My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark - MFM Minisode 421

Episode Date: February 3, 2025

This week’s hometowns include uncovering a family secret and drama at a wedding. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3UFCn1g. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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My Savior. Hello and welcome to my favorite murder. That's George, the mini-sode. Yeah. Yes. I forgot what we did. Hometown, mini, that's Karen, that's Georgia. You know, it's like, should we run you through it again?

We're going to start at the beginning, we're going to read, we'll come to the end. Is this our first video of the hometown? In studio, I mean. Is it? Off Zoom. Take to your camera. I wore something- Is it? Could it be? I wonder. I wore something special for the occasion.

Oh. Aw. It's Mimi. It's Mimi's shirt. It's Mimi. It's Mimi and it says bad bitch at the bottom. Bad bitch Mimi. Wait, have you worn that one before? I've worn the cookie one. All right.

Do you want to go first? Sure. Hardcore classic hometown. This is called My Dad Was a Detective in the Crimes Against Persons Unit. Classic hometown with Family Connection, three-minute read. Okay. Hey gang. I'm a day three listener, but an OG murderino and I adore you all. Let's jump in. In my hometown of Fort Collins, Colorado, my dad was a detective in the crimes against persons unit. Murders, kidnapping, assaults, you name it, he responded to it. I could write you a lot of emails. I recently realized I've been professionally interrogated my whole life, but he also let me read old case files in middle school so there were perks too. On to the story, right? Late at night on September

9th, 1998, the police were called about a domestic dispute involving 23-year-old Nicole Holm and her boyfriend. Her boyfriend was arrested for an outstanding traffic violation. Nicole didn't have a working phone and went knocking on doors at her apartment complex for a phone to contact help to bail her boyfriend out of jail. While doing so, Nicole encountered 25 year old Tibbis Kenep. The two were seen together at a convenience store where Nicole may have gone for help. That evening, Nicole was found brutally attacked, sexually assaulted, stabbed and murdered in her apartment. Like what an insane just series of events.

While frantically playing the scene, Kenneb was pulled over by, you guessed it, my dad. Oh wow. He had been called for backup as Kenneb was acting suspicious and sweating profusely. There was a gold chain hanging out of his pocket. The police ran Kenneb's ID and took a photo, but because Nicole's body had yet to be found,

there was no crime to tie him to, or known reason not to let him go. Right. Kenneb fled immediately and the trail went cold when his car was last found in New Mexico. As a prime suspect, he eventually appeared on an episode of America's Most Wanted. Fast forward nine months.

A lady who employed Kenneb at a pizzeria in a tiny town in Livingston, Guatemala became suspicious of him, possibly because of the notable tattoo that spelled out fear on his knuckles. It was 1999, so though she struggled to find internet access, when she did, she did verify Kenip's identity on the FBI website and called the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala. Like, what a badass. Just getting it all done.

Yeah, she's like, that guy's sketchy, let me fucking just take a couple steps and just verify. Yeah, and then run my business. Yeah, yeah. Although I can't find her name, I consider that woman a hero. According to my dad, Kenneb had hitchhiked there, no air travel or official transportation.

That is approximately a 45-hour drive. Oh, wow. According to my dad, Kenneb had hitchhiked there, no air travel or official transportation. That is approximately a 45-hour drive. Oh, wow. And it says, which in 2024 time is still 45 hours. Yeah. Kenneb was extradited back to Colorado. My dad was the co-lead investigator on the case at the time. With Kenneb's DNA at the crime scene, graphic police interrogations, and the gold chain

noted by the police during the traffic stop suspected to be Nicole's necklace. The self-described sicko was convicted of first-degree sexual assault and first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. He later died by suicide in prison. I appreciate you both more than you could know. I am currently a master's student studying clinical mental health counseling and we need more strong voices like yours and advocates for therapy and mental health care. Nicole Holm was also studying psychology at my university when she was killed. I can only imagine the good she would have done in the field. Stay sexy, trust your gut, and check the FBI Most Wanted list, A.

Wow, A. That was classic. Also just like like how long did it say how long the trail went cold? Just for a little while, right? Nine minutes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wasn't like a, yeah. Thankfully. Good. I know. It happened so much.

I know. Okay, here's my first one. It's MFM listener story. They gave it its own kind of little bucket to put it in. This is a listener story. Okay. What do you call it? It's a listener story. It's a listener story.

The time my dad lived in a serial killer's house. What? Hi, all. I had written the story a while back, but I realized I didn't fact check properly and I wanted to give it another shot. Hope you enjoy it. If only, like, we were throwing things out because of fact checking. It's like, truly, you're just sitting in the middle of a very tall pile.

