On today’s episode, I want to share with you stories of two different men that had an obsession with blood. One, I was personally on the scene investigating, and the other is the infamous killer Richard Chase, also known as the Vampire of Sacramento, one of the most deeply mentally ill serial killers of all time.
A Deep Dive into the Alex Murdaugh Murders
Today we are taking a deep dive into the double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh, a South Carolina former attorney who has been convicted of murdering his wife and son.
Behind the Yellow Tape: Death Investigation in Cases of Animal Consumption
On today’s episode, I delve into real-life cases where animals have consumed human remains and the challenges faced as a death investigator in dealing with these complex and gruesome cases.
The Valentine’s Day Murder of Denise Leuthold
This week we conclude our Valentine’s Day Murders with a story about Nathan Leuthold, a 39 year old former Baptist Missionary, who shot his wife Denise Leuthold in the head on Valentine’s Day 2013, to make room for his lover, a 20-year-old Lithuanian woman the couple sponsored to study in the United States.
My Bloody Valentine: Murder For Hire
Today I’m looking into another Valentine’s day murder that I found interesting and very sad. Back in 2010, Stacey Schoeck asked her husband Richard to meet her at the park for a romantic Valentine’s day rendezvous. Once there, Richard did not see his wife as planned, instead he came face to face with hit-man Reginald Coleman, a personal trainer who went by the name Mr. Results, who was hired by Stacey to kill him.
Curtis Lovelace’s Retrial for Wife’s Alleged Valentine’s Day Suffocation
Episode 27: Welcome to Pushing Up Lilies, I’m your host Julie Mattson. Today, I thought I’d ring in February by talking a little bit about deaths that occurred on Valentine’s day. First, let’s start off with the history of Valentine’s day, how it originated. And then let’s look into the interesting story of Curtis Lovelace, a former hometown football star and assistant state’s attorney who was arrested in August 2014, eight years after his wife Cory died on Valentine’s Day. Ready to get started? Here we go… CONNECT WITH JULIE MATTSON: • Website: https://pushinguplilies.com• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pushinguplilies EPISODE TRANSCRIPTS: 0:06 Welcome to Pushing Up Lilies. 0:08 I’m your host, Julie Mattson Pushing Up Lilies is a weekly true crime podcast with spine tingling, unusual and terrifyingly true stories from my perspective as a forensic death investigator and a sexual assault nurse examiner. 0:24 Do I have some stories for you? 0:26 Are you ready? 0:31 Hey, y’all? 0:31 It’s February. 0:32 Can’t believe it’s already the second month of the new year and we’ve had some crazy weather in Texas. 0:40 I don’t know about y’all and a lot of you are, I’m sure used to bad weather and snow and ice, but we are not. 0:47 And everyone here goes a little bit crazy when there’s ice or snow and we are having a really bad ice storm. 0:56 Now I’ve never heard it thunder and then sleet, but that’s what we’re experiencing. 1:01 But it seems like all the businesses are closed now. 1:06 It’s funny because when I was in North Dakota and it was snowing, the car washes were still open and of course here one little drizzle, they shut down because we don’t normally wash our cars because we don’t have a lot of mud because we don’t have snow all the time that melts and makes our cars nasty. 1:23 But I thought I’d ring in February by talking a little bit about deaths that occurred on Valentine’s day and I thought it would be interesting in the beginning to talk a little bit about the history of Valentine’s day. 1:37 So back in about the year to 70 A.D. 1:42 There was an emperor named Claudia. 1:44 Yes, he was actually Claudius the second, but he was also called Claudius the cruel and he could not get soldiers to join his military. 1:53 He believed that all the men were way too attached to their families and their spouses. 2:01 He could not pull them away from that to join his military. 2:05 So he banned all marriages and engagements in Rome at that time. 2:12 And then valentine was a holy priest in Rome. 2:17 He defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages behind Claudius back in secret. 2:26 When this was discovered, he was arrested and dragged and beaten to death with clubs and beheaded. 2:35 Now this was in, round or about 270 A.D., again on February 14th. While he was in jail, he left a farewell note for the jailer’s daughter and he actually signed it from your valentine. 2:51 The two of them had actually become friends and he knew that he was gonna die. 2:58 So he left her a nice little note. 3:00 Now, he was named a saint after his death and gradually February 14th became a date for exchanging love notes, poems and gifts. 3:12 So this is how ST. Valentine’s day came about and how it started. 3:18 So this was way back in to 70 A.D. 3:21 If you can only imagine how many love notes have been exchanged since then. 3:26 But we’re going to start the month of February talking about Curtis and Cory Lovelace. 3:33 Now, I don’t know if this is a story that any of y’all had heard, but this couple lived in Quincy, Illinois. Curtis Lovelace was a hardworking assistance state’s prosecutor and a former college football star for the university of Illinois. 3:51 He was also president of the school board. 3:56 He taught classes at the local college and also did some sports broadcasting for the sports at the high school in Quincy. 4:07 Now, Corey, his wife was from a very prominent family, She was a former cheerleader, she was an honor student and she raised their four kids, basically was a stay at home mom raising her kids and trying to take care of her family and I’m sure just juggling a lot, we all know that’s a super difficult job by the way. I always hate when people tell me I’m just to stay at home mom and I’m like, don’t say I’m just a stay at home mom because that is a huge job. 4:42 It’s hard for people to actually commit to that. 4:47 A lot of people want to work and they want to get away from their kids, but they’re not able to because of the cost of childcare or whatever. 4:53 But anyway, don’t ever say I’m just a stay at home mom because you are much more than that if that’s what you do. 4:59 So, February 14th , 2006, Curtis Lovelace found his wife Cory dead in their home. 5:07 He said that he walked her to bed at about 8:15 in the morning and he drove their three oldest children to school. 5:15 And then when he came home he found her dead in bed, that’s where he left her. 5:22 And I guess he was gone, they say for about 45 minutes now she had reportedly been sick. 5:29 She had flu like symptoms. 5:31 She was reportedly as they both were an alcoholic. 5:36 She also had bulimia which is an eating disorder and so initially he was not accused and not investigated. 5:46 It was believed that her death was caused by basically her body’s weakness and her immune system’s weakness, dealing with the alcoholism and the Bulimia at the
The Tragic Story of Michael Haight, Family Annihilator
Today on our series ‘Men Who Kill Their Wives’, we are talking about a very recent case of familicide that occurred in Utah on January 4th, 2023. The husband/father Michael Haight is being called a family annihilator for killing his wife Tasha, who was 40, their three daughters, 17, 12 and 7 and two sons who were 7 and 4, as well as his mother in law who was 78. Michael and his wife Tasha had been married for about 16 years and on December 21 of 2022, Tasha filed for divorce which ended in this tragic story.
MLB Star Martin Bergen, Killed His Wife and Children With an Axe
Today on our series ‘Men Who Kill Their Wives’, we are going to go way back to the year 1900, when a horrific murder-suicide took place by a professional baseball player.
On January 19th, Marty Bergen, characterized as the best catcher in baseball history, killed his wife Harriet and his two children, three year old Joseph and six year old Florence, with an axe. After killing his family, Marty then used a straight razor to forcefully cut his own throat.
The Watts Family Murders
Today we continue with our series on ‘Men Who Kill Their Wives’, looking at the murders of the Watts Family, in Frederick, Colorado.
The Haunting Murder of Laci Peterson
On today’s episode, we are looking back at a murder that occurred in 2002. Laci Peterson, a sweet young woman, with a beautiful smile, captivated the hearts of the nation when she was reported missing on Christmas Eve by her husband, Scott Peterson. Laci was eight months pregnant and her and Scott had already named their son Conner before his birth. On March 2003, Laci’s and Conner’s remains were discovered just one day apart, over three months after her disappearance.
