midwretched

S2E15: Rush: Ohio’s Fatal Hazings

Going off to college is one of the most exciting events in a young person's life, and so many seek friendship and belonging through  fraternities and sororities. While most people will graduate from university relatively unscathed, for those who endure hazing, Greek life can leave indelible scars--both physical and emotional. For Colin Wiant and Stone Foltz, fraternity hazing would prove to be both horrifying and fatal. Join Tommy as she shares the stories of two promising young men and their families, connected by tragedy and united in a fight for legal change. 

S2E14: Marcus Fiesel

Marcus Fiesel was a lively, energetic toddler with developmental disabilities.  He was placed in the care of Liz and David Carroll by the Ohio office of Job and Family Services.  But after only a few months in the foster care system, little Marcus lost his life.  Mick tells the story of Marcus’s short life and the legacy he left on the foster care system. 

S2E13: Nikko Jenkins Part 2

In this episode we continue our discussion of the spree of killings committed by Nikko Jenkins and his family.  They recount the crimes, the confession, and the courtroom drama, all to try to make sense of these series of senseless killings.

S2E12: Nikko Jenkins Part 1

Nikko Jenkins, the young man who terrorized Omaha, Nebraska for weeks.  His killing spree ended the lives of 4 people.  In this deep-dive, two parter, we take a good look at who Nikko Jenkins was and what led to his crimes.  We’ll ask some questions about the role of different systems in raising a killer.

S2E11: Stefanie Morey

In the summer of 1995, Stefanie Morey was a pretty typical, beloved 13 year old girl whiling away that last middle school summer in her hometown of Marissa, Illinois. In this listener request, Tommy takes us through the tragedy of Stefanie's murder and a devotion to Stefanie's memory with the hopes that her case not be lost to time and small town obscurity.

Re-Release! Shawn Hornbeck

On October 6, 2002, 11 year old Shawn Hornbeck vanished into thin air while riding his bicycle along the country roads of his hometown of Richwoods, Missouri, leaving behind no trace of what might have happened. In the years following his disappearance, his parents founded organizations to help find other missing children, channeling their grief into action, while leads dried up and the case went cold. When 13 year old Ben Ownby disappeared under similar circumstances from nearby Beaumont in 2007, a case unlike any other would be cracked wide open.

S2E9: The Murder of the Chandler Children

A family tries to start fresh in a new town.  But tragedy strikes the entire home and leaves the only survivor with nothing but amnesia and a feeling of helplessness in the fight for justice for the murder of her children.  Mick tells the story of the brutal attack on a family that ended the lives of two bright and beautiful children. 

S2E08: Crystal Grubb & Lauren Spierer, Part 2: Questions, Theories, and Hope

In Part 1 of the cases of missing Lauren Spierer and murdered Crystal Grubb, Tommy took us through timelines, important places, and persons of interest. In Part 2, she takes us through a deeper look at theories in both cases in the hopes that someday both women find justice in Bloomington. 

S2E07: Crystal Grubb & Lauren Spierer, Part 1: Mysteries in Bloomington

Bloomington is a city with a split identity: one part idyllic college town, another part gateway to Indiana's meth country. Each half hides the secret of what happened to two women: missing Indiana University sophomore Lauren Spierer and murdered mother of two Crystal Grubb. In part one of this two parter, Tommy lays out these mysterious disappearances and the disparities in local and national media coverage of each. 

S2E6: Why are you like this, Robert Berdella?

In the late 1980’s, Kansas City, MO, young men are going missing. One man terrorizes and takes advantage of a marginalized community for his own twisted fantasies.  Robert Berdella drugs and tortures 6 young men, before one finally escapes his house of horrors. When police finally discover the extent of Berdella’s crimes, the notes, the photographs, the evidence is unbelievable.  Mick and Tommy explore what drove Robert Berdella, his pathology, his personality, and his crimes.