Yeah, that's not it. Don't be upset. Okay. But I love the kind of like, that's a lot of self-accountability where it's just like, I'll take care of this. Yeah. And look, it worked. Yeah, it did.

When my dad was in college in the 80s, he and a few of his friends rented an old house that was only $50 a month per person. Oh, my god. Which in today's month, which is in today's month is worth roughly $200 a month. I think they meant math, but that's so, I love that. Today's month. Or maybe they didn't. Still a major steal if you ask me.

Yes. Yes, insane. Apparently every bedroom in this house had their own fireplace. What? Yeah. And the gas used for the kitchen stove had to be turned on by crawling underneath the house. Oh my gosh. So microwaves only. I'm not sure how the mechanics of this process works, but this sounds like a hard pass.

This house wasn't just any old house. This house was the childhood home of the notorious serial killer Pee Wee Gaskins. One of the worst. One of the, you can't even, like, you start to read about it and he's like a torturer. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Just truly dark, dark. Horrific. When my dad told me about his time living there, he remembered the neighbors telling stories about seeing Gaskins on the roof hanging out by himself. My dad also remembers finding a large pile of shoes in the crawl space when turning on

the stove. Shoes. Shoes in the crawl space would be like... Large amount of anything is bad, but shoes is like definitely on that list. Hidden shoes. Why don't those people have their shoes anymore? Were they all different sizes? I bet they were.

Right. That's like that. Remember the video of the guy that was of the lake? Yes. We need an update on that. Yes. Okay. I really hope they were just some old shoes left by him and his siblings, but my murdering no brain thinks

some of these shoes might've belonged to Gaskin's victims. I think you're right. Most True Crime podcasts don't cover this case because of how gruesome his killings were. But I still wanted to share this wild connection with you all. Thank you for everything you do. I love how you normalize mental health and therapy, although my therapist might be worried about my true crime obsession sometimes. She's taken notes on some of the things that you ladies have opened about, have opened up about. You've got me through the pandemic, finding my life partner and

finishing my master's in data science. So smart. Jesus H. Come on. Stay sexy and maybe don't live in a serial killer's house regardless of how cheap it is in this economy. Nicole Shearer. Data and science are two words that like I don't cross my mind. And she's studying both of them. Both together. And they're going to help. That's like what the world is becoming. The other red flag for me

is that I don't think people should have personal fireplaces. I think there should be a community fireplace in the living room. Right. But I don't trust anyone else with like a bedroom fireplace. Where they're burning their evidence? Yeah. No, but they're just like gonna put it out properly. Oh, right. You know what I mean? Yes. Or like gonna fall asleep and forget that there's, I just don't trust personal fireplaces.

Unless you live in a hotel like Eloise, there's no reason to have your own. The whole point of a fireplace is everyone gathers around and stares together. Yeah. Don't go individual with fire. No. It's a community thing that we can all remember. Please. In case someone forgets.

Parents, when you visit California, childhood rules. If you don't remember how awesome childhood is, just ask yourself, what would kids do? Dance to a giant organ played by ocean waves? Yep. Camp in floating tree houses hundreds of feet off the ground? Check. Jump in a big tub of mud on purpose? Call it rejuvenation.

We don't care. Just pack your fun pants and let childhood rule your family vacation. Discover why California is the ultimate playground at visitcalifornia.com. Accidentally uncovered my in-laws' family secret at my first Christmas with their family. Let's get to it. Yeah. I married into a pretty traditional and religious family. Our first year married, I decided to be creative and make my husband's grandmother a beautiful

family tree. I got photos of everyone and tracked down dates of birth and wedding dates to put together the family tree. There were a few dates I wasn't sure of, like the date of my husband's grandparents' wedding. On Christmas Day, I was running around asking relatives to fill in the missing date for me. Everyone seemed back and forth on the grandparents' wedding date. Was it 1969 or 1968? The confusing factor was that they were married in December. Everyone agreed it must have been December 1968 because my

husband's father was born in July 1970 and babies aren't born at less than seven months, big and beautiful, with no complications, especially in the 60s. Except you know where this is going. Later that day we found an actual newspaper clipping of their wedding announcement stating that they were indeed married December 1969 and my father-in-law was born July 1970. Everyone looked at each other with glances saying, oh my gosh, it seems very likely that his grandmother was pregnant on their wedding day. My husband and I still talk about how I unknowingly uncovered a family secret I love like just so nosy without knowing it. First holiday. Just fucking coming in shredding that pit. It's me. The

new element you have to deal with in this family. That's right. It's just like clear the dance floor everyone. I've got some fucking moves. My husband and I still talk about how I had known the uncovered a family secret just three months after joining his family. Because the math is just a little too close if you ask us. If you're wondering what his grandmother thought about all of this, she played the I'm just as surprised and confused as you card, which is totally her right and pretty badass in its own way. Mm-hmm. Always do that. Yeah, play the confused grandma your entire life. Why not? Just keep saying what over and over. You'll just drive people insane. Don't get too much Botox here because you always want to be furrowing your brows. Truly, realistically furrowing.

Yeah. I loved her since I never knew my own grandparents very well. She was a young widow and one time a real life cult leader tried to date slash marry her in the 80s. But that's a story for another time. Please send it. Such a good cliffhanger. Stay sexy and maybe toss out the newspaper evidence. Emily. Emily, that happened in my family too. I don't want to be too specific, but we did that one day where we were just like, well, wait a second. And did the math and then we're just like, because it is. It's always religious families too that that happens in.

Yes. Because like, we don is... It's always religious families too, that that happens in. Yes. Because like, we don't give a shit, you know? And actually, it happens so much that it's like people should know. If that's a discovery, it should not be... No one should be like, what a dirty secret, because it's like, probably 70% of marriages are like that. And don't bring it up, especially like in the 60s, I feel like that was just pretty par for the course.

Yeah, it was just you go and do the right thing. Don't bring it up. Don't make a family tree about it. Don't run around from new relative to new relative. The subject line of this email is that time I was a nun. Karen, Georgia, and the whole team, I was listening to Minnesota 419, and you asked for nun stories.

OK. When? And it just so happens I was a none. Wow. It's my favorite story to pull out at parties to surprise people, or if the conversation is getting a little boring, especially because most people wouldn't pin my outgoing tattooed effort saying true crime loving self as the none type. So cool. I grew up very loosely Catholic. Shout out Karen, I love all your Catholic references. Meeting my parents or raised Catholic but didn't really practice but sent me to Catholic schools.

That's rough. Yeah. Mixed in with that and some textbook childhood trauma. You know, alcoholic parents, divorce, severe parental mental illness. The kind that gets you lots of points on the ace scale and many healing years in therapy. Hi. Welcome. I ended up getting really involved in my charismatic new high school youth group.

I could have done a lot of other things as a teenager to act out, drugs, alcohol, boys. No, I chose high control religion. I mean, there's worse things. There is. But I mean, but it's funny because on the face you think, well, at least you're being this. At least you're safe or something. But it's not. I got very active in the Catholic faith and a young faith group in the area, and it was

all very consuming and in some ways almost cult-like. Okay, so back to the none part. Usually when I drop that information, I get a ton of questions. Could you have sex? Why did you go? Did you change your name? After years in youth groups and religious settings, I truly believed there was no higher calling than to, quote, live my life for only Jesus, end quote.

So I entered the convent at 21 years old. Wow. Oh, I'm 36 now, so this was pretty recently. I was only in my first year, and you typically don't cut your hair or change your name until the second or third year. So I just went by Sister Nicole. You also don't take vows until your second or third year, but you're learning about them and living by them already, so no, I did not have sex while I was in the convent.

After about nine months, I decided to leave, which is fairly common in the first couple of years as young women are figuring out if it's truly a good fit. It takes seven to ten years total, depending on the order, to be a fully vowed religious sister in the Catholic Church. About 90% of my days were spent in silence, prayers, and work around the convent. Meals were eaten in silence, sometimes with a reading, unless it was a special celebration day. I can't do it. That's my out. I can't eat in silence. No way. It's giving me agita just describing Nicole's experience.

In the order I entered, it's a teaching order, so all the sisters teach in schools around the country. You keep a really rigid schedule of prayers, reading, and recreation, which is sometimes playing sports like Ultimate Frisbee outside. What? Nones playing Ultimate Frisbee outside. What? Nones playing Ultimate Frisbee. They're like, you absolutely have to. You have to pray. Jesus loves Ultimate Frisbee. And you can see right over there he's playing.

