Discussing the murder of Gianni Versace and the 4 victims who came before him.

Show Intro:

The following is quoted from a profile of Donatella Versace from September of 2017 by Jess Cartner-Morley of The Guardian

"When my brother was murdered, I had the eyes of the whole world on me and 99% of them thought I wasn’t going to make it. And maybe I thought the same, at first. My brother was the king, and my whole world had crashed around me.”

“I was his doll and his best friend. He dressed me up in cool clothes, took me out to discos and clubs from when I was 11. I loved it. It was the best time of my life,”

“For the first five years, I was lost, Now, I feel like the death of my brother made me strong. But for a long time it was a trauma. You know the first thing I did when I heard the news, the day he died? I ran to the room where my children were, to turn off the TV.

But I wasn’t quick enough, and they were watching their uncle covered in blood, and they were asking me why. I had to be strong for the company. But most of all I had to be strong for the family.

People thought I wasn’t a warm person, but I was just trying to keep myself together.”

In case you've never heard his name, Gianni Versace was a prolific and iconic fashion designer who defined the 90s as an era of over-the-top opulence.

He challenged what is meant to be modern, masculine, and openly gay.

On the morning of July 15th, 1997, when he was 50 years old, Gianni Versace was shot and killed by a serial killer named Andrew Cunanan, on the steps of his Miami Beach mansion as he returned him from a morning walk on Ocean Drive.

His murder would shock the world and was the first step in unearthing the trail of death of disaster that Cunanan left behind.

Part 2 of the Cannibal Clarks, covering the murders and aftermath of Hadden Clark's crimes against Michele Dorr and Laura Houghteling

Part 1 of the story of 2 bizarre brothers and the lives that lead to the murders of Trisha Mak, Michele Dorr, and Laura Houghteling

We took an extended break from recording, here is what we've been up to for the last 9 months. If you don't care, feel free to skip this and head over to the most recent episode!

We're back from hiatus! Live, from the Baltimore podcast festival, we discuss the life and lies of Joe Metheny. 

This week we share some big news and talk about some big heists, some bizarre twists, and the black market

Rarely do we have survivors to focus on, but this week we're bringing you the story of Leo and Sue. Dedicated to Abril Macias, this week's episode involves addictions, attorneys, a police chase, and a bittersweet ending.

Show Intro:

Fentanyl:

Fentanyl is a potent, synthetic opioid pain medication with a rapid onset and short duration of action. Fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, but some forms of fentanyl, mimic the pharmacological effects of the original drug, causing some to argue that it may be as much as 500 to 10,000 times more powerful.

Counterintuitively, fentanyl is not a long-lasting drug. it is often used for surgery recovery and for breakthrough pain—meaning that when a person is already taking an opiate but has temporary pain that breaks through the opiate barrier, they may be given fentanyl.

There are time-release versions of Fentanyl, which provide strong pain relief over time. They come in two forms—a lollipop and a patch. Fentanyl is highly addictive. Abusing it is extremely dangerous, as the difference between a therapeutic dose and a deadly dose is very small.

As with any opiate, the main symptoms of fentanyl abuse are euphoria, drowsiness, lethargy, and mellowness. Fentanyl very quickly creates a tolerance to high doses, so a dose that is adequate for the intended high one week will probably not create that intended high even a few days later.

I'm telling you all of this because pain management and drug abuse play a large role in today's episode.

Three attorneys, Two husbands, two successful women, one veteran, one taser, three hours, one night, two patches, one drug.

This is the story of Leo and Sue.

The Briley Brothers went on a killing spree, were disturbingly violent, and then led a prison break... and you've never heard of them.

Show Intro:

James Briley Sr was a hard-worker, he and his wife had had 4 sons together, and as any parent knows, young sons can be a handful. Their oldest was grown and living outside the home, but the 3 other, Linwood, James Jr, and Anthony were still teenagers.

Like most other American Boys in the 60s and 70s, the boys were full of energy and curious about the world. And their parents worked long hours to provide their boys with whatever they may need. Their house was home, not just to the family, but to a collection of pets most parents would never agree to -- boa constrictors who fed on live mice, tarantulas, piranhas and a couple of Doberman pinschers.

The Briley family may not have been rich, but the boys were so handsome, strong, and healthy. Linwood, in particular was singled out because of his kindness, but also because most people agreed that he was extremely intelligent.

Neighbors described "Lin" as a considerate boy who frequently mowed the lawns for elderly neighbors and helped friends repair their automobiles. He spent long hours with his young son and his girlfriend, the child's mother, taking them to fairs and on other family outings.

The boys seemed to have had a very happy childhood. Both Mike and I are the oldest in our families, and I think we agree, that there's nothing like being part of big family. Being surrounded by siblings who love you, who fight with you, who cry with you, who get in trouble with you, and even cover for you.

At least, that's how it seemed on the outside. The boys once told a friend that the only person in the world they feared was their father, James Sr. James Sr and their mother had separated and the boys had been forced to live exclusively with their father.

It was not until many years later that prosecutors would discover that, even though the boys claimed to be afraid of their dad, it was James Sr who slept with a padlock on his bedroom door, to keep the boys from getting to him.

In 1971, Orline Christian, a neighbor of the Briley family's had recently lost her husband. She had been hanging laundry in her yard when she collapsed. Investigators quickly assumed that the 57-year-old, who had suffered from heart problems in the past, just couldn't cope with all of the stress. Her children, though, disagreed. They knew their mother and begged the funeral director to take a second look at Orline's body.

When he looked at her clothes and body, the director found a tiny bullet wound under her armpit. From where she had been standing, investigators determined that the bullet could only have come from the Briley home across the alley.

There, the murder weapon was found and 16-year-old Linwood claimed he had shot her by accident but that "she would have died soon anyway"

After spending one year in a Juvenile facility, Linwood returned to his family, seemingly changed.

Prosecutors claim that Linwood had not changed for the better, if anything, he'd gotten worse. And for an entire year, 1979, Linwood, James Jr, and Anthony Briley would hold the City of Richmond hostage during a killing spree that was only the beginning.

In all of the time I've been making this podcast, never once have I been truly terrified by my research... until this episode. 

These are the Briley Brothers.

TWO guest hosts join Natalie to talk about our first unsolved episode, the story of Bradford Bishop, The Family Annihilator.

Show Intro:

In 1976, Leo the Golden Retriever was just your average american dog. He was happy, goofy, and living with his family in Maryland, just outside of Washington DC

His master was a man named Brandford Bishop and he loved Leo.

He took Leo on long hikes in the woods, and on weekend camping trips with the family: Bradford, his highschool sweetheart and wife, Anne, their 3 sons, William, Brenton, and Geoffrey, and Bradford's mother Lobelia.

They were a very outdoorsy family. It was one of the reasons Leo loved them so much!

But mostly, Leo loved his nightly walks with Lobelia. She was 68, but she took him out on nice long walks after the boys went to bed.

On March first 1976, Lobelia and Leo were just coming inside Bradford had come home at some point while they'd been out, but there was something wrong.

Anne was slumped in a corner with a jacket over her, and Leo could smell blood. Then Leo watched as his Master, Bradford Bishop bludgeoned his own mother lobelia to death with a 10-inch sledgehammer.

After that Bradford went upstairs and used the same hammer to calmly murder each of his 3 boys. William was 14, Brenton was 10, and Geoffrey the baby, was only 5.

Later investigators would find deep grooves in the ceilings of the bedrooms, caused by how forcefully Bradford swung the hammer while killing his sons.

Then he packed the bodies, a gas canister, and his dog Leo into the family's station wagon. What strikes me most is that Leo must've stayed quiet the entire time. because the neighbors never heard a sound.

The next day Bradford would be seen with Leo the yellow dog at a sporting goods store. No one has seen or heard from either of them since.

This is the story of Bradford Bishop, the family annihilator.

In this week's minisode, we discuss Robert Hansen, the Butcher Baker of Anchorage, Nicholas Cage, and bad movies.

Show Intro:

This story begins and ends in Alaska. The trans alaska pipeline is an oil pipeline that spans 800 miles.

White it was being constructed, between 1974 and 1977, the city of Anchorage Alaska became a boom town, attracting men, money, commerce and crime.

With the rise in male construction workers came a notable community of sex workers.

The pipeline was completed in 1977, but the growth of Anchorage Alaska did not slow down. Today it is the biggest city in Alaska.

In 1983, Cindy Paulson was a 17 year old prostitute walking the street. A local man in a pick up truck approached her and offered her $200 for oral sex. He was soft-spoken, and small, It was cold and $200 was a lot of money, so gets into the car.

As soon as she closed the door behind her, the man reached across her and handcuffed her to the interior of the truck.

So this is really not good.

He has a gun and tells her that if she doesnt stay quiet, he'll kill her.

The man drives her to a house, that looks normal enough, except that once he has her inside, there is a fixture, in some places I saw it described as almost like a meat hook in the den that he chains her to, but then in other places, they say that he took her down to the basement and chained her to a support beam.

This is evidently the home that the man shared with his wife and children.

There he rapes, sodomizes and tortures her continuously throughout the night.

Then this horrifying monster decides he is tuckered out and takes a little nap, leaving cindy tied up. jesus christ.

When he wakes up, he calmly tells her to get dressed. but didn't let her put on all of her clothes. Then drags her back into his truck and drives cindy to Merrill Field, a small local airport in Anchorage.

There he tells her he is going to fly her out to his hunting cabin. He told her he had taken lots of girls out there, to have fun with them, it was his "summer project"

Cindy was like aaaaaawww hell no.

When he got out of truck to prepare the plane, he left her with her hands cuffed together, but not to the inside of the truck like he had the night before.

So half naked, barefoot, with her hands cuffed together, Cindy bolts! She runs out of the hanger and manages to flag down a car, she could still hear the man yelling for her to come back, yelling "stop, you bitch!"

Cindy managed to give the police detailed descriptions of her assailants house, car, plane and looks. It did not take the police long to identify the man who had taken her as 40 yr old Robert Hansen, a married man who owned a thriving bakery in Anchorage, the same bakery where many Anchorage detectives went for breakfast and coffee...

This is the story of the Butcher Baker. 

Warning: this is possibly the darkest episode we have ever recorded. Four girls were murdered and their mentally ill mother was the only suspect. The Banita Jacks case rocked DC, and changed the way children's services function in US Capital.

Show Intro:

Banita Jacks did not have an easy start in life. She struggled in school and failed to learn as quickly as other children her age.

By the time she was 16 years old, she was only a freshman in highschool, and pregnant with her first child, Brittany.

2 months after giving birth to the little girl, she dropped out of school.

The record goes cold on Banita until 4 years later.

When she was 20 years old, she filed a paternity petition against a Waldorf man that year, asserting that he was Brittany's father.

Then, in 1996, with Brittany in kindergarten and the paternity claim still unsettled, Jacks gave birth to Tatianna, her second child, which led to another paternity case.

Jacks was living with her mother, Mamie Jacks, in Waldorf when she filed a claim in 1997 against Kevin J. Stoddard of College Park, saying he was Tatianna's father, according to court records.

Stoddard acknowledged he was the father in a letter to a judge. Saying: "I am fully prepared to financially support her," Stoddard was given visitation rights with Tatianna and ordered to pay $342 a month in child support, but quickly fell behind, according to court records. How much money Jacks received is unclear.

Meanwhile, the court dispute over Brittany's paternity dragged on. The defendant, who denied he was the father, submitted a DNA sample, but Jacks initially failed to give samples of her DNA and Brittany's. After she failed to show up for a hearing in the case in 1999, a Charles judge issued a warrant for her apprehension.

On Dec. 11 that year, a few weeks before she turned 25, Jacks was picked up by county sheriff's deputies and jailed for two days. A day later she provided the DNA samples, according to court records. Tests soon proved that the man she had accused was not Brittany's father.

The father eventually turned up. In 2001, when Brittany was 10, Jacks filed a paternity claim against Norman C. Penn Jr. of Suitland, who acknowledged he was the father, court records show. Penn, who could not be reached for comment, was ordered to pay $388 a month in support. He fell behind on payments as well, according to court records. It was unclear how much money Jacks received.

This is another heart breaking example of the cycle of poverty. She's alone, and struggling, but is consistently described as a loving, doting mother who did everything in her power to provide for her girls. And, it would seem her luck was about to change!

It was about this time that Jacks began a new chapter in her life, enrolling in Aaron's Academy of Beauty, a cosmetology school in Waldorf. Except for breaks she took when her next two children, N'Kiah and Aja, were born, Jacks remained at the school, as a student and hair stylist, until 2005.

A stylist's success depends as much on her rapport with customers as her ability to cut hair, Stacy Lynch (the director the cosmetology school) said. "In this industry, it's all about personality." And Jacks had the right touch, Lynch said. Many clients came to the school to have Jacks style their hair.

Among them was Nathaniel Fogle Jr., who liked the way Jacks fashioned his cornrows, Not long after he and Jacks met at the beauty academy, they moved in together. Their daughter N'Kiah was born in 2002, and Aja arrived a year later.

Banita's little girls were bright, beautiful, and healthy. I looked up pictures of them and they are all these gorgeous, apple-cheeked kids. Their hair was always done up in braids and they each have the same big smile.

Jacks brought both newborns to the school to show them off. "Just like a mom," Lynch said. "She loved those kids." And it seemed that whenever Lynch ran into Jacks away from the academy, Jacks had her daughters with her. "We used to joke with her: 'You're going to have a whole cheerleading squad,' " he said.

After taking a break from school while she was pregnant with N'Kiah, and then again with Aja, Jacks returned, Lynch said and obtained a cosmetology license after graduating in 2005.

"For someone to come back twice," Lynch said, "that says she was determined."

Unfortunately, the family would soon fall back on hard times. They would end up in and out of homeless shelters, isolated, and reliant on public assistance. But no one could have foreseen how quickly they would fall apart. The worst was discovered in January 2008 when authorities attempted to evict them from a home in SE Washington.

What police officers found in the house was absolutely horrific. The bodies of all 4 girls were found locked in 2 rooms upstairs. Their mother had been living in the house as her daughters decomposed above her.

The deaths of Brittany, Tatianna, N'kiah and Aja resulted in an investigation that exposed how these girls were failed at every turn, by their families, by their fathers, by their schools, and by the system.

This is Banita Jacks: Possessed by Demons.