531 - We’re Here at the House Party

Summary

My Favorite Murder | Episode 531 - “We’re Here at the House Party”

Hosts: Karen Kilgariff & Georgia Hardstark
Release Date: May 7, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this rich and lively episode of My Favorite Murder, Karen and Georgia bring their signature humor and heartfelt storytelling to two engaging true crime stories: the trailblazing life of WWII pilot Hazel Ying Lee and the infamous Dunbar Armored Depot heist. Along the way, they celebrate resilience, friendship, and history, peppering the show with personal anecdotes, pop culture tangents, and sharp commentary.

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Opening Banter, TikTok Joy, and Feel-Good Stories

[02:21-08:09]

• The episode opens with playful energy as the hosts talk about “breaking news” being replaced by podcasts and streaming video.
• Karen shares a viral TikTok story about Jordan Lucas, a flamboyant and talented volleyball player at Cal State Northridge who “slays” after every point.
  • Quote: “He’s spiking the ball...then basically doing a little RuPaul’s Drag Race move to be like, slay mama.” – Karen [05:09]
• They discuss how Lucas’ personality initially drew criticism from a game commentator, but that led to rapper Armani White (whose song “Billie Eilish” is featured in the viral video) attending his game in support.
• The duo reflects on how times have changed regarding gender expression and public support for individuality.
  • Quote: “It’s the old days growing up, going to high school in the 80s, where not only would you be popped for expressing yourself...but someone would suggest that would mean that would happen.” – Karen [06:43]
• Georgia transitions to a cold case update: the Martin Family, missing since 1958, were found in the Columbia River—an accident, not foul play, finally closing a haunting story. [08:09]

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Segment: Podcast Network Updates & Light-Hearted Musings

[11:00-13:00]

• Karen and Georgia promote new and sister podcasts in the Exactly Right network.
• Notable plugs include stories about later-in-life romances, ghost encounters at the Stanley Hotel, and discussion of cults and infamous disasters.

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Main Story #1: Trailblazer Hazel Ying Lee – The First Chinese American Woman Military Pilot

[15:56-33:52]
Presented by Karen

Background

• Karen honors Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month by telling Hazel’s story.
• Outlines a context of anti-Chinese sentiment and the exclusion laws impacting immigrants (late 19th-early 20th century).

Early Life and Ambition

• Hazel Ying Lee was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1912 to Chinese immigrant parents and was one of 8 children.
• Described as “a bubbly optimist with a mischievous streak and a taste for fried chicken.” [18:55]
• Inspired by air shows and Amelia Earhart, she decides to fly—despite limited options for Asian American women in the 1930s.

Breaking Barriers

• Works as an elevator operator to pay for flying lessons.
• At age 19, she becomes the first Chinese American woman to receive a pilot’s license.
  • Memorable moment: “Couldn’t look cooler...she’s leaning on the wing of a biplane...with a self-rolled cigarette.” – Georgia [22:54]

Service, Sacrifice, and Racism

• Travels to China to volunteer as a pilot; is denied due to her gender.
• During WWII, joins the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), among 1800+ women accepted (from 25,000 applicants).
• Faces sexism, grueling training (“115-degree heat”), and frequent life-threatening assignments, including ferrying damaged aircraft and towing live-fire targets.
  • Quote: “They have to be their own GPS.” – Georgia [28:23]
• Despite major contributions, WASPs are treated as civilians, denied military honors and benefits at the time.

Tragic End and Delayed Recognition

• In 1944, dies at 32 after a midair collision while delivering a plane; her brother dies the same week in France.
• Is denied a military burial due to race, but her family ultimately prevails.
• In 1977, WASPs are declared veterans; in 2009, Obama awards them the Congressional Gold Medal.
  • Quote (Obama, 2009): “The Women Air Force service pilots courageously answered their country’s call in a time of need while blazing a trail for the brave women who have given and continue to give so much service to this nation.” – [32:26]

Legacy

• Opera “Fearless” by Derek Wang debuts in her honor (2025).
• Family and fellow WASPs remember her optimism and leadership.
  • Quote: “She would have been such a cool grandma. Grandma, what did you do during the war? I flew. I smoked fucking rollies. I wore great outfits and I fucking flew planes. Oh, and I was scared of nothing.” – Georgia [33:19, 33:29]

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Main Story #2: The Dunbar Armored Depot Heist – LA’s Biggest Cash Robbery

[37:00-66:22]
Presented by Georgia

Heist Background

• LA was once “the bank robbery capital of the world.”
• September 12, 1997: At the Dunbar Armored Depot in downtown LA, 5 men break in and steal the largest cash haul in US history at that time—$18.9 million.

The Plot & Plan

• Ringleader: Allen Pace, a 27-year-old security specialist at the depot (no criminal record), who’s recently fired.
• Recruits lifelong friends and relatives, all with clean records and security experience.
  • “He starts taking Polaroids around the facility of every room and every camera. But he’s a security guard, so it doesn’t seem weird.” – Georgia [43:54]
  • The plan involves rehearsals, using inside knowledge, and detailed choreography to avoid security cameras (“up-against-the-wall...super burglar style”). [43:59-44:59]
• Night of the heist: They attend a house party (alibi), then execute the hit just past midnight.
• They subdue staff, load the money into a U-Haul, and return to the party to solidify their alibi.

Heist Execution & Aftermath

• The team nearly pulls off a perfect crime: removing security tapes, stealing an enormous amount of cash, and cleverly laundering the money.
  • Quote: “We are not letting this [U-Haul of cash] out of my sight.” – Georgia [53:38]
• Rookie mistakes include a broken taillight (U-Haul), leaving cash with branded “Dunbar” bands, and one member using his real name in rental records.
• Despite careful money laundering (real estate, a fake party business called Extreme Entertainment), Eugene Hill’s blunder (leaving a Dunbar strap) unravels the group.
  • Quote: “He leaves the branded money strip on the hundred thousand dollars cash that says Dunbar...The cash is examined by the authorities, and they find that those Dunbar branded straps that’s still on it have been stamped with the date they were counted.” – Georgia [61:56-62:32]

Capture & Consequences

• After two years and FBI investigation, the crew is undone by their own mistakes and one member turning state’s evidence to protect his family.
• Only $7M of the nearly $19M stolen is recovered; most of the money vanishes into gambling, failed laundering, or investments.
• Allen Pace, the mastermind, is sentenced to 24 years; others receive about 12 years.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On the WASPs:
  • “Hazel Ying Lee was destined for greatness. It was in her name because her Chinese name, Ying, means heroic.” – Karen [33:52]
• On the Heist’s Appeal:
  • “Four of the group, everyone except Allen’s brother-in-law, wind up testifying against Allen. Allen pleads not guilty and actually from what I can see to this day, he denies being involved at all, which is interesting.” – Georgia [65:02]
• Karen & Georgia’s Heist Roles:
  • “Would you be the getaway driver?” – Karen
    “Yeah, I’m Baby Driver, that’s my nickname. I’m a getaway driver influencer.” – Georgia [48:01-48:05]
• Reflection:
  • “These days people are just like, stick it to the man. Well, these were the good guys...working their asses off...Let’s take advantage of how dumb this fucking corporation is.” – Georgia [66:43]

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Closing & Takeaways

• Both stories underscore themes of resilience, ingenuity, and how institutions (from the military to private security) often fail to acknowledge heroism or address their own vulnerabilities.
• The hosts end with playful banter about college history degrees, puns (“CSUN-desist”), and a reminder for listeners to send in their own heist questions or stories.
  • “We appreciate you so much...If you have any heist questions, please write in to myfavoritemurdermail.com. And until then, stay sexy and don’t get murdered.” – Karen & Georgia [68:24-68:34]

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Key Timestamps

• 02:21: Podcast episode proper begins, playful banter and TikTok story
• 08:14: Update on the Martin Family cold case
• 15:56: Karen’s story: Hazel Ying Lee and the WASP pilots
• 37:00: Georgia’s story: Dunbar Armored Depot Heist
• 62:32: Investigation, recovery, and capture of the Dunbar heist crew
• 68:10: Pun banter (“CSUN-desist”), closing out the episode

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In the words of Karen and Georgia:
“Stay sexy and don’t get murdered!”

