Deathbed Confessions

Listen Everywhere: Real Survival Stories

Thu, 03 Aug 2023 07:00:00 -0000

Real Survival Stories is the brand-new show from Noiser hosted by John Hopkins. Hear true stories of ordinary people thrust into extraordinary survival situations. Stranded in the desert. Lost in the jungle. Marooned in the mountains. Shipwrecked on the high seas. You'll hear from individuals who had everything against them. But even then, they refused to give in…

New episodes Thursdays. Listen for free wherever you get your podcasts or at noiser.com

Podfollow: https://podfollow.com/real-survival-stories

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Ted Bundy Pt. 2

Wed, 19 Jul 2023 07:00:00 -0000

In part two, the Ted Bundy story continues. As police delved further into the investigation of Bundy, his name became infamous throughout America. Everyone was captivated by this extraordinary serial killer - someone who had been hiding in plain sight for years. The arrest, trials and convictions of Bundy took the nation on a whirlwind journey: one filled with drama, tragedy, shock and ultimately, an alarming deathbed confession.

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Ted Bundy Pt. 1

Wed, 12 Jul 2023 07:00:00 -0000

In 1974, a 22-year-old weather reporter in Washington State disappeared one cold, snowy February night. Police couldn’t find any trace of her, apart from blood stains on her pillow and bed. Just five weeks later, another young woman disappeared, followed by four more that Summer. Women were vanishing at alarming rates from places which should have been safe. With no physical evidence to go on, but a wealth of witness testimony, police had just one suspect in mind. A young, attractive law student called Ted Bundy. But Bundy was like no individual America had ever seen. Would police be able to catch him before any more girls became his victims? Or would Bundy use his charm to continually evade justice?

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Confessions of a Priest: Richard Lavigne

Wed, 05 Jul 2023 07:00:00 -0000

In Massachusetts, 1972, the small community of Springfield was torn apart when a 13-year-old boy, Danny Croteau, was found dead. When police investigated the case, one suspect stood out: a respected Roman Catholic Priest, Father Richard Lavigne. But Lavigne fiercely denied any involvement in the murder. However, in 2021 - almost 50 years later - Lavigne gave a deathbed confession...one which suggested he may not be as honorable as he claimed

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With Friends Like These

Wed, 28 Jun 2023 07:01:00 -0000

In Delaware, 1975, a 38-year-old man called Wayman Cammile was charged with robbing and sexually assaulting a 64-year-old woman. The trouble was, Cammile had no memory of the crime ever taking place. He had been drinking on the night in question, and didn’t know for certain if he was guilty or innocent. Then, over a decade later, the woman who accused Cammile made a shocking deathbed confession. With her dying words, she revealed what really happened that fateful night in 1975, and the part Cammile actually played.

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A Poisonous Affair: Priscilla Biggadike

Wed, 21 Jun 2023 07:01:00 -0000

Priscilla Biggadike was a mother and wife in 19th-century England who found herself at the heart of a scandal. Accused of being at the centre of a lethal love triangle, she vehemently protested her innocence. But was she as wrongly accused as she made out, or was there some truth to the rumours that she had committed unforgivable acts under the noses of her husband and children?

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Lethal Injection: Sid Vicious

Wed, 14 Jun 2023 07:01:00 -0000

Sid Vicious was one of the best-known faces in the Punk era. Everything about him was loud, rebellious, and unapologetic. He came from nowhere and shot to fame in a blaze of glory — sparking international intrigue and adoration. When the end came in 1979, Sid Vicious' death was every bit as explosive as his life had been. But although his death was mourned around the world, there were questions over what really happened… Was Sid's demise the self-inflicted tragedy many wanted to believe? Or did someone close to him play a hand in his premature death? A deathbed confession given years later claimed to expose the real truth about the tragic death of one of the infamous Sex Pistols.

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The Highwayman

Wed, 07 Jun 2023 07:01:00 -0000

In 1837, John Fenno received a mysterious book from an unknown sender. Inside were the vivid stories of a criminal who had haunted Massachusetts for years and evaded serious punishment. The man's name was James Allen — a notorious highwayman. But why did he write an autobiography? What were the secrets behind his success? And where did Fenno fit into Allen's dangerous, lawless life of adventure? A deathbed confession, given to a warden in a state prison, revealed all….including the grisly detail of what material bound the book.

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Introducing: Detectives Don’t Sleep - The Clutter Family Murders

Thu, 01 Jun 2023 07:01:00 -0000

From Noiser, Detectives Don’t Sleep is the new podcast that takes you beyond the police tape to shadow the real detectives who worked history’s most intriguing cases. In this taster episode, we look at one of the most famous cases in True Crime history, thanks to Truman Capote’s classic book In Cold Blood. The story begins one night in November 1959, when something dark and dangerous drifts into the small village of Holcomb, Kansas, killing four members of the same family. Special Agent Alvin Dewey leads the team investigating this apparently senseless crime. With barely $50 in cash taken from the house, detectives struggle to understand why anyone would want to kill the Clutters.

If you enjoy this taster episode, search for Detectives Don’t Sleep in your podcast app and hit follow to get new episodes every Tuesday. Or, listen at noiser.com

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From Gutter to Guillotine

Wed, 31 May 2023 07:01:00 -0000

Madame Jeanne Du Barry was a poor, destitute sex worker who became the mistress of King Louis XV. She rose through the social echelons of Parisian court and was influential in leading the country. However, after the death of Louis XV, things started to spiral out of control for Jeanne….ultimately leading to her criminal trial. A trial at which a guilty verdict would mean being sent to the guillotine. Facing certain death, Jeanne devised a cunning plan…a confession that she prayed would save her life.

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Convenience Store Killer

Wed, 24 May 2023 07:01:00 -0000

In the early 1990s, San Antonio, Texas, was plagued by a series of brutal armed robberies - which tragically ended in the death of a teenage girl. As for suspects or leads, the police had none. However, years later, San Antonio was struck by another tragedy. Martha Sanchez, a young mother of three, was found murdered in her home. This time, police had no problem finding the man responsible. But was Sanchez' killer responsible for more crimes? Maybe he was linked to the infamous armed robberies? A deathbed confession given over a decade later will reveal all…

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I Am Jack

Wed, 17 May 2023 07:01:00 -0000

Towards the end of the 19th Century, a killer stalked the streets of London's east-end. Known only as Jack the Ripper, he killed at least five women before vanishing into thin air. Four years later, a second series of murders were seemingly linked to the Ripper. Could he have come back for a second reign of terror, or were the deaths the work of another disturbed mind? A deathbed confession made in 1892 claimed to have the answers, but for many the jury was still out. Who really was behind the infamous Ripper murders? And, would this confession finally give victims' families a name for their nemesis?

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The Suspect Upstairs: Richard Bouillon

Wed, 10 May 2023 07:01:00 -0000

On November 15th, 1999, teenager Julie Surprenant waved goodbye to her friend and stepped off a bus in her hometown of Terrebonne, Quebec. Despite the stop being a short walk to her dad's apartment, Julie never made it home. What followed was a desperate hunt for the missing teenager. The search was led by her distraught father, Michel, who always suspected that the culprit was lurking close to home. But with suspicion consuming the small community the police investigation ran into trouble. The breakthrough would eventually come from an unlikely source - an anonymous tip off phoned into a local TV show.

