29: Episode 29: Carma Purpura with guest reader Jann Karam

On July 11, 2007, a 31-year-old Carma Purpura was last seen getting into the cab of a truck driver at a rest stop near Indianapolis. The next day, he’s arrested in Nashville under suspicion he’s involved in the murder of another woman. Inside his cab, investigators find Carma’s phone and credit card and so much of Carma’s blood detectives are certain Carma is no longer alive. Four years later, a skull along with some other remains are found in Kentucky. With few clues to go on, she becomes one of the state’s unidentified women. Even though it takes five more years to identify her as Carma, it brings some amount of resolution to her case. This week our guest reader is comic Jann Karam whose numerous TV credits–stand up performances and series acting roles–include repeat appearances on both The Tonight Show and The Late Show with David Letterman, HBO’s legendary 13th Annual Young Comedians’ Show, How to Live with Your Parents (for the Rest of Your Life), Comics Unleashed, The Arsenio Hall Show, Norm, Mad About You, Politically Incorrect, Dr. Katz, and many others. She was a regular sketch player in the last incarnation of The Carol Burnett Show and, in the now classic Seinfeld episode “The Switch.” Her latest claim to fame—bantering with comedy genius Larry David during her two co-starring roles on both season 11 and 12 of Curb Your Enthusiasm She’s released three successful comedy albums—Live at the Blue Loon and Same Guy, DifferentShirt, most recently, Live at the Wren Theater, and taped her own documentary special, Beyond the Set. Join us on Patreon! Your support helps us continue to shine light on America’s missing and unidentified women. Flashlight level members also get access to additional content like Behind the Poem, a weekly conversation about the episode’s featured poem, and our monthly true crime/mystery book club. Our March 2024 selection is the novel The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters. You can find us on Instagram and Facebook. To buy Aimee’s book, Doe, it’s available now with University of Akron Press, at Bookshop.org, and Amazon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices