Episodi

  • The Glove in the Rain: Theater Billing, Fraud-and Murder

    The Glove in the Rain: Theater Billing, Fraud-and Murder
    Oct 15 2026
    The Glove in the Rain: Theater Billing, Fraud-and Murder

    A dry cream kid glove found in a soaked alley held a billing card that placed "Lori Leigh" fifty-eight miles away on a night Lori Leigh could not have been - and inside the Monarch Theatre a woman was found strangled, costume still on, makeup case closed. Who used Lori Leigh's name to collect secret booking fees, and how did that fraud lead to murder?

    In this episode, we follow the discovery at the Monarch Theatre, the contradictions in Lori Leigh's bookings, and Detective Eric Andrews's methodical pursuit from a paper glove to hidden advances in Leigh's notebook. What does a mismatched billing card, a pattern of unauthorized payments, and three repeated initials in a private ledger reveal about motive?

    Person: Lori Leigh
    Stage name: Lori Leigh
    Date of death: between 11:00 PM and 1:00 AM on December 8, 1926
    Location: Monarch Theatre dressing room
    Investigator: Detective Eric Andrews

    - The glove was cream kid leather, bone dry, found wedged at the base of the Monarch Theatre fire escape on December 9, 1926.
    - The billing card inside the glove was stamped Starland Pavilion, Dayton, November 22 - a date Lori Leigh could not have been in Dayton.
    - Lori Leigh was born in Mansfield, Ohio, in 1898 and by age 28 had a precise touring schedule across Ohio and Indiana.
    - Dr. Isaac Pruett determined the cause of death as manual strangulation with defensive abrasions on both forearms.
    - Lori Leigh's notebook listed "H.C." four times, each followed by a dollar amount and the word "advance."

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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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    19 min
  • The Hand in the Ice: How a Boardinghouse Murder Became Confession

    The Hand in the Ice: How a Boardinghouse Murder Became Confession
    Oct 14 2026
    The Hand in the Ice: How a Boardinghouse Murder Became Confession

    A human hand projected straight up through fourteen inches of ice on Coldwater Lake, fingers bare and an arm angled as if the body had been placed standing on its head. A barn latch showed bright fresh scoring, a grain bucket sat full and untouched, and one man would later confess - but Teresa Patterson's body would never be recovered; who put her in the lake, and why did the evidence travel across three counties only to melt away?

    In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from Teresa Patterson's disappearance on November 8 through the discovery on November 14, following the observations made at the lake and at the Brierton Boarding House, and asking how a thirty-one-year-old woman with only a notebook pieced together the clues that led to a confession.

    Person: Teresa Patterson
    Date: November 14, 1893 (body recovered)
    Location: Coldwater Lake
    Age: 54
    Investigator: Linda Hansen, 31

    - The body was suspended vertically, head down, roughly four feet beneath the surface in ice fourteen inches thick.
    - Teresa had been missing for six days before her body was found in the ice.
    - Dr. Miles Pruett noted a single fracture at the back of the skull indicating she was dead before entering the water.
    - The stable grain bucket was found full and undisturbed when James Aldrich checked at 6:30 AM on November 9.
    - The stable door latch showed fresh scoring consistent with a tool inserted from the outside when Linda Hansen examined it on November 15.

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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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    20 min
  • The Enrolment Card in the Telephone Box: Murder's Impossible Trace

    The Enrolment Card in the Telephone Box: Murder's Impossible Trace
    Oct 13 2026
    The Enrolment Card in the Telephone Box: Murder's Impossible Trace

    Fear clicks into focus when a child's eight-year-old enrolment card is found sealed inside a telephone junction box eight feet up a creosote pole while the girl's twenty-one-year-old body lies six miles away with a broken neck. How did an undisturbed, lead-crimped bell hide a paper link to Harwick Mission School that should not have been there - and who wanted that connection hidden?

    In this episode, we follow the discovery and the first threads of a case that joined a county lineman, a deputy sheriff, and an archivist over a single impossible object. Listen as the card, a ledger entry in a different hand and ink, and a delivery worker's secret past raise the question that drove the investigation: who placed the card, and why?

    Person: Gina Petersen
    Age: 21 at time of death
    Date found: October 20, 1917 (body); enrollment card found October 23, 1917
    Enrollment date: September 4, 1906
    Suspect: Leon O'Connor

    - The enrollment card inside the sealed glass bell read "PETERSEN, GINA - AGE EIGHT - ENROLLED SEPTEMBER FOURTH, 1906."
    - Gina Petersen was found dead at the bottom of an arroyo six miles north of Cimarron Junction with a broken neck.
    - The junction box's lead crimp showed no fresh tool marks when the dry card was retrieved eight feet up a creosote pole.
    - The school ledger page thirty-one contained Gina's entry in a different hand and warmer brown-black iron gall ink than surrounding 1906 entries.
    - Leon O'Connor made seven deliveries to Tanner Dry Goods between April and October 1917 and had worked at Harwick Mission School from 1910-1912, keeping a bottle of the school's brown-black iron gall ink.

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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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    18 min
  • Locked Gate, Upright Pump: The Sailor's Secret at Dunmore Basin

    Locked Gate, Upright Pump: The Sailor's Secret at Dunmore Basin
    Oct 12 2026
    Locked Gate, Upright Pump: The Sailor's Secret at Dunmore Basin

    A single left navy blue pump sat perfectly upright on the gravel at 6:20 a.m. on September 9, 1943, with a porcelain coffee cup from a nearby naval vessel balanced inside it - twelve minutes from Sherry Marshall’s front door and forty yards from a locked fence. Who held Sherry Marshall against that fence in the dark, and how did a gate latch and a ship’s hull primer hide the truth for years?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from Marshall’s last known movements after a 9:30 p.m. going-away dinner to the discovery of evidence that reopened the case: a gate that appeared locked but could be slipped open, a sign-out record placing a shipyard worker inside the compound, and primer on Marshall’s hand matching the hull of the U.S.S. Halloran. How did those details point to a crime scene no one had considered?

    Person: Sherry Marshall
    Date: September 9, 1943
    Location: Dunmore Basin service road, near the U.S.S. Halloran
    Person: Harvey Richardson
    Occupation: Pipe insulator for Coastal Trade Services

    - At 6:20 a.m. on September 9, 1943, a single left navy blue pump with a porcelain coffee cup inside was found on the gravel.
    - Sherry Marshall left a VFW hall at approximately 9:45 p.m. on September 8, 1943, and was a twelve-minute walk from her boarding house when she vanished.
    - Harvey Richardson signed out of the east service gate at 8:50 p.m. on September 8, 1943, giving him roughly fifty-five minutes before Marshall began her walk home.
    - Detective Bruce Zimmerman found the east service gate’s padlock could be lifted free because the shackle had never been fully engaged when tested on September 17, 1943.
    - Medical examiner Dr. Fred Patton reported gray marine primer on the dorsal surface of Marshall’s left hand and wrist, matching hull primer used on dry-dock sections of the U.S.S. Halloran.

    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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    19 min
  • Seven Minutes, One Tarpaulin: How Wendy Reed Vanished at Midway

    Seven Minutes, One Tarpaulin: How Wendy Reed Vanished at Midway
    Oct 11 2026
    Seven Minutes, One Tarpaulin: How Wendy Reed Vanished at Midway

    A woman disappears from a busy county fair and a single seven-minute gap in two amateur photographs hides the only clue: a heavy greased canvas tarpaulin folded against the agricultural tent and, beneath it, sixty-two-year-old Wendy Reed. How did a tarpaulin move 160 yards across a fairground and a body end up behind a wall invisible from the midway in less than ten minutes?

    In this episode, we lay out the sequence of events captured by an insurance examiner’s camera, the fairground layout, and the investigators’ footsteps, and ask whether the photographs, sight-line surveys, and witness notes can together reveal what happened in those seven minutes.

    Person: Wendy Reed
    Date: August 14, 1937
    Location: Caldwell County Fair, east wall of the agricultural tent
    Photographer: Paul Grady
    Investigator: Deputy Julie Walsh

    - Wendy Reed arrived at the south gate at approximately 12:45 PM and purchased roasted peanuts that afternoon.
    - Photographer Paul Grady shot frame five and frame six less than ten minutes apart; frame five shows no tarpaulin, frame six shows the tarpaulin against the east wall.
    - The tarpaulin was folded in quarters and was moved 160 yards from the truck in the back lot to the east wall by 3:22 PM.
    - A Harmon Brothers Hauling flatbed snapped its rear axle at approximately 11:00 AM and remained in the far back lot with a greased canvas tarpaulin on board.
    - Deputy Julie Walsh’s sight-line survey found the east wall of the agricultural tent invisible from the primary midway corridor, requiring a deliberate detour around the tent’s north end.

    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
  • They Declared Him Dead - The Forged Certificate That Walked Away

    They Declared Him Dead - The Forged Certificate That Walked Away
    Oct 10 2026
    They Declared Him Dead - The Forged Certificate That Walked Away

    A Gulf Coast death certificate blew out from between dock boards on July 12, 1884 - yet the man named on it, Harvey Simpson, had walked off the Calloway Star on July 11 carrying his own trunk. Who signed a death certificate dated July 9 while Simpson was still alive, and why did $400 move into a company account the day after quarantine cleared?

    In this episode, we follow the paper trail found at Port Calder and the questions it raised about quarantine procedure, company paperwork, and an apparent insurance claim. The discovery forces one investigator to ask the single practical question that no one else had: had anyone actually checked whether Harvey Simpson was dead?

    Person: Harvey Simpson
    Date: July 9-14, 1884
    Location: Port Calder and Pelican Spit
    Occupation: Cargo ledger clerk for Halverson Freight
    Investigator: Kenneth Ward

    - Philip Hunter found the death certificate wedged between slats on a loading float on the morning of July 12, 1884.
    - The certificate was dated July 9 and bore Dr. Leonard Foss’s signature from the Pelican Spit quarantine inspection.
    - Harvey Simpson boarded the Calloway Star on July 2 and was seen walking off the ship with his trunk on July 11.
    - Robert Marshall submitted an insurance claim to Gulf Coast Assurance on July 10 after presenting documents to a feverish Simpson.
    - Four hundred dollars was deposited into a Halverson Freight account on July 14 and spent before the certificate was discovered.

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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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    20 min
  • The Drive-In Ticket That Convicted a Killer-1953 Kellerton Secret

    The Drive-In Ticket That Convicted a Killer-1953 Kellerton Secret
    Oct 9 2026
    The Drive-In Ticket That Convicted a Killer-1953 Kellerton Secret

    Forty feet of rain-soaked ticket paper coiled in a dead man's fist stopped Kellerton investigators cold: a locked booth, no forced entry, and a ticket roll that could not have reached the victim legally. Two victims, one altered piece of paper, and a detective whose single forensic theory would change everything - how did a ticket stub become the linchpin of a murder case?

    In this episode, we follow the discovery at the Crescent Star Drive-In and the first days of the investigation, from the scene to the laboratory decision that reshaped the inquiry. What did Detective Nancy Doyle see in that soaked roll that made her send a tiny piece of evidence for testing?

    Person: Norman Adams, age 47
    Date: June 9, 1953 (body found); estimated time of death June 7, 1953 Sunday evening
    Location: Crescent Star Drive-In projection booth and drainage culvert
    Person: Detective Nancy Doyle, age 38
    Person: Ted Farris, projection booth operator

    - The ticket stub roll measured forty feet and was waterlogged but legible when photographed in situ.
    - Norman Adams was found face-down in a drainage culvert behind his projection booth with a single blunt-force blow to the back of the skull.
    - Adams's wallet was untouched and contained twelve dollars and his driver's license when his body was discovered.
    - The roll's serial number matched the coil loaded for the Saturday evening show on June 6, confirmed by projectionist Ted Farris.
    - The north utility door had a push-button lock that could remain unlocked if not pressed, and spare stub rolls were accessible through a pass-through window in that wall.

    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
  • Buttons Done, Shoes Swapped: Who Hid Judith West in the River?

    Buttons Done, Shoes Swapped: Who Hid Judith West in the River?
    Oct 8 2026
    Buttons Done, Shoes Swapped: Who Hid Judith West in the River?

    A body tangled in a trotline, shoes on the wrong feet, and every button fastened - the scene on May 14, 1923, looked deliberate yet strangely careless. Why would someone carefully button a blouse but leave shoes mismatched, and who used a seven-foot unnumbered corridor between 612 and 616 Carver Street to move a woman nobody had reported missing?

    In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from Judith West's daily routines to the morning her body surfaced in the Carver River, and how a handwritten note overlooked by the coroner later changed the course of the inquiry. What hidden detail in Constable Pruitt's notes redirected investigators weeks after the coroner's typed summary?

    Person: Judith West
    Date: May 14, 1923
    Location: Carver River, quarter-mile below the rail bridge
    Occupation: Bookkeeper at Meridian Pressing
    Residence: Upstairs room at 44 Walnut Street, Hollenbeck, Ohio

    - The body was found at 7:00 AM tangled in a fisherman's cotton trotline wrapped twice around the left wrist.
    - Judith West was 31 years old and had lived in Hollenbeck for six years.
    - She worked at Meridian Pressing at 612 Carver Street and unlocked the side office door before Vincent Greer arrived.
    - Last confirmed sighting was May 10 at approximately 5:00 PM, leaving Falk's Lunch Counter heading south on Carver.
    - A seven-foot unlit corridor between 612 and 616 Carver Street had no official address after a 1918 municipal renumbering skipped 614.

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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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    21 min