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282 - MFM Guest Host Picks #5: Scotty Landes

July 08, 2021 /

This episode of My Favorite Murder features guest host Scotty Landis discussing early episodes of the podcast, focusing on the Oakland County Child Killings and the Martha Moxley murder.

Scotty Landis highlights the Oakland County Child Killings, detailing the horrific murders of four children in the late 1970s, including the circumstances surrounding their deaths and the investigation that followed. He mentions key figures such as Christopher Bush and Ted Lamborgine, who were linked to the case.

The conversation shifts to the Martha Moxley murder, where Landis discusses the 1975 killing of a 15-year-old girl in Greenwich, Connecticut. He explains the involvement of Michael Skakel, a neighbor, and the complexities of the case, including recent developments regarding Skakel's release.

Throughout the episode, Landis reflects on the connections between the two cases, the societal implications of wealth and privilege, and the emotional toll on the victims' families. The hosts emphasize the importance of discussing these stories in a lighthearted manner while acknowledging their tragic nature.

Listeners are encouraged to revisit early episodes of My Favorite Murder, as Landis shares his personal connection to the podcast and the community of murderinos.

TLDR

Scotty Landis discusses the Oakland County Child Killings and Martha Moxley's murder, highlighting their tragic stories and societal implications.

Episode

39:26
00:00:00
This is exactly right. of Family Secrets on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:00:36
When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, they take matters into their own hands.
00:00:44
I vowed I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves.
00:00:51
We always say that, trust your girlfriends. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe.
00:00:58
on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and iHeart Podcast presents Soccer Moms.
00:01:12
So I'm Leanne. Yeah. This is my best friend, Janet. Hey. And we have been joined at the hip since high school.
00:01:17
Absolutely. A redacted amount of years later, we're still joined at the hip. Just a little bit bigger hips.
00:01:22
This is a podcast. We're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey.
00:01:27
With all the snacks and drinks. Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer? Oh, they hit a BOGO.
00:01:33
Well, then you got them. Listen to Soccer Moms on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:01:40
Good morning, good day, good evening to all you murderinos. This is My Favorite Murder.
00:01:46
I am your guest host, Scotty Landis from the Bananas Podcast. Bananas Podcast, I won't get into it too much, but it's the exact opposite of what you love about My Favorite Murder.
00:01:57
We do not deal with death. We do not deal with dread or the darkness that creeps around every corner.
00:02:03
We leave that to the pod gods themselves, Karen and Georgia, the ultimate, ultimate true crime comedian specialist.
00:02:12
I was a day one murderino. I know many of you were as well. After listening to the first episode, my first two thoughts were, one, this is going to be a huge success.
00:02:22
And I texted Karen and in a very Karen-esque fashion, she returned the text with, really?
00:02:28
Do you really think so? Yes. Yes, I do. And two, I didn't know that Karen and Georgia knew each other.
00:02:35
I knew them both separately. And it was really fun to hear their friendship develop in real time over a shared love of
00:02:42
death and dread. I'm very honored to be here. I'm going to go way back with my stories because I like those early days.
00:02:51
There's a time and a place for bands, for comedians, for emerging artists, where they're just doing it for them.
00:02:59
It's an innocent time. It's before the big corporate sponsors. It's before all the pressure of the fans and the touring.
00:03:07
I like to think of this early era of My Favorite Murder as sort of the garage band for Karen and Georgia.
00:03:13
They didn't know there were other people out there who had the same dark interests they did.
00:03:18
But boy, were they wrong. You know it. I know it. And now here on Exactly Right. Let's get in to my picks for my favorite, my favorite murders.
00:03:30
welcome back thank you for listening you just heard karen's intro which is eerie and creepy
00:03:51
i've always loved her voice and that is why i decided for my first pick of my favorite
00:03:58
My Favorite Murder story to be the babysitter murderer, a.k.a. the Oakland County child killer from episode three.
00:04:06
This one goes way back, way back to January 2016. Like I said in my intro, I am interested in the relationship of the My Favorite Murder ladies.
00:04:16
And you can really hear it in this. It was an innocent time. They were naming their episodes puns.
00:04:22
How long can you possibly name episodes puns? Our favorite thirder? Fantastic. I love it, but very, very hard to do for 270 plus episodes of a show about death and kids getting killed and people disappearing and poisoning and drowning and fires.
00:04:39
Actually, as I'm saying that they should have stuck to pun titles. So why did I pick this story?
00:04:46
Well, it's an early story that I feel encapsulates the thing that you murderinos love most dead children.
00:04:54
Of course, I'm kidding. It's about serial killers. It has KFC in it, oddly. There's a private porn island.
00:05:01
It's rich versus poor. You name it. This, to me, is what drew all of us in. We wanted to hear more.
00:05:10
And their lighthearted take on something very serious helps all of us. You can also hear Karen in Georgia feeling this greater sense of relief, sharing these things with each other and finding another person who is as fascinated and obsessed with it.
00:05:25
It was a dark secret that a lot of us have. And as they're telling this to each other and kind of building each other up, it's the momentum of the storytelling that really drew me in.
00:05:35
So this is before stay sexy, don't get murdered. This is before they had corners.
00:05:40
This is before Steven, before their meteoric rise. This is simply two very smart, very funny women becoming friends over other people's deaths.
00:05:50
And what's better than that, really? To me a day one murderino this story is pure MFM What your favorite murder Karen My favorite murder this week is uh one that i was so i been so excited to talk about because i this was one of those ones where i went deep
00:06:08
wikipedia one night alone and had no it was too late at night and often there are not very many
00:06:14
