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Terrifyingly Typical True Crime

Terrifyingly Typical True Crime

By: Calista and Theresa Whitney
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 Curious about true crime and want to understand the patterns that often pop up? Join antisocial and outspoken mother and daughter Theresa and Calista as they connect cases to explore a specific type of crime or criminal. Dive into a new case every week that explores common crimes and typical themes in true crime!Calista and Theresa Whitney True Crime
Episodes
  • Episode 20 - Arthur Burton Schirmer: The Method(ist) of Murder

    Episode 20 - Arthur Burton Schirmer: The Method(ist) of Murder
    Jul 13 2025
    When Rosemarie Cobb went to Reeders, Pennsylvania for her brother’s memorial service in October 2008, she had no idea that his suicide was tied to a man linked to two other deaths, a pastor who happened to be having an affair with her sister-in-law. After pushing for an investigation, the formerly closed cases were given a second look. His first wife, Jewel, had died after a fall down the stairs nine years earlier, and hissecond wife, Betty, had died after a car crash only months earlier. Either Pastor Arthur Burton Schirmer was incredibly unlucky, or he had a hand in at least some of the deaths of the three people around him.Sources: https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2019/11/15/americans-have-positive-views-about-religions-role-in-society-but-want-it-out-of-politics/ https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2019/11/15/most-congregants-trust-clergy-to-give-advice-about-religious-issues-fewer-trust-clergy-on-personal-matters/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/death-at-the-parsonage-3/ https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/was-a-small-town-pastor-living-a-lie/ https://monroecountyda.com/districtattorney/commonwealth-v-arthur-burton-schirmer/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/arthur-schirmer-pa-pastor-convicted-of-second-wifes-murder-now-faces-trial-in-first-wifes-death/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rev-arthur-burton-schirmer-to-stand-trial-in-wifes-08-death/ https://opencasebook.org/casebooks/6094-evidence-fall-2024/resources/6.3.9-commonwealth-v-schirmer/ https://www.oxygen.com/living-with-a-serial-killer/crime-news/timothy-boczkowski-killed-2-wives-in-2-states-son-speaks https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ex-pastor-gets-20-40-years-in-1st-wifes-death/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/48-hours-when-is-a-car-crash-not-a-car-crash/ https://lancasteronline.com/news/pathologist-pastors-1st-wife-a-victim-of-homicide/article_581b8cf9-6d82-5ead-84a9-59e56628d80f.html https://www.ldnews.com/story/archives/2015/12/16/schirmer-gets-20-40-years-murder-bethany/77424050/ https://www.fox43.com/article/news/local/contests/former-lebanon-county-pastor-sentenced-to-20-to-40-years-for-killing-wife/521-c2d345cb-1ca6-4da3-96e2-c459cdcd0ad6 https://www.pennlive.com/midstate/2012/12/arthur_schirmer.html https://www.wnep.com/article/news/local/monroe-county/son-finds-closure-in-mothers-death/523-6fe9e091-85d6-44f2-96b6-988bdea0a177 https://lancasteronline.com/news/details-emerge-in-schirmer-trial/article_71ab27eb-9136-5fef-9f6a-53d6d92d556a.html https://www.oxygen.com/accident-suicide-or-murder/crime-time/da-describes-prosecuting-the-sinister-minister-who-had-two https://www.ldnews.com/story/news/crime/2017/03/07/former-bethany-umc-pastor-challenges-murder-conviction/98864536/ Numerous articles from Newspapers.com, such as https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-morning-call-schirmer-07/143227254/ https://pven.net/ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2090536X15000283 https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24725-asphyxiation https://www.umc.org/en/content/united-methodist-beliefs-divorce https://thecinemaholic.com/a-b-schirmer-where-is-killer-husband-now/
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    1 hr and 6 mins
  • Episode 19 - Heather Pressdee: Woefully Underqualified, Continually Promoted

    Episode 19 - Heather Pressdee: Woefully Underqualified, Continually Promoted
    Jul 6 2025
    When a family member chooses a residential facility or nursing home for their loved one, they expect them to be safe. When they are able to visit their relatives often, they feel confident that they chose the right place. However, without safeguards in place to advise potential employers of someone’s alarming job history and amid a global pandemic and staff shortages, the perfect situation is set for someone with malicious intent. Taking advantage of all of these things was nurse Heather Pressdee who used insulin as her weapon of choice in various medical facilities across four counties in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania from 2020 to 2023.Sources:https://lawandcrime.com/crime/nurse-poisoned-patients-with-insulin-claimed-she-wanted-to-put-them-out-of-their-misery-cops/https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/02/us/nurse-heather-pressdee-sentenced-patient-deaths-pennsylvaniahttps://www.attorneygeneral.gov/taking-action/western-pennsylvania-nurse-sentenced-to-consecutive-life-sentences-after-pleading-guilty-to-killing-and-attempting-to-kill-patients/https://triblive.com/local/valley-news-dispatch/civil-lawsuits-from-families-of-former-nurse-heather-pressdees-victims-continue-to-work-through-courts/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/03/nurse-convicted-killings-heather-pressdeehttps://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/guest-columns/2024/05/06/heather-pressdee-nurse-murder-serial-killer-motives/stories/202405040045https://www.the-sun.com/news/9540583/who-nurse-heather-pressdee-pennsylvania-accused/https://www.foxnews.com/us/pennsylvania-nurse-accused-killing-2-patients-injuring-3rd-felt-bad-for-their-quality-life-policehttps://www.whio.com/news/trending/nurse-pleads-guilty-killing-patients-sentenced-hundreds-years-prison/STWAQ5SZOJEBNIXOWKU7KVSOWY/https://www.mypanhandle.com/news/national-news/ap-pennsylvania-nurse-who-gave-patients-lethal-or-possibly-lethal-insulin-doses-gets-life-in-prison/https://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/national/article287149270.htmlhttps://www.koin.com/news/national/ap-pennsylvania-nurse-who-gave-patients-lethal-or-possibly-lethal-insulin-doses-gets-life-in-prison/https://www.westhawaiitoday.com/2024/05/03/nation-world-news/killer-nurse-heather-pressdee-pleads-guilty-in-deaths-of-17-western-pa-nursing-home-patients/https://mynbc15.com/news/nation-world/nurse-blamed-heather-pressdee-17-patient-overdose-deaths-insulin-pennsylvania-new-criminal-charges-murder-attempted-mistreatment-neglect-attorney-general-butler-county-prisonhttps://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/us/this-pennsylvania-nurse-previously-charged-with-killing-patients-is-now-linked-to-17-nursing-home-deaths/articleshow/104951104.cms?from=mdrhttps://www.businessinsider.com/nurse-faces-charges-trying-to-kill-19-patients-pennsylvania-2023-11https://www.inquirer.com/health/butler-county-nurse-charged-insulin-20231106.htmlhttps://vocal.media/criminal/inside-the-story-of-nurse-heather-pressdee-how-she-killed-her-patients-with-lethal-insulinhttps://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/03/us/pennsylvania-nurse-insulin-deaths.htmlhttps://www.wpxi.com/news/local/11-investigates-how-killer-nurse-moved-once-nursing-home-another-avoiding-authorities/GI4W5RBRCFCRRC437DOSI6QVOE/https://people.com/nurse-allegedly-killed-2-women-fatal-insulin-doses-sent-flowers-card-to-victims-family-suit-8634852https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/butler-county-killer-nurse-heather-pressdee-hearing-court-expected-guilty-plea/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/pennsylvania-nurse-pleads-guilty-killing-patients-lethal-doses-insulin-rcna150366https://www.attorneygeneral.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023-11-02-Heather-PRESSDEE-Criminal-Complaint.pdfhttps://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/05/26/pa-nurse-heather-pressdee-murder-charges/70260165007/
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    57 mins
  • Episode 18 - Jane Toppan: Sexual Sensationalism or Broken-Hearted Bitterness?

    Episode 18 - Jane Toppan: Sexual Sensationalism or Broken-Hearted Bitterness?
    Jun 29 2025
    In 1887, Amelia Phinney was recovering from surgery at Cambridge Hospital. As she lay awake from the postoperative pain, a nurse named Jane Toppan gave her something that thankfully made her pain ebb away, but then Amelia felt the bed sink as someone got in beside her. However, after another nurse came by, Jane jumped out of Amelia’s bed. Once the effects of the nearly fatal drugs Jane had given her wore off, she began to question her memory. She wouldn't recount the incident until she, and the rest of the world, learned the names of Jane’s dozens of less lucky victims, a fate Amelia had only just escaped.Sources: https://www.lowellhistoricalsociety.org/lowells-ties-to-jolly-jane-massachusetts-female-serial-killer/ https://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/indentured-servants-in-the-us/ https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1narr3.html#:~:text=All%20were%20indentured%20servants.,%2Dskinned%2C%20they%20became%20free. https://biomedpharmajournal.org/vol15no2/review-on-pharmacology-of-atropine-clinical-use-and-toxicity/ https://archives.lib.state.ma.us/items/aa26a7d7-9cbb-4433-a347-2f003523b8ef https://adp.ehistory.org/decedent-data/cause-death#:~:text=Apoplexy%20%2D%2D%3E%20A%20term%20commonly,a%20heart%20attack%20or%20stroke. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/253895 https://www.nps.gov/places/taunton-state-hospital.htm https://openarchives.umb.edu/digital/collection/p15774coll8/id/322 https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/serial-killer-jolly-jane https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=THD19011207-01.2.61&e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA--------0------ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5770005/ https://www.bigissuenorth.com/features/2021/04/toppan-tale/ https://www.bostonmagazine.com/2015/10/29/jane-toppan/ https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,789132,00.html https://vocal.media/criminal/crime-chronicles-jolly-jane-toppan https://www.suecoletta.com/thrillers-and-true-crime/pretty-evil-ne-excerpt/http://massachusettsvacation.org/regions/Cataumet-Massachusetts.html https://www.narratively.com/p/the-19th-century-nurse-who-was-secretly-a-serial-killer https://www.history.com/articles/vampires-tuberculosis-consumption-new-england https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5823327/#:~:text=Tuberculosis%20disease%2C%20or%20phthisis%20https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co133658/bottle-of-hunyadi-janos-mineral-water-unopened https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/biography/janos-hunyadi http://www.metnews.com/articles/2005/reminiscing022405.htm
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    1 hr and 4 mins
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