The State of Perfect Balance: A True Crime Podcast

There are couples who seem to have all "The Things." Successful careers, a family they've lovingly created, social connections, important charity work--the kind of people who do good things for the right reasons and leave behind a positive legacy of well remembered contributions, the kind we tend to admire and remember fondly as a community. When tragedy strikes such a family, it almost seems especially hard to grasp.Jeffrey and Margaret Schobert were just such a couple. And this is their story.

After Christmas of 2016, Shannon didn't check in with her family. What would happen next is the stuff of nightmares...

The most dangerous times in a woman's life are when she is in the company of men. That may seem like a dramatic overstatement, but if you think about it, it's true. This is the story of a young woman named Angel.

America has a self-created mental health crisis, and state and federal prisons are dominated by populations of the mentally ill, where resources are few and treatment is non existent. Our story involves a family struggling to deal with a very sick young man, culminating one Halloween night when people asked the question: Is this a sick prank, or something much, much worse?

You don't know anything about the people who live next door.

When we think of a crime committed by someone who is truly, demonstrably, certifiably insane, an image of such a person may come to mind. We imagine someone who has seen lengthy periods of institutionalization, in cells designed for their own, and their caregivers, protection against violence. You may imagine straight jackets and electric shock therapy--this is not that case.

When a child commits a murder, and the victim's surviving family members rightfully want the killer to be punished, the age of a youthful perpetrator can automatically dial down how severe that punishment is, because we, as a society, don't hold children to the same standard of accountability as adults. Then there's the general public squeamishness about sending a kid to death row or life in prison. It just doesn't feel right, and seems like compounding the tragedy.

When you hear of a home invasion, the words likely conjure a scenario in which one or more people enter a home forcibly, seeking to rob the inhabitants and perhaps relieve them of their lives. And you'd be right. Such home invasions are rare, rare enough that when something like that appears to have occurred, law enforcement is generally suspicious of the story from the get-go.But there are violent home invasions bent on robbery and murder, and then there are invasions of a home's peaceful space by increments, in which a guest is invited willingly, but they bring unwelcome others and others, and still others, until a home is invaded by a horde of unknown and hostile squatters. Either scenario can be dangerous...

Join us for part two of this amazing story about love, loss, and forgiveness, as we sit down with Mrs. Reiser while she talks about her beautiful and talented daughter, Liz.

When we hear the story of a life that has been taken, we can feel empathy and share in the family's grief in a small way, but can never really know what that experience is like. Early this year, we spent several hours with Becki Reiser of Dover, Ohio, who generously spoke about that experience in detail. It's a story of a child who is loved and for whom there are many hopes for their life. It's a story of faith, of horror, and of forgiveness. It's a first hand account of loss, and it's a story not to be missed. 

It really doesn't matter whether the desire to lend a hand to a young person in need comes from. Maybe it's a sense of duty. Maybe it's rooted in your faith or belief system. Maybe you just want to pay it forward. Foster families, and we know successful ones, are a vital, loving part of the societal puzzle. But we also know of those who are less successful. Any time a young person is introduced into a family bringing a difficult past, with possible unknown issues, with understandable neediness— the potential for things to go awry is certainly there.

This story looks at several people whose lives intersected on a stretch of interstate highway late one night in 1986. Two of them just happened to arrive at a certain place in space and time at just the right moment. Or, more properly, just the wrong moment. 

You've probably known a couple who just can't seem to make things stick, you know? They're together, they're apart, they make up, they split up, and all the while, they seem to generally get along. They seem like a good match, but there's something… some important piece of the puzzle, that's missing or that they can't get a good grip on. Eventually, they split up for keeps, often amicably, and friends and family are left scratching their heads. 

On the face of it, Circleville is just another quiet, sleepy, Ohio town, but if this podcast has taught you anything, it's that…not all small towns are safe. In 1976 someone started a terror campaign against the residents of Circleville. And this is their story.

Learning about relationships, and how that all works, is a part of becoming an adult. It's an experience that is common to all of us, and though it may be difficult, most of us emerge with no greater harm than a temporarily broken heart, and we get on with our lives.Jodi Blankenship was ready to move her boyfriend into that “used to know” category after three years together. She was young, talented, set to aggressively chase her dreams, and date other people. And this is her story.

Troy Lee Temar was a big fish in the little pond that is Deer Park. He was a well-liked, all American guy. But what happened when he crossed paths with a particular femme fatale, would change the lives of not only his family, but the community of Deer Park forever.

The passing of time is a serious enemy in finding a missing person, and in solving a murder case. A body is discovered, the crime scene is sifted carefully, evidence gathered, theories formed, suspects identified. Grieving families want answers. The community wants answers. Law enforcement wants answers. But if the answers don't turn up pretty quickly, the case can grow cold, leaving everyone unsatisfied.

Striking out at the beginning of a college education marks many firsts for late teens. It's the beginning of independence, and likely the first extended period away from family and a familiar home environment. Its the beginning of true responsibility for your own life. It marks the start of the sobering reality of necessary debt. Along with these newfound freedoms comes an adjustment to the consequences of those freedoms. And sometimes the consequences are deadly.

In a calm and sparsely populated corner of southeastern Ohio, newlyweds Stacey and Todd Holston are starting out their lives together in a tiny mobile home. On an October day much like any other, a trusted relative brings husband, wife, son, stepson, and mother and father in law together in that small trailer, and shatters a young family's promising future forever. 

Domestic abuse takes many forms, and sometimes it's not easy to know which spouse is the abuser, especially when a couple is known to fight it out in regular quarrels. When one or the other is pushed to murder, and the killer decides to hide the evidence, the solution to that age old problem can take a gruesome turn, as is clear in episode 14: The Murder in Barberton.

Any murder in a small town is especially unsettling. But what if a murder in your town was soon followed by the news that your name may be on a list of the next victims of a ritual sacrifice? Just such a scenario played on in Bellaire, Ohio in 1995, causing widespread alarm and decades of caution. Follow us on Instagram: thestateofperfectbalancepodTwitter: StatePerfectFacebook: The State of Perfect Balance PodcastVisit our website: http://www.thestateofperfectbalance.com 

When a young couple, planning a life together turn up missing after a quiet walk in the autumn woods, who is to blame? And what did freaky crosses and nude photos have to do with it? Was it a case of Satanic Panic? Or was it a simple crime of opportunity? In Episode 12 of A State of Perfect balance, we visit a farm in Logan, a small town in southeastern Ohio, to follow suspicious behavior, rapid justice, and the mystery of a missing couple in love. 

In the case of James Allen Ponder, of Hamilton, Ohio, the only thing we're really left with is questions, with no answers to be found. “Closure,” something families desperately seek when someone they love is taken violently from them, is an elusive thing in the best of circumstances. When the killer and the victim are both close family members, and there are no answers to the big fat “why,” everyone is left feeling tormented and adrift. James Ponder was 71 years old. He enjoyed many of the things in life that other men his age did. The only thing that seems to stand out, is the way his life ended. This is his story. 

Amish Country is a land of simplicity and quiet. Horses, buggies, and bonnets. Reverence and respect. Hand crafted furniture, and a life far removed from everything modern. It was the life Barbara Weaver desired and expected. No one, least of all Barbara, could have foretold the life she found herself in, with a sex-obsessed, porn surfing, discontented husband bent on getting rid of her. Amish Country may not be what it seems. It's trysts with random hookups in the barn, mystified neighbors, plotting lovers and murder, in Episode Ten, of the State of Perfect Balance. 

Some murder cases capture the attention of the public in a way that seems disproportionate. All murders are terrible, of course. All of them cut short a valuable life and bring sudden tragedy and emotional agony to the families of the victims, and all of them deserve our respectful attention as the killers are brought to justice. Before the time of television, or even radio, murder cases would sometimes become the focus of breathless national attention. This episode of The State of Perfect Balance is centered around what was once such a case. 

The relationships we form, especially romantic relationships, occupy a special place in our emotional lives. We choose our friends and we choose our romantic partners, and hopefully they are people who will care about us in return, look out for us, and be there when we need them. But what happens when the dark side that lives within us all comes to the surface?

A poorly written horror story, a disturbed teenaged boy, a self-diagnosis of Dissociative Identity Disorder, and that's only the beginning! Join us for a doozie of a story in episode 7 of The State of Perfect Balance.

This episode involves a couple of young boys, a screwy, sex-obsessed mother, protective snobbery and more than a few family secrets. Six people come together in mid 1960s suburbia in a bizarre tale ending in a calculated, tragic and heartless murder. They are the Young and Colby families, and this is their story. 

We tend to think of ourselves in danger of assault by strangers: We fear Someone entering our home in the dark of night with evil intent. But what do you do if that evil intent comes from someone you know and love? 

Please stick with us. Come back on Tuesday, November 6th! And don't forget to vote! 

You can do everything right, contribute to your community, and be well liked and admired. You can avoid the pitfalls of life, and concentrate on family and friends. Yet, in the darkness of anger stemming from the smallest of disappointments, may still find a fateful appointment with evil intent. Listen to the story of good friends Skip and Sherri, in episode four of A State of Perfect Balance. 

The conclusion of the unbelivable story of Ashland, Ohio's serial killer, Shawn Grate.

There are killers, and then there are those who take the lives of others in such a monstrous way as to make any reasonable person wonder how it's even possible. Not just murder, but deception, trapping, torture, rape, violent death, and then even after death, continuing morbidity. Could this kind of appalling deprivation occur in a small Ohio town? Absolutely. This is part one of a two part story.

When Amanda Russell began a romantic relationship in her mid 30s, she coundn't know the hidden background her new boyfriend brought with him. When she found it necessary to break things off, that background soon came horrifically to life and invaded every aspect of her own world, and the lives of her family. What happens when we take every possible step to protect ourselves, but we aren't protected at all?  

In a quiet Ohio village where the nearest grocery store is five miles away and the school gymnasium is packed for the third grade Christmas pageant, an elderly couple tries to get a few hours' sleep before driving their son to the airport the next morning. When they fail to show up, their family begins to worry.