Or board games. Overall there was a lot, see now I'm back in for the board games. Overall there was a lot of beauty in the life. As a person who likes alone time, I don't mind not talking to people all day, but I ultimately decided for many obvious reasons that the life wasn't for me and years later decided high control religion wasn't for me either, for more obvious reasons. Thank you ladies and the whole team for making a podcast that makes me and so many people feel understood and like they're talking to a friend. You've gotten me through bouts of postpartum cross-country moves raising four kids. And then in parentheses it says, yes, it's a lot of kids. Really just deconstruction and so much more. You've done so much good

in the world with wit, humor, and discussing hard topics. Thank you for being you and sharing it. Stay sexy and don't enter the convent. Oh my God. Nicole. What does Nicole do now, I wonder? I mean. It's just such a vast array of life experience. Yeah. It's fascinating. If Nicole has a job aside from mothering those four children, that I would be wildly impressed.

Sure. That's a lot of work. It's so many children. Maybe they're grown up. Wow. That is, I love that we asked for that. And then someone was like, here, I'll tell you all of my personal business. I love it. Thank you kindly.

Good job. My last one is short. It's called My Klepto Dad, a very, very short read. After the mini-sale with the Klepto grandma, remember there was a grandma who kept fucking putting shit in her verse, I am officially joining the finally have something to write in about club. In the first 10 years of my life, I received various trinkets from my dad, things from shops, airplanes, anywhere and everywhere.

And he always told me that the ladies gave them to him. The ladies. I was really fond of these nice ladies until I got older and realized that all this stuff was stolen. It broke my little honest heart as, of course, I was always taught not to lie or steal anything. I can still vividly remember the image of my favorite butterfly keychain lying in the garbage after I threw it away upon discovering the truth. That's tough. My parents still steal stuff.

We have many, many airplane blankets, various sets of airplane spoons, and other random items from the ladies. Yeah. Love you, blah, blah, blah. Aggie from Hungary. Aggie, hi from Hungary. Hi, all the way to Hungary. First of all, amazing and cool. Secondly, the last time I was on a plane, I was getting ready to steal.

Maybe it was a spoon or something that was so distinct and cool. And I was like, as I was like, don't do it, do it, don't do it. The flight attendant came and took my tray away. I was like, okay, she can tell. Like, I think people probably get these all the time. I'm sure. But you deserve it. I mean, I earned it.

You did. But that feeling of like, there's a real, Aggie just really like drew a little, wrote a little short story about like when your heart first breaks as a child because you're like, oh, I thought you guys were superhuman. Yeah. And you've been lying to me. You've been lying and stealing. OK, here's my last one.

For weddings, one bride, all drama. Hey, ladies, I've written in a few times with no luck. But when you asked for weddings slash family drama stories, I knew this was my moment. My oldest cousin, Jen, and then in parentheses it says names changed, has been married four times. And each wedding has had its own special crises and a lot of drama. I can already tell this is going to be a long one, so I'll just get into it. Four times.

Four times. No judgment, but that's a lot. That's very optimistic. Yeah. It's very like non-cynical, keeping it clean. Totally. Just keeping it dry. Keep trying, yeah. Yeah. It's very like nonsensical, keeping it clean. Totally. Just keep it dry. Keep trying.

Fine. Okay, fine. Goodbye. Next. You there. Wedding one. At the first wedding, I was the drama. And then it has a little devil face emoji.

I love the admittance of that. Yeah. But I still maintain that it was not my fault. For context, I was too. The wedding was in Jamaica. It was my first time on a plane and my mom was staying home with my newborn sister, making it also the first time I'd been away from her. There's no reason for a fucking two-year-old to travel for a wedding.

Without her primary. No. Absolutely not. According to multiple sources, it says my dad, grandma, aunts and uncles, I was a nightmare the entire time and through a full temper tantrum during this ceremony. Oh, God. Over 20 years later, my relatives will still make fun of me for ruining the wedding,

even though the marriage didn't even last long enough for the marriage license to make it back to the stage. Oh my God. Immediate divorce. Oh, you gotta wonder. And then it says, I don't think that's on me. Wedding two, clearly I hadn't been too big of an issue at the first wedding because guess who got to be a junior bridesmaid at the second one?

I can't confirm this, but I'm pretty sure that this wedding was the final straw in my aunt and uncle, like a different aunt and uncle's divorce. Uncle John had a bit too much to drink and was dancing very close to several women, none of whom were his wife. They left early, divorced soon after, and Uncle John never came to another family gathering except for to pick up his kids. They had been on the outs for a while, so no real surprise, but the timing and the kind of drama of it kind of overshadowed the new marriage, which also did not last long. Wedding three. This wedding was actually very pleasant. It was on a river ferry that took us all on a nice cruise with the ceremony, dinner and dancing all on board.

We all thought Jen had finally had a drama-free wedding until their divorce a few years later when we learned that it wasn't a wedding at all. They had never filed the paperwork to get legally married and had lied to everyone to get a bunch of gifts and make it less of a thing. And then in parentheses, Catholic family. Whoa. When they started having kids. Got it. Wow. Needless to say, my family was pissed with some relatives even demanding their gifts.

Damn. You want that, you want the ice bucket back really? That Cuisinart. Yes, I want my fucking Cuisinart back. You already have one, but okay. Jesus wants me to have my fucking quiz in her back. Jesus is pissed and I'm on behalf, on his behalf. Wedding four.

After the scam that was wedding number three, everyone was understandably very, I fucking love this woman. She's whoever she is. Okay, yes, that happened. This one I promise is real. Get up every morning and go try to get married again and just figure it out. After the scam that was wedding number three, everyone was understandably wary of

wedding number four. The fact that Jen and hubby four decided to move forward with a wedding in the summer of 2020, despite the whole pandemic thing, didn't help matters either. She and hubby four are very conservative and they don't believe in vaccines despite both working in the healthcare industry. When Jen found out that my parents and some other relatives would not be attending largely because of safety but also because we all had long since fulfilled our familial wedding duties, she wrote us all an email explaining how none of her three divorces were her fault and then in parentheses it says not true.

And then number four would be different, parentheses, it wasn't. Oh, God, I love family drama. She failed to change any of our minds and had a much smaller wedding than anticipated. You can't after the act on wedding three, you cannot expect people to go in on wedding four. No, like attending is like a favor. And then don't expect gifts. I've gotten you three gifts already.

Go to a beach with two friends and a deacon and get it done. Send everybody a picture. Okay. She failed to change any of our minds and had a much smaller wedding than anticipated. She is still mad about this and will bring it up passive aggressively whenever she can at family gatherings. Oh, I love her. I love her. The audacity.

Yeah. It's really an unapologetic life. Yeah. God bless. Whatever, Jen, I can be passive aggressive too and air my grievances on my favorite podcast. Yes. I mean, why not? Yeah. favorite podcast. Yes. I mean, why not? Also, Mystery Jen, it's not Jen's real name, is totally free and welcome to write in, say, their side of the story.

Just argue for love. Thanks for listening to all that. Also, what am I doing in 2025? I'm getting married. You heard that right. The screaming toddler turned junior bridesmaid turned non-attendee is all grown up. My fiancé is the kindest, most emotionally intelligent, wonderful man I know, and I can't wait to marry him." That's really nice. Though I have every expectation to be one and done with my own wedding, I'm sure I'll

still have plenty of drama for my next email. Thank you for all you do to advocate for victims and tell important stories in a fair and balanced way. Katie, she, her. Wow, Katie. Katie nailed it. Your aunt's probably fun to party with though. I mean, I think that's a big part of all of it. Have you seen those videos from like the holidays

where they're like, they go around the room and they say, hey, if you were bringing someone new to the family gathering, who would you warn them about? And everyone says one person. It's always the one person. Jen. Yep, it's Jen. That's's Jen. That's the energy it gave me. Completely. I mean, and it is the thing of, you know, in families when there's like, there's the, everybody goes into their roles and then there's the

scapegoats and all the family psychology. So we'll leave it open door for Jen. And what if she's just in the most fucked family and she's actually the true... The one who doesn't believe in vaccinations? I'm going to guess no. What's there to believe in? It exists and whether or not you believe in it. It exists and has been working for 100 years and is the way. And now that people have stopped doing it, immediately there are bad results from that,

aka science. It doesn't need you believing in it. Just, okay. Hey, send us your stories. Hey. My Favorite Murderer at Gmail. Hey, choir that we love to preach to. You know us.

Hi. Thanks for listening. Thanks for your family drama. Any kind of small-time family drama, I'm telling you. Tell us about the person that you would warn other people about if they came to your family party, and tell us why. Yeah, and why. Everything about, like, what they've done.

Yes. All the things they've ruined. Like, lightheartedly. Yes. Fun times. Fun, but hilarious. Like when Casey, one of the producers here, who's also now co-host on Dear Movies, I Love You, told the story on the staff meeting about his uncle who used to carry a bird in his pocket.

Remember that? I was like, this is the best story I've ever heard in my life. Okay, we got to hear those stories. Yeah. And also stay sexy. And don't get murdered. Goodbye. Elvis, do you want a cookie?

This has been an Exactly Right production. Our senior producer is Alejandra Keck. Our editor is Aristotle Acevedo. This episode was mixed by Liana Squalacci. Email your hometowns to MyFavoriteMurder at gmail.com. And follow the show on Instagram and Facebook at My Favorite Murder. Goodbye!