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Rewind with Karen & Georgia - 1: My Firstest Murder

June 26, 2024 /

This episode of My Favorite Murder features hosts Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark reflecting on the origins of their podcast, discussing their first episode released on January 13, 2016. They share insights on the evolution of their show, the feedback they received from listeners, and how their approach to true crime has changed over the years.

Karen and Georgia reminisce about their early days, including the lack of awareness regarding the impact their podcast would have. They highlight the innocence of the time, mentioning cultural references such as President Obama and the death of David Bowie.

The hosts discuss their initial use of language and how they learned to be more responsible in their discussions about sensitive topics. They emphasize the importance of listener feedback and how it shaped their growth as podcasters.

Throughout the episode, they touch on their personal experiences and the motivation behind starting the podcast, including their shared love for true crime and the need for open conversations about difficult subjects.

Listeners are encouraged to join in the conversation by sharing their own hometown crime stories, reinforcing the community aspect of the podcast.

TLDR

Karen and Georgia reflect on the origins of My Favorite Murder, discussing early challenges and listener feedback that shaped the show.

Episode

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Data accurate as of 2-20-26. Hello! Hello. We're here with something new for you guys, for the whole Martarino community.
00:02:00
It's called Rewind with Karen and Georgia. That's right. So we are going back right now to January 13th, 2016.
00:02:09
The precious little baby. And that's the day our first episode was released. And we're going to add all new commentary to our favorite moments from the show just for you.
00:02:19
And we're going to reflect on the beginnings of this show, talk about case updates,
00:02:24
Talk about everything that's changed along the way. It's been a very long time. It has, eight and a half years.
00:02:29
And now you can invite your sister, your coworker, your gothy librarian friends.
00:02:34
So they can now be day one listeners as well. And you guys can have a listening party with our commentary.
00:02:41
What you're about to hear taking place in 2016, just to give you a little context, we're in Georgia's apartment in East Hollywood.
00:02:49
I don't think there was air conditioning, right? Oh, definitely not air conditioning.
00:02:53
No air conditioning. Obama was president. David Bowie had just died. It was a real innocent time and place. We decided to kick this thing off.
00:03:06
We had no idea. We had no freaking clue. Like, can you imagine back then if we had any idea what was going to happen?
00:03:14
There was like a time traveler that came and knocked on the door that was like, guys, what you're about to do is going to change your lives forever.
00:03:21
I was going to be like, fuck you. You know what I was thinking? You know what I was comparing it to in my head is the podcast is like we were at a rave and there was some cool like house music going on and they're like chilling room and we're chilling.
00:03:32
And we didn't know that suddenly the beat was about to drop so fucking hard. And we would be fucking on the speakers dancing to that fucking beat drop.
00:03:43
Like we had no idea. We had no idea. And we forgot that we had done drugs 45 minutes previous.
00:03:49
So the beat drops right as the drugs kick in and suddenly a lot of things are happening.
00:03:55
And the main thing that happened, and I think the main thing we didn't expect, was feedback.
00:04:03
That this thing we were making was not us in a little cocoon. It was we're putting it obviously out into the world.
00:04:12
And then the world began to talk to us. And that, I think, has been the most mind-blowing, sometimes very frightening, and sometimes incredibly rewarding.
00:04:25
Yeah, like, you know, really nice. The people that like us really love us, and that's what we have focused on this whole time.
00:04:33
They've given us a lot of grace, and I appreciate that, and given us the opportunity to take that grace and do something with it.
00:04:40
For example, in this first episode, we use the word prostitute like it ain't no thing.
00:04:47
Well, at the time, it ain't no thing. It was literally what newscasters used. It was what they were using over on 2020 and Dateline and everywhere else.
00:04:56
This was the word that was used. You know why? Because at that rate, there were no other people like us at that rate.
00:05:03
I'm going to keep going back. Go to the rate metaphor. There was nobody else doing the last podcast on the left.
00:05:09
They were obviously doing that. But this kind of conversational spectator, true crime podcast with two women was not really a thing back then.
00:05:20
No. So, you know, keep that in mind when you listen, please. Yeah, there's a lot of well, it's just to it's basically a private conversation that got recorded and then distributed.
00:05:36
There's also a lot of nervous laughing. That's a thing over the years that I have recognized in myself that I was a person who laughed to fill the air.
00:05:46
I think it's because of my stand-up comedy background where that's, you know, go along, get along kind of thing.
00:05:53
But it also where talking about this comedically at like we were being cool And I think that was a very first year or first even four months kind of energy that we had And immediately people started talking to us
00:06:10
about it. And then it was like, oh, oh, wait, that's, we'll never say that word again. Or we're
00:06:15
doing this wrong. Or it just became this like awakening of like, oh, this is, we're like,
00:06:21
we're doing this now. Yeah. People are listening to us. We have a responsibility as women, I feel
00:06:27
like to, you know, set a certain standard. And I don't think we realized that was going to happen
00:06:31
yet. And so there is a lot of nervous giggling. There is like, I love, like, I love murder. Like
00:06:37
now we would never say something like that. You know, it's like, we've really learned.
00:06:41
Well, we just realized like we didn't consider ourselves professionals or anything like that,
00:06:47
But we realized there was a standard that we needed to start kind of broadcasting up to.
00:06:52
And we had this opportunity and this platform to actually make that change, to actually listen when people said, hey, you said this and this is how I took it and I did not like it.
00:07:03
You don't have to listen to every single person that says that. But there are people who say it and they have a great point.
00:07:09
And you go, yeah, you're right. I'm going to incorporate that. And that's a change I want to make.
00:07:14
And that makes perfect sense. Totally. Like every correction doesn't have to be a condemnation.
00:07:19
It's an opportunity for you to grow and change and become a bigger person. Which I actually think, I mean, this might sound self-congratulatory, but I honestly think that's why people listen.
00:07:30
Right. It's because when have you ever listened to two people having a conversation and then you go back a week later and they're like, oh, hey, listen, I fucked that up.
00:07:38
And like we didn't, I think because we just were like, yeah, we corrections corner came up before any corrections.
00:07:46
That's true. You made up the idea for a corrections corner. Yeah. Before like, yes, we're going to get things wrong.
00:07:53
And that's another thing, too, is like coming into it being like, we're not experts.
00:07:56
Go watch the documentary. You want an expert. I think like not being smarty pants about it was very helpful.
00:08:02
It wasn't really a choice. That's the other thing. But we're both such smarty pants, though.
00:08:07
We're both such PhDs. We are. I mean, in this episode, oh no, sorry. It's the next episode.
00:08:16
I thought I was just gonna be able to tell my story off the top of my head. We both really were just like, here's my story.
00:08:23
There's no story. Right. We're just chatting. It was very, you know, the armchair quarterbacks that are there to talk about the game that
00:08:31
they just watched. So it was, you know, and it was so fun to finally give ourselves permission.
00:08:38
And I think the permission piece, which for people today, now that it's so normalized and it is a thing that people, it's everything on Netflix.
00:08:47
It's everything that people talk about. Back then, the act of giving ourselves permission to say we like this and we want to talk about it.
00:08:56
People would write in and say, I've never been able to talk about this before. That doesn't happen anymore.
00:09:01
And that's such a good point is the reason we started this podcast is because personally, I didn't have other friends I could talk to about this.
00:09:08
Right. Like people would say to me when I'd say, where are you from? And they tell me and I tell them the murder that happened, the big murder that happened in their town.
00:09:15
Like no one wanted to hear that. Right. And when I found you and you were like, let's go sit at a cafe for five hours and talk about this.
00:09:22
I was like, oh, like this is so exciting. This is all I want to discuss because my anxiety around this is horrible.
00:09:30
And that's how I cope with anxiety is, you know, it's talking it out and diving into it.
00:09:36
Diving in and seeing, you know, relating to other people. And so the fact that we started it just for that reason, not expecting that anyone else would want to listen because our friends wouldn't want to listen.
00:09:45
Right. And also the thing of us talking about therapy, which is, I think, at the time, something you and I were doing freely and we didn't care. But a lot of other people felt like it was, you know, the scarlet letter somehow or it meant something really bad.
00:10:02
And that has changed so much just culturally, just because everyone's like, oh, no, I get to be healthy and happy.
00:10:10
Fuck off. But back then, I think you and I very ignorantly were just like, yeah, we go to therapy.
00:10:16
We really need it. Here's what my therapist said. That's all I'm thinking about this week.
00:10:20
Yes. Because I'm falling apart. Yeah. So, yeah. Also, I really have to apologize to my sister's friend, Adrienne, because I call her Prissy within the first 15 seconds of that episode.
00:10:32
Like one of my closest friends in the world. Oh my God. Who also isn't really, I don't know what I was doing.
00:10:38
I would not describe her as Prissy. She's not at all. Like she would win in a bar fight for sure.
00:10:44
The bar fight wouldn't start because people would be so fucking scared. But I think the word I was looking for is I had judged her on the surface of like, she would think I was weird.
00:10:54
Like prim and proper almost. Yeah, but even though she is, like, but it's just so funny because I think that was all those things were these kind of, it's almost like you and I just thought we were going to talk about, you know, serial killers and whatever.
00:11:11
And then there were just all these weird personal discoveries. Yeah. And these, and other people having personal discoveries and telling us about the personal discoveries.
00:11:22
And also Georgia got the idea of, like, doing hometowns. She had that on episode one where it was like, if you like this and you know a story that got you into this, tell us about it.
00:11:33
Like, what a brilliant fucking, I mean, thanks for that by the by. Hell yeah. I mean, it was really cool to take something I actually did in life and then be able to like guess real stories instead of being the weirdo telling the stories.
00:11:45
If you trying to make up a podcast for yourself I would recommend that you do exactly what Georgia did which is what is the thing that embarrasses you that you do so much and no one else understands Yeah And if you take that onto the mic you will have your mind blown And how many people are just like you Well it very telling
00:12:05
And I know we talk about this. We've talked about this a lot, but we were both reading
00:12:08
Brene Brown staring greatly when we started this podcast. So it was like vulnerability,
00:12:12
like to 11. Vulnerability at a rave. Vulnerability. Yes. Well, and also I think being the age that I was too it's like I'd done lots of things tried lots of things and it was
00:12:29
finally like I was in my late 40s going I don't give a shit like vulnerability is the only way
00:12:36
because I've done all those other ways and they're fake and other people know you're being fake and
00:12:41
it doesn't work and whatever so there's yeah I think there was just lots of it was just like
00:12:48
for us, maybe the perfect time and place. Yeah, definitely. In our lives. There's no way that,
00:12:54
yeah, that can't be denied. So right now we're going to throw to a nice chunk from the beginning
00:13:00
of this episode, just so you get the sense of what that is. And then if you want to listen to
00:13:05
the full episode, obviously the whole catalog is up and it always has been, but this is just more
00:13:10
of like, if you have a friend who's told you, oh, I want to listen to that podcast, but it's been
00:13:15
going on for so long that it's too late. I won't get it, quote unquote. We're here to tell you
00:13:21
there's literally nothing to get. It's almost the same every single time. We're just doing riffs in
00:13:28
the middle and then changing the topic to something horrifying and compelling and people's stories.
00:13:36
So like, it's the same every time. So if you've listened from the beginning, but it's been a while,
00:13:41
this is kind of like the best of. So you can also like give it to your mom to listen to.
00:13:44
without having to start from the very beginning, actually. Yeah. So just stay to the end.
00:13:49
We'll be commenting throughout the whole thing. And thank you guys for listening.
00:13:52
Here is the intro. Let's go back. Let's rewind. Hey, everyone. It's Cal Penn. I'm the host of Earsay, the Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club.
00:14:08
This week on the podcast, I am sitting down with Ray Porter, the narrator of Andy Weir's audiobook Project Hail Mary,
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massive sci-fi adventure about survival and science and what happens when you wake up alone very far from Earth.
00:14:25
I really had to make a decision because I caught myself getting that frog in my throat and starting to get teary
00:14:30
as I'm narrating some of these sections. And it's like, okay, yo, yo, yo, is this indulgent?
00:14:35
And I really thought about it. I was like, no, at this point, it would kind of be betraying the trust,
00:14:40
the author and the listener have in telling this story if I don't go through it. But there's places in this
00:14:46
book that deeply emotionally affected me, and I left it on the mic. That's great.
00:14:52
Because it served the story. People will say like, oh my god, I cried at the end.
00:14:56
It's like, yeah dude, me too. Listen to Ear Say, the Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club on the
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Data accurate as of 2-20-26. Karen. It's really happening. It's really happening.
00:16:46
Georgia. Hey. Hard start. Karen Kilgara. Just go to sleep. Let's get comfy. Let's just relax into what we're about to do, which is our new podcast, My Favorite Murder.
00:16:58
Let's get cozy and comfy and cuddle up and talk about murder. Talk about the thing that makes you feel most romantic.
00:17:05
Murder. We got a fire lit. We're having some hot cocoa. I'm swirling a brandy around over my head.
00:17:15
No, I love this topic. I do too. And that's why we're friends. Yeah, we've talked about this for a long time about true crime and what our favorite ones are.
00:17:24
Because that sounds creepy, but... That's who we are. That's fine. I feel like we were at a party and something along this topic came up and that's how you and I were both like, like shoulder grab moment.
00:17:36
I remember which one it was. What was it? It was the staircase. Yes. Everyone's favorite, wasn't it?
00:17:43
Oh, yeah. And because we were at a party and a girl we were there with, Erin Dewey Lennox, she has a photo from prom of herself on that staircase.
00:17:52
No. You're shaking your head now. No I just freaking out I didn see that Oh you didn Did I Are you talking about Matt Halloween party last year Yeah I didn see that Oh my God So she was friends with that family in high school And so like before it happened there was prom She went to prom with the daughter
00:18:12
her friend, photo of them in their prom dresses on the staircase. Oh my God. The staircase of the
00:18:19
staircase story. Unbelievable. I know. What does she think? What's her opinion? I think she thinks
00:18:24
a bird did it, which I think is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. The owl theory? Yeah. No.
00:18:29
Right? That is made up as hell. Everyone watch The Staircase and then laugh along with us
00:18:34
at the owl story. You know, what's funny is I just recommended my sister's best friend,
00:18:39
Adrienne, who's basically like my other sister I grew up with. I told her we were going to do this.
00:18:45
And the second I said it, and I did not know this about her. I've known her since I was 12.
00:18:50
Oh my God, I love it. She goes, oh, well, Night Stalker. It has to be Night Stalker first and foremost.
00:18:55
And I was like, wait, I didn't realize you had an opinion about this. She's like, oh my God, I love serial killers.
00:19:00
And I was like, what? Like she was always the prissy girl. Yeah. And like the, or I mean, not prissy, but just, I didn't know.
00:19:06
I just thought I was so weird and perverted all my life for loving this topic so much.
00:19:11
And you can't tell anyone because they're going to think you're psychotic or like into murder, which you're not.
00:19:16
You're just like fascinated. By the idea, the whole concept. Right. So that was awesome.
00:19:21
And then I said, you have to watch this series. You'll freak out. Yeah. And she's been texting me updates as she's watching it.
00:19:27
Like, can't believe it. Just all emojis. I love it. So basically, yeah, go watch it.
00:19:31
But this chick's husband fucking killed her because she found out that he was having like a child molester or something, right?
00:19:38
No, no, no. He was having a fair... He was like paying for male prostitutes. Right, right, right.
00:19:43
And she found out like right before he murdered her. I mean, the owl playing into that, it makes it seem more unlikely when you know about the male prostitutes.
00:19:54
It does. It throws a, what do you call, a wrench in the works a little bit for the owl.
00:19:59
It throws an owl. It throws a male prostitute into the thing. It throws a live owl into the works.
00:20:05
It's so crazy. But I understand, you know, there's people making the argument that, like, he got railroaded because of the male prostitute thing.
00:20:12
Right. And painted a picture of him that wasn't real or whatever, but that's still bullshit.
00:20:19
Because you can still kill your wife and be railroaded and have Southern people be biased against you because you're secretly.
00:20:26
Southern people aren't the tolerant? The Southern. And I'll be intolerant by saying all Southern people are intolerant.
00:20:33
But it's absolutely true across the board. There you go. That's what we're about.
00:20:38
Big facts and truths. So stop listening now if you can't handle the truth and facts.
00:20:45
Or spoilers like the guy killed his wife on the stairs. It's not a mystery. I don't think a spoiler is ever the guy killed his wife.
00:20:53
Because that's like, yeah, the guy killed his wife. Like a spoiler is that an owl did it.
00:20:58
That's exactly right. Good point. So we're going to, so this is, we're calling this my favorite murder?
00:21:04
I thought you were going to say, are we recording this? So do you want to start with this?
00:21:08
Wait, is this what we're? Should we start? my favorite murder and it's going to be
00:21:13
real fucked up and Dustin brought up a great point that we might be inviting a murderer into our lives
00:21:17
by doing this. I mean, but here's the thing and this is why I'm so fascinated by this topic in general.
00:21:21
We might already know a murderer. Oh my God. Like probably. Probably. And in that way
00:21:27
where they're just in a very cat-like removed Dexter way just observing all this
00:21:32
with a kind of, oh, they think they're smart. Yeah. Isn't that cute and quaint? Yeah.
00:21:37
So I guess the disclaimer is at least don't kill us because we can't do this podcast anymore.
00:21:41
This is why we're friends, is because we love murder. Murder and the one time I was stoned at a party
00:21:49
and decided to tell people one of the worst things I've ever seen. I made people blanch and walk away from our circle
00:21:56
and Georgia moved closer with the white eyes she has right now going, oh my God, this is amazing.
00:22:02
It's when I, I don't know why I did it. I do, this is part of my problem. Oh my God, tell me, I love it.
00:22:07
It was when, I think it was at that same party. Yeah. Somebody asked me what had been going on lately
00:22:12
And it was right after I got back from South by Southwest Or not right after For some reason the South by Southwest
00:22:18
The car accident The car accident came up And my big brag, which never pans out as a brag
00:22:23
I always think it is Like how fascinating about me And no one ever agrees Is that I was there when it happened
00:22:29
And I didn't see it My back was to it, I heard it Tell everyone what it was Oh, sorry
00:22:34
At South by Southwest two years ago A guy was in a police chase and he turned up a street that was cordoned off
00:22:42
for people to mill about because it was a festival. And so all the people standing in the street
00:22:48
in front of the theater where X was playing got plowed down. Old punk rockers. Yeah.
00:22:55
And I had been standing last in line to get in. So I would have been the first person hit,
00:23:01
but I decided to walk away. Good for you for being like, fuck this shit, I'm over it.
00:23:04
Yeah, because you know me in lines and waiting and how I don't go anywhere. do anything. So I walked away to see my friend at the front, like, Hey, let's just stand out here
00:23:13
and listen to the music. The car comes, people fly like cardboard boxes. I tell this story in
00:23:19
groups of people and people are literally like bumming out hard. And I had just read about it
00:23:24
that afternoon and I was like, Oh, tell me everything. Cause that's my like, car accidents
00:23:29
are another thing. I've had two ex-boyfriends and my, and one best friend die in car accidents.
00:23:34
What? Yeah. What? Yeah. Two ex-boyfriends. They were ex-boyfriends at the time, but they were important ones from high school.
00:23:41
Died in car accidents. One, my best friend from high school died in a car accident.
00:23:45
Don't trick and drive, you guys. That's horrible. I know. So I just fucking want to hear all about it.
00:23:50
And I'm also big on anything could happen at any moment and you'll never know about it.
00:23:55
I don't sit near a window at a restaurant because I'm like, a car is going to come careening through the fucking door.
00:24:00
window and kill me. Sure. So that shit to me is like, tell me everything so I can avoid it.
00:24:04
Yes. That's what all this is, really. I just want to collect information and hear theories
00:24:10
and stories so that I can be braced so that when I see the weird, you know, that the one thing's
00:24:16
out of the knife block, I'm ready. Totally. Like, why is there an open soda can right there? I
00:24:21
didn't open that. Well, I don't drink Pepsi light. It's tough here. So keep us in context.
00:24:27
we're just yeah we're living the life we're trying listen we both have really bad anxiety
00:24:32
i just want everyone should know that we're like i hope that's clear i hope it's clear that we're
00:24:35
clinically anxious people i on all the meds it doesn't work this is me at like a baseline like
00:24:43
medicated i'm doing okay anxiety i uh just don't leave my house almost ever right you have two
00:24:49
ferocious dogs i have dogs that guard the door and we just stay indoors all the time secret
00:24:56
it. Everything's locked. Windows are locked and closed. I don't know how you live. I shouldn't
00:25:00
say this actually. How I live in that house? On the first floor. Well, that's my huge,
00:25:05
a huge fear of mine. It's scary. But those dogs, that's why I got those dogs. That's true. That's
00:25:09
true. I lived for a couple months without those dogs. And every night I would just lay in my bed,
00:25:15
like I would hear things. It was crazy. Yeah. Because also the quieter it is, the worse it is.
00:25:20
Because then you're just like, then your brain is, is telling you you're hearing things. It was
00:25:25
nuts and I was finally like, just get a look at a dog. Yeah. Good for you. Thank you. Yeah. I'm a
00:25:30
hero. I always have a boyfriend. No, that's not why. Also, cause I don't, I have a seizure when
00:25:35
I was a kid once and I don't want to sleep alone anymore. Oh, tell me about it. Also, I love Vince,
00:25:39
but also it's nice to not get murdered. Also, I love Vince comes third. The murder is important
00:25:46
though because you have to live to be able to love him. But here's the thing. What if he murders me?
00:25:51
I mean, you got to think about your husband. Here's what I'm telling you. The book I write,
00:25:55
will do you proud. Thank you so much. I will be the Anne Rule. I'll be like, guys, I was there the whole time.
00:26:01
I knew. You would never have known he wanted to murder her. Yeah. Yeah. There's the best, Still Waters.
00:26:08
You're like, that guy's the best. Which one's Still Waters? Just, I'm saying people that are like,
00:26:11
you would have never known that they had murder in them. That's the name of the book.
00:26:15
Still Waters Run Deep. Yeah. The Vince Abril story. Okay, should we tell? Okay, so then we'll tell each other
00:26:21
our favorite murders. And then, okay, here's what we want. If you guys stop listening during the murder part because you hate us.
00:26:27
Before you do that, listen to this. We're obsessed with people's hometown murder, kidnapping, fucked up, crazy stories.
00:26:37
Yeah. I have always asked people at bars and they stopped talking to me because I want to know.
00:26:41
They're like, what was the crazy thing that happened in your town? If they can't handle that level of conversation, it's better you're not talking to them.
00:26:48
I completely agree. Get out. And I don't have one, really, one of those stories.
00:26:52
because you're from LA I'm from Orange County nothing bad happens there no there's some shit
00:26:57
so we want you to email us you can email me at myfavoritemurderatgmail.com your town story
00:27:06
but don't say like here's the town story put a link in it we want in your own voice
00:27:10
like so this fucking thing happened and I was this years old and my mom wouldn't let me
00:27:15
and then we used to go to the house and throw rocks at it yep here's what happened
00:27:18
does that happen? totally did you do that? yep Do you have a goal? We can go then talk about Polly Klaas.
00:27:26
Yeah. I mean, that one, yeah, that one's rough because it's so famous and the town was so small.
00:27:33
That's crazy. I'm from Petaluma where the little girl Polly Klaas got taken out of her bedroom by a man while she was having a slumber party.
00:27:40
Like multiple people were there. Yeah, multiple little girls. Why did he do it then?
00:27:44
Do we know? Nobody knows. that there were lots of theories that the dad had like bad debts
00:27:51
or was involved in drugs. But that's kind of, of course, small town gossip. That's extreme too.
00:27:56
It's crazy. And also this guy was a total like Charles Manson in and out of jail all his life.
00:28:01
Keep them in jail. Come on. That's another problem they have. It's this simple. It's so simple.
00:28:07
Like rapists get three to five years. Stop doing that. That's so insane. It's insane.
00:28:13
You know, we're going to do a lot of good on this one. I feel like we're going to change laws.
00:28:18
We're going to be advocates, victims advocates. Mariska Hargitay is going to guest spot on at one time.
00:28:24
She's going to deliver our speech. No, I don't know what I'm saying. At the awards?
00:28:31
At the podcast awards? Listen, there are lots of rape kits that are backlogged, thousands and thousands.
00:28:40
Let's get those rape kits tested. Hey, guys. Hey, guys. Let's get those rape kits tested.
00:28:44
There's like a loosely closed door and on the other side of, and it's called a rape kit.
00:28:50
And on the other side of that door is the person who did it. And probably other bad things that you might want to know about.
00:29:03
Should we confirm the fact that we're going to call it my favorite murder? Do we agree to that on the spot?
00:29:08
We agree to it on the spot. Yeah. I love that. That's amazing. It's the same thing with when I played that theme song while I was watching TV.
00:29:18
I think I paused the TV. I got the idea for what it could be, sent it to you in a voice note.
00:29:24
And you were like, sure. That's it. It was just like, okay. Because I was like, well, it could be this.
00:29:29
And it was like, there was no discussion at all. And you just rubber stamped that thing and put it right up.
00:29:36
Done. I'm a yes lady. I think there is a mention that you mentioned. let me let me rock out for the theme song i think you mentioned that and then you do it and i'm like
00:29:45
perfect moving on moving on we've done it oh it's like it's kind of great because it's if we had
00:29:52
known maybe it wouldn have been so simply executed we couldn have known couldn have known and also yeah I think that that those details that seem so important They didn seem that important at the time
00:30:06
We were just hanging out. Yeah. What was going on in your life at the time in 2016?
00:30:11
I had two fucking jobs trying to keep my head above water as I slowly went underwater with my mortgage.
00:30:19
and so this was the last thing I was supposed to be doing because I had two full-time writing jobs
00:30:26
yeah and trying to like transition between one and the other and doing this but I was like you
00:30:31
know it's so fun and I want to have something because I was so tired of in my career doing
00:30:37
stuff that was just like for money to get it just started feeling so crazy to work so much
00:30:43
for money and nothing else. And so it was like, when you had this idea and you were like,
00:30:49
we should do this, don't you think? And it was like, yeah, we definitely should.
00:30:53
We need a, we need an extracurricular activity. I needed like something that wasn't, something that wasn't comedy, people from comedy,
00:31:01
all the people from all the jobs I've ever had. Like I, I loved the idea. And also,
