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  • notebook predating official record; Tracy Mueller's precise life upended

    notebook predating official record; Tracy Mueller's precise life upended
    2026/10/31
    notebook predating official record; Tracy Mueller's precise life upended

    A single waterlogged notebook found in a slough contained a margin date - November 4 - that contradicted the insurer's claim the file was created on November 10, and that contradiction would help send a 24-year-old employee to trial. How did one marginal note become the hinge of accusations of insurance fraud, conspiracy, and forgery?

    In this episode, we lay out the timeline, the people, and the contested pieces of evidence that turn a routine claims file into a criminal case, and we follow the questions that legal teams and prosecutors could not fully answer: who added the draft rider, when, and why?

    Person: Tracy Mueller
    Date: November 11, 2009 (notebook recovered at 6:43 a.m.)
    Location: Carver Slough
    Case: insurance fraud, conspiracy, forgery
    Amount: $112,000 (proposed business interruption rider)

    - The notebook was pulled from willow roots at Carver Slough at 6:43 a.m, on November 11, 2009.
    - The notebook cover was heat-blistered and its pages had been repeatedly soaked and dried.
    - The margin notation inside the notebook read November 4, which predates the insurer's official November 10 received stamp.
    - Tracy Mueller, aged 24, had worked at Colston Mutual's south branch for 18 months and opened the Anderson policy file 11 times in the 30 days before the fire.
    - Lloyd Anderson's policy was worth $830,000 and a draft rider for a $112,000 business interruption clause existed but had not been submitted for underwriting approval.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    23 分
  • Thermos of Lies: How a Nurse Almost Paid for Murder

    Thermos of Lies: How a Nurse Almost Paid for Murder
    2026/10/30
    Thermos of Lies: How a Nurse Almost Paid for Murder

    A single stainless thermos found wedged in a cottonwood fork led investigators to a laminated medication schedule and five words: He will not remember-words that helped put a licensed practical nurse in handcuffs. How could a thermos, a pharmacy log with eleven inventory anomalies, and flecainide traces in two decedents create a murder case that forensic chemistry later unraveled?

    In this episode, we lay out the sequence of discoveries from the creek floodplain to the courtroom and follow the evidence that raised one central question: did the items and records pointing to Paul Rogers actually prove a fatal poisoning, or did they tell the wrong story?

    Person: Paul Rogers
    Date: October 14, 2011 (thermos found)
    Location: Calloway Creek floodplain
    Topic: Flecainide detection and forensic pharmacology
    Person: Eric Erickson

    - Thermos was estimated to have sat in the creek 14 to 20 months before being found.
    - The laminated medication schedule inside the thermos bore the patient name Paul Rogers and the handwritten line "He will not remember."
    - Pharmacy log showed 11 inventory anomalies of flecainide over 14 months ending June 2010.
    - Arrest of Paul Rogers occurred on October 25, 2011, 11 days after the thermos discovery.
    - Forensic analysis found Tatum's tissue with a parent-compound-heavy flecainide profile and Rogers's blood with a metabolite-heavy profile, assessed as categorically incompatible with a shared source.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 分
  • The Map That Stole Forty-Three Feet (And $400,000)

    The Map That Stole Forty-Three Feet (And $400,000)
    2026/10/29
    The Map That Stole Forty-Three Feet (And $400,000)

    Fear of losing what you thought was yours - forty-three feet of land and roughly $400,000 vanished because a single number on a map was altered. A photograph taken on September 4, 2009 became Exhibit 14 in a trial built around a manipulated scale bar; who changed that number and how did it quietly shift boundaries for years?

    In this episode, we lay out the sequence of events from the orange survey stake on Garnet Ridge Road to the eight-day trial of Cheryl Chambers, tracing how altered working maps were substituted into closing packages and why the single altered notation mattered.

    Person: Michelle Hensley
    Date: September 4, 2009
    Location: Garnet Ridge Road, western Pryor County
    Case: Trial of Cheryl Chambers
    Expert: Raymond Keller, licensed surveyor

    - Michelle Hensley photographed an orange survey stake on September 4, 2009 that became Exhibit 14.
    - The substituted map's scale change compressed boundaries by between 30 and 80 feet.
    - The boundary for Douglas Farr was found 43 feet inside his recorded parcel when measured.
    - Cheryl Chambers had worked at Garnet Valley Abstract from age 24 to at least 32 and handled parcel maps and closings for eight years.
    - The trial over the altered maps lasted eight days.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    22 分
  • The Single Shoe, the Typewriter and the Wrongly Accused

    The Single Shoe, the Typewriter and the Wrongly Accused
    2026/10/28
    The Single Shoe, the Typewriter and the Wrongly Accused

    A single tan leather dress shoe, size seven, dry and wedged four feet above the Pelham Reservoir waterline, pointed north - and a typewritten ransom demanding $40,000 was mailed days after Nora Phelps had already been drowned. Who manufactured that impossible alibi linking a typewriter locked inside an evidence room to a ransom sent for a woman already dead?

    In this episode, we lay out the sequence of discoveries from the morning Rhonda Quinn found the shoe to the forensic document work that traced a unique typewriter defect, and we ask how a machine logged into the Harwick County evidence locker could produce a ransom note mailed August 6 when records show no authorized access. Who stood to benefit from framing someone else?

    Person: Nora Phelps
    Date: August 9, 2011
    Location: Pelham Reservoir
    Cause of death: Manual strangulation before submersion
    Evidence file: HW-2011-0814

    - Shoe found at 6:40 AM on August 9, 2011: single tan leather dress shoe, size seven, laces tied, wedged between two slabs of stone four feet above waterline.
    - Body recovered August 10, 2011: Nora found in 14 feet of water about 40 yards from the granite shelf with a chain looped around her left ankle attached to a cinder block.
    - Last confirmed trace alive: Nora's cell phone placed a call to Carl at 7:14 PM on August 4, 2011 with no voicemail left.
    - Ransom note mailed August 6, 2011: half-sheet of plain white paper, typewritten, demanding $40,000 for Nora's safe return.
    - Typewriter match: unique high-striking lowercase "e" defect matched to a 1960s Royal Quiet De Luxe logged in Harwick County evidence locker and recorded as inaccessible between June 2010 and September 2011.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    22 分
  • The Casserole That Sent a Nurse to Prison - Whose Fingerprint?

    The Casserole That Sent a Nurse to Prison - Whose Fingerprint?
    2026/10/27
    The Casserole That Sent a Nurse to Prison - Whose Fingerprint?

    The smell of chemicals and smoke woke a paperboy who found a glass casserole dish sitting untouched in scorched mulch-inside, two completely legible documents: a homeowner's insurance policy and a recent addendum. An LPN was convicted after prosecutors said the dish proved premeditation, but a fingerprint that sat in the file for years would later upend that story-whose print was it?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from the July morning when fifteen-year-old Eric Barnes called 9-1-1 to the jury verdict less than four hours after closing arguments, and trace the evidence, the investigator's report, and the one unanswered question that might change everything: who left that dish at 414 Crestfield Avenue?

    Person: Beverly Berry
    Date: July 9, 2003
    Location: 414 Crestfield Avenue
    Occupation: Licensed practical nurse, cardiac unit at Dunmore Regional Hospital
    Sentence: Six years (served 22 months)

    - The fire was reported at 5:51 a.m.; Eric Barnes called 9-1-1 from a pay phone across from the dry cleaner.
    - Beverly Berry had lived at 414 Crestfield Avenue for eleven years and was 44 years old in July 2003.
    - Beverly had filed a typed addendum requesting increased contents coverage three weeks before the fire.
    - Fire investigator Dennis Pryor concluded "intentional ignition with a liquid accelerant" in a report dated July 16, 2003.
    - The investigator's twelve-page report included on page nine a note documenting partial boot prints in the soil along the east foundation.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 分
  • The Dry Rabbit in the Ditch: What Patterson Tried to Hide

    The Dry Rabbit in the Ditch: What Patterson Tried to Hide
    2026/10/26
    The Dry Rabbit in the Ditch: What Patterson Tried to Hide

    A single dry stuffed rabbit found in a rain-soaked ditch becomes the strange hinge of a criminal case - the rabbit's fur was completely dry after four inches of rain in seventy-two hours, and Angela Crawford said she never owned one. Who put that rabbit there, and how could it have stayed dry?

    In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from the morning Teresa Gardner found the rabbit and a barely breathing Angela Crawford, through the arrest, trial, conviction, reversal, and later confession, focusing on the unanswered question about the rabbit and its role in the case. How did that curious piece of evidence shape the outcome?

    Person: Angela Crawford
    Person: George Patterson
    Person: Travis Cole
    Date: June 9 (found at 4:50 a.m.), June 8 (evening events), June 22 (arrest)
    Location: Hessler Road ditch
    Case: State versus Crawford, Docket Number TC-2009-CR-1147

    - The rabbit's fur was completely dry despite four inches of rain in seventy-two hours.
    - Angela Crawford was found barely breathing at 4:50 a.m., twelve feet from the rabbit, with a fractured right wrist and a laceration above her left ear.
    - Angela was 28 years old and worked at Briar Hill Family Practice and volunteered every Thursday at the Greer Food Pantry for four years without missing a single Thursday.
    - George Patterson was 34, ran a one-man contracting business, and left the Millrace Tap alone at 9:47 p.m. according to surveillance footage.
    - The jury was composed of eleven women and one man, deliberated nine hours across two days, and returned a guilty verdict leading to a seven-year sentence with parole eligibility at four years.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    18 分
  • How a Misfiled Recall Sent an Innocent Nurse to Prison

    How a Misfiled Recall Sent an Innocent Nurse to Prison
    2026/10/25
    How a Misfiled Recall Sent an Innocent Nurse to Prison

    A recalled field test, a misfiled notice, and a pharmacy card found at a utility pole combined to put a 54-year-old nurse behind bars for 203 days - but the test kit had been flagged six months earlier. Who deliberately planted the bag and why did so many safeguards fail to stop it?

    In this episode, we walk through the sequence of events that led from a misfiled recall notice to arrests and convictions, tracing the chain from the manufacturer’s recall to the deputies who kept using the defective kits and the man who staged the planting. How did routine paperwork and predictable habits create a setup that no one noticed until it was too late?

    Person: Laura Burke
    Date: May 9, 2019
    Location: Route 7
    Status: 203 days in prison
    Case: lot 46-G recall

    - The bag with a positive methamphetamine field test and Laura Burke’s pharmacy card was found at 7:52 AM at the base of a utility pole on Route 7.
    - The manufacturer had flagged and recalled the entire lot of field tests six months before the arrest; the notice was misfiled under Vendor Correspondence - Non-Urgent.
    - Laura Burke had been a licensed practical nurse for 11 years, was 54 years old, and had 14 months left on her mortgage at the time of arrest.
    - A urine screen taken the morning of her arrest was negative for every controlled substance on the panel.
    - Surveillance from February 11, 2019 captured Scott Weaver taking a pharmacy card from Brackett Fuel Mart three months before Laura’s arrest; forensic comparison later confirmed the match.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    24 分
  • She Drowned Elsewhere: The Pond That Cracked a Murder Case

    She Drowned Elsewhere: The Pond That Cracked a Murder Case
    2026/10/24
    She Drowned Elsewhere: The Pond That Cracked a Murder Case

    The discovery that microscopic freshwater diatoms in Patricia Owens's lungs pointed to a pond six miles from where her body was found flips a routine missing-persons case into a quiet, relentless hunt for where and how she actually died - and who placed her in that three-inch trough behind Coldwell. How did a woman last seen alive inside a cold-storage facility end up drowned miles away, and what does a single microscopic match force investigators to reveal?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from Patricia's last confirmed moments to the forensic breakthrough that tied her death to an unnamed retention pond on County Road 7. We lay out the evidence that led detectives from a sterile drainage channel to a hidden body of water and ask why a gray Chevrolet pickup seen nearby matters to the unanswered question of responsibility.

    Person: Patricia Owens
    Date: April 14, 2009 (body found); April 11, 2009 (last confirmed alive)
    Location: Coldwell cold-storage drainage channel; unnamed retention pond on County Road 7 (6 miles away)
    Cause of death: Drowning (acute pulmonary edema; freshwater diatoms in lung tissue)
    Suspect vehicle: Gray Chevrolet pickup registered to Douglas West

    - Patricia Owens, age 26, was found face-up in a concrete drainage channel with water no deeper than three inches.
    - Medical examiners reported freshwater diatoms deep in lung tissue, indicating drowning in biologically active standing water.
    - The nearest open water was 42 miles from the Coldwell site, but a matching retention pond was found 6 miles away on County Road 7.
    - A water sample from the County Road 7 pond matched the diatom profile recovered from Patricia's lungs on May 3.
    - Traffic cameras recorded a gray Chevrolet pickup on County Road 7 at 7:49 AM and at State Route 18 at 8:02 AM on April 11, 2009; the truck was registered to Douglas West.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 分