On November 4, 1979, student militants stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, seizing dozens of American diplomats and staff. Their protest—sparked by the U.S. decision to admit the exiled Shah of Iran for medical treatment—quickly became a geopolitical standoff that lasted 444 days.

In this episode, Kona Gallagher revisits the tense beginnings of the Iran Hostage Crisis, tracing how a small group of students reshaped world politics and upended American life.

From President Carter’s economic sanctions and the failed Operation Eagle Claw rescue attempt to the hostages’ eventual release on January 20, 1981, this story reveals how one event transformed diplomacy, media, and public trust.

The crisis outlasted one presidency, launched a nightly television ritual, and left emotional and political scars that endure to this day.

#IranHostageCrisis #HistoryPodcast #JimmyCarter #OnThisDay

On November 3, 1979, a march against the Ku Klux Klan in Greensboro, North Carolina, turned into a deadly confrontation. Members of the Klan and the American Nazi Party opened fire on anti-Klan demonstrators from the Communist Workers Party, killing five people and wounding several others. The entire attack — just 88 seconds of gunfire — was captured on live news cameras.

The massacre shocked the nation and ignited years of controversy, investigations, and trials. Despite televised footage and eyewitnesses, two separate criminal juries acquitted all of the shooters. Only a later civil trial would assign responsibility — not for murder, but for the city’s failure to protect its citizens.

In this episode, host Kona Gallagher revisits how a city’s divisions, informants, and missed warnings led to tragedy — and how Greensboro spent decades confronting its own past.

#greensboromassacre #onthisday #truecrime

On November 2, 2016, 34-year-old Sherri Papini vanished while out for a jog near her home in Redding, California. For three weeks, her disappearance gripped the nation — until she reappeared on Thanksgiving morning, claiming she’d been abducted by two women and held captive.

Her story sparked sympathy, fundraising, and a multi-agency investigation. But years later, DNA evidence and digital records revealed the truth: Papini had staged her own disappearance and spent those missing weeks with an ex-boyfriend hundreds of miles away.

In this episode, host Kona Gallagher revisits the twists, the investigation, and the aftermath of a hoax that deceived a community, wasted public resources, and left behind a lasting scar of mistrust.

#sherripapini #hoax #truecrime

On November 1, 1955, United Air Lines Flight 629 exploded eleven minutes after taking off from Denver’s Stapleton Airport, killing all forty-four people on board. At first, investigators suspected a mechanical failure. But what they found among the scattered wreckage north of Denver would change aviation history — a pattern of destruction that could only mean one thing: sabotage.

As agents followed the evidence, they uncovered a shocking truth. The bomb that destroyed Flight 629 wasn’t an act of terror or politics — it was planted by a son to kill his own mother for insurance money.

In this episode, we revisit the night Colorado’s skies lit up over Longmont, tracing how patient forensic work, grid-by-grid reconstruction, and an ordinary piece of wire helped investigators expose one of the first airline bombings in U.S. history.

#TrueCrime #AviationHistory #Flight629

This episode explores the tragic case of Clifford Smith, who disappeared on Halloween night in 1982. After decades of uncertainty and a cold case, new investigative efforts led to the arrest of his brother-in-law, Ronald Jack Anderson, in 2023. The story highlights the long journey to justice and the impact of unresolved cases on families and communities.

#TrueCrime #ColdCase #Halloween #clliffordsmith

On the night before Halloween in 1975, 15-year-old Martha Moxley spent “Mischief Night” with neighborhood friends in the quiet, gated community of Belle Haven, Greenwich, Connecticut. By morning, she was dead—her body discovered beneath a tree in her own backyard, bludgeoned and stabbed with a broken golf club traced to a set at the house across the street.

For decades, the murder of Martha Moxley haunted Greenwich and captivated the country. The investigation moved through false starts, media frenzies, and years of speculation surrounding the wealthy and well-connected Skakel family—relatives of the Kennedys.

It would take 25 years before an arrest: Michael Skakel, Martha’s neighbor and a cousin of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was charged and convicted in 2002. But appeals, reversals, and legal battles continued for nearly two more decades, ultimately leaving the case without a standing conviction.

In this episode, Kona Gallagher traces the tangled timeline of one of America’s most enduring true crime mysteries—from the night of the murder to the courtroom dramas that followed.

#MarthaMoxley #TrueCrimePodcast #MichaelSkakel

In the early hours of October 29, 1995, a series of frantic 911 calls shattered the quiet of Hartford, Connecticut. Witnesses reported something horrific: a woman being dragged by a moving car, heading south toward Wethersfield. Within minutes, police traced the trail to Jordan Lane, where they found 24-year-old Leah Ulbrich—beyond saving.

Nearly three decades later, Leah’s murder remains unsolved. Investigators believe someone saw or heard something that could still make a difference.

In this episode, we revisit the timeline of that predawn pursuit, the heartbreaking discovery, and the years of unanswered questions that followed. We’ll also hear how Leah’s case became a focus for Connecticut’s Cold Case Unit, which continues to ask for the public’s help today.

#TrueCrimePodcast #ColdCase #LeahUlbrich #HartfordCT #UnsolvedMystery

On October 28, 1971, nineteen-year-old Gloria Ann Gonzales disappeared from her Houston neighborhood. Three weeks later, her skeletal remains were found near the Addicks Reservoir — the same remote area where another missing girl’s body had been discovered. Gloria’s death, ruled a homicide by blunt-force trauma, became one of the earliest cases in what would later be known as the Texas Killing Fields — a decades-long series of unsolved murders and disappearances of young women along the I-45 corridor between Houston and Galveston.

In this episode, Kona Gallagher traces Gloria’s final hours, the discovery of her remains, and the long shadow her case cast over Texas law enforcement.

#TrueCrimePodcast #TexasKillingFields #ColdCase #HoustonHistory #JusticeForGloria