502 - Washington Favorites

Summary

My Favorite Murder Episode 502: “Washington Favorites”

Released October 16, 2025, Hosted by Karen Kilgariff & Georgia Hardstark

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Episode Overview

In this special "quilt" episode, Karen and Georgia revisit two of their most gripping and memorable true crime stories from Washington State. As they prepare for a tour stop in Seattle, they present the stories of:

• The Seattle Cyanide Poisonings & Stella Nickel, covered by Georgia
• The Barefoot Bandit, Colton Harris Moore, covered by Karen

The conversation blends dark humor with empathy for victims, and their signature banter brings context and depth to these infamously strange cases.

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Segment 1: The Seattle Cyanide Poisonings & Stella Nickel

[Starts 04:48] Georgia’s Story

Main Points and Events

• On June 11, 1986, Susan Snow, a mother of two from Auburn, WA, takes her usual morning dose of Extra Strength Excedrin for headaches and collapses shortly after. At the hospital, she dies.
• Assistant medical examiner Janet Miller notices a faint “bitter almonds” smell—classic for cyanide poisoning—though colleagues initially dismiss her observation.
  • Quote: “Yo, I fucking smell a very faint scent of bitter almonds. Which I am, I know from experience means cyanide.” (Karen, as Janet Miller, 07:02)
• Janet persists, documenting her suspicions, which leads (once tests confirm cyanide) to a major investigation. Her insistence may have saved further lives.
  • Quote: "Her fucking politeness and not staying in her lane might’ve saved a bunch of other lives." (Karen, 08:18)
• Investigators find 3 of the remaining capsules in Susan’s Excedrin bottle are also laced with toxic cyanide—her husband had narrowly avoided death.
• The murder shocks the nation, echoing the unsolved 1982 Chicago Tylenol Murders.
  • Quote: “The Chicago Tylenol murders scared the shit out of everyone… those murders four years later and to this fucking day have yet to be solved.” (Karen, 11:01)
• Paul, Susan’s husband, becomes a prime suspect (“Hawaiian Shirt Joe” as dubbed by the hosts), but then a tainted Excedrin bottle is found in a local grocery store—pointing to product tampering at-large.

Enter: Stella Nickel

• Stella Nickel claims her husband Bruce died similarly after taking Excedrin a week prior; his death had been attributed to emphysema, but she challenges this.
• Lab analysis finds cyanide in Bruce’s system and in two of Stella’s Excedrin bottles—she says she bought them at different stores, which investigators find suspicious given their rarity.
  • Quote: “Five bottles… whole country… and Stella had bought two of those at two different places. Quite a coincidence.” (Karen, 19:14)
• Forensics uncover calcium crystals from “algae destroyer”—an aquarium chemical—among the cyanide, and Stella is known for her fish tank hobby, placing her as the prime suspect.

Motive Uncovered

• Stella had taken out $76,000 in life insurance on Bruce, with an additional $100,000 for accidental death.
  • Quote: "It always does. It’s not just for fun." (Karen on life insurance as motive, 20:29)
• Investigation reveals:
  • Stella tried to poison Bruce earlier with foxglove.
  • She checked out library books on “human poisoning”; her fingerprints are recovered from the cyanide chapter.
  • She attempts to create a product-tampering panic to ensure Bruce’s cause of death is ruled accidental, thus collecting extra insurance.
  • Quote: “She poisoned her husband...so to get it back to the fucking poison. She went out...and put poisoned bottles on the shelf.” (Karen, 28:15)
• Her own daughter Cynthia (“a hard lived Molly Ringwald” per Karen) turns whistleblower, testifying about Stella’s past abuse and murder plotting.

Verdict & Aftermath

• Stella is convicted under the newly enacted federal anti-tampering laws: two 90-year terms for deaths, three 10-year terms for product tampering.
• She maintains her innocence and claims her daughter provided evidence for the reward money.
  • Quote: “But since…Stella Nickel continues to maintain her innocence.” (Karen, 30:56)

Notable Quotes & Humor

• Mock ballot measure: “You shouldn’t be allowed to be the coroner if you can’t smell cyanide.” (Georgia, 09:25)
• Tangent on fish tanks, action movies, and fake fish on TV shows (22:03–23:32)
• "She needed more algae destroyers…she loved those fish!" (Georgia, 21:46)

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Segment 2: The Barefoot Bandit, Colton Harris Moore

[Starts 33:31] Karen’s Story

Main Points and Events

Troubled Beginnings

• Colton Harris Moore, born 1991, grows up in poverty and abuse on Camano Island, WA.
• His mother, Pam, is abusive and negligent; his father is a drug user who goes to prison early in Colton’s life.
• Severe psychiatric, behavioral challenges documented; CPS intervenes multiple times but can't extricate him from the home.

The Early Crimes

• At 12, Colt begins breaking into homes and local businesses, acting out as a way of seeking notice (“fucking up as a kid is a way of saying, ‘will someone please step in?’” Karen, 39:06)
• He’s in and out of juvenile detention, escalating to more serious burglaries, mostly in vacation homes—often living off the stolen goods and squatting.

The Escalation: “Barefoot Bandit” Era

• Evades authorities through the woods, breaks into homes, living off-grid. Leaves behind items like journals and takes selfies (43:23).
• Becomes infamous by learning to steal and fly small aircraft—with no formal training.
  • Notable: Flies through a whiteout at 13,000ft on his first flight, then crash lands but escapes (44:47).
  • Quote: “A 17-year-old steals a Cessna and is able to fly it somewhere. What 17-year-old…could drive a car, much less an airplane?” (Karen, 45:33)
• Over two years, steals and crash-lands at least five planes, several boats, and numerous vehicles across Pacific Northwest and Canada.
• Leaves bare footprints at some crime scenes, earning the “Barefoot Bandit” nickname despite usually wearing shoes.
• Social media explodes—a fan Facebook page garners over 100,000 followers. Merch arises (“Mama tried” T-shirts), while locals, less amused, crowdsource a bounty for his capture.
  • Quote: “Now it’s becoming international news…reporters from all over the globe travel to Camano Island…” (Karen, 51:42)
• His mother, Pam, is quoted: “I was going to send him to flight school, but I guess I don’t have to. But next time, I want him to wear a parachute.” (Karen, 50:12)

Outlaw Folk Hero / International Chase

• Daring acts, like leaving $100 at an animal hospital: “drove by, had extra cash, please use this money for the care of animals. Signed Colton Harris Moore, AKA the Barefoot Bandit.” (Karen, 55:00)
• Eventually flees to the Bahamas via stolen Cessna, commits burglaries, and enjoys notoriety.

Capture and Sentencing

• Caught after a boat chase; surrenders after threatening self-harm but throws his gun and laptop into the water.
• Pleads guilty in Bahamian court (sentenced to pay a fine for entering illegally), then extradited and indicted on multiple federal counts in the US.
• Mental health evaluations attribute his crime spree to depression, PTSD, and childhood hardship—he is remorseful, favorably viewed for rehabilitation.
• Plea deals ensure money from book/movie rights benefit his victims.
• Sentenced to 7 years jail plus 3 years probation; released to work-release in 2016, where he hopes to pursue aeronautical engineering but is restricted from profiting off his crimes or leaving the state.
  • Quote: “My intention is to build connections with people who are both clearly motivated…along the lines of problem solving, productivity, and accomplishing goals. This is what it’s all about.” (Karen, reading Colton’s LinkedIn, 68:19)
• Declines on GoFundMe for pilot training, sharing on Twitter that his “dream is crushed.”
• Today, describes himself as a “former international fugitive turned entrepreneur.”

