Episodi

  • A dead man witnessed a will - signed three days after his own burial

    A dead man witnessed a will - signed three days after his own burial
    Aug 10 2026
    A dead man witnessed a will - signed three days after his own burial

    A buried briefcase, a will dated January 2, 2009, and a witness who had been buried on December 30 - the facts point to a forged last testament written on paper that, records show, did not exist on the date it bears. Who manufactured a document that rewrote a seventy-nine-year-old farmer's estate, and how did a distributor's shipping log become the case's turning point?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from a road-grader strike at 6:41 a.m. on January 9 to the county clerk's office where a single sheet of bright-white 24-pound bond carried a signature from a man who died days earlier. What the paper's shipping record reveals about the will's authenticity becomes the question that drives the case.

    Case: Docket CR-7741-J
    Person: Warren Dell
    Date: January 2, 2009 (will date)
    Person: Jeffrey Vickers
    Date: December 30, 2008 (Vickers burial)

    - At 6:41 a.m. on January 9, 2009, Valerie Webb uncovered a leather briefcase forty feet from the property line of an eleven-acre farm.
    - The briefcase contained a single will dated January 2, 2009, signed by Warren Dell and witnessed by Jeffrey Vickers.
    - Warren Dell died on January 5, 2009, after being admitted to Pennbrook General Hospital on December 28, 2008.
    - Jeffrey Vickers died on December 30, 2008, and had been buried before January 2, 2009.
    - The bright-white 24-pound bond used for the will was released by the regional distributor on December 31, 2008, with the earliest confirmed local purchase the morning of December 31.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    22 min
  • The Evidence Technician: How a Gloved Lie Sent Her to Prison

    The Evidence Technician: How a Gloved Lie Sent Her to Prison
    Aug 9 2026
    The Evidence Technician: How a Gloved Lie Sent Her to Prison

    A woman found with a seven-inch hunting knife placed at a precise right angle to her left shoulder led to a chain of custody that sent an innocent nurse to prison for twenty-two years. The evidence bag was recorded as sealed in the field at 11:47 PM while the camera’s final photo shows 11:52 PM - so who altered the timeline and why?

    In this episode, we walk through the sequence of events from the open storage unit at Keystone Self-Storage to the lab intake and the fingerprint match, following the discrepancy in timestamps that changes everything. How did the evidence handling and the photo metadata point back to the person who logged the knife?

    Person: Nora Pell
    Date: December 9, 2014
    Location: Keystone Self-Storage, unit G-11 on Meridian Avenue
    Event: Single stab wound to the chest; knife positioned at right angle near left shoulder
    Status: Knife logged as sealed in field at 11:47 PM; camera final photo timestamp 11:52 PM

    - Nora Pell was 44 years old and a licensed practical nurse at Fallbrook Memorial Hospital for eleven years.
    - The padlock to row G was found on the asphalt and unit G-11’s metal door was rolled fully up on the morning of December 9, 2014.
    - The knife was a seven-inch fixed blade with a rubberized black handle, placed at a precise right angle to Nora’s left shoulder.
    - Evidence technician Gary Gallagher photographed the scene with thirty-one photos and logged the bagging time as 11:47 PM.
    - The camera’s final frame, photo number 31, carried a timestamp of 11:52 PM, and the bag was heat-sealed at the Columbus forensic lab intake at 9:14 AM the next morning.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    22 min
  • The Tape That Played Backward: How Video Sent a Man to Prison

    The Tape That Played Backward: How Video Sent a Man to Prison
    Aug 8 2026
    The Tape That Played Backward: How Video Sent a Man to Prison

    Fear and astonishment - a single low-resolution camera, a man in a dark jacket, and footage that seemed to put someone on the path toward a woman who was found brutally struck and left for hours; how did a tape that actually showed movement the opposite way become the centerpiece of an 18-year sentence? Who paid for the failure to notice the image was reversed?

    In this episode, we lay out the chronological facts of the case as recorded in police files and witness statements, show which concrete pieces of evidence drove the prosecution, and ask how a mirrored image became the bridge from footage to conviction. Which moment in the investigation turned a neighborhood observation into a courtroom certainty?

    Person: Michelle Carlson
    Date: November 11-12, 2024
    Location: Calloway Park footbridge and south path, Haverford County
    Person: Ross Perry
    Event: Security camera footage at 9:17 PM showing a figure with a rectangular chest patch carrying a long object

    - Time Ross Perry found Carlson: 6:14 AM on November 12, 2024.
    - Carlson’s routine departure time from home: 8:15 PM nightly, with a five-minute pavilion pause.
    - Medical examiner’s estimated attack window: between 10:00 PM and midnight on November 11, 2024.
    - Distance from footbridge to security camera: approximately 60 yards south.
    - Jury deliberation time: less than four hours.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 min
  • The Interpreter's Mistake: How One Sound Nearly Ruined A Man

    The Interpreter's Mistake: How One Sound Nearly Ruined A Man
    Aug 7 2026
    The Interpreter's Mistake: How One Sound Nearly Ruined A Man

    A single left shoe, upright on a rear service step, and four mistranslated words changed the course of a murder case-sending one man to prison for thirty-two years while another nearly went to trial for the crime. Which four words turned an appearance into an admission, and how did an unqualified interpreter become the hinge on which justice nearly failed?

    In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the missing evening of October 12, 2009 to the interview five days later that produced the contested phrase, following how procedural choices and one interpreter’s certification status shaped the charges-could a single consonant shift decide guilt or innocence?

    Person: Mara Voss
    Date: October 12-14, 2009
    Location: Caldwell Street building, Millhaven
    Person: Gary Wagner
    Date: October 19, 2009

    - Mara Voss arrived in the United States in 2004 and was 31 years old at the time of her death.
    - Her body was found on the morning of October 14, 2009; medical examiner placed time of death between 9:00 and 11:00 PM on October 12, 2009.
    - The upright left shoe was photographed at 10:03 AM on October 14, size seven brown leather flat, heel flush against the second concrete step.
    - Gary Wagner was arrested seven days after Mara Voss’s body was found and interviewed at 2:17 PM on October 19, 2009 at Millhaven Central.
    - Interpreter Vincent Mohr was certified for Polish and Slovak but listed as qualified for Czech without further verification; his written rendering was "I knew the way in" while linguist Yvonne Šimek later translated the audio as "I know how it looks."

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 min
  • The Tarpaulin, the Blood Type, and the Woman Freed Too Late

    The Tarpaulin, the Blood Type, and the Woman Freed Too Late
    Aug 6 2026
    The Tarpaulin, the Blood Type, and the Woman Freed Too Late

    A single municipal tarpaulin with a bright red Parks Department logo was found folded over a dead woman in a dry cleaner’s back room - and the name tied to that tarp waited in a filing cabinet for eight years. A blood smear of type A-positive, shared by roughly one in three Americans, became the prosecution’s linchpin; how did a routine sign-out sheet become the missing piece that could have freed a woman sooner?

    In this episode, we tell the story as presented in the record: the scene at Prestige Cleaners, the investigative choices that followed, and the unanswered question about the tarpaulin that was set aside - could a simple sign-out entry have changed an eight-year conviction?

    Person: Margaret Foley
    Date: September 17-18, 1986 (time of death estimated 36-48 hours before discovery)
    Location: Prestige Cleaners, 414 Hargrove Street, Dorrfield
    Person: Sandra Weaver
    Evidence: Tarpaulin marked "Dorrfield Municipal Parks Department" with a reference number

    - The medical examiner estimated time of death at 36 to 48 hours before discovery on September 18, 1986.
    - Margaret Foley was 53 years old and had operated Prestige Cleaners at 414 Hargrove Street for 11 years.
    - Sandra Weaver was 54 years old, beneficiary of a $14,000 life insurance policy on Foley, and had blood type A-positive.
    - The blood-type match used at trial covered approximately 34% of the American population.
    - The tarpaulin had been signed out in July 1986 in the Parks Department log to "Nelson Groundskeeping" for a drainage job at Reston Park.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    24 min
  • The Shoe on the Rock: How One Library Card Broke a Town's Alibi

    The Shoe on the Rock: How One Library Card Broke a Town's Alibi
    Aug 5 2026
    The Shoe on the Rock: How One Library Card Broke a Town's Alibi

    A single laminated library card tucked inside a white canvas shoe on a rock forty feet from the nearest path redirected a criminal investigation and nearly destroyed an innocent man's life - so who put it there, and why would someone carry a shoe into knee-deep water or lower it down an eight-foot slate ledge? The card bore the name Peggy McCarthy, a 22-year-old nursing student and pharmacy worker last seen at 10:08 PM on August 6, 2003; what seemed like a tidy clue became the central, unresolved question that split the town.

    In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from Peggy’s last confirmed sighting through the discovery of the shoe and her body, and we follow the immediate investigative steps that pointed to a nearby resident - before those conclusions unraveled months later. How did a library card inside a shoe change the direction of the case, and what evidence proved the early assumptions wrong?

    Person: Peggy McCarthy
    Date: August 6-9, 2003
    Location: Cannel Creek Nature Trail / Old Creek Road
    Status: Homicide by manual strangulation (estimated between 10:00 PM Aug 6 and 2:00 AM Aug 7)
    Investigator: Detective Marcus Holt

    - Library card with the name "Peggy McCarthy" was found inside a white canvas left shoe, size seven, laces tied, tongue folded back.
    - Shoe sat on a rock forty feet from the nearest path, reachable only by wading through knee-deep water or descending an eight-foot slate ledge.
    - Peggy was last seen at 10:08 PM on August 6, 2003, leaving Hargrove Family Pharmacy; Roy Gaines saw her walk to the parking lot.
    - Peggy's car was found on the shoulder of Old Creek Road with passenger-side tires barely touching the pavement, suggesting an unplanned stop.
    - Peggy’s body was found in a dry culvert 230 yards upstream from the rock at 8:45 AM on August 9, 2003, partially covered with cut branches.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    22 min
  • Dry Badge, Wet Vest: How an ID Sank a Cold-Storage Killer

    Dry Badge, Wet Vest: How an ID Sank a Cold-Storage Killer
    Aug 4 2026
    Dry Badge, Wet Vest: How an ID Sank a Cold-Storage Killer

    The quiet certainty that a person would never miss a shift became the key to a murder: a soaked quilted vest found in the Sable River held a perfectly dry, laminated employee ID sealed in a Ziploc bag-an impossible contradiction that pointed to deliberate action. Who packed Laura Sawyer’s badge into a dry bag and why did that decision lead detectives to reopen other cold cases?

    In this episode, we follow the discovery, the investigative steps and the chain of evidence that linked a single badge to a homicide conviction and new inquiries in other counties; how did a nine-minute window in facility access logs fit the picture?

    Person: Laura Sawyer
    Date: July 19, 2017
    Location: Sable River
    Case: Missing person turned homicide
    Investigator: Detective Harvey Hayes

    - Vest found by Lauren Roberts on July 19, 2017, at the Sable River before 5:00 AM
    - Badge recovered sealed inside a Ziploc bag in the vest’s right pocket and remained completely dry
    - Laura Sawyer had been missing for nine days when the badge was found
    - Laura Sawyer, age 38, had worked six years at Hayden Cold Storage as an overnight floor supervisor
    - Detective Harvey Hayes identified a critical nine-minute window in facility access logs on June 29, 2017

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    22 min
  • The Polaroid Reflection That Freed a Woman from Murder Charges

    The Polaroid Reflection That Freed a Woman from Murder Charges
    Aug 3 2026
    The Polaroid Reflection That Freed a Woman from Murder Charges

    Fear of a wrongful conviction and the tiny details that can overturn it collide in a single photograph: a Polaroid dated June 9 found on a sealed property that shows a faint reflection of a man holding a camera. That image became Exhibit 47-C in case CR-4481 and shifted the course of a murder prosecution - but who did that reflection actually implicate?

    In this episode, we tell how evidence, paperwork and one public defender’s close look at a basement window changed a case. We follow the discovery of the Polaroid, the disputed cause of death, the drainage-easement feud, and the defense work that raised the question: if motive letters were forged, who truly had access and reason to be at the house?

    Person: Paul Renner
    Date: September 4 (body discovered); June 9 (Polaroid date); June 11 (Polaroid found)
    Location: 4404 Tulloch Road; alley behind house; 4418 Tulloch Road (neighbor)
    Case: CR-4481, Kessler County Common Pleas
    Person: Cheryl Doyle

    - The Polaroid was tacked to the exterior wall seven feet off the ground above the basement window well and stamped June 9.
    - The property had been under county seal since June 7 and no alarm had triggered when the Polaroid was placed.
    - Paul Renner, age 67, was found at the bottom of the basement stairs with blunt force trauma to the rear of the skull on September 4.
    - Fourteen letters had been exchanged over two years about a drainage easement between Renner and Cheryl Doyle, with the last three letters laser-printed rather than inkjet.
    - A neighbor, Frances Pell, reported seeing a silver Honda Civic at the alley around 7:30 PM on the evening of September 3.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    21 min