E7-P1 Ruth Sumlin-For the Love of a Good Woman

In this first installment of Ruth Sumlin-For the Love of a Good Woman, The Coroner’s Report uncovers the beginnings of one of Arkansas’s strangest true crimes. Before the gunfire and the castration, there was Ruth Brewer—a bright college student from small southern town with a promising future. That future began to unravel the night she met Warren Sumlin, a 44-year-old career criminal with a violent past and a plan to never see the inside of a prison again.

Part One traces Ruth’s journey from “good girl” to accomplice, as Warren pulls her deeper into his world of manipulation, drugs, and violence. Listeners will hear from retired State Police investigator David Hendershott, original inmate witnesses, and even Ruth herself as the seeds of a Thanksgiving night jailbreak are planted.

It’s a story of love, control, and betrayal in small-town Arkansas—setting the stage for the chaos and bloodshed that would follow.