Notable Quotes & Banter

• On the sympathy for Colton: “I mean, listen, breaking the law isn’t the way, but…sometimes you’re 17 and you’re depressed…” (Georgia, 69:06)
• On his legend: “You don’t want to celebrate it…but it’s also like, wow, he didn’t hurt anybody.” (Georgia, 69:36)
• On his errors: “He could have killed people…crashing those planes.” (Karen, 69:50)

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Memorable Moments & Banter

• The hosts’ comedic chemistry: “Don’t get married. Don’t lie. Don’t cheat.” (Karen, 12:52)
• Tangents on ‘fake fish’ in movies and the show “Tanked” – paralleling Stella Nickel’s fish obsession (22:05–23:27)
• T-shirts, folklore, and social media satire linked to the Barefoot Bandit (51:42)
• Aunties never snitch: “The aunties don’t snitch. That’s their new saying.” (Georgia, 52:17)
• Georgia’s deadpan: “Can we get a TED Talk, please?” (Georgia, 68:26)

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Important Timestamps

• [04:48] Start of Seattle Cyanide Poisonings / Stella Nickel
• [13:36] Discovery of tainted pills in multiple locations, investigation heats up
• [21:28] Dental insurance as motive, library evidence
• [28:15] Forensic evidence, Stella’s daughter’s testimony, conviction
• [33:31] Start of the Barefoot Bandit story
• [44:47] First airplane theft and flight
• [50:01] “Barefoot Bandit” nickname, folk hero status emerges
• [55:00] Robin Hood moment: $100 for animal shelter
• [58:49] The chase and capture in the Bahamas
• [62:21] Trial, sentencing, aftermath
• [68:26] Colton’s philosophy on life, modern updates

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Tone & Style

Karen and Georgia mix empathy for the victims and perpetrators with irreverent banter, tangential humor, and pop culture references. Both inject personal asides, vivid (sometimes comically macabre) commentary, and a conversational warmth that invites listeners into the story—e.g., imagining made-for-TV movies with “Peggy Bundy” and “Molly Ringwald.”

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Takeaway

“Washington Favorites” showcases the strange, sad, and sensational side of true crime, filtered through Karen and Georgia’s charm and curiosity. Both the Stella Nickel and the Barefoot Bandit stories are reminders of the extremes of human motivation—greed, desperation, and ingenuity—and the ways in which ordinary people are sometimes thrust into national headlines.

Karen: “Thank you. Good job, Colton.”
Georgia: “Yeah. I mean, listen, you know… breaking the law isn’t the way, but sometimes… you’re 17 and you're depressed…” [69:06]

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Stay sexy, and don’t get murdered.

Transcript

[Karen Kilgariff]

This is exactly right.

[Georgia Hardstark]

The detective said missing kids usually come home. What happens when they don't?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Based on a true story Police looking for John Gacy. We discovered bodies.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

By the looks of it, they're younger men. The things he did to those kids. He's sick. The system failed these families. Devil in disguise.

[Karen Kilgariff]

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[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Do you know how many there are?

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

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[Karen Kilgariff]

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[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

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[Karen Kilgariff]

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[Karen Kilgariff]

Life Savior.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Hello and welcome to my favorite murder.

[Karen Kilgariff]

After six years, we are back out on the road. And because of that, we're putting some quilt episodes together for you.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

And so this episode features two of our favorite stories from the state of Washington just in time for our Seattle tour stop.

[Karen Kilgariff]

First, Georgia is going to tell the story of Stella Nickel and the Seattle cyanide poisonings.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

And then Karen will cover Colton Harris Moore, better known as the Barefoot Bandit.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And just so you guys know, we'll.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Be in Seattle on October 21st and 22nd.

[Karen Kilgariff]

A few tickets are still available, so go to myfavoritemurder.com live to get yours.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

And until then, please enjoy this Washington quilt episode. Goodbye.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

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[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

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[Karen Kilgariff]

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[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

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[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

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[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

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[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Okay, well, speaking of Seattle. Oh, I'm not going to tell you too much about this because I want you to kind of guess some shit, but this is basically the Seattle cyanide poisonings.

[Georgia Hardstark]

My first guess was gonna be Bigfoot. But I guess that now that I hear the word cyanide, I'm gonna take. I'm gonna retract it.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Okay? Okay. It's not bigfoot.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Okay.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Okay. June 11, 1986. Right after my sixth birthday in Auburn, Washington.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Right after my 16th birthday, we had a surprise party.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It was fun.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Cute. So, Auburn, Washington. It's a suburb about 25 miles outside of Seattle. 40 year old Susan Snow. She's a mother of two teenage girls. She works as a bank manager. She woke up at 6am normal morning routine. She kissed her husband Paul, who was a long haul trucker, goodbye as he left for work and wished her 15 year old daughter Hayley a good morning. Goes into her bathroom, plugs in her curling iron, starts to get ready for work. But another one of her normal things routines in the morning, which she did all the time because she suffered from really painful headaches. She took her pretty much daily dose of two extra, extra strength Excedrin capsules from the bottle in her kitchen.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, shit.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

That's right. About 40 minutes after she went into her bathroom to get ready, her daughter Haley went into the bathroom to see what's taking her mom so long.

[Karen Kilgariff]

No, I know.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

And found sue collapse on the floor of the bathroom. Sue was unresponsive but had a faint pulse. And When Haley called 911, she told them that it seemed like her mother was asleep, but with her eyes open.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Oh no.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

I know.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's so awful.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

That's so sad. Gasping for breath and her pulse fading, Sue's flown by helicopter to the hospital where doctors work to determine what is even wrong with her. They don't know how to help her because they can't figure out what's wrong. Maybe she slipped while getting ready and hit her head, but she didn't have any bruises. Had she been electrocuted by the curling iron?

[Karen Kilgariff]

No.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

And nothing seemed to add up. And so doctors were baffled. And just a few hours later, Sue Snow had died.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Shit.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Yeah, during the autopsy on Sue Snow, this chick, assistant, she's the assistant medical examiner, Janet Miller. She's like, yo, I fucking smell a very faint scent of bitter almonds. Which I am, I know from experience means cyanide.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Now you were pointing at yourself, Georgia, but you were playing the part.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Janet is like.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah, you were in the role of Janet.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Yes. Janet knows from experience that like that's the scent that bitter almonds, historically speaking, like the book that was written about this is named bitter almonds.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Is it really?

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Because also it's kind of a play on words.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

It is. As you'll see soon. The main medical examiner person was like, shut up, you assistant, be quiet. I don't smell anything. And they're like, well. And also it doesn't show any of the telltale signs of cyanide poisoning. Like her skin wasn't bright pink, that sort of thing. So she was like, blew her off. She was gonn. Just put down that she died of natural causes, had an undiagnosed heart issue. And Janet, then later this doctor comes in to say to the main person, so what happened? And she starts to tell her, like, oh, it's just a heart issue. And Janet's like, yo, motherfuckers, you should probably listen to me. And like, told another doctor and was like, good, this bitch is not listening to me. You should listen to me. Awesome. Amazing. And her fucking politeness and saying. And not staying in her lane might have saved a bunch of other lives.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I bet it did.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

I bet it did. Because. So when they sent Janet's, you know, tissue, blood things.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Sure.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Information, information. When it was tested, it was verified that Snow had died of an acute cyanide poisoning. And then I wrote and Janet, Janet was like, booyah and toasted her badassness with her friends that night. Probably. Don't you think they all had, like, champagne was like, I told this bitch. It was. It was cyanide.

[Georgia Hardstark]

But also, why resist if you're looking into someone's death?

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

A 40 year old woman dies unexpectedly, there's no explanation. And someone smells the faintest bit of bitter almonds.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And also just like, it's that thing of how many years of coroners being like, I guess it's a. It was a heart embolism or like some weird made up thing where it's like. Or look into it.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Right. Or if one person smells almonds. Yeah. And the thing about cyanide, too, is that the ability to smell it is genetic. And 20 to 40% of the population don't carry the gene to detect it. Ooh.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Then you shouldn't be allowed to be the coroner.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

That's right. Or you should have someone who can.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yes.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

I don't know.

[Georgia Hardstark]

These are the things we're going to get solved in the next midterm election.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

That's right. We're going to have a ballot measure and it's going to be great.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Smell that. Smell that cyanide.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Hey. Does it smell like cyanide to you?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Then get the fuck out of this department.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Yeah. So investigators go and examine the contents of Sue's house and they discover that the source of the cyanide is the bottle of extra strength Excedrin capsules that both Snow and her husband Paul had used. The morning of Snow's death, three capsules out of those that remain in the 60 capsule bottle were found to be laced with cyanide in toxic quantities. So the husband fucking took some. She took some and she died. And there was three more in there.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Whoa.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

That were cyanide laced. Right. Suspicious. And so this murder by cyanide is a Fucking huge, sensational news, of course, across the nation, and everyone loses their shit. Especially because just four years earlier was the 1982 Chicago Tylenol murders that I covered in episode 43, where. Yes, I looked that up. That's one of my. Still one of my favorites.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I covered an episode 43.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

I covered. All I'm saying is I'm not gonna get into it, because you can.

[Karen Kilgariff]

No, no, no. I know.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

You know.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I like that you're referencing your own story.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Yeah. I just don't want to talk too much about it, but it is still, like. I love that case so much, I still fucking think that Ted Kaczynski did it. I think it's just, like. It's so crazy.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It's. It's such a fascinating story.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

It really is.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It's a good listen.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

And then. So, of course, the Chicago Tylenol murders scared the shit out of everyone. Seven people died when Tylenol capsules had been laced with cyanide and put back on store shelves. And those murders four years later and to this fucking day have yet to be solved.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I remember all of this.

[Karen Kilgariff]

This is.

[Georgia Hardstark]

This was my teen years.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah. It was crazy.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Do you remember this story?

[Karen Kilgariff]

I do.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Because. Because it happened after. And it had that thing of, like, this was before.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Is this a thing now? That's happening all the time.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Right.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It's the.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It's.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Because it was before. The silver tabs that used to go.

[Karen Kilgariff]

On top of everything right there used to.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You used to just open stuff, and there would just be cotton stuff, and that was the way that they kept things safe for everybody.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

There wasn't even childproofing back then. No.

[Georgia Hardstark]

There was kind of nothing. So it was that thing of, like.

[Knix Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It doesn't make sense that anyone could have access.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Right. It's. It's good that anyone with a glue stick who can glue the. Like, the paper box back together can put it back on the shelves.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Any weirdo they hire at the weirdo grocery store down the street.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

That's right.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Can get into your business.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

That's right.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It's the thing. You don't know. You don't realize it until.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Right.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Something terrible happens like this.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Right. So this happens. And of course, suspicion immediately falls on Sue's husband, Paul, especially when he started wearing Hawaiian shirts and shorts after the funeral.

[Karen Kilgariff]

No.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Like, he was on vacay.

[Karen Kilgariff]

No.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Right. And he got angry when investigators started questioning him. So, of course, everyone's like, dude, it's Paul. And he was. Sue was his fourth wife. Oh. The two daughters Weren't. Were from her previous marriages. They'd only been married about seven months before Susan's death. And Susan had found out that Paul had cheated on her with an ex.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Jesus.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

But had decided to stay with him.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Right.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

So everyone's suspicious of him.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Sorry. They'd only been married seven months and he'd already cheated on her.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Yeah, maybe they. I don't know when he cheated, but yeah. I mean, he might have cheated before they got married, but they had only been married for seven months.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Don't get married. Don't lie.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Don't cheat.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I know.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Just don't.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I know.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Just don't, please.

[Karen Kilgariff]

But. But then they do.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Then they do. Okay, so everyone's like, it's totally him, right?

[Georgia Hardstark]

It's Hawaiian Shirt Joe.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Hawaiian shirt dude.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Okay. But then everything gets crazy and mixed up when another tainted bottle from the same lot, the same manufacturer lot, was found in a grocery store in nearby Kent, Washington.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Fuck.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

The manufacturers of Excedrin Bristol Myers lost their shit. Recalled all Extra Strength Excedrin products in the Seattle, Washington area. And a group of drug companies came together to offer a $300,000 reward for the capture of the person responsible.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's pretty cool, right? The last cool thing any drug company ever did. That's right before they started trying to.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Murder all of us.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

I have proof of something shitty they did in just a second. That's pretty. Right. That's when. Okay, so then this money comes forth, like, we need help finding this. And then this woman, bless her heart, comes forward. Oh, this woman's name is Stella Nickel. She tells authorities that on June 5th. So it's about a week before Susan had died. About a week before her husband, Stella's husband, Bruce, had come home with a headache from work. Took in a bunch of. Took him. Taken a bunch of Excedrins. He strolled out to. Onto the deck to watch the birds. And then suddenly collapse.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, God.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

He was taken by a helicopter to Seattle Hospital and he died as well. But the doctor said that the cause was emphysema at the time. And Stella said, that doesn't make any sense. He doesn't have ex.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Eczema.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Did I say emphysema, or did I say eczema?

[Karen Kilgariff]

You said emphysema.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Great. She was like, he didn't have. Maybe he had eczema, but he didn't have emphysema.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You can't drop dead from emphysema if.

[Karen Kilgariff]

You don't got it.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

If you don't have it, right? So she was like, fuck this. Shit, you need to change. That's not true. Right. Okay. So here's. Here's all right. In what was supposed to be the 1991 USA Network made for TV movie about this case called who killed Susan Snow?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Right.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

This chick Stella, our friend Stella over here, 44 year old Stella was to be played by Peggy fucking Bundy. Yes. Katie Seagal. Katie Seagal, who is. If you see this woman, it looks so much like her. I want to show you a photo, but it looks so much like her. It's like they. They basically wanted her to be Peggy Bundy, but it was like roots and like kind of look a little worn and like she had lived a hard life.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yes.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

You know what I mean? Yeah. And it looks exactly like her. According to a 1988 People article, Stella was into quote, bar hopping and skin tight dresses. She was just like a 40 something year old who just like to go to the local watering holes, SM with her skinny lighter in there and fucking drink and live.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Drink and live and finally live her life.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Live like a fish, drink like a person.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yes.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

And so she had married Bruce and he was into that shit too. So they were like partying all the time. Awesome.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Bruce was match made in heaven.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Exactly. Bruce was Stella's second husband and their life together in a wash. And they lived in a Washington state trailer park. And apparently it was kind of a bummer of a life though. Okay. As you can imagine.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Okay.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

But unfortunately the plug got pulled on this film. This made for TV movie because the drug companies big pharma was like, no, no, no, you're not making us possibly look bad. And they fucking pulled the plug. So.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Because that's who actually controls entertainment.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Everything big pharma. So that means I don't know who was gonna play anyone else, but we can speculate. So when Stella, who was like, you need to keep looking. He didn't die of emphysema. When she heard about Sue's death, she was like, oh, shit. And checked her lot number on her Excedrin. It was the same lot number as Susan's bottle.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Whoa.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Okay. Yeah. So tests confirmed the presence of cyanide in the bottle that she had and in Bruce Nichols remains. So he had died from the same thing.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Okay.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

So both Paul, Susan's husband Paul, and our friend Stella filed wrongful lawsuits against Bristol Myers. But the eth. FDA inspected the plant work, the Excedrin lot had been packaged and found no traces of cyanide.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Okay.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Still, Bristol Myers recalled all Excedrin capsules in the United States, pulled them from the shelves and warned consumers not to use any they already had. So it's like a million dollar loss.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah, I, I don't think I've.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Because if I remember correctly, they were the white pills.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Right.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I think Extra strength etc.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

I think they're still at the time the ones that you can pull apart and put in them.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Really?

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

I don't know.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Well, from what I remember they were. It was looked like hard aspirin.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Where I was like, how do you do anything to that pill? But I could just be remembering it that one way.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Who knows?

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Not me. So on June 24, just a couple weeks after Sue's death, a cyanide contaminated bottle of extra strength Anacin 3, which doesn't exist.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Anacin 3 was the. Tell us Karen Anison, wasn't that one that was like, like marketed toward back pain?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Oh yeah, I feel like it was.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Also Doans remember Doan's back pills? No, don'ts were like strictly back pills.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

They were just cocaine.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It was just numb you out from.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Like your C4 down.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

That's right, yeah. So a bottle of those were found at the same store where Susan had bought her contaminated Excedrin and those were contaminated as well. So on June 27, Washington state put into effect a 90 day ban on the sale of non prescription medication in capsules. So I think a Capsule. Capsules, yeah. So I think that it's the kind that you can tamper.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That would make much more sense.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Sure. But who knows. So investigators then at that point they started to get suspicious of someone specific.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Who?

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Our friend Stella, because she turned over two bottles of Excedrin that she had bought and she was like, these are the bottles that he might have taken them from. But then she was like, I bought them at two different locations at two different times. So. And they had both ended up being contaminated with cyanide. So a total of five bottles had been found to be contaminated in the entire fucking country. And they thought it was really weird that Stella had bought two of those at two different places.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Quite a coincidence.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Quite a weird coincidence. Then. Okay. Examinations of the contaminated bottles by the FBI crime lab. They opened up these capsules and they found that there wasn't just cyanide in them. They also contained this weird thing of little flecks of these green crystals throughout the cyanide. And they were like, what the is this? This is really weird. No, okay. Algae destroyer.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, from a fish tank.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

From a home fish tank. Hey, okay, guess who has a home fish tank hobby?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Our girl Stella. Stella Stella the mermaid.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Stella's a mermaid. Stella has a home. Fish tank habit girl.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So wait, they were breaking down, like every chemical compound of, like, what touched these pills.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

They probably would have never found her if this hadn't been the case. Yeah. Because what they think happened is that maybe she had a mortar and pestle or whatever. The crunch that her. That was her algae cruncher. And she never cleaned it out. Crunch that cyanide up in the same thing. And so it's just cross contamination, girl. Not even on purpose.

[Georgia Hardstark]

She did it to herself.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

She did it to her. Like, so simple. So guess what else? Our good friend life insurance policy. Oh. Comes into play.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Sure it does.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It always does.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

It always does. It's not just for fun.

[Karen Kilgariff]

No.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

So Stella had taken out a total of about $76,000 in life insurance coverage on her husband, which in today, that's 1988. And today's money is it.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's easily $852,000.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

That's right. To the fucking penny.

[Karen Kilgariff]

To the penny.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

However, if his death was accidental, she got an additional $100,000.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Okay. Aside from the fact that this is such a fucked. Every time we tell stories like this. And it's basically just people being like, I'm gonna cash in on the person. I'm married.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Right.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Which in and of itself is disgusting.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

I'm done with this life. I'm going to cash in on this.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I'm gonna cash in on a human being.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

But then she kills someone's mom also.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Right? Okay, so. So here's the thing. Okay. So that's why I remember she was fighting with the doc with emphysema doctor. It's not emphysema. I know it's not emphysema. It's because she needed him to say it was a fucking accident.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Dental death.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Right. So she could get that extra. Because $76,000 or 826 million in today's money was not enough for her. She needed an extra hundred thousand. So then they were able to investigate what.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I'm sorry, I just thought of, what if it was all so that she.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Could buy more and more tropical fish.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

She needed more algae destroyers.

[Georgia Hardstark]

She loved those fish.

[Karen Kilgariff]

She had these.

[Georgia Hardstark]

These huge angelfish.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Well, they live in a trailer too.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah, but sometimes you just that's. She funneled all the money into that fish tank so that they were like, we don't need a house.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

What we need is a great house for these fish.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

I just think of how, like, how, like, humid and smelly it was in.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That trailer with that huge fish tank. With that, with that 9 by 25 tropical fish tank that was like everyone you see in a rapper's house cribs.

[Knix Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Or what about that TV show where they make fish tanks called Tanks is it? I think it's called Tank is it? I'm getting a nod from Steven.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yes, Stephen, do you watch Tanked?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Steven's so excited.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

No, but. Or I did watch you. I did watch one episode specifically, but I think it was like Kevin Smith on. When you're like in the hotel room or like a bar. Like the hotel bar more like. And it just happens to be on. You're like, what the. They made a whole show of this and it's actually kind of.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Kind of good.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I have to say, in any action movie, if they come in and shoot up the bad guys, like Shark Tank.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Totally.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And then you see the wave that comes out, that's probably the most excited I get.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

That's got to be a really expensive budget.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah, you shoot that once and then you have to take it again, which means you have to roll in a.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Brand new fish tank. And also because of the fucking PETA, you can't kill those fish.

[Georgia Hardstark]

No, those are all just rubber fish with little motors.

[Karen Kilgariff]

No, I was like, wow.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

How do you know that, Karen? Did you guys do that in baskets, Right?

[Karen Kilgariff]

All.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yep, on Baskets, we like to kill fake fish all the time. It's like a thing.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Okay, so Tanks. It's called Tanks.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Oh, look at these two. Tank toasts.

[Georgia Hardstark]

They're. They love fish.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

It's real fun.

[Georgia Hardstark]

This is all in Spanish, Stephen, is.

[Karen Kilgariff]

This a Spanish show?

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

No.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, it's on Animal Planet.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Yes.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Please watch Tanked everybody.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Her new favorite show from 2012. So Stella takes a polygraph test in November of 1987, fails it, but unfortunately, there's no concrete evidence proving that she ever purchased cyanide. And authorities aren't able to build a strong enough case to support her. There's no prints on any of the bottles, anything like that. There's no video evidence of her putting the bottles back on the shelves. So like we fucking have nothing. And it's possible that this case would have even gone cold and no one would have been arrested except for her daughter who fucking hated her.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Oh, girl.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Okay, so 27 year old Cynthia Hamilton, who would have been played by a fucking hard lifed Molly Ringwald.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Oh, shit.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Okay.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

But in a good way. But like pretty, but like chainsaw. Everyone chain smokes.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It's like, is it northern or central Washington?

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Yes. Yeah. And they. And she was in and out of her mother's life for years. When, when Cindy, the daughter was nine years old, Stella had hit her with a curtain rod so hard it had bruised Cindy's legs. So Stella was pretty abusive.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Oh, shit.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

And Stella had been charged and ordered to go to counseling and said that. But Stella denied ever hitting her daughter and said that her daughter made the whole thing up because she was jealous of her. The nine year old girl was jealous of her.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Oh, no.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So she basically. Cindy, that's the daughter's name. Cindy has a total sociopath of a mother.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Yeah. Okay. Cindy's got.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Cindy from an early age is like, oh shit, my mom is capital A crazy, right?

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

But Cindy has a conscious conscience.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's right.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Where are we?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Number two.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Cindy has a conscience. Yes. And is like, this isn't right. I need to talk to the fucking authorities about this. And even though it was her stepdad. So In January of 1987, Cindy approaches the police with information. She said that her mother had spoken to her many times about wanting her husband dead. Oh, no. Cindy's stepdad. And Stella had told Cindy that after that, ever since Bruce had quit drinking, he was a bore.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Now listen, as someone who's quit drinking, I know that that's a fact. Things get way less dramatic when you're not shit faced every day.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

She said he preferred to stay home and watch television. Which I'm like, I drink. And that sounds great to me. It's the best you can be sober and drink.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You know how fucking hard it is to go out into the world sober and just like, just get that white hot light of reality shone on you.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

And everywhere go, no, I don't try it.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, you gotta try it.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It's hilarious.

[Georgia Hardstark]

But it's much easier to stay home.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Yeah. So they, they, they had stopped going out to bars together. So she was like, this guy's a boar. I'm Peggy Bundy.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Also bars.

[Georgia Hardstark]

When you're sober, it's like about 35 minutes. You can have fun, but you have to know when to go home because people start repeating themselves and it is a disaster area.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

I got it. I'm. I support you 100.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Thank you.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

This is why I never beg you to come out to like bars and shit. Cause I'm like, why would I? You have to come here. There's like really bad nachos. There's nothing to offer you.

[Georgia Hardstark]

There's really hard to follow conversation about things you don't care about.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

That's right.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

So Cindy also Claimed that her mother had spoken to her about what the two of them could do with the life insurance money if Bruce were dead.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Oh, no.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

But Cindy said that her mother had even told her that she had tried to poison Bruce previously with the plant foxglove, which I guess is a poisonous plant.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's very witchy of her.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Yeah, but it didn't work. But still, there's no smoking guns. Cindy hadn't seen Stella put the poison into the pills, and Stella had never confessed anything to her daughter. And then Cindy told authorities that after the. But then Cindy was like, you know. Oop, shit. Just threw a pen at the microphone.

[Knix Advertiser]

Oh.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

I want to also say okay, but that. Okay, hold on. Boop. Let me think. Okay. But then Cindy was like, you know what might work? My mom started. After the foxglove thing, my mom started to check out books on poison at the fucking Libra.

[Georgia Hardstark]

This is like that part of seven where they just go. And they look up all the books.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

The person looked up. That's right. And they did that. They got a fucking search warrant or whatever. They got all the books. They found the books that she had checked out at the Auburn Public Library and showed that she had checked out numerous books about poisons, including a book called Human Poisoning. Oh, girl, be a little more subtle and cover it up. Native and Cultivated Plants and Deadly Harvest. So they fucking fingerprint that shit. Yeah, the FBI fingerprints that shit.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It only has roughly 1500 fingerprints on it.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

That's right. But they also subpoenaed her. I don't know, you know, card.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Sure.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Her information.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Yeah. And saw that she had checked it out. They found her fingerprints on it, including the page that belonged to cyanide. And they have their. What they can do. And also. So what they think happened was that she poisoned her husband. He died. The doctor wouldn't. Would only say it was emphysema. So to get it back to the fucking poison. She went out after that and put poison fucking bottles on the shelf.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, my God.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

So the reason sue died a week later is because those bottles hadn't been on the shelf yet. So if the doctor had been like, he got poisoned and it was accidental.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Poisoning, she would have gotten her money and left it alone.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Right.

