Dark As Hell: A True Crime Podcast

The thing about the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist is that, on the surface, it might seem like a simple whodunnit, a true instance of the stars aligning for an almost perfect crime to have taken place. But as Anthony Amore, the security director of the museum says, “The deeper and deeper you dig, the more questions are raised.” Let’s get ready to get Dark As Hell. _________ Keep up with Dark As Hell on social media! Instagram | Twitter | Website | Patreon | Email: darkashellpodcast@gmail.com

The art world is, undeniably, almost inextricably linked to crime — and history has shown how true that connection is. And the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist is a crime truly like no other. It’s a tale of millions — hundreds of millions of dollars, that is; a serendipitous middle of the night robbery on St. Patrick’s Day; and ties to the bloody gang wars that were fought in the streets of 1980s Boston. But when you strip down the story of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist, what is at its heart is art and crime. As well as one simple, but mystifying question: How does all that art...simply vanish? Let's get ready to get Dark As Hell. _________ Keep up with Dark As Hell on social media! Instagram | Twitter | Website | Patreon | Email: darkashellpodcast@gmail.com

We’ve all heard the classic set up for an even more classic joke: a guy walks into a bar, and some sort of groan-worthy play of word and punninness occurs. It’s a classic — if cringe-worthy — way to get a laugh out of people. And when it comes to the case of Brian Shaffer, this is a story that, when the very basic elements are considered, it reads like a bad slapstick joke. A guy walks into a bar...but never walks out. Let's get ready to get Dark As Hell. _________ Keep up with Dark As Hell on social media! Instagram | Twitter | Website | Patreon | Email: darkashellpodcast@gmail.com

In locked room mystery novels, the reader finds themselves trying to piece together the clues to answer the question of how such a heinous crime could be committed, with the victim seeming to have fallen prey to a perpetrator that has more or less vanished into thin air. It’s enough to drive a person crazy, looking for rational explanations to a situation that seems more or less completely irrational. Which is why Ellen Greenberg’s very real death in a locked room mystery circumstance has continued to baffle ever since she was found dead on her kitchen floor with dozens of stab wounds to the back of her head, her neck, and with the knife itself lodged into her chest — all while she was alone, and in her locked apartment. Let's get ready to get Dark As Hell.

This week, we’re continuing to dive deeper into the strangeness that has surrounded Shelly Miscavige since even before the last time she was seen in public. It’s difficult to truly nail down a term to describe what it is that happened to Shelly, the woman who once carried the title of First Lady of Scientology. How has an entire organization simply...forgotten this former high priestess of its highest ranks, seemingly pretending as if she never existed? What has Scientology done to — and done with — Shelly Miscavige? Keep up with Dark As Hell on social media! Instagram | Twitter | Website | Patreon | Email: darkashellpodcast@gmail.com

You might think this episode is asking what happened to Shelly Miscavige in terms of her disappearance, but you’d be wrong. It’s not only about her disappearance. Because this week, we’re asking: what exactly happened to Shelly Miscavige, the once high priestess of Scientology who seemingly fell from grace...and vanished into thin air on her way down. Let's get ready to get Dark As Hell. Keep up with Dark As Hell on social media! Instagram | Twitter | Website | Patreon | Email: darkashellpodcast@gmail.com

No one should ever have to question if their own space is safe. Certainly, Jennifer Kesse didn’t think she would ever have to do that. She did, as the saying goes, everything right. She followed the rules. She had her sharpened instincts, her watchful eye, and her wits about her. She kept herself safe. Until the day she wasn’t. Let's get ready to get Dark As Hell. _________ Keep up with Dark As Hell on social media! Instagram | Twitter | Website | Patreon | Email: darkashellpodcast@gmail.com

"Our nation was born in genocide when it embraced the doctrine that the original American, the Indian, was an inferior race....From the sixteenth century forward, blood flowed in battles of racial supremacy. We are perhaps the only nation which tried as a matter of national policy to wipe out its Indigenous population.” This week, I wanted to spend our time together focusing on a very timely issue — a very real, very active threat facing the indigenous women of this country, of North America as a whole, really. I’m going to be telling you about the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women epidemic, touching on the horrifying Highway of Tears, and telling you a story that is, at its core, all too real — realer, certainly, than the whitewashed history that we’ve all come to accept as fact. Let’s get ready to get Dark As Hell.

I’m thrilled to partner with Sony on this new podcast of theirs, one that’s filled with #QUESTIONS about one of the most shadowy figures of the day — and the family she came from. I’m sharing with you today a special first taste of what you can expect from Power: The Maxwells. From Somethin’ Else, makers of ‘The Immaculate Deception’ and ‘Faultline: Bush, Blair & Iraq’, hosted by Investigative journalist Tara Palmeri, ‘Power: The Maxwells’ is a seven part series on the incredible true story of a media mogul whose legacy is still being felt today.

This story of Laci and baby Conner holds more questions than not, And seriously — we need to discuss husband Scott. So, on questions, on strangeness, On twists, and on mistresses, This, my friends, is the conclusion of the story of Laci Peterson. _________ Keep up with Dark As Hell on social media! Instagram | Twitter | Website | Patreon | Email: darkashellpodcast@gmail.com

The police tape was strung across the driveway with care, While the hope of finding a clue, even one, Hung precariously in the air; No one was nestled inside of their beds, Because only dreadful visions that night, Danced in any of the family’s heads; The mama in question, one month from being due, Well, no one could say exactly where she might have got to. Let's get ready to get Dark As Hell. Keep up with Dark As Hell on social media! Instagram | Twitter | Website | Patreon | Email: darkashellpodcast@gmail.com

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, The Modesto police were roaming, asking: “But what’s with the spouse?” Let's get ready to get Dark As Hell. Keep up with Dark As Hell on social media! Instagram | Twitter | Website | Patreon | Email: darkashellpodcast@gmail.com

The story I’m telling you today isn’t based in Rhode Island, but in a small town called Fayetteville, located at the bottom of the borders of West Virginia. Our story takes place in 1945, that year of miracles and abominations both. And in the town of little old Fayetteville, at the end of one of the most historic years on record, there was a family. The Sodder family. 10 children in total, born to George and Jennie Sodder. Except come Christmas Day 1945, there would only be five Sodder children left alive. Or so they say. Keep up with Dark As Hell on social media! Instagram | Twitter | Website | Patreon | Email: darkashellpodcast@gmail.com

The month of December is always one filled with certain elements: preparation, anticipation, tidings of comfort and joy, and — no matter how old, jaded, or bah-humbug you might be any other month of the year — there’s always at least the tiniest bit of magic in the air. Maybe that same sense of giddy anticipation is what coursed through Rachel Trlica, Renee Wilson, and Julie Moseley on the morning of December 23rd, 1974, just two days before Christmas. Except those three girls never saw Christmas 1974. Those three girls were never seen again. Let's get ready to get Dark As Hell. Keep up with Dark As Hell on social media! Instagram | Twitter | Website | Patreon | Email: darkashellpodcast@gmail.com

The story I’m telling you this week reads more like...a movie straight out of Hollywood, destined for the box office. Except this isn’t the feel-good, family-friendly movie it started out as. As it stands now, this is a story of deception, of disappearances, and — possibly — of murder. Let's get ready to get Dark As Hell. Keep up with Dark As Hell on social media! Instagram | Twitter | Website | Patreon | Email: darkashellpodcast@gmai

The role of law enforcement is one that’s been a forefront of national conversations this year. It’s been clear for years — decades — that that role is something that needs to change in monumental ways. What’s also clear, when it comes to the role of the Lost Hills Sheriff Department, is that their role in Mitrice Richardson’s disappearance and subsequent death — that is also monumental. They have made it abundantly clear over the years that they will go to great lengths to keep hidden just how monumental a role law enforcement might have been in Mitrice’s death. This is the story of Mitrice Richardson. Let’s get ready to get Dark As Hell. Keep up with Dark As Hell on social media! Instagram | Twitter | Website | Patreon | Email: darkashellpodcast@gmail.com

The story I’m telling you today is one that only became stranger and stranger, the more I dug into it. With each new factor or detail, I thought, okay, surely this will be the one that starts to clinch everything in this story together — but no. Each new detail only drags you further into this story that simply... doesn’t make sense. That phrase is something I found myself muttering out the side of my mouth as I frantically scribbled notes, and, on more than one occasion, out and out loudly stating: “This doesn’t make sense.” Let me tell you how we THINK the mysterious death of Blair Adams came about in 1996, and why we still don’t have any clue to explain away the countless mysteries that surround it to this day. Keep up with Dark As Hell on social media! Instagram | Twitter | Website | Patreon | Email: darkashellpodcast@gmail.com

For four years, we’ve all waited. We’re still waiting just a little bit longer to release the breath it feels like we’ve been holding for those four years, but I know I at least can say I’m starting to breathe just a bit easier. Raise a glass to this moment and this movement - I'll see you on the other side.

If you listened all the way through last week's episode, you know that this week, I'm not telling you a typical story about a typical case. Instead, I'm telling you a story — a scary story, perhaps even the OG American horror story. I'm telling you a story about a place called Roanoke, about 115 souls, and the mystery surrounding one word: Croatoan. Let’s get ready to get — not only Dark as Hell — but let’s get a little bit spooky. Keep up with Dark As Hell on social media! Instagram | Twitter | Website | Patreon | Email: darkashellpodcast@gmail.com

The case I’m telling you about this week on Dark As Hell has been called “gruesome.” Those who were present that night of December 6, 2014 have said — usually while crying or tearing up — they’d never seen anything like it. The story of Jessica Chambers is one that is truly terrifying because, like so many people have remarked about it, what could have a 19-year-old girl done...in order for someone to purposely set her on fire? Keep up with Dark As Hell on social media! Instagram | Twitter | Website | Patreon | Email: darkashellpodcast@gmail.com