A Simpler Time True Crime
I’m Megan, your host, and each week I revisit unsolved cases from decades past—stories that have too often been forgotten or overlooked. Together, we examine the facts, question the myths of “the good old days,” and ask whether a simpler time was ever really a safer one. This podcast honors the people at the heart of each case—focusing not on sensationalism, but on the lives affected and the justice still waiting to be served. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/a-simpler-time-true-crime--6665681/support.
Episodes
March 23, 2026 • 49 mins
Its May 2004 in Aurora, Colorado and a 53-year-old man is starting a fresh chapter of his life. To help keep up with expenses, he rents out a basement apartment within his townhome. After his most recent roommate moves out, he places an ad to fill the space. Things look promising when he identifies someone interested in the place who even puts money down and signs a rental agreement. But when the homeowner doesn’t show up for work...
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March 16, 2026 • 41 mins
In the early summer of 2001, a young man just weeks away from his twentieth birthday was called into work early at the restaurant where he worked. His car was in the shop, so he arranged a ride with a female coworker. They agreed to meet at the local high school before heading to their shift together. Jason left home to meet her. He never made it. No one reported seeing a struggle. Nothing appeared out of place. And whatever happen...
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March 9, 2026 • 53 mins
In the fall of 1997, a college senior says goodbye to her mother and heads out for the evening, planning to spend a little time with friends cruising around her small hometown. But when her curfew comes and goes without a call, her family immediately knows something is wrong. After a sleepless night spent searching and calling friends, her mother and stepfather contact police. Then Erica’s car is found. But Erica is nowhere to be s...
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March 2, 2026 • 41 mins
In late January of 1968, an Iowa State University freshman was hoping to make her way home to Evanston, Illinois for the weekend. She had planned to ride back with her boyfriend, but when those plans fell through, she needed another way home. Rather than thumbing a ride along the side of the highway, students on campus had something a little more organized. A ride board where people could offer rides or request one themselves. Shei...
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February 23, 2026 • 36 mins
On January 7th, 1996, a historic storm moved into the Northeastern United States, and first responders across the region began preparing for what they knew could be a long and unpredictable night. When Thomas Dorr received a call from the firehouse where he volunteered in his town, he told them he would head in and stay overnight to help if needed. But Tom never made it to the firehouse.
A search for him would end in a devastating d...
A search for him would end in a devastating d...
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February 16, 2026 • 68 mins
In February of 1983, young mother Ora Owens woke up to every woman’s worst nightmare. A man standing over her bed watching her as she slept as she is home alone with her children. After leaping out of bed to try to run for help, the stranger caught up to her, dragging her back into her bedroom and violently attacking her. In the middle of the attack, her four-year-old son Mitchell walked in. He bravely said to the assailant “You’re...
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February 14, 2026 • 80 mins
I first came across Detective Robert Klein while covering the 1996 murder of Jasmine Porter. Detective Klein was the lead investigator on her cold case, and more than two decades later, he was the one who put the handcuffs on her killer.
Recently retired from the NYPD after an accomplished career that included reaching the rank of Detective First Grade, Detective Klein joined me to talk about what detective work really looks like be...
Recently retired from the NYPD after an accomplished career that included reaching the rank of Detective First Grade, Detective Klein joined me to talk about what detective work really looks like be...
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February 9, 2026 • 36 mins
On a holiday weekend in 2003, a woman was working overtime to get a project across the finish line for her employer. When her digital footprint trailed off and loved ones failed to hear from her, both her friends and colleagues grew concerned. Concern that was merited when a grisly discovery in the nearby Green River revealed she had met a horrific end to her life. Those closest to her believe the answer to who killed her is obviou...
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February 2, 2026 • 30 mins
On a summer night in 1988, an eight-year-old girl and her mother were at a neighborhood laundromat near their home, sitting together and talking while their first load of laundry finished. As they talked, they barely registered the movements of a man who entered the laundromat and passed through their line of sight. Moments later, he attacked them without warning. Injured and terrified, they managed to make it roughly one hundred y...
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January 26, 2026 • 38 mins
It’s not every day that a town of just six thousand people becomes known for so many strange and unlikely things.
Snowflake, Arizona, named after Erastus Snow and William Flake, is often described as the most Mormon town west of the Pecos. But in sharp contrast to its religious roots, it is also home to one of the largest cannabis cultivation operations in the country. It is the place where Travis Walton famously claimed he was abdu...
Snowflake, Arizona, named after Erastus Snow and William Flake, is often described as the most Mormon town west of the Pecos. But in sharp contrast to its religious roots, it is also home to one of the largest cannabis cultivation operations in the country. It is the place where Travis Walton famously claimed he was abdu...
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January 18, 2026 • 45 mins
“There is no actual physical injury, is there, other than some bruising? I am not suggesting that bruising is nice, but there is no disfigurement. There are no broken bones. There are no serious physical injuries, are there?”
Those words were spoken by Criminal Court Judge Lorin Duckman at a bail hearing for the man who had been relentlessly stalking and abusing Galina Komar. Galina was present in the courtroom that day, forced to l...
Those words were spoken by Criminal Court Judge Lorin Duckman at a bail hearing for the man who had been relentlessly stalking and abusing Galina Komar. Galina was present in the courtroom that day, forced to l...
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Mark as Played
January 12, 2026 • 49 mins
I want to be transparent about this case from the start. While it is technically unsolved, there is a strong and consistent understanding of who is responsible. This is less a whodunit and more an opportunity to walk through our criminal justice system and examine how, over the course of decades, one man was able to manipulate outcomes in his favor. Shorter sentencing, public sympathy, and ultimately a lack of meaningful consequenc...
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January 5, 2026 • 29 mins
A fifth grader comes home from school in 1991 expecting to see his mother but instead is greeted by an empty home and a terrifying scene. Everything from the home pointed to foul play for the mother. Other clues made it seem like aspects had been staged to make the scene look like something that it wasn’t. On the day of Deborah’s disappearance, she was supposed to be meeting with her husband to finalize their divorce. And while tha...
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December 29, 2025 • 54 mins
In September of 1968, a young saleswoman named Carol was traveling through Indiana, selling encyclopedias for a company based in Indianapolis. She was part of a small crew made up of another black woman and two white men. That day, their route brought them to Martinsville, Indiana, a town that was already known among Black travelers as a dangerous place to be. As the term was better adopted over the years, it would be known as a su...
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December 21, 2025 • 51 mins
In January of 2002, a college student is home in Texas for winter break, just days away from returning to school. Like she does nearly every morning, the avid runner laces up her shoes, grabs her Walkman, and heads out on her familiar four-mile route through her family’s quiet subdivision. Neighbors see her along the way. Her movements are accounted for. One neighbor even places her less than a football field from her own driveway....
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December 15, 2025 • 37 mins
A treasured pediatrician from Tennessee spends the night out at an NBA basketball game. She calls her mom from the game and mentions to her that she isn’t feeling well. After she gets home, she hosts a couple of girlfriends at her place to finish out the evening as a quiet night in before heading to bed. What happens to her after they leave her home is a mystery, but her family began to worry when she wasn’t around early the next m...
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December 12, 2025 • 30 mins
UPDATED EPISODE: When I first covered this case in October 2025 the case was unsolved. As of November 24th, 2025 a suspect was confirmed in the case with advanced DNA evidence and NHSP Closed the case. Today I go through the evidence police have released after their big press announcement. This is the full original episode with an updated ending.
Rest Peacefully, Judy. The truth is known.
A young woman is living in a small Concord,...
Rest Peacefully, Judy. The truth is known.
A young woman is living in a small Concord,...
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December 8, 2025 • 37 mins
On a Tuesday morning in late November of 1981, a newlywed met up with a man she thought was purchasing her wedding dress from her. She was scraping together any cash she could for a down payment on a house. Little did she know, the man had no intention of buying her dress. Her murder has stuck with the Tulsa community for over four decades, but with DNA advancements there is still hope.
TIPS: https://www.tulsapolice.org/cold-cases
Ca...
TIPS: https://www.tulsapolice.org/cold-cases
Ca...
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December 1, 2025 • 39 mins
“I don’t know if it is a joke or not. The timer is not ticking or anything, but if it is a joke, it is a very poor one. I would like someone to come over and look at it please.” Those were some of the last words Andrew Puskas ever spoke to a Middlesex, New Jersey police officer. Moments later, his home exploded, killing both Andrew and his wife and stunning an entire community.
The Puskas family was quiet. Middle class. Ordinary in ...
The Puskas family was quiet. Middle class. Ordinary in ...
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November 24, 2025 • 27 mins
In November of 1996, two co-workers are closing up their retail store in large mall outside of Richmond, Virginia. Their closing routine is like clockwork so when they don’t return to their homes, alarm bells went off. The next morning would reveal a horrific scene inside the mall. How could two women be brutally murdered inside a popular mall with security nearby? Nearly thirty years later, this case still baffles authorities and ...
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