Forgotten Felonies
Forgotten Felonies revisits historical crimes that were forgotten—or remembered incorrectly. It’s tempting, looking backward, to fill in the gaps with conclusions that feel obvious now. But that isn’t how history works. Through original newspaper reporting, period advertisements from the years the crimes occurred, and a blend of forensic psychology and genealogical research, each episode restores context to cases history left behind—asking not only what happened, but why.
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Episodes
39 episodes
Frank Caruso and the Murder of Dr. Casper Pendola - A Fun-Sized Felony
In February of 1927, a Brooklyn father watched his six-year-old son struggle to breathe as diphtheria tightened its grip. Desperate for help, Frank Caruso called for doctors, begged for treatment, and clung to the hope that his boy might surviv...
Jesse McClure: What Sarah Didn't See Coming
Years before this double homicide, there were already signs—clear, documented, and deeply concerning. Sarah saw them. Sarah lived with them. Sarah warned the authorities that he was going to kill her.But Jesse didn’t kill her.Even...
200 Feet From Home: the Murder of Florence Kane - A Fun-Sized Felony
In 1925, 29-year-old Florence Kane stepped off a subway in Brooklyn after a night out with friends. She called her mother to say she would be home in 30 minutes.In the final stretch of just 6 blocks, the unthinkable happened; Florence ne...
Edmund Creffield: Revenge of the Brides
This is the third and final episode in our Edmund Creffield series.By the time Edmund Creffield lay dead on a Seattle sidewalk, it should have been over. The prophet was gone; the spell should have been broken. The story should ...
Edmund Creffield: The Bride of Christ Cult
This is the second episode following Edmund Creffield and the cult he began in Corvallis, OR, after her arrived in late 1902.In this episode, he was finally caught.After months in hiding, Edmund Creffield is pulled from beneath a ...
The Iverson Children Tragedy (1903) - A Fun-Sized Felony
On a quiet Sunday in October of 1903, ten-year-old Hoga Iverson noticed something wasn’t right.His sister had gone inside… and never came back out.What followed was a chain of events that no child should ever have to carry: a trai...
Edmund Creffield: The Rise of the Army of Holiness in Corvallis, Oregon
In the early 1900s, a young German preacher arrived in Corvallis, Oregon with a message he believed came directly from God.Within weeks, he had gathered a devoted circle of followers who called themselves God’s Anointed. Others had a dif...
Agostino Izzo: The Day the Music Stopped — A Fun-Sized Felony
In the Izzo household, music filled every corner of the home. Agostino Izzo had once played in the Seneca Falls Italian Band and worked as a music teacher, passing his love of music on to his children. Several would go on to perform in orchestr...
What Jane Saw: An Intergenerational Family Tragedy in Pennsylvania (1909–1938) - A Fun-Sized Felony
On July 17, 1938, ten people were living in two small rooms above the Broadway Inn in Leechburg, Pennsylvania. By sunrise, three were dead and seven children were orphaned.In 1909, a young girl watched her father terrorize a Pennsylvania...
James H Coyner (Alonzo Robinson): Two names, one rope.
On January 12, 1935, Amelia Earhart landed safely in Oakland, California after her historic solo flight across the Pacific. The nation celebrated progress, courage, and modern aviation.That same day, in a Mississippi post office, a man w...
Gone in a Moment: The Disappearance of Winifred Byrne — A Fun-Sized Felony
In November of 1913, three-year-old Winifred Byrne vanished from outside her family’s home on West 38th Street in New York City. Her father had looked away for just a moment—and that was all it took.What happened during the four days Win...
Emily Antone and the Calls That Went Unanswered — A Fun-Sized Felony
In July of 1912, Emily Antone—a 38-year-old Indigenous woman—arrived at a house in Middleport, Ontario, carrying a trunk and plans to start over. She never left alive.This Fun-Sized Felony examines the murder of Emily Antone, the failure...
John Heslop and the Case That Never Closed
In the early hours of January 27, 1891, John Heslop was murdered inside his home near Ancaster, Ontario. He was a respected township clerk, a longtime pioneer in the area, and a man whose death sent shockwaves through the surrounding countrysid...
The Mysterious Disappearance and Return of Mabel E. Dorner — A Fun-Sized Felony
This is another Fun-Sized Felony. Look for a full-sized episode next week!In June of 1912, seventeen-year-old Mabel E. "Dolly" Dorner vanished, leaving her parents frantic and the newspapers full of fear. Three days later, she was quietl...
The Attack on Richard Doherty, Jr. - A Fun-Sized Felony
Not every story is told in full. This frustrates us, and now it can frustrate you! (You're welcome.)The towns of Whitman and Brockton, MA, were thrown for a loop in July of 1957 when young boys were being immorally assaulted, ba...
Lorraine Clark and the Murder of Melvin: When the Headlines Hardened into Fact
In 1954, Melvin Clark was murdered and his body dumped into the depths of the Merrimack River. His wife, Lorraine Clark, would ultimately plead guilty—and for decades, that plea has stood as the official ending to the case.But the record...
Baby John: The Boy Who Lived Through Fire - Part 3
In the final episode, Isabella J. Martin finally faces trial in a courtroom she cannot control. As the case unfolds, testimony forces the legal system to confront a difficult truth: Baby John was not a criminal mastermind, but a child shaped by...
Baby John: The Boy Who Lived Through Fire - Part 2
A burning barn in the snow finally breaks Isabella J. Martin’s control over her son. In Episode 2, Baby John is arrested—and for the first time in his life, separated from the woman who shaped every moment of his childhood. What fol...
Baby John: The Boy Who Lived Through Fire - Part 1
In 1907, a judge’s home in Oakland, CA was blown apart by a homemade bomb. For months, the case went unsolved — until a trail of clues led not to a hardened criminal, but to a sixteen-year-old boy known as “Baby John.”Episode 1 uncovers ...
Zollie Clement - The Boy Bandit
A young boy found himself lost in the pages of adventure-filled dime novels and couldn't get enough. Before too long he brought those adventures to life just to read about his own adventures in the headlines. Zollie Clement became the Boy Bandi...
Protecting the Porch: Halloween Prank Horrors
Long before candy and costumes, Halloween was a night of chaos. Young people looked forward to a night of unbridled rebellion while responsible property owners feared for their livelihood. Halloween was a night of anything-goes and, unfortunate...
Poison and Pistols: the Treacherous Deeds of John Branton
This is the third and final episode in our series featuring Lane County, OR. This one takes you through the life and crimes of John Branton, older brother of Claude.When Milly Elliott met John Branton, she thought it was a love story to ...
The Legacy and Murder of Sheriff William Withers
This episode is the second in a series of three covering a wild time in the history of Lane County, Oregon. Be sure to start with the previous episode, "Claude Branton and Courtland Greene - A Murder at Isham's Corral."Sheriff W...
Claude Branton and Courtland Greene - Murder at Isham's Corral
This is the first of three episodes that take place in Lane County, OR. It was a wild time...Sheriff Withers had only been sheriff for 4 days when the biggest case of his career fell into his lap. The murder committed by Claude Branton a...
The Hill Family Axe Murders
June 9th, 1911 brought a giant shock for the tiny community of Ardenwald, OR. A highly regarded family—William and Ruth Hill, and Ruth's children Philip and Dorothy Rintoul—who had just moved into the area were massacred in a most brutal way in...