The Missing Candy Heiress and the Chicago Horse Mafia
In 1977, candy heiress Helen Brach – one of the richest women in America – vanishes. Detectives consider the many people who might have wanted to get their hands on her money. Ultimately, the primary suspect that emerges is… the Chicago horse mafia. Sources for this episode include: Hot Blood: The True Story of an Heiress, a Gigolo, and a Shocking Murder by Ken Englade“The Puzzle That’s Missing One Piece” (WashPo)“Candy Heiress's Murder Probe Exposes Brutality in Horse World” (LA Times) Keep up with Killer Stories! Instagram: @killerstoriespodTikTok: @killerstoriespodX: @killerstorieshq Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Murder on the Galapagos? Island Utopia Spirals into Death and Disappearances
A 19th-century island experiment founded by two nature-loving Germans goes from Gilligan's Island to Lord of the Flies when an entitled and eccentric heiress moves in. Sources for this episode include: Satan Came to Eden: A Survivor's Account of the "Galapagos Affair by Dore StrauchFloreana by Margaret WittmerThe Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden (Documentary)“An Unsolvable Mystery: Captain Hancock and the Case of the Quarrelsome Castaways” (PBS) Keep up with Killer Stories! Instagram: @killerstoriespodTikTok: @killerstoriespodX: @killerstorieshq Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Oesterreich Murder: Secrets in the Attic
When a lonely Milwaukee housewife lives a double life, her secret world spirals into a decade of deception — culminating in a deadly confrontation, a staged burglary, and one of the strangest true-crime scandals in American history. Sources for this episode include:“‘Bat Man’ Case: a Lurid Tale of Love and Death” (LA Times)“Old Killing Recalled, Spook Stuff Seen in Queer Case” (The Independent Record)Contemporaneous reporting by The Daily Herald, Brainerd Dispatch, and The Duluth News Tribune Keep up with Killer Stories! Instagram: @killerstoriespodTikTok: @killerstoriespodX: @killerstorieshq Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Molly Watson Case: Bride-to-Be Murdered Right Before Her Wedding
Molly Watson had waited seven long years for her happily-ever-after wedding with her boyfriend, Jim. Then, less than 48 hours before they were supposed to walk down the aisle, Molly was murdered. And Jim either had the wildest, unluckiest story ever... or he'd fabricated a strange and demented series of lies. Sources for this episode include:State of Missouri vs. James Addie (Respondent’s Brief)20/20, “I Now Pronounce You Dead” (ABC, 2022)Trial Testimony (Court TV, 2021) Keep up with Killer Stories! Instagram: @killerstoriespodTikTok: @killerstoriespodX: @killerstorieshq Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Heaven's Gate: Rehearsing for the Apocalypse
A charismatic leader convinces his devoted followers that salvation awaits aboard an alien spacecraft trailing a comet—leading the Heaven’s Gate cult to a tragic, otherworldly mass suicide that exposed the dangerous power of blind faith and cosmic delusion.Sources for this episode include: Heaven's Gate: The Cult of Cults (HBO Max)Heaven’s Gate: America’s UFO Religion by Benjamin E. ZellerBounded Choice: True Believers and Charismatic Cults by Janja A. Lalich Keep up with Killer Stories! Instagram: @killerstoriespodTikTok: @killerstoriespodX: @killerstorieshq Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices