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- [00:02]
Mary Kay McBrayer
Hi listeners, I'm Mary Kay McBrayer, host.
- [00:04]
Of the Greatest True Crime Stories Ever Told Season 2 podcast and I'm excited to share these riveting stories with you. I'm also excited to tell you that you can now get access to all episodes of the Greatest True Crime Stories ever told season one and season two 100% ad free and access all episodes of the Greatest True Crime Stories Ever Told Season 2 one week early through the iHeart True Crime plus subscription available exclusively on Apple Podcasts Plus. You'll get access to other chart topping true crime shows you love like There and Gone, South Street, Paper Ghosts, Piketon Massacre, Murder Homes, Unrestorable, the Godmother, Betrayal and more. So don't wait. Head to Apple Podcasts, search for I Heart True Crime plus and subscribe today.
- [00:51]
Nancy Grace
Need the latest crime news fast. Whether it's the latest developments in a high profile case or urgent alerts about missing persons persons, Crime Alert Hourly Update delivers the news you need to know as it happens.
- [01:02]
I'm Nancy Grace and with our team of investigative reporters and experts, we bring you the top crime headlines you need to know every hour on the hour.
- [01:12]
Listen to Crime Alert Hourly Update on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [01:21]
Maria Tremarke
Welcome to the Criminalia Podcast. I'm Maria Tremarke.
- [01:25]
Nancy Grace
And I'm Holly Fry. Together we invite you into the dark and winding corridors of historical true crime.
- [01:31]
Maria Tremarke
Each season we explore a new theme, from poisoners to art thieves.
- [01:36]
Nancy Grace
We uncover the secrets of history's most interesting figures, from legal injustices to body snatching.
- [01:43]
Maria Tremarke
And tune in at the end of each episode as we indulge in cocktails and mocktails inspired by each story.
- [01:50]
Nancy Grace
Listen to criminalia on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [01:56]
Maria Tremarke
Hey y'all, I'm Maria Fernanda Diaz. When youn're Invisible is my love letter to the working class people and immigrants who shaped me. Season 2 shares stories about community and being underestimated.
- [02:08]
Mary Kay McBrayer
All the greatest changes have happened when a couple of people said, this sucks.
- [02:12]
Holly Fry
Let'S do something about it.
- [02:13]
Maria Tremarke
We get paid to serve you, but we're made out of the same things. It's rare to have black male teachers.
- [02:18]
Mary Kay McBrayer
Sometimes I am the testament.
- [02:20]
Maria Tremarke
Listen to when youn're Invisible on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [02:33]
Holly Fry
Diversion Audio.
- [02:38]
Mary Kay McBrayer
A Note this episode contains mature content and descriptions of violence that may be disturbing for some listeners. Please take care in listening the kind of Police work that burglary investigators did in 1974 Chicagoland happened mostly behind a desk. Jack Sherwin was the first to this particular site, though, and he expected business as usual. He would get a statement from the victim confirming facts like time, location and what had been stolen. Then the police would follow up with a phone call afterward. But given how rarely they recovered people's losses, the investigators didn't typically exert much energy. As Jack looked over the police report on his way to Linda Taylor's apartment, he was already intrigued. Meeting the complainant herself was even more interesting. She stood just over 5ft, had olive skin and dark, heavy lidded eyes and a pronounced cupid's bow. Her makeup was perfect, her outfit was nice, and when she smiled, she revealed gold dental work. In other cases, when Jack arrived first on the scene, he could typically see where the break in had happened. But there were no signs of forced entry here. Actually, this apartment was very tidy. He went through the officer's original report confirming the stolen items one by one with Linda Taylor. A large green refrigerator, a gold stove, hospital end tables, two large Chinese lamps, elephant figurines, stereo speakers, a grandfather clock. She confirmed the items one by one, growing more agitated with each confirmation he required. This, too, was weird. Most burglary victims were glad their case got any attention. This woman seemed annoyed he had stopped by. He didn't press her for more details, but on the way out, Jack checked in with the neighbors. No one had seen a mysterious stranger wedge a refrigerator out the tiny window of Linda Taylor's apartment. Jack was not surprised. Most robbers snatched whatever they could carry. Not large appliances that could not go unnoticed. Certainly not grandfather clocks, which required a specialized team to transport safely. Jack showed up intending to investigate a burglary and recover stolen property from an innocent victim. Half an hour after meeting Linda Taylor, he felt like he should instead be investigating her. Welcome to the greatest true crime stories ever told. I'm Mary Kay McBrayer. Today's episode we're calling the Most Nefarious Welfare Queen. It's the story of a woman who seized every opportunity to commit fraud. And a whole host of other crimes. It's the story of con artist Linda Taylor. And no, that's not her real name. Y'all know I love a good con artist story. I love to see how slick they can be. Can they get away with it? Especially when the money they scam feels more like reparations than stealing. It's more like stealing back. But it's hard to say whether that's the case in this story partly because the story itself is so tricky to untangle. After all, when you're running a scam, you don't exactly want to be traceable. At the end of this episode, I interview Josh Levine, whose book the the Forgotten Life behind an American Myth served as a key source when researching Linda Taylor. We'll link that book in the show notes and make sure you hang around for that talk. It's going to be juicy. When Jack Sherwin came to investigate the burglary, he had shown up to an apartment leased by Connie Jarvis. She went by many other names as well, including Constance Wakefield, Martha Miller, and Linda Taylor, which is how I'll mostly refer to her. But in 1974, people recognized her as the Welfare Queen. Linda Taylor was only actually in the public eye for a few years. The late 70s were her ultimate showcase. One reason for that notoriety was due to the presidential candidate at the time. Ronald Reagan had heard something like her story, and he spun a kernel of truth about Linda Taylor's story into his rally speech in 1976 in Chicago. They found a woman who holds the record. She used 80 names, 30 addresses, 15 telephone numbers to collect food stamps, Social.
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Security, Veterans benefits for 4 non existent.
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Deceased veterans husbands, as well as welfare. Her tax free cash income alone has been running $150,000 a year. He never pointed to Linda Taylor by name because that would illustrate some inconsistencies between the person and his poster child. You might already know that part of Reagan's platform was to smash welfare programs, and he did so both for those few who abused it and for many who were deserving and dependent upon it. To me, Linda Taylor was in both of those camps. Or rather, she started in one and ended up in the other, and then maybe went back again. But her scamming did not start with the government welfare programs. When she showed up in Court in 1964 as Constance Wakefield, Linda Taylor already had a rap sheet, albeit under many different names, which is wild. Nowadays you have to jump through a thousand hoops to change your name. Back then you just lied. Anyway. 64 was the year her face went out into the world. Linda showed up in Chicago upon the death of Lawrence Wakefield, a recently and suddenly deceased wealthy policy king. Lawrence Wakefield ran a gambling racket for decades. Upon his death, police saw more cash in his house than they'd ever seen in one place. It was piled on the floor, pouring out of bank bags, jammed between couch cushions, and stuffed behind a closet door. Some of the bills were the kind of oversized banknotes that hadn't circulated since the 20s. It was so much cash, in fact, that investigators took photos of it. And the photos made their way into the newspapers. And you know what happens when there's unclaimed money on the table? Someone shows up to claim it. That's when Linda Taylor pulled up, claiming that she was the only child of the intestate gambling kingpin. And she was prepared. She provided everything from witness accounts of her childhood to delayed birth certificate copies, to forged wills for Lawrence with his name misspelled. The first thing people noticed, though, was that Lawrence Wakefield was black, and Linda, who was going by Constance at this point, was passing as white. Linda was ready for that, too. She had an Illinois birth certificate identifying her as his daughter, as well as a family bible that listed her race as white out in the country before social securities and standardized records. Sometimes the family bible was the only family tree written down because it wasn't a legal form. It was just a record for the family's use. And there'd generally be no real reason to lie in it. I've never heard of family Bibles listing the members races, but that's what she brought. Linda also explained that her father was, quote, confused by the race issue, so much so that her elected guardians were made to withdraw her from the segregated colored school in Arkansas. So she never got any formal education. That also meant there wouldn't be a record of her at any grammar schools, which was convenient. But Cook County's assistant state attorney was good. Gerald Mannix cast a wide net, even enlisted a brain trust firm for their help. A quick sidebar. This took place in 1964, when there was no Internet to search through, just stacks and piles of actual paper disintegrating into the smell of vinegar. I've said it before and I'll say it again. With cell phones and DNA technology, you can't get away with nothing now. But even then, even with the best detectives hot on your trail, I personally feel like you'd have to be really sloppy not to get away with crime. But like I said, this probate court was for real. They tracked down two of Linda's aliases, Beverly Steinberg and Beverly Singleton, and asked if she ever went by those names. Linda surprised them. She said yes. She said she had also gone by the last name Miller after she married Paul Steinberg Yarborough in Oakland, California. She also went by Constance Steinberg Yarborough, too. You probably already know that the best way to tell a lie is to tie it as closely as possible to the truth, which is what Linda did Here. Mannix then asked her in a line of questioning that had to seem irrelevant in the moment, as it does now, were you ever known as Martha Louise White? No. Did you ever live in Arab Alabama? No. Was your mother's name Linda Lydia Mooney? No. She'd never been married to Buddy Elliot or given birth to Clifford Lee Harborough, she said. Any spectators must have wondered where these names were coming from until Linda said that she did know Hubert Mooney. Hubert Mooney was her uncle. He was white, and if I might say so, he was a real piece of work. When the lawyer asked Hubert, are you a Negro? Hubert replied, I hope I am not. With reference to Constance Wakefield, is she a Negro? No, definitely not. At least I know her mother is white. He went on to clarify that there were no Negroes at all in the Mooney family tree. He even went so far as to say, there has never been a Negro who lived in Coleman County. This rule was publicized by an openly racist sign declaring Coleman a sundown town, among other racial slurs. On an official sign at the border entrance to the town. It meant that after sunset, the town invoked all the racist laws they could to make sure they stayed an all white residency. This is relevant, I promise. Stay with me. If it was unclear before, let me clarify. Linda Taylor was lying. She was attempting inheritance fraud and she should have definitely been caught and punished for her crimes. But it makes me so mad that this is how they got her. Hubert convinced his elder sister Lydia to testify, and although she was very sick, they got some information from her. A baby had been abandoned at her home with an arm tag reading Constance Wakefield. The lawyer balked at this admission. They asked if this was her child, and with Linda so close to her, she could physically reach out and touch her. She said no. Later evidence would show otherwise. At long last, Hubert would confess that Martha, that is the woman we're referring to as Linda. Martha's biological father, was a black man. Lydia had been 14 when she discovered her pregnancy and she fled to Tennessee, a place where interracial marriage was not illegal. And Marvin White became Linda's legal father. And it's not clear how much of this Linda knew. For his part, Hubert didn't care about the truth. He had come to Chicago to make sure a shameful family secret stayed buried. Linda was both black and white, and there was no record of her birth. The midwife who birthed her later testified that the Mooney's didn't want her birth on record and Linda had in fact been expelled from all white schools. As a child. But she wasn't Lawrence Wakefield's heir. It's clear that she wasn't. Even though I knew she was a scammer when I started researching this story, the reality of this part really bummed me out. Humor me for a second. Let's just, for this one fraudulent instance, try to get into her frame of mind. Okay, so I know y'all can't see me right now, but I'm an ethnically ambiguous woman who grew up in Georgia. My parents were in kindergarten when the public schools were integrated, and my mother, who was Arab, went to a private school before that. To my knowledge, we are not black. But to a town whose population was either black or white, nothing else, the appearance of my family was confusing. Not to put too fine a point on it, but I was asked, what are you? By people I didn't know the entire time I lived in my hometown. Granted, the stakes for me were much lower than they were for Linda, but I was still instructed to answer white when asked, if only for self preservation. So it's not hard for me to understand, number one, why Linda would assimilate, and two, why her family would insist that of her. I don't agree with it, but I can get there. The baby in a basket story protected Lydia in case the truth got out. Also, Linda was both black and white, and she grew up in a Sundowntown. Her mother wouldn't or couldn't, if we're being generous, claim her parentage for both their safety. So here she is, a little girl getting booted out of school for no real reason, hiding a fact that may or may not be true her whole life who moved from city to city until people realized that she was just white passing, not actually white, and her opportunities fell apart. And then here comes Lawrence Wakefield. He's a rich black man in Chicago. He has the last name that Lydia insisted was on her wrist as a foundling. Lawrence was not married, didn't have any other kids. What kind of fairy tale would it be if Lawrence really was her father? If his last dying deed really did change her life forever? How amazing. It's the surprise, actually. You're Princess of Genovia story that little girls can only dream about. That was not the fairy tale ending, though. None of this is a fairy tale. I mentioned before that Linda Taylor already had a storied past when she showed up to claim Lawrence Wakefield's inheritance. So let me catch you up. This sequence is going to happen at breakneck speed for the sake of time. So I'm going to gloss over a lot of information without unpacking it. So just hang on. In 1940, Martha Miller, maybe her real name, is identified as a white 13 year old on the census and she has a son, Clifford. Clifford has dark skin and Linda often hides him away or sends him to live with relatives because of it. It's no excuse for actual criminal activity, but it does provide a reason why she fled Arkansas for Port Orchard, Washington. When she arrived, it turned out that the opportunities for work for persons of color were not as ubiquitous as they had been advertised. And one item on her rap sheet under the name Betty Smith is an arrest for engaging in prostitution. 1948, under the name Connie Harbaugh, Linda is arrested in Oakland for contributing to the delinquency of a minor. She marries Navy enlisted man Paul Harbaugh and gives birth to a second son who's also named Paul. Paul Sr. Does not learn about Clifford's existence until after this child's birth. 1950. Linda gives birth to a third son, Johnny, in Arkansas. Johnny passes for white. 1951. Linda gives birth to a daughter, Sandra, in Arkansas. Sandra is ethnically ambiguous like Linda. 1952, Paul Harbaugh divorces Linda in Tennessee. She marries Troy Elliot in Arkansas. He remarries as well. When the topic of getting custody of Paul's children from his first marriage comes up, his new wife deliberates and reaches the conclusion that a dark skinned person in their family would upset the balance and likely damage their child somehow. And the world is a terrible broken place. 1956. Linda Taylor gives birth to a fourth son, Robin, in Arkansas. 1959. Linda helps a family of friends escape the deprivations of sharecropping in Arkansas. As a person who can pass for white, Linda is able to stand up to their landlord in ways that they can't. They all move together to Peoria, Illinois. While living there, a gas line explodes in Paul and Sandra's school. Miraculously, none of the children are seriously physically hurt and the adults handle the situation incredibly, snapping into evacuation mode and making sure no children further expose themselves to harm. Here's the first case of fraud on the books. Linda files a lawsuit alleging her children, Paul and Sandra, were injured in a school explosion. I would argue that a gas line exploding in an elementary school is plenty of reason to sue, but the laws were different then and the lawsuit is dismissed a little more than seven years later. That brings us to 1964, when Linda is sentenced to six months in jail for contempt, though she'll never serve that time. Regarding the last will and testament of Lawrence Wakefield. But this story is just getting ramped up. I don't know about y'all, but if all this shit had happened to me, I would be getting angry and I'd probably be figuring out how to get even. Let me tell you all about that right after this break.
- [25:14]
Holly Fry
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- [25:43]
Mary Kay McBrayer
Hi listeners, I'm.
- [25:44]
Mary Kay McBrayer, host of the greatest true crime stories ever told season two podcast, and I'm excited to share these riveting stories with you. I'm also excited to tell you that you can now get access to all episodes of the Greatest True Crime stories ever told season one and season two 100% ad free and access all episodes of the Greatest True Crime Stories Ever Told Season 2 one week early through the I Heart True Crime plus subscription available exclusively on Apple Podcasts Plus. You'll get access to other chart topping true crime shows you love like There and Gone, South Street, Paper Ghosts, Piketon Massacre, Murder Homes, Unrestorable, the Godmother, Betrayal, and more. So don't wait. Head to Apple Podcasts, search for I Heart True Crime plus and subscribe today.
- [26:32]
Maria Tremarke
Hey y'all. I'm Maria Fernanda Diaz. My podcast when youn're Invisible is my love letter to the working class people and immigrants who shaped my life. I get to talk to a lot of people who form the backbone of our society but who have never been interviewed before. Season 2 is all about community organizing and being underestimated.
- [26:54]
Mary Kay McBrayer
All the greatest changes have happened. When a couple of people said, this.
- [26:57]
Holly Fry
Sucks, let's do something about it.
- [26:59]
Maria Tremarke
I can't have more than $2,000 in my bank account or else I can't get disability benefits.
- [27:05]
Mary Kay McBrayer
They won't let you succeed.
- [27:07]
Maria Tremarke
I know we get paid to serve you guys, but like be respectful. We're made out of the same things. Bone, body, blood.
- [27:15]
Mary Kay McBrayer
It's rare to have black male teachers. Sometimes I am the lesson and I'm also the testament.
- [27:21]
Maria Tremarke
Listen to when youn're Invisible as part of the My Cultura Podcast Network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [27:33]
Nancy Grace
Stay on top of Breaking Crime News with Crime Alert Hourly Update available now.
- [27:38]
I'm Nancy Grace. Our team of reporters and experts is dedicated to bringing you the top crime headlines you need to know every hour on the hour. From missing people to trial updates and true crime stories, we bring you the latest real time news and analysis.
- [27:56]
Whether it's the latest developments in a high profile case or urgent alerts about missing persons, Crime Alert Hourly Update delivers the news you you need to know as it happens.
- [28:07]
Stay informed. Keep yourself and your family safe with Crime Alert Hourly Update, the only podcast delivering hourly true crime updates.
