My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark - MFM Minisode 222

Episode Date: April 12, 2021

This week’s hometowns include a Night Stalker story and an earthquake tale.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We at Wondery live, breathe and downright obsess over true crime and now we're launching the ultimate true crime fan experience, Exhibit C. Join now by following Wondery, Exhibit C on Facebook and listen to true crime on Wondery and Amazon Music, Exhibit C. It's truly criminal. Hello and welcome to my favorite murder. The mini-soad. The mini-soad. Wow. My hair is standing up straight. I mean, it's core hair for sure. And that is. I say that as someone with wet 70s guy hair right now. I always take a shower just perfectly not in enough time to blow dry my hair when we get on Zoom. It's my favorite thing to do. Dries terribly.

Nice and frizzy on the bottom, kind of a triangle. I need a haircut so bad. Oh, you too. We read your emails here in your stories and they're about pretty much anything at this point. Biting, Biden, well pits, celebrity sightings, the dumps, the haunted houses, things and walls, right, murders. We got it all. Do you want to go first this week? Sure. Okay. Speaking of biting. I'm not going to read you a little subject. Hi, Karen and Georgia, longtime fan here. A while back, you asked for biting stories. And that's B-I-T-I-N-G, like bite. Not Joe Biden. Not Joe Biden. Well, gee, do I have one for you. During my freshman year of high school, my church youth group would play games of tag at night in the completely dark and

creepy church building. Sexy. If this sounds like a bad idea, it most definitely was. One of these nights, I volunteered to be it. Completely out of character for me, the girl who would feign injuries to get out of playing kickball. Do you know that I once went to like the high school for like a semester of for bad kids and PE was literally ping pong? What? So which is why I'm kind of good at ping pong is because I was juvenile delinquent. Hell yes. And they finally picked something kids want to actually spend their time doing and getting good at. They had that in the smoking section in the 90s, which you didn't have anymore. It was pretty. You're just like, what? That's the life. I'll do a medial math. What's it called? Okay. Completely out of character. But you know,

I was feeling adventurous, aka I wanted to impress my church crush and nothing says hot, single and ready to mingle like what happens next. Oh, anyways, the game has started. I'm doing okay. I've tagged a few people. I'm feeling good about myself when I see one of my friends running up the aisles of the church sanctuary. I've and I've decided they're next. They're pretty far ahead of me, but I'm running full speed and gaining ground when suddenly they come to a complete stop. It's too late for me though. I'm committed. I'm airborne. I'm crashing into him. My mouth collides with the back of his head. Suddenly I'm on the ground and something doesn't feel right. I think there's something floating in my mouth. Then it registers. It's my front tooth root and all.

I'm inconsolable as my best my best friend leads me to the bathroom to assess the damage and the boy I crashed into follows apologizing profusely. I repeatedly tell him probably not super coherently considering my newly acquired lisp. Let me try it. You knocked my tooth out. You knocked my tooth. My in shock self had no mercy. By this point, someone had found my older brother who drives me to the emergency room where they spend a ridiculous amount of time trying to shove my tooth back in the socket, which is about as fun as it sounds. Spoiler, it doesn't work and I will eventually have to get fake teeth. I'm sorry, fake front teeth after I get home later that night with one last tooth and I started the evening with my embarrassment and horror. I find out through my completely full

text inbox. Oh my God, my popular now that when I collided with this kid, I must have had my mouth open because he has a cut from that my teeth on the back of his head and a concussion. But who really cares about them when you've essentially bit someone? Thankfully, he didn't care and even brought me flowers the next day to apologize to me. I didn't get him anything to apologize for my small four way into vampirism. But personally, I think my having to walk around missing a front tooth for a week at the already awkward age of 15 was probably apology enough. Anyway, that's my biting story. Thanks ladies for all you do. Your podcast brings some much needed levity to to my days. I tend to listen while I'm at work

and I'm sure some people are confused as to why I'm laughing to myself behind my mask. And remember, stay sexy and don't get murdered. And if you're ever playing tag, keep that mouth shut, Jamie. That's how hard Jamie was running up that aisle dedicated. But can I just ask and maybe I just missed this? Was it her crush? He ended up biting or just a random guy like it. But I think it was just a random guy. And I'm sure either way, but the crush was probably nearby. I probably stopped to gawk. Yeah, losing a tooth is pretty intense. An adult tooth. Shit. Yeah, that was no like she wasn't in third grade. No, exactly. Hopefully the teeth that she fake teeth look better than the original. Yeah. It's all you can tell. What if she just got her braces off

a week before? That's out of a like a teen movie or something. I told you about the time I was super drunk on tequila shots at the rap party for Shakespeare in the park, which the party was in the park. And my friends were like, come down here. And I started running between two sets of benches and were like, basically built up all this steam between running and then ended up flipping over the bench. And when I sat up, I spit out like a perfect divot of grass that was like a retainer. Because when I fell, my teeth went into the dirt. You're so lucky it wasn't like hard pavement. That was the last time I drank tequila and it was in 1991, I think. The smartest thing you could have given up. It's the worst fucking truly. Don't fall for the tequila

like promise. The tequila promises you won't gain as much weight because there's not as much. There's some like saying about it's in a like Keto or like there's some diet that's like you can drink tequila, right? And then it's also like a cleaner. It's fucking it's it's still legitimately poisoned. I disagree that it's clean. I think it causes so many more problems than than fun. Yeah, whether or not there's something it's like a psychedelic almost where it's different than normal drugs. It is. It you go crazy with vodka, everyone, if you're going to drink high, not not the bottom of the barrel vodka to brought to you by Smirnoff. This is my dad's Night Stalker story. Hello, MFM fam. I finally have a story to submit to you. I was recently talking to my

dad about the Netflix Night Stalker series when he which was amazing by the amazing editorial opinions of us when he casually slipped into the conversation. Did I ever tell you about my Night Stalker story? What? So my parents met in Los Angeles and lived there around the time that the Night Stalker was active and terrorizing the city. In the midst of this, my folks decided to pick up and move to San Francisco and it just settled into their new home. When wouldn't you know it suddenly it was reported that the Night Stalker was running around San Francisco instead of LA. I'll never forget it. Never forget it. Oh my God. The Night Stalker migrated north. You guys must have been like everyone. He's coming to our house. Yes. Every person they're like

the rumor that first that I remember going around was he kills people in yellow houses. Then it was people in white houses. Then it was like you had to know certain people to know what the color of the house was because I think we've talked about this before but we watched it happening in LA. Very like oh that's horrible for them and then it came fucking right into the I mean it's such that story is unbelievable. I want to see everyone painting their house magenta but everyone in daily city was safe because that's the that's the city that Little Box is. Little Box is. Little Box is. Little Box. Okay. Look that song up. It's amazing. It's a red one. It's a green one. My dad thinks that every time we're on that freeway. I love that. Okay. What? Where did we go? I don't know.

My parents understood that the Night Stalker's MO meant anybody could be his next target so my dad took up a new routine of casing the house every night before going to bed to double and triple check that all the doors and windows were locked and that the house was secure. Fine. Good. Work it out. At this time my parents had a German short haired pointer named Faust who by all accounts was just about the most perfect dog ever to exist. Steven will you pull up a picture of a German short short haired pointer so we can get a visual on this? I have no idea what that is. German short haired pointer. Yeah. Faust. Sounds perfect. But one night in the wee hours when everyone was fast asleep Faust started barking up a storm. My dad jumped out of bed grabbed a

baseball bat and made his way downstairs to find Faust growling by the front door with his hackles raised. With his adrenaline pumping my dad started making his way throughout the house throughout the house looking for signs of a break-in. He found that all of the doors and windows were still locked and didn't seem to have been tampered with so he opened the front door to take a look outside when he noticed something sitting on their doorstep. Hold on Steven's got a picture. Bring it closer. Here we go. Closer, closer, closer. Oh yeah those guys. Gorgeous. It's basically it's what you think of when you think of a duck hunting dog is a German short haired pointer. Right? It doesn't look like a German shepherd at all. It's like a howl. It's

definitely a howl. It's just a German version of a howl to correct. It's got those correct howls. I love those dogs. They're so cute. Yeah. Those are dogs that like to have a job. Those are dogs that need to go do things for you. Like go to an office every day. They want to earn a living to bring home the bacon for you. You got those Excel spreadsheets aren't going to spread themselves. The dog just deleting entire Excel spreadsheets with a paw. Okay. So I'll reread that part. So he opened the front door to take a look outside when he noticed something sitting on their doorstep. It was a newspaper. Since my parents had just moved to the area they've signed up for a newspaper subscription my dad had forgotten that their deliveries would be that

very morning. I thought it was like a calling card. I was like a newspaper. Right. It's so sinister. The unexpected visitor that came by and freaked out the dog and my parents was none other than the paper delivery man. I'm always talking about true crime with my mom and my aunt but I rarely have these kinds of conversations with my dad. He's the sort of person who prefers not to tell tragic and terrifying stories unless he can point out a silver lining or wrap you up in a hug afterwards. We get it dad. Thank you for continuing to feed my true crime addiction and for providing a reason to laugh for so many throughout this hellscape that is COVID. MFM and the Exactly Right Network is really getting me through it lately. Oh my God. Stay sexy and just sign up for an online

newspaper subscription instead Ellen. I love that and I love these stories of like people's kids finally asking them about their lives because you know we're all like so self-centered and then suddenly like your parents have these stories these untapped stories that no one's ever asked them about. I feel like that's a thing of our podcast that I really love and I've you know it's with my dad too. It's just like it's really lovely. It's great. Yeah especially dads who are like this usually the strong side those of us who have the strong silent type dads. Yeah the dads from the 60s can't come out and be like honey I was so scared and alone like that's never gonna happen. Yeah you're not gonna believe this. Totally. Okay. Old school in car entertainment pays off.

To whom it may concern. When I was a child I would get bored while riding in the car. This was a quote few years ago so when we went places in a car our entertainment was mostly limited to looking out the window or fighting with my siblings. Amen. What can I just say. Remember when they came out to DDD players in the back of the fucking headrests in the back seat. I'm telling you what. Fuck you. You're so spoiled. You have no idea. My friend Lisa told me this when we were in high school but she did it when she was a kid and it made for some reason it stuck in my head and it made me laugh so hard. Lisa Lanyon, SVH class. She said she used to stare out the window because she was her older sister was a lot older than her so she was kind of like

an only child for a lot of her life. She would stare out the window and picture an invisible horse running along through the fields as they drove by so the horse would she would make the horse like jump the fences and and go through the trees and stuff like that and she pictured this like a wild horse running alongside the car. What does she do now because it's such a great imagination. She works with horses she always has. She's like always she's an amazing artist and painter. She does a lot of things but I believe the last time that I heard from her this was like a kind of a Facebook old time Facebook so it was a long time ago but she was working with horses. That is beautiful. It's not the best but it makes me laugh because it's such a specific

like talk about having to get creative with your boredom. Truly like we didn't you guys don't even know. Okay I never thought to learn about cars themselves and I'm still horrible at recognizing make model color but numbers seem to stick in my head so I started memorizing license plates. Every trip I would memorize as many plates as I could and I love seeing how the same cars would pass you and then show up next to you at a light only to pass you again. Don't speed you guys. You're not going anywhere faster. Yeah exactly just says the girl who's a fucking race car driver. As I got older and learned to drive I had to pay attention to the actual road but I still habitually memorized the plates of anyone driving quote suspiciously. I believe this was fairly

random teenager criteria consisting of driving too slow stopping too long at lights and stop signs and driving a super nice car in my middle class neighborhood because those rich people surely must have been up to something. Eventually in college I started driving on the highway a lot and my criteria settled into people who cut in and out me and tailgaters not me which is when my weird habit finally paid off. I was yeah I was visiting my parents this is the best line I've ever heard in a letter. I was visiting my parents washer and dryer. Yes searingly honest. Yes one weekend and stopped at a gas station before I hit the road to head back to school. When I went when I went to walk inside to pay holy crap the realization that this was before

pay at the pump just made me feel so so so old. At any rate when I went inside the store there was a car sitting out front a running car in front of a gas station really shouldn't seem that odd and the gas station that is a block from the police station should be extra safe. You can literally see the police station from the parking lot but a lot of shoulds in those sentences a lot of shoulds you're setting yourself up for sadness. You can shut all over the place. Here you have shit all over this gas station and it's not going to pay off your pants. When something triggered my habit and without thinking I memorized the plate number. Nice. Just as I walked in I was bowled over by a man running out of the station and hopping in

the passenger side as the car sped off. Someone had just robbed the gas station. Just after him a teller ran out trying to get the car's information. I walked in asked the other clerk if he wanted the plate number wrote it down paid walked out and hit the road blew the smoke off both my guns put them back into my holster got into my truck lit a strike anywhere match on my belt buckle rolled a cigarette with one hand threw it up in the air caught it like bugs bunny. Oddly I have almost never remembered a license plate number since. Oh that was the big it was like the rehearsal and the performance.

You shut it all over the place and then you did your duty. My random habit found its one useful instance and I moved on I guess and that's it there's no fucking I can't tell Emily or whoever how great of a fucking no down that was. They just bailed right out of that letter with no no wrap it up vibe because that's who they are they left and they blew out their guns they're just like they Irish goodbyeed out an email that's how cool that person is thanks thanks for even stopping by probably Emily that was amazing okay this one is a feel sensitive to me okay so what I'm going to do is it's it's an email that's the based in earthquakes so we're going to say that this took place in California and

that's as specific as I'm going to be okay okay so I'm going to say I'm going to replace all the other city place names all right with with the phrase such and such okay hello pets and Karen Georgia and s man that's the first I love it sorry the s man s man oh the s man scared me me bye sorry Karen Georgia and the s man as our 70s sitcom I am currently riding from the car as I cross the such and such bridge with my family okay yay for family vacations as we are bumping along and while I'm staring down at the water imagining what it would feel like to jump off parentheses not suicidal just curious my mom casually brings up the time her family thought her uncle such and such died in the such and such

freeway collapse during the 1989 complicated San Francisco earthquake I know all these details okay so sorry I can be as specific as San Francisco yeah because everyone knows the 1989 San Francisco of course for those who don't know and this is we're back in an email in 1989 earthquake here in the bay was a 6.9 magnitude quake that rattled the area during the world series it killed roughly 60 to 70 people and had a massive financial impact on the bay area now this is a quote yes we all thought uncle such and such died he was a such and such on his way to work and after the quake happened no one was able to reach him we basically planned out his funeral and had come to terms with his death my mom says which I thought wouldn't have been as interesting but since we're coming

home from a family reunion where I in all caps literally just saw uncle such and such I knew there was more to this story basically my uncle isn't answering his cell phone because he snuck off to a different country with a new and secret girlfriend after his divorce damn he was new to the cell phone scene and didn't have enough minutes on his phone for international international calls so he left the phone at home upon his return he didn't have any missing messages or calls needless to say my mom's family was shocked when he showed up the following month for dinner with a new woman completely unaware that they had a grave picked out for him oh my god today my uncle's is as carefree as ever he still denies that it was a quote girlfriend he took to a different

country as for my mom I asked her what she did during the earthquake and since her and my dad were living in the bay area during that time is newlyweds my mom the badass woman that she is handed out shots of patron and vodka to her neighbors to quote calm their nerves while the ground rumbled to trone oh that's that's okay that's tequila that's okay that is in an earth post earthquake when you're when the truly in san francisco the world has crumbled around you she was doing god's work on the street that night we were in southern california and felt it mildly and then watch the new i was in fifth grade it was third grade it was terrifying for you must have been that oh the i was in sacramento i was in sacramento freshman in college and it we were on the second

story of a building at sac state and it felt like some it felt like god had picked up the floor and snapped it out like a sheet the whole room rumbled like a big roll yeah it was one of the weirdest feelings i've ever felt it was totally different and it was completely an aftershock because sacramento is two hours away from san francisco the crazy thing is i feel like nowadays all the earthquakes in california have been at night which is almost like a blessing because during the day when everyone's out and about it's so much there's so much more damage it feels like so much screaming ladies with babies i'm thinking of the movie earthquake sorry stay sexy and always avoid earthquakes by going to jamaica with your secret lover emma yeah you know whenever we travel

for live shows i'm like okay let the earthquake happen now that we're at nice is that terrible just throw it like light the match and throw it behind you as you travel off okay oh my god what if there's an earthquake tonight there was one the other day i know there's been a there's been a swarm as they call them i slept through it looking for a better cooking routine with meal planning shopping and prepping handled hello fresh has you covered hello fresh makes home cooking easy and affordable so you can stay on track and on budget in the new year hello fresh meals are convenient seasonal and delicious stay cozy all winter long with classic comfort foods available weekly why stop with just dinner now you can enjoy hello fresh's expanded menu of quick lunch solutions weekend

brunch simple side dishes and amazing desserts karen january is going to be my month for hello fresh i am so sick of takeout i miss cooking so much i haven't lifted a knife or a pan since like early fall so i can't wait to get back in the kitchen and hello fresh makes it so easy and also makes it so that my food tastes good which is hard to do on my own it gives you everything everything you need so get up to 20 free meals with purchase plus free shipping on your first box at hello fresh dot ca slash murder 20 with code murder 20 that's up to 20 free meals plus free shipping on your first box when you go to hello fresh dot ca slash murder 20 and use code murder 20 goodbye hey i'm arisha and i'm brook and we're the hosts of wonderies podcast even the rich

where we bring you absolutely true and absolutely shocking stories about the most famous families and biggest celebrities the world has ever seen our newest series is all about the incomparable diva whitney houston whitney's voice defined a generation and even after her death her talent remains unmatched but her incredible success hit a deeply private pain in our series whitney houston destiny of a diva will tell you how she hid her true self to make everyone around her happy and how the pressure to be all things to all people let her down a dark path follow even the rich wherever you get your podcasts you can listen ad-free on the amazon music or wondery app okay here is a retro meat cute salutations mfm fam you asked for meat cutes and my parents vaughn and frances have the best one

one it's colorado 1973 and my grandma betty whose glass weijian accent was so strong by the way my friends often thought she was speaking a different language that's what it's like Glasgow specifically it is when it's like that that is an accent that is that you need to hear for a while you need to be immersed in i could just see you disfiring your brow the entire time trying to catch i was always it was always a big fake smile going what sorry sorry no one more time i'm sorry the local the local what okay was at her local watering hole this is the grandma she met a nice fella who she thought might make a good match for her daughter is it weird that my grandma was picking up men for her 17 year old daughter in a bar it is but you know the 70s so she gives

this man who i think was inappropriately in his early 30s my mother francis's number 17 year old's number 17 and he invites her to a party with him mostly attended by his co-workers while the party which i'm sure was a great first date for my introverted mom she notices a super handsome fella in fact all the girls were noticing this super handsome fella spoiler alert it was my dad who was a more age appropriate 21 years old my mom saw this guy and knew knew he was meant for her so she inserted her super shy self into the gaggle of gal surrounding my dad and tried to make an impression but what about her date you ask well she knew she had to play it cool so she waited to make her move luckily my dad was leaving the party at the same time as them so sly like a fox

my mom slipped her number into my dad's hand on the way to their car i've fucking done this before i did it less i did it way more obviously just like put out my arm in the most dramatic gesture wow and it was the person like did they call you oh yeah i had met him before but yeah for sure that's a cool move that's a power move yeah in front of a bunch of fucking people too it was like you're gonna call me what's up first you look over your shoulder and you go watch this shit and then you hand it hey check this out and he'll date me everybody everybody look um without her date being the wiser she had never done anything like that before but says she knew she couldn't let this man get away she waited on pins and needles all night and barely slept but she

didn't have worried as my dad called her first thing the next morning to ask her out oh the real kicker first thing i know the real kicker my mom's date was you guessed it my dad's boss because remember it was a work party yes oh that's right oh no he won't come out and say he got fired over this but it wasn't long before he quote no longer worked there that's actionable these days anyways but it gets worse part of the reason my mom had no trouble getting my dad to call her was that he had seen her in a burger king two weeks earlier and noticed how smoky she was and then it says the most glorious long 70s hair and bell bottom clad legs up to her neck that sounds real creepy uh he recognized her at the party and was secretly

thrilled when she slipped him her number my parents have been happily married for 45 years on April 22nd 2021 and they have been a truly inspirational role model of what a marriage can be i can't wait till we are all vaccinated so i can visit them wherever it is they happen to be parked in their big-ass rv they roam the country in together living the dream also shout out to my murdering a mom who was a police dispatcher for the lakewood colorado police department for over a decade she she passed on her love of true crime to me along with her luxurious hair both of which have greatly improved my life and then there's this new like gumdrop emoji that's got a winky face you know what i'm talking about it's a gumdrop stay sexy and always slip cute guys your number when you're on a date

with their boss heather from atlanta wow that's amazing great advice fucking it go for it it also must be nice to hear a story about your parents and have that feeling like it was a faded thing yeah like it wasn't she made the effort but he was already excited about her that's like such a sweet exciting part of that story and the best part is there they didn't have a bitter divorce and custody battle at the end it's like yes it's not as much of a meat cute when they end up fucking hating each other mom and dad it's not it kind of takes away from it a little bit so the fact that they're now roaming the country in an rv is like it's hotter than ever i bet they hold hands when they drive while they drive that's not safe yeah you're going crazy what's happening okay

the subject line is new house surprises a treasure in the wall story who hello i'll love the show love you love your pets now on to the story my family moved into our current home last august moving across the province mid pandemic and eight months pregnant is not something i would ever recommend doing thank you for the tip now that spring has sprung my husband has started with some house projects project one with some landscaping out front namely moving some overgrown shrubs from directly beside the foundation he had been outside for about an hour when he came in and asked is it a catholic thing to bury jesus in your garden i mean is it i don't fucking know it's not you're shaking that sounds like anti i think it's actually you're not supposed

to do stuff it's not the 12th commandment thou shall bury jesus in your mulch and hope of jesus tree gross no that's not uh that's not respectful of the icon of the j-man got it and then in parentheses it says i was raised roman catholic he was not to which i replied i'm sorry what he had found buried one foot down in a plastic bag wrapped in cloth a tiny religious figure i immediately asked if there was any blood on it assuming that it was a murder weapon he replied no but i also didn't touch it with my bare hands just in case oh burnary knows yes in parentheses it says match made in heaven i think so yeah my best friend is way more catholic than me and then in parentheses because there are levels um and she asked what the figure looked like it was a man holding a child

she told me it was probably st anthony and was buried because the previous owners lost something and wanting it wanted it returned when i told my husband his response was quote does it matter if it's glow in the dark what um because it was and my friend responded well that's just who do glowing st anthony is now in our kitchen yes i fucking love that they found the thing that the people who lost something yeah they're like where please jesus help us find our statuary and then buried it the next the very next day our sump pump was acting up so my husband was in the cross space dealing with that all of a sudden he comes running upstairs saying you thought the figurine was cool i just found the best thing you could find hidden in a house vhs porn he found tucked in the

wall behind our sump a vhs copy of insatiable two along with the receipt from the purchase in 2001 my husband's only regret is that we don't have a vhs player and i told him it was not worth it to buy one to watch old porn his second suggestion was the vhs player is at his parents play no i also vetoed that idea he is uh currently on the hunt for a digital copy that is all ssdgm bailey hey hey everyone gather around look what we found guys guys we're gonna have a vhs porn party look what st jesus sent us or whatever glowing st anthony it just is like it's like a retainer that a kid would get that glows in the dark i had one why is the statue to have to be glow in the dark well because st anthony is the patron saint of lost or impossible lost items or

impossible cases so you pray to st anthony like it like it's like your daughter's wedding day and you lost the keys to the car or whatever then you then you stop and go please st anthony help us ready to do it so they must have lost something big and crazy to bury something in the yard also i've never heard of burying anything as a part of the process but i just don't understand what the glow in the dark part comes in patron saint of raves uh yeah because it's lost cause um i think it's to help you find things in the dark ah okay i think that's fun did they have glow in the dark in the patron saint age yes um glow in the dark was invented in 10 bc by fucking ancient aliens who were making wallpaper was that the last one yeah but yes you did yours i started but listen

if you want one more hometown each uh they're doing fan cult hometowns now if we've never read yours you get a bet we're only reading stories from the fan cult so you get a you know a better chance of us seeing those you also get like merch when you join like special and you get discounts on your merch and um once we start fucking touring again you get first dibs at tickets so it's oh the benefits there they pile high and wide videos and uh for just 22 cents a day you too can have all of this and more it's actually way less than that too it's like 40 bucks now right not now it's always been 40 bucks so we're not you know it's not a scam yeah stop accusing us of scamming you and stay sexy and don't get murdered goodbye Elvis do you want a cookie