Twisted Roots: A Genealogist’s True Crime Podcast

S3E2: One day in 1907, a man walks into a bar on a routine work round and is thrown into a coma, never to awake again.  He was "the best man in the world", according to his wife and young son. Hear the stories of Charles Breitwieser and John Kleis in this episode of Twisted Roots

All information told on Twisted Roots, including quotes and testimony, is taken directly from original source documentation such as newspaper art...

S3E1: This episode is a "Call to Action" to help find additional information to determine the cause of circumstances surrounding the death of Pvt. Theodore W. Haley at the La Junta Army Air Field in 1944.  We will also touch on the murder of another solider from that same base, Waddell W. Keith Jr (1953), and Theodore's mother Lucy Conn (1930), and we will even learn about one of the first semo-pro baseball players o...

S2E9: In this episode we will have a brief announcement on the future of Twisted Roots and will explore some interesting updates on some previous episodes about Lizzie Halliday (The Talented Mrs. Halliday), and Pearl Osten.

All information told on Twisted Roots, including quotes and testimony, is taken directly from original source documentation such as newspaper articles, court records, census records, vital records (birt...

S2E8 - In the true old west of Sacramento, California in 1855 - an abusive father and a desperate daughter - with a gentle but proud young man caught between them.  There wasn't room enough for all of them in that town.  Was justice really done?  For the first time, you can hear the story of the killing of Amiel Brickell, quoted directly from the accounts of the time, and determine for yourself.

All information told o...

S2E7 - On a cold drizzly night in Manhattan, 1857, the attractive and strong Dr. Burdell returns to his once fashionable marble stooped 4-story home on Bond St, shortly before midnight.  He would never be seen alive again.  The murderer must be one of the several residents of the house.  Was it the cook? The fop? The politican?  The widow?  The butcher?  The ingenue?  Or even a child?  Hear the story and determine for yourself - wh...

S2E6: This episode is the third in our Jack the Ripper Files.  Periodic future episodes will be dedicated to each of the victims and suspects of the infamous Jack the Ripper murders that took place in Whitechapel, London in 1888.  In this episode we will focus on Mrs. Annie Chapman, aka Annie Eliza Smith, aka Annie Sivvey, the second of the "Canonical Five".  We will travel through the details of her very difficult life, ...

S2E5 - The tale of Sweeney Todd that most of us are familiar with today takes place on Fleet Street in London in about 1846.  The murderous barber serviced dozens of the citizens of that grand city, sent them falling through a trap door into the deep basement below, where his neighbor Mrs. Lovett would grind them down into her meat pies.  But what is the origin of this story?  Listen to this episode of Twisted Roots to find out.

S2E4: In Atlanta, Georgia in the Fall of 1928, a brief crime spree leads to the death of two young clerks.  The story of the handsome young killer will take us through an unexpected journey of wealth and privilege that will end in a surprising but perhaps familiar setting.  Genealogist Dale Sheldon shares the story of the Handsome Thrill Killers of 1928, giving all of the details directly from the original source documentation.

S2E3: On a brisk October's night in 1927, the smell of rain in the air, a fashionable young lady had recently arrived in the city of Minneapolis to attend college for piano.  After finishing a long night attending to a party at the Jolly Peasant Tea Rooms, a job she had aquired only days before, she headed home.  She stepped off the streetcar, just after midnight, with a mysterious young man and was never seen alive again.  Th...

S2E2: This episode is the second in our Jack the Ripper Files.  Periodic future episodes will be dedicated to each of the victims and suspects of the infamous Jack the Ripper murders that took place in Whitechapel, London in 1888.  In this episode we will focus on Martha Tabram, whom many was the first victim of Jack the Ripper.  We will travel through the details of her very difficult life, often in and out of workhouses - includi...

S2E1: In this new format episode of Twisted Roots, genealogist Dale Sheldon tells the true story of a murder within his own family.  In the barn of a secluded ranch in Washington State in 1914, a man is brutally murdered by persons unknown.  His wife, (and Dale's 2nd great-aunt), is put through the ordeal of a trial - her four children scattered to various households.  But did she do it?  Listen, and decide for yourself.
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[Note: This is an original format episode.  Please also try the new format beginning 8 Aug 2024, Season 2 - Episode 1]

S1E16:  In this episode we discover the lost origins of Susannah Sheldon, never before discovered or shared.  She was an "afflicted girl" who has been largely forgotten compared to other figures in the trials and yet was one of the most prolific testifiers.  We will also review some of the detail...

[Note: This is an original format episode.  Please also try the new format beginning 8 Aug 2024, Season 2 - Episode 1]

S1E15:  At just an hour past midnight, on a cool pleasant evening in an opulent neighborhood that edged along the Osage Country of Tulsa, Oklahoma - the sound of shots and a woman screaming were heard.  A talented young lawyer had been killed, a woman locked in her bedroom and screaming for help from the p...

[Note: This is an original format episode.  Please also try the new format beginning 8 Aug 2024, Season 2 - Episode 1]

S1E14: This episode marks the beginning of our Jack the Ripper Files.  Periodic future episodes will be dedicated to each of the victims and suspects of the infamous Jack the Ripper murders that took place in Whitechapel, London in 1888.  In this first episode in the collection we will focus on the first o...

[Note: This is an original format episode.  Please also try the new format beginning 8 Aug 2024, Season 2 - Episode 1]

S1E13: In this episode we explore a new story and reveal information that has not been discovered in well over a century.  The earliest and most successful of the extreme stage mothers, a predecessor of the ladies in the wings who exploited Shirley Temple, Gypsy Rose Lee, and Judy Garland.  Learn the story...

[Note: This is an original format episode.  Please also try the new format beginning 8 Aug 2024, Season 2 - Episode 1]

S1E12: In this episode of Twisted Roots, Dale and CT explore the truth behind the famous nursery rhyme "The Muffin Man".  Originating from the Gullet Shut in Shrewsbury, England we go on a journey through time to Bath, London, and even the Netherlands.  Was the Muffin Man a serial killer?  This q...

[Note: This is an original format episode.  Please also try the new format beginning 8 Aug 2024, Season 2 - Episode 1]

S1E11: After decades of unfair treatment, hardship, and imprisonment - a grandfather must face the tragic death of his beloved granddaughter at the hands of her jealous boyfriend.  In this episode we share clips of our interview with witness Deanna, granddaughter of Angelo Vinch and sister of Jeanette Gilb...

[Note: This is an original format episode.  Please also try the new format beginning 8 Aug 2024, Season 2 - Episode 1]

S1E10: In 1895 the literary genius Oscar Wilde was confronted and publicly antagonized by the brutish John Sholto Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry - the father of Oscar's lover Alfred Bruce "Bosie" Douglas.  When Oscar filed a case of libel against the Marquess, it would start a domino e...

[Note: This is an original format episode.  Please also try the new format beginning 8 Aug 2024, Season 2 - Episode 1]

S1E9: On a snowy evening in 1926, in the North Country of New York State on the Canadian border - the city of Ogdensburg, the only US city on the St Lawrence River: an older gentlemen sits alone in his kitchen smoking a pipe and writing Hebrew poetry among piles of scrap metal, papers, boxes, and other ran...