MFM Minisode 474

This week’s hometowns are Valentine’s Day-themed! Listen for a Murderino jackpot in a dresser and a feel-good best friend connection. 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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• 0:36Speaker 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.

• 1:29Georgia Hardstark?

  Hello and welcome

• 1:31Karen Kilgariff?

  to My Favorite Murder.

• 1:32Georgia Hardstark?

  The minisode.

• 1:33Karen Kilgariff?

  We read you.

• 1:34Georgia Hardstark?

  Your stories.

• 1:35Karen Kilgariff?

  That come in email form.

• 1:36Georgia Hardstark?

  Kind of Valentine's Day themed.

• 1:38Karen Kilgariff?

  We have a big Gmail that you can send your stories to.

• 1:41Georgia Hardstark?

  That's right, send them in. We love it. MyFavoriteMurdererGmail, just like that.

• 1:44Karen Kilgariff?

  We love it. Should I go first?

• 1:45Georgia Hardstark?

  Sure.

• 1:46Karen Kilgariff?

  The subject line of this email is, "We Found the Murderino Jackpot in Our Dresser."

• 1:52Karen Kilgariff?

  Hello Karen, Georgia, crew and pets. You are all wonderful. I'm a longtime listener from the pun titled days and got my much younger sister into your podcast as well. Sorry, Mom. That's what older sisters are for, right?

• 2:04Georgia Hardstark?

  Yes, that's true.

• 2:06Karen Kilgariff?

  So let's get to it. This week, my sister picked up a dresser from Facebook Marketplace. When she got it into her room and opened the drawer, two letters fell out. She scanned one and read a sentence about a gruesome crime scene. She checked the return addresses on the envelopes. One was from Oregon State Penitentiary and the other was from San Quentin.

• 2:25Georgia Hardstark?

  Jesus.

• 2:26Karen Kilgariff?

  Your faces like started bright and slowly like sinking like.

• 2:30Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh, no.

• 2:31Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah. She immediately brought the letters to my parents and they FaceTimed me, the family Marterino.

• 2:36Georgia Hardstark?

  Nice.

• 2:37Karen Kilgariff?

  All caps, you guys, period. She was holding letters from Dennis Rader. Who is BTK.

• 2:44Georgia Hardstark?

  From him. Okay.

• 2:45Karen Kilgariff?

  They wrote, "Covered in episode 82."

• 2:47Georgia Hardstark?

  Which is, oh, do their homework for us.

• 2:49Karen Kilgariff?

  Yep. And Keith Jesperson, the Happy Face Killer, covered in episode 257.

• 2:54Georgia Hardstark?

  Holy shit.

• 2:56Karen Kilgariff?

  After some investigation on Facebook to figure out where this dresser had come from, we discovered the dresser belonged to the family of criminologist Laura Brand.

• 3:05Georgia Hardstark?

  Wow.

• 3:06Karen Kilgariff?

  She's written letters and interviewed over 50 serial killers to assess their personality traits. And she presented a research at Crime Con in 2021.

• 3:14Georgia Hardstark?

  I've definitely seen her on documentaries. She's great.

• 3:16Karen Kilgariff?

  For sure.

• 3:17Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 3:17Karen Kilgariff?

  This made us breathe easier, knowing the dresser didn't belong to a killer. Laura's mother had apparently forgotten to check the drawers before selling the dresser to my sister.

• 3:27Karen Kilgariff?

  That makes Laura sound like a high school investigator.

• 3:31Georgia Hardstark?

  Nancy Drew over here.

• 3:32Karen Kilgariff?

  I hope that Laura would be delighted to know these letters fell into the hands of Marterino sisters. Our mom reached out to her mom on Facebook to tell her, hey, we found these letters in your dresser and they seem important. To which she replied, oh, boy, I'm going to need those back for my daughter.

• 3:47Georgia Hardstark?

  Don't fucking tell my daughter.

• 3:49Karen Kilgariff?

  And then it says, of course, before returning the letters, we read them thoroughly.

• 3:53Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 3:53Karen Kilgariff?

  Here are the highlights.

• 3:54Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh, wow. Okay.

• 3:56Karen Kilgariff?

  This is real inside inside tea.

• 3:59Georgia Hardstark?

  This is too much. Okay. Cause I don't ever want to write to a fucking serial killer murderer. Ever, ever. But like to just feel like read some insider baseball stuff.

• 4:09Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah. What it might be like.

• 4:11Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 4:11Karen Kilgariff?

  And I like the way they broke this down, too. So it's BTK had horrendous handwriting and we only had pages three and four of a four-page letter. He mostly rambles about money for stamps and complains about how long the mail takes. But the letter was sent on Valentine's Day of 2020.

• 4:28Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh my god.

• 4:29Karen Kilgariff?

  And he asks Laura if she's received a Valentine from Bittaker. I had to look up this name. That's one of the two Toolbox Killers.

• 4:38Georgia Hardstark?

  Okay, just like a who's who of pieces of shit serial killers over here.

• 4:42Karen Kilgariff?

  Yes. We've never covered the Toolbox Killer because it is so disgusting and so insane. It is truly one of the worst things I've ever read about.

• 4:51Georgia Hardstark?

  It's hopeless. It feels hopeless.

• 4:54Karen Kilgariff?

  Laura was doing research on them for her documentary, The Toolbox Killers, which was released on Peacock and Oxygen in 2021. So this is a real journalist, you know, like trying to get background information as opposed to like what everybody always loves to talk about, the like the women at the Nightstalker case who were like, we want to marry him.

• 5:14Georgia Hardstark?

  Like fangirls. Yeah, this is a journalist.

• 5:16Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah. The documentary features personal accounts from survivors and family members, as well as Laura's relationship with Bittaker, as she interviews him over the years. In this letter, BTK said he was familiar with Bittaker and he used to have a newspaper clipping of one of his crimes in his quote unquote hidey hole. And then in parentheses, it says, "His hidey hole shivers." The letter from Keith was seven pages long, and I must say, he has decent handwriting, though the content was disturbing. For most of the letter, he rants about someone who has written a book about his crimes, but he's pissed that they left out three of his murders.

• 5:52Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh my god.

• 5:53Karen Kilgariff?

  In my opinion, the juicy part is when he responds to a few of Laura's research questions that assess personality traits. His favorite book, The Old Man and the Sea, what would you do with an invisible cloak, escape from prison, favorite animal, squirrel. I'm not sure what to do with this information, but I knew I needed to share it with my fellow murderinos. Stay sexy and always check the drawers before selling your children's furniture, L and V.

• 6:17Georgia Hardstark?

  Holy shit. How? Chilling.

• 6:22Karen Kilgariff?

  We've said this on this podcast before, but I just am so not interested in their favorite animal or like, I don't want to know about their thinking anymore than what we know about the crimes and then like that idea where your personality.

• 6:37Georgia Hardstark?

  And maybe like how to get, prevent or find other, you know, killers, but I guarantee squirrel's not going to be one of the ways you're going to capture the next fucking serial killer, you know?

• 6:46Karen Kilgariff?

  Well, unless there's some sort of signal or sign, I mean, like they have to be holistic about it. I just don't want to have to be.

• 6:53Georgia Hardstark?

  Totally, totally.

• 6:54Karen Kilgariff?

  Cause it's not, it's just gross. I think we want to read the books, obviously.

• 6:59Georgia Hardstark?

  Right.

• 6:59Karen Kilgariff?

  But the journalists have to process so much.

• 7:01Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 7:02Karen Kilgariff?

  Horror and gross stuff to get their story.

• 7:06Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 7:06Karen Kilgariff?

  It's horrible.

• 7:07Georgia Hardstark?

  Okay. Here is my first one. This is a Galentine's Day feel-good best friend story.

• 7:14Karen Kilgariff?

  Nice.

• 7:16Georgia Hardstark?

  Hi all. Let's get to it. With Galentine's Day coming up, I'd like to share about the weird supernatural like connection I have with Chrissy, my best friend of 23 years. And yes, that best friendship is capitalized. We met when we were 10 years old and we were inseparable. We've always called our bond the best friend connection or just BFC for short. Anyway, the summer before my senior year in high school, I worked at our local subway and Chrissy would frequently drop in to visit me while I was working as best friends in high school or want to do. One day I was working and a state trooper came in. He just so happened to mention that he'd come from the scene of a car accident on Lemoore Road where a car had flipped over and my BFC senses immediately started to tingle.

• 8:00Karen Kilgariff?

  Oh no.

• 8:01Georgia Hardstark?

  For reasons that I cannot explain to this day, I asked in a panic, was it a white cavalier with black racing flags on the side? All the color drained out of his face and he said, I shouldn't really be telling you this, but yes, it was. How could you possibly know that? That's my best friend's car. I was starting to freak out. I need to know if she's okay. She went to the hospital, but I think she's going to be fine, the trooper replied. Still looking completely weirded out by my unexplained outburst. I ripped my apron off, threw it down, looked at my manager on duty and said, I'm leaving. I booked out that door, jumped into my broke ass 1986 Buick and floored it to my best friend's house. I pounded on the front door until it opened. Chrissy and her mom looked at me with utter

• 8:43Georgia Hardstark?

  disbelief as I burst in and asked, are you okay? What happened? Chrissy explained that she'd been on her way to see me and her brakes had given out on a sharp curve on the back road she was driving on. She'd rolled her car a couple of times and completely totaled it. She was fine other than having a concussion and being pretty shaken up.

• 9:02Karen Kilgariff?

  That's crazy.

• 9:03Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 9:03Karen Kilgariff?

  I would think that car would blow up on the first turn.

• 9:06Georgia Hardstark?

  Totally. And you're home the same day. That's insane. But how did you know I was in an accident? She asked, clearly looking puzzled as fuck. I explained that a straight trooper had come into Subway, described the accident. I had just known that it was her and that she'd been coming to see me. I have zero explanation as to how or why Chrissy and I have the BFC, but for the 23 years that we've been best friends, we've always known when one of us needs the other. This Valentine slash Galentine's Day, remember that your soulmate doesn't have to be your lover. Your soulmate can be your best friend. Thanks for all y'all do. I love the podcast and I so appreciate how y'all are working to de-sigmatize getting help for mental health. It's so important. SSDGM, Maggie.

• 9:46Karen Kilgariff?

  Maggie, Maggie, you have the sixth sense.

• 9:49Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 9:50Karen Kilgariff?

  That, what an honor too.

• 9:52Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 9:53Karen Kilgariff?

  As the friend to be like, oh my God, you knew when I was in trouble.

• 9:56Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah, you knew I needed you. Jesus.

• 9:58Karen Kilgariff?

  Oh, that's really intense.

• 10:00Georgia Hardstark?

  But if really though, every time a trooper had come in, she'd be like, was it a cavalier? Was it a white? And then she's like, one time out of 25, she, he was like, how did you know that?

• 10:09Karen Kilgariff?

  Or it's the same trooper and she's like, was it a Chevy minivan? Yes. And he's just having a total nervous breakdown. Okay.

• 10:19Georgia Hardstark?

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

• 10:23Karen Kilgariff?

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

• 10:26Georgia Hardstark?

  Get your business ready with Shopify.

• 10:28Karen Kilgariff?

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

• 10:33Georgia Hardstark?

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

• 10:38Karen Kilgariff?

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

• 10:45Georgia Hardstark?

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

• 10:51Karen Kilgariff?

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

• 10:57Georgia Hardstark?

  That's Shopify.com/murder.

• 10:59Karen Kilgariff?

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

• 11:04Georgia Hardstark?

  Goodbye.

• 11:06Speaker 05

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• 11:34Georgia Hardstark?

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

• 11:38Karen Kilgariff?

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

• 11:43Georgia Hardstark?

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

• 11:48Karen Kilgariff?

  Hatch Sleep Clock does it differently.

• 11:50Georgia Hardstark?

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

• 11:56Karen Kilgariff?

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

• 12:02Georgia Hardstark?

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

• 12:09Karen Kilgariff?

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

• 12:13Georgia Hardstark?

  Hatch Sleep Clock.

• 12:14Karen Kilgariff?

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

• 12:19Georgia Hardstark?

  Goodbye.

• 12:22Karen Kilgariff?

  This email, the subject line is "Found in Walls and Strange Shit Grandparents Do." "Hi, gang. My great-grandmother was a child during the Great Depression, so you can imagine how she scrimped and saved her entire life. She married very young and had three children. Sadly, her husband died young, and she struggled to raise her kids with very little money. My grandfather had to leave school early to get a job to help contribute to the household. The home she lived in and raised her children in was the same home she and her husband rented right after they married, having rented the home from the original owner, then his son, then his granddaughter.

• 12:56Georgia Hardstark?

  Wow.

• 12:56Karen Kilgariff?

  She believed her rent was still $35 per month, with my grandfather making up the difference without her knowing. They probably bought and paid for that house four times over."

• 13:05Georgia Hardstark?

  Hate it.

• 13:06Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah, that's how it works. Fast forward decades, we were moving from the tiny home to a nursing home and combing through her belongings. Horrible day. My brother, about eight at the time, ran into the kitchen with a silver dollar, asking if he could keep it. He had found it pasted to the bottom of the leg of a chair. Turns out, it was a real silver dollar, but how weird for it to be pasted to the bottom of the chair, right? Could there be more? My family began to really explore the nooks and crannies of this house to see if she had hoarded away other little treasures. We found coins of various denominations sewn into curtains. Sewn into curtain corners and under the legs of chairs, bills of various denominations,

• 13:47Karen Kilgariff?

  pasted under wallpaper and stacked between the countless butter tubs and cottage cheese tubs saved for decades.

• 13:54Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh, my god.

• 13:55Karen Kilgariff?

  Full on treasure hunt.

• 13:56Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah, it sounds amazing.

• 13:58Karen Kilgariff?

  We also found her hoard of the gummy orange slices she always gave us that were hard as rock.

• 14:04Karen Kilgariff?

  Still treasure. Judging by the open package in the pantry, we estimated she likely bought them in the seventies.

• 14:12Karen Kilgariff?

  Here's your old circus peanut.

• 14:13Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh, god.

• 14:14Karen Kilgariff?

  Go run outside. In the cellar, my dad noticed the walls and floor seemed uneven. Knowing the home was going to be demolished, we got permission from the owner to chip away at the walls and floor. All caps, dozens of jars of coins and bills were tucked away.

• 14:30Georgia Hardstark?

  Thank god they fucking found that.

• 14:32Karen Kilgariff?

  I know, for real. My uncle brought over a metal detector and we searched the yard. There were hundreds of jars.

• 14:38Georgia Hardstark?

  Jesus.

• 14:39Karen Kilgariff?

  Various size, full of money.

• 14:41Georgia Hardstark?

  How fun.

• 14:41Karen Kilgariff?

  Right? We tore the place apart, searching for her treasure, finding over, do you want to guess how much?

• 14:48Georgia Hardstark?

  Twenty-five thousand.

• 14:49Karen Kilgariff?

  Eighty-three thousand.

• 14:50Georgia Hardstark?

  Holy shit.

• 14:52Karen Kilgariff?

  So good. This woman lived like a pauper her whole life, taking half her prescribed meds so she could stretch the prescription further. Paying thirty-five dollars a month in rent, even though her rent was far more. Refusing to pay for a home phone. Never buying a meal at a restaurant, no luxuries whatsoever unless you consider two-dollar boxed crayon red hair dye a luxury. My grandma had like fake red hair dye too.

• 15:19Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh, my god, I love it.

• 15:20Karen Kilgariff?

  All while squirreling away eighty-three K. Needless to say, we were all blown away.

• 15:25Georgia Hardstark?

  I wish she had taken care of herself. A little bit more though.

• 15:28Karen Kilgariff?

  I know, but I think you get into that gear and it's hard to get out.

• 15:31Georgia Hardstark?

  I know. My grandma didn't.

• 15:33Karen Kilgariff?

  It's so World War II, just so coins into the corners of things.

• 15:37Georgia Hardstark?

  Totally, because that's like, yeah.

• 15:38Karen Kilgariff?

  It just happened.

• 15:40Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 15:40Karen Kilgariff?

  Like, it just, it's such near history.

• 15:43Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 15:43Karen Kilgariff?

  Okay. Stay sexy. And if you're ever cleaning out your grandparents' home, always check for squirreled away treasure.

• 15:49Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh, yeah.

• 15:50Karen Kilgariff?

  Lori.

• 15:51Georgia Hardstark?

  Okay, here's the new thing. If you don't have a deathbed confession, then you need to hide treasures for everyone to find.

• 15:58Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah.

• 15:58Georgia Hardstark?

  Like, make it a deathbed scavenger hunt. It's way better than a deathbed confession.

• 16:04Karen Kilgariff?

  And you don't have to have, yeah, like saying if you don't have the treasure, but when someone passes away, the orange slices they gave you from the 70s becomes the treasure.

• 16:13Georgia Hardstark?

  It could be like notes that you tuck in places that they find, like treasure hunt kind of stuff. It doesn't have to be money.

• 16:19Karen Kilgariff?

  No, it's like me getting the bell lady for Christmas and having a full nervous breakdown where it's like, the bell lady probably costs $7.

• 16:26Georgia Hardstark?

  No, totally.

• 16:27Karen Kilgariff?

  But it's, that's the idea.

• 16:28Georgia Hardstark?

  Treasure hunt.

• 16:29Karen Kilgariff?

  Treasure hunt.

• 16:30Georgia Hardstark?

  Deathbed treasure hunt.

• 16:31Karen Kilgariff?

  From grandma.

• 16:32Georgia Hardstark?

  Do you have a deathbed treasure hunt story? Tell us at myfavoritemurder at gmail.

• 16:36Karen Kilgariff?

  We're trying to create our own reality.

• 16:37Georgia Hardstark?

  Okay, speaking of deathbed treasure hunt confession-y type of thing, here is a family secret with gal pals Betty and Dottie. I'm a huge fan of the podcast, Y U G E. I love that. Let's go. I wanted to write in about my paternal grandma who always loved spending time with the six of us grandkids. She showered us with kisses and love. She never missed a birthday. She sent Valentine's cards mailed separately to each of us. She gave us the best Christmas gifts, always had cookies and pop for us when we visited, and she never left the house without her lipstick. She sent us seized candy boxes on Easter and Christmas, and when I was a teenager, she would call and ask me, how's your love life?

• 17:20Georgia Hardstark?

  Even in her 60s, Grandma Betty would ride all the scariest roller coasters and extreme water slides with us, laughing the entire time.

• 17:27Karen Kilgariff?

  Even in her 60s?

• 17:28Georgia Hardstark?

  I know.

• 17:30Karen Kilgariff?

  When her whole body could have broken in half in her 60s?

• 17:35Georgia Hardstark?

  Starting to feel it. Okay.

• 17:38Georgia Hardstark?

  Her name was Elizabeth English. My mom and dad often asked her about her life as a child, but she was always quiet about it. She gave a name or two of her relatives, but would change the subject if we asked anything else. This was not acceptable for us, a large Mormon family who wanted to do our genealogy like good Mormons do. Really big on that.

• 17:57Karen Kilgariff?

  They love it.

• 17:58Georgia Hardstark?

  Somehow, the answer to these questions about her past eluded us until her passing in the early 1990s. That's when we got ahold of a box of old photos that we didn't recognize. And after some investigating, her brother, Dad's Uncle Bill, told us the truth. Grandma Betty's name was not Betty at all, nor was it English. It was Sarah Brownstein. Our family was shocked to find out that Grandma Betty, along with her best friend, Dottie, had run away from her home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to escape her strict Jewish parents.

• 18:28Karen Kilgariff?

  Whoa.

• 18:29Georgia Hardstark?

  They collaborated on an escape to get as far away from home as they could, winding up in Los Angeles in the 1940s.

• 18:36Karen Kilgariff?

  Unbelievable.

• 18:37Georgia Hardstark?

  What a time. Somewhere along the way, Dottie swore that her friend was Elizabeth English, and Grandma was able to get a new birth certificate and identity. What's it like to do is like bring a friend and be like, back then, this is...

• 18:48Karen Kilgariff?

  No, I swear to God.

• 18:49Georgia Hardstark?

  That's who this is.

• 18:49Karen Kilgariff?

  It's Liz English.

• 18:53Georgia Hardstark?

  They rented a room together, got jobs as waitresses, and dated a lot of soldiers when the war ended. I can't help but think of Black Dahlia, like in Los Angeles at that time.

• 19:02Karen Kilgariff?

  Yep.

• 19:03Georgia Hardstark?

  That's just crazy.

• 19:04Karen Kilgariff?

  And just the newness of women being out on their own.

• 19:06Georgia Hardstark?

  Totally.

• 19:07Karen Kilgariff?

  For the turn of the century and after, just like very few women did it.

• 19:11Georgia Hardstark?

  No. They each married and had families and always lived near each other. They had barbecues on Sundays. Their kids grew up like cousins. It's like you. And neither one ever told anyone, including their husbands and kids, about Grandma's former identity.

• 19:25Karen Kilgariff?

  So, so that's a whole family that's finding out they are Jewish. Because it goes down, it's passed down through the mother.

• 19:32Georgia Hardstark?

  And it's really surprising to me that she became Mormon and not like just not, you know, kind of non-denominational. It's like... Just, it's huge. And then not to tell.

• 19:41Karen Kilgariff?

  I wonder if there was a danger element to her past where she's like, I'm gonna go deep undercover.

• 19:46Georgia Hardstark?

  Totally. I'm sure, you know, any conservative religion is not one that you're stoked to be a woman in.

• 19:51Karen Kilgariff?

  Right.

• 19:52Georgia Hardstark?

  You know?

• 19:52Karen Kilgariff?

  And easy to get away from.

• 19:53Georgia Hardstark?

  Exactly.

• 19:53Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah.

• 19:54Georgia Hardstark?

  Of course, my dad wanted to talk to Uncle Bill for some more details about his mother's previous life. So many questions about his own heritage and why didn't Bill or anyone else go looking for her? Did she ever write home? Who else in the family is still alive? My dad and mom flew out to see Uncle Bill with their box of photographs, anxious to piece the story together and find out as many secrets as possible. As Bill was mowing the lawn at his home on the day my folks were set to visit, he collapsed and died of a heart attack hours before they arrived.

• 20:23Karen Kilgariff?

  Same day?

• 20:24Georgia Hardstark?

  Yes.

• 20:25Karen Kilgariff?

  That's horrible and so what?

• 20:27Georgia Hardstark?

  I know. Now, here's an additional twist. My brother, who was 19 at the time Grandma Betty died, was preparing to go on a Mormon mission. You may know that missionaries do not get to choose where they serve. It's up to the higher ups to send them basically anywhere in the world. My brother was sent to Donetsk, Ukraine, the very place where my great-grandfather Bronstein was a rabbi.

• 20:50Karen Kilgariff?

  What?

• 20:51Georgia Hardstark?

  My family is no longer Mormon, but I have to think that there was something that guided us to connect with our distant family in that way. My parents were able to fly to Ukraine to not only pick up my brother after he served his two-year mission, but also tour the village where the Bronstein family lived before fleeing to the US, fiddler on the roof style.

• 21:09Karen Kilgariff?

  Holy shit.

• 21:10Georgia Hardstark?

  I know. This is an epic fucking story.

• 21:13Karen Kilgariff?

  It's the power of Judaism, drawing those Mormons in, saying, no, no, no, you're with us.

• 21:20Georgia Hardstark?

  And none of this could happen until like Grandma died, because Grandma was, you know what I mean? It's like, open this whole Pandora's box.

• 21:27Karen Kilgariff?

  And she had the guts to start a new life, so it's like, everyone was like, let her do it.

• 21:31Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 21:31Karen Kilgariff?

  Don't bust her. Don't do this.

• 21:34Georgia Hardstark?

  She left them a treasure hunt.

• 21:36Karen Kilgariff?

  Oh, she did.

• 21:37Georgia Hardstark?

  Didn't she?

• 21:38Karen Kilgariff?

  It's a theme.

• 21:39Georgia Hardstark?

  Just leave enough info for that they can do some searching. And it was the 90s, so it wasn't like you can go online and just put your fucking DNA up in there and

• 21:46Karen Kilgariff?

  Have your data farmed.

• 21:46Georgia Hardstark?

  And let AI fucking own you.

• 21:49Karen Kilgariff?

  Tell you how to live.

• 21:50Georgia Hardstark?

  Our dear friend, Dottie, passed away in 2020, and we got a chance to talk with her about her friendship with my grandma Betty before she died. With a twinkle in her eyes, she said Betty was the best friend that any person could ever have. After Dottie passed, it became known that she, too, was of Jewish descent, but told no one. I have to wonder what her name could have been before running off across the country with her best friend. Stay sexy and always vouch for your best friend. Joanne, she/her.

• 22:19Karen Kilgariff?

  It's so good.

• 22:20Georgia Hardstark?

  Isn't it good?

• 22:21Karen Kilgariff?

  Yes. Like, it's, they're like, fuck this shit, we're out of here. We're starting over.

• 22:25Georgia Hardstark?

  I'm not fucking marrying whoever my parents want me to marry. I'm fucking out.

• 22:28Karen Kilgariff?

  I'm out of here, and what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna go marry a six-foot-tall, toe-headed blond man. The opposite of anything I've ever seen before in my life.

• 22:37Georgia Hardstark?

  Totally.

• 22:38Karen Kilgariff?

  And not drink coffee.

• 22:39Georgia Hardstark?

  Right.

• 22:39Karen Kilgariff?

  And not smoke cigarettes.

• 22:41Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah, that's rough.

• 22:43Karen Kilgariff?

  Wow.

• 22:43Georgia Hardstark?

  I know.

• 22:44Karen Kilgariff?

  It just makes me think of my grandmother, who came to this country when she was 17 with her older sister and her younger sister.

• 22:51Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah, my grandma is similar. So it's just how terrifying.

• 22:54Karen Kilgariff?

  So terrifying.

• 22:55Georgia Hardstark?

  Not speaking any English. Well, you're, well, yours is like.

• 22:58Karen Kilgariff?

  Mine's different.

• 22:59Georgia Hardstark?

  But it's like, not English in the same way.

• 23:01Karen Kilgariff?

  They were farm girls from, you know, the country in Ireland. It's like, they came to New York City.

• 23:06Georgia Hardstark?

  Totally.

• 23:07Karen Kilgariff?

  And then went, fuck this place, we're going to San Francisco. Which is so awesome.

• 23:11Georgia Hardstark?

  I know, mine were like, LA, let's fucking do it.

• 23:13Karen Kilgariff?

  Let's do it, let's go where the action is.

• 23:14Georgia Hardstark?

  Hell, yeah.

• 23:16Speaker 05

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• 23:44Karen Kilgariff?

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• 23:48Georgia Hardstark?

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• 23:50Karen Kilgariff?

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• 23:55Georgia Hardstark?

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• 24:02Karen Kilgariff?

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• 24:03Georgia Hardstark?

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

• 24:07Karen Kilgariff?

  Goodbye. 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.

• 24:50Karen Kilgariff?

  And when you're ready to launch, use offer code MURDER to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Goodbye.

• 24:59Karen Kilgariff?

  Well, we'll wrap it up. There's a little bit more grandparent theme here in our Valentine's Day show. The subject line of this is the greatest goddamn love story you've ever heard for Valentine's. It says, "Hi friends, my great-grandmother, AKA Grams, was born three months prematurely in Hollywood, Texas in the early 1900s. No one thought she would live, so she wasn't issued a birth certificate."

• 25:22Georgia Hardstark?

  Three months back, I mean, three months now is...

• 25:25Karen Kilgariff?

  A very big deal.

• 25:26Georgia Hardstark?

  Three months then, Jesus.

• 25:28Karen Kilgariff?

  And then in parentheses, it says, "This isn't super relevant, but I think it's funny, and it caused her problems later in life. My pops was born in Oklahoma around the same time. His mother died as a result of childbirth, and her family, the Studebakers," in parentheses, "yes, like the car company," still salty at all those rich folks three generations later, "disowned him." So they're from the Studebaker family, but they were like, "You're out."

• 25:51Georgia Hardstark?

  Holy shit.

• 25:52Karen Kilgariff?

  "His father left, and he was raised by his paternal grandmother. She recognized his artistic talent at a young age and snuck him into adult art classes as a child. Anyway, my pops joined the army during World War II and became a pilot. He was a nut, and during his training, he would fly the planes under bridges doing barrel rolls. Honestly, I'm lucky that my lifeline didn't end there." On the boat on his way to Europe, my wild child of a pops moved up to the captain's quarters and drew caricatures of the officers. When roll was called in the section he was supposed to be in, he did not answer and it was assumed he had died on the way over. Instead of clarifying the situation, my pops went AWOL and traveled around Europe going to different art museums.

• 26:33Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh my god.

• 26:34Karen Kilgariff?

  Okay Forrest Gump. We have a copy of a famous painting in my home, which he told my father, his first grandson, that he had illegally built a mold for when he visited the Louvre. Here comes the love story. When my pops came home, he went to someone and asked who the best dancer in town was.

• 26:51Georgia Hardstark?

  Best dancer? That's cute.

• 26:54Karen Kilgariff?

  He was told that the soda jerk down the road, Mary, was the best dancer around. My grams didn't want anything to do with him because he was a quote unquote cocky hotshot. So, long story short, that's how the greatest partnership was born. My grams and pops were a perfect pair. She was the perfect grounding force to his artistic mind and his lifelong muse. He was an art professor at many colleges and they brought his students into their home as though they were their own. They traveled the United States, they were staunch social advocates for the LGBTQ plus people, and introduced my father to his native culture. For every year on Valentine's Day, my pops built my grams a Valentine sculpture. And when he had a museum collection, all thirty something of them were on display.

• 27:38Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh my god.

• 27:39Karen Kilgariff?

  I was so lucky to know both of them and have such an amazing love story in my family tree. Thank you for this podcast. I'm writing this currently on the treadmill, trying to blow off steam from law school finals. This show has brought me joy in what seems to have been a very challenging journey with school. P.S. Law school sucks, but I'm excited to get into the world and do good work. Stay sexy and ask your family for family history. Siobhan, she/her.

• 28:04Georgia Hardstark?

  Wow.

• 28:05Karen Kilgariff?

  Sweet.

• 28:06Georgia Hardstark?

  Who's the best dancer in town?

• 28:08Karen Kilgariff?

  Who's the best dancer in town? I'm gonna date her.

• 28:09Georgia Hardstark?

  I have one more. Short, cute love story.

• 28:12Karen Kilgariff?

  Great.

• 28:12Georgia Hardstark?

  A hot dog love story, actually.

• 28:14Karen Kilgariff?

  Okay.

• 28:15Georgia Hardstark?

  My first day as a college freshman, I met a cute guy at a social event with free hot dogs. We became friends, then more than friends, then dated, and eventually got engaged. One of our mutual best friends was a hot dogger, meaning drove the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile for a year right out of college. They're called hot doggers. And in addition to the amazing hot dog merch she shared with us, she really came through for us for our wedding rehearsal dinner a couple of years later. Our hot dog love story had always been a huge part of our friend group's lore. And although she had retired from the Wiener life by this time, she still had some clout with the current regional hot doggers. She arranged for the Wienermobile to pick me and my husband up from our wedding rehearsal

• 28:57Georgia Hardstark?

  location and drive us to our rehearsal dinner in the fucking Wienermobile.

• 29:02Karen Kilgariff?

  That's big.

• 29:03Georgia Hardstark?

  It was so fucking funny and is still one of the best and most thoughtful surprises. Love you, Jenny. Just look at how happy our little goofy asses look in this pic. Our hot dog love story is going strong after eight years of marriage, five pets, and two precious little kids. Stay sexy and never say no to a free hot dog. Well, I don't know, use your best judgment, but you get the idea, Beth.

• 29:26Karen Kilgariff?

  Oh, so cute.

• 29:27Georgia Hardstark?

  How cute is that?

• 29:28Karen Kilgariff?

  They also look like little babies, don't they?

• 29:30Georgia Hardstark?

  Yes.

• 29:31Karen Kilgariff?

  They're so.

• 29:32Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh, they are so little.

• 29:33Karen Kilgariff?

  They're so young and cute.

• 29:34Georgia Hardstark?

  It's them posing outside the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile with little, like, cardboard cutouts of hot dogs over their, like, fancy clothes.

• 29:41Karen Kilgariff?

  There's so many ways to express love, ladies and gentlemen.

• 29:44Georgia Hardstark?

  Truly.

• 29:45Karen Kilgariff?

  Hot dogs, old people, hidden money.

• 29:49Georgia Hardstark?

  Treasures.

• 29:50Karen Kilgariff?

  Treasure and staying sexy.

• 29:52Georgia Hardstark?

  And don't get murdered.

• 29:53Karen Kilgariff?

  Happy Valentine's Day.

• 29:57Georgia Hardstark?

  Happy goodbye.

• 29:58Karen Kilgariff?

  Elvis, do you want a cookie?

• 30:08Karen Kilgariff?

  This has been an Exactly Right Production.

• 30:09Georgia Hardstark?

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

• 30:13Karen Kilgariff?

  Our editor is Aristotle Lasaveta.

• 30:15Georgia Hardstark?

  This episode was mixed by Liana Scolacci.

• 30:17Karen Kilgariff?

  Email your hometowns to [email protected].

• 30:20Georgia Hardstark?

  Follow the show on Instagram at MyFavoriteMurder.

• 30:22Karen Kilgariff?

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

• 30:34Karen Kilgariff?

  Vacation planning should feel like a breeze, not a deep dive into countless travel sites searching for the best deal.

• 30:39Georgia Hardstark?

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• 30:45Karen Kilgariff?

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• 30:47Georgia Hardstark?

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• 30:53Karen Kilgariff?

  Go to CheapCaribbean.com to try out the Budget Beach Finder and see just how stress-free vacation planning should be. Goodbye.

• 31:00Speaker 06

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