In this episode of Pushing Up Lilies, I’m examining the disturbing case of Shawn Michael Grate, a serial killer whose crimes spanned a decade across northern Ohio and left multiple families forever changed. What makes this case especially unsettling is not only the length of time the murders continued, but how many opportunities there may have been to stop the violence sooner. As investigators pieced together the evidence, a clearer picture emerged of a predator who targeted vulnerable women, leaving behind unanswered questions and unimaginable heartbreak. As a forensic death investigator, I walk through the timeline of the investigation, the evidence that ultimately connected the cases, and the forensic and investigative techniques that helped bring long-awaited answers to the victims’ families. We’ll also discuss how missing persons investigations, crime scene evidence, and victim identification play critical roles in solving complex serial homicide cases. But as with every case I cover, I want to keep the focus where it belongs. On the victims. Each woman had a life, a story, and people who loved her. Behind every headline was someone whose future was stolen far too soon. Their lives deserve to be remembered with dignity, not simply as part of a criminal’s history. This episode explores the realities of serial homicide investigations while honoring the individuals whose stories might otherwise be overshadowed by the person responsible. This episode contains discussion of homicide, sexual violence, and serial murder. 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? Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of Pushing Up Lilies. I am working on my home YouTube podcast studio. My office is very, there’s a lot of echoes in there. 00:47 And so, I’m going to have to do something, I think, with the walls. As you all know, I’ve been recording for years in the floor of my closet, surrounded by my clothes hanging, which serve a great buffer from outside noise. 01:01 But I’m ready to get on video. I’m ready to do this YouTube thing. I’ve also started a YouTube channel for my MedSpa called Beyond the Needle, and I’m working on the studio there at the same time. Of course, all while going to grad school, recording the podcast, taking care of my family, and working full-time at the med spa and actually attending clinicals for $0 an hour. 01:33 So, we all know at some point in our lives what that looks like. And it’s so fun, y’all. But I’ve got to get the YouTube up and going. I know that YouTube’s kind of where it’s at, trying to work a little bit on my TikTok. 01:48 I have somebody that’s going to help me with some videos. And right now, I have someone working on an intro and outro for my YouTube channels for both the MedSpa and the podcast. So, we’re going to start really pushing out the subscription boxes, the cereal boxes. 02:04 Those are great. They have the cutest things in them. I know that y’all are going to love them. And I’ve got a lot of new items with my logo on them that I took to CrimeCon. And yeah, I really need to get up to the Merk here in Krum and get all that stuff set up in that booth so that y’all can purchase some of the new stuff. 02:24 I know I’ve had a lot of y’all asking about them. First, I want to talk a little bit about my friend Stephanie. Stephanie owns a company called Soaping Up Life, and her soaps are amazing. Let me tell you, I bought some in little boxes, super cute gifts for my girlfriends for Christmas, and they loved them. 02:49 There was a bath bomb, a soap, I think a lip balm. It was just the cutest little set ever. So, if you need some self-care in your life, you’re going to find a lot of handcrafted soaps, foaming hand soaps, bath bombs, and more. 03:07 And these are made in very small batches by Stephanie at her house with skin-loving ingredients and unique fragrances that you will absolutely love. And for the ultimate treat, you need to join her subscription box, Soaping Up Life, and get a curated collection of handmade bath and body products delivered right to your door every month. 03:32 So, visit soapinguplife.com and treat yourself today. You will not be sorry. Stephanie’s soaps smell amazing. This week, we’re going to talk a little about missed opportunities. This is a case that continues today to haunt investigators across Ohio. 03:55 But first, I do want to thank y’all for spending your day with me. I know I met so many people at CrimeCon who listen every day. And some while they’re driving to work, some might be walking their dog, cleaning their house, or just sitting in their favorite chair with a cup of coffee. 04:12 But I truly appreciate you being here. Now, again, this is a story of missed opportunities and vulnerable victims. A story about a woman who actually made one phone call that saved her life and exposed a serial killer. 04:30 This is about Shawn Grate. And I want to say that this episode actually contains discussion of sexual assault, not vivid, but there were some women tortured. There were homicides involved and violence against women. 04:47 So, listener discretion is advised. I don’t go into gory details, but I want to get started a little bit on this story. Now, September 13th, 2016, we’re in Ashland, Ohio, and there was a woman trapped inside a house. 05:08 She’d been beaten. She’d been sexually assaulted. She had been bound to a bed and
The Monster He Wanted to Become
In this episode of Pushing Up Lilies, I’m covering the heartbreaking case of Rachel Castillo, a young mother whose disappearance in Southern California led investigators to a devastating discovery, and ultimately, the conviction of her estranged husband, Zarbab Ali. Rachel vanished during what should have been a routine custody exchange involving her children. But almost immediately, investigators began uncovering signs that something was terribly wrong. What followed was an intense investigation involving surveillance footage, blood evidence, digital tracking, and a search that ended with Rachel’s body being found buried in a remote area. As a forensic death investigator, I walk through how cases like this begin to unfold behind the scenes, how small pieces of evidence start forming a timeline, how investigators interpret behavioral patterns, and how critical those early investigative decisions become when someone suddenly disappears under suspicious circumstances. This episode contains discussion of domestic violence, homicide, and burial concealment. 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? Hey guys, this is Julie with Pushing Up Lilies, and I can’t even begin to explain how excited I am about going to CrimeCon. I’ve never even been as just a bystander. 00:45 What little I know about it, I have learned from my new podcast friend who have been there before. And this year, I didn’t get on Creator’s Road. That was my goal. It didn’t happen. It’s fine. We’ll do it next year, y’all. 01:03 This year, I’m an exhibitor. It was rather expensive to be an exhibitor, which is fine. I feel like that’s one way to get the word out, to allow people to see who I am and to learn a little bit about my podcast. 01:18 Maybe will give me a head start for next year. But this year, I’m in Exhibitors Hall and I’m in booth 62. I’m happy to announce that my, thanks to FMG Network and my producer, Jody Colvard, my comic book is going to be for sale, limited edition at my booth at CrimeCon this year. 01:44 So super excited about that. And we are leaving on Thursday. Haven’t even packed. Don’t know what I’m wearing. Completely unorganized. I have clinical tomorrow. Life is lifing and it’s going to work out. 02:01 It always does. I’ve never been one to plan weeks and weeks ahead. Although I did have to plan a little bit in advance for CrimeCon because I did have to mail all of my merch like two weeks in advance. 02:14 So, UPS came and picked up 10 boxes from my home and delivered them at the warehouse in Vegas. They’ve all been delivered. I’ve gotten confirmation. So, they’re there, which is, it’s hard for me to kind of let go of that and make sure everything gets where it’s supposed to be. 02:32 They all arrived. And so, I’m super excited that when we get there to our booth, we call and bring them over from the warehouse to our booth. And then we unload the boxes and then they take the empty boxes back to the warehouse. 02:45 It sounds like a well-oiled machine. We shall see. I am already getting ideas for next year. So, I guess that’s the way it happens, right? When you start doing things like this. I’m getting some invitations to attend other conferences, which I so appreciate. 03:04 I do need to try to find some sponsors because these things aren’t free and podcasting pays $0 an hour unless you have a sponsor. So, what little bit of monetary value that I’m getting from this now is just selling my merch. 03:21 So, if you are interested, all of my merch will be available on my website soon. And if you’re coming to CrimeCon, stop by Booth 62 in the exhibitors hall and buy some. I would very much appreciate it. 03:34 Now, I do have to say, okay, we’re leaving Thursday. We’ll be back on June 1st. Caesar’s Palace. It’s going to be so fun. I have to say I’m a little bit nervous because, again, I’ve never been there, but everything seems to always kind of work out. 03:51 So, I’m trying not to sweat it and not to worry too much. But I do have to tell y’all that I discovered today that today is my 200th episode. So what I’m going to do, I’m going to post something about my 200th episode on Facebook and I will give you the opportunity to drop in your email, a private message me, your email, and that’ll put you in a drawing for a giveaway. 04:19 I’m just feeling like giving stuff away. So, I feel like we need to celebrate in some way. 200 episodes is huge. That actually is a little less than four years. I think that that’s a milestone. And y’all, I’ve done this in my closet floor on my laptop every week for four years. 04:42 If that’s not commitment, I don’t know what is. I would love your support. Follows and shares are amazing. If you know anybody who’s interested in sponsorship, that would be even more amazing. But I look forward to seeing all of you who are planning to come to CrimeCon. 05:00 I want to talk this week about a case that makes you very angry, and a lot of them do. This one also makes you sad, as most of them do. There are a lot of cases that make you physically uncomfortable because they force you to look directly into the darkest corners of human behavior. 05:20 And this is one of those cases. This is the story of Rachel Castillo, and she was a 25-year-old
Part Two: The Victims of Fred & Rose West
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.
Fred & Rose West: The House of Horrors in Gloucester
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.
82-Year-Old Marcia Norman Encased in Cement
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.
Taylor Schabusiness: Murder and Mutilation
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.
Sleepover Tragedy: The Henryetta Murders
This week, we’re covering a case that shook the small town of Henryetta, Oklahoma, and sent shockwaves across the country. On May 1st, 2023, Jesse McFadden murdered his wife, Holly Guess, her three children—Rylee Elizabeth Allen, Michael James Mayo, and Tiffany Dore Guess—as well as their two young friends, Ivy Webster and Brittany Brewer. What started as an innocent sleepover turned into a horrifying massacre.
Nathaniel Bar-Jonah: The Child Killing Cannibal
In today’s episode, we delve into the horrifying case of Nathaniel Bar-Jonah, a man whose name became synonymous with unspeakable evil. Known as the Child Killing Cannibal, Bar-Jonah’s crimes against children in the late 90s left an indelible mark of fear and revulsion.
A Day in the Life of a Sexual Assault Nurse
Over the years as a sexual assault nurse, I’ve interviewed a lot of victims, and even perpetrators. One thing that always breaks my heart is the fact that a lot of people feel like they deserve what happened to them. I always hated to hear that when I would talk to the victims and the first thing they would say is; “I shouldn’t of worn that short skirt, I shouldn’t of wore that cut off shirt, or I shouldn’t of had that third beer”. The truth of the matter is, you should be able to wear what you want to, and go where you want to, and hang out with whoever you want to, and not have to worry about someone taking advantage of you.
