Morbid Podcast: Glennon Engleman—The Killer Dentist

Hosts: Ash Kelley & Alaina Urquhart
Episode Date: April 16, 2026

Episode Overview

In this chilling yet characteristically irreverent episode, Ash and Alaina dive into the life and crimes of Dr. Glennon Engleman, a St. Louis dentist whose respectable façade masked a series of calculated, brutal murders motivated by greed and a twisted enjoyment of killing. Tracing Engleman's crimes from the 1950s through the late 1970s, the hosts unravel a tangled web of murder-for-profit schemes in collaboration with lovers and acquaintances—proving once again that sometimes the most terrifying monsters wear the most ordinary disguises.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Scene: The Murder of James Bullock (08:09–18:22)

• The first known victim:
  • On December 17, 1958, James Bullock, a promising young man with a tragic past, was murdered in St. Louis. Witnesses described a brutal scene: gunshots, shotgun wounds, and his legs run over by a car.
  • Ash: “Talk about overkill. This poor man.” (11:05)
• Investigation hurdles:
  • Initial witness confusion, a spooked driver confessing to accidentally running over Bullock’s legs.
  • Detectives quickly ruled out robbery as a motive—James’s wallet and wedding ring were left untouched.

2. Unraveling Personal Connections (15:42–18:22)

• Ruth’s tangled relationships:
  • Ruth, James’s wife, quickly becomes a person of interest when it’s revealed her ex-husband is Dr. Glenn Engelman.
  • Ash: “She continued to see him regularly… he cleaned her teeth, sometimes gave her money, and they occasionally slept together.” (17:12)
• Ruth’s polygraph:
  • Ruth seemingly passes a polygraph, walking free for the moment.

3. The Investigation Stalls—And Suspicions Grow (22:08–27:25)

• Interviewing Engelman:
  • Engelman refuses to talk and invokes his right not to incriminate himself.
  • Alaina (sarcastically): “Wow, that’s not guilty talk at all.” (22:52)
• False Confessions:
  • Two ex-convicts, Murphy and Deckard, claim Engelman and Ruth orchestrated the murder, but their unreliable testimonies unravel in days.
  • Ruth collects James’s life insurance; Engelman moves on with his dental practice.

4. A Pattern Emerges—Mysterious Deaths for Money (27:29–38:42)

• Engelman’s second marriage: Ends in violence and divorce; ex-wife Edna claims he tried to kill her with barbiturates.
• New murders with familiar MOs:
  • 1976: Peter Helm, shot by a sniper in the woods—married to Carmen, who’d worked for Engelman and was his close friend’s sister.
  • Carmen receives a $60k insurance payout.
• 1977: Double homicide of Arthur and Vernita Goosel—alleged robbery, but valuables left untouched and no forced entry.

5. Escalation—Murder Comes Home (38:04–43:06)

• Ronald Goosel's death:
  • Son of Arthur and Vernita, killed in 1979. Original theory of mistaken Mafia targeting falls apart as patterns surface.
  • Ronald’s wife, Barbara, had also known Glenn Engelman for 20 years.
• Failed police connections:
  • Investigators repeatedly fail to link these deaths to Engelman due to scattered jurisdictions and lack of communication.

6. The Car Bombing—Final Straw (44:06–48:53)

• Sophie Barrera’s murder (1980):
  • Her car explodes outside her dental lab, shortly before she’s due in court to collect a debt from Engelman.
  • Evidence of fear—Sophie had reported a previous dynamite attempt on her home.
  • Engelman naturally becomes a suspect.

7. The Break—A Wife Turns Informant (48:53–50:13)

• Ruth Jolly (Engelman’s then-wife) goes to police:
  • Fearing for her and her son's safety, she wears a wire.
  • Engelman incriminates himself on tape:
    • Engelman (recorded): “I’m $20,000 ahead. Fortuitous event with Barrera dying.” (49:21)
• Tapes implicate Engelman in multiple murders and tie in wives/assistants as co-conspirators, all motivated by life insurance payouts.

8. The Web: Motive, Method, and Money (52:01–54:05)

• Summary of schemes:
  • Engelman repeatedly colludes with women—ex-wives, assistants, lovers—who receive payouts and split the proceeds.
  • Notable outlier: Sophie Barrera, whom he killed to erase a substantial debt, not for insurance money.
• Prosecutions:
  • Engelman and accomplice Robert Handy indicted for Barrera and Peter Helm’s murder and multiple mail/wire fraud charges; others plea deals and partial convictions.

9. Conviction & Aftermath (54:05–56:24)

• Engelman’s trial, conviction, and death:
  • Received multiple life sentences and died in prison in 1999.
• Accomplices’ fate:
  • Some, like Barbara Boyle (Goosel’s daughter-in-law), served time and were later paroled.
• **Authorities never formally connected Engelman to some early murders (e.g., James Bullock) due to lack of hard evidence.

10. Psychological Motive—Not Just Greed (56:24–57:36)

• Engelman confessed to enjoying murder:
  • Reporter Bill Bryan:
    • Quote: “It always seemed to me that he got some pleasure out of the planning and carrying out of it.” (56:24)

11. Reflection and Tone

• Ash and Alaina express disbelief at both Engelman’s ease in recruiting accomplices and how few paid serious legal consequences.
• Alaina: “How do you find that many people that are like, on your level?” (57:02)
• Ash: “A crazy, complicated web.” (57:42)
• Ash on victims: “It’s just so sad how many young people... lost their lives.” (58:23)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Talk about overkill. This poor man.” — Ash, on James Bullock’s murder (11:05)
• “Imagine your new husband... your old husband cleaning your new husband’s teeth.” — Ash, on the bizarre post-divorce relationship between Ruth, Glenn Engelman, and James (17:32)
• “Fortuitous event with Barrera dying.” — Glenn Engelman, recorded by his wife, on profiting from Sophie Barrera’s murder (49:21)
• “He loved it, that guy. Such a dou—Douchebag. So gross.” — Alaina, reflecting on Engelman’s violent arrogance (58:21)
• “How do you find that many people that are like, on your level?” — Alaina, reflecting on the repeated recruitment of women for murder (57:02)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Background/Start of Crime: 08:09–18:22
• Engelman’s Connections & Motives: 18:22–27:25
• Pattern of Murders and Insurance Plots: 27:29–38:42
• Family Killings & Investigation Stalls: 38:04–43:06
• Sophie Barrera Car Bombing: 44:06–48:53
• Break in Case—Wire Recordings: 48:53–50:13
• Trial, Conviction, and Aftermath: 54:05–56:24

Fun Fact Palette Cleanser (58:56–60:42)

To ease the tension from this grim tale, the hosts share a quirky legal tidbit:

• In Skamania County, Washington, it’s illegal (originally a felony, now a misdemeanor) to kill Bigfoot or any Sasquatch.
  • Alaina: “He’s just a big boy… just vibing. Let him live.” (60:33)
  • Ash: “All Bigfoot is trying to do is avoid your ass.” (60:16)

Tone & Style

As always, Ash and Alaina balance dark subject matter with light, irreverent humor, quick banter, and bursts of genuine empathy for the victims. Their unique blend keeps the harrowing story engaging and accessible—without ever losing focus on the shocking human toll left by Glennon Engelman’s crimes.

Summary

Dr. Glennon Engelman’s decades-long murder-for-profit spree is a chilling reminder that true evil can lurk behind any smile—even that of your friendly neighborhood dentist. Driven by greed and a psychopathic pleasure in killing, Engelman manipulated a succession of women into murdering their spouses for insurance payouts, orchestrating deaths across Missouri and Illinois with chilling calculation. In the end, it was the bravery of his own wife, Ruth Jolly, who risked everything to record his confessions, that finally brought him down. Their story is a stark web of betrayal, avarice, and violence—leavened by wry observations and utter disbelief from the Morbid hosts, who remind us all to be careful who we trust with both our teeth and our lives.