Hey y’all, it’s Julie Mattson, and in this episode of Pushing Up Lilies, we’re diving into a heartbreaking case of love, betrayal, and murder. This is the story of Brandon and Rachel Dumovich, a couple who seemed to have it all, until their picture-perfect life took a deadly turn. What happens when the vows “till death do us part” become a grim reality? I’m walking you through the investigation, the shocking motive, and how one tragic decision shattered multiple lives. This case left an entire community stunned, and serves as a reminder that sometimes the greatest danger can lie within our own homes. Join me as we uncover the truth behind the Dumovich story, piece by chilling piece. * Listener discretion is advised. EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:00:06 Welcome to Pushing Up Lilies. 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. 00:24 Do I have some stories for you? Are you ready? Hi, y’all. We’re back for another week of Pushing Up Lilies and I can’t tell you again how well our first annual murder mystery dinner party went. We had around 35 people, I believe, actually show up. 00:48 The food was amazing. The waitstaff was amazing. I was greeted with the staff there and the management. They helped me set up and it was really, really fun. The murder mystery code that I hired to do the actual play was amazing. 01:07 It was a little more interactive than I thought it would be, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun everyone had. There was not one complaint. Everyone said they wanted to come back next year. 01:19 I’ve already secured a venue for next year and it actually holds 100 people. So, start thinking it’ll be in October again, probably around Halloween. It’s going to have a different theme every year. So, I’m already excited. 01:35 I’m already kind of in my head planning next year’s event. We had a lot of giveaways and thank you again to those who came and showed me support. We had a great raffle, and a lot of people won some wonderful prizes. 01:52 It was just so much fun. I wanted to follow up a little bit on a case that I covered several weeks ago. ago, the one about the schoolteacher, Ellen Greenberg. Ellen’s story, and I know that a lot of y’all have been following it, she was the young lady found in her locked apartment in January of 2011. 02:14 She had 20 stab wounds to her back, neck, and head. The knife was actually still lodged in her chest when her fiance, Samuel Goldberg, forced the door open and discovered her body. Now, initially, if y’all remember, Ellen’s death was ruled a homicide. 02:34 Seemed pretty obvious, that many stab wounds. But not long after, the ruling was changed to suicide. This is because investigators claim there were no signs of forced entry. There were no defensive wounds and no DNA from her fiancé on the knife. 02:56 But for years, Ellen’s parents, Josh and Sandy Greenberg, have fought to challenge the conclusion. They’ve raised questions about the evidence. Number one, the number and location of the wounds, the bruises, remember, and different stages on her body, the fact that the surveillance footage was missing, and even the 3D reconstruction that experts did say that self-infliction was impossible. 03:27 Their persistence paid off earlier this year when a settlement with the city of Philadelphia required that the police review the case again. And many hoped that that would bring clarity or even justice to Ellen. 03:41 But this week, the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office announced that once again Ellen’s death is being rolled a suicide. The new report actually acknowledges that the injuries are unusual, but it does insist that Ellen could have inflicted them herself. 03:59 They actually cited her history of anxiety and the lack of DNA evidence linking anybody else to the crime. So, her family’s attorney called the review deeply flawed, and Ellen’s parents say that they’re heartbroken, but they’re not surprised, but guess what? 04:18 They’re not done fighting, and that’s what you do for your kids. For those who followed her story since the beginning, this latest ruling kind of feels like Deja vu. The case is closed, but it’s not really resolved. 04:33 It’s funny because I actually got a lot of messages, private messages, mostly on Facebook about this case, people who saw that it was changed back to suicide and who were just like floored. But floored by the fact that they think that this could be a suicide when you stab yourself 20 times. 04:52 And again, I’ve had someone shoot themself twice, but they… grazed themself the first time. These injuries were significant. I mean, there’s a lot of things that go into play when the pathologists are trying to determine the cause and manner of death. 05:08 And I would actually like to try to get one of our pathologists in Tarrant County on the podcast to discuss this case, to see what their thoughts are, just to hear it from their viewpoint. Because 20 times, I don’t see with the extent of these injuries and the depth of these injuries, how that’s possible. 05:29 I mean, I’m surprised by things every day, but it kind of blows me away. I will say that this story of Brandon and Rachel Dumovich has really got me a little perplexed. I’m not quite sure why they are not actually releasing the manner of death. 05:56 But let’s talk a little bit about this story. So, love stories begin with a spark and a laugh and a moment or a memory that stays with us forever. But sometimes those same stories end in ways that nobody could ever imagine.
Revisiting Horrifying Halloween Homicides
Hey y’all, it’s Julie Mattson, your host of Pushing Up Lilies, and today, we’re revisiting one of my favorite episodes to creep back into the Halloween spirit. We all know October is a magical time full of costumes, candy, and carved pumpkins… but for some families, Halloween brings tragedy, not treats. This episode kicks off a chilling series I’m doing all month long, focusing on real murders that happened on or around Halloween night. In today’s story, we take a dark look at what happens when family ties snap in the most unthinkable way, fathers killing sons… and sons killing fathers. So grab your pumpkin spice, turn down the lights, and let’s dive into the twisted true crime tales behind the masks. * Listener discretion is advised. EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:02:12 I can remember waiting out by the road and my sister walking up this long sidewalk, of course, they had the outside decorated, didn’t look too scary, so we weren’t really initially too terrified. But they pulled her into the house and then made her screen before they gave her candy. I was completely freaked out, I’m like, Oh no, forget it, I’m not going in there. I took off running home, I don’t care if they’re giving me a whole snickers bar, I’m not going in, so I ran home. That’s one way to save money on candy because all the kids are going to run away, and you might get one or two that aren’t afraid, that are going to actually go inside and scream. I mean, now I’ll look at it and laugh, but that would never fly these days, because if someone pulled your kid into their house… The SWAT team would be there. 04:59 So dad reached in, pulled out a Pixie stick and actually loosened the powder by rubbing it around in his hands and poured it into Timothy’s mouth, and then gave him a drink of Kool-Aide. So Timothy immediately started vomiting and actually died on the way to the hospital, at this time he was eight years old. So the story was that Ronald, the dad, was actually about $100,000 in debt, so prior to this, he had taken out life insurance policies on both of the kids, $20,000 life insurance policies. Literally, like Timothy dies on October 31st and on November 1, the very next morning 9am, Ronald’s on the phone with a life insurance company trying to collect on the policy. Come to find out he had also gone to a friend who worked at a chemical plant and asked a lot of questions about potassium cyanide and how much of it is needed to actually kill a human and different things like that. But the story of what happened is, the kids had all knocked on the door at a house and no one answered, they weren’t home. So the kids ran next door to another house while Ronald had four giant pixies in his pocket that he had laced with potassium cyanide, and he actually folded the end over and stapled them shut. He caught up with the kids and he’s like, Hey, you all have some rich neighbors, and he put a giant Pixie stick in each of the four kids bags. 08:26 So William Jr, who went by BJ, was the son of William Liske, and William married a lady named Sue who had two sons, Devin and Derek. Susan and William got married back in 01, and it’s always hard when you try to merge two families, especially when there are young children, it’s just very, very challenging. And so this case is no different, the father kind of found himself torn and struggling between his relationship with his wife and his relationship with his son. So Susan’s son Devin was older, and he came home one day after church and he had spent the night with his dad. He went to play some video games when he got home, and then he started realizing the house was really quiet, it was Halloween, and he thought that everybody would be up and getting ready to go trick or treating or just getting ready for the excitement of Halloween. But it was really quiet. So he made his way to his parents room, they were both covered in a quilt, and he started speaking to them and they didn’t speak. So he went over to his mother’s side of the bed and shook her, she didn’t respond. When he pulled the blanket off of her and William, he saw blood. 13:34 So that’s another murder that happened on Halloween. I found those two very interesting, one where dad killed his son and one where the son killed the dad, as well as the rest of the family. Of course, not to say that only bad things like this happened on Halloween, because we all know that that’s not true. But I thought just concentrating on these murders that occurred in October, specifically on Halloween Day, would be very interesting for this series. I know that a lot of these are cases that we don’t hear of every day, or cases that haven’t been on the news, and so I like to touch on stories that you don’t hear so much about, and stories that are new news, instead of going over stories that we all know, and things that we’ve all heard before. Again, two very interesting cases, I’m looking forward to doing research on more Halloween deaths. I know that we’ve all seen the movie Halloween and all of the sequels, I think there’s 11 now and then there’s a new one coming out on… I think October 14th of this year, 2022. But we all love the story of Michael Myers, who was committed to a sanitarium as a child because he murdered his sister Judith, and then 15 years later, he escapes and stalks and kills people in this fictional town in
In the Head of a Forensic Death Investigator
In this episode, I’m digging into the unsettling story of Faye and Raymond Copeland—the oldest couple ever sentenced to death in the United States.
Justice After 34 Years: The Yogurt Shop Murders
In this episode, I’m digging into the unsettling story of Faye and Raymond Copeland—the oldest couple ever sentenced to death in the United States.
The Mysterious Death of Ellen Greenberg
On today’s episode, we explore the heartbreaking story of the Hart family murder-suicide. On March 26th, 2018, the family’s SUV was found at the bottom of a cliff in California, with the bodies of all eight family members inside.
The Killing of Iryna Zarutska
On today’s episode, we explore the heartbreaking story of the Hart family murder-suicide. On March 26th, 2018, the family’s SUV was found at the bottom of a cliff in California, with the bodies of all eight family members inside.
Love, Lies and Embezzlement
On today’s episode, we explore the heartbreaking story of the Hart family murder-suicide. On March 26th, 2018, the family’s SUV was found at the bottom of a cliff in California, with the bodies of all eight family members inside.
Back to the Beginning: Julie’s Story
In this episode, we’re diving into the disturbing and heartbreaking case of Sarah Harris, a young woman whose life was tragically cut short by the actions of her much older boyfriend, oral surgeon James Ryan.
The Death of Blessence Pearl
In this episode, we’re diving into the disturbing and heartbreaking case of Sarah Harris, a young woman whose life was tragically cut short by the actions of her much older boyfriend, oral surgeon James Ryan.
Survivor: The Mary Vincent Case
In this episode, we’re diving into the disturbing and heartbreaking case of Sarah Harris, a young woman whose life was tragically cut short by the actions of her much older boyfriend, oral surgeon James Ryan.