friends i have that i can be like guess what guess guess what about these children that were murdered
00:06:19
in the late 70s. Yeah. Not until I met you. Yeah. We're the only people that won't text back.
00:06:26
Are you okay? Are you doing okay? What's really going on? Yeah. So there were these, four kids were murdered in Oakland County, Michigan in the late 70s.
00:06:39
And this whole case was called the Oakland County Child Killings. Sounds fucking awesome already.
00:06:47
Right? so they found a 12 year old boy kidnapped and raped and smothered and that was the first one
00:06:54
um and uh then like a week later at these i i didn't write down i didn't do my super accurate
00:07:03
homework but if people are coming here for facts they're in the wrong fucking place yeah and also
00:07:07
i it's all off wikipedia so you can get it and really really enjoy it for yourself firsthand but
00:07:12
essentially all 11 and 12 year old children and so it goes a boy and then a girl a 12 year old
00:07:20
girl was found kidnapped not raped right bathed fed and then shot point blank and left in the snow
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how was the first kid killed uh straight uh smothered smothered that so those aren't the
00:07:34
same murderer probably well right they don't they don't i they probably didn't connect them then okay
00:07:41
But then the third kid, who was an 11-year-old boy, who was kidnapped, and so he was gone for, like, he disappeared.
00:07:53
And so on, say, the seventh day or whatever, the parents went on the news and said,
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please, you know, bring him home so we can give him his favorite dinner, Kentucky Fried Chicken.
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You know, the thing they do to personalize. And the next day, they found his body.
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don't tell me he had kentucky fried chicken in his belly rape smothered with kentucky fried
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chicken left in his belly no exactly what you didn't want to hear oh my god and he was also
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washed uh like the girl was his nails were trimmed his uh clothes were spotless they were washed and
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pressed and his body was still warm when they found him so that's when they knew something
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super terrible was happening oh my god and then the last girl uh was 11 and she was she disappeared
00:08:46
she was kidnapped and then she was found murdered so the girls were not sexually interfered with
00:08:52
and the boys were raped yeah um so that was just that was like a big thing that happened and they
00:08:59
called they so after they got all that information they called him the babysitter killer which is
00:09:04
it's fucked up and almost sweet to him because the way he treated the because the way he well
00:09:10
because the way he left them which kind of implies the way he treated them was nice except for we all
00:09:17
know that's not true and imagine um because he kept them for a while which is a lot but the
00:09:24
nightmare part alive alive so yeah so that's horrifying so i feel like but when you're alive
00:09:32
there's some chance of escape like there's some hope left yes well while it's still happening
00:09:37
for sure yeah but then it's just that thing of like uh it's the it goes to the total insanity and
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and i don't know depravity i wish i knew the difference yes depravity for sure but like
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when you're really psychotic or whatever where you're keeping the thing you're going to murder
00:10:00
Like, you know, this is all the plan. And so you're keeping a child like a pet or whatever.
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It's just beyond. But when they started looking at the suspects that were around Oakland County, one of the people and this is this is where I went down the hole.
00:10:19
One of the people that was a suspect was like a 24 year old rich kid. And his name.
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Shit, I'm not going to find it. Dang it. uh christopher bush okay so his father was like either the gm or the vice president of
00:10:40
of one of the huge motor companies wait it might have been gm and his father was the vice president
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of gm or one of those ones yeah hugely rich he was always in this big mansion by himself
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his parents were always like working or on vacation or whatever and there was a constant
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stream of young boys coming in and out of the house why because he was a child monster so he
00:11:02
was paying kids oh my god to come over and whatever and so he got arrested for um sexual
00:11:09
assault and child molestation several times like he was a known pedophile how the fuck those people
00:11:15
stay out because he was rich so his they always bought him out of jail and cleared him and whatever
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and tried to do stuff. So they went and found him and started looking through his room
00:11:28
and looking through all his stuff. And they thought that they found a picture of one of the boys,
00:11:34
I think it was supposed to be Tim, the third one, screaming, like a drawing of him with his hoodie on
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because I think they said he was found in a hoodie or something. So it was a picture of him with the hoodie
00:11:46
looking like he was in total terror. But they don't know for sure that that's who the face was,
00:11:52
but that's what he looked like. And so it was like, it was the circumstantial evidence That such a small thing to go on though Yeah And they were trying to put all that together But apparently his room was really messy and filled with all kinds of creepy stuff And then one of the things that they connected because apparently so that kid Christopher Bush
00:12:10
they confiscated eight rolls of film in his room. And it was all kiddie porn. Holy shit.
00:12:17
And then they find out, and this is the thing that stuff like this is what makes me so fascinated.
00:12:25
It piques my interest in it. It's probably the writer in me where it's like, this is such a good story, separate from tragedy or whatever.
00:12:33
They figure out that there is an island. So I guess there's like an island chain up way north in the peninsula area of Michigan.
00:12:43
And one of them is called North Fox Island. and it's uh it was empty they thought and they find out that there is a christian boys camp a
00:12:53
there's a camp like saint somebody's for uh wayward boys on north fox island the only way
00:13:01
to get on or off the island is by plane there's one airstrip down the center of it and that when
00:13:08
they go to investigate the this island uh they find out that they had set up this fake boys camp
00:13:16
to get um boys uh like poor children who would sign up for a place like that so it was like this
00:13:23
free thing like come and they were all being used in kitty porn it was just a kitty porn ring it was
00:13:29
a kitty porn ring so when they showed up that's what was happening and it was a nightmare i mean
00:13:34
like that's like a that's like a friday the 13th freddy krueger nightmare movie right there which
00:13:41
part of it do you obsess about the idea that these boys would be there thinking they get to go to camp
00:13:47
and what that turns into and the nightmare that it would be on that island yeah and also then
00:13:54
when they go back because someone i was talking to somebody about that and they're like why wouldn't
00:13:58
they say anything and i was like i bet you these were the kids they were probably getting kids out
00:14:02
of juvie or in situations where they don't have their foster kids or like the most underrepresented
00:14:08
and they're already wayward so no one believes these little shits exactly so much trouble right
00:14:13
or they're paid i bet because it turns out the guy that owns the island is this multi-millionaire
00:14:19
that um when when they bust it they find out whatever they realize that this camp is there's
00:14:27
no church affiliation there's no affiliation it's just these it's a pedophile ring that had
00:14:33
art also been operating in like the really bad part of detroit that was well known where like
00:14:38
kids on the street they would get kids and pay them and get them into that ring and and pay them
00:14:44
to have sex with them and it was just this whole huge ugly thing full-on exploitation of poor
00:14:50
children. So that gets exposed in the, in the baby civil killer investigation, which is amazing.
00:14:58
And then they, they just, I just read an article that they found a man. So they had all these
00:15:04
people that they suspected. Um, and they found a man named Ted Lamborghini who they, uh, they got
00:15:15
on kitty on those kitty porn charges where he was definitely involved in that that there was like the
00:15:22
ring that they busted in the bad part of detroit uh um he was somehow definitely linked to it or
00:15:31
whatever it was and then oh and this was a thing where a prisoner a detective from detroit was out
00:15:37
in california interviewing someone about something else and then the prisoner was like i know who your
00:15:42
babysitter killer is holy shit and says it's ted lamborgine i knew him from this pedophile ring
00:15:48
we'd all go and pay to fuck kids in detroit essentially and this guy told me he basically
00:15:54
pointed to a picture and said doesn't that look like tim whoever the third little boy oh my god
00:16:00
and so that that detective went back and went and they started casing this guy who is now 70
00:16:06
and only leaves his house to go to church. And da-da-da, and living like this silent old man
00:16:12
that no one knows anything about. And then they go into his house, and they find all this evidence.
00:16:17
And he will not admit that he was the babysitter killer. But all the evidence points to it.
00:16:23
All the evidence points to that. And they have him on all the pedophile charges and all the ring charges and all that.
00:16:30
When did this happen? When did he get busted? 2005. Oh, my God. Yeah. Oh, Christopher Bush, the rich kid, killed himself in 1978.
00:16:40
So they kind of assumed it was him because there was all that weird evidence and stuff.
00:16:46
Your husband is not who you think he is. Your body is not what you thought it was.
00:16:51
Your identity is formed by a secret history. I'm Dani Shapiro, and these are just a few of the stunning stories I'll be exploring on the 14th season of Family Secrets.
00:17:02
And just then, we felt the plane turn in the air. So much so that the bags that were under people's seats just kind of flew into the aisle.
00:17:11
Each week, we dive headfirst into the complex power of secrecy. How it shapes our identities and relationships.
00:17:18
And how it ultimately can reveal to us our truest selves. My daughter, she's pretending she doesn't know, but is trying to cook and feed me and keep me alive because I wasn't eating anything.
00:17:28
and me pretending like everything was fine. He kind of shoved me out of the way and said, move.
00:17:34
And he went out the front door and he jumped in a car and drove off. And that was the last time I saw him.
00:17:39
Listen to season 14 of Family Secrets on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:17:46
I'm Bailey Taylor, and this is It Girl. This podcast is all about going deeper with the women shaping culture right now.
00:17:53
Yes we will talk about the style and the success but we are also talking about the pressure the expectations and the real work behind it all As a woman in the industry you always underestimated so you have to work extra hard in a way that doesn compromise who you are and your integrity
00:18:09
You know, I like to say I was kind of like a silent ninja. Listen to It Girl with Bailey Taylor on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:18:19
This is Special Agent Regal, Special Agent Bradley Hall. In 2018, the FBI took down a ring of spies working for China's Ministry of State Security,
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and how one man's ambition and mistakes opened its vault of secrets. Listen to The Sixth Bureau on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:18:47
so he was trapped in this weird world of money yeah i mean i think that's also really fascinating
00:18:55
too of like you that's a person that gets to do whatever they want because of money
00:18:59
same as those people at the north fox island yeah so like what did that guy get uh those people all
00:19:05
disappeared the guy that owned the island they escaped to europe holy shit like flew left the
00:19:11
island flew away and they just couldn't find him or extradite him money i love that that was this
00:19:18
island that no one thought you just take it over who's gonna fucking know right and build an entire
00:19:23
camp there a fake church camp yeah yeah it's i mean to me like pedophiles and kiddie porn that
00:19:32
kind of shit is the darkest yeah i like serial killers that just kill random people obviously
00:19:38
not good yeah but that kind of stuff yeah where you what is wrong with that person where that's
00:19:45
they're not just doing the wrong thing but they're they're loving doing the right thing and to and
00:19:51
specifically to helpless people who can't make any decisions about what you know you know control
00:20:00
yeah you don't think the way you do as an adult when you're a kid you don't understand what's
00:20:03
happening to you yeah it's so it's super ugly and it's like that it's exploitation it's just the
00:20:09
dark it's the darkest yeah to me it's like the closest thing to real monsters those people are
00:20:14
real monsters definitely yeah kind of a bummer though too so they're arresting the 70 year old
00:20:21
and that's how it's ending yeah well they they got him on the other charges but they can't get him
00:20:26
they don't have enough uh hard evidence on those murders but they're positive they they lined up
00:20:32
Because he also, the murder stopped when he moved to Cleveland. And when he moved to Cleveland, he started going to church every day.
00:20:39
And they think that the priest there knows, like, they think he confessed to that priest and the priest isn't saying it.
00:20:46
There's all kinds of things like that that are very clear. And it was like the days he wasn't at work or the days the children disappeared.
00:20:54
All kinds of stuff. Those are always so interesting to me. or like finding out that someone, you know, had someone clock in for them,
00:21:00
even though they have an alibi and it turns out it's total bullshit and here's how they know him.
00:21:04
I just, it's so fascinating, the detective work that he takes to find that. And also those poor detectives, like the way your life gets affected
00:21:13
by having to go and investigate these people. I mean, nothing justifies the crazy murdering that's happening on the street
00:21:22
of most black people today in America. I never ever mean anything is justified in that way.
00:21:29
What I mean is that when you, like as a detective, when you have to visit time and again people who are depraved.
00:21:39
So it's not just crime or like I'm desperate and on drugs and so I'm doing this thing.
00:21:43
Or I'm going to fight with my wife and kill her. Yeah, it's the depravity of like a child rapist murderer.
00:21:50
Coming face to face with the actual evil thing, which you and I probably never will unless we
00:21:54
search it out, but these detectives... Knock on wood. But these people have to then
00:21:58
delve as deep as they can into it. And all the facts. Right. And not kill them so that they can be brought to justice
00:22:06
and have some jailhouse justice and just get killed terribly in jail. That's the ideal.
00:22:12
But them getting even arrested is a small, you know, can't be a huge percentage of them.
00:22:18
So even getting someone arrested has to be hard. So imagine retiring after never having solved this case.
00:22:25
No, that's terrible. And it ruins people's lives to go investigate this stuff and to discover this. It's just the
00:22:34
seamy underside. And I surfed it on Wikipedia and was just mesmerized by how horrifying it is.
00:22:44
Are you watching the new season of Fargo? Oh, yes. This is related. That's not like
00:22:48
like anyways children are dead that's not how i meant but how this the cop in it is went to war
00:22:54
and is now seeing all this insane stuff at home yes and the what the toll it must take on you
00:23:01
to have gone to war and seen shit that you would never tell anyone about and then come home and do
00:23:05
that too as a cop yes which how is how it happens a lot of the time uh yeah i just started thinking
00:23:13
about the fact that this with the whole France bombing people talking about going to war again
00:23:19
where I was like how many we don't have that many more men left that that this country hasn't ravaged
00:23:26
yeah who do they think they're going to send to war right who's gonna who's gonna yeah the people
00:23:31
who are going to yeah it's a list or have already enlisted right yeah and and yeah and then how do
00:23:40
I mean, there are plenty of people who come home and make lives, but they're probably the people that didn't have super terrible things happen to them.
00:23:48
But it's still bad. I know there's plenty of people where it's just, it's still a horrific experience.
00:23:54
Yeah. I love that TV show so much. It's so amazing. Fargo, this season is fucking out of control.
00:24:00
it's so cinematic. It's gorgeous. It's crazy. And I love that Native American. He's a doll.
00:24:06
He's a doll. Kirsten Dunst doll. I would just watch a whole thing of her day. Yes.
00:24:13
She's so funny in it. Well, and also that, it finally came together of her and all those magazines,
00:24:18
which I never paid attention to before. The stacks of magazines everywhere. I didn't think that she wants to escape.
00:24:24
Is that what it's for? Yes. Okay. Like when she finally sat down with Ted Danson and they started talking,
00:24:29
these are spoiler alerts sorry she's like here's why i have this obsession is because i'm not
00:24:34
supposed to fucking be here yeah yeah yeah and then that that's his childhood home yes if they
00:24:40
live in and how fucking depressing they just live your whole life in the same house yes and there's
00:24:44
some people that are happy with that and want it yes and then there's some people who just dream of
00:24:50
going to california i know it's amazing so much easier than than it is now to like break away and
00:24:56
do that because you can't in the 70s you can't get traced you can go and change her fucking
00:25:00
identity yeah probably yeah yeah i thought there was one part where she was on the bus and i was
00:25:05
like oh she's out of there this you were not going to see kristen dunst anymore and she said here's
00:25:09
the thing kristen dunst is one of the most brilliant actresses of our time and no one knows
00:25:15
i am i was very surprised to like her this much and when i saw her i was like okay here we go but
00:25:20
fuck she's so good well because i saw her and i thought oh this is gonna be like a quote unquote
00:25:25
comeback thing but she is every person in that cast is brilliant and she's equally brilliant i
00:25:32
agree i'm proud of her i am too good for her we're definitely ending it on an up note and welcome
00:25:42
back i hope you loved that story as much as i did it's upsetting i'm sure they're new details it's
00:25:49
Five years later, I'm going to Wikipedia it all night, maybe with a piping hot bucket of KFC chicken.
00:25:56
