True Crime Campfire True Crime Campfire

In Dostoevsky’s book Crime and Punishment, the character Raskolnikov says, “All people seem to be divided into 'ordinary' and 'extraordinary'. The ordinary people must lead a life of strict obedience and have no right to transgress the law because they are ordinary. Whereas the extraordinary people have the right to commit any crime they like…just because they happen to be extraordinary.” Spoken like a true psychopath, my dude. It probably won’t surprise you to hear that Raskolnikov murders an old woman in that book—not just for the money, but to prove to himself how “extraordinary” he is. That the rules most of us abide by aren’t for him. Today’s case is about a modern-day Raskolnikov—a self-proclaimed intellectual whose grandiose narcissism hid a deep well of rage and insecurity, and led him to not only commit a brutal murder, but to tell us all about it on his blog. 

Sources:
The New Yorker, David Grann: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/02/11/true-crime
Taipei Times: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2007/09/23/2003380130
The Guardian, Elizabeth Day: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/sep/16/crimebooks.features
Sky TV's "Killers: Behind the Myth," episode "Bala: The Novel Killer"

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We've talked about a lot of notorious criminals here on True Crime Campfire, but do you think any of today's villains will still be widely known in three-hundred years? Will their names be known to almost everyone, and conjure up vivid if not exactly accurate images of a time long past? The subject of this week's story is a man whose brief but spectacular criminal career wrote him a place in history—not to mention on the hit TV show “Our Flag Means Death.” Time for some true crime on the high seas!

Download the game "June's Journey" on Apple iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/junes-journey-hidden-objects/id1200391796

"June's Journey" on Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.wooga.junes_journey_hidden_object_mystery_game&hl=en&gl=US&pli=1

Sources:
Stephan Talty, Empire of Blue Water 
Captain Charles Johnson, A General History of the Pyrates
Angus Konstam, Blackbeard

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Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Talented Mr. Ripley follows a young man named Tom, whose deep-seated jealousy and ambition leads him down a very dark path. He wants the jet-set lifestyle his trust-fund friends are living, and he sets out to get it using his intelligence and skill at deception. Tom Ripley is a pretty realistic depiction of a psychopath. To get close to the wealthy people he envies, he puts on a convincing mask of helpful friendliness. But underneath, he’s scheming with every breath—biding his time. And no one is safe around him. Join us for the story of a real-life Mr. Ripley, a man who was good at being charming, but bad at being good. A man who left one person dead, one heartbroken and defrauded, and a pretty little town in shock. Join us for the true story behind the BBC drama The Sixth Commandment--the tale of an aspiring vicar whose pious exterior hid a heart of darkness. 

Download the game "June's Journey" on Apple iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/junes-journey-hidden-objects/id1200391796

"June's Journey" on Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.wooga.junes_journey_hidden_object_mystery_game&hl=en&gl=US&pli=1

Sources:
A Plot to Kill by David Wilson
ITV News: https://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2019-08-09/sadistic-killer-admitted-interest-in-the-extremes-of-death
Daily Beast, Nico Hines: https://www.thedailybeast.com/gaslight-killer-ben-field-who-conned-his-elderly-lovers-is-convicted-of-murdering-peter-farquhar
Bucks Herald, Sam Dean: https://www.bucksherald.co.uk/must-read/ben-field-the-baptist-ministers-son-who-became-a-calculated-and-manipulative-murderer-in-maids-moreton-821818
UK Daily Mail, Rory Tingle and Josh White: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6984549/Church-warden-callously-videoed-hallucinating-lecturer-trying-murder.html

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When we left you at the end of part 1, John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo had begun a killing spree that took them from Tacoma, Washington, through Arizona, Louisiana, and Maryland. By October 2002, they had killed or wounded 10 people, with Muhammad pointing his finger and Malvo pointing his gun. Malvo believed himself to be a soldier in the fight to free the marginalized people of the world. Muhammad made him his acolyte, traveling across the country, playing him anti-American propaganda through headphones as he slept, putting him through a grueling physical regimen, as well as making him eat a sparse vegetarian diet. Muhammad told him that white people were “devils” and that they had to prepare for the oncoming race war. For 30 days, they would kill 6 white people a day, until the US government agreed to their terms and paid them off to go away. Join us now for part 2 of this chilling true story.

Download the game "June's Journey" on Apple iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/junes-journey-hidden-objects/id1200391796

"June's Journey" on Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.wooga.junes_journey_hidden_object_mystery_game&hl=en&gl=US&pli=1

Sources:
Vice documentary "I, Sniper"
The History Channel's "Crime of the Century," episode "The Beltway Snipers"
King 5 News:https://www.king5.com/article/news/dc-snipers-first-intended-victim-speaks-out/281-332833536
Newsweek: https://www.newsweek.com/opening-shot-146761
Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/lee-boyd-malvo-10-years-after-dc-area-sniper-shootings-i-was-a-monster/2012/09/29/a1ef1b42-04d8-11e2-8102-ebee9c66e190_story.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/10/01/timeline-dc-sniper-attacks/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2002/11/01/gun-store-cant-account-for-weapon-tied-to-sniper-case/ee54a3d2-a53c-44e8-9423-50ce4115c28b/
WUSA 9 News: https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/20-years-later-paul-laruffa-survivor-of-dc-snipers-malvo-muhammad-is-not-obsessing-but-hell-never-forget-either/65-055e1e42-c72e-4bab-b393-286eefe88037
NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/22/us/polite-but-dogged-sniper-suspect-offers-defense.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss a href="https://wtop.com/supreme-court/2019/10/beltway-sniper-victim-hopes-lee-boyd-malvo-gets-chance-at-rehabilitation-before-scotus/"...

Do you remember Snow White, campers? You know, the princess whose step mother was so jealous of her beauty that she cursed her with a poison apple? Today’s case is like that. Someone whose wrath and anger was so terrible that it harmed everyone it touched. To him, not getting his way was a fate worse than death and in order to right the wrongs, he’d commit crimes that would change American lives forever. With the gift of a single pastry, he would ensure a child’s loyalty so completely that the child would kill for him. He was a manipulator, a magician, and along with the naive fool that accompanied him, he would kill dozens of people. Join us for Part 1 of this chilling true crime story.

Sources:
Vice documentary "I, Sniper"
The History Channel's "Crime of the Century," episode "The Beltway Snipers"
King 5 News:https://www.king5.com/article/news/dc-snipers-first-intended-victim-speaks-out/281-332833536
Newsweek: https://www.newsweek.com/opening-shot-146761
Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/lee-boyd-malvo-10-years-after-dc-area-sniper-shootings-i-was-a-monster/2012/09/29/a1ef1b42-04d8-11e2-8102-ebee9c66e190_story.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/10/01/timeline-dc-sniper-attacks/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2002/11/01/gun-store-cant-account-for-weapon-tied-to-sniper-case/ee54a3d2-a53c-44e8-9423-50ce4115c28b/
WUSA 9 News: https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/20-years-later-paul-laruffa-survivor-of-dc-snipers-malvo-muhammad-is-not-obsessing-but-hell-never-forget-either/65-055e1e42-c72e-4bab-b393-286eefe88037
NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/22/us/polite-but-dogged-sniper-suspect-offers-defense.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss https://wtop.com/supreme-court/2019/10/beltway-sniper-victim-hopes-lee-boyd-malvo-gets-chance-at-rehabilitation-before-scotus/
https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/22/us/polite-but-dogged-sniper-suspect-offers-defense.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss https://www.cnn.com/2013/11/04/us/dc-area-sniper-fast-facts/index.html
Tucson News: a href="https://tucson.com/news/local/crime/d-c-snipers-allegedly-targeted-tucsonan-in-02/article_64f562f8-5b2d-529a-b567-c28d822c48bd.html"...

When we left you last week, attorney Larry McNabney’s attempt to become the biggest personal-injury attorney in Nevada had just crashed and burned like the Hindenberg, thanks in no small part to his new wife, Elisa. Elisa was a small-time thief and fraudster from Florida who had thrown the state and her whole life in the rear-view mirror to avoid the possibility of some brief jail time. She’d struck gold when she was hired as an office manager by high-flying attorney Larry in Las Vegas, and rapidly climbed the emotional ranks from employee to mistress to girlfriend to wife. But she had trouble keeping her itchy fingers out of the law firm’s cash register, which led to the state bar banning her from working there and reprimanding Larry. Looking for a new start, the couple moved to Sacramento to try and set the whole business rolling again, and at the start of 2000 Elisa hired 19-year-old Sarah Dutra to help her out with the business. But “helping” was not exactly what she did. Join us for part 2 of this chilling true crime story.

Sources:
Cold Blooded by Carlton Smith
Marked for Death by Brian J. Karem
ABC's 20/20, episode "Hell in Heels”
Investigation Discovery's "Evil Stepmothers," episode “She Can’t Hide”
Seattle Met: https://www.seattlemet.com/news-and-city-life/2022/11/jz-knight-ramtha-yelm-washington-school-of-enlightenment
Herald-Tribune: https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/2002/03/15/woman-sought-in-california-murder-has-ties-to-florida/28711016007/

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