- [28:17]
Subscribe now to Crime Alert Hourly Update and never miss a moment of breaking crime news. Listen to Crime Alert Hourly Update on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [28:40]
Mary Kay McBrayer
Just before the break, I mentioned that Linda Taylor had sued the school with the gas line explosion without success. She didn't let it go though. Linda remarried in 1969 to Willie Walker, her third husband. He drove a cab in Chicago for work and to my knowledge he was not a veteran, so I'm not sure how she did this next part. But Linda convinced the Veterans Administration that her daughter Sandra was, quote, a helpless child due to the explosion at the elementary school. I'm also not clear on the details of this, but Willie only stayed at home on the weekends. In the meantime, 19 year old Charles Bailey stayed with Linda. Linda got to know Charles when she was advertising her services as a spiritual advisor and reader of the Unknown in the Chicago Defender. His aunt Francie had gone to get a theatrical reading full seance vibe, and Linda had told her that she had the feeling Charles wouldn't live much longer. She called him up within an hour and she told him that his family was plotting his demise. Linda described the exact clothes he was wearing at that moment, which she had learned from his aunt earlier, and in that way she convinced him to come stay with her when Willie was home. Charles didn't sleep in Linda's bed. He minded the three children in the house, although he couldn't figure out how the three white children belonged to Willie, who was black. If he asked questions about any of the errands she ran, like applying for benefits at child services or cashing government checks that she stored in the closet at the currency exchange. Linda told him to, quote, leave it alone. And when she brought home another infant, a little black boy, without any explanation, he knew better than to ask. If you recall from the very top of the episode, investigator Jack Sherwin thought Linda seemed familiar when he showed up to her house regarding the Burglary, she reported that was because he actually had met her before. In 1971, Linda divorced Willie and she sent Charles out to mind some land she had on a farm. She was alone when Jack Sherwin showed up to investigate a robbery she reported. And she couldn't say exactly what had been stolen. Jack thought it was fishy, so he asked around to her neighbors. When he turned up nothing, he was certain that she was committing insurance fraud and he called up her insurance company to report her. Linda Taylor left Chicago before they could get her on insurance fraud. She found a nice guy real estate agent in Van Buren county in Michigan and introduced herself as Dr. Connie Walker, a heart surgeon from Chicago. He showed her a new built house and Linda told him it was Perfect. She put $400 down and said she'd pay the rest in full in two months. He never saw that money, not even as checks from the state of Michigan arrived in Linda's mailbox. She was receiving $81 in food stamps and an additional $236 every two weeks through the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program. Because Linda reportedly had seven dependent children, she did not. The children who were there did not have their origins accounted for, and she was accused of stealing children. Later, though, those charges did not stick. When another social worker reviewed Linda's case, she got so overwhelmed just looking at the names. So overwhelmed that she didn't notice the set of twins and the subsequent set of triplets were born just five days apart. What finally brought the law's attention to her in Michigan was purchasing a new Cadillac. Not only that, but she had Charles Bailey park it in the neighbor's garage. The garage of a neighbor who did not know her. The neighbor asked for it to be moved, and when no one moved the car from his own garage, he called the police to tow it. That's when they opened an investigation on the woman who owned it. They learned about the unpaid for house, the government assistance and the car. Not to mention the fraudulent Social Security checks her underage nanny was receiving at her behest. In February of 1972, when Linda was loading up a moving van, the police arrested her and booked her in a Michigan jail. She was charged with the felony of welfare fraud to the amount of $610. A district court judge determined that she was a flight risk. I mean, she was loading up a moving van at the moment they came to arrest her and set her bail at $10,000. After the preliminary examination, another judge reduced her bond to $1,000. Linda paid it, got out of jail, Left Michigan, and never showed up to trial. The next two years saw two marriages and two divorces for Linda. That brings us to 1974, the year Jack Sherwin came out to investigate another burglary and recognized her when he got a warrant to search her place. He found multiple public aid identification cards, and he discovered her outstanding felony warrant. Jack arrested Linda on behalf of the state of Michigan. That's when her story went viral. She was the welfare queen. As I mentioned before, Linda became one very hot topic for Ronald Reagan's rallies When he was campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination in 1974. And even though Reagan was not the Republican nomination in 1974, people remembered the welfare queen. Linda was for sure committing fraud, but the amount she was accused of stealing at this time was $610. In today's money, that's about $4,000. I don't want to say that $4,000 is not a lot of money. I know I personally could do a lot of damage with $4,000. But to the government, it seems like nothing. Granted, there could be a lot of reasons For a low number like that, Other than that's all she stole. Maybe that's all they could link to her. Maybe that's all she stole from the state of Michigan. Maybe that's all she stole from the state government of Michigan. Maybe that's all she stole through welfare. Regardless, welfare fraud was and always would be her claim to fame. Even when her crimes escalated, Linda fled again. But they found her in Tucson, Arizona. That's the first time she was referenced as the welfare queen. To be fair, Reagan never called her that. He just detailed her frauds and then added some more. Police removed Linda back to Illinois, the state having jurisdiction of the crime. To my knowledge, she did not bring any of her children, biological or otherwise, with her. It seems like they were either residing with other family members or were wards of the state at this time. Then she moved in with her friend, Patricia Parks. And this is where the story gets sadder. The women had met at mass, Although Linda was not necessarily a catholic, and she saw that Patricia Parks needed help. Patricia was 36, a former teacher with a master's of education. She had three children, nine, seven, and five. And she was in the middle of a bad divorce. She also had multiple sclerosis and recurrent bladder and kidney problems, and her husband did not help with those medical bills. Patricia was an immigrant from Trinidad, and she had no family to lean on. She was a perfect victim. Linda invited Patricia to a seance where she predicted that Patricia would die in six months. But of course, Linda could change that. She packed her stuff and moved into Patricia's house. She told the nine year old Bridgetta, I'm here to take care of you. But Linda had no interest in kids. I mean, aside from how much she could get from the government for claiming them as her dependents. She just wanted them to stay out of the way while she nursed Patricia. And just in case her health didn't improve, Patricia wrote up her last will and testament, which left her estate to a trustee who would provide for her children. She also named an executor to manage any real estate in their favor. She named Linda Taylor for both roles. Meanwhile, detectives were building a case against Linda and her bill was stacking up to be much more than $610. She was now charged with stealing $7,600, even though she had likely stolen much more. Linda was flamboyant too. She did not fit in with Patricia's ring of refined teacher friends. And her now ex husband boiled at the sight of Linda. He knew something wasn't right. Patricia's health did decline. And when her multiple sclerosis started to affect her speech, doctors prescribed her tranquilizers. She also tried the West Indian remedies her mother recommended in her letters. Nothing helped. As she got worse, Linda put her in isolation. Patricia took Bridgetta's room. Bridgetta slept in a twin bed in her brother's room. While the boys shared another bed. Linda moved herself into the primary bedroom. In some of her dying moments, Patricia had her lawyer change the beneficiary on her life insurance policies from her ex husband to her children. And on April 30, 1975, Patricia gave Linda the quitclaim