MFM Minisode 475

This week’s hometowns include a prank mom and a Murderino origin story. 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 00

  Cash flow crunch? OnDeck's small business line of credit gives your business immediate access to funds, up to $200,000, right when you need it. Cover seasonal dips, manage payroll, restock inventory, or tackle unexpected expenses without missing a beat. With flexible draws, transparent pricing, and control over repayment, get funded quickly and confidently. Apply today at ondeck.com. Funds could be available as soon as tomorrow. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

• 0:36Georgia Hardstark?

  Everyone loves the idea of spending an afternoon curled up with a good book.

• 0:40Karen Kilgariff?

  Well, grow up, because it's almost impossible.

• 0:42Georgia Hardstark?

  Luckily, you can take your next great story with you on Audible.

• 0:46Karen Kilgariff?

  Audible has a massive selection of titles to choose from, including This American Life, new books by Michael Connelly, along with classics from Magathah Christie, and so much more.

• 0:55Georgia Hardstark?

  Whether you want a mystery, a true crime story, or something completely different, there's always something new to listen to.

• 1:00Karen Kilgariff?

  New members can start listening with a 30-day free trial at audible.com/mfm.

• 1:05Georgia Hardstark?

  Audible, stories that speak to you.

• 1:07Karen Kilgariff?

  Goodbye.

• 1:25Georgia Hardstark?

  Hello.

• 1:26Karen Kilgariff?

  And welcome.

• 1:27Georgia Hardstark?

  To My Favorite Murder.

• 1:29Karen Kilgariff?

  The mini-soad of squiggles.

• 1:31Georgia Hardstark?

  And stripes. And stripes. If you're watching this right now on Netflix, we're sorry if we're giving you a seizure.

• 1:35Karen Kilgariff?

  We're trying to make it as exciting as possible for you.

• 1:38Georgia Hardstark?

  We forgot that patterns don't work great on TV.

• 1:41Karen Kilgariff?

  Let's be honest, I had a sweater on and I had to bail because I am a middle-aged lady.

• 1:46Georgia Hardstark?

  I have squiggles. I don't own a fucking solid piece of clothing. I don't know what I'm gonna do.

• 1:50Karen Kilgariff?

  You love a print.

• 1:51Georgia Hardstark?

  I love prints.

• 1:52Karen Kilgariff?

  But at least you're smart enough to wear short sleeves, so you can work with the bizarre temperatures your body serves up.

• 1:58Georgia Hardstark?

  Because I'm in perimenopause and all I do is get hot, and then hot, and then not as hot.

• 2:03Karen Kilgariff?

  I know, I refuse to learn. I have to fight.

• 2:06Georgia Hardstark?

  Okay, I'll go first.

• 2:07Karen Kilgariff?

  Okay.

• 2:08Georgia Hardstark?

  Look, I'm not gonna do the title. Hello, my murder besties. I'm listening to a fan cult mini and had to pause to write in a memory that was just triggered. Picture it, me, a junior in a Texas high school in the early 2000s, my brother, a sophomore in the same high school. Lockdown drills and all the things my kids now experience were in their infancy. We had a lockdown procedure, but it was rarely practiced and it wasn't taken as seriously as it is now. Fucking awful. Suddenly, we hear an announcement over the loudspeaker saying, we are going into lockdown, and it was not a drill. Apparently, there was an armed burglary in the neighborhood across the street from our school, and the police were chasing the guy towards our school. Don't run towards us.

• 2:49Karen Kilgariff?

  Here, just head over toward the school.

• 2:51Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 2:51Karen Kilgariff?

  Let's take care of it in the lunchroom.

• 2:53Georgia Hardstark?

  Right. And then they were chasing him in our school because in the 2000s, schools didn't have multiple locked doors you had to get through to make it into the building.

• 3:02Karen Kilgariff?

  We live in the worst reality for children and with guns and this idea that we're all so used to it.

• 3:08Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 3:09Karen Kilgariff?

  When it was just 20 years ago that none of this was how it was.

• 3:12Georgia Hardstark?

  Imagine this, if you don't care that there are guns and killing children, then you can't be pro-life either.

• 3:21Karen Kilgariff?

  Yep.

• 3:21Georgia Hardstark?

  It's not, it doesn't fucking match.

• 3:24Karen Kilgariff?

  No.

• 3:24Georgia Hardstark?

  You can't pick and choose which children you want to live or die. Go fuck yourself. Anyway.

• 3:30Karen Kilgariff?

  It says all of that in that email? Okay, well, I guess you had to read it.

• 3:34Georgia Hardstark?