00:31:07
you know, the first couple of times you and I hung out, and I think we've talked about this a lot,
00:31:11
But like the energy you have like at a party is some of my favorite kind of energy because you're you are manic.
00:31:20
Well, you're like a very light social shit disturber in a way that is my favorite.
00:31:25
Oh, my God. Because you're just like the biggest compliment I've ever had. You like look around and then you're like, you know, am I about to yell something like make everyone say what they're thankful for?
00:31:35
Or am I about to belch so loudly that people are going to like have their hair blown back?
00:31:40
Oh, my God. All of it equals fun. I love it. Thank you. Yes. So I needed more fun in my life for sure.
00:31:47
Oh, I love that. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, it was that. It was just for fun. Vince has mentioned in this first one as though he might kill me and you're going to write
00:31:57
the memoir about it. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So that hasn't happened yet, which is nice.
00:32:01
And I'm still with, I can't believe I'm still with the same person, Aiden, like as someone
00:32:05
who's always been in a series of three to five year relationships, the fact that I'm
00:32:08
still with the dude from the beginning of this podcast is like awesome to me. Yeah, you've done it.
00:32:13
I did. That's a huge accomplishment. Yeah, for sure. Okay, well, my story is first, I think, right?
00:32:19
Yeah. Yeah. I do a classic JonBenet Ramsey. So here we go. Let's rewind. Should we go?
00:32:28
Should we do My Favorite Murder? Yes. You want to go first? Sure. I think this is an obvious one.
00:32:34
So like, yeah. What do we? Okay. my favorite murder official voice I'm really excited
00:32:40
yeah you know what let's get real I mean we're like we're just gonna do every week
00:32:44
our favorite murder like a murder story we love yeah and I had so I had to start
00:32:48
like a good one because it's and it's new I'm newly interested in this my what I was just gonna say one thing
00:32:54
we know other people love this as much as we do so if we mess up information don't be afraid to tell us
00:33:01
because I understand like when I hear people talking about something it drives me crazy
00:33:05
if I know the real thing yeah because it is my passion. Yeah. But I also am very
00:33:08
an inaccurate and messy person. So if I get it wrong and you want to tell us, please do
00:33:14
and we'll talk about it. I appreciate that because I'm so nervous about getting any of this wrong
00:33:17
that I'm going to give less information than I would think I have. And also, tell us more information
00:33:22
that you know or cool things that you know about. Totally. I think at the end of the episodes
00:33:26
we should just read listener mail of weird shit. I think that's a great idea. How about we have
00:33:31
a whole segment that's like corrections? Corrections. How about we have Like a supplement to our podcast of just corrections every week.
00:33:39
Because my passion is for the act and for specific stories within it. But like I'll always get the numbers wrong or the years wrong.
00:33:48
My passion is for the insanity of it and the fact that this stuff happens. So tell us when we're wrong.
00:33:54
Just jump into this. Just nicely though. You don't have to get on your high horse about it.
00:33:59
Just calm down. Yeah. Okay. Now that we got that out of the way. Yeah. My favorite murder is that of JonBenet Ramsey.
00:34:08
Oh, classic. Which I used to think was stupid and boring until I listened to last podcast on the left's two-part in-depth discussion of it.
00:34:19
Yes. And I was like, oh, this is way more fascinating than I remember. Yes. I love that podcast.
00:34:23
You turned me on to it. Yes, so good. And you turned me on to it because of those episodes,
00:34:27
which I immediately listened to. And those guys are so on it with all of their research.
00:34:31
Yeah. very thorough we are not we're not gonna do that so no um everyone knows it basically a six-year-old
00:34:38
girl was murdered in her home in boulder colorado in 1996 she was a um beauty queen which i think
00:34:44
kind of i think just kind of sullies the whole thing because it's really just a little girl
00:34:49
and the beauty pageant stuff has nothing to do with it right except for you could stop right there
00:34:55
and still have a real good horror story because she's a six-year-old girl they're babies children
00:35:01
I was telling you that, that I was looking at a picture of her and then remembered that she's six, like one year older than five.
00:35:09
And she looks like she's 10. She does. It's dirty. The whole thing is the creepiest.
00:35:15
And she has, she looks smarter than, she looks a little knowing. Yes. Which is fucked up.
00:35:21
Yeah. And I feel like the beauty pageant thing was a big deal because it kind of, because it was never solved, this crime, which I don't think is true.
00:35:31
I think her father killed her, which we'll get into. But the fact that it's like, well, maybe a child molester did it because I feel like that kind of made it seem that way.
00:35:40
That because she's this dressed up woman basically as a child, then maybe she was murdered by a child molester or fan or something.
00:35:49
Right. When really I think she was, it just happened to be her father who was that person.
00:35:53
Right. Like that became the red herring that really is such a hard you can ignore a red herring like that Yeah Because the thing itself is so creepy Yeah It like being in a cult being in child pageants Right Definitely Yeah It like the Satan scare of the 80s when they thought everyone was all these kids were Satanists
00:36:09
Yeah. But really God and Satan don't exist. So that's impossible. Wait, wait, what?
00:36:14
Oh, I'm sorry. What? So then, yeah. So I think that the dad did it. There's like a lot of weird things about it.
00:36:22
The ransom letter is three pages, which is the longest ransom letter in murder history.
00:36:27
That's the thing that I'm going to get corrected about probably. But it's two pages.
00:36:32
And it was written on the notepad in the Ramsey house with their pen. So the killer did this and then wrote a three-page ransom note, just chilled the fuck out and wrote a note.
00:36:44
Yeah. Like who would do that? Right. And she was already dead in the basement from blunt force trauma.
00:36:51
She had blunt force trauma to her head, which would have killed her, but she was then strangled, which is what ended up killing her for real.
00:36:59
It's just so fucked up. So heavy. And the ransom note is incredible. Also the fact that there are children playing out in your alley right now so we can hear her screaming.
00:37:07
I wonder if you can hear that in the background. It's the perfect background. No, it's perfect.
00:37:12
It's good. Okay. It just was, I was like, why am I so uncomfortable right now? And I'm like, because there's a child screaming somewhere.
00:37:18
Oh, it's all so wrong. It's so upsetting. Go listen to the, I know you hate this, but listen to the 911 call.
00:37:25
I can't do it. Yeah. Is it Patsy? It's Patsy freaking the fuck out. But the wording in her call, and if you like, listen to it and listen to the interpretation.
00:37:33
Like, she's saying everything wrong. Like what? Like, she's not saying, my daughter is missing.
00:37:39
She's saying, we have a kidnapping. Like, she's not taking personal responsibility for what's going, like, for what is happening to her or her daughter.
00:37:47
Right. She's kind of making it more generalized. She's setting up a story, it sounds like.
00:37:52
Yeah. And there's all these interpretations people say about not asking for help.
00:37:57
They're saying for her daughter, she's begging for someone to deal with it instead of asking for help for her daughter.
00:38:06
Yeah. And then there's like people say that one of the ways you know they're lying is because they said that their son who was like 10 was asleep upstairs until like after the police had got there.
00:38:15
But in the background with analysis with the 911 call, you can hear his voice. Oh.
00:38:20
Yeah. And there's just all these little things. Oh, so it could be like some family event took place.
00:38:28
Yeah. And this was like the cleanup version. Well, another weird thing is that, so they found pineapple during the autopsy in her stomach
00:38:35
that she had eaten before she died because it hadn't been digested. And there was a bowl of pineapple
00:38:41
with a spoon in it on the table and the son's fingerprints were on the bowl. But the parents said that they put her right to bed
00:38:48
when they got home from a Christmas party that night. That's the thing. It happened on Christmas Eve.
00:38:54
Yeah. Or Christmas. Yeah. Christmas Eve. Yeah. Yeah. Because that's why there was no good cops.
00:38:59
Right. All the good cops were at home having Christmas. All the good cops weren't living in Boulder, Colorado.
00:39:03
Right. Yeah. And then, okay, the other weird thing in the ransom note, okay, so these people are billionaires.
00:39:11
Yeah. And the killer asked for the ransom. They made it look like a kidnapping, which is why they're with the ransom note.
00:39:16
They asked for $118,000 as the ransom, which like poor people, like that's a lot of money.
00:39:22
That's not a lot of money. But also that's a very specific amount. And it's also the amount that John Ramsey had been given as a Christmas bonus that year.
00:39:32
Do you think they were trying to set it up to make it look like someone knew that and that's why it was such a specific number?
00:39:39
Yes. Like they were trying to lead people away from themselves. Yes, definitely.
00:39:43
Wow. Well, the whole note does that too. And then, but the other weird thing I think we talked about this is that when they were doing sample handwritings of the mom and dad, so Patsy Ramsey, who's the mother, was how to rewrite the note.
00:39:56
And instead of writing $118,000 numerically, she wrote out $118,000. Like, who the fuck does that?
00:40:04
Like, that's so stupid. Obviously, you're trying to mask something. Unless she loves calligraphy and that's her thing.
00:40:11
Well, they basically, a bunch of handwriting analysis said that it's her handwriting.
00:40:15
Really? Without a doubt. Really? Yeah. But then I've read other stuff that it's his as well.
00:40:22
Even then, though, if it's like some kind of in-family murder, whoever wrote the note doesn't mean that's the killer.
00:40:30
It's just that it's collusion. Exactly. Is that the right way to use that word? Yeah.
00:40:36
Well, let us know. Tell us. Correct us. I'm going to throw out stuff like that because it feels good in my brain.
00:40:44
It felt good. When you said it, I was like, yeah, she's right. That's collusion, goddammit.
00:40:47
And they're like, that's actually a rare alcohol from Fiji. I'll have a collusion on the rocks, please.
00:40:55
I just love the story because I'm equally convinced that it's one of the parents,
00:41:00
that it's both of the parents, that it's the son, but I don't think it's anyone outside the family.
00:41:05
Now, what's the deal with the son? So the son was like, I think he was 10. He had hit her with a golf club in the past in the face, but it was an accident supposedly.
00:41:19
People all over the, you know, I don't know if you know this, but people on the internet have theories and talk about them.
00:41:23
Oh, yeah. So people's theories are that it was him. He hit her over the head with like a golf club or something, which is because she has blunt force trauma from being hit with something.
00:41:31
Yeah. So then maybe she was dying and one of the parents killed her to make, and then set it up to make it look like a kidnapping and a murder so that the son wouldn't get in trouble for it.
00:41:42
But, I mean, talk about picking a favorite child. Yeah. That's a little... He never got, he didn't get spoken to by the police for a month.
00:41:53
And when he did it was like quick nothing Right But he so young I don know I remember reading that they after the first night where the cops had never been cops before showed up to not secure the scene then whatever they talked to them about that night
00:42:10
they, the Patsy and John, right, John? John, yeah. They also weren't interviewed for a month.
00:42:15
No. They had so much time to rehearse what their story would be. And lock it all down.
00:42:21
I mean, just the fact that like they had searched the house multiple times over.
00:42:25
And finally, we're like, sent John, the father, to go search the house just to give him something to do.
00:42:31
And he goes into the secret wine room off the weird basement and happens to find her after eight hours of the cops having been there.
00:42:42
Grabs her body, takes the tape off of her mouth and brings her upstairs, thus ruining any DNA evidence that you could have used.
00:42:51
Yeah. And then Patsy throws herself on the body. She did. Yeah. So the DNA shit is just fucked.
00:42:59
I mean, that's all guilty. Is it though? I kind of wonder though, like. I don't know.
00:43:07
Would you? Well, hard to say. I don't think I would throw myself onto the body of a dead child.
00:43:17
No, no. I mean, I don't know. Let's try it. Hard to say. Let's reenact this. Let's have a child.
00:43:25
Okay. And let's have it murdered. Six years from now. I just can't, the idea of like a real quick problem solve.
00:43:33
Okay, junior messed up again, this guy. Boys will be boys. I'm going to strangle her to death.
00:43:40
Yeah. Yeah. It's so much. It's such an over solve. It's a big from A to B. Plus, wouldn't you want your fucking psychopath kid who ruined your prize,
00:43:51
daughter to get in trouble for that? Some people don't. I don't know. I mean, yeah,
00:43:57
that's where that theory falls apart for me. She is clearly the prize pony. Right, which is why maybe he wanted to
00:44:03
kill her. Of course. So I see them covering note-wise and bad 911 call-wise and all that. Just not killing her.
00:44:14
But not the killing. Maybe they didn't know she wasn't dead yet, so they put that over
00:44:17
her. No, she was breathing. I don't know. I mean, we're not going to solve it tonight.
00:44:22
Are we? Oh, I thought that's what this podcast was. I mean, let's not even talk about the underwear she had on, the weird underwear she had on,
00:44:28
that they found DNA on it that didn't match the family. It was not the brother's DNA?
00:44:32
No. That she was sexually assaulted, but they also said that it looked like it had been, you know, over a period of time.
00:44:41
It wasn't even like that night she was sexually assaulted. It was like, this is something that's been happening for a long time.
00:44:49
So here's where we'd give you some updates if the case has any. Unfortunately, as you definitely know, this case doesn't have any. It's still cold. It's still being looked into. But, you know, there's really no new findings.
00:45:02
I mean, if anything, it does have the feeling on par with Jack the Ripper, where the theories, the stuff is starting to pile up, the accusations, then people getting cleared.
00:45:15
Like, I remember, wasn't Patsy and the father cleared? Yes, by the DA. Recently or something?
00:45:23
Yeah, but it was so sketchy. Oh, was it? Yeah. But it was after her death, right?
00:45:26
Yeah, I think so. And it was- Here we go again, speculating. Jesus Christ. Nothing's changed.
00:45:31
This is like it's fucking we're trying to give ourselves a take two and we can't even do it.
00:45:36
This is what we'll comment on in eight and a half years when we're commenting on the commenting on.
00:45:40
Jesus Christ. Oh, my God. Anyway, but point point being the frustration of those kinds of cases where the more people talk about it, the less people seem to know.
00:45:50
Yeah. And the more like just theories and, you know, info you get that gets thrown in, the more muddled it gets somehow in a way that it'll never get solved.
00:45:59
Well, and also just saying that, being aware of saying that where it's like people giving their opinion.
00:46:04
Yeah. You know, I don't believe in the owl theory or whatever. Right. That's opinion.
00:46:08
But people do in true crime, of course, take it so far where it's like, no, they did it.
00:46:14
It's this surety of the conversation, I think, is the thing that it ends up really screwing people in the end.
00:46:23
Which, again, is why we constantly reminded people we don't know what we're talking about.
00:46:28
watch the documentary and sometimes the documentary doesn't know what they're talking about
00:46:32
so i mean and sometimes we'll learn in life no one knows what they're fucking talking about right
00:46:36
so we're about to go into my story here here's the thing a plus to us for structure on this thing
00:46:43
the structure of this show makes sense yeah it's so workable it's we stuck to it that's really that
00:46:49
is funny that we never had to make a structure change no because it was so this scaffolding was
00:46:53
solid from day fucking one you tell me i tell you that's like it and it's a surprise
00:46:58
Yeah. Fun times. Always. For my story, I covered the East Area Rapist. I think it was before Michelle's article where she renamed him the Golden State Killer. Am I right about that?
00:47:10
Yeah. I mean, this is just so eerie that you covered this case and there's so much. I mean, there's so much that happened after you covered it.
00:47:18
Yeah. These are two cases where yours, nothing's ever happened. And mine, it got solved. It got solved. Michelle McNamara wrote a book about this case, a very incredible Los Angeles magazine article about this case, renaming D'Angelo the Golden State Killer.
00:47:42
Paul Holes gets introduced into the storyline. And then, as we all know, Michelle passed away, I think it was about three months after this episode came out.
00:47:53
Yeah. And then Joseph James D'Angelo was captured and arrested a little over two years after this episode came out.
00:48:00
Yeah. Wild. So wild. And something no one ever imagined. I mean, I think that looking back,
00:48:07
that piece of looking back is so incredibly satisfying. What if we could make a podcast
00:48:12
where you could look back on all of them and be like, and then it got solved. That's the...
00:48:16
So satisfying. It's kind of the point. I think people are in here going, hey, this is important. These people have to be... We're talking about serial killers, people who
00:48:28
who have to be found. Yeah. Their cases need to be solved so those people don't get to walk around
00:48:35
killing people serially anymore. And I think this is kind of the biggest example of that too.
00:48:41
So yeah. Incredible. Yeah. Here we go. Hey everyone, it's Cal Penn. I'm the host of Earsay,
00:48:53
the Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club. This week on the podcast, I'm sitting down with Ray Porter, the narrator of Andy Weir's audiobook Project Hail Mary,
00:49:04
massive sci-fi adventure about survival and science and what happens when you wake up alone very far from earth.
00:49:12
I really had to make a decision because I caught myself getting that frog in my throat and starting to get teary
00:49:18
as I'm narrating some of these sections and it's like, okay, yo, yo, yo, is this indulgent?
00:49:22
And I really thought about it. I was like, no, at this point, it would kind of be betraying the trust the author and the listener have in telling this story if I don't go through it.
00:49:32
But there's places in this book that deeply emotionally affected me. And I left it on the mic.
00:49:38
That's great. Because it served the story. People will say like, oh, my God, I cried at the end.
00:49:43
It's like, yeah, dude, me too. Listen to Earsay, the Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:49:52
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00:51:21
data accurate as of 2020 26 hey karen yeah what's your favorite murder my favorite murder can you
00:51:29
write a ballad for this talk can you write like a totally i'll do like um kind of a hang them high
00:51:34
like murder ballad about yes that actually makes me i really don't like those songs those like old
00:51:40
Appalachian country songs where it's like, I murdered a lady in the thing. I just had to kill her.
00:51:45
It's always just like, well, she done me wrong. I just had to hang her high or it's like,
00:51:49
fuck you. Sing about her parents and how bum they are. Sing about someone rising up and shooting you
00:51:54
in the back of the shotgun as you go to do it because you're a jerk. Anyhow, mine isn't about that.
00:52:01
Mine is about a serial killer that some call the original Night Stalker and others call
00:52:08
the East Area Rapist. Yeah. So this is a guy that was a rapist in Sacramento in the mid to late 70s.
00:52:18
And I went to college in Sacramento. Oh, my God. And it's a it's the strangest place.
00:52:27
It's a floodplain and it's the capital of the state. And it's very hot most of the time.
00:52:32
It's kind of like Wild West almost. Yeah. it feels there's a real like uh it doesn't feel like california at all yeah and there's almost
00:52:41
no culture whatsoever it's like it's a lot of taco bells next to shell stations over and over
00:52:48
underneath power lines and maybe that was just the experience i was having there because i went
00:52:53
to college there and i flunked out of college a year and a half in failed terribly um but
00:53:01
anytime I would drive around, I'd be like, this place is the worst. Everything just seemed
00:53:06
scary and awful to me. Sounds like a nightmare. And then the surrounding suburbs, like Citrus
00:53:12
Heights and these kind of like outline and this area where this East Area Rapist
00:53:17
was going nuts for years has this very like sinister, it's like nice on the outside, but something weird
00:53:26
is going on feeling. Everything is beige. Everything's beige. That's where I grew up in
00:53:30
Orange County in Irvine. Beige. And actually, I think he came to Irvine. He did.
00:53:34
That was second half. That's right. So he started out as the East Area Rapist and he wasn't killing people yet.
00:53:39
He was just raping women. He was breaking into houses. So he did the thing. He did the recon the day before.
00:53:47
Oftentimes people would say, we heard something on the roof and we didn't even look.
00:53:51
Oh my God. That's why I brought that thing up earlier. He would also break into the houses and look around do stuff in the houses while they weren there sometimes he would hide rope under the couch cushions and have stuff ready So they ready So he was all ready
00:54:05
Oh my God. That made me want to throw up. Yeah. He was sinister. And then, so basically then he would break into their house the night of, turn the light
00:54:18
on. The couple would be sleeping. That's what troubles me the most about this. Is that he would do it to couples.
00:54:24
So he would flash a flashlight in their eyes, tell them to wake up. He'd have a gun on them.
00:54:28
He'd have his ski mask. And then he would tell the woman to tie up the man. Then he would go to the kitchen and get a stack of dishes and bring it back and stick it on the man's back.
00:54:38
And then he would say to the man, if I hear these dishes move, I will kill both of you.
00:54:44
Then he'd take the woman usually. I think it was like half and half, but I think most of the time he would take the woman out into the front room.
00:54:50
and he would tie her up there and rape her while the husband could hear in the bedroom.
00:54:56
Sometimes he would do it there. And then, so in the beginning, he was just raping the women and leaving both of them.
00:55:03
And he also, while he was doing it, he would talk in a high pitched voice to himself.
00:55:08
To himself? Which is, just think of it, just think of, so you're already in this like crazed panic, right?
00:55:13
I mean, this is what I do with all these stories is I just, even for a second, try to put yourself in a picture.
00:55:19
Oh, I'm there. I'm there right now. So you're jolted out of sleep to this weird, like, what the fuck?
00:55:27
And then it's like, someone is talking like this. You know what I mean? Like, there was one thing I just read where he said he was repeating to himself,
00:55:35
I'm going to kill them. I'm going to kill them. Like, chanting it to himself as he was tying them up.
00:55:41
Fuck, no. So he seems, there's also a phone call with him. He left a victim a message a week later.
00:55:48
And I have not listened to it. Is it there? Can you listen? You can listen to it.
00:55:52
I think, because whose wife just wrote a really amazing article about that? Michelle McNamara.
00:55:57
It's Patton Oswalt's wife. She is such a fucking badass. She wrote the best article about it, and I had never heard of it before.
00:56:03
Yeah, she has an amazing blog. We will look it up and tell you. It has the word murder in it.
00:56:11
But if you put Michelle McNamara in the Google search and murder blog, it'll come up.
00:56:17
Also, don't kill me for calling. I don't mean to call her someone's wife. That's not who she is.
00:56:21
She's more than that. She's clearly so much more. Right. That's right. Yeah. But this is how you know her.
00:56:27
But I know about this serial killer because there's, you know, it's funny when you're like,
00:56:33
when you follow this and then it's like, you see one story that's on forensic files or something
00:56:37
and then you see it and you piece it together where it's like these, the later murders were
00:56:43
reported first on shows like that, like 2020. Yeah. So it was like the murders in Goleta and Ventura and Dana Point.
00:56:51
Yeah. And then separately, they would report on the East Area Rapist that was this ridiculous.
00:56:58
He had 50, over 50 rape victims and 10 murder victims. And they never caught him.
00:57:06
That's what's okay. So here's the thing. They never fought. And you know, I was, they said that maybe he was a construction worker.
00:57:12
Right. Yeah. Because he had really intimate knowledge of how these houses and their backyards were set up.
00:57:18
Right. And they did find a map once that was hand drawn. But when he would get caught or people, anytime there was a close call, because he liked to mess around and like almost get caught or like do really dangerous things.
00:57:31
So there would be a neighbor that would like flip on a light and be like, hey. And then they would watch him run and vault like backyard fences and stuff.
00:57:39
Like he was in crazy good shape. Yeah. And he was like, he, I think, fancied himself a cat burglar, but then also clearly just was, you know, yeah.
00:57:51
But the, so the creepiest thing, my favorite creepy thing is they, there were so many rapes that were happening in Sacramento that they had a town meeting, like a community meeting.
00:58:07
You know he was there, right? Well, yeah, that's. Tell me, tell me, tell me. So, and this, somebody took a picture of it for the paper.
00:58:14
No. So they have a group shot of this town meeting. And it's the cops saying, this is what's happening.
00:58:22
This is the MO. Look out for this. If you hear something, report it, report it. Look, you know, all that kind of stuff.
00:58:29
If you see weird people walking. Oh, because also there was never a car found anywhere near the scene.
00:58:33
He either walked, jogged, rode a bike, or did something parked far away. because and the couple times there was a guy walking a dog but every time they described the
00:58:44
guy as looking white and like fit and normal like it's that kind of thing um where they it's the
00:58:52
person who can fit in and is totally fitting in and being like a weird murder cuttlefish fitting
00:58:58
in and then disappearing yeah so but my favorite thing is so they had this town meeting and at one
00:59:04
point the cops are just saying this is happening and people are really angry because it's so many
00:59:09
it's like in the 30s at this point and this man stands up and says i don't think you're telling us
00:59:14
everything we need to know i don't think this is even possible how can a man break into another
00:59:20
man's home and and that man has his wife raped right in front of him and he does nothing that's
00:59:24
impossible two weeks later that man and his wife no yes that was his wife was raped by the east
00:59:33
area rapist two weeks later. So they know for a fact he was there. So there's a photo and it's
00:59:39
like everyone identified in it except for one. No, because it's like such a large group photo.
00:59:43
It's like the photographer was standing on the stage in like a, you know, a high school auditorium
00:59:49
look. So there's just, it's, it's really awesome because a lot of times on specials, they'll just
00:59:54
take that time to scan that photo and every face in the photo looks guilty Every face is the scariest thing you ever seen It crazy That so crazy Yeah there like a sketch of him
01:00:06
And I'm like, whose dad is that? Because that guy was young in the 70s, right? Yeah.
01:00:11
It's probably someone's fucking dad now. Yeah, or even grandpa. Grandpa, some mom's boyfriend.
01:00:18
Horrifying. Horrifying. And the thing that he, like his serious problem with couples.
01:00:23
Yeah. And like needing to degrade the man and rape the woman. There's like, there's so much there.
01:00:29
Because that makes it so much harder. The crime's so much harder. So he's clearly specifically doing it for a reason.
01:00:35
Yeah. And he's doing it so much. Like he just did it and kept on doing it. It was just a thing that was happening in Sacramento for years.
01:00:44
And then he, so it was like 76 is when he started the summer of 76. And then I think it went on for two years in Sacramento.
01:00:53
Then he went to the East Bay. And then somewhere, I think he went down further, Visalia, because they think that's where he started.
01:01:00
They called him the Visalia Ransacker. Oh, my God. Which is like central. It's weird that they're both called the Night Stalker, though.
01:01:07
I know. Because it was pre... Richard Ramirez. Yeah. But it was like, that's really what he was doing.
01:01:16
Because he would go and scope it out beforehand. Right, right. But he just wasn't famous.
01:01:20
And he basically kind of disappeared. then when those other those same MO murders
01:01:25
rapes and murders were happening down here that's when they finally put it together
01:01:31
and there was finally like they say that that case in the 70s is why they started
01:01:36
developing the DNA database in California because they were going so crazy about not being able
01:01:42
to find him so they could all link them together yeah I think it happened it happened in Irvine
01:01:45
in like the early 80s I think when I lived there when I was a baby oh yeah and he's still around.
01:01:52
He could potentially still be around. Is he still murdering? Is he still killing?
01:01:55
Not that anybody knows. Not in that way. Not like he, you know, he would tie people up with very special knots.
01:02:02
Michelle McNamara wrote these amazing articles. If you want to know more about it,
01:02:08
