We Would Be Dead

Road To Nowhere (The Disappearance of Brandon Swanson)

Shortly after midnight on May 14, 2008, 19 year old Brandon Swanson left a going away party for a friend. He started off on the half hour drive home to his parents house in Marshall Minnesota, taking back roads through dark cornfields when he found himself in unfamiliar territory.
Brandon tried to turn his car around but ended up stuck off the road in a ditch. He called his parents to come and get him, being sure to give them what he suspected to be his rather remote location. Over the next three hours they would try desperately to find each other. During this search Brandon and his father stayed on the phone until Brandon suddenly uttered "Oh shit" and was never seen again.
 
Anyone with Information regarding Brandon Swanson or his disappearance should contact Agent Derek Woolford at the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (651) 793-7000 or the FBI VICAP at 1-800-634-4097. click the missing poster below for case numbers and more information.
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Missing Poster
Case Report
 
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Folie à Deux Minus One ( TLDR Anna Stubblefield and Derrick Johnson)

 
This week's super sized TLDR takes you through the complicated, one sided love story of Anna Stubblefield and Derrick Johnson. It's the story that inspired the much talked about Netflix Documentary: Tell Them You Love Me.
Click To Learn MoreClick here to watch "Tell Them You Love Me" on Netflix
 
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The Trail's Gone Cold (The Disappearance and Murder of Angela Nicole Bradbury)

Mitchell County Iowa, July 12th 2021, 5:27 PM. A local girl was taking a walk down the Greenbelt River Trail when something strange and terrifying caught her attention. She looked once, rubbed her eyes thinking she must be seeing things, and then looked again. Upon further inspection it was clear that no she wasn't seeing things, there among the lush grass and stately trees was a human skull dangling off a wooden spike.
Police rushed to the scene immediately and interviewed everyone who had been along the trail that evening. Among the briefly interviewed was Nathan Gilmore, a man who authorities would eventually find out followed his satanic delusions down a murky rabbit hole to murder and dismemberment. 
 
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Church of Satan
Sigil of Baphomet
https://lawandcrime.com/crime/nathan-gilmore-sentenced-to-decades-in-prison-for-angela-bradbury-murder/
https://www.radioiowa.com/2023/10/16/father-of-mason-city-woman-speaks-out-as-osage-man-sentenced-for-her-death/
 
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True Crime TLDR: Gay Nazis (Ernst Röhm and the Eldorado Cabaret)

Happy Pride Fiends! Alright we know it's July, but we had one more pride episode on the books so we're giving it to you anyway. This one is for the musical theater fans! Before The stonewall there was the Edorado Cabaret, a german, multi locational, enlightened, anything goes wonderland where liberation was was abundant. We have learned that you cannot talk about LGBTQ+ history without mentioning Weimar Republic era Berlin. There, for a time, life really was beautiful. This is the story of the real  Kit Kat Club and the glittery, tragic history that inspired the musical Cabaret. This episode had us riveted, and if you like it as much as we did, be sure to watch the Netflix documentary Eldorado: Everything the Nazi's Hate, link below. 
 
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https://about.netflix.com/en/news/eldorado-everything-the-nazis-hate
https://www.ilholocaustmuseum.org/celebrating-queer-joy-in-1920s-berlin/
https://adventuresintimeandgender.org/stories/the-club-history/
https://perspectives.ushmm.org/item/photo-of-the-eldorado-club
 
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Be Gay Do Crime (The Stonewall Uprising)

Happy Pride Fiends! WWBD whole heartedly supports the LGBTQ+ community and so, we decided that it was time we covered the event that launched what we know today as Pride, The Stonewall Uprising. As we all know, Pride was first and foremost a protest, but the events that lead up to that protest might just surprise you. 
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https://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps
https://blog.smu.edu/ot8317/2016/05/11/leviticus-1822/
https://abcnews.go.com/US/lgbt-activists-remember-stonewall-riots-50-years-fighting/story?id=63083481
https://www.history.com/news/stonewall-riots-timeline
 
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Halfoween 4! (An Attack on Leslie)

Happy Halfoween fiends! It's time once again to brin you stories that explore our deepest, darkest, squirmiest fears!  Join Holly, Leslie and fiend favorite John Rattacasa as they bring you a smorgasbord of scary stories.
 