  Allegedly. Go fuck yourself. My class was on the bottom floor. We could hear the police radios yelling and running as it fades away down the hall. A few minutes later, we hear a loud banging and then breaking glass. So of course, our teenage brains tell us to look out the window into our school's courtyard where the sound was coming from. And just in time to see a guy jump from the second-story art class walkway and onto the ground, barely missing the lunch picnic tables.

• 4:01Karen Kilgariff?

  God.

• 4:02Georgia Hardstark?

  The guy looks shaken, possibly injured from his escape attempt. So he's slow to get up and gives the admin and police time to swarm him, and he was arrested. Fast forward till later that day. My friends, siblings, and I were recounting what we knew about the lockdown. My brother tells us that he was in art class when the guy broke the window and jumped in front of him. And we were all amazed. Tell us everything. Well, it turns out, my brother heard a knock on the art door and recognizing the kid knocking, he opened the door for him, thinking he must have been in the bathroom or something when we went into lockdown. This kid turned out to be the same guy the police were chasing.

• 4:41Karen Kilgariff?

  So he went to that school?

• 4:43Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah, but he opened a locked door.

• 4:46Karen Kilgariff?

  To let the, like the shooter inside?

• 4:48Georgia Hardstark?

  The time my brother opened the door for the bad guy.

• 4:51Karen Kilgariff?

  Oh, no.

• 4:52Georgia Hardstark?

  The kid grabbed a chair, beat at the window until it broke, and then jumped to escape while the police were trying to make their way into the locked classroom. Because of course, my brother locked the door behind him after letting the kid in.

• 5:05Karen Kilgariff?

  Yes, that's right.

• 5:07Georgia Hardstark?

  Fucking teenagers, sophomore boys, don't, don't give them any responsibilities. Turns out, this kid was just as good at jumping out of a window as he was at being a burglar. And that's the story of how my brother let the bad guy in and why our school put out more rules and training for lockdown drills. She was just testing them, this kid.

• 5:25Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah, that's right.

• 5:26Georgia Hardstark?

  SSDGM, Angela G., she/her.

• 5:31Karen Kilgariff?

  This world we live in.

• 5:32Georgia Hardstark?

  The reality of this world is so...

• 5:34Karen Kilgariff?

  Is why we need to go into the reality of other worlds.

• 5:38Georgia Hardstark?

  Okay, I was gonna say like, maybe cryo freeze mode and just give it a couple fucking centuries, see if we get smarter.

• 5:46Karen Kilgariff?

  So we just wake up and be like, oh no, it's just like Idiocracy. Okay, I won't read you the subject line. It says, "Hi ladies, love your show. It's got me through many, many workouts." I tell my... That's such a funny thing to say.

• 5:58Georgia Hardstark?

  I love it.

• 5:59Karen Kilgariff?

  "I tell my husband that oddly enough, listening to a podcast about murder happens to be the most relaxing part of my day."

• 6:05Georgia Hardstark?

  I hear you.

• 6:05Karen Kilgariff?

  And then it says, "Ha ha," in parentheses, "he doesn't get it." It's different for them. Okay, on with my trash parents story. But really, the Catholic guilt over calling my parents trash parents is a doozy. They really are great people, but we will see what you think after this story.

• 6:20Georgia Hardstark?

  I love it.

• 6:21Karen Kilgariff?

  "I grew up in a small town in Missouri. My dad was a fireman, and so often, it was my mom, me, and my younger brother alone in the evenings." I relate.

• 6:28Georgia Hardstark?

  You know that, yeah.

• 6:29Karen Kilgariff?

  Uh, "One evening, I was probably about eight, my brother would have been five, the three of us were at home and my dad was on shift. Do you remember in the age of landlines, when you could call your own number and hang up really quick and then your home phone would ring?"

• 6:42Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh my god.

• 6:44Karen Kilgariff?

  I fucking forgot about that. There was all kinds of games and tricks that we used to play on landlines. Because we were bored, because we didn't have distractions like you guys have today. My favorite in the world is my friend Dave Roth used to do this at his house when we'd like, party all night and then stay at his house and be like on the landline calling people. He would pick up in his room and listen in on your call, breathing really loudly and giggling like he was your little brother. And it was the funniest thing. Like, he did it perfectly where he'd be like, like you knew he was there. As a kid, it was a great way to mess with other people in the house. On this particular evening, my mom used it against me. I remember the phone ringing and no one answering it,

• 7:27Karen Kilgariff?

  so I took it upon myself to take care of it. After saying hello, I heard on the other end of the phone, "Hello, this is the police department. We have an armed man on the loose from prison. Please be sure all the lights are off in your house and all the doors are locked." And then click, they hung up. Oh my god. In my eight-year-old full-body panic, I ran to the back of the house, turning off the kitchen light as I went through, locked the back door, and made sure the lights were off, then started running as fast as I could to lock the front door. As I sprinted to the front of the house, my mom jumped out of nowhere and yelled, "Got ya!" What? And then it says, "I thought I was going to die." Oh my god. My mom, on the other hand, thought this was the funniest thing that had ever happened in life. Oh, she was bored too.

• 8:10Karen Kilgariff?

  She was bored. And this is something my cousin Stevie does, and he does it to me and my sister and his own daughters, where you're just like, oh, you have to get something out of the garage, and you're walking back out, and he's suddenly right here, like, jumping at you. I'm like seven people. It's hilariously the scariest thing of all time. My mom reassured me that she was on the other end of the phone, and it was her poor idea of a joke. Trash parent? I mean, if that isn't it, it's gotta be close, right? If this story doesn't do it, then maybe the time my mom and dad had me shave, yes, shave, a shaving cream-covered balloon. When it popped and the shaving cream went all over, I cried for hours. I still hate the sounds of balloons popping. Yeah, you get, you gotta go to therapy.

• 8:52Karen Kilgariff?

  These are prank parents. It's not trash. It's a different style. Prank parents, send us your stories. Truly, though, my parents are great people. I don't know, no, me either. They brought themselves up from backgrounds of incredible trauma and broke a cycle of abuse. Did they? Did they, though? Shout out to all parents out there working to break a cycle and provide their kids the life they couldn't have. Kudos, which is very true. And also, it's good to have a sense of humor, and it's good to stay on your toes. Totally, and like, they're not like, capital T, dramatized. No, but I thought that the end of the lock the house was just gonna be that they were all in bed and they're like, "Thanks so much for doing that, so we didn't have to get up." So smart. The fact that she jumped out and grabbed her was like, "I'm sorry." It's an offense.

• 9:37Karen Kilgariff?

  Number 55. Wow, look at you, with your fucking knowing how to- I'm about to go watch more football with my dad. That's why. I literally bought a sweatshirt on TikTok shop that says, "I hope both teams lose," and I'm going to wear it to his house. That is the best thing I've ever- Right? He's gonna get real mad. Okay, we're back in for some compliments. Thank you for all you do, especially in the reassuring me that being rude is not because I'm the worst, but because I simply am trying to stay alive. LOL. What a great way to explain it. Yeah. Thanks for all you do. Trash parents, you tell me. Ha, ha, ha. Rebecca. Rebecca. Rebecca, bad news. Or good news. You're being validated. And also, you sound great now, except for maybe the balloon thing, which has ruined birthday parties for you.

• 10:22Karen Kilgariff?

  That's right. But, uh, you're gonna be okay. I hope both teams can't lose. I hope both teams lose. That's not how it works, but it's so funny. It's argumentatively obnoxious. Totally. It's defiance. Black sweatshirt, white writing, right there. That's so funny.

• 10:39Speaker 03

  Cash flow crunch? OnDeck's small business line of credit gives your business immediate access to funds, up to $200,000, right when you need it. Cover seasonal dips, manage payroll, restock inventory, or tackle unexpected expenses without missing a beat. With flexible draws, transparent pricing, and control over repayment, get funded quickly and confidently. Apply today at ondeck.com. Funds could be available as soon as tomorrow. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

• 11:09Georgia Hardstark?

  The Hulu original series Phony is now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+.

• 11:14Karen Kilgariff?

  Sonny's life is pretty great, until he wakes up from a car accident to a world that looks exactly like his, with one exception: his mom.

• 11:22Georgia Hardstark?

  To everyone else, she's the same Ellen they've known their whole lives. But for Sonny, he knows something is off.

• 11:27Karen Kilgariff?

  As his relationship with his mother begins to crack in unsettling ways, he's forced to question what happens when the perfect mom becomes a perfect stranger.

• 11:35Georgia Hardstark?

  Is this all in his head, or is there really an imposter in his house?

• 11:38Karen Kilgariff?

  Starring five-time Emmy nominee Connie Britton and Sam Nevola, this small town is hiding the mother of all mysteries just beneath the surface.

• 11:46Georgia Hardstark?

  Watch the Hulu original series Phony.

• 11:48Karen Kilgariff?

  Now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ for bundle subscribers. Terms apply.

• 11:53Georgia Hardstark?

  Goodbye.

• 11:54Karen Kilgariff?

  You know a favorite M-word? Magnesium.

• 11:56Georgia Hardstark?

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

• 11:59Karen Kilgariff?

  Made from a proprietary blend of topical minerals, powered by pure Epsom salt and natural Dead Sea salt, it's designed to help you relax and get in the right state of mind for a good night's rest.

• 12:09Georgia Hardstark?

  If you need a reset after a crazy day, make Dr. Teal's magnesium spray part of your nighttime routine. It's an effortless way to get a boost of topical magnesium that can help you relax your body and mind before bedtime.

• 12:20Karen Kilgariff?

  Dr. Teal's magnesium spray comes in a lightweight, fast-drying formula.

• 12:24Georgia Hardstark?

  Just shake it up and generously spritz onto the soles of your feet and massage until absorbed.

• 12:28Karen Kilgariff?

  I was kind of blown away the first time I used this spray, because I do have problems sleeping. And when there's something this simple, you just spray it on your feet, and suddenly you're asleep, and the next morning you're like, wait, what happened? Did my problem just get solved? Like, it actually is that easy.

• 12:44Georgia Hardstark?

  And your stinky feet now smell like lavender. Like, what more do you want?

• 12:46Karen Kilgariff?

  How dare you call my feet stinky?

• 12:49Georgia Hardstark?

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

• 12:54Karen Kilgariff?

  Goodbye.

• 12:56Georgia Hardstark?

  Okay, this one's called Jurors and Jury Duty. Hi, hi, MFM crew. I haven't been listening long enough to be writing in for the garbled sound time, but here we are, so sorry.

• 13:08Karen Kilgariff?

  It's okay.

• 13:08Georgia Hardstark?

  I'm writing because I was listening to rewind of episode 78, their freshest recording.

• 13:15Georgia Hardstark?

  At the beginning of the episode, Georgia talks about going to an Oxygen Channel something or other about a new show where they were talking to jurors of famous cases. And she said, "It was fascinating to talk to the jurors as they were just normal people, quote, "whose lives were turned upside down for a while." I love it when people talk about jurors as real and normal people, as I've been one. It wasn't a case that got pressed. No one has heard about it, but it massively affected my life, both during the trial and after. When I got the jury summons, everyone that knew me well knew I was legitimately excited about it. I believe in our legal system, and I believe that serving on a jury is both a duty and an honor. What I didn't expect was to be chosen for a six-week criminal trial that was emotionally very trying.

• 13:58Georgia Hardstark?

  I was one of 12 strangers who had nothing in common, except this trial, which we couldn't talk to each other about until it was over, who had been thrown into this really kind of bizarre situation, when you think about it. It is.

• 14:10Karen Kilgariff?

  Well, and also, I didn't realize that, that like, aside from the like weighing the facts type of stuff, they can't opine to each other about it. They can't be like, I mean, that's crazy.

• 14:20Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah, I forgot about that part. We heard testimony that was hard to hear. We saw exhibits that were hard to see. And in the end, we rendered a verdict that sent three young men to prison for 50 years to life. That's like a huge burden that you're gonna carry forever.

• 14:34Karen Kilgariff?

  It's huge, yeah.

• 14:35Georgia Hardstark?

  And hope that you got right. I don't regret a moment of my service as I listened. I kept an open mind and deliberated in good faith with my fellow jurors. And I really believe that the verdict we rendered was just and right. When I was finally able to talk about it with friends and family, they all agreed, saying essentially, "Good for you, send those bastards away." And I understand that sentiment and also felt it to some extent. But in the end, really, the most prominent emotion I felt was sadness, because there was just so little good about any of it. We rendered our verdict mid-afternoon on a random weekday. Court ended and we were thanked and sent along on our way as if we hadn't just been through an unexpected six-week emotional wringer.

• 15:19Georgia Hardstark?

  We all went to a bar and just talked and decompressed and wondered who all exactly goes to a bar near the courthouses mid-afternoon on a random weekday. Fucking juries.

• 15:28Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah.

• 15:28Georgia Hardstark?

  We all stayed in touch and got together several times over the next year. We were the only ones who knew what we'd been through and the only other people we could talk about it with. Of course, the intensity of the experience faded eventually and I'm not in touch with any of them anymore, but I still have lasting memories and emotions. Serving on a jury truly is a duty and an honor. Sitting and judgment of someone is not easy and it's not perfect. I have so much empathy for jurors who are on high-profile cases. Just serving on a low-profile one is hard enough. Thank you for bringing humor and humanity and empathy into our lives at a time when there isn't a lot of any of that. Stay sexy and feel honored instead of annoyed when you get a jury summons. Jay, she, her.

• 16:09Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah, it's big.

• 16:10Georgia Hardstark?

  That's so interesting.

• 16:12Karen Kilgariff?

  It's just like you are sending a human being to the worst place they can go.

• 16:15Georgia Hardstark?

  Right.

• 16:16Karen Kilgariff?

  And for an extended period of time.

• 16:18Georgia Hardstark?

  And you want to give them worse because you hate them, but you can't. You have to go by the rules. You can't look away from.

• 16:24Karen Kilgariff?

  Or you don't want to. I mean, giving, it's like that idea of like you suddenly understand what we're really talking about.

• 16:31Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 16:31Karen Kilgariff?

  Sending people to a place you can spend five minutes in for years and years. It's just like, ugh, just.

• 16:37Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah, to see how like it really works. It actually works or doesn't work.

• 16:41Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah.

• 16:41Georgia Hardstark?

  It's crazy.

• 16:42Karen Kilgariff?

  All right. We'll change the tenor of this a tiny bit with this subject line, barking and entering. Hello and welcome to my hometown story. Living in Louisville as a young adult, I shared a house with a rotating cast of friends. One of them, let's call him P, the initial P, unfortunate, was dog sitting and running late. He called and asked if I could let the dog out since he wouldn't make it there for a while. No problem. I grabbed the key for his room. I walked about a half a mile to this random condo, let myself into a stranger's home, scooped up the sweetest little bulldog and took him outside to do his thing. Easy. Until we tried to go back inside. The door had auto-locked behind us and I had left the key inside. I screamed some profanities and sat down on the porch to mope.

• 17:28Karen Kilgariff?

  The word mope is so perfect.

• 17:30Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 17:31Karen Kilgariff?

  While the dog explored the yard, I had left my phone and everything inside. The worst feeling. I did not want to spend the next two hours loitering on a stranger's porch, waiting for P to come along. Since it was a one-story condo, I had the very innocent thought, and very innocent as in like asterisks, to try and climb into a window. I went around back. Yeah, it's very innocent, according to you. I went around back and spotted a small sliding window cracked open. Sweet. I'd be out of there in no time. But having zero experience with break-ins, that's not how it went. I fully opened the window, stared at the screen for a while, jiggled some things with zero confidence, and ultimately gave up.

• 18:12Georgia Hardstark?

  Jiggled some things.

• 18:13Karen Kilgariff?

  Jiggled some things. I returned to the front porch to accept my fate. Seconds later, a man burst out of the neighboring condo, just a few feet away from me, dripping wet, wearing nothing but a towel. He scanned left and right before locking eyes with me and screamed, "Did you see anyone out here? Someone was trying to break into my house."

• 18:31Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh, no.

• 18:32Karen Kilgariff?

  This guy was ready to fight. I stared at him blankly for a solid seven seconds before saying, "Oh, yeah, sorry, that was me." I clarified that I was actually trying to break into his neighbor's house, and he did not wait for further explanation. He simply turned around and stomped back inside. Screw the neighbor, right? I remained on that porch for a full two hours, until P finally arrived. At some point, the towel guy reemerged, now fully clothed. We exchanged a wave and a polite smile. In retrospect, I probably should have asked him out, just for the "how did you two meet" story.

• 19:02Georgia Hardstark?

  Yay.

• 19:03Karen Kilgariff?

  Stay sexy and always carry the key, Kate.

• 19:07Georgia Hardstark?

  I broke into a house, maybe a couple of years ago, that we were going to look at, Vince and I, and they like hadn't left the key, or like changed the fucking lock or something. And I was like, "We're not fucking coming back." So there was a window, and I fucking squeezed through that window and let him in.

• 19:21Karen Kilgariff?

  It's all about the will to get it done.

• 19:23Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah, it felt pretty badass, I'm not gonna lie.

• 19:25Karen Kilgariff?

  You just, you always can, if you, if you really want to.

• 19:29Georgia Hardstark?

  You can break into anything. That's our, that's our message here at My Vermurder. You can break into any place.

• 19:34Karen Kilgariff?

  Listen, if you just put your heart to it, and you try to feel around and see if some rocks are actually fake and have keys inside, you never know.

• 19:43Speaker 04

  OnDeck is built to back small businesses like yours. Whether you're buying equipment, expanding your team, or bridging cash flow gaps, OnDeck's loans up to $400,000 make it happen fast. Rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau and earning thousands of five-star TrustPilot reviews, OnDeck delivers funding you can count on. Apply in minutes at ondeck.com. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

• 20:10Georgia Hardstark?

  The Hulu original series, Phony, is now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+

• 20:15Karen Kilgariff?

  Sonny's life is pretty great, until he wakes up from a car accident to a world that looks exactly like his with one exception: his mom.

• 20:23Georgia Hardstark?

  To everyone else, she's the same Ellen they've known their whole lives, but for Sonny, he knows something is off.

• 20:28Karen Kilgariff?

  As his relationship with his mother begins to crack in unsettling ways, he's forced to question what happens when the perfect mom becomes a perfect stranger.

• 20:36Georgia Hardstark?

  Is this all in his head, or is there really an imposter in his house?

• 20:39Karen Kilgariff?

  Starring five-time Emmy nominee Connie Britton and Sam Nivola, this small town is hiding the mother of all mysteries just beneath the surface.

• 20:47Georgia Hardstark?

  Watch the Hulu original series, Phony.

• 20:49Karen Kilgariff?

  Now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ for bundle subscribers. Terms apply.

• 20:54Georgia Hardstark?

  Goodbye.

• 20:55Karen Kilgariff?

  You know a favorite M-word? Magnesium.

• 20:57Georgia Hardstark?

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

• 21:00Karen Kilgariff?

  Made from a proprietary blend of topical minerals powered by pure Epsom salt and natural Dead Sea salt, it's designed to help you relax and get in the right state of mind for a good night's rest.

• 21:10Georgia Hardstark?

  If you need a reset after a crazy day, make Dr. Teal's magnesium spray part of your nighttime routine. It's an effortless way to get a boost of topical magnesium that can help you relax your body and mind before bedtime.

• 21:21Karen Kilgariff?

  Dr. Teal's magnesium spray comes in a lightweight, fast-drying formula.

• 21:25Georgia Hardstark?

  Just shake it up and generously spritz onto the soles of your feet and massage until absorbed.

• 21:29Karen Kilgariff?

  I was kind of blown away the first time I used this spray because I do have problems sleeping, and when there's something this simple, you just spray it on your feet and suddenly you're asleep and the next morning you're like, wait, what happened? Did my problem just get solved? Like, it actually is that easy?

• 21:44Georgia Hardstark?

  And your stinky feet now smell like lavender. Like, what more do you want?

• 21:47Karen Kilgariff?

  How dare you call my feet stinky?

• 21:50Georgia Hardstark?

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

• 21:58Georgia Hardstark?

  Okay, baby murderino origins. Dear Karen, Georgia, and every other four-legged emotional support creature currently in the room and in our hearts. Hi, my name is Danielle and I'm from a town in southeastern Wisconsin. My story starts when I was 11 years old and somehow involves a medical examiner who should absolutely not have been left alone with a middle schooler. I attended a charter middle school that emphasized community involvement and career exploration. Sounds great. One of our big sixth grade projects was shadowing someone in a career that we were interested in. Most kids pick things like teachers, veterinarians, or firefighters. I, however, confidently told my school I wanted to be, in all caps, "MEDICAL EXAMINER." Jesus Christ.

• 22:41Georgia Hardstark?

  Also, this seems too young anyway. Yeah. Doesn't it? Like, you're 13? 11. Junior high? Yeah. Yeah. That's so young. Yep, you read that right. To my absolute shock and delight, the school actually paired me with the city's medical examiner for the day. Fucking A. 11. 11. Looking back, this feels like a wildly questionable decision, but at the time, I was thrilled. Truly a baby murderino in the making. The day started with a full tour of his workspace. And then, I love it's because you've got to think of this guy, this medical examiner, who they approached. She'd be maybe like this nerd, no one wants to hear how his day was, and no one wants to talk to him at parties because nobody's into fucking all the death that surrounds him. And he smells like formaldehyde, maybe.

• 23:25Georgia Hardstark?

  People think he's bad luck somehow, too. And suddenly this little girl is like, "I want to do what you do one day. Tell me everything." You're my hero. I bet she made his day. I hope so. Okay, let's just go with that. You don't smell like formaldehyde, I'm sorry. He explained how death investigations worked, walked me through the process of autopsies, and answered every single dark, inappropriate question an 11-year-old could possibly ask. And when I say he held nothing back, I mean nothing. I asked about his most intense cases. See, like, I would have this kid if I could have a kid. Yes. And he was more than happy to share stories and images that, in hindsight, no child should ever see. Like, actual pictures? I hope just no. I hope not.

• 24:09Georgia Hardstark?

  At some point during the day, well, here's the thing. At some point during the day, he got a call about a deceased person on the other side of town. And for reasons I still cannot explain, he let me ride along. No. When we arrived, he told me to look away. Like, where, you could mind maybe ask the parents about, like, right? This is crazy. Look away. Wait, what year was it? I hope this was 1971. Well, you know what? She was 11 then, and she's an adult now, so. Oh, OK. Yeah. Perhaps. Yeah. Told me to look away. Naturally, I did not. Yeah. From the backseat, I watched as first responders handled the scene of an elderly woman who had passed away on her front porch overnight. I remember thinking, not fearfully, just very clearly, I don't think my parents realized this is what that permission slip covered. No way.

• 24:53Georgia Hardstark?

  Later, I learned there was no foul play. It was a tragic accident, but standing there as an 11-year-old, watching a real death investigation unfold, permanently rewired my brain. Well, yeah, that's why they don't do that. Totally. That's why you're supposed to look away. That's why you're supposed to stay in the car. I love the idea of, like, standing there, right on the edge of the crime scene tape. This is like, just standing there, taking photos. With my little trench coat on. My little trench coat and smelling like formaldehyde. And somehow, that was not the end of the day. We went back to his office, where he continued showing me case files and talking through investigations, murders, accidents, and everything in between, with the same casual openness. I love this guy. I mean, he is a doctor, like, he's, that's how he got taught. Yeah.

• 25:38Georgia Hardstark?

  It's like, you know? It's totally normal to him. It is. He's got a toe on that spectrum, and he's living life. Someone's got to do this job after him. Yeah. I absorbed all of it. It was fascinating, horrifying, and deeply inappropriate all at once. My favorite. That's right. That day is still one of the most vivid memories of my life. I never became a medical examiner, but I did grow up to be a PhD scientist. Holy shit. And I remain endlessly fascinated by true crime and forensic investigation. It turns out, I've been a murderino since childhood, and somehow, the parents who signed off on this whole experience are now also devoted fans of your podcast. So thanks for letting me share the origin story of my lifelong obsession.

• 26:20Georgia Hardstark?

  Stay sexy and read the permission slip carefully, Danielle.

• 26:25Karen Kilgariff?

  Danielle, I always get shocked when I hear about older people liking this pod. I don't know why. It's silly of me, but it always is that thing of like, but we swear so much.

• 26:35Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah, you sure?

• 26:36Karen Kilgariff?

  It's so.

• 26:37Georgia Hardstark?

  You're not mad at us?

• 26:38Karen Kilgariff?

  You're not mad?

• 26:39Georgia Hardstark?

  Okay, my mom's mad.

• 26:40Karen Kilgariff?

  I know. Okay, I'm not going to read you the subject line of this. It says, Dear Steven and everyone else. Hey, longtime listener, first time writer in her. So a couple of years ago, I was living in the crappiest apartment in this really nice suburb in Melbourne with two housemates. I always feel stupid when I say Melbourne, but you have to, that's the way it's said.

• 27:00Georgia Hardstark?

  It's correct.

• 27:00Karen Kilgariff?

  Melbourne. With two housemates Fiona and Steph, we were stoked to be living in such a lovely, leafy green place, even though our ground floor apartment was tiny and all the light was blocked by these giant twisted shrubs that covered our windows so we could barely see out. So throughout the year we lived there, there were a few times when I would be hanging out in the lounge room that I could have sworn that I heard heavy breathing from just outside the window. It was so loud and over exaggerated that I would always sit completely still, paralyzed with fear until it stopped and I told myself that I was just imagining it. One time it happened really late at night and I forced Steph out of her room to hear it. She did, and we were really freaked out because it was so loud and clear that it legit sounded like someone was in the house with us.

• 27:43Karen Kilgariff?

  Fiona looked at us like we were either crazy or overreacting as there was no way anyone could be inside without us knowing until.

• 27:51Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh, God.

• 27:52Karen Kilgariff?

  One night Fee was working on her master's thesis until about one in the morning at our kitchen table, also by one of these windows. She was tired, delirious, and felt like her thesis was driving her crazy. So when she heard a low, hoarse, creepy voice outside the window saying, Run, over and over.

• 28:11Georgia Hardstark?

  No.

• 28:11Karen Kilgariff?

  She wasn't sure if she had finally lost her mind or not. That is the worst.

• 28:15Georgia Hardstark?

  Run.

• 28:16Karen Kilgariff?

  Sorry, I just did it that way, but that's how it's written. Run. Needless to say, she was terrified and quickly packed up her laptop and bolted to her room. She told me the next morning in a nervous joking way, and once I reminded her about the heavy breathing, all three of us freaked out, certainly had a stalker.

• 28:33Georgia Hardstark?

  No, that's not a go to bed issue.

• 28:36Karen Kilgariff?

  They, they repeatedly.

• 28:37Georgia Hardstark?

  Turn every light on, wake everyone up.

• 28:40Karen Kilgariff?

  This idea, you're like, okay, I don't want that to have just happened. And it's like, okay.

• 28:44Georgia Hardstark?

  You know what, I'm not gonna, you know, I'm not, I'm not gonna run. I'm gonna lay down, do the fucking opposite of what you just told me to fucking do. Terrifying, witch.

• 28:53Karen Kilgariff?

  Call, go ahead and call the Australian 911, please.

• 28:56Georgia Hardstark?

  999, it's gotta be 999.

• 28:58Karen Kilgariff?

  Is it? Okay, we were certainly had a stalker, but what to do? We had no evidence. We weren't 100% sure what we had heard of what we had heard, so we couldn't go to the police. We asked our property manager to trim the hedges and install a security light. They did the hedges, but unhelpfully told us they would discuss the light when the body corporate met again in four months.

• 29:17Georgia Hardstark?

  Right.

• 29:18Karen Kilgariff?

  Like HOA. They had no idea what the protocol is for maybe being stalked. Of course not, because people won't fucking pay attention to this as a problem.

• 29:27Georgia Hardstark?

  Until you're dead.

• 29:28Karen Kilgariff?

  Okay. After a little while of being terrified in our own home, I decided to lay a trap to get some evidence. That's great. On the same night of the week, at the same time, I sat in the exact same spot, working on my laptop with no one else home, with the voice memo app open on my phone, ready to record the creepy voice as soon as it appeared. I sat there for hours, daring the stalker to come and get me, but when I hadn't heard anything by 2 AM, I went to bed, weirdly disappointed that my complex sting operation hadn't worked, instead of feeling relieved like a normal person would. Then I heard it. Outside my bedroom window, accompanied by erratic scuttling sounds as well. At first, I was terrified, but I listened really closely and thought maybe the sound wasn't human after all.

• 30:11Karen Kilgariff?

  I jumped on Google and eventually found a clip confirming that what we were actually hearing was a possum. A run, a run for your life possum? Uh, that's right. A tiny vicious territorial marsupial had caused us weeks of fear and terror. Fiona was both relieved and horribly embarrassed when I told her, but of course, you wouldn't expect to get possums in such an urban area. It's only because there were so many big trees that it decided to terrorize us. Anyway, now it's one of our favorite dinner party stories. We love to tell everyone about that one time we thought we had a stalker. Oh, I want to hear it. SSDGM Jane. What's an, what does an Australian possum sound like? That sounds like a joke. Oh, it's some sort of... How does it say run?

• 30:55Karen Kilgariff?

  Run? It's always up at the end. Yeah, yeah. Run? A run? Oh, my God. That's terrifying. I know. Terrifying, but then ultimately... But then adorable. Just a little baby possum. And then did you make friends with him? I love possums. They're covered in ticks.

• 31:12Karen Kilgariff?

  Send us your story about being covered in ticks to myfavoritemurder@gmail. Please do not. Every time I find a tick on one of my dogs, it's the most upsetting thing. Oh, I don't want that. It's so upsetting. They're terrible. They're gross. But you're not, and we love you and thank you for listening. And also stay sexy. And don't get murdered. Goodbye.

• 31:30Speaker 00

  Elvis, do you want a cookie?

• 31:39Karen Kilgariff?

  This has been an Exactly Right Production.

• 31:41Georgia Hardstark?

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

• 31:45Karen Kilgariff?

  Our editor is Aristotle Lasevato.

• 31:47Georgia Hardstark?

  This episode was mixed by Liana Scolacci.

• 31:49Karen Kilgariff?

  Email your hometowns to [email protected].

• 31:52Georgia Hardstark?

  Follow the show on Instagram at MyFavoriteMurder.

• 31:54Karen Kilgariff?

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

• 31:59Georgia Hardstark?

  And now you can watch My Favorite Murder on Netflix.

• 32:01Karen Kilgariff?

  And when you're there, hit the double thumbs up and the remind me buttons. That's the best way you can support our show.

• 32:07Georgia Hardstark?

  Goodbye.

• 32:15Karen Kilgariff?

  Calling all amateur detectives and podcast obsessives.

• 32:18Georgia Hardstark?

  Virgin Voyages' second True Crime Voyage sets sail March 20, 2027, for a five-night escape to Grand Turk and the Beach Club at Bimini.

• 32:27Karen Kilgariff?

  As part of the On Air at Sea collection, this immersive sailing brings together fan favorite podcasts, including Disgrace Land, Buried Bones, and Wisecrack, for live recordings, behind-the-scenes access, exclusive meet-and-greets, and crime-themed programming that you won't find anywhere else.

• 32:43Georgia Hardstark?

  All aboard our award-winning, kid-free ships.

• 32:46Karen Kilgariff?

  Head over to virginvoyages.com/truecrime to secure your spot. Goodbye.

• 32:52Speaker 05

  Quick break from the case. If there's a kid on your gift list this year, here's one you can close fast. Guardian is the number-one kids' bike on the market with over 1 million riders. And the easiest way to learn. They're lightweight with a wide-wheel base, so kids ride in just a day. No training wheels needed. Designed and assembled in the USA. And Wirecutter's top pick four years in a row. Save over 40% now. Plus, get $100 in free accessories with every bike. Shop guardianbikes.com, and it's case closed on the best kids' gift this year.

• 33:34Speaker 04

  OnDeck is built to back small businesses like yours. Whether you're buying equipment, expanding your team, or bridging cash flow gaps, OnDeck's loans up to $400,000 make it happen fast. Rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau and earning thousands of 5-star TrustPilot reviews, OnDeck delivers funding you can count on. Apply in minutes at ondeck.com. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.