Resorting to Murder - The Murder of Sara Kuszak
07/29/24 • 17 min
2 Listeners
In this week’s episode, a young woman, newly engaged and expecting a baby, goes for a morning run in the serene beachfront town of Ceiba, Puerto Rico, and finds herself trapped in a nightmare. Still finding the inner courage to keep her wits about her, the terrified woman’s actions would help solve her own murder.
Sources:
“Kidnap Victim Called Fiancee Before Slaying,” SFGate.com, Feb 7, 2009.
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Kidnap-victim-called-fiance-before-slaying-3173177.php
“Murder in Puerto Rico,” Latitude38.com, Feb 6, 2009.
https://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/murder-in-puerto-rico/
“Puerto Rican Indicted in Pregnant Woman’s Slaying,” SavannahNow.com, Feb 5, 2009.
“Puerto Rican Man Gets 105 Years in Killing of Pregnant San Jose Native,” Associated Press, June 1, 2009.
Links:
In this week’s episode, a young woman, newly engaged and expecting a baby, goes for a morning run in the serene beachfront town of Ceiba, Puerto Rico, and finds herself trapped in a nightmare. Still finding the inner courage to keep her wits about her, the terrified woman’s actions would help solve her own murder.
Sources:
“Kidnap Victim Called Fiancee Before Slaying,” SFGate.com, Feb 7, 2009.
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Kidnap-victim-called-fiance-before-slaying-3173177.php
“Murder in Puerto Rico,” Latitude38.com, Feb 6, 2009.
https://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/murder-in-puerto-rico/
“Puerto Rican Indicted in Pregnant Woman’s Slaying,” SavannahNow.com, Feb 5, 2009.
“Puerto Rican Man Gets 105 Years in Killing of Pregnant San Jose Native,” Associated Press, June 1, 2009.
Links:
Previous Episode
Resorting to Murder: The Body in the Suitcase
1 RecommendationsIn this month’s series, “Resorting to Murder,” I share cases proving that murder never takes a holiday.
This week’s case tells the story of a rocky mother-daughter relationship, a fight over an inheritance, and a cold-blooded murder that occurred at a luxury resort. Was the murder of socialite Sheila von Wiese-Mack the desperate act of an abused child or spurred on by an entitled young woman’s greed?
Sources:
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2015/12/09/heather-mack-accuses-slain-mom-of-cheating-her-out-of-inheritance/
https://people.com/heather-mack-suitcase-killer-everything-to-know-7509623
Heather Mack discusses her relationship with mother: Exclusive (people.com)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/american-couple-sentenced-to-prison-for-bali-suitcase-murder/
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/interviews-with-bali-suitcase-killers-uncovers-disturbing-details-behind-the-gruesome-murder/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3838671/Body-Suitcase-killer-Tommy-Schaefer-claims-ex-Heather-Mack-does-drugs-drinks-sex-female-prisoners-daughter-close-speaking-time-conviction-letter-friends.html
Links:
Once Upon a Crime on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@OnceUponACrimePodcast
Next Episode
Bonus Episode: The Murder of Lita McClinton - A Conversation with Author Deb Miller Landau
A Devil Went Down to Georgia: Race, Power, Privilege, and the Murder of Lita McClinton, written by Deb Miller Landau, is the story of the murder-for-hire of Lita McClinton Sullivan in 1987.
Lita was a beautiful, accomplished woman from a respected Atlanta family. Her interracial marriage to millionaire Jim Sullivan in 1970s Georgia was noteworthy in itself. Their differences fueled their deep attraction for each other in the beginning—she was a college-educated, Black debutante from the South. He was a white entrepreneur from working-class Boston, ten years her senior.
They fell in love and soon married. But, before long, Lita found herself trapped in a marriage with a controlling man who treated her as a possession. When Lita filed for divorce from Jim Sullivan a decade later, it set off a series of events that ended in her violent death and subjected her family to a decades-long search for justice.
I spoke with Deb Miller Landau about this decades-old murder case detailed in her book, available now in your favorite bookstore or online retailer.
Links:
The author’s website - www.debword.com and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dml_author/
A Devil Went Down to Georgia: Race, Power, Privilege and the Murder of Lita McClinton, Deb Miller Landau, Pegasus Books, 2024. ISBN 9781639366835
To purchase the book on Amazon - https://amzn.to/4dk0zOD
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