March 24, 2025 • 22 mins
This week’s hometowns include pretending to be rich and a rangerino’s experience in Bear Brook.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Hello, and welcome to my favorite murder the minisode.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You ready for some stories from your mouths and pens
and finger tips.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
It always has to be a third thing, Okay, this
I love when we just start out with a regular
old hometown and this one, well it's pretty bad. Jeez,
I won't read you the subject line that says, Hi, guys,
my name is Eva. I'm a fan from Belgium. Hey
did we didn't go to Belgium, did we? No?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
But I've been there.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
I have too.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
That's where the little statue of the boy peeing, oh,
the world famous, right?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (00:56):
And the sprouts.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Of course. I started listening a couple of months ago,
starting from the first episode. So when I listen to you, guys,
I feel like I'm in a time capsule from the past.
I'm now listening to episode ninety one. Here's my hometown murder.
Seven years ago. I moved to heronaut There's no way
that's right, but I just went for it, the village
where my boyfriend lived his whole life. I love to
(01:18):
watch true crime, and in Belgium there's a TV series
with Belgian murders. One of the episodes tells the story
of a murder one kilometer or zero point six miles
from our house where we live now a few years ago. Okay,
so this is basically the closest, like it's such a close,
a true hometown for this person. A few years ago,
(01:40):
there was a couple that moved here from the seaside
to a village nearby, and a few months later to
herronaut Herron Tount, it sounds right our village, it feels right. Yeah,
I'm kind of giving a little spice at the end.
But the woman had two children, but the man hit
them and they were put under a guardianship of their
grandmother at the seaside. The woman chose to stay with
(02:00):
the abusive boyfriend. Always heartbreaking. The daughter called her mom
every Sunday. A few weeks after moving to the grandmother's house,
the daughter couldn't reach her mum and started contacting people
on Facebook. Nobody had seen the mother for weeks. In
the meantime, the boyfriend apparently had a new girlfriend and
told other people that the mother had run away. The
(02:22):
strange thing was that she left her dog and her
purse in the house. A few weeks had gone by
and some guy from the water supply company came by
and had to check the meters in the basement. The
man told him that he lost the key. There was
also a weird smell in the house and the basement
door was taped off. He told the guy that he
lost the key and the refrigerator in the basement was
(02:42):
broken and the smell was coming from rotting food. The
water guy left without checking the meters. Imagine checking the
meters and discovering the horror that was really going on. Meanwhile,
the man was living with his new girlfriend. One week later,
the police arrived because the mother didn't show up to
the appointments at her new job. They thought the story
(03:03):
of the guy was really weird. They had a weird
feeling about it. They searched the house and found her
murdered body at the bottom of the basement stairs. Apparently
they got into a fight. He strangled her and threw
her down the stairs and did not try to cover
things up. He just closed the door, taped it off
because of the smell, and then continued his life with
(03:25):
the new girlfriend inside the house. Holy shit, He's now
in jail for murder. A couple of other people have
lived in the house since because it was very cheap rent.
Of course, a year ago it's sold and the new
owners are doing a major renovation on it. This was
my hometown. Thank you guys for the extremely funny episodes
and big love from Belgium.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Eva. Wow Jesus.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
It's like a typical terrible story yeah, of a woman being.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Murdered that we've heard too many times. Yeah, yeah, I
have a hometown as well, traditional hometown. Okay, it's called
pretending to be rich to scope out a crime scene. Hello, ladies,
Day one listener, Remember the Facebook group you had to
shut down? I was in it. Love you both missed
the Facebook group.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
A little, a little.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
In the very beginning. It was golden.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
It was so fun.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Yeah. When I was doing my student teaching back in
twenty eleven in my hometown of Andover, Massachusetts, recess ended
early when we got word that two bodies had been
found in a nearby home murdered. The story goes that
local grandparents John and Geraldine Maggie were brutally shot to
death and were discovered by their age four and eight
(04:35):
sweet baby angel grandchildren, who would eagerly run into the
home to see their grandparents while their mother went Christmas shopping.
Both John and Geraldine were shot in the neck and
the bullets went through the floor to the basement. It's
presumed they were lying face down on the floor in
execution style, although I can't confirm these details, so much
(04:55):
of this case is local rumor. The couple's Lexus SUV
was foun on that same day twenty five miles away,
and Boston's North End completely burned. This area of Boston
is often tied to mob activity, but many speculate that
leaving the burnt car there was actually a way to
throw off the police by making them suspect the mob
and therefore watch the investigation, as it seemed unlikely the
(05:19):
mob would bring that evidence back to such an obvious area.
John Maggie owned a local construction company, but after years
in investigating, nobody can find a reason why this couple
was targeted. Apparently they were the most well loved and
kind couple in town. This murder is somehow still unsolved
and remains the talk of the town each year when
the anniversary rolls around. Hopefully there will be an update soon,
(05:41):
but at this point it seems unlikely. Such a bummer.
The home where the murder took place recently went up
for sale. It's near my parents' house, and the open
house happened to be going on while I was visiting
my parents. The only problem is that the house is
for sale for one point eight million. I'm in my
thirties on a teacher salary, so that's not happening, and
says it has an indoor pool. My fellow murderino sister
(06:03):
and mother and I devised a plan to be able
to see the crime scene because we are nosy as fuck,
And then it says maybe we could solve it. I
would pretend to have a two million dollar budget and
be house hunting for my family. I figured no one
would check up on me because it would be so busy.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Wrong.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
We were the only people, including my four year old
daughter who thought we were getting it indoor pool, who
were at the open house. Boy, did we have to
keep our story straight about school districts and bedrooms and
square feet and bathrooms, etc. That I was looking for.
The real estate agent continues to contact me months later
with listings in andover in my two million price range
(06:44):
that she thinks would be perfect for me. I feel terrible,
and I don't know how to get out of the situation.
So I'll probably tell her we went bankrupt or something. Yes,
I gave her my real name and information. Maybe the
only way out is to get rich SSDGA And then
it says, I think I have to remain anonymous question mark.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
First of all, go to that real estate agent and
explain yourself in full and in truth. They absolutely will
be like, oh that makes sense. Oh of course, and
maybe they'll be your new best friend. Like you'all both
have a laugh over it, and then who cares some besties.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Yeah, this is.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
My new Seinfeld approach, where it's like, be a little
bit more fine with just being that way because it's
very human, where it's like, of course, we wanted to
come here and see what this house looks like.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Sure, yeah, don't let her remain hopeful that she's going
to get a sale. A two million dollars sale in
that area. I mean that's a huge number. It's going
to follow you around forever. Yeah, here's another real one.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
The subject line of this email is bear Brook and
call to support park Rangers, and then it says a
hoi hoi, and then in parentheses bringing that back, which
I absolutely love. I remember the first time you said it,
and it made me laugh, So yeah, that's one of
my favorites. In the summer of twenty eighteen, I was
about to graduate college and start working toward my goal
(08:08):
of becoming a national park ranger. I was preparing for
an interview with the New Hampshire Conservation Corps when I
started typing the name of the state park where I'd
be stationed, bear Brook, into Google. To my delighted horror,
it auto completed with murders. As I know you're aware,
for unidentified bodies. One woman and three children had been
(08:29):
found in two barrels in the park a couple decades earlier.
While the murderer had been identified and died in jail,
the victims remained unnamed. For most people, four grizzly murders
would be a deal breaker, but for a ranger reno
like me, it was truly the best of both worlds.
I landed the position and moved to the park in
January of twenty nineteen. In the core, or as we
(08:52):
called it, our Nature Cult, thirty members lived together in
the woods and did environmental work, including education and trail repairs.
Left in small wooden cabins in the middle of the
woods with no electricity and only wood stoves for heat.
A main lodge housed our industrial kitchen, workspaces, a TV,
and shared bathrooms, but no WiFi, cable or cell service.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Wow, it's like working in a space station or something. Yeah,
like working on Mars. It's bananas.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Do you hate everybody?
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Go work in the National Park Service? This probably sounds
like a nightmare for the don't go into the forest crowd.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Not if there's thirty people around, Like, I think I'm
okay with that.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Yeah, that actually sounds really fun. Yeah, get some board
games going Luno. But for a teamwork and nature loving
fool like me, it was a dream come true. One night,
we were returning to the park from an outing and
spotted news crews along the side of the road. A
quick search before re entering the woods revealed the incredible news.
Through the tireless work of a citizen sleuth and a
(09:52):
genetic genealogist, three of the four bodies in the barrels
had finally been identified. They were Marley's Honeychurch and her children,
Sarah McWaters and Marie Vaughan. To this day, the fourth
victim remains nameless. I feel grateful to have borne witnessed
to the selflessness and dedication that gave Marley, Sarah, and
(10:12):
Marie's names back. I survived the Corps and have been
a National Park ranger since twenty twenty two. I have
more insane stories than I can count about life as
a park ranger. But in light of current events, I'd
like to use this space to advocate for rangers and
all federal employees as we face illegal firings and further understaffing.
It's an extremely stressful time to work in this field.
(10:35):
If you plan on visiting a National park anytime soon,
please be kind, give grace, and thank a ranger. We're
doing the best we can. Stay Sexy Ranger Sarah.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Wow, oh my god, that was amazing.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
I mean to work in bear Brook to be there
when they finally, like are able to crack that case
in a meaningful way. And then yeah, I've been watching
on TikTok. Yeah, all the park rangers and all this
kind of like, oh, they're just going to cut all
that the funding so that we can have the people,
the experts running those parks and like, you know, taking
(11:11):
care of those parks.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Yeah, ridiculous, it's crazy. All right, Well, here's an uplifting one.
Our hero dog.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
My last one's a hero dog one.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Oh way, yeah yeah, this isn't my last one. I
have another one. Oh okay, okay, but yeah, two hero
dogs in one is good. It starts. Hey, y'all, longtime listener,
first time rider. Let's get to the good stuff. Before
I was born, my family had a beautiful black Great
Dane named Shawna. She was not only a genius but
also a tough old brod that survived a car accident
(11:43):
and my mother's convertible VW Rabbit which sent her soaring
headfirst into the windshield. Can I just point out really
quickly that they have seatbelts for dogs now, like that
you can get at the pet store.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Nice, although great Dane being in accost nice, Like that's
like a very large football player being in your car.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
That's the entire windshield right there. I'm sure all dogs
go to heaven, but Shauna likely received sainthood when she
got there for what she did for my family. When
my brother Craig was two, a baby named Craig and
a dog named Shauna. Like these people just knew how
to name shit.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
They are ready for their Fox animated series Yesterday oh.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
When it was two, he was toddling around the driveway
with Shauna while my dad worked on something or other
in the garage. Things were peaceful until Shauna started barking
with her full chest, a habit that drove my dad
a little crazy.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Shauna is the girl with like black eye learner in
the waterline and like smoking when she's thirteen. Absolutely such
a specific name. Vibe to me that then you're like,
that's a great Dane.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Also, her hair's.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Crimped, absolutely sparkles, by the way, I'm fucking I'm a
great vane.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Nbd.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
He yielded her to quit it. She did, and he
went back to whatever task was engaging his attention, but
she quickly started up again, and her bark was deep
and booming and impossible to ignore. So my dad finally
looked up to see what she was barking at. He
turns his eyes to her just in time to see
Shawna take her massive head and whack my brother two
year old brother straight in the chest, with the sight
(13:16):
of her face, sending him flying backwards and driving him
to wailing tears. My dad marches over and then it says,
open palm at the ready to discipline her the way
a Texan would in nineteen eighty nine. Yeah, I'm acknowledging it,
thank you. Yeah, and tell he sees what Shauna is
facing a nearly five foot long copper head near it
(13:37):
up to strike an only inches away from where my
brother had been standing moments before. Oh my gosh, Shawna
had just saved my brother's life, it says, or at
the very least save my family a trip to the er.
Copperhead bites aren't usually fatal, but for a two year
old question.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Mark, Yeah, it is not good for a two year
old heppy.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
My parents were grateful they didn't have to find out
the hard way. My dad's scoop Craig up pulled Shauna
away by the collar and secured them both inside before
grabbing a shovel and going after the snake. He killed it,
brought Shawna back outside so that she could see that
he took care of the threat, and then rewarded her
with all the treats and belly rubs she could possibly want.
(14:17):
I hope you all found this piece of our family
lore entertaining. I bet it would have been more fun
to listen in my father's southern drawl. But here's hoping
I can hear Karen or Georgia read this on the
pod sometime in the future.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Hey, it's happening. Your dreams are coming true.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
I love you too, and I'm so grateful to have
you in my ears three times a week. Stay sexy
and pay close attention to your dog's warning barks. Cecilia.
At least they got Cecilia, Shawna and Craig and then
they were like, let's let's get Cecilia. That's a good one.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Cecilia is a great name too.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
It's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
But I love that. That's that kind of thing of
like the dog is tracking that little.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Kid so closely.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Yeah, it just like that. That's what That's what it's
all for.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Babysitter, I just can lose my mind over.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Okay, follow up hero dog story? Yes always, it says
good A got an Australian on our hands. About a
year ago you asked for hero pet stories, and today
I'm overwhelmed at work, so I thought now would be
the perfect time to writing. That's how you do it.
The heroes of this story are Jake and Ronnie, two
Australian kelpies. I've never heard of that kind of dog before.
(15:28):
Maybe they mean otters, normally highly trained farm dogs due
to their intelligence and stamina. We adopted ours from drought
stricken farms and they're living their best suburban lives Australian kelpies.
I wonder if that's just our version of.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Au Chralian shepherds.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Yeah, to set the scene, it's twenty twenty one and
we had just brought home our newborn baby after five
weeks in the nicu. My husband, being a typical Australian male,
had vented his feelings about almost losing his wife and
baby by almost single handedly pulling down our old garage that.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Needed to be replaced. He's going to go work it out.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
In the garage. I don't want to talk about it.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Men will rebuild entire garages instead of going to therapy.
While we waited for the new one, all of our
garage stuff was piled next to.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Our house under tarps.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
We had just put our baby to bed for the
night and we were getting ready to go to sleep.
Jake and Ronnie were outside doing their nightly patrol of
the yard when they just started barking and would not stop.
Frustrated and wondering what the hell was going on. I
looked outside and saw fire. I yelled to my husband,
who ran outside to the hose, and I grabbed a
bucket and started filling it with water. Luckily, we managed
(16:38):
to get it out by ourselves pretty quickly. The culprit,
a lithium battery had caught fire. We only lost our tent,
Christmas tree, and some power tools, but it wasn't until
the next morning that we realized how close we had
come to losing it all. The fire stopped only a
meter or two away from our lawnmower, which was full
of petrol. Holy shit, that's gas to you and me.
(17:00):
It still makes me feel sick to this day to
think about. If it wasn't for our dogs, we would
have gone off to bed, no idea that a fire
had started, and god knows what would have happened.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Jake and Ronnie also recently saved the life of our
neighbor's elderly Jack Russell.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
One morning.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
They were outside, this time for their morning patrol, and
again started barking. Our neighbor thought it was weird how
long they had been barking, And then in parentheses it
says I slept through all of this, and it says
Am came out to investigate found his eleven year old
dog had fallen into their pool and couldn't get out,
and he was struggling to swim and had obviously been
there for a long time.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Being only about five thirty in the morning, it would
have been about two hours before anyone would normally be
up for the day, and they may have lost him.
So now, anytime my dogs do something like piss on
the Christmas tree, eat my dinner right off the table,
or bark when I'm putting the baby to sleep, I
mean it's a fucking tree.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Like, of course, what did they know?
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Yeah, why not get a Christmas fire hydrant if you're
going to be so tempting toward dog.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Like, thank you for bringing this in the house for me.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
This is so much more convenient.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
I try to remember the heroes they are and how
different life would ay, and how different life would be
if we didn't have them. Stay sexy, and always remove
your lithium batteries before storing them.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Cheers, A wow.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
That's great advice. That makes my heart so happy. That
little tuppy with its tiny little jack rustling. Oh my god,
those were great. Those made my heart feel good. Okay,
my last one, it's gonna sound like braggy. It's like
a thank you to us. However, I want to call
for more of them, not because of.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
That, however, keep them coming.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
However, this person tells us what has been happening in
the past nine years since they've listened to this podcast,
which I should get such an interest like I love
having those like can you believe what your life was
like here and what it's like now? And I yes,
a lot of listeners who've been listening for a long
time have that. And so this person tells us, and
it's really awesome, great, and they also compliment.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
A spot even better.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Yeah, it's called my Favorite Life. Hi, Karen and Georgia.
And listening to the Rewind episode thirty four, and I
was reminded of when an impact your show has made
on my life. I remember the first time I heard
you speak on anxiety and how it helped me in
a dark time when I needed to be in therapy
for depression and anxiety. I've now been in therapy for
almost nine years consistently and on Lexapro for over a
(19:23):
year since the start of your podcast, I have quit
my job I was unhappy in and had the courage
to join a police department, which led me to my
current role as a detective WHOA. I never would have
had the bravery or believe in myself to do this
without your podcast. I first even learned of my love
for this career when you began your working relationship with
(19:43):
Paul Holes. I met my core group of friends from
my favorite murdered Chicago Facebook group, one of whom is
getting married in October and I am her maid of honor.
It's crazy to listen back to rewind episodes and think
where I was in my life and how far I've come.
I know this is just a true crime comedy podcast
and you may never see this, but you've made my
(20:03):
favorite life and I'm so grateful. Stay sexy and follow
your dreams. See in Chicago.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
That's gorgeous.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
No also, just I love my favorite life because Noah,
this is what we get, and this is you know,
my life was very different before this podcast started, and
we got this nice upwards trajectory, and I would have
never thought that I would be able to say this
is my favorite life, that this is best case scenario
(20:31):
and it really, it really is and you just don't know.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
You just don't know because.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
You go day by day and you don't think about
the amount of time it's past. But there. Yeah, the
gifts this is given us is like you can't even
begin to fathom them.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Yeah, because that we get emails like that from see
where it's like, you guys got together because you're you
love to talk and your you know, narcissists or whatever,
and now my life is better where it's like, well,
then this turned out great for all of us.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
I think the shout out to great because it kind
of takes you know, it takes it away from us
a little, so that feels a little bit less narcissistic.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
So that's right.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
That Thanks for writing in and thank you guys for
being here for nine years. We appreciate it. You guys
are our favorite.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
If you want to tell us about your past nine years,
we would love to hear about it. It's delightful and
it gives us a good sense of you know, time passing.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Yeah, what it's been like.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
What's your favorite life? Tell us? But at my favorite
murder at Gmail? Please?
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Yeah, and until you tell us, stay sexy and.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Don't get murdered.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Gay Bye, Elvis.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Do you want a cookie?
Speaker 1 (21:44):
This has been an exactly Right production.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Our senior producers are Alle Hundra Keck and Molly Smith.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Our editor is Aristotle las Veda.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
This episode was mixed by Leoni Squilacci.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Email your hometowns to My Favorite Murder at gmail dot.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Com and follow the show on Instagram at my Favorite Murder.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Listen to My Favorite Murder on the iHeartRadio app, Apple
Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
And now you can watch us on Exactly Rights YouTube page.
And while you're there, please like and subscribe Ya Bye
bye
Hello, and welcome to my favorite murder the minisode.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You ready for some stories from your mouths and pens
and finger tips.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
It always has to be a third thing, Okay, this
I love when we just start out with a regular
old hometown and this one, well it's pretty bad. Jeez,
I won't read you the subject line that says, Hi, guys,
my name is Eva. I'm a fan from Belgium. Hey
did we didn't go to Belgium, did we? No?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
But I've been there.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
I have too.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
That's where the little statue of the boy peeing, oh,
the world famous, right?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (00:56):
And the sprouts.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Of course. I started listening a couple of months ago,
starting from the first episode. So when I listen to you, guys,
I feel like I'm in a time capsule from the past.
I'm now listening to episode ninety one. Here's my hometown murder.
Seven years ago. I moved to heronaut There's no way
that's right, but I just went for it, the village
where my boyfriend lived his whole life. I love to
(01:18):
watch true crime, and in Belgium there's a TV series
with Belgian murders. One of the episodes tells the story
of a murder one kilometer or zero point six miles
from our house where we live now a few years ago. Okay,
so this is basically the closest, like it's such a close,
a true hometown for this person. A few years ago,
(01:40):
there was a couple that moved here from the seaside
to a village nearby, and a few months later to
herronaut Herron Tount, it sounds right our village, it feels right. Yeah,
I'm kind of giving a little spice at the end.
But the woman had two children, but the man hit
them and they were put under a guardianship of their
grandmother at the seaside. The woman chose to stay with
(02:00):
the abusive boyfriend. Always heartbreaking. The daughter called her mom
every Sunday. A few weeks after moving to the grandmother's house,
the daughter couldn't reach her mum and started contacting people
on Facebook. Nobody had seen the mother for weeks. In
the meantime, the boyfriend apparently had a new girlfriend and
told other people that the mother had run away. The
(02:22):
strange thing was that she left her dog and her
purse in the house. A few weeks had gone by
and some guy from the water supply company came by
and had to check the meters in the basement. The
man told him that he lost the key. There was
also a weird smell in the house and the basement
door was taped off. He told the guy that he
lost the key and the refrigerator in the basement was
(02:42):
broken and the smell was coming from rotting food. The
water guy left without checking the meters. Imagine checking the
meters and discovering the horror that was really going on. Meanwhile,
the man was living with his new girlfriend. One week later,
the police arrived because the mother didn't show up to
the appointments at her new job. They thought the story
(03:03):
of the guy was really weird. They had a weird
feeling about it. They searched the house and found her
murdered body at the bottom of the basement stairs. Apparently
they got into a fight. He strangled her and threw
her down the stairs and did not try to cover
things up. He just closed the door, taped it off
because of the smell, and then continued his life with
(03:25):
the new girlfriend inside the house. Holy shit, He's now
in jail for murder. A couple of other people have
lived in the house since because it was very cheap rent.
Of course, a year ago it's sold and the new
owners are doing a major renovation on it. This was
my hometown. Thank you guys for the extremely funny episodes
and big love from Belgium.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Eva. Wow Jesus.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
It's like a typical terrible story yeah, of a woman being.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Murdered that we've heard too many times. Yeah, yeah, I
have a hometown as well, traditional hometown. Okay, it's called
pretending to be rich to scope out a crime scene. Hello, ladies,
Day one listener, Remember the Facebook group you had to
shut down? I was in it. Love you both missed
the Facebook group.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
A little, a little.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
In the very beginning. It was golden.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
It was so fun.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Yeah. When I was doing my student teaching back in
twenty eleven in my hometown of Andover, Massachusetts, recess ended
early when we got word that two bodies had been
found in a nearby home murdered. The story goes that
local grandparents John and Geraldine Maggie were brutally shot to
death and were discovered by their age four and eight
(04:35):
sweet baby angel grandchildren, who would eagerly run into the
home to see their grandparents while their mother went Christmas shopping.
Both John and Geraldine were shot in the neck and
the bullets went through the floor to the basement. It's
presumed they were lying face down on the floor in
execution style, although I can't confirm these details, so much
(04:55):
of this case is local rumor. The couple's Lexus SUV
was foun on that same day twenty five miles away,
and Boston's North End completely burned. This area of Boston
is often tied to mob activity, but many speculate that
leaving the burnt car there was actually a way to
throw off the police by making them suspect the mob
and therefore watch the investigation, as it seemed unlikely the
(05:19):
mob would bring that evidence back to such an obvious area.
John Maggie owned a local construction company, but after years
in investigating, nobody can find a reason why this couple
was targeted. Apparently they were the most well loved and
kind couple in town. This murder is somehow still unsolved
and remains the talk of the town each year when
the anniversary rolls around. Hopefully there will be an update soon,
(05:41):
but at this point it seems unlikely. Such a bummer.
The home where the murder took place recently went up
for sale. It's near my parents' house, and the open
house happened to be going on while I was visiting
my parents. The only problem is that the house is
for sale for one point eight million. I'm in my
thirties on a teacher salary, so that's not happening, and
says it has an indoor pool. My fellow murderino sister
(06:03):
and mother and I devised a plan to be able
to see the crime scene because we are nosy as fuck,
And then it says maybe we could solve it. I
would pretend to have a two million dollar budget and
be house hunting for my family. I figured no one
would check up on me because it would be so busy.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Wrong.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
We were the only people, including my four year old
daughter who thought we were getting it indoor pool, who
were at the open house. Boy, did we have to
keep our story straight about school districts and bedrooms and
square feet and bathrooms, etc. That I was looking for.
The real estate agent continues to contact me months later
with listings in andover in my two million price range
(06:44):
that she thinks would be perfect for me. I feel terrible,
and I don't know how to get out of the situation.
So I'll probably tell her we went bankrupt or something. Yes,
I gave her my real name and information. Maybe the
only way out is to get rich SSDGA And then
it says, I think I have to remain anonymous question mark.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
First of all, go to that real estate agent and
explain yourself in full and in truth. They absolutely will
be like, oh that makes sense. Oh of course, and
maybe they'll be your new best friend. Like you'all both
have a laugh over it, and then who cares some besties.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Yeah, this is.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
My new Seinfeld approach, where it's like, be a little
bit more fine with just being that way because it's
very human, where it's like, of course, we wanted to
come here and see what this house looks like.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Sure, yeah, don't let her remain hopeful that she's going
to get a sale. A two million dollars sale in
that area. I mean that's a huge number. It's going
to follow you around forever. Yeah, here's another real one.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
The subject line of this email is bear Brook and
call to support park Rangers, and then it says a
hoi hoi, and then in parentheses bringing that back, which
I absolutely love. I remember the first time you said it,
and it made me laugh, So yeah, that's one of
my favorites. In the summer of twenty eighteen, I was
about to graduate college and start working toward my goal
(08:08):
of becoming a national park ranger. I was preparing for
an interview with the New Hampshire Conservation Corps when I
started typing the name of the state park where I'd
be stationed, bear Brook, into Google. To my delighted horror,
it auto completed with murders. As I know you're aware,
for unidentified bodies. One woman and three children had been
(08:29):
found in two barrels in the park a couple decades earlier.
While the murderer had been identified and died in jail,
the victims remained unnamed. For most people, four grizzly murders
would be a deal breaker, but for a ranger reno
like me, it was truly the best of both worlds.
I landed the position and moved to the park in
January of twenty nineteen. In the core, or as we
(08:52):
called it, our Nature Cult, thirty members lived together in
the woods and did environmental work, including education and trail repairs.
Left in small wooden cabins in the middle of the
woods with no electricity and only wood stoves for heat.
A main lodge housed our industrial kitchen, workspaces, a TV,
and shared bathrooms, but no WiFi, cable or cell service.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Wow, it's like working in a space station or something. Yeah,
like working on Mars. It's bananas.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Do you hate everybody?
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Go work in the National Park Service? This probably sounds
like a nightmare for the don't go into the forest crowd.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Not if there's thirty people around, Like, I think I'm
okay with that.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Yeah, that actually sounds really fun. Yeah, get some board
games going Luno. But for a teamwork and nature loving
fool like me, it was a dream come true. One night,
we were returning to the park from an outing and
spotted news crews along the side of the road. A
quick search before re entering the woods revealed the incredible news.
Through the tireless work of a citizen sleuth and a
(09:52):
genetic genealogist, three of the four bodies in the barrels
had finally been identified. They were Marley's Honeychurch and her children,
Sarah McWaters and Marie Vaughan. To this day, the fourth
victim remains nameless. I feel grateful to have borne witnessed
to the selflessness and dedication that gave Marley, Sarah, and
(10:12):
Marie's names back. I survived the Corps and have been
a National Park ranger since twenty twenty two. I have
more insane stories than I can count about life as
a park ranger. But in light of current events, I'd
like to use this space to advocate for rangers and
all federal employees as we face illegal firings and further understaffing.
It's an extremely stressful time to work in this field.
(10:35):
If you plan on visiting a National park anytime soon,
please be kind, give grace, and thank a ranger. We're
doing the best we can. Stay Sexy Ranger Sarah.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Wow, oh my god, that was amazing.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
I mean to work in bear Brook to be there
when they finally, like are able to crack that case
in a meaningful way. And then yeah, I've been watching
on TikTok. Yeah, all the park rangers and all this
kind of like, oh, they're just going to cut all
that the funding so that we can have the people,
the experts running those parks and like, you know, taking
(11:11):
care of those parks.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Yeah, ridiculous, it's crazy. All right, Well, here's an uplifting one.
Our hero dog.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
My last one's a hero dog one.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Oh way, yeah yeah, this isn't my last one. I
have another one. Oh okay, okay, but yeah, two hero
dogs in one is good. It starts. Hey, y'all, longtime listener,
first time rider. Let's get to the good stuff. Before
I was born, my family had a beautiful black Great
Dane named Shawna. She was not only a genius but
also a tough old brod that survived a car accident
(11:43):
and my mother's convertible VW Rabbit which sent her soaring
headfirst into the windshield. Can I just point out really
quickly that they have seatbelts for dogs now, like that
you can get at the pet store.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Nice, although great Dane being in accost nice, Like that's
like a very large football player being in your car.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
That's the entire windshield right there. I'm sure all dogs
go to heaven, but Shauna likely received sainthood when she
got there for what she did for my family. When
my brother Craig was two, a baby named Craig and
a dog named Shauna. Like these people just knew how
to name shit.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
They are ready for their Fox animated series Yesterday oh.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
When it was two, he was toddling around the driveway
with Shauna while my dad worked on something or other
in the garage. Things were peaceful until Shauna started barking
with her full chest, a habit that drove my dad
a little crazy.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Shauna is the girl with like black eye learner in
the waterline and like smoking when she's thirteen. Absolutely such
a specific name. Vibe to me that then you're like,
that's a great Dane.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Also, her hair's.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Crimped, absolutely sparkles, by the way, I'm fucking I'm a
great vane.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Nbd.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
He yielded her to quit it. She did, and he
went back to whatever task was engaging his attention, but
she quickly started up again, and her bark was deep
and booming and impossible to ignore. So my dad finally
looked up to see what she was barking at. He
turns his eyes to her just in time to see
Shawna take her massive head and whack my brother two
year old brother straight in the chest, with the sight
(13:16):
of her face, sending him flying backwards and driving him
to wailing tears. My dad marches over and then it says,
open palm at the ready to discipline her the way
a Texan would in nineteen eighty nine. Yeah, I'm acknowledging it,
thank you. Yeah, and tell he sees what Shauna is
facing a nearly five foot long copper head near it
(13:37):
up to strike an only inches away from where my
brother had been standing moments before. Oh my gosh, Shawna
had just saved my brother's life, it says, or at
the very least save my family a trip to the er.
Copperhead bites aren't usually fatal, but for a two year
old question.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Mark, Yeah, it is not good for a two year
old heppy.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
My parents were grateful they didn't have to find out
the hard way. My dad's scoop Craig up pulled Shauna
away by the collar and secured them both inside before
grabbing a shovel and going after the snake. He killed it,
brought Shawna back outside so that she could see that
he took care of the threat, and then rewarded her
with all the treats and belly rubs she could possibly want.
(14:17):
I hope you all found this piece of our family
lore entertaining. I bet it would have been more fun
to listen in my father's southern drawl. But here's hoping
I can hear Karen or Georgia read this on the
pod sometime in the future.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Hey, it's happening. Your dreams are coming true.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
I love you too, and I'm so grateful to have
you in my ears three times a week. Stay sexy
and pay close attention to your dog's warning barks. Cecilia.
At least they got Cecilia, Shawna and Craig and then
they were like, let's let's get Cecilia. That's a good one.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Cecilia is a great name too.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
It's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
But I love that. That's that kind of thing of
like the dog is tracking that little.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Kid so closely.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Yeah, it just like that. That's what That's what it's
all for.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Babysitter, I just can lose my mind over.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Okay, follow up hero dog story? Yes always, it says
good A got an Australian on our hands. About a
year ago you asked for hero pet stories, and today
I'm overwhelmed at work, so I thought now would be
the perfect time to writing. That's how you do it.
The heroes of this story are Jake and Ronnie, two
Australian kelpies. I've never heard of that kind of dog before.
(15:28):
Maybe they mean otters, normally highly trained farm dogs due
to their intelligence and stamina. We adopted ours from drought
stricken farms and they're living their best suburban lives Australian kelpies.
I wonder if that's just our version of.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Au Chralian shepherds.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Yeah, to set the scene, it's twenty twenty one and
we had just brought home our newborn baby after five
weeks in the nicu. My husband, being a typical Australian male,
had vented his feelings about almost losing his wife and
baby by almost single handedly pulling down our old garage that.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Needed to be replaced. He's going to go work it out.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
In the garage. I don't want to talk about it.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Men will rebuild entire garages instead of going to therapy.
While we waited for the new one, all of our
garage stuff was piled next to.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Our house under tarps.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
We had just put our baby to bed for the
night and we were getting ready to go to sleep.
Jake and Ronnie were outside doing their nightly patrol of
the yard when they just started barking and would not stop.
Frustrated and wondering what the hell was going on. I
looked outside and saw fire. I yelled to my husband,
who ran outside to the hose, and I grabbed a
bucket and started filling it with water. Luckily, we managed
(16:38):
to get it out by ourselves pretty quickly. The culprit,
a lithium battery had caught fire. We only lost our tent,
Christmas tree, and some power tools, but it wasn't until
the next morning that we realized how close we had
come to losing it all. The fire stopped only a
meter or two away from our lawnmower, which was full
of petrol. Holy shit, that's gas to you and me.
(17:00):
It still makes me feel sick to this day to
think about. If it wasn't for our dogs, we would
have gone off to bed, no idea that a fire
had started, and god knows what would have happened.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Jake and Ronnie also recently saved the life of our
neighbor's elderly Jack Russell.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
One morning.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
They were outside, this time for their morning patrol, and
again started barking. Our neighbor thought it was weird how
long they had been barking, And then in parentheses it
says I slept through all of this, and it says
Am came out to investigate found his eleven year old
dog had fallen into their pool and couldn't get out,
and he was struggling to swim and had obviously been
there for a long time.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Being only about five thirty in the morning, it would
have been about two hours before anyone would normally be
up for the day, and they may have lost him.
So now, anytime my dogs do something like piss on
the Christmas tree, eat my dinner right off the table,
or bark when I'm putting the baby to sleep, I
mean it's a fucking tree.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Like, of course, what did they know?
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Yeah, why not get a Christmas fire hydrant if you're
going to be so tempting toward dog.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Like, thank you for bringing this in the house for me.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
This is so much more convenient.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
I try to remember the heroes they are and how
different life would ay, and how different life would be
if we didn't have them. Stay sexy, and always remove
your lithium batteries before storing them.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Cheers, A wow.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
That's great advice. That makes my heart so happy. That
little tuppy with its tiny little jack rustling. Oh my god,
those were great. Those made my heart feel good. Okay,
my last one, it's gonna sound like braggy. It's like
a thank you to us. However, I want to call
for more of them, not because of.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
That, however, keep them coming.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
However, this person tells us what has been happening in
the past nine years since they've listened to this podcast,
which I should get such an interest like I love
having those like can you believe what your life was
like here and what it's like now? And I yes,
a lot of listeners who've been listening for a long
time have that. And so this person tells us, and
it's really awesome, great, and they also compliment.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
A spot even better.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Yeah, it's called my Favorite Life. Hi, Karen and Georgia.
And listening to the Rewind episode thirty four, and I
was reminded of when an impact your show has made
on my life. I remember the first time I heard
you speak on anxiety and how it helped me in
a dark time when I needed to be in therapy
for depression and anxiety. I've now been in therapy for
almost nine years consistently and on Lexapro for over a
(19:23):
year since the start of your podcast, I have quit
my job I was unhappy in and had the courage
to join a police department, which led me to my
current role as a detective WHOA. I never would have
had the bravery or believe in myself to do this
without your podcast. I first even learned of my love
for this career when you began your working relationship with
(19:43):
Paul Holes. I met my core group of friends from
my favorite murdered Chicago Facebook group, one of whom is
getting married in October and I am her maid of honor.
It's crazy to listen back to rewind episodes and think
where I was in my life and how far I've come.
I know this is just a true crime comedy podcast
and you may never see this, but you've made my
(20:03):
favorite life and I'm so grateful. Stay sexy and follow
your dreams. See in Chicago.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
That's gorgeous.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
No also, just I love my favorite life because Noah,
this is what we get, and this is you know,
my life was very different before this podcast started, and
we got this nice upwards trajectory, and I would have
never thought that I would be able to say this
is my favorite life, that this is best case scenario
(20:31):
and it really, it really is and you just don't know.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
You just don't know because.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
You go day by day and you don't think about
the amount of time it's past. But there. Yeah, the
gifts this is given us is like you can't even
begin to fathom them.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Yeah, because that we get emails like that from see
where it's like, you guys got together because you're you
love to talk and your you know, narcissists or whatever,
and now my life is better where it's like, well,
then this turned out great for all of us.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
I think the shout out to great because it kind
of takes you know, it takes it away from us
a little, so that feels a little bit less narcissistic.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
So that's right.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
That Thanks for writing in and thank you guys for
being here for nine years. We appreciate it. You guys
are our favorite.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
If you want to tell us about your past nine years,
we would love to hear about it. It's delightful and
it gives us a good sense of you know, time passing.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Yeah, what it's been like.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
What's your favorite life? Tell us? But at my favorite
murder at Gmail? Please?
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Yeah, and until you tell us, stay sexy and.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Don't get murdered.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Gay Bye, Elvis.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Do you want a cookie?
Speaker 1 (21:44):
This has been an exactly Right production.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Our senior producers are Alle Hundra Keck and Molly Smith.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Our editor is Aristotle las Veda.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
This episode was mixed by Leoni Squilacci.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Email your hometowns to My Favorite Murder at gmail dot.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Com and follow the show on Instagram at my Favorite Murder.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Listen to My Favorite Murder on the iHeartRadio app, Apple
Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
And now you can watch us on Exactly Rights YouTube page.
And while you're there, please like and subscribe Ya Bye
bye
Hosts And Creators
Georgia Hardstark
Karen Kilgariff
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