Just The Tip-sters

Who could have guessed that the trail to catching the infamous Golden State Killer led straight through the brilliant mind of a retired attorney, medical doctor and Ph.D. who took on genealogy as a hobby!  But that's exactly what happened when Det. Paul Holes recruited then 69 year-old Barbara Rae-Venter after reading about her phenomenal work two years earlier in San Bernardino.  In this episode Melissa explains in detail how Dr. Rae-Venter used her scientific and deductive skills to help Det. Holes and his team track down GSK - and also hear the story of the amazing case of "Lisa," who, abandoned as a little girl by a convicted serial killer she had thought was her father, finally found a family through the work of Dr. Rae-Venter, a dogged police detective and a whole lot of good people who volunteered to help.

Kicking September off with a Big Bunch of a Bang, Melissa covers some fascinating new ground in the ongoing prosecution of Joseph D'Angelo, the accused Golden State Killer.  Including a discussion of the brilliant legal move made by the Contra Costa County District Attorney to turn what could have been a legal dead end into a possible new prosecutorial avenue to get justice for more victims...a background profile of one of the unsung (hopefully soon to be loudly sung) heroes of the case - a retired attorney-turned genealogist who played perhaps the biggest role in capturing the suspect...and Melissa's take on the Sacramento County District Attorney's behavior at the recent boffo press confab (spoiler alert: it ain't pretty).

Here's a short but savory MURDERTIZER for your mid-week snack!  This time featuring a yellow Mini Cooper, a professor of anesthesiology and a big, bouncy yoga ball...oh, and of course, MURDER.  When Professor Khaw Kim-sun's wife and daughter were found dead in their family car on a Hong Kong street, there appeared to be no signs of trauma or any other reason for their mysterious passing.  What the police ended up discovering was downright inventive - but as with so many murder plots, a greater idea in theory than in execution.

...so then...there was that time when Melissa and Producer Mark were sitting down to dinner...and then...the phone rang...and then... - And what a night it was, when Producer Mark's job called him down to the scene of a murder in a building owned by the company he works for.  And guess who tagged along?  If you guessed Melissa, you get a gold "Just The Tip-Ster" star!  From that first harrowing night at the scene to the police investigation to the prosecution of the perpetrators, Melissa takes us deep into the brutal and horrifying death of Pamela Fayed, whose killers had to be the most clueless, stupid (and yes, evil) gang of murder-for-hire bunglers ever to carry out such a horrible deed.  You won't feel sorry for any of them at tale's end.

So what is a girl to do when she's kinda sorta, you know, DONE with her husband and baby and wants to spend more time with her daddy-figure lover?  Well - according to some (not us! don't look at us!), you do what Cynthia Knox (allegedly) did - pay to have the ball 'n' chain slaughtered and drown the kid yourself.  Oh.  And then when the in-laws take exception to your plan and come after you, you simply move to another state, steal a dead girl's identity and become a...wait for it...licensed yacht captain!  In a story almost impossible to fathom Melissa unravels the tale of the very unlucky Harold "Skeeter" Lyerla, who married the woman of his dreams only to meet his doom - along with that of their baby daughter - (allegedly) because she was more into older men and her dreams were - darn it! - just a lot bigger than his - and required the proceeds from a life insurance policy to make them come true.  Allegedly.

When Shlomo (Sol) Salomen, his wife and two children suddenly disappeared from their suburban Northridge California home in October of 1982, nothing seemed to make sense.  But as the serene picture of a happy family life was peeled away, a seamy and steamy truth started to emerge - about Sol's family life, his lifestyle and, most importantly, his business and his business associates.  When one of those associates was tried - three times - and finally acquitted of murdering the Salomens - whose bodies have never been found - the case went cold for 20 years before the former best-friend of the Salomens' daughter finally had enough and started looking deeper.  The results are fascinating and frustrating - but we just KNOW that a Tip-Ster who holds the clue that will break the case open is out there somewhere - is that Tip-Ster YOU?

A zesty MURDERTIZER wherein Melissa discusses the recent Oxygen Network documentary "Golden State Killer: Main Suspect," which features many new insights and interviews with friends and colleagues of accused GSK Joseph James D'Angelo.  PLUS Melissa reveals breaking news regarding two new cases from 1974 and 1975 that send a strong hint that the Golden State Killer's murderous ways started long before anyone suspected - until now.  AND Melissa checks in with listener comments and emails in another edition of TIP-STER TWO CENTS.  More murder, mystery and mail than anyone deserves in a single podcast!

Who woulda thunk it?  Two very different guys - ten years apart - used the sub-sub story line of an episode of a TV crime procedural from 2003 and (almost) successfully make it work in real life!  Or...er..death...  On this episode of JUST THE TIP-STERS Melissa takes a look into the deaths of two men - one from just weeks ago in 2018 in Florida and another from a decade ago in New Mexico, both of which at first glance appeared to be murders  But solid detective work and a search of the archives of the television show "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" revealed that both of the deceased men had actually committed suicide based on the plot from the show.  Why would they go through all the trouble? The answer is simple and tragic - and in looking at these cases Melissa takes a strong stand on staying alive and embracing life.  Funny, fascinating and compelling all at once.

Melissa wraps up her examination of the West Mesa Murders in Albuquerque with a closer look at the multiplicity of possible persons of interest in the case - and not just the most obvious ones.  Along the way, Melissa introduces us to the story of creepy genius murderer Todd Kohlhepp -  who, while not the most likely culprit in the New Mexico slayings, demonstrates the potential of how any number of nasty rat bastards could have buried all those bodies out on the mesa.

First things first - an update on a couple of new newzbitz on the Golden State Killer prosecution and things we're learning about people and events on the periphery of the investigation (boffo stuff!).  And then Melissa continues her look into the still-unsolved West Mesa Murders in Albuquerque with profiles of each of the known victims in the case and their stories.  With the case still unsolved, and with so much uncertainty over the "Lost Girls" still classified as missing from the period of time the known murders took place, this case screams out for any new leads - and logic tells us there's SOMEONE - maybe more than one person - out there who has information.  If that person is you, please speak up - we're listening.

In this short but totally sweet MURDERTIZER, Melissa reads some comments and suggestions from listeners and hands out some big thanks to other fans of the podcast.  We love our listeners and we love hearing from them even more!

Melissa takes a first look at the West Mesa Murders in Albuquerque - murders that happened over a long stretch of time but were not discovered until a mass grave was discovered on the mesa outside of town in 2009.  An incredibly frustrating case - especially for the families of the "Lost Girls" who went missing in the years before the discovery of the bones on the mesa - the majority of whom are still missing and who (for all the authorities know) may be buried in other mass graves.  To add to the crushing pain of the families of the victims - one of the key suspects is now deceased - and the other isn't talking.  This one is truly in need of Tip-Sters who can help solve a mystery that deserves resolution.

In a delicious mix of serious storytelling, film reviewing and humor, Melissa cuts loose on bad screenwriting AND awful murder as she looks at the life, career and death of writer/director/producer/actor Adrienne Shelly - who was murdered in her New York City office apartment in 2006, just when things were just starting to hit the bigtime for her.  Her indy film "Waitress" had just been named to debut at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival when she was killed, and the film has gone on since to become somewhat iconic - it's even become a Broadway musical.  But...really...why?  As Melissa points out with brilliantly honest humor, "Waitress" just...isn't...very...good...  Interweaving the tale of Shelly's senseless death with a devastating film review, this can only be described as something like Roger Ebert at the Morgue. Simultaneously compelling, brilliant, sad and hilarious, as only Melissa can convey.

Those question marks in the title of this episode are there for a reason - because a real mystery is evolving regarding the unsolved 1978 murder of Patricia Neufeld in Garden Grove, California.  Originally attributed to a different mass murderer - who to this day denies Neufeld was "one of his" victims, a fresh look at the case reveals haunting similarities between the Orange County housewife's homicide and the M.O. of you-know-who (that would be the Golden State Killer for those of you just tuning in).  Bolstered with some striking - and blind - input from two respected psychic detectives, the facts of this despicable crime take on a whole new light.  Join Melissa as she shines it brightly on what might be  one of GSK's earliest horrors.

Nearly killed at birth.  Nearly drowned as a toddler.  Australian transplant to America, where he becomes a rich South Florida playboy.  Stone cold sexual predator.  One of the deadliest spree killers in U.S. history.  As Melissa explains in this episode, all of those descriptions apply to Christopher Wilder, who in less than three months in early 1984 wrote the swansong to his scabrous 39-year life by abducting and raping (at least) 12 women, killing (at least) 8 of them over a six-week cross-country murder binge that didn't end until...well let's not spoil the ending.  Suffice it to say that nothing about the story of "The Beauty Queen Killer," as Wilder was dubbed by the American press, is anything close to beautiful.

It's been less than two months since the arrest of Joseph James DeAngelo, the alleged Golden State Killer - but WOW has new information been pouring out about the case ever since.  In this episode, Melissa goes through the search warrant served on the accused and the indictment - including new previously unpublicized allegations of creepy doings that are hard to believe (but, well, not that hard to believe).  PLUS - a social media comment dialogue unearths a chilling, daring and ultimately hopeful confession from a would-be serial killer who has lived his entire adult life battling his demons.  An absolutely compelling virtual conversation between Melissa and a man who found the courage to bring his darkness into the light.

One of the most frustrating cold cases in America comes to Melissa straight out of Houston Texas, where in late 2000 two completely unrelated women who happened to share the same exact first and last names were killed just four days apart. Could the first Mary Morris have been killed in a completely coincidental car fire?  Could a serial killer be on the loose who hates the word combo "Mary + Morris?"  Or is it more likely that the two murders were the result of a bizarre comedy/tragedy of errors?  And could this be an instance of someone bungling so much of his murderous plan that he came out smelling like a rose?  Spend a little bit of your day with Melissa as she uncorks one hell of a fizzy bottle of unsolved True Crime that maybe - just maybe - YOU - or some other brilliant Tip-Ster can help solve!

A blast from Melissa's college days turns into a rollercoaster ride of Murder-to-Movie- to-Murder!  A recollection of a movie from 1985 called "Blackout" - released when Melissa was still in college - pops in to her memory banks as she looks into the 1971 case of John List, who murdered his wife, children and mother in the most macabre way and went on the lam for nearly two decades before "America's Most Wanted" finally smoked him out.  Was "Blackout" based on the List murders? You decide!  BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE! Not long after the made-for-HBO "Blackout" was released into video stores, another murder with INCREDIBLY SIMILAR facts popped up in the investigation of Ed Sherman in Connecticut.  Could one TV movie be the fulcrum in two different murders 14 years apart?  Melissa thinks so.  What about you?

When one of our beloved Tip-Sters - Laurencia all the way from Maine! - sent Melissa an email to suggest this gruesome little tale, we were surprised to learn that its subject - Pennsylvania's own Gary Heidnik - was one of TWO real-life killers writer Thomas Harris used to create his monstrous "Buffalo Bill" character in "Silence of the Lambs."  We knew that Harris had used mass murderer Ed Gein to create his character, but we'd never heard of Heidnik.  Laurencia - who's actually written a treatise on this case - set us straight on the story - which - yes! - comes complete with kidnapped young women held hostage in a dirt pit in a basement - and in this episode of JUST THE TIP-STERS Melissa fills us in on all the details of Gary Heidnik's icky lifetime of ickier crimes, culminating in a four-month spree of kidnapping, torture and murder...and at least one human head boiling on the cooktop range...

In the final years of GSK's known (and we stress KNOWN) string of vandalism, rapes and murders - from 1980 to 1986 - the killings were less frequent but far more brutal as he transitioned from Central to Southern California.  In this, the third and final installment on the history of the Golden State Killer, Melissa examines not only the brutal, last known murders in his spree - she also divulges some recently-uncovered facts about where the killer may have been living and how he had access to the victims.  Plus - Melissa discusses what might have been GSK's first murder victim way back in 1975 - and how recently-revealed facts tie the man then known only as the Visalia Ransacker to the man who eventually became The Golden State Killer.