Transcript

[Karen Kilgariff]

This is exactly right.

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[Karen Kilgariff]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgariff]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgariff]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgariff]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgariff]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgariff]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

Goodbye,

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My favorite.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Hello and welcome to my favorite murder.

[Karen Kilgariff]

That's Georgia Hardstar, that's Karen Kiligariff and we're here to podcast for you on video Breaking news. We're podcasting breaking news everybody.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Podcasts are on video now. Some fucking reason.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And that's actually what breaking news is these days because there's no more local news in America, we refuse.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You alright?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah, I'm gonna be okay.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You just left for a second.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It's pretty crazy.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I know. I didn't look at anything today, so I'm feeling. I'm feeling like I forgot everything that's going wrong.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I know what's going right. Do you want me to tell you about it?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yes. You have something to show me?

[Karen Kilgariff]

So I spend, according to my phone, hours and hours on TikTok.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Don't ever look at that.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It's really shocking where I'm like, I don't even know I have this much free time. But my favorite thing that happened recently is a little kind of like a three part story.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Okay.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And it's gonna start out with, I'm gonna show you a TikTok. And we have to change the music, of course, because this is gonna go on Netflix. Yeah. But the real music is a song that you, you and I both love by the rapper Armani White. That's the Billie Eilish song.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I love that song. Do you see that video? When she brings him out on stage and sing it together and I start crying.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It's so cute. And the audience goes so crazy.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Billie Eilish, so much. Okay.

[Karen Kilgariff]

She's the best. She's the best deserves a song.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

So there's an incredible volleyball player at Cal State Northridge.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Okay.

[Karen Kilgariff]

The Matadors parents went for real. I'm pretty sure I did a nooner at Northridge one time with Greg Barent and somebody else. You have to go to the cafeteria and do stand up comedy at noon. Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Okay. That's where my parents went.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yes, yes. Csun.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So right now they met. Yeah. Okay.

[Karen Kilgariff]

So there's a. There's a very viral volleyball player who is amazing at volleyball, but he also does like full on slay, slay queen style gestures. Once he gets a point.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, my God. Okay.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And it is so great and people are loving it. So let me show it to you.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I've never seen it.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And we're gonna have the original music, but we'll put in other music.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Okay. Oh, he does the neck walkway. Oh. Oh my God. Okay. I love him the most. What's his name?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Right. Jordan Lucas.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Okay.

[Karen Kilgariff]

His older brother was a volleyball star as well. I think they said his dad was. So now I'm like an expert on him.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Well, let's tell people who aren't watching on Netflix. He's doing these like moves as soon as he hits.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Well, go to TikTok. He's all over TikTok. It's basically what Everyone is looking at, but he's spiking the ball. He's jumping what looks like five feet in the air. Spiking the ball, getting the point, and then basically doing a little RuPaul's Drag Race move to be like, slay mama.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. Like, walk away. Fucking head twist.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah. Kind of in your face. So this is starting to build in popularity on social media. And then CSUN has a game at Irvine.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, so it's where my parents went

[Karen Kilgariff]

versus where I'm from, where they raised you.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And at Irvine, one of the caller commentators says, I'm surprised nobody has popped Jordan Lucas yet. What he's doing on that court is distasteful. He isn't standing there screaming. Yeah, like that. He literally. He turns his head in a way that's like a gesture. So one of the most popular supercuts is to the Armani White song. I think it's called Billie Eilish. That's how I know it, bitch. I'm stylish. Basically, this story gets out that that's what this guy says. And at the next CSUN game, Armani White's in the stand watching Jordan Lucas play and cheering for every single point. And I watched it last night and I just had tears streaming down my face where I'm just like, this is it. This is where he went to the fucking game. He went to the next fucking game and was like, I'd seen all these videos and everyone was talking about this amazing volleyball player. So I wanted to see it for myself, and I did. And it's like, him and his friends in the stands cheering for Jordan Lucas.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You're about to start crying. First of all, I want everyone to

[Karen Kilgariff]

know that you're about to start crying because. Well, what I was gonna say is, like, it's the old days growing up, going to high school in the 80s, where not only would you be popped for expressing yourself in any way different than the standard norm, but that idea that someone would suggest that would mean that would happen.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Totally.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And it almost feels like Armani White understands all those things. And it's kind of like, here's the posse that's rolling up for Jordan Lucas.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Right?

[Karen Kilgariff]

And symbolically, tough guy, rapper, whatever, that's basically like, I'm here on his behalf.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. That's so touching.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It's beautiful.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Wow. Do you have more video to show me?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah. I mean, there is another one, and this one is cut to a Beyonce song. So it just like, oh, my God,

[Georgia Hardstark]

what if Beyonce's in the fucking audience next?

[Karen Kilgariff]

That one. He just tips it over.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yes. I love it. What are we.

[Karen Kilgariff]

That's him. That's Armani White right there.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, my God. Could we start podcasting like that so that, like, maybe they'll show up to. Exactly. Wright Studios.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Next time I give a good story, I'm gonna.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It's almost like when you're so good, you can't control the in your face, so you have to turn it around, and that's part of what you're doing.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I mean, it's called personality.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It's pretty fun.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I love it. That's a feel good story, right? Yeah. Good job. Speaking of breaking news and going in a completely different direction.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Oh, okay.

[Georgia Hardstark]

But also, you know, in a positive, if you could call it that way.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Okay.

[Georgia Hardstark]

True crime and positivity aren't always. But I covered the story when we were in Portland called the Martin Family, which is one of those stories I've always been obsessed with, where I'm pretty sure that, like, half of the missing people drove into a lake and their car's still in the lake. You know what I mean? So this family, the Martin family, disappeared. It was five of them. It was the husband and wife, Ken and Barbara, and their children. And they all went missing in December of 1958 while off getting boughs for Christmas decorations out in Oregon in the wilderness. They all disappeared. Was there foul play? No one really knew. But their car was finally found in the place where they had pretty much disappeared. So a diving expedition spearheaded by this diver, Archer Mayo, who has been finding cars and finding missing people at the bottom of lakes. He had also found the Martin family camera, and they were able to identify it as the car where some of the family was in. So it looks like it was just an accident all along, but 1958, that's crazy. Yeah. So two of the children had already been found. I think that they had floated out of the car and up the river, but the rest of the family was found in the car.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Wow.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So it does seem like it just was a horrible accident. They were found in the Columbia River.

[Karen Kilgariff]

So sad.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I know. But these stories that come out is like finally getting an end of a story. You know what I mean? I mean, it's just. Those are fascinating to me and so heartbreaking and tragic.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah. And good. Great news when finally there's some sort of resolution.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Do you have anything else? You haven't seen the Drama yet?

[Karen Kilgariff]

No.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You have to see it.

[Karen Kilgariff]

The Drama is a movie.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah, With Zendaya.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Oh, okay.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So it's just so good.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Okay.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And then we'll talk about it. Cause I need to talk about it. Like it's one of those movies that I need to talk to someone about it.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Oh, okay.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Like I had a little bit of a mental breakdown after watching it. Cause it was so like. It's just one of those things of like, what would you have done in that situation?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Oh, okay. Yeah, that's a good idea. I'll watch it this weekend and we'll make a video.

[Georgia Hardstark]

There you go.

[Karen Kilgariff]

How about that? Yeah, we'll do a rewatch, talk down video.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Okay, great.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Okay. We're making plans, we're making content.

[Georgia Hardstark]

When have we ever followed through with the plans that we make? How many books have we started in our book club?

[Karen Kilgariff]

How many? The last one when you're like, here, here's a book on burnout. And I'm like, I'm going to read it and get back to you.

[Georgia Hardstark]

What?

[Karen Kilgariff]

What am I talking about?

[Georgia Hardstark]

You left it in the hotel room.

[Karen Kilgariff]

You don't even own it. I have it. It's right by my bed.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, good.

[Karen Kilgariff]

But you know, I have to keep rewatching what we do in the shadows for some reason. That's. It's my serious problem. I began talking like Nandor around the house. This is crazy. It's such a good show. It's delightful.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Speaking of delightful, we have a podcast network. Should we do some updates?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Very true. Yes, we should.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Our podcast network's called Exactly Right Media.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And this week on Dear Movies I Love youe, our movie podcast, Millie and Casey revisit the post apocalyptic 90s. Ro saw it in the theater. Wow. That was the year I think I moved to la.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh my God.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Plus, Kara Klenk joins them to talk about her area of expertise later in life romances.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's not her expertise.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I wonder if she. Did she meet her husband later in life. Must be other people's.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Can I just say, she and I just recently polished up two bottles of. She's a fucking expert at that.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I'll tell you that right now. That's what she's great at.

[Georgia Hardstark]

She is. And then over on Ghosted, Roz is joined by Mark Smith Sebastian of the hit series Great American Gay side Quest.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Have you seen that?

[Georgia Hardstark]

No. It's so good.

[Karen Kilgariff]

So great. He's just like standing in front of stuff and he's like, well, I'm here. Like, it's hilarious.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Okay. I love it. And they have a spooky download. They get into his on camera ghost sighting at the Stanley Hotel and his haunted childhood home.

[Karen Kilgariff]

The Stanley Hotel thing happened. It's part of the Side Quest series.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Okay, Great American Gay side Quest. We're all gonna go watch it.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Also, please go listen to our newest podcast, Hollywood Land, the sister podcast of Disgraced Land from J. And this week he tells the story of the scariest one of all, Charlie Sheen. From tiger blood to machetes to career wrecking levels of success, this episode is

[Georgia Hardstark]

on Cocaine and then finally on Trust Me. You know her as Nomes from the Netflix docu series Trust Me. The False Prophet Noamzia Bisline joins Lola and Megan for a compelling two part interview. This is so good. And for the first time you can watch the full episode on YouTube. So go to YouTube.com exactlyrightmedia to find episodes of all your favorite exactly right shows. Except for my favorite Murder and Buried Bones. Because that's on Netflix.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Because we're right here on Netflix.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's right.

[Karen Kilgariff]

The sun is back in your life and suddenly you're thinking maybe I do want to sit outside.

[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgariff]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgariff]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgariff]

If you're in the market for a beautiful new sofa, dining table or bed, head over to article.com finding a gift on Mother's Day can be tough, but

[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgariff]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgariff]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgariff]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgariff]

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[Karen Kilgariff]

All right, you're first. I'm first.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Great.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Well, did you know that May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Okay.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It is every May. And because of that, I'm gonna tell you a story that begins in August of April 1912 in Portland, Oregon with the birth of a baby girl named Hazel. Her parents emigrated to the US From China. They met each other over here, they get married, they start a family, and baby Hazel is one of eight children. Okay. They do it Irish Catholic style. Wow. But of course, this is an era of rampant anti immigrant racism and the anti Chinese sentiment in the United States is looming very large to the point where it's actually codified in our laws with legislation like the Chinese Exclusion act of 1882, which specifically restricts immigration from China for 10 years. That law is renewed again in 1892 and it's made permanent in 1902. It is not repealed until the 1940s.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Hey, build all our infrastructure and risk your life to build a fucking railroad. And the infrastructure. But you're not allowed here.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It's as if you're psychically reading the next paragraph. Yes, because when I read that, I was like, that's so weird. It sounds like it's right around the same time that the Chinese built the railroad. And literally, I looked it up and the first transcontinental railroad crossing of America is finished May 10, 1869, when the Union Pacific side is connected with the Central Pacific Railroad. So basically, the Central Pacific Railroad side alone, from 1863 to 1869, its completion, their employees were over 90% workmen that were Chinese immigrants. They risked their lives daily handling explosives and mining and, like, blowing through rock, completing grueling labor for sometimes half the pay of their white counterparts.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Did you see that movie that came out recently? Was nominated for Things and it was really good.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Train Dreams.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Train Dreams. Thank you, Molly. Train Dreams. Did you see it? It was so, like, low profile. I barely had heard about it.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Was it about making.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It's about this guy who works on the railroads, and there are characters in it that represent the Chinese people who helped build it, who kind of were

[Karen Kilgariff]

the majority builders, at least on that one side.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah, it's a really beautiful movie that doesn't shy away from the horrors.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Okay, that'll be my double feature for the weekend.

[Georgia Hardstark]

There you go.

[Karen Kilgariff]

But the irony that then, 20 years later, they're passing laws that you can't come into this country at all. Insane. And a recurring theme of this country. So that's just a little context and setting the backdrop as we talk about little Hazel Ying Lee growing up in America. She will be remembered as a witty and daring young girl. And when she gets older, her peers will describe her as a, quote, bubbly optimist with a mischievous streak and a taste for fried chicken. Same, but Hazely.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Wow.

[Karen Kilgariff]

We've been doing this for a decade. But Hazel Ying Lee will become known for much more than any of that because she will make history as the first Chinese American woman to get her pilot's license and fly for the US Military.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Wow.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Today I'm telling you about the story of Hazel Ying Li. The sources used today are 2003 Associated Press article by Gillian Flacas, a 2025 piece Oregon experience documentary entitled Hazel Ying Lee and related to an Oregon Public Broadcasting article written by Emily Hamilton. And the rest. I'm not gonna tell you the titles of those because they give things away. But the rest are in our show notes. So it is now 1932, and in Hazel's hometown of Portland, Oregon. Aviation is actually a big deal. There's multiple airports around the city, like in and around the city, that regularly host air shows. It's actually aviation's so big, that Oregonian newspaper has a dedicated aviation editor.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Wow.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah. And it's basically the time of Amelia Earhart and, like, that discovery then kind of expanding out into who else could fly and all those things. So Hazel is 20 years old when she goes to an air show with her friends, and there she gets a chance to ride in an airplane for the very first time.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Can you imagine?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Right. And that's when she gets hooked.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Wow.

[Karen Kilgariff]

This is the year after Amelia Earhart and some of her constituents or cohort in an international organization for female pilots called the 99s. And it's 10 years after Bessie Coleman becomes the first black woman and the first native person to get a pilot's license. Those are episode 474 and episode 312, respectively. So being a lady pilot is not inconceivable for Hazel. But even with a tangible path to follow, there are serious barriers to entry. Of course, money being the biggest one, and Hazel being the daughter of hardworking immigrant parents with eight children, flying lessons are. Are way down at the bottom of anybody's must do list. Yeah, mommy, I want to fly.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's nice.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And then her sister's like, and I want polo lessons. Let's get this American dream going. And yet she still was able to finally do it, which is pretty amazing. I couldn't get my dad to drive us to the roller rink on Saturday. As him being a first generation American, that was impossible for him. There aren't many employment options at this time for Hazel either. Her sister Frances will later explain quote, either you'd be a stock girl, an elevator operator, or you might work in the theater's restroom in a costume. It was very difficult for an Asian person to find a job. So Hazel becomes an elevator operator at a downtown Portland department store, and she saves up her money to pay for private flying lessons.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Wow.

[Karen Kilgariff]

So she basically, that's what she uses all her money for. Around the same time Hazel's father passes away, her bereaved mother doesn't like the idea of her child flying in planes. But as Frances later says, quot there was nothing mother could do, she said to Hazel, you're not afraid of the wind. You're not afraid of the water. And that was that.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Wow.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Their mom kind of couldn't deny that Hazel was this daring. I kept thinking of Ramona Quimby because she's also from that area. But like that idea that this little girl that's just totally unafraid, a big adventurer, like wants to do that stuff and it's like, well, there's kind of nothing I can do about this. Yeah. So in late 1932, when she's just shy of 20 years old, Hazel finally gets her pilot's license. And she is the first Chinese American woman ever to earn one.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Wow.

[Karen Kilgariff]

A very cool picture of her.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh my God, what a cutie pie, right? Look at her, she looks so happy.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah. She's just like, check this out.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That is just like the coolest photo. The coolest.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It's so good. And listeners, she's leaning on the wing of a biplane.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

So it's the most old fashioned looking plane of all time. And then she's got this amazing, like the director's jodhpurs and a great flying

[Georgia Hardstark]

hat and the goggles on her head and a fucking selfie rolled cigarette.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It is self rolled cigarette in her left hand.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Couldn't look cooler.

[Karen Kilgariff]

She looks so happy. But there is political tension in the world and in China at this time. And Hazel cares about it deeply. So the year before she gets her license, before this all happens, Japan invades Manchuria, igniting the brutal Second Sino Japanese War. 20 million Chinese people die in this conflict over the next several years. And Hazel cannot sit, sit by and watch on the sidelines. Like many other Chinese American pilots, the vast majority of whom are male, Hazel travels to Canton, China and tries to volunteer with the Chinese Air force.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Wow.

[Karen Kilgariff]

But because she's a woman, she is repeatedly turned away. So she takes administrative jobs until she actually is forced to flee to Hong Kong as Japan escalates the brutal air campaign. And she basically is forced to return to America. But she still wants to find ways to serve. And that opportunity will come just a few years later when the Japanese attack Pearl harbor in December of 1941. So as the US enters World War II and the fighting intensifies overseas, there's an increasing shortage of military pilots, all of whom are men. And that's a serious problem because the war effort requires non combat pilots for transport. And you never think about stuff like this, how do they get supplies over there?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Totally.

[Karen Kilgariff]

There was a big thing of ferrying damaged aircraft for repairs. They had to get the aircraft out, fix it and then get it back.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And even just moving people, moving soldiers from place to place requires a non combat pilot, Right.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Or newly manufactured bombers. Like basically the planes get flown out by these people, right. And they use them for training, for maintenance all of it. So to deal with the pilot shortage, the military finally opens those roles to female civilian pilots. And when they do, 25,000 women apply.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Holy shit.

[Karen Kilgariff]

To join the volunteer program known as Women Air force service pilots, aka the WASPs. So even though thousands of women apply, only a little over 1800 women are accepted into this program.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Wow.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And what they have to do is they go for six months at a Texas airfield in the relentless heat of a Texas summer, Hazel and her peers are put through the same basic training that male pilots complete. On top of classes in navigating aviation mechanics, physics and meteorology, sometimes in upwards of 115 degree heat.

[Georgia Hardstark]

No.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah. Cause it's summertime in Texas. It's brutally challenging. And in the end, over 750 of the trainees drop out or are cut. Hazel Ying Li makes it through and becomes one of the few female fliers now authorized to fly the world's most powerful military aircraft. So she makes it in.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Jesus.

[Karen Kilgariff]

But when we talk about the wasps, what you say is that they fly with the military, not for the military. Because again, they're not technically enlisted. They're civilian volunteers. But other than that small detail, they're virtually indistinguishable from their military counterparts. They're subject to all the same rules. They have to wear the same uniforms. Literally. The WASP units had to use flight suits that were made for men. So most of them were ridiculously oversized. And the women referred to them as their zoot suits. So here's.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I got you a picture.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Maybe not the zoot suits. Well, that's Hazel when she became a WASP cutie. That's her portrait.

[Georgia Hardstark]

She actually has a pin that says WASP on it.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah, I love it. Then the other one is her. And so Those are their 40s military uniforms that they had to wear.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, my God, they're all so cute.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Look at their hair hanging out, waiting to fly. Just let us fly.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Can you imagine the time in their lives?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Okay, so Hazel becomes a beloved member of this group. She's known for her charm and her personality. A fellow pilot says she was, quote, in our room more than she was in hers. She would come bouncing in, laughing with the latest information or joke. She was always very jolly. Oh, my God, how fun when they have downtime. And so they have to travel, like around the United States flying these planes around. So she ends up taking her fellow pilots to local Chinese restaurants. And it's described years later by the Associated Press with Hazel wowing her peers by ordering in, quote, rapid fire Cantonese. So she goes in and just is like, we're gonna get this, this, and this. Oh, my God, it's gonna be amazing.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That sounds so cool.

[Karen Kilgariff]

But of course, these moments are few and far between because the WASPs are constantly on assignment, often FL seven days a week with no rest. And over the next year, Hazel and the other WASPs will deliver more than 12,500 aircrafts to 122 bases all across the country. They also tow the shooting targets for artillery training. A dangerous job that. So basically, it's like something is flying up there and it's like they're towing like a flag or something that they have to hit with machine guns.

[Georgia Hardstark]

No. It's like putting an apple on your head and someone has to shoot it off. No, thank you.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Let the gals go do it. The wasps will go do it.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, my God.

[Karen Kilgariff]

They also help carry out mission simulations. And a huge part of the job is transporting war battered airplanes, some without working navigation systems, back to bases to be repaired.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Wow.

[Karen Kilgariff]

So they end up learning to guide themselves by spotting landmarks on the ground.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Wow.

[Karen Kilgariff]

They have to be their own gps.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Because most of the job is flying damaged planes from bases to mechanics. Engine and system failures are so dangerous. It's so fucking dangerous. And that's a reality they just have to constantly deal with. So there's a story where one time Hazel is transporting a plane. It goes down over a Kansas cornfield, and she is able to like, there's emergency landing. She survives it, but then the farmer whose property she lands on thinks that she is a Japanese enemy. And he chases her down with a pitchfork and traps her. And basically they hold her hostage until his son can call the local army base and prove that she actually is an American.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Holy shit.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Which, you know, when she got back to the base, she like, got drunk and told everyone that story. Hilarious. I mean, sorry, I'm editorializing on this person, but it's just like you get that vibe from her where she's like, I got this. Yeah, I'm sure she was just like, sorry, I. First of all, I'm Chinese. Just for starters. Just for starters. So after all that, Hazel and the other WASPs, of course, receive little recognition for their bravery and dedication to the war effort. Actually, they're treated with hostility by the male military personnel on the basis that they end up having to work at. Being a pilot in World War II, of course, is seen as this very serious badge of honor. So many of the men have a real problem seeing women in the cockpit. I think we have a picture of Hazel in the Cockpit. Working with somebody that just. Oh, wow. Uh huh.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That is so badass.

[Karen Kilgariff]

He seems nice.

[Georgia Hardstark]

He does.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Look at the look on her face. She's just like, yeah, I know. I know how to.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I'm a pilot too, sir.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I'm a pilot too, sir. So their grit and bravery and sacrifice are just, of course, dismissed outright. Even though dozens of wasps make the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty. Over the length of the WASP program, 37 female pilots die serving in the United States.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Holy shit. That's a lot. Especially because it's not on the battlefield. Or what would you call it in the war thing.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah, but they're doing all this dangerous stuff, and they're flying like broken planes. Hazel Ying Lee is one of those people.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, no.

[Karen Kilgariff]

In late November 1944, she to deliver an aircraft from Niagara Falls, New York to Great Falls, Montana. And as she approaches Great Falls, a radio dispatch comes through warning her that the airstrip is busy and she has to delay her landing. She pulls her plane upwards, not knowing there's another plane directly above her. That pilot was sent the same message, but his radio was broken. He does not change course. So she flies, thinking that everyone's flying the same way because they are.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Right.

[Karen Kilgariff]

The two planes collide in a fiery crash. Somehow, Hazel actually survives this crash. But she dies later at the hospital on Thanksgiving day. She's just 32 years old.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, my God.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And sadly and horribly, her younger brother Victor, who was serving in the war in France, dies in combat the same week.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, my God.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah. Hazel is not given a military funeral. The government doesn't even pay to transport her body back home to Oregon or cover any of the funeral expenses. And when Hazel's loved ones try to secure a specific burial plot for her that looks out over the Willamette river, they're told that Hazel cannot be buried there because she's not white. Of course, her family's irate. They file suit against the cemetery. And the details are fuzzy on, like, the step by step of it. What we know for sure now is that Hazel today is buried at this site, and she is buried next to her brother.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Wow.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah. So it takes a very long time for the women Air Force service pilots to receive any recognition at all for their service. But as the years pass after the war, interest and admiration in the group grows. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter finally gives the WASP military benefits and veteran status. And Much later, in 2009, President Barack Obama awards the surviving WASPs the Congressional Gold Medal.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Wow.

[Karen Kilgariff]

At the signing ceremony, he says, quote, the Women Air Force service pilots courageously answered their country's call in a time of need while blazing a trail for the brave women who have given and continue to give so much service to this nation. Since every American should be grateful for their service and I'm honored to sign this bill to finally give them some of the hard earned recognition they deserve.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Miss him?

[Karen Kilgariff]

End quote. I mean, remember presidents?

[Georgia Hardstark]

No.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Hazel Ying Lee's legacy now looms large, reflected in recent museum exhibits, books, documentaries. And In March of 2025, composer Derek Wang debuts an opera that he wrote about Hazel's life entitled Fearless.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, my God.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Her memory lives on with those who knew her and who loved her. With a fellow WASP telling the Associated Press that, quote, I'm sure she would be some kind of leader now. We enjoyed her so very much.

[Georgia Hardstark]

She would have been such a cool grandma. Grandma, what did you do during the war? I flew. I smoked fucking rollies.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Smoking some rollies.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I wore great outfits and I fucking flew planes.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Oh, and I was scared of nothing. Hazel's sister Frances has spoken publicly about her sister many, many the years. And in a PBS Oregon documentary, she says that her sister Hazel was destined for greatness. It was in her name because her Chinese name, Ying, means heroic. And that's the story of trailblazing pilot Hazel Ying Li.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, my God.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Right?

[Georgia Hardstark]

That was incredible.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I've never heard of her. I've heard of the wasps, like a little bit, but not in detail of like, these are women volunteering and giving everything. And there's people being, being like, thanks, go home.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It's historical. That was incredible.

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Goodbye.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I'm going to go in a different direction.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Okay.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Okay.

[Karen Kilgariff]

That's pretty common, but you're gonna like this one. Great.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Cause it's a heist story. Love a good heist story.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Love a heist.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So did you know that LA used to be the bank robbery capital of the world?

[Karen Kilgariff]

No, I would think it would be Fort Knox or somewhere like that.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah, maybe it is now, but it used to be la. So congratulations to us.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Was it like the downtown era when everything was down there?

[Georgia Hardstark]

That. That's where we're at today. Reading my mind. So it's just past Midnight on Saturday, September 12th, 1997. And we are at the nondescript warehouse of the Dunbar Armored Depot. And do you know Dunbar trucks? It's like the Brinks truck. Yeah, it's another one of those brands of moving lots and lots of cash around in an armored truck.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Okay.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And so the Dunbar Armored Depot is in downtown Los Angeles, kind of the warehouse area. Not much going on around there. And that's where Dunbar's armored trucks are loaded and unloaded as an intermediate stop between wherever the cash is coming from and wherever it's going. So like, you know where they take the cache and then put it into the ATMs. It stops there, in between, gets counted, gets.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I could be wrong, but I think I've seen a terrible Guy Ritchie movie about this place.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Really?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah. Okay, Instead of robbing a bank or robbing a Brinks truck, we're gonna go into where they have the money.

[Georgia Hardstark]

This is exactly what the plan is here. Okay, so it's Friday night, and Friday nights into Saturday morning are one of the busiest shifts because it's where the most cash is being moved in and out of the vault. You know, for the weekends to go to those ATMs. In fact, it's so busy that the staff just keeps the vault door open this time instead of opening and closing it just to kind of bring all the money in. Like they're bringing so much money that that extra step of opening and closing the door isn't gonna work for them.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah, whose suggestion was that?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Right? And even though we're talking about more cash being handled than a bank would have, over $100 million.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Oh my God.

[Georgia Hardstark]

There's also less security than in a bank. And in fact, the shift has the fewest number of security guards scheduled to work. Even though it's the most amount of money, it's not great common sense.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Who planned that out logistically?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Exactly. And I guess it makes sense, cuz it's like. Well, of course a bank would have more security because people off the street can come in. It's not like this warehouse where only employees can go in. But still, it's so much fucking money.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It's just money. Money.

[Georgia Hardstark]

But there is one security guard working, and he's in the lunchroom taking his lunch break. But the CCTV monitors are in there as well. So he's keeping an eye on what's going on. He sees no sign of anyone trying to enter the facility. So. So he's taken completely off guard when five men dressed in all black, wearing ski masks burst into the lunchroom with guns. Drawn. This is the story of what was, until very recently, the largest cash robbery in US history, one that the perpetrators very nearly got away with if it weren't for some very rookie mistakes. This is the Dunbar Armored Depot heist.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Hell, yes.

[Georgia Hardstark]

The main source for this story is an episode of the show History's Greatest Heists, hosted by Pierce Brosnan. It's cute. And a 2020 Medium article by Alyssa Kelly Rose and the other sources can be found in our show notes. So the heist starts and ends with a Dunbar employee named Alan Pace. He's 27 years old, from a middle class family in Compton. He has no criminal record. He actually works at the depot as a security specialist. And that's what his career has been up to, then, his various security jobs. He has idly toyed with the idea of how he might rob the facility, but not with any seriousness. And it's kind of his job to know how someone would rob the facility. So it's not that weird.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Also, don't you think about that every time you see, like a Brinks truck, of course, where you're just kind of like, why are they just standing outside

[Georgia Hardstark]

if I did this and that?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah, exactly.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And he's an affable guy. He's a jokester. Everyone seems to love him. And at some point, he starts dating a coworker who's also on the same security staff, a woman named Tamiko Carnes. And while they're both in security, Allen's job revolves around inspecting the trucks while Tamiko is monitoring the video security system. And no one really knows how seriously Allan and Tamiko discuss the idea of perpetrating this robbery. But what we do know is that In July of 1997, Tamiko gets fired under suspicion of theft. She's seen on a security camera placing a money bag in a known camera blind spot. It's all allegedly. It's totally not clear if she actually was going to steal anything or if she had any plans to or even knew about this heist at all. And she was never brought to trial or anything like that. So just want to make that clear. But what does happen is she gets fired for this security breach, whether it's on purpose or not. And this is what kind of sends Alan Pace into a tailspin with the idea of, of like, fuck this place. I'm gonna actually see if I can do a heist. So In August of 1997, Alan starts by recruiting friends. None of them have ever robbed any kind of security facility before. None of them even have criminal records. They're all, like, nice boys who go to church and come from nice, respectable families. They're all just Alan's buddies. The first one he calls is a childhood friend named Eugene Hill and another one named Freddie McCreary Jr. So Eugene Hill, Freddie and Alan have all known each other since they were around 10 years old. So Alan is like, these are guys I can absolutely trust and they won't tell anyone. And Freddie also works as a security guard, so he has relevant experience. And then Allen also recruits a man named Terry Brown, also a security guard. So Alan, Freddie, and Terry have all worked together on private security jobs at, like, events and nightclubs. They've done some bouncer work, that sort of thing. So one day after church, the group gather around in the parking lot and start drawing out a plan in chalk on the pavement. And Alan is showing them all how the facility works, kind of the layout of the whole place, noting where each camera is and where the team will have to walk in order to not show up on those monitors. So there is like a. You know, you're like, up against the wall, like, super burglar style. You know, like the spotlight goes in front, and then you run, run, run, run, run to the next one. Yeah, exactly, exactly. And it seems like they do it in broad daylight in the church parking lot. And then other parishioners, like, don't suspect anything. These are good boys, not a church. Yeah. And so later, he recruits an additional man named Tommy Johnson. So next, while Allan is at work, he starts taking Polaroids around the facility of every room and every camera. But he's a security guard, so it doesn't seem weird. It's almost like.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It seems like he's just doing research.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. Takes photos of his, like, co workers who are just like, hey, I love Alan.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Just capturing, like, where the camera people love Alan. Yeah, Alan, you're so crazy.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Nobody, like, suspects Alan. He's Alan. And he uses these Polaroids to create a detailed floor plan with visual references so the rest of the group will know exactly where they're going. So there are 25 cameras, but only around six monitors. So they kind of just like, bop in and out of, like, whatever camera, you know what I mean? Sure. So he shows his crew everything. He instructs them on how to travel so that they never show up in the feeds that are on the monitor at the moment. It's kind of a lot of choreography, and it takes some time. So the plan is to keep practicing this choreography until September. That's when they're gonna do the heist. So Adeline's original plan is to not participate in the heist at all since he works there. Smart. He gives such detailed information and they have such a long time that they should be able to do it on their own without him even being there. He goes to bed, he wakes up the next morning and goes to work. And he's just as shocked as everyone else that the place got burgled.

[Karen Kilgariff]

So it's plausible deniability.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Exactly.

[Karen Kilgariff]

He's kind of building in a thing where it's like he doesn't have to worry about seeming guilty.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Right, Exactly. So he's basically the plan is for him to give them the key cause he has the keys to the place, cause he's a security guard there. And then they go and do it. So that is a great plan. Until early September when Allen gets fired. Oh. He gets a call saying he's been fired because he's suspected of tampering with trucks and that he'll need to come back in and hand in his key. And so Alan decides it's now or never, we gotta do this earlier than we planned. But I have to get rid of my key, so we have to do this. And also he's like, I'll come along with you guys now since we haven't had as much time as we need. And I know the layout so well.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I just gotta say first of all, do you think at a place like that they do they replace the locks every time they fire somebody?

[Georgia Hardstark]

I bet they don't, probably not, because you could just get a copy. Right?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Isn't that the thing in the other heist movies where they shove it into some clay or whatever.

[Georgia Hardstark]

There's all those keys that say like do not copy. I have gotten so many of those copied.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yes. I mean no one gives a single shit. It's like, gives a shit. What is this for the landlord?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah, exactly.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I feel like for a place like that it would be interesting just to know. Cause this is pre tech anything, this is like everybody's on their honor. And then when you're firing people and they're like yeah, well fuck you.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Totally. Like there's not like the badges that you have to like sign in and out with. It's just a key. A key that like. Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Hundreds of millions of dollars, come on, so much money.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So he also then recruits one more person, his brother in law named Eric Boyd. So on the night of Friday, September 12th, they're like, it has to be tonight. The group splits up into two vehicles. Some ride in Eugene Hill's and some ride in a U Haul that they had rented earlier in the day. They don't go straight to the depot. Here's what they do. There is a friend having a house party in Long Beach. So they go to the house party and they're like, what's up, everyone? It's us. Yes, you're our lullaby.

[Karen Kilgariff]

We're here at the house party.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Exactly. And then around 11:45 they all like tiptoe, Irish, goodbye.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yes.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Get into the car and to the U Haul and drive to the depot.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Right. As everyone's getting a little slurry. Exactly. Yeah, exactly.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Smart. And so they get to downtown la, they park on a nearby street and then they drive the U Haul up to the depot. Everyone changes into all black clothing and puts on those ski masks. And then Eric, the brother in law, stays behind with the U Haul. So would you.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Sorry for your heist.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Would you be the driver? Would you be.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I'd be the getaway driver.

[Karen Kilgariff]

You'd be the getaway driver, huh?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

What do you think? What would you be?

[Karen Kilgariff]

I'm too bossy. I had to be in charge.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You'd be in charge.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I can't let other people fuck my high step.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I would trust you to be in charge.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Thank you.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And I would definitely be like, no one is the driver but me. Oh, I would not trust the fucking person to be the driver but me.

[Karen Kilgariff]

No way. But I also would absolutely know you would get us out of there.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh my God, absolutely.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Especially downtown la.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I'm Baby Driver. That's my nickname.

[Karen Kilgariff]

That's right.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I'm a driver influence influencer. I'm a getaway driver influencer.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Here's how to run a red light in three fun steps.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And then Vince can count the money because he can't have money facing the wrong way.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Oh, he bank faces everything.

[Georgia Hardstark]

He's so obsessed about that. So I would trust him to count exactly how much money there is.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yes.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And like be in charge of the money and how much and getting everyone the right amount.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah, that's right. He's the banker.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So the three of us, we've done it. Whoops, let's do it. We just gave it away.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Whoops.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Cut that out. So in the parking lot, they sneak up to the front door in the security camera's blind spot and they use the key to open the door. They sneak through the depot's maze of corridors, you know, doing the thing we said, up against the wall.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And I'm sorry, but the idea that they have Continual blind spots. Like they're firing people for going into the blind spots.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Right?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Not fixing the blind spots. It's like the money's still there. The issue still remains.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Absolutely.

[Karen Kilgariff]

My heist would work. Okay, up against the wall.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Up against the wall.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Striped shirt, tiptoe mouth, exaggerated big tips, tippy tips.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Their first destination is the lunchroom. Because they've timed everything around the security guard's lunch break. This poor fucking guy just wanted to eat a sandwich.

[Karen Kilgariff]

He's like, I microwaved this old TV dinner.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's right, this fish dinner. And they know where he'll be exactly at midnight. So they strike. They subdue the security guard immediately. They get him on the ground, Duct tape is wrist again, together take any of his weapons. They also bring weapons. But they are very clear on nobody gets hurt. You know, you can't control that always. But that's their plan. They then take his key to the vault prep room. Alan checks the security monitors and verifies that there are only three people that he's expecting to see working in the vault room. Those people he took fucking Polaroids of. But as they proceed down the hallway, a driver of one of the truck drivers, who's basically a trained security guard, emerges from the vault prep room. That's a surprise. But the driver's uncle. And so the group gets him on the ground and they duct tape his wrists together. And so one member of the group stays behind to watch the guards. And then in the vault prep room, there is one dispatcher and two bookkeepers counting the money, doing the events exactly. The group goes for the dispatcher first because he has a panic button under his desk. So they subdue the rest of the employees. There is one female employee who's at the depot and is understood, understandably terrified, but also, I think she gets her shoulder hurt when they wrestle her to the ground. And so she starts crying. And she hears one of the thieves, one of the masked men, say, don't worry, baby. Like, calming her down. And she's like, I feel like I know that voice. Like he don't worry, baby.

[Karen Kilgariff]

He's just trying to be nice. Don't worry, baby. We're only gonna rob you a little bit more. Exactly.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So Alan then radios Eric, who's me, back in the U Haul. He backs the U Haul into the loading dock. And Alan starts to pick out what packages of cash the group is going to take from the vault. He knows to skip the crisp new bills. Cause they're in sequential order and they're more traceable. And these are big shrink wrapped blocks of cash. Oh, like giant blocks. Yeah, you know, like we're in Super Mario Brothers, like hitting our heads on the top. And so they're shrink wrapped, they throw them into trash bags and then throw them into wheel bins and then stuff them all into the U haul and the whole thing takes about only 30 minutes. And after 30 minutes the U haul is so full of cash to the fucking tippy top that the whole group isn't going to be able to fit back inside.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Oh, they didn't plan that out.

[Georgia Hardstark]

They sure didn't. They got greedy, didn't they? They remove all the security footage, including this secret security footage that you know, they shouldn't have known about if they hadn't actually worked there. Then they smashed a bunch of things around the office to try to make it look like a more Rand burglary. Like they were looking for the key, you know what I mean? Like they do when they pull out the dresser drawers and stuff where it's like make it look like a robbery.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yes, totally. I just keep thinking about the fact though that they didn't plan the ride home because also you're downtown.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So that's the thing too. Okay. They're in and out about 30 minutes and then they're like there's two guys who don't fit back into the truck. Their getaway car is like, you know, a few blocks away, but it's the middle of the night in downtown LA and it's two black men in fucking all black and masks. Like you're not safe. It's not safe for you to be out there. You're going to get immediately caught. So essentially what they do is there's other security guard who was having his lunch. His beloved pickup truck is in the parking lot. And this security guard is so in love with this pickup truck that he had had one of the cameras trained on it at all times. So they take the keys to his truck, they get in his truck and they take off.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah, and it's a little mini movie about them stealing his truck essentially.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah, but they, but they don't get caught from that that way because they did take all the film. So it does work. But it also means that that security camera wasn't on the door where it was supposed to be. It was on his truck.

[Karen Kilgariff]

He changed it.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Cause he's such a gear.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So they all go back, they meet up back at Eugene's apartment, they change back into their regular clothes. And this is really smart, they go back to the party. Yes, Right.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yes.

[Georgia Hardstark]

They don't just leave at midnight also.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Not just for their alibi, but just to party. Like get back there, see what the third Wave is about.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Everyone is fucked up at the party.

[Karen Kilgariff]

They're dancing. They're so fucked up.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And they bring that U Haul full of cash and park it right in front of the house just to be like, I am not letting this out of my sight. Yes. Yeah. And they're back within 90 minutes of leaving the the party. So.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Wow.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I don't think anyone would have said anything.

[Karen Kilgariff]

They're like, listen, we had to go rent a U Haul really quick cuz we don't know, we might buy new couch this week.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Exactly. Okay. So then afterwards there's so much cash and they didn't expect that that they bring the U Haul to a storage unit. They buy a storage unit and put most of the cash in there. They keep just a little bit of cash just to have. Just to play with.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Sure.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Cuz they're really aware that the way to get caught is to start spending all that cash.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Of course.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So they're careful. When the cops arrive to the depot. They find in the parking lot right outside the depot a broken piece of tail light. So I wouldn't have done this, but when Eric pulled that U Haul back and backed it up into the cartoon, he hit something and broke a tail light. I know it's a rookie mistake.

[Karen Kilgariff]

You would not have done that. But also, that's so strange. What are the other odds where it's

[Georgia Hardstark]

just kind of probably so nervous.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yes. And stressed out.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. G. And so that's the cop's first bit of evidence. And then they look at the lock that you know, where they had actually used the key. But then afterwards they had used a drill to kind of damage it to make it look like they got in without the key.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

But the cops are like, this is obviously just to cover up the fact that you had the key. It's probably an employee.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Like immediately.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Also it's at a fucking the Brinks rival or whatever. It's an employee. It's the people who have to sit there and stare at it all day long.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Right. Like how did they know exactly where the security stuff was? To destroy it or to take it. It's not good. So it's not until a few days later that Dunbar officials are able to figure out how much cash is actually missing, how much was actually stolen. Do you want to guess how much was stolen?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yes, I do want to. Okay. It's 1997. You said yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And so until recently, it was the largest cash robbery in U.S. history. So how much do you think?

[Karen Kilgariff]

$59 million.

[Georgia Hardstark]

See, I was gonna say to you, like, don't go overboard. Cause it's gonna sound better.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Hold on. Give me a chance to go underboard. $30 million. Well, so it's $2 million.

[Georgia Hardstark]

$18.9 million.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Oh, that's not bad.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's a lot of fucking money.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It's just their microwave dinner. They stole that off that guy and the truck. Right. That's all they got.

[Georgia Hardstark]

However, in Today's money, that $18.9 million

[Karen Kilgariff]

is upwards of $40 million, $38.8 million. So, yes, very close.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You were right all along. Turns out that makes it the largest cash robbery in U.S. history to date. And that record isn't broken until 2024.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Wow.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So these guys, I think almost like they overdid it and didn't realize it.

[Karen Kilgariff]

They overdid it. And they also did it without the aid of modern technology. Like, they did it the real way. They earned it. They went to the park party, they got the U Haul.

[Georgia Hardstark]

They planned it. They had chalk in a parking lot.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Doing your plan in the church parking lot's genius.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. Yeah. And then also, like, only recruiting people that you know and trust. I think is obviously.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

A huge part of it and that aren't criminals.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yes.

[Georgia Hardstark]

They're like, this is going to be the one thing we do. It's going to set us up for the rest of our lives. Never again.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It's every heist movie.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It's a heist movie.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Come back for just this one last one before you retire.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Exactly. So it was 18.9 million million in at the time. And the police in Dunbar keep that number out of the press, worrying that copycats are gonna be like, oh, that's how much money I can get from this. Easy as fuck. Heist.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So they just tell the press that it was more than a million dollars that had been taken.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Wow.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Which is an understatement.

[Karen Kilgariff]

They're like, oh, just that one warehouse under the overpass.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Exactly.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I can go down there.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So the police and the FBI have their two main clues, which is the fact that the robbers clearly used a key. And that broken tail. They're quickly able to tie that broken tail light piece back to a U Haul truck. That stuff's pretty fucking easy. And so Allen, this guy who got fired recently, is immediately a suspect with that one employee also saying that she recognized his voice. I don't think she realized it was his voice. Until later. So he and every other employee who had quit or been fired recently, about 30 people, all are given polygraphs, and Alan and his girlfriend Tamiko are the only two that fail. Oh. But there's really no solid evidence that can tie Allen to the crime. And so two years pass where he's like, I got away with this, but

[Karen Kilgariff]

wouldn't you have an acid stomach the entire time?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Absolutely. Especially because you took a polygraph test. They're, like, onto you, and, you know that.

[Karen Kilgariff]

You know, it didn't go well.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Dunbar announces that they will have an award of $250,000 for anyone who gives them information leading to an arrest. Which gives you a clue that it's more than around a million dollars that was sold. Exactly.

[Karen Kilgariff]

You're just like, how much?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah, we just want that back.

[Karen Kilgariff]

We'll give you a quarter of what they stole.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Right. But the group stays under the radar. No one spends a crazy amount of money. You know, they go to Vegas and use cash on those to help launder the money. But no one, you know, buys a pink Cadillac like in Goodfellas or does anything crazy like the Goodfellas Luftwasse, which I covered in episode 454. They don't do that. They're smarter than that. They find instead a local immigration lawyer named David Matsumoto, who, along with his assistant, agree to be paid a million dollars each to help launder the money. Oh, so they just find a lawyer who's willing to.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Very smart.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. And so they do that through real estate purchases and, like, kind of small purchases. And then also they open a small business called Extreme Entertainment so that they're able to take a salary from the business and make the money look legit. On the surface, the business, Extreme Entertainment, which sounds like porn. Stepbrothers.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Oh, yeah?

[Georgia Hardstark]

What was the stepbrothers one?

[Karen Kilgariff]

I don't know. Prestige Worldwide.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Thank you, Prestige Worldwide.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Molly had that at hand. She did.

[Georgia Hardstark]

She was an Aristotle.

[Karen Kilgariff]

He came through on that one.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Basically, what the company does on the surface is they rent party equipment, jet skis and limos. So they are like Prestige Worldwide, Extreme Entertainment. That's what they do, and that's how they launder the money. And it's also a front to pay the crew big salaries with the stolen

[Karen Kilgariff]

money, and then it becomes a wonderfully successful business.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Exactly.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Does it?

[Georgia Hardstark]

I don't know, but it seems like it seems like it would. It does seem like it would. On the surface, it seems like they're making a shit ton of money, and it's all legal money.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Taxed and everything.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah. They're doing it right. Unlike the rice pudding store in New York, there was a rice pudding store that opened rice to riches.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I fucking had. I have had rice pudding from those places before.

[Karen Kilgariff]

We did a field piece at Ellen. We're like, what you can do? This is crazy because we're just scraping the bottom of, like, what can we do for a field piece? And then like two years later, it's like, this was a frontier, some mafia thing.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I was actually really surprised by that because I went there one time, I got rice pudd. And it was so good that I was like, how could that be a front if it was so fucking good? Like, I was actually shocked.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I wonder if it's not that hard to make good rice pudding.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It was tiramisu flavored rice pudding and it was fucking excellent. But I also see that most people don't like rice pudding, so.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah, it's very specific.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Because it feels to me like they were trying to pick something that would keep people away.

[Georgia Hardstark]

There was lines around the fucking block to them.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I loved it. I was just like, this is one of my favorite desserts.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah, no, that was. That's fucking hilarious.

[Karen Kilgariff]

So extreme entertainment. Where the fuck was I?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Where are we? Okay, so this. They might have actually gotten away with it at this point, but Eugene Hill, the old friend, the first one who Alan brought into the plan, makes an error, let's say. Pretty big error, unfortunately. So in trying to make a down payment on a property, because they're putting a lot of this money into real estate to make. Make it look legit, he offers another lawyer $100,000 in cash, which is already suspicious. But also he leaves the branded money strip on the hundred thousand dollars cash that says Dunbar.

[Karen Kilgariff]

No, you know, the, like the bundling.

[Georgia Hardstark]

The bundling money paper. He doesn't take it off and it says Dunbar on it.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Dunbar cash and stuff.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So understandably, this lawyer is suspicious. Yeah. And calls the police. Probably finds out about that $250,000 reward.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Dang.

[Georgia Hardstark]

The cash is examined by the authorities, and they find that those Dunbar branded straps that's still on it have been stamped with the date they were counted, which just so happens to be September 11th and 12th of 1997.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Shit.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And then when they have the name of Eugene Hill, they're able to go back into the U Haul rental records and find that it had been rented under his name. Oh, yeah. Ew.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Here's the thing, though, about heists that I've learned over years of watching many films and maybe doing a couple heists myself. Human error has to get folded in.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yes.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And if we don't do that, and if people don't think about every single possibility where it's just like, no, we're gonna go over it again. If you're gonna spend the cash, what are you gonna do? Cut the bands off the cash. Don't be bands. Like all those kinds of things which, you know, if it's just a bunch of amateurs, they can't think of everything.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Right. So once Eugene is arrested, police threaten him. Cuz they had all agreed that if one of them gets caught, they're gonna just take the blame and go down and them and their families will be taken care of with the money that was stolen. Unfortunately, Eugene is arrested and he had been using his sister's bank account to launder money through. And so as soon as he's told that she's going to be charged as an accident accomplice, he picks his family over his friends. Yeah, and he winds up admitting to participating and he names everyone else. Everyone is arrested one by one with Allen actually turning himself in at the end in February of 2000.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Can I just say that that was clearly Eugene's older sister, because it was his little sister.

[Georgia Hardstark]

He'd be like, I don't give a shit.

[Karen Kilgariff]

He's like, fight me if you want. It's the older sister. He's like, I'm sorry I had to turn everybody. There's no coming back from this.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah, that's a really good question. We're all scared of our older sisters.

[Karen Kilgariff]

We're deadly afraid of our older sisters.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So when the group is indicted in court, this is the first time they hear how much money they had stolen. And I guess all of their faces fell because they hadn't counted all the money. So when they hear that they stole $18.9 million, like the blood rushed out of all of their faces and they were like, oh, we are in so much trouble, you know what I mean? Like if they had stolen a million, I feel like after taxes, yeah, they give some of it back. But no, they are shocked. They had never counted all the money. So four of the group, everyone except Allen's brother in law, Eric Boyd, wind up testifying against Allen. Allen pleads not guilty and actually from what I can see to this day, he denies being involved at all, which is interesting. He says that he was framed by one of the other defendants, quote, because I was messing with his wife. So he just refuses to take any respons he just says he's not involved.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

He ends up serving 24 years in prison. Wow. Yeah. While everyone else serves about 12 years. And so that was in the year 2000. Ish. So he's out now. In the end, only around $7 million is ever recovered. Ooh.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

The rest of the stolen money was believed to have been either squandered by the robbers at gambling tables in venues, Vegas. Some of it was burned because they found that some of the bills were sequential and so they could get caught with them and easily traced or invested in other things and other people's names.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So that big sister, you know, she's living somewhere nice.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I hope so.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I hope so, too. She's the end of the movie, living in paradise.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And she's like, that's right. Don't use my bank account if you're not going to pay me back.

[Georgia Hardstark]

This is why you scared the shit out of your younger siblings from birth. Then they won't fucking rat on you.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Then they serve you for the rest of life, essentially.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And actually, I found in 2020, this producer named Khalib Pinkett, who is fucking Jada Pinkett. Smith's brother.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yes.

[Georgia Hardstark]

His production company. Like, we're gonna make a movie out of this. But I didn't find anything. Any updates since then, so I'm not sure where that went. You know how Hollywood takes forever. And that is the story of the Dunbar Armored Depot heist.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Man, that was good. Yeah, that was great.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. Right?

[Karen Kilgariff]

I mean, I don't know. There's only a couple heist stories that I've heard where the story is and the money is never found. There's only a couple of those. I feel like, yeah, it was kind

[Georgia Hardstark]

of a success, depending on how you want to look at it. Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Right. A little bit. I feel like these days, we used to look at heists a little bit different, but I think these days people are just like, stick it to the man.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. Well, these were the good guys. They were not criminals. They were all buddies from when they were young, working their asses off. And we're finally like, let's. Let's take advantage of how dumb this fucking corporation is. And also along the way, you're welcome for showing you, like, your security issues.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah. Constant security issues that you refuse to fix. Like you can't keep firing people.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Apparently your video camera won't turn to the right or left very far.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And then let's keep in mind, of course, the people who were working there that night were scared out of their minds. They had guns pulled on them. No, that's not good.

[Karen Kilgariff]

That's bad. They. Yes.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's a lot of trauma.

[Karen Kilgariff]

That's a lot of trauma.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And let's rethink our next heist.

[Karen Kilgariff]

When we use heists.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Let's do it in a more caring way.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Sure.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Please.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I feel like this has been almost like a college class in this podcast today.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Totally.

[Karen Kilgariff]

We're just bringing the full every facet of the world to you.

[Georgia Hardstark]

American history, baby.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah. Get into it.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's what we do here. On My favorite murder.

[Karen Kilgariff]

That is. Yeah. Our true crime podcast.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's right. That's why we both graduated college with degrees in American history.

[Karen Kilgariff]

That's right. Advanced degrees from csun. From csun Matadors.

[Georgia Hardstark]

They're gonna send us a cease and desist.

[Karen Kilgariff]

A CSUN desist.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Karen, come on.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I had to do, like, years in

[Georgia Hardstark]

the making, and I'm so happy about it.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Puns against my will. That's my new autobiography. That was fun times.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That was.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Listeners, thank you for being here with us.

[Georgia Hardstark]

We appreciate you so much.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Everyone, if you have any heist questions, please write in to my favorite murdermail.com and until then, stay sexy and don't get murdered.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Goodbye, Elvis, do you want to cookie?

[Karen Kilgariff]

This has been an exactly right production.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Our senior producer is Molly Smith and our associate producer is Tessa Hughes.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Our editor is Aristotle Acevedo.

[Georgia Hardstark]

This episode was mixed by Liana Squillace.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Our researchers are Maren McGlashan and Ali Elkin.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Email your hometowns to my favorite murdermail.com

[Karen Kilgariff]

and follow the show on Instagram at My Favorite Favorite Murder.

[Georgia Hardstark]

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

[Karen Kilgariff]

And now you can watch My Favorite Murder on Netflix.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And when you're there, hit the double thumbs up and the remind me buttons. That's the best way you can support our show. Goodbye. This Mother's Day, celebrate the woman behind it all with Pandora jewelry.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Get your mom some jewelry that feels personal and reflects the moments that matter most.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Whether that's a date, a name, or a shared memory. You can make it even more meaningful with an engraving in your own hand handwriting.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Because the best Mother's Day gift says more than just I love you.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Find the perfect Mother's Day gift at your local Pandora store or [e-mail]. goodbye.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Some mornings require a little assistance in the face department.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And that's exactly what the Maybelline instant eraser concealer is here for.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Maybelline Instant Eraser concealer instantly covers dark circles and under eye bags in a swipe.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I am only using these days makeup that actually does something like for yourself. And the fact that this hydrates so well, which is so necessary for under eyes, I am here for it.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yes, it really is a perfect product for those concerns. But also if you don't think you're great at makeup, right. It's like a little dabber.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You can't mess it up.

[Karen Kilgariff]

You can't mess it up. Find your shade of instant eraser concealer at your local retailer.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Goodbye.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Goodbye.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Spring cleaning is all about getting your house in order.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And the last step is making sure it's protected too.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's where Simplisafe comes in.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Simply Safe offers more than just a camera. It's a full system with sensors, cameras for inside and outside your home, and 24,7 professional monitoring.

[Georgia Hardstark]

If there's a break in fire or flood, Simplisafe's agents are ready to take action.

[Karen Kilgariff]

There are no long term contracts, no lock ins and no hidden cancellation fees. Simplisafe earns your business by helping you keep your home protected, not by trapping you into a contract.

[Georgia Hardstark]

More than 5 million people trust SimpliSafe every day. And U.S. news and World Report named it the best home security system of 2026.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I really love the fact that they make it so clear that you will not be trapped into a contract because how many things do you order these days? And suddenly you realize they signed for a subscription or like you're paying fees you never even thought you were agreeing to. And like, this is all right there upfront, totally clear.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I know. I love Simply Safe because I know that they won't trap you. But I know that the minute you sign up with them, you're going to want to stay with them forever. So it's kind of a win win.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Everyone deserves that same peace of mind. Which is why Simply Safe is offering an exclusive discount to our listeners.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Right now. You can get 50% off your new system by visiting simplisafe.com fave that's half [e-mail] fav. There's no safe like Simply Safe. Goodbye.