My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark - MFM Minisode 238 - Attempted Kidnappings

Episode Date: August 2, 2021

This week's minisode is a compilation of hometown stories about attempted kidnappings.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We at Wondery live, breathe and downright obsess over true crime and now we're launching the ultimate true crime fan experience, Exhibit C. Join now by following Wondery, Exhibit C on Facebook and listen to true crime on Wondery and Amazon Music, Exhibit C. It's truly criminal. Hello. Hello and welcome to my favorite murder, the Minya Sode. Minya also. The Minyans. So this is a spot to buy the Minyans. God, they're funny. They're little. Sometimes they have two eyes. Sometimes they have one eye. The way they talk is adorable. It's babble, but you also understand what they're trying to say. This isn't this episode isn't brought to you by Minyans. If so, it'd be millionaires right now. But I really did like that, like surprised the shit out of myself

by like just being really bored one time and turning that on and being like delighted by it. Oh, the Despicable Me franchise is rock solid in terms of comedy. I've watched all of those movies with my niece. The first one, we loved it so much. We watched it all the time. So cute. It's so funny and so cute. Charming. But that's not what this is about. This is about the Minyans. Now we're going to not get charming and cute and Riju, your fucked up story is that you send us. Do you understand that life is about contrast and that when you have the charming and cute, you come under it hard with the horrifying. Yes. My dad nearly had me kidnapped. Uh-oh. Hi all. So it was 1996. My dad was looking to sell his car. A man interested in purchasing said car

comes over to take a look. My dad's out front giving the man a tour of the car, a tour of the car. Toddler Ellie running around while he is doing so. After a while, my dad comes back into the house and mom asks how he got on. Oh, they must be brits. Oh, all good. He is just taken out, taken it out for a test drive. Dad replies. My mom then asked if it was a good idea to let him, letting him take the car by himself. Fair question because who in their right mind lets a stranger take their car for a drive unsupervised. Yeah. Don't panic folks. My dad had it covered and he replied to my mom and said, no, it's all right. Ellie's in the back. What? Wait, how old is she? She says she's a toddler running around. Toddler Ellie running around. I can only imagine what

followed was a lot of hysteria and foul language being thrown at my dad from my very frazzled mother. I came back though, so it's cool. And that is a true and mildly not so mildly alarming story of my near kidnapping experience of my dad's wonderful parenting skills. Can we just take a second to imagine the poor man being trusted to take the car out with a loan with a random child in the back? That aside. It's so crazy. If I was that mother, I would have slapped him forward and back. If I was the person taking the car for a test drive, I'd be like, I don't trust you and leave. Right. I mean, because was she in a toddler seat or was she just like sitting around in the back seat? Who fucking knows? It sounds like she was just wandering around. It does sound like

she's just in the car. Get in, take the car for a test drive with this nice man. Hold this beer. That aside, and believe it or not, my dad is actually a truly amazing man and an incredible father. Unfortunately, I only got a short 19 years of him as he passed away in 2013. I miss him dearly and have many, many more stories of this wonderful crazy man who was at times clearly way too trusting and for that, I am blessed. Thank you guys for everything you do. Weird to think that listening to two funny chicks talk about murder is a sort of escapism for my severe anxiety. But hey, whatever floats your boat, right? I am clearly not alone. Stay sexy and don't send your daughter off in a car with strangers, Ellie. Ellie, you're not alone. Also, I wonder if some of her anxiety is

being very deep seated early. The mistrust of your parents' skills. Who is minding the shop? To be like, I just don't feel safe in life. Well, he's not going to steal the car because he has our child. Right. Right. Oh my God. Okay, subject line. Canadian folk dancing murder plot. Perfect. Here Karen, Georgia and all furry beings, Stephen and his mustache included. Oh, I'm from a city that's at the southernmost tip of Canada right across the river from Detroit. When I was younger, my parents enrolled my brother and I in folk dancing as an attempt to keep our Eastern European culture alive. Go for it. Right. Through dancing, we met our core group of friends. And as we got older, our troop started traveling across North America for performances and festivals. Sexy.

Well, other groups took their dancing seriously. We were just in it for the fun. We had three dances that we recycled for years. I mean, who's going to be like, I've seen that one before. Oh, this old bullshit. Yeah, we know. We were more focused on hosting the after parties in our hotel room at the tender age of 15. Yes. That's what it's all about. That's right. That's why you dance. That's why you travel. That's the passion of the dance is beer in the hotel room afterwards. It was so bad that our coach would have to bribe us by saying, okay, if you don't get drunk before your performance, I'll buy you guys alcohol afterwards to sell. This is what you said to me, basically. When you were like, don't drink before shows, I'll buy you drinks after. Just please.

Let's save them all up. It'll be more fun. I'll wait. Fine. I'll let you buy it. Let me say something. Let's say something. Okay. That's hilarious. In our group was a guy named Pitar, P-E-T-A-R. He was sort of the outcast because he smelled a little funny, always had clammy hands and basically looked like his family enjoyed liver and onions for dinner multiple times a week. Oh, dear. What? He had beautiful skin and a luxurious coat? Is that what you think? I'm not sure. I don't know what I think. As we hit college age, the group stopped dancing. I think that's good. Yeah. It's a good time to quit. But maintained our close friendship all except P-T-A-R. P-T-A-R. We would see him from time to time, but no one really kept up with him until

one day we saw his name in the news and that he had been arrested for trying to kidnap and murder two sisters from our church. What? P-T-A-R sang in our church choir. He was also the altar boy for like ever. The girl's father was the choir director and they would practice at his home. P-T-A-R used to memorize, used this time to memorize the girl's house and find out their schedule, like when they would be home alone or when the house would be empty. Then he went on the internet, maybe the dark web, and found a forum of other would-be murderers and asked them for fucking advice on how he could go about kidnapping and murdering these two sisters. Little did he know he was chatting with an undercover cop. Of course. Of course. Ding dong.

And thankfully, all of the dark web is just undercover cops. Yeah. Luckily, thankfully, sorry, he was arrested before he could do anything. In his room, they found multiple shrines to the oldest sister, rope, knives, and other murderous paraphernalia. P-T-A-R was sent to prison and his sisters were, and these sisters were shipped off to Europe by their parents, and no one has heard from them since. What? I remember always telling myself to be nice to him in case he lost his shit and attacked us all. Guess my 15-year-old murdering herself was right. S-S-D-G-M, meesh. Wow. Yeah. That's a good one. That is how you hometown. That's right. All right. This one's called, My Grandmother Was Kidnapped. And then in parentheses, it says,

she's okay. Hi, wonderful women. Pets and Steven. My grandmother used to work as a nurses aide in an insane asylum in Connecticut in the 60s. Fairfield Hills was a psychiatric hospital in Newton, Connecticut, Newtown, Connecticut, that opened in the 30s and closed in the 90s. The massive campus still stands vacant. And of course, there are stories of hauntings because, I mean, it's an empty former insane asylum for Christ's sake. When my Nana worked there, each employee would go to a central building to clock in every morning and then report to the building they worked in. This is a sprawling campus with dozens of buildings, and it was the middle of winter. So my grandmother ran into the main building, leaving her car unlocked, checked in,

and ran back to her car to drive to her sign building. After she turned on the car, she was suddenly shocked when a man popped up from the back seat, wrapped her neck with a piece of rope, and said, Drive. No. She did as she was instructed. He gave random orders to turn left, right, seemingly not having a destination in mind, but he ended up having her drive about 20 minutes to North Waterbury, Connecticut, where he jumped out of the car and bolted. Thankfully, because she had checked into work, but didn't show up minutes later to her sign building, the staff immediately knew something was wrong. Apparently, this man was one of the patients who had escaped his room and was looking to get as far away from Fairfield Hills as possible. My Nana was just in the wrong

place at the wrong time. Listen to this fucking thing right here. Ready? Okay. They never did find the guy. Oh, as far as I know, but the rope he used to hold my grandmother was raw. It was a raw ragged thing and it wore down the skin around her neck to the point where later on an EMT told her that if had worn even a tiny bit further, it would for sure have cut her carotid artery. Wow. Carotid? Carotid, yeah. Carotid artery. It's a well-ordered carotid or carotid. Exactly. My Nana is one of the most badass women I know whose favorite phrase is, I don't get mad, I get even. She turned 92 years old this year and would still manage to stay sexy and not get murdered in any situation she was in. Finally, even though this story is about

someone breaking out of an insane asylum, I don't want to diminish mental health issues in any way, so I just want to thank you both for normalizing and being so upfront with your mental health. Fairfield Hills was a place where people like you or me would be locked up and forgotten. That's right. And I'm glad that it's closed and we're slowly moving toward a point where people can seek help without the threat of stigma. And that's definitely thanks to women like you. SSDGM Lauren. God, that's so scary. Fucking terrifying. Nana. Did that, can you, did that happen at night? It doesn't sound well. She got, I mean, she, I got to work in my mind. It was the daytime. Yeah, I mean, but I was just immediately,

because you know, there's that, it made me think of that. There's the urban myth that was going around for a little while warning people at the mall, like to check because there's that story of the girl that gets in the car and there's a guy in the back seat or whatever. But that, that idea, like my car, I can see in. Yeah. And even when I get into my car, I'll still look back and just make sure. I do once in a while when it's really dark. Do a little check each. Yeah. Just in case. Yeah. Okay, now you go. This subject line is near kidnapping, near kidnapping miss lighthearted. Okay. Hi, MFM fam. So my mom and her all and all her nine brothers and sisters grew up in Pacoima, California, which as Georgia says, even though she grew up around Los Angeles,

she still has no idea where it is. I stand by that. You probably know it from La Bamba as Richie Valens grew up there too. Yes. Yes. Best movie. Anyway, they lived about a block away from the elementary school, they all and most of their children later on attended. One day, my aunt was walking home alone from first grade, early seventies. Am I right? Go home. Yep. Good luck. You're six. When a strange, let's ask the seven year old listening right now. How much would that freak you out if you had to walk alone for four blocks to your house? Imagine. They don't do it anymore. No, it's not done. And most of us had more than four blocks to walk. Yeah. I think we had a solid two miles. Yeah. Up hill. Yeah. Okay. Both ways. Both ways. Okay. So she's walking

home alone from first grade when a strange man in a car calls her over and tries to lure her in with the phrase, come eat chicken. No, that's not going to work on a six year old. Sorry. She was, of course, freaked the F out and ran home crying where she promptly told her eight other brothers and sisters what happened. I guess since older siblings can be assholes and she did make it home, they teased her about it for years. She's chasing her around and calling, come eat chicken. Oh my God. At her. This near kidnapping was used as a cautionary tale for all the kids in our family to show that you don't have to be far from home to be taken. But also everyone will make fun of you about it. That's right. That's that usually it's in your worst time. Yeah, your siblings will

find a thing to hang over your head for the rest of your life. When my own son at eight years old tried to convince me that he was old enough to walk the block home from his own elementary school. I told him this story as one of the reasons why close to home doesn't always mean safe. When I was done, he looked up at me with wide brown eyes, burst out laughing and said only, why chicken? I guess kids don't scare as easily as they used to. Anyway, my five sisters and I love the show. Wow. Wow. Sisters. That's six. The six sisters all together. What's wrong with your brothers? What's that? What's wrong with your brothers? Why do they hate us? Oh, because they don't like fucking read all life. Fuck you. Whoops. SSD GM Veronica. That was a great story, Veronica.

Oh, come eat chicken. Come eat chicken. I picture it's the most interesting man in the world from the Deusakis. He was just sitting in a shitty car. And actually, he really just wanted to feed her like his new recipe of like the best chicken in the fucking world. That's right. He's like, you must try this. My spices. So spicy. It's been brining and beer. All right. Okay. And just a drop of mayonnaise. Yeah. All right. Drop of mayonnaise. Why is it so loose that it's dropping? You know why? Because I left it out in the sun. Picture the smell of mayonnaise right now. Go ahead. I'm going to let you do it. No. It's so sour. Yuck. Do it. Because you're making me do that. No. You know my mayonnaise memory is when my mom would deep condition her hair on the weekends by

putting mayonnaise in her hair like me and wrapping it with saran wrap and she had long nails and she would get mayonnaise under her nails. Yeah. And it was why I did that. A nightmare. Now I remember that of this just disgusting smell. Yeah. But the softest hair. I mean, really nice hair. The softest smelly hair. It smelled like for two shampoos after. All right. Listen, look, you can afford Alberta VO5 now. I can afford a $1.99 pack of fucking single-use Alberta VO5. That's right. Heat it up in a glass of hot water. Here. That's right. Looking for a better cooking routine? With meal planning, shopping and prepping handled, HelloFresh has you covered. HelloFresh makes home cooking easy and affordable so you can

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with purchase plus free shipping on your first box at hellofresh.ca slash murder20 with code murder20. That's up to 20 free meals plus free shipping on your first box when you go to hellofresh.ca slash murder20 and use code murder20. Goodbye. What makes a person a murderer? Are they born to kill or are they made to kill? I'm Candace DeLong and on my new podcast Killer Psyche Daily I share a quick 10-minute rundown every weekday on the motivations and behaviors of the criminal masterminds, psychopaths and cold-blooded killers you hear about in the news. I have decades of experience as a psychiatric nurse, FBI agent and criminal profiler. On Killer Psyche Daily I'll give you insight into cases like Ryan Grantham and the newly arrested Stockton

serial killer. I'll also bring on expert guests to dive deeper into the details, share what it's like to work with a behavioral assessment unit at Quantico, answer some killer trivia and even host virtual Q&As where I'll answer your burning questions. Hey Prime members, listen to the Amazon Music exclusive podcast Killer Psyche Daily in the Amazon Music app. Download the app today. That one time the FBI swore my grandmother's farm. Yes. Here we go. This is what I'm in it for. It's just hi. Great. I spent the last few weeks putting together a family tree for my mom who is obsessed with genealogy but can't use a computer to save her life. Good. At least she can admit it. Here's the problem. Computers can't save your life. They can only ruin it. Well except for those

computers that restart your heart when you're dying. Right. Or the ones you were around your neck and you pressed the button. Life alert. I've fallen and I can't get up. That incredibly advanced computer can save your life. That's right. And doing so I've been able to find records on my maternal family dating back to the 1500s. What? And even older ones from my paternal grandfather. Crazy. But I was having a hell of a time finding anything about my paternal grandmother. I was I was to the point that I was convinced she was a criminal when I remembered an interest she did with a local university. Oh. I was delighted listening to my late nan tell stories from her childhood when she casually mentions the time her family's farmhouse was sworn by the FBI in 1932.

Yes. As she tells it her entire family had gathered on the porch to witness two black cars driving up the lane through a cloud of dust. I can fucking see it in the movie version. Tall blue sky in the background with green fields on either side. That's right. And blowing up that dirt. Old tiny fucking FBI cars. Hardly any windows. It's all the metal black metal. No air conditioning. No. And then they have hats on. That's right. Before the cars were fully stopped all of the agents had jumped out and were shouting. She couldn't understand what anyone was saying. All she knew was that her mother and blonde

haired blue-eyed baby sister were sobbing. And her brother was screaming take the diaper off. What? Turns out one of the town's folks called in a tip claiming that my nan's family were the ones that kidnapped the Lindbergh baby. And her brilliant brother was saying to take the diaper off to prove that their sibling was a girl. For fuck's sake. Clearly the Lindbergh kid nothing was big news of a child in a small Minnesota town new enough to know that the baby was a boy. My favorite part about this whole ordeal is that she never told me anything about it. Nor did my dad. Apparently I got my murdering tendencies from my mama Mackenzie. Yes. That's rad. That's a beautiful. That's perfect hometown story. Perfection in all ways. And also

I went what a genius uncle or wasn't an uncle. Whoever the guy that said the boy take the diaper off. Yeah. That's so because in those moments you get all you know you panic and dazzled and you don't show her the vagina. Just get that badge out there. That's essentially what he's saying. Prove that shit. Fine. I want you to yell it to me one day. I hope one day in my life. Take off the diaper Georgia. Take it off and prove who you are. I don't want to. Okay. All right. Here's the last one. The subject line is my mom invited these into our home and then parentheses and almost a kidnapping. Hey guys when I was 10 years old my mom a very naive lady befriended a couple at our local grocery store. I remember them talking to each other for a while and they seemed like

really nice people. It was a man and a woman in their 40s. So of course they seemed like a trustworthy couple to my hilarious mom. They somehow convinced my mom to let them come to our apartment and I remember that they were in our apartment with us for about an hour. These people then managed to convince my mom that they will replace all the electronics in our apartment with newer better quality ones and so they proceed to fill up their van with all of our stuff. What the fuck mom. I totally remember being very concerned about what was going on and turning to my mom like what are you doing? Of course me being 10 I assumed she knew better than me so I let it go. As these people were leaving the woman turns to my mom and says

let us take the baby. We promise we'll bring him back with the rest of the stuff. She was talking about my baby brother and I kidn't you not my mom stood there and thought about it while I yelled no. Oh my god. The woman creepily chuckles and my mom awkwardly declines. Thank goodness she did because of course these people never came back with any quote unquote newer electronics and we were left without any devices and no more trust in my mom. I have no idea if anything ever happened to these people. I'm honestly incredibly surprised we survived until our adult years. Stay sexy and don't be fooled into giving up your stuff or your kid Maribel. Oh my god that is an amazing story. Oh like can you imagine if you're that mom like I would bring that up every fucking

holiday. Hey mom. If you're that 10 year old you mean? Yeah. Yes I remember that time mom. From that day on Maribel as the 10 year old was in charge of that family. Maribel the 10 year old was scared of her mom's decision making skills and never felt safe. Maribel the 10 year old had to do all the decision making from that moment on. Horrifying. That's hilarious. She had to scream no when they were like and we'll take the baby. We met you an hour ago. Oh man. You guys don't trust anyone especially not your own mother. It is that thing though of it's like a middle-aged couple. Yeah. That's like I'm sure I don't know how long ago it was but it's like for so long people were just like if it's a man animal and nothing bad can happen. And it's like why wouldn't

I trust them. Who would do such a thing. Yeah. I can't imagine anyone take it's a pretty good scam though. It's well also how ballsy. They're like oh we just took everything from her. We might as well try to grab that baby. Yeah I mean they were not going to keep that baby. They were going to sell that thing along with all this fucking electronics and you know it. That baby would have been up on the wall at Best Buy fucking 42 inch baby. Well this baby it fell off the truck. This baby's a 3D HD and shitting. Um send us your fucking send us your stories like all of them please. They're all so good. They're the best. And stay sexy. And don't get murdered. Yeah. Bye. Elvis. One cookie. Good boy.