Bless This Mess: A Southern True Crime Podcast

Bless This Mess

Welcome to Bless This Mess: A Southern True Crime Podcast, where the tea is sweet but the history is dark. We are a husband and wife team from Louisiana serving up murder, mystery, and mayhem from across the southern states. Pull up a rocking chair, fill your mason jar with sweet tea (or something a little stronger), and sit for a spell on the porch with us. We dive deep into each case, taking turns sharing the story, but there's always room for some husband-and-wife banter and a few well-placed f-bombs along the way. If you love true crime but prefer we get straight to the point without the porch chit-chat, check out our weekly A Little Less Mess episodes—same cases, trimmed down and focused on the facts. Want even more time on the porch? Join “The Porch Crew” over on our Patreon! Upgrade your sweet tea to something stronger and get early ad-free episodes, our exclusive Friday bonus hangouts (Sittin', Sippin', & Bullshittin'), and even your very own official Porch Crew mason jar.

  1. 22h ago

    [Georgia] The Body in the Burn Pile

    In July 2018, prominent 58-year-old corporate attorney Gary Farris vanished from his family’s ten-acre farm on Purcell Lane in Cherokee County, Georgia. Days later, his charred remains were discovered in an outdoor burn pile near the house. While initial explanations suggested Gary had suffered a dizzy spell and accidentally collapsed into the flames, the case turned into a homicide investigation when pathologists discovered a .38-caliber bullet lodged inside his rib. Find us on the webs! Follow us on Instagram Like us on Facebook TikTok - @blessthismesspodcast Support us on Patreon - for early access, ad-free, and Porch Crew perks! Buy us a Coffee! - one time support to keep the porch lights on Rate, Review, and Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or where you listen! Music courtesy of Blanche Sources:- Cherokee County District Attorney's Office (Case Records & Conviction Release, November 2024)  - Cherokee County Sheriff's Office Incident & Investigation Files  - Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) Forensic Ballistics & Crime Lab Reports  - Court TV: GA v. Melody Walker Farris (Full 18-Day Trial Coverage, Testimony & Exhibits)  - CBS News 48 Hours: Investigative Coverage on the Gary Farris Case

  2. 3d ago

    A Little Less Mess: The Circleville Letters [Ohio]

    Beginning in 1977, anonymous letters terrorized Circleville, Ohio, accusing residents of affairs, crimes, and private secrets. School-bus driver Mary Gillispie and her family became the main targets. After her husband died in a mysterious crash, the threats escalated—and a booby-trapped sign with a loaded gun led to her brother-in-law’s conviction. But the letters continued after he went to prison. In this A Little Less Mess minisode, Cara follows one of America’s strangest unsolved anonymous-letter mysteries. Support the show Listen to our Monday minisode A Little Less Mess right here on the main feed.  Hang out with us on Patreon for The Weekly Pour on the Porch and Sittin’, Sippin’, & Bullshittin’. Please rate and review, subscribe, and follow us on social media for case updates, what's in our mason jars, true crime documentary recommendations, and Southern suppers. Search @blessthismesspodcast on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. Sources: CBS News 48 Hours: The Circleville Letters: You’ve Got Hate Mail 48 Hours: The Circleville Letters reporting and document-analysis coverage

    A Little Less Mess: The Circleville Letters [Ohio]

  3. Sep 11

    [Alabama] The Murder of Charlotte Waites

    In August 1998, beloved teacher Charlotte Waites was found brutally murdered inside her Lanett, Alabama home, with the crime scene staged to look like a robbery gone wrong. Her husband, the town’s interim mayor, claimed to be devastated—but behind closed doors lay a dark trail of secret debts, control, and betrayal. Nearly a decade passed before the couple’s own daughters came forward to help finally bring their father to justice.  Support the show Listen to our Monday minisode A Little Less Mess right here on the main feed.    Hang out with us on Patreon for The Weekly Pour on the Porch and Sittin’, Sippin’, & Bullshittin’. Please rate and review, subscribe, and follow us on social media for case updates, what's in our mason jars, true crime documentary recommendations, and Southern suppers. Search @blessthismesspodcast on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. Sources Oxygen True Crime: “An Unexpected Killer: Inside the Murder Case of Charlotte Waites” (Season 2, Episode 12) WSFA 12 News (Alabama): “Jury Finds Former Lanett City Councilman Guilty of Murder” (November 20, 2006) NBC News / Associated Press Archives: “Visions of Victim Inspire Murder Accusation in Lanett Case” (February 10, 2006) Chambers County District Attorney’s Office: Trial Transcripts, Evidence Filings, and Sentencing Records: State of Alabama v. Barry Waites (2006) The Valley Times-News (Lanett, AL): Local reporting and archives on the 1998 investigation and 2006 conviction of Barry Waites

  4. Sep 8

    A Little Less Mess: The Unsolved Murder of Lisa Pruett [Ohio]

    In this week's Monday minisode of A Little Less Mess, Cara travels outside the South to the upscale community of Shaker Heights, Ohio. In September 1990, sixteen-year-old Lisa Pruett left home to meet her boyfriend in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Minutes later, she was attacked and killed in a yard just steps from his house. A classmate, Kevin Young, was charged after two people said he confessed while in psychiatric treatment, but no physical evidence tied him to the crime. He was acquitted in 1993, and Lisa’s murder remains unsolved. Support the showListen to our Monday minisode A Little Less Mess right here on the main feed.   Hang out with us on Patreon for The Weekly Pour on the Porch and Sittin’, Sippin’, & Bullshittin’.Please rate and review, subscribe, and follow us on social media for case updates, what's in our mason jars, true crime documentary recommendations, and Southern suppers. Search @blessthismesspodcast on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.Sources for this episode Cleveland.com, “Kevin Young, accused in 1990 fatal stabbing of Shaker Heights teen, dies at 44”Cleveland Scene, “I See the Truth,” a long-form review of the Lisa Pruett investigation and Kevin Young trialShaker Heights Police / Cuyahoga County court reporting and contemporaneous local coverage

    A Little Less Mess: The Unsolved Murder of Lisa Pruett [Ohio]

  5. Sep 4

    [Texas] The All-American Family — The Murder of Belinda Temple

    Grab your mason jar and pull up a rocking chair—this week on Bless This Mess, Cara and Stew are heading down to Katy, Texas.  On a January evening in 1999, thirty-year-old special education teacher Belinda Temple—eight months pregnant with her second child—was found shot execution-style inside her master bedroom closet. Her husband, David Temple, a prominent local high school football coach and hometown gridiron star, claimed he was running errands with their young son during a staged home invasion. But when famed prosecutor Kelly Siegler took over the case, a secret affair and a grocery store alibi timed down to the exact second unraveled a facade of suburban perfection into one of the most contentious legal battles in Texas history. Support the showListen to our Monday minisode A Little Less Mess right here on the main feed.   Hang out with us on Patreon for The Weekly Pour on the Porch and Sittin’, Sippin’, & Bullshittin’.Please rate and review, subscribe, and follow us on social media for case updates, what's in our mason jars, true crime documentary recommendations, and Southern suppers. Search @blessthismesspodcast on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.Sources for this episodeCBS News (48 Hours): The Guessing Game: The Murder of Belinda Temple (2010).ABC News (20/20): Shattered Love: The Trials of David Temple (2019).Oxygen / NBC Universal: Prosecuting Evil with Kelly Siegler: The Belinda Temple Case.Harris County District Court Records: The State of Texas v. David Temple (2007, 2019, 2023).Texas Court of Criminal Appeals: David Temple Appeals & Overturned Proceedings (2016, 2025).The Houston Chronicle & Katy Magazine: Archival investigative reporting and trial transcripts (1999–2025).

  6. Sep 1

    A Little Less Mess: Stalked to Death or Staged - The Cindy James Mystery [Canada]

    In this week's Monday minisode of A Little Less Mess, Cara travels outside the South to the coastal city of Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. Over a seven-year span in the 1980s, 44 year old pediatric nurse Cindy James reported nearly 100 separate incidents of terror: sinister phone calls, slashed tires, dead cats hanging in her yard, arson, and violent physical assaults. But as months turned into years with no physical evidence left behind, police began to suspect Cindy was staging the entire nightmare herself. When Cindy vanished in May 1989 and was found dead in the yard of an abandoned house—hog-tied with a nylon stocking around her neck and a massive lethal overdose of drugs in her system—it sparked the longest coroner’s inquest in Canadian history, culminating in one of the most chilling legal rulings on record: death by an "unknown event." Support the show Listen to our Monday minisode A Little Less Mess right here on the main feed.   Hang out with us on Patreon for The Weekly Pour on the Porch and Sittin’, Sippin’, & Bullshittin’.Please rate and review, subscribe, and follow us on social media for case updates, what's in our mason jars, true crime documentary recommendations, and Southern suppers. Search @blessthismesspodcast on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.Sources for this episode British Columbia Coroners Service: Inquest into the Death of Cynthia Elizabeth James (May–June 1990 Inquest Transcripts & Findings).Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP): Richmond Detachment Investigative Summary & Public Case Files (1982–1989).The Vancouver Sun & The Province: Contemporary investigative reporting and archival coverage (Neal Hall, 1989–1990).CBC / The Fifth Estate & Unsolved Mysteries: The Haunting and Unsolved Death of Cindy James (Forensic & Investigative Retrospectives).

    A Little Less Mess: Stalked to Death or Staged - The Cindy James Mystery [Canada]

  7. Aug 27

    [Kentucky] Double Jeopardy & The Polaroid Confession of Mel Ignatow

    Grab your mason jar and pull up a rocking chair—this week on Bless This Mess, Cara and Stew are heading to Louisville, Kentucky! On a September morning in 1988, 36-year-old Brenda Sue Schaefer’s car was found abandoned on the shoulder of Interstate 64 with a flat tire. What initially looked like a random roadside breakdown soon unraveled into a calculated plot orchestrated by her wealthy ex-fiancé, Mel Ignatow, and an accomplice. But after a high-profile trial ended in a shocking “Not Guilty” verdict, a routine home renovation ten months later uncovered hidden evidence beneath the floorboards that left prosecutors and the nation grappling with the strict constitutional limits of the Double Jeopardy Clause. Support the show Listen to our Monday minisode A Little Less Mess right here on the main feed.   Hang out with us on Patreon for The Weekly Pour on the Porch and Sittin’, Sippin’, & Bullshittin’.Please rate and review, subscribe, and follow us on social media for case updates, what's in our mason jars, true crime documentary recommendations, and Southern suppers. Search @blessthismesspodcast on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.Sources for this episode The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY): Archival investigative reporting, trial transcripts, and case coverage (1988–2008).CBS News (48 Hours): Double Jeopardy: Can A Murderer Avoid Prison?Kenton County & Jefferson County Circuit Court Records: Commonwealth of Kentucky v. Melvin Henry Ignatow (1991–1992).U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky: United States of America v. Melvin H. Ignatow (Federal Perjury Indictment, Confession & Sentencing, 1992).WAVE 3 News (NBC Louisville): Retrospective coverage, police archival interviews, and final death investigation records .True Crime Archives & Forensics Case Files: The Murder of Brenda Sue Schaefer and the Double Jeopardy Precedent.

  8. Aug 25

    A Little Less Mess: The Watcher of 657 Boulevard [New Jersey]

    In this week's Monday minisode of A Little Less Mess, Cara travels outside the South to the picturesque suburb of Westfield, New Jersey.  In June 2014, Derek and Maria Broaddus purchased their dream 1.3-million-dollar historic home at 657 Boulevard. But just days after closing—before they even finished moving their three young children in—they found a chilling letter in the mailbox from an anonymous writer calling themselves "The Watcher." Demanding to know when the house would be filled with "young blood" and detailing their renovations in real time, the letters sparked a nightmare of neighbor paranoia, private investigators, a shocking female DNA clue, and an unsolved mystery that left a family with nowhere to run. Support the show Listen to our Monday minisode A Little Less Mess right here on the main feed.   Hang out with us on Patreon for The Weekly Pour on the Porch and Sittin’, Sippin’, & Bullshittin’.Please rate and review, subscribe, and follow us on social media for case updates, what's in our mason jars, true crime documentary recommendations, and Southern suppers. Search @blessthismesspodcast on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. Sources for this episode  New York Magazine / The Cut: The Haunting of a Dream House (Reeves Wiedeman, 2018). Westfield Police Department & Union County Prosecutor’s Office: Public investigative case files and DNA forensic records (657 Boulevard Investigation).Today Show / NBC News: New Jersey Couple Tormented by 'The Watcher' Speaks Out (Archival Coverage & Interviews).Vanity Fair / Time: The Real-Life Unsolved Mystery of The Watcher at 657 Boulevard.

    A Little Less Mess: The Watcher of 657 Boulevard [New Jersey]
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4.6
out of 5
734 Ratings

About

Welcome to Bless This Mess: A Southern True Crime Podcast, where the tea is sweet but the history is dark. We are a husband and wife team from Louisiana serving up murder, mystery, and mayhem from across the southern states. Pull up a rocking chair, fill your mason jar with sweet tea (or something a little stronger), and sit for a spell on the porch with us. We dive deep into each case, taking turns sharing the story, but there's always room for some husband-and-wife banter and a few well-placed f-bombs along the way. If you love true crime but prefer we get straight to the point without the porch chit-chat, check out our weekly A Little Less Mess episodes—same cases, trimmed down and focused on the facts. Want even more time on the porch? Join “The Porch Crew” over on our Patreon! Upgrade your sweet tea to something stronger and get early ad-free episodes, our exclusive Friday bonus hangouts (Sittin', Sippin', & Bullshittin'), and even your very own official Porch Crew mason jar.

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