Missing and Murdered in the Midwest

When 10 year old Breasia Terrell went missing from Davenport in July 2020, it began a full-scale manhunt from investigators, family, friends and even strangers to try to find the young girl. As we near 7 months since that day, we go back to the beginning of what we know, the efforts from police, and question the whereabouts of the suspect named in this case. This case is still very active, so let's hope we can help bring Breasia home to her family.

It feels like its been forever since I've done this, but hello to 2021 and a new season! I'm very excited to get back in the flow of working on this podcast. Tune in to hear how the rest of my 2020 went (hint: not the best). As I work through getting new episodes made and added, check out some of the gems I've read and watched during my quarantine time with the Bloody Good Book Club. It'll hopefully hold you over until my next episode!

In the final chapter of this special three part series, we pick up as John Robinson leaves his home in handcuffs but now its up to the police to find the evidence. We break down what they were able to find in two separate states, the challenges when it came to charging John Robinson as well as convicting him. Plus, we take a look at 'where are they now' from the Robinson family, to the sole survivor of Robinson's wrath.

In part 2 of this 3-part series, we pick up around the time John Robinson leaves prison in 1993. Over the next 7 years John would work his schemes under a number of different aliases, luring women locally and nationally into his web of lies and sex. Some would be able to walk away unscathed, others would never be seen or heard from again. We break down how he was able to trap these women in the early years of the World Wide Web, and how some tech-savvy users were able to help police finally catch him.

52 year old Jerry Wolking was a family man nearing retirement in October 1990. Days before his disappearance, his family states he was acting unusual and jumpy. His girlfriend at the time would be the last to see him alive. Moline Police say once he arrived home, he was attacked and taken, never to be seen alive again. Clues have popped up over the last 30 years, but no one knows where Jerry is. This week's episode breaks down the days leading up to his disappearance, the timeline Police have established in the years since, and who they believe is behind the crime but why no charges can be filed.

Frances Murphy, Lillian Oetting, and Mildrid Linquist, were three friends who just wanted a simple weekend getaway to Starved Rock State Park in Oglesby, Illinois. On March 14, 1960 on a simple mile-long hike through the snow and slush of winter, all three would be brutally beaten to death with a thick branch laying near by. It would be months of investigative work (all without the use of today's technology) to capture the suspected killer. He's spent 60 years behind bars, but in early 2020 will be released. Today's episode we talk about how Chester Weger was finally caught. Why some have said on their deaths beds say he may not have been the killer after all. Plus, the push from the victim's families still to this day... six decades since the crime was committed.

In the summer of 2017, Peggy Schroeder arrived home to have her younger daughter, 15 year old Anna, waiting for her in the family's living room. Under the assumption that Anna had a surprise, Peggy had a towel placed over her head. In an instance, Peggy would be dead, as Anna would shoot her in the face. This case would truly shock a small Illinois Community with roughly 5,000 people. The details that would follow, would be chilling. But the question, even after all these years, is why did this happen. This week we recap this entire case, and the twist that came in early 2020 that shocked even the host.

Hallo-week Episode 3: Back in the 1900’s, the town of Villisca, Iowa was just starting to come onto the map. A thriving town, it wasn't long before the Moore family set down their roots. What was once a “pretty place” would soon hold a house of nightmares. Even to this day, there are many unanswered questions about what truly happened at the Villisca Ax Murder House.

Known for having a number of lovers in 1947, Margaret Treese was a woman covered in tattoos who drank, flirted and honestly didn't seem to care much about stereotypes or expectations of the time. Her murderer was never caught and it's still an open case with Davenport police.

It was the 1980s and Carole Stevens spent most of the decade tending to her husband Carl's corpse, truly believing he was still alive. A new episode each day during the week of Halloween will dissect a true crime case that seems like an unbelievable scary movie. The first episode of Hallo-week 2019 looks at how a cult led to The Mummy of Knoxville. When you mix your beliefs with grief, a lot can happen.

In August 1985, Delia Santamaria began divorce proceedings against her husband, Antonio. Just one day after Antonio received those documents, Delia went missing. Parts of her body would later be found buried in a massive hole within the basement of the family's home, other parts were found buried in the garden. Her internal organs, were partially destroyed by a hand crank meat grinder. In this week's episode we break down what led up to this grisly murder, who dubbed Antonio Santamaria 'The Butcher of Galesburg' as well as how he was able to avoid the death penalty.

In 2003, parts of Jone Knapton's body was found in the Green River. Her husband, Larry, was named as a suspect in the case but has never been charged. To this day, the case has remained cold. But there is hope. In 1974, 16 year old Mary Ann Becker was found murdered in her family's home. The case became one of the oldest cold cases in Illinois history until 2017, when Illinois State Police finally released the name of the possible killer.

When Jennifer Lewis' body was found outside a Davenport, Iowa elementary school back in 1990, Quad City Times veteran reporter Scott Reeder was one of the first journalists on the scene.Reeder spent the next three decades reporting on nearly every one of her killer's court appearances until Stanley Liggins was convicted and sentenced in early 2019 to life in prison for the death of Lewis.

In less than three weeks back in 2008, Nicholas Sheley’s killing spree spanned at least five cities in Illinois and Missouri. Left in his path, were eight victims, all brutally beaten to death. Once he was finally arrested, it would be another 10 years of court cases, before Sheley was ultimately able to avoid the death penalty in both states.

9 year old Jennifer Lewis was just about to start 4th grade, and days away from turning 10, when she went missing in September 1990.The young girl had left her home around 6 p.m. to go to a nearby store to pick up a pack of gum. 3 hours later and 3 miles away, outside a Davenport Elementary School, a custodian stumbled upon a fire and a dead body.

This episode, aired first live on the WQAD Facebook page, as host Toria Wilson and morning web producer Hannah Rodriguez. The two, both interested in crime podcasts, talk about 'Missing and Murdered', 'Crime Chat', the cases covered so far, and answer any viewer questions that pop up. We also talk about future cases we'd like to cover.

Carrie Olson, 29, was reported missing on December 30, 2013, after her father noticed she was absent from work that day. She was last seen at a Rock Island gas station. Her body would be found in April 2014, hours away in Minnesota. Her ex-boyfriend would later be charged in the case. This episode breaks down the search efforts for Olson including the arrest, trial and ultimate conviction of Timothy McVay with the latest information on how long he will stay in prison for.

16 year old Adrianne Reynolds had been living in the Quad Cities for just two months, before January 20th, 2005, when she disappeared during her lunch break at school.It would be nearly a week before police would discover, she was brutally murdered by two of her classmates, Sarah Kolb and Cory Gregory and later dismembered by a third teenager, Nathan Gaudet.