[Georgia Hardstark]

But she went out and basically, not.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Saying it's the doctor's fault at all, but she went out to garner more to get that accidental death and killed sue and killed Susan Snow. Wow. Isn't that fucking awful? Yeah, really, it is. So on December 9, 1987, Stella Nichols, indicted by a federal grand jury on five counts of product tampering including two which resulted in the deaths of Susan Snow and Bruce Nichols. So she's not. So the f. It's. It's federal. Because after the Tylenol murders they. The FBI did a strict new federal anti tampering act. And it was like super strict. You can't tamper with drugs. So that's why it was federal.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

But.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

So she wasn't tried for their murders. It was tampering that led to the deaths of these two people. Why?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Because that sentence would be longer or something like it was a bigger deal.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

I don't know. So.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You said that just like my cousin Eileen.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I don't know.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

I don't know.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I don't know.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

So she goes to trial in April of 1988. Cindy agrees to fucking testify against her mother as long as her mother doesn't get the fucking death penalty. And they're like, great. That won't happen.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Talk about wow. What a complex relationship that is.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Stella's found guilty on all charges. She becomes the first person charged and convicted under this federal Anti Tampering act. She's sentenced to two 90 year terms for the charges relating to the deaths of Susan Snow and Bruce Nickel and three 10 year terms for the other product tampering. She'll be eligible for parole in this fucking.

[Knix Advertiser]

Here.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Oh.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

At 73 years old.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Jesus.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

So I think they're trying to also get those. Figure out a way to charge her with murder as well. Yeah. But she is like, I am innocent. This is some. She's doing all these like appeals and shit because she said there's a bunch of evidence that was never turned over to the defense. She also claims that her daughter lied in order to get that. Remember that $300,000 that was offered to people who could help by the drug companies? The daughter got 250,000 of that money.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So it's almost like she said. She said like she's doing it for money. She's doing it.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Wow.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Yeah. So. But since. But Stella Nickel continues to maintain her innocence.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You have a girl.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

I know. Girl doesn't look good for you.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It does.

[Georgia Hardstark]

There's too many coincidences.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

There's too many. And that's this. Seattle. Cyanide poisonings.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's amazing because I remember the Excedrin one coming after Tylenol.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I did not know it was that involved.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And crazy.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Crazy.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

How did I. I didn't really know about it either.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So. Nuts.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Yeah. This is Alec Murdoch. I need police and an ambulance immediately.

[Murdoch Podcast Narrator]

Murdoch Death in the Family Official podcast is here. I'm joining Patricia Arquette, Jason Clark and the cast to uncover all things Murdoch.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Family first to unravel the story piece.

[Karen Kilgariff]

By piece was really surprising because you don't want to believe it.

[Murdoch Podcast Narrator]

Murdoch Death in the Family Official podcast Wednesdays and stream Murdoch Death in the Family on Hulu and Hulu on Disney for bundle subscribers Terms apply for period.

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[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

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[Karen Kilgariff]

Well then the story I'm going to follow that one up with is basically Hannah suggested this to me because it's basically kind of her and it's a story she remembers happening. She's from basically Washington state and she remembers this kicking off. And it was basically one of those things that took over. Everybody knew about it, people were following it in the news. It's this crazy story. So thanks Hannah for the suggestion. So the sources for this story today, there's a bunch of articles from HaroldNet.com one by Jackson Holt, one by Eric Stivik One by Noah Hagland. Then there's an article by Ryan Owens and Sarah Netter for ABC News. An article by Patrick Oppman, cnn. There's a New York Times article by William Yardley. There's a KOMO TV staff article. And there's a C.R. douglas article for Fox 13 Seattle. There was an episode of 48 Hours about this case. CBS News article written by Paul La Rosa, Sarah Pryor. And there's an article from the Seattle Times by a writer named Evan Bush. And there's more. Sources you can check the show notes for. This is the story of Colton Harris Moore, also known as the Barefoot Bandit. Okay, Colton Moore is born March 22, 1991 in Mount Vernon, Washington. He grows up in a trailer in the woods on Southern Camano island, which is about an hour north of Seattle on Puget Sound. So his home life's chaotic. His mother, Pam, drinks while she's pregnant with Colt. This impacts his neurocognitive development. His father, Gordon, is a drug user who gets sent to prison when Colt is still a toddler. Then When Colt is 4, his mom remarries to a man named William Kohler, who, according to Pam herself, had a criminal and a heroin addiction. So not great stuff happening in that trailer in the forest. So all of that would be hard enough to deal with. But then Pam is said to be verbally, physically and emotionally abusive all throughout Colt's childhood. According to his aunt Sandra, who is Pam's sister, when Pam drinks, she gets belligerent and violent and is known to break her son's toys as a punishment to him. Poor baby. So not great stuff.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Their neighbors hear Pam screaming at Colt all hours of the day and night. She's also a neglectful parent. Colt as a child, often asked the adults in his life, like teachers and his friends, parents if he could have food. And court records indicate that Pam basically did not make sure that Colt went to school. So he missed a ton of school. All this has a negative effect on him growing up. When he does go to school, he bullies other students. He defies his teachers. A psychological evaluation years later states that Colton has a long term history of psychiatric and behavioral difficulties. He's also been prescribed a wide range of psychiatric medications, including antidepressants, stimulant medications, mood stabilizers, and even antipsychotic medication. And he was also, at different points, diagnosed with depression, attention deficit disorder, and intermittent explosive disorder. Wow. So when CPS gets called in, which they did, they were multiple times throughout Colt's childhood. The caseworkers would recommend that Pam seek counseling for her son. She would decline. When he's 10 years old, he's removed from the home for three days. But they CPS has to close the investigation due to lack of cooperation from Pam.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

What?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah. Yeah, that seems. Yeah, against like. Yeah, we get that she's not cooperating. That's why CPS got called in the first place.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Right. Like lack of cooperation by the abuser isn't a reason to cancel the case.

[Karen Kilgariff]

So that second husband William dies when Colt is 11. And then Pam soon enters another relationship with a man who moves into the house who Pam would later describe as not playing with a full deck. He was an alcoholic and. And ultimately Pam ends the relationship. At some point, Colt's biological father Gordon returns to the home after he's released from prison. And in May 2003, when Colt is 12, he calls 91 1-1casting Gordon pushed him to the ground and grabbed him by the throat. And when police arrive, Gordon flees to the woods nearby. But the police end up arresting him and taking him to jail. And after that Gordon cuts off contact with Pam and Colt and he moves to Las Vegas. And Pam basically blames Col for that happening. So by the time Colt is 15 years old, CPS has responded to 12 separate incidents at the Moore home. So really rough childhood.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Later that same year In November of 2003, 12 year old Colt is accused of breaking into a business in the city of Stanwood and then breaking into Stanwood Middle School, stealing a laptop and CDs and defacing a bulletin board which. Sorry, I just, it just sounds funny, you know, he wrote you on like some kind of a bulletin board in a way that they couldn't get off.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Pretty sure I, I did something like that as a kid too, you know.

[Karen Kilgariff]

You know, if you can't stay home and everything really sucks there, people are really shitty there.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Right.

[Karen Kilgariff]

You're gonna go some stuff up as a kid is a way of saying, will someone please step in?

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Totally. Totally.

[Karen Kilgariff]

So. So he pleads guilty to possession of stolen property. He's sentenced to six months supervision and 56 hours of community service. A social workers report notes Colton wants mom to stop drinking and smoking, get a job and have food in the house. Mom refuses. So that's a rough encapsulation of what life is like for a 12 year old colt. Jesus. In 2004. So it's a year later. Colts probation officer was writes Colton and his mother share a tumultuous relationship. Colton's mother reported to me that he is violent at home on a near daily basis. He recently broke the telephone in order to prevent her from calling the police. She then showed me a mark on her forearm of how he had bit her and went after her with a boat oar.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

My God.

[Karen Kilgariff]

His mother reported how Colton is now medicated and complying with taking his medications, and his behavior has not been hostile toward her. He's 13 years old, so basically he's giving what he's gotten and then he's in trouble for it.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Right. He's reacting.

