Murder, Not Murdering

This week on Murder, Not Murdering, Erin brings us back to Spokane, Washington, in 1919 for the strange and unsettling case of W.H. McNutt. A missing brother, a hammer, and a medium all become pieces of a bizarre mystery that captured the attention of Spokane—and left behind more questions than answers.Then Autumn dives into one of the most infamous kidnappings in American history: the kidnapping of Patty Hearst. In 1974, the 19-year-old heiress was abducted from her Berkeley apartment by the Symbionese Liberation Army. What happened next would become a media sensation, sparking questions about loyalty, coercion, radical politics, and the mysterious transformation of a kidnapping victim into one of the most controversial figures of the 1970s.Two cases. Two very different eras. And two stories that prove sometimes the strangest crimes are the ones that refuse to fit neatly into a box.Murder, Not Murdering — new episodes every Tuesday.

What happens when a group of reporters decides that the best way to expose corruption is to stop reporting—and start bartending?In 1970s Chicago, a team of investigative journalists opened a tavern in one of the city’s toughest neighborhoods. But this wasn’t your average neighborhood bar. The Mirage Tavern was a carefully constructed undercover operation, designed to find out exactly what happened when city inspectors, police officers, politicians, and other officials thought nobody was watching.For months, the reporters poured drinks, kept the books, and quietly documented a system of bribery and corruption that operated with remarkable ease. What they uncovered would become one of the most audacious pieces of undercover journalism in Chicago history—and prove that sometimes, the best way to expose a crooked system is to let it walk right through your front door.This week on Murder, Not Murdering, we’re going behind the bar at The Mirage: The Tavern That Set a Trap—where the drinks were real, the reporters were undercover, and the corruption was very much on the record.

The Louisville Torture House of 1924 is a true crime story unlike any other.When businessman Richard Heaton is found dead, the man who pulled the trigger insists it was self-defense. But as investigators begin peeling back the layers, they uncover a horrifying secret hidden inside a Louisville home—a place that newspapers would soon call The Louisville Torture House.What follows is a case filled with kidnappings, torture, shocking courtroom testimony, mysterious crimes, and twists that seem too unbelievable to be true. Was William Gates an innocent victim who fought for his life, or was he hiding a darker past? And just how far did Richard Heaton’s violent reach extend?Join Erin and Autumn as they separate fact from sensational headlines, explore the evidence, and uncover one of the most bizarre and forgotten true crime cases of the 1920s.If you love historical true crime, obscure murder cases, courtroom drama, and stories with unbelievable twists, this is an episode you won’t want to miss.New episodes of Murder, Not Murdering are released every Tuesday.