Episodes

  • A "Special Place in Hell" Grab Bag

    A "Special Place in Hell" Grab Bag
    Feb 21 2025
    We’ve covered some real nasty pieces of work on our show over the years. Dive into true crime for any length of time, and you’re bound to come across plenty of people you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley. Or a lit one, even. But even among the rogue’s gallery of devil’s rejects out there, there are some in a league of their own. People so devoid of morals and human empathy that they should really just be shoved in some dank little spider-infested oubliette somewhere and forgotten about, just to protect the rest of us. Today, we’re gonna tell you about two of them.

    Case 1: Hell's Belle - The Crimes of Melissa Patterson
    Case 2: Making a Killing - The Story of Mark Barton, the Day Trader Killer

    Join Katie and Whitney, plus the hosts of Last Podcast on the Left, Sinisterhood, and Scared to Death, on the very first CRIMEWAVE true crime cruise! Get your fan code now--tickets go on sale February 7: CrimeWaveatSea.com/CAMPFIRE

    Sources:
    Appeals court filings, Patterson v State: https://casetext.com/case/patterson-v-state-2099
    Investigation Discovery's "Diabolical," episode "The Rich Get Richer"
    Oxygen's "Snapped," episode "Melissa Patterson"
    Martin Knell's Obituary
    KRGV: https://www.krgv.com/videos/murder-victim-s-only-son-speaks-out-following-conviction/
    My RGV: https://myrgv.com/local-news/2023/09/23/five-years-later-monica-melissa-patterson-still-claims-innocence-despite-the-evidence/
    Time magazine: https://time.com/archive/6736072/a-portrait-of-the-killer/
    New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/31/us/shootings-in-atlanta-the-overview-killer-confessed-in-a-letter-spiked-with-rage.html
    Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1999/07/31/killer-wrote-of-fear-hopelessness/af33786a-de37-45cd-9d5f-1098379892dd/
    South Coast Today: https://www.southcoasttoday.com/story/news/nation-world/1999/07/31/atlanta-shooter-had-been-disgruntled/50508538007/




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    47 mins
  • Bound By Hate: The Murder of Rozanne Gailiunas, Finale

    Bound By Hate: The Murder of Rozanne Gailiunas, Finale
    Feb 14 2025
    Last week, we learned the identity of the man hired to kill Rozanne Gailiunas—Andy Hopper, an insurance adjustor turned weed dealer who had apparently added “hitman” to his list of careers. But investigators were still uncertain whether Andy was who they were after, or just a middleman who could lead them to the real killer. So they let him remain free—and then, tipped off by his girlfriend, he vanished. Join us for the conclusion of “Bound by Hate: The Murder of Rozanne Gailiunas.

    Join Katie and Whitney, plus the hosts of Last Podcast on the Left, Sinisterhood, and Scared to Death, on the very first CRIMEWAVE true crime cruise! Get your fan code now--tickets go on sale February 7: CrimeWaveatSea.com/CAMPFIRE

    Sources:
    Open Secrets by Carlton Stowers
    D Magazine: https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/1991/july/fatal-obsessions/

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    48 mins
  • Bound By Hate: The Murder of Rozanne Gailiunas, Pt 2

    Bound By Hate: The Murder of Rozanne Gailiunas, Pt 2
    Feb 7 2025
    In last week’s episode, young nurse Rozanne Gailiunas was brutally murdered while her young son slept in the room next door. Suspicion initially fell on both her estranged husband, Peter, and her new boyfriend, Larry Aylor. But evidence was thin on the ground, and the case went cold. Three years later, Larry was the target of a botched assassination attempt, but had trouble getting the police to take it seriously. No one connected this shooting to Rozanne’s death. Then, out of the blue, a mysterious woman called investigators and laid the blame for Rozanne’s murder at the feet of her menacing husband, Bill Garland. This mysterious caller turned out to be Carol, the elder sister of Larry Aylor’s wife Joy. And she said Joy was behind the whole thing. Join us for part 2 (of 3) of this twisty tale.

    Join Katie and Whitney, plus the hosts of Last Podcast on the Left, Sinisterhood, and Scared to Death, on the very first CRIMEWAVE true crime cruise! Get your fan code now--tickets go on sale February 7: CrimeWaveatSea.com/CAMPFIRE

    Sources:
    Open Secrets by Carlton Stowers
    D Magazine: https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/1991/july/fatal-obsessions/

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    51 mins
  • Bound By Hate: The Murder of Rozanne Gailiunas, Pt 1

    Bound By Hate: The Murder of Rozanne Gailiunas, Pt 1
    Jan 31 2025
    The late, great Bo Diddley asked one of life’s big questions in one of the 20th century’s greatest songs—“Who Do You Love?” That’s a simple question, but in some relationships, the answer isn’t simple at all. Love, money, revenge—people kill for all kinds of reasons. And in this week’s case, those motives tangle together in a way that will tear lives to pieces. A woman torn between two men, a crime scene straight out of a nightmare, and an investigation that twisted and turned for years.

    Join Katie and Whitney, plus the hosts of Last Podcast on the Left, Sinisterhood, and Scared to Death, on the very first CRIMEWAVE true crime cruise! Get your fan code now--tickets go on sale February 7: CrimeWaveatSea.com/CAMPFIRE

    Sources:
    Open Secrets by Carlton Stowers
    D Magazine: https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/1991/july/fatal-obsessions/

    Follow us, campers!
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    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-campfire--4251960/support.
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    44 mins
  • Schemer: The Crimes of Sheila Davalloo

    Schemer: The Crimes of Sheila Davalloo
    Jan 24 2025
    We’ve covered our share of scary ladies on this show. In fact, bad bitches are one of our special interests. There was Tracey Richter, who murdered an innocent neighbor to frame him for a crime he didn’t commit. Marie Hilley, the serial poisoner who eluded police for years and once passed herself off as her own (fictional) twin sister. Marjorie Orbin, the Vegas showgirl who murdered her husband for his life insurance and left his dismembered body in the desert. I could keep going—there are a lot of ‘em. But this week, I think we may have found the scariest one yet. You can tell us if you think I’m wrong, but I think the woman we’re about to tell you about may be the worst of all the women we’ve covered so far…a woman whose heart is a swirling black hole of need and darkness. This is Schemer: The Crimes of Sheila Davalloo.

    Sources:
    Obsessed by M. William Phelps
    Oxygen's "Snapped," episode "Sheila Davalloo"
    Killer Women with Piers Morgan
    Murderpedia (various articles): https://murderpedia.org/female.D/d/davalloo-sheila.htm

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    39 mins
  • Explosive: The Benson Family Murders

    Explosive: The Benson Family Murders
    Jan 17 2025
    Benjamin Franklin wrote, “Money has never made a man happy yet, nor will it.” To which I think a lot of people would say, yeah, try being poor, Benny. A couple thousand dollars would make me plenty happy right now. But, once you’re beyond the stage of having enough wealth to be comfortable and free from fear of destitution, I think his point mostly stands. We’ve seen a lot of cases involving very wealthy people, and I don’t think you could say they were any happier than the average Joe. If anything, just the opposite. That’s definitely true in this week’s case, which involves a staggeringly wealthy family with a whole collection of messy, grasping lives that culminate in tragedy.

    Sources:
    Serpent’s Tooth Christopher Andersen https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1986/08/07/in-florida-murder-most-malevolent/3c1c9fb0-560b-4b40-8185-fc701724d936/ https://www.naplesnews.com/story/news/local/2016/04/01/medical-examiner-says-benson-was-stabbed-to-death-in-prison/85873180/
    https://www.nytimes.com/1986/08/07/us/florida-murder-trial-that-bared-secrets-of-the-rich-nears-end.html

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    57 mins
  • Lust, Lies & Audiotape: Two Failed Murders for Hire

    Lust, Lies & Audiotape: Two Failed Murders for Hire
    Jan 10 2025
    Most people love getting a peek behind a fellow human’s carefully managed facade. We’re delighted when we see the local magistrate gettin’ wrecked at a dive bar two towns over. We catch a glimpse of our married coworker making out with a guy who’s not her husband behind the building, and we can’t wait to tell somebody. We love a hot mic moment, when a news anchor or politician drops the mask for a second and acts like the flawed human they are. I think that’s one of the reasons we love hit-man stings on this show. A recording of somebody offering money in exchange for murder—it's the most authentic peek behind the curtain you could possibly get. A person making an inexplicable, evil choice, dropping the face they normally show to the world to show the darkness underneath. This week we have two cases for you: One where a career fraudster and general snake in human form stays exactly true to his character, and one where a respected member of the community does something light-years out of hers.

    Sources:
    Oxygen's "Murder For Hire," episodes "Revenge! Revenge!" and "Wrong Side of the Law"
    CNBC's "American Greed," episode "A Con Man's Deadly Revenge"
    https://www.oxygen.com/murder-for-hire/crime-time/long-island-inmate-joseph-romano-plot-murder-judge-prosecutor-bianco-gatz
    https://www.cnbc.com/2014/02/27/how-joseph-romano-went-from-million-dollar-coin-fraudster-to-hiring-a-hit-man.html
    Court papers: https://law.justia.com/cases/colorado/supreme-court/1987/86sc254-0.html
    New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/15/nyregion/inmate-gets-life-in-prison-for-plotting-to-behead-a-judge-and-a-prosecutor.html

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    49 mins
  • Away Team: The Story of Heaven's Gate

    Away Team: The Story of Heaven's Gate
    Jan 3 2025
    I have vivid memories of the night of March 22, 1997. Part of it has to do with, y’know, young dumb love—but most of it has to do with the Hale-Bopp Comet, also known as the Great Comet, which was brilliantly visible from my hometown that night. I had a huge crush on this guy, and he invited me to watch the comet with him. We climbed up on the rooftop of this neighborhood bar with a bottle of screw-top wine, and we watched the sky—and suddenly, there it was, a bright silvery ball with a long glowing tail. Magic. I’ll never forget it—wrote some bad poetry about it later that night. And then a couple mornings later, I woke up to the strangest news story of my life. A group calling themselves Heaven’s Gate had taken their own lives en masse out in California—and they’d left behind a video explaining why. They were catching a ride on the comet, with the full certainty that it would take them to paradise. They were leaving their human bodies behind, chasing the pure perfection of enlightenment. These were smart, educated people with families who loved them. What led them to this? Join us for the story of one of the deadliest cults in American history: Heaven's Gate.

    Sources:
    Heaven’s Gate: America’s UFO Religion, Benjamin Zeller https://web.archive.org/web/20081003124716/
    http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070318/news_lz1n18timelin.html
    Cult Education Institute
    https://www.heavensgate.com/ https://web.archive.org/web/20080122002236/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,986136-1,00.html
    Wikipedia "Comet Hale-Bopp" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Hale%E2%80%93Bopp

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    52 mins