Southern True Crime Episodes
July 8, 2025
105. North Carolina's First Serial Killer: The Chilling Confession of Asbury Respus
In 1931, a little girl named Vera Leonard vanished while waiting for the school bus in Guilford County, NC. Hours later, her body was found in the ashes of her burned-down home. The man arrested—“Will Moore”—turned out to be ...
June 10, 2025
103. Moonshine and Murder in the Smoky Mountains: The Perry’s Camp Murders of 1949
In 1949, deep in the Smoky Mountains of Sevier County, Tennessee, a savage double murder shattered the stillness of a quiet Appalachian community. Charlie Perry—a former Knoxville bootlegger turned tourist camp owner—and his ...
March 26, 2025
97. Blood in the Quarter: The 1927 Louisiana Trunk Murders
🎙️ Hard Times & True Crimes Show Notes: In the fall of 1927, New Orleans was buzzin’ with jazz, bootleg liquor, and secrets behind every shuttered window. But nothing prepared the city for what was found inside a quiet little apartment at 715 Ursulines Street. Two women—Theresa Moity and her si…
Feb. 19, 2025
92. The 1983 Murder of Kathleen Bedsole by David Duren in Birmingham Alabama
In this episode, we revisit the dark case of Kathleen Bedsole's murder in 1983, and the attempted murder of Charles Leonard, Jr., a crime that shook the communities surrounding Birmingham, Alabama to their core. We delve into the disturbed mind of David Duren, the man accused of the brutal killing,…
Feb. 13, 2025
91.Love Lost: The Valentine’s Day Murders of Jesse McBane & Patricia Mann in Durham, North Carolina
Episode Summary: On Valentine’s Day 1971, a young couple Jesse McBane and Patricia Mann vanished after a romantic night in Durham, North Carolina. Days later, their bound and strangled bodies were discovered deep in the woods. Their deaths were no accident—this was a meticulously staged murder. Ove…
Jan. 28, 2025
89. Murder at Muddy Creek: The Ida Ball Warren Case in Winston Salem, North Carolina
In this episode, we delve into the lesser-known case of Ida Ball Warren, a woman from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, whose story shocked the state in 1914. It all began with the discovery of a body in Muddy Creek—a chilling f...
Jan. 22, 2025
88. Mayberry's Dark Day: The 1951 Bombing in Mount Airy, North Carolina
On New Year's Day 1951, a respected member of the Mt. Airy community was targeted in a car bombing. He was a teacher, a new husband, the son of a police chief, and an upstanding citizen. It took two years for the bomber to be...
Jan. 14, 2025
87. Murder in the North Carolina Mountains: Nancy Ann Kerley
In 1913 Nancy Ann Kerley's name became infamous in the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina. Her story remains a chilling legend in the region's history. Listen to this episode to find out why. Music By Memphis Robinson Gora Sources: newspapers.com findagrave.com https://www.facebook.com/LadyFro…
Dec. 24, 2024
86. Charlie and Frankie Silver: Tragedy in Western North Carolina
Days before Christmas in 1831, Charlie Silver went missing from his home, leaving behind a young wife and baby. In the mountains of Western North Carolina, his family searched to no avail. Unfortunately, Charlie was eventuall...
Dec. 4, 2024
83. The Morgan Murders: Cumming, Georgia
The residents of Cumming, Georgia were in an uproar in 1972 after two sheriff deputies were murdered. Just months later, in the same vicinity, a middle-aged couple was murdered in their bed and the community was on edge. Wer...
Nov. 13, 2024
80. The Murder of Crystal Faye Todd in Conway, South Carolina
In 1991, seventeen year old Crystal Faye Todd didn't come after a night out with friends. Her mother instinctively knew something was wrong. Listen to the story of the disappearance, rape and brutal murder of an all-American girl from Conway, South Carolina. Music by Isaiah Hildreth Sources: newspa…
June 25, 2024
65. Paul Dennis Reid: Nashville's Fast Food Serial Killer
Paul Dennis Reid also known as The Fast Food Killer is Nashville’s most notorious serial Killer. He was convicted and given seven death sentences for murdering seven people from various fast food restaurants in the Nashville ...
April 16, 2024
56. North Carolina's Killer Baptist Preacher: Reverend George Washington Carawan
Reverend George Washington Carawan was charged and found guilty of the murder of a school teacher named Clement H. Lassiter . After learning the jury had found him guilty and that he would be hanged for his crime, Reverend ...
March 6, 2024
50. The Snowden Family Murders
Martha McKay was found murdered on her family property in Horseshoe Lake, Arkansas. Her mother was found murdered on the same property twenty-four years earlier. . Travis Lewis was Martha's killer--the same person convicted...
Jan. 16, 2024
44. Grave Consequences
On March 1, 1922, Tennessee sent four men ( under the age of twenty) to the electric chair to pay with their lives for the life they took. Music by Isaiah Hildreth Male Narrator: Curtis Hildreth Sources: newspapers.com The ...
Dec. 23, 2023
42. Christmas Eve Special - Lowe Daniels
In 1914, Lowe Daniels lived in the Uwharrie forest. He made his living making and selling whiskey. One day he came home from a trip and out of nowhere, shot his wife, his wife's seventeen year old sister, his seventeen year ...
Dec. 19, 2023
41. Janie Gibbs: The Serial Killing Mother
In 1966 a father in Georgia died suddenly from an apparent heart attack. He was just 39 years old. Just seven months later his 13-year-old son became sick suddenly and passed away within a short time. Mysterious deaths conti...
Dec. 6, 2023
39. Boone, North Carolina: The Bathtub Murders
During a snowstorm in early 1972, a Boone, NC family is shockingly murdered in their own home. At first, it appears to be a robbery gone bad, but upon further inspection, that theory does not seem to add up. It was a crime th...
Sept. 26, 2023
31. Nell Cropsey: A Murder That Still Haunts North Carolina
On the night of November 20, 1901, Nell Cropsey vanished from her family's home in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. Thirty-seven days later her body was found floating in the Pasquotank River. There was only ever one real suspect but did authorities get it right? Sources: Music by: Isaiah Hildreth M…
Sept. 20, 2023
30. Who Would Want Patricia Blakely Dead? A Chilling Crime in Pleasant Garden, North Carolina
When a house fire in Pleasant Garden, NC is determined to have been started by arson, and a resident is found inside dead from a gunshot, the sheriff's department has its work cut out for it. Friends, family, and fellow churc...
Sept. 13, 2023
29. The Hanging of Thomas Bowman
In 1877, 47 year old Thurza Bowman died a violent death. An autopsy revealed she had been poisoned by strychnine. Suspicion would immediately fall on her husband. After many conflicting testimonies and two trials, Thomas Bow...
Aug. 22, 2023
27. Poor Naomi Wise
Naomi (Omie) Wise was an orphan girl. She fell in love with a young gentleman named Johnathan Lewis. Naomi found out she was pregnant. When she told Lewis, he told her to meet him that night so they could run away and get ...
June 29, 2023
19. Bloody Edgar Watson
In 1910, a mob of angry Floridians gathered at Smallwood store in Chokoloskee. They gunned down their neighbor, a plantation owner named Edgar Watson. He was a suspected and feared serial killer. Want to support us? Go to h...
May 25, 2023
15. Brenda Holland: The Outer Banks Murder
In the summer of 1967, on a small island off the coast of NC a young intern at the outdoor drama, The Lost Colony, vanished. Nineteen year old Brenda Holland's body was found five days later in the Albemarle Sound. The suspec...