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Case File TLDR (Amber Hagerman, AMBER alert)

WEEKLY CONTENT IS BACK!
Ever wish you knew more about the cases the rest of the world has analyzed without you? Often, when cases are fully developed and researched, there's just too much information to take in at once. It can be overwhelming! Don't worry, you've come to the right place.
Welcome to Case File TLDR! Every other week we'll provide and quick and comprehensive catch up on cases that should be in your mental library but aren't, strange stories that made a huge but quick impact, or frequently used true crime terms and tropes you meant to look up but never got around to. You'll never have to nod along again.
Have you ever wondered why it's called an AMBER alert? Have you just been pretending to know because it seems like everyone else already does? We got you. This is everything you need to know about the tragic disappearance turned unsolved murder of 9 year old Amber Hagerman, the little girl who inspired a huge change. 
 
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https://www.missingkids.org/blog/2021/still-searching-for-ambers-killer
https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/remembering-amber-hagerman-27-years-later/
https://allthatsinteresting.com/amber-hagerman
https://amberalert.ojp.gov/
 
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A Family Affair (Steven and Katie Pladl)

On April 12, 2018, 43 year old Steven Walter Pladl, murdered his father in law Tony, His infant son Bennet and his 20 year old wife Katie, then called her mother, told her to notify the police, and turned the gun on himself. Days prior to this horrific event  Stephen's wife Katie had ended their brief marriage by way of a phone call and Stephen, it seemed had become so distraught he did the unthinkable. We've seen this sort
of nightmarish scenario before, haven't we? "If I can't have you, no one can". This case however, is a bit different. Just a short time before their tele-breakup, Stephen and his wife stood trial in a court of law, and were ordered apart by a judge. You see, 20 year old Katie wasn't just Stephen's his wife, she was also his daughter. 
 
murdered his biological daughter, 20-year-old Katie Rose Fusco Pladl, with whom he had been engaged in an incestuous relationship, and her adoptive father, 56-year-old Anthony Charles Fusco, in New Milford, Connecticut. He later committed suicide in Dover, New York. He had murdered his and Katie's seven-month-old child, Bennett Kieron Pladl, the day prior in Knightdale.
Click to learn more
 
https://dailyvoice.com/new-york/mountpleasant/obituaries/incest-case-arrangements-announced-for-three-murdered-family-members/735725/
 
https://nypost.com/2018/05/01/mom-of-incest-murder-suicide-victim-describes-fathers-abuse/
 
https://www.mamamia.com.au/genetic-sexual-attraction-personal-story/
 
https://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/story/news/local/2018/04/23/biological-mother-katie-pladl-fusco-steven-pladl-incest-deaths/541402002/
 
 
 
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Cover Girl Interrupted (The Ivory Soap Murders)

In 1937 Pin up party girl Veronica Gedeon was a fixture in the pages of many true crime magazines. Her blond hair, bright eyes and slender figure were sure to sell more copies of whatever pulp periodical cover she graced on any given week that all of its competitors combined. So, when Veronica was discovered nude and strangled to death on the bed of her New York apartment that Easter evening, the whole city began to buzz with speculation. The killer had not only killed Veronica, they also brutally murdered her mother and their young border, but things were not exactly as they seemed.
This week we take a closer look at this rollercoaster ride, crime of the century case that time has forgotten. Sometimes called "the case of the Mad Potter" or "The Beekman Hill Maniac Murders", the crimes of a strange young man named Robert George Irwin are hard to explain and even harder to forget. This week's case is the stuff of film noir dreams and beautiful young girl's nightmares. 
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https://tampabay.newspapers.com/article/cumberland-evening-times/136771383/?locale=en-US
 
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-bridgeport-telegram-veronica-gedeon/3747708/
 
https://casetext.com/case/people-v-irwin-22
 
https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2016/12/05/who-killed-this-pretty-east-side-model-in-1937/
 
 
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Pick A Crime (St. Patrick's Day Live Campfire 2024)

Welcome to our live game of Irish True Crime Roulette! This year's St. Patrick's Day livestream featured 3 classic Irish true crime stories from the book Foster's Book of Irish Murder. All three were picked at random, live, with the help of our fiends, and as usual feature some lively color commentary. We are happy to bring you "One Sock" read by Leslie, "The Cake of Death" read by fiend favorite John Rattacasa, and "The Axe Woman of Fedamore" read by Holly. Enjoy fiends, Toast!
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Foster's Book of Irish Murder
 
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