Just The Tip-sters

Melissa takes us through the deeply creepy disappearance of 18 year-old Thomas Brown on Thanksgiving Eve 2016, just moments after being videotaped pumping gas in the small town of Canadian, Texas.  Can it really be true that law enforcement botched this case so badly that the victim's mother had to hire a private investigation team to try to get to the truth?  Evidently so.  Because due to the hard work of that private investigator, Thomas Brown's remains were finally uncovered in January 2019.  But still absolutely nothing is known about the manner of his death.  The police insist it was suicide - but the bizarre array of evidence, the way it was collected or otherwise discovered and the erratic and baffling way the case has been handled by law enforcement raise far more questions than they do divulge answers.

The very case that first inspired Melissa to host her own podcast - the case of the 2017 disappearance in Santa Clarita, California of Will Cierzan, beloved husband, brother and friend of just about everyone he met.  On the two-year anniversary of his vanishing, Melissa takes another look, determined to keep the case alive until Will is found.  The facts of Cierzan's disappearance (he has not been located to this day) are frustrating, angering - and above all, sad.  In this episode Melissa catches up on the developments of the case in the past 12 months, the maddening slowness of the investigation, the obvious priority shift since the lead detective in the case was assigned to a more glitzy, Hollywood-based investigation and the nagging sense that those responsible for Cierzan's disappearance (and likely demise) may never be brought to justice.  A call to all Tip-Sters to be vigilant, look for clues, keep all ears and eyes open and if you know something, TELL SOMEONE.

Jasmine and Jeremy and Jayme and Jake.  Two young girls and their boyfriends with cute and alliterative names.  Fun!  Right?  Um.   No.  In 2006, 12 year-old Jasmine Richardson disappeared from her home in Medicine Hat, Alberta after her parents and young brother were found brutally slain in their home.  At first, authorities believed that Jasmine was kidnapped by the killer and was being held hostage.  The truth was far more horrifying: Jasmine and her 23 year-old boyfriend Jeremy Steinke had actually committed the murders of Jasmine's family themselves - in a twisted plan to rid Jasmine of her ties to home so that she could run away with Jeremy.  It was a crime so unimaginably horrible that it set a precedent for callousness and pure evil.  So in 2018, when 13 year-old Jayme Closs of Barron Wisconsin went missing after HER parents were both brutally murdered in THEIR home, no one could blame some in law enforcement (and in the true crime blogosphere) from suspecting a replay of the Richardson case, and bega

It takes a lot for Melissa to go wild over a podcast - there are plenty she LIKES but only a handful that turn her into a true fan.  The "Big Feelings" Podcast with Lorraine Schweikhard and Ginger Warren shares that rare air.  And for good reason - Lorraine and Ginger are hilarious, engaging, thought provoking and a true joy to listen to.  Half chat-fest between two moms raising young children in the suburbs; half a unique exploration into the darker edges of true crime, "Big Feelings" is truly quirky and genuinely genuine - which is why Melissa fell in love.  Join Melissa, Lorraine and Ginger as they cover topics as wide ranging as the nature of psychopathy (in adults AND children!), dirty diaper cleanup miscues, weird murder - and a not-to-be-missed discussion on the ins, outs, ups, downs and, well, every-other-direction of the bidet.  We kid you not.  We'll leave it at that, except to say that 'taint a conversation to be missed!  A fun, bawdy hour-plus joy ride.

Season 2 opens with a case that's haunted Melissa for 2 decades - the untimely deaths of John F. Kennedy, Jr., his wife Carolyn Bessette and Carolyn's sister Lauren.  Amid the obvious story lines of the Kennedy family's tragic history, its place in U.S. culture as the closest thing to an American royal family - and the sadness surrounding the demise of the young 38 year-old John-John, his bride and sister-in-law, Melissa asks a question buried deep beneath the facts of the case to ask a harrowing question:  Could JFK, Jr. have been a high-achieving, undiagnosed psychopath?

In the Season One Finale of JUST THE TIP-STERS, Melissa is joined on the phone by Michelle Kramer Joe - whose son - Cody Turner - disappeared without a trace in July 2015 after going out for the night and never returning to his grandparents' home in Yakima, Washington.  Michelle has spent the last three years struggling to keep Cody's name in the forefront of police and the press, both of which she believes have never given their full attention to the case due to the stigma attached to Cody's drug and alcohol abuse.  As Melissa points out in her discussion with Michelle, it DOES NOT MATTER what sort of mistakes one has made in life - NO ONE deserves to be forgotten and EVERYONE's life has meaning.  Join Melissa as she closes out 2018  with a heart- wrenching plea from a mother for clues that might lead to finding her son.  JUST THE TIP-STERS/SEASON TWO DEBUTS ON JANUARY 8, 2019.