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The Bathhouse Murder Pt. 2

Wed, 03 May 2023 07:01:00 -0000

Joe West does everything to make sure childhood friend Oscar Lee Morris spends the rest of his life behind bars - or better yet - on Death Row. West decides to give police evidence that implicates Morris in a murder which took place at a Long Beach bathhouse back in 1978. His explosive testimony re-opens a cold-case, but the police investigation is far from straightforward. It's soon dogged by incompetence and controversy. And at the centre of it all - the suspect star witness - Joe West.

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The Bathhouse Murder Pt. 1

Wed, 26 Apr 2023 07:01:00 -0000

Joe West and Oscar Lee Morris were childhood friends. They grew up together in South LA, came of age together, and soon followed one another into a life of petty crime. But in 1979, those crimes became more serious. Deadly serious. Suddenly, their friendship is tested to breaking point.

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Road Trip Tragedy: Brian Laundrie

Wed, 19 Apr 2023 07:01:00 -0000

In 2021, Brian Laundrie and his fiance Gabby Petito, were traveling America and documenting their journey via Instagram and Youtube. But just weeks into their trip, Gabby's socials fell silent. So when Brian Laundrie returned to his parents' home alone, suspicion was immediately cast on him - did he have something to do with his fiance's sudden disappearance? Gabby's family and the police were determined to find out, as they launched a huge investigation which captured the attention of the American public. Little did they know, the answers would only be revealed months later, in a notebook.

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The Devilish Dumplings: Elizabeth Fenning

Wed, 12 Apr 2023 07:01:00 -0000

In 1815 London, the Turners sat down to a nice family dinner of rump steak and dumplings. Little did they know it might be their final meal. Within hours doctors were called to the house, where they discovered the family and the servants all gravely ill. Suspicion quickly fell on the young cook - 22-year-old Eliza Fenning. As a poor servant girl in a society ruled by class and facing a legal system that protects the elite, the odds of proving her innocence and avoiding execution were slim.

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Blanche Taylor Moore: Lovesick

Wed, 05 Apr 2023 07:01:00 -0000

From 1973 to 1989 a series of mysterious deaths haunted rural North Carolina. Four men were hospitalized with severe nausea and respiratory problems leaving doctors baffled. Aside from their deadly symptoms, there was just one thing that each man had in common: a woman called Blanche Taylor Moore. Blanche found herself at the center of gossip and rumor - who was she really? A widow dogged by tragedy? Or the cause of her lovers' strange sickness? A surprising deathbed confession would eventually solve the case and put the rumors to an end once and for all.

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The Weepy Voiced Killer: Paul Michael Stephani

Wed, 29 Mar 2023 07:01:00 -0000

In the early 1980s, a series of bizarre phone calls came into the police switchboard in St Paul, Minnesota. A man sobbed on the phone, telling officers he'd hurt, even killed, people. He begged them to find him, but with no other evidence to go on, his identity remained a mystery. These calls continued to taunt police until years later when a male voice called 911.... and police recognized it.

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Client X: New Zealand's First Serial Killer

Wed, 22 Mar 2023 07:01:00 -0000

In 1962, from a cell within one of New Zealand's maximum-security prisons, a dying inmate made a startling deathbed confession to his lawyer. The convict claimed to be responsible for a series of unsolved murders that took place in the 1940s. He recalled the crimes with a chilling clarity, revealing gruesome details which only the killer could have known. Would his confession be enough to reopen two cold cases which haunted New Zealand for 20 years… and can the dying words of a criminal be trusted? The lawyer will later refer to this man as Client X.

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Mississippi Murder: Emmet Till

Wed, 15 Mar 2023 07:01:00 -0000

In 1955, the brutal murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till sparked a wave of social unrest that gripped America. But while the story of Till became infamous, the truth of how he'd died remained a mystery. Although two men were suspected of killing the teenager, some believed it was the work of many more. Exactly who these people were, though, remained unclear. That was until 2007, when the FBI discovered a chilling deathbed confession, confirming there were others involved in the killing. But with over five decades having passed since the infamous murder, is it too late for justice to be served?

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The Malcolm X Conspiracy: Ray Wood Pt. 2

Wed, 08 Mar 2023 08:01:00 -0000

Ray Wood's deathbed confession explains how he had a front-row seat to one of America’s highest-profile political assassinations. As the police conducted a national investigation, Ray was plagued by disturbing questions about his involvement. Two men would eventually be charged with murder - but suspicions of conspiracy and cover-up surround the trial... Now, 55 years after the controversial death of Malcolm X, we’re about to find out exactly who was involved…

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The Malcolm X Conspiracy: Ray Wood Pt. 1

Wed, 01 Mar 2023 08:01:00 -0000

In 2020, former NYPD detective, Raymond Wood, died…but he had a secret he was determined not to take to the grave. As an undercover agent whose duty it was to infiltrate Black civil rights groups in the mid-1960s, Ray was no stranger to danger or controversy. However, in a letter written to his cousin, he revealed the true extent of his undercover work. Ray claimed to have been part of a conspiracy involving the NYPD and FBI to bring down one of America’s leading activists: the assassination of Malcolm X.

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The Trial of Rupert Maxwell Stuart

Wed, 22 Feb 2023 08:01:00 -0000

In 1958, nine-year-old Mary Hattam was murdered in South Australia. During an interview with ex-Detective Sgt Paul Turner over 40 years later, he admitted that Rupert Maxwell Stuart, an illiterate Aboriginal man they charged and arrested, was coerced into confessing. At the time, many believed Stuart to be innocent, and it became one of Australia's most controversial trials. Did Stuart kill Mary Hattam? Were the police right to cut corners? Or was he falsely convicted?

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The Courthouse Massacre

Wed, 15 Feb 2023 08:01:00 -0000

On a cold, gray March morning in 1912, hundreds of spectators gathered in the Carroll County Courthouse, Virginia. They were there to watch the trial of Floyd Allen. However, just seconds after Floyd was convicted, a bullet shot through the air, followed by dozens more. Over the course of 90 seconds, a total of 57 shots fired through the courthouse, killing five innocent people, and injuring many more. It was obvious that Floyd Allen and his family were involved in some way, but did they start the deadly shoot-out? This question remained unanswered for over 50 years, until a mysterious deathbed confession emerged offering a possible explanation.

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The Great Train Robbery

Wed, 08 Feb 2023 08:01:00 -0000

In 1963, a gang of masked men stole an obscene amount of money from a train nobody was supposed to know about. It was the kind of audacious heist that belonged in the movies, planned to perfection by a criminal mastermind with a track record for big scores. But their plan derailed when the train driver, Jack Mills, was badly beaten. Nobody knew who the attacker was. The gang closed ranks. It wasn't until five decades after the crime, when a dying man decided to clear his conscience, that one of the longest running questions in British crime folklore was answered: who attacked Jack Mills?

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The Execution of David Neal Cox

Wed, 01 Feb 2023 08:01:00 -0000

In 2010, David Neal Cox was arrested after an 8-hour standoff with police. He had stormed into the home of his estranged wife, Kim Cox, and shot her. Arrested and tried, a Mississippi jury sentenced David Neal Cox to death by lethal injection. After years of waiting for death, and back and forth between his lawyers and the Mississippi Supreme Court, David volunteered for execution. And on November 17th, 2021, he was killed. However, leading up to his death, there were many questions surrounding what David knew about the mysterious disappearance of his sister-in-law, Felicia, back in 2007. The authorities and Felicia's daughter believed he knew what really happened to her. On the eve of his execution, what David knew was finally revealed.

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The Man on the Grassy Knoll: Roscoe White

Wed, 25 Jan 2023 08:01:00 -0000

Roscoe White was a family man and a patriot. He served his country as a Marine, and did his duty back home as a police officer in the Dallas P.D. But Roscoe had a secret. One he kept to himself until hours before his death. As he lay dying from injuries sustained in an accident at work, Roscoe told his pastor that he had killed for his country. It wasn't until years after his death that evidence emerged as to just how serious those claims were. Roscoe's son found a diary in which his dad claimed to have been part of one of the most notorious killings in modern history. None other than that of President John F. Kennedy.

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The Black Widow: Belle Gunness

Wed, 18 Jan 2023 08:01:00 -0000

Belle Gunness was a woman plagued by tragedy. Her home burned down, her two husbands died, and one by one, her young children passed away. No one knew what to make of Belle’s situation. Was she born under an unlucky star, or did she play a part in the tragedies that surrounded her? The mystery gained national attention when, in 1908, Belle’s farmhouse burned down and four bodies were found. Almost two years later, her ex-boyfriend confessed on his deathbed that Belle was still alive and had deliberately burned down her house with her children inside. His gruesome story left one question unanswered: where did Belle disappear to?

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The Disappearance of Noreen Greenley

Wed, 11 Jan 2023 08:01:00 -0000

In 1963, 13-year-old Noreen Greenley went missing while waiting for a bus. Her disappearance sparked a massive search in her small Canadian town, but no traces of her were ever discovered. Both of her parents passed away without knowing what had happened to their daughter. Years later, in 2018, an anonymous man told the Greenleys that his father confessed on his deathbed to having killed a young girl. The chilling details of his murder matched with witness descriptions of Noreen’s disappearance, and breathed new life into the case. Using coordinates given in the deathbed confession, the Cold-Case society excavated the area, in the hope of recovering Noreen Greenley’s body 50 years after her disappearance.

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Charged Without Evidence: George Stinney Jr.

Wed, 04 Jan 2023 08:01:00 -0000

In 1944, two schoolgirls were murdered in their hometown of Alcolu, South Carolina. Witnesses claimed to have seen 14-year-old George Stinney Jr. talking with them on the day of their disappearance. George was swiftly arrested, interrogated, and charged with murder. After allegedly confessing to the crimes, he was sentenced to death, becoming the youngest person in all of America to undergo the death penalty. Three years later, the son of a powerful South Carolina family made a deathbed confession: George Stinney was innocent. In 2014, an ambitious team of lawyers reopened the case in an attempt to exonerate George and clear his name, 70 years after his untimely death.

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Best of 2022: Tony Wakeford

Wed, 28 Dec 2022 08:01:00 -0000

In the small, sleepy village of Effingham, Surrey, Tony Wakeford confessed on his deathbed to a dark secret that would destroy both himself and his wife, Patricia. He admitted to having had an affair with her best friend during their 50-year marriage. But when he didn't die, the Wakeford's were sentenced to a further five years with each other…despite both knowing that the marriage was a lie. News of the affair destroyed Patricia, who’d dedicated her life to caring for her husband. A seed of hatred grew inside her that ultimately became deadly.

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The Dayton Christmas Killings Pt. 2

Wed, 21 Dec 2022 08:03:00 -0000

The spree continues into Christmas Day and beyond, during which the teen gang murders their third, fourth, fifth and sixth victims. After a tip, police catch the group wearing victims’ clothing, driving a victim’s stolen car, and in possession of the guns they used in their murders. A Parcast holiday special from Serial Killers.

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The Dayton Christmas Killings Pt. 1

Wed, 21 Dec 2022 08:01:00 -0000

In the early hours of Christmas Eve 1992, a senseless murder in Dayton, Ohio, marks the beginning of a rampage. What started as a desire for Christmas cash turns into a three-day killing spree that leaves six people dead. Even more shocking was that the brazen killers were just teens. A Parcast holiday special from Serial Killers.

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Murder in the Park: Edward Dobek

Wed, 14 Dec 2022 08:01:00 -0000

In 1955, tragedy struck a small town in Maryland, USA. Two teenage girls, Nancy Marie Shomette and Michael Ann Ryan, were gunned down in the middle of a park one quiet Saturday morning. Police were stumped. The killer seemed to vanish into thin air along with the murder weapon, and eventually, the case went on ice. But in 1966, in Florida, a man by the name of Edward Dobek allegedly confessed to his sister-in-law, Jean Dobek, to shooting the girls when he was 17 years old and lived in the area with his family. If true, a 41-year-old case might be solved… But can Jean's second-hand report be trusted?

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The Thomas Randele Affair: Ted Conrad

Wed, 07 Dec 2022 08:01:00 -0000

Ted Conrad is an all-American kid. Smart, popular, and well-liked by everyone. He jokes with friends about how easy it would be for him to steal money from the bank at which he works. Nobody takes him seriously though, until he vanishes one weekend in July 1969, taking a bag of cash from the vault with him. His disappearance is the start of a decades-long man-hunt, like something from a movie. One that will only end on Conrad's terms half a century later.

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The Murderess from Missouri: Emma Stillwell

Wed, 30 Nov 2022 08:01:00 -0000

In 1883, 30-year-old Emma Stillwell arrived at her father-in-law's house and believed she was dying. As she lay preparing for death, she confessed a dark, twisted, and horrifying past. When she was just 15, she married her first husband but killed him shortly after with the help of her mother and brother. She then murdered an innocent traveller whom she believed possessed a large fortune. Years later, she remarried but killed her 14-month-old baby who suffered from poor health, and was then involved in several schemes to kill her rich husband. The town of Middlebury, Ohio, is stunned by her chilling confessions, but one question continues to nag at them: are Emma's stories true?

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Keefe D: Who Shot Tupac Shakur?

Wed, 23 Nov 2022 08:01:00 -0000

In 2022, Southside Crips gang member, Keefe D, confessed that he knows what really happened in the infamous murder of Tupac Shakur. Shakur was one of hip-hop’s most beloved and celebrated artists, but when he was fatally shot in 1996, police failed to find the killer. They interviewed a few suspects, and a number of conspiracies spread, but no one ever found out the truth. Keefe D is the last person alive who might have the answers of what truly happened that fateful night.

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The Writing on the Tree: Christopher Trent

Wed, 16 Nov 2022 08:01:00 -0000

On New Year's Day 2020, tragedy struck in Norman, Oklahoma. A two-year-old boy, Ryder, is found unresponsive by his mom. Her boyfriend, Christopher Trent, is missing, and it's feared that he is to blame for Ryder's condition. The toddler sadly passes away, and when Trent is found, he has taken his own life — leaving behind a deathbed confession carved into a tree. Far from the end of a sad story for Ryder's mom, Rebecca Hogue, she's about to find out just how bad this tragedy can get.

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Secrets of a Spy: Alan Nunn May

Wed, 09 Nov 2022 08:01:00 -0000

Alan Nunn May, a British physicist, died aged 91 in 2003. But before he passed away, he gave a dramatic deathbed confession. Nunn had been jailed and sentenced to ten years’ hard labour in 1946 for passing information from the Western allies’ atomic bomb project, to the Soviet Union. May’s confessions were dictated to a family member days before Christmas, and began with the intriguing sentence: "This is a disclosure of how I became a Russian spy."

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Confessions from a Klansman

Wed, 02 Nov 2022 07:01:00 -0000

In 1957, 24-year-old Willie Edwards Jr. spent the last hours of his life being terrorized by Ku Klux Klan members, including one named Henry Alexander. Though this KKK cohort were suspects in Willie’s murder, the judge threw out their case — twice. Henry’s wife always believed he was innocent. His deathbed confession not only proved her wrong, but revealed that Willie didn’t even commit the offense that upset his killers.

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A Short History Of: The Real Peaky Blinders

Thu, 27 Oct 2022 07:01:00 -0000

Hosted by John Hopkins, Short History Of is a transportive podcast, taking you back in time to witness history’s most remarkable events. Today, get the true story behind the legend that inspired the hit TV series. Between the 1890s and 1910s, the British city of Birmingham was in the grip of a gang: the Peaky Blinders. But were they really champions of the working class, driven by a code of loyalty and morality? Or was theirs simply a reign of terror, marked by dishonour and violence?

Short History Of is a Noiser production. New episodes every Monday!

Written by Luke Kuhns. With thanks to Professor Carl Chinn, social historian and author of Peaky Blinders: The Real Story

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The Truth Is Out There: Boyd Bushman

Wed, 26 Oct 2022 07:01:00 -0000

Boyd Bushman had dedicated his life to science and the pursuit of invention. He was well educated and renowned in his field — a defence contractor with the highest levels of top-secret clearance. But Bushman claims he saw far more than just government-sponsored weapons. Deep in the bowels of Area 51, inside one of the most classified locations on the planet, Bushman claimed to have sources that shared the most clandestine of secrets: proof of the existence of extraterrestrial life. Many have made similar claims before, but few have Bushman's background and standing in the industry. Could the revelations he makes give the answers that UGO enthusiasts have craved for decades?

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Secrets of Chernobyl: Valery Legasov

Wed, 19 Oct 2022 07:01:00 -0000

In April 1988, a top Soviet scientist, Valery Legasov, died by suicide. He was 51 years old. Before his death, he recorded a series of chilling deathbed confessions concerning one of the world's deadliest disasters: the Chernobyl nuclear explosion. Over four hours, Legasov confessed terrifying truths and disturbing realities from the nuclear power-plant, revealing secrets that had been hidden for two years and lies which had been repeatedly spun. His death left the world with a dangerous collection of information that can finally answer the question the Soviets sought to suppress for years: What really happened at Chernobyl in 1986?

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Missing in Missouri: Gina Dawn Brooks

Wed, 12 Oct 2022 07:01:00 -0000

Gina Dawn Brooks was only 13 years old when she vanished on a summer's night in 1989. Police turned the town upside down but never found so much as a trace of her. Years later, a deathbed confession from a man named Bryant Squires suggested that they'd been looking in the wrong places for years.

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The Lunch Lady Killer: Jesse Alyward

Wed, 05 Oct 2022 07:01:00 -0000

Jesse Aylward was a good man according to his friends and family. He'd had a few run-ins with the law as a younger man, sure. But he was a hardworking local business owner, trying to carve out a living for himself. He was described as an intelligent, creative man, one who was kind to local homeless people. But Aylward had a secret. One he has kept since 1984. One that dates all the way back to one of the most brutal homicides the town of Pembroke, Massachusetts, has seen.

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The Bronfman Kidnap: Peter DeBlasio

Wed, 28 Sep 2022 07:01:00 -0000

In August 1975, Samuel Bronfman was kidnapped by two strangers. As his father was a multi-millionaire, the FBI suspected that money was the motive behind the abduction. But then, at the trial in 1976, one of the defending lawyers — Peter DeBlasio — spun a convincing and captivating tale that Samuel in fact masterminded his own kidnap. DeBlasio told the jury about Samuel’s homosexual affair with one of his captors, the resentment he felt towards his own father, and evidence that seemed to prove Samuel was not a victim at all. Months before his death in 2020, DeBlasio published a memoir that included a shameful deathbed confession: Samuel Bronfman was not involved in his own kidnap. What really happened during that infamous night in August 1975?

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Brooklyn Blaze: Hannah Quick

Wed, 21 Sep 2022 07:01:00 -0000

Tragedy struck in 1980 when a Brooklyn townhouse fire claimed the lives of Elizabeth Kinsey and her five children. It's quickly ruled to be arson, and the landlady, Hannah Quick, tells police she saw three men running away just before it started. Those men were sentenced to a minimum of 25 years — despite their pleas of innocence. But nothing is quite as it seems. On her deathbed, Hannah Quick told a different version of events. It seems she hadn't been entirely honest back then. And her confession, if true, could change everything...

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Death in Paris: Émile Zola

Wed, 14 Sep 2022 07:01:00 -0000

Émile Zola was one of France’s most celebrated writers, yet his name always carried controversy. He was unafraid to write about society’s taboos, and to challenge the laws of the government. Zola put his life at risk when he became publicly involved in the infamous Dreyfus Affair, and defended the persecuted Jewish captain by writing an open letter to the President. The bold action led to a violent witch-hunt against Zola, and his life was put in mortal danger. Then, just four years after his letter, Zola was found dead in his Parisian house — allegedly killed by carbon monoxide. But in 1957 a newspaper published a deathbed confession from an antisemitic chimney sweep who admitted that he was responsible for killing Émile Zola….

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Death at the Drive-In: Thomas Craig

Wed, 07 Sep 2022 07:01:00 -0000

In 1969, local beauty queen Anne Zappelli was brutally murdered while walking back from a visit to the drive-in with her friends. Witnesses saw two men following her, climbing out of a car near the crime scene, and it seems like a slam dunk. But what followed is a tale of frustration and grief for the Zappelli family that would last decades. It's a list of police errors and questionable decisions, that saw an already tragic case fascinate true-crime fans for over 40 years.

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The Starved Rock Murders: Chester Weger

Wed, 31 Aug 2022 07:01:00 -0000

It shook the people of LaSalle County, Illinois to their core in 1961. Three friends, savagely beaten to death while out hiking. No witnesses, no apparent motive. Police eventually charge 21-year-old local man Chester Weger with the killings. When he confesses in custody, it seems a slam dunk, until Weger recants, claiming police had bullied him into signing it. This is just the start of one of the longest running sagas in Illinois legal history, as Chester Weger begins a decades long fight to clear his name, and prove once and for all what really happened that snowy spring day at Starved Rock.

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The Choke and Stroke Murderer: Samuel Little Pt. 2

Wed, 24 Aug 2022 07:01:00 -0000

Samuel Little continues to kill America's most vulnerable women, but what he doesn't know is that the police are beginning an investigation to catch the killer. When they finally arrest him and sentence him to life in prison, Little's health is failing: the killer is dying. In the two years preceding his death, a series of chilling deathbed confessions reveal he's killed a total of 93 women. His gruesomely detailed stories spark FBI investigations to finally solve the forgotten cases of Little's anonymous victims.

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The Choke and Stroke Murderer: Samuel Little Pt. 1

Wed, 17 Aug 2022 07:01:00 -0000

Samuel Little was never a normal boy. Growing up, he experienced sexual fantasies about strangling women's necks and throats. These fantasies came to life when he was just 24 years old, resulting in the horrific strangulation of a young sex worker. For the next 45 years, Little terrorized the poorest neighborhoods of America, picking out vulnerable women and strangling them to death. They all existed on the outskirts of society — so police never investigated their deaths, or even linked the murders. It was only when Little was arrested for a separate crime in 2012 that the pieces of his murderous past began to come together.

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The Butterfly Murders: Dorothy King

Wed, 10 Aug 2022 07:01:00 -0000

Dorothy King was born in the slums of Harlem to poor, Irish immigrant parents. But her beauty, charm and ambition quickly propelled her from Harlem’s streets to the exclusive world of the Upper West Side. When she was found dead at the age of 29 in her beautiful apartment, police followed leads on three individuals who had put her life in danger.

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DB Cooper Pt. 2

Wed, 03 Aug 2022 07:01:00 -0000

The hunt for DB Cooper was one of highs and lows. For years after his daring hijack, there was no sign of him or even any evidence that he made it to the ground alive. But a chance discovery in 1980 breathed new life into an old case, and for the first time, the FBI had real hope that they'd find their man. As it turned out, there were far more twists and turns than they could possibly have imagined, and not just one, but multiple people eventually laid claim to being him. Today, DB Cooper isn’t just a name. It’s a legend. One that has taken on a life of its own. But who was the man who hurled himself out of a plane all those years ago, and how did he stay ahead of the law for decades?

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DB Cooper Pt. 1

Wed, 27 Jul 2022 07:01:00 -0000

In 1971, a man calling himself DB Cooper boarded a flight bound for Seattle. The plane reached its destination safely, but not before Cooper had threatened to blow it up unless his demands were met. Two hundred thousand dollars and four parachutes, plus a full tank of gas for the plane. What followed was one of the most extraordinary crimes, and largest manhunts in US history, as the FBI threw the full weight of their resources at answering one question: Who was DB Cooper?

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A Doctor in Disguise: James Barry

Wed, 20 Jul 2022 07:01:00 -0000

As the charwoman prepared Dr. James Barry’s body for burial, she made an unbelievable discovery: the reputed army surgeon was in fact a female. During a time when females were forbidden from studying or practicing medicine, the British Army’s top surgeon was a woman. Dr. James Barry’s story begins in poverty in Ireland, where a young, intelligent girl was desperate for the same opportunities as her brother. Refusing to let the sex of her birth extinguish her ambitions, she disguised herself as a man and entered the harsh, male environment of medicine…where Barry would live with this dangerous secret for over 50 years.

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Judge, Jury, and Executioner: Joseph Peel

Wed, 13 Jul 2022 07:01:00 -0000

Judge Joseph Peel was a flamboyant figure, known for his fine suits and even finer cars. But beneath that veneer of respectability lay a web of deceit and dishonesty, linking him to prominent underworld figures. His unethical approach to the law threatened to catch up with him when fellow judge, Curtis Chillingworth, swore he’d have him disbarred if he crossed the line again. Days later, Chillingworth and his wife vanished, kicking off one of Florida’s most notorious cases. Was Peel behind his adversary’s disappearance, or was he himself caught up in something bigger?

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The Nazi Gold Train

Wed, 06 Jul 2022 07:01:00 -0000

At the end of World War Two, when the Nazis had thrown much of Europe into disarray and devastation, a myth speculating the existence of a Nazi gold train was born. It claimed that a train carrying hoards of gold, money, and stolen treasures was fleeing from the Red Army in Poland when it vanished forever. In 2015, two men approached the Polish government with new information about the train and reopened the captivating mysteries and conspiracies surrounding the final months of Nazi rule.

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The Unwilling Accomplice: Gary Westover

Wed, 29 Jun 2022 07:01:00 -0000

An unknown killer terrorized the area around the Connecticut River Valley for almost a decade in the 1980s. Back in the days before mobile phones and CCTV cameras on every corner, this man struck in remote areas, targeting women traveling alone. Police were left scratching their heads without a main suspect until 1997, when a man called Gary Westover saw his failing health as a sign that the time was right to get something off his chest. He shared a chilling tale of a night out with friends that ended with the death of a woman thought to have been killed by the Connecticut River Valley Killer. After years of being nothing but a cautionary tale in the headlines, could this finally put a face to the killer that has eluded police for so long?

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Candy from Strangers: Joseph Douglas

Wed, 22 Jun 2022 07:01:00 -0000

Joseph Douglas was a career criminal, who spent most of his life mixed up in small-time scams. The kind of guy who history might have easily forgotten were it not for the bombshell he dropped as he lay dying at the scene of a burglary. He says he has answers to a question that has gripped the nation. Where is four-year-old Charley Ross, and why did Douglas and a fellow crook take him and leave his brother behind?

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The Watch Heist: Naaman Diller

Wed, 15 Jun 2022 07:01:00 -0000

When Rachel Hasson woke up to discover that almost all of the timepieces from the LA Mayer Museum had been stolen, she believed they would never be seen again. However, in 2006, a surprising confession from a Californian high school teacher reopened the investigation and created a trail leading back to one of Israel’s most intelligent and notorious thieves...

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The Man Who Spoke Too Soon: James Brewer

Wed, 08 Jun 2022 07:01:00 -0000

The murder of Jimmy Carroll rocked the small town of Hohenwald, Tennessee, back in 1977. Local man James Brewer was arrested and charged but disappeared like smoke on the breeze before he could stand trial. Thirty-two years later, and six hundred miles away, a man called Michael Anderson claimed on his deathbed that he was in fact James Brewer, and that he needed to get what happened that day off his chest. If he’s telling the truth, this could finally give Jimmy Carrol’s family the answers they’ve waited for decades to hear. Who really killed their Jimmy, and why? The answers might well lie with a man who might not live to see a trial.

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Hidden Bodies: Larry Sherrard

Wed, 01 Jun 2022 07:01:00 -0000

In 1989, explorers searching for cave entrances in Eastview, Kentucky, make a horrifying discovery: a dead body has been discarded at the back of a cave. Police identify the corpse as TJ Jones, a young drug dealer who disappeared in 1988. 26 years later, Elizabethtown police receive a tip directing them to East Railroad Avenue, where another dead body has allegedly been buried. The tip comes from a woman who claims her uncle was the cold-blooded killer behind both murders. The deathbed confession reopens the cases to explore the dangerous crime world of Elizabethtown, and question how police failed to catch the killer.

