Edward Johnson is imprisoned at what is called the "Alcatraz of the Rockies" in Colorado, a Federal Supermax prison. This prison is reserved for prisoners who are considered the "worst of the worst". Edward Johnson has earned that title as a double murderer. His crimes stand out as particular heinous for both the brutality of his crimes and for the choice of his victims. This is his story. Edward Jonson was born to Edward Johnson Sr. and Selena Johnson on June 16th, 1976, in

He Didn’t Stand a Chance?  The Story of Joseph Murphy                 Jackie Valentine, a supervisor for the Homemaker and Chore Program for Marion County Department of Human Services, which delivered meals to the elderly, received a call on the morning of February 2 nd , 1987, stating one client was not answering her door. The client, Ruth Predmore, was seventy-two years old. Jackie was concerned about Ruth, so she made a house call, entering Ruth’s home only to find the wom

Jade Marie Beasley was born August 3rd, 2009, to Michael Beasley and Jessica Bradley. Although their marriage did not work out, the two worked very hard to co-parent their baby girl with a 50/50, one week at each parent's house approach. This approach seemed to meet Jade's needs the best. After all, she was the most important part of both of their lives. After a while, both Jessica and Michael found love with others and Jade became part of an extended family that included Mic

The Call That Changed Everything: The Ohio Strangler                   It was a September day in 2016 when a 911 call came into dispatch in Ashland, Ohio. The caller told the dispatcher she had been abducted and was being held in an abandoned house across from a laundry mat. While police immediately raced to the scene where two yellow abandoned houses stood, the caller told the dispatcher the name of her abductor, Shawn Grate. She knew him from the local community center. He

Daddy’s In the Backyard: The Walter Couch Story                   Walter and Dorothy Couch were the proud parents of Walter Douglas Couch, born on May 17 th , 1949. They raised their son in Cincinnati, Ohio. Like most parents, they doted on their son and had high hopes for his future. When he met a young woman, Linda, at a wedding reception and soon married, they tried to help set a life up for the newlyweds. They allowed them to move into their home, eventually placing the d

A Mother’s Deception                 A mother’s job is to protect and nurture her child at all costs. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs includes water, sleep, food, shelter, clothing, breathing, and homeostasis as the most basic needs. However, the next level of basic needs includes safety and security. Children rely on their parents for safety and security. What happens when a mother deceives their child in such a way that they destroy their sense of safety and security? This is t

The Unthinkable: The Murder of Liese Dodd                   Heidi Noel was very close with her twenty-two-year-old daughter in 2022, Liese Dodd. Liese was herself preparing for motherhood at eight months pregnant. Heidi was planning the baby shower and preparing for the new little girl’s arrival. Liese hadn’t chosen a name yet for her daughter, so they were just affectionately calling her “baby bean”. Heidi worried about her daughter, however.                 Liese had recent

A friend of sixty-nine-year-old Bill Reynolds was shocked when he found him lying dead in his front yard in southern Indiana on September 27th, 2015. A 911 call soon followed with a police investigation starting quickly thereafter. The man was clearly dead already, with a bullet wound to the head. There was no weapon found, indicating that this certainly was not a suicide. A homicide investigation had begun that September day. William “Bill” Reynolds was born July 28th, 1946,

The very first story on this podcast was called the Brighton Baby Killers. I talked about two women, one being Paula Sims. She gained notoriety in the 1980s for her crimes, so much so that they even made a movie about her. Since that time, there have been updates to this case. Let's talk about it. Paula Sims was born Paula Blew in May of 1959 in Missouri. Paula had a rather normal upbringing with her parents happily married and two older brothers. However, that changed when

No Small Favor: The Murder of Oscar Velesquez                   Oscar Velesquez was a twenty-two-year-old Mexican immigrant who had found success as an over-the-road trucker in the United States. Part of a large, loving family, Oscar was a hardworking young man who set a good example for his younger cousins. He had no criminal activity and demonstrated how to make the “American Dream” a reality. He had recently purchased a white Chevy Camaro and often had cash on him. He was

Fatherhood: A Life Sentence                   Infant screams could be heard from down the hall at St. Joseph’s Hospital West in Lake St. Louis on February 6 th , 1992. Jennifer Jackson rushed back to her infant son’s room. She had only been gone for a few minutes, stepping out briefly to the cafeteria, leaving him with his father. When she returned, she found the boy in his father’s arm hysterical and unconsolable. She wrapped her son in her arms and tried to comfort him, but

Deadly Rejection: The Murder of Troy Temar             On the early morning of July 4 th , 1999, Troy Temar was supposed to be volunteering to park cars for a fundraising event for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. This was one of many generous acts Troy volunteered for, as giving was just his nature. However, at four o’clock that morning, first responders received a call about a burning vehicle on an abandoned property. Inside the vehicle was the dead body of Troy Temar.      

The Bridge: The Murders of Abigail Williams & Liberty German (ORIGINAL POST) Gina Westfall Oct 25, 2022 9 min read On the chilly winter afternoon of February 13th, 2017, two young girls headed out for a day of adventure in their small town of Delphi, Indiana. The trail the girls headed out on connected to the Monon High Bridge. The Monon High Bridge was a railroad bridge over Deer Creek that was no longer in use and in ill repair. The bridge had no railings, rotted railroad t

Beyond Redemption: The Murder of Collen Slemmer                   The Job Corps Program began in 1964 under the United States Department of Labor with a mission to help young people between the ages of 16 and 24 improve the quality of their lives through vocational and academic training aimed at gainful employment and career pathways. Eligibility criteria for the program includes being between the ages of 16 and 24, meeting low-income criteria, background check free of specif

A resident of Hamilton County, Indiana, was walking along a rural road on April 24 th , 2020. Hamilton County is a very safe area, in the 98 th  percentile for safety in the entire country, so imagine the shock when this resident found a dead body lying in a ditch! The resident called 911. When authorities arrived, they found the male’s body, clearly deceased and decomposing, lying in the ditch with a rifle sling around his neck. It appeared that the body had been dumped as h

The Snake He Didn’t See Coming           On June 8 th , 2017, a 911 call started an investigation in Montgomery County, Missouri. In New Florence, Missouri, a small rural community in the midwestern United States, a twenty-nine-year-old man lay face down in a snake-breeding facility he ran with his wife. His brother, the initial 911 caller, met police and comforted his brother’s widow. Certainly, Sam offered, his brother had been killed by one of his thousands of snakes. The

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