The Unlovely Truth

Season 1, Episode 41: My Dark Places

Her name was Jean Ellroy, and she was brutally killed at the age of 43. She left behind a ten-year-old son, and a trail of mysteries. Best selling author of Black Dahlia, James Ellroy, is that son. The book “My Dark Places” is, he says, his attempt to burn down the distance between him and a mother he didn’t really know. I believe it’s really an attempt to understand himself.

Season 1, Episode 40: There Should’ve Been a Book: The Murder of Taylor McAllister

If parents aren’t supposed to bury their children, then they definitely aren’t supposed to have to push law enforcement to see their child’s homicide investigation through until it’s solved. Bill and Leslie McAllister are two very determined parents who are doing just that. Their daughter Taylor’s death was classified as a homicide, and suspects were identified. So why has no one been charged with causing her death?
https://www.tampabay.com/news/pinellas/crime/family-disgusted-by-short-sentences-for-men-who-dumped-their-dead-daughter-in-an-alley-20181221/
https://www.baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2020/02/05/family-continues-to-fight-for-justice-3-years-after-taylor-mcallister-s-death
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5180675/Heir-52-arrested-death-22-year-old-mom-two.html
https://www.facebook.com/taylormcallister94
https://www.facebook.com/leslie.mcallister.986
If you know anything at all about the murder of Taylor McAllister, please reach out to the Pinellas County Florida Sheriff’s Office at 727-582-6200, or CrimeStoppers at 1-800-873-TIPS(8477).

Season 1, Episode 39: Survivors, Part 2

When author Dennis Griffin contacted me, there was no way I wasn’t going to dedicate another episode to such a special book. Dennis’s experience with investigations, and cold cases in particular, gives him tremendous insight into the difficulties of solving them. He is also well aware of the challenges families often face when they take on their own search for the truth. Dennis has developed some incredible resources that anyone with a heart for these families will want to learn about.
To learn more, check out these sites:
www.dennisngriffin.biz
The Transparency Project closed FB page https://www.facebook.com/groups/199487740806089/
https://www.thetransparencyprojects.com/ (find links to several podcasts here)

Season 1, Episode 38: Survivors

Losing a loved one to a violent crime is traumatic for a family. Needing to fight to get answers about what happened is like being victimized all over again. In this week’s book, “Survivors: Shocking True Stories About America’s Pursuit of Police Transparency and Justice”, you’ll hear stories told by family members abut their struggles to get proper investigations when a death is wrongly determined to be accidental or a suicide. Today’s guest Sheila Wysocki will share her own struggles as an investigator helping families like these who want nothing more than to be told the truth.

Season 1, Episode 37: Mortal Danger

A true crime book podcast with no books by Ann Rule? Unthinkable! Join me to discuss “Mortal Danger, Volume 13 of Ann Rule’s Crime Files”. Many men seem charming, or at least harmless, until you get to know them. By then it can be too late to get them out of your life. We often believe that if something is familiar, then it must be safe. But as Ann says, “strangers aren’t the only people who might do us harm.”

Season 1, Episode 36: The Last Stone

A pair of young sisters went missing in 1975 from a shopping mall in Montgomery County Maryland, a wealthy suburb of Washington D.C. Police had worked the case hard, and it had featured prominently in the local media. Despite the attention and resources given to the investigation, the case went cold. Thirty eight years later, a mislaid witness statement caught a detective’s eye, and that witness, who at the time had been dismissed as a flaky young loser, was suddenly a suspect. Don’t miss “The Last Stone” with special guest Brandon Perron.
Learn more about Brandon’s work at www.CDITCTraining.com & www.investigation.us.com

Season 1, Episode 35: There Should’ve Been a Book: The Murder of Larry Jo Phebus

Cases go cold when all leads have been chased as far as possible, and there are no more avenues left where investigators can make progress. But no case is ever completely hopeless. In most cases, someone knows something that can move the case closer to resolution – if they will just come forward. Larry Phebus was murdered fifty-eight years ago. I’m hoping that someone who hears this podcast holds the key, and contacts police. Help me make that happen.
For more information on this case, check out these resources:
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13837070/larry-phebus-murder/
https://attorneygeneral.nd.gov/public-safety/cold-cases
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13837289/larry-phebus/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13837206/murder-of-larry-phebus/
If you have any information about this case please contact the McKenzie County Sheriff’s Department at 701-444-3654

Season 1, Episode 34: Murder, We Spoke

Business is booming in the true crime genre. But is this growth a good thing? Listen to top content producers from some of your favorite podcasts, tv shows, and the publishing industry discuss the pros and cons of being inundated with true crime all the time. You decide if our national obsession with these stories is healthy, or if we need to look for new ways to spend our time.

Season 1, Episode 33: Trafficking - Inside the Business of Modern Slavery

There are over 40 million victims of human trafficking across the world. They generate annual profits for their abusers of over 30 billion dollars. That’s more than the National Football League, Major League Baseball, and the National Basketball Association combined. But the issue of slavery is much more than the statistics that help us quantify its reach. It’s about the people who are caught up in what is arguably the greatest evil of modern times.
If you need help, please call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1 (888) 373-7888, or text HELP or INFO to 233733
To be an advocate for victims, explore the resources of the following organizations:
Polarisproject.org
Missingkids.org
Ourrescue.org (Operation Underground Railroad)
Deliverfund.org

Season 1, Episode 32: The Skeleton Crew

With tens of thousands of unidentified human remains in police storage across the U.S., officials do not have the resources to clear the backlog of cases. But a group of so-called cyber-sleuths does. Learn how and why they do it, and you may just get the itch to try it yourself.