MFM Minisode 473

This week’s hometowns include a near-John Wayne Gacy victim and a reverse dog kidnapping. For our sources, please visit https://www.myfavoritemurder.com/episodes. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3UFCn1g. Head to social media to share your favorite moments from this episode. Instagram: instagram.com/myfavoritemurder http://instagram.com/myfavoritemurder Facebook: facebook.com/myfavoritemurder http://facebook.com/myfavoritemurder TikTok: tiktok.com/@my_favorite_murder http://tiktok.com/@my_favorite_murder Send your hometown stories to [email protected] mailto:[email protected]. Join the Fan Cult to access ad-free episodes of My Favorite Murder. Members also receive merch store discounts, exclusive audio and video content and more! Visit www.fancult.supercast.com http://www.fancult.supercast.com/ to join. Shop for My Favorite Murder and other Exactly Right merchandise here: www.exactlyrightstore.com https://www.exactlyrightstore.com. Rate, review and follow My Favorite Murder on the iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you like to listen. See omnystudio.com/listener https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Speaker 00

  This is exactly right.

• 0:06Speaker 01

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• 0:35Speaker 02

  In New Orleans, truckers kept getting sideswiped the exact same way. When a man is found murdered under questionable circumstances related to these accidents, the rubber hits the road. And what the feds uncover is a complex scheme of staged wrecks, financial fraud, and a pair of conspiring lovers behind it. This is a story about fake accidents that led to real consequences. Listen to Over My Dead Body: Operation Sideswipe wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can binge all episodes early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

• 1:28Karen Kilgariff?

  Hello and welcome.

• 1:30Georgia Hardstark?

  To my favorite murder.

• 1:31Karen Kilgariff?

  That's Georgia Har- the mini-soad.

• 1:33Georgia Hardstark?

  That's right.

• 1:33Karen Kilgariff?

  God damn it.

• 1:36Karen Kilgariff?

  10 years of this.

• 1:37Georgia Hardstark?

  That's right.

• 1:38Karen Kilgariff?

  God, you want me to go first?

• 1:39Georgia Hardstark?

  Sure.

• 1:40Karen Kilgariff?

  Okay. The subject line of this email is, "My Dad Was Almost John Wayne Gacy's First Murder Victim."

• 1:47Georgia Hardstark?

  Holy shit.

• 1:48Karen Kilgariff?

  We covered John Wayne Gacy when we did the Chicago Podcast Festival way back in November of 2016. So, if you want to hear that, you can. Hello all, there is only one way to tell this story and that's to get straight to the point. By the way, my name is Kristin Murphy. Feel free to use my name. My father told me this vague story of him in the 70s about his incident with a sketchy hitchhiker, because that's what they did in the 70s. I finally asked him the whole story now that I'm older, and he told me everything. It was such an intense experience for him that he remembers it in grave detail to this day. It was the fall of 1972, and my dad was 18, trying to find a ride to the Cheech and Chong concert.

• 2:28Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh, my god. That's such a time and place. I can smell it.

• 2:31Karen Kilgariff?

  Those guys doing comedy to probably a huge, you know,

• 2:35Georgia Hardstark?

  Stoned.

• 2:36Karen Kilgariff?

  A huge stoned audience somewhere. I would love to know. Oh, wait, I'll just finish reading it. Mind you, John Wayne Gacy's first murder was in 1972. He said it happened September 22nd, 1972, on Interstate 94. My dad, Jeff, was standing on the side of the interstate when he finally found a car that pulled over and came to a stop. The man driving asked my dad where he was headed and offered him a ride, and my dad accepted. He described the guy as being smaller and stockier. The car ride was normal at first, talking about partying and nightlife. The driver asked my dad if he liked to party at night. My dad didn't fully understand what he meant, but my hippie dad was like, "Yeah, I like to party."

• 3:19Georgia Hardstark?

  Sure.

• 3:20Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah, man.

• 3:21Georgia Hardstark?

  Want to start out? Okay.

• 3:23Karen Kilgariff?

  The next moment, the man put his hand on my dad's thigh and asked him if he wanted to party tonight. My dad panicked, knocked his arm off, and yelled at him to pull the car over immediately, or he would grab the wheel and wreck the car. The driver tried to calm him down and ended up pulling over and letting my dad out of the car. A few years later, when John Wayne Gacy's picture was released on the news, my father knew 100%. He was the man who picked him up back in the fall of 1972.

• 3:53Georgia Hardstark?

  Wow.

• 3:53Karen Kilgariff?

  The year Gacy committed his first murder.

• 3:56Georgia Hardstark?

  Jesus.

• 3:57Karen Kilgariff?

  SSDGM, fuck politeness, Kristin Murphy.