like she's gone into it in such a detail. It was in LA Magazine. She had an article in LA Magazine and she has
01:02:15
a ton of stuff on her website. I just want to know. I just want to know the answer.
01:02:21
I think that for all these things, and it's funny that we're both talking about murders that are unsolved.
01:02:27
Yeah. Because I just want to know, I want the problem solved. Yes. Like, what's the answer to the riddle?
01:02:34
And you want there to be a better policing system. Right. Where this doesn't happen so often.
01:02:41
Yeah. It's so easy to point to, like, well, what did they do wrong? And it's so easy to point to it.
01:02:45
And you hope that that doesn't happen anymore. Right. But it is. Because this was back in the 70s where they intentionally withheld information if they were like crossing counties.
01:02:55
And it was all that weird police politics that I think they, you know, they know better now and they don't do anymore.
01:03:01
But God, it's like the dark ages. Here's one thing coming back out of that. Here's one thing I'm going to say about all of the stories you're about to hear for the first, I don't know, maybe 30 episodes.
01:03:17
um well less than that i would think yeah but for this we were just talking there was nothing
01:03:23
written down wasn't research there was it was not not even not researched it was just
01:03:29
like i'll i'll remember what i know about this which is the ego of that is insane yeah it's also
01:03:36
like here are the things about this case that's made it stuck in my mind but not the details
01:03:42
Right. Not dates. And that was a very important, and we learned that one very quickly, which is like within a couple, the feedback where it's like, these are real people.
01:03:53
These are real cases. If you're going to talk about them, give the respect. And it was like, oh my God, you're so right. We were just kind of like having a chat.
01:04:04
But you're right. Don't be citing these cases incorrectly or not knowing people's victims' names, all of it.
01:04:13
And that was like that kind of thing where you're like, oh, of course. I'm so embarrassed. Yes, of course.
01:04:18
I've got to slap some respect on this. And also not citing sources. Thank God we started doing that regularly.
01:04:24
You can't have sources if you don't have a document you're reading off of. And so at least the source, you know, Michelle McNamara was the source for me being able to retell this story.
01:04:36
But yeah, the source lesson we learned soon after this, where there's so much material in the true crime world that floats around.
01:04:46
And that is the hard work of journalists that have broken those stories and chased down those stories and put the book or the article or whatever together.
01:04:55
And that's the kind of thing, you know, as a professional television writer, I was very embarrassed by that.
01:05:02
I was just like, oh, right. Yeah. This has all been made possible by the journalists and the writers that have collected these stories already or the TV producers.
01:05:13
Right. Totally. The one thing we do really get right here is like this professional thing we do at the end, basically setting this thing up of like, hey, audience, play ball with us.
01:05:26
Yeah. Which was, as we've said a million times, that's the magic sauce. The audience being in this conversation with us.
01:05:34
Definitely. Yeah. We got really lucky. so lucky that my personal email address that I gave out originally still gets hometowns sent to
01:05:43
it that's like how new we were I was like send them to my email address here it is and I like
01:05:49
don't I don't visit that email address anymore it's like a wasteland of like you know ads and
01:05:53
weird shit probably the weirdest shit yeah so funny yeah now it uh you can call Georgia at her home number 818 So this is the part of our podcast where we want to hear your stories
01:06:08
You tell us what you, what horrible things you love. And why. Yeah, we want to hear about your like crazy fucked up crime story from your town or that you encountered or that happened to you.
01:06:19
And we want to hear in your own words. Be honest. Be honest. Email them to... myfavoritemurderatgmail.com.
01:06:27
If you spell that wrong, it's your own damn fault. At Gmail. And then we'll also record other people that we're friends with
01:06:33
telling their stories too. Because everybody has a story about some fucked up thing
01:06:38
that happened in their town. Totally. That they're kind of obsessed with. And if it's not, it doesn't have to be murder, murder.
01:06:44
No, no, no, no, no. Just be a creepy, what's creepy? Yeah. Fucked up story. Yeah.
01:06:49
That you can't tell certain people at parties. Yeah. because certain people will walk away
01:06:52
with like a weird white face and rolling their eyes at you. This is a safe space for you.
01:06:57
Yeah. Thanks for listening, everyone. Guys, this was the first one. You guys, our very first favorite murder.
01:07:04
But not the last. No. These Rewind episodes are going to be insane. They really got into their lawsuit era
01:07:15
at that moment. It was crazy. Since it's our lawsuit era, Should we talk about how when people demand that we speak online, we never can because of contracts?
01:07:27
Yeah. Because we understand that you want us to come and explain everything. Oh, and we want to.
01:07:33
Make it right for you. And we really wish we could. And actually, in 20 years, when we write the tell-all book, you will know.
01:07:42
And you know what we're talking about. And I would like to thank, there's always one lawyer murderino in the comments going,
01:07:49
Like, guys, they might not be able to talk about it. Yeah. And it's like, oh, my God, scream that, please.
01:07:55
Please put it at the top. You know us. How much shit do we talk on a regular fucking basis?
01:07:59
Literally not allowed to talk about any of it. Like, oh, God, you guys. Yeah. Ask us in person.
01:08:05
I mean, you know, we are no strangers to controversy. As most people who have listened to this podcast know, there's been a lot of shit that's gone down.
01:08:14
Eight and a half years, it's like kind of hard to avoid. Eight and a half years of talking about stuff people do not want two women to be talking about.
01:08:23
Being very opinionated. But there is one thing we do really want to say that we kind of aren't allowed to say, but we do want to say to you guys.
01:08:32
Sure. And yeah, there's a few things that we wish we could just blur and talk about and rewind about.
01:08:38
Yeah. If we could go over all the real details in detail, the way people we know have wanted us to in the past, we would love it more than anything else.
01:08:49
That's for our second memoir. Okay. So at the end of every episode, we thought it would be fun to do something that we do now that we never thought of doing.
01:08:57
Because instead we named these episodes number puns for some fucking reason. Now we name them after something silly that was said in the episode or something.
01:09:09
Yeah. No one wanted to do the number pun work anymore after I think 26. A long time.
01:09:15
Longer than it should have been. It went on forever. And I just want to say, I don't think it was my idea because it's puns.
01:09:22
That's true. It probably wasn't. But you were there with me while we were making them up for sure.
01:09:26
Look, I signed on just saying. We tried. But on our main show, at the end of every record, our producer Alejandra reads us a list of phrases that we said that could be funny that could serve as the show's title.
01:09:41
Yeah. So we thought it'd be fun if Alejandra read us some suggestions of what the title could be if we were doing the new version of title right now.
01:09:51
Right. What currently would we name this if it wasn't the stupid fucking number pun?
01:09:54
Well, don't shit on the number pun. What would we think if it wasn't the number pun?
01:09:59
So Alejandra, let us know the weird shit we've said through this episode. All right, here we go.
01:10:05
Cozy and comfy. Georgia, when you were just laying down on your couch, getting ready.
01:10:10
Swirling a brandy. Karen also getting comfy. I love this topic. And that's why we're friends.
01:10:16
And that's just you guys talking about true crime at the top. Shoulder grab moment.
01:10:21
When you both were at the party talking about the staircase. An owl did it. that's exactly right
01:10:28
that's the first time we said it oh my god and then collusion on the rocks that's the one
01:10:34
see whichever one of us starts fucking busting up laughing that's the title we're gonna skip
01:10:42
that's exactly right and go to collusion on the rocks that's what this episode will be called
01:10:48
right? it's a good one well thanks for rewinding with us you guys hopefully some new people have come
01:10:55
done a little, this is like a flight of a podcast. We're giving her a taste test
01:11:00
of all the different flavors that are in this podcast. Yeah. There's many more flavors.
01:11:05
You can go listen to the full episode if you want. Yeah, trust us when we tell you
01:11:08
that if you listen to this episode and then you listen to the most current episode,
01:11:12
you won't be lost. No. Yeah. And all of the sound is a little better, but it's about it.
01:11:18
It's a lot better. Yeah. And if you think that the phrases that we've come up with,
01:11:24
like you're in a cult, call your dad. If you don't know the source of that, therefore that's going to create confusion for you.
01:11:30
It's absolutely not. No. I don't even remember why I said it. I think it was something about.
01:11:35
Yeah, it was Johnstown. And I always thought like, I remember. It was Johnstown?
01:11:39
Yeah. Really? Yeah. Stay out of the forest. That's another episode. I mean. We just say it.
01:11:44
We talk a lot of shit. That's the thing. That's right. And so you know. And then we didn't, I went,
01:11:50
I don't know when we started saying our fucking sign off, but. I think we said at the end of this that we needed sign-offs and then we just made shit up off the top of our head
01:11:59
Yeah, alright Right. Well, then should we button this up? Let's do it. OK. Thanks for listening to Rewind.
01:12:04
Yeah, we appreciate you guys. Stay sexy. And don't get murdered. Goodbye. Goodbye.
01:12:09
Whoa. Oh, my God. Can we keep that in? Oh, no. Yeah. Elvis, do you want a cookie?
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Episode Highlights

  • Reflecting on the Journey
    Karen and Georgia reflect on their podcast's beginnings and the unexpected impact it had.
    “We had no idea what was going to happen.”
    @ 03m 06s
    June 26, 2024
  • The Power of Vulnerability
    They discuss how embracing vulnerability shaped their podcast and their connection with listeners.
    “Vulnerability at a rave.”
    @ 12m 12s
    June 26, 2024
  • The Handwriting Mystery
    Patsy Ramsey's unusual way of writing the ransom amount raises eyebrows. "Like, who the fuck does that?"
    @ 40m 02s
    June 26, 2024
  • Family Dynamics in Tragedy
    The discussion turns to the son and the implications of family involvement in the crime. "But, I mean, talk about picking a favorite child."
    @ 41m 42s
    June 26, 2024
  • The East Area Rapist's Tactics
    The chilling methods of the East Area Rapist reveal a sinister pattern of behavior. "He would also break into the houses and look around..."
    @ 53m 42s
    June 26, 2024
  • The Town Meeting Incident
    A man who questioned the police's narrative becomes a victim himself, highlighting the rapist's audacity. "Two weeks later that man and his wife..."
    @ 59m 33s
    June 26, 2024
  • The Visalia Ransacker
    A notorious figure in California's crime history, he was active in the 70s and 80s.
    “They called him the Visalia Ransacker.”
    @ 01h 01m 00s
    June 26, 2024
  • The DNA Database Development
    The unsolved cases in the 70s led to the creation of California's DNA database.
    “They say that case in the 70s is why they started developing the DNA database.”
    @ 01h 01m 36s
    June 26, 2024
  • Michelle McNamara's Impact
    Her detailed articles shed light on unsolved murders and the importance of accurate storytelling.
    “Michelle McNamara wrote these amazing articles.”
    @ 01h 02m 02s
    June 26, 2024
  • The Importance of Respecting Victims
    A realization about the responsibility of discussing real cases and victims' names.
    “These are real people. If you're going to talk about them, give the respect.”
    @ 01h 03m 53s
    June 26, 2024
  • Audience Engagement
    The hosts emphasize the importance of audience interaction and sharing stories.
    “This is a safe space for you.”
    @ 01h 06m 51s
    June 26, 2024

Episode Quotes

  • It's an opportunity for you to grow and change.
    Rewind with Karen & Georgia - 1: My Firstest Murder
  • Vulnerability at a rave.
    Rewind with Karen & Georgia - 1: My Firstest Murder
  • That's collusion, goddammit.
    Rewind with Karen & Georgia - 1: My Firstest Murder
  • I mean, I don't know. Let's try it.
    Rewind with Karen & Georgia - 1: My Firstest Murder
  • I just want to know the answer.
    Rewind with Karen & Georgia - 1: My Firstest Murder
  • This was back in the 70s where they intentionally withheld information.
    Rewind with Karen & Georgia - 1: My Firstest Murder

Key Moments

  • Podcast Origins01:56
  • Unexpected Impact04:03
  • Personal Discoveries11:15
  • Vulnerability Discussion12:12
  • Handwriting Analysis40:11
  • Family Involvement41:05
  • Horrifying Crime1:00:18
  • Respect for Victims1:03:53

Tension Over Time

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown