Notorious Bakersfield is a podcast that steps back in time to look at some of Bakersfield's most notorious crimes, events, and characters that have impacted this Central California Valley community.
Bakersfield, CA, USA
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The Notorious Bakersfield podcast is an incredible gem that I am proud to say I love. Hosted by the notorious Robert Petersen, who also happens to be my little brother, this podcast delves into the local true crime history of Bakersfield in a captivating and engaging manner. What sets this podcast apart is the unique perspective that Robert brings as a lifelong resident of the town. His extensive knowledge and research, combined with his passion for storytelling, make for an unforgettable listening experience.
One of the best aspects of The Notorious Bakersfield podcast is Robert's ability to tell these stories without resorting to hyperbole or sensationalism. He presents each cold case in a well-balanced and thoughtful manner, providing listeners with a thorough analysis that leaves them wanting more. The sound bytes are engaging and keep you hooked from start to finish. It's clear that a lot of hard work and effort goes into each episode, and it truly pays off.
However, my one complaint about this podcast is the frustrating wait time between episodes. Having become addicted to Robert's storytelling abilities, waiting seven days for the next installment feels like an eternity. Additionally, while I appreciate the concise nature of each episode, I can't help but wish they were longer. The content is so fascinating and well-presented that it leaves me craving for even more information.
In conclusion, The Notorious Bakersfield podcast is an absolute treasure for both residents of Bakersfield and true crime enthusiasts from all over. Whether you're familiar with the town or not, Robert's storytelling ability will captivate you from start to finish. The local knowledge he brings adds an extra layer of depth and authenticity to each episode. If you haven't already checked out this podcast, I highly recommend giving it a listen - you won't be disappointed. Keep up the excellent work, Robert!
Send Robert a Text! Joe and Dorothy Parrott were slain in their home in August 2008. Their murders went unsolved for months. This is their story. Purchase Notorious Bakersfield: The Book Volume II here: https://a.co/d/2XONnB1 ***SUBSCRIBE HERE*** For only $4 per month, you can Subscribe to Notorious Bakersfield to get access to the entire back catalog of episodes. Subscribe here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1784628/subscribe
Send Robert a Text! In April 1979, 14-year-old Dana Butler left her Bakersfield home to visit her grandparents—but never arrived. Two and a half days later, her body was discovered near Alfred Harrell Highway, launching a homicide investigation that would haun Bakersfield to this day. The case, tangled in allegations of drugs, power, and corruption, would eventually point to a well-connected former law enforcement official—whose shocking death only deepened the mystery.***SUBSCRIBE HERE***For only $4 per month, you can subscribe to Notorious Bakersfield to get access to the entire back catalog of episodes. Subscribe here:https://www.buzzsprout.com/1784628/subscribe Purchase Notorious Bakersfield: The Book Volume II here: https://a.co/d/2XONnB1 ***SUBSCRIBE HERE*** For only $4 per month, you can Subscribe to Notorious Bakersfield to get access to the entire back catalog of episodes. Subscribe here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1784628/subscribe
Send Robert a Text! When an off duty Kern County Sheriff's deputy shot and killed a fleeing unarmed teenage burglary suspect in the back, authorities grapple with whether a crime was committed.Buy your tickets to the Kern Literacy Council's Wine & Words fundraiser here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wine-words-notorious-bakersfield-robert-petersen-tickets-1343029008919***SUBSCRIBE HERE***For only $4 per month, you can subscribe to Notorious Bakersfield to get access to the entire back catalog of episodes. Subscribe here:https://www.buzzsprout.com/1784628/subscribe Purchase Notorious Bakersfield: The Book Volume II here: https://a.co/d/2XONnB1 ***SUBSCRIBE HERE*** For only $4 per month, you can Subscribe to Notorious Bakersfield to get access to the entire back catalog of episodes. Subscribe here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1784628/subscribe
Send Robert a Text! In the Summer of 1981, the community of Arvin, CA was stunned by the brutal murder of a 5-year-old boy. The trial of the accused, Filepe Sixto, dragged on for months. ***SUBSCRIBE HERE***For only $4 per month, you can subscribe to Notorious Bakersfield to get access to the entire back catalog of episodes. Subscribe here:https://www.buzzsprout.com/1784628/subscribe Purchase Notorious Bakersfield: The Book Volume II here: https://a.co/d/2XONnB1 Purchase Notorious Bakersfield: The Book Volume II here: https://a.co/d/2XONnB1 ***SUBSCRIBE HERE*** For only $4 per month, you can Subscribe to Notorious Bakersfield to get access to the entire back catalog of episodes. Subscribe here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1784628/subscribe
Send Robert a Text! He came to Bakersfield in 2001 as a respected dental specialist with impressive credentials. But behind the newspaper ads and TV commercials was a man with a troubling past. This is the story of Dr. Robert Tupac's dramatic rise—and devastating fall. Purchase Notorious Bakersfield: The Book Volume II here: https://a.co/d/2XONnB1 ***SUBSCRIBE HERE*** For only $4 per month, you can Subscribe to Notorious Bakersfield to get access to the entire back catalog of episodes. Subscribe here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1784628/subscribe
Send Robert a Text! On a misty Sunday morning in January 1970, gunfire shattered the quiet of a northeast Bakersfield neighborhood when an undercover heroin bust turned into a chaotic shootout outside a 7-Eleven. What followed was a dramatic case of mistaken identity, a wounded state narcotics agent, and a story that would echo through Bakersfield lore for decades.Support Notorious Bakersfield, Buy Me A Coffee: Click Here! Purchase Notorious Bakersfield: The Book Volume II here: https://a.co/d/2XONnB1
Send Robert a Text! This is a tale of jealousy, violence, and a midnight meal gone horribly wrong—one that began inside a Chinese restaurant on L Street in the summer of 1902 and ended with two people dead. The man accused of pulling the trigger was a troubled oil field worker known around town as Kid Robbins. Support Notorious Bakersfield, Buy Me A Coffee: Click Here! Purchase Notorious Bakersfield: The Book Volume II here: https://a.co/d/2XONnB1
Send Robert a Text! When Bakersfield police officers discovered Clifford Johnson's body in an upper-middle-class neighborhood in Northeast Bakersfield, they initially believed it was a clear case of suicide. But was it? Support Notorious Bakersfield, Buy Me A Coffee: Click Here! Purchase Notorious Bakersfield: The Book Volume II here: https://a.co/d/2XONnB1
Send Robert a Text! Notorious Bakersfield Brief: This is a bizzar story about how a 78-year-old great grandmother fought off a rapist. On a April night in 1984, a young woman named Kathy Hyde visited Tex's Barrel House, a popular Country/Western bar near Garces Circle. An encounter in the parking lot would lead to a horrifying act of violence that would leave one person dead, another permanently scarred, and a mystery that would haunt Bakersfield for years. This is the story of Murder at Tex's Barrel House.Support Notorious Bakersfield, Buy Me A Coffee: Click Here! Purchase Notorious Bakersfield: The Book Volume II here: https://a.co/d/2XONnB1
Send Robert a Text! In this episode you will learn what was located at the location of Bakersfield's Mexicali restaraunt, and the headline-making crime that took place there almost 80 years ago. Support Notorious Bakersfield, Buy Me A Coffee: Click Here! Purchase Notorious Bakersfield: The Book Volume II here: https://a.co/d/2XONnB1
Send Robert a Text! Notorious Bakersfield Brief: Harley Harty was a retired deputy from the KCSO. His life was never the same after he suffered a stroke in 1979. The Pump Room Murder: Bob and Doris Gardner purchased the Pump Room bar on Edison Highway in 1986. This new chapter in their lives quickly turned violent. Support Notorious Bakersfield, Buy Me A Coffee: Click Here! Purchase Notorious Bakersfield: The Book Volume II here: https://a.co/d/2XONnB1
Send Robert a Text! Purchase Notorious Bakersfield: The Book Volume II here: https://a.co/d/2XONnB1
Send Robert a Text! Notorious Bakersfield Brief: The Lottery CurseMaria Pizano and her three young children sought refuge from her abusive partner. Despite making progress in separating herself from him, things took a tragic turn. Support Notorious Bakersfield, Buy Me A Coffee: Click Here! Purchase Notorious Bakersfield: The Book Volume II here: https://a.co/d/2XONnB1
Send Robert a Text! Have you seen the guy running through the streets of downtown Bakersfield pulling a rickshaw? Have you ever wondered what his story is? I recently had a conversation with "Rickshaw Neil." Support Notorious Bakersfield, Buy Me A Coffee: Click Here!
Send Robert a Text! Notorious Bakersfield Brief: A Greenlawn Cemetary worker was shot while on his lunch break in front of his coworkers in 1974. Ruby Lee Jackson Meriweather was murdered in 2000. Her case went unsolved for nine years. Support Notorious Bakersfield, Buy Me A Coffee: Click Here! Purchase Notorious Bakersfield: The Book Volume II here: https://a.co/d/2XONnB1
Send Robert a Text! Almost thirty-seven years ago Lorraine Rodriguez was murdered. She was a single mother to two young daughters. Her case remains unsolved. Support Notorious Bakersfield, Buy Me A Coffee: Click Here! Purchase Notorious Bakersfield: The Book Volume II here: https://a.co/d/2XONnB1
Send Robert a Text! When an assailant beats a 90-year-old widow to death and seriously injures her daughter, it tends to shake up a community. Support Notorious Bakersfield, Buy Me A Coffee: Click Here! Purchase Notorious Bakersfield: The Book Volume II here: https://a.co/d/2XONnB1
Send Robert a Text! Shirley Jordan and her 10 year-old son Joey were murdered in their Oildale duplex in 1995. This is their story. Purchase Notorious Bakersfield: The Book Volume II here: https://a.co/d/2XONnB1
Send Robert a Text! Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho terrified audiences in 1960, forever changing how movies were experienced—including enforcing a strict "no late admission" policy to heighten suspense. That same summer, a Bakersfield teenager watched Psycho and returned home, only to hear unsettling noises from her neighbor's apartment—music, strange movements, and a chilling scream. Was it her imagination or something more terrifying? Purchase Notorious Bakersfield: The Book Volume II here: https://a.co/d/2XONnB1
Send Robert a Text! This Notorious Bakersfield episode explores the reason why the city of Bakersfield has two dates of incorporation. You'll be surprised to learn it is because of one unpleasant character. Purchase Notorious Bakersfield: The Book Volume II here: https://a.co/d/2XONnB1
Send Robert a Text! Purchase Notorious Bakersfield: The Book Volume II here: https://a.co/d/2XONnB1
Send Robert a Text! On a quiet April night in 1923, an engineer at the San Joaquin Light and Power Company, made a chilling discovery while clearing debris from Mill Ditch. What initially appeared to be a discarded doll turned out to be the lifeless body of a toddler, sparking a mystery that would soon deepen with the discovery of a brutally murdered woman nearby. Over a century later, the identities of these victims remain unknown, and the case stands as one of Bakersfield's oldest unsolved crimes.Purchase Notorious Bakersfield: The Book Volume II here: https://a.co/d/2XONnB1
Send Robert a Text! Bakersfield had never witnessed a crime of such magnitude in its history. A crime so shocking and heinous, it left the entire city reeling.In the summer of 2003, five members of a single family were found slain in their central Bakersfield home. The victims ranged from an elderly grandmother to a six-week-old infant.Within hours of the gruesome discovery, Bakersfield was thrust into the national spotlight.Purchase Notorious Bakersfield: The Book Volume II here: https://a.co/d/2XONnB1
Send Robert a Text! In April 2002, a quiet Bakersfield neighborhood was shaken by a brutal daylight attack. A year later, another shocking assault unfolded on the nearby Panorama Bluffs, but this time, a retired police officer intervened, preventing a tragedy. These two harrowing incidents would eventually connect, exposing the violent crimes of one man and spotlighting the bravery of Billy George Martin who stood up when it mattered mostPurchase Notorious Bakersfield: The Book Volume II here: https://a.co/d/2XONnB1
Send Robert a Text! Fort Cook, once an ambitious private resort envisioned as a celebrity haven, became a focal point of intrigue, rumors, and ultimately tragedy. The tale of its owner, Ronnie Cook—a musician turned entrepreneur—unfolds against a backdrop of mystique, scandal, and a shocking murder that shattered its idyllic façade.Purchase Notorious Bakersfield: The Book Volume II here: https://a.co/d/2XONnB1
Send Robert a Text! Purchase Notorious Bakersfield: The Book Volume II here: https://a.co/d/cAA4NyF
Send Robert a Text! The mystery of Trout's iconic neon sign has captivated Bakersfield for nearly seven years, a symbol of the city's rich honky-tonk history and the famed Bakersfield Sound. From its rise as a beloved music hotspot to its unceremonious closure in 2017, Trout's embodied the spirit of a bygone era. When its legendary sign disappeared, rumors swirled, and efforts to uncover its whereabouts spanned years Purchase Notorious Bakersfield: The Book Volume II here: https://a.co/d/cAA4NyF
Send Robert a Text! Christmas Eve morning in 1979, a young man went on a crime spree that included kidnapping, rape and murder. Purchase Notorious Bakersfield: The Book Volume II here: https://a.co/d/cAA4NyF
Send Robert a Text! At the heart of this story is a young Bakersfield man whose path from a rebellious childhood to a hardened criminal would forever stain his family's name back home in Bakersfield.Purchase Notorious Bakersfield: The Book Volume II here: https://a.co/d/cAA4NyF
Send Robert a Text! Diana Contreras was abducted from the Valley Plaza mall while Christmas shopping in 1993. Her body was found in Taft the next day. This is that story.
Send Robert a Text! The Kern County witch hunts of the 1980s involved a wave of child molestation and satanic ritual abuse accusations, leading to dozens of arrests and convictions based on coerced and unreliable testimony. Jackie and Jack Cummings, swept into the hysteria, fled to protect their family, enduring life on the run while fighting to clear their names. The Witches' Defense recounts their harrowing journey, exposing the flawed justice system and the mass panic that upended innocent lives.
Send Robert a Text! In April 1982, a husband and wife who managed a motel in Mojave were murdered. This is their story.
Send Robert a Text! This is the second documented murder that has occurred at this iconic downtown Bakersfield hotel. https://2024halloween.supercast.com/
Send Robert a Text! Yoli Espinoza was killed in her downtown Bakersfield apartment in 2003. One of her killers was a 14-year-old boy. https://2024halloween.supercast.com/
Send Robert a Text! In the mid-1920s showman Hayward Thompson brought his roadshow to Bakersfield for the citizens to marvel. https://2024halloween.supercast.com/
Send Robert a Text! I'll have a pop-up MEET & GREET tonight, Saturday, October 12th, from 7 to 9 pm at 3835 Ming Ave. That's the Starbucks, or the former Wendy's restaurant. If you're taking the Halloween Tour tonight, this location is the seventh point of interest on the tour. If you've already taken the tour, come by anyway. Stop in and say hi.Click here to purchase this year's Notorious Bakersfield Halloween Audio Driving Tour: https://2024halloween.supercast.com/I'll also have copies of Notorious Bakersfield The Book available for purchase. So if you haven't gotten your copy, now is your chance. Or if you have the book and need it autographed, bring it by. I'll be happy to sign it.
Send Robert a Text! Construction was completed on Bakersfield's Centennial Garden Arena in 1998. It was the city's new pride and joy. Less than a year after opening, it was the site of a terrible accident. Purchase the 2024 Halloween Driving Tour here: https://2024halloween.supercast.com/ https://2024halloween.supercast.com/
Send Robert a Text! In the late 1980s, two Bakersfield women accused a Bakersfield physician of drugging and raping them. This is that story. Visit this link to purchase the all-new 2024 Halloween Tour: https://2024halloween.supercast.com/
Send Robert a Text! Patty Saldana, a single mother to a teenage daughter, invited a boyfriend to stay in her house temporarily. It ended tragically. Notorious Bakersfield: The Book is available for purchase!Order your copy here: https://a.co/d/3b1jj4F
Send Robert a Text! The Bakersfield Californian described the Summer of 1947 as "the Sumer of the flying saucers". A nationwide flying saucer craze was occurring, and even Bakersfield got caught up in it. Notorious Bakersfield: The Book is available for purchase!Order your copy here: https://a.co/d/3b1jj4F
Send Robert a Text! For this episode, I'm stepping away from the usual Notorious Bakersfield tradition of covering stories from Bakersfield's distant past. Instead, today's episode highlights a more recent figure—someone many of us remember with fondness.I'm talking about Marques "The Dancing Cowboy" Morrison. For the past fifteen years, Marques was a familiar sight at the corner of Stockdale Highway and California Avenue. I interview Marques' older brother to learn more about Bakersfield's favorite human billboardNotorious Bakersfield: The Book is available for purchase!Order your copy here: https://a.co/d/3b1jj4F
Send Robert a Text! Joe and Dorothy Parrott were slain in their home in August 2008. Their murders went unsolved for months. This is their story.Notorious Bakersfield: The Book is available for purchase!Order your copy here: https://a.co/d/3b1jj4F
Send Robert a Text! This episode covers the 1999 tragic death of Melissa Lonon, an 18-year-old mother to two children.Notorious Bakersfield: The Book is available for purchase!Order your copy here: https://a.co/d/3b1jj4F
Send Robert a Text! This episode covers the brutal 1931 murder of Anna Garcia. Anna's homicide was shockingly brutal, with grotesque details that resemble a modern-day horror movie.Notorious Bakersfield: The Book is available for purchase!Order your copy here: https://a.co/d/3b1jj4F
Send Robert a Text! I have COVID! I'll be back next week with a NEW Notorious Bakersfield story. Notorious Bakersfield: The Book is available for purchase!Order your copy here: https://a.co/d/3b1jj4F
Send Robert a Text! In February 1991, a Bakersfield Police officer solved a murder case almost by accident. He was at the right place at the right time. Notorious Bakersfield: The Book is available for purchase!Order your copy here: https://a.co/d/3b1jj4F
Send Robert a Text! The identities of two homicide victims remained a mystery for 13 years. This is their story. Notorious Bakersfield: The Book is available for purchase!Order your copy here: https://a.co/d/3b1jj4F
Send Robert a Text! This episode is a rerun of a story originally published in September 2023. I'll be back next week with an all-new Notorious Bakersfield story. Notorious Bakersfield: The Book is available for purchase!Order your copy here: https://a.co/d/3b1jj4F
Send Robert a Text! This is a rerun episode from last summer. This episode cover the devastating 1889 fire that destroyed most of Bakersfield. The fire, which started as a minor kitchen fire, quickly spread and consumed the city.Notorious Bakersfield: The Book is available for purchase!Order your copy here: https://a.co/d/3b1jj4F
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