Maybe not. Moving on. My second favorite story from My Favorite Murder, February 2016.
00:26:03
Another early one. Number five. Again, they had puns back then. This was five favorite murder.
00:26:10
I mean, it's a great title. I can't say that they're wrong. But the reason I picked this one is because it's a classic.
00:26:17
Both Karen and Georgia both say this is a true crime classic. Georgia is the one that brings her favorite murder to this episode, and it is the Martha Moxley murder.
00:26:29
I just got chills all over. The murder is of a 15-year-old girl. Again, I think this is where my favorite murder made a turn.
00:26:39
When you hear these two talking, and maybe it's because both Karen and Georgia were very familiar with this, it's fun.
00:26:45
It's gossip. This could be two friends sitting in the shadows of a bar in the corner saying to each other, did you hear about this one?
00:26:54
And the other one says, of course I did. This is a classic. It has everything. It has Mischief Night.
00:27:00
I didn't know what Mischief Night was. I grew up in Baltimore. No idea what Mischief Night was.
00:27:05
Every night was Mischief in Baltimore. It has a murder, of course, of an innocent girl.
00:27:11
It has a teenager whacking off in a tree. You don't hear about that every day. At least I don't. There's mentions of Kobe Bryant. There's mention of rich versus poor and that dynamic and how the judicial system fails repeatedly to get these murderers.
00:27:27
There's also a six iron and semen. So if I haven't enticed you with this intro already, I don't think my favorite murder is for you.
00:27:33
And if you haven't gone back, I encourage you all listen to those first seven or eight before the wave of popularity hit them.
00:27:42
And you hear a lot of sofa cushion squeaking. You hear a lot of throats voices being cleared.
00:27:49
It's pretty much the perfect time for true murderinos to dive in and revisit what made my favorite murder so special.
00:27:55
So here it is from Five Favorite Murder, Five Favorite Murder, Episode 5, February 2016, George's telling of the Martha Moxley murder.
00:28:06
All right. Well, mine is my favorite murder this week is one that I'm sure you know about.
00:28:13
And it's a classic. I feel like I just need to get out of the way because whenever and there's been recent news updates about it.
00:28:21
And whenever I see it, whenever I watch a documentary about it, I'm fucking in it.
00:28:26
Yeah. It's the murder of Martha Moxley. Oh, Georgia. You know. I got to tell you.
00:28:33
Yeah. Just the name Martha Moxley. Moxley. The word Moxley. It's the best name. And it's the worst story.
00:28:41
It's just like, and she's, she's just a fucking kid. Yeah. Yeah. So those who don't know, don't know anything.
00:28:51
Apparently Martha Moxley in 1975. She was a 15 year old girl living in Greenwich, Connecticut, which is a fucking Tony town.
00:29:01
Love the word Tony. Don't they have like their own gates and stuff? It's like truly like crazy.
00:29:08
Yeah. And it's like you live on acres. Yeah. So Martha Moxley's body was found beaten in her yard the night after Halloween.
00:29:18
It was she was beaten. they found half of a golf club there, which is what had been used to beat her.
00:29:26
She's like a cute, pretty, this doesn't matter. She could be ugly. It's still terrible, but she's, you know, chill as fuck.
00:29:33
And so the person they she looks like a girl that in a black and white picture in an eighties yearbook She like the that perfect girl like the popular but like but she also on Student Body Like she popular and smart and she not mean you know Yeah Freckles
00:29:46
Totally. Genuine smile. Like she'd probably end up being like a, like a, like a lawyer for like the ocean, you know?
00:29:55
Yeah. Those guys. Yeah. Like a lawyer defending like. Actually getting something good done.
00:30:00
OSHA. Is that a thing? OSHA. Yes. But OSHA is the work environment making sure it's safe for people to work.
00:30:09
There. She'd be a lawyer for them. Okay. I like the ocean, too. It's kind of nice.
00:30:16
She just has dolphins all around her. Anyhow. She totally has dolphins. So the person who ended up ultimately getting arrested and put in jail for this murder,
00:30:25
but not until 2002, was her neighbor who lived across the street who was her age,
00:30:31
named Michael Skakel. This is so unimportant and such a stupid fact of the whole thing, but probably the reason why it's a famous murder is that Michael Skakel's family was related to Senator Robert Kennedy's wife, Ethel Skakel Kennedy, who RFK has been in on this podcast.
00:30:55
So my favorite murder in the past. Anyways, so what's recently happened is that Michael Skakel has been released from jail.
00:31:04
Oh, I didn't know that. They filed for a new trial because he was not adequately represented by his defense attorney.
00:31:13
Doubt it. The habeas petition was granted. The judgment of conviction is set aside and the matter is referred back.
00:31:20
So for retrial, meaning as far as I know, so he got out. And as far as I know, it doesn't look like they're pursuing the case anymore.
00:31:29
Because I guess, you know, they had very little, it was all circumstantial evidence.
00:31:36
Not even that wasn't very strong. So it was surprising that he got convicted. However, he admitted that that night, somewhere between 10 and 2 in the morning or something like that,
00:31:47
he was in a tree masturbating while looking in Martha Moxley's window. Yes, that was the justification of why his semen would be on her body.
00:32:00
Was it on her body? Yeah. Okay, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life.
00:32:04
Right. I mean, clearly he had pretty good lawyers the first time around if they're coming up with shit like that.
00:32:09
It's just... I know this is insane bias because I've seen this, like, so many versions of this story.
00:32:15
But I've decided. I've decided. But, I mean, it's because of things like that. Well, the problem with it is that there's other strong suspects.
00:32:25
You know, like the brother, the brother who was making out with her that evening, which is why maybe Michael got jealous and killed her.
00:32:36
Or did she catch him jerking off? Like, how did she come out there, do you suppose?
00:32:41
Well, I don't think I think she was out because it was mischief night. Right. Was it the night before Halloween or Halloween?
00:32:48
It was. Yeah. Sorry. I know you're so the night before Halloween. Yeah. Mischief night, which I didn't know is a thing.
00:32:54
I know it's not a thing out here. I think it might be exclusively for rich white people in Greenwich.
00:33:00
