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Episode 189: Jodi Arias Phone Call

This episode features a phone call between Jodi Arias and Travis Alexander, whom she was dating intermittently between February 2007 and Alexander’s death in June 2008. A member of the LDS church, Alexander presented himself in public as a virgin and politely courted a number of LDS women while keeping his highly sexual relationship with Jodi as a “dirty little secret.” Eventually the two broke up, but Jodi continued to drive from her home in Yreka, CA to visit Travis in Mesa, AZ. As Travis increasingly ignored her in favor of “pure” Mormon women, Jodi became increasingly erratic and unhinged. On Wednesday, June 4, 2008, during a visit to Mesa, the pair got into a fight and Jodi shot and stabbed Travis to death.

The prosecution claimed that Jodi had driven to Mesa from Yreka with premeditated plans to murder Travis. The defense argued that the relationship had been abusive, and Jodi had killed Travis in self-defense. After a complex series of trials and appeals, Jodi was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

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Episode 189: Jodi Arias Phone Call
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Episode 188: Fake Suicide Cult Family Murders

In December 2019, in Celebration, Florida, police performed a wellness check on the home of the Todt family, who hadn’t been seen for some time. Anthony Todt, 44, was discovered unkempt and shaking. Wife Megan, 42, was found dead, along with their  three children: Alek, 13; Tyler, 11, and Zoe, 4. They  had been stabbed in the stomachs and smothered to death, and lay decomposing with crucifixes gripped in their hands. Also dead was the family dog, Breezy.

Anthony claimed that Megan had recently joined an online cult and the family had decided to kill themselves to avoid the apocalypse so they could be together in heaven. He said the murders were committed by Megan, and after her suicide, he had attempted to join her by attempting to strangle himself and overdosing on Benadryl but unfortunately didn’t take enough to die.

Todt was a physical therapist who’d recently been served a federal warrant for health care fraud charges. Police concluded his life was falling apart and he faked the “family cult suicide” to draw attention away from his financial and legal problems. In 2022, he was convicted of the murders and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. This episode contains Todt testifying at his trial, claiming that Megan was responsible for the children’s deaths.

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Episode 188: Fake Suicide Cult Family Murders
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Episode 187: Mollen Commission Hearings

This episode contains testimony from public hearings of the Mollen Commission, a board established in 1992 to investigate police corruption in New York City. First is testimony from rogue cop Michael Dowd, who agreed to appear before the commission after being turned in by his partner. Dowd describes to commissioners how he and other officers at Brooklyn’s  75th and 94th Precincts began colluding with drug dealers to rob their rivals and sell cocaine, finally graduating to extortion, grand larceny, conspiracy, drug trafficking and racketeering. Next is testimony from “Mr. X,” a widely used law enforcement informant, who spoke about corruption among officers of the 9th Precinct.

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Episode 187: Mollen Commission Hearings
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Episode 186: Rae Carruth Murder Trial

In 1999, Carolina Panthers wide receiver Rae Carruth, 26, had a problem. A casual girlfriend, stripper Cherica Adams, 24, told him she was pregnant with his child. Rae was already paying a significant amount of child support to a woman in California, and had no desire for another baby. Prosecutors claimed Carruth conspired with three men to gun down Cherica as she was driving home from a movie. Before she died, Cherica was given a C-section and delivered Carruth’s son, Chancellor, who was born with permanent brain damage and cerebral palsy. The defense, led by David Rudolf (defense attorney in the Michael Peterson ‘Staircase’ trial), argues hit man Van Brett Watkins killed Cherica in a fit of anger following a prior argument with Rae.

In 2002, Carruth was found guilty of conspiracy to commit first degree murder. He served 18 years of an 18-to-24-year sentence and was released from prison on October 22, 2018.

This episode contains testimony from Carruth’s cousin, Tiffany Adams, followed by confessed hitman Van Brett Watkins.

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Episode 186: Rae Carruth Murder Trial
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Episode 185: Parent Hitman Murder Trial

Christopher Sutton, the adopted son of John and Susan Sutton of Coral Gables, Florida, was a troubled young man, constantly in trouble with the law. To curb his behavior, his wealthy parents sent him to a reform school in Samoa, and Chris never forgave them. After returning home to Florida, Chris, 25, offered his friend Garrett Kopp $10,000 to kill his parents. Kopp broke into the Suttons’ home on August 22, 2004, and shot the couple, killing Susan and blinding John. The initial suspect was John’s law partner, with whom Susan was having an affair, but the cops soon turned to Chris. He claimed Kopp acted alone out of anger after a drug deal went bad, but the jury didn’t buy it, and Chris Sutton was sentenced to three terms of life without parole.

This episode features the cross-examination of Chris’s girlfriend, Juliette Driscoll, who under police pressure admitted she was aware of Chris’s plan to murder the Suttons, but later retracted her assertion.

