True Crime in the 50 Katy Accardo

On the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, 1974, the Cowden family, which consisted of Richard Cowden, 28, Belinda, 22, David, 5, and Melissa, 5 months, made a spontaneous decision to go camping at one of their favorite spots, Carbury Creek, 40 miles to the Southwest from where they lived in White City, Oregon. They packed the truck then stopped off at the General Store in Copper, Oregon to visit Belinda's mother, Ruth Grayson. Ruth offered to have the family over for lunch the next day, Sunday. The family agreed and set off.
But when the next night rolled around and Ruth still hadn't heard from her daughter and her family, she made the mile drive to go look for them. What she found was concerning. Melissa's diaper bag and fishing poles were next to some trees. Richard's wallet and watch were on the ground, along with Belinda's cigarettes. And some milk and water had been left out on a picnic table. There was no sign of the Cowden family.
A search began that same day and lasted for months. Until finally, half a year later, the family's bodies were discovered near and inside an old mining cave. But who would do such a thing? And what sort of depraved killer would have wanted a young, innocent family dead?

Show Notes:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22138532/

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6372106-but-i-trusted-you-and-other-true-cases

Brittany Phillips had just moved back home to Tulsa, Oklahoma to attend nearby Tulsa Community College, with plans to transfer to Oklahoma State. She aspired to work in the medical field. She had a lot of friends nearby, and was very close with her mother, whom she talked to at least once a day and made the two hour drive to visit every weekend. But at the end of September, 2004, Brittany's mom, Maggie had not heard from her.
Neither had her friends. So one of her friends went to check on her and found her apartment door ajar. Not wanting to enter, she called her father, a former District Attorney, who called some police buddies to do a wellness check. There was Brittany, lying on the floor by her bed. She was dead and had been sexually assaulted.
What followed was two decades of the desperate search for Brittany's killer. Her mother, Maggie, still travels the country, searching in desperation for who could have done this to her. If you have any information on Brittany Phillips' murder please contact someone below.

Show Notes:

Brittanyphillipsmurder.net

Eddie Majors: Lead Detective: emajors@cityoftulsa.org

Tulsa homicide hotline: 918-596-9141 or 596-COPS

https://casefilepodcast.com/case-146-brittany-phillips/

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/brittany-phillips-part-1-732/id1062418176?i=1000642664084

On the morning of Sunday, August 12th, 2012, a 16-year-old High School student, Jane Doe, woke up in Steubenville, Ohio, about 15 miles from her hometown of Weirton, West Virginia. She woke up in a strange basement and had no idea where she was. She was missing her earrings, underwear and cell phone. In the room with her were tow boys, aged 16 and 17, named Trent May and Malik Richmond. Jane remembered very little from the night before, only that she had been at a few parties with the Steubenville Varsity Football players, and, after texting some friends, that she had also been raped.

The following year would bring chaos to Steubenville, Ohio. Accusations, denials, lawsuits, hackers, crime blogs and an article in the New York Times would divide this small town. It was their word against hers, and they were the star football players. Until damning evidence in the form of text messages and a video came to light. 

Show Notes: 

https://rollredrollfilm.com/

In February 2019, a young couple from the Cincinnati, Ohio area left their baby with his grandparents and made the two-and-a-half-hour drive up to Central Ohio to spend the night at the Hilton Hotel at Easton Town Center, a luxury shopping mall in Columbus. They were Tyler Davis and his wife, Brittany, whose birthday was the next day. But what started out as a fun evening with another local friend, turned into a nightmare. Around 3 am, after they were all dropped off at their hotel, Tyler became confused and a little belligerent, and wandered off in a drunken stupor...and seemingly vanished into thin air. He was never seen or heard from again...In July of 2003, an alleged drug deal was going down in an apartment in Columbus, adjacent to The Ohio State University's main campus. A man by the name of Vernon Spence visited the apartment of Aaron Grexa, a soon-to-be OSU student, hoping to buy marijuana. Spence decided he didn't like the quality of the weed and left. But one night later, he returned, with two other men and forced his way inside the apartment. Their intent was robbery: weed, pills, cash...but Spence's intentions went horribly awry. The next day, a third roommate returned from a night away and encountered the gruesome sight. Three innocent, young people, two roommates and a girlfriend, who was a student at OSU, murdered in cold blood. This is the disappearance of Tyler Davis and the murders of Aaron Grexa, Eric Hlass and Kayla Hurst. Show Notes: https://www.wnewsj.com/news/188391/clinton-county-man-missing-nearly-3-years-declared-deceased-by-courthttps://open.spotify.com/episode/5P0nf2barp7gmKuaPAHA9ghttps://www.thelantern.com/2005/05/murder-of-osu-shooting-victim-still-hard-on-family/https://casetext.com/case/state-v-spence-9Smells Like HumansLike spending time with funny friends talking about curious human behavior. Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Barbara Cotton was born on November 10th, 1965 in Tayoga, North Dakota. She had 9 brothers and sisters and a hard life. Her family was poor and her father abused many family members. When her mother finally divorced her father in 1973, she took Barb and two siblings and moved to Williston, North Dakota. There, Barb went to High School, partied some, had a bussing job at a local restaurant, The Country Kitchen, and saved money for a place of her own.

But on the night of April 11th, 1981, Barb disappeared. She was last seen by her mother when she visited her place of work with a 21-year-old male friend named Stacy Wardner. Stacy was the last person to see Barb that night as she walked three blocks toward home. But no body was ever found, and the investgation would lead authorities down a winding path, with plenty of suspects, one of them being Barb's own brother.

Show Notes:

https://wondery.com/shows/the-vanished-podcast/episode/5623-barbara-cotton-part-1-a-lost-girl/

After the sudden and tragic death of his wife, Margaret in 2006, Ireland native Jason Corbett needed a nanny for his two children, Jack, 3 and Sarah, 12 weeks. Along came Molly Martens, a Montessori school teacher from the United States. Molly had a bubbly personality and was great with kids, so, soon, she was hired and the Corbett's started to heal.

But Molly was not who they thought she was. She had mental issues, and had been committed to a psychiatric hospital on more than one occasion. Despite all of this, Jason and Molly married in Tennessee in 2010. They then moved to North Carolina in the states. Everything wasn't great, but at least they were a functioning family. Until August of 2015 when Molly's mom and dad showed up for a visit, unannounced. By the wee hours of the next morning, Jason Corbett was dead, killed at the hands of Molly Martens and her father, Tom.

Show Notes:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/my-brother-jason-tracey-corbett-lynch/1128593449