Most Notorious! A True Crime History Podcast

In January 1947, the bisected body of Elizabeth Short, completely drained of blood, was discovered in an undeveloped lot in Los Angeles. Its gruesome mutilations led to a firestorm of publicity, city-wide panic, and an unprecedented number of investigative paths led by the LAPD—all dead ends. The Black Dahlia murder remained an unsolved mystery for over seventy years.Six years earlier and sixteen hundred miles away, another woman’s life had ended in a similarly horrific manner. Leila Welsh was an ambitious, educated, popular, and socially connected beauty. Though raised modestly on a prairie farm, she was heiress to her Kansas City family’s status and wealth. On a winter morning in 1941, Leila’s butchered body was found in her bedroom bearing the marks of unspeakable trauma. One victim faded into obscurity. The other became notorious. Both had in common a killer whose sadistic mind was a labyrinth of dark secrets. My guest is Emmy-nominated producer Eli Frankel. He has spent years researching the Black Dahlia case and makes a very convincing argument for his suspect in his recently published book, "SISTERS IN DEATH: The Black Dahlia, The Prairie Heiress & Their Hunter". The Sisters In Death website: https://www.sistersindeath.com/ The author's personal website: https://www.elibfrankel.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Original Publication Date: 4/3/22 On Christmas Eve, 1900, 44-year-old dry goods store owner Frank Richardson was shot to death in his Savannah, Missouri home. Suspects included his wife Addie, his teenage lover Goldie Whitehead, and the man whom he suspected his wife of having an affair with, Stewart Fife. Kimberly Tilley makes her third visit to the podcast. Her book "Has it Come to This? The Mysterious Unsolved Murder of Frank Richardson" explores this largely forgotten murder mystery in titillating detail. More information here at the author's website: https://oldspirituals.com/ Check out the new cover here! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G3KZPMVY?crid Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On May 19, 1884, the yacht Mignonette set sail from England on what should have been an uneventful voyage. When their vessel sank in the Atlantic, Captain Thomas Dudley and his crew found themselves adrift in a tiny lifeboat. As days turned to weeks, they faced an unthinkable choice: starve to death or resort to cannibalism.Their decision to sacrifice the youngest —17-year-old cabin boy Richard Parker—ignited a firestorm of controversy upon their rescue. Instead of being hailed as heroes and survivors, Dudley and his crew found themselves at the center of Regina v. Dudley and Stephens, a landmark murder trial that would establish the legal precedent that necessity cannot justify murder—a principle that continues to shape Anglo-American law today. My guest is bestselling author Adam Cohen. His new book, published on November 18th, is called "Captain's Dinner: A Shipwreck, An Act of Cannibalism, and a Murder Trial That Changed Legal History". The author's website: http://adamscohenwriter.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1942, two Abwehr German agents, including Johannes Eppler, slipped into Cairo to gather intelligence for Rommel’s desert campaign, getting help from local allies like the famous dancer Hekmet Fahmy and Anwar Sadat. Despite their efforts to infiltrate British circles, the whole operation eventually fell apart once Allied intelligence caught on. My guest, once again, is Gavin Whitehead, creator of The Art of Crime Podcast. His sixth season of the show (all about espionage) is now available wherever podcasts are heard. Gavin's website: https://www.artofcrimepodcast.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

November 10, 2025, marked the fiftieth anniversary of the sinking of the freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald during a vicious Lake Superior storm. All 29 crew members were lost, a tragedy later memorialized in Gordon Lightfoot’s iconic song. My guest is bestselling author John U. Bacon, who shares details from his new book, "The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald". The author's website: https://johnubacon.com/ The author's publisher page: https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324094647 The author on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JohnUBaconAuthor/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices