Wicked Words - A True Crime Talk Show with Kate Winkler Dawson

I’m really thrilled to have my buddy Skip Hollandsworth on the show this week. He wrote a book called "She Kills.” And it’s a collection of updated stories from Texas Monthly focusing on fascinating and often shocking female murderers—and some of these are cases that I’ve never heard of.  

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An assistant college football coach never thought they’d find his mother because Dolores Wulff had been missing for more than 40 years. Paul Wulff, along with most everyone else, believed that his father, Carl, had murdered her. So, what would happen to this case…if they found her? ESPN reporters Adam Rittenberg & Kyle Bonagura tell me about their investigation from their podcast "Finding Dolores Wulff." 

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In 1971, James Tappen Hall was gunned down in Maryland as the deputy sheriff patrolled the grounds of a country club. The police searched for suspects, which included a gang of teens known for breaking into Coca-Cola machines. But the case went cold for half a century until it finally broke. But did they catch the real killer? Author Michael Weisberg tells me the story from his book, A Second Shot: The Pursuit of Jus...

Meg Gardiner is a thriller writer, a really great one. She has several series, but the one I’m most interested in started with a book called UNSUB about a serial killer. And it’s based on two real serial killers, one of whom she lived close to. 

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Harry Houdini, the world’s greatest magician, wowed audiences around the world in the 1920s. He must have felt invincible, but then an evil spirit cursed him during a seance. And soon, Houdini would wage war against Spiritualism. He set out to debunk fraudulent mediums, and expose charlatans for lying to people in mourning. Author Brad Ricca tells us about Houdini’s crusade from his book: Lincoln's Ghost: Houdini's War ...

The brutal murder of a 3-year-old shocked Victorian England not only because of how it happened, but because of who the police suspected. Could one of Britain’s most famous detectives solve the case? Author Kate Summerscale tells us the story at the center of her book, The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher.

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One of the most incredible stories in true crime is the tale of Arthur Conan Doyle and how he helped free a man…who was innocent of murder. Author Margalit Fox offers us a deep dive into the characters in her book, Conan Doyle for the Defense. 

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When Rachel McCarthy James and her father wrote their best-selling book The Man from the Train, Rachel became fascinated with axes. Were they good weapons during murders? What kind of killer used them? She wrote the story of the axe in her book Whack Job: A History of Axe Murder.  

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Dick Harpootlian might be a name you recognize. He’s from South Carolina, and he’s one of Alex Murdaugh’s defense attorneys. He’s also been a prosecutor. And one of his most disturbing defendants was serial killer Donald “Pee Wee” Gaskins. Dick tells me the story from his book: Dig Me a Grave. 

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The popular former president of Ghana was once accused of hiding gold from the West African country’s government. But it turns out that he was targeted by an audacious con artist who pulled off one of the 20th century's longest running and most spectacular frauds. Author Yepoka Yeebo tells me the story in her book: Anansi's Gold. 

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For more than a decade, a serial killer stalked teenage boys in Michigan. Ronald Lloyd Bailey was eventually caught. But the story becomes more complicated because of Bailey’s experience at one of the state’s most respected psychiatric hospitals. Author Rod Sadler tells me the story in his book: Depraved Obsession. 

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Almost 40 years ago, a brutal murder on Valentine’s Day shook the country of Wales. When a 20-year-old is murdered in a dark corner of Cardiff’s infamous Tiger Bay area, the police launch an investigation. But did they arrest the wrong people because they were desperate to close the case? Author Ceri Jackson tells me the story from her book: The Boy from Tiger Bay. 

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We hear a lot about gunslingers and outlaws in the American West, and those stories are mostly about men. But there were female outlaws, too—like Belle Starr, probably the most famous of them all. Her murder was a mystery. But her life was extraordinary. Author Dane Huckelbridge tells me about Belle and his book: Queen of All Mayhem. 

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The murders of Liberty German and Abigail Williams in Delphi, Indiana shook the country. But the impact of the attention, the speculation and the fear is still felt in the community. Now podcasters Áine Cain and Kevin Greenlee have written a book about the case, but it feels different from other investigations.  

Their book does focus on the case, but also how the families were impacted because Cain and Greenlee worked ...

The disappearance in 2019 of Jennifer Dulos is one of the most chilling stories I’ve ever read about. When the mother of five vanished from her wealthy Connecticut suburb, her estranged husband became the prime suspect. But when Fotis Dulos ended his own life, the mystery deepened. Author Rich Cohen has the inside story in his book, Murder in the Dollhouse. 

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What is the origin story of cults? Author Jane Borden says it goes all the way back to the Puritans and their doomsday beliefs. She says that from the beginning, we’ve been a nation of easy marks for con artists and manipulators. She tells me about her book, Cults Like Us. 

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When you write a biography about a man dubbed “Coroner to the Stars,” it’s bound to be a compelling story. Who doesn’t want to read about the coroner who performed the autopsies on Marilyn Monroe, RFK, and Natalie Wood, among others? Author Anne Soon Choi tells me about her book, “L.A. Coroner.”

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I’ve interviewed quite a few authors who are inspired by real people or real crimes. And then they write these fantastic novels. Patricia Cornwell’s iconic character, Dr. Kay Scarpetta, has a legion of fans because of how clever she is as a medical examiner, how she solves a mystery. Cornwell was working with Virginia’s first female chief ME Dr. Marcella Fierro, and was an invaluable source to a young writer. ...

A gang in a mountain barrio in Honduras terrorized the people there for years. The police claimed that their hands were tied because witnesses refused to testify. An American sociologist and a Honduran schoolteacher devised a plan to protect their neighbors by taking matters into their own hands. Author Ross Halperin tells me the story in his book: Bear Witness: The Pursuit of Justice in a Violent Land.   

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