Getting ready to gorge on all those holiday appetizers?  Before you start digging in to the fruitcake pops, how about a tangy-but-hearty MURDERTIZER?  Melissa fills us in on the latest in the hideous swirling vortex of awful that is Joseph James DeAngelo - the latest being a surprising DNA  test that may present more questions than it answers.  Plus a court hearing sets the stage for a long (and expensive) taxpayer-funded journey to trial...

In the second episode of this month's focus on unsolved missing person cases, Melissa is joined on the phone from Washington DC by special guest TAD DIBIASE, a former federal prosecutor and author of the book "No Body Homicide Cases: A Practical Guide to Investigating, Prosecuting and Winning Cases When the Victim is Missing."  Dibiase has led a fascinating career, most recently focusing on how prosecutors can best find ways to bring to justice those whom law enforcement has everything to get a murder conviction EXCEPT a dead body.  A terrific conversation that unveils some of the techniques that Dibiase makes available to law enforcement all over the U.S.

Melissa looks at the heartbreaking, frustrating disappearance of Shannon Baldwin Hokanson, a beautiful young mother of three who disappeared in Enid Oklahoma in 2012.  One of literally tens of thousands of unsolved missing persons cases each year in the United States, Shannon's case represents one of the most haunting and nightmarish scenarios any family member or loved one can ever face - the sudden and unexplained disappearance of a mother, a wife, a sister, a friend - into the ether.  Maybe you know something that will help bring Shannon - or another missing soul - back home.  Call us if you think you may have a piece to a puzzle of an unsolved disappearance - (832) TIP-STER (832-847-7837).

In her third and final installment on Los Angeles' most prolific serial killer, Lonnie Franklin, Jr. - aka The Grim Sleeper, Melissa examines the details of the botched search for the killer over the decades, the Los Angeles Police Department's eventual recognition of the importance of catching him - and Franklin's arrest and conviction.  Most compelling is Melissa's retelling of the victim impact statements during sentencing, and the brilliant work of LAPD detectives, who paved the road to Franklin's demise through his taste buds - and a piece of partially eaten cheese pizza.

It's the second installment of Melissa's recounting of the awful life and times of Lonnie Franklin, Jr. - the infamous "Grim Sleeper" killer who terrorized South Central Los Angeles for three decades before finally being brought to justice.  During those years Franklin, raped, tortured and murdered at least nine young women and killed one lone male victim - for reasons that are still only speculation.  Join Melissa as she recounts the harrowing - absolutely terrifying - stories of two women who survived Franklin's assaults, and look into the abyss of the real possibility - the likelihood? - that the Grim Sleeper - so dubbed because he "slept" for over a decade at one point before resuming his killing spree - may not really have ever gone to sleep...

Lonnie Franklin, Jr. was everybody's friend.  Gregarious.  Friendly to a fault/.  Had good jobs, first at the City Sanitation Department and then as a mechanic for the LAPD.  Lovely house on a corner lot.  Lovely and devoted wife.  Two kids.  Kinda guy that would give you the shirt off his back - or perform sometimes complex repairs to your car for just 20 bucks.  The epitome of a great neighbor.  Problem is, Lonnie Franklin, Jr. had a side gig that wasn't so friendly.  Turns out he was also one of the most prolific serial killers in the annals of crime.  And he was good at it - eventually becoming infamous as the elusive "Grim Sleeper" who got away with at least 26 brutal slayings of women in South Central Los Angeles.  26 that we know of, that is.  Join Melissa as she opens her case file on this devastating case with an overview of Franklin's evil career, to be followed in coming episodes with the horrifying details of the work of a monster who hid in plain sight for more than two decades before DNA and che

Melissa is joined via telephone by one of the most fascinating crime-fighting duos ever to bring really bad guys to justice!  Except this bad "guy" was actually a female, but just as - or even more - evil than your average serial killer. Kelly Cochran was more than just a "black widow" - she is suspected of knocking off at least 10 men, including her last husband, Jason - whom she had enlisted in helping murder the man she was cheating on Jason with - Chris Regan.  Cochran was finally  brought to justice by the cunning, determination and sheer will of an unlikely pair of law enforcement professionals three hours away from each other - Iron River, Michigan police chief Laura Frizzo and Hobart, Indiana detective Jeremy Ogden.  The Cochran case - including Frizzo and Ogden's story - is the subject of the Investigation Discovery documentary "Dead North."  It's an incredible journey - and Melissa fell in love with the documentary so much that she found Frizzo and Ogden living in Indiana and invited them for an int

