Our True Crime Podcast

367. Hidden Fort: Jonathan Sellers and Charlie Keever

On March 27, 1993, the morning began like countless others for nine-year-old Jonathan Sellers and thirteen-year-old Charlie Keever. The two boys set off on their bicycles, planning nothing more extraordinary than a day of roaming, pedaling through familiar places, killing time, enjoying the small freedoms of childhood. Throughout the morning and early afternoon, the boys were seen moving easily through the neighborhood. Witnesses recalled spotting them at a local arcade and a pet adoption center, lingering the way kids do when the day feels wide open. Later, they stopped at a Rally’s hamburger stand, where they bought lunch before heading off again on their bikes. Their last confirmed sightings placed them in the Otay River Valley, an area the boys were known to frequent. Two witnesses briefly spoke with Jonathan and Charlie as they rode along the riverbed near a washed-out bridge. One of those witnesses would later recall a detail that stood out at the time and lingered afterward: a man driving a car across the open field, deliberately blocking the bike path. It struck her as strange, out of place in the quiet riverbed. Years later, she would identify a photograph of a blue sedan, similar in color and shape to the vehicle she had seen that day. As evening approached and the boys failed to return home, worry turned quickly into alarm. Family members began searching nearby streets and paths. Jonathan’s brother mentioned the riverbed trail where the boys often rode, prompting their mother to head there in a growing panic. What he didn’t think to mention, what no one realized in time, was a hidden “fort” tucked away in the brush, a place the boys liked to crawl into “like a little cave.” Join Cam and Jen on this episode of Our True Crime Podcast named “Hidden Fort: Jonathan Sellers and Charlie Keever.” Listener discretion by @octoberpodVHS Editing and music by @theinkypawprint Sources: http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040829/news_1m29erskine.html https://scocal.stanford.edu/opinion/people-v-erskine-34617 https://www.reddit.com/r/serialkillers/comments/1hbddzh/scott_erskine_a_repeat_offender_responsible_for/ https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/scott-erskine-charlie-keever-jonathan-sellers-death-row-appeal-south-bay-murders/159324/ https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/scott-erskine-dies-while-on-death-row-due-to-covid-19/509-3e957e89-6775-45a2-9f5f-d08c02e0844c https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-2004-08-28-0408280095-story.html https://web.archive.org/web/20130409222853/http://www.meganslaw.ca.gov/cgi/prosoma.dll?searchby=offender&id=18601082E9187 https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-2004-08-28-0408280095-story.html https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/07/29/coronavirus-these-killers-died-on-san-quentins-death-row https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/2-condemned-san-quentin-inmates-die-of-apparent-covid-19-complications/ Who the (BLEEP) Did I Marry? Season 5, Episode 7 titled "The Face of Death" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Disappearance of Ilonka Cann with Ed & Melissa from Murder Unscripted

In this special episode, Cam and Jen talk with Ed & Melissa from Murder Unscripted, who dive into the decades-old mystery about the disappearance of Ilonka Cann. On May 25, 1970, 22-year-old Ilonka spoke with her parents in Ohio, excited about coming home for a visit that summer. She never made that trip. The very next afternoon, she vanished from her rural Pennsylvania farmhouse, leaving behind all her belongings and her 15-month-old son crying alone in his crib. For decades, searches of the isolated property yielded nothing, while the case took bizarre legal turns regarding her husband's personal life. Finally, after fifty years, a 2024 coroner's inquest changed everything by officially ruling Ilonka’s disappearance a homicide. Don’t forget to subscribe to Ed & Melissa’s podcast, Murder Unscripted. Available wherever you get your podcasts. Music by Nico Fyffe-Vettese Editing by Jesse Fyffe-Vettese Check them out, The Inky Paw Print Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

366. Monster on the M1: The Murders of Samo Paull & Tracey Turner

The UK Midlands is a region steeped in history and folklore, from the ancient Kingdom of Mercia to the birthplace of Shakespeare. But on a freezing, misty day in December 1993, a peaceful village right off the M1 motorway became the backdrop for a living nightmare. While driving past a dirty station wagon parked on a grassy verge near Junction 20, a local witness noticed a passenger sitting bolt upright in the backseat wearing a jet-black dress. It was a sight that made her blood run cold; she knew with absolute certainty that the woman was already dead. What followed was a massive police hunt for a transient predator who used England’s motorways to hide in plain sight, Alun Kyte, the Midlands Ripper. Join Jen and Cam as they discuss 'Monster on the M1: The Murders of Samo Paull & Tracey Turner.' Our team: Listener Discretion by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Edward October ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Research & Writing by Lauretta Allen Executive Producers Nico & Jesse of ⁠⁠⁠⁠The Inky Pawprint⁠ Sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7_M0eU6pVk&t=7s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1hGFRvWqyo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alun_Kyte https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-48254878 https://crimeimmemorial.com/2024/09/15/yvonne-coley/ https://murderpedia.org/male.K/k/kyte-alun.htm https://www.the-independent.com/news/uk/crime/janine-downes-death-police-appeal-b1796190.html https://crimeimmemorial.com/2024/10/15/gail-whitehouse/ https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-shropshire-12297341 https://www.westmercia.police.uk/news/west-mercia/news/2021/february/detectives-continue-to-appeal-for-information-into-womans-murder-on-30th-anniversary/ https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/unsolved-murder-revisited-after-34-31844795 https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/local-news/missing-coventry-sex-workers-victims-22984273 https://lolly-truecrime.medium.com/natalie-pearman-was-16-years-old-when-her-body-was-found-in-a-lay-by-on-ringland-road-norwich-8ba882b288ca https://www.thetimes.com/uk/law/article/child-abusing-double-killer-suspected-of-other-murders-7t2pjsm73 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-65556070 https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/ac7a330a-afe6-4247-a106-10e59fba8651/episodes/7e1fe6a3-895f-452d-9512-b307a319fbb5/they-walk-among-us---uk-true-crime-midlands-ripper-alun-kyte---part-1 (and also part 2)https://www.newspapers.com/image/719963897/? match=1&terms=Alun%20Kyte https://www.newspapers.com/image/259073041/?match=2&terms=Alun%20Kyte https://www.newspapers.com/image/867605363/?match=2&terms=Alun%20Kyte https://www.newspapers.com/image/808440223/?match=1&terms=Alun%20Kyte https://www.newspapers.com/image/822427249/?article=a4f38430-aabb-4708-a3fb-f982c5af9186&terms=Alun%20Kyte https://www.newspapers.com/image/822427249/?article=a4f38430-aabb-4708-a3fb-f982c5af9186&terms=Alun%20Kyte https://www.newspapers.com/image/719023877/?match=1&terms=Samo%20Paull https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balsall_Heath https://www.newspapers.com/image/866507468/?match=8&terms=Samo%20Paull https://www.newspapers.com/image/865864192/?match=1&terms=Samo%20Paull https://www.newspapers.com/image/865864423/?match=6&terms=Samo%20Paull https://grokipedia.com/page/Alun_Kyte#:~:text=The%201994%20Murders,December%201993.%20%5B9%5D%20Her%20body https://www.newspapers.com/image/878164808/?article=3ed5a862-86a9-47e0-9de9-0bfce9a53075&terms=%22Tracey%20Turner%22 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murdered_sex_workers_in_the_United_Kingdom   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

365. The Predator of East Harlem: Arohn Kee

In January 1991, 13-year-old Paola Illera arrived home from school and stepped into the elevator of her East Harlem apartment building. She was only moments from her family's 30th-floor apartment, but she never made it upstairs. Hours later, her body was discovered miles from where she was last seen, launching an investigation that would haunt detectives for years. As fear spread through the neighborhood, investigators searched for answers in a case that seemed to offer few clues. Yet hidden among the evidence was a tiny trace that would eventually help uncover the truth. This week, we examine the murder of Paola Illera, the long hunt for her killer, and the string of crimes that terrorized East Harlem throughout the 1990s. Join us as we discuss: ‘The Predator of East Harlem: Arohn Kee’ on this week’s episode.  Listener discretion is by @octoberpodVHS All music is courtesy of our editing/ producing team @theinkypawprint Sources: https://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/21/nyregion/manhattan-man-guilty-in-rape-and-murder-spree.html http://www.robertkellerauthor.com/2015/06/serial-killers-arohn-kee.html https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/homicide-york-arohn-kee-caught-161226887.html https://www.imdb.com/news/ni64506425/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2024/03/26/homicide-new-york-is-netflixs-third-most-watched-show-what-to-know-about-the-true-crime-series/ https://skdb.fandom.com/wiki/KEE_Arohn_Malik https://nypost.com/2004/08/13/killer-is-nailed-94-rape/ https://www.dnaindia.com/world/report-jailed-rapist-selling-tales-of-his-crime-on-the-internet-1265100 https://murderpedia.org/male.K/k/kee-arohn.htm https://www.amazon.com/True-Crime-American-Monsters-Horrific/dp/1535162287 https://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/27/nyregion/rage-and-taunts-fill-courtroom-as-a-killer-gets-life-in-prison.html https://crimelibrary.org/serial_killers/predators/mbb205_arohn_kee/ https://www.nydailynews.com/2000/12/14/rape-slay-defendant-denies-guilt-on-stand/ https://www.justice.gov/archive/ag/speeches/2003/031102dnaremarks.htm https://nypost.com/2004/08/13/evil-serial-killer-nailed-for-vicious-1994-rape/ All music is by our editing/ producer team @theinkypawprint https://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/20/nyregion/murder-suspect-found-with-missing-girl.html Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Special: Rogue Transmissions 4: DungeonPunk (Part 2)

Here's part 2! Enjoy! Rogue Transmissions--the edgy, semi-annual anthology of indie podcasts--is invading your podcast feed with DUNGEONPUNK PART 2 ... a symphony of 80s nostalgia, dystopian cyberpunk, and savage swords drawn against both super sorcery & super science. Featuring an adventuring party of your indie podcast favorites! FIRST UP, Octoberpod presents "Byzantium Slab: The Shell Remember," a wraparound tale of adventure on the savage streets of the dystopian Witch Kingdom (featuring the voice talents of Ari Shey, MJ McAddams, and Family Plot podcast's Arthur Williams). THEN: The Final Trace investigates the satanic panic epidemic of the 1980s & the case of Bink Pulling. LATER: Ghost Bites presents a dire warning about mysterious arcade games in "Insert Coin to Die." FINALLY: Horrifying History plumbs the depths of 1980s paranormal activity with the Smurl Family Haunting. Rogue Transmission 4: DungeonPunk. Total Power. Total Mystery. Total Savagery ... Totally AWESOME! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices