Crime on the Couch

This is the end...

Hear the unexpected twist in Part 2 of Crime in the Corn Belt!   Check out the dateline episode "Scorned"

When a bright, charming woman from a small town starts exhibiting symptoms of mania, her family worries for her safety, and a man and his ex-girlfriend start worrying about theirs. Listen to Part 1 of this twisty, turny case!

Leonard Lake, Charles  Ng, and Cricket Balazs raped and/or murdered an estimated 25 people in only 1 year. What drove them to engage in this disturbing fantasy? A book that Leonard read when he was teenager. Listen as Coral and Dusty take a deep dive into the psychology of this twisted trio.   Leonard Lake and Charles Ng: Journey into Evil-YouTube

Pam Hupp murdered a man who she told police was an intruder. With a little more digging, police learned quickly that Pam's version of the story was far from the truth. Listen to the second half of Pam's case and Coral and Dusty's breakdown of the psychopathology gathered from case details. 

When Betsy Faria was murdered in her home, suspicions immediately turned to her husband. But when it was discovered that her close friend, Pam Hupp, was the last to see her alive, AND that only days before her muder, Betsy's life insurance policy was suddenly transferred to Pam, police should have shifted their attention. They didn't. Listen as Coral and Dusty discuss the way Pam manipulated the Faria family and local police with her verbal gymnastics. 

Willie Pickton grew up on a pig farm, the same pig farm that would later become the murder site for as many as 49 women. Listen as Coral and Dusty discuss how Pickton got away with murder for so long. 

Pearl Fernandez did the unthinkable; she and her boyfriend, Isauro, tortured and murdered her 8-year-old son. But why was their abuse allowed to continue even after DCFS and the sheriff's department visited their home multiple times? Listen as Coral and Dusty discuss the individual psychopathology involved, as well as the culture of secrecy within the DCFS system. 

When Marina Calabro was discovered dead at the bottom of a three story flight of stairs, her death was deemed an accident. But Quincy, MA police weren't so sure. Listen as Coral and Dusty discuss the list of suspects, and the police's relentless pursuit of the truth. 

Luz Cuevas lost her newborn daughter in a devastating house fire. Overcome with grief, Luz held on tightly to the belief that her daughter was still alive, growing up somewhere with another family. Everyone, including Luz's closest friends and family, thought she was crazy...but was she? Listen as Coral and Dusty discuss the possible motives of this unbelievable crime.  Sources: Crime Show: 18 Minutes Dad's Turn With 'Dead' Daughter - CBS News

Sixteen year old, Suzanne Capper, was tortured and murdered by four people, two of whom she considered family. Listen as Coral and Dusty discuss the role of group dynamics in this case. 

Christine Paolilla, a shy girl, blossomed with the help of her two best friends, Rachel and Tiffany. When they graduated high school a year ahead of her, she fell in love with a guy who led her astray...or was he really her perfect match? Listen as Coral and Dusty discuss the details of this teenage love story gone very, very wrong. 

Former Sunday School teacher, Melissa Huckaby, sexually assaulted and murdered 8-year-old Sandra Cantu because...well, no one really knows why. Listen as Coral and Dusty discuss the possible motives. 

Wealthy philanthropist John du Pont became increasingly eccentric and paranoid during his time on his Olympic wresting training facility. Consumed by delusions that his athletes were conspiring against him, he shot and killed friend and trainer Dave Schultz. Was this murder fueled by drugs, or did he have these paranoid inclinations before he began using? Listen as Coral and Dusty discuss the interplay of drug use and schizophrenia spectrum disorders. 

Veronica Bozza was shot and killed in her home by an unknown assailant, where she was found shortly after by her boyfriend. Going through a rough divorce with her soon-to-be ex-husband, a long line of suspects kept police busy. But the perpetrator turned out to be someone unexpected...  

Registered sex offender, Melvin Rowland, lied to his 20-year-old girlfriend, Lauren McCluskey, about his job, his age, his name...well, just about everything. When she discovered who he really was, she broke up with him. When he started harassing her, she did everything she could to protect herself, including making contact with police over 20 times asking for help, but to no avail. It wasn't until he shot and killed her that police finally started paying attention. Listen as Coral and Dusty discuss the role of borderline characteristics in the perpetration of violence. 

Robert Courtney, a Kansas City Pharmacist, diluted life-saving chemotherapy drugs so that he could make a larger profit. Listen as Coral and Dusty discuss his personality makeup, and normal versus pathological narcissism in this hometown episode. 

When 15-year-old Audrie Pott was sexually assaulted by three boys at a high school party, she became the target of further harassment and humiliation when the boys shared pictures they had taken of the assault.  A week later, she committed suicide. Listen as Coral and Dusty discuss the limitation of the adolescent brain in processing this kind of trauma. 

In the early 1900s, there was a rash of axe murders targeting African-American families in Louisiana and Texas. When word began to spread that a "Voodoo priestess" was responsible for the murders, the media ran wild with the mostly unfounded story, spreading fear and misinformation about the motivations for the crimes. Listen as Coral and Dusty discuss the difference between accepted religious practices and symptoms of a mental illness.  

Nicoh Mayhew, a young man just starting his family and his life, was shot to death while holding his 2-year-old son, on his mother's front porch. Why would his blood-relative have him targeted for murder? Listen as Coral and Dusty discuss the details of this harrowing case. 

When Rebecca Zahau was found hanging nude, bound, and gagged, San Diego Sheriff ignored important evidence and declared her death a suicide. Listen as Coral and Dusty review the forensic evidence and the list of suspects and motives. 

Grandfather, mall Santa, and serial killer: not three descriptions you typically hear together. After 8 men went missing in the Village neighborhood in Toronto, police discovered this wholesome landscaper had been murdering men right under their noses for years and using his clients properties to hide the bodies. Check your planters, folks.

Chelsi and Alex met at a young age and instantly fell in love. When Alex shared with Chelsi about his dangerous, secret job, she felt sorry him. She wanted to help, so when he came to her asking for her help in concealing the death of his own parents, she obliged. Listen as Coral and Dusty discuss one of the more unusual symptoms of antisocial personality disorder.

Coral and Dusty have a few more things to say about Larry Nassar before moving on to discuss the case of Australian serial killer and rapist Peter Dupas. Dupas went to prison multiple times for rape and assault before he was finally arrested for murdering three women. Listen as Coral and Dusty discuss how he fooled authorities, and a psychiatric nurse he met in prison and eventually married, into believing over and over that he had "reformed." 

Sports doctor to Olympic gymnasts, Larry Nassar abused his power and the trust of his patients through decades of sexual abuse. Adding insult to injury, those in authority knew of the abuse early in his career, and chose to do nothing. Listen as Coral and Dusty describe how the culture of elite gymnastics training made the perfect environment for a predator like Larry Nassar.  

Stephen Griffiths killed three women while earning a PhD in Forensic Psychology, dismembered their bodies, disposing them in a nearby while creating violent websites. So...yeah. 

American solider, Eddie Leonski, murdered three women in Australia while stationed there in the 1940s, all because he wanted to...collect their voices? Yeah, we're confused, too. Listen for yourself and decide if you think they were right when they determined he was "sane" and sentenced him to death.  Thank you to all our listeners who helped us get to episode 50!! We're taking a short break but will be back in your feed on April 6 with brand new episodes! And don't forget, if you still want a fresh episode in March, sign up for Patreon now at patreon.com/crimeonthecouch! Thanks!

German serial killer, Jurgen Bartsch, was arrested at the age of 19 after kidnapping, molesting, and horrifically murdering 4 young boys. After his arrest, he admitted to attempting to kill over 100 boys! Listen as Coral and Dusty discuss criminal responsibility in the case of this sexual sadist, and decide for yourself if his own death was a form of poetic justice or yet another tragic misfortune. 

Crime on the Couch is celebrating the one year anniversary of the podcast!! Listen as Coral and Dusty countdown their favorite episodes. 

In 2007, Paris Bennett, age 13, murdered his 4-year-old sister, Ella. Paris' father had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, so when Paris said he did it because he thought she was a demon, his mother believed him...at first. Did he have schizophrenia, too? Or were his claims a guise designed to mask his burgeoning psychopathy? You decide as you hear Coral and Dusty discuss the complex (ugh, actually super clear cut) case of Paris Bennett and the heritability of psychopathy.    

Using her training and skills as a nurse, Elizabeth Wettlaufer used insulin to kill 8 elderly people in residential care facilities. Ridden by guilt after her first murder, she confessed to her girlfriend, who did nothing. Continuing her killing spree after struggling with obsessions of injecting her patients, she confessed again, and again, and again. Finally, after confessing for the 5th time, she was brought to justice. Listen as Coral and Dusty describe how OCD may have played a role in this nurses deadly obsessions. 

When she woke up naked, bound, and bleeding in a park, Amber Smith started screaming for help. With a broken jaw, and a cloudy memory, she told detectives all that she could remember about her assault, which wasn't much. She didn't know who was behind it, and neither did the police. After 4 years of searching, Amber finally got an answer...and she literally couldn't believe who it was. Listen as Coral and Dusty discuss both the diagnosis and treatment of PTSD following a trauma, and how unhealthy masturbation material can reinforce dangerous sexual behaviors. 

Lisa Montgomery, already a mother of four children, had been lying to friends and family that she was pregnant again. When her husband threatened to expose her lie to gain custody of their children, she stole an unborn child from her mother's womb and attempted to pass the child off as her own. Montgomery, a survivor of horrific childhood abuse, unquestionably suffered from mental health issues; however, did these mental health issues impair her ability to understand right from wrong? Listen as Coral and Dusty discuss the very complicated case of Lisa Montgomery. 

Better known for his crime than by name, Nathuram Godse was the man who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi in 1948. Driven not by psychopathology, but rather an extreme devotion to "Hindutva" or Hindu nationalism, he saw Gandhi's message of nonviolence as a threat to his beliefs. Listen as Coral and Dusty discuss the psychology behind nationalism in this completely-apolitical-and-not-at-all-related-to-current-events episode! 

Anne Hamilton-Byrne was a female cult leader who illegally adopted and abused 28 children while forcing them to take valium and LSD. Toting herself as a spiritual guru, and a female reincarnation of Jesus Christ, was she delusional, narcissistic, or brain damaged from the years of LSD use? Listen now and find out!

Amy Bishop graduated from Harvard with a PhD in genetics, married, had four children, and settled into what she thought would be a successful academic career at the University of Alabama. But it wasn't long before the complaints came rolling in; complaints from her students, from supervisors, and from colleagues. They said she was "odd, erratic, and eccentric." So it was a surprise only to Amy when she didn't get tenure, which came as a crushing blow to her ego. In an act of rage, she opened fire on her peers in a faculty meeting. Was her rage the result of a narcissistic injury, a long standing psychotic disorder, or nothing pathological at all? Listen to hear Coral and Dusty put this crime on the couch. 

Imagine loving someone so much, that you would kill your own mother just to be with them. This was exactly the case for Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme, two teenage girls who lived in New Zealand in the 1950s. When Honora Parker threatened to keep the two girls apart, they beat her to death with a brick. These two girls shared a rich fantasy life, but was their decision to kill Pauline's mother the result of a shared psychotic disorder, or was it a just a deadly lapse in judgement and adolescent emotional dysregulation? Decide for yourself as Coral and Dusty discuss the case of Parker and Hulme. 

Ariel Castro kidnapped and repeatedly raped three girls for 11 years (11 YEARS!!!), initially luring them into his car using their friendship with his daughter as bait. One of his victims gave birth to his daughter, who also lived in captivity until she was 6 years old. Listen as Coral and Dusty scoff at the defense for his abhorrent actions and coin a new and completely made up term for someone who has both narcissistic and anti-social personality disorder. 

John Robinson at first glance was a wholesome family man. No one ever suspected that he was secretly manipulating, abducting, and murdering women then storing them in chemical drums . Listen as Coral and Dusty revisit the intersection of narcissism and antisocial personality disorders, and discuss shame in narcissism. 

In November 1998, Polish college student, 23-year-old Katarzyna Zowada disappeared. Roughly 2 months later, her (gulp) skin was found entangled in the propellers of a tugboat, sewn into a (gulp)...suit. Investigators initially thought they had a Silence of the Lambs copycat on their hands; fortunately, they were wrong. It would be another 19 years before they finally found her murderer, and you couldn't write a more perfect profile of a man who would sew a skin suit if you tried! 

When 13-year-old Nicholas Barclay went missing from San Antonio, Texas in 1994, his family worried they'd never hear from him again. Three years later, their hopes came true when he was found in...Spain? And boy had he changed. The blonde haired, blue-eyed, fair complected  boy had become a dark haired, brown-eyed, olive complected man! Was he really who he claimed to be? Listen as Coral and Dusty fumble their way through explaining this one! 

Charity Payne, a naive small town girl from Indiana, found herself sentenced to 165 years in prison after being found guilty on three counts of murder, but...she wasn't present at the scene of the crime, and the jury knew that. How could this be so? Listen as Coral and Dusty discuss the unusual legal aspects of this case, and decide for yourself if justice was served. 

Coral and Dusty are taking a mental health break this week. Stay tuned for a new episode next week!

Dennis Nilsen spent his life simultaneously craving human connection while fearing intimacy. As a young man, he began having sexual fantasies about sleeping with dead bodies, as these fantasies developed, so did his deadly behavior. #crimeonthecouch #serialkillers #truecrimepodcast #truecrimecommunity

Can good people do bad things? That's the question in today's episode as Coral and Dusty discuss the case of Bernie Tiede, a man loved by an entire town, even after he murdered an elderly woman he cared for. Listen as the hosts argue for both sides and make the decision yourself...on which side of the line would you put Bernie?

Colleen Stan endured years of torture and abuse at the hands of Cameron Hooker and his wife, Janice. Only 20 years old when she was abducted by the couple, Colleen found that the only way she could survive was to submit. Eventually freed after over 7 years of suffering, she was forced to face it all again during her trail. Listen as Coral and Dusty discuss retraumatization during trial, victim-blaming, and the role that Janice played in the unfolding of the case. 

Joseph Kallinger was a troubled man. He spent much of his childhood being abused, and much of his adult life in and out of prison and psychiatric hospitals. A perpetrator of arson, rape, and murder, it was perhaps most troubling that he recruited his 13-year-old son to be his accomplice in these crimes. Listen as Coral and Dusty discuss how one can be both mentally ill and exaggerating symptoms for personal gain. Also, how much culpability can a young boy have in these crimes when his own father is insisting he participate? And with Halloween right around the corner, Dusty leads us in his second installment of "Guess the Movie from the Trailer/Coral Scared Stupid/Name that Movie"...or whatever. It's fun! 

Therapy is supposed to be safe. It should, at the very least, not be harmful. Unfortunately, Candace Newmaker experienced just the opposite. Subjected to "rebirthing" at the end of a two-week intensive Attachment Therapy session, 10-year-old Candace was suffocated during this "treatment" while her adoptive mother and two unlicensed therapist watched and participated in the smothering. Get ready for a lot of air quotes as Coral and Dusty discuss the danger of fringe therapies. 

Steven Stayner was only 7 years old when he was abducted by Kenneth Parnell, a convicted sex offender. For 7 years, Steven was held captive by Parnell and forced to live under a pseudonym as his son. Seven years later, it was Parnell's abduction of 5-year-old Timmy White that would push Steven to free not only himself, but Timmy also. Finally free to reveal his true identity, Steven told his story to police, saying, "I know my first name is Steven." But this wouldn't be the end of the Stayner story...Listen as Coral and Dusty discuss exclusive versus opportunistic pedophilia and simple versus complex trauma. 

More commonly known as Bonnie and Clyde, this deadly duo tore their way through the Midwest in the 1930s. During the course of their 2+ year crime spree, they were responsible for the deaths of at least 13 people, many of whom were law enforcement. Listen as Coral and Dusty discuss a theory on what made Bonnie so attracted to this life of crime. Is it a mental illness that makes some women so attracted to dangerous men? Also, hear about how Clyde's traumatic prison experience turned him from a petty thief to a cold-blooded killer. Finally, as we gear up for Halloween, Dusty leads a spooky-themed, multimedia game!* *Scientifically proven to not work for skippers.  

In a small town in Kansas in 1959, a well-respected family was murdered in the middle of the night.  With no known enemies and very few clues, this unthinkable act left investigators stumped, until a tip from a Lansing State Penitentiary inmate broke the case wide open.  Listen as Coral and Dusty discuss acquired psychopathy due to head injury in this landmark true crime story.