The 2nd Location

With no cameras in the courtroom the true crime community is relying on the few people that actually can get inside the tiny courtroom in Delphi, Indiana where Richard Allen is on trial for the murders of Abby Williams and Libby German for information. I am listening to the various accounts of people actually able to attend the trial and adding my own take on their take.  In this first episode I take about the 2 days that were used to select a jury. Sources: Lawyer Lee Defense Diaries Andrea Burkhart Truth and Transparency- Lana The Murder Sheet Barbara MacDonald Dave Bangert

In this episode I talk about the trial and conviction of the second defendant to be tried for the Austin Yogurt Shop murders, Michael Scott and the subsequent successful appeals of Michael Scott and Rob Springsteen. Sources include: Beverly Lowry, Who Killed These Girls? Corey Mitchell, Murdered Innocents

Years after the murders 4 young men were arrested and 2 eventually would go to trial and be convicted. In this episode I discuss the first trial which would result in Rob Springsteen's conviction and  death sentence.   Sources include: Corey Mitchell, Murdered Innocents Beverly Lowry, Who Killed These Girls?

The 4 suspects, Rob Springsteen, Mike Scott, Maurice Pierce, and Forrest Welborn are all arrested.  And in this episode I cover pre-trial motions, battles over the evidence, and the state's attempt to find some evidence against the accused other than those confusing confessions. Sources include: Beverly Lowry,  Who Killed these Girls? Corey Mitchell, Murdered Innocents

I have been talking about the Austin Yogurt Shop Murders. Four teenage girls were raped and murdered in closed frozen yogurt shop in Austin, Texas in 1991.  After 8  years of investigation the police focus on 4 young men that were teenagers at the time of the murders. And even though all 4 men are completely innocent 2 of the men confessed to a crime that they didn't commit. It's hard to understand that innocent people confess to crimes that they didn't commit. In an attempt to understand this phenomena in this episode I cover the Reid technique, a method of interrogation that manipulates a suspects mind. But from the beginning there were problems with the Reid interrogation method.  One of the first cases were the Reid technique was used was the questioning of Darrel Parker in relation to the death of his wife, Nancy Parker. Darrel confessed to killing his wife and it would not be until decades later that his name would be cleared after a serial killer confessed to Nancy's murder.   The New Yorker, The Interview, Douglass Starr Chris Minor, WQAD8 for ABC, Quad City man gets justice 56 years after wrongful murder conviction HEEDING THE LESSONS OF HISTORY: THE NEED FOR MANDATORY RECORDING OF POLICE INTERROGATIONS TO ACCURATELY ASSESS THE RELIABILTY AND VOLUNTARINESS OF CONFESSIONS Steven A. Drizin* & Marissa J. Reich**   

Eight years after 4 teenage girls are found murdered in a burning Austin, Texas yogurt shop the police have focused their cold case invetsigation on 4 suspects that had been removed from the active suspect list almost immediately after they came under suspicion in the weeks after the murders. With no evidence that implicates any of these suspects, no fingerprints, no DNA, no eyewitnesses the police focus on getting the suspects to confess. It works. 2 of the suspects confess and implicate each other and their 2 other friends in the murders. In this episode I focus on the false confessions of Mike Scott and Rob Springsteen.

About 8 years after the murders of 4 teenagers in an Austin, Texas yogurt shop the police focus on 4 young men that where teenagers at the time of the murders. What put these guys on the police's radar? One young man had been found in the local mall with a gun a gun in his waistband 8 days after the murders. The teens had been inactivated as suspects earlier but after reviewing the casefiles the police  refocus on the 4 young men, and they start by questioning Mike Scott who will wrongfully confess to a quadriple murder, setting into motion 2 trials and 2 wrongful convictions. And this whole time no one is looking for who really killed Eliza Thomas, Amy Ayers, and Sarah and Jennifer Harbison. Wrongful convictions hurt both the acused and the victims.

5 years after 4 teenagers are murdered at closing time at a yogurt shop on Austin, Texas the case is given a new lead investigator Paul Johnson. Johnson is assigned with going back into the files and seeing if there are any old leads that should be followed up on. He focuses on Maurice Pierce a teenager who was stopped at the mall near the yogurt shop just 8 days after the murders, Maurice was carrying a .22. All four victims had been shot with a .22. Over the next few years the investigation focuses on Maurice and 3 of his teenage friends. Even when Maurice was first picked up at the mall he passed a lie detector test where he denied being involved in the murders and his .22 underwent ballistic testing that showed that it wasn't the murder weapon. 

While closing up a small yogurt shop 4 teenage girls were murdered in an Austin, Texas on December 6th, 1991.  Just 8 days after the murders Maurice Pierce was caught by an off-duty police officer flashing a .22 at the local mall. The police were immediately suspicious.  The mall was close to the yogurt shop and the girls had all been shot by a .22 caliber gun.  When the police interrogate Maurice he implicated his friend Forrest Welborn in the murders. After Maurice passes a polygraph, the police  secretly record a conversation between Maurice and Forrest, and ballistics tests show that Maurice's gun was not the murder weapon, the police don't believe that Maurice and his friends were involved in the murders.  That is until 7 years after the murders when Maurice and his 3 friends become the focus of the investigation.   

The evening of December 8th, 1991, started off innocently enough 2 teenage girls were working the closing shift at the local yogurt shop in Austin, Texas on a Friday night. Also in the shop with the 2 older girls that were working that night were the younger sister of one of the workers and her even younger friend.  The younger girls were just hanging out and helping with the closing of the shop and afterwards they planned to hitch a ride home with the older sister for a highly anticipated sleepover.     What started as an evening of work and friendship would end in murder. By 11:48 p.m. all 4 girls would be dead, but not before they were forced to strip naked, sexually assaulted, and then shot in the head. Before the killers fled they set the yogurt shop on fire, leaving the 4 girls lying on the floor of the backroom to be discovered by firefighters. It’s 28 years later and we still don’t know “Who Killed These Girls?,” but with the advancement of DNA technology science is closing in on the killers. Who murdered Eliza Thomas, Sarah Harbison, Jennifer Harbison, and Amy Ayers? At this point we are waiting for science to give us the answer.  Sources: "Who Killed These Girls?: The Unsolved Murders that Rocked a Texas Town," Beverly Lowry "Murdered Innocents," Corey Mitchell https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-yogurt-shop-murders-austin-texas-families-investigators-haunted-by-unsolved-case/ 48 Hours, CBS News Are Two Never-Identified Customers Key to Solving Austin's Yogurt Shop Murders?, Stephanie Slifer https://www.cbsnews.com/news/yogurt-shop-murders-are-two-never-identified-customers-key-to-solving-austin-texas-case/   https://www.cbsnews.com/news/yogurt-shop-murders-are-two-never-identified-customers-key-to-solving-austin-texas-case/

Speculation alert! In this we episode explore theories about how the murders unfolded that night, Christmas Eve 1975.  Was it a family annihilation, a robbery gone wrong, or a planned hit on Tommy Zeigler that was interrupted by his wife and in-laws resulting in their murders and the wrongful conviction of Tommy Zeigler.  It's all guesses people and I welcome your theories. Let's all meet back here when the DNA results come in. Sources include: Phillip Finch, Fatal Flaw: A True Story f Malice and Murder in a Small Southern Town available in pdf on the website https://www.tommyzeiglerisinnocent.com/ Tampa Bay Times, numerous articles by Leorona LaPeter Anton including The Blood and Truth Podcast  https://www.tommyzeiglerisinnocent.com/  , a website that I believe is maintained by Lynn-Marie Carty.

In 1976 Tommy Zeigler was convicted of a quadruple murder and sent to death row, but he has always maintained his innocence. Decades after his conviction Tommy gets a new supporter, Lynn Marie-Carty, a private investigator who comes up with a new potential suspect. In this episode we talk about Tommy's post conviction fight for DNA testing, new theories about the murders developed by Lynn-Marie Carty, and I grow suspicious about why the Oakland Police Chief was spending so much of his time in Winter Garden outside of his jurisdiction. Sources:  Fatal Flaw: A True Story of Malice and Murder in a Small Southern Town, by Phillip Finch https://www.tommyzeiglerisinnocent.com/      

Tommy Zeigler was convicted of a quadruple murder in 1976, after fighting for years Tommy finally gets DNA testing in 2002. The results support Tommy's account of the night. In this episode we talk about DNA results and an potential alternate suspect that Tommy's private investigator, Lynn-Marie Carty uncovers decades after the murders.

In this episode we focus on jury deliberations, the jury's verdict, and the shocking decision of the judge to overturn the jury's sentence. I also begin to address Tommy Zeigler's appeals and evidence that has been uncovered after his conviction.  Also I re-posted Episode 9 with audio that can actually be listed to. I honestly don't know how that episode got any downloads at all. Geez, I hope I'm not a meme.

This is a re-posted episode. I didn't realize that the audio had been possessed by a demon, so here is a cleaned up recording, so, no you don't need to call in a exorcist for me. In this episode we continue to explore Tommy's trial while focusing on the evidence presented by the defense. Tommy takes the stand to declare his innocence, and the prosecution makes a last ditch effort to get accusations that Tommy is gay before the jury.

Steven Judy murdered a young mother and her 3 small children after tricking her into thinking that her car tire was loose and offering to help. While pretending to be a Good Samaritan he got the family into his truck and then raped the mother and murdered her and her 3 children. He was executed within 2 years of his final crime, but before he was executed he confessed to his foster mother that he had raped and murdered 13 to 15 women across 5 states. Could Steven Judy rival America's most well known serial killer, Ted Bundy? Burn, Judy, Burn by Bette Nunn

Tommy Zeigler is on trial for a quadruple homicide. In this episode we finish discussing the prosecutions side of the trial and address several of the main witnesses that testify against Tommy.  Main sources for this episode include: The Fatal Flaw, by Phillip Finch https://www.tommyzeiglerisinnocent.com/ a website maintained by Tommy Zeigler's investigator, Lynn-Marie Carty

Tommy Zeigler has been on death row for over 40 years for murdering his wife, in-laws, and a friend. In this episode I talk about the trial and tactics used by the prosecution to convict a man who very likely may be innocent.  Recently Tommy was finally allowed to have advanced DNA testing conducted on the evidence. So soon we will have some answers.

In this episode about the conviction of Tommy Zeigler I talk about pretrial motions as the state rushes Tommy to trial. The defense makes numerous requests for a continuance, all of which are denied. The trial begins before the defense has finished their forensic testing, which will have fatal results for the defense. Our main source for this episode is: Fatal Flaw, by Phillip Finch

We are continuing our examination of the Florida Furniture Store Murders. In this episode we cover the forensic test results and introduce the state's expert witness, Herb MacDonell, the father of the now largely discredited science of blood spatter analysis. Source for tis episode: Phillip Finch, "Fatal Flaw: A True Story of Malice and Murder in a Small Southern Town" The Leader, John Vick, Corning forensics expert Herb MacDonell facing more allegations, charges    

Maria Domenech was a 28 year old former beauty queen who lived in New York with her mother, Virginia. Maria began dating an older gentleman and when she found out he was married she quickly tossed him aside only for her mother to catch him on the rebound. Weeks after the break-up Maria would be found murdered in Ireland and her mother Virginia would never be seen again. The mysterious boyfriend would be found dead in Florida.  His death left many unanswered questions in a largely forgotten murder that spanned two continents and once captivated New York's attention. Sources: The Encyclopedia of Modern Murder, Colin Wilson NY Daily News, Case of a Missing Mom was just the Tip of Bizarre Murder Mystery, Robert Dominguez

This is part 4 of a series on the unjust conviction of Tommy Zeigler. Four people are murdered on Christmas Eve 1974. A husband of one of the victims, Tommy, quickly becomes the polices only suspect. This episode details the preliminary hearing, grand jury testimony, and possible motives for the murders. Tommy has been on death row in Florida for over 40 years, but he was just granted DNA testing that he had sought for decades. 

In July of 1974 the nude body of a woman is found in the dunes of Provincetown, Massachusetts. She was beaten to death and her hands were missing.  She was known simply as the Lady of the Dunes for over 40 years, until October 31st, 2022 when she was identified as Ruth Marie Terry. With her identity finally known now the police are looking to find her killer, and it looks like the police have a promising lead. Ruth Marie Terry's husband, Guy Rockwell Muldavin, had been the main suspect in the murder of his second wife and stepdaughter. Ruth Marie Terry may have been married to a murderer. Sources are Smoke, Mirrors, and Murder by Ann Rule. Lady of the Dunes multiple articles under this heading, from NBCBoston by Kathy Curran.

On Christmas Eve 1975 four bodies are found inside the Zeigler Furniture Store. Also inside is the store's owner, Tommy Zeigler, he is shot in the abdomen but he survives. Tommy would be the police's only suspect. Two witnesses come forward in the hours after the murder to implicate Tommy in the crime, and in this episode we detail the account of the second witness to accuse Tommy of murder.

The state of Missouri is set to execute Amber McLaughlin for the rape and murder of her ex-girlfriend, Beverly Guenther. While Amber is undeniably guilty her case is getting attention because unless she is granted clemency Amber will be the first transgender person executed in America.  But the issue is not about Amber's gender, it's about the the application of the death penalty. While Amber's crime was undeniably heinous Amber has lived a marred by extreme childhood abuse, intellectual disabilities, and multiple head traumas.  Is the death penalty the appropriate punishment for Amber? Sources for this episode are court records and Amber's clemency petition.

Is the execution of the innocent just an unavoidable by-product of the criminal justice system? On Christmas Eve 1975 4 people are found murdered in an Orlando, Florida furniture store. The police quickly focus on the store owner, who was shot but survived. Is Tommy Zeigler guilty of a quadruple murder or a man unjustly condemned to death? This episode explores the police's initial arrival on the scene and investigation and the story of the first witness that came forward to implicate Tommy in the murders.

Tommy Zeigler was convicted of murdering 4 people in 1976 and given a death sentence. He still sits on death row 46 years later. In Florida, where they actually execute people. Why is Tommy still alive? Because he is most likely innocent. For this first episode my source was mainly the book by Phillip Finch, The Fatal Flaw.  Please read it. The value of a man's life is too much to be ignored.

My first episode focused on The Boy in the Box, but America's Unknown Child is no longer unknown he has a name and its Joseph Augustus Zarelli. On December 8th 2022 Philadelphia police held a press conference to announce his name, and now its time to find his killer.

In 1957 the naked, lifeless body of a little boy was found stuffed inside a cardboard box in a thicket alongside a road in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Despite the best efforts of local law enforcement the boy's identity was never uncovered. He is buried in a grave marked with a headstone that reads "America's Unknown Child."  For 65 years the boy has remained nameless.  According to law enforcement this will change very soon.  Listen to the tragic story of "The Boy in the Box", the efforts to find his killers, and reclaim his name.