[Karen Kilgariff]

In December 2005, a police report is made alleging that 14 year old colt assaulted his mother. In the summer of 2006, Colt's due to appear in court at Denny Juvenile justice center in Everett. But he's so scared of going back into detention that he runs away. The day before his hearing, he starts breaking into homes on Camano island and watching Internet porn on the resident's home computer.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Yeah, that sounds great.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Honestly, he's like, I'm not gonna get in trouble for this.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

All right?

[Knix Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

He breaks into unoccupied vacation homes through skylights and then squats in the homes for several days before moving on and taking food and portable electronic devices with him. When he's not not vacation home squatting, he camps out in the woods. And by this point, he's dropped out of school. He's only in the ninth grade.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Oh, my God. He's a child still.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah, he's a baby. In January 2007, after six local burglaries, the island county sheriff's office puts up wanted posters with Colt's picture and his information. Basically, there's 15,000 people on this island. And that's. That's usually when the vacation people are there. Yeah, there's 5,000 households. So it's a tiny place. Like, you know, everyone knows that this.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Is Colt doing it right.

[Karen Kilgariff]

So stories about his exploits start appearing in the media, and with within a matter of weeks, a local resident notices that there are lights on inside what should have been an empty vacation home. The police are alerted, and when they arrive, they tell Colt that the house is surrounded, even though it's actually not. They had just set up flashlights to make it look like there was cops all around the house.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Oh, my God.

[Karen Kilgariff]

But there weren't. So Colt falls for it, and he comes out and gives himself up in court, he pleads guilty to three of the 23 felony charges against him. His aunt Sandra writes to the court in support of her nephew, saying, quote, I love that boy like one of my own kids. I Think he got mixed in with the wrong crowd and he got himself in too far. Colt is sentenced to three years confinement and ordered to stay in a group home in Renton, Washington. So on April 22, 2008, 17 year old Colt like basically breaks out of this group home, he sneaks out a window and he goes on the run. And soon South Kameno island residents are reporting break ins to the police. So a couple months later, he allegedly steals his neighbor's Mercedes and crashes it into a propane tank behind a cafe. Sorry, this is, what's the, can you think of the word for it where it's like, like when you're doing bad but it doesn't hurt anybody. They have that word for it. It's like reckless.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Yeah. Like there's no direct victim, but it's like exploits.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It's hijinks. Which do you.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Shenanigans.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Yeah, but no, but yes.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Official police shenanigans. There's a term for it that's essentially like you're behaving badly and Right.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

There's no like knock it off.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I just think it's funny to be like, I'm just gonna. There's all these rich people everywhere. I'm just gonna steal their shit and fuck it up and like just do what I want because fuck everything. He flees the scene, but he leaves behind his backpack containing his journal, stolen credit cards, a gps, his cell phone and a digital camera that he used to take selfies with. Dude, they kind of know it's him. So a couple months later he steals money from an. But they, they still haven't caught him. They just know they find his stuff there. Basically. In September of the same year, he steals money from an ATM on Orcas island and in the process cuts himself and leaves blood on the machine. So they're able to take DNA basically to later compare it with other crimes. Because he is breaking the law. It isn't hijinks or shenanigans. On November 12th of the same year, he breaks into a locked airplane hangar on Orcas island and he steals a Cessna 182 airplane worth about $150,000. He has never had a flying lesson. He doesn't even have his driver's license. And the plane belongs to Seattle radio personality Bob Rivers at 102.5 kazok. So he somehow figures out a way to fly it over the Cascade mountain range.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

What you.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yes. He's through a whiteout at 13,000ft and all these wind gusts. It was not ideal.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Okay, how do you Even get a plane off of the fucking Runway.

[Karen Kilgariff]

They think that he taught himself how to fly using simulation software on laptops and studying plane manuals for hours.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

For hours.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

So what usually takes people fucking months and months? Probably, yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I bet you this kid was very smart, right?

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

It's one of those annoying things where it's like, if you had had a shot in life, life, you would have, yes, made something of yourself.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Right. Or been a way better burglar. But either way, once I got to this part, I was just like a 17 year old steals a Cessna and is able to fly it somewhere.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Oh, my God.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Like, what 17 year old do you know that could, like, steal a car and drive it down the street, much less an airplane he's never flown before, okay? So he ends up crashing the plane 300 miles away on the Yakima Indian Reservation. When police get to the scene where the plane crashes, they don't find Colt. But there is vomit inside the plane. And they take a sample, compare it to the DNA, and now they know that the ATM crime and this airplane stealing is Colt.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Okay, this police department is too well funded if they're doing DNA tests on what is clearly 17 year old. Like, it's clearly him. You don't need a DNA.

[Karen Kilgariff]

But now. But they get that proof. They've got that locked in proof. But here's what I love more than that. He stole the plane, he's flying the plane, and then he gets. He gets like basically so nervous he barfs while he's flying in, like bad weather.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

I mean, he just had actual seasickness. What's the problem there?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Motion sickness.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Thank you.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah, could. I mean, if it was bad weather.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Turbulence would have. Could have made him throw up. It's. This is pretty amazing. So the investigators look into more unsolved cases of burglaries and associated offenses that Colt could have been responsible for. And There are over 70 cases throughout the Pacific Northwest. And that includes Washington State, Idaho, Oregon, and several locations in Canada. It's basically residential and commercial burglaries, bank burglaries, vehicle thefts, boat theft, aircraft theft, and assault of police officers. Colt is alleged to have stolen or destroyed around $3 million worth of property.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Wow.

[Knix Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

But rich people have insurance, so I don't feel bad.

[Karen Kilgariff]

That's right. There was probably a couple of like, the whatever boats he stole that the people were like, oh, thank God.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Yeah, I had my laptop on there. And like, then they get an extra thousand bucks or whatever.

[Karen Kilgariff]

My Krugerrands.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Right.

[Karen Kilgariff]

They're also Missing there. So finally, on March 12, 2009, a felony warrant is issued for his arrest. So now it's. It's. Now it's big time. But before that, they can exercise that warrant, they have to find him first. On September 11, 2009, Colt steals a Cirrus SR22 plane worth about a half a million dollars from a town called Friday harbor, also in Washington State.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Oh, my God.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And he crash lands the plane back on Orcas Island. So he's kind of doing it all around in the same area.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

My God, he's. You know, I'm just picturing Bart Simpson this entire fucking time.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yes. Yes, completely. He does. He's just like, how else can I show that I don't give a fuck, right?

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Like, right.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah. I'm just gonna do what I want. Okay. So after the crash, Colt is seen walking away from the wreckage by a police officer. But for some inexplicable reason, the cop fails to detain Colts.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

He, like, fist pump as he walks away.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah, he's kind of like, you walked away from that amazing hero.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

You're my hero.

[Karen Kilgariff]

The same month, Colt makes his way to Canada in a stolen boat, subsequently making his way back to the US Through British Columbia. And so obviously undetected. Like, how did he do that? Yeah. A couple weeks later, on September 29, Colt steals a Cessna T182T from a hangar in Bonner's Ferry, Idaho, and he leaves bare footprints on the ground. He takes off in the plane in Idaho, and he again flies back over the Cascades. But he crash lands 60 miles away near Snohomish, Washington, because he runs out of fuel while he's flying. On October 1, 2009, a logger near Granite Falls finds that plane wreck. The police trace bare footprints from the crash site to a camp in the woods, but there's no sign of Colt. The next day, a second local felony arrest warrant is issued for Colts, and he's charged with forced entry, burglary in the second degree. A few days later, SWAT officers searching the area for Colt are fired at by an unknown assailant.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Okay, that's bad.

[Karen Kilgariff]

So now Colt, this is going on and building to such a degree that now in the media, Colt is being called the Barefoot Band.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Okay. I can't imagine, like, being from one of these small towns and, like, knowing that this person is.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah, he's just gonna. He'll. He's gonna steal your shit and he's gonna do what he wants with it.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Kind of exciting for, like, if Hannah is Young and reading about this being.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Like, oh, my God, so exciting. She said they tracked it like they paid attention to it and would watch it on the news. And what? It's. It's crazy. Even though he usually wears shoes, the moniker sticks. So the. The barefoot thing only happened a couple times. When Colt's mother, Pam, hears about the latest theft, she says, I'm proud of him. I was going to send him to flight school, but I guess I don't have to. But next time, I want him to wear a parachute. Colt's popularity as a pseudo modern folk hero gains support when a member of the public starts a Facebook page for him. Of course, because, remember, it's 2009. The page eventually gets more than 100,000 followers, and it has posts that say things like, let's hope that he remains healthy, free, and at large for a long time. Fly, Colton, fly. That sounds like Pam to me. It gets so popular, they actually start making T shirts, tote bags, and mugs. And they have Colt's picture on them with the caption, mama tried, but Camano island locals who've had their belongings stolen or damaged are not amused. They actually end up launching their own counter blog in an attempt to raise money so they can hire a bounty hunter to track Colt down.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Man, he's giving them life. Like, he's these. He's making these people who just sit at home watching fucking Everybody Loves Raymond every night. He's, like, making their lives exciting. You're welcome.

[Karen Kilgariff]

That's right. You know, now it's becoming international news. Reporters from all over the globe travel to Kimeno island to report on the search for the Barefoot Bandit. And they all want to talk to his mother, Pam. Pam publicly encourages Colt to escape to a country that doesn't extradite to the US So the entire time Colt's on the run, he calls his Aunt Sandra once a month to let her know he's okay.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Aunts, aunties, Aunties.

[Karen Kilgariff]

What's up?

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

You can always count on us not to turn you in.

[Karen Kilgariff]

We would never. I'll never turn Nora in for any crime. Shame.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

The aunties don't snitch. That's their new saying.

[Karen Kilgariff]

You can stay at our house.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

House, yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Sandra pleads with her nephew to please turn himself in, but just to him, privately.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Yeah, right.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Just to him. But he tells her every time that he's not ready to stop just yet.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Okay.

[Karen Kilgariff]

On December 11, 2009, the U.S. district Court in Seattle issues a federal warrant for Colt's arrest because of the aircraft theft from Idaho. In September. So it's. Everything's kind of stacking up by February 2010, ten 18 year old Colt has been eluding police for nearly two years at this point.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Wow.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I mean, two years on the run.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

It's like a reality show. Colton on the run, you know? Yep.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Whatever.

[Karen Kilgariff]

He allegedly steals a plane from a town called Anacortes and he flies it over to Orcas island, somehow escaping the attention of Vancouver Air Traffic Control. He's like going out and stealing stuff and bringing it back to Orcas Island.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Now everyone is on the hunt for Colt. U.S. customs and Border Patrol, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the FBI, the US Coast Guard. Officers from six different Washington counties with tracker dogs, SWAT teams, and police helicopters with infrared heat sensors. And yet they cannot find him.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Damn.

[Karen Kilgariff]

So soon after this, Colt breaks into an Orca's island deli and eats an entire cheesecake.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

What? Wait, was it called the cheese box?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Oh, if only.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Oh, he eats an entire ch.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

What a weird detail.

[Karen Kilgariff]

He's truly living. He also vandalizes this security system and causes $6,500 worth of damage. He then draws 39 bare feet on the floor with chalk with Prince leading out the door, and then the letter CYA SIA scrawled next to the footprints.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Oh, my, that's. That's a little intense. 39 footprints.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah. He spends months hiding out on Orcas Island. He commits more than 20 break ins and burglaries, allegedly. While he's there. Police release surveillance camera photos from Island Market in the hope that somebody will recognize him. And word spreads that Colt is hiding out somewhere in the woods. So on May 31, 2010, Colt leaves. You're gonna like this one. He leaves $100 at Vetters Animal Hospital in Raymond, Washington, with a note that says, drove by, had some extra cash. Please use this money for the care of animals. Signed Colton Harris Moore, AKA the Barefoot Bandit.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Okay, well, now we just love him.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Now we love him. He's a modern day Robin Hood. Catching.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

On June 1, 2010, he steals a $450,000 fishing boat from Ilwoco, not far from Raymond, to cross the Columbia River. And that boat ends up being recovered in Warrenton, Oregon. From there, Colt steals a series of cars and heads east across Oregon and Idaho. Eleven days later, on June 12, authorities in Spearfish, South Dakota, find an abandoned vehicle with Washington police. Then, on the night of June 18, Colt Pries open the doors at the airport in Norfolk, Nebraska. He uses a broom handle to try to force open a cockpit window, hoping to unlock the plane, but it doesn't work. So instead he steals an Escalade from the airport and he drives it to Iowa and dumps it when he gets there. He then steals another car, drives that to the airport in Ottumwa, Iowa, where he again tries to, to break into a plane. But again, the barefoot bandit fails. So he steals yet another car and he drives to Dallas City, Illinois. But from there, the authorities lose track of him. And then in late June of 2010, another, another arrest warrant is issued for him, this time from Madison County, Nebraska with counts of break ins, vehicle theft, and an attempted airplane theft. So basically, as he's going through and breaking, you know, doing all his little crimes and his break ins and things just behind him, the warrants are piling up.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

State by State. On July 3, 2010 in Bloomington, Indiana, Colt steals a four seater Cessna 400 airplane worth $650,000, Monroe County Airport. During this flight, he takes videos of his journey from inside the cop.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Oh my God. Was he live streaming?

[Karen Kilgariff]

I don't know, 2010 might have been too early for that. But he does have him on his phone. This time. He flies himself to the Bahamas and then he crashes the plane in shallow waters off the coast of Great Abaco Island.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

All right, now we're talking.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Finally, he's going somewhere exciting.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Soon after that, break ins are reported all across the island. So the FBI now is involved and they're offering a $10,000 re for information leading to the arrest of Colton Harris Moore. Special agent Stephen Dean says, quote, we want to get him. He's turned from a regional nuisance into an international problem, end quote. So US law enforcement traveled to the Bahamas where they launch a full scale search and put up wanted posters. There's CCTV footage that captures brief images of Colt visiting bars and restaurants in the area.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

So he's on vacation, living his life.

[Karen Kilgariff]

He's on bank, he's, he's on bandit vacation.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Oh, my God.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Pam hires an entertainment lawyer named Yagal Lewis to field inquiries from parties, offering to buy the rights to Colt's story for book and movie deals. But she's not interested in speaking to reporters. She puts up a sign at the end of the road, like her driveway to the trailer that says, if you go past this sign, you'll be shot. But Pam has changed her attitude about her son being on the run. Now she says that she wants him to turn himself in before anyone gets hurt. By this point, Colt's image has been broadcast throughout the Bahamas, so people there actually know who he is. And what's going on? Because again, he's gone to a small island community and gotten away with it.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Got in public.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah. On July 7, 2010, Bahamian ferryboat captain Freddie Griffith sees somebody matching Colt's description swimming on the northern end of Eleuthera Island. So Freddy's noticed also that the ignitions to a bunch of the ferries have been messed with and damaged. And he can put two and two together.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

So three days later, on July 11th, around three in the morning, Kenny Strahan, the security director of Remora Bay Marina and on harbor island, sees somebody running away from, from the boat docks toward the marina's exit. And he's sure that it's Colt. So he pursues this person on foot. And when he catches up to him, he realizes it really is the Barefoot Bandit himself. And he realizes the Barefoot Bandit now has a gun. So Kenny backs off, he calls the Bahamian police. And meanwhile, Colt runs back toward the docks, climbs into a boat that had the keys left in the ignition, and takes off. All right. When police arrive, they also commandeer a boat and they take off after him. They fire at the boat's engines that Colt is driving. Some of them actually have Uzis. So this becomes like a real pursuit. They basically force Colt to surrender. As the police scream at Colt to put his gun down, he puts it to his head, threatening to kill himself because he says he cannot go back to jail. The police move closer. Colt then throws his gun and his laptop overboard. And basically the wild ride is finally over for the barefoot bandit. When 19 year old Colton Harris Moore is arrested, he's photographed walking barefoot with his ankles shackled. Authorities fly him to Nassau for processing. Colt is not showing any signs of fear or distress at this point, and. And they actually go back and find both his gun and his laptop. His backpack is seized upon arrest. And inside the police find a Boy Scouts of America certificate, two fifth grade class photos, some airplane sketches, and a Waffler ppk, which is the same gun that James Bond uses. So this is a little boy.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Right.

