My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark - MFM Minisode 42

Episode Date: October 23, 2017

Karen and Georgia read your hometown stories from Minneapolis and Madison including a serial killer relation, a badminton murder, and more.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. Is it time? I think it's time. It's mini so time. It's mini so time. Hi, welcome to My Favorite Murdy. Oh no, the Murdy Soad. My Favorite Murdy. Hey, this is where you guys send us your hometown murders and we read them back to you.

It's kind of like a practice and reading. It's like a reading exercise. It's just a fun reading exercise because we both love to read aloud. Let me prove that now. My first murder, the subject line is, does that make me a murderer? Hi, my friend and I were on vacation a few months ago sleeping in a stranger's house in rural Taiwan thinking, man, it sure would be nice to listen to stories about being murdered right now. And it was until we listened to episode 72, and I learned that I am related to a serial killer. The Highway Killer. Oh my God, I want that experience so bad. What is wrong with me? The Highway Killer Larry Eiler is my great, great second cousin or something,

and I didn't have any idea until you told me. I grew up in Crawfordsville, Indiana, home of the murderer. And Eiler is my grandmother's maiden name. It's a very small place. So when I heard the episode, I texted my mom and she was upsettingly casual about it. They always are. They always are. I was all, excuse me, this is all caps. Excuse me, are we related to a serial killer? And she was all, what are you talking about? And I was all, I was just listening to a podcast about murders and they were talking about someone from Crawfordsville with the last name Eiler. How many can there be? And she was all, oh, you mean cousin Larry? Oh, that one. She says, what is that? Who, who just cousin Larry's when there's a homicidal maniac

in your bloodline? So anyway, thanks for letting me know I'm genetically, I'm genetically a serial killer. I'm coming to see you in Madison next week. Please try not to reveal anything, any horrifying truths about my family this time. Stay sexy, Sarah. That's hilarious. So I want like, no, I don't, I know I don't, but I want one of those, oh, this whole time, you know, moments. You thought one thing and then it actually turned out to be a totally different thing. Yeah, like a puzzle being solved, you know, and you can see it in my, in my actor's face that I'm slowly putting it together. That's right. You look to the left for a little while. And then you look over to the right kind of blinky. Oh, she's really discovering something. And you make

that noise. I watched too much TV. And then I realized I watched too much TV. Okay. My boyfriend almost voluntarily got us murdered. And then it says lighthearted. Hi Karen, Georgia, Steven, and furry babies. Love, love, love your podcast. Can't wait to see you guys in Madison in October. So fun story here. My boyfriend, not a murderer, almost voluntarily got us murdered. One night, the two of us were out at the bars and it's around bar clothes and I'm waiting outside of the bar for my boyfriend so we can take an Uber home. While I'm waiting, this girl comes up to me and compliments my shoes and walks away. Then my boyfriend draws me outside and comes back up and continues talking and complimenting my septum ring as she has one too and then

leaves again. Don't ever talk to girls outside the bars who are weird like this. When my boyfriend and I walk past her car, she yells at us and asks, Hey, we want to continue partying with her and her ex-boyfriend. Two questions is not a party. No. Yeah. This girl writes absolutely not for so many reasons as I'm about to politely decline my boyfriend goes, sure, and gets in the car. Who am I dating? I go ahead and get in her car against all of my better judgments and we start driving away. Oh my God. Honey, as we're driving, she keeps saying weird little things like, it may seem like we're driving super far away, but we're really close, I promise. Oh my God. She didn't tell us her name and then she goes red flag number 7500 7478. She kept asking us

if we smoked the gonge. Oh, nark. She's actually driving you to Quantico because she's an FBI agent. And also told us she was 23, one year older than both of us and she has two kids and a next husband. Oh. She also told us she saw us at a few bars while we were out, aka she was scoping us out to probably murder. Once we get closer to the house, she goes, oh, there's not really any furniture at this place because he just moved in. Okay. So we're literally probably breaking into a house. When we pull into an extremely sketchy house in an extremely sketchy neighborhood, she says, oh, you know what? He's not even home yet, but don't worry. I'm great at breaking into houses. Girl. Oh my God. What is this? When we walk up to the door, she asks us

if we've had, if we have any cell service way out here because she didn't. I figured we were probably going to get murdered there and there's no turning back now. We get into this house with no furniture, but really old, but a really old tiny couch and she walks upstairs and asks if we want to smoke the gonge up there. No, I do not. The house was empty, but filled with little toys on the floor and there's only one light. And I immediately call an Uber and have cell service. Thank God. Thank God. She comes back downstairs and keeps mentioning how weird this was and how sorry she is and how she's, quote, not a serial killer. Right. She mentioned she is not a serial killer so many times that she definitely had to be one. Yes. I told her I called an Uber and we

were about to leave and she goes, how did they find your address all the way out here? And we just kind of bolted out and left. Once we got into the Uber, I immediately yelled at my boyfriend for not consulting with me before he got into a stranger's car. His reasoning for agreeing to go on with her is that he saw her talking to me and thought we knew each other when she literally only complimented my shoes. My boyfriend was the one that showed me to your podcast and he doesn't even know how to stay sexy and not get murdered. I'm glad we made it out alive, but not sure what would have happened if her ex-husband was there. Hopefully this was an entertaining enough story to qualify as a hometown SSDGM. Megan, Megan, it was. Megan, you highly qualified. That was,

okay, that is a horror movie. Absolutely. Because normally, don't you think people do that? It's like you're inside drunk. You feel safe. There's tons of people around you. You're with your boyfriend or whatever. And then there's somebody outside trying to pick people off who just spent the night drinking. Yeah, they know that. And they're like, yeah, let's party more. And then they're like, yeah, we've been following you. That thing of like that real, like realization that you're with someone you shouldn't be with and you're in an enclosed space like a car with them and be like, oh no. Yeah, like you can't go back. Yeah, you can. Tuck and roll. Open the door. Tuck and roll. You can, what are things you can do to get people to pull a car over? I'm gonna vomit. You could

vomit. That's exactly right. Yeah. Yep. Pee yourself. I'm going to vomit and then start to vomit. They will pull the car over. That's true. Then pop both of their tires and run the other direction. I don't know how you do that part. Your mom's like, what are you doing? Karen, get back here. Why did you pop both of my tires? I'm running scenarios. I'm running scenarios. Okay. This subject line of this one is my badminton murder. Dear Georgia, Karen and Stephen, thanks for offering a podcast that only confirms that my anxieties are not irrational, but also shares practical advice on how to stand up for yourself, look out for others, stay sexy and not get murdered. Thanks. I went to high school in a small town outside of Madison,

Wisconsin, your typical quiet place where no one would ever, etc. One day, I love that. One day came home from school and my dad was reading a news article on his laptop. He turned the screen around and asked if I knew the guy in the photo from the article. I recognized him instantly. That's my badminton partner from gym class. What happened? And parentheses. Yeah. This is the type of high school I went to. We spent a full month of class playing badminton. You can try your own conclusions about the general population of the area, which I actually can't. I don't understand. It's indicative of nothing. Yeah, I love it. Is it a small group of British people that live in Madison? They sound like well-rounded,

you know, like people of the, or is badminton trashy? I don't know. I feel like she could either be saying I'm a billionaire or we're British. Yeah. There's so many choices. Okay. So my dad tells me that this guy suspected of a murder in Madison where a teenager was shot and killed on his break from work. Turns out my badminton partner was a known gang member, which was not a thing in this town with a criminal record, but he had changed his name multiple times and the name he used at school wasn't known by the police. To this day, they actually don't know which, if any, of his names is the real one. What? Then it gets weirder. Oh my God. Even though he was enrolled in high school as being 17, this guy was actually in his mid 20s and pretending to be a teenage

high school student. That's my favorite. That's my favorite. The best. I mean, oftentimes they have malicious intent when they do that, but just the idea of being like, fuck it, I'm trying this again. I get to do it again and see what happens. You must have had a good time the first time around because who the fuck would go back to high school? I mean, yeah, I could. I can't. I get shivers when I drive by my own. We drove by mine yesterday and I was crying when I was screaming. Yes, that's right. And tearing at the windshield. I was in the trunk, but that's not the only reason. Okay. I'm pretty sure it turned out that he had been enrolled at a few different high schools in the area over the past several years. And every time he got to graduating age, he would switch

schools and start over with a new name and a different age. What a weirdo. He must have had great skin though. The news reports contained warnings that he was armed and extremely dangerous. There was a manhunt by police in the US Marshals to find him. There would be heightened security at my school until he was found. My dad is telling me this. And since my reaction is to feeling overwhelmed as to cry, I just start bawling. My dad stops and asks why I'm crying. I'm so overwhelmed. Someone is dead. My classmate is a murderer. US Marshals are on a manhunt. I can't put my thoughts into words. So instead I say sobbing heavily, but daddy was so good at badminton. Oh my God. Two and a half years later, he was found out of the country, extradited back to the

US sentenced to 20 years for first degree murder. My high school now requires proof of age for enrollment. You think? Jenny. Wow. Dad. He was so good. You don't understand. We could be eloquent all the time. Wouldn't that be nice? It's difficult. We played badminton at my high school for Jim. It was just one of the main things. So you know what badminton is? Absolutely. It's just like, it's lighter tennis. It's just smaller, longer handled racquets. Tell me this. Did you feel British when you were playing? Yes. I felt high class. Okay. Except for one time, my partner killed someone. Did a hit. No. And switched schools and no. She went to hit and it, her somehow the racquet came down and I was wearing one of those really thin plastic goody

headbands. Remember those that were just like, they barely held my hair back anyway. She went like that and it just like shattered in a thousand pieces. It was really hilarious. That's badminton. Those are your memories from badminton. That's badminton for me. That's, you should listen to the podcast, Badminton Memories. Also, we had to play it in front of the boys who, while the girl gym class was doing badminton, the boys lifted weights. So they were just like standing around lifting weights and watching us play badminton. Sexism in society. It's just, you know, it's everywhere. It was a difficult time. It's in PE. 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 stay on track and on budget in the new year. HelloFresh meals are convenient, seasonal and delicious. Stay cozy all winter long with classic comfort foods available weekly. Why stop with just dinner? Now you can enjoy HelloFresh's expanded menu of quick lunch solutions, weekend brunch, simple side dishes and amazing desserts. Karen, January is going to be my month for HelloFresh. I am so sick of takeout. I miss cooking so much. I haven't lifted a knife or a pan since like early fall. So I can't wait to get back in the kitchen and HelloFresh makes it so easy and also makes it so that my food tastes good, which is hard to do on my own.

It gives you everything, everything you need. So get up to 20 free meals 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. Hey, I'm Arisha. And I'm Brooke. And we're the hosts of Wondery's podcast, Even The Rich, where we bring you absolutely true and absolutely shocking stories about the most famous families and biggest celebrities the world has ever seen. Our newest series is all about the incomparable diva, Whitney Houston. Whitney's voice defined a generation and even after her death, her talent remains unmatched. But her incredible success hit a deeply

private pain. In our series, Whitney Houston, Destiny of a Diva will tell you how she hid her true self to make everyone around her happy and how the pressure to be all things to all people led her down a dark path. Follow Even The Rich wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad free on the Amazon Music or Wondery app. Okay, my grandma is ride or die as fuck is this is this. Hey, I'm a fam crew. My best friend and I geek out of your podcast. I'm a Karen. She's a Georgia every week and we can't wait to see you ladies in Minneapolis next month. Yay. My grandma is a former biker wife with a treasure trove of outrageous stories. Up until recently, my personal fave was the one where she ran away to join a circus in order to avoid being kidnapped as you do.

Wow. Last summer, my family stumbled upon some documents outlining my grandparents involvement in their neighbor's murder years ago. And that's when the ultimate grandma story was revealed. A long time ago, my grandpa hired a guy to kill a neighbor he had a vendetta with. Whoa. Long story short, after the killer did the deed, he panicked, fled the scene and hidden the bush across the street. From her window, my grandma noticed him hiding. So she opened the door to her apartment and beckoned him inside. When the police showed up at her door later that day, grandma proceeded to hide the killer all caps under my mother's crib. Then threw a robe on over her clothes, must up her hair and answered the door. Upon being asked if she had noticed any commotion that day,

grandma told police she hadn't seen anything because she'd been napping, which would be true in my case. I'm not condoning murder by any means. Sounds like you are. But my and both grandma and grandpa ended up doing their time. But I do love the story and how it speaks to my grandma's loyalty and the wild tumultuous life she's loved, loved and lived, just lived. She now spends her days watching unsolved mystery reruns and eating chili cheese burritos that she buys in bulk from Taco Bell. Yes. That's the CGML. Okay, she needs to write a book. Immediately. She needs to write a book. Immediately, immediately. Email us at my favorite murder Gmail and send us your hilarious and tragic and weird and mostly hilarious hometown stories. Yes. And stay sexy and don't get murdered. Bye.