Never Too Early For Murder

The report confirmed that Susan’s cause of death was blunt force trauma. Because we know Susan was planning to file for divorce, it is believed Richard found out, became enraged, beat her to death, and then cleaned up as best he could.

He then left Susan somewhere in the house, went to steal the suburban the next day, switched out the license plates, and drove Susan’s body out to the abandoned farm to burn her body. He then parked the suburban in Harriet Wells garage, involving many potential suspects in his attempt to hide his crime. 

We’re unsure if he left the insurance card there on purpose or not but we do know Susan put up a fight as both her blood and Richard’s blood were found under luminal in the couples bedroom.

Case Sources:

Brian’s re-telling of events began to show holes and inconsistencies. Brian had originally told the Floyds that he had already called the police and needed to go back to the house to wait for them. The Floyds made note of the time the boys arrived on their doorstep to be exactly 1:24am on November 11th, 1998. However Brian’s call to police didn’t come in until exactly 1:41am.

Leaving almost 17 minutes of time unaccounted for. During Brian’s re-telling of events to police, he tells them he heard a gun shot but couldn’t get into his parents room due to the locked door. But in his call to the police, he tells 911 that his father had been shot and was bleeding out of his mouth. When police asked Brian how he knew Leslie was bleeding from his mouth if he had been standing outside a locked door, Brian couldn’t find a good answer.

Brian was also reported to be extremely calm and collected during this time. Because of all of these things, Brian was ultimately arrested and charged with the murder of his father Leslie Vaughn. Brian’s defense team argued the hired hit case but the jury didn’t believe the plausibility of this after hearing the arguments of both sides. Ultimately, Brian was convicted of murder his father based off of the inconsistencies in his own story.

Case Sources:

In February of 2004. Dave Knotek pled down his first degree murder charge of Shane Watson to second degree murder with unlawful disposal of human remains and received just under 15 years in prison.

10 months after her arrest, Shelly entered an Alford plea,  which is like accepting guilt but not admitting to it. On sentencing day and with not a single soul in attendance to support her, Shelly addressed the courts.

“In this jail and in this courtroom and in this community, and everywhere else, I’m known as some kind of horrible monster. I’m not. I’ve made such horrible mistakes though. Kathy was my friend, she had value and she had purpose. She would have been there for me. I wasn’t there for her at lot. I was not there when Kathy died. Not there for her.”

She went on tho point fingers in her speech at Nikki and Shane. None of it was ever her fault. The judge, unimpressed by Shelly and her speech, tacked on and extra 5 years to her 17 years sensed and she ultimate received 22 years in prison.

Case Sources:

The Book: If You Tell

A favorite of Shelly Knotek’s punishments was forcing Shane and Nikki to undress and go outside. She would then demand they get on their hands and knees and crawl around in the mud while she ordered Dave to hose them down with water as she hurled insults at them. Shelly called this particular form of torture “wallowing”

Shelly also began controlling when the kids were allowed to use the bathroom. Forcing them to hold it or to find a place to go discreetly outside as if you were caught going outside, it would surely lead to a punishment from Shelly. She also began withholding shower and bath privileges as well as locking the drive and pantry. The kids were allowed to shower once every two weeks and if they were “disobedient”, that shower would be skipped as well.

Kathy Loreno was Shelly Knotek’s hair dresser and “best friend”. Kathy arrived to the Louderback house around Christmas time in 1988 when 34 year old Shelly was pregnant with her third baby. Kathy was down on her luck and Shelly had generously offered her a place to stay. Kathy would come and help out with the cooking and cleaning and caring for the new baby.

Case Sources:

The Book: If You Tell

In November of 2013, Gerald Uden was convicted of murder, all the while maintaining that Alice had nothing to do with and no knowledge of the murders of his wife and her sons. He received a sentence of life in prison at the age of 72.

In August of 2014, Alice Uden stood trial for the murder of her third husband, Ronald Holtz. At age 76, she ultimately received a life sentence for her crimes.

Sadly, Claire Martin died in on April 4th 2013 at the age of 92, just shy of finding out what really happened to her daughter Virginia, and grandsons Richard and Reagan, all those years ago.

Alice Uden passed away in prison at the age of 80 in 2019 on June 12th. Shockingly, her death brought on a surprising twist. In a letter sent to Ron and dated the day after Alice’s death, Gerald retracted his earlier confession, stating that he had confessed to killing Virginia, Reagan and Richard to protect Alice but that he hadn’t in fact been the one to kill them at all.

Gerald Holtz is still in prison today working to appeal his case and be set free. He wold be 80 or 81 years old today.

As the smoke cleared and the fire extinguished, the fie inspector was called in and the cause of the fire was ruled as a poorly rigged extension cord hooked up to a space heater that had originated in the front bedroom where Delimar was left sleeping in her crib. After 2 more searches throughout the house, it was determined that Delimar’s small newborn body had been completely burned in the flames, leaving no human remains behind.

However, Luz’s mother’s intuition couldn’t accept these findings. She knew in her heart that Delimar was not in her crib when she had rushed up the stairs to save her. The lack of human remains only compounded her deep feeling that she believed Delimar had been abducted.

Case Sources

The report confirmed that Susan’s cause of death was blunt force trauma. Because we know Susan was planning to file for divorce, it is believed Richard found out, became enraged, beat her to death, and then cleaned up as best he could.

