Kinda Murdery | True Crime & Murder Stories

The conviction landed in the courtroom with the kind of quiet that doesn’t feel quiet while you’re sitting inside it. Russ Faria had walked in still insisting he did not kill his wife. By the time the jury came back, the state’s version had beaten the room into shape. Husband. Sick wife. Knife. Blood. Rage. Motive. A marriage prosecutors said had been rotting underneath everything else. Joel Schwartz stood beside him when the verdict came down. Guilty. First-degree murder. Russ did not collapse. He did not shout over the judge. He stood there with the stunned, rigid look of a man hearing something impossible spoken in a room where impossible things still become official. The people who believed in him sat behind him with the same sickened stillness, looking at the jury box, then at Russ, then at the lawyers who had already started thinking about what came next.Pam Hupp walked out of that first trial as one of the state’s most important witnesses, and for a while, the public version of the story held. She had told investigators Betsy feared Russ. She had helped frame the emotional shape of the marriage. Prosecutors had used that shape to make the physical violence inside the house feel like it belonged to the husband. Russ went to prison with a life sentence attached to his name. Outside prison, the people who stood by him did not have the luxury of moving on. His friends from game night still had the same problem they had carried from the beginning: their memories of that night did not fit the story the state had told in court. The jury had heard enough to convict him, but the people who had sat with Russ that evening kept returning to the clock, the drive, the distance, and the narrow window prosecutors said held a murder...This is the FINAL Episode of Kinda Murdery's investigation of the Murder of Betsy Faria Sources: https://allthatsinteresting.com/pam-hupphttps://time.com/6156033/the-thing-about-pam-renee-zellweger-true-story/https://www.stlmag.com/longform/pam-hupp/https://www.stlmag.com/news/defense-attorney-joel-schwartz-charles-bosworth-new-book-bone-deep-true-crime-betsy-faria-pam-hupp/https://people.com/pam-hupp-charge-refiled-betsy-faria-stabbing-death-8384298https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/crime/pam-hupp-may-not-be-tried-for-betsy-farias-murder-until-2028/63-fc0923af-96e0-409a-84d3-bc585dba3ef3https://fox2now.com/news/fox-files/pam-hupp-trial-delayed-but-unexpected-encounter-outside-highlights-day/https://insurancenewsnet.com/oarticle/Russell-Farias-wife-was-stabbed-55-times-but-was-he-the-killer-a-471968https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/pamela-hupp-murder-betsy-faria-dateline-podcast-1196738/https://crimereads.com/the-bizarre-self-incriminating-confession-of-pam-hupp/https://rsflawfirm.com/Firm-News/Russell-Faria-Acquitted-Of-Wife-s-Murder/Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/kinda-murdery-true-crime-murder-stories--5496890/support.Zevon Odelberg is a true crime podcast host and disability advocate. Zevon has cerebral palsy and he wants Kinda Murdery to be welcoming community for people with disabilities and for people living with challenges of any kind. Life can be hard, but being together makes it better.

The courtroom in San Bernardino was built for volume meaning physical space, not raised voices. High ceilings. Pale walls. Wood benches polished by decades of restless hands. By the time opening statements began, it held a different kind of pressure — not noise, but compression. Reporters filled the rear rows. Family members took seats in clusters that did not intermingle. The defendant sat at the defense table in a suit that fit correctly, hands folded, posture still. The state went first...Sources:https://coronadotimes.com/event/down-to-the-bone-caitlin-rother-and-the-mcstay-family-murders/https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/judge-unseals-court-records-in-mcstay-murder-case/509-5297be95-2f41-4ce7-931e-8c3dc98e0918https://allthatsinteresting.com/mcstay-family-murdershttps://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/missing-mcstay-family-cross-mexico/story?id=10042816https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/mcstay-family-murder-trial-charles-merritt-closing-arguments-jury/159073/https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-mcstay-family-deaths-20190120-story.htmlhttps://www.sbsun.com/2019/03/11/key-prosecution-evidence-flopped-in-mcstay-family-murder-case-defense-contends/https://www.sbsun.com/2019/03/11/key-prosecution-evidence-flopped-in-mcstay-family-murder-case-defense-contends/https://abc7.com/post/mcstay-murders-merritt-attorneys-poke-holes-in-timeline/5190475/https://www.cnn.com/2014/07/01/justice/mcstay-case-five-questionshttps://press.wbd.com/us/media-release/investigation-discovery/go-inside-controversial-and-shocking-trial-charles-chase-merritt-mcstay-familyBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/kinda-murdery-true-crime-murder-stories--5496890/support.Zevon Odelberg is a true crime podcast host and disability advocate. Zevon has cerebral palsy and he wants Kinda Murdery to be welcoming community for people with disabilities and for people living with challenges of any kind. Life can be hard, but being together makes it better.

On November 11, 2013, a motorcyclist riding in a remote stretch of the Mojave Desert came across something that did not belong to the landscape. The area lay north of Victorville, not far from Interstate 15 but far enough that engine noise fades and the wind carries most of the sound. The ground was hard and pale, broken by scrub and scattered rock. In that dirt, the rider saw what appeared to be a human skull. He stopped. He called authorities. Deputies from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department responded. The location was isolated but accessible by dirt road. The initial discovery was small — a skull partially exposed in desert soil — but the scene widened quickly. Deputies secured the area and began a systematic search. Within hours, investigators realized the find was not a single set of remains. Two burial sites were identified. They were shallow. The soil was loose compared to the surrounding terrain, disturbed and then pressed back down. The graves would later be referred to in reports as Grave A and Grave B. In total, four sets of human remains were recovered. On November 15, 2013, San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon addressed the media. He confirmed that the remains recovered in the desert had been identified as belonging to Joseph McStay, age 40; his wife, Summer McStay, age 43; and their two sons, Gianni, age 4, and Joseph Jr., age 3. The McStay family had been missing since February 4, 2010. For nearly four years, their case had lived in a different category — disappearance, possible voluntary departure, international travel theory, Mexico speculation. The discovery in Victorville ended that ambiguity. The McStays had not relocated. They had not started over. They had not walked across a border and vanished into another country. They had been killed.Sources: https://coronadotimes.com/event/down-to-the-bone-caitlin-rother-and-the-mcstay-family-murders/https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/judge-unseals-court-records-in-mcstay-murder-case/509-5297be95-2f41-4ce7-931e-8c3dc98e0918https://allthatsinteresting.com/mcstay-family-murdershttps://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/missing-mcstay-family-cross-mexico/story?id=10042816https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/mcstay-family-murder-trial-charles-merritt-closing-arguments-jury/159073/https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-mcstay-family-deaths-20190120-story.htmlhttps://www.sbsun.com/2019/03/11/key-prosecution-evidence-flopped-in-mcstay-family-murder-case-defense-contends/https://www.sbsun.com/2019/03/11/key-prosecution-evidence-flopped-in-mcstay-family-murder-case-defense-contends/https://abc7.com/post/mcstay-murders-merritt-attorneys-poke-holes-in-timeline/5190475/https://www.cnn.com/2014/07/01/justice/mcstay-case-five-questionshttps://press.wbd.com/us/media-release/investigation-discovery/go-inside-controversial-and-shocking-trial-charles-chase-merritt-mcstay-familyBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/kinda-murdery-true-crime-murder-stories--5496890/support.Zevon Odelberg is a true crime podcast host and disability advocate. Zevon has cerebral palsy and he wants Kinda Murdery to be welcoming community for people with disabilities and for people living with challenges of any kind. Life can be hard, but being together makes it better.

The 3400 block of Avocado Vista Lane, Fallbrook, California. The street ends in a cul-de-sac and the houses face the curve. The McStay house sits on that turn. Two stories. Light tan stucco. A white two-car garage door dominating the front, clean enough to catch the daylight when the sun hits it. Above the garage, a tall arched window rises into the second floor. Off to the side, another upstairs window is framed by dark shutters. The front door sits recessed on the right beneath a small covered porch, set back from the driveway and partly hidden by the angle of the front wall. A concrete driveway slopes up to the garage. A concrete walkway runs from the driveway to the porch. The lawn is green and trimmed. A slender pale-barked tree stands near the walkway. Low plants sit along the base of the porch. From the exterior it's an idyllic Southern California home; inside an idyllic Southern California family...WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM?Sources: https://coronadotimes.com/event/down-to-the-bone-caitlin-rother-and-the-mcstay-family-murders/https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/judge-unseals-court-records-in-mcstay-murder-case/509-5297be95-2f41-4ce7-931e-8c3dc98e0918https://allthatsinteresting.com/mcstay-family-murdershttps://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/missing-mcstay-family-cross-mexico/story?id=10042816https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/mcstay-family-murder-trial-charles-merritt-closing-arguments-jury/159073/https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-mcstay-family-deaths-20190120-story.htmlhttps://www.sbsun.com/2019/03/11/key-prosecution-evidence-flopped-in-mcstay-family-murder-case-defense-contends/https://www.sbsun.com/2019/03/11/key-prosecution-evidence-flopped-in-mcstay-family-murder-case-defense-contends/Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/kinda-murdery-true-crime-murder-stories--5496890/support.Zevon Odelberg is a true crime podcast host and disability advocate. Zevon has cerebral palsy and he wants Kinda Murdery to be welcoming community for people with disabilities and for people living with challenges of any kind. Life can be hard, but being together makes it better.

In 1922, Twenty-two year old Chicago bond trader Harvey Church had a hankering for a particular automobile. Sometimes Hell is unleashed in the most unexpected places. How could Harvey know that his desire for a dream car would lead to a surprising mystery drenched in blood and murder? Find out, only on Kinda Murdery...Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/kinda-murdery-true-crime-murder-stories--5496890/support.Zevon Odelberg is a true crime podcast host and disability advocate. Zevon has cerebral palsy and he wants Kinda Murdery to be welcoming community for people with disabilities and for people living with challenges of any kind. Life can be hard, but being together makes it better.

The seemingly-happy O'Byan family lived In Deer Park, Texas, in the 1970's. However, beneath the facade of suburban normalcy lurked the strain of desperate financial woes. Mr. O'Bryan's mountain of debt was so ovewhelming that it became a recurring topic of conversation among his circle of friends and acquaintances. In the summer of 1974, he alluded to an upcoming windfall, telling some people that he expected to come into a sum of money by the year's end. Given the tragedy that followed, his statements now hang in the air, fraught with chilling implications...Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Corll https://mysteriesandmurder.wordpress.com/2020/11/01/the-man-who-killed-halloween/ https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Man-Who-Ruined-Halloween-Recounting-the-14663666.php https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1793039/obryan-v-state/?q=ronald%20clark https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/the-man-who-killed-halloween https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Clark_O%27BryanBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/kinda-murdery-true-crime-murder-stories--5496890/support.Zevon Odelberg is a true crime podcast host and disability advocate. Zevon has cerebral palsy and he wants Kinda Murdery to be welcoming community for people with disabilities and for people living with challenges of any kind. Life can be hard, but being together makes it better.

In 1990, based on circumstantial evidence alone, Jonathan Fleming was convicted of the murder of Darryl Rush and sentenced to 25 years to life despite having what Brooklyn prosecuting A.D.A. James Leeper called, "a perfect alibi." Twenty-four years later, it would be discovered that Leeper had withheld crucial evidence from the defense, and Fleming wasn't his only victim...Just what the hell was going on in Brooklyn?Sources:https://www.propublica.org/article/for-a-respected-prosecutor-an-unpardonable-failurehttps://nypost.com/2015/07/07/exonerated-convict-hasnt-seen-a-dime-of-his-6m-settlement/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/10/nyregion/ken-thompson-brooklyns-first-black-district-attorney-dies-at-50.htmlhttps://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/brooklyn-da-hopefuls-return-funds-questionable-donors-article-1.3343542Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/kinda-murdery-true-crime-murder-stories--5496890/support.Zevon Odelberg is a true crime podcast host and disability advocate. Zevon has cerebral palsy and he wants Kinda Murdery to be welcoming community for people with disabilities and for people living with challenges of any kind. Life can be hard, but being together makes it better.