[Karen Kilgariff]

On July 13, 2010, Colt pleads guilty to entering the Bahamas illegally. So you can't just fly to the Bahamas.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Wow.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Fly there, crash, and then go swimming the way he did.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Didn't know that.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Now we know.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

It's good to know everyone.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Now we know.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

He's sentenced to three months in jail or a $300 fine. Pam wires him the money and pays the fine. Colt's deported by the U.S. attorney's office and flown back to Miami. Where he is taken to federal jail. Following Colt's arrest, Pam issues a statement saying she's relieved her son is safe and that no one's hurt. She also says she's looking forward to seeing him soon. Having not seen him two years. Colt's followers on social media get behind his defense, and they donate money for his legal costs. Pam joins the plea for assistance, saying, quote, now there's not a break in or a theft in the entire Northwest that the media or law enforcement doesn't rush to pin on Colt. We have no way of knowing what charges will be filed against him. The media has already convicted him as the Barefoot Bandit and created widespread accusations and perception of guilt. Eventually, though, Colt will have to fight for his freedom against the full force of the legal system. End quote.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Doesn't sound like our Pam. That sounds like through a lawyer.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Well, that also sounds like the most insane rationalization of a public series of crimes that this person very gleefully committed. It's like, you don't get to go back now and be like, can you believe they're pinning all these crimes on him? It's like, yes, he did, like, 50 crimes in a row. So, yes, I do believe it. Pam is pulling what we call my family being a day late and a dollar short. So on July 21, 2010, Colts transferred to the federal detention center in Seattle, and he appears in court the next day, where he waives his right to a preliminary hearing and a speedy trial. So on November 18, he pleads not guilty in federal court to charges of interstate transportation of a stolen plane. So specific. Yeah, a plane, boat, and gun stolen of being a fugitive, in possession of a firearm and flying without a pilot's license. And that same month, 48 Hours did an episode about Colt's exploits. So you can watch that in streaming services everywhere. Both Pam and her sister Sondra write letters to the court in an attempt to explain what has led to Colt's antisocial behavior. Year. Here's what Pam writes. Quote, this boy has had many disappointments all his life. His stepfather died and our dog. And this has had severe effects on Colt and I. He does things without thinking of the end results, end quote. Court proceedings continue throughout 2011. In March, the FBI confirms that the reward money is split among the officers who arrested Colt, as well as as Kenny strahan. And on June 17, 2011, Colt pleads guilty to all seven counts on the federal indictment. Under his plea deal, he agrees to forfeit any profits from selling publishing rights to his story. In August 2011, 20th Century Fox pays more than a million dollars in exchange for the rights to Colt's story. The studio sends the money directly to the U.S. marshals to distribute it amongst amongst Colts victims.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Interesting.

[Karen Kilgariff]

That September, a psychological evaluation finds that Colt's delinquent behavior is driven by depression, PTSD and you know, basically suicidal tendencies.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Right.

[Karen Kilgariff]

He was risking his life every time he flew one of those planes that he didn't know how to fly. Crazy.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

The psychologist notes that Colt has a low risk of reoffending favorable prognosis with appropriate intervention. On December 16, 2011, Colt is sentenced by the State of Washington to seven years in jail, plus three years of supervised probation. Judge Vicki Churchill says, quote, this case is a tragedy in many ways, but it's a triumph of the human spirit in other ways. The judge notes that Colt has genuine remorse for his crimes. As a high profile convict, Colt's initially placed in solitary confinement for his own protection, which must be horrifying. On January 27, 2012, the Federal District Court of Seattle sentences Colt to six and a half years in prison. He'll serve both state and federal sentences concurrently. And it's determined that he owes his victims $1.3 million in restitution. Two months after Colt goes to prison, author Bob Friel publishes a book called the Barefoot Bandit, the True Tale of Colton Harris Moore, New American Outlaw. In 2010, two documentaries are released about his experiences. In May 2016, his mom, Pam Kohler, dies of lung cancer. In 2016, Colt pleads to get out of prison early to work at his lawyer's law firm during the summer. According to Colt's attorney, the two had agreed years before the Colt could work part time at his law firm doing clerical work. At the same time, Colt would be looking for a full time job and eventually go to college.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Wow.

[Karen Kilgariff]

His attorney says Colt's criminality grew out of poverty, not a desire to harm people or cause trouble. In September 2016, Colts transferred from Stafford Creek Corrections center in Aberdeen to a work release facility in Seattle. He starts working for his lawyer, but he hopes one day to study aeronautical engineering.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

In December 2016, 25 year old Colt is released from his work release program. Remains under supervision. He starts a GoFundMe to raise $125,000 for private and commercial pilot license training and helicopter certification. But the federal probation office shuts that down and he's saying that the $1,600 that was raised so far goes directly to his victims. Colt responds publicly on Twitter saying that his stream is crushed. And his lawyer states that Colt didn't consult with him before starting the GoFundMe. So in April 2019, Colt asks the court for a supervised release period to be shortened. He wants to be allowed to visit friends overseas and accept work outside of Washington state to attend engagements as a motivational speaker. Colt claims the work will help him pay off the restitution he still owes his victims, telling the court, quote, I've learned from my past past. I do not run from it, but instead try to embrace it for the better. I hope to serve as a model for people who have hard lives and who feel hopeless. I saw it every day when I was confined, and I've seen it in the world upon release, end quote. In May 2019, his request was denied, and he was ordered to complete his probation. Not much is known about him today, although on his LinkedIn profile, he described. Describes himself as, quote, former international fugitive turned entrepreneur focused on education, progress, and success. Life is what you make it. My intention is to build connections with people who are both clearly motivated and with whom may lead to a mutually beneficial outcome along the lines of problem solving, productivity, and accomplishing goals. This is what it's all about.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Yeah. Can we get a TED Talk, please?

[Karen Kilgariff]

I mean, that. And that's the unbelievable story of the Barefoot Bandit, Colton Harris Moore. Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Holy shit.

[Karen Kilgariff]

He went on what we call in the business a spree. He really did it.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Wow. I have literally never heard a single piece of that before.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Same. And it was, like, happening, like, by. At that point, like it was happening on social media. That's the craziest part. It's like that model learn.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

And I'd never, ever seen a thing.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Yeah. Wow.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Good job.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Thank you. Good job, Colton.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Yeah. I mean, listen, you know, breaking the law isn't. Isn't the way. But sometimes, you know, sometimes you're 17 and you're depressed and like.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Like stealing airplanes and flying them when you don't know how to do.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Is kind of the way the Bandit part. Yeah, he's like a. Yeah, he's like a.

[Karen Kilgariff]

He's just kind of doing it.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Yeah. I don't know.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah, it's just like he's doing something, at least.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

It's like, impressive. You don't want to, like, you don't want to support it.

[Karen Kilgariff]

You don't want to celebrate it.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Yeah. But it's also like, wow, you know, he didn't hurt.

[Karen Kilgariff]

He didn't hurt anybody.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

He didn't hurt anybody.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I mean, he physically killed people. He could have killed people. Crashing those planes.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Absolutely.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Could have killed people and he had guns on him, which is not great.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It isn't great. But then the second he got called on and he threw it in the ocean.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Yeah, that's true.

[Karen Kilgariff]

So.

[Knix Advertiser]

Wow.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

I don't know.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah, I don't know.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

Wow, that was.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

That was a really fun story.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Thank you for staying sexy and don't get murdered. Goodbye.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Goodbye, Elvis. Do you want a cookie?

[Karen Kilgariff]

This has been an Exactly Right production.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Our senior producers are Alejandra Keck and Molly Smith.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Our editor is Aristotle Acevedo.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

This episode was mixed by Liana Squillace.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Our researchers are Maren McGlashan and Ali Elkin.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Email your hometowns to my favorite murdermail.com.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Follow the show on Instagram.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Instagram at my favorite murder.

[Georgia Hardstark (co-host)]

Listen to my favorite murder on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And now you can watch us on.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Exactly right's YouTube page.

[Karen Kilgariff]

While you're there, please like and subscribe. Goodbye.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

This is Alec Murdoch. I need police and an ambulance immediately.

[Murdoch Podcast Narrator]

Murdoch Death in the Family Official Podcast Podcast is here. I'm joining Patricia Arquette, Jason Clark and the cast to uncover all things Murdoch family first.

[Karen Kilgariff (narration/character voices)]

To unravel the story piece by piece.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Was really surprising because you don't want to believe it.

[Murdoch Podcast Narrator]

Murdoch Death in the Family Official podcast Wednesdays and stream Murdoch Death in the Family on Hulu and Hulu on Disney for bundle subscribers. Terms apply.

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[Karen Kilgariff]

Ah, come on.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Why is this taking so long? This thing is ancient.

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[Karen Kilgariff]

Whoa.

[Georgia Hardstark]

This thing moves.

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[Karen Kilgariff]

Com.

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