16 episodes
Carol Costello Presents: Blind Rage Evergreen Podcasts
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- True Crime
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4.9 • 39 Ratings
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In this podcast, journalist Carol Costello revisits the first big assignment she covered as a 22-year-old, novice reporter: Phyllis Cottles’ brutal attack. Psychologists call them “Triumphant Survivors,” but Phyllis Cottle was more than a survivor, she used this crime to better herself and the world around her.
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That Day
March 20, 1984 started out as a promising spring day for a single mom from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. It wouldn’t end that way. Phyllis Cottle is assaulted in broad daylight as she leaves work, forced into her car at knifepoint, and left wondering why no one came to her aid.
*We recommend you listen to the Prologue prior to this episode.
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Terror
Phyllis’ nightmare has only just begun. Crumpled onto the floorboard of her Buick, she begins to mentally catalog every detail she can about her knife-wielding attacker as he drives toward an unknown destination where she endures horrible consequences. But a request from the assailant and an eye-catching object provide her with the ammo she needs to not only survive, but to “fry the bastard.”
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Blind Rage
Ninety minutes after her abduction, Phyllis, bound and lying down on the back seat of her car, is brutalized and left for dead. Good samaritans rush to her rescue. And host Carol Costello recounts how, as a 22-year-old reporter at WAKR/TV23, word of something strange in East Akron began to spread through the newsroom.
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The Living Homicide Victim
In an emergency room at Akron City Hospital, medical staff tend to Phyllis while detectives attempt to interview her. The biggest question of all isn't whether she'll lose her vision, but whether her memory superpowers will be enough to catch the bastard who did this to her.
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Who Would Do This?
Recovering in her hospital room, Phyllis mines her memory for any details that might help apprehend her attacker. Detective Chris Contos develops theories about what kind of perpetrator the Akron Police Department is dealing with. Carol talks to criminologist Dr. Casey Jordan about the mindset of such a criminal, and discusses the question that’s on everyone’s mind: who would do this?
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Manhunt
Calls flood the hotlines as Akron PD conducts a citywide manhunt to find Phyllis’ attacker. Phyllis’ description of the house fuels the search, though police cannot ask her — blinded and still recovering — to point out the location. And a particular tip leads Detective Chris Contos to a group of witnesses and his first compelling suspect.
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Customer Reviews
Gave Me Chills--and that's indeed a plural
Whoa…what a story. Goodness sake, to relive this as if it is happening before us is a moving experience. Carol Costello handles all this with deftness—she has an astounding set of details and pieces the crime and its aftermaths together with care and with a solid narrative structure. Binge material! And, as others have noticed, she gets right to the point. _Lots_ to unpack here. And to think that it indeed really all happened. Wow.
Thanks
Couldn’t have been any better written or told! I was on the edge of my seat the whole time! I’m so sorry that this victim and other victims suffer through insane brutality. We MUST keep the criminals in jail and stop letting them victimize others again and again. Thank you Carol Costello for keeping Phyllis’ story alive.
Blind Rage
Incredible storytelling and amazing protagonist - a true crime tale that beats them all! Excellent reporting by Carol Costello.