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No Witnesses: Russell Smrekar

Wed, 25 May 2022 07:01:00 -0000

The friendly town of Lincoln, Illinois, was devastated by the tragedies of 1976. A 19-year-old student disappeared from his home, a middle-aged realtor was abducted from her car, and a young, popular couple was found shot to death in their small trailer. Former Lincoln College student, Russell Smrekar, was arrested for the murder of the couple, but police remained clueless about the disappearance cases. But then, as he lay dying in jail 36 years later, Smrekar admitted that he was the only living person who knew what happened to the individuals who disappeared. Smrekar’s confession finally solves the mysterious cases and explains why anyone who was prepared to give testimony against him, was sure to die.

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Biker Bad Boy: Paul Branch Pt. 2

Wed, 18 May 2022 07:01:00 -0000

Paul Branch was not the kind of man you wanted to cross. A member of the Pagans biker gang. A man that even other bikers feared. Someone for whom violence was a part of everyday life. When seventeen-year-old Amy Billig went missing, Branch claimed to be in a unique position to help bring her home to her parents. But some questioned his motives. Others said he was being economical with the truth. Branch was determined to have the last word, and surprised everyone, including Amy’s mother, with what he shared at the end of his own life.

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Biker Bad Boy: Paul Branch Pt. 1

Wed, 11 May 2022 07:01:00 -0000

Amy Billig was only seventeen when she vanished in broad daylight. Hundreds of bikers had swept through the town that day, including Paul Branch, an enforcer for the Pagans. But how do you penetrate a wall of silence, where speaking out could cost you your life? Branch was one of the few who talked, and his final words could be the key to unlocking a decades-long mystery.

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Crimes of Passion: Tony Wakeford

Wed, 04 May 2022 07:01:00 -0000

In the small, sleepy village of Effingham, Surrey, Tony Wakeford confessed to a dark secret that would destroy both himself and his wife, Patricia. He admitted to having had an affair with her best friend during their 50-year marriage. But when he didn't die, the Wakeford's were sentenced to a further five years with each other…despite both knowing that the marriage was a lie. News of the affair destroyed Patricia, who’d dedicated her life to caring for her husband. A seed of hatred grew inside her that ultimately became deadly.

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What Happened to Brenda Sue?: Earl Parker

Wed, 27 Apr 2022 07:01:00 -0000

The small town of Shelby, North Carolina was rocked by the murder of eleven-year-old Brenda Sue Brown in 1966. Police had their suspects, the chief one being local teenager Robert Roseboro, but there was never enough to pin it on him. It wasn't until forty-one years later that they finally charged a suspect, but it wasn't Roseboro. Shelby resident Earl Parker cleared his conscience before his death. He told his granddaughter that he knew exactly what happened to Brenda Sue, and that police had it wrong all these years.

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The Man Who Hid From Justice: Christopher Smith

Wed, 20 Apr 2022 07:01:00 -0000

In Preston, a city tucked away in the North of England, the brutal murder of a young sex worker sparks terror that a violent killer is on the loose. But although DNA and blood samples are left on her body, forensic testing is too basic to match any suspects — so the murderer, Christopher Smith, escapes. He leads a peaceful life surrounded by family until, just 6 days before his death, police arrest him for driving while drunk. Smith leaves a guilty deathbed confession that will finally re-open the unsolved murder case and question how police let a deadly criminal slip through their grasp for so long.

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The Brabant Killers: Christiaan Bonkoffsky Pt. 2

Wed, 13 Apr 2022 07:01:00 -0000

The Brabant Killers had the country of Belgium living in fear in the early eighties. They robbed and killed with little regard for their victims. After eighteen months of chasing them, police had little to show in the way of suspects, and conspiracy theories abounded that suggested the killers might even come from their own ranks. But things were about to get a whole lot worse. Everything that has happened so far was merely a warm-up by comparison to the fresh wave of violence the gang was about to unleash.

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The Brabant Killers: Christiaan Bonkoffsky Pt. 1

Wed, 06 Apr 2022 07:01:00 -0000

Belgium in the 1980s was divided in so many ways, but one thing citizens had in common was a fear of a group of spree killers known as the Brabant Killers. A gang of three unknown men targeted supermarkets, and thought nothing of leaving bodies littered behind them. Were these men common criminals out for a fast buck? Or could there be any truth to the rumors that members of law enforcement were at best assisting, and at worst participating, in the atrocities? And can the words of one dying man unlock the secrets behind the whole mystery?

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Guilty Until Proven Innocent: Michael Lee Wilson

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 07:01:00 -0000

In 1994 in the city of Tulsa, a 19-year-old is murdered when she’s caught in a gang crossfire. Police investigate and find the weapon on Michael Lee Wilson, but instead of arresting him, they frame two innocent teenagers. While they suffer behind bars, Wilson is on death row for another murder. He uses his final hours to tell the true story about what happened that fatal day. The case is retried, and new evidence is given to try to understand why police sent two innocent people to prison.

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Blood in the Streets: Ianto Parker

Wed, 23 Mar 2022 07:01:00 -0000

In 1874, a Methodist minister traveling in Pennsylvania is called to the bedside of a dying man. Ianto Parker tells the minister how he came to America from Wales in 1831, after taking part in a violent riot in which around 24 people died. For more than forty years, Parker has been haunted by what happened that day. He is desperate to confess a shameful secret that forced him to flee his native land. He escaped British justice once, but soon, he believes, he will have to face divine judgment. The time has come to unburden his soul.

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Murder or Hallucination?: James Washington

Wed, 16 Mar 2022 07:01:00 -0000

In 1995 Joyce Goodener was brutally murdered, her body rolled up in a rug and set on fire. The police were desperate to find her killer, but the case went cold in less than a month. Twelve years later, when Nashville, Tennessee convict James Washington begins to experience chest pains, he is rushed to the local hospital. Afraid to take what he knows to the grave, his deathbed confession reopens Goodener’s investigation…but is Washington’s confession the truth or the result of drug-induced hallucinations?

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Australian Gangster: Mark “Chopper” Read Pt. 2

Wed, 09 Mar 2022 08:01:00 -0000

After decades in prison, Mark Read vows to go straight. He swaps bullets for words, becoming an author, a musician, even having his life story hit the silver screen. But old habits die hard. Read was never far from trouble, bouncing back in and out of jail. For every offense he’s convicted of, he’s suspected of a dozen more. Some of these he denies outright, some appear as stories in his books. The tales he saves for the end call everything that’s come before into question. We already knew he was a bad man – but there’s no doubt, his last performance is his most explosive.

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Australian Gangster: Mark “Chopper” Read Pt. 1

Wed, 02 Mar 2022 08:01:00 -0000

Mark “Chopper” Read was one of the most feared criminals in Australia in his day. A man who shocked even fellow criminals with his brutality. He preyed on anyone who earned a dishonest living, serving time in one of the country’s toughest prisons for everything from assault to arson. The one thing they never pinned on him was murder, despite him being suspected of as many as nineteen, and acquitted of one. Read was a natural storyteller, and as it turns out, he saved his best stories till last. In a shocking series of confessions on national television just weeks before his death, he opens up old wounds on not one, but four killings. But was this just another of his tales, or has Read pulled the wool over the eyes of Australian police for over forty years?