He then left Susan somewhere in the house, went to steal the suburban the next day, switched out the license plates, and drove Susan’s body out to the abandoned farm to burn her body. He then parked the suburban in Harriet Wells garage, involving many potential suspects in his attempt to hide his crime. 

We’re unsure if he left the insurance card there on purpose or not but we do know Susan put up a fight as both her blood and Richard’s blood were found under luminal in the couples bedroom.

Case Sources:

Our case begins in Waco, Texas in the summer of 1982 on the afternoon of July 13th when a trio of friends, 17 year old Jill Montgomery, 17 year old Raylene Rice, and 18 year old Kenneth Franks headed out that Tuesday summer evening for some fun in a park near Lake Waco.

The next day, two men had first noticed the what they believed to be a drunk young man propped up against a tree near the shore line of Lake Waco. When they called out to the man and approached closer, they realized that the young man had been badly beaten with his hands tied behind his back. The young mans clothes were soaked in blood from what would later be discovered the result of 27 stab wounds all over his body.

Officer Simons was quickly able to identify the young man as Kenneth Franks. Just a few minutes later, Raylene was found with her hands bound behind her back, gagged, she was naked and had been stabbed 9 times. Not far away, Jill’s body was found. Jill’s throat had been slashed. She was also found bound, gagged and naked and had been stabbed 17 times.

Case Sources:

TW* Child death and sexual assault 

Precedent: Megan’s Law 

Megan's Law provides the public with certain information on the whereabouts of sex offenders so that members of our local communities may protect themselves and their children. As the laws continued to change in favor of protecting the innocent, it’s important to remember that we can’t always count on the legal system to keep our children safe. 

We encourage you to continue talking to your children about stranger danger, to teach them to stay vigilant and to trust their instincts. We on the podcast will continue to pray for the safety of our youth. 

Case Sources: 

TW* Child Death

In today’s case we will share the heartbreaking story of a young boy, who like Megan Kanka, Jacob Wetterling and Amber Hagerman, would go on to change many things in the legal system pertaining to missing children and would eventually inspire the creation of the true crime investigatory television show, America’s Most Wanted.

Our Case Sources:

TW* Child death and sexual assault.

Precedent: The Amber Alert

Police are convinced that someone knows something about Amber Hagerman’s kidnapping that they haven’t yet shared. And they’re insistent that it’s not too late. Investigators also disclosed in 2021 that they have DNA evidence that might belong to Amber’s killer. Hopefully, with evidence like that, or a new tip, police can finally solve Amber Hagerman’s kidnapping — and bring justice to the nine-year-old whose death thousands of other children.

Our Case Sources:

TW* Child death and sexual assault  

Precedent: The Jacob Wetterling Act 

Although it breaks our hearts that Jacob wasn’t one of the young boys to make it home. Hs life and legacy carry on in a huge and impactful way. Thanks to Jacob and his mom, Patty, The Federal Jacob Wetterling Act was passed in 1994. It was the first law in American history to mandate that each state maintain a sex offender registry. 

Our Case Sources 

Susie’s mother grew concerned when she had not returned home by morning. However, she wouldn’t have to wait long to track her professional poker playing daughter down. The remains of Susie’s badly burned body were found at 8:05 a.m. on July 13th, 2020 along the edge of the Pontiac Lake Recreation Area.

Our Case Sources:

On 14 February 2007, Valentine's Day, Stephen Grant called the Macomb County Sheriff's Office in Michigan to report that his wife, Tara Grant, had been missing for five days. In his account, Stephen said that this was not the first time his 34-year-old wife had left home, which was why he had not immediately reported her missing.

Our sources for this case:

On August 15th, two cabinetmakers who had worked on the house during its construction came to the March house in the afternoon to do warranty work, installing two countertops in the kitchen and tightening a faucet. Janet supervised them closely while Perry played with the children. They completed their work within an hour and left. This was the last sighting of Janet outside of her family that day.

Our sources for this case:

TW* Child Death

The last image of Candace shown in the courtroom was of her sitting cross-legged, staring blankly at the camera, her face, though still lovely, showing nothing of the smiling, apparently confident girl seen in her fourth-grade class photo that had been used to open the case in trial.

During the last week of the trial, Colorado Gov. Bill Owens signed “Candace’s Law” which bans the re-enactment of the birth process when it uses restraint that carries a risk of death or physical injury.

Case Sources:

In 1994, a 13 year old boy named Nicholas Barclay went missing in San Antonio, Texas. Three years later, he was found alive in Spain and he was reunited with his family. However, not all was as it seemed.

Case Sources:

Trace amounts of sodium azide were found in Joe's blood and gastric contents. Indicating that he had been poisoned by way of ingesting food. Likely the substances had been laced into a soup or liquid and then eaten. Ultimately though, Joe’s cause of death was attributed to blunt force trauma and the stab wound.

Case Sources:

While the rest of the world was fixated on the media frenzied trial of Jodi Arias after she murdered her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander. Shari Tobyne had murdered her own husband in Scottsdale, Arizona and was quite literally getting away with murder at the same time Jodi was at trial for murder in the same state. Thankfully justice was eventually served in both cases.

Case Sources: