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  • Julie Mattson
  • March 8, 2023March 8, 2023
  • Podcast

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.

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  • Julie Mattson
  • March 1, 2023March 1, 2023
  • Podcast

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.

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  • Julie Mattson
  • February 22, 2023
  • Podcast

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.

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  • Julie Mattson
  • February 15, 2023February 15, 2023
  • Podcast

From Love to Murder: The Valentine’s Day Hamilton Homicide

Today we head to Oklahoma City to investigate the murder of Susan Hamilton, which took place on Valentine’s Day in 2001. Susan Hamilton had a seemingly perfect life in her beautiful home in Oklahoma City, until her husband John Hamilton called 911 to report that he’d found his wife dead on the bathroom floor, strangled with two ties and her head bashed in.

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  • Julie Mattson
  • February 8, 2023February 8, 2023
  • Podcast

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.

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  • Julie Mattson
  • February 1, 2023February 1, 2023
  • Podcast

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

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  • Julie Mattson
  • January 25, 2023January 25, 2023
  • Podcast

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.

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  • Julie Mattson
  • January 18, 2023January 19, 2023
  • Podcast

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.

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  • Julie Mattson
  • January 11, 2023January 13, 2023
  • Podcast

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.

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  • Julie Mattson
  • January 4, 2023January 4, 2023
  • Podcast

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.

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Pushing Up Lilies

Pushing Up Lilies
Pushing Up Lilies

Dissect the science behind some of the most spine-tingling, unusual and terrifyingly true crime stories with Julie Mattson, a seasoned Forensic Nurse Death Investigator in this gripping weekly podcast.

Julie’s unique approach to investigations is informed by her background in nursing, which allows her to provide an in-depth analysis of the medical intricacies and physiological aspects of each case.

With her compassionate storytelling and unwavering dedication to uncovering the truth, Julie takes you on a thrilling journey into the world of forensic science, shining a light on the intersection of medicine, justice and criminal investigation.

In “Pushing Up Lilies,” Julie’s expert medical analysis will captivate your imagination and challenge your understanding of the human body’s role in solving the most complex and enigmatic criminal case.

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Ashley Flynn Case: A Life Taken, A Family Shattered
byJulie Mattson

When a murder makes national headlines, we often hear more about the person accused of committing the crime than the person whose life was taken. This week on Pushing Up Lilies, I want to change that.

I’m talking about the murder of 37-year-old Ashley Flynn, a devoted mother of two, former elementary school teacher, and volleyball coach from Tipp City, Ohio. Ashley was a woman of faith who loved her family, her community, and the children whose lives she touched. On February 16, 2026, she was fatally shot while in bed inside the home she shared with her husband and daughters.

Her husband, Caleb Flynn, a former pastor and American Idol contestant, initially told investigators that someone had broken into their home. But as investigators examined the scene, questions began to emerge about the reported forced entry, the removal of security cameras, and the physical evidence surrounding Ashley’s death.

As a forensic nurse and former death investigator, I want to take you through some of the details that stood out to me. We’ll discuss the autopsy findings, bullet trajectories, blood evidence, digital records, and how investigators reconstructed what happened inside that bedroom, even though the murder weapon was never recovered.

We’ll also look at the evidence prosecutors presented concerning Caleb’s extramarital affair, the messages that became central to their case, and the trial that resulted in his conviction.

But beyond the investigation and courtroom proceedings, I want us to remember Ashley.

She was a mother whose daughters will grow up without her, a teacher who made a difference, and a woman whose life meant so much more than the circumstances of her death.

Join me as we examine the evidence, the investigation, and the heartbreaking story of Ashley Flynn, because behind every case file is a person with a life, a family, and a story worth telling.

Ashley Flynn Case: A Life Taken, A Family Shattered
Ashley Flynn Case: A Life Taken, A Family Shattered
October 14, 2026
Julie Mattson
Christa Pike: Failed Execution Mystery
October 7, 2026
Julie Mattson
Tasia Fortune: The Hanging That Wasn’t The Cause of Death
September 30, 2026
Julie Mattson
Burger Avenue Mystery
September 23, 2026
Julie Mattson
The Death of Barrett Walsh: Psychosis, a Murder Charge, and the Lindsay Clancy Connection
September 16, 2026
Julie Mattson
The Death of Aria Talathi: When a Drowning Scene Tells a Different Story
September 9, 2026
Julie Mattson
The Lindsay Clancy Trial: The Case Is Now in the Jury’s Hands
September 2, 2026
Julie Mattson
The Lindsay Clancy Trial: New Testimony, New Questions
August 26, 2026
Julie Mattson
The Lindsay Clancy Trial: Psychosis, Premeditation, or Both?
August 19, 2026
Julie Mattson
The Lindsay Clancy Case: Three Children, One Unthinkable Night
August 12, 2026
Julie Mattson
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Pushing Up Lilies is a weekly true crime podcast with spine-tingling, unusual, terrifyingly true stories with a forensic twist, hosted by Julie Mattson.

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Pushing Up Lilies is a weekly true crime podcast with spine-tingling, unusual, terrifyingly true stories with a forensic twist, hosted by Forensic Nurse Death Investigator, Julie Mattson.

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Ashley Flynn Case: A Life Taken, A Family Shattered

Christa Pike: Failed Execution Mystery

Dani After Dark: Julie Mattson Guest Appearance

Tasia Fortune: The Hanging That Wasn’t The Cause of Death

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