Podcast
Justice Facts Podcast
Hosted by Robert Riggs · EN
True Crime stories that are stranger than fiction from Peabody Award winning Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs and decorated former federal prosecutor Bill Johnston.
10episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
How The Seduction Of Right Wing Extremism Led To The Attack On The U.S. Capitol E.11
Jan 13, 202100:51:16Tap to summarizeWill January 6th, the day right-wing extremists broke into the U.S. Capitol, killed a police officer, and desecrated the symbol of Democracy become a rallying cry for violence against the federal government? April 19th, 1993, marking the fiery deadly end to the 51-day Branch Davidian siege in Waco became a rallying cry for militia movements. Two years later on April 19th, Timothy McVeigh, a Desert Storm veteran, and his accomplice blew up the Oklahoma City Federal building. Are we about to see a repeat of violence by extremists? My cohost, former federal prosecutor Bill Johnston and I personally experienced both of those events. I covered the Branch Davidian siege in Waco. Johnston prepared the search warrant for illegal weapons that ATF agents were trying to serve when the cult opened fire, killing 4 agents. And he later prosecuted some of the surviving Davidians for murder. Two years later, both of us immediately suspected that the Oklahoma City bombing was the work of homegrown terrorists retaliating for Waco. Our guest today knows the minds of right-wing extremists. In the summer of 1984, Kerry Noble came within seconds of committing what would have been the largest domestic terrorist act in U.S. history at that time. As one of the founders of the Covenant, Sword, and Arm of the Lord (CSA), a white supremacist paramilitary group, he carried a bomb into a gay-affirming church, intending to murder over seventy congregants. Noble was sentenced to five years in federal prison for the conspiracy. After his release from prison, Kerry Noble redeemed himself. Today he is a Christian minister and the author of The Tabernacle of Hate: Seduction into Right-Wing Extremism. Kerry was extremely helpful to me in covering militias and the Oklahoma City bombing. And Bill Johnston participated in the prosecution of the CSA after its intense standoff with federal agents at the group’s compound in northern Arkansas in April 1985. If you want to understand what may be in store for the nation in the days leading up to the Presidential Inauguration on January 20, 2021, and what may happen later, this episode called the Politics of Hate is a must-listen podcast. The post How The Seduction Of Right Wing Extremism Led To The Attack On The U.S. Capitol E.11 appeared first on Justice Facts Podcast.
Transcribe →The Devil Lovers Cast Spells, Took Blood Oaths, And Cooked Meth E10
Jan 5, 202100:37:06Tap to summarizeThey were called “the devil lovers.” A group of middle-aged men and women from prominent families in Central Texas around Waco. They would meet in an industrial warehouse at 11 PM sharp every Wednesday night. They would strip off their clothes and don floor-length satin robes. The robes were emblazoned with names including Black Warlock and White Witch. They would gather in a circle. Prick their fingers with a needle. And then each would let three drops of blood splatter on the pages of an open Bible. When a person pricked their finger it meant they would respect the order and protect their brothers and sisters. David Russell Zell was the master of this circle. Zell’s robe sported a 5-star mystical pentagram with the word Master sewn above it. It was a Cult of Crank. Better known as methamphetamine. These devil lovers operated the biggest illicit meth lab in Texas in the late 1980s. But none of the cult members with the exception of the meth cook nicknamed the “professor” were meth users. Listeners of Episode #8, Murder Mayhem and Methamphetamines asked for more stories that are Breaking Bad Texas-style. So we are back with another true crime story that’s stranger than fiction. And it is straight out of the files for former federal prosecutor Bill Johnston. Investigative reporter Robert Riggs kicks off a bizarre story recalling when a mysterious character arrived in Waco, Texas from Ohio. The post The Devil Lovers Cast Spells, Took Blood Oaths, And Cooked Meth E10 appeared first on Justice Facts Podcast.
Transcribe →The Pain Never Goes Away For The Families Of Serial Killer Kenneth McDuff’s Victims E9
Dec 29, 202000:47:00Tap to summarizeYou are about to hear how the murder of Colleen Reed on December 29th of 1991 by serial killer Kenneth McDuff impacted the life of her then ten-year-old niece. At the time of this recording in December of 2020, Ms. Reed’s niece had spent 29-years suffering from guilt. It is a story that none of us that worked on the case were aware of until now. Both of your hosts of the Justice Facts Podcast were intimately involved in the murder case. I was the investigative reporter that exposed how McDuff got out of prison. And Bill Johnston, then a federal prosecutor, led the effort that hunted him down. This episode was originally produced for my True Crime Reporter Podcast Season called Free To Kill. Bill and I talked with Ms. Reed’s niece to give you insight into how the trauma of violent crime affects the victim’s families forever and explain why society should lock up violent offenders and throw away the key. The post The Pain Never Goes Away For The Families Of Serial Killer Kenneth McDuff’s Victims E9 appeared first on Justice Facts Podcast.
Transcribe →Murder Mayhem and Methamphetamines: The Real Breaking Bad E8
Dec 1, 202000:42:40Tap to summarizeTexas Narcotics Agents called him “Mr. Z”. Talk among informants was that “Mr. Z” was the man. The big shot. The kingpin of methamphetamine operations in North and East Texas. Mr. Z. provided the formula, know-how, and muscle for meth labs across a wide swath of the state in the early 1980s. A true-life version of Walt in Breaking Bad But with extreme paranoia and an arsenal of stolen military weapons Mr. Z’s nickname came from the Datsun 280z sports car that he drove back in 1982. The 280Z’s sleek European styling took American by storm in the late 1970s and early 280z. Nissan produced the three-door, two-seat coupe. His real name was Richard Larry Rusk, a 41-year-old meth kingpin from Athens in east Texas. But in the meth underworld, Mr. Z was only known as the name of his car. Law enforcement only knew as the elusive Mr. Z. I crossed his path when I arrived in Dallas from New York in 1981. Meth was an epidemic. Our TV crew with WFAA Channel 8 News rode along on raids with the DEA and state narcotics officers to remote farmhouses where meth cooks would temporarily set up to hide their labs. Sometimes the location was given away when neighbors downwind sniffed the foul odor that was a byproduct of cooking meth. The houses and makeshift labs were not the glittery chemical wonderlands called “super labs” in Breaking Bad. It was pure filth. The impurities in meth marked habitual users with ugly sores covered with scabs. I first learned about the hunt for Mr. Z when agents raided a storage unit near downtown Dallas. It held one of Mr. Z’s many arsenals. Inside, agents found cases of hand grenades. As a former congressional investigator for the Joint Committee on Defense Production, I was taken aback by what I saw. Mr. Z stockpiled 2.75-inch air to ground rockets used on Huey helicopter gunships in Vietnam. And he stored the Army’s M72 LAWS rocket launchers that I had been trained to fire at Fort Jackson. A disposable Vietnam era shoulder-fired light anti-tank weapons that could penetrate armor as thick as seven inches. It suddenly dawned on everyone we had ventured inside a powder keg. We backed out. Agents called Dallas Fire-Rescue and bomb disposal units, fearful that an explosion could destroy a wide area along a busy Interstate 30 on the northeast side of Dallas. Taking down Mr. Z could set off a small war. Officers from the DEA, ATF, Texas Department of Public Safety Narcotics, and The Dallas Area Organized Crime Task Force surprised him at 2:30 AM on Friday, March 20th, 1982, at a campground at Lake Dallas located north of the city. As the meth kingpin stepped out of a travel trailer, they confronted him with a state arrest warrant for manufacturing amphetamines and federal warrants for unlawful flight and possession and distribution of narcotics. Mr. Z drew a 9mm semiautomatic pistol and opened fire. Three officers returned fire. Mr. Z died from a bullet wound to the chest. Shotgun pellets peppered one arm. He clutched a grenade in one hand and held another grenade in his pocket. The element of surprise kept Mr. Z from pulling the pin. In this episode of Justice Facts, investigative reporter Robert Riggs and former federal prosecutor Bill Johnston reveal the dark drama behind real-life criminal cases from their careers. Johnston picks up where Riggs left off with the story of “Mr. Z”. It’s a case of Murder, Mayhem, and Methamphetamines from 1987. P.S. If you like this podcast, we think you will really like True Crime Reporter. Hear how a corrupt parole and prison system in Texas released the worst sadistic sexual serial killer in the state’s history. Click here to Subscribe to True Crime Reporter on your favorite podcast channel. The post Murder Mayhem and Methamphetamines: The Real Breaking Bad E8 appeared first on Justice Facts Podcast.
Transcribe →The Day The Last Texas Ranger Died E7
Nov 24, 202000:35:59Tap to summarize40-year old Texas Ranger Stan Guffey was killed on January 22, 1987, rescuing a 2-year old girl from a kidnapper. This is a story of kidnapping, murder, and immeasurable bravery. A 2-year-old girl disappears from her family home in the Texas Hill Country just a day or so after the family’s nanny fails to show up for work. The FBI and other law enforcement officers are at a loss and without a clue. Finally, a call to the family home. It’s the kidnapper, demanding a ransom. He has the girl. He demands that the father of the missing girl deliver cash and a car. Worried that the kidnappers won’t play fair, a Texas Ranger volunteers to go with the father. But the plan is impossible. The car is too small for the Ranger to hide inside. A new plan and a larger car and the Ranger seeks the help of another to help. Nothing goes as planned. Bullets fly. Some survive – some do not. And the sad ending to the story waits years to be told. Former federal prosecutor Bill Johnston, the cohost of the Justice Facts Podcast, shares the tragic story of January 22, 1987, as told to him by decorated and legendary Texas Ranger John Aycock. Many of the details have never been public. Aycock and Ranger Stan Guffey volunteered to rescue a two-year-old girl from her kidnapper. An ensuing shootout took the life of heroic Ranger Guffey. Guffey was posthumously awarded the Department of Public Safety Commissioner’s Medal of Valor for saving Kara-Leigh Whitehead. The 70th Texas State Legislature memorialized Stanley Guffey with a resolution recognizing his sacrifice. More than 1,200 mourners attended Stanley Guffey’s funeral. The Texas Rangers’ facebook page memoralizes Ranger Stan Guffey’s ultimate sacrifice. The Texas Rangers are the oldest state law enforcement agency in the United States. Established by Stephen F. Austin in 1823. We highly recommend that you visit the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum in Waco to learn more about the history of this famous law enforcement agency. P.S. If you like this podcast, we think you will really like True Crime Reporter. Hear how a corrupt parole and prison system in Texas released the worst sadistic sexual serial killer in the state’s history. Click here to Subscribe to True Crime Reporter on your favorite podcast channel. The post The Day The Last Texas Ranger Died E7 appeared first on Justice Facts Podcast.
Transcribe →Bail Bond Reforms Release Capital Murder Defendants In Dallas E6
Nov 4, 202000:33:36Tap to summarize“Those who forget the past are condemned to relive it.” That quote by Winston Churchill goes to the heart of today’s discussion in this episode of Justice Facts–True Crime Is Stranger Than Fiction. Today, politicians cannot remember the past or are just disregarding what investigative reporter Robert Riggs and former federal prosecutor Bill Johnston exposed in Texas three decades ago. And they are condemning innocent people to violence by letting career criminals arrested for gun crimes and murder out of jail on bail. Dallas County has released 25 capital murder defendants on bail according to KRLD News. If convicted, they will be sentenced to die by lethal injection or life without parole. Meanwhile, they are out. And some have already committed new gun crimes. It’s Deja Vu. We are reliving a tragic history lesson reported in Riggs podcast True Crime Reporter. Back in the late 1980s and early 90s, the Texas parole and prison systems secretly swung open the prison doors to relieve overcrowding. They scrapped the bottom of the barrel as a parole board member later described it. They released more than 80 former death row inmates who had been sentenced to die in the electric chair for capital murder. Among them, was serial killer Kenneth Allen McDuff, aka “The Broomstick Killer”. McDuff became known as the worst sadistic sexual serial killer in Texas history. The only man to receive three death sentences. One day after walking out of prison, McDuff started abducting and murdering young women up and down the Interstate 35 corridor in Central Texas. We will never know just how many women he killed, how many women he buried in remote isolated places. This we do know, McDuff should never have been released from prison. And hundreds more violent criminals should not have been released on parole. They caused murder and mayhem across the state. All in the name of relieving prison overcrowding to stay out of trouble with a federal judge. The carnage triggered a massive overhaul of Texas criminal laws and the building of maximum security prisons. The tidal wave of violence stopped. But there’s a new tsunami of violence headed to Texas and many other states. The system and its willful ignorance of history are releasing career criminals arrested for violent crimes and capital murder on bond. So here we go again. Riggs and Johnston dissect so-called bail reform in this episode of Justice Facts. P.S. If you like this podcast, we think you will really like True Crime Reporter. Hear how a corrupt parole and prison system in Texas released the worst sadistic sexual serial killer in the state’s history. Click here to Subscribe to True Crime Reporter on your favorite podcast channel. The post Bail Bond Reforms Release Capital Murder Defendants In Dallas E6 appeared first on Justice Facts Podcast.
Transcribe →Jeffrey Epstein’s Alleged Procurer Of Underage Girls Defends The Dead Financier In Combative Sex Trafficking Deposition E5
Oct 22, 202000:35:50Tap to summarizeJeffrey Epstein’s one-time girlfriend and alleged accomplice in procuring hundreds of underage girls for the mega-rich financier fought to keep her testimony under wraps. Today, Ghislaine Maxwell lost that fight when a district court judge unsealed a 465-page deposition taken over a two day period four years ago. Maxwell strongly denied introducing Prince Andrew to underage sex partners including Virginia Giuffre who was 17-years old. The Prince is pictured with his arm around the waist of Giuffre in a sensational photograph with Maxwell grinning in the background. Maxwell denied allegations that the Prince had sex with the teen in the bathroom of her London townhouse because the bathtub was “too small for any type of activity whatsoever.” The testimony is from a 2016 defamation case brought by Giuffre. President Bill Clinton is briefly mentioned but his name and other high-profile men friends of Epstein were redacted or marked out in black marker. Investigative reporter Robert Riggs and former federal prosecutor Bill Johnston breakdown the deposition and its impact on the criminal case against Maxwell. P.S. If you like this podcast, we think you will really like True Crime Reporter. Hear how a corrupt parole and prison system in Texas released the worst sadistic sexual serial killer in the state’s history. Click here to Subscribe to True Crime Reporter on your favorite podcast channel. The post Jeffrey Epstein’s Alleged Procurer Of Underage Girls Defends The Dead Financier In Combative Sex Trafficking Deposition E5 appeared first on Justice Facts Podcast.
Transcribe →The Beloved Texas Preacher Who Almost Got Away With Murdering His Wife E4
Oct 20, 202001:06:01Tap to summarizeIn a recent Florida case, a 51-year old wife sent suspicious text messages to relatives claiming she had a severe case of the coronavirus, was being held by the CDC, and later had been placed on a ventilator. None of that was true and relatives filed a missing person report. Two weeks later police arrested her 43-year-old husband on kidnapping and murder charges. Police said her husband tried to cover his wife’s disappearance and murder by concocting the coronavirus story. It shows the length that husbands will go to get rid of their spouses. And it also demonstrates that there is no perfect crime. But in Waco, Texas, 35-year old Matt Baker minister almost got away with murder. In 2006, Baker, a charismatic Baptist preacher, murdered his wife Kari and staged the crime scene to look like a suicide. The popular preacher fooled local police but not Bill Johnston a formal federal prosecutor called in to investigate by Kari’s mother and aunts. The cohost of Justice Facts is here with two stories about two men who murdered their wives and almost got away with it. But then, there is no such thing as a perfect crime. We dissect a second murder case by a husband who tried to blow up not only his wife but everyone in her office. He was foiled by a hair. P.S. If you like this podcast, we think you will really like True Crime Reporter. Hear how a corrupt parole and prison system in Texas released the worst sadistic sexual serial killer in the state’s history. Click here to Subscribe to True Crime Reporter on your favorite podcast channel. The post The Beloved Texas Preacher Who Almost Got Away With Murdering His Wife E4 appeared first on Justice Facts Podcast.
Transcribe →Why Are Anti-Government Militia Groups On The Rise Again? Roots Of The Plot To Kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. E3
Oct 9, 202000:48:10Tap to summarizeThere is a resurgence of anti-government militia groups. In a nighttime raid on Wednesday, October 7, 2020, the FBI arrested six men who allegedly plotted to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. The Democrat Governor has been the target of social media anger over her restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic. The FBI says men affiliated with the Wolverine Watchman planned to take Governor Whitmer hostage before the November election and put her on trial. As we say in the opening of Justice Facts, Johnston and Riggs have seen it all. Indeed, this is a rerun of what we witnessed in Waco and prior to the Oklahoma City bombing. Riggs covered the 51-day Branch Davidian siege and its fiery end on April 19, 1993. Johnston prosecuted Davidians for the murder of 4 federal agents and he later came under fire for criticizing the FBI’s handling of the standoff. On the second anniversary of the deadly fire that ended the siege at the Branch Davidian compound outside Waco, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols blew up the Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City. They parked a Ryder rental truck containing a homemade fertilizer bomb in front of the building and fled. The explosion killed 168 people including children, injured more than 680 others, and severely damaged buildings in the business district. McVeigh was executed by lethal injection on June 11, 2001. Nichols was sentenced to eight life terms in federal prison for murdering eight federal agents and to 161 life terms by the state of Oklahoma for the deaths of other victims. Now, anti-government plans for domestic terrorism have erupted 25-years later. Bill and Robert look back at their cases and stories to help explain why. P.S. If you like this podcast, we think you will really like True Crime Reporter. Hear how a corrupt parole and prison system in Texas released the worst sadistic sexual serial killer in the state’s history. Click here to Subscribe to True Crime Reporter on your favorite podcast channel. The post Why Are Anti-Government Militia Groups On The Rise Again? Roots Of The Plot To Kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. E3 appeared first on Justice Facts Podcast.
Transcribe →Will Jeffrey Epstein’s Indicted Girlfriend Tell All About High Profile Men Who Cavorted With Underage Girls? E2
Oct 8, 202000:30:11Tap to summarizeThe big question about the investigation of high flying financier Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of underage girls is whether it will expose misdeeds by a male who’s who of royalty, politics, and business. Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite, and Epstein’s girlfriend who allegedly groomed and recruited dozens of young girls could become the key witness for the prosecution. Epstein took those dark secrets to his grave in August of 2019 when he hung himself in a jail cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Now, Maxwell sits isolated in a jail cell facing a long prison term if convicted. Will the 58-year old Maxwell flip to save herself from growing old in prison? Former federal prosecutor Bill Johnston and investigative reporter Robert Riggs breakdown the charges. And explain why “let’s make a deal” to testify is likely underway and may snare big names of the rich and powerful. P.S. If you like this podcast, we think you will really like True Crime Reporter. Hear how a corrupt parole and prison system in Texas released the worst sadistic sexual serial killer in the state’s history. Click here to Subscribe to True Crime Reporter on your favorite podcast channel. The post Will Jeffrey Epstein’s Indicted Girlfriend Tell All About High Profile Men Who Cavorted With Underage Girls? E2 appeared first on Justice Facts Podcast.
Transcribe →