208: Easter Sunday Massacre

Explicit content warning

03/30/22 • 93 min

2 Listeners

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Brandi really outdid herself this week by covering the most horrifying crime... ever???
James Urban Ruppert had a rough life. As he grew into adulthood, his struggles continued. He couldn’t hold a job. He couldn't maintain relationships. He had paranoid delusions. That all came to a head on Easter Sunday of 1975, when his entire extended family celebrated the holiday at his mother’s house.
Also, please cue the Golden Girls theme song for Brandi. She told our only case this week so that Kristin could spend time with her grandma.
And now for a note about our process. For each episode, Kristin reads a bunch of articles, then spits them back out in her very limited vocabulary. Brandi copies and pastes from the best sources on the web. And sometimes Wikipedia. (No shade, Wikipedia. We love you.) We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases.
In this episode, Brandi pulled from:
“The 1975 Easter massacre: Uncle Jimmy Ruppert kills his family” by David J. Krajicek, New York Daily News
“CRIME HUNTER: Easter Sunday massacre of Ohio family stunned U.S.” by Brad Hunter, Toronto Sun
“James Ruppert” murderpedia.org
“Easter Sunday Massacre” wikipedia.org
“Mother, Brother Among James Ruppert’s Victims” by John R. Clark, The Cincinnati Enquirer
“Grandmother Still Haunted By Memory” by Janet C. Wetzel, The Cincinnati Enquirer
“Parole Hearing Not Due Til 95” by John R. Clark, The Cincinnati Enquirer
“Officials Share Bitter Memories Of Ritter Case” by John R. Clark, The Cincinnati Enquirer
“Ruppert Chronology” The Cincinnati Enquirer
“Living in a murder house: Hamilton mom copes with her home's dark past” by Maxim Alter, WCPO 9 News
YOU’RE STILL READING? My, my, my, you skeezy scunch! You must be hungry for more! We’d offer you some sausage brunch, but that gets messy. So how about you head over to our Patreon instead? (patreon.com/lgtcpodcast). At the $5 level, you’ll get 30+ full length bonus episodes, plus access to our 90’s style chat room!

Previous Episode

207: An Abduction & a Surgeon

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The out-of-work supermodels really struggled with this episode. Brandi’s case gave her nightmares and Kristin’s case is infuriatingly stupid.
Brandi starts us off with the story of Brianna Denison, who was home from college, hanging out with friends when she was abducted from her friend’s house. Investigators were able to get touch DNA off of a doorknob, which led them to other unsolved crimes in the area.
Then Kristin tells us about Dr. David Stephens, who had an affair with a young nurse named Stephanie Kennedy. When David’s wife, Karen, discovered the affair, she was beside herself. The couple argued. He got in his car to leave, and she grabbed a gun. She ran after him, holding the gun to her head. When she tripped, the gun went off. Karen died a few months later. About a year after that, David and Stephanie wed.
And now for a note about our process. For each episode, Kristin reads a bunch of articles, then spits them back out in her very limited vocabulary. Brandi copies and pastes from the best sources on the web. And sometimes Wikipedia. (No shade, Wikipedia. We love you.) We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases.
In this episode, Kristin pulled from:
“The Doctor’s Wife” episode of American Justice
“The Other Woman” episode of 48 Hours
In this episode, Brandi pulled from:
“The Night Brianna Vanished” episode Dateline
“College Student Staying With Friends Mysteriously Disappears From Their Living Room Couch” by Jill Sederstrom, oxygen.com
“The Murder of Brianna Denison” by Gary C. King, trutv.com
“Biela’s fate now in hands of jury” by Martha Bellisle, Reno Gazette-Journal
“Being Brianna’s Brother” by Siobhan McAndrew, Reno Gazette-Journal
YOU’RE STILL READING? My, my, my, you skeezy scunch! You must be hungry for more! We’d offer you some sausage brunch, but that gets messy. So how about you head over to our Patreon instead? (patreon.com/lgtcpodcast). At the $5 level, you’ll get 30+ full length bonus episodes, plus access to our 90’s style chat room!

Next Episode

209: A Durham Staircase & the Transy Book Heist

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Brandi starts us off with a story about a staircase in Durhan, North Carolina. To clarify: That’s a staircase in Durham – not the staircase in Durham. Turns out, there’s more than one staircase in Durham. Hmm.
It was January of 2007, and Corey Smith was on his way to work when he spotted a woman lying at the base of a staircase near his apartment. The woman was unresponsive, so he called 911. He checked her ID and learned that her name was Denita Smith. Denita was working on her master’s degree at North Carolina Central University. She’d recently completed a prestigious fellowship with the New York Times. She had no known enemies, and yet, someone had killed her.
Then Kristin tells a story that’s so stupid it’s delightful. (Unless you ask Brandi. Brandi is very anti-heist.) During a tour of the special collections library at Transylvania University, freshman Spencer Reinhard perked up when the tour guide showed off the library’s set of John Hames Audubon’s “Birds of America.” The librarian told the group that a set had recently sold for $12 million. Spencer was intrigued. The special collections room evidently held valuable books, guarded by almost no security.
And now for a note about our process. For each episode, Kristin reads a bunch of articles, then spits them back out in her very limited vocabulary. Brandi copies and pastes from the best sources on the web. And sometimes Wikipedia. (No shade, Wikipedia. We love you.) We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases.
In this episode, Kristin pulled from:
“Majoring in Crime,” by John Falk for Vanity Fair
“Secrets of the Transy Book Heist,” episode of Super Heists
“Four charged in Transy book heist,” by Andy Mead and Cassondra Kirby for the Lexington Herald-Leader
“Librarian: Emotional scars remain,” by Beth Musgrave for the Lexington Herald-Leader
“Wrong-way gang,” by Gary Thompson for the Philadelphia Inquirer
“Transy thieves took names from film,” by Beth Musgrave for the Lexington Herald-Leader
“College caper appeal backfires, robbers to get even more time,” by Martha Neil for the ABA Journal
“Sentence stands in Transy book theft,” by Brandon Ortiz for the Lexington Herald-Leader
In this episode, Brandi pulled from:
“Internal Affairs” episode Dateline
“Shannon Crawley” episode Snapped
“Denita Smith” chillingcrimes.com
“Shannon Elizabeth Crawley” murderpedia.org
“State of North Carolina v. Shannon Elizabeth Crawley” findlaw.com
YOU’RE STILL READING? My, my, my, you skeezy scunch! You must be hungry for more! We’d offer you some sausage brunch, but that gets messy. So how about you head over to our Patreon instead? (patreon.com/lgtcpodcast). At the $5 level, you’ll get 30+ full length bonus episodes, plus access to our 90’s style chat room!