Introducing: Law & Order: Criminal Justice System S2

At 1:40 AM on Saturday, September 28, 1974, police got a call about a traffic accident on State Highway 77 in Crittenden County Arkansas, three miles north of the Lake David Overpass. When they got there they found a 1964 Chevrolet which was stopped in the southbound lane of the highway.  Near the abandoned car in a ditch, they found the body of 35-year-old Fred New Jr., a married father of three who worked the night shift at a local trucking company.  Fred had been shot, three times, at very close range, with a shotgun. He had been shot in the neck, the side and the elbow.  His shoes and socks had been removed and he had no identification. His pockets were turned out and the money he had on him which according to his wife was around $200, had been stolen. There was blood in the front of the car. Fred was lying in a pool of blood near the back of the vehicle - so either his killer or killers threw him out of the car, or he stumbled out after being shot and his killer fired the final shot or shots outside the car.  Police got the  call about Fred’s car after another driver ran into it, as it was stalled on the highway. But that driver fled the scene. And then, near where Fred’s body was found, police learned that a local gas station had been robbed. So they had a robbery, a hit-and-run, and a brutal execution style murder - all in the same night in the same small town. If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi, Hell and Gone listeners! We're excited to share with you a sneak peek at iHeartPodcasts' latest release, Wisecrack! Wisecrack: Edd Hedges, the once chubby kid without many friends, is now a young, handsome, stand-up comedian, packing theaters from London to Sydney.  After making a name for himself on the road as “The Millennial Mike Birbiglia,” Edd returns to his hometown village, Stansted Mountfitchet, UK, to headline a charity event after a four-year absence, giving him a few days to reconnect with his working-class family.   What Edd didn’t know was that his schoolmate – a boy that had bullied him, making his adolescence years a living nightmare – had begun to unravel during the years Edd was building his career. The former star athlete was on a downward spiral, in and out of jail. The most popular kid in town was now the town milkman, and on that night, he would become the town murderer… with Edd still on his mind. This genre-bending event will weave in Edd's stand up set, recounting the scariest night of his life, and the deadliest night in his small village. “Wisecrack,” the world's first mash-up of true crime narrative and stand-up comedy, is one tough act to follow.  Listen to Wisecrack on the iHeartRadio App or wherever you get your podcasts!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On June 14, 2000, there was a huge storm brewing in northeast Arkansas. It had been raining heavily all day and according to local weather data, tornados had hit. Over 100 trees were downed, power lines were down and homes were destroyed.  Twenty year old Amanda Tusing was hanging out with her fiancé, Matt Ervin, at his apartment in Jonesboro. Amanda lived 40 miles away in Dell, Arkansas, which is in Mississippi County, with her father Ed, her mother Susan and her twin brother, Andy. She also had an older brother who worked out of state.  Matt didn’t want her to go home that night. It was about a 45-minute drive on a good day, and the weather was bad, but Amanda wanted to get home. So she left Jonesboro at around 11:30 pm and should have gotten home around 12:30 at the latest. Amanda told Matt that she would call him from her parents landline as soon as she got home. She did have a cell phone but never kept it charged. But Matt never got that call and by 1:30 he was concerned. Matt called Amanda’s mother, Susan Tusing, and woke her up. She went to check to see if Amanda was in bed, and when she went into her bedroom, she saw that the bed had not been slept in and that Amanda was not home.  This was totally unlike her, and they knew something happened. So her dad and brother drove toward Dell, and Matt left his house in Jonesboro and started driving down Highway 18 in the opposite direction. Their plan was that they would meet in the middle and hopefully see her or her car along the route.   Matt saw her 1992 Pontiac Grand Am parked under a streetlight on the shoulder of AR Highway 18 about a mile west of the small town of Monette. It was on the side of the road and looked like it was parked there intentionally - not like she randomly swerved over. Matt got out of his car, walked over and looked inside.  If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to us at our Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It was around midnight on Sunday August 25, 1996, and 14-year-old Caroline Glachan was out walking on a path by the River Leven in Bonhill, Scotland. She told a friend she was on her way to a date.  Caroline's curfew was 2 am. But she never made it home. In the morning, her mother woke up, alarmed. She started calling Caroline’s friends, but no one had seen her. So she called the police, and they immediately started searching for Caroline.  It didn’t take them long to find her. Later that day, August 25, just after 4 pm, her body was found floating in the river.  Almost thirty years later, her killers were finally convicted.  If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Law & Order: Criminal Justice System is back with Season Two, turning its focus to a threat that hides in plain sight, harder to predict and even harder to stop: terrorism. Hear the real stories from those who lived it, worked it, and risked everything to confront it. Listen here and subscribe to Law & Order: Criminal Justice System S2 on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the early morning hours of n July 30 1977, Charles Boatwright was hanging out with his cousin Ronnie Lewis at the home of another cousin of theirs Loy Harriman in Wesley, Arkansas.  According to police statements, the three cousins stayed up all night, and early in the morning, they decided to go fishing in an area called War Eagle.  At around 5 AM they piled into Charles’ truck and started driving. But they needed some food, so en route, they decided to stop at the store to buy some hot dogs to roast during their fishing trip.  The Frederick's Grocery and Service Station located at the intersection of Highway 68 and 23 in the northwest portion of Huntsville, Arkansas. In a small town, it’s a popular destination to get early morning gas or late night snacks, and back in 1977,  it was open 24 hours a day.  As Charles, Loy and Ronnie pulled up to the store, two women pulled up right behind them. All five of them entered the store. At first, they didn't see anyone inside.  But then, Loy said “it looks like someone is hurt up there." At that point, Charles said that he walked up to the left side of the register and saw a man’s feet sticking out.  The man was 20-year-old University of Arkansas Student Rex Terrell, who worked the overnight shift at Frederick’s. He was lying in a pool of blood and gasping for breath. It looked like he had been shot multiple times.   One of the women tried to give him mouth to mouth resuscitation, but it was too late. He died there, on the floor of the gas station, in a pool of his own blood. Nothing from the store had been taken.  The whole community wanted to know, who would want to shoot a likable, kind and hard-working young man with seemingly no enemies, and leave him there to die in a pool of his own blood?  If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It was around 7 pm on August 13, 1981, and 36-year-old Carol Morgan was working the till at her corner shop in a town called Leighton Buzzard in the county of Bedfordshire, England.  This was a close knit community. Carol owned and ran the shop with her husband, Allen Morgan. Everyone in town knew and loved Carol, who was described by friends and family as warm, caring, genuine and friendly. Carol loved the shop, and the other lights of her life were her two children from a previous marriage. On that night, Carol was working at the shop alone, getting ready for closing, which was at 6pm.  Her husband was at the movie theater in Luton with his two stepchildren. But at some point, someone surprised Carol.  Allen and the children got home at around 10:10 pm.  Shortly after arriving at the house, Allen raced to a neighbor’s house and asked him to come to the shop. The neighbor followed Allen into the storeroom and saw Carol in a pool of blood.  Forensic testing revealed that Carol had been brutally beaten and stabbed with a weapon, something like an axe or a machete, something heavy but very sharp. She had been hit so hard that pieces of her skull and brain matter were on the floor.  The police investigation would last 43 years and would take a lot of strange twists and turns to find out: Who came into that store and hacked Carole to death?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Monday, December 11, 2023 22-year-old Lauren Johansen and her boyfriend, Bricen Rivers, were on vacation in Nashville and out at a bar.  Bricen and Lauren had known each other for years. They had dated on and off since high school and on the surface, seemed happy. But behind the scenes, the relationship was violent. Lauren’s father later told police that Bricen was physically abusive to his daughter, and that he had stalked Lauren for years.   On December 11, things took a horrific turn. Lauren and Bricen were hanging out at a bar when Bricen flew into a jealous rage and accused Lauren of having sex with a bartender. The fight continued after they left the bar. Hours later, police came to the scene and found Lauren screaming in a parking lot. She had been hit dozens of times, brutally beaten. The inside of the car was covered in blood.  They arrested Bricen and he was charged with aggravated kidnapping, aggravated stalking, and coercion of a witness. He was taken to jail, and a judge set his bail at $250,000. It seemed like Lauren and Bricen’s violent relationship was finally at an end. But tragically, that was not the case.  Bricen’s lawyer asked for a reduced bond, and in March, the judge agreed to lower it. So on June 24, 2024 Bricen was released from Davidson County Jail. Eight days later, Lauren Johansen was found dead in the trunk of her car. If you have a case you’d like me and my team to look into, you can reach out to us at our Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. That’s 678-744-6145.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On June 27, 2000, Magi Bish drove her 16-year-old daughter, Molly Bish, to her summer lifeguarding job at Comins Pond in Warren, Massachusetts. Molly, the youngest in a close-knit family with her parents Magi and John, sister Heather, and brother John Jr., had started her new job eight days prior.  A bright, athletic, and social teen, Molly had just been to her first prom, was on the honor roll, and played multiple sports. Her parents had relocated to Warren from Detroit, believing it was a safe place to raise a family. The day before Molly vanished, Magi noticed a mustached man in a white sedan staring at Molly in the pond's parking lot. Though he didn’t act overtly threatening, Magi felt uneasy enough to wait until he left. On June 27, she didn’t see him and felt reassured. As Molly got out of the car, she said to he mom, “I love you, Mom.” And that was the last time Magi ever saw her daughter alive. If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the early morning hours of July 4, 2002, 4-year-old Dannarriah Finley was sleeping in her bedroom in her home in Orange, Texas.  Orange is the easternmost city in Texas, and it’s right across the border from Louisiana on the Sabine River. It feels like a small town. The population was only about 19,000.  Dannarriah lived with her mother, 26-year-old Jaime Arnold, and her two sisters. For the July 4th celebrations, three of their young cousins were staying over with them.  Jaime came home from work that night and put the kids to bed at around 1:30 am. She told police that she checked on the kids at around 3 or 4 am.  Everything seemed fine, so she went to sleep. She woke up the next morning at around 10 am. Dannarriah’s sisters and cousins were playing at home, but Dannarriah….was gone. If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.