deed to her house. Both of these signatures happened in her hospital bed. On June 11, Patricia was released from the hospital. Four days later, she was found unconscious at home and she was pronounced dead on arrival to the er. A later article in the Chicago Tribune stated that investigators found an excessive amount of medical drugs, including barbiturates, in her blood. It didn't prove murder, but a barbiturate overdose like this one definitely raised questions about Patricia's caretaker. The name that said caretaker signed on the informant line of Patricia's death certificate was Linda C. Wakefield. Patricia's three kids moved to three different terrible foster homes. They missed their own mother's funeral. Finally, a Cook county judge granted their father custody. He and his parents were astonished when they saw the kids. They were all emaciated and the youngest one had Taken to hoarding food, which many children do when they don't know when they'll eat again. Their father barricaded himself in his and Patricia's home. He blamed himself for letting Linda take over, but he wouldn't let her take their house. And he was convinced that this was murder. Police did launch an investigation into this claim, but Linda was never arrested nor charged with a crime. The obvious question here is why not? And I don't have a good answer. When Josh Levine went to interview John Parks, Patricia's ex husband, in 2013, he said, Boy, you waited a long time to come. It had been 37 years. In his book about Linda, the Queen, Josh Levine writes, in terms of the bottom line, there was little value in marching cheaters into court. George Lindbergh, the former state comptroller whose signature adorned the front of Linda Taylor's welfare checks, said in 1977 that trying to extract cash from fraudsters was pointless. They didn't have any, so the state wasn't getting any. Taylor cost the state money. As both a public aid recipient and a criminal defendant, I'm sure that's true. But the decision not to press her for murder because the welfare case was more indictable, that doesn't seem right to me, especially because the sentencing was pretty light. But before we get to that welfare fraud trial, first, more crime. In January of 1976, Linda married Sherman Ray in Chicago. In case you're counting, this is marriage number six. In February, she was charged with stealing from her ex roommate a television, a fur coat, an electric can opener, and other household goods. She also effectively kidnapped Sherman's niece. In brief, Sherman was his niece Diana's default babysitter. Diana knew Linda from the times when they'd eat peanut butter sandwiches and watch soap operas. So when Linda kept up the babysitting routine, Diana was not alarmed at all. Not even when Linda babysat her at a different house for several days, maybe a week. Diana wasn't alarmed, but her grandfather Raymond sure was. That was Sherman's dad. He never liked Linda. Raymond showed up with police to the house where Linda was holding Diana, even though Diana never knew about it. And Raymond carried her to the car because she didn't have any shoes. Later, Raymond Diana learned that her uncle Sherman told her granddad Raymond where Linda was, even though he stood by Linda after she abducted his niece. Raymond did his best to keep Linda away from Diana, but Raymond never pressed charges against her. I'm assuming that's for two reasons. One, police aren't always trustworthy, and two, she was his son's wife. Finally, in 1977, her welfare fraud trial began. The process was very drawn out and hard to follow, so I will just summarize its outcome after I tell you about what she wore to court. I know that this is a tacky red carpet question that only women get asked, but it's so interesting to me, so I need to tell you about it. I told you before that she was flamboyant. Don't forget that this was also the 70s, so flamboyant is relative. Linda completely ignored the dress code her counsel advised to her first indictment back in 1974. She'd worn a thigh length leather coat with shearling trim, a black hat and leather gloves. Fantastic. A few months later, she wore a white top with a cleavage cutout, another leather coat, white satin slacks, and a white tam o'shanter which if you didn't know, is the kind of traditional Scottish hat that Dougal and Myrto wear in Outlander Bold. Love it. Next, she wore a denim pantsuit and a ginger Afro wig and her new husband, Sherman Ray wore faux crocodile shoes with goldfish in the plastic heels. This woman sucks, but her outfits are marvelous. After a drawn out process involving more deception, Linda was convicted of theft and perjury and she was sentenced to three to seven years in state prison. She also pleaded guilty to burglary charges from 1976, so she served a concurrent five and a half year prison term. Just over two years later, in 1980, the Illinois Parole Board released Linda from prison and Ronald Reagan after campaigning on welfare reform again and this time winning the Republican Presidential nomination, went into to the White House.
- [47:27]
Hi listeners, I'm Mary Kay McBrayer, host of the Greatest True Crime Stories Ever Told Season 2 podcast and I'm excited to share these riveting stories with you. I'm also excited to tell you that you can now get access to all episodes of the Greatest True Crime Stories ever told season one and season two 100% ad free and access all episodes of the Greatest True Crime Stories Ever Told Season two one week early through the I Heart True Crime plus subscription available exclusively on Apple Podcasts plus you'll get access to other chart topping true crime shows you love like There and Gone, South Street Paper Ghosts, Piketon Massacre, Murder Homes Unrestorable, the Godmother, Betrayal and more. So don't wait, head to Apple Podcasts, search for I Heart True Crime plus and subscribe today.
- [48:16]
Maria Tremarke
Hey y'all, I'm Maria Fernanda Diaz. My podcast when youn're Invisible is my love letter to the working class people and immigrants who shaped my life. I get to talk to a lot of people who form the backbone of our society but who have never been interviewed before. Season 2 is all about community organizing and being underestimated.
- [48:38]
Mary Kay McBrayer
All the greatest changes have happened when a couple of people said, this sucks.
- [48:42]
Holly Fry
Let'S do something about it.
- [48:43]
Maria Tremarke
I can't have more than $2,000 in my bank account or else I can't get disability benefits.
- [48:49]
Mary Kay McBrayer
They won't let you succeed.
- [48:51]
Maria Tremarke
I know we get paid to serve you guys, but like be respectful. We're made out of the same things. Bone, body, blood.
- [48:59]
Mary Kay McBrayer
It's rare to have black male teachers. Sometimes I am the lesson and I'm also the testament.
- [49:04]
Maria Tremarke
Listen to when youn're Invisible as part of the Mike Ultura Podcast Network. Available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [49:17]
Nancy Grace
Stay on top of Breaking Crime News with Crime Alert Hourly Update available now.
- [49:21]
I'm Nancy Grace. Our team of reporters and experts is dedicated to bringing you the top crime headlines you need to know every hour on the hour. From missing people to trial updates and true crime stories, we bring you the latest real time news and analysis.
- [49:40]
Whether it's the latest developments in a high profile case or urgent alerts about missing persons, Crime Alert Hourly Update delivers the news you need to know as it happens.
- [49:50]
Stay informed, keep yourself and your family safe with Crime Alert Hourly Update, the only podcast delivering hourly true crime updates.
- [50:01]
Subscribe now to Crime Alert Hourly Update and never miss a moment of breaking crime news. Listen to Crime Alert Hourly Update on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. To have a murder as gruesome as Jade Beasley's doesn't happen very often down.
- [50:22]
Maria Tremarke
Here in Marion, Illinois. An 11 year old girl brutally stabbed to death. Her father's longtime live in girlfriend maintaining innocence but charged with her murder.
- [50:33]
Mary Kay McBrayer
I am confident that Julie Beverly is guilty. This case, the more I learned about.
- [50:38]
Maria Tremarke
It, the more I'm scratching my head.
- [50:41]
Mary Kay McBrayer
Something's not right.
- [50:42]
Maria Tremarke
I'm Lauren Bright Pacheco Murder on Songbird Road dives into the conviction of a mother of four who, remember, remains behind.
- [50:49]
Mary Kay McBrayer
Bars and the investigation that put her there. I have not seen this level of corruption anywhere.
- [50:57]
Maria Tremarke
It's sickening.
- [50:57]
Mary Kay McBrayer
If you step somebody that many times, you'd have blood splatter. Where's the change of clothes? She found out she was pregnant in jail.
- [51:05]
Nancy Grace
She wasn't treated like she was an innocent human being at all which is just horrific.
- [51:10]
Mary Kay McBrayer
Nobody has gotten justice yet. And that's what I wish people would understand that.
- [51:15]
Maria Tremarke
Listen to Murder on Songbird road on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever.
- [51:20]
Mary Kay McBrayer
You get your podcasts. We just left Linda as she was discharged from prison just two years after she was admitted. And she was living with her husband and Vietnam veteran Sherman Ray in Chicago in 1983. Raymond, that's Sherman's father, was at home when he got a visitor. It was his close friend, Booker. Booker sat down and he told Raymond that Sherman was dead. Booker had watched the whole thing happen. Sherman had been backing away from a confrontation with a much older man and he had been defenseless. He was standing in front of a tree when he'd been blasted through the chest with a shotgun. The old man who shot Sherman was Wiltrew Lloyd and was a relative of Linda's. Wiltrew swore it was an accident, but Booker saw the whole thing and he was convinced that Linda was an accessory. Sherman Ray had purchased two life insurance plans before his death and Linda was the sole beneficiary. But police never put together that Linda Ray was Linda Taylor, and the press did not connect her either. She'd been out of the spotlight for five years. A month later, Linda moved to a house in Florida with her husband's killer. In Florida, Linda stole mostly from individuals. When she got evicted from one house, she took the owner's furniture and lawn decor. An older woman named Mildred Markham stayed there with them. Linda would claim that Mildred was her grandmother, but she wasn't. Mildred was in her mid-70s and she was mostly non communicative. It seems like Linda tricked her in a similar way that she'd tricked Patricia, telling Mildred that she would take care of her. She also told Mildred that she was her long lost daughter and that Mildred should come to live with her. The neighbors told Mildred's daughter that she left, but she was smiling. It didn't seem like she was forced. When Linda's son Johnny came to visit, though, it seemed clear that Mildred was being held against her will. He can't remember why he didn't get involved. Linda told guests that Mildred wasn't allowed to stay inside because she practiced voodoo. At mealtime, Mildred collected her plate and ate in the barn. Linda and Wiltrue also slept in the barn. I could not figure out why. Mildred later wrote to her daughter saying that she was mistreated. Her granddaughter tried to track her down and rescue her, but she couldn't find her. After that, residents evicted them. They moved in with another family. The Snells observed Linda's cruelty without experiencing it firsthand. Linda had a dog with a tail, and one day she randomly ordered Wiltrue to cut it off. It was terrible. The dog recovered, but it suffered first. She also berated Mildred for no reason. Though it wasn't clear if Mildred understood that was what was happening. It was a matter of time before Mildred died too. It won't surprise you to hear that Mildred Markham had money and property. Linda fleeced Mildred. Mildred deeded 185 acres to Linda in exchange for $150,000. But there's no indication that she ever paid a penny. Then Wiltrue married Mildred in 1986. There was a domestic dispute between them. And there's no reliable account of the incident that put Mildred into the coma that ultimately ended her life. Mildred also had two life insurance policies, and Linda Taylor was the beneficiary of both. And Linda started collecting government checks on Mildred, too, after she died. Even though everything about Mildred Markham's death looked dubious. Linda was never tried for association with Mildred's death either. This scam would continue until 1993. And she'd collect more than $60,000. What finally burned her was a tip on a toll free hotline manned by federal agents. Mark Scateri was a special agent for the United States Railroad Retirement Board. He mostly investigated benefit fraud. He was the one who got the call that Linda Springer had been cashing survivor's benefits on Mildred Markham, the widow of Pullman Porter James Marcum, for seven years. He also got the tip that Linda Springer was Linda Taylor. Scateri's deductions indicated that Linda likely pushed Mildred down the stairs, which ultimately caused the brain injury that ended her life, so that she could collect on these pension benefits. But he couldn't prove that, not seven years later, not without concrete evidence. What he did have concrete evidence of was that as of the fall of 1993, Linda Taylor had received unwarranted payments from railroad retirement to the total of $62,315.44. In 1994. Linda had been out of prison for 14 years. And she'd committed all sorts of crimes with almost no consequence. Now she was charged with six felony counts of illegally cashing U.S. treasury checks. @ her arraignment, she pleaded not guilty. Back in 1978, three of her Chicago lawyers had big concerns. They said she was, quote, incapable of knowing whether or not she was telling the truth. Even before that, another attorney noted that two psychiatrists said she was psychotic and Unable to understand the nature of the procedure, Proceedings of which she was a defendant. That did not mean she was innocent, far from it. It meant she wasn't much help to her lawyers. In 1994, her public defender said that Linda wasn't able to assist in her own defense. Her answers to his questions, questions he needed to get answered in order to build her case, were vague, tangential, completely unrelated, or altogether fabricated. In 1994 and 95, she baffled psychologists. They had to rely on an inveterate liar to tell them about herself. One finally determined that although he couldn't be conclusive about her diagnosis, she didn't belong in a courtroom. His best guess was was senile dementia, brain disorder or underlying psychopathology or mental illness, maybe a psychotic disorder or delusional disorder. In 1994, Linda was committed for psychiatric treatment, and she'd be reevaluated in four months. Her own daughter, Sandra, said, I believe the things she says. She truly believes in her mind that these things have occurred and claimed that she tried to get Linda committed to an institution. Other doctors were completely certain that she was competent to stand trial despite any mental illness. On July 5, 1995, Judge H. Dale cook ruled that Linda Taylor was incompetent to stand trial, and there was no likelihood of her recovery. She was released from federal custody and involuntarily committed to a mental health facility in Florida. The following year, the federal government dismissed its indictment. The insurance fraud investigator was sure it was a conversation. She'd conned the doctors just like she'd conned everyone else, and I'm inclined to agree. When Linda's son Johnny, went to see her in the facility, he didn't think it was a con. She ranted and raved, and she didn't recognize him. When she finally did recognize him, she begged him to take her with him. She didn't want to stay at a homeless shelter, and that's where she said she was headed. Linda was a terrible parent. She had abused and abandoned all her children, Sometimes multiple times over the course of their lives, Pawning them off here and there. Understandably, none of them wanted anything to do with her. Johnny did what Linda would have done. He left. Then a few hours down the road, he thought about Mildred Markham and how she had begged him to rescue her. He had done nothing then, and he couldn't remember why. He asked his wife what she would do. His wife, Carol, said she wouldn't have left the institution without her if it had been her mother. So Johnny turned around. In Johnny's defense, Linda Taylor was not Carol's mother. She was awful. But Johnny did the honorable thing, the thing probably that would allow him to live with himself later. Linda lived with Johnny and Carol for a while, and then she went to live with Sandra. And when her dementia worsened, Sandra admitted her to a nursing home that could give round the clock care. April 18, 2002. Linda Taylor died of a heart attack. The name they landed on for her death certificate was Constance Lloyd. This story is a wild one, to be sure. The thread is hard to follow for many reasons, and many of those concerned her identity. Linda grew up without an honest identity that she could claim. She made up so many identities in response that it's still not clear who she really was or what she was really trying to do, or why she did the horrible things she did, let alone how she got away with it for so long. At the top of the episode, I mentioned that I got to talk to the author of the book about Linda Taylor, Josh Levine. Here's our conversation. Hi Josh, thank you so much for coming on to talk with me about the Queen Linda Taylor. I think right after your book released, you wrote and hosted the four part podcast series about Linda Taylor through Slate, which we're linking in our show's notes so our listeners can go listen to that too, because it's awesome. But my question is, how was that experience different? How is it different writing the book versus writing the podcast? What was the experience like for you?
- [64:08]
Holly Fry
Yeah, it started for me with an article that ran on slate in 2013 that was like a 15,000 word article that took me about a year to research and report and write. And then the book came out in 2019. So it took me another six years after that to get the level of research that I needed to do to tell her story in full. And the podcast was based on that book research. It was simultaneous. And so I thought it would be really valuable and important to hear the story and the voices of the people who lived through it. Podcasting is a great medium, I think we can both agree.
- [64:53]
Mary Kay McBrayer
I love it.
- [64:54]
Holly Fry
And so yeah, it was really gratifying to be able to tell this story in so many different formats and to hopefully reach people wherever they are.
- [65:05]
Mary Kay McBrayer
My next question is actually about your research methods because she is so slippery. She even has so many aliases. So I feel like I would, when I was researching her, be second guessing myself constantly about like, because the names don't match up even though other things do. So can you talk about your research methods? I mean, I know it was a Very extensive experience. But can you, like, give us a little insight into how you, how you wrangled her?
- [65:31]
Holly Fry
Sure. So when I first started this project, there was a colleague of mine who had told me that the welfare queen stereotype, or the phrase the welfare queen, that it had been originally associated with a specific person. I didn't know that at all, but that was an intriguing little tidbit. And then I started looking in news databases that we have access to as journalists, and I found a whole bunch of stories from the year 1974 to 1978. They were all about this woman, Linda Taylor, who had committed welfare fraud in Chicago. Was written about a lot by the Chicago Tribune, was talked about by Ronald Reagan, but this was just a four year period of her life. There was just this really brief moment where she was famous all across America, where people might have known her name, where she was, you know, recognized as this villain who was put on trial. She was on television. But the thing that fascinated me and that got me hooked on this story for years and years and years was the fact that there was nothing written about her before 1974 and nothing written about her after 1978. And as you're alluding to in that coverage, it was noted that she used a lot of different names. And so where do you start? Where do you look? I've done a lot of public records requests in my day as a journalist, and having a name and a date of birth and I mean, people might not be aware of this, but often you also have to have a death certificate or failing that, an obituary, because the FBI, for instance, they're not going to release records to just me, a random person who's interested, if the person's still living, that's a violation of their privacy. So it took me so long to follow the trail from one name to another, from one city to another, from one state to another, from from one agency to another, to put together all of the different pieces to even be able to figure out that she was dead. So that was the first thing, and what my editor at Slate told me is that in order to run this piece, you need to figure out what happened to this woman. And it wasn't documents ultimately that allowed me to figure that out. It was getting in touch with one of her children, and he told me the name that she was using when she died. And then I was able to kind of backtrack and put things together from there. That was an important lesson, is that documents can get you part of the way there. In a story like this interviews with people can get you part of the way there, but you kind of need both to put together a full story.
- [68:41]
Mary Kay McBrayer
In the podcast, you mentioned that first court case about her being the heir to Lawrence Wakefield was both sealed and misplaced, and you still got it, which I think is amazing. Can you talk about what that process was like? Like, I know you said you got, like, a lawyer to ask for it, and just how. How did that go down, that particular one? Because I feel like that to. To your point, I think you mentioned this maybe in both the book and the podcast, but, like, that kind of sets the stage for who she became. Like, that one court case, it's huge. But that one felt like it grounded me in almost her Persona.
- [69:22]
Holly Fry
Yeah. Getting access to that was so important and kind of opening up the whole story. And I knew that this case existed from press accounts, and there were some. I mentioned that 1974-78 period where she was actually written about. There were a few kind of offhand references to it. So I was able to then go back to the earlier 1960s coverage, which she was under a totally different name. There was no obvious connection, but kind of knowing the different names and being able to piece it together. So I knew that there was this court case and there was some public interest in it back then. So there were some newspaper accounts that gave some details. But, yeah, I found out that the case was sealed in Cook county, where Chicago is, by the probate court. I don't think I was ever able to figure out why it was sealed. Yeah. Just had to get some lawyers to help me get it unsealed and get those records available for me to look through. And when. You know, for anybody who has experience dealing with court files or court records, you often just have no idea what's in there, whether there's going to be just a bunch of orders and legal kind of argumentation or whether there's going to be actual evidence. So when I open this court file, there was a photo of her that must have been from, like, the 1940s. That's in the book. It's a really beautiful, striking photo of her in her youth. There was some stuff that had been confiscated from her, like a wallet that had Lawrence Wakefield's name in it, so you could actually feel the real events or kind of her presence in there. So that was a really amazing find. But the thing that was so. Just incredible was that if a case gets appealed, what often happens is that there's a transcript of the original case generated just because it's needed for the appeal. Pointing to they said this or they said that. And so this is the grounds for our appeal. So she had appealed when she had lost that case. And there was a transcript of her testimony when her mother had come up from the Deep south to testify against her. And so a lot of the information that's in the book that's not even directly relevant to that court case. It's like her aunt saying she was born in Gold Dust, Tennessee, in this house, and it was a rainy day. A lot of that is just testimony from that court case. That I was lucky to be able to get unsealed. And I was lucky to find within that file that those words had been, you know, preserved. It's been like, 60 years now. I guess it was like, a little more than 50 years when I started working on it.
- [72:29]
Mary Kay McBrayer
There's strong. I feel like there was strong evidence that you presented that supported that she at least had a hand in the murders of three different people. So Patricia Parks, Mildred Markham, and Sherman Ray are the ones that really jumped out to me as like. I mean, it seems like she had something to do with all three of their deaths. Do you think so?
- [72:52]
Holly Fry
Yeah, I think there's strong evidence pointing in that direction. But I think one of the main points I wanted people to come away with from this work that I did. Is that the fact that that question can't be answered definitively is kind of the point. Because the welfare fraud that she committed was investigated so thoroughly and was focused on so intently. She was put on trial for it, and she was sent to prison for it. And, you know, it's two things. It's like you can just put that fact, you know, up and note that. And then note that the other crimes, the allegations of homicide and kidnapping. Were not treated the same way. And that seems like it makes its own point. But I think you can go one step further and argue that whether it's police resources or prosecutorial resources, these things are finite. And there's discretion around what kinds of crimes are investigated, what's focused on. And I think in this particular case, the resources that were devoted to focusing on her welfare fraud is part of the reason, a really big reason, why we don't have answers to the questions about those murders. And I think it's really something that the survivors of those folks have a really hard time grappling with. Or had a hard time grappling with when I interviewed them. Just this knowledge that their loved one's death just wasn't deemed to be as important. As welfare fraud by the press, by politicians, by law enforcement agencies. And so I can marshal whatever evidence that I have. You know, the insurance policies that she took out in people's names, the eyewitness accounts of how Patricia Parks was treated and how Mildred Markham was treated, which I think is pretty strong evidence. But it's not enough to send somebody to prison. Like, you would need an actual police investigation for that, which will just never. It's too late. Like, that can't happen.
- [75:18]
Mary Kay McBrayer
The question I like to end with is like, is there anything that I should have asked you about, about this story that I didn't? Or anything that you want to talk about that we didn't touch on?
- [75:27]
Holly Fry
I think that Linda Taylor's story and the story of her victims shows the power of one individual anecdote. And everybody loves stories. Stories can inform. They can also mislead. And this is a really crazy story, right? It's like a story that's. You've probably, in various ways never heard a story like it. And the fact that public policy was made based on this one crazy story, the fact that a stereotype was born out of one crazy story, when it's actually the exact opposite conclusion that we should reach, is that this woman only kind of stood for herself. The only conclusions that you can draw are ones about her and about. I think, that the victims. But this notion that her story was used to demonize recipients of public aid, the fact that it was used, in my view, to demonize poor people of color as a group, I think it's just a really important lesson for everyone as consumers of news, of media, of stories, to think about who's telling the story and what they want you to be taking away from it and to just really be careful in the kinds of conclusions that you're drawing from one example, because, I mean, I obviously thought it was important to tell this one story and that there are lessons that can be drawn from it. But I think one of the big lessons is don't draw too many conclusions from one story.
- [77:21]
Mary Kay McBrayer
I think that's great advice for everyone, but about this story, for sure. And thank you so much for coming on to talk to me about Linda Taylor, the Queen. Tell us what you're working on now and the best way for our listeners to find you.
- [77:38]
Holly Fry
Yeah. So in addition to the Queen book and podcast, I do a lot of work in audio. I am the editorial director of a podcast for Slate called Slow Burn that tells the stories of really big events in American history. Over in the modern US I hosted a season about the political rise of David Duke in my home state of Louisiana, which is another really big and important and powerful story that I think there are lessons to be learned from. I'm currently working on a new season of Slow Burn that's about the rise of Fox News, which will be out later this year. And I also created and hosted another history podcast called One Year that's about different years in American history and the wild and unexpected things that happened within them, and a bunch of just really deeply reported stories there as well, if folks are into that sort of thing.
- [79:00]
Mary Kay McBrayer
Join me next week on the Greatest True Crime Stories Ever Told. For our episode about Ann Rule, you might know the famous true crime author for her book the Stranger Beside Me, about her time working a suicide hotline with one of the worst serial killers ever known, Ted Bundy. But this episode is going to focus on the queen of true crime writing, Ann Rule herself. I'd also like to recognize Josh Levine's book the Queen Again, since it was my primary source for this research. For more information about this case and others we cover on the show, visit diversionaudio.com the greatest true Crime Stories Stories Ever Told is a production of Diversion Audio. I'm Mary Kay McBrayer and I hosted this episode. I also wrote this episode. Our show is Produced by Emma DeMuth, edited by Antonio Enriquez, theme music by Tyler Cash, executive produced by Scott Waxman hi listeners.
- [80:41]
I'm Mary Kay McBrayer, host of the Greatest True Crime Stories Ever Told Season 2 podcast and I'm excited to share these riveting stories with you. I'm also excited to tell you that you can now get access to all episodes of the Greatest True Crime stories ever told season one and season two 100% ad free and access all episodes of the Greatest True Crime Stories Ever Told Season 2 one week early through the I Heart True Crime plus subscription available exclusively on Apple Podcasts Plus. You'll get access to other chart topping true crime shows you love like There and Gone, South Street, Paper Ghosts, Piketon Massacre, Murder Homes, Unrestorable, the Godmother, Betrayal, and more. So don't wait. Head to Apple Podcasts, search for I Heart True Crime plus and subscribe today.
- [81:29]
Nancy Grace
Need the latest crime news fast. Whether it's the latest developments in a high profile case or urgent alerts about missing persons, Crime Alert Hourly Update delivers the news you need to know as it happens.
- [81:41]
I'm Nancy Grace and with our team of investigative reporters and experts, we bring you the top crime headlines you need to know every hour on the hour.
- [81:50]
Listen to Crime Alert hourly Update on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [82:00]
Maria Tremarke
Welcome to the Criminalia Podcast. I'm Maria Tremarke.
- [82:03]
Nancy Grace
And I'm Holly Fry. Together we invite you into the dark and winding corridors of historical true crime.
- [82:10]
Maria Tremarke
Each season we explore a new theme, from poisoners to art thieves.
- [82:15]
Nancy Grace
We uncover the secrets of history's most interesting figures, from legal injustices to body snatching.
- [82:21]
Maria Tremarke
And tune in at the end of each episode as we indulge in cocktails and mocktails inspired by each story.
- [82:28]
Nancy Grace
Listen to criminalia on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [82:34]
Maria Tremarke
Hey y'all, I'm Maria Fernanda Diaz. When youn're Invisible is my love letter to the working class people and immigrants Who Shaped Season 2. Shares stories about community and being underestimated.
- [82:47]
Mary Kay McBrayer
All the greatest changes have happened when a couple of people said, this sucks.
- [82:50]
Holly Fry
Let'S do something about it.
- [82:52]
Maria Tremarke
We get paid to serve you, but we're made out of the same things. It's rare to have black male teachers.
- [82:57]
Mary Kay McBrayer
Sometimes I am the testament.
- [82:58]
Maria Tremarke
Listen to when youn're Invisible on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.