 

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Episode 185: Parent Hitman Murder Trial
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Episode 184: Buried Parents Trial

Richard, Sheryl and Stacey Kananen survived a horrific upbringing of violence and abuse on the part of their father. Sheryl left home to marry and raise a family, but Stacey and Ricky continued to live at home with their parents in Orlando. When their father Larry disappeared, no-one missed him. But when their mother Marilyn disappeared 15 years later, police became suspicious, especially when, shortly after her mother went missing, Stacey, 37, moved with her partner Susan to live in a nudist resort.

Searching the siblings’ home, police unearthed the remains of their father under the garage floor. Their mother’s mummified body was found buried in the rock garden. After being questioned by police, Ricky and Stacey unsuccessfully attempted suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. When they were separated, Ricky admitted to the murders in return for a 30-year-sentence. But when Stacey agreed to testify against him, Ricky turned on her and claimed she was responsible. After her acquittal, Stacey wrote a book about the case, Fear of Our Father: a true story of abuse, murder and family ties  (Berkley Books, April 2013).

 

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Episode 184: Buried Parents Trial
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Episode 183: Mother Murder 911 Call

In June 2014, at his home in Lake Oswego, Oregon, a man making his dinner heard gunshots. He looked through the window and saw his neighbor across the street, 41-year-old Adrien Wallace, standing in his driveway pointing a hunting rifle at the dead body of his mother, 71-year-old Saundra Wallace. He then walked to the car where his 16-year-old nephew, Nick Juarez, was sitting on the passenger seat. Wallace squatted, pointed the gun at the car, and fired. He smoked a cigarette then called 911 and confessed to his crime. He gave no reason except that he was abused as a child and hated the human race.

Wallace was charged with two charges of aggravated murder. It took jurors 12 minutes to reject his insanity defense. He was sentenced to life without parole.

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Episode 183: Mother Murder 911 Call
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Episode 182: Tommy Carlton Murder Trial

Tommy Carlton, a registered nurse living in Osceola County, Florida, was very angry with his ex-wife, Elizabeth. The couple were involved in a bitter custody battle, and Tommy owed $85,000 in child support. In 2008, He hired a hit man to kill her, but the hit man turned out to be an undercover cop. With the help of Elizabeth, police staged a sting operation using posed photos where she appeared to be shot in the head. When the police told him his wife had been murdered, Tommy replied, “I can’t say I’m sad about it. I hated the bitch. But I had nothing to do with it.” In court, Tommy claimed he had a hearing deficit and couldn’t understand what the hit man was saying. He was found guilty of solicitation to commit first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder, and sentenced to life in prison.

This episode contains an excerpt from Tommy defending himself on the stand, followed by a recording of his conversation with the police after being informed of his wife’s murder.

 

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Episode 182: Tommy Carlton Murder Trial
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Episode 181: Marc Benayer Represents Himself (part 2)

In this continuation of episode 180, Marc Benayer interrogates Rabbi Zalman Bukiet, of the Chabad Weltman Synagogue in Boca Raton, where the shooting occurred. He accuses the Rabbi of, among other sins, being anti-Sephardic, cheating, taking money for performing Bar Mitzvahs, and turning a somersault in the synagogue. Benayer also testified on his own behalf, doing himself no favors. He was questioned by defense attorney, Christopher Haddad. The long-suffering judge was Richard I. Wennet, of West Palm Beach Circuit Court. After his conviction, Benayer died in prison.

 

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Episode 181: Marc Benayer Represents Himself (part 2)
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Episode 180: Marc Benayer Represents Himself (part 1)

This episode contains the testimony of Marc Benayer, 81, who represented himself at his 2007 murder trial in Boca Raton, Florida. After Benayer’s girlfriend Marta Pinto, 44, had broken up with him, he allegedly began stalking and harassing her, claiming she owed him $10,000. Marta, who spoke very little English, worked at an electronics company, and she turned to her bosses, Mark Levy and Jonathan Samuels, for help in getting a restraining order against her elderly suitor.

In 2005, after the Rosh Hashanah service at the Chabad Weltman Synagogue in Boca Raton, Benayer shot Jonathan Samuels, 43, twice in the back. He died nine months later. Mr. Benayer claimed the shooting was an accident, and that Samuels’ death was due to a heart attack. At his trial, the eccentric and irascible Benayer fired his attorney and decided to represent himself. Unsurprisingly, the jury found him guilty. Later, while behind bars, Benayer tried to hire a hitman to kill his former defense attorney along with Mark Levy, a prosecution witness. In reality, the hitman was an undercover Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputy.

While Benayer had been diagnosed with dementia, a personality disorder and the early onset of Alzheimer’s, psychiatrists examined him before the trial and declared him competent to represent himself. Others may disagree. Benayer died in prison in August 2015, aged 89.

This episode contains Mr. Benayer’s excruciating cross-examination of his ex- girlfriend Marta’s daughter Henriette, 18, and Marta’s new boyfriend, Martin Fried.

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Episode 180: Marc Benayer Represents Himself (part 1)
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