It's also in Detroit, which is terrifying. Oh, is it? Yeah. Slightly different tone of that mischief night.
00:33:07
Every night is mischief night in Detroit. Yeah. Yeah, I've never heard of mischief night until I heard this story.
00:33:14
Yeah, me too. So, yeah. So, like, the most obvious answer is usually the correct answer.
00:33:22
Yeah. And him jerking off in a tree and not being the killer is not the obvious answer.
00:33:29
That's right. Well, and also just then why weren't there other people even, you know, like it just didn't seem like there was other people brought forward because this is one of not just a safe town or whatever.
00:33:42
It's like an exclusive shut off city. Yeah, but here's the thing is, the Skakels had a tutor named John something foreign?
00:33:58
Ken Littleton. Oh, okay. So he was the tutor, and they were like, this guy's sketchy.
00:34:05
And so he was a suspect for a long time, too. Why was he sketchy? Do you remember?
00:34:09
Because maybe he had a hard-on for Martha Moxley. Oh, okay. but he says he never even met her.
00:34:16
Your husband is not who you think he is. Your body is not what you thought it was.
00:34:21
Your identity is formed by a secret history. I'm Dani Shapiro, and these are just a few of the stunning stories
00:34:28
I'll be exploring on the 14th season of Family Secrets. Just then, we felt the plane turn in the air,
00:34:36
so much so that the bags that were under people's seats just kind of flew into the aisle.
00:34:41
Each week, we dive headfirst into the complex power of secrecy, how it shapes our identities and relationships,
00:34:48
and how it ultimately can reveal to us our truest selves. My daughter, she's pretending she doesn't know,
00:34:55
but is trying to cook and feed me and keep me alive because I wasn't eating anything,
00:34:59
and me pretending like everything was fine. He kind of shoved me out of the way and said, move,
00:35:04
and he went out the front door and he jumped in a car and drove off, and that was the last time I saw him.
00:35:09
Listen to season 14 of Family Secrets on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:35:17
This is Special Agent Regal Special Agent Bradley Hall In 2018 the FBI took down a ring of spies working for China Ministry of State Security
00:35:27
one of the most mysterious intelligence agencies in the world. The Sixth Bureau podcast is a story of the inner workings of the MSS
00:35:34
and how one man's ambition and mistakes opened its vault of secrets. Listen to The Sixth Bureau on the iHeartRadio app,
00:35:42
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers.
00:35:47
And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news? Huge news. We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas.
00:35:54
How do we actually come up with the name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember.
00:35:58
We were talking about a fit for the podcast where people could call in and say, Hey Jonas.
00:36:01
And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast.
00:36:07
But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:36:14
just listen we don't care where you hear it okay but then so recently kobe bryant here's another
00:36:21
like relative kobe bryant's cousin his name is tony bryant okay like why are there needs to be
00:36:29
you know connections to family members that are famous i don't know says that he knows who killed
00:36:36
martha moxley he's from this town oh and he came out recently and said i know who actually did it
00:36:43
and it wasn't Michael Skakel. No. He says it was two of his friends who lived in...
00:36:51
Where did they live? The Bronx, I believe. Yeah. Two friends visiting him from the Bronx.
00:36:57
They went to Moxley's neighborhood the night of the murder and this guy, Bryant, was with them.
00:37:01
The two friends reportedly picked up Skakel's golf clubs from Skakel's yard, which is what she was murdered with,
00:37:06
on a whim and told Bryant they wanted to attack a girl, quote, caveman style, using the clubs.
00:37:12
Bryant says he left the neighborhood and learned about the murder later. And the friends told him they committed a crime, but he never said anything.
00:37:20
So now he's saying he's coming forward with the story. If the story is true, I call bullshit on him leaving.
00:37:28
He was there. People are going to tell you to your face. They're going to kill a girl.
00:37:33
And you're like, well, I've got to go. So what kind of person? I mean, look, whatever.
00:37:41
there's all details you could run a million scenarios i just don't think a teenager would be
00:37:46
like would leave even if he was like i'm not going to murder anyone i just want to see what happens
00:37:51
or i don't believe these guys you know well the other thing i remember hearing is that
00:37:56
the skakels golf clubs the the set of clubs were in their attic that the cops found them
00:38:03
later with that one club missing so the idea that they were picking golf clubs out of a front yard
00:38:09
seems a bit bullshitty. Or did someone stash the golf clubs up there after they realized the murder weapon was a golf club?
00:38:19
That could be connected to them. Yeah. Did Michael Skakel do it? Put the golf clubs up there?
00:38:24
Did the dad, the mom? Weren't the dad and the mom gone? They were gone. Like, the dad and mom almost didn't live there.
00:38:32
They were like teen boys that lived on their own. Rich, white teen boys running amok that lived on their own.
00:38:38
That sounds terrible. Now, am I wrong to assume that Kobe Bryant's cousin is black and that the kids coming in from whatever.
00:38:47
But did you say Brooklyn or the Bronx coming in from the Bronx were black? That's an assumption we can make.
00:38:54
I would I would think that the Greenwich, Connecticut cops would see three black kids walking around on mischief night and at least ask a question.
00:39:03
Totally. If not harass the fuck out of them. And then how did Michael Skagel seem to go back and get on this poor girl, this poor girl and her poor family?
00:39:15
Every interview, like her family is like diehard. Like we never did anything else with our lives, but try to get justice.
00:39:22
Yeah. It's fucking heartbreaking for this poor family. There's I remember I remember seeing this story way early in a it wasn't forensic files, but it was like one of those ones.
00:39:32
And they interviewed the mom. She seemed like a thousand miles away. I remember watching it and just going, oh, I never want to see any murder victim's mom speak again.
00:39:42
Because that's the most painful thing. You know what hurts me? The brothers. Brothers of the murder victims always bum me out.
00:39:50
Because they're like, I should have been there to help my little sister. Yeah. Terrible.