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Sins of the Father: Alexander Gartshore

Wed, 23 Feb 2022 08:01:00 -0000

In the sleepy town of Coatbridge, Scotland a little girl named Moira Anderson disappears during a snowstorm. Police hunt for her abductor, but no culprit is ever found. Decades later, a local woman begins to suspect her father, Alexander Gartshore, of the crime, and starts unraveling a conspiracy that goes straight to the top. But the only way she can prove it is to get her aging father to confess his crimes on his deathbed. Can she succeed where police have failed?

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The Liverpool Librarian: Harvey Richardson

Wed, 16 Feb 2022 08:01:00 -0000

Any murder is difficult for a family to come to terms with, let alone a cold case that drags on for decades. Lorraine Jacob was only nineteen when she was found dead in a Liverpool alley back in 1970. No arrests were ever made and police didn’t even have a main suspect. While her family was left to grieve, a quiet family man named Harvey Richardson held onto a secret — one he kept for almost forty years. One that, when revealed, could be the key to giving Lorraine, and her family, the peace they all deserve.

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Roswell Revealed: Walter Haut Pt. 2

Wed, 09 Feb 2022 08:01:00 -0000

For years, an army of conspiracy theorists probed and prodded the army’s official explanation for the debris they found outside Roswell. It’s hard to prove anything when you’re up against a machine as big as the U.S. military. But as the years go by, something shifts. The men who were on the base back then start to open up. Share details they’ve kept close all these years. None more so than First Lieutenant Walter Haut. The words he wrote before he died might just be the sledgehammer that cracks open one of the biggest conspiracy theories of all time.

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Roswell Revealed: Walter Haut Pt. 1

Wed, 02 Feb 2022 08:01:00 -0000

After something crashed to Earth on a remote cattle ranch in Roswell, the Army declared they’d recovered debris from a downed flying saucer — only to u-turn 24 hours later. The man who issued those press releases was First Lieutenant Walter Haut. He was one of a select group of men who attended closed briefings… Who saw the debris… Who for years after, would say very little on the matter. But Haut did have opinions of his own. Ones he has recorded in a sealed affidavit, only to be released after his death. And if true, what he has to say could paint the Roswell incident in a very different light.

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Hunted in the Outback: Ivan Milat Pt. 2

Wed, 26 Jan 2022 08:01:00 -0000

In 1993, the remains of more missing backpackers were found in the Belanglo Forest. Despite an overwhelming amount of leads, police were unable to find the killer — until Ivan Milat’s only surviving victim, Paul Onions, came forward and positively identified him. Ivan Milat finally got his day in court, but he and his family claimed his innocence. In 2019, Australian police continued to try and get a deathbed confession from Ivan before he succumbed to terminal cancer. But it appeared less likely with each passing day that the sadistic killer would finally give his victims’ families the closure they so desperately need.

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Hunted in the Outback: Ivan Milat Pt. 1

Wed, 19 Jan 2022 08:01:00 -0000

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a spate of young backpackers began going missing in the Australian outback. Their families' pleas for help fell on deaf ears until the gruesome discovery of their remains was found deep within the Belanglo Forest. The crimes are pinned on serial killer Ivan Milat in 1996 but he never confessed to any of the murders despite irrefutable evidence. In May 2019, as Milat lay dying of terminal cancer, police raced against the clock to elicit a deathbed confession. Will Milat finally give the victims’ families closure? Or continue to toy with them?

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The Pockmarked Killer: Francois Verove

Wed, 12 Jan 2022 08:01:00 -0000

For a decade, a man known only as the Pockmarked Killer terrorized women and children in and around Paris. Despite police having witnesses, a detailed description, and even his DNA, he remained at large; a ghost. Then, as suddenly as he’d burst onto the scene, he simply stopped. Was he dead, or in prison?

For thirty-five years, his photo-fit is pinned to the wall in police headquarters, mocking investigators. It isn’t until officers follow up a routine missing persons report that they find the answers they’ve been looking for in a note left beside a body, and the Pockmarked killer, a man who has hidden in plain sight all his life, is finally unmasked.

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Smalltown Secrets: Sharron Diane Crawford Smith

Wed, 05 Jan 2022 08:01:00 -0000

In 1967, the murders of 20-year-old Carolyn Hevener Perry and her sister-in-law, 19-year-old Constance Smootz Hevener, at an ice cream shop confounded the citizens of Staunton, Virginia, for years. The police hunt for a killer but no culprit is ever found. The families of the victims resolve themselves to the fact that they may never have answers — but four decades later all is revealed when a local outcast begins confessing on her deathbed.

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The Stolen Violin: Julian Altman

Wed, 15 Dec 2021 08:01:00 -0000

In 1936, a daring theft takes place at Carnegie Hall. A valuable Stradivarius violin is stolen from the dressing room of Polish virtuoso Bronislaw Huberman while he is on stage. The whereabouts of the Stradivarius remain a mystery for 50 years, until one day another musician, Julian Altman, lies dying in a Connecticut hospital. In his final days, he tells his wife the secret of the violin he has been playing for most of his career. It’s a story so incredible it can only be true.

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The Barber’s Basement: Vernon Seitz

Wed, 08 Dec 2021 08:01:00 -0000

A barber from Milwaukee was known by locals for taking an unusual interest in missing persons cases, especially those of children. What they didn’t know was that Vernon Seitz had a secret he’d been keeping for fifty years — one he’d kept under lock and key until confessing to his psychiatrist days before his death. He’d had a traumatic childhood experience of his own. What police officers later find in his basement is the most baffling, yet chilling, discovery of their careers.

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Norwegian Nightmare: Tor Hepso

Wed, 01 Dec 2021 08:01:00 -0000

In late 1970s Norway, two young women were brutally murdered. Demand for justice was swift, and despite what some saw as a prosecution case built on shaky foundations, a man spent the best years of his life paying for those crimes. Balance was restored, or so police thought, until almost thirty years later, when Tor Hepso's final words blew the case wide open again...

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Guilty Knowledge: E. Howard Hunt Pt. 2

Wed, 17 Nov 2021 08:01:00 -0000

Who killed JFK? If you believe the authorities, the president’s killer was Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone. But if so, why was Oswald himself murdered in police custody just 48 hours after his arrest? One man claimed he had all the answers: former CIA agent E. Howard Hunt. And in his explosive deathbed confession, he laid out a conspiracy that went right to the top.

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Guilty Knowledge: E. Howard Hunt Pt. 1

Wed, 10 Nov 2021 08:01:00 -0000

President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas on November 22, 1963. According to the official version, he was killed by a lone gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald. But right from the outset, conspiracy theories were rife. For decades, a rumor persisted that the CIA itself was behind the president’s assassination. Then, in 2003, as he believed himself about to die, former CIA agent E. Howard Hunt wrote down the bare bones of a plot that involved not just the CIA but also Kennedy’s successor, Lyndon B. Johnson. Was this, at last, proof of the conspiracy that many had suspected for so long?

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A Monstrous Deception?: Christian Spurling

Wed, 03 Nov 2021 07:01:00 -0000

In April 1934, an amazing photograph appeared on the front page of the Daily Mail newspaper. For many, the photo proved the existence of the Loch Ness monster. Decades later, investigators track down a man almost as reclusive as Nessie herself. Christian Spurling is the only person still alive who knows the truth about that famous photograph. But by now he is an old man, close to the end of his life. Will he reveal all before he dies?

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Halloween Special: Christine Kett

Wed, 27 Oct 2021 07:01:00 -0000

In 1867, 18-year-old Christy Kett was found brutally murdered in her home. Police are shocked by the savagery of the attack, but have little real evidence to go on. The list of suspects ranges from her brother Fred to Christy’s sweetheart and a local bad boy. Even her mother comes under suspicion. But the mystery is never solved — not until 17 years later, when a sick old woman gasps out a stunning confession to her son as she lies dying.

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A Nation in Crisis: John Wilkes Booth Pt. 2

Wed, 20 Oct 2021 07:01:00 -0000

After the assassination of President Lincoln in 1865, the nation believed federal soldiers killed his assassin on April 26th 1865. Forty-two years later, shocking claims are made that Booth evaded capture and has been living under the fake name John St Helen. Thinking he is dying, St Helen gives a deathbed confession detailing the plot to kill Lincoln and how he evaded capture. He also alleges the conspiracy to kill Lincoln was conceived at the highest levels of his administration. When federal authorities disregard the confession, a bizarre series of events unfold which will see the supposed mummified body of Booth tour the country before disappearing altogether a hundred years later.

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A Nation in Crisis: John Wilkes Booth Pt. 1

Wed, 13 Oct 2021 07:01:00 -0000

As the American Civil War comes to a close, the renowned stage actor John Wilkes Booth decides it's time to enter the theatre of war. He assassinates President Lincoln, plunging the country into one of its darkest moments. Booth is later shot at a farm in Eastern Virginia and dragged out onto a porch so that everyone can hear his dying words: a final message for his mother. Forty-two years later, a lawyer claims the man shot at the farm was not the president’s assassin. The lawyer gives a detailed deathbed confession of a man claiming to be the real John Wilkes Booth. If true, it will rewrite American history.

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The Irishman Who Got Hoffa: Frank Sheeran

Wed, 06 Oct 2021 07:01:00 -0000

In 1975, the notoriously corrupt union leader Jimmy Hoffa vanished without a trace. Due to his various dirty dealings, the FBI assumed it was a mob hit but could never find evidence to back it up. For decades it seemed the question "Who got Hoffa?" would never be answered — until 1999, when Hoffa's old right-hand man, Frank Sheeran, begins confessing on his deathbed...

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Where’s Dad?: Geraldine Kelley

Wed, 29 Sep 2021 07:01:00 -0000

The estranged adult children of “Geri” Kelley long suspected foul play in their father’s death. Though she had told them that John Kelley had died in a road accident, Geri revealed on her deathbed in 2004 that she’d shot him in the head and kept his body in a storage facility freezer for years.

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Confession of an Alcatraz Escapee: John Anglin

Wed, 22 Sep 2021 07:01:00 -0000

In 2013, the San Francisco Police Department received a written deathbed confession from a man claiming to be John Anglin — one of the famed fugitives from America's "most inescapable" prison, Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. Back in 1962, John, along with his brother Clarence and friend Frank Morris, disappeared from Alcatraz never to be seen again. The FBI has long claimed the three men must have died during the escape… But the letter that police received says they all lived well into old age. Is it the missing piece to one of America’s biggest mysteries? Or is it just another hoax?

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Death of a Rolling Stone: Frank Thorogood Pt. 2

Wed, 15 Sep 2021 07:01:00 -0000

Musician Brian Jones was a talented but deeply troubled man. We look into the events leading up to his death in 1969, in particular his difficult relationship with Frank Thorogood, the man who will one day allegedly confess to killing Jones. We also shine a spotlight on the role played by someone close to the heart of the Rolling Stones organization: behind-the-scenes fixer Tom Keylock.

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Death of a Rolling Stone: Frank Thorogood Pt. 1

Wed, 08 Sep 2021 07:01:00 -0000

When founding Rolling Stones member Brian Jones was found dead in a swimming pool on July 3, 1969, police immediately ruled his death an accident. One man was in the pool with him that night, a building contractor named Frank Thorogood. Many years later, in his final moments, Thorogood will make a startling confession about the night Jones died.

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Deathbed Survivor: Jeffrey Gafoor

Wed, 01 Sep 2021 07:01:00 -0000

In 1988, British police found the remains of a gruesomely murdered woman in a flat in Cardiff, UK. The woman had over 50 stab wounds on her body. The murder went unsolved until 2003, when a man named Jeffrey Gafoor confessed after taking a lethal dose of paracetemol tablets…

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Stolen Innocence: Ottis Toole Pt. 3

Wed, 25 Aug 2021 07:01:00 -0000

Ottis Toole is arrested for arson and confesses to a string of murders committed with his lover Henry Lee Lucas. Detectives come from all over to talk to him. Toole confesses to taking a little boy from a mall in Florida, but later denies it. Though Toole takes police to various locations connected with the crime, detectives are unable to discover decisive forensic evidence. Everything hinges on his deathbed confession.

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Stolen Innocence: Ottis Toole Pt. 2

Wed, 18 Aug 2021 07:01:00 -0000

The case takes a dramatic turn with the discovery of a severed head positively identified as Adam's. This is no longer a kidnapping, it's murder. We explore the twisted relationship between Ottis Toole and fellow serial killer Henry Lee Lucas. The sighting of a blue van brings another serial killer into the frame... a certain Jeffrey Dahmer.

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Stolen Innocence: Ottis Toole Pt. 1

Wed, 11 Aug 2021 07:01:00 -0000

While serving multiple life sentences in prison and dying of liver failure, convicted serial killer Ottis Toole made a deathbed confession to a prison health administrator. He claimed sole responsibility in the 1981 murder of six-year-old Adam Walsh. This was not the first time Toole had confessed to the crime. But this time was different. This time he had no reason to lie.

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Hollywood Cold Case: Margaret Gibson Pt. 3

Wed, 04 Aug 2021 07:01:00 -0000

Long after the William Desmond Taylor murder case grew cold researchers uncovered new information on Margaret Gibson's criminal history and her potential involvement in the killing...and how she may have capitalized on William Desmond Taylor's secret life...

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Hollywood Cold Case: Margaret Gibson Pt. 2

Wed, 28 Jul 2021 07:01:00 -0000

As the investigation into William Desmond Taylor's murder amps up, lead investigator Detective King examines the evidence and begins to suspect three of the most powerful women in 1920s Hollywood: comedy queen Mabel Normand, ingenue Mary Miles Minter, and notorious stage mother Charlotte Shelby. To get answers, he'll need to go up against one of the most powerful industries in America — the Hollywood movie studios.

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Hollywood Cold Case: Margaret Gibson Pt. 1

Wed, 21 Jul 2021 07:01:00 -0000

When famed director William Desmond Taylor was murdered in 1922, the LAPD rushed to find his killer — compiling a long list of suspects that included some of the silent film era's biggest stars. Actress Margaret Gibson always flew under their radar… But could her dying words finally solve one of Hollywood's longest-running cold cases?

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Welcome to Deathbed Confessions

Mon, 19 Jul 2021 07:01:00 -0000

Starting July 21st, Deathbed Confessions brings you into the stories of last-ditch attempts to clear consciences. Crimes are solved. Mysteries become clear. And the cases that haunted collective imaginations are put to rest. Or are they? New episodes weekly.

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