Bad (PTA) Moms

Summary of Episode

The movie “Bad Moms” portrayed PTA parents as crazy, controlling, and conniving – but all in good fun. (It is a movie, after all.) It wasn’t nearly as funny when three PTA moms in southern California scammed millions of dollars from real people, including fellow PTA members. They got away with it for a time but couldn’t escape the consequences of their scheme. Learn more about the case in this week’s Escape Bite mini-sode.

Resources & Links

• https://archive.findlaw.com/blog/calif-pta-moms-arrested-for-ponzi-scheme/

• https://laist.com/news/this-aint-no-bake-sale-pta-moms-cha

• https://www.dailybulletin.com/2012/04/30/two-diamond-bar-women-get-three-years-for-pta-ponzi-scheme/

Sign up to be a Patron today! Get access to the Patron-Only Facebook Group, Bonus Episodes, and more.

https://www.escapepod.live

Do you have a story that you want to share with EscapePod? Or do you just want to reach out to us with your comments and thoughts?

General mail: justbecause@escapepod.live

Submit listener stories: escapeartist@escapepod.live

When a common person uses the term “insane” or “incompetent” to describe someone, they’re rarely using the same standard as that of a lawyer or judge in a court of law. The Escape Pod’s own former news reporter-turned-podcast co-host can testify to this, using the example of a South Dakota kidnapping/murder case she first covered 20+ years ago.

Resources & Links

• State vs. Tiegen (2008 appeal)

• https://rapidcityjournal.com/article_aa584242-94b1-5ffb-aa4c-7460348af576.html

• https://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/more-kidnapping-charges-filed-in-troy-klug-case/article_781f7e59-4ead-5cc1-bf91-2e3c72dfb690.html

• https://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/top-stories/kindall-faces-victim-s-mother-at-sentencing/article_7277899f-383f-5072-844a-2a1d0d827c19.html

Sign up to be a Patron today! Get access to the Patron-Only Facebook Group, Bonus Episodes, and more.

https://www.escapepod.live

Do you have a story that you want to share with EscapePod? Or do you just want to reach out to us with your comments and thoughts?

General mail: justbecause@escapepod.live

Submit listener stories: escapeartist@escapepod.live

On Social Media

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EscapePod.traumedy

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/escape_pod_podcast/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Escape_Pod_podcast/videos

A nature reserve and popular party place in the middle-of-nowhere becomes the scene of mass murder in the fall of 1973: four teens are killed; a fifth escapes death but is victimized in other ways – by her friends’ killers and, later, by small-town conspiracy theorists who suspect she was in on the crime. In time, though, this survivor gets to tell her own story of escape and finds healing in doing so. The co-hosts travel back more than 50 years – to the place where the “Gitchie Girl” got her name – for this edition of The Escape Pod.

Bullet Points of Key Topics and Markers:

Topic #1 8:27 An escape artist with South Dakota ties

Topic #2 15:20 Setting the scene

Topic #3 23:03 Bodies found

Topic #4 32:55 Sandra tells her story

Topic #5 44:10 Escapism, co-host-style!

Resources & Links

• The Fryer Brothers

• The Gitchie Manitou Murders | 4 Teens Murdered in Iowa 50 Years Ago

• What We Know About the 1973 Gitchie Manitou Mass Murder

• Sole Survivor of Brutal 1973 Slayings Finds Strength to Tell Her Story

• 3 Brothers Armed With Shotguns Killed 4 South Dakota Teens In A ‘Mind-Blowing’ Mass Murder

• The Fryer Brothers

Sign up to be a Patron today! Get access to the Patron-Only Facebook Group, Bonus Episodes, and more.

https://www.escapepod.live

Do you have a story that you want to share with EscapePod? Or do you just want to reach out to us with your comments and thoughts?

General mail: justbecause@escapepod.live

Submit listener stories: escapeartist@escapepod.live

A familiar face on the streets of Grand Junction, Colorado, goes missing in February 2021. Known as “The Reading Man,” Warren Barnes is described as kind and helpful by those who saw him daily at his favorite place to read. Just days after the man's disappearance, a mom makes a gruesome discovery while cleaning her 19-year-old son’s bedroom. But it makes no sense: her son, diagnosed with autism as a child, had never been violent towards anyone and had no connection to The Reading Man. Is there a plausible explanation for what she finds? Or is this a clear case of murder committed by a very matter-of-fact murderer? The co-hosts explore the possibilities in this edition of The Escape Pod.

BE ADVISED: You can’t escape the grizzly details of this truly heinous true crime. This episode contains content that listeners may find extremely disturbing.

Bullet Points of Key Topics and Markers:

Topic #1 4:30 Secret Service contacts The Escape Pod? (True story!)

Topic #2 10:18 A mom’s disturbing discovery

Topic #3 19:52 Confession

Topic #4 30:37 The Reading Man

Topic #5 40:42 Escapism, co-host-style!

Resources & Links

• Warren Barnes

• US Teen Hid Head of Homeless Man He Murdered in Closet To Satisfy "Fascination With Morbid"

• Brian Cohee’s Mom Takes Stand

• Killer of Warren Barnes, Grand Junction’s “reading man,” sentenced to life in prison

• Mom Finds Severed Head in Her Son's Room

• Chilling Moment Killer Confessed to Storing Victim’s Severed Head in His Closet

• Grand Junction resident Warren Barnes, aka “the reading man” sits alone reading a book in an alley off Main Street in downtown Grand Junction on June 24, 2018. (William Woody, Special to The Colorado Sun)

• The teen accused of murdering Warren Barnes, known as the reading man of Grand Junction, told investigators he targeted a homeless person because he thought no one would miss. But people did, indeed, miss him. Friends commissioned a tribute to Barnes that was installed Nov. 20, 2021, by artist and ironworker Tim Navin. (Nancy Lofholm, Special to The Colorado Sun)

• Brian Cohee, Jr., Mesa County Jail Photo

Sign up to be a Patron today! Get access to the Patron-Only Facebook Group, Bonus Episodes, and more.

https://www.escapepod.live

Do you have a story that you want to share with EscapePod? Or do you just want to reach out to us with your comments and thoughts?

General mail: justbecause@escapepod.live

Submit listener stories: escapeartist@escapepod.live

“You can trust your kid all you want, but do you trust the world with your kid?”

Back by popular demand, Hollie Strand of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force returns to The Escape Pod to help us help our kids escape – or at least better navigate – the very real dangers of the digital world. Hollie offers tips to start these tough conversations with kids of all ages (FYI – if you’re waiting until they’re teens to talk about it, you’re waiting WAY too long), as well as insight into the depth and breadth of our digital footprints. For example, did you know digital “exhaust” is a thing? Neither did the co-hosts, until now!

This is a must-listen follow-up to our first meeting with Hollie. If you missed Episode 57, check it out at the link below.

Bullet Points of Key Topics and Markers:

Topic #1 1:40 A podcast that has one co-host all fired up!

Topic #2 11:00 (Re)introducing podcast guest Hollie Strand

Topic #3 20:20 Digital “exhaust” explained

Topic #4 30:56 “Technology is a tool, not a lifestyle”

Topic #5 45:18 Co-host gets a high-five from Hollie

Topic #6 52:08 Hollie’s Rule of Fives

Resources & Links

• Escape Pod Episode 57 with Hollie Strand: https://escapepodtraumedy.podbean.com/e/protecting-our-kids-the-real-dangers-of-their-digital-world-%e2%80%93-ep-57/

• Children’s Home Society “What If” Cards: https://chssd.org/prevention/what-if-cards

Sign up to be a Patron today! Get access to the Patron-Only Facebook Group, Bonus Episodes, and more.

https://www.escapepod.live

Do you have a story that you want to share with EscapePod? Or do you just want to reach out to us with your comments and thoughts?

General mail: justbecause@escapepod.live

Submit listener stories: escapeartist@escapepod.live

In the spring of 2023, police in the U.K. found the most unlikely of overdose victims: a well-liked, well-respected couple in their 60s. Initially, investigators considered that the deaths might be the result of suicide or an accident, but then – as one co-host likes to say – their “Spidey senses” kicked in, turning their attention toward a caregiver who may have been providing the wrong kind of TLC. This week, The Escape Pod goes back more than a decade before the Baxters’ untimely deaths for a cautionary tale about who we choose to trust.

Bullet Points of Key Topics and Markers:

Topic #1 :30 MIL saga continues – with a funny twist

Topic #2 12:28 Meet the Baxters

Topic #3 19:08 Investigation turns up treasure trove of interesting tidbits

Topic #4 29:53 Escaping children who mock their mothers

Resources & Links

• Man posed as doctor to befriend couple before 'poisoning them'

• Luke D'Wit: Sinister double murderer jailed

• Luke D’Wit: How a double killer plotted the deaths of his trusting ...

• Fears 'fentanyl murderer' who poisoned married couple may also ... - LBC

• Luke D’Wit-Baxter Murders

• Fentanyl Killer Luke D’Wit

• Carol and Stephen Baxter Murders: Where is Luke D’Wit Now?

Sign up to be a Patron today! Get access to the Patron-Only Facebook Group, Bonus Episodes, and more.

https://www.escapepod.live

Do you have a story that you want to share with EscapePod? Or do you just want to reach out to us with your comments and thoughts?

General mail: justbecause@escapepod.live

Submit listener stories: escapeartist@escapepod.live