The Unlovely Truth

Exploring the intersection of faith and true crime.

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Episodes

Tuesday Mar 23, 2021

Mary Linda Patricia Vann, known to most as Pat, had big dreams. She was obsessed with the idea of having a man who would sweep her off her feet and set her up in a modern-day version of Gone With The Wind. Someone who would give her everything she ever wanted. Ann Rule’s book with that title is the tale of the lengths Pat would go to in order to make her dreams come true. She went much further than most people you and I know would – we hope!
This week’s guest is Pastor Lori Prather who is also the chaplain of our Unlovely Truth Tribe. She and I will be talking about recognizing and helping people in your life who might be just a little bit like Pat.
Buy "Everything She Ever Wanted" by Ann Rule
Buy "Gone With The Wind" by Margaret Mitchell

Tuesday Mar 16, 2021

All of us have a deep desire to be known. To have others value who we are at our core. Our story today involves the death of a woman who is only known in death as Delta Jane Doe. Authorities in Isleton, California, hope that they can discover who she was in life. They need your help to be able to do that.
If you know anything about this case, call 916-874-5057.
Check out these sites for more information about Delta Jane Doe:
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/627ufca.html
https://www.websleuths.com/forums/threads/ca-isleton-fem-skeletal-627ufca-30-50-blue-delta-fire-hoodie-mar08.62723/page-2
http://unsolvedgratefuldeadfans.homestead.com/UnidentifiedFemale1.html
https://law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/2d/141/304.html
Buy The Case of the Singing Skirt

Tuesday Mar 09, 2021

“9-1-1, What’s your emergency?”
Dispatchers never know what they are going to hear when they say those words. On June 20th, 2001, a dispatcher in Houston, Texas, answered a call from a woman named Andrea Yates. She wouldn’t tell the dispatcher what had happened, just that she needed a police officer to come to her house. After asking more questions and finding out that Andrea had 5 young children, the dispatcher sent Officer David Knapp to the home on Beachcomber Lane in south Houston. Andrea met him at the door when he arrived and told him that she had just killed her children. Her husband Rusty arrived minutes later. She had called him at work to tell him that he needed to come home. Rusty was worried that Andrea may have tried to kill herself again. He had no idea of the devastation he was coming home to.
Please check these resources if you or someone you know needs assistance with a mental health issue.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 800-273-8255
Available 24 hours. Languages: English, Spanish.
Psychology Today
Cumberland Counseling Centers
@alexandrathompson_lcsw

Tuesday Mar 02, 2021

In Montana, Indigenous people make up less than 7% of the population, but they consistently account for more than a quarter of the state's missing persons cases. I was shocked when I read that. And according to the Montana Department of Justice, eighteen of their missing persons have been missing for more than a year. So the story I’m about to tell you, sadly, is not as shocking as it should be. Eight-year-old Mildred Old Crow was reported missing in November 2020. She was last seen in the care of her guardians who were appointed by the Crow Reservation Tribal Court in March of 2019. I can’t find any information on why it took over a year and a half for someone to file a missing person’s report on the tiny, brown eyed child.
Anyone with information about Millie’s whereabouts can call BIA Law Enforcement at Crow Agency at (406) 638-2631 or the FBI at (801) 579-1400.
https://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/mmiw/missing-girls-body-found-on-crow-reservation/article_2674ccb0-3cf2-58b2-8f62-64f8a25be3e9.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share
https://billingsgazette.com/news/local/two-charged-with-child-endangerment-in-connection-with-missing-crow-girl/article_097dfca1-49ec-56c0-88e0-0ee718239d2a.html
http://www.crow-nsn.gov/constitutions-and-bylaws.html
https://tribalnations.mt.gov/crow
https://montanafreepress.org/2020/12/21/u-s-supreme-court-to-hear-case-involving-crow-nation/
https://www.mtpr.org/post/crow-tribe-declares-state-emergency-over-lack-law-enforcement
https://www.khq.com/regional/candle-light-vigil-honors-mildred-milly-old-crow/article_6172168c-dac3-5beb-a18b-12956cc60dff.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crow_people

Tuesday Feb 23, 2021

Are you really a criminal mastermind if you get caught? So begins chapter one of the book, A Prisoner’s Perspective: The Redemption of a Criminal Mastermind by Mike Savage. Spending years in federal prison will change a man, and his family. Mike and his wife Cynthia join me for this episode to talk about what God did in their lives during those dark days of Mike’s incarceration, and what He’s continuing to do now. Mike doesn’t dispute that he was guilty of the dozens of counts of international money laundering, laundering criminally derived proceeds, wire fraud, mail fraud, and more. Federal prosecutors, in addition to their description of Mike as a criminal mastermind, called him a scumbag and a thug. When he was asked under oath why he had lied and committed each of his crimes, Mike’s only answer was, “I wanted to be loved.”
A Savage Perspective Podcast
A Prisoner's Perspective: The Redemption of a Criminal Mastermind

Tuesday Feb 16, 2021

One by one, two wives, a brother, a nephew, a neighbor, and finally a stepdaughter of the Reverend Willie Maxwell had all died under suspicious circumstances. The criminal justice system had proved powerless to stop him, so Robert Burns took matters into his own hands. Charged with murder, Burns needed the best lawyer he could find. He turned to Tom Radney – the man who had gotten Willie acquitted of the murder of his first wife.
Buy The Furious Hours by Casey Cep

Tuesday Feb 09, 2021

My all-time favorite book is To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee; so imagine how excited I was when author Casey Cep finished a project that Lee had started, and mysteriously abandoned. After helping her good friend Truman Capote do research for his masterpiece, In Cold Blood, Lee thought that she too would write a true crime book. And there was a doozy of a case unfolding in her home state of Alabama. It was the trial of Robert Burns, who was accused of killing the Reverend Willie Maxwell. Many locals called Maxwell a voodoo preacher. Robert had killed Willie in front of hundreds of witnesses while they attended the funeral of Robert’s niece, 16-year-old Shirley Ann Ellington. Shirley was also Willie’s step daughter. Few seemed to mind what Robert had done, since Maxwell himself was suspected of the murders of a half a dozen people. People who just happened to name him as beneficiary of their life insurance policies. Policies that the Reverend Willie bought and paid for.
Purchase The Furious Hours on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1101947861/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_MCTSYKA4YNBF53JZRCEX

Tuesday Feb 02, 2021

Can a person be destined to do evil things because of their upbringing? Or are we solely responsible for our own actions? Theodore Oswald’s mother says that her husband raised their son to be a madman. Police said that Ted’s diaries prove that he would have committed these crimes with or without his father’s influence. Listen to today’s episode and share with me on social media what YOU think.
Email me at lori@theunlovleytruth.com, or send me a message on social media. Look for @theunlovelytruthpodcast on Instagram, or The Unlovely Truth on Facebook.
Check out the links in the show notes for more information on this case.
https://journaltimes.com/news/father-son-charged-in-shootouts/article_00a6ed97-50e8-5e11-8163-1b26b6454208.html
https://chippewa.com/news/attorney-osborn-raised-to-be-killer/article_25a2ba61-c916-5de2-884f-2399ee2fe991.html
https://madison.com/news/local/oswalds-mom-says-abuse-began-at-sons-birth/article_b8343faa-6a7c-5c6e-a729-21299611d727.html
http://archive.jsonline.com/news/waukesha/32517394.html/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYAoR4QwYes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJbEYGvP5NY
https://madison.com/news/local/oswald-trial-sees-repeat-outcome-hes-again-prison-bound-after-another-jury-finds-he-was/article_e7cfe22d-0205-581d-9a4b-73315eedb622.html
https://apnews.com/article/4e0e5edd29d2cce95233b06ec47c379b

Tuesday Jan 26, 2021

January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. Today’s book “I Was The Girl” by author Steven David Lampley is full of heartbreaking stories of Steven’s time working undercover to catch online predators, as well as information on how to keep your children as safe as you can when they are online. Since the FBI estimates that on any given day there are approximately 750,000 predators online, it’s information you NEED to know.
Steven's Website
Buy "I Was The Girl"
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Polly Klaas Foundation

Tuesday Jan 19, 2021

In some true crime stories, the “good guys” turn out to be not so good after all. It’s especially distressing when these “good guys” are members of the clergy. One of my favorite true crime authors, Diane Fanning, serves up a trio of tales about religious leaders that their flocks would have been better off without. They were respected, and even feared by their congregations. Even as the rumors they sought to cover up gained momentum, many couldn't believe what they were hearing could be true. A man who had given his life to serving the Lord just couldn’t have done what they were hearing about…could he?
Diane's website
Buy the book

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