What ties together the still-unsolved 1981 Halloween murders of photographer Ronald Sisman and Smith College coed Elizabeth Platzman in a Greenwich Village apartment...and the murder of young, beautiful Arlis Perry in the Stanford University chapel some seven years prior to, and 3,000 miles away from, the Sisman/Platzman crime?  Well - it ain't anything...or anyONE...you'd suspect.  Join Melissa on her favorite holiday as she takes the spooky Halloween Trail linking two completely different cases through the ramblings of a single twisted (and well-known) psychopath.  Lots of tricks, no  treats from that guy.  Buckle up.  BOO!

In certainly what appears to be a series of gross miscarriages of justice, in the late 1970s Texas millionaire Cullen Davis was (a) acquitted of one murder, (b) not charged in a second murder and the attempted murder of his ex-wife and two others, then (c) got a hung jury in a SECOND trial where he was charged with soliciting the murder of two other people (and acquitted in the re-trial).  ALL of this with evidence that was so compelling it would have resulted in convictions in any other place and with any other defendant.  Join Melissa as she relives this outrageous story of mad entitlement, wild jealousy and how the American justice system can be corrupted through wealth and influence.

Melissa unravels another cold case brought to us by a Tip-Ster - this one frustrating to the point of maddening.  In July 1999 in Fresno, California, teacher/wife/mother, 54 year-old Sandra Kerby went to Target to pick up a few things - and was never seen or heard from again.  In the intervening years, lots of evidence points to one suspect - but not enough of it to issue an arrest warrant.  And that is a tragedy - because Sandra Kerby, by all accounts, was one of the truly good people, and she left behind dozens of friends, family and former students who, to this day, seek answers.  Someone out there knows something about what happened to Sandra...is it you?  Now's the time to drop your tip on us!

On this special edition of JUST THE TIP-STERS, Melissa travels south into deep Orange County California, to the campus of the University of California Irvine School of Law, where she spends a fascinating just-under-an-hour with Super Ninja Justice Lawyer Annee Della Donna, a private practice attorney in Laguna Beach who started and leads Innocence Rights Orange County.  Together with a hearty band of law students from the UC Irvine Law School, Ms. Della Donna's homegrown innocence project has already worked on several impressive cases - including the case of the man she believes was wrongly convicted of the 1979 brutal murder of Joan Virginia Anderson - which, some of you Tip-Sters may remember, bore a lot of resemblance to the rapes and murders committed by the Golden State Killer (!).  Della Donna and her team have convinced the Orange County D.A. to reopen that case...and they are now hot on the trail of a cold case also familiar to Just The Tip-Ster devotees - that of Garden Grove housewife Patricia Neufe

Friendly, regular family guy Altemio Sanchez - affectionately known around his neighborhood in suburban Buffalo, NY as "Uncle Al" - couldn't have been more of your basic solid citizen.  A wife, kids, a good job at a local factory for more than two decades - all the markings of the Friend Next Door.  Until he wasn't.  Until he used his mornings off to attack, rape and murder unsuspecting women throughout  the Buffalo area.  With a string of assaults and murders stretching from 1990 to 2006 - and possibly going as far back as 1981 - Sanchez' capture and prosecution in 2007 remains one of law enforcement's most important successes.  But the road to the killer's capture was fraught with miscues and outright bungles - and Melissa takes us through all the twists and turns of the investigation, arrest and conviction.

Hey!  Don't be distracted by that...er...more Podcasty sounding introduction...it was just a little something we tried...for about 30 seconds...and then realized we just ain't traditional Podcasty People!   Plus this is no time to mess around, since it's time for another TIP-STERS TWO CENTS, featuring listener emails, comments and general chit-chat.  PLUS Melissa and Producer Mark mix it up on a wide variety of topics ranging from weirdly-pronounced city and street names to mispronounced words to...yes...peeing in the back yard.  PLUS PLUS - there are scintillating updates in the seemingly bottomless trough of new stories coming out of the GSK investigation...and then Paul Holes news...and so much more!

In this week's podcast, Melissa rips a story directly from the headlines in a shocking, still-developing story out of Oregon, where Chef Daniel Brophy - a professor and chef at a prestigious school for the culinary arts - was found on the floor dying from a gunshot wound in one of the institute's kitchens in June 2018.  Just three months later, Brophy's wife, Nancy - a writer of romance/mystery novels - was arrested for the murder.  But the police have convinced a judge to keep the reasons for the arrest under wraps - at least for now...