Outlaws & Scorned Women

Austin, TX - Millionaire media mogul Steven Beard wakes up one night to find his belly had burst wide open, with no idea how it happened. The truth would involve a love triangle, a shotgun, and a whole helluva lot of money. **Bonus - conversation with a real-live lawyer about just what the hell "capital murder" is. ----more---- Sources: McEvoy, Sophie "'Women Who Kill's Celeste Beard-Johnson Is Still Serving a Life Sentence For The Murder Of Her Husband", Bustle, April 1, 2019 Flynn, Ellie "WOMEN WHO KILL: Who is Celeste Beard-Johnson? Black widow killer serving a life sentence for the murder of her millionaire husband Steven Beard", The Sun UK, Feb 1, 2017 Spencer, Suzy (2004) "The Fortune Hunter", New York, NY: Diversion Books "Snapped"Season 1/Ep 1, 2004 "Women Who Kill", 2017, Channel 4 documentary Celeste Beard: Prison Torment Murderpedia Justia

Austin, TX - On August 1, 1966 a lone man with a rifle held an entire city hostage for 96 minutes. We tell the story of our nation's first mass shooting, ponder nature vs nurture, and hash out the legal what-if's. Then we, I dunno, hug some puppies or something, cuz lawd this one is dark. ----more---- Sources: Lavergne, Gary M. "A Sniper In The Tower: the Charles Whitman Murders"Denton, TX 1997 Colloff, Pamela. "96 Minutes", Texas Monthly, August 2006 Rosenwald, Michael. "'He was looking straight at me': The brave officer who helped stop Charles Whitman", Washington Post, August 1, 2016 KTBC FOX 7 Austin. "UT Tower Shooting Video | Austin, TX 1966" Youtube. August 1, 2016

Houston, TX - Two people are hideously murdered with - of all things! - a pickaxe. The murderers are quickly brought to justice, but when one of them turns out to be a woman and she ends up on Death Row ... well, suddenly the eyes of the whole daggum world were on Texas. ----more---- Sources: Siemaszko, Corky. "The day the pickaxe killer Karla Faye Tucker was executed in 1998". NYDailyNews.com, Feb 3, 2016 King, Larry. "Karla Faye Tucker: Born again on death row", CNN, posted March 26, 2007 "USA: TEXAS: Karla Faye Tucker Execution Looks Set To Go Ahead", AP Archive, July 21, 2015 ClarkProsecutor.org Murderpedia Wikipedia Justia

Austin, TX 1885 - A fiendish killer stalks the night, cleaving the skulls of women with his axe and dragging them from their beds into a darkness filled with knives and terror. As the nation's first serial killer, this guy inspired some poetic prose. Also, we dive into the toe-curling history of the Texas prison system. ----more---- Sources: Hollandsworth, Skip (4/5/2016). Esquire.com, How Police Failed to Find America's First Serial Killer. Henley, Lauren & Dell'Omo, Augusta. 15 Minute History, Episode 102: The "Servant Girl Annihilator". Liberal Arts Development Studio. 1/17/2018 Psencik, Katey (11/7/2014). Kvue.com, The Servant Girl Annihilator: Austin's oldest unsolved murder case. Vatomsky, Sonya (4/25/2017). Mentalfloss.com, How the 'Servant Girl Annihilator' Terrorized 1880s Austin. Bueche, Shelley (10/10/2018) The horrifying history of Austin's infamous Servant Girl Annihilator ServantGirlMurders.com Citydata.com, Austin, TX crime statistics Walker, Donald R. TSHAonline.org, Convict Lease System. Texas State Library And Archives Commission, TSL.Texas.gov. Fear, Force, and Leather - The Texas Prison System's First Hundred Years, 1848-1948 Ariens, Michael. (2011) Lone Star Law: A Legal History of Texas. Lubbock, TX. Texas Tech University Press.

Cisco, TX – 1927, the Golden Age of Crime. Two days before Christmas, Santa Claus walks into the First National Bank, kicking off a hailstorm of bullets and the biggest manhunt Texas had ever seen. ----more---- Sources: Pilcher, W.F. Santa Claus Bank Robbery, Texas State Historical Association Sault, Spring The Santa Claus Bank Robbery: This Texas Town's Bloodiest Crime, TexasHillCountry.com Fear, Force, and Leather: The Texas Prison System's First Hundred Years, 1848-1948, Texas State Library and Archives Commission "Santa Claus, Why Did You Rob That Bank?", HometownByHandlebar.com Site of the Santa Claus Bank Robbery, AtlasObscura.com Coppedge, Clay The Dead Bank Robbery Bounty, TexasCoOpPower.com The Fugitive

The first in a two-part deep dive into the long, monstrous history of lynching in Texas. Because no exploration of the crime in this state would be complete, or honest, without taking a long, hard look at this particular atrocity. So hug a puppy, y'all, and let's get into it. ----more---- Sources: Frontier Times Magazine, June 1950 Texas State Historical Association Lone Star Law: A Legal History of Texas (American Liberty and Justice), by Michael Ariens See No Evil Speak No Evil: a history of mob violence in the Texas heartland, 1869-1904, by Ross McSwain "Lynching In Texas", by David L. Chapman, B.A.

The second (and last) part of our deep-dive into the brutal history of lynch mobs in Texas. Turns out, racism was the key factor. Who knew? (everyone. everyone knew) This story gets real ugly before it gets better, but it does get better. So hit play, and let's find that slim silver lining on the big racist cloud. ----more---- Sources: News 12 Forum: Black History Month (Part 2 - The Sherman Riot of 1930) "Trails of Our Past - the riot of 1930", by Dusty Williams, Van Alstyne Leader Texas State Library and Archives Commission "The Sherman Riot of 1930: major outbreak of racial violence in the United States", by Jae Jones, BlackThen.com "Former Sherman Native Says Events of 1930 Shaped City's History" Durham, William J. - TSHAonline.org Slocum Massacre - TSHAonline.org Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching - TSHAonline.org "How the NAACP Fought Lynching - by using the racists' own pictures against them", by Andrew Belonsky, TheGuardian.com

San Antonio, TX - Just in time for Valentine's Day! Scorned women take center stage as a love triangle turns deadly. ----more---- ERRATA:  In this episode discussing Frances Hall case, I (Steph) erroneously stated the sudden passion defense could result in reducing Hall's sentence to a range of 2-10 years by prevailing on the defense before the jury.  I (Steph) should have stated the jury's acceptance of the defense could reduce the sentencing range to two to 20 years in prison.  I misspoke and didn't catch it at the time.  Clearly talking while tired.   Sources: Neaves, Alicia, KENS5.com Zavala, Elizabeth, mysanantonio.com Danner, Patrick, houstonchronicle.com Zavala, Elizabeth, mysanantonio.com Van Sant, Peter. "Driven To Extremes", cbsnews.com Median, Maria, ksat.com Dateline: Collision Texas Penal Code, Chapter 19 Justia.com, for all our appellate document needs

Seabrook, TX - When a local millionaire is found dead in his ginormous mansion, folks are shocked, yeah, but ... not exactly surprised. Stef & Steph are taking a quick break from recording this week, so here's a re-release of the very first episode of OSW. Hope y'all enjoy! ----more---- Where to find us online: Patreon Instagram Facebook Twitter   Sources: Verboon, Jon. "The street that led to murder", Houston Chronicle Archives Gonzalez, Carolina. "The Seabrook 'Murder Mansion'", chron.com Justia.com

Houston, TX - 2013. On a hot summer night, a man is found dead on his back in a pool of his own blood and his girlfriend is telling anyone who'll listen that she killed him in self-defense. Nothing is what we expected in this case - least of all, the murder weapon. ----more---- Sources: "High-Heel Homicide", Texas Monthly Justia.com Snapped The Houston Chronicle Crime Online Daily Mail The Sun Murderpedia  

Channelview, TX - Wanda Holloway would stop at nothing (n o t h i n g) to get her daughter on the middle-school cheer squad. ----more---- Sources: ABC13 Eyewitness News Swartz, Mimi. "The Cheerleader Murder Plot". Texas Monthly Knapp,Gwendolyn. "The Woman Who'd Stop at Nothing to Get Her Daughter on the Cheerleading Team". Houstoniamag.com Hlavaty, Craig. "Remembering Channelview's strange cheerleader mom murder-for-hire plot". Houston Chronicle Gonzalez, Carolina. "Pom-Pom Mom found guilty in murder plot 24 years ago". Houston Chronicle Wikipedia

Prairie View, TX - On July 10, 2015, Sandra Bland was on her way to the grocery store when she was pulled over by a State Trooper for not using her turn signal. What should have been a routine traffic stop escalated wildly out of control and ended with Sandra being arrested. She would not leave the Waller County Jail alive. ----more---- Sources, etc: Say Her Name: the life of Sandra Bland Nathan, Debbie. "What Happened To Sandra Bland?", The Nation Montgomery, David. "Sandra Bland, It Turns Out, Filmed Traffic Stop Confrontation Herself". New York Times Get Home Safely: 10 Rules For Survival Unwritten rules tiktok video Don't Talk To The Police Jesse Williams, acceptance speech at 2016 BET Awards Praire View A&M Marching Thunder Sandy Speaks

Tulia, TX (1999) - The biggest drug bust in west Texas history, landmark victory in the War On Drugs? ... OR ... Outrageous racially-motivated miscarriage of justice on a massive scale? Let's find out! ----more---- Sources: "Tulia: Scenes From A Drug War" 60 Minutes: Targeted in Tulia Blakeslee, Nate. "The Color of Justice", Texas Observer Mosle, Sara. "Tulia: The Case of the Lone Star Witness", The New York Times ABC News coverage DrugPolicy.org

D'y'all know that the vast majority of criminal acts are NOT the stuff of nightmares? True story! So join us on this whistlestop culinary tour of Texas crime, where everything's super illegal, buuuuuut nobody gets super racist, or stabby, or paints the walls with anybody else's blood. ----more---- Sources: MySanAntonio.com Houston Chronicle NBC News USA Today Valley Central AP News

Waco, TX - We're taking a multi-part deep dive into one of the most notorious days in Texas criminal history - the siege of the Branch Davidian compound in 1993. The stage is set in this ep, exploring the beginnings of the Branch Davidians and where things started to go from weird to weirder ... ----more---- Sources: The Waco Tribune Witness To Waco, MSNBC Our Campaigns, Democratic registry Texas State Historical Association Justia.com Cultsearch.org "Explained: Cults", Netflix "What Is A Cult and How Does It Work?", Margaret Singer Rick Ross, The Guardian Samantha Vincenty, OprahMag Alex Samuels, Texas Tribune Christina Cauterucci, Slate

Waco, TX - Our deep-dive into the infamous Waco incident continues with a look inside the Branch Davidian compound as they crank the cult stuff up to 11 under the reign of David Koresh.  ----more---- Sources: Witness to Waco, MSNBC The Austin Chronicle History.com The Waco Tribune ABC News Mugshots Chicago Tribune ATF.gov ATF Remembering Waco American Law Division US District Court for Western District of Texas Texas Penal Code

Waco, TX, 1993 - At long last! We're wrapping up the Waco saga, with a deep dive into the 51-day standoff between the Branch Davidians and the FBI. Y'all, we may think we know how it ended, but the truth is so much weirder ... ----more---- Sources: PBS timeline Justia ATF Remembering Waco "Waco Siege: Days that Shaped America" "David Koresh: The Final 24" "Mugshots: David Koresh - Prophet of Death" Eyewitness News 3-1-1993 Janet Reno 1993 Waco Incident Press Conference The New York Times Retro Report ABC News Office of the Special Counsel report DoJ Archives Report Report to Deputy Attorney General FBI transcripts 11th Report by Committee on Government Reform FindLaw legal commentary