My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark - MFM Minisode 47
Episode Date: November 27, 2017Karen and Georgia read your hometown stories including a very special Tampa encounter, a Cheshire Murders connection, a Nazi prince, and more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy a...nd California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
This is exactly right.
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 and welcome to my favorite murder than many so'd.
This is where we read you back your emails that you send us of your hometown murders.
We have both developed a slight slur.
We don't know why it could be brain damage or some kind of shared of folly adieu, if
you will.
We're not sure, but we both begun to pronounce things incorrectly and just kind of talk.
We're talking weird these days.
And that's how you have a podcast.
Yes.
I think that's really the goal.
If you've podcasted enough, your mouth stops working.
That's when you know.
God bless.
Okay, Karen, you go.
I go first.
Oh, so this, the subject line is Tampa murdering us meet Lisa McVeigh.
So I will do, I'm not sure how much they go into it, but I will just tell everybody
else this when we were in Tampa, Florida.
One of the stories I did was Bobby Joe Long, who's a serial killer from down there.
And his last victim was a at the time, a 17 year old girl named Lisa McVeigh, who basically
outsmarted a serial killer who had already killed, I think 11 women between nine and
11 women and she got away.
And then basically at the end became a sheriff's officer for the, for Tampa.
Amazing.
Everyone cried.
It was a super cool ending is a fun ending to have.
It's fun to have an ending as we've both learned.
But also then that like that the victim then becomes the hero is obviously everybody loves
that.
Okay.
So this email starts out.
Hi, Karen, Georgia, Steven and pets today, I and several other Tampa murdering us had
the thrill and honor of meeting badass survivor Lisa Nolan, formerly Lisa McVeigh, the badass
who survived both childhood abuse and serial killer Bobby Joe Long and then went on to become
a police officer.
The day after the Tampa show, a murdering got a flat tire and the police officer who
stopped to help her was none other than Lisa.
What the fuck?
Yeah.
She got in touch with the Tampa Bay murdering Facebook group and we all set up a brunch.
Oh my God.
Ford slash toy drive for the Mary Lee house.
Oh, what a real shelter for severely abused children that Lisa regularly does work for.
I am going to cry on top of having a great afternoon.
We got to bring a little joy, a little bit of joy to abused children, some of whom have
never owned a toy before.
Lisa is a wonderful person and she says she would have loved to have been at the show,
had she known about it.
And now she's a member of our little group.
Oh my God.
On behalf of all Tampa murdering us stay sexy and keep making a great show.
Halley.
Oh my fucking God.
That's bananas.
So basically a murdering who was at the Tampa show where I told that story gets a flat tire.
The cop that pulls up is the woman that I showed this big picture of and that we all
applauded and cried for because it was the greatest ending to a story like that.
She meets her the next day and now Lisa, I want to say her correct last name, Lisa Nolan's
officer, Lisa Nolan is now a Tampa murdering.
That's so crazy and it's so fucking heartwarming and the toy drive aspect.
Come on.
Please give if Lisa as a police officer is does work for and gives to the Mary Lee house
in Tampa, Florida.
If you have five extra dollars, please give it to the Mary Lee house in Tampa, Florida.
Let's do it.
That's I love that.
That's beautiful.
Amazing.
Great work, you guys.
Great work, Tampa murdering us.
Thank you.
This podcast.
I can't.
Bigger than us.
Way bigger.
All right.
This is called I danced awkwardly in front of the Cheshire murderer.
Oh.
Hi, Georgia.
Steven and associated creatures.
Nice.
My hometown is in is the very suburban and rather affluent town of Cheshire, Connecticut,
made famous by the home invasion murders of the petite family that occurred there in
2007.
Horrible.
The crime was shocking and it's brutality and also because of the one of the murderers
came from a prominent local family, Josh, come a city, some come, Joshua, come, it's
the Jeff ski.
It's insane.
Yes.
And by a very religious by very religious parents who also took in foster children,
one of whom allegedly sexually abused him as a boy, Joshua was Joshua's adopted paternal
grandparents were extremely prominent figures.
Theodore Kamasarjewski was a famous Russian theater director and son of a princess.
Shit.
Three exclamation marks.
We love royalty on this show.
And Ernestine Stotal was a modern dancer who had performed with Martha Graham and became
an author and dance teacher later in life.
Miss Stotal, as I knew her, lived in a bucolic 65 acre farm in the rural outskirts of Cheshire
with her son and his family, including young Joshua.
Enter me an awkward preaching with little to no dancing ability who took lessons in
the gorgeous converted barn studio.
I recall a high beam ceiling and a baby grand piano that Miss Stotal herself would play
to accompany our efforts.
And then she would serve us cookies and juice.
She was incredibly graceful and refined and an extremely kind teacher.
Her grandson, Joshua Kamasarjewski was around my age, but homeschooled and would have been
living on the grounds of the dance studio when I was traipsing around in tights and
a leotard, innocent and carefree and mostly in it for the snacks.
In addition to the alleged sexual abuse, he had severe mental health issues and apparently
suffered from no fewer than five head traumas during childhood.
I was no longer living in Cheshire when the petite family was murdered.
Is it petite?
Is that right?
I'm not sure.
I was going to say pettit.
Pettit.
Is it P-E-T-I-T?
Yeah, I think it's pettit.
Fuck.
Sorry.
But I don't know that for sure.
Sorry, everyone.
They were murdered, but I was definitely creeped out to learn that one of the perpetrators
was related to my former dance instructor and was lurking on the premises when I was
studying with her.
It was such a senseless act of cruelty and I was relieved to learn that Mrs. Soto, although
still living, was unaware of her grandson's crimes.
She died a few months after the murders occurred at the age of 95.
Such a tragic situation all around and it shattered the local's false sense of security
in our quaint New England town.
Thanks for covering the Cheshire murders in one of your early episodes.
Yeah, I did it.
Great.
I got so excited when you mentioned your friend, Sean, because of course I know him
and you theater with him back in the day.
Oh my God.
That's hilarious.
He and James Van Der Beek are probably the only famous people who are not murderers
from our town, SSDGM, Meredith.
Thanks, Meredith.
Yeah, that's my friend, Sean, who is the one that recommended that.
That was right when I was starting at a job that he and I worked at together and he totally
did that thing where he was like, Hey, so you ever heard of this one?
Is that the one with the fire?
Yes.
And the dad runs to the neighbor of like somebody go do something.
It's so awful.
It's so awful.
And so extremely violent and sent like when they say senseless.
And you know, when Sean was telling me about it, it's like, of course that classic thing
where people are like, no one locks their door.
Everyone walks around.
It's a very specific, like kind of lifestyle.
And then everyone was just horrible and so horrible.
Okay, then the subject line of this is my grandma was haunted by a Nazi prince.
Yes, please.
I mean, that's again royalty.
All right.
Hi.
First of all, I love your podcast.
You guys are great, et cetera.
I have binged every, every singular episodes for the past two months, which has been my
greatest accomplishment since grad school graduation, since I'm unemployed and no one
will hire me.
Anyway, my grandmother grew up in Nazi era Germany.
She and her family moved from Cologne to Weisbaden as refugees after their home was bombed.
Side note, Hitler campaigned at her school slash church in his early years as he rose
to power.
She told me this story so casually one day over that's fucking crazy in Weisbaden.
Basically I'm pronouncing that right.
She moved to by birch palace, an old castle like building built for an old prince or something.
I'm probably getting some of this history wrong.
We support you.
The palace was converted into an apartment building during that time to help house those
who lost their homes.
Oh my God.
Obviously there were rumors that was haunted.
Everything was fine at first, but my grandma and her sister began to notice weird footsteps
and noises, typical ghost shit.
One night they heard footsteps coming down the hallway to the door to their room, and
the door to their room began to violently shake like someone was trying to get in.
It stopped after a minute or so, but it happened again and again every night for about a week.
Their parents told them they were dreaming or imagining it.
They even said it could be the dog or their little brother playing tricks on them.
How could a dog play a trick like that?
Yeah.
Hey, I'm a dog.
I'm playing tricks.
What's up?
I'm shaking a doorknob.
Giggling into his pot.
I'm really fucking with them.
One night they decided they were going to put flower down on the floor.
Smart.
That's paranormal activity style to see if it was in fact their brother or a dog.
Since it was dark, neither of them could see the flower, would see the flower and leave
footprints.
That night it happened again.
Footsteps down the hallway, door shaking, doorknob rattling, and that night the door
actually flew open and no one was there.
There were no footprints in the flower.
Both my grandma and her sister flipped out and ran to their parents' room, but it actually
never happened again after that night.
They moved out soon after.
Okay, that's it.
Love you guys.
Bye.
XOXO, Melissa.
Fucking Nazi shit, man.
Shit.
That's some good stuff.
Send us Nazi-era stuff, please.
I mean, God.
Amazing.
And Nazi-era stuff could be from 2017.
Aw.
Welcome to America.
Aw.
Mm-hmm.
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.
While I stop with just dinner, now you can enjoy HelloFresh's expanded menu of quick
lunch solutions, weekend brunch, simple side dishes, and amazing desserts.
And 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.
What makes a person a murderer?
Are they born to kill or are they made to kill?
I'm Candice 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.
This is called my favorite murder in my small town.
Hello, just wanted to tell you about a huge murder that happened in my small town in Ohio.
My uncle was a detective at the time and was assigned to a murder case of a woman whose
torso washed up on the banks of the Miami River in Butler County, Ohio.
It was 1998 and I was a sophomore in high school.
Since my uncle was investigating, we paid attention to a lot of what was going on.
The torso washed up in the banks of the river, that's right, just a torso, no arms, legs,
or head.
Creepy, right?
Then, no wait, the investigation was slow going because they had to bring forensic anthropologist
in to determine the remains, to examine the remains, excuse me, and then DNA testing to
try and identify the body.
It was later confirmed through the DNA testing that it was a woman named Cheryl Durkin.
She was what they titled to be a high risk victim because of her lifestyle choices.
She used drugs and it was said that she was a local sex worker.
After further investigation, it led them to the house of James Lawson and after inspection
of his basement found that is where he had dismembered her.
If I remember correctly, his mother was the one who assisted the police in the investigation.
Her other body parts were found in a nearby park in Preble County, Ohio.
Lawson was questioned for suspicion but was released due to lack of evidence to hold him.
After the discovery of his murder chamber, the manhunt began.
It was all over the news and it was even featured on America's Most Wanted.
That was eventually how they caught him.
Apparently, he had made a new life with a new girlfriend and at one of their family functions
he was acting all weird and dodging photos and cameras.
One of the family members saw him on the show and called it in.
Little fun fact, we maybe can't call it fun but quite creepy, where he lived in Middleton,
Ohio.
It was right down the street from our local middle school where I just attended and walked
frequently past.
Thanks for not cutting me up, Mr. Lawson.
Not sure if you would be able to find it but the new detective's television show came
to town and shot an episode about the case.
My uncle, Tony Dwyer, is on the show as well as other investigators, family and friends
of Mr. Durkin and even has some pretty awesome reenactments from Middie.
That's exciting.
New detective's comes to your town.
Your family gets to be on it.
It's a big deal.
Love it.
Yeah, that one sounds familiar to me.
Yeah.
Torso.
Shit.
A torso.
Keep your eye out for people who avoid cameras.
Yeah.
Oh, thanks for listening to this hometown send yours to my favorite murder, Gmail,
hometown murders, stories, ghost stories, Nazi stories, your parents' stories.
Just like a good story.
Good stories.
But creepy.
Creepy good stories.
And true, please.
Yes.
True creepy good.
That's the given.
There's a trifecta.
Go ahead.
No.
True.
Creepy.
Nazis.
Good.
Nazis.
There's four.
Okay, now there's a four trifecta.
Thanks for listening.
Bye.
Stay sexy.
Don't get murdered.
Bye.
Elvis, you want a cookie?
That's a yes.
Okay, now there's a four trifecta.