My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark - MFM Minisode 47

Episode Date: November 27, 2017

Karen 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.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 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.
Starting point is 00:00:48 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.
Starting point is 00:01:12 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.
Starting point is 00:01:35 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.
Starting point is 00:02:11 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
Starting point is 00:02:39 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.
Starting point is 00:02:58 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.
Starting point is 00:03:23 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
Starting point is 00:03:53 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.
Starting point is 00:04:16 That's beautiful. Amazing. Great work, you guys. Great work, Tampa murdering us. Thank you. This podcast. I can't. Bigger than us.
Starting point is 00:04:24 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,
Starting point is 00:04:40 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.
Starting point is 00:05:00 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
Starting point is 00:05:31 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.
Starting point is 00:06:01 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?
Starting point is 00:06:37 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.
Starting point is 00:06:45 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.
Starting point is 00:07:09 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.
Starting point is 00:07:28 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?
Starting point is 00:07:52 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.
Starting point is 00:08:11 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.
Starting point is 00:08:31 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.
Starting point is 00:09:02 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.
Starting point is 00:09:28 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.
Starting point is 00:09:59 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.
Starting point is 00:10:11 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.
Starting point is 00:10:37 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.
Starting point is 00:10:51 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.
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Starting point is 00:11:20 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.
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Starting point is 00:12:21 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
Starting point is 00:13:00 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.
Starting point is 00:13:33 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.
Starting point is 00:13:59 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.
Starting point is 00:14:38 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.
Starting point is 00:15:07 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.
Starting point is 00:15:33 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.
Starting point is 00:15:43 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.
Starting point is 00:16:02 Creepy good stories. And true, please. Yes. True creepy good. That's the given. There's a trifecta. Go ahead. No.
Starting point is 00:16:10 True. Creepy. Nazis. Good. Nazis. There's four. Okay, now there's a four trifecta. Thanks for listening.
Starting point is 00:16:18 Bye. Stay sexy. Don't get murdered. Bye. Elvis, you want a cookie? That's a yes. Okay, now there's a four trifecta.

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