• 4:00Georgia Hardstark?

  Wow. I've been reading a lot about Gacy lately, just because there's been some books that have been... Written that I like, there's one where the daughter of the girl who put the photograph receipt in the pocket of the last victim at the pharmacy they worked at together.

• 4:19Karen Kilgariff?

  Yes.

• 4:20Georgia Hardstark?

  That like led to Gacy being finally caught.

• 4:22Karen Kilgariff?

  Right.

• 4:23Georgia Hardstark?

  Last victim. Her daughter wrote a book about Gacy and about that, her mother and everything that was involved and the boy that was killed. It's just fucking crazy. It's called Postmortem by Courtney Lund O'Neill.

• 4:35Karen Kilgariff?

  Wow.

• 4:36Georgia Hardstark?

  And it's really incredible.

• 4:37Karen Kilgariff?

  Oh, I want to read that.

• 4:37Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah. Anyway, Gacy, because I never really knew about Gacy. Like, I never cared that much.

• 4:42Karen Kilgariff?

  He was kind of one of my entrees in.

• 4:44Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 4:45Karen Kilgariff?

  And it's just, it fascinated me so much. But then he did it for so long. And there's like, a lot of people in the Chicago area that have those kinds of 70s stories of like, because the hitchhiking and all that stuff. He was, he was a drunk and he didn't make a secret of like, picking people up and doing that.

• 5:03Georgia Hardstark?

  The Boys Under the House is an incredible book about it as well.

• 5:06Karen Kilgariff?

  Okay.

• 5:06Georgia Hardstark?

  Mine's called, I'm not going to tell you.

• 5:09Karen Kilgariff?

  Okay.

• 5:09Georgia Hardstark?

  It's called, "Hi ladies, longtime listener, first time writer. I just finished listening to Minisode 462, which is full of bad neighbors and kids home alone. And I figured it was time to write in. I grew up in San Francisco in the 2000s and 2010s, in a quiet neighborhood near Golden Gate Park. My younger brother was about 15 years old the first time my parents left him home alone overnight. This was around 2017, so parenting style was more helicopter than trash. As always, my dad's parting words of wisdom were, don't burn down the house."

• 5:41Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah.

• 5:41Georgia Hardstark?

  Everything went fine until early the next morning, when my brother started to smell smoke from the garage. He ran downstairs, threw open the door, and saw flames creeping up our garage door. He immediately called 911, and the firefighters were able to put the fire out quickly. Luckily, the damage was limited to the garage door, and my brother saved the whole house from burning down."

• 6:01Karen Kilgariff?

  Wow.

• 6:02Georgia Hardstark?

  When the police investigated the fire, they found traces of fuel where the fire began and realized that it was started intentionally. Unfortunately, this was only one nefarious incident amongst several others on our quiet San Francisco block. One of our neighbors had been the victim of a drive-by shooting just days earlier, where thankfully, nobody was injured by the bullets that smashed through their living room windows. Another house had a Molotov cocktail thrown into the front of their house. Again, luckily, nobody was physically hurt. A neighbor on our block had been recently in prison for fraud, and soon after these incidents, a group of guys had been arrested with a list of addresses in the glove compartment of their car that included the homes that had been threatened.

• 6:44Georgia Hardstark?

  From prison, our neighbor hired these guys to attack homes on our street.

• 6:49Karen Kilgariff?

  Why?

• 6:50Georgia Hardstark?

  I don't know. I recently asked my— Let's read. "I recently asked my parents for clarification on some of these details because my brothers and I were teens when this all played out, and they tried to protect us from the full story. My mother then told me that in addition to these horrible acts of violence, yet another neighbor had been swatting our house for years, which is prank calling the police on our house. The worst incident had happened one night when the neighbor called the police and falsely told them that there was an armed intruder in our house. The police broke into our house and came inside. My mom opened their bedroom door to a police officer pointing a gun directly at her. My parents were able to de-escalate the situation, and my brothers and I slept for the entire event."

• 7:31Karen Kilgariff?

  Thank God.

• 7:32Georgia Hardstark?

  I know. My dad went full Murderino and collected all of the 911 calls from the neighbor and hired a lawyer to get the neighbor to stop swatting our house. My parents both struggled to recount the story when I asked them about it recently because it had been so terrifying and infuriating for them. Thank you so much for all you do. You are both inspirations. Stay sexy and don't burn the house down. M.

• 7:53Karen Kilgariff?

  God, that's like, so violent.

• 7:56Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 7:57Karen Kilgariff?

  And then like, it happening over and over.

• 7:58Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 7:59Karen Kilgariff?

  Like, now this is on fire. Now there's cops in your house. Like, horrifying.

• 8:02Georgia Hardstark?

  I know. It makes me like, you know, that neighbor's dog barking all the time isn't such a bad thing.

• 8:07Karen Kilgariff?

  God, just—

• 8:08Georgia Hardstark?

  It could be so—like, bad neighbors just ruin your life.

• 8:10Karen Kilgariff?

  Air plugs.

• 8:11Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 8:12Karen Kilgariff?

  And then I think about when we lived—because we kind of lived near the park where we were in the Upper Hay.

• 8:15Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 8:16Karen Kilgariff?

  And—

• 8:17Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh, yeah, yeah.

• 8:18Karen Kilgariff?

  The volume with which we did every single thing all day and night.

• 8:20Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh, my God.

• 8:21Karen Kilgariff?

  And—

• 8:22Georgia Hardstark?

  You were the problem neighbor.

• 8:23Karen Kilgariff?

  We were—

• 8:24Georgia Hardstark?

  We've always been the problem neighbor.

• 8:25Karen Kilgariff?

  Always.

• 8:26Georgia Hardstark?

  At some point in our lives.

• 8:27Karen Kilgariff?

  I mean, just standard volume alone is not great.

• 8:31Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 8:32Karen Kilgariff?

  But, yeah. God. Horrible.

• 8:36Georgia Hardstark?

  The holidays are right around the corner, which means people are about to do a lot of shopping.

• 8:40Karen Kilgariff?

  And if you have a small business, they could be shopping with you.

• 8:43Georgia Hardstark?

  Get your business ready with Shopify.

• 8:44Karen Kilgariff?

  Shopify is the platform for a record-breaking, reliable holiday selling season at every stage.

• 8:50Georgia Hardstark?

  They power millions of businesses worldwide, from household names to those that are just getting started.

• 8:55Karen Kilgariff?

  Shopify's pre-built website themes make it easy to launch a beautiful, professional-looking store without ever touching a line of code.

• 9:01Georgia Hardstark?

  And Shopify's mobile app lets you run your store from anywhere, from tracking inventory to customer support to handling payments and more.

• 9:08Karen Kilgariff?

  If you're ready to launch your business before Black Friday, go to Shopify.com/murder to start your free trial.

• 9:13Georgia Hardstark?

  That's Shopify.com/murder.

• 9:16Karen Kilgariff?

  Go to Shopify.com/murder today to hear your first

• 9:21Karen Kilgariff?

  goodbye.

• 9:22Speaker 05

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• 9:52Georgia Hardstark?

  There are plenty of things that keep you up at night. Your sleep tracker shouldn't be one of them.

• 9:57Karen Kilgariff?

  You know that feeling, laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, counting all the times you said something weird.

• 10:02Georgia Hardstark?

  And then you wake up and check your sleep score. Now you have to start your day knowing that you failed at sleeping.

• 10:07Karen Kilgariff?

  Hatch Sleep Clock does it differently.

• 10:09Georgia Hardstark?

  It tracks your sleep from your nightstand. No ring, wristband, or judgmental score waiting for you in the morning.

• 10:15Karen Kilgariff?

  Instead, you'll get personalized insights to understand your sleep and recommendations to build a routine you'll love night after night.

• 10:21Georgia Hardstark?

  Fall asleep to the next chapter of an audiobook, like The Odyssey, a nervous system reset meditation, or a calming sound bath.

• 10:28Karen Kilgariff?

  Then you can find out which gives you 20 more minutes of deep sleep each night.

• 10:32Georgia Hardstark?

  Hatch Sleep Clock.

• 10:33Karen Kilgariff?

  The sleep tracker designed to get you to sleep. Available now on hatch.co.

• 10:38Georgia Hardstark?

  Goodbye.

• 10:40Karen Kilgariff?

  Okay. The subject line of this email is Mafia Banjo.

• 10:44Georgia Hardstark?

  Okay.

• 10:45Karen Kilgariff?

  Greetings and hello to Karen, Georgia, Exactly Right Media, and furry unpaid interns. I am a professional banjo player who specializes in the four-string banjo.

• 10:55Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh.

• 10:55Karen Kilgariff?

  Which is not the style that everybody is most familiar with. All of my banjos are well over 100 years old.

• 11:00Georgia Hardstark?

  Wow.

• 11:01Karen Kilgariff?

  Some of them have really interesting stories, while the others have stories that have been lost to time. As well as playing the banjo, I also restore and set up banjos for people who want theirs to be like how they were when they left the factory. That means that quite often I have older people come to me and share that they inherited their father or grandfather's banjo and would love to hear it play again.

• 11:22Georgia Hardstark?

  Wow.

• 11:22Karen Kilgariff?

  Some of these instruments come with a mix of fascinating stories, sad stories, or no story at all. One of my favorite moments happened about three years ago when a woman reached out to my friend about inheriting a banjo. My friend told me about it and I got in contact with the woman. She sent me pictures of the banjo and it was an incredibly nice 1928 Bacon & Day Silver Bell Nay Plus Ultra 9 Tenor Banjo.

• 11:47Georgia Hardstark?

  Jesus.

• 11:48Karen Kilgariff?

  To those who don't know what that is, it's basically like the Rolls Royce of banjos.

• 11:52Georgia Hardstark?

  Wow.

• 11:53Karen Kilgariff?

  Fancy engravings, gemstones and rhinestones all over the instrument.

• 11:57Georgia Hardstark?

  Yes.

• 11:57Karen Kilgariff?

  Gold plating and to top it off, an elephant head carving with real ivory tusks at the heel of the neck.

• 12:04Georgia Hardstark?

  Wow.

• 12:05Karen Kilgariff?

  Its original cost was $900.

• 12:07Georgia Hardstark?

  Holy shit.

• 12:08Karen Kilgariff?

  Which today...

• 12:09Georgia Hardstark?

  20, 1929.

• 12:11Karen Kilgariff?

  28.

• 12:11Georgia Hardstark?

  28, $900 would be $150,000.

• 12:14Karen Kilgariff?

  $17,000.

• 12:15Georgia Hardstark?

  Damn it.

• 12:17Karen Kilgariff?

  But all those gems and things, you know, makes sense. To make it even better, it was common to request your name or initials to be engraved onto the banjo when you ordered the instrument. The original owner's name was engraved on the back. Sammy Musmano. One of my favorite things to do is research the original owner of any antique instrument, especially banjos. I asked the woman if she knew anything about Sammy and she said he was her husband's great uncle and played banjo in various bands and orchestras around the Chicago area. This was a great lead and I decided to do some digging. I found out more basic info, where, when he was born, where he lived, where, when he died. He played all over the world on banjo, mandolin, guitar, and even harp. I was itching to know more,

• 13:01Karen Kilgariff?

  so I asked if she could send me more pictures, like what was inside the case and such. Apart from some pics and a couple of small wrenches, there was a picture of Sammy with a man in a long coat, a snappy hat, and a cigar in his mouth. I said, "Wow, that looks a lot like Al Capone." I was thinking that, oh my god. It was. Oh my god. Apparently Sammy Musmano had quite the career. He was involved with the Chicago mafia and played with orchestras hired by Al Capone for his parties. Yes. Al and Sammy were very good friends. Sammy taught Al Capone how to play the banjo. What if this whole thing is just a lie? Yeah, this sounds like this is made up. It's like the best creative writing of all time. I'd take it. Yeah. It's so funny. Okay, Sammy taught Al Capone how to play the banjo in his free

• 13:46Karen Kilgariff?

  time until Al went to prison. Sammy's brother, Michael Musmano, was a defense attorney and judge in the 1920s and early 30s. Al made sure to stay on Sammy's good side. One time after a gig, a rival gang mugged Sammy and stole his gig money from that night. The woman who told me about the banjo also told me that Al Capone supposedly bought the banjo for Sammy, which I have yet to confirm. In the 1930s, Sammy continued to teach and play on the radio until retiring from music in the 1940s. He escaped from the mafia and had a calm rest of his life raising his children. Wow. I have attached a couple of images of the banjo. Yes. And Sammy. Oh my god. Apologies that some are blurry. They are the ones the woman sent me. I have so

• 14:29Karen Kilgariff?

  many more crazy stories that I've collected from these instruments, and the more I learn about these stories, the closer I feel to the era and the instruments themselves. It's an honor to be a part of these instruments' history, and I'm so glad I can take care of them. And let them ring for another hundred years. My girlfriend introduced me to this podcast during a long road trip from Northern California down to Los Angeles about two years ago. I was instantly hooked and I'd been listening every weekend during my weekly commute back and forth from New York City to Rochester, New York. And for that, I thank you more than I can express in one email. Stay sexy and ask your elderly acquaintances if they have a banjo in their attic. Gavin in Anna, Queens, New York.

• 15:09Georgia Hardstark?

  That is so cool. Like, who, that's such a cool hobby.

• 15:13Karen Kilgariff?

  Yes. It's such a cool email.

• 15:15Georgia Hardstark?

  I know.

• 15:15Karen Kilgariff?

  Everything about it.

• 15:16Georgia Hardstark?

  Hear me out.

• 15:17Karen Kilgariff?

  Check this out.

• 15:17Georgia Hardstark?

  That's a podcast.

• 15:19Karen Kilgariff?

  Oh, absolutely.

• 15:20Georgia Hardstark?

  Right?

• 15:20Karen Kilgariff?

  That's a podcast.

• 15:21Georgia Hardstark?

  Of like, stories about your instrument.

• 15:22Karen Kilgariff?

  Because check this out as episode one.

• 15:25Georgia Hardstark?

  We'll put it on our socials. My Favorite Murder.

• 15:27Karen Kilgariff?

  So good.

• 15:28Georgia Hardstark?

  These photographs. I didn't know banjos could be that gorgeous.

• 15:31Karen Kilgariff?

  I know.

• 15:32Georgia Hardstark?

  And look at Sam, swarthy as fuck.

• 15:35Karen Kilgariff?

  Also, it's like, quite a thing to be able to play an instrument, especially professionally. So like, that idea that like, professional musicians are always like, one of 10 guys in a band, but it's like,

• 15:45Georgia Hardstark?

  Totally.

• 15:46Karen Kilgariff?

  But they're, they all have stories like this.

• 15:48Georgia Hardstark?

  Wow, I love that. Send us your instrument history stories?

• 15:53Karen Kilgariff?

  Only if it's a Rolls Royce of your instrument.

• 15:55Georgia Hardstark?

  That's right. We don't want any fucking,

• 15:56Karen Kilgariff?

  No.

• 15:57Georgia Hardstark?

  What is a bad car? I don't know. Saturns.

• 16:00Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah, Pinto.

• 16:01Georgia Hardstark?

  Pinto, okay. Sister-fueled terror plot. Okay. Brought to you by anxiety. Hi, MFM crew. I love you silly ladies and the fantastic work you do. Please keep it up.

• 16:13Karen Kilgariff?

  Okay.

• 16:13Georgia Hardstark?

  Not if you call his name.

• 16:14Karen Kilgariff?

  I mean, Jesus.

• 16:16Georgia Hardstark?

  Once upon an episode, you requested stories about things you can never live down. And in another episode, you requested stories that got vetoed from wedding speeches.

• 16:25Karen Kilgariff?

  [laughing]

• 16:27Georgia Hardstark?

  My story involves both of those topics. My sister, therapy, yay, and a thwarted terrorist attack, question mark. My older sister has battled bravely with mental health challenges since we were kids. She's done a wonderful job at it. And today, she is a happy mother of two who is completing her MBA at night.

• 16:45Karen Kilgariff?

  So hard.

• 16:46Georgia Hardstark?

  She's the coolest. Because of her mental health challenges, she has done almost every type of therapy known to womankind.

• 16:52Karen Kilgariff?

  Hi.

• 16:53Georgia Hardstark?

  Hi. When we were in our mid twenties, she tried out a type of therapy that required her to keep a worst-case-scenario diary. She had to write out diary entries as if her worst fears had come true that day.

• 17:05Karen Kilgariff?

  Hmm, yeah.

• 17:06Georgia Hardstark?

  I fucking love that. I've never heard that.

• 17:08Karen Kilgariff?

  Put it on the page because it really does work it out of your, like, brain.

• 17:11Georgia Hardstark?

  Because your brain doesn't know the difference between real trauma and just imagined trauma.

• 17:16Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah.

• 17:16Georgia Hardstark?

  Right?

• 17:17Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah.

• 17:17Georgia Hardstark?

  So smart. My brother and I used to do dramatic readings of the entries in the living room, which often ended in all three of us crying with laughter. So cool. Topics included Grandma Died Today. The big one happened. We live in Vancouver. This referred to the pending mega earthquake. And our dog went missing forever.

• 17:37Karen Kilgariff?

  I constantly think about that, constantly.

• 17:40Georgia Hardstark?

  I'm always like, where's Mo? And Vince, the other guy was like, he didn't get out. Like, I'm always convinced that Mo got out. I don't know why.

• 17:46Karen Kilgariff?

  Also, and you know this well, but having Frank, a seventeen-year-old dog, walking around the house, I'm just like constantly processing. I'm just like, and the grief will be hard. And it will be whatever.

• 17:57Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 17:57Karen Kilgariff?

  And it's, after a while, you're just like, all right, let's wrap this up.

• 18:01Georgia Hardstark?

  I did with Elvis, like, it did help me. Like, I always, in my heart, I was like, someday I'm gonna have to live without him. And it's, I just always thought about it. And so when it finally came, it was like, not a surprise. I had asked him for sixteen years and he gave me sixteen years.

• 18:13Karen Kilgariff?

  And you're grateful, like, you get, it makes you grateful.

• 18:16Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah, the Jewish people like to say, "May their memory be a blessing." So, that's all you can do. Anyway, one day, my dad generously gave us two tickets to go see the Vancouver Canucks. It says, "It's Hockey, Georgia."

• 18:29Georgia Hardstark?

  Play at Rogers Arena downtown. I met my sister at the game and she pulled out her therapy journal. She wanted to show me the topic of the day. This one was a terrorist attack at Rogers Arena. She included detailed diagrams, maps, and of course, her dramatic plan of how the terrorist attack would unfold.

• 18:46Karen Kilgariff?

  Oh, no.

• 18:47Georgia Hardstark?

  I totally get this. We chuckled at it and she tucked it away as the game started. The game was pretty uneventful, but in the second period, things took a turn for the worse. My sister patted down her pockets, looked at me and said, ha, okay, give it back. I didn't know what she was talking about. She said, not funny, give me back my journal. Unfortunately, I hadn't taken her journal. In that moment, time stood still as we quickly realized three things. She lost her journal somewhere in the stadium. She lost her journal containing, all caps, detailed diagrams, maps, and the plan of a terrorist attack on a stadium inside of that stadium.

• 19:21Karen Kilgariff?

  Oh, no.

• 19:22Georgia Hardstark?

  And three, her journal had her full name on it.

• 19:27Karen Kilgariff?

  You gotta use initials.

• 19:28Georgia Hardstark?

  I mean.

• 19:29Karen Kilgariff?

  That's.

• 19:30Georgia Hardstark?

  We immediately got up, left the hockey game that was still going on and proceeded to silent cry slash laugh our way home. I don't think we've ever laughed so hard. This story sadly got vetoed when I was asked to speak at my sister's wedding.

• 19:43Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah.

• 19:44Georgia Hardstark?

  But I'm happy to be sharing it here. She hasn't been banned for life from the stadium, so it seems that her journal went unread. Stay sexy and don't lose your therapy journal. A.

• 19:54Karen Kilgariff?

  I mean, thank God those other stories were in there. So by the time they get to that story, they're like, oh, wait, hold, it's fine.

• 20:00Georgia Hardstark?

  This isn't what we think it is.

• 20:01Karen Kilgariff?

  Just somebody trying to work through some stuff.

• 20:02Georgia Hardstark?

  Or we're like, they're like, this person's a psychotic murderer or something who loses their dog constantly.

• 20:09Karen Kilgariff?

  I really wanted it to be that it was like, somebody gets hit in the head with a puck and then they get hit in the head with a puck.

• 20:15Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh.

• 20:17Karen Kilgariff?

  But that's, that's gonna go in my journal.

• 20:19Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah. That's yours. Yeah, that's for yours. And then we'll do a dramatic reading.

• 20:22Karen Kilgariff?

  That's right.

• 20:24Speaker 01

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• 20:53Georgia Hardstark?

  There are plenty of things that keep you up at night. Your sleep tracker shouldn't be one of them.

• 20:57Karen Kilgariff?

  You know that feeling, laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, counting all the times you said something weird.

• 21:02Georgia Hardstark?

  And then you wake up and check your sleep score. Now you have to start your day knowing that you failed at sleeping.

• 21:08Karen Kilgariff?

  Hatch Sleep Clock does it differently.

• 21:10Georgia Hardstark?

  It tracks your sleep from your nightstand. No ring, wristband, or judgmental score waiting for you in the morning.

• 21:15Karen Kilgariff?

  Instead, you'll get personalized insights to understand your sleep and recommendations to build a routine you'll love night after night.

• 21:22Georgia Hardstark?

  Fall asleep to the next chapter of an audiobook like The Odyssey, a nervous system reset meditation, or a calming sound bath.

• 21:28Karen Kilgariff?

  Then you can find out which gives you 20 more minutes of deep sleep each night.

• 21:33Georgia Hardstark?

  Hatch Sleep Clock.

• 21:34Karen Kilgariff?

  The sleep tracker designed to get you to sleep. Available now on hatch.co.

• 21:38Georgia Hardstark?

  Goodbye.

• 21:40Karen Kilgariff?

  This podcast is brought to you by Squarespace. Turning something you love into a career is exciting. Then come the invoices. Lucky for you, Squarespace can handle the business stuff so you can focus on your business. From consultations to events and experiences, you can showcase your skills with a customizable website designed to attract clients and grow your business. With Squarespace's collection of cutting-edge design tools, anyone can build a beautiful, professional, online presence that perfectly fits their brand or business. Get paid on time with professional invoices and online payments. Plus, streamline your workflow with built-in appointment scheduling and email marketing tools. Head to squarespace.com/murder for a free trial. And when you're ready to launch, use offer code MURDER to save 10% off your first purchase

• 22:26Karen Kilgariff?

  of a website or domain. Goodbye.

• 22:30Karen Kilgariff?

  Okay, here's my last one. Hi Karen and Georgia, my sweet, sweet angels, as I call my nearly adult age high school students daily, thanks to both of you. Ah. Sweet, sweet angels. I've been a listener since I was in my master's program for teaching in 2016. I'm now in my ninth year of my career as a high school teacher. You've been with me through so much, including starting me on the therapy journey that has so deeply improved my life, an engagement and wedding, and now my husband and I are expecting our first baby. Oh my god. Who we planned a lot to be ready for and are so excited about. Backstory to this story, since becoming an empty nester, my dad has gotten very into whiskey. He's collected hundreds of bottles, read books about the distilling process,

• 23:12Karen Kilgariff?

  curated tastings for his friends and for us, and generally has loved making it his new hobby and thing to learn about. He's gotten our whole family involved, and because of this, my husband and I decided to announce our pregnancy by getting each family member a bottle. For my dad, old granddad, for my mom, McLaughlin's grandma's rocking chair, for my brother, uncle nearest. They were so stoked when they figured out the surprise, and it was such a fun way to share the news. That's so cute. Brilliant. Before we even said we were pregnant, my mom and dad had loved to throw around ideas for their grandparent names, like they would be Nana and Papa, etc. But nothing had stuck for my dad yet. You know what's coming? I'm gonna cry. You should cry. Go ahead. Later that same evening, I brought up to my dad that he would like listening

• 23:57Karen Kilgariff?

  to your episode on the Pappy Gate Bourbon Heist, since it was right up his alley. When I said that, his eyes got huge. He looked at us so excited and said, "That's it, I'm going to be Pappy." Come on. Stop. He named a grandpa. Oh my god. He has been so excited ever since, talking about how perfect it is and how he can't wait to be Pappy. Wow. To his future grandkid. He also wants to buy a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle's to celebrate, but I think the price tag might give my mom a conniption. Yeah. So, thank you, MFM, for picking my dad's name for his next phase of life, and for being with me through so many of mine. And thank you both for always advocating for public school teachers. It's rough out here, but your work truly does... Now I'm fucking crying.

• 24:41Karen Kilgariff?

  Oh my god, stop with this. But your work truly does make it better. A.S., she/her.

• 24:48Georgia Hardstark?

  My nephews, my sister's kids, call their other grandparents, their nicknames are Pops and Honey.

• 24:56Karen Kilgariff?

  Oh.

• 24:57Georgia Hardstark?

  Is that the cutest?

• 24:57Karen Kilgariff?

  That's very cute.

• 24:58Georgia Hardstark?

  Or it's actually Honey and Pops is how we say it.

• 25:00Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah.

• 25:00Georgia Hardstark?

  Okay, this is called the reverse kidnapping.

• 25:02Karen Kilgariff?

  Okay.

• 25:03Georgia Hardstark?

  The dog adoption story, so don't freak out.

• 25:04Karen Kilgariff?

  Okay.

• 25:05Georgia Hardstark?

  Hello, my favorite murderinos. The story of the almost kidnapping of Axel the dog reminded me that my family has a story. Oh, I think they like almost stole it from their neighbors or something.

• 25:15Karen Kilgariff?

  Oh, like they thought it was a stray dog and actually they were stealing someone's dog?

• 25:18Georgia Hardstark?

  Yes, yes, yes. It reminded me that my family has a story of the opposite situation. We got our dog through reverse kidnapping. Let me explain. There's a greyhound rescue where we have gotten all of our family dogs. The founder had a knack for placing the right dog with the right family. I love that. And was deeply dedicated to her rescue work. They once got a group of greyhounds rescued from a track in Guam that had been shut down. Since the dogs were international, they needed to be quarantined temporarily. Our previous dog, Maggie, had died some years before, so they knew we were dogless and reached out to see if we were interested in fostering a dog just for the summer until his quarantine period was up. We said yes, and they sent the sweetest boy named Dimitri. And then it says, yes, I've included pictures.

• 26:02Georgia Hardstark?

  As the summer grew to a close, my parents reached out to the rescue to ask when we should bring him back. The response was something like, oh, soon for sure. We'll let you know when it's time. Soon after this, my sister and I noticed Dimitri was listed as adopted on the website. Strange, since he was still with us and we received no notification that he'd been adopted. Naturally, my sister and I did not tell our parents about this new development because we loved Dimitri and we're hoping to keep him. Sure enough, when my parents checked in with the rescue a bit later, they got another, oh, yeah, we can take him back soon, just not quite yet. By then, I think we had him for at least six months. At one point, my mom was texting me about something cute he'd done and said, I think I love him.

• 26:41Karen Kilgariff?

  Hmm.

• 26:42Georgia Hardstark?

  Jackpot.

• 26:44Georgia Hardstark?

  Eventually, one of my mom's friends who was looking for a dog checked the website and told her, Renee, it says he's been adopted. At that point, our parents accepted that he was just our dog now. He fit in so well with the family and we all loved him dearly, so none of us were upset about the reverse kidnapping situation. I don't even think that's technically a crime. Instead of taking a family member away, the shelter gave us a new one. I like to think the founder knew it was time for us to get a new four-legged friend and had the perfect guy for the role, who brought us so much laughter, joy, and love. Dmitry lived with us for eight years before passing away in 2020, surrounded by his family in the backyard of the animal hospital, lying in the grass in the sunshine, just like he loved to do.

• 27:27Karen Kilgariff?

  Ugh.

• 27:28Georgia Hardstark?

  Cookie lips this one.

• 27:29Karen Kilgariff?

  Dmitry.

• 27:30Georgia Hardstark?

  Dmitry, SSGM, and when fate or determined rescue brings a dog into your life, accept the blessing. Much love, Amanda. Dmitry, I love an Italian greyhound. Like, if you ever get a chance to own a greyhound, just do it.

• 27:45Karen Kilgariff?

  The way they trot around, like, they're so supernatural.

• 27:48Georgia Hardstark?

  They're like a little doe. And they love to be held.

• 27:51Karen Kilgariff?

  They're all like, they don't want to walk or do anything.

• 27:54Georgia Hardstark?

  And they want to wear sweaters. Like, what more do you want out of a pet?

• 27:57Karen Kilgariff?

  It is so genius of a dog for us to be like, oh yeah, it's almost over. Real quick.

• 28:02Georgia Hardstark?

  Hey, we know you have a dog right now, can you just keep an eye? Like, as if anyone would ever, like, let a dog go.

• 28:06Karen Kilgariff?

  I know.

• 28:07Georgia Hardstark?

  For six months.

• 28:08Karen Kilgariff?

  Nice move.

• 28:09Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah. All right, send us any story you want.

• 28:11Karen Kilgariff?

  I mean, you guys are doing great.

• 28:13Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah, thank you for listening.

• 28:14Karen Kilgariff?

  And stay sexy.

• 28:15Georgia Hardstark?

  And don't get murdered.

• 28:16Karen Kilgariff?

  Goodbye. Elvis, do you want a cookie?

• 28:19Speaker 06

  Ah!

• 28:27Karen Kilgariff?

  This has been an Exactly Right Production.

• 28:28Georgia Hardstark?

  Our senior producer is Molly Smith and our associate producer is Tessa Hughes.

• 28:32Karen Kilgariff?

  Our editor is Aristotle Lassaveto.

• 28:34Georgia Hardstark?

  This episode was mixed by Liana Scolacci.

• 28:36Karen Kilgariff?

  Email your hometowns to [email protected].

• 28:39Georgia Hardstark?

  Follow the show on Instagram at MyFavoriteMurder.

• 28:41Karen Kilgariff?

  Listen to My Favorite Murder on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Goodbye.

• 28:53Speaker 07

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• 29:23Georgia Hardstark?

  You know a favorite M-word? Magnesium.

• 29:25Karen Kilgariff?

  Like the kind that's in Dr. Teal's magnesium spray.

• 29:28Georgia Hardstark?

  Made from a proprietary blend of topical minerals, it's designed to relax and prepare you for a night of rest.

• 29:33Karen Kilgariff?

  If you need a reset after your day, make Dr. Teal's magnesium spray part of your nighttime routine.

• 29:38Georgia Hardstark?

  Generously spritz each foot before bed, and you'll be all set. I've actually started doing this, and I'm obsessed with magnesium. It does everything.

• 29:45Karen Kilgariff?

  Something like this is just like, it's simple, it's easy, and it actually works.

• 29:49Georgia Hardstark?

  Totally. For wellness, you can feel fine Dr. Teal's magnesium spray online or in your local bath aisle.

• 29:54Karen Kilgariff?

  Goodbye.

• 29:55Georgia Hardstark?

  By now, you've heard about Reef's shoes and sandals, but we want to introduce you to their line of women's clogs for fall.

• 30:01Karen Kilgariff?

  These are the kind of shoes you'll keep reaching for because they're genuinely comfortable, but still feel cute and current.

• 30:06Georgia Hardstark?

  A cute, like, flowy dress and a pair of clogs is so timeless.

• 30:11Karen Kilgariff?

  And we got to get some of these clogs. I couldn't believe how cute and comfortable these Reef clogs were. They have the arch support, they have the height, they give you a little bit of height, but they're kind of simple. Check out the clogs on reef.com and redeem 15% off your first purchase.

• 30:26Georgia Hardstark?

  Goodbye.