00:39:57
Well, also, I don't like the idea that he has served 30 years in prison or 20. No.
00:40:03
He didn't get arrested until 2002. Oh, so this is crazy, like white people justice, where it's a rich guy who basically kind of did a symbolic time.
00:40:14
And now they're faking out some black people to say, hey, maybe we did it. And then his thing goes away.
00:40:21
Probably. Michael Skickle didn't get arrested and convicted for 27 years. He was free.
00:40:28
that was this this so this whole thing happened i think it was 2002 so i remember having watched
00:40:36
the whole story of the murder and then like that happened it was insane i never thought he would
00:40:41
get anyone would get arrested for it and now he's fucking out again so he spent he spent spent a
00:40:47
couple years i just think that the logic of oh wait so 2000 he was arrested and then yeah now
00:40:55
Yeah, the logic of... Oh just the logic of a very rich teen boy who gets spurned and maybe even shamed like his older brother who ruins his life in every other way gets the girl that he likes him having this huge crazy emotional reaction
00:41:14
in the moment that he maybe hugely regrets even but that uh and maybe even a girl that he was
00:41:21
obsessed with, that sparking murderous rampage makes way more sense than just a teen going,
00:41:29
I'm going to kill a girl tonight, caveman style. Like you have to be a very specific type of person to be able to do that in the first
00:41:37
place. It's not like going, I'm going to sniff glue. And then there were two other kids at Michael Skakel's boarding school later who said, yeah,
00:41:47
he admitted to it. Yeah. So these kids from the Bronx would have probably gone back and bragged about it.
00:41:53
And there would have been more people saying that they did it and not Kobe Bryant's cousin.
00:41:58
Yeah. But I just hate that idea that, I mean, most black people have a hard time driving around Los Angeles, California.
00:42:06
You're going to roll up into Greenwich, Connecticut and just be like, let's see what we can do murder wise.
00:42:12
Let's wander around with clubs. I don't think so. No. Yeah, you're right. And I just don't understand why this guy who has a family, Kobe Bryant's cousin, would want to do that.
00:42:20
But there's fucking narcissistic people who want attention all the time. Or maybe he really believes it.
00:42:25
Maybe he believes it. Maybe he's remembering incorrectly. He really believes that's what happened.
00:42:32
Here's what I will say. I love the idea that we still get to talk about the Martha Moxley murder.
00:42:37
That there's something still happening with it. That's fascinating to me. So no one's in prison for her murder still.
00:42:43
I want Michael Skagel not to have done it. Like, I want there to be a different answer, but I don't think there is.
00:42:52
I just think that the thing it comes down to with me with a lot of these stories is my irritation over the fact that people accept kind of like,
00:43:03
like, if you're a white guy wearing a button down Oxford shirt, you can kind of do whatever the fuck you want.
00:43:09
And people will be like, oh, no, that nice boy down the street. Yeah. Like you can you get to hide in plain sight with this camouflage and meanwhile be whatever.
00:43:18
And people will not believe it. They'll immediately believe three black kids driving up from the Bronx to kill this one girl.
00:43:26
It's just such a bummer because I think what I don't want him to be guilty is because he is such a fucking loser and such a little twerp that he doesn't deserve.
00:43:37
I want it to be more sensational because she deserves to not have just been killed by this little jerking off little shit face.
00:43:46
Yeah. Who is jealous of a thing. That's a that's like a friend zone murder. That's what that is.
00:43:51
Yeah. Or like you want to fuck my brother and not me. I'm jealous. Yeah. Yeah. And there it is.
00:43:58
Another absolutely bone chilling, riveting story from Georgia and Karen. The My Favorite Murder Ladies.
00:44:06
Murderinos. It has been an absolute pleasure to be here today. If you want to listen to the Bananas podcast, if you need a break from torture, from people being thrown off of bridges or buried in gardens, come on over to the Bananas podcast.
00:44:22
I host it with a great comedian and one of my very, very best friends in the world, Kurt Braunohler.
00:44:27
We're on Exactly Right. We're on Stitcher. You can really enjoy us and maybe laugh a little if things are are coming in on you and you feel like wow
00:44:35
This world is a really awful place. We'll say hey, you know what? It is an awful place, but it's also really silly and it's really absurd and you gotta laugh at it or you'll go
00:44:45
Absolutely crazy. So thanks so much for listening. This has been scotty landis for my favorite murder
00:44:51
Stay sexy. Oh my gosh. I'm so excited. I get to say this. I've never been sexy and I still haven't been murdered
00:44:58
So this is a really big deal. I'm halfway there. Stay sexy and don't get murdered.
00:45:03
Goodbye. Elvis, do you want a cookie? Your husband is not who you think he is. Your body is not what you thought it was.
00:45:12
Your identity is formed by a secret history. I'm Dani Shapiro, and these are just a few of the
00:45:18
stunning stories I'll be exploring on the 14th season of Family Secrets. He kind of showed me
00:45:24
out of the way and said, move. And he went out the front door and he jumped in a car and drove off.
00:45:29
And that was the last time I saw him. Listen to season 14 of Family Secrets on the iHeartRadio app,
00:45:34
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist,
00:45:43
they take matters into their own hands. I vowed I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves.
00:45:52
We always say that. Trust your girlfriends. Listen to The Girlfriends. Trust me, babe.
00:46:00
On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Sometimes a suspect is found guilty before a verdict is ever read in court.
00:46:14
On the Wicked Words podcast, I talk with the writers who dig deep into the cases that changed history,
00:46:20
including Marsha Clark who went from prosecuting one of the most famous murder cases to writing
00:46:26
crime fiction. It doesn't matter that you didn't take part in the murder. If you were at the scene
00:46:31
at all, you're guilty of murder. Every week the real story is revealed. Join us every Monday for
00:46:36
new episodes of Wicked Words. Listen to Wicked Words on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 85
    Most heartbreaking
  • 80
    Most shocking
  • 75
    Most intense
  • 75
    Biggest twist

Episode Highlights

  • The Babysitter Murderer
    A chilling recount of the Oakland County child killings and the investigation that followed.
    “Sounds fucking awesome already.”
    @ 06m 39s
    July 08, 2021
  • The Dark Secrets of North Fox Island
    A shocking revelation about a pedophile ring operating under the guise of a boys camp.
    “It's a pedophile ring that had been operating in Detroit.”
    @ 14m 33s
    July 08, 2021
  • Family Secrets Podcast Introduction
    Dani Shapiro explores the power of secrecy and its impact on identity.
    “Your identity is formed by a secret history.”
    @ 16m 51s
    July 08, 2021
  • Fargo's Cinematic Brilliance
    This season of Fargo is visually stunning and emotionally gripping.
    “It's so cinematic.”
    @ 24m 00s
    July 08, 2021
  • Martha Moxley Murder Classic
    Georgia shares the chilling details of the Martha Moxley murder, a true crime classic.
    “I just got chills all over.”
    @ 26m 22s
    July 08, 2021
  • The Best Name, The Worst Story
    The name Martha Moxley resonates deeply, highlighting the tragedy of her story.
    “It's the best name. And it's the worst story.”
    @ 28m 39s
    July 08, 2021
  • The Girlfriends Podcast
    A group of women confront a con artist they all dated. 'I vowed I will be his last target.'
    “I vowed I will be his last target.”
    @ 45m 43s
    July 08, 2021
  • Wicked Words Podcast
    Explore cases that changed history with Marsha Clark. 'If you were at the scene at all, you're guilty of murder.'
    “If you were at the scene at all, you're guilty of murder.”
    @ 46m 26s
    July 08, 2021

Episode Quotes

  • Sounds fucking awesome already.
    282 - MFM Guest Host Picks #5: Scotty Landes
  • Holy shit.
    282 - MFM Guest Host Picks #5: Scotty Landes
  • Your identity is formed by a secret history.
    282 - MFM Guest Host Picks #5: Scotty Landes
  • I just got chills all over.
    282 - MFM Guest Host Picks #5: Scotty Landes
  • It's fucking heartbreaking for this poor family.
    282 - MFM Guest Host Picks #5: Scotty Landes
  • Stay sexy and don't get murdered.
    282 - MFM Guest Host Picks #5: Scotty Landes

Key Moments

  • Girlfriends Unite00:51
  • Martha Moxley Murder26:22
  • Heartbreaking Family Impact39:23
  • Final Thoughts45:03
  • Confronting the Con Artist45:43
  • Trusting Girlfriends45:52
  • Podcast Recommendations45:57
  • Guilt in Crime46:26

Tension Over Time

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown