February 2, 2026 • 23 mins
This week’s hometowns include a near-John Wayne Gacy victim and a reverse dog kidnapping.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Hello, and welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
That's my favorite murder.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
That's Georgia Hart the Mini. So that's right, God, damn it,
ten years of this, that's right. God, do you want
me to go first? Okay? The subject line of this
email is my dad was almost John Wayne Gacy's first
murder victim.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Holy shit.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
We covered John Wayne Gacy when we did the Chicago
Podcast Festival way back in November of twenty sixteen. So
do you want to hear that? You can? Hello? All,
there was only one way to tell the story, and
that's to get straight to the point. By the way,
my name is Kristin Murphy. Feel free to use my name.
My father told me this vague story of him in
the seventies, about his incident with a sketchy hitchhiker, because
(00:59):
that's what they did in the seventies. I finally asked
him the whole story now that I'm older, and he
told me everything. It was such an intense experience for
him that he remembers it in grave detail to this day.
It was the fall of nineteen seventy two and my
dad was eighteen, trying to find a ride to the
Cheech and Chong concert.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Oh my god, that's such a time and place I
could smell it.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Those guys doing comedy to probably a huge, you know, stoned,
a huge stoned audience somewhere I would love to know.
Oh way, I'll just finish reading it, mind you. John
Wayne Gacy's first murder was in nineteen seventy two. He
said it happened September twenty second, nineteen seventy two, on
Interstate ninety four. My dad, Jeff, was standing on the
(01:42):
side of the interstate when he finally found a car
that pulled over and came to a stop. The man
driving asked my dad where he was headed and offered
him a ride, and my dad accepted. He described the
guy as being smaller and stockier. The car ride was
normal at first, talking about partying and nightlife. The driver
I asked my dad if he liked to party at night.
(02:02):
My dad didn't fully understand what he meant, but my
hippy dad was like, yeah, I like to party.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Sure, Yeah, I'm in on start cap okay.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
The next moment, the man put his hand on my
dad's thigh and asked him if he wanted to party tonight.
My dad panic knocked his arm off and yelled at
him to pull the car over immediately or he would
grab the wheel and wreck the car. The driver tried
to calm him down and ended up pulling over and
letting my dad out of the car. A few years later,
(02:32):
when John Wayne Gacy's picture was released on the news,
my father knew one hundred percent he was the man
who picked him up. Back in the fall of nineteen
seventy two, the year Gasey committed his first murder. Jesus
SSDGM fuck politeness.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Kristin Murphy, Wow, I had been reading a lot about
Gasey lately, just because there's been some books that have
been written that I like. There's one where the daughter
of the girl put the photograph receipt in the pocket
of the last victim at the pharmacy they worked at together. Yes,
(03:08):
that like led to Gaysey being finally caught victim. Her
daughter wrote a book about Gaysey and about that her
mother and everything that was involved in the boy that
was killed. It's just fucking crazy. It's called post Mortem
by Courtney Lund O'Neill. Wow, and it's really incredible.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I want to read that.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Yeah. Anyway, Gasey because I never really knew about gaycy
Like I never cared that much.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
He was kind of one of my entrees in and
it's just it fascinated me so much. But then he
did it for so long, and there's like a lot
of people in the Chicago area that have those kinds
of seventy stories of like because the hitchhiking and all
that stuff he was he was drunk, and he didn't
make a secret of like picking people up and doing that.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
The Boys Under the House is an incredible book about
it as well. Okay, mine's called I'm not going to
tell you, it's called Hi Ladies. Longtime listener, first time writer.
I just finished listening to Minnieso for sixty two, which
is full of bad neighbors and kids home alone, and
I figured it was time to write in. I grew
up in San Francisco in the two thousands and twenty
ten's in a quiet neighborhood near Golden Gate Park. My
(04:14):
younger brother was about fifteen years old the first time
my parents left him home alone overnight. This was around
twenty seventeen, so parenting style was more helicopter than trash.
As always, my dad's parting words of wisdom were don't
burn down the house. Everything went fine until early the
next morning, when my brother started to smell smoke from
the garage. He ran downstairs, threw open the door, and
(04:37):
saw flames creeping up our garage door. He immediately called
nine one one, and the firefighters were able to put
the fire out quickly. Luckily, the damage was limited to
the garage door, and my brother saved the whole house
from burning down.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
When the police investigated the fire, they found traces of
fuel where the fire began and realized that it was
started intentionally. Unfortunately, this was only one nefarious insec amongst
several others on our quiet San Francisco block. One of
our neighbors had been the victim of a drive by
shooting just days earlier, where thankfully, nobody was injured by
(05:10):
the bullets that smashed through their living room windows. Another
house had a Molotov cocktail thrown into the front of
their house, again luckily, nobody was physically hurt. A neighbor
on our block had been recently imprisoned for fraud, and
soon after these incidents, a group of guys had been
arrested with a list of addresses in the glove compartment
of their car that included the homes that had been
(05:32):
threatened from prison. Our neighbor hired these guys to attack
homes on our street. Why, I don't know. I recently
asked my let's read. I recently asked my parents for
clarification on some of these details, because my brothers and
I were teens when unsault played out, and they tried
to protect us from the full story. My mother then
told me that in addition to these horrible acts of violence,
(05:52):
yet another neighbor had been swatting our house for years,
which is prank calling the police on our house. The
worst incident had happened one night when the neighbor called
the police and falsely told them that there was an
armed intruder in our house. The police broke into our
house and came inside. My mom opened their bedroom door
to a police officer pointing a gun directly at her.
(06:14):
My parents were able to de escalate the situation, and
my brothers and I slept for the entire event.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Thank God, I know.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
My dad went full Murderino and collected all of the
nine one one calls from the neighbor and hired a
lawyer to get the neighbor to stop swatting our house.
My parents both struggled to recount the story when I
asked them about it recently, because it had been so
terrifying and infuriating for them. Thank you so much for
all you do. You are both inspirations stay sexy and
don't burn the house down.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
God, that's like so violent. And then like it happening
over and over, like now this is on fire. Now
there's cops in your house, like horrifying.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
I know it makes me like, you know that neighbor's
dog barking all the time isn't such a bad thing, Yeah,
it could be so like bad neighbors just ruin your life.
Care plugs. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
And then I think when we lived because we kind
of lived near the park, we were in the upper
hate and oh yeah, the volume with which we did
every single thing all day and night.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Oh my god, you were the problem neighbor. We were.
You've always been the problem neighbor, always at some point
in our lives.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
I mean, just standard volume alone is not great, but yeah, god, horrible. Okay,
subject line of this email is Mafia Banjo. Okay, greetings
and hello to Karen Georgia. Exactly right. Media and furry,
unpaid interns. I am a professional banjo player who specializes
(07:38):
in the four string banjo, which is not the style
that everybody is most familiar with. All of my banjos
are well over one hundred years old. Some of them
have really interesting stories, while the others have stories that
have been lost to time. As well as playing the banjo,
I also restore and set up banjos for people who
want theirs to be like how they were when they
left the factory. That means that quite off. I have
(08:00):
older people come to me and share that they inherited
their father or grandfather's banjo and would love to hear
it play again.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Some of these instruments come with a mix of fascinating stories,
sad stories, or no story at all. One of my
favorite moments happened about three years ago when a woman
reached out to my friend about inheriting a banjo. My
friend told me about it and I got in contact
with the woman. She sent me pictures of the banjo
and it was an incredibly nice nineteen twenty eight Bacon
(08:27):
and Day Silver Bell Nay plus Ultra nine tenor banjo
Jesus to those who don't know what that is, it's
basically like the rolls Royce of banjo. Wow, fancy engravings,
gemstones and rhinestones all over the instrument, gold plating, and
to top it off, an elephant head carving with real
livory tusks at the heel of the neck.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Its original cost was nine hundred dollars holy which today.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Nineteen twenty nine eight twenty eight nine hundred dollars would
be one hundred and fifty thousand.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Seventeen thousand.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Damn it.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
But all those gems and things, you know, makes sense
to make it even better. It was common to request
your name or initials to be engraved onto the banjo
when you ordered the instrument. The original owner's name was
engraved on the back. Sammy Musmano. One of my favorite
things to do is research the original owner of any
antique instrument, especially banjo's. I asked the woman if she
(09:23):
knew anything about Sammy, and she said he was her
husband's great uncle and played banjo in various bands and
orchestras around the Chicago area. This was a great lead
and I decided to do some digging. I found out
more basic info where when he was born, where he lived,
where when he died. He played all over the world
on banjo, mandolin, guitar, and even harp. I was itching
(09:45):
to know more, so I asked if she could send
me more pictures, like what was inside the case and such.
Apart from some picks and a couple of small wrenches,
there was a picture of Sammy with a man in
a long coat, a snappy hat, and a cigar in
his mouth. I said, wow, oh, that looks a lot
like al.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Capone, thinking that, oh my god, it was, Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Apparently Sammy Musmano had quite the career. He was involved
with the Chicago Mafia and played with orchestras hired by
al Capone for his parties. Alan Sammy were very good friends.
Sammy tadd al Capone how to play the bad This
whole thing is just a lie. Yeah, this sounds like
just like the best creative writing of all time. I'd
(10:26):
take it. Yeah, it's so funny, Okay. Sammy taught al
Capone how to play the banjo in his free time
until al went to prison. Sammy's brother, Michael Musmano, was
a defense attorney and judge in the nineteen twenties and
early thirties. Al made sure to stay on Sammy's good side.
One time, after a gig, a rival gang mugged Sammy
and stole his gig money from that night. The woman
(10:48):
who told me about the banjo also told me that
al Capone supposedly bought the banjo for Sammy, which I
have yet to confirm. In the nineteen thirties, Sammy continued
to teach him play on the radio until retiring from music.
In the nineteen forties, he escaped from the mafia and
out a calm rest of his life, raising his children.
I have attached a couple of images of the banjos
(11:08):
and Sammy. Oh my God, apologies that summer blurry. They
are the ones the women sent me. I have so
many more crazy stories that I've collected from these instruments,
and the more I learn about these stories, the closer
I feel to the era and the instruments themselves. It's
an honor to be a part of these instruments history,
and I'm so glad I can take care of them
and let them ring for another one hundred years. My
(11:29):
girlfriend introduced me to this podcast during a long road
trip from northern California down to Los Angeles about two
years ago. I was instantly hooked, and I've been listening
every weekend during my weekly commute back and forth from
New York City to Rochester, New York. And for that,
I thank you more than I can express in one email.
Stay sexy and ask your elderly acquaintances if they have
(11:50):
a banjo in their attic. Gavin and Anna Queens, New York.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
That is so cool, Like who, that's such a cool hobby.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Yes, it's such a cool email. Everything about it.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Hear me out.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Check this out.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
That's a podcast. Oh absolutely, that's a podcast of like
stories about your instrument.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Because check this out as episode one.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
We'll put it on our socials. My favorite murder good photographs.
I didn't know banjos could be that gorgeous, I know,
and look at Sam swarthy as fuck.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Also, it's like quite a thing to be able to
play an instrument, especially professionally. So like that idea that
like professional musicians are always like one of ten guys
in a band. But it's like totally but they're they
all have stories like this.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Wow, I love that. Send us your instrument history.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Stories only if it's a Rolls Royce of.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Your instrument that's right. We don't want any fucking What
is a bad car? I don't know.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Saturns yeah, Pinto, pinto Okay.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Sister fueled terror plot okay, brought to you by Anxiety. Hi,
MFM crew. I love you, silly ladies and the fantastic
work you do. Please keep it up. Okay, how if
you call us name? I mean Jesus. Once upon an
episode you requested stories about things you can never live down,
and in another episode you requested stories that got vetoed
(13:08):
from wedding speeches. My story involves both of those topics.
My sister therapy yay, and a thwarted terrorist attack question mark.
My older sister has battled bravely with mental health challenges
since we were kids. She's done a wonderful job at it,
and today she is a happy mother of two who
was completing her MBA at night. God so hard. She's
(13:31):
the coolest because of her mental health challenges, she has
done almost every type of therapy known to womankind.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Hi.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
When we were in our mid twenties, she tried out
a type of therapy that required her to keep a
worst case scenario diary. She had to write out diary
entries as if her worst fears had come true that day. Yeah,
I fucking love that.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
I'm never on a page because it really does work
it out of your life brain, because your brain doesn't
know the difference between real trauma and just imagine trauma.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Yeah right, yeah, so smart. My brother and I used
to do dramatic readings of the entries in the living room,
which often ended in all three of us crying with laughter.
It's so cool. Topics included Grandma died today, the Big
one happened. We live in Vancouver. This referred to the
pending mega earthquake, and our dog went missing forever.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
I constantly think about that constantly.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
I'm always like, where's Mo? And thegether was like he
didn't get out, Like I've always convinced that Mo got out.
I don't know why.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Also, and you know this well, but having Frank a
seventeen year old dog walking around the house, I'm just
like constantly processing. I'm just like and the grief will
be hard, and it will be whatever, like yeah, and
it's after a while you're just like, all right, let's
wrap this up.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
I did with Elvis like it did help me, Like
I always in my heart. I was like, some him
and I have to live without him, And I just
always thought about it, and so when it finally came,
it was like not a surprise. I had asked him
for sixteen years and he gave me sixteen years.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
And you're grateful, Like you get it. It makes you grateful.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Yeah. The Jewish people like to say, may their memory
be a blessing. So that's all you can do. Anyway.
One day, my dad generously gave us two tickets to
so see the Vancouver Canucks. It says it's hockey Georgia
play at Roger's Arena Downtown. I met my sister at
the game and she pulled out her therapy journal. She
wanted to show me the topic of the day. This
(15:21):
one was a terrorist attack at Roger's Arena. She included
detailed diagrams, maps, and of course her dramatic plan of
how the terrorist attack would unfold.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Oh no, I totally get this.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
We chuckled at it and she tucked it away as
the game started. The game was pretty uneventful, but in
the second period things took a turn for the worse.
My sister patted down her pockets, looked at me and
said ha, okay, give it back. I didn't know what
she was talking about. She said, not funny, give me
back my journal. Unfortunately I hadn't taken her journal. In
that moment. Time stood still as we quickly realized three things.
(15:55):
She lost her journal somewhere in the stadium. She lost
her journal containing as detailed diagrams, maps, and the plan
of a terrorist attack on a stadium inside of that stadium.
And three, her journal had her full name on it.
You gotta use initials. I mean that's We immediately got up,
(16:16):
left the hockey game that was still going on, and
proceeded to silent cry slash laugh our way home. I
don't think we've ever laughed so hard. This story sadly
got vetoed when I was asked to speak at my
sister's wedding, but I'm happy to be sharing it here.
She hasn't been banned for life from the stadium, so
it seems that her journal went unread. Stay sexy and
(16:36):
don't lose your therapy journal A.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
I mean, thank god those other stories were in there,
so by the time they get to that story, they're like, oh, wait,
well it's fine. What we think it is is somebody
trying to work through some stuff, or.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
We're like they're like this person's a psychotic murderer, or
something loses their dog constantly.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
I really wanted it to be that it was like
somebody gets hit in ahead with a puck and then
they get hit in ahead with the book. Oh but
that's going to go in my journal.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Yeah that's yours. Yeah, that's for yours, and then we'll
do a dramatic reading.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
That's right. Okay, here's my last one. Hi, Karen and Georgia,
my sweet sweet angels as I call my nearly adult
age high school students daily. Thanks to both you sweet
so good angels, I've been a listener since I was
in my master's program for teaching in twenty sixteen. I'm
now in my ninth year of my career as a
(17:27):
high school teacher. You've been with me through so much,
including starting me on the therapy journey that has so
deeply improved my life, an engagement and wedding, and now
my husband and I are expecting our first baby, who
we planned a lot to be ready for and are
so excited about. Backstory to this story. Since becoming an
empty nester, my dad has gotten very into whiskey. He's
(17:49):
collected hundreds of bottles, read books about the distilling process,
curated tastings for his friends and for us, and generally
has loved making it his new hobby and thing to
learn about. He's gotten whole family involved, and because of this,
my husband and I decided to announce our pregnancy by
getting each family member a bottle for my dad, old
Granddad for my mom, McLaughlin's grandma's rocking chair for my
(18:12):
brother uncle nearest. They were so stoked when they figured
out the surprise, and it was such a fun way
to share the news, brilliant. Before we even said we
were pregnant, my mom and dad had loved to throw
around ideas for their grandparent names, like they would be
Nana and Papa, etc. But nothing had stuck for my
dad yet. You know what's coming.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
I'm gonna cry.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
You should cry. Later that same evening, I brought up
to my dad that he would like listening to your
episode on the Pappy Gate Bourbon Heist since it was
right up as Ali. When I said that, his eyes
got huge. He looked at us so excited and said,
that's it. I'm going to be Pappy Come on he
named it Grandpa.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
He has been so excited ever since, talking about how
perfect it is and how he can't wait to be
Pappy to his future grandkid. He also wants to buy
a bottle of Pappy Van Winkles to celebrate, but I
think the price tag might give my mom a conniption.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
So thank you MFM for picking my dad's name for
his next phase of life and for being with me
through so many of mine. And thank you both for
always advocating for public school teachers. It's rough out here,
but your work truly does No I'm fucking crying stop
with this, but your work truly does make it better.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
As she her guy nephews, my sister's kids call their
other grandparents. Their nicknames are Pops and Honey. Oh it
is not the cutest, that's very cute. Actually, Honey and
Pops is how you say it. Okay, this is called
the reverse Kidnapping the Dog Adoption Story, so don't freak out. Okay, Hello,
my favorite Murderino's the story of the almost kidnapping of
(19:49):
Axel the dog. Reminding me that my family has a
story of I think they like almost stole it from
their neighbors.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Oh, like they thought it was a stray dog and
actually they were stealing someone's Yes.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Yes, it reminded me that my family has a story
of the opposite situation. We got our dog through reverse kidnapping.
Let me explain. There's a greyhound rescue where we have
gotten all of our family dogs. The founder had a
knack for placing the right dog with the right family
and love that and was deeply dedicated to her rescue work.
They once got a group of greyhounds rescued from a
(20:20):
track in Guam that had been shut down. Since the
dogs were international, they needed to be quarantined temporarily. Our
previous dog, Meggie, had died some years before, so they
knew we were dogless and reached out to see if
we were interested in fostering a dog just for the
summer until his quarantine period was up. We said yes,
and they sent the sweetest boy named Dmitri. And that
(20:40):
says yes. I've included pictures. As the summer grew to
a close, my parents reached out to the rescue to
ask when we should bring him back. The response was
something like, oh, soon, for sure. We'll let you know
when it's time. Soon after this, my sister and I
noticed Dmitri was listed as adopted on the website, strange
since he was still with us and we'd received no
noteification that he'd been adopted. Naturally, my sister and I
(21:03):
did not tell our parents about this new development because
we loved Dimitri and were hoping to keep him. Sure Enough,
when my parents checked in with the rescue a bit later,
they got another Oh, yeah, we can take him back soon,
just not quite yet. By then, I think we had
him for at least six months. At one point, my
mom was texting me about something cute he'd done and said,
I think I love him jack Pot. Eventually, one of
(21:25):
my mom's friends, who was looking for a dog, checked
the website and told her Renee, it says he's been adopted.
At that point, our parents accepted that he was just
our dog now. He fit in so well with the
family and we all loved him dearly, so none of
us were upset about the reverse kidnapping situation. I don't
even think that's technically a crime. Instead of taking a
family member away, the shelter gave us a new one.
(21:47):
I like to think the founder knew it was time
for us to get a new four legged friend and
had the perfect guy for the role who brought us
so much laughter, joy and love. Dmitri lived with us
for eight years before passing away in twenty twenty, surrounded
by his family in the backyard of the animal hospital,
lying in the grass in the sunshine, just like he
loved to do. Oh Cookie loves this tree SSTGM and
(22:12):
when fate or determined, rescue brings a dog into your
life except the blessing much love, Amanda. I love it
Italian greyhound. Like if you ever get a chance to
own a greyhound, just do it.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
The way they trot around like they're so supernatural, like
a little dough.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Yeah, and they love to be held.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
They're all like they don't want to walk.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Or do anything. They want to wear sweaters, Like what
more do you want out of a pet?
Speaker 1 (22:38):
It is so genius of a dog wress you'd be like,
oh yeah, it's almost over real quick.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Hey we know you have a dog right now. Can
you just keep an eye like as if anyone'd ever like,
let a dog go I know for six months? Nice move, Yeah,
all right, send us any story you want.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
I mean, you guys are doing great.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Yeah, thank you for listening, and stay sexy and don't
get murdered. Goodbye, Elvis, Do you want a cookie?
Speaker 1 (23:07):
This has been an exactly right production.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Our senior producer is Molly Smith and our associate producer
is Tessa Hughes.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Our editor is Aristotle Ascevedo.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
This episode was mixed by Leona Squalacci.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Email your hometowns to My Favorite Murder at gmail dot com.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Follow the show on Instagram at my Favorite Murder.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Listen to My Favorite Murder on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Goodbye,
Hello, and welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
That's my favorite murder.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
That's Georgia Hart the Mini. So that's right, God, damn it,
ten years of this, that's right. God, do you want
me to go first? Okay? The subject line of this
email is my dad was almost John Wayne Gacy's first
murder victim.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Holy shit.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
We covered John Wayne Gacy when we did the Chicago
Podcast Festival way back in November of twenty sixteen. So
do you want to hear that? You can? Hello? All,
there was only one way to tell the story, and
that's to get straight to the point. By the way,
my name is Kristin Murphy. Feel free to use my name.
My father told me this vague story of him in
the seventies, about his incident with a sketchy hitchhiker, because
(00:59):
that's what they did in the seventies. I finally asked
him the whole story now that I'm older, and he
told me everything. It was such an intense experience for
him that he remembers it in grave detail to this day.
It was the fall of nineteen seventy two and my
dad was eighteen, trying to find a ride to the
Cheech and Chong concert.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Oh my god, that's such a time and place I
could smell it.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Those guys doing comedy to probably a huge, you know, stoned,
a huge stoned audience somewhere I would love to know.
Oh way, I'll just finish reading it, mind you. John
Wayne Gacy's first murder was in nineteen seventy two. He
said it happened September twenty second, nineteen seventy two, on
Interstate ninety four. My dad, Jeff, was standing on the
(01:42):
side of the interstate when he finally found a car
that pulled over and came to a stop. The man
driving asked my dad where he was headed and offered
him a ride, and my dad accepted. He described the
guy as being smaller and stockier. The car ride was
normal at first, talking about partying and nightlife. The driver
I asked my dad if he liked to party at night.
(02:02):
My dad didn't fully understand what he meant, but my
hippy dad was like, yeah, I like to party.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Sure, Yeah, I'm in on start cap okay.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
The next moment, the man put his hand on my
dad's thigh and asked him if he wanted to party tonight.
My dad panic knocked his arm off and yelled at
him to pull the car over immediately or he would
grab the wheel and wreck the car. The driver tried
to calm him down and ended up pulling over and
letting my dad out of the car. A few years later,
(02:32):
when John Wayne Gacy's picture was released on the news,
my father knew one hundred percent he was the man
who picked him up. Back in the fall of nineteen
seventy two, the year Gasey committed his first murder. Jesus
SSDGM fuck politeness.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Kristin Murphy, Wow, I had been reading a lot about
Gasey lately, just because there's been some books that have
been written that I like. There's one where the daughter
of the girl put the photograph receipt in the pocket
of the last victim at the pharmacy they worked at together. Yes,
(03:08):
that like led to Gaysey being finally caught victim. Her
daughter wrote a book about Gaysey and about that her
mother and everything that was involved in the boy that
was killed. It's just fucking crazy. It's called post Mortem
by Courtney Lund O'Neill. Wow, and it's really incredible.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I want to read that.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Yeah. Anyway, Gasey because I never really knew about gaycy
Like I never cared that much.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
He was kind of one of my entrees in and
it's just it fascinated me so much. But then he
did it for so long, and there's like a lot
of people in the Chicago area that have those kinds
of seventy stories of like because the hitchhiking and all
that stuff he was he was drunk, and he didn't
make a secret of like picking people up and doing that.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
The Boys Under the House is an incredible book about
it as well. Okay, mine's called I'm not going to
tell you, it's called Hi Ladies. Longtime listener, first time writer.
I just finished listening to Minnieso for sixty two, which
is full of bad neighbors and kids home alone, and
I figured it was time to write in. I grew
up in San Francisco in the two thousands and twenty
ten's in a quiet neighborhood near Golden Gate Park. My
(04:14):
younger brother was about fifteen years old the first time
my parents left him home alone overnight. This was around
twenty seventeen, so parenting style was more helicopter than trash.
As always, my dad's parting words of wisdom were don't
burn down the house. Everything went fine until early the
next morning, when my brother started to smell smoke from
the garage. He ran downstairs, threw open the door, and
(04:37):
saw flames creeping up our garage door. He immediately called
nine one one, and the firefighters were able to put
the fire out quickly. Luckily, the damage was limited to
the garage door, and my brother saved the whole house
from burning down.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
When the police investigated the fire, they found traces of
fuel where the fire began and realized that it was
started intentionally. Unfortunately, this was only one nefarious insec amongst
several others on our quiet San Francisco block. One of
our neighbors had been the victim of a drive by
shooting just days earlier, where thankfully, nobody was injured by
(05:10):
the bullets that smashed through their living room windows. Another
house had a Molotov cocktail thrown into the front of
their house, again luckily, nobody was physically hurt. A neighbor
on our block had been recently imprisoned for fraud, and
soon after these incidents, a group of guys had been
arrested with a list of addresses in the glove compartment
of their car that included the homes that had been
(05:32):
threatened from prison. Our neighbor hired these guys to attack
homes on our street. Why, I don't know. I recently
asked my let's read. I recently asked my parents for
clarification on some of these details, because my brothers and
I were teens when unsault played out, and they tried
to protect us from the full story. My mother then
told me that in addition to these horrible acts of violence,
(05:52):
yet another neighbor had been swatting our house for years,
which is prank calling the police on our house. The
worst incident had happened one night when the neighbor called
the police and falsely told them that there was an
armed intruder in our house. The police broke into our
house and came inside. My mom opened their bedroom door
to a police officer pointing a gun directly at her.
(06:14):
My parents were able to de escalate the situation, and
my brothers and I slept for the entire event.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Thank God, I know.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
My dad went full Murderino and collected all of the
nine one one calls from the neighbor and hired a
lawyer to get the neighbor to stop swatting our house.
My parents both struggled to recount the story when I
asked them about it recently, because it had been so
terrifying and infuriating for them. Thank you so much for
all you do. You are both inspirations stay sexy and
don't burn the house down.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
God, that's like so violent. And then like it happening
over and over, like now this is on fire. Now
there's cops in your house, like horrifying.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
I know it makes me like, you know that neighbor's
dog barking all the time isn't such a bad thing, Yeah,
it could be so like bad neighbors just ruin your life.
Care plugs. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
And then I think when we lived because we kind
of lived near the park, we were in the upper
hate and oh yeah, the volume with which we did
every single thing all day and night.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Oh my god, you were the problem neighbor. We were.
You've always been the problem neighbor, always at some point
in our lives.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
I mean, just standard volume alone is not great, but yeah, god, horrible. Okay,
subject line of this email is Mafia Banjo. Okay, greetings
and hello to Karen Georgia. Exactly right. Media and furry,
unpaid interns. I am a professional banjo player who specializes
(07:38):
in the four string banjo, which is not the style
that everybody is most familiar with. All of my banjos
are well over one hundred years old. Some of them
have really interesting stories, while the others have stories that
have been lost to time. As well as playing the banjo,
I also restore and set up banjos for people who
want theirs to be like how they were when they
left the factory. That means that quite off. I have
(08:00):
older people come to me and share that they inherited
their father or grandfather's banjo and would love to hear
it play again.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Some of these instruments come with a mix of fascinating stories,
sad stories, or no story at all. One of my
favorite moments happened about three years ago when a woman
reached out to my friend about inheriting a banjo. My
friend told me about it and I got in contact
with the woman. She sent me pictures of the banjo
and it was an incredibly nice nineteen twenty eight Bacon
(08:27):
and Day Silver Bell Nay plus Ultra nine tenor banjo
Jesus to those who don't know what that is, it's
basically like the rolls Royce of banjo. Wow, fancy engravings,
gemstones and rhinestones all over the instrument, gold plating, and
to top it off, an elephant head carving with real
livory tusks at the heel of the neck.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Its original cost was nine hundred dollars holy which today.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Nineteen twenty nine eight twenty eight nine hundred dollars would
be one hundred and fifty thousand.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Seventeen thousand.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Damn it.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
But all those gems and things, you know, makes sense
to make it even better. It was common to request
your name or initials to be engraved onto the banjo
when you ordered the instrument. The original owner's name was
engraved on the back. Sammy Musmano. One of my favorite
things to do is research the original owner of any
antique instrument, especially banjo's. I asked the woman if she
(09:23):
knew anything about Sammy, and she said he was her
husband's great uncle and played banjo in various bands and
orchestras around the Chicago area. This was a great lead
and I decided to do some digging. I found out
more basic info where when he was born, where he lived,
where when he died. He played all over the world
on banjo, mandolin, guitar, and even harp. I was itching
(09:45):
to know more, so I asked if she could send
me more pictures, like what was inside the case and such.
Apart from some picks and a couple of small wrenches,
there was a picture of Sammy with a man in
a long coat, a snappy hat, and a cigar in
his mouth. I said, wow, oh, that looks a lot
like al.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Capone, thinking that, oh my god, it was, Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Apparently Sammy Musmano had quite the career. He was involved
with the Chicago Mafia and played with orchestras hired by
al Capone for his parties. Alan Sammy were very good friends.
Sammy tadd al Capone how to play the bad This
whole thing is just a lie. Yeah, this sounds like
just like the best creative writing of all time. I'd
(10:26):
take it. Yeah, it's so funny, Okay. Sammy taught al
Capone how to play the banjo in his free time
until al went to prison. Sammy's brother, Michael Musmano, was
a defense attorney and judge in the nineteen twenties and
early thirties. Al made sure to stay on Sammy's good side.
One time, after a gig, a rival gang mugged Sammy
and stole his gig money from that night. The woman
(10:48):
who told me about the banjo also told me that
al Capone supposedly bought the banjo for Sammy, which I
have yet to confirm. In the nineteen thirties, Sammy continued
to teach him play on the radio until retiring from music.
In the nineteen forties, he escaped from the mafia and
out a calm rest of his life, raising his children.
I have attached a couple of images of the banjos
(11:08):
and Sammy. Oh my God, apologies that summer blurry. They
are the ones the women sent me. I have so
many more crazy stories that I've collected from these instruments,
and the more I learn about these stories, the closer
I feel to the era and the instruments themselves. It's
an honor to be a part of these instruments history,
and I'm so glad I can take care of them
and let them ring for another one hundred years. My
(11:29):
girlfriend introduced me to this podcast during a long road
trip from northern California down to Los Angeles about two
years ago. I was instantly hooked, and I've been listening
every weekend during my weekly commute back and forth from
New York City to Rochester, New York. And for that,
I thank you more than I can express in one email.
Stay sexy and ask your elderly acquaintances if they have
(11:50):
a banjo in their attic. Gavin and Anna Queens, New York.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
That is so cool, Like who, that's such a cool hobby.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Yes, it's such a cool email. Everything about it.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Hear me out.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Check this out.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
That's a podcast. Oh absolutely, that's a podcast of like
stories about your instrument.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Because check this out as episode one.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
We'll put it on our socials. My favorite murder good photographs.
I didn't know banjos could be that gorgeous, I know,
and look at Sam swarthy as fuck.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Also, it's like quite a thing to be able to
play an instrument, especially professionally. So like that idea that
like professional musicians are always like one of ten guys
in a band. But it's like totally but they're they
all have stories like this.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Wow, I love that. Send us your instrument history.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Stories only if it's a Rolls Royce of.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Your instrument that's right. We don't want any fucking What
is a bad car? I don't know.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Saturns yeah, Pinto, pinto Okay.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Sister fueled terror plot okay, brought to you by Anxiety. Hi,
MFM crew. I love you, silly ladies and the fantastic
work you do. Please keep it up. Okay, how if
you call us name? I mean Jesus. Once upon an
episode you requested stories about things you can never live down,
and in another episode you requested stories that got vetoed
(13:08):
from wedding speeches. My story involves both of those topics.
My sister therapy yay, and a thwarted terrorist attack question mark.
My older sister has battled bravely with mental health challenges
since we were kids. She's done a wonderful job at it,
and today she is a happy mother of two who
was completing her MBA at night. God so hard. She's
(13:31):
the coolest because of her mental health challenges, she has
done almost every type of therapy known to womankind.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Hi.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
When we were in our mid twenties, she tried out
a type of therapy that required her to keep a
worst case scenario diary. She had to write out diary
entries as if her worst fears had come true that day. Yeah,
I fucking love that.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
I'm never on a page because it really does work
it out of your life brain, because your brain doesn't
know the difference between real trauma and just imagine trauma.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Yeah right, yeah, so smart. My brother and I used
to do dramatic readings of the entries in the living room,
which often ended in all three of us crying with laughter.
It's so cool. Topics included Grandma died today, the Big
one happened. We live in Vancouver. This referred to the
pending mega earthquake, and our dog went missing forever.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
I constantly think about that constantly.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
I'm always like, where's Mo? And thegether was like he
didn't get out, Like I've always convinced that Mo got out.
I don't know why.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Also, and you know this well, but having Frank a
seventeen year old dog walking around the house, I'm just
like constantly processing. I'm just like and the grief will
be hard, and it will be whatever, like yeah, and
it's after a while you're just like, all right, let's
wrap this up.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
I did with Elvis like it did help me, Like
I always in my heart. I was like, some him
and I have to live without him, And I just
always thought about it, and so when it finally came,
it was like not a surprise. I had asked him
for sixteen years and he gave me sixteen years.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
And you're grateful, Like you get it. It makes you grateful.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Yeah. The Jewish people like to say, may their memory
be a blessing. So that's all you can do. Anyway.
One day, my dad generously gave us two tickets to
so see the Vancouver Canucks. It says it's hockey Georgia
play at Roger's Arena Downtown. I met my sister at
the game and she pulled out her therapy journal. She
wanted to show me the topic of the day. This
(15:21):
one was a terrorist attack at Roger's Arena. She included
detailed diagrams, maps, and of course her dramatic plan of
how the terrorist attack would unfold.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Oh no, I totally get this.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
We chuckled at it and she tucked it away as
the game started. The game was pretty uneventful, but in
the second period things took a turn for the worse.
My sister patted down her pockets, looked at me and
said ha, okay, give it back. I didn't know what
she was talking about. She said, not funny, give me
back my journal. Unfortunately I hadn't taken her journal. In
that moment. Time stood still as we quickly realized three things.
(15:55):
She lost her journal somewhere in the stadium. She lost
her journal containing as detailed diagrams, maps, and the plan
of a terrorist attack on a stadium inside of that stadium.
And three, her journal had her full name on it.
You gotta use initials. I mean that's We immediately got up,
(16:16):
left the hockey game that was still going on, and
proceeded to silent cry slash laugh our way home. I
don't think we've ever laughed so hard. This story sadly
got vetoed when I was asked to speak at my
sister's wedding, but I'm happy to be sharing it here.
She hasn't been banned for life from the stadium, so
it seems that her journal went unread. Stay sexy and
(16:36):
don't lose your therapy journal A.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
I mean, thank god those other stories were in there,
so by the time they get to that story, they're like, oh, wait,
well it's fine. What we think it is is somebody
trying to work through some stuff, or.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
We're like they're like this person's a psychotic murderer, or
something loses their dog constantly.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
I really wanted it to be that it was like
somebody gets hit in ahead with a puck and then
they get hit in ahead with the book. Oh but
that's going to go in my journal.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Yeah that's yours. Yeah, that's for yours, and then we'll
do a dramatic reading.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
That's right. Okay, here's my last one. Hi, Karen and Georgia,
my sweet sweet angels as I call my nearly adult
age high school students daily. Thanks to both you sweet
so good angels, I've been a listener since I was
in my master's program for teaching in twenty sixteen. I'm
now in my ninth year of my career as a
(17:27):
high school teacher. You've been with me through so much,
including starting me on the therapy journey that has so
deeply improved my life, an engagement and wedding, and now
my husband and I are expecting our first baby, who
we planned a lot to be ready for and are
so excited about. Backstory to this story. Since becoming an
empty nester, my dad has gotten very into whiskey. He's
(17:49):
collected hundreds of bottles, read books about the distilling process,
curated tastings for his friends and for us, and generally
has loved making it his new hobby and thing to
learn about. He's gotten whole family involved, and because of this,
my husband and I decided to announce our pregnancy by
getting each family member a bottle for my dad, old
Granddad for my mom, McLaughlin's grandma's rocking chair for my
(18:12):
brother uncle nearest. They were so stoked when they figured
out the surprise, and it was such a fun way
to share the news, brilliant. Before we even said we
were pregnant, my mom and dad had loved to throw
around ideas for their grandparent names, like they would be
Nana and Papa, etc. But nothing had stuck for my
dad yet. You know what's coming.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
I'm gonna cry.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
You should cry. Later that same evening, I brought up
to my dad that he would like listening to your
episode on the Pappy Gate Bourbon Heist since it was
right up as Ali. When I said that, his eyes
got huge. He looked at us so excited and said,
that's it. I'm going to be Pappy Come on he
named it Grandpa.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
He has been so excited ever since, talking about how
perfect it is and how he can't wait to be
Pappy to his future grandkid. He also wants to buy
a bottle of Pappy Van Winkles to celebrate, but I
think the price tag might give my mom a conniption.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
So thank you MFM for picking my dad's name for
his next phase of life and for being with me
through so many of mine. And thank you both for
always advocating for public school teachers. It's rough out here,
but your work truly does No I'm fucking crying stop
with this, but your work truly does make it better.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
As she her guy nephews, my sister's kids call their
other grandparents. Their nicknames are Pops and Honey. Oh it
is not the cutest, that's very cute. Actually, Honey and
Pops is how you say it. Okay, this is called
the reverse Kidnapping the Dog Adoption Story, so don't freak out. Okay, Hello,
my favorite Murderino's the story of the almost kidnapping of
(19:49):
Axel the dog. Reminding me that my family has a
story of I think they like almost stole it from
their neighbors.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Oh, like they thought it was a stray dog and
actually they were stealing someone's Yes.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Yes, it reminded me that my family has a story
of the opposite situation. We got our dog through reverse kidnapping.
Let me explain. There's a greyhound rescue where we have
gotten all of our family dogs. The founder had a
knack for placing the right dog with the right family
and love that and was deeply dedicated to her rescue work.
They once got a group of greyhounds rescued from a
(20:20):
track in Guam that had been shut down. Since the
dogs were international, they needed to be quarantined temporarily. Our
previous dog, Meggie, had died some years before, so they
knew we were dogless and reached out to see if
we were interested in fostering a dog just for the
summer until his quarantine period was up. We said yes,
and they sent the sweetest boy named Dmitri. And that
(20:40):
says yes. I've included pictures. As the summer grew to
a close, my parents reached out to the rescue to
ask when we should bring him back. The response was
something like, oh, soon, for sure. We'll let you know
when it's time. Soon after this, my sister and I
noticed Dmitri was listed as adopted on the website, strange
since he was still with us and we'd received no
noteification that he'd been adopted. Naturally, my sister and I
(21:03):
did not tell our parents about this new development because
we loved Dimitri and were hoping to keep him. Sure Enough,
when my parents checked in with the rescue a bit later,
they got another Oh, yeah, we can take him back soon,
just not quite yet. By then, I think we had
him for at least six months. At one point, my
mom was texting me about something cute he'd done and said,
I think I love him jack Pot. Eventually, one of
(21:25):
my mom's friends, who was looking for a dog, checked
the website and told her Renee, it says he's been adopted.
At that point, our parents accepted that he was just
our dog now. He fit in so well with the
family and we all loved him dearly, so none of
us were upset about the reverse kidnapping situation. I don't
even think that's technically a crime. Instead of taking a
family member away, the shelter gave us a new one.
(21:47):
I like to think the founder knew it was time
for us to get a new four legged friend and
had the perfect guy for the role who brought us
so much laughter, joy and love. Dmitri lived with us
for eight years before passing away in twenty twenty, surrounded
by his family in the backyard of the animal hospital,
lying in the grass in the sunshine, just like he
loved to do. Oh Cookie loves this tree SSTGM and
(22:12):
when fate or determined, rescue brings a dog into your
life except the blessing much love, Amanda. I love it
Italian greyhound. Like if you ever get a chance to
own a greyhound, just do it.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
The way they trot around like they're so supernatural, like
a little dough.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Yeah, and they love to be held.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
They're all like they don't want to walk.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Or do anything. They want to wear sweaters, Like what
more do you want out of a pet?
Speaker 1 (22:38):
It is so genius of a dog wress you'd be like,
oh yeah, it's almost over real quick.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Hey we know you have a dog right now. Can
you just keep an eye like as if anyone'd ever like,
let a dog go I know for six months? Nice move, Yeah,
all right, send us any story you want.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
I mean, you guys are doing great.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Yeah, thank you for listening, and stay sexy and don't
get murdered. Goodbye, Elvis, Do you want a cookie?
Speaker 1 (23:07):
This has been an exactly right production.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Our senior producer is Molly Smith and our associate producer
is Tessa Hughes.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Our editor is Aristotle Ascevedo.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
This episode was mixed by Leona Squalacci.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Email your hometowns to My Favorite Murder at gmail dot com.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Follow the show on Instagram at my Favorite Murder.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Listen to My Favorite Murder on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Goodbye,
Hosts And Creators
Georgia Hardstark
Karen Kilgariff
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