like my life.
01:34:38
and so this piece of shit takes her back to his house and is like okay you're gonna like be here
01:34:46
and so he like beats her and like sexually assaults her multiple times over multiple days
01:34:52
awful terrible but my mother she's very smart and she's like hey I'm like a human
01:34:59
I'm a human which like kind of doesn't relate to some serial offenders some of them it does and
01:35:07
She's like, I would love to be your girlfriend. No way. I'm really into you. You're really cool.
01:35:15
And so he's like, cool, awesome. So he beats her, sexually assaults her over multiple days.
01:35:22
And she's like, I would love to see you after this because I'm really into you. And breaks her ribs, breaks her cheekbone piece of shit.
01:35:29
Awful, terrible. It ends up with a good story. Kind of. Take my word. yeah and so then he's she's like yeah I just like need to like get back to work
01:35:41
I need to work I have a normal life I have a normal job and he's like cool so you'll like see me after this right and she's like yeah I would love to see you
01:35:52
so he lets her go she's like I'm fucking out I'm out get the fuck out of here. So she dips and she's like, fuck you, you piece of shit. Tells the police,
01:36:05
please never catch them. And I'm like an armchair, like sleuth. I've like tried to pin 1970s, like
01:36:12
California crimes to someone. She's under true crime, which is why I got into you guys.
01:36:19
She very much baptized me by fire, which is why I'm here. Yeah. And so never fucking found the guy
01:36:25
awful, terrible, but second part of the story happens in LA. I'm sorry, not as local. We can
01:36:33
go boo Los Angeles, California, California, not Northern. Sorry, LA boo. So my mom, a few years
01:36:42
later after living through this, she is like walking down the street. She's going to go buy
01:36:46
cake mix for her friend to go bake a birthday cake for her friend. She's walking down the street and
01:36:53
And we're from Phoenix. And she's like, okay, first time we ever experienced a haboob.
01:36:58
She's like, it was like this level of visibility. Fog. Can't see fucking shit. Nothing.
01:37:07
And she's walking down the sidewalk. And she's going. She's 17. She's like, cool.
01:37:11
We're going. Going to make a birthday cake. And then she's walking by this ravine.
01:37:15
And this guy, again, comes up from behind her. Snatches her. Pulls her down into this ravine.
01:37:21
and she's like, fuck you. You piece of shit. This is not fucking happening again This is not going to happen again And she fucking fights him And he like trying to pull her down trying to like sexually fucking assault her again We a
01:37:38
beautiful fucking family. And she's like, no, fuck you. And so she fucking fights this guy off
01:37:43
and is like, hate you, awful, terrible human. And so she's like, fuck you, gets away from this guy,
01:37:49
goes to the police and is like, hey, again, some other piece of shit, probably straight cis man,
01:38:00
tried to fucking sexually assault me. Awful. They fucking find the guy. They catch him,
01:38:05
and he is like a serial, violent, sexual fucking... Predator. Predator. Thank you.
01:38:13
That's the word. Sexual fucking, like, serial. And now he, because of my mother, he is in prison
01:38:19
the rest of his life. Yes. And I'm here. I'm here so, so, so long because of, like,
01:38:28
the strength of my mother. Great job. It's not going to happen again. That's right.
01:38:35
That's right. And this will not happen to me in my life. Sydney, everybody. Let's hear it for Sydney.
01:38:40
Great job. Look at your dad. Yeah. Oh. How was it? I mean. Thank you. Thank you.
01:38:47
Thank you. Thank you. Yes, thank you so much. Wow, amazing. Well, Oakland, night two.
01:38:56
We've done it. Did it? We've really done it. Thank you for supporting us on this little tour that we doing six years later after we were like we been waiting to do this for so long and it been so scary
01:39:17
but everyone's been showing up and really, really loud. And supportive. And you're a community that we love and appreciate so much.
01:39:27
So thank you guys for coming. We love you. Stay sexy. and... Thank you, Oakland.
01:39:36
Thank you so much. Elvis, do you want a cookie? Ah! And follow the show on Instagram at My Favorite Murder.
01:40:07
Listen to My Favorite Murder on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
01:40:12
Or you can watch us on YouTube. Search for My Favorite Murder, then like and subscribe.
01:40:17
Goodbye. heard with my podcast Earsay the Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club Every episode I nerd out with amazing guests and dive into the best new audiobooks available on Audible It the book club for your ears
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Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 90
    Best performance
  • 85
    Funniest
  • 85
    Biggest crowd reaction
  • 80
    Most heartbreaking

Episode Highlights

  • Father's Day Deals at Lowe's
    Shop for gear that will make dad's summer memorable, with great offers on tools.
    “Get two free select DeWalt power tools when you buy a select battery kit.”
    @ 01m 15s
    November 27, 2025
  • A Ghost Blimp Story
    A light-hearted story about a ghost blimp told with humor and no stakes.
    “Last night, I told a story about a ghost blimp.”
    @ 20m 39s
    November 27, 2025
  • The Disappearance of Edith Irene Wolfskill
    A mysterious tale of a wealthy heiress who vanished during a morning walk in 1929.
    “Today's story is about the eerie disappearance and suspicious death of a wealthy heiress.”
    @ 21m 11s
    November 27, 2025
  • Edith's Eccentric Behavior
    Upon returning from Europe, Edith's behavior raises concerns among her family.
    “She frequently announces herself to be the empress of the world.”
    @ 29m 44s
    November 27, 2025
  • The Mysterious Disappearance
    Edith goes missing during her morning walk, prompting a massive search effort.
    “Edith isn't back by lunch, and she's nowhere to be found.”
    @ 39m 06s
    November 27, 2025
  • The Handwritten Note
    A note found in Edith's pocket contains cryptic instructions, hinting at a deeper mystery.
    “Do not give anything dot dot dot.”
    @ 46m 46s
    November 27, 2025
  • The College Con Man
    James Hogue, a drifter with a criminal past, poses as a brilliant student at Princeton.
    “This is the story of the college con man, James Hogue.”
    @ 58m 31s
    November 27, 2025
  • The Mystery Runner's History
    Jason Cole uncovers the truth about a high school track star's identity theft.
    “Uh-oh.”
    @ 01h 09m 29s
    November 27, 2025
  • James Hogue's Arrest
    James is dramatically arrested in class after his true identity is revealed.
    “Cops walk into his lecture hall and arrest James.”
    @ 01h 20m 16s
    November 27, 2025
  • James's Stolen Goods
    A search of James's property reveals a shocking amount of stolen items.
    “Officers find a storage locker crammed with stolen items.”
    @ 01h 24m 37s
    November 27, 2025
  • The Mythical Scammer
    James Hogue becomes a mythical figure, compared to Gatsby by his former teachers.
    “James has almost become a mythical literary figure.”
    @ 01h 29m 20s
    November 27, 2025
  • Community Appreciation
    The hosts express gratitude for the supportive audience after a successful show.
    “Thank you for supporting us on this little tour.”
    @ 01h 39m 04s
    November 27, 2025

Episode Quotes

  • What?
    508 - Live at Paramount Theatre (Oakland Night 2)
  • She's like, it's a new thing.
    508 - Live at Paramount Theatre (Oakland Night 2)
  • I don't know why.
    508 - Live at Paramount Theatre (Oakland Night 2)
  • Love a con man story.
    508 - Live at Paramount Theatre (Oakland Night 2)
  • Oh, my sick mom.
    508 - Live at Paramount Theatre (Oakland Night 2)
  • I'm scared for myself.
    508 - Live at Paramount Theatre (Oakland Night 2)

Key Moments

  • Power Boost Ingredients00:42
  • Heiress Disappearance21:11
  • Ranchers' Wealth23:22
  • Edith's Eccentricity29:21
  • Cryptic Note46:46
  • Community Shocked1:10:52
  • Arrest in Class1:20:16
  • Latest Arrest1:28:29

Tension Over Time

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown