My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark - MFM Minisode 93

Episode Date: October 22, 2018

This week’s hometowns from the Bay Area include a freeway mystery and a Zodiac Killer connection.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. Hi, welcome to my favorite murder, the mini. So today, this is where you tell us number one, your hometown murder is great. And then from there, it just, you know, the floor is yours. It's just as your special moment to stand up, to speak out, say hello to everyone and be like, here's the most interesting thing I can dig up, whether it be in your town, in your family. It might not be your story. It's okay. Who cares? Tell us other people's stories.

These are our fucking stories. They're not. Okay. The subject line of this first email is the mysterious death of Grandpa Vestal. Dear MFM family, recently I was visiting with my parents in Sacramento, eating breakfast downtown, where we watched a car drive the wrong way down a two-way street. My mom, who is well aware that her son is a murderer, you know, and who saw me watching Unsolved Mysteries on cable, literally the day before, turned to me and casually asked, well, you know about Grandpa Vestal, right? My mom then told me about the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of my completely normally named great grandpa Vestal. That's just their questions. Okay, go on. It's, he already sounds like a ghost.

He was born a ghost. The name Vestal is like, oh, you are cursed and will be haunting the rest of your family. Absolutely. Okay. In 1986, my uncle got a late night call asking him if he knew Vestal since he was in the phone book and shared the last name. My uncle confirmed that it was his dad and the police let him know that Vestal had been killed in a highway collision. I don't know. Vestal was 80 years old and at the time he lived in Dixon, which is a rural town about 20 miles away from Sacramento. You know it? Yes, of course. Dixon's the town on the way from my town to Sacramento and like I had friends that lived there and stuff. Okay. I think they're really good fall fare. Oh, that's lovely. It's a real corn maze part of the country.

Corn maze based. Okay, so we talked about Dixon. Okay, he lived by himself since his wife had passed away some years prior and according to my mom had no dementia or any other mental health issues to speak of. So none of us will ever know what prompted Vestal, who didn't drive at night and who didn't leave Dixon to get behind the wheel of his car, drive down the I-5, transfer onto the 180 towards the Sacramento airport, drive the wrong way down the freeway and crash head on into another car, killing himself and the other cars passengers. Oh my God. My favorite eerie detail was that when they checked his house afterwards, they found his dinner uneaten left on the Ottoman in his usual spot. Stay sexy and just stay in for the night and finish your dinner. Cody.

Cody, like from last episode that we just recorded. Yes. It's the celebrity named Cody telling the creepiest fucking story. I want to cry. It's horrible. I want to scream or cry. But it's like he just, he made himself or got himself into full dinner. Why did he do that? Then stood up left and went and did something he would normally never do. He must have had, I wonder if he had like a stroke and something else was going on in his brain. Because I bet you he fucking drove those freeways his like forever. It's not like he didn't know how to get on that on ramp onto that. You know what I mean? Yes. Like something's wrong there too. Yes, exactly. Like why would you go the wrong, remember when Nicole Richie went the wrong way down the 134? Yeah.

It was in the middle. That's one of my favorite stories. Gotta be ambient. Well, yeah. Or like just being fucked up because it was before she got sober. Yeah. I think and it was like she basically got on an on ramp and then took a left onto an empty freeway and then realized it was all wrong direction. That's like a big, I mean, everyone's watched What's Wrong with Aunt Diane or What's the Matter with Aunt Diane. That movie fucked me up. Well, because yeah, it's like was this, I mean, you immediately picture that grandpa Vestal was like possessed or some crazy hadn't been sleeping well lately. And so it was just exhaust, you know what I mean? Like your brain does crazy shit when you're exhausted. We have Cody, we have so many questions. Cody call 555

a piece of bread that had mold on it that made him hallucinate. Yes. Which is the way it used to happen in the dark ages. That's right. Meaning like 100 years ago. Okay. At the turn of the century. Right. Okay. This is this one's called everyone is cremated equally question mark. Hi, y'all. It's your friendly neighborhood mortician here. Oh, by the way, we're due. These are all Sacramento, San Francisco, like Bay Area, Oakland, because we're doing live shows this coming week in there. Yep. Hi. It's your friendly neighborhood mortician here. I worked for a place that did all the preparations and cremations for several funeral homes. And we worked with one lady who ran what we call a cremation society. Basically a business such as offers direct cremations for

decent prices for families. So one day she receives a call from this guy that his mother had passed away on hospice at home, and we needed to come pick her up. Nothing unusual. We get these calls all the time. Usually if, uh, usually if they're on hospice, the nurse and doctor have been notified of the death and the funeral comes, the funeral home comes and picks them up. Next day, the son comes into the funeral home, no call, no appointment, just comes in and starts asking the funeral director about the paperwork. She said she got a weird feeling from him. And he was, uh, antsy and sweaty and just quick to sign the paperwork and without asking any questions. After signing all the paperwork, he leaves quickly. So the funeral director starts filing all the necessary

paperwork for the permits and death certificate. A few days later, she receives a call from the coroner stating that they need to pick up the body to do an investigation because her death was not, was never reported to the hospice or the authorities. Oh, she tries contacting the son to let him know. Every number he gave her didn't work and wasn't, uh, and he wasn't at the address he gave her either because, and then this is all caps. Guess what? What? Baskard's, Baskard skipped town because he killed his mother and thought that, uh, trying to speed up the cremation process would cover his tracks. Well, it didn't. Authorities eventually tracked him down in Vada and his mother's cremains were given to the next of kin. So fuck that guy. I hope he rots.

And that's just one of the many insane stories from working in a mortuary. There's other great hits like the funeral, the funeral director faking his death for insurance money. Whoa. A shootout during a funeral service. Whoa. A murder confession in front of the casket of a loved one. Yes. A supervisor I knew embalming the body of a serial killer and many more. I can't wait to see you guys in Sacramento this month. Stay sexy and don't try to cremate your mother to hide the fact that you murdered her. Sincerely, your friendly neighborhood mortician. Thank you so much. Yeah. First of all, mortician, thank you for being so friendly. Thanks for being in our neighborhood. Thanks for knowing that we would want weird stories like

that. Oh my God. It's talk about someone that needs to start a podcast. Oh, well, there's the chick I follow on Instagram called the good death, Caitlyn Dougherty. She's like the pro death, death positive mortician. Oh, yeah. And she just wrote a book and she just seems fucking cool. Now, when you say death positive, you mean like she's not, she's just like it happens. It's natural and there's people who want to die and they should be able to die. No, I think it's like it's, we shouldn't be, I don't, I'm not, I can't speak for her, but we shouldn't be terrified of it. People have questions, people want to know what happened. I don't know. Oh, so it's more like a little chiller about dying. Yeah. It's kind of like, let's talk about it.

So we're not all fucking terrified of it. I'm 100% for that. And she's like goth and cool and shit. And she's a mortician. I don't know. I like her. I love it. I'm picturing kind of an Elvira situation and that's hot. Okay. This, the subject line is zodiac connection and spying on the neighbors. Salutations. I grew up in South San Francisco, California, about 45 minutes from Karen. I too hate Sacramento. I do not hate Sacramento. I should have edited that out. I'm going to, I am going to write a love letter to Sacramento and read it when we do our show there. Absolutely should. Okay. I should have pre read that. My mom was about 10 when the zodiac was terrorizing the Bay Area. My mom casually mentioned one day

that the girl across the street was shot by the zodiac. I'm sorry. What? My mom is not a murderer and could care less about this. Oh my God. I don't have a lot of details, but my Nino uncle told me that she was shot in the stomach at UCSF and was either a freshman or a sophomore. She was only in the hospital for a week and made a full recovery. Obviously, the neighborhood lost their minds as this was the sixties and everyone was super tight. Nino said the neighborhood in the city went on fucking lockdown and no one could go anywhere. He also mentioned coming home at two AM when Richard Ramirez was on his SF tour to an unlocked door. I don't know. They knew he was in the city and they still left the front door locked.

What the fuck? Nana and Papa get it together. Since we're sharing random stories. Well, you are. Since we're sharing random stories, I basically lived at my grandparents' parents' house growing up and when I was little, maybe three or four, I heard a lot going out on outside. I peeked through the wooden plantation shutters. Why were those a thing? And watch just my neighbor's son was being taken away in handcuffs and tiny whiteies followed shortly by his brother being taken out on a gurney with, and this is in all caps, a fork sticking out of his stomach. No, take the fork out. Between the zodiac and the crazy neighbors next door, I was destined to become a murdering out SSTGM Angie. That's amazing.

How hilarious is that? That was a good one. Since we're sharing stories. Yeah, it was like a compilation. Yeah, yeah. Like, let me just add this in. I've got a couple. Well, I have a little zodiac one too, but I also, or I could do a close call GSK one, which I guess we got to do. Those all sound good. Okay. How do you choose? I choose the one that Elvis is not directly putting his asshole on currently. Okay, this is called first hand GSK close call. Karen, Georgia, Steven and mascots. Hi. That's good. mascots is good. I'm a big fan coming at you from Karen's favorite place, the armpit of California, Sacramento. Oops, I should have added that up too. Oh man. I moved up here last summer from the Bay Area and settled in Rancho Cordova. Oh yes,

lovely place. If I ever hear that anyone grew up in this area, I ask them if they remember what it was like when the East area rapist was on the loose. And that's why we're so fun at parties, isn't it? That's right. Is because we just ask people about shit like that. We go right to the heart of what, do you have any deep seated fears? Yeah. When someone's like, freaks you out? I'm from Cincinnati. I'm like, Oh, do you know about the, no. Yeah. That's stupid. Did you know about the, they put chili on spaghetti? Yeah, I'll either ask about their food or their killers. Cinnamon. Here is the most amazing and terrifying firsthand story I've heard. One of my co-workers was in high school in the seventies and lived in Rancho Cordova in a neighborhood where the

golden state killer hit three times. She didn't know it at the time. Let's call her Kathy. She started the story by saying, I don't think it was the East area rapist, but this really weird thing happened during that time. One evening her parents went to a party and left her and her younger brother home. They were watching a movie together when her brother decided to go to bed. His bedroom was near the front door, so when Kathy kept hearing weird noises from that direction, she assumed he was doing something in his room. After about 20 minutes of these sounds, she decided to go investigate. As she walked down the hall toward her brother's room, Kathy heard the noise again and looked toward the front door, only to realize the handle was

jiggling and someone was trying to get in. Oh my God. She freaked out, woke her brother up. They ran into their parents' room, barricaded the door, loaded the gun, called their parents, and then it says in parentheses, why not 911? Her parents called the police and they came over. Kathy remembers that the cop showed up way more quickly than she expected. And as they sat her down, they told her to be very careful because, quote, concerning things had been happening in her neighborhood. When she asked if they found anything, the officers mentioned that the front door handle was almost off and there was a screwdriver and a flashlight left in the bushes on their porch. At this point in her story, as someone who has

been studying GSK, my mouth dropped open and I screamed, that was him. That was the Golden State Killer. Until a few months ago, Kathy had no idea that she was very likely a potential GSK victim and as a screwdriver and flashlight were some of his favorite tools. But I'm also like, yeah, that's what everyone's favorite break-in tools are. If it's nighttime and you're trying to undo a front door, you kind of have no choice but to go screwdriver flashlight. That's true. I mean, you could do, what else could there, a candle? You could do a candle and dynamite. Just pick a hatchet for her. That seems like a great duo. What did he do? What was his MO? A candle and dynamite.

A candle and dynamite like an old miner that hadn't been there for 50 years. Can't wait to see you in Sacramento on October 26th. Thanks for reminding us. And then it says Colby and then in parentheses, female. Colby. Female Colby. Thank you. That's so creepy. I know. So creepy. 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.

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hellofresh.ca slash murder20 and use code murder20. Goodbye. Hey, I'm Mike Corey, the host of Wondery's podcast against the odds. In our next season, three masked men hijack a school bus full of children in the sleepy farm town of Chowchilla, California. They bury the children and their bus driver deep underground, planning to hold them for ransom. Local police and the FBI marshal a search effort, but the trail quickly runs dry. As the air supply for the trapped children dwindles, a pair of unlikely heroes emerges. Follow against the odds wherever you get your podcast. You can listen ad free on the Amazon Music or Wondery app. Okay, the subject line of this is my grandpa is crazier than your grandpa.

Hi. In the 1940s, my grandpa was a self-described hobo. He used to hitchhike and ride around on trains looking for work during the school year when he was a teenager. That sounds like so much fun. I mean, that's the life. And then he would come back to his parents' house during the summer to look after his little brother, Gary. Every year, Gary would ask if he could go along, and when he turned 12 or 13, my grandpa finally agreed to take him. Can we just talk about baby's name, Gary, real quick? I just want to take a fucking moment to let everyone know that there was like a child named Gary at one point in his life. Like a seven-year-old like, it's me, Gary. I just want to go on the train with you. It's me, Gary. Stop it, Gary. Will you help the

baby? Gary's crying. Will you change Gary's diaper? Gary spit up again. Gary has a briefcase. He's only four. His diapers are in his briefcase. You just do the basics. Gary's got all this equipment. Okay, go on with baby Gary. Okay, baby Gary gets to go because it's so long ago, it was the 40s, that 13, it says my grandpa finally agreed to take him. 13 is basically an adult, right? So I actually just started talking through the end of that paragraph instead of just reading it. So they're leaving their hometown of Walla Walla Washington by the way of hitchhiking. They get picked up and my grandpa is quietly sitting in the back seat. Well, Gary is making conversation with the driver. Gary, 13. Gary is just working the driver. At this point,

I should mention two things. My grandpa is quiet and salty and he refuses to comment on the story. Oh, I love him. Gary is the only one who will talk about it. Spoiler alert, they both survive. So this guy is driving and he takes an unexpected turn. Gary says something about it and the guy doesn't respond. Then Gary goes, seriously, mister, seriously, mister, you're headed down the wrong way. And the man tells Gary, shut the fuck up and turns down a forested road toward the mountains. After another minute or two, Gary asks the man to let them out and the guy produces a pistol, points it at Gary and says, you'll get out when I say you'll get out. At which point, Gary hears a click from the back of the car. My grandpa is pointing a gun at the man. Holy

shit. And then it just says in quotes in quotation. No, I think we'll get out here. Believe it or not, the guy was convinced and he let them go. Oh, Gary decided the hobo life wasn't for him. And to this day, granddad won't tell anyone where he got the gun. SSDGM, Casey Jean, PS, looking forward to seeing you in San Francisco this October. What about this for a fucking twist or two? Yes. What if Gary, what's the grandpa's name? It just says grandpa. What if grandpa, teenage grandpa, did it on purpose to scare Gary from coming again? Yes. Right? Oh, my God. And then Gary's like, I want to go back home and grandpa's like, well, teenage, I'm teenage grandpa, I got to go on my own, Gary. And the friend that's like, I'm scary random man from, from the car. There's problems

because like, why does teenage grandpa know this creepy old man? Anyway, but that's not more. I mean, that's the hobo life. They're not a just, you know, people, your friends, you can start young, you can end old, you do it however you want. That's great. I love that the grandpa won't comment on it. I know. You got to have a gun with you if you're going to be like a fucking traveling hobo. You got to have a piece or a switch play. Do you get it? Absolutely. And also how smart of him to sit in the back seat. Yeah. It's like, whatever happens here. Also, Gary's just totally a front seat bait. Chit chat. Just like, well, yeah, go ahead and go up and sit up there. Go sit next to the old man, pepper him with questions. See what he, how he responds. Well, that was

amazing. Oh, another batch of great ones. Oh, guys, please send us your fucking stories because we love reading them to you. They're the best. And God damn it, Sacramento. I can't wait to come and apologize to you. The apology tour. You should come out with a Scarlett letter a just apology on your dress. Scarlett letter s. Sorry, Sacramento. Sorry, Sacramento tour. All right. Well, stay sexy, everybody. And don't get murdered. Goodbye. Elvis, you want a cookie? Wow. I've been with that one.